The Ring of Acies

Chapter Thirteen: Fleeing from Peace

Nevistri remembers very little about what happened after the alley. Her mind was in shock, processing what she had seen. She remembers grabbing Terrine and pulling her out of the alley. She remembers the bodies of Argentum and Zekris. They stood upright and motionless as blood pooled around their injuries. She heard shouting and gunfire. She thinks either the reinforcements came, or the squad was beginning to wake up after being knocked unconscious by the Aciin. At some point, after running for who knows how long, the Aciin picked her and Terrine up. She remembers the odd, slithering feeling as it formed a hexagonal harness around her body and held her close to its chest. She felt ripples throughout its body as it was shot. She felt it quiver in pain as it forced the titanium rounds out of its body. At one point, she remembers looking over at Terrine and seeing that she was unconscious and watched the Aciin gently tighten its grip to prevent her from slipping away. After that, what she remembers feels like a hallucination. For a moment, no longer than forty-five minutes, she thought that the station around her became one-hundred years younger. That they were in a time when Biz. was first being built. She felt the mighty roar of a construction drone carrying the skeleton of a floor-to-ceiling building pass overhead. She thought she smelled the burnt scent of a thousand welding torches running at once. But before she could fully comprehend what happened, the module returned to normal. As her vision went dark, she remembers a loud banging noise and felt herself shaking violently before her senses went numb.

Humming, a sound she has heard before. She wants to continue resting, but the sound is too intense to let her continue. Nevistri opens her eyes to see the grimy ceiling of an air vent. She feels as though she is lying down, and as she reaches around with her hands, she feels the metal floor she is lying on. She pushes herself off the floor, and whatever force was holding her down dissipates. She floats upright and then locks her shoes on the floor. She looks over and sees Terrine talking to the Aciin.

"It's good to see you're awake." Terrine says as she notices Nevistri. "I'm glad that you're alright."

Nevistri is infuriated by how calm she is. Is she not aware that they are now accessories to the murder of two ranking Station Security officers? She has a mild tension headache. She is angry at Terrine for putting her in this situation. All she wanted was to keep an eye on her friend, but now she is tangled up in this whole conspiracy.

"Look, I know you might be angry, but—" Terrine starts.

"Might?!" Nevistri exclaims. "That thing attacked a squad of security officers and killed two of them! What the fuck were you thinking trying to find that thing?!"

"I was thinking that the station is at risk and that I was going to be alone! What were you doing following me, Nevistri?"

As Nevistri goes to respond the Aciin looks at Terrine, and she looks back at it and says:

"You're right." Then she quiets her voice.

"What did it say?" Nevistri asks, matching her volume.

"It said while we are safe for now, it would help if we tried to stay quiet as not to alert security."

"Fine. Look, I was following you because Avener was worried about you, and from what I've seen, he was right to be. What is so utterly important that you're ruining yourself to try to deal with it?"

The Aciin looks at her.

"If I may, I would like to show you." The Aciin implies.

"How?" Nevistri asks.

"If you are going to show her, go easy." Terrine says to the Aciin. "Our minds are not built to handle such a connection. I think mine overloaded last time."