Soul Drift

Down beneath her, an immense cityscape of enormous towers waited for Izhari. All was dark and grey. No light shone from a single window in a single building. The air was still and stale. Her feet were on the ledge, and her body was peering forward. It was high enough to guarantee that the pain would end. She was alone. Always alone.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

With that, she fell forward, into the abyss.

“Izhari!!! NO!!” Tomita shouted as he jolted awake from the nightmare.

Beads of chilled sweat streaked down his face and throat as he looked around for his master.

“Izhari? Izhari?!!!” he screamed.

Then the murmur echoed from the distant wall.

“Oh no no no,” Tomita cried as he scrambled forward in the darkness.

A jagged chunk of stone met his leg with stabbing force as he crawled forward. The sharpened edge tore into Tomita’s thigh, and he let out a shout of frustrated pain.

The murmuring was continuing. He knew the voice. Cries and screams and shouts and wails all began to gather in intensity as he moved forward towards the small silhouette that was now in the shadows with the other statuesque mourners.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! Oh fuck!” Tomita growled as he limped into the near darkness.

Red energy pulsed all around him, and soon he reached her.

Izhari was there, awake but empty. Her eyes were all but muted now, with the last hints of glowing blue nearly extinguished. Claws were at her throat in a perpetual threat of violence. Bony limbs were tensed and rigid as her head looked up to the invisible sky. Silver tears were caked dry on her cheeks.

“Master! Manager! Izhari! Answer me!” Tomita shouted as he reached her and pulled her against him.

She let out a small, faint groan, and he took it as a sign that some form of self was still present in her mind. Without saying another word, Tomita yanked her into his arms and turned to leave. Then the hands began to grab at him.

All of the other mourners seemed to come to life, and their dead, hollow eyes turned to Tomita as their arms extended and reached for their companion. They wanted Izhari to stay with them in their suffering. Panic seized Tomita’s motor skills, and adrenaline overpowered the bloodied leg wound. Steps became strides, and he was limping into a run.

“We have to flee!” Tomita shouted to himself as much as to Izhari.

He placed Izhari in the cart and grabbed her cane before throwing his boots and jacket in with her. Then they were leaving. Fear pushed Tomita towards the opening of the cave, and once again, he was running away with his master in tow. This cursed place held no more peace for them, and if they stayed another night, Izhari might have been gone for good.

So he ran and ran until the cave’s opening greeted him. A hazy barrier blocked the outside view, and Tomita hoped he would be able to pass through. Izhari was murmuring still, with her hand raised towards the museum of sorrow. Closer and closer they went until the opening was there. Tomita burst through without pause, and to his relief, they passed through the veil without issue.

Only then did he see that they were not alone. To his great horror, a familiar set of beings was waiting for them.

Though the three hunters seemed surprised to see Tomita and Izhari appear out of the veil, they were very much ready. It was the bear, the smoky figure, and the small hunter from before. All three of them turned to Tomita and smiled wicked smiles of delight.

“Long time no see, Tomita Kichirou, Manager of Acquisitions,” the bear said with a taunting laugh.

Tomita froze in panic. Then Izhari spoke.

“To-Tomitaaaa?” she murmured as the haze of the cave fell from her.

“Get them!” snarled the bear.

“No!” screamed Tomita, who turned to return to the cave, but it was too late.

Burning snares swirled around his ankles as violent hands threw the cart over and hurled Izhari onto the ground with a thud. While she was still screaming in pain, the smoky figure snaked to her and ripped her crown away before replacing it with an enormous helmet that was swiftly locked.

In an instant, Izhari went limp.

Snares were tied around Tomita’s wrists..

“We’ve been trying to find you ever since you got away. And I have only become more curious about you after I discovered your strange memories in the Lexicon. It was allllll anyone would talk about for days. The hume that created a system where he gained credits every time someone used his wisdom. Incredible.”

“Then, to top it off, a week ago, every hunter in the land gained memory of you and this maji, with word from Mathael himself to capture you. How… fascinating!” the bear smirked.

Tomita watched in terror as Izhari was loaded into a cage, limp and silent. Then a club struck his face and he flinched, but nothing happened.

The bear paused and looked down at his still conscious prey.

“What?” asked the bear.

Another blow came to Tomita’s head. Then another. Then another. But nothing happened. Delirium seized Tomita and he started to laugh.

“Super defense, bitch!” he snarled.

His captors couldn’t help but laugh.

“Wow! I have seen a great deal in my day, but never this. You truly are the most fascinating mark I’ve ever received!” laughed the bear as its enormous paw swatted Tomita on the back.

The smoky figure hoisted Tomita to his feet and led him towards a simple, rusted cylindrical vessel. Inside, Tomita was thrown into a holding space beside the silent Izhari. Locks were sealed and the two of them were formally prisoners. Then the commotion started.

There was a roar and two shouts that turned to horrified screams. Roars became snarls as the sounds of massive arms tearing into others filled the metal space. Screams continued as slashes of metal echoed their strikes against flesh. Horrified pleas of noise gurgled and stopped as bone snapped and flesh ripped. A moment passed, and the bear entered the vessel alone, covered in the blood of his two companions.

“Well, now that I have that out of the way. I never liked those two…” he said.

“I mean… they probably should have seen that coming…” Tomita admitted in nervous hysteria.

“Ha! I like you, Manager of Acquisitions. It’s a shame Mathael’s going to kill you,” said the bear as it slammed the door of the vessel.