Instead of a landscape of snow and ice, he saw the mangled and frozen interior of yet another ship; this one with a much different structure than the one he was exiting. The interior, although heavily damaged from an obvious explosion, was massive and seemed to go on forever in a conical design. Exterior walls looked to be miles away, but they too had torn open from the event that brought it here and dim light shone through along with the blowing ice and snow. Looking to the rear of his ship, he could see an entry wound of the other ship’s hull where his ship had obviously torn through. He lifted himself out of the hole he was perched on and fell down to the snow drift that had accumulated below with a soft thud.
His body ached as the cold once again fought back from whence he had driven it; his body too tired to keep up with the assault he had used to free him of his icy chains. It bit and clawed at his body, but while he was aware of the pain and soreness it brought he realized that it did nothing to slow him down. Lying there in the snow at the base of the first ship, he fought the urge to just quit now and return to his slumber. He was exhausted; every small effort seemed monumental in scope. But instead of giving into the growing temptation to throw in the towel, he slowly dragged himself to his feet and took stock of his new surroundings.
Looking upwards, he realized that he had fallen nearly fifty stories to where he now stood; it hadn’t occurred to him that it was that far of a drop until now. To his left was twisted metal of the main impact of the two ships colliding. There were unrecognizable corpses scattered in the wreck; arms, legs and a few torsos stuck out from the heap in a ghastly scene. To his right was the exit from this hell, but it was up quite the incline that reached nearly the entire height at which he had fallen with the wind driving down at him the whole way. In the far distance was the main source of light from the hole in the hull above him as it pierced the darkness that held him tightly to show the way out. Again he needed great effort just to start walking, but one foot after another he began his escape.
Once again, his progress to the way out of this wreckage was slow, each step calculated and cautious as what lay beneath the fallen snow was unknown. Up the glacier sized drift he ascended, wondering the whole time how long he had been here, as this much snow and ice compacted this hard would take much more than a few days to shape. He tried to keep his mind focused and sharp, but found it difficult to cling to consciousness as he passed out several times—falling into the reoccurring dream of the unknown childhood. Each time he awoke from this unintended slumber, he was buried in the snow; becoming one with the hill he sought to climb and wondering how much time had passed since his eyes closed. Days, weeks, years, he had no concept of how long he had been climbing to free himself of this frozen tomb as he inched ever closer to the top.
Now within reach of the exit of his new hell, he once again he slipped into the unintended bliss of his dreams. This time however, the dreams were not of the child in the snow; this time they were of a breathtaking woman with eyes of fire and hair to match. She stood away from him, with her sheer robes flowing in a light warm breeze that his skin could feel as well. She had taken no notice of him—she was occupied in conversation with another striking woman. Voices had an echo to them; as if he was hearing them from within a hollow tube. The second one turned towards him and though she didn’t see him her face struck something deep inside him.
“Lyxia,” he called out, her name appearing on his lips before he could ever think of what her name might be. The woman stopped, her face showing great confusion as she searched for something she obviously couldn’t see. She had heard his cry for her and he strained his voice to call louder.
“Lyxia,” he croaked once more.
She covered her ears and ran with tears flowing down her cheeks. The blue-haired beauty that he wanted to hear him so badly had run off, leaving only the regal presence of the flame-haired Goddess. This one stood still for a second; craning her neck as she too was listening to something she shouldn’t have been able to hear. Where was this? Was this real or a dream? Then the woman turned towards him and looked directly at him, her eyes piercing his very soul!
But instead of speaking, the woman just smiled and reached out to touch his face. The second her hand made contact with his skin, his eyes shot open and he was back in the world of ice and cold; once again partially buried in a drift of snow. His mind was sure what just happened wasn’t a dream! Somehow he had connected to this woman across who knows how far of a distance and reached out to another who he only knew a name for.
“Lyxia.”
Once again, just the mere thought of this being brought her name to his lips. His heart raced at the thought of her, her brilliant blue eyes called out to him in their sadness. There was something about her that touched his heart; something about her made him want to get up and keep going.
With a great push of his will, he resumed his now crawling ascent. Inch by inch, he closed in on the half mile wide hole in the ship’s hull. Fifty meters away, then forty, thirty, then after a quick lapse into near unconsciousness it was a short ten meters away. The drift had leveled off at this point; the surface smooth as the wind roared and blew hard at this point. He struggled to stand, but with determination he leaned into the gale winds and let it hold him upright. Once on his feet, he could finally see what this planet’s surface had in store for him as he trudged forward to the edge of the wreckage.
