“All done,” Ace said. “Congratulations, Stryv.”
The Varsk ignored him and brought up his own holoport running an outdated version of the software and checked that the frags had indeed gone through. Judging by the way the alien’s ugly face lit up, the transfer was complete
“Are we all set then, Stryv?” the God-King asked.
“Yes,” the Varsk replied. He reached in his pocket, causing one of the cyberguards to step forward and the others to follow suit. The King held a hand up at them, and they fell back at once.
The Varsk hadn’t pulled out a weapon but a small data chip. “It’s all on here,” he said.
Ace stepped forward and took the file. He plugged it into one of the nearby terminals. The file was written in Varsk. With a few taps of the keyboard, Ace had the computer translate it. Three folders popped on the screen, labeled Map, Photographs, and People.
“Long story short, what you seek is on Xovia. Heavily guarded. I mean, you’d need an entire battalion to get through,” the Varsk said.
“Well, we have just that, my friend,” the King said, putting his hands together, his eyes looking far off into the distance. “Xovia. Xovia.”
“That planet is under our rule, sir,” Ace said. “But they are no friends of ours.”
“Nor will they be, after we are done with them,” the God-King said.
Stryv cleared his throat. “Can I go? We boths gots what we needed,” he said in his deep voice.
“Yes, you can,” the King answered. He stepped forward, hand held out again, but this time the hand would not be empty.
Silver flashed as a blade slid from the King’s sleeve, easily six inches in length, and with a forceful thrust, he buried the entire weapon into the Varsk’s midsection. There was a great burst of blood the same color as Ace’s, and surprise in the alien’s eyes. Stryv fell to his knees with a thud—groaning, gurgling, dying.
The God-King’s face looked old and haggard again. He bared his teeth as he twisted the blade, as the life slowly drained from the Varsk’s wound. “That money is useless to you now, you traitor,” he whispered. “No one backs out on a deal with me. No one tries to ransom me. No one.”
He ripped the blade free, wiped the blood off on the dead alien’s chest, and laughed.
Ace began the arduous process of reclaiming the two-hundred thousand frags. It wasn’t the first time he had done this, either. Once he had secured the money back, working from the King’s main terminal, the cyberguards had already cleaned up the mess the dead Varsk had made. The spot he had died in shined like new.
“Ace,” the King said, no hint whatsoever of his old friend in his voice.
“Yes?”
“Ready a battalion and set course for Xovia.”
“Of course, sir.”
“And Ace?”
“Yes, sir?”
“I want you to lead the assault.” The God-King smiled. “Just like the days of old, my dear friend.”
Ace bowed, then he pivoted on the carpeted steps, past a spot of dried blood the cleanup crew had missed, and headed out of the chamber, his mind whirling. It had been a long time since he led any kind of assault. For the past decade, his job had become more strategic—sitting in front of a viewscreen and moving pieces on a board, like a game.
I mean, that’s all it really is, right? he thought. A game. And I would do anything to keep my king happy.
Five
The newly deemed queen of Xovia, Jade Alanden, meditated in a dark room. Unlike what was common among those who were able to feel the Essence, Jade stood with her eyes closed and her body straight, listening to the planet’s core humming beneath her.
She was just beginning to enter unconsciousness when a tap came from the other side of the meditation room’s door, shattering the illusion of peace she had conjured up for herself.
“Yes?”
“My queen, I am so sorry to bother you, but you are wanted by the Sisters.” The voice belonged to her head of security, a tall, dark-skinned woman named Wylow.
“They do?”
“Yes, my queen.”
“I’ll be right there.” Now put on a brave face.
This sudden summoning from the Sisters frightened her. She had not been called upon since her father, Xovia’s former king, passed away, and that was over two months ago. The Sisters specialized in the Essence. The awesomeness of their power was unknown to all save for themselves, but Jade suspected it to be truly awesome. She, on the other hand, was only a novice student of the Essence. Their queen or not, she was far beneath the Sisters, who’d been serving the Xovian kingdom for generations.
