I rushed toward the family. Pieces of my coat were scattered across the ground–soaked in blood. The sky had darkened in just moments, and rain began to fall with malicious force. The dark cobblestone glistened, and rivers of red flowed down it–like the veins of a dying man. The rain failed to wash it away only spreading it more and more, the ground was a cesspool of blood.
My tongue caught in my throat, my stomach churned and I gagged. I took in the blood of people I'd seen smiling and laughing just minutes before. And it was because of me, if I hadn't come here then the explosion would never have happened. I wanted to scream, to wail, to beg for power bestowed by the gods to smite this devil down. But no one answered–no one listened.
The air was thick with dust and debris flown across the market square. Timbers crashed–and strained breathing. But something beneath that, a hum. Sable and the merchant were locked in a dance of destruction. The merchant traded blows, sounding like thunderclaps. Sable restrained herself, limiting herself to countering his blows–but she needed to go all out to finish this. With so many fragile bodies, and eyes on her–she couldn't exhibit her prowess here.
The pressure fell on me, to carve a path for these wounded civilians. To be Sable's wayfarer.
I lunged for the mother–one hand on her son's head, the other on her daughter's back. They were battered and bloody. Innocent bystanders who chose the wrong day to try and get food. I reached out–but then the world blurred.
The merchant stood over them, and me, looking down on us like ants.
His arm rose, and his palm faced us–his ark began to glow with a sinister hue. It hissed at me, and tendrils of energy coiled like a serpent. The airs gathered around it and power obeyed his command like a living thing. Crimson arcs of light pounced and breathed like a living thing, looking for someone to devour. Each tendril kissed the air–leaving a smell of rot and burning flesh. My stomach churned again–worse than before.
Moments earlier he sent Sable crashing into a nearby house–the wood coughed splinters around her and the building itself seemed to cry out in pain. She vanished into the dust–and I couldn't see her. I still felt her pulse–that same signature of energy. But she was down, and those seconds she would spend recovering were fatal. Not for her, but for this family–and me.
It was in those seconds I came to a haunting realization–this man could kill me and the family ten times over if he so wished. My life hung on a whim.
The only thing that kept me upright was fear–and the hope that maybe something greater than death was watching.
The man stepped closer, and I recognized something. The golden lining and silver stitch--buttons shaped like eyes. It was unmistakable. The issued uniform of an enforcer from the Bureau.
Why would a member of the capital's government be here... doing this?
My mind was scattered--parts of me filled the fear of god. Other parts telling me to run away and flee this damn town. The Bureau wasn't supposed to be here--they handled occult, treasonous, and forbidden things. Threats to the empire.
I swallowed hard, and my forehead began to sweat. The rain was falling heavier now, each drop was a knife on my skin.
Did they know?
Did the Countess request this?
I backed away, I needed to get out of here. Enforcers weren't small fries, they were able to dispatch of high tier arkons. This one wasn't a golden fist, but he still was far beyond my abilities. Beyond Sable's abilities even--fuck I couldn't do anything. I felt hopeless.
He moved toward me, not fast--he didn't need to. I backed away more, but my boots slipped on the water. I felt backwards--god it hurt. He inched closer and closer to me. The Bureau's power lied in not their strength--though overwhelming it was. But their authority, any who defied was declared outlaws and wanted criminals of the empire.
Even here in this ruin, he walked like man with the weight of the empire on his shoulders. He stood upright, and every step was a declaration of his power.
"You die here." He said, not a waver in his voice.
It cut through the storm like a blade, it froze me.
"What does the Bureau want with me?" I begged, maybe in death I could have resolution.
"The Bureau was never here." He said, "And neither were you." his voice standing confident.
The hissing in the air grew stronger, bolder. His ark was facing toward my head again. The tendrils reached out, trying to take me.
I stood there, I was tired of running. I couldn't outrun this fate any longer, if I die here--so be it.
