She stepped back and took the moment to just feel.
The woman radiated electricity; everything she
touched sizzled slightly with the burn of green sparks. Her shoes scraped
against the floor and she used her wings to fly, emerald green wings brushing
against the sky ever-so-slightly as she flew around and around, exhilarated and
full of life, of energy that came from the unification. The wind blew past her
and then blew strongly, making her laugh out loud, the sound bouncing off the
walls of the seemingly endless place.
Having wings felt so euphoric.
Flying with them felt much, much better.
Electricity pounded through her veins and mixed with
her blood, she took a deep breath and flew down, landing neatly. The lady’s
eyes blazed with such a vivid emerald green and she walked to the door,
touching it and swinging it open. The knob reacted at her touch, sizzling just
as what her touch did to the other things that she had encountered. At that,
she heard other doors sweep open and she looked around, her eyes wide with
surprise.
Eyes of other girls met her own, and she could see
every color of the rainbow. A small smirk from a golden-eyed female, a solemn
nod from a maroon-eyed one.
And to her shock, they were glowing their color.
She looked at herself, and felt an odd kind of
pleasure. Dark green radiated from her and at the same time, the doors shut.
They needed no words.
At the same time, all of them unfurled their wings.
The girl with scarlet eyes smiled her way, and she felt herself smiling back
despite the anxiety that fluttered in her stomach. She felt the eyes of someone
on her and decided not to find out, keeping her focus on the sky that opened
above them all. The roof was nonexistent in that place, and after silently
counting to three, she and the many other women flew.
*
* * * *
Contrary to prior belief, the Unification wasn’t
painful.
She felt warm and slowly being completed. Thirteen
females of the same first name had held onto each other just as she did, and
she felt all of them colliding into her soul. Instantly, wings sprouted from
her back and different memories blossomed within her. Scars appeared on her
midriff and though her appearance hadn’t shifted that much, she felt the actual
change occur. Power multiplied, endurance increased. She could wield swords and
cast incantations.
This pushed her to fly harder, faster. Cold winds
didn’t stop her, nor did the hindrances. She felt herself travelling away from
the room and into the Betwixt left open, diving in and flying as fast as
possible to the Mortal Realm. “Faster, Eri,” she whispered to herself and kept
flying, her sword at her side just in case anyone would arrive and attack.
She sped past different doors beginning to grey.
She could feel time itself guiding her, and darkness
chasing her.
Eri gritted her teeth and kept flying.
More, more, more.
And finally, she saw it.
The gaping hole.
Her wings gave more effort as she flew towards the
open portal and she found darkness no longer but the seemingly unfamiliar
twinge of fear as she found herself in another place that was not her own. Eri
began her search, listening intently to her own thoughts and trying to look,
find, seek. Arzen was nowhere to be found, and that frustrated her.
Arzen…
Was there anyone else?
Stopping in the middle of nowhere, she cussed.
Of course.
*
* * * *
Exhaustion nearly depleted him. Mathias grit his
teeth as he fought away waiting Setomions, guarding Arzen and impatiently
wishing for Eri to arrive and kick all their asses. He had nearly forgotten how
strong they were but managed for quite some time before the effects of the
battles had gone to him. The ginger was used to the taunts and the memories
that would haunt him with their attacks, but that was nothing to having
experienced the pain firsthand.
“Is she coming?” he asked himself, but his voice was
louder and Arzen overheard.
“She’s coming,” she whispered, cringing when she saw
him slice one of those damned monsters into half. Where was Sharmaine? Where
was Therese, Beatrice, Gabrielle, Ryel, Maxine, Janica, Megan…Elaine. Where
were they? Where was the Watcher and the strange man who introduced himself as
the Knight before going after Maxine?
The
Watcher should be handling this, she thought, and fear
struck her. Oh my God. If the Watcher
isn’t here, where is he? That man is like the Doctor. He should come here any
second and help out Mathias. Eri should be here. She could – no…I should help
him. Mathias. I should help him but he won’t let me, and that’s bullshit
because he could –
Lightning struck.
Arzen looked up excitedly, and let off a quiet gasp
at what she saw.
There was a woman descending, a woman decked in
royal and emerald green, her same-toned wings beating against the wind. Black
hair surrounded her like a cape and her green eyes were intense, filled with
fire and destruction and the thirst to fight them all away.
“Eri-”
“Not who you think,” Arzen heard her mutter, before
disappearing into a quick blur and taking out the Setomions with a weapon of
her own. The monsters that had surrounded Mathias fell and disintegrated into
ashes, Eri stopping in front of Arzen with the look in her eyes much different
this time.
“Safe?”
“Safe,” she found herself replying, and Eri embraced
her. Tightly. “Mathias-”
“I know. He needs to rest.” She pulled away from the
hug and looked at the ginger, who was staring at her with a slight transfixed
look.
“Gott,
Eri.
Is that you?”
“Maybe.” The reply held a bit of teasing, which
surprised him. She didn’t tease.
And he realized.
“Of course,” his blue eyes scanned over the wings
and the scars, “The Unification.”
“The Unification-”
“And Eri needs one more piece. The core piece.”
He and the lady both looked at Arzen.
“The core piece…me?”
Both of them nodded.
“I’m afraid that I’ll have to burden you once more,
Monika Arzen,” Eri apologized, extending a hand. “You have to trust me on
this.”
Mathias’ tired eyes glanced at Arzen, “I can do it
if you don’t want to.”
“You’re going to be dealing with electricity,
Mathias.”
“I don’t care. There’s much more at stake than my
own life.”
And Arzen saw Eri’s eyes soften. Her hand twitched,
but she immediately spoke up.
“No. I’m going to do this,” and Eri blinked, “I
agree. To whatever you want.”
“Are you sure?”
“Will it save the others?”
Eri gave a firm nod.
She looked at Mathias, who watched with a mixed
emotion in his gaze.
“I can do this,” She told him. Softly. And faced Eri
this time, extending her own hand.
As their hands touched, Mathias watched as an
explosion of green surrounded them. He covered his eyes and tried to catch a
glimpse of what was happening, but it was too bright. The winds blew harshly
and he jumped as lightning struck thrice, calling out both their names in a
state of panic.
“Eri – Arzen–”
The smoke cleared up.
His eyes widened as she saw a figure emerging from
the collision of lightning bolts.
And she walked to him, unscathed.
She looked human.
Both of them were silent until the sound of
footsteps came, and both of them had their weapons drawn and aimed, waiting for
the person to come out.
His fingers tightened on the trigger.
“Is there anyone-"
And golden eyes caught sight of emerald.
“…it worked,” the Watcher managed.
Eri gave a tight nod.
“Of course it did. If it didn’t, there would be a
pile of ash and a Setomion party waiting to devour Mathias,” she replied with a
sarcastic edge. And then Mathias realized: this wasn’t Eri Blitzschnell.
The accumulation of the Parallels and the
Counterpart…
“Unum
Eridanus.”
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