A Peacekeeper's Oath pt. 7
A stoppable force meets an immovable object...
And now… the finale…
Celie wasn’t sure how she slept a deep uninterrupted night that lasted into the early afternoon. She must’ve been more exhausted than she realized. She was behind schedule, but luckily for her she was already dressed… or at least wearing what she was wearing yesterday. Without taking much time to get ready, she forced her hair out of knots, checked her jacket’s pockets, and the charge on her pistol. She was ready to go. She looked back at her apartment, wondering if she may ever see it again, then left before she could think too hard, or feel too much.
Today’s the big day. She took in a deep breath as she stepped out of the elevator in her apartment’s lobby. She found herself looking at the doorman with a strange longing. He felt like every normal day in Paradia. Just like the normalcy of the past, she had to walk away from him too. Her mind wandered as she pulled herself away from him. Her body went on autopilot, taking her where she needed to go as she worked through every scenario and how she could survive it. Things weren’t looking good in any of her imagined possibilities. She remembered asking Akashi once if he thought two people could take on a city-state. Now she was asking a new question: What about just one person?
She wasn’t sure, but she was going to try.
Before she realized she was there, Celie was walking into the Peacekeeper’s HQ. The spacious lobby of polished white ceramic and glass was sprawled out for her. Overhead were blue Paradian banners laced in gold. She spent ten years of her life building this place from the bottom up. Now what would happen to it? She decided not to think about it anymore and push on. Just as she tried to pass the security checkpoint, a Peacekeeper stopped her,
“Excuse me, Keeper Green?” The officer sounded embarrassed to have to stop a commanding officer. She was reading something off her ring display while avoiding eye contact.
“Keeper?” Celie asked in the gravelly voice of someone speaking for the first time that day.
“New policy from on high says that Keepers off schedule aren’t permitted inside. Record says you’re on vacation.”
That’s new, Celie thought. “You’re absolutely right, thank you for your vigilance, but unfortunately Keeper Pacè is feeling under the weather and has taken a personal day. I’m here to pick up my partner's slack. You understand, I’m sure.” She put on her most official, authoritative voice. The Peacekeeper checked something on her ring. Her face flushed an uncomfortable red, then she crumbled,
“Yes ma’am, o-of course, ma’am. Please, step through. I apologize for holding you up.” Celie nodded, thanked whichever god was responsible, and passed through security. That wouldn’t have worked if Akashi hadn’t taken the day off. She walked as if she was heading for her office in Investigations, but as soon as she was out of view of the security team at the entrance, she changed directions and headed for the stairwell. It was time to enter the abyss again.
As soon as she made it into the stairwell, Celie broke into a dash down the stairs. When she was 2 flights up from the cellblock, she hesitated. She felt something in the air - some sort of disruption. She heard movement beneath her feet. Someone must’ve been down by the cellblock door. She crouched down and continued cautiously, peeking intermittently over the rails to see if she could see anyone beneath her. When she was one flight away, she saw them: Two Peacekeepers clad in heavy black armor that made them unidentifiable other than their chins that jutted out from beneath thick helmets. Each of the two were holding high-powered rifles and were staring at the stairwell.
Within moments of Celie seeing them, they saw her. One of them pointed their rifle at her. “Identify yourself!” Celie raised her hands,
“Okay, hold on a second.” Celie said, coming to a full stand. “Don’t mind me, I must’ve gotten turned around, that’s all.” She always was a bad liar. They clearly recognized her. The other Peacekeeper raised their rifle. With two energy weapons trained on her, her options were limited.
“Keeper Green.” One announced. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’re going to have to come with us.” The other Peacekeeper stepped away from their guardpost at the security door and approached the stairs.
“We don’t want to do this, ma’am, but you understand. Orders from up top and all that.”
“I understand.” Celie resisted the urge to say And I hope you understand what I have to do too. Celie’s muscles tensed. Part of her had been waiting for it to come to this since this whole mystery started. It was always easier when it was her against someone else - fighting for survival or freedom - she didn’t need to worry about nuance. She needed to make it out the other side alive, and they needed to get out of her way. It was that easy.
