Nine Lives Aren’t Enough Chapter Five: World of Echoing Silence “Mike! No!” Echoing laughter can be heard, but it seems to vanish. As Mike’s limp form slowly falls to the ground, its dissolves into what appears to be dirt and logs. A gasp behind Josh alerts him to Mike, who is now furtively glancing around him. “Mike?!?!? You’re okay?” “Y-yeah… it was a copy doll. What just happened though?” The laughter can be heard again, but this time it is quieter, and with a vague sense of amusement. Mike searched for the source of the laughter, but it seemed to echo over and over, making it impossible. He started to slowly walk towards Josh, until another hand reached from the darkness and grabbed his arm, snapping it in two. Mike roared in pain, his good arm carefully cradling his bad one. Josh looked around horrified. “Hold on Br-“ Josh was cut off as another scythe swiftly curved into the back of his head, it leaving the head through the chin. Mike stared in horror, afraid he had lost his friend, before Josh’s mouth slowly began to move. “Bro, get… out of here... warp home...” Mike was about to refuse, saying he would rather stay with Josh then leave him, but he soon finds himself home, the laughter still echoing in his ears. “About time… you have had every chance to kill me… Why did you go after Ryker too?” Josh voice was steady, and almost calm, yet at the same time intense and serious, despite the extreme amount of pain he was in. The laughter again echoed through the floor-less and wall-less room, before a voice pierced the otherwise silent world around them. “Because I couldn’t get you here myself, so I had to lure you in.” With one more evil cackle, Ryker’s limp body falls from an unknown opening, his face staring blankly into Josh’s. Josh sobbed slightly, once, before glaring off into the dark void around him, furious. “Enjoy watching your friend die.” A shapeless figure forms, concealed in the dark shadow that seemed to make up the entire dimension. He grabs one of the scythes embedded in Josh body, and swiftly pulls, sending a spray of blood across the floor, only to disappear. He takes the scythe blade and walked over to Ryker’s limp form. With what Josh could only assume to be a grin, the figure swings it, and slices into Ryker’s throat. It seemed with what little life Ryker had left was spent in the gasp that followed, as his blood slowly sank into the non-existent floor and out of sight. “Damn… and Mike will be back soon too.” Josh swore under his breath. The shapeless form just laughs. “I wouldn’t be too sure. After all, why would he come here to save you, when his arm is broken, his mind is filled with fear, and he doesn’t even know where to find you? Besides, I may decide to have a little… fun…” Josh, with every ounce of his strength, wrenched the scythe from his head, using what power he could spare to heal the gaping wound. “You leave him alone… if anyone… leave him alone…” Josh takes a few cautious steps in the form’s direction. “Yeah… I know you don’t work that way… but neither do I!” He starts sprinting the short distance between the two, the scythe blade wielded like a makeshift sword. “I don’t screw around when you mess with my friends!” The form seems to grin, and as the scythe swings, a sickening rip is heard, and the body falls to the floor. Josh looks down at the body, and reels back in horror. Instead of the dark figure lying there, he finds Ryker’s empty face staring back at him. “So quick to kill your friend. And you said you would never be like me.” Josh stares at the limp lifeless body on the ground, eyes wide with fright and rage. He turns around to find the figure standing there in an arrogant pose. “No… NO!” Josh swings with a punch aimed right for the figure’s face, but without flinching, the form grabs his fist, and shatters it. Josh cries in pain, and tries to sweep kick him but the second his foot hits the shade’s body, the bones in it shatter as well. Josh falls to the ground writhing and screaming in pain. “Really now? You know god can’t even handle me in this form, in this place. How could you without your powers?” The figure swiftly kicks Josh, sending him skidding across the floor and into an invisible wall. Josh groans again, and the figure laughs. The figure slowly crosses the room to Ryker’s limp and lifeless form, and picks it up. “Aww, look. You broke him.” The form laughs again; his voice echoing even louder than before, and tosses the body to Josh, it skidding and stopping mere inches from him. “B-bastard! Why didn’t you just kill me and get it over with!” Josh face twisted into an expression that could only be described as incredible rage mixed with unbearable loss. He does his best to stand up, but barely manages to kneel on his one good leg. He looks at the form with his furious face. “Because, I wanted to see you in pain. I enjoy seeing you in pain. I enjoy seeing everyone in pain.” The figure turns from Josh, but then looks back, for the first time his piercing yellow eyes visible from under his cloak of black mist. “Now, to kill everyone you care for, before your demise, so you can watch theirs.” The black figure laughs again, and disappears. ____________________________________________________________________ Jen stared at the dark ball on her desk. She consulted her notes, and then looked at the ball again, her face clearly showing her intense thoughts. Soon, she snapped her fingers, finding the solution to whatever problem she found, and used her magic to modify the orb somewhat. She smiled, and went to the nearby cupboard where similar orbs were found. She soon had modified them all, and labeled the cabinet: Instant smoke bombs. She put a few of them in her pocket, and started to walk towards Mike’s house. However, she was never known for her balance, and before long she tripped over a piece of the sidewalk un-even with the rest. One of the smoke bombs fell from her pocket, and broke, creating a large volume of bilious smoke that quickly engulfed her, and much of the surrounding area. She coughed, and quickly waved her hand back and forth to clear the smoke, and as it did, she found herself in an unfamiliar room that seemed to be made of a dark violet mist. “Hmm, the smoke bombs shouldn’t have teleported me anywhere, must be an odd side effect.” She slowly turned, so she was lying with her back to the ground, and slowly stood up, wiping stray bits of gravel from her body. She sighed, and was about to stand up, before she saw a hand offering to help. She looked up further, and found the hand connected to a nice looking man with a calm smile on his face. “Of course not, I brought you here.” Jen looked at him cautiously, but then slowly took his offered hand. He slowly helped her up, and Jen finished brushing off the gravel from her body. He offered his hand again, this time as a greeting, and she slowly took his hand and shook it. The odd man smiled again, and with a twinge of his hand, sent her flying through the air, and was soon impaled on a scythe that was summoned. As her body slides off the slick blade, the man grabs her neck, and tightly squeezes. The wound on her chest quickly healed, and the pain from it was soon replaced by the pain from her neck. She reached up and grabbed the arm, struggling to break free. “Now, I really wanted to do this slowly and painfully, but fast and painfully works as well. You ready for it?” “Y-you horrible monster!” Jen struggles harder to break free, but the man’s grip tightens, causing her to gasp for air, and the bones in the back of her neck to strain, to the point that they threatened to break. She looks at him with a look that could wilt plants, but he simply tightens his grip again. Her eyes glow faintly as she tries to activate her magic, but the person simply laughs. “Why thank you.” A flash of steel, a spray of blood, and a scream is all that can be seen, heard, and smelled. The man’s hands glowed, and he throws her on the ground. “There, enjoy that pain. It won’t ever end except for death, and death will not come, no matter how much you bleed. And before you try to send a message to your friends, I control everything that comes in and out of this world, and it won’t work.” He turns away, and a window appears in the black smoke, and Josh, pinned to the wall, is forced to view the horrible visage in front of him. The black figure laughs, and slowly dissolves away.