by Scott Toney
“We will, or we will die,” Riad spoke calmly. “We bested the beasts below the earth, surely we can handle ten men.”
Ivanus’s mouth was dry and he gulped down the anticipation rising within him. “And if they appear peaceful?”
“Then show me by aiming your weapon to the ground. Then I will approach and you will remain here, watching my back but unseen.”
An hour passed in the scorching heat as the men knelt in wait.
Ivanus watched the men. They moved with certainty, never turning or speaking, but gazing toward their position the entire time. “They will be upon us soon,” he whispered as Riad looked coldly ahead. “They do not appear hostile, but their faces are so cold. I believe Samuel may be controlling them. Their eyes lock to our position.”
“Then we attack,” the borg spoke lowly, his arms steady as he held his massive weapon firm.
Ivanus counted his breaths as the men reached them. They stood in a line a short distance away.
“We come for the boy,” an almost mechanical and yet human voice came from beyond the boulders.
A shiver crept through Ivanus as he saw what would happen before it did.
“Guile?” Riad asked, stepping out from the boulder with weapon braced. “How are you alive? I witnessed your deaths.”
“Dive!” Ivanus shouted, seeing the blasts before they occurred.
Multiple charges of electricity battered the mountain base as Riad dove low, firing his weapon on the group of ten. “Run!” he called.
Ivanus held his arm out, firing on their enemy and then pulling it back to safety as charges of electricity burst around the boulder’s edges. The hairs on his arms stood on end as he felt the stone being charged by the blasts. He dove low as the boulder exploded, raining shards through the air. As he looked up, Riad moved before him.
“Up the mountain! Retreat!” Riad called.
“No, watch your left shoulder,” Ivanus said.
Riad adjusted just in time to avoid a blast. A detonation of blue lightning rocked from Riad’s gun in return, charring the attacker’s head from his shoulders. “Stay with me then! My shield is up now!” Just as he spoke an almost transparent blue shield materialized before his body, holding off the battery of blasts that thrust against it from the remaining enemy.
Ivanus stood, his gun braced before him. He was careful to remain behind the shield. Through the electrified light of explosions rocking the shield he could make out the faces of the men attacking. Their forehead structure and eyes reminded him of Riad. “They are your people, aren’t they?”
“Our only hope is to take them now.” Heat radiated off Riad’s mechanics. “They are not themselves. They react like drones, but even drones would realize our shielding and adjust strategy.”
Ivanus followed Riad as they approached, firing blasts around the shield and contacting with the armor of the men.
Spheres burst up from Riad’s cybernetic arm, thrusting about the enemy and shocking the earth with explosions. His shield crackled and he lit up the enemy with charge.
Ivanus ran from Riad, firing his weapon at an enemy away from the others and dropping to the ground to escape a blast electrifying past. Another bolt charred the sand beneath him, sending molten globules upward as he rolled away just in time. He stood quickly, firing into the man’s weapon, causing it to backfire and maim the enemy’s arm.
The weaponless soldier came for him, good arm outstretched, and Ivanus hit his body armor with blast after blast until the man fell, writhing on the earth.
In his sight he witnessed a man standing over Riad with a gun pressed to his skull.
Ivanus turned, running and leaping over the fallen body of an enemy Riad had felled, while witnessing one of two remaining enemy soldiers charging Riad’s body with electricity and knocking him to the ground.
In a moment the man stood over Riad, gun pressed to his head.
“Over here!” Ivanus shouted, firing at the attacker’s armor. The man hesitated, only briefly, but did not look at Ivanus. Then Ivanus caught the glint of light reflecting off Vrax climbing the man’s back.
A scream of pain pierced his ears as the warrior fell, convulsing in pain.
“Riad!” the remaining enemy called as Riad stood. The man raised his gun in apparent surrender.
“Sar, how do you live? I took your life.”
“He has an essence within him,” Ivanus warned.
“Yes, an essence.” Sar grinned a haunting grin. “That is why, and that is how though you left us for dead we have not died.”
