From the floor of Level Zero, Raya and Myra sat in Reiku’s tent with three black-eyed children. As they sat quietly, they could hear the commotion on Level One. The wood and steel ceiling of the city’s basement rumbled as screaming seeped through the cracks and gunfire erupted amongst the cries. Raya couldn’t help but stare at the falling dust above her, watching anxiously as her mind imagined the carnage. Would a Queen sit idly whilst the innocent are slain? She asked herself, itching to get off of her ass. She may not be a queen anymore, but the words of her Father echoed in her mind, “A warrior doesn’t need a Kingdom to fulfil their duties,”
“Huh?” Myra glanced at her.
“I can’t sit here any longer,” She answered, standing to her feet.
“So you’re the one that’s going to ruin Reiku’s plan?” Myra chuckled.
“You can hear what is happening above us, and don’t care to help?”
“Not really,” Myra shrugged, “Why should I?”
Raya didn’t care to answer, nor did she expect much of others after she’d met Kita. Everyone had to do what was needed to survive, which meant there wasn’t much room for helping others do the same. Raya was well aware of her morality being a rarity in their world, but that only made it more valuable to her.
“Stay with the kids,” Raya said as she left the tent.
She took the elevator to Level One and made her way to the border after pushing through the sea of civilians retreating in the opposite direction. It had been a long time since she’d seen a city in such disarray, and it reminded her of the battles Casiim faced both as the oppressors and the oppressed. The most consistent detail was the collateral damage. The innocent lives that were taken amongst the squabble of the powerful. She’d always hated that the most about her family—their lack of awareness.
The screaming and gunfire grew louder as she drew closer to the border, prompting images of distant battles and soldiers she couldn’t help. She started running and unsheathed her dagger when she saw a group of Vlad's raiders firing at Chevo’s assassins. With the element of surprise, she approached them from behind and dashed straight into the group, using her shoulder the push one of the Raiders off their feet, stabbing them in the chest at the same time. The remaining three Raiders turned to see what happened, but Raya already had the drop on them. She pushed the barrel of the nearest Raider’s gun to the side and threw her dagger at his throat. His muffled gargling allowed her to advance, sliding between the now-dying Raider and the one beside him. As she slipped by, she retrieved her dagger from the Raider’s neck and in the same motion, used it to slit the second Raider. The second Raider squeezed the trigger in panic, and Raya moved behind him as he unloaded the rest of his clip—hitting several civilians in the process. The last Raider took the fight to Raya, and threw a hefty kick at her shoulder that nearly threw her to the floor. But she maintained her footing and swung her blade at the Raider who successfully dodged the attack before taking out his own dagger.
Before they could fight, Chevo’s assassins encroached, firing their weapons at the both of them. Raya ran for cover and found it just in time to see the last Raider get gunned down, and she proceeded to wait for the assassins to reload.
“Pests,” She grunted as she wiped the blood off her dagger and crouched in preparation to spring around her cover.
The guns stopped firing, and she immediately swung out of her protection to attack the nearest assassin, who already had a knife in hand. They exchanged a few slashes, colliding daggers as they both attempted to finish the fight quickly. However, she was interrupted when one of the other assassins kicked her in the thigh. She stumbled, and a third assassin kicked the dagger out of her hands before the fourth one grabbed her.
“Look what we caught,” The first assassin chuckled as he encroached with his blade.
“Don’t kill her,” Another assassin exclaimed, “She knows where the children are,”
“Fuck you” She spat in the assassin’s face.
“You bitch!” The assassin feinted forward, trying to intimidate her.
But Raya didn’t budge, and glared at him when their eyes met. He dropped eye contact and grunted in frustration before he slapped Raya across the face. She took a moment to cool her nerves and spat out the blood in her mouth before looking back at him, without saying a word.
“Move it,” The assassin that had a grip on her pushed, trying to get her to move where he wanted.
She briefly resisted, before she decided to co-operate. Now that she had calmed her nerves, she could think again and decided she would wait for an opening. The grip the assassin had on her was quite shoddy, and she could break free but she needed the other two assassins to be close enough for her to attack immediately afterwards.
