Binarius (28 page)

It happened in an instant. The
graffiti on the walls of the dome lit up in gold; traveling from
the floor to a diamond-shaped point at the top-center. From there,
the electrolifi which was holding the crystals up, shot towards the
diamond — connecting with it, and Kaolin no longer needed to hold
up the crystals. Something in the Bismuth took control and the
crystals were now levitating in the middle of the dome without any
assistance.

Then like lasers, a shape began
fabricating in the center of the crystals. It was a pyramid which
looked to be made out of hematite. It looked like rope twisted and
coiled up into the shape of a pyramid; cerebral. The only thing
that they knew was that they had to get to it.

Lastly, the dome began to move and
like an eye, it opened to the cosmos.

“
Well done!”

Firinne didn’t need to turn around
to know who it was. Cyneric was standing behind her, clapping
dramatically. When he was done, he found his flask and took a swig
of Blood. Before he had even had a chance to put away his flask,
Firinne had an arrow aimed for his chest.

“
Gonna kill me like you killed
your best friend?”

“
Maybe? It was easier than I
thought.” Which of course she knew was a lie.

“
If only you didn’t have to be so
pure, you coulda been at my side…but you know this is the end
right?”

“
Quit acting like you’re someone
you aren’t. I know who you are Cyneric. I’ve seen you cry in my
arms. Held you as you felt your world fall apart. Saved you when
you needed someone to save you. I’ve always saved you, even when
you didn’t ask me to. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I did because I
loved you…I still do. I won’t sit her and put on a face just to
give you something more to feed on. You chose this Cyneric. Don’t
you see that?”

“
Tell me…what did I
choose?”

“
To let the victim inside of you
become the perpetrator. To let the world decide who you are, rather
than the other way around. You can say whatever you want, but I
know you, and I know that the only reason why you are doing this is
because of the Blacken, and because of the Blood. You can’t live
without it now. You’re so lost in that flask…I wouldn’t be
surprised if you’ve squeezed your heart into it.”

“…
.”

She could see him struggling with
emotion. “I tried to save you, but you didn’t want me to. You
thought the Blood could, it was easier for you to drink the Blood
than face yourself…face the pain.” She was crying now.

“
I’m sorry Fir, I don’t know who I
am anymore. I can’t…can’t…”

“
You can’t what?!”

“
I…” Everything he said next came
out in a string of words that moved past Firinne so fast she hardly
had time to react.

“
Ican’tcontrolitkillmenow!”

As he said this, he pulled a wing
clipping from a Demogorchian from behind his back. Firinne knew
what shot out of it and where it was aimed. She reacted on the
word
kill
and let
her arrow fly; straight to the heart that she loved. Cyneric
collapsed on the floor. Firinne ran to him with her back to
Kaolin.

His eyes stared up at hers with a
clarity in them that she couldn’t remember the last time she had
seen. He reached up with one hand and touched the side of her face.
She felt a tickling sensation on her scalp, like gooseflesh. Her
hair was levitating away from her, standing straight on end, and
then fell back to her shoulders as he began to speak, but instead
of words, it was only blood that flowed out of his
mouth.

A second passed, and he was gone.
The last, living Sonicus Leviticus was dead. They never sacrificed
him, they raised him, and they knew he was too young to ever
remember who he had been. She could feel his blood seeping through
her dress; a warm stickiness on her leg, and eventually she
couldn’t feel it anymore; couldn’t feel him anymore, but she wished
she could bleed with him, and maybe inside, she was.

“
Ff..Fffi…Fir….”

Firinne turned around; shocked
instantly. Kaolin was lying at an angle on the bottom stair. An
obsidian talon was protruding from his stomach; his clothes already
stained with blood. She rushed to him.

“
I’m so sorry Kaolin!” She
sobbed.

“
It…it’s okay, Fir.” He spoke like
he was trying to hold his breath.

“
There’s gotta be something I can
do.” The blood was really spilling out of him now. She was afraid
to touch him; afraid to look at him.

“
N…no…time…”

He was right. The Epiphanous had
said that they only had a certain amount of time to act on this
last phase or it would be lost to them forever.

“
I could drag you!”

Kaolin squeezed her arm and he
didn’t need to say how ridiculous she was being.

“
Go, now!” he said with as much
strength as he could summon.

She didn’t know what would happen
after, but she knew she had to touch the pyramid before they ran
out of time. She would take care of Kaolin as soon as it was
finished. That thought was the only thing that made her get up and
move.

The lights were moving like waves
around the room; faster — faster. She ran up the stairs; jumping
once she was at the top, into the open air. She flipped her body so
that she could look down on Kaolin, the forgotten treasure that she
had found, in the nanoseconds before her fingertips touched the
pyramid.

Unity.

Duality.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Cosmic
Eye

Lurching;
Writhing; Pulling.

