by Jaymin Eve
From the few hood-free faces I could see, it didn’t seem as if any of the guardians were nervous as they approached the panteras, despite the truly intimidating aura of the creatures. I remembered the way I’d had to meet and be accepted by Jara before I could ride her, and yet the guardians were almost dismissive of them. It struck me as wrong on so many levels. I focussed on a black and white pantera, about five yards away. I could see that it was yet to have a body placed in the roped harness across its back. It was smaller than the others, which was why I was heading right for it. Smaller seemed safer.
When I was at her side—braced for a kick to the gut, because that’s what I would have done if someone was trying to put a stinky dead body over me—I finally noticed the collar around her neck, standing out starkly against her white. It was a thin piece of wire, silver and slightly barbed, twirling and twisting around. I could see old scars where she had clearly rubbed against it, along with a few fresh marks.
“What the hell?” I murmured under my breath. The pantera turned and faced me, intelligent eyes locking onto me.
I waited for a voice in my head, but none came.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, leaning forward and draping the heavy weight across her. She was still staring at me with eyes far too wise. “Why are you helping these guardians?” I murmured, as I adjusted the ropes. I had to take a few sneaky peeks at how the guardians around me were securing their corpses, but I eventually figured out what I was doing.
The pantera started making a low humming sound, from deep in its throat.
“You can’t talk to me with that collar on, can you?” I let my hand brush just over the top of her throat, not quite touching it, as a terrible thought struck me. “You’re a prisoner?”
The Abcurses had spoken with such reverence about the panteras, as though they were old and magical, and should be respected above all others—and yet here they were, collared and stripped of their voices. I was really starting to hate the fucking gods.
As my anger rose up in a blinding force, I felt the dizziness creep across my mind.
No, not now. I don’t have time for you now.
I tried everything I possessed to shut it down, even reaching up and clutching my stone necklace which had not been removed, thankfully. But nothing was stopping Chaos when it was ready, and apparently it had something to say.
I came back to myself at the sound of a shout; my eyes snapped open as I was awkwardly crouched behind a pantera, my legs aching only a little, which meant that I must not have been there for long. As my head cleared further, I realised that the pantera before me was the black and white one I had been placing the body on.
She adjusted her position as I moved, like she was protecting me from sight. I straightened from my crouched position, shook off the dust, and tried to get my bearings. When I felt more stable, I peered around my new friend.
Chaos had struck again.
The main building was on fire: it was clearly a specialty of mine. I was trying to figure out what else I had done when I noticed a glint on the ground. I quickly dropped back down to examine the object, and then shot back to my feet to examine the pantera’s neck, because the collar looked exactly like the collar that I had seen just before blacking out again.
The pantera’s neck was now bare—the collar having been flung carelessly into the dirt, and I could see how the two ends joined. There was a small clip that could be flicked across to release the contraption.
You saved me.
I jumped at the voice, before my head darted widely around.
My name is Lucille.
Common sense returned, and I realised that it was the pantera, finally able to speak with me. If you want me to take you to freedom, you need to get on my back. I can take you to Topia.
My heart sprang in a hopeful way. Thank you, I tried to project back. But shouldn’t we free your friends too?
Lucille just shook her head, pawing a hoof through the dirt, stirring up dust. You have done all you can, now it is time to find freedom.
I was figuring out how my Chaos worked. Sometimes it was for me, sometimes against me. But it seemed that in a roundabout way, it was almost always working in my best interests. The building being on fire was a distraction for the guardians, during which I had managed to unlock the collar. Without it killing me.
I’d been afraid to touch it earlier, but Chaos apparently didn’t have the same worry.
“I know you have no idea who I am, but I have some powerful friends. I’m not allowed to make promises on their behalf anymore, but just know … I will do everything in my power to save the rest of your kind.” My whisper was made against her side, as I got into position to pull myself up.
The body was gone from her back. The harness was still there, but no body. I didn’t even want to think about what Chaos Willa had done with her—no doubt it involved a tight space and squishy body parts. Luckily, this one had already been dead, because it didn’t seem to matter to Chaos. Dead or alive, if it could squish, it could fit.
Being as gentle as I could, I lifted my leg and hooked my foot into one of the side ropes, using it as leverage to clumsily sprawl across Lucille’s back. Thankfully, I didn’t kick her wings. They stood out in strong, wide fans on either side of her back, and were patterned in black and white to match her pinto colouring. No doubt she wouldn’t appreciate me crushing those feathers.
The fire was just starting to die down when I finally got seated on the back of my second ever pantera transport. Hold on, was my only warning before her wings beat against the ground, and her powerful legs launched us upward.
Wind gushed around us, forming giant clouds of red dirt. I heard shouts, but couldn’t see anything. I imagined that the guardians were scurrying around like shweeds, prepared to bring the panteras back into line.
“Good luck with that, assholes!” I called out, not even bothering to contain my gloating, even though it would have been the smarter move … just in case Lucille had a flight malfunction and sent me crashing back to the ground.
That would be embarrassing.
I might have even fist-pumped when the dust cleared and I noticed that we were already ten feet above them and still rising.
