Guardians of the Dark

“What’s going on here?” asked Kasen. He looked from Felicity, to the four Raiders beside her, to the giant of a man who had fought Samael at the hospital. He remembered his name … T-something … Theon, perhaps? It didn’t matter. “You’re never getting away with this. Emperor Hamman will notice you’re not at the meeting.”

“The Emperor?” asked Felicity with a chuckle. “Oh, he already knows I’m not there. In fact, I got to see the look of horror on his face when I locked the whole bunch of them in the conference theatre on the top floor.”

Theon laughed. “Man, how I wish I could’ve seen that.”

Eliza pulled up her nose at them. Kasen reached out to stop her, but she stepped forward with her chin in the air. “You’re a total disgrace to the Guardian name! The Emperor gave his best years to this city, and you –”

“Someone, just shut her up!” snapped Felicity. One of the Raiders grabbed Eliza and put his hand over her mouth.

“Let go of her!” shouted Kasen. He made to bound forward, but Theon cocked his head at him, and he stopped in his tracks. His chest pumped in and out, his breathing out of control. “What do you plan to do, Felicity?”

“Really, Kasen? Isn’t it obvious?” Felicity sounded disappointed. She put her hands behind the small of her back and strode to the middle of the control room. Kasen touched the knife on his belt. “We’re here to pull the switch.”

“No!” Eliza blurted out from under the Raider’s hand. He wrangled her up again, then readjusted his grip of her.

“You want to pull the switch?” Malcolm pitched in. He stood right by the control board, by the switch. He leaned back against a couple of buttons, all of which buzzed and beeped from his touch: access denied. “Aren’t you the Commander of the Guardians or something? You could’ve just done it whenever you wanted to.”

Kasen glowered at him, then yanked him away from the control board. “What he means is, why are you doing this?”

“Alright, I suppose you’ve earned the right to know,” said Felicity, clicking her heels together. “To answer Malcolm’s question, yes. I could’ve pulled the switch at any time, but then everything would be all wrong. The Emperor would be escorted to one of the many emergency bunkers across the city, thus wouldn’t be corrupted. There would be too many Guardians around, all with access to insolation suits, or with a built-up resistance to the Dark. By locking the lot of them in the conference theatre, they’re entirely out of their element and unable to take the Emperor anywhere. They need to see the truth, feel the truth.”

“The truth?” asked Buff. Kasen started, having forgotten he was even there, in the corner, timidly watching them.

Felicity smiled at his question. The corners of her mouth creased, and her perfectly-sculpted brows lowered over her eyes. She no longer resembled that of a porcelain doll, nor that of a woman in the professional world. She was the spitting image of a Corrupted, sporting the same blue-white skin, wide eyes, and sharp teeth.

“The truth, my darlings, is that the Dark is just sooooo appealing.” Felicity shuddered with pure delight. She licked across her teeth and puckered her lips as though tasting something sweet. “I was always so curious, so mesmerised by the beam. Then one night … I was alone in the depository, and I thought I’d have a feel …”

“You put your hand into that damn thing?” Malcolm glanced askance at the beam on the other side of the window.

“Oh, no. Not just my hand.” Felicity imitated her movements of that night. She hopped across the floor with perfect grace. Her heels barely made a noise. “I stepped right into it. I shut my eyes and went with my desire!”

Eliza yelped, still in the Raider’s grip.

“I know, I know. It was without a doubt the happiest moment of my life.” Felicity paused with her hands to her chest and her eyes closed. She inhaled, exhaled, and they snapped open again. Her smile vanished, and a look of utter revulsion decked her face. “But it turned out I wasn’t alone. That wretched Mary Bates had seen me. I tried to reason with her, told her to join me in the thrill, but then she threatened to expose me …”

“So you killed her.” Kasen spoke through his teeth. He outright clutched his knife now, tempted to pull it out and launch at Felicity, but Theon kept watching him, scrutinising him. “You tossed her off the roof.”

Felicity clapped her hands together. “What excitement! Everyone just straight-up believed it to be a suicide.”

