"No wonder you have the savage appearance of a freak." Smiled the burning man. "Slavery aside, your kind is riddled with treachery and barbarism to the core. What part of your marauding through my city deserves respect? Should I be impressed by your torture of a helpless woman? Bah. The fairer sex is the reason for the continued existence of our species. That's far more impressive than any act of cruelty perpetrated by your rabble. The least we can do to honor their gracious gifts is to give them the reverence they so richly merit."
"How courteous of you. Your name, my opinionated outlander," Dalantai demanded.
"I bear many titles and monikers, but to you I offer none. For what good is knowledge to a corpse?" He began lifting his hand.
Dalantai was faster. The flaming tongues tried to spear him and got tangled in the expanded space, as the distance between them had grown to a hundred kilometers, while visually it remained the same. The talon pointed at the narrow channel of unchanged space, causing both the flames and the man to freeze, trapped at that moment. His flaming tongues no longer danced or radiated heat. They became solid. He didn't breathe, and even the light no longer left his form, and darkness returned. This wasn't the reversal of time; Dalantai had stopped all activity in the arrogant heretic's body, rendering him immune to aging. He will stand here for thousands of years, imprisoned in eternal stasis. Another tangible proof of the Sky's superiority.
Suddenly, Dalantai heard a crackle of flame, and the solidity shattered as reality itself unraveled. The newcomer resumed his movements, pointing his palm at the priest, and a bright blue dot shone in the middle of it.
"Taste the glimmer of a star pulse, you ugly, distasteful, subhuman pest."
A flash erupted from the palm, startling Dalantai as it approached him, crossing the kilometers he had constructed in the blink of an eye. He hastily increased the distance, pushing his spatial control to the limit, putting thousands of kilometers between himself and the attacker. The blue light advanced, consuming all in its path, and the priest froze the air itself, using his control of time to create an impregnable obstacle, performing the same miracle he had done with the khatun's scimitars. His manipulation of time had many applications, and if he wished, he could construct a shield strong enough to withstand anything. Once stopped, he planned to blanket the unusual energy, reverting it back to the point of origin.
It didn't work. His protection and his will on reality faltered, and the blue wave hit his body, carrying him through the walls and plowing him to the solid ground. Only his last-ditch effort to put his core into stasis, essentially immobilizing himself, had saved Dalantai from being vaporized by the intense heat that steamed the surroundings and pushed him back to the surface. He spun in the air, undoing the seal as the heat disappeared. He shortened the distance to the street to remain high above the black hole leading into the underground.
The flame was there, an orange, dancing fire. It slowly diminished, heading into the corridor and not pursuing the priest. Dalantai prepared to leap and face it, fully intent on overcoming this challenge. However, abruptly, a white light pierced the smoke-filled heavens, tingling him with an unexplained fear.
****
Halina panted as she struggled to drag the three bodies through the broken gates of the orphanage. T, the clone T, had fainted and collapsed midway through the journey, and she cursed under her breath, sweating profusely as she had to switch between the wounded, moving first one and then another with her single working hand. It took her nearly two hours to reach the destination.
"You better run, kiddo. You did all you could." Mark coughed, using an arm to help move herself as much as she could. "We'll… catch up."
"Uh-huh." Halina snorted.
Mark's knee had been pierced by a piece of stone, and the woman was dangerously pale. Halina had used both Mark's and the officer's belts to fashion tourniquets, but that had been a while ago, and the blood was still seeping. Even with her limited medical training, she knew that a tourniquet couldn't be left on for that long without risking amputation.
Not that it matters, dummy! She chastised herself. Dirt, dust, smog, soot, whatever chemicals lingered in the air… Yeah, none of her group were getting out of it without losing more of their parts. But they'll survive! They had to. What are you looking at?! She flipped a bird at the horrid, lacerated statue of a nameless girl, the supposed victim whom the state had failed to save. The crafted bloodshot eyes sent goosebumps all over her as she imagined them trailing the group. Halina instantly believed in T's stories about how this mess stepped down during the nights and haunted the corridors in search of careless children to rip apart and replace its missing flesh.
"Jay told me that there is a medical room in the orphanage," Halina said kindly, almost dropping from exhaustion. Her broken arm hurt. Badly, but it helped the girl stay conscious. Just twenty meters until the entrance. She will do it. "Dad taught me the basics; I should be able to keep you alive. We are getting out of here together!"
"Not a person worth wasting your efforts on." Mark licked her lips, blinking. "Take the officer, he seems like a decent fellow, and escape."
"No one is going to be left behind!" Halina said strictly. She sat, giving her legs a moment to rest. "Your orange robe… Are you a criminal?"
"Yep. All the more reason for you to drop me."
"What did you do?" Halina asked.
"Shivved a girl. Around your age," Mark answered, looking up.
"What? Why would you do that?! Did she attack you…"
"Planet, no." Mark spat. "We were robbing a gas station; everything went smoothly, the cashier hadn't noticed anything, and we were skittering back to the car when that girl… Mina… came round a corner. My power screamed a warning that Mina would tell the green hides that she saw us, and the next thing I knew, I was stabbing her in the chest. It was a spontaneous decision; I didn't think I… didn't think of her. Just about me. But that doesn't excuse what I did, does it? I fucking killed her over nothing."
