Chiru awoke for the first time in a while knowing she was whole and not a trace of the grogginess remained in her. She rose from the bed, gazing around the gray stone room which she only partly recognized. The last few days had been a long haze of hot broth and rice porridge fed to her by various elves. It took her a moment, but she shivered in remembering what happened before those long days. The camp, the bats, the Vampire stalking about the place menacing her fellows. The sheer terror that she had escaped made her whip the covers off her bed and stand on the strangely warm stone floor. Her vision went strange, a slight tinting and she knew her eyes had gone black. The floor started to cool under her bare feet and she fought to remove the disenchanting gaze from her eyes.
The young Wanshi blinked and the tint vanished, but the stone didn’t warm. She saw the circle of magic that she ripped from the floor and stepped out of it. She was safe, for now, all the scratches and bruises she had obtained in the escape were gone, but so were her clothes. Under the nightgown she wore now were new underwear and a camisole. They fit well and comfortably, and felt like silk. For the first time since she had sprung out of bed the woman realized she was alone in the room.
Wandering around, Chiru called out. “Hello? Hello?” she said. “Where is anybody?”
Hanging up on a wall was her Ash Maker cloak, thoroughly cleaned and smelling nice. Had it not been for the pressure of the sewers, she would have dropped the heavy thing in their run. From the pocket Chiru plucked the Courier that was still there. The device was dead, of course it was. She started to shake it, recalling the horrors of the cave that she had plucked the machine from. It wasn’t her Courier, it was Beth’s.
In the late night, when the creature attacked, Chiru had been up late with Beth. The cotton haired Skyborn was lonely. Half a dozen men her age all wanted her attention and Beth wasn’t interested. The terminally lonely Chiru had been smiling with the woman, laughing. When Beth touched her hand she felt the static that she always did on contact with her skin. She didn’t mind feeling it with Skyborn, it gave her hope. The first bit of hope that she’d felt since her love had been ripped away from her.
The mists of the city had trapped Beth and Chiru inside and the days of talking had finally led to touching hands. What a wonderful thing it had been as their fingers meshed together. Beth leaned back, shamelessly holding Chiru’s hand in the dark where no one could see but them. They were up on a outcropping of rock towards the back of the cave, Chiru’s Courier out and lighting their faces in an eerie green.
“Your skin is so soft,” Beth said, moving her other hand to stroke Chiru’s hand.
There was more static, but Chiru was starting to get used to it. Instead of a bad sensation it filled her with electricity. “So, so is your’s, very soft,” Chiru said like a lovesick girl. Finally, finally, oh gods, she wasn’t cursed.
“Boys are always so rough. I held hands with one guy and his palms were like sandpaper, I swear,” Beth said, giggling. The sound echoed faintly off the walls of the cave.
Chiru looked up at her, bowed over. She pushed her naturally pouting lips out, dreaming, hoping. Mumbling a curse, Beth leaned in and kissed Chiru on the mouth. This time it wasn’t static but sparks. Maybe even fireworks.
The next moment the emitters went off like a siren that set off the two women into a panic. The lights in the cave switched on like a dozen flashing suns filling the cave with their harsh shine. Chiru’s Courier crashed to the ground and then as she stood it crunched under her foot. The Wanshi saw spots, blinking fiercely as Beth dragged her forward, off her feet. Beth was flying and that was her biggest mistake.
There was the sound of flapping wings over the deafening emitters and Beth’s hand went slack. She screamed, some hairy winged thing hanging off of her neck. Chiru coughed as some foul smelling fragrance entered the air, a moldy wet stench. Seeping into her lungs, all she could do was cough. Across the cave, coming out of the bulkhead she saw the blue tinged man, bats flying about his head. The mangey bats also flew around the ceiling of the cave, swooping out of the shadows.
