Author's Note: This chapter begins right as the rest of Artix's attack force is teleported away. Oh, and to Flame, I'm making Felix's history up as I go along. If some thing's wrong... eh... I suppose the only thing I can really say in that event is TS. . Another note. The talking sword and armor are derived from two sources. The first source is Neverwinter Nights: Hoards of the Underdark, you may know him better as Enserric the Longsword. The second source is the movie "The Shadow", more specifically, the living knife. As a side note, that thing creeped the living fuck outta me for three years after I saw the movie... Anyways, continuing.
Lost in the Walls of the Mind, Part One
Eight
-Felix's Story-
The Gai'lin's accuracy was spot on. Felix felt herself being pulled away from the library she once stood. It felt as though she was being pulled through walls and other hard objects. (Don't ask how she knew how being pulled through a wall felt. You'll only confuse yourself.) She was standing in a small square room with no visible escapes. The only things available was a sword and a set of armor, constructed from what looked like, glass. A voice spoke into her head.
"The greatest aspects a warrior can hope to have is the ability to adapt to any given situation. Thus, I put you, warrior, in this room. The armor and sword adjacent to you, is yours. Pick it up and wear it. And do try to keep it in good condition." The voice died. Felix looked herself over. It appears during her teleportation, everything had been stripped from her body. Everything.
"Nyaaa..." She groaned, shivering against the cold. "Could you have at least left me with some shoes?" She asked quietly. She moved to the armor and put it on as quickly as possible. As soon as everything was on, the cold deserted her. "Better..." She grasped the sword on the floor and swung it around a bit. It was light. Lighter then even some of the weapons Yulgar made. As for what it was made of, she didn't know, but it was forged black as night. The moment she grabbed it, something reached out and took her hand. The sword was alive!
"This, is the Nightmare Edge. A sword forged from only the worst nightmares from the blackest hearts on Lore. It will cut anything, and cannot leave your hands. For who can escape their own nightmares?" The voice called again. It continued as Felix struggled to get the sword off her hand. "The armor you wear is called the Vampire's Embrace. The Nightmare Edge and Vampire's Embrace work as one cohesive unit. The Vampire's Embrace is a living entity, and needs a sacrifice to live. You, Cat Demon, are that sacrifice. However, the Vampire's Embrace will not kill you. Yet. It shall continually drink your blood, precisely a liter every ten minutes. But fear not. All is not lost. As I have said, the Nightmare Edge works with the Vampire's Embrace. The Nightmare Edge shall steal the life blood of your opponents, and feed it directly to you. Thus, balancing the negative effects of the Vampire's Embrace." The voice paused. "Now that you know what you should, allow me to show you the exit." The outline of a door appeared on one wall, and the wall dissolved showing a hallway. "Follow the maze, little Cat Demon. Find your way through, and you may have the honor of fighting me atop the Great Library." The voice died for the second, and final time. Felix peaked out the door and scanned the area. So far, nothing. The moment she stepped out, she felt two sharp pricks in her neck.
"NYA!" She shouted, more surprised then hurt. She grabbed the collar of the armor with her free hand and tried to see what hit her. She felt two small little dowels extending from the armor into her neck. Something flowed over the sharp dowels... She retracted her hand and examined what was on it. Blood. Her blood. The voice wasn't kidding. She could feel herself getting weaker. "I'm not gonna enjoy this... nope, nope. Not one bit..." She muttered to herself, continuing down the hall.
The corridor was bare. Nothing except a rather dull shade of gray paint on the wall. She couldn't exactly place her finger on it, but she seemed to recognize this place... something about it rang familiar. Her eyes darted from one wall to the other, wholly aware of what danger could lie just a few feet away, even one step down the hall.
But it wasn't danger that met her at the end of that shrill corridor, but a sight from her past.
"Felix!" A voice shouted behind her. She spun around and the corridor walls vanished, giving away to a snow covered field with a tall school house in the background. The voice came from a young boy who was running towards her with arms out stretched. She recognized this boy. He, like her, had cat ears and stripes on his skin. Another Cat Demon. She smiled at this friendly sight. This was a boy she had not seen since she left her hometown of Angart.
"Joshy?!" She shouted, completely not expecting to see him, expecially not after fifteen years.
