Although I miss my father greatly, I know that if he could see me now, he’d be proud of me. I always think of him, and I realise that he’d never ever truly left me. He will never truly leave me. He will always be a part of me, because love, it never dies. My father will always live on in my heart.” James placed his palm against his chest as he gazed into the beautiful golden irises of his listener. Crystaline had connected, hook, line and sinker. The Urashan princess had listened, she had heard. Feeling boosted by Crystaline’s reaction, James continued, “you see, Crystaline, you must never give up on life. Life is too precious to just give up. Okay, so right now, we’re both down here, trapped in this deep dark cave. But somehow, somehow we’ll both get out.
I look into your eyes now, and I still see that uncertainty, that hopelessness, and you remind me, you remind me of someone I used to know. I will get us out of here, Crystaline, but at the same time, if you still think that we won’t survive this, then what have you got to lose? Maybe it would help you to release all that pain inside you? I can promise you this: whatever you say in this cave will not be repeated up there, outside, to anyone else. Whatever you say stays between you and me. You can take my light or you can leave it. The choice is yours.”
Crystaline’s breath quivered, her eyes shifting nervously away from James’. The princess bent one of her knees up, and her trembling hands began to pick away at the imaginary pieces of fluff on her leg.
“I miss her.” Crystaline whispered, barely audible, her hands still shaking, searching even harder for something to grip ahold of.
James lent forward, his shoulders practically in line with the princess’ bent up knee. The young space warrior offered an encouraging smile.
In a shaken, breathy voice, Crystaline continued.
“I loved her; she was my world. The best mother I could ever hope to have. Your story, your memories, they’re not so unlike my own. In fact, they remind me, they remind me of my time with my mother. We would go, her and I, into the wilderness, to search for creatures. We would often find creatures on death’s door, and so we would bring them back, to the city, to heal them, until they were well enough to be released back into the wilderness. My mother was a healer, and she drew, she drew very well.” Crystaline held her left hand in her right, using her right to scratch at the left.
James opened up his mouth, trying to find the words to ask Crystaline, to ask her how...how her mother...how she...
“How did she die?” Crystaline whispered, her eyes locking onto James’, sensing what he was struggling to free from his lips. James nodded, allowing Crystaline’s words to continue,
“My mother was a kind lady, such a selfless soul. She was a healer, and she died, she died because of the person she was. My mother was the one who created the healing fluid. Crystanaphy and her, they would both search the forest for its ingredients, until they found everything they needed to produce the fluid. My mother lived to help others, and she died...helping others.
One day, when Crystos and I were only children, a war came to Urasha; a war which my father wanted to be no part of.” Crystaline paused, looking wistfully into the billows of purple light in front of her. “My father was so different back then. He was a peaceful man, a happy man, a warm hearted man. My mother, her and my father, they were the perfect King and Queen, the perfect parents, the perfect couple. Love, it just emanated from them both. Or maybe, maybe it just emanated from my mother? Because once she was gone, the love vanished. It went completely.
Anyway, as I mentioned before, a war arrived on my planet. Life isn’t all hearts and wonderfulness. Bad things happen. My father did not want us to fight, or to even be involved. But he had no choice, our allies had gotten involved, and they needed the help of my people.
My father tried to ensure that the battles remained in space. However, as most of the fighting took place right next to Urasha, the war hit home, ravaging through the Urashan skies.
As the war came down on us, my family and I were confined to the palace. None of us were to go outside, not even into the city.
My mother was a brave woman, never one to let her confinements restrict or imprison her. She wanted to help. Our people, our fighters were lying out there injured, and my mother, she held the one thing which could help them, which could truly save lives: the healing fluid.” Crystaline took another pause, sighing before she looked into James’ attentive eyes. “It’s true what you said, about being able to remember a day of a loved one’s death so vividly. I remember that day, wondering where my mother was. I remember my father, how panic stricken he was. Neither my mother nor Crystanaphy were anywhere to be found. It was only when Crystanaphy eventually returned that we knew, we discovered what had happened to my mother.
