Mirae Walkers

❗Chapter XIX❗

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

Caste let out a screech of pure agony as blood exploded from his chest from where the bullet left his body. He fell over, shaking and clutching where the blood was pouring from his chest.

He suddenly silenced himself, reached over and touched Keoni's Rune, only once, then said "I zpeyr chea."

Caste opened a Mir-Gate below himself, falling through and dragging Keoni with him. She tried getting back, but the current forced her through.

She landed next to him with a thud on the dirt. Jefu was only a couple hundred meters away.

Caste didn't get up. Keoni approached him, not seeing the rise and fall of his chest.

He was dead now. She didn't exactly understand how he was going to be alive again, but all she knew now was Caste was nothing but a dead corpse.

The anger ate through the shock of being so easily defeated by the Mir-Cognate. But now, she had his body, she could do whatever she pleased to him.

He's your friend, isn't he?

Keoni shoved that soft thought to the back of her head, angrily pacing back and forth. The grass below her was shifting colors to match the tint of Caste's now blue blood. After collecting herself, she opened a Mir-Gate back to the Physical World.

She stepped through, but she didn't move. Keoni opened her eyes to see herself standing right on the portal, but she wasn't passing through.

Snarling, Keoni tried again, but with the same outcome. She kept reopening, but all she could see was a black void that she couldn't fit through.

On the now moonlit horizon, someone was walking towards her. They felt familiar, like Keoni had seen them before.

Probably another Cognate I saw in Finx. They're nobody.

As they got closer, Keoni could see some defining features. She was a fox, much larger than Keoni and seemingly much older. She was in the most common outfit for a Cognate, with the shawl over the all-black pants and top. Gold thread laced and decorated certain tips, like the hems, of the fabrics. She also wore a necklace threaded with three different Runes. She seemed very muscular, as her way of walking was almost intimidating.

Keoni glanced back at Caste's dead body, wondering if this Cognate was after him. She took a defensive stance, ready in case she did try.

Once the Cognate was about three meters away, she stopped.

"What do you want?" Keoni snapped. She was plenty frustrated, and didn't need anyone or anything making it worse.

"Only to talk to you, Keoni." She responded. She sat down, bringing her hands up in a non-hostile gesture.

Keoni didn't buy it. She summoned her quarterstaff and took a threatening step to her. "Then speak."

"Tell me how you feel."

What? What in the name of Trin did she want? "That's none of your concern."

"Then let's make it my concern. The Quuarks are invading your home, and killing the people you know very well and treasure in your heart."

"And I can do something about that." Keoni tried another Mir-Gate, failing again. She glared at it.

"It is infuriating, that Caste keeps telling you to run, to get away, when you know for a fact that you can do something to help them."

"Exactly," Keoni replied, exasperated. It was almost refreshing that someone finally understood her morals.

"And that something is to kill them all."