"Following them may lead you astray, even in familiar lands.”
Dust billowed in the muggy wind of Abberro Springs, a town that stretched the length of the Crescent Highway. Travelers journeyed between Citadel Refuge's towering spire and the businesses lining the road.
Most of the soldiers in their powered suits and black uniforms journeyed the 15 miles from the spire on Sundays to Abberro for one thing.
Coffee, church, lunch, eclipse.
The order of Sunday.
Most looked up at the black moon as it zipped by at impossible speeds, the 1PM movement pattern resembling a triangular motion before settling on eclipsing all of Ravensmantle at 2, every single day.
It always felt like a threatening gesture to the troubled ecologist sitting in the Tangled Spiral.
Every day at the exact same time, the Black Moon loomed ever larger in the sky, it looked as if God took a hole puncher to reality, and reality fought back by being literally impossible.
The hole in reality moved.
The hole devoured reality.
Many spoke of the rapture, and some parts were right. Towns, cities, wherever the black moon was, homes weren’t anymore. Simply reduced to empty houses as if it were taking them somewhere. Far too many during the first heralding a mere decade prior prayed to it, doing everything they could to communicate with it.
It spoke in tones of watchfulness and silence, no words shared with its hostages on earth. Merely feelings of utter, nameless dread when it touched down.
Unlike the prior decade, nature itself...
It was wrong.
Something is wrong with nature itself.
Melissa Hawthorne sighed as she stared out the window of her favorite cafe, her fingers drumming idly against the worn countertop as she sipped a cup of dark roast. This little diner in the heart of Abberro Springs had been her sanctuary for years, a refuge from the burdens of her work as the head of Ravensmantle's Ecological Authority.
As the guardian of Ravensmantle's fragile ecosystems, she had dedicated her life to preserving what remained of the natural world. The very keystone species that held those delicate balances in place were disappearing one by one, as any creature near that horrific black circle ran away from their prime habitats and domains.
The desperate crawling of fish escaping poisoned lakes, dogs almost entirely gone from the world along with most feline species. Carnivores hiding away as herbivores do. Plant loving creatures over-populated entire regions, stripping the land bare.
They, along with humanity hid.
Those that didn’t hide.
Those that weren’t fast enough.
They, unlike humanity, wore rictus grins.
Even the grey cloaked soldiers of the Cadre avoided them. They did the opposite with the massive ringed border wall of Ravensmantle, soldiers often attacking patrols and engaging in guerrilla warfare. The same men and women in those powered suits came back wounded and bloody most of the time.
A gentle cough drew her attention, and she turned to see Vahlen standing beside her, the older woman's brow creased with concern as the diner door jingled with more soldiers filing in for lunch.
Each bore differing insignia, the similarity between each being a raven head and wings, a circle of feathers, the recruits had one up to the left.
"Melissa. I'm glad I found you here." Vahlen slid onto the stool next to her, ordering a black coffee from the harried waitress before turning to face her fully.
"I have... a proposition for you," she began, her voice lowered. "Something that could change the course of this war, if you're willing to take it on."
Melissa felt a flutter of trepidation in her stomach, but she forced herself to remain outwardly calm. "What is it?" she asked, despite knowing exactly what she was going to say for the dozenth time that week.
Vahlen took a sip of her coffee, relishing the bitterness. "You know the Ravenguard program we've been developing?" she said quietly. "An elite force of soldiers, augmented beyond the capabilities of ordinary humans?" She gestured to a few taking their mannequin-like helmets off and ordering their food.
Melissa nodded. "I'm familiar with it. But I'm not - "
“Interested? I’ve heard you speaking with Amanda and Tom about it a few times now, and I... believe you would fit right in.” Vahlen’s red hair swished as she leaned against the counter. “I know you’ve been looking over a specific suit model as well.”
“I personally think it’s for the best, you have a neural lace, and now you just need a little something extra to ensure that,” she pointed at her head, “ridiculously expensive, priceless brain of yours stays in one piece.”
“It is rather important to preserve ones nearly perfect memories and knowledge.” A subtly husky voice owned by a thin woman crept behind Vahlen, as her stool slid forth, Melissa could only smile at the gentle crease of her friend’s face. It always made the single freckle on the left raise.
“Hey Ripley, I’m... considering it,” Ripley leaned forward, accepting a cup of dark roast from the waitress after waving off any sugar or creamer.
