AA. 211

Nil didn’t have much confidence in his skating skills. He had always been a clumsy man except for when practicing martial arts. The discipline, calm, and focus made him more sure-footed and precise. Otherwise, he was a chaotic jumble of limbs. 

The young couple got in line, rented skates, and had a brilliant time doing laps of the giant ice-skating rink. They laughed, talked, and discussed a future that both suspected would never materialize into reality. Her orthodox parents didn’t like the idea of her getting with someone outside of their community—especially a mixed-race man—and Nil’s career prospects after his degree were questionable. Nil didn’t fall, but a man skating near him did so multiple times. The couple held him up both times before moving on.

Afterward, they found a stall selling hog-roast sandwiches, ate, and just enjoyed each other’s company.

“Mum will kill me if she smells this on my breath,” Aisha said through her mouthful. “We better get hot chocolates for the road.”

“I thought her problems with just beef?” Nil chuckled. “She’s against pork now too?”

“Any meat or fish she didn’t eat growing up is bad news. It's the same for rabbit meat and octopus. I swear she makes zero sense.” Aisha hugged NIl’s left arm. “Maybe the next time your parents are out of town, you can cook me a little feast.”

“They’re going away for New Year’s,” Nil said. “Maybe we can throw a little party or just make it a double date and then have a private celebration. “You’ll like Andrew’s new girlfriend. I promise. She’s awesome.”

“New girlfriend?” Aisha raised a carefully pruned eyebrow. “What happened with Lisa? I thought that was going strong.”

Nil shrugged. “It didn’t work out. I thought it best not to ask. I introduced him to Susan, and they couldn’t be happier.”

Aisha frowned. “You introduced them and didn’t tell me about it?” She sounded annoyed. “When did you get the chance to meet this Susan woman.”

“When I almost got arrested,” Nil replied, frowning. “Did you forget already? If not for you, I would’ve walked into gang-fire. You were there, Aisha.”

“No. I wasn’t. You—”

Nil tuned Aisha out. Something didn’t feel right. He tried to remember how exactly he had met Susan, but his brain refused to cooperate. Two versions of events conflicted in his mind, and he struggled to remember what was right. 

“Never mind,” Aisha said. “It’s not important. I don’t want to argue. Let's just have a good time.”

The Aisha Nil remembered wasn’t needy. She didn’t get jealous or question him about knowing or interacting with other women. 

“Let’s go get some more hot cider before we head off. Then, maybe you can call Andrew and set up a double date. I’d love to meet this woman you set him up with.” Aisha chuckled. “Sunny-boi playing matchmaker. Emmy will laugh when she hears this.”

This isn’t right.

My Body Is My Temple has progressed to Bronze 1!

“What’s wrong?” Aisha asked. She turned Nil’s face around and looked into his eyes. “You look upset. Was it something I said?”

“No,” Nil answered thoughtfully. “It’s nothing you said.” He took Aisha’s hand off his cheek and retreated from her. “This isn’t real. You’re not real.” He glanced at the ice skating rink. Nothing had changed since he first saw it. The same people laughed and skated around the oval. Nil spotted the same man they had held up fall for a third time. It was a loop. “We never made it onto the ice skating rink.” Nil’s eyes moved to the candy floss stall. He remembered Aisha’s murderer bursting through it. “We never got that far. You died. Right there. One moment, you were convincing me to go skating, and the next, he was smashing your face into the ground over and over and over again.”

“What are you talking about?” Aisha laughed. She held her cup of cider up to her nose and sniffed. “Did someone spike your drink?” She took his hand and pulled Nil in for a kiss. “Come here, silly.”

“Get away from me,” Nil said, pushing her away.

Nil could feel the energy coursing through himself and an alien tensile at the back of his neck. He used Expend, releasing energy through his upper body. Screeching filled his ears, and he felt something unravel itself from around his head and neck, shooting away. When Nil opened his eyes, he found himself in the sludge below the warehouse, and bits of the ceiling were raining around him. The time on his heads-up display suggested only seconds had passed since he fell.

After experiencing several instances of Mind Magic, he was sure what he felt wasn’t it. The symbiote had done something new. Something he didn’t understand, and My Body Is My Temple saved him. The ability highlighted inconsistencies and helped him figure out that none of what he saw was real. 

Now, Aisha stood in front of Nil. It wasn’t the version he had seen in his dream but the Haunting Visage that had ruined his life for seven years. It wasn’t ethereal or a projection but real, made of flesh and bloody. The Expend had damaged Aisha, and hexagonal black and white pieces carried bits of flesh and skin up from the pool they stood in, repairing her. Black symbiote tendrils connected her to the passage’s walls. 

“Why?” Aisha asked. “Why would you hurt me, Sunny?”

Nil didn’t answer. He knew the entity in front of him wasn’t his late partner. It was the symbiote, twisting memories to get to him. The thing wished to control Nil, but he had no intention of letting it succeed. He charged, creating a knuckle dagger. The symbiote released a banshee-like scream, solidifying around Aisha. The biomass had increased, and a lot seemed to have been added to it. The dark mass of flesh and hexagons looked like a humanoid goliath, and as it took shape, she hung in the palace of the torso, controlling the limbs.

