Lighting Fires
The grey clouds had shed their water, transforming them into white ribbons streaked across the skies. The day's last few rays of sunshine illuminated the wet concrete and shiny leaves of the trees and shrubs. A'gesh tilted herself forward as she held tight against Delta's shoulder who hasted to the city port station with Anobus following closely behind them. Crowds upon crowds made their way through the station, and her body brushed against shoulders, arms and stomachs. Her eyes darted around the alcoves, searching for the name of the western districts on their marble frames, it didn't take long to see the vibrant orange letters flashing for her destination. Delta whipped around to see if Anobus had caught up, but he was stopped by several people overstepping his path.
“You're too polite,” she said as she thrust her hand towards his, almost striking against a stranger's thighs.
Anobus rolled his eyes as he found his hand in hers before being pulled closer. “What am I meant to tell them when we get there? You need your handler with you.”
“Oh please, I've worked alone long enough to do it on my own. Flash them your position in the library, you're right-hand of the new head scribe and we've got some work we need to collect from there,” she whispered as she tapped on the tablet and pulled out the digital form on screen, “I've changed the name of the archiving project and disconnected this thing from the aether-network, so it doesn't accidentally get copied to Sorren's computer. It just needs your input.”
“A genius trespasser,” he said before taking the tablet from her grasp and scanning through the screen, “archiving for Atlantean healing?”
“Best in the world. Hurry up,” she said looking around.
He sighed as he added his signature. “If we get caught...”
“Not if you convince them that you're supposed to be there,” her eyes caught the time on the tablet, “we must go, the night is coming.”
She snatched the tablet from his palm and grabbed his wrist with her free hand before rushing over to the alcove. Her fingers tapped the ‘Markarta Healing Centre’ title into the side panel before the device began humming. She glanced over to Anobus, who looked as if he shared her hidden fears. She gave him a reassuring smile before skipping onto the pad and flying through the ether. The unnatural lights from the tall ceilings were all she saw. First, their brightness almost stung her eyes as she tried to adjust to the sanitised white and beige rooms with matching coloured furniture. From the moment her boot tapped onto the shiny floors, the uninviting aura of the hospital filled her with dread. Even A'gesh seemed unsettled by this place's energy. Her hair lifted as she turned around to see Anobus port into the alcove behind her. She gave him a nod before waiting for him to take the lead to the reception desk.
Anobus straightened his posture and strolled to the pale-faced Illyrian woman sitting behind it. Her blue eyes hadn't left computer screen, even when he pressed his knuckles against the edge of the table. Delta glanced between them, taking no time to set her tablet and wrist phone to gather data from the hospital's computer network.
“Excuse me,” Anobus said with irritation in his voice. Delta secretly applauded him for taking an authoritative role in this deception.
The woman's eyes skipped to the two of them; her mouth was agape as her mind whirled for the right words. “Pardon me, how can I help you?”
“We've got some scribe work to do for the Capihul's hospitals. My ward and I have been tasked to research Atlantean healing-,” Anobus was cut off when the woman stood up from her seat and nodded.
“The Markarta hospital directory is to your left. Would you like me to notify Healer Hammul of your arrival?” she said.
“We'll notify them ourselves, thank you,” Delta said with a nodding smile.
“If you're planning on going through to the breeding ward, then you must pass through quarantine, especially with your bird. Animals are permitted through most of these premises, but not through the spawning tanks,” she said, eyeing A'gesh.
“Thank you again,” Delta said before stepping towards the directory beside the desk.
The woman grinned as she settled back down into her chair, returning her focus to the screen.
When Anobus reached close enough, Delta smirked as her fingers tapped on the screen for these named areas. “Do you think she will also tell us what the magi's grand plan is?” she whispered.
“That was exhilarating, feels like my head and chest is swimming with energy,” he said as he watched the illuminated screen, “where do we even begin?”
“A long time ago, my mentor told me about how 'they needed more people', I suppose the next logical step is getting to the breeding ward, which is located here,” her finger pressed against a colourful image of the hospital.
“What about escape routes when things go wrong?” he whispered.
“Too little faith, cousin,” she said as her eyes scanned for the shortest halls out, “there are so many wards and wings to this place. Fortunately, there are alcoves inside each part.”
