NovaSiege

by Scott Toney

  She lay there with her eyes closed, unmoving on the stone bed for a long time. Her mind was indifferent. Her sense of loss consumed her, and though she tried to think of something beyond the tragedy, her mind would not allow her to move beyond it.

  The suns set. The moon rose. Somewhere in that time she succumbed to slumber.

  Julieth. Julieth, listen to me. It was a male voice, one she was sure she recognized… but from where? Julieth…

  Dense black fog roiled before her, curving over her hands as she stretched them out, making it so that she could not see her own fingertips.

  Julieth, I must speak with you. The others are amassing.

  Then the swarming darkness took on forms… many forms. Their red eyes peered into her soul. They did not have bodies, only intangible swirling shapes. She tried to back away from them, but was only consumed by more as they wove around her. Come to us. Give in to us, they spoke to her.

  No! the voice boomed around them. They separated to a splice of light. No, leave us! With the final words the darkness split in all directions, evaporating into sheer white. Julieth, I will protect you from the others.

  As Julieth put her hands before her the scorched lines that the essences had branded her with were gone. “I know you. You are the essence who claims to be protecting me. You claimed to protect me from Bayne.”

  It’s true. I kept the essences bonding with him from affecting you. I keep the other essences bonding with you at bay. I have done all I can to keep you and those around you safe, but a time is coming when I will be overpowered. We need to speak now. This is the time.

  “I don’t understand. If you are an essence, then why are you not like the others?”

  I will tell you the story of their past, of what I know. Long ago a planet, far away from here, was ripe with life. Animals and mortals lived on that globe in harmony. Their land was plentiful. The rains came. The suns rose. The animals produced offspring. But eventually something in the planet’s own soul began to die. Or perhaps ‘die’ is not the right term. It became jealous, jealous of what all the creatures on its surface shared… jealous of their love of one-another and their freedom of will. It was jealous because its own mind was trapped in the core of the world, in darkness, alone.

  Not one creature was aware of its existence. And so, in that dark, the core of the planet began to change. Though for many centuries it had concentrated on creating life and keeping its planetary form rich and healthy, it then decided to shed its nutrients into space. Its surface and all creatures there withered and died. All moisture fled into the cosmos, until the planet itself began to crack and shatter. Explosions thrust portions of the planet’s crust into space to float lifelessly amongst the stars.

  On the final day the planet split, with the two halves spinning violently in each other’s gravitational pull. In the center was Yang, the first essence, that planet’s core and soul. It had no body, only ether.

  Yang fled into the cosmos, leaving its planet shell behind. It swam in the cosmos for ages until it discovered another planet with mortal life-forms. Then Yang descended into that planet’s atmosphere and, to Yang’s surprise, was able to bond with a mortal man.

  The first man infected discovered he could control the wills of others. It took ages that first time to corrupt and destroy all mortality on the planet’s surface. But when Yang was satisfied with the destruction it had reaped on the planet’s surface Yang tunneled into the planet’s core and spoke with its planetary essence. When that second planet’s essence, Yin, denied Yang, Yang bonded with it, using all the hatred and madness of Yin’s people from years gone by to corrupt and distort Yin. When Yin was changed the two essences fled the dead world.

  And so it was for ages and ages. The souls of the planets they came to fled to new planets and consumed their life before corrupting new essences. All along Yang yearned for mortality and could not gain physical form. All the essences came to desire this.

  Then they came to me, to my world, and discovered the beasts. The beasts could not be bonded with or affected, no matter how the essences tried. And so Yang and the others found a crack in my surface and bled down it until they discovered my core. I fought them. I pled for release. I thought myself doomed, and then when they attempted to change me they realized they could not because my people, my mortal beasts, had not turned on me. They were still very much alive, with souls both good and bad, but enough good souls that I could embrace them in my being. Yes, the essences eventually severed my surface in half and encompassed me, taking me with them, but I was a light in their darkness. I am, and they hate me for it, for the power I find in the appreciation of the things I am and not what I lack. I fight them in each new place, and someday I will prevail. That is why I fight for you, young lady, why I will not allow them to take your mind.

  Julieth stared in the brilliant white expanse. She searched for some outline of the essence that spoke to her, but could see nothing but white before her. How can I trust any essence? It could be lying to me, attempting to manipulate me for its own desires.

  You have no way of knowing.

  The voice startled her. She forgot that it might be able to read her mind, even without her opening her lips. I am in a dream, and either way, it is bonded with me. “Why do you speak to me now?”

  You think the boy, Bayne, comes to attack Kaskal. That is a very mortal and individual vision of things. Do you think the essences care at all what Bayne wants… what any mortal desires? No. It is the essences which control Bayne, not the other way around. The essences are being summoned together because the time is coming when they will attack Solaris’s essence. That is why they are coming to you, because of the essences bonding with your body and also with Shaun Dune’s essence.

  The earth mother, Julieth’s thoughts went to her conversation with the being in a dream similar to this with her.

  Yes, I have heard you call it that. All essences will flee the bodies they bond with and kill their hosts… all essences but yours, because for now I have strength to protect you. Together, we must discover a way to protect your planet’s soul.