She watched closely, and they pushed her through Level One, presumably taking her to Vlad. Fortunately, they were going towards the border, which is where she was headed, but as they got closer Raya witnessed the extent of the battle. The bodies of Level Zeroers were what she saw first—scattered across the border like a mass graveyard. It wasn’t only Level Zeroers, however, as she could see the clothing of Level Oners and tourists scattered amongst the mess.
Munitions were still being exchanged between the two gangs as they all searched Level One for the soulless children.
“How are we supposed to get through all that?” One of the assassins worried.
“Through here,” Another replied, pointing to an alleyway.
They pushed Raya through the tight space, and she noticed the compacted alley forced all of the assassins to line up. This is it. Her opening.
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With all of her strength, she dropped her weight to the ground, breaking free of his hold before she shoved him backwards using her shoulder. He stumbled back into his crewmates, and they all crashed into one another. In the same move, she slipped his knife from its sheath and cut a large wound across his chest. He fell to the floor—and she kicked the next assassin in the chest, pushing into the other two assassins again. This time, however, they all fell to the floor and Raya sprinted through the alley to escape out the other side.
“The hell do you think you're going!?” An assassin yelled alongside the sound of a cocked pistol.
She managed to turn the corner before bullets whizzed by, one of which snagged a lock of her sway hair as she took cover. When she looked ahead of her, she saw she was at the edge overlooking the dried river that the City was built in, and as she glared into the distance, her stomach dropped as she noticed the ruinous storm rolling over the hills. The myst, she immediately sprinted down the outer corridor, looking for another alley that would take her to the main corridor. She took a turn into the next alley, and a few more bullets whizzed by; the assassins weren't far behind, and she’d be an easy target in there. Shit, she immediately stopped beside the entrance of the alleyway, taking close cover to the encroaching assassins. The moment she peered down her alleyway, she attacked and spear-tackled the nearest assassin—pushing him over the railing of the city and dropping him out of view. She then threw a sidekick at the assassin in front of her, pushing him into the assassin beside him. He stumbled over, and she kicked the pistol out of his hand before striking his chest with her dagger. He falls to the floor and the last assassin doubles back in fear, seated on the ground. Raya flicked the dagger out of her hand and it stabbed deep into the assassin's eye, killing him.
Raya exhaled, and the tension in her body vanished as her adrenaline began to wear off. She looked in the distance and her adrenaline returned when the darkness of the myst swept through and threw her off her feet. It funnelled through the alleyways and in an instant, the city was in an isolated night.
The moment she was exposed to the gailing winds she could feel the shards of Myst tearing away at her skin, trying to pry its way to her soul. But, before any of her muscle and bone could deteriorate, it is quickly regenerated by the souls within her body. The pain was consistent and overwhelming, but she’d experienced worse than this. Raya could feel the souls in her arsenal depleting faster than she ever had before. But, based on her instincts and the experience she’d acquired having so many souls–- she was certain she could last more than an hour before her body started truly deteriorating. All those people, she thought to herself as she pushed her way through the darkened alleyway, struggling to reconcile her helplessness amongst the myst. There was nothing she could do to help them now. She needed to find shelter, and if there were any stragglers yet to be consumed, she’d aid them too.
As she arrived at the main corridor of River City, the cries of anguish roared as the myst ate away at the bodies of the unsheltered. The screams of pain and suffering called out from every direction. She couldn't see further than a few metres as she searched for those in need.
“Please!” Someone yelled from nearby, “Aahh!”
“I'm here,” Raya responded, “Call out to me,”
“I don't want to die—Aah! Please!”
Raya moved to where the voice called out from, but with her reduced vision she still had nothing in sight.
“Where are you!” Raya called out, trying to keep the person talking to locate them.
But, all that responded was the sounds of the raging mysts.
“Hello!?” Raya called out to the emptiness.
But this time, she heard a subtle rambling. Like that of a conversation being held amongst the storm, and a familiar voice fell upon her.
