New Existence

“Elijah! Elijah! Are you okay?”

I hear a voice, dully cutting through the ringing in my ears, but I don’t recognize the name it’s calling for. I’m disoriented. Smoke fills my lungs and my vision is blurry as I slowly regain consciousness.” 

“We need to get out of here, now!” The same voice calls out, “This whole place is going to collapse on top of us!” 

A blurry figure comes into focus, standing over me, hand extended. She stands at medium height and exudes a strong sense of confidence. Her long dark hair, resembling that of a forest raven, is tied into a loose braid and snakes over her right shoulder. She wears what looks like a jumpsuit that hugs every curve of her body. It’s a deep Merlot color but has a mesmerizing iridescence to it when she moves, almost as if someone spilled fuel on top of a puddle of water and coated her in it. She has some sort of a crown weaved with thin tree roots resting at the top of her head and has two black lines of war paint running down over each of her eyes.     

“Now,” She says sternly. I can feel the frustration hot on her breath.

Body aching and trembling, I manage to push myself up to my feet. “Did I just get hit by a train?” I grumble, my voice hoarse and raspy from all of the smoke.

“You’re going to feel a lot worse than that if we don’t get out of here in the next thirty seconds,” she replies.  

I look around and finally recognize the severity of our situation. We’re in a warehouse of some sort, or at least what’s left of one. Fire engulfs most of the building, licking at us like deadly serpents at every angle. Above, teetering from the massive vaulted ceilings, are support beams that are split in half or beginning to sag as they turn to embers, ready to give in at any moment. Large pieces of machinery made from thick steel are torn to shreds like some wild child’s play things. And a suspended metal grate walkway swings from the second floor. It’s mangled, partially melted and just barely dangles there by half of the cables that it should be.   

The woman throws my arm around her neck and over her shoulder. “We’re going,” she exclaims as she begins to head for an exit. Except there are no accessible exits to be found, everything is cut off by fire or heavy debris. 

She walks determinedly toward an extremely angry wall of fire. My eyes go big and my nerves tense. “What are you doing!?” I yell, “Stop, we’ll never make it through there alive!”

Despite my concerned plea, she continues briskly walking forward, like a moth to the flame, only she’s pulling me along with her. I feel the heat on my face as we approach the wall of fire. She has no intention of stopping. I close my eyes and hear the insanely loud roar of the inferno threatening to devour us. Still, she continues on through the blaze. But to my surprise we don’t melt, turn to ash, or even burn. 

I open my eyes and see the fire receding around us, almost as if she were a lion trainer with a bullwhip, her trainee’s cowering in fear. Bewildered, I whisper under my breath, “How in the hell is this possible?”

We exit the burning building just in time. A loud ominous moaning howls over the low rumbling of the fire as the roof finally caves in and the building crashes into itself. Plumes of black smoke tower into the night sky and blot out the harvest moon overhead.  

“Elijah, are you okay?” She asks me again, “You took some pretty good damage and they gave you quite a blow to the head in there.”

“I think I’m okay,” I say, “But, I honestly don’t remember a thing. I…I don’t even remember who I am.” 

Before the last word leaves my tongue a giant shipping crate next to us explodes sending massive shards of splintered wood everywhere. Caught off guard, we both fall to the ground and a man jumps onto the woman who just pulled me from the burning building and saved my life. She tries to get a punch in, but he quickly pins her to the floor. I’m slightly disoriented from the blast, but my body automatically springs into action like it has some sort of muscle memory for this.  

I run over to the two as they grapple on the floor. The man pulls a futuristic looking pistol from his hip and aims it at the woman. I kick his hand and he loses his grip on the weapon as it tumbles off into the distance. I grab his shoulders and pull him off of her, but he somehow manages to twist around and lock arms with me instead. I now find myself wrestling on the floor in a bout of fury. 

The man pauses. Eyes wide and full of concern, he looks at me and yells, “What the hell are you doing!? Get off of me!” I almost have him pinned, but I can’t manage to get complete control of his arms.  

I hear the footsteps of the woman approaching as she shouts over the commotion, “He just tried to kill us!” 

Still struggling under me, the man reaches an outstretched hand to his side. The gun that I kicked away earlier comes flying into view and right back to his grip. He raises it and takes aim at the woman standing behind me.  

I reach to grab his wrist, but I feel strange. A warm tingling sensation shoots all through my arm as a blue glimmer emanates below the skin of my fingertips. Small streaks of light seemingly appear from nowhere, streaming inward towards my palm as a glowing dagger made of light materializes and fluctuates in my hand.

