Hail stormed down from the overcast sky in Luville. Brian ran through the parking lot towards the revolving doors of the guardianship building. He fished his badge out of his coat pocket and pressed it against the scanner. The door refused to budge. Looking down under the cover of the doorway he checked the message.
David: “She’s here come now.”
Brian: “Door won’t open.” Brian replied.
He waited a minute, then his phone buzzed again.
David: “Come in the back.”
Brian made his way quickly around the building, eyeing the security cameras as he did. “How did they get her so soon?” Brian thought as he rounded the dumpsters. He pressed his badge against the scanner and this time it vibrated and the lock on the door clicked.
Brian walked through the dimly lit hallway at the back of the guardianship building. Passing numerous doors, behind which every kind of atrocity you could think of rested. A room where the floor was made of fire, one where the walls screamed. Almost all of them designed for handling one monster or another.
The guardians had to be ready for everything. Had to be able to interrogate the horrible things that invaded the world. The veil between worlds had broken decades ago, and ever since the creatures that appeared across the globe had been countless. Even the youngest schoolchildren knew the threat that engulfed the world. Beings that crossed dimensions to hunt human flesh.
Humans hadn’t gone down without fighting though, with the break came magic. And with magic they fought the monsters. The guardians had been founded to train the young and fight the beasts. Brian had fought for years against them, suffering one injury after another. A burn from a phoenix (a bird made of fire) on his arm. Scars from an overgrown lizard made of iron on his legs. A fire of vengeance in his heart from the shadows that had killed his sister.
He stopped at the end of the hall and pressed his palm against the wall. Screams filled the air as the hidden door slid open. Brian walked into the room with a steel gaze on his face. He stood beside his partner David in front of the window. Looking into the interrogation room he saw a girl chained to the floor by her ankles. She had collapsed on a old mattress.
“It’s about time you got here Brian.” Dale said.
“How long has it been here?” Brian asked watching the cell.
“A few hours, the boss wanted to take a crack at it first. He had to be dragged out by his partner.”
“Has it been like this the entire time?” Brian ran his fingers over the burn on his arm, remembering the pain that the fire had caused. The pain made him stronger, it fueled his hate and his magic.
“Jane said it collapsed on the mattress when she came in to drag Lee out.”
“It didn’t attack her?” Brian tensed, if Lee failed it was the real deal. “Why would it let Jane just come in and grab him though?”
“No clue, she said to get you here as soon as possible and left.”
“I’m going in then. Watch my back.”
“Good luck B, time to earn that name they gave you in training. What was it again?” David unlocked the cell door for Brian.
“You know I hate nicknames.” Brian walked through the door.
“Yea, yea just try not to break it too bad. The institute wants to use it for research.”
“No promises.” Brian walked the length of the cell wall. He examined the creature. It looked like a teenage girl by all accounts. Human like creatures weren’t an uncommon occurrence. They usually worked with others to infiltrate society before they struck.
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Its hair was the color of clouds and looked just as soft. With skin like marble it looked more like a piece of art than a monster.
Brian grabbed it by the arm and squeezed. Its skin was cold like stone and resisted just the same. He delved into his anger towards the beasts and let it flow into his palms as he squeezed again. This time it awoke, and screamed. Its flesh became as supple as his own. He threw it against the wall.
“Where did you come from?” He yelled as he walked over to the beast.
“Please don’t.” It gasped as he reached for its ankle.
“Tell me where you came from.”
“I can’t.” It said, and he dragged it across the floor. He squeezed again, and it screamed. Brian fed his rage into his fingers and remembered the heat of the phoenix. His fingers heated burning her stone skin.
“Stop!” she screamed and kicked. He held her down with both hands.
“Tell me why you’re here.” He yelled.
“Humans,” it said.
“What about humans?” He demanded, continuing to burn black marks into her flesh.
“Must warn.”
“What is she talking about?” He thought. The heat in his grip subsided as he drifted for a moment.
“Warn us about what?” He needed answers.
“Master is coming,” It gasped.
“What master?” He pushed her against the floor.
“Shael,” it said.
Brian released the girl and she collapsed on the floor. Her eyes watched his with a purpose. As if they were searching for something. “Her eyes are like amethysts,” he thought.
“Find out who this Shael is Brian.” David spoke through the speakers.
Brian glanced at the reflective glass, then at the girl. Her marble skin was cracked across her body. She looked as fragile as glass despite her stone skin.
“Another time, she won’t survive at this rate.” Brian yelled.
“Do it now, we need to know.” David replied.
Brian steeled himself and let the energy flow down his arm. The girl watched him with terror in her eyes. He slammed down on her stomach and a new set of cracks appeared above her waist.
“Who is Shael?”
“She is the unbroken.” She grimaced.
“Who is Shael?” He screamed at her, drawing heat once more into his hand.
“She is night, she is the eternal storm.” She shook with fear as she spoke. He could tell she was afraid of what she was saying.
“We’re done David.” He yelled.
“We don’t know who this Shael is yet.”
“And we won’t know if I kill her.”
“Use other methods then.” David silenced the intercom.
Brian locked eyes with the girl and winced as he projected his mind into hers. She screamed as he attacked her mind now. She resisted and put up walls in her head. Walls that were far stronger than the stone of her skin. He willed them to break, to shatter like glass. She screamed as he pushed but it was no use. The walls stood firm in her head.
He changed tactics, he didn’t fight the wall. He embraced it, he brushed his will against it. The wall weakened as it shifted ,and he could feel her confusion at the reprieve. He took the confusion and exploited it. He dove into the wall like water and into her thoughts.
All at once he knew everything she had ever seen, heard, or thought. She screamed in agony as he dug through her memories. He witnessed so many painful moments in her life. He too screamed with internal pain as he lived each one. He withdrew from her with a rush.
Brian looked at the girl in front of him, and he knew she had never hurt a human being. That she had truly come to warn them. Even as the memories of the girl fled his mind he knew he couldn’t continue. He walked to the door and yanked it open.
“We’re done David. Let her go.” He let the fire leave his skin as it coated his hand.
“Brian we can’t she’s one of them.” David pleaded.
“This woman has never harmed a human being, nor had the desire to do so.” Brian looked at the girl on the floor of the cell. “Besides I know exactly who Shael is and what she wants.” He didn’t know for sure what he’d do with her, but he would get her out of here. This girl hadn’t come just to warn humans. She’d come to save them from her own kind, because she knew the pain the monsters had caused.
She hadn’t fought him nearly as hard as she could. Because she hadn’t wanted to hide anything. She’d known they wouldn’t believe an otherworlder. He knew one thing for sure, that this kind of torture he’d been trained to do to anyone not of earth, was wrong.