The Darkest Dawn

by Marc Mulero

  “Kor Vinsánce will never be yours!” the brave PA declared, though he cowered, his knees buckling in the face of death.

  At the last moment, the woman turned. Her cat-like eyes and braided eyebrows made Eres think of Spera Noe Donnus, the Imperion. But of course it wasn’t her, just someone of the same race – an Eplon. All she saw was a blur of silky hair within his impeller’s gusts and a blade ignited in red flame as it cut through her Glite armor and into her knee. Her trigger finger twitched in shock, sending plasmatic gunfire into the air and leaving panic to erupt within the crowd.

  The Eplon woman was cut down to size so her foreign eyes were level with Eres’ amber ones. All he could see in his mind was Windel getting shot, over and over again. It contorted morality in his mind, allowed him to think himself a crusader in the Silent War. For his father. For his own self-defense. Any justification to get to her before they did. And with that, he jammed down his Crule trigger, lit the blade up once more, and thrust it into her heart before she could turn her gun on him.

  Her mouth twitched in disbelief.

  “A boy,” she whispered before her eyes went blank.

  Hostages around him gasped as Eres fell into a state of shock. His blade dimmed to reveal dark steel dirtied by the intruder’s blood. He jerked once to retrieve it, but in that moment lost his warrior’s courage when it didn’t budge. Letting go of the hilt and backing away made him look like a first-time hunter nailing his prey and not having the guts to field dress it. He was at the brink of breaking down now. It was evident in his quivering lip, his furrowed brow.

  I just… killed. What if she was a good person? What if she didn’t deserve to die?

  Another step back, his hands trembling.

  Thankfully the PA whose life Eres had just saved rushed over to him.

  “Snap out of it!” he said, shaking him by the shoulders as the shouting from the other side of the crowd intensified. “You just saved our lives, but people on the other side are dying. Get that impeller and sword into a proctor’s hands immediately. Go!”

  Eres tried to rid himself of the guilt for the time being, his heart rate still explosively high as he sighed. “Right.”

  The PA pressed him forward with one hand at his back and together they dislodged the curved sword. Eres swung the blade free of clotting gore, knelt down with his impeller at his back, and erupted high over the crowd. All eyes followed his arc. Mid-air, he could see a cluster of intruders on his War Tech proctor. Her dance with blades was incredible, steel clashing three against one, all while gunfire from a fourth attempted to finish her.

  Quick thinking sent another short gust that realigned Eres with the gunner on his descent. His blade blinked red hot and he swung hard, cutting the man’s arm and throwing him off aim. Eres rolled gracefully back onto his feet and dashed to finish the job, but this time the rifle was aimed right at him. A barrage of long electric-infused bullets sent the boy reeling backwards with his armored arms crossed over to shield his face. He fumbled his items, fell, and shouted as the heavy pressure became too much to bear.

  “Eres!” Vasa shouted as she spun to slash at two of her attackers’ chests and ended with a flip in front of the gunner.

  One of the blades immediately slipped into a wide trigger guard, the strength of her pull forcing shots away from the boy. Then came a punishing flick of her wrist that scraped out his finger clean. Before the intruder could even register the severance of his digit, a flash of green waved across his face and the next thing he knew, he was grounded without a weapon.

  Eres lowered his crossed arms to peek out once the heaviness of gunfire hitting into his torso had lifted. He wanted to pat himself down to ensure that he was still whole, but the sight before his eyes didn’t give him the chance. One of the three assailants his proctor had been warding off, the only one left standing, was about to lunge at her back – two pointed long knives out, the tips of which were burning with Crule to pierce her Glite armor.

  “No…” Eres said to himself, searching around desperately for his impeller. A finger touched familiar metal behind him, and in an instant, he was on his knees with a mighty gust of wind at his back. The thrust was low, short – feet dragging on the ground as he recovered the Crule blade Vasa had given him. Then another burst, this time at max power.

  A shout bellowed - not that of a boy, but of someone who had taken life, someone that was about to lose too much. It worked – the soldier’s catlike eyes tracked away from the deadly proctor to a blur of silky hair and red flames. Two Crule tips of deep blue changed position and were thrusted at the incoming comet, though they hit nothing but air.

