They Be Ascended - Meet Mina

Jacqueline Philomina Gale-Benjamin is They Be Ascended's second main character, and Blaire's foil. In this scene, you get to see her for what she really is.

School had ended and Mina walked down the highway, headed home. One or two cars occasionally barreled down the road, but they were rare. Above her was an autumn canopy of yellow, orange, and red. Through the leaves, there was no sunlight. The trees were huddled close together. They, along with the shrubs and bushes, stood guard by the roadside - almost as if protecting the forest from the road.

Crossing the highway, she went through the wall of plant life. A menagerie of thick overhead had created a premature darkness by the time she had left school, and the clouds began a lazy drizzle. In amongst the foliage, the light was even scarcer. She came upon a shallow part of Helmoth River. The water was clear, clear enough to see the stones it covered and the different walks of freshwater marine life that inhabited it.

The bigger rocks were scattered throughout the stream, piercing the water’s surface. Mina came upon a group of stones whose tops jutted out of the water, forming a bridge. Hopping from one rock at a time, so as not to get her sneakers wet, she crossed the stream.

There was a sudden rustling. She had caught the sound of an approaching animal. The distinct crunching and snapping noises of twigs being broken was a dead giveaway. Once it got wind of her, she figured it would go away. It did not, however, go as she had thought. As it emerged, she saw the animal was, in fact, a coyote. Quickly, she positioned herself against a tree, out of sight, and observed.

The animal was thin, yet lithe. Its shaggy coat was missing patches of fur. It limped to the river, bleeding in a few of its furless places. Its hair hadn’t fallen out - no, it had been ripped out, its roots yanked from its body.

“Coyotes don’t generally travel without a pack, do they?” she asked.

Farther answered, “Coyotes are a social animal, much unlike you. This one seems to have recently been on the losing end of a scuffle.’

“Oh, you don’t say?” asked Mina, sarcastically.

 ‘No s**t, Sherlock?’ Closer said, joining in.

‘You two are ever so kind. I’m glad I have to deal with you the rest of my natural life.’

‘You have no life,’ Closer pointed out. ‘And, you and me, we s**t for sure ain’t natural.’

Huffily, he told him, ‘Fine, the rest of ‘her’ natural life.’

It drank, lapping up water. “Yes, it’s definitely been in a fight. Its neck has several bite wounds…. It’s obviously not from around here, either. The coat’s too light; that color is best suited for a snowy, mountainous environment….”

Farther said, ‘There isn’t a place like that for miles, which leads me to the question: Where, oh, where does our canine friend hail from? Furthermore, did it wander into the borders of another coyote pack’s territory?’

 ‘It’s scrappy lookin’, ain’t it?’ Closer asked, nonchalantly.

Mina agreed. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, it does. I like it, too. It’s built for speed -see its legs? They’re powerful, very much so.”

‘Mina, Mina, let me do it! Please, c’mon,’ Closer begged. ‘C’mon, please. I’ve been good - I have, really!’

‘No, not really and I think it’s my turn. Jacqueline, I, uh, need the experience, you know.’

“Sorry, Closer, he’s right. He does need the experience.”

‘B***h, you always pick him as your favorite,’ he muttered in her head.

Taking a deep breath, Mina let her mental field down and allowed Farther to enter her mind. Around her, the world became green-tinted, save for warm colors indicating heat signatures; shades of red, yellow and orange. The length of her appendages extended as her muscles bulked up. Earth began looking a little less big as she grew taller. Her clothes ripped, hanging over her expanded muscles in tatters before finally falling off her body.

Unable to move, the loss of control over her body became more apparent as it, her form, warped. As her skin became heated to the point it was utterly unbearable, she found herself feeling nothing whatsoever. Looking out of her own eyes as if she were a visitor, she moved without controlling herself. She felt a presence with her, beside her, a comforting presence.

‘Welcome back, b***h-tits.’

‘Hello, Closer,’ she said.

Farther exhaled Mina’s held breath and roared, wailing like the winds of a tornado. He charged the surprised coyote. Appearing from the shadows cast by the wind-swayed tree, Mina’s shifted form barreled towards the small but strong, jackal-esque animal. Mina’s body, under Farther’s control, took long, near-jumping strides, and was upon the shocked canine in a couple seconds. Grabbing ahold of its flank and neck, making it yelp in pain, sinking round, needle point-tipped talons into its flesh, Farther snapped it in two like one would a wooden pencil. He threw its broken body to the ground and crouched over the fallen animal. He began to eat its meat, consuming it, absorbing its genetic makeup, doing what Jacqueline’s father’s species had evolved to do.

The stench of gore was pungent to the point of inducing eye watering. The gruesome power display befalling the scavenger-turned-prey at the hands of a predator it had never before encounter was absolute.

After a handful of bites, Farther stopped eating and pulled Mina’s thin fangs from their fellow predator’s innards. The sight of the coyote’s wide eyes, open muzzle and lolling tongue was proof, to Mina, that Parters, as they were made to be, were the greatest predators in the galaxy. Generally unassuming, a Parter had the gift to ‘change’ itself into something greater �" an idealized embodiment of power. Licking the blood off Mina’s visage with a wriggling and triple-sectioned tongue, he straightened and began hissing.

‘Yes, Taioszunyi thinks you did a magnificent job.’

‘I woulda been less sloppy,’ Closer muttered.                                                                   

Farther’s hissing grew louder.

‘Yes, Mother can feel the,’ she giggled, ‘the beast.’ And, throughout her mind, she could. She could feel the coyote with her; its memories, its personality and instincts. Her mind dominated his, just as her mind dominated Farther’s and Closer’s. She had been right in her deduction of its speed. It was fast, faster than most of its brethren. She could see that in its memories.

It was actually a “he,” and even had had a mate at one point. Apparently, his female counterpart had met her demise in the form of a hot lead bullet straight from an enraged farmer’s rifle �" which he had narrowly escaped. His innate self-preservation instincts along, and mixed, with his superior agility had saved him from certain death. Much to Mina’s surprise, he ‘had’ contracted his wounds from a confrontation with Brian’s group, but, was saved, once again, by his speed, outrunning them upon breaking free from their jaws �" literally and figuratively.

He was bold, without fear, would, and had, infiltrated human settlements in his quest for sustenance. However, Mina found him a fraction too confident, arrogant enough to overestimate himself and underestimate his adversaries. Ironically, completely aware of Mina’s presence, he had dismissed her. ‘The fool, even beasts can fall prey to character flaws.’

Her shifted form degenerated, weathering away to Mina’s meek human frame as she took control from Farther. Her vision ceased showing color-coded temperatures. Her claws and fangs receded into her; her hair sprouted back and her tongue shrank and melded together. Mina began to feel, while her skin, icy as arctic winters, writhed and crawled.

She exhaled, finally in command of her body. The taking of that coyote had been the first step in the hunting game, the first step on the path that would lead her to her prey. Lacking for a clue as to how its climax would play out, she smiled, inhaling deeply. Despite her hatred of such violence, the aroma of bloodshed and ended life greeted her like a lost family member - and she embraced it. 

Author's Note

Farther and Closer are the products of Mina's mind being fractured. So, when she speaks to them its either in her head or she's talking to herself.