Chapter 3 - The Four-Flamed Symbol
The day was ticking by, and it was just a bit after noon.
Kita and Mao had returned home after the incident in the pawnshop. The way back was quiet as Kita struggled to make sense of what happened while ignoring more gut-wrenching hallucinations. Due to her rattled state, she wasn't surprised that she was seeing more of them, but the unusual side was that she kept seeing the burning emblem.
A flash in her peripheral view -she would turn to look, and it was there. A spot ahead that seemed too dark to be natural, and in blue flames, it burst to life again. More judgmental stares, only made worse when she saw it reflecting in their eyes, as their expressions warped into unnatural shapes that made her feel a sense of foreboding dread. She kept turning away, closing her eyes, walking with her head down -so much that she leaned on Mao to avoid bumping into anything. No matter what she did, she couldn't get it out of her sight or mind.
No matter what she did, it was haunting her every moment.
Even after being home for a long while, lying silently in her bed, Kita found herself staring at the ceiling in a confused and miserable haze.
She could see things shifting out of the corners of her eyes, each tiny movement making her twitch. It felt like any move could rain havoc down on her.
Kita rolled onto her side, futilely trying to clear her aching head. The sight of the door reminded her that Mao would return at any moment. After all, the earlier incident made it a little too clear that something was wrong beyond insomnia, and her friend would be damned if she let it go unnoticed.
“This is going to get the rumor mill going for months…”
As Stud hopped onto the bed with Kita, she vented her frustration in one long groan.
'BAM!'
The door suddenly swung open, making Kita jump with fright. Mao charged inside, spinning a little, then stopped in the center of the room.
"What is it with you and slamming doors?" Kita muttered, slowly calming back down.
"Sorry," Mao quickly replied. "But good news; Yuna says that she can help!"
Another sylph already entered the room, laughing at Mao's excitement. Her dark blonde hair was tied back, and she had dusky blue eyes. She wore a silvery-gray dress with dark purple lining at the collar and sleeves, a dark gray belt, and a slit on the skirt. The slit revealed an under-layer that was dark purple with salmon-colored scale patterns. A black crossbody bag hung over her shoulder. With a sturdy stature and levelheaded demeanor, anyone could mistake her for someone much more mature -when she was really only two years older than Mao and Kita.
"Well, I can try," Yuna remarked. "Just to clarify, I'm not an expert in anything, as you both know."
"You may as well be," Mao replied, "With the amount of studying you do, and all the hard work you put in."
Kita sighed, "Hello, Yuna."
Mao sat with her on the bed, while Yuna pulled up an old wooden chair and sat across from them. Kita already didn’t like this setup, as it naturally pressured her to talk.
Kita awkwardly cleared her throat. "Did Mao interrupt another appointment?"
Mao laughed nervously, while Yuna shot her a blunt look.
"Yes," Yuna muttered. "Yes, she did. It wasn't anything critical though. Anyway, I hear something’s wrong. How are you feeling?”
Kita shook her head. "Not great."
"I got her to go outside, though!" Mao chimed. "That has to count for something, right?"
"Not if she nearly had a breakdown," Yuna argued. "Let's get straight to the point. Kita, I heard about what happened in that store. I don't want to make assumptions, but it sounds like this has escalated far beyond sleepless nights."
Kita arched one brow. "What did you tell her, Mao?"
"Exactly what I saw," Mao said calmly. "You got incredibly scared over seemingly nothing.”
Yuna nodded. "We're not going to get anywhere if you keep it all to yourself. Can you please be honest with us? How bad has this really gotten?"
For a moment, Kita hesitated. She felt the urge to spill it all right there, like a weight on her chest threatening to crash down. However, that same weight was blocking her throat, trapping the words somewhere deep inside of her.
Kita took a deep breath. "I just can't sleep. You know that."
"What about the treatments? You got some medicine to try."
"It didn't work. I just didn't want to tell you."
"You should have, but this doesn’t make sense...” Yuna shook her head. “Do you notice anything that may be causing it? Even if you don't think it's connected, what's different?"
Kita shrugged her shoulders. That made Yuna sigh and shift to a more contemplative position.
"There has to be something. Let's backtrack to the incident in the store. Maybe how the way this problem manifests in the daylight hours will provide a hint. What made you scared?"
"I-I don't know," Kita stammered. "I thought I saw something, that's all."
As if it dawned on her, Yuna blinked hard. She spoke in a quiet and cautious tone, “Listen. I don't want you to feel any kind of shame or embarrassment when I ask you this, nor when you answer me. I need to know though. Have you been 'seeing things' in other places? Things that may not actually be there."
Kita felt the blood drain from her face, as she realized her mistake.
