Ascending <<NoOneToHearMe>>

She was alone. Not just in that room, but in life. She was tired of daring to hope for any hope. Hearing their words and seeing their hollow faces as she hung on display like a product had undone the remaining restraints.

Every one of them deserved to burn.

But her rage alone would not be enough. Losing control would just leave her vulnerable to I’ah’s overwhelming focus once more. I’ah had to suffer as well. For whatever reason, it had tricked her and used her.

Miu knew that she could not match the Arcans’ stillness, and peace would not reach her anymore. She had to find something else that would release her restraints. As she thought, her tears returned once more. This time, she did not try to stop them. There would be no more stopping her sorrow. She would embrace it and let it enfold her. If it dragged her into the abyss of the ocean depths, so be it. She would take them all with her.

Feeling the pulses of the cuffs told her they were true Arcan devices, not manufactured. Miu knew she would not be able to break them on her own, so she had to figure out something beyond raw power. Images of possible incantations or inversions played in her mind as she reflected on everything she had been taught. Now she realized that there was plenty of reason for I’ah to never show much of the Arcans’ true power to her, but he had at least shown her some.

Then a specific power stood out. The Aether. Something that was neither Arcan, nor human. It was in between. Within its eternal present, she might find an answer. Miu steadied her mind long enough to gather focus.

“No one to hear me…” she whispered as she tried to formulate a summon.

This was beyond anything she had ever attempted, but she had to succeed. Even if it hurt.

“No one to hear me. A void without pulse answers. My cries in the dark…”

Glitches of expanding emptiness danced around Miu’s hands. Above her, the lights began to flicker.

“Chains fall into you. The timeless realm unfurling. Banishing my light.”

Pockets of reality began to unspool around her. Exquisite pain tore through her eye and teeth as The Aether devoured her energy for itself. It was too powerful for her, but she had to welcome its embrace. Dripping, unmade shafts of darkness shone onto her cuffs.

Miu stifled her scream as The Aether pulled from her to consume the binds on her wrists.

It was working.

“Bindings fall from me! Dead winds slip through the fractures!! UNCHAINING MY RAGE!!!”

There was a crack in space and time, and The Aether’s power tore into Miu’s arms. Pain finally overwhelmed her, and she let out a scream as the cuffs burned in defiance before being consumed and banished to unreality. Shattering bulbs above sent chunks of glass falling down as Miu herself collapsed on the ground. She was free.

Before the alarm had even sounded, Miu was unleashed.

On the ground level, there was a tremor. Everyone paused to listen. Dozens stopped their work. The main conference room was full of human decision-makers and Arcan. All around them, the lights began to flicker. I’ah hesitated as it felt a surge of power rising from below.

“Miu…” it muttered.

Then the explosions began. In an instant, the room was torn into chunks as black and neon blue flames roared up to the heavens. I’ah and the other Arcans abandoned their human hosts and vanished into portals without a word, leaving the mortals on their own.

Screams didn’t have time to formulate. Emergency protocols were initiated. Containment and erasure measures were released. More explosions shredded their way from the lower levels and up into the sky with deafening bursts. In the main room, the generals were crawling for safety and commands. One after the other they were incinerated. Murderous rays of dark light cut through their bodies with shearing screams, spraying organs and fluid across the walls and carpet.

Then the entirety of the room detonated, killing most who remained in a single cataclysmic burst.

Miu rose from the gaping chasm in the center of the room as red alarm lights bathed her in crimson like the walls that were now ordained with blood. Towering infernos rose from beneath her like ancient titanic snakes. They burst upwards and began to rip the remaining chunks of standing structure from their foundations until the entirety of the command center was unmoored and hurling through the air.

“MIU!!!” Taki screamed from below.

Miu paused. His voice was still gentle. She looked down to see Taki pointing a pistol towards her with shaking hands. But his finger wasn’t on the trigger.

“Miu?...” he asked.

Miu did not respond. Across the cityscape, sirens were gaining volume. Scanning the horizon, Miu could now see what the sirens were calling forth. In the distance, the sky began to turn black. It wasn’t storm clouds. It wasn’t nature. It was a swarm of drones. Thousands upon thousands of combat drones were screaming towards them, with a squadron of jets leading the charge. Miu looked back at Taki once more, and he lowered the pistol.

“Goodbye, Taki,” Miu said.

The pistol suddenly glowed red with heat, surprising Taki and forcing him to drop it with a shout of pain. Taki looked down at his burned hand for a moment as a concussive boom sounded out nearby. By the time he looked up, Miu was gone. All that remained was the rubble and death left behind by her fury. A second later, the sky turned dark as the wave of attack drones rushed forth. High above them, the jets moved into attack formation.

Their target: the acolyte who was now flying, a burning streak of light hurling through the sky.

Higher and higher they rose, leaving the metropolis below in seconds. Cold air tore at Miu's skin as she gained speed. It was becoming harder and harder to keep her eyes open. She was going too fast, but they were still closing in. 

"Did you know they modeled the bullet trains after birds?" Yuki asked her.

Once, they were children, watching the trains roar by in the distance.

"The noses were shaped like kingfisher beaks to help push air out of the way so they didn't explode in the tunnels or hurt nearby people!" Yuki smiled.

Miu blinked and laughed to herself as the glitch of a memory ended.

"Thank you, Yuki," she whispered.

Imagining the front of a train allowed Miu to craft a cone of air before her. Light shone from her hands and eye as the triangle of energy appeared, pushing the air around her and protecting her from harm. Now, she could fly as fast as she wished. Clinched fists ignited at Miu's side as she turned to face the horde that was raging upwards towards her.

"Come and greet your end!!" Miu screamed as the air around her ignited in flame and she exploded downward.