As soon as she opened her eyes, she wished she hadn’t. In the darkness behind her closed eyelids she could still pretend that nothing had happened, that everything was okay. Once her eyes were open, that illusion was gone.
He was still there, just like he had been before, only… he wasn’t. The person she saw, walking through the falling rocks toward the dais at the end of the room, wasn't the man she had loved any more than she was the woman who had loved him. The man she had loved wouldn’t have done this. Not to their friends, not to the world, not to her.
Her eyes filled with tears again and the world once more faded into a foggy blur. She could not see him anymore, yet she could no longer pretend like he was not there. Like this had not happened. It was over – she had lost.
“{No, we haven’t.}”
One of her fingers twitched. She wanted so badly to swat away the voice, make it go away and leave her in peace, but it would not stop. Her finger twitched again and she tried to move the hand to get rid of the voice, but the effort was beyond her. No sooner had it left the ground than it had collapsed back down beside her.
“{Wipe away the tears, on your feet.}”
“I don’t…”
The word came from her mouth, but it was more moan than voice and almost instantly trailed off. It was too much effort to move her lips let alone speak. She curled further in on herself and waited for it all to pass.
“Ow!”
A sudden, sharp pain came from her hand. For a second, it cut through her malaise and drowned out her torment. Unable to see through her tear-streaked eyes, she tried again to raise her hand to swat away her assailant. This time her limb managed to leave the ground, but it connected with nothing but air. She was rewarded for her effort by another sharp stab.
“Stop that!”
The words were still mumbled, but they were audible. Her lips opened and closed a few more times and she licked the dry, cracked skin.
“{Then stop being a baby and stand up!}”
“I… I can’t.”
She felt a tugging at her shirt and slowly felt her torso lift off the ground. She rose one inch, then a second, but she made no effort to rise and soon whatever was trying to lift her let her go and she fell back to the ground.
“Leave me be…”
She lay there, hoping the ground would swallow her up and put her out of her misery. Instead, she felt something yank at her hair this time.
“Owwww!”
Her hand shot up and struck at the air beside her head. She felt it connect with something soft and fuzzy with a resounding thwack and then it was gone.
Her hand went to her face and wiped the tears away from her eyes, but she could not see what she had hit. Instead, she was back in the cold, dark room. It was just as it had been before – a fire that was not a fire, and a monster of nightmares crawling out of it. Her heart thudded wildly in her chest – this time she knew she had to run. She tried to turn away from it, but it was as if invisible chains bound her in her place. She shifted a leg, and then an arm, but she could move no more than a few inches before her limb stopped and would move no further.
The thing walked towards her, unhurried, but with a purpose. She could see the black fire flicker in its eyes as it tilted its head, studying her with a look that contained no fear or hatred – merely curiosity. One step, and then another brought it closer to her and she could smell the stench of death, feel the cold radiating from the unnatural fire pouring from its body. A mottled, flaming hand stuck out towards her, reaching for her hand.
“No… No…”
Her eyes widened with fear and she tried with all her might to move away from it, but there was nothing she could do. Her whole body shook, but went nowhere as the thing’s hand moved closer to her, closer, closer… And then closed around her wrist.
***
“Noooooo!”
Evie let loose a blood curdling scream and shot up in her bed, her heart pounding as if trying to break free from her rib cage. Her head twisted wildly from left to right and she threw up her hands in front of her to defend her face. For a terrifying second, she thought she could still see the flaming monster walking towards her, reaching for her hand through the darkness, but when she blinked, she found herself staring at an irate, but oh so wonderfully human face.
“Oh for the love of Gavin… What are you, twelve?”
Aoi was standing over her – there was a sword in one hand and the other one was crackling with a static charge. The woman’s hair was a complete mess and her eye was twitching violently as she glared down at Evie. As she peered down at Evie, she lowered the sword and the sparks around her hand disappeared.
“If you wet your bed, I am not cleaning that up.”
Evie took a shuddering breath and lowered her hands. Her face was dripping with sweat and she felt her shirt clinging to her body above her still-racing heart. She looked around, eyes trying to convince her brain that she was in the Sakamotos’ small, one-room house, and not in a nightmarish corridor. As she adjusted to the dim light, she saw that it was still dark outside, but the first hints of dawn were just peaking through the curtains. She could easily see Aoi standing above her, lit by a couple of candles still burning on the table between their beds, but Daisuke’s form in the bed the twins had shared on the other side of the room was still indistinct.
