Hand of Grace

Death

God, if I die here, will I wake up back on Earth? Will this all be a dream?

As the frantic and terrified thought filled her mind, the dark figure before her – the Death Dealer – locked his inky eyes with hers and paused in his approach. But when she looked into the face of evil, Anne's heart filled with self-resolve rather than shriveling up in fear. She was not going to act like a simpering idiot. She had been sent with a silver-tip bolt so that she could kill him. She was Jove's Vessel. She was going to accomplish what she'd been sent to do. With a steadiness in her hands that defied all logic, she raised her custom crossbow, took aim and squeezed the trigger all in one fluid motion.

She had aimed for his heart. There was no way anyone could dodge a bolt from so close a distance. Her eyes darted to and fro along his body as she looked for where it had landed. She was destined to pierce his heart, but the dark figure in front of her had neither flinched nor dodged. She also hadn't heard the bolt land. For that matter, she had been so caught up in the moment that she hadn't even heard the crossbow fire. She tore her eyes away from her target to glance down at her weapon. Her still-cocked, primed, and loaded weapon.

After all of that checking, her crossbow hadn't fired.

And the Death Dealer, in the face of being pierced by a bolt, still stood in front of her. He had not even bothered to step aside, though his eyes had flashed red when she had raised her weapon. Seeing his cockiness, she knew in her heart she didn't have a chance with her malfunctioning weapon, but still she raised her crossbow and again she squeezed the trigger.

His eyes flashed red again - a reflection of power, she realized too late - and the crossbow fell apart in her hands. The silver-tipped bolts, both the one that had been loaded and the additional rounds in the chamber, dropped harmlessly in the grass.

He's that powerful? Her heart pounded. She didn't have a single workaround for telekinesis. That's what Fridan and Jahri were for! She closed her eyes and steadied her breath, trying to assess her situation. Her two protectors were dead and she had no weapons. God wasn't going to split the heavens asunder to rescue her. Nor would Teles and the others burst through the trees to rescue her when they were far away and had no idea that she was in danger.

There was only one conclusion to be drawn from all of this and it wasn't the happy ending that she wanted. Unless she could figure out a way out of her current predicament, it appeared as if God had chosen her to die a martyr's death. Why her exactly, she had no idea, but in that moment she resolved that she was going to be brave. She had been chosen to be here at this exact time. She was going to prove to herself just what type of person she was. She was going to be proud of herself, even if no one else knew. She wasn't going to have any regrets in her behavior, true character being what it was when no one was around to see. It was a good day to die, she reasoned, repeating the Klingon adage from Star Trek. It wasn't exactly Scripture (which she probably should be thinking about since God had brought her here and all), but it seemed apt. She was on the battlefield, not at home in a hospital room by herself. There would be meaning in this. She wasn't sure what exactly, but there was going to be meaning in this or else Jove wouldn't have brought her.

She had to keep telling herself this. She was on a divine mission. She was here to accomplish Jove's will. She was not going to be a coward. Even though she could barely move and her heart thumped wildly and she couldn't think of anything else to do to escape her current predicament. She was going to be brave. She was going to approach death courageously. She had to. If she was supposed to die as a simpering idiot, then God could have sent anyone else who would have melted down the moment they landed on Gaia. But He hadn't. He had sent her. She was going to stay calm, not be hysterical. She was going to be brave and die honorably.