Chapter 13: Self-Sacrifice

Chapter 13

“Is it ready?” Calvin asked.

“Almost,” Yui said.

He watched her finish painting on a new canvas. This time it was a picture of what was above even the stars. It showed the moon hanging far above a golden city with a flat plain of dirt above even the moon. Yui finished painting a circle directly above the plain of bare soil. 

Calvin watched as she reached her hand into the circle above the large piece of dirt to find her arm disappeared into it. Calvin stared at the canvas, transfixed at her ability to manipulate reality with a mere paintbrush. She then turned to him and gestured.

“Come on,” Yui said as. “Jump in.”

“Why are we doing this again?” Calvin asked. 

“This,” Yui said. 

She pointed to the flat piece of dirt.

“Is where humans originate,” she explained. “It is where the knife of choice can be placed to unlock its unlimited power. We can defeat the black serpent if we get there.”

“Do you think we’ll be able to save Trap?” Calvin asked.

“Trap is the one who’s saving us!” Yui said. “He’s buying us time before we can stop this mess altogether!”

“I just want him to be okay,” Calvin said. 

Yui shook her head.

“You want others to be your friend so bad that you aren’t willing to let them go,” Yui said. “Even if it means letting them complete the purpose they were meant to.”

“What am I supposed to do?!” Calvin demanded. “Let Trap get himself killed! Should I have just left you dead as well?!”

“You don’t recognize the purpose people fill,” Yui said. “Like instruments in the hands of a master mechanic or artist they each serve some specialized role. I was supposed to die to save others from suffering eternal punishment. Trap is fighting to prevent the black serpent from causing anymore destruction.” 

She held out a hand for him to grasp.

“You think too much in terms of the emotional benefit people have for you and you alone,” Yui said. “People can be of great service if they are thrown to the wind and discarded like paper.” 

“That’s a horrible way to look at people,” Calvin said.

“It’s what must be done in hard times such as these,” Yui said. “Now…it’s time for you to fulfill your role.”

Calvin would not have taken the hand of anyone who said that unless it was Yui. Calvin placed his hand in hers, the softness of her skin tantalizing him. She pulled him closer as she plunged into the hole she had painted. It was only about as large as a man’s hand but once she jumped in headfirst, the circle expanded to accommodate her head with Calvin quickly following behind her. 

The two landed on the exact place Yui had painted, Calvin’s chest hitting the bare Earth while the girl landed on her side. As he stood up he found his clothes dirtied by a layer of brown dust. He brushed himself off while Yui got to her knees and stood up herself, wiping the dust off her dress as Calvin did the same to his clothes.

He looked around to find the area they resided in was a strange one. Above them was a layer of white that seemed to have rolling clouds that sometimes made it look foggy. It was in stark contrast to the blue sky on Earth. The strangest part was that Calvin found they were not standing on a planet but a platform of what appeared to be earth. He could even make out the edges of the flat plain from afar rather than a spherical celestial body.

The plain they stood on was nothing but bare soil. It was dry too, as though water never dared touch it. As Calvin looked around, he found that the plain of soil was laced with cracks resembling small canyons, like tilled soil in a drought. The whole area was a featureless desert of garden dirt that had never had a drop of moisture in its existence.

Except for one structure in the very center of the plain. In the middle was a stone monument that was completely square. Its surface was so smooth and shiny it almost looked like glass as it stood up vertically. Calvin was drawn towards the object, wandering toward it.

Upon closer inspection he found the stone had writing on it that he could not read, reminding him of ancient sumerian writings. He thumbed the letters engraved in the glossy gray stone to find the indentions almost sharp. When he looked directly down at the square stone he found a slot at the very top of the slab. It looked almost triangular but the cavity in the stone was too thin to be a true triangle. It honestly looked more like a longer object would belong inside.

“What is this place?” Calvin asked.

“This,” Yui said. “Is the birthplace of mankind.”

“Birthplace?” Calvin asked. “But…but how?”

“Simple,” she answered. “This is where the grand star intended us to thrive and cultivate life.”

“Thrive and cultivate?!” he shouted. “There isn’t so much as a blade of grass that grows here! How’re we supposed to cultivate anything when a desert has more life than this?!”

“Calm down,” Yui said as she knelt down to pick up a little soil.

