Into The Unown

The Crack in Dam

Ash was exhausted.

"You have to stop," Gary said, tossing him a bottle of water, "if you exhaust yourself you'll be out of commission."

Whatever was heard was quickly unheard. There was a strange ringing in his ear which clouded his thoughts. In the zone, Ash knew of no friend, only the faces of his foes.

He began by remembering the fight with Karma, the face Serena made when he came around. How she'd whimpered, begging him to kill her before they take her. He thought of the last few years—the helplessness, the cries and the pains.

Before he knew, energy roared through his veins, highlighting his body in a godly halo. Ash let out a cry as the biggest surge of aura manifested outside of his body. He clenched his fingers, attempting to control it, but it was too late, the power kept slipping from his body like water leaking from a dam.

"Shit," Ash cried. A surge that big was bound to create an explosion which would derail their plans of staying inconspicuous.

But the crash never came. The greyness of his aura was caged. The power backlashed, sending Ash flying half a mile.

"Ouch," he cried as he crashed against the ground.

Not long after, Gary ran towards him.

"Are you okay?" He hovered over him.

Every bone in his body was breaking. "Spiffing," he mumbled. "Can you give me a hand?"

"Yeah, of course,"

Ash let out a cry as he was hurled up. Gary held on to him by his waist as they made their way towards the hut.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Ash asked, "You literally contained my aura."

Gary smirked, "I didn't contain it, I tried directed it towards you so that it crashed against you and not create a giant crater in the middle of a forest we're supposed to be hiding in."

"I'm sorry," he said.

The brunet led him inside the hut. Though small and poorly lit, it was warmed by the fire they'd lit earlier. The scent of burnt herbs still clung to the air, creating the illusion that perhaps, they'd never gotten out of the horrid dream.

Ash collapsed onto the makeshift laid out near the wall, on the opposite side of Serena's, wincing as his back hit the floor.

Gary knelt beside him, hands already tugging off Ash's jacket to check for bruises.

"You don't have to—"

"Shut up," Gary said unkindly.

Ash fell quiet.

A long silence passed between them. Gary unwrapped a cloth and began cleaning the blood trickling from a cut near Ash's collarbone quite vigorously.

"You're hurting—"

"What the fuck was that?!" Gary hit him. "That aura surge wasn't normal. You were—glowing, Ash!"

Ash gently caressed the spot where Gary hit him, choosing silence over defending himself.

"Before Karma found us, Serena made me promise something. She said that if push comes to shove and they took her... she asked me to kill her."

Gary parted his lips in utter silence. "What?"

Ash bit his lip, regretting what he was about to say. "I agreed, Gary. I... I agreed to kill her before they take her away and I... I don't want there to be a situation where I have to keep her promise. I..." his eyes crossed Gary's, pleading, "...I won't be able to live with myself."

He expected Gary to beat him senseless for even thinking about murdering his sister, let alone making a promise. He expected him to blast him with another aura power surge, or stab him in the neck and laugh diabolically as blood gushed out of his body.

But Gary didn't do any of those things. Instead he pulled him close, hugging him.

"I get it," he said, "but hurting yourself now won't fix anything."

Ash didn't respond.

He pulled apart, dressing his wounds a bit more gently. "You're not helping anyone by burning out. Serena wouldn't want this."

"I don't know what Serena wants anymore," Ash said. "I... I just—" he looked, his eyes carefully mapping out Serena's sleeping form. "I don't want to let her down, again."

Gary stilled and for a moment, they were just two boys barely on the cusp of adulthood, making promises they didn't know how to keep. They were just two boys, stuck in the middle of nowhere surrounded by ruins and myths and gods no one believed in anymore.

"We won't let anything happen to her."

Ash closed his eyes. "I have a bad feeling," he grabbed his chest, "it feels like there is something inside of me which is... which is making it difficult  to trust and believe anything expect the absolute worst."

Gary caressed his shoulder. "That's what war does." He said, "But the good thing about war is that, it doesn't last forever."

Ash didn't argue. Gary stood and reached for a spare blanket, tossing it over him.

"You rest. Tomorrow we'll try again. But no more exploding."

Ash let out a tired laugh. "No promises."As Gary turned to leave, Ash spoke again. "Thanks... for saving me."

Gary didn't look back. "That's what I'm here for."

Ash stared at the ceiling a while longer, the ache in his bones pulsing in time with his thoughts.

Ash had felt it in his bones, before the backlash had happened. He'd felt it in the very fiber of his being down to the last mitochondria. He'd felt his cells working in overdrive to extract whatever energy they could get their hands on.

Ash had heard the crack in the dam. And suddenly, Eiran's words started to make more sense to him.