Chapter 43 : Life's Consequences 2

Rylan

He was awakened from his perch in the tree, groggy and limp, by a pleading voice that he believed to be Carolina calling him. He found himself surrounded by a strange mist that he had seen swirling over the ground while he slept. He realized that he was too tired and weak for no apparent reason. He correctly guessed that the mist was affecting him. Quickly, he grabbed his weapon from its perch and used it to chase away the odorless mist.

Immediately, the undead she-wolf emerged from the hut and stepped out of the trees as the flute began to sound.

"Hah, you again," he growled as he followed the corpses, his nose once more assaulted by the foul odor they carried. "Disgusting. Hey, Uma! I know you're in there. Give Carolina back!"

"You want to steal my treasure, stupid wolf? You can't have her!" yelled Uma as she came out of the hut, pointing at him and instructing her minions to swarm him. "You are nothing, so stay nothing," she scolded. "Kill him."

"I don't think so. Attack!" He shouted, slashing left and right with his sword, obliterating the surrounding forest and the undead around him. Only a few remained, infuriating the witch.

"Bad! No! No! I won't make you into anything," the witch shouted as she began to transform before his eyes. Her form stretched and changed, becoming a monstrous, giant creature, but nothing like he had ever seen. Her body was pale as a corpse, with blue veins running everywhere, and long white hair covered her wart-covered face, with jagged teeth protruding from her crooked jaw. But that wasn't the worst of it. There were open eyes and mouths all over her new body; on her stomach, arms, legs - everywhere.

"What the..." Rylan gaped at the sight of the creature roaring at him. Gritting his teeth, he lunged at the creature with his sword held high, shouting his cry, but before he could land a blow, the eyes on the creature's chest and shoulders stared back at him, and a red beam shot toward him.

"Hah." He parried the attack with his sword, but another beam struck his leg, hip, and a shoulder before he could retreat. Blood gushed and spilled over the small gaping wounds all over his body. "Damn it!"

The creature laughed at his pain, making him growl. "Do you think that you have seen the last of me?" Rylan raised his sword and prepared to strike again, but at a safer distance, when many mouths opened along the creature's body, letting out a terrible howl that squeezed his ears with pain until blood spurted from his ears. "Aaaaahh." He covered his ears to protect them.

A corpse lunged at him, pinning him down before sinking its teeth into his injured shoulder, making him scream again before he struck the creature's skull and threw it, but two others knocked him back before he could regain his footing, then a third held him down.

"Let go of me!" He snatched at them with his sharp claws, snapping the neck of one and pulling out its entrails. He kicked the next one with his foot and finally got to his feet, blood oozing from many wounds. The fight had just begun and he was already injured like this? The fog had clearly drained his strength, making him slow to react.

The undead rushed at him, moving with the speed of wolves, even human corpses rushed at him, trying to kill him. He swung his sword wildly to fend them off. He had no idea where they all came from. He saw a familiar red light streaking toward him, and he jumped out of the way, letting the corpses take the brunt of his attacks while he jumped onto the roof of the hut. Then he saw the giant witch spew dozens of corpses from her mouth, answering his question of where they came from. It was a most disgusting sight. He had to get rid of the undead and kill the witch quickly as his strength was dwindling.

How could he destroy this undead army while the witch could create more? He couldn't use a weapon to kill the witch because he was too close to the hut where Carolina was. Soon, he was dealing with the undead again. "Stay dead!" Then his mind caught the music and understood what he had to do to stop the dead from rising. Where...? There!

"Blood Sword," he shouted, aiming at the ugly creature, and his sword sliced off the creature's overly long arm, tearing it apart. Immediately, the other corpses fell to the ground, unable to move without the musical enchantment.

A terrible scream came from the giant as it lunged at them with death in its eyes. He deftly dodged its red laser, but was struck again by the banshee's beastly scream, causing him to stumble. A large hand slammed into him, slamming into his side, sending him flying backwards and hitting the ground hard. Groaning in pain and exhaustion, he struggled back to his feet, but another scream from hundreds of mouths made him wilt in pain.

"Shut up!" he shouted, swinging his sword at the creature, unable to use his weapon as it never moved from its position in front of the hut, but he still had to stop the sound of blood curdling. "I will kill you all, attack!" The diamonds flew into the eyes and mouths of the witch's body, blinding many eyes and silencing even more screams.

