by S King
“Here’s what’s going to happen, Bravo enter through the northern hemisphere and take down as many aircrafts as you can. Victor, you’re taking over the southern arena the Eynos are going to be expecting our aircrafts to strike them from the rear, so you’ll have ample opportunity to take out the muscle. Delta, you’re with me and Freyer,” I glanced to my right to find Emric staring down the warriors. “we’re going to be coming in at the north and Zulu,” I looked up, only to lock eyes with a pissed off Xerminara looking at me like I was her next target, “you’ll be taking the eastern entrance. The Eynos are loading their assaults in the far corner of the border, attack their arsenal hard and fast and do not allow them to overpower your abilities.”
I handed over the handheld to Emric and grabbed my combat gloves as Emric issued out his final directions.
“Move out!” I ordered, catching sight of the mechanics that were responsible for the repairs of the Citlail and Magdolonians.
“Go ahead and lead the troop out, I’ll be there in a moment.” I said to Emric, already walking toward the mechanics.
“Orrie, what’s going on with the aircrafts?” I stared at the Citlail that the mechanics were working on. The front end of the thing was completely demolished and didn’t appear to be anywhere near ready for flight let alone battle.
Orrie sighed, tossing the rag stained with oil down, “whoever—”
A certain rose scented mist hit my senses and caused me to hold my hand up to stop him. Turning around I felt my heart fall through my stomach and out of my body. Coming into the base entrance with the purple flecks swallowing the rose pink of his eyes was Eikko.
“What’re you doing here?” I hissed through my teeth as I grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the prying eyes and ears of the mechanics.
He raised a brow at me, “I was worried about you and besides that I did my research.” A satisfied smile crossed his face as he looked at me, “Eynos have an allergy to water. I just so happen to harbor water through my veins like you and your fire. I can be of great use, Ostana.”
“No, you won’t. The last thing I need is to worry about your safety when you’ve never had a day on the battlefield. Go back to the domicile and wait for my return.”
“How would you know what I’ve been through?” He closed the distance between us, leaning down to whisper in my ear, “I’m surprised that you’d actually be worried about my safety. Then again, how would we have our date if I’m dead?”
He kissed the side of my neck before straightening and thanking a mechanic for a combat vest.
Stunned, I watched him get dressed for the battlefield and started for the exit to the battlefield. What in the hell was happening?
“Um, Major?” Orrie cautiously came up beside me and watched Eikko stand at the edge of the battlefield as if he were waiting for me to join him.
“What?”
“I didn’t want to say anything, but it seems that Eikko has developed some dangerous feelings for you. Do you really think that it’s wise to take him onto the battlefield with you?”
I crossed my arms over my chest; in Padrieg no one had the ability to wield water. It was either wind or fire taking over the Eynos with force, not water or handsome men from Parlan. Then again, we were already breaking all of the rules as it were; so, what was one more rule broken in an already confused society?
“What’s wise anymore?” I glanced at Orrie before motioning to the Citlails, “get these fixed now. Padrieg can’t hold onto its stronghold forever.”
“Yes ma’am,” Orrie started barking out orders as I grabbed Eikko’s arm and turned him to me.
“You get in the way or get hurt it’s my ass on the line. That means—”
He held up his hand as a devious smirk crossed his face, “that means that I have to protect myself and stay out of the way. Don’t worry, I got this,” turning toward the battlefield with his purple eyes glowing he smiled, “shall we get to it then?”
The arrogant ass. I hid my smile behind an eye roll and pressed my communicator to get a location on Emric.
“Fifty clicks out to the North, we could use a little fire power right about now.” The shrilling sound of the Eynos being slaughtered rang over Emric’s grunts through the communicator.
Taking off with Eikko behind me I allowed the white flames to race up my arms, taking down the few seven eyed bastards that had broken through the defense barricade of my Delta team. I had to give it to Eikko, for the few Eynos that I missed he vaporized then with freezing ice pellets and a quick splash of water.
The rose scented drops mingled with the oil stench of blood and fermented the air like a bad parfem. Spinning around with my flames following me like a skirt, I extinguished several of the seven eyed bastards within a minuta, strangely the ones that I missed, Eikko was right there to fill the gap for me.
“It’s refreshing to have someone right behind you, isn’t it?” Eikko was holding an Eyno up by its throat and staring at it as it squirmed.
Ducking out of the way a blackened spear and venom, I glanced at him, “why are you just staring at that thing? Just kill it already.” I threw two wind slicing blades in time to catch the Eynos coming at my left and right.
“I’ve never seen one of these things,” he tilted the Eyno this way and that, looking at each of its seven eyes.
