Chapter 23: The Dagger of Fate

The shots from the guns thrust and pierced through the shirt that Elmyra is wearing and her flesh and bones underneath before fully puncturing through her body. Her skins felt hot upon contact, and then she fell backwards dead. Or that's what she thought would happen.

Or that's what she thought has happened.

What is going on?

As Elmyra braced for her impending death, instead, she found herself suspended in mid-air in a place where it is akin to a traffic junction, with various strings of multicolored light around her. She rubbed her eyes and blinked to make sure what she is seeing is actually real, though none of this makes sense. Though she distinctively knew that moment that everything Zero said about the artifacts are factual, it is still impossible for her to understand what is actually happening in this exact moment.

Save yourself using the artifact! Save yourself!

A strange and ominous voice spoke in her mind, and she spun all the way around to see no one actually there. The voice did come from within her mind, and she is alone here. The voice told her to save herself, but what does that mean? Elmyra looked down at her stomach where she thought the bolts went through, and the wounds are clearly visible on her body, though she felt no pain, and the movement of her muscles are as if they were untouched. However, it looked really bad.

Elmyra looked closer at the paths of light all around her and realized that it is actually the bolts that came out of the guns of those soldiers. Somehow, she is able to process things at an impossible speed, where she is really in a state of being injured and not being injured at the same time. Then, something clicked from within her, and she had a few hypothesis.

Perhaps she is not injured yet? Though the burning sensation in her flesh near the beginning were so real, and the burned marks on her body is also real.

Perhaps she is injured, but there is no pain? Elmyra put her fingers around her stomach and pinched down, and there is certainly pain as a result of that. This don't make no sense.

Perhaps she is both...and neither? Elmyra thought of this strange 'double conditions' akin to the Schordinger Cat. In that case, she must be able to choose the outcome, or else the voice wouldn't have told her to use the artifact to save herself. It would have been too late.

She tried to move her body side to side and move out of the way of the light rays, but those traced her movements perfectly. Even if she bent down, or to the sides. Nothing has changed, and that was when a sharp pain stung her and made her jump up in the air slightly. The pain came from one of the burn marks, though the rest still felt like they were fine.

'Damn, so I cannot stay in this state forever, of course.' Elmyra gritted her teeth as her mind raced to find the solution to the puzzle, if she continued to remain in this condition and don't make another choice, the burn marks will be real, and she would be really dead. However, she knew that moving her body will not get rid of the light rays, as if those are already a certainty. Then she realized that she hasn't actually used her artifact.

The activation of the artifact brought her in this stage, but so far she has not done anything. Zero made it clear that the utilization of the artifacts demands a special channeling and concentration into it, and she has done none of that. To truly use the artifact, Elmyra looked down at her right hand where the artifact went into, and saw a tiny tattoo of a dagger in the tip of her middle finger.

Thankfully her mark is much smaller than Zero's, or that would have ruined her aesthetic, which she is actually quite proud of when she decides to go out once a year.

'Come out, you bastard.' Trying to trace down the pin from within her body, she stared at the mark in her hand to no effect. She then tried to move the rays of light with her fingers, and to her surprise, those rays moved like soft strings as a warm and pulsing sensation came from her right hand. The blood vessels are clearly visible as pulses of bright orange color penetrated through her skin and became more and more intense until her entire hand is glowing.

As she moved those rays of lights to the side, the burn marks from her body also disappeared as those rays of light leaves her body. She then proceeds to move aside those rays of lights as much as she could, leaving the only strand the ones that already causes damage in her body. She pressed her finger on it and applied some force to it.

Compared to all of the previous bolts that she has moved aside that moved like knife through butter, this one is considerably more resistant, and she concentrated as hard as she could only to move it to the side by merely an inch. The constant pain from her abdomen is a little less, and it appeared to have at least moved away from one of her vitals.

Then, she found herself back suddenly back at the room as she blinked. The bolts that did pass through her body in a previous timeline were now shifted to the sides as they left various holes and marks on the walls behind them. This sudden change shocked all of the soldiers as they froze in place for a moment.

'How is she not dead?' One of the soldiers asked with a strained voice.

'How did all of us miss?'

'No! Look again!' Another opened up and pointed towards the flesh wound of Elmyra's body, 'one hit!'

They knew what this means, that they could still damage her. It appeared the artifact is not really an immediate combat type, though it's not a utility type either. They have a good chance of taking Elmyra down, and then someone will have to immediately claim the artifact as their own, and all of them knew who that is going to be. They looked over at their female captain who's breathing heavily and waits for her orders.

'Stand down.' She ordered, 'I will take her down myself.' Meaning she will also take the artifact for herself.

All of the remaining soldiers pointed their guns to the ground and stepped back as she reaches for a pair of combat knifes from her pockets.

Spinning the blade in her hands, the captain quickly stepped forward and sends a blade straight through the side of Elmyra's neck, the cold tip cutting open her arteries and blood exploded from the opening and painted everything red. However, that didn't happen either, right before the blades ended her life, Elmyra actively thought back to the sensations of being in the state when she altered the trajectories of the bolts. That immediately returns her to the space, where she is at the same time dead and alive.