“In and out, that's all,” he said.
It was an arduous walk from the reception to the ward, filled with winding halls and several quarantine sections in between them. With the map imprinted in her mind, she nodded to Anobus before striding off down the corridors. Her eyes kept to the signs and to the tablet, watching all the files stream through the device as they stepped closer to their destination. A'gesh's talons clamped tighter with every healer or nurse that strolled pass them. They seemed uninterested by their presence, but Delta couldn't help sharing her bird's anxiety. Anobus walked in steady pace. His head was turning towards to various rooms and halls they passed by. His breathing became heavier and his eyes darted more wildly.
“What's with you?” she whispered as she slowed her pace, wondering if their speed had given him fatigue.
“It's hard to describe, but I feel a sort of pressure around this place, the closer we get to the breeding ward. Like a thousand little minds humming and chatting just beyond my hearing, it's hard to ignore,” he said as he breathed deeper whilst collecting his composure.
“We won't be long, we need to get to the breeding ward and then the spawning tanks, whatever that means,” she said, glancing at her tablet looking for related words on the fast-moving files.
The hall ended with two silver doors labelled with 'Children's Ward' across the frame. When she approached the door, the seal flashed 'quarantine zone' which did not show on the map. Her fingers tapped the button to slide the doors across; she glanced to Anobus who hurried into the small chamber. She stepped in. The doors hissed closed as a bright beam of light blasted from every corner of the room. Instantly, A'gesh gave off a pained squeal. Even Delta's eyes became overwhelmed with the sudden beam which was much more potent than the beam of the photon-shower at home. However, the light quickly died before the adjacent doors slid open to another hallway.
Suddenly, they were met with a male nurse who stood there with his arms crossed waiting for the two of them to step from the chamber. As both hurried to step out at the same time, they almost collided into each other as they exited the door. The nurse raised his brow as they passed by him. Delta flashed a smile before continuing her journey, but an “excuse me,” ceased her in her tracks.
“Yes?” Anobus spoke up before she could.
“Where are you going?” he said.
“Archiving information from this facility,” Delta said holding up her tablet.
“In regards?” the nurse pressed, his eyes glaring between the two of them.
“We're scribes from Capihul's library, doing a project on Atlantean healing,” Anobus said crossing his arms.
“The hour's late for scribe work,” the nurse said, his golden eyes were like slits in his head.
“If we continue to be bothered it will be even later; we want to get out of here as soon as we can, as do you,” Anobus said as his brow started to flicker with impatience.
The nurse sighed as his posture straightened. “Where are you two headed?”
“We were directed to the breeding ward by your receptionist,” Delta tried to match Anobus' frustration instead of utter terror.
“To go there, that bird will need to be qua-,”
“Quarantined, we were already instructed for that,” she said, glancing down the hall.
“Right. Does the head healer already know you're doing this?” the nurse said.
Anobus reached out and gently pressed his palm against the nurse's shoulder, meeting his gaze and smiled. “It's alright, we've already notified Hammul that we will be here. If you want, we've got a dissertation to show you that we're meant to be here.”
The nurse's steely glare faded and matched his smile. “Understood, goodnight you two,” he said before turning around and stepping into the quarantine chamber.
Delta glanced at her cousin with surprise and relief. “What did you do?”
“I feel so strong here, Del, my psionics feel like they're on fire. He was weak enough for my influence. I could only do such a thing a little bit outside, but here...” he said before wandering down the hall.
She followed closely behind him while watching through the open doorways to other rooms. She could see human children of many ages playing with each other, healers, nurses and assumed family members. Many toys were laid out as they threw, tugged and pressed them, some with their hands, but some were playing with them without ever touching them. She stopped and stared at their faces. Their golden eyes shone brightly as if there was a light inside their skulls trying to come out; their hands had a thin amber light shining from their skin, and their auras would become brighter when projecting telekinetic energy.
“Anobus,” she whispered. She tugged his tunic, making him turn and glance into the same room, “have you ever seen so many human children do that before?”
He shook his head. She noticed tiny beads of sweat forming on his temples. “That's extremely rare, only powerful human adults can do that or-,”
“Or harkan offspring,” she finished, “but there are so many in this place...come.”
