Fragment of Destiny

Retribution, the desire for it was so thick in the air Tess could taste it. Below them, the remains of sector eight passed like a sea of corpses. Enforcers and civilians littered the abandoned sector, the trail of bodies fanning out in all directions. There was no destruction, only death. A tinge of worry creased the air like a bitter tea leaf. Samuel was watching her intently. Even behind that helmet, she could feel his eyes.

“Don’t worry about me I have it under control. I am just pissed. I won’t let it take over like that again,” Tess said. In the back of her mind, she could feel the monster stir at the thought of it. She had to keep it contained.

Samuel nodded, and his gaze returned to the open door. A new kind of worry radiated from him. The kind that sent molten butterflies loose in her gut.

Ahead a large congregation of survivors huddled on the rim. They were being corralled by large swatches of purple mist. Over and over the mist descended on the survivors and each time it was driven back at cost.

Samuel spun up the door cannon but didn’t risk opening fire just yet. “Get us closer,” Samuel snapped to the pilot.

A moment later a pocket of mist broke away towards them. As the mist wraiths were nearly upon them, Samuel opened fire. His bullets shredded through the previously immortal beings sending them plummeting to their deaths, as mist evaporated in a shower of gore. They were so close Tess could smell the blood in the air.

Before she even thought about what she was doing the restraints were off and she had leaped from the open door. The insanity of her action floated around her like oil over water as the ground seemed to melt away under her feet, softening the otherwise fatal landing.

She seemed to float on wings of air as swift strides rocketed her forward faster than she thought possible. The ground rent under her feet like shattering glass as she closed the distance in six bounding steps. Her presence alone was enough to strip all but the farthest wraiths of their immortality. Understanding their opening, those in the mass of survivors with guns opened fire. Bullets and gravity plucked the ethereal beings from the sky.

Without realizing exactly how she did it, Tess reaped the air as with a scythe. Instantly the mist was drawn towards her while simultaneously forced to the ground. The effect not only took in the wraiths but the survivors as well. Before her men, women, and children all squirmed under invisible restraints. Some with eyes bulging from their head’s others turning purple from lack of air. Tess gasped and at once whatever had bound them relented.

Before Tess lay a figure swathed in purple mist that burnt away like a cloud of steam. The mist wraith was no longer a thing of terror but instead a helpless girl, perhaps sixteen. She was naked and radiated fear like light from the noonday sun. In an instant Tess recognized her. The girl’s name sprang out from a bitter memory. Aurora Teamoth, she had died in the trial and her name place hung crystal-less in the catacomb beside Brian’s. Tess’s mind reeled as she struggled to grasp the implications. Horror gripped her heart as she took in the what remained of the other wraiths. That same hollow feeling of betraying her friend radiated from her core. Brian, no Brian…

A shudder ran through her half from the pain of knowing she had just killed Brian, and half from the pleasure of killing. She felt her stomach heave at the latter.

“What is going on here?” Samuel demanded.

Tess looked up and realized the question had not been directed at her. Everyone who had a gun now had it trained on Tess and Aurora. Samuel and a few others had created a screen between the two groups. It quickly became clear that some in the crowd would just as soon shoot her as Aurora.

“It is Aurora,” Tess said as she wrapped her arms around the shaking girl.

“Please… kill me,” Aurora managed between sobs as tears streaked down her face.

“No one is going to kill you. You are safe now I promise.” Tess said. Aurora shuttered and her entire body racked with sobs before she started to bat Tess away.

“No, you don’t understand. Please, kill me. I can’t go back to being a part of that thing, please.” Aurora said her eyes wild with fear.

“Aurora it’s ok, you’re safe now,” Tess said.

“No, you’re wrong,” Aurora protested. “I can still hear him inside my head. Please, make it stop.” Then for the first time, Tess got a good look at the girl’s eyes. They were pits of pure black. Without warning, she dove for Samuel’s eyes fixed on his sidearm. Instantly it was in Samuel’s had ready to fire. On reflex, Tess slammed Samuel to the ground just as she had the mob a moment before.

A single shot rang out, and Aurora’s body toppled to the ground. The barrel of the pistol still smoking as it dropped from her lifeless hands. Tess could feel the waves of relief from the survivors. The last of the mist wraiths was finally dead.

Tess scooped up Aurora frantically searching for a way to heal her but it was too late, there was nothing to heal. A hollowness worse than before filled her completely. Everything was numb and she felt as if on the edge to a pit of utter darkness. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew if she fell in, there would be no coming out.