“Oren!” Kane's summon is too late.
I’m already rushing ahead, away from the others, after the captain. It’s my fault, I have to go. My blades spin around me without thought. Power floods my body. Everything becomes crystal clear, crisp. The demons move in slow motion compared to me. The ethereal ring of my blades hitting their armored skin is all around. Demon parts thud heavy to the sludgy ground. A gory, rhythmic beat thrums in my chest, urging me to go faster.
An explosion goes off behind me rumbling the ground. And the forest is bathed in a flash of bright green light. The demons halt, stunned, giving me a chance to race past them.
“Hell yeah!” I almost stumble at the relief of Fletcher’s cheer.
The squad’s murmurs fade as I run deep into the thickest foliage. I should’ve stayed to help, but my power took over, pushing me to the captain. Even now, my body moves on instinct, following that sure, steady heartbeat wrapped in honey. The sweetness is tainted with her fear, but it’s good, it means she’s alive.
“C’mon Elmars, you got this.” Her whispered encouragement carries over from the brush ahead.
The chuffs and growls from the demons rumble with the hum of her warrior weapon manifesting. I stop and crouch behind a bush, not ready to draw their attention yet. Her short frame is hard to make out over the five demons surrounding her. With her back against a broad ancient tree, she tries to take a defensive stance. But her footing is unstable around the twisted, gnarled roots. Blood drips from one boot, darkening the soil quicker than I’d like.
The uneven footing and injury will make it hard for her to maneuver. But her angry scowl and the crackle of her whip are enough to give the demons pause. I'll wait until she’s focused on her own fight before I rush in with my powers on display. Because I’ll need everything I got to get her out of there.
The festering guilt boils my insides thinking I could've saved Addy. If I hadn’t put myself first. If I hadn't got in my own way. If I hadn't held back. The captain lashes her whip across the ground in front of her, advancing away from the tree roots. I take a silent step out of the brush as the air shimmers behind her.
“Shit.” The captain spins around, sensing something behind her.
A Flick appears and its jaw drops for a death bite. I don't wait this time. I take off and a hard tug on my insides jerks me forward. My eyesight blurs. The distorted, dull sound of being underwater overtakes my hearing. I hold my breath, knowing what’s coming, it's the same as before. There's no avoiding it. I'm pulled forward by my powers and the world around me blurs.
In seconds, everything rushes back to my senses. Now I’m standing at the Flick’s back. The captain faces it on the other side. On instinct my weapons thrust up, impaling the Flick. The glowing tips of my blades stick out through its chest. There's a gasp and I withdraw my swords.
The Flick’s thin, bony body drops to the dirt revealing a wide-eyed, open-mouthed captain in front of me. Any excuse or explanation how I’m here, leaves me.
The five other demons shuffle toward us. I’m thankful for the fight they offer in place of this moment. I tilt my head toward the threat, hoping she’s not too shocked at what I did to forget about them. She closes her mouth, but doesn’t turn away from me, unblinking. She’s in shock, after all. The air heats fast. I slam my palms into her shoulders and push her down. She lands on her back behind a thick root rising out of the ground. The fall jars her senses. She scrambles, throwing up leaves in a backward crawl to get away. To get away from me.
The deep noxious inhale of a Blaze readying its fire breath makes my eyes flare electric blue. A bottomless empty fills my stomach as her stare waters, and her mouth drops open again. She’s terrified. She’s terrified of me. My teeth grind and my arms shake. I know I’m a monster. Unnatural, but seeing the confirmation in someone else's eyes, in her eyes, severs me deeper than any words I've heard before.
“Stay down.” I say and hope she can hear me.
Spinning toward the demons, I call on my power to consume me. I want it to take over. I need it to fill this panging void. I have no reason to hide now. I’ve never let the hold on my powers go completely. But any control I have left, shatters. I have a bird's-eye view in my own body. I’m in the background, but fully aware. Not myself, yet absolute. No worry, no conflict, no doubt, no pain.
My instincts are in control. The world fades as I jump, spin, teleport, and race around the demons. I take the Blaze’s head right off before his fire breath erupts. Its super-heated blood is black molten lava singeing the ground. My blades are nothing but arcs of light passing through meat and bone.