He reached the pitch of his power. His ark ready to burst, veins of crimson light crawled up his arms like parasites. The air around him screamed, each drop of rain turned into steam.
I shut my eyes, I am not one to run from fate. Not anymore. My fate was to be burned out by the empire and forgotten. My existence denied.
A heartbeat, his replaced by a new one.
A sound like the world was pierced.
Then just the silence of the rain, drops falling harder than before.
I opened my eyes again, the Bureau man had a hole where his heart was just ten seconds ago. Steam escape his heart, hissing at me. He looked down to it, like he didn't understand he was dead yet.
Then bang, his body hit the ground. Lifeless.
The rain hit his body and screeched.
Sable. She stood just to his side, holding his heart in her hand.
"Good job." She said, staring at my eyes. She tilted her head the same way she had when we first met, and now I understood the significance of it. It scared me.
The tendrils of energy around the enforcers ark dissipated, and the ark lost its color. Becoming a colorless rock. It fell out of his palm, and turned to ash.
I was still confused why Sable told me good job--Oh. I backed up, just enough for her to land a killing blow without harming anyone around.
The fractured square laid still. The only sound was the rain hitting the ground. I forced myself to breathe, taking in the smell of ozone. The metallic taste of the air. So much blood.
Sable dropped the heart, it thud against the ground. Still twitching in the puddles. For just a moment it glowed like a fire, then died out. And it sunk into the red wash of the stone.
"Get up." She said. Her voice carried no warmth--none of that kindness she had before. Only command, "More will come for the body soon."
I pushed myself up off my ass, my legs shook, and my palms were colored with blood that wasn't mine. The enforcer's corpse looked terrifying--it was wrong. The water didn't touch it. The steam from the hole in his chest almost resembled letters, a dying message.
Sable kicked his arm over, and bent down and tore open his coat. Fingers running over the pockets until she found it--a metal emblem of an eye with a line through it. She sighed when she saw it.
"Dispatch Insignia," She muttered, "They sent a real one."
"What does that mean-" My voice cracked, and I nearly wailed like a child.
"It means," She said, standing over his corpse. "Someone in the capital wanted you dead enough to break laws." her eyes met mine again, "You're in something you don't understand."
"I didn't do anything-I, I DON'T REMEMBER." I screamed.
Her eyes looked at me, that same apathy pierced my soul. "I know." She replied, harsh and short with me.
Thunder rolled, the body of the enforcer was still steaming, and the emblem was eye-catching. I had a hard time looking away from it. I extended my arm to grab it, I can't say why but I needed it.
Sable swatted my hand. "Don't touch, look, or even think of it." She said, her voice still harsh. "The Bureau uses sight and touch as chains. Do either, and you will fall into their trap."
She kicked the insignia to the nearest gutter, it clanked as it dropped down.
We started to walk, the rain was cold. And I didn't have my coat. We went through the alleys, past shattered storefronts and broken carts. Every strike of lightning showed another face in a window, pale lifeless and staring at me. But when I looked--no one remained.
"You should've let me die." I said quietly. My head down.
"I nearly did-" she answered, "But then I remembered the Countess' words about you."
I froze, her name struck fear in my body. "What did she say?"
"Nothing I'm going to tell you." Sable replied.
She kept walking, I knew better than to ask twice. We kept going till we reached the edge of the district, where the fog thickened and the rain lightened. The light's looked like dying stars, everything was lit dimly.
But she stopped, and she turned around to look at the town square again.
Through the rain the enforcers' body remained, lifeless. But a faint light pulsed over it, over the wound in his chest--slow, deliberate, and rhythmic.
A heartbeat.
"They're reclaiming him." Sable said. Her hand reached to the side of my belt and took my knife, "Hey-" I said, but then a loud guttural scream pierced the town.
The ground groaned, and the metal screeched. The Bureau didn't leave it's dead behind.
"Run" she screamed at me.
Before I could ask what, the ground split open and the sky screamed again.