Issue #159 : To And Fro
The rain was a reawakening, each time bringing Adeline back to the moment when she entered this world, fleeing from a hell of blazing heat. Here, she had found the coolest, most fragrant mist she had ever experienced. From that day forward, each rainfall brought her back to that first moment and renewed her gratitude.
It also ignited the unspoken fears within her, that one day someone would finally venture out and try to follow her into this realm, capture her and drag her back for punishment. It was likely only a matter of time before they found her. Crimes as great as hers were not simply forgotten or ignored.
It made no difference. She would fight to keep from being taken back to that place, just as fiercely as she had fought to flee from it. The more aware she was of the warnings around her, the more prepared she would be.
As she flitted from one leaf to the next, she felt the electricity running up through her body. This place was so vibrant with life it was like bathing in it with each waking moment. It forever baffled her how so many could take this world for granted, and all of its gifts within. It was not like this where she had fled from, where every morsel of hope and goodness came at the price of sacrifice and blood. She had earned her place in this paradise and she would forever fight for it, even if doing so would mean her death.
Thunder began to roll overhead and she shivered at the prickling of her nerve endings which suggested the near onset of lightning. It would be a magnificent storm.
Her new form allowed her more freedom than she had ever thought possible, squeezing into the tiniest grooves and spaces in the world. The wings she now used to coast the upper most winds of the highest points granted her such perspective that she felt nearly like a god. If any of her pursuers were to actually find their way, bumbling from the previous world into this one, she would be ready.
From off to the east, she felt the sensation in the air of the others. She had to take care not to veer too close to their colony. The Queen was aware of Adeline’s entry, if for no other reason that there was now another worker flying around her hive that she could not account for. They would go to any means to capture Adeline and bring her before the Queen, to make account and pay tribute.
It was wise and prudent to steer clear.
It would all work out. There was plenty for all of them, even accounting for all the other species plundering around and leaving their mark on the skin of the world. She had faced much worse than this. She still remembered struggling to recite the final words of the incantation that would spark the jump between worlds as the infinite demon hoards charged down on her. The fact that she had proven herself true would hold for every moment that came after.
The swollen embrace of the thunder was so overpowering that she almost didn’t hear the sound of the soldier descending down on her. It was one of the Queen’s, and he had found her. And in the instant of a dewdrop shattering on a tree branch, she was in the fight for her life. The larger frame of her opponent beat down on her, causing the two of them to dip towards the ground. Their wings beat against each other frantically, each desperately trying to achieve differing ends, one desperate to kill, the other desperate to live. They twisted and rolled as the underbrush careened up towards them.
Adeline realized the only option, the only choice she had left to make. As the soldier grabbed at her and beat at her with his great wingspan, she twisted in his grip. Lifting up her torso, she produced the only weapon available to her and as they continued to roll trough the air, she placed the tip of her stinger against his skin and quickly thrust into him.
The universe around her exploded in starlight. Her weapon withdrew from him and at the same time, pulled free from her as well, brilliantly colored blood dripping after it. As the stinger ripped from her body, every muscle she had ever known tensed and tremored, sending a thrill of ecstasy up through her entire body.
She was on the ground, the soldier dead beside her, dying herself as her life’s blood oozed from her severed torso. In those waning moments she was just able to utter the words again, and departed.
Before her eyes opened, she knew the mistake she had made. The burning smell around her was enough to know where she had inadvertently returned, to the very moment from which she had originally escaped. She opened her eyes to see the demons charging her down, spears raised. This time there was no chance for escape as the penetrating blows took her off her feet and pinned her to the rock wall behind her.
No longer able to speak, Adeline let her head roll down as her second death commenced. The air flowed slowly from her and as darkness swirled in, she embraced herself in the sound of mid-afternoon thunderstorms and the taste of dew on her lips.
