Abyssania
an excerpt

Start of the End of the World

Whoever taught Luke to use a knife like that, Sera thinks, could probably win this war single handedly.

They were all trained at the Academy, of course, but this is something else. Probably, someone hoped that if they gave Luke other ways to defend himself, he wouldn’t have to destroy the entire planet in his lifetime. Clearly, no one anticipated that he would use it quite like this.

Sparks roll down the blade and tumble from its point like water droplets, each a miniature explosion when it hits the ground. She doesn’t think he even has to touch the knife to a person to kill them with it.

They’ve been trained for war, she knows, of course, because what else can they do for society, really?

They studied the end of the Blackwater era, and she didn’t need Jase to point out the mysterious deaths that came with it.

They were lucky this war hadn’t come earlier, because defenseless doesn’t even begin to describe it. Even now, Crow is still hunting down wayward potential, because crippling it had been a huge mistake.

Sometimes, she wonders if the same thing is waiting for them at the end of this.

Luke is flipping the knife in the air, sparks jumping between his hand and the folded steel.

0---

“Luke!” Reefer yells over the frantic noise of the crowd between them, and all he can see is the very top of his head. Trawl is beside him, seeking out the others, as Reefer glances askance at him.

When he turns back, Luke is gone.

“Shit,” he says, and pushes his way through the crowd, one hand holding Trawl’s sleeve, pulling him along behind. Trawl moves with him and doesn’t seem to notice, which would be worrying had he not known him for several years.

People are struggling against each other, everyone trying to get out, get away. Panic is heavy in the air and Reefer feels it rising in his throat as he is pushed and pulled, Luke nowhere to be seen.

Lightning flashes over head and people scream.

So much for crowd control.

0---

Something is burning.

Jase can feel the heat on his back, and he thinks it might be a house. Screams and cries saturate the air, but he barely hears them. He’s holding this woman together with willpower alone, and the second his concentration falters, she’s dead.

The ground is rough beneath his knees, sharp edged stones cutting through his pants, and it’s keeping him focused.

She’s whimpering and moaning, blood still and going stale in her veins, because if he lets it flow, that’s it. So he forces the oxygen directly into her red blood cells, letting it pass from there into her muscles, bypassing her heart entirely, circulation a memory only.

He has her blood on his arms, his face, and maybe some of his own as well.

0---

A knife pulled across an exposed throat, an arm flung back to smack against a windpipe, crushing it easily, a leg hooked around someone else’s, tugging them into reach of a second knife, sparks slicing skin apart before the blade has a chance to.

He’s moving, just moving, because the moment he stops, he’s an easy target.

Thunder rolls and the ground shakes, and he moves with it, catching a stumbling soldier on the point of a knife, and warmth flows over his hand.

There is a pause, and Luke stands, rolling his shoulders back, shifting his weight, eyes searching for a new target.

Something hits him from behind, hard, and he sees stars, actual stars, as his awareness explodes outward.

0---

Sera has her own attackers to worry about, but she sees Luke go down out of the corner of her eye, and icy fingers grip her heart. The smell of charred flesh fills the air and she’s roasted them alive.

Whoops.

Lightning leaps out of the sky, slamming into the ground not five feet from Luke, the ground collapsing around it.

Someone leaps at her and she drives a knife into their gut and twists.

There’s a scream as she yanks the blade free and dives for Luke, debris between them and the enemy bursting into white hot flames, melting.

There’s so much noise, all around her, and this was never supposed to happen.

She can hear the not so distant crash of waves on the beach, boat after boat sliding up the sand. Some make it far enough for their passengers to leap free of them, others bursting into flame, disappearing, sinking into the suddenly liquid earth below them.

The Fleet is out in force, but there are too many people, regular people, because all they know is maximum destruction of everything between them and their targets.

0---

Jase sees it coming before it happens, he’s on his feet before his mind even has time to process what he’s doing, and behind him the young woman with the chunk taken out of her side dies, violently, as her body takes over again and pushes the blood from her veins to the dirty ground.

He’s forgotten all about her, won’t even remember she was here, with him, relying on him to make it through the next ten seconds.

A dark figure with neon orange eyes finds itself struggling for breath all of a sudden, the oxygen gone from the air around it. It’s nothing but a shadow on the ground when Jase takes his next breath. Another ten or so bodies join it in just fractions of a second, and others still are falling.

