Nocte Yin: Anti-Villain, Anti-Hero and Anti-Everything Else

Chapter Twelve

Nocte was so screwed.

It wasn’t even a joke; it was a fact. She was screwed, period. So much of her plan on Earth (of undermining Nahele and bringing the smackdown on the doom-bringers) depended on her returning to Erisire: to replenish her body with food, to find a spell for breathing, to reaffirm the characteristics and attributes (weaknesses) of Earthlings and Earth magic. But the Key to Evil Academy didn’t work. Ergo, Nocte was so screwed.

“Okay, don’t panic,” she told herself. “Don’t. Panic.”

A part of her already knew that it was too late, that she was already panicking, and for quite a while now if her heart rate was of any indication. But another part of her, in a brief second of clarity, told her that she was smarter than this; that there were still options, or there had to be if she tried. And in that moment of lucidity, Nocte took the opportunity to distant herself from the issue to think through her situation logically. Somehow, unbeknownst to her and despite the firm opposition of her unconscious self, she conjured up the mental strength of her foremothers before her, the fortitude and the patience needed to overcome and manipulate the stubborn, know-it-all and absolutely powerful men of her forefathers. Nocte let the Yin judgment, however brief and in lapsed glimpses, alter her thinking pattern enough that in a second-fast, her eyes landed on her Keys in a determined, unconditional conclusion.

She had to try the other Keys.

Despite her sure expression, Nocte’s breathing wobbled as she juggled between the oxygen tank and the Key ring (and her glasses for a bit there) to grab onto the next Key, and when she finally managed to take hold of the trinket, her blood pressure spiked in half-earnestness, half-anxiousness. Deliberately slowing her breathing, Nocte turned the Key clockwise — once — and then…

Nothing.

She paused shortly to recollect her wits before moving onto the next Key… and then the next Key… and then the next… the next… the next-

And surprisingly, as she failed for the eleventh and final time, Nocte wasn’t surprised. It was as if after all these long hard years she had built up an immune system against all sorts of surprises. Having an evil warlord for an older brother who enjoyed practical pranks, an older sister of a flirty witch whose favourite past time was to push her (sometimes literally) into an awkward scene, a mind-reading younger sister who liked to point out her flaws and a younger brother being an emperor of massive proportions who could never let her out of his sight… Nocte knew a thing or two about surprises.

Not being able to return to Erisire because of a flawed Key? It was not so much as a surprise, but an upset. But what had she expected? The prophecy clearly stated that she was the Darkness, and yet she had dared to plan, dared to defy, the Sister Fates. She dared to resist Their strings to rebel against the role They had weaved for her, to play hero when she was a villain through and through.

The realization of such uncontrollable anomaly made her mad. After all, the only thing going for human beings, for mortals of the universe, was that they had their own will. Mortals could make decisions for themselves without a Lord God bending their wills to Their bidding. One did not see angels or demons lasting long against Heaven or Hell, or holy fairy spirits or saints challenging the Gods of Nothing and Infinite. In the whole of the Cosmo, only the Middle Realm could hope to escape their Fates if they were wilful enough.

Equipped with the feeling of self-righteousness, Nocte had another spurt of ingenious palpable notion that her eyes adjusted to the Sight before she even tried. In one fell swoop, her irises traced along the Keys, suspecting someone may have tampered with their magic. Nope. Swallowing, she let her Sight skim over the stall, the washroom, the whole damn theatre, to confirm her suspicion that perhaps, just perhaps, someone had cast a restraining spell to prevent her from leaving Earth. Nope.