by Zamil Akhtar
“Unseen source of energy?” Saina said.
The cave shook. A roar. Steel grinded on stone. An engine hummed. The ship came alive.
“Wait!” Kav dashed and jumped off the pier onto its head. He grabbed the hatch handle, pried it open with all his strength. A chute appeared, the smell of levship breathing out.
“Be safe, then,” Aasad said. “Magus slayer.”
Kav looked back. The man was gone.
Saina followed him onto the head. Water seeped through stone as the cave walls burst with roaring waterfalls. Kav jumped in the chute and fell through metal, slipping and sliding. He landed on a steel floor. Saina landed on top of him.
“Suicide? Unseen source of energy?” Kav waited for Saina to get off. “Can I win?”
She got off, then fixed her thug hat back in place. “We’ll win.” Quite the fashion accessory.
He closed his eyes, his reserve of sunshine almost depleted. A final blue blip lit his consciousness. “Layla’s here...just a few yards away.”
I don’t wanna do this. I don’t wanna do this.
Feels good, doesn’t it? Merv messaged.
Like a metal fish, Zauri fluttered through the water, ascending rapidly. It wasn’t easy to control this flimsy body. Merv continued to message her.
You used to say it felt like peace, like heaven, like sitting on a cloud.
It kind of did. The water was cool, sumptuous. But her heart beat too fast. A poisonous fear coursed through her.
I don’t want to be punished. They’re forcing me. I’ve no choice, please don’t punish me.
The water’s ceiling broke, a wet wind wisped. Her body floated atop the ocean.
Can you fly? Fly if you can.
Merv’s words compelled her. She levitated off the water and meandered up. It was a balancing act, but her wings were too small. Weight pulled her left side and she fell. Splash. Back in the water.
Zauri! You have to do better than that!
I can’t fly. Something’s not right.
You have to learn how to operate this smaller craft. Just feel your way into it. We need to go!
It’s just too much. I can’t concentrate. I can’t.
I said try again. Fly!
Her stubbornness blocked the command. For a few seconds, she felt in control. And then a yearning for the clouds seized her. She hovered forward to get enough speed to fly.
Faster and faster. Gliding above the water, she perched her head up. Wind scathed her right side. It made her spin out of control, round and round. She fell back in the water, a nauseating world swirling around her.
Dammit, I know you can do this! You’re not hurt, are you?
This is too much. No way I can do this.
You have to, Zauri!
Please, no more.
Her throat throbbed with pain, her mind disoriented.
You have to! We need to fly! Once you figure out how to balance, you’ll succeed. You were always a fast learner, so try again. Fly!
She remained motionless. Limp in the water. A dead fish.
I said fly!
I can’t.
Angst crushed her thirst for the sky.
I don’t want to push you. I wish you’d just listen without me having to. I wish you wouldn’t be so stubborn. Whatever’s come over you, get over it! Or we’re all going to die here and now!
I can’t. Death will hurt less than what you made me go through. Death doesn’t compare.
A thought crept into her mind. When she managed to fly, when they were in the air, what if she just ended it? Since Qindsmar, she’d thought about it. Bring this thing down, crash it upon the earth, so they couldn’t make her obey anymore.
The first time Zauri tried to disobey Merv was over Qindsmar, weeks ago. From afar, the city was a hazy dot between mountains. Closer, it was a sprawl of heaped mud, geometric and ordered, nesting around an endless river. Once she was directly over it, looking down from her perch in the sky, all the subtlety became apparent.
Now it was the earth, expressing itself in the most wondrous way. She saw a maze of structures and something big in the center: a blue dome, adorning a golden building, with spires pointed at her. A crowd constantly moved in and out, flowing in an eternal loop. Faceless souls.
In silence, she admired the city. There were farms at the outskirts and gardens and canals. There were two people sitting beneath a tree, resting on each other. There was a “cat” stretching its paws near a fountain.
Zauri, we’ve been given new orders.
