The Sickness: The Savant Chronicles

By Yazarah

Hiro Sheuri lives a semi-comfortable life in the middle of a forest inhabited by territorial Jinns, except for the minor annoyance of being possessed by a Vampire Spirit. He has an easy job, cleaning up after the creatures of the Secret World run riot in human cities. He must hide the existence of demons but they have started obliterating whole cities. His life becomes unwelcomingly interesting when he is attacked on what was supposed to be a straightforward job, by his enemy the A'richeils, hauntingly beautiful beings that feed on emotions.
Hiro's world turns destructive and dark when he discovers the creatures are being infected by a sickness that is driving them insane. While Hiro investigates the cause of this sickness, a new dark power appears that has the potential to devastate both the human and Spirit world.
Darkness and death, monsters and madness clash in a world gone insane.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Mar 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781528909129

Yazarah

Yazarah is a British Asian writer and counsellor who could never take ‘you can’t do that’ as a dead end but as a personal challenge. By day, she is an NHS mental health practitioner in schools. By night, she trains in karate (not giving up on her childhood dream to be a ninja). Yazarah’s passion for fantasy and dedication towards mental health is interwoven in her writing.

Book preview

Rose

About the Author

Yazarah, a 24-year-old psychology graduate, loves delving into the dark places of the mind. Her fascination with the supernatural started young: wondering through woods, watching horror and drawing witches (instead of princesses!). Inspired by her life, religion and fighting for an identity as a British Asian, she is breaking stereotypes through writing.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my precious mother, who always put her kids first and has given up everything—including the life she could have had—for us. Thank you for always supporting me and believing in my abilities. Your courage and strength have given me resolve. You deserve so much more than what life has thrown at you. I love you, even if I don’t say it very often.

Copyright Information ©

Yazarah (2018)

The right of Yazarah to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781786935649 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781786935656 (E-Book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2018)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Acknowledgements

I’d like to say thank you to my two longest friends, Saheefa and Haleema, who have put up with my constant sarcasm and dark moods. Thanks for indulging me with my obsession over every detail of this book.

I have to mention some of my inspirations, mainly my favourite Japanese rock bands: GazettE and Girugamesh. Not a page of this was written without one of them rocking it out in the background. My favourite artist, Victoria Francis, who inspired beauty in the madness of my characters. Lastly, Kouyu Shurei, whose manga inspired the idea of the A’richeils.

Chapter One

Death and Desperation

The artificial lights went out with a sharp snap to suffocating, thick darkness.

Lightning struck.

The villagers screamed in terror; they had never witnessed lightning before, only studied it in texts and watched it in films. It struck dangerously close to the houses with no definite source. The darkness was so thick and endless that Luke could not see the glass prism that surrounded the Arc. The light coming off the lightning bolts illuminated parts of the prism reassuring Luke that it still surrounded him, protecting him: for how long or from what, he couldn’t know.

Luke froze in horror; how could this be happening? Luke lived on the Arc, the government’s maze of sterile metal and flawless patches of field, protected by impenetrable glass. His village lived untouched by the outside world; no contaminated air or harmful chemicals could cause any pollution, making a perfect environment for growing successful crops. Artificial lights served as the sun but with a controlled and monitored amount that was just right for sufficient growth. The earth was never seared, never frozen. Storms never clashed, thunder never raged.

Everyone had his or her own patch of land with the same routine every day, with the same expected things. Fourteen-year-old Luke Terrance lived a perfect, routine life like everyone else who inhabited the Arc.

The lights went out at eight, the artificial sun turned down specifically to make thin darkness. But Luke was sick of his perfect, routine life. He felt trapped and isolated. He grew to despise the prison the Arc had become. He dreamt of the outside world and longed for something, anything, to take him away from it.

But Luke was yet to find his alternate life.

A torrent of acid rain poured down, destroying all crops instantly. The leaves corroded away, and the soil soaked up the acid causing the roots to shrivel up and burn. Suddenly a deeper, sharper, more terrifying sound than that of lightning echoed through the Arc.

