It didn't take long before Ava broke the tender moment with an anxious grunt.
"Alright, can we please move on to saving my son already?" she said impatiently. Liam shot her a disapproving glare while Luca gripped her arm.
"Ava, please. Don't be selfish," Luca said. "Give them some time—"
"And who's going to give our son some time?!" Ava yelled suddenly, shaking her husband's hand off. "I know I'm being selfish, and I don't care! We've wasted enough time already. I just... I just want to see my boy again."
The woman crouched down, sobbing into her arms.
"It's all my fault... If only I hadn't driven him away— If only I'd been more understanding... Dammit, dammit!" She slammed her fists on the floor. "I want to put it behind me and move forward like I always do. I try so hard to be strong and just accept it all, but all I'm good for is running from my mistakes. I can't do that to Chester. Not this time."
Silence fell as Luca bent down beside his wife.
"I can't just let him go like that, knowing that there's a chance to get him back. I just can't! We were supposed to go on a trip after all this. He was looking forward to summer vacation with our family! All he wanted was to enjoy his time with us, but I blinded myself to that. Chasing after false validation... Lying to myself that I'm doing this for our family, and for what? I only saw what I wanted, and... and he died for my selfishness."
Ava stood up and grabbed Tomoko's hand desperately, before falling back to her knees.
"Please, you're a god. You can undo this, can't you?" she pleaded. "Take my life in exchange for his. Don't let my baby pay for my mistakes, please! It doesn't matter if I can't see him alive again. Just bring him back, I beg you."
Komyo stepped forward, gently pulling the woman up to her feet again.
"She is not a god, and neither are any of us. So we won't be taking any lives tonight," he said. "But that doesn't mean we won't do our best. We owe Hazel a favour for befriending us, so we'll help you."
Tomoko cast a worried gaze at Komyo. "I've never done this before. I'm not a celestial being yet, so the best I can do is impart energy to hold the gateway to the afterlife open. If we're doing this, only you can survive the trip in and out of the afterlife."
"Then I humbly accept the honour—"
"Wait!" Hazel interrupted them. "Isn't this a big risk? If anything goes wrong with Komyo, won't you lose your essence as well?"
Tomoko nodded grimly, before breaking into a small smile. "It's worth the risk. That's what friends are for, right?"
Komyo wasted no time getting to work. Green doodles shimmered in the air as the man began painting his invisible canvas like he was possessed by a mad artist. It looked like a demented finger painting of a three-year-old at first, but an image started to take form the longer he drew, like some kind of anamorphic optical illusion.
"If you can impart magical essence, do help Tomoko stabilise the tunnel," Komyo said as the Magus began charging the hands with magic. "Losing control of the gateway is a good way to experience what it's like to be compressed into a singularity."
A dull vibration reverberated in Hazel's ears as the air pressure spiked, as though something was pushing against the air. Reality warped before her eyes along with a maelstrom of supernatural energy. Within a couple of seconds, Komyo's glyph expanded into something resembling a dark, deep well leading to a faint point of golden light in its centre.
The three Magus stretched out their hands, pushing their respective magic into the tunnel.
"Do you know who to look for?" Luca's voice trembled slightly, although it was obvious that he was trying his best to keep it together.
"Yes. All of you share a deep bond with him, and I can feel it so strongly." Komyo nodded. "But be warned, there may be other... beings who also seek their way back to the natural world. If they do, turn them back or turn them to dust. Good luck."
Hazel pulled out her grandfather's pistol as the man stepped into the portal. And then she waited.
Somewhere between five minutes and one hour of waiting, her thoughts drifted back to her childhood memories. Well, the memory didn't exactly exist in her brain. But she vaguely recalled being placed in some kind of container along with other 'people', like she was queueing for something. It was a comfortable place, nice enough that she almost felt disturbed when something plucked her out and pulled her into some kind of tunnel.
Now that she knew what happened, she wondered how her parents felt while keeping the gateway open. Were they anxious? Were they exhausted? She'd ask the Watsons how they felt, if they weren't busy concentrating on keeping their own portal open. Would four people be enough?
"Crap, something's coming out!" Liam yelled.
Something odd entered Hazel's perception, like a plucked guitar string that had just been broken. She stared at the portal and summoned all her strength not to scream in fear.
A creature of some kind was crawling out of the portal. It resembled a tarantula, although its eight legs were jointed in far too many places. A thick coat of black human hair covered its back, and its abdomen was a ravenous mess of pincers and tusks.
