It was quiet, it was warm, it was peaceful. Her arms snuggled around her brother under the warmth of his fur coat. Her body felt as if it floated in a still ocean, peacefully drifting in the calm currents with the soothing hum of her brother to ease her anxiety. She had done it. She could finally rest… right?
There were memories that came in to disturb the peace she had built for herself, ones she thought would've been left behind with her body. A useless vessel she didn't need anymore. But there they were, invading her peace and ruining her heaven.
"What's wrong Maze? Can't sleep?" Marcus asked. She had missed his voice, finding safety in his confident and unapologetic bass that always carried a softness reserved for her alone.
"Yea," The young Maze mumbled, her body being that of her 14-year-old self. "I thought I would've left everything behind, so why can I still remember?" She asked, staring at him with her soft rounded eyes.
"Memories mold the soul, giving shape to its ever-changing form. It's why the scars we suffer in life never go away." Marcus gestured at the long horizontal scar that ran across his neck and the identical scar that ran across Maze's neck.
"I don't want to live like this." Maze cuddled tighter to her brother's side.
"Maze, you're dead." He said bluntly. It almost came as a shock to the young Maze, but she remembered what she did. She remembered all of it.
___________________//
There was a solemn quiet in the room, ignoring the buzz of Myst in the air and the nauseously sweet scent of incense mixed with the scent of something that reminded him that her time was running out. Mitchell sat there, on the wooden floor of the Hidden Cabin gazing intently at the dying vessel of his former friend. He hated her, but at that moment all he could do was reminisce. The last 2 candles, her only lifeline, getting dimmer as the seconds passed.
There wasn't much time left, but he held on to the sliver of hope that, somehow, she'd find a reason to live. They were friends. He used to hold her close to his heart. Strong, assertive, a woman who knew exactly what she wanted, with an unfaltering smile.
To think someone like that would…The thought paused as his heart denied the truth in front of him. How did I miss it? He wondered, but his thoughts were interrupted shortly after. Chris came in, his eyes puffy with lost tears. He sat next to Mitchell fixing his gaze on what once was Mazekien.
"H-How long have you known her." He asked, breaking the brief silence between them. It wasn't as if Mitchell was alone in that room. Aldred had been there even before he arrived, staring at her. He didn't utter a word, nor did his focus break.
"Since freshman year. We weren't really popular back then, but she already had a posse of friends." Mitchell started, reliving those good ole memories he had with her.
"Oh, w-when did you become friends with her?" Chris pried. There was an underlying topic that they had yet to discuss, one to determine if he could be trusted.
"It was after Mid-Terms, my loner ass was getting kicked by the tests, so I looked for a group to study with. Luckily for me, the girl I sat next to was a genius." His gaze trained onto Maze as a soft smile came to his lips. "She was quite the brat, and we'd argue like a married couple all the time, but despite all that nonsense we quickly became friends." He chuckled a bit, remembering a memory of one of their childish arguments.
Funny how she'd try to use logic to tell me a fictional character could not possibly blow-up planets, yet she wouldn't see the stupidity of the hot prince falling for the peasant girl in those romance movies. The memory ached his chest as he had to clench his teeth to hold back those tears.
"When I met her, I thought she was the greatest person in the world. She was kind, pretty, and talked to me like I mattered." Chris paused to adjust his glasses. "I never thought that this is where she'd end up." Mitchell noticed Chris gripping his arms. He empathized with the care he had for her. Maze was just that type of person. Brings you in with a warm smile, drops your guard with her angelic voice, and captures your heart with her sense of humor. Theatrics he's seen too many times before.
"The old Maze was a good person." Chris looked at him, conflicted with what Mitchell implied.
"Listen kid, Maze was a good person, but in our second year, something switched. Suddenly, all that bratty confidence and conviction was gone. Marcus, her brother, had died. Murdered by a maid he had an affair with." Mitchell's eyebrows narrowed. "The bullying that followed was..." He hesitated
"Marcus was loved by nearly everyone, but those who hated him made sure Maze suffered." The memory brought a rage Mitchell had to pull himself out of.
Chris stuttered, the next question proving difficult to ask as memories of his own bullying came back to him.
"When the elections for the next Head Leader of the school came up, I jumped at the opportunity. But guess who went into the running alongside me." Mitchell chuckled, but there wasn't any warmth behind it.
