Epiphany of the Weak

"I can't look at them. Let's just go inside," said Hope. He rushed to the villa's door with his flashlight. My eyes scanned the area quickly.

Dead bodies were everywhere, and it appeared to me that they were murdered. It was too cruel.

My feet shuffled as I went to Hope's side.

The large wooden door of the villa had a lion doorbell in the middle. I'd never seen anything like it.

"Mommy and Daddy. . . "

"I'm sure they're not there among the dead. But. . . do you see them?" asked Hope.

"No, I don't think so. At least, I hope." My heart was pounding at my chest loudly. I was uncertain of Mommy and Daddy's fates, and what kind of tragedy had befallen them.

"I'm sure they're safe. . . somewhere," assured Hope.

I took a deep breath as he pushed the wooden doors open.

Wind gushed in towards us, and we were greeted with a long hallway.

"A red carpet," I said.

"Hmm. It's not every day you get to walk on a red carpet." Hope was trying to remain his usual self but his knees were trembling. I could not blame him since we were literally surrounded by dead bodies.

"Mommy, Daddy, I'm coming for you." Both of us walked briskly across the hallway.

"I don't know, Ava. Assuming that the people who took refuge were the ones killed outside, I don't think anyone's here." Hope was flashing his torchlight nervously around him. "That scenery at the lawn. . . It keeps getting at me. . . And you know what? This place is dark."

We walked for about a few minutes before stumbling upon a trap of some sort. A flat yellow disc on the ground right in front of us suddenly discharged a tall spike upward.

"That was close!" said Hope.

"I have a feeling someone is waiting for us ahead," I stated.

"The disc was yellow, which made it easier for us to see it coming. Are they toying with us?"

We continued to walk along the hallway cautiously. The same traps kept popping out and we avoided them.

"There's something up there," said Hope. After he said those words, yellow icicles rained down from the dark ceiling.

I formed a large, crimson gauntlet from my left arm and shielded us. The icicles bounced off my gauntlet.

"Yellow icicles? That's odd," stated Hope. He proceeded to touch one of it.

"Hope! Don't touch them. It might be-"

"Poisonous, or something like that. But I don't think that will happen,."

"What do you mean?"

Hope held one of the yellow icicles close to my face. "It's. . . probably Aegis."

I gaped. "What?!"

"This piece has the same texture as yours." Hope touched the crimson crystals on my left arm. "And it has traces of blood inside. Again, same as your Aegis, Ava."

I couldn't believe what I heard.

'Another Aegis User,' I thought.

"You're sure it's another Aegis User?" I asked Hope.

"I think so. I just wish that whoever this person is, he or she is not hostile towards us."

"But this User created all these traps."

"We should avoid fighting this person. We don't know what this guy is capable of."

I agreed with Hope. We didn't know how strong that other Aegis User was. Looking at the icicles, it seemed to be that his or her Aegis could've been separated from the User's body.

"I think that User is coming to us," I said.

I could sense someone's presence slowly getting closer and closer to us. The crystals on my skin reacted to it, so it had to be that other User. My red irises had its soft light flickered, and my skin crawled. I'd never experienced those specific sensations until that point, and it grew stronger as time passed.

"Hope! Get behind me!"

A wave of yellow crystals filled the entire hallway in front of us and my gauntlet put it to stop. We both took a few steps away from it.

"What is this?! Another User?! In this place?! Magnificent!" said a man.

He stood on top of the yellow crystals that were blocking our way. The man wore a strange yellow mask, which seemed to be made from his own Aegis. His mask looked similar to the soldiers' gas mask, except for the two large horns protruding at the forehead area.

"Oh, OH! You're the girl everyone was talking about! The ten-year-old Aegis User. Wait, aren't you too young to be one? What are the higher ups thinking?! Then again, we have that one person . . ." He jumped and landed on the floor with a thud. His large, black robe swished as he walked. The clicking of his dark boots echoed throughout the hallway.

I was scared.

He had a very intimidating aura about him. "Y-You're also an Aegis User, r-right?"

"CORRECT, YOUNG MISS! Oh, I'm Caesar! The wandering citizen of the underworld." He waved from his position.

"Um, I'm A-Ava."

"Is he crazy?" whispered Hope. I hit him in the knee, and he backed away.

"Hmm, never heard of Ava before. A new recruit for that squad? That must mean you had figured my identity and come here to take me back," said Caesar.

"N-No. I'm not one of them. I don't even know how I got this Aegis to begin with."

"Wait, what?! You must be joking. The ENTIRE process of putting the Aegis into a person is very, very, VERY painful. I doubt anyone would just forget it as if nothing happened."

"No, I swear!"

"But your face. . . Your body. . . Your Aegis must be quite unstable, young miss. And your eyes! Of course, the eyes! Well, Lily was also like you. She's one heck of a person to deal with."

"You know what is happening to my body? How can I fix it?"

"Hmmmmmm. It's quite hard. Young miss let that Aegis inside to be dominant in the first place, and it took control of the left side of your body. It had happened before. To overcome this predicament, you must have this URGE, that PASSION, and the DETERMINATION to control such Aegis. If young miss managed to achieve such strength and willpower, I'm sure that Aegis can be used to its utmost potential without having to be... the way it is now."

"I don't understand. What do you mean by all that?"

"It's a part of your body, miss. That will of yours is the center, and the rest of your body is just a tool. Welp, enough chit-chat. You're trying to distract me, right?"

I shook my head. "No, you got it all wrong. We're just trying to find my-"