CHAPTER 16
Blight
Maija landed hard in the sand. The shock from falling was absorbed through the bones in her legs although muffled by the softness of the ground. The Vaults stood tall along the short horizon created by the island's surface, lit by an invisible sun. Given the more orange and distant tone, Maija guessed the sun was starting its departure into the void.
Erik landed behind her, him and Luke working to nail large stakes into the ground, a thick rope tying the ship to the island. They had landed on a peninsula jutting out from the side of the island, large sandstone boulders and tall green palms dotted the landmass anchored in the air. The group was closest to the smallest building, almost pyramidal, with a thick pillar of stone at each corner. The canyon between the two structures wasn't small, but there were canyons far grander, it looked as if it might take at least an hour to cross on foot, far faster using a grappling hook.
The peninsula curved up towards the base of the island, meeting the nearest building. Quickly glancing at each member of her group, Maija took the lead, trudging through the sandy hills leading up to a cliffside of boulders and harsh rocks. Not even halfway to them, Maija had broken a sweat, the heat and density of the still air beat down on her and the darkness of her black dyed clothing didn't help in the slightest. Erik climbed behind her. Then Luke, Naisha taking a position far behind.
She was a mystery. Maija's first interaction with her had been so strange, so abnormal for her. As if anything was normal anymore. Maija almost acted... territorial and that didn't settle well with her at all. Naisha had said nothing since, a silent but still towering, strong presence Maija couldn't ignore.
Maija would be lying to herself if she said size directly equated to strength. She was evidence to the contrary. Nothing about her appearance screamed strong and nothing about her body shape implied strength. Shorter than most others and quite a lot thinner, she didn't have much to show for her strength, not until she used it. Even with the grappling hook to help her climb, she could feel her own strength pulling against the device when swinging from it. She had launched herself from Cliffside's ship up into the air high enough to grapple to the underside of her ship. That strength came from her, not the hook.
But then there were some people in this world that couldn't do a faction of what she could and most of that came from their un-being-able to see over their own bellies. Who knows how they had managed to survive this long, natural selection not having yet run its course over them. Most of Maija's size came from not having enough to eat for long stretches of time while being stranded in the Badlands with Makhai. Still though, the constant and daily exercise needed to survive in the wild shaped Maija into a form discrete but no less incapable.
Naisha on the other hand... Maija could practically see the veins that supplied blood to her feminine but no doubt extremely present muscles. She shadowed Maija in almost every facet, both literally and figuratively, and the bow on Naisha's back made Maija that much more nervous. She knew she was going to be a problem eventually but for now, it felt as if Naisha just needed to warm up to Maija's presence, being sought after so badly by Kaius. Maija didn't know much about jealousy.
Her thought had brought Maija up to the rocky but easy cliffside with little difficulty, although realizing this brought back the ache throughout her legs and back, and the pounding heat returned just as strongly. She began climbing, not looking back at the group behind her. She took each obstacle one at a time. Haste charged with efficiency, Maija took each roadblock and plotted out a way around it, up, down, around. The touch of her foot showed a rock was loose. She avoided it, finding a similar, more stable steppingstone to the boulder she vaulted over, swinging her legs up underneath her, pushing higher and higher until her feet met the sand again.
Nothing about this area made sense. The sky was darkened by sandstorm clouds, but the entire island was still whitewashed with bright light, despite Maija's long shadow describing a sun that was low to the horizon. There were no points of reference, nothing for Maija to anchor to, to put the scale of the island together. It looked small. Their walk to the mainland had been short in length but the closest building, now coming up to its level, seemed far away. Not far enough to warrant a flight to it, but just long enough in distance to be an inconvenience. Maija wasted all her energy on walking, and she still hadn't been eating good.
The bridge and the canyon it crossed came to view as Maija drew closer to the structure. Curiosity moved her further to the edge and within just a few steps, a wooden mast came into view. The rest of her group had lagged behind. A crease formed between her brows as she slowly ducked and moved closer, more of the ship coming into view.