"Felix!" Joshy shouted, grabbing her waist in a hug. She looked down at him and rubbed her eyes, trying to convince herself Joshy was really here... even though...
"Joshy... how..." She stammered.
"Come on, Felix! Mrs. Despair's gonna be mad if we don't get ta class now!" Joshy started pulling on Felix's Cuirass tails, urging her to follow her. Despair! That's where she had remembered Maria when she first met! Maria's mother was her old school teacher. Felix let herself be pulled towards the school house by Joshy. But, as she drew closer to the school house, Joshy grew taller, and his grip migrated upwards, until he finally had his arm around her neck. The school building also changed, morphing into a deeper and deeper state of dis-repair.
"Wow..." Josh muttered, looking over the raggid building. "How long has it been since we've been back here?"
"Five years..." Felix found herself muttering. Josh pulled her closer.
"Did you hear?" Josh continued, trying to keep the snow from Felix's shoulder. "Our teacher, old Mrs. Xenobia died a couple years back."
"No!" Felix breathed. She wasn't surprised, this was old news. Josh had told her that just before he... just before he died. She didn't know why this took her by surprise. She knew Xenobia Despair had died years ago, but something made her surprised again.
"Yea. Tragic accident, I heard. Did you know she had kids?"
"Really?"
"Yea. Maria and Natalya. Ravishingly beautiful, I've heard." He smiled, but then rebutted. "But, not half as beautiful as you, my Snow Goddess." He smiled. Felix felt her heart jump. This was where they shared their first kiss together, over looking the old school house. Josh leaned in and pulled Felix towards her. Something sent a shiver down her spine. Felix's eyes were closed, as they had been when they first kissed. Something forced her to open them. Standing before her, pulling her closer, was not the Josh she knew. It was a horrible deformation of a creature. It's teeth were twice as long as steak knives, and acid poured from it's jaws. It's eyes were vomit green, and it cried a horrible, shrill of a scream. Letting out a scream of her own, Felix wrenched Nightmare Edge up and drove it into the creature's neck and sliced down his chest. The creature let her drop and, in fear, she covered her eyes. When she heard the body fall over, she opened them.
Lying in the snow, a fine layer of the crystallized water on his jacket, coating the fresh chest wound, was Josh. He was lying in the snow, bleeding from his neck and torso. His face said it all. Why? It was exactly as she had remembered him looking all those years ago when she found him dead. The wounds matched. Had she killed him? Did the only man she ever love, die by her own hands? She collapsed to her knees and looked at Josh in the eyes. His beautiful green eyes were bastardized by a white glaze over them. Death's mark. She threw herself onto Josh's torso and began crying. The Nightmare Edge, however, had a different plan in mind. The blade, sensing blood, drove itself into Josh's torso, point first.
"No! No stop it! Leave him alone! Stop it, I tell you!"
"Why stop?" A growl echoed in her head... or at least, she thought it was in her head. "Blood is always the best, when the one who shed it, cared most for the previous owner." A shrill laught permiated the cold.
"Who are you?" Felix asked, shaking.
"WHAT am I, you mean?" Felix nodded. "Look in your hand, silly girl!" The voice continued. Felix looked at her right hand. In the hilt of the Nightmare Edge, there was a face. She had noticed it earlier, but thought nothing of it. The face was now, quite alive, and staring at her. "BOO!" It shouted when she saw it. Felix reacted and screamed, jumping back. The sword laughed. "Ah, that never gets old! Say... Is your name Felix, little Cat Demon?" The sword asked, still drinking the victim's blood.
"Uh... uh huh..." Felix muttered. The sword's shadowy lips curled into a smile.
"Nice to meet you, Felix. I'm Nightmare Edge. Have you met my brother yet?"
"B... brother? I don't see anyone else..." There came another pair of pricks on her neck. "NYA! Hey! It's only been six minutes!"
"It's rude to speak ill of the unseen." Another voice growled, this one from behind her.
"Where are you? Show yourself!" Felix shouted, spinning around, holding Nightmare Edge at the ready. Another laugh from behind her.
"She can't see you, dear brother." Nightmare Edge muttered. The second voice continued to talk, this time, the voice coming from below her. Felix looked down.
