War in Heaven

Jessica was on the verge of a panic.

Martin wasn’t picking up. Timoteo wasn’t picking up. Jagesic had already gone to the other side. And she was all alone, in her office, in the Antioch Complex—the district that, as far as she knew, would in minutes become the focal point of the AssMachenstani invasion.  

The specks of light outside, flashing in the halo of Styx, were coming closer, glowing brighter. She had received nebulous reports already of an invasion in Nilbmah, though those did not surprise her. It wasn’t an invasion—it was a Purge. Based on knowledge she had acquired from the other side, it was what AssMachenstan always did before converting a country into a full-fledged ally: it eliminated all possible stray ends, all possible rebels, prepping the country before turning it into as close to a puritanically AssMachenstani satellite as possible. Anyone left behind after the purge would in theory be fertile ground for the AssMachenstani Common Mind to take hold.

Jessica rose from her desk, beads of sweat trickling down her forehead. She realized her knuckles were sore from being rapped on the desk non-stop for the past half hour. Why weren’t they answering? The moment was too crucial for them to be pulling a disappearing act. Were they scrambling? Had they left any loose ends? Or worse, could they be straying from the plan?

The murmur of general excitement was mounting outside. Jagesic had already informed the Foggistani forces in Attica and Coralende of the impending attack. All ground troops in the Antioch Complex were falling into formation. Support from Attica was on its way. But would it be enough?

No. Of course it wouldn’t be. Jessica stared out her office window, her eyes glazing over the busy city lights, the moving vehicles, the gathering tanks and helicopters. She didn’t understand why, if she already knew what was supposed to happen, she kept on stressing like the outcome could be any different. Death and disaster were inevitable. The general confusion that would befall the planet any minute now was inevitable. The pieces she, Jagesic, Martin and Timoteo had set in motion were the only differences now, and they wouldn’t come into play until most of the chaos had already happened. It seemed absurd—she still wasn’t sure she understood the reasoning behind it—but apparently, it was the only way to save the world. It was the only way to prevent the disaster of Planet Breckinridge from repeating itself. Death and destruction were a necessity.

Suddenly, Jessica felt a soft buzzing sensation coming from her chest. “Shit,” she muttered. It was time. She unzipped her jacket and unhooked the small brooch pinned to her vest—the brooch she never removed, and never lost from sight. It was a small pearl, embedded in the center of a triangle made of white gold. To most people, it appeared to be nothing more than a small, decorative object. To Jessica, it was her ticket to the other side.

Now the pearl was glowing. She couldn’t wait much longer.

And yet, the prospect of shifting to the other side was terrifying. She had never done it before. It was a mission unlike any other, one Jagesic had specifically chosen her for. She knew she should be honored. She knew it was a sort of higher calling. She knew the brooch had come as a gift from a being incredibly more powerful than either her or Jagesic; a being she would be in the presence of in just minutes. She knew she wasn’t the first to go through this process. Jagesic had also done it very, very long ago. But how would things change? How would she change? Would she still be a Psychic on the other side? Or like Jagesic, was she about to become… something more?

Jessica placed the brooch in her desk and pulled at her hair, her hands shaking.

A second later, the city sirens emitted their blood-curdling wail. It was a sound Jessica had always been afraid of—a foreboding sound she associated with thoughts of the apocalypse. In a burst of anxiety, Jessica pulled back the sliding glass doors of her office and stepped out onto the terrace.

The night sky was brilliant. The cold wind caressed her cheeks gently. Had she been blessed with ignorance, she would have believed the approaching AssMachenstani spaceships were nothing but beautiful stars, glowing more intensely due to the seasonal mining gasses pushing their way into the stratosphere. But she was not ignorant.

For the last time she admired the bright city lights… The Foggistani helicopters off in the distance, hovering over the farmlands of Econometric Elation, en route towards the heart of the Antioch Complex… The cool night air, playing with her tightly pulled ponytail. She sighed, released her hair, placed her hands on the veranda and closed her eyes. Would everything still feel the same, afterwards?

A tremor.

Jessica opened her eyes. The wind had stopped. The siren’s wail seemed to have grown louder. She looked up at Styx. Something was happening up there. It’s halo seemed to grow brighter… redder… The black band across its surface becoming more defined.

The veranda began to shake. Jessica jumped back, as dozens of dry leaves and tiny pebbles began to rise off the ground around her, floating slowly up into the sky. The grass around the building became erect. Through the darkness Jessica could see the silhouettes of trees in the distant countryside, their branches stretching unnaturally upwards, as if magnetically pulled. Jessica could even feel herself becoming uncannily lighter.

Then everything around her began to rattle. The concrete on the balcony cracked. The glass on the sliding doors began to vibrate with increasing intensity— started to crack—shattered.

A hideous roar of screams then erupted from the direction of the city as the earthquake’s intensity increased. The unnatural brightness of Styx now bathed the entire Antioch Complex in an infernal, blood red light. It was the reversal of gravity.

The attack had begun.

Cars and trees were lifted into the air. Helicopters over the city lost control and whirled headlong into skyscrapers. And just as the earthquake hit its peak, Jessica rushed into her office, deafened at once by the moan of the collapsing building. She could hardly stand straight as she dashed for her desk—reached for the brooch just as it began to float off into the air. She tore the pearl off the white gold triangle, held the pearl between her fingers in a moment of panicked hesitation—

Had she had any doubts before, she now no longer had a choice. In a matter of seconds, the entire Antioch Complex and every one of its inhabitants would cease to exist.

The ceiling groaned, cracked—split off and shot straight into the sky. Jessica herself was lifted off the ground. Horrified, she placed the pearl in her mouth, gave the world around her one last glance, closed her eyes, and bit hard.

Silence.

Gravity returned.

And Jessica’s body collapsed in a dead heap upon the floor, as the wrath of AssMachenstan rained down upon the Antioch Complex.