Ascension (The Circle War Book 3)

by Matt King

  “I thought you would.” She looked past him to the rift. “Your work is not done yet, though.”

  He glanced at the doorway’s scar. On the other side, Michael waited for him. “I know.”

  The rift parted easily as Tiale re-opened the portal back to his universe. He could see Michael’s glow on the other side.

  “What will you do?” August asked before he went through.

  “Stay here,” she answered. She looked around at the still alien life of Ascension. “Here there is a new story.”

  They shared a final look before he stepped through the opening. She raised a hand in goodbye.

  He turned away and floated through the rift. Behind him, the tear sealed itself once more.

  “You made it,” Michael said. He floated over quickly, but stopped before getting too close. “Is she dead?”

  “She’s gone for now,” he answered.

  Michael’s light lost some of its red shine, morphing into an excited flurry of blue and white flashes. “We did it! They’re gone! They’re all gone.”

  August could see the sense of freedom racing through his mind. Seeing such unbridled joy gave him a moment of hesitation at what he was about to do.

  Michael seemed to realize he was the only one celebrating. The realization went further, bringing with it the return of his solid red light. “Don’t come any closer,” he said in a quivering voice.

  August advanced slowly.

  Michael released a blast in panic. The energy hit August like a breeze. He took hold of it almost absently and reabsorbed it as his own.

  “Stop,” Michael said. He let loose with a more powerful blast that once again bounced harmlessly away. His energy raced when he realized he couldn’t get the power back. “Please, stop,” he said. His voice wavered. “I didn’t mean to. Honest. I didn’t want any of it. She made me.”

  Once again, August hesitated. Somehow it didn’t feel right to be judge, jury, and executioner. Then again, who else was left to claim the job? Perhaps seeing an opening, Michael tried to run. August stopped him with a gentle hand and held him in place. His mental fingers reached out for Michael’s mind.

  “Leave me ALONE!”

  August brushed past his mental defenses, peeled away the anger and fear lacing the boy’s thoughts and dug deeper, taking in his life like a movie flickering past. He saw sickness and misunderstanding. He saw the ridicule and the sadness. He also saw the people who loved him. He saw a father who understood too well the life of the marginalized and hated. Then he saw the wounds left by Amara—the amplification of his sickness, the thoughts and fears that weren’t his, the betrayal of his father’s memory. He saw all of it and wondered if he could do what he knew needed to be done.

  Then he saw the faces of the dead. The people in the bus terminals back on Earth whose lives ended in an unforgiving blast. The Orphii who pleaded for mercy. Cerenus. He saw the face of his friend as Michael took his life in glee.

  Michael hovered silently, paralyzed in August’s hold.

  I’m sorry for what happened to you, he told him. Before Michael could reply, he took hold of his mind completely.

  As far as Michael knew, he was home again. Not the home Amara made him believe was a sanctuary for pain, but his real one, the one where a father loved him and he felt most safe. He sat alone in his room, sitting on the same bed he’d had since he was a child. His notebooks full of stories and drawings sat sprawled across the green quilt. Outside, the sun set behind the house next door, leaving behind clouds painted orange. His window was open slightly. The evening breeze toyed with the curtains.

  “Son?”

  Michael turned toward the door. His father held a dishtowel in his hands. He had on his favorite sweatshirt, the one that said Eastern Maryland Community Outreach on the front. “Yeah, Dad?”

  “Dinner’s ready,” he said with a smile. “Mac and cheese. I burned it a little but I think it’s still pretty good.”

  “Okay, be right down.”

  “Maybe after we can watch some TV,” his dad said. “Just you and me if you’re feeling okay?”

  Michael smiled. “I’d like that.”

  His father disappeared down the stairwell, his familiar footsteps echoing down the wooden stairs.

  Michael stood and took in the sight of his room. He held a comfortable smile. As he walked out the door, he looked back one more time. His eyes rimmed with tears, but they weren’t from sadness.

  He reached for the door handle and shut it gently behind him. The room fell silent.

  August absorbed Michael’s energy with nothing resembling satisfaction, only a sense of finality. It’s over now, he told himself. It’s finally over. After so much pain and bloodshed, he stood alone at the edge of the universe.

  No, not alone.

  He created the first of his synapses back through the star’s pathways. As he traveled, he reigned in his immense strength with ease until he was back to the form his friends expected of him. He soared through the final synapse and saw the world where his Alliance waited. Where Aeris waited.

  He landed in front of them. They huddled next to a fire in the cool night. Aeris was the first to stand. While the others looked on, she ran to him and kissed him fully. August took her in his arms and held her.

  “You came back,” she said. She sniffed as her purple eyes poured over him. Her smile seemed unending.

  He didn’t want to answer. Instead, they held each other in quiet ease under the light of a universe of stars.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  His last stop was Earth.

  After countless worlds, countless days spent mending what was broken, he was at the end of his self-appointed mission, and it was the one he was looking forward to the most. Ion, the Horsemen, and Aeris were all waiting to see the results when he was done. First, though, he had to try to remember everything his teachers had tried to teach him when he used to fall asleep during science class.

