Chapter Four (Final)

My life now had some actual purpose again. Well, to be more precise it has meaning to it. It is indeed great to be human. For the past few weeks, I have been getting along really well with my current girlfriend, Paraiso Janeiro. She’s short about 5’2” and has long blonde hair and a very friendly and open hearted disposition, at least, she does to me.

My days had become one of enjoyment and even though the work was plenty and times were indeed tough, things were indeed enjoyable. I had become completely adjusted to Frontier life. Even the heat was slowly becoming more tolerable as time moved on.

Even so, that peaceful world was rudely brought down in one fateful moment. A knock at the front door, far too early in the morning to be by a neighbor, awakened me.

“At this hour…they’ve got some nerve…let them stand out there for a little longer…”

Having been awakened from her sleep, Paraiso was not in a very happy mood. I had to be careful myself not to wake her up by moving around too much. The knocking continued however, persisting with increasing annoyance until I could no longer simply ignore it.

“I’ll be right back so don’t worry about it alright?”

Paraiso gave a quiet growl and turned around turning into a ball. This was for the best, after all. As the knocking continued, I stood up and made my way through the dark house to the front door as quickly as I could navigate through the place which was much easier since I had mapped out the layout of the place in my head.

“Yes, who is it?” I asked as politely as I could while opening the door part way. In an instant a whole bunch of unpleasant and long forgotten memories came pouring back with all the unpleasantness of accidentally dropping your food. BANG the sound of me slamming the door shut echoed throughout the silent house.

I closed my eyes tightly and turned around praying to some god I had long since forsaken that this was all just a dream.

“Open the door!”

A loud crash accompanied the shout from the other side of the door and suddenly I was blown, along with the door, to the floor. As I was sitting up, a sharp object pierced my left shoulder. It was immediately recognizable as that something which resided only on the inside of a person as part of their very important anatomy. Though the shape had been altered to fit its purpose, it was clearly a bone which had been stabbed into my shoulder.

There was only one person who I knew who could do something this extraordinary. Standing in the doorway, with her back to the large moon and a white sun hat much more reasonably sized than Paraiso’s was the one person who I never really wanted to meet again. The strange, eccentric and downright hurricane like girl with long brown hair, it was the girl who had given me the name of Soul and who herself had named Heart.

“I’ve finally found you, Soul. I’ve been looking all over the place for you. Do you have any idea about how it feels to be dumped on a beach?”

Heart took a step closer entering my house. She was smiling as though she was happy about the fact that she found me, but I didn’t get the feeling that she was simply lonely and missed my company. It was like one who had finally cornered her elusive prey after having tracked it down. A sense of accomplishment could only bring about that kind of smile.

“You again…” I tried to sit up again, but the pain in my shoulder was becoming worse. The area around it also felt really warm. It was most likely blood.

“Isn’t it great that we meet again like this? I mean, it must be fate right? I think I can finally repay you for electrocuting me way back when. Maybe I’ll just let you pass out from blood loss.”

She took a glance at my arm and grinned for some reason. “Hey, you don’t even have your Gate with you don’t you? I was planning on taking it from you, but it looks like you don’t have it on you. And here I was worried since I hit the wrong shoulder.”

She’s completely gone off the deep end. At this point in the time the only thing that’s going to get rid of her is that but I really don’t want to use that kind of thing. Sighing, she runs her fingers through her hair and takes a step forward towards me with another bone extending from her arm.

“Soul…what’s going on in here?”

Suddenly, the game changes as the voice of the girl who should be asleep fills the temporary silence. Turning my head, I look up to see the last person I wanted to get involved in this.

“Soul”…?”

Heart repeats that name and looks down from me then back up to Paraiso who seems to be unaware of the gravity of the situation she has just walked into. Heart turns her glare back on me and Paraiso follows her line of sight to me on the floor still impaled through the arm. She immediately rushes over to my side and although she doesn’t say anything, her eyes pretty much tells everything.

