Chapter Seventeen: Visions
Written by Jeff
Elinea and Jonas Caldwell eyed each other with utter disdain, neither willing to back down in the tense negotiations on how to proceed. Only a few hours earlier they and everyone else in the Capital had received a vision, delivered to their minds in pure light from the Remnant, informing them in no uncertain terms that the survival of everyone on the world was tied to ascending the platform being constructed in the sky.
It had been two days since Elinea arrived in the Central Islands, and in that short amount of time she had become a de-facto leader of the Touched, despite the fact that she no longer possessed those powers. After the vision, the preliminary discussion between the Touched about what they should do next was quickly and unanimously agreed upon: They would continue holding their barrier, but would no longer keep it centered on the Capital. Instead, they would begin moving together to the place they had seen in the vision, where they could ascend the columns as instructed. It promised to be a long and difficult pilgrimage, and anyone who wished was welcome to come along. No one would be forced to join in against their will, but clearly, anyone who wanted safe passage across the sinking sand should probably travel within their protection.
But those who still clung to positions of power in the Central Islands had other ideas. They received the vision as well; they were clearly informed that their long-term survival depended on this pilgrimage. Regardless, they were not so eager to simply pick up and go and leave behind the last vestige of civilization to be destroyed by the creatures who were currently gathered on the other side of the barrier. Instead, the Capital wanted to leave all of the civilians behind in the city, still protected by the Touched and their barrier, and send Capital delegates and a legion of Isos to the top of the platform first.
Honestly, it was hard for Elinea to argue with their logic. These bureaucrats and generals didn’t know anything about the Settlers, or the Remnant, or the truth of the world their own was built upon. As far as they were concerned, the vision that was projected into their minds was nothing more than a fancy illusion from a powerful Magi, tricking them into their own demise. But the Touched knew the source of the vision, knew that it came from the being that had created them, had blessed them with their long lives and incredible abilities. To them, there was no doubt whatsoever to heed the call, and thus there was no reason to leave everyone else behind. The vision told everyone to ascend, not just a delegation. And so, the two sides were at a stalemate.
The Isos had barged into the meditation chamber aggressively, already brandishing their vials of purple smoke to assert dominance before a conversation had even begun. The enormous structure had been purpose-built for the Touched after they and their orbs had been relocated to the Central Islands after the Shift. It was a circular chamber, with the twenty orbs the Capital had commandeered resting on pedestals around the perimeter. Along with those twenty orbs, they had also “relocated” twenty Touched, and at any given time ten of them were present in the room in deep concentration, working together to keep the massive barrier around the Central Islands in place.
Even with that much concentrated power, the Touched couldn’t create a barrier big enough to cover the entirety of the Central Islands. Their barrier did cover a relatively large area, including the metropolitan center, key historical areas, and several suburbs, but the strength of the barrier diminished the larger it was spread out, so the Capital decided to keep a stronger, smaller barrier intact and move everyone from the outskirts into the protected area. Combined with all of the other people they relocated from islands around the world, the Capital beneath the barrier was now essentially a giant refugee camp, with over a million people crammed together in an area Elinea estimated was only a few times larger than Koa from one end to the other.
“How can you possibly plan to move all of these people?” sneered Caldwell. “And how do you expect to get them all up that platform?”
“Clearly, we don’t have a solution for that yet,” said Elinea, “but it’s exactly what we should be discussing right now. Staying here in the Central Islands and hunkering down is not an option anymore.”
“It’s the only option!” shouted Caldwell. “I don’t know who or what that thing was that spoke into all of our heads - and I will admit it was mighty convincing - but we will not abandon our stronghold just because of some shared vision. This is the fate of civilization we’re talking about here. We will not allow the Touched to move on and leave this position unprotected.”
Behind him, several Isos held up the vials of smoke in a sign of intimidation. Though Elinea could see the man’s logic in not abandoning the world’s last safe, settled area, she couldn’t help but chuckle at how misplaced his threat was to use the smoke and de-power the Touched.
“So you’re going to punish us by taking away our powers and dropping the barrier?” she asked. “And let in all those creatures banging at the gates? That’s a pretty hollow threat, General. Tell your men to put their purple smoke away.”
