Chapter 154: Birthplace and Grave
"Why don\'t you let me go on missions? I\'m going insane in this city! I need to kill something!" Said Hector. Sera just took a small sip of her tenth drink and looked at him with narrowed eyes.
It made Hector pause a bit, which was kind of funny since they were only narrowed because her eyes couldn\'t really focus on him. Only now did she realize that these past couple of drinks were even stronger than before.
"You know Hector, I don\'t like you very much... *Hiccup* You are good in a fight and for fucking, but otherwise you bring nothing to the table... Look at the others for example. Bran and Melinda do most things related to the city, and even Kathy and Percy try to work for their positions! You are just... *Cough* Use...
*Cough* Less..."
Slowly her breathing grew more and more labored. With a bit darkened vision she looked around to find the bartender, but he has disappeared. After another few seconds she began violently coughing.
Hector was about to shout back with anger, but he quickly realized that Sera was currently choking. His eyes snapped to her drink and after a quick smell he determined that the drink was poisoned. Continue your saga on mvl
"HEALER!" He shouted into the crowd. Every single one of the thousands of people turned silent and a few evolved with healing aspects came to Sera aid, running.
At this point her face was deathly pale and her breathing inefficient. Her vision was also fully dark, she also lost her sense of smell and touch. The only way she could perceive reality was through hearing.
Currently the healers were using all of their powers to cure Sera, but nothing seemed to be working. After a long time or maybe in a couple of seconds her other captains arrived. They began arguing as well. Eventually Bran sent all of them away to hunt down the assassin.
"I\'m sorry Captain... We tried everything, but... Nothing\'s working..." A female voice said, one of the healer\'s, Sera thought. Next she heard a sad male sigh, which she immediately noted as Bran.
"I understand... I will take her to The Field of Resurrection then." Strangely enough her sense of balance was still active, so Sera noticed when Bran lifted her off of the ground and began taking her elsewhere.
While walking, he talked to her. "How much will it be? 390? 391? If you go like this, soon you will reach 400!... We can have a celebration then too!
Maybe one that doesn\'t end up with you dying..."
It was strange how quickly he dropped the \'best subordinate\' act when they were alone. It was kind of comforting, but that was probably the alcohol and the feeling of dying... again...
Bran said it as a joke, but the reality would be truly mortifying for anyone other than her. Dying that many times, remembering each death, all the pain and suffering... Sera had no idea how her soul wasn\'t in pieces yet.
But then again, maybe it was. Maybe her soul was either fully broken or not there anymore! That would explain her lack of emotion.
She felt downward movement and Sera knew that she finally arrived to her birthplace. In her mind she remembered The Field of Resurrection, where she currently laid.
Around a few hundred meters the ground was rocky and uneven from all the melting and setting. Around that area there were a lot of black scorch marks from her flames. The inside was the most interesting. In the center there was about a twenty meter crater, which only increased in size after each resurrection.
This crater was both her birthplace and her grave. Where she climbs out of after being reborn and she lays down before dying. The epicenter of her current existence.
Slowly her breathing stopped, then her other vital organs failed including her heart. At last her mind went blank as well and she died for the 390th time in her life.
...
Farther away at the edge of the scorched area, Bran stared off into the distance. It was always painful, leaving her there to die. He wanted to be with her, easing her passing every time, but he knew that would be a death sentence to him and unlike Sera, he would only die once.
He smelt the warm night breeze, which was getting warmer by the second. Even further behind him the soldiers looked towards the middle of the field. In his mind Bran wanted to shout at them, to send them away.
\'Those idiots think this is some miracle or whatever... They can\'t see Sera\'s suffering... The torture her soul goes through after every resurrection... \'
Nobody knows other than Bran and Sera, that her soul is actually getting ripped apart and reassembled after each revival. At some point they found a healer who\'s aspect specialized in souls. He looked into Sera\'s own, but what he saw sent him in a near hysteric state. Sera\'s soul was so broken, it was in tiny pieces.