It didn’t feel good to hear that. She was still shaken from the tower talking to her. What if that blue dome had something to say?
Remember your training on Ouroborus? Or what the Marshal called null entropy photon system?
What was he asking her to do?
Our orders are to decloak and create an Ouroborus energy pattern above the city for thirty full minutes. The energy is then to be released, straight down.
She had done it during training, but never for thirty minutes. It would surely burn the land and send fire spiraling, melting the city.
That’s not right! It’ll kill the city.
Are you worried that people will die?
The whole city will die.
Zauri, the people down there aren’t really people. They are parasites. You’ve hit Haemian camps before, this is the same. Their souls are not of Nur, they are of the earth. You’ll only be sending them back into the ground, from where they came.
She was always told this. And it always made her feel sinless. Not today.
No. This place is different, these people are different. Everything is alive, so was that tower, so is this city. I can’t kill it. Haem was dark and full of death. It’s not the same. I can’t understand why you want me to!
Silence on the airwaves. Then, Merv responded.
I don’t know why. The Marshal himself instructed me. I didn’t ask questions. Look, nothing will happen to you. And you’ve got to realize, we’re doing this for our people. This is all so we can reclaim this land, which was once ours. You’ve got to see the big picture.
His words twisted knots inside. She’d come for the sky, not to destroy.
Our people? Who are our people?
We are Elkarians.
But we’re not. We’re different. If those in the city aren’t people, then neither are we.
That’s not right. We are Elkarians. And one day, this fact will be burned into everyone’s hearts!
She didn’t want to argue. She hoped he would stop.
Zauri. You are to start Ouroborus immediately. Inhale!
No. No. No. I can resist.
I can resist.
But the Word was powerful. It flooded her will. It drenched her insides, until every nerve demanded compliance. The Word wasn’t just painful. It was desirously painful.
All that was left was a choice.
No.
No.
Yes.
Inhale.
The sun’s rays became a tornado, spiraling. Swirling and whirling into a ring around her. The city was black — she had stolen its light. Miniscule beams shot up at her, prickling her skin, as if this ant nest was trying to defend itself.
You’re doing great, Zauri.
It continued for thirty minutes. The peripheral defenses of the Maymanah, under the control of other conductors, fired back. The city already burned.
Just a little longer and you’ll get through this.
Stop. You have to stop.
It’s too late, there’s no way out.
The Ouroborus was a solid ring of light now, in perfect equilibrium. One alteration would torrent it down. In a few seconds, that time would come.
That’s thirty minutes. Unleash!
Ecstasy — light and heat were oil and honey pouring out her mouth. Her breath of fire evaporated everything. Life turned to char.
And then she blacked out.
When consciousness became white, she was floating. Fluid covered her —
salty and denser than water. It was sticky, tinged with red.
What is this?
She saw nothing above. But at her sides, there were strange protrusions in the fluid. Plants?
They grew out of it, popping up wherever she stared. Flower buds — black shadows against a white nothingness.
I can’t move.
She heard a sound. Like a pop. The flower buds were opening. Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop. Dots of sparkle came out — buzzing and twinkling.
Fireflies?
They flew above her. They whirled and swirled in the white nothing. Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop. Fireflies continuously joined the whirl.
Thousands upon thousands — their light became a whole mass, like fire solidified. First the color orange, then blue. Hotter and hotter. Until it was the whitest fire.
No!
And then it rained upon her. The tide of bugs bit holes through her, each one a fire flickering, together a sea of flame — furiously sad. Her chest burned, fluid boiled her blood, the skin on her bones rotted, her face melted off, her soul shrieked and died a thousand times — charred lungs, brain boiled, incinerated heart, thoughts dead. She forgot that she ever was. A cycle of burning, first the skin, then the flesh, then the organs, then her bones, then her soul.
Then it repeated.
That was the world. That was existence. How it always was.
In that moment of delay between the renewal of her body and the furious burning, she had time for one thought.