Head aching, throat bleeding, Chiru looked down to see Beth on her back. Her eyes were wide open, blue eyes that stared up blankly at the other bats. The one on her neck kept growing, massive like a tick, but in all parts of its body, from its head to its wings. The other Ash Makers were running around, terrified. From the corner of her eye Chiru saw the towheaded Susan get pulled back into the women’s dorm. She had seen Ed crawling around a tunnel, he swore it went outside.
For the second time in a few months, Chiru rapidly cut someone out of her heart and resigned herself to the static once again. Farwell, Beth, she said in her head, giving her the courtesy of a poetic farewell in her country, one used for those you were unlikely to ever see again. Sayonara, Beth, sayonara. Sayonara, Koyomi, sayonara.
In her escape Chiru ran through the women’s dorm and recognized Beth’s Courier. Like she had before, she took the memento. It had remained a heavy reminder of what and who she had lost. The others in the cave were all gone to her, they might as well be dead like Beth. There was no way of surviving those beasts and as she crawled out of the caves, pushing herself through tunnels where she had to inhale to squeeze through, she knew she had to live.
Now, in the Alpha room she stopped shaking the brick shaped device and checked the charge on it. Her elbow ached and the thoughts of its owner brought back memories of her other keepsake. Shaking out her arm, she dug through her jacket with the other hand. For a moment she grew nervous, checking through the last one she remembered placing it in and not finding it there. Then, nearly tearing the coat from the wall, she found it tucked in her chest pocket and pulled it out like precious glass. The metal locket and jade hair ornament were far more durable than she gave them credit for. They had been in her once rotten jacket and now they were clean again, they even smelled of product. Who had touched them? she wondered. Who dared?
Carefully she opened the locket and found that the beautiful Banji girl in a wedding kimono was still there. The full color photograph showed the lovely scarlet flowers on the white silk. Down her dark hair were strings of red wisteria and various clips. On her lovely face was a sour expression with her tongue sticking out that always made Chiru smile. Koyomi had purposely messed up several photos and kept them still. If she couldn’t give herself to Chiru, then she could at least give her something to remember her by. The jade hair clip had been a wedding present, and the woman thought it was funny to give it away to her former lover.
Sayonara, Koyomi, she had said it and meant it. The Ash Makers had promised to grant one of Chiru’s wishes, something within the Order’s power. Koyomi had been staying with her husband for months up north. Chiru wished she could fully cut the woman from her heart, but it hadn't happened fully yet. The airship went to Koyomi’s new house and there the cutting was complete. There Chiru could say sayonara and mean it. Her lover was with child and the Order didn’t want to bring a pregnant woman with them. Chiru didn’t blame them and after the attack she was happy to know her lover was still alive. Beth had not survived, but Chiru had to move on.
Wiping her eyes, she was reminded that her heart wasn’t completely ice, Beth’s Courier beeped at her.
Searching… read the indicator in the corner.
Damn thing, Chiru thought, stepping around the room.
Searching…
She rubbed the metal object against the long glass window.
Searching… Ordernet… one bar…
1 New Message…
“What the hell?” Chiru said in her native tongue. Her father’s native tongue.
She opened the message.
Anyone see this, anyone still alive. Please respond.
2 New Message(s):
Anyone, please reply. Not all the Couriers were accounted for…
1 New Message:
Hey, HQ didn’t want to send the destruct command, said a Courier was still in motion.
1 New Message: (this one was dated for yesterday, all the others were days ago)
Hey, please reply, someone has got to be alive.
All of these came as Chiru rubbed the glass wall, the one bar flickering back and forth. Trying to reply, the bar faded to nothing. There was no way to type and get a signal at the same time. Not without possibly dropping the Courier on the ground. After her own had been destroyed, she knew how fragile they could be. Cursing, she glanced around the empty room then to the door.
Below her coat was a new pair of shoes and socks, along with a new blouse and a skirt of all things. The Wanshi didn’t have the time to look for trousers and put on the clothing. Everything was green, which wasn’t really her color, but it would do. Tying up the white capped sneakers, Chiru peered out the door, finding the hallway strangely empty. Was the place abandoned? Where had the elves gone?
