Iron angel (Book 1 of IA)

[25] Light Voices and Darkness...Again

Blank.

Everything was blank.

Just vast empty spaces of white that seemed to stretch all the way to the end of the world.

What is this place?

Why am I here?

I scratched my forehead to the point that it hurt, interrogating my memory for an answer.

There was the escort...

Soul Steel...

Runannan's Cut...

Gunfire...

Isa...

Wait...wait...wait...

"WAIT! ISA!"

My last thought seemed to pick up a voice, as it blasted throughout the vast space of emptiness.

Shouting her name felt good, it made me feel like I had a purpose.

I shouted her name several more times, but each un-answered echo only increased my worry. After calling out for an hour, I came to the realization that my shouts were nothing more than a whisper in the void.

I looked down.

I curled up.

I was exhausted, too tired too stretch, too tired to even think.

No...not like this...

Curses...

"Fresh meat."

The voice was unmistakable and I looked up to the source; my eyes stuck to the figure like a nail. After a brief recovery from the shock, I scrambled to my feet and simply blurred out:

"Isa..."

Her figure was solid, strong, confident, but at the same time her eyes were cold and distant. Even when I failed at a practice and during training, never have I seen so much detest in her eyes. I backed up a little.

"I mean sir," I fumbled with my words, trying my best to say this with a straight face, "Are you alright? At the cliff...I saw you stabbed right through..."

"You killed me."

That sentence caught me completely off guard, like a mine on a doorstep.

This can't be real, there must be some sort mistake...

I reassured myself, though part of me knew it was a lie.

I compressed my lips into a thin line and tried again:

"Sir, that's bullshit! I would never do something like that!"

Instead of an actual reply, she pointed a finger towards me. At first I thought she was just pointing at me then I realized she was pointing behind me.
I turned around and pain shot through my entire body, I looked down and couldn't even gasp. A long silvery blade has pierced my stomach and like a human kebab I was slowly being lifted up into the air. Blood gushed out of my mouth as I stared down at the figure, which appeared to be some sort of weird Barbie abomination. The body belonged to Soul steel no doubt, but its face...was a complete mirror of mine. I would have puked on spot if I could, but the pain was so much it stopped me from doing so.

"It's your fault." Came the sound of my own voice from the Soul Steel and me hybrid.

"Just shut the hell up! And let go of me you piece of shit!"

His expression went from a grin to a wicked grin, as he began to lower me and eventually let me slip away, but I didn't land on the ground like I expected. Instead I found myself falling through darkness with faces of my dead comrades consolidating in thin air every once and then, their expressions varying between degrees of agony to downright deformed.