The Reaping Season

by Sarah Stirling

The soldier halted, looking to the sky. “What are those things?”

  “Why don’t you find out?”

  With a flick of his wrist he expelled the energy in a crack of thunder, gesturing a silent command to his subjects to go forth. Take them. The sky roiled, groaning as if it sagged beneath the weight of his power. Find your connection to this world. Take what is yours. Lights flashed like crashing meteors in the sky and then hit each soldier one by one, their eyes and mouths streaming coloured lights. The lieutenant was taken last, forced to watch his men before a glowing form struck him in the chest. Viktor watched silently as fear was replaced with the slack expression of a man possessed. His men.

  Felled by the creatures within, the soldiers screamed as they burned from the inside out. The human body wasn’t meant to take the kind of unnatural power that came from the realm beyond. Only a bond forged carefully, properly, with the consent of the host could survive the changes happening inside their bodies. The decay was happening quickly, some already dripping skin and flesh from the bone.

  Viktor turned to leave them to their fates when his eyes fell on a lone figure standing a few feet from him, her face veiled in blood red light as she stared at the scene, mouth agape. Rook. Feeling crashed back into him at the same time as exhaustion did and his knees buckled under the weight. He managed to stumble upright again, only for a solid weight to smack into his back and send him careening to the floor.

  When he rolled and scratched his hands out at his assailant, he stopped short at the man pinning him down. Janus. His features were cold as he dug nails into flesh hard enough for blood to well up on his wrists, a knee pressed into the flesh of his abdomen.

  “Don’t move,” was uttered in a whisper of cloves and tobacco.

  “I thought you were gone.” He had meant to bite but his voice sounded exhausted. What had come over him? The anger building in him had been uncontrollable. Sweet. Euphoric. Now he just felt empty.

  “Was. I’m here now.”

  Viktor heard a scream and whipped his head around to watch the glint of metal in the light. There was Rook, swinging her blades again and again in flashes of silvery light. Energy flared around her as she struck each soldier down with a cry that pierced the night. Viktor could taste her anguish; her grief. She had been forced to kill again. She had been forced to use her sacred blades on flesh, causing blood to pool in the cracks between the stone tiles of the square. It flowed towards him, like a map of his own destruction. Like pointing a finger at the culprit. Here he is.

  The older solider – the lieutenant – struck out at Rook with inhuman reflexes, his aura flaring a deep blue. Viktor choked on an exclamation as she staggered back, bracing herself before she lunged again, slicing into his neck. Blood sprayed but it did not stop him from striking her again. Even with her abilities she was clearly outnumbered by so many of them, struggling to fight them all at once. He had done this. Viktor had done this.

  With a weak protest of his restraints, he tried to reach out in her direction. His distress reconnected him to the trough of his power but it felt weaker, flickering, slipping out of his grip like jellied eels. Viktor gritted his teeth and pushed down harder, forcing the fire up, up, up, until he was burning with it again. The more it burned the less he was able to think, everything hazy and painless. An indescribable anger was percolating inside him, his purpose falling from his thoughts until the flare of that cold but familiar aura broke the cloud of his mind.

  Rook. She was still battling the possessed soldiers, hair in wild disarray as she fought. With the wings of the creature she was bonded to spread wide behind her, he could see the beserkers of legend in her; something untamed and vicious.

  Every thread of energy hummed and trembled with the power of the riftspawn battling in the arena of the city square. Viktor followed the line of the blue thread towards the soldier and, with a sharp inhale of breath, he tugged. The man stumbled, leaking blue light from his body, aura warping in strange and unnatural ways that felt wrong to Viktor’s senses. The riftspawn within him shrieked, shrivelling in response to the licking flames of his green fire. It was enough for Rook to sweep in and end him in one swipe, head rolling from his shoulders and bouncing onto the stone below. His body convulsed, frozen in midair, before it fell to the ground, limbs askew. Rook straightened and wiped her hair back, turning to look at him. Viktor didn’t even have the strength to wave back.

