Free Transcending the Legacy by Venessa Kimball Page A

curfew.
    Ezra asks, “Who mandates the curfew?”
    Daniel replies, “We do.” He looks down briefly, then scratches his temple. “It is going to be hard for you to grasp that we don’t have government enforced laws out there anymore. The old society, the one you knew, has ceased to exist. The only thing mandating us, is surviving the evolution and the Dwellers attacks as long as we can.” Daniel glances at me and says, “Or until we are saved.”
    Ezra counters him. “We may save ourselves. As evolution goes, there is death and rebirth. The end of one cycle leads to the beginning of a new one. Each rebirth is more resilient, stronger, more adaptable. Maybe the death that must happen isn’t a true death. Maybe it is a metaphorical death. Maybe we can overcome it.”
    He surveys the guardians, seeking support, but no one responds. He is grasping for straws now and it makes my heart break for him. He is trying to save me, keep me from being the one burdened with the legacy, but he can’t.

 
    - Kyoto, Japan
    The sound of yelling, gunfire, and blood-curdling screams are dulled as I let my mind escape far away from this moment.
     
    * * *
     
    I knew things would be different when I returned. I assumed they would be in my favor, but I was wrong. As soon as I hit the tile in that Dobrian facility, death began to settle within me. The suctioning boom of the wormhole sealing behind me brought me to full attention, eyes wide and searching my surroundings for the others.
    I only stopped Sam and Sebastian temporarily beyond the veil and I hoped I had finished the task I was intended by my father, ending Jesca Gershon Kahn. Her father, Ezra was a bonus kill. His bloodline was tainted long before him when his ancestors committed to guard and protect the ones that carried this legacy. A legacy created to prevent our world and the inhabitants from reaching their maximum potential. All of them were tainted, blind of what we could become if we let the evolution take hold.
    Feeling my throat beginning to spasm, I see Ezra, Sebastian, Sam, Jesca, Nate, and Xander splayed out on the ground, a visible haze of dust floating in the air above them once stirred by the vortex. I watch each of the bodies for movement. They are alive, breathing , but unconscious.
    I shove off from the ground expecting it to be effortless, but my arms can barely lift my chest from the ground without the support of my knees; I use them as leverage to get my body most of the way up. I pinch my eyes closed in pain from the vertigo and splitting headache.
    I try swallowing to sooth the tension in the back of my throat, but I have no saliva. My mouth is drying up! I have to get up, get water and find help! All of a sudden, I see movement; it’s Sebastian. As soon as I see him, my vision begins to blur and a feeble wheeze catches in my throat. I cough softly to clear the feeling of my throat tightening, but it only leads to a fiery and excruciating assault on my esophagus upon inhale. Using my hands to push myself to stand, I wobble on my two feet and stumble, almost falling again. I clutch the open doorway ahead of me. Every breath I take results in a horrific sound; the sound of the raw chaffing substance coursing along my esophagus, within my lungs, flowing throughout my body.
    The less I breathe, the longer I will last.
    I slowly fill my lungs with world’s scorching ingredient, hold it within, and begin to run. At first, I stumble, but then my adrenaline kicks in and I am racing through hallways, checking doors along the way while releasing an inkling of the deadly substance every few feet.
    That is one release. Don’t be wasteful , Michael.
    The less I breathe, the longer I last , becomes my mantra as I search for an escape.
    Every knob I turn is locked, e very hallway dimly lit with yellowing lights. The farther I walk and stumble, the white tile floors become concrete.
    I release another small sliver of life from my lungs before reaching for the iron doors