Immediately Abel set me down on solid ground, my legs gave out and I fell on my butt from exhaustion.
My whole body steamed unpleasantly from going through the Harbinger's neck at near supersonic speed but I didn't have time to care about that.
Right in front of me, the golden giant corpse was floating facedown on the surface of the water, like an oversized golden collapsed statue–magnificient and unreal
I really wanted to be satisfied we'd taken down the Harbinger, but a new feeling of unease was now creeping up my chest.
The next few minutes were a blur. People gathered around me to pat me on the back and tell me what a good job I did but my mind kept wandering back.
Those chantings the Harbinger recited with its finger pointed at me, the giant's eyes glowing brighter and hotter…
I knew it had planted something in me but I couldn't exactly point a finger to what it was.
But I could feel something foreign lodged inside me. Deep down.
Underneath my consciousness.
What if the Harbinger had finished the chants…
Unlike the usual poison in me, there was no violent maniacal voice or inhumane suggestions whispered in my head.
Just a foreign feeling squeezing a way inside my head.
A far more ancient and dreadful feeling.
As if on cue, I was starting to feel that familiar unpleasant anger and aggressiveness rising up again the more people crowded around me. My fists balled and my jaw tightened.
I needed to go back to the cabin. Back to Meg.
"Hey, hero."
I turned and saw Hylla with a smile on her face as she broke through the chattering crowd and made her way to me. There was a slight limp in her gait.
"Hylla…" I said trying to form a smile but it only came out as a painful grimace.
Hylla caught my mood instantly and said out loud, "Alright folks, that's enough. Stop crowding him. Shoo away now. He's tired.
Go treat the wounded or something."
Finally the crowd dispersed slowly with some grumblings and dragging feet. In about a minute their voices faded away and I was alone with Hylla, Brody, Abel and Macy.
Despite keeping his distance and flying past the Harbinger at top speed, Abel had still sustained a few minor burns on his cheeks.
Macy crouched before me and tried to treat the burns I'd sustained but I waved her off immediately.
She shrugged and hovered a short distance away from us with Abel.
I was scared of what I could do to her if she stayed in such close proximity with me, especially after all the warmth I'd felt this morning seemed to have drained itself away after I took down the Harbinger. Right now I just felt raw and dangerous to everybody.
"Thanks, Hylla." I managed, "How could you tell I was-"
"You looked like you were seconds away from flaring up and picking a fight with everyone at the same time." Hylla said with a shrug and winced, "My back." She moaned, rubbing her shoulder.
"You got thrown down pretty hard when you tried to lop off the Harbinger's head in one strike." Brody told her, "You should go get treated."
She shook her head, "not yet. I plan to send Zeph home quickly but first I need a report. On everything the Harbinger spoke to him about."
They all looked at me, expectantly.
So I explained everything that had happened and how he'd mentioned me being the perfect vessel for his master Vorthul and the chants he'd made to make him manifest in my body. I left out the part that I could already faintly sense his presence in me.
"I guess it's good he didn't finish the chant then…right?" Macy said, beaming at Hylla and Brody.
"I guess…" Hylla murmured but she looked like she knew I was keeping something back. "Macy, go find Katie. She should be awake by now. Get her to prep to send Zeph back home. Brody—go help with rescue and ammunition retrieval. I can't believe the number of people we lost in just one attack, along with a dozen battle ships. And Abel you go with Macy and help find Katie."
Brody, Abel and Macy ran off to carry out their orders
After they left, Hylla said, "Walk with me, will you?"
I didn't see any other option so I followed her, nervous for whatever was on her mind.
We were walking along the riverbank, watching rescue helicopters circle over the East River. On the Harbinger's massive body, END scientists were milling around, taking notes and collecting samples for further research.
"I really don't blame you..for what happened…with Vektor." Hylla said after a short silence, looking straight ahead.
"I'm sorr-" I started but she waved aside my apology.
"Doesn't matter. Really. Nothing you could have done." She shrugged. "And besides you should go for Meg. You guys are painfully cute together."
I jumped, "How did you-" then I realized, "Katie."
