The Beginning of the End (Universe in Flames Book 4)

by Christian Kallias

  “I’m sure you’re going to try,” said the general, “but I’m not Argos, as you’ll soon discover.”

  “Enough with this meaningless banter,” said Chase, cracking his knuckles, shoulders and neck. “Let’s dance.”

  “Let’s indeed.”

  The general took a fighting stance and so did Chase.

  Chase was fully aware he needed the mental distraction to avoid thinking too much about Fillio’s passing and how strongly it would impact his best friend, not to mention the fact that Yanis already blamed him and hated his guts right now. This upcoming battle was about to achieve just that, make sure his mind was focused on something else. Perhaps even channel that rising feeling of anger he felt boiling at the back of his soul ever since he failed healing her. Chase wasn’t used to failing. That simply wasn’t in his vocabulary. And every time it happened, it hurt him a little more. But who was he angry at really? He wasn’t sure he wanted to face this question right now and the universe agreed.

  The general started growing his bright red aura at an exponential rate.

  Looks like Gaia was right. Looks like this isn’t going to be an easy fight.

  Still, Chase felt excitement nonetheless. Now was the time to see if his intense training would pay off.

  He grew his own purple aura and it matched the general’s in size and power. Chase saw the look of surprise in his adversary. He decided to make the first move.

  He launched himself at Arkoolis and delivered a powerful blow to Arkoolis’s face. The general’s head flew backwards and blood was thrown into the air, but his body hadn’t moved. Chase went for a second blow but found nothing but air. He sensed an incoming kick coming from behind him and dodged it by doing the splits. With both hands on the ground he inverted himself and scissor kicked his opponent. But he was ready for it and grabbed one of Chase’s legs and sent him flying in the air.

  Chase quickly recovered in midair and saw no less than five fireballs approaching his position. He deflected four of them and caught the last one in his right hand. He crushed it to nothingness with a smirk on his face. He landed back in front of Arkoolis who was smiling as well.

  “Impressive.”

  “For a low-class Fury, you mean?” said Chase, still playfully taunting him.

  “Let’s see how long you can keep it up at this level of energy, though.”

  “I’m only getting started here. Let’s kick things into high gear, shall we?

  The general disappeared and reappeared behind Chase. He threw his elbow at Chase, who easily blocked it. He retaliated with a kick to the general’s chin, who also blocked the blow without breaking a sweat. He took Chase by surprise by head butting him in the face, which forced him to take three steps back. Chase used in index finger to wipe blood from a cut on his chin. He rubbed it between his fingers.

  Chase extended both arms out from his sides and grabbed two massive boulders in the distance with his mind. He clapped his hands together and the boulders crashed against the general, exploding into a million little, stony pieces.

  It took a few seconds for the dust cloud to clear and reveal Arkoolis still standing there, not a scratch on him.

  “You’ll need more than boulders to bring me down.”

  Chase knew that, but he was still gauging his enemy’s reaction. He had expected the general to get out of the way of the boulders, so he could get him off guard with his next attack. That obviously didn’t happen.

  “Looks like it, but we’re running out of destroyers,” said Chase, grinning.

  The general growled.

  “Don’t worry, General, if he survived, I promise I’ll finish off Miseo once we’re done here, so you have someone to talk to in hell.”

  The general laughed hard. “You’re funny. I like that. But you’re too sure of yourself.”

  “Not the first time I’ve been told that.”

  “I bet. Let’s see how you handle what’s coming next.”

  The general ran towards him and disappeared a millisecond before reaching Chase, who had already adopted a defensive stance. When he turned around no one was there. That’s when he felt fire rain from the heavens. Without even looking for the attacks but feeling their incoming power, Chase back flipped just in time as the first attack exploded against the ground. He continued his backflips to dodge all four attacks, but in the middle of the last one he felt Arkoolis’ knee impact with the right side of his ribcage and was sent flying into the dirt.

  Before he was back up three more fireballs were on their way. He deflected them all and again, at the end of his last movement, he was taken by surprise by a very powerful uppercut that sent him traveling vertically in the air. Before he could recover, Arkoolis unleashed his next attack, an extremely fast combo of punches and kicks, and finished with a full-body, reverse flying kick that sent Chase crashing back to the ground.

  Chase’s body ached all over as he got back up and dusted himself off.

  Now would be a good time for me to join the fight, heard Chase in his head.

  It’s not needed, Gaia, I have things well under control.

  It doesn’t look like it from where I’m standing. He is faster than you.

  I want him to think that. I haven’t yet deployed my full abilities; I need to learn how he fights first.

  By getting your face beaten to a pulp?

  If that’s what it takes, then yeah. I need to be able to anticipate his movements if I want to defeat him.

  I see. Careful, he’s coming from behind you.

  “I know,” said Chase out loud as he pivoted his body and landed a powerful right kick into the general’s face.

  Arkoolis lost his balance and crashed to the ground. Chase unleashed a flurry of icy-blue fireballs his way. The general dodged the incoming attacks by flying upwards. Chase jumped in pursuit and went for a kick to the general’s face but only found air. The general reappeared above of him with both hands joined and smashed them down in order to hammer Chase. But he was prepared for it and dodged the blow at the very the last moment, putting himself in a perfect position to counterattack.

