Together In Slow Life - VIII - [PT.6]

"It was about time you showed up," screamed Emi at the top of her lungs. The moon was just setting above us. 

"Hey right on time," I said pointing at the moon, she repeated what I had said mockingly. I laughed it off. 

Kuro and Neso stood off to the side and the elders were there to show us off. 

"Everyone's here too," said one of the elders as I hopped into a tiny boat to reach the floating island, Dragan could also fit too.

Suddenly an uproar from the other side of the pond occurred. 

The whole village was here, to say goodbye! 

Farewell messages were shouted, some of them were crying, others heartfelt. I couldn't hear them all as they were shouting in unison. All I could do was wave and smile. 

I looked back at everyone they were waving with a sweet smile and a tinge of sadness.

Dragan was mesmerized. 

I couldn't help but feel nostalgic. 

Dragan and I finally were able to stand on the small island-like podium in the middle of this lake. Silence befalls all of us. 

I gave one final nod to Emi. As she started to cast from her paws. 

"No need to hide anymore Sybil, show them who you are," 

>Understood.

As if by magic, from the top of my head, circles started to form around me, one bigger than the other, inside of them were strange symbols I did not understand, I was in shock, here she came. Sybil was starting to appear. 

After a brief moment, she was with us, the form Sybil chose to take, a physical representation of her, projected onto a 3D space. It looked ancient and primordial, yet futuristic looking. 

Everyone gasped in awe as they saw Sybil in her true form. Emi was still casting magic despite all of this. 

The elder spoke in a low voice. 

"That's the words of the world," he said, no one spoke, everyone was just in awe. 

>Initiating Moon Rite Program

>Success

Sybil projected her voice toward the village, it made small waves flow ripple across the water. 

They gasped in shock once more as they heard her voice. 

"That's the same voice," said Emi, to no one in particular. 

The red flag we had seen before, suddenly propped up from inside of Sybil, it materized like before. 

A red flag, huh? 

Magic started overflowing from Emi and into us, the moon shined its light down upon us, giving way from a small batch of clouds, it started forming circles around us, all the way from where Emi was, I finally understood, Emi had cast an assisted spell thanks to Sybil and the

Sun God, that we had placed in space! 

Suddenly, the rings turned from Emi's blue to bright code red,

"This is bad!" said Dragan. He tried to break the magic, but it burned his skin off, he jumped and backed away, it was my turn, but it only started vaporizing me into a patch of gas. I stood as long as I could, trying to give way to our prison. 

"Stop!" said Dragan and pushed me back. "You'll evaporate yourself," I was visibly smaller now, Dragan could carry me. People started to panic, this was not the way it was supposed to go. 

"Stop the spell this instant!" said the elder, trying to grab it from Emi, but as soon as he did, he was shocked and pushed back. 

"It's not me, I'm not controlling the mana flow anymore, they're in the middle of transport, they between states, we have to take them out properly," said Emi. 

Emi was right, the reality in between the rings was starting to shift, fractals filled our screens, and sometimes it glitched to another version of the village, a hellish landscape filled with war and terror, another with nothing at all.

Things were not looking to be okay. 

>I'm unable to access my core functions right now, I have been locked out from all primary applications. 

She stopped herself and glitched a little. 

>Malware identified, running execution program.

>Failed

>Exponential Retry 

Sybil Duplicated herself to the second power, like a cell dividing unto itself, that's what it seemed like Sybil was doing. 

>Running Program 

>Failed

>Exponential Retry

Once again she duplicated herself to the second power. 

She went faster now, doing the same loop, over and over and over, until she was so fragmented, that her HUD changed to numbers. 

>10^E^10

There were so many voices, it seemed like a choir of angels. 

>Running Program 

>Illogical

>Error 

>Unable to continue. 

Sybil's force was so much that she caused a whirlwind of mana to circle us, it crashed against the rings, but only sparks were flying. 

She merged her fractal self into one single entity once more. The man wasn't going away. I looked at Emi, my eyes widened and the ground shook, silence fell unto me. 

She wasn't human anymore, she wasn't even Grimalkin anymore. 

She was something else, something maddening, her eyes were gouging out of her face, her teeth being deformed like her skin was clay, she screamed in pain, tears running down her eyes. Then I heard those chilling words.

Kuro and Neso stuck to her aid, but her transformation had happened so quickly, that no amount of cure spells could save her. She had been passed by the void, and it had taken her humanity away, she was a mere blob of flesh and skin, yet conscious all the way through. 

Shit and piss were coming out of her, blood pulling from the broken bones, her guts out on the floor. 

She looked at me, we locked eyes, and her expression changed from widening to teary eyes.

With her deformed mouth, I could make out one last word. 

"Kill me..."

Dragan grabbed me from the back and placed one hand over my eyes, the other he grasped me from my torso. I gasped, it was like I wasn't able to breathe, and started to gouge at his hand. But I failed to even barely move it. He didn't let go. He held me tight. 

"It's better if you don't see, this is what the void does, it needed a sacrifice, and it's all his fault, Zomearon has us in his grasp, and we're about to go face to-face with him," 

Suddenly from the ground, a tiny creature started to climb, circling us, laughing wickedly. 

"There!" shouted Dragan. And my eyes opened, and I flumped to the ground. 

Dragan grabbed his weapon and had a go at it, he did his best, but to no avail.

Until it reached Sybil to the top, in a moment of silence, she swallowed it. 

>Moon rite complete, initiating transport

Not a single word came out of me, I was defeated. 

The circles collapsed in on themselves before Dragan could even look back at me. Sybil came with. 

The next thing I knew, I was in a dark and wet place. The smell, of sulfur and ash, indicated me exactly where we were. 

Zomearon had intercepted our transport signal, and used the malware he had implanted, I should have known! 

I should have known!

I should have been more careful. 

This happened because of me, it's all my fault. 

Dragan was here too. 

"Where is this place?" he said. "Is this?!" 

Suddenly in the distance, we heard steps and turned to look in that direction, by the sound of his steps, by the place we were in, I knew exactly who it was.