The hairs rose on the back of her neck and she suddenly felt like she was being watched. She glanced all around, closing the door. The room was empty as far as she could tell, but who knew with Mages. Did it really matter if she was being watched? She had to reply to her fellow Order members one way or another. She checked the device in the hallway, just in case.
No signal…
Of course the dark hallway was a dead zone. Without the signal boosters in the caves they wouldn’t be able to contact anyone. Now she had two important options, up or down. Over the side of the stairs, Chiru gazed in both directions. Nothing, no one. One step on the stairs sounded like a stone thrown down a cavern and she looked for other options. Behind her she found the elevator and pulled aside the cage to step inside. Many Wanshi cities had high rises and elevators, so she was comfortable in the use of one. This one seemed particularly old and lurched down at an unsteady pace.
Soon she was inside a storage room and opened the door out of it, looking around again. Was she imagining someone or was it magic alone watching her? No, there was something, but she didn’t care. Oddly, there was no one at the long reception desk either. This had to be a trap, right?
Searching…
This was the bottom floor. That was the bottom of the loud stairs, that from this angle didn’t look safe at all. That had to be the door to the outside.
Chiru sprinted for it like someone might outrun the dark of a room they were leaving. Pushing it open, she was blinded by the glare of the city, holding up her sleeve to her eyes. She hadn't dared put on the Ashen coat before leaving. Blinking, she suddenly remembered that her room’s lights were on when she woke up. Was someone watching her?
She walked down the few steps and saw a small garden in a plot by the dumpster. What a strange place to put a couple trees and blooming shrubs, she thought. The Ash Maker didn’t want to get any closer to the flora though and stayed at the bottom of the stairs.
Ordernet… two bars…
Thank the gods, she thought, though she never meant it. The gods had made her like this and she knew she hated them. That didn’t matter now and she wrote her message, confirming that she was alive and well. As it was sent she recalled something more, the report of the Mage in the city that had eaten a gun. Orders had come down not to harm him either, but she wondered if this Courier she held was a trap too. Could she trust the machine?
1 New Message:
Holy shit, where are you? We can’t pin you down…
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Chiru looked around. She knew she was in Alpha, but her exact location out of miles was impossible for her to tell. She kept spinning around, staring at the tall building she left, then others around it that were at least a few stories tall. In this half shaded alleyway, she could be anywhere.
“Tell them you are at the Twinklings hotel,” came a proper male voice. At the top of the stairs leading to the backdoor, a male elf phased into existence as fractal patterns peeled off his skin. His long blonde hair was contained by a barbed diadem and he wore a long golden coat of mesh patterns. Without a moment’s hesitation Chiru expanded her fingers towards him.
In a line the air shattered into flames coming straight for his face. The elf ducked and within an instant had closed the gap between them, grabbing her wrist and holding it up. Around her hand, which she attempted to cast from again, formed an orb of gold fractal glass that bound her fingers together. The Courier fell out of her other hand and onto the ground. Raising her foot, Chiru tried to step on it. The tall elf kicked it aside, sending it into the flowery shrubs. Chiru tried to send her crackling magic after it, but within a flash her hands were both bound together behind her back. Sweeping her legs the elf sent her crashing onto her butt on the flowers that bent and gave, the ground wasn’t that hard, but she still glowered up at the man.
Chiru looked over to where the Courier had been and saw a conjured falcon fly in and pick it up. Within a second the device was in the elf’s hands.
“We have been salvaging the frames of these from camps, but never the whole thing,” he said, shaking the object.
Chiru fought her bonds, but all her fingers had been bound together and they couldn’t move an inch. She had never really thought about it, but her magic was all in her hands, save the disenchanting glare. Which she wasn’t exactly sure how to trigger, she had yet to be taught it. Strong emotions? She was plenty furious now, so why wasn’t it coming on? She struggled still, rolling from one side to the other.
