Chapter 8:Floor 6
Acedia
I'll do it tomorrow..
Gallows was somewhat surprised when his face was unpleasantly introduced to a solid oak door. He rubbed his nose and glared at it with irritation.
(Why, THANK YOU, I really didn't need that nose anyway…)
You should be more careful, you're way too clumsy…
"Yeah, yeah…" simpered Gallows, reaching down for the faded copper door knob.
As his hand circled the door knob, a cold chill crept down his spine and he quickly pulled his hand away.
(Now I really don't want to open this door…)
Stop being a weakling, we have GOT to get through this. Do you understand me?
Gallows sighed and nodded his head slowly, he hated it when Roka actually made sense!
He reached down and turned the cold door knob, his hand shaking as he did so. It did not exactly make him feel warm and fuzzy when the door opened with a shriek, in fact, had he not been high on adrenaline, he would have exited in a quick manner from Simulacrum like a bat out of hell.
(Doors are NOT supposed to shriek, damn it!)
Well, just acknowledge it and move on like a good boy…)
Gallows rolled his eyes and stepped through the door, his feet automatically adhering to the floor for some reason. With a grunt of exertion, Gallows lifted his foot and then slammed it back down on the floor as hard as he could. He did not care much for the sensation of immobility.
It's dark… I wonder what got a hold of your foot?
Gallows sighed and blinked a couple of times, hoping that it would help his eyes adjust to the darkness.
(I don't want to hear that right now, so, if you would, you know, go away and leave me alone…Yeah…)
A buzzing sound followed by a tickle on his face, caused Gallows to cease his argument with Roka and slap himself. A not so pleasant feeling of wetness dripped down his face and he brought his hand down, trying to discern what was splattered all over his palm.
" A fly…" whispered Gallows, shaking his hand so that the fly's carcass flitted down to the dirt covered floor. Gallows closed his eyes and wiped his hand on his jeans.
Another fly, obviously not to happy with his friends demise, rammed itself into Gallows' chest, causing Gallows to grunt and slap at it angrily.
"He…" the rest of Gallows' sentence was interrupted by the sight of a flicker of blue light coming toward him. Gallows wrapped his arms protectively across his chest, for some reason, that light made him feel cold.
Virginia grunted as she pushed a strand of sticky spider web from her face. To her surprise (and to a certain degree, concern) her trip through the floors of Simulacrum thus far were rather uneventful, and for some reason, that bothered her.
(It's almost like Gallows left a trail of emptiness in his wake.. Has he truly turned evil? NO! He's Gallows, he's too strong to fall into that sort of trap!…. What's making me think things like that?)
"Well, whatever it is, it needs to stop! I'm not going to fall for some dumb mind trick!" said Virginia out loud, hoping that whatever was around heard her. A snicker at the far end of the gaudy golden hall made her blood freeze and her heart skip a beat.
"So…" laughed the unknown entity with a snort "You're Gallows' love… Most impressive!"
Virginia started out of her stupor and narrowed her eyes, she hated things that talked big and yet were not visible for her to shoot.
"What if I am?" snapped Virginia, pulling out her guns and aiming them down the hallway.
"Now, now, there's no need for violence! I'm just a man with a mission! Hear me before you decide to fill me with holes." Laughed the entity as he took a couple of invisible steps toward her. Virginia nodded, put her guns away, and leaned against the golden wall, her arms crossed defiantly across her chest.
"Well now, I've got a message for you from the young priest. Do you wish to hear it?" asked the indiscernible specter. Virginia, quite confused with the lack of animosity in the specter's voice, shook her head dully, a thousand thoughts streaming though her head in a torrent.
(What kind of message? Is it really from him? Is he safe? What if..?)
"Umm.. excuse me…" cut the ghost into her thoughts impatiently. Virginia blinked and smiled apologetically, causing the aura around her to shift with confusion.
"I'm sorry, I was just lost in thought. What's the message?"
