36. Callum #2
I pushed my wings harder, catching a gust of air as we cut through the sky, moving at a swifter speed. Shouts of pain sounded around me as the hour stretched on. I knew from experience that, at the speed we were flying, it would only take roughly an hour to circle The Wall entirely.
We had to last for one hour.
One hour of flying under fire.
One hour of flying without fighting back.
One hour of draining our own affinities as we fought to stay shielded from the fire raining down from all angles.
It was a display of power and numbers as we flew . . . cohort after cohort. Refusing to fall. Refusing to attack as we circled their Quarter.
The minutes stretched by, the shouts increasing among our cohorts as more angels took hits, their shields weakening far too quickly under the level of attack we were under. Yet, aside from the shouts of anguish and the cohort leaders’ commands, no one spoke.
We were all focused on one task. Focused on staying alive.
Another bullet cut through the air, narrowly missing my arm, before I heard a frustrated grunt beside me, then felt the illustratio shield surrounding us waver slightly.
“You good?” I forced the words out, even as my eyes continued scanning the air surrounding me.
“Could be worse,” Axel answered from my side, and I took the briefest of moments to glance at him, spotting a line of red skimming his shoulder. “It just grazed me. Nothing I can’t handle.”
I nodded and tucked my wings slightly as a barrage of bullets tore through our ranks and curses lit the space around me. My stomach lurched as I dropped further, carefully attempting to evade the bullets in our midst.
The guards along The Wall were prepared for us on every section we flew past, guns loaded as they shot toward our ranks.
But we didn’t stop flying.
Didn’t fight back.
Didn’t advance on The Wall.
We simply circled their Quarter, flying the entire span of The Wall in a threatening display of force. We flew along every portion of The Wall that Lucanus and his followers had hidden behind until the hour ran up.
Finally—finally—we spotted the marker that indicated our veer-off point. The marker that told us we had completed a full loop around The Wall.
And only then, once we’d veered out of range of the looming cement slabs, did we begin to relax as we fought our way back toward the war camp . . . only to prepare to do this all again tomorrow.
DAY TWO
I’m still not sure why I thought the second day would be better.
It wasn’t.
If anything, today was worse than yesterday because the RSG were expecting us. They’d lain in wait in anticipation of our attack today.
Today, they’d had drones circling the space around The Wall, the whirling machines loaded with firepower as they shot through our ranks, forcing us to drop rank far more often than anticipated to avoid attacks.
Every muscle in my body was taut with tension as I flew along the jagged edge that bordered The Rift.
Every beat of my wings was a measured calculation, knowing that a single miscalculation could potentially lead to an injured wing, a bullet through my feathers, and the resulting fall into The Rift.
My gaze darted toward the ledge. The darkness that shrouded the drop-off was a deep onyx. Nothing was visible beyond the jagged edge of the ground, which crumbled into the abyss. No one knew how long it went down for—how deep The Rift truly was. My head tilted as I glanced down again. Once, twice.
“For the love of Aeternus—” Eleana snapped from behind me. “Stop just looking over the edge. You’re making me far more concerned about plummeting to my imminent death than I already am.”
“And here we thought you loved to travel through The Rift.” Axel forced a joke from beside me before a curse fell from his lips, and he dropped lower, avoiding a drone that was charging toward him.
“You’re lucky I don’t push you in for that comment,” Eleana bit back after Axel rejoined our ranks.
I heard the series of clicks from The Wall before the trigger was pulled. Calling on my affinity, I reinforced my shields to protect myself seconds before a series of bullets flew into the array.
“Shield,” was the only word I could muster before a round of bullets rained down on us, and I thanked Aeternus that my shields held. That Axel’s illustratio affinity was still holding strong around our cohort.
“Fuck this,” Axel grunted from beside me as his own affinity swirled around him as though forming an additional layer of protection between him and the bullets being aimed at us.
I kept pulling from within, reinforcing my shield as I called on my fire affinity, holding it in place above me as bullets rained down on us.
“If they start using bullets laced with affinities, this is going to get bloody fast,” Axel bit out as he reinforced his own shield, a bullet landing just beside him.
So far today, they’d only utilized guns with regular ammunition. That and the stars-damned drones that were flying and wreaking havoc across our aerial fleets. But I’d take the drones over affinity-laced bullets any day.
At least the drones could be spotted from a few feet away.
“Let’s pray—” I felt my shield shake as a bullet ricocheted off. “They don’t,” I finished.
“Or they’re just saving them for another day.” Eleana’s voice came in short puffs as she added to the conversation as the last of that round of bullets came to a stop.
“We’ve got our orders,” I stated as I checked over my shield from inside it. “Nothing we can do now but follow them and trust that Elion conveyed everything Aeternus told him, in the correct order.”
“I still say circling The Wall without attacking is a questionable idea at best,” Axel grumbled as his shield wavered.
“And yet,” Eleana replied, “we are following the orders of the Eternal. By not advancing, we are showing our strength, our numbers. That we don’t fear the darkness and corruption lingering in their Quarter because we know we can overcome it with light.
We know we don’t need to invent false gods and religions. ”
I could feel my affinity draining as we flew through precarious conditions. The shield of fire that swarmed in a protective bubble faded slowly over the hour-long flight we had to endure before we could head back to camp. I struggled to keep it in place around me for as long as possible.
Today, they knew we were coming. All of Solis had expected us to appear on the outer border of The Wall. Whether they had expected an outright attack or not, that was to be determined.
But today, just like yesterday, we didn’t attack. We restrained our affinities, using them solely for protection, as we flew along The Wall. One singular loop, the same as yesterday, and the same as we would tomorrow.
A lone scream sounded in the distance, and I ground my teeth, clenching them together until my jaw screamed in agony. Had they been shot down? Had they fallen into The Rift? Had their death been swift and painless?
I prayed that their soul made it safely to the Eternal. That their sacrifice wasn’t in vain. I could hear the murmured prayers of the angels in the cohorts both before and behind me, whispering prayers of protection to the Eternal as we flew between certain death. Between The Wall and The Rift.
Still, we didn’t stop.
We didn’t give in.
Not when bullets rained down on us.
Not when the RSG called on their own affinities.
Not even when the desert winds picked up on the far sides of The Wall, pelting us with sand to add to the onslaught.
We flew on, under the orders of Aeternus . . . following his decree.