“Stop it!” came a much sweeter voice, one Chiru recognized. The words weren’t directed at her, but at the elf. A much smaller elf came out of an alleyway and stood before Chiru. She had extremely short white hair and the sweetest face with round cheeks and a button nose. “Are you okay, honey? He didn’t harm you, did he?” She got down on her knees, touching Chiru’s head then withdrawing it, hovering her hand. “Eutace, release her, now,” she ordered the tall elf.
“I do not want her to strike me with any of that fire,” this Eutace said with a sneer. “She is perfectly alright, she is sitting on heather, in the nice sun. She is detained, as anyone who attacked a Cleric of Psyin would be.” He slid open the Courier and started to tap the buttons. “Hm, it has a full typewriter on it.” He squinted at the screen. “The screen shows them blinking… Hmmm… How do I erase them?” In an attempt to alter the screen, he rubbed it with his sleeve.
More footsteps filled the alleyway and more people entered. There was a redheaded woman with full cheeks and bushy eyebrows. She wore a long green dress and wooden tiara which contained the bouncing red locks half curled. By the staff she carried and the white tiger at her feet, Chiru knew she was the Druid princess. Beside her was a tall dark skinned man with full lips, freckles across his cheeks and a nervous look in his green eyes. He wore a green leather jacket and took the Courier from Eutace. The Cleric tried to protest, but was shot down by a commanding gaze of the man beside the dark skinned man. Though he couldn’t see his face, the broad shouldered man in a thick black coat commanded presence. On his head was the same barbed diadem as Eutace, but he had longer spikes going up. Besides the princess floated a pale woman in white bindings that went over her eyes as well, her burgundy coat flapped in the wind. She hovered over the dark man, looking over his shoulder.
“It’s like an old phone, but super sturdy,” said the dark man. “‘Typewriter’, you sound like my grandma, Eutace.”
The elf glared at the other. “I am sorry my world does not have such machinery yet,” he remarked.
“Jonah is the new Machinist,” the princess said proudly. “In your lifetime we just might.”
“Rosie, check the roofs,” said the black coated man.
The pale woman frowned, but flew off towards the other buildings.
“We are alone, I have falcons flying all over the place. I spotted the Werewolf originally, remember?” said Eutace.
“Warren, can you ask him to let her go?” said the small elf. “She’s not a criminal, she was just scared.”
“I’d be scared too, running into him,” Warren said, lowering himself down to Chiru. “Now don’t bite now ya hear? This here’s the princess and I’ll put ya back in Globes if ya start actin’ up.” He held her wrists, hands poised on the glass restraining her.
“We only wish to speak with you, miss Chiru,” the princess said softly. Her tiger was on Chiru’s level and stared at her with its big blue eyes.
“I won’t attack, let me go, please,” Chiru said. “I want to stand, it’s humiliating sitting here like thug. This one spooked me.” She jerked her head to Eutace, who rolled his eyes.
“Fair enough,” Warren said, staring at her with his open eyed helm. With a tap of his finger the glass shattered harmlessly, fading away into nothing.
Chiru rubbed the soreness from her wrists. The small elf tapped her and the pain faded instantly, along with a bit of sleepiness. “My name is Kalyah, in case you forgot, honey,” the healer said with a grin.
“Thank you,” Chiru said quietly. She gazed up at the others. “Why did you stalk me?”
Eutace scoffed. “It was my idea. I thought, rightfully, that you might try and destroy your communication device instead of using it,” he said, glancing at Jonah still holding it.
“We shook it, like the twins did in their memories,” Jonah said, handing it down to Chiru.
The Wanshi snatched it out of his hands, which she noticed seemed to be made out of metal. They didn’t look like the gauntlets worn by the man named Warren, and were of mismatched metal. One arm was the same color as the gun they had lost. As she was looking over the new messages, still begging her to tell them where she was now, the woman Rosie floated back to the group.
“There isn’t anyone on the roofs,” she said in a deep and accented voice. “I set up string traps on the roofs, one of my bruther and I’s specialties.”