“Good gods, Yuna, not like that! It was just a mistake! Don't start thinking I-"
“Woah woah, calm down!” Yuna insisted. “I told you not to feel embarrassed. I won't lie, that stuff has a stigma to it, but you and I both know it's silly to listen. Besides, even if you admitted that you think you’re on a whole different level of existence right now, this is between us. You know you can trust us, and you know we’ll believe you. What are we going to do, put you in the asylum? I don’t think so.”
Kita was ashamed to realize her doubt in that statement.
“Another thing I have to be honest about is that I was already suspicious. I was hoping to find a better way to talk with you about it, but here we are. Let’s make it work, right? We're not going to make fun of you, nor think any less of you. Knowing that, would you be okay if I asked you some more questions so we can try to understand?"
"Please?" Asked Mao.
Feeling the pressure increase on her, Kita thought anxiously, I don't know how to turn this around. Sure, coming clean may provide a solution -one that will actually work this time. But the sheer insanity could turn them away. Even if they're nice to my face, I know they already look down on me as the 'childish' one, and gods only know what this'll make them think of me.
Kita crossed her arms. "What's there to talk about? In truth, I get blurry vision and some things look a little different, then it spooks me because the insomnia has made me paranoid. That's the full story."
"Dammit, right when we were getting somewhere," Yuna muttered. "I didn't want to do this, but it's time to bring the third and final thing up. Exactly what gave you that reaction. Mao, what did you say it was?"
Mao stopped to think. "I'm not too sure actually. It was some kind of banner. I think I could draw it."
Yuna pulled a small notebook and pen from her bag. "Here, try."
Kita felt her anxiety rise, and she tried not to look as Mao sketched. She knew it would bring trouble, and she could tell that from the slight glitches in her vision that persisted even now. Still, instead of coming clean, she tried to brace herself.
Once Mao handed back the notebook, Yuna held it up to Kita. Sure enough, it was a rough sketch of the same symbol.
"This is it, isn't it?" Asked Yuna. "Do you know why this is important to you?"
Still staring at the symbol, Kita used all her focus to acknowledge the paper around the marks, reminding herself that it was nothing more than a drawing.
However, the longer she stared, the more the space around her began to darken. The second she noticed smoke beginning to emit from the marks, she looked away, trying to act casual.
"Yes, that's it," said Kita.
"Why is it burning?"
Kita blinked hard, quickly looking back. "What did you-"
As suddenly as she turned her head, Kita felt a force knock her back.
The room became lost in a deep red haze -the heat and pressure increased to unfathomable degrees, like an oven ready to burst with suffocating steam.
As if it couldn't get worse, blood began to spew from every crack in the floorboards. As it spread to the cracks in the walls, and dripped through the ceiling, signs of inky black tar began to swirl into the mix, the flickering light revealing distorted faces in their reflection. The dense air was tainted by a vile combination of rust, iron, smoke, and rotting flesh.
Most frightful of all, she started to hear croaking groans. Then hands started to reach out from the rising blood and tar.
They reached for her with their growing fingers.
Kita struggled, but couldn't move as they coiled around her wrists. They held her in place as Yuna pounced on her, holding the symbol up to her as it leaked more black ooze and billowing smoke. Likewise, Yuna was now bleeding from her eyes, with a savage expression and wide eyes like those of a beast.
"Why are you letting it burn?!" Her distorted voice screeched in primal fear,
Kita tried to look away, but she was stuck in place. Above Yuna, she could see the same red and black flag, with a burning emblem.
A cold, wet force then hit her directly in the face, making her exhale sharply. It sent a frigid chill throughout her body -a shocking yet welcome release from the illusion of hell.
Kita quickly wiped her eyes. Staring up at her hands revealed clear water smeared along her fingertips, which were only slightly flecked with blood around the nail.
Beyond her hands, she could see her room in a normal state, with her and her friends. Mao was restraining her leg, which was poised to kick something, while Yuna was standing in front of her with an empty glass still aimed at her.
They both wore horrified expressions.
Heated embarrassment swept over Kita. She quickly jerked her hands back, turning away so her head rested against the wall. As she inspected her hands again, she realized that one of her arms -right where she thought Yuna had been holding her- had five bloody indentations in the skin. They all aligned perfectly with her own hand.
Quickly crossing her arms to hide the damage, Kita stood up, trying to still her rigid breath.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know that would happen," Yuna said quickly.
While she still had the chance, Kita stormed into the bathroom and quickly locked the door.
Flicking on the oil lamp, she examined the marks along her arm. They weren't very deep, since she kept her nails short and dull, but the sheer pressure applied by her unconscious self had rendered them red, sore, and inflamed. Bruises were already forming to her exact shape. They were easily the worst in her new collection of nicks and scratches.
Kita choked back a sniffle, then rinsed off the wounds and applied a small patch. Thankfully, the color was close to her skin, so it would be hard to notice in the dim lighting of her house.
