It was an eat or be eaten world and I was obviously the latter. Once Aki devoured the entirety of Smoyashi there was a brief silence—a moment of tranquility that was then omened by Aki's long and rumbling pur.
As if a matchstick was thrown in a bucket of gasoline, they burst into flames in one loud bang. A silhouette slithered out of the wall of flames. The cat that was once the innocent kitten I met in the forest transmogrified into a man again. He raised the flag of hell, skidding above like he was snowboarding but on fire. The white cloak that covered him before was walloped away by the winds caused by his speed. He was frowning initially but when his eyes and my eyes locked, a cocky grin spread across his cunning pale face. His hair was jet black while his eyes burned a bright orange to reddish color. A pair of cat ears sat on top of his head. The clothes he wore were leathery, punkish and modern.
Aki breathed in fire that swirled in front of his lips, forming out of nowhere. He exhaled a comet-like shape inferno to the tentacle that held me. I was released from its inevitable crumble and was grabbed by my collar by the man.
"Why did you eat Smoyashi?!"
"Meow…"
"YOU STILL CAN'T TALK?"
He guffawed maniacally. "I'm just messing with you. Find the damn clam and let's get out of this smelly place."
A slimy hand came up front to swat us like flies. Aki dropped me, expecting me to have an extra eight lives to use.
"You stupid moron!" I screamed at him. I crossed my arms over my face, bracing for impact. My collar got hooked by something when I was mere inches away from becoming a splatter of bones and blood. I found the banshee holding me similar to how mother cats would hold a fresh prey of mice. Relief washed over me.
"Thanks Bansh. I owe you…"
On second thought, I regret saying I owed something to a creature that could possibly tell me to pay for my pancreas later as gratitude.
The giant side-stepped from behind the building and came forward. The floor of Tethy's stomach shook from the beastly growl of the humanoid squid head. Aki gracefully unfurled his paper fans and spun, creating a blazing tempest that set the squid in scorching flames. Tentacles that emitted sparks of electricity pursued the nimble man. The sound of electric currents were startling as if we could get whipped by them if we got any closer.
"Ugh...what's happening?" Yang groaned. He stared up with squinted eyes, not noticing the mayhem we were experiencing.
"We're getting attacked by a squid."
His eyes grew wide. His common sense and awareness returned.
"That's my sister!"
The detail that a giant cephalopod was the tadpole's sibling didn't surprise me anymore but the fact that this one was a girl did flick shock in me.
"That's a girl?"
Tentacles kept coming but Aki's dance-like movements sliced the squiggly limbs at a pace that kept increasing in speed. Every swing of his fan carried and left a burning and bright trail. Something about his face pissed me off. It may be because he was good-looking but I just couldn't put my finger on the exact reason.
"Yin!" Yang shouted. Yin spared him a glance. A siren's holler erupted from her, shattering glass and putting us into transitory deafness.
I grinned at Bansh, clucking my tongue. "You should step up your game. I think she screams better than you."
She glowered at me, causing me to clear my throat and take a step away.
Flying sharks had hailed from different directions. Yin transfigured into water, dispersing like a waterfall and becoming a big puddle on the floor. Yang floated, agitated his head, and took down the sharks like before. Electric eels descended from above and fell like heavy raindrops that bear live electricity.
I was hyped. My team could be amazing when it needed to be.
"Get them Yang!"
A shark dropped on top of me. The wheel dividing its body hit my head, stealing my consciousness.
I was seriously the only one dragging this group's potential down.
I groaned. A group of boys spoke in a distorted, deepened, and unnatural voice. The sun was hot and bright orange. It was minutes away from parting from the sky. The boys formed a semi-circle around someone who sat defenseless on the cold tiled floors of the boy's toilet.
It seemed as though I was watching through a dark screen from one of the cubicles. I couldn't understand them and there was a strong and salty buttery taste in my mouth.
'You should hang yourself. No one wants you anyway.'
My mouth moved on its own, voice trembling and throat aching from tears that I tried to hold back. There was pain in my ribs and legs.
'Wh…when my brother gets here, you'll all be sorry! You'll all be dead!'
An abrupt tightness around my neck woke me right back into Atlarei. I rose with a sharp gasp, there was a feeling of someone throwing me to a bathtub full of ice water. My skin was icy cold. The shakiness in my hands was uncontrollable.
I was on top of a soft and fluffy back. At first I was relieved that it must be Aki's but the squeaks made me suspicious. I screamed. The creature stood, throwing me off its back. It scurried away, leaving me surrounded by dead fishes.
I was like a cat that fell from a high place. My back was saved by my four limbs. I searched the place for whatever was transporting me. A pair of black and shiny eyes stared from behind a broken pillar. It was round, furry, and brown. It was observing me and perhaps even judging me.
What was a hamster doing inside a whale?
"Where were you taking me?" It must have thought I was dead and decided to tuck me away into where it stored its food for winter.
It crawled out from its hiding spot and pointed at the building we were aiming for. Aki, Yang, and Yin were nowhere to be found but I could still feel the tremble of the floor and the sound of battle in the distance.
"You're going to help me?"
It nodded. My instincts kicked in when a crab's leg staked across us at the intersection of the road. I wasted no time riding the hamster's back. I didn't have to tell it to avoid where we'd get seafood mania chasing us.
The entrance of the building was unfortified. Some of the marble walls had already collapsed. There were broken vases scattered on the ground. Portraits of a beautiful woman with blue hair were torn and stained with black ink. The halls had an airy sound that made everything more eerie.
The thought of climbing to the top already consumed my energy. As much as I wanted to depend on the hamster, if there were monsters that would attack us I didn't believe that one of us could do combat.
"Okay, I'll call you… Hamsan? That's short for a Ham sandwich but I swear you don't look tasty."
Hamsan ignored my rambling and commenced the climb. It was not until the fifth flight of stairs that I instructed it about how we'd survive because so far I was doing well in that aspect.
"If we get assaulted by anything we run, get it?"
All I obtained was silence and a heart attack from the sudden plop of a small dolphin from the broken ceiling. The dolphin struggled on its back. I contemplated if I should help it or not.
"That's kind of cute..."
Finally, a nanosecond of innocence in this condemned world.
Hamsan sniffed the squiggling thing in curiosity but squeaked aloud when the dolphin managed to land on its stomach.
The dolphin hissed.
Yes, it hissed like it was a vessel for a high-ranking demon. Its eyes were void of life—clouded with white clumps.
Cries of despair echoed from the hallway with an abysmal and seemingly endless length. I repeatedly tapped Hamsan before the sources of wailing appeared.
Adding more visual nightmares was the last thing I'd want.
"Go...go Hammy!"
But of course, they timed it right as we were to turn around. Bloodied and dusty webbed hands reached out from the murk and the possessed dolphin howled like it was leading the three hundred Spartan soldiers for war.