The word control doesn’t exist here and now; might never again.

Life becomes death, and no one notices.

0---

Reefer feels something, in the air, in the ground, and has a pretty good idea of what’s going to happen next.

0---

The sky splits open, water pouring from it, and the wind picks up.

0---

Luke is unconscious, eyes closed, but there is light, or rather, dark, rushing from him into the turmoil, into the ground. The rain is horizontal, actually horizontal, and biting; it falls away from Luke, never touching him.

Sera is afraid to touch him; she thinks the rain might feel the same way.

The fires continue burning; nothing short of a flood is going to put them out.

The invaders look frightened, confused, and lightning begins to pick them off, starting with those closest to Luke.

She’s not sure if they realize that this is no coincidence.

Flames begin to flow like water down the streets, and Sera feeds it, feels at least five others doing the same.

She’s kneeling just inches from Luke, frozen there.

0---

Luke drifts, through the comforting dark, and thinks he might be seeing the end of the universe.

0---

Sera’s afraid to touch him, but Jase has no such qualms.

Luke is cold, colder than usual, and Jase tears the fire straight from Sera’s veins.

She screams, but Jase doesn’t hear her, doesn’t hearing anything.

He has Luke’s upper body cradled to him; he can count every single bone, fingers tracing familiar patterns as he forces heat through fragile skin. He takes Sera’s fire and wraps it around Luke’s heart.

She’s sobbing, gasping, and he doesn’t hear a thing.

0---

Reefer sees, sees…

And wishes he couldn’t.

0---

Luke sleeps, galaxies exploding behind his eyes.

0---

Jase breathes, just breathes.

When No Alternative Presents Itself

“Go,” Reefer says, pushing Trawl in front of him, “go, go, go.”

“What?”

“Go!”

Trawl stumbles forward, sees what Reefer sees, and he’s running, though he’s not sure how, because he can’t feel his legs.

He can’t feel anything actually, and that’s a good thing really, because it’s the only way he’s going to keep his head about him long enough to… Oh he can’t think about it, not if he wants to help.

He falls to his knees next to her, brain vibrating with her screams, and he pushes a hand to her heart, shoving life into it.

He doesn’t think about where he’s taking it from, but he has no other choice, and they’re never going to be able to use it, now.

No one taught them this, no one had to.

0---

Luke breathes, breathes, then doesn’t.

0---

Jase feels it happen, tightens his grip on Luke’s life.

The fire is fading, not enough in the face of the absolute cold of the universe.

0---

Ghostly fingers brush his arm, and Trawl jumps, losing contact with Sera, just for a second.

She gasps, between screams, and he dives right back in.

There is something tugging at him, something awful, but he can’t take his eyes away from her, not if he wants her to live.

Reefer will keep him safe, he’s here, somewhere.

He chokes.

0---

Reefer’s watching, twisting his hands this way and that.

There’s not a drop of blood to be seen, but everyone’s dying.

He’s more than useless in a situation like this.

Oh he’s smart, and strong, and all that. But there’s nothing he can contribute here, and there’s nothing he can do to keep it under control. Something awful has happened, and he can’t keep a hold of Jase at the best of times.

Something tells him that, had he been in the way, he’d be dead, or worse, and he’s not surprised at all.

Trawl’s got his hands pressed to Sera’s chest, and he can feel the struggle, between life and death, sanity and madness.

This was never supposed to happen.

Coughing breaks through the screaming, and something’s gone wrong, because Trawl’s struggling for breath, and Sera’s eyes are falling closed.

He looks everywhere for a friendly face, but all he sees is fighting in the distance, and dead bodies between it and them.

0---

It’s draining out of him, being stolen away, and he can’t stop it.

Trawl gasps for air, for a foot on the ground, somewhere to start from. He’s at a disadvantage here, for so many reasons, but if he doesn’t find something, this is it.

As he fades, so does Sera, and it’s the idea of Fosher never knowing what happened to her that gives him enough to pull back, fight back.

The filthy, muddy gravel and rubble is a horrible place to die.

He’s killing them both and doesn’t care, doesn’t even notice.

All they are is a source of energy, of life.

He’s not going to die here.