“Wait, Troy, no.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“I won’t run.”
He stared at me for a moment, his dark eyes holding mine, waiting for me to change my mind.
“Fine,” he ground out, not at all amused.
I hugged him, knowing very well what this could mean for us. This is when he figured out what I was, and I was okay with it for the first time.
“No lightning, okay?” he whispered into my hair, his lips brushing over my temple.
Goosebumps raked over my entire body. My skin was still sensitive and humming after the last release of energy. I understood that my abilities were somewhat broken, unfocused and wild at most but I had to chance it, there was no turning back, we were being hunted – and it would not stop, they would find us anywhere – this I knew with a great distasteful certainty.
Wrecked droids circled us, their weapons honed in, waiting for our surrender, or die trying to get away.
“What now?” I whispered, biting down on my charcoaled lip, the coppery taste of blood dripping down my throat.
He shrugged. “This was your idea.”
The androids advanced on us, jittery, crawling spiders with their bionic weapons flaring to life. I dug my fingers into Troy’s big shoulders, hard muscle flexed beneath my touch. But he remained unmoved, challenging them with his glare. He stood before me, hands coiled at his sides, calculating each and every move they would make and how he would counter-attack. With us standing as one, I had a moment, his skin singing to mine. His savage, protective stance dividing me from those things while they watched through unseeing eyes, had me on a sudden high. I knew for certain he was the one thing I would give everything for. I didn’t have to think, it came naturally. This revelation lifted me and I moved from behind him to lace my fingers in his, challenging the droids to dare make a move. My skin burned with anticipation; together we could be like a pair of supernovas – powerful, beautifully miraculous and very lethal. It felt familiar, this sense of foreboding strength, unyielding beneath my skin, sweltering through my veins. I grinned, because I knew I was more when I was with him, I could do more with him by my side. And now, they knew it, too. In seconds, flames came for us, dark, twirling, intense and threatening.
“They will not take this from me,” I whispered, so that whoever was behind these droids, controlling them was without a doubt listening in and he would hear me challenging him, too. I let go of Troy, and moved to stand some distance away as my words seared within and turned my mind, hacking into my blood-shifting abilities. I could taste it, feel its frantic limbs grab at me before it pushed the determination of it out until it became palpable, burning fervently beneath the surface. It exploded into one massive shield – a giant wall of crackling violet, meeting the storm overhead. Wind thrust their bodies back, lightning struck everywhere. The air was charged, and I was ready to take them out with the forces of nature on my side. The droids readjusted, turning violent and desperate, urgently releasing rounds of charged fireballs one after the other. Deafening bolts reached from the sky and decimated each ball. But the droids remained. I stood, my eyes squinting as the shield escaped from my palms, felt the current rip through muscle and bone. I felt overwhelmed, sweltering waves of cold and then hot racking through me. My head pounded in protest.
“Ava!” Troy screamed at me, but I ignored him and held on to the menacing power, their lives in my hands. Our lives in my hands. And once more, my high from the power had me succumbing to its will. I grimaced at the droids – they knew that this would be their end. I screamed as the shield vibrated through my chest and out through my arms threatening to tear skin from bone, but I held it, blocked all the fireballs from turning us into lifeless ashes.
“Ava, you’re bleeding.” I heard, but his words sailed away into the chaos brewing around us.
Beyond the shield debris, leaves, branches and sand whirled around and into the droids. The more power that came, the more I wanted it, willed it, needed it. The shield grew until we were fully engulfed within the glowing, crackling, purple orb drawing in more of the energy from the storm. And, like a silver umbilical cord from a mother’s womb, it fed my appetite for destruction.
“Focus, Ava.” I heard a voice inside my head. “This is not you.”
The storm grew wild, wind bending trees, but the droids’ heavy bodies anchored themselves to the ground, pushing one fireball after the next, fighting back relentlessly. For a moment, I wondered if my power was feeding theirs. A deep breath filled my lungs as I looked to Troy, focused on his gorgeous face and let his vision clear my mind, still my storm within; but I pulled back, able to hold the shield. Troy looked from me to the sky, his face a tad more relaxed.
