Times New Roman 12 – Aka Manah
February 2004
Archen
It's been a few weeks since we've come across the demonic shadow. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't actually all that strong. Yet, I was the only one who got hurt by it. I've gotten a bit cocky it seems, and on top of that I didn't take my own weaknesses into account.
I have to remember that my soul is still gradually recovering, but it will take some time before its fully there.
I've been contemplating a lot about the strange recognition I had at the end of the fight. I'm certain I've felt that type of energy before, but for the love of God, I can't seem to remember when or where.
I did get a rundown on what it was that we fought there and I've been told, it's what is known as a minor Daeva, a demonic entity from the Zoroastrian mythological world. They've never come up before in our lessons as they haven't been heard of for some time now.
And for the life of me, I can't think of a place I've been to that is connected to the Zoroastrian side of the world. So I'm at an impasse in my quest for the answer.
Sadly, the emergence of a thought-dead or vanished pantheon, stopped the Grigori exploration missions. With nothing left to do, I've been focusing mostly on combat tactics with Bianca.
I didn't realize until fairly recently that the random Order members are treating me with even more respect. It's actually kind of creepy how respectful they are. I brought it up with Gray after I noticed the shift, and she looked at me like I'm an idiot, since I used a primordial rune in the presence of too many people.
Yeah, shit. In my spite-fueled haze, I gave away another secret. Teenage brain goes brrr.
Weirdly enough, Fay hasn't bothered me once about my usage of the rune, nor has she tried getting more information out of me. Until recently, I've been told that asking about spells like that is a big taboo, and she can't accept it even if I were to offer, as it's technically my teacher's prerogative if she's allowed to learn.
"Stop bothering me! I can't be seen interacting with you filthy low-born."
That doesn't sound good. That doesn't sound good at all, and worst of all, I recognize that voice.
"Meri, wait up!" A frantic Fay calls after Meredith, who is stomping away in apparent frustration. I can see Fay quickly catching up to her, and she starts hushedly whispering something at her. From this distance, I can't hear what she's saying, but evidently, it's not something Meredith wanted to hear.
She shakes off Fay's hand and storms past me. I swear, the look on her face seems to spasm between a sad look of remorse and one of thundering anger. She doesn't spare me a glance as she marches on, and I stand there in bewildered silence. We've all noticed that she's been having more anger issues lately, but never has she lashed out like this before. There is something seriously wrong.
Fay walks over and leans against me. With a quiet whisper, she asks, "How do we help her?"
At first, I didn't think it was up to us to meddle in her business without her asking us for help. But maybe we should try and do something because this is extremely unlike her, and her 'family' never really cared about her anyway.
"You think she would listen if all three of us talked to her?" I ask hesitantly. I've never been the best at dealing with such heavy topics.
"We should at least try."
"Do you know a place where we can go," here I look purposefully around me and gesture my head to the walls, "somewhere a bit more out of the way from here?" I scratch my head in a sudden bout of anxiety. "Might want to pick a place where she can throw a tantrum freely."
Plan for the worst, hope for the best. I've got a strange feeling that she might be too wound up and in need of a proper venting, and nothing clears your emotions as well as blowing shit up.
Her eyes light up in understanding, and she nods quickly, agreeing with my notions. "I know a perfect spot. It's just a simple teleport away anyway."
Oh, yeah. Can't forget, she can teleport others with her. Ima be real straight here, it's bullshit how good she is in one of own my elements. Comparison is really the thief of joy.
"You go put some of those fancy privacy wards there and I'll get Gray. Afterwards, meet here to grab Meredith, and you'll teleport us to your 'secret' alcove." I quickly make a plan of action. The sooner we show her we're fully in support of her, the faster she might confide in us.
"Great, I'll check if my little island is presentable!" And there she bounds away, going to take a look at her little island.
My island? Is she insinuating that she owns it herself? How much of Great Britain does her family actually possess? That's some real 'fuck you' money. If she's that rich, why does she keep trying to mooch off me when we're in the city?
With a heavy heart, I stroll through the corridors. After being semi-part of the Golden Dawn for this long, I easily manage to find my destination. The cafeteria.
I spot her instantly, standing at the dessert section. A black and white hoodie, with a checkered skirt nowadays instead of the jeans she wore before. Her grey hair stands out in comparison to most of the normal hair colors.
With her back still facing me, I slowly walk towards her in hopes of scaring her.
"Hello, Arc." She airily greets me, not even turning around at my silent approach.