My mother’s sister relayed the event over and over again. She just would not stop. She wouldn’t stop telling us how her and my mother had reached the barren wilderness. An ally ship had crash landed, and beings were splayed out injured all over the place, some, their lives already taken. Another battle was taking place in the sky above, but my mother, that didn’t stop her. She still ran on over to the fallen ship, endeavouring to heal as many surface wounds as she could manage. One particular ally had suffered from severe injuries. He could not even move for himself. My mother tried to heal what she could, unaware of the ship which had just been blasted apart right above her.
Crystanaphy had always recounted that moment in the most detail. She had tried to pull my mother away, her and the allies, they had tried to pull both of them away. But they...they were too late. My mother refused to leave the severely injured one. She was crushed, killed instantly by a chunk of fallen ship debris. The injured ally was spared from the debris. My mother had just about managed to push his body free from the huge hunk of metal. Only ironically, he died only moments later. Even my mother could not save him.” Crystaline paused, her eyes glazed with unshed tears. After a shaky sigh, the Urashan princess resumed her speech, breaking out, at first, into a barely audible whisper. “When she died everything changed. My world shattered into tiny little pieces. I felt...like you. Dead, with only the pain to remind me that I was still alive.
None of us coped well. Crystanaphy would not stop droning on, repeating the events over and over again, until we could all see the event so vividly for our very own selves. She had been consumed, by madness I think. Crystanaphy was not Crystanaphy anymore. She had gone, just like the rest of us.
Eventually my father grew sick of Crystanaphy’s blathering, banning us all from even mentioning my mother. From that day, none of us spoke of my mother, not even Crystanaphy.
Back then, I thought Crystos was the worst. He’d lost his voice completely. He wouldn’t even say a single thing. Not a word, not even a whisper. Before my mother...before she...before she died, Crystos had been happy, lively, filled with life. He was loud, annoying - my brother. Then what was he? When she left us? A shell - an empty one. A battered shell; tired, worn and bruised from life. He was like that for years, growing into a silent adolescent. I feared that I’d lost my brother too.
Who did I have? Really? Crystanaphy did slowly get better, though all her confidence had completely evaporated away from her. She sank into my father’s shadow. My father! He was no longer himself, the man I grew up with. Yet he was the one person, the one person who I felt I had left. We never spoke about my mother, but I knew. I knew that my father shared my pain. I felt like he and I were the strong ones. We tried to continue our lives. Or, to put it in better words: my father continued to be king, and I did all that I could to support him.
Eventually, Crystos’ voice did return to him. We were staring up at the stars one night when he asked me if I missed her. At the time I was startled. Startled by my brother’s question, and the fact that he was actually speaking. I’d never heard his voice so deep. He’d only been a boy on that day...that day when his voice had ran away from him. I still regret that moment; I just walked off, following my father’s rules to not speak of my mother. C
rystos and I, we don’t tend to ever speak of my mother these days. If we mention her, it’s only very brief. I think...I think he had always wanted to talk. Maybe that’s why he told you? My brother confided in a complete stranger over his own sister, yet I, I cannot blame him. Look at the person I have become. Crystos and Crystanaphy were the strong ones. They’re still good people. I...I cannot say the same for myself. I don’t even know who or what I am anymore. I’m scared of myself.”
Realising that Crystaline had ended her story, James looked down at his trembling hands. That lump, that wretched lump in his throat, it was massive. James could hardly breathe. Yet he had to. He had to stay strong for the Urashan princess. James wanted to take Crystaline’s hands in his. Realising that the princess probably wouldn’t take too kindly to this gesture, James just leaned in closer, his eyes locking directly with Crystaline’s.
“You don’t know who you are?” James whispered.
Crystaline shook her head slowly. No, she didn’t.
“Crystaline...you’re your mother’s daughter. I don’t know how you see yourself, but I know how I see you. How Crystos sees you. You’re selfless - just like your mother. You’re kind to animals, just like she was. You’re strong, you’re passionate, you’re brave! I think you...I think you mistake yourself for that shell you build up around yourself.” James patted his chest, just above his heart. “I don’t think that you see your true self, what’s in here, who you really are. I know you have a low opinion of me, but I think you’re amazing, Crystaline.”
