Chapter 2: A Legend Reborn
And Iblis looked to the crowd and said “Fear not my absence, for I shall return in good time. Should you need me sooner, I shall come and aid you.”
Everything suddenly came rushing back to him. Iblis quickly shot up and stood, bringing everyone's attention to him. He was lost and disoriented, but his head felt clear. In fact, his head felt clearer than it had been in a very long time. Yet Iblis could not place where he was or what was happening around him.
What's going on? Brother. Dusk? Where are you? Iblis tried communicating but heard no response.
“Are you done yet, young man?” An old, ugly woman stood in front of a dry erase board. Her arms were crossed and she was glaring. “If you are, would you mind sharing the solution with the class?”
“What are you talking about? We're at war here, you ineffable hag! This is no time to—” Iblis pointed out a nearby window with his left hand and noticed the blue sky outside. “What's going on here?” he whispered to himself while staring at his palms. “What's happening?”
“What's happening here is you going straight to the principal's office!” Iblis slowly and confusedly made his way down the hallways, following far behind what he figured to be his teacher. He sat down and waited while his teacher explained something to someone else. The old woman shot him one more nasty glare as she walked out and back to her classroom, but Iblis was too distracted to notice her.
My hands… He flexed his fingers and rubbed them against his palms. They're flesh again. My arm is back. What did Retribution do to me?
“Principal Rios will see you now.”
“Yes… Okay… Okay.” He got up and made his way into the office, where he sat down in front of a big wooden desk. Behind it sat an older tanned man, most likely originating at some point from the Eslands to the southwest. He was well-dressed and had a clean-shaven face, as well as short, neatly cut hair. He sighed as he looked over the form given to him by his assistant earlier and rubbed his eyes. Iblis saw no rings on his fingers.
“Sam, is it? Short for Samuel?” He looked up from the form to Iblis.
“I—no. No, it's not.” Why was this man referring to him as Sam?
“I see here that you had an outburst in class.” He set the paper aside and interlocked his fingers. “Would you mind telling me about what happened?”
“I'm…” Iblis thought about it for a moment, “I'm not really sure. I just had this sudden feeling like I had awoken from a bad dream.”
“Perhaps you had one.” The man glanced back at the paper. “Have you been missing a lot of sleep recently?”
“I guess I have…” Iblis suddenly realized something important. “Sir, if I may, what day is it?”
“Today is Thursday,” the man answered innocuously.
“No, I mean, what is today's date?”
“It's Midlan twenty-fifth.”
“Of what year?”
The man was confused now. “682.”
Iblis' eyes suddenly opened wide. Midlan twenty-fifth, 682? That's—that can't be. “I really have been missing a lot of sleep recently.” Everything suddenly made sense now. The odd familiarity he had with everything—the teacher, this man in front of him, the name “Sam”—it all made sense to him now. Right now he was either suffering from a very, very vivid hallucination, or Retribution had found some way to transfer him back into the past—or at least his consciousness. He looked back at his hand. This kind of magic shouldn't even be possible, though. There had to be someone he could ask who knew…
“Sam? Would you mind telling me what's going on?”
Iblis came back to the present, “I'm sorry. Things have just been getting crazy at home, you know? My stepdad is getting really strict and is trying to push his crazy religion on me and my stepmom, and it's really stressing the both of us out. I mean, she's only really staying with him for my benefit, since I would go back into the system if they split up.”
“So you're adopted, then?”
“Well, yes. Nobody really knows who my parents are, or where I came from, but my mom found me one day and my stepdad just went with it while she tried finding my parents. After a couple of months, she gave up and went through the adoption process.” He glanced away for a moment, “She's a real saint, you know?”
“I can't say I do.” The man looked back at the piece of paper and wrote something down on it. “Well since this is your first time in here, I'm going to cut you some slack. No more sleeping in class, and no more yelling at teachers.”
“Yes, sir.” Iblis got up to leave.
“Also, one more thing before you go?” Iblis turned back to face the principal. “Ineffable?”
“It means indescribable.”
The man chuckled, “Of course it does. Have a nice day, young man.”
