Chapter 18
"Run! It's the cursed half-blood!"
"He's real! Run or you'll die!"
"Waaaaah! Ruuuuun!"
"How is this possible? He can't possibly exist!"
Dawn stood frozen on the center field of the school gymnasium. She was surrounded by her screaming school mates and teachers running around in a frenzied panic trying to run away from something or someone. Piles of bloodied dead bodies were littered like confetti on the gymnasium floor and the upper benches of the stadium. The screaming of everyone sounded like howling gust of a merciless typhoon.
From the chaos and massacre that orchestrated right before her eyes, she slowly traced her hands and arms and noticed how it was unusually normal, no blood stain and no injuries. She seemed to be someone not part of the ongoing holocaust as if witnessing all of it as a holographic representation of herself from a different dimension.
"Thi-this c-can't be... Yo-you ca-can't po-pos-possibly be re-real!"
She heard a dying gasp behind her followed by a thud which she could not imagine to be something else other than an additional body to the count.
The aroma that drafted by her made her automatically turn her head around. His aroma has always been so strangely enticing to her, not only that it was unworldly it reminded her of something rooted deep inside of her that she has yet to dig out and acknowledge. She could almost undeniably feel that she was born to become a part of him.
And right there before her stood a shadowy figure full of gray static like a forgotten memory trying to resurface.
"Paul..?" Her voice quivered lightly.
Dawn tried moving, whether to step back or move closer, she does not know exactly for sure. But her legs felt glued to the floor. The static figure hovered inching closer to her savoring each centimeter with withheld bloodlust. A bloodlust that didn't seem to faze her, not one bit.
"Wh...why, why are you..why are you doing this...?" She managed to let out only to be answered with nothing but the continuous screaming of everybody around them that soon became dead eerie silence. "You...you can't keep doing this... Paul.."
"Is this what you really want? Paul! Stop this already!"
As the static grew closer and closer to Dawn, the figure remained as ambiguous as she saw it from afar. But she knew it was him, no amount of darkness and alienation could make her forget his aroma. The static soon dissipated and transformed to a mist that slowly enveloped Dawn's body, scaling and snaking from her petrified feet up to her legs and all the way up to her neck.
"Stop it already...stop doing this..." A tear slipped down past her cheek. "You are not a monster, aren't you?"
The intimacy of it made her close her eyes and bit her lips in horrid anticipation. She gasped one last time before holding her breath.
"A monster, apparently." She could hear the mist whisper to her ear, that unmistakably familiarly cold and unamused tone sent a ringing chime down her spine. She could feel Paul almost materializing within her and possessing her body through the mist. "Isn't it obvious?" It was the last thing she heard before she could almost feel Paul's teeth sink deep into her neck.
...
Dawn jolt up of bed drenched in cold sweat. Her gag reflex instantly kicked in sending her off running to the bathroom as she vomited on the sink. It took her a couple of minutes before she was able to keep herself together. She leaned on the sink, her knees rocking from that run she just made right after a deep sleep. She examined herself on the mirror. Her skin has gone pale and her eyes shot blood. She sighed and witnessed how her hands trembled.
Her ocean hair that dangled just a few centimeters below her shoulder were more unkempt than the usual.
"I look awful.." She whispered to herself. "After that dream, who wouldn't be I guess.."
She slowly and slightly tilt her head and swept the hair over her shoulder. Looking at the mirror she saw a scar that vaguely resembled a lodged diamond. "It's been what, five days since Kenny and I got discharged from the hospital? How come I didn't notice this before? What is this?" She tried feeling the scar letting the warmness of her temperature calm her anxiety down from trying to guess what the scar might be. For some reason, touching the scar sparks images of Paul in her mind.
She turned on the faucet and splashed cold running water against her face in an attempt to get a better hold of her reality. "I probably got this during the school incident or something."
She took a nearby towel and dried her face as she got out of the bathroom. She looked at the wall clock hanging above her bookshelf and saw that it was already 4PM in the afternoon. She took a deep breath and decided to open up her windows thinking that it was the lack of fresh air that might be the cause of her recent nightmare, only to be taken aback by a knock on her door.
"Who could that be." Noticing how she was in her tank top and short shorts, she threw the towel on the chair and took a coat to at least cover her up before greeting her visitor. "Kenny? Be there in a minute!" She called out and tied her hair in a hasty ponytail.
She was surprised to see who was behind the knocking that she almost fell back.
