There was a sound. No, it was more than just any sound. It was a cry of pain. There was a sense of hopelessness in it. But most of all, it held so much sadness that it shocked Maitho. He only realized a few seconds later that the sound was coming from within him.
He was the one screaming.
The two halves of Quinn were tossed away from each other. Quinn's painful cries were cut off as soon as he came apart. The splitting of the car revealed Adahlia's form, graceful as ever but with a smile on her lips that could chill anyone to the bone. She looked like she might have particularly enjoyed tearing the wings off of butterflies as a young girl. Once the deed was done, she lifted her head up, her eyes slowly rotating to focus on Maitho. "If you had just listened."
He didn't pay any attention to her words. Not at first. All he could see were the two forms of Quinn where they shouldn't be. For the first time, he truly saw the damage the car had taken from external attacks. Door handles were missing. There were numerous dents all over the body, as though the car was used as some brutal martial arts training equipment. Scratches had left gorges in their wake. It finally occurred to Maitho that Quinn had forgotten all healing to save himself in order to keep his passengers safe.
There was no saying what kind of pain the vehicle must have felt. But if his sentience was matched with real emotions and physical feelings, then whatever had been done to him might have been excruciating.
Maitho felt like his chest was caught in a vise. There was a sudden pressure there that he hadn't felt for a long time.
Epona screamed. She didn't speak any words. It was just a monotonic noise of pure rage. A horse appeared in front of Adhalia, who caused a vine as thick as a regular adult to swat away the creature and turn it into mist. But in the horse's place appeared another one. The second animal lifted its hooves. Meanwhile, Epona used the distraction caused by her spirit friend to aim down her crossbow and fire.
This time, Adahlia caused a wall of thorns to appear out of the ground, shielding her from any incoming attack. Both the horse's kick and the arrow connected with the wall. Epona wasn't done. She quickly sidestepped and aimed her weapon again. Another bolt shot forwards.
It never got even close to its target.
A thin vine appeared out of Adahlia's sleeves and caught the arrow midair. She tossed aside the arrow as though it was a mere annoyance. Then she attacked. A thick vine shattered the ground in front of Epona, throwing soil, bricks, and other debris into the air. The vine moved like an appendage of a giant creature living underground. The green rope-like plant wrapped itself around Epona before she could so much as react. She tried to aim her crossbow at it out of sheer reflex, but found another vine sprout out of the ground and snatch the weapon away.
Then she began to scream. The vine was slowly crushing her.
Maitho found his attention pulled to the cries of pain. His mind seemed to gain clarity and return to reality. He faced Adahlia. "Stop this." The words escaped him in a plea. Yet he realized that he was not concerned about how he sounded. All he wanted was to avoid another tragedy.
"I don't think I will," said Adahlia. "You aren't someone who is easily convinced. Sadly, I don't have all the time in the world. I need to show you that whatever decision you make, you need to do it now and you need to make it in our favor."
Flashes of Quinn passed through his mind. The car, even without a human body, had displayed so much humanity in the short time that Maitho had known him.
Anger flooded into Maitho. It started at the pit of his stomach and seemed to make its way up. It ignited his veins and numbed his senses. He began to feel a sense of deep red that clouded everything he thought. His fists clenched as he turned his entire attention to Adahlia.
Then he ran. It was such a pitiful decision to make. But what of it? There was no sense in talking to this monster. She had done something that words could not explain. She had committed cold-blooded murder. That's exactly what it was.
Yet it wasn't just another murder. Adahlia had targeted a friend. Maitho realized that for the first time in such a long while, he had truly formed a connection with another person. Yes, to him, Quinn would always be a person.
He realized that even though he was running at the Norse Guardian at full speed, it still felt slow to him. He watched as she looked at him, the corner of her mouth curving upwards. There was a twinkle in her eye, as though she was pleased with something. For some reason, she didn't make a move. Not until Maitho was halfway into reaching her. That was when she raised her hands. A bunch of leaves broke out of the ground and hovered in front of her. Then they shot forwards.
The leaves struck Maitho, punching into his body. They struck his chest, legs, arms and even his face. One of them flew straight towards his throat.
In an instant, Maitho found his entire body come to a sudden stop. Pain was beyond him. All he could feel was a sense of numbness, both physically and emotionally. For some reason, he realized that it did not matter what happened to him.
He watched as the ground came up to meet him. Then the side of his face hit the pavement . Hard. Even then, the pain didn't register at all. It felt as though all his facial muscles had ceased to exist. The sight before him was one of destruction.
He found himself staring at the wreckage of Quinn. A tear rolled down his eye. Seeing his friend meet such an end seemed such a waste to him. Life didn't deserve such a fate.
His vision began to slowly blur. Was this how it felt to die? He realized that at the very least, he was able to see his friend in his final moments.
