Chapter 6

She stood atop a hill, her back nearly pressed against the wall that had kept her in Cerul for all her life. Before and below the rest of the world stretched before her. And it was supremely beautiful. 

She’d never seen trees like this. The ones she was used to in Cerul were immaculately groomed, of perfect height to provide shade, and perhaps a challenging climb for a kid. Those trees were also much, much shorter. The sea of trees before her were monstrosities in comparison -- thick trunks wider than three of a typical Cerulian tree put together, with wild tangles of branches, and canopies that were so dense that only a smattering of sunbeams could sneak their way through to the brush below. 

That is, if there was sunlight. A warm summer rain beat down in front of them, whipping with a stormy wind. This was the first time Aviva could really see the environmental barrier that kept Cerul balmy all year round. It cut a complete circle around Cerul and maybe seven feet outward, a force field that prevented the rain from falling on their white city. And this was the first time she actually appreciated it.

“What a day to become a convict on the run, eh?” She muttered, her mouth upturned into a grimace that might have passed for a mocking smile. Magdalen returned it, and though there was a little bit more pep in hers, there was no mistaking the anxiety in her eyes. Seeing that, Aviva swallowed the bitter pill of self-pity and gave her a real, genuine grin. “You know, you don’t have to do this. You’re still a valid human. Even if they come and question you… I’m sure it’ll be alright. Evelyn’ll look out for you.”

“No way. I’d tear them apart if I went back there. Coming after my best friend… they’d wish they’d never been born.” Magdalen gave a cheeky grin and thumbed the shoulders of the pack which seemed massive on her dainty frame. Aviva couldn’t help but laugh. The very idea of Mags laying a violent finger on anyone was completely absurd. 

They set down the hill in silence and descended into the thick wood and rain. The moment they passed into the forest line, the world seemed to grow quieter. The thick blanket of leaves above and below them suppressed sound, so that the fall of rain was just a quiet patter, even as it dripped upon their heads.

“It’s… beautiful, isn’t it?” Magdalen marveled as she laid a hand on the trunk of a tree. She peered up to its canopy, as best she could while shielding herself from the rain with the hood of her cloak. 

“Yeah, massive. Bigger than some of the buildings in Cerul.” Aviva murmured as she stepped over a branch, trying to ascertain which way to go. Who knew how long it’d take for Evelyn to get a message out to her aunt and how long it would take for her to track them down? The best they could do was put distance between their exitpoint and find a safe spot in the woods to bunker down. But in the interim it was fun to watch Magdalen gently pick apart everything she came across, turning over rocks and logs to see what lay underneath, or prodding at mushrooms and lichen. 

“It’s a whole other world!” Magdalen cheerfully chirped as she stuffed her the inner pockets of her cloak full of berries and mushrooms. 

“Are those even safe to eat?” Aviva questioned, more amused than anything. 

“Oh, maybe! But maybe they have other uses. Medicinal, paints, you know.” Aviva sighed, but she was truthfully pleased to see Magdalen so occupied and enthused, even though it hindered their slow trek through the woods. They stopped frequently, taking sips and bites from the food that Magdalen’s mother had packed, trying to make it last. Slowly, the morning gave way to the afternoon, and the afternoon to dusk. Not once had the sun broken through the thick quilt of clouds, and the rain oscillated between a downpour and a drizzle. It came to the point that even their waterproof cloaks were slowly starten to dampen and a chill started to seep into their skin. 

But, worse than that, Aviva was exhausted. There was no way to count the miles that had passed beneath their boots, and because they were headed in no direction in particular there wasn’t a reason to mark their paths. They could have traveled in circles, for all she knew, though she’d tried her best to keep them at a straight line. As straight as it could be, anyway, as they climbed down gullies and walked around trees that were taller than they were.

Despite her exhaustion and the ache in her back, feet, and core, she could feel that something was off. The feeling intensified the deeper they tread into the wood. Aviva’s skin prickled, from the base of her spine to the nape of her neck, with a feeling of otherness that she couldn’t quite explain. It wasn’t a feeling of necessarily being watched. It was more like the forest knew she was there, and knew that she didn’t belong. “Magdalen, do you feel that?” 

“Feel what?” Magdalen asked idly, wringing water from her cloak. Aviva didn’t answer. She merely searched the darkening woods around her, looking for eyes. The feeling didn’t go away -- merely intensified now that she’d acknowledged it. And then, in the distance, she saw something. A sort of pale blue fire, that flickered almost too far away to see. 

“There, see that?” She pointed, but even as she did so the apparition or orb seemed to flicker and dash away, vanishing. Without missing a beat Aviva bolted forward, compelled by a feeling that she needed to find that nebulous flame. Her tired legs were invigorated by a new energy, and she ran, her strides long and powerful. 

