Anais Eternal

by Paige Graffunder

  "We have all suffered, maybe none more so than the Himlani at this table, and in the rooms beyond this one. The ones deemed inferior by their own people. This will not stand; no one in this room is inferior. We are all mighty, and we will be heard." At this, a round of cheers and whoops went up from around the table. I smiled but soldiered on.

  "The Fae are a powerful and ancient race, but we are hindered from helping to our full ability by the sensor grid on this planet that detects our magic. Our next target is that grid. With the information gathered from the Invasion Ship above us, we now know that it is a broadcast signal attuned to our magic. We need to bring that signal down or manipulate the settings to ensure that it no longer hunts the Fae.

  "I have sent the information that we have gathered to all your terminals, and I am open to suggestions on how to best go about this. Please come to me with ideas. Before we do anything else, however, we must complete our mission on this ship. From the reports that you all have sent me it appears as though the Himlani commander that was holding my sister hostage is leading the resistance force that we have met on the ship. They need to be eliminated. As always, I leave the dealing of prisoners to your discretion. If a Himlani wants to surrender and join our ranks that's fine, but they will need to be detained for a time until Cylvre can disable their implants and code them to our system, so they can't be used as involuntary spies. If they do not leave or join us, they die. I wish there was a third option that didn't spill blood, but there is no way to heal a zealot.

  "The only exception is The Monster. There will be no aid or succor for that one. Once this ship is under our full control, that is when we move on to the next step."

  I stepped back and Etachs took up where I had left off, explaining how we would turn this ship and the facility we were currently standing in into our base of operations. How we would move in on the other ships, as we did in this one, from the underground. There were Fae or Human structures like this one within 100 miles of almost every invasion ship. The sheer number of them had startled me at first, but it made sense. Fae and Humans alike were often secretive. Of course, we would hide out of view of the sky whenever possible. Perhaps then whatever Gods there were would not see the things we did.

  Etachs and Tatiana and I would certainly stay to see the final part of this ship’s mission completed. I wanted to kill The Monster myself, but once that was done, the three of us would be breaking off. There were things I had to do to ensure that this was a fight that could be won. Things that I needed to understand about myself to ensure our victory, and I could not do that on the scraps left by my grandmother alone. I had to go to the source. I had to seek out Nysthrani. I dreaded telling this group that had followed me so willingly, that had loved me so well, what must come next. I had to leave them in order to better help them, it had to be done, but the bitter taste of it was cloying and sickly inside my mouth.

  Once our tactical conversation was over, I sat down at the table, my fingers laced together. "There is more that we have to discuss," I began, "and it is not going to be easy for me to say, or for you to hear." I laid out my intentions to them. Etachs, Tatiana, and myself would break off from the main host in search of Nysthrani, once I had learned the full potential of my gift, we would return to rejoin the fight. The table erupted in questions and objections. I lifted my hand and silence fell.

  "We are not abandoning you, but as all of you know, my magic is different and what I am able to do with it is not the extent of it. I need to go to The Oracle to learn more." The Fae sitting around the table blanched.

  One of the Fae, a small waif of a girl, with deep umber skin and honey-brown eyes, named Anaborhi, turned those marvelous eyes up to me, her angular cheekbones highlighted by the fluorescent lights of this room. Her face was made of power and angular perfection, but inside that gaze there was fear. "You speak of Nysthrani?"

  I nodded.

  "That is madness. That thing is not to be trifled with. My people have stories about her vicious enough to make blood turn to ice. She is no friend to us."

  "Perhaps not, but I was taken to her as a youngling, and was claimed as her own. My mother wrote it in a letter to my sister before the Devastation. If she knows more about my gifts, I must try to learn something of what she knows. I know I can be more useful than I have been, and I want to do all that I can to help our cause, even if that means leaving for a time."

  "How do we know that you will come back?" asked a quiet voice belonging to a Human man reclaimed from one of the first farms we had liberated. Some of them had chosen names, but this one, his body hairless due to the modifications made to his genome by the Himlani, still chose to go by his call number. I turned to him; my brows lifted.

