Chapter 12: Messenger

  I was on a battlefield with Adrah. Her beautiful self glowed in the midst of the war, slashing and biting ferociously while I whipped Rune, my spear, around, both of us dancing to the fiery tune of war.

  As spies, our jobs were to perform secret missions for Dr. Liam, but now that was done, he ordered us to lead my friends and flank the enemy army from the back. I was the youngest commander and graduate ever; I finished school at sixteen, and with Adrah by my side, we ran all the secret missions for Dr. Liam. We were his secret weapon and the pride of the entire school.

  Everything was going smoothly; we ambushed the enemy ranks and quickly decimated them, our war cries spanning across the battlefield. The thin sand was littered with soldiers as we rammed our spears at them with ease. The soldiers were only ordinary humans, so my genetic specialties easily overtook them.

  To cover more ground, I decided to separate from Adrah and move onto the left while she took the right. I was so into the rhythm of war that at first, I didn’t hear the piercing screams of my friends.

  When my girlfriend, Raine, collapsed down beside me, I finally realized that we were losing badly.

  I lost all of my friends that day; Muriel, Stephen, Lucas, Kai, Fayre, and Raine.

  I held her in my arms as she slowly faded, and I remember the bittersweet taste of her blood running through my gills as I kissed her over and over again, my tears mixing with her blood and the ocean currents.

  Her last words still rang in my head: “I love you, Messenger.”

  Crazy with grief, I fought my way to find the person who ripped me of everyone I loved, but he found me first.

  I felt the ice-cold touch of steel running across the back of my legs, and I stumbled into the sand. Mad, I twisted to see a boy with hypnotizing violet eyes, ghostlike skin, and raven black hair.

  But, what stunned me most was his eyes.

  His eyes had a haunted and crazed look that made vampires look like cute stuffed animals, but I was too mad to comprehend anything.

  I thrusted Rune right at him as hard as I could, but he sidestepped my blow like a snake and slashed at my sword arm. Rune sank to the ground beside me as a cloud of blood filled my gills.

  Before I could have the chance to grab Rune off the seafloor, I felt an alien, dark presence slam into the safe confines of my mind, and my knees buckled, my body writhing as the boy dug his consciousness into mine.

  He walked right up to me slowly as if each step pained him and brought out a spear made with metal so black, it was like looking into an illusion that never ended. No matter how much I willed my body to move, I couldn’t move a muscle as the boy stared at me, his eyes blank and expressionless.

  “Who are you?” I forced out, straining to look at him.

  He pulled me up to a kneeling position and held me there, wavering for a second.

  “Nice to have finally met you, Messenger. I am the child of the shadows.”

  His eyes were filled with a painful fury as his mind tightened his hold on me. He slammed his spear down, but his spear never reached me.

  “Adrah, no!!!” I screamed.

  A black spear protruded out of her body, straight at her heart.

  “No, no, no, no!”

  I launched myself at Adrah, trying to save her, but the boy pulled his spear out and drove it down at my head. In reflex, I flung Rune right at his heart, and we both collapsed to the ground, paralyzed with pain and blood. My vision hazy with red, I looked at Adrah one last time.

  “Messenger…” she gasped.

  I wished I could have done something, could have said something to let her know how much I loved her. She hung onto me, her glassy eyes looking at me with unbridled adoration.

  Hah, how could she beam at me like that? How could she smile like that as she was dying? She clung onto my gaze like a fading lifeline, smiling as she died.

  My lovely girl, you brave and foolish girl. Why would you save me?

  I could feel a part of myself die with her, and even though it hurt so much, I held onto her, onto our bond until she relaxed, her entire weight on me.

  That day, I died with Adrah.

  When I woke up, Dr. Rafael cradled a sleeping Eir and told me that the surgery was successful, but I would have epilepsy for the rest of my life. That didn’t hurt as much as the thought that Adrah was gone. Everyone I cared for was gone. And for what? For me to live? To suffer in agony that I was the only one alive?

  I woke up from the nightmare, just as Professor Sora was shaking me awake.

  “Messenger, are you okay?”

  He looked at me with concern.

  “I’m… fine.”

  I shook my head, trying to shake away my nightmares.

  “Then why are you collapsed next to Liam’s office?”

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  He frowned, and I finally gazed at my surroundings. Professor Sora was right; I was sprawled on the ground next to Dr. Liam’s door. What was I- oh, my meeting. I must have fallen right after my meeting, because the watch around me told me that it was close to lunchtime.

  “Sorry. I’ll go back to work.”

  I hurriedly stood up, and promptly fell again.

  “Messenger, go find Eir, or if you have time, go see Dr. Rafael. You’re not okay.”

  Professor Sora pulled me up and stared at me with his intense brown eyes like he wanted to say something else but was hiding it from me.

  “What do you want to say, Professor Sora?”

  “...Nothing. Just… don’t overwork yourself for something that isn’t there, okay? You have Eir, Blue, and us left. We are all willing to help you, Messenger. Just… remember that,” he advised, giving me that strange gaze again.

  “Got it, Professor. See you soon.”

