D'mok Revival 4: New Eden

by Michael Zummo

  “Affirmative!” Bob squeaked as Minea said “You got it!”

  “I have some calls to make,” Eyani said as her image burst, then melted into tiny balls of light.

  “Minea, contact Niya and let her know what’s going on. We’re going to need Cogeni a little while longer,” Toriko said.

  Angry squawks flooded from the conference room as the doors opened.

  “Don’t let your personal feelings blind you,” D’abar was bellowing. “If you can’t see how dangerous he’s become, then neither of you are fit to lead this group!” His eyes locked with Toriko’s before he stormed down the corridor.

  What is going on? She wasn’t used to hearing such discord within their ranks. Osuto not fit to lead? Mencari dangerous? He was their leader—their hero. D’abar wasn’t there during the Nukari War. If he was going to pass judgment on Mencari based only on what was happening right now, perhaps he wasn’t the sage she thought he was. Maybe the person not to be trusted was him?

  “Toriko, I have a communication from Una, she’s two minutes away. Your ship is also in tow,” Minea said.

  Toriko nodded. “Get everyone we can spare together. Tell them we’re going to hit the Nukari one more time.” She bit her lip. It was all happening again, just like when they went to attack the Nukari Central Command to end the invasion. Except this time, it felt far more personal.

  CHAPTER 30

  All against One

  Jask gathered power in his hands, closed his eyes, and smacked them together. A blinding flash rippled out. He smiled at the satisfying grunt of annoyance from Mencari.

  That did it, he thought, pleased with himself.

  He just needed a few extra moments. One more jump, and he’d be home. Swiping at the space before him, he opened a new rift and dove through.

  He wondered how everyone else back at the encampment was doing. Shasa was probably having a conniption fit from his capture. He couldn’t wait to show them all how he saved himself and threw their enemies into disarray. Though Yezen was probably going to cuss him out anyway. Maybe he could get Ishara to stay close to him when Yezen started in on him. She had a way of calming the great green beast.

  Soon he’d be close enough to mentally link to Yezen and Ishara. They’d be able to rally the others, and they could end Mencari once and for all—together!

  Curiosity ate away at him. He seemed to have survived being thrown out of hyperspace. Perhaps he could just crash through the hyperspace wall, rather than making the traditional exit? Why not give it another try? He held his breath and rammed into the tunnel wall. In a flash he was back in normal space.

  “It worked!” he yelled. But his glee extinguished as he saw the firestorm erupting around Planet Zora. He hovered, stunned, taking in the scene. Hundreds of ships were locked in battle. How could this be? It looked like the entire remainder of the Nukari fleet, along with their mercenary allies, were defending their world against attack.

  Comets of gold and silver dodged in between ships, and around the planet. Mencari’s D’mok allies were here? That would mean his own comrades were already busy fighting. They wouldn’t be able to go up against Mencari together. Panic overtook him. He’d be coming through hyperspace any moment.

  No sooner had his thought completed, a hole opened in space. Mencari’s hellish glow emerged.

  He didn’t have time to play anymore. His first duty was to help his people. A diversion. He needed a diversion! Golden energy gathered in his hands. He snapped his wrists, unleashing torpedoes of sizzling light. The force of the blast thrust him backward, a momentum he leveraged to turn and fly as fast as he could away from Mencari.

  He glanced back. To his horror, Mencari had dodged around it and was streaking toward him.

  Go. Go. Go! his inner voice screamed. He twisted toward the planet and summoned every ounce of his energy, plunging toward the world.

  YEZEN! ISHARA! SHASA! His mind reached out, trying to reach his family. Nothing! Nothing coming back. Why weren’t they answering? Maybe he was too far out yet, or they were engaged in battle? He looked back. Mencari was gaining on him.

  A soothing, motherly voice echoed back. Jask! You’re alive! Where are you?

  Ishara! I’m closing in on the planet, but Mencari’s right behind me!

  You can’t bring him here! Yezen and I are doing everything we can just to defend the camp. You have to hold the line up there.

