Fractured Worlds (Worlds Away #1)

Mae Chapter 13: Fears

The crowd below was busy, as always. People came and went, jumping off to their next mission while others returned. By the main door Zyair and Haruto returned, five eternals and half-eternals with them.

Glad to see that mission went well, I thought. A knock on my door broke me from my thoughts.

"Come in."

The soft sounds of boots filled my office as I stared out the window. I watched as Edoline's reflection shut the door and waited patiently for me, hands clasped behind her back.

Always the formal one.

"How did the mission go?" I asked, turning around and slowly walking over to my desk.

"Well. Brela performed extraordinarily. Her quick decision making has improved, along with her reactions. I was very impressed with her performance today."

"Good." I nodded, gesturing for Edoline to take a seat across from me. She moved to do so.

"There were no complications, other than the usual. Although, there was one detail that bothered me." Despite the concern she spoke of, there was no worry in her professional tone.

"Oh?"

"The number of half-eternals in the scouting party was vastly different from normal. The eternals normally have the superior numbers, but in this group, those numbers belonged to the half-eternals."

I let out a sigh, rubbing a hand over my face. "I feared this might happen." Edoline looked at me, her eyes filled with questions. I leaned back in my chair before speaking.

"We discovered a while ago that the eternals and half-eternals have been helping each other, filling the other's ranks and melding together." Edoline nodded her head, already knowing this information. "My greatest fear is that all our efforts would be in vain. Fully mature half-eternals are popping up like wildfires, and we can't get to them fast enough; the eternals beat us to them every single time. Any eternals we have captured haven't put a dent in the ranks, and now the half-eternals are building them up even more."

"Do you believe that the eternals are building an army?" Edoline asked.

"What else? The goal of eternal society is to expand their empire, control the worlds, and become unchallenged. When I left, the idea of powered jumpers was their best hope of doing it hard and fast. Now, with us standing in the way, we may have pushed that agenda forward.

"Not only are we fighting those who we have a hard time capturing and can't kill, but now also thousands of half-eternals who have powers we cannot combat. Our numbers are thin, much too thin."

"We are not doing much, are we?"

I let out another sigh, rising to my feet and padding over to the window. Edoline rose and stood behind me, watching the crowd with me.

"No, we're not. More fractures appear day after day, and we can't compete."

Edoline passed me a look through the corner of her eye as she asked, "Why do you not recruit more people?"

"I don't want to involve any more people in this war than I have to. And what will others be able to do? Eternals can only be killed by one of their own, so everyone I bring into this war is a mere fly to them. We can't recruit the half-eternals fast enough to keep them from the lies, and those who have eternal heritage are impossible to find. There are no other options, so what can we do?"

Edoline nodded her head in understanding. "Director, do you realise that this is Grimtaladar's plan? He knows that fractures can destroy worlds, and he knows that we stop them. If there is enough, he can keep us distracted. We cannot tell a fracture that is caused by a half-eternal developing their abilities from an intentional one. Grimtaladar is purposely drawing us out, so we are an easier target, all the while increasing his own forces. He will wipe us out if he continues this."

"I know," I said, gritting my teeth. "We're left to trail after the scraps he leaves, and that's all we can do. He moves too fast for us." I turned to face my closest friend. "Continuing what we're doing and foiling what plans we can is the best we can do. For now."

"Then we will continue to do that," Edoline said, nodding. Knowing that this conversation was over, she turned to leave, only to pause by the door. "If you do not want to pull more into this war, then why Brela?"

I remained silent. I knew this question would arise at some point. Brela was the only person I had recruited in almost a year, so her presence would make Edoline question my motive. "MEPA is a family, a home to those who need it," I finally answered. "That was my original intention when I founded it; a place where those broken by their world could recover and help others. For Brela, she was more than broken when I recruited her—you saw what she had gone through. For a while I had been watching her, debating if I should pull her from one hell to another. But when we went to that park and saw how broken she had become, I knew that I had to do something, and I had the power to do just that. I wanted to help her, to give her meaning again, even if that was through the twisted way of pulling her into a fight that she might never leave."

I turned to face Edoline again. Her attention was keenly on me, her face showing that every word I said was rushing through her head. "Simply put, she was broken, and I wanted to put her back together, better than before. Between you and me, I think she's grateful for what I did, even if this is her new life."

"A great many of us are grateful for what you have done for us," Edoline said, a smile on her lips. That smile, it was a rare thing to see from the woman who locked her emotions away. Now more than ever, I missed the old her, the one who expressed herself openly and wasn't so formal.

The moment was cut short by bang of the door slamming open. Gryph barged inside, and Edoline's smile disappeared as fast as it had appeared. We both looked at the breathless agent.

"Mae, we lost a half-eternal," Gryph said. "He beat the jump restrictor."

"He didn't break out of the cell?"

"No, he beat the restrictor."

Edoline passed a confused look to me. With that, I dashed to my sword, grabbing it before I followed Edoline and Gryph out of my office.

How did someone escape? It's impossible, no one can break through that type of restraining, especially when it blocks all types of jumping. So just how did this half-eternal pull it off?

This answer, I desperately needed.