The Mirror Guard
One
THE QUAD WAS PACKED! Eva had never seen it so full of people! In the center stood the tall proud statue of Rainiar la Jaguar, Goddess. The mile-high wall of ice and crystal that wrapped around the city of Crystalis could be seen almost on all sides, except where tall crystalline skyscrapers blocked the view. Rainiar built that wall. The wall was the first protection Crystalis had from what was on the other side. Aside from planning out the crystal towers that made up many of the buildings and structures within the walls — Rainiar also formed the Mirror Guard. Which was Crystalis’ second defense against the things that lived on the other side of the wall.
“The chances of them actually showing is about 65%, Ness — and dropping.”
“Thank you, Benjamin.” Eva snapped. “Always happy to report such good news.”
“Highness, I don’t report either good or bad news. I simply report facts.”
“Yes, yes, of course.” Eva rolled her eyes as if to get the artificial exoskeleton to shut up. She knew it wouldn’t stop him. Benjamin’s wake word protocol had been broken since the day Eva found him in the scrapyard. She was able to repair almost all of his other functions, she even upgraded some, but she couldn’t figure out the wake word protocol. Which allowed Benjamin to blurt out whatever he was thinking or interject his calculations into any of Eva’s conversations. It was quite embarrassing in most social situations, though Eva was pretty used to it by now. Benjamin acted as a great ice-breaker.
Eva dipped through a cluster of on-lookers. Her ridiculously over-sized sword that was strapped to her back, making it hard for her to weave through the crowd like she’d wanted to. Benjamin added a couple of inches of volume around her, which also made it hard to press through a crowd without brushing up against someone else’s artificial exoskeleton. Without the exoskeletons to regulate their body temperatures, everyone in the quad would have frozen to death. It made movement awkward too. People weren’t as nimble in their artificial exoskeletons — and the thick gloves stole almost all of their dexterity.
There was an anxiousness that bled through the gathered crowd. Eva stopped to get a better look. There was a stage set up before Rainiar’s statue. Eva couldn’t see the entire stage, but it didn’t look like the Mirror Guard had arrived yet. She was happy that she hadn’t missed them. No one wanted to be a part of the Guard more than Eva! The giant replica sword strapped to her back was proof of that. She’d spent days crafting the sword out of parts in the junkyard to mimic what a mirrorblade looked like.
“Whew! Ness, this crowd is absolutely unsafe. There are not enough exits — nor are they big enough if there were to be an attack. The chances of an attack are…”
“Benjamin, I didn’t use a wake word.” Eva snapped. She was hoping that his internal intelligence would eventually catch on to the concept of wake words and eventually rewrite his “learned” programming to include them. She was often let down. Benjamin mdl:1985U was an old model exoskeleton. To most people’s standards he was ancient and obsolete. But he was all that a poor homeless girl like Eva could afford. And honestly, Eva couldn’t imagine her life without him.
Benjamin was an off white color, where most modern exoskeletons were pure white, or silver, or gold. His model didn’t come with a helmet or built in eye protection, so Eva kept a pair of goggles in one of Benjamin’s pockets just in case. As was typical of artificials, Benjamin did have a cloak that retracted into his neck. Eva had the cloak activated now. It was a fur and leather cloak that flapped behind her in a cape-like fashion when the wind was blowing. But the best part was the hood that wrapped around her head to keep her ears and most of her face warm.
“Benjamin, there’s nothing to worry about.” In all of the history of Crystalis, nothing had ever breeched the wall that the Mirror Guard didn’t want to.
“But the exits… And with some of the Guard here in the Quad, it’s leaving parts of the wall unprotected!”
“Benjamin,” Eva hissed, “The wall has never been breeched since Ness Rainiar la Jaguar was alive. Relax!”
“…According to my calculations there is a…”
“I don’t care about your calculations.” Eva said as she dove deeper into the crowd. She was trying to get as close to the stage as she could. The Guardians hadn’t appeared on stage yet, so Eva still had more time to sneak her way closer.
She drew nearer to the statue of Rainiar la Jaguar. The Goddess’ hair was cut short and she had no visible horns. Eva always thought it was weird that Rainiar didn’t have horns like the rest of the Crystalissians — and she didn’t seem as tall and willowy as they were. Many had written it off that Rainiar was a god and gods didn’t look human. They were something more. But Eva always remembered being taught that the Crystalissians were made in the image of Goddess. So why wouldn’t they appear similar? Plus, Eva’s surname was la Jaguar, just like Rainiar Herself. Eva believed that she was one of Rainiar’s descendants — and she used this fact to her advantage every chance she could.
