Vision

By Michael Miller

The fog pushed through the tiny gap between the gates and the steel and gears groaned and shuddered.  The fog formed fingers, which pushed through and grabbed both of the gates and began to bend the metal like it was cardboard.  With a great push, the beast of fog tore the gates open and tumbled through.  It crashed against the ground and spread like a thin sheet of water across the pavement, and lapped at the feet of the defenders.

Shadows flocked through the gates and scuttled along the ground, then they rose up and showed their screaming faces and skeletal arms.  Their hands stretched forward, the wraiths grasped at the people as if they could already feel their fleshy bodies in reach.

Redeemer Kayleen drew her blades, “Everyone, the ritual!”

All of the defenders drew their weapons and recited the incantation, and all their blades and bludgeons and pole arms lit up with pure light. Redeemer Kayleen stepped forward from the rest of them, “Stay together. Don't let any of them through.  Think of your loved ones and fight!”

The defenders all rushed forward and met the wraiths, and their weapons tore through the first rank.  From there, the fighting degenerated into a brawl, with the ranks of the wraiths and defenders mingling.  More crashes sounded in the distance as the other gates were torn down and the fog began to sift through the rest of the city.  Redeemer Kayleen continued to shout encouragement as she fought into the deepest parts of the wraith lines.

Spite, Orion, Billy and Cestice had all gathered together before the fight began, and had formed a line all their own.  They pressed forward; with a group of Redemptionists following close behind, and got deep into the wraith lines before they stopped to fight.  They put their backs together with the other Redemptionists and began to slash in every direction.

A wraith got the better of one of their charges and latched onto him; he shuddered and wretched as the wraith reached inside of him and groped around for what it needed.  After it got a grip on his spirit, the wraith tore it out and devoured it, and the man fell lifeless to the ground.

Then Cestice stopped.  Billy had been standing beside her and noticed her arms go limp and her eyes look out past the wraiths.  As she started to fall over he finished the wraith before him and threw down his bladed gloves, then caught her before she hit the ground.  He moved into the center of the group and held Cestice in his arms as he struggled to say something to her.

“Cesty… speak to me.  Say something.  What's wrong?  Are you hurt?  Dida wraith touch you?  Please, anything.”

“Everyone, back to our front,” Orion called.  All of the Redemptionists moved their way back to the rest of the defenders, but found them encircled as well.  The wraiths had swarmed into the city faster than anyone had anticipated, and the defenders were back to back and unable to go anywhere.

Orion pushed his way through the crowd to Kayleen, “Madam Redeemer, we have to get Cestice to the infirmary.”

Kayleen continued to down wraiths, “If you can find a way out, then she can go.”

Orion pushed to one side of the circle along with Spite and the two of them began to cut a path through the wraiths.  As they got out into the open again, Billy ran towards the infirmary.  He didn't stop to see if Spite and Orion were able to get back into the fray, all he could think about was Cestice.  “Benevolencies, don't take her from me.  Let her be alright.  Let me get there in time.  Don't take her from me, please.”

Billy shouldered his way through the door to the infirmary and stumbled into the waiting room.  Medic Ron was at the front desk and hurried over to Billy as soon as he came in, “What's the problem?”

Billy tried to talk, but his words came out in pants and his mind wouldn't form anything coherent.  Ron took one look at Cestice and grabbed Billy by the shoulder, “This way, I'll get her into a room right now, and a doctor will see her immediately.”

Billy gasped a thank you and followed Ron down the hallway and into a small room with a single bed.  He laid Cestice down on the bed and sat down beside her, taking one of her hands and squeezing it.  Ron recited the ritual as he hooked up the machines to monitor her heart rate, then left the room to find a doctor.

Billy sniffled, “Please be alright.”

