Heirs to a Nothing Throne

Chapter 22

Theta and I slipped out of the house quietly, praying the creature wouldn't be nearby. The coast was clear, but we knew it would catch our scent soon. Neither of us knew how much time we would have once that happened.

Sure enough, Theta led me back to the plaza. I forced my eyes away from the statue as I followed Theta past the ring of pillars. Surprisingly, she approached the statue directly, stopping right before its steps. She stared right up at its face. As I stepped up beside her, I could see she was sweating.

"Theta?" I said. "If being around this thing really bothers you, then we could just think of a different plan."

She shook her head. "No. Don't worry about it. Here, help me up there."

She stood on my knee and then up on my shoulders, just able to grab onto the top and pull herself onto the platform. I expected her to help me up next, but instead there were a few gunshots from just above me, making me jump so hard my head hurt. Then, she appeared, offering me a hand.

I was barely able to climb up, worrying that I'd pull her back down instead. I leaned against the statue, turning to face Theta. Her face was soaked in perspiration, and after making sure I was up, she turned her gaze downward.

"Hey, are you okay? What were you doing?"

She looked up at me, eyes glazed over. They refocused after a moment. "Oh. The, uh... the statue isn't itself a part of the rest of the structure. Instead, it's held down with these clamps. I was shooting them apart."

"Okay, but... are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just..." she indicated to the statue without looking at it. "It's hard to be right beside it."

With that, her eyes seemed to roll back and she fell to her hands and knees. I hurried to her side. She was breathing heavily, and her clothes were beginning to darken with sweat.

"Theta," I said, panicking slightly, "we need to ditch this plan. You can't stand this! Let's just go, find some other way to kill it!"

She pushed me away and stood up shakily. I grabbed her, worried she would fall.

"Theta," I said again, but she began walking away before I could finish. I followed close behind, mentally ready to catch her if she collapsed. She circled around to the front of the statue, moving like she was weighted down. After a moment, she stared right up at the jovial stone face.

She opened her mouth and shouted at the man, not in anger, but as if she were simply having a conversation and he was having trouble hearing her. As soon as she finished speaking, the air pressure rose drastically. My ears popped and I grabbed at them in shock. A sort of tension filled the air, with Theta and the statue at its center. It seemed to push me away, although my body wasn't actually moving. I fell onto my back but forced myself to keep watching Theta. The wind began whipping her hair around, although I couldn't feel anything myself. The sky darkened just a bit, or maybe it was just the space around the statue. Even the cloudy sky seemed to grow thicker and heavier.

Theta continued to speak at the statue, louder and louder, donning a more confident expression than I'd seen in a while. When she finally stopped, a silence heavier than I could describe filled the space. Then there was a bright flash of light, stealing all vision from me.

I lay on the ground, the air around me as normal as it had been before. My ears no longer hurt, although I was still somewhat blinded by the flash. I stood up, wary of my surroundings. Theta hadn't moved and was staring up at the statue's face. She had a solemn look, but no longer seemed to be suffering.

She turned to me with a sad smile.

"What just happened?" I said. I stood up, still dumbfounded. "Theta, what was all that about? Are you okay? What..." It was then I realized I couldn't remember anything she'd said to the statue, even though it had just happened. It was all so quick...