Nemesis

by Christian Kallias

  Chris’ eyes widened. “Ares is still alive?”

  “Well, he keeps saying he’s not, and I really don’t know what gives.”

  “I guess the term ‘alive’ is relative in his condition.”

  “That about sums it up, I guess. And you are?”

  “Chris. My name is Chris.”

  “I sense a lot of power from someone so young. Are you a Fury?”

  Chris furrowed his eyebrows. “Who are you again?”

  “A friend of Ares. Everyone else I know is dead.”

  Chris pulled up a chair and sat opposite Nyx.

  “You don’t mind, do you?” he said.

  “Makes no difference to me. But I’d like an answer to my question if you wouldn’t mind.”

  “I guess you could say that I’m part Fury. Technically, a quarter Fury, a quarter Olympian, and half human.”

  “So you’re a freak, we Furies don’t mate with other inferior races.”

  Chris hardened his face. “Nice to meet you too, Nyx the Fury.”

  “We have a bit of a problem though, I hate Olympians with a vengeance.”

  “You’ll get over it, most of them are dead anyway. Arakan saw to that.”

  “You know of Arakan?”

  “I’ve had the displeasure of fighting him, yes. But technically it wasn’t exactly Arakan, possibly some Fury-Spectre hybrid or an Arakan meat suit is more accurate.”

  “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “Well, the Spectre called Tanak’Vor took over his body. So he looked like Arakan, but really he was more Spectre than Fury, at least in the end.”

  “Is he dead?”

  “Like every other Fury, my family excepted, yes.”

  “And that Spectre, did he kill the Furies?”

  “I guess you could say he was overly responsible for their demise, but my family were the ones who finished them off.”

  Chris briefly saw a flash of pure hatred inside of Nyx’s eyes before she fired a purple fireball at him. Instinctively, he turned Ultra Fury and blocked her attack with ease. He looked at the fireball, which stopped just mere millimeters from his palm. It looked like one of his father’s attacks. Chris made a fist and the fireball dissolved into nothingness.

  “I’ve had a very long, hard day, so I’ll let this one fly,” said Chris. “But if you ever do that again, I’ll kill you.”

  Chris could tell from the shock in Nyx’s eyes that she hadn’t expected him to block her attack.

  “You—you’re an Ultra Fury, too.”

  “I don’t subscribe to labels, I’m Chris, and I’ll kill anyone that wishes me or my family harm. I can tell you’re not too fond of us right now, so let me ask you this: Do I have to kill you? I wouldn’t want any bad blood between Ares and me. But I’m not found of being attacked unprovoked.”

  “That two-faced son of a b—he lied to me. I should have known not to trust an Olympian.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Ares tricked me to get back to this dimension; he said I’d meet other Furies. And what do I find here, the very people who killed my kind.”

  “Your kind needed to be killed, no offense to you personally. As a matter of fact, until you attacked me, I thought you were rather charming, in a twisted kind of way. I guess I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”

  “Was there a compliment hidden under all that sarcasm?”

  “You tell me.”

  There was a strange energy building between them. Chris didn’t know or understand why, but there was definitely some sexual tension building up, one that was being fueled at light speed.

  Nyx smiled. “I’m older than you.”

  “So what? I’m probably half-immortal on my Olympian side.”

  “This is getting weird.”

  “On that, we can agree. What are we going to do about it, though?”

  For reasons that made no sense to Chris, he felt a strong attraction to the Fury female, even though she was clearly antagonizing him and had just tried to kill him. Perhaps that might have had something to do with the exponential build up of physical attraction.

  Before they knew it, they were kissing while undressing and made animalistic love right there on the mess-hall table.

  Chase was staring at the ceiling of his temporary quarters near the medical center. He couldn’t find sleep, no matter how hard he tried. He had gone looking for Chris, hoping they could have a father and son talk, but his son had telepathically informed him to stay away and that he needed the time apart.

  How ironic that his son would employ the same tactic as Chase had done only a year earlier, something that Chris had given him quite a bit of flack for doing.

  But Chase had an inkling as to what could be going on inside his son’s head, and he was the last person that could fault him for reacting this way.

  Argos had checked on Chase earlier, but the conversation had been short. Now, more than anything, Chase wished he could fall asleep, hoping the night would offer words of wisdom, or at the very least, that getting some rest would help his mood.

  When it was apparent that sleep would continue to elude him, Chase jumped out of bed and took a long hot shower, which had the opposite effect than he had hoped for, making him even more awake.

  He had been standing for minutes in the middle of the bathroom, naked and dripping wet, when the steam evaporated from the mirror in front of him. Chase caught a glimpse of his reflection and had to suppress the urge to break the mirror.

  Instead, he grabbed a pair of scissors and started cutting away big chunks of his hair. Minutes later, it was nearly as short at it had been in the academy, and the bathroom floor was covered with long black hair.

  Chase also decided to shave his beard, even if it really didn’t change how he felt about himself, at least the reflection in the mirror was different, and right now he needed different.

  Epilogue

  When Ryonna beamed into the restaurant on Earth, she was taken by how fancy and beautiful the place looked. Her gaze traveled around the large and romantically lit dining room until her eyes landed on Altair.