Even Caldwell knew it was a bad bluff, and he gestured to his troops, lowering his hand to his side, and the Isos stowed the vials back into the black velvet holsters on their hips.
“This barrier is more important now to the survival of the citizens than ever,” said the blind wanderer sternly, stepping up to Elinea’s side. “The creatures outside were originally drawn to the Capital because of the orbs and the Touched here, because they radiate a specific energy signature left behind from the Settlers. You may not know what the Remnant is, or believe that it is connected to immensely powerful ancient beings. You have little reason to. But believe this, General: I can trace that energy signal, and it’s not just on the orbs anymore. Right now, it’s coming off of everyone who received that vision. If the barrier comes down, those monsters are going to attack the people here indiscriminately, and I don’t think there’s a whole lot you’ll be able to do to stop it.”
“Then you have too little faith in the greatest military force the world has ever known,” said Caldwell smugly.
As soon as the words left his lips, the room dimmed noticeably as all twenty of the glowing orbs around the perimeter of the circle lost their light and became dull spheres. Only a moment later the ten Touched who had been deep in concentration let out panicked inhaled breaths and their eyes shot open.
“We lost the connection,” one of them gasped. “The barrier has dropped!”
“Well get it back up again!” screamed Caldwell.
“We will try,” the Touched said, full of fear. “But the orbs...they’ve lost their charge.”
Shortly after receiving the vision, all of the orbs in the chamber had dimmed simultaneously, and Elinea had wondered what was the cause. The orbs regained their intensity after that interruption, but now the spheres had been extinguished like candle flames.
In the short amount of time she had been in the Capital, Elinea had spoken at length with the other Touched there, though on her end it was more asking questions and listening to the answers than it was speaking about herself. Before leaving Koa, she hadn’t even known that there were others like her at all, and now there were twenty other people who had lives that - at least in one important way - resembled her own. Though it varied from case to case, many of the other Touched also didn’t know much about the orbs, or about the Settlers, or if there was any real purpose for their extraordinary abilities. Some knew Touched on other islands, but a desire for solitude seemed to be a common trait between them all. Those who did know more about the orbs and the Remnant didn’t truly begin to speak about this information and share it with other Touched until the Shift began, until Hallister had started gathering them in the Outer Rings to teach them how to create barriers. It seemed their powers didn’t come with any real context or instruction manual.
So Elinea knew from the looks on their faces when the orbs lost their light that none of them had ever seen this happen before. Elinea had seen it twice now: Once when the Remnant had shown her three visions in the orb chamber back on Koa, and when she had returned, the orb was depleted, her powers faltered, and then Koa was lost. And though she had not seen the second occasion with her own eyes, she knew that the orb was drained and the barrier over Vlyk had dropped when Laureena and Värlof teleported to the island. At first, Hallister had simply thought it was the Nemarus, who posed no threat. He had said there was “an exceptionally short list of beings” who could teleport in and drain the orbs. She wasn’t particularly surprised then when twenty tall, bipedal, amphibious-looking creatures barged into the circular chamber mere moments after the orbs went dark.
Elinea had never seen a Nemarus in person before, but she recognized them immediately from the statue she had seen outside the abandoned underwater city on the edge of the Shelf. They were taller and more muscular than the Aquine, and each of these creatures had crimson scales that were visible in patches beneath their pale green skin. These Nemarus were apparently also Touched, though they seemed nothing at all like the other crimson-skinned people in the room. Each of the Nemarus was holding a bag that looked like a slimy burlap sack made of seaweed, dripping a viscous green substance. Inside of each was an illuminated orb.
“We have come because of the Remnant’s vision,” stated their leader.
“You again,” said Caldwell with disdain. “Finally come to your senses? Finally willing to protect what’s left of the world?”
“Not on your terms,” said Adan. “We have come to relocate the people of the Central Islands to safety. You are no longer fit to protect them.”
“Like hell you are!” fumed Caldwell. “And where exactly would you be taking them, to protect them?”
“We will transport as many civilians as we can back to our bases, which are safely positioned beneath the remaining seas. Do you have a better way to keep these people safe?”