 “Who…?” She looks at me in her confusion after looking over the stake in my arm then closes her eyes for a moment and turns her head around to face Heart who, surprisingly, has not said a word or moved at all.

“What is the reason for all of this?” She asks barely containing her anger.  She stands up and positions herself in between me and Heart. “What do you want?”

“Penance,” answers Heart in a very quiet and restrained voice, barely containing her supercilious tone of voice. “I merely want Penance…”

“You will not find that here. Now, please leave my home.

Negotiating with her was not going to work. She’s gone past the point of simply listening to what anybody else has to say. It’s only a matter of time before she suddenly goes off the deep end and attacks us. Reaching out, I grab the spike in my arm, grip it tightly and pull it out all in one swift movement.

Pain shoots through my body, but I simply grit my teeth and endure. Noticing my movement, Heart raises her hand, but she’s a split second too late as I grab Paraiso by her waist and lift her small frame from the floor. A thick sound from something imbedding itself within the wall gives my body chills. The only thing I can do at this point is get that thing in my jacket and try to do something with it.

Reaching my room, I shut the door and drop Paraiso on the floor then immediately run to my jacket and begin looking through it.

“What is this, Soul? Who is she huh? I thought you said you didn’t have any crazy ex’s huh?”

“Why on earth would I date someone like that huh?”

Paraiso, out of breath, chastises me. Just as the door is thrown open, I finally retrieved the Gateway which I had long since abandoned. Paraiso runs behind me as Heart makes her way inside the dark room.

“I’ve heard that nobody has died yet on the Frontier. It looks like that streak is about to come to a crushing end. You can’t hide from me, you know? Not so long as I want to find you, Soul.”

“Even though you came all this way, I’m sorry that I have to cut such a touching reunion so soon.”

Alright, I can do this. I’ve done it once before so doing it just one more time should be good enough. While she was talking, I took the opportunity to slip the crimson colored Gateway onto my wrist and as soon as I finished speaking it was already pointed towards the direction of Heart’s voice. The blue gem in the center began shining brightly and with that shining, a sporadic bolt of electricity shot forward.

The light from the electricity caused the darkness to be briefly disappeared. Heart retreated behind the wall and during that time, I grabbed onto Paraiso’s hand with my left and pressed my right hand against the wall. Since the power had not yet totally subsided, the result was that wall of the house being blown open. Not wasting any time I pulled Paraiso through our improvised escape route and ran out into the humid and windy night.

“My house…! Soul, my house! What did you do to my house?”

Running with me, Paraiso chided me, reasonably, for blowing her dreams to smithereens.

I’m sorry about that. I really am Paraiso, but your life comes first.” I gave her a reassuring reply as reassuring as possible, but I couldn’t complete shrug this off as I did almost every other inconvenience that happened at random points in my life.

“Is this why you had to leave your old peaceful life?”

“In so many words, yes.”

“You better explain this to me when this is all over!”

Well it’s not like I can simply shrug this off or hide it anymore. I was getting a bad feeling so I turned my head to see if we were being followed and to my chagrin she was indeed pursuing us. Sprinting after us with all the grace of a champion athletic sprinter, Heart was quickly closing in on us.

We’re not going to get away like this. I guess we can’t simply run from her anymore. In that case, there’s only one thing I could possibly do then, even though I really don’t want to do it. Pushing Paraiso to the ground, I turned around to face her.

“Stay down, Paraiso. It’ll be troublesome for me if you were to get hurt because of me.”

Just after saying this, I was assaulted by a rain of sharp and physically hard objects. Small pieces of bones pelted me. I finally had an idea of what stoning must have felt like way back when. By the time it was over, Heart was already upon me. That little distraction had caused her to close in the distance. Her fist was encased in a bone like proactive cage which were tipped in deadly spikes and as she punched, it had the same effect of thrusting a multi-tipped lance.  I couldn’t get hit with that!

