In Pieces

Chapter 13: A case of mass suicide.

Apart from movies, Aidan had never seen a single ghost before. And previously he had thought that it would stay this way for the rest of his life. Aidan was a die-hard materialist after all. But as he saw the spirits of warriors come out of the weird arch, he realized he would have to rethink his previous convictions.

The scariest part about the spirits were their macabre faces with distorted features that looked human and inhuman at the same time. They were a literal embodiment of hate and vengeance.

The Prince had mentioned to him that a big battle happened at this place a long time ago, and Aidan now wondered what made this battle so gruesome and what were these people even fighting for. Most importantly – was it worth it in the end?

As spirits passed through the arch, they would directly advance towards the Prince who was kneeling on the ground. After Aidan saw them slashing away at the poor guy as if he was a Thanksgiving turkey, his first instinct was to drag the Prince away from these crazy homicidal ghosts. But he remembered that the guy had specifically asked him not to interrupt the process no matter what happened.

Well, if the blue-eyed fiend insisted to be stabbed and sliced over and over again as a type of some kind of spiritual practice, who was Aidan to deny him that pleasure?

He had no other choice but to wait when this torturous spectacle would finally be over. And even after the Prince was almost completely covered in bloody wounds, oozing black smoke, Aidan patiently waited.

And waited.

Until he heard the young man scream his soul out. At that moment Aidan felt his heart almost break into pieces. This was a cry of a person who was in the final throws of agony - and this poor man was about to die a horrible painful death right in front of his eyes. Aidan panicked, not sure what to do anymore, and this was when his body was suddenly taken over by Adnan Minn as if he was in the middle of a battle. Aidan obviously had no idea how to fight or defend somebody against sadistic ghosts, yet General Minn knew in his bones that his body could absorb the pain and protect the young man without harming his spiritual powers. As if in trance, Aidan walked towards the kneeling Prince, whispering to himself like he was possessed:

"Sunshine, hold on. Just hold on a bit. I'm coming."

Then, without any hesitation or fear Aidan managed to put his hand on Prince's shoulder. This feeling seemed familiar, as if he had done this numerous times before. He felt the horrible agony enter his body and run through his veins like burning poison. But it seemed that Minn's body was able to absorb this poison and in matter of seconds remove it completely out of his system.

Aidan saw the Prince relax, and his screams soon ceased, so he pressed his hand down even harder. It didn't seem to slow the ghosts down in the least – they kept on coming and slashing without a care in the world. But while they did it, Aidan kept taking in every little bit of the pain. The Prince's breathing got more steady, yet he still whimpered a couple of times, his face wet with tears and sweat.

Aidan tried to calm him down:

"Hush, I'm here. It's almost over."

In all honesty he had no idea, if it was almost over and whether it would ever be over for that matter. All he knew was that he would be standing here and taking in as much pain as was required for this young man to be able to survive this trial.

By the time the stream of ghosts finally fizzled out, it was already nighttime. Aidan slowly took his hand away, and instantly felt like throwing up. He walked away from the Prince, his feet unsteady, and retched behind the nearby bushes. When he crawled out, he saw the Prince lying helplessly on the ground. Aidan came up to him and realized that there was a smile on his face.