In A Universe Without Stars 1: Skyeater

by J Alex McCarthy

  Julio.

  “Julio!” Lance yells.

  Julio lies very still against the AC unit. Lance runs to him.

  “Julio! Get up!” He screams uselessly. He pulls him to his back. A gaping hole is in his gut.

  Kabus hit his mark.

  It was cut so fine that it didn’t open up until he hit the rooftop.

  Lance tries to hold his wound but it’s no use, blood pours out of him.

  “Did…Did I get him…” Julio asks through blood stained teeth. He shouldn’t be able to talk, the blade went right through his spine. But Julio is stronger than that.

  He knows it’s over.

  He knows it’s his end.

  “No…” Julio mutters. Serena runs up and kneels besides him.

  He thought he would be scared, afraid of the end, the darkness, the uncertainty, but he’s not in pain. There is no painful emptiness in his chest, because he got to fly in the clouds, do things he never thought he could do in his lifetime and he’s helped mankind, even though it was a very small help.

  His vision goes black.

  A bright orange light shines at the end of the tunnel. Sorry Thora, Cole, he thought he would make it with them, to lie on the beach again and watch the night sky, because with this power he thought he was invincible, if only it was for a second. But…

  “No…” Julio whispers. His hand struggles to get into his pocket, but he’s in too much shock to get in, even if he can’t feel the pain. Lance grabs his hand and holds it.

  “It’s going to be alright mate,” Lance says in a calming tone. Julio doesn’t fight it. His black tunnel gets shorter, the light approaches him, getting bigger.

  He knows what this is, it isn’t a tunnel, but the blackness of space, millions of stars start to twinkle around him. The stars in front of him getting bigger.

  Serena digs into his pocket and pulls out a picture. “Who is this?” Serena asks.

  Lance grabs it and looks at it, it’s a picture of Thora and Cole. Julio promised Cole that he would protect her and Lance and Julio promised that if anything would happen to either one of them, Lance would protect Thora and Julio to Serena.

  “I’ll find her for you, I promise.”

  Julio stops moving.

  In Julio’s vision, he floats in the darkness, his clothes melt off him, where he’s going he doesn’t need them anymore.

  Julio understands, the star in front of him gets bigger and bigger, it’s the sun.

  It continues until it encompasses all the space in front of him.

  He embraces the heat on his naked flesh.

  He is about to die.

  He is not scared, there is no reason to be afraid, if there is no pain.

  The stars are here to protect him.

  He close his eyes as the sun engulfs him.

  “Nobody…is…immortal.”

  The last wisp of air leaves his mouth.

  He stares into the clouds.

  Silence.

  Gone.

  A screech from above breaks the silence, hundreds of ships appear in the sky.

  “Oh my god…” Serena says in disbelief.

  “Where is he?” Lance asks. There isn’t an end to the ships above.

  Ulbe stands in front of Cole in a faire docking bay. The bay is empty except for them.

  “Give up. Look around you, you lost. We’re nearly outside of this planet’s atmosphere. There is nowhere to run,” Ulbe jests.

  Cole doesn’t answer him.

  “It wasn’t because of our power or strength or what all knowing being many believe in.”

  Outside, the blackness of space outlines the blue haze of Earth. Going down, there are no human ships in sight, only legions of Peons and faires. They gather and swirl around the faire Cole is on.

  Impatient and hungry for blood.

  “It was because of our empathy, conscience, the knowing of right and wrong. The Serephins don’t have that and never will.”

  Back in the bay, Cole just stands in front of Ulbe. He has the power to defeat him, he was hesitating before, testing it, afraid to go all out, it’s like Ulbe can see slightly into the future. But the time to end it is now.

  Cole powers up, he glows blue. His spheres appear and swirl around him anxiously.

  The Damon smiles.

  “We must rise up and fight against this extraterrestrial threat.”

