Chapter 27: Chapter 27 – The Waxing Moon, and the Tides she Turned at her Will, Part 22

Light slipped under Luci’s eyelids. Stirring, she opened her eyes, but only saw light. She tried to move and found she couldn’t. She was vaguely aware that she should have been in terrible agony, yet she felt fine.

Rationally, this meant she’d passed on to Album Infinitum, where she would wait for her soul to find its way back to the enmastream. Except, wasn’t Album Infinitum supposed to be a never-ending white landscape? Rather, everything was… red. Oh.

Luci blinked the blur out of her vision and saw a dust-ridden man wearing a collar. In his hand was a breastplate with a shield-shaped ornament on its shoulder. Red light burst from the ornament like flower in bloom. Streamers of the same light trailed away from Luci, passing over the full moon, dancing across the night sky. Luci watched the spectacle in silent wonder.

“Mr. Wip?” she croaked, a taste of ash and dust in the back of her throat.

Wip didn’t respond. His brows were furrowed, his eyes were set forward, his breath came quick and heavy. He was locked in concentration. The lights on his collar flickered violently. Why was he so focused? What was he…?

That was when Luci remembered what she’d just done.

In her enma-drunken state, she’d blasted a whole section of the city to smithereens. She’d tried to kill maybe hundreds of people without the slightest hint of remorse.

Her body was heavy, every muscle stiff. It took her an extraordinary effort to turn her head towards the street. What she saw made her gasp.

Red shields made of light were chained together, forming a solid wall across the street. The wall stretched so wide that it had carved through buildings, causing some walls to topple. They were two layers thick, such that the gaps in the front layer were covered by the shields in back, preventing any projectiles from slipping through. All things considered, there was far less damage than what her barrage ought to have caused. That whole section of the Shanties should have been erased, and given the way that buildings were so tightly interlocked, the damage would have spread very far.

But most importantly, everyone that Luci had tried to kill moments ago was alive, if perhaps injured. People meandered through the rubble Luci had crashed down into the street, some picking for things they could recycle, others tending to the wounded. Flak’s thugs were amongst them, just as alive as the rest of the citizens. Through the gaps in the buildings, Luci could see confused residents gawking at the carnage, abandoning their own safety for a chance to see destruction.

Blearily, Luci counted that there were nowhere near enough people in the streets to match the density of the Shanties. She figured they must have fled once the fires broke out—most people were not foolish enough to stay in one place when an afto fight started. Realising this lifted a tremendous weight off her shoulders.

Luci tried to push herself up only for her back to hurt. She turned and realised she wasn’t lying on the ground but, rather, in Wip’s arms. Her back rested on his thighs and her head was supported by his other hand. With that hand, he was running his enma through her so that her body was slowly losing weight.

They were in the centre of a crater, one dug out by Luci’s enma. Buildings that had been caught by her conform threads had been ripped up, leaving a roughly spherical space in the shanties. The cobblestone road surrounding them was gone, and the packed dirt had been torn up and then knocked aside from the impact of her fall.

The only reason she wasn’t dead from that impact was because Wip had caught her. He’d caught her when she fell.

With a grunt, Wip released his enma channelling into the armour and the light streaming from it vanished. The shields protecting the buildings dissipated also, causing onlookers to gasp. Then the armour began to warp violently in Wip’s hand. Before the writhing metal could strike Luci’s immobile head, Wip tossed it aside.

If Luci wasn’t so dehydrated, she would have bawled her eyes out. She tried to reach out and embrace him, but her arms were still too heavy.

“You kept your promise,” she babbled. “You did!”

Wip didn’t respond. He stared blankly past her at the carnage, eyes flashing crimson.

“Mr. Wip?” Luci asked, wondering what was wrong.

His collar flickered brighter, more violently, and then the light-emitting studs went out completely. The moment that happened, pain shot through Luci’s stomach and she let out a sharp gasp.

A sardonic grin etched onto Wip’s face. A wheeze of a laugh escaped him.