  He saw her and smiled. She approached the table as he was pushing his chair back and came to greet her.

  Such a gentleman, she thought.

  “Thank you,” she said. “This is such a lovely place. I’m glad you surprised me with this dinner. I thought for sure after you took a ship to go to battle, you’d have a ton of paperwork to take care of.”

  Altair smiled. He pulled out Ryonna’s chair for her and walked back to his own chair and sat. He poured white wine into both their glasses, starting with Ryonna’s.

  “I do, but it will still be there in the morning. I wanted to spend a nice evening with you now that you’re back. How are things on Droxia?”

  “Same old, sometimes it feels like there are two opposite forces at work there. Those who have fully embraced being part of the Alliance, and the old farts who care more about million-year-old decrepit traditions.”

  “Did you manage to talk with Ronan?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I did.”

  “And?”

  “And my son is a wonderful Droxian, and even though he was surprised, all he cares about is my well-being. So long story short, I have his blessing, which means we can now decide, if that’s what we wish, to stop hiding our relationship.”

  “You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that.”

  “I know this has been hard on you.”

  “I wouldn’t say it was hard. Just not always easy. For either of us.”

  “True. Well, it’s over now. We can tell the world how we feel about each other,” Ryonna said as she took a sip of her wine.

  “In that case, I’d like to tell you how beautiful you look tonight and how much I love you.”

  Ryonna smiled.

  “You’re sweet. I love you, too.”

  Altair reached for something inside his suit jacket.

  “Initially, I wanted to wai
t a little bit before asking you this, but…”

  Before Altair could finish, a waiter was at their table.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, ma’am, but there’s an urgent holo-transmission for you.”

  Altair reacted with surprise. “I wonder who it could be? I haven’t told anyone about our plans. How could anyone know you’re here?”

  Ryonna shrugged. “I have no idea. I haven’t told anyone either. I best check on this urgent call. Did the person give a name?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” said the waiter. “I believe his name was Ronan.”

  Ryonna had tried to contact her son when Altair had left on the Hercules. But then why would the call be urgent? Something didn’t add up, and Ryonna had a bad feeling about it.

  “If you’ll excuse me, love, I—I’ll be right back,” said told Altair.

  Altair removed his hand from his pocket and nodded. “Absolutely, I hope everything is fine. Do you want me to come with you?”

  “That’s alright, you can wait for me here. Hopefully, I won’t be long.”

  When Ryonna arrived at the private guest holo-room, her heart was thumping madly against her chest. She went to the holo-control and pressed the acknowledge communication button.

  She became engulfed in rays of light, and everything changed.

  “What the hell?” she exclaimed.

  She spun around. She was in orbit of Earth, inside a ship whose design she immediately recognized, except. . .it couldn’t be.

  The cockpit holo-screen came to life and filled with the face of her dead husband, Jax.

  That can’t be Jax! I must be having a nightmare.

  He was covered in bruises and blood, his voice trembling.

  “Ryonna, I. . .I’m sorry to do this to you, but I need your help. Ronan is in grave danger.”

  Before Ryonna could say a single word, the ship opened a hyperspace window and left orbit.

  Chase had been using the gravity training room for so long he had lost track of time. Had he been there for hours or days? He didn’t know nor did he care. He had lost interest in firing at holographic targets with his fireballs some while ago. Now, instead, he just stood there, letting his mind wander.

  The doors of the room split open, and a long shadow traversed across the floor. He looked up to see Daniel standing by the door.

  “Hey,” said Chase.

  “I—I have to leave in the morning, and I wanted to talk with you.”

  Chase reached with his mind and set the room’s gravity back to one G. The engine progressively adapted with a fading humming sound. As the gravity returned to normal, the room’s lighting changed colors, from red to yellow, all the way down to green, and eventually returning to a warm white light once the engine was entirely off.

  Daniel stepped in and hugged Chase. It took a little while for Chase to embrace his best friend. But, eventually, he did and clapped him twice on the back.

  “How are you holding up?” Daniel asked as they broke their hug.

  “I’ve been better.”

  “I can imagine. That’s a new look for you,” said Daniel pointing at Chase’s now significantly shorter hair. “I like it.”

  “I needed a change.”

  “Understandable. Want to talk about it?”

  Chase shrugged. “What is there to talk about? Sarah…” but Chase paused. “She’s gone, Daniel, I can’t sense her soul anymore, it feels like she’s just an empty shell now.”

  “I—I don’t know what to say Chase. I’m sorry, I know how much you hoped to cure her. But how come you can’t sense her soul? Doesn’t seem right.”

  “I wish I knew. I’ve been asking myself that over and over. I—I’m sure I felt her soul after she was wounded, heck, even when she was in suspended animation. But now, nothing. It makes no sense.”

  “Could it be you sensed what you wanted to sense back then?”

  Chase pondered the words.

  “Does it matter?”

  “I think it does, Chase. But more importantly, I think you shouldn’t abandon hope. The Spectres are coming, whether it be sooner rather than later, they’ll come and try to claim our universe.”