"Umm… It is right here…" stuttered the specter, his voice sounding more and more like Gallows'.
"You just don't get it, do you? Nothing you have can compare to what's in my heart. Gella can buy a dozen roses but not true affection. A ring that seemingly holds power over a thousand worlds does not compare to the power that a certain woman holds over my being…" crackled Gallows' voice through the stagnant air, bringing both a warmth to Virginia's heart and a chill to her spine.
"He.. he said that?" mumbled Virginia, blushing a little as she did so. The specter grunted his acknowledgment and then coughed a little. Virginia blinked and smiled sheepishly. What else did he want?
"Yes?" asked Virginia politely, the smile falling slowly from her face.
"Where's my Gella?" whined the voice impatiently. All of the sudden, a bejeweled, disembodied, hand materialized out of thin air and extended greedily. Virginia gasped and took a couple of steps back.
"I'm sorry, I don't have any Gella with me at the moment.." responded Virginia apologetically. The disembodied hand closed itself into a fist and then disappeared, causing Virginia to once again draw her ARM. The Specter growled and then the space in front of her twisted and distorted, causing her to stumble back a little more.
"What is it with you people and having no Gella? I swear, the world must have turned poorer over the last couple of decades!" huffed the specter as the distortion shifted violently.
"Well, Gella is not that important anyway, so why don't you stop your pathetic whining!" snapped Virginia, spinning the guns around her fingers and then pointing them at the distortion.
"And GUNS! For the love of the Guardian Gods, why do you always want to point GUNS at folks? That's just rude in my opinion! I swear, you and Gallows are going to have some IGNORANT children! Just you wait, they're going to be in the poor house before.."
"Shut up! Who said that Gallows and I were going to have children?!" huffed Virginia, blushing violently. The entity laughed and then the distortion started to dissipate, throwing Virginia for a loop.
"No one did, I, Mammon, just made that assumption! See you around!" And with those words, Mammon faded away and went off to do whatever wayward spirits did after they got vanquished.
"Hmph! Me bearing Gallows' children?! What a load of bull!" snarled Virginia as she stomped toward the door at the end of the corridor, still blushing like mad.
He walked slowly toward the light, the Zanzir drawn and in his quaking hands. It was not so uncommon for the hallways to be dark, but for some reason, the darkness seemed more secretive and brooding and he wanted out of it.
"W-Who's there?" asked Gallows as he stopped a couple of yards from the light. The light waved impatiently and bounced away from him, filling him with a certain degree of annoyance.
"Hey! Where're are you going? I.." he didn't finish the sentence, on the account that he was now laying face first on the floor, his body draped over something soft and stiff. With a strangled cry, Gallows stood up quickly and looked down at the darkened, innate form on the floor.
"I'm sorry, I forgot to move him… I'll do it tomorrow.." sighed the light, swaying back and forth.
"Huh? Do what tomorrow?" inquired Gallows, looking up at the light. The light stopped swaying and turned red, causing Gallows to feel nauseous with fear.
"I'll scoop his body up TOMORROW, you doofus!" snarled the light, it's feminine voice becoming more definite now. Gallows shook his head dumbly, it normally was not wise to ask to many questions.
"I see.. " said Gallows slowly, trying his best not to anger the light.
"You do? Really?" laughed the light, fading back to a light blue.
(Hmm.. Her emotions are pretty easy to see.. I wish that all women were like that..)
Keep dreaming..
(Yeah.. I know…)
"So, what's your name?" asked Gallows warmly, sheathing the Zanzir and extending his hand.
"Raina.." she giggled, the light now glowing a darkish green.
"That's a very pretty name." Smiled Gallows, dropping his hand to his side after realizing that she was not going to shake it. The dark green light was now flecked with dark blue, and for some reason, Gallows knew that she was flattered and slightly embarrassed.
"Thank you! I'm quite fond of it myself, what, with it being my name and all!" laughed Raina heartily, causing the light to sway rapidly back and forth.