'Knock-knock'
Kita let out an audible yelp, to her further embarrassment.
"It's just me," Mao spoke through the door. "Are you okay?"
Kita sighed, then dried her hands and opened the door. Mao was lingering close, clearly anxious, while Yuna was rifling through her bag.
"I'm fine," Kita muttered, making her way back to the bed. "So? Now that you know I'm a psychopath, what do you want to do with me?"
“I told you, we don’t think you’re crazy,” Yuna argued. “Right, Mao?"
"I have that reaction to needles," Mao remarked. "If she's crazy, so am I."
"Um, sure," Yuna muttered. "We now have a bigger question to face. Why is that symbol significant to you, and why is that the reaction?"
Kita looked down, clenching her fists tightly. It felt like the weight was crushing on her chest. Even so, the truth trickled out like water through a cracked glass.
"It's not just the symbol. It's the worst so far, but this happens with other things. Most of the time, I just have to lie down and stare long enough. It's also been triggered by lights or things that move too suddenly. My reflection is probably the second worst, especially if I'm looking at my eyes."
"Why are your eyes always an issue?" Mao ranted. "I've never understood it!"
Yuna explained, "It is a very unusual trait, and she’s always been self-conscious, so maybe that's why. It's still not a solid answer, so let's try this; Kita, what do you normally see during these spells?"
Kita shrugged her shoulders, murmuring, "Shadows. All around me. Sometimes, they escalate. Flames, blood, hands, and things like that."
"That sounds terrifying," Mao murmured.
Yuna looked away, shifting uncomfortably. "Yeah. Still, it's all vague. Is there anything you immediately recognize? Things that could be linked to this reaction. Like your father, for-"
Kita spat resentfully, "No. I haven't even thought about him since we ran away. Honestly, I appreciate that you're being so calm about this, but I've already tried getting help and it led nowhere. I don’t feel like going on another goosechase, only to find more failure.”
“The solution's out there,” Yuna insisted. “We just have to find it."
“The medical route failed,” Mao remarked. “There has to be an alternative. Someone who knows about psychotherapy, or even magic. Heck, you know what? This all clearly links back to that symbol. We should try to find out more about it, then we can make a connection."
"That's a waste," Yuna argued. “Medical diagnoses take time, that's all. We don’t need to interrupt the process.”
"You once said 'treating the symptoms' is useless," Mao shot back. "These are symptoms of seeing the symbol, and as she said, the medical route is failing. Let’s try something else.”
Yuna looked unamused. "We need a doctor."
Mao defiantly crossed her arms. "Symbol first!"
Kita arched one brow. "How does this help?"
Mao blew a raspberry at Yuna, who flicked her in the nose.
Yuna took a deep breath. "Okay! We'll need some time to work out a plan, but for now, I have what will hopefully be a temporary solution. Kita, can you promise to do exactly what I say?"
"What are you talking about now?" Kita interrogated.
Yuna pulled something out of her bag. Kita was even more confused by the small glass bottle that was presented to her. It was filled with a light green, almost yellow substance. There were a few bubbles in it, but they seemed unnatural, with a silvery sheen.
"What is that?" Kita interrogated.
"Um..." Yuna laughed nervously, "Technically illegal?"
"What?" Kita cried.
"Not the substance itself!" Yuna insisted. "Me taking it and giving it to you, without permission or a doctor's note. It's actually a very simple potion, but because it uses some 'designated magic' ingredients, it's more regulated. You know how Sybilius is with its magic laws."
Kita eyed the bottle, uneasy. "What does it do?"
"It helps patients with night terrors and irrational fears. This should take a bit of the sting out of what you're seeing. It also causes drowsiness, so it can get you to sleep. That's honestly the biggest thing we should try to cure."
"Let's do it!" Mao remarked. "Kita, quick, drink up!"
"Hold on," Yuna argued. "Let's wait until it's closer to nighttime, and we'll only use about one tablespoon. The standard for patients Kita's size is about two, but I want to go easy."
Kita looked unamused. "I enjoy how you two have no hesitation to drug me."
Yuna giggled, "No! It's a potion, and we should take whatever we can get at this point. Can you please try it?"
Her eager tone spoke to Kita. Despite the doubt and irritation burning in her eyes, she offered a convincing smile. It felt like needles digging into her cheeks and lips, and she couldn't find the words to use.
"Great!" Yuna remarked. "One teaspoon before bed, and make sure..."
Yuna kept talking, but Kita started to tune her out as she looked down at the bottle. The idea of sleep with no sickening visions may have been unrealistic at this point, but it was nonetheless tempting. She swirled the liquid, then even uncorked the top. An odd fusion of natural and ethereal smells, like raw green tea and strong amber, trickled out alongside a faint trail of silvery vapor.
Kita thought to herself, You look more like poison than medicine. I don't like it...
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