"Her parents must be so sad," Halina said quietly. Then she bit her lower lip and grabbed Mark by her collar, pulling the woman closer to T and the officer. "So you better apologize and tell them how sorry you are."
"It doesn't work that way, girlie." Mark breathed heavily. "You can't just say you're sorry for taking a life."
"Well, it's infinitely better than deciding that you can't change and giving up. Dying is a cheap way out," Halina said vehemently, confused where the anger came from. "There are myriads ways you can help others or simply do good: a soup kitchen work, a charity, an honest job. I don't know, a cashier or something."
Her ears perked at the intense shrieking. Mark tried to push Halina away, but the girl froze. The noise increased, shaking the remaining windows of the orphanage. The building trembled; vibrations passed through the fence, and then the top corner of the upper floor disappeared into dust. A human figure flew through it, covered by a tattered brown robe and flanked by the two similar individuals. Their mouths were stretched open, emitting the screeches that speared through the row of buildings on the other side of the street.
Senselessly and pursuing no goal. They were destroying for fun, and Halina's heart sank when one of them noticed them, giggled, and pointed a curved finger at them. Monsters. Monsters reigned in Houstad, and there wasn't anyone to rein them in.
"Halina, right?" Mark hissed. "Run. Now!"
"Want us?!" Halina yelled at the flying invaders. Her legs trembled, but she was done abandoning others. As long as there was a hint of life in her, she intended to follow Dad's example. "Catch me if you can!"
Their mouths widened, half smirking, half inhaling. It was a disgusting sight; the folds of their flesh closed their eyes, and Halina ran to lead them away from the wounded. Three screams combined into one, popping one of her eardrums and making Clone T disappear. The stream of sound crashed into the ground, knocking her off her feet like a rag.
She flew four steps as the ripples passed through the surface, ruining the tiles. She landed hard, hitting her head and hearing her own skin rip along with her hair. Her broken arm pulsed with agony during the roll and swelled. The girl cried, cursing her helplessness. The sound missed Mark and the officer, but their ears were bleeding, and she herself survived thanks to the statue, which had half of its own torso sheared off, but partially blocked the noise beam.
"Thank you, friend," Halina laughed through her tears. The statue's head rolled towards her, its one remaining eye staring at her. "You aren't useless or scary. Sorry I flipped you off."
The trio descended, snickering and jeering in the foreign language. She didn't understand why they wanted to kill her or why such strong people would deliberately hunt down the weak. It seemed so stupid and ridiculous. Why wage war, destroy, and be killed when they all could live in peace together? Why struggle and fight, be afraid for one's back? Halina wanted to ask them that, but their crazed appearance scared the soul out of her. Her toy slipped out of her pocket and broke into pieces.
At least I tried. Sorry, Dad. There is no one left to rescue me. The mister was wrong. Halina smiled, wiped tears, and took the broken head, hugging it in search of any comfort. It didn't seem fair. Just when she had decided to go on, they took everything away. Heroes fought all across the city, and she was just a stupid girl who thought she could save anyone. Worse, she put T and Jay in danger. She deserved it.
Motes of white fell from above, surprising Halina. It wasn't winter yet. She let go of the head and reached out, caught a single mote, and it disappeared just out of reach, filling her with wonder. Were these the angelic feathers heralding that she'll meet Dad soon? The hordemen's faces stretched, and she didn't try to dodge, too caught up in the strange phenomena.
They screamed. And the wave of destruction stopped, blocked by a black-clad figure landing heavily. The sound washed over the cloak of pure void, not disturbing the fabric, let alone tearing it. A ball of light formed around Halina, shielding her from the blast that shattered the statue's head and sent a puff of dust into the sky. Two silver disks, resembling stars in the night sky, looked at the girl from inside the depths of the dark cowl.
A black gauntlet appeared from beneath the cloak, moving the side of it and briefly revealing the inverted knee. The sharp fingers barely twitched, but a pillar of pure white rose from below the hordemen, fully covering them. They lingered, briefly, black shapes in the pale stream, and then vanished without a trace.
"A child on the battlefield?" Halina heard a click, as if a bone or a plank of wood struck something. "What are you doing here? Have you been abandoned?"
"You…" The words stuck in her throat. She wanted to bang her fist on his plate, screaming her frustration for not saving Dad, for letting the sister die, for failing her friends. But that wasn't important right now. "Sir! These people are injured and need immediate medical attention. My friends are missing. They are the same age as me and…"
Outsider, the grand commander of the Reclamation Army, the deadliest blade among the Dynast's servants and the leader of the First, took her in his arms. His cloak was surprisingly soft and warm, and the constant hum of his suit calmed her a little. A light ran over her broken arm, straightening it with a painful crunch. It coalesced around the limb, forming a new sling, and similar shimmering motes covered the soldiers.
"Take a breath," he said. "You are safe. No harm will come to you or them."
"It isn't about me! I can wait!" Halina screamed.
"No, you can't. The young are ever our priority, for you are to inherit the fruits of our labor."
"My friends! Everyone! The city! Please save it…"
"We will," Outsider assured.
"We?"