image [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczNPbYbvCB8gUc6vtLmhgUXVs3XFoSl3xJHNsryHhwTwncDuzjdK0G3mWIQaqFaqRTtA7I-c5-8AFPoUATzmcsPmoUebMU5BgcKo3Jg7avphojddg4wRx_QggOZ4TLgOfoe0fMUKPYmZD6t1kUZKziobsK3N0nfNzht_GTm6_gyhEuKukTmJpr9VNi5jIO0fWmIuu8iRDtH9QDshmjd7fhb6ZF58DKpianlMu5Q_r_-5kA3Cb8wgoaNriLKvomq6MojmKEaGg5LLAbQ1AwjcgOYc1Vj5tE-aJoH_MfAvR1cxtgPTwBjkNZYayfqYWsFFTNAKor-3ww42p5W1EBtPPvdaYYk8YYpztBydo2yQBzqL9NLrpnbcQTabbidKAlco0hBnZSDJSD-70IUbj8lEEGKIkxsBsd12QHTLtpfcD5siKAwBoriaXvysUqrnpkbFTbzJ2YOQ9Z5E4dG8-abuY0QKkmD5W815ZNGL1ZqOV_SUR-MGqEH0c6va2zB47ElQkDX3bbDKnxWelbJkeQxcZkCjclk1TE1U5_v3XMsbAahl8HiToR8wzq89b3N6o_5mFXOs1MTmfJ13ItQGgDBUCEdHzdYkBesIwEPOCfhzJolwDpXEPV14kx_iGKixazL28Su7566fUbmUyalcHB2R5bpZr0OTqVjJJScWPdkTOqonpTP94Zrnv4IvnS4tV-hAZwYn-nDCyT-BsQ1qyBqMtrSAZ3yJb86_2BFx5cmUOdYKu87Mnlyl200T9XN6Ri93xCJlBBLIh6cjK63t2oJYr-2BQvTzX-eppGUZeqaBhuiwun4wzruqgaVLBaXpDX-q8mdfA4JTnCsCk1DkpJnW4rEwcTr5hy1Ehv1ZNXwkJ9SmqBY2DVXdjs7OzV7DZnpXbMvZRxAxKS5Ahkps1txEVy0MsTuDJr-NYL8ZRbeImiBG_alfXsxnUIHlC6yaP2A3=w654-h654-s-no-gm?authuser=1](Concept of the canal)
It had been an hour since they started drifting down the canal. Part of them was skeptical about getting on the boat considering the last rock thrown over the side got blown to smithereens. The moment they both sat in it, the boat had started to move on its own. The narrow, golden walls surrounding them went on forever. They both kept an eye out, their voices the only sound in this uneasy silence. Old drawings of monsters and different lands were scattered.
Occasionally, Leon felt the eyes of the images follow them.They did their best to distract those feelings with light conversation. "What is a cottage exactly?" Katie asked, examining the pistol Alexander gave her. "Is it like a mansion?"
"Kind of. It's sort of like a smaller mansion but the outside looks more like a giant cabin," he explained, staring at his reflection in the shiny green water. Half of him expected some creepy demon version of himself to start giving a wide creepy smile. I've seen too many horror movies...
"Could you show me?"
Leon raised an eyebrow. "How? We can't go to that dream world when we're awake, can we?"
At that, Katie smirked. She placed her palm on Leon's forehead. When he blinked, they both were standing on the endless lake. The dark fog, the dead flowers, even the archway. He fell against the lake, his eyes wide. "What the-? How the hell-?"
"All we have to do is close our eyes and imagine it. We don't have to be asleep," she said, sitting on his lap. "Just imagine what it looks like, and show me."
He could feel the warmness of all of it. Her body against his, the coldness of the lake they sat against. It was so surreal. "What about our bodies in the real world?"
"I'm still sensing what's around us. We'll be alright. Come on, I want to see the cottage!" she urged, meeting his gaze.
His mind was still trying to wrap around what just happened. Closing his eyes, he tried to imagine what their cottage would look like. It was like all of the cold in that dark world shifted. It didn't gradually get warm. The cold just stopped existing. The light of a false sun pierced against his eyelids, making him open them.