A razor like mouth that always reminded me of a gree worm snapped toward his face while talon tipped claws scratched blindly in the air. This particular Eyno didn’t have skin, only torn muscle shedding from a mucus covered skeleton. The side of its head exposed nothing more than the inner workings of its body central command post. Its brain was covered with maggots and other creepy crawlers that belonged in the research district.
Getting fed up with Eikko staring at the thing I sent a flying angel toward the Eyno’s puss and watched it exploded black inky blood over Eikko.
“Hey!” He dropped what was left of the adversary and spun on me, “could you not have waited until I put it down?”
Spinning with a wind slicing blade in my hand, I sliced three Eynos from chest to chest before answering. “I told you to put it down.” I glanced at the sky, catching sight of the Eyno aircraft coming our way with a lowering under belly showing off the arsenal.
“Watch out!” Diving to the side with Eikko’s wrist clasped in my hand. We hit the soft terrain right before the bomb went off just before the earth shook from the assault.
My ears began ringing at a high pitch that couldn’t be ignored. Coupled with my communicator that was implanted in my ear canal, I had to clench my teeth against the high squeal. As I opened my eyes, I saw Eikko shaking his head and wiping away the Eyno blood from his eyes.
“Are you ok?” He asked, crawling over to me.
I had to read his lips to know what he was saying and nodded, “you?”
“Great, just great,” helping me up, he looked around the battlefield and frowned. “Are they aware that they just killed half of their people?”
Sending a flying angel to my left at a new set of Eynos I growled, “they’re not smart enough to comprehend that.”
“Ostana!” My communicator was still fuzzy from the explosion, but I knew Emric’s panicked voice from anywhere.
“Talk to me,” I pushed Eikko out of the way of a screeching Eyno and ended the thing with one slice across its chest.
“Xerminara is hit! Get to the western corner now!”
For the second time in less than two sati my heart fell into my stomach. Letting my body get engulfed in white flames, I took off toward the western corner where Xerminara was.
I knew that something like this would happen; I fucking knew it and what happened? The exact thing that I was afraid of. Xerminara was more than likely trying to take on too many attacks than she could handle while also watching out for Claud.
She couldn’t divert her attention like the rest of us, especially when she was using her wind ability. To my surprise, her and the others were still hanging on to th
eir power, even though it wasn’t as strong as it had been when we first came onto the battlefield.
Skidding to a halt and letting my flames die out, I saw her. Laying in the damp grass, covered in soot and blood was Xerminara. Her once gleaming strawberry blonde hair was now bordering on brown while blood ran from a nasty looking cut in her forehead; black smoke hissed up from her abdomen and throat like an overcooked chicken. She was attacked with an Eyno blade, the deadliest thing one could run into when going hand-to-hand against one of the seven eyed assholes.
“Ana,” her croaked voice was nearly unrecognizable as bombs and battle cries filled the air around us.
Dropping to my knees, I assessed her wounds, “you’re going to be fine. I promise, you’re going to be ok.”
A lie. One that we had told to, I didn’t know how many other comrades on the battlefield, but now it was Xerminara's turn. We both knew that she was going to die within the next few minuta and there wasn’t a damn thing me or anyone else could do about it.
A chocked laugh escaped her as blood bubbled up from her mouth and came out from the corners. “I’m ok, but,” she gasped for breath, turning her frightened tangerine eyes to the darkening purple sky. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Ana.”
Shaking my head, feeling a prickling behind my eyes as I put pressure on her wounds, I said, “I’m sorry. We can talk about it later, ok? Just…just…just hang in there with me. We have to celebrate your marriage the right way.”
A small, painful smile tugged at her lips, “can you promise me something before I go dance on the clouds?”
I closed my eyes not liking where she was taking this conversation, “what?”
“Find your happiness, ok? I—” she coughed up blood, turning her head away from me as a slow river of the metallic silver liquid seeped from her mouth. “I just want you to be happy, Ana.”
Nodding, I pressed my communicator, “Claud get to my coordinates now.” I didn’t give him a chance to ask where or why, because Xerminara was saying something that I needed to focus on.
“…even if it’s with Eikko or Emric. Find your happiness; don’t let your reports and flames take the place of another person. Promise me?”
I couldn’t do anything but nod as Claud burst from the tree line and fell to his knees as he took Xerminara in his arms.
“Hey,” he tried to smile at her as she took in desperate breaths, “hey, are you trying to leave me already?”
I stood up, stepping back from them to let them have their privacy. The last time they would have time together.
Eikko stood beside me with a heartfelt look of pain and agony coming over his handsome face.
I would do anything to take away the pain that Claud, Xerminara, and Eikko were experiencing. I would take all of it from the three of them, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything that would relieve them of the pain that they were currently experiencing and that hurt me worse than if I took an Eyno blade to the face.
I clenched my teeth, watching Claud hold onto Xerminara.
“Death is not the end of our story,” she gurgled as the light began to fade away from her eyes.
