Into the Fire Part I_Requiem of Souls

by Christian Kallias

  Chris knelt by Thor’s side, using his healing ability to bring the Asgardian back to consciousness.

  Chris heard his father in his mind.

  We’re getting Menelas out; what’s your status with Aphroditis and the machine?

  We’ve located it but still need to find a safe way in.

  Hurry son; Arakan is on his way. I don’t want to be here any longer than we have to.

  Understood.

  Thor’s eyes blinked a few times as he felt pain wash away from his body.

  “Thank you, Chris. That’s a very handy power you have there.”

  “You’re welcome, Thor. How do you feel?”

  “Like I’ve been hit with lightning,” he said sitting up.

  Thor cracked his neck as his facial tattoos came back to life, pulsating slowly.

  “I’m so sorry, Thor,” said Kvasir. “I thought I had found the opening mechanism, but it looks like I triggered a booby trap instead.”

  “No need to apologize; you were just doing your job. I guess we’ll have to blast through the door after all.”

  “We could damage the machine and Aphroditis in the process,” protested Ares.

  “I may have an idea on how to achieve that more safely,” proposed Chris.

  When all eyes converged on him, he continued.

  “Poseidon can fire one of his freeze-ray shots from his new bionic arm, lowering the structural integrity of the door. Then Thor could smash it with his hammer while I use telekinesis to make sure the resulting door rubble doesn’t travel inside the room.”

  “Freeze-ray?” asked Poseidon, dubiously.

  “As good a name as any,” confirmed Thor. “That sounds like a plan.”

  Thor got back on his feet and invoked his mighty hammer, Mjölnir.

  “Wait,” said Ares. “Are you absolutely sure you can prevent any of the broken door parts from damaging what we came for? We only have one chance here, and this part of the mission has to go without hiccups, or we may never be able to destroy Erevos.”

  “I’m fairly certain I can do it,” said Chris. “Plus my father asked that we hurry; apparently Arakan is on his way to Erevos as we speak and should arrive shortly. I don’t think we can afford to try and find a softer way in at this point.”

  Poseidon cracked his real hand knuckle. “Let’s do this,” he said as blue lights came to life on his bionic arm.

  Seeing Ares was still unsure, Chris put a hand on his shoulder. “Look, I can do it. And should Aphroditis get harmed in any way, I can heal her now.”

  Ares reluctantly nodded. “Alright. Just—”

  “I’ll be careful, Ares; trust me.”

  Once everyone took their positions, Poseidon unleashed a freezing beam toward the door, lowering its temperature. When he nodded toward Thor, the Asgardian threw Mjölnir with all his might against the frozen door. It broke as if made of glass, with some rather sharp edges starting to go inside the room, but only briefly, as Chris, a bright and large aura burning around him, used telekinetic energy to catch each piece of debris and get them safely out of the way outside of the room.

  When a fine-particle, frozen dust cloud dissipated, it revealed Aphroditis inside the machine, red and purple lights were pulsating slowly like a heartbeat about to give up.

  “Sis!” shouted Ares, running to her side.

  She looked pitiful, even grayer and lifeless than the last time he had seen her. He could barely feel her life force inside the machine.

  “I have to replace her now, Chris; do whatever it takes to bring her back. This might be a healing task you’re not ready for, but please save her.”

  Chris nodded. “I’ll do everything I can, Ares. I guess this is goodbye for now?”

  “I’m afraid so. I would wait for Chase to do this, but I’m not even sure if we’re not already too late. Tell him goodbye for me, alright? And thank him for everything. Tell him I’m going to miss him.”

  “You’ll tell him that yourself; we’re not letting you rot in there any longer than we have to.”

  Ares put a hand on Chris’ shoulder. “Look, I’ve accepted that this could be my last action in this world. If you guys find a way to get me out of there, or if by some miracle I can manage to survive the machine’s destruction when the time comes, then it will make me one happy Olympian. But until then, let’s assume that I just need to stay in there so you guys can blow up this hellish world and their cruel inhabitants. If you guys succeed in doing that, and I know you can, then I’m more than happy to play my part in this way.”