"SURPRISE!" The second voice shouted, a face appearing on the top of Felix's left gauntlet.
"V..." Felix started. "Vampire's Embrace, I take it?" She swallowed hard. The face on her gauntlet smiled.
"Smart girl. Yes, Vampire's Embrace is my name. But, enough with the introductions, you've got four minutes before I stick you again. I do love the taste of Cat Demon blood..."
"You and me both, bro. You and me both." Nightmare Edge replied. Felix felt stronger, probably from the blood Nightmare Edge had drained.
"What is this place?" Felix asked. Both the sword and the armor laughed in unison.
"Come now! I know you're a Cat Demon, but even YOU should be able to recognize your own past! Your own memories!" Felix looked around to confirm what Vampire's Embrace was saying, was true. Yes, she did recognize the school yard, but any idiot who knew her would know what that place looked like. Josh, however... she never told anyone about him. Or how he died.
"Door." Nightmare Edge spoke. The sword jerked in her hand. "That way." Felix followed where the sword pointed, and entered a door standing in the middle of the field. She took one last fleeting glimpse at Josh's corpse before continuing.
This next room she had entered was the same as the last one. A long, gray, bland corridor. As she progressed, the walls began to dissolve, giving to dust. She held onto Nightmare Edge tight, even though she couldn't drop him.
"Some grip you've got, Cat Demon." Nightmare Edge muttered. The only thing left of the corridor now was the floor she walked. Soon, a huge portal sprung from the carpeted floor and opened before her, red swirls swimming inside.
"Enter." A grim voice stretched out, sounding as ominous as possible, Felix shuddered and moved in. There came the sound of wind rushing past Felix's ear, pierced by the sharp "NYA!" Of Felix getting pricked once more, another liter of blood sapping from her body. She rubbed her neck.
"Ya know, that really hurts..." Felix muttered.
"Terribly sorry, I can't help it. You smell so good..." Vampire's Embrace smiled. Felix groaned and came to view the beautiful outskirts of Battleon. Her hometown now.
"Uh oh..." Nightmare Edge groaned. "I've seen this dozens of times. The "Could Have" Trial. Be prepared." Felix, perplexed, continued on. She began walking the streets.
"Hello! Anyone!" Felix shouted, walking to Yulgar's Inn door. On the porticus, there hung a sign which read "Closed for The Culling". Felix tore the note off the door and examined it. "The Culling?" The Cat Demon asked, tossing the note down. She heard a door open. She looked towards Aria's shop and saw a woman around mid twenties peering from the door. "Hello?! Can you help me?" Felix shouted. Almost as if Felix was Carnax himself, the woman gaped and ducked into her home. "Hey! Ma'am! Come on, you've gotta help me!" Felix ran to her door and banged on it.
"I... I can't help you!" The woman shouted. Her voice was similar to Aria's but older. Maybe this was Aria... "No one can help you! Go away, or you'll draw them to me! Please, for the love of our God Akriloth, get away from my store!" She shouted. Felix, more stunned then mad, backed away from the door. "Thank you... god have mercy on you..." The woman finished. Felix looked about. Something about Battleon's skyline seemed awkward. She scanned it once more. Warlic's store, Yulgar's... Aria's... It hit her.
"Ma'am!" She called once more into Aria's shop, or at least it might have been Aria's.
"Please! I don't want to help you! I don't want to die!"
"Just answer one question!" Felix shouted in response. There came a pause, then a soft.
"Make it quick."
"What happened to the Guardian Tower?" Felix asked.
"The... Tower... Oh, god! It was horrible! Makkisar came and... DrakZombies everywhere! They never stood a chance!" The ground began to tremble. "Oh, Jesus! They're coming! Please! Run, do what ever, just don't talk to me any more! I don't want to die!" Felix looked around, looking for whatever made that awful racket. On the northern horizen, she saw a cloud of dust rising. As it drew closer, she could see what it was. An entire army of deformed, zombified Drakel. Most of their body was bone, however, select bits of flesh still clung for dear life onto the off-white bones. Even though she had never seen one, she could tell from Maria's description of them, that these were the demons Maria fought in Ren T'kak.