“And Matt?” enquired Malcolm.

“Him, yes. I don’t know how, but he found out about me. And about Mary. He started to follow me everywhere I went, even outside the city to a meeting with Emperor Sumuri. That boy never really knew when to stop.”

“So you got rid of him too?” asked Kasen, although he already knew the answer. His fingertips buzzed and his feet itched to pounce. He gnawed on his teeth, dulling the urge to attack. Matt was a decent guy. When he died, it shattered Felix’s heart. And then Felicity just lied about it, etched it down as a suicide.

“Nope, I didn’t kill Matt.”

“You’re lying!” Eliza managed to shriek, although her words sounded muffled under the Raider’s hand.

Felicity spun. “I said, shut her up!” She took a moment to breathe, then went on, “Like I said, I wasn’t allowed the honour to kill Matt … but, I did watch as the Roamers piled on top of him, shredding him apart.”

This was it.

The way Felicity rounded her syllables and made fun of Matt’s death, drove Kasen insane. He yanked out the knife – “You’re a monster!” – and charged at her. She barely flinched, as Theon jumped around her and blocked his blow before he reached her. He grabbed Kasen’s wrist and twisted it around until he dropped the knife. Then, he rotated his arm behind his back, and pinned him down on the ground.

Kasen writhed and squirmed, hissing all kinds of threats, but it was no use. He simply wasn’t strong enough.

Felicity looked to Malcolm. “So, do you want a turn as well?”

Malcolm shook his head. He feigned a grin, then bowed ninety degrees. “No, please, I’m just here to observe.”

Eliza shot him a poisonous glare while muttering something under the Raider’s hand, most likely an insult.

“What?” Malcolm defended himself. He touched under his blueish eye. “The swelling just went down from my last fight!”

“A true coward …” murmured Theon.

And, as much as it pained him, Kasen couldn’t help but agree. Even with the fate of the Metropolis of Light at stake, Malcolm only cared about himself. He turned his head to the side, his cheek squished against the tiles, and hissed through his teeth, “Why? Why didn’t you just give us the night off? Why punish us like this?”

Felicity walked over to him, slowly, rhythmically. She stopped short of his head, almost on top of his fringe. He looked up at her through the corners of his eyes, straining his neck just to see her chin and mouth.

“Why?” she repeated his question. “Well, I had to assign someone to the control room. The Emperor might’ve grown suspicious if I hadn’t. It was either you recruits, or someone else, an Officer, from this department. Don’t worry, I didn’t base my decision on your daftness alone. I chose you because you’re the most inexperienced.”

A pause.

“The most submissive.”

“Me? Submissive?” Malcolm blurted out, clearly offended. He made to say something else – defend himself, maybe – but Felicity snapped her fingers, and the two remaining Raiders set out to round up him and Buff. He reversed down the length of the control room with wielded fists, but the Raider was too fast for him to manage a punch. His hands were forced behind his back, and his face pressed up against the farthest wall.

Buff also fought against the Raider, and actually managed a hit, but shortly ended up on the ground like Kasen.

“I gave you a last-minute chance to go to the Collection Points as backup, but you didn’t want to listen. You brought this upon yourselves, you know. But, don’t worry, you won’t regret it.” Felicity grinned. “Take them to the beam!”

“What? The beam?” Kasen gasped, writhing from scratch. Theon tightened the lock on his arm, and he groaned.

“Consider today the best day of your lives, recruits, for it’s the day you’ll be reborn as Corrupted, the truly superior race.” Felicity strutted out of the control room, gesturing with her hand for the rest of them to follow.

Theon hauled Kasen to his feet. “Walk.”

But Kasen remained put.

“Suit yourself, runt.” Theon rolled his eyes, then kicked him in the back of his knees. He pushed a limping Kasen out of the control room and into the corridor, followed by the other three Raiders and their prisoners.

Felicity stood by the door to the tiny room that led from the depository.

“I thought that only opens from the other side …” Kasen mumbled.

