Ethereal Fall [Undergoing Major Editing] | #Wattys2016

Chapter Six

"Excuse me, sir. Where are you taking me?" I asked as he pulled me by the hand, weaving in and out of the houses, dodging the insane souls that were roaming around.

"Somewhere safe," he answered. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

"Hurt? What is that?"

A house exploded from across the street. Bits of wood-painted-white flew everywhere, and a plume of smoke rose up into the air. The man stopped in his tracks, turned around, and dragged me the other way.

"You don't even know what hurt is?" he yelled over the noise. "Jesus Christ, you guys really are emotionless."

I suddenly heard a snapping sound. Strangely, it came from inside my head. My eyes widened as I started putting the puzzle pieces together. I recalled what Elder Xapham had told me, that the chaos was effecting the souls in a negative way, causing their brains to deteriorate. My brain circuits...

"We're here," the man announced.

I looked up at the giant warehouse we've arrived at. It was placed in a quiet, isolated part of Ethereal, and, unlike all the other buildings, it was brown and worn down. I've never seen this building before. We must've traveled quite far.

He pushed open the squeaky doors and held them open for me.

"Ladies first."

I bowed. "Thank you, sir."

As I stepped over the threshold, roughly a hundred pairs of eyes stared up at me and roughly a hundred mouths were whispering to each other. I walked into the middle of their group circle.

"What is going on here?" I asked in a commanding voice. Apparently, that had caused quite a commotion.

"Dude! Who is the hell is this girl?"

"She's got a nice rack!"

"Don't tell me you've gone picking up chicks while we were workin' our asses off!"

"Yeah!"

"Whoa, guys!" The man joined me in the center of the circle. "I got into a mess back there, a'ight? Well, long story short, I got this girl in exchange for agreeing to stop setting stuff on fire."

"What the hell, man?"

"A girl ain't worth our freedom!"

"Shut up for a sec, will ya?!" The man screeched. "Do you think I'd give up that easily? This just means we got one extra soldier here! We could use her as a spy or something, right? And who the hell keeps their promises, anyway?"

The men and women - who had stayed silent the whole time - looked at each other in hesitation, then started cheering.

The man exhaled, his lips curving upwards. "Guys, guys! Calm yourselves! We need to quickly introduce her then think up a plan!" He gestured for everyone to sit down. I did as well.

Waiting for the noise to die down, I introduced myself first. "Greetings, everyone. My name is Asteria. I am loyal to my leaders, the Angels, and will never disobey them. Thus, I will not aide you in your heinous plans."

My captor blinked at my announcement. "You what?"

"I said, I will not aide you in your heinous plans."

"I know what you said!" he snapped. Then, ever so slowly, he exhaled. "You have no choice, Asteria. Whether you join us or not, we will win in the end."

"The Angels will win. They will crush your memories and you will cease to exist."

He snickered. "We have discovered that even if our memories are shattered, we have already received our welcoming ticket, the Stars of Memoria. We will not fade until we are reincarnated or our Stars are shattered." He paused. "Here, let me ask you something. Would you rather die as an enemy or stay and prevail with us?"

"What's your name, sir?"

He seemed taken aback. "Wait, what?"

"I asked, what's your name, sir?"

"L-Lancelot. But call me Lance." Something crossed over his face. "Argh, just answer the damned question!"

"Lancelot-"

His face turned red at my mentioning his name. "It's just Lance."

"-I would die an enemy," I continued.

The man exhaled, the color fading from his cheeks. "You're as stubborn as a donkey."

"Lance," one of the women spoke up. Honey-blonde and a muscular build. "It's no use. Nothing you say will shake her. A twisted sense of perfection and obedience has been programmed into these people's minds."

"How do you know that?" I directed my attention to the woman.

"You're not denying it, I see. Well," she exhaled, "we asked around, of co-"

Sudden, the doors exploded open. A blinding white light filled the spacious room, and I heard screaming. It was an Angel. Their hideout had been discovered.

"Come with me!" I heard Lance whisper in a harsh tone. He threw open the shutters, grabbed my hand, and jumped out.

After a few minutes of nothing but our panting, I spoke up. "Lancelot-"

"It's Lance."

"Why are you doing all this, Lancelot?" I asked.

"I told you to call me Lance!" His ears were red, for some reason. "Look. What does the word 'ethereal' mean to you?"

"What does it mean...?" I thought for a moment. "It's perfection. It's heavenly. It's..." I gestured to my surroundings. "It's all this before you came."

Lancelot stiffened. "If you really think this twisted world is 'perfect' and 'heavenly', then there is something seriously wrong with your brain. You're nothing short of a robot," he whispered. "A machine."

"You forget, Lancelot."

"It's Lance!"

"We are dead."

He froze in his tracks.

"What does it matter if things are unjust, if we're all dead? We have nothing to complain about. The Council of Angels gives the gift of reincarnation to all of us. We just have to wait until the time comes, and we will be humans once again. Only then, can we complain."

At that moment, I completely short-circuited. My vision started to blur. The next thing I knew, the ground came up to meet me.

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