As soon as the Keeper approaching her was within range, Celie put her hands on either side of the rails, and used her full body to force a kick into their chest, throwing them back down the stairs. The Peacekeeper’s helmet came tumbling off his head, revealing him as just another man. As soon as he hit the bottom of the stairs, the bullets started flying from the other Keeper’s rifle. Celie let go of the railing and landed crouched behind the railing. The bullets thudded into the wall behind her. This felt familiar. Another tight space with guns blazing. Distant memories fueled her muscles. She was the quick close quarters soldier all over again. This shouldn’t be difficult.
As soon as the firing stopped, she hurdled over the railing and landed in a squat in front of the shooter. She pushed her weight forward, coming out of the squat with her shoulder jammed into the shooter’s stomach, slamming him into the door. He let out a gasp of air as they struggled to fill their lungs against her weight. Celie disarmed the unidentified soldier, threw the rifle to the side, then felt the world spin as the butt of a rifle smashed into the side of her head. The other Keeper was up and she was lucky he hadn’t chosen to shoot her. At least she knew they wanted her alive.
Celie hit the hard cement with a thud. She let out an involuntary groan as she struggled to breath. The Peacekeeper’s hands were grabbing her to steady and hold her up.
“Orders were to discreetly take her to Monroe if she came down here.” One said to the other.
“Alright. I’ll take one arm, you take the other. No one uses the stairs, we’ll just drag her up to Monroe’s office through the stairwell.” They both nodded in agreement and secured her in cuffs. To her surprise, they didn’t use magic nullifying cuffs even though she saw they had them on both their belts. Good.
Celie struggled to think of a plan. Of every thing she thought could go wrong, she didn’t expect it to go wrong this fast. She needed to figure something out. Just as they got her to the stairs, she did. How many times in her life had she pulled things from the Realm of the Ancients? How many times had she moved things there? But the one thing she never tried: Putting herself there.
“Okay. Okay. Okay…” She whispered to herself.
“Don’t try anything stupid, ma’am.” Celie couldn’t help but laugh out loud. This was really stupid. Sorcerers were more able to handle the madness that came from the realms of the gods, but rarely did they cross the realms and live to tell the tale - especially uninvited by a god. The ancient gods wouldn’t be so kind to such a trespass, of that she was there. She could be inviting death itself if she offended the wrong god. But there were some things worse than death. She took in a deep breath and felt her mind reach for the Realm of the Ancients. When she felt it with certainty in her mind, she picked exactly what she wanted to remove from this world: Herself.
Immediately the world melted around her. She found herself in an overwhelming state of sensory bombardment. She heard the screeching roars of dragons, the chill of a deep unending wind pierce through her, the incomprehensible light of eternal sunshine, and the feeling of billions of little creatures crawling up her legs.
The land around her was barren. The sky was a golden light as if the sun was kissing the very atmosphere. She felt sweat pooling on her skin yet cool air rushed through her. This was the Realm of the Ancients, and in it she was small and insignificant. She stood atop a plateau looking out on an endless valley. Monsters that guessed must be dragons flew through the air, creatures she had never seen before scuttled across the ground. In the distance she saw a familiar beetle that made her stomach turn end-over-end. Then, as if she broke some natural law, every living being turned to her: the alien of the realm.
The light of the sky became blotted out as an incomprehensibly large human-esque black shape reached out to her. A tendril-like arm streamed across the skies for. It had fingers forming the rough approximation of a hand with proportions so great the hand alone could dwarf the Medullary tower.
Paradia. Gods above, I need to get back! Deep in her mind she heard a man’s voice,
“Where’d she go? Fates, Monroe is going to have our asses for this.”
“That’s where I’m going…” She whispered to herself. The words were eaten by the darkness that came for her. It didn’t seem angry, but it was curious. She felt its intentions as it came ever closer to her. It beckoned to her, her mind feeling as though it was splintering as she came to grips with the profound force coming for her. With a frantic, difficult to fathom string of thoughts barely holding together, she found her space in the Astral realm and urged herself there. The hand began to close around her, but it melted away and revealed the walls of the stairwell. The two Peacekeepers looked around frantically until both of their eyes landed upon her.