She let it fall from her hand, a sudden wind catching the brown dust as it traveled aloft. 

“This soil is the same as the kind on Earth,” she said. “So it’s good for growing things. It just hasn’t had nourishment in a while.”

“And how do you know that?” Calvin asked rather skeptically.

“Because the grand star told me while I was dead,” Yui said. “I absorbed a lot of information about the creation of man and the nature of reality while I existed in the realm of the dead. And I know that this piece of earth was once a part of the planet before the grand creator rid it of this portion of the heavens.”

“Is that right?” Calvin asked. 

“Yes,” Yui said. “After the black serpent goaded the first humans into committing evil, the planet that they lived on as well as black serpent was thrown to the lowest realm possible so that they could no longer have any dominion.”

“Dominion?” Calvin asked.

“Yes,” Yui said. “When a creature lives in a certain plain, anything below that plain is their dominion. They have control of what is beneath that layer of the universe.”

“Is that right?” Calvin asked.

“Of course,” she explained. “It’s probably why Nathan’s has the power to wreak all that destruction they’re doing right now. They claimed that layer of the heavens and now have the dominion of what lies below it. That’s why the grand star cast humans down…because he wanted a race that had discovered evil to have as little power as possible.”

“Interesting…” Calvin said as he looked over the area of soil. “So this place…it’s a piece of the original Earth before it was tainted?”

“Exactly,” Yui said. “My memories were at first fuzzy…but the more I painted the more I remember all the information I absorbed while I was dead. And I think I know what needs to be done to defeat the black serpent.”

“What?” Calvin asked.

“We need to create a new lifeform,” Yui said. “One that’s powerful enough to destroy the black serpent. Once and for all.”

“Well how are we going to do that?” Calvin asked. 

“I think…” Yui said. “I think we were supposed to come here…to do that…”

She began nodding her head back and forth, obviously trying to jog her memory. 

“This piece of earth may be dry,” she said. “And devoid of life. But it’s where the original soil was before it was tainted with evil. It’s where we can create a new lifeform capable of stopping the black serpent once and for all.”

“Alright then,” Calvin said. “So where do we start?”

Yui took the knife from its scabbard and held it up. Once the knife was fully unsheathed, Calvin could almost feel a sense of anticipation emanate from the blade as she pulled it loose. It was as though the thing was alive and anxiously waiting to be drawn near the stone slab. She then pointed to the stone monument in front of them. 

“By inserting the knife into the stone slab,” Yui said. “In the beginning, this blade which represented mankind’s freewill was used to grow food, produce water and nourish the environment. So long as the first humans committed to the grand star’s commands they never were in want of anything.”

Yui hovered the blade over the slot in the stone and inserted it into the cavity. There was a noise similar to rock scraping against rock but beyond that nothing happened. Yui pushed the knife in deeper, only to find there was no further level it could go. She let go of it, waited for a second and sighed.

“What’s wrong with this thing?” Yui asked.

“I don’t know,” Calvin said. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because…” Yui said, leering in confusion. “There’s…there’s something wrong with this knife.”

“But you purified it,” Calvin said. “Didn’t you?”

“I thought I did,” she said. “With the serpent insignia no longer on the hilt…it means that it's free of corrupting influence…but they may not mean its full power is unlocked.”

“You keep talking about this knife’s full power,” Calvin said. “What does that even mean? Are you actually saying this knife was built in with some kind of restraint on it? I’d think that anything that could resurrect a person with a stab wound has plenty of power already.”

“Not that it was built that way,” Yui said. “Just that being used and interfered with by the black serpent degraded its power. If anything, dark powers like that were the least of its abilities.” 

Yui began smoothing her hand over the pommel.

“It’s almost like,” she said. “The knife isn’t complete yet. But it almost is. If…if only…if only I knew what it was.”

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She took her hand off the pommel before sighing, rocking back and forth again as if trying to remember. 

“Come on,” she said. “Think. What more must one do…”

Calvin rolled his eyes, sighing as he strolled away from the monument to observe the world around him. Now that he was on this hunk of dirt that didn’t have so much as a flower growing from it, he felt somewhat calm. Ever since bringing Yui to his house to take care of her, Calvin’s mind had been abuzz with one crazy happening after another. He was just glad that the weirdness had ceased for just a moment so he could collect himself.

