Null Life: Last Day

Chapter 10

Past, present, and future. Everything finally came back together for the darkness of Abaddon to do its work. As the main threat was no longer in the way from un explainable happenings, all that remained was Hisako, and the so called alternate versions of Hori. Everything was finally coming together in unexpected ways - new biological abilities gained from previously being multiple bodies bodies. Empowerment was paid with sanity almost breaking. All the past, present and future had a terrible grip on her grasp of reality. Not deluding, but utterly ailing, displacing all sense of perception in the moments they were acknowledged. Within these scenes, it was they, that had ventured some of these points in time. The pitch black night world: Kuragari had met American forces from the 1940s, and the terrifying Behemoth that drowned an unfortunate woman amongst its caustic innards. Then, there were visions of being inside foundries and suddenly, gazing over vast fields of crimson grass. All of their past monstrous selves could be seen performing disturbing acts upon human beings, even Amiko's own. Her head throbbed painfully, every facial muscle constricted, and the pain felt like an eternity due to rapidly healing. Kakunodate, the younger Hisako in her black torn dress, a man by the name of Sai Yoshikawa going berserk over the turning of his partner, Aoi Nakamoto. A chapel, in which the young Hisako had been resurrected in. She saw herself casually talking to Akira in Abaddon. Rikugo Kiruden was shown as well having the guts to fight Akira while still being a mere human, according to this memory. His whereabouts now were to be determined after realising he had been out of the picture for a while now.

Hori gazed up at the crimson sky.

A gale flowed through, and something invisible to the eye started lifting her into the air, like gigantic hands clasping her entirety. Thoughts of the bright yellow sun followed soothing ones of her mother. It became brighter, instilling a sudden surge of courage. It would be disrupted and gradually fade into black. Into reality. A moment after, she found herself in a dark place that immediately reminded her of the visions from before. This was exactly the strange plane. Similar in nature to Abaddon, but darkness covered its entirety both near and far. Hori kneeled down to get an understanding of where she was. A beaten path, normal green grass. And, up ahead were the barely visible silhouettes of houses and buildings, all spread out in disorderly fashion. The more she walked through, cautiously, the more familiar the buildings seemed to be. A convenience store one used as a means for stops on the way home with both her best friends. A city tower, suprisingly on the surrounding grass. Gazing up at it, a newfound fear of heights made her tense up on the spot. But then, after minutes of traversing, the house no one would expect to see in this place at all...

Her very own house... in much greater condition compared to the others with only one odd difference, the front door was left wide open. She carefully approached - but was stopped by a sense of idle arms and legs. She felt herself backing away, but called out, wondering if someone or something was going to respond, even if the response was an attack by some malignant entity. Closure was desired. There was no answer for a short while until snarling and grunting became more audible and, louder amongst the sound of wet footsteps. "Hmm, this is the definition of insanity!" A harsh sandpaper growl came from inside. Red eyes pierced through the dark, but it was difficult to discern the rest of the being's features. That was until it came out of hiding and approached. Another memory came to be from the mere sight of the figure.

An even darker place, a room with a young scientist stood next to something lying down on a gurney. And the only thing immediately familiar about the something, was its hideous face. It was the very visage of what she saw in the mirror, lying there completely still. Hori's body transformed into her human shell, and then woke up, gasping for air, until she started having a brief seizure. The scientist was backing away as held his hands together for a prayer. Every single time the transition from her human form and into Hiroa occured, the scientist appeared enamoured by her suffering. In pain and in fear, Hiroa only let out wet gurgles amongst human yelp . "Fight it, Hori Sato!" The scientist shouted with excitement.