Without hesitation, Celie began the fight for her life. She turned and threw a punch into one of their jaws, then used his own rifle to crack his helmet’s visor. She kicked him in the knee, doubling the Keeper over, then drove an elbow into the back of his head, throwing both her and the Peacekeeper into the ground. The Keeper landed so hard, his head cracked the cement. Celie rolled off of him. From a seated position on the floor, she drew her pistol and aimed it at the other Keeper, but they already had their rifle trained on her.
They stared each other down, weapons drawn, silence between them. Then, Celie reached back to the realm. All she had to do was imagine it, choose it, and pop. The rifle disappeared from the Keeper’s hands. Celie couldn’t help but smirk.
She couldn’t see his face, but she could tell the Keeper had begun to panic. They immediately tried to rush Celie, but she leapt up, caught a panicked stray fist, twisted their wrist, and drove their hand behind their back. Just like that she was behind the Keeper. She brought up her free hand, wrapped it around their throat, and choked the Keeper until they weren’t moving. She let the body fall to the ground, then turned back to the door. Not only did she survive the fight, she survived crossing into another realm. She didn’t have time to think about it right now, but the weight of the situation wasn’t lost on her.
She gathered her thoughts and focused. She wasn’t done here yet. She turned her attention back to the door and with a slight strain of her mind, the door disappeared. Celie walked through the doorway and into the sublevel cellblock. She walked the empty hall and made her way down to Jona Carson’s cell. There he was, face down like she had found him before. His clothes were in tatters. Blistering welts were beginning to form on his skin. She swore she could see bone trying to push its way out of his back. Something was changing him. Corrupting his body. Warping him into something else.
“Mr. Carson,” She whispered, “I’m back.” His head craned up from where he had been staring with blank eyes at the floor. His eyes were still that sickening jade green.
A smile curled across his face, but the rest of his features screamed for help. The war for Jona Carson’s mind and body was still raging. With uncertainty, Celie pushed forward in her plan. She needed answers before she knew what was right.
“I’m really sorry to do this to you, but I need to speak with Ri. Is Ri here with us?”
“No!” The smile fell away. He looked at her in panicked terror. “No, no you can’t make me! I won’t do it! You can’t make me do this!” Jona began to groan and scream as he pressed his head deeper into the cement floor, fighting against something. Then he stopped.
He sat up, resting his hands on his thighs. From this angle she could see his body was painted in purple bruises and his hands were caked in scabs. But he smiled. He smiled that twisted grin on chapped lips and a face twisted in excruciating pain.
“You called?” The words slithered from his lips.
“I’m speaking to Ri?” Celie asked.
“A part of Ri, yes.” Ri said. “This one isn’t as malleable as I’d like. It is… unstable. Unwell. Grief. A powerful thing. In my new world, such things won’t matter. But you - your kind. Unmalleable. You have control that ruins my chaos!” Ri’s voice crescendoed through Jona’s mouth. It licked his lips and let out a hiss. “I know your feeling. I felt you in the darkness. Depths. Darling felt you not, but I feel you now and then. I don't forget your disgust. You’ll be dealt with. Not by chaos, but by control. You cannot stand against order. But I can.” The words made her feel nauseous. The eyes were trying to explore her, but something about her stopped it from taking any control. Celie ignored what she chalked up to mad rantings and pushed forward with her questions,
“So Mr. Carson is infected by you. You’re like a disease?”
“What a human way of putting it.” Ri spat. “So human, but so monstrous. You don’t belong.”
“Just answer the question.” Celie responded with a deadpan gaze of steel.
“Fine. If you’d like it to be so simple.”
“You’ve been contained though. Jona is trapped down here. He’ll starve eventually. Then where do you go?”
“No. My dear Providence, she wouldn’t allow a citizen to die - even under corruption. She will tend to this mortal shell, and when they come… I will become. There is no escaping what is human. The human side of me is lost in her. I only devour that which is human. I will become.”
