Flood Of Bones

The men return the horses to the barn. Thorn swings down from his saddle with a grunt, his joints stiff. He pats his horse and frowns as if the day’s weight refuses to lift. 
          The others chatter as they lead the horses to their stalls, but Thorn stays silent, lost in thought. 
          Halo lingers near the barn door, waiting until the others file out, their voices fading into the distance. Only when the space is quiet does she step closer, her voice low. 
          “Thorn… about my fall. It wasn’t an accident.” 
          He straightens, his brows knitting. “What do you mean?” 
          She swallows hard, meeting his gaze. “Cinder. She kicked me off the edge.” 
          Thorn is still for a moment, then turns, his expression darkening with disbelief. “I’ve known Cinder a long time. She can be sharp-tongued and stubborn, but she wouldn’t do that.” 
          “I’m telling you the truth,” Halo insists, stepping closer. Her voice trembles, but her eyes burn with conviction. “It was intentional. There’s no other way to see it.” 
          Thorn crosses his arms, the weight of command heavy in his voice. “Halo, when we found you, you said you didn’t remember what happened. You hit your head hard. Are you sure your mind isn’t playing tricks on you?” 
          Her frustration boils over. “I remember just fine. She kicked me. She smiled when she did it too.” 
           He exhales, rubbing the bridge of his nose as if her words were another burden on an already heavy load. “I’m not saying you’re lying. But I can’t condemn someone I trust based on cloudy memories. Not in times like these.” 
          The silence that follows cuts deep. Halo lowers her gaze, her voice bitter. “So I just have to stand next to her? Pretend she didn’t try to kill me?” 
          Thorn’s jaw tightens, but his answer comes firm. “We don’t have the luxury of division right now. Like it or not, you’ll both have to work together.” 
          “Having someone try to kill me is a little dividing, Thorn!” Halo throws her hands up in the air. 
          Thorn narrows his eyes. “I will hear no more of this, and that’s final.” 
          Halo swallows down all the things she wants to say. She’s trapped, forced to fight side by side with someone who will only stab her in the back again. It gnaws at her like a wound no one else believes exists. She storms out of the barn, her strides long and furious. The anger boiling inside her makes it feel as if the world itself is shaking beneath her. 
          Halo stops. 
          A tremor rattles the ground, shaking pebbles into the cracks of the cobblestone. A low rumble follows, rolling in from all directions. 
          Halo bolts up the stone steps to the fortress wall. From the height, she scans the shoreline of their small island. A lone boat drifts past with no rower in sight. 
          The water, once still, ripples in several places at once. Bubbles churn their way to the surface, bursting in sharp pops. A violent splash erupts, spraying arcs of water into the air but no one is there. 
         From the depths of the ocean, a glistening sapphire shape begins to rise. The water churns violently, waves foaming as something massive pushes upward. It breaks the surface at last, towering above the waves. Hollow, glistening sockets stare toward Ossamaris, the haunting gaze of a blue Skelloid. 
          “Skelloid!” Halo shouts, her voice cutting through the air. Guards rush to the walls as the warning bell shrieks across the fortress. 
          “They’re not supposed to survive in water!” a guard cries, panic thick in his voice. 
          Spears are readied, hands trembling on their grips when a second warning bell rings from the opposite side of the island. 
          The sea convulses, waves swelling higher. From the depths, more sapphire forms burst upward, blue Skelloids erupting from the water in every direction. 
          The third warning bell shrieks across Ossamaris, its cry colliding with the others until the whole city rings with panic. 
          From every side, sapphire giants rise from the ocean, slime cascading from their bodies. The Blue Skelloids slam into the fortress walls with bone-shaking force, claws gouging into stone. 
          “Archers!” Thorn bellows from the ramparts, his voice carrying over the chaos. Guards scramble to the ready, bows trembling in their hands. 
          The first volley looses, shafts of wood vanishing into blue slime. A few chip into bone, but most stick or bounce away as if striking armor. The Skelloids don’t slow. 
         One hooks its claws on the edge of the fortress wall and heaves itself up. With a guttural screech, it swings its massive arm, sending two men flying from the rampart into the canal below. Their screams vanish beneath the crash of water. 
         Halo grips the stone, her heart hammering. 
