Don't Look At The Full Moon!

The city-wide evacuation was going well from what I was seeing, and a lot of the people I’d rallied to our cause were taking initiative to ensure the safety of everyone. So that left us with pretty empty streets to race down.

Jess was able to keep up with my speed since she was using her musical instrument like a broomstick. She sat cross-legged, comfortably stable as if the wind was no trouble for her. The utility of that gizmo of sound really was a handy thing. I was worried that Yamin was going to have a hard time keeping up with both of our speeds, so I offered her a ride on my back. But she surprised me when she showed off that she could actually fly without the aid of wings. Her top speed kept up well with us.

“I remembered that the warrior this costume came from could fly,” Yamin said,” so I figured I could do it too!”

“Nice!” I cheered. “I wonder what other abilities we all have.”

There were probably a lot of things we could do that we had no idea of, especially since our knowledge of pop culture was sorely lacking. We just had to make do with our limited understanding.

“Hey…” Jess’s expression popped like she had an idea. “What if the more you give yourself to the character, the more you learn about them?”

“So, you mean that if we let the costume take over, we actually become that person?” I asked.

That would explain a few things, like how I was able to use that special move earlier. I kinda’ just let myself embrace a little of the character's personality. It also explained why so many people were turning into supervillains, terrorizing the people with their powers.

“Yeah,” Jess nodded. “That must be the mechanic behind it.”

It was a food for thought, but I was hoping that none of us were going to lose ourselves to the costumes we were wearing.

“So, since Jess is dressed as herself…” Yamin curiously poked her chin as she continued flying. “Does that mean that she’s just changing into more of herself?”

Yamin had her moments of being a little ditsy, but for some reason that one caught me off guard and made me snicker.

“Yeah, I think so!” Jess happily nodded. “I’m twice the musical witch, comin’ at ya live!”

Jess had a lot of spirit in her, and I could tell that charisma was going to take her far. I wanted to get to know her better, and what better way than a stressful circumstance like this? People’s true colours flew under pressure in my experience.

I noticed the ground below us was getting a little hot and crunchy sounding. With each step I crushed at least a dozen of those pumpkin seeds from earlier. They got pretty densely packed on the street, to the point that I was almost shuffling through them like large pieces of sand.

That heat was accompanied by a smoky smell, and I was feeling those sensations kick up a lot. The glowing orange runes on the seed surfaces brightened significantly, followed by a damning high pitched ring which put me on alert.

“They’re going to explode!” I shouted as I jumped high up into the air, followed by my teammates.

*BOOM!*

Many of the tiny pieces erupted like small firecrackers, scattering sparks across the block and making it very hard to find a safe place to land. The rooftops were no better, because those had these tiny explosive seeds on them too.

“This is going to be a problem!” I shouted.

“If we have a destination in mind, maybe that would help,” Yamin suggested, a tinge of snark in her tone.

The only place I could think of was the church, since that had a barrier up that negated the effects of the dark domain. There might have been some things there we could use that would help us defeat Prometheus too, but what?

The crackle of the explosive seeds across the ground became more violent until several of them popped into burning vines that quickly grew upwards. A pumpkin sprouted from them and detached. Flames burst across the surface of the hovering pumpkin until it was the same jack-o-lantern face that Prometheus had when I first saw him.

“So, little angel, you seem to be doing pretty well for yourself,” the pumpkin said in Prometheus’s cocky voice.

I wanted to land before addressing him. Once I was on stable, non-explosive ground, along with my friends flanking me, I found it appropriate to get down to business.

“I’m assuming this pumpkin is some sort of proxy for you,” I said. “So if I blew you up right here and now, it wouldn’t do much good.”

“Correct! My real body is up in that old castle.”

He had pretty good control over the demon domain if he could manage a stunt like this to talk with us. We had to figure something out quickly or who knew what he’d be able to do next?

“Jess…” Yamin whispered to her. “Is that really what he looks like?”

“No. He isn’t supposed to be much different from a human, just bigger.”

Since she mentioned he was a titan, I assumed a size difference came with the territory. The demon in him must have caused him to change into this pumpkin thing we were seeing now though.

He hovered above us with his all too aggravating jack-o-lantern face mischievously gazing down like a spotlight.

“Prometheus!” Jess shouted. “Stop this! People are getting hurt!”

“Is that who I think it is?” his smile grew twice as big. “You’ve gotten so much bigger, kid. I almost didn’t recognize you! Looks like you followed in your sister's footsteps and became a witch.”

“That doesn’t matter!” Jess argued. “Turn everything back to normal right now! Please, I know you’re better than this.”

Her pleads didn’t seem to cut too deep into his thick rind surface. It was only far enough for his smile to fade. Clearly her words touched his soul a tad, but no matter how much she tried to talk him down, demons always had a stronger influence.

“Sorry, kid. But I’m not the man you once knew,” he retorted. “Now I just want to watch the world burn and see what comes out of the ashes. If you want, follow me! That way we can see the chaos together.”

The cloudy sky cleared ever so slightly to reveal the red glow of the moon Darmos behind the head of Prometheus, like an evil halo that bathed everything in a harsh crimson hue, courtesy of the demon's domains effects on the air.

Jess had a mix of uncertainty and sorrow in her face, but shook her head to deny his offer.

“No. I won’t join you. Not as long as you have a demon inside your soul.”

“Sad,” Prometheus responded in an insincere sorrow. “I gave you the chance at freedom, and this is how you repay me? I probably should have left you in Olympus to be drained of all your power,” he laughed.

“Huh…?” Jess was deeply hurt by his words. Tears welled in her eyes, and she gripped tightly to her bouzouki instrument.

“Jess, don’t listen to him!” I shouted. “People say horrible things when they’re possessed to get a rise out of you. They want you to react negatively so they can feed off of that emotion.”

She wasn’t in a state of mind to rationalize what I was saying. Her heart was hurt pretty bad by those words, like she was a mistake that shouldn’t have happened.

“Listen up, Prometheus!” I announced with proud gusto, hoping my tone would rouse resolve in Jess. “My friend is one of the best musicians ever, and she’s just getting started! I’ll make sure you regret saying those mean things about her.”

“Yalda…” Jess said, a hand clenched over her heart-a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

“I’d like to see you try,” he said, the slits of his burning eyes narrowing for intimidation.

“We’re not just going to try…” I smirked as much as this bird face would allow. “We get things done. Right, Yamin?”

She didn’t respond to me. The only sound I heard coming from her were deep breaths and very light growls, like she was angry and having a hard time breathing

“Yamin?” I turned back to see her hunched over, her eyes glaring at the full moon with an expression of pure shock, with a hint of aggression fighting for a spotlight. “Yamin, what’s wrong?”

She didn’t reply. Her eyes turned blood red and she let out a feral scream of agony. I’d never seen her suffer like this.

Jess quickly dismounted her instrument to support Yamin, but she just shoved her away and gripped the sides of her head as if she were about to explode.

“Jess move!”

I bolted in and collected the witch, then got distance from Yamin, who began to undergo some sort of terrible transformation.

The area filled with dust trailing behind me. I couldn’t see what was going on behind it, but massive red eyes peered through the clouds. A growl shook the city like a rumbling earthquake, slowly ascending to the mighty call of a monster.

Dust finally cleared at the mere power of her violent voice. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I gazed upon what looked like a massive gorilla the size of a skyscraper, rising from where Yamin once was.

“What the heck just happened to her!?” Jess screamed, clinging tightly to my neck. “She looked at the moon and turned into that thing!”

“Well, if I had to guess…” I started, suddenly forced back into my Exceed form. “I think I’m not the only one who can transform into a monster here…”