“You’re waiting for another corruptible body to come so you can break containment?”
“Yessss.” Ri hissed the words out, sending chills climbing up to Celie’s mind. She knew exactly what she had to do. Celie opened the cell. Ri remained unmoved. Celie stepped inside, and tried to gather her composure. “You’re a clever one,” Ri began, “but that isn’t what makes you special. You’re everything Providence Monroe hates. You cannot be controlled. Not by order. Not by chaos. You aren’t human enough. Less human than a child of Koh. Less human the Guaya’s chosen. Sorcery is a disgusting thing. Sickening.”
“I’d like to speak to Mr. Carson now.”
“No.”
“Let me speak to Jona.” Celie demanded as she reached into her pocket.
“Jona is busy. He will no longer be. He is Ri. Ri is I. We are becoming one.” Celie sighed,
“Fine. Jona, if you can hear me, I want you to know something: It’s not your fault. If there’s another side for people like you and Erosa… I hope you see her there… And I hope she forgives you.” She knew he heard. She knew it. She pulled out the photo of Jona and Erosa she had collected from the crime scene days ago. She held it out to him. His eyes flashed back to brown and a look of joyful sorrow crossed his face. With tears beginning to fall, Jona Carson smiled his last true smile.
“Thank you.” He whispered with relief. Celie pulled out her energy pistol and aimed at him.
“Goodbye, Jona.” Then, Ri took control.
“No! No! You can’t take my mortal shell from me! You don’t know what you’re do-”
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Celie forgot the way her ears rang after gunfire. In the Calt it felt perpetual. She was surprised to learn she hadn’t lost any hearing afterwards during the Paradia Peacekeeper’s entry physical. Energy pistols always made her skin feel like it was vibrating for hours afterwards. It made her sick. She always preferred kinetic rifles. That wasn’t standard issue for Peacekeepers though.
Leaving the HQ felt like a dream. She walked out in a confused daze. No one spoke to her. No one seemed to notice her. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, but she thought she might go home and pack some essentials. She might need to get out of here fast. After she packed, she’d pay Monroe a visit, then be on her way… or maybe she’d stay. Maybe this was all a misunderstanding. In that case she might have to check into a mental healthcare facility to come down from whatever delusion she was riding high on.
Gods, imagine that. This was all a lie. She laughed out loud on the railway and several people gave her concerned looks. She zipped her jacket up and shoved her hands in her pockets. Maybe don’t let that thought take over.
Before she knew it, she was shuffling into her apartment and shutting the door behind her. She walked back to her room, grabbed a backpack and began shoving clothes into it. She zipped up the bag, then paused. She heard a faint noise. It was like the sound of cushions compressing. Did someone just sit on her couch? Celie slung the bag on her back and carefully unzipped her jacket and placed a hand on her pistol. She stepped out of her bedroom and peered into the living room. There was no sneaking out. She’d been found out. This was the end of the line.
“Monroe…”
“Celie Green.” Providence Monroe said with an irritated grimace on her face. She was sitting on Celie’s couch, her legs propped up on her coffee table. She was usually so uptight and official, she didn’t fit into the casual space. “Oh good, you’re already packed. And here I thought you were going to come and kill me next.”
“Not too late.” Celie replied, her fingers tightening on her pistol.
“Aren’t you confident? Before we get to all that, let’s talk about what you did first.” She said in that condescending tone.
“I stopped Ri. Whatever you have planned is done, Monroe.”
“Yeah, that hurt. In a way you did the right thing, but… it was too extreme. Too much too fast. I wish you hadn’t done it. I had everything under control, Celie. All you had to do was forget about it. But you couldn’t do that, could you? And why is that?” Monroe looked Celie up and down. She leaned forward on the couch, her eyes flashed a bright green, “You also got into a restricted area somehow. How did you do that? And you did all this by yourself?” She shook her head, “I think I know why you and Akashi were so against my sorcerer ban. Am I right?” Monroe could see right through her. She felt terror welling up inside her, but right then she needed to survive.
