Rachel emerged into the clearing once more. She'd made a brief phone call to Will, letting him know what had happened and that she was okay. He'd detected the telltale traces of powerful Creation magic approaching her and sent the warning, though he had no more information to go on. The ground had ugly black stretches crisscrossing the entire circle, scorched moss and dirt where there had once been thick green grass.
Cinza's group had congregated around their injured member. Rachel's blanket, which she had forgotten about in the chaos, had been snatched up and laid out, and the middle-aged man was twitching in pain atop it. His arm was a mess of weeping blisters and angry red skin, the sleeve of his shirt charred and blackened. It made a sharp contrast to the swathe of silver and grey cloaks surrounding them. Cinza herself was holding the man's arm firmly and pouring something over the wound from a bottle. He twitched violently at the rush of liquid, and Rachel moved in to help hold his legs steady.
Cinza noticed Rachel's hands and shot her a grateful look before returning to the man. "You're going to be fine, Yusuf. Don't worry. We're all here for you. Ruby, please hold his shoulders."
A girl with curly dark red hair and scars across her wrists knelt and held Yusuf down while Cinza reached into a bag and pulled out several cloth bandages. Rachel didn't know the girl, but from her appearance, she assumed Ruby was a runaway who had joined up with Cinza—most likely as a convenience. If she had stuck around through a fight like this though, she was a true believer... or perhaps just crazy.
"Are those sterile?" Rachel asked, still holding his legs firm.
"Yes," Cinza answered with a touch of irritation. "Morton, his arm." Another man with a sickly look on his face quickly took hold of Yusuf's arm, being careful not to touch the visibly throbbing burned area. Rachel caught herself from voicing her surprise aloud. Morton Pollock worked for the local newspaper, printing it and delivering it to the newsstands on Main Street and the local businesses that paid for copies. He was one of the last people Rachel had expected to see amongst Cinza's group.
Cinza looked Yusuf in the eye with sympathy. "I have to do this before we can move you. Just hold on, okay?"
Yusuf nodded, gritting his teeth. Cinza unwrapped the bandage and started wrapping his arm tightly. As the gauze made contact, he twisted in their grip. Rachel felt one of his legs slipping and tightened her grasp, looking away from his face. She tried to ignore the grunts of pain, imagining the expressions on his face even as she determinedly avoided seeing them herself. Rachel gritted her own teeth as the man cried out once more beneath them, trying to think of anything else besides the pain he was experiencing.
Finally, it was over. Cinza stood up, packing away the bandages she had left. Two of her followers returned from the forest with strong sticks which they used to fashion into a makeshift stretcher with Rachel's blanket. Cinza glanced at Rachel once more as they hoisted it up.
"It's fine. Please use it." Rachel waved them on. Cinza gave her another small, grateful nod before they set off. Rachel, seeing no particular reason to hang around in the clearing anymore, followed them at a respectful distance. Her mind was still replaying the images from the last few minutes over and over, a loop of terror and confusion that refused to end.
Cinza's group held close together, thirteen in all including Yusuf and Cinza herself. A pair took the lead, scouting out the easiest path to take, while the main group formed a diamond around the two carrying the stretcher, their hands primed with all sorts of various reagents for spells. It was the most militant gathering of magic Rachel had ever seen, and it sent a chill through her bones.
Cinza fell back a few steps to join her. Rachel was still feeling dazed from the encounter with the monsters, and she flinched at the approach. Cinza nodded, a look of understanding flitting across her eyes.
"You've never been in a fight," she stated. Rachel was taken aback by how calm Cinza appeared. Her own blood was still coursing like a river in a storm. Her skull and chest were visibly pounding from her heart still working on overdrive. Cinza handed her a bottle of water, which Rachel drained gratefully. "It gets easier."
"Your followers seem well-drilled," Rachel commented as she watched them navigate around a thicket. She pulled a handkerchief from her bag and wiped her mouth dry. Cinza raised an eyebrow. "I'm just surprised. This seems almost like a small private army."
"We know how the world typically reacts to groups like ours," the girl replied. Rachel looked down at her. Cinza didn't clear five feet, while Rachel was over six. By her first impression, Rachel had assumed a weak, small and deluded girl worshipping an entity they knew almost nothing about. After the display tonight, she was rapidly revising her assessment to a capable leader and someone quick on her feet in a crisis—if still a little bit insane.
"So you've trained them to fight."
"I've helped them learn to defend themselves," Cinza answered, her eyes narrowing defensively.
"Where did you learn to fight?"
She smiled wistfully. "One of many fathers."
Rachel had never been quite so close to her before. She examined Cinza more thoroughly. With her hood and cloak removed after the heat of the flames and her exertion, Cinza was dressed very practically in tight clothes that were easy to move in, with a single bag strapped to her waist in such a way that it wouldn't bounce or inhibit action. She was small but deceptively strong, with more than enough muscle hidden away beneath her skin, now visible through her sweat-drenched white shirt. Her hair was still pure silver-grey from the ritual dance, but she hadn't applied any of her other illusions, so Rachel was able to see her dark eyes clearly. They burned with a passion and fury she didn't quite understand. Was it residual from the fight, or inspired by their discussion?