“Kita!?” She yelled, holding her hand in front of her eyes and squinting amongst the swirling void.
I should have told her, Raya begins arguing with herself. But how could she have told her? It wasn’t the easiest concept to grasp and it's not like Raya could explain how it happened to her. Kita’s soul is ‘the dark one’. It’s not like Kita would’ve believed her anyway- The girl had a habit of ignoring others until she learnt the hard way.
“Kita!” She yelled again as she continued walking.
In the distance, behind the winds, she could see two shadowy figures facing one another- and it could only be Kita and her soul! Raya started running towards them, calling out to Kita and readying her dagger. As she approached the eye of the Myst, where they stood, Raya barely reached her hand into the calm eye of the storm before the Myst in its entirety, vanished.
As did the two figures ahead of her.
River City slowly came into view amongst the rapidly fading myst; Raya couldn't see the two silhouettes anymore and hesitantly looked around, trying to see where they'd gone before realising the dark one must have taken Kita away. Raya searched for a while longer before she eventually dropped her head and accepted the situation.
It could be hundreds of rotations until she saw Kita again, and she'd lost count of how many times this had happened. Kita always does this, she grunted in frustration.
Not much later, civilians and inhabitants of Level One exited their shelters, doe-eyed and paranoid about the state of the city. Out of a hostel in the distance, she noticed Reiku and Ms Eeve exit with Jan and Chelsea.
“I see you didn't trust my plan,” Reiku grunts as he approached Raya, aiding Level Zeroers on his route.
“I see it was the right call,” Raya shrugged.
Reiku chuckled, before looking around, “Where’s Kita?”
“She’s gone,” Raya responded.
“Gone? Gone where?” Ms Eeve asked.
“I don’t know. The dark one took her before I could get to them,” Raya sighed.
“So what do we do?” Jan asked, "Where can we find her?”
“I don’t know,” Raya said as she, “But I’m going to find her,”
“Chevo’s going to be coming for Myra- She’s still a traitor that he wants dead,”
“Shit,” Raya mumbled, “She’s still on Level Zero with the kids,”
“We’re making our way down there,” Reiku responded, gathering all of the Level Zero inhabitants that hid away.
“I’ll help you-”
“No. Go look for your friend,” Reiku added, “She is a vital piece to this mess. It would be best she doesn't fall into the wrong hands,”
“I’m afraid she already has,” Raya sighed.
“All the more reason to make haste,”
“Chevo and Vlad will know that we’re going back to Level Zero,” Ms Eeve said.
“We face death in both directions,” Reiku grunted, “If we go back, and Chevo is to arrive. Do you really think we could convince him that Kita suddenly vanished?” Ms Eeve asked.
“And what’s to say he wouldn’t kill you all anyways?” Raya added, as her eyes drifted to thought. “You should leave River City. Now- You could escape before they realize you've left,”
Reiku grunted at the idea, grappling with the injustice of Level Zero inhabitants having to leave their homes. “Where would we go?”
“I'm not sure,” Raya sighed.
“There's a city to the East- Varum, I believe,” Ms Eeve added.
“The underground city?” Raya asked.
“Nobody knows where the entrance to it is. If it even exists,” Reiku added.
Ms Eeve nodded, “I know the way in,”
“How?”
“There's no information that money can't buy,” She grinned.
“And you're ready to part with that fortune of yours? The greedy have a hard time letting go,” Reiku raised an eyebrow.
“Greedy?” Ms Eeve scoffed, “You think I'm an idiot whose only love is money?” She waved her hand dismissively, “I made my fortune once. I can make it again,”
They all pass a few looks amongst one another after Ms Eeve's words- wondering if anyone was going to present a better plan, but in the end. Finding the city of Varum was their best bet. If Ms Eeve was this confident, then it must be true. After all, Raya knew the power of wealth all too well.
But with each day that passes, the foggy memories of her old life clash with the winds of her new experiences.
“Then let's get moving,” Reiku confirmed, “We have no time to waste,”