My hand tightened, drawing in the sky with effortless precision.
I dropped my arm as an arrow of blood hovered above my head.
"Multiply."
It vibrated, splitting off into 7 separate arrows—not a drop of blood falling onto the ground.
"Disperse."
The arrows burst through the air like rockets, soaring through the sky as they pierced the beast throughout its body.
It screeched with pain, sliding to a halt as its body flew from the momentum.
Smacking my lips I forced my body to drop, the beast flying over my head and tumbling through trees.
I paused for a moment, only the sound of the wind blowing in my ear.
Is it… dead?
Dragging my body past the tree stump I stared at what had to be fifty feet worth of destroyed forest.
Ahh, I can barely move anymore.
Doesn't matter if it's dead or not… I am.
Pushing with everything I had I managed to roll onto my back.
I stared at the sky masked by branches and leaves.
"Who knew dying would be this peaceful."
"It doesn't even hurt anymore."
I closed my eyes with a deep exhale.
"They're probably fine."
Turning my head I stared down a set of stairs.
Looking down to my stomach the hole was gone, my ankle good as new.
I-I'm here again.
The ballroom.
I slowly stepped down the red carpeted staircase.
In the middle of the ballroom floor laid my lifeless body.
My guts began to leak from the hole in my stomach, my spine completely gone.
I nervously chuckled. "It looks worse than it felt."
"You said you never wanted to come back here, yet here you are."
My head jolted to the side as It sat on the edge of the table.
The Child… shrouded in shadows.
"Who—"
"Who am I?"
My eyebrows furrowed. "How did you…"
"How did I know what you were gonna say? You must've forgotten…"
"I am you after all."
With a groan I trudged to the nearest chair, pulling it out before plopping down.
"What is this place anyway? Surely it isn't the afterlife."
A dark smile emerged through the shadows. "No silly, you haven't died before now have you?"
I dropped my shoulders. "So I am dead?"
The Child jumped from the table, placing their hands on their hips. "No… I'm currently using all the creativity in our body to keep us alive."
"Why bother?" I groaned, laying my head on the table.
The Child pointed to me, shadows bursting from its body as its face became clear.
"Because I see a way out of this. That beast you killed… if you eat it? I 100% guarantee you'll survive."
My eyes widened. "What—"
"What am I talking about? You haven't figured it out yet have you?"
The Child kneeled, their dark, beady eyes staring through my soul… their cocky smirk slightly irking me.
"You should've listened to Ms. Valeria more, but alas, that's why I'm here."
The Child pressed his finger against my chest. "The key to navigating Zytra is right here!"
"My heart?"
He sighed. "No, idiot."
"Your creativity."
The Child stood straight before walking towards my body.
"Everything in this forest, even down to the grass you step on, has some percentage of creativity within them."
I slightly glanced forward. "So that beast we killed."
"Bingo!"
The Child stared at my body, his smile stretching ear to ear. "That fat bastard is the perfect source to fill up on creativity!"
I smirked, slamming my hands onto the table as I stood. "Fat bastard… so it was you. You took over my body."
The Child put its hand in an X formation across its chest. "EEH EEH."
"I simply influenced you."
The ballroom slowly began to decay, pieces of wall, window, and floor breaking off as they floated into the abyss.
The Child clicked their teeth, slowly walking towards the stairs before half-turning its head.
"We're almost out of time."
"Lucky for you, I'm one billion percent sure you'll make it to that bastard."
The abyss consumed The Child as the loud gusts of wind brought me back.
I can't feel a thing.
Attempting to turn my body again a nerve biting pain jolted through my stomach. I quickly dropped my arm back into the snow.
My creativity... I can feel it dwindling.
Move or die, Simon!
Move or die!
MOVE OR DIE!
I forced my body to move, screeching from the pain as I rolled over.
Slamming my arm into the ground I pulled with all my might.
Every tug of the ground beneath me felt as if my insides were being ripped apart.
My vision blurred, a trail of blood sinking into the pure white snow.
Won't… make… it.
I… HAVE TO.
Coming to a stump I widened my jaw as I bit down on the bark.
