by Ella Young
"Tell me something I don't know!" he exclaimed through gritted teeth. "There's no way out. We're surrounded."
It looked even more true from the cockpit. The Wall, positioned below them, mirrored the two battleships above. They appeared to be very much outnumbered.
"Two of those ships aren't real," Ji said. "It's a mirror field."
"No mirror field is that big," the captain said, yanking the steering yolk hard to the left. The small ship dove to the side, and a pair of blaster bolts seared narrowly past them.
"This one is."
"How do you know?"
"Because I crossed it."
Now the pilot looked at her, really looked at her. Ji thought she might be getting to him.
"What's the worst that can happen? We either head towards another ship's fire, which we're taking anyway, or I'm right and we get away from the ambush."
The pilot appeared to be weighing his options, but as another blaster bolt streaked by, his fear-struck expression morphed into something determined. He pushed the yolk forward, sending the ship into a downward spiral, directly towards the glittering false frigate below. Ji turned to Taz, who had managed to stay standing despite the rough flying.
"You might want to buckle in. Crossing the field isn’t a fun time.”
The equina obliged, clipping xerself into the passenger seat behind her. The pilot took her cue and flipped on the intercom.
"All hands, strap in. We're in for a rough ride."
The descent seemed to take forever, and Ji's breath hitched. The frigate's mirror image was growing closer and closer and they still hadn't crossed the Wall. What if she was wrong? What if this wasn't her Wall? But just when she thought they'd never cross, she felt the familiar jerk as the riptide pulled the Remnant ship into it.
Ayla’s name was the last word on her lips before the world went black.
-~-~-~-
The former Hegemonist base on Hlean was barely seven years old, and yet it creaked and groaned like it was fifty. Knight tossed and turned all night, unable to shake the feeling that something was very wrong. It didn't help that every breath seemed to cause the base to settle more. There was something ominous about the noises this not-so-ancient building made.
After the ship carrying Ji, Toshi and Taz to Hruna had left, the humans had been moved down to the Hlean base. It was there they would be properly trained as soldiers in the Remnant. Knight went with them, as her new assignment started the next morning. She'd turned in early, but it hadn't done her much good. She still hadn't found rest. After hours of sleeplessness, Knight finally gave up and decided to get some fresh air—or really, as fresh as the air could get in a massive cave.
Hlean was a frigid world above ground, and even though the planet's cities were located in caverns hundreds of meters below the surface, the chill found its way down all the same. Knight's ilhuei was meant for more balmy climates. As such, she pulled on her mantle and hugged the fabric close against the chilly outside air.
The base was large, perhaps larger than the old Remnant base on Levala. It had its own temple, of course, but in the distance one could see the tall column of Hlean's primary signumaria stretching to the roof of the cave that housed the Hlean city of Rekay. Wrapped around its base was the largest temple on the planet. Once again, staring at the faraway structure, Knight felt the odd pull at her breast. It was like an emptiness, one that only filled the closer she drew.
A short time ago Knight would have hated the thought of getting closer to the signumaria, but recent events had her thinking that maybe there was Someone above looking out for them after all. Ji could not have survived starless sickness otherwise. It seemed to her that the Divari could very well have been at work. So Knight followed the pull and set off toward the distant signumaria.
As she walked, she caught sight of another person heading in the same direction. When they passed under an immune lamp, Knight recognized the figure: Ayla.
"Hey!" Knight shouted. "Ayla!"
The girl turned and waved at her friend. Knight jogged to catch up and fell into step beside her.
"Where are you headed?" Knight wondered, though she knew the answer. There were only so many reasons to leave the base this late at night.
"There." Ayla motioned with her chin to the signumaria. "Same place you were probably going."
"Couldn't sleep?"
Ayla shook her head.
"Me, neither," Knight said. "Something down here feels…wrong."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Ayla hugged herself. "I'm so worried about Ji."
Knight tilted her head. "Why?"
"I don't know. It's just…this feeling. The wrongness always takes me back to her. I'm afraid something is wrong with the ship. So I'm coming to pray. Is that why you're headed there too?"
Knight didn't feel like explaining the other feeling in her chest, so she said, "Yeah."
They walked in silence the rest of the way. After about an hour they reached the temple. It surrounded the base of the signumaria in a large circle, with an arch at its entrance that allowed people to go directly to the signumaria itself. The courtyard was covered in a soft, grass-like moss. Benches dotted the area, and during the daytime hours the space was often filled with patrons milling about the space. This early in the morning, however, the signumaria was deserted.
