A loud phone alarm goes off, jolting Kiyan upright from his table. He looks at his workbench, face half covered in wires, and sees his damaged gauntlets.
“I’m gonna need power regulators...transistors...and basically all new equipment” Kiyan says before taking a deep sigh. “ Well, better get going if I’m gonna fix this.” After a quick shower and a change of clothes, Kiyan heads downstairs and is greeted with a table full of an assortment of breakfast foods. He walks past the bouquet of pancakes, huevos rancheros, fruits and juices and heads towards the fridge.
“Buenos dias Kiyan, breakfast is on the table” says Danae, sweeping the floor as the feliro dances around the broom.
“I know, I’m just grabbing the leftovers last night for Mira.”
“Speaking of last night...how are you feeling?”
“Last night?”,Kiyan looks at her as if he’s uncertain of her meaning, “Oh...I’m fine I guess, just gotta get new parts is all. Luckily, the scripts weren’t damaged, guess Edison grade scripts are made of sturdier stuff. He walks over to the table and quickly makes himself a plate as Sofia makes her way down.
“Hey Sof, are you gonna have some?” Kiyan asks, pointing to the spread on the table
“It’s noon, I ate 3 hours ago” she replies, reaching for an apron from behind the counter. “ Nice to see you’re in good spirits though.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asks before inhaling his plate full of pancakes.
Sofia glances at Danae, who slowly nods at her, “Because you broke your scriptors.”
“Oh yeah...it's ok I’ll be getting that fixed as soon as I make my deliveries” he replies. “Oh Danae, is my jacket finished?”
“It's over on the counter. You usually don’t make deliveries of Fridays”
“Yeah but I need to go to Upper Vallis and it couldn’t hurt to try to make more clients.” He gets up from the table, grabs the leftovers and runs towards the door.
“Uh...don’t you need your ride?” Sofia asks, pointing upstairs.
“Oh yeah...guess it slipped my mind” Kiyan says smiling before running up the steps.
“Give him some time...he needs to process this his own way” states Danae, who is now feverishly tickling the feliro with her left hand.
“The sooner he does, the better.I-” Sofia is interrupted by the feliro as it rubs its face on her ankles, letting out a low pitch whine. She reaches down and strokes the top of its head.
“Oh it looks like it has a new favorite, you should give it a name” says Danae. Kiyan, with board in hand, runs down the stairs and heads towards the door as Eren steps through the entrance.
“Yo, where you running off to?” Eren says as Kiyan almost bulldozes into him
“ I have errands to run but I”ll see you guys later ok bye!” Kiyan replies in a single breath as he squeezes past him. Eren watches as Kiyan gets on his board and takes off.
“So I’m guessing he hasn’t spoken about last night yet?”
“Apparently he’s processing it” states Sofia. “ Abuela, it’s time to start”
“You go ahead, Eren and I have to speak for a bit.”
The bright sun beams down on the city streets of Vallis as Kiyan navigates through the busy metropolis, lost in thought. If he happened to pass a mind reader, they might hear such thoughts like “ It was just a malfunction.” “ The scriptors must have been under excessive loads due to improper wiring.” “ She must have had a scriptor hidden on her body and it caused the wind.” Of course, this psychic would have no idea why those thoughts suddenly appeared in their head and would be very confused.
“Once again, you need to watch your speed” states Mira as she approaches Kiyan from behind. “ You’re going way too slow, I am literally walking faster than you’re traveling, get out of the street.”
“Is this anyway to greet someone who came all this way to give you food?” Kiyan replies, dangling the bag of leftovers in his hand. “ I made sure to give you double of everything.”
“So we can share it?” She replies as she grabs the bag and inspects the contents.
“ I mean I wouldn’t want to eat all that food alone, especially when your childhood friend makes a journey across the treacherous city to come see you” Kiyan says with a wide smile.
“Well you’re so convincing, how could I not say yes?” She replies dryly. “I’m just about done for the day anyways, hop in and I’ll take you to the station.” Mira opens the passenger side this time, as if rewarding Kiyan for giving her food. He places his board in the back and jumps in the front seat.
“Oh so real quick, those guys you picked up yesterday...how come they didn’t at least stay the night?” Kiyan asks, slowly leaning back in the seat.
“What do you mean? They got out?!”
“Yeah, they showed up at Sofia’s dinner. You didn’t know that?”
“No I didn’t, I didn’t hear anything about them getting out. Is everyone ok?”
