Mirror Sky. Part 1 - Blissful Nemesis

07 - Vida Wall

The observation deck was ten feet wide, carved in the solid mass of the Vida Wall, and located a hundred feet below the Aeon Shield, near the top of the Wall. It was packed with snipers in black armor, spaced every twenty yards. One of the snipers just finished firing. He observed the two dead bodies for some time, sighed, and put the rifle back on his shoulder.

"Night Deck, Capital Sector 0-4, Zhen Tso to AG HQ, all clear," said the man. "The package on 23-66."

"How many shots?" voiced the radio on his chest.

"Twenty-two."

"Twenty-two? How about aiming next time?"

"They were informed. Used sniper run."

"Oh yeah? Again? We've seen many of those recently," the radio answered in a distorted voice. A gulp sounded, then chomping. "Well, good job then. We'll have a group out in an hour. Are the Turrets quiet?"

"Aside from one shot thirty-five minutes ago, yeah," said Zhen.

"Got it. Well – smooth service to you. Command is out."

The radio, an over-engineered brick of a device, now had to rest for a minute before it could work again: electronics and Twilight were not on friendly terms. Zhen appreciated this guaranteed minute of silence. He glanced at the distant speck of the boulder below where he had ended two lives. He could not see the bodies without the scope, but he was acutely aware that they were still there, getting cold as the last signs of life escaped them.

"May the light guide you to life everlasting," he whispered.

Zhen lifted his magnifying goggles and adjusted his black fabric mask. He looked over the barren terrain, the Dark Horizon, and thousands of reflective God Pillars that cut through them. Zhen knew the observable Twilight and all its blind spots by heart. He could almost feel the outsiders, nicknamed Lepers, lurking within, building up courage or getting desperate enough to gamble on the great mystery under the sky – Libra City, Zhen's homeland. When he joined Aeon Guard, he put his mind and life on the line to protect Libra from them.

It began simply enough, with a set of simple rules. Rule number one – all Lepers running to the Wall must be shot. Rule number two – all Lepers who reach the Night Deck must be neutralized by any means necessary. Rule number three - if you captured one alive, you had to bring it in. Lepers were not he or she, only it.

Yet, it was a woman who tapped Zhen's shoulder thirty years ago and almost gave him a heart attack. If he could meet Gods and ask them one question - it would be this: how did she reach the city, go up the Wall, and hide behind his back, unseen by anyone? Luckily, this woman in all black had no intention of killing him. She simply looked him in the eye and said:

"I reached the stupid city as the priests of Skydream told me to. I'm supposed to "erase the sixteen," whatever the hell that is. Either way, I don't know what to do next."

Well, Zhen did – he had instructions to follow. He brought her in. However, just one hour later, he held his superiors at gunpoint and broke her out of the prison he had put her in. In their short time together, this woman shook his convictions and re-defined the meaning of his duties. She changed the course of his life forever. In return, he made her the only Leper to survive a visit to Libra. She would die of natural causes soon after and never tell her story to anyone in the Twilight.

Zhen was confident he would pay with his life for what he did. However, Gods worked in mysterious ways. Thirty years and many adventures later, he ironically found himself where he began – fending Lepers off. Only this time, he felt for them. The deaths of today's couple lay like a stone on his chest. They banked it all on a slight chance of success and came up short, unaware of how little their chances were. If only they got spooked by his warning shots and turned back. If only that guy picked up his injured friend and carried her away from the Wall instead of towards it. If only they had waited for the results of the peace negotiations. Poor bastards.