Chương 81: 80: The Hummingbird

Kiri stepped around the grave and came to stand beside him. She was eleven now. She had her father's sun-baked skin, a short wavy bob of dark hair that framed her face, and the same stubborn jaw, yet something in her eyes belonged to neither parent. Their irises were onyx black, scattered with faint iridescent flecks that shimmered whenever they caught the light, as though tiny stars had been trapped beneath the surface. The Talon resurrection serum had brought her back three hours after her death.

While Thornburgh mourned the daughter he believed he'd lost forever, the Syndicate recovered her body and quietly rebuilt her. She'd remained hidden ever since. Raised inside the compound. Trained far beyond her years. Brilliant in ways that felt less like intelligence and more like someone who'd returned carrying fragments of the place she'd visited. She moved with faint, unnatural stiffness, as though her body still remembered dying.

A fitted gray-and-black jumpsuit covered her small frame, its hood resting against her shoulders, while a thin golden necklace blinked softly around her neck with tiny violet, yellow and red lights threaded through it. Everything she carried was arranged for her left hand; even the small utility pouches sat reversed across her belt. A small brown-and-white weasel zigzagged through the grass between her boots, its coat split into rich coconut-brown across the back and creamy white underneath.

It darted after a drifting butterfly, missed spectacularly, tumbled headfirst into the flowers, popped back out with a furious squeak, then scrambled up a nearby headstone and stood upright on its hind legs, tiny nose twitching as though it had just conquered the entire cemetery. Kiri didn't so much as glance at Coconut. He did this every day. She studied Bora's grave.

"You loved her very much."

"Yes." Silence settled between them.

"You'll see your father again soon."

"He doesn't know I'm alive."

"No."

"He thinks I died. He killed a girl because of me."

"Yes." Her shoulders tensed almost imperceptibly.

"This won't end well."

"No," Zeinai admitted.

"It won't." She looked at him.

"Then why do we keep going?" His prosthetic hand rested gently on her shoulder.

"Because life won't wait. The people we love deserve to see us try, even when we know it won't end well." She nodded and returned her gaze to the flowers.

"Do you think she knows? That you kept your promise?" Zeinai didn't answer. The meadow breathed quietly around them until Kiri spoke again.

"For the eagle strong enough to soar above the clouds, the complaints of rain from the other birds sound like fairy tales." He frowned.

"Where did you hear that?"

"A beautiful old man." She smiled faintly.

"When I died."

"He waited for me somewhere... a mountain, maybe. Or a valley. It kept changing. He said I'd been watched for a long time, that I was important, and that I'd be strong enough to carry what was coming." She looked toward the distant peaks.

"He said smaller birds think the rain is the whole world because they've never flown above it. Eagles don't complain about storms. They know the sun is waiting behind them." Zeinai's throat tightened.

"You saw him." She nodded.

"He was quite kind."

"Did he have a name?"

"He said names were for people staying behind." She paused.

"But he told me you'd know."

"Paris Moon."

"That's a pretty name."

"It was." She squeezed his prosthetic hand.

"He wanted me to tell you something." Zeinai waited.

"He said you did good. You kept your promise. She's proud of you." The words settled over the meadow.

"He also said..." Her voice softened.

"... the rain was worth it." Zeinai stared at Bora's grave, then at Kiri.

"Maybe," he whispered.

"Maybe one day." The wind rolled softly through the grass as they stood together in silence. — The sound came first. Heavy, relentless footsteps pounded across the earth like they'd been chasing a ghost for years. Zeinai didn't turn. Beside him, the little brown-and-white weasel froze mid-pounce. Its ears twitched before it scrambled up Kiri's trouser leg, climbed onto her shoulder in a practiced blur and curled around the back of her hood, peering over it with tiny black eyes and an anxious twitching nose.

A man burst into the clearing, broad-shouldered and drenched in sweat, his camouflage jacket hanging open over a chest that rose and fell with every ragged breath. Cargo pants hung in tatters around his knees, a thick moustache framed his face beneath wild brows, and years beneath the sun had darkened his skin, but nothing stood out more than his eyes. Brown. Bloodshot. Burning with the kind of madness only decades of obsession could nurture.

"You." The single word dragged itself from his throat.

"Years... I waited years. You left me there... cowering. On my knees. Begging for a life you decided was worth sparing." Zeinai never looked away from the gravestone. The carved name. The man laughed bitterly as he stepped closer.