Only it didn’t last long. Calvin found himself drawn to the edge of the piece of land out of a simple curiosity to see what was below. At first he saw the moon beneath him, it’s large and spherical nature less mysterious as he Calvin made out the rocky texture of its surface. When he looked past that, he was horrified at the sight.

He could see quite clearly below the shining gold city was being rampaged through by a seven headed, red beast. It was covered with scales that appeared both bright and dark red with many horns and crowns. The very sight of him looked unimaginably hideous and yet familiar, the eyes of the creature the very same as the black serpent who had tempted Calvin. One of its heads looked up at him to glare.

And he was fighting Trap. The dog enveloped in solidified gold light was thrown to the ground after repeatedly rushing at the dragon. Trap would occasionally grab hold of one of the dragon’s necks with his mouth and attempt to drag it to the ground. But then one of the other several mouths of the dragon would slam its head into Trap and he’d be sent flying into one of the gold palaces. No matter how many times Trap attacked the dragon, one of the creature’s other heads would prevent it from making a deathblow. And Calvin could easily see that Trap was bleeding from several places and tiring from his fight.

And they were not the only two fighting. Humanoid figures looking like they were made of gold and decorated with jewels fought creatures that Calvin recognized as Nathan’s army from Yui’s painting. The beings made of gold and gems would conjure weapons made of gold and decorated with jewels and attempt to retaliate against the monsters. The dead on both sides lay sprawled out in the city, both the red blood of the monsters and gold blood spilled out. Calvin screamed in panic. 

“Trap!” he shouted. “Trap!”

“What?!” Yui asked.

He turned and raced toward her.

“Trap-!” Calvin said. “He’s fighting the black serpent!”

“Fighting the serpent?” Yui asked. “Then–then he…the black serpent must have found a way to recover his original body.”

“Please!” Calvin shouted. “Do something! Save Trap! He’s wounded badly!”

“Calvin!” Yui shouted. “I already told you! Trap’s doing his-!”

“Doing his duty,” Calvin said. “Completing his purpose. Yeah, yeah, I know. But I can’t lose him anymore! I don’t want to lose anybody!”

“Well then help me figure out a way to use the knife of choice!” Yui shouted. “It wants something…I know it does but…but I’m not sure what it wants.”

“Have you tried asking it?” Calvin asked.

“Asking it?” Yui asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “I know it seems strange but…but that knife…it’s like it was glad to be here. When you unsheathed it…it was happy to show up here after so long. It’s like this was it’s home.”

“How did you discern that?” Yui asked.

“It’s just the feeling I got when you pulled out the knife,” he said. “I think…I think here of all places it’s more alive than ever.”

He then turned the knife, the weapon still buried up to the hilt in the stone slab’s indention. Calvin walked towards it as he glanced down at the golden handle. He narrowed his eyes, not leering at it, but trying to observe it carefully. 

It’s calling me. He thought. Specifically…me.

He then wrapped one hand around the handle. 

Tell me what I must do. Calvin thought. 

A surge of foreign images enter his mind. They entered his mind in a streamlined, chronological order that was like a speeding train of information. The story the knife painted in his mind was one he was familiar with.

Two men stood facing each other. One was taller and had more facial hair. The shorter of the two younger and not as muscular. He held the knife of choice in his hand, the snake insignia visibly slithering across the handle. 

They were surrounded by a beautiful jungle of fruit trees, the forest blooming with flowers and round produce. Animals that Calvin had never seen raced across the world of green and shouted jubilantly. The only creature that did not look happy was a black snake that dangled from a tree at the younger brother’s side. 

The younger of the two brothers stabbed the oldest in the stomach before cutting a red arc across his belly. He fell to the ground, gasping in pain and coughing up blood as the other sibling stood over him. A malicious grin appeared on his face as he became bathed in a wicked red light that soon transformed into fire. His chuckle was deafening as he held a hand up as a blast of red flames, obviously impressed with the power he had acquired. 

Calvin then saw the knife drop to the ground, blood covering as the greenery around it wilted. The plants and trees in the garden began to decay into brown ashes as though the hot sun was drying it. The animals also collapsed to the ground, their tongues hanging out as if dying of thirst. 

