Star Crossed: On the Line - 13. Bombs Away

“Stop smiling at me like that.” Tanner glares at me with a giant metal blade in his hand. Well...his metal hand. It’s a gigantic metal suit that has made him taller and I guess it should be more menacing and scary. Oh but I am not scared at all. I am excited. I have been wanting this moment for so long.

I walk slowly towards him. Each step leaves behind a burning footprint of violet energy. I am not even really controlling it right now. It’s just burning off of me like it knows how angry I am.

Every time I take a step forward, Tanner takes a step back. The look on his face. I can just feel how scared he is of me right now. I love that feeling. I want to make it last. I glance to my right and see the chaos of Bridgehome. It would be Firelight who would murder themselves. At least it is one way to weaken them.

Tanner seems to think that is his moment to attack. He lunges forward and swipes with the metal blade. I bend backwards and the blades almost cuts the beads out of my hair. Oh if he cuts them off...I will make sure his pain lasts for a long time.

I summon a longstaff and swipe out in front of me. A fiery blade forms on the end and it cuts at the metal plating on his chest. He stumbles back and grabs the longstaff from my hands. He is a lot stronger than me, especially with this suit.

Tanner tries to use my own staff against me but it just disappears into the air before he can even try.

He growls and swipes at me again. I dodge but then his other hand punches out and I go flying. I grit my teeth and move my body in the air to land on my feet. I jump forward and teleport.

I come up behind him and summon a blade to drive it deep into his shoulder. He shouts in pain and tries to pull it out of his shoulder. When he tries to grab it, it only burns his hand. The metal around his fingers glow orange and he flaps his hand to try and cool it. I smirk and summon another blade. I walk in front of him and shove it into his other shoulder.

He breathes hard through his nose and kicks his foot out. I sidestep it and quickly rest my hand over his chest and crotch. They burn violet and he screams into the air. He falls to his knees and groans. I summon two blades and stab them through the back of his legs, pinning him to the ground.

He tries to bite his tongue in hopes of not screaming again. He looks up at me and his eyes shine.

“Y-you really don’t want to kill me, Alentian.” He says.

I grin and run my claws over his cheek. He shivers and tries to move his head away. “Oh but I really do.” I press into his cheek hard and the claw on my thumb causes his cheek to bleed.

Red blood spills onto my hand and I wipe it off in his hair. He is shaking so hard. I love it.

“Believe me.” He starts, “You really really don’t want to kill me. You wouldn’t want to be the murderer of thousands of lives would you?” His chin trembles as he tries to manage a smile.

“I don’t know if you can count or not, but you only count as one life.” I drag my finger along the side of his face and he screams as my magic burns across the cut I made before.

He tries to close his eyes, but I shake him out of it. “You will not keep your eyes closed during this.” I growl, before I hover my fingers over his eyes. He immediately keeps his eyes wide open after that.

I glance to my right and see that our side is starting to win. That’s good. Hopefully Firelight will die with him.

“You killed my mother, Mariinyoso.” I say and stare into his eyes. “You even killed Kane.” I place both of my hands on both sides of his head. “Now,” He starts shaking under my hands but keeps his eyes on me. The fear in his eyes is delicious. “Now you will die to me.”

Energy surges through my hands and into his skin. The places that my hands touch glow purple and he begins to scream loud. Louder than even before. The glow begins to slowly spread. It covers his entire head and continues to flow into his body. The metal of the suit hides the body but I know it is spreading.

The blades disappear as the power begins to spread. The holes left behind glow from the energy that is spreading inside him. I move away both hands and instead grab him by the chin with one. Somehow he weighs as nothing now. I lift him up with ease. He tries to grab my hand with both of his but it honestly only feels like air blowing against my skin. I turn to the battle area next to us. It has grown rather quiet. I am greeted to something I didn’t expect to see.

Both sides have stopped and are staring at me. I can even see Norian and the squad watching. They all hold looks of shock or terror. Perhaps I have pushed it for long enough.

I turn to Tanner who is still screaming. I pull him close enough to whisper in his ear. “Say hello to Talemo for me, Mariinyoso.”

I throw him in the air and he slowly floats upwards, the energy in his body glows brighter and brighter until he explodes. It’s not a loud or big explosion. His body instead has burned into nothing. Wisps of purple energy flares out of him. Even the smallest pieces that could have been him have burned into the air with the energy carrying it away. A wave of his blood almost remains but even that manages to burn into nothing. It is an aura of red and purple.

I almost feel bad. Not necessarily for killing him, but because he died in a rather beautiful way. Disintegrating into colors.

The aura disappears into the air and then it is just silent. Instantly everyone below starts moving. White sleeves moves their cars from the entrance, some even have their tires screech as they hurry down the bridge. Cries of terror fill the air.