Luke looked up. A long crack had etched itself right through the middle of the prism. As Luke gaped at it, smaller intersections came off it, covering the glass with thin, white lines. The Arc Luke had known all his life had become one giant spider’s web and the villagers were flies in a jar.

The prism shattered, showering everything below with sharp, jagged glass; leaving only a few meters of glass still intact around the edges.

Chaos broke out.

Everyone screamed as chunks of glass hit the small thatched houses like thick arrows. Lightning crept closer, ready to strike, choosing its next victim.

It attacked the tall tree that stood dead in the centre of the village. Sparks flew. The tree ignited. Ashes and embers were directed by the strong wind that had suddenly erupted.

Fire spread. It lit the rooftops and torched the trees, creating a hellish inferno in seconds. There was no escape. The Arc’s purpose was to keep the villagers in and everything else out.

So, what would happen when something finds a way in but there was no way out?

Luke ducked as another lightning bolt crackled through the air. He looked up fearfully and cautiously stood up. He could hear the loud pounding of a drum in his ears but realised a second later it was only the sound of his own thumping heart beating frantically with fear.

Suddenly everything was silent; everything was still, like the calm before the storm. The complete standstill was more shocking than the chaos. Luke held his breath. His heart missed a beat when the largest and brightest lightning bolt that had yet to terrorise the villagers made its mark. Luke stared with horror and disbelief as large silhouettes of disfigured beasts crashed down with the slowly fading after-images of the last blast of electricity.

They appeared from nowhere, flaming into existence. A sharp scream shattered the night. Luke recognised it—his younger sister, Rachel. He turned in the direction of his house, he was a few yards away but he could already see the lethal snake of flames licking the building and a black shroud of smoke circling it like a hawk. Another scream and he was running towards his house.

Halfway there, a terrible crack like thunder resounded through him. A burning tree fell right in his path. He dove out of the way just in time, scraping the skin off his arms and knees as stones broke his fall. He struggled to his feet and found his way blocked by the tree, which was still being devoured by fire. Luke flinched when he heard something else further up collapse with a crash. A sickening weight fell in his stomach. He had to know.

He backtracked and ran in the opposite direction, to the highest point of the Arc where he could see everything right to the other end.

Luke always went up there to stare down at the perfect circle of the village and the uniform portions of land divided exactly between all the families. He sat there on his breaks from working in the fields and wonder what lay beyond the glass snow globe he was encased in. An image of that sickeningly perfect world flashed across his mind as he stood there now, eyes wide with shock and horror at the bloody massacre below him.

A woman screamed, breaking his horror-induced trance. Luke looked down and fell back in terror as he got a glimpse of one of the deadly creatures up close. In the crippling darkness, all he could see of the terrible beast was what the fire allowed him. Never revealing the whole creature, only glimpses, like a threat. The panther-like creature had long sharp canines that extended past its bottom lip, furless black leathery skin, bloodthirsty red eyes and fire. Fire everywhere, all around it. It wrapped around its powerful haunches and down its back like a snake to circle around its whip-like tail. The creature was merged with the fire to become one raging, destroying legion.

Luke cowered back and prayed it hadn’t seen him. The beast went off, out of sight, snarling and roaring to the night. Luke couldn’t avoid it any longer; he forced himself to look at his house where his mother and sister had been. He now knew what he had heard collapsing. The house he had lived in all his life was now reduced to a small mound of brick and dust.

All he could do was watch as the houses one by one burned to the ground. He held onto the small hope that his family had made it out safely. His hopes rose as he saw a little girl, running past, screaming, alone and petrified.

Luke started to run towards her but from somewhere close behind him, a deep growl and the sound of fire crackling, claws scraping and bones crushing stopped him dead in his tracks.

Chapter Two

A Dead Girl’s Hiro

He knew he wasn’t in the best shape. He knew he couldn’t keep going as he was for long but he refused to give in to the relentless craving. Hiro Sheuri felt drained and his vision was getting foggy as he pushed himself to run faster to catch up with Raenik, who was almost a blur of speed above him.

