Cartlidge: Rise of the Imperfect Flame

by Devon Loos

  “No… I’m not” I choked for a moment, my vision blurred. I handed him the life gem. “But this needs to be returned to your ship as soon as possible. This is of top priority.”

  He looked at the bloodstained rock for a moment then took it in his hand without question.

  “What’s your name soldier?” I asked.

  “ Commander… Ezekiel.” He spoke in Gaia. “This is my squad.”

  “Alright. My name is Jacob. Jacob Cartlidge.”

  “Pleased to meet you sir. Our drop ship is in the aft hangar bay. If you follow us we will get you home.” He turned away to speak in a communicator.

  “All teams, we have the package. Break off immediately. Anyone who does not make it back in fifteen minutes will be left behind!”

  I heard several sounds of confirmation from the communicator as he put it away. He handed me a pistol. I inspected it closely as if to find some sort of flaw, then switched the safety mechanism off. A noise rang out far behind us. It sounded completely different from the explosions I had experienced earlier, this one was as if someone had let free an angry bull inside the nearby room. Something large was coming closer. We all began backing away, until the slow shuffling became a run. Shortly after we turned to run another noise came from behind, followed by the sound of large objects crashing into the floor and something else. Something large charging toward us. We were being chased! I turned back in time to see Arivictus barreling through the doors and rapidly closing the gap between himself and us. We must have doubled our speed running on pure fear but he still managed to close in on us. As we ran through, a pair of doors closed immediately after us. A sudden thud indicated that Arivictus had crashed into the closed doors but not through them. Silence followed. We all collapsed from exhaustion. I examined the room and then rose from the floor, panting. Three other squads looked at us in confusion, then continued filling the nearby drop ship. We were in the aft hangar bay. The large hangar was in stark contrast to the claustrophobic rooms that comprised the rest of the ship. The walls were covered with containers, panels, launch rails for fighters, and repair parts for damaged ships. Ezekiel and his squad stood up and began directing the others. I limped over to the ship and then rested upon it.

  “You let them lock the blast doors?!” Ezekiel shouted.

  “Sir, we lost a whole squad defending the ship alone.” The soldier looked incredibly shaken from his battle. Ezekiel sighed.

  “It’s alright soldier.” He lifted his head and shouted, “Any of you good with Clawtrodon tech?”

  Another soldier walked up. He had his helmet removed, his face covered in sweat. He had several burns on his armor from the rounds of his Clawtrodon foes. Ezekiel and the soldier walked over to a control panel and began the work of freeing the ship. The others continued filling the drop ship with provisions scavenged from the Undying. I looked up towards the cockpit to find the pilot nervously tapping his fingers on the dashboard, eyeing Ezekiel and the solder impatiently. I sat down and allowed my thoughts to return to Sapphire. Her smile appeared in my head, as vivid as if she were sitting in front of me. Sapphire. She was gone. I rested my head between my arms, which in turn rested upon my upright knees. Sapphire was gone. I let her die. I promised I would protect her and I let her die!

  I broke down into a sob. I was a failure. I had always been a failure. I will always be a failure. “But this, this was worse.” I didn’t just fail myself. I failed my squad, my crew, Captain Mar, everyone. I failed them. “But… this…” I failed her. I was sure the other soldiers were looking at me, but I didn’t care. I only thought of Sapphire. I continued to cry until a noise brought me back. It was the sound of a body slamming against the dented door. I rose my head and stared in shock.

  “Is that door unlocked?”

  “I need more time sir!”

  “We don’t have more time!” Another metallic thud rang off. I looked towards the door and knew that beyond it stood Arivictus, Sapphire’s killer. A warm, stinging feeling welled up in my chest and throat, and spread to my now tense arms and legs, then to my face, which looked upon the door with a look of blind fury that few will ever know in their lifetime. For the first time I felt a sense of pure hatred. It was an overwhelming, powerful feeling, that begged to be unleashed.