Iblis walked out of the office and asked the secretary behind the desk outside what time and period it was. After being helpfully informed that it was lunchtime for his grade level, he started to make his way to the cafeteria. On his way there, an all-too-familiar voice called out for him.
“Sam! Hey, Sam!” He turned and saw Cerina running towards him. “Hey, what happened in there?” Unthinking, he reached out and stroked her cheek. Time hadn't yet had its chance to ravage her fair features with the endless worry she would go through. She brushed his hand away and laughed awkwardly. “What's going on with you?”
He suddenly snapped back to reality again, “Nothing, I just—I dunno what happened there.”
“Well, I won't say I didn't like it.” She smiled at him, making him feel indescribable things. They held hands and Iblis remembered how soft they were. He looked into her vivid baby-blue eyes and could recall every moment he spent with this fantastic person. She was, for now, a bit taller then he was and had long grass-green hair that rolled down her back. Puberty had come early, passed quickly, and had been generous to Cerina, although she had often been quoted as saying it was overrated and not worth it. “Just give me a warning next time, okay?”
“Huh? OH. Okay, yeah, sure.” He let go of her hands and put them in his pockets, and looked away, blushing.
“So what happened? What kind of trouble did you get yourself into?”
“None really, I don't think. I just sold him on a sob story and he let me go with a warning.”
“Well, that's good.” The two started walking together. “You told him not to call your parents, right?”
“I—” It suddenly dawned on Iblis that he had not, “Oh damn it.”
“Your father is going to kill you.”
“Yeah, he wishes he could.” A grave look suddenly appeared on Iblis' face, “I'm going to kill him first though.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” The two continued walking and making idle chitchat before they had to go back to class and make it through the rest of their day. Finally, they were let out, and the two met once again before going home.
“So when are you going to do it?” Cerina asked, holding his hands tightly.
“Not until my mother gets out. My step-father is crazy and I'm not going to leave her to deal with his madness alone. He's going to be my fight to deal with, and I'm going to make sure she's safe when all hell breaks loose in that house.” Anger began to well up inside of him as he remembered what happened the first time he ran.
The heavy rains were not kind to him. Sheet after sheet of rain came down and battered his already weak body. He limped about, dragging his leg behind him in excruciating pain as his body deconstructed and rebuilt itself, relearning his proper physical arrangement. He cried out and fell to the ground, hitting it hard and surely breaking his nose. It didn't matter though, as even more burning pain shot through his body and into his face, feeling it as it regenerated.
Fortunately, he was in an alley, outside of anyone's sight, so no one could call any kind of authority to capture him. But what authority was there for someone in his condition? Would they even know who he was? The medical bracelet they had given him in the hospital had been seared off by the powerful magics reconstructing his body. He wasn't even sure what he looked like anymore. Was he still the same? Did he become horribly disfigured? There was no way of telling right now.
He tried getting up but screamed in pain again, collapsing one more time onto the ground. His arms were now broken and twisted too, quickly falling to pieces then being put back together. He couldn't keep on going like this. Nobody could live like this. He had to take control; this power would either break him or make him stronger than anyone had ever been before. He had never wanted to live as much as he did now. He had never wanted control this badly before. His fingers dug into the ground. This power would not break him. Nothing had broken him before this—nothing would ever break him.
His fingers curled into a fist and he felt the asphalt crumble in his palms. With another scream, he slammed his fist into the ground and felt a wave of power rush out from his body. He did it again, feeling the power flow from him once more, watching the ground crack beneath his fist. He managed to sit up, and stared at the rain as it fell onto his face. Had it begun to subside? Was the storm finally over? The deep rumble of thunder rolled through the dark clouds above. He wondered if anyone else had heard the power rolling through the ground like they heard the thunder just now.
Finally, he managed to stand up. His legs were weak, but he managed to walk a little. He only took a few small steps when his strength returned to him. He cautiously took a few more steps to make sure that the torment was finally over and looked down at himself.
Damn it, I can't go out there like this. He rubbed his face with his hands. I need… I need a jacket right now. He put his hand to a wall and saw a bright light shine from beneath it. Pulling his hand back, a rough grey jacket fell to the ground. He picked it up, shrugged, and put it on. Okay… Can I get some pants too, magic wall? He put his hand back on the wall and the same bright light shone. This time a pair of matching sweatpants fell. Not ideal raingear, but it'll do for now.