Hiro scolded himself as he dodged the oncoming trees. He had been working with Raenik for months now, but recently it was draining his strength and power quicker than usual. Hiro had pushed himself harder and harder these past couple of weeks and this was where it had left him.

He knew what he had to do to bring his strength up. He knew exactly what he had to do to survive. But for how long? It would prolong his life a little longer but it wouldn’t save him, all the while his humanity was ripping away.

Hiro stopped suddenly; he couldn’t see Raenik anymore. He frantically looked around, panting hard, starved of oxygen. A flash of white light dazzled him. When he recovered, a beautiful white- winged creature hovered a few feet off the ground in front of him, his delicate cream face creased with concern. Hiro tried to smile reassuringly but it ended up a weary expression.

Raenik landed lightly, folding his wings up behind him. It won’t last long, he said sadly as he placed his right hand over Hiro’s heart. It glowed ruby red and a warm sensation rushed through Hiro and he felt some strength return to him.

If you hadn’t wrecked your bike, you wouldn’t have this problem, Raenik chided.

Hiro growled at him, was he ever going to let that go, like he wasn’t in enough pain that his baby was beyond repair. Wrecked saving your ungrateful wings.

Raenik just smiled innocently. Hiro growled again, playfully this time, and made a shooing motion.

A few minutes later Hiro stood high up in a tree, a perfect vantage point to examine the building in front of him. Raenik crouched behind him, wings held up to avoid catching in the branches, waiting patiently.

It was supposed to be a four-story high, private hospital but now it looked like an earthquake had hit it. The roof had collapsed inward and one of the walls had crumbled leaving the narrow corridors inside bare and exposed. It reminded Hiro of an open dollhouse and all the little dollies lay dead and scattered inside.

But this was no natural disaster, as everything around it remained undamaged and no one else seemed to have noticed the ruined building. On Hiro’s signal Raenik dived gracefully off the tree and flew all the way around the building. When he had completed two circuits, he returned to Hiro’s side, deep in thought.

Hiro took his silence as a sign that it was safe to go inside. He jumped out of the tree, not giving the thirty feet drop to the ground a second thought. He landed cat-like on his feet, his silver buckled black boots scuffing the ground. He kissed his teeth, examining the marks the concrete had left. He looked up at the sky. It was supposed to be summer but strong winds made him wear his dark blue coat, laced with black lining, with a simple silver design at the back and fastened with silver buckles. But it would be useless if it decided to rain again.

Hiro stood in the middle of a long stretch of road that looked like it had never been used. He wasn’t worried about cars; he couldn’t hear one for miles. It was a depressingly desolate place, quiet, but eerily perfect. Though now that he thought about it, the silence seemed too absolute and the emptiness too haunting to be natural. He didn’t like it. It felt like some kind of trap that was nerve-wrackingly unavoidable. He smiled viciously, feeling sorry for any idiot who believed they could take him on, as he led the way into the hospital.

Tread with caution. Whatever did this is very powerful, but I don’t know anything that works like this, Raenik reported.

Hmm, it’s a very dark power, Hiro added to himself, feeling the leftover tendrils of power, like ice down his back.

Hiro cautiously stepped over the fallen bricks into the first floor of the building. It was very dark and gloomy inside, despite the brightness of the day. The light could not penetrate through any of the many, now shattered windows, as if some intangible black veil was blocking it.

He started down the corridor slowly. Everything was silent and deathly still. If there had been any survivors, they had fled, but he doubted there were any. This would have been all over the news if there had been any witnesses. Hiro reached the end of the empty corridor and stopped at the sight of the damage that had been inflicted. He heard Raenik come up behind him but paid him no attention.

There was dust everywhere, obscuring Hiro’s already hazy vision. Massive holes were blasted through the walls, showing him the corridor on the other side was in no better state. The shattered word ‘Soteria’ hung hazardously off the back wall. Bricks, plaster and bodies littered the floor. His gaze lingered on each dead body; he counted four.

