Chapter 7: The True Reality
Warning: approaching near the end of this chapter will spark gore so proceed with caution.
Grey continued, "You've been too hard on yourself these past years and that isn't good for your health and body." He stood up and picked up Asura from the floor. "I know that you became a demon because you adapted to its strange mutation due to *inaudible noise*." Now they heard Grey say this unknown name and they wondered who this person was. "Let's get going, Eliza is waiting for you both. If you want, I'll hold your hand while walk down to your house, Asura."
Her hand came into contact with Grey's left hand, she felt the warmth coming out of his hand. Despite him not being alive or rather a soul, it felt as if he was truly alive as a beating heart. She was happy to see him again and to apologize for her actions. "I know this is temporary, but I love you even after death, I never forgot about it." It made Grey smile happily and they all went to see Eliza.
They stood in front of the door and Asura opened it up. "Good thing these doors open based on the person who owns it. I didn't have parents, but we were both smart students and were sponsored by the Council to stay here." She didn't care if the home was beat up or anything similar. All that mattered was that she had somewhere to live and stay inside. "I learned to be content with anything because I know there are others out there who have nothing compared to what I had." It was what made her become who she is right now and she didn't mind remembering the harsh conditions she endured. "It's been a while but the place I call home is right in front of me, even as a faint memory."
All three of them opened the door and walked inside. Asura still holding Grey's hand, she continued forward mesmerized at the design of her former home. "When I left for school, I allowed the Council to use it as a home for those who couldn't afford any living quarters. So I paid it forward by excelling in school and serving a special service and I managed to allow it to stay open for kids who were willing to learn education and other things." Inside the home was filled with paintings drawn by Asura herself when she had leisure time at home. "I used to be an artist before I went to the academy and I fight as if it were my art. During my training, I was struck and was badly damaged in both of my arms for a long time. I could not draw the same as I did when I was young and lost all of that talent."
"What did you do when you couldn't perform your art talents?" Krystal asked.
The dragon had a grim look on her face as she sat down on the couch beside Grey. She laid her head on his shoulders and continued, "I was suggested by Silver, he said something about my voice was special and I could use it a certain way. Every 100 years, there will be someone who is born with a unique trait. I carried a special voice that affects how people hear it, the surroundings, and other things. I was the special one who was given this special voice because it was so soothing, calm, and gentle with everyone and they loved me for it." All the young children loved to hear her sing to them a lovely song from time to time. Even just talking to them whenever she was free in her leisure time. "It's been years since I last heard the children of Harmony speak and they all made me very happy. This voice was the reason why I bonded so close to them."
It also explains how she can get along with that child back on Papetoon, talk to people in general, and why her singing can magically heal people. Footsteps were then heard coming from the stairs as they all turned to look. Krystal saw Eliza, a human, walking down the stairs. "It's good to see you, Krystal."
"Elise?" Krystal wondered. Surprisingly that her attitude was not negative and she was happy as well. "You changed a lot." She appeared a lot younger than she looked before and much more beautiful. During the long time battle, Eliza had appeared to look like an old woman but now she has become a lot younger than previously. "When did you get a new transformation?"
Eliza smiled, "Just call me Eliza, Elise was the old and terrible me. I underwent a reform test while I became a spirit and they removed all things that caused me to become evil. I happen to make the change to how I was before it all started." It made her happy to be back to normal, even after she died initially. "What brings you all here?" She referred mainly to Krystal and Asura.
Asura was happy to see her best friend once again. "It's great to see you again, Eliza but I came here to ask you about a specific request. If you don't mind answering it though." Eliza gave the good signal by nodding and waited for Asura's question. "I have demon powers, but strangely enough I am not under control by possession and I never used these before. What should I do about it?"
Eliza walked down the stairs and sat on a single seat couch near Asura. "I am not sure about these because demon powers are very new to me. Can I see your hand, I can try and tap into your new power." Eliza saw the x mark on Asura's left arm and noticed how it was pulsing with dark energy. "The mark of the Demon, but why is it partially red? I've seen many demon marks and all of them are colored purple but this one is mixed." Eliza confesses that this is the first time she has ever seen this before. "There could be a reason for this, but is it your friend, *inaudible noise, they seem to be the one who is fixing you quite well."
"I don't know who that is, and why are you two saying something but I can't hear it?" Asura mentioned and even Krystal experienced it too. "Who are you guys talking about?"
Eliza and Grey were both confused, "I don't understand, how do you not remember him? *unknown name, Asura, please stop joking around. You've known him for nearly seven years and you don't know his name?"