Caldwell looked frantically around the room. The Touched who had been holding up the barrier were trying desperately to regain focus, but he could see they hadn’t gotten it back up yet, and they might not be able to at all. Behind him, he could hear faint shouts echoing through the earpieces of his Isos; the creatures were breaching the perimeter, overwhelming the forces that had been set up to deal with that very situation. The General had to make a decision, and fast. He looked at his soldiers, and he could see what they wanted in their eyes. They wanted to leave this room immediately. They wanted to fight.
“If you’re here to save the lives of civilians, then we’re on the same side,” said Caldwell. “Do whatever you can to lead these people to safety, and we’ll address the incoming threat.”
Adan gave him a priggish nod.
Elinea reached out to Caldwell as the man went to leave. “General, I don’t think that’s --”
“I don’t care what you think,” he said without turning around. “Fish or flesh, you’re all Touched to me. Go get people to safety.”
Within minutes, loudspeakers throughout the Capital were blaring an emergency message for all citizens to make their way to the coliseum. The streets became packed with worried, rushing masses trying in vain to squeeze past each other to get to safety. In the old town, it wasn’t long before people were so crammed in the narrow roads that no one could move at all. The first creatures to make it from the edge of the barrier to the city center were the ones with wings. It was as if they flew in a direct line to the most crowded streets.
The military had set up heavy artillery outposts all around the inside of the barrier as a line of first defense in case it fell. The monsters had been arriving at the edge of the barrier for two days, writhing and crawling against each other, trying to force their way through, and in some areas they were piled up on top of each other taller than the buildings. Somehow, none of them sank into the sand that was impossible for everyone else to traverse. None of the creatures seemed to be exactly the same as another, and yet in a way they were all basically the same. Each was a hideous, gigantic mutation of some insect or animal that was recognizable from the surface, and some were a nightmarish conglomeration of several. A millipede five meters tall with dozens of pincers; spiders the size of dogs; screaming, slick black leopards with two snarling heads; a tardigrade ten times larger than a bear.
When the barrier fell, the soldiers immediately opened fire, sending volleys of charges into the horde, exploding and mangling huge swaths of the creatures. But as their disgusting bodies were disfigured, only some seemed to suffer damage and die. Others merely broke apart, and from within them swarms of smaller insects poured out, impossible to target with heavy weaponry. The Isorropia units worked to subdue the most visible threats before they could advance too far into the city, but there was nothing they could do when they shot down a target and it instantly became hundreds more. Before long, the horde had passed the artillery outposts, and the soldiers were firing in vain into the back of the stampede, which was barreling down on the city center. From above, the soldiers looked on in horror as millions of insects marched forward to devour everything in their path.
Caldwell and his troops were the first to leave the meditation chamber, followed immediately by the Nemarus, who did so without saying a single word to the Touched. Those who had been trying to re-raise the barrier got to their feet, knowing that it would do little good now, and looked to Elinea for guidance. They cried out: “How did this happen?” “Why did the barrier fall?” “What should we do?”
“None of this is right,” said Elinea, out loud but mostly to herself. “The Nemarus say they’re here to help, but they are the reason the barrier fell. The orbs were de-powered because they teleported in. They said they came because of the Remnant’s vision. We all saw the same thing; what could they have possibly seen that made them think they needed to teleport here?”
“They were telling the truth,” said the blind wanderer. Elinea knew he was able to sense these things.
“Then are they actually here to help get people to safety?” asked one of the Touched.
“It’s hard to say,” said Elinea. “The simple act of them coming here just doomed countless people to death. We have to go and help whoever we can. It won’t take long for the creatures to reach us. There isn’t much use in getting the larger barrier back up now, but you can still use your personal barriers, right?”
Each of the Touched in the room activated the barriers around their bodies and nodded.
“Good. Then use your powers to help protect people until the Nemarus can hopefully get them someplace safe.”
As they ran out into the streets, Elinea saw what looked like a gargantuan bat with eagle talons soaring overhead, and the liptis on her hand perked up and prodded curiously in that direction. She put her finger to the comm in her ear and spoke, and her words were relayed up to the Spine, hiding away in the clouds above the city.
