He flew through the air, allowing himself to gain speed through both his xeno and his telekinesis. Both Damaine and Wolfgang had the ability too, and were behind him again, but they were using their wings for navigation.
The next few moments seemed a blur as they both gained speed on him, obviously recovering from his attacks. He sped himself and gained altitude. He could see the tops of buildings below him, still so small from his height. He flew around buildings, circling about the city as they pursued him. He could hear the dome above groaning, as the explosion and fires destabilized it. Debris began falling from the dome, and suddenly it was on top of them. He barely got out of the way of a large metal beam, which Wolfgang and Damaine barely dodged. Another beam on fire fell towards them in the air, and Wolfgang and Damaine both stopped. Working together they used their telekinesis to propel the flaming beam towards James.
He could feel it coming, and turned to face it before it hit him. Parts of the metal were molten red from the heat of the fire, with broken ends and steel that was a yard thick. James put all his power into his hands, and then into the blade he was holding. He quickly embraced the hilt with both hands, and his mind’s eye fed his power into the blade. He yelled as he swung his short sword at the beam. His swipe was a blur, and for a moment it appeared to have no effect on the metal. Suddenly, before it reached him, it split in two. The pieces fell to each side of him, tumbling down to the ground below.
James floated there for a moment as what he had done sank in. Wolfgang and Damaine looked shocked as well. It was obvious that James’s blade hadn’t touched the beam, yet the force and energy from his swing was powerful enough that the beam had been cut in half. James floated in the air, and stared at them as a wolfish smile appeared on his face. Fangs had grown in his jaw. The symbiote uncovered his eyes for a moment, revealing that his eyes were green reptilian slits rimmed with silver specks. James could sense an emotion from Wolfgang that he had never felt from him before: fear. James felt more of his physical body transform in ways he knew were not connected to the xeno. His mind’s eye was stronger than ever, merging completely with his conscious vision. He could see in layers, yet all at once. The external bodies and physics, the veins and anatomies. He could see their auras, their emotions. He could feel their power, and see fleeting images that were their thoughts and memories.
There was another explosion from the dome above them. As flaming debris fell toward them, both Wolfgang and Damaine used their telekinesis to direct pieces towards James. James gripped the blade with both hands, and looked up at them. The world seemed to move slower, while his speed stayed the same. He fed the same strength into not just the blade, not just his arms, but his entire body. The burning wreckage was flying at him, massive chunks of metal that had to weigh tons. He flew towards it, and began swinging his blade.
He tore through the debris as it reached him, sending metal beyond and behind him. Wolfgang and Damaine continued to reach for more falling metal and fire to release at him, using their telekinesis to throw flaming chunks of metal as both of them slowly retreated backwards. There was a loud strike, a high pitched sound of breaking metal. The fiery metal debris split before them and James flew at them through the flames and debris, untouched by either. There seemed to be an invisible bubble preventing the flames from even touching him.
James flew at them with his blade swinging high, and both Wolfgang and Damaine used all their telekinetic ability to form a bubble around themselves together. James’s blade met the bubble of force, and suddenly they could see their energies meet, his powerful offensive power pressing against their own. There was a visible light in between them, and James began to move forward through their energy wall. Cracks appeared in the light of their energy, and suddenly their wall shattered with the force of breaking glass. They both flew backwards, momentarily stunned.
Both Wolfgang and Damaine had blood on their faces, but they tried to regain their composure as they fell. Now it was James pursuing them through the air. Wolfgang began shooting telekinetic blasts behind him, trying to slow James down. James dodged them as easily as he’d dodged the falling debris from the dome.
Wolfgang and Damaine changed their direction, heading back up into the sky. James followed them on a relentless pursuit. They reached the failing hologram ceiling, crossing through into the fires and flames of the catwalks and metal of the dome. They both landed on a steel girder side by side. James landed before them on another one, facing them both.
There was fire and heat, and the dome around them shook. Wolfgang stared at James with disdain.
“Now you’re going to kill us, aren’t you,” Wolfgang said, “you’re going to kill us because we’re weaker than you, and you’re just like us. You’re like all of them.” James shook his head, and his eyes suddenly changed back to how they looked before; like a normal human’s with silver color.
“No, I’ve tried to avoid this. I’m trying to prevent more deaths.”
“By killing us? No, you are the same.”
James shook his head again. "You don’t understand. Even now you have a choice. I don’t want to fight you, and I never have. Walk away, Wolfgang. Walk away now and you I’ll let you go. It never had to be this way.”
Wolfgang chuckled a little. "No, you don’t understand. I’ll never walk away from you. I’ll never quit trying, because as long as you are alive then you are an affront to my existence. If protecting those you care about makes you strong, then what if I kill them? Will that make you weak? Should I go after your love first, Christina? Or maybe your sister, Alicia? Or anyone else you’re close to. I’ll hunt them all down. I’ll destroy you.” He had contempt in his eyes, and James could see the man for who he was. Not just a hollow man, but a man filled with hate; rage. A man that truly would never stop until he was the most powerful, the strongest.