"Thank goodness Dawn you're okay." Solidad immediately threw herself over Dawn right after seeing Dawn open the door. Solidad hugged her so tight it left Dawn with so much guilt from forgetting to contact her ever since she was hospitalized last month. "I was so worried about you.." Dawn's arms was left hanging at her sides, the guilt from the sudden realization made them too heavy for her to lift them up and return the hug.
"I'm so sorry Miss Solidad..." Was all Dawn could utter. "I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to make you worry."
"I know.. I know.." Solidad replied. "So much has happened. You have nothing to be sorry about."
Solidad's hug was so warm and so nostalgic. And despite how much she hated how it reminded her of her own mother way back in Twinleaf Town, she still couldn't deny that it was something she badly needed. She returned the hug and let out unexpected tears escape her weary eyes. She instantly hated herself for forgetting Solidad.
"Uhm.." Dawn wiped her tears with the back of her right hand. "Please do come in, I can make you coffee." She offered as they both broke the hug.
"Is it okay if I come in?" Solidad voiced her concern, also wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "Didn't know worrying about my top employee would make me damn cheesy." She jested.
"Of course of course, please do come in." Dawn smiled.
...
"Five hundred..."
"Five hundred one.."
"Five hundred two.."
"Five hundred three.."
Kenny counted, seeing his sweat marked blots on the floor. Ever since both he and Dawn got back from the hospital five days ago, he's been obsessed in trying to build up his body. Knowing Dawn wanted to return back to her school and find Paul, knowing how he can not stop her or even beg her to stop, she left him no choice but to toughen himself up for any unsuspecting challenges and dangers along the way.
The past few days he was able to get to four hundred push ups, and today his aim was try to get up to that six hundred mark.
"Five hundred four.."
"Five hundred five.."
"First we have the Faerie devils. These devils are the weakest of the three."
Volkner's voice echoed in his head bolstering up the muscles in his arms. His pace suddenly getting faster and faster.
"Five hundred fifty.."
"Five hundred sixty.."
"After promising I would protect her, I got scared like shit! I'm such a freaking wuss!"
"Why can't I protect her?! Why am I so weak?! Was there even anything I could do? How could I even save her? I'm just nothing.. I'm no one. I couldn't possibly save her."
Kenny felt insurmountable strength flow through his veins, empowering his entire being.
"Six hundred..."
"Six hundred fifty..."
"Seven hundred..."
"Eight hundred..."
"I'm not letting any devil take away Dawn. Over my dead body! I will protect you this time Dawn. I swear."
"Nine hundren ninety nine.."
"One thousand!"
Kenny fell flat on the floor panting and gasping for breath. His chest beating so wildly he felt it could almost burst open. He took off his sleeveless shirt and rolled over and faced the ceiling. The warm temperature of his skin crashed against the coldness of the tiles.
"Not only that I surpassed six hundred, I managed to beat my previous record twice the amount." He panted air. He felt a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek from his forehead.
He stood up and observed himself in the mirror just across his bed. "I don't care what kind of devil I am." He saw his eyes glimmer an angry red. "This time I'm gonna protect Dawn no matter what." He closed his eyes and once he opened them again they were back to their auburn state. He blinked and they glowed red again. Not only that he was training up his body, he's been practicing control over his devil state. He found out that he can only summon that much strength only when his eyes glowed red, or in his devil state as he called it. Without that, he's nothing more than just another pathetic teenager.
He was about to get his shirt on the floor when he noticed his sapphire pendant shimmer on top of his bedside table. He slowly made his way to the bed and took the item. He stared at it for relatively a while.
'Live, for me, no matter what. And I'll see you again. Definitely.'
Kenny felt his temple, he suddenly felt his head throb with pain. "Who the hell are you...and what is this thing you gave me?"
"As the mother sacrifices herself, she turns her body into this bluish gem we call a 'birth stone'."
"A birth stone... is this a birth stone?" Kenny remembered Volkner mention about the birth stone the past week.
Kenny thought to himself. If it indeed was a birth stone then that would have meant that he's a bane devil, but he quickly dismissed the idea. If he ever was a bane devil, he would have probably noticed it a long time ago. Plus, the pendant was not originally his, it was only given to him by that girl he remembered in his dream - red hair, toothy grin and full of energy. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fully remember her face.
"RUN! NOW! I'll hold them back."
"NOW! KENNY! RUN GODDAMIT!"
"Does it even matter if I try to know her? Or even remember her?" He found himself asking. "For all I know she could have long been dead..."
