The explosion occurred almost right beneath their feet, and it blew them both away as tiles all around them were collapsed inward.
There was now fire and wreckage on top of the dome, which was now falling through all around them. James pulled himself up. He saw double vision for a moment, but it soon faded. Michael was stunned as well. He pulled himself up, and looked down into the giant hole.
“Now everyone knows,” James said. “It's over, Michael.”
“No, there’s still Civic Protection,” Michael said, “they still follow my rules, my law.”
James smiled at him with the same look he had when he knew something someone else didn’t. “You’re just as bad as Wolfgang,” James said. "You don’t pay attention to your surroundings.” Michael stared at him curiously. “Look at all the people with your mind’s eye,” James said, “if you can.”
“They’re not doing anything.”
“That’s right,” James said, “and that’s because they now know you. There are some things that are easier to do with the mind’s eye than others. Ares showed me that. He showed me that I could potentially broadcast thoughts and visions, even memories to other people.” He smiled as he crouched down and put one hand on the metal tile beneath him.
“Everything you told me, everything you’ve shown me through your memories; they all saw and heard in the city. I broadcast everything through my mind’s eye into every conscious person’s head. They heard everything we’ve said. Now all of them know the truth.” James smiled, while Michael shook with a silent rage.
124
Christina held Alicia close to her as their vision came back. Despite all the explosions in the sky and everything all around, their vision had faded to what Michael had shown James. Michael sabotaging a spaceship, causing them to crash there. The city’s origins were shocking, but Michael’s plan was even more shocking. Their voices in their heads as James and Michael spoke to each other. They could still hear them. She looked around her and Alicia.
There were people crying, people on the ground. Some people just looked around emotionless. The soldiers of Civic Protection dropped their weapons, some falling to their knees.
The words and images echoed throughout the crowd. As hard as it was to believe, they couldn’t turn away. Not when the proof was right in front of them.
“It’s the truth,” William said standing next to her, “and now we can all be free.”
People in the crowd began to step forward, walking among Civic Protection. She saw Khaleel ahead of the crowd. He walked slowly to one of the senior officers. The man was on his knees, covering his head. Sobs were coming from the broken man.
“All we’ve been taught to believe,” the sobbing soldier said, “was a lie.” Khaleel took the man by the arm, and pulled him up. He said something to the man, but she couldn’t hear what. Suddenly the crowd moved forward, and joined with Civic Protection. Officers and soldiers began tearing off their patches and insignias.
Suddenly someone in the crowd began cheering. Soon it was the entire crowd. Everyone was cheering, for now they could leave. Now they could start over.
125
Michael stood quietly before James. James still smiled at him victoriously.
“It doesn’t matter now,” James said, “for now they are free to choose. Now that they know they have the choice, they can leave and never come back.” Michael was silent for a moment, but he finally spoke.
“There’s something you should probably know, about the xenos.” James looked at him with a serious expression. Michael continued, “They didn’t exist before the original colonists came here. The xenos were a testament to mankind’s failure, mankind’s failure to understand his actions. Mankind never fully understood what terraforming did, only that it produced a livable planet. Well, when the colonists began terraforming this planet, something happened. Something catastrophic...for them. You see, the crystal fusion energy reacted with a mineral that’s unique to this planet. This mineral is a metal that is unlike anything else in the known universe. About halfway through the terraforming process, the planet fought back. It absorbed the colonists, quite literally. They became the xenos, literally part of the planet, creatures made up of its own unique metal. Their consciousness became one, for now they were a new creature, the xeno. And well...” He was quiet as James heard a slow rumble that surrounded him. Michael finished, “I can still control them. I am still in control of that mind.”
Through James’s mind’s eye, he saw bright lights everywhere. They still looked invisible to him, as shadows in the mind’s eye. Many of the creatures clicked over the tile, crawling out of small places in the dome or anywhere else hidden away from sight. James realized that they’d been the reason he couldn’t see outside of the dome with his mind’s eye, because the xenos were extensions of Michael, blocking his own vision.
Soon they surrounded him.
126
Through the shouting in the crowd, there grew a low rumble. Christina looked, along with everyone else, in the direction of this new sound. Metal creatures were crawling out of the city, out of every hidden crevice. Many more were crawling down the dome, floating down to a line in front of the crowd. They looked like glimmering serpents swimming through the air, some with insect-like legs and mandibles. Others were on the ground crawling along quickly. There were thousands of the creatures, maybe hundreds of thousands. She was silent in shock. She looked down, and realized Alicia was no longer standing by her. Christina started to panic, not able to find her.
About twenty yards from the crowd gathered the xenos, creating a literal wall between the people and the rest of the city. The people at the front of the crowd grew fearful at the creatures, but one person walked in front of the crowd, in between the people and the metal xenos lining up to attack. A young girl who looked to be about seven years old. She had an expression of determination on her face, and she held up her hands towards the creatures, as if motioning for them to stop.
