Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.
The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.
Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.
Friday
Odd flopped into his bed, ready for sleep. Across the room, Ulrich had already settled down and probably half way asleep. Before getting into bed, Odd made sure his dog, Kiwi, was settled down for the night. Kiwi wagged his tail, gave Odd a quick lick, then curled up in the wardrobe drawer and went to sleep.
Odd laid on his back and stared up at the ceiling. Just another dull day. I almost wish XANA would have attacked, just to change things up. Oh well, another day, another opportunity. Odd drifted off to sleep.
From the chest drawer, Kiwi opened his eyes, raised his head and looked intently at his charge before settling back down. I'd better tag along tonight, something's up, were the dogs last thought before sleep came.
Odd was standing on a deserted dirt road in the middle of the night. The full moon was shining overhead. At his feet, Kiwi was sitting next to him, looking all around and growling softly. On both sides of the road, were rows of corn, stretching off into the distance. Further up the road, Odd saw a small house, with a small light coming from it.
"Trickster! Fancy meeting you here," called a man's voice in the cornfield, "come on over and let's have a little fun!"
Kiwi, at hearing the voice, growled louder, the hackles on his back rising.
"Come on in, you've got to see this," the voice called again.
Odd, never the one to turn down a little fun, walked into the corn toward the voice. Behind him, Kiwi followed, growling deeper now and barking lowly, like he was trying to warn Odd.
Odd walked a short ways into the cornfield, and came into a small clearing. In the clearing stood a man. He was tall, wearing jeans and a jeans jacket over a tee shirt. He was standing over something Odd couldn't quite make out. It seemed to squirm and Odd thought he heard soft noises coming from it.
The man spoke, "this is gonna be good. Watch."
With that, the man knelt down before the shape on the ground. Odd didn't see where it came from, but the man suddenly had a large knife in his hand. The moonlight glinted off of the knife blade, giving it a sinister glow. It was an ugly thing, with a gutting hook behind the tip. On one knee, the man started cutting at the object on the ground.
When the man did that, the shape on the ground started writhing again. Now Odd could definitely hear a sound coming from it, but it was still muffled. Odd looked closer, and the shape resolved into something definite.
It was Sissi Delmas.
She was laid out spread-eagle on the ground, and the man was using the knife to cut through the material of her shirt. She was writhing and squirming, trying to get away, but was pinned down by several stakes driven into the ground. Through her.
The stakes looked like old, rusted steel rebar. There was one driven through each of her wrists, just below her hands. Two more were driven between the hamstring tendons of her legs and the ankle bone. If that weren't enough, there were two more stakes driven through the meaty part of her inner thighs, half way between her hips and her knees.
She was trying to scream, but her mouth was filled with some kind of gag. From the way her face looked, the gag was pushed almost half way down her throat. Even so, she was still trying to scream. Odd could see the tears streaming down her face, pleading with him, or anyone, to help her.
The man had now cut through the material of Sissi's shirt, and causally flipped the shreds back. Hooking the gut hook through the front of her bra, he ripped downwards, cutting the bra open, flipping the cups away from her chest, exposing her breasts and leaving a wicked cut on her breastbone.
"What do you think of that, boy? Ain't she great?"
"I think you had better back off before I take the knife and shove it so far up your ass, you'll trim your nose hairs every time you sneeze!" Odd replied coldly, getting ready to back his threat. Kiwi was now loudly growling and barking, hackles fully raised.
"Boy, this is my field. I decide what happens here, not you. Now, you can either join the fun, watch, or take a hike, your choice."
Odd started to move towards the man, but found he couldn't move. Kiwi stayed put too, but was still growling.
The man smirked, then turned back to Sissi. He took the knife, placed the gut hook under her left armpit at the base of her breast, and sank it in.
Sissi screamed, the gag still muffling her sound.
The man then took the knife and ripped it under her breast, following its curve, creating an ugly laceration. When he got the her breastbone, he turned the hook down toward her groin, and ripped again until the wicked hook reached her navel. He then pulled it out. Sissi's screams were louder now, but still muffled due to the gag in her mouth.
With Sissi still writhing, the man dug his fingers into the corner of the flap of skin where he had changed the direction of the knife. He dug in deeper and managed to get a grip on it.
"Well, you can either stand there and watch, join in, or go. Come on, its only Sissi, its not like it was anybody important."
The man yanked at the skin he just grabbed and tore a huge section of it from Sissi's lower chest. This time, gag or no gag, Sissi screamed loud enough for the whole world to hear it.
The man held up the skin he just tore away and leered at Odd, "want a piece?"
Odd again tried to lunge forward, but his feet were still rooted to the ground. No matter how hard he tried, he could not make a move toward the man, only away from him.
Odd bellowed at the man, "I swear before God Almighty, I will make you pay for this!"
"And I swear before the Morning Star Who Was Cast Down that the next time we meet, I'll do the same, if not worse, to you that I'm going to do to her. And believe me, boy, I haven't even had a good start on her yet."
"I'll see you in Hell!"
The man hooked a bloody finger under his shirt. "Been there, done that, got the T-shirt."
The man started laughing, and Odd back away into the cornfield. Kiwi backed away from the scene, never once taking his eyes from the man, never once stopping his growling and barking.
