Angelos Odyssey

1 – The Contract-2

One blink and Qizadeus is gone. I can’t see very well—not anymore. I can’t see, and I can’t hear anything around me, but I feel relaxed. I know something’s off, but my body doesn’t seem to mind. I start to ache, then how tired I am really starts to set in. I try to remember what happened to me before that dream and yet doing so causes me to nearly forget everything the angel said to me.

Either what just happened really was an order or my dreams are getting too intense. Are Death Officers only assigned contracts through their dreams? If so, I can’t forget anything—even if I’ve never heard of “Saizakune.”

Still, I’ve no idea where I am, either. There’s pressure lightly forcing my eyelids shut. Something’s covering my mouth and nose; I think...

I’m submerged in warm water. Four different IV’s are attached to my floating body. When I open my eyes wider, I see through the glass casing around me. At my sides appear to be metal-topped containers like my own, but I can’t see who’s inside any of them. Instead, I look out and into a medical ward: blocky, white, metallic walls with blue circuits running through them reflect the fluorescent lighting from above.

The last thing I remember doing is lecturing Raiko about something, although I can’t think of what it was. I try to search back through my memories, but someone’s coming into view from the outside—they’re walking directly up to me.

I see short, dark hair parted in the middle and over a pair of black-rimmed glasses, a young guy dressed in a white button-up shirt and wearing brown, corduroy jeans.

Though I’m sure we’ve never met, he smiles at me like we’re close, and then—

“Hello, Tavon.”

He’s in my head.

“Get out.”

The stranger raises his eyebrows.

“Excuse me? I was being considerate.”

“I didn’t give you permission to jump inside my head.”

“Would you have preferred it if I’d pulled you from the glass to have a basic conversation?”

“...”

I would fold my arms, but it’s like I’m paralyzed or something.

“My name is Inen, and I’ve been hearing about you for some time now. On board the ship, word got around that a beaten and battered man passed out close to the medical ward.

“The stories blossomed, and I’m afraid most of us know by now where the Citadel’s Knight Murderer has been hiding. I’m sorry friend,” he says while closing his eyes as he smiles, “As soon as you’re released, it appears that a lot of people out there would like to make your acquaintance.”

He opens his eyes to stare into mine as he continues, “I can protect you from them, however. After all, you do owe me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” This time I’m able to fold my arms. “There’s no way I could owe you. I’ve never met you.”

“And yet I still chose to save your life.”

“What?”

Inen smirks. “When Artemis Spilsbury defeated you in combat, it was I who prevented him from finishing you off. I waited some days, thinking over the future of Noboros, and then I decided that I wanted you to join us. Do you understand?”

“I do. I’m kinda tied up right now, though.”

“You just became a Death Officer, correct? That’s hardly an excuse. Under my banner, you have true freedom; you may travel wherever you please. I may call on you perhaps once a year at most, otherwise—”

“It’s not for me.”

“Are you afraid?”

I sneer at him.

“Your people get paid to cause destruction, right?”

“We profit from the ignorance of the world around us. It is inevitable, unfortunately.”

“I don’t believe in fate. You don’t have to exploit the weak because you think they’re ignorant.”

There’s a blinding flash. I shut my eyes and then open them again.

I’m wandering through and between rows of dark oak trees brimming with leaves of ivory white. The sky’s all a dark grey; a neon-green moon peaks out from the horizon. Life is completely still except for my stiff movements. As I regain a sense of consciousness, I speed up the pace. It feels like another vivid dream, but it’s too lucid. It feels real, and my body aches with the effort to run.

I don’t know what I’m running from, but something tells me that it’s getting closer, like a scalding iron pressing in on the side of my head. With that pressure, I’m imparted a heavy sense of dread. I feel like I can’t escape.

Black tentacles reach for me—reach and miss. I sprint faster, then: I’m hit in stomach with a phantom strike. I keel over and just now notice curved, dark blades enveloped in the shadows to my right. Four claws reach out from the shadows, and four claws penetrate my arms and legs.

The pain’s real. It hurts all over, and their claws burn through my skin. If I stay pinned down, I’m sure I’ll have each limb melted off. I’ve got to break loose!

But they’ve got me. The strength behind them is otherworldly; my body’s scorched by a fiery apparition, and the way ahead is suddenly blocked by the thin form of Inen. At his side, a hairless, eyeless hound with skin the color of blood moves to intercept before his master can reach me.

“Weraugi!” Inen calls out, but his dog acts without him.

From behind the hound, three tails resembling spiked worms twirl in my direction.

Weraugi thrusts one of them into my side, and I cry out as pain greater than any discomfort I’d experienced before makes me convulse. The hound withdraws its stinger, and Inen laughs while stooping down to pet the devil.

“I apologize for Weraugi’s overeagerness, but you were proving to be a difficult study.”

“What makes you think I’ll be convinced if you torture me?”

“Why, I’m convinced by the very fact that you have never experienced Sarabi, a rudimentary form of Imago.”

My body’s on fire, so I’m not interested in learning any of this.

“Let me go,” is all I have to say.

“Hmph,” he utters condescendingly before continuing, “and that might be your greatest weakness, Tavon. I’ve managed to defeat you in a matter of minutes and all because of your limited proficiency. If I wanted to kill you right now, I could do so using your own subconscious. ‘Sarabi’ is manipulation at Imago’s most basic level. All I have to do is establish a presence in your mind, locate your fears, and...”

Inen’s face loses its form. It warps and changes.

Aaliyah’s in front of me now. She smirks and brandishes a scalpel before my eyes.

“Let me go,” I demand again as anger builds inside of me.

She moves closer, waving the blade close to my left cheek, then she cuts into my face with a swift s***h.

“Within this little cage that you’ve built all by yourself, I’ll break whatever will you have left.”

Inen cuts me once more, and I lose it. I shout, “LET ME GO,” and the glass walls containing me in the real world begin to crack. I regain consciousness to see webs of cracked glass in a dozen different spots. Inen steps back in shock, although it’s only momentary.

I’m still floating in place, glaring back at my enemy as he chuckles to himself.

“Well,” he begins, “that was unexpected. I’d assumed that you’d give up within the first hour, but you’ve shown considerable resistance...

“Very well, Tavon,” Inen sighs. “I’m afraid I got too carried away. After all, why should I go so far for a mere simpleton.”

Finally, the bastard walks away. Before he leaves, he speaks his last words to me: “I’ll no longer be sending envoys to try to convince you to join us. No. Rather, from now on, you will only see my people when the time has come for your death.

“You’ve lost any protection you might have had, Tavon. Look out for yourself. Farewell.”