“Sorry… The nightmares they… just started.”
“I’m sure…”
Aoi eyed her dubiously for several seconds. Evie thought she was going to lay into her, but then she gave a long, tired yawn and ran her hand through her tangled hair.
“But some of us like our sleep, okay? Next time, panic a little quieter.”
As if on cue, Daisuke stirred and gave a long, tired moan from the other side of the room.
“Give it a rest, sis. Some of us are still trying to sleep.”
Aoi’s eyes crossed and Evie let out a short giggle, holding her hand up to cover her mouth. Her short moment of mirth ended instantly when she saw the blood leaking from the back of her hand and the burn on her wrist.
“It can’t…”
“Um, Aoi?” Evie put her hand back down to her lap, hoping Aoi hadn’t noticed the blood. “Can I use your bathroom to wash up?”
“You’re free to use our shower, but you’ll need to go to the bathhouse across the street if you want hot water.”
Evie looked down at her grimy sweatpants and soaked t-shirt.
“Your shower’s fine, thanks…”
Aoi nodded, seeming satisfied with Evie’s choice, and pointed over her shoulder.
“I’ll try to get this doofus out of bed in the meantime. Don’t take all morning!”
Evie nodded and climbed slowly out of bed, avoiding Aoi’s eyes as she grabbed her uniform from her bag and clambered into the small bathroom at the back of the house. Closing the door behind her, she dropped her uniform on top of the toilet seat and rested her hands on the sink. The bathroom was dim, lit only by a candle in a small holder by the sink and the weak morning light shining through the frosted glass window. She looked up at herself in the mirror and it was all she could do not to recoil at the haggard revenant’s image staring back at her.
She had thought Aoi’s hair was a tangled mess, but her’s looked at as if someone had shaved off her hair and planted a new species of fast-growing lichen in its place. It clung together in long, sticky clumps, dangling beside her cheeks while not quite covering her ears. The bags under her eyes were swollen and purple, bulging like bruised fruit above her ashen cheeks. She glanced down at her hands, still trembling slightly, and winced at the burn tracing across her wrist and what looked like claw marks on top of her hand.
Emitting a noise somewhere between a sigh and a moan, Evie turned on the shower and stepped into the ice cold water, relishing the shock of it against her skin. She carefully dabbed at her wrist, watching the water turn red then brown as it washed away the blood and dirt accumulated across the long week. She lost herself in the flow of the water, letting it run through her hair and over her skin wishing it would wash away the blemishes hidden under her skin as well.
“{Feeling better?}”
Evie jumped, nearly slipping on the wet porcelain as she looked around for the source of the voice.
“Who said that?”
“{Not this again…}”
Just like yesterday, the voice seemed to be coming from within her head instead of through her ears. It was clearly a woman’s voice with a sharp, proper accent – each ‘T’ was articulated as if the speaker was flicking it from her teeth with the tip of her tongue. Evie opened the window and peered out into the early morning, causing the voice to sigh in her head.
“{Never a good thing when dreams leave marks on your skin. You should get that looked at.}”
“That’s it, I’m going crazy…”
Evie turned off the shower, clamping her hand over her wrist and letting out an audible wince of pain. Still holding her arm, she stepped out of the basin and wrapped herself in one of the towels hanging beside it.
“I really hope Aoi’s not a morning showerer…”
“{You’re not going crazy.}”
“Oh so normal people hear voices in their head?”
Evie laughed, but it sounded hollow to her own ears. Trying to ignore her confusion, she wiped herself dry and started putting on her uniform. She looked down at the starched cloth, and for a second it took her mind off of everything else. The uniform was far different from her school uniform and even unlike anything she had seen anyone wearing around For Washington.
Both the coat and pants were jet black with golden trims running over the shoulders and down the sleeves. There were matching golden buttons running up the center of the coat and ending on the top in a high collar that cinched midway up her neck and on the bottom in a gold-trimmed belt that wrapped tightly around her waist. For a second, she stared at herself in the mirror, taken aback at how professional she looked.
