Vice and Virtue

Chapter - 6

The room was quickly filled with lead and smoke, most of the wall in front of us was blown away with one of the Cyan’s ability, giving us no chance to fight back. Renae quickly disappeared before I could even look at her. Nina used her fortification and took cover near the stairs. Kai was nowhere to be seen and as for me, I used my ability to analyze our assailants to plan our escape. I could hear a lot of screams outside but I assumed Kai was enjoying himself here. Most of our assailants were mercenaries and were amateurs at best.

I fortified myself with about a quarter of my energy and walked straight into the crossfire. I pulled out Berettas but as soon as I took my aim, the noise faded in an instant and all movements became still. I walked out the house with my knife at ready and a Beretta in the other hand. Nina followed close behind, she still kept up her fortification but pulled out her M4 out too. I stepped out through the rubble from the blown wall and found myself staring at what seemed like a bloodless m******e. Kai’s work was evident but I looked up at Renae in free fall from at least 1000 meters high and disappearing midway. ‘It has been a while since I saw her getting a bit serious’ Nina said as she put her g*n away. ‘Small fry, boss’ Kai sheathed his knives as he said in disappointment. ‘That was hardly a warm up but I guess it is only fair for amateurs’ Renae chimed in as she appeared beside Kai. We started towards our destination as soon as we were together again, ‘Try and leave some fun for me next time, will you’ I commented as we disappeared into the shadow.

We bounced off the rooftops and stayed out the scout’s eyes, took a detour every time we had to confront someone to cover our tracks. The Gale was mostly in peace but in its darkest alleys was the truth behind it. Most of the renounced Cyan are now homeless but it’s not just Cyan but humans too. ‘Ryan, something feels off about this’ Renae spoke directly into my mind, yes it is one of her abilities as a psychic, it is also how she knocked all those soldiers out cold back at the house. ‘What is it, Renae?’ I asked her. Kai and Nina seemed to pay no attention to us, so it meant she was only talking to me. ‘They are too laidback, Ryan. Kai, I can understand but Nina is way too silent’. I took a second to process this but, ‘Jason has been compromised, Renae. My guess is an energy duel by Theo’. She gave me a concerned look as I was saying it. ‘Even if that was the case, it is still pretty suspicious. Nina disappeared for a few weeks after Jason was caught. I just have a really bad feeling’. Ending with that, she cut off the link and opened a portal right in front of us. Without any hesitation, we all jumped in and fled the urban area.

From the rooftops, we ended up traversing across the uncharted areas of the western Gale. Most of the wildlife was lost  in the war but life is pretty stubborn in my own words. The life either evolved or took a step back but it still did go on. Basically, the felines and canines being already pretty average in their overall skills, attained a few abilities similar to the Cyan, although, most of the domestic breeds went extinct. All of the birds went extinct along with the insects, even the most resilient ones. Obviously, reptiles evolved more but this time they got bigger again rather than shrink again. The aquatic life turned into a living nightmare, adding another reason to make the oceans impassable. A few were successful in taming a few of these beasts, but most were untamable cause of their tentative aggression.

The western Gale was left uncharted as it is the natural habitat. Kai and Renae tamed a pack of blood wolves back when they were part of The Order. Nina raised an ice dragon before the rebellion and hid her here for safety. So we rode on the wolves while Nina’s dragon ate up any small ones in our path. The western Gale is home for three of the most fearsome beasts that were recorded in the present world, each ruling over their own domain. The leviathan ruled the seas, a phoenix ruled over the skies, while the land was taken over by a basilisk after it killed a black lion.

We were taking the long route through here to reach the Capitol, while we kept away from the habitats of these emperors. ‘It’s leviathan territory up ahead, boss. Nina, pull back your buddy, dragons agitate nearly everything in these areas’ Kai took the command from since he knew the area better. ‘The Order was supposed to be keeping it busy, Kai. Why are you getting so tensed?’ Renae was getting a bit concerned. ‘The Order’s forces were already wiped out, Renae. Leviathan and the Basilisk teamed up. It is weird but the phoenix is not even fighting the leviathan when it’s flying out the water anymore. This whole area is messed up at present’ Kai was really serious about it ‘The Order had tried to take out the emperors since their scouts have been taken out a few years ago. If it’s been this long, there must be something big going on with them’ I interrupted him while I thought about what could have gone wrong.

Nina hopped of her wolf and was running towards her dragon that was slowly descending close to her. ‘I’ll take the roundabout route with her and meet you at the outskirts guys’ with that she leaped over on her dragon and soared away into the sky. The trees on either side turned a shade of green to gold gradient. It was not just the Fauna that evolved but the Flora as well. The plant life near the water was a shade of purple to gold while those far from the water were greener and less gold. The change in the color meant we were getting closer to the seas, meaning that leviathan was not far anymore. Nina flew towards the basilisk’s lair but she would be safe if she flies high enough. Soon, we were coursing through wilder tracks with the occasional wyvern or a horde of bony hyenas to pass our time with. I could taste the salt in the air and the cold sea breeze sent a chill up my spine. The sun was nearly set by the time we reached our campsite, Nina probably reached our outer base near the capitol by now. It was the twilight hour by the time we realized the sounds that we could hear faintly were the Order fighting leviathan. The struggle continued through the darkness of the night, making me anxious about the current situation of the Gale.

It was around midnight when it started to get a bit brighter and hotter. At first, I thought it was my imagination but as it came closer to us, it was evident it was real. Kai sprang out of his tent in an instant with his face all frozen with horror. Renae walked up beside me and held my hand. ‘Things are about to get messy huh. Think we should retreat?’ she tightened her grip as she asked me this. I was hoping it was something else but the way these two acted made sure of it. ‘Let’s take cover and see how this ends, for now. I have a feeling something big is about to go down’. We put out the fire and packed up everything. Kai heightened his senses using his ability while Renae formed a link to all our senses. I scattered my energy all around us to use it as a sensor and also to allow them to use their abilities better. As soon as we hunkered down, a flock of firebirds flew past us towards leviathan’s territory, disrupting the silence of the night with their shrieks and lighting up the sky in shades of pink and yellow. The brief silence after they were gone sent a chill down my spine but the thought of what comes after was even more terrifying. The third emperor, the phoenix dived down from the sky in all her magnificence, the heat emanating from the flames around her wings was enough for a normal human to fall unconscious. Her tail feathers, swayed by the wind were so beautiful yet they carried a certain sense of danger. As she closed on us, she withdrew her wings and sped up midair spiraling straight towards us. I concentrated my energy over ourselves in a desperate attempt to shield us from the scorching heat and the potential impact. All three of us were indefinitely terrified and on the verge of despair but there wasn’t really anything we could do about it. Renae cut off the link to stop us from falling into despair and with that we prepared ourselves for the worst and awaited our fate to take its course.