City of Twilight Part III: The New Dawn (The Vanguard Chronicles Book 3)

by Donald Stephenson III

  ​Kyle hadn’t escaped most of the falling concrete. In fact, the bottom half of his torso was completely covered in large rubble. His eyes were shut. Khaleel crawled to him as Savannah ran to them both. It was obvious he was dead. Savannah grabbed him, embracing him and trying to pull him from the rubble as she screamed out in desperation. Khaleel looked up, and realized that soldiers were still shooting at them. He grabbed her arm, and pulled her away. She fought him for a moment, but quickly conceded.

  ​They were back in the alley, with several others. She began to hug Khaleel, and he could tell she was shaking. He looked around them, seeing everyone around them. There were so many wounded, and so many dead. The others that had survived were dragging those that they could to safety, while others were still trying to shoot at Civic Protection. He suddenly felt very hopeless.

  ​“We can’t. We can’t win this fight,” Khaleel said.

  117

  ​James stood in the lobby of the capital. He’d just finished incapacitating all the Civic Protection soldiers that had been stationed there as guards. He was actually surprised; it seemed Civic Protection had moved almost all of its force to counter the resistance at the wall.

  ​He walked to the elevator, and activated it. He knew which floor was the control room. He could see it with his mind’s eye. He could also see Dante, although he could tell the man was wounded. He wasn’t sure what he should expect, but he readied himself.

  ​The elevator moved quickly, reaching a level that was several floors above the mayor’s office. The doors opened, and James could see through the well-lit hallway. It was filled with soldiers who were waiting for him. It took only seconds for all of them to recognize him, and they began firing.

  ​He ran forward, arching his body to one side in the last moment before a high velocity round reached him. He clawed onto the wall, and leaped off of it. He flew into the first group of soldiers.

  ​His symbiote arm grew longer, the fingers morphing into massive claws. He started grabbing men with his massive claw, and launching them into others. He brought down two others with the claws on his other hand. Suddenly he heard someone yell for all the soldiers to cease fire. The men backed away from James, moving further into the hallway. They gathered behind a man in a business suit. James recognized him, although he’d never heard him speak.

  ​“Welcome, James,” he said. "As you probably know, I’m Ares.”

  ​“I don’t care who you are,” James said, “I’m here on a mission.”

  ​“Oh I know, but it doesn’t really matter now. None of it does.” Suddenly James felt a burning pain, all over his body. He dropped to the floor, and did all he could to not scream. As it stopped, he looked at his arms and his body in shock. He was fine.

  ​“What did you do?”

  ​“We all have different strengths, different abilities.” Ares said, “Mine aren’t as much physical as the rest of my family, although I guess you could argue that it felt pretty physical to you. I might not be able to hurt you with telekinesis, but I can make you think you’re hurt. Badly hurt.” Ares looked to the soldiers behind him and said, “Put him with Dante.”

  ​James prepared to fight the soldiers, and suddenly felt the burning again. He dropped to the ground, fighting the pain that not even the xeno could suppress as several men took his arms and dragged him through the hallway. It felt like he was seeing red veins through his vision, which was fading in and out. He saw down one hallway a broken window. Several rooms away there were officers who were directing the combat in the streets and city. The xeno pulsed around his body, also in pain.

  ​Suddenly he was dropped on the floor. He looked over, and saw Dante on the floor near him. The man was holding one hand over his stomach, which had blood on it and a small pool around him on the floor. The other hand held a cigarette. Dante smiled ironically at James.

  ​“Hey,” Dante said in a strained voice, “long time no see.”

  ​James struggled through the pain as he said, “What're you doing here?”

  ​“Dante’s fate, is to die today," Ares said, “and so is yours. I’m sure the xeno on your body is trying to struggle through the pain, attempting to subdue it somehow. You see, my abilities affect the mind. I’m tapping into your brain directly, so the nerve cells really feel nothing. Your brain just thinks they’re on fire.” Ares turned to the soldiers in the room. "Leave us.” By his command, they marched out of the room, closing the door.

