Resonance

Chapter 13 - Therea Vivas

The Flaxian army outside the Southern gate had been utterly routed. I felt strangely sad, even though I knew that we should be celebrating. Such a large force taken down by a small squad of Scorian soldiers. Yes, it was amazing I guess, but there were so many dead. 

As we walked down the road, I gazed in horror upon the decimated camp. A few fires smoldered here and there, like evil red stars on the ground. Before anyone here knew what was happening, our "friends" were upon them; they were dead before they knew it and almost all of the soldiers were massacred. War spares none. 

I shuddered as I remembered the soldiers sacking my hometown and killing the people who lived there. Including me, I thought, but I was lucky enough to be turned into a spirit. 

Lucky? No, that wasn't the right word. If I was lucky, my parents would have survived. 

If I was lucky, that night would have never happened. No, lucky wasn't the right word.

With a strange sadness, I looked out over the bodies of our "enemies". Was this what the soldiers felt as they carried out their duties? Did they feel remorse?

"Hey! Therea! What are you doing?" Kalis called. I realized with a start that I had been standing completely still, my hand on the back of a half melted anvil. It was still glowing hot, but I felt no pain. Oh. Right. I'm a spirit in the body of this strange device. A robot, Kalis called it. 

"Nothing. Go on ahead." I replied, "I want to look at some things." The two large robot companions that seemed to always be with that scientist looked at me with what appeared to be an awed expression, then the trio left. Why were they so surprised? I have my own will, you know. I'm a human being - a spirit, I corrected. 

Taking a step forwards, I stepped on something squishy and jumped back in surprise. A body, this one mangled so badly that I could barely make out his features. The crushed nose, the mutiliated face, the mangled body, and the blood. Blood everywhere. I resisted the urge to scream but, feeling sick, I immediately turned away and ran in the opposite direction. 

There was a tent on the hill overlooking the violence here, and I didn't see any bodies near it, so I assumed there would be none of this disgusting... gore... there. As I approached, my eyes picked up the silhouettes of two people kneeling amidst three sprawled forms. I knew they were dead, so I kept my gaze fixed on the living. The figures were talking. Curiosity got the better of my disgust, and I listened.

"... sorry." whispered the short red haired girl. I could see she was crying, so I crouched down to avoid being noticed. Huh? Is she about to kill him or something? Why is she apologizing?

The opposing figure, a young man, shrugged. "It's alright, Arya. You did your best as a friend, you know. She'll probably show up soon all worried about you. That's just the kind of person she is. It's not like you killed Jaegar, anyhow. Only those guys need to apologize." He yawned, missing the girl's guilty expression. 

Interesting, I thought. Could that mean...? 

The pair didn't say anything for a while, so I stood up. Immediately, the two jumped to their feet and the girl called Arya pointed two wicked knives in my direction, moving in front of the boy. "Stay behind me, Carter! Who's there?" she called. "Who are you?! State your name and business unless you want your throat slit!" 

Whoa! Just a second ago she was crying and all, but now she's like some monster. Maybe I shouldn't have shown myself. But too late. I put my hands up and gave the friendliest smile I could manage. "It's just me. I'm Therea. I thought there would be less dead people here, so here I am." 

The girl laughed. "Yeah, sure. And I'm here because I fell off of the bird I was riding. Don't give me that bullshit. You're on a battlefield, what did you expect? Come closer so we can see you better!"