Restless - Chapter 1

”Jasper. Jasper! Can you hear me?!” A voice called out, drawing me from my aimless reverie as I shook my head. The rushing blood brought back some semblance of awareness. 

I had zoned out staring out the massive hole in the Voth Wall. This far down, the ocean had a ton of pressure, so water should’ve been rushing into the city with enough pressure to cut through solid centcrete. Hell, it already had rushed in and cut through solid centcrete.

The water, held back by Herald Wayrider, swirled and twisted as thousands of workers rushed around to patch up the massive gap. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to be so close to a swirling wall of death. If the Herald had one lapse of attention, the water could instantly flood in and blast someone to pieces.

This kind of disaster unfortunately wasn’t exactly something new. From what the old foggies said back at the camp, the wall cracking and breaking naturally happened once every decade or so. The salt and pressure wore down the reinforced centcrete till it worked a hole in it. Then, once there was a hole, the water pressure rapidly expanded and caused mass devastation.

”Jasper?”

“Sorry, what?” I asked, rubbing at the thick bags below my eyes. It really was getting to become a problem since I could actually feel the bags. Dang nightmares. They were keeping me up more and more recently…

”Don’t worry about it, kid.” The batty woman beside me grinned, showcasing a mouthful of metal serrated teeth. She was absolutely covered in sweat, salted mud, and centcrete dust. The humidity made her hair poof up into a mottled brown and gray afro around her helmet. “You want to go take a break?”

I glanced back the way we came. Melissa and I were on a search and rescue mission in the undercity, moving through the alleys and tunnels of the city to find injured or anyone resisting the evacuation order.

Far back behind us, barely visible through the gaps in the buildings, sat the Whitewater Cathedral’s base camp. Search and rescue definitely wasn't what I thought I'd get when I volunteered to help. I was expecting to be a runner or something considering I was a courier.

I glanced around the hundreds of hastily sprung tents just barely over the city. Cries and wails could be faintly heard even from this far out as the Whitewater Cathedral’s medical staff rushed to and fro. Off to the back sat neatly placed rows of white tarps. Even from afar, the sight of weeping people hollowly clutched at the cold bodies underneath seared into my eyes. 

How could I just leave like this? There were definitely other people around here that were injured. Vayne would’ve been disappointed in me if I just left them... And it's not like my job was even difficult in the first place. I could be back actually clearing rubble instead of walking around looking for people and lighting up the abandoned sections. 

I shook my head, clearing even more of the fog as I hefted my lantern, sending the darkness reeling backward. The water had done more damage than just shattering the buildings and people living here- it had extinguished a vast majority of the flames. This entire chunk of the undercity was bathed in reaching darkness. 

“I’m good… how are you holding up, Melissa?” I looked over to the woman. She was dressed in full Emberguard regalia. Her plate carrier and helmet were a wash of urban grays and looked fairly well maintained, albeit aged. She even held a vi-rifle loosely in her hands, the chunky weapon as intimidating as the other times I’d seen people holding it. A lantern hung from her belt, casting flickering light all over the place.

The woman kicked a mound of rubble and loose stones to the side as she led the way through a partially collapsed alley. “Ready for a drink.”

She probably wasn’t talking about water.

“Crazy that all this-“ I waved a hand to the medical tents all around us, shifting the subject as best I could, “-happened.”

”That Herald should’ve stopped this before it even happened.” Melissa shook her head with a look of disdain as we turned onto a side street blocked by collapsed buildings. She leaned in and whispered to me. “I heard Herald Wayrider was too busy sleeping to come out to fix this till a quarter of an hour passed. As slothful as an Xath, I tell ya’.”

I stayed quiet as I checked the map uncomfortably. I was too young to be by myself, but not too young to volunteer with disaster relief. With my somewhat familiarity of the area, I was paired up with Melissa here to act as Wayfinder and menial labor.

”Like seriously, just because that bastard was Graced he thinks he’s better than us. He should’ve reacted far quicker.” Melissa peeked in through a window of a building, motioning me to come up beside her.

He is better than us… I sighed deeply as I shined my lantern through the window. I had barely known the woman for a week, and I was ready to get a new partner. She wasn’t bad per se, just really enjoyed talking bad about the Heralds, which was technically sacrilegious. And the Emberguard did work for the church.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a candle. Not just any candle either, this was one of the church’s fancy Solas Lux. I shifted some rubble around, making a stable spot to mount it as Melissa kept guard over me. Then I lit the candle wick, instantly causing it to flare up and cast a light bright enough to wash away every bit of shadow on the street.

The Solas Lux weren’t like other candles. Unlike the typical red flames, this one flared gold. Not quite sure how the church managed it, but they were pretty cool-looking. I checked my bag. “Three left.”

”Nice… how many did we set off with? Seventeen? Eighteen?” Melissa asked.

”Twenty.” I replied, carefully reinforcing the candle so it wouldn’t tip and fall over. Lighting up the dark was one of our main objectives, and saving those trapped in the debris was the other. Or at least marking them for a team to come excavate them. 

Melissa sighed and rubbed at her face. “Can’t wait to get bac-“

Something shifted in the building next to us, clattering to the ground. We both paused for a moment as I lifted my lantern back up. Not a single other noise came from inside. No cries for help- nothing. “What was that?”

”Stay here, kid. Something don’t feel right.” Melissa put on the most serious look I’d seen of her as she brought her vi-rifle up to a shooting position and clicked on a flashlight. Gone was the slightly crazed woman. In her place, a true Emberguard ready for anything.

The Emberguard slowly stalked forward to the rubble-cluttered door, kicking some of it out of the way. I hefted my lantern to better shed light over the area. A collapsed wall leaning against the building cast deep shadows over the door.

