Argonaut - The Vestige (Part III)

Chapter 14 - Clarion Call

Chapter 14 – Clarion Call

3rd Sep 11:26 PM

"No, no, no, no, no," I muttered under my breath, my hands shaking as I desperately tried to think of something, anything, that I could do.

The Argonauts entered the room closely behind me, seeing the girls and stopping in their tracks.

"Oh god," Elena whispered, rushing over and kneeling beside me.

My eyes stayed straight down, shell-shocked, while my brain processed what I was seeing. They were dead. Rebecca and Allie were dead. It was my fault. I had promised to protect them, but they had been killed when I was so close. This was my fault. My hands, still shaking, clenched into fists. Israfel had done this. He had taken them from me. He had killed two innocent girls, stealing away all of my plans for the future and their young lives. I was going to kill him. I was going to break and burn and tear and rip and shatter every inch of his body. He would burn.

"Five," Serena muttered, watching the thick steel walls of Lazarus Station groan and warp around her.

I was lost in the anger and pain, forfeiting all control over my power. Tears rolled down my cheeks and all I could think about was Israfel, and everything I was going to do when I found him. I caught sight of my reflection in a broken piece of glass, discarded on the floor. Blazing red eyes stared back at me, glowing with power while my hands shook. Lazarus Station was being torn apart around me, the heavy corridors crumpling like tin while my power built, fuelled by fury as the maelstrom raged.

"-Athena, what the hell is going on?-" I heard Tanner yell through the comms device, "-This whole place is being torn apart! Is that you guys?-"

"He's going to break the airlocks," Nathaniel said in horror.

The pain shut out the meaning behind any words, and it all became white noise while I stared at the bodies below me. I had failed to keep them safe. I had let them die. A small form dropped to its knees in front of me, looking directly into my glowing eyes while crimson electricity flowed along the walls around us. It took me a while to recognise it as Serena. Her hands reached out, gently taking either side of my head in her hands.

'Five,' her voice spoke in my head, 'It wasn't your fault.'

'I let them die,' I thought back, 'Israfel killed them because of me.'

'Israfel killed them because he's a sick bastard. Listen Five, I need to you control your anger. We're all going to be torn apart if the airlocks break, and I need you to just stay in control.'

'I... I can't...'

There was too much pain to just rein in, too much hate and agony. It overwhelmed me completely, stealing all sense of control and continuing the destruction as I stared at the bodies. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't rip my eyes away.

'Don't look at them Five, it wasn't your fault, none of this was. Please, let me in.'

Serena's hands gently pulled my gaze up towards her, and we locked eyes as Lazarus was being destroyed.

'What do I do Serena?' I thought desperately, the light from my eyes reflecting in hers.

'Just breathe,' she said soothingly as her mind washed over mine. 'I'll make it stop.'

Slowly, bit by bit as Serena soothed my mind, the anger faded. The horrible aching pain stayed, but the fury that stole all control of my ability slipped away with each passing second. The pieces of shattered metal and broken glass that had been lifted by the maelstrom dropped to the ground, and the glow flickered in my crimson eyes, before vanishing.