  Janus lifted himself onto his haunches, watching as Rook took care of the last of the soldiers. “The contract is eating you up,” he said, his profile lined in green.

  Viktor huffed, squirming beneath his weight. “I don’t know what that means.” The man didn’t even have the decency to look at him when he spoke.

  Rising fluidly with his long coat flapping down over his knees, he looked down at Viktor with penetrating eyes. They looked black in nothing but the lantern lights; hollow. “Control. Need to learn it.” His fingers dug into the pocket in his coat, pulling out a bashed cigarette and a match. The light illuminated the sudden slope of his cheekbones, filling in the gaunt caves below. “Before you get us all killed.”

  Viktor stared up at him with his fingers digging into stone. Rankled by the condescension, he pushed himself up to get in Janus’ face when what he saw stopped him short. Janus’ fingers trembled around the cigarette, nearly missing his lips with it. The motions betrayed the sober expression upon his face. Viktor gaped as the man walked away, leaving him on the floor.

  Footsteps had him looking over his shoulder. Kilai approached him with ginger steps, eyes sweeping over the scene before them. “We need to leave now before someone finds us here.”

  He nodded, wondering why his eyesight was turning blurry. His eyes pricked and he was surprised to find moisture welling in them. Locker, he was exhausted, and each attempt to push himself off the floor only sent him sprawling onto his back again, body trembling with exertion. He was completely wiped.

  The shadows of Rook and Janus cast his world into darkness. He covered his eyes with his arm, unable to look either of them in the eyes as they peered down at him. He just wanted to sleep – sleep and wake up in a reality where none of this had ever happened to him. There was something lurking in the deepest recesses of his mind; a beast with a wealth of power and an ancient, seething hatred. How he had come to be aligned with it he did not know but it frightened him.

  “Janus, will you help him up?” Viktor heard Kilai say. “We need to go. Now.”

  There was a grunted assent and then hands were grabbing onto him and hauling him into the air. Like a ragdoll, Viktor hung limp, unable to utter even a few words of protest. The last thing he saw before he passed out was the way Rook’s eyes darted away from him when they accidentally met, lined with the shine of unshed tears. Then he fell into a deep slumber, the world going black.

  Part Two: Severance

  Time in the military had strengthened Seeker’s body, but even so, he struggled with the steep incline through the jungle, the humidity making it harder to breathe. Sweat dripped down his face, his shirt sticking to his skin. He had removed his jacket and carried it over his arm in an inexplicable reluctance to throw it away. Hubris, his father might have called it. Seeker was far past the point of redemption now, so he might as well keep going. The conviction that had settled deep in his heart was a shield against the weariness and the burn in his aching muscles. As dizzy as he felt, he didn’t feel like giving up.

  If only his parents could see that. Maybe then they would understand why he was doing what he was doing. Then again, he thought of his father’s cool stare the time he had been caught playing with the neighbour’s girl, the two of them pilfering sweets from a traveller passing through. The stickiness on his fingers reminded him of the cold wave of dread that had washed over him at such disdain in those cold, cold eyes. A fortnight of penitence in the form of prayer in his room with nothing but the holy book had taught him the error of his ways.

  “You have grown very quiet again.”

&
nbsp; No matter how many times Niks popped up, he still jumped, hand falling over his thumping heart. “A little warning next time, yeah?”

  She swished her tails, stalking further into the jungle, the leafy canopy overhead blocking the sun so that for one moment she glowed a bright and brilliant green. Her form blinked in and out of view as she walked through dappled sunlight and then back into darkness again, the only thing he could see clearly in the blur of his weakened vision. Where she stepped small beads of light dashed into the air – the forms of tiny riftspawn eager to flee the path of a predator as powerful as she. Seeker felt each blip of their forms in the net of his senses, their energy faint but frantic. Niks was a scary being to encounter for most riftspawn, it seemed.

  “Are we nearly there?”

  Her molten red eyes flickered back to him, mask catching the soft fingers of light filtered through fronds of great drooping leaves the size of his head. “Can’t you feel it?”

