Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope that you are all doing fine!
Chapter 87 is here and as always, I hope you enjoy it!
As always, thank you all for following/ favoring/ reading the story. You are all the best!
See you next week with Chapter 88. Until then, have fun and be well!
"Hah… hah…" Erik ran up the whirling stairs, gasping and panting, not due to exhaustion, but anxiety. His entire body was screaming to him one single word; danger.
I haven't felt like this since the night of Ironwood's assassination the boy thought. His semblance, Mental Bond, allowed him to temporarily connect to another person and send them a short telepathic message.
The recipient couldn't reply, unfortunately, but Erik could understand a few basic things about their state of mind while the connection lasted. The problem was when, like now, he couldn't reach out to them.
In those cases, it meant his 'target' was either unconscious, or worse. He gritted his teeth. Lumia wasn't one to be done in so easily, but he couldn't help but worry as he rushed out to the 4th floor corridor.
His eyes opened wide and his mouth fell open. His partner, one of the most powerful huntresses he had ever met, was lying face-down on the floor, on top of a pool of thick, pitch-black goo.
"Lu!" he knelt next to her and turned her around. Her eyes were shut and, thankfully, her chest was moving up and down, albeit slowly. He made a quick check of her body; she didn't seem to have any wounds.
What could possibly take down Lumia without her even fight back? He stared at the black goo and decided he had let her stay inside this nasty thing for way too long. I am so careless today- what the heck Rust?
He quickly picked her up and walked to the seat row in the farthest wall from the puddle. He had no trouble moving the tall girl away, shielding his mind to ignore the disgusting wet sound of his own footsteps as well as the thick black prints they left behind him.
"Hey Lu" he gently shook her "I hate to do this to you, but I can't carry you and your bag down to the first floor, you are too heavy" he spat. "You have to wake up now, partner. Please, I am getting truly worried."
He shook her a little more, but to no avail. He stared back; the hideous trail and the unsettling pool were still there. "I guess I am really carrying your heavy ass down, aren't I?" he announced.
"Mmmm" her lips slightly parted, leaving out a small whimper. "Lu? Are you ok? Lumia?" he knelt next to her again as her emerald eyes slowly opened. "Erik? Is that you?" she asked.
"Yes" he smiled at her. "That's…" his voice, all of a sudden, trailed off. The reason; he heard, very clearly and very close to him, the sound of wet, heavy footsteps. He turned around- to see nothing had changed.
The sound, however, jolted the girl's sleeping mind into awakening. She sat up, staring at the direction of the pool seemingly pouring out of the accursed corridor where-
"Ah!" the memory, sealed by her unconscious brain, came back at her. The pool of blood… the smiling woman with the broom… the bucket, filled in… "We have to go, Erik! We have to leave this place now!"
The boy's chestnut eyes stared at the direction of the sound. Nothing could be seen, not even footprints. Could an invisible enemy be around? "You are right! Can you run?" he took a couple steps to the back.
Lumia stood up "of course I can! Follow me!" both turned around to the stairs- and stopped at once when they saw a red, liquid curtain in front of them, closing the exit to the stairs like a waterfall of death.
It was blood; there was no question about that. It fell from the ceiling and dripped down the opening, dying the stairs a dark crimson color. Its metallic stench filled their nostrils as the wet steps filled their ears.
"Oh my; what a mess" and all of a sudden, the cleaning lady appeared in front of them, rising from the dark puddle in the most surreal way. A mop was in her hand, dripping with thick black goo.
She gave a wide, inhuman smile that made the boy shiver. "You have all made such a mess. What were you thinking? This is a place of rest for the sick" she kept smiling.
"I don't even know what to comment on the sheer absurdity, Lu." He gave a forced smile. "Comment nothing, but stay next to me. This is a monster that threw me unconscious before just by staring at me."
"I have a name, dear children. How rude of you" she opened her eyes more, revealing a pair of red orbs, lacking any iris. "Glenna Linen; age 62. Childless widow. I have been working in the clinic for thirty years."
The abyssal voice that left her unnaturally wide lips startled them. They had both heard it before- it was the inhuman, wicked voice that had startled them a few minutes ago when they had tried to communicate.
"I wanted to retire in three years and take in trip across Remnant" she explained in a natural way, as if she wasn't stepping inside the goo and there wasn't a curtain of blood falling a few meters away from her.