“Drescel, is there any reason why the liptis would want to drain these creatures?”
“Hmm, not that I can think of. These nasty things are crawling up from the underworld, so they shouldn’t be magical at all. Just angry, and dangerous. The liptis wants to feed on them?”
A pill-bug the size of a boulder rolled down the street and one of the Touched deflected it with a shield into the side of a building before it could smash into a group of frightened civilians. The liptis followed its trajectory and pulled forward slightly, wanting to dine on the foul thing while it was disoriented. Curious, Elinea jogged over to the giant writhing insect and let her parasite feed. She could feel the magical essence begin coursing into her and flipped the switch to open up her storage containers. When the creature tried to flop over and right itself, Elinea jabbed the harpoon on her other wrist into its flesh and released the magic back into it, and the bug popped like a wet balloon. Hundreds of smaller pill bugs fell out of it, but they were already dead when they hit the ground.
“These things are definitely coursing with magic,” she reported back. “Which is bizarre, and concerning. But I suppose it makes them easier for me to kill.”
The blind wanderer was already down the street, helping usher groups of frightened people along in one moment and effortlessly smashing his staff into charging creatures the next. As smaller insects began to pour out of open wounds, he twisted his fingers together and mouthed an incantation, and each of the tiny creatures became stuck to whatever other insect they came in contact with, until the swarm blob fell to the ground and pulsated angrily but harmlessly. The blind wanderer placed his palm parallel to the ground and pushed, and the blob became flattened and lifeless.
When they finally reached the entrance of the coliseum, Elinea was relieved to see light begin to build and pulsate around a large group of people, with a towering Nemarus holding an orb in the center. Beams surrounded the group, who were huddled close, heads down and arms clasped, until the light flashed brightly and everyone inside disappeared. At least the Nemarus were doing what they had said - they were taking people away from here. Anywhere was better than here.
But as quickly as relief came to Elinea, it was again replaced with doubt, and dread. There were only a few more Nemarus visible in the crowd, easy to see standing so much taller than the rest of the Callans. The coliseum was still steadily filling with people; only a tiny fraction of the Capital had even gotten close to making it inside. Elinea saw the one who had spoken when the Nemarus had arrived, the one who was ostensibly their leader, and rushed over to her. She was protected by a visible personal barrier, watching her colleagues gather a group and huddle them together.
“How many more are you taking?” Elinea asked angrily.
The Nemarus eyed her suspiciously. “We will each take as many as can fit inside of our transformation chambers, where they will be equipped to survive so far beneath the water.”
“And then you’ll come back and get more?”
“Not until the orbs have recharged, and that takes quite a while.” Adan looked up at the monstrous insects buzzing high in the sky, at the gigantic crawling worms peeking up over the side of the coliseum. “I’m not sure there will be much to come back to at that point.”
“Why would you do this?” screamed Elinea. “Why would you doom all these innocent people to their deaths?”
“We did as we were told,” Adan said coldly. “Exactly as the Remnant instructed in their holy vision. They said to teleport to the Central Islands and bring the next generation of followers back with us underwater.”
“You teleporting here brought down the barrier,” said Elinea through clenched teeth, “and unleashed all these monsters we had been keeping at bay. We saw the vision too, and it didn’t show anything about murdering everyone left on the planet.”
Adan laughed. “You all saw the vision too? I highly doubt that.”
“Everyone saw the vision...everyone saw a vision different than yours.”
“And what did it show?” said Adan with skeptical curiosity.
“That we all have to make it to the top of the new platform in order to survive.”
Adan’s bulbous eyes narrowed. A man ran past her, desperately trying to join one of the last groups being teleported away, and she grabbed him by his collar and pulled his face to hers.
“Did you see a vision?” Adan asked impatiently.
“Yes...yes! I saw the vision!” blurted the man. “It told us to get to the top of the platform. That’s where you’re taking us, right? You’re transporting us up to the top? Please! Take me with you! I want to go up to the top, where the light is!”
Adan dropped the man onto the ground and he looked up at her expectantly, then scurried off and wrapped his arms around the back of an enormous scrum of people. Moments later, flickers sparked around them and they were all gone in a flash. Adan grabbed another woman at random and asked her the same question, then another. They had all seen the same vision. They wanted to be taken to the top of the column.