The second candle sputtered on until it died in a hiss from the boiling wax. Time was nearly up.
_______________________//
Maze had cocked her head up, to see that they were on a boat, drifting across a large river of black waters. The wood used for their boat carrying a minty scent, the same scent carried by the GumGum wood door her brother owned. There was a singular mast that caught no wind and by it, a figure cloaked in black.
"Am I supposed to spend eternity with my regret?" She asked.
"I don't know. He answered. "Ever since I died, I've been here in Iteru-Khenti, watching the world through your eyes." Maze raised her head to rest on his shoulder.
"Then why didn't you say anything?" Her gaze stuck to the boat's wooden floor. Unable to face her brother as she recalled all the moments she called out. Not for him, but for anyone to pull her out of her torment.
"I couldn't." Marcus answered, placing down the book he had been reading, its pages blank. "I followed the instructions of this book by the letter, hoping that my sacrifice would give you the power to go against our parent's and remove the debt you owed the collector," He motioned the book, it's cover made of a strange leather that seemed to be stitched together. "But I failed, the ritual needed your blood as an anchor, and I was too weak to go through with it."
"Is that why you sacrificed Baranda?" Maze's question came out laced with hatred. Marcus ripped himself from her and sat by the boat's edge. There was no sky, just an endless expanse of black held back by the lanterns hung all over the vessel.
"She was not supposed to die that night." He said, looking down at his floor as the boat rocked violently. Something had slammed against it.
"Then why did she?" Maze asked, her tone dejected but still holding that disdain for him.
"It's because…" He hesitated, turning to Maze with sorrow in his eyes. "It's because you looked up." Maze's eyes blew open in shock as she looked at him in disbelief.
"The original plan was for mother to be the one I sacrificed that night. Her death would have freed her from our father's clutches and freed me from the collector's contract, but you looked up during our ceremony..." He paused, recalling the horrors he saw that night. "And then I was left with a choice---"
"Shut up." Maze interjected, covering her ears from hearing the rest of it.
"I chose---" She rushed her brother, tackling him. Her hand covered his mouth.
"I chose you, Mazekien." Her attempts to muffle his voice proved useless as it came out loud and clear. She broke down, sobbing with her mouth but no tears came out of her eyes. Even her crying felt empty, leaving her unsatisfied no matter how hard she tried to cry.
"The dead can't shed tears for the living." Marcus said, pulling her in an embrace.
"It was not your fault. If I had time to think, I would've saved both of us from our family's grip." Marcus apologized as the water beneath them roughened with another thud against its surface. The lantern's light bounced off the tail of some creature beneath its surface. The collector.
"How can you not blame me? It's because of me that you and Baranda died. And what did I do to atone? Crush the dreams of everyone around me, even Mitchell. All just to follow in your footsteps." She pushed away from him, burying her in her hands.
"I wasted my life, crushing everyone who stood in my way. All for what?" She gripped the hair on her bangs with the intent to pull it out, but her efforts brought her no pain, nor any relief from her emotional turmoil. It was all meaningless. "Empty accolades and trophies to my name, friends that used me as a steppingstone to the top…" She chuckled to herself after the pause. "Who am I kidding, I did the same to them."
"It's not over yet, Maze." Marcus said, standing before her as something finally clicked. "The collector should've taken us by now, but something is stopping him." He turned to her with a determined look in his eyes. "Someone out there is keeping us alive. If they're doing what I think they're doing," He summoned the book to his hands and flipped through the pages, revealing words only he could see. "Then you can still make it. You can still live!"
Marcus beamed with hope, but none of that translated over to his younger sister.
"Mazekien, come on, get up!" Another bang against the boat echoed, cracking the surface near the cloaked entity who remained unbothered.
"I've done enough damage; I don't want to go back." She said, her voice cracking as she curled into a ball.
"Mazekien, we don't have time for this! Whatever ritual their using could fall at any minute now!" Marcus emphasized, his voice growing in desperation. "Our souls will be lost if the collector sinks this boat, there'll be no heaven for either of us!"
"So, what if it does?"
____________//
Chris looked at the last candle worriedly. His heart aching at the thought of witnessing her last moments.
"I-I'm sorry, I need to---" While he tried to get up, Mitchell grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down.
