The Mantis Equilibrium - Book Two - 27. Chapter 27 - Tchama

Tiny droplets of cold rain began to drip from the sky, and Tchama pulled up her hood. The city streets were dark and quiet as she made her way from Auntie Peg’s home in the Spritehood, but a low noise began to rise. It sounded like a strange hum, and Tchama was almost certain she could feel the vibrations in her feet. She stopped walking and was sure that the sound was coming from the concrete below her.

Tchama continued on her way and turned onto a long pathway that led beside the old airfield. Down the very first side street, she was startled to notice a thick cloud that looks like fog. It was moving toward her at an alarming pace, and she did not like its appearance. It looked as if it were something else to it other than simply water vapor. Tchama hurried away.

Every time she looked back over her shoulder, it was a little closer. Eventually, she decided to run. When she reached the edge of Gate Town, Tchama started zigzagging through the neighborhood away from the unnerving cloud.

Then she began to hear the cries of the dying, and she arrived at the site of the battle. Chaos reigned and corpses were strewn about the street like rag dolls. Tchama froze when she saw the fighting. Then she slipped into an alleyway and hid behind a stack of crates. Tears flooded her eyes as she was confronted by the numerous mutilated bodies. She witnessed people cleaved by Messiahs who wielded horrible weapons. She saw Shifts eviscerate Messiahs with their cosmic energies.

Tchama watched the slaughter from her hidden location for more than two grueling hours, until very few from both sides were left standing. When she eventually dared to leave her hiding place, she knew exactly where to go. The mystic’s house was not far, and that was where she headed. Tchama crept down the streets of Gate Town towards the entrance of Shifton with the winter sun beginning to rise. The drizzle gave everything a shimmer in the light of the dawn.

As Tchama turned a corner, she came face to face with a Messiah woman who was covered in blood. She was carrying a pair of short swords, and she charged at Tchama, who screamed and sprinted away. The woman was right on her heels, but only one thing filled Tchama’s mind, getting to the mystic’s house. She did not know how that would save her from an empowered enemy, but her fear stole from her the capacity to think of anything besides getting to a place that was always safe before.

Her feet pounded the pavement, as she raced through Shifton towards the street where the mystic lived with his daughter and husband. Tchama rounded the last corner with the bloody Messiah woman close behind her, reaching for her.

“Help me! Help!” she screamed, but then blinding pain enveloped her, and Tchama slipped towards unconsciousness★