There was no path, no bent twigs or worn earth that might reveal the way. Magdalen was running at full tilt behind her, her breath ragged, calling after her to slow. 

She’d get her wish, whether Aviva wanted it or not. 

After no more than five minutes of pursuit Aviva’s foot was caught by something unseen in the underbrush. With her speed, there was no time for her to try and correct herself. Instead, all she could do was throw up her hands and let her palms and knees take the brunt of the fall. She grunted with pain as her body met earth, and Magdalen finally had a chance to catch up. 

“You okay?” Magdalen asked, between gasping breaths, her brow wet with sweat, her cheeks flushed with blood.

“Yeah, f*****g root.” Aviva muttered as she slowly worked her way back to her feet, wiping her hands to clear them of dirt, wet leaves, and bits of rock. She was suddenly glad that she’d let Maggie talk her into wearing gloves.

“I don’t think it’s a root.” Magdalen said quietly,  approaching the spot that had tripped her. It was a bit of fallen rubble. Magdalen pushed aside the underbrush surrounding it, revealing a pipe that went on for quite a distance. She squinted, following where it lay, and nodded, as if confirming a suspicion. “There’s something over there. It looks like a building.” 

Aviva grunted, ignoring Magdalen for a moment as she stared off into the trees, her eyes searching for that pale blue flame. There was nothing but encroaching darkness, and infinitely more trees. She sighed as she lifted herself from the ground. Had she even seen it at all? She wasn’t sure. She was tired, and this place was strange. There was no need to worry Magdalen about something that might not have been there at all. 

Silently Aviva turned to Magdalen and peered into the spot she was staring. It was a little difficult to discern, but there was no doubt that there were concrete skeletons of what used to be buildings, their surface darkened by time, moss, and all sorts of that natural dirt Aviva had no knowledge of. The buildings themselves were rather stout, too small to have been houses, with whatever material that had been their roofs collapsed and eaten away by time and the elements. Sheds, some sort of storage container?

“Used to be buildings. Just a bunch of rubble now.” Aviva picked up a pebble and threw it at the structure. It bounced off a wall and fell to the ground. Nothing moved inside. 

“Why are they here, though? Are there other buildings, other houses? People?” Magdalen’s eyes were dreamy as she lost herself in thought, her gaze staring at the buildings but seeing right past them. Instinctively, she stepped towards them, her curiousity taking control. 

Aviva instinctively followed after. The closer they came the more Aviva could see how old they looked. Older than her, that was for certain. But they didn’t give her the strange vibes that the dark forest did, and that was a plus. 

“Maybe we can camp in ‘em?” She suggested, and took hold of Magdalen’s hand. Magdalen blinked, the touch enough to gently shake her from her thoughts and bring her back down to earth. For a moment. “Yes! A wonderful idea.” 

Aviva smiled at her but knew for a fact that her enthusiasm was built more on the hope of finding more about the people who made them than getting away from the constant drizzle. For now that rain had abated to something akin to a slow drip but there was no doubt that they’d return at full ferocity. She’d seen precious few storms in her lifetime but she could feel the electricity, the heavy wetness in the wind. It was going to be a torrent, and it’d be best if they were in shelter instead of trying to pick their way to a destination they couldn’t find even in broad daylight and perfect weather. 

Magdalen pushed through the brush, with Aviva close behind, and soon they found that it was actually a series of shelters. Each one uniform in size and shape, precisely eight feet by eight feet. Some had their walls ripped apart, by what Aviva couldn’t tell, and none had roofs. There was no rubble within, and she idly theorized that they’d been taken for scrap. But she found that she didn’t like the implications of that thought at all and quickly discarded it as she picked out the building with the clearest, comfiest floor. “Comfy” being used very loosely -- it was essentially the floor with no trees growing through the concrete.

When she found one that seemed suitable she tossed in her bag and began looking for large boughs to use as temporary rafters over the building. It was slow, tedious work, even with Magdalen throwing in what little strength she could offer. Together they were able to create a patchwork of a roof, the branches intersecting over each other, and tried their best to fan out leaves to help against the rain. They weren’t particularly successful, but it was better than nothing at all. 

“Not too shabby for Cerulians, eh?” Aviva grinned, wiping her hands off on her pants. Even a girl like her, from the outskirts, had never done much in the way of hard labour. The lean muscles that lined her arms and legs were cultivated through a lifestyle of urban exploration and self-taught parkour, which went badly more often than it went well. Magdalen, for her part, had never picked up anything heavier than a stack of books. But their work wasn’t half bad, and as they slipped inside the shed Aviva found something close to comfort in those concrete walls. She sat her back against a wall in the corner and Magdalen joined her, so they sat shoulder to shoulder. 

“We probably can’t build a fire here,” she observed, pointing up at the roof. “I think, even if there are some holes, maybe the smoke will get trapped inside.” 