  I surrendered to it, rose to my feet, and bathed myself in a field of purple energy. It was not an action that I called upon through will or a form of voluntary thought, but simply a state of being. I felt the energy surround me and I allowed it to take its own form. Random notes of sound formed themselves into a symphony. I looked about myself in surprise. The field was my exact form, no thicker than a millimeter off my skin. The energy hummed with a sort of buzz one hears from flies or bees. The buzzing fluctuated rapidly and constantly, giving me the mental image of the typical Tesla-Coil.

  The third time Arivictus threw himself against the door caused the seam of the doors to split at the center. He shoved his hands through and forced the two doors apart. The paragon of anger revealed itself upon his face. He let out a roar and charged towards the ship, and the horrified soldiers around and within it. I released my energy and darted to intercept him. I crashed into Arivictus with all the force I could command. We both fell to the ground.

  “Ezekiel! Get that door open! I’ll keep him busy!” I felt a hand wrap around my head, just before flinging me, like the catapult flings a rock towards a castle wall. I crashed into an empty crate, forming a torso-shaped crater. Luckily, my energy field acted as a shock absorber. I swore, and opened my eyes just in time to see Arivictus almost flying towards me with his axe. Freeing myself from the crate, I managed to roll away as his axe embedded itself in the crater my body had created. Arivictus was forced to pause a moment in order to free the axe head. I took the advantage and fired a sphere of energy at his left leg. The orb struck the lower part of his hamstring, causing him to wail, rip his axe from the crate, then fall backwards to the ground. His armor was thin where the sphere struck, and as he rose I saw the large burn I had inflicted. He rested his axe on the ground, holding it like a cane, then closed his eyes. I readied another portion of energy and fashioned it into a throwing spear. The sound of thunder erupted all around, and Arivictus was engulfed in an energy field of his own. His color was as dark as midnight, making his stature all the more intimidating. He charged towards me, axe raised, showing no effects from the burn injury. I threw the spear and simultaneously felt the impact of his axe. It threw me backwards and I struck the ground, taking the brunt of the impact with my upper back. My breath tried to flee my lungs and I struggled to catch it. I looked up to find Arivictus pulling the spear out of his shoulder guard at a spot where the energy field had shattered like glass. The guard came off next, allowing his field to reform itself to the shape of his shoulder. The upper hangar door was finally ready to fly open, and the drop ship started its engines. Arivictus let out a roar and barreled towards me. I responded by firing spheres of energy at him as rapidly as I was able. As I turned to dart, Arivictus grabbed me by me right leg. I felt myself swing through the air before crashing into the floor, again and again. On the last time, my vision began to blur. I couldn’t move. Either I had a concussion, or I was dying. I pondered the idea of both possibilities. Everything began to spin. Everything except Arivictus. The blurred shadow was now standing at my side, axe raised to give a killing blow. My energy field had dissipated and I became an easy target for the blade of his weapon. Who was I fooling? I never really had a chance against Arivictus. I was only target practice for him. He brought the axe downwards as I closed my eyes.

  “I’ll see you soon, Sapphire.”

  [Chapter 20: My “Sense”]

  The sharp crack of gunfire instantly cleared the fog from my mind. I felt an excruciating pain in my right leg, just below the knee, that spread until my entire leg felt as if on fire. My right foot became instantly numb. The pain mimicked that of the serpent bite from Something was wrong with this room. months ago. I forced my eyes open. Arivict
us had stumbled backwards from the shots, and now hid behind an energy shield as additional rounds continued to pepper him. Looking in the direction the rounds were coming from, I could barely see what looked like Ezekiel and his squad as they ran towards and surrounded me while spraying Arivictus with everything they carried on them.

  “We got you sir! Sci! Get him to the ship!” He dropped the life gem into my hand. I involuntarily wrapped my fingers tightly around it.

  “Yes, sir!”

