Moonrise ✔ [Complete]

16 Duty (Part 2)

The undeniable sting of grief replaced the soldier's hatred. His immediate thoughts were of his family, of a daughter, a... deceased daughter.

Maeyune could only watch as the soldier's pain became her own. Forgetting her task and the reason why she was there in the first place, her mind whirled upon the discovery of his shadows. As memories swept left and right, she relived it all through his eyes.

"Please, help!" she heard herself cry, her throat emitting his voice.

In her arms, she was carrying a small girl whose sickly skin was a mere sheet over bones. Maeyune was stumbling toward an outpost building that stood next to a tall, steel-reinforced wall. Painted on the wall's side was a distinct rising sun, the symbol of Bera.

Her vision traveled to the gated archway inside the wall. The entrance into Bera, she learned. She was at one of the border posts that divided Bera and Nomenia.

"Please!" she cried again. A Beran soldier stepped forth from his station. He stopped her with one hand, a rifle raised in the other.

"I'm sorry, sir," the Beran soldier said, donning a benumbed expression. "You can't come any closer."

"But my daughter needs help!" Maeyune cried, voice breaking. "We can't afford her medicine. Please, only your water celestials can heal her!"

A wave of nauseating heartache washed over her as Tresen was denied entry, again and again. Days later upon the death of his only child, his anguish pivoted to anchor hatred and vengeance.

A river of visions ambushed her, all bearing tones of anger and remorse as Tresen helped lay waste to Beran homes. She saw the first Beran he had killed and the first Beran child he had left to die under rubble.

Almost succumbing to his darkness, Maeyune thrust herself out of his mind. Her eyes stung. When she glanced down at the distraught soldier, a sad smile slanted across his face.

"You Suolani and Berans are selfish fools," he muttered quietly. His head fell again, his chin pressing into his chest. "I do what I must to protect my people."

Maeyune struggled to find her voice. "I'm sorry," she said, her heart still reeling from the grief.

Tresen scoffed. "Tell that to my dead daughter."

When a moment of silence passed, Deiyu's voice came on a speaker in the corner of the room. "Maeyune," he said. There was quiet command in his voice.

She glanced over her shoulder at the mirror and could not stop the glare that transformed her face. She found each of their minds, except the elusive Reo. She briefly captured their emotions.

They felt nothing. Aside from witnessing the scene from Tresen's mind, she was alone in feeling his pain.

"Maeyune," Deiyu spoke again, the warning more apparent in his voice. They were aware of her in their minds. She was sure they could see it on the holographic display, jumping from each person to the next.

Maeyune faced Tresen again. He waited expectantly with a sneer. "You do what you have to," he mocked.

Turmoil stayed her concentration, and it took what felt like an eternity to find her focus again.

The Iron Prophet must be stopped.

Frowning, she returned to his mind. She dug deeper, deliberately maneuvering past the darkness that thrived in the corner of his mind. She found what she had originally set forth to uncover.

The Iron Prophet. The city of Eno. A hidden, underground facility. Tunnels of weapon crates and tables covered in hand-drawn plans and schematics.

She heard a word repeat itself inside the soldier's mind. "Mirano," she recited.