  They fight incredibly fast, kicks, punches, energy blast, and forces unknown to man flies as they rumble. Cole lands on the wall, Ulbe comes flying with a kick.

  Cole dodges it, Ulbe lands on the ground and Cole comes with a punch. Ulbe counters it and forces Cole back. They zoom through the bay, fighting so fast it’s almost a blur.

  Cole amps it up.

  “Who dare try to take away our livelihood.”

  When Ulbe attacks, Cole blocks it with force fields. Small ones for small attacks and big ones for big attacks. All deathly precise and controlled. As Ulbe continues to advance, Cole dodges and blocks his attacks with grace.

  “Our homes—“

  If he can see into the near immediate future then Cole only needs to move fast enough so he can’t react.

  Ulbe gets flustered, the bay is being destroyed as Damon attacks, trying and trying to fight, trying his all to get on equal ground but—

  “Our fathers—“

  Cole grabs Ulbe’s arm and his spheres rips right through it. He screams, this man who barely just ascended is dominating him. Cole pulls and rips his arm off. Ulbe staggers back and—

  Cole swings and lands a hard blow right into his gut, Ulbe hurls out of the ship. Cole leaps out and flips for a kick, his spheres pool to his foot and—

  Ulbe breaks the sound barrier cascading down. Cole rockets after him.

  “And our children—“

  The legions of enemy ships all fly in a large single formation, like a school of fish, behind Cole.

  Every single ship.

  Ulbe attempts to fire back but Cole’s spheres pool around his hand and—

  They quickly, individually shoot at Ulbe and shoot back up and down again like a basketball. Again and again. Fucking him up.

  “And we will win because we have something they don’t-“

  Cole stops and the spheres pools back at his hands. He powers them up and—

  He swings down ripping out a burning beam of light. It hits Ulbe and he’s sent into the ground with a crack.

  “And that’s being human.”

  Cole is hit behind.

  The school of ships crashes into him, he tries to wade out but they completely engulf him.

  Yet he shoots out of them fast toward the ground, they follow closely behind him. He stops only a couple of feet from the ground and turns around. He thrust his arm into the sky and all his spheres spin around it.

  A giant beam of energy erupts from his arm. The beam twirls high into the sky like a whipping snake. It destroys every single ship in the sky.

  Cole lands in front of Ulbe, who crashed down in front of a stadium. Cole is learning fast, soon he’ll be invincible.

  Behind Cole the sky lights up once again and hundreds of faire and cells come down.

  There’s no end to them, how many forces do they have?

  “That’s why they fear us, they hate our progressive ways—“

  How many more will he have to kill? He will finish this. Ulbe laughs as he struggles to his feet in the crater. Cole kicks him hard into the stadium.

  Thora sits on her bed in the stadium, she just rocks herself back and forth. The side of the wall explodes, smoke bellows form it.

  Thora jumps up. She has to run. She looks toward Arnold, he holds Neil. He’s too engrossed in the president’s speech to notice.

  What will she do?

  …

  Cole walks up to Ulbe in the smoke.

  “You think you are a god!? You’re a titan! We are the gods! You will kneel to us because you will lose.” Ulbe looks past Cole. “You’re already too late.”
/>   “Too late for what?” Cole asks. He should just kill him and get it over with.

  The sky flashes.

  A loud continuous deep booming is heard.

  What is that?

  Thousands upon thousands of more ships descend from the sky. Thousands of black specks blot out the sky, like thousands of vultures waiting for their prey. Cole’s heart drops, he can’t take on that many, at least he doesn’t think he can.

  The booming gets louder.

  “Where is that sound coming from?!” Cole yells, it’s getting difficult to hear himself think. He can hear his heart-beats again, they’re speeding up. He feels a tightness in his chest.

  Stop!

  He tell himself.

  Calm down.

  He starts to calm himself. The sky gets brighter, illuminating past the thousands of specks in the clouds.