Another scream burst from Aisha when Nil cut her, but the damage rapidly fixed itself. The skin was pale when it patched over the rip he had opened but darkened to match the rest of Aisha moments later. 

She’s using body parts stolen from other Summoned to fix herself. No. Not she. It!

Nil sliced and diced, but Aisha and the symbiote flesh rapidly repaired themselves. Blows flew at him, but Gold Realm Finesse helped, dodging all of it a breeze. He bobbed and weaved, relying on supercharged reflexes to dash in for strikes and back away before he could get hit. If it were just physical blows, Nil wouldn’t have cared about taking a strike here and there, but corrupted soul weapons emerged from the limbs. There were swords, sickle blades, claws, and more. All glowed with a cocktail of the colorfully speckled black smoke or alien energies. The crimson lightning born of Nil's blades scorched, burned, and warped, but it took prolonged exposure to inflict more damage. 

Even though it didn't seem like it, Nil could feel himself gradually gaining the advantage. The symbiote and his companions tried to communicate with him. He ignored the former and didn't have time for the latter. Nil could hear his comrades fighting above and around him, slowly whittling down the smaller symbiote. Their leader, or the one running the hivemind, had revealed itself for him, and Nil had no intention of letting it get away.

A strange connection sparked as the confrontation continued. It wasn't magical but deeper. Older. Almost empathic. Its memories and desires occasionally flashed in Nil's head. The symbiote was terrified and wanted to flee. But first, it hoped to feast on one of the people that had accompanied him. It didn't just want to satiate its hunger but grow stronger. Nil couldn't begin to imagine how terrifying a threat the symbiote could become if Wilson Enterprises got its way. He imagined them replicating and weaponizing it.

This thing is uncontrollable. 

The creature had created its own host using the biomass of its victims. If left unchecked, there was no telling what it could become. Nil sliced and diced, zapped and eviscerated. Flesh and lesser symbiotes swimming around them fixed the damage. He couldn't afford to retreat, opening the path to the hole in the ceiling. His instincts told him that the symbiote would flee, and they'd need to begin the search from scratch. The only progress he was making came in the form of purifying the released Cursed Energy and whittling away at the symbiote's stores. However, the quantity seemed to rival Silver-Realm Cursed Ones and the tiniest fragments released at once. He could rely on Chaos Spheres to inflict mass damage, either. The already unstable building's support structures stood around them, and the symbiote seemed capable of diverting his attacks—mostly using the corrupted soul weapons. Nil didn't want to bring the warehouse down on his colleagues. Selia would get away unscathed, but it wouldn't be the same for Cara Sue or Susan.

Two options lay before Nil. He could either buy time until the others eliminated all the lesser symbiotes above and then they could take out his opponent together. Or, he could try a strategy he wasn't sure would work. It took him only a short time to choose the latter. Looking at Aisha's naked form, attacking it, and listening to it beg for a chance to be with him was painful. 

Nil's chest ached, and he felt sick. Even though he was Silver Realm and had a Body of Gold, the fight wasn’t without threat. A couple of the corrupted soul weapons glowed with the purple and crimson of Void energies. Some of the abilities that briefly flashed concerned Nil. He narrowly avoided them while swiping away other leaping symbiotes with his tail. It wasn't sustainable, and he tried something else.

“Come here, Aisha,” Nil said, dispelling all odds his constructs and plunging them into darkness. “You wanted a kiss, didn't you?”

The symbiote froze. Nil felt its skepticism. The way it wanted him wasn't lustful or gluttonous. Whatever memories it carried, and the very fibre of its being drove it to be one with Nil. The offer tempted it.

“You won't burn me anymore?” The fake Aisha asked, mismatching eyes full of hope. The lesser symbiotes ceased leaping at him as the homunculus, symbiote or whatever she was studied him.

“I won't,” Nil said. “I promise.”

The symbiote and its homunculus host charged, throwing themselves at Nil. He tapped into Order just then, throwing up a segmented wall. It carried the power of Shiver Shield. A scream burst from Aisha as she collided with the frigid barrier, which folded around her. Nil poured everything he had into the construct, copying Shawn’s segmented barriers that bent and flexed to form his armor or grow with the sword. It wasn't as malleable but helped work around Order’s rigidity. 

Recently, enhanced emission skills helped with the task. Nil pushed it and his shaping skills to their limit, encompassing the entity and trapping it. The frigid barrier hardened the symbiote’s hexagonal mass and the flesh that formed Aisha’s body. They writhed and screamed within, eyes full of desperation and pain. Nil’s chest ached, but he didn't look away. 

The symbiote always had the same weakness as him. It hated the cold. Now, Nil supercharged the barrier, focusing on the technique. He was nowhere near Absolute Zero but managed to make things close enough to freeze his target solid. Then, he shoved his hands into the containment and disintegrated every bit of it using Expend and Chaos. The barrier lingered for a couple of seconds. It was enough time to finish the emotionally draining job. He also purified the Cursed Energy while ensuring nothing remained in the pool. 

I'm sorry, Aisha. You deserved better. Goodbye.