“Good job, Rosie,” Warren said with a nod.
The flying woman sneered at him. “Aye, whatever Horse,” she said under her breath.
“What are they saying?” Diana asked, getting down to sit across from Chiru. “We have no interest in harming any of your fellows, we only wish to speak with them.”
“You read the twins' minds?” Chiru asked harshly.
“Only to see what got them into such trouble,” Diana replied, holding her staff with both hands against her shoulder. Her tiger laid down protectively beside her, its massive paw nearly touching Chiru’s leg.
The Wanshi brought her legs in at criss cross like Diana’s. She considered matters for a moment. She knew she was trapped here, Mages all around her, more than she had faced before in her whole life. The Druid princess was unstable, according to the dearly departed Beth. The thought of the Skyborn made her heart ache and breath catch.
“I want this war over too,” Diana said, guessing at the matters plaguing Chiru.
“Not until all is right, I don’t,” Chiru countered firmly.
Kalyah scowled, sitting in the heather beside Chiru, who didn’t like such a pretty woman beside her. It made her nervous. The small elf knew about the static, she recalled telling her about it in a moment of weakness. She had Kalyah to thank for the rice porridge, which she had enjoyed while she got her strength up. These Mages could have easily killed them all or thrown them in a prison.
“Blodwyn won’t make everything right,” Diana said, shaking her head.
“She has before, she will again,” Chiru said, sitting up and matching Diana’s deep brown gaze.
Eutace laughed at this. “A true believer that never saw the war, gods you humans never change. Blodwyn destroyed so that new things could rise up, that was her motto, yes? Well how do you know you will not be part of her kindling?” he asked, arms crossed. “This happened in the last war as well, people from all over hoping that Blodwyn would fix their problems. The white goddess of death could only do so much killing, her army got sent out to kill and die for her. Whatever problem you wish to be fixed, you will most likely die in the process.” He shook his head. “Foolish, foolish child.”
“I am fine with dying, if it is a good cause,” Chiru said strongly. “Nothing has been done or will be done until the Order does it. They are the only ones with the strength. The Immortal Emperors will keep going forever until they are killed.”
“Nothing is worth your life,” Kalyah said somberly.
“This is,” Chiru snapped back.
“What happens when the current Emperors of your country are ashes, who takes over?” Eutace wondered smugly.
“Eutace,” Diana said annoyedly.
“New, righteous leaders,” Chiru told him.
“Ah, yes, one man dies, ten people are lined up to take his place,” the elf reasoned.
“We kill all of them, all of them become ash,” Chiru said, standing up this time.
Diana sighed in frustration, rising up from her spot.
The elf still towered over Chiru. “All your days, both past, present and future are worth throwing away on the hopes of many corrupt men dying,” he said, demonstrating the days with a gesture of his hand, then wiping them all away.
She scanned his outfit. “Aren’t you army, police? Something where you can die? Aren’t you giving up your life for something?” she growled at him.
The other Mages circled around the two fighting.
“Listen, this is not worth--” Diana tried to cut in.
Eutace cut off the princess. “I fight for a country, for my fellows to live, not a mad immortal who is willing to round up old people and children and place them in a camp that can be ransacked by a single undead in seconds,” he explained simply. “I was trained, equipped, and deployed strategically, not gathered up and plopped down like a mere pawn.”
Without any response but what she said already, and enraged beyond sense, Chiru struck out again as her eyes went black. Eutace backed up, guarding from the popping string of fire that came out with her swinging fist. She punched a rock hard fractal screen, not the elf’s smug face. To admit that this asshole was right, she would have to give up a lot. She would have to say sayonara to her father’s dreams, spit on the hopes of the man she had loved most. That didn’t matter in the moment, the cracked bones in her hand mattered the most. And they cracked like twigs up to her wrist. The skin scraped off her knuckles and she saw the bone underneath. It felt like an ax had split her hand in two and she saw spots as she cradled the twisted lump of a hand.
