Chapter Twenty-One

Nak

It didn't take Dawn and Rei long to find the cargo hold in the ship.

The emergency lights that had been placed by the soldiers flickered, giving the place an even more macabre air. The further they went down, the more corrosion and deterioration of the floor they found, looking as if it had been thousands of years since anyone had been in the place. Due to the movement of the explosion, it seemed that the ship to have heeled over even more. But that hadn't stopped the remaining members of Team Dragon, who jumped out and tried to stop them.

The three unfortunate soldiers gave them a good fight despite the awkwardness of the place. It didn't matter if their blows were hard or soft. At that point both girls knew what the soldiers' fate was. The phase shift movement was obviously destroying their bodies and producing microfractures at the bone level and bursting their blood vessels.

Yet, even so, they were in no better condition. Both girls knew that they had to take the body of Sil Moore as soon as possible and transport it, so that their bodies would not suffer any more deterioration than they already had.

Both girls went down the stairs and there they encountered the first problem. The cellar, where the soldiers were waiting for them, was a compressed space abandoned to its fate over the years. In the past it had been easy to access the cargo hold from the deck. That had changed a bit over the years, with the implementation of technology that made it possible to compress space and cargo. Making it possible for a ship to carry much more weight, by slightly modifying the ship's structure for the cargo. The Zoribhean had several holds and where they were located was below three other compressed holds.

Not being able to transport properly as they were used to, meant they would have to move in other ways.

Dawn jumped down from the ladder as she looked at what awaited her. Ten armed soldiers and a boy at the far end, who was too obfuscated on a portable station. Near him was the hyperbaric chamber connected by several wires to another industrial case. Rei followed Dawn and the two became entwined in the fight against the soldiers.

Although Dawn was fast, her partner could still move faster than her. There was another problem, though. Team Manticore was different from the others. They both felt it very quickly in the first few seconds of the battle. Their blows were much faster than the other soldiers they had fought, and so were their bodies.

"Symbionts," muttered Rei, as she fought two of them, ripped off the mask of the nearest one and saw how he had metal implants in his face.

"We are, so what?" asked a voice behind her back and Rei received a blow to her side, which sent her against the other side of the cargo hold.

Timur had come down just as the fight was breaking out. Nak looked towards Rei, who was getting up, and saw her advancing towards him. But she had to move again as the soldiers were again firing at her.

Dawn in turn put on a serious expression and looked towards Timur. The man had to move quickly to dodge the furious attack that the silver haired girl had started against him. That girl was devilishly fast, moving with agility through the cellar. She had lost her hat and her silver hair fluttered as she moved forward. Her eyes reflected a mixture of anger and determination as sharp as a sword blade.

Timur, with his implants working at full power, prepared to face her, but what happened next left him completely stunned. The girl moved with astonishing speed, dodging his blows with ease. Every time he tried to hit her, she seemed to anticipate his move and avoided it with fluid and precise movements. Even with the phase shift that speed was unbelievable.

"This woman is worse than that guy," Timur thought, as he dodged a blow that threatened to split his head in two.

Dawn's attacks were accurate and furious, almost as if something had possessed her at that moment. It was almost a blind rage even though her face was almost impassive at that moment. She only had her eyes fixed on her target.

Rei on the other hand with her quick movements had already taken care of three of the soldiers breaking their necks, while her face still showed an expression of serenity, although from time to time she looked out of the corner of her eye as her companion fought against Timur, several meters away. Now that she knew that her opponents were not human, it was almost as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders and she attacked with more fury.

The entire room reverberated with the sounds of gunfire and rapid movements of the contenders, whose silhouettes blurred and merged like a preternatural tornado.

"Come on, come on," Nak said, continuing to fiddle with his mobile station, and typing something at full speed on the keyboard, while from time to time he glanced back at the fight.

Suddenly he felt something happening behind him, but he didn't turn around and just clicked his tongue. "Get out of here, little runt," he said.

Rei in the middle of the fight had tried to approach from behind and hit him but, before she could even touch him, the girl was repelled by something and was thrown back across the room. She stood up and looked with a surprised expression at Nak while she had to move again at super speed dodging the bullets that again tried to reach her.

She frowned and shifted her focus. Just two meters away from the pale Nak was the hyperbaric chamber with the body. She had to at least give it a try.

