“Don’t touch me,” Ocher shakes him off.
“That’s not what you said last night,” Azure taunts.
“You’re the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
“The crowd will be the worst thing if you don’t get in here,” Azure responds before stepping through to the inner chamber.
Ocher follows after him into the dimly lit room. It’s dusty from disuse, tattered tapestries hang on the walls, and the room is empty save for a small, slightly shimmering crimson orb sitting perfectly in the middle of a small table. “This is what they wanted to keep you from?”
“That orb is called an amplifier. It holds the power to decimate cities, drown islands, or heal thousands. A power that they don’t think a single human should possess.”
Ocher shifts uneasily, that type of power does sound like a bad idea with how morally gray Azure can be at times. “Why was it so easy to reach if it’s so dangerous?”
“It wasn’t easy. My father’s bloodline was the current guardian of it. Only our blood lets you access the amethyst. If the bloodline is dying out, the current guardian appoints a new bloodline. I won’t have to worry about that now.”
“You know,” Ocher begins. “Maybe you shouldn’t do this. It was kept hidden for a reason.”
“Then why did you help me?”
“Well, I didn’t want them to kill you, then.”
Azure laughs, “That was your mistake then.” He turns towards the table, lifts the orb to his mouth, and swallows.
Ocher watches in fascination as Azure’s shoulders shudder, fists clenching as his body grows tense. “Is it painful?” There’s no answer as Azure remains facing away from him, rooted in place as his shaking dies down.
Azure turns to him and Ocher backs up fast, adrenaline spiking. His usually dark blue eyes have turned to an inky black that spreads throughout both eyes, leaving only a pinprick of crimson in the center. Azure reaches a hand out for him and he catches sight of black veins standing out prominently under his skin.
“No, no, no,” he chants, barely hearing it over the sound of his own racing heartbeat in his ears as he runs for the entrance, intent on escaping. He reaches the entrance just in time for the fire to flare back up, the searing heat makes him recoil and traps him inside. He looks back to Azure, a cold sweat already breaking out across his body. “Stay back!”
Ocher draws his gun in damp, shaking hands and takes aim at Azure. He doesn’t really want to shoot the other boy, but even he’s aware enough to realize that something unnatural is going on and doing nothing will likely get him killed. Dale was right, no human should have possession of such power and the proof is standing right in front of him. I helped do this, Ocher thinks, and now I’m getting what I deserve for following blindly. Azure takes a half step forward and Ocher fires, missing by a wide margin.
He doesn’t get a second shot.
Azure is in front of him faster than he can prevent, cupping his cheeks and kissing him hard, sinking teeth into his bottom lip, and tightening his hold when Ocher tries to pull away. Then, the burning begins. It starts in his mouth before quickly seeping throughout his body. And then there’s pain. So much pain, he feels like death would be a blessing.
With a choked cry of agony and a hard shove to get himself free, Azure finally lets him pull away. Ocher drops to the ground with a body on fire from the inside, wondering if Azure really hated him so much that when he was finally ready to be rid of him, he chose the most painful way possible.
Azure watches him impassively with those bottomless black eyes before stepping over him, leaving him huddled in on himself. Sweat drips into his eyes and he mentally apologizes for the last moments of suffering he caused the first man he ever killed. He understands now the kind of torture that he’d uintentionally inflicted as he prays for his own quick end. Until this moment, he had never really believed Azure would be so cruel to him. Guess he was just as naive as Azure always claimed.
Tears fall down his cheeks and they do nothing to soothe the burning of his skin. “Azure,” he grits out through clenched teeth. “How could you do this?”
Azure looks back and speaks his first words since swallowing the amplifier. “Didn’t you want this, Ocher? You wanted to be with me, didn’t you? I could tell from the moment it started. You weren’t hiding it well, not that you knew how even if you wanted to.”
Azure leaves him, returning back through the entrance, and Ocher lays his head on the cold stone floor. He really is going to die there, spending his last moments alone and in agony for trusting the wrong person. He almost wishes he’d turned himself in on day one to avoid ever experiencing this type of pain.
The next moment he hears the sound of the front door crashing open, followed by the sound of an explosion and screams that quickly die down. He’s surprised when after that, Azure comes back to his side, smelling strongly of smoke, to squat down and haul him up by one arm. He’s dragged from the sanctum and back outside to where the square is burning, blistering blue flames filling the air with smoke.
He coughs in the hot air, feeling his eyes start to sting and his skin beginning to singe just from the high temperature. No wonder everyone else has evacuated. He can still see the blood trail where Dale tried to drag himself away after Azure shoved him to the ground. No one was willing to stand against Azure once he swallowed that orb, amplifying his abilities enough to surpass them all.
Now he’s all alone and in the grasp of a monster.
Chapter 13: Azure
Getting off the island was easy. No one stood in their way and despite what they had already done and what they still could do to the rest of the world, no one wanted them to remain on Meio for a second longer.
Ocher was deadweight, having passed out from pain shortly after leaving the sanctum. Apparently the strain was too much for him, guess the army doesn’t put much stress on endurance training. Still, he had hauled his unconscious, feverishly hot body to the shore and dumped him in their little boat. At least, he wasn’t awake to complain about the trip this time.
They may no longer be welcome on Meio, but Irisa should still be happier there. None of it was her fault. A wave was the only goodbye he could give her. She was being held tightly in the arms of a woman, prevented from running over to them as they left. It was for the best. If they want to protect her, that means they want to keep her. Staying on Meio was the best life she could hope for.
Now, he’s almost to his goal and none of the smaller things matter. Not even his barely coherent traveling companion.
Azure watches as Ocher drifts off into his third nap of the day. Even when he’s awake, he’s hardly conscious, only mute and confused. He’s content to give him his space until Ocher is lucid again. The amount of energy he’d pushed into Ocher’s body this morning is taking a toll on him. His own body is struggling to adjust and he was born with the ability to manipulate energy.
Ocher’s been so spacey and exhausted that it’s clear something is wrong, he’s just too weak to demand his typical answers right now. Ocher hasn’t been eager to speak with him anyway. He’s kept his distance since they arrived back to the little island, so Azure has no idea what’s going on inside his confused head.