“And I do believe it would for the best, I too am wishing for this program.” Vahlen smiled at both as Melissa spun her cup once, the remaining coffee swirling much like her thoughts and emotions.
A sharp tap on her shoulder made her jerk to a new face.
“Hey, you’re tearing up again, hey guys!” Melissa took the cloth given to her by her old friend, Karla. Wiping her eyes and cursing the lace’s forced, perfect, recall.
She pushed the sudden surge of trauma back, frustrated again as it surfaced with no trigger or warning.
“Lace sucks ass, but being super-duper strong is a nice bonus if you spring for it.” Her curly hair bobbed along with her dimpled smirk. Despite years, she had trouble looking away from it, once together, separated, and together again in Ravensmantle.
Still separated.
She did her best to be happy for her and her new flame.
Nala was far too kind and seeing both smile at each other as she crept behind Karla brought her a warm feeling regardless. They shared a kiss as she sat down with the group at one of the tables in front of the diner bar. “The Ravenguard program is amazing.”
“It has given me such a wonderful sense of smell, I can smell the chemicals from each little critter.” Her floral tattooed hands brought up a small beetle, its shell a stark blue. “This one is a herbivore, yet, it has poison glands as a directed defense and offense.”
The little ten-legged beetle shined blindingly on the dark oaken table.
Melissa leaned on the counter after turning around, listening to it chitter audibly. “I can tell when he wishes to emit said poison, almost akin to a chemical warning siren to my nose.”
“Hey losers, and hello Director.” Amanda strolled in with Tom and his flashing blue eyes. Both wore heavy suits of powered armor, their sleek frames ducking under the old doorway. Her mannequin helmet hissed off, letting her steel hair free.
“Amanda,” Vahlen chided as she tucked the helmet under her arm, mirroring Tom, “I know it’s not something you want to do, but cut your damn hair.”
“But I’m not combat personnel,” she dramatically put a hand on her chest, “I am but an engineer.” Vahlen’s face didn’t change, and though she argued with Amanda over it weekly, her hair grew, nonetheless.
“If a machine yanks your hair and you die, I warned you.” Amanda smirked at the jabbing cup of coffee.
“Yeah, for the thousandth time, and besides,” she looked at Tom, “he likes yanking these locks.” He smirked, shaking his head.
“Thank science for engram tech... because if you do die, Amanda, I may just have to put that little crystal in your head into an android.” Amanda scoffed in mock shock.
“You wouldn’t!”
“I invite you to test that assumption at your earliest convenience.” Vahlen casually checked her nails and flicked her eyes at the tall, muscular woman.
“For science. Of course.” Amanda cocked her head, folding her arms and gripping the helmet by the rim.
“Suuure.”
Vahlen addressed Melissa again as she drained the rest of her coffee. “We have another rotation in a week or two, will I see you there?” She keyed up her wrist display, the 2-dimensional screen appearing between both.
She looked around the expectant group, and a seemingly, equally nervous Ripley. She shot a thumbs up behind Vahlen as Melissa finally gave her the answer she wanted.
“I’ll be there,” Vahlen nodded, fingers gliding across the electrically charged surface of suspended particles.
“Good, carry on, I do have some duties of my own to attend to, and dispatch is expecting me for a report they want to give.”
“Ovoi’s calling directly to the almighty Director, directly?” Karla swept her hand out, almost smacking Melissa’s cup, “what is it this time? More anomalies at the border wall?”
“Even stranger... from space, she said she sees a box zipping here from the Eridani system.” She got up from her comfortable seat, shaking hands with Melissa, “here’s to changing the world, it will be worth it.”
“Of course, Director. One piece at a time.” Vahlen nodded her farewell.
As she stepped up to leave the little diner, Ripley followed along with her. “Ready for more training Ripley?” She nodded as both spoke on their way to a heavy military carrier and its urban black and grey camouflage waiting in the street.
The 35 feet long armored carrier was full of other specialists and passengers, most wearing black uniforms and various gear.
They called Ravensmantle their country, and their destination with Vahlen and Ripley, Citadel Refuge.
Home sweet home.
Two towns ran between the spire and Abberro. The quiet, heavily forested brickwork lumber town of Mithrop and its giant sawmill in the east and Wilco Crossings in the middle of the Crescent. Its maglev train lines cut the ancient highway perfectly in half and ran out into the Crescent District holding Ravensmantle’s fields.