“Perfect.” It was Anaya’s voice, steady, smooth and brilliant, pushing herself into my mind. Her violation was a threat!
My skin seared at the thought, my breathing stopped, and wind threatened to break the area around us.
“Ava!” Troy shouted.
When I looked to him, my world crumbled at the sight of his hazel eyes piercing me. I looked around at the unnatural reality. Disaster bloomed from my mind as he neared, inches away from my skin.
“You don’t have to do this.” His words swam toward me.
Moments later, Kronan stood beside us, spreading his hands like he was extending the shield. He held two amethyst crystals, capturing the force of the beautiful, electrified barrier before us. He nodded for me to let go. When I finally did, it hurt much more than when I had first released it. I noticed Troy standing too close.
“You are too close,” I whispered, feeling, wanting him to retreat so the pain on my skin would subside. My shield receded, leaving my bones feeling like scorched, hot metal inside me, threatening to melt all of me from the inside out. I wanted to claw my eyes out at the unbearable pain. I had been so brave earlier when I could not feel, now I regretted all the power that had ripped through my body and mind, leaving its evidence coiled inside me. I collapsed in Troy’s arms, his skin against mine caused me to feel each and every ruinous feeling rake through my body, one limb and organ at a time. I yelled out from the pain. If only I could have focused on my healing and kept the shield up at the same time. I tasted blood, salt, dirt and tears, followed by smoke, sweat and more tears. The androids became annoyed after they lost half their unit. I was still connected to the shield that now both Anaya and Kronan were holding in position. The increase in strength and force of the fire balls slammed petulantly against the shield, pounding into my head. Troy pulled me closer, and I buried my face in his heated body for what felt like only a moment, his heart a thumping frenzy in his chest. I opened my eyes. Anaya and Kronan stood staring at me. In the back of my mind, I felt the shield, the sting, the buzz. I pushed myself from Troy, moved away until his proximity didn’t affect me anymore. But I felt the agony in Troy’s darkened eyes as he held his gaze on me. Yet, for my sake he said, “You did good.” Hazel eyes studying the fear and misery of what I had become.
I shook my head, tight lipped. I felt the dark and light collide within me, my mind caught in the clash. I was barely holding it together. How could they not tell?
We stood behind the shield, while the remaining droids tried to figure out how to destroy it. This was the beginning of the Shadow army. I was sure that Enoch had sent out the first batch to test their capabilities, and mine.
Kronan looked down at the fierce glow of the amethyst crystals. “If these crystals break…”
“So does the shield,” I concluded, not sure if I could pull up that amount of energy again anytime soon.
“Luckily, they are within the perimeters of the shield.” Anaya smiled.
“So, what, now we wait?” Troy asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
I glanced at him quizzically.
“They will figure out soon enough that their efforts are of no use.”
I bit down on my lip, I couldn’t tell them. I wouldn’t tell them my shield was linked to me, and
that when standing anywhere near Troy, I could feel each blow swell through me like large rocks dumped into a placid, cold lake, the ripples bending the smooth, peaceful surface. Troy moved closer to me and tore a piece from my white shirt. I looked down at my body, now visible for everyone to see. Taking the cloth, he wiped at my jaw and under my ears.
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing.” Although he smiled, it didn’t reach his eyes.
My hand jerked to the white rag as it came away from my face. The glow of my blood – I snatched it from his hands, trying to hide it, to keep my disease a secret for just a little while longer.
“It’s okay,” he said, staring into my eyes.
The lump in my chest wanted to explode in bloody tears. The thickness in my throat hurt so bad, I couldn’t speak. Kronan paced before us upon noticing the weak spot in the shield. It wasn’t visible at first, but it was slowly wearing thin.
“Dad?”
“I see it, Son,” he groaned, somewhat perplexed. There was only so much his magic could do at a given time.