But what excited Eva more than anything about the Goddess’ statue, was the giant mirrorblade that Rainiar held. No mirrorblade had ever taken the same shape in all of history. The shape a mirrorblade takes is reflected upon who creates it. When Eva was pounding out the metal to make her technikalblade that was still strapped to her back, she fashioned it after Rainiar’s mirrorblade. Eva wanted a mirrorblade of her own so bad. She was much too old to be chosen for the Guard, but there was always that inkling of hope in some part of her heart. After all, she was Eva la Jaguar, a blood descendant of Goddess herself.
Peeking just over the shoulder of Rainiar’s statue was the domed roof of the Mothers’ Pavillion where Crystalis’ leaders met. A representative from each district of the city. Each a matriarch of powerful families. At one time, Eva’s own la Jaguar family, would have been a part of the Council — but her family line had fallen out of favor at some point.
From the corner of her eye Eva could see a disturbance in the crowd. A flash of a man wearing the baby blue starka, moving towards the stage. <The Mirror Guard is here!> Eva thought. There were five men, each of them wearing blue starkas, which were coats of norwotter fur. Each of them were much shorter than the Crystalissians and had darker skin. They were all Cavamen, a people that lives beyond the wall out in the Stark, out in the killing cold.
These men were one-half of a Mirror Guardian team. They were always in pairs. One person was the wielder of the blade — and these men were the blade. Something about their Cavamen physiology allowed them to control the growth of their bones and nails into the shape of the giant mirrorblades that Eva admired.
They were all shirtless underneath their starkas which made Eva shiver. No Crystalissian would survive for very long in the cold without an artificial exoskeleton. Another wonder of genetics and evolution allowed the blades to survive nearly naked in the killing cold. They each wore black leather shorts and black boots to match. Eva had seen blades walking around barefoot in the snow without care. She shuttered at the thought.
The blades formed in a line and stood perfectly still, as if they were waiting for a command. Eva looked at each of the men. She was hoping to see Ono, though he wouldn’t have been happy to see her. It was strictly forbidden for blades to fraternize with Crystalissians without their matron present. Matrons were the Guardians in the pair that wielded the blades in their sword forms. The matrons were always Crystalissian, always women, and always in charge of the pair. But Ono didn’t have a matron. They’d met when they were both younger and had formed a close friendship that they’ve kept secret for years. When they were younger, Eva always pretended to be Ono’s matron when they were playing.
Eva reached stairs that led to the makeshift stage just as the matrons appeared. The air of power that leaked from just their posture was enough to make Eva awe-struck. She couldn’t take her eyes off of them. They were perfect in pink artificial exoskeletons. Only the matrons were allowed pink exoskeletons. Eva discovered that when she’d tried to dye Benjamin. Their hair was in various Crystalissian shades of pink, blue, and lavender, but they all wore their hair long and straight. Their crystalline horns were always thick and large. Some fashioned their horns like coronas — but all of them were adorned with hanging ornaments and jewelry. They each looked like little princesses — and for all intents and purposes — they were. The only station one could hold that was respected more than a Guardian matron, was to be a Mother on the Council itself.
The crowd began to cheer. Eva anchored herself next to a posh woman dressed in one of the most expensive artificials that Eva had ever seen. Eva figured it had to be a mdl:2000! Eva always wanted to get under the motherboard of a mdl:2000! The woman caught Eva staring, maybe even with some drool hanging on the corner of her mouth, and gave Eva a snobby glare and scoffed. The woman maneuvered herself within the limited space away from Eva, as if touching her would cause the woman’s artificial to malfunction.
Eva let it go. She wasn’t here to tinker with artificials that she’d never in a million years have the privilege of even breathing on. She was here to watch the Mirror Guard’s demonstration. Each matron stood next to her blade, one of the norwotter-clad men. It was a strange process: Becoming a Guardian. First of all, it seemed that only Cavamen boys could be blades. Over the hundreds of years that the walled city of Crystalis has existed, it has become tradition for friendly Cavamen tribes to offer their orphaned teenage boys to the Guard. How a Crystalissian woman became a matron was a heavily guarded secret that one only found out once it was decided that she would be going through the process. The Mothers’ Council voted which toddler girls would be put into the Guard.
Then the men began shapeshifting into their blade-forms. The crowd lost it! Everyone was cheering and jumping and pressed to get closer and closer to the stage. Eva stood on her tippy-toes to get a good view, while trying to barricade her space as the crowd pushed in around her in excitement. The blades’ skin went from brown to alabaster, like bone. They shrunk, but thinned out and seemed to refine into blade shapes. It was similar to the way a lump of metal sort of melts into the sword shape when heated over a stencil. Before each blade toppled over, their matrons grabbed their hilts and put their power into the sword. A wash of crystalline water enveloped each blade like a glaze.
