Today is the day of the festival and I have not so much as seen Naomi even once since she left me in Banana Nation. I spend two hours getting ready for the date. Suddenly none of my clothing seems to be good enough to fit the occasion. I finally settle on a black dress shirt with a graphic design of the Gandole Griffin in gold stitching, dark blue jeans and black and gold tennis shoes. I walk to the door and scan the room making sure I don’t forget anything important before strolling out. I arrive at the lobby and sit on the last step. I think about the things we are going to do during the festival. After I realize that I have been waiting a while I wipe my hand over my MHC to check the time. 13:21 I have been here for an hour.
A horde of tourist pass ready to enjoy the day’s festivities. I have a horribly defeated feeling that forces my feet to drag and my shoulders to hang low. I scale the towering steps to the front desk and make a quick right to the elevator. As I arrive at my room I stare down the hall imagining her running towards me. The vision vanishes. I walk to the couch and plop down on it not even bothering to take off my shoes.
“Knock, knock, knock,” I hear pounding on the door. I stand up and see that it’s dark outside. I activate the MHC to check the time. I read 22:15. I rub my eyes and let out a yawn before walking to the door. I open it seeing Ayesha standing on the other side. She has on a yellow sundress and matching shoes and looks unsure as to what to say.
“You’re a little late,” I comment. “But at least you came.”
“Well then let’s get going,” she says as she hugs me.
Once outside I feel a chill in the air. The perfect temperature under the night sky. The streets are full of partygoers. Most family-oriented activity end at dusk.
“Are we still meeting Brittney?” I ask.
“Nope, we missed that,” she replies. “Besides, I like it just the two of us, and there is something I want to show you. It’s a surprise.”
“Okay.”
We walk to the edge of the city limits into the farming area. We cut through a field into the thick brush of the forest. We continue our climb up a steep mountainside my suspicion deepening.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“It is a surprise.” She responds you’ll see it when we get there. Trust me it is to die for.”
Her answer leaves me wondering even more. I follow her farther up the hilly mountain side of Mount Pe’hēb. I am right behind her until we come to a small clearing. Under the moonlight she glows like an angel. She pulls me towards her. She turns me around so that she is behind me. I can feel her warm body on my back.
“Look,” she says as she reaches over my shoulder pointing at the city. “This is my favorite spot. At dusk the light shines over the mountain at the most perfect angle. I wanted to bring you up here earlier but I had some… work to do.”
“It’s okay,” I say. “I just wanted to be with you.”
“Aww,” She remarks as she gently pulls me to the ground then sits beside me.
Suddenly a loud ray of light zooms up to the sky above the city exploding in multi-colored patterns. Every few seconds another one shoots up igniting the sky in an ebullient light show. I turn to Ayesha who is entranced by the show. I grab her hand to get her attention but I find myself unable to say anything as she turns her head to look at me. I lift my hand up, tenderly graze it across her cheek and lean in closer. She does the same. I am inches away from her lips and as they touch I feel a sharp pain in my stomach. I recoil and push her back. When I look down I see she has stabbed me with a black knife. She flips a switch on the handle and electricity sparks throughout my body in painful bursts. I fall on my back unable to move as the Vortex goes haywire inside me.
“I’m sorry for this,” she says with tears in her eyes. “But my father said I had to!”
“W-what are yyou do-ing to me?” I ask.
“Disabling your Black Seed,” she declares as she attempts to wipe the tears from her face. “Large amounts of electricity will stop Black Seeds from outputting energy as long as the frequency changes quicker than the Seed can process.”
Suddenly seven shadowy figures emerge from the forest. Their headgear has holographic visors that glow bright red. Each of them is armed with the latest automatic rifles and ready to shoot me.
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“Good job, Smoking Gun. Your father may not have wasted his time keeping you alive,” one of the men says but with the electricity coursing through me I can’t tell which.
“Looks like your unlucky day Corporal Edward,” one of the men says as he bends down over me. “We will be relieving you of duty and that Seed of yours.”
Bang! I hear and then the man standing over me falls over dead. Everyone scrambles behind the cover of the trees.
“Sniper. Anyone got eyes on…” he doesn’t finish his statement before he falls to the ground in a puddle of his own blood.