“They should be here any moment…” Anaya began, and almost as if someone had read her mind and just as the shield crackled and fazed to a purple, dusty smoke, the distinctive whistle of soaring arrows echoed throughout the forest. We all looked up as a blizzard of arrows streaked across the sky, the tips flaming-blue asteroids, disappearing into the low, looming clouds of doom overhead, then crashing in a wide arc right into the droids’ chests. I turned to see Tatos, Willard and Rion. Behind us, a glow from yellow torches highlighted their shadows against a foggy, smoky sky. A dozen Zulu warriors slowly made their way out from the edge of the forest and into the clearing. The slow, deep vibrating beat of their war drums had never been so comforting. Only then did I see the 200 meter radius I had cleared into our surroundings with the forced storm earlier; uprooted trees and debris scattered in a wide circle around us. I had no idea of the power I was capable of when combining the dark and the light. The devastated landscape didn’t sit well, and I suddenly felt the acid making its way up to my mouth. Troy was at my side, but I held a hand up to ward him off. I didn’t want him near me when I felt sick to my stomach. What if I killed… I looked into the distance before me, droid limbs and plates of metal edged the forest, slow fires were dying out from a steady but soft downpour as a result of the heavy, hovering clouds above. I stood and turned to see more droids fall with not as much as a protest, or life-pleading quiver as enchanted arrows struck them. I did feel the sting of shame for them, a pinch of regret, and the tightness in my chest as dread clawed its way into me; they too, were victims in this entire war. But, it didn’t take long before they got up and stumbled toward us. Zulu warriors’ cries echoed in the distance as they ran past, colliding with metal soldiers.
“They can’t be stopped,” said Thandiwe, suddenly beside me.
“I know.” I swallowed bile. “We have to destroy them to save them.”
“I wish it didn’t have to be this way,” she said, and grabbed my hand. The tingles of pins and needles made its way up my arm, and I started to wonder if it was telling me something again, as only with certain people and in certain times it was more persistent. Droids crashed into the wall of impeding Zulus. I watched in horror as the battle got ugly fast.
“I know this magic, and I know how to stop them.”
I turned to meet Thandiwe’s hollow stare, stained with glossy tears.
“I know you know how to destroy them,” she said softly.
I kept my eyes on her, studying, waiting for the words to come from someone else’s lips, not my own.
Denial: Phase Four.
Before the words could spill from her mouth, an escaped fireball came hurtling toward us. Troy pushed us out of the way just in time. Tatos shot a flaming arrow at the ball, sending the dark orb shadowing the flaming arrow into the shady forest – an explosion the result as they collided. A huge, orange fire bled into the dark sky, taking an innocent tree with it.
Troy was maddened. His eyes turned dark and savage. It scared me in a horrible way. I grabbed for him, but he pushed me away.
“Troy! You’ll get yourself kil…” I shouted, but it was no use. When he wanted to do something, he did it.
Troy pulled daggers from his father’s harness, hidden beneath the thick, long, purple robes, and ran right into the conflicting warriors.
“No!” Kronan’s voice reverberated through the air.
Suddenly, the whistle of arrows increased as Troy made his way through the mob of droids, arms swinging, daggers flying, his body twisted and gracefully glided over and through them. He ducked, swung and swiftly danced his way out of, into, and around those deadly machines, leaving androids crashing to the floor in his wake. He stood holding gleaming, silver blades dripping with black ink in each hand. He kept his eyes trained on the stilling bodies, his chest rapidly rising and falling with anger, but soon some of them came back up before he started again. He was a machine himself, one that started pinning enchanted metal spikes into the flesh of their necks in order to immobilize them. Suddenly, there was a huge noise, a charge of hundreds of spears wailing, whistling through the air in one gigantic wave. I turned back to see more Zulus converging through the mess of metal, smoke, fire and eerie flesh of dying droids. Turning away from the gore and violence, Anaya’s gaze shot to me.
“Now, Ava.”
I couldn’t. I shook my head, still afraid of what had come during and after the shield’s power surge. While the disease ran in my blood, I was afraid to use my abilities any further.
