The Mantis Synchronicity - Book Five - 10. Chapter 10 - To the Sea

Djaruki and the two girls did not realize that within Tygo’s bubble, they walked for thirteen days. They never grew tired or hungry, and the sun remained in the exact same place as they traveled. When they eventually caught a glimpse of a city in the distance, Tygo disengaged her powers, and the breeze started blowing. Djaruki looked up at the sun again.

“That’s pretty incredible,” she said to Tygo.

“I know!” Filiou agreed. “Isn’t her ability magical?” The bony claws that extended from all her joints flexed with her enthusiasm.

Djaruki ran her fingers through her hair. “Wonder how far we went.”

“Where do you suppose we are?” Tygo asked.

“Should we go find out?” Filiou added.

Djaruki paused and looked at the unique Biological Shift girl. “Filiou, maybe you and Tygo should stay here together, and I should go check things out first.”

“Can I come with you?” Tygo replied.

“It might not be safe for Filiou alone,” Djaruki said.

Tygo conceded, and Djaruki continued to the town. It was not what she hoped. There was a low city wall surrounding the burg, and several corpses were stretched across it. A sign with a single word crudely painted on it was nailed to a pole by the bodies.

Shifts, Djaruki read in her mind. Those are Shifts. We can’t stay here. She began to head back toward where the girls were hiding.

“Hey, you!!” shouted a childish voice behind her.

Djaruki spun around and spotted a large group of kids, none of whom could have been older than twelve. They were headed straight for her. Most of them were smiling, but several were carrying sticks.

As they got closer, one of the girls in the group asked, “Who are you?”

“How’d you get here?” added another.

“You don’t look like our people,” a boy declared.

The group started to spread out, and Djaruki felt like they were trying to surround her. She took a step back.

“Hey! What’s the big idea?” the first girl snapped, her smile getting wider and frightening. “We’re not gonna hurt you. What are you, scared of us kids?”

They all started laughing and jeering at Djaruki.

This was a mistake, she thought. I don’t want to hurt these kids. She glanced at the approaching horde and took another step back. I don’t want them to hurt me either!

The main girl grabbed a branch from one of the other little thugs, and she stepped up to Djaruki, jabbing her in the chest with it.

Djaruki stumbled backward, but she did not fall, and things around her suddenly changed. The youths were no longer advancing. The girl with the stick was motionless in her assault.

Tygo had frozen the world.

“Djaruki!” Filiou called out. “Are you okay?” She and Tygo came running up to her.

“Come on, you two, this place isn’t for us.” Djaruki ushered the younger girls away from the horrible town, preventing them from seeing the dead Shifts on the city wall. “Tygo, next time we find a city, maybe you should keep your power active so we can explore it without being caught. I don’t know what was wrong with those kids,” she added, glancing back at the frozen group of children. “I’m glad you stopped them.”

The trio walked the equivalent of four more days, and when they came to another small city, Tygo did not release her motionless bubble. The three of them approached a gated entrance, found a few people outside the city gates, and they crept around them. There was a sign that read Rolling Greens, and the girls entered the town through a gate with seven stars across its top.

“That’s a nice name,” Tygo stated.

“And this place is clean,” Djaruki commented.

Many more motionless people filled the city, and the trio snuck down one street after another. They did not know what they were looking for, but they were not seeing many negative signs about Rolling Greens. Shops were open and cafés bustled with motionless people. Vendors were stuck with their mouths wide, calling out about their available wares, and street performers were frozen in the middle of their routines. Some buskers were juggling, others dancing, while some sang; there were also quite a few artists painting portraits, all of them frozen.

Djaruki, Filiou, and Tygo may not have seen any signs of other Shifts, but Rolling Greens seemed like a vibrant city.

“Do you think we could stay here?” Filiou asked. The shimmer on her multifaceted eyes shifted back and forth as she took in everything.

There were fountains with their sprays of water frozen like ice. There were statues with birds taking off or landing on them. There were multiple green parks with lush flora and walking paths for the city’s inhabitants to enjoy the cultivated natural spaces.

“I don’t know,” Djaruki replied to Filiou. “Is it too good to be true? Every city has a bad part of town, but where is it here? Things almost seem too nice.”

Tygo was also unsettled by the place. “It’s too perfect,” she agreed.

