Companion

It's not a problem if you're up to your neck in shit; the problem starts if it's rippling.

Companion

It was a few minutes past eight when we reached the community centre. I thought we were still on time — it was still four hours to midnight. I was wrong, and I realised this most clearly when the left side of the house collapsed before my eyes.

I ran at full speed, swung over the gate and didn't stop until I reached the ruins. The first thing I saw was the figure of Alex. His face turned deathly pale. The second was the monster he faced. A homunculus, a creature created by a mage. It was a full-grown beast, about four metres tall, a black mass with a human form. In the centre of its faceless head, a single blood-red eye looked straight at Alex.

No one tried to help him, and the pack fled, a single girl called out his name, but she was held back by her pack. Alex froze, perhaps in fear, perhaps in surprise, but he could not move, he just watched the beast. Black tentacles then erupted from the beast's body, wrapping around Alex's body and pulling him towards the black mass. It all happened in an instant. In one moment, Alex was still standing, in the next, the beast was already engulfing him.

The space was split by a gut-wrenching scream. At first, I didn't even realize it was my voice. For a moment everything in the room was still. The dozens of homunculi and the wolves.

I felt my blood boil and pulse through my veins with such force that I was afraid I would explode. I could feel the darkness slowly seeping into my guts, but I didn't mind. My mouth filled with the sweet, metallic taste of my own blood, my fangs tearing at my lips.

My fingertips tingled, and when I looked there, my fingernails were claws. I hated this form, hated the claws, hated the silver hair, hated the darkened whites of my eyes, hated the vibrant blue irises. But at that moment I didn't care about anything except getting Alex out of that monster. At that moment, the real White Demon was unleashed.

At my shout, three of the homunculi immediately rushed towards me. I leapt lightly to avoid its first blow, my body feeling strangely light as if I were weightless. The next blow brought me back to my senses, as it hit me because it's hard to change direction in the air. I was sprawled on the ground, almost every bone in my body broken, or at least cracked, by the beast's fist — yet I immediately felt the tingling sensation that signalled healing.

The creature saw that I was dead, or at least incapacitated, so it turned its back on me and went in search of new prey. It was a mistake. I curled my fingers; the first time it was quite difficult, but the second time I barely felt the stabbing pain. In an instant, I leapt onto the huge creature's back, and in one swift movement, I removed its head.

The monstrosity sprawled on the ground. The dark matter that had surrounded its body evaporated like smoke, leaving nothing but stinking flesh and a web of tendons, a skinless body. The other two homunculi noticed the death of their companion and immediately launched an attack.

I dodged both attacks and got behind them in one leap. I was about to go to finish off the specimen that had been hiding Alex when a black tentacle wrapped around my ankle and pulled my legs out from under me. I reacted immediately and cut the black thread with my claw before the giant could engulf me.

Before another blow could send me to the floor again, I leapt up and charged at the beast myself. Although the black smoke didn't look very solid, it was like a concrete wall around the belly. As soon as my first blow hit the target, I heard the distinctive sound of bone cracking. I jumped back, my fingers painfully gripping my wrist. Alice chose that moment to get beside me.

"Get Alex out before the homunculus eats him!" he said "Leave these two to me!"

"Are you crazy?!" I yelled at him.

He gave me that smile he always wears when he knows something better than me. He opened his bag and pulled out a gun. I'm not kidding. He pulled out an enormous gun with a serene smile. 

If we'd been in a different situation, I'm sure I'd have said 'Wow-wow, mate, what the fuck' but there was no time for bewilderment and questions.

I didn't know much about firearms, but the black, long-barreled pistol he was concealing looked very, very dangerous — especially with the mark of the Crosspherat engraved in it.

I nodded dodging the onslaught of one of the monsters.

I immediately moved towards the beast holding Alex hostage. I heard Alice fire his weapon, which made a horrible sound and was strongly considering the thought of tearing my ears off.

Angel's Scream. The most useful magical weapon of the Crosspherat: a single bullet can destroy anything it bores into. This was the first time I heard its roar.

The homunculus also started towards me with huge, thundering steps. When we got close enough, the creature struck, and I dodged the attack, driving my fist into the black smoke shield. Bone cracked, succumbing to the massive defence. I hissed but didn't care, I struck again. Again, again, again and again.

I felt like my hand was caught on fire, burning in pain everywhere. Blood covered both my fists, my own blood. I cried out; I felt I could handle no more, and the pain was overwhelming me — yet, I just kept attacking without stopping.