  What do I do about Mencari?

  You told me he can’t hurt you—stay ahead of him. Blast everything else that you can out there! Direct our kin fighting up there as well. Use their strength. We’ll come to help as soon as we can.

  Okay. Stay safe! he thought.

  All he had to do was stay one step ahead of Mencari, right? It wasn’t like the old man was that fast. He could do this. He just had to remember who and what he was—a Nukari Beast Warrior, a chosen one. Not just any warrior, but a leader of Kajlit’ga’s special forces. He would lead his brothers and sisters to victory.

  * * * * * *

  Where did the fleets come from? Mencari wondered while closing in on Jask.

  He saw both Nomad and Be’Inaxi forces engaged with Nukari and some mercenary crafts. Comets of silver dodged in and out of the vessels, chasing muddy-blue balls of energy. Anrik was here too, fighting the other beast warriors?

  How? How is this even possible? Did they know where the Nukari were and kept me out of the loop on that too? More of the usual it seemed.

  Jask abruptly changed course, moving at a perpendicular angle away from the planet, straight at the fleets.

  What’s he doing now?

  Ghn’en’s voice boomed through the communicator. “Mencari!”

  He didn’t care. There was one thing, and only one thing he needed to take care of. No distractions.

  Cerna’s voice rang in his mind. Rhysus!

  Space warped around him as he summoned more power. His entire body vibrated with an unfamiliar stress. He had to give it to Jask, the coward ran well. Somehow Jask managed to stay one klick ahead.

  Light radiated around Jask. To Mencari’s horror a beam of energy leaped from Jask’s hands and sliced through a Nomad ship. It exploded in a great ball of fire and debris.

  It was one thing to play cat and mouse when they were alone. But the monster could do too much damage here. He needed to find another way to stop Jask.

  Moments from his first encounter with Jask flashed through his mind. A sinister smile crossed his face. The beast moved into harm’s way to protect the other beast warriors. Maybe the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. The similarity made him sick to his stomach. Jask certainly had the heart of his father.

  Maybe he could take a page from the Nukari’s handbook, attacking what Jask held dear? Better still, perhaps he could use his ability to drain the beast warriors of their energy and use it to strike their own planetary base? What a fitting reprisal for what Jask did at the asteroid base. Besides, obliterating the Nukari base was on his short list of to-do’s anyway. Though, it might do more than draw Jask away from the fleets. What if Jask stepped into the blast?

  He grinned at another curious idea. His own power alone couldn’t harm Jask. But with everyone’s power combined into his attack, would it create a weapon that could actually kill the beast? Yes, that was a possibility, and only one way to find out.

  Breaking off his pursuit of Jask, he dove at the planet. He stopped just outside the upper atmosphere and raised his arms. A rabid glee filled him. With outstretched hands, he commanded his power. The hellish red aura exploded around him, flares of plasma erupting off the fringes. His mind blared a telepathic impulse.

  Hey Jask, I have a little gift for your friends.…

  With a roar, tendrils of spectral fingers spun from his red aura, streaking in every direction. He sensed them reaching far, even around the planet, snagging prey with a vise-grip.

  Yes, he moaned happily as he ripped power from everything he caught. Telepathic echoes of his victim’s screams a
ccompanied the immense power that rang like sweet music to his ears. Each passing moment, his aura grew more radiant.

  He felt invincible, as if he was the heart of a sun. The very fabric of space warped around him as he took on mass like a star.

  He felt the bands close in on Jask and move to capture him. But as they struck, they disintegrated. It seemed he couldn’t pull power from the beast either. No matter; he didn’t need it.

  His elation dampened when he recognized Allia’s cry among the echoes. The snares grabbed anything he could rip power from. He hadn’t planned also catching his own team. He tried to free her, but didn’t know how.

  Cerna’s voice echoed in his mind. Stop!

  He sensed the tendrils failing to capture her. She also appeared to be protecting Speru. But if he could somehow get to Speru, the power he would absorb would become near limitless.