James closed his eyes as Wolfgang ran to him. Damaine stood back, but called out to Wolfgang. Flames encircled them as Wolfgang held his sword overhead, yelling. James moved with speed and finesse, and he caught the sword with his symbiote arm. Sparks flew as he held the glowing blue blade, but only for a moment as he broke the blade in half with his strength. Wolfgang fell forward off balance. James’ blade went in Wolfgang’s throat all the way through until it went out the back of his neck. James felt the resistance of Wolfgang’s spine combined with the xeno, but the blade had melted right through them both. Wolfgang was dead. James glanced over at Damaine, who had a look of despair in her eyes as she dropped her own sword.
Her body became limp, and she fell downward off the girder through the fires to the city below. He looked at Wolfgang again as he laid the man’s body on the girder. Wolfgang and Damaine were somehow connected, and now they were both dead.
“As long as you try to be the best,” James said, “there will always be someone better. It didn’t have to be this way. I’m sorry.” Wolfgang’s body slumped over the girder for a moment, and then slid off it, downward through the bottom of the dome. There was another rumble as the dome shook, and he realized there was still a strong fire all around him. He was about to jump down the metal beam into the city when he heard a voice in his head.
“I’m waiting for you, James.” He recognized the voice immediately. It was the voice he remembered from his mother’s memories. It was Michael. James reached out with his mind’s eye, searching. He felt the presence, but it was shocking. Michael felt nothing like Wolfgang, Medea, or anyone else of the fallen. He dwarfed any of the others in comparison. It was intimidating to look at him, even for James.
Michael was on top of the dome, on the outside. James wasn’t sure how he got there, but he would find a way to meet him. It was obvious Michael wanted a final confrontation with him. He began to fly upward. He put a telekinetic force in front of him as he gained speed. He reached the tiled metal ceiling and broke through with his force. The metal tiles bent and broke outward as James leaped into the sunlight, squinting i
n surprise.
The sky was blue and cloudless. He knew it would be there, yet he was still shocked to see it. It looked much more, well, real than what he’d ever been used to. He flew forward over the glimmering metal tiles of the dome, curved square tiles that were each around three yards long. He landed about ten yards from Michael, who stood still in the light over the dome. He looked the same as in James’s memories. There were no wrinkles, no signs of aging except for his eyes. His eyes looked older, and darker.
He wore a jacket that looked to be as long as James’s, but it was jet black, which contrasted Michael’s white hair which was around an inch in length, and somewhat spiked with silver streaks. Michael's blue eyes had the slits in the pupils, and he smiled, bearing his fangs. His xeno shimmered around him, giving his clothing a slightly metallic look that seemed to morph back and forth, just like it had with James. James stood before him with his fists clenched.
“It’s over, Michael. Everyone knows they’re in a dome, a prison. Civic Protection won’t be able to deny anyone freedom anymore, if they’re even on your side anymore. Neither can you.”
Michael shook his head at James. “No,” Michael said, “it’ll never be over. Let me tell you a story. Then maybe you can see my point of view. Then maybe you can understand.” Everything became black in James’s vision. Suddenly he was in a large room full of data screens and mechanical equipment. James realized Michael was sharing a memory with him. He began to concentrate on the people down below him.
“I’m sure you already know the story,” Michael's voice seemed to fill James’s head as it echoed all around him, “but I wanted you to see what I saw. This man showed me the true nature of humanity as he raped and murdered a woman who was his friend.” James could see Michael as a child that looked to be around twelve. He was hiding behind a set of electrical pipes, shaking in fear. James could only see Michael, not the event actually occurring. He could tell Michael saw everything, though. Suddenly there was a loud crunch of flesh, and blood from what could only be assumed was the killing blow that splattered blood across the piping, some of it dripping onto young Michael’s forehead as he sat huddled in fear.
“I’m still angry that I sat there, doing nothing.” Suddenly James could see young Michael walking slowly through a hallway in the ship. “I knew I had to do something. He couldn’t get away with that act.” Young Michael entered the small closet, pulling a pistol from a case in a locker. The next moment he had entered Randy’s room. Randy was pacing his room when he saw Michael. He shouted something, but Michael quietly closed the door behind him. He then raised the pistol, shooting Randy in the head. He stared at the weapon in his hand afterwards as he had an epiphany.“I remember that moment so clearly. The sense of justice I felt. The sense of rightness. I then understood my purpose. It was to stop the sin that was humanity.”
James then saw young Michael at a data screen, and as he worked at disabling the massive engine on the ship, an emergency light started blaring on the White Dirge. “I meant for the ship to crash with no survivors other than my sister and me. Isaac Vanguard’s skills were surprising, however. He saved everyone. It was fortunate, though. I then discovered the xenos, and my ability to control them through the mind’s eye. At first I thought I could wipe out humanity with them, but then I had a revelation.”
