Phase 29 “The Forceful Memories”
Thanks to the mint tea they brought and drank again before—oops, he meant the infected blood they drank—Benji never thought he could see this clearly in the darkness. Benji made the decision to investigate yet another mystery once he brought an end to all of this insanity. The strange thing was that it tasted like caramel latte to Nathan.
They were being led by a little light that appeared in front of them. This light was the empress spirit. She advised them to proceed to the hermetically sealed chamber of the shaman and rescued one of them from the tunnel that connected the previous square room. Benji was overjoyed to discover that there had not been any zombies up to this point.
Besides him, there was his childhood friend, Nathan, running next to him. Both of them took steps as fast as they could passing the long and dark tunnel because they had very bad feelings and they needed to make sure the others were okay.
“Here…” the empress’s voice echoed as she led them to turn right on the junction as they reached a hall in another few minutes. They approached slowly and without making any sound. Inspecting the area, they realized it was used as an ancient prison. They never knew such a place existed when they lived their previous life. Their guess it was the shaman’s work behind the king.
BUM!
Nathan reflected as he pulled Benji and both of them hid behind a big stone when a sudden noise of metal caught their ears. But then, there was nothing. Nathan got up and looked around; then he realized he heard something weird.
“Ben, do you hear that?” Nathan asked as Benji tried to get the sounds. Suddenly, the empress’s light rushed to the other side of the hall as they followed; they stopped in front of a stoned door. There was a bar with a small window and Nathan took a peek inside; just to find Dominique curled like a ball, crying.
“Dominique!” Nathan rushed to open the door but Benji stopped him.
“It’s a trap, look,” Benji pointed to some invisible string. It connected the door with the ceiling above them. The ceiling would go down, crushing them if the door opened. Without wasting any time, Benji cut the string as they opened the door and proceeded inside. Nathan was the first one to make contact with Dominique, just to get pushed away.
“Get away from me!” Dominique shouted as he moved backward, avoiding.
“Dom, what’s wrong? It’s me, Nathan...” Nathan was scared to see Dominique like that; the younger man was not stabilized, his eyes were full of fear and distrust. Benji watched behind Nathan as he took a glance at the empress’s light. Blurry, he could see the empress nodded to him.
Slowly, Benji approached Dominique. Again, Dominique almost kicked Benji but the man came prepared; he pushed Dominique on the floor and did not let him go till the younger male stopped shouting and struggling. Nathan watched in horror the process but eventually sighed in relief as Dominique calmed down, but still with fearful eyes.
“We’re not going to hurt you, Dominique, it’s okay...” Nathan came as he hugged Dominique, caressing Dominique’s back a few time.
“... Nat...” finally Dominique spoke. It was enough to make Benji smile as he joined the friendly hug, but then Dominique continued, “I’m sorry, it’s my fault...”
“What do you mean?” Benji asked.
“Ben, it won’t make any sense but... I remember our previous life... I was the one who set out the virus to the world! If only I wasn’t a fool and did my best to guard the entrance instead of going mad and attacking the shaman... I’m so sorry... I’m sorry,” Dominique cried. The scene was still as clear as crystal to him. It was like everything happened a few seconds ago instead of decades ago.
“It’s okay, Dom, we remembered too,” Nathan spoke as he let go of Dominique. “It’s not your own fault, we’re all at fault...”
“That’s why we need to hurry and stop it now befor--- Dominique!” Benji was terrified to see Dominique suddenly scream again as he put his hands on his head. Both Benji and Nathan tried to calm him down but it took longer than they expected. Moreover, it was the worst pain-experienced they ever saw. It was way worse than when any of them awakened. Dominique lost his consciousness for a few seconds. He opened his eyes again but with an empty stare, completely exhausted, and he was sweating so much and trembling.
“He's forcefully awakened,” the empress's voice suddenly filled the room, leading Dominique to panic when he saw her converted from a light to her actual spirit form. Dominique recognised that it was his mother from his previous life; for a split second, he suspected that she was a zombie, but he quickly abandoned this ridiculous assumption when he saw that Benji and Nathan were entirely unfazed. Honestly, he was unable to think clearly.
“He was not bitten, unlike the others. It was as if the memories were placed in his head when he was wide awake, and the agony was worse than being bitten,” a tear came out of the empress's eyes as she held Dominique, merely to get herself passed through the man. She could not touch living beings after all.
Dominique froze. He had never experienced such a mental blank before. He was unable to form any thoughts as he collapsed to the ground; the agony returned for a brief period of time before dissipating entirely. However, Dominique was aware that it would return soon and that there was nothing he could do to stop it. All he could do was hope that he would not lose his mind.
“Go...” Dominique used his left strength to speak. “Save Kaien and Allen... I’ll catch up... later...”
Benji and Nathan intended to protest, but the empress put a stop to their plans by convincing them that the current situation was for the best. The suffering that Dominique endured would end at some point, but not even she could predict how much longer he would have to put up with it. In the end, Dominique was left with the empress's spirit while the other two men continued on. All they could do was hope that they arrived on time.