Enough idle chit chat. I want answers and I want them NOW! And with that, Gallows all of the sudden felt light and Roka took the reins.
"What is it that you do here?" demanded Roka of Raina, making Gallows cringe at the possible results.
The dark green light flashed red and Roka was flung against the wall roughly.
"I scoop up the dead bodies that accumulate around here and dispose of them" snapped Raina, putting a sharp emphasis on the word "dispose".
"I see… " mumbled Roka, pushing himself from the wall, ignoring the fact that his body had made an indention in the plaster.
"You sure are DUMB!" spat Raina, the light now floating right in front of him.
Your turn.. Roka gave control to Gallows and Gallows smiled at the burning red light sheepishly. Roka had a bad habit of starting trouble for Gallows.
"I'm sorry?" answered Gallows carefully, the Guardian's only KNEW what she was capable of…
"Hey! Wait a minute! Your soul is different now! How is it that you've got TWO souls?!" whined Raina, the light shaking violently. Gallows took a couple of steps back and held his hands up defensively.
"It's a long story.."
"Well, don't bother telling me it! I've got work to do!" snapped Raina, the light fading.
"Hey, please wait! Can you tell me how to.." Gallows' sentence tapered off when he saw that the light had completely faded and Raina's presence was no where to be found.
(Damn, I guess we'll have to proceed without light..)
Fool, use your head! Make a torch and use Moor…
(With what materials? Are you expecting me to just MATERIALIZE these things? )
Why don't you just use an arm from one of the LOVELY corpses scattered around here? I'm sure they would not mind. Seeing that they are dead and all…
(You're sick, I'm NOT going to use an arm as a torch! )
Then you rather walk around in this oppressive darkness? Because that is what you are implying us do..
(…. I can't do it, that's defacing a human being and…)
Fine.. I will do it..
Gallows once again felt his spirit being pushed back into the proverbial back seat and Roka bent down and blindly pawed at the body for the soon to be torch.
(Why am I allowing him to do this? It goes against everything that I believe in! Everything!)
Gallows cringed when he heard Roka ripping the corpses arm out of socket and then pulling it off with a wet yank.
(Nice Roka, I'm sure he didn't feel a thing..)
Of course not, he's dead. Was Roka's response.
Roka was now holding up a partially decomposed arm, smiling a little as he did so. Gallows felt his stomach lurch and he had to fight the urge to vomit.
Now, all I've got to do is strip a piece of cloth from his shirt and…
"Give it back…." Rasped a voice from the floor, startling both Gallows and Roka to a certain degree.
Gallows was once again in control of his body, and out of instinct, threw the arm down in disgust.
"Thank you…" rasped the voice as bony fingers wrapped themselves around Gallows' ankle.
"ACK!" exclaimed Gallows, kicking at the hand as hard as he could.
"Opps, sorry, I thought that was my arm…"
"It's okay… Sorry I kicked you." Sighed Gallows, looking at the darkened corpse.
"Not a problem, but I would appreciate it if you would refrain from stealing my body parts.."
"Umm, not to be rude or anything, but, aren't you dead?" inquired Gallows, readying himself for anything.
The corpse sighed and then laughed a little.
"Well, yes, I am dead. But that doesn't mean that I like to have my parts picked from me…"
(I'm talking to a corpse.. I wonder why I don't find this in the least bit strange?)
"I'm sorry, I guess that WAS a rather dumb question…"
"Not at all, you were curious. Now.." the corpse stood up with a grunt and started to walk away. " If you'll excuse me, I've got to talk to the boss about disposing of me properly. They sure have been moving slow the last couple of years…"
Well, there goes our torch! I hope you're happy now you-
"The hallway is starting to light up.." whispered Gallows as he saw the far end of the hallway light up with a soft glow.
A pleasant humming sound followed the light and Gallows unsheathed the Zanzir and held it out in front of him hesitantly, he didn't like violence, but at the same time, he cherished his life.