With her right hand, she adjusted the paths that the knife is travelling in, and when she blinked next, the captain's knife missed the target just short as the momentum carried her through. Seeing this opening, Elmyra entered the space again, stopped everything in its track.

This is the first instance that she is here without being in danger or on the verge of death. And she clearly saw the trajectories of the Captain's body. No, as she focuses more, she could see every single pieces of her armor and where they were and where they are going next, she could not only view things in spatial terms, but also in temporal terms. Elmyra reached out and gave her a gentle push, displacing her slightly. As she blinked next, the image of the captain flickered in front of her for an instant before she reappeared and crashed into the soldiers standing by the door.

As the piles of bodies were working to untangle themselves, Elmyra used this opportunity and ran out of the room, that's when a sudden shot of fatigue hit her and almost made her faint. She reached her hands out to the side and barely maintained standing. Using the artifacts to save herself turned out to be extremely draining physically, and Elmyra is already paying to price for using it to keep herself alive.

She looked back to see a few of the soldiers chasing after her and opening fire as she activated the artifacts and entered into the strange mind space. She moved those bolts aside with her fingers, though this time her hands are shaking due to the fatigue and the time she spent in the space are much much shorter than before, and at the current rate she is not going to clear her body from the line of fire! Desperate to do anything as she is being pulled out of the space with the impending blink of her eye, she instead slapped away those strings with her shining right hand.

As she returned to the ship's corridors, those bolts disappeared right in front of her before it reappeared in front of the soldiers after their trajectory is being turned around. They dropped to the floor and were knocked out by the bolts as Elmyra is finally able to move out of their line of sight.

It's not like her eyes are dry or sore, but rather she felt compelled to do so, most likely as a result of the artifact's operating mechanics. There is nothing she could do here apart from being thankful that she has now cheated death three times. Though she is even more tired, and she knew that she could maybe do the same thing for a few more times before those things eventually caught up to her.

Elmyra forced herself to move and she hobbled away towards the end of the corridor, however, she doesn't even know where she can actually go. The entire ship is under Infinity's control, and those few soldiers that she just took out consist of merely a fraction of the total numbers of this ship. There is no possible way that she could take down an entire ship worth of people at her current state.

Hell, it is still not possible in her best state. She needed to formulate a plan to get her out of the space ship. Looking all around, she then locked herself one of the many toilets and thought about what she could do. However, to do that, she needed to gather and organize the mountain of information that she has just learned from using her artifact three times in different scenarios leading to three different outcomes. She definitely do not know the mechanics behind all of those actions, though those things would give her an idea of what the artifact is at least capable, and she can possibly use it to her advantage and get her out of this mess.

From her brief handling the artifact, the immediate things she noticed are how much mental concentration it required to move the paths of the various things, though not physically demanding unless she is trying to change something that has already happened, she needed to be very precise with her movements, and repeated usage of the artifact will increase the difficulties of each due to built up fatigue.

Regarding the actual mechanics of the artifact and what it allows her to do, it appeared that she could somehow perceive things that are about to happen and intervene the instant before. At the moment in time, she seemed to be able to view the possible outcomes of them and change it before it happens, setting her future in a way from a state of uncertainty. One could say that she can now manipulate fate to a certain extent.

So far she is only able to move the trajectory of things, but perhaps she could do a lot more. Looking down at her hand, she is even more determined to get out of here alive and figure the hell out of what to do with this artifact when she is away from all of this.

How far can she perceive those things in terms of distance? Elmyra reached her hand out towards the toilet door and tried to activate the artifact, though she cannot really return to that space again. She now coined it the Space of Uncertainties, where all the things that could happen co-exist in a strange place outside of the normal spacetime continuum. So far it seemed she could only activate the artifact's powers when she is in immediate danger, not very helpful if she is going to preemptively get out of here.

The artifact is the only weapon she has, and one that is also extremely powerful. If she is going to get out of here alive, then perhaps she will need to play by the rules, that is the rules of the artifact.

To use it, she will have to actively put herself in danger. That won't exactly be hard as she is now stuck with a shipful of people who want's to take her down.

The loud footsteps of the soldiers and the sound of opening doors came through the corridor as Elmyra knew that there is not much more time that she could be hiding. If she is to get out, it would be now.

She slid the door open and peeked out to ensure that nobody has gotten to her area first, then she sprinted with every ounce of her being towards the engine room. If she can take out the ship's engines and manuvreing capacities, then her escape would be a lot easier. Her quick movements caught the attention of some of the guards standing in the hall way, and soon everybody on the ship is now chasing her closely.

'She is trying to sabotage the engine!' One of the soldiers caught onto her plan as a barrage of shots barely missed her and leaves a streak of burn mark on the walls right behind.

Elmyra made a sharp turn and saw the engine door with a few of the mechanics droids busy fixing it since it was damaged in the outburst of energy from the artifact. This is perfect, as Elmyra thought, and she stepped in despite the warning and protest of those droids. The crowds of soldiers stepped in and pointed all of their guns towards Elmyra.

