Nightmare

"What are you doing?" he asked, frozen.

She pushed the weapon against him, as he began to feel pain, the tension on his skin increasing, almost causing it to tear. She grabbed the key from his hand with a quick snatch. A pit in his stomach tightened. That was the first time their hands had touched. Her careless, cold movement, plunged his heart towards a dark place.

"You can try again and again, but the results will always be the same, Sunflower. Thinking that you can change the world into some—utopia—naive fools. Bested by the simplest of tricks," she said in a menacing tone.

Their eyes met for the first time, causing Roa to tilt his head, as his frown deepened.

"As I told you before—there is no hope," she said, as her face moved closer to his.

"Your eyes—" the boy stuttered, his voice quivering, as a cold chill went down his spine. "They were never that color."

She pulled her arm back and struck with great force. The cold blade sank, deep into Roa's stomach. A searing, guttural agony ripped through his core, radiating outward, as if his insides were being torn apart with every shaking breath. His body froze in shock, as her hand twisted the weapon inside his soft flesh, squelching.

"Why?" he managed to blurt out, as his voice trembled, and his eyes glistened with anguish.

"Naive, gullible, simple, nobodies," she said, each word louder and angrier, as her voice began to change, deeper and raspier with each utterance. "That is what you are."

Her head pulled back, and their eyes met again. Her pupils glowed with a light the boy recognized. Her hair began to burn on fire, smoke billowing out of it, as the golden spikes of a crown began to grow upwards. The familiar face of his lover, the one he had longed for and loved so dearly, morphed, filling him with dread.

"I've seen those eyes before," he thought.

Roa's heart sank to the depths of despair. He recognized the one standing before him—his hand firmly on the knife, as a river of blood flowed down like a crimson waterfall. Lord Smog smiled, towering, imposing, twisting the weapon with each word—as his eyes, like embers, burned with satisfaction.

"You messed with the wrong people, Sunflower." He took a step forward, forcing the boy back, who gasped in a panic as the blade dug deeper. "The Lord of Lords above is much stronger, and infinitely more—cruel than I am. Even if you made it out of here alive, by some miracle, you will never, ever, know another day of peace."

Roa gasped—and gasped again, and again. He tried to move, but his body was stuck. The pain overwhelmed him.

"We will hunt you all down, we will make you pay, and we will tear apart EVERYTHING YOU HOLD DEAR!"

The Shadow kicked him down, releasing the weapon from his flesh. Blood squirted out of the wound, and the Sunflower fell to the ground with a thud and a groan. His eyes closed shut from agony, his hands shaking. Lord Smog wiped the blade with a white handkerchief and scoffed.

"We gave you a chance when we caught you last time—one we do not give to many. You were lucky that your knowledge of the structure of the labyrinth was useful to us. You should have considered yourself blessed, instead of having bitten the very hand that fed you," he said with a cruel tone. "The Lord has already found the way to Exit Zero. You're not needed anymore. When a resource is depleted, it is—discarded. You serve no purpose to us anymore."

The Gate turned around and left the room, morphing back into Eralay's soft features.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Roa stared up at the cupola. The air was as cold as the hard ground. He lay motionless. His breath was fast, quivering, interrupted by his groans. The paintings adorning the dome were filled with what must have once been a rainbow of vibrant colors. The Sun and the Earth were at its center, surrounded by many people with their arms reaching up towards them. Roa touched his belly, and his fingers slipped inside a wide gash. He glanced at his hand, staring at it in horror, drenched in crimson, liquid dripping down to his elbow. He could feel a pool of blood growing larger on the ground.

Failure—again. Another failure.

"All that struggle—only to commit such a—naive error at the end," he thought, as his eyes closed shut in resignation. "What a fool."

He propped himself up, each movement forcing more blood to gush. Gritting his teeth, he yanked off his shirt, bracing himself before shoving the fabric into the gash. A raw scream tore from his throat as pain seared through him. Pressing hard against the wound, he staggered to his feet, swaying as he forced himself forward. Minutes felt like hours—and it was only until his leg was painted red down to the foot, that his blurry vision caught sight of his friends. Their laughter faded once they spotted him, his ghostly pallor and staggering walk freezing them mid-motion.