  "Do I strike you as the kind of person to abandon a war I started?"

  "No," 18124Y replied. "But you came here to free your sister, and now that we have her, you are going to leave. That doesn't seem like the leader I signed up to follow."

  "My grandmother was able to do remarkable things with her magic and, from what I can tell, she only had a fraction of what I do. The Manuhiri magic is different from that of the Fae, but how, I am not entirely sure. Other than the Himlani cannot see it but are affected by it. Through my own study, I have been able to learn some of what I am capable of, the healing, the communion, but I am limited by my own ignorance. I leave only so that I might return a better resource. I will not abandon this fight."

  "Then leave the other two," 18124Y retorted.

  "What?"

  "If you truly intend to return, then leave Tatiana and Etachs behind as resources for us."

  "My family is not a resource."

  "They are when it comes to this fight, this stand. We all are."

  "No."

  "Then I have no faith that you will return." 18124Y and I glared at each other from across the table. Silence filled the room, thick as water.

  "I will stay," said Etachs.

  "No," I said immediately.

  "Yes," Etachs said, calmly placing their hand over mine. "18124Y is right. I will stay, and you and Tatiana will go."

  "The other Fae should remain as well," said 18124Y, stubbornly.

  "She was just reunited with her sister," said Etachs. "I would not see them torn asunder again so soon. Plus, alone in the wilds is not a fate I would wish on anyone. We all need someone to watch our backs. The two of them together are much more likely to survive than either one on their own."

  "I don't want to go without you," I said to Etachs.

  "You will have to," was all they replied.

  The meeting continued, and no other words were spoken on the subject. As Etachs and I left Mess Hall D to gear up and finish taking the rest of the ship, I pulled them into the Medical Bay where Tati was still slumbering. In a harsh whisper, I demanded, "What the hell is the matter with you?"

  Their eyes darted towards Tatiana's prone form— Ayesha roosting on her chest— then back to me. "I did what I had to do, Ana, it is unreasonable to expect that the three of us can be together all the time. You have had nigh on a year with just me. It is time for you to do what is necessary. Tatiana will keep you safe as she has done all her life. Between Tati and I, you could stand to miss me for a few months to a year. You would survive losing me. You started a war to not lose her."

  "I would start wars for you too."

  "I know that, but they need a token of good faith, and I can be that."

  "But..."

  "But nothing, Ana. Love you as I do, and as reluctant as I am to be parted from you, this is important, and we need to be on the same page about it. I am staying to keep the faith with the people that we need to get this done, Himlani, Fae, and Human alike. If it looks like we are all leaving, who knows how long the center will hold. One of us has to be here to move us forward with this mission. As much as I will miss you and Tati, this is not a time for selfishness."

  I stood there, staring at them, eyes wide. They had said a lot of words, but my mind was spinning on just one
. Love. They had said love. They love me. I heaved a sigh and looked over at Tatiana.

  "We can talk about this after this is done. For now, we need to get back to the fight."

  "I agree, but in this, there is nothing further to discuss, Ana, I have made my mind up."

  "We should leave a note for Tatiana, and make sure it is a Human or Fae face that she sees upon waking A lot has changed and old habits die hard, especially when she hasn't had the time to trust the Himlani we have here like you and I have."

  "Agreed."

  I crossed to the cabinet and found paper and a pencil. Most of the ink pens that we had found had long since dried and desiccated, so pencils served our purposes. I wrote a note to Tatiana explaining where Etachs and I were going and that we would return for more conversation. After putting it on the bed beside her, Etachs and I both bent to kiss her brow and then departed to gear up to rejoin the fighting.

  Etachs and I moved through the ship with lethal grace. I concealed the two of us, plus six more Fae and Humans. We moved through the already conquered parts of the ship, rousting out survivors and those who had managed to lurk and hide. A small swarm of converted Sentinels whizzed around our heads, taking data as we went, helping us suss out any remaining hidden Himlani. We always gave them the choice. Most chose poorly and met with whatever gods they held, swiftly and without mercy.

