Perfection Deception

Exadversus

At the sound of breaking glass, the king stood up. A cool, chilling voice floated through the dining hall. "I always said I would come back. Missed me?" A cruel laugh followed.

His tone hard enough to cut stone, the king shouted, "How dare you set foot in my kingdom, Morgan? How dare you?"

Suddenly a foreign wind picked up, and soon the king was engulfed in what looked like powdered obsidian. There were grinding sounds coming from inside the thick cloud, and Emme, frozen in fear, heard a shrill cry from inside of it. She looked away, sickened by the sight, and focused on Marvel instead. His face had drained of all color, and he looked feint.

Against Emme's better judgment, she took his hand. He flinched ever so slightly, but he didn't attempt to pull away, even when she squeezed it reassuringly. His eyes never strayed from the cloud, even when it disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a splatter of blood.

They were all left speechless until the sound of something crashing made them all start. "It came from the entry hall!" Fantasia shouted, and then sprinted out of the dining room. When Marvel didn't move, Emme dropped his hand and tugged on his sleeve. "Come on," she urged.

When he finally looked at her, his startlingly green eyes were shining and close enough that she saw every fleck of blue and every tint of violet. "Emma, where's my father?" he asked, and with his slumped shoulders and obviously broken spirit, he looked incredibly vulnerable. "Will I ever see him again?"

Emme felt like crying for him. "I don't know, Marvel," she said softly. "But I promise that we'll do everything that we can to try to find him, okay? I promise." She knew it was stupid to promise something so big, but when she saw his shoulders perk up and the clear burst of hope in his eyes, it seemed worth it. "But we really need to go," she warned.

She went to grab his wrist, thinking that he wouldn't follow, but he did. She quickly slipped off her shoes and discarded them underneath her chair. Fantasia won't mind, right?

She jogged to catch up to Marvel, and fell into step behind him. They ran to get to the entry hall to make up for the time they wasted, and when they got there, there was an unexpected sight that made both of them stop dead in their tracks.

Fantasia, completely unharmed, was sitting in one of the hall's puffy velvet chairs. Across the small coffee table, in another chair, was a man Emme guessed was about 25 years old, chatting and giggling with her as if they were long lost buddies. He had layered rich chocolate-brown hair and the most brilliant icy-blue eyes, as bright and pure as icicles.

Emme felt Marvel tense. "What is this?" he demanded.

The man looked up, and Emme saw a mischievous glint in them, as hard as steel. "Well, young man, I was just having tea with your delightful, beautiful friend," he said, and gestured to Fantasia. She giggled. "Oh, stop it. . ."

"No, seriously," he argued good-naturedly. "You must be the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. And those eyes-"

"-are not nearly as spectacular as yours," she continued. "They're like icy girl magnets, they are."

Emme was severely confused, but did her best not to show it. "And just who are you?" she asked coldly. "And may I ask why you're flirting with our extremely underage best friend?"

He just waved her off. "She's 17. She can do what she wants. The real question is, what's your name, sweetheart?" he asked, pointing to Emme. She scoffed, but Marvel was already in front of her. "Leave her alone," he said, and Emme saw the man flinch ever so slightly at Marvel's harsh, intimidating tone. Emme herself was surprised.

"I'm sorry," the man said after he regained his posture, but he didn't sound sorry at all. "In fact, you haven't been the best hosts. Attack," he said rather bored-looking, and gestured at Fantasia.

Emme watched in horrified fascination at what happened next. Fantasia grinned widely, a smile that was friendly at first but turned slowly evil as if it was being injected by a disease. Then, she reached up with perfectly manicured blood-red nails, and dug her fingers into her scalp. She pulled her hands apart, and a crack slowly spread down her head, splitting her face and head in two. She kept ripping until her whole body fell apart in two pieces, the flesh and blood lying discarded on the floor, and something stepped out of the ripped open body. This thing was taller than the body it was cramped up in, and looked like it was made up of bones spray-painted black. Its legs were longer than its torso, its arms as long as its legs. It was at least seven feet tall, with an egg-shaped head that was completely blank, save three holes: two where the eyes should be, and one in place of the mouth. There was a thin layer of something skin-like stretched over the pits.

The thing lumbered towards Marvel and Emme, and just as it reached one long-fingered hand at them, the man spoke. "Malum," he hissed gleefully.

The thing reached for Emme, but it never made contact. Instead, Marvel, that little bastard, jumped in front of her. The malum took a step closer to Marvel, and as it did, he looked towards her with a wild look in his eyes and shouted her name, just before it swiped out, grabbed him around his waist, and disappeared just as the king had.

Emme stared in horror at the place he had just vanished. "No," she pleaded softly. "No! NO!"

She heard a laugh come from behind her. She whipped around, her flaming hair following, and saw the man, delighted. "You're Morgan," she spat. "I should've known."

"Why, of course," he grinned delightedly, and stood up from the chair. "However nice meeting you has been, I must get home. I hope you find your friends, I really do," he said sarcastically, still smiling. She lunged at his ankles, ready to tear his throat out, but he sidestepped her, and he, too, disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

Emme sat on the ground and started crying. She knew it wasn't heroic in the least, but she'd watched three people she cared about get taken away from her, and she didn't know where they were or if they were even alive. But she would find them.

***************

After doing her nighttime routine numbly, Emme had found Marvel's room and was curled up in his bed, finding comfort in his smell of peppermint still lingering on his sheets. Sometime after midnight, she closed her drooping eyelids, and had the first dream of many. It was of Marvel, and he was telling her to find the Exadversus, apparently the opposite dimension of the Intervallum. He said that's the realm that Morgan ruled over, and that that's where he was. His father, too.

Emme opened her eyes. It was morning.

And she knew that she would do whatever she needs to do find the Exadversus, and she would get Marvel back.