by Regine Abel
“So will I,” Theanna said, gesturing with her head for one of the guards to retrieve the holocard.
I handed it over to him, then faced back the Quorum.
“Anything else, Agent Thanis?” Piatus asked.
This time, the other Omniates turned to look at him questioningly, the malicious anticipation now plain to hear in his voice. My stomach knotted, and I cast a glance towards my mate, who had also felt the shift in wind.
“One last thing,” I said, mentally preparing myself for what would follow. “On the day of my departure, I learned that Minh Volghan, the Xelixian doctor mated to the Veredian, Maheva Fein, found the cure to the Taint.”
The crowd exploded with shouts of shock, disbelief, and joy—or maybe rather relieved guilt.
“That is wonderful news,” Sagan said, taken aback. “But that was more than three days ago. Why haven’t they made a public announcement?”
“Because, they will not be able to provide the cure to their population without our collaboration,” I said.
All the members of the Quorum recoiled, but for Piatus who narrowed his eyes at me.
I swallowed hard before continuing. “The cure requires a single ingredient that only we can provide. The one ingredient they have been requesting from us for the past three years.”
“How did they get their hands on said ingredient to validate the cure?” Sagan asked, his voice taking on a cooler edge.
“I gave Eryon a few vryer roots for personal use as a gesture of friendship. He hasn’t had any in nearly thirty years, since the day of his capture by the Guldans,” I said carefully.
“And he gave them to Dr. Minh?” Sagan asked.
“Yes.”
“Without your consent?” Sagan insisted.
“Yes.”
Shouts of ‘traitor’ filled the room as the angry crowd expressed its fury. The same anger and disappointment emanated from the Quorum, while Daleus and Piatus oozed with a smug sense of vindication.
Daleus raised his palm, requesting silence. The crowd complied. “He betrayed you, and yet, the traitor lives.”
“I almost executed him when he confessed what he’d done. But without him to train the Titans in the use of Kaa, I fear the children may turn to darkness. And so, I spared him.”
The outrage and sense of betrayal from my mate burned me like acid, but I couldn’t focus on her right now.
“However, his arguments remain valid. In the three years since they’ve attempted in vain to obtain vryer roots, nearly one million Xelixian males have died in their prime from the Taint. Millions more are in daily agony, denied any hope of a future while we withhold the cure,” I pleaded. “We can right this wrong. We can be the heroes of Xelix Prime.”
“You know perfectly well why we cannot allow vryer roots to be traded freely!” Daleus exclaimed.
“Because we’re afraid other psionic species might grow more powerful than us?” I shouted, eliciting some bewildered gasps from both Quorum and the audience. “An entire species is suffering because we want to cling to the illusion of our power? Even without their Titans and their limited numbers, the Veredians have already long surpassed us. Despite the Taint weakening them, we couldn’t guarantee winning a war against the Xelixians alone. Our reign is long past. It is time we come out of our isolation and, above all, that we make amends!”
“ENOUGH!” Sagan shouted.
His furtive glance at Kamala reminded me I’d almost crossed the line that would put her freedom in jeopardy. But anger burned deep inside of me. I was tired of the lies and secrets, and that nonsensical obsession with superiority that justified the death of millions of innocents.
“Your words are verging treason, Agent Thanis. I suggest you tread carefully,” Sagan warned.
“His words are irrelevant. He has already committed treason,” Piatus said, with a feral grin.
Sagan’s head jerked towards Piatus before turning back to me with a look begging me to deny the accusation.
“I knew this Quorum would react the way you just have,” I said, lifting my chin, unrepentant. "You may all be fine living with the knowledge that every day, more than four hundred Xelixian males die in excruciating pain because of our selfish greed.”
“What did you do?” Theanna whispered, also willing me to deny it all.
“He has sent two shipments of vryer roots to Councilor Lhor Kirnhan,” Piatus said with contempt. “Their reception was confirmed moments before this traitor landed. Although we declared an error in shipment, the Councilor refused to relinquish the cargo.”