  “But surely the people of Kaskal will also die without protection… without the beast blood?” Black began to phase into Julieth’s mind again.

  That is not my focus, the voice spoke to her. But if you wish to save them, then now is the time. Your abilities will remain and I will do all I can to protect you from the other essences. Now, it is time to leave. If you wish we will speak again soon.

  “Wait!” Julieth shouted, grasping with her hands into the light and dark swirling around her.

  She felt as if she were falling. Her stomach was nauseous and her vision blurred.

  Somewhere in the distance a voice called. “Julieth! Wake up, Julieth! Are you alright?”

  Julieth opened her eyes to see the door to her home open and a figure kneeling before her. The woman’s hands were warm on her shoulder. Sara brushed Julieth’s hair from her eyes. It stuck there with sweat. “When you did not meet me this morning as the suns rose I feared what was wrong. Are you alright? You were murmuring and shaking in your sleep?”

  Julieth was relieved to once more be awake. Her chest was heavy and sore, but she was out of the dream. She sat upright and then stood, placing a hand on Sara’s arm. “You must convince Kaskal’s people to accept the gift of the beast blood so that they can be protected. If not, your souls will forever haunt me.”

  Chapter 20

  One Month Later

  Bayne stood in the desert beyond the city he had made his own. He looked back at that city, even as now before him the other people bonding with essences trekked into the hot, deserted expanse. I leave my home for what? These people I travel with are not under my control. And they say I lead them, but clearly I do not. If they follow orders they are not given by me. I have been spoiled by the ability to control others’ minds and actions. What if I just turned around and did not go to Kaskal? Surely they would attempt to force me into movement. And what if I d
enied them? What would the essences do to me? It was too much to contemplate. He suddenly felt weak.

  “Bayne, come, be with me,” a soft, seducing voice came as dark, purple gas swarmed over Bayne’s form. It covered his body and even sucked in and out of his mouth as he breathed. “Am I not enough for you?” Ortax solidified before him, her raven hair blowing in the breeze. She held out a hand, cupping it to his face. As she pulled it away she scratched his cheek with her nails.

  “You are stunning,” Bayne admitted. He took one last look at the city and then met Ortax’s eyes. “You are right, we should go. I should be in Kaskal. Thank you for your aid.”

  Ortax put a hand to his chest. “It is what the essences wished. This planet is ours, Bayne. You will be its ruler and I will be your mate.”

  A shiver ran through the boy. Together they followed the others, men and women with many different abilities, into the hot, sandy nothing.

  Days and nights bled together as they moved, passing rusted out hulls of long forgotten buildings and at times walking beside the smoldering lava sea. They saw walled cities in the distance but avoided them all, their minds set on one place.

  It was a dark night when Bayne lay quietly beside Ortax, his arm around her alluring form, when he heard the first screams. A lava river illuminated like a red serpent nearby.

  “Help me! Help me! No, you cannot have me!”

  Bayne shot upright and was relieved when Ortax sat up quickly as well. “Who is that?” he asked, looking out over the army as many men and women slowly rose. He saw the silhouette of a man’s body against the lava river, hobbling back and forth. “Is it one of us?”

  Ortax phased into gas and then writhed through the others toward the screams.

  Bayne found his footing quickly and ran hard, darting between sleeping warriors until he was by Ortax and the man’s side.

  “No!” the man screamed. “Don’t let it take me!” The man scratched his hands over his face, peeling flesh from bone as blood streamed down his features. His body shook violently and he collapsed on the ground, his hand flinging into the flowing lava and singing, melting in the heat. “Ahhhhh!” he screamed, thrusting his hand from the lava. Only scalded muscle and bone remained. “Ahhhhh!” The man let out one last scream. Then his body liquefied, washing over the ground and into the river as an illuminated essence fled upward from the fluid and into the sky away from them.

  Bayne stepped away from the scene as others came to where the man had been, talking in awe. “What just happened?” he questioned almost inaudibly, amongst his own thoughts.

  Ortax’s purple, gaseous form wove from near the lava river and swam over his body before solidifying nearby. “That was Traw, one of the men from the clans on the other side of the planet. His ability was to turn himself into pure water… but not like that. We lost people sporadically like this for months before reaching you. Since then it stopped. We hoped it was through.”

  “I know the essences eventually take our lives because of the abilities they give us, but I had never seen it happen before.” Bayne looked beyond Ortax, at the lava. “Traw was healthy just yesterday. I did not know it came on that quick.”

  “It doesn’t.” Ortax’s voice was cool. “This is something completely new. And what’s more, the essences don’t seem to want to bond with new bodies anymore. They just flee when they are through with a person’s flesh.”

  Pain burned in Bayne’s chest. As he looked to his hand he saw new scorched lines moving across his palm. “I need to rest,” he said.

  Ortax nodded. “As do we all. There is nothing that can be done. The essences demand much for what they give. But the power, it is worth the cost. You know that more than any of us, I’m sure. I’ve seen the strength in your eyes as you control those without abilities.”

  “Yes.” Bayne nodded his head and looked to where they had been sleeping. “Come. Lie with me.” They returned to the cold earth and Bayne put his arms around her.

