"You're finally awake. How are you feeling?" Kairos asked.
"Fine. What happened. How did we end up back at the motel?" I scan the room confused. Where was the pitch blackness? The woman screaming my name?
"Well, when you let go of my hand, you screamed. It was a distorted scream and your eyes went pitch black, your hands covering your ears and then black tears were streaming down from your eyes." His face looked more worried. He knelt down next to the edge of the bed. "What happened?"
"Well, when I took to the sword and we started running, the more we ran, the louder the noise got in my head. I'm sure you heard it too, right?"
"There was no noise, Lira." He scanned my face.
I was the only one who heard the ringing noise?
"W-When I covered my ears, it stopped eventually, but it took me to this pitch black place with no one their. There was this woman telling me to turn back and she was calling my name out multiple times, each one louder than the last."
Did I seem insane? I probably rambled like I was insane.
It's back.
The noise.
It's back
Make it stop.
It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. It's back, make it stop. M̶̼̝̽̿A̷̼͌K̶͚͎̈Ẻ̴̝͚͘ ̶̣̮͒̓. I̷̹̿T̷̢̡̓̓ ̷. S̶̼͝͠T̴͓͉͒̕Ō̸͜P̶͎͛!
I covered my ears again. Was I going to go to that pitch black place again. I looked up. Kairos was still there. What was he saying? I couldn't hear a thing he said. He looked worried.
The noise only got louder.
Why?
Why was this happening?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
Make it stop.
I felt something hot on my hands. I removed it from my ears. It was blood. Blood was flowing out of my ears.
I wanted to scream and cry out of irritation, but could I? No matter how hard I stress my throat, not a single word escaped my mouth.
Kairos looked panicked. Not a single trace of his cold expression on his face. He searched the room for something.
The
Noise
Only
Got
L̷̰̈́o̷̢͔̎̀u̷͍͙̕d̴̤̀̍e̵̻͒͠r̷̝̄͆
"L̸i̸r̴a̵~̷...." The voice. It's back.
Suddenly.
We weren't in the motel room.
We were back in Syrus.
Standing there was Sera, with an angry look on her face, and chanting something. I couldn't hear what. I couldn't hear anything.
What was happening?
Everything hurts.
Why does everything hurt?
I feel like my soul is being sucked out.
I screamed.
I can finally scream.
I passed out.
I woke up.
Not on the bed.
But in the pitch black place.
I was irritated. I didn't want this to happen to me.
I stood up and yelled.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" I screamed the loudest I could.
"Don't rebel against your father."
This was bullshit.
I slapped myself and I was out of that place, back into reality. I didn't expect that to work.
Sera was next to me. "Lira, is she still there?"
How did she know?
"I'm not sure."
A pause.
"Who is she?"
Sera sighed.
"I suppose you should know, since you have the sword now. Before you went to defeat your father, you found out something that your memories didn't retrieve."
Something my memories didn't retrieve? I mean not everything was retrieved, but this one seemed serious. Apparently, even Kairos doesn't remember it.
"What about my father?" It felt weird to say that word.
Father.
"When you barged into the palace, demanding to see your father right before the failed rebellion, you found something. Something that changes things. You found your father talking to someone. Saying that he wanted to stop this. That this madness should stop. The reason, that your father is doing all of this, that he's controlling everyone...." She falters.
"Why? Sera?" I raised an eyebrow. "Why is he doing this?"
"He's being controlled."