Zaldizko - Chapter 3 The Juxtapositioners Lair

[Hair black with a healthy gloss. Notable eye colour black. Skin pigmentation light but not pale.

Biological age approximately sixteen summers. Sodium and phosphate levels normal and consistent with Forneas’s observed data of the food he consumed. Cholesterol and glucose levels within an acceptable range. No obvious allergies.

Light tests proved no sensitivity negating the Night Vamprous genus.]

A manly and stoic voice delivered a prognosis. Was I caught in another juxtapositioner’s lair? His words were clearly expressed; they didn’t appear to be of a third person narrative.

I realised I was conscious, but my eyes were closed, and I was lying incapacitated. The surface beneath me was solid and cool to the touch.

“Further blood tests detected an intriguing amount of elevated testosterone and epinephrine. On the other hand, his mana levels were too low for magical abilities.” The clinical voice rambled on.

“Your conclusion.” I recognised Leinard’s voice.

The clinical voice sighed. “I envisioned the worst that would’ve befallen our Captain is sexual exhaustion. Apart from an overexcited libido triggered on a whim, the boy’s readings concluded a perfectly healthy and normal human.”

I heard a frustrated sigh released from Leinard before he raised a question on why demons called Skrit were going to such lengths to capture me when I wasn’t anything exceptional. The skrits’ attempts had seen to the injuries or deaths of eight of his squads so far with the remaining able body knights fighting for their lives to hold back an onslaught occurring across the entire landscape of Hell’s Labyrinth.

My heart picked up in beat when I learned of the high damage and loss of life among the human prisoners. I gathered an impression that the statistics were not a normal pattern.

“If the boy is common, as you say, why smuggle him into Apocalypse and place him in Hell’s Labyrinth without” Leinard’s voice paused. His breath burned against my cheek. The sensation was replaced with a stinging slap.

“Argh!” I yelped.

“How long have you been listening?”

My eyes met Leinard’s, which were filled with rage. I felt a lie to his question would put me into a coma.

“Since the start of your recipe list for a devilishly handsome guy.” I spat out. “Your analysis was kind of off. I’m eighteen.”

I gradually sat up and was introduced to the voice behind the clinical recipe list. Dr Samuel Abe Mercer of the EKO Medical Unit was a wiry man in a white overcoat. His features were gaunt and close to being skeletal. A black eye-patch covered his right eye, but it couldn’t hide the deep scaring around his brow bone and upper cheekbone. His free eye carried a bizarre tint of red that accentuated the morose tone of his pale skin and small ears.

“Oh, and he’s aesthetically pleasing to the eye,” Samuel added to his diagnosis.

I glanced around the room I was contained within. Glass cabinets (storing rows of labelled vials) were lined up against one wall. Opposite to where I sat stood tall benches supporting strange bronze and bulky apparatuses. Free-standing lamps burned in the corners; their white light focused on the metal slab that I rested on. The walls that I could make out were a sterile grey and unadorned. From my memories of books, I had seen, I deduced I was in something of a medical examination room. I braced myself for further interrogation.

“I’m very excited to come across a living creature other than demons and humans.” Samuel’s eyes brightened and turned toward one of the benches.

I felt nervous by the sight of his glistening red eye and decided to see what had excited him. Blood rushed to my head and went cold against my chest when I saw Small Cap unconscious on a metal tray on the bench.

His legs were stretched out and clamped down by tiny pincers connected to the arm of an apparatus, and a set of small knives (I recognise as tools called scalpels) were laid out next to him.

“Whaddahell are you gonna do to him?!” I shouted angrily.

I stumbled towards Small Cap to free him from the pincers, and was able to free his legs, but my arms were forced backwards and held captive by Leinard when I went to scoop him up.

“Small Cap – wake up!” I shouted desperately to jostle the spider out of his unconscious state.

My heart picked up in beat when his legs twitched to life. I heard his voice groan inside my head.

_”Free-nd? Wher…”_ His voice trailed off when he saw the terrifying form of a man looming over him.

“Amazing!” The mad doctor squealed with delight as he closely examined Small Cap’s return to consciousness with a scalpel posed for cutting in his trembling hands.

_”Ugh!”_ Small Cap shrieked with fright and took the mental order I gave him to run and hide.

His small body scrambled into action, running blindly across the bulky equipment to find a way off the bench. The mad doctor chased him around the bench; he was a surprisingly fast mover.

“To the left! The right!” I shouted out my assistance and attempted to bite off the hand that Leinard had cupped over my mouth to shut me up.

His other hand kept a firm grip around my arms to hold me back from going to Small Cap’s aid.

I sighed with relief when Small Cap was able to leap off the bench and scurry into a tight crevice between the wall and a glass cabinet. He’d be safe for now.

“Boo.” Samuel pouted, childishly, with disappointment.

He came at me with a threatening look in his eyes and the scalpel raised and ready to attack my face.

Bring it. I’ll bite his nose off and smash his head with my own to ensure Small Cap’s safety.

He surprised me when his mood and attitude became clinical again. He placed the scalpel back in the pile with the others, pulled out a stool that had been hiding under the bench and took a seat. His eyes scanned my body before he spoke again.

“Interesting friendship.”

“Doctor Mercer.” Leinard prompted the man.

