*
Unbeknownst to the inhabitants of the bunker, while they were trying to find safety, a great conflict had occurred several miles above them…
“You are coming close to breaking the rules, traitor.” The speaker was a young woman clothed in a bluish cloak with white wave-breaks on the hem. Her piercing sapphire eyes were fixed on the man who lay before her, floating unsupported in the air.
“Rules that were made to bind us, to make us weak, so that these vermin could infest our home? If I could, I would destroy the rules, and wipe these… things… off the face of the planet!”
“Words of treason from a traitor, how fitting.” Although the blue-eyed woman spoke in a calm and collected manner, inside she was trembling in fear. The man before her was casually speaking about destroying the cornerstone of their kind as if it were a troublesome chore. If they had not created the safeguards, he most likely would have already done so.
“And who are you to judge my actions? I have seen you speak with them! If anyone is breaking the rules, it is you and your meddlesome brother! Who are you to speak out against me?”
“Your sister, for starters. And we have only met them in the dreamscape, as is our way. While you have physically touched the world in order to harry them! The storm on the mountain was one thing, as it was already forming, but to warp nature to your own purposes, as you did here…” The blue-eyed woman was standing on a platform made of pure ice, hanging in the air. Although she did not need it to stay afloat, it comforted her to have a piece of her domain nearby.
“I have no sister. Nor do I have a brother. I cut my ties with you the day you sided with the vermin, and forsook your own blood!” His words cut deep, but the blue-eyed woman did not let the pain show. The thing that stood before her had been that way for a long time now, and she had already buried her anguish in action.
Far below, she watched as the mega storm crossed the last few miles to the crumbling city. There was nothing she could do for it, aside from turning her head. Even if it survived the tempest, it had already been marked for destruction. If the trio below did not hurry, they would find only rubble and hopelessness.
“Why are you doing this? Why are you targeting them?”
“Their destiny could impede my mission. Individually, they pose no threat to my vassal, but together, they are a threat that cannot be ignored. That is why they must die… that, and because I want to see the look on your face when your precious champion falls at my feet and begs for mercy, before I end him.”
“You are insane,” she said, surprisingly with a calm she did not feel. The thing casually threatening her had once been a loving, noble brother who had been steadfast in his defence and care of humanity. But he had been twisted by something, becoming the monster who now sought their extinction. With hair the colour of dried blood; soulless grey eyes and pale, cadaverous skin, he now even looked the part.
“Insane? No. I am the most sane entity on the planet! Only I can see what must be done, if we wish to reclaim our homeland! Do you remember, dearest sister, how it was taken from us? How it was stolen by the very same vermin that you are trying to save! And then, after they had taken it, they destroyed it with their filth! If you think that I am insane, then what does that make them?”
The blue-eyed woman knew that trying to reason with him was pointless, but she tried nonetheless, spurred on by the memory of what had once been.
“Have they not been punished enough? I don’t deny that they hurt the planet, but they have already paid their penance with their pain. Even now, their kind barely clings to suspended life! I believe that they can change their ways, if you would just give them a chance! Please, for those of us you once called family, will you show leniency?”
The man with dead eyes laughed then, a cruel, vicious laugh that caused a dozen lightning bolts to suddenly form and discharge in the clear blue sky.
“Leniency? Clearly you have been spending too much time amongst the vermin. Pests will always be pests, and you can either exterminate them or do nothing and let them consume everything! No, sister, I will not show leniency, and I will not stop until their pathetic race has been reduced to ash. As long as one human heart still beats, I will not rest! My vengeance will be absolute!”
As he spoke, a hundred more bolts formed and fell towards the surface. The placid air became frenzied, and she was forced to use her powers to remain stable. He was beyond negotiations, beyond salvation. But he was not beyond death, if that was what it took…
With nothing left to say to his former sister, the man faded from view, as if he had been nothing more than a terrifying mirage. The blue-eyed woman glanced below, her unnatural eyes focusing on a solitary hill with an out-of-place piece of metal jutting from one end. Surrounding it were dozens of fires, the results of the man’s violent outburst. If left unchecked, they could threaten her charge…
Focusing her will, she flicked her wrist in the direction of the fires, killing them with miniature water spouts. As she glided away, the ice becoming a glistening bridge in the afternoon sunlight, she reflected on what her former brother had said.
“They need someone to guide them, to make sure that they do not stray from their path. Something not bound by our rules, something that can change their fates if need be… Their mission is too important for them to fail, and I will make sure that they do not…”
Still musing on what needed to be done, the woman vanished from sight, her frozen walkway evaporating soon after.
Awakening Page 55