Souls

The flak cannons unloaded into the bow, taking out Nadine and Trita before flicking to Garland and Shedu. Garland moved to grab Shedu as the bullets flew. In the moment before they were wiped out, they found themselves both thinking feeling that it would be so annoying to have to start again from so far back. That it would be so much better if they had ‘saved’ at a more useful point. Then they both opened their eyes as the canons were in the process of turning. Shedu shouted.

“Everybody split!” The canons followed any that were strafing expertly and mercilessly gunned all of them down. But not before Garland and Shedu exchanged a look. When they opened their eyes again, Shedu amended the fast direction she gave before.

“Run forward!” The guns creaked and slowed while pointing down, as they were never designed for such a thing. They were slowly moving and adjusting, but in the new arena, they were safe for a spell.

“It worked…” Garland stated the obvious.

“Seems like we can be a pretty tangible threat when we work together.”

“If only we’d figured that out sooner, huh?”

“Heh.” Shedu shrugged and looked up, failing to see where Brutos had gone. She opened her eyes seven separate times before she finally just learned to duck. Garland hopped back from the followthrough that caught him every single time previously. He observed Trita swinging her claymore down on the massive gnoll from behind, only to be kicked against the wall. Without turning Brutos kept Nadine at bay, firing excessive shots into her afterimage as she dodged out of the way, only to realise to late that she was herded into the line of fire of the cannons once more.

Another reset. Garland made eye contact with Trita. The girl diverted her sword to avoid the kick, then wheeled around to present a distraction long enough to get Nadine out of his crosshairs. Over three more attempts Garland and Shedu performed different attacks, each one taking the last into consideration, and each one failing in different ways as if he was calculating the outcomes differently each time on the fly.

“This is insane…” Garland panted.

“But, I think if we go at him full **** every reset there’s no chance.”

“There’s no chance for us.” Shedu said gravely, staring at the meter on her comm. It was nearly empty.

“What?”

“Haven’t you noticed how we’re getting more and more tired? We never thought about it before because it’s never been applicable but our energy levels don’t change between loops, Garland. This means that any of our power that we use up-” She frowned at the emptying, angry red bar.

“Or anything else won't replenish. I should’ve thought about this sooner. Only I could’ve known about this sooner…”

“W-what? Shit, suddenly this power feels like it sucks.”

“Nah.” They were both behind cover that they knew could hold up. Brutos had just finished off Nadine and Trita in the background, stepping on both of them as the fell on top of one another. He pointed his rifle down and unloaded into both of them.

“We’re gonna have to go again, but when we do we just need to chill. Everyone stays alive and stops pushing themselves.” She peaked around the corner, taking a shrapnel shot to the eye as Brutos fired at their cover. She was fading fast.

“W… we… Just gotta wait.” She fell to one knee.

“Because that fox is getting used up… Sh-she’s bleeding bad.” Shedu collapsed and they both opened their eyes again.

“I don’t think we should.” Garland argued, darting back into cover while signaling for Trita and Nadine to do the same. T had opened up a hole in the hull that provided more hiding spaces and they were making full use of it.

“Why the hell not!?” Shedu said a bit too loud.

“Found you~” Brutos slid around the edge, leveling the barrel of his gun at a surprised Shedu, but not before he had to dodge back suddenly. Nadine winked at them, having thrown a separated steel support at the gnoll.

“Good job!” Garland shouted.

“Uh…” Trita’s mouth fell open.

“What was that supporting?”

They opened their eyes after the entire second deck of burning slag sank. Only the second time they were able to get out in time. Brutos was tailing them, firing and forcing them to get out of his cone of fire as they fled.

“S-sorry!” Nadine waved, ducking down as Brutos darted out of the smoke and wreckage, laying down excessive fire on anyone he could make out. Everyone was in cover and he was searching for easy targets. He grinned, turning the barrel on Shedu once more as she stood behind a felled panel that was far too thin to put her in any safety except that of being out of sight. As she felt the hairs on her neck stand up, however, she knew that was nothing. Brutos traced her through the panel as she moved, listening intently to the whispers from Leage’s network carefully for precise coordinates.

Shedu was feeling her essence emptying and wasn’t sure how many more times they could reset before she just died. She estimated that they only had at most a handful more. The fox for the first time looked at Garland up in the rafters readying an attack. She wondered if anything could be done if one of them had all of the power. If that was even feasible.