Raenik turned away from the sight and with one powerful stroke of his wings, flew straight up, through the ceiling. Hiro groaned as he heard Raenik land softly somewhere on the third floor. He pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on, the only part not cracked nearly in half, and ran up the nearest flight of steps, jumping over gaps where the steps had collapsed. Hiro was beside Raenik within a minute, and once there he closed his eyes and allowed himself a second to recover; this journey had tested him to his very limits and this was child’s play compared to the other jobs he’d done.

His eyes snapped open as his sharp senses picked up on something strange. His instincts recognised it as some sort of cat padding around on the ground floor. They hadn’t checked there yet. Although the cat seemed harmless he couldn’t be sure, for some reason he just couldn’t focus on anything. He felt dizzy and sick, he mentally shook himself and blocked out all the mixed-up feelings he was sensing. With great effort, he focused his attention on Raenik, who was kneeling beside a body that was sprawled in an awkward position, in the middle of the corridor.

Is he dead? He didn’t know the person himself but Raenik seemed to.

Yes, Raenik answered quietly, smiling softly at his forwardness.

Hiro shrugged innocently when Raenik gave him a knowing look. Hiro didn’t need to ask. He couldn’t hear a pulse, but he felt that he should say something.

Raenik turned back to the body and passed his hand just above it, whispering something softly. When he finished, a white haze hovered over the body, a distant scream speared through Hiro for a second before fading. Raenik had just released the trapped soul and it dawned on Hiro why his senses were getting mixed up and the vibes he kept getting didn’t make any sense. They were souls: lost, wandering souls.

Hiro shook his head in wonder: they were popping up everywhere these days. But Hiro guessed they would, with him dealing with death on a regular basis, naturally there were going to be a few souls around. Hopefully, none that were pissed with him.

How did you do that? Hiro asked curiously. He didn’t know much about souls.

Raenik looked up at him, I didn’t do anything. I just forgave him thus enabling him to pass onto the next world a little easier. Make the process a little less painful.

Hiro raised his eyebrows at that, despite the things he’d seen he didn’t really believe in an afterlife but Raenik looked so solemn and sad that for once he kept his mouth shut.

He turned away from Raenik, giving him some time alone with the body and tried concentrating on the souls. As soon as he did, he was hit by more confusion and most of all anger. But something nagged at him through all of it. He tried to block it out but it was overpowering and he started to get very claustrophobic. He sent out his spirit beast and pushed them aside, to Hiro’s surprise they relented. He’d never tried that before.

As the souls slowly moved away and the air became breathable, a faint trail, black and wispy like smoke, became apparent. He concentrated harder and suddenly he heard—or sensed—a faltering heartbeat. His own heart raced and he stood unnaturally still, listening intently but he was greeted by silence once more. Just as he was about to turn his attention away he heard the sound again, just for a second.

Silence. A heartbeat. Silence.

It was faint and weak but it was definitely there.

Raenik stood up and watched Hiro curiously. He was about to ask what was wrong but stopped himself, Hiro was tracking something. Raenik felt him cast out his senses further, then snap them back so suddenly that he shivered thinking of the damage that could have done to him. He was about to scold him for it when Hiro’s head pulled up and his hard, brown eyes turned the deepest, purest white.

Hiro’s eyes narrowed as he followed the black trail. It led him directly opposite the dead body, to a battered door, hanging off its hinges. The metal door was bent backwards as if someone had spent hours knocking it down with a sledgehammer, trying to get out.

Hiro peered into the dark, cruelly cold room, suspicious of what kind of hospital it was. His eyesight wasn’t very good but he could still see the deep gashes across the metal plated walls. It was fresh and could only have been caused by a similar phenomenon that had destroyed the rest of the hospital.

