Page 98 - RKJ 2019 Online Flip Version
P. 98
Some of the people in the crowd stopped distant green light bounced off the clouds
their chatting. Aeris realized that the screaming above Sector 8. The moon disappeared.
she heard in her head was something breaking
in the distance. Aeris was pressed against the hood of an
The Mercenary (An Extract) overturned s-510 Sedan. As the people began
From, “The Jenova Project I” The light hit them first. The nearby reactor to see the roads, they ran.
by Xander Williams burst into a ball of blinding fire. The shouting became a constant noise
When the shockwave struck them, it was down both sides of the street. Someone was
While waiting for the early evening shows to let like driving into a wall of noise. She saw knocked into the sign of the Goblin Bar. Aeris
out, Aeris took a moment to duck into the alley nothing except the brown blur of her own hair ran as fast as she could along the wall back to
behind the theatre and watch a livewire drip and small glimpses of an exploding world. She the Loveless theatre.
green sparks onto the black brick. The sparks realized too late that she was not on her feet
came out in splashes. Verdant embers of mako anymore. Her hip ached and her shin felt bruised, but
energy cascaded at her feet, scattering and she could keep her speed up.
spiraling through the air before fading into the A newspaper cart splintered from the Someone hurled a tire through a Ronsons
dark of the setting night. shock. A car flipped over somewhere, but the window and several people leapt through the
sound rolled in her head.
Aeris watched, reminded of stars. The broken glass into the store. She kept moving.
noise of the city, however, drowned out any Aeris crash-landed onto a collapsed Her weave basket hadn’t travelled as far
hope she had of meditating. Cars honked on awning sign that read Goblin Bar. as she had. The flowers were scattered on the
the street. Vendors shouted. Before she could Her first thought was that the Goblin Bar black brick.
think, her break was over. should be two blocks away, and maybe she
took a wrong turn. And she thought she hadn’t Someone knocked her from behind. She
The adjacent “Loveless Theatre” had barely got her arms in place to break her fall.
previously been named something else, before meant to travel. And she realized she had
the play became more famous than the space. been thrown. The sign had been thrown. She The wide-eyed man didn’t even seem to
Loveless played thrice daily, for nearly thirty was so grateful that she wasn’t hurt. She was notice her, he simply kept running. A nearby
years. Aeris never saw the show, but she often surrounded by bodies. She needed to find the billboard collapsed and screams rose once
observed the poster – a portrait of a starving injured. There had been an explosion. There again. People darted around Aeris.
pauper. A particularly friendly buyer told her might be more. She needed to find cover. Her hand had landed on a wind-blown
once that Loveless was a grunge musical The lights all over the block went out. The piece of paper. A flyer. As she stood, she read
about a failed revolution in times long gone. white noise of the city’s machinery slowed to it’s rough, hastily printed contents:
That sparked Aeris’s interest, but the ticket silence. The glowing advertisement for
price made her gasp, and she gave it no Loveless flickered and was swallowed by a Don’t be fooled by Shinra!
further thought. deep blackness, deeper than Aeris had ever Mako energy doesn’t last forever!
known. Mako is the Planet’s life source!
She emerged from the alley in her usual The end is in sight!
place. She made sure the flowers in her weave She saw a blurry white circle in the sky Protectors of the Planet:
basket were arranged nicely. She double above her. The moon – behind a thick blanket AVALANCHE
checked that her pink dress was free of dust. of smog.
Customers would be flooding out of the theatre The flyer drifted down the street. Residual
soon enough, with hearts afire and gil to burn. The first screams were distant. Aeris wind gusted from the chasm beyond the Sector
reached blindly for something to help her up. 8 wall, hot, like death. The flyer was pulled
A presentiment took hold of her, suddenly Her hand slid down a solid vertical plate of from her hand. Aeris drew her eyes up to look
and violently. She felt her entire body being metal. She couldn’t see what it was. at the unnatural fire burning in the remains of
ripped off of her, like a scab. But she was only Reactor One. Suddenly, none of the rioting
standing still. She pressed against it and rose to her feet. around her mattered at all.
A reactor far to the south churned to life, and a
She started to laugh.