Seeing Alicia stand defiantly in front of the xenos inspired the crowd. People picked their weapons back up, and Civic Protection began handing out rifles to anyone who needed one. Soldiers climbed on mounted turrets, and in tanks; ready to face the creatures.
Alicia stood there quietly when she felt someone take one of her hands. She looked over and saw a young man who looked to be fourteen. He had short red hair and a black tank top. He smiled at her, and she could see fangs and slit pupils in his eyes.
“I’m Lucien,” he said, “and I’m here to stand with you.” She nodded, and felt someone grip her other hand. She looked and saw Christina next to her. Next to her was William, smiling confidently at her.
“We stand together,” Christina said. People who were not armed began holding hands and linking arms, and looked at the creatures defiantly.
127
Soon the xenos had surrounded James and Michael. They were floating all around them, waiting. James’s attention had turned to the people in the city below. He felt proud as he saw their defiance. He could even pinpoint Alicia and Christina in the front. He smiled.
“I’m not sure what you should be smiling about,” Michael said, “all their defiance is just going to get them wiped out. I can start over easily if I have to. All that matters is if I exist, and if I have my xenos." The xeno in his body shuddered slightly, and all the other xenos around them shuddered in the same way.
“I am proud,” James said, “because they won’t go down without a fight. We won’t.”
“Fighting is humanity’s greatest weakness,” Michael said.
“It looks like it’s the only thing that’s going to keep us alive,” James said, “and weaknesses can become strengths.” He held up his right arm, his symbiote arm. Michael was quiet for a moment, observing him.
“Very well,” Michael said, “save humanity...if you can.” Suddenly all the xenos moved out, towards James. Michael held out on
e arm, and all creatures poured over and around him, attacking James with the ferocity of a rushing river.
128
Alicia stood for a moment, watching the xenos cautiously. Without warning they rushed at the crowd. She strained her mind’s eye, forming an invisible wall with her telekinesis over the entirety of the crowd, inspired by what James had told her earlier. The creatures struck it, and plowed against it, scratching and trying to get through. Lucien shared his strength with her, both of them using their abilities to stave off the monsters, with William joining in. People began firing into the wall of creatures as the xenos struggled to get through the telekinetic barricade.
Khaleel was firing rounds into the wall of rushing xenos, as well as all those who were in the resistance. Tanks were firing shells, as were turrets and chain guns, creating streams of dents and destruction all through the creatures. The xenos seemed to not remain injured, however, and kept pushing against the wall. Christina held Alicia’s hand tight. She looked over, and could see a small bit of blood begin to trickle down the little girl’s nose. Alicia’s eyes now looked like the others, with a black slit as a pupil.
129
James swam through the creatures in the air, his telekinesis and his blade one with his movements as he sliced through them. He almost lost his bearings a few times just by being so overwhelmed, fighting off the creatures while at the same time trying to advance towards Michael. When he would slice one, two more would come in its place. They were endless as he struggled through them. Michael fought with the creatures, acting as one with them.
James had to pay attention, for a group of creatures would divide long enough to allow Michael to make a strike with his sword. It seemed it was going to last forever as James swam through them while deflecting Michael’s sword attacks in the chaos. Suddenly there was a powerful blow to one side, and he was caught off guard. He couldn’t make out where Michael was, through his mind’s eye or with his vision. The creatures’ presence was just too strong. He felt another blow coming to his side, and he readied himself.
Michael then surprised him, coming in on James’s other side. James felt the pain before he saw it. His knees hit the metal tiles of the dome as he looked down to see Michael’s sword in the left side of his chest. He could see Michael smiling triumphantly. The blade burned through him, a searing pain. He felt dizzy, and his vision became blurred.
Is this it, is how it’ll end? He tasted blood in his mouth. He then heard a voice, in his head. “Get up James." It was his mother’s voice. “James, get up now. You’re the only one who can do this. Get up!” He felt the familiar presence. She was even here, he thought.
He screamed as he gripped the blade with his right arm, pulling it out of his chest. He threw it down with a clang and stood up.
He could see Michael before him, and he began to run. He jumped through the air, ignoring all the xenos around him as they swiped at him. It felt like they were slicing him a million different places. He pushed forward with his right hand, clenching it into a fist and strengthening it with his power.
Michael was unprepared as James’s fist met him in the jaw. Michael flew backward from the strong blow, but it was something else that caught James’s attention. It was what he saw through his mind’s eye.
Michael’s concentration had been broken for a moment, and the xenos nearest them had flickered. Their auras changed, and with the flicker James remembered the xenos he’d encountered underground in the cave a month ago.
His understanding of how the xenos appeared in his mind’s eye suddenly changed. They were already living creatures, and Michael had invaded their mind, their consciousness like a virus. James had broken through Michael’s control in the caves, he’d freed them. He then understood why Michael couldn’t control him, even though he had a xeno. What was once a weakness, James thought, will be a strength. It was no accident that Dr. Shepherd had made sure his xeno had a will of its own. That was so it could not only be uncontrolled, but it would be the antivirus to what Michael had done to the other xenos. His xeno couldn't be controlled by Michael, therefore he couldn't be controlled. He was the only one powerful enough to free all the other xenos from Michael's control, more powerful than even his mother. He was Michael's antivirus.
