Light of Demon

Chapter 1 New Earth - Distant future Alyna tilted her head to watch the two glowing bullets flying as if in slow motion toward the two men's heads. She had practiced her two-handed shooting skill for years but couldn't say she had ever perfected it. She would normally hit around ninety-five percent of the targets. But the remaining five percent bothered her. She holstered her two guns and punched a button on the wall. At the far end of the shooting range, the two dummy targets glowed in a neon green light, and her shooting score hovered in the air above the targets in a light green color. Her left-hand score was perfect, but her score from the right-hand gun wasn’t so good. She had missed the head by four inches. The floating screen printed all kinds of statistics—her accuracy, her track record, her probability of hitting the target if she changed her shooting position, pose, arm movement, and even pressure on the trigger. She ignored them all. A miss was a miss. There was nothing more to it. She jiggled her right shoulder and felt a slight tingling in her collarbone. Perhaps Pukak was right. Amaraq, the mage tribe she had grown up with and fought for, had won battles by the sheer strength of individuals, strength magnified by martial arts skills. Pukak disliked technology and weapons of mass destruction. But for Alyna, the ultimate aim of engaging in a fight was to win. And her simple philosophy for winning was to do whatever it took to get the win. As long as the end was morally justifiable, she needn’t worry about the means. She hadn’t been raised to be righteous. She had been raised to serve and protect Amaraq. Her ear pricked at a faint noise from outside her compartment. It sounded like someone or something was shuffling through the trash cans she knew were empty. Her compartment was one of a stack of six units right in the center of the city. It wasn’t too shabby, and she’d gotten it at an affordable price. When she’d decided to buy the compartment, the deciding factor had been the extra basement where she could build her shooting room. In two steps, she sneaked out the side door. A human-like shadow was bent over, shuffling through her neighbor’s trash can. “Hey!” she called out. The person jerked his head up and staggered a few steps back when he saw her. Then he turned around and dashed to a nearby alleyway. She raced after him. It wasn’t much of a race because she caught up with him in no time. She grabbed him by the collar, pulling him up after he tripped and fell. He was taller than she was, but apart from that, there wasn’t much in his body that would prevent her from breaking him in half with one swift move. He struggled in her grip. “Let me go!” he cried. “I saw you at the market,” she said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She pushed his face into the fence with one hand and used the other to keep him still. “What’s your name?” “Don’t have one.” She slammed his face against the fence. “Ouch. Sam.” “Okay, Sam, I saw you picking pockets at the market—” “Hey, that’s none of your business.” “That’s right. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be standing here. I’ll break your neck if you go anywhere near my people.” “Who are your people?” “You don’t need to know. But I don’t want to see you near the trash cans at my compartment again.” “That’s what happens when I don’t pick pockets.” “How old are you?” “It’s none of your—” He looked at her raised eyebrow. “Nineteen.” “A few years late. But better late than never.” “Late for what?” “You can join Amaraq.” Sam stepped backward. “No way.” He waved his hand in the air dismissively. “I don’t want that.” Then he walked away. “If you don’t want it, why did you watch the open audition on the North Side? If you don’t want people to know, you either don’t do it, or you erase the trace properly. The door stamp is still on the nape of your neck.” “Damn it.” Sam stood the neck of his jacket up to cover the mark. “I’ll never make the entry comp. I’ll get killed.” “What?” “Not literally. But you know…” He flexed his skinny arm muscles, or lack thereof. “I’m not strong enough or big enough. I’ll get squashed like a bug.” Alyna pulled out a couple of credit tokens she had in her pocket. “Eating food from trash cans isn’t going to help you get bigger and stronger. One credit for tonight’s dinner. One for tomorrow’s breakfast. In the afternoon, I want to see you working at the door of the Amaraq North Side. I can give you some private training until I think you’re ready for the entry comp.” “Who are you?” “Alyna McCabe.” “You’re joking. You’re the Alyna McCabe?” “It’s the only name I have. I didn’t think I was famous.” “You should hear what they say at the fighting ring.” “I’m too busy to listen to gossip. I’m not giving you these credits for free. I want them back in a week…with interest. So get working. I’ll be calling Amaraq North Side in the morning. They’ll be expecting you.” Sam looked at the shiny credit tokens in his palm. “Why are you helping me?” She looked him up and down then shrugged. “Why the hell not?” She turned, planning to head back to her shooting room, when her communicator buzzed. “Yes, Pukak.” “Alyna, I need you at the South Side. They found a body.” She lowered her voice, looking behind her to see if Sam had followed. He hadn’t. “You mean, the body?” “No, another one.” “I’ll be right there.” She hung up the communicator and saw dust whirling up into the air in the distance. It must have come from one of the factories outside the city. The dirt must be thick since she could see it from such a distance inside the transparent dome that protected the air inside the city. Amaraq was the strongest private security agency in the city. If they lost the city, they would have to be stationed on the outskirts, out there in in that whirling lump of dirt.