"You made me a coward. Do you know what that does to a man? Waking up every morning remembering you begged another man to let you live?" His breathing steadied. His smile only widened.

"I changed after that. The Sin War came. I survived. After it ended, I found a dealer. He sold genes... things taken from creatures that weren't human. Things older than us. Stronger than us." He pulled a syringe from his pocket. Amber and crimson swirled together inside like trapped smoke.

"Combined with a dose of Pharaoh's Ichor I obtained during my service... I became something else." He admired the syringe for a moment before looking back at Zeinai.

"I prepared for years. Followed every rumour. Every massacre. Every whisper carrying your name." His grin stretched almost painfully wide.

"And today..." He clenched the syringe until his knuckles whitened.

"…I finally found you." The madness in his eyes bordered on ecstasy.

"Today... I kill you." Zeinai turned his face. He looked at the man. The desperate eyes. The clenched jaw. The hatred that had fermented for years until it became the only thing keeping him alive. He remembered. The compound. The guns. Bora. The leader using her as a shield. And this man... On his knees. Begging. Zeinai had walked past him without a second glance. A quiet sigh escaped him before he looked back toward the grave.

"Not today." The man's face contorted.

"This is about your sister? Your dead sister? The one you couldn't save? The one you left rotting while you played at being—" This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. His thumb slammed the plunger down. The syringe emptied into his arm. Nothing happened. For a heartbeat. His pupils rolled back. The syringe slipped from numb fingers. His knees buckled. He collapsed face-first into the earth, completely unconscious. Silence settled over the cemetery.

A twitch rippled through his body. His fingers curled so tightly the bones cracked beneath the skin. A violent convulsion seized him. CRRRAAAACK. His spine arched upward beneath the jacket as though something trapped inside was trying to tear its way free. Vertebrae snapped one after another, stretching his frame while muscles swelled beneath the skin until fabric burst apart with loud, ripping tears. Coarse black fur pushed through bleeding pores.

Though unconscious, a strangled scream escaped his throat as ribs spread wider, shoulders broadened and arms thickened, every bone groaning as it reshaped itself. His face changed last. The jaw slowly forced forward. Teeth cracked, shattered and regrew larger. Tusks erupted through swollen gums, blood streaming down his chin as they curved upward. His nose stretched into a broad snout while his ears climbed across his skull. It looked like a beast forcing its way out of a human prison.

His hands slammed into the earth as fingers fused together, nails blackened and thickened, then split apart into broad hooves with sickening cracks that fractured the ground beneath them. Bones shifted beneath his skin, muscles swelled, his spine stretched upward, and only when the transformation was complete did his eyes snap open. Orange. Burning. He rose slowly to his full height. Nearly nine feet tall.

An enormous anthropomorphic warthog towered over the cemetery, shoulders broader than a doorway, dark fur bristling across a mountain of muscle. Massive tusks framed a bloodstained snout as steam rolled from every breath. Coconut let out a sharp, terrified squeak. His fur puffed out until he looked twice his size as he scrambled over Kiri's shoulders, buried himself beneath the hood at the back of her neck, then cautiously peeked out again with only his tiny nose and wide black eyes visible.

Kiri simply reached up with her left hand and absentmindedly scratched beneath his chin.

"It's alright," she said quietly. The little weasel chittered nervously but stayed hidden against her. Zeinai never acknowledged any of it. His attention remained on the creature. A wet laugh rumbled from deep inside its chest. It slowly turned its hands over, flexing the thick black claws one finger at a time before dragging them across his own forearm.

Orange patterns swirled beneath the fur like rivers of molten metal, winding over his chest, shoulders and neck in shifting, living tattoos that pulsed with every heartbeat. He admired them with childlike wonder, rotating his wrists, rolling his shoulders and watching muscles ripple beneath his new body.

"…Beautiful…" He laughed again, louder this time.

"So this... this is strength." He straightened to his full height, nearly nine feet of muscle and tusk towering above the gravestones, the trees and everyone standing before him. His chest swelled with every breath as though the world itself had become too small to contain him. He spread both arms wide.

"I can feel it! Every vein... every muscle... I could tear mountains apart!" His blazing eyes settled on Zeinai.

"Well?" A wide grin split his snout.

"You made me kneel once." He took a slow step forward.

"Your turn." His tusks gleamed.