  Eres once again had strange blood on his simmering weapon, but it was for his people – the entirety of Kor, Vasa, Windel. And when he turned to see the enemy assassin on one knee, uselessly holding herself up by the points of her daggers, Vasa twirled like a graceful dancer and stopped like a brutal warrior, the sharp of her steel slashing down the Eplon’s face.

  The crowd behind them roared at the incredible display of teamwork. However short-lived it was, Eres felt alive, like he was meant to be in war, shedding his layers of guilt without a second thought. Victory, he thought, until the cheers fell to cries once more.

  “With me, Eres! With me!” Herim beckoned as she sheathed both of her elegant blades.

  The mob of scared students and broken PAs began to scatter at the sound of gunfire up ahead. Distortion created by frantic bodies drowned out Vasa’s voice, but they locked eyes, and he knew what to do.

  Her boots skidded with sparks as she weaved flawlessly between indistinct silhouettes. Arching her back to avoid a collision, hopping a nearly trampled student, spinning free of more bodies tumbling down, she was a wraith on a warpath. Eres could see it all while he took to the air, blasting above it to steal a look.

  “Three, proctor! All armed and firing into the crowd!” He cupped a hand over his mouth to shout beneath him.

  She acknowledged by tripling her speed and rounding wide on the brim of her scattering students in preparation for an epic thrust. For an instant, she skidded to a stop to align herself perfectly, then torqued her body in position to strike, activated two green flames, and burst forward into an indistinguishable blur. When she reappeared on the other side, the three intruders had crumpled to the floor.

  Eres landed beside her in awe. They both looked on to a few injured children, even a few of who were deceased, and many others scrambling to help them now that the threat had been eliminated.

  She stomped over to pick up a rifle and fired it into the air. “Everyone! Students are hurt and the entirety of Kor Vinsánce is threatened! I have to clear a path to the Curatives, so stay at my heel, everyone! Now!”

  Eres looked up to her, his thoughts racing, cycling through Windel’s fourth day schedule, thinking of where she would be. Seeing his fellow peers in pain forced his mind to replace their faces with her happy one. It was crippling… and then it clicked – the underground of the Academic Wing, on the other side of the Kor bridge.

  “Proctor, I can’t go with you,” he quickly proclaimed.

  She looked down at him questioningly, chest still noticeably expanding and contracting from the adrenaline of battle.

  “I have to find Windel.”

  Her jaw tightened. “I cannot stop you, Eres, only remind you of the stakes if you leave. Together we have a chance. Keeper Decalus and Wudon have sealed everyone inside to give us an opportunity to clear the threat and reclaim Kor. If you get caught…”

  “I have to, proctor, she’s everything to me.”

  “Then go. Remember what I told you of Ovar.” She squeezed his shoulder and bounded for the nearest Curative room, a stampede forming at her back.

  He watched on for a moment, considering the fact that he had just left the side of his guardian angel, and then was off. A glance over the ledge revealed a rush of frantic students trying to get away from the terrorists on the main floor below. More herding. The Eplons, whoever thei
r allegiance was to, were trying to gain control of the entire Kor. This wasn’t a massacre – there was a plan here. But what? Eres inspected the runic sleek blade that Vasa had given him, realizing that Crule replenished faster than any of his sparring fakes. It was here he realized what was in his grip - one of Kor’s treasures. One of Vasa’s. How fitting it was for him to help save his home with it. Though, there was something amiss within him. Inside. Under his armor, beneath the rushing adrenaline of war, he could feel somewhere that every breath hurt him. The pounding his body took from bullets stung like the breach of one hundred knives. However, akin to the bruises he’d found on his journey through this year at Vinsánce, the pain would have to wait. Because now, he had to repay someone for treating her so poorly, even if he had to give his life to do it.