He walked out of the alley and pulled up his hood. The streets were mostly empty, so he was sure nobody saw what happened. He started to walk down the streets, ignoring everything and everyone that passed. He passed by an electronics store and saw its several television screens playing in the window. He never understood why these places had the same channel playing on several different screens at once, but—Wait, what was that?
The news was playing on every screen. He saw the headlines. “Murder-Suicide on the South End.” His house was displayed on the screen.That's…what happened? Police cars? An ambulance? What happened? Did—no that monster couldn't have…
“No, he couldn't have. No.” He slammed his fists on the window, small cracks forming beneath them. “No. That bastard. He didn't.” Their faces came on the screen. Tears began welling up in his eyes. “No.” Once more, he pounded on the window and heard the cracks growing. All the images began to flash before his eyes at once. His house. His parents. “Murder-Suicide.” He could now feel the storm swelling up above him. He could feel the lightning getting ready to strike. “No.” He pulled his arm back. “NO!” His fist flew through the glass and into one of the televisions, lightning striking behind him.
“Never, never again.” His fist was clenched tightly.
“Babe.” Cerina grabbed onto his arm. “Hey, calm down. You're gonna cut yourself.”
Iblis suddenly snapped back to it. He unclenched his fist and calmed back down. “I'm sorry. I don't know what just came over me right now.”
“It's okay. Hey, are we still going out tonight?”
“Are we…? What were our plans again?”
“It's our first date, silly.” Cerina smiled at Iblis again and he melted a little inside.
“Oh…” The wheels began to turn in his head, slowly though. Then, suddenly, “OH. OH!” He heard her laugh at him and melted a little more. “Look, I'm gonna need a rain check for that.” He remembered their first date and how much of a travesty that was. “I promise that I'll make it up to you though.”
“Oh,” He saw the sudden defeat on her face and it tore him to shreds inside. “Well, okay I guess.”
“Hey, hey, look at me,” he grabbed her hands and held them tightly, “I promise that it'll be great. I won't forget.” Iblis looked Cerina right in the eye, “I will never forget about this.”
“Okay.” She smiled a little and he felt better. “Well, I'll see you on Monday then?”
“Monday? Why Monday; it's Thursday?”
“Tomorrow is the celebration of the Liberation of Capital City.”
“The Liberation of—oh right.” Iblis bit his lip, “It won't be known as the Slaughter for another few years…”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all.” He kissed her on the forehead. “I'll see you on Monday then.”
The two went their separate ways and Iblis walked slowly towards the subway system. He was thinking about how he could get his mother out of the house. Where would she be safe? She never talked about any family. Had his stepfather really cut her off that much? Iblis knew any money they had was kept in an account in his stepfather's name only. He didn't have much money himself either. Iblis dug into his pockets. Twenty-two bicents. Yeah, that would get her far. Not in the economy to come. Or in the economy right now, considering twenty-two bicents was…well, twenty-two bicents.
He swiped his pass and continued thinking. There had to be some way to protect her from what would happen. He set down his backpack and crossed his arms as he sat on the subway. He frowned as he rolled his suddenly sore shoulders. Why was his bag so heavy? He opened up the largest pocket and looked in, seeing a whole bunch of things crammed inside. He pulled out a small binder apparently titled “Biology” if the drawing in the cover was to be believed. He opened it up and looked inside. He saw a few returned homework assignments with high grades, and a failed test or two. Not surprising, as Iblis didn't recall studying much for that class—although he should have. Next, he pulled out a binder called “Geometry.” The grades in here were much better, but he had always been good at math. He looked at his notes. For every new day, they seemed to start out well enough, but by the end of it, each one devolved into mindless doodles. Iblis chuckled amusedly as he read the stickman comics Sam had drawn in the margins. He found some kind of cheap planner sitting in his bag and thumbed through it. It was mostly empty, but he could tell his assignments were hastily written in right before one of his step-parent's signatures at the end of each week for the first couple of months. Next was a small sketchbook filled with now-cringeworthy drawings. Did he actually consider all this to be good? Possibly, he mused, considering he was eighteen and didn't know any better. These would be lost to time anyway.