This time, the uproar of the crowd called for my execution between two shouts of ‘traitor’ and other choice insults. Kamala rose from her bench, panic written on her beautiful features. I sent her some of my Kaa. It didn’t seem to do much to appease her. I didn’t regret what I had done. Now more than ever, I understood what Eryon had been trying to tell me, what we should have all understood long ago.
“You fool,” Sagan said, shaking his head at me with sorrow, but also with resolve. “You have forfeited your life.”
“I accept it,” I shouted to be heard over the ruckus of the angry crowd. Sagan lifted his palm, demanding silence. While the noise significantly lessened, not all voices went quiet. “I rather die labeled a traitor but with a clear conscience, than to further allow the slow genocide of innocents. The Xelixians have enough roots now to grow their own. But it will take time, and many more of their males will die. Choose which side of history Korlethea wants to be on. Be the heroes that provided them with the life-saving root we abundantly possess or be hailed as the heartless monsters that selfishly allowed those deaths.”
“Xevius Thanis,” Piatus said in a solemn voice, “for your act of treason and obvious lack of remorse, I hereby sentence you to have your eyes burnt, your tongue and your fingers removed, and to be banished to the Scorched Lands where you shall die alone and exposed. All in favor say ‘aye.’”
The crowd erupted in a powerful ‘aye’ in unison. I clenched my jaw and straightened my back, keeping my head up as one by one, each of the Omniates also said ‘aye.’ Theanna and Sagan spoke the word with sorrow laced with disappointment. Even Daleus seemed somewhat sad about my fate.
“Bring in the executioner,” Piatus said.
“NOOOOO!” Kamala screamed. Jumping over the short wall surrounding the dignitaries’ box, she tried to run to me only to be rushed by a dozen guards.
“DON’T HARM HER!” I shouted.
My mate activated the shield on her armband and slammed it into the face of one guard while back-kicking another. But without her armor and weapons, she had no chance against so many. They wisely stood back and aimed their blasters at her. Surrounded, Kamala knew herself defeated. Even if she tried to pounce on a couple of them, she’d get shot in the back. Thankfully, the blasters were all set to stun.
“Fehama, it’s okay,” I said softly. “It’s okay. This is not—”
I felt him just as his stealth shield dissolved. Victus, Theanna’s first-born son, stood next to me, his blade drawn. His sense of guilt, overpowered by an odd mix of hope and determination, hit me seconds before the burning feel of his blade pierced through my chest. I gasped, my lungs instantly filling with blood. Victus’s arm wrapped around me as he pressed his lips to my ear.
“Forgive me, brother. Trust in Fate,” he whispered, twisting the knife in my chest as he gently lowered me to the ground.
“XEVIUS!!” Kamala screamed amidst the panicked shouts.
I vaguely heard her steps as she rushed to my side. Victus, bloody hands raised in surrender, moved away from me before kneeling in submission. Warm liquid dripped along the sides of my mouth as my body ran cold. My skin tingled, just like in that instant before you lose consciousness, the sensation growing at an exponential rate.
Kamala fell on her knees by my side, tears running down her beautiful face. I tried to say her name but only a wet gurgle came out.
“Stay with me,” she pleaded. “Plea
se, please, stay with me. I love you. Please… Please!”
She yanked out the blade from my chest and slapped her hand over the wound. A burning heat spread through my chest. Things shifted inside me as my mate tried to temporarily seal my wounds with her power. But it was too slow, too little, too late.
“Fehama,” I said.
Under my soulmate’s endless plea for me to hang on, a dark veil descended before my eyes. Despite the deep sorrow crushing my soul at my woman’s distress, the pain faded, and an odd sense of peace wrapped around me. The last thing I heard before passing from this world was my mate screaming my name.
CHAPTER 15
Eryon
“Excellent, Rhadames,” I said, observing the boy simultaneously push his Kaa to both of his older siblings.
“I’m awesome!” the boy said, eliciting Zhara’s indulgent laughter.
“Yes, you are,” Vahl said with an affectionate smile towards his Gem.
The depth of the love between Geminates, and especially from such a predator as Vahleryon, would never cease to amaze me.