Kiyan turns his head towards the window, “Yeah, we took care of them.”
“We? Oh you mean you and Eren?” Mira asks
“Yeah..mostly Eren though. He’s a big guy so people didn’t really wanna mess with him, especially after he laid the big dude out. Hey isn’t that the station?” Kiyan points to an eight story, pure white tower with the letters V.D.W emblazoned in gold. Mira turns into the parking garage, an almost sterile environment with dozens of squad cars lined up perfectly in stalls.
“Wait here, I’ll only be a few minutes. I’m just gonna drop off my report for the day and then we can go to my apartment...and obviously don’t touch anything’ orders Mira
“I won’t! Besides isn’t all this stuff id locked? Just don’t take a hundred years like you always do.”
“Yeah, yeah” Mira replies as she heads out of the car. Kiyan watches her from inside and sees other Wardens exit, ignoring Mira.
“Nice to see Mira making friends” he says sarcastically before slumping back into the seat. Kiyan glances at his phone and sees that five minutes have passed and still no sign of Mira. He goes on the Cycle and looks for news about the incident last night but none of the official district sites have any mention of it.
“I mean what was I expecting to see? ‘15 year old girl takes out 10 grown men at a local quinceanera?’ Still you’d think there would be something mentioned.” He opens up Old World, New Facts Vol 1 and resumes play. Kiyan slips into a sea of thoughts, sinking past the history of America in the 2000s and landing face to face with Brick. The feeling of uncertainty forms in the pit of his stomach, he isn’t sure why Brick froze or why he himself was unable to strike. The image of that night plays over and over again, the unease in his body growing with each loop until he awakens to a loud crunching noise. Kiyan opens his eyes and sees the passenger side door laying several feet away on the ground.
“What the hell, I told you not to touch anything!” Mira yells angrily as she inspects the door. “ I don’t even...how did this happen?”
“I don’t know, I was sleeping since you took forever to come back,maybe a Warden hit it with their car?”
“I-Maybe, It’s not like they are my biggest fans here anyways” a bewildered Mira states as she picks up the door and carries it back to the car. “Luckily, they are designed to slot back into place.” She places the door back onto the frame and it instantly attaches as if it had never come off in the first place.
“Well now that’s done, let’s go eat. Gonna have to eat this back up because it’s definitely cold by now” Kiyan says as he inspects the bag
“Uh don’t hate me but….” Mira smiles sheepishly, “ I can’t today, something came up.”
“Something always comes up.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that something came up and you missed Eren’s birthday. Something came up and you missed Danae’s birthday, Ninah’s, even Sofia’s!”
“Kiy I-”
“A gang attacked us Mira, a gang. Where were you? You’re a Warden right? Why weren’t you protecting us last night?! Where have you been these two years? If you were there, then maybe Sofia wouldn’t-” Kiyan breathes quickly, his eyes burning a hole through Mira.
“I wanted to but-look there are things that I can’t talk about but trust me when I say I wish I could be there” Mira replies as she clenches her fist.
“I’m gonna head back home, to the Runoffs in case you forgot where that was, so here’s your food. Next time you want some from Danae... go get it yourself.” Kiyan grabs his board and hastily exits the parking structure. Mira shivers for a moment but is clueless as to what caused her to do so. She glances at her reflection in the mirror and sees sweat on her brow. “That’s weird, when did I start sweating?”
A combination of frustration, confusion and anger pour down from Kiyan’s face as he blasts through the streets with reckless abandon. “Why am I so upset?” “Is it because of Mira?” “ Are Eren and Danae hiding things from me? “ Is Sofia?” All of these thoughts swirl in his mind like a vortex, trapping him in a perpetual state of unease. As he continues through the streets, he catches a glimpse of Brick walking behind a man with vibrant orange hair, a black leather trench coat with red fur trim, red pants and black riding boots. Kiyan hides behind a silver column that reads ‘Bus Stop’ and peaks at the men from cover. The orange haired man walks to a corner and waits a moment before an all black limousine pulls up and he enters. As the limo drives away, Brick picks up a brown bag and begins walking down the street, appearing overly cautious as he continually looks over his shoulder. It is clear to Kiyan that Brick doesn’t want to be followed, but he was never one to follow the rules.
