Paramythi I: City of Glass
Chapter Twenty-One: Retrace

The sunlight from the morning’s arrival glinted heavily through the cracks in the clouds above Emvolo’s grand city.

The air was crisp and the aroma of ocean presence and lavender always seemed to fill the church during this hour of the day. It was the hour before anyone would come seeking an audience with the Divine Prophet, thus granting Neriah with the task of handling her own chores before rendering herself utterly dedicated to Emvolo’s people for the rest of the day.

Or so Neriah had assumed such a day would be like any other when she had laid her head down upon the softness of her pillows the previous night. The morning after had been a struggle to approach with a level head due to the echoing calls and murmured whispers she had been fed by the hands of her dear Gods above. It was a curse being Blessed, not a privilege.

When the doors to the church swayed open, Neriah found no need to look over her shoulder to identify the visitor. She simply continued to kneel at the foot of the church’s altar, palms pressed together with her thumbs outstretched towards the softness of her neck. Her eyes remained shut.

“Lady Kiska,” came the smooth, raspy tone of Theo Dante. “I’ve come to offer you—”

“Protection.” Neriah cut in swiftly, having finished her prayer. She slowly got to her feet, taking her time to regain the composure she was so well-known for. It would not do to seem panicked in front of Theo. Especially when he seemed…different, somehow. “I know why you have come, Dante.”

Theo stood just a few feet away from the prophet. The smirk which tugged at his lips could not be lessened as the woman turned to face him. Her face was as flawless as it had been six years ago and she held herself with that same aura of serenity and peace. For someone like Theo, such a façade could only be considered amusing rather than admirable. It annoyed him.

“So, I guess you also know what’s been going on out there in the big, wide world?” Grunting, Theo slouched where he stood, disarming his respectable approach and stifled a yawn in front of the woman. “You gonna pack your bags and check your purse or whatever? We gotta be going.”

Neriah did not bat an eye. “Dante, do you understand how the cycle of life and death coexist?” Her hands clasped together diligently and rested over her stomach. Rays from the sun began to sway and peeked through the glass ceiling above to rain down over the prophet, gracing her with a holiness Theo could never be capable of. “Tonight, within this church, I am expected to perish at the hands of a cruel man. By halting this event in time, someone else would take my place, and thus change the version of this reality to another dimension where I live.”

Theo’s eye darkened. “You’re saying that, even if we save you, someone else is gonna die?”

“Correct.” Neriah nodded. “You cannot save everyone, Dante.”

The muscles in Theo’s jaw tightened. He pondered on the idea of losing something no matter which choice of action they took, yet was unable to make a decision against Kane’s wishes. He would have to consult the matter with his captain first, raise the consequences in solid evidence and then see what Kane and Ciiria would decide afterwards.

“Yeah, but for now you’re coming with me, alright?” Theo shook his head and outstretched a hand without thinking.

Neriah actually looked surprised for once. Her eyebrows rose when she acknowledged the man’s hand, unable to move forward to accept it. Perhaps it was a rather snobbish thing to abide by, even in such circumstances as the ones present before her. Nonetheless, she was unable to accept and gave a soft clear of her throat.

The small sound Neriah made caused Theo to blink and realise what he had been doing. There was no way to say he was not offended by the refusal from the woman, yet he could not blame anyone but himself for being so forward. Smirking with an adorned frown upon his features, he dropped his hand at his side and turned around to head for the doors.

“Come on, there’s an aircraft waiting.”

Neriah lowered her gaze to the white floor, staring intently as if the clean, polished surface could offer her reassurance for whatever might happen if she decided to follow the man. He would be taking her to the Rebellion base, no doubt. It would all be on the account for her protection, yet it would cause harm to someone else. Would such an innocent life be taken on her account? Would it be her fault if she were to follow Theo out of those doors? She supposed it would weigh heavy on her shoulders for the rest of her life.

Turning away from Theo and back to the large statue looming against the back wall of the church for everyone to see, Neriah raised her hands in prayer once more and closed her eyes. She was sometimes fearful of staring directly towards the God of Emvolo’s statue whenever she needed to speak with him. A powerful deity such as he would strike her down with the force of his false, marble eyes glittering under the reflection of the sun if she offended him with a selfish prayer directed upon her own self-worth and not that of the people of Emvolo.

Theo noticed the lack of secondary footsteps and paused, offering the prophet a glance over his shoulder to see the woman had returned to her prayers. He could understand her despair and only found it more irritating to know she cared for Emvolo’s people and would rather consult with her Gods than to run away and hide in the Rebellion base without question.

In respect for Neriah Kiska, Theo stood at the front doors until she was finished. He would have commented on the look of red, puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks if it had been someone else under ridiculous circumstances, but refrained from saying anything as Neriah made her way down the aisle of the church and joined his side; doing her best not to allow anymore tears from rolling down her cheek when standing so close to someone else.

