Chapter 10C: The Beast of Bones City

As if caught in the crossfire of courage and concern, Aeliana stepped in and lied without pause, “I am the one who deserves your applause. Asivario helped, but I am the one who killed the outsider in the street. We knew each other when we were young, far before we ever dared to trespass in this place. I am the better fighter between the two of us. I deserve this job.”

Hayatama found himself shocked at her audacity, but I nodded to confirm when he glanced over at me. Aeliana stepped in between us in that moment, almost as if she were casting me aside, and then she outstretched her scarred hands for Hayatama. I could see by the slight hesitation in his eyes that he had never directly encountered an outsider before – at least not unless he had hacked one to death in Bellaina’s basement. His bodyguards all took a forward step, but Hayatama silenced them with a wave of his hand. He stared at Aeliana for a moment in contemplation before taking a deep breath.

“I accept, but only if you show me the power you possess,” Hayatama said with a touch of fear he could not suppress.

Aeliana answered as she dropped her daggers on the floor, “I did not use an Array when I killed that whore. Asivario protected me with his power, but only I was strong enough to slay her. You know where I come from. That viciousness hardened me; you cannot conceive the savagery which was once my everyday life. As it already stands, I can tear down anyone in this city. If I were to access a power, I could defend you from anyone outside the wall as well.”

I saw a flash of contemplation in his hesitant eyes. Hayatama nodded after a moment and then said to her, “I can give you your power, but I have to be sure. Will you use your power only in service to me?”

“I will promise your safety as long as you promise mine,” Aeliana answered as she strived to seem benign.

A whirlwind of worry washed over me when he walked toward Aeliana with his hand outstretched. I felt my muscles tense, and I nervously tilted my hand so that my palm faced the city leader. If he would do anything to hurt her, then I could retaliate at a moment’s notice with a searing sphere of spiraling fire. My only solace was that he and I both shared a similar trepidation in not knowing what would come next. He had no strategy to hurt her or harness her as his hostage; he simply hoped that he would not immediately regret his decision. It was in that moment I realized that he was never the mastermind I imagined in my mind. He was nothing but an ordinary gambler cursed to control nothing in the world except the investments he had made. Hayatama had no real power; he only had bribery.

He set his hands upon Aeliana in that moment and empowered her with a sudden stream of quintessence. Hayatama hesitated in the moment that he removed his hands from hers. I wondered if perhaps he had hypothesized that she might strike as soon as she received her power, but instead he stayed still and silent. His bodyguards seemed to brace themselves but made no movement.

I realized with a shock that I had also become motionless as if I were held in place by invisible chains. My whole body became bound in place. By gripping the handles with her sand-stained feet, Aeliana retrieved her daggers from the floor. She swerved around, undoubtedly unaffected by the stupefaction that sealed everyone else, and then she pressed her lips against mine. In the moment I felt the gentle press of her perfect kiss, I became unlocked from my motionless trance. It was then that I realized that Aeliana had locked us all in a prison of time, and only her kiss could create the key. Though the world had frozen all around us, she led me by the hand toward the half-shut door. When we stepped out into the quiet street, I pushed on the door and realized that it would not move at all. Despite that I pushed with all my strength, it remained locked in place.

“Is it your power that locked us all in time?” I asked as I ran down the street with her hand held in mine.

“We fight for a future that’s at the very least traversable, or at least it has to be because the past is irreversible. He would’ve never let us slip outside his hands. This is the only way we can live our lives together as we were always meant. He will never stop chasing us, but with this power, we can at least have a head-start.”

“You triggered your power without missing a beat,” I said in disbelief as we dashed through the still street.

I glanced at the passersby as we jogged together toward our home in the rundown part of town. The streets were mostly empty other than the few people who pointed toward the beach where we first met Hayatama. They were all frozen in place, silent and motionless, little more than stains on the surface of the starlit street. They stood at a short distance from each other as if compelled by whispers of plague. A captivating beauty pervaded this inert world where wind sent waves through the hair of motionless walkers, but we could feel no wind in this state; she had even frozen the air itself in place. A wispy cloud hung over the horizon, and the stars neither swayed nor twinkled.

“I never heard his theory before, but I believe that he is right. Our powers are in one way or another the ticket-taker to the tragic truth of our true nature. After I lost my sister, I saw myself as a hopeless soul standing at the crossroads of a painful past and a forsaken future. I had nothing worth remembering, but I also had nothing worth chasing. I truly thought that I could die, and it would make no difference. I would die as nothing any more special than the sand which swirls in the badlands. As dramatic as it sounds, I did the bare minimum to stay alive even though I told myself there was no point or purpose. I suppose you could call that living in the present, and I don’t think I ever truly grew beyond that feeling. If it were up to me, I would freeze the world forever and live with you in an eternal present. No need for infinite power, no need for eternity itself. All I want is to spend forever in a moment with you right by my side,” Aeliana explained with a sad smile as she held her hand in mine.

Note: Still one more part to this chapter!