The first word that Athira spoke since she'd left Shift behind was one she'd prayed to never have reason to speak again.
"Zoe?"
Her voice was hoarse from breathing in too much of the smoke, though she couldn't bring herself to care. She'd been content to give herself to the drunken euphoria of her Black, to destroy the Wardens alongside herself as she descended into the waiting oblivion with the hope she'd never wake up.
Yet one look at Zoe and Shift beside her, and some faint, stupid, selfish hope was yet again glimmering in the back of her head. Like her runes weren't one bad decision away from breaking. Like Rathe wasn't raking his claws through her empty mindscape, demanding their deaths.
Like there was a chance she didn't have to let them go.
"The one and only," said Zoe with a cough that reminded Athira to disperse the tendril pinning her.
Athira looked at Shift and found him watching her back, a wary glint in his gaze. "Why are you here?"
"We were looking for you," said Zoe. "Didn't you hear me calling?"
"No," said Athira, the word tight in her throat. "I felt the nausea from your armband and thought one of the Wardens was trying to sneak some of their stash of Sloth slime out after I burned the rest."
Athira's eyes flicked to Zoe's armband, lip curling. It was difficult to think of anything except what it'd feel like to destroy the damned thing, yet when Zoe was seized by a coughing fit, all thoughts of the armband left Athira's head.
Athira swept all three of them up in a wave of Black. She phased them through the walls of the building and onto the street outside, but even when Zoe's coughing finally subsided, it became clear that something else was wrong.
Shift held Zoe's arm, steadying her when she swayed. "You okay?"
Zoe grimaced, pressing her hands firmly against her side. "Pain just got a whole lot more inconvenient."
Athira's gaze was pinned to Zoe, marking every little wince. "Why aren't you healing?"
Zoe gasped as she tried to straighten and failed, leaning heavily on Shift for support. "The armband is draining my Yellow to keep me awake and I can't get it off." She gave Athira a grim smile. "Don't suppose you can help?"
Unbidden, the Black misting around Athira reached for the armband. It knew she wanted every last trace of Sloth's presence obliterated. She could still feel the nausea from the Sleepers she'd left burning in the basement, boiling and spattering against the insides of their Red-shaped cells. Removing the armband would be laughably easy. One gesture, one squeeze of her hand—
Athira forced herself to pull back the Black. To take a long, deep breath and force herself to think past the impulse to rid herself of the maddening nausea.
"I could," said Athira, gritting her teeth. "But you both have to be ready to run after I do."
"Why would we need to run?" said Zoe with a frown.
"The armband has Sloth essence in it," Shift guessed when Athira remained silent. "After what happened with the Sleeper at the subway station, she thinks it might be enough to break the last of her runes."
Athira ran her hands over her arms, digging her nails into the skin as Shift spoke. There was a hesitance to his voice that made her wonder if he'd finally realised she wasn't worth saving.
Her eyes were somewhere on the ceiling when she felt hands grab hers.
Athira looked down to find Zoe in front of her.
"You'll be fine," said Zoe. The faintest hint of a glow flickered through her hair and softened something inside Athira. Zoe flashed her a weak grin. "And if not, I'll be more than happy to laser you back to your senses."
"When my runes break, you won't be able to laser me out of it, Zo," murmured Athira. The armband had to come off. That much she was certain of, but afterwards... "You remember what I told you about them. About the monster—what I did."
"We don't know that," said Zoe, squeezing Athira's hands. "I still think—"
Athira shook her head. "I can't risk that. I can't risk you." She shuddered as a wave of nausea ripped through her. Rathe growled from the depths of her rattled thoughts. "You're Spectrum, Zoe. You'll find the others and stop Rathe better than I ever could. You don't need me for that." She managed a smirk. "The only thing I can do now is make sure that me or the Wardens never threaten you again."
Zoe's gaze hardened. "You'd better not be saying what I think you're saying, Thira."
Athira didn't answer her straight away. She closed her eyes and steadied herself around the feel of Zoe's hands, willing her blood to cool, to ignore the feel of Rathe's claws in her mind. She had to stay focused, to hold herself together long enough after she broke the armband to give Zoe and Shift a chance to run.