         Lanterns swing off their hooks, flames skimming the edges of homes. 
         The Skelloids force their way inland, bringing wave after wave of water with them. Flooding surges over cobblestones, flooding streets and shaking loose boats. 
         “Hold the line!” Thorn roars, but his command is swallowed by the chaos. 
         Norio leaps from a rooftop onto the shoulders of one Skelloid, jamming his spear down into its skull. The monster thrashes, crashing into a market stall and splintering wood in every direction. 
         Benji and Yumi fight side by side at a choke point on the bridge, holding civilians back with one hand while fending off claws with the other. 
         Halo forces herself into motion, climbing the nearest tower. She steps onto the ledge, overlooking the city ravaged by Skelloids. Spear in hand, she steps off the edge. 
          She drops onto a Skelloid, driving her weapon through its jaw. The monster thrashes, trying to shake her loose, but the spear is still wedged deep in its mandible. Gritting her teeth, Halo braces her feet against its jaw, wrenching the weapon free. With nothing to support her, she falls. She drags the spear through its slime on the way down, ripping a long gash that slows her fall. Slime splatters onto the ground, leaving pale bone exposed. The Skelloid lets out a guttural shriek, slashing frantically everywhere, as if it can’t see where it’s attacker is coming from. Halo surging forward to its exposed leg. With all her weight, she drives the spear into its knee and twists. 
          The Blue Skelloid topples, crashing against the base of the very tower she leapt from. The structure groans, supports cracking, stones tumbling free. Halo looks up as massive slabs of masonry break loose, the entire tower collapsing in a roar. 
          It smashes into the Skelloid first, only a few feet above her. Halo sprints, cracked stones crashing all around, and dives clear just as the tower crashes into the street. She tumbles across the cobblestones as a cloud of dust blinds her. 
         When it clears, the Skelloid lies limp, crushed beneath the ruin of the tower. For a fleeting moment, pride flickers in Halo’s eyes. 
         But then she sees it. 
         All around her, Skelloids trample houses underfoot. The markets are burning. People scream, scattering with nowhere to run. Injured guards crawl across the ground, their weapons knocked from their hands. 
          I can’t stop this. There are too many of them. 
          On the hill overlooking Ossamaris, the androids emerge from the forest, their silhouettes cutting through the smoke. The city’s screams carry, distant but unmistakable. 
          Helrix pauses at the edge of the trees, his pale silicone face illuminated by the flickering fires below. Slowly, he smiles, savoring the destruction of the place he has always despised. 
          Rubble steps out a few paces behind, brushing leaves from his light blue hair. His skin has fully regenerated, seamless and human-like once more. But the sight before him freezes him in place: smoke choking the sky, blue Skelloids trampling the streets, Ossamaris buckling under the chaos. His heart sinks. 
          “We have to help them!” Rubble shouts, desperation cracking his voice. 
          Helrix turns, his expression steeped in cold disappointment. “Help them? The Skelloids are doing all the work for us. We should be thanking them.” 
          Rubble breaks into a stride toward the city, but Helrix’s hand snaps out, iron-strong fingers yanking him close. Helrix’s pale eyes reflecting firelight as he hisses, “Where do you think you’re going?” 
          “I can’t watch this happen to them.” Rubble’s voice falters, his eyes pleading. But Helrix meets them with nothing but fury. 
          “You’re too valuable a weapon to let loose.” 
          “I’m not a weapon!” Rubble snarls, shaking free of his grip. But Helrix’s cold hand clamps back down, this time at his throat, fingers like steel bands cutting into his skin. 
          Rubble’s hand curls into a fist. A surge of cold electric blue erupts from his knuckles, a bolt that cracks toward Helrix. 
          He stumbles back, but the device on his forearm beams to life, the prototype shield activating in a shimmer of energy. The bolt fizzles harmlessly against it. 
          “I was afraid it would come to this,” Helrix says, his voice low and disappointed, almost disgusted. “If you’re not with us, you’re against us.” 
          Rubble’s chest heaves, his glare burning. “So be it.” 
          He turns and darts through the tall grass toward the burning town of Ossamaris, leaving Helrix in the shadows, his twisted smile returning as the fires consume the horizon.