Aviva grimaced and sighed. “No, of course not. Guess we can cuddle for warmth?” She was only half-teasing, and Magdalen tsk’ed at her, rolling her eyes dismissively as she turned on a flashlight she pulled from her bag. She scanned their surroundings with the light and the beam caught a bit of written graffiti on the wall. 

S & T 

Our Love will One Day End Those who would End Us

The writing was elegant, in a practiced cursive, but was faded by rain and dirt. There were other missives as well, mostly names, occasionally crude images of genitals. But there was no denying that they weren’t the first people to have come across these buildings and used them for shelter. 

“Look, Vivs.” Magdalen pointed the beam at a particularly large piece of graffiti. It seemed to be a map. At the center was Cerul. The swooping, curved architecture was unmistakable, even when drawn by an amateur artist. Around it were the woods they’d thrown themselves into, and to its North the ocean. But Aviva leaned closer when she realized that Cerul wasn’t the only city on the map -- there were two more. One was on the other side of the woods and another seemed to be beneath Cerul. The cities had been labeled. The one below Cerul being labeled as “Freedom” and the one across the woods as “Safety”.

“Did you know anything about this? Is this where we’re headed?” Aviva asked, standing to touch the city across the woods. Magdalen shook her head, her face perplexed. “No, Evelyn just said there’d be a house…”

“Do you think it’s real? That there are other cities?” Aviva asked, suddenly wishing she could see over the treetops, to the horizon. Magdalen shrugged, her lips pursed in thought. 

“Is that even possible? It’s common knowledge that all human life but the blessed few was annihilated by his divine wrath. And those few built the gem of the new world, Cerul.” Magdalen recited the line that had been ingrained in them since they were just children. 

“Well, who built this building then?” Aviva asked, and Magdalen was silent. She had no response. Quietly they fell into their own thoughts, curling up next to each other for comfort and warmth. Magdalen propped the torch so that the beam still fell on the map, her eyes still fixed on its lines. Aviva had no idea how much time had passed, or when she’d fallen asleep.

It was dark when Aviva woke again. The rain had begun to pick up, but that wasn’t what had disturbed her. The woods were oddly silent. Since they’d arrived it had been a non-stop cacophony of cicadas, frogs, and birds. Unseen but omnipresent in their noise. But now there was nothing but the sound of rain. 

She glanced at Magdalen, who was asleep beside her, her head tilted forward towards her chest. The light was still shining on the map. It was the only source of light at all �" the entire world around them had darkened with dusk and rain clouds. Quietly Aviva reached out and took it, turning it off. She strained her ears, trying to hear something beyond the endless patter of downpour. There was something out there. Something hunting. She was so certain of it that it jarred her, pricking the fine hairs along her arms and the back of her neck. But she had no time to contemplate it. All of her focus was on listening. 

Finally she heard it. It was quiet, a gentle snapping of twigs on the path they’d left. Instinctively she knew that someone was following their trail. Gently she  nudged Magdalen, who lifted her head groggily, blinking into the darkness with a look of confusion on her face. But before she could speak Aviva pressed a finger to her lips. 

“There’s someone out there. Someone’s following us.” She whispered it as quietly as she could, so that it was barely louder than her breath, almost completely lost in the sound of the rain. But Magdalen had heard at least the gist of what she’d said and her face was suddenly somber as she nodded. They pressed themselves against the wall, as close as they could, as if it could make them disappear into the concrete. 

Another snap, like a brittle bone. But closer now. There was the sound of branches rustling and Aviva knew that their pursuer had found their trail to the buildings. Even in the dark, even with this rain. It would be no time at all before they found their little hideaway. She turned away from the darkened door to look at Magdalen. But before a single word could pass her lips Magdalen grabbed her hand and squeezed, nodding. She’d come to the same conclusion. They had a better chance of running than being cornered and letting their sanctuary become their cage. 

As quietly as they could they stood, shouldered their bags, and stepped from the concrete shed. The ground beneath them crunched quietly. They were fortunate that the rain had wet the leaves and that it was beginning to pick up now, going from a gentle, persistent patter to a heavy drum. 

Aviva strained her eyes and, in the dark, saw a figure standing at one of the earliest sheds. They were half-obscured, their chest leaning in to peer into the small room, and Aviva knew that this was their chance. Their only chance. She tugged on Magdalen’s hand and slunk around the side of the shed, breaking sight-lines as fast as she could, and slipped deeper into the wood. Her direction was random, built entirely on putting as much distance as she could between whoever was following them. She hoped the sounds of their hurried steps would be masked by the sound of rain, by the sound of their pursuer’s own steps. 

And for the first three minutes things went her way. 

Then came the sound of branches snapping, and the rapid, unmistakable sound of someone chasing after them at full pelt. 

