Suddenly, Daniel disappeared. In fact, the whole room vanished. It was only darkness, everywhere I look. But I could still see my hands. And see through my hands! There was a faint glow all over my body. And I was floating.

I was no longer in pain. My mind clear. I tried touching my neck, feeling for holes but there was nothing.

Virgo.

The voice said inside my head, like an echo.

"Who are you?" I shouted at the darkness.

You called for me.

"Herack Mea, Azgarmoth..." Suddenly, the translation came to me. "Hear me, Azgarmoth. I—I summoned you!"

There was a deep rumbling in my head, a burst of long and insidious laughter.

And I answered.

"Where am I?" I asked, still looking around. "And where are you?"

Two slits appeared on the wall of darkness, revealing huge, red eyeballs the size of a two-story house, staring down at me. The same eyes as the Shade's. I should have been scared. But instead, I feel confident, strong, with no fear of death.

At the threshold of your dimension and mine. The same place that greedy cultist was when he first offered me his soul.

"Daniel...this is where he made the pact."

"And do you have something to give me, Virgo?"

It wants to make a pact. Like with Daniel. But what could I offer? What could it possibly want? I thought about Daniel. He offered his soul to give this thing influence in our dimension, creating the Shade. But now, the Shade is in Daniel's control, leaving him no way of influencing our dimension.

"It's Vergil," I said. "And yes, I do have something for you."

The eyes stared at me. The voice inside my head stayed quiet.

"Daniel took control of your powers," I said. "And you want it back, right? I will give you permission to enter our dimension but only to take back Daniel."

Is that what I want?

"But...don't you want to be in control, again?"

The darkness parted, revealing a beautiful door that is made of light, the symbols of the zodiac is etched on it in a circle. Each symbol was glowing brightly, equidistant to one another. But what caught my attention were the scratches on its surface.

What I want is for this door to open.

Suddenly, something Daniel had said flashed in my mind:"Unless they were, as I found out, permitted entry."

"A door...it's a seal! Isn't it? That's why you couldn't do anything to our dimension." I asked the floating eyes. But the voice inside my head remained quiet.

"Then forget it. There's no way I'm going to do that."

A commendable answer. Convincing, if only you weren't prepared to sacrifice one of your friends to buy time.

My mouth gaped. "How did you know..."

What do you think your friends will say when they found out?

I couldn't answer. The thought of them finding out silenced me.

Will they be disgusted? Enrage? Imagine their faces once they've learned of your despicable plan. Should I tell that greedy cultist now?

I gritted my teeth. Anger is overwhelming my mind.

That girl Cana, do you think she'll remain your friend?

"I was trying to save them!" I snapped. "I needed more time. If it takes one more death to save the rest then so be it!" What's wrong thinking like that? That's reasonable. Right? I thought. "I...I didn't have a choice."

"A choice," the voice inside my head gurgled." Is what I am offering you." Your friends will die. That greedy cult leader will grow more powerful. None shall be able to stand against that prodigy of mine.

I looked down to the darkness below me.

But you can prevent all that. All you have to do is to put your hand on this door.

"I..." I stopped myself to think this through. I open this door, they enter our dimension. What's a group of kids compared to the rest of our universe? The math is easy. But I find myself incline to accept this thing's offer. "Why not asked that of Daniel from the beginning?"

His light is weak. He wouldn't even scratch its surface. But yours...yours is blinding!

"But there are twelve zodiacs. I can't open them all. I mean, if I wanted to."

No. But you only need to open one.

"Virgo..." I said, staring at the Virgo sign on the door. "But the door remains closed, right?"

Yes. Without the other eleven, it will remain closed.

"Which means you still can't enter our dimension, right? So there's no harm done?"

And I will take Daniel away, saving you and the rest from death. You will see your parents again. Go to Ocean Park.

"Stop that!"

You will be a hero, Vergil. The one who stopped the Shade. Imagine the fame. Your face on every news outlet all over the world. You will be rich. You can finally buy your own oculus rift.

"I never said I'd do it!" I shouted. This thing knows my thoughts, the way I think, my desires, things I'm not proud of. It knows I'm desperate.

Then will you watch your friends die, instead?

"No!" I said. "But what you're asking—"

Is a fair price to pay. I will take away your pain, your guilt.

I don't know what happened but suddenly I find myself standing at the door. My hand outstretched, just barely touching it.

Go on. Save them.

The door stays locked. I saved us. So there really isn't a reason for me not to touch it. This is the right thing to do. Isn't it...

Have you forgotten why Eris died?

I leaned forward. 

The moment my hand touched the door, there was a force like a magnet that pulled my hand in. The symbols shone brightly. I can feel the energy being drained from me. The glow of my body seems to get fainter and fainter. My confidence, my courage was slowly diminishing. I tried to pull away but I was completely stuck. I am starting to feel afraid once again. 

Virgo's light began to flicker until it died out. The other eleven symbols returned to their natural brightness. My hand became unstuck and I fell on the darkness. It was solid but cold, like sitting on a block of dry ice. I felt exhausted. But when I looked up at the big, floating eyes again, it was all I could do not to cry or freeze.

"I—I've done wh—what you want. Now...it's your tu—turn."

Then permit me entry to your dimension so I can honor our pact.