  “No!” I tried to free myself. “Get out of here! Leave me be!” Pain shot through whatever remained of my right leg. I screamed out and lost the strength to resist. I felt myself being dragged towards the ship. My peripheral vision was shrouded in darkness, but I managed to notice a lack of a blood trail. I looked at my leg. Something black, like charred ash, covered the area of my knee. My leg was gone from the knee down. I looked up to see one of the soldiers cut down by Arivictus. Another continued shooting until he was quickly impaled with the bottom of the axe as if it were a spear. I begged then demanded to be left behind but my pleas were left unanswered. Ezekiel stopped fighting to look back to me. Arivictus hesitated only for a moment before cutting down his last defenseless opponent. The door of the drop ship closed before his body could touch the ground.

  I became disconnected. The only thing I was sure of was that I was in the drop ship. It was moving, so we clearly weren’t dead. Blurs of soldiers darted about my body in a manner that seemed to mimic a tribal dance. They were stabbing slashing me with their cultic tools, while shouting evil things to one another. I couldn’t struggle. My body disobeyed me and surrendered itself to the whims of the devious warriors. My conscious mind became separated from my body. The only thing I felt was the warmth of the life gem as I held it against my side. They could not take it away from me. The last thing I saw was Sapphire’s shadow, and then I lost consciousness.

  In that moment, The Undying was forced to retreat with its battered fleet. For a second time, the work of others allowed Jacob to cheat death.

  I found myself in a sea of darkness, and I was filled with the sensation of floating to the top of that sea. Opening my eyes, I discovered instead, that I was in a small bed in a medical room and was unable to move. The doctors must have given me something to keep me asleep and still. The former failed. I struggled for a moment and let free a small grunt in recognition of my current state. I heard footsteps.

  “Ah! You’re awake!” I heard a voice call. “Can’t move? Don’t worry. It’s a numbing device that has a slight paralyzation side effect. It’ll wear off in a minute or two. You were already unconscious, but we wanted to make sure you stayed under for your surgery.”

  “Surg… er… ey?” I forced. The doctor remained silent, then walked over to me and adjusted my head so I could see my legs. Legs! Two feet protruded out from underneath the blanket. I sat there fascinated for a moment at the medical marvel that was Rovanekren technology. I turned my gaze to the doctor, who stared silently towards my leg. His face was grim and unmistakable. It was the signature expression of a doctor who bore the burden of delivering crushing news. Silence reigned over the room for a time. The doctor then banished the silence by clearing his throat.

  “We… had to take extensive care to remove all the tissue that had been corrupted.” He paused. “We haven’t seen this kind of shadowing before. The other soldiers said it was caused by Arivictus’s axe. Is that correct?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Hmmm… There have been shadow weapons before… Teeth of fire, dark blade… but usually you can’t get one unless you have an agreement with a shadow.”

  “What exactly… is a shadow? Or really shadowing for that matter.”

  He turned over to a monitor and pulled up various images of my leg. The bottom half looked as if it had been charred off in a fire, then covered in a black, oil-like slime.

  “This is shadowing. It’s the corruption of ones physical body and spirit. When this occurs the person becomes a shadow. Shadows are dark skeletal creatures that prey on anything living. We had to expose your leg to immense amounts of radiation from nearby stars just to remove it.” He paused again. “The fact that you didn’t die from the radiation alone was a miracle.”

  I figured the life gem that I now held so close was the reason. I tried bringing us back to the original topic. “We were sent to a pitch-black room when we first saw Arivictus. When someone opened the door another figure at the back of the room shifted around a bit. I think it was a shadow.”

  “Shadows are pretty rare now. However, if Arivictus has a shadow under his control then that could finally explain his immortality.” We were silent for a moment. The doctor guessed at what I could’ve been thinking and continued.

  “Arivictus is billions of years old. There have always been theories, but we’ve never really figured out how he does it. You might just have helped us find the answer.”