Suddenly, a faint memory sparked back into her head. Back when she was younger around the age of 15, she remembered the sounds of their voice but could not remember their face. "What is happening? I can barely remember their voice."
Eliza looked back at Krystal and wondered why she could not remember their name despite not physically knowing them. "I tapped in to my mental power many times and that name does not spark inside." No matter how much she tried, there was no use in her memories. Eliza knew something was up with their minds since Grey can remember this person and the other two cannot.
Meanwhile, Fox faced the mysterious creature inside the storage room. He made swift movements to dodge the incoming attacks and fired back whenever he had clear shots. All the bullets struck its body and made it flinch a bit. A direct hit, that is very good for me. I need to make sure nothing happens from here on. Fox was careful with his next shots but the thing made erratic movements to throw off Fox's aim. It was faster and much stronger as it leaped onto Fox and knocked him down. "What are you? This is something I've never seen before." He jumped back to dodge the incoming attack.
They were fast and strong by denoting the broken boxes and ship walls. It slashed their claws at Fox and only ripping off his vest and shirt into bits. All that was revealed was a tear in his clothing to reveal his chest. It suddenly started to transform itself and copied what it looked like to be Fox himself. "I am you now, there are no differences between us." Even as he replicated Fox, it was still dark purple with the same figures. Both had similar attacks only to just block the other attack. Whenever Fox kicked, the mysterious being also kicked in the same spot. A punch was also blocked by a punch of similar power. Fox pulled out his blaster and the being did the same. Everything just matched up perfectly against Fox so he would have no advantages or disadvantages.
There wasn't a single thing Fox could do to stop this. He was equal against his opponent. Right until Falco entered the storage room and shot the being with his blaster. "I heard something from my room and I went to investigate the noise that came from here." Fox was a bit worn out but still able to maintain a combat form. Falco by his side the two were able to defeat the creature with ease and it vanished completely. "You alright? I made it just in time to stop it."
Fox sat on the cold floor, "I can't thank you enough, it mysteriously looked identical to who I am. All the same fighting moves and even body looks were identical." He couldn't fight it since everything was the same and nothing could be done differently. "I don't know what that was, but somehow it was able to copy who I am. These creatures are nothing to mess with, we need more data on them."
"It was never here in the first place, to begin with. That thing just showed up right there," Falco started to think long about this. "We never saw demons before, could that be one of those things Asura sees? If so, we have to ask her asap since she has been in battle with them." Falco turned around to walk back but suddenly a dark portal opens up before him.
It quickly emerged from the dark portal and confronted Falco face to face. It grabbed Falco's throat and began to choke him. "Show me where the demon slayer is at, or I will kill everyone here."
"I don't know," Fox said. "Let him go, he hasn't done anything wrong."
"Catch," the being said and chucked him toward Fox. Falco was sent flying into Fox and both of them flew far back onto the floor. He chuckled slightly, "You are hiding the demon slayer somewhere on this ship. Don't try to lie to me cause I know they are here. I am a demon just like your friend who has become one. We are here to destroy the universe alongside the neo-Aparoids. We will be the ones who cleanse the world of all its rotten positivity."
It rushed toward Falco and Fox to kill them but they stopped moving when they were mere steps away from them. They made deathly noises and vanished from the storage without a trace. The two members saw the dragon appear after the demon disappeared. Her sword had been drawn and it seemed like she stabbed the demon's body to kill it. "I made it just in time... are you two... alright?" the look on her face was a gloomy one but she was relieved to know Fox and Falco were safe. "I hope you two weren't hurt because I will be very frustrated at myself." The sword vanished from her hands and she hugged the fox and avian. "Don't bother answering and just leaving me unanswered."
Both of them in unison shouted, "We are alright."
Which later their responses made her much happier and she smiled. "Now that is all settled, what was that thing you two just saw?" She looked around the storage area wondering why Fox and Falco were both here. "Did something happen here?" She noticed all the broken boxes and scratches in certain areas of the storage room. Suddenly, her mysterious red eye started glowing and told them about it. "Fox, were you ambushed by a demon recently? I can see a partial amount of their remains here just fading away." There were remains of their essence left behind of their form. "There were 2 demons that entered the ship: one that fought Fox and the other that attacked Falco."
That made Fox question how did she know the story behind all of this. "Yes there were two demons before you showed up but how did you know about the first one?" He recalled the entire fight with him and the first demon encounter he had. A lot was going on for him at the time since it copied exactly who he was. "They are improving as time goes, what shall we do about them?"