  As it turned out, Meryn and the other gods hadn’t bothered to learn much about the Earth he remembered. Not really a surprise, in hindsight. Most of the memories they had of the place were of the makeup of the atmosphere, surface, and a bunch of other things that were still relatively intact. What he really needed were the blueprints for every living thing that used to inhabit his home. Luckily, Meryn had actually paid attention to that aspect.

  As he used his powers to begin healing the surface of his home world, he wondered if maybe he shouldn’t try to remake the old world at all. Ever since he’d left Ascension, he wanted to do right by Bear, Tiale, and everyone else the Circle War had left in its wake. He and Aeris came up with a plan that called on him to step back from what the gods had previously been, but still help as much as he could. He didn’t want to be the kind of force in people’s lives that The Circle had been. He wanted people to be a force for themselves. All they needed was the power to do so. When it came to Earth, though, it needed something only someone like him could give: life.

  Once the Earth had the basics of biological soup again, he could finish his mission. He lost track of how long the process took. First he cleared the skies of the ash and soot covering the planet, which initially looked a lot like Ion on a crabby day. Next he set himself to replenishing the evolutions of the world, as the gods had called it. Sea life was the hardest. As he planted the seeds of molecular structures that would eventually evolve into all the species that used to inhabit the world before the war, he couldn’t help but gawk at some of the ocean life. Man, it was freaky. There was so much he didn’t know before. So much his world wasn’t even aware existed.

  So much the new world would have to learn.

  His last recipe to follow was to reignite the line of evolution that would eventually lead to humans again. It was strange that it only took a few seconds to build. He shook off a case of the willies. I’m still just a dude. Still just a dude. He moved on quickly.

  As he walked, he started to think about the words he’d leave behind for the new inhabitants
of Earth. He’d written similar messages for so many worlds affected by the war that he’d already healed. It was different this time, though. He was talking as much to the people no longer there as the people who again would be. An opening percolated: “The power of the gods destroyed this world once. The power of humanity rebuilds it.”

  He tucked away the message for later, when he would pass it off to Ion for safekeeping. He had one more task to do before that happened. One more act in his brief reign as a god—His gift to the new world.

  Now, where should I put it?

  He decided on a place he hadn’t even considered before he came back home. He knew he wanted it to be in a spot where humanity might not find it until it was ready—both in terms of technology and the advancement of the human spirit. He turned his eyes to the Moon, which looked back at him with a cemented look of surprise. “Right in your eye, you old geezer.” He mimed a gunshot at the man in the moon.

  He’d come to think of his gifts as a “Seed,” something he’d had endless hours of fun teasing Aeris with, telling her about how he was constantly planting his seeds around the galaxy while he was away. Something about her lack of jealousy made him love her even more.

  He stepped through a synapse to the center of one of the great craters on the Moon. Right away, he started constructing the Seed’s home. He could do it in his sleep now. Walls of clear quartz, a pyramid structure to focus the light, a tablet of stone surrounding the center with a single warning: “From those that came before you, let this be a gift, not a curse. Use this power for the good of all. Use it to protect yourselves from what’s coming.” Aeris and Ion had helped with the language of it to make sure every civilization understood what he was giving them, and what it was meant to protect them from.

  As soon as he had the structure in place, he closed his eyes and concentrated. He smiled and opened them again when he heard the footsteps.

  “Hey, Bear,” he said. “What do you think of the place?”

  Bear took it in with his hands jammed in the pocket of his jeans. “You ask me that every time. It’s nice. Looks just like all the others.”

  “I think it’s remarkable,” Ray said. He walked around with his head leaned back as far as it would go. He pushed his round glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Like the Egyptians did, only bigger.”

  August smiled and started to construct the container for his power. He kept the biggest chunk of his gift for Earth, meaning to fill it with everything he had left except for what he needed to retrieve his friends.

  “What about them?” Bear said. “I thought we would’ve seen them by now.”

  “Give me a break, man. I’m doing the Lord’s work here.”

  “Blasphemy,” Ray said. He tapped August on the arm with his cane.

  “Sorry.” He paused for a second. “I kind of wanted to keep you two a secret, actually. I don’t know how Aeris would feel about me talking to figments of my imagination, albeit figments with actual bodies.”

  “Temporary bodies,” Ray corrected. “Although I think mine still looks pretty good, all things considered.”

  “Not too bad, old man.”

  “Shouldn’t you be filling in what you’re going to say on that tablet?” Bear asked. He folded his arms across his chest.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Bear was right. He was procrastinating. Turning to the tablet, he drew a map of the Earth he once knew. He connected it with lines to a few nearby worlds he knew would be friendly, just as he had on all the other worlds. They would be stronger together. One of them he connected to Earth was the last planet he’d healed before Earth: Vontanu.

  Finally, he gave them instructions on how to use his gift. Whether they gave the power to a few or to many, he left them with a single piece of history to guide their way: Pyra would not be dead forever. Use the powers to get ready for her return.