The light was almost to him now, and the same cold that he felt when he saw "Raina" was nipping at him again. It felt like some one was shoving an iced over poker into his spine and moving it around.
"Well now, we have a live one!" Laughed a male's voice cheerfully as the cool light covered Gallows and crept passed him. Gallows smiled as warmly as he could and then laughed.
" I certainly hope so!"
"Well then, I'm sure that you would like to have some light so that you can see! I hope this is enough!"
Gallows was about to answer in a positive manner when he spotted the eye less corpse on the floor, a drove of flies feasting on their apparently delicious meal.
"Wha-What's up with THAT?!" shuddered Gallows, pointing down to the corpse. There was a sharp laugh and all of the sudden Gallows was looking into a pair of yellow eyes. Startled, he stumbled back and took a good look at his newest guest. It was an elderly man, perhaps in his late fifties, with thinning black hair and a face that was wrinkled with time and laughter.
"Why, that's Alic I believe! Poor man, he was attacked by those ferocious Aello's and.. Well, you see the results.." said the pale faced old man, closing his bright yellow eyes and shaking his head slowly.
"I see.. So, why is he still here in the hallway?" inquired Gallows, looking back down at the corpse pitifully. The yellow eyed man opened his eyes and a small but caustic smile crossed his aged face.
"Do you really think that we want to put forth that kind of effort? Besides, someone will get around to it eventually…" quipped the man, rotating his hand at the wrist to emphasize his point.
"Judging by the looks of it, you have a lot of procrastinators…" sighed Gallows, looking down the hallway at the other corpses . The man stepped in front of him and scowled.
"Look, if you just came here to insult my crew and myself then LEAVE, I really don't have the time for you! I should just take the light with me when I go!"
Gallows sighed and rubbed his temples, his already shot patience was starting to ebb a little more.
"Listen, I just want to get to the next floor without any problems. Is that to much to ask?"
The old man thought on Gallows' question and then smiled and held out his hand amiably.
"My name is Tābificus, pleased to meet you." Laughed Tābificus, as he took Gallows' hand into his own and shook it as hard as he could. Gallows smiled, and after a couple of seconds of shaking Tābificus' hand, pulled his own hand away slowly and dropped it down to his side.
"My name is Gallows and the pleasure is all mine."
"Well, since we're friends now, shall we be on our way?"
("Gallows? You're… a friend?") Gallows shook that haunting thought away and followed Tābificus down the corpse littered hall.
"I'm sure you'll love the boss, she's full of energy and ALWAYS so witty!" gushed the old man as he opened a door into what seemed to be a void. Gallows blinked as a sudden flash of light invaded his eyes. Tābificus chuckled at Gallows' response and then disappeared, leaving Gallows with whatever was through that door.
"Come in, child, there is no need to stand out there where it is damp and unpleasant" came a comely voice from the light. Gallows shielded his eyes and slowly walked into the room, triggering the door to slam behind him. The light faded, and on a thrown of silver sat a beautiful woman . Her silver hair was pulled away from her slender, pale face into an orderly bun, and her mercury colored eyes studied Gallows intently. Gallows bowed politely to her and she laughed.
"My, what a gentleman! You do not see many of those!"
Gallows straightened up, a ghost of a smile crossing his face.
"I'm sorry to hear that, ma'am, young people are really shameful these days."
Ah, and there goes the pot calling the kettle black!
"Yes… So, what is it that you need?" inquired the beautiful woman, crossing her legs and looking at Gallows quizzically.
(Her eyes are captivating.. I think there's a reason for that) Gallows broke the woman's gaze by looking at the ground and shuffling his feet.
"I need to get to the next floor, and I need to do this quickly.." answered Gallows quietly, stopping his foot and looking up at the woman intently. The woman laughed, picked up a wine glass from the table beside her, and held out in front of her, causing the red wine to slosh around within the crystalline depths.