Eva had seen drawings and paintings of hundreds of mirroblades. Shards, she’s read everything she could find about Rainiar and her mirrorblade. But nothing matched seeing them there right before her. Their hilts were made from fibers that almost looked like wood. Their blades were made from a swirl of bone and keratin and ice in a way that made the flats of their blades reflective. Each matron’s blade was shaped different, though they were all predominantly longer than the wielding matron was tall.
Being this close to so many mirrorblades, Eva could swear that she could feel the energy vibrating around her. She bathed in it, closing her eyes for a moment. Those blades were the most respected and revered symbols in Crystalis, other than the Goddess herself, of course.
Once all of the mirrorblades were all formed, the Guardians raised their swords, a simple gesture, that was followed by a thunderous cheer. This time the crowd was louder than when the Guardians initially walked on stage. Eva felt herself hooting and clapping along.
Eva wanted nothing more out of life than to be a Mirror Guardian herself — like Rainiar la Jaguar. Like the group of matrons standing before her.
Benjamin broke Eva’s reverie and said, “Oh look! Ono’s on stage.”
Eva tried not to draw Ono’s attention. He had arrived late, and judging by all of the matrons’ faces, they’d all noticed. Ono looked so lonely and feeble without a matron of his own. However, as a blade in training, Ono practiced and followed all of the traditions of a full-blown Guardian. Which meant, he stepped right into synchronization in the kata that the other Mirror Guardians had already begun. Though he was not in blade-form and didn’t have a blade to hold, he matched each of the steps that the matrons were taking.
Most of the kata was in lurestance, a stance used to attract your enemy closer. It was more a trick move that took some finesse to land, but it was pretty to see. Definitely not a stance you wanted to use against giant snow wyrms. Ono fumbled a little through the fancy footwork. Eva pretended not to notice.
“Don’t say anything stupid.” Eva grumbled.
“Stupid?” Benjamin asked. “Ness, I am full of proven facts. Stupid would imply that what I’d say is unintelligent. Nothing can be unintelligent if it is indeed, fact.”
“Ugh. Just stop talking.” Eva said.
“I will enter power saving mode.” Benjamin closed his eyes.
“Finally!”
Ono taught Eva everything she knew about the Mirror Guard that she probably wasn’t supposed to know. Ono had broken many of the fundamental social rules that are placed on blades by hanging out with Eva regularly. Ono caught Eva’s eye and he stuttered in his next move. Eva cowered back. Ono wouldn’t have been too happy for Eva to be here — and this close. He was very afraid of the matrons catching on to them. Eva being there made him nervous. Matrons, by practice, were very attuned to blade emotions and reactions — even blades that they were not soulbound to. Eva ducked back into the throng. She didn’t want to freak Ono out in front of the other matrons.
“Why are we leaving, Ness!?” Benjamin wondered. The cheering and hooting thundered after the Guardians completed their kata. Eva slipped through the crowd, often having to squeeze sideways or reposition her technikalblade on her back.
“Ono wouldn’t want us here,” she said gloomily.
Everyone was moving towards the stage. Eva was forcing her way, away. Nearing the end of the mass, Eva heard the loudest crash that she’d ever heard. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked towards the stage and the Mirror Guardians doing their kata. Even though that was where she looked first she knew instinctively that that wasn’t where the crash had come from. She hesitantly looked towards the wall.
Hundreds of feet in the air the wall of crystal and ice stood as guard against the dangers of the Stark. People began pointing and screaming. There, just above the highest point of the wall — was a figure. Something was moving, bashing itself against the solid ice! The Mirror Guardians quit their kata and jumped into the thick crowd, forcing their way to various access points in the wall. One of the Guardians was particularly powerful with manipulating ice and made a pathway that she was able to skate upon, angled straight towards the closest broken point.
Eva could see Guardians already on the wall. They looked like moth larvae for how far away they were. Panic began to seep through the crowd. Suddenly the alarms started to blare and holler, warning everyone to take shelter. There had never been a breech, but for safety, every so often the wyrms took a beating out on the wall and the Crystalissians would be sheltered for a day or two.
And then — an equally as thunderous bang sounded from another point in the wall. This one came from the opposite side. Eva looked where people were screaming and pointing. Another snow wyrm’s head peeked over the wall, looking hungrily down at all the delicious prey. People were running around her frantic. Eva could only think of her brother. He was alone back at their motel — and she knew he would not hunker down without her.
A third roaring crash sounded from a different part in the wall. The snow wyrms, though often very solitary, except for mating, seemed to be working together. Eva began running for home. For a moment — she wished Benjamin would give an annoying report of what was happening.
No comments:
Post a Comment