Planet: Eteran, Outside of Kalto
First Insurgency War
JAMES
His nights were tainted with brimstone.
Every night he bathed in the explosion of starfire.
He long accepted the truth and long let go of the frozen autumn of deep molten golds.
James sat in the sniper shack overlooking the entirety of Kalto. Maia hovered in the opposite corner with her hand on their communications and a shadowed expression on her face. Quiet air filled his ears, and he hated its silence which told him nothing of what came next.
It was calm before a firestorm. Chills raised the flesh on his neck and stirred a primal fear in his heart. I know General Falae doesn't trust Keaton with a rock... but I have my order. Amazed frustration choked his throat at the division within Sanctum Command, right to the top.
But why am I shocked? One voice against many. He adjusted the scope of his rifle and sat cross-legged with a huff. He ignored the warmth in the back of his mind — the heat of a campfire, the longing of a promise, shielded by controlled flames and his lips against someone else's.
No. Focus.
He tried to burn it with the rest of his heart, but it dogged him.
"We should get going soon," Maia said. "Just sitting here waiting is making me nervous. General Falae hasn't sent word yet."
"It'll come. Trust her." He aimed down the scope to watch a lone Gorgot slink through the bushes under the cover of darkness. Its whip-like tail held high for the hunt of its quarry. He understood the base nature of the creature he kept his focus on.
"I trust her," Maia said with her signature, nervous mousy squeak. "It's just... she's one voice. Neither of us spoke up against what they were saying. We were there, James."
James pressed his cheek against the butt of his rifle. "It's not our job or place to speak. It's our job to follow our orders and pull the trigger when they point us at our enemies."
Maia groaned. "At least you're talkative."
James rolled his eyes and readied himself for any sort of signal of the end. Silence hummed against his spine, but he focused on nothing but the job he had in front of him.
"I know it's a little late, but happy starday."
Her sudden words tore him off the scope. "Huh?"
"General Falae told me your starday," Maia said, deadpan. "It crossed my mind that I never said anything to you."
"You're late by a couple months." James wiped his mind of his entire world when the moments threatened to freeze in his crimson stained fingers. Back to his scope, to take down the golden opponent, once and for all. Ava's smile drifted in his mind, uncertain, in pain, but he pushed her out too. Today, people are going to die... but if I'm quick, only one has to... Rayan Falae.
For he longed to stop the flames from haunting his universe.
If we wait for the artillery strike I could use the chaos to hunt him down... James tapped the trigger and considered the options ahead. Or... I want him to come to me. If I go now, I won't be able to avoid the strike. He released his grip on the rifle and frowned down at his hands. There's no way of winning, is there?
A deep hum filled his ears and alerted him to an old enemy in the skies.
Maia fiddled with the portable TSC. "Why hasn't she sent anything?"
Atmosphere sparked with energy.
Body kicked into high alert, he leaped to his feet. "Maia."
"What?"
Shapes rippled through the starlit darkness, underneath a deceptive shield of invisibility. Cloaks fell, and brought the destruction of Eastpoint onto Kalto. He froze at the familiar screech of edevic railguns primed for death. Maia gasped when the incoming wave of heat shattered the windows of the buildings on the city limits in a single stroke of the brush. Shockwaves ripped his eardrums as he steadied himself on the wall.
Maia raced forward. "They were supposed to warn us!"
Divided... right to the end. Rayan was right.
"Looks like they kept General Falae out of the loop," he observed in mystified curiosity of the rippling damage. Walls of flames blocked the routes out of Kalto. He flinched when Maia clapped him on the back, and he snapped, "I'm going in! Try to get in contact with General Falae!"
Out of the sniper tower through the window, James focused and weaved through the canopy as he phased with Maia into the city. Both of them climbed to a ruined tower, and he scowled when she clutched the back of his collar. "Why are they starting the attack?"
"I don't know," James said while the railguns purred for the next round, and shook his heart to the core of war. "You know what you're supposed to do?"
Another artillery barrage sprayed the planet with white. Ember starshowers danced behind his lens and cracked with twisted memories. "Maia," he repeated and ignored the flames of the past and his new present. "There's no point asking questions." He glared at her and tore himself from the agony he left behind while alarms wailed for relief and the panic in the streets and buildings. "Try and get innocents out. If they're here, there are other Elites." He readied his rifle. "I have someone I need to hunt down."
Whether I'm ready or not, I need to know.
"Wait, Black Wolf—"
James refused to give in to his ashen hesitation. He phased to the nearest rooftop and rolled to stop when an artillery beam roared above his head. It cracked against one of the larger buildings and left behind a melted puddle of concrete in an instant. Fear echoed out to him, but he struggled to find reality among the ash.
The smoke...
His lungs burned and his heart swelled against his ribs with a painful squeeze. Hand against his chest, he begged for it to stop and took in a calm breath of the bubbled fumes of rot. Nothing else matters. He recalled the mantra which pushed him through all of life. Nothing else matters except the goal I have in front of me. I can't afford to hesitate.