"All at once..." Felix muttered, taking a battle stance. She held Nightmare Edge in her hand off to the side. "Or one at a time..." She continued as the DrakZombies closed in. As they closed within mere seconds of overwhelming her, she pounced into the group, shouting: "MAKES NO DIFFERENCE TO ME!" She landed in the group and instantly began hacking and slashing at everything that moved. The horde of Zombies stopped their forward advance and tried to overwhelm Felix with numbers. Felix's core advantage she had over the Zombies was agility. She out classed them in sheer speed and dodge capability. Each attempted strike the Zombies made with their great tentacle of an arm was either dodged completely, or parried. Out of the corner of her eye, Felix witnessed three of the Zombies trying to knock down the door of the woman who had helped her. The Cat Demon reacted and pushed through the mass of them, trying to reach those three. The woman's screams could be heard from inside. Finally, before Felix could reach the door, the wood barrier exploded inwards, and the three Zombies grabbed the poor girl. Felix couldn't bare to see what happened.
"No! Please, Oh god, no!" The woman shouted. One Zombie raised its claw up and slashed at her across the stomach, spilling her intestines. Another jammed a claw into the woman's chest and twisted. Her face turned to shock as the DrakZombie tore her still-beating heart from her chest. "J...Jesus..." She muttered, watching the Zombie shred her heart into small slivers. Another Zombie took hold of her arm and twisted, popping her arm off at her shoulder like a chicken wing. It discarded the severed limb and began working on her other arm. The third Zombie dug both claws into the gap in her chest, pulled her sternum out, discarded it, and butterflied her ribs. Meaning, it took hold of the two sides of her ribcage and pulled, bowing the bones out away from her chest. Felix couldn't even begin to fathom how painful that must have been. The woman's screams didn't do justice to the pain. Intermixed with her cries, she managed to cry out "Oh god! Please! Kill me!" The first Zombie, which had torn her heart out, bent over and began tearing her intestinal track out and scattering it around on the floor. Her eyes rolled into the back of her skull. Death, had finally come to take the poor, young girl away from all the agony.
"To your left!" Vampire's Embrace shouted, breaking Felix's concentration from the girl's cries of agony and begs for mercy, allowing her to hack one of them down the middle.
"To your right, this time!" Nightmare Edge shouted, giving Felix plenty of warning, allowing her to cut another zombie.
"Why are you guys helping me?" Felix asked jumping over a falling DrakZombie. Nightmare Edge just 'meh'd and shouted 'left again'.
"Let's just say we're trapped here, just like you. You see, we were the Gai'lin's first victims, our souls trapped and bound within these forms. We want out just as much as you behind you. Do." Vampire's Embrace muttered. Felix spun Nightmare Edge around and back-stabbed a Zombie.
"Please, refrain from doing that... It's dizzying..." The sword complained.
"Sorry..." Felix jumped over the thinning line of Zombies and destroyed the three which had brought the young girl's life to such a tragic, agonizing end.
After ten minutes of fighting, the last of the DrakZombies finally fell to the ground, split in six pieces. Felix stabbed her sword into one.
"Blegh! Rancid. But, I shouldn't complain. It's food."
"You said something about 'Could Have'. What's 'Could Have'?" Felix asked, looking at Nightmare Edge.
"In case you haven't picked up on it, the Gai'lin chooses his champion, the person who will fight him to the death. He does this by taking the worthy people and setting them against three tests, the "Has Been" test, the "Could Have" test, and the "Will Be" test."
"Maybe we should explain each in turn." Vampire's Embrace muttered.
"Right." Nightmare Edge replied. "The "Has Been" test is the first. The contestant is pitted against his or her most traumatizing memory. For example, yours was the death of your boyfriend. For everyone, the "Has Been" is different."
"Right." Vampire's Embrace picked up. "The "Could Have" is a speculative look on what could have been Lore's fate, should certain mitigating circumstances not been met. For example, I imagine something you did averted an overwhelming number of Super Killer Hyper Lizard Space Zombies from spreading they're death grip across Lore."
"Right." Nightmare Edge picked up once more. "And the "Will Be" test is the most dangerous of the three. The contestant is pitted against the only great Certain in their future."
"And that is?" Felix questioned. The face on Nightmare Edge scrunched up to a grin.