A foot wrapped in a shoe made out of plant stems and sprouting small flowers all over its body appeared in his vision. He knew who was standing in front of him. Yet he paid her no attention. He simply looked at the broken parts of his friend, the person he had let down. He knew that Epona was struggling, but he had no idea what to do. All the fight he had felt had been sucked out of him.
"What a pitiful state you are in," said Adahlia. Then she raised her foot. The heel of her shoe seemed to elongate. It had turned into a long and pointed thorn. "I suppose you do deserve some pity for everything you tried to do and watch it all come apart."
Then she brought down the shoe on Maitho's face and his world turned into darkness.
Empty. Quiet. Peaceful.
There was no senses to experience. No sights to witness.
Then light. It was a pinprick at first, like a distant star in the sky. He watched it to expand. Not slowly. But faster than anything he had seen.
He realized that the dot wasn't just growing, but was moving towards him at breathtaking speeds. Before he could find the words to explain what he was seeing or react to the incoming sight, he found himself breaking out into the world.
He found himself standing up on the ground. No plants had struck him. He looked down at his body and everything seemed alright. No wounds. No injuries.
Maitho looked up to see Adahlia standing where she was, near the entrance of the Celtic base. She was talking. Her lips moved, but no sound escaped her. That confused Maitho. In fact, he realized that the whole world around him was silent. It was like he had suddenly turned deaf.
Then the audio bombarded his senses. He could hear the world around him.
"—show you that whatever decision you make, you need to do it now and you need to make it in our favor." Adahlia was saying.
Her words were familiar. He had heard them before. He turned around to see that the vine was still holding on to Epona. Quinn still lay in two halves. This had all happened to him before.
He knew what it was. Of course he did. After all, it felt as though he had used his power. At the same time, it felt different. His power had never allowed him to do this. Never had it made him to relive a moment. Or rather, he had never been able to experience it so vividly.
He realized that he needed to put it to the test.
He began running towards Adahlia in the same way as he had done before. He watched her reactions, each movement acting like a sign board of what she wanted to do. When she raised her hand, he knew what was coming next.
The leaves appeared out of the ground and floated in front of her. This time, when they shot forward, Maitho dodged-rolled out of the way. He pushed himself to his feet within seconds and was moving towards Adahlia already.
He just wasn't prepared for what came next.
A large branch with a pointed end burst out of the ground. It pierced his chest. His journey came to a sudden stop as the branch seemed to tear through his heart. Darkness welcomed him.
Yet again, he saw the dot of light moving towards him. Again, he found himself back to the moment before he had run towards Adahlia.
He examined the world around him, the feeling both recognizable and alien at the same time. It was like he was experiencing something he understood, yet it wasn't happening the way it was before.
"—need to do it now and you need to make it in our favor." Adahlia once again finished.
Maitho ran. He dodged the bullet leaves. Then he moved out of the way as the pointed branch broke out of the ground with the aim of killing him with a stab through the heart. But he was unprepared for the branch that pierced his thighs. He screamed in pain as another branch moved towards his exposed neck.
Darkness. Then light. Then reality.
"—you need to make it in our favor," said Adahlia.
Maitho didn't wait. He ran. He dodged the sharp leaves, then the branch aiming for his chest, then the one aiming for his thigh followed by the attack on his neck. A wall of thorns appeared in front of him. They fired long thorn missiles that aimed for every part of his body.
Darkness yet again. Then he was back.
"I need to show you that whatever decision you make—" Adahlia was saying.
"You need to do it now and you need to make it in our favor," completed Maitho. "Yeah, I've that crap before."
Adahlia frowned. Her look, for the first time, showed mild caution.
"Here we go," said Maitho to himself.
He ran. Leaves. Dodge. Chest branch. Avoid. Leg impalement. Step to the side. Throat attack. Duck. Wall of thorns. Jump to the side before they could fully form. Maitho saw the thorns fire at an empty spot that he had occupied a couple of seconds ago.
Then he was in front of Adahlia. The Norse Guardian's eyes widened. She had probably never expected this. As for Maitho, he found himself screaming. He was giving voice to the loss of his friend. His hand ended in a fist that moved on its own. It's destination was clear.
The punch connected with Adahlia's cheek. The force pushed her back, but it didn't bring her down. A bed of branches and leaves appeared behind her, cushioning her and keeping her standing. Maitho landed a few feet in front of her, his breath coming out in large gasps.
For a moment that could have lasted seconds or even a minute, he and Adahlia found themselves looking at each other. She held a shocked expression on her face while he knew that his was one of pure fury.
Adahlia's face began to distort. The ground began to shake as her hand still stayed pressed against the area that Maitho had struck. "You will pay for that." Her voice warned, like the tail of a rattlesnake before the serpent struck.
This time, Maitho was prepared.
Except for the lightning, of course.