  The truth was Seeker had been feeling it for a long time; a growing pulse inside his skull, casting out a stronger wave with every breath of spiritual energy it expelled. Like a bleeding wound, catching the nose of predators in the jungle, it forewarned a wounded rift, ripe and ready for reaping. But the feeling was a dull and steady ache that caused pain to flare up in the base of his skull, making it difficult to tell precisely where it was coming from.

  “You can do better than that.” Her tails caught flame, snaking in and out of one another in an exotic fire dance. “Focus your mind. You are too distracted.”

  Seeker could barely hold onto the breath in his lungs. He clutched at the ringed bark of a tree and panted, wiping at his slick forehead. “Water,” he rasped. “Need water.”

  She cocked her head. “There is water all around you.”

  “I still don’t think you quite get what it means to be human.”

  “And I keep telling you that you aren’t human. Not any longer.”

  Seeker didn’t wince. It did not shame him anymore. If anything he felt the tickle of excitement, of being something a little bit more than a mere mortal. “Still need water.”

  “Then take it.”

  He furrowed his brows, irritated when she continued to walk on as if his own imminent collapse was a mere inconvenience to be willed away. How he envied her abilities. To be free of the prison that was his body, so confined by constant needs of water, food, expelling waste, warmth, and shelter. Instead he felt weak, crippled by all that he could not do with his physical form. Would that their deal went two ways, for Niks’ ability to wear his body only felt fair if he got to share in the freedom of what her abilities afforded.

  Cast your mind out. Feel for water and draw it towards you. You know how, if you try.

  Seeker shivered at the whisper of her voice in his mind. With it came the ruffle of the leaves above, a blessed breeze kissing his sweat-drenched skin and tempering the torrid heat. It gave him enough of a relief that he could reach out to her, using their shared connection to touch the world all around him with the tingling touch of otherworldly power. There were so many sensations – so many different sounds and tastes and smells from the life around him – that it was hard to tell what he was looking for.

  Focus on what you need. He felt her guiding hand steer him towards one of the huge, squat trees with the huge fronds sweeping down. When he focused on its structure he could feel the life thrumming within, and even deeper still, the source of its nutrition. The soil from which it took its food, and the moisture sucked up by roots that dug far, far down into the earth below. With a palm against a ring of straw-like bark, Seeker kept his thoughts on the core of its life force and pulled.

  At first nothing happened. It slipped from the sieve of his fingers, falling away from him. Seeker gritted his teeth, mouth so dry his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. He gripped tighter, weaved Niks’ energy around him, and grasped onto the life inside the tree. It required finesse more than strength and he could feel sweat sliding down his back as he pulled it up towards him slowly, piece by piece, his grip on the liquid tenuous at best. He almost lost control of the unsteady tether but managed to salvage most of the energy he had collected, taking it in through his fingertips.

  It was strange, to drink in water without actually drinking it. A cool, soothing current ran through him, relieving the gentle pang of thirst that had been building in his trek, replenishing some of his flagging energy. Almost dizzy with the sudden surge in power, he staggered a few steps and then straightened. All around him the jungle burst with paint splatters of colour, the distant warble and croak of insects far off like the pulse of a complex beat, each leaf and blade of grass trembling with life. Interwoven were the vibrating threads of spiritual energy, flaring with the riftspawn that spilled in droves from the nearby rift.

  “I did it,” he said in wonder, staring at his outstretched hands. He wiggled his fingers.

  Come on, then. We have work to do.

  As night fell upon them, the heat of the jungle only seemed to swell, until his hair was plastered to his skull, his shirt soaked and clinging to him. Seeker followed the sleek form of his companion, feeling the buzzing signature of the rift heighten until it was all he could concentrate upon. The rift had its own presence, heavy and oppressing, louder than the chorus of cicadas that performed their nightly show.

  More and more riftspawn appeared before him, bearing larger and more complex forms. One stole the breath from him as its long, snaking form weaved through the trunks of trees and flicked its head in his direction, a row of five silver eyes blinking in unison at him. Antlers like those of a deer shifted in shape, shimmering as if reflected beneath water. It was sensing him; his connection to Niks. Trying to figure him out. He wasn’t exactly a conventional creature, somewhere between human and spirit.

