Eternity's War

Book 1: Chapter 24

Skye sat against a large tree in the woods surrounding the warehouse and Nanping district. It had often proven to be a comforting refuge for whenever he needed to be alone with his thoughts.

He looked up at the late afternoon sun through the sparse canopy. The past three months had been far more challenging than he could have ever anticipated, provoking his mind to cast doubts over White Shadow and what it was they were fighting for. At times, even he himself was uncertain. It had so far been a long day, and was set to be an even longer night.

Sierra dropped from the tree above him and landed silently on the ground. He let out a quiet shrill, startled by the short warrior.

"Please stop doing that," he begged after calming himself.

"Stop doing what?" she asked.

Skye shook his head. "Forget it. What are you doing out here?"

"Training."

The two stared at each other in silence for a long moment. Skye looked into her vacant eyes, waiting for her to take her leave. Several more moments passed.

"Sierra," he spoke, breaking the unpleasant silence upon realising she wasn't going to leave him be, "I have a bad feeling about tonight. I'm a little worried that someone might get killed."

"Tahlia will," she said definitively.

"I meant one of us," he corrected.

"Tango and Echo might—they're reckless. Juliet and the boy might too—they don't know how to fight."

Skye began to regret bringing up the topic. "You never worry, do you?" he asked.

"Why would I worry?"

"Because you might be killed at any moment. Tahlia can trace your location to just about anywhere on half of the island. What if she decides that she's tired of looking over her shoulder? What if she decides to take your life?" He would never ask any of his other teammates such blunt and callous questions, but he couldn't help but pry into the woman's intriguing mentality.

"I hope she does," was the response. "I can't track Tahlia. If she comes to me, I'll be able to kill her sooner."

"That's not what I meant. How is it that you're always so calm?" he pressed, eager for information.

"Because I have no reason to feel any other way."

Skye scoffed. "In other words, you don't care about anyone's regard, including your own. You don't have any problems, so you don't need to care."

"No," she corrected, "I don't care, therefore I don't have any problems."

Skye stared back at her for several seconds before letting out a soft chuckle. "You can be wise when you want to be," he admitted. "It's just a shame that you enjoy killing people more than you do teaching them."

"I don't know why you all assume I'm a killer—I've never killed anyone. But I'm prepared to kill Tahlia and anyone else who gets in my way."

"I'm sure you will," Skye said without a doubt in his mind. He looked back up at the glowing rays of sunlight high above, counting down to their perilous mission ahead.

"You should worry less," Sierra suggested. "You told me that Nikolai will never kill you, so you have no reason to worry."

"That doesn't protect me from the Tianzu," he countered. "But I'm more concerned about Juliet and Roman. I really don't want to bring them tonight, but they're not safe here either. It's an impossible situation. Maybe Tango was right."