I look on in confusion. Why is everyone reacting this way? I understand killing Tanner but I am pretty sure they are overreacting a little.

The ground begins to shake beneath my feet. I frown and look towards the entrance. The trembling grows louder and then distant shouting begins to fill the air. Then I see them.

The people of Ember are running up here. Why? I look towards Norian and see he is ordering the slaves around. Making them stand in groups by the trucks. What’s happening? I see the rest of the squad doing the same, Alicia included. I don’t see Tony and Dozer in the massive crowd of slaves.

No one has even tried or bothered coming up the two flights of stairs with me. Did...did I do something wrong?

~~
~~

“You sure this was a good idea?” I ask Alicia. She had any remaining captains available send a distress signal to the people below Bridgehome. We wanted all the people to be together for what may possibly be the end of them. It’s a bit of a gruesome thought but there isn’t really much to do for them. I...I don’t even know if we are all going to make it.

Mekaias has killed Tanner already though, so why haven’t any explosions gone off yet? I frown at realizing this. Could he have been bluffing the whole time? It seems like it.

As if on cue, a loud explosion sounds off back at the base with the execution circle. It echos around the city and the orange aliens all scream in fear.

More explosions begin to go off that can’t be seen. I look up and around us but see no damage has been done.

Smoke begins to rise, far away on the bridge. More explosions sound off and the ground begins to shake as the bombs grow louder. The bridge entrance then explodes in a large orange fire and then the sound of the bridge collapsing rises. The ground just will not stop shaking as the bridge crashes down to the marketplace and homes below.

Then it is silent, aside from the cries and screams from the families around me.

“We should move them to higher ground.” I shout. I point towards Mekaias, who is just standing there staring at everything. I will get to him as soon as I have this organized to Alicia's wishes. I want them all to have their moments together as much as I want my final moments with my soulmate.

Alicia starts shouting at the top of her lungs to try and move the orange aliens to up the stairs.

An explosion erupts high above us. I look up and see the ring of metal in the sky has exploded. Another explosion goes off on the other side of the ring, that one far bigger than the one before. A giant dark hole fills the metal ring and then bright red and orange lava begins to slowly spill over the other side of the city. Oh god. I never really thought I’d die to lava.

I look for Mekaias but see he still hasn’t moved. I need to be with him.

I move forward and beckon what looks like two families, to come with me. A woman hugs a crying child to her chest and she has wet tears running down her eyes. I almost forget to breathe as everything starts to hit me but I swallow hard and turn to keep moving. So many people are going to die. Even children. It sends a shiver down my spine.

An explosion goes off behind us. A tall building begins to groan as it starts to tilt right over me and my group. My eyes go wide in horror and I do the only thing I think is right. I rush to the woman and her child, another little boy hides in front of the mother. I lean over them and push the rocks on my back and far out as I can. The family beneath me cowers and leans against me for cover. I squeeze my eyes shut and just wait for it all to end. Mentally chanting how much I love Mekaias.

The ending and pain doesn’t come. Gasps of shock surround me and I glance above me. The building seems to slide down what looks like a purple force field that has energy swimming around it. It isn’t too bright or strong enough in color for you not to see through it. Definitely stronger than the shields Mekaias has used before.

I look towards the the top of the double stairways and see Mekaias with both hands held high in the air. They glow a bright violet and I swear I see that his arms are shaking.

More explosions erupt above us and giant boulders begins to fall from the top of the city. They fall onto the force field but instead break into tiny pieces before sliding off the force field and to the ground outside.

“No.” I whisper to myself. Mekaias should not be using that much power. It could kill him!

Everyone around us screams as more rocks fall above us and bombs erupt outside the force field. Lava continues to fall on the other side of the city. It is trailing down the base and into the city below the bridge.

What is the point of this? It is only delaying the inevitable. I know it’s bad but I do not want Mekaias hurting himself anymore than he already has. I look back at him and see that his eyes...they...they are glowing. Bright purple light is shining from his eyes.

One hand stops glowing and the other starts to glow brighter. The movement of power seems to hurt him as I see him fall onto one knee. I bite my lip in worry and try to move the family towards him. They do not budge. They simply keep staring at him.

Mekaias takes a deep breath as he slowly manages to stand once again. His other hand begins to glow and he throws it out to his right. A giant portal erupts about twenty feet next to him. He keeps one hand on the force field and the other on the portal, keeping it open.

“Hurry! Get inside!” Remelia shouts behind me.

Instantly, hundreds of bodies begin running for the two stairways in hopes of getting through the portal. Their desperation for safety is so strong that even their small bodies are managing to push me up the stairs against my will.

I immediately allow them to do so. I need to get to Mekaias. The closer we get to him the more power I can feel coming off of him. Everything feels as if it is vibrating and it only grows the higher and higher I get up the stairs.

I look to the portal, trying to see where he could possibly be dropping us off.