I hear another bang hit the blade in my stomach ripping the knife out. Instantly I can feel the Vortex activating as soon as the blade is removed. I flip over, lift myself up and run as fast as I can to the nearest tree. I jump from one tree to the top of another. A hail of gunfire keeps me from looking back as I jump desperately from tree to tree. My nanites stop the bleeding. A hand grabs me from behind as I jump into a large clearing. The person sticks the landing of the one hundred foot drop and throws me down on the ground.
“Nao… I mean Janice, you saved me just…” I stop once I look up and see the yellow sundress.
“Edward,” Ayesha says teary eyed. “I really wish you did not have a Black Seed.”
“How did you know I had one to begin with?” I ask.
“The first time we touched, I felt its power spike against mine. I nearly fainted,” she says.
“If you don’t want to do this, then don’t. You can choose to let me go,” I say.
“I can’t deny my father. He is all I have.”
The veins in her right arm glow bright red as they shift. Her entire limb becomes slick and metallic. Her hand splits and forms into the muzzle of a cannon. She points it at my head, the heat from it burns my skin. I can see the red energy build up inside. In a loud bang I close my eyes but open them when I hear a thud hit the ground. I open my eyes to see Ayesha sit up, blood pouring from her forehead.
“I found you,” she says angrily. “You no good sniper!”
Ayesha kneels and aims her arm cannon up at the trees in front of her and fires. A beam scorches the grass and explodes as it hits the mountainside destroying everything around it, reducing even stone to ash. A single figure appears before us at the opposite side of the clearing. Naomi runs out of the explosion and takes aim as she lands. Ayesha’s left arm becomes metallic and longer and thinner forming into a blade. Naomi continues shooting as Ayesha runs closer dodging the bullets as they fly through the air.
Ayesha within striking distance swings the blade down on Naomi who manages to evade it at the loss of her sniper rifle. Naomi takes out two combat knives as back-up weapons relying solely on her speed to search for an opening. Ayesha leaves as few as possible by shooting her arm cannon to drive Naomi back. The two continue the battle as I stand up. I want to help but what can I do without the last integration complete? It’s only a matter of time before Naomi’s Copy Seed overheats then she will be defenseless.
I start to run towards them hoping to stop the battle somehow. Pain in my legs trips me up and I plummet to the ground. The symbols I saw before appear in my head and pain surges through my body. It is burning into my core. I can feel the Vortex breaking bones, destroying me to rebuild stronger.
The great voice talks to me as it did before. “Toi Plantose c’exsiten eni satidae iva.” The Seed of life will protect you.
The pain ceases and I know what I can do. The Vortex and I are truly one and I sense its power and drive. I stand up and feel the intense energy inside me burning to be released. I look up and see Naomi is slowing down and scrambles behind a tree for cover. Ayesha instantly fuses both arms into one big cannon charging for the final assault. It’s now or never.
I run as fast as I can to the end of the clearing stopping just in front of Ayesha as the blast zooms directly towards me. I stick out both of my hands knowing what is coming confident in my ability. From my hands I see a barrier of light extending surrounding me in a dome. As the beam hits the barrier it is deflected into the forest cutting through the mountain.
“Ayesha, you don’t need your father,” I yell. “What father would force you to kill someone you lo… like? If you don’t want this, don’t do it!”
“Edward,” she weeps, “he is all I’ve got.”
“No, he isn’t,” I say as I lower the barrier.
“Elvion, what are you doing,” Naomi screams.
“I know what I’m doing,” I shout back. “Ayesha, you have me.” I take a step towards her. “It does not have to end like this.”
“I was playing you this whole time,” Ayesha says. “From the beginning it was all a ruse.”
“Then why are you shaking?” I ask.
“Because she is worthless,” a man screams hidden in the shadows of the trees. “What good are you, Ayesha?”
Suddenly a barrage of bullets fly my way. I lift my hands and the barrier expands deflecting them in every direction. The man walks out from the forest. With fire from the barrels of his mini-gun I can see he is a fairly large man and the gun firing is attached to his right arm which means it is a copy of Ayesha’s Black Seed. He walks closer and closer to me until he is standing directly over me forcing me to my knees at gunpoint. He lifts his other arm which is metal, completely animatronic. It splits into another mini gun and he fires it along with the other. Pinning me closer to the ground. I am not sure how much more I can handle.