They wanted to run down the halls but were forced to keep their pace. A'gesh chirped in her ear, her wings beating against her shoulder before they turned around the corner with another silver quarantine door. Across the frame labelled 'Breeding Ward.'
“What's with her?” he glanced at A'gesh.
“Something's off, she gets this way when magi are around,” Delta whispered.
Anobus was the first to reach out and open the metal gates. He hurried in, with her close behind. The doors slammed shut and another painful burst of light appeared before diminishing into nothingness. “I don't feel very well,” Anobus whispered before the doors opened to another hallway.
“Just a few minutes more, we won't get another chance like this again,” she said as she stepped into it. The corridors had a more oppressive air to them. She even found it more difficult to breathe as she made haste. However, there were no nurses or healers within sight. Her eyes drifted between the walls, which were full-length windows revealing the rooms inside. It took a moment for her to adjust to the dozens of small trays on slabs lined up perfectly, but it wasn't until she heard the shrill cries of infants that she realised that they were cribs. She slowly stepped to the windows to peek inside the rooms. They were far bigger than first appeared, with many more cribs lain across them.
“Looks like a baby viewing room,” Anobus whispered when he stepped closer to the window.
“But where are all their parents?” she said turning around to see the adjacent window showing a similar amount of cribs, “their eyes, there's that similar light coming from them like with the older children.”
“Where have you taken me?” Anobus pressed his fingers against his temples. The sweat rolled down between his nails and fingertips as his face scrunched in pain.
“What are you sensing?” Delta whispered as she gently grabbed his forearm.
“It's their minds, all of them are talking to each other, they're talking to me too,” he said as he forced his eyes open.
A'gesh let out another chirp followed by a now more thunderous beating of her wings. “Are they talking to you too?” she said looking to her bird's wide, fearful eyes, “we can leave, there's plenty of information in my computer to go through,”
“No,” Anobus shook his head, “we need to see this through, I need to see this,” he said.
Delta bit her lip as she pressed further down the halls, keeping her focus on the direction where the spawning tanks stood. As they turned down a long hallway, a figure in a white healer's robe at the other end was startled by their emergence. Delta's heart froze when the image of Mage Balgrif's face turned to meet them. His eyes were widened with surprise. She quickly glanced to Anobus, hoping that he would perceive her panicked expression before glancing down at her tablet, hiding her face. Anobus needed no second-guessing as he stepped in front of her and made polite eye-contact with the healer, unknowing his identity.
She dared to look up through her fringe as Balgrif's dusty white face scrunched with the disapproval of their presence. “Where are you two going?” he snarled.
Anobus tried straightening his posture, but the sweat seemed to roll down his face as his hands began trembling. “On official scribe business, healer, we're just trying to get to the...” his head dropped as a nasty growl from his gut echoed through the hall.
Delta's fingers pressed hard against the tablet. The device made a stressed squeaking sound as her free arm tried pulling Anobus up. Balgrif equally looked confused and distressed as Anobus lifted his pale face and stumbled towards him before releasing all his stomach contents on the mage's robes and shoes. The smell stung her nose. She leaned back to see the mage give a yelp of disgust as he jumped back against the wall, looking down at his ruined attire.
“Get the janitor and a healer, quickly!” she called, but the mage didn't need her command to dart down the hall.
She glanced back at Anobus, who seemed to have his colour return to his face before pulling out a tissue and wiping his sweat and mouth with it. “Let's go.”
Her cheeks felt like they were going to split from her wide grin. Her arm twined around his as they made their way to the next quarantine door labelled with 'Spawning Chambers'. Her finger reached out and tapped it open as she gently pulled Anobus and herself inside the small suffocating room.
“Bird's aren't allowed in the spawning rooms, you know this, Del,” he said as he stretched the navy collar of his tunic.
She felt a laugh escape her throat as the bright beam of light flooded the chamber. When it vanished, she saw the smallest smoke drift from the skin of her hand. She squeezed it into a knuckle and felt her skin was tighter and, in more pain, than before. Delta looked to A'gesh. Her poor friend had her head tucked into her wing, trying to protect her delicate eyes from the harshness of the chamber. She felt guilt and sorrow for putting her and Anobus through such physical distress. However, they trusted her senses enough to see her through this ordeal, even if it meant costing their comfort and career. She never felt more blessed and privileged in her life.