Wylow’s footsteps echoed down the corridor. They were louder than normal because Jade’s senses were heightened by the little power she was able to harness.
She closed her eyes now, took a deep breath, and released her mind. Feeling better, she exited the chamber.
The Sisters lived below the castle, a cavernous space rumored to have been built long before the castle itself was. Each step toward this place proved difficult, tugging on the ropes of dread wrapped around her heart. No good news ever came from a summoning.
I am the queen, Jade thought. I should not feel fear. I must not fear. My father did not raise me to fear.
But the truth: Jade was a young queen. She had never expected to ascend the throne at such an age—twenty-two Common years, the youngest ruler in all of Xovia’s existence. Her father had died from an attack of the heart, a death unforeseen even by the Sisters until it was too late to prevent.
Jade stood in front of the closed doors. They were made of gray wood, their surfaces carved with scenes of Xovia’s great battles. As she reached for the handle, the door swung open slowly.
The inside was dark, the only light coming from hundreds of flickering candle flames; though this did not do much to chase away the shadows.
The Sisters, five of them, sat in a circle, their eyes closed, their hands linked together. They wore dresses of dark satin. Each woman’s hair was a long, silky silver—like the webbing of spiders.
Jade walked to the room’s center and stood before them as the door closed behind her.
“My queen,” the lead sister said. She sat to the right. Her name was Scarleth, and she had been the First. They said she was as old as time itself.
Jade bowed, as was custom to do to one’s elders in Xovia, royalty or not.
“There are dark tidings in the air tonight,” Scarleth said. She turned her face toward Jade and opened her eyes. Beneath the haze of old age, those eyes glowed a brilliant green, close to the same shade as Jade’s own. Besides the color of her hair and the cataracts, Scarleth was youthful in appearance, her body slim and strong, her skin soft and wrinkle-free.
“I haven’t felt anything,” Jade said. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Because you are not reaching far enough,” a different Sister, Reinya, said. “Your mind is too busy with the everyday. You are not focusing on the Essence of the All.”
“Yes, Master Sister,” Jade answered. “You are right.”
Reinya was her primary teacher. In their order, no matter someone’s station, it was customary to call the one who trained you “Master.”
Scarleth raised a hand to Reinya. “Fault her not, Sister. She is new to our company and burdened by the everyday slog that comes with royalty.”
“Slog-schmog!” Reinya countered.
Scarleth went on, ignoring Reinya. “These dark tidings, Jade, they will bring about the end of Xovia as we know it. The end of you.”
“What do you mean?” Jade found herself asking, though she was surprised she could even speak. The shock of the Sisters' words dragged her down to a black and cold place—because the Sisters were never wrong. They saw nearly everything, their powers close to boundless, their mysticism profound.
“She means we are royally screwed! For lack of a better term!” Reinya shouted. She was so prone to such outbursts that the other sisters took no notice. All bes
ides Scarleth bowed their heads, looking dejected.
“I have looked far and deep, my queen,” Scarleth continued, “and I am afraid to say I have missed out on the signs.”
“What do you mean?”
“It is too late to prevent what is coming.”
The dread in Jade’s chest again. She found her voice shaking as she spoke. “It’s not too late. We can gather the soldiers, we can prepare for whatever it is. We have one of the finest armies in the entire galaxy.”
“That is true,” Scarleth said, “but the Xovian army is no match for the iron fist of the Celestial Dominion and their God-King. He has grown in strength and size since he seized our planet. And wisdom…” The Sister bowed her head, a sign she was reaching out into the power of Xovia’s core. By the wrinkling of her brow and the strain on her features, it was a safe assumption that she was not finding what she searched for. “He has unlocked his own powers within the Essence, however evil they may be.”
“What? That’s impossible.” Jade’s hands clenched into fists; her palms moistened with sweat.