"I know that you're recording this conversation," Chris's eyes blew open at the revelation. With everything that had happened he had forgotten about the phone that was recording in his pocket. His heart raced as his gaze met with Mitchell's cold green eyes.
"L-L-L-Listen, I can expla---"
"Sit. Down." Mitchell's command came through gritted teeth. He complied.
"I don't care who you work for, or why you're doing this. Maze is about to die, and I don't want her last memory being me beating you bloody." His threat was more than enough to petrify him as his skin rattled. Mitchell's iron grip on his wrist was unrelenting, threatening to snap his wrist any time.
"If she survives, I want her to hear every word I say, so keep recording." Chris gulped as Mitchell removed his hand from him.
"The run for Head Leader was never just a popularity contest. Competence, leadership, speech giving, and public presentation. Having a high-test score was only enough to get you considered. But you knew that didn't you, Maze?" Chris listened attentively, but refused to ask questions, out of fear of stoking the already passionate fires of his anger.
"Despite being your competition, I helped you with your campaign. But that would only hurt my chances at Head Leader, wouldn't it, Maze?" His eye twitched as his fury became difficult to contain.
"But no, instead of hurting my chances everyone was drawn by my efforts. My selflessness captured the hearts of students like me. The average Joe who had no family name to fall back to." A smile crept on Mitchell's.
"But you couldn't have that, couldn't you, Maze!?" His laugh was cold and devoid of any warmth.
"The people we ran against were good people, but that didn't stop you from dragging their names in the dirt. A teacher warned me about you. A 'devil in human skin' is what they called you, but of course, Mitchell was too dumb to see it, wasn't he, MAZEKIEN!?" He shut his eyes tight, to force the memory out. His fists tightened against his tracksuit pants.
"Once they were out you turned your fangs against me. All the sudden, I was the one who forced the other candidates to drop out. I was the one who ruined their lives! I was the villain, and you made sure the whole school knew." Mitchell shot up, walking as close to the field as possible.
"Listen here Mazekien Fucking Schmidt, YOU BETTER GET THE FUCK UP!" He shouted, holding himself back from punching the barrier. "WAKE UP SO THAT I CAN TELL YOU TO YOUR FACE JUST HOW BADLY YOU RUINED MY LIFE! ACCOUNT FOR MY RUINED REPUTATION… WAKE UP!!! He erupted, staring at the dying flame of the last candle.
_____________________________//
< Iteru-Khenti(The river before)>
"You fool! Peace is reserved for those with no regrets! Get that through your selfish little skull! What about Tiffany? Don't you want any closure from her? Or Bastien? Shouldn't you end things properly with him? What about mom? I know you don't share that many memories with her, but she didn't choose to be a part of this damn cult! If you die now, you will never be able to settle things with them! You will never have peace." There was a moment of silence that followed, interrupted by the growing thrashes on the boat's surface. Whatever kept the demon under water was faltering.
"Screw you." She whispered.
"Excuse me?" Marcus squinted, his voice darkened by rage.
"I SAID SCREW YOU!" Her anger erupted as cracks formed on her childlike skin. "Who are you to tell me to live on when you're the reason I'm in this Goddamn mess! Everything I did was to live up to the impossible standards you left for me, and you have the gull to tell me to live on!? SCREW YOU, MARCUS!" She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the mast. The figure remaining undisturbed
"When will I get to want something of my own, huh? When will I get to dream!?" The figure stood behind her, its face cloaked in shadow. It reached out its hand, placing it where her heart should be.
"I'm tired of living other people's lives. I'm tired of this cult, I'm tired of mom and dad. SCREW THEM ALL!" A light began manifesting in her chest as the cracks on her skin webbed all over her.
_______________________//
"For every lie you spat, every promise broken... GET UP SO I CAN TELL HOW MUCH OF A PIECE OF SHIT YOU ARE GODDAMNIT!!!" Tears began welling in his eyes with no sign of the relenting.
"GET UP SO I CAN TELL YOU HOW MUCH YOU HURT ME, WAKE UP SO THAT I CAN TELL YOU HOW MUCH I FUCKING CARED. WAKE UP!!!" He shouted his lungs out in his last plea for her. Mitchell dropped to his knees, his last bit of effort exhausted as tears flooded down his face.
