Half in Fire

I stretched, and the numbness from sitting so long slowly faded. Kiara and Trix had been staring at each other for what felt like an eternity.

“Sure?” the android asked again.

Trix remained unyielding. “I am. Because it’s you.”

Kiara’s gaze held a heaviness. Trix held it. The silence between them was an invisible battlefield.

Anichka slept soundly on the floor. While Kiara and Trix spoke of danger, death, survival, Anichka snored softly, lost in deep sleep. Even if the sky came crashing down, she would stay there without moving a muscle. She had huffed throughout the planning, showing complete disinterest. Perhaps she failed to grasp what any of it meant. All she knew was that Kiara and Trix would protect her. Keep even a scratch from reaching her.

Honestly, I had no idea why we were escorting her, but danger lurked. Whatever it was, it would have to face those two first.

Kiara ran a hand through her hair. “Really sure?” she repeated, as though still expecting a different answer.

Trix stepped closer and unfastened her mask.

I confess, her face surprised me. I resisted the urge to widen my eyes when I noticed two lilac metallic scars running from her eyes to her jaw. What was that? A nanoprosthetic? No… it looked like something else. My chest tightened. This… this was more than ordinary scarring. Marks of something dissonant.

Trix pointed to the marks. “I am. Because of this.”

“Fuck it.” Kiara stepped away and came toward me.

Trix put her mask back on and looked at Anichka with distaste.

The android sat beside me. “And you? Sure about this?”

“Do I have a choice?” I forced a smile. Wanted to hide my hesitation, even though it was as clear as the snow outside.

She patted my shoulder. “Rest. We leave tomorrow night.”

I sat farther away, near a large window. Outside, ruined buildings rested beneath a pale mantle. Pure. Beautiful. Yet holding something beyond understanding. Something to be felt.

I remembered Maia. The passion with which she spoke of nature. How she loved its inevitability. She had once said: ‘How do you contain the falling rain? The roots that take over the soil? They slip through cracks, innermost depths, every forgotten corner. They’re in the air that sustains and kindles. In the earth that nourishes and strengthens. In the water that flows and creates. In the fire that consumes, transforms, and rises from the ashes. But nature is untamable. Perhaps their disconnection from feeling made them want to control it.’

I removed my gloves and touched the glass. Ice seeped into my skin, but I held back a shiver. You too, Maia, were as inevitable as nature. I was far from being able to sleep. Anxiety about the following day grew in my chest. A silent dread. I feared the pain awaiting me if things went wrong.

I wanted to avoid thinking about it, so I reached for memories of Maia. Perhaps, in the end, I had always been destined to be swept into her storm. Just like the snow outside.

I let the memories wander within me.