“I'm okay,” Cestice said with a groan as she sat up.  She rubbed her head and sighed, not sure how long she had been out.  But something wasn't right; normally, Billy would have damn near tackled her off the bed at the first signs of life.  She looked up to see him still staring at the pillow, and glanced over.  She was out of the bed in an instant, staring at what lay there: her body.

“By the Benevolencies; am I dead?”

Doctor Phillip came into the room with Ron and walked over to the bed, “Let me take a quick look at her.”

Phillip checked her pulse, then listened to her heart and observed her lips, throat, ears, and nose.  When he pried open her eyelids he stood up and covered his mouth.  He started to say something, but stopped, then walked around to the other side of the bed where Cestice stood and checked her eyes again.

“What is it?”

Phillip shook his head, “She's fine… I think.  There's nothing I can do for her.”

Billy gripped her hand tighter, “What do you mean?”

Phillip motioned for Billy to come closer, and everyone in the room did so.  He pried her eye open again and everyone shuddered.  Something that looked like liquid metal covered the orb and roiled and shifted across its surface.

Phillip let her eyes close again and stared at her face for a moment, “It's a vision.  If I'm reading the signs right, then it's from The Crafter. Yes, he is the one who had the eyes of quicksilver.  She should be alright, but I can't do anything until she wakes up.  It would be blasphemy to stop her vision.”

Billy sat down and sighed, her hand still in his.

“Is it alright if I stay here?”

Phillip nodded, “I'll send word to the Headmaster.”

Ron patted Billy on the shoulder and followed Phillip out of the room. Cestice walked over beside Billy and stared at his face.  “You're really hurting, aren't you?”  He didn't reply.  She closed her eyes and retraced her footsteps around the bed.  When she opened her eyes, she was in a massive warehouse with rows and rows of shelves that stretched to the horizon before her; and when she looked over her shoulder, it reached the other horizon.

She took a moment to marvel at the shelves.  They were covered in devices, some recognizable to anyone, some only to a technomancer, and some even she didn't know.  “I take it you like my works, young one?”

Cestice turned and tried to find the voice, “What is this place? Why did you take me from the city?”

Cestice saw movement and turned to face it.  In the moment she saw him, she dropped to her knees and bowed. The man had elegant bionic devices scattered across his body, and his mottled grey wings were folded behind his back.  But the eyes were unmistakable; they were flooded with quicksilver that trickled down his cheeks and disappeared beneath his collar.

Cestice swallowed, “I'm sorry, my lord, I forgot my place for a moment.”

Cestice could hear his footsteps as he walked towards her, and she felt as if all the muscles in her body wanted to give out, “Do not apologize, young one. I must admit that this place is quite a bit for a mortal mind to take in.”

He knelt before her and put his hands on her trembling shoulders, “You do not need to bow.  We Benevolencies do not ask that mankind worship us; simply that it follows the way of life that leads to redemption.”

Cestice felt tears run down her cheeks as the man brought her up into a kneeling position.  His eyes were unimaginable; deep and knowing, with all the love of a father for his children, but still possessed of so much more. She couldn't tell if she was happy or excited, but it didn't matter.

“You're an Angel,” she said, which made him laugh.  “I'm not worthy.”

She stood up with him, then lunged forward and hugged him.  He patted her head, “It is alright, young one.  I did not bring you here for any trivial matter.  You see… I need you to speak to your city for me.  I brought you here to teach you how to sanctify firearms.”

Cestice leaned back enough to look up into those eyes again, and tried to calm her heart before she spoke.  “But master, there's no such thing… Why didn't you spread knowledge of it before you left?”

The Angel shook his head, “I am Falthor, and you may call me such.  It is something that goes beyond mortal perception.  There is a grand scheme to it that I must adhere to.  This will be the only vision I will ever visit upon you, so use our time together wisely.”

*          *          *

Billy sniffled with his little cat-like nose, squeezed Cestice's hand again, and wiped the tears from his cheeks.  The air got colder, and the fog began to sift through the crack at the base of the window, followed by two shadows.  Billy jumped to his feet and got ready to fight; but his heart missed a beat as he felt the chill nip at his bare hands.  He grabbed Cestice's body from the bed and ran.