He pressed his head against the field, "W-Wake up…" snot leaked out of his nose, his voice coarse from all the shouting. "Wake up so that…" He paused as one last regret came to him. "Wake up so I can tell you… how much I… loved you." His last line trailed off into a whisper, his regret feeling heavy on his shoulders.
"WAKE UP!" Mitchell's eyes shot open in shock as he watched Chris shout, his hands pressed against the field with tears running down his face.
"We were supposed to look after Cindy together, how could you leave her behind like this!" He shouted as loud as his underdeveloped voice could allow him.
"Please Ms. Mazekein, I can't speak for what happened in the past, but I need you… We need you! Every heart you touched needs you ALIVE!" His voice echoed as the floor vibrated. Aldred lifted his gaze for a moment to look at the boy.
___________________//
< Iteru-Khenti(The river before)>
Light spread to her back erupting through her shoulder blades as unformed wings appeared. The shell of her younger body cracked and peeled off as she grew into her 17-year-old self. The same baggy eyes, long disheveled hair, and scarred throat from her attempted death.
The boat rocked one last time before it burst through the waters, the collector's black serpentine scale's wrapped themselves, but it's a fragile glass field held back its enormous constricting coils. With deep red eyes staring back at them it raised its hypnotic hood before striking with gigantic fangs, its glowing red eyes trained on Mazekien.
Its teeth stopped just a few inches from her, held back by an invisible force. The collector retracted before striking again, its fangs inching closer but never reaching.
It stopped, scanning the failing field until it noticed Marcus holding his hand out with the book he held flipping endlessly.
"If you want my sister then you'll have to get through me!" He shouted, reinforcing the barrier separating them. Angered by his resistance, the collector tightened its coils, shattering the field into sharpened shards that fell towards them. Seeing this, Marcus ran to hold his sister, casting a shield to protect both of them.
"This time, I'll live life by my own rules," Seeing the two vulnerable on the sinking vessel, it struck with certainty. The jaws closed in on Mazekien, opening wide to swallow her whole. "And if anyone got a problem with that, THEN THEY CAN SUCK ON THIS!" She threw her clenched fist, landing directly on the nose of the collector, sending tremors that drew webs of thunder lining the ship before etching on to the very fabric of reality around her. A blinding light engulfed the area, pushing back the shadows of this dead plane.
The world shattered, and so did her consciousness.
________________________//
The last candle sputtered to stay alive, only to be snuffed out in a dying hiss. The barrier shattered with the crescendo of breaking glass, and the silence that followed was deafening. He could no longer feel the buzz of Myst in the air, even the scent of sickeningly sweet incense disappeared. The room felt empty. Nami and Moe entered as they had been waiting out the room the entire time.
Moe went to comfort the distraught Chris and Nami hugged the frozen Mitchell.
"It's okay," She said, "She can rest now." Nami rubbed his back, allowing him to let out all his tears. He whimpered, unable to fully cry as he'd wasted all his energy in his last plea.
Mitchell felt a void grow in his chest, an ache that felt as if something had been removed from his very essence. She was gone. His mind failed to comprehend it, but there was no denying it either. She was gone.
.
.
.
.
"Pfft HA!" Aldred let off deep chuckle as the green crystal giving light cracked from its center. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise."
A light began emanating from Maze's chest as her body left the floor floating. The gapping gash on her throat closed and a large burst of white, blinding light followed the sound of her gasping for air!
The group shielded their eyes as the cabin quaked. It's wooden walls creaking from the birth pains of the emerging mage. All turned their heads unable to witness the light of new creation. All except for Aldred, who reveled in its glory. The thin fabric of her hospital gown did little to contain her, burning from the heat of the rising star. Her cries echoed through the labyrinth, iron doors be damned.
All of it ending with the light dimming down and her naked feat landing on the splintered floor. Her blood, now a charred stain. She didn't face them, hip length hair covering her naked figure.
The room went silent, everyone who was not Aldred, too shocked to do anything. Their silence turned defensive when she took a step to turn. Nami instinctually assumed a fighting stance.
Maze turned her head to them, staring with an unblinking and unmatching stare from her Onyx left eye, and Silver right eye.
A demonic presence had followed her, one that forced a heavy pressure on Mitchell's lungs. He struggled to breathe as he witnessed a pair of glowing red eyes hover above her.
"Maze?" He called, wondering if what had returned from her state of near death was actually her.