Rupture: Rise of the Demon King (29 page)

“Seeko, what’s happening? Is it another trap? What was that screaming?” Mori asked.

Danuski stared wide eyed into the ocean, almost dropping her whip. “Katadia!” she screamed both into the Voice and aloud. “Please, calm down!”

The dark rumbling in the Voice began again. It reminded Seeko of rumbling, rolling thunder. It sounded like laughter after a moment, then the Voice spoke:
“A storm approaches,”
it said slowly.

Danuski faced Seeko and his two friends. “Hero! No one can defeat a Kyodaina!” She reached out a hand. “I can save you!” She pointed to them all. “All of you!”

Seeko tried his best to ignore the Voice, but the murmurs only worsened. “Save us? From what?”

“You hear it, hero, do you not? Kyodaina Katadia approaches!”

“This is just another trick!” Seeko cried. “You can’t win and you know it, so you try to scare us!”

“This is no trick!”

“Enough talking!” Keith bellowed. “I will not just stand here when Hannet needs me!”

He rushed the demon woman once more. At the same time, he forced the wind to push her to him, threatening to impale her on his blade.

Danuski frowned. “So be it.”

She reversed the wind and converted to water. All of the sudden, Keith was moving too fast and went soaring off the balcony.

“Keith!” both Mori and Seeko shouted.

They ran to where he fell, but only saw the cliff and the ocean below. Seeko faced the woman, fists clenched.

“You will die for that. I will tear you to ribbons!” Seeko said, and then he was gone, calling on Kerodesis and the necklaces to help him. He took as much power as he could from them, forming a rolling wave of fire and darkness throughout the room.

Of course, Danuski converted herself to water and avoided the maelstrom of violence. Mori, too, had to convert to water to avoid the attack. The three of them reformed, Seeko and Mori exhausted, Danuski less so.

“We have to surprise her, or she’s just going to convert to water to dodge it,” Mori said in between breaths.

Seeko tried to calm himself. He closed his eyes and tied to soothe himself. It was extremely difficult with the mindless muttering of the Voice and the rage of losing someone … losing someone … again. Seeko listened to the rain pelt the roof of the lighthouse. He heard something through the rain.

“Mori! We will push her to the edge!”

Seeko ran toward Danuski, and a confused Mori ran after him.

/ / / / /

Inside Lorissa’s mind floated her red spark, bravely fighting Yoshino’s darkness. “I think I can mess with the spell,” he was saying. “Use it to invade her version of the Voice.”

Lorissa could hear him speaking aloud but was no longer in control of her body. The darkness surrounded the spark, threatening to engulf her. A tendril of darkness entered the spark. Lorissa tried to fight back, but the darkness weaved around her attacks. It made contact with her ruby light and she despaired.

“Ahhh …” Yoshino said. “You are very special, Lorissa. To believe that you have cheated death, that she has even mastered death …”

The darkness sent another tendril into her spark. This time she did not struggle.

“It is over … I am so sorry … Mother …”
she said.

“Control over the Kikoeru will bring me one step closer to my Perfect Anarchy. It will bring me one step closer to becoming kotei … Hmmm …” Another dark tendril attacked the young woman’s soul. “To learn how to cheat death is but a bonus!”

Yoshino smiled. Lorissa glared at him, unable to fight back. “You can cheat it once,” the demon said, “but not twice.”

The darkness flooded into her spark and Lorissa was no more.

/ / / / /

“Seeko, shouting out your plan of attack is not really all that strategic,” Mori said as they rushed the demon.

“Don’t worry, Mori; I know what I’m doing!”

They reached the demon woman. Seeko and Mori threw everything they had at her, combining might and magic to send the demon back. Fireballs, water whips, and dark claws mixed with burning blade and silver rapier, began to have their toll on Danuski and she slipped. Mori sent a water whip across her face and Danuski converted into water to avoid Seeko’s back swing. She reformed several feet closer to the edge.

She was maybe a foot from the edge when Seeko whistled loudly. Danuski moved slightly closer to the railing, dodging another blow. She backed up another inch and the three stopped fighting for a moment.