“Goddamnit, Eutace, ya didn’t need to use a fuckin’ bullet screen on a girl!” Warren roared, running his hand over the magic hanging in the air. It faded and the blood that had smeared across it dripped to the ground.
“She did not have to hit me,” Eutace said evenly. “Or attempt to at least. Her eyes were black, she could have disenchanted my whole arsenal and regalia. I spent days on all that I wear.”
“Chiru, honey, sweetie, let me see,” Kalyah said, trying to pry Chiru’s hand from where she held it painfully against her stomach.
“I don’t disagree with your words, but you shouldn’t have done that,” Diana said, her tiger roaring in agreement.
“Sweetie, please, I need to see your hand. I have to set the bones,” Kalyah went on.
“Um, I have the Courier,” Jonah said feebly. “Do you want me to say anything to them?”
“No!” Chiru roared at Jonah. “You Mages ruin everything!”
“We only want to talk with them, you resorted to violence, I’m sorry to say,” Diana pointed out. “Let me just say that whoever attacked you had nothing to do with us. All we want is peace to be reestablished, I swear.”
“Yah want mah to ruddy chain her up?” Rosie asked, hovering around Chiru.
“No! Please, I have this…” Kalyah said, then sighed heavily, stepping back. “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll repair your hand. Keep in mind a fast heal, with some bone setting, will put you out for the whole day. I can’t really see it yet, so I don’t know how much it will take out of you.”
Chiru breathed through clenched teeth, very slowly and very painfully moving her arm. “Don’t eat my Courier,” she said to Jonah.
“I didn’t plan on it,” Jonah said, eyes wide. He had clearly thought about it though, Chiru could tell. There was no telling what he could do with one in his arm. If he was the new Machinist, then the Order’s tech master would have to hunt him down, she figured.
“Look here, miss Chiru, in a week those people that attacked will be returning. We will keep you safe no matter what,” Diana continued on. “We would like to meet with whoever is still alive from that camp, that’s why we looked through your Courier, just today. We are desperate for solutions. If there are survivors then we hope to have them prove the Heroes are in the wrong and that nothing they say can be trusted. My good name is on the line, but so are all your lives, and those matter much more to me than some slander. So please, consider opening a dialogue with your friends and getting them to see us. If they agree, then we will bring people here to protect them.”
In so much pain that she swayed on her feet, Chiru extended her hand out. Kalyah took it instantly looking over it with a pained hiss, Warren holding up her other arm. “If the people who lived came, then I am going with them. I don’t care what that bastard says, I am a fighter, I will fight for my country,” Chiru said flatly.
“That is your prerogative,” Diana said with a frown.
“Once my hand is healed, I tell them where I am and see what they have to say. What I say won’t change, so don’t try,” Chiru went on.
“You are free to die a fool’s death,” Eutace said quietly.
“You, shut the fuck up,” Warren said with a point of his finger.
“We accept your terms,” Diana said clearly.
The bones set, Kalyah had Rosie wrap Chiru’s hand in cloth. None of the fingers worked and she was fine so long as she kept the hand still and none of the muscles moved. She didn’t want to sleep anymore than she had that day or week. Using her thumb, she typed her location into the Courier.
Oh shit, all the way in the city.
Okay, Ike says that it will take us a couple days to get back there. Maybe three or four at most. We’re in the forest hiding out, it fucking sucks out here. If it wasn’t for Songbird then we’d probably be dead by now.
With equal pain she typed, “Who is this?” The number wasn’t showing up as saved in Beth’s Courier.
Oh, this is Tim, Who is this? Ike thought you were Beth.
“Chiru.”
Oh, what happened to Beth?
“Dead.” If she wasn’t in so much pain, then she would have said something more. That alone made her tear up. Kalyah looked at her sympathetically. Chiru looked away from her. The reply came slowly, much slower than the last ones.
Oh, okay. Stay safe out there.
Chiru looked at the Mages supposedly all interested in her safety.
“I will.”