ODE TO THE END: A BALLAD OF BROTHERS

CHAPTER 38

NAOMI

There was a special kind of darkness that came with an overcast night. One that Naomi never truly knew. The sun-bathed girl was not accustomed to the nocturnal blanket. She had not been accustomed to a lot of the things she encountered in the passing days. So many aspects of her life were instruments to prolong her innocence. From the prestigious school she attended to the grand estate she called home; her mother protected her from the woes of the world using these shining shields. It was not just her mother either. York's entire population had been weaned on a dream.

The Divide saw the establishment of a delusion, all to keep the community "safe". It was nice inside these walls, and yet what was it worth now that she tasted the truth? As the sun-kissed girl sat in the shadow of her abductor, in the skeleton of a decrepit cathedral, she wondered what she wanted now that she knew.

The Caitlyn Princess looked away from the gaping wound in that holy ceiling and toward the object of Achim's harsh existence: Adlai Arbitor.

They were cramped in a room together, an attic, but each sat at opposing ends. Naomi had not been subdued. In fact the young man refrained from even speaking to her. Maybe it was because her arm was already broken and casted. Either way, he only sat in the shadows of that darkly place with eyes hidden by the hood he wore. Naomi had already been sitting for a few hours, but now she was exhausted of fear as well as patience. She rose. Dusted herself off, and took a step toward the door on the floor.

"Don't move," said Adlai.

Naomi stopped. His voice rekindled a frightful feeling, but a defiant fire shined in her bright eyes. She spoke to him"Why are you keeping me here?"

"Because Achim will come for you," said Adlai.

"You didn't need to kidnap me for him to meet you, you know." Her hands balled into a frustrated fist. "You could have just asked him."

"I know," said Adlai. "It wasn't—It isn't about talking."

"Then what is it about," said Naomi.

"...Justice," Adlai quietly declared.

Naomi glared at Adlai; her bright eyes fixated by a protective anger. "What does that even mean," she shouted.

"It means – It doesn't matter what it means," Adlai responded.

"Tell me," Naomi demanded. She stepped closer, her foot stomping on the floorboards with such force that the walls shivered. The shadow before her shuddered in its corner and refused to answer. "Tell me! Because if you're going to hurt Achim for this 'Justice' you're talking about"—

"And if my justice does demand I harm him," said a vicious voice. A shift occurred. The eldest Arbitor stood up slowly, his darkly presence looming as a monstrous mesh in the night. That was what Naomi felt. The figure before her oozed with malicious threat, and when it took a heavy step to meet her challenge, Naomi understood her brazen folly. She could not compare to this boy. No. To this demon. Even so, as the eldest Arbitor approached, Naomi understood something she had only guessed before.

"Who are you," asked the sun-kissed girl.

"Adlai. Adlai Arbitor," said the Slithering Thing.

"No you're not," she responded.

An eerie silence followed the inquiry. Adlai was taken by the question, and yet the thing beneath his face slowly curved the lines of his lips. It grinned, cackled, and let itself be seen by the dark glow in Adlai's smiling eyes. A black glow that glimmered bright despite the overcast night.

The sun-kissed girl was sucked into its burning oculi and her latent senses were triggered by the inky glint in it gaze. In the pitch Naomi saw flashes of horrors born before time. Memories of an entity beyond age, beyond reality, and the images of its gory experiences. The uncountable number of visions of its amused destruction sent chills stabbing into her spinal cord like cold daggers. Her senses were pinched at every nerve, her skin prickling from the thought of its treacherous doings. She saw It and she saw him – Adlai - buried beneath the terrible weight of their interwoven rage. The pressure seized Naomi's throat and crushed her windpipes in fear.