Her Dark Sins

by T R Tells

  Thanks, Wally. I hope him and Helene were doing okay.

  I was able to see the right hand corner coming up, but before I could make the turn, two scientists were casually walking my way. I stopped just as they did.

  Crap.

  “Hey, what are you doing here, kid?”

  The clouds above their heads weren't very present, and I was unable to summon my weapons if I couldn’t sense a growing Apathy or an Umbra Shade. I gritted my teeth and tightened my hands.

  Damnit, I’m trapped.

  The rumbling from the ceiling grates made the scientists look up and away from me. One of them, who had a walkie talkie in their hands, stopped communicating into it when the ceiling crashed and fell on top of them. Dust and debris blew from the impact. I covered my face so I wouldn’t get anything in my eye and the sounds of the men screaming echoed in my ear, followed by the screeching of the mischief of rats.

  The fallen ceiling had crushed the men’s legs, preventing them from moving, but it was also the rats that had gathered on top keeping them at bay.

  Looking away, I skirted past the rats, who did nothing to bother me, and ran around the corner.

  I was getting closer to the center of the lab, when I saw two double doors at the end of the hall.

  I burst through the doorway and stood on the stairwell where Alina Mulgrave, alone, stood in the middle of the lab. The same room I had been in prior. Except this time, the tubes were empty.

  A slow clapping brought my attention back to Alina and she turned around with a wicked grin on her face.

  “Well, it’s about time you showed up, Hira. I had hoped the Dark Ordinance would be of use somehow, but it seems like I’m going to have to dispose of you myself. You almost had me with that plan of ‘bringing an Awakener’ to me. Very clever, exposing your enemy’s weakness.”

  I furrowed my brows and yelled, “Where the hell are the people, Alina?”

  She smirked. “Well, I suppose you’ll have to fight me first to find out!”

  Alina’s outstretched arm electrified and, like before, a bolt of electricity shot out, aiming directly for me. My eyes widened and a split second decision had me dashing off to the side to avoid the hit. I tumbled down the stairs, putting up my arms to protect my face from further injury and tucking my legs into my chest.

  A grunt escaped my lips and a sharp pain centered into my side when I finally stopped rolling.

  I staggered to my feet, shaking off my injuries.

  “Quick movements, but you won’t be able to avoid me for long with all the powers I’ve absorbed so far.”

  Alina’s other arm ignited into flames, and like before, she shot a course of raging fire directly toward me. I only had a second to dodge and run behind a set of computers, giving me the coverage from Alina’s attacks.

  She said she was able to absorb from everyone she’s collected. That would mean the people she had taken from before and those the Omega had kidnapped back in 2009 hadn’t escaped. My mouth went dry. There was no telling how much power she had stored inside of her body!

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are, Hira. You wanted to fight me so bad, but now you’re cowering away. Tell me, is that what a hero would do? Something you’ve claimed to be since the day I’ve met you. You’re nothing but a fearful child who ended up with powers you can barely understand. You don’t know the capacity of what has been given to you!”

  The back of my neck tingled, and from the corner of my eye a path of red smoke started to appear around the machines I was hiding behind.

  Alina Mulgrave’s quest and desire for strength was starting to affect her negativity state of mind, she was going to manifest an Umbra Shade. Which meant—

  Summoning my chain whip, I jumped out from my place of hiding, striking the whip toward Alina and flinging it around her arms so she was unable to move.

  She tried to struggle out of my grip but I planted my feet firmly, gritting my teeth and grasping onto the handle to keep her from moving.

  “I’ve come to find that my fear, my doubt, and my perseverance make me who I am—and if that’s what makes me flawed, then so be it! I will show everyone that you can make it through all the bad things, even if society doesn’t see you that way or mocks you for the predicament you’re in.”

  Alina grinned. “You speak volumes for someone so young, as if you gained some kind of ‘divine knowledge.’ But the truth of the matter, Hira, that you will come to understand, that I’ve had to endure throughout my entire life…” She grabbed the end of the chain. My eyes widened. “No one gives a damn about you, even if you stand up for yourself!”

  The length of Alina’s arm was no longer electrified, but coursed with a blinding red energy. She managed to lift me off the ground, my feet halfway in the air, before knocking the whip out of my hand.

  My body propelled through the air and smacked into the other side of the wall.

  I couldn’t even muster a scream except for the gurgle intake of pain that spewed out spit, vomit, and a bit of blood.

  My body plummeted to the ground with a heavy thud.

  No… I couldn’t… Not here… I will not lose my faith. I have to stand for myself, for everyone that I love.

  I pressed my hands on the ground, in the hope of pushing myself up, but my entire body was burning. I could see Alina coming toward me and as she did, a large grotesque creature slowly morphed behind her.

  “Look what you’re doing to yourself,” I grunted, hoping my words would reach her, or distract her long enough to get my energy back. “Are you willing to risk it all for power? Have you come this far only to be subdued by darkness? What happened to curing those afflicted with this disease!”

  “Why cure it, when I can have all the power at my fingertips? Being a woman in a man’s world, I’ve never gotten the credit I deserved. Yes, my ex-husband was intelligent by any many standards, but I’ve helped him achieve this and he threw me to the side! Only to come crawling back when this pandemic hit.”

  I managed to climb back to my feet, leaning against the wall to support me.

  “That’s because you decided that the love of power was more important than your own flesh and blood.”

  There was something in Alina’s eyes that made her snap, and the Umbra Shade behind her shrieked. Its tentacles wrapped around the base of her head and whispered in her ear.

  I had no time to react when her hand struck out and lifted me off of the ground, choking me with force-like abilities, similar to Noah’s.

  I gasped and grabbed the base of my throat, struggling to wiggle free as I was lifted off the ground.