The doors hissed open. Her eyes were shocked by the sudden darkness in the chamber with many smaller emerald lights illuminating high shelves stretching to the ceiling. Holding Anobus' shaky form she pressed forward into the poorly lit and uncomfortably barren room. A metal railing was secured around a thin walkway between the shelves. She focused on their contents. Massive transparent tanks were filled with murky yellow fluid and what seemed to be foetuses with tubes connected to the lids. Her lips trembled as she turned around to see some of them more developed into visible infants but deformed. A'gesh began flapping her wings as she took off from her shoulder; her cries bounced around the chamber.
“What in the universe...” she mouthed as she gripped the edge of the railings. Her head tilted down to see another whole section below them with similar tanks and an open pool of similar yellowish liquid.
“There are human hybrid infants mixed with Matchenei, Barari, Xannian, but they look twisted... there are stairs here…” Anobus broke free from her grasp as he headed to the side of the walkway down to the metal spiral.
She walked behind until she saw Anobus seize in his tracks as he stared across the edges of the circular pool. Delta followed his gaze when suddenly she got startled by an old woman with messy ivory hair and deep, scarred eyes that wore white robe. She raised her head to reveal a twisted rotten-toothed grin.
“Did ya see my seeds?” Basra croaked. She hobbled towards them as her wild beady eyes darted madly between them, “the tomatoes are getting riper each year,” she said with rising voice.
“What's-,” Anobus's voice trembled but was drowned out by A'gesh's shrieks as she began circling overhead.
“Of course, not all of them are tomatoes, some of them are peaches, bananas and so on. But you can tell which ones are mine,” her eyes shone a menacing turquoise as her grin slid around her cheeks like a scythe.
“Are you building an army?” Delta yelled.
“Rock-brained mundane! It's a waste of fruit!” Basra shrieked as her hands burst with energy. With a flick of her wrists, the balls of light flew towards them.
Adrenaline surged through Delta’s muscles as she pushed Anobus and herself backwards. Her head spun around to see the ball of energy had partially corroded through the metal stairs leaving a round gap in it. Anobus stumbled to his feet and held his hands up. “Basra, wait-,”
Her eye turned to him, but Delta took no time to charge into the hag, throwing her entire force into her form. But Basra conjured a bright turquoise shield before her. Delta couldn't stop her momentum as she tumbled into the burning energy barrier. She screamed as parts of her ear and cheek cooked against it, sending her back to the ground. The smell of burning hair and flesh wafted through the room as she looked up to Basra, whose grin had vanished, and her mouth hung open like in a demented monster.
“We don't need your understanding; we need your silence!” she growled as she stretched her palms out with two vicious balls of light swirling in them, inches from Delta's face.
A fist cracked against the hag's cheeks, making her tumbled to the floor. Anobus stood over her a moment before leaning over to Delta and lifting her with one hand. Her eyes travelled beyond his shoulder to see the bony fingers with cracked yellow nails wrapping across his face. Anobus gave a groan of pain as trickles of blood appeared around his cheeks. A'gesh's talons came atop her hair, shredding into her scalp and pulling as much of the matted mess from her head, forcing her to ease the grip from Anobus's face. Delta wrapped her hands around Basra's knuckles and pried them from her cousin's head. The hag squealed as Delta pressed into delicate fists and kept pressing harder and harder until she felt them shatter inside Basra’s flesh.
The hag dropped to her knees as she wailed from the pain. Delta twisted her grip before releasing her hands. Basra pulled her floppy hands inwards as tears welled in her bloodshot eyes.
“I should just rip them off you!” Delta hissed, but Basra's cries stopped as a blank stare washed over her face. Her mouth hung open as she was trying to take panted breaths while her destroyed trembling hands clutched to her chest. Her body was now convulsing on the cold floor.
She glanced at Anobus, who had wiped some of the vermilion liquid from his cheeks. “She's telling me she's having a heart attack,” he said.
