503. Heroess, 8

(Myls)

Blume told me the truth.

That this island was hopeless, but with the lucky findings on how Magenta feeds along the way, there’s another way.

Not that I would have volunteered for a one way trip into space, I was still pissed off at her. And at everyone.

It’s only a matter of days before Magenta resynchronises its orbit to fly directly above us. To strike us down one last fucking time.

Blume would sail ahead toward it, to get swallowed with the package.

And then, Sanïssia and I... Would just have to survive the last attack until the deed is done.

Sounds simple enough.

But I don’t have that much confidence in Blume.

B - Trust me this time. What we sent before will have weakened it. It will need to feed. Sanïssia and you will keep it focused. It will work. I will make it.

M - If you die...

B - The odds are on my side. And if I do, well, we had fun.

M - ...

I guess she’s right, but I still hate that kind of goodbye. I can’t smile, and she’s not leaving a choice here. Or rather, I’m unable to find any better solution, and it pisses me off as well...

Again, I have to rely on her...

For everything since Zes was killed, I’ve relied on her. I hate that.

But this world isn’t just for humans convenience any longer.

M - Zes will...

B - You can trust me on that as well.

She will have aftermath effects of her brain damage, but...

Then no matter how bad I feel, there’s nothing left to discuss.

~

Later on that chilly morning, I felt that rising sun panic for the last time.

From the balcony, I saw Sanïssia sailing toward the magenta sunrise at full speed.

Blume has hidden herself somewhere there, already far. I could barely see them anymore.

You’d better come back pretty bird.

First because otherwise, I’ll be stuck on that island forever.

Secondly because I want to fight with you the last calamities to ever rain down the sky.

And last because I wouldn’t forget nor forgive any of us, if I were to lose you as well...

Blume, I remember the first time you spoke.

The first time you looked human.

The first time you winked...

You’d better make it up there, out there.

I check my handguns a last time. I’ll be ready down here, as soon as my pretty bird returns.

~

I pierced Calamity’s chest with her shard. I pushed that needle back into her.

It surprised her. Her body remained skinny and unsteady, but an unnatural glow reappeared rapidly on her.

In the distance, I saw the twister reaching the star out and above. It’s going to happen soon.

So it’s all or nothing now.

I look back at the surprised beast next to me.

A part of it is to make her Blume’s decoy here. But mostly it’s to give her a chance.

M - You can become a hero today, Calamity.

C - ...

M - Just, don’t make me shoot you please... But if you want to help, if you want.... Please do.

I’m sure Blume will succeed out there. She can resurrect people. That’s a high start.

Magenta rises above us, while the distant twister vanishes as it rises.

Sanïssia is rushing back to us.

I don’t see the falling calamities after her so far.

Then I notice Calamity looking right above us in the sky.

And I see the rain of fire heading straight at us, and not Sanïssia.

Good...

I push Calamity inside and we jump into the nearest pool before the pillars of fire strike the island.

~

It feels like an earthquake at first. Then we feel the heat, and feel the strong light.

As we carefully make our way back to the surface of the island, we go through more red and orange lights than greens.

Calamity just walks and stumbles behind me, afraid. The jungle is burning, along with some buildings of the complex.

Strong flashes of light are levelling the place.

I get a hinge, thinking that maybe Magenta is here screaming its wrath at us for what we did last time to its Calamity.

A wrathful tantrum from an evil god... Everything is burning around us.

M - It’s not a god. It’s just a piece of shit.

C - ... Piece of shit.

I turn around. Calamity has an odd glow and look to her. I have a second of doubt, and barely prevent a reflex to aim at her with a gun.

But the ceiling collapses above us, as the new calamity enters.

She looks the same as ever. Short hair, aggressive stance, and so much hatred in her eyes it could burn through your skull.

The problem is, this is half a god now standing in front of me. Her wings are on fire, but they could start glowing at any moment an even brighter fire.

She also holds one tooth sword in each hand this time. She might have come for me, but she also obviously came ready to have revenge against Blume.

I pulled out my second handgun. I have two hands as well. I’m scared...