  We approached The Monster's stronghold. They had barricaded themselves and about 42 surviving Himlani into the flight deck of the original ship. The rest was ours. We wound our way through the halls and passageways guided by the tablet Hyejin held. Hyejin was Fae, slight and silent, speaking only when she had to in the clipped tones of someone who, like me, had lived most of her life after the Devastation. She was younger than most of the Fae, as her parents had been in an up-high city above another continent, and had fled during the Devastation in an airship, where they were able to keep out of range of the Himlani sensor net for most of her life. How she had ended up here, I had no idea. She never spoke about it, so I never asked. Her upturned onyx eyes held the kind of haunted knowledge that could only mean one thing. She had her long ebony bone straight hair tied into a knot at the back of her head, ready for the messy business of bringing death.

  We approached the blast doors and through our Sentinel scans we knew they had barricaded the door from the inside as well. A breach team stood by waiting for my command to enter. I decloaked myself and my team as we joined the rest of our battalion. They cleared the way for our strike team, and I marched right up to the door, black blood splattered over my clothing. The Himlani that had surrendered had already been shepherded out. It was just us, the holdouts on the other side left, and soon it would be only us.

  I put my hand to the blast door, and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I sank through the door in search of a set of eyes to get a good look around with. I found my target, a younger Himlani, and forced my way into their mind. Their feeble defenses were no match for me, and I tore into their consciousness like a marathon runner through ticker tape. I blinked and took a look around. The Monster was there, as were the remaining Himlani we had seen through our Sentinel sweeps. The Monster was hunched over a terminal, but from the vantage point of the Himlani I was occupying, I could not see what they were doing.

  Only about 10 of them were armed with Rounders, but all Himlani were armed in truth, with their claws and teeth, and through these long months we had learned that most were willing to use them. I pushed my mental fingers into the soft grey matter of this young one's brain, hunting for information while keeping their mouth clamped shut against any sound of struggle. The Monster had said they had a plan but did not elaborate. It was now or never. I withdrew from the youngling's mind, gasping in air as I returned to myself. I relayed the information to Etachs, who cupped a hand to their ear, calling for Kai and Twyla to come forward.

  In just a few moments, the two rounded the corner, toting a small plastic crate between them. They dropped the crate against the blast door and flipped the lid. Kai crouched before it, their claws dancing over a small instrument panel, and then looked up at me, their grin wide and terrible.

  "I'd suggest moving around a corner at the least. You've got 20 seconds to do it." The group by the door scattered around the corner and down the hallways. I put up a shield between us and the door to the flightdeck, hoping to contain the blast as much as possible, keeping constant tabs on the magic reservoir within me, to make sure that I didn't exhaust myself as I had before.

  I counted down in my head and as I reached one, a concussive blast sounded from the crate, my magic taking the brunt of the force. I squeezed my eyes shut against the effort of keeping it intact. As soon as the barrage of fire began to lessen, I dropped the shield and the Sentinel drones swept in, their whirring nearly inaudible over the crackling of the fire and the coughing and shouts from inside.

  "Ten down, a few more injured, move!" Hyejin reported as soon as the data from our Sentinels populated on the terminal in her hands. She turned her eyes up to me and our gazes met briefly. She was ready for retribution, the need for it written clearly on her face.

  I nocked an arrow in my bow and we surged forward. I made it into the room, Etachs right behind me, but Hyejin slammed into an invisible wall and fell backward into the rest. Etachs and I glanced behind us at the Fae blinking up at us from behind an invisible barrier. We had no time to wonder further as the Himlani in the room were on us. I ducked as Etachs swung their staff, the heavy shaft of wood connecting with a charging Himlani's head with a sickening crack. My gaze darted around the room as I drew back my bowstring, sighting an Enforcer on the other side of the room raising their Rounder at Etachs. Before they even noticed I was aiming at them, they crumpled to the floor, the oak shaft of my arrow protruding grotesquely from their eye socket.

