by Jeff Altabef
My heart plummets off a cliff. I’m totally confused. “Isn’t that the point of all this? We have no choice. We have to use it or everyone will die!”
“We can only use it together. Our combined strength can control it. If we join forces we can reshape the future, our future. With this crystal, you do not have to worry about being an abomination. I can use its power to keep you safe. We are linked. You know it to be true. Together we can rule over humanity and the rest of the universe. No one could stop us.”
I feel the connection between us now more than ever. “It’s that potion we both drank together at your compound, right? That fused us somehow.”
He nods. “It was the only way to keep you safe. Our fates are now intertwined. There is no going back. We must seize the crystal together. We can rule together as partners.”
What have I done?
Connor
It’s hard to stand your ground when a horde of armed super-humans race toward you with the sole intent of skewering you. Either you want to run away, or rush forward to meet them halfway, to show them you’re less afraid than you really are.
Landon shouts for us to stay in formation.
Troy is on my left and Frankie crouches on my right.
The first of these enhanced humans reaches me, sword held over his head, ready to chop me down and cleave a hole into my skull.
I lift my blade to meet the chop, stopping him cold and slicing down into his shoulder. My blade grows slick with fresh blood, and I kick the attacker in the chest with a front kick that sends him flailing back into the assailant behind him.
Before I can take a breath, a beefy bloke thrusts his sword toward my stomach.
I sidestep him, pin his arm to my side, and bring down a vicious chop to the back of his neck, accompanied by the snapping of bone. He’s down by my feet, and he’s not coming to for a long time, if ever.
It feels wrong hurting these blokes. They’re humans, after all, but if it comes down to them or us....
I scan those around me, but all I see are swords and body parts. None of the attackers stand out.
Troy blocks a sideswipe by someone on his left, which leaves his right side unprotected. A flash of steel darts toward him as a heavily muscled guy tries to gut him.
I move faster, block the attack, and sink my blade deep into his thick chest.
Frankie’s a machine next to me, swinging both axes as if they’re extensions of his arms, splattering blood everywhere in torrents. He’s unleashed his own demon. The sweet Frankie, the one who wants to do good, will have to wait.
Ayden curses from the end of our formation toward the museum wall as he barely ducks under a swipe that would have otherwise taken off his head.
Juliet’s mom falters back a step. She’s in trouble; the man in front of her sports a bloodthirsty sneer.
Frankie heaves one of his axes at the guy, which plunges deep into his chest.
I barely have time to flick the point of a sword away from my left side and slice upward. My blade scores across a young guy’s bicep and he drops his weapon. Before I can press him, a thin woman stabs at my right side. I twist, but the point rips against my stomach, drawing blood. I’m so flushed with adrenaline that it doesn’t hurt, and I recover quickly enough to slice into her leg.
She goes down and Troy knocks her out with a kick to the head.
Left with one axe, Frankie swipes at a short, stout person’s head. The guy ducks under, continues forward and collides with Frankie’s chest. Frankie grabs him and flips him over his shoulder, which is quite a feat even for Frankie. The stout guy lands with a thud, but now he’s behind us, and that’s dangerous.
Frankie turns to finish him off, chopping into him with his axe, but the blade must have lodged into bone because he can’t wrench it free.
A new taller attacker leaps toward him.
I move to cover, but am forced to parry another sword blow. I can’t get to Frankie.
The tall guy stabs his sword into Frankie’s back.
I grab the arm of the person I’m facing and fling him back into the horde. The moment of separation is enough for me to take down Frankie’s attacker, but the damage has already been done.
Frankie twists with the tip of the blade still protruding through his back and out his chest. “Damn, I only got three.” He laughs. “At least I won’t have to drive with Bear again.”
“Hang in there,” I encourage him, but we both know it’s too late.
The wave of fighters is slowing. I face an athletic guy who hesitates before lunging at me. When our swords collide I kick him back with a roundhouse. It staggers him two steps backward but he maintains his balance and is still focused on me.
I risk a quick glance back at Frankie, but he’s gone. I stare at his unblinking eyes and his still hands. It’s not fair. He didn’t deserve this fate.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Akari. She’s stepped up her game to a new level, whirling and doling out death and punishment in a fountain of blood. She’s not staying in position, though. It looks like she’s trying to fight her way toward Vladic. She spins, but one of the dying attackers at her feet trips her up by grabbing her boots.
She hits the ground hard and her sword skitters away from her. Flat on her stomach, she’s vulnerable as a barrel-chested man grins and readies himself to finish her.
Blake screams her name and leaps in front of her, but he slips on a smattering of blood. He tries to block the lunge by Barrel Chest, but can’t raise his sword in time. The blade plunges deep into Blake’s chest.
“No!” I cry, and try to fight toward him. The man facing me blocks my path, so I knock him clear with a left hook.
Akari snags her sword, jumps back on her feet, and leaps toward Barrel Chest. Her sword sings through the air and frees his head from his thick neck in one lightning-fast strike. Before the head hits the ground, she stoops toward Blake, and suddenly a ten-foot wall of flames separate us from the horde. The heat scorches the air.