  I turned away, walking right into the cubicle.

  Maybe it was time to check on my sister again. I couldn’t see her for the entire week last week as I was on oceanfront duty, but now that I was going to leave again, it might be time to spend as much time with her as I possibly could before I go.

  I leapt out of the cubicle, submerging myself in the comfort of the waves.

  Despite how hellish it was, it was still my home. I couldn’t leave it like Blue did. He found solace in duty and work, but I found comfort in family. I guess we were just different that way.

  I dove through the currents alone, looking away as a crowd of students chatted happily with their partners.

  I didn’t want to think about that now; Adrah wasn’t here anymore.

  There was no use in remembering the dead. It only made your heart hurt thinking about what you could have done with them.

  “Messenger, what are you here for, darling?” Nurse Skylar sweetly asked as I stepped out of the cubicle, shaking my damp hair.

  “Is Eir here?”

  “She’s in her cabin right now. I’ll call her for you. Wait right there, Messenger. She’ll be here in no time.”

  “Don’t worry about me. Take your time.”

  Nurse Skylar was always so calm and kind, despite how the past years have treated us all. It was as if the Infirmary was the only place that never aged along with the Institute, stubbornly cheerful and bright in spite of the wear it received and the deaths that marred these walls.

  How many have died because of the previous war?

  How many people will die because of this war?

  I sighed, closing my eyes. It was always peaceful here.

  No wonder why Eir loved working here; it was quiet and peaceful, with light from the sun high above shining down in mute rays below.

  “Messenger? Did you need something?”

  Eir burst in, quickly retying her hair back into a braid as her nurses gathered around her like bees surrounding their queen. One handed her doctor’s coat to her, and she thanked the nurse before reaching out for her stethoscope from another nurse.

  “I’m here for my daily fine tuning."

  I smiled for her, and she quietly beamed back at me.

  “You don’t have to smile for me every time we meet,” she acknowledged.

  “But I want to. Can you do anything about that, Doctor?” I teased, and she pouted.

  “Of course I can’t. I can’t stop you from doing anything as a doctor. But, as your sister, I can ask you to stop calling me doctor. It feels weird, coming from you,” she said as we walked over to a machine made just for me that hid in a quiet corner of the Infirmary, away from the nurses and bustling life of sick students eating lunch in their rooms.

  “Why? What did I do to make it feel weird to you?” I whined.

  “I don’t know. You make it sound derogatory, I guess,” she mused as she turned on the machines.

  I sat down on the bed, taking off my vest and lying down.

  “Derogatory? Since when did my baby sister know that?” I laughed.

  “Messenger, if you laugh, the machine won’t be able to work properly. Please stay still.”

  She ignored my comment when the machine whirred on, holding the controller and checking the screens, probably looking at the machine’s stats or something.

  “Messenger, do you have any time off during your missions? The machine inside you needs a complete rewiring soon.”

  The space between her eyebrows wrinkled as she frowned at the screen, her fingers flying over the control board and keys. I could hear the machine whirring according to her commands.

  “Not until the end of the year. Is it that urgent?”

  “No, but I just want to warn you. By then, I will think of a better solution for you. Hmm… the battery is low, which is why you are experiencing more seizures lately. I am commencing remote charging, but its efficiency is not as great. What kind of missions are you going on? If it’s too dangerous, you should know that your body is not working at full capacity. The machine inside you can fail and you can still have seizures in the middle of work, which is not ideal for you,” she explained, her eyes worryingly glued to the information on the screen.

  “I can’t tell you the details, but every mission has its risks.”

  “Messenger, when will you retire?”

  She finally took her eyes off the screen, which meant that everything was fine for the time being.

  “What do you mean? I’m still in my prime years,” I protested.

  “No, I meant when will you retire from this job and take the vacant instructor’s position?”

  She looked at me, and I sighed.

  “Not now, Eir. I can’t do that yet.”

  I stared back at her.

  “Is it because of me?”

  I couldn’t answer that, partly because it was right and partly because I didn’t want to lie to her.

  “It is, isn’t it? But, that’s not the only reason why you keep doing this. What are you protecting, Messenger? What is so worth it that you will keep risking your life in this line of work?”

  Her eyes glinted gold as the sun hit her beautiful dark-brown eyes, and I looked away.

  What was I doing it for?

  Was I still working for her like I thought I was, or was I still attached to Raine and my revenge for my friends?

  What was I being torn apart for?

  Wasn’t I doing this all for Eir?

  To protect her from the things that I failed to shield her from?

  No, you know the real reason you keep fighting for the job as a spy. You think that by gaining information to speed Oceanus’ downfall, you could finally see that boy again. You can finally kill him the same way he did to your friends. You want bloodshed, don’t you?

  I battled with my thoughts, trying to force them out of my mind.

  I didn’t need this. I just wanted to spend time with Eir and with the people that I cared for.

  But, my heart wanted more than that.

  I wanted to bring Oceanus down to its knees. I wanted to see it blown apart to pieces by my own hand.

  And by continuing this job, I can secure that victory.

  Meliora will win this war.

  I will do my best to make it happen.