Seeko and Mori were breathing hard, their sparks almost depleted. Seeko was now using the reserves in the necklaces. Danuski noticed this.

“You’re on your last legs,” she said to him. “Let’s end this fighting.”

Seeko grinned. “I agree.” He looked above her.

Keith hung upside down from the roof, claymore in hand. He plunged the blade into Danuski’s back, running her through. Blood burst from the wound, and Danuski just stared at Seeko and Mori.

Keith withdrew his blade and then used his magic to land next to her.

Seeko approached Danuski, tore the aquamarine necklace from her neck, and smiled again. Then he pushed her off the edge.

/ / / / /

Yoshino’s darkness rushed through Lorissa’s voice, reaching the Mother in an instant. A tendril of darkness reached her golden spark, stopped for a moment, then corrupted it.

“Yoshino!”
The Mother’s voice was hard with struggle.
“You cannot attack my Daughters like this!”

“I do anything that gets me closer to my goal. You know that. How did you master the Voice?”

“I will never tell you!”

A sigh, then,
“Then I will take it from you.”

The tendril of darkness became a flood and overwhelmed the Mother.

/ / / / /

Another roar ripped through the Kikoeru. This time, however, Seeko recognized the screamer. The Mother! Her horrible wailing tore his mind asunder. Seeko clenched his teeth, trying to ignore the screaming.

More voices joined in the howling, more females. The Sisters!

“Lorissa’s in danger!” Seeko shouted to the others.

Keith’s eyes went wide. “If she is in danger, then Hannet is in danger!” He dashed to the door …

… but at that moment, the lighthouse shook violently. Keith, in midstride, fell and the others staggered.

“What was that?” Keith asked as he rose.

Horror entered Seeko’s fractured mind as he came to a realization. “That storm the old man was talking about … It wasn’t a storm at all! It’s a demon named Katadia! There!” He pointed to the sea as another rumble shook the building, and they rushed to the edge.

Down below the lighthouse, the sea frothed and the rain fell in buckets. Lightning clashed and lit up the darkness. They looked down, down to the base of the lighthouse.

“There!” Seeko said again, gesturing to the sea.

Another flash of lightning. Then nothing. The rain continued, the wind howled. Another flash. In the second of brightness, the trio saw something. A wicked tentacle rose from the sea, reaching a hundred feet into the air. The darkness returned and the tentacle collided with the lighthouse again, shaking it to its foundation. A crack formed from the collision, and a chunk of the ceiling fell not three feet from the trio.

“We have to go! Now!” Seeko shouted.

Again Keith rushed to the door, at least until the monster hit the building again and another chunk fell from the ceiling, blocking the door.

Keith reached the chunk, trying to lift it, and Seeko and Mori helped after a moment. He couldn’t move it.

“Seeko!” Keith shouted. “Use your dark hands to lift it or something!”

“If I use any more magic, I’ll die!”

Keith looked to Mori. She looked down and shook her head.

“What are we going to do, then?” Keith asked.

Mori took a deep breath. “I have an idea.”

Another rumble. The building caved from the latest strike.

“Listening!” Keith shouted.

“We could jump into the ocean. When I was younger, I would do it sometimes. I could use my magic to cushion our fall …”

“Are you crazy?” Seeko yelled. He thought of falling from the portal and his stomach churned. The feeling of free fall, the flailing of limbs without support … He would rather face a hundred demons than jump off the building.

“What else can we do?” she said.

“We’ll be jumping right into a demon’s jaws!” Keith said.

“The stormy water might disguise us from it … It may think we’re just another piece of the building falling into the sea.”

Seeko gulped. He was trembling, running through a hundred scenarios of falling to his death. But what else could they do? “Let’s … Let’s go,” he said, “before I think about it anymore.”

Another strike from the demon. The lighthouse began to collapse toward the sea with a rumble they felt in their teeth. The heavily slanted building caused the trio to start sliding toward the ocean far below. “Looks like we’re jumping anyway!” Keith shouted. He ran to the edge. “Mori! I’ll slow myself down!” he said, and then Keith was gone again.