The creature screamed in rage and pain, but he was already on the move, jumping once more onto the roof behind the creature and leaping toward it, sword in hand. More of the red rays from his back shoulder hit him in his attack, but he ignored the searing pain and swung his sword, cutting into its spinal cord.

He jumped down, landing next to the fallen creature, and slowly moved back to Uma, who was somehow still breathing as she drew her last breath. "I just want to be the one who deserves your love, Nathaniel."

Rylan took a breath and knelt down, demanding, "You know Nathan? Hey, answer me, don't you dare die yet." But it was too late, he saw her body lose its youth and turn into the old woman he first saw when she looked at him, her eyes glazed with death. "Hah, shit."

Then he remembered. "Carolina!" He ran into the hut, only to see Carolina in a glass pool of water. She was naked, her hair floating around her and her skin covered in burn marks.

"Carolina!" Raising his fist, he lunged at the glass, smashing through the thin barrier, causing the water to rush up and drench him with its stinging contents as he grabbed Carolina. Looking around desperately for something to protect her, he saw a dress in a small room to his left. It smelled like Carolina. She must have been here before. What was that water?

While he covered her with dry clothes, he called out to her again, worried that she hadn't opened her eyes or responded. Was she...? No! It can't be her! He couldn't be too late!

"Carolina! Wake up, damn it. Carolina!"

"Ry-la-n," she whispered, opening her familiar brown eyes to stare at him with a sadness that made his heart race.

"Are you okay?" he asked curtly.

"Yes."

They both turned toward the door when a sound caught their attention. He could hear the sound of the creature dragging itself into the room with her damaged ears. He cursed his weakness. "You want some more? I'm ready if you are," he said to the creature that stopped its movements and tried to smile at them, no, at Carolina.

"Wait, Rylan," Carolina pleaded.

"Wait for what? This thing wants to kill you."

She shook her head weakly, her eyes still filled with pain. "It's a part of me."

Rylan stared at her in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"

"When he attacked me, I felt happiness. It's probably part of the soul that was ripped from my body when I was resurrected by the demon. I... I can't kill it."

He understood the confusion in her words. "Did she touch you? What did she do to you?"

Carolina nodded, tears in her eyes. "She touched my hair, and it made me feel warm and calm, like I had a piece of myself that was missing."

"Please, trust me." Looking away from the face of her beloved Rylan that she feared she would never see again, Carolina turned her gaze to the creature, and compassion for the creature welled up in her chest. "Come to me, child." She held out her hand for it to take. The creature tried to crawl over and grab the outstretched hand, but the creature's arm fell away and its eyes lost their light before it could grab it. It was truly dead if it was truly alive. Once again, Carolina wondered where she was.

"Rylan?"

"What's wrong, Carol? Are you hurt?" His arms held her tightly, ignoring the creature's corpse.

"Do you think I'm hollow like the corpses controlled by Uma? Should I die like them now?" For the first time since her unnatural birth, she sought solace and comfort from Rylan as she had before, needed to feel his warmth, to hear that he still loved her, to know that she still mattered to him.

"Of course not! How could you believe such a thing, Carol? Those things are mindless puppets without souls or emotions. You're different," he tried to convince her, disappointed in her thought process. She's not like those corpses or the creatures Uma created. She's not like that!

She felt the warm vibration of his arms holding her and it helped to dispel her confusion. "Thank you, Ry," she said in a low voice, but then she turned her attention to the corpse that was stretched out above her feet. "But who is she? Why does she feel so... connected to me?"

Rylan looked down at the lifeless corpse, pondering his question. "I don't know, Carol. Maybe one day we'll find the answer. The important thing now is to get out of here and away from Uma."

Carolina lay beside him, letting his warmth soak into her body, even though her mind was still on Uma's dolls. She didn't belong in this world. But she wanted to stay because Rylan was here, a selfish desire she knew.

"Rylan, you're hurt." She stared at the blood that covered his black leather jacket and even felt the warm, sticky liquid on his cheek where she had put her face. Seeing that, he cursed and tried to wipe it off, but only managed to smear it.

"I'll be fine. Let's get out of here." He picked her up and felt dizziness invade his senses.

"Rylan!"

"I'm fine," he tried to reassure her, carrying her out of the hut and running toward the dense forest, far from the smell of death and decay.