War of Dawn

Chapter 28: Eliza, the Boundless Umbra

The air around the revolutionaries' fort has seemingly tripled in weight the moment Eliza stepped onto it. Silence fills their plot of the forest like a flood as even the faint buzzes and chirps of the nightly creatures vanishes in deference to the commandant's presence. Eliza keeps her gaze set onward and, yet, all around feel her crushing presence, like a force of nature. Her anger-filled aura alone sends mighty shivers down Hilda's spine and she'd wager that applies to everyone else – none dare move a muscle, not even Peter or the Wraith.

Hilda finds her mind beset torn between two feelings: relief that Eliza came to their rescue and dread over what'll happen to them now that their stunt has blown up in their faces so. But Paula's the one wo seems to be having it worse; her bulging, fearful eyes are locked on Eliza, as though a veritable Altr stands before her.

If anyone has half a mind to say anything, they still don't. The first sound that cuts the silence comes from the commandant herself, her words bearing the impact of a charging ox that's set on goring Hilda and Paula: "A Wraith, Necromancer and several civilians... Who are they?"

Neither girl answers, fear having taking away the movement of their tongues. Eliza's words barely register with Hilda, her racing heart and trembling breath echoing across her skull and muffling any outside noise. Her trance is broken only when blades of green wind, as sharp as a sword's edge, cut across the ground in front of Hilda and Paula, carving a meter-deep gash into the soil.

"My patience hangs by a thread, Novitiates. Who are these people?" Eliza asks again, her impassive voice stomping over the panicked gasps of the two girls.

Hilda reflexively swallows, struggling to summon back her voice through her dry throat. Slowly it returns, emerging from her lips in meek and subservient tones. "R-Revolutionaries, ma'am."

"Zorros de Valdivia..." Eliza mumbles, more to herself than anyone else.

"Y-Yes, ma'am," Hilda continues. "They were working with the Necros."

The commandant finally moves her head, looking around at the wounded revolutionaries still collapsed throughout the fort. Those who haven't lost consciousness from the wounds inflicted by Hilda and Paula dare not do anything in this clash far beyond their stature. As Eliza's gaze sets upon each and every one of them, Hilda sees them flinch like fearful animals.

"I see..." Eliza's voice remains ever impassive, though Hilda feels in her bones the pressure of the commandant's rising anger. "Then I needn't show mercy."

Hilda stops short, her brow curving with a tinge of hesitation. "You're going to kill them all, ma'am...?"

"Is there a problem?" the commandant asks, unmoving and uncaring, as though her question was beyond inane.

"They are not Necros. Couldn't we just arrest them... or..." Hilda voice fails her halfway through the question when Eliza's head turns to stare into her daunted eyes. Her throat feels like sandpaper and the air that flows through her nose burns as if she just tried to inhale a handful of cinnamon.

Plumes of flame erupt around Eliza, trailing embers around Hilda's foot and passing a clear message for her to shut up right this instant. "Those who, to further their agendas, cooperate with the enemies of all life in this world will share in their fate. It is as simple as that."

Uttering those words, the commandant steps towards the immobile Wraith, unbreakable poise behind every motion of her slender figure. Peter backs away with every one of Eliza's steps, waving his trembling hands to gather waves of the earth elemental. From underneath his hood, his green eyes are wide in panic.