“Keith!” Seeko cried.

Mori grabbed his hand as they continued to slide downward. “Let’s go! Seeko!” Mori screamed. “Before the building falls on us!”

Seeko took a deep breath.
Here goes nothing …
They left the lighthouse, into open air.

Another crash and Luxant Lighthouse fell into the sea.

26: Kidnapped!

2 Seek, 112 AV: Day 191

Cold!

The rampaging sea was broken as the duo splashed in. Mori used her remaining magic to slow them down when they hit the water, losing consciousness. Her grip left Seeko’s and she began to sink. Which was for the best, for at that moment, a hundred tons of stone came falling into the ocean after them.

Seeko did not notice any of this. First, he remembered cold. Then wet. Then a massive something bearing down on him. He remembered holding someone’s hand …
Mori!

He swam to the unconscious girl, who luckily was only a few feet below him. Almost out of breath, he scooped her up and swam toward the surface, dodging huge chunks of lighthouse.

They resurfaced and Seeko took the finest breath of his life. He treaded water for a moment, looking for either Keith or the tentacle. Nothing. Lightning flashed, but except for the girl in his arm, he was alone in the sea. Alone in the storm.

They were about two hundred feet from the shore. Seeko slowly made his way there, holding Mori close to him. Eventually, the exhausted hero dragged the girl onto the beach. Seeko made it to a nearby tree to seek shelter from the storm. He fell to his knees, looking at Mori with tears in his eyes.

“Mori! Are you still alive?” he cried. “I don’t know what to do …” He hit her chest to dispel water from her body. “Please Mori, don’t die now …” He hit her again, then a third time, closing his eyes to stop the tears.

Mori coughed out water and her eyes opened. Seeko, unaware, continued to hit her. “Stop …” she said weakly.

“Mori! You’re alive!” He pulled her close to him.

“My spark is water,” she muttered from his shoulder. “Water won’t kill me.”

He pulled her away, then kissed her fiercely. “I was scared … scared that you had left me,” he said.

“Seeko, we’ve been through too much for me to just leave.” She rose and helped him up. “And Seeko? I haven’t ever jumped off the lighthouse. I said that to make you two do it.” She smiled weakly. “Let’s head back to the manor.”

“What about Keith?”

“I’m sure that’s where he was heading. He was worried about Hannet.”

“Oh yeah.” The thought of Hannet made Seeko think of Lorissa. He became aware once more of the Voice, of the wailing Mother and her Sisters.
I hope they’re okay …

Hand in hand, the drenched couple left the shelter of the tree for the manor. Along the walk, he became aware of more things. His sword and bow were missing again, as were his boots. He double-checked his things on the walk back. He still had the necklaces. Why did he keep them anyway? The prophecy didn’t say he needed to keep them. He only needed to take them from the portals. Maybe they should have sunk to the bottom of the sea with his sword.

“You keep the necklaces to be more powerful,”
Kerodesis said.

“Well, if it gives me an advantage over the demons, then so be it.”

“You even think like a demon.”
Kerodesis chuckled.
“And if I do recall, you smiled when Danuski’s life left her body.”

“Shut up. She deserved it. She threatened Mori.”

“Oh, so since she made it personal, she deserved to die?”
Kerodesis countered.
“Like that justifies anything …”

Seeko ignored him. Still, the words Kerodesis said left him wondering.
“Once upon a time, I wouldn’t have made a decision like that. To take another’s life … it’s so easy for me now. I said that I didn’t have the right to take lives, to pass judgment. But, looking at the destruction they cause, the damage they do to everyone …”
He exchanged glances with Mori
“They deserve it. It is the price they pay for taking others’ lives.”

“And you think that we do not, or cannot, justify our kills?”
Kerodesis pondered.
“Much like you do now? You are one of us; you just do not realize it yet.”

Seeko cut off the connection to Kerodesis.

