Awakening

by Hayden Pearton

Chapter VIII: Hostile Welcome

  In which bonds are forged...

  It was later that night, and Kingston was restless. The stars far above told him that it was too early to wake, even though he desperately wanted to discuss the strange dream he had had only minutes before. It had not felt like any dream he had ever had, and he could still remember every detail whenever he closed his eyes. A part of him hoped that it had been real, yet at the same time he desperately wished for it to have been no more than a dream.

  However, Kingston was not a particularly imaginative man. He doubted that his mind could have created the things he had seen. Universes being born, ancient entities guiding his ancestors, the fate of all mankind entrusted to two children, a hermit and a re-mech.

  “Please let it have been a dream…” he thought, praying for a miracle.

  When no voice from the heavens spoke, he turned on his side, facing Barsch. Had the boy really been there? Had the girl?

  “I wonder which would be worse…”

  A sudden movement to his left drew his gaze, his imagination immediately filling his head with images of phantasmal enemies, however, what lay there was a friend... well, it wasn’t an enemy at least. At seeing Alza’s long white locks, Kingston almost called out to her, but stopped once he saw her face. Her lids drooped heavily over her eyes, and her sluggish movements suggested that perhaps she wasn’t to be disturbed. He watched as she, in her sleep-walking state, gradually made her way to Barsch’s sleeping figure. He almost stood and stopped her then, but he allowed his rational mind to get a word in.

  “If Barsch trusts her, so do I... up till a point anyway.”

  She knelt and began to loosen Barsch’s pants. Colour immediately flushed Kingston’s grandfatherly face, as he thought, “Honestly, kids these days! Filled from head to toe with hormones and nothing to do with them!”

  However, he suddenly remembered who he was talking about, and any thought of Alza acting like a normal teenager was obliterated from his mind. Instead, she seemed to be focusing on his leg, for reasons that were soon made apparent. There, just below Barsch’s knee, festered a horrific wound. It was a vile thing, filling the air with a sickly-sweet scent. For the boy to have endured such a thing was extraordinary. Alza gave no sign of disgust, nor did she block her nose against the putrid smell.

  Instead, she placed her hands over the wound and began to murmur. Her eyes took on an iridescent glow and her hair began to whip to and fro. Light enveloped her open hands, a pale blue which wrapped around the laceration. If Kingston had not seen it with his own eyes, he would have never believed it. The broken bone melted and reformed, regaining its rightful appearance. The nerves and veins twisted and sought out others of their like.

  As they wriggled into place, Kingston saw fresh, healthy blood begin to pulsate in their vessels. The skin above the bone knitted together like a tapestry from the old ages, and once it was whole not a single mark was left to tell of the damage that had once been. The Healing completed, Alza stood once more and returned to her place of rest, quickly returning to a sleeping state.

  Kingston lay there for several minutes, mind not daring to think. He had known that Alza was… different, but this went far beyond his expectations. If she could lift re-mechs with her mind and heal fractures in seconds, what else was she capable of? He did not want to find out what would happen if she ever turned on them.

  His eyes fell on Barsch’s face, now no longer grimacing in pain. No, he decided, he would not tell Barsch what he had seen. Nor would he share his suspicions about Alza’s true nature. The boy was entitled to his hope, his belief that Alza was simply a strange girl trying to recover her memories. Kingston would not… could not, steal the hope from his eyes.

  However, if Alza proved to be a threat to the boy… then, regrettably, she would have to be… dealt with.