“Well.” Samuel sighed as he stood up.

He grabbed a needle, which formed the head of a clear tube container holding strange liquid.

I yelped when he stabbed me with the needle and pushed on the tube’s base, so all the liquid drained out, and into my arm. Tears welled in my eyes from the instant pain I had felt.

The needle-tube thing was pulled out of my arm and tossed aside once it was emptied.

Samuel slapped a wet patch over the puncture wound the needle had created.

“Ouch!” I involuntarily let out.

“That completes quarantine. You’ll be able to move him out of the infirmary ward,” he advised.

Leinard dropped his hold on my arms and faced me with a choice. “From this point on, you are to live by one of two choices.”

I felt queasy at the thought of the two choices. It was obvious I would accept choice number one since the other saw myself no different to a prisoner and with little opportunity to find my brothers.

“Fine. I am Famine from Gat Shiem and my friend, whom your kind doctor was about to cut apart, is Small Cap. We place ourselves in your care.” I reintroduced myself to Leinard with a formal bow.

It seemed to earn a smile from him. Albeit for a split-second.

Upon hearing his name, I saw Small Cap emerge from the crevice. He ran up my arm and into my pocket before the men had a chance to recapture him.

“You’ll obey the instructions of my captain and his squad’s sergeant.” Leinard’s voice assumed a serious and threatening tone to his next words.

“If you so much as attempt to escape or break order within the squad, I’ll not hesitate to send the spider to our kind doctor for dissection, and for you to helplessly watch as he cuts away his legs, piece by piece, alive.”

I nodded with understanding and felt Small Cap’s body shiver. It was clear he understood this as well.

I followed Leinard out of the examination room and into a white corridor that held signs of natural light from the high ceiling windows that beamed over our heads. An eerie quiet trailed our syncopated footsteps on the stone floor.

Leinard stopped to face me.

“Famine. Did you know, Gat Shiem’s buildings were made from elemental resistant materials? Even the strongest elemental spell shouldn’t make the moonstone spark.” He frowned.

“No.” I shook my head. “Contrary to what you say, I saw the demon fire. I wished I hadn’t.”

“Demon fire, hmm,” he said as he thoughtfully rubbed at this chin.

We resumed our silent walk down the corridor, towards a set of double doors and a T-Junction.

I was stopped, again, at the start of the junction.

“Was there a man named Melchizedek there? He would’ve been an elderly man with a papery voice and a front gap tooth,” Leinard asked.

“Melchizedek? Oh, you mean Shuso.” I guessed who he would be referring to, considering Shuso was the only monk at that place who had a front gap tooth. “You know of the old man?”

Leinard nodded. “Melchizedek was my teacher at one stage of my life, before he left for his calling to Gat Shiem.”

I was unsure on how to respond to that piece of information. Fortunately, our conversation was disrupted by a couple of boys running out of the double doors.

They were the two boys wearing glasses whom I had encountered earlier. It was the first time I noticed the thick-framed-glasses guy was a lot taller and stockier than the other who was as skinny as myself.

“Colonel. Thank goodness we found you.” The skinny boy with round glasses panted.

Both boys straightened up to perform a stiff gesture with their hands. I recalled, from Bulldog’s newspaper books, that this gesture was called a salute.

_”Dem grunt soldiers greet dem seniors dis way, so everyone knows who boss on field…”_ Memories of his kind explanations stirred a tear to my eye.

No. I had no right to cry when I hadn’t been able to do anything. It was clear that I was in something of a military zone, so I had to keep my wits about me. For my brothers, I had to be strong, smart and alive.

“Report,” Leinard ordered.

The round-glasses boy explained about the troubles their platoon was facing with an area of the infirmary and a layer of Hell’s Labyrinth called the Fourth Tier. Any non-field personnel, civilians and company magis (masters of magic) were being escorted to a safe area called the Surface.

From further conversations between Leinard and the boys, I gather that the Infirmary and Hell’s Labyrinth existed beneath the Second District.

“Captain ordered us to find you and accompany you back to the Green Room,” the round-glasses boy stated.

Leinard acknowledged the boy’s words with a nod and prompted for them to lead the way.

We didn’t move far when the ground beneath us quaked and cracked apart. He grabbed my hand and held it tight as he pulled me along with his plight. The four of us stumbled our way down one end of the corridor.

We were within reach of an exit when a group of tree-men in black suits entered our view and blocked the way. Their arms intended to knock us down.

“Shit – skrit! Not now. Don’t need this now!” cursed the thick-framed-glasses boy.

He removed a steel weapon from the holster strapped to his right thigh and positioned it in his hand. Aiming the weapon’s skinny barrel at a skrit’s chest, his index finger pressed back on the weapon’s loop trigger. Jarring sounds exploded from the weapon, which sent an object flying towards its intended target. The skrit shrieked with pain as it fell backwards upon impact of the object’s entry to its chest. It combusted and became a pile of free-falling ash.

I glanced at the other boy and saw he held the same weapon in his hands.

Both boys fired off rapid rounds at the skrit. The atmosphere became noisy, cloudy and heated with the pong of iron fillings going up my nose.

Leinard positioned me behind him. He unsheathed his longsword that shimmered with a blue light.

“Stay behind me. When I tell you to run, go in the opposite direction. Don’t look back,” he coolly whispered.