“Let her have it, we can't stay here,” Delta spun around, summoned A'gesh to her shoulder and hopped up the stairs, “they're probably already looking for us, we need to leave her!”
“She's dying, Del,” he said.
“That's what'll happen to us if the magi get to us,” she yelled.
Anobus face had fallen as he took a small breath before joining Delta up the stairs. “Where are the nearest alcoves?”
She took him by the wrist, but it slipped through her grasp. The map in her mind guided them to the alcoves; their feet were slapping against the metal floor. The excitement of escape and fear of being caught were coursing through Delta’s veins. Down a dimly lit hall, past the rows of tanks, her eye caught the outlines of the teleportation alcoves inside. She could catch the hissing sound of the quarantine doors opening inside the spawning room and an echo of furious voices calling behind, but they were too far to get caught. Delta hopped inside the entrance to the small hall with only three alcoves located on each side and all of them out of order.
Once Anbous ran inside, she grabbed the outer edges of the deactivated metal doors and pushed them shut. She saw small indentations in the metal where her fingers pressed into the surfaces, but this was hardly the time to make a show of it. “That'll buy us some time, turn those two alcoves on and type in random coordinates and press enter, make it look like we entered them.”
Unintelligible shouts called from the doors followed by vicious bangs against the solid metal. Anobus hurried to each one and began typing into their panels as she hurried to the remaining alcove. They could hear scraping of metal tools that ground the surface behind the door while their thin tips pierced between the centre of the third alcove doors. The tips pulled the gap wider, almost large enough for an eye to peep through. Her fingers were trembling as she typed the coordinates to Capihul's main porting station. The device flickered on with life. She turned around and took a handful of Anobus' tunic, pulling him and herself inside. The metal doors finally cracked open, but their faces blurred by the light surrounding them before sucking them into another space.
~
Night had blanketed the heavens. They hadn't uttered a word to each other since leaving the hospital. Their throats were dried from the brisk walk from Caphihul's port station to the library and all the way to the townhouse. A'gesh decided to part from Delta's shoulder back to the tree beside the pond where they found her when they reached the familiar mezzanine to unwind from their close encounter with the magi. Delta scrambled up the stairs as her hands fumbled for the handle before sliding the door aside. Anobus took no time to brush past her and disappear into the black room before she followed.
“That was incredible. Good work with getting sick at the right time, and on a mage of all people!” she laughed as she slammed the door shut and clicked for the lantern to fill the house with light.
“Wasn't quite on cue,” Anobus's pale face was illuminated under the glow. The corner of his mouth cracked a smile as he looked towards the black fireplace, “this place is colder than outside.”
“You're too sensitive, A'gesh never complains,” Delta crouched over a battered trunk and pulled out a few dried logs. They crashed against the ashen metal plate as she tossed them one by one.
Anobus combed his damp hair with his fingers, while his other hand rubbed his face still marked by Basra's nails and raw. “Do you have a skin-spray by any chance?”
“Box is in the bathroom, first door to your right,” she said leaning over the black tray while her fingers fumbled for the lighter. She twisted the dial on the heavy rectangular object to release high-pressured, short-distant flames before holding it over the logs and pressing down on the neon orange button. The device screeched as an invisible fire erupted from the nozzle, lighting the cinders and flayed wood into orange flames. Her mind flickered to Mayen; how she could light fires with her mind, move effortlessly through the world being so sure of herself and her capabilities. Even when she was away, Delta knew that she would be back to light fires again, but she wasn't sure of anything anymore.
She heard his footsteps coming. Anobus was holding the tiny tube with a spray on the top a foot away from his face. “This thing's running out of juice,” he said rattling the vial inside.
“It's how you use it,” she rose to her feet and took the tube from his hands, tilting it to the side and releasing a watery liquid along his eyes and cheeks, “so, do you believe me now about the magi?”
Anobus turned his face and gently dabbed the healed-over cuts with his fingertips. “Don't know what to make of it all, honestly.”
“Still you sound resistant,” she said placing the spray on the small table before pulling off her pocket dimensional bag.
“How can you expect otherwise? I grew up like every other psychic knowing truth when we'd ask for it, trusting that we had transparency in this country and the world,” he said.