I see the man’s finger attempt to squeeze the trigger but I quickly push the barrel of the gun away and hear the blast shoot into the air. He tries to take aim one more time but I have a brief opening and I plunge the glowing dagger straight into his broad chest while I can.  

Shock overcomes him and his brow furrows as he stares into my eyes, confusion overwhelming the both of us. The dagger dissipates and with it, the life-force of the man that was struggling to break free of my grip just moments ago. His face is now hollow, unfitting of the strong muscular body that it belongs to. His eyes are glossed and vacant and I know the fight is now over.

“What the hell just happened?” I ask, “I don’t know who you are or even who I am. And how did I do what I just did?” 

The woman looks at me, “Wow, they really did do a number on you. You don’t remember a thing?” she asks.

“Not a thing,” I reply, “I don’t remember, but I have a strange sense that I know you from somewhere, like I’ve seen you before, but nothing more than that.”

She pauses for a brief moment and looks me up and down with an odd smile, “They must have hit you hard. I’ll work on getting your memory jogged,” she says, “But right now, we need to keep moving.” She turns her head to look behind her as a squadron of police cars arrive at the scene. Sirens blazing, they race through the enormous shipping yard that we currently occupy, their spotlights pointed in our direction. 

She snaps her fingers and an unpiloted motorcycle quickly comes screeching to her side. She throws her leg over the seat, revs the engine and says, “get on.” I don’t question her and jump on the back of the bike. The tires squeal and we rocket off leaving a trail of smoking rubber behind us, the police hot on our tail. I’m confused as to why we’re running, but at this point I gather that we’re the ones they’re after.

We weave through shipping containers, past warehouse buildings and around unoccupied vehicles, but can’t seem to shake them. The woman yells back at me, “Do something!” 

“Like what?” I reply.  

She takes a hard right turn and we find ourselves caught at a dead end, flanked by shipping containers and blocked by a chain link fence in front of us. She spins the motorcycle around and comes to a stop using her legs as kickstands.

“You have it in you,” she says, “destroy or be destroyed.” 

The police cars have already rounded the corner. Men and women stand next to their vehicles with guns drawn, using their doors as shields. The raven haired woman looks at me and hits the gas. We go speeding straight for them. My heart races and I begin to feel the odd tingling sensation in my arms again, but this time a little more intensely. The officers begin to fire their weapons, bullets ricocheting off of the shipping containers and the concrete below us.

Streaks of light start pulling in from the air around me and into my hands once again. My skin glows blue from my fingertips to my elbows as a large orb of blue light the size of a basketball appears in my hands. I don’t know how I’m doing this, but right now that doesn’t matter so much to me.  

I throw the orb ahead of us as hard as I can at the police blockade. There’s a brief moment of total silence. Then a low thundering boom erupts as the orb rapidly expands and briefly lights up the night sky with a blinding flash. The officers scream as their flesh melts from their bones and their clothing turns to ash. Their vehicles burst into flames and we zoom past unscathed, leaving them behind to die.

I think for a moment, I just killed all of those innocent people. But just as quickly those thoughts are drowned out by the feeling of awe over the monstrous power that I have just displayed. I like the feeling. 

Is this who I am? I wonder. A powerful force with the ability to destroy anyone and anything in my way?

**************

We arrive at an old abandoned house that stands decrepit and alone on a large empty dirt lot. I follow the raven haired woman through the front door and she proceeds to a nearby coat closet. She kneels down and removes a loose floorboard which reveals a hidden lever beneath it. She pulls it and the wall at the back of the closet slides open, revealing a long spiral staircase that leads us down into a sprawling layout of hallways and rooms.  

We enter some sort of main room. A fireplace crackles and fills the air with a soft smokey haze. Several people that I think I recognize, but definitely don’t fully remember, sit on couches or tinker with random stuff off in the background.  

“Oh, well hello,” says a large menacing man. His voice is full of grit and he has several large scars parading across his bare chest. I nod in acknowledgement.  

“Well, well, well,” snarls another man, “Welcome to The Pack.” This one is slim and squirrely looking, a glimmer of madness in his eyes.

The raven haired woman looks at him and slowly nods back and forth, seemingly telling him to back off for some reason. There are several others in the room, but everyone else just side eyes me and carries on with their business. 

“I’m Clara,” the raven haired woman says as she adjusts the crown of roots that rests upon her head. “I know you’re a little confused right now and looking for answers, so let’s just jump straight in. Welcome to The Pack, our little crew of super humans. We do what we want, when we want. Your name is Elijah King and I…I am your Queen. Together we run this place and as you’ve seen, together we have the power to run anything we please.” 

