by S D Huss
Daniel shook his head. “You just don’t give up, do you? NO, Delmos. The answer to your question, for the fiftieth time, is NO.”
“I thought you said hundredth?” He shot back.
Footsteps on the sand broke the conversation, and the two men looked up to see Avria and Katrina approaching. They wore fine training leathers, with their weapons at their hips.
“Finally!” Delmos exclaimed. “Did you have to take an hour to bathe? It takes me five minutes.”
Avria ignored her brother and crossed her arms when she stood in front of Daniel.
“I want to sate a curiosity I have.” She said, gesturing to Katrina. “We have been discussing some of the differences between you Humans and the Dae, and some theories have formed. One of them is potentially dangerous, and I would like you to try it for me.”
“Me?” Daniel said, annoyance in his voice. “Why the hell would I do that? Are you a scientist now or something?”
“Dan, this could be interesting. Trust me.” Katrina said.
He furrowed his brow and looked at Avria again. “Well, what is it?”
“What we were doing when you rudely interrupted us. It is a type of meditation, but very few Dae of my level are able to achieve it easily.” Avria explained. “It is called Dunum Dae Espea, and in words that you might understand, it is the area within a different plane of existence where the Dunamis can be manipulated… or taught. Normally you would have to travel to one of the Libreas to achieve this knowledge, but we don’t have time for that. The Torre’ would never allow it, even if Agron becomes king. Dae have difficulty finding this, but from how Katrina described your… experiences in the Espi-Dae temple, when you discovered your power, I believe you both may have inadvertently entered this state.”
Daniel nodded in intrigue. “That still doesn’t explain why you need me for this, Katrina was there too, and she’s a human, AND she’s your pupil.”
“I was successful, Dan,” Katrina said. “I already managed to get in. She just wants to know if it’s easy for ALL humans to do this. That way, it's more likely that its a unique ability for humans, and not just me being amazing.”
Daniel’s eyes widened. “Really. So, you were both in the… Dunum Dae whatever?
“Yes,” Avria said. “You are able to enter the state together with someone if you concentrate enough. It is very difficult, and easily broken if one of your rude and obnoxious brothers starts yelling about nonsense.”
“It was not nonsense!” Delmos protested. “I saw more skin of yours than a brother ever should. I thought you'd be sympathetic!”
Avria rolled her eyes.
“Well.” Daniel continued. “Why were you both dressed like that?”
“Because it was hot, DAN. We were sweating like crazy.” Katrina barked. “And we didn’t expect two perverts to waltz in unannounced.”
“Whoa!” Delmos shot back, in his most offended voice. “Daniel is NOT a pervert. I am, but was too disgusted at seeing my sister to notice you.” He grinned. “However, now that the horror has passed, I must say you look amazing.”
“Enough.” Avria huffed. “Will you help me with this, Daniel?”
“I suppose. I mean, Katrina did it. I should be able to as well.” He answered. “Why did you say it was going to be dangerous though?”
“Well.” She started. “In this state, you are technically in the same plane of existence as the Spirits. If you aren’t prepared, they might come to see what all the fuss is about. Not all Spirits are… well, as understanding and nice as Gro’ak or Kon. There is also the chance of attracting a… well, a Demon.”
“A Demon?” Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow.
“They are never seen any more, really. However, there are several tales of Dae who were devoured while exploring powerful abilities in that state. They were possessed and tried to kill everything around them back in this world.”
“So, when everyone was calling us Demons, they thought we were…”
“Physical embodiments of these… things.” Avria actually seemed a bit disturbed by the topic, and took in a deep breath. “Anyway, nothing like that has happened for at least several hundred years, so the risk of that is very low. And, I will be there with you to ward off any curious Spirits. Also, I’m sure that Gro’ak is observing from somewhere, and will keep any harmful ones away.”
“Hmmm.” Daniel thought, his face twisting. “You don’t need me to… you know.”
“No,” Avria said hotly. “You do not have to remove any clothing.”
◆◆◆
Avria closed her eyes, again in the center of the training field at her estate. She sat now with her legs crossed, and Daniel across from her in an identical posture, trying his best to concentrate. Katrina and Delmos were nearby as well, but knowingly gave them space to work.
“Just breathe,” Avria said, doing her best to sound soothing, something she found extremely difficult to do. “You can see it within yourself, can’t you? The flame? That same heartbeat of power you felt?”
“Yes…” Daniel said.
“Good, now focus on it. Do you remember the first time you saw it? The first time you felt its power coursing through your veins?”
Daniel didn’t answer right away. He sat for nearly a minute in silence and finally responded with soft words. “I see it…” he said.
“Very nice, now follow my lead. I am going to--” She was cut off by a swirl of light in her mind, she was hit with immense power, and screamed as it tore at her skin. She felt it boil and melt with an extreme heat, then she suddenly found herself in a vast and hot desert.