Odd found his way back to the road, Kiwi following him. All the way, he heard the man's laughter, mixing with Sissi's screaming.
"Come on, Kiwi, we'd better get up to that house. I may not be able to do anything about Sissi, but maybe someone up there can!" Odd broke into a run towards the house, Kiwi close behind.
They quickly made it to the house up the road. It was a small, old house, like some shack out of the eighteenth century. Odd for a moment thought the house was run down, but it wasn't, it was just old.
Odd walked around to the front of the house. There, on the front porch, was the oldest black woman he had ever seen. She was looking at him like she was expecting him to show up on her doorstep.
"Come on up and rest a spell. I say, but you've had a rough time of it."
When Kiwi came up to the front porch and saw the woman, he froze.
Odd, Stop.
Odd froze where he was, in mid step.
Kiwi shimmered, and changed into a coyote.
Teacher, what is going on here? Why was that let out?
The old woman was only mildly surprised at the appearance of the coyote. She replied, "I wasn't in control of the circumstances surrounding the selection of this template, Trickster. I'll admit its intense, but it does fit the necessary profile."
Did you see what happened back there? Tell me that wasn't the real Elizabeth Delmas back there!
"Of course not! It wasn't even her dream self. Your charge has to break himself out of some potentially bad thought patterns, and that was one way of beginning the process."
Are you implying that I am not doing my job?
"No, no, nothing of the kind! Like I said, I wasn't involved in setting the template for this Lesson. The template is suitable, but it is also very rough and demanding. Chance determined the format being used here. We just caught a bad break, that's all."
Are you sure it was Chance and not something more, Hell-bent?
"Only the Creator Of All Things is that certain, Trickster, and I certainly am not the Creator. This needs to be done quickly, which is why I've gone along with the template as it is. It is not certain that XANA can be delayed or deflected like we've planned, so we may have to get these children back in the fray sooner than we'd like."
The coyote looked at the old woman for a moment, his gaze focused deep within her. She sat patiently, waiting for him to finish.
I can't fault what you've said.
Trickster the Coyote, Bringer Of Judgment-In-Mirth, Totem/Guide/Protector of the Divine Madmen, Sacred Clowns, and Wise Fools of Mankind, nodded his head respectfully to Teacher the Light Bringer, Revealer Of Wisdom And Knowledge, Flame of the Refiner's Fire, shimmered again, and changed back into Kiwi the dog.
I don't like it, but I'll just have to live with it. Good Luck, Teacher.
Odd, Go.
Odd began moving again, and stepped up on the porch and sat down in the empty rocking chair next to the old woman.
"Look, I just came from down the road and there's this guy..." Odd started saying.
"I know, Odd," the woman replied, "trust me when I tell you that what you saw was a trick, an illusion. Sissi is at home right now, safely asleep."
"Illusion? That was the sickest thing I've ever seen! I couldn't even image that!"
"That's Good," the woman replied, "but what you saw there just now was something buried deep, deep down in the blackest depths of your soul, brought out, magnified almost to infinity, and set before your eyes. Tell me, Odd, do you dislike Sissi that much?"
"No!" Odd retorted, "I may think she's annoying, full of herself, and needs to be taken down a peg or two every now and then..."
"She certainly was 'taken down a peg or two' back there, wasn't she," the woman gazed levelly into Odd's eyes as she spoke.
"Oh," Odd lowered his eyes for a moment, then raised them up and looked squarely in the woman's eyes. "I swear before God Almighty, I will never let anything like that happen to her! I will do all I can keep her safe! I will die myself if need be!"
"God Almighty has heard your vow, Odd Della Robbia, and binds you to it. Break that vow at your peril," the old woman gravely said. She then continued, "and by your vow to Him, this is His Vow to You: as long as she lets you, you will keep her safe. As long as you let her, and she will do it, she will always stand by your side. And, no matter what may come, even death itself, there will always be a way of escape for you and her, should you choose to take it."
Odd could almost feel a chain being bound around him when she said that. Kiwi looked up at him from the ground in front of the porch, his head cocked, like he was listening intently.
"Odd, you were brought here for a reason," the old woman said after a moment, "what you just did will help greatly in the task ahead, but for now, you should make ready. A storm is coming."
"Storm? It may be dark out, but the sky is clear."
"You have some idea what storm I'm talking about. To prepare you, and the others, a task will soon be given to you. You must succeed in this or else all you've fought and suffered for these past few years will be for nothing."
"What do I have to do," Odd asked softly, still shaken by what he saw in the corn and what he just did.
"For now, nothing. But when the time comes, you will have to Stand against a great darkness."
"XANA?"
"No," she replied, "what you will have to face is the hand in the puppet that is XANA. You met him this very night. And even that thing is but a puppet in the hands of another."
"Great, XANA was bad enough, you're telling me there's something worse?"
"Don't worry, Odd. When the time comes, you will have what you need. Now, you'd better get back home. And think what I said about Sissi, now."
At that, Odd disappeared. As he did, the Teacher thought, Run swift, Prince-Of-A-Thousand-Enemies, run swift.
Saturday
Odd awoke with a start and sat bolt upright in his bed.