“I understand, but now you may see we cannot afford to be so naïve to the evils around us anymore,” she said.
“Don't pretend like you're free of evil, Del. I watched your face when you brought Basra down as if you were enjoying crushing her hands the way you did,” he said as his eyes closed, and hands tightened into fists.
Her jaw clenched as she stared at him. “She was ready to kill us, Anobus! And who knows what would've happened if the magi caught us. Seriously, how can you see me as the enemy?”
“My work revolves around helping people, no matter what walk or state they are in life. She was a deeply troubled woman, and you just dropped her like she was a bag of…I don't expect you to understand what I sensed-,” he said as his eyes started to redden.
“Well, teach this poor, evil mundane what she misunderstood, Anobus,” her voice rose with a mix of a tremble.
He pressed his fingers against his temples. “Everything you said about the magi was true, but it didn't click until we saw Basra, not until I reached into her mind and really saw what has happened to her.”
“What happened?” she said while she watched tears welling in his eyes.
“Basra was alone her whole life, spent her days trying to survive the next. The magi took her in, saw something in her and changed her. She suffered her whole life because of them, compelled to do things she never wanted to do but was weak to their power. Those brief moments, she would run to the stay-house, she was reaching out for help, but I never fully looked deeper. What a sad excuse of a counsellor,” he chuckled as fingers wiped his wet eyes, “she was broken a long time ago, I could've helped her right when we saw her in the spawning rooms, but we just let death take her.”
That revelation stung Delta in the deepest part of her. A cold shiver ran up her spine as she thought about the similarities of their lives, knowing loneliness and being tempted by the safety and security of the magi. She replayed the last few moments of Basra's brutal death. Maybe she wasn't the direct cause, but it was she who wanted to see the old woman suffer the way she had suffered herself. Their only difference was that she managed to keep away from the magi through her defect. Perhaps, being mundane was not the only defect that she had, she wondered.
“I'm sorry for not giving you a chance to help her,” she whispered.
“Me too. I can't say if it would've worked, her control was far too deep, but...” he shook his head.
“Did you learn what the magi were trying to do with her? Were all those infants and children really hers?” she said.
“Some were; the others were by other females presumably magi, or from stolen eggs, but I didn't get the impression they were trying to make them into soldiers or anything like that. All I got was that they are trying to make powerful people,” he said.
“That's more questions than answers,” Delta sighed. Her ears picked up a clicking against the window; A'gesh's beak tapped the glass. She could see tiny shards of ice forming along the edges of her feathers. She hurried over and opened the window for the bird to stumble back inside, perching over the fireplace to collect its warmth.
“I'm sure you'll find the answers in those tablets somewhere,” he said with a crooked smile as he glanced at the door, “it's getting late.”
“Where do you live?” the speed of the question even came as a surprise to him it, took her a moment to realise she didn't want to be alone anymore, and she didn't have to be.
“Since you don't have a working port alcove, I'll have to head across the other side of the city,” he said.
“Oh, don't be ridiculous, it's freezing out there, and it's too dark. Not worth the risk,” she said.
“I only saw one bed in this whole house. I can make one on the floor here,” he said as his hand awkwardly rubbed his neck.
“I don't have spare stuff to make a comfortable bed, the one I have is big enough for two and has internal heating from the moment you lie down on the mattress,” she said stepping further down the narrow hall.
“Better be, I'm told I toss around a lot when I astral travel. Besides, when are you going to get a port alcove here anyway? You're living like a savage,” he said following her.
“It's called walking, Anobus, we’ve been doing that for millennia,” she smiled, entering the warm room and pulling the bed frame from the wall.
“Oh, how could I forget,” he said looking around the room, “so, this is where you went after the stay-house?”
“If this is not to your liking...” she said pulling out old bedding clothes from the tall dresser and tossing them to her cousin, “go change.”
Anobus smiled as he wandered over to the bathroom and shut the door. Delta felt her cheeks tense from how long she smiled as she slowly pulled her clothes off. Her wrist vibrated when she saw a message from Olanta appear on the screen before fading to black. She sighed as she flicked it off for the night. She pulled her nightgown on before settling on the edge of her bed. There was one last person she needed to make up to.
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