Avria looked from side to side, startled by the sudden and horribly painful transfer to the Dunum Dae Espea state. Every state was unique, depending on who was the figurative captain of the ship. She was just a passenger in Daniel’s journey and was in his version.
“Daniel?” She called, looking for the man. This was HOT. She looked up at a blazing and unrelenting sun. Katrina’s was pleasant, a meadow filled with flowers and streams that brought cool, refreshing water to them. -It took much longer with her.” She thought. -How did he manage to get here so fast?-
She turned around and was startled by the sight of a man in a very strange attire. He had a helmet on his head and was covered in a strange digital looking uniform. There were gadgets and pouches all around him, and he held a strange tool in his hands that was strapped to his chest, it all looked cumbersome and uncomfortable. He was facing her, but looking to his right. He turned once she took a step closer. She paused when she noticed that the strange man was in fact, Daniel.
“There you are.” She said. “That was quick, and you proved my theory, I think. I must say that I’m very impressed with how fast you…” She looked closer and noticed that he was not looking at her, it was almost as though he was studying something through her. His eyes were hard, younger, but within she saw unimaginable pain and sorrow. Un-blinking, they smoldered with an intensity she had never seen before.
Suddenly the world around her began to change, and buildings of stone and wood began to form around her. She was standing in the middle of a strange street, in a world she now was starting to think was his home, Earth. Strange machines appeared that had wheels, and were controlled from within by men in identical uniforms. They rumbled loudly and were extremely disconcerting to look at. On top of them were humans who sat in a small hole, holding the same strange black tool Daniel was, but behind a shield of some kind. The town or city she was standing in was covered in trash. Many of the buildings or dwellings looked as though they were damaged or poorly built. She saw strange wires and poles erected at their flanks, and a strong smell hit her nose.
-By the spirits…- She thought. -This IS his home… but how did… oh no!- She tried to walk to him, to snap him out of it. The Dunum Dae Espea state was not widely understood, and those who ventured in needed to have a purpose. Katrina obeyed Avria’s instructions before and followed her in. Daniel dove in on his own and merely pu
lled her along for the ride. He had no anchor and must have fallen into one of his memories by accident. -Why are we back in his world?- She thought, frustration setting in. She lifted her hands up to put a stop to it, using her own power but hesitated. What was a pinprick of curiosity turned into a torrent, and she could not help but wonder what kind of world these humans came from. The sights were strange enough, and from what she was seeing, it looked hideous.
Suddenly Daniel was walking in a formation, with several dozen other humans, all staggered around one of these machines, that lumbered along slowly down the middle of a road.
“Daniel!” She yelled, snapping her fingers and trying to touch him, but he didn’t seem to notice her. Instead, he lifted a black box attached to his left shoulder and spoke into it.
“One-actual, this is Stallion, come in, over.” He said. She almost didn’t recognize his voice. It was coarse and tired.
Suddenly another voice chirped from the strange black device. “Send it, Stallion, this is One-actual, over.”
“Be advised, there are several high-rise buildings about three blocks north of our current position. I would advise taking it slow, it looks like this is where those shots were coming from, over.”
“Roger that Stallion.” The device said. “C.O.C. is saying this is one of the points of interest from an intel brief this morning. We got some time, let's move in, set up security, and start making friends. How copy, over?”
“Roger. Full copy, out.” Daniel said.
-What are they talking about?- She thought, unable to understand the strange vocabulary they were using. She walked for several minutes with the humans she was now assuming were warriors of some kind. No matter what she did, she couldn’t seem to get Daniel’s attention. She knew she couldn’t linger much more as the longer she spent in here, the more dangerous it was for both of them. -This must be when he was a warrior in his world. A Marine- She thought, remembering one of Katrina’s conversations, and feeling somehow guilty for peering into the mind of someone she knew was very private and isolated, without his knowledge or control.
The formation approached the tall buildings she heard him talking about, and they reached up about fifteen or twenty stories. They looked very blocky but seemed somehow out of place in this city.
The machines stopped moving, and the human warriors on this patrol fanned out into strategic areas, to better protect them. Having grown up in a military family, and seen battles of her own, she knew that this was an exercise that was well practiced.
“Fives and twenty-fives, gents!” Daniel yelled, causing other men to echo his command and to follow it. She wasn’t sure what they were doing exactly, but the discipline and instant obedience to his order made her understand a bit more why he had been so difficult to control. This was a man who had clearly held great respect in his command over his fellow warriors and was by no means a ‘whelp’ by Lokkadonian standards.
Suddenly there was a loud crack that split the air, startling Avria. The sound was so sudden and thundering, it hurt her ears. One crack turned into many, and the warriors began shouting and finding cover. Projectiles moving faster than anything she had ever seen before began to impact around them, slamming into the pavement at her feet, and clanging against the metal machine. Daniel and his Marines moved methodically, and Avria could see Daniel behind what looked like a wall of stone. He held up his strange tube-like tool and aimed it upward toward one of the buildings. Avria looked up to see flashes of fire, and projectiles impact against the wall he was taking cover behind. She fell to the sand but rolled to where Daniel was, shaken by the intense battle that was now raging.