I had no idea how I had the strength to do it, or how I was able to move my arms at all when they hadn't even had time to regenerate properly. I didn't care about anything, nothing was important, just that Alex got out.

Then something happened: a tiny gap appeared in the shield from my fist. The tiny hole grew and grew, and at one point the shield gave way completely. My claws dug into the flesh, muscles and tendons tore incessantly.

The beast's greenish fluids burned my skin, and the drops carved holes in my clothes — I didn't care. The creature whimpered inarticulately and dug its fist into my side. I grabbed the huge hand and pulled. Although I surprised even myself by doing so, I separated the limb from its body in a single motion. I threw the ripped arm away.

That was the moment when the creature took flight and started to back away, but I didn't let it: I stopped it with a blow. The homunculus fell backwards and lay on the ground. I jumped up on its belly and continued what I had started: I tore into its flesh again. The beast was tough enough, resisted, and was about to strike me with its arm, but I dodged it.

Then I got my hands on something: a tiny shard of life, the heart of the creature. I immediately closed my fingers around it and ground it to powder. Everything was now swimming in the creature's greenish bodily fluids, my skin steaming and my body struggling to produce new cells to replace the ones the acid had consumed.

I tore open the wall of a cavity, reaching the stomach of the homunculus. I tore open the cavity and oh my god, I saw Alex, drenched in a small amount of yellowish gastric juice. I pulled him out and, pulling off the tattered material of my T-shirt, immediately began wiping the liquid off him before he had no skin left.

"Alex!" I shouted more desperately than I wanted, "Alex! Fuck, wake the fuck up!"

I knew he was dying. His heart was beating so weakly that I thought it might stop at any moment, his chest barely rising. I knew at that moment that if I didn't do something, Alex would die. I cupped his face between my hands and smeared the blood that was left on my fingers.

"You're not going to die," I said softly, but these words were meant rather for me since Alex couldn't hear me, "I'm going to save you. I won't let you die."

I raised one trembling hand to my lips and sank my teeth savagely into my finger, tearing deeply into the flesh. A fine spray of blood fell over Alex's face and chest. I stuck my now slowly healing finger into Alex's mouth and prayed it would work.

The wound had healed all too quickly, so I quickly brought it back to my lips and was about to take an even bigger bite on my finger when Alex opened his eyes weakly. The pounding of his heart didn't seem nearly as quiet as it had moments before, and I noticed that some of his skin had grown back. I knew he was not well at all and needed urgent treatment, but I thanked God he was alive.

"It's okay, I'm going to get you out of here, you're going to be fine!" I promised.

However, a giant was getting too close and I knew I wouldn't have time to jump. I closed my eyes and tried to shield the wolf with my body. Much to my surprise, even moments later I couldn't feel the pain.

When I opened my eyes again, the monster was pummeling a transparent, bluish magic shield that protected us. The other homunculi were approaching us, getting dangerously close, too. Everyone seemed to have escaped, even the wolves and Alice.

"Hurry, if he doesn't get treatment soon, he'll die," I heard Alistair's familiar voice, "I'll distract them until then."

The fae looked at me with a gentle smile.

"But...", I said, "I won't leave you!"

"You must go," Alistair said.

"You will die!" I cried.

The kind smile on Al's lips trembled. "I'll die soon anyway."

"No! We can get out together!"

If only for an hour, a day or a week, you could still live!

"I'm fae, Shay," His eyes hardened. "Let me die fighting. In battle, protecting my family."

I opened my mouth to speak, but finally, I closed it in silence. I nodded, then stood up and, without looking back, stormed off in the opposite direction. I ran and ran because I knew that if I stopped for even a moment, I would want to turn back. I ran, but I didn't know which way, I couldn't see anything through the tears.

(...)

The next morning, I woke up to a loud squeak. I was so sleepy I didn't even know who I was, the only certain thing seemed to be Alex' smell everywhere. Then, as the ache in my temples subsided, I suddenly remembered everything.

The source of the noise was the blonde-haired nurse standing by the bed. Her complexion alternated surprisingly quickly between poppy red and deadly pale, which I have to say was quite amusing to me.

Eventually, she closed her mouth and left almost angrily. I considered stopping her and recommending a good psychologist, but in the end, I gave up the idea. I did so because I saw the fae sitting opposite, who was also highly amused.