Asura sighed, "It's complicated, do you remember," the name was suddenly cut off from Fox's hearing. "I always talked about him whenever I was going through rough times fighting Eliza years ago. You probably couldn't hear me say his name, I can't say it either but I feel as there is a faint memory coming back to me. He has something that I need to know about." She would go on to explain the story behind the demons starting with their progenitor, the Aparoid Queen. In this case, her name is classified as the Fragment of the Aparoid Queen.
As told in Asura's voice...
Long ago, after the first destruction of the Aparoid Queen. She would be eradicated through apoptosis or cellular destruction. It would later cause the other Aparoids to be destroyed alongside her since they shared her blood and cells. After the downfall of the queen, that's is where we thought she was finished for good. They found a piece of her fragment on an unknown planet. He and other researchers decided to study the planet to see if it were habitable or even suitable for living beings. There was a rare type of ore they found on the planet that was extremely valuable in price and its quality. So far, no one knows what it did and unfortunately, they could not sample the ore.
One of the researchers managed to find something similar to the ore. It was a small fragment that resembled the current Aparoid Queen who we thought had died. The researcher faced an unfortunate event and was infected with the special blood the queen injected. It caused him to turn into a demon and gave him these strange powers. This blood is what is inside of me and it caused the user to gain heightened traits. Increased speed and strength, the ability to regenerate your body, your senses are all heightened, a desire for blood, and enhanced powers based on the user.
Those who were infected by the Queen's blood later were turned into demons under her command. Anyone who could not adapt to the blood would end up dying from poison. The blood itself was very poisonous and is lethal to the point that a tiny amount could infect or kill someone. It was a massacre there when the queen awakened again. All the researchers that were apart of the exploration died. Fortunately, I was able to adapt to the infection and use this demonic power to my use.
They have access to demonic teleportation, it differs greatly from other forms of mobility such as Lightning Rush and Light Step. It can take you anywhere without a trace of it activating or any sounds. There is no limitation to this type of teleport so you can go far distances without spending much energy. I am the only exception to this because I do not possess any special demon powers. There is nothing special about my claws since every demon has them.
"I was told that this sword I possessed was made from the same ore that was discovered on that unknown planet," Asura concluded. "We need to get back there to get information on that ore, but I know it has been overrun by demons and Aparoids."
Fox started to speak up, "Do you remember the location? We can get there right away and just find the ore ourselves."
Asura mentioned the location and that it was outside of the Lylat System. "The planet's name is Zera or the stronghold of the enemy. It has the ore we are looking for and it is the same material as my sword. If we can establish a base there we can start to gather materials for our next move."
"Then how did you get that sword if no one could even get the ore?" Fox replied. He found a discrepancy in her story and her current statement. "You said that a lot of people died and no one was able to get it. How do you know that sword was made from that ore?"
She revealed the red sword to Fox. "You mean this sword? I got it from-" in an instant, she stopped talking and froze up. Mysteriously she started to cough up blood from her mouth and she kneeled to the floor. There was a lot of blood that came out of her mouth that she could not control it. Asura continued to cough non-stop as more and more blood was being exerted out of her body. It worsens in pain and shocked Fox and Falco inside of the storage room. They both quickly escorted her to the infirmary for analysis of the damage. Blood had stained her hands and clothing as they moved onward to the infirmary.
They set her body on top of the table and ROB immediately scanned her body for any wounds internally. Strangely, there were no deep cuts or anything inside of her. Asura's organs were still intact and not damaged. She coughed one more time before finally passing out from all the pain. When ROB checked one more time, he noticed how much blood was clogged inside of her throat, and quickly he began. "This will take a moment, please give me some time as I help reduce the blood clog." Her vitals were still functioning but the cause of all the blood remained unknown. ROB began to extract the excess amounts of blood inside of her throat but what he saw wasn't just blood. There was a mixture of colors inside of the red blood that looked purple.
ROB carefully took a small sample and asked that Fox place it in the scanner for quick analysis. ROB explained that the blood has lethal properties that when placed into someone else would cause destruction upon them. "Don't drop it, very important sample right there." Fox held onto the test tube and carefully placed it inside of the solution analyzer. "I can see something inside of that causing the blood to become unstable and cause strange mutations in a person." He continued to see any issues with the overflow of blood but there weren't any open wounds or injuries causing the problem. Then the mysterious blood traveled upward into her head and started to attack the brain. "This isn't going to end well for Asura, I never experienced any injuries like this before. If I manage to fix her up, she will end up with amnesia and rare physical problems." It was the best he could do and at least she doesn't die. He asked that Fox leaves for ROB to focus on the recovery.
"Please, keep her safe and well, she is a great friend and ally to us." Fox pleaded. ROB said he couldn't ensure promises but would do his best to help out. "I'll see you two tomorrow," and he walked out the door to his room to sleep.