Memory Lane

28. Beyond evil

28. Beyond evil

"how much longer?" Anima achingly complained as the sun was setting on the horizon. The pains of adventure were finally starting to get to her.

"hopefully not much more to go. After this, we'll finally be in the Frontal Barrier" Silhouette replied.

"maybe that bloke over there can give us directions" Fred looked over to the figure of a person sitting on a rock not far from where they were walking.

"excuse me sir" Fred walked up to the rock, to find a shadowy woman with pink eyes, a frilled skirt and stripped gloves jump off. This was Cindy, another minion of Superego, who held a bleak and cynical attitude to life, only wishing to prove a point at the expense of others.

"well, well. Just who I wanted to see" Cindy leaned on the rock.

"what do you mean?" Fred wondered.

"my boss has been looking for you" the woman made a small throwing knife appear in her hand.

"Miss, don't tell me you're with the others who attacked us" Fred became even more suspicious of Cindy's motives.

"afraid I am" Cindy replied before throwing her knife at him. As the other two were racing to the fight, Cindy spun around on her tiptoes like a ballerina while her spinning skirt shot out dozens of small knives in every direction. Anima was hit in the shoulder as Fred led a retreat back to the ruins of the nut house they had just escaped.

"you can't hide from me forever, Fred. Next stop, Superego" Cindy skated across the red grassy plains to the wreckage and scanned the heap for any signs of life.

"what if we let her take us to him?" Fred whispered to Anima and Silhouette, who had taken cover behind a large pile of wood not far from Cindy.

"you don't know if she will or not. She has that killer look in her eyes, so it's a bad idea." Anima whispered back while taking the knife out of her shoulder.

"well then, how about this?" Fred leaned over the wood pile and shot an energy ball at Cindy.

"there you are!!" Cindy got back up and spotted her target, who gave chase.

"come here!!!" Cindy pursued Fred through the ruins, soon stopping near what was once the eastern wall, where a large iron support pole was sticking out. Finally, Fred fought back with more balls of energy. A final ball to the face served as a diversion for Anima to arrive, taking a lump of wood to whack Cindy away in the direction of the large iron pole which sealed her fate.

"I think I've had it up to here with assassins for one day" Anima threw down the wood as the others loomed over Cindy's body.

"me too. We can camp here for the night, then we can head off tomorrow" Silhouette suggested.

"what about Superego?" Fred turned back.

"he can wait. You won't want to fight him if you're half asleep" Silhouette reasoned.

"fair enough" Fred plodded off through the ruins for firewood and other supplies that may have survived the collapse. Night fell over the Spatial Realm with a light chill to the spine. The crackle of the campfire continued while Fred lay awake on a bed of smashed stones. Suddenly, he heard the strange ominous sound from the Temporal Plain. It soon manifested itself into the voice of a woman.

"what?" Fred sat up and looked around to see if anyone was near. The words became more apparent in his ears as the woman's voice emanated through the night sky.

"From the dread summit of this chalky bourn. Look up a-height; the shrill-gorged lark so far Cannot be seen or heard: do but look up" the voice finally sounded right to Fred.

"Maddie?" Fred called out softly. At the corner of his eye, Fred saw the tint of lights coming from somewhere not too far away. He turned to his right and watched the lights twinkle in a long line on the horizon before falling sound asleep.