40 - A Hero

“I’m what you call a demon. I came to Refuge from the Abyss. And yet, even I don’t know what lies beyond the Last Horizon.

Only when I crossed into the physical world, I started having sequential memories and what you consider logical thought.

I have only scattered impressions of my existence before that. I was fire and anger and laughter. Time wasn’t a line, but an endlessly branching tree. There were beings, and we were many, and only one. What I remember about the deep Else, and the Abyss beyond, I barely understand, and I can’t explain in human words.

But there’s one thing I remember, and you must know - deep into the ever-changing currents, something terrible lies in waiting.”

* Kaelisha, the Red Fury

Fuck. We botched this.

The Kalestran mage, who is apparently a Juggler on top of a Wrecker, threw a fucking table at us, and I ended up alone on the terrace, with Kaelich and Althea still inside the restaurant.

The table also nicked my ankle as I dodged, and it’s broken or badly sprained - it hurts like the Abyss, and trembles when I put weight on it. Rush, I command through my implants, and welcome the jolt of fire spreading through my veins. My heart beats faster, and the pain, while it doesn’t decrease, becomes less important.

I might be hurt, but the mages have no way out, and I’m the one with the silver sword. If my stupid leg gives me one good lunge, I can skewer the Wrecker boy.

“Go in! I can hold it…” Althea says, but as she does, the Juggler clenches his fingers, blood-red with magic, and the green ice Althea made to stop the floating table shatters. The table moves again, slamming against the open door and locking Kaelich on the other side. Just perfect.

And what the Abyss is the mind-mage doing? She’s standing by a broken section of the railing, as if she’s going to jump, and she moves her hands, weaving golden threads. Red warnings surround her in my visor - level 2.5. Lost Stars, she’s almost as powerful as Althea!

“Stop! ThauCon!” I command. I usually picture myself reciting the Agency’s regulation when arresting a mage, but my leg hurts, and they’re trying to kill us, so they get the short version.

Which mage should I go for? The mind-mage is closer, but she’s busy fighting Althea. The Juggler is the immediate danger - if he turns his attention to me, I’m in no state to dodge more tables. So, I brace myself for the pain and run to him.

Pain explodes as I put down my ankle, so bad I see white, but with the Rush coursing through my veins, I ignore it and I lunge forward - just a few more steps…

The mage turns. Through his weird shield made of red triangles, his eyes are wide with fear. He points one hand toward me, and a dozen pieces of metal cutlery rise above the overturned tables, and fly toward me like angry wasps.

I could hope my combat suit keeps me safe, but it’s not that good against knives. I throw myself on the side, hiding behind a thick flowerbed - too heavy for the mage to Juggle easily, I hope.

My ankle gives, and I feel a sick crunch inside it, plus a burning, cutting pain like nothing I’ve felt before. I bite my lips not to scream. Well, now it’s definitely broken, and drugs or no drugs, I’m a sitting duck.

I almost want to lie on the ground and wait for death - or for the others to save me. But no, I can still fight. Pushing myself up with my arms and the remaining leg, I get to a semblance of a crouch - I’m actually leaning against the flowerbed, but I hope it will look like a combat position. The mages don’t know how badly I’m hurt.

Blades won't help me, now. I let my sword drop, grab a theta grenade. I need a hand to balance myself, but I can throw the grenade, then whip out my pistol and shoot.

“Cerical! You’re hurt!” Kaelich says.

“No shit, ser,” I say, activating the grenade and throwing it at the Ruin-mage.

He flinches, and I reach for my pistol - but the Mind-mage turns, snake-fast, and a golden net flickers into existence, stopping the grenade in midair - too far from the mages to do anything useful. Fucking cheaters.

I look at what they’re doing – there’s a hole on terrace's side, with something glimmering through the gap. A line of too-bright gold, going down outside the building. What are they planning? Are they really going to jump?

“Go now!” the mind-mage yells. She gives me a quick look, and I must look pretty useless, because she ignores me and turns toward the blocked door, then she strengthens the half-dome of a shield she created between herself and the team.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

What are they going to do? There’s no way out except through the restaurant. All our mages were positive they can’t levitate down nor fly. So… oh, fuckers.

“They’re going to rappel down!” I say. “They made a… a magic zip line. You must come in!”

As I watch, the Juggler runs to the gap, looks at the golden cable, then down. He doesn’t look very happy.

