Resurgence of Ancient Darkness

by Vincent Trigili

  “I’ll go,” said Phoenix.

  “Are you sure, Phoenix? If they fail … ” I said.

  “If they fail, they’ll need my shields to buy them time to get out of there,” he interrupted.

  “Master, I request that we wait at least a day so that Phoenix can be ready,” said Shea.

  “Shea, with all due respect, I am ready now,” he said.

  “Master, sure, maybe you are. But you like keeping your doctor happy, so wait another day,” she said with a disarming smile.

  Phoenix melted in her gaze. “I guess I could,” he said.

  “Okay, that seems reasonable. Tomorrow at midday you’ll launch,” I said.

  “Master, with the delay I can add on a layer of nonconductive insulation that should reduce the damage from potential lightning strikes,” said Skryth.

  “What will that do to maneuverability?” asked Phoenix.

  “Master, it will increase drag and friction, but I think the trade-off will be worth it,” he replied.

  “No, let’s skip it then. The best survival tactic we will have in there is speed. We’ll need to get in and out fast before Rocky and Cymeion use up their strength,” said Phoenix.

  “Master, I might be able to compensate for that by upgrading … ” he started to say.

  “No,” I said, interrupting him. “I appreciate the thought, but the reality is that if Cymeion fails to stop the lightning then all is already lost. They need to be rigged for as much speed and maneuverability as we can give them,” I said.

  “Yes, Master. I’ll see what I can do,” said Skryth.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  I was on the bridge when a call came from Shea over the comm system: “Master Dusty, please report to sickbay.”

  “On my way,” I responded.

  When I entered, Spectra was sitting up and sipping a cup of water. Seeing her awake brought a smile to my face and a lightness to my step.

  “Spectra!” I rushed to her, ignoring the medical equipment all around her.

  “Dusty!” Her furry face suddenly lit up with a smile that caused my heart to quicken.

  I pulled her into my arms and held her body tightly against mine. Nothing else mattered in the whole universe right then. Spectra was alive! Her slight moan of pain reminded me that I needed to be gentle. As I eased her back I gazed into her big green eyes and asked, “How are you doing?”

  “Oh, fine. A bit drained, that’s all.” Her face betrayed how tired she really was, but she would never let on.

  Shea walked over and said, “She is going to be all right. I just want to keep her a few more hours to make sure nothing unexpected happens.”

  “That’s great, Shea! You’re a real hero!” She smiled, curtsied, and walked off. I assumed she wanted to give us time alone. “Spectra, what happened?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “Well, we were in the Spirit Realm and you challenged that creature, then it ran off and you collapsed. What happened there?” I asked.

  “Oh, I’m not really sure. I had intended to just to trap it in the Spirit Realm so that we could escape, but it pressed its attack before I was really ready to counter it. When you came through and joined the fight, you bought me a little time, but apparently not enough,” she said.

  “But why did you collapse, and why did it run?” I asked.

  She looked at me with her big green eyes and it seemed that she wanted to tell me something, but wasn’t sure about it. “Dusty, I moved too fast when I cast that last spell. I was still recharging my powers; there hadn’t been enough time. Had I managed to get that spell off, I think I could have killed the creature, and I believe it knew that,” she sent privately. Aloud she said, “I’m not really sure what happened, just that I overextended myself a little.”

  “While we were there I felt that I was getting stronger. Why was that?” I sent.

  “That’s a bit complicated, but great news!” she sent.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Not yet. Too soon. As I continue to help you learn and grow with your new abilities, the reason will become evident,” she sent.

  “The last thing that creature said was that you had been killed. What did it mean?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I remember that; I’m not sure. I’ve never been killed, that I know of, at least,” she sent with a coy smile.

  I sat there for a bit, trying to take in what she had told me. I was pretty sure she was leaving a big, important piece out of the story, but I didn’t know why. I figured she had just recovered from almost dying, and it wasn’t the time to push it. But there was another topic I wanted to find out more about. “You can imagine my surprise when Shea said I was your husband.”

  She laughed at that and had the most mischievous look on her furry face. “Yeah, I was going to tell you about that, sooner or later.”

  “Now seems like a good time,” I sent back.

  “Shea told me a while ago that, in order to stay on active duty, I needed to have someone on record who could speak on my behalf about medical issues if I couldn’t. I told her you would be that person, and, well, it kind of grew from there,” she sent.

  “Kind of grew? I looked at the official record. The funny thing is that, as far as I can tell, it seems we are fully, legally married,” I sent.

  “Yeah. Shea took care of that for us. She thinks we are keeping it a secret, so she entered it into both of our records and then sealed it. I am sure Shadow could look it up if he wanted to, but probably no one else could,” she sent.

  “But it can’t be,” I sent. “Parrinians are forbidden by law to marry anyone except another Parrinian!”

  “Whose law?” she asked.

  “Parrinian Council law,” I sent.

  “So? You’re a wizard now, and a citizen of the Wizard Kingdom. Parrinian law doesn’t apply anymore,” she sent.

