I spring up from the cot I'm lying in and freak out everyone nearby. I hear screams and surprised yelps come out as I look around. To my left is Earl with tears in his eyes and Heath looking at me with surprise. To my right are Sacate and Elizabeth, the former with a gentle smile and the other bawling her eyes out.
The next thing I do is look down at my body as just a single second ago, I was with Lily in her mental scape, but before that, I was dying. I still appear just as injured, but a cross resembling a cardinal compass is stained right above my heart like a tattoo. A cross that spins at the ends and turns red like a blooming flower. At the very center of the cross is a small white dot that kind of resembles a pupil. The eyes of the people around me also focus on my skin of mine which is discolored like I was branded.
Words come out of my mouth as I become even more confused. I thought Lily said that I had a fifty-fifty chance of dying? Does that come with literally no other sights or sounds? No visions or whispers? Do I just come back? And is this what she meant by us being friends? That I now have a tattoo of her in some weird way? I'm so lost that I turn to the people around me for answers.
"What just happened? Why are you two crying? Heath?"
The doctor looks at me, amazed, as he stumbles over his words.
"Y–y-you… you died, Wyatt. Full stop. We should be the ones asking you what the hell happened, young man. Your body went into shock, and your heart stopped. I had just given up on trying to help you."
I look around for a few moments before collecting my thoughts. Elizabeth is just starting to recover from her tears as she goes to hug me, but Sacate stops her.
"He still teeters on the edge. Do not touch him."
My attention turns to him, and so do my questions, of which I have many.
"What do you mean? I feel fine?"
Sacate looks at me and points to the tattoo over my heart with his one hand. His eyes glow pink, a sign of him using his foresight skill.
"I can see that a being gave you part of their life, but it's not enough to stabilize you. Only enough to bring you to consciousness. That and it is using you as a vessel for its hunger. If any touch you, they shall be sucked of all their life until you have some."
My head twists as I imagine Lily giving me her life. That doesn't make sense. Sacate must have sensed her giving me the life she had devoured and turned into a spider lily. At least, I think that's how her Ether works. Sigils get really confusing later on. The vessel for hunger makes a bit of sense, though, because of how she acted while I was there.
Lily might appear as a gentle little girl but is anything but.
A spirit made out of a Sigil and from a legendary river that must, at the minimum, be a 7th Sigiled is anything but gentle. From what I've seen, all artifacts crave something, and she likely isn't different even if she was forged by my father.
She seems to crave either souls or lifespan. Possibly both as she can hold onto souls and from how her bullets kill people, sucking them dry of youth and vigor. I guarantee should she get the chance, she would be just as bloodthirsty as the Bloody Palm. Those sharp teeth and a disturbing smile break the facade of innocence.
I shake my head from the thoughts of her and bring myself back to reality.
"So what do I do then? I was pulled into the mental scape of the Blooming Spider Lily, and she helped me. Are you saying it was a double-edged sword?"
Sacate looks at me, full of interest, as he nods sagely.
"Hmm. All things not achieved with effort can damage you. Even most that are achieved through hard work can. But it does seem as though it is fading. Give me a moment."
Sacate walks away from us as Heath, Earl, and Elizabeth almost lose their minds.
"How did a gun save you?"
"You called the gun a she? You spoke to her?"
"Do you feel okay?"
I look at the three and get a taste of my own medicine. Being assaulted with questions isn't that pleasant. I realize that now as I sit on a bloody cot covered in bandages. But I take a moment to take a deep breath as I answer them in a row, starting with Heath. His question is quite tricky.
"I'm not sure, actually. She said the Cardinal waters had a chance to kill or heal me. All she did was hold onto my soul a bit longer and use the river's power that she could manifest to save me. I'm not sure what this tattoo is all about or how she even healed me, but you can check that all out when you can touch me again."
I then turn my attention to Earl. He seems to be hung up on the fact that the Colt had a mind.
"Yeah, I spoke to the gun. It has a spirit or a soul; it's not all that clear. But she, it was a little girl, was quite helpful even if a bit ominous."
Last but not least, I address Elizabeth's question, which focuses on me. And I don't really know how to answer. My eyes fall upon my missing right arm. The Bloody Palm that still refuses to even acknowledge me like a toddler with a temper tantrum. Hopefully, that changes, or else I will be stuck with a single arm that is stiff and that hates me.
The rest of my body is fucked up as well, but not as mad as a missing arm. Burns go across my whole body here and there, what the Bloody Palm could not heal before it awoke from Johnny's Fixation. The giant wound in my chest is completely covered with bandages, so I can't even look at it, though.
But despite all these wounds, which are undoubtedly my worst, I feel almost no pain. Only a slight throb exists where my arm would once be. So, I answer you honestly.
"Yeah, I feel fine. Very little pain. I think it looks worse than it is."