  “I will not be made a fool of by Nicademus or you!”

  My vision was starting to fade and my arms were growing weak.

  Is this… where it ends? Was I really… going to die?

  “This again, huh?”

  That voice, Elsaf. What are you doing here?

  “This isn’t your time to die, Hira. Not yet. Remember what I told you when we first met? When that power was given to you?: To right the wrongs of unjust society that befalls humanity and live Eternally. And you can’t reach everyone through fighting or words, you’ve got to reach them through the heart. That’s what matters. Now push past this false image, of what you have to be, and what you’re supposed to be, and conquer it already!”

  Elsaf Geima…

  My true self.

  I snapped my eyes open and a burst of energy coursed through me like how it had when I fought Veronica’s Shade. Alina’s eyes twitched, surprised I managed to come too or perhaps, it was something else.

  “Why are you still standing!”

  “I may fall, but it won’t be by your hand.”

  A reverberating sonic blast echoed throughout the room and shook the entire building. Alina’s grip on me released and I dropped to the floor. From the opposite side of the room I saw Helene, slightly beat up, and breathing heavy, but she was fueled with energy.

  “You pissed off the wrong girls today
, bitch!” Helene shouted at the top of her lungs. “Get out of the way, Hira!”

  I sprinted out of the way behind a set of computers just as Helene made a sonic blast explode from her palms, sending Alina and her Umbra Shade careening into the wall.

  From the monitor’s reflection, I could see my fiery blue hair and eyes glaring at me. Whatever power that I had grasped, I wouldn’t let Alina Mulgrave or anyone take me down without a fight.

  “Can you stand?” Helene shouted over at me.

  I materialized the scythes in my hand and stood. Alina was weak and down, I couldn’t feel the aura of her power.

  “I can do more than that, but I’m going to need your help.” I looked over at her and grinned. “How about a special move? On my mark.”

  Helene grinned.

  I charged for Alina, who was only starting to get up from the ground. My staff ready at hand and like before, I slashed through the air in an X mark. Right on time, Helene’s sonic blast shot directly at the slash and expanded the illuminating blue light that came from my scythe as well as increasing its speed and velocity.

  Aiming for the root of Alina’s darkness and negativity: her heart.

  The root to change.

  Alina screamed at the top of her lungs as the light encased her and her Umbra Shade evaporated.

  I gasped, exhausted. I released my weapons and managed to trudge my way over to Alina’s fallen body.

  Helene made it first and stood over her. There was a shadowed look on her face that I couldn’t make out and for the first time, I saw a cloud, small, but still hovering over her head.

  “Helene… ”

  “You killed my parents. Hira might stand for one thing, but why should I allow you to live when you took them away from me?”

  I reached Helene’s side and went to grab her arm, to snap her out of this, but on instinct she slapped my hand away.

  “...Not now, Hira—Well aren’t you going to answer me? Or do we have to Sonic Cross Slash you again?

  I looked down at Alina’s body and then back up at the dark look on my friend’s face.

  Alina flinched and started to laugh. Helene gritted her teeth and extended her arm out at Alina where she was only but inches from her face. If she would use her powers now, there was no telling that Alina would survive.

  “I didn’t… kill them…” she gasped and raised her head to look up at us. “...I’ve only… given the order. Your resentment… is with… The Sinner Man.”

  Those were the last words Alina said before she collapsed. Helene let her drop to her side.

  “Helene?”

  “...The Sinner Man,” she whispered under her breath. She turned to me and while the dark look on her face hadn’t disappeared, the cloud did. “We should get her out of here.”

  “The people… I didn’t…”

  “Wally released them. They should be outside now.”

  Helene and I grabbed both of Alina’s arms around our necks so we could drag her out of her building.

  Before we even made it outside of the front of the building I could already hear police sirens from the outside. Agent Newman must have got my message! We stepped outside and a team in black suits with the acronym F.A.S. charged past us with guns in their arms, probably to arrest the scientists that were still inside.

  Two police men came toward Helene and I, taking Alina Mulgrave from our hands and leading us over to the ambulances.

  I darted my eyes around to see a little over a hundred people, possibly Awakeners, being treated by paramedics. I spotted Noah, and even the policeman, Amoré. Wally was also among the crowd being treated, but the two people that I wanted to see the most weren’t in my sight.

  My heart squeezed in my chest and a heavy weight crushed into me.

  “Hira Night, Helene Roe?”

  Agent Newman had gotten out of a black car and was headed over to us where paramedics were already treating our wounds.

  “I got your message,” he said and held up his cell phone.

  Helene snorted. “Way to take your time.”

  “These are all the missing people, right?” I asked him. “The ones that have been taken recently, and those from 2009?”

  Agent Newman nodded. “At least on the Omega’s side, not much I can say about the Dark Ordinance, but we’ll get them.”

  I nodded. I could already feel my body starting to repair itself.

  “... I reckon that you did good out there, Hira. You both did. But by how much you both look like shit… ”

  His course tone and curse caught Helene and I by surprise.

  “...you won’t be any good when it is time to take down the Dark Ordinance.”

  “Are you trying to Batman recruit us? I am not wearing tights. I refuse.”

  Agent Newman smiled. “Oh, yeah. You’ll both certainly fit in. I can’t stop you both from fighting, but I can offer you the training so you don’t get yourselves killed. So what do you say, a position in the Awakeners Society?”

  Without a second of hesitation I said yes, as did Helene. While there were still evil people and an unjust society in the world, I would do what I could to save the hearts of humanity, or die trying. The new looming threat of the Dark Ordinance and the Great One, Acedia, won’t stop me from traversing through anything with my morality intact.

  My truth will see through the darkness ahead.

  End of Book One