Fire Sky

Chapter 8 - Rude Awakening (Part 1)

Chapter 8 - Rude Awakening (Part 1)

Atlas had no clue what the hell was going on around him. There were beeps, shouting and the sound of thudding feet everywhere around him.

"Damn you people are loud in the morning!" he groaned aloud, shoving the words past his dry, scratchy throat and forcing his eyes to open. The world was too bright and he tried to rub his eyes with his hand. He couldn't. He tried moving his hand again and felt pressure around his wrist. That snapped him right awake.

His eyes got used to the light and he found himself looking up at a plain white ceiling. He tried sitting up and found a sharp twinge shoot through his shoulder.

"Hey, take it easy," Lorik said. Atlas leaned upwards slightly and looked to Lorik who stood at the foot of the bed. He was still in his battle suit but he looked a lot cleaner now. It was just the circles under his eyes that showed any sign of distress about him.

"Why am I tied up?" was the first question out of his mouth.

Lorik sighed before he came forward to begin untying the leather straps that confined Atlas to his bed, "You were tied up because you seem to have caught something from Aura."

Atlas just raised his brow at him, "I caught something from the figment of my imagination that was so bad that you had to tie me up. That's your explanation?" he scoffed.

Lorik leaned over and undid the final strap before stepping out of Atlas's way. Behind Lorik there was a big black scorch mark where one of the beds used to have been and some weirdly shaped sticks were sticking out of the ground. Atlas was stunned for a moment before he looked up at Lorik, "Um, that wasn't me was it?"

"The fried wall and ceiling? Nah, that was the result of the oxygen tank by the side of the bed blowing up. No, the melted bed that seems to have no way of removal besides cutting the floor out - that was definitely you." Lorik's sarcasm was a little rough but Atlas didn't complain.

Atlas just looked back at the scorch mark and what was apparently the remnants of a metal bed. He lay back on his pillows, feeling a sharp twinge in his shoulder that made him flinch, and sighed, "How damaged is the ship?"

Lorik pushed Atlas over on the bed and sat next to him, laying his head back on the pillow. Once he'd settled in, he sighed, "Nothing was critically damaged other than the shields. They're a little weak for the moment so I have the entire crew trying to get us as fast as possible away from the Hellfire's wreckage and to the destination point. With the amount of power that's left in the batteries we're currently using, we can probably make it about a third of the journey."

Atlas sighed in relief. His father's ship hadn't been destroyed. It was one of the only few precious things of his father's that he still had and he was going to always do everything in his power to make sure that his legacy lived on.

"I think the worst injury was probably you with the shot to the shoulder. Tell me, how is it your the only one to have gotten shot? Is karma making you her footstool or something?"

Atlas shrugged but s bolt of pain spiked through his shoulder, "Sneak attack from the back; I had to protect the boy."

Lorik didn't say anything for a while. "Did you know that was possible?"

"Wouldn't have ever believed it even if I'd known," Atlas said, releasing a breath and knowing instantly what Lorik was talking about.

There was a short pause before Lorik said, "The system isn't recognising her species."

Atlas only blinked. "Does not surprise me whatsoever."

"She has to be something. All we're getting is human and something." he paused for a moment before his words were a little more hushed, "There are traces of her heavily in the boy and a little in you too."

At that, Atlas almost choked on air. "What the hell?"

Lorik sat up, "There's no rational explanation for it but there are minute traces of her around you that he scanner is picking up and going crazy over."

"We need answers," Atlas said as he sat up and moved off the bed on the opposite side of the cot.

"Well, I'm not sure who can give us those at the moment," muttered Loki as he got up too and pulled back the curtain that had been separating them from the cot next to them.

When the curtain moved back, Atlas looked over from trying to put his shoes on without using his arm to see Greyson asleep on the cot. The kid looked dishevelled and when Atlas noticed the dark circles under his eyes, the boy woke up and Atlas found himself looking at his answer.

 ***

Silas looked proud as the Captain watched her flicker between two different states of being. One was her bloodied torn form that he loved tearing into. The other was completely blue and translucent with no marks on her. Her screams rang in Silas' ears and he loved the agony he heard. It mirrored the agony deep within him, at his people having no home and that he was stuck in the position that he was in within their society,  that he so readily wanted to release but couldn't.

When her screams stopped suddenly, Silas moved back to the table and checked her over. Her spasms had reopened a large quantity of her wounds and they were now bleeding out onto the metal table as she panted and tried to take in as much air as she could.

"What was that?" The Captain asked, no emotion in his voice whatsoever.

Silas kept his eyes on the girl, watching her life blood spill from the wounds that he'd inflicted on her just as he'd had them inflicted on his soul, "Every time the soul expends large amounts of energy, it requires a living anchor to rejuvenate itself. That it didn't settle back in her means someone else has it."

"What was the mild transformation of her figure?"

"It must be the soul's appearance. Her body may have been trying to link both parts of them together..." he drifted of as she took in a particularly large breath and snapped her eyes open.

The woman wasn't that oddly remarkable or exotic in her beauty. A straight nose and sharp chin, high cheekbones and plain brown hair. But since he'd first found her, her eyes had captivated him. They were a mix between green and brown, like that of a rich earth or a living forest. The golden flecks that had been present when he'd first caught her weren't there any more - probably because she no longer held the soul within her - but her eyes still ensnared him nonetheless. Looking to the Captain, he could tell that the same chord had been struck within him as he leaned closer to the girl and looked down at her.

Her eyes were cloudy before they focused. First she looked at Silas, and he could see none of the fear that he wanted. It irked him and he quickly blocked all emotions from showing on his face before she saw the effect she had on him. He made a mental note to show her just how much fear she should feel for him. But her gaze flicked over to the Captain.

Silas watched her lift her chin and a fire light the gaze that pulled him in like a flame to a moth, "What...do...you...want?" she spat out, trying to choke the words out past her dry throat.

The Captain had not a trace of emotion on his face when he replied coldly, "To save my people."

The girl may not have seen any emotions on his face, but she could see the cold steel of determination in his eyes to do everything he could to stay true to his word. For that, she admired this enemy, her respect shining back in eyes that took Silas' sanity. "Can't...give...you...," she managed to wheeze past her dry lips

The Captain was still, his only action was tracing a finger along the hard set of her jaw before stepping back and looking up at Silas, "Make sure that you're right. I don't want to be blamed for harming this one." Then he spun away and walked off.

Silas only watched after his brother until the metal doors closed behind him. He moved to the metal tray that sat beside the table and picked up his scalpel. It wasn't one of his finest blades but it was practical and caused enough pain that she wouldn't black out till he got to the very end of this session.

He turned back to her with the scalpel in his hands and leaned over her. He dragged the edge of the scalpel softly along her jaw, following the path his brother had travelled as he looked into her eyes, "You will feel fear."

She only squared her jaw as his scalpel bit into her flesh