Billy ran down the hallway towards the waiting room, which was filled with victims of the attack.  “Everyone, get out!  The wraiths are here!”

Ron and the other medics began to move people out of the room and down the hallway, and those still able to fight picked up anything they could use as a weapon and performed the ritual.  Billy tried to urge everyone out of the room, but those who had the strength to fight refused, and filed out the door.  Billy felt sick as he watched them hobble and limp and even crawl towards the army of wraiths.

Billy turned and followed after the people who had gone down the hallway, but found them fleeing as more wraiths came through the back entrance.  Several people fell to the wraiths, their spirits torn from their bodies and devoured.  Ron pushed to the front with a broken chair in one hand and a hacksaw in the other.  He performed the ritual and the two things lit up.

“Everyone, up the stairs!” Ron called.  “Get to the roof!”

Billy was swept up in the tide of people as they pushed their way up the stairs and scrambled for the roof.  Ron fought as best he could with such items, but there were too many wraiths.  Billy lost sight of him.  As they reached the roof, everyone shivered as Ron cried out from down below, but his scream was cut short as the door closed.

Fighting could be heard, and everyone moved to the edge of the roof to see what was happening.  There were only a handful of injured patients left, but they were doing their best.  The wraiths were still numerous, and many people turned away from the edge and began to cry.  Billy gingerly set Cestice down and walked over to the guard post on the roof.  He found two axes and walked over to the door.  As the fog began to sift onto the roof, Billy performed the ritual. I'm sorry, Cesty.  I have to do this.  Goodbye…

As the shadows pushed under the door and rose up, Billy readied himself for battle.  A bullet flew past his head and struck the first wraith, then sailed through a few more before it lost momentum and dropped to the ground. Billy looked over his shoulder to see Cestice, her pistol shining. Everyone moved aside for her as she ran over to Billy, and she kissed him before she opened the door and pointed her gun down the stairs.

Billy stood there for a moment, “Cesty…”

Cestice fired off a few more shots, downing the last of the wraiths, “This is going to take a while to explain, and now isn't the time.”

She closed the door again, then moved over to the edge of the building and leaned down to get a hold on a water spout, but Billy grabbed her arm, “No, I won't let you go down there.  You can use your gun and fight from up here.”

Cestice sighed, “We don't have time for this.  Falthor told me what I have to do, and I can't defy the will of the Benevolencies.”

Without another word, Cestice slid inelegantly to the ground, then dusted herself off and faced the army of wraiths.  The last injured person fell as she pulled her second pistol from its holster and took a couple steps towards them.  “Falthor, Crafter of all technomancy, guide my bullets. My mind is now opened to the light of technology, and I am but a tool through which your divine will be exerted.”

Billy landed gracefully beside her and readied his axes, “We'll fight together, damnit.”

Cestice began to fire, and wraith after wraith fell as the bullets cut through their ranks, “No!  This is my fight, and I need you to go get help. Nobody knows about this yet, and everyone will die if you don't get someone.”

Billy's arms went limp to his sides, and he let the axes fall to the ground, “You're too fucking stubborn for your own good.  I'll never forgive you if you let yourself die.”  With that, Billy ran off around the infirmary to find anyone who could help. I'm sorry Bill, that's in the hands of the Benevolencies now…

Cestice continued to fire until she emptied her clips, then slid two more in, as the wraiths got closer.  She wasted those clips just as fast, and began to search all her pockets for more.  None.  She glanced down at the axes and picked them up.  She still remembered what Falthor had told her of the ritual she discovered, and quickly invoked it.  The light was more vibrant and angry than normal, and she ran towards the wraiths.  As she reached their front line she swung with both of them in a wide arc.  Ranks of wraiths fell as the light rippled through the air in a wave.  The other wraiths hesitated, then began to circle her.  As she stood there and tried to catch her breath, it was almost as if the wraiths were trying to gauge her abilities.