Kronan enchanted something, then grabbed the crystals from the ground. A purple dome pulled over us. Flames exploded all around. Smoke blanketed the entire clearing. There was an eerie silence, followed by coughs and moans. The dome receded.
Kronan staggered. Anaya and Tatos helped him regain his balance.
“It’s too much in one day.” Tatos looked at Thandiwe as her tears tumbled down her beautiful face. Her honey, brown eyes lit up with grief at the disaster around us. Before the smoke could dissipate, I searched for him.
“Troy!” I shouted, panic ripping at my chest, my heart turning inside out. I couldn’t sense him.
The slight hum started up again as a few of those mechanical creatures came back to life. More clashing of metal on flesh as they started fighting Zulu warriors.
“What happened?” I heard Anaya ask Kronan.
“Her shield, it’s…” he groaned, but would not say anything in front of me. “I managed to use that energy to disable their weapons.”
“What do you mean?”
I could hear them whispering.
“She harnesses in the same way.”
Okay, so now they knew, and I didn’t care.
“Troy, where are you?” my voice finally broke.
I ran through the crowd of Zulu warriors, almost got hit by a few spear ends, but it wouldn’t have mattered because I would not have felt them. All I felt was the burn of the loss looming closer. Not being able to see Troy through all the clashing bodies, I dropped to the floor looking for his legs, he would no doubt be the only one wearing denims and military issued black boots. I started to shudder as things were starting to settle around me. Droid parts carpeted the ground, while Zulus continued to tear their limbs off. It took almost eight Zulu warriors to tear one of them apart. I stumbled through injured warriors unconscious on the floor. Blood, smoke, and dark oil poisoned the earth I crawled upon. The smell of ash, acid and metal, threatened to turn my stomach to bile again. My panic was full blown, I couldn’t sense him at all. Yelled as my hand touched a piece of gory, red flesh. I started to cry, it was all too much, too much! But still, I kept searching for Troy through hot tears. Something grabbed on to my leg, I did not feel it, I only knew that I could no longer move. I looked back at a metallic hand, the fingers clawing into the meat of my leg. I screamed, trying to shake the filthy thing off me but it was stuck, so I sat trying to pry the thing’s talons from me – it crushe
d into bone. I screamed, not because I was hurt, but because it kept me from Troy. My panic deafened the shift, and my ability to free myself and get to Troy. The chaos inside of me crippled me to a pathetic little girl once again. I heard an ugly crash of metal somewhere behind me, ducked as a Zulu fell to the ground beside me, moaning, yet flashed a smile and got to his feet once more, yelling as he impeded two of the remaining droids. I watched as Tatos kept shooting his arrows into their backs. Finally, they dropped to the ground, and I sat trying to free my leg once again. Kronan was suddenly by my side, while Zulus ripped yet more droids apart.
“Kronan!” I cried, when I heard the ticking within the mechanical arm.
“Watch out!” he yelled, and a bright flash left his hand. I looked away, and the release of the metal claw freed me. Kronan helped me pull the thing from my leg and threw it into the air. He fell over me as a loud bang simultaneously resonated through the air, while tiny metal splinters came raining down. A Zulu shield flew over, protecting us from the metal piercing our skin for a sliver of a second, before the shield landed a few feet away. The white and brown pelt of animal skin caught alight. The valley quietened abruptly as we stared at the devastation around us. I heard metal crash again and pushed Kronan from me to veer around him, and found Troy stuck between three or four of those things pounding into him, two of them only had a top half, the other two a mangled mess. I ran for him. When he saw the look of horror on my face, he kicked his way out and stabbed daggers into all four of them before I reached him. When I got to him through the mess, he sat perched on all fours on top of one pile of metal bodies, a silver glint in his eyes, blades planted in two of those things’ necks. I ran right into him, punching him to the ground. We rolled to the floor but he rose to his feet swiftly, rubbed at his jaw with one hand, and with the other pulled me to my feet.
“You selfish idiot! Don’t you ever do such a stupid thing again!” I shrieked.
“Now you know what it feels like,” he said grinning, and pulled me in for a long hug.
“I couldn’t sense you,” I said.
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