" Now why would you want to do that? This place is so much NICER than the next floor." Giggled the woman, taking a drink from the glass and then setting it down beside her on the table.
"It's nothing against you or this floor.."
(Save the fact that there are corpses littering the floors…)
The woman's smile dropped from her face and she stood up, now glancing down at Gallows sharply.
"I can't let you go to the next floor yet! I need some more energy!" snapped the woman, walking down the steps toward him. Gallows took a couple of steps back and unsheathed the Zanzir, startling the woman to a certain extent.
"Don't be so quick to judge. I'm not going to become one of those mindless, lazy zombies OR an eye less corpse. There's a reason that all the people here are lazy and the corpses have not been disposed of, isn't there?" rasped Gallows, digging the Zanzir into the floor angrily and glaring at her. The woman hissed at him and reached her hand out quickly to slap him. Gallows saw this movement and caught her hand inches away from his face, extracting another exasperated hiss from her.
"How DARE you treat the great Hirūdō this way!" snarled Hirūdō, pulling her hand roughly from Gallows'
"Listen, Hirūdō, I mean no disrespect, and if you want to leech life from the poor people here, that's your business. But I really need to get to the next floor without putting up with all of this drama…" spat Gallows, pulling the Zanzir from the floor and resting it on his shoulder menacingly.
Hirūdō closed her eyes and shook her head slowly from side to side.
"Do you really think that you scare me? Come off of it, succumb to the peace that can be found only through me!" Shrieked Hirūdō, rushing at Gallows at top speed.
"You talk to damn much!" growled Gallows, dodging her rush and swinging the sword in a side swiping motion. With a grunt, Hirūdō faced the swing, grabbed the sword by its blade, and yanked it toward her, knocking Gallows off balance and making him fall toward her.
"Damn!" exclaimed Gallows, trying his best to pull the Zanzir from the specter's incredibly strong grip.
"Give it up!" She hissed as she gave the Zanzir another tug. Gallows was starting to get worried, the Zanzir was incredibly sharp, and yet it was not cutting her perfectly manicured hands at all.
"I'm sorry, I must graciously decline…" growled Gallows, as he engaged the woman in a game of tug -of-war. He felt his heart drop into his feet when he felt his energy, along with the energy from the sword ,drain from their vessels and into the woman.
"You can not resist for ever!" screamed Hirūdō, as she continued to drain both Gallows and the Zanzir of their energies. He felt his knees start to buckle and all of the sudden he felt the urge to fall asleep on the spot. With a cry of exasperation, he started to sink to the ground, feeling as his feet started to grow numb.
(If this keeps up.. I might…)
"NO!" screamed Gallows, not even recognizing his own voice. With a curse, he threw his weight back, hence knocking the woman off balance and causing her to loosen the grip on the blade to regain her balance. Hirūdō, realizing her mistake and Gallows' plan a moment to late, let go of the sword with an angry gasp.
"You!" She screeched, as a silver aura flared around her. Gallows groaned and shielded his eyes with his free hand whilst the Zanzir hung loosely in the other.
(Damn, I've got to find a way NOT to be blinded… ! Wait… The Zanzir has a reflective surface, so if I were to…)
The rest of his sentence was cut off by the Hirūdō's cold hands on his face and her dry lips pressed against his. Gallows' eyes narrowed and he tried to pull away, disgusted by the woman's seemingly lecherous ways.
"Give up… Just relax…" came her calm voice into his head. Gallows' eyes dilated and then went blank, his hand loosing its grip on the Zanzir.
(I can finally rest.. I can… rest…)
She deepened the kiss and reached for the Zanzir slowly as not to attract Gallows' attention.
She reached her hand out to him, her pure white dress flowing gracefully around her, a kind smile on her face. Gallows wanted so much to walk over to her and embrace her, to keep her safe. But… With a frown, he tried to move and discovered that he could not. He looked back up in a state of panic and gasped. Behind the beautiful maiden stood a dark demon with fangs of blood and venom. He wanted to cry out her name, to warn her of the demon that stood so close behind her.