Several from one side lunged forward, and she caught sight of them and brought both axes down.  The ground shuddered as the light rippled through them and destroyed them all.  Cestice's arms ached as if she had just fought for an hour, and she could tell she wouldn't last much longer.  Sorry Bill, it looks like this is where it ends…

The wraiths stood there, and Cestice clenched her jaw as tears ran down her cheeks, “What the fuck are all of you staring at?  Why don't you just get it over with?”

Several wraiths came at her from different sides, and she lashed out at each one.  They all died, but the axes felt as heavy as lead, and her legs began to shake under her own weight.  All of the wraiths began to tighten the circle around her, and Cestice sighed.  She held the axes in front of her as far as her arms could stretch, and waited.  The wraiths drew closer and began to grope with their arms, wanting so badly to feast on her spirit.  Cestice swung the axes back as far as her arms could go, and the great wave of light cut down dozens of wraiths.

Cestice dropped to her knees and felt her arms begin to give out, “Shit…” The world began to spin around her, and her eyes couldn't focus. She saw Billy and several other Redemptionists round the corner of the infirmary and run towards her, but she couldn't hear what they were shouting.

Cestice could almost taste something metallic in the back of her throat, and it was an odd feeling.  One bold wraith lunged at her as the Redemptionists neared, and Cestice barely managed to brush the axe across it before everything went black.

*          *          *

Her senses came back slowly, and at first she thought she was dreaming.  Cestice could hear someone talking, and then several people, but she couldn't tell what they were saying.  She didn't feel the ground against her, but something soft, and recognized it as a bed and a pillow.  An odd sting in her hand started to bring things into focus, and she knew someone had put an IV in her.

Her eyes fought to open, and all conversation in the room stopped. She finally forced her eyelids up and tried to look around the room.  It was all fuzzy at first, but it began to come into focus.  Someone sat beside her and squeezed her hand, but she didn't have to guess who that was.  She recognized Headmaster Finneus, Spite, and Orion, as well as Redeemer Isabelle, but the others were unfamiliar.

Headmaster Finneus walked over to the side of Cestice's bed,  “Young lady, can you understand me?”

Cestice started to say something, but felt a sharp pain her stomach, so just nodded.  The Headmaster smiled, “Young lady, you are very lucky to be alive right now.  I would suggest more caution in the future.”

The Headmaster cleared his throat, and his face took on a more serious look, “Young Lady Cestice, what you did today was an unimaginable act of heroism and self-sacrifice.  It goes without saying that without you and the other brave souls, the infirmary would have been lost, and many more people would have died.  I feel that any honor I could bestow upon you would pale in comparison to what mark The Crafter left, but to do nothing would be a great dishonor.”

Cestice looked confused, so the Headmaster motioned to someone, who handed her a mirror.  Along both of her cheeks ran tiny rivulets of quicksilver, as though she had been crying and the metal stained her skin. She swallowed and felt just as she had when she looked into Falthor's eyes. She put the mirror down and muttered a short prayer as best as her hoarse throat allowed.

Finneus waited until she was done, then nodded his approval, “It is a great honor, Young Lady, one that I trust you will bear with pride. However, after your showing today, and given you have received a gift from The Crafter, I feel you have finally grown into the rank that you were meant to have.  You are hereby Master Technomancer, and will lead the city's technomancers in their studies when you are not fighting.  I would also request that you teach us all how to perform this new ritual which was given to you, and have set aside time for you to train others in a formal class.”

Finneus smiled again, “All of that aside, I feel that you have earned the right to some time to yourself.  To you, and all of your friends, I grant one week free of duties.  I pray that you all may guide this city down the path of Redemption.”

The Headmaster bowed, as did all of the Redeemers in the room.