End my life.
But she didn’t deserve the peace of death. She deserved this fire. Then the next cycle.
Don’t allow me to be born.
But she was born for this punishment. Or maybe punishment was born for her. Next cycle.
I never existed.
But the white fire scalding her eyes was existence. Cycle after cycle. There wasn’t such a thing as time.
It was this way forever.
Then, one day, it ended.
Water poured over the fire, doused it out. Someone grabbed her hand and pulled her under a waterfall. Relief.
A sun shone in the sky; water fell all over her. A solid world. Her soul felt sterile. New.
“Layla?” the man holding her said.
“Huh?”
The man swam to the river bank. He got out, then pulled her up.
She was all wet in a white dress, but it wasn’t cold. And his shalwar, also white, was soaking.
“What did you do?” he said.
“Huh?”
“To punish yourself like that. What is it that you did?”
Zauri tried to smile, to not look grim when talking to this stranger. The pain was gone. But pain could come back. It always did.
“I did awful things...to a lot of people.” She worked up the courage to look him in the eyes. “Why did you call me Layla? That’s not my name.”
Judging, penetrating eyes. “Then what’s your name?”
She told him. “How about you? You tell me your name.”
He ought to have an Elkarian name. Something wise, yet imposing. Not too imposing like a thug, more like a hero. Darian, maybe?
“My name is Zayd.”
She admired his Elkarian hero forehead. Was she smiling?
Why am I happy all of a sudden?
Grass tingled her ankles; haze drifted between her and the man. The sky gleamed crystal. Drops of waterfall moistened her hair: sumptuous blue locks, kissing her shoulders.
“Is this Eden?” she asked.
Zayd raised his eyebrows. “Ah, no.” Thick Elkarian hero eyebrows.
“Are you an angel?”
He sighed, shook his head. “Listen, I need your help with something.”
“Oh. You helped me, so I can’t say no.”
He led her down a stone path into a grove of trees. Birds sang, but there were none to see. The sun at its zenith looked like a jewel on fire. A cottage appeared in the clearing.
“Is this your house?” Zauri asked. “It’s beautiful.”
He didn’t answer and kept walking.
Inside, everything was wooden. Zayd scavenged through drawers, cupboards, pots — apparently searching for something.
“It’s so cozy,” she said. “I wish I lived here.”
He was too busy to respond. She followed him into the bedroom.
There, he found what he was looking for, of all places, under a pillow on the bed. He presented it to her: an eight-sided star, made of stone.
“Lay— I mean Zauri. This is important. There’s a place I need to take you. This object is the key. We may not have much ti—”
On cue, she woke up. That world erased itself from her eyes, replaced by that same bed with the doctors of the Maymanah and its metal walls surrounding her.
This place was a dead zone. Kav could no longer see Layla’s position, but as he walked down the metal corridor, he felt closer.
The ground lightened. His head still ached from a few minutes ago, when inertia sent him flying into the ceiling. At least he’d broken Saina’s fall — again.
This ship hits the sky, and we ain’t getting off.
Like the outside, the interior paint job wasn’t complete. The walls hadn’t been fitted in, nor the floor. They walked on a grate, beneath which coursed tubes. Sunsinks hummed through wireframe walls. As if the designer intended to hide everything, but never got around to it.
“Stop,” he whispered to Saina. “Someone’s around the corner.”
Peaking into the next corridor, Kav saw two uniformed guards. Their fatigue was similar to that of the soldiers on the Elkarian ship — all black. Almarian, or rather Elkarian, faces.
“They’re Elkarian, like from that ship,” Kav said.
“Why are they here?” Saina’s irises glazed red. “They’re the worst.”
She reached for the blade sheathed in the belt of her Keldanese thug costume.
“Calm yourself.” Kav grabbed her arm. “You don’t know how to use that, so it won’t do you any good.”
“I do know. I used to fence twice a week with my dad, and he could take anyone. Even those Magi.”