  Eres pressed his impeller squarely at his back, clicked it, and let the thrust carry him over the fleeing mob. He caught the eye of soldiers below him, but knew he was traveling too fast for them to give a second thought. He found ground, heard shots fired a few floors above, and begrudgingly moved past it to section six, where the bridge he once crossed to find Wudon and Crow lay.

  It was him, the prized student of Wudon. It was Crow. He must have somehow alerted Seren Night’s people to take revenge on this place. He found my shack, my ooma, her esper. Now everyone I know is in danger…

  Another burst ended with him somersaulting right onto his feet, and straight into a hard sprint. Rage was building within him. As he ran, the rays of light shining onto the bridge were being covered, one by one on either side of him, as if an eclipse was blocking all three of Ingora’s suns. Keeper Decalus’ Reach clawed to conceal every open crevice of Kor, making it appear that the darkness was chasing Eres.

  It made him think of the night prior, how telling it was that everything was being torn apart the day after Crow’s attack. Too much of a coincidence. An orphan with no past, the perfect one to incite violence, to tip off outsiders of the Kor’s weak points. Once all of this was settled, Eres knew that his Reach-oriented rival would have to pay.

  As his finger was about to set his wings into motion once more, he saw three sets of Glite armor struggling at the corner of his eye. Actually, only two were struggling.

  Eres skidded to a stop – he had to.

  A crack echoed amidst the hallway leading into the Academic Wing. Then a crunch, a groan, and finally the first of two bodies hit the floor. A gun spun on the ground after being hurled from an intruder’s hand. That’s when Eres realized who it was. The Eplons didn’t expect many of their mortal enemies to be among them – Nuganzia – purple and black braids flying as she moved thrice as fast as the two soldiers failing to subdue her. They were only as good as their weapons, and the Swul was something different entirely.

  “Weak!” she shouted as the intruder tried to use the weight of his rifle against her.

  Two armored forearms met the blow and threw it back with prevailing brute force. “Pathetic!”

  Zia latched onto the top of the rifle with two hands and lifted herself to deliver a swift headbutt. “Coward!” she screamed again.

  Eres slowed his run to a walk and then stopped, realizing quickly that not only did Zia not need him, but he was kind of scared to approach. The year-seven dueling partner that he had wound up with after shunning Windel – in a somewhat karmic degree – had rarely failed to best him.

  When the second soldier fell, Zia wiped her brow of Eplon filth and whipped her hair back to see the Umboro boy gaping at her.

  “Eres, someone decorated you,” she said nonchalantly. “Swul armor fits you well.”

  “Mustae, you know the entire Kor is under attack, right?”

  She spat. “Of course. Teros led a pack one way, and I another. Who else would take action for the Umboro? Of course, Swuls would do your dirty work for you.”

  “Right…” He scanned her black and purple shimmering Glite to see that she was unarmed but for her defenses. “You need a weapon.”

  “Please. Most of their faces aren’t covered with Glite - plenty of targets for my fists.”

  Eres shrugged, unable to argue. “Have you seen Windel?”

  “That puny thing was nowhere near Ren’s class when I fought my way out of it. The proctor was late too, as usual. No idea where he is either.”

  Eres’ heartrate began to rise again, renewing the urgency. The bridge itself was quiet, as well as the long hallways adjoining it, but beyond them the commotion was loud.

  “Will you accompany me to the underground to find her?”

  “Hmph.” She folded her arms in consideration. “The goal is the same wherever I go. Punish these filthy Eplons for ever stepping foot in our home – I imagine we will have plenty to dispose of down there.”

  She then marched ahead of her peer and motioned to the darkened windows. “Are the enemies closing us in, or is it the reverse?”

  “This is our doing. Decalus and Wudon are exercising their Reach so no others can enter.”

  “Good. So, they think we can win.” Zia nodded.

  Eres felt the tingle of inspiration flow through his limbs, and with that, he was off, down the hallway and into the vastness of the Academic Wing. Layered and intricate, a space that was generally teeming with the air of ageless wisdom was now reduced to what sounded like a torture chamber. Muffled shouts of fear came from within toriums that the Eplon intruders were trying to break into. Students were still being wrangled on each floor. It was a nightmare come to life.