“{I definitely never said you were normal.}”
The voice brought her crashing back down to reality and she sighed, tearing her eyes away from her reflection in the mirror. It was remarkable how ten minutes ago she couldn’t bear to look at herself and now she didn’t want to look away.
“Who are you?”
“Evie!” She nearly jumped at hearing the voice coming through the door instead of in her head. “Quit talking to yourself and get out here! That’s the only bathroom if you haven’t noticed.”
Evie dared Aoi’s wrath for a few more seconds as she waited, hoping the voice would respond again. But she heard nothing more so she stole one more glance at the mirror before walking out the bathroom and back into the house.
When she emerged from the bathroom, she felt more like herself, albeit still shaky. Aoi had managed to get Daisuke out of bed, though he still looked half-asleep reclining in one of the kitchen chairs with the buttons of his uniform mismatched. Aoi was mercilessly dragging a brush through her hair as if it had offended her while turning every few seconds to make sure that Daisuke hadn’t gone back to sleep.
“Alright, please keep Sleeping Beauty from going back to bed for just a few more minutes while I do my business and then we’ll head to the keep for breakfast. Looks like we could all use like a gallon of coffee. Want this?”
Evie gave a weak smile, holding out her hand and feeling a flicker of gratitude as Aoi passed her the hair brush.
“That sounds wonderful.”
“You excited?”
Evie turned to see Daisuke blinking at her slowly as Aoi disappeared into the bathroom. His hair covered his eyes adding to the dopey look on his face.
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“Excited for what?”
“You know… First day as a soldier, joining the new unit? I’d be jumping for joy if it wasn’t, like, 6 AM…”
“I’m sure…”
Evie laughed and felt a small sense of lightness return to her. She grasped the brush and started doing her best to take care of her hair.
“What were Aoi and you doing before they moved you into this unit?”
“Standard stuff.” Daisuke ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face, only for it to fall right back in the same place. “Training, sitting around, the occasional terrifying battle for our survival.”
It hit Evie for the first time that these two were two or three years older than her. They had been fighting on the front lines the whole time she’d been in school. Sure the Richmond militia called older students up when the walls were attacked, but their familiar nature made it easy to forget the Sakamotos were real soldiers.
“I guess I am too now…”
She studied Daisuke, wanting to ask so many questions, but it didn’t feel right to pry so soon after she’d met him so she asked a simple one instead.
“What should I expect?”
He smiled, giving her his familiar boyish grin while toying with the cuff of his uniform.
“Frankly, I have no idea. I don’t even know who’s leading this unit. But based on these uniforms, it isn’t going to be anything we’ve seen before.”
“Then we better get going and find out, huh?”
Aoi walked out the bathroom, looking as polished as her brother did sloppy. Her highlighted hair hung in a tight braid hanging alongside and nearly matching the golden buttons on her shirt.
“And Evie? Any more banshee wails, and I swear it will be like we never met. I’ve got a reputation to uphold here.”
Evie chuckled softly, and shook her head.
“I’ll do my best.”
***
“Grrrrr.”
“I think her head’s going to explode if you keep looking at her like that, Sergeant… Or yours is… Oooh do I still need to call you Sergeant now that we’re in a new unit? Maybe I’ll just call you Seraphina again – it has a much prettier ring to it.”
“Avery… I’m not in the mood.”
Seraphina stood at the edge of the training room, her gaze slowly panning the crowd of people, but always ending on one face.
Her mood had started off sour when she’d woken up that morning and spotted the black uniform hanging in her closet – a reminder that while Graves and his unit were getting ready to set off on her mission, she was effectively going back to school. It had only gotten worse from there as she and Avery had made their way to the massive new building at the back of the keep grounds and found it already filled with spectators. She had felt a small measure of happiness at seeing Mrs. McLaughlin leaning on her cane next to a few other old women on one side of the room, but that feeling was quickly quashed by seeing the 20 or 30 other soldiers gathered around the room, chatting in low voices.
