by T. C. Edge
This is the future, Amber, they speak again. This is the future we will bring. Do not deny us the chance. Trust us, as you have before. Trust us, as they all do...
I find myself nodding and smiling as I stare off to the distance, see the great hill of Olympus ahead. The people stand beneath it, set around the square, looking up as the Prime announces their great victory, announces the changing of the city, its merging with all the people across the lands of the Fringe. I see, among the crowd, my parents, holding hands. Suddenly, Lilly is there with them, gazing up with a great smile on her face. And my grandmother, Alberta, is right there too. All of them are together once more.
Isn't this what you want? asks the Prime. Why would you turn against it? Why would you betray us, your family, your friends, your people...
Calm, Amber. Focus. Don't listen...
The words leak from the shadows, echoing around me. It is the voice of Secretary Burns, humming within my mind.
I frown, drawing back. Some of the joy of the image, of the vision, begins to slip and fade away.
I sense, suddenly, the Prime growing angry. I sense a wrath building upon Mother and Father's face. I see their eyes lighting with a flame, their white radiance igniting. And within the vision, at the top of the hill, a great flood of fire suddenly rolls down into the city. It gallops like a charging herd of flaming beasts, consuming all in its path, trampling everything that lies in its way.
I see my family erupting into flames, their bodies quickly blackened to ash, bursting apart, swirling up on the ferocious wind. The inferno races across the entire city, wiping out everything, leaving behind a trail of destruction that forces my chest to erupt in pain and fear and grief...
I feel my body simmering, the flames bursting from within. My eyes rip open, and I see flashes of fire flickering around me. Ahead, Secretary Burns withdraws, stepping back quickly as his chair is kicked over. He turns and rushes for the door, opening it up. His voice is a blur as the soldiers speed in, holding guns in their arms.
They aim them right for me.
"No...no," I croak, trying to contain the flames as they begin to burn away the straps around my wrists. "I can...stop this. Don't shoot..."
"Fire!" I hear Burns say, not listening to me.
A series of pops sound as darts are shot right into my chest. I feel my energy immediately stagger and fall, my chin dropping.
And within a moment only, my mind shuts down, and my eyes flicker to a close.
I wake, my eyes cracking open, my body still fixed to the chair.
There's a light smell of burning in the room. I look at the straps, still fixed to my wrists, and see that they're singed slightly, blackened around the edges. The arms of the chair look similarly scorched, burn marks tainting the metal.
I work my gaze up and see Secretary Burns sitting across the room, his legs crossed, waiting.
"Welcome back, Amber," he says. "I think you can now see why I felt the need to restrain you."
I scan the room. The guards are gone, the two of us alone again.
"What...happened?" I ask, feeling so weary.
Burns stands, picking up his chair, and moving it towards me. He positions it ahead of me and takes a seat, crossing his legs once again, clasping his hands together in his lap.
"You lost control," he tells me. "The influence of the Prime forced a reaction."
"I...I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"
"No, no, nothing like that. The guards just shot you with tranquilliser darts, and administered a large dose of the suppression drugs to keep your powers at bay. It seems we misjudged the dosage. You have a wild and destructive power inside you, Amber. I can see what the Prime saw in you."
"A weapon," I say weakly. "That's all I was ever meant to be."
"Not any longer," he tells me firmly. "If that isn't what you want. Your power is one of destruction, but it doesn't have to be used for that purpose. You have a choice now, Amber. Do you feel it? Do you feel the presence of the Prime weakening inside you?"
I frown, as though not wanting to even think of them, afraid of what will happen. It was all so vivid, the vision, the imagery. It felt so real when I saw the city burn. When I saw my family explode into flames.
I look at Burns, and he nods to me supportively, knowing my mind, knowing my thoughts. I take a breath and, with some trepidation, think of the Prime once more. I open myself up to them, and yet, they do not come with the same radiance, the same glow. I feel a shimmer of happiness, but not much more. It is as an echo only, their influence all but gone.
"You...you did it?" I ask, feeling hopeful, yet strangely lonely all of a sudden. As one might when losing a loved one, a parent. A dull ache of loss throbs in my heart as I look into Burns's eyes. "You..."
"I have severed most of their influence, Amber," he tells me. "But not all. It will grow back, in time, if unchecked. I can see it in your face. A part of you wants it back, doesn't it? You don't feel quite right anymore."
I shake my head, my eyes low.
"Oh, it is a truly impressive system," Burns muses, almost purring the words out. "Service to them brings great joy. Any threat to them causes great violence. And when their influence is taken away, it leaves only a loneliness, and deep sadness. A desire, even a need, to have them back. A complete system," he says, "of total and utter control."
I sigh heavily, feeling so very weary. "It will get better, right?" I ask.
"Oh, certainly," he tells me. "Do not fear that this feeling will last, Amber. It is merely the result of a partial severing of the bond. Once I have removed it entirely, you will be you again."
"Then finish it," I say, weakly, almost on the verge of tears. I know it's ridiculous, yet I cannot help it. I am a drug addict, denied her potion and vice. Without it, I feel empty. And right now, I just want another hit.