Deliveries of fresh goods made daily from the country’s food bowl.
She stared at the massive concrete wall from a few miles away, Zone 17 seemed to call her akin to a moth to a flame. A place of discovery and escape, she departed the Tangled Spiral, saying her goodbyes to the staff and walking to the local clinic.
She swung her head to the local clinic as she approached, kicking a rock down the battered asphalt, tumbling down the berm into the fields.
The old hospital had been converted into a bio-lab, experimenting with new food hybrids. The most prominent being dragon carrot, bright blue, high in minerals, and delicious to the summertime visitors to Abberro.
Melissa stood inside it after taking some creaking stairs, discussing a plan she had with Eta, their resident everything biologist. Her command over medicine was didactic, as her preaching in the church on Sundays.
Her face often scrunched in concern at the unhinged ecologist as a near crazed smile crossed her face.
“So... you’re hunting one of them down and Vahlen’s sayin’ to go try the Masque?” She waved a gloved hand out, still spattered with viscera from a dissected animal laying on the medical table. Her face laced with concern.
“Yeah, Zone 17 has the answer I’m looking for, I think...” she put a hand over her alice pack, balancing the old high-power bolt action rifle and ensuring it was strapped down. “I need a specimen, alive, kicking. If it can run around and track plant life I’ve never seen, and that plant life doesn’t care about Cadre spores. Then... yes.”
“I’m hunting one in that creepy assed theater, Vahlen mentioned seeing tracks that grew these little flowers.”
“Without a Sabre suit, or body armor, or any of the cool shit we have?”
“I’m not a Ravenguard, and,” she held a up her hand, “electronics don’t work well in that place.”
“Can you at least take someone with you?”
“Wanna come with? You will have to spray down with this.” She held a can of spray up after digging it from her bag. Eta’s face said hell no at the scent leaking from its nozzle.
“Eh... nah, I don’t wanna smell like dirt... and I actually have some experimenting of my own to do... gotta figure out the lack-of-babies problem as usual once we figure out what took our sow down.” She smiled miserably as she gestured at the massive creature, “not many more left coming out of the Citadel, or in from the Outlands, or from this guy.”
“Best of luck, kay?” She grinned at her, both parting ways, Melissa swung her pack on, ensuring her rifle was loaded.
“Kay Lil’ Mel, just don’t get eaten, and bring an MPA for fucks sake.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“An electronic like that hardly even works out there, besides, I’m hunting, not gunning down Cadre soldiers in body armor.”
“Alright, said the woman with a 30-06 rifle, you hunting bears or something?”
She scoffed, ejecting the magazine of the rifle, each round had blue tips, and hidden within each, a tranquilizer dart. “Diazepam rounds, enough to knock a bear over from a good distance, not kill it.”
“Mhmm... and what if the fucken’ thing decides it doesn’t want a nap?”
“I have other means, I’m not just packing tranq rounds, Eta, Cmon, I’ve been at this for years.” Her hands waved outward, casting the flaps of her jacket to the nonexistent winds of the tiled ward.
She merely rose an eyebrow, resisting the urge to itch the back of her neck, only itchy when her hands were dirty, covered in blood, and all manner of bodily chemicals.
“You know I worry about you, right?”
“I’ll be fine,” Eta continued frowning, “see ya’ Eta. Let me know what happened to that sow as soon as you can please.” She stepped up the creaking oak stairs to the waiting warhound she called prior, powering off her display and cell phone.
She devoured a pomegranate and tomatillo hybrid developed and grown across the highway from the cafe as the beast rumbled past the Pomatillo tree arches framing the fields, branches connected and interwoven together.
With each passing vignette of healthy fields of heavily modified crops, part of her always imagined that one day, she would pass by one arch to the next.
And her fields would be on fire.
Her thoughts terminated at seeing the wall to Zone 17 get closer through the swaying treetops, the smells of fresh overgrowth and cut grass on the roadside reminded her of another time when people had and cared about having a lawn.
As she approached one of the reinforced entry checkpoints along Zone 17’s looming concrete walls a few minutes later, a group of people wearing hiking gear were talking about something they saw inside, pointing at one of the particle displays of missing people pasted on the wall.
She disembarked with a wave at the driver, looking at the growing list of missing people. The one that always caught her eye
Evelyn Reed, her most notable feature, a large pink nose ring she made by taking one from a 3-ring binder.