Not just a ship, but multiple, all docked within the canyon, stretching its entire length. There weren't two or three, but there also wasn't quite hundreds but every ship was painted a mix between beige green and bright vibrant red. The Academy.
"What the hell?" Erik came up behind Maija, almost scaring her out of her skin but she managed to keep quiet, grabbing to his wrist and digging her fingertips into his flesh. "Ow- sorry. Sorry."
"The Academy," Luke said, catching up to them, he crouched down beside Maija, the group hiding behind a collection of small stones and rocks. "What the hell are they doing here?"
"Take a guess," Maija said, quickly recovering from her fright. Self-hatred hadn't been anything Maija had much of a problem with unless it had to do with this skittishness she could never escape. Her heart rate had bounced from resting to instant activity within seconds and sometimes it was exhausting. "This is Rebus, isn't it?"
The Academy. If Kaius had any real and violent competitor to being the world's largest threat, it was the Academy. Maija had only really heard of them and knew their religion even less but recognized their colors instantly. They were Saborian supremacists dedicated to the progression and discovery of ancient technologies. It wasn't a surprise that they had beat them to Rebus. Galish land. They knew more about old Foundation's history than Maija did, far more, and were hellbent on acquiring whatever technologies they could get their hands on in whatever violent, gory, psychotic means possible. Maija shivered and Erik audibly swallowed.
"We need to find a way around them," Luke suggestion, Maija scoffing in reply.
"We can't go around, look." Maija pointed at the entrance of the building across the canyon, the largest of the two. The way into the structure was a large archway shaped like a tall rectangle far larger than any doorway Maija had seen, leading into a room pitch black. It was a wide-open mouth, ready to consume the small group of people that wondered into it, barely visible from the distance Maija was viewing them from. There seemed to be around five to six people stepping through the archway and disappearing into darkness. "They're looking for the same thing we are. We won't be able to avoid them."
Luke pulled her arm down, "I know that, but we're better off thinking strategically rather than going in guns hot. We'll take care of them once we aren't dealing with the whole fleet. Follow me."
He slowly rose, climbing back down towards their ship. The canyon's edge was less severe closer to the side of the island, so much so, that they could climb down into it without being noticed by anyone watching below. Naisha followed instantly behind him, Maija trailing behind her. Erik had frozen, his eyes fixed on the fleet of ships that sat, docked, along the canyon's floor, like prowling mantas ready to attack at any disturbance. Some were even shaped like mantas.
Maija stopped and ducked back down beside him, ignoring the glares from Luke and Naisha, the later especially who looked like she was about to crush something with her thick mitts and from the heat almost visibly emanating from her eyes, Maija's head was her first target.
She set her hand against his shoulder, and he jumped, almost like she had when their rolls had been reversed. Maija stuttered at first, just as his eyes met hers. The burning look of hope and optimism in his eyes had been blown out leaving nothing but fear in its place. It had only been days since she had let him come with her- with whatever reason had allowed her to let him- and not once had he backed down from his chosen spot with her, even facing Kaius stern and unafraid despite all the destruction he had caused. Only now, had Maija finally seen light of the kid he really was inside. Her voice broke but she covered it quickly, "Are you okay?"
He snapped out of it, shaking his hands out in front of him. "Yes. Yeah, I'm fine. Let's get to this, we don't have time to waste."
Erik followed quickly after her, adjusting himself, finding the gun at his hip and gripping to it for dear life. Maija already noticed something switch within him and it became more and more present with each passing second, and it absolutely had to do with the Academy's appearance on this island.
They worked their way back down and around into the canyon's shallow beginning, moving slowly towards the wrecked bridge in the distance, its pillars still stretching tall into the sky. Their group's small size made them easy to miss, especially since now the sun's parting grace pitched island into true darkness, blanketing now the smoldering heat into an ebbing cold. It took a few minutes for Maija's eyes to adjust and the majority decided it safest to wait a few moments to catch their breaths. They had sat together along the wall of the canyon but after a few minutes, Luke and Naisha had wandered not far off.
