by M. J Kreyzer
Luke paused, smiled and plucked the next happy memory that came within his reach. “I remember… it was going to be a surprise for you and your mom and your brother… well more for your mom and Lazarus because you weren’t even one yet… but I remember how excited I was. There was this beach house in Valhalla that we loved to go to. It wasn’t anything big or fancy but we loved it. It wasn’t ours but… but there wasn’t ever another place we’d want to visit. Lazarus was making millions through his stint with Pit fighting and he could put us up in the nicest, poshest hotels in the world but every time we wanted to go somewhere we went to Valhalla and stayed at that same beach house and rented it from the same people. Great people.”
“We never had much money, Tess, I mean, we had a very nice home and nice cars and nice things but that was because of those things were provided to me because of my role in forming the Union. But we could never go anywhere or do anything fancy but that never mattered to your Mom. Lazarus didn’t really hit it big in Pit fighting ‘til a few months before the fall of the Union but even after that…” Luke stopped. He thought about Trina, their plans for life, and he found that the emptiness he had felt for so long was filled, though temporarily. “I had saved up for years. That’s where me and Trina went for our honeymoon. That beach house. The first time we ever went we spent every dime we had just to get there. I honestly hadn’t planned on the trans-Carpathic airship costing as much as it did, but we went anyways and… heh, you should’ve seen your mother’s eyes when she first saw the ocean, Tess. I wish you could’ve. They were so big and bright… you have her eyes, babe, you have her exact eyes. And the smile on her face, I’ll never forget it, she was so happy and so beautiful I could’ve cried. I didn’t tell her that I spent all our money on the flight over alone so I tried to hide it so it wouldn’t ruin her mood but she didn’t care. She was just happy to see the ocean and she… she ran out there with her shoes still on her feet and ran through the crystal clear water and… I’ve never seen anybody so happy. But we went to the beach house and talked with the renters and begged them to set up some sort of financing option or something like that just so we could stay there for a few days. We were only twenty years old and these people were fifty five, sixty. But seeing us, seeing how happy we were, the couple let us stay for free. For a week. “ Luke stopped again, trailing off into the glorious past. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so happy. It was just us and we loved each other. And we promised the couple we’d come back twice every year. It was a lofty goal, but we made it. I didn’t eat lunch for fifteen years but we made it there. And even though the property value of that beach house went through the roof as Valhalla became a major city and commercialized, the couple kept the rates the same, God bless ‘em… there was no place on the planet that your mother loved more than that beach house. And seeing your mother that happy… well that was enough to keep me alive. I didn’t have to eat, sleep, drink, but just seeing Trina that happy… that kept me living on its own.”
“So the trip after you were born I spoke with the Rob and Shayla… the owners. They were well into their hundreds. Humans too, I don’t know how they managed to live so long, but I talked to them and said I’d give them all the money I had for that piece of property. They didn’t even live in the beach house. They lived in a house far inland and used the rent money to pay their own expenses which they couldn’t even afford because of how expensive living in Valhalla had become. But… but they wouldn’t take my money and told me just to take the house. It was the only thing that gave them money but they offered it to me for free. When I said I wouldn’t take it Rob sat me down… he couldn’t even stand up himself he just waved for me to come over and patted the chair for me to sit down. He said that we’d make a deal. I’d buy the house from him for the amount it would’ve cost back when we first went there. I mean, the property value was literally fifty times greater than what it had been. It was oceanfront property. But after begging him to take more he refused. I gave him the money, he handed over the title, and I was going to surprise your mother with it.”
Luke stopped immediately as his memory came to the next point in time. It was at that point that he became speechless. There was a moment’s silence as Tess watched her father unable to speak. She scooted closer and went to put an arm around his waist but stopped herself.
“It was one of the worst moments of my life.” Luke uttered in a voice so low it could barely be heard. “Your mom never knew I bought the beach house. She… the last time we spoke, we fought. It was because I was never home and I was neglecting her and you… I would never neglect you for any reason it was just… Trina never understood why I was gone and never knew how serious things were. I was out trying to find out who the man was trying to wreck the Union but she thought I was just obsessed with work… After it all blew over I was going to surprise her, watch her eyes light up like they did when we first went there, watch her run through the waves, watch her laugh and yell and… and just see her happy. That’s all I wanted. That’s really all I ever wanted. I just wanted to make her happy. So the day I was going to surprise her with it… just a few hours before actually… I got a call from Miles. He said that Frenz…”
Something grabbed Luke’s throat. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Miles called and he said that Frenz…”
The happiness was gone. The warm feelings that the velvet memories wrapped around him vanished at the thought of Frenz, of what he had done to Trina. The darkness had returned. Luke’s hand shook as the anger built, rising and rising until the searing heat was in his throat.
“GODDAMMIT!” Luke roared. He backhanded the edge of the cavern and plowed his fist into the wall. Rocks exploded from the impact and sent a small shockwave through the ground, drawing the attention of everybody in the vicinity. As his breathing calmed down, Tess pressed herself up against Luke, wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him like the father she never had. She wasn’t afraid or hesitant. He was her father. Luke pulled his bleeding fist from the rock and rested his hands on Tess’s embrace.
