Apollyon

Inside the absolute darkness, a high-pitched, fragile chime, like breaking glass, reverberated, and soon, a low, soft voice could be heard. “…my little sunshine…”

The voice was so soft, the darkness bent to it, wrapped—changed, countless freckles of light forming into creation. In a snap, the darkness had transformed into a brilliant starry night.

“…Weren’t safe….”

Suddenly, as if commanded by the voice, a pain so intense, so unbelievably excruciating; I didn’t even know how I could feel something like that. It came from nowhere—everywhere; it felt as if a thousand needles were stabbing at me again and again and again...

“…Mother loves you...”

And yet, the next time the voice spoke, all the pain vanished, drowned in its melody, as if it were never there.

“... Apollyon...”

Suddenly, everything shook violently. The freckles of light grew bigger and bigger and bigger, cracks spreading from each of them into blinding light.

“…Apollyon…”

“Lyon...”

“Lyon.”

“Lyon!”

Jolting up, the darkness turned into bright sunlight.

I gasped for air, sweat crawling on my skin, my heart pounding like a drum in my chest. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, the images of the past two days flooding backward. Eating the Silverfang, hunting it down, starving to death, waking up in debris, encountering the phoenix, seeing Papa and Theodore in flames, watching the village burning, the volcano’s exit collapsing, finding the egg, entering the volcano, running from the Silverfangs, and finally crying back home because Papa had yelled at me.

“Lyon! Finally, you woke up!”

As I slowly turned around, Theodore’s screams were barely audible, the sudden flow of screams, tears, and emotions in those dramatic scenes flooding my mind. The pain, the loneliness—it all still clung to me like a second skin. Tears welled up, blurring my vision.

Theodore was shouting, but his voice was muffled as if coming from underwater. “Do you know how many times I shook you? You can’t do that the day Papa returns! Come on!” He exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

I brought a trembling hand to my face, feeling the wetness of my tears. Holding my mouth to prevent it from trembling, I struggled to form words, my breath stuck in my throat. I pushed with all the energy I could muster, low weeping sounds reaching out instead of words.

Tears streamed, and I buried my face in my hands to hide them, the coolness of my palms completely opposite to the burning in my eyes.

Theodore kept screaming and began shaking me, trying to make me snap out of the hunting nightmare, however, he felt so distant, that he might as well have been standing still. I wouldn’t realize the difference.

I could feel, smell, touch, and even taste those hunting images, the sensations creating some sort of barrier that would prevent me from feeling Theodore’s touch. I was so happy to see him and so shocked I couldn’t believe it.

Crying my eyes out, I peeked through my fingers and the room started to come into focus again. Blurry from tears, sunlight streamed through the window to the familiar surroundings, the flames, and the debris from the images nowhere to be found.

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And yet, I still couldn’t believe it.

Suddenly, the door slammed to the wall and for a fleeting moment, my cries ceased as Papa entered the room.

I gasped as the invisible bubble that prevented me from sensing my surroundings burst, replaced by the enveloping warmth of Papa’s tight hug. His arms wrapped around me in a gentle yet firm embrace that made me feel safe in a way the nightmare had made me forget.

“It’s okay Lyon. It’s okay. It was only a dream.”

Cradling me softly, he caressed my hair in his caring touch, hushing me down as he did so.

Another tear fell, but a second didn’t follow.

‘A dream. It was a dream. It really was just a bad dream.’

***

Water flew down, splashing on the bathtub floor. I was still shaken by this whole experience. It had been some time ever since I woke up, but those emotions were so painful and so real, I wouldn’t be able to ignore them, much less forget them.

Papa said a good bath would make me feel better, but I didn’t think it would be so simple.

I let the water rise for a good amount before sinking in myself, letting its warmth do its thing. Enveloping my body, its soothing embrace instantly melted away the lingering tension. The heat seeped into my skin and I felt the fear go away from every inch of my body. As I inhaled the fruity aroma of the soap mixed with the water, my thoughts slowed down.

Once I was done with my bath, I took out the cap and let the water flow into the sink, watching it as it took the nightmarish images down together with it. While the images were still present, they felt more distant.

The entire bathroom was filled with steam, and the mirror—and by extension my reflection, was clouded by mist.

Wiping the mirror, my reflection cleared. Black hair, two bright blue eyes, and a deep black tattoo like the eye of the storm were reflected. No pale-ashen skin, no white line-like markings, and no weird symbol over the tattoo. It was me, just like how I should be.

My hand reached on its own for my chest a little over my tattoo, as if to grab something, but nothing was there. It felt as if I was forgetting something important and that the answer was right there at the edge of my memories, but I couldn’t quite figure out what that was.

Deciding to ignore this strange feeling, thinking it had something to do with the nightmare, I put on my clothes and exited the bathroom.

Reaching the ground floor, Papa and Theodore were eating breakfast. Theodore had already finished his milk and was eating his sandwich, while Papa drank his usual coffee together with two cookies. Once they saw me, they quickly turned to me.

“Hey buddy, are you feeling better?” Papa asked in a warm tone, taking out a plate and a cup, already preparing my meal.

Similar to Theodore, I had a warm cup of milk coupled with a sandwich. By the time I reached the table, the plate and my milk were already in front of me.

“Better,” I said with a smile that didn’t quite reach my ears, taking a seat next to Theodore.

Theodore looked at me with worried eyebrows before pushing his plate a little closer to mine. “Want some of mine? It has double cheese in it.” He said, doing his best to make me feel better.

I waved my hands lightly. “No, it’s okay. I have my own, thanks.” I said, taking my cup in two hands to drink some milk.

Strangely, it tasted a bit different. I took a second sip, trying to figure it out, but I just couldn’t tell what it was.

The breakfast continued in silence. Papa drank his coffee and Theodore finished his sandwich without saying anything. I didn’t know if it was because they wanted to give me some more space or if it was something else, but it all felt weird, like something wasn’t right.

Usually, we would be talking and laughing, turning it into a playtime hour more than anything else. Theodore would ask a question about a word we learned the previous day, and I would say it only for him to get angry at me for remembering, while Cain would scoff at me or claim that he knew it as well.

The thought made me laugh a little and distracted, I didn’t hear Papa’s cup hitting the table, so I was taken by surprise when he spoke.

“Lyon, I’m really sorry for yelling at you yesterday. I was upset, but that’s no excuse. You didn’t deserve that, and I feel awful about it.” He paused, meeting my eyes. “I’ve thought about it, and if you still wanna to go, we can go check at the volcano today. What do you say?”

The half-chewed bite turned bitter to the point I almost spat it out, and my eyes widened. Not only by what Papa was suggesting but his smile… That smile was the same as…

Quickly swallowing the bite down, I yelled, “no!”

Papa’s head turned to the side, confused. “Why?”

“You were right Papa, it’s too dangerous for us to go! I shouldn’t have run into the forest yesterday!” I yelled my fears out.

“To the forest? What are you talking about? Theodore came yesterday to tell me you wouldn’t budge from your bed.”

I froze, so shocked I couldn’t respond. Yesterday I… I went to the forest and… and…

My hand once again reached to grab something from my chest, and once again, it found nothing.

“Come on Lyon, didn’t you want to go to the volcano yesterday?” Theodore asked with excitement.

“W-what about Cain?” I blurted out, terrified. “S-surely he wouldn’t agree to this.”

But it was Papa’s answer that made my hair stand on end. That single word solidified the horror gripping at me.

“Who?”