Planet: Eteran, Sanctum Hospital

First Insurgency War

RAYAN

Locked into a room and forced to listen to the clock tick down.

Rayan huffed and folded his arms. I hope Aelius is right. I hope I wasn't too late with my warning. Fists clenched, he turned his back on the door which trapped him in a sterile prison cell. He punched the cupboards which never gave in to his strength. He tucked his hand against his side and scoffed. I could break out, but... I don't want to use the abilities of the Elites.

Nothing left to do but wait, he slumped into the chair and toyed with his jacket. He rested his head against the tough pillow and released the smoke in his lungs which burned his lips.

I should've asked them for the types of defences they had. Rayan nodded but fought the dark embrace. If they would've told me... He allowed the black hole to consume him and sirens echoed. It pounded against his temples with stubborn fervour. He shifted and spotted the blinding light through the metal shutters of the windows.

Explosive fire rang the world in the distance, and with his grip tight on Ava, he failed his promise.

One single moment to change everything. One tick of the clock.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

His heart hammered with the SAI's bloody countdown. His finger grasped the hem of her shirt. His hand inches from James'. In the next moment, the door slammed on his face and sent him back to the ground.

His companion left to him was the ceaseless ringing.

I'm so sorry, her voice whispered over the explosions, unwavering but full of fear. Heat washed over his arm when he touched the image of her.

No, stop, we can figure this out.

Ava turned into James whose eyes blazed with crimson.

Stop! I should've—

Alarms screamed, louder.

"LOCKDOWN INITIATED!"

Lights clicked off behind his eyelids.

Rayan fell out of the chair when a distant explosion sent a shockwave through the foundations of the building. He crawled onto his feet and peered around the dark room. That was nearby. He headed for the security panel and clicked it to release himself without resorting to another method. It continued to flash the signal for a lockdown, so he took a step back to assess his surroundings.

He waited for the heat, but none came.

He waited for help, none came.

Another, chained explosion rocked the walls, and he steadied himself on the chair to prevent the fall onto his ass.

Waves of curling air swept through the atmosphere.

An ominous groan sounded from the ceiling. He tapped his compearl, but it fritzed in response. Nothing but white noise, the same sound which responded to Mom when she called for reinforcements, for help.

His mind echoed with the dissonant scratchy tones. He stepped back from the door when the firelight crackled underneath. Another explosion, not so later after the second and first, danced in a circumference and blasted the hot hair into his face.

Warmth brought the void hells and smothered him in its unforgiving, ember embrace.

Fuck...

Rayan knelt close to the ground when the ceiling cracked. Ash and embers oozed out from the sag of the foundation. Smoke seeped underneath his door and trapped his escape. Chain charges... not only that, Seeto's team tripped the lockdown procedure. We're cornered...

His compearl refused to chirp.

Rayan punched the door, trapped in his nightmare. He clung onto the frame when several chained explosions went off, all at once. It rocked and split metal. From the planet to the celestial heavens, the place shook. Knees on the ground, he coughed out the ash and held his searing head.

One pathetic chirp, but when he tried to communicate, it fell quiet.

Everything blurred.

It'll be okay, he told her. I promise.

I promise.

It went crimson.

I promised.

Rayan forced himself to his feet when the flames danced through his blood. His senses kicked into screaming overdrive and he aimed for the middle of the door. With his halved strength, the crimson flames swallowed the pain. He kicked, and the door clattered to the ground off its melted hinges. Smoke escaped from the impact. Fire and debris filled the corridors, but the water systems burned through the pipes, eking out embers.

Ash swirled in his nostrils, and he coughed through the burn. Sirens wailed with the clattering debris which rolled through the building. He avoided the patches of fire and the falling embers which slipped through the ceiling panels. There was no escape route through the smoke. Another door rested on the other end of the corridor, where a beam blocked the way through.

Wait, that's Aelius' office.

Rayan tugged out one of his edevic absorption rods and headed for it. "Aelius." He coughed up smoke. "Aelius, can you hear me?"

He flinched when another explosion sounded. He timed the chain charge in his mind and shoved the rod into a patch of spitting, hissing flames. Orange light crept through the edevic metal and swirled into spiderwebs to take in the absorbed heat.

Another enormous explosion almost sent him headfirst into the dim patch. He bit down on a scream when metallic sharpness pierced his leg when he went to save himself. He gripped his knee and slammed his teeth against his tongue where rust filled his throat. He held onto the wall and scooted himself away from the patch, where his rod clattered out of his hands when he went to hold onto the source of his pain. A thin piece of debris stuck itself into his leg from the rocking explosion, where it burst into his pants and splattered blood.

Fuck!

Flames of pain rolled through his thigh, but he pulled himself back to his feet where it screamed through his skin.

I can't afford to wait around, or run away.

Not again.