But what was more disturbing were the ragged scratches etched into the walls by fingernails and some other sharper objects, over and over, new ones overlapping several old ones, lined with blood. Heavy chains hooked up to the far end of the wall, a steel table complete with leather restraints, bolted into the middle of the room and a shredded up straight jacket discarded on the floor. Broken pieces of another, slightly thinner chain scattered the floor and though Hiro could not see it, he smelt blood and the choking stench of invasive chemicals.

Stepping back out, it took his horrified, shocked brain a minute to believe what he’d really just seen. He’d seen a hell of a lot of gruesome, nightmarish scenes in his line of work, but this was another kind of horror that he wasn’t sure what to do with.

Something behind the door caught his attention, motivating his brain to start operating again. He gingerly moved towards it, weary of what else he might discover. He froze as the heartbeat started again, noticeably louder. Hiro eyed the small pile of fallen beams and bricks behind the door, when nothing popped out at him he dragged off the wooden beams that had fallen on the very top. The heavy load normally made light work for Hiro but he felt the strain—he was getting weaker. By the time Hiro had cleared it all away, he was panting slightly.

At first all he saw was the dull, harsh glint of metal. Then he realised there was a person behind the metal.

It was a girl with a metal mask covering the lower part of her face. Hiro listened hard, but the heartbeat was gone again. Suddenly her heart contracted and her eyes fluttered open. Her eyes widened in panic and pain and she convulsed as she tried to breath, she pulled at the metal to no avail.

Outraged and disgusted, he leaned down and tore the mask away. The force of it jerked her head forward and the rough edges of the mask cut her face. Hiro winced and forced himself to calm the unexpected anger. He dragged the last bit of splintered wood from her legs quickly, while trying not to hurt her more.

She coughed painfully as a harsh rush of air entered her lungs. Hiro looked down at her: she was just a girl, in her mid-teens. She’d been suffocating, crushed under the fallen debris and the mask had been purposefully designed to let the minimum amount of oxygen through. Just enough to keep her alive.

Her heart had been the one he’d heard. She was the only one alive in the entire building. The girl took deep, gasping gulps of air and tried to move her legs, clenching her jaw in silent pain. She fell back into her original awkward position. She coughed again, her eyes screwed shut in pain. The lack of sound from the girl gave Hiro a surreal feeling, as if this wasn’t happening; he was just watching it through a dim, silent screen.

Hiro reached down to help her when something hit him low, around his shins. He fell forward and suddenly he was thrown into a dark sucking hole. It only lasted a second but seemed to drag on forever, filling him with the most terrible, consuming darkness. It was so cold every bone in his body ached with a deep pain.

Luckily something broke his fall, he held on, not just physically but to the feel of something solid and real to ground his spiralling mind. He focused on that, fiercely willing his mind to clear and the darkness slowly faded. When he could see again, he realised it was the battered metal door that had saved him.

The door creaked and groaned under his weight. It shrieked like something alive and demonic. He quickly pulled away just as it split in two, right down the middle and crumpled to the floor as if it was polystyrene. Slightly shocked, he turned to Raenik who gave him a wide-eyed, what-did-you-do look. Hiro shrugged, he was sure he hadn’t done anything this time.

The force hit him again, this time in a wave of pure kinetic energy. The building shook, not too violently but enough to make him lose his balance. He staggered back, away from the girl, but managed to stay on his feet. The intensity of the waves dramatically decreased. Hiro went further away from the girl to test his theory and by the time he reached the other end of the corridor, the tremors were very light like a train was passing underneath. Hiro used his Second Sight, the one he used to see spirits, and he could see the waves of the vibration in front of him.

It was centred around the girl.

Raenik got shakily to his feet and instantly fell back to the ground again. That Hiro just couldn’t keep out of trouble. He watched, puzzled, as Hiro stumbled to the end of the corridor, his eyes once more a pure white. Raenik tried to hover off the ground to regain his balance but he was immediately hit by another sharp, powerful wave. It knocked him out of the air like a bird shot down by a hunter’s bullet. The momentum carried him back; he hit the wall, crying out in pain and crumpled to the floor.

