The brown surface shivered under Cita's feet, but it lacked its former elasticity. The previously smooth surface was shredded and slashed. Red-stained bones poked through, jagged and broken. Crusty blood mounded in places, marking where the great beast had tried to heal itself. Orange-red spiders crawled in and out of puss-seeping pits, carrying bits of flesh in their mandibles.
Aki sat in a puddle of gore, rocking back and forth and staring with sightless eyes.
"Aki?" Cita called.
The youth didn't respond.
"Aki!" Cita tried again. He walked to the youth and grabbed his shoulder.
"Nonononononono!" Aki cried and flung himself away.
Cita recoiled.
'What's happened? Aki has always been the strong one!' A twinge of guilt slashed through Cita as he recalled Aki's melancholy on the trolley.
Cita watched in horror as a new gash opened across the brown surface.
"I told you," Mr. Smith said. "He's of no use. You should have listened to me." He sauntered toward the teenagers, brushing an invisible speck of dust from his crisp suit.
"You don't get it!" Cita screamed. "I don't want what you have to offer! I never wanted what you offered!"
"Never?" Mr. Smith smirked.
A fresh fissure spread across the shaking flesh.
Cita glared, fuming silently.
"You know what? It doesn't matter." Mr. Smith adjusted his tie. "For all your insistence that there's another path, here we are. Right back where we started. Your grandmother is being tortured because you ran away. You left her to die."
"No," Aki hissed. He crawled toward Mr. Smith. Sparks of blue flames lit his red-orange eyes.
"Oh yes," Mr. Smith countered. "If you'd just kept doing things my way, she'd be home in her rocker. Instead …" He shrugged.
"No." Cita shook his head. "Maybe I ran. Maybe I've been running this whole time. But I didn't leave her to die. That wasn't the bargain."
Aki watched Cita. "Do you finally remember?"
Cita drew his long dagger from its sheath. He held it parallel to the shaking surface in front of his eyes.
"Yeah," he agreed. "I think I do."
"No!" Mr. Smith shouted. "You can't do that!"
"Can't I?" Cita asked. He ran his fingers along the blade, slashing them and leaving a trail of blood. He continued the motion smoothly.
The blade extended in the wake of the blood until Cita held a delicate two-foot silvery weapon. It glittered as if reflecting firelight.
Aki drew himself up. He shook like a leaf as he braced his feet at shoulder-width. He drew his long dagger and ran his fingers along the blade. It extended into a midnight blade. Glints of red and blue swirled across the metal.
Together, they stabbed deep into the brown flesh beneath their feet. They carved open a wide gash, meeting in the middle.
Aki collapsed back to his knees, panting and wide-eyed.
Cita stepped back and surveyed their handiwork. No blood oozed from the wound. Instead, a black bubble pushed up. The skin spread, gaping wider to let the substance emerge.
The bubble rose clear of the flesh and stretched higher. Slowly, it coalesced into a man's figure. The figure stretched as if awakening from a long slumber.
'Mmmm. Is it time, then?' the darkness asked. 'Excellent.'
Like a dam breaking, everything flooded back.