Fragment of Destiny

The thrum of the dusk blade made her ears feel like they were about to bleed, and her head felt like a lacework of fire. Yet that pain was nothing compared to the hunger that tore her up inside. A hunger for food yes, but also a sick hunger for blood and death, for the reaping. It was nearly more than she could bear and, it, was relentless. Each passing moment taunted her with the taste she had gleaned when she nearly drained Demetrius’s crystal. It was nostalgia and euphoria rolled into a ball of certain death that ricocheted off her inner defenses searching for a moment of weakness.

Tess clutched at the empty space where her crystal had been as she pitched forward gasping for air. Wide-eyed with a mix of terror and rage she thrashed momentarily against her restraints. Then it was gone. With the pressure dispersing, nausea crept in to fill the void. Without the taste of pleasure, the thought of what she had nearly done to Demetrius turned her stomach sour. She needed something to do with her hands before she killed someone. Samuel gave her a worried look as she grabbed yet another meal bar and ripped it open. She was thankful for Samuel, and Demetrius for saving her. Somewhere buried beneath the hunger she knew that Demetrius had done what he did to save her… And without Samuel, they would have had to kill her despite it.

“That’s quite enough,” Larry said plucking what was left of the meal bar from her hands.

She nearly lost it, a feral growl escaped her lips as she bore her teeth in a snarl. She momentarily envisioned herself eviscerating Larry, and felt something dig into her shoulders. With a jolt, she recovered and sat normally once more. The outbursts were becoming harder to control. In an instant, her mood swung and she was on the verge of weeping from frustration.

“Please, can I have it back?” Tess pleaded tears welling up in her eyes like she was a toddler whose parents had taken her favorite snack.

“Regular food will not still your cravings. Right now, your body cannot distinguish the difference, but your hunger is for other things.” Larry said and he dropped the remnants of the meal bar out the open door of the dusk blade. Tess dug her nails into the thin cushion of her seat. Nails that had already grown and thickened into the likeness of claws.

Down below she could see the crew from Old Sam’s. Ten well-armed skimmers congregated in front of the massive upper cast catacomb doors. The doors thick tow cable was connected to a skimmer and they had begun the slow grind to open them. The dusk blade got just low enough for everyone to jump out before retreating to a safe altitude. The moment her feet hit the ground the unnatural hunger flared up as if it knew what lay beyond those doors. Cold sweat beaded down her neck and she found herself panting. Convulsively she reached out to Samuel to steady herself.

“Form up!” Larry shouted, “We must protect Tess at all costs otherwise this trip is going for nothing,” Larry waved his team forward.

Inside it quickly became apparent that leaching from the catacombs was not a novel idea. Heaps of ash lined the walls, and the keeper’s mangled body rested in a pool of his own blood not ten feet from the entrance.

“Any idea how long ago this happened?” Samuel asked.

“The blood is still fresh. So not long. I just hope they haven’t cleaned this place out already.” Larry said.

“No, I suspect they are still in here somewhere,” Samuel said as he craned his neck looking at something on the ceiling.

The deeper they went the more intense the hunger became until Tess found herself clutching Samuel every few seconds, eyes wide as she sucked air.

“I can do this, I have to,” Tess muttered between breaths. It soon became her mantra and bands of steel coiled tight around the hunger with each repetition. There was no way she would allow herself to give in now, not when they were so close.

Rounding the next corner, they found more ash. This time though at the end of the hall stood a reaper shrouded in mist. A brilliant green crystal hovered in front of its outstretched hand.

Tess watched with a disgusting mix of horror and exhilaration as the crystal faded to a dull gray and crumbled to the floor. She had been so captivated by the reaping, that it was not until someone opened fire that saw the other malravians in the hall.

In an instant, the hall erupted in chaos. The reaper had turned one of its fellow malravians into a literal meat shield. A trashing body suspended in mid-air as bullets tore away large chunks of flesh. Like a rocket, the mangled carcass was propelled into the Old Sam’s militia.

With equal quickness, Larry finished the wounded malravian burying a long blade hilt-deep into its skull. Two men with juggernaut arms rushed forward into the fray battering aside wounded malravians as they closed on the reaper. With a wave of its hand, the reaper sent Larry and several others flying like stuffed dolls while simultaneously pasting the two advancing soldiers, in bloody craters, one to each wall.

For all her intention of helping Tess found herself frozen in place as her escort was quickly slaughtered. There was so much violence, and her inner beast reveled in it. Hands on her head she fought to retain what remained of her humanity. Inside her, the hunger was white hot and her bars of iron sluffed away in pools of iridescent fire.

The reaper had nearly closed the distance and it seemed to shimmer like water as it moved with unnatural speed. One massive claw nearly the length of its arm about to run her through.