Hazel reacted quickly, squeezing the trigger as many times as she could. The monster screeched with every shot before disappearing into a cloud of black dust. But the worst was yet to come.
More nightmarish creatures poured out of the gateway, looking like they came straight out of Salvador Dali's fever dreams instead. Hazel frantically shot at the never-ending stream of monsters, praying that this magic gun would not run out of bullets.
Something slammed into Hazel from the side, sending her tumbling a few metres back. She looked up, only to come face to face with a snarling iguana-like creature. Hazel ducked under the monster and scrambled for her pistol, which had been knocked away in the commotion.
Something sticky wrapped around her legs before she could reach it. The girl yelped just as magic flowed into her eyes at the last second, highlighting the monster's weakness. She jabbed the disgustingly huge eye in its forehead, making it screech in pain.
"Get your filthy tongue off her!"
The slimy appendage released her. Heat scorched the air as Liam breathed a fiery snake into existence. Hazel snatched the pistol from the floor and continued firing relentlessly at the increasing number of demons beginning to flood the place.
"Ngh... I have to narrow the portal to stop them from coming through." A green glow lit up Tomoko's irises. "It's up to you guys to keep it open..."
Liam shrieked in the distance as lightning crackled all around. A mini blizzard was howling as well, punctuated by the occasional gunshot.
"These things are running wild!" Ava called out to Luca. "Go, help them! I'll hold it open!"
"But the strain on you will be—"
"Just do it!" The woman gritted her teeth as she turned her attention back to the portal. "I know you're counting on me, son. I won't let you down, even if it costs me my life!"
Luca hissed under his breath before letting go of the gateway. Blue magic spread along his body as he leapt into action. They moved as he moved, covering his body in some kind of cyberpunk-like armour. Two glowing turrets jutted out of his shoulders while a minigun materialised in his hand. A war cry rang out as the man began raining a hailstorm of bullets on the rogue demons.
Hazel slid on the floor as a stray insect-like leg tripped her. She rolled to her feet and fired wildly at more demons, only then noticing that Ava was the only one left holding the portal open. The gateway was no longer spewing monsters, and blood dripped down from Ava's nose despite her stoic, determined expression. It also might have just been the lighting, but her face was alarmingly pale as well.
Worry pricked Hazel's heart, but something else caught her attention. She stared at the yawning gateway. Is that...?
It was. By sweet Jesus and all-merciful Heavens, it was. The shimmering, familiar outline of Komyo's body, bursting towards the tunnel.
"Close it!" someone yelled, and the gateway disintegrated with a huge bang. Hazel's vision spun with light and colour as the remnant supernatural energy rippled through the whole area, vaporising every demon that was still lurking where they shouldn't be.
Darkness flooded back. It was over.
"Ava!" Footsteps rushed towards Hazel.
Luca threw his body towards his unconscious wife, feeling for a pulse. Hazel released her breath as the man let go of Ava, panting in relief. She turned her attention to Komyo, who had a glowing purple orb in his hand.
"Is everyone okay?" Liam walked groggily to the group.
Luca took out a small pill from his pocket and exhaled lightly like he was blowing a dandelion. The pill landed on the ground, transforming into Chester's corpse. His body was clean of injuries and a serene expression hung on his face, as though he had simply died in his sleep.
Komyo stepped forward and released the orb in his hand. The glowing ball of light floated gently like a leaf into Chester's body, covering it in a faint purple outline.
"Why isn't anything happening?" Luca asked worriedly as everyone looked at each other in confusion.
Something prodded within Hazel as she walked towards Chester's body. She didn't know what she was doing. And yet somehow, she knew what to do.
The girl closed her eyes as a thin stream of emerald air escaped from her lips. The Kitsune's breath of life within her flowed gracefully into the boy's mouth, and the purple glow around his body vanished. Hazel opened her eyes, staring intently at Chester. Any moment now...
A soft cough broke the silence, followed by a sharp inhale.
"Oh bugger me, how long did I pass out for?"
Tears of joy pricked at Hazel's eyes as Chester stirred groggily, rubbing his eyes as though he had simply woken up from an afternoon nap.
"Woah!" the boy yelped as everyone collectively pulled him into a tight hug. "What's going on? Bloody hell, have you all gone mental?"
Laughter echoed all around.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡELtJ9hnCi6