Then an image of the entire Earth appeared in Calvin’s mind. The planet was held alongside the moon and above even the stars. The gold realm below was level with the Earth, the golden floor surrounding the surface of the globe. Then, the planet began to fall.

A burst of light appeared from above that lit the entire universe up that it was blinding. Once the white light dissipated the surface of the Earth began to crack apart, like canyons splitting in the crust. The earthquakes were followed by the Earth’s actual descent downwards as it fell from being level with the golden plain of the heavens and beneath the stars. The night sky below opened up to form a hole that the planet dropped into. Once it disappeared below, the night sky closed up to form a seamless canvas of black interspersed with stars.

Calvin looked back to see that of the great forces that repelled the Earth downward, only a single piece stayed behind. That piece was a dried, mile-long fragment of Earth that held the stone monument in the center of it. It was bereft of true life as only rotted animal husks and sun-dried flowers dotted its surface. 

The monument no longer held any mysterious aura that Calvin first looked at it with. The stone structure was rather sad looking, like a lonely child that had been left behind by its mother. Whatever its intended use had been was no longer in place now, the object as meaningless as the bodies of once abundant life surrounding it. 

The image was burned into Calvin’s mind so strong he could see with his eyes closed. It was actually the only image he could make out, his surroundings secondary to that. And then the image changed for him to gain a much closer look at the monument, more specifically its indention. 

Then the younger of the two brothers appeared beside him. Calvin glanced at the younger sibling but his main focus was still the cavity on top of the monument. He slid the bloodstained knife into the indention before lightning poured from the stone and showered the man. The snake slithered around the monument, bathed in the lightning as well. The two laughed as hey absorbed the electricity, becoming more and more engrossed with power.

The vision ended and Calvin once again saw himself gripping the knife in front of him. He slid it out of the stone slot and held it aloft. He narrowed his eyes on the silver blade, his stoic expression looking back at him.

“What?” Yui asked. “What did you learn?”

“That…” he said. “This all started from…the younger of two brothers killing the first brother. He was tempted by the snake to do so…because sacrificing another living being is how one gains power. And the snake knew that.”

“Yes…” Yui said. “I-I think the first humans were thrown out because…because of the rivalry between two brothers. One was jealous of the other’s possessions and…and wished them for himself. He could not accept being subservient to the eldest.”

“Like with me and Nathan,” Calvin said. “I killed him to gain what he had…you.”

“That…” Yui said. “That’s true.”

“And so history repeated,” Calvin said. “The grand star and the black serpent…they set this up so that both could have…have some closure with the events. They have to repeat…for it to end. For this cosmic brawl to come to a close it has to end where it starts.”

“And what does that mean?” Yui asked.

He held the knife up to her.

“It means someone needs to make a sacrifice,” Calvin said. 

“What?!” Yui shouted.

“You said it yourself,” he said. “This weapon embodies the power of sacrifice. Even exchange, equal trade. In order for the world to be returned back to the way it once was…it’s got to end with someone willing to give up their lives.”

“No!” Yui shouted.

She took hold of his hand, trying to wrench the knife from his grasp but Calvin pushed her away.

“No, please!” Yui shouted. “I-I-I…don’t want to live without you!”

He shook his head, gritting his teeth in preparation.

“I’ve already come back from the dead!” Yui said. “I could possibly do it again with the power I’ve attained! You need to think about-!”

“I am thinking,” Calvin said. “About others.”

He then looked across the plain where he stared down at the edge.

“Trap’s fighting the serpent,” Calvin said. “A battle he can’t win but is hoping something good will come of it. You tried to save your friend when that mugger attacked you and built a way for the dead to attain life again. Yui…you’ve been doing everything you can to help others and the world around you while I killed Nathan and started this whole mess.”

“But I wouldn’t have died to save anyone had you not killed me!” Yui shouted. 

“Yeah,” Calvin said.

He held the knife vertically as examined his reflection.

“All for selfish gain,” he said. “It’s time…it’s time I make a sacrifice.”

Calvin turned the knife over in his hand and plunged it into his stomach. Yui screamed as he fell to the dusty ground, lunging after him. Yui held his face as Calvin coughed up blood. Gritting his teeth he pulled the knife out of his body and handed it to Yui, gasping in pain the whole time.

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