AfterDuo: Children's tale

Chapter 28: Mokali is Mortal Again

"And besides the fact Mother has told me she has talked to them." Ryu added as he hurried. Mokali slightly slumped as her wings draped over the spirits.

"Hey, Furorem... Fortitudo..." Mokali breathed weakly as her eyes fluttered shut.

The two spirits didn't know how to act. They had no host, and they had no viable human to join to. Fortitudo felt like he'd been tossed into the sky, and didn't have anything to grab on to. He panicked, and felt his brother do the same. Neither could moor to anything, couldn't see, couldn't hear. They could only feel the fading presence of Mokali, and each other. They spiraled through the space air at an absurd speed, blindingly bright balls of light. They were searching, searching, searching...

There it was! That beautiful soul that would offer shelter. There he was, their anchor. His mind called out to them in their native tongue. They rushed upon him, embracing him, attaching themselves to his mind and finally being able to think. They saw. They saw the ground rushing up, the sky, the trees. What a joy to see again!

Nairo collapsed silently mid stride. He fell backwards, and stared blankly at the sky.

"Nairo!" Arachne called, stopping. King, Meliodas, and Ryu slowed, but Arachne waved for them to continue.

Mokali noticed the two had left, but she had no way to get to them. She fell over as she was weakly making a soft whining noise.

"Fortitudo... Furorem..." She weakly called as her body shivered uncontrol. Ra noticed what had happened and went to his master.

Nairo stared up at the sky as birds circled above. He couldn't see them. His mind couldn't register that birds were above. when Arachne waved her hand in front of his face and shouted his name, Nairo's brain did not get the signals that his eyes and ears were sending.

The three spirits were receiving them. Furorem, Libidine and Fortitudo all trying to stay anchored in Nairo. It was as if Libidine was standing on a small platform and the twins had leapt to try and land on it. Now all three were wobbling and trying to stay up.

"Nairo!" Arachne shouted, and she started to shake his shoulders. "What happened to you?"

Inside, all three spirits heard her voice. They all sent different signals to Nairo's lips and tongue.

"I, hel, hang, stop, no, three..." Nairo spoke a series of disjointed words with varying inflections and three distinct voices. Arachne's black eyes widened in fear as she saw her best friend reduced to this gibbering wreck.

A hand on Arachne's shoulder caused her to look up. Ra stood there in his human form. He held Mokali over his other shoulder.

"What happened?" Ra asked, and Arachne shook her head. Ra sighed and gently lay Mokali on the ground. He leapt into the air, transforming into his true form before he landed. He scooped Nairo and Mokali up with his two talons and Arachne climbed onto his back.

Mokali while Ra taking flight had reverted to a human form, her body trying to reserve what little she had left. Since her power was that of mortals again, she was awake. She put her hand to the side of Nairo's face.

"Boys... I know this child seems to be a match, but let Libidine have her host alone. I may not be the greatest for a host, but please... I don't want to be alone." She muttered as she fought back tears.

"We have nowhere else to go!" Furorem's rasping voice projected outward, the spirit of Power and Hatred's sounding panicked. "He's the only candidate."

"Not if you fry his brain, he isn't!" Arachne shouted down at them. "You're not allowed to take him away from me! He's mine!"

"Where did that come from?" Arachne asked herself, surprised. "'He's mine?' Since when was he mine?"