“Ok, fuck blocking their ways out, we come,” Althea says.

I could try and shoot them. But I know the truth - a simple pistol won’t kill them in one shot, and if they want me dead, right now they can squash me like a bug. I hate feeling this powerless.

Before the Kalestran mage jumps, the table stuck in front of the door explodes in a flash of green light, and part of the wall around it tears. Behind the gap in the wall, I see Althea, her hands and face turned into green glass, her magic glowing so fiercely everything in the terrace turns to green. Behind her is Kaelich, who learned xir lesson and is half-hidden behind a pillar, rifle ready.

We can do it! Even with me out of commission and Sorivel out of shooting drones, Althea and Kaelich can arrest them. Or kill them, I don’t care that much about interrogating them, right now.

“Jump!” The mind-mage commands, but the other mage falters in front of the hole. Hard to blame him.

Althea raises her hands, sending a table flying through the door, and against the golden shield dome, which shatters into twisting threads of golden light. A moment later, Kaelich shoots at the Juggler, and his weird armor of dark red, triangular blades breaks down into a feeble mist of red light.

Kaelich could easily shoot him again and be done with it, but of course xe’ll try to take him alive.

“Go away!” The mind-mage says, her tone commanding, echoing in my head more than it should - alarm notices blare in my visor. Theta peak - mind attack - but the silver in the helmet protects me.

“Althea!” Kaelich yells, and I turn to look at her. She’s screaming, her hands against her temples, and while most of her face glows green, there are golden sparks dancing around her eyes.

“Kill the mind-mage!” I say, hoping Kaelich will listen. “Kill her now!”

Kaelich looks at Althea for a moment, then lines up xir rifle -

And the world trembles. The Kalestran boy moves his arms in a cutting motion, and red lightning explodes between him and us, in a scything path that cuts the mages away from Althea and me.

The marble floor breaks under my feet, the glass above us explodes into shards, and the whole terrace starts shaking.

“Fuck! He’s making it fall!” Sorivel’s voice reaches us through comms. “Is he out of his mind?”

The floor shifts under my feet, and I fall to the ground, with another stab of pain so bad, for a moment I blank out.

“...Cerical! Status!” Kaelich is saying, when I’m coherent again, even if Lady of Pain, this hurts.

“Alive,” I say, which is really the most optimistic, truthful assessment I can make. I’m sprawled on the floor, and I can’t tell up and down. No, wait, it’s not just me - there’s something really wrong. The floor is tilted.

“Retreat!” Kaelich orders, “the whole terrace is giving out!”

“I… don’t think I can, sorry,” I say.

“Something is very, very wrong, we…” someone says - who else is in the channel? Right, Jaeleri, the useless fucker.

“Get Cerical out!” Althea says, and her voice is strange, full of command and fury. “I'll deal with the mage!”

“I’m going to get her,” Kaelich says, “cover me.”

“May the Navigator guide you, may the Captain protect you, may the Doctor have mercy, may the Engineer grant that terrace structural integrity,” Sorivel prays, his voice dazed.

Oh, I’m not going to wait for my rescue. My head is still fuzzy, but I push with both arms against the floor, and with the knee of my fucked-up leg. If I manage to get up on the good leg…

I try to assess the situation, but there’s dust everywhere. My visor must have taken a hit, because it’s not tracking the two mages anymore - it shows dozens of quickly moving shapes, and it’s full of strange notifications, but I can’t focus on them.

I don’t need tracking to see the mind-mage, though. The golden light of her armor cuts through the dust. As it beings to settle, I see Althea on the opposite side, like a pillar of green light.

“Stop!” A shrill, scared voice says, and I hear it twice, from my earpiece and inside my mind, “stop using magic, there’s something…”

“The ruin-mage is escaping,” Sorivel says. “He’ll land on a tower two blocks away. Mission control, alert the police, try to get sensors.”

“Guys, something here…” Kaelich says.

Green and golden light fight in the clearing dust, it’s like watching two wildfires trying to strangle each other. I must go away, I must find my pistol, I must…

Something tears. I don’t quite hear it, I don’t see it at first, but I feel it, in a way that I can’t explain, and it fills me with dread. Something broke, something that should never break.

New alarms blink purple into my visor, and finally my head clears enough to read them.

EMERGENCY - INCURSION.

ONGOING VEIL RUPTURE