"But maybe...just maybe.." He placed the pendant back on the table. "Just maybe..."
'Live, for me, no matter what. And I'll see you again. Definitely.'
"If anything, she's the key to knowing who and what I really am."
Kenny took a towel when he realized it was already evening, he has been working out for four hours straight now. He worked his way to the bathroom to take a bath. He twisted the nozzle and felt the gush of warm water coarse through his body. The water immediately taking away the weariness and pain of the muscles all over his body.
"She better kept that promise."
...
"So how's the pharmacy?" Dawn asked as she walked to the kitchen to prepare Solidad coffee.
"Is it okay to hang my coat over this chair?" Solidad asked, slowly unbuttoning and removing her coat. Dawn followed her with a nod.
"It sure has gone chilly outside. And by the way, you don't need to worry about the pharmacy." She replied and took her seat at a nearby stool after placing her coat. "I came to bring you fruits." She added, placing a basket full of apples and oranges on the table.
"Oh!" Dawn looked back, she barely noticed the basket Solidad brought. "Thank you."
"It's been crazy Dawn." Solidad continued. "After that incident at Hearthome Academy, the GAS are now everywhere holding down security like crazy."
Dawn came out of the kitchen holding a tray with Solidad's cup of coffee. Dawn placed the tray on the table and offered the cup to her. "Holding down security?" Dawn sat across her.
"Have you heard of GAS?" Solidad asked, taking a quick sip of the cup. "Good coffee by the way." She inserted which got her a chuckling bluenette.
"The one who gave me the packet I used for that coffee is actually a GAS person.." Dawn replied thoughtfully.
"Really?! This is amazing!" Solidad retorted. "Like seriously, no kidding."
"Volkner Starr. That is his name. You know him? He says he's a Pillar."
"Oh him." Solidad continued taking sip of her coffee. "I've seen him on TV many times. How did you meet him? If he's a Pillar that means he's the one behind all this.."
Dawn scratched the back of her head, remembering where to start. "Well, after what happened to my school, apparently I was one of the very few survivors. I was not taken into any normal hospital, it was their hospital. Hearthome Medical Center? Dr. Thornton and Mr. Starr looked after us survivors. They're both kind."
"I see..." Solidad hummed and cupped her chin, tucking a stray of her coral hair behind her ear.
"Is there something wrong?" Dawn asked, noticing Solidad's wariness.
"It's just weird, that's all." She replied, her fingers fiddling with the cup holder. "I just don't understand something."
"What do you mean?"
"What happened at the school was very serious right, but I just don't understand why they would keep it all just inside Hearthome City. I'm sure you've seen the news, a mass scourging or whatever they call it happened but that news wasn't broadcasted outside the city. Which is very weird." Solidad placed the cup on the table and anxiously interlocked her fingers. "I grew up in Pewter City in Kanto, and my mom usually visits me here in Hearthome at least once a month and I just received a phone call from her two days ago telling me she wasn't allowed to enter the city. She didn't even know about that school scourging incident last month."
"So that meant what happened was only kept here in Hearthome?" Dawn followed.
Solidad nodded. "My mother likes reading the news, it's impossible for her to miss this kind of thing." She looked back at the coffee and witnessed her murky reflection on the cup. "She told me that the GAS who blocked her entrance didn't even tell her the reason why the city was under lock down. She was just sent back home."
"That's why I got extra worried about you, there's something fishy about this GAS agency or whatever.." Solidad added.
Dawn remembered her time back at the hospital with Volkner. It was indeed something fishy how they kept that big incident under the rug without letting the other regions know, or at least the rest of Sinnoh. Even though Dawn only met Volkner just that month she was recuperating, she couldn't believe that Volkner was capable of doing something evil or dirty, she knew deep down that he was kind. He did save her and Kenny from that school.
And what's even more unbelievable to Dawn was Solidad's honest concern about her well-being. Solidad being a few years older than her, she almost sounded like Dawn's older sister.
Dawn finally smiled at her, then she started laughing so hard that she had to hold her stomach down.
"Hey!" Solidad frowned at her. "What is so funny?"
"Because you sound like a doting older sister, that's why.." Dawn slowly stopped laughing. "But honestly, thank you for visiting me Ms. Solidad.." She wiped a few tears that escaped. "Really, I appreciate it." She smiled.
Solidad replied with a pout. "Too late. I can not forgive you now. I'll be taking back this basket with me thank you and good bye."