I gripped his hand tight for affirmation and braced myself for impact.

We lost our footing as the ground crumbled underneath us.

The four of us fell into a hole of black darkness.

[“Breathe,” said Small Cap when he felt his friend’s skin cold as ice.

Unfamiliar groans startled the spider. He went to hide in his friend’s pocket when he saw the two-legs with four eyes stirring to consciousness.

“Ugh.” The thick-framed-glasses boy stirred awake and jostled the round-glasses boy back to consciousness.

The thick-framed-glasses boy tested the jarring pain he felt to his elbow and suspected he had sprained his arm upon impact.

“Where are we?” asked the round-glasses boy.

He came to a conclusion upon sight of the blue floors and patterned walls casting oily light about the strange blue semi-darkness.

The boys scrambled about the semi-darkness and found their lieutenant colonel on the ground nearby. He was holding a black-haired beauty of a boy, about their age, to his chest. They were unconscious.

“Jensen. Who is this boy?” asked the round-glasses boy.

“Wilfred, isn’t he the one we found in that Juxtapositioner’s lair in the South Wing,” said the thick-framed-glasses boy as he scratched at his head.

“That boy.” Wilfred thought with a frown.

“Colonel,” he called out to his superior, shaking the man’s shoulder to rouse him awake.

Leinard’s eyes fluttered open. He blinked in the images of Jensen and Wilfred’s faces. He went to sit up and felt Famine unconscious in his arms.

“Famine, up,” he said as he shook the boy, at the same checking to make sure he hadn’t been injured.

Famine groaned to life; his eyes gradually opened.

“Where are we?” His eyes blinked about the blue semi-darkness.

They went wide when he recognised the pattern walls shimmering with rainbow light and the feeling of the blue floors.

“Oh no we have to get out of” Famine paused when he saw a creature looking like a court jester skipping towards them.

“I know.” Jensen mouthed with his hand gripping the steel gun he had picked off the floor earlier.

“Screw you! I don’t care if you know what’s gonna happen. I’m gonna shoot!” Jensen yelled as he faced the court jester and fired rounds at it.

The court jester had anticipated the attack, obviously, and danced around the flying bullets with ease.

“You morsels won’t be able to escape my lair this time,” he declared.

The breaking of his last lair was due to a miscalculation of pride and trust in a hard sell that ended up a con.

He wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. He had recovered a percentage of power due to the precious meal he was gifted with. Now with the addition of three tantalising appetisers, he’d suck their minds dry to speedily fill up his own. His initial plans will be back on track.

“Firstly, to eradicate this Famine thing. How dare I was tricked into believing this dumb imbecile had a worthy brain to eat!” The demon cursed.

Of course, at that time, he had been starved of knowledgeable brains, so he hadn’t been in the right frame of mind to make a sound decision.

Now was different. The tender and tasty human that Hades Lion gave him made up for his earlier troubles.

“Huh?! Who you calling a dumb imbecile you stupid git!” Famine shouted out his unintelligent insults to the demon.

“No, stop it Famine!” Leinard cried out, attempting to silence the boy from hurling further insults at the demon.

It was too late. The dumb Famine had pushed against the demon’s sore spot.

“STUPID?! Blasphemy!” The demon felt his rage.

He called upon his book of knowledge to lay down the law.

“Bring it you mindless git! I’m not afraid of you!” Famine shouted.

The three knights of the Evadale Knight Order groaned and readied their weapons for retaliation.

“Blasphemy, blasphemy, blasphemy!” The demon childishly ranted as he called upon his powers within the blue book. “Come, my children, bind the lair!”

Moving silhouettes and agitated voices surrounded the patterned walls. They sparked and warped into ever-changing images of events and sceneries pulled from the humans’ minds.

“Oh shit!” Wilfred panicked when he realised the power that was activated.

He felt dizzy from the rush of images and colours pressurising his senses. His ears picked up the voice of a woman that he shouldn’t be hearing.

–(W)–

“Wilfred. You must protect your sister and look after each other.” His mother’s serene voice advised him of his place as he held her left hand.

His older twin sister held their mother’s right hand. The three of them were the pitiful sight in black suits as they solemnly stood over their father’s freshly filled grave.

“All of the Smithsonian Estate will be looking upon you as the man of the house.”

Wilfred shook his head and closed his eyes. He wasn’t there, and neither was his mother. If that were the case, he wouldn’t be holding onto her hand much longer.

“No, I’m not here!” He shouted with firm conviction and opened his eyes to another moment in time.

“What is this?” His voice cracked at the sight of a group of his middle school classmates surrounding his younger self.

They were attempting to extort money and sexual favours from him.

At a crucial moment, his sister attacked with a handful of strobe grenades and miniature bots that she had made in their uncle’s lab.

“My brother’s not your bitch!” She roared when she had successfully chased off the bullies. Unbeknownst of Wilfred’s dampened pride.

“Why’d you do that?!” He lashed violently at his sister with an ire he had never felt before and was surprised when she laughed with a look of relief on her face.

“Finally.” She patted his back.

“Finally?” Wilfred sighed and found himself in another past moment of his life, back to when he had first met the black-bearded face of his eccentric uncle, who had become their caretaker upon their mother’s untimely passing.