Blake spits blood. “That stings.” His eyes grow wide when he sees the hilt of the sword protruding from his chest. “A little help... Barrett.”
Barrett pulls the blade free and Blake clutches the wound with his hand. Blood seeps through his fingers and onto his golf shirt—too much blood.
Akari is bent on her knees, cupping his head in her hands, tears flooding down her face.
Blake looks at his hand and smirks. “This won’t kill me, but the damn thing will probably give me an infection. Staten infections are—”
Akari reaches down and kisses him gently on the lips. When she pulls back, she says, “I’m so sorry.”
Blake smiles. “Sorry for what?”
He coughs up blood and she gasps.
“I wouldn’t change things....” His voice sounds distant and his eyes wander as if coming in and out of focus. “I’d trade an entire lifetime of being... the old Blake... for... one kiss.”
The flames crack and start to turn to ice.
Landon squats next to Frankie, his face ashen.
Blood runs down Ayden’s head like a river, and Summer’s arm looks broken.
Blood trickles from Troy’s swollen nose, and he limps from a gash on the knee.
We’re dying.
A cold fury rips through my body. This isn’t right. No one should have messed with our DNA. Earth shouldn’t be a plaything for bloody Alphians and Deltites to fight over.
My parents shouldn’t have died.
Frankie shouldn’t have died.
Blake shouldn’t die.
None of us should die.
We don’t deserve this.
Vladic laughs from the other side of the flames. “You stand no chance. You can’t hide. You’re inferior. Worthless.”
You’re mine, you bloody wanker.
Before the flames completely freeze I leap forward and toward the sound of his voice.
A dozen swordsmen stand between Vladic and me, but I don’t care.
He’s goin
g to pay.
Juliet
I should have known there would be another test, another obstacle to overcome. Aaric wants me to be his partner—a word that might mean something different to him than it does to me.
He should have told me about this before now. I don’t have time to think on what his proposal means. My friends could be dying, and this is my only chance to save them, so I swallow my doubts and do what comes naturally—dive ahead recklessly without reading the fine print.
“What do we do?”
He nods. “We seize the Heart Stone at the same time. It will increase our own strength and generate an immense sense of power. We have to fight it—control it—before the power destroys us.”
He inches his hand toward the stone and locks his eyes onto mine.
I place my hand on top of his. All my trials have led to this one moment. If he’s wrong and we fail, everyone I love will perish, and it will all be my fault.
He stares at me, eyes electric, waiting for a signal.
I nod... and we touch the Heart Stone together.
The glow from the stone intensifies into a brilliant red flare that burns my eyes. The crystal heats against my palm until it feels like an open flame—pain knifes into my hand and up my arm. I can’t pull away even if I wanted to; the heat has seared my hand onto the crystal.
A gust of power and energy blows through me, threatening to rip me apart, a hurricane so intense it steals my breath away.
“Fight it,” Aaric urges me. “Mold the energy. We can do this, Juliet.”
We’re together on a different plane, beyond physical and into the spiritual. He’s forcing his will against the energy from the crystal, trying to control it, but he’s not strong enough to rein it in on his own, and is losing the battle.
I feel like a balloon that’s stretching too far. Any second I might pop, but I focus and start to help him.
We slowly beat back the growing power that threatens to destroy us. Our combined efforts start to work, and the pressure levels.
He sounds more excited than I’ve ever heard him before. “Yes! Mold the energy. Control it!”
The energy from the Heart Stone begins to feel solid, like putty in my hands. It still floods my body, but now I can keep it from shattering me.
He’s doing the same.
Suddenly the pressure stops, and energy pulses with my heartbeat. “This is amazing! I’ve never felt like this before. I can do anything.”
Aaric laughs, his eyes wild and glimmering in the red light. “This must be how the Creator feels. How about we teach Vladic and my brother a lesson?”
“It will take too long for us to climb out that tunnel.”
He grins at me. “Why climb? Project your mind forward and follow me.”
Aaric separates his spirit from his physical body and creates an avatar that hovers near the tunnel entrance, waiting for me. It looks just like the real him, only it pulses with energy and takes on a ghost-like appearance.
I concentrate on releasing my sprit like he just did, and feel my mind peal free from my body. It’s weird. I’m a ghost—a terrifying ghost capable of anything.
“Come on.” He rockets down the tunnel and I follow a heartbeat behind at a terrific speed.
“Look out!” I warn him. Rocks block the end of the tunnel.
He chuckles. “Those rocks cannot hold us.” He increases speed and blasts through the stone like a missile.
We’ve smashed through a cliff and hover above the town. All eyes turn toward us. We’ve crashed the party, and the Deltites look scared.
I zoom toward Connor. A circle of enhanced humans surrounds him, and my breath catches in my throat. He’s hurt, his good luck jersey tattered, with blood soaking his shoulder side.
They’ve almost killed him.
I gather power from the Heart Stone, focus on Connor, and create an energy ring around him.
Connor’s the center of a tornado. Energy flows around him and smashes into his opponents, tossing them fifty feet in all directions.
He’s hurt but alive, and I can breathe again. He won’t die here. It won’t be like in my nightmares.
