The Mies Divide (Tentative)

Chapter 12

We had been trekking for the better part of two miles with no complications, aside from Lea being a poor guide for the blindfolded Fitz. She had led him into several small trees and nearly into a ditch at least once. He was growing tired of it and had nearly unmasked himself a few times, but she intertwined her arm and his and promised it wouldn't happen again. The two of them had begun taking it slow while I trailed behind them a few hundred feet. From my perspective, they could easily be perceived as a couple out for a romantic walk. I knew Merrick was watching us from somewhere. He was enjoying playing the role of the hunter and dragging this out for far too long. I hoped that Lea had had the same realization as myself and wasn't leading us on a direct path toward the base entrance in case that was what Merrick was after. I was beginning to wonder if I really even knew my brother anymore after what Fitz had said. Would he really kill Fitz for letting us go? Lea and Fitz were reaching the peak of a large hill and in that moment I froze. There was a sudden change in the texture of the air.

I twirled to look behind me, ready to launch a fistful of fire, but halfway through my turn, my legs froze just as they had in the forest and I nearly careened onto the ground. The air in my lungs grew heavy and wouldn't move more than necessary for a normal breath; I couldn't warn Lea, which was even more terrifying than being unable to move.

"Awww, I was expecting more of a reaction." My brother's voice arose in the growing darkness. The sun had begun to set a bit ago and its light was dwindling, I scoured the field for his figure and found him lingering near a tree about thirty feet away, nearly blending, "I guess that's just a side effect of the spells. How disappointing." I gave him my most intense glare, though he likely couldn't see it with the sun behind me.

"Where are you all going? Isn't Theia the other way? It's been awful boring trailing you." He drawled, approaching me, I tried to move away, but I was locked down. My muscles were cold and as stiff as stone. An indistinct shout echoed behind me and Merrick looked past me with a barely visible smirk drawn on his face, "Oh, your friends finally noticed." He said with mild disinterest and tilted his head, "Did you steal one of my men?" Several old scars that he didn't have the last time I'd seen him marred his face and neck and it made me wonder just how long it had been. Three years, maybe? He ignored me for a while, but I ensured that I kept my face plastered into a neutral mask. He couldn't know that I cared about their fates at all. "Is that The Pyromancer?" He asked, genuine curiosity made his voice rise and he glanced at me briefly, "I know you remember the name."

I averted my eyes to feign deep thought, "Isn't that the name for one of Theia's Generals?"

Merrick lurched forward and gripped me firmly by the throat with one hand, "Don't play coy with me."

"What would you tell Mom and Dad?" I choked out. Between his grip and the spells that were freezing my muscles it was difficult for me to breathe, let alone speak.

"The truth. That you were a traitor, of course." He said and released his physical grip on me. I still couldn't move myself, but I found my head turning toward Lea and Fitz who were several hundred feet away, "Is that her?" Both of them had come toward us a few feet it looked like, but now it looked like they were arguing and Fitz was dragging Lea in the opposite direction. I wondered if he'd taken the mask off of his own accord or of Lea had removed it.

"Nah. Just a fire mage." I coughed.

"What's her name?"

"Aury." I spat out the first thing to come to mind.

He was silent for a second and shrugged. My head was forced to turn back toward him, "Well, they didn't care enough to come back for you. Or maybe my man you stole knew better," He turned toward me, "Struggling is futile, you know? I can feel every movement." He said, sensing that I was trying to find a weak point in his binding spell.

I shot him a glare and though terror shrieked in my mind, I refused to let it show.

"What is this? How?" I asked

"C'mon. I don't share my secrets. So that was you who annihilated my Tank in the forest?"

"I didn't see a tank anywhere." I replied thinking of a literal tank and trying to move my limbs, but everything was frozen in place as like I was some kind of a statue. So instead, I began to feel around my body with my mind. Looking for any weak points in the hold that Merrick had over me.

"Not an actual tank. He was a Brute we were experimenting with. We called him a Tank. We increased his muscle mass, speed, and strength."

"Well, you didn't do a very good job." I observed, Merrick glared at me, but said nothing so I continued, "So you are obviously alright with the government experimenting on its people. They're making us into monsters."

He smiled at me and his smile was unlike any that I'd seen on him before; this one was maniacal, "Neither the government nor our parents made us into monsters. They merely helped us acquire our true potential, little sister." He walked around me, presumably to look where Lea and Fitz went. I tried to crane my neck in his direction, but my muscles refused to oblige. A whimper slipped out, as I temporarily lost my cool. He glanced back over his shoulder at me. I was beginning to find a couple of weak spots in his hold on me. I would wiggle the tips of my fingers slightly, seemingly unnoticed and I desperately hoped that I could still shadow step soon, but I needed to give Lea a few more minutes. There was no telling how he would react once I made my move. If my shadow step didn't work, who knew what would happen. It would lead to my demise and I had to at least ensure that someone made it back to base.

"I won't let myself become what Gaia turns people into."

His smile turned lopsided; into a mad smirk and he threw his arms out to his sides, "Which is what? Powerful?"

"Monsters. Tyrants. Abominations." I said through gritted teeth, successfully channeling my fear of this odd power he held over me into anger.

His smirk transformed into a scowl and his muscles tensed before he punched me in the stomach. I shrieked and the hold he had over me relaxed, allowing me to fall to the ground. I rolled onto my side holding onto my stomach and realized that it was now or never, while I was loose I had to make my move and hope that Lea had gotten far enough away. Through the blinding pain, I shifted my eyes on the nearby treeline. I could hardly see it, but it was the only cover I could find in a pinch, and my shadow form left my body. I'd never done an express shadow step, but I hadn't much of a choice, my shadow form slid across the field faster than any natural human could move and was at the forest within a second. I pulled my physical self forward just as I heard Merrick yell something. His voice was muddled, it sounded like I was under water and he was on the surface shouting. I could feel him making an attempt to take hold of my physical form once more.