“Wow! He actually overdid it,” Wip said, Or, at least, it looked like Wip said it. The voice that came out of him was unlike anything Luci had ever heard from the whimsical man, coarse and tinted with malice. “I don’t get it. What’s so fun about saving a bunch of weaklings?”

The enma that Wip was running into Luci cut off. Her body suddenly felt as though it weighed as much of a mountain. Her lower back ached where her hips bent down from Wip’s thighs and towards the floor, as though the weight of her hips alone was enough to tear her spine in two. She clenched her teeth and put everything she had into keeping her body in one piece.

“Mr. Wip,” she groaned. “It hurts.”

Wip blinked then stared down at her. He cocked his head to one side, sizing her up like a beast wanting to know if the meat before it was edible. He leaned over and pressed his face close to hers.

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Luci wanted to lean away from him, but Wip’s hand was the only think keeping her neck from snapping under the weight of her head. She had to bear it.

Wip’s smile widened just a bit more. “Hey!” he screamed in her face. Luci stared into his glowing eyes aghast. “You just tried to blast a whole street to pieces. You nearly killed a bunch of people, too! What, did you just assume this idiot would save them all?” He rolled his head back and wheeze-laughed. “You’re crazy. Crazy!”

Then, without warning, he moved to stand. Luci felt her whole body stretch out as parts of her tried to slump to the ground. She whimpered, “Mr. Wip! What are you…?”

Then Wip—if Luci could even call him that—abruptly stopped laughing. His whole body froze, offering Luci temporary relief. Trembling, gritting his teeth, he muttered a strangled, “Hyena, why?”

His voice switched back to maniacal. “Why?” he groaned. “I’m just going to have some fun.” His head craned towards Flak’s gang. Grinning, he shifted again, causing Luci to cry out.

He froze. “Why do you always do this? Why do you hurt people?”

“Urgh! You’re such a lazy kakaliz! Let’s go have some fun.”

“I have to keep my promise. I have—”

“Hah! Promises. How boring. Who has time for responsibilities?”

“Put your collar on—”

“Woah! None of that.” He giggled. “I’ll just be taking my tongue back, thanks. You can keep the collar.”

Sucking air through her teeth to ward off the pain, Luci managed to eek out, “You’re not… Mr. Wip.”

Even in her addled state, Luci managed to piece the logic together. For some reason, there were two Wips—or, more accurately, there was Wip, and there was someone else in his body who the Wip she knew called Hyena. It had something to do with his collar, which explained why he was so concerned over it when they were in the dungeon. Was this what he meant?

In a way, it was an even more sorry situation than Luci’s.

Wip—Hyena—grinned down at her. “What? Are you scared?” he said in a mocking tone. “You should be. I have your life in my hands. Literally! One little twist and your neck goes pop!” He put a finger to his cracked lips. “You know, you don’t see that often: someone’s neck breaking under its own weight. Maybe I should just drop you—ah, he doesn’t like that. He’s still got my hand.”

“Let him go,” Luci whimpered.

“Aw, that’s so adorable.” He snickered. “But that’s not going to happen. See, this is my body, and he needs to keep his disgusting mouth off it!” Hyena leaned in closer. He stared into Luci’s eyes, turning his head this way and that. “Oh, do you want to stop me? Hah! Didn’t you already try that once, on that collar? How’d that go?”

He pinched her lips with a free hand. Luci winced. She tried to lift her hand to stop him, but her arm was too heavy and the effort was torturous.

“That’s right!” Hyena cackled. “Even with your staff, even when I was sleeping, you couldn’t do a thing to me. You know why? Because you’re weak, Luci. Weak!”

He released her lip and Luci gasped in relief.

Hyena threw an arm wide, the other still supporting Luci’s head. “Fine. Let’s play a game! I’m going to kill all those people you couldn’t.”

“No!” Luci whimpered.

“Ah, you’re right. It’s not a game if I can only win. How about this: I’ll give you one shot to stop me, completely free! Of course, you don’t have to, but if you try and fail, I’ll start by letting your head rip itself from its spine. Isn’t that such a terrible punishment? You won’t get to see all the fun ways I kill those people!” And then he laughed.