Each time a new person walked into the room, she had felt her mood darken until it had reached an abyssal nadir at seeing Aoi Sakamoto strut in alongside her. She wasn’t sure if she was more upset by the fact that Evie Ivans looked entirely at ease – chatting with the Sakamotos, saluting a captain who approached her from the crowd, introducing herself to and bumping fists with bubblegum boy – or that she looked so poised and professional in the new uniform. Watching her adjust her collar, open smile on her face as she laughed at something someone had said, Seraphina felt a pang of something she couldn’t quite define pass through her. How could someone who’d just arrived could fit in so effortlessly while she, who’d been raised in this fort, felt so… out-of-place?
“I don’t get it, Avery. How is she already so… so comfortable? And with the Sakamotos, of all people.”
“The new girl? She looks super cool! I’m excited to go meet her once we have a second.”
“Avery!”
“Oh, don’t be like that Seraphina… So she knocked you around a little, I’m sure you’ll get her next time.”
“She did not! She–”
“Attention!”
Seraphina’s complaint was drowned out as an all-too-familiar voice resounded through the room.
“Oh as if this whole thing couldn’t get any worse…”
The crowd quieted as the two soldiers walked through the door. Seraphina felt her heart sink as her eyes confirmed what her ears had hinted at.
“Is that General Swoopes?”
Avery may have been attempting to whisper, but her voice was still too loud in the suddenly quiet room causing several people around them to cast stern gazes in their direction. Feeling her face redden in embarrassment, Seraphina nodded silently, keeping her gaze on the front of the room. Unfortunately, Avery seemed oblivious to the attention her voice had concentrated on them and kept speaking.
“Who’s the other one?”
“I. Don’t. Know. For the love of Tirelle, I’m begging you – be quiet Avery! I’m sure they’ll introduce themselves.
The woman standing next to General Swoopes, a Colonel based on the stripes on her uniform, had a sharp, piercing gaze that alighted on Seraphina as she finished hissing out her response to Avery. She felt herself swallow and take a small shuffle backward before the woman thankfully looked away and pulled a sheet of paper from a folder lodged under her arm.
“As you hear your name, please step forward in front of me. Everyone else, you can leave.”
“Leave?! We…”
Someone interrupted from behind Seraphina, but his voice instantly trailed off as the Colonel’s glare found him. She stared at him for a long moment before looking down at the list and starting to read off names.
The crowd gave a collective sigh and started to shuffle out of the training room as Seraphina, the 14 people from the room yesterday, and Evie Ivans each had their name called and went to stand at attention in front of the Colonel and General Swoopes. For the first time that morning, Seraphina felt a small bit of satisfaction as she watched the disappointed group of onlookers exit. She caught Mrs. McLaughlin’s eye, who gave her a small wave as she hobbled through the door.
Once they were all gathered and the crowd was gone, the room felt strangely empty. It was truly a massive room, far bigger than the one Seraphina had been training in yesterday. One entire wall was lined with practice weapons of all types – swords, spears, bows, maces, and even some more esoteric weapons like glaves, axes, and flails. It had its own obstacle course, sections for sword, spear, and archery practice, and three separate training pits cut into different parts of the floor.
“Good morning everyone.”
General Swoopes’ voice broke through the silence, ending Seraphina’s perusal of the room and focusing her attention back on the two veteran soldiers.
“Thank you all for being here – we won’t waste time on long-winded speeches or pleasantries. You’re here because you’re unique. You’re the best of the new generation – all too young to know what life was like before the Virus, all old enough to understand the fight ahead of you.”
“My name is General Dalton Swoopes. I’m a level 48 [Defender] and I’m here to help train you on defensive strategy. This is–”
“Colonel Nikita Mallagundla.”
The woman cut in as if on queue, her piercing gaze continuing to scan the young faces in front of her.
“I’m a level 51 [Knight]. I am a duelist – I’ll be teaching you how to fight, and defeat enemies far beyond what you think you’re capable of doing.”
The whole room was quiet for several seconds as many of the soldiers stared open-mouthed at the two veterans. Few, if any, of them had probably ever met anyone that high level. Then a boy’s small voice broke the silence.
“Are both of you leading the unit, then?”
“No, that would be me.”
The group turned, and this time even Seraphina’s mouth dropped open. Behind them, wearing a simple sleeveless tunic and pants, was Steward Eytan Kalanick. The man smiled, clearly taking pleasure in everyone’s surprise, and his gaze panned the room, coming to a rest on someone a few feet away from Seraphina. She followed his gaze, and saw it resting on the new girl’s face while she stared back at him, mouth forming a grim line of determination.