  ​“Why did you say none of this matters?" James asked.

  ​“Because it doesn’t,” Ares said. “Father activated the scrambler. We have about forty minutes, and then every human in the city will fall on the ground unconscious. By the time they’re awake, their world will be drastically different.”

  ​“What?” James shouted. He struggled, shakily standing to his feet. Ares chuckled.

  ​“You really are strong. Did you know most humans have died with half the amount of pain I’ve injected into your consciousness? There are other things I can do too, though.”

  ​Suddenly the room went dark around James. He felt cold, alone. He was trapped in his own mind. He heard Ares’s voice all around him, echoing. “I can find the darkest part of you, James. The hidden parts of your memories that you hide away. Do you want to relive those moments? What do you fear to see in your waking mind?” James suddenly realized he was hallucinating.

  ​“This is just an illusion, Ares,” James said out loud.

  ​“No, it’s just an illusion to me," Ares said, “to you it’s real. Ah, there it is. There’s the part of your mind you keep locked up.”

  ​Out of the darkness the xeno version of himself was pulled towards him. It was in chains, snarling with red eyes. James stared at it in shock.

  ​“Hello, James,” it said, “I knew we’d see each other again. I didn’t think it’d be so soon,

  though.” It began pulling at the chains, and one of them broke. It pulled the chain up and swung it around like a whip. The chain encircled James's symbiote arm, which began to pulse and move uncontrollably. James fought it, grabbing the chain with his other arm.

  ​“You know I’m stronger,” James said, “I can beat you.” The xeno snickered at him, its face a dark metal version of James’s. The metal pulsed throughout its body, and it tore another chain from the black ground below them. The chain flipped around, wrapping James’s leg. It pulled him to one knee.

  ​James began to muster his strength, pulled at the chain in his hands. The creature began to give way, when James felt the burning all over his body. This time he did scream, falling to both knees. He suddenly felt faint, and everything began to close in around him. The xeno was laughing as it stood over him, the chains now flying in the air. They were wrapping around James, and he felt himself slipping away.

  ​“There’s something else here,” James heard Ares say, “something that’s been hidden here a long, long time. Let’s unlock it, and see what torment it’ll bring to you.”

  ​Suddenly everything went quiet all around James. He looked up. He was no longer on his knees, but was on his feet. He looked over and saw his mother, Callista. She was waiting in a small room that looked like an office. He walked over to her, remembering her. She was beautiful. She was also sad. Her eyes stared at the ground. He suddenly realized he was looking at a memory, stored away inside his mind.

  ​Dr. Shepherd walked in, holding a toddler in his arms.

  ​“Here he is, Callista,” he said, “I told you he was alive. He’s in perfect health.” Callista took the boy, who was not even a two-year-old. She held him up, looking into his eyes.

  ​“So you’re sure that chemical you gave us will work?" Dr. Shepherd asked, “that if we inject it into this boy that it will halt his mind’s eye from awakening until we quit giving it to him?”

  ​“Yes,” she said, “it’s the only way he’ll stay hidden from my brother. Could you give me a few minutes alone with him?”

  ​“Of course,” Dr.
Shepherd said, nodding. He walked slowly out of the room, a content smile on his face that he’d done something right. She waited until the door was closed, and she held James in her arms. He looked at her, smiling and looking up at her.

  ​“Oh, James,” she said, “one day you will be great. I know I won’t be there to see you. I have only a few years left, I know. Soon I’ll be taken from this world, but don’t be afraid. Though things might seem hopeless, but know I’m with you. I’m watching over you. Of all the gifts I’ve given you, this one will be the greatest.” The child smiled up at her, attentive.

  ​She raised her hand, placing it on his forehead. As he watched himself with his mother, James suddenly felt the touch like it was on his own forehead.