  A tear formed at the corner of Chris’ eye. Deep inside he knew that Ares was right. Would they even get a second chance at coming back on Erevos? Nothing was certain, but Ares’ words rang true. Chris wished his father had been here so he could say goodbye to his old mentor.

  “Good luck, and Godspeed, Ares.”

  “To you as well,” said Ares looking at the others, “to all of you.”

  “Farewell, Ares,” said Thor.

  Kvasir nodded, and Poseidon took a few steps forward.

  “You’ve brought some substantial shame to Olympus in the distant past, and part of me thought I would never forgive you for that. But you’ve since proven you have the heart of a true Olympian, and if this is the last time I see you, I will miss you, Ares.”

  Ares smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Poseidon.”

  “Chris, you’re up.”

  Chris accompanied Ares as he turned and walked to the machine. His Aphroditis clone body and his real sister’s body were face to face. He mirrored her position in the machine and closed his clone eyes. His golden aura linked both bodies. It flashed briefly, blinding Chris and the others for a moment, and the bodies swapped. His clone’s skin was still full of color, but it quickly began losing its hue. The clone was now in the machine, and Aphroditis’ failing body was falling toward the floor. Chris caught her in his arms.

  He put his hand on her chest and began healing her.

  When he kept grimacing, Poseidon knelt by his side.

  “What is it, Chris?”

  “I— I don’t know; I’m healing her with all the energy I can bear, but it feels like she’s slipping away.”

  Chris sent a telepathic message to his father.

  Dad, please help; we’re losing Aphroditis.

  22

  When he regained consciousness, Menelas was surprised he was still alive. His head pounded, but the pain was more bearable than the electricity that ran through his body for god knows how long.

  Blinking his eyes open, he saw he was still in the same cell. Arakan had dosed him with something, and again, he didn’t know how much time had past. He wondered if his son received his message. Perhaps he should try and send him another one.

  A small hole opened in the wall facing him, and another dart shot forward. This time Menelas was prepared for it and caught the dart with two fingers.

  Sneaky coward. I’m looking forward to killing Arakan. I hope I get the chance.

  Menelas incinerated the dart with a single thought and swept off the remaining dust from his hands.

  Here goes nothing: Laiyos, can you hear me?

  I prefer the name Chase, but yes, I can hear you…Menelas.

  Menelas was surprised he got a response, especially with no delays whatsoever.

  Tell me you’re not here to get me out of this cell?

  We are; in fact, there’s only a minute left before your cell blows up.

  What?

  The lights in the cell turned red, and a repeating beep, accelerating little by little, could also be heard. Apparently, Arakan wasn’t interested in killing Menelas himself anymore. But time was of the essence, if his son tried to get him out, they’d both die in the attempt. Something Menelas would never let happen.

  Go away, son. Let me die; just get Arakan.

  No way, we need your help getting to the soul ships. I’m going to teleport inside your cell and get you out; it would help if you grew your aura a little so I can locat
e your exact position with sufficient accuracy.

  Did his son say he would teleport? Menelas didn’t know of any Fury with that ability. But then again his son was also of Olympian descent.

  No son, you don’t understand, the cell will blow the moment anyone but Arakan steps in it. Your life will be forfeited.

  I’m not worried; we’ll only be staying for a split second; trust me.

  The idea that his son would rescue him from this place that had felt like his ever-resting tomb filled his heart with joy and hope. Hope that he would also reunite with the sole love of his life, Athena.

  Now would be a good time, Menelas, insisted Chase.

  Menelas let his yellow aura burn stronger than ever before, lighting a beacon in the darkness for his son to get to him.

  Chase, Argos and Oryn stood in front of the door Oryn thought their father was locked behind. “Are we clear on what to do?” inquired Chase. “I’m going to get him now.”

  “I wait until you return here, and erect a strong shield,” said Argos.

