Survivor of Souls 9

Sword of Souls

Kristie's screen emits a low hum as the colors from it illuminate her face.  Suddenly her screen turns black and the humming immediately ceases.  “What the…”  She turns the handheld upside down, inspecting it.  “It broke?  Can these things break?”

“Lucky you…” Sam laughs.  Kristie begins to shake her handheld vigorously... “If this stupid thing makes me forfeit… I swear…”  Just then, her handheld begins to melt in her hands.  Slowly, it reshapes itself, gaining more and more mass.  A silvery blade emits from one end, the other forming itself into a handle within her hands.  Small etchings begin to form within the blade as light begins to pulse from the newly shaped katana.  Kristie, as well as the rest of the group, nearly jumps out of her skin as the spirit’s voice thunders throughout the room.  For the first time, the voice sounded somewhat fearful… for she had nearly forgotten…  “The Sword of Souls has chosen its master!”  She needed a plan.  Maybe, just maybe… she might be able to use it to her advantage… “You may use this to resurrect a former teammate…”  Knowing the sword’s true power, the spirit grins… “This is almost too easy…”

Kristie’s face lights up with excitement, “We can bring Kate back!”  “Todd, isn’t that just awesome!”  Kylie glares at her with her slitted eyes, frustration and confusion racing through her mind.  “I swear!  Why does she keep calling me Todd… and who the heck is this Kate person?”  Sam nudges Kristie… “Oh Kylie, yeah sorry… forgot you didn’t want us to call you Todd anymore!  My bad…”  Kristie glances at Sam mouthing, “Whoops…”

Kristie looks down at the sword gleaming in her hands.  Breathing a huge sigh of relief she closes her eyes,  “Welcome back, Kate…”  She stands up and exclaims towards the sword, “I want you to bring Kate back to life!”  The spirit’s grin turns into a full fledged smile, the master of the sword would soon be no more…

The blade within Kristie’s hands begins to radiate light once again.  She tries to let go, but the sword does not wish to leave her grasp.  Frantically she attempts to shake the glowing blade from her hands, but the sword will not leave its wielder.  “Sam, help me!”  Sam races to her side, only to be repelled across the room but a sudden shockwave emanating from the blade.  The blade would not let him interrupt its master’s wishes.  “Sam!  Oh my gosh... SAM!!!”  Kristie cries out as her boyfriend’s body crashes onto the floor.  Paul runs to his side, “Sam are you okay?”   

“Yeah I’m fine… forget about me… help her!” Sam points at Kristie, who is now shaking with fear.  Paul runs towards Kristie only to get hurled across the room himself, smacking hard against the wall of the containment force field.  Breathing heavily, Paul looks at Sam, “I don’t think that’s going to work…”  It didn’t matter, Sam rises back to his feet and charges towards Kristie once more, this time stopped short by an energy barrier surrounding his helpless girlfriend.  “Kristie… KRISTIE!!!”  Sam bashes his fists repeatedly against the barrier.  Eventually resorting to thrusting his body into it, but it is no use…

Slowly the blade forces its way towards the stomach of its master, ready to fulfill her wishes and her sacrifice.  Kristie begins to cry as her body continues to move against her will, he arms drawing the blade back, poising for the immanent impalement.  She looks into the eyes of her boyfriend, “Sam, I love you…”  Sam shouts into the barrier…  “No, Kristie NO!  Kristie!!!”  Kristie’s hands accelerate towards her body, sheathing it into herself as she drops to her knees.  Tears falling from her eyes, she looks up at Sam, smiling.  He stares down at her, this couldn’t be happening…  As her eyes close he falls into despair, choking on his own tears.  “I love you too Kristie… I love you too…”

As Sam wipes his face on his sleeve, he notices movement from the lifeless body of his girlfriend.  As he continues to stare, the sword begins glowing ever more brightly, the steel beginning to spread its way into its host.  The blood flow stops, as the puddle beneath her wound turns from a crimson red to a shiny metallic substance.  This slowly begins to creep up her leg and eventually reenters the wound from which it originated.  “Kristie?”  Sam pleads, hoping for a sign… anything, but the body remains motionless.  Suddenly, the sword reaches its lumen peak and emits a flash of light that envelopes Kristie’s body, causing it to glow brightly.  Sam and Paul shield their eyes as the sword works its way out of her stomach and falls to the ground.  Almost as quickly as it had started, the light fades from her body, allowing the group to look upon it once again.  “What?  Kristie no!”  Sam throws his arms around the now completely metallic statue of his former girlfriend.  Paul looks at Kristie, her body frozen forever in steel.  Her final pose being on her knees, her head sagging and her eyes closed as her soul was torn from her body.  