“My turn!” Zharina exclaimed. “I’m going to—”
Zhara froze, looking straight ahead. Lips parted, eyes glazed over, her mind left us to wander the tunnel of time and space.
“Zha?” Rhadames asked in a worried tone.
“It’s okay,” Vahl said. “She’s seeing things.”
I kneeled on the grass in front of her, studying her features. Both Zhara and her mother had partially inherited from me the ability to tap into the future. However, unlike my Amalia, who could deliberately look into the next five to twenty minutes of a specific target’s future, Zha had no control over her power. Just like a Seer, visions came to her randomly, though only on very rare occasions for her.
Zhara’s expression slowly turned to horror, and her eyes brimmed with tears. Vahl’s aggression levels immediately rose. He couldn’t stand to see his twin sad or upset. She blinked, exiting her vision, and looked at me with despair.
“Aunt Kamala is crying! They killed Uncle Xevius!” she exclaimed, tears pouring down her little face. She turned to her younger brother. “Take us there! I have to help them!”
“But I don’t know where it is!” Rhadames said, his face scrunching with sorrow.
I felt my blood drain from my face at the confirmation of the passing of my friend. Then I stiffened, thunderstruck as understanding finally dawned on me. Xevius’s word replayed in my head about Amalia’s three children being there at the time of his death. But it had been a vision, not a prophecy. The choice I would make in the next few seconds would alter the course of the future.
We’re coming, brother.
“Rhadames, remember how I’ve taught you to share the images in your mind?”
“Yes, Grappa.”
“I will show you where Uncle Xevius is. Take us there,” I said. Cupping his face in my hands, I pushed the image of the Quorum’s Hall into his young mind, as detailed as I remembered it.
“I see it,” Rhadames said, extending his hands in front of him.
“Hurry before his light is completely gone,” Zhara pled.
Such a long distance had never been attempted before. It was an insane risk for which his parents would no doubt skin me alive. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t even have considered it, but Jaya’s vision confirmed the boy would succeed, unharmed.
I held onto Rhadames’s forearm, his siblings each taking hold of one of his hands. Seconds later, the nauseous feeling of freefalling struck me, my vision going dark. For a moment, time appeared to stand still, and then, as if sucked into a vacuum, I found myself standing less than three meters from Kamala and Xevius. I felt his soul leave his body just as she screamed his name.
Rhadames’s knees buckled. I caught him before he collapsed.
“INTRUDERS!” one of the guards shouted, all of them turning their blasters towards us amidst the panicked cries of the crowd.
My blood turned to ice, realizing how foolishly, and impulsively I had reacted, not accounting for the hostile welcoming committee that would await us.
“NO!” Vahleryon shouted.
He threw his palms down, as if violently closing the lid of a large case. Everyone in attendance, including the twelve Omniates, were thrown to their knees, their hands forced to press down onto the ground. The blasters of the guards clanked onto the hard surface of the floor as they dropped them.
Goosebumps erupted all over my skin as I recognized the scene from my prophecy.
Zharina touched the face of her younger brother, and he immediately appeared to regain some of his depleted strength.
“Zhara! Help us!” Kamala shouted, hope and despair in her voice.
“Don’t worry, Aunt Kamala,” Zharina said, waving her hands before her as if she were weaving some invisible threads in the air. Seconds later, sparkling lights appeared above Xevius’s corpse. They coalesced and heaved, their numbers multiplying before merging together until they took on the shape of Xevius. “I’ve got you, Uncle Xevius,” my granddaughter said.
Mesmerized, I watched the soul of my friend being held by a thread by the little girl. She walked the short distance to his corpse and knelt next to him.
“Please open his armor, Aunt Kamala,” Zharina said.
“Okay,” Kamala replied, clearly shaken.
She fumbled with the magnetic clasp of the suit, her eyes constantly flicking to the ethereal form of his soul as if afraid he would disappear. Xevius looked at her with the same disbelief everyone in the room felt before looking down at Zharina. She placed her palm over the gaping wound in his chest and, before our eyes, the wound began closing itself at dizzying speed.