They both looked around in childlike wonder, laying against a brown leather couch that materialized from nothing. They were in a well organized living room of a cottage. To their left was a porch that overlooked a giant forest and mountains. Behind them was a staircase leading to the second floor, and a fancy kitchen past that. All of it felt real, even though he'd never been anywhere like it.
"How is this... How did you know we could-" he was stammering, making Katie giggle.
"I experimented a little bit while you were taking a nap with my mother," she teased.
"H-hey!"
"After my father found us and explained everything, I dozed off a little and I just felt sick and tired of that gloomy room. When I imagined the beach, it all materialized just like this," she explained, resting her head against his chest.
Leon chuckled. "This is awesome! Geez, I wish we could just forget about that creepy ass ruin and stay here... It'd be a pretty rude awakening to get slammed by a skeleton or something while we're like this."
At that, Katie sighed. "That is true."
They both blinked and reawoke into reality. Leon had to register that Katie was still lying against him. "You can control your body while we're in that world?"
She pinched her fingers together. "Only a little." Her eyes turned to the right, widening. "Leon! The wall!"
He turned to look at it. An image of a little girl stood in front of them. The boat stopped moving, making them stumble. They sat up to look closer. She resembled the girl from earlier, her eyes drawn eerily wide. One of her hands extended from the wall slowly.
"Help me..." her voice begged, dark tears falling down her cheeks.
"Who are you?" Leon snapped, reaching for his sword. He hated the guilt he felt every time he looked at her. The dread that returned. Before he could stop himself, he tried to grab her.
"No, don't!" Katie yelled, trying to pull his hand away.
The little girl's frown turned into a creepily wide smile, her eyes shifting crimson red. She let out a monstrous shriek. Leon's fingers had hardly wrapped around his hilt when the girl snatched his collar.
The wall crumbled apart as her body took shape. A golden cord was connected to it, pulling him into the water. It wasn't blowing up, but the water burned. He choked out a yelp. Intense cold liquid attacked his nostrils. He flailed his arms and legs helplessly at the girl. A large monster was barely visible, increasing in size as it dragged him toward it.
A volt of electricity shot past his head into the fake girl. The screams were drowned out by the water he crashed into. Katie's arms wrapped around him as she pulled him up. "Are you okay?" She asked, flying up. He coughed and sputtered out water.
Smoke emitted from all over him, burns appearing along his skin. "We need to get out of here!" he choked, the beast below slamming against the walls.
Katie took his arms, her wings spreading. She took him into the air and started to fly ahead. A trail of lights followed, going off like firecrackers one after the other. They narrowly avoided them. With a monstrous screech, the beast broke through the waters. It swam at incredible speeds, none of the explosions slowing it for a second.
"What the hell is that thing?" Leon shouted.
Katie glanced and swerved as a blue tentacle swung up at them. It slammed into the ceiling as they narrowly avoided it. "I think it's a Kairu!"
image [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczPhJpiol7Of9oeVEDVv9YM4pOcDfaDnFpCbJYMclDJirVvBSPdeB0p7tfmLZD1vyzUjwcTyjFOvsApCFG0yO-5zlBO2SoKqhfjk3TzngSXeF-TZav-BYtyxZf-7NKmhTZ2WMR9Jb8oWmEeL19MPVAcFJ5UCbY60ITuNb8CYNoDKcVUsjYqzXOqxaeRmoeD7LMH5BlSvYUwvz1z9GV3_zZtoOXGUQLQuSE5gtCX7ARx--Cfu_52mnUdWIUQKcbFKtm-JInkj_3OeP6mozkVYU4ly3Tuof46Y815muCUm-_ypd6xNpMpYu8RzAV_1xGXUKSrY7hGyFowVvp1VsYBrWHrDt5WazqJxpy-ZxlI0dHvTGATx_W6F74bJg_6ETGTp0t14gvS2V23TJa4xS6gLIGxZovyVcSVCP2jv-4h58s3yclzwJh8IyPAQgm9R-P9Jo2oVlcmOBst_yBbsE6pNQS0Df9SvhvGjLWiYdtGKgaNkg3XT8FV0kEm1q7-81-8g2F9AHtq88CPjGA-myhMKx4WeKauKa-RWQi9ORcqRnClZScmydEu_LdABiwTcjgwTxXbkEa7U4Y-NKbP48e0YMbtNuZoTd4ISAmKuiLCUUuPLnxS46klPv0sB9RGa8b6ueBogaWbtRZ90heZg_YG3u8qb3kIXKVfpz8o_S88QjRvD9oyHhhIDLUpj40ht7y_Cfbg44IVR6Fcnyo-F48jMOJJAzhKInxtFy4qvpDAgDg-2JGdoUVpf4Qi65x112WAiWb6Lwublfes2iKrhMmjcbg5uwHSa76aJDQfDNe90RGbzB4vGz6pzkFp_rTl4jOxkl3XpcdZOfXoQpWGFssvIojWxZYlwUhzKvGXgjIvQAEAjnUummP0ZVptHOJm8cR9o_VDX3xNFUbLz9m_B22o24FqL9vsymY6pxsh88ygUlouyFm0IYEu00lsif1jPe_Wk=w654-h654-s-no-gm?authuser=1](Concept of Kairuku. Real thing would have giant antennas coming out of its head with eerily realistic people tied to the end of them to lure in prey. It uses your memories to create the people)
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The Kairu looked like a giant, crimson angler fish. Instead of bulbs on its antennas, human shaped bodies stared at them eerily.