“I don’t need to be a sorcerer to kill you, Monroe. Don’t push me.” Celie threatened.
“Oh, of course not, of course not... but listen, I’m not the bad guy here, Celie. I’m maintaining order. I have everything under control. You and I don’t have to have a problem with each other.” Monroe stood up, her hands raised innocently. She towered over Celie’s short stocky build. “Well actually we do now because you - well, you know what you did, I don’t need to keep reminding you, do I? I’m sure you’re ashamed enough as it is, aren’t you?” They stood about ten feet apart, Celie at the mouth of her apartment’s hallway and Monroe standing at the couch.
“Celie, I don’t have to be your enemy. In fact, let me offer you a deal: You leave Paradia, and I won’t force Akashi to kill you for me. What a terrible way to die, isn’t that? Don’t worry, he won’t remember any of it. I like him too much to let him remember that.” Celie felt a sickness overcome her. She couldn’t believe he’d do that even under whatever force Monroe could exert. “I liked you, Celie. That’s why I’m letting you live. Even after disrupting my order. So how about you get out of my city before I have to… you know.”
“You want me to just leave? You want to have complete control over the city. Then what? Ri can take over after you’ve created your perfect city?”
“Ri isn’t my friend. Ri isn’t my favorite… thing. Unfortunately, we are tied to each other.”
“You expect me to believe that? What, Ri’s just a necessary evil for your master plan?” Celie shouted back.
“Oh, so you do get it!” Monroe smiled a relieved grin. “Miss Green, I’m so glad you understand. Now listen, don’t make this any more difficult than it has to be. You had your chance. You’ve done good things these past ten years. Don’t ruin that for yourself.”
Celie had heard enough. She knew Monroe was the monster. Celie drew her pistol and fired three perfectly placed shots into Monroe’s forehead.
They didn’t even leave a mark.
The scorched energy hissed across Monroe’s hairline, but left no evidence of being there otherwise.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just do that.” Monroe said and took a step forward. Celie’s breath quivered out. She dropped the energy pistol in horror and looked at her hands. “Let’s pretend that didn’t happen and take a step back, shall we? Here’s the deal: Leave Paradia, I don’t melt your insides. Deal? I don’t mind doing it myself. I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty. You should know that after all the time we’ve spent working together.”
Celie reached a shaking unsteady hand out. Her mind touched the Realm of the Ancients. Her breath quickened as she picked Monroe as her target. She felt the world contorting around them, she felt the darkness fall.
Then Monroe raised her own hand and a white light bloomed from her. Celie was sapped of energy. She couldn’t draw from the realm beyond anymore. Monroe had cut her off.
“Did you just try to banish me?” Monroe’s face twisted into anger, “Miss Green, I’m giving you one last fucking chance.” Monroe’s hands were still glowing that bright white light. Celie could feel the power coming off of her. They were an open threat: Comply or die. “I’ll admit, you gave me a run for my money, Miss Green. But I believe in a controlled Paradia, and you won’t take that from me. I’m the only one that can do it. I’m what the people want. And you? You were a tool. Now you’ve worn out your welcome. I’m letting you be a loose end. So stop testing my patience, and take the deal.” Monroe took several steps towards Celie. She tried to back away but her back hit the wall behind her. Monroe was standing foot to foot with her. She gave off an intense heat that made Celie dizzy. Her skin felt like it was sizzling as the white energy emanated off Providence Monroe. “Last. Chance.”
Celie’s shoulders dropped. She realized how dire her chances were. She couldn’t survive this. She wouldn’t make it out alive. Of all the ways she thought she might die, this hadn’t made the list of possibilities. At her physical surrender, Monroe’s light dimmed.
“You made that much harder than it had to be, but you’re making the right choice, Celie. I’m not the bad guy here - neither of us are - but in my city of order, you’re too much of a wildcard to stay. I can’t stand for wildcards. This city needs order. Not whatever you are. You understand, don’t you?”