The little rivet point was clearly visible.
She hadn’t been for weeks.
Safety only applied to a few small areas of Ravensmantle.
Evelyn never came back to the cafe.
She looked at the solid walled gate to Zone 17 with her alice pack full of gear, heavy hiking pants and tan jacket. She fixed her black hair with a swipe back as she regarded the tall black metal door barring her path to discovery.
And mental escape.
One of the men inside the little booth palmed a bio metric reader, the sealed gates slithering open. The flat black metal surface had the crest of Ravensmantle in simple white.
A raven’s glare peering straight ahead surrounded by six pointed wings.
Just before she entered a new guard at the booth said, “Do not stay after dark, we have a no go rule just like the Outlands.” He gave a small gesture to the sun, its rays above the horizon.
“You mean the no go rule I made?” The smile that crept across her face made the senior officer behind the new recruit and his single feathered insignia laugh.
Her eyes softened at the private, internally giggling at the show of bravado and how it shrunk at seeing a Seargent.
In truth. “You’re out of uniform, soldier.”
Just a scientist.
“Ma’am, my apologies, ma’am.” He straightened out his collar.
“Sorry, new guy, Doc.” she waved her hands at them dismissively.
“Don’t worry, I’m just pulling your leg, just check up on our local social media, you’ll know all about this place, I’m posting new stuff all the time.”
She double checked her phone to ensure it was off.
“Alright, just be careful in there,” the senior officer quipped with a wave.
While inside the borders of Ravensmantle she couldn’t see the shimmering protective field.
She felt it like a sticky heat on her skin. Zone 17 was the same cloying sticky summer heat, May had arrived in the form of heat strokes to some, and sunburns to the workers of Abberro. The stickiness of her own skin and the cloying, windless heat felt choking.
She wished a breeze would blow through to cool her off, sighing in relief at the sight of shaded areas and trees choking out roads, overgrowth had consumed the area past the little expanse of cleared field between it and the wall.
It was perfect.
Unmanned, no human contact save for her and a few other scientists.
She craned her head around the high walls choked with snarling vines that strangled old lighting fixtures high up. They were a variety that had blooming flowers of many differing colors, an unnatural amalgam of plant life and cross species all within just a couple of feet of vine that coiled over itself.
The center of the spiral stuck out by a couple of feet, a large bulbous see-through membrane with blooming flowers under it. The thing that struck her every time she looked at it, the silver skin was the same type found in animals.
The interior of the wall was lined with them on the suspended gardening beds that Karla, Nala, and her placed. Each of them worked to keep them healthy, Omega Floralyzene was an important chemical compound and one of many important products coming from the zone.
It was like liquid acceleration, the toothpaste sized micro stims developed by Eta stitched wounds together quickly and made for one of the most used medical items in the crescent.
Tired people make for accidents.
For the same reasons, she hunted her quarry. If a creatures tracks resulted in healthy overgrowth, even from would-be extinct species, it was an important discovery.
She had to know how, if she did.
She would fix the world, her world. Everywhere the black moon landed. Cadre spores erupted, the forests outside Ravensmantle were starting to turn black, the animals ran while it happened.
She admired it, turning away and into the deeper parts of Zone 17’s wilderness, after scanning the area for a few minutes, taking note of how quickly the brush retook the path she often cleared.
She turned down a narrow side street branching off the main thoroughfare passed a crumbling, rusty playground. The small merry-go-round listed, eaten on one end by rust.
Her turn off led down a treacherous road of overgrown, bushy rubble. Her machete cleared the way for the third time that month. As the leaves swished out of the way, more and more of the sky exposed itself.
Her way point was an ancient urban temple of a building that marked the boundary of the swamp, most of the old, nameless city sunken below by whole stories with it sticking out in the distance like a road flare.
She knew that to the east lay the Masque Theater, a place that had been whispering at the edges of her mind ever since Vahlen mentioned seeing strange tracks there.
Trees grew along her snaking path as if someone planted them with a leaf blower.
She ensured her waterproof gear was fully sealed before approaching the urban temple. The ancient, listing apartment building took up a city block, its facade buckling. Wicked-looking tree roots had dug into the roof, snarling down to meet the leaning telephone poles.
One was curled over itself in a spiral, the end a bendy straw twirl.
The old broken panes of glass glinted in the setting sun and she could swear that something moved in one of the broken windows.