As she went to grab yet another scared, fleeing Callan, a screeching buzz grew quickly in intensity, and Adan was dive-bombed by a horsefly almost as large as her. It pinged harmlessly off her barrier, attacked again, and then refocused its attention on Elinea. As it came at her with its six-bladed mandible, she dove out of the way and stuck the liptis into its side, under its wing. The monstrous insect shrieked as its magical essence was absorbed, and in one quick movement Elinea detached the liptis and stabbed it with her harpoon. It ruptured and fell to the ground, plopping out a host of wriggling, already-dying flies from the gashing wound in its side.
Adan stared at Elinea in awe, particularly at the parasite attached to her arm.
“Is that a liptis?” asked the Nemarus.
“It is,” said Elinea, eyes up and waiting for another attack. “A modification since I lost my powers as a Touched.”
“Since you what?”
“I was once a Touched, on an island called Koa. I was killed when the Shift began, but was brought back to life inside of an orb chamber. My powers didn’t come back with me, so my partner gave me these.” She held out the liptis and the harpoon in Adan’s direction.
“The liptis is a parasite born of the great boko tree,” said Adan softly. “It only feeds on magical energy. It should not be able to feed on these creatures from the underworld.”
“And yet,” said Elinea bitterly, “all of these creatures are full of magic. Almost as if it were given to them by someone or something extremely powerful. Something powerful enough to play with life and death like it was a game. To give me life again for no discernible reason, and take it away from all these innocent people.”
Elinea could see reality unfolding in Adan’s eyes, replacing an illusion she had spent eons believing. The Nemarus’ head darted from side to side, taking in the carnage all around her.
“We didn’t know,” Adan said in a hushed tone. “We knew coming would drop the barrier, but we didn’t know it was surrounded by these creatures. We didn’t know that teleporting in would kill everyone we didn’t take with us.”
Elinea gave her a piercing look. “And you also didn’t know that the Remnant told everyone else to go to the platform for salvation, without you. It sounds like you got used to do a dirty job, and when it’s done, you’re not even invited to the afterparty.”
Giant creatures were now over the top of the coliseum wall, crawling down the seats towards the field in the center. All of the entrances were blocked now, piled high and clogged with bodies being devoured by gnashing beasts. From behind Adan, another flash of light exploded. It was the last of the Nemarus besides her. She looked around at the scene again in horror.
“We were protectors,” she stammered. “Guardians. Chosen to be the very best. We would have saved everyone before the surface was destroyed; brought them all down to safety. What have we done? What did the Remnant have us do?”
Bewildered, Adan raised the sack she held with the orb up above her shoulders. Light began to flicker, and Elinea rushed at her, shouting to at least bring more people along if she was going to flee. Adan heard her and paused, and the light sputtered and dissipated. Elinea turned and began to corral frightened Callans, screaming at them to join together around Adan, and the Nemarus looked on at them blankly, their frightened expressions becoming a twisted blur in her eyes.
In the commotion, Adan never sensed the towering, scorpion-like creature scuttling up behind her. She was paralyzed in the moment, stuck looking forward as the terrifying beast drew its tail into the air. She didn’t see how the razor-sharp stinger seemed to glow an unnatural shade of purple, with a wisp of smoke that trailed from its tip. All Adan saw next was the stinger protruding from the front of her chest, and the sack with the orb go tumbling from her hand, and a splatter of blood spray out from her mouth, before she fell to the ground and never saw anything again.
As the orb rolled out of the bag and Elinea picked it up, it was as if the heads of all the Touched turned to her simultaneously, then to each other, and a barrier expanded over everyone who remained on the ground inside the coliseum. Elinea and the blind wanderer made short work of the larger creatures that remained inside the bubble, while some of the Touched focused on expelling the smaller pests. Soon, the area was secure, and several hundred survivors could catch their breath from the attack.