That's when it happened. Just a few meters away from Nak a tiny dot of pale yellow light appeared and began to grow in a spherical shape. Within two seconds it had grown to a radius of at least three meters. No matter where one looked from, that sphere seemed to have a yellowish rim outlining its contour. While on its surface something different was represented. It was a sort of window with a long tunnel of energy, on the other side of which was a gray ocean landscape with half-ruined buildings looming like corpses from a forgotten time.

The portal had opened, producing a slight buzzing sound.

Rei didn't hesitate for a second and launched herself in the direction of the chamber, as she took out two other soldiers, one of them flew as his abdomen exploded into pieces and the other did a somersault in the air and was thrown by a kick that sank his metal and polycarbonate mask into his face.

A thousandth of a second before reaching the chamber, Rei gritted her teeth and her whole being vibrated and dematerialized and then appeared inside the chamber where Sil's body rested. She looked at her for a second, embraced the body and again transported herself out of the chamber falling on the cold metal floor of the cargo hold.

She didn't have time to rest as she saw Nak rushing towards her and again while saying something, she moved at super speed towards the stairs while giving a glance to Dawn who continued her fight against Timur. In less than a second she was back the way they had come and found the booth where Mr. Cold was waiting impassively. New fractures appeared on her body and Rei gritted her teeth as she stopped in her tracks.

"Here it is."

"I said transport out," Mr. Cold scolded her.

"I have to help her, I'm not going to let her fight alone," Rei said, looking at him coldly.

Indrid Cold's eyes bore into Rei, but he said nothing and took the lifeless body. "Bring your sister back right now."

Rei dematerialized again and started her way back to the cargo hold while trying to contain the pain that the fractures were producing in her body. Mr. Cold pursed his lips and transported himself to what was left of the ship deck, which was burning like hell at the moment. He found Tiny who had risen to his feet, while his body still exhibited more wounds from where the sparkling crystals were showing. He moved close to him and touching him with his free hand, the three vanished, while the flames continued to consume the inert bodies of the slain soldiers.

Dawn has continued her fight against Timur and the remaining soldiers. The man was really furious when he heard Nak's scream that Rei had taken the body. The mission had failed. The only thing left to do was to return home with Nak and the four surviving soldiers of the team. But it was not easy. Dawn was giving him an even bigger fight than the wiry man he had defeated. Dawn's, seemingly frail body, could move very fast and Timur was having trouble even with his enhancements blocking the dagger-sharp blows the girl was unloading on him.

The soldiers didn't seem to be able to help him. Only three of them were left. The fourth was already lying on the ground with his back shattered when Rei had come down again and grabbed him from behind, sending him to the other side of the Elysian fields.

In an oversight by Timur, Dawn moved up behind him and slammed him to the ground. The man tried to move at super speed, but she twisted his right arm causing the shoulder blade to apply extra pressure on the biomechanical parts of his back. It was only half a second and she heard the bones in Timur's arm and shoulder dislocate and break. But Dawn was not satisfied, with the super speed she still had left in her body, she twisted the arm even more and ripped Timur's muscular arm tearing the flesh, muscles and enhanced tissues.

Timur cried out in pain, but pulled free of the girl and rolled over. At that instant Dawn jumped backwards dodging a blast of gunfire that was aimed directly at her head. Timur took advantage of this and with the strength he still had left he moved at super speed and kicked Dawn's body to the opposite side of the cellar.

"Now! Let's go!" Nak yelled.

Dawn spat out some blood as the fractures were spreading across her face and slowly stood up as her eyes still burning with fury bore into Timur who was walking away in the direction of the portal. The girl gritted her teeth. She didn't want to let this man escape in any way.

As her body was being torn apart she slowly stood up and got into position to continue her fight. But something stopped her.

"You are reconnecting with your real body." It was Rei holding her arm still trembling with anger. "Let it go, it's not worth it. If you cross over you'll be dead."

"You know what he tried to do…"

"I know. But without him stepping in we wouldn't be here either. Not even Muse."

"It's not fair."

"Let him go. You've used too much of your movement ability. You're breaking," Rei said and let go of his arm. "Besides, you haven't realized something..."

"..."

"The arm," Rei said, "remember what we were told."

As she said that, Dawn looked at the mangled remains of flesh, already lying several meters away. It wasn't more than a second, but Dawn's eyes widened as if she understood something she hadn't realized yet. "...it can't be."

"I just realized it."

"It hasn't happened yet."