I forced myself to chew and suck on the wood, mouth and tongue bleeding from the splinters.
Keep… going!
I bit on every broken stump along the path, sucking the creativity out of them and spitting the wood aside.
My hand finally landed on the beast's leg, me clinching at the hairs of its paw.
I dragged myself forward, vision shrouded in black.
My mouth widened, lips tore from wood.
In a singular motion I clamped my jaw on the beast's leg, ripping away as its blood poured down my chin.
It's so… good!
I bit again.
And again.
And again.
Before I realized, I'd eaten the beast's leg down to the bone.
The raw, pink meat tasted like nothing I'd ever had before.
It felt as if even the home cooked meals by Ms. Valeria couldn't stack up.
I couldn't stop eating.
A soothing aura radiated from my stomach.
I rolled over, resting my head on the beast's belly.
"My spine…"
My spine rebuilt itself, rippling forward to connect with its broken half.
How…
"You know how."
Looking up, The Child stood triumphantly atop the beast. Legs wide, hands on hips, stupid smirk.
"It's about time you remembered what you are—what you can do."
"What we can do."
"Remember when Dahlia healed you after your fight with Marcel?"
I nodded.
"You subconsciously copied her gate ability."
He pointed to his head.
"And you stored it here."
I stared up in confusion.
"Did you say… gate ability?"
"Ahh, Ms. Valeria did refer to them as vusk abilities didn't she."
"She was wrong. More so the book she read from was flawed."
"Creativity gates and vusks are two separate entities."
The Child jumped from atop the beast. "When a vusk is created, creativity takes form of whatever item said vusk is."
"For example, ours is a paintbrush, so our creativity manifests in the form of paint, get it, ya dummy?"
"Ahh, I hate that smirk." I groaned.
I watched as the hole in my chest slowly closed.
"So… how—"
"Our gate ability."
The Child stuck its hands outward, the winter breeze catching the ends of their hair.
"Our gate ability Simon… Is to copy whatever gate ability we come in contact with!"
"Ha."
I pushed myself up, resting my hand upon my now healed stomach.
"You greedy soul of mine."
He smiled. "That's no way to talk to yourself, idiot."
I sighed, sticking my fist forward. "No more hiding, okay?"
"Until we're officially back together… "
The Child grinned, sticking its fist forward. "Yeah!"
Our fists bumped, becoming one.
"Until then… we won't stop pushing forward!"
**
My footsteps crunched through the fresh snow.
I glanced to the sky, shielding my eyes from the sun. "It finally stopped snowing huh?
I wonder… what happened to us.
Looking at the clouds I couldn't help but smile.
That's our new goal, Sy. We're gonna find out what happened to us… and how we can come back together.
I want to know more… more about who we were.
All I've ever known is just me.
I can't even imagine myself as someone else.
But… you're not just someone else, you're also me, so.
I guess we both forgot what it felt like to be complete, yeah, Sy?
I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. "You probably hate when I call you that."
Narrowing my eyes I took a deep breath.
I'm running low on creativity.
Kneeling beside a tree I lined the base with my paintbrush.
In one swift motion the tree was sliced at the line, creating a seat from its stump.
It would've been nice to know I didn't need an outside resource to paint with.
I poked at my head. "You don't tell me anything, selfish soul."
Sitting down I opened the sack I carried on my shoulder, revealing multiple skinned pieces of beast meat from the other day.
"You look like an idiot, talking to yourself like that."
I looked to my side, cheeks poking with food. "Hm?"
"When we're out of this predicament don't talk to me with people around, it's embarrassing."
"Shouldn't you be in the ballroom?" I asked, mouth full.
Sy sighed. "That's where most of me is."
"Most of you?" I asked.
Sy sat against my back, head resting on my shoulders.
"You really don't know anything do you."
I swallowed, wiping my hands on my pants.
"Then how about you tell me, didn't we say no more hiding."
A sorrowful smile creeped upon Sy's face. "The ballroom… It's my prison."
My body jolted, turning to Sy as he fell off of the stump. "A prison!? How!?"
"Will you can it already!" Sy screamed, voice muffled by the snow.
I laughed, standing straight as I threw the sack of meat over my shoulder.
