by Colby R Rice
Someone was walking down the alley. Towards her.
The outline of the body was framed against the night, and as Zeika got closer, she realized it was a little sprat of a girl, no thicker than her hip, dressed in Azure robes. A clot of bitterness curdled in Zeika's chest as she noticed how clean and bright her robes were… but Zeika also averted her eyes, trying to fight the urge to roll up and hide her own sleeves, which were saturated with dirt.
The child's shoulder slammed into her body, cold and heavy, a sack of wet cement knocking a concave into Zeika's right side. She felt the wind rush out of her as she stumbled and hit the alley wall, the clammy chill of the child's touch causing Zeika's skin to recoil.
"Sssorry."
The one-word whisper slipped from the child's mouth, running an icy finger down Zeika's spinal cord, taking all the warmth from her body at once. The kid hadn't seemed to feel anything at all. But what was more disturbing was what Zeika thought she saw.
Under the low hood and cowl, a lipless, gazeless gray body with cords sewn tightly in the places where two eyes and a mouth should have been. Worse yet, was that Zeika thought she recognized the corpse-like face… that birthmark on the left cheek…
It— she— looked like that missing girl Zeika saw every day in the bathroom of Manja's daycare. That Azure kid, prioritized above all others in the hunt for the missing ghosts of war.
She looked like Sophia Green.
No… couldn't be…
Zeika looked back over her shoulder, feeling the dead chill once more as the child swayed through the back alley of the diner. The kid never looked back; it was as though she hadn't even really seen Zeika to begin with. Even the apology had seemed to hiss out between the child's bodily cracks, as though forced by reflex, by the impact itself, rather than by the child's desire to apologize.
She kept staring, part of her thinking that the girl needed help. She was lost or stunned or something… Whoever she was, she couldn't have been any older than eight or nine, and it was nearly eleven thirty at night. Who the hell would let their kid just wander around like that?
The little girl was heading towards the back door of the diner, and Zeika felt relief pool into her as she watched her stumble in. Whatever the kid needed, whether it was food or help, she would get it. Mort was a coward, but he wasn't heartless. And she was an Azure besides. He'd break his back to make sure she was okay.
She turned to leave, perplexed at the sudden impulse to run as fast and as far away from the diner as possible. Something wasn't right…
Okay, but what is right? You just got fired, and the world sucks, hello?
She smiled, shaking her head. She was just stressed. She just needed a night jog to calm her nerves, get her blood flowing. A couple of miles would do her good, and besides she'd eaten well at home. She had the energy for it.
She began to run, then leaned in and picked up speed. She left the diner behind, and the world turned to a blur around her as her body came alive again, her spirits lifting. But for the life of her, she couldn't shake the sudden tremble in her limbs. There was still—
Her thoughts disappeared in a deafening holocaust of light, heat, and sound as she was shoved forward and lifted off the ground, as though the hand of God himself had thrown her. Ten feet later, she slammed down hard on concrete, skidding a couple more feet before finally slowing to a stop. On impact, a sheet of black snuffed out her vision, and minute after minute fell off the world as her body lay there.
"Unh…"
The primal groan seemed to reset her body completely. One by one her senses flickered back on, and immediately, she felt the pangs of her unexpected flight. Scratches had torn open the skin where she had slid, and bruises swelled up.
What… what happened?
Still laying at the mouth of the bridge, Zeika blinked away the tears, at the same time rubbing her stinging eyes with the back of her hand. She coughed, once, twice, feeling something like coal dust dislodge from her windpipes. The taste was bitter, and as she purged, she realized that the noise of the world had been muffled. Trickles of fluid, running down her neck. She put fingers to her ears and looked at them once she felt a warm glaze on her fingertips. Blood.
Slowly, she rolled over, forcing herself to deny the agony inside as she tried to get up. She clamped her jaw, placing her hands squarely beneath her body and using her legs in tandem, and in the next moment, she was standing on wobbly legs, turning around to see what had pushed her.