A blood-red glow hovered over them as the dead and wounded warriors convulsed around them. Heads and limbs grew fresh from their bodies, goop covering their forms. The attackers stood, eyes hollow and black as they raised their weapons to attack once more.
“I can resurrect the dead.” Sar laughed, electrifying Riad’s shield. “And Samuel is the one and only lord!”
Ivanus saw Bayne at the mountain’s base with Andral, kneeling in concentration, and then walking amongst the fallen bodies of himself, Riad and the enemy. He clutched his gun tight, dropping to the ground and positioning the weapon in Sar’s direction. The world instantly went dark.
*
A telepathic wave pulsed over everything from the mountain’s base to a great distance beyond the fighting, emanating from Bayne’s chest. Andral, already curled at the base of the mountain beside him, went limp.
Bayne looked out over where the fighting had been. They have all fallen, he thought, looking at the bodies of men littering the barren plain.
What strength I have. I can do anything. I could kill them all.
Or only the enemy. Riad and Ivanus are my friends. He walked to where Riad lay motionless on the earth, reaching down and touching the man’s gun that was still clutched in his cybernetic hand. Could I take this from you? he wondered.
A red light blinked in the corner of his vision, startling him. It came from the bot on Riad’s leg. “I will not take the weapon,” he assured the thing.
The bot hefted itself from Riad’s cybernetics, clacking toward him. With a thrust it punctured Bayne’s leg, sending burning pain through his veins. No, take it. You must, it spoke in his thoughts, then removed its leg from the puncture and sealed itself once more within Riad’s form.
Bayne eyed Vrax for a moment. Then it will not stop me. He pulled at Riad’s metallic hand, prying the massive gun from his grasp, and held it before him. I kill them now, while they are unconscious.
Sar first.
Bayne turned, finding a large man he somehow knew was Sar close by. He pressed the weapon to Sar’s skull and pulled the trigger, incinerating the man’s head. Blood splattered around them, and then oozed from his neck as singed flesh bubbled along its edges.
The power of the moment filled him. He knew it was wrong, but somehow this control and power felt so good. It filled him with energy and excitement.
Is this what pure freedom feels like?
Bayne moved quickly, knowing he had only a short time before the others would regain consciousness. As he came to each enemy fighter he pressed the weapon to their chests, scorching their innards and assuring they would not rise.
Ivanus had a look of fear in his eyes, even though Bayne knew the man was unconscious. “You see all, and yet now, in my time, you see nothing.” Bayne grinned, wiping dirt from his face and then aiming the weapon at him. “I could kill you if I wanted.”
But he will still be of use. Now is not the time.
With a smirk Bayne walked to their final attacker. “Now is your time. You should never have come. No-one will ever take my fate from me again.” A shiver crept down Bayne’s arms as he spoke the words.
Doubt. No, I will let you live. I will leave you for the others.
He stood silently, his clothes rippling in the wind, waiting for his companions to awake.
*
Heat coiled over him as Ivanus opened his eyes. His consciousness returned slowly at first, like a dense fog,
only gradually giving way to reasonable thought. His chest burned as he looked up, coughing and wheezing as he saw the bodies of men littering the expanse before him. He reached out, clasping his gun, watching a figure standing still; a black silhouette in the heat of the suns.
His sight was returning to him, but he could not yet comprehend what things meant.
Then his memories returned in a rush, his head pounding with pain. “Bayne, what have you done?” he asked, not loud enough for the boy to hear, but out of disbelief.
Ivanus stood slowly, bracing his free hand in the sand and pushing upward. He walked through the bodies of their enemy. Blood oozed from them out of gory, blasted holes that had decimated their chests. The one Riad called Sar lay decapitated a distance away.
Bayne stared at him with hollow eyes.
Ivanus swallowed and watched as Riad slowly stood. “What have you done?” he asked Bayne while nearing him.
