Chapter 59: Ch. 59 – A New Beginning

"This is going to suck, right?" I asked.

It had been two days since Praimfaya and no one had left our little bunker in over two weeks because the radiation levels had been rising quickly, even before the Death Wave. Everyone, except for me, was going more than a little stir crazy, so they had all agreed when Katye suggested opening the door. It would not be as gentle of a process as what Raven had experienced in Abby's trials, but the rest were convinced of my ability to heal the minor effects of the radiation poisoning.

"Probably, but we have to do it at some point, right?" Raven replied.

"You're only this confident because you've already gone through this before," I retorted.

"Stop your complaining," Echo grumbled.

"Ah, a volunteer for the last to be healed," I taunted with a smile.

"Echo is to be the first healed with neither mana nor practice with this heavy level of radiation," Katye chided.

Echo shot me a smirk to which I rolled my eyes and draped my arm over Raven's shoulder. Katye was already at the door, waiting for us to calm down like we were rambunctious kids. As we quieted down, she punched in the code then pushed open the door. Outside of the door was pitch black, but that was because Katye had completely sealed the area around the entrance in solid, stone walls that were over ten feet thick.

Katye switched on her flashlight and walked in first while the rest of us followed her. There was a small space, maybe ten feet wide, that was fully enclosed around the exit. All of us headed inside the small dome and closed the door behind us, so that the bunker would remain safe if this proved to be too much for us.

"Alright, here goes nothing," Katye said, placing a hand on the stone wall.

Her mana flared and she channeled it into the wall. It was clear that she had gotten a better grasp on using Earth spell since she did not use too much to open the way. Unfortunately, as soon as the wall was opened, a sickening wave of energy hit all of us. It burned my skin, and I could feel it forcing its way into my body, but stirring the mana in my body, I could repel most of it, though not all of it.

Katye could also repel some of the energy by copying my technique and Raven had some resistance after her testing, but Echo was not so lucky. Her skin was already becoming bright red, and welts started appearing. I placed a hand on her shoulder and started healing her with my magic.

Raven was the next to start showing symptoms, but I healed them away. Echo started showing symptoms again, so I had to heal her, then Lexa and myself. I kept healing them in turn, but every time, I used less and less energy. Thankfully, my healing power was perfect for combating the radiation poisoning, and by the end of the day, we had all adjusted to the radiation levels without relying on my healing.

After one last night of comfort in our bunker, we started packing up everything that we had. Katye headed out to search for any traces of the big rover while the rest of us moved things out of the lighthouse bunker. I created a number of containers as well as a sled made out of metal. In case the rover was done for, it would make transporting our things a lot easier since I could move the sled with my power.

Despite the lighthouse bunker being placed on the beach of the Atlantic Ocean, the ocean itself was gone as well as all of the plant life that had covered the island. I remembered that everything had been reduced to a desert in the show but seeing and 'feeling' it was different. Everything was still coated in a thick layer of radiation that I could sense, and everything was reduced to ash or sand. Our little boat was more than halfway buried in the ground and half a mile off the former beach.

Around midday, Katye returned driving the rover which was a relief since I would not have to do all of the heavy lifting during our trip. The metal containers made it easy work to load everything into the back of the truck, but I did not let the sled go to waste, swiping the beds from the bunker. It was a simple matter to secure and cover them on the sled, and then the sled to the back of the rover.

After that, we all climbed into the rover and drove off in the general direction of Arkadia and the two bunkers since all landmarks had been pretty much wiped out by the Death Wave. Raven took the first round at the wheel while I sat next to her. In the back seat, Echo leaned into the corner, against the door, with Katye laying on her chest as she read a book. With a smirk, I connected my music player to the radio and turned on "I Want To Break Free" by Queen.

Echo groaned, but Katye nudged her in her side and said, "Anything by Queen, David Bowie, or Journey is not up for complaint unless you want both of us fighting you."

"Oh, good thinking... Let's add in some Journey," I teased with a laugh.

"Must you encourage her?" Echo complained.

"Must you keep pretending that you hate it? I've heard you humming a few Old-World tunes that I know you must have heard from her," Katye chuckled.

Echo gave a huff, but did not argue, making me laugh. This was something that I always wanted; a true moment of peace, surrounded by people that I loved and cared about. It was probably the first time that I could truly relax since I had entered this world with no looming danger over my head. There were six years of peace ahead of us, so long as those we trusted to take care of the bunkers did as we had hoped. And if they did go to hell, Katye could solve the problems this time. I intended to enjoy my 'death' and, while I would do what I could to keep 'the people' safe and happy, I fully intended to stop sacrificing my life, and loved ones, for the 'greater good'.

