It must have been only a few minutes, but it honestly felt like hours that I was laying there, covered in ash and rubble. Something pulled me out of the darkness, maybe it was the warm light coming in from the holes in the roof or maybe it was the distant sound of movement through my ringing ears. Whatever the cause, I blinked the dust out of my eyes and coughed a few times before pushing myself up into a sitting position. I was torn up and bleeding in various places, but nothing seemed too seriously damaged. I remembered the reason why and bolted to my feet instantly, pieces of rubble falling to the ground.
"OSIRIS!" I screamed, looking around the room. There were glass panels everywhere, the roof having blown completely off. A gaping hole was sitting in the middle of the building like an open maw to Hell.
Movement caught my eye suddenly and I saw strands of auburn curls poking out from beneath the ash. Osiris wasn't moving and my fear spiked as I ran over to her, finding her legs pinned beneath a rafter. I panicked as I dropped to her side and hastily cleared the ash from her face, finding that she was still breathing, but it was shallow and pained. There was a compound fracture in her leg and while her hieroglyphs were shimmering in an effort to heal her, something was keeping her body from working properly. A more thorough examination revealed glass and shrapnel lodged in her abdomen, and she wouldn't be able to recover from this.
"Osiris...no..." I pulled her into my lap as best I could, watching her eyes as they fluttered open and revealed her golden eyes. They were swimming with pain and fear, but there was something else alongside them.
"Agnes...I did it," she smiled softly, blood leaking out from the corners of her lips, "I saved you. I repaid my debt."
"You can't die Osiris I need you," I hissed, "I can't lose you too, I can't lose you and Marshall both."
"You're strong, girl. You've got this whole world in the palm of your hands," she reached up, and I gripped her hand tightly as she locked eyes with me again, "I think it's time I pass the torch onto someone who can protect this world far better than I."
"I-!"
Everything in my body froze suddenly, and I watched as her hieroglyphs began to glow an unsettling red in hue. Pain shot through my whole being, just as if I'd been struck by lightning, and smoke billowed out as I breathed. I'd have screamed if I wasn't paralyzed by the pressure and the second it released I gagged and coughed while my eyes teared up. Osiris' grip on my hand loosened, and when I looked at her again I no longer saw the same woman from before: her eyes had faded to a warm coffee color, her hair to mocha. There were no longer any inky tattoos lining her skin and I was suddenly afraid of what she'd done to me.
"This is where we say goodbye." She whispered, a single tear slipping down her cheek. I began to sob, watching as the light began to fade from her eyes and she loosened her grip on me.
"Osiris...don't go..."
"You're the God of the People, Agnes. Go be the warrior I know you can be."
That was the last breath to leave her lips. A scream tore through my chest and it sounded like a banshee's wail. I clutched the woman close to me, cradling her in my arms and hoping that my warmth might bring her back to the waking world. She began to grow cold under my touch though and I could only sit there and cry as I watched the only woman I'd ever looked up to die in my arms.
Something encroached on my vision, and I looked up to see something odd staring back at me. It was Seth, I hadn't a doubt about that. His skin was ashen and black, his eyes pale orbs inside his skull. I could only sit there and watch as he took his sister in his arms and cradled her just as I'd been doing before. My arms suddenly began to burst into flames, the fire licking my skin as I cried silently. I must have made a noise because Seth looked up at me again, my fire reflecting in his eyes.
"She passed the torch," I wheezed, "I...I have her power..."
"Osiris trusted you with her life," Seth told me, his voice just as ancient and laden with wisdom as hers, "I knew she'd protect you."
"Why...why Necro?" I asked suddenly. "What was so special about him that made you bring him back?"
"You have a lot ahead of you Agnes," he told me, "he's going to help you, that's why I needed him beside you."
"And...my family," I whispered, "where are they?"
"All but one is rotting in the darkest pits of Hell."
My lips twitched up slightly, and I watched him as he turned back to his sister. I knew it was time for me to go and leave them be, but I wasn't sure where it was I was going to go. I looked behind me, spotting the broken windows where I saw the stars before and marveled at them. I scooted forward and gave Osiris a parting kiss on her temple, leaving Seth to take his sister to the underworld before I got to my feet and looked around.
"Your story won't end here, sister..."
I turned and looked back at the pair for just a moment, Seth's whisper full of pain and an ominous tone. I was suddenly worried about what he planned on doing, but I didn't have the time to sit here and worry about either of them. I had to find everyone else and leave.
The pain in my body began to cease as I limped, and then walked, to the front of the building. The sunlight was practically blinding and I held a hand up to block it out as I stepped out onto the grass. The sound of guns raising reached my ears faintly, and eventually the sun began to fade and I could see that I was surrounded on all sides. There was a wind blowing from above me and I looked up to see a news helicopter circling the building, most likely having been called in once they saw the explosion.
"Subject 0607C, stand down and surrender!" Someone called through a megaphone, and I looked around at all of them once again before shaking my head.
"I will not stand down!" I shouted, feeling myself become consumed by fire. "I will never surrender! Do you see this?!" I gestured behind me, "this is only the beginning! We will no longer be your slaves!"
Someone fired a tranquilizer dart and I saw it coming at me. Everything seemed to slow down and I had enough reaction time to actually reach out and grip the dart before throwing it at the ground. A few of them lowered their guns as they watched me, and I felt hot tears rolling down my face as I tried to stay composed.
"I just lost my whole family, yet again," I began, "this time it stings a little more than before. We wanted freedom, and yet you have the guts to call us monsters? We are not abominations, we are people, just like you and your family. We want a chance, a shot to be able to live like you." I raised my voice as not to choke on my own tears. "If I can convince any of you to lay down your weapons and help us, then I have not lost everything I had in vain. This is not the end, and we will not cease our attack until this entire corporation is dead and buried. You can either die with them, or you can stand up and fight for what's right."
Someone shot another dart off but I had already began to plummet towards the ground. My exhaustion had gotten the better of me and I was now fading in and out of consciousness as I watched myself get swarmed. I wanted to say that this had been a success, that I felt all warm and fuzzy inside after blowing the building to smithereens, but I didn't. My chest felt empty and for once, I felt cold. My fingers touched the grass one more time and I put the blue skies to my memory, knowing that it was going to be a long, long time before I got the chance to see it again.
YOU ARE READING
Clair de Lune
General Fiction"It's cold." The story I'm about to tell you is probably the least believable and most outrageous one out there, but I need you to hear me out on this. I was once a normal girl. Once, like, once upon a time, but this isn't a fairytale with a damsel...