I quickly straighten up to an upright posture while stopping my stalking charades, I can't help but notice how she's changed up her choice of clothes. She went from totally nondescript to having a clearly defined style. Over the course of a few weeks, she's managed to mix and match various outfits until she settled on a choice few.
I've got to ask her what her music choices are. With her color choices of only shades, I'm fairly certain she falls into a certain subculture.
"Hiya!" My overenthusiastic greeting instantly gets her on high alert. Good, she's learning. "We've got a tiny problem." She sighs, already dreading the chaos that will unfold.
"Our good friend Meredith had a small mishap, and after seeing her struggle for so long, we, as in Fay and me, decided to confront her and try to get her to spill the beans on what's bothering her so much. But we thought that she will more easily talk if we go with the three of us." I steadily explain the situation, as she's already aware of the problem.
"All right." She agrees instantly, her concern shining through. "What room do we meet?"
"Ah, we're going to Fay's island." I pause here. "Did you know she owns an island? How much land does her family own?" My curiosity got the better of me.
She tilts her head cutely, but in a way that indicates that my questions are stupid. "We're technically royalty-adjacent, and the crown owns a lot."
Yeah, I'll shelve these questions for a later date.
"If you're ready, let's go?"
She nods affirmatively, and off we go to the next great adventure.
Thirty minutes later.
"Welcome to Le Fay's witchy wonderland." With a theatrical wave of her hand, she teleports us all to a smallish island where I can still see craters from past explosions and trees that have been leveled.
"This is where I practice my more 'impactful' spells. Privacy guaranteed! As I once accidentally almost blew away one of the unannounced visitors, they now have to announce themselves before they can get in." She starts off proudly, bragging about her playground but turns sheepish just as fast when she explains why it's so private now.
Meredith, unimpressed and probably already guessing why we're here, just harrumphs at this. "Hmpf, you brought me here because you think I need to explode things?" Her voice indignant.
Well... she's not wrong. Honestly, I think she needs to vent and doing that at a place where her 'family' can't judge her for it would be for the best.
"Yes, but no. At least that's not all." I start off lightly, trying to find a way to broach the subject delicately.
"I think you've been acting like an ass." Fay doesn't bother beating around the bush.
"W-what?" Meredith's indignation is swiftly swept away by Fay's mood whiplash.
"It feels like you're getting angrier and angrier. Sometimes you even take it out on us." Gray adds a bit more quietly.
Her posture changes into something more defensive, and she bites out, "That's not true at all."
"We don't think it's your fault, but how do I say this..." I try to mediate before someone says the wrong thing and changes the goal of our 'intervention.' "You've been a lot moodier the past year, and it's only gotten worse."
"Exactly what I said. Acting like an ass." God damn it Fay, are you purposefully trying to get her mad or something?
"So that's what's happening. You're going to say you don't want to be friends with me anymore?" Meredith's tone shifts into something hurt and angry.
That's one hell of a reach, but this is still easily salvageable.
"No, don't put words in our mouths. We're here because we think you need help, and we want to help you." I feel pressured to play the good cop in this scenario. With Fay already provoking reactions out of her, it will be in everyone's best interest if I try to keep tempers from exploding.
In an angry voice she shouts, "I don't need anybody's help!" As her magic starts to leak out, the remnant smell of ash in the area grows stronger, reigniting some of the burnt leaves.
With a reaction like that, you probably really do need help. But I can't help but feel that maybe we should've brought Elaine, our magic teacher, with us. She's the only 'adult' that Meredith seems to trust.
"Well... you clearly do. You wouldn't react like this before." Fay's clipped response makes it only worse, as her words only fuel the frustration.
"It feels like you're losing yourself. You spend too much time trying to prove yourself to your 'family.'" Gray says in a quiet voice, but the inflection she puts on the word family says a lot about her opinion of them.
"What do you know about this? You've always had them around." Her voice is accusatory in a way that's so unnatural. She has seen Gray's uncomfortableness when dealing with family matters, and she's the one who pointed out that I should help shield her from them.
"This. This is exactly what I mean. You've become so defensive about the most random things, and you try to find the worst in everything that happens." The irritation that's been bubbling in Fay is a lot higher than I've expected. Before, I thought it was only concern that she was feeling. But now it seems that she's been dealing with a lot of anger about the situation as well.