'Please give up, Elmyra Zin!' One of the soldiers yelled out, 'you are trying to take the entire ship hostage by threatening to blow up the engine, but that will not happen.'

'Affirmative, most of the shell damage has been repaired.' The droid said, 'the shell is strong enough to protect from acute bolt shots.'

Elmyra turned around, and saw a few of the cracks and leaks on the engine core, though most of them has been patched up. It appeared the energy pulse caused some sort of harmonious action in the engine core itself and spiked its energy output that ended up damaging the core, rather than physically ripping the shell open with the pulse. She turned back to face the soldiers and had her hands on the shell.

'If that's the case, then why did you have to warn me? If you already have all of the advantage, then why bother asking me to surrender rather than putting me down?' Elmyra reached her hands towards the crack, 'I say that's because you, unlike those soldiers that tried to put me down before, you have no idea what the artifact is capable of.'

'Stop moving!' The soldier's louder voice confirmed Elmyra's suspicions. More soldier's came from behind the doors, and they all proceeded to point their guns at Elmyra, though nobody moved any further. Finally, Elmyra is in a position of control. Then, she heard a somewhat familiar voice came from behind the door. It was a grizzly feminine voice from the leader that she first encountered. If anyone knows the capabilities of her with the artifacts, it would have to be her.

'She can still be hit, but everyone needs to fire at once.' Hobbling away and leaning against one of her comrades, she relayed the information, 'somehow, the artifact allows her to change the trajectory of things, but she could only do so much.'

The soldiers swallowed hard and waited for the orders. Then, as the leader whispered lightly in the communications systems to fire, they all pulled the trigger consecutively.

Elmyra entered the Space of Uncertainty an instant before the triggers were pulled, and she immediatley went to work. The female squad leader only thought that she could change the trajectory of things. That is correct but extremely shortsighted, though that is not all that she can do, but rather that being a consequence of what she could do.

Since she entered the Space of Uncertainty preemptively this time, it appeared that she could indeed move her body out of the line of fire as well as move the bolts around. That's exactly what she did as she shoved some of the bolts through all of the gaps and leakages of the shell. The moment more than four of the bolts were directed into the shell, the still image of the metal sphere turned into a burning ball of plasma and energy waiting to explode and swallow everything.

When she exited the Space of Uncertainty, that would become a certain fate for all of them as they burn out brightly in space before being swallowed by the cold vacuum. However, that would also mean she would be dead too.

You really can't be captured if you are dead and blown into a million pieces. She may be able to change the fates of the things around her, but can she change her own fate? Elmyra looked towards the female squad leader and imagined what she is feeling. Is she regretting making the call? Does she even care about her own death?

Elmyra wondered what she could do as the burning sensation coming started coming from her skin as the fact that the engine core is going to blow becomes ever more certain. That's when Elmyra realized that above all, she wanted to live.

No matter what, she will have to live.

There are still so many things she wanted to do, she wanted to explore all she could do with her artifact, and she wanted to get back at Charles for abandoning her so easily. But how can she get herself out of this situation?

She looked over at the female squad leader once more, as her very own suit of armour started to turn black due to the extreme heat of the explosion. There isn't much time, and Elmyra needed to act fast.

Perhaps she has been too short-sighted with her abilities too? Elmyra wondered, she is able to see the trajectories of things through space and time, but does that only limit to things around her? What about everything else in the universe? She could only activate the Space of Uncertainty if she is in danger, but that doesn't have to be everything that she sees.

She needed to take a big step back.

And that's what she did. It's like a visual effects trick, she found herself floating in the middle of space and overseeing Old Venus and its celestial bodies as well as the ship that they are on. The once big prison for her is now but a tiny dot in the grand cosmic scale. And she saw it, the trajectories of suns and stars.

The pathways of light that is their 'fate'.

Reaching out with every ounce of her being towards the paths of Old Venus, she tried to move it, but it will not budge. Instead, Elmyra simply held onto the sensation with her iron grip and never let go. The wounds on her body popped open and blood splashes out, but she is still holding on.

If she cannot move the planet to her, then she will move herself towards the planet!

With both hands, she grapsed the paths of light that represented Venus, and pulled herself towards it. As lights flashed and space distorted around her, she vanished from the ship's engine room. As the fire swallowed everything in the ship and turned the cruiser into a brilliant fireworks of flames and metal, Elmyra crashed into the planet's surface and found herself lying against the warm sands of Old Venus. As she used all of her capabilities and puts it all in the usage of her artifact, a bright pulse of energy exploded outwards from the mark in her right hand and continued expanding with her at the epicenter.

The pulse wave traveled millions of miles and eventually reached the retina of Cellica Uleric. Seeing this display of energy in the artifact spectrum, Cellica immediately sprung into action.

Assessmnt Complete. As the fireworks went off in the distance, the same voice that told her to save herself returned, and that's the last thing Elmyra heard before completely passing out.