From this close, Tess could feel the raw energy radiating from it. The very presence of so much crystal energy was utterly intoxicating. Without thought, she extended her right hand in reaping and the malravian froze mid-stride. Thousands of purple tendrils extended from its body and started to coil up her arm. A moment more and the reaper collapsed to the ground assuming the posture of a prisoner awaiting execution.

Caught up in a state of baleful ecstasy Tess placed her hand on its skull. The transfer of power was nearly instantaneous. Flashes of gold cracked like lightning and a purple vortex to rival the ascension storm itself came into existence around her.

When she had drawn the last drop of the power from the reaper, the tempest subsided leaving nothing more than a lifeless husk that crumbled to the floor. More, she needed more. Turning to the body of an enforcer on the floor beside her she could feel the call of a crystal for reaping. The enforcer’s helmet had been knocked off though his head was still attached. The two of them locked eyes for a moment as the enforcer still clung to life, tenuous as it was.

Extending a hand over him Tess could feel the tension like hundreds of invisible strings as they wound tight and began to pull on the crystal. Like a bone leaving its socket, a brilliant red crystal tore from the man’s shoulder and through his battle armor. The not quite dead enforcer’s agonized screams sent a tantalizing shiver through her as she began to draw the energy from his crystal. As the tip turned gray and started to crumble something odd happened. She suddenly became intensely aware of the agony all around her. Like the roar of a dusk blade passing overhead, the feeling intensified to the point that something inside of her snapped. The all-consuming hunger was overpowered. The crimson crystal clattered to the ground and she suddenly knew him.

“Samuel… Oh my god, Samuel!” Tess shrieked and tears leaped up in her eyes.

In an instant, she was on her knees beside him holding a feeble hand and pressed what was left of the crystal into his palm. Her cheek came to rest against his hand, and her hot tears ran down Samuel’s bloodied arm. He was injured badly, blunt trauma along his entire body and severe internal hemorrhaging.

Tess had no idea how she knew this, only that she did. It was as if just by holding his hand she could feel the brokenness inside of him. Like digging your hand through the sand in search of something you can't see Tess found his pain and began to mend it.

There was a sickening pop as she forced his ribs to realign. Like the tying off of an invisible knot, she stopped the internal bleeding and sealed him up inside. Carefully she drained blood from a collapsed lung and inflated it. With gentle fingers, she placed the crimson crystal in the bloody socket at his left shoulder. It was one thing to feel the mending but to see the blood dry up and new flesh close in around the crystal encasing it in smooth fresh skin was truly amazing.

At last Samuel stirred his eyes wet with tears as he took in her face. “Tess how did you…” He trailed off as he looked at his crystal in amazement.

“I don’t know I just… Can you move?” Tess asked ignoring his question. In answer, Samuel groaned and rolled onto his hands and knees before using the wall as a support to stand.

“Tess, I don’t know what you just did but if there are other survivors, They need your help.”

Tess looked out at the bloody scene around her. Yes, others were alive she could see that now, and she could feel their fear, their pain. They reeked of it. The nearest of the wounded militia looked at her in terror as she approached. He tried to move away but failed. She placed a hand on his head feeling his brokenness.

“Be calm,” Tess mouthed, and the man’s fear was washed away like a layer of grime. From behind her, she could feel a strong sense of utter amazement radiating from Samuel. She couldn’t help but be amazed as well. And to think she had once been branded a crystal-less.

Finishing with her patient Tess moved quickly from person to person each less likely to survive then the last save Larry. All told only three of the Old Sam’s militia had survived the encounter.

“We should finish what we came here to do and quickly,” Larry said sounding weary as he looked at the scene with a mix of disgust and exhilaration.

“No, I have enough. There are others who need our help.” Tess said and Samuel nodded his agreement.

Tess was surprised to see signs of a skirmish when they exited the catacomb. Spent cartridges littered the ground around the tight group of skimmers and the path down to them was dark with malravian blood. Small mounds of mangled malravian bodies filled the street. From where the militia huddled an old man tottered forward, the rifle in his hand looked enormous beside his wiry frame.

“What happened in there?” Old Sam asked worry plain on his face.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Larry said.

“Malravians came pouring out of the catacomb in a stampede. We all thought you were dead for sure.”

“Not quite all of us,” Larry said looking over his shoulder at Tess.

“You can tell him all about it on the way,” Samuel said grabbing Tess by the hand and leading her along to the waiting dusk blade. No one questioned Samuel instead they just piled into the skimmers as quickly as they could.

“I hope you found whatever weapon you were looking for in there sir because we are going to need it. Coms have been going crazy since you left.” The pilot said.

Samuel and Tess locked eyes, and she knew his unspoken question. Was she ready for a real fight? To that, she nodded and Samuel addressed the pilot. “You can tell Elroy and the others that our destroying angel is on the way.”