Against the Tide - A New Elysium Story [Complete]

Justice

The darkness is coming.

She knew what would happen. She had seen it countless times before. Every time it happened, she would forget about it soon afterwards, and every time it was about to happen again, it all came back at once, in that brief moment before she forgot again.

A black wave towered over her, ready to crash down and drown her, and bury all that she held dear. Like it always did. Xenia had crouched down and tucked in her head, bracing for the moment of impact. But this time, the wave didn't crash. She raised her head in confusion.

The strange woman had moved to place herself between her and the darkness, and stood with her back to Xenia, arms stretched out wide. She had stopped flickering now, and appeared fully opaque. The luminous lines that extended away from her back had fanned out to the sides, giving the appearance of wings made of light. She looked like a guardian angel as she somehow kept the looming darkness at bay. It began to rage and roar before her, like a tidal wave turned into a monstrous beast that was frustrated that it couldn't reach its prey.

"It's a program..." she whispered. "Programmed delusion... Fuck, what have they done to you?"

Xenia just stared at her in confusion. "What? What are you talking about?"

"You need to remember!" the woman shouted over the raging dark storm before her. She moved a half step back under the pressure, and Xenia noticed with horror that the light shining from within her began to dim.

"They did something horrible, Xenia. You have to remember to make it stop!"

The woman took another step back as the darkness began to tear at the glowing lines. She winced in pain, yet she didn't scream, and continued to withstand the assault.

"What if I don't want to remember?" she shouted back. She felt dreadful for the woman who was clearly trying to protect her here. Yet she didn't want to be protected. Forgetting was a mercy, she could remember enough to know that.

The woman turned around to cast Xenia a look over her shoulder. Her face did not betray any of the pain she felt. She looked almost angry in her determination.

"I won't force you," she said, "You will have to decide on your own. But if you want to stay and fight, I promise I'll help you."

She turned back to face the darkness again. She shifted her stance, placing her legs firmly on the ground as the wind around them began to pick up and tear at her white dress and dark hair. And for a split second, a memory flickered before Xenia's eyes. She had watched this woman defy her opponent like this once before. Only back then, Xenia had been facing her, and not cowering behind her back. Her eyes went wide in surprise as she remembered.

"You are..."

"It's time to make a choice, Xenia," the pirate told her without looking at her.

And then, the darkness lashed out once more. It swept over the woman and swallowed her completely, glowing cobweb wings and all. Xenia cried out her name, but she was gone. As the light was drowned out, the darkness came surging toward her now.

She knew that it would hurt, but remembering would hurt even more. The darkness promised blissful ignorance of the memories that pained her. But it had taken other things form her as well, she realized now. Her happiness. Her past. Her self and her soul. And she realized that she wanted those back.

She got up to her feet and straightened her back. It was time to stand her ground and fight, and reclaim what was hers. She made her choice, and met the darkness head on.

~ ~ ~

Her perception went into overdrive, and every sensation was so intense that it was indistinguishable from pain. The smallest sound seemed to tear through her ear drums, the faintest scent seemed to shred her airways like microscopic shards of glass, and every touch felt like coming into contact with a searing hot flame.