GRAVESKIES

Chapter 2

Ten years ago...

Eleven years of age, Ryu didn't know what she'd ask Nyrin, but she decided she'd get up there to look that God in the face and give him a run for his money.

Only the best warriors got to enter the Temple of Right, meet the only God that kept ties with humanity, and make a wish. Any wish, however selfish or horrible or inconceivable. That was their renumeration for serving the country, for pushing beyond the limits of human physicality, for becoming a contour of the impossible.

As soon as she was of age to join the army training camps, Ryujin had signed up and practiced. She'd been born with wings much like those of a falcon. Everyone back home used to regard them with fear and disgust, but not here. She had a thirst for this, for battle, for breaking bounds, so much that she often forgot to take herself into account. Willow often dropped by to make sure Ryu was eating regularly between practice. Ryu practiced so much more than she did.

But the best was when they practiced together.

Ryu had learned make herself unheard, but when fighting Willow, she let herself be slightly flawed. She offered Willow little clues, since she knew her friend would get scared. Soft, cotton footsteps thrummed through the grass.

Standing before her in the windswept field, Willow was a lanky, weak girl of eleven. The army hadn't made much of her yet. She was terrified of her magical ability. Liquify— she could turn anything in her surroundings to liquid and remodel its shape. It might not have sounded like much, but ideally, she'd turn entire battlefields into crashing oceans and stand on the only unmoving spot. She'd turn walls into tar and command them swallow a person whole. After initially manifesting her gift three months ago, she'd cried in Ryu's room every night for about two weeks.

Willow was a Wielder. She had one of the most powerful talents the army had ever trained. Ryu feared that if Willow committed to training, she would surpass her overnight. The fact that it was possible frustrated her, but so did the fact that Willow just wouldn't do it. Couldn't, not when she held back like that.

Boots ploughed into dirt and moss. Punches whizzed through the cool air of the dying autumn afternoon. Ryu wrinkled her brow and clenched her muscles. She was a Mutant, so she didn't have a talent to train and sharpen. She needed to ace physical combat and devise her own startegies to utilise her natural condition to her advantage. Willow aimed a punch; Ryu dodged and bounced off her wings to regain balance.

Even the slightest use of her wings during a fight made her breath catch. Her wings were underdeveloped. Up 'til joining the army, she hadn't been allowed to use them at all. She'd been demanded to hide them in loose dress shirts and old shredded curtains. Now that she wore tight training suits with holes, flaunting them felt uncomfortable. Her parents had claimed that the moment they saw her fly was the moment she would no longer be their daughter.

So she just had to never let them see.

Ryu tripped Willow with the tips of her wings and scowled. She couldn't move her wings fast enough, so Willow must've seen it coming. Must've even had enough time to process what was happening.

"React faster! Get up!"

Willow deflected another punch; her uppercut almost threw the winged girl off. Ryu increased the distance between them to reorient herself, like General Kran always advised. Scanned her surroundings and Willow's appearance: dirty cheeks, tangled hair, worn out after hours of practice. Willow wouldn't expect something new this far into the training session.

A sharp instinct rushed through her. Ryujin broke into a run, gaining momentum, then leaped. Mid-air, her wings stretched out, black, gracious arches that swallowed her field of vision and propelled her upwards.