"Watch out!" Leon snapped, the two tentacles tried to corner them from both sides.
He pulled her down, their positions flipping. Leon bent his legs and kicked off the ceiling. He caught onto the antenna. His world blackened as it slammed him into the wall.
"Leon!" Katie cried, watching as the beast flailed about in the water.
Leon fell onto its back, barely processing as his hands clenched onto it. It thrashed violently. His spine and hips throbbed. He grit his teeth. It was taking everything to avoid being thrown back into the burning waters.
He grasped his sword and stabbed the Kairu. Blue blood splattered as it screamed, thrashing violently. The water flew everywhere in its attempts to throw him off. No matter how much it burned or his body was slammed into the walls, he refused to let go.
It sprang up into the ceiling. He rolled forward just before he was crushed. One of its human antennae caught his legs. "Damn it, let go!" he hissed, kicking the fake old man in the face. It ragdolled lifelessly, groaning.
The Kairu sank. Katie had dove into it, her heel slamming into its spine. It wailed a grotesque cry. Leon caught the roof of its mouth before he fell in the water. The Kairuku opened its mouth wide as it shot forward in an attempt to bite him.
Katie fell off the beast into the water. Its teeth ripped violently through Leon's arm as he landed inside its mouth. She returned into the air. Her heart dropped. The sounds of his screams were muffled as the monster swallowed him.
Blood filled the water as Katie spun around. A ripped apart hand floated under the beast, a few feet away in the water. N-no... Her face whitened. The Kairu was still as Leon's shrieks were heard within its stomach.
You took him from me, Katie trembled. It was like the anger she'd held back her entire life was ready to explode. Her eyes shined violently yellow as electricity surged all over her body. She was moments away from just letting Jalaiya take control, rip it to a million pieces. Its stomach bulged.
Leon? She froze in place, floating in the air.
Several parts of the monster's body burst. Those weren't cries of pain. It was unfiltered rage. Flames burst from the roof of its mouth as it shrieked. Within its stomach, Leon was covered in slime as his remaining hand shot in every spot he could. Before long, he was standing on a giant charred carcass. He was too angry to acknowledge how horrible this burnt fish smelled.
His vision was crimson despite the blue blood that covered his body. Leon breathed heavily, unaware of anything around him. Everything burned. Images ran rampant in his mind. Of slaughter. Of carnage in a fallen kingdom. Katie watched him in frozen horror. If he wasn't breathing, she'd almost have sworn he was a statue. She cried out his name, shook him, tried anything. Her voice may as well have been in another dimension.
Shaking off her shock, Katie took him.
—---------------------------------------------------------
"Why!"
"What have we done to deserve this?"
"My home... my family... you have taken everything from us!"
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT? WHYYY?"
The screams that plagued Leon for years. He wasn't in the dark room. He was trapped in the fog. Somewhere within all of that, he could hear Katie trying to speak to him. To reach him. There was nothing in this world. Yet it was everything to him. Everything was red stains being scratched against a black chalkboard. Scribbled. Twisted. Torn. Something he could never escape. Something he could never understand. Before he knew it, his eyes snapped open. "Shit!" Leon rose to his feet as the pain in his wrist exploded.