Maija sat, resting her arms on a knee. "Alright, tell me. What happened?"
Erik cleared his throat, "Hm? What do you mean? Oh, that? That was nothing- nothing to be concerned about. Really. Just a little- slip up really, under a lot of stress during this whole thing- understandably I'm hoping. I'm sure that if-"
Maija cut him off, side-eyeing him with eyes lit with determination, if only she knew how much that looked frightened him. "You're rambling."
"I know." Erik's expression fell somber, a stark contrast to his usual, expressive face. "The Academy I- know their immorality firsthand. Julia is my sister, the eldest of my siblings. We're the only two of our family left, the rest slaughtered by the Academy for no other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They are ruthless, smart, and will not hesitate to subject you to the longest, most painful death you can imagine. For what? Just a small piece of technology. A piece of atlas which they may not even have any purpose for. Maybe they do. Who knows."
She had felt almost obligated to convey comfort to him. He had lost all his family, she didn't know how many people, and was now only left with one. Even through losing the only person she had ever cared about, Maija couldn't even relate to that. She had been blessed in a way, for not having any more connections. She couldn't imagine the pain, so she stayed silent, moving on. "Are you going to be able to do this?"
Erik looked up at her, studying her face, she resisted the urge to look away. Slowly, he nodded, blowing out a long breath. That was enough for Maija.
Maija had always relied solely on her own ability- on what she could do for herself. Relying on anything else was just that- unreliable. Only when Makhai had been nurturing her back to health, teaching her to survive in this adrift world, was she reliant on any one person. And even though Maija and Makhai had traveled together, she had been on her own for so long that she looked out for her own back, and she trusted Makhai would do the same for his. God forbid she be dependent on anything.
But she needed Erik. This, what she was caught in the middle of, it was like nothing she'd been through before. Yes, Maija had been through a lot in the short time she'd been conscious in this world, she'd been damaged physically more times than she could count, using nothing but her mind and strength to survive through it long enough to heal herself. She had quickly become the center of the world. Everyone was after her because nothing about her made sense. She had no right to exist yet, here she was and everyone either wanted to understand that or use it for whatever screwed up reason he had.
Maija had fallen out of her depth and the more she discovered about what she had unwillingly- and with no fault of her own- gotten herself into, the farther she fell. Every situation- every problem- Maija had ever encountered had always been natural. Falling from an ancient wreck was just as lethal as being shot or stabbed but only one could look her in the eyes while they drove the knife deeper. Only one had the motive to search her out, hunt her down until she was exhausted and broken. She wanted nothing more than to be back when she was a no one. Never had she felt so alone while wanting just that.
While she wasn't putting her trust fully in him, Maija needed Erik there with her, fully and completely. Undistracted. He had quickly become a force she could rely on. Even if he had yet to prove his usefulness in actually defending her, the comfort he provided from just being there was... startling.
She stood, rubbing her feet into the cool sand for a moment before whispering over at Luke and Naisha who both stood a few feet from them, backs turned. Luke had his hands in his pockets, Naisha her arms crossed over her chest when they turned.
"We're ready."
Luke nodded, taking his hands and adjusting them on his weapon. "Let's continue. Quickly."
They had already traveled halfway to the bridge which marked the separation between empty canyon and claimed Academy territory. Once they reached the bridge, getting on top would be their next objective and since the night was deathly quiet, their grappling hooks were off limits, making the task that much more difficult. Maija was used to it, clenching and unclenching her fingers, making them ready for the climb. A little part of her felt almost excited to get her hands back on stone, use her muscles in ways they haven't been used for in some time.