Suddenly struck by the eerie silence, I couldn’t tell if Vahleryon had also silenced their tongues or if pure awe had made everyone dumb. Gazing around the room felt bittersweet. To be standing again in the hall of our ancestors, to be locking eyes with my brothers of the Fates, and our Oracle sisters, to be surrounded by my people again, despite their hatred for my perceived treason… My heart both rejoiced and constricted with sorrow.
And then I noticed Victus, barely two meters from Xevius’s body, his hand covered in blood. My eyes widened, and I shook my head at him, disbelieving, wanting him to tell me I’d read this completely wrong. But his eyes confirmed his guilt. I opened my mouth to ask him why, but Zharina swiped her hand down, and Xevius’s soul appeared to be sucked into his body.
His eyes suddenly opened wide, and his back arched as he gasped loudly.
“Xevius? Are you okay?” Kamala asked, cupping his face in her hands.
Her mate blinked, his eyes slightly rolling in his head before he forced them to focus on his Sareema.
“Fehama,” Xevius whispered.
Kamala burst into a teary laughter and crushed his lips with a kiss before resting her forehead on his. He raised a shaky hand to hold her nape and gave it a gentle squeeze. Straightening up, Kamala hugged her niece over Xevius, covering her face with kisses, which had the little girl giggling. Rising to her feet, Kamala helped her mate up. Although visibly shaken—who wouldn’t be after dying—Xevius appeared steady on his feet.
“Thank you, Zharina,” Xevius said, looking at my granddaughter with wonder.
She smiled proudly, puffing her chest. “You’re welcome, Uncle Xevius. But they all helped,” she added, pointing at her brothers and me.
He turned to look at us, the depth of gratitude in his eyes moving me to the core. “Thank you, children. And thank you, brother.”
“Yes, thank you,” Kamala said leaning against Xevius.
He wrapped a protective arm around her waist and kissed her temple before looking around the room. The same incredulous awe I felt reflected on his face in light of Vahleryon’s apparent effortless ability to control so many bodies at once. His gaze then settled on the boy, filled with respect and hope. In that instant, whatever doubt Xevius may still have had about the potential of my grandson fulfilling the vision of the Gre
at General evaporated. Pride filled my heart as I looked upon Vahleryon and felt the strict control he was exercising over his brewing anger at the attack on his Aunt’s mate. He had no particular love for Xevius, having only briefly interacted with him once. But his link to Kamala made him family, and the boy would fight for family until his last breath.
Xevius looked on the Quorum with a cold, detached stare. Then he turned to Victus, confusion and betrayal in his eyes.
“Why?” Xevius asked.
Victus looked at Zharina, licked his lips nervously, then his gaze flicked towards the Quorum. We all turned towards the Omniates, wondering what he was staring at, when Zhara did a double take. She tilted her head and frowned as she stared at Theanna.
“Oh Goddess,” I whispered before facing Victus. “You knew!”
“What?” Xevius asked.
Before I could answer, Zhara started walking towards the dais of the Omniates.
“Zha!” Vahleryon exclaimed, worry in his eyes as he watched his twin walk away.
She stopped and looked at him over her shoulder. “It’s okay, Vahl. It won’t be long.”
Resuming her steps, she walked up to Theanna, who stared at her with a mix of fear, hope, and wonder.
“It will hurt,” Zharina said.
Eyes glistening, Theanna nodded her head sharply. The little girl wrapped her fingers around the Omniate’s neck. Within seconds, my other prophecy came true as Theanna appeared to choke with the hand of a Veredian wrapped around her throat. Victus’s chin quivered, his eyes filling with tears of joy.
“Trust in Fate…” Xevius whispered while rubbing his chest where the dagger had stabbed him. “You knew she would come for me,” he stated, looking at Victus.
Victus nodded. “The Oracle said if you died on this floor, either I would be banished, or the healer child would bring you back and heal my mother.”
“So, you killed my mate on an off-chance?” Kamala asked, anger seeping in her voice.
“He was condemned either way,” Victus snapped back, unrepentant. “And death at my hand was more merciful than the one that awaited him in the Scorched Lands.”