The Other Side of Darkness

How Strange

Episode 6: Chapter ???

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Lelie strode through the hallway, hands clasped behind her head. She sighed. This was so boring. When she caught a trace of dark magic close by, she had gotten excited. Finally something to do! Unfortunately, as soon as she was able to escape from the Shroud brothers and the other students, the scent was gone. She wandered the halls hoping for at least a trace of magic to still be there, but there was nothing. 

She groaned and flipped her bangs out of her eyes. "C'mon! Something come out!" She peeked around a corner. "Where'd you go?" Just then, the familiar scent of blot reached her nose. But it was different from the blot she knew before. It was...older. More powerful. 

She grinned. "Finally." 

She started sprinting down the hallway, her magic-infused body able to cover a greater distance with less effort than what would cost a regular human. It was a good thing too, as the scent quickly spread throughout the building, making it difficult to find the source. 

Luckily, she had been trained for situations like these. She paused at a particularly muddy spot. Kneeling down she grabbed her left thumb in her right hand, snapping it off and dissolving it into blot. She then spun the blot between her fingers, molding it into a ball. Flicking her other wrist she remade the thumb as she finished rolling the ball. That was the usefulness of using blot instead of a normal vessel. 

Once it was sufficiently round, she placed it on the ground in the middle of a intersection of hallways. She then stepped away and waited. It didn't take long for the ball to start rolling down a hallway, drawn to whatever was creating that blot. She followed it, making sure to never let her eyes off it for the fear that it might disappear.

"...come...come here."

Lelie snapped her head up. That voice...

Another voice spoke up. The child called 'Ortho.'

"Your voice...it comes from Tartarus! Are you a phantom?"

"That doesn't sound good," Lelie muttered. She peeked around the corner. Sure enough, Ortho stood in the middle of the hallway. To a normal person, he seemed to be alone. However, Lelie could see the dark mist floating around him; whispering in his ear.

"You want to know right? Something that you can do?"

Ortho paused. "Yes... I do. I really want to change the future."

Lelie scoffed. Humans have always been so peristant...and so stupid.

"I can help you," the voice promised. "Come down here."

Ortho began to move. Lelie closely followed him. The further they went, the more dense the darkness became. It led them down the tower into the deepest pit of S.T.Y.X. Once at the bottom, the shadow led Ortho up to stand before a giant circle carved onto the ground. It looked like a portal.

Ortho flinched, as if only now realizing where they were. "Wait...this is-!" A child's laughter echoed through the cavern. "Are you here?"

"Yes...I've always been here. For longer than you've been 'alive' I've been here. But... I'm not lonely. I have many friends here."

"Friends?" Ortho muttered. 

"Yes...but I want more. You. Idia. I want everyone in the world to be our friend. That way, we can leave this cage. Brother will be free at last!" 

"Brother?" Lelie gasped. Everything clicked. She jumped out. "Kid! Get away from there!"

Ortho spun around. "Huh? You're-?" The shadow surrounding him suddenly split, launching half of itself at her. 

"DEMON!!"

Lelie quickly brought up her arm, dissolving some of the skin to make a blot shield. The shadow slammed into it, throwing her back against the wall. She quickly hopped back onto her feet, but once she looked up again, the shadow and Ortho were gone. 

She spat bloodied blot onto the ground. "Well, this is exciting."

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Vil

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Vil sat on his bed, fiddling with one of the bottles Rook sent him. He wondered what he should use it for. Blowing open the door with an explosion? Satisfying, but messy. Poison someone and escape? That would be difficult. But before all those things, he had to get this collar off...

A loud explosion suddenly rocked the room. He jumped out of bed. 

"What was that?" 

As if in answer, the lights flickered out. There was also a small click as the choker around his neck that prevented him from using magic fell off. He quickly cast a small light spell, filling the room with light. 

He smiled. "I can use magic again."

All of a sudden, red lights flickered on and off, accompanied with a loud siren. 

"Goodness gracious," he sighed. "I must get out of here." He grabbed a couple bottles and uncapped them as he moved toward the door. As he neared it, he began his incantation:

"I can't lose anything. I'm not afraid of anything. The shining crown is for me: Fairest One of all. Those touched by this lotion with immediately disappear and fall apart." He dumped the bottle's contents onto the door lock. Just as he ordered, the lock instantly disintegrated and the door opened.

He walked cautiously out into the hallway. The lights had gone from blue to red and barriers were up everywhere. At the end of the hall, one of the doors had been blown open. That must've been the origin of the explosion. But what could've caused it? He looked around. No staff either. How strange.

Putting those thoughts aside, he decided to grasp the opportunity and quickly opened the other's doors. They all had their collars off and were confused. 

As soon as Leona exited his room, he wrinkled his nose. "What was in that room?" He pointed to the one that had been blown up. "It smells familiar."

"Do I look like I know?" Vil asked. "It was like that when I got out."

"It must've been incrediably powerful to break through the magic-proof door," Azul remarked. "I mean, the sheer force needed would mean that the explosion--"

Just as he spoke, another explosion of bright white blasted at the end of the hallway. The students all flinched before running towards the explosion once the room was clear. 

Riddle and Jamil quickly put their magic together and made a wind blast that blew the dust away. Vil and Leona ran ahead, ready to fight. But as they entered the room, they saw a small figure they didn't expect. 

"Leviline?!"