“You know, it’s kinda possible that the murderer could be the one to die tonight.” Theo shrugged a shoulder and closed up the doors to the church when they stepped out into the sunny atmosphere outside. “That way, you won’t need to feel so guilty for someone else dying in your place.”

Neriah dabbed at the edges of her eyes and sniffled quietly before she followed Theo through the grass plains of the church and down a low hill towards the parked aircraft. “It would not change the guilt, Dante,” said the prophet. She quickened her pace and brushed by the man, wafting the aroma of lavender in the air. “Someone else would still be dying on my account. I never wanted such a thing to happen again after Merine Trezla.”

Theo paused and furrowed his brow. “Merine told you what to say during the executions of my people, didn’t he?”

It was Neriah’s turn to pause, her feet slowing down as she reached the end of the small hill. Her hands clasped against her stomach and she felt another tear threaten to fall. It took all of her power to turn back and face Theo, her mask of diligence and composure finally cracking. “He told me he would spread rumours around Emvolo and target innocent, weak civilians if I did not do as he asked. He would have gotten Capitol involved. There would have been a massacre…”

“My people were innocent civilians! It was a massacre!” Theo grit his teeth, taking a step closer down the hill. “We have changed our ways since being accepted into Emvolo, finally after all these years. Emvolo was our home first and we had no other way to survive! We had to eat, we had to live!”

“I know that!” Neriah countered, turning around to fully face the man. “But even after your people began to coexist with us, there were still incidents where your people killed our people! There were rogues that needed to be dealt with before any more families got torn apart.”

“When you decided to get rid of those so-called ‘rogues’ you were tearing families apart!” Theo strode further down the hill, mere inches from Neriah. “You can’t have it both ways, Kiska. You still have to live with the guilt of not being locked up with Trezla. You have to live every day knowing you were slaughtering not only innocent people but the people of Emvolo.”

Neriah did not know when she started to cry freely. Her cheeks were ten times damper than before when she realised and her lips were parted, speechless as Theo brushed past her and towards the aircraft. She found her words sticking to her throat and her eyes travelled up towards the church on the hill, looming over her almost mockingly.

“I am sorry…” The prophet whimpered, shoulders shaking.

Theo stood by the aircraft’s open hatch and looked down. He had heard the apology as clear as day, yet decided to discard it and climbed into the craft, ignoring the way Reidonn's eyes followed him. “Get in. We need to get going.”

Shortly after Theo and Reidonn’s arrival with Lady Kiska, Ciiria and Kane had gathered up the units for their second and third teams. Procedures had been dealt with all day and by the time things had been followed up, it was already reaching two-thirty in the afternoon.

“The second team will fly down to monitor the church and stay within its walls to deal with any opposing threats,” Ciiria stated, eyes wandering over the faces of her Rebels lined up across from her. They were situated on the floor above the hanger bay, surrounded by windowed-walls that surveyed the city below. “Alexis Iphigenia, you will lead your group with Reidonn down to the church. You’ll have Ares and Calix to back you up. If anything happens, you get in contact with the third team, they’ll come down and support your team.”

Alexis nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” She saluted the chairwoman with a lazy flick of her forefinger and turned to Ares and Calix, offering the pair a smile.

Ciiria held back a sigh as she checked off the small monitor flickering from her wrist and typed something into the engine, loading up a picture of the church. “The third team will be led by Enzo. Tovi will fly you down there with Neoma and Damara, since you might be in need of medical assistance depending on how dire the situation may be. Miss Trezla has also offered to assist the third team.”

Enzo rubbed the back of his head and glanced towards his group, knowing that Tovi and Psykhe would be enough to hold off enemy fire if Damara and Neoma needed to tend to the wounded. “Sure thing, boss.”

Ciiria, finished with the main elements of her commands, turned to look at Kane. “Anything else you want to add before they descend?” She asked, raising a brow.

Kane exhaled lowly, expanding his chest. When his blue eyes met the expecting faces of his Rebels – the people who had joined arms because of his own visions of the future — he was compelled to only address one vital factor before allowing them to risk their lives.

“Lady Neriah Kiska informed Theo that, by saving her tonight, someone else’s blood will take her place.” He pressed his lips together and took a step forward, hands folded behind his back. “I understand that you all wake up in the morning and accept the fact you may die out there for the sake of Emvolo’s future, for everyone’s future, but today is not just about acceptance; it’s about awareness. One of you may not make it home tonight, and I did not want to keep this a secret from you before sending you down to, what could be, your last mission as a Rebel.”

A small silence spread. It lasted for only a minute, and was broken by the sounds of Alexis and Reidonn stepping forward to collect Ares and Calix. The group saluted their captain, departing without words simply because there was nothing that needed to be said. Reidonn simply nodded, threw a thumbs-up, and winked at Enzo as the doors closed.

“No worries, cap’n,” Reidonn grinned, “we’ll make sure this guy gets what’s coming to him.”