Ultima Ratio

Chapter 3: In Captivity

Akira was hallucinating. Maybe she partook in some wild psychedelics with the locals and was just tripping out. For all she knew, there was no island in the first place, and she was in her apartment on Base having a crazy dream. Or maybe she was captured by Concordians, and they were trying to extract secrets from her.

At that moment, she would probably take the Concordians scenario; at least it made sense.

What made no sense was how a small young woman, looking like death incarnate, had broken out of a tomb of solid rock on an island that had no contact with the outside world for a thousand years. It was impossible. It was illogical. It was madness.

And the goddess looked very mad as she fixed her piercing gaze on Akira.

"Where is Verus Rex?" Hania repeated, the promise of pain laced within her voice.

It took Akira a moment to realize she was being addressed; it took her several more moments to round up her remaining sanity to answer. And when she finally did, what she meant to say was "I don't know."

What she said instead was, "Why the hell would I know?"

If even Izzy let out a hum of skepticism at her answer, it was definitely bad.

Hania stared at Akira, her bloodshot eyes wide, before taking a slow step closer.

Akira gulped.

Another step.

The thought of running crossed Akira's mind, but she couldn't seem to make her muscles listen. How could she escape the wrath of a vengeful goddess?

Another step—

A loud crack echoed through the silence. It was immediately followed by a torturous howl, and Hania crumpled to the ground in a heap of rags and hair.

Akira whipped her head around towards the forest to locate the source of the goddess's agony, but the villagers and pilots were still hiding in the trees, just as timid as before. She turned to Izzy, but he was staring at the goddess in speechless awe.

Whatever happened, their best bet was to bolt. Senses regained, Akira jumped to her feet before she heaved Izzy up and began dragging him back to the others.

"Get back here!" the goddess shrieked.

But Akira wasn't dumb enough to comply. In fact, she wasn't even planning on looking back until the villagers' eyes widened at whatever they saw behind her.

As soon as Akira glanced back and saw the goddess reaching for a rock the size of her head, she dropped to the ground, dragging Izzy roughly down with her.

But no boulder crashed into them. Instead, all Akira heard was another series of cracks and another pained cry. When Akira lifted her head and turned, she saw a grotesque image akin to a scene on the battlefield.

The petite young woman was splayed across the ground, a tattered cloth stained with dirt and old blood draped over her frail frame. Grime covered her parched skin, and what little hair remained on her head was tangled and matted. On her gaunt face, her expression was twisted in agony, made bolder by the dark shadows that were cast on her pale skin.

And then there was her hand, resting on top of the rock she had reached for earlier, her cracked yellow nails caked with dirt. Except its shape had transformed, with each of her fingers pointing in different directions and bent in places where no joints existed.

The sound of cracking...

Akira glanced at the goddess's feet. Each appendage looked more like a chunk of white, wet clay that seemed to be hanging off the rest of her leg by her skin alone. The bottom hem of her clothes shifted to reveal an ivory bone, its jagged end piercing out of one of her calves and streaked with blood.