“Nara,” Claud shook her lifeless body, tears streaming down his face as red bombs continued to go off behind us.
Eikko placed a hand on my shoulder, knowing that I wasn’t going to shed my tears in front of anyone. Not on the battlefield, not when we were being attacked; I closed my eyes for a moment before my instincts took over and I grabbed Claud’s shoulder.
“We have to go,” letting a fire angel ignite in my hand, I met his defiant look with my commanding on, “we will come back for her, but right now,” I held the fire angel closer to his face, “we have to go.”
His ice blonde hair was dirtied by the soot and ash from our battle while his fire eyes bled for the loss he was experiencing. Finally, he relented before taking a final look at Xerminara’s slowly freezing body.
“I’ll take the west you take the east,” I let my arms become encased with my white flames, “come back to her.”
Claud nodded, taking off after his own red flames encased him.
“What do I do?” I had almost forgotten about Eikko and the implication he had placed on me for being here.
Rubbing my forehead and calculating the danger he would be in if he stayed with Xerminara versus coming with me.
“Stay with Nara,” like I did to Claud, I held a fire angel to his face, “protect her form at all costs and do not get killed.”
He smirked, looking at the angel dancing in my hand, “you say that like I would choose death rather than staying with you.” Before I could react, he kissed my cheek and took Xerminara’s body out of an oncoming wind throwing harpoon before disappearing into a hidden bunker.
Even with their seven eyes, the Eynos had yet to discover Padrieg’s little hideaways on the battlefield. I was thankful that Eikko was smart enough to cover himself and my best friend within the confines of the bunker.
Hearing another bomb go off, this one closer than the last, I said a final prayer to the high heavens and forced my legs to carry me as fast as they could to the northern side of the battlefield.
It took the entire Padrieg military to push the remaining Eynos into the red sun territory and stay there. When I killed the last of the Eynos in front of me, I fell to the grass and closed my eyes.
Xerminara was gone, I’d lost almost a quarter of my warriors and I still didn’t know if Eikko was alive. At the thought of the Parlan man, I rolled my tired body over, getting up from the grass and going back through the battlefield to get my ward and my best friend back home where they belonged.
“Major Shaye,” a warrior pulled himself from under another fallen comrade and looked at me with bloodshot eyes, “can you tell me if we’re done for the nakti?”
I nodded, “you’re dismissed, vojnik.” I gave him a salute of respect before continuing my way to the hidden bunker that Eikko and Xerminara's body were in.
Emric was already ordering the cleanup of our warriors’ bodies to those still standing as I picked my way through the destroyed carcasses of Eynos and what was left of the men and women from my unit. It was a horrible scene that would be engraved in my mind forever, but I couldn’t worry about that right now.
“Eikko?” I kept my flames at bay. Even though I knew in my heart of hearts that the Eynos weren’t smart enough to devise sophisticated plans of attack, but I wouldn’t put it past them to hide and then jump out.
The cover tarp moved for a moment before going still again, only for Eikko to knock it way with a blast of water. Ducking out of the way of the spray, I let out a breath of relief. He was still standing and Xerminara was still in one piece. As I looked at her, I promised to fulfill her final wish for me, even if I didn’t know how I was going to make it happen.
“You’re still breathing,” Eikko said looking relieved to see me standing above him.
I smirked turning my gaze to him, “so are you.”
“I couldn’t let you go through this alone,” he climbed out of the bunker, unsure whether or not to move Xerminara's body.
“It’s Claud's duty to move her,” I wiped my arm across my forehead and stared at my friend’s body, “thank you for protecting her.”
He wrapped an arm around me and kissed my bloody hair, “you’d do the same for me. Besides, I know what you mean now when you tell me to stay home.”
Quickly, I searched my brain for what he was trying to tell me and pieced together the statement with what I said in the past. He was telling me that I was right about telling him to stay home and for once, I knew what it felt like to be told that I was right, and he had misjudged my reasoning.
I smirked, “glad that you understand now.”
Claud dragged his body over to where Eikko and I stood, staring down at his new bride.
“She looks like she’s free,” he whispered.
“She’s better now,” I breathed, trying to think of something that would make him feel better.
But like my fire that ran through my veins. I had nothing.
“I’ll take her back,” he said moving forward on numb legs.
I bid him a pleasant skies along with a condolence for his loss before taking Eikko out of the battlefield and back to the domicile units.
As much as it killed me to walk away from Xerminara and Claud, the rules of the society were ingrained in me like a tattoo. I had to get back to my office and file the reports from the battle and that meant that I didn’t have time to grieve for either of them.
By the time that I finished the reports, approvals for ground strikes and ordered the units to move in shifts on the Eynos, I couldn’t stand to look at anymore paperwork or stabbing my finger for blood.