New Allies

[Oriena]

This is how it ends. This is how it ALWAYS ends. 

No one ever comes to save you. 

So save yourself.

Her fists squeezed. The dry breath scraping in and out over her split lip was a snarl as she inched her way to her feet, looking now not at Ryker but at the misty creature that had pulled away from him. Frustration and confusion peeled away from it. The ijiraq hung dazed; she could feel some sense of its stupor from having been so suddenly ripped from the source of its hunger. The light had gutted from her now, else her volatile nature might have been drawn to more recklessness. “You think I needed the fucking help?”

Ori stumbled a few steps forward, nauseous from the pain. She did not make the mistake of looking down.

The creature flitted in and out of focus, and she was unsure if it was real or the dizziness washing her vision. Ryker bellowed. She spun as it tore off into the crowd. She knew why.

Somewhere distant his instructions registered, and her teeth grit, but the power burned right through her grasp. Perhaps just as well. In that moment she didn’t know whose fucking side she was on.