Subject: Raeth Arteres
Date: March 12, 2185
Species: Neumarian
Condition: Deceased
Order: Disposal
Method: Wasteland
I see the dark outlines of so many from my village and I know they are marching to their death to save me.
The monster in me claws for release. Heat from the sun pours into my skin. Energy wells inside me, but it has nowhere to go—my leg blocks it. A continual build presses against my lungs. "No, run," my words fall into the vast Wasteland, and do not reach my brother.
Semara shrieks from somewhere behind me. It will be a bloodbath. Neither my brother nor my friend will survive. Only the Queen will live to fight.
Tap...tap...tap. My knuckles rap against my leg with nervous energy. Pulses zing through my leg and sand spurts from the ground.
I know what my power is.
The memories come flooding back. My parents' smiling faces the first time my power caused the roof of the house to cave in. Wind and rain to cover our home during an invasion, sandstorms...that was it.
I needed to create a sandstorm.
Bendar runs down with a quick rapping on the gangway. "Semara, we go, or we left behind—"
Sand erupts in one blast of power that manages to shoot through the monster implant attached to my thigh, drowning his words.
The guards fire shots overhead. Death fills the air.
I embrace the monster inside me and suck as much power from the sun as my body can hold. Bendar is tugging Semara up the gangway. The guards run for the door but it lifts out of their reach.
A high-pitched sound pierces my eardrum. The metal on my leg hums. Lasers blast overhead and the ship revs before it lifts from the sand. My heart aches for my friend. She is trapped in a horrible home. Tears form in the corners of my eyes for her. Or are they from the coarse sand blowing through my hair and lashing at my skin?
"Raeth!" My brother yells over the roaring sand.
"Ryder," my voice barely makes it past my lips before my powers drain the last remaining drops of life from me.
But I have done it. Saved my people from the Queen's wrath, protected my friend from my family.
Blood gurgles into my throat and I choke. The end is near. I can see my brother's dark hair as he falls to his knees by my side. His face is full of anguish. His mouth opens, but his voice never reaches my ears over the roar of the ship's ascent.
He mouths, Don't leave me, and buries his face against my stomach. The wind dies down and the ship becomes a dot in the distant sky.
My brother's gaze darts over my body before he presses his palms to my shoulder and stomach.
One of the Neumarians fires a blue blast, killing one of the guards. The man takes two steps and clutches his neck before falling to the ground. I try to find the other guard, but he lies dead, also.
Then I remember my brother's power. We are all monsters. Not just the Queen. The only difference is that we don't want to rule or enslave others.
My fever begins to calm and the roaring pain from my belly subsides. I grasp my brother's arm and try to shove him away, but it's too late. He's used both sides of his power. To save me, to give me life, he has sucked dry the life of our friends.
My heart shatters at the sight of scores of townspeople lying scattered around the Wasteland, dead.
Ryder falls back on his heels and cries out to the sky. His grief is almost crippling. The roar of an approaching sermechtapede cuts through his mourning and he lifts me into his arms. His strong, safe arms. The arms I thought would never close around me again.
I lean my head into his shoulder and crumple into nothing. Stumbling a few steps, he struggles to maneuver over the bodies of so many. I know my brother will never recover from what he's done, but I have no words left to comfort him. Only nightmares of my own to face.
Then I see him at the edge of town. My uncle. The sight of him warms my heart. No need to keep secrets any longer, or suffer unspeakable torture.
I am home, and safe...for now.
The End
To continue the journey, check out Escapement, book I of The Neumarian Chronicles.