His snow-white, straggly hair caressed his collarbone — for some inexplicable reason, he was not wearing a top — and gently framed his slightly elongated face. His right eye glittered with a sly light, and his left eye was covered by a patch of silver ornamentation. A pair of tinkling, elongated earrings dangled in his ears. He wore a thick leather belt over his black leather trousers, to which he attached weapons. The ends of the trousers were tucked into dark boots.

I assumed he must have been invisible to the nurse — for if she had noticed him, she would certainly not have gotten outraged at the fact that Alex was using me as a sleeping bear. Seriously, I couldn't believe my eyes; even though I grew up in this world, his attire seemed so unusual. I didn't even know his name, but I decided to make up for my ignorance and at least ask him, since he was so kind yesterday, to help us out.

Yesterday, after we had escaped the building at Alistair's urging, this guy appeared before me. He had a thin-bladed sword in his hand, so at first glance, I assumed he was an enemy. He didn't seem any friendlier on second glance, so I tried to introduce him to my right fist without a word, carrying a fainting Alex on my shoulder.

He laughed and dodged my feeble attack. After dodging a few more similarly unsuccessful punches, he suggested I follow him if I didn't want my friend to die on me. I was, of course, still no more manageable than usual, and I didn't trust him at all. Seeing that I wasn't really on top of the situation intellectually, he took me down with a well-directed punch with the pommel.

First I woke up to the strong smell of medicine, and then it became clear to me that I had successfully strained my neck while sleeping, and my temples were pounding. Glancing around, I realised I was in a waiting room, half sitting half lying on one of the hideous orange plastic chairs of the clinic.

It was then that I saw the aforementioned fae talking to another, an older member of his kind. I jumped up, and in a moment crossing the distance between us, I grabbed the guy by the throat as a pretty clear signal — but he just smiled madly and greeted me with a 'Good morning, Sleeping Beauty'.

Before I could punch him in the face, the doctor spoke — because the fellow looked quite doctorly in his medical gown. My penetrating gaze found him immediately. He put his hand on my shoulder and smiled as he asked me to let the guy go. In a brief second, I sized him up. Then slowly, very slowly, I let the fae boy go.

The doc was also a moon-eyed one, although his irises looked a shade darker than what I was used to from his kind. His hair, too resembled light brown more than silver.

"Where's Alex?" was all I asked.

The doctor nodded and asked me to follow him. I kept my eyes on both of them, not casually letting them behind my back as we walked to the ward a few metres away. They opened the door, but didn't even try to let me pass — they knew it would be a waste of time.

Yet when I entered, I forgot all my defensive instincts and ran to Alex's bedside. My friend was lying unconscious, most of his chest, arms and legs covered in some places by gauze and bandages. A needle had been inserted into a vein in his left hand, leading to a suspicious green fluid pouch. I muttered something about God unintelligibly, as I took his free hand in my hands. I repeated his name for a long time, and that I was sorry.

Sorry for what? I wasn't sure myself, but for some reason, it felt right to repeat it to him as a mantra. Maybe I was sorry for letting him go home alone and not being there for him. I probably regretted not getting home before the attack could have happened. I probably also blamed myself for not finding him in time. I may have also been beating myself up for not being able to stop that thing from eating him. Finally, it was probably because it took me so long to get him out of it's stomach.

The doctor stepped up to me and just told me that he would be fine. He'd been through hell and if I'd only been minutes late he probably would have died from his injuries, but he's going to be fine now.

Then something happened that surprised not only me but also the unusual-looking fae standing next to me. Alex put his hand on my wrist. His grip was astonishingly weak, yet I felt it immediately and snatched my gaze away from the doctor.

A look of immense horror came over the wolf's face, but as soon as he saw me, his features slowly smoothed out. He muttered something about hell, screaming people, evil shadows and pain like nothing else.

I tried to reassure him as the heart rate monitor next to us began to squeak wildly. When I was somewhat successful, the boy begged me not to leave him alone. I mustn't leave him alone, or they'd drag him away again.

Unable to speak, I nodded silently. The doctor and the fae boy went out without a sound, and I sank down on the chair next to the bed and squeezed my friend's hand encouragingly so that he could feel that I was by his side. Alex fell back asleep quickly, looking exhausted — as if he'd been tormented by terrible nightmares for days.

I sat next to him like that for a long time, and when I almost fell off the chair in my sleep, I finally decided to climb in next to him. Since my throat hasn't been slit in my sleep since then, presumably the two fae were not enemies.

"Who are you?" I asked the guy, who seemed to be amused by my sharp look.