Calamity’s hands are clenching on my shoulders behind me, trembling as she hides there.

The new one is unfazed. She does seem cautious as she hasn’t rushed me. She probably expects Blume to be close and ready to jump on her.

I have to hold her focus here. She must not understand what we’ve done.

My heartbeat rises, till I’m ready to blow.

I feel like I’m not breathing anymore.

I start shooting. It jumps at me.

~

The walls are collapsing and the ground shaking.

If she can avoid most of my bullets, they still guide some of her movements while I step back and then run for my life.

A wall collapses as a giant wing brushes through it like an immense blade.

Sanïssia matched my timing, as I faintly smelled her approach.

Calamity falls on a side, while a twirling bolt of light and blades passes by, closing in on me.

With Sanïssia’s wings, I get half a second to escape before I’m shreds. I jumped above the balcony’s edge. More chances to survive that fall than the other doom.

I land on Sanïssia’s back rather softly. I don’t have to yell her to go and move away fast, she knows.

The great snake twists around so fast that waves splash around the building now on fire.

As we rise, I notice that no other calamity has fallen around. There was just one. The better one.

The last one.

The sky is clear but still plagued with the glint of a god watching over us with spite. Watch us...

The burning calamity rises above the building with spread wings that don’t flap, again.

Her bubble of light appears. She’s going to make it explode. I just have to think it and Sanïssia instantly reacts.

We dive.

The flash boils the surface of the water like an explosion of heat.

Sanïssia swims around the complex and reappears, in a strike from another angle.

She doesn’t attempt to bite the glowing orb floating above the flaming ruins.

She brings me close enough to shoot.

The momentum still sends me flying to my death, not far from the glow. But Sanïssia is swift and agile enough to have her tail catch me back on the other side. That was terrifying, but I took as many shots I could. I don’t know if I hit her though.

The burning thing still wants to fight, but finds her limits.

She falls. From wounds or exhaustion.

Sanïssia brings me closer to her. Close enough.

As I shoot without pity, the beast suddenly jumps mightily more than ten metres high toward us. Her wings turn into ashes as she does that.

She reaches the top of the head of Sanïssia, and me. My last bullet shot cuts one of her fingers and she drops one of her swords in pain.

Like last time, I jump to contact before her other sword can slash me in halves.

As we wrestle, we fall below.

We land painfully back where we had our standoff, though there’s no roof above it anymore.

Calamity still is there even, curled up in a corner, terrified.

The new one is about to burst out her light again, to dissolve me instantly. I fight my way away from her.

Sanïssia crushes the new calamity under the weight of a wing as soon as I had managed to step aside.

The light blows up anyway. I get seriously burned and Sanïssia even worse.

I notice that Calamity picked up the other ivory sword that had fallen as well, a little further.

The new calamity has grazes and cuts, but still stands. She looks at the old one as I do, with uncertainty.

Something happens above us in the sky.

They looked. I overcame my instinct to do the same.

I raised my guns to them instead.

Both of them made a move toward me, and I shot them both, steady on my feet.

The new one dodged, the old one was struck and fell.

The new one was over me, about to kill me.

Sanïssia crashed into the building, throwing both of us under the rubbles.

Except that she picked me up with a wing, and stomped over what had piled up over the other one, again and again, burying her...

I breathed.

Sanïssia was burying the last of calamities with angry energy.

And as I lied there soon on her back, I could see the stars.

And I could see in the distance, that the magenta one was gone.

It sparked fireworks, a rain of shooting stars, as all its fragments began to burn as they entered the atmosphere.

Sanïssia stopped stomping the ground after a while, to look at the sky as well.

It felt so weird. Magenta wasn’t in the sky anymore.

The island was collapsing under the tremors and fires however.

The underground base was gurgling we could hear. We never closed the shelter doors behind us. The damages from the fight made it take water.

Sanïssia spewed fuel on top of the rubbles of the building complex, creating a bigger forest of flames, that would last even longer. Calamity has returned to ashes.

I shed a tear and closed my eyes.

It’s finally over.

~