Hylla laughed, "Don't blame her. She tells me everything, as my subordinate and friend."
"Of course." I grumbled.
Hylla laughed again, "I just want you to have a clear view for what you want. I'm not particularly the romantic type to be honest. That thing with Vektor was just an experiment. We were never actually a thing."
I didn't know how to respond, so I just nodded.
I heard some sudden yells of surprise and confusion from the East River.
"The Harbinger…" Hylla turned sharply.
The golden giant corpse was disintegrating right before our eyes, the massive form breaking into fine dust and scattering into the air and water.
Within a minute, the whole thing was gone, blown away into the atmosphere.
Hylla didn't react surprised, "Saves us the stress of disposing of the body at least. But I wonder what happens to the samples already extracted now? Would it dissolve too?"
"Are you not worried about it?" I asked, completely bewildered.
"Nah. This happens occasionally. Last time we killed a Scokytocles, the corpse just went…" She made an exploding motion with her fingers, "POOF."
"Oh."
"Oh she's here." Hylla said as Katie jogged over, her face looking a little pale from overworking herself.
She saluted curtly to Hylla in her usual stiff manner.
"Sorry we've overused you today. We are short on teleporters right now." Hylla told her sympathetically.
My mind suddenly snapped to the Hollowbound that had teleported me to the Harbinger.
"There was a guy…"
Hylla shook her head regretfully, "He didn't make it. Drowned in the boiling river."
I looked down. That was a horrible way to go out for anyone.
"His name was Noah. He'd just joined our force after a recent breakout in Florida. Got transferred over here three days ago. He was funny." Hylla's voice had taken a harder edge. "He had a little sister he was looking after, after they lost both their parents on a boat trip. A giant monster had appeared and capsized the boat. Reports say it might have been a Harbinger but I don't know."
"Another one?"
Hylla clenched her fists, "I've been able to do nothing so far against those things but I swear, if I could get my hands on one right now…" she stopped herself halfway, "I'm sorry. Just…please if you have any new info on these bastards…call me immediately. Okay?"
"I promise." I said.
She nodded, "Okay Katie, take him home."
Katie came over and laced her arm in mine for the third time that day and grumbled under her breath, "I'm definitely gonna need a pay raise after today."
Hylla chuckled, "We'll see about that. You don't mind taking care of Katie for a day do you? After too many back to back teleportations she'd become completely comatose for a while."
"What?"
"See you tomorrow, Katie."
And with that, the world folded in on itself and everything went dark.
***
I'd expected Meg to be waiting anxiously for my return, pacing restlessly in front of the cabin.
Instead I found her snoring loudly on the bed, one hand thrown across her face and drool running along the side of her mouth.
Katie was hanging limply on my shoulder, muttering nonsense again.
I plopped her down next to Meg on the bed and went out to the front of the house.
The moment I was alone, I dropped to my knees and clutched my head.
My head had been throbbing badly for the past hour but it spiked the moment I dropped off Katie.
A crushing overwhelming weight seemed to be pressing down on my very sanity.
It wasn't loud. Just crushingly heavy.
Vorthul The Infinite.
I knew he was the one manifesting inside me. There were no words inside my head or foreign suggestions.
Just a presence.
Vorthul was not planning on sharing my body.
No. It was going to completely take over my body, crushing my essence out.
I folded into a ball on the ground and clawed at my own skin.
"Let me go." I pleaded.
Then the words came. Ancient, authoritative, clear and unmerciful.
"IN ONE MONTH…"
And that was it. Just those three words.
But they carried so much weight and dread.
I might be a dumb idiot most times but this time I didn't need to be told what it meant.
I heard movement behind me and I turned to see Meg, shuffling towards me sleepily, her blanket wrapped roughly around her body.
She slowly sat next to me on the steps, her eyes still half closed and her hair a mess.
Like a massive sigh of relief, that dreadful feeling slowly faded away, living behind that cozy warmth.
Meg.
"You are back." She muttered, and smiled sleepily like she was in a pleasant dream. She dug her fingers into my hair absentmindedly and then rested her head on her knees and started snoring softly.