They reached the manor just as the last raindrop fell. The manor looked dark; none of the windows had candles burning in them. The gate was torn apart as if an explosion had broken it.

“What happened here?” Seeko said.

A worried-looking Mori rushed to the front door and found it ajar. Holding her breath, she pushed it open silently. Seeko followed her in.

“Hello?” Mori called out.

Seeko lit a weak fireball in his hand, its flickering green glow casting the place in a horrible light. The house was a mess: everything was knocked over, papers were scattered, glass was broken. Seeko moved the light and saw a boot sticking out of a nearby hallway. They moved to investigate and found a guard, dead.

Mori moved a hand to her mouth. “Arani help us …” she muttered.

She moved closer to the guard but Seeko held her back. The duo then made their way back to the staircase.

“Seeko?” Mori said as she grabbed his hand. “I don’t have any magic, or my rapier. If there is anyone still here, you’ll have to fight them.”

“Mori, I’m about to faint from this little fireball in my hand.” He started up the staircase. “I only hope Keith beat us here. Maybe he can fight where we can’t.”

Together, the pair crept up the stairs, moving as silently as they could. Seeko snuffed out his fireball as he climbed upward, exhausted.

The dining room doors were ajar when the pair reached the top of the stairs. With the fire out, the two of them couldn’t see into the room, but the curtains were pulled off the windows, and the dull light showed that objects were not in their usual place. Mori frowned and headed to the left, toward Hannet’s room.

At that moment, a loud crash could be heard from the right hallway. Paranoid, the two of them readied themselves for a fight they could not fight. A silhouette appeared from that hallway, rushing at them with a roar. The figure rammed into Seeko, almost sending him down the stairs. Instead, Seeko and the attacker fell upon the landing of the stairs.

Seeko recognized the figure for who it was; his small frame gave it away. “Get off me, Zach,” Seeko mumbled as he shoved the boy off.

Mori helped the two up. Then she asked, “Zach! What happened here?”

“Some people came in here—bandits!” he said. He took a deep breath. “They went through my clothes, but I attacked them with magic. They tied me up and fed me raxanweed.” He pointed to Luxant’s room. “I don’t know what they did to Dad … I didn’t go in his room but I heard shouting and … and …” He began to cry. “Sister! They hurt Parcel! They hurt Daddy!” He hugged her and cried into her leg.

Mori placed a hand on his small head. “It’s okay, Zach. I’ll go with you to check on Dad. Seeko, you go check on Hannet.”

With that, the brother and sister headed back down the right hallway. Seeko watched them for a little bit, then looked the opposite direction.
Hannet’s door is ajar as well …
He moved silently and slowly to the doorway, gulping as he approached. He peered in through the crack.

Nothing. I can’t see anything.
The worn-out hero took a deep breath, and reached for the door handle …

At that second, the door burst open and a large man stood in the doorframe. Seeko’s heart stopped and he jumped. When his heart began again, he said, “Keith?”

“Seeko. The bandits have taken Hannet.” His voice was strained and it cracked near the end of the sentence. “I will retrieve her.” Keith walked past him, running into the hero with a shoulder.

“Wait! We’ll go with you!”

“You’ll slow me down …” Keith said without stopping. He was at the staircase now.

Seeko followed behind him. “How do you know where they’re taking her?”

“Because I know
who
took her.” He was already at the bottom of the steps.

Seeko was close behind. “Who?”

Keith stopped, only for a moment. He glanced back at Seeko, silhouetted in the doorway by a flash of lightning. Then he rushed the front doors and ran into the darkness, using his magic to augment his speed. Within a moment, he was swallowed by darkness.

“Keith!” Seeko called after. No response.
Who took her? Why would bandits take her?

“She could be useful—she can see the future after all,”
Kerodesis chimed in.

Seeko ignored him, as usual.
How would Keith know who took her? Maybe there’s evidence in the room.
He headed back to Hannet’s room, shot a tiny flame at the candle on the desk, and examined the room in detail.

As soon as he’d lit the candle, he wished he hadn’t.