"Let's all calm down a bit. We're not here to accuse you of anything. We just want to know what's wrong." I'm old enough to know that if we want a constructive ending to this, we should first find out what's wrong before trying to get her mad enough that she starts blasting spells to unwind.
Her magic flares up even more, sending sand and leaves fluttering away from her. "Stop telling me what to do! Especially from you. You don't even understand what I'm going through." The pressure she radiates is already on par with what used to be her maximum just a few weeks ago. She's been really pulling out all the stops in training to magical exhaustion.
Kinda a low blow, shouting at your ex-orphan buddy about not knowing anything about family.
"Are you even listening to yourself? Stop trying to act like we're the evil ones here. We came here to find out what's wrong and maybe have you vent by destroying stuff." Aah... Mount Fay has erupted. She's had enough of her shit.
"Just tell us what's wrong, and we'll try to help." Gray, a bit less sympathetic, adds to the pile. She doesn't like anyone alluding to my no-family status.
Meredith, feeling attacked from multiple sides, starts letting out even more of her mana, causing the tree leaves to rustle while the scent of ash and soot intensifies. The feeling her magic gives off is... different somehow.
"I don't need your help! I don't need anybody! You will throw me away anyways when you don't need me anymore!" Her face fluctuates between rage and sadness, her voice thick with resentment.
"We're not just anybody, Meredith. We're your friends." I try to get through to her, trying to reach past her anger.
"We've been friends long before you knew about your royal father. Arc doesn't even know who he is." Fay interjects, trying to add some humor for levity. Her goading seems to have worked in getting her to talk. I truly don't know who her father is, and I'm not that interested in finding out. Maybe only to give him a piece of my mind for causing Meredith so much unneeded stress, but outside of that, I don't want him anywhere near us.
"How could you believe we would leave you behind? We spend almost all our days together." Gray, slightly accusing, asks. A bit of hurt in her voice indicates that she believes she doesn't give off the vibe of somebody who could do something like that.
Her magic becomes more and more erratic. "I've seen how you act! Archen's already making inroads with the fallen." I am? "Once he leaves, you will for sure go with him. After all, you're much closer to him than us." Gray seems disinclined to deny this. "And Fay will sooner or later run off with her brother." Fay looks mightily offended and tries to get a word in, but Meredith barrels on. "Don't try to deny it. You've wanted to leave for a while now. And after you three leave, then I'm all alone." A sob creaks out of her mouth, and her magic fully goes out of control.
"Don't be ridiculous. If I was to leave with my brother, why would you think I wouldn't try to take you with me? If those two are as thick as thieves, we might as well be sisters at this point." Fay shouts back angrily, feeling like their relationship is being dismissed.
The out-of-control magic seeps into the area around us, causing the shadows to come to life. The smell of fire and brimstone starts to overpower the previous scent, and it's here I notice it—a second form of magical energy wafting from inside her.
A sense of corruption and filth seeps out of her... the same type of evil presence I've felt a few weeks ago. One I could never place where I'd felt before, except now I could. Once, when Meredith came back from the royal palace.
This profound sense of coldness grips my heart, as I can feel a heat of pure rage start to bubble to the forefront of my mind. Something is influencing her, trying to fill her head with evil and isolating her from us.
I don't know how many of my anger buttons this pushes, but it's a lot. In this new life, I have few things close to my heart, and she's managed to become one of those. This... travesty can't go unanswered.
"SHE'S BEING POSSESSED." I shout out with palpable rage. "Gray, I need you to exorcise it out of her. Le Fay, with me." I bark out orders, not willing to allow this farce to continue any second longer.
The reaction is instant as Fay summons her broom and flies into the air, starting the chanting process to prevent anyone from teleporting out of here. Gray calls her anti-spirit scythe to her.
Meredith's face goes slack, still with tears streaming out of her eyes, but now something else is in control, and this thing does not look happy with our actions.
A two-toned androgynous voice comes out of her mouth. "You meddling kids, this was supposed to be an easy mission. I would have gotten away with it too. No one else pays attention to her." Her voice is laced with anger while at the same time sounding weirdly seductive.
I point the butt of my spear towards her, and in hastened speed, I dash to sweep out her feet from beneath her. Above us, Fay finishes the anti-teleportation wards, and Gray's normally green eyes take an otherworldly glow.
The thing piloting Meredith tries to throw up one of her instant barriers, but its power is greatly diminished as if their actions are being fought against from the inside.
