"What? Why? Why..."
Quickly it slapped her across the mouth.
"Never mind that. I'm not a Jammer anyways."
She looked up again.
It spoke again.
"I thought you could tell who
was a Jammer or not."
In a flourish the phantom fluttered into the doorway of the building. Shadowed completely, it blended into the dark with only its eye slicing through. Turning around, it grinned. In the particular way phantoms grinned.
The true mark of the phantom.
She shivered once, then fell in a series of wild shaking. Why was this happening? What did she do?
Finally it challenged her.
"I dare you. Who am I?"
She glared deep into its eye as of looks could kill. The gift she was bade with expanded into the depths of her soul and out into the phantom. She pushed anything she found away rapidly coursing toward the core of the phantom. Finally she unearthed the piece of information she seeked.
Rising she glanced at it. She quickly found the gender and name before it disintegrated like burning paper in her wings. The ashes shimmered as they blew away in the wind, swirling around the phantom one last time before vanishing in the horizon.
The phantom smiled again.
It was a she. The name, she could not understand in the least, however enough to pronounce it.
The phantom suddenly turned toward the door.
"Come."
Slowly she stumbled into the black walls of the building...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The room was completely empty. Blank white walls loomed over her and echoed the lofty ceiling above. She marveled only for a second.
The phantom started to morph into a furry form until at last a wolf stood in the corner of the room. She sat down, staring.
Mira looked at her..
"You said you weren't a Jammer."
"I'm not. Just because I take the shape of an animal has nothing to do with Jammers."
In a way, it was true. Wolves in Jamaa were alittle scrawny (not that Mira would admit it), yet the phantom was now fuller and much graceful looking than most.
Not to mention more deadly looking.
Eyes flaring crimson, she sat glaring at Mira drawing tension. Mira gathered all her energy for her last battle.
Then a blow came.
And the wolf was still sitting perfectly still.
Or was she?
Two more came, this time at the back of Mira's head. It wasn't a matter of time before she was bleeding.
This time Mira got up before almost falling from the power of another hit. In anger she tried to dodge the next one, failing and instead feeling one to the face.
The wolf seemed to still be sitting perfectly still.
Another.
The wolf was sitting perfectly still.
Another.
Sitting perfectly still.
Another.
Perfectly still.
Another.....
Perfectly still.
Finally all the little blows came down like hail. This time Mira was too weak to defend herself from them. Crumbling to her knees she lay there feeling the rest proceeding to fall.
Then it stopped.
"This was easier than I thought."
Realizing it was only the beginning, she scrambled to her feet, only to be greeted by more hits that stubbornly persisted she must stay down. Then something grabbed at her cheek.
The wolf slowly ripped her flesh around her face, an unwavering grip strapped onto her body. As blood trickled down the side of her face the wolf's eyes seemed to drink it down. It pulled out slabs of her skin and yanked feathers mercilessly from her sides and any other unimaginable spot.
Then she felt so much pain that she could no longer see anything. A blinding white pain unleashed her scream out into the room while supernovae of millions of stars flashed across her mind. Wildly she gripped onto the only thoughts she could hold onto, like Zios,.......if she could remember his real face,.....if she could remember anything at all..........
After what felt like millions of years she gained consciousness. Slowly she pried open her eyes. Her head was spinning and she was too weak to open her eyes and was thatbloodonthewallsandthewolfwasstillthereandherlifewasflashingand
Then she blacked out again, only wakened later to find herself into the wolf's face. It sneered, covered in blood head to toe, and transformed slowly into a seal.
Her head was exploding. Finally she groaned,
"Just kill me and get over with, please......."
Then the seal growled.
"That would be my dominant wish, fool."
It turned and walked toward the door.
"Wait." she gasped.
It turned, slowly changing into a phantom again.
"Why are you doing this to me..?"
She grinned, and stepped out the door without saying anything.
Then a squad of phantoms ran inside, surrounding her and ready to deliver her to her fate.
As she was carried inside the shuttle, she glanced into the dark where the once-Jammer was, her shadow mixed in with the night.
She'd never forget her.
Her name was still embedded in her mind.
Azelfs...