As the long and tall supports of the bridge drew closer, so did the Academy's encampment, each ship lit and glowing in the night's darkness. Maija walked ahead, her smaller figure allowing her to slip more quickly and undetected into the dark spaces created underneath the shadowing bridge hundreds of feet above. Her eyes were watering now, gusts of wind picking up sand and dust, and tossing it in her face. Within the past few minutes, the sandwall around them had twisted and pulled up a wind that had already formed a faint funnel of dust that calmly circled around the island.
At this distance, groups of people were visible, some sitting by fires, eating and drinking, others preparing weaponry or tuning up their ships and equipment. Larger groups came and left the Vault and its massive gapping opening, some bringing back resources and some with empty hands. But it all didn't matter because Maija couldn't see a damn thing anymore, a thick orange haze flooding her vision, spikes of stinging pain across her face from flying particles of sand. She rose her arm over her eyes and backed away, wind tugging at her clothes and pulling strands of hair free from her bun.
Someone was immediately at her back, grabbing her shoulder. It was Erik, "We got to go. Quickly."
He led her along with the rest of their group along the bridge, towards the protection the Vault suddenly could provide as wind growing stronger by the second whipped and twisted around them, pulling them in unpredictable directions with forces stronger than most could manage. Sound enveloped Maija's ears, wind howling down them.
"What is this!" She screamed, holding on to Erik for support, digging her feet into the sand that almost seemed to slip from under them, pulled away by the wind.
"The Blight," someone replied, she couldn't tell who. "Too many ships here!"
"What?"
Maija was a stranger to weather. Everything she had ever seen and experienced proved that weather- whatever it may be- was always contained to the walls. Three walls for each weather condition- wind, rain, and dust. There had been nothing but a drizzle. Even the rain that seemed to pour in buckets down on her when her life had been flipped upside down had only been in reality, a sprinkle. This storm, this Blight, only proved that Maija knew a lot less than she thought about this world and even though she was inclined to wonder how the number of ships in one place could affect the weather like this, she had no right to question it.
Her line of sight, which had once reached out to the edge of the sandwall that surrounded the island in every direction, had shrunken to a point only about three feet in front of her, everything else a darkening fog of orange sand. She rose her arm and squeezed her eyes closed, inches forwards with each step into the wind, sand and pieces of rock striking any and all exposed skin along her arms and face.
Then something changed, it was indistinct, but so sudden Maija froze, opening her eyes despite the sand. Electricity tingled against her skin, edging the hairs along her arms and back of her neck to stand up straight. It bit and nipped at the metal bits of her clothes and the grappling hook latched to her arm increasingly felt more and more like a battery, soaking up energy that could discharge at the slightest touch.
What she saw when she opened her eyes was unlike anything she had seen before but somehow, vaguely familiar. Through the raging sandstorm, beams and streaks of orange light zig-zagged and darted left and right, up and down in random directions, glowing and moving steadily. A panel, probably torn from a nearby ship blew into view, pulled by the storm's wind. The streaks of light moved instantly towards it, gathering and tearing at its wooden surface. It almost disintegrated, black burns forming along its surface seemingly coming from nowhere. The streaks of light never appeared to directly contact the panel.
Within seconds- the panel now warped and contorted, covered in dark burn marks- it vanished. Disappeared with no pop or light. In one moment, the panel, as destroyed as it already was, just disappeared. The orange light scattered, moving towards their next victim, pieces of ship ripped from their foundations by wind that threatened to pick Maija from her feet who had frozen in awe at the spectacle in front of her.
Erik pulled her forwards, "That will be us if we don't keep moving."
Maija pulled her mask back over her face and moved forwards, now pushing directly against the wind. She couldn't feel anything but wind and sand and didn't dare to open her eyes, increasingly more fearful that whatever had happened to that panel may happen to her. There were voices in the distance, the sound of engines rising even louder than the storm. A shadow loomed overhead as a large metal ship soared above them, out and away from the storm they had no choice but to traverse.
