78

Souls under Siege

"For him the scarlet ghost

Of Lilith from time's last necropolis

Rears amorous and malign."

- Clark Ashton Smith, "Zothique"

Sora was the one to open the next door, which was farther down the hall on the same side as the last one. This room was larger, but just as bare of furniture. At first Sora didn't see anything untoward, mostly because her gaze was drawn to the two doors on the far wall. The group entered the room, only then noticing what hung on the wall to their right – a body, held a few inches above the floor by kunai-like objects embedded in its extremities. No one examined it closely enough to tell if it was a man or woman. It was hard to tell, because every part of it was riddled with what might have been bullet holes. A few other holes had been punched into the wall around the body. Evidently it had been used for target practice.

The Chosen Children turned away, again sickened to their cores, but not this time surprised. That was when they saw the wall opposite. It was partly covered in blown-up photographs, and the subject of every one was the Chosen Children themselves. All twelve of them were there, multiple shots of each, all outside, and in a few Sora, Koshiro, Mimi, and Jou could recognize exactly when and where they were taken. In the center of the wall was a cluster of photos showing zoomed-in shots of the twelve Chosen Children's faces.

"These…" Koshiro said. "These could only have been taken by a human. None of the Digimon we've seen could have appeared in public without us noticing."

What he had suspected was true then. There really were humans aiding the enemy Digimon. But why?

"Come on," Gabumon said, breaking in on Koshiro's thoughts before he could become lost in them. "We have to find Yamato! WarGreymon may not be able to stop Lilithmon on his own."

"He's right," Sora said. "We can worry about who else we're up against later." She glanced again at the two unopened doors. Now she could see that they were labeled as men's and women's restrooms. She started towards the nearer door, the one to the women's restrooms, when a sound from behind the door froze her in her tracks.

Someone was screaming in pain or rage, suddenly and loudly enough to stop the hearts of those who heard it. Then, just as suddenly, it died, and as the Chosen Children stood paralyzed and their Digimon rushed forward, there was a scuffling sound, and the door began to open.

Lilithmon had been whispering into Yamato's ear. He wouldn't be able to determine later how long she spoke to him before her unexpected shriek snapped him out of his trance. Nor could he remember exactly what she had said, though what little he could recall later made his face hot and his heart cold. Returning to full consciousness in an instant, he fell backwards to the tile floor as Lilithmon's left hand ceased to support him.

From the floor he could see that it was now grasping her right wrist just below where the golden plating of her claws began. Her golden right hand was held open in front of her, and with her poise shattered she was gaping at it as her scream began to fade. Smoke rose from its fingers. Yamato saw this in a moment before he scrambled to his feet and fell on the door out of the restroom.

It swung open, and he stumbled between several of the partner Digimon and into Sora. He clutched at her for support, and despite her surprise she managed to catch him and keep him from falling.

"Yamato!" Gabumon shouted joyously, rushing forward to throw his own arms around the couple.

Yamato managed to steady himself and looked into Sora's eyes.

"I'm glad to see you," he said, smiling. He saw her squeeze her eyes shut and reopen them, and he copied the gesture to keep his own eyes from watering.

The other Chosen Children walked up to greet him, but their attention was redirected to the restroom door when it was blown open with enough force to flatten it against the wall, snapping the metal hinges. Inside was darkness, and standing in that darkness was Lilithmon, chest and shoulders heaving in her fury.

"Flighty little brat!" she hissed. "Couldn't have waited a few more minutes? You could have been my slave and enjoyed every moment of it!"

Yamato turned angrily towards her, away from Sora's inquisitive expression.

"You won't be winning that way," he said. "Let's go, Gabumon!"

Gabumon shouted his assent, and the light of evolution glowed. At the same moment Lilithmon clenched her hands into fists, and the blackness beyond the doorway surged forward, blanketing the room in cold darkness. When the light faded, MetalGarurumon stood where Gabumon had been, and there was only the dark, stretching away on all sides into infinity. The Chosen Children and their partners remained in its midst. Lilithmon had vanished with the room's transformation, but they could sense that she had not left them.

After Lilithmon's monster finished its disintegration, Taichi and WarGreymon were left looking for a way back to the rest of their friends. In the chaos of the battle they had lost their sense of orientation, and no matter where they turned they could not find the doorway through which they had entered the void from the world of light. The darkness was all around them, its exits sealed.

"We have to get out of here," Taichi said, turning his gaze in every direction and seeing only blackness. "If she gets to the others before MetalGarurumon is ready to fight…" It was a sentence he didn't have to finish.

"Should we go looking for a way out?" WarGreymon asked.