My God…
The top of the Lakeside Diner had been blown open, twisted and charred by flame. Bricks had blown out of the diner's belly, glass windows scattered across the ground like black rain. What remained of the wreckage was completely engulfed by hellfire. A thick inky cloud billowed around the dead brick and mortar like fingers of death, and Zeika's skin practically shriveled beneath the dry heat that blasted over her.
Mort. Mackey. Feeling tears spring to her eyes, she shook her head as though trying to ward off a bad dream. Me. That could have been me in there, too. She folded back down to her knees, and her fingers closed around the folds of her traveling robes as she realized how close she had come to being blackened to a crisp, robes and all.
The bridge shook and groaned, dust and debris shaking from its loose parts and snowing down around Zeika's head, but she could barely feel it. Her mind was spinning, navigating around both her shock and sorrow to try to understand what had just happened.
A gas leak, maybe. But not likely. Mort was extra careful about his kitchen safety and even had an in-house technician for that sort of thing. Especially since his diner had become so popular with Azures. Telling by the extent and nature of the damage, it had been a munitions explosion. Bomb.
But who would do this? And why?
She shook her head, bouncing between Koa and the Azures. The three Protecteds were like sacred meccas to the Koan rebels; being the defenders of Civilians and their territory, they would never target any place in Demesne Seven, not even one so populated with Azures and Azure Alchemists like the Lakeside Diner. And the Azures… they would never attack their own. It was against their code.
None of it made any sense, and no matter how many times she asked herself, the answers never came. And it didn't matter. The sick truth of it was that Demesne Seven had just been breached, just as the Sixth had.
Zeika pursed her lips, understanding what this could mean, what could happen next. Burning with purpose, she staggered to her feet, shaking out her limbs and re-securing her knapsack before breaking back out into a sluggish, limping jog.
She had to get home before daybreak.
In his dream, Caleb never made it to the room on time. He always got there right when the dark drops of crimson were already rolling across the marble floor, right as the body was hitting the ground face first. He struggled and reached out, to channel some sort of power, something protective and alchemic that would stop it, stop everything. But the familiar stirring in his gut was once again cut off from the rest of his body, like an engine without its spark plugs. The power was there, but he couldn't use it, and calling it forth only caused him physical pain, deep and wracking— almost as deep as the sorrow that followed as he understood that he could never protect him…
Brrring! The digital shriek of his cell phone cut through his REM, and Caleb slowly opened his eyes to the darkness, his mind still heavy with sleep.
Head still reeling, he rolled over to the bright green face of his alarm clock and squinted to get the blur out. These sons of bitches. Not even four in the morning and the goddamned phone was ringing. He felt around for it, and found it blaring and rattling behind the clock, practically throwing a tantrum.
"Huy…?" He finally answered, not bothering to look at the number.
"Detective, this is Loka Torv, the police secretary. The Captain wants me to call in a squad. You're on the list. Demesne Seven has been bombed."
He shot up, his eyes widening. "Nani— er, I mean, what?"
"Yeah."
/>
"But why does he want me there? I'm not on field duty."
"I realize that, but the Captain put the request in personally. There's a debrief at 0530 sharp. Just get down here."
The phone clicked silent, and Caleb sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. A bombing. In a Protected Demesne. After he had finished organizing and refiling hundreds of dossiers in the past three days, he had been hoping that Palmer would reconsider his assignment… but he never imagined it'd be under these circumstances.
Be careful what you ask for right?
He looked at the clock again, wondering if he could catch some snooze time before the debrief. He had an hour before he needed to get moving, but thinking on it, he nixed the idea. He'd be too busy mulling over the attack. That and the dream… He put a hand on his abs, just below the ribcage, right where his powers had stalled. He winced. Still tender. Those bastards in the 52nd really did a number on him.
Let's get to work, officer.
Resolved, he stood up sluggishly, grabbed a new pack of cigarettes off the nightstand, and headed for the shower.