“Where is this guy going?” Kiyan murmurs to himself as he continues tracking Brick. “ It’s been an hour and he still looks like he’s lost.” He looks at his phone and sighs. “ I don’t know why I even followed him, he’s probably just running scripts or whatever gang members do on weekends.” Kiyan looks around and notices he is not familiar with the area he’s in. Dirty, decaying industrial buildings are littered throughout the block, covered in layers of dust and webbing. Brick works his way through the desolate street towards a large warehouse as a massive gray shutter raises. Kiyan moves in, being careful not to catch Brick’s attention and catches a quick glimpse of a woman before the shutters close. “Okay yeah, I’m going home. Don’t need to see whatever affair this is!” an exasperated Kiyan yells. As he begins to leave, two men in torn up clothing appear and begin talking to each other in high pitched chitters. A searing pain shoots through his head, causing him to drop to his knees while covering his hands with his ears. Blood trickles down his fingers as the pain increases but after a moment, both sensations cease and the chittering sounds start becoming comprehensible.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“...take him inside...feast soon…”
“Take me inside?” A disoriented Kiyan looks up at the men as they approach with yellow glints in their eyes. They both unhinge their jaws and spew a liquid substance onto Kiyan, quickly wrapping him inside of a cocoon.
“Ok so this is not good” Kiyan says as he feels his body being dragged on the floor. He looks around his webbed tomb, hoping to find something to free him from his restraints. Through the thick cocoon, Kiyan is able to hear voices from outside.
“Look, I was told to just walk into this warehouse, drop the bag and pick up the case” Brick says. “Nobody said anything about helping y’all move people in these pods!”
“Brick is it? The people who told you to come here did so with the understanding that you’d be at my disposal” replies the woman. “ All I require of you is to assist my drones in getting pods ready.”
Kiyan suddenly feels himself being lifted off the ground and thrown against something. After a moment of silence, he hears the sound of something being opened nearby, followed by something hitting the floor.
“Someone just opened something and let something heavy out. If it's another cocoon then it’s most likely that a person was just let out” he says to himself. “But if it’s a person, why aren’t they saying anything?” A sickening series of crunches echo throughout the warehouse, accompanied by the sound of retching. Instinctively, Kiyan knows that the person on the floor was just eaten by...something. He rocks side to side before generating enough momentum to fall onto the ground.
“What’s this?” the woman says, “ was there a conscious body in one of the pods? How interesting...bring it to me.” Kiyan once again hears the sound of his pod sliding across the ground before a sharp blade cleaves the front portion of the cocoon off, revealing his face.
“You!” yells Brick, wiping his lunch from his mouth. “Why is it always you? Did you follow me here?”
“ Silence meat! You have a task to perform, get to it!” commands the woman as she approaches Kiyan. His view shifts from a rusted ceiling with hanging lights to that of a woman with porcelain white skin, a sleeveless black blouse, white pants and black heel, suspending him in the air with one arm.
Fear spreads through Kiyan as he stares into the yellow eyes of the woman. “Ok you workout, how about you take a break between sets and put me down?”
“Curious little thing aren’t you? How are you still awake after being wrapped up?” the woman asks, drawing him in closer.
“Answer the Queen, meat!” yells one of the drones.
“Queen? You don’t look like any royal I’ve ever seen” Kiyan states. The drone lunges at him but is waved off by the Queen.
“There is something about you that is different from the others” says the Queen. Her eyes begin to glow as she looks him over. “Yes, something very different. I can’t let you be sent away, I’ll turn you into a drone instead.”
“Others?” Kiyan looks behind her and sees tens of cocoons scattered around.
She rips off the cocoon, causing Kiyan to fall onto the cold ground. “ Good, now on your knees...I want you kneeling properly.”
“Sorry, gonna have to pass on that!” Kiyan quickly stands up and rushes towards the door but the Queen instantly appears in front of him.
“Maybe your brain is as slow as your body, I said kneel” the Queen commands. An overwhelming force immediately causes Kiyan to fall to his hands and knees, along with Brick and the other drones. “That’s better” says the Queen gleefully, “but I don’t like that I had to repeat myself so you’ll need to be punished. A drone should obey on the first command.” The Queen leaps into the rafters and takes a seat. “Break him!”
Dozens of cocoons begin shifting side to side, deforming in shape as hands make their way through. Men and women emerge from their pods with tattered clothing and yellow eyes, lurching their way towards Kiyan. He looks around at the encroaching horde and spots Brick, still inexplicably loading cocoons into storage script containers.
