Hell

Mortars screeched and exploded in bursts of shrapnel laden fiery death around her, laying ruin to anything in their path. Lille couldn't hear anything over the ringing of her ears from the thunder of the gunfight. The cross chatter from their observer droned on in her helmet's ear piece.

She ducked behind a ruined building as the rest of her team made in their advance, returning fire as they hustled to cover. She pulled her rifle tighter, grateful for body armor. Her squad leader flagged her attention with a quick gesture. It was time to flow through the walls and breech the building.

Lille operated best alone and in situations like this, she had a secret their enemies didn't expect. She placed her hand flat against the wall and muttered a word in a language only she understood. The wall exploded inward and she pressed through.

It was a tight corridor, a choke point to navigate through where she'd be at the mercy of whomever was at the end of the hall. She wrinkled her nose, and touched the side wall, sending a pulse of energy through it. A picture appeared in her mind of a wire frame of the building in a 3D space. People were warm red blobs walking around with distances marked above them.

She took a few moments to get her bearings and stalked the building without fear of discovery. She became a phantom appearing to kill her prey, only to disappear once more. Her parents had told her she had imagined Aaron but she remembered him. He taught her how to kill a man before she understood what it meant, how it'd feel for watch life fade from someone's eyes as they bled out.

The first time it was shocking once the adrenaline faded and the morality of taking a life set in. Was it truly necessary to kill that person? Was it cruel? Was it really them or her? It grew easier once she stopped thinking of her enemies as people. Once they stepped onto the battlefield to kill her, she'd be the one to walk away. Lille learned her lesson about mercy early. She still bore the scars. When she looked at it, it made her wonder what happened to Aaron.

Lille missed her friend but had not figured out how to bring him back. No one had answers. None of the books she found covered how to summon a spirit named "Aaron". It was infuriating.

Her parents tried to pretend that they hadn't forced an exorcism on her or that they hadn't admitted her to an inpatient ward for three years. Perhaps, if things had gone differently, she would've forgotten Aaron and moved on. It only taught her that she couldn't trust them or the church.

She felt the most freedom on the battlefield. There was nothing away from it. As she cleared the last enemy from her path, she came across a bloody altar. Strange symbols were scrawled on the wall with black candles lit in a circle around it. It thrummed with power, someone had been working magic here.

Lille placed her hand over the circle and read the words scribbled on the table. The letters didn't make sense but she suddenly recognized the language when she spoke it. "Aaron, is this our language?"

She recited the words, "Open up the gateway between light and shadow to the void below, where nothing dwells. Rise up oh, angel of destruction, he the black one that calls the void. Awaken within this sacrificial host, Mayrion, I beseech thee. Answer my summons."

Power pooled up and spun around the confines of the circle in a gust of wind. The flames from candles shot straight up and illuminated the dark room before extinguishing in a burst. Lille waited, gripping her rifle as she checked the perimeter of the room. Had it been for nothing after all?

The remains of the soldier she killed sat up, his head reforming as she watched in wonder. "Who dares to call my name...?"

Sightless, white eyes gathered in white jelly and looked at the woman in kevlar, black fatigues, and helmet. Her features were hidden beneath matte black goggles and a black balaclava.

"Mayrion, I called you." Lille replied confidently.

The soldier moved awkwardly as he rose, unaccustomed to it. He took a couple of shakey steps with a short laugh. "Lille. My Lille?"

Lille tilted her head, the voice sounded more familiar. "How... did... Aaron?" Despite her training, she pulled up her goggles and down her balaclava to let the man see her face.

The soldier stared for a long time. He met her gray eyes and appraised its shape. Who else would know that name? How had she discovered his true name after all this time? "Oh my lovely girl."

"My sweet friend." Lille smiled before she recovered her face. "Aaron, we don't have time to catch up. Can you fire a gun? We need to cut across the city to get to the extraction point. I cleared this building but we'll need to breech the next one to avoid drawing attention from their snipers."

Aaron grabbed a pair of sunglasses that'd been discarded on the floor and put them on. He checked the magazine of the rifle that was slung to his torso. After a quick once over, it seemed the only thing that'd been damaged was his head. He didn't know what type of person Lille had grown into but he was excited for this warrior he saw. This was what he wanted but it was dangerous for them both if Lille died now.

"I can make a path. Do you want to kill them all or cross to the extraction zone?" Aaron asked, trying to get used to using a mouth to speak.

Lille considered their options, she had a schedule to maintain. "Not enough time, I want to cross." She listened to the chatter on her earpiece as the rest of her squad started reporting in. "Dust, clear, over," she commented, looking back at Aaron.

Aaron grinned, grateful that Lille was still sharp. He clapped his hands quietly together and pulled his hands apart, the air smelt of hickory and cinders over the acrid scent of gunpowder. There was a distortion of color in front of Aaron the he gestured for Lille to go through.

Lille felt power cleanly and rapidly gathering, folding space. She stepped into the distortion and stepped out in the extraction zone with Aaron on her heels. "Dust plus one, hold fire, over," she quickly radioed.

She waited only for a moment before weaving through ruining cars and buildings towards the extraction point. Gunfire whizzed by her as she ran, not looking back at Aaron. Whatever he was, he was already dead so Lille wasn't concerned with him making it through the killing field.