“Not if you’re the Commander of the Guardians,” Felicity replied. She swiped her palm across the panel and the door slid open. The computerised voice inside told her to remove her suit and toss it in the disposal, but she simply strode to the opposite door, and swiped her palm again. “I’m allowed to go anywhere I want.”

Theon ushered Kasen through the room and into the depository, constantly driving his arm up against his spine. His breaths turned to heaves, which shortly turned to grunts. The pain was constant and inconsistent, unbearable.

Felicity led them to the closest side of the beam. She felt around the glass until she located a specific spot, then flashed her wrist again. A door-shaped square popped open in the glass. The moment it did, she inhaled deeply, followed by a just as deep exhale. She put her hands behind her back and turned to Kasen and his friends.

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” she said, gesturing to the opening in the beam. “The Emperor designed it as a maintenance opening. You know, for when the glass were to crack or something. I, however, saw it for its greater potential.”

“Greater potential?” Malcolm smirked through his teeth. His voice lacked its usual touch of pride and shrewdness. “It still looks like a maintenance opening to me …” The Raider smacked him over the head.

“Ow!” he contested.

“Did you know,” Felicity went on, strutting around the beam, “that the electromagnetic impulses that power this thing are so strong, one would simply hover if one stepped inside?” She reached the opening in the glass again, and entered the beam as an illustration. And she was right. She floated in mid-air, the Dark gushing around her.

“Amazing,” uttered Eliza, but the Raider covered her mouth again.

“What are you going to do with us?” Kasen demanded to know. “Are you planning on throwing us in or something?”

Felicity stepped out of the beam. She straightened her pantsuit, adjusted her glasses, and placed her hands behind her back. “You disappoint me, Kasen. I reckoned that part to be quite obvious. As you know, people who don’t have any darkness in them become mindless Roamers when corrupted, whereas people who do, unlock their fullest potential. Guardians are chosen for the latter reason, which means you lot have nothing to fear. ”

“Nothing to fear? What do you mean?”

“You can only experience true greatness once you’ve gone through the beam. You’ll serve under Emperor Sumuri in the new world – a world in which there is no Metropolis of Light, nor an Army of the Light.” Felicity nodded, upon which Theon and the three Raiders pushed Kasen and his friends toward the beam.

“There’s no way! I’d rather die than join you!” shrieked Eliza. She almost managed to get away, but the Raider proved too strong, too persistent. He wrapped both his arms around her, and just about carried her to the beam.

“I think this one should go first,” he suggested.

Eliza’s face paled, and her eyes welled with tears. She shouted, “Let go of me! I don’t want to become like you!”

Felicity stepped aside for them to approach. Her smile only widened as the Raider released Eliza, grabbed her shoulders, and held her by the opening. Buff began to struggle, and while Kasen also wanted to, his body wouldn’t allow it. Perhaps it was the pain of his nearly broken arm, or his mind prohibiting him from angering Theon more than he already had. He watched in agony, in horror, as the Raider pushed her into the beam.

“Eliza!” yelled Buff. He wrenched free, stumbled forward, and launched into the beam after her.

Silence.

Kasen narrowed his eyes at their silhouettes inside. Eliza and Buff met with what looked like a hug, then, shockingly enough, she tossed him on his back and dusted herself off. She raised her hands in the air, turned them over a couple of times, and tightened them into fists. She filled her chest with air – or whatever classified as air in the centre of the beam. Buff extended his hand at her, but she didn’t help him up.

Felicity and the Raiders watched the pair with such mesmerisation, Kasen seized the moment to break free. Alas, Theon’s grip proved ever as sturdy. He kneed him the back, warned him against trying anything like that again, and pushed him toward the beam. Kasen pinned his heels in between the tiles, squeaking as they went.

“Eliza? Buff?” Felicity called out. She made to get in after them, but they approached the opening and stepped out.

The tip of Eliza’s boot emerged first, followed by her foot, leg, torso, chest, and head. Her skin was no longer a pinkish-nude, but blue-green, and her lips were no longer crimson, but grey. She walked timidly at first, yet when Felicity reached out to touch her, she slapped away her hand and grinned with all her teeth.

