Of Immortals and Men | COMPLETE

Chapter 36 Fade into Darkness

Chapter 36

Fade into Darkness

“I will swallow my pride; you’re the one that I love, and I’m saying goodbye.”

~A Great Big World~

  

 

 

 

 

         Facing Ezekias was always an idea, a plan to be carried out someday, but as Caris stood there now, she realized that the day had finally come. It filled her with fear for failure, but she composed herself enough to not let it show. If Ezekias saw her turmoil, half the battle would be lost.

         “Caris, what have you brought me?” He was different somehow. She didn’t know what exactly had changed, but there was something off.

         His clothes were torn, and his dress pants were far from clean. Ezekias was never the type of man to wander about like a slob, even during a battle. However, as Caris looked into the brown-eyed old man, his demeanor calm and composed as usual, she found that it was not the clothes on his back that irked her. Aside from not having his cane, the air around him felt ominous—more than the norm.

         Was it possible that Ezekias had somehow gotten stronger?

        Cautiously, Caris stared at him as she took the unconscious secretary by her hair and threw her to the ground. Without speaking, Caris knelt down, feeling Ezekias’s eyes on her as she touched the body of the woman.

        “Perdo.” Quietly, Caris unleashed her Active Power onto the secretary’s body.

       An odd miasmatic cloud released itself from her palm and enveloped the woman’s body, eating away at her skin and bones. Only there were no bones behind her skin, nor were there any muscle tissue. Her body was hollow, driven by a particle wave of light that emanated from the source that was Caris’s target.

         Skylar’s key, the objective of the mission, was located in the center of the secretary’s hollow body. It animated the now dissolving corpse, making it the equivalency of a human soul for a Doll.

         “Ah, a Doll, it has been years since I last encountered one. Margery was quite the crafty one,” Ezekias said, as he watched Caris take the key.

         Standing up with the rusty old key in her hands, Caris’s Egyptian eyes went stern.

         “Yes, it was genius to hide the key within a Doll.” An idea popped into her head and she played with the possibilities, until realizing that she could not go through with it.

         Destroying the key would foil Ezekias’s new installment in his plan for the second Black Night, but she could never do that to Skylar. The old woman was insane, but she was still a sister.

        “Why do I have the feeling that you are unwilling to give me the key?” In an instant, Caris’s eyes widened at his words. Did she have a tell?

       They stood a good distance away from the rubble that was created from his last battle. Whatever happened seemed to have been big enough to destroy Ezekias’s clothes, yet it was not enough to kill him. Now, another fight was to commence, and Caris chose the woods connected to the yard behind the succubus’s house to avoid any onlookers.