It was the most awkward and unfilled moment of his life when he was belittled by his uncle’s attendant for being a worthless boy.

“Worthless weakling, who lacks the intelligence befitting a Smithsonian Head. Your sister shows far more promise.”

“My sister is better?”

Wilfred felt his strength fading and his desire for rest increasing.

“Yes, it’s better to let your sister take control and lead. Why accept a responsibility you are not naturally adept? Don’t you prefer reading books in solitude?”

“Aah, yes, the right to lead was Lita’s, as the eldest. People follow her because she is stronger, smarter and”]

*”Does it matter?* You’re both a family. I don’t know your life with your sister, but I can tell she holds you in high esteem from these moments. Believe in your own pride and worth as a man!” I shouted.

I held my breath as I watched the round glasses boy named Wilfred writhed about the floor before me and eventually go still.

I checked his pale, soft cheeks for warmth and realised the effeminate beauty of his face.

Strands of fine brown hair flopped over his almond-shaped eyes. His hair’s stylish side-swept crop accentuated his face’s heart-shaped outline. His body was firm and held a balanced muscle tone. I decided to take back my first impression of him being a skinny runt like myself.

Wilfred stirred to consciousness. He breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw my face.

“Famine is it? Thank you,” he said as he calmly returned to his senses and took in the real situation we were in.

The demon was enclosed in a ball of blue light with its blue book opened before it. It seemed to be in a deep trance. The rainbow shimmer of the walls had been replaced with pulsing white light.

“The light acts as a memory recall. Typically, once the juxtapositioner demon has bounded your mind to its own, it’s impossible to break free from its link.” Wilfred beamed a friendly smile as he rechecked his weapon and readjusted himself for action.

“Fortunately, he took you for a fool so kept you out of the loop. ” He chuckled.

“Well, I dunno if I should take that as luck,” I grumbled.

Wilfred nodded his head and changed his expression to one of seriousness.

“Keep track of the pulsing lights. If the rhythm changes, we’re in trouble. ”

We carefully moved about the lair, pausing here and there when the demon stirred.

Jensen was the next one we found chained up unconscious against a wall by white links of hard light.

The memory being played out on the wall he was chained to made Wilfred groan.

[– (J) —

“I don’t care of your status. Lita’s mine.” Jensen declared.

He held up his glinting pair of steel sais in readiness for the duel he had baited Leinard into having for the sake of the woman they both loved.

“Brats should focus on learning and respecting their elders.” Leinard smirked.

He raised his katana to the challenge.

The men’s weapons clashed, noisily, as they skilfully sparred. Ignoring the curses and commands to stop from the woman who had captivated their hearts.

“Colonel, Jensen! Stop this childish nonsense!” Lita shouted at the men but found it was pointless. They were fighting with their manly pride on the line.

“Are they idiots?” she asked her brother who was doing his best to keep a straight face.

“Not normally, only when you’re around,” Wilfred commented matter-of-factually.

The duel ended abruptly when Leinard had coolly disarmed both sais from Jensen.

Jensen was heaving for breath on the ground near Leinard’s feet. He lowered his head and punched his mixture of rage and embarrassment he felt into the linoleum.

“What’ve I been doing?” He glanced up and saw Leinard making a move on Lita who didn’t seem to be complaining.

“Of course, he’s more of a man than any of us. We’re not much different in ages, but he’s already a lieutenant colonel while I’m stuck with a knight rank. Damn it!” Jensen hissed with a realisation of the truth.

“Yes, that’s the truth. That man is a far better suitor for Lita Smithsonian. How can you match up to someone who you’ll never be able to catch up to in strength, charisma and smarts? Face the fact, you’re out of your league”]

“That’s your wounded pride talking.” Wilfred butted in. “I’ve always been jealous of your skill. I hated the fact, you were able to challenge our Colonel in that duel. I could never have done that.”

I felt hope in my heart when I saw Jensen’s body twitch and the light of the links weaken.

“You’re worthy of my sister in my opinion!”

Abnormal shrieking rebounded off the walls as the links around Jensen’s body faded. Wilfred was able to catch him before he had hit the ground.

“Wil-fred? Is that true?” Jensen said when he regained consciousness and yelped when Wilfred pinched his cheek.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Wilfred answered.

I gained a detailed impression of Jensen when he gradually stood up and rechecked his gear.

His body was toned and showed the strength of a hardy fighter. His face was a lot manlier than first thought with sharp features, a split chin and large blue eyes. The spiky cut of his dark hair gave an impression of cockiness.

“Like War,” I mumbled to myself and felt my heart ache with the need to find my brothers.

He joined our careful search for Leinard, whom we found chained up with someone unexpected.

I gasped at the nightmarish scene hanging on the wall before me.

My hands moved with an insistence to free my comatose brother from the hard-light links that kept him bound.

“War.” My voice choked back tears at the sight of his naked body lacking his usual muscle tone and the thinning of his hair.

His cheeks were slightly sunken. The skin around his hands was papery with protruding veins, resembling an elderly man’s.

War’s arm was linked to a skrit, which was curled up on the floor at his feet. It was also in a comatose state.

“He’d be heavily dehydrated since the skrit link is boosting the feeding process,” Wilfred soberly commented.