All too soon, I’m thrust to the front of my mind again. I stand in the middle of demon parts. Everything is silent except for the swaying rustle of branches overhead. Thick, oozing sludge coats the ground in every direction. I spin my blades and whip them at my side to fling off the viscous gore.
“What are you?” The captain is right behind me.
That soft voice again. Not the officer and not Nugget. I step away to give her distance, keeping my back to her. Keeping her safe. She steps closer and I retreat. I don’t want to see her. I don’t want to see her fear. But I’m not sure what to do.
For a split second, I fall back to old habits. I think of lies and half-truths I could use. I can convince her the new tech in the goggles warped her vision. Or that it was a Flick demon she saw teleport, not me. I give my head a shake. No. There’s no denying it. I always knew this day would come. The day I would have to go into hiding. A day when I’d have to run. I planned to after the Rex was secured, but with my secret intact.
“Halt warrior.”
I didn’t even realize I was already running. I stop on command as warriors are trained to do for an officer. She comes around to face me. I keep my head hung, my hair falls over my eyes. I stare at her boots and release my blades back into the ether.
“Rain.”
Hearing my first name on her lips in that familiar soft voice draws my eyes to hers. Her goggles hang around her neck. She reaches up slowly to remove mine, and I take a step back. My sight is too clear. My eyes still blaze with power. She flashes disapproval with all the sass of Nugget. It makes me pause and that’s all the time she needs to reach me again. She drags my goggles down my face. My head lowers, following the movement, wanting my hair to conceal me.
But she’s short and close enough for a good look. How can she stand to be this close? Then she moves even closer, almost pressing against the rapid rise and fall of my chest. Her eyes move back and forth, taking mine in. I drop my shoulders. It takes conscious effort to release the tension. I give up my fists, straighten my fingers, and slowly release a breath. I hold still and work not to squeeze my eyes shut. To let her see.
I want to run. I want to hide behind my powers again. But then I find it. That steady true heart and I latch on to it while she takes her fill. The lull of its cadence and the growing uplift of her lips calms me. If I could form words, I'd ask her the same question. What is she, that she affects me and my powers this way?
“I was right.” She give a shaky smirk.
A forced self-assurance she leans into as she steps back. Her stance shifts to the captain, back straight, arms fold across her chest, and she raises her chin in authority.
“You were right?” I say, because I don’t know what else to say.
I check the surrounding woods to determine the path back to the squad. I'll return her safely before I run. I’ll have to find a way to the other side of the wall on my own. Enter through another region most likely. She’s perceptive and causing a distraction to make my escape won’t be easy. She follows my assessment of the forest and stops on the demon carnage.
“Yes.” She walks over demon parts back to the tree where I found her.
She searches around the exposed tree roots. I follow there's still demons close by, but I keep my distance. She bends down to pick up her comm.
“You are hiding something.”
“Like you aren’t.”
I remember her pretending to be a cadet, purposely sabotaging my assessment. But she’s still my commanding officer, and she knows my secret. I need to be silent. I need to plan on where I’m going to run.
“Of course I am.” She admits, stepping up to show me the jagged pieces of her broken earpiece.
I clench my jaw to keep from asking what she's hiding.
“Where’s yours? We'll contact the others.”
“I tossed it, so I could hear better.”
Her curiosity demands to know more, but she doesn’t ask. And I'm stalling when I should be running. The screech of Flyers in the distance grabs our attention. Thankfully, they’re flying away from the squad’s last position. The sky in the Mist is always a gloomy gray. On this side of the wall, daylight is just a little lighter than the dark of night. And by the looks of it, we minutes from nightfall. When demon activity is the highest.
“We’re miles away from the squad.” I watch the sky. “We can’t make it back in the dark.”
Not at her pace. Her brows squish together, making deep creases between her eyes.
“I guess that makes sense with how fast you move.” She shifts her weight and winces.
In all my worry about her reaction to my abilities, I forgot about her injury. She favors her right leg and her boot glistens with fresh blood. I can't get her back and I can't leave her alone.
“Let’s find some shelter and I’ll help you with that.” I point at her leg.
“Shelter, out here?” She surveys the area again.
I study her while she’s distracted. She’s acting like I didn't teleport and kill a bunch of demons by myself. Shelter is the simple part. Maybe she’s still in shock. We need to move somewhere safe before she collapses or more demons arrive.