"We've been tricked. Lord Smog is alive. He has the key. We need to go after him—NOW," Roa's voice trembled between gasps, his body shaking as his teeth chattered uncontrollably. His face was drained of all color, his legs unsteady beneath him, swaying as though even a gentle wind might topple him. His heavy eyelids fluttered, teetering on the edge of unconsciousness, each blink slower than the last. Vesper laid him down, and screamed for anyone to lend the boy whatever aura they could. They gathered—placing their hands on him.

"We don't have anything left to give," said Rosso, a hint of resignation in his voice.

"Where's Theya?" Roa asked.

"She left when she saw your girl leave without you. She must have felt something wasn't right," explained Vesper.

"You need to go after her. She won't be able to take on the Gate by herself. You need to go, now!" Roa screamed, as he groaned and shut his eyes from the pain.

C-Saw sat down, cross-legged next to him, causing his brow to furrow. She took a deep breath in—and another deep breath out.

"Leave!" Roa shouted again.

She shushed him, dismissing him with a wiggle of her fingers.

She looked deep within and said, "I need." She then looked without, and added, "her faint signal—I need to find it before I can find her, genius. In the meantime, breathe—slow down that heart, beautiful."

The heroes ran off. Tanoò stayed with the boy, transforming into a sweet, old lady wearing an apron, and a kind smile painted on her face.

"I got you, Sunflower. I was keeping this as an absolute emergency." Tanoò pulled out a small vial, resembling the one Nirvana had given him at the beginning of his journey.

"What is it?"

The shapeshifter let the water pour down his throat.

"It's a very special and rare water. It should be enough to keep you alive, for now."

"You keep saving me."

"I'm just paying you back for all of the times you protected me back in the day."

Roa leaned back, resting his head against the cold ground, and dragged a hand over his face. A weary sigh escaped him as he shook his head. "I was so stupid," he muttered, his voice heavy with regret, "blindly trusting what I thought I saw."

The elderly woman placed her hand on his. Her warmth seeped into his cold, stained fingers.

"You saw what you wanted to see. The enemy knew your heart's desire and used it against you." She tapped her hand on his chest. "Don't beat yourself up over it. We don't fail when we make mistakes—only when we do not learn the lessons that they teach us."

Roa looked at her, grabbing her hand tightly as a tear fell.

"Next time the enemy uses that trick on you, you will not fall for the same trap," said Tanoò, nodding, trying to reassure the boy.

The lady unexpectedly morphed back into an animal, a confused look in its eyes as it looked around, tucking its tail.

"I can't use Ditto's Gift anymore—gas tank's empty," Tanoò said sitting, as it closed its eyes. "Theya is down. Her energy is disappearing—fast. The others are fighting the Gate. Stay here, I need to go. They need all the help they can get."

"We should go too," said someone in the crowd, once the racoon had disappeared from view.

"Help me up," Roa demanded.

"But..."

"Help me up. I can't stay here," he demanded again, lifting his hand until someone put him on his feet. "Do you have your motorcycle?" bent over in pain, he shot a look at Fulvix, the young man responding with a nod.

Fulvix turned the throttle with a strong flick of his wrist, the motor roared, speeding up as it made its way through the circular perimeter of the giant room. The long row of light posts zipped past to their left, straddling the edge of the burning lake. Roa could feel his shirt soaked wet, as the air cooled the blood. Then, somewhere in the middle of the fiery abyss, bubbles began to rise to the surface, growing so numerous they caught their attention. A huge mound rose towards the dome of the giant room until it exploded, sending thousands of burning drops flying in all directions.

"You've got to be kidding me," screamed the driver, his mouth wide open, shifting his gaze back in front as he evaded debris.

Lothrah leapt out of the abyss with a piercing screech. The Abomination was still alive.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.