Rising Shards

“Wait, what’s happening?” I said, moving closer to Oka.

“Risa?” Kalei asked. “Where’d…what the hell? Risa!”

Kalei found Risa on the ground, bloodied and weak. She knelt beside her and tried to prop her head up.

“Kalei…” Risa whispered, lifting a shaking hand to her.

“You can save her,” Asteri said.

“What?” Kalei asked. “What’s going on?”

“Your blood, Kalei.” One of the workers said. “Mix your blood with her blood.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Kalei asked, pulling out her cell phone. “I’m gonna call an ambulance.”

Oka and I could only stare in stunned silence. Was this real? Did Kalei really go through this?

“They won’t be here in time.” Asteri said, grabbing her phone. “He needs your blood.”

“Kalei, please…” Risa said.

Asteri handed Kalei an ancient looking dagger.

“Just a small cut on your fingertip.” Asteri said. “Just a drop of blood.”

Kalei stared blankly.

“There’s no time, Kalei.” Asteri said.

“What is this?” I asked. “Is this…what’s going on?”

“This is…” Oka said. Her voice shook. “But it doesn’t make sense…”

Kalei looked conflicted as Risa looked like she was about to literally die. She took the dagger to her fingertip and poked it.

“Yes,” Asteri said. “Just touch her face.”

Kalei delicately held her hand out to Risa's face. But she froze before touching it.

"I...can't do this." Kalei said.

Nothing happened. Asteri took a step back.

“Damn it,” Asteri said, with a completely different voice and accent. “Shut it off. Shut it all down.”

“Wait…what?”

“I thought this was the one.” Asteri said, suddenly morphing into the appearance of a completely different man. “Alis, you wanna drop in?”

Kalei stayed by Risa, looking as confused as I felt as Risa's blood suddenly faded. She got up and joined the man who was formerly Asteri.

“Risa?” Kalei asked. “You’re alright?”

Risa looked back at Kalei with a blank expression. She too morphed into someone else. The office around us faded away, and we were in a blank place. Risa's mother was there now too, and also changed. She became a much younger woman.

“Seriously, what’s going on?” I said.

“They were in the void,” Oka said.

“First off, round of applause for the team,” the leader said. “Even if this wasn’t a win, you all made me very proud of how far this chapter of the Order of Terina has come.”

“It was all you, Suju!” the woman said, and the man next to her nodded his head vigorously and cheered.

“Oh Alis,” Suju said. “And what would I do without my dear friend Sledge?”

Kalei was standing up now.

“Anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?” Kalei yelled.

“Oh, Kalei,” Suju said. “I love this part.”

“I’m about five seconds away from kicking your ass for whatever the hell this is,” Kalei said.

Suju snapped his fingers, and Kalei was suddenly bound up.

“You know me,” Suju said. “I’m world famous. I’m the leader of the Order of Terina…I took the image of your dear Risa, manipulated you into this moment, because a new Cani is a precious resource. Mixing her blood, well our duplicate Sledge’s blood really, with yours…it could have opened the gate. The gate to Endora. If we could bring back our lost empress, power would once again return to the Order of Terina and the world would be in balance.”

“That’s impossible,” Oka said.

“Huh?” I said.

“The Order of Terina…” Oka said. “They don’t…”

“I’ll stop you…” Kalei said.

“No you won’t,” Suju said.

Suju and the two flanking him surrounded Kalei.

“Because you're just going to wake up, now." Suju said.

Kalei gripped her fists.

“Shut up…” Kalei said. “Don’t…”

“The truth is,” Suju said, snapping his fingers. The scenery morphed again, back to Risa's house. Stumbling out of the back door was Kalei, in the same exact motion Risa had shown earlier, fell to the ground of the backyard, dropping her stuff on the ground. "It wasn't Risa that night."

“Stop it…”

The Kalei in the lawn didn't cry as much as Risa did, or have a brochure about door to door sex ed, but she did start screaming at the figures in the doorways of the house. Two large men stepped out.

"Ms. Taramin has requested that you leave the property." One said.

"And Ms. Koridia requests that you can kiss my ass, I want to talk to her!"

“That it wasn't Risa that was rejected,” Suju said. “It was you. That your best friend abandoned you.”

A limo pulled up in the driveway behind the backyard. One of the security guards held Kalei down as a group of security guards led Risa from the house to the limo.

“She lied about so much to you,” Suju said. “And it ate you up inside.”

Kalei slipped out of the security guard's grasp and ran to the limo. She started yelling at Risa, but the windows didn't roll down.

“I don’t get why you’d lie to me,” Kalei said. “Why you’d keep this from me!”

The limo sped away. Kalei fell to her knees and started punching the ground. She grabbed her mouth to stop the blood.

"And that's when your fangs really came in," Suju said. "It's only been a bit of time since then, an hour maybe. We were able to get you right away."

"I'm so confused." I said to Oka, who nodded in agreement.

Suju chuckled to himself.

"I have to confess something," Suju said. "I'm not the Suju Terina. But I am a Suju Terina, and catching a Cani right when their fangs come in is something of an initiation for new chapters of the Order, to fully join the club, so to speak. And we're lucky we found you when we did."

"I don't..." Kalei said.

"The blood of such a fresh Cani in the void is said to be a way to bring her back." Suju said. "I don't expect you to understand this, but even if today was a failure, the Order will appreciate your attempt to awaken Endora. Farewell, Kalei."

Kalei could only stare blankly as each Order of Terina member scraped a fang on a black rock, vanishing as soon as they did. She was back in Risa's backyard, completely alone, her mouth bleeding as her new fangs settled in as it began to snow around her.

“But you’re not alone now,” Kalei's voice said, booming around us like thunder. “They’re right here for you.”

Kalei was standing now with her back to us. She waited a moment before turning around.

“Oh, hey,” Kalei said. “Did you guys see all that?”

Kalei tried to keep a strong voice, but it just gave away how much she was crying. Oka and I ran to her and hugged her.

“I’m sorry I got so mad,” Kalei said. “When I knew you guys were keeping something from me…I thought it was happening again. I blew up because I couldn’t go through it again.”

“It’s alright,” I said. “I’m the one who should be sorry.”

“I hate when people see me cry,” Kalei said as we all sat down. “Just like look away for a minute, alright?”