His time ran out with the explosions, where the hospital struggled to stand against the siege. If I don't get Aelius out... that's it. This was all for nothing. Ignoring fire and pain, he dragged himself back to the beam and shoved the heated rod into the metal bearings. With his free hand, he shoved the split beam out of the way of the door, then snapped to his compearl to reach out to someone.

Anyone.

And if that doesn't work, I'll send out my location.

Anything to get help before I fail again...

He clicked the first name in his contacts over and over. He spammed out his lifeline and the coordinates. Another wave of pain ripped through his lungs.

His compearl chirped.

Answer me.

It chirped.

Answer... Void crept along his view.

It hushed.

I can't...

"Hello?" a frizzy, yet all too familiar voice, neither Meryn nor his Mother, spoke on the other end and through a field of grass.

James...

Painted flames whisked into the frozen moment when he sank against the door panel to Aelius' office. Rayan bit on his cheek and fought the call of exhaustion. "I don't have much time," he said while the world of explosions crawled. "The Insurgents attacked the hospital. Aelius needs—" He bit down on a cry when the compearl shorted out, but he pushed through old pain, "James, please, listen to me, I'm—"

Another explosion sent him to the ground when the walls cracked. His compearl failed him and his lifeline died. He scowled, then punched the dead panel. I just need to get this door open.

Time continued its forward march, and he brought his good leg up against the crimson flames, and kicked it open.

He held onto the frame, where Aelius struggled to get out of his own pile of debris, with his dark hair matted with blood. "Matthey," he snapped with his second wind, and headed for him with the edevic rush.

Another explosion rocked through the hospital. One more horrific crack echoed through the building. Debris collapsed outside, but he tugged Aelius out of the debris, and out of the room as the ceiling fell on top of his burnt desk.

Fuck, that was close.

"Matthey? Can you hear me?"

Aelius rubbed his hand through his ash soaked hair. "Yes."

Good, still alive... not so much worse off than my stupid leg... Rayan hauled him to his feet and shoved him down what was left of the corridor. "We need to get out of here... fire exit that way?"

Aelius went still, then gave him a meek nod. Both of them crawled through the field of debris and flames, but the darkness encroached as they turned another immolated corner.

He fell, and his knee screeched with his throat when he hit the ground, and the waves of smoke fell over his shoulders. Aelius rushed to his side. "Rayan," he rasped.

"No... just go." He waved his hand. "Got to find a way out..."

Aelius swept his attention over his body past his own grime and matted blood. "Your leg."

Rayan choked up burnt mucus and licked his lips. "Aelius, go," he managed. "Get out of here."

Aelius ignored him to examine the flaming surroundings. "No..." he whispered, and Rayan winced when tears welled into his eyes.

Roof collapsed and blocked doors and down other corridors.

Rayan lifted his head when a smoky, red-eyed shadow ran through one of the fields of ash, followed by another.

"Mouse," the one in front said and reached him. "Grab Matthey."

Huh...?

He gripped onto his rescuer when they hauled him to his knees. He groaned with the pain and slumped into their arms, where they adjusted for his weight. "Things are coming down," they barked, the voice familiar. "Got him?"

"Yes, James, we have to—"

James...?

Both Elites dragged them through the corridor, but the other Elite screamed out a name when the corridor split and collapsed from the ceiling, trapping one escape to freedom. Rayan clutched onto the other Elite's shoulders when they stumbled from the noise, but held onto him tight.

"Fuck," James hissed and twisted them around, where a burning sign directed them to the next fire escape.

"James..."

"Shut up." James hauled him forward, but Rayn shuddered at the crack within the world. "We don't have a lot of time."

Floor and metal sagged underneath their boots.

No, we're out of time. You have to get out of here...

James took one step forward around the corner down the directed route. It shuddered through the walls, and the entire floor crumbled from underneath them.

In slow motion, Rayan tried to grab onto James, to hold him and comfort him through the fire which burned through their life. His back smashed against debris, where flames bit at his knee when James tumbled out of sight into the flaming hell he left him in. His head smacked against a leveled plane, where the stars rang out with the ticking. His ears burned while he failed to catch his breath.

Tick.

No... James. James!

He lost his grip and failed again to keep his promise.

His strength oozed out with his blood as he tried to crawl to the pile of debris James fell through, but he rested his cheek against the ashen floor of inability.

Tick.

Darkness rippled with cyan. Moments slowed, but never froze when James lifted the debris off his shoulders and tossed it to the side with graceful ease. His mask breathed out the smoke of rage and determination. On the flaming field, facing down an unstoppable force and refusing to back down.

He climbed out of the fallen debris, where his synthetic uniform held against the test of conflict and he slid to the level Rayan tumbled to.

Tick.

I'm dreaming... I lost him again...

Rayan pressed his fingers into the ash.

Everything went silent with James' footsteps closing in.

He lost his grip and closed his eyes to the darkness with the collapse of their foundation and lost himself in the black hole he left behind in Eastpoint, which returned to collect his life.

Tick.

He sank deeper into the ash, and the world blazed to the end.

Tick.