“Locked on!” Brutos cackled, setting his sights on a particular point in the wall. Then, both of the fox’s ears twitched as they heard a wet cough. Garland saw Leage toss up a wad of blood. She was hanging on, but barely. At that same moment Shedu jumped in fear as a full clip was emptied right beside her. She drew Garland’s attention and made a quick cutting motion across her neck. He nodded. They both had the same idea. Shedu stood up.

“Heh. Weird. Doesn’t matter…” He changed the magazine and opened up on Trita.

“Sh-shit!” Shedu gritted her teeth.

“Things aren’t gonna go how you want. Now the voices are just saying I gotta wait! Kekeke, how great is that?” He said giddily, opening up on and killing Nadine as well with a short burst as the shark rushed out of cover. Shedu reached for a jagged piece of metal only to have Brutos pick her up and squeeze her neck. She was losing consciousness.

“Now… where the hell is the other- Oh~!” Garland darted out of cover, aiming to get in range of the flak cannons. Brutos mercilessly wheeled around and shot out the fox’s legs, bringing him down without killing him.

“Ah… this one’s fading…” He gave Leage’s cheek a tap.

“But just in time, I guess. I basically win.” He shouted over at Garland.

“Take as long as you need to bleed out, kid! Keke- eh?” Leage very suddenly used all of her strength to break on of the chains holding her dominant arm, moved the rifle barrel and pulled back, putting out a burt towards Garland as he was watching helplessly.

“That settles it.” He sighed as both he and Shedu opened their eyes.

“Everyone get ready! On my signal!” He was overlooking Brutos from a bare support, Trita was behind her claymore and cover while Nadine was cleverly hanging off the side nearby. Shedu was sitting in wait closest to him, staring sadly at the empty bar.

“Even if this works I’m done, huh?” She looked up.

“It was fun, I guess.” Shedu prepared for the signal, intending to use all her strength that remained if necessary.

An instant before the wet cough from Leage, Garland gave the signal, banging hollow metal above. Brutos wasn’t sure where to look. Fear filled his eyes as Leage coughed up blood at the exact time and all of the instructions and all of the voices halted for just an instant. But, the gnoll in that instant still had his wits. As Trita rammed her massive sword towards his side Brutos stepped back, gritting his teeth hard enough to make his gums bleed as the blade grazed his chest and pried the plate carrying the fox off of his chest. As it was about to have the woman land face first Shedu dove out of cover and held it up, staring the blonde fox in her sad red eyes. In a panic the gnoll unloaded half a magazine into the plate, but he was done in by his own armour as it failed to penetrate. Behind it, both Shedu and Leage were taking laboured breaths.

“Why save… this person, child of Raithe?” Leage asked slowly.

“That guy cares a lot about stupid shit…” Their faces were close, nearly cheek to cheek as Shedu struggled to keep up the huge tank panel. Leage looked to be in thought, then smiled.

“This warrior has spent many a year serving her lady. This one will also never forget or allow a favour to be owed of her. But… a favour is owed nonetheless.”

“Who’s talking right now?”

“We share a common thread. Our unified sense tells us that neither of us are long for this world. However…” Leage whispered something in Shedu’s ear that **** the girls eyes open wide.

As Brutos stumbled back, left without Leage, he became more cautious. He noticed Nadine jumping up and darting towards him after Trita withdrew, but they both flitted in and out of sight. Three things then happened in quick succession. Garland landed on Brutos’ back, Nadine jumped out to sock the gnoll in the jaw before being grabbed. Then, he heard a peculiar phrase come from Garland’s mouth.

“Batter up, T!”

“Kek?” Brutos turned in time to T already having wound up the flat end of the claymore. He wheezed as it collided with his chest and he tumbled in air. Nadine then jumped, kicking him and helping his trajectory as Garland felt natural in the air tumbling end over end. As the flak cannons identified him and began swivelling once they were in range he shifted the weight of his body and the position so that Brutos landed on Garland rather painfully. The heavy plate on his back broke at least a few ribs. Importantly, though, Brutos had no time to react as the flak cannons unloaded on the fox that it had been calibrated to consider a target, and the ‘cover’ that he was hiding behind. Brutos’ body was decimated by the flak, but Garland could feel the plate buckling and the Flak was no closer to running out of ammo. He heard Lajoi in his ear.

“Garland, the missiles on the cruiser are arming! They’re targeting points belonging to us all around the city!”

“It was a dead-man's switch!” Garland gasped. He could still feel the plate buckling as the squishy gnoll in front evaporated into red mist. Garland smiled and got down into a sprinters pose, he exhaled slowly then darted out just ahead of the flak as it tore right through the bow behind him.