(Virginia.. look behind you…)
Her smile got bigger and she took a step toward him, her hand still extended.
"Gallows, you're so silly! Where have you been hiding this whole time?!" laughed Virginia, moving her hands gracefully to her hips and giving him a false scowl.
(Please.. for the love of Luceid.. TURN AROUND!)
Virginia stopped and gave him a concerned look, her eyes losing their kind sparkle.
"Gallows…What's wrong?"
The demon reached out and grabbed Virginia, causing Gallows to expel a silent scream.
"VIRGINIA!" screamed Gallows, his eyes regaining their emotion, the pupils returning back to normal.
"What?" snapped Hirūdō after pulling away from Gallows with a look of rage swirling in her mercurial eyes. Gallows spat on the ground, relinquished his grip on the Zanzir, and wiped his mouth with his quaking free hand in a gesture of disgust.
"You BITCH! How dare you TOUCH me!" growled Gallows, holding the sword an arms length away from him, the sharp edge of the blade almost brushing his livid face.
"But.. but.. HOW! I almost had all of your energy AND the Zanzir's!" she stuttered as she toppled back. Gallows smiled, his teal eyes tingeing with black.
(What the hell..? Why do I feel so out of control? … And why am I LIKING it?!)
"You seem to forget, you're not messing with just Gallows.. you're fucking with the whole damn crew!" spat Gallows, his voice deepening as soon as he reached the word "You're".
"We shall see how well you fare!" she snarled holding both of her hands out in front of her, her palms extended toward the high vaulted ceiling. A flash of light forced Gallows to shut his eyes and temporarily lower the Zanzir down in front of him. When the light dimmed, the silver hair woman that he had encountered just moments before was gone, replaced by a slender, silver colored demon.
"So, Gallows… You think you can defeat me with that weakened body and pathetic sword?" snarled the mercury eyed demon, reaching behind her and pulling out a silver Naginata that apparently had been strapped to her back.
"I sure as hell can try!" snapped Gallows, holding the Zanzir with both hands and glaring at Hirūdō menacingly. Hirūdō howled with rage and spun the Naginata over her head quickly, making it appear to be nothing but a wheel of silver.
"DIE!" she snarled, thrusting the Naginata at Gallows' head. Gallows moved his head to the side and hit the Naginata with the Zanzir as hard as he could, causing both the Naginata and the Zanzir to reverberate violently. The silver demon snarled and brought the Naginata in front of her.
"I'm afraid that I can't do that, my demonic friend, for you see, I have something to.." the flash of the Naginata closing in on his abdomen silenced him and caused him to jump back with a snarl.
"Shut up and DIE!" snarled Hirūdō as she brought the Naginata over her head and then arced it toward Gallows neck. Gallows smiled, dodged the attack with speed that didn't seem to be his own, and hit the Naginata's blade, knocking the female demon off balance and sending her hurtling to the ground with a surprise cry. Gallows closed his eyes and gracefully swung the sword in an over the head diagonal slash, severing the demon's head from her shoulders before she got the chance to scream
"It ends now, you will no longer cause the sprits to dwell in their own rot… Die, you bitch.." Gallows said evenly, his voice showing no hint of emotion as he watched the demon's blood flood over his shoes and soak the bottom of his pants. With a grunt, Gallows sheathed the Zanzir and walked out the door, unmindful of the glimmering auras of thankful spirits that had been bound by their supposed "caretakers" slothful ways.
As I walked, I saw the spirits of the damned, eternally chasing a shadow that they could never catch. I looked at my guide and asked him what transgression had these men committed to be bound to such a fate. My guide simply frowned and shook his head sadly.
"They have committed the sin of sloth, therefore they will be chasing the shadows of what might have been for the rest of their unnatural lives."