Celie couldn’t bring herself to say anything to her. Celie’s head dropped, and she fought the tears beginning to come. Never had she felt more powerless than she did in that moment. As long as it was Monroe’s city, she’d never be able to live in it.
“Great.” Monroe stepped forward and clasped a hand on Celie’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Miss Green. You’ve done wonderful things for Paradia in your decade of service. As much as it hurt me, you containing the spread of Ri was a good thing. That doesn’t mean you should do it again though. Don’t do anything like that again, you hear me? Anyways, I’ll make sure your severance is enough to live off of wherever you may go next. Then you’ll have no reason to ever come here again. Understand?”
“Akashi won’t -”
“Don’t worry about Akashi. Let me worry about Akashi. In fact, allow me to alter the deal: If you try to contact him… unfortunately, you’ll both have to die. You keep your mouth shut, do you hear me? Speak to him again and I will find you.”
Celie was resigned to silence. She couldn’t bring herself to verbalize an agreement. She couldn’t bear it. Who was she? She was weak, she couldn’t stand up to Monroe. Bulletproof, able to take her power from her, able to blow it back at her.
“Great!” Monroe tightened her hand on Celie’s shoulder, making Celie wince in pain. “I expect you to be gone by sundown tonight. Oh and one more thing…” Monroe grabbed Celie’s hand, pulled off her ring, and crushed it in her palm, “No more stolen documents for you, Miss Green.” Monroe shook her head in disappointment as she dropped the remains of the ring on the floor. She let go of Celie and walked away.
She casually opened the door then turned to Celie, “I’d say it's been a pleasure, Miss Green, but - well… good luck out there. You could’ve had everything and more if you just followed orders, but no. Don’t forget that. And don’t come back.” The apartment door shut.
Within seconds, Celie collapsed to the ground. She felt numb, lost, and confused. She uncovered a conspiracy so grand, so unbelievably beyond her reckoning, that she could do nothing to stop it. She couldn’t even think that she had done a good thing. Monroe had twisted it in such a way that she wasn’t sure who the good guy was anymore. It had to be her, right? It couldn’t be both of them.
Celie let herself fall into the pit of despair for a couple hours before she was ready to get up. She frantically scanned her home for anything she possibly didn’t want to leave behind. Then, when she was ready, she took everything she could carry, and disappeared into the night.
Forgotten. Alone. Afraid.
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Akashi awoke early the next morning with a stretch and a deep sigh. For whatever reason, Celie was right. He should’ve taken yesterday off - he needed the rest it turned out. He grabbed his ring off his cluttered nightstand and called her.
Call Failed.
“Huh. Weird.” Had that happened any other day, he would’ve waited to see her at the diner or on patrol, but this was different. With everything that happened, he was worried. He got up, got dressed in his usual clothes: Dress pants picked up off the floor, a white button up hanging haphazardly from a hangar, and for today he decided to wear a vibrant green tie. He tied it in such a way that it hid an old coffee stain. On his way out of his apartment, he grabbed coffee from a street vendor and made his way to Celie’s place. He went up the elevator and sipped his coffee in one hand and looked at news reports in the other. Paradia hadn’t imploded overnight, so whatever Celie did it must not have been too terrible.
The doors glided open and Akashi walked out, heading for Celie’s door. He made it there, not noticing anything out of order and knocked.
“Celie? I’ve got coffee… well, just for me, but we can pick you up some as we go. Wanna hit the diner up?”
Silence.
Akashi checked the door. It was unlocked. His heart leapt as he drew his pistol in his free hand and very carefully pushed the door open with his elbow. He accidentally spilled coffee on the floor as the door slid open. Celie’s apartment was bare. Nothing of her’s remained. Every plant was gone from her balcony. Her couch was gone. Any sign that she ever lived there was gone. She couldn’t have done this herself. He looked around the room, looking for any sign that something happened here. Then he saw it. A broken piece of pottery on the balcony. Celie would never treat her pots so carelessly. Akashi approached and activated his ring. The ring scanned the pot, searching for any identifiable features. Then it found a fingerprint. It scanned the fingerprint and came back with an ID, but the culprit jarred Akashi. It was a Peacekeeper from the Clean-Up department.
