Heart of a Traitor
Page 58
The Human Heart
No one is free to choose a life without pain. Such a thing simply does not exist. But, when the pain comes and it will come, we are free to choose how it will affect us. We can allow it to make us bitter, or we can endure it, allow it to strengthen us, allow the experience to expand our minds, reinforce our resolve, and enlarge our compassion. And after the pain subsides, we will find that we now have a heart strong enough to overcome any obstacle. The heart of a true human.
-Louie Scalanti, High-Marshall of Rominut 5187-5351rl
Two weeks later, there was a swirl of gray ash as the landing craft touched down and the boarding ramp fell. Inami fought to keep her breathing steady as she walked down, dressed in her brand new black uniform. Everything smelled just the way it had and it brought back a thousand bad memories she wished she had lost.
What had once been a beautiful city of marble and gold was now a corpse. Even the air smelled of death. It had been centuries since any of them had returned to Correll, but now all the divisions were gathering here. No one had to give the summons; they all came of their own accord. They all had the same questions.
Inami absentmindedly picked at the scab on her cheek. Already it was becoming a morbid fascination of hers.
“Stop picking at it,” Mai warned as she descended the ramp in her new uniform, “or it will leave a scar.”
Inami almost laughed at the thought of it.
As they walked forward toward the skeletal remains of the royal palace, Inami took out her viewfinder and switched settings. It had been visible before, but now dominated her entire field of vision. A roaring column of black and purple energy. It rose up then branched like a wicked tree, its branches reaching out into the night sky. One tiny tendril arced back down and connected to the seal on her shoulder. It was Kembrah, the source of the curse that bound them to Drak’Nal and at the base of the column was the body of Taisho Kayane, the man who has sold their souls so long ago.
“No matter how far we travel, we are always connected to this place, this one spot,” Inami mused sadly.
Several Taisas from the other divisions joined them as they entered the palace.
Taisa Miho Hoshi visibly bristled when she saw Inami’s new uniform. “Why are you wearing the rank of Taisho?” she asked coldly.
“I earned it,” Inami rejoined as she stepped over a pile of bones. “My division was the first to acquire all three samples. That was the deal.”
Miho’s eyes slanted. “I will never accept you as my Taisho.”
“Where is the Fourth Division? Inami asked, ignoring her.
“No one has been able to reach them,” Taisa Ayame stated grimly as they walked. “We have no idea what happened to them.”
“Just what happened in the Uragan?” Taisa Izumi asked with her icy blue lips. “I’ve heard tell that two demon worlds have been destroyed, their immortal rulers killed?”
“With the Great Betrayer dead, hundreds of champions have nominated themselves to succeed Verräter,” Ayame explained. “Without leadership and supplies, the attack on the Tyrant sector is completely breaking down.”
Inami nodded as she pulled a rusted door open. “The Confederates will counter-attack soon.”
“They’re regarding it as a modern miracle,” Taisa Kiyomi snorted as she pushed aside a fallen statue. “I’ve even heard rumors that they are going to create a new holy day to commemorate the Luminarch saving his children from destruction.”
“That’s not why we are here,” Taisa Miho reminded them. “Already my intelligence network is filled with reports of worlds within the Uragan being overwhelmed by swarms of dark-shelled space faring creatures, leaving whole planets stripped bare of materials and life. Even the bacteria in the soil have been sucked dry.” Miho paused to let the gravity sink in. “Inami has created a monster and if we don’t stop it, it will rampage until it has snuffed out all life in the galaxy.”
“And what of the curse, why won’t our bodies heal?”
Inami kicked open a golden door, revealing the palace’s inner sanctum. Standing this close, they could feel the dark energies rising up from the center of the room. Many of them shielded their faces from the heat of it.
Inami stepped forward, her mouth falling open in shock.
“The body...it’s gone.”
To Be Continued in Heart of a Tyrant...
About the Author
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I come from a family of ballet dancers. (I know, right?) My parents actually met dancing at Ballet West together. So, the first few years of my life were spent backstage at productions like CATS, Dreamgirls and A Chorus Line, where I developed a lifelong aversion to stage makeup. My parents even appeared in a few movies and TV shows, like Girls Just Wanna have fun and the Tracy Ullman show, but that is about as much namedropping as I can currently muster. I spent two years living in Argentina as a missionary, where I became addicted to mayonnaise and developed a crippling fear of small dogs. In college I studied aviation and was well on my way to becoming a commercial airline pilot when I suddenly developed a rare illness that left me with severe heart damage. Bedridden for about a year, I began writing, as it was one of the few things I could do. I spent the next decade writing books and taking care of my kids while my wife worked, waiting for that letter to come in the mail which never came. (Should have written about sparkly vampires instead) When my son Stephen passed away in July of 2012, I decided that I was going to dedicate my first book to him and I wasn’t going to wait for anyone’s permission to be published anymore. I was going to do it myself.
Dedicated to Stephen
8/7/2003-7/3/2012
Table Of Image Credits:
Chapter 3 Artwork Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Chapter 4 Artwork Image courtesy of Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Chapter 10 Artwork Image courtesy of ponsulak / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Chapter 14 Artwork Image courtesy of Boaz Yiftach / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Chapter 16 Artwork Image courtesy of prozac1 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Chapter 18 Artwork Image courtesy of porbital / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Chapter 25 Artwork Image courtesy of thephotoholic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Chapter 27 Artwork Image courtesy of Matt Banks / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Chapter 30 Artwork Image courtesy of Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Chapter 31 Artwork Image courtesy of Marc Aert / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Chapter 34 Artwork Image courtesy of CNaene / FreeDigitalPhotos.net