The necklace she wore with the eight-pointed star was more than just decor. A small variety of gemstones were inlaid in slots at the intersections and the points of the star, giving Cinza a wealth of reinforcement should she need it at any time. Below the star, there were scars on her chest, just barely visible within the hem of her shirt. Thin, easily disguised scars. Rachel wondered if she would hide them if she knew Rachel could see, or wear them proudly and defiantly. There were too many mysteries about this girl.
"Ask me your questions. You'll never get the whole story with just your eyes," Cinza said quietly. Rachel jumped. Her mind must have still been disoriented from the fight, if Cinza had noticed her analyzing. Usually she could take in every detail about a person long before they even noticed. Either that, or Cinza was an unusually aware individual.
"Would you tell me the whole story if I asked?" Rachel replied, a bit more pithy than she intended.
"Were the world an open book, and everyone had read it cover to cover, none of us would have anything to talk about anymore."
Rachel walked silently for a few moments, considering her words. Cinza was scanning the trees around them as they began to close on the edge of the forest, watching for any further threats. Her small figure seemed coiled to lash out at a moment's notice, barely committing to any movement and remaining light on her toes.
"It doesn't matter where I came from," Cinza continued without prompting, surprising Rachel once again. "It doesn't matter who I was, where I fought and bled. My old story is unimportant. It's all in the past, and the future is with her."
"With Grey-eyes?" Rachel asked.
Cinza nodded. She continued in a much more candid tone than Rachel was used to. Without the usual modification to her voice, her accent was much clearer. Rachel placed it as Eastern European for sure, a mix of Russian and something else she couldn't quite pick out. However, she spoke English as perfectly and casually as any native.
"I don't know her. I've only spoken her once, the same as everyone else. I've seen over a dozen awakenings since that day, and every single time, she appears to save them. Those poor, brilliant fools who think they have somehow earned this power, and find out they were doomed the moment their arrogance brought them to read from the book. She never says a word loud enough to hear, and none ever hear her voice again, but she is always there. How?"
Rachel wasn't sure if it was rhetorical. "I don't know."
Cinza nodded again, her eyes looking up to the stars. "Because she is a true god, one worth following. Is she even human? She looks human to us, just a girl. Perhaps the same age as me, if that is her true appearance. But I'm nothing. I can do little light shows and toss a bit of fire around. She commands the world to bend to her will. Do you realize she could probably annihilate us all with a thought? Can you even imagine that kind of power? I've seen her toss boulders away like they were dust and redirect lightning to save her people. Awakened, I mean, not just my friends in cloaks here. I witnessed these things, even deliberately caused some of them to see if she'd react."
"Why are you telling me this?" Rachel asked suspiciously.
Cinza looked as if Rachel had asked why the sun was warm. "Isn't it obvious? There's a war coming. I was testing her, to see if she is mortal. My friends were never truly at risk, though the danger could not have been stopped by us mere children. They are gods, and tonight we've seen harbingers of their return."
Rachel felt ice in her veins at Cinza's words, since she knew it to be the truth. She was a dramatic conversationalist, frequently emphasizing words as if she were constantly giving a speech, but it remained compelling even to Rachel simply because of who she was.
Rachel was quickly reevaluating her old assumptions about the leader of the group. Cinza may have seemed like a fraud from minute one, but she was a shrewd and charismatic leader. As Rachel spent time with her, she was beginning to think that it wasn't an act. The small elfin-faced girl, with her charms and necklaces and tattoo, seemed like a true believer in what she preached after all.
Cinza nodded once more at her dark expression. "Omega wants us to know he is not so easily forgotten. He can't truly return to the town, since that would trigger his war with Alpha once more, one which he doesn't know if he can win. But these... minions. He's clearly found a way to extend his reach into the town without revealing himself. Without breaking the rules of engagement."
"He found a supporter," Rachel replied, still reeling from the comprehension chilling her bones.
Cinza's head snapped up sharply, her eyebrows creased with worry. "Omega has always been alone. That's his greatest weakness."
Rachel shook her head. Cinza was treating the situation too abstractly, as if it were mythology instead of reality. "You weren't here. Not when this all started. I knew them before you did. You've only seen them at their worst, in front of the council and then when they tore the library to pieces. Omega was a good guy. He was... charming. He could find allies if he wanted to. They're still human to some degree."
"And you're saying he found one?" Cinza asked.
"There was someone in the forest, controlling the monsters. I didn't get close enough to see his face, but it definitely wasn't Omega."
It was Cinza's turn to look worried. They'd finally returned to the open streets of Rallsburg. She busied herself directing her group to take Yusuf to Doctor Smith's clinic in town, too small to be called a proper hospital but more than well-enough equipped to handle their needs. The doctor Smith—who was also the sole religious figure of the town—was a good sort, with whom Rachel had several positive encounters.
"What do we tell them about how he got hurt?" Ruby asked, her voice quavering. Rachel was surprised how determined she sounded, in spite of her fear. She took the girl to be something of a second in command from the way the others deferred to her question.
Cinza started to make up a story about a campfire, but Rachel stepped up to the group. "Tell him Rachel asked to keep it quiet. He'll help you without asking any more questions. Tell him honestly how badly burned he was and where you were. Nothing else."
Ruby looked to her leader, who nodded. The group set off without another word, though Cinza held back a moment.
"Helping us out with your reputation now?" she asked, surprised.
Rachel nodded. "I'm going to need your help in return tomorrow."
"What's tomorrow?"
"I'll be calling an emergency meeting. All of the council."
"What's going on?"
"This is already beyond us. Something else just happened, just out of town."