  ​“I give you my memories, my story, James,” Callista said. “You'll know not only my life, but the history of Dirge. Of where you came from. My thoughts will be a beacon for you, connecting you to your past and your present. They will heal you in your time of suffering and give you the strength to prevail. They will remove any blocks you will have from not only the mind’s eye suppression you’re being injected with, but from any other trauma you’ve experienced.

  ​“You will also have the experienced knowledge of my abilities, adding to that of your own.” She suddenly looked up, and she was no longer looking at the toddler in her arms. She was looking at the adult James. He shook a little, and felt a tear come to his eye. She had tears streaming down her own face.

  ​“You are as your father, as your grandfather. You are a Vanguard. Not just a title but a rank, a duty. An honor. You fight for what’s right, for good. For all people. Vanguards ultimately give their lives for people. Your grandfather did, I did, and your father. Now go, and live the life we died for you to have.” She then kissed his forehead.

  ​James shook, and felt as though a battering ram hit him in the head. All the fractured thoughts, memories, dreams. They all came to him in a rush. He remembered everything. He could clearly recall Callista and Michael, and their experience on the White Dirge. The murder, the ship crashing. The underground city. The xenos. Michael's betrayal. It was all so clear. He had memories of his mother and his father, Elijah, the man he’d barely known. He suddenly felt his strength again.

  ​He was in front of the xeno version of himself again, in the darkness once more. The creature was still laughing, but James heard another voice shout in the darkness.

  ​“Get up, James!” His mother’s voice echoed in the dark. He felt her warmth, her presence with his mind’s eye. He realized it was the remnant that had been in the underground city. The ghost presence he’d recognized but never placed. It was her; she had guided him. Her death had left such an impression that she had a piece of herself, of her consciousness left in the realm of the mind’s eye. Now she was here.

  ​The xeno looked up, startled. Suddenly the chains on him weighed nothing, and James pushed them off himself with no effort. The creature wailed, and threw another chain at him. The chain stopped in the air. Suddenly all the chains reacted to James’s thoughts, and they all shot at the xeno.

  ​The creature fought the chains, but couldn’t overpower them. James willed the chains to pull the xeno over to him. “It’s time we finished this,” he said to it. He reached his symbiote arm, grabbing the creature in the chest. It began to shake and convulse.

  ​“I will no longer be divided,” James said, “and it’s time you became a part of me.” His symbiote arm began to absorb the creature. James willed all the chains, and they pulled the creature into his own body. His own mind. He felt the presence dissolve away, combining with his conscious and unconscious thoughts. He stood still for a moment, and realized he was free. The xeno personality was gone.

  ​He was then back in the room with Dante, with Ares standing over both of them. James realized he was on his hands and knees. Ares was still sending the pulses of pain into James’s mind, but he now had the power to subdue it. It no longer affected him. James spoke to Dante through his thoughts.

  ​“Michael activated the scrambler? How can I stop it?” Dante was startled from hearing James’s voice in his thoughts, but suddenly understood.

  ​“The scrambler is extremely unstable,” Dante said telekinetically, “you’ll have to find the hub, it’s a large metal sphere the center of the dome at the top of the city. A small explosion, or anything like that will destabilize it, it’s very sensitive. That’ll cause a chain reaction, completely destroying the machine. The scrambler was the reason the dome over the city was constructed. Michael turned Dirge into a giant stasis chamber. If a rebellion ever broke out like this, then he would activate it. He hadn’t yet because the scrambler is also a great EMP blast. It would have killed his life support, which would have killed him since he was so severely wounded the day your mother died. Wolfgang and Medea are protecting him now, and they both have xenos. He has a xeno too, but he’ll be unable to fight until the scrambler is destroyed.”

  ​“That’s ok, I can handle them,” James said. “Is there anything else before I break this?”​Dante grinned slightly.

  ​“Yeah,” Dante said, “I’m sorry for everything. I can see now that I was on the wrong side to begin with. Also, can you let me kill Ares? You can take Lucien’s blades and use them for yourself, but toss me my gun. It’s over by the blades. I’m stronger than Ares knows, and my healing factor has allowed me to survive this gunshot wound. I’ve always hid my strength from them.”

