On the left, an endless battlefield, old dilapidated buildings crumbling all around, at its center a disintegrating woman smiling at him, her bright red hair covering most of her face.
Averting his eyes, he looked right. An imposing man stood there, facing an endless void. He could only see his winged tattooed back. As the man began crumbling away, he tried to reach out to him, and that's when he noticed his bloodied hand. Feeling something strange around his left arm, he turned his head.
In front of him, a golden-haired woman, her fear-stricken green eyes staring through him as his hand penetrated her gut. Shocked, he hastily retreated. When he tried to step back, he felt something wrap itself around his feet.
"Where are you going, mister?" Looking down, he met the eyes of a familiar child grabbing his leg. He'd seen it before, it was the Blackcoda bait, but something felt wrong. Its body was dark and its eyes pitch black.
"Vich, don't go!" His other leg was grabbed by two people wearing exosuits. They were dismembered, the bottom half of their body gone. "It's not our fault, we were just following orders!" They cried out in unison, black oily tears flowing from their eyes.
Wanting to escape this nightmare, he looked up. The scenery had completely changed, there was no battlefield, void, or woman. Instead extending towards the horizon was a sea of corpses, at its center, a mountain. It was enormous, made up of countless corpses. Some dismembered, some burned, some corroded. All of them were different, but for some reason, he could recognize them. And at the top of this mountain stood a figure, looking down at him.
As their gazes crossed, her purple eyes flared up. Purple flames spread from her back overtaking her entire body. He knew her, the entity inside the scythe, Sasha's other half…
"Look at you…" her echoing voice resonated through their surroundings. "Being burdened by those you've killed." He couldn't look away. The numerous corpses were holding him in place, preventing him from averting his gaze.
"Is this how you plan to protect those you cherish?" Hearing this, his gaze turned cold. "Oh? Did I hit a nerve? I'm just a voice in your head. There is no reason to hate me, we're on the same side," she said, spreading her arms. "Have you not experienced enough loss? Or do you want Anissa, Despira, Loyd, or Sasha to end up like them?" She pointed at the ground in front of him and two corpses rose. Their bodies were twisted beyond recognition, but he knew who they were. Akasha… Kolya… Their corpses were deformed cracked and mangled. As he saw this, his anger rose. Glaring at the glowing figure, his eyes turned white.
"That's it! Get angry!" White lightning emerged from his back turning the corpses around him to dust. Without any hesitation, he dashed toward the mountain of corpses. "That anger…" As he got closer the world around him began turning white. "Use it!" He was inches away from her face when the whiteness enveloped his entire vision.
Waking up, Slava burst to his feet. Grasping onto his domain, his suit began to slither onto his body. "Calm down! It's over!" Noticing a familiar face, he took a deep breath.
"Where's Sasha?" He asked a visibly exhausted Angel. Sitting back down, he took the time to take in his surroundings. He looked to be sitting on an operating table, a large light shining above his head. His suit seemed to be working now which was a relief. The familiar indicators were slowly overtaking his vision.
"You really won't give me a break huh?" She sighed. "Alright don't move, I'll go get her, I'll be right back. You're still confused, take it slow." When she left, Slava closed his eyes, dragging his hands across his face.
Where was he? Right, he asked for Sasha because he wanted to get more information on her "alter ego". But wait, something felt wrong. Why was he on an operating table? What were these white gowns? What was he being operated for? All of these questions flooded his mind accompanied by a massive headache and soon enough the images of the previous fight flashed in his head.
No… no! It's impossible! It can't be! He opened his eyes wide, looking dazedly through his hands at the ground. Soon enough, a message appeared in his vision
[Connected to Henosis Network]
Following the message, a familiar scene unfurled before his eyes, a voice accompanying it.
"The state of the capital is almost unrecognizable. Vegetation has completely taken over. After the attack, nothing is certain. The government has yet to issue a statement and no one has…" Slava didn't have to listen to all of it, he knew what it meant. Looking back down, the scene disappeared and that's when a familiar twisting object appeared in front of him.
That's right, he still had this! What he'd been working on for so long. He couldn't test his theories before, but now… now he had…
Suddenly, in a swift movement, his chains sprung up from his back. Moving his hands, the figure moved to take the space in between them.
Finally, he could finally go back. Tears began flowing down his cheeks. At the same time, the world around him started to twist. His back flared up. With the help of his chains, he twisted and pulled to bend the space to match the object he'd been working on. It was really odd, his arms and chains seemed to work at different speeds, some extremely slow, others unbelievably fast.
It was truly amazing, a smile crept onto Slava's face. He could see it! The whole range of the electromagnetic spectrum. There were no words to describe it, it was beyond what he'd ever seen, beyond the colors he knew. A whole new light and through it, he saw the different shapes interacting with one another, creating a web of interconnected waves that clashed and mingled.
Right now, he was using them to create his own shape, a shape that he drew and redrew countless times before. A shape that would help him go back home.
"Sister… I'm coming," he murmured, closing his eyes. He didn't need to see he knew it by heart at this point.
"Slava!" He heard Sasha scream as she burst into the room. To her words, he slowly looked back, smiling as familiar cracks spread across his skin.
"Sasha, I figured it out," he managed to say. A massive storm surrounded him, stopping her from getting closer. His back was glowing brighter than it ever did before.
Seeing her efforts go to waste, Sasha didn't waste any time. With purple lightning flashing across her bandaged eyes she disappeared, reappearing a few feet closer to him. She was visibly sweating, but she persisted, getting closer every time.
When she finally reached his side, she unhesitatingly dug her hand into the bright sphere that was forming between Slava's hands. Confused, Slava watched on as she destroyed everything he'd worked on. The space unfurled in front of his eye and in the next moment, the masterpiece was no more. There were no signs of it like it had never existed in the first place. The bright light dimmed and his vision returned to normal.
"Why… I was so close…" he said gazing at his now empty hands. "I could've gone back… I could've saved everyone…" Sasha interrupted his monologue, pushing him onto the table. His eyes landed on her bandana and that's when an unknown force moved his face to the side. Feeling the sting on his cheek he slowly moved his head just in time to receive another slap.
"You son of a bitch!" She yelled, slapping him continuously. "What are you doing? Do you want to die that badly?" She asked as her tears dropped onto his face. "First Kolya now you? You can't be serious! There's this bitch inside my head fucking with me all the time. And now you…" She suddenly stopped. "I can't do this alone," she said, burying her head into his chest. "...please don't leave me…"
Ah, he had forgotten the reason why he'd fought, the reason why Kolya lost his life… it was all to protect those precious to them. To protect his family, to protect Sasha…
Letting his chains retreat into his back, Slava slowly embraced his friend. Feeling the bandana covering her eyes brush against his skin, he swore to himself:
"I'll help her to the end, that's the least I can do."