Heath laughs at my words and shakes his head because of my obvious falsity.
"I cannot believe you, lad. Well, rest up; you certainly are an oddity. I need to go take care of other people. Johnny said he'd kill me if I let you die, so I had to do that first."
He then starts to walk away as he gathers some of his medical tools, but I find what he says almost unbelievable. Why would he threaten Heath for my life?
"Did Johnny really say that?"
Heath glances back at me as he takes steps toward his next patient of many for the foreseeable future.
"Yeah. You're important to his plans, Wyatt. More than anyone else here. He'd do anything to achieve his goals; using the threat of death is not something he'd be afraid to go beyond."
His back faces us as I yell back at him, not understanding why he's still with Johnny. Surely a doctor would leave for safety, right? I mean, they'd be welcome anywhere.
"Why do you stay with him, then, if he might kill you?"
Heath only shrugs his shoulders as he leaves my sight and enters the crowd of many wounded nearby.
My attention then falls on my two friends. Elizabeth is the first to curse me out, but thankfully, she can't hit me because of Sacate's warning.
"You idiot! How could you just charge at the horde like that? No one was even beside you! You were all alone! How stupid are you! You almost died! NO! YOU DID DIE!"
As she yells at me, I see Dakota's head reach the side of the cot as he looks at me, definitely reciprocating her feelings despite his inability to speak. Earl's face also has the same emotion. At least this time isn't my fault…
"Johnny did something to me before we fought. He used a skill of his, Fixation, and it made the Bloody Palm and me, like… combine. I don't know how else to describe it. I became so focused on fighting that I forgot everything else."
Earl puts his arms on his shoulder and smirks at me.
"So… You're saying this wasn't your fault? That it was Johnny's?"
I nod.
"Yeah, right… I'll talk to him about it then."
Earl doesn't seem to believe me, and neither does Elizabeth; apparently, to them, I'm too prone to suicidal actions. I don't think so, though. Shit just happens. I go to make a rebuttal, but before I can, Sacate returns. But he's carrying a man by his foot.
The three of us watched, stunned, as Sacate lifted the man up into the air, as the man begins screaming.
"What are you doing? Don't kill me, please! I'm sorry!"
Sacate merely sets the man down, having him fall on his face. Then Sacate grabs his arm and throws him onto me as the man tries to get up.
I see the man's face stretched out of worry and strain as he touches me, and then for a brief moment, the whole world goes black and white. Everything in my vision is dyed by the colors of Lily's world. Everything is grayscale except for one thing. The man in front of me. He glows a blooming red.
The entire world turns to slow motion as the man ages before my very eyes, and within a second, he turns into an old man. Another, and he's nothing but skin and bones. I feel a brief burst of chilly cold as something flows into me at the center of my tattoo, an evernight-tinted river of Ether.
Within a single moment, the man dies, and my tattoo disappears. And just as fast as the world turned black and white a moment ago, it now regains color. The man slides off the cot dead and falls to the ground, now nothing but bones and strips of flesh.
I guess that was whatever Lily did to me. Instead of breaking my soul and taking my lifespan, it seems it took someone else's before having her power fade. Maybe it would have happened to me if I had not been able to devour someone's lifespan. Did it heal me as well, like when I shot the gun?
My eyes flit to my arm as Earl freaks out beside me; Elizabeth is merely stunned, just watching the body. It doesn't appear as though my arm was healed, but I do feel a bit better. My arm moves and pulls off the bandage on my chest. Underneath the bandage covering most of my torso, the open wound is gone, and a long strip of tender and recently healed flesh remains.
That's… incredible.
"Sacate!? How did you know that would happen?"
He places a hand on where the tattoo used to be as he twists his lips.
"A legend from my tribe. The Wechuge. Similar to the Wendigo of you easterners. They devour the future from those they kill as they endlessly grow hungrier. I sensed something similar to how it is described within you. Only it seems your hunger was temporary."
Sacate takes his hand off and leaves me with some final words before walking away again.
"You best be careful. I know you wish to do good, but the greatest monsters spring from men who try to do the right thing. Hell is full of good meanings, Wyatt. Yet, only the greatest works make it to any kind of heaven."
He walks away and leaves the three of us to ruminate on his odd phrases.
After he does, I try to sit up and look at my friends a bit better. And as I do, I realize I feel a lot better than I should. All my external injuries remain, but I suppose my internals are fixed. Every other time I've been healed by Lily, it's been a complete restoration, but not this time.
I must have been really fucked up.
And I suppose I was. From fire to bullets, to lightning, to steel. Just about everything I can think of hurt me today. And without the Bloody Palm to heal me, some of that is going to stay for the foreseeable future.
My burns and the missing arm are likely to slow me down and affect me significantly. I move around on the cot and prepare to stand. There is something I need to do. Someone I need to see. And no, it's not Alexos. That motherfucker can wait until I heal enough to kill him myself. He's too cowardly to do anything while we are all here. When I start to push myself up, I grow incredibly light-headed and start to fall.
