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See Prologue
Imbedded Agent
Chapter 7
Cardiff
28th July, 1991
Smoke, ash, death. Piles of bodies reached up to the burnt orange sky and the once lush grass had long been reduced to cinders. Screams rose up from all around as people in red robes fled in terror, kicking up small piles of detritus as they went. Burning wreckage was everywhere you looked, with the smoke forming a thick and all-encompassing smog. There was something wrong with what l was seeing, the surrounding landmarks were too big, the people looked at least two feet taller than they should've been. It wasn't until I glance down that it became apparent the reason for this. My surroundings weren't bigger, I was smaller, far smaller than I can ever remember being. My hands were different as well, thinner and more feminine, the edges of the nails lacked the jaggedness that mine generally have. They also didn't have the several scars that could be found on the top of my hands, from chicken-pox to animal bites. I was pulled from my self-inventory by a strangled gasp right by my ear. Suddenly I was grabbed, then forcibly dragged backwards, twisting around to face my assailant, noticing that my hair had inexplicably turned blonde, intending to remove myself from their grasp but I was halted by the look on his face. He was reasonably tall, probably 6"1, wearing one of those red robes that seemed so popular along with a gold skull cap. He looked around fortyish and quite ordinary, you could walk past him in the street and immediately forget him. The expression on his face however was not something I would forget in a while. Abject terror with a little dash of despair and a sprinkling of defiance. His stance was defensive but it also looked like he was trying to protect something. Not once did he look down at me, his gaze fixed on a point behind me. Turning back to see what he was looking at let me see an odd sight. A swarm of blue lights emerging from the smoke, about five and a half feet of the ground. These lights were then joined by two smaller white ones, either side of each blue one.
"SEEK, LOCATE, DESTROY!"
"SEEK, LOCATE, DESTROY!"
Well, it's clear that the "Lights" aren't the friendliest of people but me and my assailant should be fine, hidden by the smoke and wreckage. My theory seemed to be proven as all but one of the swarm turned away. However, I soon realised that I was wrong when that "Light" advanced from the gloom. The only way I could describe it was as a coppery-bronze pepper pot with many bumps, that had three protruding "limbs?', one that held the blue light in the middle of a domed top and two further down underneath a grate/vent. I was pushed back, as the "Light's" top swung round in our direction, and found myself behind the man. To the right of me was someone who only just looked old enough to walk, it was even shorter than me, and was quivering in fear. I noticed some similarities between the man and the child, so came to the conclusion that this was what he was protecting, but if that was the case why did he grab me when he was already looking after someone? What's more, he had put himself between me and the "Light". Why risk yourself for a complete stranger when you were protecting someone? The mechanical voice cried out again with a far more threatening message.
"EXTERMINATE!"
Time slowed down to a crawl. Dust settled. Fires stopped flickering. A limb twitched, and in one second of eternity everything changed. A shockwave surged across the battlefield, doing no physical damage but tearing an almighty gash in the space-time continuum, before concentrating on a point not two meters away. Time sped up again. As if we had choreographed it before hand, we all turned in unison towards a small outcropping, where a man stood side on, head bowed down.
There was a stark difference between the clothes he wore compared to the red robes that everyone else had. Fire reflected onto his knee-length coat, making it look like it was aflame, and the polished silver buttons seemed to glow with some sort of inner light. The trousers he was wearing were obviously made for practicality if the abundance of pockets was anything to go by. His attire was completed with a pair of boots that wouldn't look out of place in a barracks. The differences didn't stop there, though. Hair was shoulder-length and black, with a few strands a redy browny colour, but more noticeably, uncovered. Furthermore, he was the only person I had seen with facial hair of any kind, a small goatee, in this place. Some sort of power cascaded off him and sent ripples through the vortex.
The "Light" twitched as if it was nervous and that was all it took for the newcomer to break out of whatever trance he had been in. His head snapped around at a phenomenal speed and, although his face was obscured by a shadow meaning it was impossible to see clearly, it looked like his mouth contorted into a snarl at what he saw. Something long and thin dropped into his right hand as the "Light" called out a challenge.
"IDENTIFY YOURSELF!"
This only led to him raising his right hand, pointing whatever was in it at the "Light".
"IDENTI-ARRRGH!"
The command was cut off by an inhuman scream of agony as electricity arced from the raised hand and impacted onto the metal casing, and was then conducted all around the "Light". Soon the screams increased in pitch which happened at the same time the metal succumb to the immense heat and started melting. However, I didn't notice any of that because the impressive light show had brought the newcomer's face into sharp relief. A strong brow led onto semi-prominent cheek bones with his top lip pulled up so his teeth was bared, but what truly had my attention was the eyes. Dark, stormy grey eyes that were cold and hard but looked o so familiar. It took me less than a second to realise where I had seen them before, after all I had seen them every day for the last ten years. The screams in the background cut out as a plume of smoke arose from the ruined casing and the colours started to bleed together. The battlefield was silenced like someone pressed the mute button on a TV remote. The scenery stretched out before falling away completely. Soon it was just me gazing at the eyes that stare back at me every time look into a mirror