"Thira?" said Zoe again.
Athira opened her eyes, looked at Zoe, then Shift, a smile soft on her mouth. "I'm glad I got to see you both one last time."
"What do you mean one last time?" said Zoe, the words rushing out. Her grip tightened. "Thira—"
"Just remember what I said about running," said Athira as she dropped Zoe's hands and engulfed the armband in Black.
The nausea bit into her the instant her Colour touched the armband. A hot, ancient rage spilled through her veins, igniting Rathe into a frenzy she'd tried to brace herself for, but there was no bracing herself for this. In seconds, it burned through every piece of calm she'd drawn from Zoe's presence, every sliver of resolve she'd found in Shift's, and left behind a simmering, ashen anger.
With a clench of her fist, the armband shattered inside the Black. She let its pieces fall, clattering to the ground, still dripping with the viscous, violet ooze that'd been inside it. She sneered, bringing her boot down on the largest piece as Black scattered along the ground and devoured the rest.
Worthless.
"Oh, you have no idea how much better that feels."
Athira's gaze flicked to the steadily growing glow in the corner of her eye where Zoe stood, wiping the violet ooze from her skin with her one remaining sleeve.
Snuff out the light.
The thought caught her off guard. The Black reached for Zoe and Athira struggled to rein it in. She grabbed her head, staggering, desperate to untangle herself from the rage that was sweeping her aside.
End them all.
"Thira? Are you—"
Athira slapped away the hand that reached for her. "What did I tell you two idiots about running?"
Zoe blinked, surprised. "Your runes didn't break though, you're still—"
"I don't need my runes to break to make what I did to Talia look tame," snapped Athira, struggling to hold back her anger. It burned hot against her insides, ready to lash out at anyone who got close enough, but she refused to let it have them. "Leave me alone and get out—before someone else pays for it."
"Thira, I'm not—" began Zoe, when Shift interrupted.
"What about Talon?" said Shift, stepping forward. "What happens to him if we just leave you down here with your grand plan to take out the Wardens and yourself along with them?"
Something heavy bit into Athira's heart as silence swept through her head and swallowed her.
She'd forgotten. Somehow, with everything else, she'd forgotten—
"—Talon?" Shift said again.
There were other words, but her heartbeat was too loud in her ears. Her skull felt like it might split and spill all over the floor with the way it echoed inside her head as the beats twisted into a name.
Ta-lon. Ta-lon. Ta-lon.
"Thira? Are you—"
"It doesn't matter anymore!" snapped Athira. She grit her teeth, barely able to force herself to say the words. "Talon is gone."
And there it was, the truth finally spoken out loud.
Talon was gone.
Shift's eyes were wide as he stared at her throat. Her bare, empty throat where the small silver amulet should have been hanging, scorching with how much Black she'd used. "Your amulet—"
"Gone," snarled Athira. She turned on Shift, and this time, she let the anger have her. Anything to get rid of the silence. To fill the numb, echoing void Talon had left behind. "The Wardens destroyed his amulet, and now, I'm going to return the favour until every last one of them is wishing the only thing I'd done was kill them."
The words came out before she'd considered them, but they felt right. She could already taste the satisfaction their pain would bring. After that — if there was anything left of them, anyway — she'd drag the Wardens into her mindscape. Let them face the monster they'd sought to stop as they faced their ends in failure.
"Thira," said Zoe quietly. "You can't mean that."
Athira replied with a vicious smile. "Feel free to stay and watch if you don't believe me, Zoe. If Talia comes back, I'll even give you a special demonstration."
Zoe recoiled. "Thira, she was helping me. She's on our team, she didn't—"
Athira just laughed. "You think I care? She's obnoxious, just like every other elemental. They all think they know better. That they're some gift to the planet because they can move some rocks or water or air around." She hardened a shard of crystal Black to her palm and snapped it. "They deserve to be crushed, along with the rest of the scum."
Maybe now they'd get it. Maybe now they'd understand that she was worthless, good for nothing but rage and rampant destruction no matter how much they'd tried to shape her into something else.