“Hey! You wanna stop helping the creepy lady?” yells Kiyan
“ This aint got nothing to do with me, you shouldn’t even be here”
“Dude there are people coming in from cocoons with yellow eyes, that doesn’t worry you a little bit?!”
“ Long as I get paid, I let people do what they want to do” Brick replies with an odd tone of pride in his voice. Getting no help from Brick, Kiyan prepares himself as one of the drones strikes at him. The drone just barely misses him as he ducks at the last minute and counters with a sweeping kick. As the drone goes down Kiyan runs towards Brick and in one sweeping motion, steals his scriptor from his pocket and leaps over a storage container.
“Ay, give that back!”
“ Are you serious right now?” Kiyan replies, frantically removing parts of the scriptor before placing it on his hand. “ You have another one right? Help me out and I’ll upgrade them for you!”
“I want the ones that you got, make em like that and we got a deal”
“Fine, whatever! Just help me out” yells Kiyan as he emerges from cover and fires a ball of fire, knocking down two drones.
Brick takes out his other scriptor and immediately unleashes a geyser of flames towards the horde.
“What are you doing! Those are still people, you can’t just kill them!” screams Kiyan
“You asked me to help, and these aren’t even people. What people do you know have eyes like that?” Brick replies, maintaining his onslaught of flames. Up in the rafters, the Queen looks on with amusement quickly draining from her face.
“It looks like you still refuse to break...very well. If you won’t serve me as a drone, then serve me as an example. Kill them both” she says, glowering at the pair as her eyes glow vibrant yellow. The bodies of the drone start to stretch and convulse as their muscles expand in size. Silver scythes emerge from their forearms and their pupils resemble that of a praying mantis.
“What are they? What is all this?” Kiyan says as he sees the drones that were hit by Brick’s flames emerge completely unharmed. The sensation of fear once again rises from the pit of Kiyan’s stomach, this time completely paralyzing him. He wonders if this is how Brick felt that day, if it was uncontrollable fear that held him in place. Kiyan glances towards Brick and sees him prostrating, his clothing soaked in sweat. The horde blitzs towards the immobilized pair, blades poised to tear them asunder, when a loud crash rings throughout the warehouse. A woman with flowing bright red hair, sleek form fitting black armor with gold accents, and a golden bear emblem on her back appears in front of Kiyan.
“Are you injured?” she asks, looking back at him. For a moment Kiyan is lost in her crimson eyes, warm dark skin and soft full lips. “Are you injured?” she repeats.
“No, I’m fine. Kiyan replies as he snaps out of his trance.
“And what of him?” She looks at a frozen Brick who is still prostrating on the floor.
“Uh...he just does that, he’ll be fine. So who are you? You have the symbol of Cambria but you don’t look like a Warden.”
“ That is a question I will be happy to answer after I have taken care of this situation.” She smiles at him before facing the horde of drones. “Two non combatants, twenty hostiles and one observer” she states as she places her index finger to her ear. “Sam, did you get all that?...Is there anyone else in the area?....Ok copy.”
“My, my, another interesting bug has found its way into my den. No matter, kill her too” the Queen commands. The drones shift their focus and move towards the red headed woman. The woman pulls her right arm and leg and steadies herself as the horde quickly draws nearer. The instant she pushes off her back leg, a tremendous wind pushes Kiyan back several feet as she appears on the other side of the horde with her right palm thrusted. He looks around and sees the entire horde lying lifeless on the ground with their blades broken cleanly in half. Kiyan looks at the red haired woman and can’t help but think of Sofia’s party.
“Not bad, but if you-” the Queen leaps from the rafters as they suddenly split apart, seemingly cut in half. She lands with a loud thud, cracking the floor beneath her feet. “ So impertinent, though perhaps maybe I was as well. Allow me to formally introduce myself, I am Epheria, Queen of the Mantarach.”
“You are a Chimeric Beast that has enslaved citizens of Cambria and will be dealt with, that is all.”
“It’s rude to not name yourself in front of royalty, girl. I recognize your strength so I told you my name, it is a courtesy to do the same” Epheria states, grinning devilishly.
“I apologize if I gave you the impression that we are equals, allow me to rectify my mistake.” She assumes her stance once again and charges for Epheria, appearing instantly behind her. “ I must once again apologize, it seems that I have underestimated your skill a bit” the red hair woman states as a small cut appears on the shoulder of Epheria’s blouse. “ That was supposed to be your head.”