Sam’s mind is filled with rage as he screams at the top of his lungs.  “I’m going to kill you, you hear me!  DO YOU HEAR ME!  Enough of this screwing with us, I know you can hear me.  Come on out, you coward!”  The spirit begins to laugh uncontrollably, this is becoming much more fun that she had ever imagined.  She grins evilly as Sam returns to the statue and begins to run his hands along her metallic hair.

As his hand caresses the surface, the strands begin to lengthen slowly beneath his touch, unnoticeably at first.  He continues for nearly a minute before noticing that the hair had now lengthened halfway down Kristie’s neck.  “Whoa…” Sam jerks his hand back.  The hair continues to grow to shoulder height before coming to a halt.  “Did you see that?”

“Yeah...weird…” Paul leans closer to the statue, inspecting it for himself.  Paul watches as Kristie’s eyelashes lengthen ever so slightly.  Her ears and nose begin to shrink.  Her diamond earrings dissolve into the metallic surface.  Sam stands next to Paul, looking at the new face.  “Hey, that looks like…”  “Kate…” they both say in unison.  Suddenly the statue begins to grow, inch by inch, until reaching five foot eight.  The breasts beneath the steel shirt begin to swell, taking on the size of a C cup.  Paul looks back at Kylie, then back at the statue, then back at Kylie again.  “Yup, I’d say that’s about right…”  Paul laughs.  Kylie brings her had within a few inches on his ear and hisses angrily, causing his to jump and falls backwards in shock.  Sam and Rebecca burst out laughing.  “Okay, now that was hilarious!  Well done Kylie.”  Rebecca gives her the thumbs up.  Meanwhile, the statues wardrobe had changed to a T-shirt and a pair of jean shorts, revealing her slender athletic legs.  

The transformation completed, Sam and Paul begin to walk around the statue of Kate.  “What’s the deal?” Sam lightly knocks on Kate’s arm a few times.  Suddenly, the statue begins to glow brightly, causing the two men to back away, shielding their eyes.  The glowing continues for about 15 seconds, getting brighter and brighter with every passing second, causing everyone in the room to shut their eyes.  The glowing then subsides, and the group slowly opens their eyes.  There before them stands Kate in her pink and white T-shit and jean shorts.  She looks down at the ground, ashamed… “Hey guys…”

“Oh my gosh, Kate is that you?” Paul walks up and hugs her.  “Hey, Paul… Yeah it’s me…”  Kylie didn’t know why, but the sight of Paul giving this strange girl a hug made her sick to her stomach.  “I’ve been watching you guys… I’m sorry I forfeited.”  “Hey don’t worry about it, I’m just glad your back!” Sam walks up and gives her a hug as well.  Kylie turns her head, refusing to watch as her emotions twist her mind into a state of confusion.  Suddenly, Kylie feels a pair or arms grasp around her body.  She looks down to see Kate hugging her, tears running down her face.  “Todd, I’m so sorry.  This is all my fault, if I hadn’t been such a coward…  I’m so sorry…”  Kylies mind races with emotion, “Why is she calling me Todd?  I don’t even know her, and yet… why does this feel so… right?”  She looks down at the crying female, her face buried on her shoulder.  Kylie wraps her neck around Kate and nudges her head with her mouth.  Kate looks up into her giant serpentine eyes, “Todd I’m so sorry…”  Kate brings her hand up and pets the top of Kylie’s head as she brings her head forward and kisses the serpent on the mouth.  Kylie’s emotions leap for joy, “She still loves me!”  “Wait, did that girl just kiss me?  What’s wrong with me…”  Rationalization and emotion struggle in her brain searching for any possible explanation, but comes to no conclusion.  

“I love what you’ve done with my body by the way.” Kate grins.  Kylie unwraps her head from around Kate’s body and sits on the floor, staring at the ground.  “None of this makes any sense…”  Kylie then feels a hand on her shoulder, “Todd, I know you can’t remember.  Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything.”  Kate rests her head on Kylie’s shoulder.  “Just know that I love you…”  Kylie looks across at Kate, she didn’t know why but for the first time in a while everything just felt right.  And for her, that was enough.

Sam watches Kate reconnect with her boyfriend, and a wave of sadness washes over him.  He looks down at the sword lying on the ground, as a though enters his mind.  “Kristie, I refuse to let you pay for my mistakes… I’m bringing you back to life!”  His mind made up, he bends over ready to take up the sword himself…