Phoenix of Dawn

Slide Away

Eternal, irrevocable, and catastrophic.

Death was no stranger to me. It was an unwelcome friend.  

The wind whipped and howled hard enough to nearly knock an overweight man off his feet. In a crash of lightning the sky darkened, rain pouring in sheets overhead. No room for thought, not a second to process and it was on the move. Like the silver of a jagged blade, death ripped through through the tiny thread that remained.

My eyes were trained, a tunnel forming and nothing, no one would stop me. 

Something dark and malevolent was pulling strings.

Not death, no. Grief. Pain. Rage. 

A monster rang through my muscles, oozing out of my pores in blinding silver. It was a stark difference against the blackness that had taken over the sky. 

In a moment it over. The rain still pounding down over the crumpled bodies before me. It would have been stupid to wonder if I had done it but the thought still pushed its way to the forefront of my mind. It had all been a blur. A tidal wave of heated rage that blew through me and onto them. 

Reiker lay motionless on the forest floor, his blood pouring out over the grass. The last plea for his life still echoing in the air. 

How could I even do this? Reiker was a terrible person. He was not the man I'd once knew but for his fate to be dealt by my hands? 

"Holy shit..."

Lakeland's words reached my ear, the awe and wonder in his voice conflicting against the turmoil in my chest. 

What did I do?

I'd done this. I'd killed in just a blink of an eye. I'd destroyed lives with a single tough, a moment of overwhelming emotion had lead to the death of a man who had helped me through dark times. I was glad I'd done it, he'd murdered my aunt.

Clara...

The knowledge that I'd turn around and find her there, lifeless on the ground had my heart in pieces. The others, braver than me, were aready around her, checking what I already knew to be true. 

She's dead. 

Gone forever. 

And it's all my fault.

If I hadn't been caught, if I hadn't gone after Katherine, if I hadn't.... If I... if...

"Kyra..." Bex's voice was so soft and yet so harsh against my raw exposed nerves.  

I was still staring at Reiker. His death just a little easier to swallow than the woman who had only ever cared for me. Who had been the last piece of family I had left. 

You're the monster.

It was true wasn't it? I'd just killed four people, one of them had once been my friend, and I'd done it so easily. It had been as simple as snapping my fingers, the repercussions seemingly nothing compared to permanent death. 

If I'd just done what I was told she'd be alive...

My eyes shut, the silent tears hidden by the rain and I was grateful for it. A war between relief at Reiker's death, grief over the loss of Clara, and guilt at both was raging within me. The destruction was rising higher and higher from the depths of my soul, to the lump in my throat, I was powerless to stop it. 

"Kyra," Axel called, the guilt and empathy clear in his tone. 

That was my fault too. He shouldn't feel guilty. He feels guilty because of me.