  He eyed a corridor similar to the one that Vasa had took him down in the Practical Wing. “Take that route all the way down,” he directed Zia. “Meet me at the cellar’s double doors leading into the pipe undergrounds.”

  “And you?” Nuganzia looked offended.

  Eres traced the intricate bars overlooking five sections below, momentarily ignoring the Swul and gauging his route down. He looked back, brandished his impeller, and before she could protest, jumped over the ledge.

  Nuganzia sneered and charged for the hidden space that Eres pointed out, all while he spent the last of his stored-up wind to slow his fall. Each layer down the cylindrical spire showed fearful faces and armed intruders. Kor Vinsánce was losing – overwhelmed and outgunned. The realization was daunting, and if this was to be Eres’ end, he wanted to spend it with her.

  He tactically pushed off of each wall on his descent, aiming to land closest to his target.

  Once in place, Eres let himself fall straight for two stories, everything a distorted blur around him, before clicking his impeller once more to slow his velocity mid-air, just feet from the floor. He landed gracefully, swung open the ornate cellar doors and leapt down without a second glance. The noise he made was an afterthought, and leaving Zia in his dust was fine… he just had to know if Windel was there.

  His heart sank immediately. The underground was dark – lights were switched off, leaving just the faint shadows of massive piping running in every direction. That’s when an idea sprung to mind. In the moment of silence he found in this space, his oobs seemed to be the answer.

  If I message her, I run the risk of blowing her cover if she’s hidden. If I don’t, I’ll never find her in this sea of madness.

  He stared at the device in his fingertips, then peered up at the pipe in front of him, knowing that if the message traveled left, she was further down this cave, and if it traveled right, she was somewhere else, anywhere else, in this castle.

  “Where?” He typed, staring long and hard at the message before sending it. Commotion began to culminate in the direction from which he came, making him second guess risking his cover. He knew if he was caught down here in a closed off tunnel, it would surely be his end. Though, he had no choice. A curse left his lips and he pressed it. The vibration tickled down his legs and then into the pipe, echoing away from the intricate system – to the right. Windel wasn’t in the underworks, and every moment he stayed was one wasted.

  Eres cursed again when he saw armed silhouettes make thei
r way down past the double doors. These intruders were too big to squeeze past and too massive to defeat on his own. So he did the only thing he could and hid under the gigantic pipe in hopes that the light from their rifles wouldn’t reflect off of his Glite. The Eplons’ eyes shined ever so slightly as they proceeded cautiously – rifles held in position to fire. He glanced at the gauge on his impeller and tightened his jaw when he saw he only had three uses left. They would have to count.

  Footsteps were coming closer and closer, until they were upon him. He wanted to scream for help as three sets of muscular legs decked in daunting Glite slowly crept next to him.

  His breathing intensified. One hand over his mouth and tightly shut eyes showed irrational hope that if he couldn’t see them, then they couldn’t see him. It was working too, until the vibration echoed back. His oobs chirped, and in an instant, three rifles were pointblank on him. He would have been dead if not for the freight train that was Nuganzia crashing into all three of them. Thrown off balance and tumbling, the intruders didn’t know what hit them.

  Sporadic gunfire lit the tunnels, flashing the image of Zia’s armored fist pummeling one of the three. Eres flung himself out of cover, lit his Crule blade to slice at one of the intruder’s legs and lunged to pull the Swul back.

  “Come on, Zia! We have to get out of here, it’s a dead end!”

  She looked back with a calm countenance, too calm for the acts she was committing. It reminded Eres of the day she coolly broke up the fight between him and Crow – like it was a matter of Swul justice, and she was just an agent of it. There it was again, her face saying it all, but she stated it anyway.

  “If I let them out, more of the weak Umboro die. I wish you all would learn!” She turned to deliver one final blow that made the downed soldier go limp. “Go find your princess, Eres. Let Teros and I do what has to be done.”

  Eres sliced through another intruder’s Glite to aid the Swul before charging off. He quickly glanced at his oobs and couldn’t believe the response.

  “Ren’s,” is all the message said.