"I told you last time," said Zoe, her expression hard as her glow intensified. "You start hurting people for the sake of it, no matter who they are, and I will—"
A loud, clear voice behind Athira entered the conversation. "Not interrupting, are we?"
Athira turned her head, finding three Wardens approaching from an enclosed alcove in the side of the nearby building, the faint glimmer of Blue in the air behind them. She had no idea how they'd got there, but she hardly cared.
"Keep your promise," said Athira, her eyes on Shift before a wave of her hand swept both him and Zoe up in Black, carrying them down the street in the opposite direction of the Wardens.
She could hear Zoe yelling after her and ignored it. Let them hate her. They'd be safer that way, and she had no reason to be selfish anymore — not with how close she teetered to the edge of oblivion. The monster was done waiting. It dragged her under as it clawed its way ever-closer to the surface — and now, she'd found the first thing it could play with.
Athira's delight only increased when she recognised the tattooed, female Warden in the blue suit.
"Karma," said Athira, turning to meet her with a thin, pressed smile. "You have no idea how glad I am that you're here. I thought I'd seen the last of you in the interrogation room."
"It takes far more than that to kill me, I assure you," said Karma, stopping alongside her two colleagues some ten paces away.
"Perfect," said Athira, drawing the dripping Black to her upturned hand, considering. Sure, she could end them in the blink of an eye, but she wanted to know what it was like to give in to the anger. To embrace that urge to break, rip, destroy. "I have so many ideas. It'd be a shame if you expired too soon."
"Purple Spectrum!" began one of the Wardens with Karma, a short male in a Yellow suit. "Stand down, or we will be forced to—"
Karma continued like he hadn't spoken, raising her hand. "And as interesting as that sounds, Athira, I have a better idea."
With a deft movement, Karma etched a rune straight onto the air, each of her fingers simultaneously drawing a different line. When finished, the rune flared and faded.
Athira waited a moment for something to happen before she raised an expectant eyebrow. "I thought you'd at least—"
She felt it then. The nausea, far stronger than any Surge she'd experienced. It hit her from both sides as the boiling, frothing ooze of the Sleepers she'd left burning in the basement spilled out in a viscous wave from the cracks of the buildings around her.
This time, Athira's thoughts and Rathe's were one.
Annihilate it all.
Athira lifted a hand, readying the Black for the strike that would finally drown her and wipe every last trace of these Sleepers from Thols when a bright, Yellow glow appeared in the corner of her eye.
"Thira!"
Athira turned, finding Zoe running towards her, a shooting star among the dark, swirling mist of Black with Shift right behind her.
The Black was drawn, ready, waiting, but they were close. Too close. The Sleeper ooze was closing in, cutting off their escape, and with half a second to make a decision before something in her snapped, Athira did the first thing that came to mind: she slammed a large, Black dome down around them, trapping Zoe, Shift, and the three Wardens inside along with her.
It was almost too late. The Black missed Shift by a hair as the Sleepers crashed into the dome wall behind him. The impact dropped her to her knees, agony spearing her insides. The nausea became tangible. It clogged her throat and left her retching, struggling to breathe through the shock.
The Sloth ooze inside the armband had been one thing, but this—
"Thira!"
Habit made Athira look up. Zoe and Shift were tangled in thin, Blue strands sprouting from a rune at their feet. The more they struggled, the more strands appeared, until they were both bound by everything except their heads.
Athira reached out with a hand and attempted to erase the rune binding them with Black, but even that small extra use of her Colour proved too much, threatening to break her tenuous hold on the dome.
Her palm slammed into the ground, scattering ebony crystals outwards from her trembling arm.
Rathe — Rathe was so loud, and the nausea — she couldn't think through the whirlwind in her head; couldn't remember why she had to hold on, why she had to maintain the dome at all when she could embrace the euphoria, could unleash herself upon Sloth's pathetic little Sleepers and roar her victory to the world.
But then she saw the glow — Zoe's glow, blinding and beautiful and glorious — and she knew.
It was for her.
It'd always been for her.
The Wardens were yelling at each other on the far side of the dome, watching from the inside as the Sleeper ooze steadily climbed the wall of Black.
