Markus

My eyes open up against marble stairs. I get up, seeing Blathnaid waking up beside me, confused as hell. I know where we are. Haunting flashbacks flood back in again, memorizing the place as the library that I visited many moons ago. It was decades in history that felt like days. Days that seemed like yesterday.

"Wh-Where are we?" Blathnaid asks me.

"The library that I accessed years ago."

She takes a sweep up and down. She then gasps. "Markus, you're standing," she exclaims.

"We are on another spiritual plane; handicapped doesn't impede me here," I explain again.

She takes another look around. "Where's Naomi? Didn't she get stabbed too?"

"Yes."

"Why is she not here?"

"She could've lived."

"Oh... So what should we do now?" She appears to be very lost and dumbfounded.

"Up to us now. There's plenty of knowledge here and we can be here for an unlimited amount of time. We can leave anytime. How about we research the place? Try to find better ways to save Ivelisse?"

Her brain fog clears, instantly reminded of what she needs to do. We both go down the steps into the library. Blathnaid is in a different section while I am in another section, searching for rituals to help Ivelisse. I do not long for powers. Since we have all the time in the world, I can probably help Blathnaid too. I'm not searching for rituals or spells that can replenish my health, knowing the downward trend all too well. I am sick of things hurting me. My own decisions hurt me too. The Dark Angel Ritual is what broke me. Now I am so desperate to find a cure that I am having a near anxiety attack. Thinking of the reflection on the ground in the Dark Angel's realm, I can still see the shakiness. This time with anguish.

A fog fazes my sight with a very unwelcoming presence. That doesn't stop me from reading the various pages of rituals. The visible pages become clouded by the fog. I can feel it behind me. I turn around, awaiting who's there. The fog cyclonically swirls, turning into the rough old man that suggested I get revenge on my family. He sounded angry and hurt that night. He sounded urgent to save my life. That is what cost me.

"Terri!" I call out with a slight rasp.

"What are you doing here?!" He snaps. A tiger guarding their territory. He's not happy to see a face that he wished to help when he was alive, but he is too afraid to confront the dominant tigress on his own: my mother and his own daughter, Elisse.

I answer honestly, "To help a poor girl in a dire situation."

"Like hell!" He doubts. "You want to become that thing again! The form that you have the most power to wield."

"No!" I deny, "That didn't solve my problems, only made things worse."

"Then, why are you back here again?!" He interrogates.

"Did you listen to what I've said seconds ago?" I talk back, "Didn't you see Nao's friend?"

"I did. You either convinced her to help you or she betrayed her."

"What the hell? I'm not too keen on manipulating like your daughter."

Terri's eyes roll back into his head as the library begins shaking. The floor cracks and dents in. I try to run away from Terri. I feel a dense amount of water slamming my body to the ground. Terri laughs in victory behind me.

"You will never return to your former glory." he antagonizes.

I sit up and spit at him, "Why would I want to go back to that? Your daughter abused me. You are also deranged in your own ways. You told a desperate and blind child to follow in your footsteps. It only messed me up more! You even messed up my niece's life because of that same mistake. You are part of the blame."

"I am not the killer here," he says in a smug tone, "For your crimes, you must be punished down below." Fog turns black as it swirls around my body. Heavy chains and weights manifest, something that will keep me down.

"Terri, don't!" I beg, knowing Blathnaid is around here somewhere. The old bastard ignores me. The floor finally gives in. I don't let out a yell as I see myself getting farther from Terri as I am getting closer and closer to the pit of fire below. The floor recovers, sealing my fate. Long ago, the fire was my friend. It still is. But once became my arch-nemesis when it strengthened my sadistic ways. I needed help to break free.

A girl screaming instantly catches my attention as I see Blathnaid falling with me. The old man must've so focused on bringing me down that he brought down an innocent girl with it. People can fly within different planes. Not this one, but can float if we jump like we are on the moon. She is falling much slower compared to me. I can feel the heat from the very core brushing against my back. We locked eyes, both in defeat and worry, despairing that we will not make it out.

She sways her hand to swim in the air, despite falling to the pit below. Is Grandpa careless or stupid? Didn't he hear the screams? Is he so heartless that he didn't care that the poor girl is also falling to her death as well? Perhaps, I wouldn't be in this situation if I was precise on who we were helping and Naomi is by her side too. I'm afraid that he is not the same Grandpa I saw all those years ago, wanting to help me. He has changed too.