Though now protected from outside threats, they were still completely surrounded. The insects gathered and writhed against the barrier, just as they had the barrier around the Capital, and there was nothing the people inside could do but wait. They could try and walk, to push their way through the swarm, but they couldn’t see where they were going. Soon the insects piled up all the way over the top, covering the barrier completely, and the only light they had was the small, glowing orb Elinea held in the center of the barrier.
It was impossible to know exactly how long they waited in that darkness. Hours. Days. The people begged for the Touched to teleport them away, like the Nemarus had done for the others, and the Touched had to explain that they didn’t have those powers, to everyone’s disappointment. Elinea didn’t have the heart to tell them that the Nemarus were the reason the monsters got past the barrier in the first place. There was no food or water, and people started to get desperate for a plan, but the only thing that seemed possible was that the bugs might eventually give up interest and move on. For some reason, the comm link between Elinea, the blind wanderer, and Drescel was interrupted by the mass of magical bugs between them; the signal wouldn’t pass through up to the Spine, so there was no word at all from the outside world. Everyone was particularly thankful for the barrier powers of the Touched when it came to going to the bathroom. Once people did their business, one of the Touched could use a smaller barrier to push the waste outside of the larger one, which managed to keep at least a modicum of civility inside their dark, claustrophobic bubble.
When things really started to get desperate, and more drastic measures were being considered, the people inside the barrier heard a strange crackling noise. It seemed to get louder and louder, and then light not only seeped in through the black but exploded past it, and the entire barrier was surrounded in flames. Everyone inside gasped in fear, but didn’t scream or lose their nerve. They were happy just for things to have changed, whatever that entailed. The flames burned all around them for several long minutes, and then it was as if they were sucked away and extinguished in an instant. The bugs were gone, seemingly incinerated, and everyone inside could now see their surroundings again. The entire interior of the coliseum was charred and smoking, but it wasn’t actively on fire. The only thing that moved outside was a young girl, peering into the bubble inquisitively.
“Is everyone alright in there?” she asked. “You don’t have to worry, I took care of all the creatures out here.”
Before Elinea could say anything, the Touched dropped the barrier, and people scattered away from each other and towards the strange girl who had saved them. Elinea had recognized the voice immediately, knew its sound paired with the flames. She was too terrified to even call out, to warn the others, but when she looked over at the girl, she wasn’t attacking anyone, or using her fire monster to burn them to death. She was alone, slightly older now, and smiling, shaking people’s hands and letting them hug her.
It was Laureena who made eye contact with Elinea first, saw her in the crowd, the only face that looked at her with horror. Her mind filled in the blanks immediately. She remembered the woman, remembered her cowering in fear in that keep full of books on Vlyk. She had let the woman live because she wasn’t one of the Touched. Laureena looked away, ashamed, and when she did, her eyes met those of a man with crimson red skin. She flinched back, then noticed that there was another in the crowd, and another. Something inside of her ached, prodding her mind to incinerate them, but she shushed it away. These Touched had just saved hundreds of people with their barrier. And she had saved all of them.
For as far as they could see down streets in every direction outside of the coliseum, little remained of the Capital as they had known it before. Together, they decided to search for more survivors and add them to their ranks, and to look for food and water immediately. Though the insects had seemed to primarily be after people, they were also keen to eat through plenty of other things, including food stores, and there was little left anywhere that wasn’t packaged in metal containers. Some of the Touched went back to look for the orbs that had gone dormant, but they weren’t in the meditation chamber anymore. The entire complex was destroyed, eaten away like holes through leaves.
The Touched still kept everyone protected with a barrier, and Laureena went out in front, whipping stray monstrosities with fiery tendrils or blasting them with showers of flame. It was almost as if there was a layer of smoke around her as she worked, and when she disposed of some nasty beast, the smoke that came off of its charred corpse seemed to waft over and join the haze that surrounded her. Elinea and the blind wanderer watched the girl pensively, waiting for her to turn on the group at any moment. But she didn’t. And her beast was nowhere to be seen, nor was the orb that had contained Värlof. The blind wanderer rubbed his fingers together and looked at the girl on a deeper level, and he could see that she was immensely powerful, but other than that, there was no indication that she was dangerously corrupted.
