Page 113 of Cerulean Truth
I found them cornered in a dead-end, their faces twisted with fear and frustration. They spun around to face me, weapons drawn, but their resolve wavered as my feet touched the ground and they recognized my face.
“End of the line, motherfuckers,” I said, my voice hard as my Skindo shot out of my tattoo and into my hand.
Before even one of them could utter a word, my blades had cut off seven heads in one fluent motion. All except for one, a smaller guy, now completely covered in the blood of his seven companions.
Keeping the sharp metal point hovering near his neck, I walked over to him slowly. Purposefully. Like a predator, approaching its prey.
“You want to join your seven little friends or have a chance at life?” I growled.
“P..ple…please,” he stammered, tears brimming in his eyes.
I laughed viciously. “You’repleadingwith me?”
He tried to nod but my Skindo prohibited him to do so.
“You were here for Emma?”
He swallowed, drops of sweat mixing with the crimson fluids he wore on his face.
“I…I don’t know her name. I just, we, we got summoned.”
“By whom?” I snarled.
“I... I don’t know. We regrouped in Kanata C with others. A message came through the Nexus, stating a new maga of twenty-three was staying at Cyclos and we had to bring her or her blood back to…”
“Back to where?” I growled impatiently.
Suddenly his eyes rolled back and blood started squirting out of every hole in his body.
“NO!!” I yelled, grabbing him by his collar but it was too late. The man crumpled to the floor like an overcooked rotten vegetable.
“FUCK!” I spat.
I looked around swiftly, making sure no one else was in the maze but apart from the eight corpses, I was alone, surrounded by mirrors. How the hell had he died on me? Had someone else breached the Layers? Had someone entered Cyclos?
The thought had barely registered as a full-blown panic took hold of me.Emma.
I turned fucking frantic. I left the Sublayer within seconds and flew back to Cyclos at twice the speed I’d had the first time, cursing the inability to portal out of the Layers.
“Maria,” I yelled through the Nexus mid-air. “We had a breach. There are eight corpses in the Sublayer. Deal with them. I’m almost through the Third Layer. As soon as I set foot in theCollective, you bubble in Cyclos and pull up every barrier known and unknown to magi. Where the hell is Emma? Locate her for me NOW!”
Maria, unfamiliar with someone ordering her around, nearly stammered at the tone of my voice, but confirmed she’d do what was necessary.
I had to get to Emma.Where the hell is she?
As I looked down, I noticed all the blood on my clothes. Damn it, I couldn’t let her see me like this.
And fuck, I was going too slow.
My mind was all over the place. I took in a deep breath and accelerated, while translating away all the blood.
“Emma’s in the library, James. Maurice just checked with the prism after sending Lena on a break.”
Relief.
“I’m heading there now, I just touched ground. Maria, bubble Cyclos in,now!”
I ran as fast as I could. The Universitas wasn’t far off, but every second was a second too long if anyone had managed to successfully breach the Layers.