We drove into the night and pulled over to make camp when the batteries ran low. I created two separate structures for us while Raven calculated our location based on how far we had driven. Katye started making dinner with Echo helping her with the simple prep. It was actually really nice how easily we meshed together, each of us taking on one of the responsibilities for setting up.

"It looks like, if we keep going in the same direction at about the same general speed, we should be able to find Arkadia by tomorrow afternoon," Raven said after double checking her calculations.

"Good, Arkadia is what I've been most worried about. It was destroyed before the Death Wave, so I'm not sure how well it weathered the storm," Katye replied.

"I'm sure it will be fine. It survived reentry, right?" I asked while I sat down with Raven on one of the stone benches.

"Exactly. It already took a lot of damage, so if the repairs don't hold, there could be problems."

"Sinclair oversaw everything. I'm sure that Arkadia will be fine," Raven agreed with me.

"I hope so," Katye replied.

We ate dinner and, afterwards, Katye and Echo retired to their little building. Raven stayed with me while I created my metallic replacement for my fingers. I secured it with a ring around my middle finger and a bracelet around my wrist. It was difficult to control, requiring a good portion of my focus, which was strange since I could easily manipulate the metal before it was attached to me. It was like my own soul was fighting the addition of the artificial limb. I was considering removing it when Raven spoke up.

"Not bad. With this, no one should be able to tell the difference," she said, holding out a leather glove. "I swiped it from the bunker after you told me that you were going to try to make something for yourself. I figured that you didn't want Bellamy, or anyone else, to find out about the injury."

"Thanks," I replied as I took the glove from her then draped my arm over her shoulders. "You know... this is it; we really got our peace, even if it's just for six years before some new, crazy thing descends upon us."

"I think it's more than overdue," she retorted, snuggling into my embrace.

"We can go to bed if you would prefer."

"Nah... you aren't going to sleep anyways, and this will give you more ways to play with your powers, right?"

Chuckling, I kissed the top of her head and said, "You make me sound so predictable."

"You are. Your powers are more than just your strength, they are your fascination, and it's not just that you want to understand them, rather, you just want to see what all you can do."

"You know me far too well, my dear."

"Just keep things warm and let me stay like this, and I'll be fine for the night."

"Thank you," I said softly.

She twisted her head to the side and leaned up. I stretched the rest of the way, sealing her lips with my own. We enjoyed the kiss before we broke apart and she relaxed in my embrace. Slowly, Raven fell asleep in my arms while I toyed with my powers, trying to understand the difference since I completed my Dusa form.

My sensitivity had been enhanced again, though only by a small margin. Instead, the true difference seemed to be the ease at which I could harness the elements. It was my efficiency that had nearly doubled. All of my elemental spells seemed to use half the mana, for the same results, while my Fire spells about a third of the normal cost. True, I relied on them more than the Shadow or Super Speed powers that I had copied from Katye, but it still seemed unusual that they were the only ones to benefit. There was something else that I was missing when it involved those two powers, I was sure of it, but I did not know what it was.

When the sun rose on the next day, Raven was woken up earlier than she would have wanted. I teased her a little after she complained about being sore, but I solved her problems with a simple healing spell. After that, things started to escalate between us as we teased and taunted each other into making various moves that would have quickly led into moments of passion and pleasure, but Echo walked out of their little structure.

"Remind me when we reach Eden that I want to create some kind of walled in yard for us," I complained in Raven's ear.

Raven chuckled and Echo rolled her eyes in our direction as she headed for the little outhouse. Katye walked out shortly after that, so there was no point in denying that we were all up for the day. We started our morning routine while the batteries on the rover recharged. After eating breakfast, the rover still needed more time to charge, so I decided to meditate and try to understand some of the changes to my Soul Realm.

Deep inside of me, I watched the storm cloud dragon fly aimlessly through the void. Before, the gray clouds had filled this entire space, but now, there was this blackness that defined the dragon, yet I also sensed a connection with it as well. It took me longer than I would like to admit before I realized 'what' the blackness was, my Shadow mana.

Using my Will, I could manipulate the black mana which caused the familiar traces of dark blue to appear in the void. I imagined a few pillars of darkness and, strangely, the dragon seemed to react to their presence, circling around the faint deep blue lines which were the only signs of them. It was the first time that I had ever tried to influence anything in this space aside from gathering my mana, so I reached out to the dragon, but something very different happened.

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My mind rushed back to my body as I felt myself swelling with power. Opening my eyes, I looked down at my hands which were now covered in storm gray scales and topped with bright red talons. The changes covered my entire body and even added a set of large wings on my back and a long tail. While I was observing the changes to my body, so were the three others, though none of them were as calm and collected about it as I was.