It wouldn\'t be that big of a problem since souls can slowly heal themselves. The bigger issue was, that her soul was not only broken, but there were missing pieces.
Their working theory is, that Harold somehow stole or destroy them while taking away Sera\'s memories. They think this caused the break in her mind and made her lose every emotion in the process.
While the temperature was slowly increasing the other captains appeared next to him. He looked to the right where Melinda was staring into the distance with teary eyes. It made Bran remember about her past.
She was born in Newber into a pretty good family with two other siblings. Quickly, in first grade she made a friend, a girl with long brown hair and blue eyes. By her account Sera was much different back then and not just by looks.
Using Melinda\'s words, \'She was the nicest and kindest person to ever be born into this broken world... Seems like it eventually broke her too...\'
Bran couldn\'t imagine it. That serious person with those hollow golden eyes, how could she be so full of emotion?
"Did you find the poisoner?" Asked Bran in a low voice. With a bit of effort Melinda managed to take her eyes away from the glowing crater.
"Yes... But he used the poison on himself too... He had nothing on him, except a large rifle, which he would\'ve probably used to kill Lady Seraphine after her resurrection..." Her voice was grim, which was understandable.
The first few attempts on Sera\'s life were pretty bad. They had no idea about her powers back then, only her increasing military records and her closeness to the Federal Alliance\'s higher leadership.
They tried shooting her with a sniper from kilometers away, which Sera could defend against with ease. Other\'s tried to place bombs in her building or a vehicle she was traveling inside, her armor could defend against tank shells, so the mundane bombs didn\'t work either.
But slowly they had become better and better. This current one seemed to be their best attempt yet, which caused a lot of anxiety to Bran. His job would be to secure everything in the city, but assassin\'s constantly managed to get inside.
Suddenly from inside the crater a giant beam of white fire shot up towards the sky and slowly Sera began floating with her wings out. She was currently naked since all her clothes burn away in the rock melting heat. Luckily she was also so bright that nothing substantial could be made out.
Behind them the thousands of people cheered loudly, which caused Bran\'s face to twist in anger. His fist\'s were shaking from the need to knock out every one of his soldiers. Instead he took a few deep breaths and calmed himself.
The flames would only last a few seconds, but the heat would persist for another couple of hours. As the fire dispersed Sera\'s armor got woven into existence just in time for it to cover her alluring body. With a few strong wingbeats she came down in front of the captains.
Gradually they knelt in front of her. Bran didn\'t need to turn around to know that the rest of the soldiers were on the ground as well.
It always amazed him how much Sera\'s presence grew after a resurrection. It reached the level of a transcended, but unlike them, Sera\'s will only last an hour. This was her biggest weapon during battles. She tricked many transcended to be overly cocky and die by her hand.
This in and of itself was a feat no other ascended could do. At least none that Bran knew of.
Sera moved her arms a bit and made a few head circles. After she head gotten used to her body, she sighed and whispered so only Bran could hear. "Dammit. I\'m sober again..."
It took all of Bran\'s power not to burst out laughing immediately. But no matter the effort, the stupid grin didn\'t budge from his face. He slowly looked up at Sera and saw an extremely tiny glint in her eye. The light which few could observe was there, shining.
"Did you have a nice sleep?" He asked with the same smile. Above him Sera tilted her head a bit, then burst out laughing, surprising everyone except Bran.
Sadly it didn\'t last long. As her power settled back into her body, the previous glint in her eyes slowly died out. After every resurrection, there were a few minutes when her emotions aren\'t fully broken, but they go away eventually every time.
The sight was horrible, in some ways even worse than seeing her die. The beautiful face that laughed so wholeheartedly a few moments ago, settled back into its usual hollow state. Her eyes turned away from Bran and stared at Hector.
"Come Hector. Let\'s fuck." And with that she began walking towards her mansion, which was a few dozen meters away. With a large grin Hector quickly jumped to his feet and ran after her.
The other captains just sighed to themselves and went on their way.