  The gem in his wrist-guard gleamed, then strobed as if angry. He heard a woman’s shriek, then it shattered. He stared at it, memories of Seigie flooding his mind. She would have wanted this attack to happen. She would have understood its necessity. But … he pictured her lecturing about remembering who was friend and who was foe. He couldn’t justify sacrificing his own kind as a means-to-an-end to destroy the Nukari. Doubt crept into his mind. He suddenly didn’t feel so absolute and untouchable.

  But what was done was done. He had the power now. There was no turning back. He’d make sure no one’s sacrifice would be in vain.

  Something inside him went cold. His body twitched, nearly interrupting his ability to pull power. A pit in his stomach rippled through his body. Nausea gripped him. Panic gripped him.

  What’s happening?

  The sensation turned into a tingling that radiated from his stomach outward in his body. With it, the hellish red aura imploded before exploding into a white brilliance three times the original radius. The feeling normalized as he achieved absolute mastery of the stolen power.

  No longer did he have to consciously think about drawing energy, or how to store it. Small balls of power gathered around him, pools of excess energy drawn from his victims. He laughed, playing with them like small globs of water floating in a vacuum.

  “STOP!” Jask yelled.

  Ah yes, Jask. He’d nearly forgotten about him. It appeared his plan had worked too well. The whelp had moved between him and the planet.

  “I won’t let you hurt them!” Jask yelled. “You’ve hurt enough people!”

  I’ve hurt enough? Mencari laughed cruelly. “Are you asking for mercy?” he said. “Maybe I should grant the same mercy you did to those I loved. Maybe I should bestow the same ‘blessings’ your beast warrior allies did to countless other worlds.”

  “I’ll stop you!” Jask cried, his own golden aura turning a crimson red.

  Oh, look, he is so much like me.

  “You think so?” A mocking laugh escaped. Shaking his head, Mencari taunted, “Come and get me, beast!”

  With a thought, his immense aura collapsed into him. Space distorted around him. He reached forward, preparing to unleash the greatest attack the universe had ever known.

  * * * * * *

  “He’s going to do it!” Speru yelled.

  “I need your power, now!” Cerna cried, gathering her own energies, preparing to save Mencari’s son.

  D’abar’s voice echoed in her mind. No, let him do it!

  Would she be able to still protect Speru from Mencari, and somehow stop that blast? The amount of power he amassed was beyond anything rational. For once she knew better than to move into the line of fire and try to absorb it.

  Fury contorted Mencari’s handsome face. She wondered if whatever had snapped inside could be fixed, especially without Katen. An icy realization poured over her. It wasn’t just Jask who needed to be stopped now; Mencari had to be as well.

  There was no more room to question, no more time for doubt, she just had to act.

  “NOW!” she yelled.

  Instantly everything tingled, like thousands of soft feathers stroking her skin, as a field of white light enveloped her. Focusing, she wasn’t just going to absorb power this time, she was going to manipulate it. The tingling turned to elation as Speru’s energy saturated her body. Warmth burst through her skin, shattering her physical shell, revealing her cosmic form. No other sensation was quite like it. Time moved differently here. Each second seemed an eternity. Without her flesh form, there was a sense of peace, of oneness with the universe.

  Her cosmic senses perceived the energy of every living thing. Speru radiated like a brilliant beacon, Mencari a twisted confluence of stolen power. Even the mighty column of power projecting from his hands looked blighted, malevolent like its creator.

  Instincts told her she would be unable to stop the entire blast—even with Speru’s energies and her cosmic form. Consigned to the harsh reality, she focused on the oncoming blast. An entire column of the blast responded to her control. Straining her abilities, she willed a massive arc of energy off the main blast, bending around the boy, attempting to send it around by the planet’s atmosphere.

  In the same instant, a distortion formed around Jask.

  * * * * * *

  “We do this together!” Niya said, joining hands with Cogeni.

  The apparitions of Lord Anthies and Lord Demas reached out and touched their shoulders. The warm, protective energies of Demas enveloped them, and the spectral glaive of Lord Anthies moved between them.

