Taking the penlight from between her teeth, Sylvia searched for her bundle. She found it, and sighed, gathering it close to her. She shone her feeble light around in an attempt to figure out her next step. There were three openings. Crawling toward the nearest one, Sylvia peeked in. Instead of an open area, it seemed to be a service tunnel. She chewed her lip and glanced toward the other two openings. Unless I am completely turned around down here, this one mirrors the hallway out of my room, she thought. That was reason enough for her to take it.
Time lost all meaning as she crawled her way through the station. She had no idea how far she had gone or even where in the station she was. She only knew the Pet chambers. She was sure, though, that she was beyond those. Sylvia also wondered if anyone had noticed that she was missing. Had she left anything pointing to her escape route? She didn’t think so, but the thought made her uneasy. Anyone who broke one of Betrayer’s rules was punished severely. Sylvia had seen some Pets so brutalized that they were no longer themselves any more. She shuddered to think what Betrayer would do to her. The man seemed to delight in hurting her.
Suddenly, Sylvia couldn’t breathe, not with the panic consuming her. IT HAS HAPPENED! THEY ARE COMING, were the only two thoughts swimming through her mind. The fear in them drove her to bury her head under her hands and cry. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see a glittering tapestry. Over time, its bright colors were fading, dulling under many shadows. The cloth began to unravel.
Eventually, the shock wore off and Sylvia had the undeniable urge to warn as many people as she could. Thankfully, she was out of her chamber and somewhere she could find a communication device. If only she knew where the communication room was…
This way, a still, small voice whispered. Sylvia shivered. Simultaneously, she thought that she had finally gone insane and that she could trust the voice. Well, if I’m crazy then it’s about darn time, she figured, rubbing her forehead. Even so, the Voice seems to know its way around. With that dubious insight, she followed where the Voice led.
Sometime later the Voice told her that it was safe to leave the service tunnel. Hesitantly, she did as it directed. Pushing open the access hatch, she found herself in the station’s communication center. Sylvia laughed softly, then maneuvered herself so that she could climb out feet first.
Quickly, Sylvia recorded her message, then opened all channels and set the system up to repeat it. Hopefully it would be able to play a number of times before Betrayer’s minions turned it off. Sylvia was climbing back into the service hatch when she paused and gazed at the door. I could give the message a little more time, she thought, dropping to the floor again. Using her useful diamlass shard, Sylvia stabbed the door’s operation conduit. They would have to use elbow grease to get the door open again. Deciding that going overboard wasn’t a bad idea, Sylvia topped it off by shoving the chair and any other loose furniture she could move into the door way. Have fun with that, she thought with satisfaction, studying the result of her labors.
Then, she climbed back up into the service hatch. Before she closed the hatch she noticed a little diagram of the station and its service corridors. How had I not seen this before? she wondered before shrugging and peeling it off the door. You are coming with me, my little friend, she thought, studying her route to the shuttle bay by penlight. She planned to be long gone before anyone found the message, or Betrayer returned.
Broadcasting from the once-secret station was her very simple message. People across the Empire received it, and wondered what it meant. It was simple and vague, but at the same time it filled them with primal dread.
“They are coming. The Shadows are coming.”
***
Colony Lenti
Lenti-Solum System
Betrayer
After Jack and the others left, Betrayer plucked the knife from Knight’s dead hand. “Poor idiot. You thought you were in control of things, didn’t you?” Betrayer asked the corpse. “Well, now you will be forgotten, never to be found again. Just like the bugs your kind are.” Betrayer gestured toward the oily silver pool. Those who couldn’t see the complex web of energy and matter would have thought he performed magic. And in a way, perhaps they were right. It was a fanciful, romantic way of thinking about it.