“What happened yesterday…?”
Seraphina would have killed to know what the girl had discussed with her mother and the other stewards, but there was as much chance of any of them telling her than there was of Steward Kalanick breaking out a disco ball and dancing a jig on the training floor.
“The next few months will be some of the most difficult of your lives.”
The steward’s gaze resumed scanning the group as he continued.
“We’re going to push you harder than anyone has pushed you before. You will face challenges, break bones, and nearly drop dead from exhaustion before this is over, but when it is, you will be stronger, not just in level, but in skill and spirit.”
He paused, letting his words sink in.
“Now… I think some introductions are in order. When I call your name, step forward and state your archetype, level, and why you are here.”
“Why we’re here, sir?”
The same boy, clearly braver or lacking the same preservation instinct as the rest of them, asked again.
“If any of you don’t know why you’re here then you can leave right now.”
The steward’s gaze fixed on the boy with so much ferocity that Seraphina thought he would run out of the room screaming, but he managed to hold his ground, swallowing and giving the barest of nods.
“Very good. Then I’ll go first: Eytan Kalanick, [Berserker] level 73, steward, champion, and awakened hero. Why don’t you go next, Wes?”
The boy stumbled forward, a few feet in front of the rest of the group who had unwittingly formed into a straight line, and stuck out his check. His voice wrang out with bravado that felt a slight bit forced.
“Wesley Robinson, [Adventurer] level 19, Terrain analyst.”
“Very good, very good, how about you, Melanie?”
“M-me, sir?”
“Yes you, we don’t have all day.”
A small, timid-looking girl wearing thick, leather armor with a spiked mace strapped across her back stepped forward.
“O-okay… M-Melanie Highgarden, [Adjudicator] level 18, I… I have a unique skill, [Rules of War].
The steward nodded with a look of satisfaction on his face, while the two other soldiers, who had walked around to stand beside him, stood there stoically with their arms folded across their chests.
“Avery.”
Seraphina felt a familiar sense of trepidation pass through her as her friend stepped forward beside her with a playful grin on her face.
“Avery Fitzpatrick, [Builder] level 19, Giant death robot construction.”
The whole room was silent for a second until, to Seraphina’s surprise, Colonel Mallagundla snorted a laugh. The tension broken, Avery gave her familiar impish smile while General Swoopes shook his head and Steward Kalanick rolled his eyes. There was both exasperation and amusement in the steward’s voice when he responded.
“Avery…”
“Ugh fine…” Avery threw up her hands. “Turret construction specialist.”
“Thank you.”
As each of the other members of their unit stepped forward and introduced themselves, Seraphina was impressed by the variety of skills and archetypes. Although none of them were as high-leveled as she was, each of the skills and specialities were ones she had never heard of before – possibly completely unique. Finally, there were only five of them remaining.
“Your turn Ravi.”
Seraphina could detect a glint of something in the steward’s eye as he called bubblegum boy forward. Suddenly it felt as though there was an aura of anticipation crackling through the room and everyone, including the veterans, stood the slightest bit taller
“Ravi Kumar Mallagundla.”
“Mallagundla? Is he the Colonel’s son?”
[Berserker] level 28.”
Both the man’s archetype and level stunned Seraphina. [Berserker] was an incredibly rare archetype, not unique like her own, but few people had awakened it beside the steward himself. And the level… It was high, higher than hers. But the next word out of his mouth took her breath away.
“Shiva.”
The single word felt like it echoed through the training room with power. Every eye in the room was transfixed on bubblegum boy as his dark skin took on a bluish hue that faintly glowed like moonlight shining on a dark pond. His eyes seemed to catch fire, shifting from hazel-green to an unnatural, smoldering violet and a third eye emerged in the center of his forehead – a vertical slit that was closed, but pulsed with energy.
Two additional pairs of arms extended from his torso, each holding a weapon – a sword, a trident, a drum, and a trio of ethereal, flaming chakras – blazing discs of fire that spun around his hands. His hair grew from short, tight curls to long locks that flowed behind him as if caught in a perpetual wind. A ring of fire flared around his body, casting flickering shadows over the ground.