“Mom… If possible I need someone to remove all safety from the flak cannons.”

“W-what? But-”

“Done.” It was the voice of Raithe.

“Good luck~”

“Great!” He kept his breath controlled as he ran right down the centre of the vessel. Nadine, Trita stood off to the side as a white blur shot past, and a trail of rounds followed close behind. Garland ran through the whole deck as the ship bisected behind him.There was a horrible creak when he touched the back, but it wasn’t enough. He saw the trail of flak following, got down again and dodged around the oncoming fire, straightening out and sprinting again down the fell length for good measure. When he reached the end he made sure to jump up, positioning himself at a point right between both cannons. As their targeting trailed his speed the stopped, pointed at one another and the twin fixtures were destroyed. There were three explosions along the Ship’s hull and they could feel the whole thing coming apart.

Garland stopped, panting heavily due to what he just had to do. When he looked back at his group, finally, he could see Shedu laying down with the blonde fox laying freed beside her. He rushed over.

“What’s wrong?”

“Strangely, Shedu’s in worse shape than blondie, here.” Nadine observed.

The girl opened her eyes at Garland and he realised that he was receiving an odd look. It was the look of someone that was afraid. He knelt down.

“Hey, we won. We’re gonna be fine. It’s no big deal if we have to go-” She shook her head.

“There won't be any going back…” She shut her eyes again, but she was still breathing.

“H-hey. Come on. How? We were just getting to know one-another.” Shedu raised her wrist. Garland looked at it and saw something that was completely empty. Zero percent. Garland slumped.

“It… doesn’t regenerate, huh?” She nodded.

“There’s gotta be something we can do!”

“There is.” Everyone was shocked to hear Mithra. They turned to look, but were perplexed by what they saw. A tall woman that was so much like her with her purple bangs covering half her face, and her vibrant hair, save for the sudden shocks of red that painted it and those tall ears and bushy tail that were telltale features of a fox. Garland swallowed hard as a lump formed in his throat.

“H-hey, what’s up, Mithra?” Nadine asked. Both she and T, who were particularly sensitive to ‘vibe’ were getting a bad feeling.

“Fuck if I know…” Mithra claimed, scratching her head.

“I just woke up like this but I’m here and ready to help!” The girl grinned, leaning down to address Garland.

“All you need to do to help Shedu is to focus… Get close, real close and focus on.”

“What’s that behind you?” Garland asked, horrified by the visage of a huge, deep black shadow of a fox standing behind Mithra, long claws clutching her shoulders as if it were mentoring her.

“Hm?” She looked up and shrugged.

“I dunno. Maybe you’re seeing things? Maybe you’re just retarded. As usual…”

He thought to dwell on it, but shook off those concerns and just asked. “What do I have to do?” He got very close as Mithra advised, holding Shedu’s hand. She opened her eyes and turned her head.

“Don’t…” The girl begged quietly.

“That blondie said the same thing. I don’t wanna.”

“You must!” Mithra said insistently, squatting down like a delinquent beside them. They couldn’t see them, but Garland could tell that her eyes were wide and glowing behind the cover of her bangs.

“He lived a good life… You should also get a turn.”

“Mithra, what are you- this doesn’t sound like you.” Garland observed. That much was obvious, however. He was confused.

“I changed my mind.” Shedu announced stubbornly.

“I’m… fine.” She frowned, looking away.

“Thats an obvious lie.” Garland scratched his head.” He stared down at her in thought, then up at Mithra and the shadow.

“You… what am I supposed to do to save her?” Shedu gasped and looked up. Befor she could open her mouth to warn him, the blackness seemed to envelope him, leaving him alone in a dark space with a white light in front of him burning like a candle, and a fading blue light a meter apart with nothing behind it except twin glowing red eyes.

“Consuming the dying light would be but a trifle for you, now, fledgling. To move your light towards it and… absorb it into your own. Make the light yours and grow your power. Become the ‘complete’ being you always meant to be.” The smooth feminine voice echoed with a ghostly twinge within the space.

“Consuming? But…” He intuited.

“That’s Shedu, isn’t it?”

“So close to being gone already. On such borrowed time with power that was never hers. She longed for it, you know. She longed to end you and do the same to you, so why pause? If this moment slips, the light will extinguish and you will be left incomplete forever, without having completed your purpose.”

“We’re wasting time!” Garland argued.

The voice laughed. “Time holds no meaning here.”

“Why am I here?”

