Memorize (Book One)

Spread Your Wings

"Oh my God, oh my God," screamed Kizuna. She threw herself on her knees beside the red-haired stranger, checking Arende's vitals.

"Shit! Oh shit, shit, shit"

"Arende, do you hear me?"

"I do, I do," smiled Arende. His voice was coarse and his usually healthy complexion was turning ashen.

"Oh I wished Aura was here," exclaimed Kizuna. "His vitals are plummeting, I don't know what to do!"

"I'm simply dying, Kizuna."

"No, no, you're not, we're gonna fix that, right Jay?" Kizuna looked up at Jay who remained silent, reminiscing the cerulean rope of light caressing Arende's back. What it was, he didn't have a clue, but he knew in his bones that Arende was dying. He kneeled down too.

Ananda, Starling and Epos drew closer. As they did, thundering sounds were heard, and the Distorter's gates were severely shaken. Every second mattered.

"How do we pilot the Distorter? I must try to get this thing off," said Starling. "Hold on tight, mate," he said to Arende, bending and briefly touching his shoulder.

"I can help. I know how to pilot this thing," answered Epos.

They all looked at him, astounded.

Help will come from the blond rat after all. Aura was right.

Of course he was!

Epos looked deep into Arende's eyes and swallowed his saliva. A fleeting air of sadness quickly passed over his face. Arende smiled weakly at him, as if the two men were silently making amends. More thunder was heard. The gates shook again.

"Follow me Starling, we need to reach the Command Zone."

The two men ran away and went through a series of halls and rooms, until they reached the piloting quarters. Stretchy, rectangular screendows showed the Distorters' Zone, where rays of light kept being shot from every angle. An army of Retrievers was now standing on all sides of the vehicle.

"Take-off's not the most difficult. Entering time-distortion will be. For now, we just need to join forces and instruct the Distorter to leave. These vessels need to be treated very respectfully. Any careless movement may endanger the route we take or cancel the order we give. Look..."

Starling looked at Epos and imitated his manoeuvre. Gently, effortlessly, the Distorter came to life, snorting and shaking off inertia and attackers. Moments later, they were going higher and soflty gliding through the endless Zone.

"Take us to the Sulphur Lands. No stopover, no delay, full speed."

"The Sulphur Lands?"

"That's the only direction I could think of. It's just a direction, we'll enter time-distortion before that, anyway."

From below, Retrievers were aiming at them. Rays of light hit the vehicle and made it shudder, but they had already reached sufficient speed. They were safe. So they both headed back to Arende.

Ananda was propped against the gates, while Jay and Kizuna, on each side of their friend, were trying to keep him awake, talking to him. The red-haired boy was crouching beside Arende, swearing and moaning at the same time. Starling kneeled down beside him, and Epos stood slightly further, gazing at the scene with clenched fists.

"Hey Epos, we all know how this is going to pan out, right?"

"What does he mean, Epos? Epos?"

As Epos wasn't willing to answer, Arende spoke again, in a low, weakened voice.