Flashback
"So what are you gonna do when you get into the university?" Kelvin asked Cynthia.
"Haven't really thought about it. I just want to be done with this part, take a year or two and relax and recover from this nightmare," Cynthia replied.
"Yeah, this place is so insane, it's hard to see beyond it, and to be honest it feels a bit too much. I mean, we are just teenagers. Why do we have to be the ones to deal with this? Where are the adults? There must be people like us who are grown," Kelvin asked.
"The adults!" Cynthia scoffed.
"Those crybabies who are more scared than us. They will not do anything, and they will not allow anyone to come in and do anything, scared that it might draw attention to their school. After all, it was just a student per year dead and the rest traumatized. What did they care? But we are here, and we will end this, so no student has to go through this hell ever again," Cynthia said.
"To be honest, I'm not doing it for the students. I just wanted answers, and now I have most of them. I'm not sure why I should keep fighting," Kelvin confessed.
"So what, you want to pack up and leave after we have found out that we are the ones who can end this? Yeah, I can relate. I would leave if it wouldn't make me feel guilty. But wait, Clera said no one can leave," Cynthia said casually, like someone who was drunk. They were all drunk. They had sneaked out at night and were sitting in the library. They found some alcohol in the librarian's office and, without considering the consequences, decided they deserved a break. The whole group was sitting there. It was some days after they had translated the book. Stephen didn't come, prideful as always, but Emilia and Victor were in the main library, while Cynthia and Kelvin were in the office.
"Would you do it if it came down to it?" Cynthia asked Kelvin.
He was sitting down while she had lain down, resting her head on his lap.
"Do what, the ritual?" Kelvin asked.
"Yes," she replied.
"You mean conceive a baby and infuse it with the reincarnation of a wizard and watch as he ages in seconds? It would be interesting," Kelvin said.
"Why are you so calm about it? It's terrifying. Why are we so calm?" Cynthia asked.
"Oh yeah, we might have had too much to drink, hahaha," Kelvin said, laughing.
"You said it would be interesting. Which would be more interesting, me or the reincarnation?" Cynthia asked, looking into his eyes.
"To be honest, I would be new to both, so I can't really tell," Kelvin confessed.
"Wow, so he is not just the chosen one, he is the chosen virgin, hahaha," Cynthia mused.
"So you are not?" Kelvin asked.
"A virgin? Oh yes, I am. I just tell people I'm not so they think I'm cool," Cynthia confessed.
"Hmmm," was all he could say.
Emilia and Victor were also having a blissful conversation.
"So you mean to tell me that you are never aware of what you are doing during a fight?" Victor asked.
"Nope, Jelzebulb does it all," Emilia said.
"Jelze… who?"
"Yeah, that's what she is called. Never met her, but I just know her name, like I know I am breathing."
"Isn't that like the devil's wife or daughter or something like that?" Victor asked.
"Hahaha, well aren't you the scholar? You tell me. Maybe my alter ego thinks so highly of herself. That's what she called herself. I wouldn't know, never talked to her," Emilia said.
"Hmmm, don't people with split personalities usually see their alter in dreams or in the mirror, I don't know, some shit like that?" Victor asked.
"Oh no, my case is more than a split personality. She is a completely different person, like two people in one body. At least that was what the doctor/psychiatrist said. But hey, what does she know?" Emilia mused.
"How many monsters have you killed, sorry, I mean has she killed?" Victor asked.
"Can't say. Five, ten."
"Hmmm," Victor mused.
It was amazing how wine could make people so loose-lipped.
Present Day
"This is too much, my head hurts, I can't take it anymore…" Kelvin said, holding his head, tears streaming down his cheeks, but Cynthia held him and said,
"Get it together. Go to the office and get that drink. I will draw the circle and start preparations… listen to me, this has to end." Tears were also streaming from her eyes. Victor was gone, and Emilia and Stephen were out there alone.
Kelvin's whole body shook as he got up to go to the office. If this didn't work, they were screwed. Mr. Smiley would kill them or torture them some more. And what if this ritual killed him or Cynthia? He couldn't live with himself if anything happened to her. He was right, they were just children, made to do the jobs of adults. Children shouldn't have to worry about dying or killing. They should be fooling around enjoying their youth. These thoughts boomed in his head as he returned.
Cynthia was done with the preparations and sat in the center. He handed her the drink, but she put it away.
"Let's just get this over with," she said.
Meanwhile, Emilia and Stephen fled towards the library, and it was almost morning. It was either time had moved so fast they hadn't noticed, or time was scrambled where they went.
"Where and why did Clera take them?" Emilia asked Stephen as they ran.
"How am I supposed to know? I can barely think right now. I had to fight these little dwarfs," Stephen said.
"Oh, you mean Mami Bofloat's minions. I had to fight the Human Goat," Emilia said, remembering the injury she sustained. She examined her body; there was blood but no wound.
"Wow, did you kill him?" Stephen asked.
"I don't know. When I came to, I was being carried by a giant tree monster," Emilia said.
"Is that what we are calling him now? What happened to allowing monsters amongst us?" Stephen smirked.
"It is only a matter of time before he goes mindless, that's if Mr. Smiley doesn't kill him first," Emilia said, her words cold.
They entered into the library, banging the doors behind them. Too busy gasping for air, they didn't notice the ritual until Cynthia screamed.
What they were looking at was beyond words, unsightly. A hand was gouging out of Cynthia's belly, and she was bleeding.
"Aaaaaaaaaaarh, what the fuck, what the fuck!" Kelvin screamed. Horror was something they should have been used to, but this was beyond horrific. This was mind-shattering trauma.
The baby didn't come out like normal babies. It tore its way out of Cynthia and grew exponentially in the process, tearing her apart from the inside.
"What the fuck did you do?" Stephen screamed. Even he was horrified, to say the least.
"We… we… went to Hell… it said, 'Soul for soul, tell Jelzebulb her dad is coming for her.' We went to Hell, it said, 'Soul for soul, tell Jelzebulb her dad is coming for her!' We went to Hell, it said, 'Soul for soul, tell Jelzebulb her dad is coming for her!!' We went to Hell, it said, 'Soul for soul, tell Jelzebulb her dad is coming for her!!!' We went to Hell, it said, 'Soul for soul, tell Jelzebulb her dad is coming for her!!!!'" Kelvin kept repeating and repeating as he cuddled himself like a porcupine. And suddenly there was an explosion of blood. Cynthia's head lay there, eyes open in fear and pain, tongue hanging out loose. The whole library was covered in blood and pieces of skin and bone. Beside Kelvin were ribs, and there was a full-grown, naked man covered in blood and intestines, hovering in the air. Then he vanished.