Chapter 41 - Living in this World (2/2)

”Ebi, what's this?” Lydis pointed at the bloodied hand splattered on the floor. The area surrounding the hand turned white, burning away the darkness. As Lydis leaned over the hand it began to twitch and writhe wildly. Fingers bent in all directions, the hand flopping like a fish. Ebi pulled Lydis away from the hand.

”Stay back Lydis…” Lydis wanted to ask Ebi more question but the hand was acting different. It stopped wiggling and now folded in on itself. Fingers squished together to form a ball. The ball rolled closer to Lydis. Seeing this Ebi stomped with one leg and a black wall appeared in it's path. She stomped again and more walls appeared to surround the bloodied ball.

The ball unfolded and a small humanoid figure took shape. A formless head was attached to a blob body with two small wiggling arms.

”What? That's the kind of greeting I get when I try to help?” The small red figure inched closer to the black walls. It placed one hand on them and the walls began to disintegrate. Soon a hole big enough for the blob to pass through formed.

”Ebi, what is it.” This time Lydis's voice was more insistent. Ebi saw the blob come over and felt the pressure from Lydis increasing. Seeing how she was cornered Ebi decided to give up. She sighed and turned to face Lydis.

”Lydis, are you really sure about this…”

”Get on with it Ebi. I'm currently dying so I have all the time I need.” Lydis raised her arms to add emphasis. The red blob was closer now. Less than a meter was left until it was next to Ebi's foot.

”That is another part of you. I-”

”I can take it from here.” The red blob stood at Ebi's foot. It looked up and what looked like eyes stared into Ebi's coal like eyes. Gripping her jaw shut Ebi stopped and nodded at the blob. The blob moved on from Ebi to Lydis.

”I am a vast amount of power gifted to you by the Great One. Given that your body sucks at the moment I was told to wait on standby by the Great One and to let 'Ebi' over there handle all your current affairs' but, seeing as how both of you were going to kill each other at that rate I decided to step in.”

”…” Lydis looked at the red figure and saw a small red gleam on it's chest. The small glint looked like the core embedded into Ebi's chest. Gears clicked in her head. ”You're connected to me as well.” The red figure laughed.

”True, I may be connected to you but, unlike 'Ebi' I'm not a part of you. I was just left here by the Great One.” Lydis looked at Ebi. Ebi nodded her head to confirm the question on Lydis's face.

”Why are you here?” The red figure jumped up and floated towards Lydis's face.

”I'm here to give you a bit more time. I'll use a bit of my powers to suppress the changes in your soul and in that time you decide on how you want to live in this world. I'll give you… two months. Yeah, after that you better have an answer ready or else your souls' going to fall apart.” Ebi clicked her tongue.

”Why don't you just solve this yourself? You're strong enough.” The red figure turned and looked at Ebi, a cruel grin forming on it's small face.

”Why would I do that? Watching you struggle and fight with your emotions is the best! Seeing all that happy, mushy love these past two years was so boring…” The red figure spun and twirled in the air, eventually stopping to face Lydis. ”You have two months, got it?” Without another word the red ball threw itself towards Lydis. She saw it pass through her and suddenly a heavy weight pulled Lydis to her knees. Gasping, she clutched her chest. Ebi stood there and looked conflicted at the situation. Although she did want the red figure's help, it was only prolonging things. Whether Lydis could decide or not depended on the next two months.

Seeing how Ebi wasn't hit by the sudden pressure Lydis knew it had to have been the red figure who did something to her. The burning in her chest intensified. Like her whole body was being cooked from the inside out. Feeling drowsy Lydis blinked slowly, Ebi's face fading out of view. From somewhere inside her head the red figure's voice echoed.

”Remember, two months… Struggle more and entertain me… I'll be waiting for a good show…” Lydis wanted to ask who they were but something sucked her away from the dark world, from Ebi and the red figure.

Something wet his Lydis's face. She jolted upwards, flinging off someone's arm and a ball of fur. Panicked, she saw a familiar room but the bed she was one wasn't the left one but the right bunk. On the walls were posters of famous Banes from her memories and most noticeably there were two boys in the room as well. One with black hair was sleeping on the left lower bunk while the other one with brown hair stood next to Lydis, his hand holding a dripping towel.

”H-hello… I-I um, I'm Bennox!” The brown-haired boy bent forward and offered Lydis a handshake. He faced the floor with one hand extended in front of him. Lydis looked at him in confusion. She tried to speak but her head throbbed every time she tried to move her jaw. Lydis reached one hand up to touch her sore jaw. Having been left hanging Bennox raised his head and saw Lydis messing with her jaw. Seeing this Bennox quickly placed the towel down and retrieved the ice pack on the small dresser. He handed it to Lydis.

Valfafer had woken up by now. Seeing that Lydis was up and well he couldn't help but be overwhelmed with joy. He thought that Lydis was dying, leaving him alone in an unfamiliar world but, even more than that if she died he would also die due to the contract. Valfafer pounced at Lydis and began licking her face wildly. Bennox saw this and quickly scooped up Valfafer, placing him on the floor next to Lydis.

”You shouldn't do that to your owner. She's still sore from whatever it was she came back from .” Bennox turned around to help Lydis with her ice pack. The black haired boy began to stir from Valfafer's yips and scratching at the floor.

”Bennox, what's with all the noise?” He rolled over to face the rest of the room. Seeing how Lydis was up he quickly turned back around. ”If she's good get her out, you're disturbing my sleep.” The black-haired boy shifted in his bed and fell back asleep. The blankets on top of him rising and falling steadily.

”Sorry about him. That's Owen by the way. Although he seems to hate everyone he's actually the one who found you.” Bennox went over to the dresser and pulled out a clean towel. He dipped it into the bowl of water on top of the smaller dresser. Handing it to Lydis Bennox stared at Valfafer before finally looking Lydis in the eyes.

”In case you didn't catch it earlier I'm Bennox. What's your name?” The ice-pack had worked surprisingly fast, Lydis's sore and swollen jaw didn't hurt as much now. Forcing her mouth open Lydis barely whispered.

”Lydis Fawn.”