He grabbed my hands before I could touch the links. “Don’t touch the links or you will be bound to them as well.”

“Let me go! I must break the links. Break him free!” I was losing my rationale.

I received a punch to my gut from Jensen in response.

“You do that, you’re as good as a shadow puppet!” he hissed with his fist raised to knock some more sense into me.

“You don’t get it. MY BROTHER’S UP THERE!” I cried out, feeling both my desperation and pain from the hard punch.

[Yes, his beloved brother was caught within the juxtapositioner’s clutches.

Famine’s thoughts were looping through useless solutions on breaking him free. His brain wasn’t intelligent enough to come up with a plan.

The memory walls weren’t recalling anything that he could use to snap War out of the trance that bound him.]

The juxtapositioner’s eyes opened. Its attention was fixed on me. Its bubble of blue light had dissipated when it broke out of its trance.

I sensed its immense animosity.

The blue book closed. The situation had become dire.

“Shit!” Wilfred cursed as he raised his steel gun at the demon.

He fired bullet rounds, but the attack didn’t deter the demon’s advances.

I yelped, feeling pain from the fell swoop of the demon’s extraordinary long arm.

Another strike had sent me flying into the wall near the lieutenant colonel who was still trapped in a coma next to War.

The wall behind the men burned with a fierce white light. Black silhouettes stepped out of the light and stood before us as solid as living beings.

“Shadow Puppets,” Jensen cursed as he unhooked a pair of sais from his belt.

He advanced upon the rushing horde of human and animal silhouettes that were hell-bent on one will, to kill us.

The shadow puppets attacked with speed and skill of the creature impression it silhouetted.

Wilfred and Jensen were able to dissipate the advancing numbers, but they kept coming at a constant pace.

The smell of iron and sensation of heat was compacting the air.

[Famine saw that the knights were running out of stamina. He couldn’t dodge and narrowly miss the enemy horde for much longer either. The lair became crowded with silhouettes.

The stupid boy saw his hopeless situation, but he kept dodging and doing his best to live. His heart couldn’t bear to see his brother suffering up there.

“Aah, but you do not understand little lamb!” The juxtapositioner smirked. “I am God of this lair! ”

The demon effortlessly grabbed the stupid Famine’s throat and lifted him into the air, feeling a glorious moment of conceit.

He held the struggling Famine next to his brother.

“Now watch as I suck out every bit of his intelligence, will, chi,” the juxtapositioner gloated.

The wall behind War shimmered.

A memory was played of War watching Famine entering a kitchen hall and cursing at the absence of his favourite food from the food tables.

“So cute. I love dat stupid, beautiful, git.” War thought fondly of his baby brother. “I love him.”

Famine blinked with surprise at the unexpected revelation.

It also made Jensen and Wilfred pause their defence for a brief moment. The knights cursed. They recovered from a shadow puppet offence that had almost taken their lives.]

“I get it War! So… snap… out… of… it!” I spat out with all my might as I struggled against the demon’s hold. “I love you too!”

The memory recall had caused the hold around my neck to loosen. I was able to free myself.

I landed on the floor with a body roll and saw another memory being played out behind Leinard.

A chance.

“Jensen!” I shouted and pointed to Leinard.

Jensen fought his way through silhouettes to get close to Leinard.

He pulled a talisman paper strip out of his overcoat pocket, threw it into the air, muttering a spell at the same time.

It called up a protective field around himself and Leinard that was able to deflect shadow puppet attacks for the time being.

I needed to do something that would buy him time to break Leinard out of the coma.

I ran, dived and dodged the shadow puppet attacks with all my might. Doing my best to keep the demon’s attention focused on myself.

My breath was laboured, my limbs were cramping up. I couldn’t keep this up much longer.

[The juxtapositioner demon smelled his moment of truth. Famine’s back was pressed against a wall by surrounding shadow puppets. He was trapped with no strength or smarts to fight his way out.

“I have you now stupid creature!” The demon bellowed.

Famine’s eyes bulged with a truth that his life was about to be over. His arms instinctively covered his head as the shadow puppets and the demon rushed their advance.]

“Furin, hautsi egiten dut!”

The sound of Leinard’s voice, cutting across the lair with a deep and fierce bellow, rekindled my spirit.

The charged atmosphere became intense, stirring a ticklish feeling across my skin. I watched mini tornadoes sweep the lair free from shadow puppets so the demon stood alone.

“It’s over demon. You’ve one chance to leave, live another day,” said Leinard coolly to the pouting demon.

[The demon laughed at the man’s bravado. The man held no threat over him. He had already seen the weakness of his heart.

“Revert to null, idiot!” he cried out.

He called upon a fresh horde of shadow puppets from the walls.]

The men had exhausted their strength. They wouldn’t last against a fresh shadow puppet onslaught.

What could I do? I found War and came so far. Do I give up now? Was this the end of my life?

No! I was stupid to give in now!

I grabbed the gun I saw on the floor, went as close as I could to the demon and aimed the skinny barrel at the closed book.

“YOU’RE THE IDIOT DEMON!” I fired on the book with all my might.

The juxtapositioner reeled back with obvious pain.

The lair’s atmosphere became heated. Static energy was charged to an extreme level. My skin throbbed and tingled crazily.

