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exploded from Bayne’s body, felling the cyborg, the other man and Julieth to the ground. They did not move.
    Bayne held his hands before him, stunned by what had just happened, not knowing what caused it. What was more bizarre was that there was complete silence, outside of the wind, where just before the sounds of battle sounded around the city. What is going on?
    It only took a moment, and then after seeing no movement from the cyborg or anyone else Bayne ran as fast as he could to Julieth’s side. Her body lay limp but he could feel her heartbeat in her veins.
    He touched her palm, feeling the warmth of her skin and holding it tight to his chest. “Wake up,” he said. “I need you.” Feathers from her wings ruffled in the wind. No reply came.
    He walked close to the cyborg and watched as the gears in his leg and arm spun and clicked. The borg’s body was half flesh, half metallic. Lines of boiled flesh covered his skin and there were markings from the possession of an essence on his cybernetic hand. The borg’s one metallic eye glowed an eerie red, and then slowly transformed to a soft electric-blue.

Chapter 3
     
    A steady, aching pulse surged through Julieth’s mind as she opened her eyes. Sunlight blinded her. Her body sweltered in the heat and her throat was parched. The mesh mask she wore clung to her face, digging into its form. She reached up slowly, grabbing the mask with her hand and tearing it away. The essences would protect her from the rust-wind. There was no need to wear it any longer.
    “Ugh.” Her body ached as she lay in the street where she fell. Why am I not dead? In the sunlight, looking out over the street, she saw the cyborg motionless on the ground. A faint blue light glowed from his metallic eye. Ivanus also lay motionless in the corner of her vision.
    Her heart raced. She heard nothing but the wind. How could that be? she wondered, and then braced herself to stand. Surely his weapon would have killed me. What is happening? She reached back to where her wing had been hit by the cyborg’s blast, feeling fresh muscle and goop where the hole had been. Tiny feathers poked through the flesh. She could not feel it healing, but instead felt a throbbing pain in her back.
    What is that sound? Julieth thought, hearing a muffled noise close by. She scanned the street, at first seeing nothing but the cyborg and Ivanus’s bodies, but as she listened to the low noise she saw a youth’s figure in the shadows, hunched against a building’s wall. It held its head in its hands. It was crying.
    Bayne? she thought, careful to be stealth as she went to him. She caught the breeze in her wings and used it to lift her higher on her feet so that she could not be heard. It was him, she could see him clearly now as she approached.
    “Bayne,” she said lowly, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Why are you here?”
    Bayne startled and then calmed as he looked up at Julieth, wiping tears from his eyes. He stood up to embrace her. “I thought you would die,” he said, shaking in her arms. “What happened? One moment the metallic man aimed his weapon at you, and the next a force hit and you all fell to the ground.”
    “I don’t know.” She continued holding the boy and wrapped her wings around them both. We are not safe, she thought, keeping her eyes fixed on the borg. Whatever did this, the effects wore off on me and could wear off on them as well.
    Julieth suddenly realized the opportunity that presented itself. “Stay here,” she told Bayne. She lifted into the air, just slightly off the ground, and flew near the metallic man. I do not want to kill, she thought, but you have left me no choice. And you may not be a man at all, because you certainly don’t have the heart of one. She slowly drew a fire-powdered arrow from her quiver and leveled it at the cyborg’s skull. She was about to release it when she heard him speak.
    “Samuel,” the borg mumbled in subconscious distress. “…no…no, I