Equivalent Exchange

OCTOBER 31ST, 2006

SFU CAMPUS HALLOWEEN PARTY

Before the clock struck twelve, Kiya reappeared.

“Zhou! Come with me quickly. Cal explained everything to me. We have to act quickly before the live performance…”

Kiya looked worse for wear. The ‘Double Lotus’ was taking a toll on him.

“Where the hell have you been? I need to tell you something important - or, wait, did you already meet with … Ellis?”

Kiya nodded. “Sort of, but he’s busy stalling this other fallen angel guy right now… it’s a long story!” Without waiting for Zhou to reply, Kiya grabbed his hand and led him out of the auditorium, towards the clocktower that stood tall in the campus garden.

They began to climb up the narrow stairs.

“We’re going to miss the performance.” protested Zhou weakly. “What are you-”

“Exactly.” said Kiya gravely.

Kiya then explained the plan that Constantine and Nils were going to enact, and Zhou slowly put the pieces together in his mind.

“Then why are we out here?” said Zhou. “Shouldn’t we stop them inside?”

Kiya shook his head. “Nope. We’re gonna go to the source of all this. If Constantine wants to try and drain everyone’s life force in the World of Dreams, using my ‘Double Lotus’ as an amplifier…”

Zhou completed his sentence. “Then we just remove the amplifier.” It dawned on Zhou what Kiya had planned. “No, wait…”

“Don’t worry.” smiled Kiya. “I always come back, remember?”

He then fell silent. “Will you come with me?”

Zhou turned to Kiya. They had made it to the top of the clocktower, and their silhouettes were currently visible through the face of the clock. However, there was a small door, originally built in for maintenance, on the side… and it would allow Kiya and Zhou to jump out and make the deadly descent to the ground.

“You think because you have ‘Double Lotus’ that I’ll be able to use the effects of it and come back from the World of the Dead?”

Zhou looked at Kiya. He had changed a lot in the past couple days, aside from his appearance.

Though he tried to act brave, he had known him long enough to tell that he was terrified. His hands shook ever so slightly and his smile wavered for fractions of a second.

As a researcher of the occult, this is idiotic. But as his best friend… thought Zhou.

He took Kiya’s hand.

“Alright. We’ll go together.”

Kiya smiled, a real smile of relief.

“Zhou… Are you sure?”

Zhou nodded.

“I wanted to help you, even though I don’t have any special abilities… and this is how I can do that.”

From a distance, they could make out the beginning of the live performance, though they were too far away to hear the lyrics.

“It’s time.” said Kiya with finality.

Zhou nodded soundlessly.

Kiya took his hand.

It’s ice cold, thought Zhou.

His felt equally cold, however, and on the count of three, the two plunged from the clocktower to the unforgiving ground.

When they woke up, they were in a place familiar to Kiya, and completely unfamiliar to Zhou.

The first thing Kiya noticed was that his hair was no longer white.

Zhou’s white streak was gone as well.

OCTOBER 31ST, 2006

THE WORLD OF DREAMS

Constantine walked in the domain he knew so well, only this time he had many others joining him.

The partygoers slept suspended in mid-air. Being that they were all costumed, it gave the scene an additionally off-putting effect.

“Nils, if only you could see this.” whispered Constantine.

Walking up to one asleep partygoer, Constantine touched her forehead experimentally.

A warm, light sensation flooded him from where he had touched her, and suddenly he felt rejuvenated.

He did the same to several others and soon it felt as if his sickly self had been reborn anew.

Having ‘come to life’ once more, a twisted smile spread over his face, which was beginning to lose its deathly tint.

Then, one floating, sleeping figure revealed itself.

It did not appear to be wearing a costume. Constantine could not tell, as the figure was bathed in a light that could only be described as holy.

He reached out to touch this figure, and instantly it felt as if daggers of light were piercing him from every angle.

“W…what’s happening…” he choked out.

He tried to bend the World of Dreams to his will, as he always could, but the daggers of light sunk deeper into him, and the sleeping figures began to wake.

Below him, he could have sworn that he saw the ground open up to reveal a dark roiling sea, a cliff, and a pale beach with three sets of footsteps marring its surface.

The strangely haunting sight would stay with him for the rest of his life.

The waking figures, only semi-conscious, began to do something unexpected.

They began to collapse on top of him, and the sheer number of them soon buried Constantine beneath them.

He realized that he could not breathe under them, but the more he tried to control the World as he always had, the more they suffocated him.

This can’t be how it ends, he thought, where did I go wrong? Who’s interfered with my plans…?

Then, it was his first time thinking this in the World of Dreams:
I need to wake up now!

For the first time that night, the World of Dreams, having been put on a leash by the World of the Dead, obeyed its master.

NOVEMBER 2ND, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO

Two days had passed since the Halloween party, and things had mostly returned to normal. Kiya and Zhou had been ferried back to the World of the Living by Cal in his taxi (who knew it could drive so fast on sand and water), made to promise they’d never return until many years later, and upon waking back up at the bottom of the clocktower, they found that their hair had returned back to normal colors. Also, someone had apparently pantsed their bodies, so the walk home in the morning was a little bit unenjoyable.

Kiya and Zhou had moved to a new apartment. Unfortunately, a bigger space also meant needing a third roommate. Luckily for them, Heland had recommended someone who she said was new to the city.

The person who showed up was quite a nasty shock indeed.

“Hi.” said Silver.

Zhou and Kiya nearly fell over.

“Aww, come on! Not you! I’m never letting Heland pick our roommate ever again!” grumbled Kiya. He had returned to his usual energetic yet ditzy self.

“I come in peace.” tried Silver.

The fallen angel looked different. His hair was no longer stark white, but a… silver color?

“The mortal known as Constantine had unfortunately drained my life force on Halloween, so now I am a short-life existence, similar to the likes of you. Therefore we have no choice to get along.”

Kiya and Zhou gave each other a look, and thinking that finding another roommate at this time would be too annoying, decided that living with the fallen angel assassin (formerly) would be alright. Thankfully, Butler Bai’s recommendation wasn’t all bad, and the three got on alright, until Silver was introduced to online gaming by Zhou, and… Kiya’s sleep schedule had to adjust.

Heland came to visit too, and stayed over some nights (she loved to interview Silver) although she no longer lived at Ibsen House.

Ellis had returned to Canada with Phoebe, but Zhou and him still kept in touch online. It seemed he was leading a rather normal life, though sometimes he would make concerning allusions that made Zhou wonder if he could be indicted as an accessory. He was still fixated on searching for the one known as Constantine, but with no luck. 

Silver and Ellis ended up calling quite often - it seemed the two had quite a lot in common - and when spring came, Silver went up to Calgary to visit him. Zhou was unsure how Silver got there - he left the house without a plane ticket or a phone, only a plastic bag of a change of clothes, but he came back…

As for Constantine and Nils, their fate was unknown to our protagonists.

However, there were reports of a certain patient in the C____ City Hospital, who was in perfect health - only, he could not wake up, and though someone claiming to be his brother visited him every day, he continued to slumber. 

THE END