Fireballs rolled around the edge of the city, and he phaserushed onto a fire escape and used the momentum to reach one of the highest windows. He braced himself for the glassy shards which remained on it, and shook the dust off. Rifle ready on the edge, he loaded it with energy which hummed through the rails. Blue light pulsed through both dials underneath his scope.
People ran through the streets and screamed out for their friends and loved ones.
Some of them carried weapons.
The Insurgents didn't run, they came out to help.
James assessed the rest of the environment, where foundations crumbled to melted metal under the weight of their own flames. He steadied his shot and ignored the entire world and hunted for his quarry.
Where are you, Rayan Falae?
He searched every face. Every heartbeat. Every song which rang out through the desolation and smoke.
Until he heard something familiar through the wailing.
He found Rayan Falae among the streets, directing people out of the crossfire of the Sanctum.
His heartbeat, strong and resolute, unburdened by the terror in his own. Rayan twisted to another Insurgent and pointed at one of the storefronts with a nod. James erased the flames from his heart to replace it with ice. Rayan and the Insurgent shared another nod, and they rushed through the street.
Right into his sights.
It was a perfect line up.
One shot, and he could signal the Sanctum to stop their burning artillery strike.
He blocked out the sensory overload and noise save for Rayan's heart. Through the ash and smoke. He no longer heard the crying of the sirens, nor would he freeze the flames.
Gold.
Rayan chanced a glance to his lonely tower, and a frozen moment sparked through the world.
Memories of pain swallowed his senses and he bit down on his cheek. Him and Rayan, winning the Starcross varsity to avoid Jon's ceaseless despair for something so stupid as a sport. Both of them hung out in the art room, while he bore witness to Rayan's painstaking effort to make the world full of painted beauty, and to represent each frozen moment he captured in his sights.
Embers created a veil around their kiss by the fire, and he threw his sister out the window to be a fool. She deserved to be free, but the embers sparked into an inferno and created nothing but death in their wake.
Rayan turned by the pond with a smile, sketchpad in hand.
He gripped his rifle when the heat swallowed his body. Unwelcome in its veracity and ate everything he loved. His sights stopped on Rayan's head, where his golden eyes widened in haunted realization of a slow moment. He sucked in his lips, and swallowed his tears.
General Falae wasn't the one emotionally compromised.
His sights drifted.
I'm just a cruel fool. I'm the one who did this.
Artillery rocked through his bones when he pulled the trigger which sang with the catastrophic song of crimson war.
He scowled when the floor underneath him sagged when a laser blocked his confirmation of the hit and smashed into another building and scattered debris into its neighbours. Toolbelt ready, he holstered his rifle and phased out of the window. He used edevic rappelling lines to support his fall to another rooftop, where another stray laser struck the building he was in moments before, and it toppled to the ground.
"Maia?" he snapped into his compearl, but scowled when it gave him white noise. He kept his mask up to block the smoke, but his memories of endless days in bed seared his veins. He coughed and kept close to the lowest point to flee the rising heat.
I hit him...
Gold haunted him in betrayal — who left him alone in the darkened flames. James forced himself to his feet and rushed to another rooftop to gain a better view, to get sights on Rayan and end his nightmares.
Smoke intensified and bloomed, then took shelter in a broken awning when Sanctum ships joined the fold. Railguns primed on the exits with the Insurgency having nowhere else to run. James pressed his back against the cracked window, where his heart's emptiness refilled him with purpose. Ignoring his urge to seek pastel safety, he ran to another fire escape to climb.
"James—!" Maia's voice frizzed to life on his compearl, but the spotty connection gave him no comfort. "General Falae—"
It shorted out, and he scoffed, but he made an attempt. "I got a hit on him, Maia. I'm going to go confirm." He turned off his compearl at his futile, meaningless effort of a connection. Back on the rooftops, he checked the fields of ash, where lasers burned the edges of Kalto mangled with Eastpoint. It came closer to his heart, and he clenched his fists while he tasted his own blood.
... I don't think Rayan is making it out of this. I should regroup with Maia...
He turned his back on his job, but his foot froze on the edge of the hill while he bore witness to Eastpoint's death. A desolate song rang out to him in the tune of Ava's favourite band where the embers froze in the air. His stomach churned for the end denied him, and when he stretched out his hand, it no longer shook with the wall of flames.
No. James rolled his shoulders. I need to know. I need to make sure we finish this once and for all... she told me not to let him suffer anymore.
He clenched his fists and burned with the fire.
We're not done yet, Rayan Falae.
His heart screamed and he followed its command without hesitation, and rushed back into the city of flames to find the stalwart heart of a golden-eyed Insurgent.
It was time for the war, and the flames, to die.
I'm coming, Rayan Falae. It's time we settled this. No running away.