They sat there, father and daughter, not saying anything, not moving, barely breathing. And for Luke, feeling Tess hug him took every hateful, vengeful thought he had and smashed them into oblivion, fending off the darkness once more. Luke breathed deep and felt that, for the first time in a long time, regardless of what was going on around them, everything was right with the world, Commune or not.
“…Dad?” Tess whispered.
“Yeah, Tessy?”
Tess took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Tell me what mom was like.”
“Your mom?” Luke said with a smile. “Your mom was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. That’s not exaggeration that’s just the straight truth. Your mom was gorgeous. She had long platinum blonde hair, big beautiful eyes… like I said, you have them exactly… she was in shape, she had a beautiful smile. She always told me she hated her smile but I thought it was the most perfect thing in the world. I love her smile. And her laugh too. And I don’t want you to think that I’m being too mushy or anything but your mom could also be just straight adorable. She just… I don’t know what it was but your mom could be so cute and she knew just what to do to make me do exactly what she wanted me to. I was clay in her hands and I really didn’t care cause I was in love….”
The silence crept in once more and the scattered chirps of crickets rose up from the forest as the sun sank slowly beyond the distant hills. The shadows were dying down and the sky was blue in the sky was gradually deepening into a cosmic black.
“Dad?” Tess asked again, pulling herself tighter against him.
“Hmm?”
“At mom’s funeral…” Tess began asking, hesitant to ask it. “Nate said you didn’t cry.”
Luke didn’t respond immediately. It was true he didn’t. He was too preoccupied with other feelings. But Tess asked and it did no harm in telling her.
“I didn’t cry.”
Tess pulled away and looked at him. “Why
not?”
“Well,” Luke started, scratching the back of his neck. “I was in shock, mostly. I was pretty banged up too because after I found your mother dead with Frenz’s initials in her lower back, I took Miles’s Dimenisor, warped to Pyre and went to talk to Marcus myself because Frenz was working with one of Marcus’s rogue associates, or so I thought they were rogue. I found out Marcus’s plan and that’s when I killed my very first Legionnaire soldier. But Tess, please don’t think I didn’t cry because I didn’t love your mother. I… I loved you’re mother with all my heart and I always told her that, no matter what happened, I promised her I’d love her forever. Told her that since we were fifteen. But then I let Frenz do what he did and let him take her away from me. I broke my promise and it’s torn me apart ever since. I was sad, Tess. Believe me. I’ve never felt so alone and empty in my life. Even when I was in prison for those six years or the prisons in Praemon I never felt as hopeless and alone as I did after your mother died.”
Luke pulled the Razorback pendant from his pocket and held it in his palm. As it always did when he looked at it, it brought back feelings of love and memories of his lost wife. “This was your mother’s. I gave it to her as a wedding gift on our honeymoon in Valhalla and it stayed on her until I took it off of her at the funeral. To always remind me what it is that actually makes me happy.” After a pause, Luke gave a quiet grunt. “Ironic…”
Tess nodded and said nothing. She rested her head on Luke’s shoulder and sighed deeply.
“Can you promise me something?” Tess asked Luke. He squeezed her and smiled.
“Anything.”
“Those purple things you make, those things that make you fly… can you teach me how to make those?”
“Grav-Fields.” Luke said. Of all the things that Tess could’ve said, whether it was loving, complimentary, or whatever, that was the best and most exciting thing she could have uttered; she wanted to learn Elemental. “They’re called Grav-Fields, babe, and yeah, I’ll teach ‘em to ya. Along with everything else I know. All those stories you hear about me, about the battlecruisers and taking on entire legions by myself, you’re gonna know how to do that stuff and’ll probably end up doing it better. I didn’t learn all that stuff ‘til my mid-twenties. You’re gonna learn Grav-Fields, Chargers, Decimators, Barriers, everything. I’ll teach you combos, strategies,-“
“I get it.” Tess said, giving Luke one last loving squeeze before giggling. Luke hummed and returned the squeeze.
“They’re here.” Pontious said, putting all his weight back on his legs after leaning up against the wall.
“About time.” Tess said, taking her arms from around Luke and stretching out.
“Get everything together and start moving down into the cave. Serenity, what’s it like down there?”
There was a break in the conversation before her reply echoed back.
“Get down here and see this! It’s amazing!”
Luke put a hand up to his mouth and yelled again. “I don’t care about beauty. Is it safe?”
Another break. “Yeah!” She said. “It’s safe!”
Luke wondered if she said it was safe because it was safe or if she said it was safe because she found it to be aesthetically pleasing to her feminine tastes. Then again, if it wasn’t safe then chances were that she wouldn’t have had the capacity to yell back a reply.
A hand slapped down on Luke’s shoulder. He turned and saw Hendrick at the head of the third group. “Got ‘em all here. Got closer and saw you guys were moving friggin’ fast. Lucky us to be finding a decelerated time field.”
“Yeah, we’ve been here for an hour now.” Tess said as she walked over to where she set her pack. “And how long have you guys been back there?”
Hendrick shrugged. “Meh, we were ten, twenty minutes behind ya.”