"No no no I was just kidding!" Dawn alarmingly stood up from her seat and realized a little too late to see Solidad's smug. Dawn clipped her hips. "Okay now we're even." They both chuckled.
"Nope!" Solidad replied. "Not until you stop calling me Ms. Solidad. Solidad is just fine." Solidad raised an eyebrow.
Dawn felt her heart flutter. "Okay." She smiled to herself.
"Anyway, I better get going Dawn." Solidad checked her wrist watch. "It's already quarter to six, curfew."
"Oh yeah, curfew..." Dawn nodded slowly. "Be careful on your way back Solidad." Dawn stood up and took Solidad's coat. "Thank you for the fruits again." She handed to Solidad the coat and joined her all the way to the door.
"Take your time. You don't have to hurry coming back to the pharmacy." Solidad reassured her.
"But you know I can't just take all my time being here. I miss working you know." Dawn said thoughtfully, holding the door.
Solidad playfully jabbed Dawn's side. "Just do us all three a favor and look after yourself first before coming back to the pharmacy." She started walking along the hallway going to the stairs.
"Wait, three?" Dawn called out to her.
Solidad stopped by the stairs and turned to her. "Yeah. Three. I've been managing the pharmacy just fine because of Maylene. She missed you a lot. Bye Dawn! See you soon back at the pharmacy!" She went down the stairs skipping and soon disappeared leaving behind only her clumsy steps echoing throughout the entire complex.
'What...'
Dawn thought as the door behind her slowly shut itself close.
'Maylene is alive? What..?'
...
*A week ago*
"Koga.." Karen whispered through her mobile, it was already dark as the sun completely sunk behind her from the horizon. Night time has fallen. "Give me the signal whenever. I'm ready." Karen stood up from the edge of the rooftop of the apartment complex just across Hearthome Medical Center.
"I got them insight already." Koga replied. "Remember, just get the kid and get out as soon as you can. That doctor and Volkner are a pain to deal with, we must make it quick."
"I know I know. How many times do you think I've done this." Karen inhaled deeply. "See you soon back at the academy." She closed her cell shut and stuffed it into her side pocket.
She closed her eyes and clasped both of her hands. She took one deep breath, her concentration deepened so much that all the sound around her died down to complete nothingness leaving only her beating heart. She could feel the glow of the moon behind her, bathing her body in a mystifying glimmer. Karen started her prayer.
"I, Karen Blake, daughter of the Moon Stalker.
With undying loyalty under your power.
Bestowed upon thy blessing of the night."
Karen opened her eyes glaring deep crimson.
"Petrify these mortals under thy moonlight!"
Her shadow ballooned encapsulating the hospital under a shadowish dome. Everything breathing within the vicinity of the hospital immediately froze.
"Sphere of influence complete. Shadow shift: Kronos' Sphere."
Everything under the dome immediately pictured itself inside Karen's mind, the architecture, the people, even down to the exact amount of the supplies. "Four floors, eighteen doctors, fifty five nurses, fifteen patients..."
"Bingo..." She smirked. "The basement."
With the complete information shown to her by her dome, she knew that the kid they were looking for was among the thirty five people she sensed inside the basement. The basement needed a certain key card but she won't be needing it as she can just slipped through concrete and steel under her dome. But even still, she needed the key card to bring someone else out.
"The security holding the key card is the one assigned to the surgery department."
She set her watch under twenty five minutes and took one last look at the full moon above her.
"May you never stop guiding me."
She snapped her fingers as her body turned ghostly, Karen slowly slipped through concrete all the way to the hospital in her spirit form, ethereal form as she called it.
She slipped past through glass doors and concrete walls. And in just under five minutes she was able to find the security with the key card that granted access to the basement. Since she can't make anything she did not own to be an ethereal, she has no choice but to materialize herself if ever she wanted to bring the key card with her. She quickly took it from the frozen unsuspecting security and placed it inside her back pocket.
"Ain't this annoying. Why does the basement elevator has to be at the other end." She grunted as she ran all the way to the other side running past statues of nurses and doctors as the light of the moon showered through the stained jalousie of the hospital windows by her side.
She swiftly swiped the key card and heard the elevator door rising up, the door made an unusual loud grunt as it opened. She quickly went inside and punched the bottom most button as the elevator gently hummed going down.
She took a quick look at her wrist watch. "Twenty minutes, that should be more than enough."