  He lit both his hands with blue flames and unleashed an incredibly fast combo of punches, including hooks and uppercuts. He ended it by grabbing the general’s armor with his left hand and head butting him with such strength the general flew away and impacted with a nearby mountain. It exploded upon impact.

  Chase flew back towards the ground. After landing he cracked his neck. He checked his internal pool of energy. He had consumed less than two percent.

  This fight was only beginning.

  * * *

  Ryonna saw the Valken approach her position, stopped her combat cycle and dismounted.

  She experienced a strange feeling when she looked around and saw only destruction all around: her planet, her home, was literally on fire. She had never imagined she would be a witness to anything like it.

  And to think only two people were responsible for this.

  She was also worried about her son. She hated not having news from him, and the moment the Valken landed she ran into the cockpit and sat next to Keera.

  “Nice to see you again, Ryonna.”

  “Likewise. Let’s go. We need to find my son.”

  “Roger that.” Keera brought the Valken high up in the sky and punched the engines to their maximum. “He’s a very resourceful kid. I’m sure he survived.”

  Ryonna felt a sting in her heart. He was still an adolescent, and no matter how proud she was of him, she still felt overly protective. But Keera’s words filled her with pride. “I take it you two have met?”

  “Only via comms, but he gave me the feeling he was a bright and courageous kid.”

  Ryonna smiled. “Thank you for helping my son, Keera.”

  “I was just at the right place at the right time, I guess.”

  “Still, this isn’t your fight. I appreciate what you’re doing for us.”

  “If I’ve learned anything during my time with Chase and his f
riends—you included—it’s that one doesn’t back down in the face of overwhelming odds.”

  “Yes, as difficult as it is for me to say this, Chase does have that effect on everyone who gets into his orbit. We all strive to be better versions of ourselves since we met him.”

  “Do you think he can defeat the Furies today?”

  “I have no idea, but if anyone can, it’s him. We’re clearly not equipped to deal with the Furies ourselves.”

  “Yeah, I got that. But he’s only one man, Fury . . . Well, whatever he is.”

  “He’s willing to risk his life to save us all, even when he gets flak for his efforts.”

  “What are you referring to?”

  “Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  Keera looked at her instruments. “We should reach the impact location in about ten minutes.”

  “Very well. I haven’t eaten anything for more than a day. Anything I could sink my teeth into?”

  “There are plenty of provisions in the mess hall. Help yourself to anything you’d like.”

  Ryonna got up from the co-pilot’s seat and put her hand on Keera’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

  “Anytime.”

  * * *

  When Daniel opened his eyes he was no longer in the forest. He found himself resting on a bed with a wet towel on his forehead.

  What happened? Where am I?

  “Anybody here?” he asked.

  There was no immediate response, but then a young woman with long blond hair came into his room.

  “Hello,” said Daniel, not sure what else to say.

  “Hello, sir, my name is Sendra. You don’t have to worry. We don’t mean you any harm.”

  “We?”

  “My mom and I. We found you near that building that exploded a while back.”

  “I see. I take it I have you to thank for all of this,” said Daniel, pointing at his bandages.

  She nodded and smiled.

  “Well, thank you. Any chance you brought some of my gear with me?”

  She opened a wooden cupboard, took a few things out and put them on Daniel’s bed. He tried to sit up but was rewarded with a strong pain that traveled his spine. “Ouch.”

  “You shouldn’t try to move too much for the time being. You seem quite injured.”

  “Yeah, a hundred-yard fall will do that to anyone, I guess.”

  “How did you survive?”

  “Let’s just say a tree helped.”

  “I should get my mother. She will want to talk with you.”

  “Very well. I’ll be right here. Looks like I’m not going anywhere for a while.”

  Sendra smiled and left the room.

  When she returned with her mother, Daniel thought he recognized her from a photo on the commodore’s desk.

  “Are you the Saroudis family?”

  The mother sent her daughter out of the room, closed the door and took a blaster out and pointed it at Daniel. “Who are you? How do you know our names?”

  “Relax. Your husband is my commanding officer.”

  Her eyes watered and she dropped the blaster to the ground.

  “He will be really happy to hear you survived. Are your other two children around as well? We should try to get the commodore on the line.”

  She wiped some of her tears, “Commodore?”

  “Your husband was promoted.”

  She smiled for a second, but her expression quickly turned back to sorrow. “I’m afraid neither of our sons made it.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear this. Please accept my deepest condolences for your loss.”

  “Thank you, mister . . .?”

  “Tharaleos, Commander Daniel Tharaleos. It’s an honor to meet the wife of Commodore Saroudis. Without him we would all have been killed.”

  “Why did it take you guys so long to come back to Alpha Prime?”

  “It’s a long story. We were stranded on the other side of the galaxy. Outside the known regions, in fact.”

  “Where is my husband, Daniel?”

  “In orbit. I lost contact with the Destiny a few hours ago, but I’m sure they’re fine. We just need to find a way to communicate with the ship.”

