Chapter XXVI: Jaded (Pt.3)
Hi, my lovely niece,
Do not be alarmed by my disappearance. I have decided I am done with all matters relating to Primordials. Fighting a war was not what we were meant to do—we were meant to serve as peaceful counselors to guide the divine, to help them coexist with humans. Now, each branch of the Watchers has been wiped out, and I was nearly killed with them. I must admit that fact has terrified me. I had faith in the Primordials; I—no, many of us—believed they would protect us, but that was not the case. I would have wished for you to leave with me, but knowing Viraa resides within you, I must face the reality that you are, and may always be, intertwined with the Primordials. That is your inescapable fate, one that my dearly departed brother and I have realized recently. With that in mind, I have chosen to leave you and that world behind me and ask that you not search for me. I know it is cowardly, but I do not have the heart to say goodbye to you and would likely find myself staying instead. So, I leave you with this letter as I go on to start a new, mundane life.
–With love and regret, Aunt Lunette
I looked out the bedroom window. The early afternoon skies were clear wherever we were, and nothing was around the house for miles. The setup reminded me of Tymon's place. In a way, I suppose they both wanted a place away from others.
Wanting to stay strong, I blinked away some tears I felt rising. I understood where my aunt was coming from. Nearly dying was a traumatic experience, after all. I was just happy someone lived—that, in a way, I wasn't left alone. The fact should help keep me strong. I exited the room and made my way back down to the others, this time using the elevator.
When I got there, the others were silent and looked at me as if they had been waiting.
"What," I said, looking at them.
"There's something I want you to see," Michael said softly as he moved aside to show me Trik's ruined body lying on one of the beds. "I found him next to you when I saved you."
"What's the meaning of this?"
"You need to grieve properly," he replied from behind me as I moved past him.
I grabbed the sheets of the bed and yanked them hard, causing Trik's heavy body to fling to the floor with the loud clanking of metal hitting metal. Then, I dropped the sheets on top.
"It's an empty shell," I growled, turning to him. "He's not in it, so why are you showing it to me?"
Then I pushed past him and stormed off to the room I'd woken up in, where I silently struggled to get the image out of my head. At some point Naomi knocked on the door to inform me that they were about to begin their meditational healing, which would take a while in case I needed them for something.
That was over an hour ago. Now, I was so desperate for a distraction that I chose to push past the argument and speak to Viraa.
Hey, Viraa...
Yes, Lisa.
...the other day—in the warehouse—you mentioned something about my body becoming more like a klevonian's. Why would the JANUS mixed with your DNA be changing me into a klevonian if you're a pneumarian?
Viraa remained silent, but I could tell she knew.
I have my suspicions, but you are in no state to hear them.
What does that mean?
You know what that means...
I didn't respond. Instead, I rolled over in bed and closed my eyes—eventually falling asleep until I slowly awoke a few hours later. Getting out of bed, I moved to the door and noticed the pain in my back was gone. Did Michael heal me while I slept? The scar on my chest was still there, indicating so were traces of Verin's energy. I suppose without transforming, it's not something he could easily remove. That was as good as I was gonna get for a while.
When I returned to the others down the hall, I saw that everyone had been completely healed, but once again, they were all staring at me. Behind them, Trik's body had been picked up and placed back on the bed.
"I'm not falling for this again," I said, stepping back. "I told you: I don't wanna see that."
"We've come to a consensus that visiting one of the Watcher HQs would be best for now," Michael declared. The others gave me various looks and nods of affirmation as they stood beside him.
"Hm. Congratulations—for once, they all agree with you," I said sarcastically. "But why would you want to do that?"
"For some degree of closure," he responded.
"Your closure," Naomi added softly.
"Why do you refuse to grieve?" Damien asked.
I glared at Michael.
"Didn't take you for a gossiper, Michael," I retorted, irritated. "I'm not going. You all can have fun doing that without me. I'll stay hidden here."
I turned to leave the room, but Damien now stood there, blocking the exit.
"You're coming too," he declared. Suddenly I was wearing a warm jacket.
"Did you just..."
I crossed my arms in defiance as I turned to look at each of them, stopping on Arne.
"This make you feel good? Forcing a girl to do something she doesn't want to? What happened to that 'honor' you abide by?"
"You need this," Arne finally spoke. "The way you are now, you're likely to get yourself killed and not even care. If you don't grieve, you risk becoming jaded and self-destructing."