The group got in contact with Drescel again, and had him take the Spine over what remained of the Capital. Thankfully, many of the creatures had dispersed by this point, but there were still areas that were highly concentrated, so he steered them away from those places. At one point, he chimed in over the comms and informed them that someone else was also making their way through the streets and exterminating the creatures. It was hard to see precisely from his distance, but it looked like another Touched. One who was capable of much more than simply creating shields. There was a small group traveling with him; they were also searching for survivors.
Elinea heard him in her mind before she even saw the man: “Oh, thank heavens. I was hoping I’d find you here.” There was no mistaking Hallister’s voice.
She was expecting to see a baby come floating around the corner, but instead it was a full-grown Touched man with shaggy white hair, barefoot and shirtless and wearing nothing but tattered trousers. Somehow, she knew the only reason he was wearing those at all was because the other people he was traveling with had asked him to put them on.
He walked up to her with a wide smile and stuck out his hand and she took it happily in her own. Only a fraction of a word left his mind and entered Elinea’s before Hallister stopped and froze as if he had seen death itself. His eyes darted over to Laureena, who was busy torching a small group of bugs scurrying across the mangled edifice of a building. Hallister’s hand darted up to his side, but Elinea blocked it with the forearm of the liptis, careful not to touch the Magi with its talons.
“As far as we can tell,” she said under her breath, quietly but forcefully, “Värlof isn’t with her. But she still has incredible power, and now, it comes out of her instead of her beast. That creature she controlled isn’t here either.”
Hallister scowled and his eyes tightened.
“She saved us,” Elinea continued. “I agree, she can’t intrinsically be trusted. But for now, she’s helping. We shouldn’t antagonize her. I don’t think she has any idea who we are, or at least, who you are. The last time she saw you, you were a newborn.”
Hallister looked away from Laureena and turned to the blind wanderer instead, who was standing with his arms crossed behind Elinea.
“Do you still have the cache?” asked Hallister.
“Nice to see you too, Corrilous,” he said with a smirk. “Yes, I’ve still got it.”
“And do you still have that book I gave you?” Hallister asked Elinea.
“Yes, it’s up in our ship, with Drescel, above the city.” She pointed up to the spiky, floating pufferfish balloon that was barely visible in the stormy sky.
“Excellent,” said Hallister. He paused, and his right eye squinted. “How big is your ship?”
“It could hold ten, maybe, and that would be a tight squeeze.”
He looked at the hundreds of people snaking down the street. “I don’t think we’re all going to fit.”
“You saw the vision, right?” asked Elinea. Hallister nodded affirmatively. “And it told you to ascend the platform?”
“I assume that’s what everyone saw,” said Hallister.
“Not everyone.”
Behind the Magi, a significantly smaller group crept forward cautiously, wanting to see what their protector was doing. Danvers was at the front of the crowd, keeping a keen eye for trouble, when he saw a young girl doing the same on the other side of the street. Her arms were cocked, ready to attack anything that came near.
“Laureena?”
Her head turned to the voice. It sounded so familiar. It sounded like her Papa, but different. It couldn’t be the same; it was younger, stronger. Her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for who had spoken, but she didn’t recognize any of them. It wasn’t until the voice spoke her name again and she saw the movement of lips that she realized it was the Aquine man, whom she hadn’t given a second glance. But when she looked at his face, really looked at it, there was no doubt. He rushed forward to her, and she set off in a sprint towards him, and Danvers and Laureena were reunited in a bear-hug of an embrace, spinning and holding each other tighter and tighter by the second.
“Papa!” she exclaimed looking up at the man with equal parts joy and surprise. “What happened to you?”
“It’s been a strange couple of years, hasn’t it?” he said with a sad smile. Danvers looked her over intently, his small, innocent girl no longer either of those things. “I’d heard the worst about you, kiddo. I’m glad to see it wasn’t all true.”
Laureena looked away, flooded with shame.
“No, it is true. I did things since the Shift started that can never be forgiven. I don’t think it was entirely me doing them, but that’s not an excuse. I’m going to do whatever I can now to make up for all of that.”
One of the Touched who overheard their conversation chimed in: “She saved us. We all would have died without her.” Laureena blushed, and her grandfather gave her a proud smile.