  “One large enough to encompass all four of us. I’ll add to your shield strength the moment I return.”

  “That won’t be necessary.”

  “Neither will it be to erect one for me,” said Oryn.

  “We don’t have time for your usual pissing contest,” said Chase. “You’ll do as I say.”

  “Just go get Menelas before his cell blows; I’ll use my cold to stop the flames before they can impact us. Just in case, think of it as a plan B.”

  Chase wanted to argue, but Oryn was right, they had run out of time, so he just shrugged and contacted Menelas telepathically. When he got a good lock on his position inside the cell, he started counting.

  “Two…one…now!”

  Chase disappeared and almost instantly reappeared with Menelas in front of Argos. A split second later, flames engulfed them, but Argos had already raised the strong shield. Oryn flash-lowered the temperature, and for just an instant it looked like the flames were trapped in ice before the ice melted and a huge amount of water fell to the ground. Oryn blew more cold air to turn off the flames that were extending beyond the room they stood in.

  “I thought for sure you’d be toast,” said Argos to her.

  “That’s because you all underestimate my powers.”

  Menelas looked around him. “Incredible; I didn’t even feel your presence, and the next second we were here. So you can teleport?”

  Chase nodded, not sure how else to react to the presence of a father he knew nothing about until not long ago.

  Menelas looked to his side and met Argos’ gaze.

  “Argos?”

  “Yes…Father.”

  “I can sense an incredible amount of power radiating from the both of you. More than I’ve ever felt from any other single Fury, bar none except Arakan perhaps.”

  “Speaking of Arakan,” said Oryn. “I can feel his presence now. He’ll be in the palace within minutes.”

  “And you,” inquired Menelas. “Are you his daughter Oryn?”

  Her eyes flashed like two diamonds. “He’s not my father!”

  “I’m sorry, I— I know that you’re the biological daughter of Zeus and Zalara. In fact, you’re the reason I was trapped here. After securing the soul ships, your father had tasked me to come and rescue you before the machine trans-dimensionally transported Erevos out of space and time.”

  “In that case, I wish you hadn’t failed your mission,” spat Oryn.

  “You and me both; I paid a steep price for failing to get you out of here in time.”

  “As I paid being lied to and raised by the monster who killed my mother.”

  “Alright, there will be time for this later,” interrupted Chase. “If Arakan is on his way, then it’s time for us to go.”

  Chase heard Chris calling him in his mind.

  “There’s a problem with Aphroditis. Chris isn’t able to heal her.”

  “Perhaps if the both of us tried on top of his efforts,” proposed Argos.

  “Make that three,” added Menelas.

  “Good, and if that fails, Oryn you could perhaps preserve her in one of your near absolute zero coffins. Everyone grab my arm.”

  Argos and Menelas did, but Oryn hesitated.

  “Oryn? We don’t have time to lose, grab my arm, now.”

  “Sorry, Chase,” is all she said before turning tail and running away.

  “Oryn!” shouted Chase.

  “Let her go,” said Argos.

  “She’s gonna get herself killed.”

  “Maybe she will, maybe she won’t. But right now we have a mission to complete. On multiple occasions she has disobeyed and did whatever she wanted; she’s a liability. We shouldn’t have taken her with us.”

  It was hard to hear, but Chase had to admit that Argos was right. Oryn had been off ever since Zeus had died. And right now, they needed to help Chris and Aphroditis.

  Chase teleported them away.

  Onboard the Victory’s bridge, Daniel had just relieved the security officer from the conn when the Victory fired a three hundred sixty-degree pulse wave from its deflector.

  This was Yanis and Cedric’s attempt at finding and targeting the spider ship. The wave worked like sonar, and to Daniel’s surprise, it worked perfectly. Daniel targeted the ship the instant it appeared on their radar and fired a modified main weapon version with an ultra-fast modulated frequency.

  The main weapon’s fire impacted with the spider ship, and immediately after, multiple salvos of Olympian laser and torpedoes hacked at its shield.