She’s far too fast though to be avoided. Waiting for her to strike would be pointless since there is no way for me to avoid her once that actually happens. I could only keep jumping back to simply stay out of her range. Just as I thought I had gained enough distance, she managed to defy that logic as well by suddenly throwing a rather reckless shoulder tackle.

Knocked to the ground, I immediately tried to get back up, but my shoulder wouldn’t do as I wanted and gave out on me. Out of concern I glanced around to see if Paraiso had at least made it out safely, but that hope was also dashed when she suddenly stood in front of me preventing the bone armored girl to halt her charge.

“Stay out of my way, I’ll get to you eventually,” warned Heart as she began walking to me. Sitting up, I caught my breath, but the words I had wanted to say did not come out immediately.

“I’m not moving. This, between you two, I won’t care to ask you why you are so determined, but is it absolutely necessary to kill him?”

“I don’t expect someone like you to understand, but if you must know, yes it is necessary for me to kill him. It really is. And if you know what is best for you, you’d be running away right now.”

“I will not be run out of here by someone like you. This is the Frontier, after all. Whatever problems you’ve had in your past, elsewhere, has no importance here at all. Just live and let live, you hear?”

“Another stupid country bumpkin…listen you moron understand this: I am not stopping until he is dead. I’m sorry but this is non-negotiable, his death belongs to me.”

“Well his life belongs to me, and I will not allow that to be taken from anyone until we are both old and happy. Come back in another fifty four years!”

“I’ll just kill you both then.”

Heart takes a step forward, but Paraiso defiantly stands in her way. She’s giving the impression of the final wall which is putting up the very last line of defense right now. There’s nothing special about her, really. She is simply doing what she feels is the right thing. She’s not going to attack, she’s simply going to stand there and give her life protecting me.

She’ll be killed, that much is obvious, but what about me? Can I simply sit here and do absolutely nothing while she is killed? Waiting until after is pointless. I’ll have nothing to stand back up for once that happens. In that case, I’ve got no choice.

After months of laborious activity, my body was able to physically withstand and recover much faster from the punishment I had just been subjected to. I can do this then. Standing back up to my feet, I raise my hand up again and release just about every bit of energy from the Gateway that I can bring out. The sound of thunder accompanies the release of unavoidable barrages of lightning which is unleashed upon her. She falls on to the ground a few feet away.

“Damn you…” she didn’t pass out this time, but she was shaking pretty bad as she stood up. Paraiso had moved behind me and had taken up a position behind me.

“I hate doing this since I can’t really completely control it, but there’s nothing around here so there’s no need to hold back.”

Heart sounded out a breath as she spoke, she then walked backwards a few feet away and suddenly things seemed to become a stand still. I was wondering what she was about to do when her left arm suddenly began glowing brightly. It was the same arm with her Gateway on it. It was glowing in a very paradoxical and oxymoronic fashion of a bright black light. Placing her hand to the ground, a large white spike suddenly broke through the ground behind her. In terms of height, it would have reached the roof of Paraiso’s house.

She grabbed onto this object which resembled…a horn (or at least the bone of one.) The ground rumbled lightly and that’s when I recalled the bit about a summoning or something or other. Well, if that’s the horn then…

“I think it is best we try to get as far away as possible,” I said while grabbing onto Paraiso’s hand and began running in the opposite direction as fast as I could go. Just as we did, however, the ground shook as though an earthquake, no, it was as though the ground itself was breaking apart. We were knocked on the ground.

What had happened, we learned immediately following this event, was that a monster had suddenly appeared from where I can only presume was beneath the ground.

“A dinosaur skeleton, is that what that thing is?” I mindlessly voiced my disbelief. Surprisingly, I received and answer and an honest one at that.

“It only looks like a dinosaur. Its skull is far too big not that it makes any sense but it’s twice, no, it’s many times larger than even the so-called king of lizards himself. How about that huh? And the frame of the skeleton is wrong too! It has five fingers, not three claws even though the feet have three claws. What the hell is that thing, SOUL!!?”