It was going to be a long day.
Burke's fingers trembled as he tore out the innards of his top drawer and hurled them into the suitcase on the bed, not even bothering to fold them. Just hours ago, he had felt the floor move, felt the grains of plaster raining down on his head from the molding, and he wasn't going to stick around for what would come next. The bastards had breached the Seventh, with a hit on a popular Azure diner, and he knew it wouldn't be long before someone decided to leave a sweet farewell on his doorstep too. Sweat crawled down his temples as he moved.
Lay low in the 52nd, just for a few days while I get my thoughts together.
He bit down, severing the thought in two, knowing that it was a lie even as it crossed his mind. Truth was, he was scared shitless. But that was okay. Being scared and valuing his own life was a perfectly normal human reaction, wasn't it? His departure didn't have to stop him from working on the new legislation for the Protecteds. And who could work in these conditions anyway? That this was a hostile work environment was an understatement, and it sure as hell wasn't what he'd signed up for. He shook his head, already knowing how the reporters would twist this. He could see the headlines now:
Councilman Micah Pencham Burke, Civic representative for the Protected Demesnes and Ambassador for the Alchemic Order, flees his home after terrorist attack on his own Demesne. Burke is currently unavailable for comment on this tragedy…
Whatever. Those left-wing journalist nut jobs could say whatever they wanted from behind their mahogany desks. They didn't know what it was like to live in sheer terror every day like he did. He was an Azure for Crissake, and he didn't have to be here. The Protecteds were lucky enough he'd stuck around this long at all. Rather than complain about him leaving, the civvies and the press should be helping him pack. Otherwise, they could shove it in and break it off for all he cared.
Flipping the luggage lid closed, Burke went downstairs to his garden, unable to resist looking at his tulips one last time. He stopped and stared at the red and white laced lips and their long stems. He'd started gardening out of a need to actually grow something, to see life flourish amidst the death and terror. He'd donated tons of vegetables, fruits, seeds, and flowers to the Civilians during his years here. It had been one of his few positive contributions to the Protecteds while he'd served them. Now though, without him here, his Eden would surely shrivel and die— and so would Demesne Seven.
The whisper of that simple truth bothered him, but he wasn't sure what else he could do. He'd tried his best, hadn't he? And there was a possibility that the Protecteds would see this breach through on their own. The Civic Order was its own entity anyway; its officials could fix this if they wanted to. But damned if he was going to get his ass blown off waiting for it to happen. It was time to go.
Burke turned to walk back in, also trying his best to avoid looking at the yellow rose bush at the far corner of his garden. Since his garden "accident", he hadn't gone near the bush, and its sharp tendrils had grown almost viciously over the spot where the dead infants had laid. The sunny rose petals had all fallen off their branches, shriveling into dead whimpers on the dry soil. He'd had no other incidents since then, though he had slept with his .45 under his pillow every night since.
Don't even know why. It was probably just a hallucination…
Or a bad dream. Or a trick of the heat. Or anything else he would have rather believed… but when he had finally come back out of the house that day, the body bag had been gone without a trace. The more he'd convinced himself that he'd been stressed and sick that day, that he was just getting old and paranoid, the more he was able to make peace with the fact that it had never happened. His therapist had even said that the stress of his job could force him into having "walking illusions". War was stressful, after all, and so was his duty as a politician. Constantly under threat, constantly barraged with the sounds of bombs and terror. With impending death on the brain, Dr. Jacobs was surprised that Burke hadn't gone crazy sixteen years ago when this had all started.
But no matter what he'd been imagining in his garden, the Lakeside bombing— that was real. If he was losing his mind either way, he figured he'd just as well hallucinate on the powder-white beaches of the 52nd Demesne, where he could fight his mental battles with yoga and mojitos. Yeah, that's what he needed. Once he was on his way, the tension would fade away, just like those babies in his dreams. His darling tulips would just be a small sacrifice for his peace of mind.