The elevator doors soon opened to a darkened room filled with cylindrical containers filled with bluish liquid big enough to hold an actual person. And upon closer inspection, there were indeed actual people inside these cylindrical containers. Karen had always thought about the monstrosity of experimentation done by humans, but seeing it in her own eyes was a completely different tale.
She quickly stepped out of the elevator and visually scanned the area. Aside from the thirty five people inside the cylinders, there were apparently none supervising the area, no doctors nor personnel, this surprised her.
The information the dome showed her was accurate, the basement room was more than half of the size of the hospital. If what Koga said to her was true, then finding the cursed halfblood wouldn't be a problem as his Redolence would easily give him away. Even Prince Lance could spread his Redolence throughout his entire castle. Yet, Karen couldn't smell anything aside the putrid smell of disinfectant, acrylic and latex.
"Damn..." She cursed under her breath. "Concentrate..." She deepened her concentration once again. "Then I just have to detect the most essence.." She closed her eyes once more and pressed her palm on the cold cemented floor.
Karen deepened her breathing even more, each breath she took sent a ripple of essence throughout the entire area scanning it with every pulse.
"There..."
She ran quickly to the rightmost part of the room jumping over swivel chairs and laboratory tables and setups. The eerie silence of the laboratory didn't help calm her uneasiness down with all the inhuman displays of bodies floating inside these containers.
She almost gagged.
"This is him...?" She took a second to catch her breath and examined the cylindrical tube that emanated the most significant essence that she felt. "This must be him right? It's gotta be him. What happened to his Redolence? I smell nothing." She automatically pressed the number combination on a number pad on a tablet just below the container. The container hissed as it drained the bluish liquid inside. Karen now has a much more careful and closer look at the boy. "This is the cursed halfblood? Despite having the most significant essence, it's barely even anything compared to mine. And I thought Koga said he also has Redolence." As soon as the cylindrical container popped open Karen immediately carried the boy over her shoulder. She felt his soft and still breathing. She swept some of his purple hair at the side of his face before positioning him better over her shoulders.
Karen reviewed the essence ripple she did earlier and sprinted a little more further to the right stopping to another cylindrical container. Without a moment to waste, she quickly input the number code as the bluish liquid started draining out. With her other shoulder she carried Zoey's also barely breathing body.
"Thank goodness you're still alive." Karen heaved a sigh of relief. "Time to get the fuck out of here." She ran her fastest back to the elevator only to be stopped in her tracks by someone standing right in front of the elevator door.
"Excuse me? I assume you're the one responsible for this spell eh?" The stranger called out to her. The light from the elevator blocked Karen's vision of this person. But judging from the voice, it was a girl. For a second, Karen thought that Koga might have failed in holding up Volkner and Blaine. Thankfully this was not the case, this relieved her to some extent. But more importantly, Karen asked herself how this girl was able to move under her sphere of influence.
"I kindly ask of ya to undo this." The girl added.
Karen made a quick assessment of the situation. Based on her visual evaluation, the girl in front of her seemed around Zoey's age probably still a student. If that was the case, she might be able to easily overpower her. She wanted to be confident, but the fact that this girl was able to move under her sphere of influence was telling her a different story. There were only a few people she encountered that broke her sphere, all of them which she suffered complete defeat from.
Base from her data base there was not anyone she knew that could do such feat, at least not in Sinnoh alone. Karen guessed that she might be someone outside of Sinnoh deployed here in Hearthome City to investigate the scourging incident.
"Interesting..." She found herself grinning, this revelation somehow excited her. "You humans never cease to amaze me."
"Excuse me? Didn't cha hear me? I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to ask ya to drop 'em. Or else I might have to hurt ya." The girl bathed by the elevator light stood low in a defensive stance.
Karen was left with no choice, this girl was an essential addition to her growing intel. Karen at least have to know her, especially that she's able to resist her dome. If the situation would ever become too troublesome, by that time she would have at least held on to Zoey and the kid's body long enough that she can include them under her ethereal form and just slipped past this girl and escape.
"Aren't you a bit too cocky for your age?" Karen replied. She started bending her knees a little, lowering her center of gravity as well. She tightened her arms around the body of the two teenagers she was carrying.
"It's probably the sugar that's talking." The girl cocked her head and smiled a toothy grin. "Heehee."
"Try me then child." Karen jumped back releasing a wave of shadows in a form of jagged spears. "Let's see what you got."
Chapter 18 End: An Unforeseen Encounter