With a grunt, Melissa slammed her shoulder into the door, knocking it open. The debris shifted, sending a fine layer of dust everywhere as she entered the building. 

I shifted closer to the door and peeked in through the gap. The door entered out into a kitchen area of some kind. Melissa’s flashlight beamed over the area as she carefully shifted her aim from one side to the other. She carefully moved forward to a dropped bowl in the dark room, nudging it slightly with her foot. The bowl clattered loosely, similar to the sound we first heard.

She looked around once more before shifting back to look at me with a grin. “Guess it was just a quake-“

”Look out!” I shouted, my voice cracking slightly, as a dark shape shifted out of the shadows. I moved back, preparing to- to do something.

Melissa flinched back, tripping over the bowl as she fell toward me. Still, she was a well-trained member of the Emberguard, so even that didn’t keep her reactions down.

Her flashlight illuminated the shadow, causing it to flinch back as it revealed its true form: a- a shadow. Even with a beam of light directly on it, the thing looked like the solidified shadow of a person, only with long voidal claws and a maw of threatening fangs. The light seemed to burn at it as the creature turned even more solid. Its mouth opened to let loose a silent screech that somehow seemed to bounce around inside my head.

Melissa didn’t hesitate as her vi-rifle lit up. A sharp click sounded out as several gears on the side of the rifle twisted, followed shortly by an electric crackle. In a split second, a bolt of golden light spilled out of the barrel, lancing through the shadowy creature. It flinched back, the light burning through the shadow as it flung itself to the side in an attempt to dodge. It failed, several more bolts joining the first as they burned smoldering trails through its body. 

The shadow dropped, dispersing into a molasses-like black fog before it even hit the ground. The fog settled for a moment before dissipating entirely under the flickering illumination of Melissa’s lantern.

The woman carefully stood up, calling out to me as she kept herself ready for a fight. “Kid?”

I slipped into the building, frantically waving around the lantern to look for any more of those shadow beasts. ”Y-yeah? Are you okay? What was that? Do- do we-“

”Calm down, Jasper… Okay… okay, let’s back up to the Solas Lux. Stick close to me, ya’ hear?” The Emberguard, fully looking the part now, clapped me on the shoulder as if the offer encouragement and stepped out of the building. Her vi-rifle raised as she stepped out onto the street.

We backed out of the area, hearing more and more activity from all around the abandoned buildings as we hastily retreated. In the bright embrace of the golden flame, the sounds all around us died down. Momentarily.

On the edge of the candle, shadows flicked and twirled unnaturally. Ominous forms faded into and out of existence, leering into the light as if desperate to reach in and snatch us.

”W-what’s going on?” I asked, my lungs feeling empty even as I tried to desperately fill them.

I felt a sharp impact on my shoulder as Melissa slapped me in the back once more. “Calm down.”

The jolt of pain brought me back enough to start the breathing exercise I was taught when I first awoke from cryostasis. “R-right.”

I watched the shadows merge and twist about as if they had a mind of their own. The image brought me back to an ancient memory from when I still attended the church’s school. What were they called… Shades? Is that right? Gah, I wish I paid more attention back then!

”1,2,3… 15. Shit…” Melissa looked around the ruins, sweat streaking down her face. “I’ve got a mission for you kid. Pass me the rest of the Solas Lux.”

I shakily grabbed the candles from my bag and passed them to her. Melissa took off her lantern, dumping the contents out as she put a Solas Lux into it and lit the wick. Golden flame spilled out of the lantern as she passed it to me. “You said you were a courier, right?”

“Yeah,  but what’s that got to do with those- those things?” I grabbed the lantern, though my mind was entirely elsewhere as I stared out at the border of the candle’s golden light. The Shades were starting to press in past the boundary. It was only a matter of time.

”There’s too many of them. I’m going to lead them away. While I do that, I need you to run as fast as you can back to the base camp and warn my captain of an Umbral Veil.” Melissa spoke calmly, though her knuckles wrapped around the vi-rifle were white with tension.

I shook my head as I tried to hand the lantern back. “No way. I- I’ll lead them away, you go back.” I bit my lip, regretting the words as soon as I spoke them. Who was I to go out and lead the monsters away? Still… she had a better chance of getting back with her vi-rifle.

“Look, I’m an Emberguard. You’re a kid. I have a higher chance of getting out of this alive. The math is easy.” Melissa said, though her voice held the familiar tinge of a white lie. I’d heard enough of them from my brother.

The Shades were starting to close in further, their forms sizzling as the light scorched them. “I- I’ll just get killed before I even get back.”

“By the Pyre!” Melissa’s face fell as she shot at the closest Shade, forcing the black mass back. She tossed her bag off her shoulder and pulled what looked like a cylinder out. “The lantern should keep them back long enough to get you to the camp safely. The flashbang… only use it if you’re about to be overwhelmed.”

”But what about you?”

She waved the candles and her rifle with a bright grin. It looked forced. “I‘ll be fine. This is what I trained for! And it's just Shades. It won’t even be an issue.”

I didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say. We both knew it even if neither one of us said it aloud. Her chances were…

My lungs felt frozen as it really hit me. Was I really going to just abandon her and run? Was running all I was good at? The church preaches about courage and strength, and yet here I was, lacking in both, and yet leaving a woman both strong and courageous to die. 

I attempted to keep my limbs from trembling. For her sake, at least. I tried the breathing exercises again, though they didn’t work nearly as well as they used to. My heart pounded fiercely in my chest as familiar cold spread through my body.

”Are- are you ready?” Melissa asked me. I glanced back at her face one more time, engraving it into my memory. She put on a smile, though it took on a sad note in the light of the flickering golden flame. 

I forced myself to look away as I shook out my limbs. “Y-yeah. Ready when you are.”