"It's okay… you don't have to tell me now."
Grabbing Sy's collar I lifted him from the snow. "You can tell me when you're ready… trust me,"
I smiled, Sy's eyes widened as he hung suspended in the air.
"I'm not going anywhere, ok?"
Sy faded from my hand as I kept moving forward.
Constantly exerting your creativity is draining, my body aches all over.
We'll stop to rest in the next few hours, night will be here soon anyway.
The next couple hours were quiet.
Snow crunching.
Winds whistling.
Trees swaying.
But something felt off.
Close.
Watching.
What's more weird is…
I can't sense another source of creativity.
I only feel the forest around me…so whatevers nearby…
Its creativity is either little to none, or enough to override this entire area.
Night swiftly approached.
"We'll set up here." I said with a quick sigh.
"Wait."
I turned.
"Hm?"
Sy kneeled beside me, arms resting on his thighs. "You hear that, Simon?"
"Listen… very closely."
After a moment… my eyes widened.
"Rushing water!"
Gripping the sack I dashed forward, the ends of my pants catching the snow as I ran.
In the distance the trees finally cleared as a large river raced for as long as the eye can see.
"N-No way."
What I felt earlier…
"Fishes!"
I dropped to my knees, drinking from the river as the cold water splashed on my face.
"Idiot! We don't know if it's safe to drink!"
I turned to Sy, tears running down my eyes.
"I don't care, it's the first real water I've had in months!"
Sy shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, the cold chicken broth and bastard blood was unpleasant."
I raised my head from the river, chin dripping of water.
"Could you taste it too?"
He scoffed. "Obviously not."
I tilted my head in confusion. "Then… how?"
Sy extended his arms to his side, falling backwards as he plopped into the snow.
"Remember how I said the ballroom is a prison."
I nodded.
"Well, until you contacted me, I kinda just… saw through your eyes I guess."
"Like a spectator."
"Contacted you?" I questioned.
Sy nodded. "It was back before Ms. Valeria died, your emotions became so heightened that you subconsciously seeked me out."
"I was so excited when I saw you, but then… I grew angry."
"You see, I see through your eyes, but my soul alone cannot remember what you can."
"We both exist in this body, and you are the driver."
"I am nothing but a passenger."
"When I saw your face… I couldn't believe you would voluntarily step into my prison."
"I still remember asking you… don't you hate this place? But it was me who was hateful."
"The second your emotions stabilized you were gone… and I was alone again."
Sy smiled. "I wanted to see you again so badly I tried everything I could to bring you back, and through my efforts, it worked."
"Back then… our emotions were blurred into a big mess of feelings."
"That immense hate I felt from you was all mine."
I stood straight, wiping my mouth with my sleeve.
"So, what changed."
Sy chuckled. "Everytime we came into contact you brung a little bit of me back with you."
"You pulled me into your reality."
"That's how I'm here now."
I laid in the snow besides Sy. "If that's the case then—"
"Look, Simon."
Turning to Sy he looked back, eyes full of sadness.
"There's so many things I want to tell you… so many lost memories I want to share with you."
"But the me you're speaking to now is only a small portion of my actual soul—the other half of your soul."
"Like I said I became a part of your reality, small pieces of my soul sticking back with yours."
"But until we're completely together again… this is the most I can do."
I looked towards the sky, birds flying by as the sound of rushing water grew louder in my ear.
Then everything grew silent.
I wrapped my arms around my body, tightly hugging myself.
"I'm sorry for saying I never wanted to see you again… that probably hurt you."
Sy shot up from the ground. "Y-You idiot!"
"Don't just go around doing that ya lunatic!"
I pushed myself up, dusting the snow from the back of my arms and legs.
"It's okay if I don't know everything now Sy."
"That'll make it all the better when we're together again."
Sy looked down, fading into the sky.
"Whattt, are you blushing?" I joked with a mischievous grin.
Grabbing the sack I threw it over my shoulder, following down the river's stream.
"I promise you one day, you'll be able to tell me everything that you can't right now."
…
"What, no more responses!?"
I chuckled beneath my breath. "Just what am I gonna do with this shy soul of mine."