The Golden Pear [YA - Featured]

♫~Notes 102~♫

 "I'll make it!" Rigaku spat, grabbing the first person, dragging them away from the column.

For whatever reason, this person's long hair reminded him of Aiyoku, and the other had them as messy as Kagetsu.

"Wake up!" He shook with them, but they gave him no response. Rigaku knew they were still alive. Perhaps they were under some spell or paralysis. Nevertheless, he needed to get them out.

He gripped the collars of their clothes and pulled them, but soon his body tumbled forward as the clattering of a metal chain stopped him in his track. Their collars slipped from his fingers.

"Abandon them! They are nothing compared to you!"

'She is right.' Rigaku got on all fours. 'They are strangers to me. Why should I care?'

If the darkness had any features, they now twisted into a grin. The mass stepped back, forming a way for him to reach the glowing price, but closing in to gulp the duo.

Rigaku stood on his shaky legs but wasn't able to take a step forward.

"Come! You know you belong here! At the top! Above everybody!" A silhouette of a woman in long dress and cape attached to her wrists emerged, opening her arms. A motherly gesture gave nothing but shivers across Rigaku's back.

"Shut up!" He burst, breaking from her spell. "Not this time! Not now!" No more of his brain falling him. It was time to put the knowledge he had to good use. Spinning around, his eyes glanced an old dagger. Its blade covered rust, but it still could be of use to him.

He clutched it, electricity spreading across his body as if the memories of the last wielder flooded him. Spinning the blade, he smashed it inside one link. The screeching metal rubbed against each other. Grabbing a piece of stone, he hammered the dagger deeper and deeper, until he broke the link and its blade.

The clatter resonated like thunder raging outside the temple. The darkness swirled, turning into a stormy sea. Despite it seemed it didn't possess any intelligence, it made up for it with a sense of tormenting its prey.

The waves crashed into the pillars, crumbling them into dust that didn't land on the floor as they gobbled even the tiniest of specks. The end of the world came, and it brought all the special effects with it.

Rigaku grabbed what was left of the dagger and stabbed it into the second link to free the other person. His fingers roughed under each hit, trickles of blood stained his shirt, and the stone slipped in his grasp with each blow.

Crashing the stone and breaking the dagger, the second prisoner remained chained.

"Dang it!" he cursed under his breath.

Looking around, he found the darkness had eaten everything except for the path leading to the floating light. As if it was pushing him that way, instead of aiming for a fresh snack. Yet, the darkness enclosed him bit by bit, prompting him to run for his life like a wild animal.