Suddenly James could see Michael again, on top of the dome with himself. Michael stretched out his hands in both directions. “The xenos themselves were so unstable, they were like pieces to a genetic puzzle. The last pieces. If I could combine humanity with the xenos,” Michael said, “then I could control them, just like I could the xenos. Humans would have one consciousness, my own.”
“Why did you build the city?” James asked.
“I needed someplace for everyone to be. You have no idea how much power it would have taken to keep everyone in stasis, especially since at that point most of the stasis chambers had been dismantled. It was much more economical to make the stasis as a strong cannon burst. I weaponized it.
"It was especially important since I’ve devoted most of the energy to the construction of the fleet of ships outside this dome. Two really marvelous traits of human natures. They’re easy to control. I had them do most of the work on the xeno genetics. They also crave power. That’s why I had their biggest obstacle as themselves in the form of Civic Protection. Mankind’s greatest enemy has always been himself.”
“Don’t you see? Don’t you see what you’ve done?” James had anger in his voice as he shouted at Michael. “You've become the very thing you hate. You’ve become the very thing you were trying to destroy. You’ve become a monster.”
Michael looked down for a moment in what seemed like an introspective expression. “No, I’ve become a god."
Suddenly the metal plates all around the top of the dome shook as Michael spoke. "Soon humanity will be birthed as a new race, controlled by the xenos, controlled by me. Then I will send my fleet, my new army into the far reaches of the universe. We’ll conquer all of humanity, and they’ll either become a part of my consciousness, or die. Then there will be no hate, no love, no pain or grief or tears, no happiness. Just me, and my will.”
“I’ve heard enough,” James shouted as he pulled the blade from his jacket, activating the blue energy within. Michael pulled a sword from his own jacket that was similar to Wolfgang’s except a little bit shorter. It also turned blue, and their swords quickly met. They held for a moment, glaring at each other. Michael’s eyes were cold.
“I would have hoped you, above all people, would have understood,” Michael said quietly to James. They both pushed on their blades, jumping backwards several feet. Michael and James both floated slowly to the metal tiles simultaneously, each landing softly.
“I understand all too well,” James said, “you see them for what they’ve done wrong.” He let the chain fall from his hand, extending as a long whip hanging from his palm to the edge of the hilt of his blade. “The wrong they’re capable of, the evil. You hate them for what they can do.” He ran at Michael, swinging the blade at him. Michael deflected it back at James, which he swung behind him and back around at Michael.
Michael dodged the next swing, and sent a telekinetic blast at James. James blocked it with his own energy, but was surprised. The blast was more powerful than Wolfgang’s or Damaine’s. There was much more of an effort to deflect Michael’s blast. He ran at Michael again, and they began to fight, alternating between fists, claws, and swords. James was able to slice Michael on the shoulder in a glancing blow, but Michael saw an opportunity and sliced James across the back.
He stumbled forward a bit, but caught his balance just in time. He rolled on the ground to avoid Michael’s blade again, and Michael missed him as his blade hit the metal tiles. There was a ripple and Michael’s sword easily broke through the tiles. James realized Michael was much closer his match than any of the other fallen had been. He jumped back for a moment, calling up all his abilities as before. Michael watched, impressed as James’s eyes became green flecked with silver, with the slit pupil. Fangs grew in James’s teeth as he growled slightly.
“Impressive,” Michael said, “you’re stronger than my sister ever was.” They began to trade sword blows again, the strength of their impacts causing the metal tiles below them to bend and buckle. James made a low swing which Michael barely deflected. As their blades met again, the shock wave from the impact rippled and broke the tiles beneath them both. Michael gave James a similar attack, which he deflected. The metal tiles below them finally started to give way as pieces of the top of the dome started falling through, which they both ignored.
They met blades once more, this time silently as they both concentrated. They were both pouring their power and strength into their arms and blades. As they both held, the energy became too much and erupted in a blast. They were both blown thirty yards away from each other due to the force. James tried to brace his feet on the m
etal tiles as he landed, which buckled and slid beneath him from his velocity and energy. He dragged to a stop, and saw that his legs had burrowed a ten foot strip into the metal tiles, revealing the skeletal frame underneath. He looked over at Michael, yo whom the same thing had happened as he had landed.
Michael pulled himself up quickly, and sheathed his sword. He held up his hands, his palms over the ground. Metal tiles began to groan and shake around him. Several were torn from the top of the dome, and Michael began throwing them at James with telekinetic power. James ran and dodged the first spinning square of three yard long steel; it flew into the surface of the dome with an impact so hard that it stuck into the metal. James used his telekinesis to block another tile, and then pulled a tile from the ground, bending it upward. The bent tile became a shield as other tiles flew at him.
James felt the resolve to finish this fight, and pulled all his strength together. He jumped over his shield and flew through the air at Michael. Michael threw another tile at him, which James split in half with his blade as he flew towards him. Michael pulled his sword up again, which met James’s once more. James was about to move his blade again when an explosion caught both of them off guard.
City of Twilight Part III: The New Dawn (The Vanguard Chronicles Book 3) Page 13