Crystaline shook her head.
“James, I...I don’t have a low opinion of you. You’re a nice person, good. You...you frustrate me.”
“Frustrate?” James whispered, “why?”
Crystaline continued to shake her head, trying to form the right words to explain herself. Then, then she heard it. Crystos’ voice!!
“Did you hear that?” She whispered.
James canted his head to one side, listening out for the sound that he and Crystaline had just heard.
“Crystaline? James?” - There it was again, Crystos’ voice.
“CRYSTOS!” James and Crystaline both yelled together, stopping when they realised that Crystos would not hear them from in this deep dark cave.
“He won’t be able to hear us.” James groaned, scanning the cave for a way out, for anything that might help him and Crystaline ascend that slippery slope. Then his eyes paused, immobilised by Crystaline’s sworsha, dug into the muddy cave floor. Why? James thought to himself, why hadn’t he thought of this before?
“Your sworsha...” James whispered, still thinking, “our sworshas!” He said more strongly this time, “Crystaline, we can use our sworshas to climb up the slope. Think about it. We can dig the weapons into the mud, and use them to haul ourselves up.”
Crystaline thought for a little while, trying to comprehend James’ idea. Then her face lit up, wild with hope.
“You’re right!” She exclaimed, “why didn’t I think of this before?”
“Believe me,” James grinned, placing his bag back on over his shoulders, “I asked myself the exact same thing.”
James removed his sworsha from his pocket. Wondering how to set his weapon.
“What do you think? Do you think we need just the handle? Or a blade, too?”
Crystaline’s sworsha light appeared to vanish, darkening the cave even more.
“We need a blade, it’ll give us more grip. But make sure you don’t turn on the electrics. Otherwise it could get a bit nasty.”
James nodded, only just about able to make out the slope in front of him.
“This will be a challenge. Climbing in pitch black.”
“Focus on those cracks of light up there, and try not to bump into my sworsha, James.”
James grinned, feeling the sudden whoosh of Crystaline as she flung herself at the slope. The young space warrior followed, plunging his sworsha blade into the slope. It was a little like climbing that cliff. With the aid of the sworsha, James always had something to hold onto, to keep his feet from slipping. Yet he could dig his feet into the slope, too, creating gouges in the mud to give his body that extra bit of support.
As he got closer to the top, James could see Crystaline’s shape getting clearer and clearer above him. It was getting lighter now, almost there!
As Crystaline rested on the top of the slope after her successful ascent, she proffered her hand out to James, helping him up to the top of the slope’s peak. James felt it. He felt those little electrical impulses, that tingling sensation of Crystaline’s touch.
“We’re here!” James whispered breathily, supercharged with elation.
“So we are.” Crystaline panted in return, turning her attentions to the boulder in front of her. “CRYSTOS!” She yelled, enticing James to join in with her, “CRYSTOS! WE’RE IN HERE! CRYSTOS!”
“Crystaline? CRYSTALINE? Phil! They’re over here!”
“PHIL!” James yelled, surprised by his own excitement to hear that his captain was okay. “Phil, we’re in here!”
“James!” The man yelled, his voice sounded all muffled, as if he were talking into a pillow. “Just stay where you are. We’re gonna push the boulder away!”
“Okay!” James turned to Crystaline, eyes wild with relief, as the light began to pour into the cave. “We made it!” He beamed, “we’ve escaped from the darkness.”
Crystaline stared into James’ eyes, with what? Pain? Passion?
“You freed me.” she whispered, just as the boulder vanished.