“Impossible does not exist, Jade!” Reinya shouted. “Have I taught you nothing?”
“I’m sorry,” Jade replied to her teacher. The fear she had felt earlier mostly vanished, and it now turned into a mixture of confusion and rage.
“He is close,” Scarleth said. “His legion will be here on the morrow, before the sun rises.”
“Then we will fight,” Jade answered. It was what her father would have done. Though he listened to the Sisters, he was not a big believer of their ways. Not many were in such an age of technology. Magic, he often said, belonged in children’s stories.
“Fight we will,” Scarleth said, “but you will not.”
“What? I am your queen. You cannot tell me what to do.”
Scarleth stood. She was much taller than Jade. Her robes wavered, shimmering in the glow of the candlelight. A breeze from nowhere blew silver strands of hair from her forehead. She reached out and took Jade by the shoulders, gently. There was something like a current of electricity that passed from her fingertips into Jade.
“You have served the kingdom well, Queen Jade. Your father would be proud of you for what you’ve accomplished—”
“Accomplished? I have been queen for two months! I’ve accomplished nothing, I’ve proven nothing!”
Scarleth continued on: “And one day, you may come back and serve the kingdom again, but for now your time here is done.”
A lump formed in Jade’s throat as she looked into the Sister’s hazy eyes. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to hide, she wanted to—
Scarleth placed a cold hand on Jade’s arm. “We are not forcing you to go. You can stay if you want, but if you do, you will die with us, and the God-King will have easily won.”
“Not forcing me? It sounds like that’s exactly what you’re doing.” She paused, rewinding the last line Scarleth spoke in her head. “Wait, what do you mean the God-King will have won?”
“He is after something. Something that will give him total control of the universe for eons and eons. He will become more than man; he will be immortal and all-powerful. He will unlock doors that should never be opened. He will bring ruin to our universe.” Scarleth reached into her robe and pulled out a silver chain. Attached to it hung a crystal shard the width of two fingers and the length of one. It looked like an ancient blade.
Jade’s eyes stared as it pulsed with glorious purple light. Her mind spun with streaking stars. The passing of infinity, planets formed from dust, growing larger and larger, then destroyed and back to dust again. Civilizations rising and falling and rising again. Bones and ash and time everlasting. Jade blinked, and a purple flower bloomed now in this vast darkness, a weak light glowing from within its petals. That light, she knew, was hope.
“What is it?” Jade asked of the crystal, her voice heavy.
Scarleth put it away, and whatever trance Jade had fallen under was gone.
“It is part of a key,” Scarleth said. “A key that can do terrible things.”
The other Sisters had risen, and now they surrounded Jade.
Scarleth said, “Our order exists wholly to protect the universe and the control of its Essence from falling into the wrong hands. Had you completed your training and had we more time, you would have found out for yourself. But alas, that was not in the leaves. I wish we would’ve seen it sooner, but we didn’t, and this has complicated things. However, what needs done has been written in the leaves, my queen. And this key…well, you, Jade, are to take it.”
“Take it where?”
“To the Brink. Someplace safe.”
“Where?” Jade’s skin prickled with goosebumps.
“That, we do not know for certain. You will have to find out for yourself, Jade.” Scarleth frowned as tears touched her eyes.
Jade, too, was crying.
“I don’t want to go,” she said. “Xovia is my home. I’ve only left the planet a handful of times. And I’ve not completed my training, you said so yourself. I’m not ready, Scarleth.”
Scarleth shook her head slowly. “I know, child, I know. I wish it could be different. I really do. I wish we could’ve prepared you more. No one should carry this burden, especially someone as young as you, but there is no other choice.”
“You go,” Reinya said, “or the universe will suffer for the rest of time at the hands of an evil far greater than the God-King.”
Scarleth reached for the pendant again, this time slipping it from around her neck. The light radiating off of it was mesmerizing, bright enough to outshine the candles and snuff the shadows. She handed it to Jade.