"No. But that doesn't matter now, you need to get out of here."

Dawn touched her face and detected that several pieces of her face were missing due to the fractures, as if it was nothing more than a shell.

"Jump now and get your energy back," Rei said and then looked to the side of the room. "I'll take care of the rest."

There was Nak looking at her with a serious grimace on his lips.

"Will you be okay?" Dawn asked.

"She'll be fine, time for you to take a break, girl," said a female voice from behind her.

Without making the slightest noise two girls had materialized at that moment in the room. One of them with short black hair and a long red coat and scarf. The other with messy red hair and blue eyes was smiling mischievously. She wore a sleeveless blouse and shorts. Both women moved quickly forward and took Dawn by the arms.

"Thank you," Rei said.

"Don't worry..." said the girl with red hair and winked.

"Please be careful," Dawn said worriedly and the three disappeared leaving a black mist that dispersed in less than a second.

"You two are sisters? Wow, I thought you guys didn't have big families," Timur said, gritting his teeth as he approached Nak.

Rei looked at him with a serious gesture. "Our case is special," Rei said and disappeared from sight. She still had a goal in mind and it wasn't too late to accomplish it.

As if Nak had sensed what Rei was trying to do, the strange fey disappeared from Timur's sight and by the time he realized it was too late. Nak, despite his frail appearance, had grabbed him and pushed him towards the sphere. That sphere absorbed Timur's body and he fell into the gray stage shown by the sphere.

The other two soldiers left standing approached the portal and waited. But Nak did not go through, on the contrary he pushed the two soldiers to the other side as well. The intruders were sucked into the sphere and were thrown to the other side, they fell into the water and Timur floated out while spitting water.

"What are you doing?!" His voice felt distant as if through a filter but was audible.

"Just a moment. I have some unfinished business here," he said and sped away dodging a kick from Rei that grazed his head.

Rei looked to the other side of the portal, but knew it was too late to capture the man. And regardless of Mr. Cold's order, she knew she could not capture him now. No matter how serious the crimes committed, she knew now that the man must survive.

On the other hand, the information she had been asked for was already out of her reach, as she saw how little by little the open routes in the station that Nak had been manipulating were disappearing.

She could not cross over. With another swift movement she stepped away from the portal and both feys looked at each other. Nak put a strange smile on his lips and looked in Rei's direction with the visor still covering his gaze.

"I see. You have very pretty eyes, but they're not like your sister's."

"What's so strange about that?"

"I was wondering... where did you get them from?"

"I inherited them from my father."

"I see," Nak whispered and smiled. "Turns out mine run in the family too."

The strange fey raised one of his bony hands to his face and with a slow motion removed the visor covering his eyes.

Despite the lean appearance of his body, Nak had slender facial features and a thin nose, almost as if his face had been taken from a bust of ancient Helade. But there was something that was not normal at the same time. He had two pairs of eyes. Four pale amber eyes that blinked at the same time and whose vision was fixed on Rei.

The girl did not flinch at the strange face that had just been revealed to her, although deep inside she could not say the same about what happened next.

Nak closed his eyes, and from the six slits in the back of the tunic he wore, something else appeared. They were some kind of stylized and elongated white wings. The white color gave it the appearance of being a ghost rather than an angel. But it was not an angel. Rei knew it was Nak. A special kind of fey.

"An archetype," Rei muttered. But what kind of ability it hid was a mystery to her.

Nak let his eyes half open with a candid expression on his face. He wasn't looking at her. But he didn't have to. Rei, for the first time in a long time, felt a shiver as she noticed that from each of the wings amber eyes were fixed on her. The girl moved with sudden swiftness, just in time to dodge a series of sharp crystalline formations that had sprouted from the eyes and shot towards her.

Rei observed how in the place where she had been the crystalline filaments were immobile in the air. But around them fractures had formed, looking as if the fabric of reality was breaking on the spot and space was like seeing through broken glass. The strange vision did not last more than a few moments and the crystalline formations sank into those fractures and then the space around them recomposed itself.

But this was no time to wonder for Rei. From being the hunter she had become the prey of the strange fey. The huge wings flapped around the hold creating currents in the enclosed space, that made it difficult for Rei's quick movements as the eyes of the wings shot out needles that tried to reach her. Everything in that space was becoming a series of fractures that appeared and disappeared, giving the impression that everything was a kind of crystalline web from which she had to escape. Several of the formations embedded themselves in the ship's structures, breaking the unstable altered space and water began to flood the cargo hold.

