Universal Heroes- Book 3

8~7

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A purple and black orb floated into my hands as if mocking my pain. I looked onto Alex's body, surrounded by the remaining smoke of his demon as well as the cuts which came with it. The was a large splatter of blood on the ground by his head, meaning that even if he was still "alive" in the demon, he would've died from head trauma and blood loss.

I didn't know what to feel. We went through all of this. I bet Alex trusted us with his life. Now his dead body was before us and his soul in my hands, as if laughing at all of our pain. It wasn't even like we were walking away without scratches or emotional trauma either. Corl looked like a 6 year old's ragdoll but with blood stains everywhere, Elijah's soul was in Ethan's care now and Denis still stood frozen in front of Nyeka's body, I assumed in disbelief of her vile action. Star tried not to break out into tears as she usually would, but I could tell she was close.

"Give me." she said, holding the top of her wand toward me.

I did as she said and released the orb into the star bulb at the end, and Ethan did the same.

"That should keep them safe until we get to Blue."

The last straw for me was when Denis made it down here just to check if Alex was alive despite the clear circumstances. He grabbed his hand and kept saying his name in a soft and weak tone - like all the energy was taken out of his words. Around Denis' wrists and neck there were sparks of electricity and watching all of this was enough to bring me to tears.

It showed me that I couldn't mentally grasp the fact that ones of my best friends was dead, no matter how much I tried to hide it. He died in pain and guilt.

"We can't let it end this way." Ethan said on his way back from picking up Elijah from across the room.

"What else could've happened? Nyeka was putting her all into making sure we wouldn't win." Corl stated with a raspy voice.

"Yeah but...Elijah can wake up once we get his soul back to him. I know the situations are different but we're supposed to be somewhat immortal, right?"

"It's doable because Elijah has his pendant. Common to known belief, Alex's practically exploded." Star said.

The silence in the room as the truth sunk in was sudden but expected in all of us.

"Look, y'all had a long week, let's just go home and get everything together." Star said awkwardly, picking up Alex's body. Deep down I knew she believed in our ability to fix things, which kinda lightened the mood for me.

"You coming?" Denis asked me as everyone else grouped up so they could teleport home.

"Nah I'm good. Got some things to figure out." I replied.

"'Kay, stay safe and we're here for you whenever you need." Ethan said nicely.

With that, everyone left, leaving me alone in the room where so much happened in a day. It was much calmer now that it was pretty much abandoned. The idea of Nyeka's soul lingering and possibilities possessing me crossed my mind, but she was dead too. She was in hell where she belonged and if not, on the way there. Therefore I dismissed the idea faster than I thought of it.

I chose to blame the bareness of the environment for the weird burning sensation of wanting to cry again - dare I say. But now that I was alone, I had no reason to hide it, that and I always promised to be real with myself.

So, I slowly sat on the ground, allowing the tears to pool around me. Where they fell, small flowers grew. This whole thing went on for a good 10 minutes until my arms were wrapped with vines. I forced myself up, looking toward where Nyeka, Ethan and Denis were.

With a rush of adrenaline running through my body and a million thoughts in my head, I ran upstairs and made my way toward Nyeka's body. Her fair skin was now white as paper, and something radiating from her feeling like she died in a fit of rage and anxiety. She died in failure.

My breath slowly grew heavier and quicker as the vines around my arms grew thorns. When it was about 6 feet long, I took action, slashing her dead body with all the strength I had. When done, her once spotless body had been covered in her own blood. While I felt like I had let my emotions get the best of me, she deserved every ounce of it and more.

Then I felt something stabbing my knee. When I pulled it off it was tiny piece of a purple crystal. All that uneasiness suddenly turned into relief as an idea popped into my head. I set about collecting any and every piece I could find, leaving no stone unturned. I had found enough to fill my pocket (strategically added by yours truly) and decided to call it a day. Hopefully this was the way to make things right again.