There were also a couple of textbooks he remembered having to lug home and back every day, which probably added to the bag's weight, but then he saw the bottom of the bag. A whole gaggle of crumpled up, squished, and folded papers lined the bottom of the bag. He had no idea what any of them were and wasn't sure if he could sort through them all right now. He was riding to South End, however, and it was the longest trip, so he probably had plenty of time. What time even was it, anyway? He pulled out his phone and flipped it open. It was only four; he still had time before his stepfather came home. That insane monster wouldn't get home for another couple of hours. He got off the subway and quickly ran home, arriving to find two cars in the driveway. Iblis checked his phone. It was barely going to be five.
Damn it. I guess this was going to be inevitable. He walked up to the door and opened it, walking into his home. He put his bag down by the door and walked right into the living room. Iblis knew where his stepfather would be.
“So I heard you got called into the principal's office today, boy.” His stepfather lazily glared at him, “Care to explain yourself?”
“Considering I was let off without a punishment,” Iblis crossed his arms, “I believe I shall not.”
“Well, I believe you shall. Unless, of course, you feel like being kicked out of my house.”
“And how would you get me kicked out? You can't provide any evidence that would get me put into the system.” Iblis began to clench his fists.
“Well, you have been getting disruptive in school recently.”
“I have been sent to the principal's office once. I was let off with a warning.”
“Yes, well I'm sure the teacher you called an ‘ineffable hag' is very willing to say that you've been disruptive just once.”
“You,” Iblis lowered his head and started to scowl. You will pay for that. “You wouldn't dare.”
“Oh, I would. Keep your ass in line, boy. I don't like missing work because I have to discipline you.” Iblis turned to walk into the kitchen.
“You can't send me out. Your agreement requires two people. You want her to have ‘come to her senses’ after all.” This seemed to have struck a nerve with his stepfather.
“You're right. But I do need two people, after all.” Iblis stopped in his tracks. “If there were only one, you wouldn't have a chance.” He didn't take another step. Silence dominated the room, breeding thick tension between them. Iblis stayed quiet, stewing with anger. His stepfather quickly became angry. “You really think I would do something like that, boy?”
“No, I don't think that.” Iblis turned back to his stepfather, his anger immediately clear on his face. “I know that. I know what kind of monster you are. I know what kind of depravity you would sink to.” He could feel his fingernails digging into his palms again. He unclenched his fists and walked into the kitchen, fuming with anger.
“Hello, Sam.” His mother! He hadn't expected her—but he wasn't sure why not. She was usually in the kitchen, cooking or cleaning—especially when they had company over. His mother was only to come out when called, and speak when spoken to. Never more, never less. She was wearing a pink long sleeve shirt. Always long sleeves. It was weird to him when he was younger, but he knew what was going on now. It made him angry, but he couldn't let that show. Not right now anyway.
“So I heard that you were called into the principal's office today. What happened?”
He shrugged. “Nothing. I guess I just fell asleep and had a bad dream.”
“And then you woke up and called your teacher a name.”
Iblis looked away, embarrassed, “Well, yes that happened too.” He suddenly perked back up, “But I got off with just a warning, so as long as I stay out of trouble, I should be fine.”
“Well, okay. As long as you stay out of trouble.” She was busy preparing dinner. “Hey, could you help me cut up some potatoes? I've been busy with the chicken.”
“Okay, sure.” Iblis took off his jacket and washed off some of the potatoes. He picked up a large kitchen knife and looked at it. Bringing the blade close to his face, he noticed the edge. “Do we have a knife sharpener? This one is kinda dull.”
“No, we don't, but that should do just fine for right now.”
“For now it will.” He started to cut the potatoes, feigning difficulty. “We'll have to buy a whole new set of knives if we let these ones get duller though. I can go to the store and pick up a sharpener tomorrow. I'll even sharpen them if you want.”
She smiled, “I think I would appreciate that. Thank you.” The two of them continued preparing dinner, and Iblis wondered how he would save his mother from the monster she was trapped with.