by Liv Curtis
As she lifted her daggers into the air, ready to drive them deep into the chancellor, she was struck hard from her right side, sending her directly onto a pile of rubble. Her body ached as she turned to see Boone moving towards her quickly with a longsword.
He lunged forward and drove the blade deep into the rubble where Sage laid. Sage rolled to the right and steadied herself in a low lunge with her daggers ready and pointed directly at Boone.
“Boone, stop!” Blythe emerged from what was left of the hospital, her eyes wide with fear and confusion.
“Oh, shut up, Blythe. You think you are in control here, huh? You weren’t even able to figure out that the entire time you thought I was spying on the chancellor I was actually spying on all of you.”
Boone laughed as he lifted his gun from his belt and shot a single bullet into Blythe’s chest. Her body hit the ground hard as Boone turned his attention back to Sage.
Sage watched as Kennedy tried her best to fight off the CA Agent that had her pinned as Blythe’s blood spread beneath her body. Suddenly, Sage noticed a faint warmth coming from her ring, and she knew the dampener was nearly finished.
She sprang forward and sliced viciously at Boone. Before Sage could connect a blow, Boone jumped to the right and swung his sword in a wide arc. Sage spun and she was consumed by the feeling of fire spreading across her left ribcage.
She looked down and was shocked to see a red line growing across her skin where her shirt had been ripped open. She dropped to her knees and clenched at her ribs as the blood continued to seep past her shirt and onto her jeans.
“Huh. I expected at least a little more of a fight. That was easy.” Boone laughed as he stepped closer to Sage.
There was a strange rumbling, and Sage turned to see Jax standing behind her. He slowly raised his head to reveal that his eyes were black with flickers of white and purple.
“That’s enough.” Jax lifted his hands as electricity crackled and jumped between his fingers and the dampening cuffs fell to the ground in smoke.
Boone stepped forward and raised his sword into the air. As he brought it down, Jax caught the blade in his hands, sending white and purple electricity up the blade and directly into Boone’s body, casting him through the air and back into the fountain.
He scrambled to his feet and backed out of the fountain, onto the loading dock of the CAAC, where the chancellor watched with hateful eyes. Jax pressed forward wielding the blade as it crackled with flashes of electricity.
Sage felt the same sensation of hot wax being poured over her bones, and she watched with horror as the electrical charge that was coursing down the blade in Jax’s hand dissipated, leaving behind blackened metal.
“I guess the dampener just needed enough time to recharge.” Boone smirked and attacked Jax. They rolled to the ground as Boone retrieved a syringe from his belt. Inside was a familiar blue liquid, the one Sage, River, and Emery had used to incapacitate the guards at the council hall.
“Looks familiar, doesn’t it?” Boone mocked as he drove the needle into Jax’s neck.
Sage lurched forward, but she couldn’t move, the gash across her stomach had grown too deep and the pain sent her spinning.
She screamed as she watched the guards, their guns pointed at Eliza and the others, back into the air crafts’ and join the chancellor while Boone lifted Jax’s limp body into the air and onto the loading dock. Sage watched as Jax’s eyes rolled back and the chancellor began to close the door to the CAAC.
Sage cried out and a searing hot pain formed in her eyes and palms. As the plane lifted into the air, Sage caught one last glimpse of Jax as the door shut and allowed her fear, rage, and pain to flow through her like molten metal until it reached her hands, and her veins glowed. She screamed, and the glowing grew brighter, spreading to her eyes until she couldn’t see.
She could hear the engines of the CAAC struggle against her as she attempted to pull it back to the ground with her mind. Without warning, the white light in her eyes turned red, and she knew it was blood.
The red began to clear, and Sage could see the world around her again. Her body collapsed to the ground and the engines of the CAAC regained full power sending a cloud of dust into the air.
Sage lifted her head just in time to watch as it took off towards the trees and back to the Frame. The world around Sage began to darken as she laid on the ground and slowly drifted into unconsciousness.
Then Sage was in back in the cave surrounded by the other Oculus, except now, they had removed their hoods, and she could finally see their faces. Their eyes were missing, and in their place were empty black holes. Sage wasn’t scared by their appearance, but the sight still made her feel uncomfortable.
“Why am I here?” Sage demanded as she stared into the empty void of their eyes.
“You have been greatly wounded and your human form is dying. You have veered too far off the path of the Prophecy of Eight by attempting to ignite your full Oculus power before it was time. In doing this, you have damaged your body, and we must now work to repair it.” As the Oculus spoke, Sage could see a faint blue light glowing in the darkness of his eyes.
“What? I can’t be dying! I have to go back. I have to help them.” Sage looked around the room as it began to spin, spinning faster and faster until she couldn’t stand, and she fell to her knees. There was a white-hot pain searing through her abdomen, and when she opened her eyes, she was lying on the ground with her sister hovering over her.
“Stay with me, Sage…” Eliza’s voice was distant, and Sage felt as though with every exhalation, she was getting farther and farther away. She closed her eyes. Burned into her mind was Jax’s limp body being carried away. I’m sorry, Jax, she thought as she slipped away into the darkness.
About the Author
I grew up in a military family with my parents and my older sister. Our home was full of love and laughter which helped inspire the connection between Sage and her family. Growing up military we moved around a lot which made it difficult to make friends so I found myself drawn towards reading as an escape and comfort from an otherwise harsh world. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I fell in love with writing and found that I had a passion for books general. As I began to near the end of my bachelor’s degree, I realized that I truly wanted to pursue writing as my career and so I began the wonderful, crazy, and everchanging journey of Signal Lost.