  “I know. And don’t get me wrong, I do care about what happens, but I’m just trying to process this set of emotions right now.”

  “Yeah, that I can understand. I just hope you’re not going for another spin down a dark place.”

  “I’m this close,” said Chase gesturing with two fingers. “I’ve done everything I can to help, tried to make sure the Furies didn’t destroy every living being in the universe, and was rewarded with nothing but grief for my trouble. Put yourself in my shoes for a moment, what is there to look forward to if Sarah is gone?”

  “We don’t know that she’s gone. You brought Spiros back to life from the Underworld. And you’ve managed to teleport to save your son. Perhaps you could visit Zeus in the Underworld, see if Sarah’s soul is there. For that matter you could also check if they saw Menelas in the Underworld.”

  “I can’t explain how I managed to teleport, and believe me, I’ve thought of going to see Zeus. I have tried. And failed. My teleportation power is gone, at least on a conscious level. I can’t seem to convince my subconscious to activate it to make the trip to the Underworld.”

  “Well, you did it once, perhaps you can do it again. It may not be entirely gone. I’d look at it as a good sign that you managed to do it, even if it was a short distance. At the very least, the power isn’t fully gone.”

  Chase frowned. “I’m not having the best time looking at things in a positive light at the moment.”

  “Then maybe you should spend less time focusing on what you’ve lost and more on what you still have. As well as what you must protect, like your unborn daughter. She’s still breathing, that has to count for something.”

  “She might very well be the only reason I’m hanging in there.”

  “Chase, that’s not like you!”

  “Chris said the same thing. That I used to be this hero, and that I’m now no longer myself.”

  “Look, Chase, you’re my best friend, heck, you’re my brother even, but from the outside, it does look like something changed, and not in a good way.”

  “Could it be that you all put too much hope into the fact that I could fix everything, defeat any enemy, that you didn’t realize that I’m only a living being, not a god.”

  Daniel smiled. “I never thought of you as a god, if that helps.”

  Chase attempted to smile.

  “Look,” said Daniel. “I can only imagine what you’re going through right now. But you still have things to look forward to. Even if you don’t see it right this instant, which is understandable considering…but trust me: there’s still hope. Chris is still here, he’s still your son, and sure, things are tense right now between the two of you, but that can change at a moment’s whim. And you also have Argos, Aphroditis, your mother, and we still don’t know what happened to your father. I, for one, don’t believe anybody is dead unless we have a body to prove it. Even then, stranger things have happened in the last couple of years.”

  Chase had to admit Daniel was making sense. And Chase had not thought of his father much lately. Could he still be alive somewhere?

  “I know…and you’re right. I still have things to look forward to, but without Sarah, all of it seems—pointless. You know?”

  “That I can understand on some level. But, Chase, allow me to be the devil’s advocate here, have you wondered what she would want you to do?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ok, just for the sake of argument, let’s say she’s truly gone.”

  “I’m so glad you came to lift up my spirits…you’re going a bang-up job so far.”

  “Chase! I’m serious. You asked me to put myself in your shoes, so let me tell you what I think, okay?”

  Chase nodded.

  “Alright,” Daniel continued. “Look at it this way, if Sarah is gone, then what would she want you to do? Do
you think she’d want you to give up all hope? And then what? Jump into a quadrinium engine or a pool of lava and be done with it? What does that accomplish? Besides ending a suffering that…and I get it, is very painful. But life is pain, Chase! You’re not the only one who lost…”

  But Daniel stopped himself and wiped a tear forming out of the corner of his eye.

  “I know you miss Fillio. And, I’m sorry. I know many of us lost loved ones,” Chase said.

  “We have and more than likely we’ll continue to with what’s coming our way. But I think what they’d want us to do is to honor their deaths, make sure they didn’t give their lives in vain. When I feel bummed out, I sometimes ask myself, what would Fillio want me to do? You know? So I ask you this, what do you think Sarah would want you to do? Especially now with the Spectre threat looming over our heads. Do you think she’d want you to give up hope? Or would she want you to fight and make sure you looked after Chris and make sure your unborn daughter grow up in a world that’s worth a damn? To protect your children and everyone you both loved?”

  “You know the answer to that, Daniel.”

  “I’d still like to hear it.”

  “She’d want me to be strong, to face whatever dangers are ahead, and should she really be gone…”

  “She’d want you to move on and make a life for yourself. I know this and you know it as well. Right now, hope is a hard pill to swallow, but deep inside, you know that she would never wish for you to feel defeated and give up on life. That would not honor her memory. If anything, you’d be insulting everything she fought for.”

  “You’re right,” Chases eyes looked down. “That’s the last thing she’d want.”

  “You’re damn right about that! If you don’t do it for yourself, then do it for her. On some level you must want to rip these Spectres’ hearts out to get back at them, right?”

  Chase felt hatred fill his soul. Daniel was right. Perhaps his sadness had masked a deeper, stronger emotion—payback.

  Without realizing it, Chase turned into an Ultra Fury. A golden aura engulfed him and radiated, casting moving shadows around him and Daniel. Bursts of golden lightning sizzled near Chase.