I glanced at the demon and gasped at the sight of shadow puppets being pulled into it.

“The lair is being sucked it! The demon gonna implode!” Wilfred shouted into my ear.

His words fought against howling winds, which came about from the initiated implosion.

I forced my way to War who was finally free from the links and skrit. He was as a lifeless heap on the floor.

“Hold on to me!” Leinard called out to me with his arm extended.

I wrapped one arm around War’s waist and held Leinard’s hand tight with my other hand.

The torque from the impending implosion was pushing against my weight. It was forcing me towards the point of destruction.

Leinard and Wilfred closed their eyes. They used every bit of their focus and strength to draw a third eye cakra symbol into the air. The glowing blue cakra symbol smashed an opening into a wall.

“GO!” I heard Leinard order.

I felt my body yanked through the opening with War in my arms.

“Bidea itxita dago!” Wilfred cried out, which created a closing over the opening the third eye cakra had created.

My eyes bulged at the grey concrete wall where the hole should have been. The wall existed as if there hadn’t been an opening at all.

“Amazing.” I exhaled my awe and glanced about the place we had come out to. I realised we were in a large storage room of some sort.

Leinard ordered us to rest.

I carefully lowered myself to the slate ground with War still in my arms and rested his head on my lap. My attention moved to Wilfred’s complaints about his burning eyes.

“Here,” said Leinard as he, blindly, handed over a vial of clear liquid to Wilfred.

I noticed he was blinking madly and pouring drops into his eyes. Wilfred did the same thing with the vial that was handed to him.

“Side effect for using cakra magic,” Jensen commented between moments of catching his breath. “Back there was no other way around it.”

Leinard and Wilfred were able to recover from their ailments, but their eyes were heavily bloodshot.

I turned my head and winced at the sharp pain I felt running down my neck and arm, but I wasn’t going to let on about it. My worries were more on War’s condition. I checked his forehead for warmth and was relieved to see his chest gently heaving. He was alive but showing no signs of consciousness.

Wilfred removed his overcoat and placed it around War’s body. He checked his face for breath, searched the inside of his belt pouch for something and pulled out a wet patch, which he placed on War’s forehead.

“This will moderate his temperature and restore some fluids until we arrive at a medical unit,” Wilfred reassured me with a gentle pat on my shoulder.

“I bet ten daro I know why the skrit was going feral in the West Wing,” Jensen said, offhandedly, as he slung his sprained arm to his chest with a roll of bandage he had pulled out of his belt pouch.

“That’s hardly a bet,” Wilfred commented as he sat, at ease, with his back to the wall.

I frowned, perplexed.

“Skrit demons exist in pacts we call florets. They communicate telepathically through optical imagery. Magis and demons skilled in semblance magic can bend the will of a floret using a skill called image-binding. In doing so a contract is forged with the binder, that’s how we’ve been able to control them as sentry points for the labyrinth tiers,” Leinard explained as he took up the spot next to Wilfred.

My frown deepened. I still didn’t get it.

“I think you’re using too many big boy words, Fearless Leader.” Jensen joked. “Surely you’ve not forgotten why the demon rejected him.”

“I beg your pardon!” I snapped at the jest Jensen was having at my expense.

“Ho, seems you understand what I was saying.” Jensen chuckled.

“If I’d say one thing is that Famine’s strong luck compensates.” Wilfred tried to negate Jensen’s cheek, but it ended up fanning the flames.

“True, true. There is always a flip-side to everything. Famine being dumb means that he is filled with dumb luck.” Jensen bellowed with hearty laughter at the sight of my pouting face.

Wilfred sighed and gave me a look of apology.

“Luck aside. I’m curious. What made you decide to shoot at the demon’s book?” Leinard gently broached the subject that seemed to be nagging on his mind.

I relaxed my features and stared upwards as I thought back to the moment, I had picked up the gun.

“Um, dunno. Instinct I guess,” I answered and yelped at the jovial mate slap I felt to my back from Jensen’s hand.

“Bloody spot on instinct that is,” Jensen said.

He squealed with fright when he saw Small Cap crawl out of my pocket to perch on to my shoulder.

“Whaddahell!” He fumbled around his belt, one-handedly, for his sais.

Wilfred stopped Jensen from pulling them out. “Relax. Look the creature is more frightened of you.”

Jensen lowered his guard when he realised that Small Cap had retreated toward the nape of my neck; his body curled up with obvious fear.

“What is it?” he asked me.

“He’s Small Cap.” I introduced Small Cap to the men.

“A Delena Cancerides.” Leinard added with forced calmness.

“A what?” Jensen gawked at Leinard.

“It’s a spider, you dimwit!” Wilfred rolled his eyes. “Before you laugh at others for being dumb, consider your own lack of intelligence.”

I chuckled at the banter, which seemed to lighten the mood of the place.

“I think we can safely say that the skrit won’t ambush us any time too soon.” Leinard changed the subject back to our situation. He checked the condition of War’s feet.

“If we don’t get him to a medical unit, his heart will stop,” he stated soberly and softened his approach when he saw the worry on my face.

“We’ll get him to one, don’t worry,” he reassured me.

“This is the moment where you appreciate your handsome Captain.” Trix intruded on our conversation as he stepped into the room through the far end door.

