Chapter 14

I stood stunned, staring at the child on the throne. They gave me the look of a king.

“I chose you for a reason, Vita. You hold unimaginable amounts of power, almost like you have been blessed by the gods, or more like, blessed by the dead.”

The child hopped down from their throne and pushed me to the ground with their hand. I sat kneeling before them. 

“I have access to everything in your brain. Only your emotions are kept safe.”

The child snapped their finger, and we were transported to a brand new place. We were in the Roman colosseum. 

“I can even make you think we are somewhere else.”

“Why are you doing this? What’s your goal?” I asked.

The child tapped my head with their finger.

“You are so vulnerable and naive. No wonder Jayin is using you like a puppet. Your mind is in trouble from getting taken over by me, yet I am faced with no opposition. How am I supposed to survive if you can’t even protect yourself? What about your rabbit? How can you protect him like this?” 

I was astonished.

“I’m naive?!” I asked with anger. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

The child scoffed.

“Fine, I'll tell you, idiot. I can access every memory in your head, and it’s clear that Jayin is using you for your curse.”

“Curse? You mean my hands?” I asked while holding my hands for the kid to see.

The child pushed away my hands and moved their face incredibly close to mine. Their eyes were terrifying and serious.

“No! The curse of all the slaves you sent to find me! They all screamed as they died, ‘I curse Vita to endless suffering!’ All of the slaves' souls are trapped in your brain.”

I was too stunned to speak.

The child yelled with agony, “Auh! You’re so infuriating! Fine, I'll take you there!” 

Then, in a flash, I was standing in a dark space. The ground was covered by black grass, and all around, floating in the black sky, were monuments that had made an impression on me. Jayin’s temple was there, the colosseum, my old house, they were all there. I did not have time to admire them though, because what stood in front of me was terrifying. A gigantic red eye stood in front of me. Loud screams cried with agony from within. The child stood beside me.

“Go ahead. They probably won’t hurt you.”

The child's uncertainty frightened me, but I stepped forward. This eye was incredibly familiar and otherworldly. I stood in front of it and stared with utter disbelief. Within its gigantic pupil were hundreds of people screaming and crying from within. I had seen their eyes before, they always watched me in the sky. I looked at their raised arms, they looked like the arms that Jayin used to squash his enemies. I was terrified.

“How is this possible?” I asked.

The child replied, “If I had to guess, it probably has something to do with that old lady named Fate you met thousands of years ago, remember how after rubbing your hands they turned black? Jayin has the same hands, so maybe that creates some sort of opening for him to use your curse as a weapon.”

Everything started to make sense.

“What should I do now?”

The child looked at me with a wide grin and cheered, “We will take your curse back from Jayin and use it to destroy him. Better yet, let’s create an impression in all of the realms! Let’s show them I am alive! Let’s prove that they couldn’t get rid of me!”  

The child's enthusiasm terrified me, yet it was intriguing. 

“How do I strengthen my mind? Where should I begin?”

The child looked around and said softly, “I have the power to absorb other creatures' powers or curses and enhance them for myself. Since I am now a part of you, whatever I absorb will be your power as well.” The child raised their hand toward the eye. “Why don’t we both put our hands on the eye, and I use my power to absorb the curse. Even if it’s only around twenty percent at first, we will manage to eventually take everything from Jayin with persistence. Then after this, I will help you train your mind.”

I complied hesitantly and placed my hand on the eye. Screams echoed all around. They got louder and louder. My sight started to become blurry, and my whole body felt like it was shutting down. My heart raced loudly, my blood felt like it was boiling, and my skin crawled like bugs were living inside of it. I couldn’t breathe. 

“Fight Vita! We are one! I can’t do this without you!” The child screamed, “Remember who you are fighting for!”

Flashes of memories shot around inside my head. Audrey, my dad, my mom, my dearest friend, and Andrew. 

I heard Andrew’s warm laugh and witnessed the moment we met for the first time. His red, wavy hair and his ocean blue eyes. Truly magnificent. 

I opened my eyes with determination fuming inside of them.

“I won’t give up! I will fight! For all of the people I killed, and all the people I care about! I won’t lose!”

Suddenly, the world went cold. I was under water. Despite the fact that this shouldn’t be a place I could breathe, no water ever entered my lungs. The immortality curse was nowhere to be found. Something grabbed me from all around, they were people. They were dragging me into the depths of the ocean.

All of the people spoke at once, “Fight for us? You killed us. What makes you think that we want to continue to be slaves of another? We are already being used by the Lord of Longing!” 

“I promise! I won’t use you! I will help you all regain your freedom, I'll fight for all of you!” I took a breath, then howled loudly, “I’m so sorry!”

I thought, “This truly is endless suffering. Every time I use them to fight, I will be reminded of my cold-hearted self from the past, who looked at others like I was above them. Like I was a god. I have been alone, I have been in pain for thousands of years to atone for my sins. I have grown up, yet I can’t go back in time. I can’t change what has already been done, I can only fight for my mistakes. I can only fight to be forgiven.”

