The Mantis Equilibrium - Book Two - 12. Chapter 12 - Messiah Temple

“We’re going back out tonight,” S’Kay declared as she slipped over the concrete barrier with Gawa and Eroli. They dropped down to the old Oselian airfield, ducked past the caution signs, and entered their underground hideout.

The sun was yet to rise.

“No, we can’t,” Eroli retorted. “It’s too soon.”

“I don’t know what your resistance is,” S’Kay said with a frown, “but hear me out, because I refuse to stop. I want to kill as many cannibals as we can, and I think we need to do it sooner rather than later. What we just did will lead to some sort of retaliation. I’m surprised nothing came of our first attack. We’ve experienced two great successes, but I suspect that from now on the other two Messiah houses will be under surveillance and heavily guarded. However, I have something else in mind.”

“Really, what?” Gawa asked. Eroli may have been apprehensive, but Gawa was excited.

“I think we need to bring death to their doorstep,” S’Kay replied.

“What do you mean?” Gawa asked her, but Eroli gasped.

S’Kay smiled at his reaction, and she brushed her fingers over the feathers that grew from her arms. “So, you understand my intention,” she said to him.

“What?” Gawa repeated.

“We won’t need Tualu for this one,” S’Kay informed her. “Now that the doors can no longer shut, there are always guards stationed at them. We are going to kill them and leave their bodies in the street.”

Gawa looked both amazed and surprised. “Yes,” she whispered emphatically, and she turned to Eroli, “S’Kay is right; we can’t stop what we’ve started.”

Eroli ran his claws through his thick fur in a nervous manner. “Our actions are going to lead to confrontation,” he said.

“It’s about bleeding time for some of our kin to step up and take action,” S’Kay responded. She looked out of the entrance. The night’s darkness still clutched the city. “Dawn is not far. Meet me at Red Raven’s pub this evening after sundown.”

Gawa said, “I’ll be there,” and Eroli reluctantly nodded his agreement.

The three left their hideout and returned to the city, and the sun soon spread its light over the world. That day dragged for each of them.

S’Kay and Gawa were ready for the night’s coming slaughter, and evening could not arrive fast enough, but Eroli was fearful.

When sunset finally darkened the world, he made his way to the new bar that catered to Biological Shifts in Shifton.

Gawa was already waiting.

“I don’t know about this,” he said to her.

“Don’t talk about it,” she replied sternly. “S’Kay will be here in a moment.”

“I don’t know…” Eroli started to say, but from behind him, S’Kay’s voice interrupted.

“You don’t have to come.” Her words sounded icy. “Gawa and I can do it by ourselves.” She handed Eroli and Gawa each a folded bundle.

Without sitting to join them or speaking another word, S’Kay turned and walked to the door of the tavern.

Gawa rose and followed her.

Eroli grabbed his glass, knocked back the rest of his beverage, and jogged behind the two women.

S’Kay was wrapped in a heavy cloak, and the other two did the same with the garments she provided for them. The early winter night quickly grew dark, and the three made their way down narrow corridors until they were through the neighborhood and out of Gate Town.

Their target’s silhouette loomed against the night sky. A moment later they were hidden in a shadowy alleyway around the corner from the Messiah Temple. S’Kay peeked out, then she pulled her head back.

“I can only see two guards,” she informed Gawa and Eroli. “I don’t know if there’s anyone else further around the tower, but two of them are just standing there.”

“Are they armed?” Eroli asked.

“They are Messiahs,” Gawa answered, “so it doesn’t matter if they’re armed. We need to take them out before they can react to us.”

“It would be convenient if one of us possessed a ranged ability,” Eroli complained, “but all three of us need to be right on top of our targets.”

S’Kay ignored his comment. “Head through that building,” she ordered, and she pointed. “You should be able to get closest to the guard who’s by the door in there. Gawa, you head down into that runoff ditch and creep all the way until you are beneath the other. Once you’re both in position, I’ll approach from the front and draw their focus.” S’Kay dropped her heavy cloak and ruffled her feathers. “You need to strike the instant that I’ve distracted them. We’re here to take out Messiahs; I don’t want them killing me in the street.”

She waited as Gawa and Eroli moved into their position, then she stepped out onto the street. The unique woman with a bird-like appearance began to approach the dilapidated front of the Messiah temple, and she immediately caught the men’s attention.

“Hey!” one of them yelled, but his words were cut off, as he and his fellow guard suddenly found themselves at the mercy of Gawa and Eroli.

Both Messiahs tried to scream, but all that came from them were wheezing and gurgling noises. The two fell to the pavement dead. Purple electricity crawled across the corpse at Gawa’s feet, and the other body hit the ground as a crystalline shell of himself and shattered into countless glittering fragments.

A voice behind Gawa barked, “What the fuck?!” as another pair of Messiahs came around from the far side of the tower.

They froze in shocked horror, but it only took a moment for them to compose themselves. Both reached for the clubs that hung from their belts.

Gawa was closest, and before they could attack, she screamed and lunged forward. She grabbed both men and poured her devastating cosmic powers into them. Their limbs went rigid, as they burned to cinders, and their corpses fell to the pavement. They crackled with tiny bolts of Gawa’s violet lightning.

“Let’s get out of here, now!” snapped Eroli.

“Agreed, that’s four bodies for them to deal with,” S’Kay said. “Gawa, let’s move,” and the three were off again down an alley in the darkness✪