“Why are you calling my name out?”

After giving a very observant description, pointlessly since I can actually see it myself, to me, Paraiso suddenly grabbed onto my arm which sent a lot of pain through it. Chuckling, she let go of my arm and pulled away, “Sorry…”

Save the apologies for later why don’t you? That thing was looking at us now, and its eyes were a very evil red. Without even trying I would know that attacking it with the recent lightning strikes I had been using was pretty pointless. If I wanted to bring that massive thing down to the ground, I was going to need one massive bolt of lightning or…alternatively, I would have to summon a monster of my own. I was not so sure about the latter.

“So…how far do you think we can run Paraiso?” I asked nervously staring up at the behemoth which was uttering a low based moan of sorts. It was indeed something you’d only wish not to come across in your nightmares.

“I don’t think it matters how far we run, there’s nowhere to hide anyway. Discounting the likelihood that we’ll be stepped on before we could even get very far anyway, we won’t get anywhere really.”

“Hmm…it’s…not moving. Do you think it’s just waiting to chase us or something?”

“Isn’t that more fun anyway? Well what would be the joy in catching something that you can’t really even eat properly?”

That gigantic behemoth wasn’t moving at all. I did remember something about her not being able to control it, so is this what she meant? I can only wonder what she meant by that though.

“I guess, maybe I should give it a try…then.”

Raising my hand, a blast of lightning surged through the air and struck the center of the beast. Aside from what appeared to be a white puff of smoke, there was no visible reaction.

“Well a lot of good that does us. It didn’t even feel that attack. So…what do we do about it then? It’ll be troublesome if it suddenly went on a rampage and tore up the land. This is still your property right?”

“Ah my door,” suddenly  remembering something important like her broken door, Paraiso became furious once again and stamped her foot on the ground. With a rumbling shake, the beast’s head turned towards the direction of the nose, now positively identified as Paraiso.

“Eh…”

“Uh...”

Leaning forward, its humongous head was brought closer as if inspecting us.

“Don’t tell me that it simply didn’t see us…”

After making this late revelation, we could only watch as the giant skeletal hand suddenly came swinging down towards us. We barely avoided it, but the displaced air caused a massive gust of air to come and blow us over with the greatest of ease.

Recovering, we continued running away avoiding being stepped on by a massive foot. Well we got moderately far away before the ground began shaking once again. It felt like another earthquake was happening. It was actually that gigantic monster running across to chase us down.

There was nothing. There is no place we can hide and that monster will almost certainly catch us eventually unless we do something. Getting to the person at the top might be a little difficult considering that she’s way up there and all.

In that case, the only thing we…

No, the only thing I can do is to try and summon the beast residing within my Gateway. Alright then, I need you know so if you’re listening to my thoughts or something, I need your power!

“Why is there no reaction from this thing?”

“Ah!”

Paraiso screamed as the ground shook tremendously. A large dark shadow cast over us and in the next moment, the ground was shaking harder than ever as it landed mere feet from us. The tremor was so bad that I could have sworn the earth was rolling. There’s no running away from this thing anymore. I realized this painfully at this point.

And yet, for some reason my body forced a smile. It certainly wasn’t a conscious action and most people, even me, wouldn’t find anything about this situation particularly worth smiling over. Even so, despite myself, I chuckle and stand up.

“…Soul…”

Probably sensing what I was thinking, I turn around and face Paraiso who’s still on the ground behind me. She was definitely concerned and her eyes were definitely asking me why I would be even thinking about something like this.

“You should head somewhere safe, Paraiso. There’s two of us and only one of that thing. I don’t believe Heart is going to jump all the way down here just to stop you, so don’t worry about it and keep running.”

“What…?”

“Just hurry and get back away from here. Besides, it’ll be a problem for you to die here. I’ve got something I want to protect and I think I’ve got the power to do so, so go ahead and get out of here.”