Chapter 19
James sprung free from the cave, leaping into the arms of his rescuer, barely even fathoming the fact that it were Phil who had freed him. Phil’s arms enveloped tightly around his comrade’s body, and for a while, the two men hugged, relieved that they were both okay. Once James’ resentment began to wash away his relief, the young space warrior freed himself from his captain’s grasp, hugging Zach instead. The truth was, James was glad that both of these men were okay, James was glad that Crystos appeared alive and well, too! The young space warrior couldn’t know for sure, but it looked as if Crystaline had just given her brother a massive hug. James hoped that the two siblings had hugged one another at least; they probably both needed it. Just as Zach failed to hug the unwilling Urashan princess, James gave Crystos’ hand a manly shake.
“Glad you’re okay, Crystos, glad you’re okay.” he said, shifting his gaze back on over to the Urashan princess. Crystaline’s expression was no longer one of relief, for her relief had been replaced with worry, apprehension.
James scanned the landscape all around him, or what was left of it anyway. At that point, he must have looked the same, the same as Crystaline, as the true horror of the situation dawned on him. This was no longer a landscape, scattered beautifully with an array of cliffs and boulders. This was devastation, complete, total, and utter destruction. The air was dusty, filled with the cloudy billows of the tiny little remnants of boulder dust. Then there were the rocks, broken rocks everywhere, some of them stained, deep crimson red.
James’ eyes shifted once again to the princess’. Those black pupils of hers were fixed, focused on something in the distance. James followed Crystaline’s gaze, recognising Morcees’ back, hunched over some fallen debris.
The princess gave Crystos a searching look, wanting answers from her brother. The Urashan prince merely responded with a grim sigh, provoking Crystaline to walk on over to Morcees. James couldn’t help it, although something told him not to, he followed the princess anyway.
“Morcees,” Crystaline began to call, as casually and as nonchalant as possible. “Morcees! Where’s Borcees?”
At that very moment, Morcees’ shoulders tensed, rising in response to Crystaline’s mentioning of his best friend’s name.
“Morcees,” she said again, this time, only metres away from the back-turned man. “Where is he?” Before Crystaline could force Morcees to look at her, she paused, dead still, immobilised with horror,
as the horrific sight struck her like a bomb. Instinctively, the princess placed her hand over her nose and mouth, protecting her airways from the fumes of rotting corpse.
James came to a sudden standstill only inches behind Crystaline. Although James wanted to run, to flee from the awful sight only a metre or so in front of him, the young space warrior could not move. He was too shocked, too horrified to even summon the slightest bit of strength into any one of his muscles.
Borcees was no more. The Urashan man was dead, shredded to pieces by what James could only assume was one of the gershers. The man’s face was barely recognisable. He had a long bloody gash running from his left eye, right the way through to his neck. Borcees’ chest was blood red, mixed in with black crumply remnants of his clothing. His expression was neither pained nor peaceful, it was just...just impassive? Dead.
James shook his head, too shocked and disturbed for words. Crystaline’s strained whisper of Morcees’ name was barely audible, though it managed to turn Morcees around at last.
“WHAT?” The man shrieked, eyes blood red, lacerated by his own tears. “He’s dead! Borcees, my best friend, he’s dead. Gone!”
Crystaline shook her head, stepping back from the enraged man. The princess turned once again to her brother, her face crumpling with yet more anguish as another thought hit her.
“Chugga-chugga,” she whispered, at first to herself. “Chugga-chugga!” she called out this time, loud enough for her brother to hear her. “Where is he?”
Crystos’ expression grew grimmer, yet his eyes shifted this time, to a boulder just metres in front of him.
Crystaline followed her brother’s gaze, seeing the boulder growing redder and redder as her focus on the rock intensified. At the corner of her vision, Crystaline noticed James slowly inching towards the boulder, bending down to pick up an object from the ground. The object was green. The object was Chugga-chugga’s green bandage. The princess felt a vice-grip clenching tightly around her heart, as she walked over to James and the blood stained boulder. The young space warrior looked shellshocked, holding the bandage in his hand as if it were the most dangerous object in the entire Universe. Cautiously, Crystaline took the bandage from James, caressing the fabric, feeling its warmth as she held it to her chest. There was a pool, a pool of bright red crimson blood oozing from underneath the boulder.
Diversion To Urasha (Space Era Book 1) Page 22