Somehow, it alarmed and scared the huntsmen even more. "It's a pity that I was eaten before I had the chance to" she parted her lips and revealed a pitch-black, toothless hole "isn't it?"
"You… what?" the tall girl asked, trying to fake shock. Taking all that was happening into account, it wasn't hard to reach this conclusion. If this thing wanted to talk and brag, she would be able to buy some time for them to think how they would evacuate the civilians and-
"How naïve" the answer came and that time shocked her more than she could fake to. "To think of others before yourself… survivor of Class 1-D."
I knew it! She- no it- can read my mind! "Get her!" in a rare display of anger, the ex-maiden jumped forward at the monster standing in front of them, the aroma of blood filling her nostrils.
Maybe it was the terror from their previous encounter. Maybe it was the anger towards her thoughts being exploited. Maybe it was her sense of justice against that inhuman monstrosity toying with them.
No matter the reason, Lumia Starlight landed in the puddle and swung her fist as hard as possible, punching the thing standing in front of her with a savage fury that shocked her partner speechless.
The thin figure was thrown back on the puddle- and burst out with a heavy splash. The goo pulsed out, creating a massive pitch-black wave that assaulted both huntsmen who were unable to protect themselves.
Before Erik could even shout out to Lumia, they were both consumed by darkness. The power was immense and suffocating, filled in malice.
Images filled their vision. Were they humans? Yes, they looked like they were. A mass of human faces stared down at them. The hate- the pain, the disgust…
It hurts…
They were distorted whirling and convulsing; as if in pain… they were dead faces, no, they were dying ones! The pain- was it theirs?
It hurts… it's scary…
Were those voices, theirs? Were- the two huntsmen were surrounded- were they dying? Who were they? Why were they dying?
It hurts… Why? Why to me?
Who were all these people? The pain… Hatred… Torment and Fear… an endless pit. Why was it so painful to look at them?
The weights of your sin… Pain. Hatred. Torment. Every single of their last moments… filled in horror… all because of you!
An old man in a lab coat stared at them. Dr. Van Ochre!
I just wanted to save others, so why?
The short, black-haired nurse cried as she stared at them.
I just wanted to help people, so why?
Faces distorted even more as they grew closer to Erik and Lumia.
Why… why… WHY? Why did it end like this? It HURTS! IT'S SCARY! WHY?
Lumia gulped. Erik stared around him, in the sea of tormented faces in shock. What happened to all these people?
Open your mind… and see the world around you for what it truly is! A world YOU created!
Lumia's forehead touched the cold, tiled floor. "Ahh… ahhh…" she tried to control her erratic breathing. She was wet. Wet and dripping in black water?
She heard faint gasps from behind her and turned her head, brushing the wet strands of her messy hair from her face. Erik was sitting on the floor, his breath as ragged as hers, trying to calm down.
"Are you ok?" she asked her partner. "No. I am drenched in something disgusting and feel as if I just ran a marathon" he remarked. He rose up his head- and narrowed his eyes "what the fuck is going on here?"
The green-eyed girl followed her partner's gaze- and froze. The corridor around them had suddenly- too suddenly- changed in an inconceivable way.
The lights were off; no, they were broken. The only light was coming in from outside, passing through shattered windows. The walls were dusty and filled in scratches, broken painting canvases and bloodstains?
Dried-out bloodstains were also on the floor, accompanied by splinters, pieces of wood, destroyed benches and glass shards. Large craters and bloody trails indicated something really brutal had occurred here.
The black pool and the blood dripping from the ceiling had vanished, but this hardly consoled them. "What happened here?" Erik asked in confusion "scratch that; where is 'here' exactly? Are we still in the-"
"See the world around you for what it truly is" Lumia stood up; her head was still dizzy but she helped her partner to his feet. "You heard that as well?" the boy asked her and she nodded.
"Yes. All of it. This disgusting, wet, slithering voice that peeked inside my head. Never felt that violated in my life" she shivered.
"We have to find Ren and Nora, take our weapons back and solve the mystery of this place" she said, regaining a tiny part of her composure "let's go to the ground floor first" she pointed at the cracked staircase.
Erik stared at the destroyed elevator next to the unwelcoming stairs and let out a deep breath "if there is a ground floor to reach to begin with" he morbidly added before following her.
-o—
A few weeks ago…
"Wow Weiss" Nora said in her unusual half-serious tone "you sound like you had quite the ordeal down there." The alabaster girl adjusted her eye patch and gulped audibly before replying.