“Oh my gods!” I exclaimed, as the other panteras also started flapping, each of them shaking their heads and flinging the collars free. Guardians pulled little boxes from their cloaks, aiming them at the creatures. One or two, who hadn’t managed to shake their collars free, let out a high-pitched shriek before they collapsed on the ground in convulsing spasms.
Those bastards.
I must have projected my angry thoughts, because the pantera answered me. They just have to shake the binding free; you unclipped all of them already.
Panteras rose around us, the sound of flapping filling the air. Guardians were converging on the few who they’d managed to zap with their collar buttons, but before they could do anything to contain them, bodies started falling from the sky.
Literally.
The dwellers, who had been strapped across the panteras, were being dropped onto the guardians below, each one landing with a thump, and eliciting a muffled groan from beneath a cloak.
“Ten points!” I chuckled as a pure black pantera managed to knock down two in one shot. “Bonus points for you,” I added, pointing at him.
As the guardians started to run around like crazy people below, the few panteras on the ground were given time to shake their collars free and launch into the sky. Soon, the guardians were forgotten as the entire herd rose. I couldn’t do anything but hold on for the ride and hope that I wouldn’t get dumped somewhere even worse than the dead zone. The harness was still across Lucille’s back, so I quickly looped a few of the straps around my legs, just for extra protection against the possibility of falling to my death. I then slumped forward and let the soothing rhythm of her wings calm the erratic tic in my mind. The Chaos was growing stronger, I could feel it roaring inside of me … trying to get free.
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nbsp; I didn’t want to fall asleep, since I couldn’t be sure I was out of danger yet, but it was hard to keep my eyes open. Despite the numerous amount of times I had lost consciousness over the past few sun-cycles, it felt as if I had not had any decent rest.
I was exhausted.
Eight
“I don’t care what Cyrus says, I won’t leave her out there for one more click on her own. She needs us. I’m going to fucking kill him.” Yael’s face was a little fuzzy, which was when I realised that I had somehow slipped into one of their heads. I must have fallen asleep after all.
Wait a click … I was in one of their heads!
An overwhelming amount of emotion rocked through me as I drank in the sight of my Abcurses. Well, one of my Abcurses, and then a few Abcurse-shaped-blurs in my peripheral vision. Whoever I was currently hijacking was staring straight at Yael.
He was furious, his voice laced with more venom then I’d ever heard from him. “She has been missing for almost four sun-cycles now. Willa can get into trouble in a fraction of a click, and she’s been running around on her own now for four sun-cycles.”
The head I was in started shaking left to right, before speaking. “We need to get around Staviti’s order. We’re grounded to this platform until the next arena battle, and if Siret hadn’t stolen D.O.D’s mortal glass, we wouldn’t have even been able to see into Blesswood and we wouldn’t even know that Willa was missing.”
Rome. I was seeing through Rome’s eyes, which I should have known from the fact that I was actually looking over Yael’s head. Only one god was that tall.
“Maybe we can just call his bluff. Disobey him again and deal with the consequences when they happen.” Obviously, that had been spoken in Siret’s voice.
You’re going to get yourselves killed! I wanted to shout at them, but I had no control over Rome, I was just a silent stowaway.
Right?
There couldn’t be a way for me to speak through Rome, surely? I would have figured it out by now. The concept wouldn’t leave me alone, though, so I decided to give it a shot.
Scratch your nose.
I thought the command with all the concentration I could muster, and there was a brief pause in conversation as disappointment rocked through me … until suddenly, a huge hand appeared right in my line of sight and started rubbing the bridge of Rome’s nose.
It worked? Something I tried actually worked? Hell yeah! I started silently congratulating myself, only to find Rome shouting, “Hell yeah,” at the same time as my mental thought.
Yael briefly paused from where he had been explaining his plan to take down Staviti, and looked up to eye his brother. “Did you just have a seizure? What the hell is wrong with you?”
Ugh, Yael was so mean. Dick.
“Ugh, Yael. You’re such a dick.”
Rome’s voice was far higher pitched than usual, his big body jumping in surprise as he spoke. Four sets of eyes were turned on him, each with a look of disbelief clouding their faces.
“If you don’t get yourself together, I’m going to put you through a wall.” Aros wasn’t normally the violent type, but this sun-cycle, apparently, he was channelling it hard.
Rome lifted both hands up then, as if to say I have no idea what is going on. To be fair, he really didn’t. I could just imagine the look on his face. He would be so confused—and for someone as contained as Rome, I could only imagine how much he must be freaking out. It almost made me want to try something else, just for the fun of it. Peals of laughter burst from me, echoed by Rome. The longer I tried to control him, the more natural it became … but I needed to stop before I did something he would kill me for later.
Siret took a step closer to his brother, peering right into his eyes as though he could see deep inside. “Soldier, you in there?”
Hesitancy and confusion were prominent in those words, but also a sliver of hope. How the hell did he know it was me? Actually, who cared about that part, I needed to let him know I was there. I nodded my head, and Rome’s head followed suit.
“How is she doing that?” Aros asked, looking a little freaked-out.