  I sat down. This was becoming overwhelming. She was right about the law, of course, but it still meant that somehow she had gone behind my back and married me. That didn’t even make sense. “And now what?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “I don’t know, but shouldn’t we come clean about this? I don’t think Shadow would like us keeping secrets,” I sent.

  “No, he definitely wouldn’t,” she sent.

  “Then what do we do?” I asked.

  “Let’s get married and then the record will be right!” she sent excitedly.

  “Married?” was the best answer I could come up with.

  “Yeah, we can ask Shea to do the wedding! She is some kind of priestess, isn’t she? Back where she came from?” asked Spectra.

  I wanted her by my side forever, but I was having a hard time assembling everything in my mind. I just wanted curl up and hide, but at that moment she reached out and took my hand. Because of our current telepathic bond, she could sense that I was overwhelmed, and I could sense her caring and concern.

  “Yes, Dusty, let’s do this,” she sent back. “No more secrets between us.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  I was sitting there in silence, stunned by Spectra’s proposal, when a call came over the comm: “Master Dusty, the shuttle is ready to launch.”

  “I’ll be right there,” I replied. After calling Shea back over I said, “Shea, I could really use Spectra on the bridge for this.”

  “I guess it will be all right. Master Spectra, just take it easy and stop by for a check-up after the shuttle mission is complete,” she said.

  “Will do!” Spectra said, and when she was ready we headed for the bridge. We had to walk slowly because she was still a bit weak. Once on the bridge I helped her into her chair and then took the captain’s seat.

  “Phoenix, launch when ready,” I said over the comm.

  “Initiating launch now,” he replied.

  On the bridge’s tactical screens, I watched the shuttle launch. “Remember, Phoenix, we will be cloaked
when you come back, so contact me telepathically and we will arrange for you to be picked up. If you see the green-hooded magus, retreat.”

  “Got it, Dusty. Don’t worry, I’m not ready for any acts of heroism just yet.” I’m sure he had a big smile on his face when he said that.

  As the shuttle entered the storm, we lost contact with it completely. Our sensors could not penetrate the storm, and he had already passed out of range of our basic telepathic skills.

  “Now we wait,” I said.

  “Yeah,” said Spectra. “I feel a bit useless sitting here while they tackle that storm.”

  I had to agree with her. I didn’t mind waiting, but waiting while my crew actively risked their lives on the front lines was a different kind of waiting, a helpless kind.

  “Spectra, why is it so important that we destroy that table?” I asked.

  “The magus, as you call it, drew its power from the table. It couldn’t be seriously hurt as long as that table was there,” she said.

  “But we killed it at least once. It sure seemed like it got hurt,” I said.

  “I think it was just playing with us. It was far more powerful than all of us combined, and knew it,” she said.

  That didn’t sit well with me. “So it could still be down there, waiting for them?”

  “No, I’m pretty sure that table is destroyed,” she said.

  “Then the magus is dead?” I asked.

  “No, but it no longer has any binding here. When it fled from us in the Spirit Realm, it could return to our realm only where it had a binding. With the table destroyed, it would’ve been forced elsewhere,” she said.

  “Then there are more tables?” I asked.

  “Yes, I am sure of it,” she replied.

  “How do you know that?” I asked.

  “When you develop your powers a bit more, you will see that spirit energy flows and intermingles with the physical world in many different ways. This mingling allows some powerful spiritualists to create bridges of energy which span massive distances. This table was bridged with another table many light centuries from here,” she said.

  “So this table fed from that one, and the magus is probably at that one right now?” I asked.

  “Yes. But there could be many more tables. The only way to know is to follow where this bridge went, and see what is there,” she said.

  “But that would mean facing the magus again,” I said.

  “Yes, but I think I can match it, if we can get it back in the Spiritual Realm again,” she said.

  “Still, I’d rather have Master Shadow and Master Flame with us,” I said.

  “Yeah, they would be a huge help,” she said.

  The conversation wandered around for a while after that, but we were just killing time until the shuttle returned. I wished we had a wizard on board with psionics as his primary line so that we could have kept tabs on them while they were in the storm.

  Eventually the shuttle did come out of it. I told Phoenix to report to the bridge once he had docked.

  When he came up on the bridge, he said, “First things first: the table was definitely destroyed.”

  “Excellent! What did you find?” I asked.

  “The crater from the blast went very deep, so deep that it has been slowly filling with magma,” he said.

  “And there is no chance that the table survived?” I asked.

  “There was no sign of anything magical under that storm at all. That table was definitely destroyed, and the magic released from its destruction is what’s fueling the storm,” he said.

  “But if the magic is still there, can the table reform?” I asked.

  “No, the storm is slowly using up the energy. I suspect that in a week or two the storm will just fizzle out,” he said.

  “What about the magus? Any sign of it?” I asked.

  “No, none at all. I think our work here is done,” he said.

  “Okay. Navigation, please set a course to clear the system and jump somewhere safe so that we can broadcast to the Nevermore II.”

