Crown of Thorns

Chapter Twelve

Gods Know where, Day 50 A.F

It was well into the night by the time we emerged from the musty tunnel Tybira had found leading out of Amire's laboratory. I didn't know how she found it, but I was grateful she had. Tybira didn't know either. She also didn't know how she knew that Chesed had escaped Amire's safe house, claiming that she suddenly saw a vision of him breaking through the walls and rampaging away. I hadn't bothered to question it.

We hadn't spoken much, only frantically running, even once we escaped the tunnel. Neither of us recognized the barren, Flood ravaged terrain and we weren't slowing until we were confident neither Chesed nor Shiva could reach us.

I assumed Chesed wasn't intelligent enough to end his mindless rampage to track us, but Shiva? The demoness was clearly calculating. Amire had been intelligent as well, but over confident. His confidence had helped to cause his death. The Hermit, or whatever Shiva had called him, had been so sure of himself he hadn't considered our escape until it was too late.

Somehow I doubted Shiva could be so easily fooled.

As pale tints of orange peaked out through the clouds, ebbing the darkness, Tybira and I made camp, selecting a small strip of trees that could provide us some shelter. It was odd to look at the sky. Every part of the Earth seemed to be altered by the Flood, but the sky above was exactly the same. The sun and clouds watched unfazed as the Earth had been attacked.

"So..." I mumbled, shifting my position on the ground. As we ran, I'd allowed myself to cry for Lalita. Sobs had racked my body and I'd blindly allowed Tybira to lead me. Once I'd cried until my eyes were dry, I was again able to function without relying solely on instinct. A whispering voice in the back of my mind that seemed to belong mostly to me, had roared for blood, only quieting  once I regained my composure. My hair and nails had returned to normal, and the glyphs along my arms and neck had stilled, yet remained visible.

Tybira still looked at me skeptically. I couldn't blame her. She was stuck with a woman who had only recently been very close to killing her.

"So..." Tybira echoed. "Do you know... anything...?"

Her voice trailed off, but I understood. There were too many questions, too many to ask, too many to answer.

"I wish I did," I said. "My sister, Lalita, knew something." My voice cracked at Lita's name. If I had listened to her warnings about Amire, would she still be alive?

Tybira nodded. Mercifully, she avoided asking more about my sister. I wondered if she'd lost someone as well. Probably. I assumed everyone had lost someone to the Flood.

"Do you ever... hear... voices..?" Her voice was hesitant, as if she worried I'd think she was crazy and leave her.

"All the time," I admitted, relieved I wasn't the only one. "Do you think they're real people?"

"I do." Tybira tilted her head in consideration. "I've heard voices that sounded like you, Shiva, The Hermit, Dancia... Even The Devil."

Noticing that she used the titles Shiva had given Amire and Chesed, that whispering voice wondered if Tybira had learned more from the demoness than she was letting on. I repressed the worry. I'd need to trust Tybira if I wanted to survive. Staying with someone whose words I doubted seemed more comforting than trying to navigate the world alone.

"And why?" I asked. "If they're all other people, do they have powers. Are they like us?"

Although Tybira's abilities seemed less than impressive, especially when compared to Shiva's wings and acid, I'd decided that she and I likely had more similarities than differences. We both heard voices, we both had some sort of inexplicable power.