  ​James felt Ares stop the mind torture, and he called the soldiers back into the room. He directed them to hold James, and he picked out a soldier who was holding a high velocity rifle.

  ​“Soldier,” Ares said, “you have a great honor today. You get to be the one to kill the Hunter. The great James Alexander Vanguard. Shoot him in the head, so there’s no mistake.”

  ​The soldier moved next to James, who was still on his knees being held by the other men. James closed his eyes for a moment and thought of his mother’s words, and felt the strength in his mind’s eye. The blocks had truly been removed and he realized the second personality, the xeno, had been the biggest one. As the soldier began to squeeze the trigger, James empowered himself with his mind’s eye. As he embraced it, diving into it with his mind, he no longer felt any fear. There was darkness in it, but it was controlled by him, by his heart. With the xeno personality gone, it no longer was drawn to him.

  ​The ground shook, and a bubble of telekinetic power shot out of him, throwing all the soldiers back. James used his telekinesis to call the two short blades to his hands. He caused the pistol next to them to fly across the room, and slide onto the floor next to Dante.

  ​Things seemed to move in slow motion as Dante pulled the pistol from the ground. Ares pulled his own pistol from his jacket, but he wasn’t fast enough. He would never have been faster than Dante. Dante’s pistol fired, and there was a look of shock and disbelief that ran through Ares’s face right before the bullet did. He fell to the ground slowly, as if he couldn’t believe he was dead.

  ​“That was for my sister,” Dante said. He turned to look at James. "Are you all right? You changed in the mind’s eye. You look different than how you looked just five minutes ago.”

  ​“I’m better than ok,” James said as he placed the two blades behind his jacket on his back. The xeno stretched several small tendrils around the blades, sheathing them on his back. “Ares meant to hurt me, but all he did was make me stronger. He unlocked a part of my mind that has been dormant for decades.” James held up his arm and a telekinetic blast effortlessly tore down the doors to the room.

  ​Dante checked the rounds in the pistol, and smiled.

  ​“Why don’t you take the left,” Dante said, “I’ll take the right.”

  ​“Sounds good to me,” James said. They exited the room running, and they ran side by side down the hallway. The room was full of officers, a make-shift control room for Civic Protection. When he reached it, James tore down the door with his telekinesis a
nd they both ran in. Dante ran through the right side of the room, shooting at all the officers. James had sprouted his claws, and tore through all the officers on the left side himself. In seconds the room was quiet.

  ​“That should slow them a little,” Dante said looking at all the data screens and communication equipment that was now unmanned. James focused on his mind’s eye, looking throughout the city.

  ​“It’s not enough,” James said. "I have to do something.”

  ​“All right,” Dante said, “but you better hurry. You have just over half an hour.” James was already running to the nearest window in the room. He strengthened himself with his mind’s eye as he dove outward through the bullet proof glass, falling through the air.

  ​His wings opened up, but he suddenly felt lighter and faster than before. His thoughts then went to the xenos. They not only could move about on the ground, but they could float through the air. Having the xeno fully under his control, he realized they could control the effect gravity had on himself. That’s how they can float, he thought, or even fly. He didn’t really need wings to fly. He flew faster than he ever had, no longer using wings. His telekinesis and xeno propelled him faster than he ever had before.

  118

  ​Khaleel stood holding Savannah. They’d just witnessed her brother’s death. She was sobbing, and he’d just told her that he didn’t think they could win this fight. There was another explosion, and he saw part of the building begin to fall around them. He yelled for everyone to move, and pulled Savannah away. The falling concrete barely missed them.

  ​Suddenly they were out in the street, and he could see the tanks moving forward. Civic Protection was advancing. He raised his weapon, holding Savannah in his other arm. He was about to fire when he heard shouting behind him. Other people, other resistance fighters were shouting. He then realized what they were saying. They were all shouting ‘Vanguard!'