Katie gasped, his severed right hand on her lap. "Leon stop, I almost had it back to normal!"
They were on a new riverbank, the green waters a few feet away. He'd been laid on the stone floor, an ominous fog leading the way forward. His eyes widened looking from the hand she held to his stump. The memories of Kairu and falling unconscious flashed through his mind. Leon fell against the stone wall behind him. He broke into a cold sweat as he grasped his face. Then he took a deep breath.
"We're alright now. Just take a deep breath," Katie whispered, rising to her feet. "I can fix your arm. I just need you to stay still."
Taking deep breaths, Leon closed his eyes tight. "Alright. What do you need me to do?" he asked.
Katie sat beside him. "Lay your head on my lap. It'll only take a few moments. I've had this happen a few times in training..."
His eyes widened. "You've lost your limbs before?"
"Perhaps we can share that story another time... I'd rather not remember," Katie said, pulling his head down.
Leon bit his tongue to slow his breathing. She stroked his head as she got to work, putting the severed hand against his stump. Sparks and green mist released from her palm. Very slowly his muscles and bones began to merge. Then the skin. It was excruciating. He clenched his fist. Every breath felt like he was tugging desperately on the edge of a cliff.
It was two minutes. Two excruciating minutes of pain as Leon bit down a horrible scream, his flesh reattaching itself. Every single nerve and tendon connecting alone with the bones felt like his wrist was on fire. By the time he could feel his fingers again, his face was drenched from his sweat. The green mist from Katie's palm faded as she let go. "Done..." she said, holding him close and stroking his hair.
For a while, they simply laid there in the dark room. It wasn't exactly comfortable against the rocky dirt river bank. They'd hardly been in this ruin for more than an hour and already felt mentally drained. Leon sighed, forcing himself to his feet. "We won't get out of here just relaxing unfortunately. Come on. Hopefully there won't be much more to this," he said, extending his hand.
Katie took it, rising. Her eyes looked at him concerned as he turned toward the fog, but she stayed silent. He was sure she was just feeling wary about any other threats ahead. "What happened to you? It was like that time against the sirens... but this felt scarier. I thought seeing you furious was shocking, but at least that seemed under control. This felt different. Darker. Is it really alright for us to continue? Maybe we should find a way out... Tell him we didn't find anything."
"I just blacked out. I don't... really know how else to explain it. Is this really the time?" he asked, turning to her.
She grimaced. "I just... I have a really bad feeling about this place. Nothing they want is worth us losing each other, Leon."
There was an uncomfortable silence. He hated that he felt like he was hesitating. It wasn't like him... yet, it also was. He was looking at her. He was looking beyond her. Even now, the way his heart beat frantically as he stared at the dark fog they were preparing to enter terrified him. Will it be the same as that world?
Those accusations. Those malicious curses. Leon despised it. The ones who kept him from Katie when he thought he would lose her forever. The only day they ever truly had a spat when he first tried to tell her she needed to fight for herself. His eyes shifted a horrible violet for only a few seconds and she flinched. He shook it off. Leon placed a hand on her shoulder, matching her gaze.
"Whatever happens in this place... No matter what, we will always be together. I don't know what it is about this place. It feels like I have to know. I can't leave without seeing what's in this place if it has anything to do with how I was created. There's a lot about myself that I don't understand. I don't even know if I was born or created. There's got to be more to it than just being a host of Diablos. I think it has a lot to do with all of the things Iris never tells me about. Before I met you, my life felt empty. Hollow. Pointless," he said those last words bitterly, gritting his teeth. "I felt regret. Guilt. I don't believe that can come from nothing. It might be why I was cursed to be in that dark world every night of my life. The only thing it ever blessed me with was having you come to me. I'll never regret that. If there's anything in this ruin that makes me act like a different person... Don't... Don't let it taint the way you see me. Please." His lips trembled, and his eyes watered.
She'd never seen him so afraid before. For once he didn't seem like the strong prideful man he always was. For a glimpse, she saw the horrified boy. The one constantly followed by regret in an act he never understood. Perhaps even something he never did. That loneliness was something she understood better than anyone. Katie took his arm, and placed his hand against her chest. "Together. Not alone, remember?"
Leon's eyes widened. Then his face hardened as he did the same with hers. "Of course." Their shadows merged against the walls, the canal at their backs reflecting the green aurora along the walls.