It’s our base. Our old base. His first base. I almost smile at that, but the floor shakes hard as a giant scrap of metal has fallen.

I glance up and see that a large piece of the ring has fallen off. It has landed right in the middle of where the bridge once stood. I glance at Mekaias now that I am much closer. He has his brow furrowed in concentration and...he’s bleeding. He is bleeding through his nose. A steady flow of blood continues to fall and land on the floor beneath him. A puddle has begun to form.

I immediately try and make my move to get to him. I try and push to the side of the crowd but instead I am being pushed back instead. We have reached the top of the stairs and immediately I am pushed towards the portal.

“No! No, wait!” I shout at the people around me but they just keep pushing. They aren’t even looking at me. They have their sights on the portal and they just will not stop pushing me. I reach my hand in Mekaias’ direction but then I feel cold air surround me.

I look up and see the night sky of Earth. I look around me and see the large crowd of orange aliens and Firelight standing far from the portal and waiting for everyone to come through.

Remy and Remelia are standing at the edges of the portal, staring into it. Alicia soon walks in with Tony and Dozer by her sides. It never seems to end. People just keep pushing through.

I manage to push myself past them to rush to Remelia’s side. I try and reach into the portal to run back in but instead I am met with a solid wall. I press against it over and over.

“It’s a one sided portal.” Remelia says, her gaze never leaving the scary glow of orange that is Ember. It is so strange seeing the difference of this side to the other. Here it is in the coolness of night with the moon shining down on us, it is quiet. On the other side, rocks rain from the ceiling, lava continues to fall and fill up the city, and it is loud. The sounds of the other side of the portal echo into the Earth’s sky.

“What do we do?” I ask. I keep my eyes on Mekaias. I can see he is struggling. His chest rises and falls fast and his arms shake. His glowing eyes aren’t as open as they can be. He is tired. He is using far too much energy and it is killing him.

“We can’t do anything.” She says. She sounds as if she is hypnotized. She does not take her eyes off the destruction of the planet in front of us. The orange light shines on her skin in an eerie way.

“He’s dying” I can almost hear the whine in my voice. I could care less about that. I can practically feel the life draining from him. It’s hurting him and he needs to stop.

“He’s saving lives.” Remelia turns to me. Her eyes are shining with unshed tears. “He’s doing what any of us would do as well.”

I look back at Mekaias and frown. I look to the crowd and see the end of the line. “He can make it. I know he can. He’s strong.” I say say to myself and nod. I keep my eyes on the last person climbing the stairs. The crowd seem to move even slower now. Some even trip and fall and I just about pull my hair out in frustration.

An especially loud sound goes off in the portal and a large metal piece of the ring falls directly on top of the force field. Energy seems to ripple on the force field and I swear I see a crack begin to form on top. Mekaias’ body slides backwards from the force of the scrap of metal hitting his force field. He still manages to keep standing.

Finally the last person has crossed the portal. I rush to stand in front of it and rest my hands on it. Mekaias doesn’t even make a move for us. His concentration is only on whatever is in front of him.

“Mekaias!” I shout, not even knowing if he can hear me from this side. His ears perk up and he slowly turns to head to look over his shoulder. I wave him with one hand to come to the portal and keep another in front of me in hopes that he can grab onto it.

Slowly he turns, his face contorted in pain. He takes one step forward and seems to try and plant his foot in place before trying to move the other. Another boulder lands hard on the force field and his body slides backwards on his feet.

I feel a spike of pain in my chest and I know it isn’t mine. Cracks start to fill up on the force field and flakes of it seem to break off and disappear into the air. Then I see lava begin to spill through. He’s been holding back lava this whole time?

Mekaias starts to walk towards me again. This time a little faster. His eyes are no longer glowing and he just looks so tired. His eyes are barely open yet they shine with tears.

He stumbles on his feet and falls onto one knee, he barely catches himself but continues to keep both of his hands up and glowing.

“Come on, Starshine!” I shout for him, “You can do it!”

Mekaias warily lifts his head. When he looks at me, he gives a tired smile before pushing himself onto his feet again. He starts walking and with his hand raised in my direction for the portal, it almost feels as if he is reaching for me. I try to reach out for him but my hand doesn’t go through the portal.

Another boulder falls and pain spikes into my chest again, stronger than before. Mekaias doesn’t even flinch, instead he turns his nose to wipe on his shoulder, the blood doesn’t stop flowing.

He looks above me and his eyes go wide. I glance behind but see nothing. A large shard of stone falls a few feet in front of the portal and then lava splashes down on top of it. It starts to flow straight for the portal and then another stone shard lands in front of me.

I look up at Mekaias, past the lava and he gives a sad smile. His lips move to say something but the sound of rocks hitting the ground drowns him out. Then he closes his eyes and lowers his hands. The portal disappears.