“Your name girl” Epheria commands, “ I want to know the name of my future right hand.”
“Zariah Hinson, though I like the title of your future executioner better.”
“ Yes, keep that spirit, it’ll be all the sweeter when I break you!” Epheria rushes at Zariah and strikes with a thunderous right but is parried by a left forearm, sending a wave of force into a wall, demolishing it. Zariah follows up the parry with a right of her own but Epheria jumps backwards, creating distance between the two. Kiyan stands in awe as the two battle, compelled by something inside of him to watch instead of flee.
“I think I’m loosened up now, how about we take this a bit more seriously?” Epheria says as she produces an obsidian blade from her forearm.
“ Agreed.” Zariah raises her right arm to her side and summons a silver broadsword out of thin air.
Epheria’s eyes widen with joy. “Oh, so you can use divine force...you are indeed interesting.”
Kiyan watches as the two combatants charge at each other and vanish. If Kiyan could follow the fighters, he would witness Epheria and Zariah engaging in a dance of blades as their weapons collide and rebound off each other with the elegance of ballet dancers and the force of thunder.
“The hell is goin on?” Brick asks as he removes himself from the ground. “ Where is all this noise coming from, are we in a storm?” The entire warehouse shakes, causing Brick to willing prostrate on the ground. “ Ay kid, you better take cover, this whole place gonna come down!”
Kiyan remains fixated on the fight and though he can’t follow their movements, he feels that it’s important for him to remain. The stone tiles on the floor are quickly decimated, accompanied by a thunderous clap each time one is destroyed. Zariah and Epheria appear across from on another, separate by several feet of decimated stone tiles. Epheria runs towards the fallen rafter piece and throws it at Zariah, who effortlessly cuts it in half, managing to keep it from hitting Kiyan and Brick.
“I must admit, I didn’t expect to find someone as capable as you in a place like this. You must become mine, you’ll be a general in my army.”
“Your offer falls on deaf ears, I am not interested in joining a dead creature’s army” Zariah replies, readying herself for another attack.
“ Don’t be so hasty, I’ll give you some time to think about it.” Epheria shoots a line of webbing from her hand towards the hole in the ceiling.
“Do you think I will just let you get away?” Zariah raises her sword over her head.
“ I do actually, you seem rather concerned for the well being of that bug, I doubt you’d just let him die.” Her eyes glow and Zariah immediately looks at split rafter parts. Silver webbing detaches from the wreckage and wraps around Kiyan’s midsection,snapping his arms to his sides. “That’s a special type of webbing, it carries a bit of my divine force in it and leeches the energy of any living thing it touches. You might be able to handle it, but that kid is gonna die. ”
Everything slows down for Kiyan’s vision starts to fade. He can make out the concerned expression on Zariah’s face as she inches towards him, but only for a moment as the light from his eyes go dim.He once again sees Sofia effortlessly defeating the gang members but then moves past that and focuses on the feeling he had when Brick was frozen in fear. As his legs are about to give out, Kiyan suddenly plants his feet firmly on the ground. Zariah stops running and looks on as Kiyan begins resisting the constricting webbing.
“ Hey bug! You can struggle all you want but you’ll...never….” Epheria trails off as Kiyan continues to struggle. The dust from around Kiyan’s feet begins to rise as his jacket and shirt billow, his eyes shimmering with a blue glint. Kiyan grits his teeth as he begins to pull apart the webbing. Epheria and Zariah watch in amazement as a pale, bluish white smoke clings to his body. His muscles tense up and with one concerted effort, Kiyan erupts from the webbing, producing a shockwave that sends dirt flying in all directions.
“I guess I was wrong about you, you’re not a bug.” Epheria says, “I’ll reconsider letting you join my army. If you impress me again, I may even give you a treat.” She swings on her web and leaps out of the hole. Zariah attempts to give chase but notices Kiyan breathing heavily.
“ You need to focus and root yourself now” Zariah says as she cautiously approaches Kiyan.
“I just...need to….catch….my breath. Why...can’t..I..do..it?” Kiyan asks, struggling to get each word out.
“You are burning out. If this continues, you will pass out so I need you to root.”
“I..don't know...what… that is. I think…I’m gonna..pass-” he falls forward onto Zariah shoulders. She grabs him and places him gently on the ground before touching her hand to her earpiece.
“Yeah Sam? I am going to need a space in the infirmary. Make sure you clear twenty two beds, but make sure the one with the jacket goes into a separate room.”