Davi inhaled, his head reeling and his lungs feeling like they were about to burst. He knew he was lucky to be alive and uninjured after he was caught in that explosion.

“Hara..” He pried the call from his burning throat as the dust settled around him.

“I’m okay.” Davi could hear his best friend’s usually cheery voice speak out in a somber tone. “What just happened?”

What just happened, indeed? The cities were supposed to be safe. The devils weren’t supposed to be able to launch attacks on civilians. He was supposed to be able to have a normal life here. But not anymore.

In the back of his mind, he had known for a while that their idyllic society had a seed of corruption buried under the surface. He knew ever since that day he took his usual route to Kira’s house two years ago.

It was uncommon for an upper-stratus resident like Kira to have working class friends like Hara and Davi. And while Davi was used to being stared at due to his albinism, he hated his well-worn clothes giving the public another reason to treat him like a show. So it only made sense that he used the shaded back alleys when he visited her. On that day, a still military transport was in the middle of an ascending tunnel. Davi was ready to walk by them. There was no blockade, and he knew he wasn’t a wanted man.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. As he spun around, a bloodied hand clasped over his mouth. He bit back the urge to vomit as he saw the hollow red eyes spouting rivulets of bile-tinted blood. Whoever this person was, they were transforming into a devil, an enemy of the people.

“Run.”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

They didn’t say the word aloud, but instead mouthed it in silence. They then put a shaking finger to their lips and released their near crushing grip on Davi’s face. He didn’t need to be told twice, he turned tail and sprinted. In its weakened state, that devil was bound to be captured and executed. But they had helped him. They wanted him to live.

“Davi! Don’t go dying on me!” Hara screamed, seizing Davi by his collar and shaking him. Before he could respond, an unfamiliar voice called out.

“Please stop! You’re going to hurt him more.” The new female voice was meek, her timbre trembling. “If he took injuries, we need to make sure his neck is kept still.”

Hara slowly set Davi down, looking to their new companion. It gave Davi the chance to sit up and appraise their situation. There was a landscape of broken jutting concrete and glass as far as he could see. The dust would still be settling for days. But the metal that made up the building’s frame was twisted into a grotesque work of art. As the floors fell out from under them and everyone fell, the strange woman on their floor used her power to warp the metal around them. She didn’t stop, continuing to snake metal vines around everyone she could see. She used the tendrils to slow the people she caught. Davi couldn’t count how many she saved, but they numbered in the dozens. She had to be a powerful archon for such precise control over such a large area. As the din of the chaos faded, Davi heard the buzz of emergency vehicles approaching.

“Hey, Davi?” Hara clapped him on the shoulder, her hand tense. Davi followed her gaze to the shaky woman. Compared to the albino Davi and the marmalade haired and blue eyed Hara, she was rather plain. She had dark brown hair just under an inch long, and her light brown eyes looked normal at first glance. Then as Davi heard the treads of military transports join the medics, he saw her deep red pupils. The pupils of archons were a bright gold. This woman was a devil.

“Davi? What should we do? She’s one of them, but she saved us. She saved so many of us.” Hara was right on both counts. Not a day went by without reports of the atrocities the devils committed against the efforts to settle the badlands. But none of the reports implicated their timid savior. As the treads drew near, he made his choice. He turned around, grabbing both Hara and the devil by their forearms before starting to sprint away.

“Run!”