Ptolemaea | Henry Creel

Flesh to Bone

THIS IS NOT THE FINALE. NEXT CHAPTER IS THE FINALE BUT THIS TIME I ACTUALLY MEAN IT. 

ANWAYYYYYYY

guys im so sorry I died for three months. I was planning on having this chapter included in the finale, but the finale got so long I had to cut it in half. SO HERE! 

BEFORE YOU READ:

- so, i don't know if you guys have seen it but they made a play abt Henry. its cannon, so we got some info abt Henry's character that was unkown before. Basically, when he was nine years old he disappeared in the upside down for 3 hours, and got like mind flayed (I haven't seen the play so idk the specifics, but yeah.)

-ALSO, i took a bit of liberty with the powers, the vines in the upside down, and how they all work together, so that is present in this chapter. 

OKAY, ENJOY!

~

All around us, dust stirred.

A million grains bit into my flesh, ceaseless and hurried as the rest of the room stood paralyzed. Even the vines seemed to have stopped their writhing, laying frozen on the ground like it would save them from their master's wrath.

Henry never said a word.

Even as his abilities tenfolded and his grip on my wrist tightened, he remained absolutely silent.

Nothing else existed in that moment but the blade of my knife, hovering so very close to his neck I could've screamed. If I had just managed to bring it down a little further, I could've killed him. If I had just acted quicker, or waited for his guard to drop completely, I could have killed him. The 'what ifs' taunted me just as Henry's fingers did, tightening ceaselessly around my wrist.

There was no fighting it. Even as I tried to hold out as long as I possibly could, my muscles contracted beneath Henry's grip, and the knife I had so assuredly held seconds before fell to the ground with a deafening clatter.

Still, he offered me no relief. If anything, Henry's grip only tightened.

A choked sound left my throat as I finally met his eyes.

They stared into mine, impossibly wide, the whites bloodshot and unending. There was something far more abysmal than rage, or hatred, or despair burning in his gaze. It was almost blinding, a solar eclipse contained in flesh. Sun, moon, earth-- the enormity of a whole universe spanning across the black hole of his pupil. He looked... hurt, but that word didn't even begin to encompass the sheer scale of it.

Vein by vein, he lit up, until it all finally broke free of his skin in a blinding, incandescent scroll.

There came an explosion of power more consuming than anything I'd ever known, rushing straight for me as I knelt helpless to escape it. Before I could think, my body soared through the air and slammed against the same wooden pillar that had restrained me earlier.

My chest heaved mightily as I tried to gather my bearings. Henry's abilities were everywhere. In my teeth, in my skin, in the air I breathed. They didn't just exist in the room anymore, they became it.

No matter how I tried, I couldn't look away from the still-glistening knife so far out of my reach, traveling further still as Henry kicked it aside. I didn't think I could possibly fall any further until I saw something else-- vines, dozens of them, beginning to make their way toward me.

"No," I whispered, cold sweat racing down my spine. My panicked eyes ran over the floor before returning to his. "Henry, no. No, you can't--"

A strike of lightning painted the room in a blood-red hue, burning his face crimson until darkness settled once more.