I didn’t blame him. If I thought that one of them had the ability to slip into my head and control me without my knowledge …
Wait just a click.
Holy.
Fuck.
“I think Cyrus lied,” I spluttered out, Rome struggling to talk as fast as I needed him to. “I think he linked himself to me again, and he’s somehow controlling me. I thought it was the Chaos, because every time I black out, something really chaotic happens … but if the soul-link has been manipulated so that something like this can happen, then that would explain everything. Rau still has something on Cyrus—otherwise he wouldn’t have set the building on fire back in Soldel. And then I thought the Chaos was helping me by knocking out that guardian and shoving him into a closet, but actually it was probably Cyrus, trying to stop me from sneaking into Topia. And when I unlocked the collars on the panteras, it was probably Cyrus trying to stop me a second time … oh wow, he really underestimates how often I need to use bad situations to my advantage.”
The four guys were just staring at me—or Rome—their mouths a little unhinged.
“Did she say that she set a building on fire?” Yael rasped.
“And knocked someone out and stuffed them into a cupboard?” Aros, this time.
“And set a bunch of panteras free.” Coen was scratching his head.
“That’s my girl.” Siret was the only one who seemed pleased by my overload of information.
“Rome is messing with us.” Yael was shaking his head. “This is too fucked-up.”
“I’m not.” I tried to sound as convincing as possible, but Yael only shook his head and stepped closer to Rome, his fists clenched.
“Cut this shit out right now,” he seethed, “or I’ll hit you so hard she’ll have to start calling you Crushed.”
“That’s not very nice—” I started to say, but apparently Yael wasn’t in the mood for pacifications.
He pulled his arm back and slammed it into the side of Rome’s face. I couldn’t feel the actual blow, but my vision swam to the side, and then suddenly I was staring at the sky—I hadn’t paid much attention to where we were, but the sky was bluer than blue, the clouds all happy and perfect. They were still in Topia.
“You hit me!” I yelled at the sky, and it was almost humorous to hear Rome’s deep voice so full of feminine outrage.
“Oh.” Yael sounded genuinely shocked. “It really is her. Rome just dropped like a bag of rocks.”
“He’s still not moving,” Coen noted, his head appearing in my field of vision. “You okay in there, dweller-baby?”
“He hit me!” I repeated.
“I think she’s fine.” Yael’s head appeared beside Coen’s. “Rome’s head is too damn thick for any of the pain to reach her—right, Willa-toy?”
“You still hit me!” This time, it was a growl, and Siret’s head popped up beside Yael’s.
“You should get revenge,” he suggested helpfully. “You have so many muscles right now. You’re the God of Strength right now. The possibilities are endless.”
“No they aren’t,” I said, “Rome is going to wake up soon. I don’t always black out for long. But you have a point.”
I struggled to get back to my feet, but controlling Rome wasn’t so easy. His limbs were bigger than expected, and I accidently knocked over a low wooden table, up-ending a bowl of fruit and sending apples and oranges scattering over the marble floor. When I was finally standing, I focussed on Yael, and tried to swing a punch at him. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the distance to his face, and Rome’s fist connected with the pillar just to the right of Yael’s head. I watched in fascination as the stone cracked beneath Rome’s fist, caving in around his hand. I was so fascinated that I didn’t even realise I was stuck until I tried to pull his fist back again and it wouldn’t budge.
“Well … this is awkward.” Yael was smirking, turned
to the side so that he could see the fist I had embedded into the pillar.
“Can we stay on track?” Coen snapped, throwing Yael a dark look, and then turning it on me. “The way you’re controlling Strength right now—you think Cyrus is doing that to you?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Coen growled, and even Yael looked pissed, now that he believed me.
“And he’s been causing chaos?” Aros appeared beside me, taking Rome’s wrist in his hand and yanking it out of the pillar.
“Yes,” I repeated, a little exasperated. I wished that they had listened the first time around, but they were probably preoccupied with the fact that I had managed to take control of their brother’s body and mind.
“Why would he be causing chaos?” Siret sounded both angry and thoughtful, and he was pacing back and forth, his eyes snapping back to Rome every few moments. “That’s not in his interests at all.”
“Have you seen him since he gave me the semanight stone?” I asked.
“No.” Yael was the one to answer me, a deep frown taking over his striking features. “But we can’t leave this platform. They assigned us a server, Phineas, and he’s the only one we’re allowed to have contact with.”
“Can you send him to Cyrus’s cave?”
“You can be sure that Cyrus has fortified his defences since we were there last,” Siret answered. “So there’s a good chance that Phin will die trying to get in there. If we lose the server, we lose all contact with the people outside of this platform. Until they decide to pay us a visit, of course.”
“Don’t worry.” Coen’s voice had gone cold. Hard, almost. “We will find a way to connect with Cyrus. You need to tell us exactly where you are and exactly what’s happening before Rome gets control of himself again.”
“I’m with a flock of panteras, and I’m currently in Rome’s head, so I have no idea where they are.”
“She’s … with a flock of panteras,” Siret repeated numbly. “Because why not?”
“It’s a long story,” I started, but Rome wasn’t saying the words.