"Which HQ is closest?" Naomi asked.
"We're only one hundred miles from Montreal, so the Sadios," Michael answered as Damien scooped me up. "We'll stick to the ground to avoid detection. Is everyone ready?"
After receiving multiple nods of confirmation, Michael picked up Trik's body, and they each sped off. Within minutes, we were in Montreal.
Upon our arrival, I was so devastated by the scenery that I forgot to resist Damien for bringing me there. The place was in ruins—the once tall buildings and permanent springtime vibes of the Sadios' region of the city had been reduced to rubble. Everything was either shredded or crumbling. A gust of wind blew by, assaulting our noses with a sickening stench of death that hung in the air from the decomposing bodies that littered the remains of the streets and those that were buried beneath the buildings. Naomi vomited, and I nearly did, too. I wasn't surprised that none of the humans had come to investigate yet. I didn't even know how something of this magnitude could be explained away. This would undoubtedly go down in human history.
"It's a wasteland..." Naomi said in disbelief, wiping the side of her mouth.
"Yeah...each of the bases was hit pretty bad," I told her as Michael led us to the main manor—or at least where it once stood. Now, it was just like everything else.
Damien took Trik's body from Michael to bring it to me. As he walked to me, we all noticed a faint glow inside Trik's head. Damien placed him on the ground. Taking a broken piece of cindium and coating it with his spirit energy, he proceeded to cut open part of Trik's head, revealing a multi-sided spherical prism with three glowing, green orbs floating inside it. He slowly removed the strange object and rose.
"What is that?" I asked reluctantly as he handed it to me.
"I believe this is Trik's essence—his 'soul' that your father transfers into upgraded bodies occasionally. You should hold on to it."
"No. There aren't any more bodies to transfer him to. I don't need it."
Damien sighed exasperatingly. Then, the orb vanished from his hands and was replaced with the broken PRP that had, a moment prior, hung around my neck. Looking down, now hanging in its place, was Trik's 'soul' serving as a new pendant.
"You shouldn't give up," he said, handing me the broken PRP. "Someday, we may find a way to build him a new body."
I took the necklace off and held it in my hand before placing it in my spatial bag along with the PRP.
"Sure. Someday, if we can stop the others, which, if you haven't noticed, is unlikely," I retorted cynically as I motioned to the disaster around us.
Shaking my head, I quietly proceeded to bury Trik's empty body only because, after finally opening up to me, I knew he'd at least want to be buried like a human, not thrown away like scrap. Then, Michael encouraged a moment of silence for the Watchers who had been killed.
Once it was over, I thought about what I had said earlier about our unlikely chance of defeating Avarice and his group. Then, I thought about the future Viraa showed me—how each of those who currently stood next to me had been captured or eventually killed.
"None of us are going to survive this....None of you can beat the High Gods alone, and Michael isn't even invincible anymore. Even if that wasn't the case, Avarice and Verin are still a huge problem." I hammered even further.
"We still have Tymon and Za'Fia," Damien tried to assure me.
"Do we?" I raised my arms in exaggeration. "It's been days since everything happened? Where are they? Where is he? Why weren't they there to help protect everyone?"
Damien remained silent.
"This is unbecoming of our so-called leader," Arne commented as their gaze bore into me. "Should you not be rallying your troops? Not trying to break their spirits."
"Why? So you all can go out there and get killed?" I snapped back.
"Do you no longer care about what happens to the humans?"
"We're screwed either way!" I laughed hysterically. "They have their way, but we run—billions will die. We fight, and most of you are killed—billions still die."
"I don't like this conversation..." Naomi stated.
"Well, that's too bad because this is reality—one that Verin made painfully clear," I said, exposing my new brand across my chest. "You might wanna switch out permanently because things aren't going to get much better."
"Damien. She needs to rest," Viraa's voice called out from my holo-bracelet.
"That's enough," Damien said soothingly, taking off one of his gloves. I slowly started feeling a pleasing buzz that eased my mind. I'd forgotten entirely about his Overload ability.
He gently took hold of my forearm and ushered me to move alongside him. As we began to walk away from the remains of the Sadio manor, Naomi abruptly stopped in her tracks.
"Wait, I hear something transmitting."
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Fun fact: Michael has an infrequently used ability to sense the life within others. Subsequently, this makes it easy for him to discern one's longevity or even hidden injuries.
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