Memoria Coalesce's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Memoria knew the ritualist's trail led out the broken door, but the people inside her would not let her go. She was many missing people pressed into one body. Her skin was pale blue, split open in places, and blood seeped through the cracks. She stood in the doorway of the jagged mansion where he had fused them. Bloody handprints marked the walls around her. She wanted to hunt the man who had done this. Every step toward the door tore the seams of her body wider. Some of the people inside her wanted to leave. She felt them lean forward, pushing her out the gate. But others wanted to stay. They pulled the other way, back into the house, back into the dark. Their pull frightened her more than anything outside. When she stepped forward, the two forces fought inside her chest. A crack along her arm widened. Blood ran down to her fingers. At the center of them all sat the child. She was small and quiet, tucked behind Memoria's ribs. Every other person had arranged themselves around her. The child did not want to leave. She only wanted someone to sit with her. When Memoria pushed toward the door, the child's fear spread through everyone who wanted to stay. That fear was the anchor. That was the thing tearing her open. Memoria stopped fighting. She sank to the floor near a fogged wall marked with gold and red handprints. Faint faces seemed to press out from the haze. She placed her hand flat against her ribs, over the child. "I'm here," she said. "I will sit with you." The pull inside her eased. The child settled. The people who wanted to stay grew calm, because the center of them was calm. The crack in Memoria's arm stopped spreading. She breathed, and for the first time her body did not fight itself. "You're doing it wrong." Memoria turned. A teenage girl stood in the doorway. Golden cracks ran across her pale blue skin, the same broken blue as Memoria's own. Her eyes were hollow and black, and blood leaked from them down her cheeks. She was one of the cracked ones. She had been split open the same way. "You can't drag them out," the girl said. Her voice was flat and sure. "They fight you. I've seen it. You have to bring the whole house with you." She wiped blood from her jaw with the back of her hand. "My name is Theyla. I've been hunting for someone cracked like me." Memoria stood slowly. This time the people inside did not tear at her. The child stayed calm, so the ones who wanted to stay stayed calm too. She could move. "Then you know who did this," Memoria said. "No," Theyla said. "But you came out of his house. So you're going to show me the way back in."