"Dunno. I died on the "Could Have" test. So has everyone else who picked me up. Save for you, of course."
"And you? How far did you get?" Felix asked Vampire's Embrace.
"End of the first test. Just far enough into the second to see what it was. I know, I'm pathetic, silence." Vampire's Embrace muttered, it's 'eyes' narrowing.
"You have fought well, Cat Demon, and have gained the honor of advancing. Enter, and prepare." The Gai'lin's voice sounded in Felix's head. The Cat Demon inhaled and looked at the door. It was a rather creepy door with blood dripping from the top seam. She let her breath out and advanced, the door opening to a torrent of blood.
When Felix recovered, she found herself lying on something squishy.
"You okay?" Nightmare Edge questioned.
"Fine. You?" Vampire's Embrace responded.
"Yea, I'm good. How are you, Felix?" The sword sounded again.
"Nyaaaaaa..." She muttered, dizzy and disoriented from the fall.
"She's okay!" The sword grinned. Felix sat up and put her hand down to her side. She felt something soft under her hand. When she looked, she saw that she was sitting on the very top of a pile of shredded, dismembered corpses. Screaming, she flung herself from the pile and tried frantically to wipe the blood from her.
"Sticky! Sticky! Gross! Gross! Get it off! Get it off! Getitoffgetitoff!" She hollared.
"Whoa, whoa! It's on me too, ya know! Calm down!" Vampire's Embrace responded. Felix, after several minutes of trying to wipe the blood off, finally calmed down. "There you go, oh, by the way." The armor stuck her in the neck again.
"NYA!" Felix shouted, jumping with surprise. "WILL YOU STOP THAT?!"
"Sorry. Can't stop."
"About time, Felix." A female voice growled from the darkness.
"Who's there?!" The Cat Demon shouted, spinning around with Nightmare Edge at a ready. "Show yourself!" She began jumping around, turning to face every corner of the encroaching darkness. The voice laughed.
"Surly you can tell when you see YOURSELF!" The lights clicked on and Felix found herself in the Guardian Arena, bodies piled in the center. Standing in one corner was a mirror image of herself, covered head to toe in blood and entrails. She knew it was her, but the mirror was different. Felix had short little nails, this behemoth had huge claws the size of daggers. Her teeth were long and pointed. Her eyes, not the usual cute yellow she was used to, were know blood red and glowing a soft red light.
Felix couldn't help but scream. The sight was just that much horrifying, she couldn't hold it in any longer.
"I scare you?" The woman muttered, then laughed. "Please. Don't tell me you look at yourself in the mirror every morning and cry out if horror. You see... only what you are."
"You are a monster! I...I...I can't be you!"
"You're not me! That's the point! I... however, am you. What you have always meant to become. What you always have been." There came a pause. "What you will be."
"That's impossible!"
"Oh is it?" Dark Felix muttered, crossing her arms. "Then tell me! How is it you survived the horrifying massacre of your home town? Luck? Coincidence? No. Predestination. You have always meant to face the Gai'lin in one-on-one combat, and how do you expect to do that? As you are? No. You'll be torn asunder. Only by embracing what you always have been, will you succeed."
"NO! I don't have to become a demon to defeat one! I'm stronger then you, stronger then the Gai'lin! I'll show you! I'm not all looks and laughs! I'LL SHOW ALL OF YOU!" She struck without thinking. Leaping into the air, bellowing like some Norse god, she drove Nightmare Edge into Dark Felix's chest, the blade piercing her heart. Dark Felix collapsed without a sound. As soon as Felix's vision returned, she looked at the corpse. It had switched to her visage. Lying bleeding and naked on the floor. The sight was insane.
"The others are dust! You alone, Cat Demon, remain! You have been given the honor to face me in combat. But for now. Advance, and baptize yourself in my Trial of Blood!" The Gai'lin sounded off again in her head, in a rather amused voice. The arena faded and the same room she had started in reappeared.
"I suddenly don't feel an urge to stick you every ten minutes..." Vampire's Embrace muttered.
"Waa!" Nightmare Edge called, falling from Felix's grasp. "Pick me up, damnit!" The sword swore. Felix obliged. Another door opened leading to an arena style room, where twelve other gates were opening. Felix stepped out and readied her sword.