Page 31 of Twins for the Barbarians

I can’t see anything out of place, though. The maze’s last wall rises behind us, while the city’s wall stands proudly about a hundred feet in front of us. It is within walking distance, yet I cannot move. I don’t want to move. Something truly feels off here, and I can’t put my finger on it. It feels like an itch I can’t scratch.

“I’d be grateful if I didn’t think you were right,” Alicia says, worriedly staring at the gates. “But it’s not like we can turn back.”

“The only way is forward,” Kingo replies, paler than usual. The laser shot took its toll on him, and it will be a while until he’s back to normal. “I suppose we have to be extra careful now.”

“Yeah,” Kharo mutters, then gives me a sideways glance. “Shall we try walking?”

“It’s our only option,” I say. “Slowly, and one of us has to keep their eyes on the ground.”

“I’ll handle the ground; you check everything above,” he says.

We nod simultaneously and start walking, yet as soon as we’ve taken a few steps, hissing sounds emerge from behind us. I curse under my breath and look back as I see crevices opening in the last wall of the maze. Of course.

I taste the sweetness on the back of my tongue.

Alicia gasps. “We need to run. NOW!”

“What is it?” Kharo asks her.

“It’s some kind of poisonous gas,” she says, already turning white as she struggles to keep Kingo upright.

Kharo takes the boy, and I grab Alicia’s hand. The four of us start running toward the city’s massive southern gates—splendidly sculpted with reliefs of Opal City’s warrior founders depicted in various stages of glory.

“Fucking hell,” Kharo groans, gradually slowing down.

The handful of feet left between us and the gates feels like a thousand miles. My skin tingles all over. My body aches. My feet feel heavy…sluggish, even. I’m not sure I’m moving anymore. I have the sensation of running, but it seems like the whole world has come to a sudden halt around us.

“Alicia, are you okay?” I hear myself asking.

“Where are you?” she cries out.

I look back and… “What the hell?” I mumble.

Everything’s gone. I see only black, an endless mass of black that has swallowed everything. It’s a cold, black void except for the sweet-tasting air. I can’t hear anyone, not Kharo, Alicia, or Kingo. The maze is gone. Opal City is gone. Only this vast nothingness remains, and I don’t know what to do next.

My brain feels foggy, my thoughts come in fractured streams, and I don’t know what to make of them. Whatever that gas is, it’s doing something to my head.

“Am I dead?” I hear myself asking. But no one answers. There’s only more silence. Is this what death is like? Is consciousness stuck in limbo, doomed to call out and never get a reply?

“Is anyone there?” I shout.

“Helios!” I hear Alicia’s screams in the distance.

I run, though I’m not sure where I’m going. All I know is that I need to get to Alicia. My heart is beating frantically, fear coursing icily through my veins as I’m desperate to find her before it’s too late.

“HELIOS!” Her voice is getting farther away from me. “Helios! Don’t let them take me!”

“Fuck, it must be a trap!”

The whole thing must be a trap. I feel as though my legs are made of stone until I look down and realize I’m not running at all. I wasn’t running this whole fucking time. I look back up and finally see Alicia. She’s getting dragged deeper into the darkness by a group of men. They wear the Sky Tribe colors, but their heads look distorted: bigger, uglier. Their horns are covered in ice, and stars shine white in their eyes. They grin with perverted satisfaction as they tear the clothes off Alicia’s back.

She is screaming as loud as she can, flailing and desperately trying to get away from them, but they’ve got a good grip on her. They’ve got their filthy hands all over her, long claws piercing her caramel skin, drawing blood, too much blood.

“HELIOS!”

“I’m coming, Alicia!” I call out, but it’s like I’m yelling from a great distance.

I can’t move. Despair grabs me by the throat, cutting off my air supply. I’m forced just to stand there and watch as the monsters defile my Alicia, as they continue to laugh and touch her in ways that I’d kill them for if I could reach them as they continue to tear the flesh off her body as she screams in agony.

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