“You were right, I’ve never felt more alive,” she roared.

Malcolm pulled his face at her. “Wow, alive? Because you look half-dead …”

The Raider wanted to slap him again, but Felicity raised her hand at him. She motioned for Eliza to do it instead. She cracked her neck, rotated her wrists, and marched right up to Malcolm. He turned away, but she grabbed his cheeks, tilted his head, and bashed her forehead against his. Malcolm’s eyes whirled around.

“Ah, what a blow!” Felicity praised her.

Kasen blinked a couple times, trying to process it all. He stared at Eliza – at the person who used to be Eliza – as she repeatedly banged heads with Malcolm. He groaned and pleaded – “I’m sorry, it was just a joke!” – but she wouldn’t stop until Felicity touched her shoulder. Blood from Malcolm’s hairline smeared across her forehead, yet she simply pushed back her hair and licked her lips with satisfaction, with satiation.

“That’s for always thinking you’re funny!” she hissed at him.

“Eliza …” Kasen managed to mutter.

Eliza’s head snapped toward him. Her face went blank for a moment, her eyes flicking across his face, lips, and nose, followed by the rest of his body. She straightened out and parted her lips, almost as though she wanted to say something, but then her brows twitched and her face scrunched into a scowl.

“I say the runt goes next,” she sneered.

Kasen choked. Something clicked inside of him, and he wrenched with everything he had. “No, you have to fight it!” he shouted, but neither Eliza, nor a similar-looking Buff, listened to him. “You have to fight the Dark!”

“That’s enough!” ordered Theon. He grabbed Kasen by the neck, picked him up off the ground, and carried him to the beam.

Kasen wrapped his hands around Theon’s, trying, fighting, struggling to pry the beast’s fingers off his neck. He gagged, unable to breathe. Spit gurgled up his throat when he tried to speak, to plead. He told himself to hold his breath, to wait it out, but his instincts told him otherwise. He kicked up his legs, wrapped them around Theon’s arms, and pulled him down, tumbling him over. Theon let go of his neck and gasped for breath.

“I’m not going anywhere near that thing,” he said-half-coughed, just as the other two Raiders launched at him. He dodged them, but froze when Eliza and Buff jumped in front of him. “Guys, listen to me. We have to go.”

“Not until you’ve joined us, Kasen,” said Eliza in the sweetest tone. It had an eeriness to it, similar to when Felicity spoke. The sound of it wrung Kasen’s stomach. “If you just comply, you don’t have to get hurt.”

“The same goes for you …” Kasen nearly choked when he said that, as he actually meant it. Eliza and Buff might’ve been his only friends – or the closest things to it – but if Samael taught him anything, it was that the Dark changed people. Not changed, but transformed. For all he knew, Eliza and Buff weren’t in there anymore.

Kasen must’ve gotten too distracted by his thoughts, for the next moment, someone walloped him in the lower back. He fell forward on his chest, but rolled over just fast enough to kick Theon in the stomach. The beast released a grunt, but didn’t seem all that affected. His stomach might very well have been made of metal.

“You know,” said Theon, hauling Kasen upright by his collar, “you’ve got more spunk than your sorry-ass brother.”

Kasen spat in his face.

“Ah, I think I might just reconsider. Instead of tossing you into the beam, I’m going to serve your head to Samael on a plate.” He pushed Kasen up against the glass around the beam, drew a knife from his belt, and pressed it to his neck. “Now, where to begin … so many choices, and all with the same fantastic result …”

Theon raised his hand and –

A knife penetrated the back of his palm, ricocheting it all the way against the glass. His fingers spasmed, and he dropped the knife. Kasen quickly slipped away. He grabbed the knife off the ground and looked around.

“Bastard!” screamed Theon, clutching his hand, still with the knife in it.

Kasen turned his head to the door. Samael – together with two other Corrupted – stood in the threshold, heaving as though he had just run a marathon. His left arm was still raised from the toss, his fingers still flexed.

“In case you forgot, Theon,” he said, “the Emperor gave Kasen to me.”