  With this power, he doesn’t need to worry, with this power he can do anything. Even move the stars themselves. The sky brightens until it’s almost blinding and—

  A large shinning white orb explodes out of the clouds, the clouds around it erupt into vapor as it descends from the clouds.

  It’s a star.

  Like a miniature sun.

  The rest of the clouds burn away into a mist, the bright blue sky shows above the star.

  The booming sound starts to pulsate.

  “What…What is that?” Cole asks.

  “You mean who is that. That is your end human. The eater of false deities, our father and our god. Numenwolfe,” Ulbe says. He laughs.

  The ships above expand out and start to obliterate the city.

  Thora stares at the hole in the wall. She can feel the pulsating in her bones. She feels like something is in the smoke.

  Something Safe?

  But that shouldn’t be right. She wants to approach it but…She glances back at Arnold and Neil at the television.

  The president continues his speech in the bunker. A distant explosion happens above him. He knows it’s the end. He shakes, he’s scared.

  “A-and because of that…A-and because of that…” he stutters.

  The generals and commanders that were commanding the battle stare at him, with tear studded hopeless eyes. Headphones and mics off.

  They’ve failed.

  Humanity is done.

  Their forces wiped out.

  Everyone in the room watches him. His secretary cries against the man next to her.

  All hope is lost.

  They stare at him for words he doesn’t have or maybe they just want someone to bide the time til the end.

  The bunker starts to shake.

  “And because of that…” He gets quieter and quieter as he goes on.

  They are all dead.

  “When we…rise up to fight…we…will…wi…” Someone screams.

  The president looks up as the building crashes down.

  Shouts and screams are heard around the television in the stadium. Thora turns to them.

  “What happened?” She asks herself. “Arnold!”

  She runs for him. Arnold looks at her as—

  A piece of the roof crashes down on Arnold, Neil, and the rest. Killing them instantly.

  “Arnold!!!” Thora screams. She stops in her tracks, too in shock to run.

  Blood runs from under the rubble. A severed hand falls out.

  No. No. No.

  ”Noooo!”

  All her friends are dead. She falls to her knees, not caring for what will happen to her. A blinding white light peers through the ceiling, coating Thora with its bask. It pulsates with the booming sound coming from outside.

  Ulbe laughs in the smoke.

  “What are you going to do…When the gods come crashing down?” Ulbe asks.

  Cole’s spheres spin furiously around him, he clutches his hands. With this power…

  “I’m going to ascend into the heavens to destroy them all.”

  He points his arm at Ulbe and—

  A sphere burst right through Ulbe. The smirk permanently wiped off his face. The smoke finally starts to clear.

  He looks up.

  Thora is only a few yards in front of him.

  “Thora!!!” Cole yells. It feels like it’s been eons since he’s seen her.

  She rises from her knees, she heard a familiar voice, she turns toward him. The shock on her tear slicked face turns into a smile.

  “Co—“

  A black pillar goes through her heart. She’s ripped up through the ceiling.

  “NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

  He’s suddenly yanked into the sky by an invisible force.

  No!

  “Stop!” he yells.

  He needs to go back! It pulls him through the air away from the city. The miniature star pulsates, a flare whips out and destroys the world’s last standing capital.

  Eliite ships spread out to destroy the outskirts of the city. A pulsating sound is heard again. The star pulsates faster and faster until—

  In a flash, a slab of red crystal-like material appears a few miles above and below the star. More and more appear quickly after the last, each connected with the last. It starts to form a shape, building something. It starts to catch up to Cole until—

  A shape is finally seen, it forms a dome on the bottom and a dome on top of the star slightly encasing it.

  “We have run out of time, Earth is lost. We need to evacuate the planet,” Jahum’s voice plays in Cole’s head.

  No! He needs to go back, he has to save Thora!

  “Jahum! Stop!”