Using one arm as protection for her face, Maija reached forwards with the other and her fingertips touched stone, cold despite the hot wind, blown by the Blight. Rough and ridged, they had just reached the far edge of the canyon they had climbed into. The vault was perched far above them and the immediate protection it provided. Maija could already feel the tingling electricity growing stronger with each moment standing still.
They needed to get up. Up up up. She couldn't climb, the wind was too strong, but she was too blinded to take a shot with her grappling hook. Maija hopped from foot to foot, resisting the immediate urge to run and move somewhere, the electricity nipping at her skin like hundreds of icy cold pricks. She rose her arm up and fired her grappling hook, felt it made contact. The discharge of energy from her grappling hook burned, searing the skin of her arm in direct contact with metal, the rest feeling the heat through the grappling hook's padding. She bit her teeth, fighting through the pain to pull herself up, the grappling hook supporting her weight.
Wind blew and pulled at her body, swinging her along her hook's line. Maija grabbed with her arm and legs until she hitsomething hard. The bridge's support. She grabbed onto it, anchoring herself to the pillar as she kept allowing the grappling hook to pull her towards the top.
It felt like ages, the wind still blowing and rushing around Maija. She closed her eyes as the grappling hook did most of the work and focused on breathing. One breath after then next, each one difficult through the cloth on her face and sand and dust behind that. The relative calm was interrupted by the sudden lack of movement. Maija's hook had pulled her directly underneath the bottom of the bridge, its relative protection bringing the wind-speeds around her to a gentle blow.
Maija reached up with her free hand, feeling along the bottom of the stone just a foot from the top of her head. Her fingers curled around the edge, moving up along the side. Pushing her feet hard against the pillar supporting the bridge and now her. She moved along it, bringing her hand farther up the bridge's side. Sand pelted it, stinging.
Her fingers found a divot in the stone, a nice little handhold that only the tips of her fingers could grasp. She took it, pulled hard, testing her fingers strength, and slowly let go of her grappling hook, now hanging freely from the side of the bridge. The wind pulled and pushed, Maija pulled her legs up, feeling with her feet along the bottom of the bridge, somehow finding a way to stabilize herself.
Maija breathed hard through the cloth covering her face, sand and dirt still managing to break through it. With one swoop, she pushed back with her feet and pulled up on the small divot the tips of her fingers were latched on to, one hand leaving, reaching up and finding the top of the bridge.
She had been moving slowly, taking care to make sure each position and handhold was secure before pulling any weight on it. She had been moving too slow. A beam of orange light crept up behind her silently, its tip touching the back of her shoulder. Static electricity but multiplied tens of times coursed through her shoulder. She screamed and twisted around, barely keeping ahold with one hand.
One time, a long time ago, while Maija had still been learning about the constructs of ship building, she had accidentally touched an electrified piece of metal while working on the interior chamber of their ship's skycore. It had been the first time she had ever felt the force of electricity in her memorable life, and it was more than startling to say the least. Her next reaction gave her a bang against the top of her head and a rather nasty cut across the palm of her hand. Makhai had wrapped the wound and carefully explained the movement and behavior of electricity, she retained very little, but she certainly learned to be more careful. She hadn't felt the direct force of electricity since. Until now.
Her shoulder burned and the smell of burnt skin filled her nose making her gag despite the swirling storm of wind around her, pulling the scent away. She twisted on her wrist, her fingers taking all her body weight. Maija tried to reach her other arm up, but the stretching of her burn brought a nauseating pain down her arm and up into her chest.
But someone grabbed her arm and pulled her up. She pulled with her other hand and pushed with her feet, helping the person lift her up and over to the top of the bridge which was actually rocking back and forth in the wind that still blew furiously, sand so thick Maija couldn't see more than three feet in front of her. She recognized Erik's face who helped her up, grabbing her undamaged shoulder, leading her towards the gaping mouth of the Vaults of Uruk. Maija could spot Luke and Naisha who they trailed behind as well as other groups of people, making for protection from the storm.