The place served well as a nest for the giant dog-sized raven resting on the treetops. She took a breath in as she studied it from afar, pulling her binoculars from her belt. Vahlen’s ravens were designed to wipe out any invasive species the dared encroach on Ravensmantle’s delicate ecosystem.
It swiftly took off after a bird flying by.
The bird disappeared after shortly evading the raven in a red streak against the blue sky.
She decided against going any closer to the building, the overgrown street her sole barrier from what was prickling her spine. A white orb in the dark gloom of the building disappeared with a flicker of her vision, she rubbed her eyes.
And yet, as she rubbed, the strange object didn’t move.
It waved.
A hand with no visible owner shrunk into the gloom, the dusty, decrepit building unsuitable for anyone to reside in, let alone explore alone. She swept her binoculars to each opening, window, and crumbling doorway.
“Hello? Nala? Karla? That you?” She dared not take a step forward, the hand was still there for a brief moment as she caught site of the owner.
As it gripped the railing of some exposed stairs, the owner of the hand was a little girl. She squinted to get a better look. “What the...” Just as quickly, the little girl disappeared deep into the bowels of that urban temple.
She noticed another white shape outside her periphery, flinching at the sight after lowering and putting the binoculars away. A white rabbit, nibbling at the strange black vines that had a peculiar red tinged sap that bled out into the thirsty asphalt.
Its head trailed to face her, a blood red mouth, much like her recurring nightmares. What she could have sworn was a twitch from the dark vines caught her attention, just as she got closer her heart leapt from its chest.
A sound completely shattered the silence.
Her limbs blurred her to action instantly.
“Hey, that’s just like Monty Python.” Melissa shrieked with her hands up in a defensive stance with a can of bear spray.
Melissa’s nerves ebbed off as she made eye contact with Amanda had both hands up in a placating gesture with her eyes wide at the eye torching spray nozzle. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya’.”
She pointed at her then the spray, “you mind putting that down, Vahlen won’t let me wear my Sabre here and I stopped wearing glasses just a week ago.”
Melissa fixed her hair with a swipe, putting the spray back in her pocket. “Scared the shit out of me,” she gave her a quick hug. “Still jumpy, sorry.”
"What brings you out here to my neck of the woods?” The dusty wind finally picked up, the vines twitched.
“Scouting out a spot for a new facility and checking out some weird interference out here, Vahlen’s got some crazy stuff planned,” she patted her shoulder, throwing her arms wide, the fabric of her shirt stretched, “for all of Ravensmantle...”
“Yeah, I love this place, say, you don’t smell good.” Amanda could only raise her brows and squint her eyes.
“Well, excuse me?”
“Well, that's just it,” Melissa tried hiding a mischievous grin as Amanda nearly flinched at a can of spray rising in her sun kissed hands.
“Floyd’s Scent Blocker?” Her brows somehow rose higher, she squinted at her expectantly, glancing at the little weasel putting paws to its nose on the shiny surface.
Melissa broke into a brief fit of laughter. “Stop looking at me like that, I’m being serious. I’m hunting something, and you, don’t smell good here.” She pointed at the ground.
“Or too good,” she dropped the act, putting her hands between the pouches and gear on her plate carrier and belt. Melissa rose a brow.
“Uh huh, it's what you smell good to that could be a problem.”
“Well, I smell good to Tom no matter my condition.” She triumphantly cocked her head with a smile. “Where you headed?”
“I’m going to the Masque, Vahlen told me there might be a nest out there, and that nest might have a Gestaltia organism inside.”
“The hell is that?”
“They grow plants from their bodies, so... hopefully if, we, can bag one I can figure out how it’s dispersing Cadre resistant seeds.”
She thrust the can at her, “I think you might need to strip out of that body armor of yours.”
“Aw, cmon!” She glanced at the urban temple, having heard what she thought was humming.
“And the belt, gear, clothes...”
Amanda cocked her head at her with a barely hidden smirk, “you’re just tryna see me naked.”
“If you want to see the Masque, which is where I’m going, lather up, buttercup.” She stabbed with the can.
“Okay, okay. I’ve always wanted to check out the Masque, gimme.” It plopped into her hand as she took the armor off, Melissa grabbed it, spraying it down with another can from her ruck sack.
“Tom’s cologne is pretty strong on you.”
“Yeah yeah.” She waved her arms as both worked for a few minutes, ensuring neither smelled like a human.