The boy held Riad’s massive gun in his small hands, aiming it at the final remaining enemy’s skull. “They are dead now, all but this man. I used my ability on them.”
“How could you just slaughter them? They were under Samuel’s control.”
“I saved your lives, all of our lives.” The boy’s voice was firm, without fear or regret.
Something about that worried Ivanus. Shouldn’t there be some remorse? How can a boy your age kill and yet feel so little? “Riad experienced that same effect. Your ability felled him as well, and yet when he awoke his own mind returned to him and now he fights to rid Solaris of Samuel. Couldn’t these men have also assisted us if their minds had been restored to their bodies?”
The man Bayne aimed the weapon at moaned, his body convulsing to life.
“Do not harm him.” Riad joined them, taking his weapon back from Bayne’s grasp. “You did what you knew you must, Bayne. It is in the heat of battle that the hardest decisions come. These men would have gladly killed us. Their lives were your right to take.” Riad thrust his mechanical foot against the remaining man, rolling him over so that he squinted while staring at the suns. An insignia was burned into his forehead and his skin was coarse and raw. “Carcos,” Riad ignited electricity in his gun, “is that you?”
“R… Riad?” the beast of a prisoner asked as if he were a child.
“You have been possessed by a dark priest of this world. He has sent you in a company of our companions to kill me.”
“The last I remember our spaceship was crashing… how is this possible?”
“Watch him, Ivanus, alert me should there be need.” Riad looked to his companion before once more regarding Carcos. “How am I to trust anything you say, any evidence you could give? I need to know if you are still possessed and I am not sure of any certain way to do so.”
The two men watched each other hesitantly for a moment, stillness in the air.
“If I took your life, then I could be certain you would not be my enemy.” Riad pressed the large barrel of his gun to Carcos’s chest, energy surging through it and charging the man with electricity. Carcos convulsed, vomiting and screaming in pain.
Ivanus reached out a hand to stop Riad, to at least insist the man be relieved of his misery, and then saw what would be and stopped.
“Enough,” Riad spoke, ceasing his low level blast. The man’s clothes were charred and he lay half dead. “If you had resisted, then I would have known.” Riad turned to Ivanus. “Will you…”
“Yes, let’s lift his body back to the rocks. We should heal him and see if he can be of use.” Ivanus hefted Carcos’s legs while Riad carried his arms. He wondered as they moved what would come of the essence which departed Sar’s body. Where is it now, this essence which raises the dead? His legs burned as they carried Carcos. What soul will you convince to pair with you? Will they be friend or foe?
Chapter 26
Julieth stood silently, watching children run around the grove of fruit trees Ineal had brought to life in the city’s center. The people of Gest had been kind to her in the few days since the others’ departure and she was coming to know a kind of serenity here. I wish those I left behind in Kaskal could know this. She reached her hand up, feeling the smooth skin of a red fruit, twisting and plucking it from its limb before bringing it to her mouth and crunching a bite. Its sweet juices were fresh and cool as she chewed. I will bring this peace to you. You do not need to know the hardship you do now. There will be healing and eventually the planet will strengthen and the violence will end.
“You can’t catch me!” a boy shouted as he looked mockingly back at another who was chasing him. The young boy threw a small nut at the other, laughing as he moved.
Joy. Did the young ones of Kaskal ever have this, this playful energy and life? Did Bayne ever have their happiness in his soul? She could not remember a time when she had. Her first memories were of starvation and fighting within the city’s own population. She remembered a man being killed by another in front of her over a container of recreated food. She vividly remembered the convulsions of his hand as he died, lying in blood before her. Is that why I am attracted to Ivanus, because he experienced this playful youth and still retains something of it in his spirit?
“Got you!” another boy shouted and then, “Ooomph!” both boys crashed down, laughing as one tackled the other.
Julieth smiled as she took another bite. Warmth came into her heart. The generations of this city and the others we touch will be different. It will take time, but change will come.