  “What’s the status of the Star Alliance? It’s been so long that we have lost all hope.”

  “It has been mostly annihilated. Only a few ships survived the Zarlack attack. In fact, we thought they had completely destroyed Alpha Prime.”

  Daniel put himself in her shoes. It must have been hard to not know if anyone had survived in the Alliance, and to wonder if her husband had been one of the victims. He could see in her eyes a mixture of pain, sadness and a smidgen of hope.

  “I see. Here it’s been hell. When the attack began it rained fire from the heavens. In mere hours the biggest cities had been bombarded from space, and only a few survived. When we first met other survivors we thought at first that we could rebuild. But then they sent these lizard men to the surface. They tracked us and killed us by the thousands. Joshua, our first son, was killed in the bombing of the cities, and Ethan died sacrificing himself so we could escape certain death when a battalion of lizards came hunting us.”

  Her tears now streamed down her tired face like wild rivers.

  “I’m so sorry for what you had to go through. How did you manage to survive for so long?”

  “We hid in underground complexes, caves, and moved farther and farther away from the big cities. After a few months the enemy seemed to have left, but they had left booby traps all around. We were attacked by vicious droids. Those that were once our servants had been reprogrammed to exterminate us.”

  Daniel remembered his deadly encounter with one such machine.

  “Did a resistance build? We came back the minute we received a distress call coming from the tower where you found me.”

  “I don’t know. We’re always on the run. We never stay in one place more than a few weeks. It’s been more than two months since we saw another soul.”

  “I see.” Daniel tried to sit up in bed.

  “I’m not sure it’s such a good idea to move just yet. Your injuries are severe. We don’t have the necessary equipment to see if you have any internal ones. Perhaps you should rest until the Destiny finds us.”

  “I have to contact your husband. The sooner I’m in med-bay on board Destiny, the sooner I can get patched up.”

  He still throbbed with pain, but he forced through it. Once he sat on the bed he looked through the gear Sendra had put by his legs but he didn’t see any communications devices.

  “You wouldn’t happen to have a communicator, Mrs. Saroudis?”

  “Call me Alexandra. And I’m afraid not. Anything that emits strong electromagnetic signals could attract the wrong crowd.”

  Made sense.

  “How far are we from the tower?”

  “About ten miles.”

  Daniel realized the effort it must have taken to bring his unconscious body back from so far away and was really grateful. “Thanks for getting me out of harm’s way. It must not have been easy.”

  “Reaper helped.”

  “Reaper?”

  “Our wolfen pet. He’s very strong. Once we made a structure to lay you upon, he dragged you back most of the way.

  Wolfens were very difficult to tame but it was said that once they had formed a bond with humanoids, they were loyal for life.

  “I’ll have to thank him personally then.”

  “If he takes a liking to you. He can be very aggressive with strangers. He saved our hide more times than I care to count.”

  Daniel nodded. “I need to get back out there. Hopefully our shuttle is still intact and that’s the fastest way of rejoining the Destiny.”

  “If you do you’ll have to go on your own. It’s pure luck we found you. We were gathering mushrooms in a forest nearby when we heard the explosion. I didn’t want to come but Sendra can be very persuasive. However, the area where we found you is notorious for droid patrols. Many have lost power
by now, but if we have learned anything it is that we can’t be too cautious these days.”

  “Then I should try to get my shuttle, swing back to pick you up here and bring you back on board the Destiny.”

  “Do what you have to do, Daniel, but as far as coming with you, I’ll have to discuss that with my daughter.”

  Daniel frowned. How was it possible that she didn’t want to jump at the opportunity to get back on board her husband’s ship? “I thought you’d want to see Adonis.”

  “Daniel, don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful he survived, but he abandoned us here. For months we had to fend for ourselves. Both my sons are dead. I don’t know what to think anymore.”

  “It’s not his fault, Alexandra. We also have been fighting for our lives on a daily basis ever since the fall of the Alliance.”

  “And you are still fighting off the Obsidian?”

  “It’s complicated. The lizard men you talked about are called the Zarlacks. We’ve been fighting them mostly. A Fury named Argos commanded their forces, and while we took out a lot of it—thanks to an alliance with the world that sheltered us after the fall—he has now freed the rest of the Furies.”

  “Furies? You must be mistaken. They were defeated thousands of years ago.”

  “I’m afraid not, and they’re back and wreaking all sorts of havoc. In fact, the Obsidian is now part of the newly formed Earth Alliance. They are helping us fight them back.”

  “I’m not sure I like the world you’re describing, Daniel. Perhaps things aren’t so bad here after all.”

  Daniel bit his lip.

  Good job selling her on coming with you.

  Daniel tried to get up from his bed but a cascade of pain radiated all over his body.

  “You should try and rest some more.”

  Daniel didn’t want to rest. He wanted to get to the shuttle and return to the Destiny, but his body didn’t seem to want to comply at the moment.

  “Just an hour or two, then I’m going.”

  C H A P T E R

  XV

  Ronan checked the state of his friend Arknon. He was relieved to find a pulse but worried by the multiple wounds all over his body. He used his portable scanner to try to get a better picture of his state of health and cringed at the result.