  “Hello,” he breathed, sensing this creature to be noble. Its signature flared.

  Niks walked up to the creature, easily dwarfed by its enormous head. It has been a time, she said in the language of the otherworld. I hope you fare well.

  Devil fox, he rumbled. The sound vibrated through Seeker, sending shivers down the base of his spine. What are you doing here?

  I could ask you the same thing, she said with a swish of her tails.

  This is where I have made my home for eons. What gives you the right to intrude now?

  The wind picked up, rustling the leaves in the canopy overhead. The whispering grew in volume, accompanied by a shrill note of a shrieking gust. Seeker was unaffected but he watched the great beast’s form ripple in the blast, eyes blinking closed. It appeared he was not entirely spirit either but had began to pick up some physical attributes in his time in the mortal world. Then again, Niks’ storm was not entirely one or the other, either.

  You forget your place, she hissed.

  You forget yours. You were nothing. Just a fox left out to die.

  Thunder grumbled above, the sky groaning as thick clouds swept in to cover the pale moonlight. The heat almost seemed to congeal, so oppressive Seeker could barely draw breath. They stood suspended in the moment before the storm, time slowing down to this one moment. For a few quick heartbeats, all was dark, his eyes taking time to adjust to the black jungle. Then suddenly all turned a harsh white as lightning split the sky, striking a nearby tree with such force it immediately caught fire.

  It is you who forget your place.

  You were nothing, the creature spat, despite the way he lowered his head.

  I was nothing once. I am no longer nothing.

  The first drop of rain splashed onto his cheek. It caught Seeker by surprise, glancing up to a roiling sky as more drops fell. Finally, the bulging force of heat had punctured, draining out into a much balmier night. With a sigh of relief Seeker closed his eyes against the rain, relishing how it soothed his flushed skin. He did not feel afraid of the creature in his midst. Not with Niks by his side. If she was not afraid, he had no reason to be.

  I will be going now, said Niks. You would do we
ll to steer clear of my path.

  The riftspawn creature eyed her reproachfully, all five eyes blinking in unison. Do what you wish, foolish fox. You and this human both.

  Seeker cocked his head. “We are more alike than you think.”

  He shook his head and whirled around, tail sweeping through the trees as he snaked back through the jungle. His tiny legs looked comical compared to the magnificent length of his body.

  “He is a Drekkugo,” she said as she continued to follow the slope upwards. “An old one of my kind. They are all lazy and arrogant. He is happy to hide here like a coward but will condemn me for making it safe for him to do so.”

  “What did you mean, when you said you were nothing once?”

  “Ah,” she trailed off, tails catching flame and spinning in a hypnotic ring of fire. Seeker gave her the space to catch her thoughts, concentrating on not stumbling beneath a loose bed of dead leaves and moist soil that squelched beneath his boots. The rain continued to pour, filling the jungle with its sweet, earthy scent. It was unlike anything he had ever known in the sombre deserts sands of home. So rich and full of life. Vibrant and exciting.

  “I was nothing, once. Just a meagre spirit that had been cast out. Our world is… competitive, you see. Always trying to be better than one another. Fighting for dominion.”

  Seeker frowned. “That is not so different from humans.”

  Her mask flashed when she turned to look at him. “Yes. I know.” The lights on her tails extinguished so that she was the only light in the midst of all the fauna, except for the odd riftspawn that scattered in her wake. “But I was as weak as the creatures you see around you, nothing more than a drop of rain compared to the vastness of your ocean, if a comparison is to be made.”

  “Then something strange happened. In this strange, unshifting realm I had found myself in, that felt so wrong to me, I discovered a thing I had never seen before. A beast, lying in this moving green mass. It leaked fluid – vital fluid – and it whimpered in protest of what it knew to be inevitable. That it would die and fade from this world. Well, I just could not understand it. What did it mean, to not exist anymore? I could not fathom the implications of such a thing.”