"Uh... hi," I said with a wave of my hand and then I noticed that my left hand was back to two fingers. "Strange... I can sense that the metal is still attached to me, but this form has completely rejected it."

"Rebecca... is there a reason why you look like some kind of dragon-human hybrid?" Katye asked since she was the only one able to adjust to the change in pressure that I gave off in this form.

"I guess this is my Dusa form... whatever that means. I was manipulating parts of my Soul Realm and activated it apparently. Sorry for scaring you guys; let me see if I can cancel it just as easily," I replied, closing my eyes again.

As soon as I tried to touch my Soul Realm, I felt the energy retreat and rush back into the space. The dragon returned to the realm, swooping around the pillars of Shadow mana. When I reopened my eyes, I found that I had returned to normal, and my artificial fingers were back.

"Sorry again, I was just curious," I said.

"You should be careful playing with your Soul Realm... There is a reason why it's called that, you know," Katye chided.

"Yes, mom," I retorted as I stood up and stretched.

Katye flicked her fingers in my direction while channeling a small amount of mana and sent a ball of water straight at my face. I laughed, dodging the weak attack, and sent one right back at her. We traded a few more playful attacks before Echo cleared her throat and we both chuckled like naughty kids caught by their parents.

"I guess Echo is the mom since you started it," I laughed as Katye and I rejoined the Echo and Raven.

"I'll help her kick your ass if you don't watch it," Katye threatened.

"I'm so scared," I taunted.

"You're such a flirt," Raven complained as she grabbed me by the ear and pulled me back.

"I wasn't... was I?" I asked, realizing that I might have been unconsciously.

"You were," all three of them said in unison.

I sighed, dropping onto the stone couch, and replied, "Fine... I'll just keep my mouth shut and my powers to myself."

"You won't last ten minutes," Raven teased.

"I would only give her five," Echo taunted.

I narrowed my eyes at her while the others laughed at my expense. For the next hour or so, we just hung out together on the benches while we waited for the batteries to recharge. Eventually, we got back on the road with Raven behind the wheel and continued our way back to Arkadia.

I could tell when we reached the former Trikru lands because, as the name implied, it had been covered in thick, forested areas. Now, those thick, green woods were reduced to charred, blackened husks. I used to be able to feel an aura of Life when I traveled these lands, but now there was only Death.

Three hours after we left, Arkadia came into view. The wreckage of the former space station had taken more damage as part of the structure that jetted into the sky was maybe half the height that I remembered. Both Raven and I tensed up looking at our former home as fear crept into our hearts.

"Raven, are we close enough that even the handheld radios will pick up our signal?" Katye asked from the back seat.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Send them the code and we'll give them ten minutes to reply before we search the structure."

Raven nodded and flipped the radio off the music and to the transmitter-receiver. She picked up the mic, but instead of talking into it, she pressed the button in a series like morse code. As long as there was someone listening on a radio nearby, they would hear a gap in the constant static which most people would ignore, but hopefully, the right people would notice. The minutes ticked by slowly as the tension increased, but then came the reply, four screechy sounds which meant for us to turn to channel four.

"This is Raven Reyes calling Arkadia. Do you copy?" Raven asked into the mic.

"It's good to hear your voice, Raven," Bellamy's voice came through the radio.

I let out a soft sigh of relief, hearing his voice, while Raven placed her free hand on my lap and gave me an encouraging smile.

"Yours too. How did you weather the storm?" she asked.

"The damages were within the expected levels, but we lost all of our communications relays, except the walkies," he replied.

"I've got the full crew with me if you need us to lend a hand on the outside."

"We have everything covered for now. Sinclair is working on repairs currently, but he did say that the ground relay is still intact whenever you can connect us to the bunkers."

"We'll have an idea of how long it will take when we return in roughly a month."

"Alright, I'll let him know. This is our secure channel, so we'll be monitoring it now. Is... is she with you?"

Raven held out the mic towards me and I took it while taking in deep breath.

"Hey, Bell," I said, holding the button.

It took a while, but eventually, he asked, "So, what do I call you now?"

"Rebecca," I replied softly.

"It's stupid, you know. People will still recognize both of you."

"I know, but it is more of a symbolic gesture of giving up our names in the Grounder culture. It's a rebirth of sorts that shows that we don't want to lead and support Luna as Heda."

"Then why are you doing it?"

"I've told you... I would really like to have a quiet life. Humanity isn't something that changes fast, and I don't want to get pulled into power struggles when the rest of you can walk on the surface again. I'm not abandoning everyone incase another 'Iseto' appears, but I've seen enough death for one lifetime, and it's still not over... not by my history."

Again, he took a few moments before he responded, "Take care of yourself... Rebecca."

"You too, Bellamy."

 

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