“Monroe.” He breathed out. “Damn it, Monroe.” Akashi thundered out of the apartment, headed for the HQ.
When he made it to Providence Monroe’s office, he threw open the door. She sat there, not doing anything but staring at the door. When Akashi entered, she smiled,
“Keeper Pacè, to what do I owe the -”
“Spare me the bullshit, Prov. Where is she?”
“Oh?” Monroe put on a confused face. “Where’s who, Akashi?”
“You know who.”
“I’m sorry, Akashi, I don’t. You’ll have to be more specific.” Akashi fumed as he replied,
“Celie told me not to trust you. What did you do to her, Monroe? What did you do?” He slammed his hands down on her desk.
“Oh, you meant Celie! Oh, of course. She’s taken an early retirement.”
“What -”
“Now listen,” With no warning, Akashi lost the ability to speak. His head began to spin and his stomach lurched, but he couldn’t look away from Providence Monroe. Her words became gospel. “Celie Green does not now nor has she ever existed. You came to Paradia alone any time you see the name Celie Green, you will see nothing, because she is nothing. You are my Peacekeeper and when I say jump, you will ask me ‘how high?’ Are. We. Clear?”
Akashi felt himself beginning to fall. His fingers clawed at Monroe’s desk, but he couldn’t get a grip on anything. His mind lurched, his body felt sick. Something was horribly, horribly wrong. But the last thing he remembered as he landed on the ground, his mind forever altered, was his own voice whispering against his will, “Heard, Prov.”
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Celie stepped off the rail and onto the station in Cain. She tightened the straps of her backpack to steady herself. She felt so much shame coming back here, but she had nowhere else to go. As she walked through the city, she realized how far it had fallen. The once glorious city of metal was mostly trash heaps and open fields where buildings had collapsed. The population was no longer dense with life. Instead people seemed to live in small community villages that collectively could still be called Cain. By her estimate, around 60% of the city's infrastructure was gone. She was surprised to see that in its place nature wasn’t reclaiming its bounty at all.
She walked the familiar streets for the first time in a decade. She could still make her away around, but it was disorienting without the usual landmarks. After nearly two hours of wandering, she found the old apartment. It stood alone surrounded by what she might politely call farmland, but was more the beginnings of a city dump. Celie made it to the front door, then stopped herself. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t face her. She turned around, facing west of the city. In the distance she saw a grand looming willow tree. There was no forest surrounding it like there used to be the last time she was here. She didn’t remember it being this close to Cain either. Was it always so close?
She looked back at the disheveled apartment complex then back to the tree. She can wait.
Faster than she expected she found her feet balancing along the thick roots of the willow tree. She felt the power coursing through it. This was indeed another place of power, but this one felt safer. Her feelings were reflected in it. It felt what she felt. It felt what Cain felt.
Hopeless.
“The Astral heart.” She whispered as she placed her hand on the trunk. Her head rested against the tree and tears began to fall. This was Astra. This was life.
Celie’s broken spirit struggled to raise, but as she felt herself coming apart at the seams, the leaves of the willow drooped down and rested on her shoulders.
It knew.
And Celie knew she wasn’t alone. Her fingers gripped the bark and she breathed through the sobs creeping up her throat.
“I’m coming home, Auntie.”
Okay, wow! I’d usually have more to say at the end here, but for now… I think we’ll let this story lie as it is. Next week will be a retrospective as well as a discussion of what’s next. I hope you enjoyed Celie’s journey - even if it didn’t end on the happiest of notes!
In the meantime, feel free to catch up on other Astra stories here!
Or maybe some more creepy stories for the holiday spirit here!
I’ll catch you in the comments or next week in the retrospective!
Oh, what an ending! This has been an excellent story. I hope there's more, somewhere down the line - what happens next, does Akashi "wake up" from Providence's hypnotism, does Auntie Gee get them back together, what happens to Paradia in the end? So many things I look forward to reading about some day 🤩