He brought in three newcomers who unfolded a sling type stretcher and laid it out to the ground.

“Do not worry. We shall ensure not to add further stress to his body,” said a softly spoken man with an angelic and youthful face whose brown eyes carried an impression of a polite smile.

Half of his mid-length light brown hair was tied back in a topknot, and the rest of his fine locks tumbled freely about his broad shoulders. He wore the same uniform as Jensen and Wilfred with the addition of a pair of sheathed iron daggers strapped around his left thigh.

“You did well. Leave him to us. We’ll get him to a medical unit in time,” said a confident woman who also wore the same uniform.

I met a pair of soft, almond, eyes carrying the most delicate brown hue I had ever come across. Her bob of brown hair hung stylishly to her shoulders with her fringe swept over her dainty forehead and held back by a pair of daisy clips. Although she was wearing the same uniform as Jensen and Wilfred, her pixie-like frame made the clothes appear far more feminine. She was beautiful. There was no doubt. I soon realised, she was the first, real woman I came across in life. This fact stirred a deep blush all over my face. As I looked on her countenance some more, I couldn’t shake a feeling I had seen her before. I wracked my brain on where and noticed her features held similarities to Wilfred’s.

“You’re Lita right?” I blurted to her and received a strange smile in response.

“Chet. I never realised your popularity went beyond the Fourth Tier,” grumbled a sour-faced girl who would look pretty otherwise.

Her fine, blond, ponytail flicked to the other side of her shoulder when she turned her head with a huff. I saw her features were smaller and the shape of her face more oval. The blue of her eyes and the shape of her mouth was unremarkable. Her gloveless hands were stockier with small callouses on her fingertips and the mounts of her palm. Her curvaceous frame also made her appear effeminate in the uniform. Where Lita’s impression leaned towards delicate hers was more of cool and spirited.

“Ignore the Onihime,” Jensen said sarcastically.

I stood back and watched War being lifted in the sling-stretcher. He was carried out by Trix and the other man. We followed Trix’s lead through a maze of white corridors that would start and end at a set of double doors.

The run of doors eventually opened to a dead end that was a grilled metal platform and an intricately patterned bronze grilled closet.

The closet’s closed double bronze doors had no handles on them. Lita approached a set of symbols that ran a row down one side of the doors.

She held her palm over the symbol that resembled a bird. The symbol glowed.

The doors opened with a long-drawn-out hiss and sigh.

I followed everyone into the grilled closet, which turned out to be a small glass room of sorts that had architraves trimmed with double bands of bronze and the floor the colour and texture of moonstone. I saw the same row of symbols were present on the inside of the doors.

Lita repeated the same process to close the doors. She then ran her hand all over the row to form a pattern from the bird, cat and fish symbols.

I gasped when the glass room jolted into movement and yelped when it shot upwards and sped from one side to another at a pace faster than sound. I gasped when the glass room jolted into movement and yelped when it shot upwards and sped from one side to another at a pace faster than sound. Something from my stomach was rammed up my food-pipe, and got stuck to the back of my throat when the room stopped and the doors opened. I stumbled out behind the group with the urge to vomit and groaned when I saw everyone else had stepped out unaffected.

“Don’t mind. Everyone’s like this on their first trip.” Lita consoled me with a gentle pat on my back.

I suddenly perked up by her show of concern and yelped when I felt a strong kick to my backside.

“Oops, my bad,” said the blond ponytail woman who looked far from being apologetic.

“There goes Ryoko’s bad habits.” Wilfred sighed.

“You know not everyone is after your other half,” he scolded the woman.

I stared at the women with my burning questions.

“They’re dating.” Leinard provided an answer.

Eh? Dating? As in doing the naked coupling exercises, I saw in Bulldog’s secret picture books? The questions rushed to my mind. I rapidly blinked with surprise.

“But didn’t you guys have a duel over Lita?” I blurted, moving my pointed finger between Leinard and Jensen. I instantly apologised for my rudeness.

Leinard’s face blushed with a fierce red. Jensen burst with laughter.

“Aah yeah, you saw that. Well, that’s ancient history.” Jensen brushed off. He sidled up close to me. “More importantly. What were these secret picture books?”

What?! I stumbled backwards with shock.

“H-how did you know I was thinking that?” I fumbled.

“Juxtapositioner’s lair.” Leinard provided another, nonchalant, answer. His awkward gaze told me he was also aware of my thought.

Jensen chuckled when he saw the penny had dropped.

I felt extremely self-conscious and didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings afterwards as I was too focused on keeping chaste thoughts in my head.

Before I knew it, I was standing before a rice paper doorwater painted with a red-black cherry blossom treeglowing with soft light.

Wilfred pushed the door to one side and entered the room. I followed Trix and the other man in; they gently lowered War to the tatami mats at the center.

We had returned to the lantern room. I glanced up to the ceiling and noticed it had been repaired.

“This is actually a medical unit,” said Leinard. “It’s not the same room you were placed in but one similar.”

“I like the sound of the Lantern Room. Gives it a better feel than the Medical Unit.” Wilfred commented on the thought I had had in my head.

I groaned. I really had to do something about this whole nosy mind reading thing.

Forneas announced his presence with a bow as he stepped into the room. He was carrying some light blankets in his hands.