He still had to pick and pack his shoes. He walked back through his large stucco kitchen, eyeing the gleaming copper pots on the wall above his stove. Rolling down his cuffs, he sauntered through, thinking more calmly about the things he would have to pack for the trip. He had his suits, swimming trunks, two pairs of custom shoes, his cufflinks, his ballroom tuxedo freshly tailored, cologne, and somewhere crumpled in the bottom of his suitcase were the testimonies, case files, and pending bills for Demesne Seven. He would bring the files just for good measure, though he doubted any of it would matter. Better to plan for problems he could actually solve, like sunburn and hangovers, than to fight city hall for impossible victories.
He walked past his kitchen island, past the plush stools. Then he stopped, his eyes widening. He had just passed something tall by the garbage can at his right, something that had never been there before. Something that shouldn't even exist…
He turned, his heart stopping as his eyes took in the impossible. Wooden roots seemed to have grown out of his tile, breaking right through his Italian stucco floor to intertwine into a viney high chair… and in it, sat a small, figure, so dark that it looked like charcoal. Its swollen head slumped over a flaking, blackened chest—
"No," Burke's breath rushed out, and he shook his head, trying to ward off what he knew was just another hallucination. "No, it can't be."
The burned thing squirmed around in the chair, bringing movement back to the deadened limbs. Slowly, the creature's head rolled back, its gaping mouth disintegrating into a misshapen "O" of agony, the same milky, deadened eye opening wide, exposed by a melted, sticky lid.
"Mai…cah…"
Burke's throat tightened as the creature's mouth began to move, opening and shutting like that of a human fish.
"Mai-cah," it started again, its cycloptic gaze fixing on him. "Mai-cah you have forsaken me. You have forsaken your oath." The voice was human and older, but its tone was hushed, robotic even. Sexless. "You have be-trayed us," the corpse accused.
Burke's lips parted. He knew such strange things could and did happen so long as a skilled Alchemist was pulling the right strings. Still, for the first time in his life, Burke was sure he was about to shit his pants. The thing was grotesque, like something even nightmares couldn't countenance.
"Speak." The anger in the creature's voice was undeniable, and Burke had no doubt it would leap if he did not obey.
He swallowed, barely able to get t
he lump down. "I can't betray that to which I never swore an allegiance," he said shakily. "This was not my choice."
"It was not ours either." The rhythm in the creature's voice became smoother with every word. "It was not this child's choice. Nor was it that of the other innocents that have been consumed by this war."
He felt his face flush. "You are the one who opted for the betrayal of the Order!"
"You know that is a lie. You choose to believe lies so that you can continue to roll around in cushy Eden while the world dies around you. This is not the legacy that your House wanted to leave. You have become cowardly, Burke, and your cowardice has condemned this world to death."
He trembled as he watched the creature's eye become more conscious. The gaze was no longer clouded by sleepless death; now it was bright and alive. Aware. And it was staring at him with judgment. He broke his gaze with the disgusting thing, turning his sight to his fingers, which had locked themselves around the marble countertops of his kitchen island. His knuckles had gone white.
He relented. "What— what do you want me to do?"
"Eventually, the Koan insurgency will force the Cabal's hand. They will try to repeal the Articles39, and all the protections that come with it. You will fight it. You will fight that, the zoning laws, and any other base attempts by the Alchemists to acquire Civilian territory and capital. You will advertise your position against the Gestapo policies of the Order and make clear your allegiance to justice. And you will do it all from Demesne Seven. You will stand by the people you swore to protect. You will put yourself at risk the same way your family did… the same way mine did."
Burke set his jaw and looked back up at the child defiantly. "And if I don't?"
The creature's wide mouth shut up tight in a smile. The highchair began to recede into the hole from whence it came, and the thing stared at Burke as it sank into the ground, its haunting grin never slacking. In the next minute, all traces of the child and its throne had disappeared, and Burke's floor tiles had rearranged themselves and re-cemented together seamlessly as though nothing had ever been there. Silence.
