Incubus Ascension-Chapter 22

I stood outside the little shop in the mall, the glass door still half-open behind him, cool evening air hitting his face.

Olivia was right next to him, her hand brushing his arm like she needed the contact to stay steady.

In front of them was Rem, tiny, wide-eyed, clutching the hem of her dress so hard her knuckles had gone white.

Liam crouched down a bit so he was closer to her level.

"Rem, sweetheart, can you take us home? Show us where your mom and big sister are?"

She gave one quick nod, lips pressed tight like she was holding back a sob.

"We have to hurry," she said, voice small but urgent. "It’s getting worse. Mom... and Sis... they’re really bad now."

His stomach twisted. He straightened up and glanced at Olivia.

She gave him a small nod, the kind that said she was in this with him no matter what.

"Lead the way, Rem," he told her. "We’re right behind you."

Rem didn’t waste a second. She turned and started running, short legs pumping hard across the cracked pavement.

Olivia and Liam jogged after her, trying not to lose sight of that little pink dress flashing ahead.

The town felt quieter than it should have been, like everyone was already hiding from whatever was coming.

They reached the edge of town pretty fast. An old apartment block sat there, paint peeling off in long strips.

The windows were dark except for a couple on the second floor that glowed weak yellow. Rem didn’t slow down.

She bolted through the busted front door and up the stairs, footsteps echoing loud in the empty stairwell.

Olivia and Liam pounded up behind her, breathing hard.

Rem skidded to a stop outside apartment 204, shoved the door open, and ran inside. Liam followed right after, Olivia on his heels.

The smell hit him first, sickly sweet rot mixed with old sweat and something metallic. Then he saw them.

Two shapes on the thin mattress in the corner. One adult-sized, one smaller. Both gray-skinned, veins dark and spidering under the surface.

The bigger one, Rem’s mom, was propped against the wall, chest rising and falling in shallow, wet rasps.

The smaller one, her big sister he guessed, lay curled up beside her, barely moving.

His heart slammed against his ribs. He lunged forward, grabbed Rem around the waist just as she tried to throw herself at them, and yanked her back hard.

"Don’t go near them!" he shouted, louder than he meant to. "That’s the last stage of the plague. You get too close and you’re done."

Rem thrashed in his arms. "No! Let me go!" Tears were already streaming down her face. "I have to help them!"

From the mattress, Rem’s mom lifted her head a fraction. Her voice came out cracked and thin. "Rem... listen to the boy. Please."

He let out a shaky breath and loosened his grip just enough so Rem could turn around but still kept her from charging forward again. He looked past her at the woman on the bed.

"Hello," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "I’m Liam. This is my girlfriend, Olivia, right here beside me."

The mom tried to smile. It came out more like a grimace.

Then she started coughing, deep, ugly coughs that made her whole body shake.

When it finally stopped she just stared at them with exhausted eyes.

He swallowed hard and looked down at Rem. "Listen to me, okay? Listen very carefully. You have to do what I say now."

That broke her. She started sobbing so hard her whole body shook.

"No! I’m a magical girl! I can fix this! I can fix everything!"

She spun toward him, threw herself against his chest, and grabbed fistfuls of his coat. "Please, big brother... save Mom. Save Sis. Please."

Her little face pressed into his shirt, hot tears soaking through. His heart felt like someone had reached in and squeezed.

He’d seen too many kids like this before, back in his old life, back when the world first started falling apart.

Orphans with nobody left. Empty eyes. He couldn’t let that happen to her. Not if he could stop it.

He wrapped his arms around her and held on tight while his brain raced.

Then it hit him, a half-remembered rumor from his past life. Something about the plague. Something about a cure.

Red lotus.

There’d been talk of it. A team supposedly found one growing high up on a mountain, way past the normal trails.

But they never came back down. Nobody knew if they died, or if the flower even worked. Just whispers.

He stared at the wall over Rem’s head, weighing it.

Go after a maybe-cure on a mountain he’d never climbed, or stand here and watch this family die in front of a kid who still believed in magic?

Rem’s grip on his coat tightened even more, like she could feel him thinking about leaving.

Yeah. He couldn’t live with himself if he walked away and she ended up alone in this hellhole of a world.

Being an orphan out here wasn’t just sad, it was usually fatal. Or worse.

He looked over at Olivia. She was watching him, eyes wide, but steady. Level 1.7. Barely stronger than a regular person.

No way he could drag her into whatever waited on that mountain.

He took a slow breath. "Alright," he said. "I’m going to go get the cure.

There’s something called a red lotus that might fix this. I’ve heard it’s up on the mountain."

Rem lifted her head, sniffling. Olivia’s mouth opened like she wanted to argue, but he kept going before she could.

"Olivia, you stay here. Keep an eye on them with Rem.

Watch how they’re doing. I’ll try to be back before nightfall. Hopefully a lot sooner."

Olivia stepped forward and wrapped her arms around both of them.

Rem hugged him harder at the same time. "Thank you, big brother," Rem whispered into his chest.

Olivia’s voice was quiet but firm. "Be careful. Please."

He ruffled Rem’s hair, her pigtails were coming loose, and gave Olivia the best smile he could manage. "I will."

He pulled back gently and headed for the door. Right before he stepped out he turned back to Olivia.

"Don’t open this door for anyone. No matter what they say. Got it?"

She nodded fast. "Got it."

He went down the stairs two at a time, pushed through the front door, and started walking toward the forest edge.

The town felt too quiet behind him, like it was holding its breath.

Somewhere in the streets, a group of armed men was moving house to house.

He didn’t see them, but he didn’t need to. One of them stopped, rifle slung over his shoulder, and muttered to their leader,

"Why the hell are we even doing this? Chasing ghosts?"

A single gunshot cracked through the evening air. The complainer dropped. The leader didn’t even blink.

He just looked at the rest of his team, voice flat. "You’re getting paid to do the job. Not to ask questions."

The others went pale and shut up fast. They kept searching.

The leader’s fist tightened around the grip of his pistol. Under his breath he growled,

"Liam... Olivia... you can’t hide forever. I’ll find you. And when I do, you’re both dead."

He didn’t hear any of that. He was already past the last houses, boots crunching on gravel as he headed straight for the mountain.

The same mountain where, sometime in the future, a red lotus would be found.

The closer he got, the heavier the air felt. Then he stepped forward and something changed.

Like walking through a curtain made of nothing. The forest sounds dulled, the temperature dropped a few degrees, and his skin prickled.

He turned around fast, trying to step back the way he came.

Nothing. The path behind him was gone. Just dense trees that hadn’t been there a second ago.

Before he could even swear, the notification pinged in his vision.

Ding!

Host has entered a hidden realm: The Dead Knight Fortress.

Recommended level: 10

His stomach dropped through the ground.

Dead Knight Fortress.

The name rang every bad bell in his head. He’d heard stories, whispers, really, about this place.

None of them ended with people walking out alive.

And recommended level 10.

He was sitting at 2.5. Even with his skills, that was a fucking death sentence.

He stood there, heart hammering, staring at the impossible wall of trees behind him, and realized he wasn’t getting out the easy way.