"I permit you to—to enter our di—dimension o—only to take a—Daniel away! And no-nothing else!"

I accept.

I was back in my pain-ridden, almost dying body. Daniel was still sucking my neck. It felt like I've been gone for some time inside the threshold but back here, nothing seemed to change, as if time stopped while I'm away. 

My sight was on the severed tongues on the floor. The ground pooled up a circle of shadow around the tongues that slowly swallowed it. The symbol started to glow again. From the looks of Daniel's face, he must have realized something's not right.

He made a run for it, flinging me aside in the process with such a  force that I was sent flying across the room. He didn't let go of his suckers hold so I could feel the sharp pain as its teeth ripped away pieces of flesh from my neck. My back thuds against the wall. When I dropped to the ground, Cana was the first to come to my side. "Are you okay?" she said.

"You're bleeding," Darius said. "Bad."

"Here," Indigo took off her blazer and handed it to Darius. "Use this."

While they tend to my wounds, I turned my attention to Daniel. The circular wall of red light was trapping him in.

He morphed his hands into curved blades and tried to hack his way out of it. Each time his blades hit the wall of red light, black sparks flew. The red light shone brighter every time he attacks it. When he stopped, his arms were reduced to stumps, which he grew back in no time. He clasped his hands and stuck his elbows close to each other. His arms fused into a giant sledgehammer. He took a mean swing. 

There was a blinding flash and a loud boom! that I instinctively averted my eyes. The shock wave that followed the impact had pressed strong wind against us. We all braced but Cana and Darius kept their hands on my neck. I opened my eyes to see him lying on the ground. He came up on his knees. His hammer arms split in the center and returned back to normal.

"What did you do?" Cato asked.

"I...I saw him," I said. "Azgarmoth."

"You..." Daniel said. Fear registered on his face. "He listened to your summon...What did you do!"

"I—it was just one seal!" I said. Now that I'm out of the threshold, I can feel myself being defensive of my decision, like I just now realized that what I did was wrong.

"You stupid kid! You weakened the seal. You doomed this dimension!" Daniel said.

Between his feet, a web of cracks appeared. "No... no, no!"He said, staring down in horror as the cracks kept growing and growing in diameter. "We had a deal!" Daniel shouted at the ceiling, no doubt talking to his extra-dimensional benefactor.

He turned to us. "Listen!" He said. His voice wasn't angry anymore. "There's still time. Get me out of this! We have to reseal the door."

"But you're going to kill us!" I said. "Besides, I don't know how."

Piece by piece, the floor inside of the circle crumbled, falling away until it resembled an incomplete jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces here and there. Daniel started skipping and hopping around for a foothold.

The gap became wide enough for me to see what was underneath. A swirling mass of shadow, sucking up the last bit of concrete he was standing on. The air felt thin and increasingly cold. Or is this because I lost so much blood? The light from the fluorescent lamp above was being sucked along until it was dark. The only illumination we've had was coming from the red circle of light surrounding Daniel. 

The moment his feet touched the dark vortex, he was slowly sinking, as if he was standing on quicksand. He put his arms up. They extended all the way up the ceiling, puncturing holes into it with his claws to grabbed hold. That stopped him from sinking all the way. He was straining to lift himself up.

"Did you really go over?" Cana asked.

I nodded.

Cato put a hand on my shoulder. "Vergil, what did you do?"

"I had no choice! I—Only Azgarmoth can stop Daniel."

Cato didn't say anything. It didn't felt like he was accusing me either. But still, I felt far from being a hero.

From the darkness below, two hands as black as the void they came from, shot through the air. The hands seemed to have a mind of its own because they home in on Daniel's body with accuracy and precision. They extended up to the ceiling. Each grabbed his wrists and pulled. Daniel didn't let go. But the ceiling was just cement. It cannot hold the pressure being applied to it by the hands while supporting Daniel's weight. It ripped away, leaving Daniel with a huge chunk of stone. Several hands materialize from below, meeting Daniel in the air as he descended. 

He was a fish caught in a net. Hands kept shooting up from the void that he was blanketed over, wrapping around his limbs, pulling on his head. He kept thrashing about, roaring, cursing me, blaming me for bringing about the end of this dimension but the hands began its slow descent. Inch by inch, Daniel was disappearing into the darkness, along with the living shadow surrounding the room.

The dark vortex imploded on its self, swallowing the last of Daniel. The light of the fluorescent lamp streamed back. Parts of the floor flew back to its place, block by crumbled blocks until the floor mended itself complete with the shining symbol as if someone pushed the rewind button. For a moment, there was only the humming of energy of the red lights. When the lights died down, the symbol disappeared, like it was never there.

"You...you did it." Cana said.

Cries of relief broke the silence. I couldn't keep sitting upright. I would have dropped to the floor if Cana hadn't caught me. She pulled me in closer to her, her hand still on my neck. The rest sat around us. Even though I'm resting on her shoulder, I couldn't understand what she was saying. What anyone was saying. It was all garbled noises like they're talking to me from above while I'm under the pool.

I felt so weak. My head was so hazy that I was no longer aware of any pain my body was experiencing. And sleepy, so very sleepy. Is this what Eris felt back then? It's no use. I couldn't keep my eyes open any more.

Last thing I remember was the sweet scent of strawberry.