Ayla and Knight took a bench close to the signumaria. The pull had grown much stronger the closer they walked to the structure, and at its base it was nearly unbearable. Everything in Knight screamed to run to the signumaria, but she ignored the feeling. They sat in silence, Knight thinking, Ayla praying.
"They wouldn't save Ji just to let something happen to her," Knight spoke at last, trying to comfort her friend. Ayla's mouth twitched up in a half smile.
"You'd think," she said. "But who knows what the Divari have planned."
What could Knight say to that? Nothing. She rested her elbows on her knees and stared at the ground, praying that They would bring Ji and Taz and Toshi to Hruna safely. Her prayer was interrupted by a voice from across the courtyard.
"Knight." She looked up to see Ulahim. That was odd. How had he found them? Why had he come looking for them in the first place? There was no reason for him to be there so early in the morning. And then Knight caught sight of the being behind him.
Weinan.
Knight's heart started to pound. This wasn't right. She wasn’t supposed to be there. Both Weinan and Ulahim looked grim. Ayla stood, and Knight could see her hands shaking.
"What are you doing here?" Ayla asked. Weinan looked from Knight to Ayla and back again.
"The Hegemony pulled us out of shifted space. They knew where we would be," Weinan explained, walking closer. She sounded far away, like she was talking through a wall. Knight could see now her upper arm was bandaged, and there was a cut above her eye held fast with stitches. Knight swallowed thickly. The wrongness grew, a foul feeling that ate at her insides.
"I barely escaped on the shuttle. I couldn't get anyone else out with me," she was saying. A loud wail brought Knight back to the present. She turned in time to see Ayla drop to her knees. Knight had heard the words, but she didn't understand them. They didn't sound real.
"Ji? Taz? Toshi?" she asked, voice confused. Weinan shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Knight."
Knight took a step back, head reeling. Ayla was huddled over her knees, bent on the ground, body shaking with silent sobs. This wasn't right. This was wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong.
Wrong, but real. There was Ulahim, hands clasped before him, eyes sad. There was Weinan, bandaged and bruised. There was Ayla, distraught beyond words.
How could You? Knight thought. Ji had been the cure they needed. Ji would have given them a leg up in this war. Ji could have turned the tide. And she was dead. Why had the Divari spared her only to allow her death? What was the point? What was the purpose? How could You?
Ulahim was saying something, but Knight didn't hear it. The feeling of wrongness t
wisted like a snake. She should be sad. She should be prostrate like Ayla, mourning the deaths of their friends. Of their future. But no, she was not sad. She was angry. Her hands worked into fists at her sides.
They had come so far towards righting the wrong in the Cradle. They were one step closer to ending the war. Lhiyrra’s ascension to the throne had thrust the entire region into chaos. Unseating him should be what the Divarj wanted, should be the way to bring Them back to the Cradle They loved so much. Unless this wasn’t what they wanted, not exactly. Maybe the Remnant was doing something wrong. Maybe she was doing something wrong.
“I don't think the Divari abandoned us" Knight said at last. "They are punishing us."
Ulahim took a step towards Knight. "I know it must feel that way, but—"
"It doesn't just feel that way!" Knight snapped. "We had the cure. We had it! And They took it from us."
"Punishing us for what?" Weinan asked.
Yes, what? Knight was breathing hard, the edges of her vision tinged red. And it came to her then, a dawning realization. It was her fault. They were mad at her. She was to blame. She'd fought for Them, yes, but not as They wanted. Not as Edaui. Not as Their Heir. That's what she was supposed to do, wasn't it? Ulahim had said she was the only one who could reopen the signumaria. The Cradle might not want her as their Heir, but the Divari did. And she’d refused.
The guilt crashed into her like a wave. Her fault. She'd killed Ji, she'd killed Toshi. She'd killed Taz. She'd killed them all. Well, no more. No one else would die because of her. Without another word, Knight turned on her heel and stalked towards the signumaria, leaving a confused group behind her. Anger and guilt and something unidentifiable surged through her with every heartbeat.
"You want Your Heir," she said to the signumaria, lip curling. "Then have her."
Knight ground her teeth and slammed her hand hard against the cool helite, hard enough to bruise. She didn't feel the pain. With hardly a thought she let her Luminance radiate out from her fingertips and watched as it flowed like water into the grooves of the signumaria. The blue light raced upwards, filled every rune, until the entire structure was alight with a cerulean glow. The light bathed the courtyard in a blue haze that not even the immune lamps could chase away.
Behind her, Knight heard Ulahim gasp. Ayla's sobs subsided to nothing. An eerie silence fell over the courtyard. There was a feeling of tension in the air, as though the world was teetering on the edge of some great precipice.
Knight pushed hard against the doors.
And the signumaria swung open.