“Thank you,” I said as I went to remove Wilfred’s overcoat from War.

My hands struggled to free some material from under his arm. The overcoat came free with a hard yank, but it forced War’s closed hand to open on impact to the floor, and a small object rolled out of it.

I picked up a smoky glass marble that had been warming in War’s hand the whole time and held it before my eyes.

Light bounced around the many crack lines along its surface, yet it felt smooth and almost sleek to touch.

“May I see that?” Leinard asked with his grey eyes fixed on the reflected movements across the marble’s surface.

I shrugged my shoulders and passed it to him.

“Unbelievable. He had this in his hand the whole time.” Leinard’s voice was level but his words triggered keen interest from his captain.

“Woah!” Trix beamed with delight as he leaned in close to have a good look at the marble.

“Is that what I think it is?” Wilfred said when spied the object in Leinard’s hands. He faced me with obvious excitement. “Your brother is amazing to have held this the whole time.”

“Damn. It could have dropped or been taken off him at any time. Even we didn’t notice he was holding on to something.” Jensen added on with a tone of admiration. “Just what kind of man is your brother?”

I fumbled for an answer, wondering what the hell got the men so excited about a dirty glass marble.

“The marble isn’t glass but zirconia. It’s a Nikiaku Ball that used to be a common tool for magis in the old days but now an extremely rare find.” Wilfred explained. “Those we do find are damaged beyond repair or utterly spent.”

“This pretty one is filled up,” Trix added on with a grin.

He glanced at the other man I had yet to be introduced to. “Saku, your calling has come.”

The man with the angelic face calmly peeked at the marble that Leinard held out before him. I was surprised to see his expression change from one of calmness to anxious shivers.

“It is in perfect condition.” Saku’s voice trembled with awe; he clenched his slender hands together to contain his excitement.

“That’s settled!” Trix’s loud declaration startled me. “We’re going to the theater ladies and gentlemen.”

I rolled my eyes at the corny wink he gave me.

“Captain, you’re forgetting our squad is still on patrol duties.” Lita sternly reminded Trix.

“Ah, no problems, I’ll just call a favour” Trix was about to brush her off with some half-baked comment and received a whack to the gut from the ponytail woman’s low kick.

“Your favours end up tit-for-tat cons, and we get stuck with the loser shifts!” She growled at him. “I’m missing out on precious cuddle time with Lita.”

“Ryoko,” Lita mumbled with an embarrassed blush on her cheeks.

“Right,” Trix groaned, feeling the pain.

“Gloating again Ryoko,” Jensen said sarcastically and received his fair share of Ryoko’s frowns.

“He promised us some R&R after we calmed this skrit situation.” Ryoko justified her complaint.

Leinard released a loud and weary sigh. “Leave it to me. Trix has a point about going to the theater. I think it’s imperative that we all do as soon as possible. After what has recently transpired, I think you deserve some respite.”

_”Keep this safe and don’t surrender it to anyone, even Forneas. We’ll come for you tomorrow at first light,”_ he said in my mind when he handed the marble back to me.

I closed my hand around it and nodded my head.

The room soon became quieter with only me, Small Cap and Forneas to tend to War.

“What was all that about?” I released my question with a heavy sigh.

Forneas promised to explain after we had cleaned and dressed War, and I had also freshened up.

“Also, Master Famine, I was able to keep these safe for you,” he said as he handed me a pile of clothes.

I saw they were the ones I had pulled out of the box upon my first meeting with Trix; even the cool bow tie was saved.

“Amazing! Looks like none of them suffered the attack.” I smiled at the animachine.

“Of course, as soon as I saw the skrit, I made sure they were safely contained,” Forneas proudly explained.

I hid the marble among the clothes pile that I carefully placed to one side.

_”Can you keep guard on the clothes?”_ I asked Small Cap in my mind.

Small Cap responded by perching himself on top of the pile.

Forneas and I wiped War’s body clean. We dressed him in a light cotton gown.

Afterwards, I spent some time soaking my aching body in the one-man tub in the attached bathing alcove.

My thoughts wandered over the haphazard chain of events. I ended up thinking why I was here. Destroying Gat Shiem to kidnap my brothers and myself didn’t make one ounce of sense. If Leinard’s knowledge about Gat Shiem being fireproofed was true, it must have taken an almighty magis to cause the place to burn. Why burn down Gat Shiem? Couldn’t they get to my brothers and myself some other way?

“Why go to the trouble when I’m no one special?” I asked aloud and let out a frustrated cry.

It was useless. I didn’t have the smarts to form a conclusion.

“I’m sure Death and War would’ve been able to work things out by now,” I mumbled in the water.

I missed my brothers. I was able to reach War, but would I be as lucky to find Death and Pesti?

The fear of not finding them made my heart beat rapidly and body tense. No. If I was truly strong in luck then I had to feel certain I would be able to reach them as well.

“Shuso, if you were here, I’d bet you’d tell me how vapour trails on blues skies will bring rain right?”

I held back my tears at the thought of that wise old monk and his gap-tooth smile. The memory of his peaceful face calmed my body and gave me a sense of resolve. I felt re-balanced.

“Right. I’ll be the vapour trail to bring the rain and wash all this trouble away.”

I got out of the tub and readied myself for a new day.