A hand clasped Julieth’s shoulder, startling a breath from her. Her wings spread wide and she turned. “Who…”
Ineal stood silently, knowingly watching her eyes. He lifted his hand, motioning for her to follow him.
“Where are we going?” Julieth asked, walking behind Ineal. They passed venders in the streets, some selling rusted metallic trinkets created by working the metal littering the earth beyond the city walls. Others had already begun peddling the fruits growing about them and different shaped leaves from the trees’ limbs. These things were purchased not with coin, but with services or by bartering. It had been a necessity before to sell whatever one could in the streets, but now fruit was abundant and it was more of a peaceful thing to do with the day.
Ineal turned back to her and then pointed beyond Gest’s open gates, to the low-lying area surrounded by trees that she had slept in with the others the night they arrived to the city.
“Why there?” she asked.
Ineal turned away, walking steadily as she followed, leading her beyond Gest’s walls.
As Julieth neared him he stared up at the open sky. A look of concentration… possibly fear, weighed heavily in his eyes. “Where does the planet’s spirit lead you now?” she asked, standing by his side as Ineal kneeled to the earth.
The pale man touched the soil before him, and though he could not make noise, Julieth could almost feel the reverberation of a tune moving through the wind that had not been there moments before.
There was silence next.
Anticipation.
A breath.
And then the earth shook violently, sending Julieth to her knees as she clasped the arid soil with her nails in an effort to gain control.
Crack! Crack! Limbs of the newly birthed trees splintered down about them. Screams of fright sang from within Gest. And then all was still again.
All was as it had been, except for a slim crack that ran across the earth beneath the trees. Julieth followed the crevice with her eyes back to the tip of Ineal’s finger, where it began.
Ineal turned to her, holding out his free hand and closing her eyes with the movement of his fingers.
She heard something in the darkness, a hissing sound and then a gentle rush. What is it? she wondered, and then felt it as it met the soles of her feet. A cool sensation gently lapped over her toes. It cannot be. Julieth opened her eyes. Before her stretched a vast body of water, clear and crisp. It rose around her ankles; then neared her knees, flooding up from the crevice Ineal had ope
ned. It was like nothing she ever experienced and she cupped her hands and dipped them, drinking the substance fully as she brought it to her lips. The water moved between the trees, their veranda stretching above as sunlight filtered through.
Julieth turned to look back at Gest, witnessing a guard pointing excitedly at them and shouting, before looking back to Ineal and seeing he held two clay bowls. She did not know where they came from but took one as he handed it to her. Did he create them from the sand beneath us? Nothing would surprise her now. As Ineal dipped his bowl she did the same and the two walked out of the rising water back toward Gest.
They offered the water in their bowls to the city’s people and then led them to the water to drink.
Chapter 27
Julieth, a voice called to her in the distance. White light surrounded her and when she held her hands before her she saw it shimmering over her black silhouette.
Where am I? she thought, shivering in the stasis void… and then… Earth Mother?
Yes, my child, it is I.
Why do you speak to me?
Because you have questions, because Ineal needs your strength.
For a moment there was silence. Questions, what questions did she have? Today Ineal opened Solaris’s crust and brought a great lake of water where there was none before. How is this possible? How can he do these things?
I am Solaris’s essence. How do the suns rise? How does the breeze blow? How did your mind awaken out of nothing in your Mother’s womb before you took your first breath? These things are. They exist because they are willed to exist. So was the lake created and the water shared. Do not ask how, but instead give thanks for the gifts.
What can one like you ask of me, one who can do these things in our world with a thought? I cannot speak to Ineal, only to you, and I cannot understand him.
Listen, child, and you will hear. Ineal speaks in his mind, but those thoughts travel in the wind… And you are needed more than you know. Men to the West come for Gest’s water and fruit. There will be a storm in the hearts of Gest’s people and Ineal cannot quell this. Only a person of Solaris can change man’s ways. Man is receptive to the gifts given, but does not understand them yet. Man strives for existence, while you strive for peace. This is your great mission. In your heart you have the ability to save all.