"You are weak and weary," he says. "I think it's best if we return to this tomorrow morning..."
"No," I say quickly, looking up, shaking my head. "No...I need it gone. I can't spend the night feeling like this. Please, Secretary Burns. I'm fine. Please, free me..."
He regards me for an extended moment, staring into my eyes. Then, slowly, a smile begins to build onto his face. "Then you truly are becoming yourself again," he says. "I thought, perhaps, you'd be compelled to stop, to try to let the bond renew. This shows that you are ready to sever it for good."
"A test?" I ask. "You were testing me?"
"Yes, you could put it like that," he says. "However, I would also call it research. This is new to me, Amber, as it is to you. I need to understand the process, the likely reaction, if I am to try to do the same with Perses and Elian."
I turn back to my mind, thinking again of my own reaction. "You might want to make sure you have them properly shackled," I say, looking again at the straps holding my wrists in place. "For Perses...you should probably get a whole new chair. And have a whole lot more guards outside the door." I shake my head. "Or better yet, inside the room with you."
"That would break the illusion somewhat," he says. "It helps if it’s just me and the subject, if it is to be most effective. I need calm, no distractions. That is why we are here, in this room. It isn't exactly much to look at, is it?"
I glance around the drab, grey-stone room. "No. Not really."
"In any case," he goes on, "Perses, in particular, might be a step too far. Even with his powers suppressed, and in an induced coma, I was unable to penetrate his mind."
"Couldn't you try again?" I ask. "And, well, does the subject have to be awake for this to work?"
"I'm not certain," he says, stroking his chin. "I wanted you awake so I could speak with you, ask questions and gauge your reactions. It helped me find my way in, and full, waking eye contact is important to me too."
"So that's why you couldn't get through to Perses?" I ask. "Because he was kept under?"
"Partly, yes. Brie is quite able to enter one's mind without such restraints now. She was always a better candidate for that part
icular task. We wished, ideally, to keep Perses under sedation. That meant I was rather hamstrung in my efforts."
"And you're afraid of waking him up?" I say.
"I wouldn't use the term 'afraid', but I understand the essence of what you're saying. That is part of the reason why we need your help, Amber. We will need you to speak with him when we wake him up. You will be required to open him up to the concept of what we're trying to say and do, before I go to work on him. The same will be true of Elian."
"Right," I say, nodding, shuddering just a little bit at the thought. Oh, I've spoken with Perses several times about the morality of what we've been doing, of going to war with a people we know to be sophisticated and mostly innocent. I know he understood my point of view, and agreed with it in large part, when I voiced my concerns. Yet, this is something very different. This is telling him that he's been under the control of the Prime all this time. That his free will isn't necessarily as free as he thought. That he has been subtly led down the path he's on, a path he could never have escaped, even if he tried.
It isn't going to be easy.
"I would ask that you speak with them tomorrow," Burns says, "and in the days to follow. Do so carefully, and don't ignite their ire. Watch for their reactions, as I have with you. We are counting on you, Amber. If you want to truly see your people free, and your family safe from persecution, then this is the task you must see through."
My people free, I think. My family safe. The vision in my mind, was that truly what the Prime intend, in time?
I look again to Burns. "I saw my city united," I tell him. "I saw..."
"I know what you saw, Amber," he cuts in. "I saw the very same thing." He leans forward, lowering his voice. "It isn't true," he says firmly. "It was a vision to deceive you, only. To weaken your resolve, cause you to turn back. They work through joy and fear. Joy at seeing your family so happy, your people united. Fear at what might come if you turn against your ruler. It led to your reaction, Amber. Without those shackles, you might just have seen through your threat to kill me."
"I..."
"It is a lie, child. You know that really. The only way to make that vision a reality, in any form at all, is by installing a new leader in Olympus. We have told you already who we wish that man to be. The Prime must go. The Overseer must go. Anyone too far gone, irredeemable in their loyalty, must go. It is, as the military term goes, a decapitation strike. Cut the head off the snake, remove the leaders, and everything else will fall away."
"And Perses?" I ask. "Why do you think he's right for the job? He's been the Prime's greatest weapon for years..."
"Because we know, beyond the controls and shackles that bind him, that his heart is true. That is something they cannot get at. Something they cannot alter. They can layer on their own controls, but underneath, the true heart of the man resides. Yours is being freed, Amber. If we can do the same with Perses, then what better man to unite the city? A man who, like you, was not born of Olympus. A man who respects the people of the Fringe and those who lie beyond, and gets their respect and admiration in return. If allowed to lead, then he, along with others of a similar mind, will be able to see through your true passion and purpose. And you, Amber, will be right there beside him."
His words end with a silence. My role here has been told to me already, yet only now, with the Prime's grip on me weakening, is it beginning to truly sink in. Another image, another vision, builds in my head. That of the brighter future I saw, only with a new leadership installed, a new ethos of rule governing the city and all the people beyond.
This, right here, is the final time I will question it. I have wavered for too long, moving back and forth, never quite committing to one path or another. But now...now I know what I need to do. I know what my life's purpose is.
There, in that small interrogation chamber, within the great bunker of the Oasis, beneath the city of New Haven, I finally commit to the single road ahead.