  The crystal stops, there is about two miles between the pieces. They are hundreds of miles wide. The domes start to fill up with dirt, then water then what looks like concrete and foundations for buildings and—

  Cole vision jolts. He’s back in an empty room on the Astrons ship.

  “No…” He says.

  He’s failed her.

  He falls to his knees and cries.

  17 - A crystal sky where the clouds used to be

  The sky is dark, red and bleak. Murky red crystal replaces the clouds, preventing the Earth from feeding off the rays of the sun. Reese walks down an empty road outside of DC, grass plains surrounding him.

  His Air Force jumpsuit is unzipped down to his waist, showing off his muscle shirt. He only carries Julio’s gun with him. For safe keeping maybe, he hopes he doesn’t get in any situation where he has to use it.

  He continues down the road, he needs to get off it soon, he’s been lucky so far avoiding the Eliite. But he’s pushing his luck continuing down this road. “Just a few more miles,” He says to himself. He knows of a place he can hide in this area. He stops and peers into the sky. He doubts he can hide from them long, the object above bears down over him.

  Is he never going to fly again?

  …

  “Are you guys ready?!” Julio exclaims. He stands on a high clifftop off the Mediterranean Sea. The sun is at high noon, the pearl blue aqua stretches out for ages, water clear enough to see the sea floor fifty feet below. Julio jumps into the water, flipping like a pro and splashes in.

  He comes up.

  “Woooooo yeah!! Come on!” He shouts up.

  Cole and Thora look down at him, dressed in bathing suits. Thora visibly shakes. She glances back, Erin and Arnold sit in one of the five lawn chairs they brought. Erin has a noticeable bump on her belly but that doesn’t stop her from rocking her pink two piece bikini.

  “Aren’t you guys going to jump?” Thora asks them. Erin points to her belly, she looks at Arnold.

  “If I can’t drink a beer I can’t jump,” He says, he looks nervously at the edge. Erin smiles and grabs his hand and squeezes it.

  Thora jerks back when Cole touches her. He places his arm around her shoulder and strokes it.

  “You ready?” he asks.

  “No, I-I can’t do this.”

  She’s having second thoughts, it looked like fun from the videos but seeing it in person is a whole another thing.

 
“Yes, you can, you can do anything if you put your mind to it.” He clutches her tighter.

  She doesn’t answer.

  Doing anything you put your mind to and splattering your mind on a rock are two different things.

  “Come on, you pussies!” Julio yells from below. “Jump!”

  “I’m not scared, you shouldn’t be either,” Cole says. Why should she care if he’s scared, that doesn’t help her at this instance? But she should trust him, Julio did fine but she’s not Julio.

  “What if I hit my head on a rock?” she asks.

  “So what?”

  “So what!?!” She stares at him.

  “I didn’t mean it in that way!” he stammers. He pulls her closer. “We’ve came all this way, you gotta live a little. We can jump together. As long as you’re with me I will always protect you, I won’t lead you somewhere dangerous.”

  She’s sure he wouldn’t lead her to her death. She’s never done anything like this before, but she knew what kind of guy he was when she married him.

  “O-okay.”

  Cole grabs her hand and they both back up a couple of feet.

  “Are you ready?”

  “No.”

  He looks into her eyes as they both run and jump. Their gaze doesn’t break as they go down.

  She loves him to death, she can trust him even when they’re doing something incredibly stupid, because that’s Cole.

  The responsible one.

  Well if they do die, at least they’ll together. ‘Til death do us part. She smiles as he stares at her with his hazel brown eyes as they hit the water.

  …

  Cole sits in front of a console in a small black room, he’s in front of a giant display which covers the entire wall. He has his head in his hands, he shakes slightly. He needs to forget.

  He’s a god now.

  On the display it shows Erin’s, Arnold’s, Neil’s, Julio’s and Thora’s names highlighted among thousands.

  KIA shown by their names.

  “I must forget.”

  He’s a god now, but what use is that power?

  He screams and looks at the display.