As soon as they passed through the threshold, the wind calmed, the roaring sound of the storm fading into the distance. Maija coughed, falling to her knees, reaching her hand up to her burn. It stung, bringing her more pain that flooded through her body, she fought against everything not to throw up.
"Are you okay?" Erik dropped down beside her. "What the hell was that?"
She shook her head, pushing him away. "I'm fine. I'm-"
"Who are you people?" A man shouted, his voice echoing off the stone walls surrounding them. "What regiment are you from? Sixteen failed to check in, where's the rest of your group."
Luke stood up, holding his hand out to the man who was far larger than him, strongly build with a burly beard covering most of his face. His hand slowly reached for the gun strapped to his waist. Maija spoke up before he did something they would all regret, having been handed the one piece of information that could get them out of this. "We were attacked, by New Unity. They're growing stronger each day and took us off guard. Most of Sixteen didn't make it." Luke had turned back to her, eyeing her with a heat that almost made her break eye contact. But his face softened, and he rolled his shoulders back, relaxing.
"Here," Erik pulled something from his bag, positioning Maija to sit down flat. He took a glass bottle filled with a green paste and rubbed some on his hands. Slowly, carefully, he applied some to Maija's shoulder, gingerly lathering the paste across her skin. She sucked a sharp breath in through clenched teeth and buckled from the pain. It felt as if the skin along her shoulder blade was disintegrating, slowly falling apart which, she didn't doubt it was. The pain started to ease with each stroke, Erik rubbing the paste harder into her skin as the pain faded.
Maija blew out a deep breath, gasping. "What's in that?"
"A mix. Daccat berries being a base. Other plants and some Thuntomite blood. Works for a good disinfectant."
The man with the beard slowly stepped up to Maija, looking down at her place on the ground. His eyes were... almost saddened. He approached Maija and gently stooped down to meet her eye level. She fought hard to keep her facial expression firm, masking confusion with sternness, the dust kicked up by the storm had made her eyes water, playing the part even more. What was sadness doing in this man's eyes?
"How many were in your regiment, sister?" he asked, his voice steady enough not to break. "Were you it's commander?"
Maija glanced up at Luke who looked down at her with intensity in his eyes, but he said nothing. "I am. I- was. There was eleven of us. We are all that survived." Maija needed to choose her words carefully but quickly. The more information she gave, the more holes this man would find in them. The longer she waited to give them, the more time it gave the man to realize she wasn't being honest. "We were attacked out of the blue, Kaius used this technology unmatched by even our own, we barely got our ship back up in time, the other fell into the void."
The man nodded, resting a hand against Maija's shoulder- which by now, had completely healed- and stood, turning to the rest of the group that looked on at them with wide open, curious eyes, traces of confusion in some. Maija hated the attention and flinched at the man's touch, but he didn't seem to notice. As he turned from her, she noticed a glisten coming from a layer of cloth draping down the length of his back, a long blade made from metal. A sword. Maija had never seen someone use a sword for battle, knifes and spears yes, but not a whole sword. She did not want to see him use it.
"Brethren, sisters," the man spoke with a loud voice, projecting it deep into the vaults where it echoed in the cold darkness. "Let us not let these men and women's lives be lost in vain. Split with your regiments and search for any scrape of pure atlas. Kaius's men are on their way."
Little did he know they were already there. Maija and her companions like wolves in sheep's skin. Or the other way around, sheep in wolves skins. Maija clenched her fists, a shiver running its course through her body, a sudden cold biting at her skin. That sense itched at the back of her skull almost physically. As if the term "itch" in this context was more than just a begging feeling, an urge to do something. But as if it was like a bug, an eight-legged arachnid crawling its way across the nape of her neck, tickling the short, soft fluff of hair that had escaped from her bun. It told her something bad was about to happen, and she was going to have to fight for her life to survive it.
