The underground room was spacious, dark as night.
But embers glowed all around, casting a mixture of red and blue across the darkness.
Below, four men stood around a crater
Everyone gasped at the sight of the black orb, humming as it floated within the octagonal formation.
Except for Sato, whose tears began to flow from his eyes
But he wasn't crying. The tears just kept coming.
Even when he squinted his eyes
Inside the crystalline object, Thomas and Marquez began to tear up as well.
Their tears slowly accumulated on their respective sides of the crystal.
"Sir, your eyes," Kado said, pointing at his face.
Sato wiped his face... But the tears quickly returned.
"It's just an effect," Sato muttered
Edd stood to Sato's right, while Kado and Len stood to his left.
Edd was visibly trembling
"I f-feel so po-powerful," he stuttered.
Edd's cigarette suddenly ignited by itself. He hadn't even touched it.
"Almost like a god," Edd finished.
Both Kado and Len shook their heads in agreement
"Careful, this world shall soon be godless," Sato muttered
He gripped the crystalline object tightly.
"Stay here," he said before jumping into the crater
It was about eleven meters deep
Flames shot from his legs, slowing his fall.
He landed gently on the ground.
The orb hummed louder now, its low vibration filling the crater.
Sato began walking closer.
It was as if the vibrations rippled through his eyes, making the tears flow harder
Another crack ran through the crystalline object.
The tears from both hosts had already filled the object, and their auras had evaporated into the water
Blue and red
Sato began walking faster, squeezing the crystal harder.
Briefly, the cracks healed.
But then another crack appeared, twice as large as the last.
Sato grunted as he closed that one
Three more cracks appeared on the object, and the two host's auras began leaking from the cracks.
But
Sato healed them.
Blood dripped from both his nostrils onto the crystal object
The old man was getting slower, too slow.
Sato still healed them, but the cracks kept appearing.
Pretty quickly, the crystalline octagon was filled with cracks.
It didn't break, though.
The colours in Sato's eyes flickered from dim to bright.
The blood from his nose ran harder, and water still poured from his eyes
And the orb hummed continuously, almost like the blade of a helicopter.
Soon, the blue aura formed a face in its smoke-like form.
It's eyes were formed but hollow. Its head didn't have a shape, since the aura always shifted.
The mouth looked empty as well, every tooth looking like a canine's.
"You sly little dog," Kuro muttered through his aura. "Didn't you die?"
Sato didn't answer
But he flinched as Kuro's ice breath touched his ears. He could feel frost coating them already.
For some reasons, the orb seemed like it was moving farther away.
Yet it hummed louder.
Sato's vision blurred again. He clutched the crystal tighter.
"Come on, let go," Kuro said, a smile forming on his twisted aura
"You know you won't make it."
Sato began running.
"Hahaaa!" Kuro laughed.
"Run, old man! run!"
His aura held a twisted, mocking smile
"When you fall, pray that Enji catches you first."
Sato ran, but the orb looked like every step made it farther away
Then, it happened.
Sato's heart spasmed violently, he fell forward.
Everything went dark
He waited for the sound of the crystal breaking
But it didn't happen
Sato opened his eyes. He didn't even hit the ground.
Something was holding him up
Kado and Len were the ones holding him
"What are you doing?" Sato asked. "You're too close to the orb!"
"I know..." Len said, closing his eyes
Instantly, blood started pouring from his nose.
Kado couldn't even answer. Blood ran from his eyes like tears. His nose bled also.
"Fall back immediately!" Sato shouted
He dug his foot into the ground and began walking forward
Teeth clenched, Sato forced himself forward. Even the cracks in the crystal began to heal.
"Ah, curse you!" Kuro shouted at the retreating men
The orb was just a few steps in front of Sato.
He had almost given up at the worst possible time
The moment he reached the orb, everything went silent.
The vibrations of the orb. His heart beating against his chest.
Even Kuro.
The orb just stood still
"That's the first step. Will you survive the next?" Kuro asked, breaking the silence.
His aura shifted into a grin again
Sato didn't answer him
He closed his right eye, which contained the blue octagon, leaving his left eye open with the red octagon.
"I'm saving the weakest for last," he muttered.
Kuro's grin slowly faded
He didn't answer, though.
Sato's red eye glowed. One half of the orb glowed red as well.
Faint, but still red.
A low shriek, almost like a feline growl, echoed.
Suddenly, Thomas began to scream.
The sound didn't even come from the crystal, the orb played it instead.
The crystal around his section broke apart
Enji's aura began rising from Thomas's screaming mouth and eyes.
The aura moved wherever Sato directed his gaze.
It never moved forcefully, though.
That was when Sato's red eye began to bleed.
"Sato," Enji's spirit breathed, resisting the control
of his eye
Enji's aura formed into beast-like face, similar to a lion's.
"I killed you," Enji said, his words dragging into a whisper
Sato didn't answer. He gritted his teeth as he tried to steer the beast.
As he steered the beast, Kuro's half of the crystal began cracking as well.
Sato gripped it tightly, and the cracks slowed to a halt.
"Aaaaagh!" he shouted, his voice blending with Thomas's
"I killed you, Sato!" Enji's voice rose from a whisper to something more monstrous and hoarse
But Sato only shouted.
Just like Thomas.
---
THOMAS POV
---
His scream was fully automatic by now.
He wasn't even in his own body.
His mind still worked, though. It was like watching yourself from the inside, still thinking.
Why?
Why does this always happen?
Something that had merged with half of his soul was being yanked away
Each time Enji lost its grasped on Thomas-
He could feel them. The memories.
A memory of hatred, they never stopped.
The darkness kept getting closer.
He wasn't even where Sato was
He was just standing on smooth ground, watching as a cloud of darkness grew closer.
The part of the dark clouds shifted slightly
Thomas could see light
Flames from something that was falling
Soon, it was like Thomas lived in Enji's time.
End