“Because you asked, indirectly, to be here. I am a generous host.”

“Where is here?”

“Here is empty space. It is blank, between everything. When one is here it shows that which is immediately important, such as the souls of those that are immediately present or connected, like yours, the girls and… mine, to an extent.”

“What did you do to Mithra?”

“What I was bidden. The father wished for a child that would not age, would not die, that would only gain strength as time passed. I was happy to oblige.”

Garland furrowed his brow. “Is that what a fox is?”

“An intriguingly simple question with an unbelievably complex answer if you want the whole unabridged truth. We are altruists, to our chore, though none understand how. None will listen with rationality. The cycle that produces endless power may only be slowed if a stipend of the souls put to rest are not returned. They will stay with us for a spell, and we will make stunning music with their essence.”

“Wait… what? That sounds like sugar-coating… What happens with this ‘cycle’ if it gets out of hand?”

“Then there will be a day where all our essence is reabsorbed into the world. All life given will be taken.”

Garland centered his gaze on the light. “Why should I take that light? So that it doesn’t get reabsorbed?”

“No… such a small tribute is nothing for the world. You must take it, simply because it will be lost. An opportunity will be lost. A glorious power dulled forever with no return. How sad that would be.” Garland stepped forward towards the light under the twin eyes of the fox. As his soul was almost touching Shedu’s, he looked down and shook his head.

“Why hesitate? She will die, regardless.”

“It’s not her fault. None of it is… I think… it was a taunt, but what Mithra said is true. Shedu does deserve a turn and I have lived a good life. H-how do I give a bigger light to the smaller one?”

There is a long pause. The red eyes seemed to have widened as the voice said after a solid minute.

“Remarkable for me to be taught grace by a fledgling. You may do so, if that is your intent, it is no more difficult than taking a single step.”

“No lies?”

“Not a one. I have no reason in lying. ‘Tis what I sought from the beginning.”

Garland took a step forward and outside Shedu bolted upright as his body slumped over hers. She was stunned, holding him and shaking him. The girl gritted her teeth and stared at the bar on the comm, fully filled.

“Why the fuck did you do that!?”

“A subby bitch to the very end~” Mithra commented, standing up from her squat to loom over the blue-haired fox.

“Man… if you inherited his whole soul, does that make you my bitch, now?”

Shedu glowered up at her, tears filling her eyes. “I’ve lost two incredible people today.” Her gaze shifted up to the shadow looming behind Mithra. It peered back curiously as the girl seethed.

“I’ll never forgive you. And…” She hugged Garland tightly.

“I don’t want this.” She shook her head.

“I don’t want it!” Shedu screamed.

“It's cool to want.” Mithra scratched her ears.

“So much more surface area on these! Haha… Wonder how much of me is still a gnoll.” She shrugged and held out her hand towards Shedu.

“Anyway, you’ll get over it. We got work to do.”

Shedu slapped the hand away, much to the surprise of Mithra. “The fuck?” The woman looked down questioningly.

“There’s no more ‘we.’ I know you didn’t choose this for yourself, but we’re done.” Shedu asserted. Mithra looked somewhat hurt.

“But-”

“Done!” Shedu screamed.

“Get away from me! And get that damn thing away from us! Garland isn’t your bitch and neither am I. We figured it out… the loop.”

Mithra cocked her head to one side. She turned as the hand rubbed her back beckoning. She offered one final look back to say.

“We’ll see… fucker.” Mithra disappeared into the shadow, then the shadow dissipated into two glowing eyes, then those eyes too closed.

Shedu became suddenly very aware of the ship sinking around them. Nadine looked around and felt a bit awkward as she said.

“We didn’t mention it because… well, you know, but I guess now that I think about it you can’t breathe underwater.” She bent down.

“Uhm… what happened? Can he be resuscitated?”

Shedu looked down. “I- I don't know…” She noticed Leage reaching up and **** for anything, took the woman’s hand.

“It is… possible. One body, two souls. It will be… irreversible. Due to the… greed of our kind, it has never been done.”

“I don’t care! Fuck, fuck fuck! Just make it happen. That can be the favour you owe.”

Leage smiled. “Does this one look like the sort? This mind has never had to count on its own, therefore this warrior knows no method of counting favours. I will aid you in whatever way you… desire in… perpetuity.” She sounded pained.

Nadine whispered to T. “She… did she just call herself stupid in fancy old speak?” The merfolk nodded back.

“Let’s do it!” Shedu announced as a Fennek transport circled overhead.