“Everybody in the cave and find a place to sleep for the night. We’re taking off early in the morning so get what sleep you can. We’re going to be crossing Lilidan Gorge tomorrow so you’ll need it.”
Everybody moved down towards the cave. A cocky Morlo strode over with his baggage in tow and was followed by a defeated and humiliated Muldoon.
The opening to the cave was narrow but, from what Luke could see, it opened up considerably on the inside of the cave. Everybody seemed on the verge of collapse. They dragged their feet, they slouched their shoulders and their eye lids looked as though they were going to go to sleep whether their owners liked it or not.
Luke watched them all pass, taking a count and checking to see if anybody needed any help, especially Seraphine. After half of the group had entered the cave Tess passed him, giving him a small smile and a look that she had never given him before. In her eyes at that point Luke felt a reassurance; maybe he was living up to her expectations after all.
Hendrick was at the end of the group. He stopped as he reached the entrance and waited for Luke. Looking down at Hendrick’s leg Luke saw that it had its full strength.
“Your leg?”
Hendrick pointed a thumb into the cave and smiled delightedly. “She’s one hell of a healer, I tell you what. And split up one of your calorie packs and give it to her. She about killed herself back there.”
“Sure thing. I’ll meet you in there.” Luke said. Hendrick nodded, rechecked the outside of the cave out of habit and disappeared into the darkness of the cave.
Before he went in, Luke stood there and looked to the sky, seeing that stars were blinking out of the darkness by the thousands. And realizing that he was actually taking pleasure in looking at the stars, Luke came to a conclusion. The last time Luke had appreciated beauty, like that of the stars, it had been a sunset in Valhalla with Trina; that was twenty three years ago. Perhaps the beauty of the world couldn’t be fully appreciated until one could find the happiness in one’s own life. And on the night that Luke had finally found something he’d longed for since the death of his wife, he found himself mesmerized and lost in the abysmal splendor of the stars.
But exhaustion was setting in, and if sleep was an option then Luke would have to be a moron to resist it. He took one last look at the new night sky, breathed in the clear night air, and walked into the cave.
Chapter 21
“Wake up man.” Hendrick said.
Luke’s Furo vision had shut down as he slept. As it woke up Hendrick slowly came into focus.
It was their last campsite they had to make before arriving in Leramato. It was a large, subterranean cavern with a narrow, glowing blue stream that cast the cave beneath a thin, vivid blue light. Steam rose from the natural hot spring as it gurgled gently from one end of the cave to the other, disappearing into an underground waterway. Most everybody slept the one side of the cave, sacked out as they got what rest they could before their final hike the next day.
Luke sat up and got his head about him. Hendrick returned to the huddle over by the edge of the river. Muldoon, Hendrick, Morlo and Kristik were circled around something on the ground. Probably the map.
Luke stretched his arms out and climbed to his feet. He’d forgotten that he was the one who called for this meeting the night before. Hendrick made a gap for him in the circle and he took a knee.
It was the map that Muldoon had tried to hide from Luke. It was spread out across the cave floor. One side of the circle opened up towards the river to allow more light to illuminate the wrinkled, tattered square. They had only been making casual conversation, speculating on what it was that Luke wanted to tell them. As soon as Luke entered the circle the whispering stopped and all attention went to him.
“So what’s so important that we can’t sleep right now?” Muldoon grumbled. His eyes were angry but clouded with sleep.
“Guess, smart one.” Hendrick answered.
“In only ten miles we’ll be out of the Byfayne mountains.” Luke said, tapping the map. “I shouldn’t have to explain that. A little dense for a Legionnaire, aren’t you?”
Muldoon growled. Morlo hushed him.
“At
the pace we’ve been going we can reach the Bremmonni Badlands within five hours.” Luke explained with a hushed voice.
“From there til Leramato we’ve got jack for cover.” Hendrick said.
“So we’re here figuring out a way to not get wrecked by the Forge tanks and cruisers that are no doubt running scans across the entire plain.”
Muldoon looked over to Kristik in way that made it absolutely clear that they weren’t telling everything that they knew. Luke didn’t like it and, before he could ask, Muldoon gave him the answer he was looking for.
“We, uh… there might be a truck waiting for us if we get there at the right time.”
Luke wanted to murder the man. He was becoming more of a liability now than he was an asset. Hendrick and Morlo saw the change in Luke’s body language and knew he didn’t like that remark.
“And when did you plan on passing along that little piece of information?”
Muldoon shrugged. “Dunno. I just-“
“Yeah, you just what?” Luke said in a menacing tone. “You just happened to have a solution to probably the biggest problem we’ve got and decided to keep it a secret.”
“Well after the attack on Praemon we wasn’t shore if they’d still be there if they went there at all!” Kristik defended. “And then there’s-“
“Get everybody up.” Luke said, getting to his feet and going over towards his gear. “We have to get there as fast as we can. The longer we hang around the rendezvous the better the chance that we might find them.”
“But…” Muldoon said close to hopelessness. “I haven’t slept at all tonight!”
“That’s your penance.” Luke replied coldly. “Get them up.”