The training yard stood in stunned silence, most of the recruits shifting away from Ravi as if they couldn’t bear to be so close to him, but at the same time unable to take their eyes off of him. Evie’s eyes were filled with a glassy wonder as she took in his form and even Eytan had an appraising, almost admiring look on his face.
“There are more awakened heroes? How? Since when? For how long have the stewards been keeping this secret?”
Seraphina looked at Evie, and then at Aoi and Daisuke, the other three people beside herself who hadn’t introduced themselves yet and a sense of foreboding realization ran through her. Aoi didn’t even wait for Steward Kalanick to call her forward. She stepped up besides Ravi, who still held Shiva’s form, and proudly called out her own introduction.
“Aoi Sakamoto, [Sorcerer] level 26, Himiko.”
A shimmering aura formed around Aoi, casting her in a silvery glow that danced with hints of red and violet light. Her eyes closed, and the sharp lines on her face softened momentarily, a tranquil peace replacing her normally sharp scowl. Spectral petals began to fall slowly around her, carrying the faint fragrance of cherry blossoms. As they approached the floor, gentle gusts of wind picked them up and blew them in lazy circles around her.
When Aoi’s eyes opened, they were no longer caustic or challenging, instead filled with an ancient wisdom that surveyed the room with the quiet authority of an empress. Shimmering sparks flicked off her fingers, dancing around her and bouncing off the petal in intricate patterns. An ornate fan formatted in one hand, and she flicked it open, showing an image of the sun surrounded by the moon in each of its eight primary phases. As she raised the fan, power vibrated through the room, making it feel like the air was charged with electricity.
Seraphina knew she should have felt incensed, frustrated, even afraid at seeing so much power concentrated in a girl she detested, but she couldn’t help but feel awe and a small thrill of excitement at seeing the tremendous power emanating from the two heroes. This really wasn’t an ordinary unit. They… Maybe they really could make a difference.
“Amazing, amazing.” Steward Kalanick clapped, his huge, white smile splitting open his face. “Let’s keep going, Daisuke?”
“Daisuke Sakamoto, [Adventurer] level 23, Space cadet.”
Aoi’s head spun to look at her brother so fast it nearly gave Seraphina whiplash. The common look of exasperation written on the ancient hero’s face was so foreign it was comical. Seraphina nearly laughed out loud and she did hear Avery titter beside her.
“Daisuke, what’s wrong with you?! Can’t you just… be cool for once?”
“Oh, yeah, um… Neil Armstrong.”
A faint, metallic sheen flickered over Daisuke, and, in an instant, he was clad in what could only be described as a spacesuit. Unlike the flowing gowns and colorful clothing worn by Shiva or Himiko, the suit was more functional, rugged even. It was made up of thick, padded layers of white cloth clasped by an intricate set of silver buckles. A round, metal helmet formed over his head with a darkened visor shielding his face, glinting softly under the training room’s lights.
A flagpole formed in one of his hands and the pre-Viral American flag unfurled atop it, blowing out gently behind him. He raised his other hand to his helmet and pressed a button, causing the visor to slide up and revealing his face beneath it. The look in his eyes was forceful and focused, resolutely staring at the veterans in front of him. When he spoke, his voice had a distant quality to it as if it was coming from far away.
“Your turn, Evie. Let’s see it.”
Evie took a deep breath and stepped up beside Daisuke.
“Eva Victoria… Ivans, um… no archetype yet…”
“No Archetype? What?!”
For a second, Seraphina’s mind caught on those words and she felt herself reeling in confusion. She saw several other odd looks directed at the girl, but tellingly, not from Steward Kalanick. Taking a deep breath, Evie continued.
“Yeah… I’m level 25, and the reason I’m here is: Victoria.”
Seraphina wasn’t prepared for how much seeing the girl transform would affect her. She had just seen three people whom she either disliked or outright detested reveal powers to her that were on par with her own, yet it was seeing this girl with her stupid tricorn hat and cloak standing beside them that filled her with rage once again. She didn’t even wait for the group to finish appreciating Evie’s transformation before stepping up in front of all of them.
“Seraphina McIntyre, [Paladin] level 26, Joan of Arc.”