As if waiting for me, the beast stands there glaring in my direction. I take a step forward and begin walking towards it. Like turning on an air conditioner, the wind suddenly picks up, blowing from behind me, pushing me forward.

The gem on my arm began glowing incredibly bright as the wind became even stronger. I lifted my hand, unsure of what to do exactly with this much power. The wind had blown in a storm cloud which covered the sky and from that massive storm cloud; lightning began striking across the field. With the light of the moon and stars blocked out, the land became as dark as I’ve ever seen it.

I could feel a tremendous force of sorts gathering in the sky directly above the giant. Its red eyes now seemed even scarier as their pierced through the darkness. That power, it was perhaps my only chance. I couldn’t summon anything at the moment, I didn’t know how to do it and I doubt that was something that would simply happen on its own. As for this, I was simply borrowing its power. Perhaps it was too much though, I felt something important slip away as I accessed this power and grasped it.

For all it was worth though, I directed that tremendous power at the obstacle which impeded me. The darkness was lit immediately as a tremendous strike of a lightning bolt descended from the sky directly above the monster’s head. The monster may not have felt the previous shock, but this time, it was roared tremendously loud as it was encased in that bolt of lightning itself. I could feel the ground shake from this far away as it crashed against the ground.

It lasted for perhaps a second and no more, but, even with that tremendous power, it still did not fall. It remained standing and even I could tell that it was enraged. I felt physical exhausted after using that, but in the end, I fell back, but was caught on the way down by a pair of slender arms around my waist.

“You idiot…I told you to run away. You can keep the dream you wished and worked so hard to get…you know…?”

“People may not change, but their priorities in life do. My priorities changed as well as yours. I am still a farmer, but before my farm, it is you…that is where my priorities lay right now, Soul…”

With one eye happened as I clung to the slippery slope of consciousness, I found myself falling asleep pretty quickly. The ground began shaking once again as that monster raced towards us. At the last moment, I felt the arms around me tighten before my remaining eye shut as well.

                           ***

I woke up. It was too large to be Paraiso’s place, the ceiling, that is, was too high up. I couldn’t fully comprehend everything all at once, but I did manage to sit up. Man, my body felt as though it had just been put through training from hell.

The bed sheets were white, and so was everything else it seemed. It was also pretty hot, but a good breeze was blowing through the window which was opened near my body. I heard the door open, and a familiar hair of gold walked into my vision although it stopped once the person noticed that I had awakened.

As it turns out, the lightning strike which hit the giant had, by a simple matter of location, struck the girl commandeering it directly. It was after I had passed out from “heat” exhaustion that the beast had simply been destroyed and fell apart. Its remains disappeared of course, but the damage it had caused remained.

Further concerning that girl who got hit by a freakish thunderstorm, apparently she had not yet awakened. In fact, it was doubted that she would even make a full recovery. Her wrist was burned severely because of the metal she was wearing on it. Apparently, that had been completely destroyed into small fragments. As for the crimson one I had, a generous young lady had taken it upon herself to wisely throw it into the ocean, attached to a particularly heavy stone. With all due luck, it was resting peacefully at the bottom of the deep blue.

Concerning other matters, such as the financial crisis we were facing, things would be expected to make a very slow recovery. With the damage to the house still needing repairs and my medical bill which were not too high, it would be expected that times would be getting a little rougher out here on the Frontier, for us at the very least.

However, that everything had settled for the best was good enough for me. I guess I’ll eventually come to regain my slow paced and easy going life that I was beginning to settle into before this disaster, but at the very least, we won’t have to worry anymore about other problems suddenly popping up.

It’s just me and Paraiso once again. For now, it is how things should be: slow and easy, peaceful and quiet. Spending one scorching hot day, after another, simply living: that’s what my plans are for. The next goal for me though, is to get a new fishing rod and start fishing as soon as possible.