District - 17: Reunification

Pandemonium Part Four

SHUT THEM OUT!

In the wake of the carnage, screaming and violence, she caught something just beneath it all. She let her hands fall down and bowed her head to the cold floor. A faint whisper in her ear, or was it forming from her imagination, she wasn't sure.

You shoulder a burden that our house has had to bear for generations. You make us all proud, sweetling.

"I miss you so much."

The ache in her chest intensified. The pain overwhelmed the crippling nausea and what replaced it was an intense burning; an actual heart of cinder.

Smoldering at first, embers grew with intensity as the flames kissed and lapped up the bloodstains. Najrina had done it. Without realizing she had found her inner self and released it. Margaret was wrong. Her true potential had been discovered. With a slow, careful motion of her drenched hands she stretched the flames between her palms, thick with scarlet mass and heat. The band keeping her hair tied in a neat bun snapped. Flames kissed the ceiling.

Alessia could feel herself slowing down and unclipped the safety backup from her belt. She adjusted her oxygen mask. She breathed in and felt the rush of vapors tunnel through her sinuses. Better. Much better. Energy slowly coursed through her again and she readied herself for another wave. Then she caught notice of the instigator behind the abrupt pyromancy debut. This was their calling. Cube Nox had reached its apex and were now at the zenith of their potential.

All three registrants were now pushing past their limits, pooling their malevolent strength tenfold in combination with one another. Wherever Johnnie and Ryder were, things would be fine. Alessia, Jaketta and Najrina were set on ending the pandemonium here and now. They had each finally gone beyond.

* * *

HE WAS COVERED IN DEEP GASHES AND CUTS. He could no longer see out of his left eye. He had been cleaved in every direction by this thing, but it was not one-sided, not by a long shot. Bruised, bloody and beaten, Ryder dug in deep. With his right foot he slammed down into the water, the pool erupting in a shockwave around him. He formed the blood in his fist once more but pushed himself further. Stacking the crippling pain, mixed in with the adrenaline, Ryder fused his upper body and jaw into a suit of scarlet plate armor.

He said just above a whisper, "I'm ready."

"Now we can close the curtain on this, our final act." It laughed.

Going beyond, they each drew out the last vestiges of their malevolent strength. Crimson and vantablack blurred together.

Its bare body and skin - like a hide - was plated and more durable than before. Its body had hardened. It was evolving further.

It really has . . .

His hits were connecting with a sound like metal clanging off metal.

. . . become something else!

Then something happened. He found it. A pocket filled with the vulnerability he so desired. His vision was nearly blurred in his one good eye, breathing was heavy - oxygen was running out - but he pushed one last time. An hallucination of camera shutters flickered in his mind. Johnnie, Jaketta, Cube Nox and his sister. Kendall.

His arm shot out. Deep red wrapped around his fist.

"Blood Configuration: Supercharge."

His vision was completely obscured but he heard it. There was no need for sight now. In an explosion of obsidian glass and blood the thing that had been tormenting him cascaded into an infinite rainfall of black shards. He heard it whisper a laugh. Sharp spikes cut him across his chest, legs and shoulders. An instinctive response from his hell-bent rapture. That was the one thing he remembered before collapsing backward into the warm pool of murky scarlet. A thick black veil kidnapped him into a coma of endless dreaming.