The Sanctuary Side-Story (13/17)

"How about I start? Who the hell are you... and what did you do with that sweet girl I knew?! Your personality has completely changed... you don't even resemble the same person as you were six months ago... you've changed..." I told her, but she shrugged.

"Pushing people to their limit and expecting conformity are signs of a weak person. Your friends, who I so dearly enjoyed and helped to the best of my ability, have all turned on me. What, am I supposed to just lie there and take it? That's not me, and that's not you. Stand up when I'm talking to you." Nova told me.

I pushed my body up again and started to think about how to use my strands to stop her while she continued to talk.

"If I killed your wife, and you sat there without doing anything, would you be strong, or weak?" She asked me.

"You leave my wife and son out of this. If you want to kill me, so be it, but not them. They have nothing to do with the people you speak of. Inora and I never gave you problems, so leave her out of this!" I screamed at Nova, but she shook her head.

"Enough of that. I'll leave your wife and son alone, on one condition." She rose a finger and smiled at me with her arms crossed.

"You have strands now as well. Your body can hold them, which is more important, and you're thinking about using them for violence. You clear most categories of strand users, such as Genesis who uses them to read minds. You're in your own category, just like I am. What do you say we team up?" Nova offered.

"Is your definition of teaming up killing several innocent people?" Because I'll have to refuse." I told her.

"That's a shame. We could cleanse the Arkian species of its stupid nature and create a species so beautifully smart that monsters like me wouldn't have to kill monsters like you." Nova explained to me.

"That's what you don't understand, Nova. I know, you're still young, but you're smart enough to make this connection. The people that lived here only ever wanted to spend their lives helping the community. If they deemed you dangerous, then yes, of course, they would attack you. But, refusing to leave and killing them in retaliation? That's not very smart either, is it? It seems that you believe your train of thought is absolute, and you won't take no for an answer, am I right?" I asked her.

Nova stood silent for a second with dull eyes and a straight face and smiled as if she was psychotic.

"Bad decisions are for bad people. Removing me from a society on the verge of collapse was the nail that shut the coffin. So, let me ask you one more time, Kire. Will you work with me in cleansing the Arkian Species?" Nova asked me again.

I genuinely thought about her offer for a moment. Sure, it would be beneficial to the future... but that's the shortcut. Genocide can't be the right answer. We just need to correct our ways of doing things.

And as invasive as Nova was being to that way of changing things, she would eventually fail as well. Somebody just as powerful as her, hiding from her overarching reach from this Isle, or even another Isle, would stand against her, just as powerful, or even more powerful, and they would stop her too.

And that would be the true cleanse of this species we are both a part of.

"I won't work with you. I wish you could see it as I do." I explained to Nova.

She summoned her staff in her right hand, and turned her back on me.

"Well, then I would be stupid. Kire, you have until I'm done killing the rest of your friends to try and hide from me. After that, I will kill your wife, your son, and you." Nova told me.

She started walking at a steady pace in the opposite direction, and alarms started firing off in my head.

I thought... I thought she was going to keep my family safe...

Do I agree to her offer? To keep them safe?! Where do I go... what do I do...?

As I was lost in thought, the strands started to spark in my hands.

I didn't have any control over them but watching them move was... mesmerizing. It was like water flowing in my hand that stayed in place.

I looked at them with full intent to use them... but without ever seeing them firsthand, I couldn't do it.

I remembered how Nova summoned her staff and tried to mimic that process. It was difficult, but before I knew it, I was able to summon a small knife in my hand.

It looked just like the real thing...

I touched the blade, trying to feel the sharp edge on it, but it didn't seem to be there. I didn't really understand the process, and I'm pretty sure I made the equivalent of a stick with a piece of metal stuck in it, but it was something... something better than before.

Nova was away from me as I played with the knife, and I finally got to my senses and started running for my home. The path was about a two-minute walk, so I could get there extremely fast if I sprinted as quickly as possible. I was out of shape, and haven't been very active since we became self-sustainable, but now was the time to exercise.

Pushing through rocks and over the collapsed buildings, I couldn't help but think that I'd made the wrong decisions. Depending on Nova was wrong of me, just as she hated the people within the city now, it didn't matter what I said, as she hated me as well. There was no escaping her wrath, there was only postponing it. She'll find me, but she doesn't have to find my family!

Inora, Ra, I'm coming!