A road that will take me back home. To the Fringe. To my family. To Olympus.
To a better future for us all.
I look into the eyes of Secretary Burns for a final time, and show him, conclusively, decisively, that I know what I have to do.
"Rid me of this sickness, Secretary Burns," I growl. "Cast out the Prime, once and for all."
He leans in further, those eyes of his boring into me. "With pleasure, Amber," he says. "Welcome to the fight for good."
117
I wake the following morning after a night of utter peace, feeling well rested, calm, and strangely, given I remain something of a captive within a foreign city, like I'm exactly where I'm meant to be.
Sitting up in my cell, kept here just in case I should relapse, I feel as though a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders. It's a weight you don't really know you're carrying until it's gone. The weight, perhaps, of having a dreadful purpose, now removed and replaced by something so much better.
I draw a long breath and smile. I feel...normal again, the lack of fire in my blood a strange relief. That fire that ever yearned to break free and feast. The fire that sought to control me, see out its own deadly purpose.
I stand and stretch, walking from one side of the cell to the other, warming up my muscles as I warm into a brand new day. I know, now, that those fires that sought to be unleashed had no true mind, or will, of their own. No, that wasn't just a natural part of me, trying to break free, trying to control me.
Instead, as Secretary Burns explained to me last night, they were merely another control of the Prime. Another means of getting me to fulfil the purpose I was sent here to complete.
The Prime, I think, allowing them to fill my mind. I permit them entry, stopping in the cell as I think of them. Think of their glow, their radiance, their perceived perfection.
A smile curls up onto my lips, though not one of joy or bliss. No, it is merely a smile of distaste, a smile that brings a different sense of happiness to me.
I am free of them, I think. Their influence is gone.
The door knocks, causing me to jump. I turn to find it opening up. The President stands there, as a soldier steps to one side. She looks at me for a moment, curious, interested. "You seem...brighter, this morning, Amber," she says. "I take it your time with Secretary Burns was well spent?"
I nod, unable to stop from smiling, though not in the inane, almost manic way I might have done before. No, this is a real smile, one of hope and expectation of a more prosperous future to come.
"Good, I heard as much," she goes on. "He will continue to monitor you, make sure you don't slide back into the abyss. If you feel anything, any temptation to relapse, then make a note of it, and tell us immediately. Will you do that for us?"
"Of course, President Orlando. Of course I will."
"Thank you. That is good news." She looks around the cell. "I'll try to find you somewhere nicer to stay," she says. "This place really is grim. Not a suitable space for a guest."
"Guest," I say. "That's what I am?"
"Well, you're hardly a prisoner," she says. "If anything, we feel as though you're a victim of the Prime. We could say the same of Elian and Perses. Neither are considered true prisoners here."
"But you can't guarantee that they'll play ball either. I imagine all of us will be kept drugged."
"Yes. As I said before, it's an important precaution."
"And fine by me. Keep me drugged as long as you like. It's nice being...normal again."
"After what you've been through, that isn't surprising," the President says. "It's a common response among those who are forced to fight, and kill. Sometimes, all they want is to turn their back on it all forever."
I nod, slowly. "I'm not a born warrior," I say. "Not by a long shot. Not like Kira." I look up, hopeful. "Has she found anything yet, do you know? About...Jude?"
"She hasn't yet returned," the President says, sympathetically. "She hasn't been gone long. It might take her several days to complete her task. Be patient, Amber."
&
nbsp; "Right. You're right. I do struggle with that, sometimes. And...everything else?" I ask, glancing to the ceiling. "What's going on up there?"
"Not much right now," she says. "I'm certain they're licking their wounds as we are, working out just what to do next."
"And what about Brie?" Her eyes flicker a little as I say her granddaughter's name. "Do you have plans to try to rescue her?"
She shakes her head slowly. "We have assessed our options," she says. "A rescue mission has been deemed impossible for now."
"I...I'm sorry."
"It's fine, Amber, truly. I'm sure Brie will be OK."
I look at her a moment, knowing she's merely trying to lay a blanket over her concerns.
"I've been trying to figure out a way I might be able to help," I tell her. "Are you sure that there's no way you can negotiate a swap?"
She nods slowly, delaying a moment before she speaks. "Quite certain," she says, her words carrying little joy. "I'm afraid to say it, but she may be more valuable to them than you, or Elian, or both of you are. Your combined task was to burn this city down. That ship has sailed now, and isn't coming back. But Brie," she sighs. "Well, she has a power that is truly unique. If it can be harnessed by the enemy, weaponised in some way, then she could become a very useful asset."
"And that's what you're afraid of?" I ask quietly. "That they're going to make Brie into a weapon, like they did with me?"
"Why else would they want her so much?" she asks. "Herald Nestor went to great lengths to try to get her to Olympus. The Overseer, I'm sure, will do the same. If the Prime's influence is as strong as it appears, then she may be taken under their spell as you were. If so, she might even become a threat to her own people."
"Then we - you - have to get her back," I say, my voice carrying some urgency. "What...what about Perses?" I ask, thinking fast. "They might make an exchange with him. They don't even know he's alive..."