Elizabeth and Earl, who were just talking to each other while I was distracted by my condition, turn abruptly and catch me by my arms before I slam into the dirt. Simultaneously, they both yell at me with the exact words.
"The hell is wrong with you! Don't move!"
I wring out the words of where I want to go as my eyes lock onto my destination.
Virgil, his brother, and Johnny, who is standing nearby talking to the eldest Boone.
"I want to talk to Virgil. Can you guys help me walk over there?"
Elizabeth sighs as she nods and puts my arm over her shoulder. Earl follows her lead but scoffs and gives me a piece of his mind.
"You need to rest, dumbass. But yeah, we'll take you to Virgil and Vernon."
Slowly we walk over to where Vernon is chained up with his brother sitting beside him with dried tears over his face. Tears that look a bit weird to me. They were tinted a kind of gray. Odd.
I shake away the thoughts as I hear what Johnny is telling Virgil once I get close enough.
"---He will have to be killed, Virgil. There is no other choice. That is not your brother. That is a Two-Face. It might seem like your brother now and then, but that is just the creature that has taken his place."
Silence goes on for a few seconds as I arrive and stand next to the sitting Virgil with the help of Elizabeth and Earl. Johnny nods at me before turning back to Virgil.
"If you want, I can—"
"NO!"
Virgil bursts out a yell that interrupts Johnny. Tears stream from his eyes as he pulls out his bowie knife. Sobbing words come from his mouth as he turns to face his chained-up and unconscious brother.
"I know… I know… I just… I just hoped… I'll do it myself. That's the least I can do…."
I try to talk to him, but I'm unsure what to say. I've never been in this position before. I hurt knowing that Vernon is gone, that a creature, a Two-Face, has taken his place, but I know for a fact my hurt is on a different dimension from Virgil's.
"Virgil, I—"
He stops me from talking as he lifts his knife at Vernon.
"Shush, please… I just… want some quiet…"
I give him his wish, and so do the others around me. Everything within twenty feet goes completely silent. Even the injured townsmen far away seem to quiet in their agony in respect of this fallen man. Without him, I doubt we would have killed Hura.
His help at the start of the battle against the Demon Of Storms was vital, and now that I think about it, only when he stopped helping did everything seem to go to shit. He also saved Virgil, although I doubt that would comfort the man. I have no siblings of my own, but I can empathize. I'm sure I'd rather die than have a younger sibling fall.
I watch with fragile eye ducts as Virgil lifts the blade over Vernon's heart. The man says one quiet whisper before plunging the dagger straight down.
"I'll miss you…"
About a second after the knife stabs into the Two-Face's heart, its eyes open and look at Virgil with a face of betrayal. I can see Virgil's heart shatter by his expression as words followed by blood come from the Two-Face's mouth.
"Brother…?"
But despite the perfect copy of his brother's voice and tone, Virgil just closes his eyes and twists the blade, surging necrotic Ether into the steel. Once he does, the Two-Face seems to realize his facade is completely broken, or maybe the part that emulates the takeover is destroyed; who knows.
And once the creature realizes what's wrong, it starts to lash out. It tries to move as a light that is somehow tinted with shadows emerges from his body, but before it can hurt anyone, Virgil uses Vernon's Colt and puts a bullet between his eyes.
But even that doesn't kill the monsters, as a huge hole is put in the skull of what used to be Vernon. It starts to lash out and create blades of this light. I try to help, but I can't do anything and just get pulled back by Earl and Elizabeth. Johnny, however, does help. He puts a bullet into every single joint of the Two-Face's before it can attack.
The creature falls limp without any of its joints or tendons, and Virgil is forced to stab it repeatedly in the heart with his blade as tears fall from his face. But the creature just won't die. It continues to struggle and fight despite the many instantly lethal wounds. Virgil lets out a scream as he retaliates with his bowie knife. Tendrils of light constantly lash at Virgil, but the man doesn't care as he only wants to put his brother to rest. After almost a full minute of blood splattering and rage-crying stabs, the creature finally falls quiet.
I slip a bit and stand shakily as Elizabeth lets go of my shoulder and releases the contents of her stomach. I feel my stomach also gurgle and want to come up at the sight of Vernon's mutilated body. In the corner of my eye, I see Earl's face turn green as he also wants to puke. But he's able to keep it in. I guess he's seen enough by now to stabilize his stomach.
Covered in the gore and blood of his younger brother, Virgil reaches into his brother's backpack, just an arm's width away, that was knocked over, and pulls out a shovel. Then, he stands and walks away.
I call toward him as he does so, my worry for the man trumping my weakness.
"Virgil…? You alright?"
The man just walks away with one word.
"Yeah…"