  By now full control and feeling had returned from its exile, everything except the sensation in my leg. I couldn’t stand the confusion any longer and tore the covers away. In place of my leg was a prosthetic one. The entire leg was a black iron color, with the texture of stainless steel. A large metal plate covered in place of the shin and wrapped around the top and bottom of the leg. Springs and wires filled the calf area and six thin pistons ran down the sides. A small box with a glowing blue coil took place of the Achilles tendon. The foot was similar in design to the skeleton of an actual foot, with the exception of the toes, which resembled small arrowheads. I attempted to move my feet to test the responsiveness of the new leg. The leg responded instantly as if it was the original foot. I turned the foot about to examine it.

  “We surgically attached it to existing nerve endings so that it will respond instantly. It’s the closest to a real leg you can get.”

  “Thanks” I motioned to get up but the doctor raised his arm to gently force me back down.

  “We still need to do some calibrating for the leg to be ready. Also we need to run a few more checks to see if there are any cancerous growths from the treatment. To do so we need to put you into another sleep.”

  I paused for a moment, then sighed.

  “Alright.”

  The doctor took a syringe and inserted a clear liquid in my arm, then moved towards the communications panel. I felt myself fall backwards into the dark pool of sleep.

  “Jacob.”

  The voice sounded familiar. It was the same voice I had heard many times in my dreams. I forced my eyes open, and returned to the realm of consciousness. Something was different. The voice had a physical location in the room. I raised myself from the bed to locate the source of the strange voice. Standing in front of me was a beautiful young woman, probably around my own age. She wore some sort of white outfit- no, the woman appeared to be in fact a strange translucent white herself. Her hair and eyes were as colorless as the pure-driven snow, and though I could see through her to a degree, her curious aura did not delude her features. She seemed to come from the realm of dreams, as her face was perfectly formed, without a single sign of blemish anywhere. Her features were soft yet distinct, like that of a loving mother watching over her newborn. She wore a clear halo above her head and bore small wings that were more invisible than she. When she spoke she spoke in a voice that could peacefully lull a child to sleep, yet was audible enough for me to easily understand her. “Be not afraid, my dear.”

  “What?- Who? Who are you?” I stuttered.

  “Jacob, I am your guardian angel.” She replied.

  “My… My what?”

  She giggled at my confusion. “My dear, you know what an angel is, your friend told you the other day! Although I am sure you never expected to see one.”

  “What? Wait, Tolenva? That was over a year ago! How… how do you know that?”

  “I have been with you since your birth. I have watched you grow into the man you are now. I know everything about you. You have lost your way, my dear, but I am here to guide you back.”
>
  I felt a sudden sense of violation at the revelation that my entire life was this woman’s TV show, but I shook away the feeling and continued.

  “What do you mean help me? How come I’ve never seen you until now? Where were you before?”

  Here facial expressions turned grimmer as she spoke, “Most never see their angels because we are usually invisible to you. The only way you could see me is when you have witnessed the two worst possible crimes someone could commit: The violent destruction of love and the murder of an angel.”

  Her words reminded me of that horrible night. The entire scene flooded my mind as if I was reliving it. No, wait, I was reliving it! The nightmare filled the room and began to play like I was in a satanic theatre. First was the execution of some of the prisoners. Then came the killing of the wingless angel, followed by the demonic sounds that filled my mind when they killed him. I was now on the floor, screaming and trembling, begging this terrible angel to remove the images forever, but they continued on against my plea. Arivictus still held us hostage, he still taunted us as he continued his gruesome work, and then he still murdered her before me. I tried with all my strength to close my eyes or look away, but my body betrayed me. All I could do was watch.

  When the room cleared I felt as if someone had torn my intestines out and a blade was driven through my throat. “Why? Why would you show me this?”

  “So you could remember why you must carry on.” she replied. Her voice was grim, but comforting. She almost sounded like a mother, calming her recently scolded child. She walked over and dropped something in my hand. It was a thin golden necklace, with a small pendant at its end. A gem was missing from the pendant. I took hold of it. I couldn’t will myself to stand, so I laid there as she continued.

  “You have to continue fighting on against your true enemies. I cannot explain myself or tell you what lies ahead,... but I promise you, in a way you will not expect, … you will see her again.”