Separate from myself.

Where are you?

What’s happening to me?

Firinne!

Lights; Darkness.

I am pulling apart!

What is going on?!

Suffocation.

Spinning; Grass; — Scrape the Sky;
Stars.

Darkness.

CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE

_______________

My eyes
shoot open — the room a blur. I must have that look; the
deer-in-the-headlights one.

“
Why are you looking at me like
that? Didn’t you hear what I said, dweeb?” Then he pauses for a
second, “Wait…Avery! Did it happen again?”

I can’t breathe for a second. I
can’t think. The words are right there on my tongue, but they are
taking too long to come out of my mouth.

Then, all at once like a drugged-up
robot. “She’s here!”

“
We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change
them.”

—
George Orwell, 1984

Acknowledgment

Thank you…

To my Mom, who once told me that
it’s not what you say, but how you say it. I rolled my eyes then,
but it is invaluable to me now. You are my light and you fed my
fire. Thank you for letting me walk my own path and follow my
dreams; even if it meant that you had to watch me suffer through
it. Thank you for making time to read to me every night before bed
regardless of how much homework you had to do.

To my Nana, who taught me to speak
my mind, avoid passiveness at all costs, and never be polite
(unless it is to your elders). Thank you for teaching me that
sometimes selfishness is the only escape. Thank you for showing me
the wonderful world of fiction at such a young age. I’m sorry it
took so long to figure out that
fiction
is what I’m meant to do. You
won — grammar is important to me now. Thank you for editing my
manuscript!

To The Blacken — who trapped me
behind four walls for fifteen years, because it knew that by doing
so, I would find a way out — and so much more.

To my Grandpa for always
encouraging all of my scientific explorations, even when they
crossed the scientific threshold and went against your religion.
You taught me about selflessness, death, and loss…maybe because you
loved me and knew I could handle it.

To my Uncle for pressuring me to
go to college
so
much — that I wrote this book instead. Thank you for loving
me despite our differences. It’s okay
Spock
, I love you too!

To all of my friends, thank you
for your continued support! Martina Gettman, Shawn Chilcote,
Michelle Mackey, thank you for encouraging me through this and
after it. Thank you for letting me pick your brain (Did you laugh?
Did you cry? What did you see in your brain when you read that
part? This is shit, isn’t it? Etc.) and for keeping me from falling
off the
writer’s cliff of
uncertainty
. I would have fallen chapters
and chapters ago if it wasn’t for your guys’ texts filled
with
fancy French
, pissed off at me about cliffhangers. I’m not sure I would
have had the courage to finish writing this with out thinking it
was a massive POS if it wasn’t for all of you.

To Amanda Ortiz, thank you for your
support and for bringing this novel to life! I am so grateful to
have had the opportunity to work with the incredibly talent artist
that you are.

Todd Fahnestock, thank you for
letting me pick your brain, making time to call me in-between big
meetings in N.Y. (so that I wouldn’t have a panic attack), and for
sharing your advice, encouragement, and enthusiasm.

To all of my favorite authors —
there are no words for the momentum that you have initiated in my
life.

Thanks to my Squishy, for being
such a sweet girl (most of the time) and letting Mommy write the
book about the Stag and the Queen who lived in a crystal castle.
You are a force in my life, like the Hum’s wings.

Lastly, to my readers — I honor
your existence. Honor your own existence, the existence of everyone
in your life, and above all — honor your world.

GRAVITUS

The Binarius Series (#2)

“The first rule of real-life,
creepy stuff is that you never, I repeat,
never
, go looking for that noise you
just heard; the crying baby, to be specific. If you choose to
accept that mission, it will most likely mean instantaneous demise.
I may be storming through the Palace, acting like I’m tough-shit,
but even through everything I’ve been through, I’ve never actually
killed a person, much less shot one. At the heart of it, I am a
hippie; and no you do not need to inform me that hippies, and the
post-apocalyptic world do not play well together,
thanks
.”

-- Chapter 6, Never Follow The
Sound; And Other Lessons on Morality

“
We became anesthetized, and
distracted from the real, organic, raw, problems in our world. We
were comfortable in that numbness that had been fabricated for us.
We didn’t want to see the pain, the terror, the concern -- we
didn’t want the responsibility. We didn’t want to sacrifice our
comfort and our familiarity for a planet that was as fake as
plastic to us....

So here we live, in an apocalypse,
where all of our man-made illusions have been lifted from our eyes.
Only now can we see what is truly important, and only now we
realize what it cost us to not give a shit.....

My eyes are glued on the dark and
dusty space beneath the sofa where an old copy of, 1984, lie
abandoned; staring mockingly back at me, and I can almost hear it
saying,
I told you so
.”

- Chapter 10, The Monotony Before
The Apocalypse