Lettuce nearly keels over. "What?" she cries.
"The evidence is all there," says Candy matter-of-factly. "Your daughter speaks to spirits. She looks so much like Azanthra, it's just not a coincidence. She's smart and kind, just like Azanthra, and she isn't freaked out by the darkness. This place is a second nature to her. You know what we call that? we call it A-Z-A-N-T-H-R-A. Azanthra." Candy smiles at this little speech of hers. Lettuce wanted to break her perfect teeth. Who knew ghosts have such good dental hygiene?
"That can't be!" says Pai in surprise. "She has no powers!" Candy smacks her forehead in exasperation. "Do either of you idiots know that as a fact? Have you proven it?" Pai and Lettuce exchange looks. "well... no," says Lettuce. "But still-" "Then you don't know she isn't Azanthra!" shouts Candy. Lettuce and Pai are shocked.
"But she can't be," whispers Lettuce. "Yes she can! No one knows where Azanthra's soul went. Azanthra is still here, and waiting for her other half, which she promised would come back one day!" snaps Candy. "Azanthra may have drawn her soul back to Mist Haunt, so that they would reunite, and the demonic-angel-sorceress will be again the most powerful force! Even more powerful than the darkness!"
Lettuce doesn't know what to say. She leans weakly into something warm, conveniently placed at her side. Suddenly she realizes what she is leaning on and turns bright red. Pai. Brilliant. "Where can we find Azanthra?" asks Pai, careful not to disturb Lettuce, who is leaning into his side. "Most likely the temple of darkness. That's where they Azanthra would call her other side," says Candy. She notes the situation with Pai and Lettuce, and bites back a smirk. She coughs, hiding a chuckle. "We better get going," says Candy, quickly turning away so they won't see the mirth in her expression. "Okay," says Pai, gently helping Lettuce stand.
"Alright," says Lettuce.
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Melody is walking down a corridor of darkness. The air is still. She cannot help but feel everything has tensed, bracing itself for the worst. The necklace around her neck glows in foreboding of disaster. But Melody is drawn to the temple; it is as though something is calling her name. Melody continues to walk. This hall is dry. It is also silent. As though it is waiting for something. Could it be her?
she finds herself confronted with a door, just as Cali said. But something tells Melody now is not the time to enter. 'wait just a bit longer,' Says A voice in Melody's head. "Okay," says Melody. This will give her time to go over her options. She knows she could leave, but for some reason, she feels like that would be wrong. So Melody will stay. She'll wait, she decides. Yes, that ought to work. She'll wait for the voice to speak again.
Her gem suddenly flares up. Melody grabs it. As she does, the hallway melts away. She is back in the hospital. The air itself feels sterile, but the shadows imply that the hospital is no longer in use. Melody watches a girl in a black cloak sneak to the nearby door frame. when she arrives, the girl gasps. "Ilesi," she says.
Suddenly, there are footsteps. The sound of something trying to walk with a bad limb. And there it is. A horrible creature, it's face is a mass of mutated grey flesh, with a mouth on the left side. It has an axe. the thing tries to kill the girl with the axe by swinging, but the girl just stands in place. The axe suddenly snaps.
Melody watches all this, dizzy and lightheaded. She watches as another of the things comes up, and again the girl defeats it. This time, she slams a hospital bed into it. "Whats going on?" comes the gruff voice. Melody turns and sees a man in a lab coat. The girl braces herself. "YOU!" she snarls, not sounding human. For some reason, Melody is filled with rage at the man in white.
The girl's cloak turns pure black, and the girl jumps. She gains about 6 feet to her height. Long tendrils of shadow surround her. The doctor gasps. "Rea (A/N pronounced ray-uh.)?" he questions. "Oh, yes, I was just getting your payment. It's the nurse's fault, honest! I mean, they barely follow orders. You know how it is." "I am not Rea," hisses the girl. She now has eight eyes, each going down her face. She isn't ugly, though. "The witch," breathes the man in white. The girl's eyes glow even redder. A tendril of shadow touches the wall near Melody, And It disintegrates to ash immediately.
The hallway literally begins to melt away, revealing grey walls, in a dark room. An enormous plant is in the center of it all, it's vines covering the the ceiling and some of the walls. The girl grins a demented grin, and begins to glide towards the plant. A sickly sour smell fills the air. a tendril of shadow reaches towards the plant. "Not the animoritane!" screams the man in the lab coat. Melody smiles.
The girl smiles as well. She reaches out a claw-like hand, and touches the plant. Suddenly there is an explosion of red. The walls crumble like stale bread in the hands of a giant. When Melody opens her eyes again, the man is laying in a pile of ash. The girl is in the center of what is now the ruin of the hospital. She smiles serenely.
"You destroyed the hospital!" cries the man. "no," says the girl. "There was a fire three years ago, remember?" The doctor looks stricken. "you were drunk on your own drug, the drug you used to control the nurses so they would do your bidding. you were smoking, remember? You dropped your cigarette. And the lounge room was on fire, and you were so high the nurses couldn't understand your commands, and they ran. Do you remember? Then, do you remember the building collapsing?" asks the girl. The man looks sick. "But..." "It was there because you needed it to be. The darkness gave you a power you never earned," says the girl.
"and the animoritane?" the man asks. The girl returns to her regular height, but not to normal. ash stirs in the wind, but the moment it touches the girls loose black hair, it turns to sparks. "There was no animoritane," says the girl. "There never was. You were cultivating an exotic edible plant, is all. You made the nurses believe they were addicted, and they did whatever you asked. But you see, it worked so well, you forgot that there wasn't any drug. You took some, remember? And then, you made yourself believe you were addicted. Belief is a powerful thing. It can be destruction."
The man falls, moaning, back to his pile of ash. The girl just turns And begins to walk away. Before she has gone far though, the cloak disappears, revealing a simple girl in a white cloak. She turns and looks back once more, and Melody is shocked. Her own face stares back at her.