He lowers his sword, and looks confused. “Juliet... what?”
Explanations will have to wait. Aaric has transformed himself into a much larger shape than his physical form as he soars above Vladic and the other Deltites. His voice is deep and dark. “You dare defy me!”
Vladic drops his sword and lifts both hands upward in submission. “It’s impossible for you to control the Heart Stone alone. I don’t understand—”
I swoop next to Aaric and expand my image to match his—three times our normal size. “He’s not alone.”
Vladic’s eyes turn wide. “You’re just... I didn’t mean—”
“To betray me.” Aaric lifts him with his mind and the air crackles with electricity. “You may start to grovel now.” He grins, like a vengeful god capable of doing whatever he wants.
Vladic pleads with him. “I’m valuable. You can use me. I’ll be loyal to you.”
Aaric laughs, but he doesn’t sound like his normal self. He sounds all-powerful and totally frightening. “I never liked you. You smell like fish.”
Vladic simply explodes, and just like that he’s gone forever.
Aaric ended him with a burst of power from his mind. He didn’t even hesitate.
The enhanced humans and the other Deltities run in panic.
All but Jared, who sinks to his knees. “I should have stepped aside and not have doubted you, Brother.”
Aaric lifts him twenty feet in the air and stretches his limbs outward until he screams. “You deserve to die.”
The air starts to crackle again.
He’s going to kill him.
If he kills Jared, the power from the Heart Stone will overtake him. He’ll pass an invisible barrier that will change him forever.
I dart between the two brothers. “He’s your brother. Don’t do this. You can’t take this back.”
“Why show him mercy when he came to kill us?”
I touch his arm. “Because this is not you, and I’m asking you to.”
He sneers at his brother and pulls his limbs a touch wider, which brings a new round of screams. Then he looks at me, and I reach past the anger and find the goodness buried within.
“Spare him for me,” I say.
“Consider it a gift then,” he says, and throws Jared away like a rag doll. “Next time I see him, he dies.”
I hear Akari weeping, and turn to look upon my family and friends. Something’s wrong.
Landon stands over Frankie.
I search for Frankie’s aura, but there’s none. He’s gone, and my heart sinks. I’m too late for him. He was too good to die here trying to protect me. He had more kids to save.
Then I notice Akari crumpled next to Blake. I race toward them and return to my normal size. Someone’s swung a sledgehammer into my stomach, and I fall to the ground.
Blake’s aura is almost extinguished—just a shadow remains.
Akari stares at me—pain, hurt, and love all churning on the stormy surface of her face, her usual tough facade shattered. She’s broken.
“Help him,” she squeaks.
How?
Blake lies still, blood pooled at his chest—only the slightest whisper of life remains.
I have to do something.
I flood his body with my energy, pushing into his mind until I feel his aura. I shake from the effort. So little of his aura is left, it’s like trying to grab a cloud. I use every ounce of my energy, and the power of the Heart Stone, until his aura increases in strength. Thoughts whip through me—Blake’s thoughts. I see his parents’ faces, Akari’s lips and her mischievous smile, and a weird flood of scorpions.
I dive deeper, adding my soul to his. It feels as if I’m ripping off part of me to fuse with him and make him stronger. I don’t know if it will work, but it’s all I can do, and I have to try something. I use my aura as a bandage to gat
her up his weak one.
Aaric’s thoughts project in my mind. “Do not do this, Juliet. It is too dangerous. You are killing yourself!”
I don’t care. I won’t let him die. I feed him my energy, my soul, as if I’m blowing on the embers of a fire. Each gust causes me blinding pain, which only makes me try harder.
Slowly, his aura increases in strength, and mine drains. Nothing’s left of me, but his aura lights and starts to burn on its own.
I will myself to do more, but the world fades to black.
Juliet
The sun sits high in a cloudless sky and a soft wind caresses my face.
Sicheii’s hair billows in the wind, his eyes sparkling, and his grin confident as ever.
It takes a moment before our surroundings come into focus. We’re on the bank of a wide, lazy river. Cliffs made from red rocks edge both sides.
“Where are we?” I ask.
Sicheii bends his head back and drinks in the desert air. “You know this place. Why don’t you tell me?”
I spin in a circle and see a familiar rock formation in the near distance. I smile at the lesson he teaches me, one I’ve already learned.
“That’s Devil’s Peak. It looks the same as it did when I last saw it.” I turn and point at the water. “Which means that’s Slippery River, but it doesn’t look like the Slippery River I know. This must be a long time ago. The rock formation is the same, but the river has changed much. It was wider and stronger back then. Now it’s narrower and has less depth. It’s changed over time, and not for the better.”
His grin turns into a full-faced smile.
“Yes, Sicheii, I’ve learned your lesson.” I kick a rock toward the river. “How come you didn’t point the way in the tunnels. If you had, maybe I could have saved Frankie or reached them before Blake—” My heart jumps. “Did Blake die? Did I save him?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know what happened to his spirit.”
I narrow my eyes. “Why didn’t you help me?”
“Who carved those symbols into the rock?”
“You did.”
“And who taught you enough so you’d understand what they meant?”