A thick glob of the pool rose away from the rest at his command. It settled over Knight and covered him like a silver skin, at Betrayer’s direction. Then Betrayer forced the chaotic jumble of molecules and atoms away from the substance. Exposed to this temporary vacuum, the substance became the terrifying acid weapon the Empire used against its enemies. In seconds, it demolished Knight’s body. Relaxing his hold on the molecules, the atmosphere flowed back with a subtle pop. The voracious acid calmed back into its dormant form.
Shhh click. Clack. Shh. Betrayer glanced up after flicking the substance back into its basin. Lumbering into the chamber was one of his Hunters. The lizard-like golem flicked its tongue at him.
“Come to me,” Betrayer ordered. Obeying its creator’s order, the Hunter drew close. Betrayer petted its head. He could feel the energy the thing had managed to collect. “Well done,” he praised, then slammed his blade into the creature. All the energy the Hunter had collected was drawn into the knife. The knife, known as the Edacaf, was his second favorite. It could not trap a soul, but it could absorb energy and Spectrals. (It could be argued that they were the same thing, though there was a subtle difference.)
The blade of the Edacaf shimmered with the energy stored in its core. This pleased him. A faint whooshing sound was his warning that the one free Soul Shadow was coming for him. Betrayer raised the Edacaf in a warding gesture. The female Soul Shadow couldn’t stop herself from touching the blade. She probably didn’t even know that she shouldn’t, for her own good. After all, it did appear to be a regular knife.
Stunned, he could feel her push against the blade’s hold on her. “You shouldn’t have tried to take me,” he reprimanded her. “After all, I am finishing what you couldn’t.”
“But you need a powerful Spectral and the Lous-eci’dalb to open the prison!” she protested.
Betrayer couldn’t help it. He laughed. “There is a loophole. You are correct in that you need a special blade, but the detail you are missing is that it needs to have been forged by me. The Edacaf is one of mine.” He could feel her surprise that he had made both the Lous-eci’dalb and the one she was now trapped in, but he didn’t give her the opportunity to ask any questions. “You also need a significant amount of energy and a soul. You were correct in thinking that a Spectral would take care of the last two requirements,” he conceded, “however, there are other ways. The energy from Rylynn and the Hunter worked. All I needed was a soul…”
“Where will you get it?” she asked eagerly, and Betrayer wondered how naive she was. He hadn’t thought, after all this time, that a Soul Shadow could be this naive.
“Well, you already volunteered,” Betrayer said. She freaked out—frantically, she tried to force herself free, but she was too weak and had no way to access the energy stored in the blade. Betrayer smirked and looked up at the pulsating, rainbow-hued, yet dark crystal suspended above him. “It’s time to shake things up,” Betrayer said before tossing the Edacaf into the pool. He watched it slowly sink below the surface. Once the knife’s point vanished, he turned on his heel and left the chamber. Eventually, the Edacaf would reach the lock of the prison.
Things would be different, then. His almost-brethren would be free to wreak havoc again. The Empire would fall and things would try to sort themselves out again. And through it all, he would watch the show with a favorite snack. Once in a while he would pull a string or two, when he felt like it. Then, he would plan his next game, because that was what he did. Life was a game, and he was the Game Master; the black hole at the center of everything. He was the unseen doom, the Betrayer of all life.
The End
The story continues in Book Three
Defender of the Empire: Chaos
Th
ank you for reading Facades. Here is a sneak peak at Chaos
Enjoy!
RYLYNN, A SINGLE PERSON IS COMING THIS WAY Kylesst informed me. I stepped into the thick leaves around me and sank down into a crouch. The move brought me closer to the rich, loamy smelling earth. I hoped that I wasn’t damaging any of the plants, but that was a mild concern as a soft light stretched into my view. It was very dim as it sheened the edges of waxy leaves in orange-gold.