Lorissa lay on the ground, a wicked cut across her neck. Warm blood pooled beneath her. His gaze locked on her throat, still spilling blood onto the floor. His stomach flipped and he knelt over as his body heaved.

“Can’t take a little blood?”
Kerodesis said.

He backed a step away from her, slipping on a crumpled piece of bloodstained paper. He reached for the paper and pocketed it.

He left the room to clear his mind, shutting the door and hiding the horror away from Mori. He slumped down on the floor, back to the door, and began to tear up again.

Eventually, Seeko unwrinkled the paper he’d pocketed. It had been torn from what Seeko assumed was Lorissa’s journal:

Seeko,

Not much time

the Voices, the awful voices

He changed me. you know HIM

Thief in SCARF took Hannet

The rest of the note was indecipherable. He tried to calm his roiling stomach and think about what happened here.
Thief in scarf? Who is that? Keith couldn’t have taken Hannet; I saw him leave.

Seeko pursed his lips.
The other part is more understandable. Yoshino must have somehow changed her into a demon, like me. Hmmm … Why was the Mother wailing in the Voice? Did he turn them all into demons?

He continued to think in the hallway until Mori and Zach returned. “What’s, uh, what’s up with Luxant?” Seeko asked, watching the floor to hide his sorrow.

“He was unconscious when we found him. He’s been beat up and has lost some blood. I would have healed him, but I’m spent. Zach and I bandaged him up the best we could and moved him to his bed.” Mori moved closer to Seeko, whispering in an ear, “He doesn’t look too good. He needs a healer.”

Seeko rose and took a deep breath. Then he relayed what had happened to Hannet, Lorissa, and Keith. He gave the now crying Mori the note.

She read it and handed it back. “I … I think I know who took the girl."

“How?”

“In Irris, they mistook Keith for another bandit leader: Greg. I think that the scarf must have been the way they identified him. So Greg probably took her.”

“Why would he take her?”

“I don’t know, Seeko. It’s only a guess. Who else would wear a scarf? She wouldn’t have written it down if it wasn’t important.”

“She wasn’t herself …”

“This was really personal for Keith. He was first mistaken for Greg, and now Greg has taken Hannet. It seems like this Greg, if that is who it is, really is out for blood.”

He grabbed her hand. “We need to avenge her death,” Seeko said as thunder rumbled outside.

“We need to rest. We can grieve tomorrow.”

Her tears kept coming. Seeko wiped one away.

“And Keith? What about him?” he asked.

“Tomorrow, Seeko. My heart can’t take much more right now.”

Zach looked to Mori with his soft eyes. “Sister, can I sleep with you tonight?” he asked in his most timid voice.

Mori glanced to Seeko. “Sure, Zach,” she responded. “Tomorrow, we will bury her. I don’t want to leave Zach here alone, so we’ll see if there are any servants and guards left tomorrow and we’ll help them clean up.”

“Keith will get a large lead on us.” Seeko looked down. “I hate this,” he muttered. “First Kazuma, then Lorissa … Who’s next? I’m putting everyone in danger. The closer I get to finishing, the more people die.”

Mori hugged him. “Seeko, it’s okay. People knew what they were signing up for when—”

“Did they? Did they really know a super-powerful demon was out to get me, killing all who oppose him? For what? We don’t even know!”

“Seeko …” She kissed him but he didn’t return it.

“I lied. I am going back outside. I have someone to bury. Someone else.”

Tears welled up in his eyes and he broke the hug. Then he entered Hannet’s room, leaving Mori alone in the hallway.

/ / / / /

The next day was long for Seeko, Mori, and Zach. Seeko and Mori woke up early in the morning, quickly discovering that two servants had hidden in the house and were now stealing things. At the sight of Mori, the two young servants, one male and one female, dropped the stolen goods. After a quick chastising from Mori, the servants agreed to help Seeko and Mori clean up. The female was actually strong in earth magic, they soon discovered, so she and Seeko buried the dead while Mori and the male aided the wounded Luxant.