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  We traveled for two days under cloak, just to be sure we were isolated enough to prevent detection. I would have liked to travel even further, but the prearranged time to check in had arrived. I paced nervously back and forth on the bridge, waiting. That green-hooded magus was out there somewhere, no doubt looking for us. I knew we were safe for the time being, at least until we lit up the night with a high-powered jump space broadcast back to the Nevermore II. “Are we sure no one is looking?”

  “Yes, Master Dusty,” said Rocky.

  “All right, contact the Nevermore.” There was nothing like broadcasting a message to unnerve a black ops vessel, and it showed throughout my bridge crew. Everyone was on edge, watching their monitor.

  “Dusty! It is great to hear from you! Gather your command staff for a meeting. I will weavewalk there in about an hour,” came Shadow’s voice over the comm.

  “Master Shadow,” I stuttered. “You’re coming here?”

  “Yes, it is safer than a broadcast. Just ask Spectra to put up a marker for me in an hour,” he said.

  “Spectra, are you able for that?” I asked.

  “Yeah, Dusty. A dimension marker like he needs is a very basic spell. We can even remain fully cloaked,” she said.

  “Okay, Master Shadow. See you in an hour,” I said and then cut the channel. The less time we were broadcasting the better. “Rocky, move us as far from this location as you can without jumping.”

  “Good idea, Master,” he said.

  I headed over to Spectra’s station and placed my hand on her shoulder. “Since we have an hour, let’s go get dinner.”

  She grinned up at me. “Sounds great!”

  “Rocky, please gather everyone in an hour for this meeting,” I said.

  “Sure, Master,” he said.

  Spectra and I slowly made our way to the mess hall. She was still a bit weak from her ordeal, but could at least walk on her own now. Shea thought it would be a few more days before she was stable. Until that time, she would need daily injections of illuminescence.

  We sat in the most private area we could to enjoy our meal. “Spectra, now that Shadow’s coming we should tell him about the fake marriage on our record.”

  She laid down her fork. “Dusty, I need to know: do you want to get married?”

  I had done nothing but think about that since she proposed it. We had grown quite close over our time in the wizard navy, but I had never in my life considered anything like this. “Spectra, I don’t want to lose you.”

  “Why would you?” she asked.

  “Marriage is a big deal, I’m not sure I’m up to it,” I sent.

  “Oh, Dusty. You’re always underestimating yourself,” she sent.

  I leaned back in my chair and wondered about that. She was always my biggest champion. Flame, Shadow, and Phoenix were great friends who really believed in me, but Spectra always had the ability to inspire me in ways that I didn’t quite understand. I couldn’t bear the thought of living without her, and I was afraid that if I didn’t marry her now I might lose her. She might think that I didn’t want her.

  While I sat there, my mind racing around various thoughts, she reached out and put her hand on mine. “Dusty, I know this is a lot for you to take in. We can move slowly. We won’t say anything to Master Shadow just yet.”

  “But Master Shadow trusts me. I can’t betray his trust like that,” I sent.

  “So what do you want to do?” she asked.

  “Spectra, you mean so much to me. I don’t want to mess this up. Can we talk to Shea about this?” I asked.

  She slid around the table and snuggled into me. Her body fitted perfectly into mine as if we were specifically crafted for one another. “Yes, Dusty. I think that’s a good idea.”

  We sat there like that in silence until it was time to go to the conference room. I knew that if we were to make
it, we would be married, but I was not sure I could handle that. I had seen too much hardship in my life, and too many couples fail. I’d rather keep things as they were than lose it all, but I was not sure that was an option any longer. We decided to keep things quiet until we could talk with Shea.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Shadow honed in on Spectra’s marker and stepped into our conference room, crossing the massive distance between our vessels as easily as I might cross the room. I grabbed his arm in the traditional warrior’s shake that he had taught me. “It’s good to see you, Master.”

  “Dusty, you and your crew have been missed,” he said.

  “Well, I guess I’d better bring you up to date on our situation,” I said. I told him all about the magus and the table that we had found. “So our plan now is to follow the energy bridge to the next table and see what we find there.”

  “This green-hooded magus is likely to be there, then?” he said.

  “Master, it could only return from the Spirit Realm to some place here to which it was bound. That would likely mean this table, or another one,” said Spectra.

  “Why can it only return to a bound place? I can enter and exit anywhere,” said Shadow.

  “Whatever that creature is, it is not really alive. Its body, which I think was once human, died a long time ago, maybe even millennia ago, Master. In order for it to be bound to an entire realm, like you are, it would need a living body. Since it doesn’t have one, it can only be bound to the Spirit Realm where nothing has a body,” said Spectra.

  “I see. So it gets around this by using the tables in some fashion?” he asked.

  “Yes, Master. The tables must have been created before it lost its binding to this realm, or someone else created them for it to use,” she said.

  “How likely is it that this magus is alone?” I asked.

  “Not very,” said Spectra. “It cannot survive here without help of some kind.”

  “What kind of help?” asked Master Shadow.

  “Master, in order to live we have to feed our bodies with food. Our bodies then take that food and turn it into energy that our whole being can use. This creature lacks a functional body, so it needs to get energy from someplace else,” said Spectra.