  Etachs shifted their staff to their left hand, striking out with the claws of their right, opening the throat of a Technician who had made the very poor decision to charge us with a knife. Their black lifeblood sprayed over us, adding to our hideous war paint, warm and still thrumming with life. I rolled forward away from Etachs, finding my feet, and unleashed two more arrows as my momentum carried me further into the room. It was not a large space, but big enough that the nearly 50 Himlani that were here had not been crowded. I was vaguely aware that the others were banging on the invisible barrier and shouting, but I was lost to the rage, to the bloodlust, sharp, unglamoured teeth bared as I snarled, dealing death with every movement.

  Etachs was taking on a group of four Technicians and I dropped the remaining three Hunters wielding Rounders, narrowly missing taking a shot to the chest, but catching one in my leg. I screamed in mingled rage and pain, as it paralyzed my leg. I ripped it free from my flesh, my magic-filled blood seeping into the wound. As I straightened, I made eye contact with The Monster across the room, and it was as if the cacophonous sounds of battle had been put on mute. All the air left the room, and it was just me and them. Staring at each other, a second that may have stretched on for years. I looked into the face of the one that had tortured my sister, and they looked into the face of death.

  My rage boiled over, and I screamed as my magic did something it had never done before. Without asking for my permission or clearance, it burst through me like a tidal wave of ice, shredding all in the room. I felt it rip itself out of me, torn from my blood, my lungs, my very soul. It was short, over as soon as it had started, but the core of me was left dim. Still there, still alive, but just barely. I realized I was doubled over, one knee pressed into the metal floor, and that someone was laughing. I looked up and saw it was The Monster. They held the young Himlani that I had invaded before them, the look of shock and horrified betrayal still written plainly on the young one's face as The Monster let their limp and lifeless body crash to the floor.

  "I will kill you!" I growled, pushing myself to my feet, teeth bared, black blood dripping from the ends of my hair.

  "Kill me or save the defect, the choice
is yours," The Monster purred. Confused, I looked around and saw Etachs.

  Oh, no! Etachs!

  My magic had not spared them, they were lacerated from head to foot, their face a mass of blood and gore. I felt my gorge rise in the back of my throat as my heart shattered into a million glittering pieces like a glass ground down to sand, never to hold wine again. There was no choice. As I turned away from the Monster, and ran to Etachs, I felt them weakly tug the bond between us.

  Kill them, so I will not have died for nothing.

  A wail rose in my throat. I loosed every arrow I had left at The Monster as I sprinted towards Etachs, slipping in their blood and falling to the floor before them, landing heavily on the leg still tingling from the Rounder fire I had taken. I put my hands to their hair and fed my magic into them, Manuhiri and Fae alike, mingling them, mixing them, praying to every God whose name I could remember that it would be enough.

  The Monster laughed, a sound that held no warmth, only wicked ice and venom. They turned away from the scene, their fingers punching something into the terminal before them. I lifted my agonized face to watch a sphere of metal snap closed around their malevolent face. Our eyes met for an instant before they disappeared inside the sphere. They shouted, "I'll be back for you, little Fae. Mark my name, for it will be the last you ever hear. Thrixx will be the last shadow that ever falls across your path." Before I could say a word, the sphere had snapped closed and shot out of the ceiling, gone in an instant.

  Epilogue

  Etachs sat on the roof of what was left of the conquered invasion ship, their legs folded neatly behind them. Their hands wrapped loosely around the letter they had read a thousand times before and would read a thousand times again. Where they had been mostly silvery blue with mottled bronze before they now looked like a statue cast in copper. Even one of their eyes was no longer the nebulous violet orb it had once been, in its stead a functional sphere of glitter gold. Their hair too was now streaked and highlighted with reddish-brown locks where their scalp had been destroyed.