  “Bayne,” Ortax whispered to him. “Do not forget that I am yours.” She turned toward him and placed a warm hand to his face. When she went to kiss him his heart pounded. They kissed passionately for a while and then Ortax held a finger to his lips. “There is more for when we are alone.” Then she turned from him, lying just beside him, away from his touch.

  Bayne stared at the stars. He held his hand up between him and the constellations, looking at the darkness it created against their light. Julieth, he thought, what have I become that I extinguish all around me? We are all to die of this disease. I see that now. Then he closed his eyes, no longer wanting to see any light. He brought his hand back down and set it on Ortax’s bare back. He then saw the essences which bonded with him weaving through his mind, over the darkness of his closed eyelids. Julieth, why not give in to it? Why can you not see how beautiful these powers are… how we are meant to use them? If we are to give up so much for the abilities we are given, then why should we not use our abilities to own the world even for a short time? Bayne’s mind drifted to dreams. They were dark and the essences spoke with him beneath a roiling noir sky, but when he awoke he remembered nothing of his dreams. His mind was set again on Kaskal and the troop of people with abilities continued onwards.

  As days passed more died of sudden attacks, their bodies destroyed and left in liquid masses on the earth as essences fled their flesh. Bayne was not close to any of them, had not become mentally and emotionally attached. His mind became colder and he yearned only for Ortax’s touch and to reach Kaskal.

  Then, when the suns rose one day and Bayne stood with Ortax partaking of synthesized food, the man of fire blazed overhead and struck like a bolt to the ground before him.

  The fire-man blackened and then crystalized the sand where he landed. “M’lord,” Brand spoke with a grin, “I have sighted Kaskal in the distance. It is a ways further, but if you follow that tree line,” Brand pointed to a distant strip of green, “then it leads to Kaskal.” He extinguished his flame and awaited Bayne’s response.

  Bayne’s consciousness was heavy. It was almost as if a black curtain veiled his mind. “Finally it is time.” He walked forward slowly, in front of everyone else as they fell in line behind him. They walked as if they were one. They were so fully connected with the essences.

  “Bayne!” a shriek cut through the procession like a blade. “Bayne!”

  At first he did not hear her, but then through the blanket fog his mind surged. Who…no…NO! “NO!” he screamed, looking back to where Ortax lay in the fetal position on the ground, convulsing in agony. He ran quickly to her, embracing his arms around her.

  Ortax’s eyes were black with red veins pulsing through them. Sweat beaded over her body and black veins of hot scorch lines branded quickly over her skin. “No! I am blind! Bayne, is that you?” She reached up, grasping for his body and fumbling over it until she was able to wrap her arms around him.

  Bayne felt the woman’s body contort, felt her muscle liquefying and her skeletal form pressing into him as she weakened. “It will be alright. I have you,” he lied. Do not take her from me, he pled with the essences bonding with him. I will destroy you all if your kind takes her.

  There was no response.

  Tears bled from Ortax’s blind eyes. “We were to rule…” her voice was gurgled. “We were a match. They told me so… They promised. That is why I agreed…”

  Bayne braced her tightly. Ortax’s hands curled and shriveled. They were now completely black with scorching. He held her as tight as he could, and then when she moaned in pain, he loosened his grip, instead bracing her gently. “I am here for you,” he promised her.

  Her head rolled back and her eyes opened halfway, watching him as liquid swam down her face’s features. Then her eyes closed and her head fell limp against his shoulder.

  The boy brought a hand up to her face. Her skin was weak and her muscles without form. “You are all I have now,” he wept. Behind her forehead he saw a pink light. It swam beneath the surface of her face,
down her cheek and behind her almost formless nose until it went to her mouth, pressing open her lips and rising into the sky in a spiral. It felt like bubbles rippled through Ortax’s form for a moment, and then her body turned to liquid and burst, bleeding over Bayne’s garments to the ground.

  His mind went black.

  His body fell.

  Sunlight flooded his vision a time later and he awoke to see many men and women standing over him. There were no words to express his thoughts. Nothing. His soul was numb… lost.

  Chapter 21

  Ivanus moved swiftly through the woods. For days he had lingered, reading from the book he carried and moving at a much slower pace than he knew his new body might allow. He was both excited and nervous for the time when he would be with Julieth again. Then he saw the army approaching in the distance, moving along the lava river that ran close by. He moved to a tree on the edge of the woods, crouching low on all fours by its roots. His claws dug deep in the sand. Bayne, is that you? It must be. I know you cannot sense me, because of the beast blood. How had he allowed himself to move so slowly? He should have reached Kaskal days ago. I must move to reach Julieth. Or should I stay and flank Bayne? It was a fleeting thought. He knew he needed to reach Julieth, to embrace her at least one more time before they would face whatever force was approaching.

  Ivanus turned quickly in the sand and lunged toward Kaskal, leaping and bounding at a pace he had not thought possible.

  The trees blurred green above him and sand stung his mouth as he panted while he moved. Hold tight, my friend, he thought of the snoot clinging to his body somewhere inside his tattered garments.