  “Damage to the target ship minimal; still holding strong at eighty-five percent,” said the tactical officer.

  “Keep the main weapon locked on it as long as power allows; divert from any secondary systems if you have to. Keep an eye on any power fluctuations on the target ship.”

  “Understood. Diverting power.”

  Three quick bleeps resonated from the tactical officer’s station.

  “Power just fluctuated on the enemy’s ship.”

  Daniel ran the sub-routine Yanis had created to determine the frequency that had caused the power fluctuation, locked on it, and redistributed it to the main weapon. Normally, he would have asked the tactical officer to do that for him, but they needed to get the JIF disabled and jump to Erevos as soon as humanly possible.

  The Victory’s main weapon beam stopped fluctuating and fired at the selected frequency. It went straight through the spider ship’s shield and caused a blast that took one of its legs off with a bright explosion.

  Score!

  “Keep firing! And transmit the frequency to Athena’s ship.”

  “Transmitting frequency to the Prometheus.”

  The spider ship took evasive action and moved like a panicked spider. Most ships had a main vector they could alter with secondary engines and thrusters, but this one had its engines on the tip of its legs, allowing it to make changes in trajectory in space like nothing Daniel or anyone on board had ever seen. Making its evasive patterns unpredictable and almost impossible to estimate.

  The ship’s engine glowed and changed colors. Then the spider legs converged in front of its main armored body, and the seven remaining legs shot toward a converging point, which created a large yellow sphere of plasma that quickly expanded into a fast traveling beam that impacted the starboard side of the Prometheus. It went through the Olympian destroyer’s shields and destroyed part of the ship. Multiple explosions detonated around the impact point, starting fires and exposing whole decks and crewmen to space.

  “Holy shit!” exclaimed Daniel. “I think we just pissed it off.”

  The spider legs were still in a firing position and Daniel hesitated between targeting it with all they had or trying a more indirect attack pattern. The damage to the Prometheus was major, and Daniel could see on his holo-console that they had lost jump engines, which only left the Victory to get Chase and the rest of his friends. Daniel sent a retreat command to the Prometheu
s; if Athena perished in the battle, Chase would never forgive him.

  Therefore, Daniel opted for a bait and switch tactic instead of a full frontal opening salvo, but he needed the enemy ship to think that was what he was about to do.

  “Target the spider ship; fire two salvos of torpedoes, have them turbo-reloaded and give me firing command!”

  “Done, Commander.”

  “Thank you. Status of the JIF?”

  “Field levels are fluctuating; I don’t think we can do a long jump, but it might be possible to micro-jump within the area.”

  That’s all Daniel needed.

  Daniel entered micro-jump coordinates for a few hundred yards behind the spider ship’s current position and counted on the fact that the enemy ship would require a certain amount of time to switch from main weapons to high thruster maneuverability.

  Daniel then painted the three remaining legs on the starboard side of the ship. If he got all the legs from one side, perhaps it would limit the ship’s ability to go crazy evasive; in fact, Daniel counted on it.

  Daniel fired his decoy torpedoes toward the spider ship, which in turn adjusted its trajectory with smaller thrusters situated in the middle of the legs. The moment it fired toward the Victory, Daniel micro-jumped the ship.

  A split second later, the ship emerged from hyperspace and Daniel could see the back of the spider ship almost filling the viewport, that’s how close he had jumped near it.

  With every laser turret, torpedo, and main weapon focused on the respective targets, the Victory opened fire and unleashed hell upon the spider ship. So much power was drawn from the onslaught that the lights inside the bridge flickered.

  The barrage of laser fire impacted with the legs, as did salvos of torpedoes, but none managed to rip off the remaining targeted legs; that is until the main weapon’s plasma beam started cutting through them.

  After two more legs were obliterated, the spider micro-jumped away and cloaked.

  “Stop firing. Send another sonar pulse,” said Daniel.

  “Pulse away.”

  The spider ship reappeared on the radar and uncloaked.