Jade only studied it. She knew if she took it in her hands, that everything would change. There would be no going back. She would never see Xovia again, she would never be with her people, and she would never live without something weighing heavily on her shoulders.
Wrong. It was so wrong.
The Sisters could sometimes tap into another’s thoughts, and as if reading Jade’s, Scarleth said, “All will not die. You will see them again. We will fight, believe me, we will, but ultimately we will lose. A battle lost does not mean the war is lost. There is much more fighting to be done.”
“The needs of the few prevail over the needs of the many,” Reinya added. “This is a big universe. Bigger than our minds can comprehend, Jade Alanden.”
“She is right,” Scarleth echoed. “Xovia will rise again.” Still holding the crystal out to Jade, it swung gently on the end of its silver chain. “Now take it, my queen.”
With great trepidation, Jade did.
Six
The Starblazer broke through Capras’s atmosphere, flames igniting on the ship’s hull. Ryze Starlo was jerked away by the sudden change in pressure. His ears popped, and he nearly fell out of the copilot’s seat he had stretched out on.
“I told you to buckle up, sir,” Spex said over the speakers.
Ryze, now fully alert, sat up and took control of the ship. After his days serving King Holden in the Xovian army, he had the ability to snap out of sleep and feel as normal as if he’d been up for hours in a matter of seconds. When you were constantly on the lookout for wyrmwolves, you tended to do that, and such an experience was not one you forgot.
Through the clouds on the viewscreen, the capital city of the planet was barely visible in the distance.
“Coliseum,” Ryze said. “Home sweet home.” Sarcasm, of course. He didn’t think of this place as his home; in fact, after leaving Xovia, he didn’t think of any place as home. Ryze was a drifter, jumping from one star system to the other, staying on a planet for short durations and then back to the cosmos again.
“Might as well be, sir.”
Spex had a point, Ryze knew. The place they spent the most time was Capras and its capital city, though it wasn’t Ryze’s favorite. He was under the impression one had to be insane to love this planet, but it was the home of his highest-paying employer, and you didn�
�t have to be insane to love the money.
The Starblazer banked right, between two snow-covered mountains. Ryze brought the ship lower, below the clouds, and the spires of the city came into view.
One thing even Ryze Starlo had to admit: Coliseum was a thing of beauty, especially at night, when all the lights and stars sparkled off the buildings like some distant galaxy.
“There it is,” Ryze said.
“Quite a spectacle, yes,” Spex replied.
“Even better when we got a ton of frags waiting for us.” Ryze took the ship toward a nearby docking bay on the outskirts of the city. The Starblazer was too large to enter the flow of regular hover traffic, plus the traffic here was a pain in the ass anyway. He didn’t mind walking.
Three figures with light batons waved the ship down. Ryze eased it onto the pad and killed the engine.
“Shall I patch into your helmet, sir?” Spex asked as Ryze stood.
“Does it matter what I say? When have you ever listened to me?”
“You are most observant.”
Ryze put the helm over his head, fastening it to the rest of the battle armor.
As soon as it was on, Spex patched into the earpiece. “Let’s go see the city, sir, shall we?”
“More like let’s see the money.”
He exited through the cargo hold with Daxen Felia’s body in tow—after transferring him into another hover cart, one that didn’t have ruined thrusters and a score of scorch marks from blaster fire.
The Hub wasn’t far from the landing pad. Ryze could’ve secured a ride there, but not many drivers would take on a person with such a large load. Plasma fuel wasn’t cheap. Besides, the walk would clear his head. Traveling faster than the speed of light for hours—and sometimes days—at a time took its toll on even the toughest of people.
He passed the usual assortment of oddities. Vendors selling anything one could imagine, aliens from distant planets offering their bodies for frags, and the occasional brawl. Neon lights burned bright enough, and Ryze raised the opacity index of his viewscreen. The last thing he needed was another headache, especially after dealing with the Rovik.
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