"Ordeal, yeah… that's more or less it" her monotonous tone was a tad annoying, but no one could blame her, the ginger head thought.
"You did excellent" Ren, back turned to the two girls as he deftly baked the burgers for the rest of the guest that were expected to arrive. "I am not sure there are many out there that could have handled this thing."
She gave him a small, grateful smile. "How did it feel, facing something that is like a superior Grimm?" Nora asked, making her stiffen. "Oh, I am sorry!" the girl apologized "I didn't mean to-"
"I was afraid" the ex-heiress replied, touching her left eye to ease the pain. "But not in the usual way, no" she accepted a glass of water from Ren who sent his wife a really harsh glare.
"It wasn't fear of death" she continued after gulping down the water. "It was something different, something… primal." Nora raised a thin eyebrow. "Sorry, lost you there" she admitted.
Weiss took a deep breath and stared out of the window, at the calm and chilling night sky of Vale "that thing… that thing in the crystal and its spawn that took Winter's form… felt wrong in a fundamental level."
She turned her gaze back to the couple "fear doesn't do it justice. It was a feeling unknown that I had never experienced before. Wrong, that's what I felt. It was wrong for this creature to exist, walk and talk to me."
She lowered her voice and pressed her eye patch once more to calm her nerves "it felt as if reality itself was being unmade simply because that thing existed. Nothing I knew up to this point made any sense and only my most primal instincts could keep me alive facing it."
Present time, 19th March, 86
Weiss' horrified whispers filled Nora and Ren's minds as the smiling mannequin announced itself as Avyssos, staring at them in a twisted mockery of Pyrrha's memory.
The ex-heiress' words didn't do justice to the malicious, unimaginable and completely alien aura than emanated from this thing. "You…"
"Nora! Wait!" ignoring her husband's warning, the woman rushed to the front, swinging the leg with all her might. The smiling doll raised her arms- and the metal examination bed moved to slam at her.
Ren was on his toes. The moment he sensed it moving, he jumped to intercept the flying piece of furniture. He punched it with his left palm and used its movement to grab Nora and roll away from 'Pyrrha.'
"That was…" the couple quickly stood up, carefully eying their grinning enemy. "Magnetism; or rather, Polarity" Ren finished Nora's thoughts.
"It's exactly like Weiss said" the girl gritted her teeth, seething in fury "it can perfectly copy Pyrrha from our memories. That bastard…" the doll took a couple steps forward, before she was stopped by the doctor.
"I recommend you kill them now; there is no reason to implicate things any further" unlike the nurse, Van Ochre hadn't shown any sign of being transformed, possessed or whatever her case was to begin with.
However, the emotionless manner in which he proposed that was even more terrifying. Ren hadn't even considered him a human since he had stepped in, but this was the definite proof.
"Not yet" the monster replied, making them narrow their eyes. "They are still hoping, they still think they can overcome this… they are not fun to devour yet… no. I have to break them first… make them shrivel in terror!"
"Here she comes!" Ren shouted. "Get ready, Nora! We are-" before the man could even finish talking, a powerful pulse struck them from above and passed through them, like a sudden gust of mighty wind.
The doctor grabbed his head, seemingly writhing in pain. But 'Pyrrha' reacted even more violently. Her body convulsed and twisted in agony, limbs and torso bending in an unsightly and nauseating torment.
This was their chance. This was the opening they would take advantage of- Ren and Nora opened their eyes wide in shock as the floor beneath them disappeared at once, revealing a huge, dark hole.
Without any foothold to step on, no dust to use and no weapons to try attack with, Ren did the only thing his sharp sense and reflexes allowed him to- he hugged Nora to cover for her fall while mustering as much of his semblance as possible.
The only thing both of them managed to see before they were plunged into the deep darkness was the room transforming to a slaughterhouse with blood splattered on the walls and the crashed pieces of furniture.
After the couple was cast inside the pit, the Pyrrha-like entity turned to Dr. Ochre, panting and gasping "what is the old lady thinking, doing that?"
"It would seem The Cleaner had trouble tormenting the two upstairs" Van Ochre commented "I am going to see what happened. I trust you will hunt down those two?"
"Yes… if they are lucky I will find them before they delve deep into the dungeon" she replied "maybe I will just hunt them down till they collapse of exhaustion… or even…"
Her form shook and her acquired flesh pulsed, her very essence being reshaped at her will. She let out a primal screech that echoed through the ruined clinic, before her hideous form jumped inside the opening.