Naomi will not be pleased if Blathnaid doesn't return. She knows that Ivelisse was a portal; she wanted the energy from the entities to increase the portal's energy to high amounts. She must've figured out that you don't need to commit suicide where the portal is at, but you need to die at the very least. Sucks for Naomi's regeneration because she could've slapped Terri in his place right now.

"Don't!" I said to Blathnaid. She ignores me and plummets faster to reach me. All this worry has caused heat to radiate more from my body. Pit's flames fuel more of it. I need to break the chains and save her. Fearsome wails from the pit itself show its superiority, capable of vanquishing my soul in mere minutes. Perhaps, seconds.

A bright blue light dashes inside Blathnaid's body. She becomes stunned and her eyes close. She falls much faster. Oh no! Oh, God! Damn it!

"Blath, wake up!" I scream at the top of my lungs.

I use the heat to my advantage, trying to get the chains to melt faster. I try to use my strength to break free, but it's no use. I am weak as a malnourished man. The fires become too hot to manage. I begin to scream, trying to hold on. Metal chains seem to glow red. The fires around me are white and hotter than heat igniting with oxygen.

"Blath, wake up!" I shout, louder than last time, "Please!"

She doesn't wake up. I have no other choice.

I push my abilities to the limit by stopping her from falling and pushing her upwards. My head screams of pain, closing in on another seizure. Headaches are a warning to back off. No! No more! Let me finish what I have to do! The increasing distance is weakening my telekinesis. The surface of the sun is at the brink of my skin. My soul is vaporizing.

"Please, let me save her! Don't kill me ye-" A flash of white replaces my vision. I lost all control. I don't know if she is safe now. The worst hellish feeling in my life, hotter than the day my body transformed into a monster, ignites all over. It's agonistically amazing that I still feel everything. Should I be dead? Erased from existence? I don't know.

A hand, cooler than the surroundings, shoots me out of the fire by force. I don't see who it is until the blinding whiteness is behind me. I find solace to my surprise; it is Blath. She finally woke up. The chains are no longer attached to my body- perished within the flames. Her flying towards whence we came and being able to pull me up staggered me all at once.

I remain quiet, don't know what to say, and am unsure how she is going to pull this off. A bluish glow emerges from her hand as she pushes through the ceiling, ripping the floor of the library as we push through. Terri watches in brim horror as he sees us burst through. The floor atomically repairs itself as we land. I collapse to the ground while Blathnaid remains standing.

"You can't do that!" He yells. His eyes roll back into his head while the black fog swirls around him. He blasts his energy at us.

"Don't you dare touch her!" I snarl back, getting up to deflect the blast by deflecting it back at Terri, faster than he can shield. The shield is out of white flames. He crashes into a very tall bookshelf.

"Why do you still have power left?!" He let's out.

I don't know, nor do I want to know.

"You've slaughtered hundreds in the making! You warrant your own demise!" Terri sounds more distorted than human. His eyes roll back into his head again as the black fog swirls around him, conjuring into something bigger.

Blathnaid walks beside me and we look at each other. We look back at them. Our thoughts are the same: This guy needs to relax. If he was still human and alive, he would've had a heart attack by now with the amount of anger surging through his body. He chucks his power our way.

"Stop it!" I command him. Oppressive heat finally combusts outwards from within me. It doesn't feel like wrath. I feel I'm a strong shield that can withstand anything that hurtles my way. Something I never felt in all those harsh years. I don't want anyone to be hurt by me anymore. I am still crippled by my own past, but what about the future?

My power blocks his energy ball, consuming it before dissipating. "Enough," I repeat. Terri is wise enough to not attack again and he gives us delightful peace and quiet.

"We are not an enemy, Terri," Blathnaid notifies him, "As a good friend of Naomi, Markus is also by our side."

Terri mumbles to himself that he doesn't want us to hear, "Teaming up with Markus now? Great..."

"Relax, we are helping a possessed girl." I look at Blathnaid. "Did you get what you were looking for?" I ask her.

"Yes, I know how to save Ivelisse," she nods. She begins to shine blue, "And now we need to get out. Despite only being here for like minutes, it is hours to them."