By the way she gripped it diagonally at half an arm’s length, and the balance in her forward stance, she seemed to be telling the truth.
“You’re a bucket of surprises.”
“A bucket?”
Kav shifted his attention to the guards. “Guess it’s a dead zone for everyone, else they would’ve noticed us.”
“Hmm, I have an idea.”
They discussed it. Kav protested, but eventually broke down and agreed it was the best way to draw out the guards. He took his position on the other side of the hall, flat against the wall perpendicular to the corridor.
Saina took off that stupid hat and spread her hair out. “It’s way too hot in here.” She was a girl again, one who needed a bath though. She nodded to show she was ready.
That’s when she jumped out and shouted something in Kalamic. It sounded like “khesmmikhhhshh,” or at least it had a lot of “kh” and “sh” sounds. The guards ran toward her as she back stepped behind the wall.
Their boots clang-clang-clanged on the metal floor. Their shadows were here. Time to strike.
Kav slashed. Hit only air. Too slow. Four eyes bulged at him. One of the guards swung back. Kav defended; metal hit metal. The other conducted a beam at Kav’s arm. Burn. Fire grazed his shirt, flared for a moment.
Conduction, how the hell?
Saina stuck her blade in the conducting guard’s neck. Blood spewed out his mouth. His eyes inverted. He croaked and fell.
Kav pushed against the other guard; the deadlock broke. The guard stumbled, almost falling over the dead one’s body. He turned and ran. Kav chased. A yard away. A blade’s length away.
Flashbang. Eyes were scathed by light.
Sight returned. The guard had escaped. Saina’s blade dripped red. She held her eyes, stabbed by the flashbang.
“It hurts,” she cried. “Oww.”
How fragile. B
ut she’d killed that guard. A fragile tiger. She rubbed her eyes.
“It’s okay.” Kav put his hand on hers to make her stop. “You won that round.”
The red of her irises seeped into the whites of her eyes. She blinked rapidly.
“That one’s gonna alert the rest,” Kav said. “Let’s hurry.”
They walked to the end of the corridor. A bunch of doorways surrounded them, construction frames attached to each. Doors hadn’t even been fitted in — a skeleton of a ship. The Whisperer messaged him.
That was close. You realize, without Layla’s twicrys, you’re less than ordinary. Even the red-eyed girl is stronger than you. Turn to your right.
He did. A scene from a nightmare. Wires swallowed someone in the dark room to his right, her pale skin strangled beneath slithering tubes.
Layla?
A black mask covered her face, a coiled tube running out of it. Around each wire sucking on her body was an illuminated ring, all the color blue.
“Layla? Is it really you?”
The visible patches of skin were paler than milk. But she breathed.
“It has to be.”
Kav pulled a random wire. Stuck, it wouldn’t come out.
What to do? Kav glanced at Saina. Her hand covered her mouth, eyes transfixed.
What do I do? Help me.
No response.
Tell me what to do you manipulative bastard!
The Whisperer’s response wrote itself in his mind. Plug the Key into your aperture.
No, I won’t. I won’t chain myself to you.
Plug it in, or else you will be devoured by a vastly more capable being.
“You killed a brother, tsk tsk, not good, Kav.” An enemy appeared at the doorway. Unarmed, Almarian, middle-aged. “You don’t recognize me? Of course you wouldn’t.”
Deformed skin wrapped around his cheek; the man had no left ear, as if someone sliced it with a blunt knife. Kav pointed his blade at him. No way out but that doorway. Saina moved to his right, her blade drawn.
“It’s me! Asha!” the man said. “Only because the sun’s gone, I’ve lost my cloak. So you can see the real me, before you die.”
Plug it in. This is your chance!
I’ll protect her with my strength. I don’t need yours.
Instead of shadows, this “man” Asha wore torn robes. He grinned at Saina. “And this girl with you again! Kav, have you told her? Told her about your real mission?”