  They heard Jask’s shriek of terror as Mencari’s beam streaked toward him. The universe around them blurred as they dropped down in front of the child. The beam pounded their protective field. Instincts led Cogeni to grab the Demas Beads, this time reinforcing the protective barrier around them, instead of projecting a containment barrier around someone else.

  Poking out from their protective dome, the glaive of Anthies disrupted Mencari’s massive beam. It fragmented into blazing arcs of energy, which looped around their protective dome and continued toward the planet.

  To the side, a silver glimmer drew Cogeni’s attention. There he saw Speru floating next to a nexus of energy. Cerna? It had to be her. She must be manipulating the beam as well, trying to weaken it.

  As the attack waned, Jask cried out and flew in a streak of red light toward the planet. Cogeni looked on in horror. Great charred stripes raked across the surface. Between the ragged patches were glowing swatches that roiled with billowing smoke and flame.

  He gazed back toward Mencari, stunned. His friend hovered like an angry wasp waiting to strike again. What could be done to help him? What could be done to help them if Mencari unhinged any further?

  “Out of my way!” Mencari yelled, zipping past them.

  CHAPTER 31

  Karmic Law

  Yezen! Ishara! Shasa! Jask’s mind shrieked as he dove in a fireball through the atmosphere.

  Burning! Everything was burning! A heavy stench clogged his nostrils as he descended. Thick, black smoke billowed into muddy clouds. An angry rumble groaned from the ground as deep chasms, like giant mouths, opened below. What power did that mad Human have? How could one attack have done all this? Would anyone be left alive down there? No! Ishara, Yezen, Shasa, they had to be alive!

  Through the dank and dust, he madly searched where the camp once was. Panic gripped his chest like a vise.

  He telepathically yelled again, Yezen! Ishara! Please …

  A different type of horror filled him as he spotted the charred bodies of his friends and squad mates littered across the ground. He had seen this type of carnage before—inflicted by his own hand. But to see those he cared about in such a state ravaged his mind. The camp was utterly destroyed. Tattered cloth and slivers of wood were all that remained of the many structures.

  Touching down, the very ground shook, as if great beasts were rampaging nearby. The once comforting sounds of birds chirping and animals calling had all been silenced. Only the crackles of fire and the rumbles of the mourning earth drifted in the murky air.
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  He ran about, trying to find anything, anyone. In the distance, he heard crying. Someone was still alive! Following the sound, he came upon a small group of beast warriors. Two were children, but the third he recognized. “Shasa!” he screamed, tears flooding his eyes as he ran to embrace her.

  “Jask! You’re alive!” she slurred, already overcome with emotion.

  They were huddled around a fourth beast warrior lying twisted and motionless on the ground. He looked down at the body and shuddered. Half the body was charred beyond recognition. His eyes traced up the body until he saw marred scales of green.

  No … it can’t be!

  “Yezen!” he screamed, dropping to his knees. His hands touched the unmarred portions of his friend’s chest, and he felt movement.

  “I’m sorry, I tried to extend my shield when the first blast came through,” she said, shaking. “He nearly made it inside, when the blast caught up with him.”

  Jask’s face twisted in agony. This couldn’t be! Yezen was so fast and powerful. He couldn’t die like this. Yezen’s many lessons flashed through his mind, along with the growling snarls of disapproval. While he was always hard on him, Jask knew he was loved.

  “I’ll get help! Hold on!” he said.

  A hand wrapped around his wrist. Yezen shook his head, seeming to use the last bit of life he had in him.

  “I’m sorry,” Jask said, tears streaking his cheeks. “It should have been me, I should have taken the blast.”

  “What do you mean?” Sasha asked. “That—that attack could hit you?”

  He choked, nodding silently.

  “Are you mad?” she said in disbelief. “You never would have survived—it would have hit down here anyway!”

  A gasp of agony escaped. She was right. Even if it was an attack from Mencari, this seemed so much more than he could generate alone. It probably would have killed him. If there was any doubt that Human was not his father, he had his proof now.