Division

- VII • Five Strikes -

- Plum's POV -

Today was the day. Everything was so still, yet full of silent, null motion. Just me and him, to the northern, rocky part of the forests : Darkwoods. To do something that should of done such a long time ago.

"Echo?" I called out, and he turned around from the kitchen counter, it was nearly the time we were supposed to go out into dusk. "Well fed and everything? I don't wish to delay this." He turned back around and picked up another strip of salmon, "Of course, I've got my things in order, im just... waiting for your word."

"No intended rush, but good. Thank you, again." I walked up next to the window and stared at each swirl of pink and orange in the sky, as the sun set, to plunge into darkness. He held out a slice of the fish, but shook his head remembering I couldn't eat it raw like he could.

"Y'know," Echo began, "You made the right call. He's only one more threat to deal with, depending on... Solio, too. Who knows what she could've done to him, if not killed him already." I clenched the side of the counter, "That's another painful possibility, that he might not even be out there anymore."

"Worth a shot then, huh?" He went out of the kitchen, outside, he called, "Stay there!" A long moment paused, and Echo returned with two, reinforced spears. The spearhead was meant for full-body piercing, coated in a glossy metal, and the wooden beam handle was wrapped with cloth. It was also decorated with avian feathers, of many different types and colors.

"Some of Spear's old pikes, gave them a little glow-up. They're matching just for our journey. Well, he gave them to me a while back, but now seems like the best time to put them to use." He tossed one to me, nearly scraping the ceiling, and I looked back up at the sky, slowly losing its color. "If there's others out there, just say were midnight hunting." I said, prepping.

I breathed in the cold, biting wind. Winter was encroaching slowly, and from how early it is for the winds to howl, it's gonna be a harsh one. I trekked down from the opening, Echo not far ahead. "Guess the movement'll keep us warm.." He noted it was also colder than it would be at this time.

Stepping forth into the woods, this is where everything would change. Where weights stronger than the largest boulders would be lifted, the quest for a second freedom, away from Solio's wrath, Ozone's hunt, and D'Mantis' trauma. "Must all things be happening at once? We started with Orion's manipulation, and we've delved deeper than anything.." I said.

Echo huffed, "...And the death of Zen." To where the same pang of sorrow in my heart struck. "I miss him too." The trees became taller than the ones back at camp and before, the bark was rougher, but it was still dark. No wonder nobody ever comes up here without good reason, the ground is nearly gravel.

Then there it was, the same marks on the trees. "Echo, Echo, its the claw marks." He looks at me, and the tree with four vertical scratches in a row, with a diagonal one going through them all. "It's... a number, its five... Why five..?" He noted. And then I hear him stop mumbling. "...Plum? Look at all the other trees. There's... a lot."

Almost every other tree, five, everywhere you looked. I tried to fit five to someone, there was.. Me, Orion, Spear, Echo, and Vulx. That was five people directly living at camp, but it still didn't make sense. "Five what? Lives? Deaths..?" I said, trying to see if he had anything. Both of us kept walking, "Definitely not five trees, that's for sure." Echo muttered.

Once the marks turned into a sort of winding path, it led to the dim mouth of a cave. Of course, out of all places, a nearly lightless tunnel of stone. Echo sighed, and sat down at the base of one of the towering trees, resting for just a little time. I sat down next to him and placed my spear down infront of me, staring down the dark stone walls.

"Whenever you're ready, Plum." Echo near-whispered. The perfectly full moon shone the wisps of light through the trees, coating the ground like it was speckled with snow. "C'mon." I slowly arose, rose my pike, and crept forward. The air was uncomfortably thick and dusty, and each footstep would send a seemingly infinite echo out through the stone.

The cave then began to widen, and a light at the end was seen, and much more than a light. A wooden table stretched out, covered in papers and tools. A single torch was hitched up above it, giving an orange glow in a decent radius. A ripple of footsteps resounded in the small area, and a figure appeared, dark gray scales with golden and white speckles around their nose. Pale yellow horns would protrude and then curve backward right above their amber-hazel eyes. They were not much shorter than Echo, but still taller than me.

They halted near us, and put one hand on the wall and panted. They seemed injured, somehow. "Y- You gotta get out of here! Please- just take me with you s- somehow!" They whispered, a deep, shaken cry. Me and Echo slowly backed out, but before a second breath, an ear-bursting clap and a flash of white bursted from behind the unknown figure, making us both flinch suddenly. A splatter of blood shot forth, and they promptly fell to their knees, forth their whole body falling flat and lifeless.

Behind them, a lanky, ram-horned person walked forward, nonchalant and holding a smoking firearm. "What a shame... I thought we would get along." Unmistakably, it was D'Mantis. "...Plum..? No.. no, just hallucinations. Hide the body, get your stuff together." D'Mantis muttered to himself. He paused, and looked back at us, "...No... no, no, you haven't really come all this way... have you..?"

He walked toward us reluctantly, and I felt the same anger purge through me at his presence. "Plum... and.. Echo." He sounded disgusted at Echo's presence, as he paused not to far away. D'Mantis glanced back at the corpse, and back at us. "Why are you here..? With the pikes and everything.." He spoke slow, nearly slurring his speech.

None of us spoke, still recovering from the bewilderment of what he did, firearms were banned for the greater good, first with the illegal augmentations, the tech, and now this. Echo piped up, "Guns were meant to never be made, its not lawful." He sounded distraught, should anyone be seeing a poor innocent bystander be shot and killed.

"What defines law out here..? Think about it." He stepped forward, "We built up our own society after being rejected from the last... who would monitor such law... who would say what is good and bad..?" Echo stiffened, but he kept slowly treading forth, each footstep. "Simply... the land is lawless... we forge our own rules... no need to follow some set in place unwillingly dear..."

I couldn't help but grunt at his remarks. "There's a fine line between freedom and common sense." I stated, blunt and straightforward, knowing well it wouldn't get to someone as far gone as D'Mantis. "Who says though... our own selves... now, I really do have to get going though... the... call.." He paused no less than a few footsteps infront of Echo, and made a break for it, shoving me and him to the side of the stone cavern.

Echo instantly recovered and took off after him, and I followed closely behind. D'Mantis gravely overestimated his own speed, and swiftly, Echo tackled him, and grappling the spear up to his neck, pinning him up. I caught up not shortly after, and oddly, he didn't struggle much, he laid there, and chuckled, a sinister chuckle. "Let me guess... thinking about me so much, had to come out here and finally rid of me...? Plum... oh my Plum... how far have you strayed from shore.."

"Shut the hell up." I snapped, "What do the marks mean, the five, five what?" He went a little blank, and smiled once more, "Strikes. You all... gave me some chances... first strike, I made you mine... second.. I kept you from everyone... third... I defied everyone, I hurt you... fourth... I ran away, and conducted... these 'unlawful' constructs.." He paused for a labored breath, for the pike was pushed up on him, "...fifth... I killed."

My brain stopped, his obsession with me and his past... did he predict to kill the poor lad we witnessed, or was there... more? D'Mantis glanced at the sky, "...Heh... maybe... I should add a sixth.." Echo glanced up, and his eyes went wide. A shadow dimmed the ground, deprived of the soon fading moonlight. I looked up at the abyssal sky, and saw something that would send a horrible chill down my spine.

Terrifying, metallic wings shrouded the light.