11: Fear
The leansídhe was still nesting in the same – now burnt-out – warehouse from Phantasia’s previous encounter. She could feel the familiar auras of Kaori and Shelley lost in the darkening mist, like two flickering candles about to be extinguished. As she crossed the boundary into the charred remains of the warehouse, she could feel the leansídhe stir to unnatural life, its menacing features etched into the aether as if somehow the air itself had been rendered apart. Phantasia closed her eyes and composed herself, drawing as much strength as she could muster from the decrepit landscape.
There’s no time to waste. The others will be here soon. I can’t be afraid.
She picked her way through cobwebbed corridors. It would have been easier to just phase into the heart of the building, but Phantasia wanted to conserve as much of her power as possible, and if Joel was right, if this was a trap, she couldn’t reveal herself too soon.
A rusted metal door led onto a balcony that overlooked the depths of the storage area. The fire had devastated the already derelict interior, and in some remote corners she could still see it burning away on beams of rotted wood or abandoned crates. The majority of the damage, however, had been to the floor where the pyre had sat – now a crater leading into a basement below.
It was in the middle of that pit of ruin that Shelley gathered fuel for another pyre, while Kaori sat on a slab, a small knife clutched in a shaking hand. Above them both, hanging from the ceiling in a web of shadow, the leansídhe was watching, its form now more humanoid than ever. It noticed as Phantasia slipped down into the pit, but didn’t act.
I’m not a threat any more.
Phantasia crept towards Kaori, forcing her limbs to move through the mire of darkness surrounding her. With each sluggish step she took, the darkness thickened and it felt as if Kaori was getting further away the closer she got. Her friend was just a few short steps away…
“Well look who it is, Kaori! It’s Phantasia, my wonderful new girlfriend! She’s so much better than you, I’m glad you’re going to die so I don’t have to suffer your pathetic moaning ever again!”
Joel was standing there – or at least an illusion of Joel. The ginger-haired Raven wasn’t the most muscular of humans, but this fake Joel was almost a skeleton, his skin stretched tight across his bones and his eyes lost deep within their sockets. It was as if the leansídhe had resurrected the most traumatic, twisted nightmare of Kaori’s boyfriend from her mind.
“You can just sit there and watch,” it said, “Sit and watch while I take her and Shelley and do with them what you never let me do with your ugly, fat body. You know Shelley and I have been at it all this time. I mean, I had to be getting it from somewhere, didn’t I?”
Kaori was silent, tracing the edge of the knife along her pale arm. Phantasia reached out to grab it, but a sharp pain slashed across her wrist. Sparks of dark energy were dancing around Kaori like black lightening, shielding her from Phantasia’s touch.
“Come on, ‘Kao’, it’s almost time,” said the fake-Joel with a smirk, “Your mother’s one helluva musician, your cute little sister has real friends, and you? You can’t even keep a slacker like me around. What’ve you got left in this world?”
“Noth-”
“You do have friends!” snapped Phantasia, “And Joel’s on his way here right now! Don’t listen to that thing!”
“Listen to her; she’s trying to pretend nothing is going on. But you know it, don’t you, Kaori? You know what’s going on-”
