Be Holden

Chapter 24: Intent

Dan defeats all the monsters he touches and their bodies evaporate as he does this. The witches with the wispy dresses hum and chant but the most they do is open a vortex in the air before vanishing. The upper opening of the vortex gets bigger until it spreads over the whole ceiling. Dan defeats the last monster standing with a poisonous touch. It cripples the flying monster and makes it fall to the floor. Upon impact, the monster evaporates. The vortex begins to suck all of you in. You try to hold on to a nearby table but you, Dan, Ishin and some debris are sucked into the vortex.

You all end up at the ground floor of a vacant, old apartment building. Dust hovers in the air as you all move in the shadows. Dan holds Ishin's waist firmly to his side as he takes the lead with his yellow glowing skin in the dark. Ishin pukes on the floor and the floor sizzles and bubbles up near a gated storage bin. You continue to follow them and look away from the biohazard that Ishin left behind. You hear heavy breaths coming from behind you. When you turn around there is nothing there but dust and darkness. You pass many locked, gated storage bins. Most of them are empty. You pass a storage bin with a piano in it. The elevator lights flicker as the piano keys move down slowly. The sound was like a cat slowly walking across the keys until they hit a low note and then jumps off of the piano. Ding! The elevator doors open you all get inside. There are thirty numbers on the elevator's guide but no buttons accompany them. The elevator takes you to the fifteenth floor. Ding! It opens to a dusty hall with no lighting. You hear a floorboard creak nearby. A door slams in the distance. You follow Dan to the room labeled: two thousand twelve. He turns the knob and it will not open. Dan releases Ishin, then kicks the door open. Click! Click! Click! The sound of heels click pass you down the hall. No one is there. You run to catch up to Dan and Ishin who have already disappeared into the apartment. A smooth, deep laugh echoes through the kitchen as you pass it. Ishin goes to the balcony and is taken by a black winged guy with black hair. His wings are like huge bat wings. You catch his piercing silver eyes glance at you with a smug smirk on his face as he flies them into the black city. The overseer of evil is here. Dan walks out of a room and looks toward the balcony. He looks away and then looks at it again. He panics and yells as he begins searching through the house trying to find Ishin. "Where is she?" He asks you. "I don't know." You say.

"Don't play with me! I know you know where the fuck she is or where she has gone! She couldn't have gone far."

"I- I-"

"You better not say that you don't know because I know you're lying!"

"She went..."

A door slams across the hall. Dan runs to room two thousand thirteen, which is right across from two thousand twelve. He opens the door. Something whispers in your ear: "Run!" You don't look back. You just do what the whisper instructed you to do. Ding! The elevator doors open bathing the wall before it in light. You get on the elevator and the doors close. It takes you to the highest floor level. Ding! The elevator doors open to an unfinished room with a massive nickel bell sitting on its side at the center of it. You smell the drying, white paint coming from one side of the room. There is a huge gap on a wall farthest from the elevator. I guess it will be a big window. The plastic tarps on the floor move as a black veiled woman appears with a wispy dress by the edge of the gap. She sighs and walks clumsily along the edge. You run to her and grab her arm. You try to pull her in but she does not move. She grabs your hand with her free hand. She pulls you over the edge and releases your hand. You dangle from the edge of the gap still holding the witches arm. The city is tinted in a black shadow. The moon's light does not penetrate the city. She disappears and you fall over. You close your eyes as the wind blows past your swiftly falling form. The roots in your ribcage crawl out and slow your fall moments before you slam onto the pavement below. You scramble to your feet. "Ishin! Ishin! Ishin help me get out of here!" You yell to your surroundings but they echo your calls as if they are mocking you for asking for assistance. You walk around in the darkness with your palms stretched out before you. Smooth palms are all you can feel around you. You realize that you are stuck in this palm prison. You stop searching for a way out and sit down on the pavement beneath you. A golden light peers through the darkness and illuminate the wispy figures that surrounded you. A translucent, rainbow colored hand is offered to you underneath the palms before you. You take it and it gently pulls you under the palms and past the wispy figures. You both jog to the golden light with your hands still interlocked. When you are bathing in the light, Ishin releases your hands and closes the single golden door. She walks down the runner to golden double doors and you follow her. When she opens the doors, you see a wooden stairwell with a hall beside it.

We are back at the overseer of evil's place. You have never been so happy to see this place. You hear yelling coming from the kitchen and you dart in that direction. Ether is standing near the backdoor and the overseer of evil is standing near the pantry. They are looking at each other. "You tricked Thyme into helping you! Why? You could have devoured him and saved us a lot of trouble! Now, Ishin is pregnant by some other guy that is not either of us! More disgustingly, the father of her unborn child is my enemy! We have to find a way for her to stop getting dragged into our matters!" Ether yells. "It is her duty as a wife to be dragged into our matters." The overseer of evil says.

"If I do recall correctly, it was not her choice to marry you. She should not have duty requirements for something she was forced to do. This is not her fight."

"You are spouting nonsense. She is happily married to me and as my wife she must deal with any problems that threatens the livelihood of our family and vice versa. Thyme was useful and that is all I have to say on the matter."

"How would you define useful? Him telling us about the pregnancy as I crushed his chest with my black snow boot, or you not being able to find her for a good amount of time!"

"It does not matter. I smell her now. She is here."

"If we would have gone with her to investigate her suspicion, this whole situation would have been avoided!"

"She was with the tree. They both are stronger than you think."

"Their strength does not begin to compare to an overseer! A God for crying out loud!"

"Ishin! Tree! Come here, now!"

Ishin gently nudges you into the kitchen and follows you. "Where have both of you been?" The overseer of evil says. "I thought you knew. I saw you on the balcony." You say to him. "What is this tree talking about?" The overseer of evil says. "We were in an illusion realm. Some of my followers dragged the overseer named Dan inside it." Ishin says.

"Is that the father of that child in your womb?"

"Yes, it is."

The overseer of evil starts talking to Ether again.

"What is Dan the overseer of? We destroyed the others so, he is the last to fall."

"Dan will eventually get out of that land of illusions. We should go in and destroy him before he surprises us with an attack."

"No, it is not a good idea to mix with any of the realms in Ishin's palace. It has a high chance of ruining the only pathway available to some dimensions or make it harder for us visit other universes."

"What will we do when he gets out?"

"If he gets out we will deal with him accordingly, but we must not tamper with those dimensions no matter what."

"What if he ruins that dimension or the pathway to it?"

"The deleted pathway will leave a black hole in his place and get rid of him. We will lose access to a dimension but at least one of our problems will be solved."

"Is she going to have triplets after this, or are you going to give me one of the overseers' souls for safe keeping."

"I will let you have another one but I know what you will be saving it for. I do not approve of your plans for it, but my home is filling to the brim with babies."

"Oh, how kind of you? Also, I would like to observe the removal of Dan's heir. Is that alright with you?"

"It is fine."

The overseer of evil throws him a cloudy, grey orb. You watch the overseer of evil hug Ishin. His hand slides to her lower torso and he pulls a purple clouded orb from it. He eats it and Ether leaves. "Tree, what were you speaking of when you said you saw me earlier?" The overseer of evil asks.