  “It looks good,” Bear said once August was done.

  “Like an upside down teardrop,” Ray added. “Only bluer.”

  August studied his final seed with no shortage of misplaced pride. After all, he’d stolen the structure from one of Soraste’s energy storage designs. Still, it was kind of pretty to look at.

  “I guess we won’t be seeing you much anymore,” Bear said.

  Both he and Ray looked at August with the same expressions he’d once seen on their faces when they thought Coburn and his crew were coming to kill him. “Probably not,” he said. “Once I get back, everything I have left is going in the seed on Vontanu.”

  “You sure you want to do that?” Bear asked. “Maybe the universe needs someone like you.”

  August put the final touches on the tablet. He traced his fingers over the engravings. “Nah. I have it on good authority that no thing should live forever.”

  He said his goodbyes to them and watched them fade away with smiles on their faces. The sudden emptiness of the room hurt. He told himself he’d still have their memories, even if he couldn’t talk to them once his powers were gone. He walked out of his monument and took a final look before heading back to Earth. I hope it’s enough.

  He brought Ion and the Horsemen to see his efforts first, showing them around his newly-healed home using a series of synapses. Even though they didn’t ask—and he didn’t need to read their minds to know—he took the brothers back to the coast of what once was North Carolina, where they’d trained with him during his early days at Phoenix. It was home to them. If there was ever a place for them to have a spot to bury the memory of their brother, that was it.

  “What will you do now?” Ion asked while the brothers paid their respects to the headstone August had created for them.

  “Me? I don’t know. Maybe Aeris and I’ll try farming.”

  “Neither of you have the necessary temperament for that sort of activity.”

  “People can change, you little marble.”

  Ion hummed quietly as the grass swayed beneath him. “Perhaps.”

  When the Horsemen signaled that they were ready, he created the synapse to Vontanu. The brothers requested to go back there with him once the fighting was finally over. He’d accepted without a second thought. He needed an anchor to home as much as they did.

  He closed the portal and turned to Ion. “I guess it’s time.”

  “Yes.”

  “You sure this is what you want?”

  “In a way, this is what I was designed to do from the beginning.”

  “All right then. Let’s get started.”

  August created a mental bridge to Ion, interfacing with his robotic friend the same way Soraste used to when she first designed him. While they were connected, he transferred every memory of Earth he had: city names, countries, government structures… Everything he’d ever tucked away in his head before the Circle War destroyed all evidence of its existence. Once the download completed, it was Ion’s job to sort it all out and catalog things for the future generations.

  “How much will you tell them?” August asked.

  “I will teach them language first. As their natural curiosity grows, I will feed it with more information. Their technological development should far outpace what occurred previously on this planet. Within a few thousand years, they should be relatively close to your species, if not surpassing it.”

  “Surpassing is good.”

  “You should know, it is not guaranteed that my knowledge will keep them from some form of self-destruction.”

  “Well, they’re humans, so that kind of comes with the deal.”

  “And I will not use any power I have left by that time to aid them in their destruction.”

  “That’s why you get the job, buddy.”

  A series of blue clouds skimmed across Ion’s face. “There is one more task, then. I will need to transform my current configuration.”

  “Just for kicks, or…?”

  “They will accept my aid faster if I appear as one of them. I will also take the shape of a female, since they are less threatening.”


  “I know some Vontani who disprove that theory.”

  “A valid point.” Ion inched closer. “Speaking of, you will not mind if I send messages to Vontanu, from time to time?”

  “Aw, you’re going to miss me.”

  “Incorrect.”

  “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. You can drop a line whenever.” August reached his arm out, then hesitated. “One last time?”

  Ion stayed still as August patted the top of his shell. He couldn’t hide the flash of red across his cloudy face.

  When August was done, the new Ion split into at least a half dozen versions of itself. Herself, August corrected in his head as he watched. The Ions seemed to deconstruct in mid-air, becoming nearly transparent as they grew and shifted into the shape of a woman. The likeness to Soraste was uncanny. Each Ion solidified and took to a different direction, beginning their long trips around the globe. They turned as one before getting too far away, and waved goodbye.

  August held his hand high in return.

  At last, he was ready for Aeris.

  Before he created the doorway to her, he took to the skies to view the world one last time before he landed at the destination he’d picked out for her. Blue water turned to strips of frothy white where the waves hit the eastern shore of the U.S. He followed the meandering coastline up the mid-Atlantic until he got to the strip of land he’d waited so long to see again. He hoped she was going to like it.

  He landed on The Cape and didn’t take too long in picking out the perfect spot. It looked mostly how he remembered it as a kid, only without the homes that used to dot the beach. The sea oats were fresh. Their scent mixed with the smell of the ocean. He smiled at the way it tugged at his memories.

  He created the synapse and waited for Aeris to come through. She stepped from the membrane wearing the simple robes of the Vontani matriarchs. Her hair was already down to take in the full range of her senses.