"Interesting…" the old man smiled. Despite them all originating from the same entity, it would seem the consumed ones' unique attributes affected the spawns' character as well.
The little nurse was quite the voracious and aggressive lady, wasn't she he thought. And it retained her character traits even after transforming to Pyrrha Nikos, that's a really fascinating prospect. Now about the Cleaner... that's another story.
He turned around and strode out from the former examination room, now turned into a massacre site, filled in bloody and fleshy remains. It must have had about ten people in here, if I remember correctly.
He passed through the split-in-half entrance and the filled in bloody prints corridor. One of the patients had tried to escape as soon as the Doctor had started killing the others. He had been screaming a lot.
Van Ochre stepped out to the main hall, coming face to face with a mass of puddled flesh. This was as far as the patient had managed to go. It was quite the effort, indeed, he acknowledged.
The main hall was nearly destroyed, but not in an excessive way. The pillars and walls had been preserved, unlike the dismembered chairs and benches, the trashed decorations and the broken glass panels.
Huge pools of dried blood were visible, concentrated closer to the main doors and the nearby windows- the patients' last attempt to get out of this place or, at least, be protected by the guards.
He stood in the middle of what could be described as post-apocalyptic scenery, unable to hide his amusement. Humans are so simple-minded; of course the security guards would be the first ones we would absorb.
His eyes fell on the destroyed elevator, the withered potted plants and the large blood splatters on the information desk's panels. He knew three mangled corpses were rotting behind the desk, but didn't care.
After all, the veil had been lifted. 'Jaune Arc' had decided so. He quickly raised his hand and took out from his coat a small ornament- a human skull, still filled in clotted blood.
"Antipathy" the words themselves meant nothing more than disdain. The ornament, the fresh blood and the immense magical power of the Elder Son of The God of Darkness were their source of might.
Eldritch power burst from the skull. The bones were immediately melt as unholy black-green energy burst forth, creating a massive wave that spread away from him.
After the magical energy surrounded the clinic and made sure everyone who tried to approach it would immediately decide it was not a good idea to, Doctor turned his back and walked towards the staircase.
It was time for the curtains to rise on this stage; a stage they had spent quite some time preparing. Red eyes shone in anticipation and his very being shook with excitement.
For the first time in unnumbered eons, Avyssos would hunt down its prey.
-o—
Same time, New Vale Centre, Velvet Scarlatina's apartment.
'The subscriber you are calling is unable to respond. Please-'
"Shit!" Velvet rarely swore, but she was nearing her wit's end. It had been almost six hours since Erik and the others had left for Riverside Clinic and she had no idea why her boyfriend wasn't responding.
Her mind, usually calm and collected, now felt like it was being crushed between fears, concepts and farfetched possibilities. She trusted them, yes, but what if something out of the ordinary had happened? What if something they had ignored came back to bite them?
The most rational part of her, of course, told her that she was being as delirious as she was delusional. She had spent so much time dealing with criminals that she was exaggerating in the most dramatic manner.
If I am wrong and this is all inside my head she thought while taking a can of beer from the fridge then I am taking a vacation to Mistral as soon as Ruby returns. This is becoming ridiculous.
All of a sudden, her scroll rang. She nearly jumped over the table and grabbed it to see what Erik had replied with- the message was from her partner, Jaune. With trembling fingers, Velvet opened the message.
From; Jaune Arc (Vomit Boy)
Sorry for calling you on your day off, Velv, but I don't feel well. I think I am going to faint. Could you please give me a ride to the hospital? I don't trust myself to take a bus right now.
Her heart skipped a beat. The rational part of hers, the part that was in control since her teammates' untimely deaths, screamed at her to not go; it was too much of a coincidence to happen today, of all days.
But her other part, the usually kept in check one, screamed at her with all its might; Jaune is hurt! You have to help him. He is your friend! You promised Ruby too!
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her hair was standing on edge and her skin was shivering. But her heart didn't waver even for a single moment as she wrote; please hang in there, I am coming!
She quickly put on a track suit, grabbed her stuff and left the apartment while leaving a voice message at him. She was no idiot; she knew very well the possibility of it being a trap was really high. She held her phone and dialed another number as well.
Because if the person calling her was not Jaune Arc, he knew already that Velvet Scarlatina would rather step on it than ignore a friend in need.