“So you’re telling me, the others here are like us? What...we’re all like, some sort of super heroes?” I ask.

“Super? Yes,” Clara replies, “Heroes? Let’s just say, heroes are for children’s stories. There’s nothing worth saving in this God forsaken world.  

“And you’re my wife?” I ask her.

She blushes, “Well, we’re not married...yet. But we’re definitely in love,” she bashfully turns her head slightly downward and bats her eyes. One of the men in the background lets out a scruffy muffled laugh.  

“Shut up you buffoon!” snaps Clara as her eyes change from coy to hatred on a dime.  

Her look of hatred gives me pause. I definitely remember seeing her before and this look on her face causes something in me to flash back to a memory before my amnesia.     

I remember a woman standing tied to a metal post, fire whirling around her. I was trying to reach her but I couldn’t, no matter how hard I tried. My hands and feet were bound by some sort of energy field. 

“Elijah, I love you!” yelled the woman, “I love you so much.” 

“Lilly!” I called out, “I’ll get you! I’ll save you!” But there was nothing I could do. I remember seeing a figure appear through the flame, bending it at will. It was Clara, the raven haired woman.  

“Clara, if you touch her!” I shouted, veins bulging in my neck as I struggled against my restraints. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t touch her,” she waved my remarks off. “I just have never understood why…” her words were cut off by the sound of gun fire and a bullet grazing her arm.  

We both looked up and saw a man standing on a suspended metal grate walkway connected to the floor above us. He held his hand out and a second gun flew up from his belt holster to his open palm like a staple to a magnet. My little brother, Remi.  

Clara angrily thrust her hand in his direction and a ball of fire blasted the grate walkway that Remi was standing on. It collapsed under his feet and he fell somewhere into the wreckage below. Clara turned back to Lilly with the look of hatred that I recognize now.

“I’ll never understand what he sees in you!” she hissed, “But if I can’t have him, nobody can!” She spread her arms out like the wings of a raven and with a wide motion, clapped her hands together. A massive wall of flame rushed towards my wife.”

“Lilly!” I shouted in anguish as her blood curdling screams filled the warehouse.

“Oops,” taunted Clara, “Well teeechnically I didn’t actually touch her.”

“You fucking witch! I’ll kill you!” I threatened, choking on my tears.

Another man I hadn’t seen walked into the now burning room. “Wipe his memory.” Clara said to him. “New wife, new life!” She giggled and turned to me one last time, “It’s for the better, you’ll see. Together we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.” Then my mind went blank.  

The flashback stops and my mind comes back to the present moment. Clara must have noticed the change in my expression because the anger in her eyes subsides and quickly shifts to concern.

My fists clench and my teeth grit, “You burned Lilly alive. You murdered the love of my life!” 

She takes a step back, “Now honey, let’s hold on a moment.”

I don’t hold on. My hands and arms light up and large glowing blades materialize in my grasp as the men around the room charge at me. I start swinging without concern of who I hit. Blood paints the walls red as my blades slice and pierce body after body. And in just moments the room is in total silence. Carcasses and limbs are scattered everywhere and the sound of blood splashes beneath my boots as I pace. Clara is nowhere to be found.  

I leave the The Pack’s hideout. I'm drenched in blood that doesn’t belong to me. My thoughts race, my heart has shattered into a million pieces, each one filled with malice and misery. I go numb as the screams of my dying wife replay over and over in my head. The realization that I murdered my own brother knocks the wind out of me. His horrified eyes as I plunged that dagger into his chest will haunt me until the day I draw my last breath. 

I don’t know how much time goes by, but I find myself standing at the edge of a bridge. I look down and wonder if the 100 ft drop into the ravine below is even punishment enough for the sins I have committed. My vows to always use my abilities to serve and protect have been tainted. How can I be a beacon of light and hope in this world if I can’t even protect my own loved ones, if I can murder innocent people in cold blood and only feel a lust for the power that I wield?

There’s no doubt in my mind that my old vows are now void and empty. I’m no longer filled with hope and a fire to make the world a better place, only hatred flows through my veins. Fueled by revenge I make a new vow. I vow to end myself, to rid the world of the monster that lies beneath, but only after I drive a blade through the cold dark heart of the raven haired women.

Standing motionless on the bridge, I lift my hands and stare at my fingertips. I damn the abilities that I’ve always thought were a blessing but now see as a curse. I look down past my feet as a single tear falls into the ravine beneath and question what has now become my new existence.