I woke up once again. I was in the coliseum with the child. The kid had an impressed expression. They had gained another eye on their forehead. Many smaller eyes had grown all over their body, and their overall presence had become stronger.

“I guess you deserve to learn my name, I am Ambrose. I was the previous ruler of the Underworld.” 

The dark tunnel ended, and a blue sky filled their view. Down below, the landscape of a gigantic continent showed various different ecosystems.

Andrew screamed his head off, “Fuck! Shit! Ivy teleport! Ivy teleport!” 

The three of them were plummeting down to a huge building that looked as big as a small country. Where they were falling, they were sure to fall into what seemed to be a gigantic hole in the middle of the building. This hole was where all the sinners landed to receive their punishment.

“I can’t. It’s against the rules!” Ivy screamed as she attempted to keep her robe from rising. 

Andrew screamed with terror, “We're going to die!”

Will spread his wings open and caught both Andrew and Ivy in his arms. 

“It’s okay. I got you.” Will said with confidence.

Ivy kissed Will on the cheek and said, “Thank you, Will!”  

Andrew wanted to give them space so horribly that he seriously considered jumping out of Will’s arms. Suddenly, white flakes filled the sky. 

“Snow?” Ivy asked as she caught snowflakes in her hand.

Will asked, “Isn’t this the Underworld? Why would it snow here?” 

Andrew squinted his eyes and caught the sight of a shadow in the distance. 

“Guys, what’s that?” Andrew asked without pointing, since he was tightly gripping on to Will’s arm for dear life. 

Will asked, “What’s what?” 

Andrew suddenly screamed, “Will, move out of the way!” 

Will still had not seen what Andrew was so worried about until it was too late. A demon with a crying mask crashed into them. Causing them all to spin out of control towards the ground. The demon appeared to be fine and circled around them. The demon seemed to be trying to figure out why Will had white wings. They were wearing blue armour with spikes that looked like fins, and the symbol of a tear was adorned on their shoulder. 

Andrew threatened, “Go away, fucking fish! Stop being such a vulture!” 

The demon said something incomprehensible and grabbed a spear that was fastened to their back. They charged at the group. Will had been unable to correct his flight. The weight of both Andrew and Ivy was too much for him to stop himself from plummeting to the ground. Will took a chance, he dropped both Andrew and Ivy. 

“Will!!” Andrew screamed with rage and terror.

Will corrected his flight and pointed his index finger outward. 

“The Sun’s Maw.” He said with an unrecognisable tone. 

Unlike his usual happy-go-lucky attitude, he was now as serious as an executioner. A huge lion appeared behind the demon and ate him in a single bite. Will then sat on the lion and they raced down the sky towards the rapidly falling people. Will grabbed Ivy’s hand and swung her up on top of the lion's back. Andrew was flinging his arms wildly like a baby bird trying to take flight. He screamed so loudly and so full of fear that he hadn't even noticed that he was already sitting on the back of the lion. Once he realised this, he quieted down and blushed. Will laughed loudly, “Baby bird. It’s okay! You're safe now! Haha!” 

Ivy was petting the lion's white-yellow mane. 

She praised, “Good Koa. Good girl!” 

The lion landed away from the extremely large building and over to an empty valley in between a gigantic mountain range. Andrew hopped off of the lion and looked up at the wall-like-mountains. Every single one was larger than Mount Everest. Instead of snow hitting the ground, it was raining. The raindrops hit the ground and let off a small hint of steam. Ivy saw this and touched the ground. The ground was as hot as a summer day. 

“Ouch!” She yelped as she pulled back her finger.

Will rushed over and examined her hand. He then turned to Koa and saw that she looked uncomfortable. 

Will pointed his index finger at Koa. “Return Sun’s Maw.”

The lion disappeared like shattering glass, and the group all took their time staring at the sky above them. Flying in the sky were hordes of demons in large formations. Some wore blue armour, some wore red, and some wore black. All of them were going the same way. They were headed north. 

“They’re type two’s, huh.” Ivy spoke up suddenly.

Andrew asked, “Type two’s?” 

“Yeah, there are three categories of demons. The firsts have no wings, the seconds do. The thirds are special though, they have otherworldly powers that the other types do not. Sometimes demons come to earth, but they usually are sent there as spies by their masters. It’s usually only the ones in the first category because they are only ever seen as pawns in the Underworld. I know this from my frequent encounters with them.”

Will squinted his eyes and caressed his chin.

He asked, “How did you manage to get this information out of them?”

Ivy smiled.

“I don’t know. I just asked.”

Both of the boys understood immediately. Even if she knew it or not, despite her innocent appearance, her scythe could make anyone shiver by just looking at it. Her scythe craved blood. For a reaper to be able to handle such a weapon, they require an intense amount of mental and physical strength.