My sweep still gets blocked, but the barrier already shows signs of cracking. Fay does not bother waiting for commands as she jumps into the fray, spell circles coming to life around her. With various non-lethal elemental spells raining down on both of our locations, I dash back with great speed and mid-dash slow down the enchanted ward stone MereThing tries to erect.
MereThing flips backward, showing off more athletic ability than I have seen from her in the last year. Mid-flip, her belt lights up, activating her stored defensive barriers, easily tanking all the hits.
I time warp myself behind her while Bianca dashes at her from my last location, pinning her between the two of us. I sweep my spear toward her legs again while Bianca jumps up to bite her belt and possibly take it away.
"Insects." The thing hisses, unable to react in time due to an unwilling body. As both of our attacks connect, she falls to the ground, and the earth instantly grips her body, not allowing her to move.
At this point, Gray dashes forward, landing above Meredith, her sybilic energy swirling around her hands as she puts both of them on her face and shouts, "BEGONE."
The thing screams in agony as it is forcefully removed from its host. Meredith's eyes clear up, looking as if a weight has been lifted off her.
Before we can celebrate the success, the thing reforms a few steps away, and without being constrained to a host, I can feel its energy rising higher and higher, surpassing all of us here combined.
Oh shit.
"You insolent mortals. I will have your heads, mission be damned. This I swear on my name as Aka Manah." The ram-skull-headed monstrosity bellows out with hatred, his shout alone causing mass destruction to the trees around him.
I quickly pick up Meredith as the restraints slide back into the earth and put her against a tree somewhat out of the way of the up-and-coming blast zone.
"Well, anyone have a plan to defeat that thing?" I ask to break the levity of the situation. Now more than before, I wish we had brought Elaine with us, but hindsight is twenty-twenty, as they say.
Gray nods resolutely. "We fight."
That's really inspiring, but I was thinking more in terms of a plan of action instead of the obvious. On the other hand, she is not wrong. Now that the thing is out of Meredith, we can go all out and try to get rid of it for good.
Is it bad that I am actually a bit excited at the prospect of fighting skelly boy over there? Am I already a lost cause? Did I become a meathead fight enthusiast? I contemplate my happiness at having a life-or-death battle while sprinting forward.
With a wave of its gloved demonic talons, it summons a bunch of ghosts to intercept my charge. Before they can do anything noteworthy, Gray dashes ahead of me from behind my flank. Her scythe is raised high, and in one huge forward arc, she slices through all the specters, her weapon absorbing their essence.
"A grim reaper? No... what are you?" Aka Manah pauses at her display and shoots a wary glance at Gray.
She does not bother responding as she channels the absorbed power into her weapon while it changes to its bow form. Together, Gray and Fay unleash a bombardment of spells and spectral arrows at the demon while I take that moment to reposition myself between them and the monster.
His clawed hands take a shadowy hue as he explodes out of the rain of destruction, practically no damage to be seen. "You cretins cannot hurt me, and now you will pay." He charges towards Gray, as her absorbing of his summons makes her the biggest danger so far.
With my prepared position, I hasten myself closer to Gray while she changes to her great shield. With a wild two-armed swipe, he tries to gore us simultaneously. Together, we manage to block his first attack relatively easily, using the force of his hit to propel us backward in a relatively controlled manner.
He follows up his attack by shooting a black miasmic wave after us. I barely manage to release the time-stopped ward stone, allowing it to activate and shield us from his combo.
"Anyone else got some tricks up their sleeve? I cannot affect him with my magic, and thus far, we barely scratched him." I call out around me while I hasten the speed of Fay's elemental attacks.
"I can take him out." A resolute-sounding Gray tells me. "But I am going to need a moment, and we are not getting that."
"I will get you that time. I will call out when you can start." I agree, believing her if she says she can take him out.
Sadly, talking is not a free action. With a sickening crunch and the sound of tearing flesh, two skeleton wings burst out of his back. He crouches and jumps straight at Fay.
Fay manages to conjure a shield in front of herself, but in its hastily made state, it only softens the blow. She gets thrown off her broom and ragdolls on the floor. He does not let up as he flies after her, wanting to finish the job before she can stand up again.
I time warp myself next to her to repel his next swipes, managing to block one of the two while the second talon claws my left arm, leaving behind three bleeding gashes.
"Gah. Fuck. Bitch." I wheeze out in pain. I put the butt of my spear on the ground, jump up, and plant my two feet against his torso. I push-kick him as hard as I can, successfully getting him to back up a few steps.