"Beg." His voice dropped into a deep, delighted growl.

"Beg, and perhaps I'll kill you quickly instead of enjoying myself." He threw his head back, laughing at the sky.

"The old world is finished! Look at me!" His claws clenched into fists.

"I'll become the god of the new world!" He pointed one enormous claw toward the horizon.

"And then..."

"…I'll take the Earth for myself."... Zeinai didn't answer. He didn't even look at him. His attention remained on Bora's grave, as though the towering monster ranting behind him simply wasn't worth acknowledging. Something snapped. The beast's grin curdled into naked fury.

"You're still ignoring me?" Its voice shook the cemetery.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" It took another step, tusks grinding together.

"I'll kill your daughter..." A claw pointed at Kiri.

"…and I'll snap the neck of that filthy little rat too!" From beneath Kiri's hood, Coconut immediately popped his head out.

"HSSSSSS!" The tiny weasel puffed himself up, bared every tooth he possessed and hissed with remarkable indignation, as though being mistaken for a rat was the greatest insult he had ever endured. Kiri looked him up and down in silence, her onyx eyes lingering on the towering frame, the blazing orange markings and the molten essence bleeding through his body.

"…A god?" She tilted her head.

"Not quite." The beast frowned.

"A single Stepper could defeat you and still make it back in time for lunch." Her gaze remained steady.

"In fact... I believe I probably could." Perched on her shoulder, Coconut gave an enthusiastic little nod. The beast's face twisted.

"YOU—" He snarled, turning toward her.

"I'LL HANDLE YOU LATER!" It lunged. The earth exploded beneath another hoof, splitting open as the beast hurled itself forward like a missile of muscle and rage aimed straight at the man kneeling before the grave. A metallic click echoed beneath one hoof. BOOM! The buried mine erupted beneath his foot, sending the colossal warthog stumbling sideways. Before he could recover... She occupied his vision. Up close. Standing effortlessly on his shoulders.

He hadn't seen her move, sensed the acceleration or even perceived her leaving the ground. A compact humming rocket launcher rested against her left shoulder, its barrel pressed squarely between his blazing eyes as warning lights crawled across its housing. Kiri looked down at him without the slightest change in expression while Coconut, perched on her opposite shoulder, covered his tiny ears with both paws in anticipation.

"Handle me now, swine." The launcher fired. BOOOOOOM! The warhead exploded against his face in a blinding bloom of fire, hurling the towering beast backwards as the smell of burnt hair filled the air. For an instant he flailed in genuine panic, clawing at the flames, before slowly climbing back to his feet. He touched the scorched fur, stared at the blackened fingertips, and slowly began to laugh. It grew louder. More deranged.

"You see?!" He threw his head back, roaring with delight.

"I can take a rocket to the face..." he roared, spreading his arms.

"The weapons of mortals have no effect on me any longer!" Kiri calmly lowered the smoking launcher.

"Don't be quite so sure." The weapon folded in on itself with a series of precise mechanical clicks, shrinking segment by segment until it became nothing more than an ordinary graphite pencil. She slipped it into her pocket as though she'd just finished writing a note.

"DIE, LITTLE WORM!" The beast's hand exploded forward. Its claws closed on empty air. Kiri had already slipped through his reach, twisting around his grasp with effortless grace. She planted one hand against his wrist, vaulted over the arm and flipped cleanly behind him, Coconut clinging to her shoulder without so much as a squeak. Something small bounced off the ground. Clink. The sphere rolled once. PSSHSHHHHH! A dense cloud of grey smoke erupted outward, swallowing both Kiri and Coconut almost instantly.

The beast spun wildly.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" His blazing eyes scanned the smoke, but the thermal haze and drifting particles distorted everything. His enhanced senses, so overwhelming a moment ago, suddenly had nothing to lock onto. Kiri... Coconut... Both had disappeared. THOOOM! The shockwave arrived a heartbeat later. A crimson blur slammed into him from the side. Kiri. Her poly-carbon wings were folded tight as she crashed shoulder-first into his chest, driving him away from the grave.

Utility pouches rattled at her belt, the matte black and gunmetal PBM-9 Singularity, a compact, blocky heavy beamer with concentric emitter rings glowing faint cyan around its broad muzzle, resting against one thigh while the charcoal-gray M-20 Gryphon, a sleek bullpup tactical carbine with an angular frame, black furniture, subtle brass accents and a recessed digital sight, hugged the other, both locked and ready the instant she needed them.