Nak flapped his wings and took to the air as he launched the chase against her.

"We don't have time for this, get over here now!!" Timur shouted from the other side. A boat had reached them and a group of soldiers were helping him up. Despite bleeding profusely from Dawn's wound, the man showed no pain at all. "Throw an anchor and bring that fool over here," Timur shouted to the soldiers.

Nak continued with his candid expression on his face, even though a slight smile had crept onto his lips. He seemed to be enjoying himself, while Rei felt it was absurd to stay any longer. Capturing the man was out of the question, but capturing the second was beyond her abilities at the moment. The fractures in her body made her feel that she had already reached her limit, for quite some time. To stay and face Nak was suicide.

Rei tried to reach the stairs and jumped towards the door, but her escape was cut off at the moment when a new discharge of the sharp fragments blocked the entrance and the space was broken again. Rei, due to the momentum of her jump, touched the part where the fragments had been fired and felt her arm being shattered into pieces, as she entered the area that was fractured. The girl held back the urge to scream, in pain and pushed herself backwards, leaning on the handrail of the staircase.

At that instant both faces met Nak flew over her and, for the first time Rei, saw how the fey's face deformed into a kind of a strange smile that did not bode well for her. From Nak's wings, new crystalline spears emerged and shot at Rei. The girl closed her eyes waiting to feel the spears in her body, but the impact never came.

Someone was lifting her up. Rei opened her eyes and saw Mr. Cold's fractured face. He had rescued her in the nick of time, transporting himself back inside despite the wounds. One of Nak's spears was stuck in his shoulder, but in a second the spear was absorbed into his body and disappeared. Timur, despite the distance, saw the one he thought he had killed moments before and muttered a curse.

"Nak," said Mr. Cold, in his impassive manner.

"It's been a while," Nak said landing on the other side of the staircase handrail.

"Have you chose your place?"

"Yes. A long time ago. I have a place to protect, too," he said looking toward the portal.

"You were going to be one of us. You were the Candidate."

"Not anymore."

"Next time there will be no warnings."

"Same here."

"Fire now!!!" Timur ordered.

A sort of mechanical spider with a thick cable on its end was fired from a weapon that looked more like a bazooka and the projectile flew through the tunnel. When it reached Nak, the projectile opened what looked like its huge arms and caught him. He simply smiled and hid his wings as he looked at Mr. Cold.

"We'll see you soon, whenever that may be," he said, and the projectile cable started back the way it had come. Nak looked at Rei, before disappearing floating down the tunnel with a serious expression. Mr. Cold opened his pupils and transported out of the ship just, as he saw that behind Nak something was being fired in their direction. The portal closed and the last thing to be seen was Timur giving a bitter look at the other side.

A new explosion that formed a new scarlet sphere destroyed the hold, the entire ship and everything in a radius of two hundred meters around, sweeping away all the remains of the operation in place, with the exception of the remains of the Chimera Team, which had been out of range of the explosion. The constables and Stuart, carrying Grant still in shock, took cover behind the cars again as they felt the heat engulfing everything.

 

Stuart in all his years had never seen anything like it, not even in his training and simulated situations.

Everyone's astonished expression was fixed on the sphere of fire that was spinning and destroying everything in its path. They wondered if they would even be safe despite the distance, but the event soon subsided. The sphere after reaching a considerable size became smaller and smaller until after a few seconds it simply extinguished. Leaving behind it a spherical hole in the ground that was quickly covered by the waters. Of the ship there were only pieces of the stern and bow where the edges of both parts glowed with incandescent metal due to the heat emitted by the fire sphere. Both parts soon succumbed and were engulfed by the waters leaving everyone astonished and not understanding what kind of horror had unfolded inside, while drones and police cars that had just arrived hovered around the place.

On the rooftop of the building where Weiss and Priscilla had originally been transported, the rest of the Shadow People were silently watching the scene. They were all injured, with the exception of the two girls who had appeared to carry Dawn and were still holding her. But they had still made it through once again.

Mr. Cold glanced at Tiny who, despite his wounds, was holding the decapitated body of Sil Moore. "Let's go," he said in a calm tone. One by one they disappeared leaving behind them the light mist of particles.

And once again, like an escapist from the afterlife, Sil's body went with them. Disappearing forever from the reach of the police, or the SID.