The girls found a sign with a map of the city. The words YOU ARE HERE with a green star indicated where in town the map was located.

Djaruki brought her fingertip to the bottom edge. “Look, we came in there.” She was touching the words Seventh Star Gate. “So we must have explored most of this region.” She drew an imaginary circle on the map with her fingertip that stretched from the gate to the green star.

“Then let’s go that way,” Tygo declared, pointing at the unexplored portion of the map. “Maybe the other parts of town are not as nice.”

Filiou touched the top of the map with her spiny finger. “Is that the ocean?”

A stretch of blue covered a few inches of the upper edge.

“It doesn’t say,” Djaruki replied. “Maybe it’s a lake. Let’s go find it and see.”

They encountered violence before they reached the water.

The three girls rounded a corner and froze in their tracks. On the grand stone steps of a majestic cathedral, two Biological Shifts were being slain. Not only could there be no doubt that the wretched victims were Biological Shifts, but there was also no missing the fact that they were dying.

“Oh no,” Tygo whispered.

“They’re killing them,” Filiou added at barely a breath. The bony protrusions all over her body tightened against her spiny skin.

Djaruki looked away from the attack and focused on the girls. “Tygo, Filiou, stay here.” She turned and slowly approached.

Both Biological Shifts appeared male. Every inch of one of them was covered in beautiful silver hair that was matted with blood. The other Biological Shift seemed to be covered in quills like a porcupine. The first was not conscious. His leg was broken, and his shinbones were stabbing out through his flesh and fur. He had a gash in his side and something pink and bulbous was bulging from it. A nasty wound in his head was freely bleeding onto the steps, even though the blood was frozen by Tygo’s power. The other was in even worse shape than his companion. One of his hands had been cut off and both his legs appeared to be broken. His face was smashed, and his skull was cracked open. His brains were visible.

At the sight of the brutality, Djaruki vomited. She stepped up to one of the attackers, a young man who looked about the same age as her, and she punched him in the face. His head only moved slightly, and as soon as her fist was no longer in contact with him, he was again motionless.

“Ouch,” Djaruki said to herself, shaking her hand and flexing her wrist. She stepped up to the next member of the gang, a skinny woman who appeared to be in her thirties. Djaruki gave her a little shove, and the woman’s body shifted so she looked off-balance, but she also remained frozen. Two men with clubs had been pummeling the Biological Shift with quills, and Djaruki yanked their weapons away from their motionless hands. She threw them at the men, but as soon as the bludgeons left her fingers, they also froze mid-flight.

Djaruki turned to the furry Shift, and she realized a woman with a sword had already stabbed him several times and was mid-thrust, stabbing him again. Djaruki snatched the sword and slashed it across the woman’s torso at a diagonal, from one collarbone to the opposite hip. A thin stripe of red appeared where the blade had touched the woman. Djaruki rounded on the final attacker. He holding the Biological Shift by his beautiful silver hair and crouching over him. He was in the middle of slamming the back of his head against the stone steps. Djaruki stuck the sword into the attacker, and she turned back to Tygo and Filiou.

She stepped up to them and whispered in a shaky voice, “Let’s go.”

The three left the city and found the water. They could not see a far shore, and even though Tygo’s powers were keeping the waves frozen, the waters seemed calmer than a sea ought to have been.

“Is it an ocean or a lake?” Filiou asked.

The three of them stared along the coasts in both directions and out at the shimmering horizon.

“I don’t know,” Djaruki replied.

Tygo walked up to the water’s edge. “I think I can walk on water,” she stated, and she stepped onto the motionless rippling surface like it was pavement. Her feet did not sink. “I think we should keep walking this way.” She pointed out at the expanse of blue beyond her.

“Why aren’t you sinking?” Djaruki asked.

“I don’t know, but as soon as I saw the water, I knew I could walk on it.”

Filiou joined her and also stepped out onto the water, which supported her.

“I don’t get it,” Djaruki said. “How is your power doing that?” She walked up to the edge, stuck her fingers into the motionless water, and swirled them through the liquid. It moved for her touch, but the other two were not sinking. “How is it holding you up?” Neither of the girls knew how to answer. Djaruki drew her fingers out of the water and it instantly froze again. She took a tentative step onto the water, and it held her.

“It’s so weird,” Filiou declared, her jaw-horns moving with her words, “and I love it!”

The trio began to walk out to sea✪