Her helmet resembled a hummingbird, a long black sensor beak extending from the brow while sleek metallic contours mimicked folded feathers. Faceted lenses concealed her eyes, scattering the sunlight into faint rainbow fragments whenever she moved. They tore through one tree, then another. The beast roared, tusks ripping through empty air as she vanished before the strike landed. She was already above him.

Against his towering nine-foot, mountain-like frame, Kiri looked no larger than an infuriating fly, darting around him in blinding bursts while he lumbered after her, every furious swing arriving a heartbeat too late. The kinetic scales of her suit shimmered from bruised violet to blazing orange as the circuitry threading through her wings flared electric blue. She was angry. She alighted on his shoulders for the briefest instant.

The perching talons built into her boots, two hooked forward and one behind, clamped into his thick hide with effortless precision, slicing through flesh just enough to anchor her before he bellowed and hurled himself sideways, trying to crush her against a boulder. Air. Nothing. Her wings snapped open for a fraction of a second, lifting her into an impossible hover as the enraged warthog thundered harmlessly beneath her, smashing into stone instead.

"Who are you?" the creature bellowed, its voice barely recognisable as human. Kiri descended in a slow spiral, hovering around him with her wings beating so rapidly they blurred into translucent arcs, keeping her suspended like a hummingbird inspecting an oversized predator. After a few lazy circles, she drifted sideways and perched lightly on a tree branch, folding her wings behind her.

"Who gave you..." she said almost gently, "…the audacity to speak to the Commander?" Her visor's cyan eyes narrowed.

"You filthy pig." A brief pause.

"You absolute buffoon." Her suit didn't merely disperse or dampen the catastrophic effects of hypersonic movement with magic or Apis. It weaponised physics itself. Every burst of acceleration stored the resulting inertia, momentum, shockwaves and deformation forces instead of allowing them to batter her body or bleed into the environment. Upon impact, nearly all of that accumulated energy was redirected into a single point of contact, turning velocity into a devastating weapon. Her HUD flickered.

KINETIC STORAGE: 100% INERTIAL BLEED: 0. 03% Almost nothing escaped. Nearly every joule she generated was delivered directly into her target. She kicked off the tree branch where she'd been standing to address him, rocketing skyward in a blur of gold and crimson. Her body twirled once, wings folding tightly against her back as she inverted, the long sensor beak of her helmet pointing straight at the beast below. She dove. Her body became a spear. The atmosphere ignited around her as velocity turned air into fire.

The beast raised both arms. BLAM. IMPACT FORCE EQUIVALENT: 3, 200 tons IMPULSE TRANSFER: 2. 8 GN STORED KINETIC LOAD: 4. 7 TJ The earth collapsed beneath the impact. A towering plume of dust swallowed the meadow as something deep inside the beast shattered. RIBS: 3 FRACTURED SPINE: COMPRESSED INTERNAL BLEEDING: DETECTED She was already elsewhere. Her wings caught the air as she spun away, talons carving steaming lines across its face before reappearing behind it.

A fist humming with stored momentum hammered into the base of its skull. IMPACT FORCE: 6, 800 TONS Its knees buckled.

"You're fast," it snarled.

"But speed doesn't-" It blurred.

"-matter." The demon genes had awakened. Its fist crashed into her chest. KA - BLAM. IMPACT DETECTED FORCE: 15, 000 TONS EQUIVALENT COMPARABLE TO: NAVAL BATTLESHIP BROADSIDE VELOCITY DELTA: -214 M/S Strong. Nothing extraordinary, but still more than enough to flatten entire city blocks and tear through multiple buildings if left unchecked. Her HUD painted a glowing cyan trajectory through the world.

⚠ BRACE She smashed through a tree, split it in half, then dug both talons into the ground, carving four-metre furrows before stopping. ⚠ IMPACT DAMAGE - EVASIVE ACTION RECOMMENDED THREAT STATUS: CLOSING DISTANCE: 18 m VECTOR: 087° It was already there. Tusks gleamed. Orange eyes burned. She had never been the target. She was merely standing between him and the man he'd waited years to kill. [A] VERTICAL THRUST - CLEARANCE: 89% [B] LATERAL DASH - CLEARANCE: 76% [C] COUNTER-IMPACT - RISK: HIGH It moved. WARNING!!!

The velocity was wrong.