Soon a young woman, older than me by a few years but still young, came around the bend. She was dressed in a white robe with little white slippers adorning her feet. Her hands clutched a tiny, gently glowing light sphere. Her hands covered as much of the orb as they could, only letting a little light out into the world. But in that light with the aid of night vision I could clearly see the worry and fear in her eyes. The light also teased out reddish highlights in the dark hair framing her face. A glittering pale gold choker collar with three pink opals clung to her throat. My hand went to my own throat. I, personally, would hate to wear something like that. I’d feel like I couldn’t breathe.
The woman got to the pond’s edge and sank to her knees. Her head bowed and her shoulders shook. It didn’t take a genius to know she was crying. I looked down the path she had come and didn’t see anyone else. With her back to me I could keep going, but – there was something in her sorrow that pulled at me. Though she was sobbing softly it still sounded as if she felt completely alone and terrified of everything around her. That she had been that way for some time now and this was the one moment she could let it show. It was private and yet I couldn’t turn away. She needed to know she was not alone.
Carefully I stepped out of my hiding spot and paced toward her. Each footstep was slow and easy so as not to make a sound. Perhaps sneaking up on her was a bad idea, but I didn’t want to announce my presence to everyone. As I got closer I could hear that she was whispering through her strangling sobs. “Please, please, I can’t stay here… I can’t… It was hard before, but now that monster is here. Please Lord, I can’t have a child here. Please… please help me…”
My heart felt like it was breaking and I knelt on the ground a little distance from her. In a soft whisper I said, “Don’t panic, but you sound like you need help.”
She startled, but thankfully she didn’t scream. Instead she turned toward me. One hand buried the orb into the folds of her night robe, which didn’t shield the light much, but it did free her hand to cover the chocker at her neck. “Who are you?” She asked breathlessly.
“My name is Rylynn. Who are you?”
“Cassianna, Cassi for short.” She replied automatically. “How did you get here?”
I shrugged. “What are you afraid of?”
Her eyes narrowed at my non-answer and question. Then she glanced around nervously. “Look, I know you said your name, but I can’t trust anyone here.” Cassi said eventually looking down and frowning at her ineffective strategy for covering the orb. She took it out of the folds of her robe and shoved it into a pocket that must have been lined with something of more substance than the rest of the robe. Startling her must have made her forget about that pocket.
“I’m not from Kinair at all.” I replied. I wasn’t going to tell her yet how I had gotten into the garden. For all I knew she was just playing me and was really an enemy. I had personal experience with that. “You mentioned a monster earlier. What did you mean?”
Her shoulders sagged again. “I meant a monster. The monster who made this pretty façade over a hell’s mouth.” Cassi whispered with anger tinged with fear. She looked at me with an intensity that made me lean away a little. “You said you were not from this world. I’ve seen the way that man looked at me - he wants to use my baby for something…” Cassi shivered, “please, you have to get me out of here!”
I bit my lip. The journals, the flight plan, and the dreams all pointed to Kinair. And I felt that I knew who Cassi was talking about. “Cassi, do you know who the man is?”
She shook her head. “Not his name. Everyone only refers to him as Master or Keeper of The Heart of Souls.” She shivered again. “Please say you will get me away from here!” she begged.
I trembled slightly. Cassi had heard about the Heart. Maybe she even knew where I could find it. But I had to get her out of here first. As close as I might be to it, she was at her wits end and in more danger than I think even she realized. “I’ll help you.” I told her. “I’ll get you out of here. And, maybe, you can help me.”
Other books by Catherine Beery
Defender of the Empire
Book 1: Cadet - 2014
The Ways of Mages (with Andrew Beery)
The Ways of Mages, #1 -Revised July 2012
The Ways of Mages: Two Worlds, #2 - Aug 2012
The Ways of Mages: Starfire, #3 January 2013
The Ways of Mages: Three Swords, #4 - 2013
Books by Andrew Beery
The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles
Inception, #1 - July 2012
Redemption, #2 - January 2013
Exploration, #3 - 2013
Retribution, #4 – 2014
Liberation, #5 – 2014 (Summer/Fall)*
Defender of the Empire 2: Facades Page 19