"Arc, you all right?" A dazed Fay asks me.
"Yeah, I will be fine, but we need to buy enough time for Gray." I quickly bite out, ignoring the bleeding gashes. She quickly nods, fully standing behind me to join forces in delaying him.
"Gray, let's go." I shout. It is do or die now.
"Darken"
The adrenaline pulsing through my veins as everything around me becomes sharper and all my senses seem to blaze awake, a savage grin forming on my face.
"Celebrate"
I rush him with my spear, willing myself to take everything he can dish out and some more.
"Desire"
While Fay gives suppressive fire, while shielding the possible lethal attacks.
"Corrupt"
A hail of elemental spells to either slow down his charges or to try and make him fall.
"Engrave in me"
Yet, it's not enough. With every exchange, I get a bit more battered. None of our attacks truly hurt him and he's noticed Gray preparing an attack.
"A grave for you"
His last attack rockets me backwards on my back and my spear flies out of my hand. This might be it.
"Pseudo-Personality suspended. Magical energy yield exceeds regulation. Second stage restraint rescinded."
It's exactly as he prepares to dash to me that Add finishes Gray's chant with a voice that promises the end.
"Sacred lance, removing restraints!"
With a titanic flash, her scythe changes into a lance that looks to be made of shining light. A glow blasts away the shadows that have started encroaching, bathing us all in its gentle radiance.
In a complete reversal of what the fight once was, she is the one that charges at him and she pushes him back easily. The places he touches her lance, gets burned with wounds that don't seem to heal.
"AAGH! What is this? How can it hurt me?" He cries out in actual pain for the first time.
Their clash is incredible, the power of that lance is out of this world. Sadly, I can feel in its diminished form, it's not enough.
"Seal Thirteen. Decision, start."
I manage to stand back up and summon my staff to me. I try and hasten her strikes, but my magic finds no purchase, her lance being completely immune to my time shennanigans.
"This is a battle against an enemy mightier than oneself."
"Approved."
Instead of trying to step in and stand in her way, I take a step back to stand next to Fay and try to support her actions instead.
"This is a battle to live."
"Approved."
"This farce has gone on long enough, you. Kill her." Suddenly all my wounds flare up with that same dark miasma he's been attacking me with, clouding my mind, and I can feel control slipping away.
"This battle must not be against humanity."
"Approved."
With a haze of blood in my eyes, I can't help but turn my staff towards Fay. Preparing to send a wave of temporal energy her way, to forcibly age her heart.
"The battle must be one against evil."
"Approved."
"No!" A shout of desperation comes from behind Fay. Meredith, who has been helpless the entire fight, sees me being controlled to strike down her best friend. And in this moment, after everything that's already happened to her, she can't allow her friend to come to harm. Her entire being screams at her to do something to save her, a wish, a determination, a plea.
"This battle must not involve personal gain."
"Approved."
Her desperate plea, one born out of a selfish wish to not lose someone she holds dear, is answered. With a flash of light, a circlet of gold appears above her head, shining like a halo, and attached to it are nails made from the holiest of light.
"Third stage restraint rescinded."
From her seated position, the nails of light shoot out in a zigzag pattern, homing in on two different targets. One of the nails hits me square in the chest, instantly removing the haze clouding my mind, yet at the same time, my actions are still controlled.
"O ancient Mystics... be exterminated."
"O sweet mystery... return all to nothingness."
"The Lance That Shines to the End of the World."
As Gray finishes the cacophony of voices with her own chant, I feel compelled to turn my staff towards the filthy demon. With the nail somehow boosting my everything, I scream with all my hate at the demon and throw my everything into a spell to slow him down.
"Rhongo..."
While one of those nails hit me and changed my actions, the others hit the demon, slowing its movements to a fraction of what it was before. Combined with my boosted slow, he is momentarily completely stunned.
"...myniad!!!"
"No! It can't be." He screams out in actual panic as the lance that Gray is holding changes into a gargantuan pillar of light. An all-cleansing beam that shatters everything in its path, leaving naught but dust in the wind. Cleaving through the bounded field with laughable ease, blinding everyone and giving none a chance to see.
Once the light finally settles, we can see a ravine, and where once was one whole island, now stands two. In the silence of the aftermath and seeing that all of us made it out alive while the demon is nowhere in sight, I finally exhale a breath I didn't even realize I was holding in.
Inside, I can feel something finally click and I grin.
"We won!"