"What in the hues, Karma?" said the Purple Warden. "Why would you release the Sleepers?"
"To incapacitate Athira, obviously," replied Karma, her voice all too casual. "It appears to have worked rather well, wouldn't you say?"
"Are you—"
"Enough," said the Yellow Warden, striding towards Athira as behind him, Karma unsheathed her dagger. "Her actions secured the Purple Spectrum."
"We had a plan of action for that," said the Purple Warden. "We didn't need to risk—aah!"
A choked, gurgling noise cut the Purple Warden short. The Yellow Warden turned to where Karma had dropped the body of the first, the dagger bloody in her hand.
Yellow sparked around the Warden's hands. "Explain yoursel—!"
The same rune that bound Shift and Zoe appeared under the Warden's feet. The Blue strands quickly restrained him, rendering him helpless.
He struggled, cursing as flickers of his Yellow were devoured by the Blue. "Who are you?"
Karma stopped in front of him, her dagger in hand.
"I," said Karma, "am the Herald."
"You can't possibly be—"
Karma ran her dagger across his throat, reducing his words to a gurgle. She turned the blade over in her hand a few times before the Blue strands released the Warden's lifeless body, dropping it face-first into a pool of his own blood.
"You know," said Karma, still inspecting her dagger. "This mess is all your fault, Athira. You've proven rather annoying to break. I thought surely everything up to Winslo's Point would have been enough, but no." She tilted the tip of the dagger in Athira's direction. "I tried to track you down, yet in the end, you came back all on your own right as the other pieces fell into place. It's all rather convenient."
Karma took a step towards Athira, and a blast of Yellow light erupted from the other side of the zone.
"Get the hues away from her!" yelled Zoe. Her Yellow was bright — far brighter than Athira had ever seen it, almost concealing her and Shift within its light. "If you hurt her, I will—"
Karma just smiled and crouched beside Athira as Zoe's threats continued.
"At least I understand what held you together now," continued Karma, her eyes on Zoe. "And these..." Karma trailed the tip of her dagger over Athira's arm, leaving a thin line of blood across what remained of her runes. "These explain a lot. I'd always wondered why I could never find you, but it seems someone else realised what you were and tried to suppress it."
A hot, burning anger and a promise let Athira find her voice among the agony that tore at her insides. "And what am I?"
"What you've always been," said Karma, still wearing that thin, taunting smile. "The vessel that will bring Rathe forth and begin the end of a world that never should have been."
Athira managed a smirk. "What can you do that Rathe hasn't tried already? Or is the big, bad Herald just here to kill a Spectrum?"
Karma was calm — too calm. The same way she'd been at the interview, the same way she'd been at the Warden's Project, like she knew something. Like she'd seen the script before the scene played out and knew there was only one way for this to end.
Inevitable.
"I rather thought I'd let you do that," said Karma. "I'm simply here to ensure that this time, there'll be no escaping your purpose, daughter."
Before Athira had a chance to fully realise what she'd said, Karma plunged the dagger upwards into Athira's chest.
Someone screamed as a frozen chill swept through Athira. She brought her fingers up, grazing them against the edge of the runed blade in a daze, vaguely aware of how her breaths were becoming shallow, that it was her blood pooling on the floor. The Black swarmed around her, trying to stitch her back together only to be repelled by the runes on the blade. The runes were fizzling, but not fast enough to stop her from bleeding out.
The nausea was a distant thought, the roaring in her head a thousand miles away as Athira found something like peace in the cold, unfamiliar darkness creeping over her. She reached for the dagger, intending to push it deeper, to finally find an end to this waking nightmare when Karma stopped her.
"You wanted to know what I can do that Rathe can't?" said Karma. "I can do this."
In one swift movement, Karma stepped back and pulled the dagger out. She vanished in a flash of Blue, leaving Athira with a single moment of clarity to realise what was about to happen.
She looked at Zoe, at Shift, who were no longer tangled in the web of Blue, and with her remaining breath, Athira spoke one word.
"Run."
The Black exploded.
*+*+*+*
A/N - 3 chapters left :)