Sacrifice

 “Don't waste this, kids, “ said Debuu-san with a bittersweet smile.

And with a ripple that lingered a beat and a half along the gleaming mirror's surface, the guardian bug passed through it decidedly, its pompon tail and triangular ears twitching one last time in a heartfelt goodbye. A brilliant green light emanated from the glass, like an alien sun in the dark evening sky; then, it turned red, mars red; finally, it was blue. A sound, like the shattering ceiling of an invisible dome above was heard, and a powerful gust of wind overtook the world, pushing the soil and the firmament into a joint dance.

As the pixelated storm propagated among the forest, transforming the trees into abstract geometrical shapes, Inês felt a surge of strength, as if Debuu-san's essence had begun to course through her veins. She knew the others were feeling it to, for on the ground, Jin and Lu had begun to move. Also, Marcel was changing; time slowed around him, his brown hair and long sokutai sleeves arresting momentarily in the air. Then, drops of suspended water, like morning dew arriving before its time, appeared around him; a patch pooled at his feet, in which his tall, thin frame was reflected in a different outfit: a dark navy coat, with a high collar and gold pipping, adorned with a white sash that went diagonally across his chest and gold épaulettes, stylized with a water droplet fringe. With that, he wore white trousers, lined on each exterior side with navy stripes, tucked into polished cavalry boots. In his hand, he held an elegant rapier with a hilt that resembled curling waves. Around that reflection, a small, colorful flash of blue and orange darted gracefully, it was a European Kingfisher; the bird surfaced out of the puddle and around the real Marcel, morphing his actual clothes into the ones he had been wearing inside the mirror image in a circular pealing of white light.

Jin and Lu were now back on their feet. The blood and soot had vanished from the former, and the latter was as animated as ever. For her part, Inês was feeling more powerful than she ever had; more herself, as well.

The group exchanged a laden look. In that moment, they didn't need to speak its name aloud to know they were all thinking of Debuu, Debuu-ni, Debuu-san, Beatle, their guardian and friend; the one who had scarified its life more than once for them, for others, and for what was right.

Stepping forward into the beating storm of pixelated artifacts, the four teens stood side by side, tall and proud in themselves, carrying both resolve and the memory of a fallen friend in their collective heart. Up above them, Lu's Quetzal and Marcel's Kingfisher flew in circles, the one cooing low and the other calling high. On the ground, around the group, Jin's tiger and Inês' lynx danced a similar round, the one's roars and the other's growls percolating through the distorted air.

A mist arose about where the shrine once stood, flowing languishingly on all sides. At the same time, infinitesimal water droplets, glittering like minuscule diamonds, hung in space, surrounded by orbiting embers; countless stars. Finally, carnations swirled up to the sky in vivacious bursts of revolution.

In the midst of the crumbling digital world, the megatruck and the Yuki-onna, two adversaries of kaijuesque proportions, stood engaged in battle. Oblivious, their combat raged through the tempest. After Debuu-san had passed through the mirror, the Yuki-onna had seized the object and beaten the machine over the head with it, sending an ancient, metallic resonance through the air. The forest had completely disintegrated around them, there wasn't a tree left in its recognizable shape; the Yuki-onna pushed the megatruck through the sea of brown pixels, sending him to the jagged ground. With a sinister noise that further tore through the fabric of space and time, he howled. The Yuki-onna crouched over him, her curtain of jet-black hair unconfined in the stormy weather. She put her hands on his shoulders, grabbing the megatruck forcefully. He put his arms up, feinted, drawing her to his level. On the ground, he fired a blinding series of laser-beams at point-blank range into the woman's naked chest. In a matter of seconds, a burning hole was dug where the Yuki-onna's heart once stood. She gasped. A muffled sound, maybe a protest, left her throat. Already on her knees, the rest of her fell to the ground, frozen.

Inês screamed; the earth trembled.