“Suppress those mother fuckers!” He yelled, belching fire of his own out of the black tool he carried across his chest. Glass shattered where he was aiming, and a torn body hung lifelessly out of a window, his head open, and blood streaming out.
The utter chaos of the battle terrified her. They had no power… no way to protect themselves from this weapon. She saw one of the human Marines struck by an unseen projectile. They were moving too fast to catch with her eyes. Red blood gushed from the wound in his shoulder, and he cursed loudly at the agony he surely felt.
“Sergeant Peirce!” One of the warriors called from behind, causing Daniel to turn towards him. “We got Tangos coming in from the south! Second section was hit at the same time! A god damn coordinated attack!”
“What are we looking at, Lopez!?” Daniel asked, launching projectiles back at the building.
“Small arms and RPGs! We got no air support or arty, you can thank the brass for that shit, Sergeant.”
“Fuck em’, we can handle these assholes!” Daniel started speaking into the black box at his shoulder, and it squelched its muffled responses.
“Why haven’t they hit us with those RPGs!? We’re sitting ducks out here, we’ve got to take that building quick. Better cover!”
“Maybe they fucked up!?” Lopez yelled, “I’m not going to question it!”
Daniel yelled commands over the ear-shattering chaos, and methodically and efficiently, the warriors began to attack the building. They suppressed the areas that their enemies had a foothold on and moved under the cover of their own fire. Once one small group moved, they fired, and another would move. Bounding to the entrance, they began to enter.
She turned to the machines behind as they began vomiting flames from the weapons atop them. The sound rattled her to her core, and she reeled in response, following Daniel into the building.
-I have to stop this.- She thought. -I wanted to see more, but this is too much!- She closed her eyes and focused on her own Dunamis. It thrummed at her attention and she brought it forth. -It looks like I'll have to hijack him from here by force.- Electricity bulged from around her, and she unleashed it in a fury. Suddenly the chaos of the battle ceased, and all the human warriors who were doing their bloody duty were frozen in place. All except Daniel, who looked around in confusion.
“What the hell?” he said, looking at his companions in shock. “How the… what the fu-” He froze when he saw Avria. She glowed with power, and electricity flowed around her, beautiful and terrifying. At first, he looked at her, confused and startled, but as he met her eyes, she saw the Daniel she knew come back. He melted back into existence right before her.
“Avria…?” He asked, a quiver in his voice. “What are you…? How did I…?” He looked around the inside of the building; at the frozen faces of his old comrades and fell to his knees. “Oh… God…”
Avria approached him and put a glowing hand on his shoulder.
Suddenly she gasped and opened her eyes to find she was back in the training area in the Regios estate. She let out a relieved breath and noticed that Katrina was holding her shoulders. And saying something.
“My Lady! Are you alright!?” She shouted.
“What?” Avria said, a bit confused. “What happened?” She looked to Daniel, across from her, who was sitting up, and staring at the sand.
“What happened!?” Delmos roared at her. “You were both gone for hours! We were starting to think we lost you!”
Avria reeled at the information. “Hours?” -It couldn’t have been more than thirty minutes or so- She thought. She stood on shaky legs and stumbled to Daniel. “Are you alright?” she asked softly and with genuine concern in her voice. The fresh images of his alien war flashed in her mind.
“Now you know…” He said, almost in a whisper. “Now you know me more than anyone here…” He looked up at her, his eyes red and filled with the same rage she saw in the Dunum Dae Espea. It was the same distant, callous hatred he had while he looked upon his enemies in that violent desert city. He said nothing more, only stood and strode away from them and the training field, ignoring calls from Katrina and Delmos for him to stop.
“Now I know…” Avria said softly to herself.
chapter 44
Oros wrung his hands around the leather reigns he held atop his Cro’kan. Battle was no stranger to the man, but n
o matter how many times one faced it, the familiar pang of fear was always present. He gazed onward toward the Rexunii army that had assembled to challenge him. The force was much smaller than he had expected. One of his aides used her Dunamis to create a magnified image of where he looked, and he focused on their general.
“So that’s Turak, hmm?” He grunted. “Doesn’t look like much.” He smiled at the sight of his adversaries’ strange mask. Its horns were exaggerated and looked quite ridiculous to him.
Nasha shifted beside him, her own mount fidgeting with the pre-battle tension that filled the air. The squires and generals that loitered around seemed confident and content with the arrival. They had been burning their way through Rexunii territory for nearly a week and were almost upon Thule, their capital city before any real opposition could be mustered. That was a good sign to him, it meant the Lokkodonian blitz into their territory was well executed and effective. -Let’s hope they are in a panic over there- He thought to himself.