Once Amanda and her enhanced senses lost the scent, they carried on, tightening the veclro straps on her body armor.
After an hour of traveling through the empty, vine choked streets, they skirted around a deep ravine of crumbled buildings that cascaded into the old collapsed subway system. Amanda chucked a rock, pocking and rolling down to the bottom.
The wall of the apartment block slanted away from the exposed grid, making up a concrete slope dotted with rebar and nasty looking concrete chunks that stuck out like spikes and blades.
“Well, that's the thing, creepy,” she pointed at the ravine, trailing it ahead of both to the wall between them and the Outlands. Despite still being so far from it, the fact that the half mile high, building thick concrete ring structure was visible on the horizon made both uncomfortable.
Just outside.
In the Outlands.
The Cadre waited.
“Versus fucking terrifying, there is a pretty big difference in my book.”
She leaned against the stony, coastal looking surface of the sheer drop on the other side, Melissa peered through caved-in walls into the old crusty grid of rooms.
Amanda put most of herself over the edge, forcing Melissa to wince, “I was with the Western Federation Military before this all went down...” she reached toward her belt, plucking a flashlight from its holster behind her pistol and clicking it on.
Everything coated with dead leaves and overgrowth that crept up the grid-like edges.
“Our grand overlord wants me to start installing relays to get our network back online and to reenforce the barrier.” A short, almost mirthless laugh escaped her. “In her own words, we need to keep the fucking birds out.” Her blinding flashlight beam caught something.
She squinted at it, cocking her head slightly for a better angle as the breeze picked up, blowing dusty leaves into the broken maw. A few landed on the thick board that spanned the gap with quiet ticks only Amanda could hear.
Just as quickly as she saw the apartment light flicker on, blasting the room below with light and the rest of the ravine in front of it in a dim amber cone, its focal point set within its vine-snarled concrete edges. The light just as quickly shut off.
Up high on her vantage point a story or two above, she took a tentative step away from its edge.
“I didn’t just see that, did I?”
“Uh, you did, let’s go. I’ve seen stuff like this in the movies... and the Outlands.” Amanda strode away with a hidden smirk. She saw the power line connected to the building, yet she held a thought close.
Something she thought she saw in one of those little apartment rooms.
It was a small thing that looked like a pale bramble of twigs with no leaves.
The only issue she had while watching Melissa hurriedly walk ahead of her lay inside that little apartment, her peripheral told her something alarming.
The bramble, those pale little branches.
She thought they waved.
Melissa turned to meet her concerned eyes as both hurried their steps to get away from the concrete mouth, she didn’t seem to notice the bramble as she pointed the opposite way to her relief. “Were pretty close.”
Both spared a glance back at the ravine, the sun’s rays casted a black bar that consumed the building in darkness, leaving her side of the ravine bathed in tenuous light.
The black shadow seemed to slowly crawl up the slope behind their hurried steps.
The bramble was gone.
A winding path through a once bustling entertainment district with old arcades and an ancient and decrepit well before the end of the world Blockbuster. Across the street of the worn away blue and yellow sign was a shopping mall with an aged and weather-beaten board.
Primrose Shopping Center.
Vehicles stuck to the ground on tires stitched into the pavement by creeping root systems in both the parking lot and the neighboring Viola Street. Amanda paused, pointing her finger out down the road, she raised it high, slowly lowering it while counting silently.
She noted some measurements or some type of mathematical information down, flatly saying. “Scouting.”
Melissa’s head bobbed as she looked in the direction Amanda was. “An old junkyard down the street, might be a good spot for a new Sabre facility.”
She turned to the Masque in the north a couple streets away as Melissa did. She jerked with the motion of Amanda‘s hand patting her shoulder.
“Speaking of, you’re still looking over the Harrier model, right?”
Her eyes flicked side to side.
“Yeah.” She drew out with a smile she had no clue she was wearing, it disappeared just as quickly. “Amanda… if I’m being honest…”
“I’m scared.”
“I get that… you’d be less scared as a Ravenguard, and, so far it's worth it.”
“I didn’t say I was backing out. Vahlen and I shook hands on it, discussed it at length for months. "I've just had cold feet about going through multiple surgeries and the lace has been kicking my ass emotionally. Ever since Juniper Valley, the thought of having my mind and body so intimately tied to technology terrifies me. What if I lose myself? What if I become something...other?"