Taichi was hesitant to reply. Moving from where they were might take them farther from the place they had entered…but did distance matter here? For all he knew, the normal laws of space didn't apply in this place. The place's very existence defied them.

His frustration was growing. First there had been the disappearance of his sister and her friends…now everyone else was in danger as well…and he couldn't do anything but stand here in the dark! He didn't lack courage. The short battle just ended had only built up his resolve. But in this situation courage meant nothing. He was powerless to help those he loved, and that was a knowledge more terrible than any fear.

"Damn it!" He wanted to hit something, but there was nothing to hit but cold black air. Instead he turned to his partner. "We can't wait around anymore. I…I—!"

WarGreymon nodded. "We'll save them together, Taichi."

With his partner securely perched on his shoulders, WarGreymon took flight, cutting through the icy nothingness at high speed. Taichi had to squint against the air that rushed into his face, but kept his eyes open. The blackness was so perfect that everything else was immediately visible. Taichi hadn't really thought about it in the heat of battle, but he could see himself and his partner without difficulty. For a minute or so they were the only spot of color in the abyss, but then suddenly ahead of them there was another – a lozenge-shaped opening onto a lighted place.

WarGreymon made for it, slackening his speed as it grew larger in their vision. They had found a way out – through the aperture they could see a room closely resembling those which they had already seen since stepping through the portal near the Searea apartments. In another moment they were through the rift. The room's dim lights seemed incredibly bright, and its cool air seemed incredibly warm.

Taichi dropped to the floor and looked about. There wasn't much to see. The room's only furnishing was a table, the same kind the Chosen Children had found upon opening that first door. There was no body on this one; instead there was an object like an oversized snow globe. Taichi intended to only glance at it – he had much more important things to worry about – but there was something so strange about the thing that his gaze lingered on it in spite of himself.

It wasn't water in there. It didn't look like a liquid at all. More like a gas – insubstantial, and in constant fluid motion. Its color was purple, though there were hints of other colors mixed in as well. The swirling mist played tricks on Taichi's vision. One instant he would think that he saw the suggestion of shape in the shapelessness – a human face, perhaps, but the next instant the illusion would pass.

"Taichi," WarGreymon said, recalling him to where he was.

"Yeah…" he answered. He looked to one of the doors out of the room. "Let's get going."

Taichi opened the door and WarGreymon led the way through it, his partner following without a backwards glance. Behind them, the mistiness in the globe swirled and flowed, swirled and flowed.

The Chosen had instinctively backed themselves into a circle, facing outward, with the Digimon in front. They didn't know which direction Lilithmon would attack from, or if she would approach from above or below them.

"Hey, Mimi," Palmon asked quietly, "Should we evolve too?"

"We might as well," Gomamon said. "Even if we can't beat her by ourselves, we'll be more helpful than we are now."

"Yes," Koshiro said, "It would probably be best if—"

He was interrupted by a laugh. There was no telling what direction it came from. Lilithmon could have been circling round them, or very near, or very distant. All they knew was that she was here. She had a presence that could be felt, a palpable power that got under the skin.

"More helpful?" she said, and to each of them it seemed that she was right beside them. "You really have no idea who I am, do you? You think I'm joking when I call myself Goddess. But I mean what I say, and do what I plan to do. I am limitless. I can turn you to puppets, reduce you to madness, or condemn you to Hell. There is no help left for you, Chosen Ones."

"Then why are you hiding?" Yamato asked. "Show yourself and fight us."

"Obviously I'm not appreciated," she answered, the girlish pout breaking in on her cold, ageless tone. "Why should I waste myself on fools who talk about Love and Purity?"

"You've underestimated us too," Sora said. "Yamato didn't fall for your tricks. I'm going to go ahead and guess that that doesn't happen to you very often."

"I really don't get what you see in this girl, Yamato-chan. She's as insipid as her Crest." A laugh rippled in the darkness. "But it doesn't matter now. Go ahead, little things. Spout all the nonsense you want and evolve as far as you can. You'll never approach my power."

They didn't need to be told twice. The Crests of Love, Knowledge, Purity, and Sincerity glowed. It was still dark and still cold, but with MetalGarurumon ready, with Garudamon and AtlurKabuterimon and Zudomon towering above them, with Lilimon at Mimi's side, the Chosen Children had found a sense of confidence that they had been lacking ever since passing from the familiar sights of Odaiba into this underground horror show.

"Well, we're ready," Jou said. "Where is she?"

From behind him he heard, "Right here of course."

Suddenly Lilithmon was in their midst, crackling with an energy that sent every Digimon but MetalGarurumon flying away from her. Then she was shrouded in gray not-light, and so were the five Chosen Children, immobilized, suffocated by her presence.