He processed all this in his head in an instant, and he landed on the ground hard on his feet. Michael pulled himself and had recovered from the blow, and urged the xenos again. James let the first one reach him, and he took it and held it with his symbiote arm. He began to prod at it with his mind’s eye, while at the same time feeding it his own energy from his limb. He pushed back through the hidden darkness, and found the creature. It was a slave like all the others. He reached into it with his mind’s eye, extending tendrils of himself into it and then all the others around.
The creature began to writhe and convulse as he broke through the barrier. The first xeno was the most difficult, but it was soon cleansed. Like wildfire on dry grass, all the creatures were lit up in his mind’s eye as they began to writhe and convulse. It spread quickly, and soon all the creatures over the dome were moving erratically and uncontrollably as he strained himself to reach out to all of them. It traveled downward to the creatures in the city below, and soon all the xenos above and inside the dome were being cleansed. Michael was silent in awe as he saw all the creatures writhe and encircle James.
In moments James was floating in the air with his arms outstretched to his sides as the creatures floated around him. The creatures were making metallic squeals, but the sounds were no longer threatening. All the people below were shocked, and quiet as they saw the creatures erratically moving through the air.
James felt his mind touch the xeno consciousness for a moment. He saw the fear, pain, and anguish it had gone through. It didn’t want to be controlled, or to kill. It just wanted to be left alone. It was sad. James whispered to it in his mind, be free.
All the creatures floated up to the sky, and inside the city all the creatures moved upwards, escaping through all the holes and cracks that were still forming all over the city’s dome. People began cheering again as the creatures left their sight. The last of the creatures left upward, flying into the sky. The consciousness gave an aura of appreciation to James for freeing it.
James landed back on the top of the dome with a loud thud. Michael still had a look of determination on his face.
“You can’t change people,” he said, “you can’t change anything.”
“It doesn’t matter,” James said, “there was good in the xenos, just like there is in every single person in that city.” Michael ran at James, but James stopped him as he grabbed Michael by one arm. “I can’t free this xeno from you, or it will kill it. But I can separate you two and absorb it.” James’s symbiote arm extended tendrils into Michael’s shoulder, and Michael began to scream as the xeno was pulled out of his body.
In a few moments, the xeno had completely left Michael’s body and was a part of James. Michael barely stood, and had blood coming from not only every hole in his face, but from all the pores of his skin and his back where there was a gaping hole from where the creature had been taken from his spine. Michael fell backward just as part of the dome beneath them collapsed. The floor beneath Michael gave way, but he held on to the ledge. James tried to reach for Michael, but suddenly felt all the fatigue and pain that had been waiting to catch up to him since he strained himself to free the xenos. He collapsed to his knees, a few feet away from Michael who hung on the ledge. James crawled over to him, and stretched out his arm.
“Michael, give me your hand.” Michael looked at him questioningly. His eyes looked different, as if he had just had a revelation.
“No,” Michael said, “not after what I’ve done.”
“It’s never too late to be saved,” James said as he stretched his arm to Michael.
“Maybe for you, James, but not for me,” Michael said. With that he let go of the ledge.
As he fell, James could see a look of peace wash over the man. He saw him as he once was, as the child. Michael fell directly over the top of the capitol, where he hit the top of the spire. The impact not only drove the spire through his chest, but he slid down until his body had split in half, and the halves fell on opposite sides of the building.
James sighed for a moment, and began to pull himself up. The ground beneath him buckled and he started to fall. His figure could be seen from a distance, falling down from the sky. He’d fallen for only a few seconds when the dome’s power finally failed. The entire city instantly became dark as the holographic sky deactivated once and for all.
As the city became dark, there was an eerie silence. It lasted only about a minute, and enough of the dome caved through that light started to stream in through the cracks that grew larger and larger.
People began squinting as streams of light filled the city, creating a breathless effect as the light hit the smoke and mist from the fires that surrounded the dome. Khaleel watched as a massive section of the dome collapsed through the wall right in front of him, hearing gasps from the crowd around him as they looked on. The ground in front of them was streaked with light, pouring in a beam of light trailing through the dust and smoke.
As soon as the realization hit the crowd, people began to run to the light. People from all around ran to the walls, exiting through new cavities and holes that were forming. Luke held his two daughters in his hands, stopping for a moment among the crowd as he stood in the doorway; looking into the light. His daughter tugged at his hand, and he took a deep breath and stepped forward outside.
Elsewhere, Christina moved with another group back into the city. They started avoiding the crowd by taking back alleys. Enough light had begun pouring into the city from the outside that they could navigate more easily. Christina stopped for a moment, and felt Alicia take her hand.
City of Twilight Part III: The New Dawn (The Vanguard Chronicles Book 3) Page 14