Chapter Three

The First Flight

The tremors stopped. The unexpected stillness made Hiro dizzy and he almost fell over again. He didn’t know what was causing it but anymore and the building would collapse on top of him. More dust fell, Hiro shook it out of his jet-black hair, it fell just over his eyes on the sides and it was annoying him now. He pushed it back and called out, You okay Raenik?

Yes, he answered, wincing as he stood up uncertainly. Raenik clutched his left wing, it was slightly crumpled and fell at an awkward angle. I think my wing’s broken. Is he alive? indicating to the girl.

Hiro gave him a knowing smile. "Yes, she is."

Raenik made a big show of looking aghast. Then what are you doing here? She’s probably dead by now, he puffed. "You can’t just leave her like that. No wonder you have no luck with girls. The first one you’ve ever met and you’ve already killed her!"

Hiro rolled his eyes. Hey, your sarcasm is getting better Tweety, but it still needs a little work. He didn’t bother telling him he’d continuously listened for the slightest miss of a beat of her dangerously slow heart.

I’m quite good actually, Raenik declared proudly.

Yeah right.

It’s not my fault I have a bad teacher, Raenik said sulkily.

He glared at Raenik before dragging the last wooden beam off the girls’ legs and stomach. Something made a long groan and a sharp screech. Hiro quickly snatched the girl up in his arms before the metal pole—that was only attached to the wall because someone had shoved it through from the other side—stabbed her. The end that swung dangerously over the girl’s chest was sharp and jagged and would have killed her.

Hiro took the girl and fled just as the building started to shake again with even more force. He laid her down on the deserted pavement before going back for Raenik. He didn’t think he could fly with a broken wing. Hiro returned a minute later exhausted; he felt so drained. He had gone back up to the third floor to find that Raenik had disappeared.

Groaning, he collapsed next to the girl. He’d found the girl’s file and shoved it into the inside pocket of his coat to examine later. There was no name with her picture but the dog tag attached to the first page said her code name was Ray.

The girl, Ray, got shakily to her feet aided by a lamppost, then doubled over in a fit of coughs. She clasped a hand over her mouth but blood escaped through her fingers and spilled to the ground. Hiro watched the deep, red blood run down her hand and something stirred within him. A great, prowling beast he’d deluded himself into thinking was under his control but really had only been waiting in the shadows, like a true hunter, watching for his moment of weakness to attack. Hiro leapt to his feet and stumbled back away from the blood.

An ear splitting, metallic screech shattered Hiro’s inner demon before it could take over. Falling to his knees he shielded his head, his arms pressed hard against his ears—sometimes having extra sharp hearing wasn’t a good thing. Ray flinched, covering her own ears she looked towards the sound. Hiro managed to follow her gaze up and his eyes widened at the sight the girl could barely see. Three human sized creatures flew high above them, and he was glad she couldn’t see them clearly. At first they looked humanoid, with basic human features, but there was nothing humane about them.

"Arewa nan des ka?" What is that? As far as Hiro could tell, they all looked identical. All three of them had long, sharp claws on their large hands and bear feet and insane, wild eyes. Brownish-yellow, scruffy wings sprouted out their backs, tainted with marks like bruises. A thick black substance stuck to the end of their feathers as if they had burned and melted together. Where the wings were cut from their backs it was red and raw like fresh wounds.

Hiro hesitantly stood up and let his arms fall down by his sides as the creatures started circling Hiro and the girl like vultures. This is going to be an interesting half-life.

Hiro was already assessing all the possible escape routes. Raenik had disappeared, leaving him to look after the girl but he only vaguely knew where he was. He hadn’t been paying attention on the way; he’d been too focused on keeping up with Raenik’s speed. Ray looked up at him; her eyes blank, her face totally expressionless but she was obviously waiting for him to do something.

His body felt like lead as he staggered over to her but the creatures didn’t like that and gave another maddening screech. One fell out of its circle and dived straight for them. Hiro threw himself to the ground pushing Ray down with him. The creature cried out in anger as it missed them by a few deadly inches. It shot back up and resumed its circling, preparing