Underside Chapter 27

A sharp stabbing pain shot through his lungs, startling Mitch awake. It only took seconds before pain radiated through the rest of his body, causing him to cough, sending fresh burst through his lungs. Footsteps approached him and he turned his head to see the same man who had been in Alexis’ room.

“Mr. Benton.” The man said. “Glad to see you’re awake.”

“What happened?” Mitch asked.

“There’s a lot to unpack. I’ll get John and have him explain.” The doctor told him. He turned and left the room, leaving Mitch for just a moment before he heard footsteps returning into the room. Mitch looked across the room to see John walk forward and grab a chair.

“I’m glad you’re awake.” John told him as he sat down.

“How long have I been out?”

“Just under a week.” John told him.

“Holy shit.” Mitch said. His voice trailed off toward the end. His mind went back to the last time that he had seen John and the other reapers. “What happened? Ganith showed me something. It looked like you guys were being overwhelmed.”

“We were.” John said. “There were hundreds of demons that were pouring down on us. At one point, they all stopped, just froze directly in place. There was a hard rumble of the earth and they all just stopped. They quit attacking, moving, everything.”

“That rumble came after I cast away Ganith.” Mitch said.

“Cast away? You didn’t kill him?”

“No. I created a black hole.” Mitch said.

“You did what?”

Mitch shook his head.

“I know it’s hard to explain, but I inherited magic from one captive in my mind.”

John looked at him, confused. “You’re going to have to start at the beginning.”

Mitch did. He told John about Amy, the last sacrifice she had made, and how she had passed at least some of her power onto him. When he had finished, he let John think it over before he spoke up.

John looked at him with a look of surprise. “I haven’t heard of that kind of magic in a long time.”

“I haven’t heard of it at all.” Mitch said. “Then again, I don’t know that I would have believed any of this if you would have told me this a few months ago.”

“Even with the things you’d seen.” John said. Mitch noticed the air of surprise in his voice as he spoke.

“This is something on a whole new scale. A supernatural war, demon kings, magic,” Mitch hesitated and motioned a hand toward John. “I mean Death himself. How in the hell can you expect someone to feel about all of that?”

John thought about this for a moment. “When you put it like that, I think I see your point.”

There was a long pause between them before John spoke again.

“Where did the black hole send him?”

Mitch shrugged. “No idea. I poured as much as I could into it. I didn’t specifically pick a destination. How many places could something like that go?”

John thought about it. “The possibilities for that are endless. If you didn’t have a specific location, no one really knows.”

“How’s Alexis?” Mitch asked.

“She’s doing better. A lot of things going on in her head.”

“Is there anything we can do to help her?” Mitch asked.

“Give her time. If she wants to talk about it, I’m sure that she will.”

Mitch closed his eyes, thinking about everything. “Okos is dead, Tiffany is nowhere to be found, Ganith has been sent who knows where, and all his soldiers are dead. Where does that leave the balance?”

John scratched the bottom of his beard, thinking. “That’s a little bit of a complicated answer.”

“Oh?” Mitch asked.

“Yeah, but we’ll get to that whenever you feel better.”

Mitch thought back through all the memories that he’d been dealing with to find his way out of the prison in his mind. “I did so many horrible things.” He said. His voice had broken

“No, you didn’t,” John said. “Ganith did those things while in control of your body. There’s a difference.”

“But those memories, all of those things,” Mitch’s voice broke again. “I should have fought harder.”

“How could you fight something you didn’t know was happening?” John asked.

Mitch didn’t have an answer to that. Instead, he laid there and let the silence linger for a while.

“Get some rest. You still need it.”

“Can I see Alexis?” Mitch asked.

“Give it a little time, but yes, I believe I can arrange that.”

“He manipulated my emotions.” Mitch said.

“That’s what demons do.”

“No, I mean, he built those walls, and it controlled my emotions, my thoughts, and actions. How do I live with that?”

John reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll figure it out. We’ll be here to help you.”

“We?” Mitch asked.

“Myself, Stil, Boba, we’re all here if you need us. We’re going to need each other for what’s coming.”

Mitch looked at him, confused. “What’s coming?”

“I’ll explain soon enough, I promise.”

“I have one last question.”

John looked at him in silence.

“The memory of my dad’s accident-”

“I don’t know just yet,” John said, cutting him off. “The odds of someone planting that memory there are possible, but it would take a lot,” John said, cutting him off.

Before Mitch could say anything else, John stood, gave him one more pat on the shoulder, and went to leave. As John was near the door, Mitch called after him.

“How did you find me?”

John kept walking, ignoring the question and closing the door behind him. Mitch laid like that in silence until he drifted back off to sleep.

****

A few days later, Alexis came to visit him.

“Looks like I can return the favor.” She said. As she did, she took a seat gently into the chair next to the bed.

Mitch looked at her and couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face. He felt his heart beat faster and a knot in his stomach form. He pushed it down. “Alexis, I’m glad that you’re okay.”

“Yeah, it was rough there for a while.” She said.

“I saw what he was doing, and I felt helpless.”