“Things are never going to be the same,” said Danvers. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t try to make the best of what’s ahead of us.”
That night, the survivors found a hotel that had only taken minimal damage and had enough space for all of them to sleep comfortably. There was still plenty of food inside, and the Touched took turns holding up a barrier large enough to protect the entire building so that everyone could rest peacefully. Danvers and Laureena were exceptionally pleased to be back together, but they didn’t speak much, choosing instead just to sit near one another and occasionally smile and hold the other’s hand. Neither was particularly interested in telling the story of their last four years, so they didn’t.
Hallister, Elinea, and the blind wanderer kept a close eye on the girl, but were mindful not to let her know that they were doing so. None of them trusted her in the slightest, and they decided between the three of them that one should always be keeping watch on her throughout the night. But Laureena never gave any indication that a demon was lurking inside her. She seemed like a normal - albeit exceptionally worn-out - teenager. Elinea had to fight the urge to tell the other Touched in their company that this girl was the one responsible for murdering so many of their brothers and sisters, but she knew nothing good would come of it.
In the morning, everyone gathered to discuss what to do next. Unsurprisingly, no one was interested in staying in the crumbled ruins of the Capital for much longer. They had all seen the vision, had all felt the radiant light fill their blood with sunshine, showing them the world above that awaited, if they were able to ascend. After seeing the Central Islands completely destroyed in a single day, the idea of leaving the darkness, storms, and violence of the world below seemed like a risk worth taking.
Laureena was the one who suggested taking a Capital airship to the Outer Rings. That was the reason she had come here in the first place, even though she had no idea how to pilot one herself. Hopefully, a vessel big enough to fit everyone hadn’t been destroyed in the attack. There had been no sign of special forces or Isos after they left the coliseum, and no one in the hotel had any idea where the military base was located. So they called up to Drescel and had him scour the area, looking for anything that might carry them all to the other side of the world.
The scientist spotted the airfield on the second day of searching. Only some of the vessels had sustained damage, and there was a cruiser that was definitely large enough to transport their sizable crew, with the call sign C.A.F. Beluga painted across its side in bold letters. But Drescel didn’t know how to pilot the thing, and he wasn’t particularly interested in leaving the safety of the Spine without some support. Hallister and the blind wanderer went out ahead to meet Drescel and protect him as he became acquainted with the ship, and Elinea, Laureena, Danvers, and the Touched led the rest of the survivors on a slow march to the base. On the way, they scavenged as much food as possible, and by the time they reached the air field, Drescel was well-versed in the art of flying such an enormous aircraft.
As the Beluga took to the sky, there was undeniable sorrow in the eyes of its passengers when they looked down on the wreckage of the Central Islands. The world had unalterably changed when the Shift first occurred, and now that old way of life was gone forever. But for the first time in years, there was at least a glimmer of hope; an uneasy promise of a better day. Nothing about the journey ahead felt simple, or reliable, or safe. But whatever they faced, it was undoubtedly better than the darkness and death they left behind.
Fate Index:
1. Interspecies relationship becomes a little one-sided
2. The world’s problems are a projection of one character’s mind
3. Extended stream of consciousness
4. Fantasy deathmatch
5. Protagonist’s identity is thrown into question
6. People begin to question their belief system
7. Protagonist gets overzealous and makes a major mistake
8. A creature’s weak spot gets found by accident
9. A great artifact of the past is found, calling to a new owner
10. Something consequential turns out to be an illusion
11. The inevitable end is actually a rebirth
12. Betrayal
13. Protagonist finds powerful item or treasure
14. Magic finger traps, but for the brain or heart
15. Millions of insects start their march to devour everything in their path
16. After a long string of losses, a character begins to succeed only to jeopardize someone else's success
17. Protagonist takes up cause of beleaguered
18. Razor clams
19. Virtue of protagonist is tested by an ally
20. Nothing happens when something is supposed to happen
Outcomes Used:
10. Something consequential turns out to be an illusion
15. Millions of insects start their march to devour everything in their path
Added outcomes:
Social faux pas has serious consequences
(thanks to Bobby Savage on Facebook)
Current location revealed to be (a) hell
(thanks to John)
