Chapter 18:
The AftermathThe first thing Jonathan felt was the cold. It was the familiar, sterile cold of the Guild's polished concrete, a feeling that snapped him back into his body. He was no longer a blur of raging darkness, a puppet on a string. He was himself again. His hands, now human, were slick with black ichor. The familiar smell of dust and old paper filled his nose. He was in the Guild's archives, and all around him, the destruction of his body's rampage was a stark testament to the monster he had become. He looked down at his clothes, torn and stained, and a wave of pure, unadulterated terror washed over him.
He was a monster. He had to run. He fled, his body moving with a newfound, terrifying speed. He was a phantom in the dark streets, a ghost haunted by the memory of the destruction he had caused.
Seraphina and Chloe stood in the wreckage of Jonathan's home, their breath coming in ragged, terrified gasps. The walls were splintered, the floor was cracked, and the air still hummed with a dark, residual energy. They found Jonathan's mother's stasis pod, miraculously unharmed, in the center of the wreckage. It was a symbol of hope in a world that had just been shattered.
Their conversation was a mix of raw emotion and fear. They saw a monster, but they also saw their friend trapped inside it. "We can't go to the Guild," Seraphina said, her voice shaking with emotion. "They'll see him as a threat to be eliminated, not a person to be saved."
Chloe nodded, her eyes filled with a desperate resolve. "I know," she said. "We have to find him before they do." Their mission had become a secret, desperate race against time. They would seek out Arthur, the only person who might understand what was happening.
Lilith arrived at the scene of the crime later, after the Guild's alarms had been triggered. She did not see the personal wreckage; she saw a crime scene. She analyzed the destruction with a cold, tactical eye. Her investigation led her to the Guild's central security room, where she pulled up the security camera footage from the archives. The chilling video showed the terrifying beetle form, but then it showed the creature distorting and contorting back into Jonathan's human form before he ran away.
Lilith's unreadable face dropped in shock and confusion. "Isn't that the same monster we fought?" she whispered to herself, her mind racing. Jonathan was not just a rogue variable but something far more complex and dangerous. She was determined to get to the bottom of things. She would launch a secret Guild investigation to hunt him down, not to save him, but to contain him before he became a threat to the city.
Evelyn, meanwhile, had gone to the Guild to gain access to a powerful artifact a binding collar she believed could subjugate Jonathan's new power. She had learned of a location where Jonathan might be headed and had gone there alone, ready to spring her trap. She believed she could outsmart him, that she could use his connection to his mother against him.
She found him in a quiet corner of the city, his back turned to her. He was still in his human form, his body hunched over, his hands gripping a small, unassuming chalice.
"What are you doing? You shouldn't be here," Jonathan said, his voice strained and filled with despair. He knew his body would not hold out for long, that the monster was a moment away from returning.
Evelyn's face was a mask of cold arrogance. "I'm doing what's best for you," she said, her voice dripping with condescension. "You're a liability, a threat to this city. But you can be my weapon."
Jonathan felt the familiar surge of darkness, but this time, he fought it. "Get out!" he screamed, his voice a mix of his own and Aethel's, his eyes flickering red. The transformation began.
In a final act of desperation, Evelyn pulled out a handgun. It was a futile gesture, but it was all she had. She fired. The shot wasn't meant for Jonathan, but to draw attention to the situation. It was a last ditch effort to get someone, anyone, to come and help her.