“Run! Run!” Aviva shouted, all pretense of stealth cast aside as she threw herself forward into a desperate sprint. Magdalen was beside her, for now, and both of them were carried by the adrenaline of the hunted. They dashed over roots and fallen logs, weaved between trees and brush that came from nowhere, hidden by the dark. And then there was a sound of air cutting beside her and a loud ‘thunk!’. An arrow was embedded in a trunk a few feet in front of her at level with her head, but off to the right by a few inches. 

A few intelligible curses rolled off Aviva’s tongue as she threw herself harder into her sprint. How many lucky shots would she get before one hit her? The answer was zero. There was the sound of air slicing, too quick and quiet for her to try and avoid, and then there was a sudden, searing pain in her shoulder blade. She jolted forward but caught herself, her body working on autopilot. The pain radiated down her arm, through her chest, to the very tip of her toes. She screamed, she couldn’t help it, but her body was still going. She kept running. She had no idea if Magdalen was still beside her, if she’d been hit too. There was the sound of another arrow, and again pain as it stabbed into the back of her thigh. Her gait stuttered and fell into a kneeled crouch. With a twisted scream she forced her leg to straighten, the arrow still embedded in the muscle, and forced herself forward. Fear and bitterness fueled her every step, overriding her screaming nerves, even as her muscles started to tear. 

But she wouldn’t have to go far. The earth suddenly seemed to give way beneath her. But in reality, it was merely a steep hill, its edge hidden by the darkness and her tear-blurred vision. She fell just as another arrow was launched at her and flew over her falling body. She rolled down the muddy, root-riddled hill like a rag doll, a blur of dirty limbs and a long, muddy cloak. The shafts of the arrows were dug deeper into her back before snapping, leaving an inch of wood and the arrowhead embedded in her flesh, and her body red-hot with pain that immediately broke her out in a sweat. 

She tumbled until finally her body came to a stop, a yard from the hill’s termination point. She was on her back, on her searing, miserable back. In her peripherals she could see Magdalen beside her, slowly crawling to all fours. And she could see what was unmistakably a hunter above them, at the edge of the cliff, maybe twenty feet up. It was an androganous figure, clothed in black armour, their face masked. Slowly, they knotted another arrow and raised the bow. Aviva’s hands and legs twitched, her futile attempt at forcing her limbs to work, to pick her up off the ground.  

And there was a flash of lightning, unlike anything Aviva had ever seen. It was a staff of red that split the blackened heavens like a cleave, slashing down onto the cliff that the Hunter was standing on so that the earth gave way and they came tumbling down the hill, just as Aviva had. The shock of it had surprised the Hunter enough that they lost their grip on the bow, which had caught on an exposed root half-way up the hill. Aviva struggled to sit up as the Hunter stirred, already recovering. 

“Maggie, you gotta go. You gotta go.” Aviva called, her voice cracking with panic and pain. But Magdalen, who was finally on her feet, came straight to her and tried to lift her up by her arm. Aviva howled as she felt the arrowhead embedded in her muscles move and Magdalen immediately dropped her, leaving her in a sitting position, her dark eyes brimming with tears. 

“Aviva, what do we do?” She whispered, but Aviva couldn’t do anything but shake her head. “Go, go. He’s getting up.” The Hunter had come unsteadily to their feet, but they were regaining composure quickly. In mere seconds they seemed to have shaken off the unnatural bolt and were unsheathing a wicked machete-like blade that had hung at their hip. There was no running now for Aviva. Even if she could stand, her legs wouldn’t carry her faster than a limp. 

“Maggie,” Aviva begged. And then, suddenly, the air was filled with electricity. It seemed to crackle around them and before either girl could speak another word there was another lash of scarlet light, but this one bore down directly onto the Hunter. A billion volts of electricity, pulsating through them in an instant throwing them back to earth half a dozen feet. The thick cloak they wore had fallen off their shoulders in flames, and they were seizing on the cold wet earth. There was the smell of cooked meat, and burning plastic, and then he was still. 

“You two okay?” 

A voice cut through the rain, and from the wood behind them emerged a woman beneath a thick black parasol. She was pretty, in a strange way. Her hair was thick and red, full of decadent curls, that haloed a face whose every feature seemed defiant. An upturned nose, thin lips twisted into an obstinate grin, bright eyes with something distinctly cat-like to them. Even with pain and confusion washing over her in waves Aviva was distinctly aware that she liked her, and that in a distant way that she looked like Evelyn. 

“Aunt Stefania.” She said the words without meaning to, without consciously realizing that’s who she was.

“The trouble-making Ms. Morgans.” 

Aviva grinned and gently leaned against Magdalen, who had wrapped her gingerly in a supporting embrace, though they were still on the ground, covered in muck.

“So my reputation precedes me.” She grinned, but lost it to a wince. Even that minor thing was painful. 

“You’re looking like a pin cushion, child. Let’s get you inside, eh?”