She reached out and put her hand on his arm. It sent a jolt of electricity through him. His breath caught. He had hoped she hadn’t noticed.

“It’s okay.” She said. “I knew what I was getting into with this world,” She hesitated for just a moment. “Mostly.”

“I know what you mean,” Mitch said. “What do you think becomes of the job?”

“I don’t know. With everything that’s happened, it’s hard to tell.”

“Tell me the truth.” Mitch said. “How are you?”

There was a long pause as Alexis looked at him. “I have nightmares, lots of them.”

“I figured as much.”

“The physical pain is gone, mostly. But the mental stuff, that is lingering pretty bad.”

“It will for some time. You know you can talk to me if you need to.”

“I know.” She told him. “But right now I just don’t know how.”

“I get that.” Mitch said.

“How are you?” She asked.

“Depends on what you mean?”

She smiled at him. “I mean mentally, physically, all of it, smartass.”

He returned the smile. “Physically I’m sore. Ganith beat the hell out of me. Okos beat the hell out of me. Everything the last few weeks has beaten me up pretty well, so yeah, physically, I’m pretty sore.”

“Mentally?” She asked.

“That’s a different ball game entirely. The things that I saw inside my own head when Ganith took control, the things that seemed to break when the walls came down, all of it adds up and makes me realize some things need…” Mitch trailed off.

“What?” Alexis asked.

“What would you say if I told you for the first time I realized something that maybe I should have realized long ago?”

She looked at him, confused. “What do you mean?”

He choked on his words, trying to order them correctly before they came out.

“A lot of things changed while I was in the Underside.” Mitch said. “I worked through a lot of memories, encounters, things that I don’t quite understand yet. When it was said and done, I felt something come over me.”

“Okay?” Alexis said. She tried to keep the worry off her face but couldn’t. Mitch took notice.

“It’s not bad, at least not all of it, but one thing is different: my emotional response to situations. At one point, I saw you held captive by Ganith, and another, I watched as one of his sidekicks tried to get to you to break me. Then, in my memories, I had to relive my dad’s death. Not just the feelings that came with it, but I had to watch it happen.”

“I’m so sorry…” she said. Her voice came out barely above a whisper.

“I don’t know how, or why, it was there, but I felt everything from that night. All of it in a way I’ve felt nothing before.”

“I don’t completely understand.” Alexis said.

“Emotionally, things have changed for me. To answer your question, mentally I’m still trying to figure it out. I’ll get there, but for now, I need to figure it out.”

She reached out and took his hand. “We’ll figure it out together.” She leaned in and hugged him tight. He felt her sobbing against his chest. It brought tears to his own eyes as he attempted to stop his own sob in his chest.

“I’m glad to see the two of you up and around.” John said. Alexis jumped, and she leaned up, wiping her eyes. Mitch gave her hand another squeeze before she turned to John.

“Can you get up, Mitch?” John asked. As he did, he stuck his hand out. Mitch reached up and took it, pulling himself to his feet. Alexis got up and slid herself under his arm.

“I’m fine.” Mitch said, but he left his arm wrapped around her shoulders. She supported some of his weight as they walked forward. John created a portal the three of them walked through. When they came out the other side, they were once again standing in downtown Warsaw.

Something about it was different. Everything from where the sky met the horizon to the shade of the buildings, all of it looked different. It was subtle, almost like a haze had settled over the city. Mitch could see all of it but still couldn’t put his finger on the actual problem. John walked up next to him and gazed out over the city.

“You sense it, don’t you?” John asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t know what it is.” Mitch said.

“The Underside collapsed.” John said.

“Collapsed?” Mitch asked.

“The best I can tell when you created that black hole, it set off a chain reaction. The pressure and force of the creation pulled the barriers of the Underside down.” John said.

Mitch thought about this for a moment. “That would mean that…” Mitch stopped as John nodded.

“That means that the veil that held the power of all of those creatures in check is no longer there.”

Mitch felt his jaw open.

“What happens now?” Mitch asked.

“The rules are likely broken. This is what I meant when I said it was a complex answer. You see, Ganith was taken off the board, which is good, but now we’ve got this new problem to contend with.”

The wind whipped up and Mitch saw John’s coat move. He could still see the black outline of the infection, but it appeared much smaller. John caught him looking and shrugged his sleeve back.
“I don’t know what he did, but after the incident, the poison seemed to recede. I’m not sure what he used, but I believe it was linked to him in a way that was disrupted because he’s no longer here.” He looked from Mitch to his hands and back. “For now, we’ve got to get you healed up and see if you have any residual powers left.”

Mitch looked down at his hand, willing words through it. Nothing happened. In fact, he couldn’t even get the sparks to dance across his fingers this time. After just a few seconds, he looked back at John.

“I don’t know if I do.”

“That’s fine. We’ll make sure that you can defend yourself. For now, let’s get back to my domain, and we’ll figure out our next move.” John said. As he did, he turned and reopened a portal. He stepped through it, closely followed by Alexis. Before he stepped through, Mitch heard a set of sirens off in the distance. It seemed to be an omen for what was to come.

-THE END-