It was as desolate as desolate could be; a barren wasteland of rock and ice as far as he could see. There was a long trench dug in to the ground that reached back to the horizon; the result of the obvious crash that landed the two vessels upon the planet. The upper ridge of the trench was a greyish, brown rock while the basin was quickly filling with snow that drifted in some parts right over the ridge. It was plainly obvious that it had been months, if not a year, since the crash as that large of a trench would take that long to fill. It was a revelation that dashed his hopes a bit; a rescue would have abandoned its efforts by now with no results. This place was his home now and there would be no one coming to get him!
Looking back at his new home, he began to study it further from his perch up high. There was no trace of tracks anywhere; even though the wind would have covered them quickly there would be some kind of activity on the surface. He was alone here; he was the only living creature on this frozen rock. Further reinforcing this was the distant speck of light in the sky; the host star was no more than the size of a pebble as it shone in the darkened sky. As he scanned the horizon to his left, it was something unexpected that shocked him and left him in disbelief.
Looming in the sky was a gas giant with its purple and auburn clouds swirling manically around its atmosphere. Storms created lightning which rippled through the thick clouds and arched outwards. It dominated the skyline with its dancing and colored clouds; he was obviously on one of the giant’s moons in orbit around it. The planet was so large it filled the entire sky to his left from horizon in front of him to horizon behind. He could see other moons in orbit around the monster planet; all held by their master’s gravity. He could make out small debris of rock and ice in orbit as well and as it stretched away from him he could see it made up a small in scale ring around the giant planet. The view was breathtaking, so much so that he forgot where he was and lost balance; falling down from the tear in the hull over a hundred feet to the ground below. With a thud, he landed in the snow at the base of the wreckage on his back with his head slightly propped up against the ship’s hull at an awkward angle. Pain racked his body and forced a scream from his mouth; it was a low and primal as he growled at the universe itself for his suffering! His body and mind were exhausted now; there was nothing he could do to keep from slipping into unconsciousness now. Tired and weary, he closed his eyes and drifted away as he gave in to the never-ending push to resume his slumber.
There was no time here; no cold wind and no lonesome moon which he was stranded upon. Here, he was warm and comfortable as he lay
in bed with the blue-haired beauty from his vision. He felt a sense of calm and peace; he was where he wanted to be and with who he wanted to be with. Here he was king and she was his queen! Her skin was soft as silk as he ran his hand up the side of her leg and continued up her side. She shuddered as his movement tickled her slightly, but she didn’t move or complain as her lover let his hands explore her body. He leaned in to kiss her cheek, but she turned to meet him and their lips locked in a kiss that sent a dizzying feeling rushing through his very being. After a long and passionate kiss, she moved away and stared deep into his eyes as hers sparkled in the moonlit bedroom. He was lost in her; a feeling unlike anything he had ever felt before. His heart, as broken as it had been in the past few years, was whole and full of love once more. He was happy here.
The two lovers kissed once more before settling into an embrace as they rested. Their bodies naked and entangled with arms wrapped around each other; two lovers locked in a slumbering embrace. He felt her heart beating as she slept; the steady beat of the heart that loved him so was soothing but not enough to help him rest. He worried that if he closed his eyes he would open them back in that frozen hell he knew was waiting for him. Here in her arms was his heaven, and he never wanted to leave his blue-haired angel.
But trying to hold on to heaven when he wasn’t truly there proved to be beyond his capabilities as the vision began to fade into blackness before his very eyes. Within moments, he was alone in the darkness, neither in reality or a dream world. His body was too weak to awaken to where he had fallen, destined to become one with the snow and ice lodged in a heap in the snow bank at the base of the mangled ship. His world was now the darkness, and there was little to do but accept this reality.
It was in this darkness that he began to feel a presence with him, but here his eyes were of no use, along with the rest of his senses. Yet, he could feel this presence as if he could truly reach out and touch it! It was there with him, keeping its distance the whole while as he felt it watch him closely. It was a unique sensation and he was unsure of what he could do if anything as this wasn’t the physical world anymore. For all the vaunted power he had in the real world, all of it was useless if he was assaulted here. He waited, as he felt the presence circle him; at first it was a wide berth as it was unsure of him, like a predator sizing up its prey. Time passed as it did little but keep its distance, so he began to ignore it, as if it was no longer there, because he wished to drift off into nothingness. He was weary, and all he wished to do was sleep. When he felt himself begin to drift away, that was when he heard the voice in a songful charm that he remembered but couldn’t place. At first, it whispered the words, but he couldn’t quite hear them. Then after a pause, it spoke again—this time clear as day. He felt the words strike him physically, and when they were spoken, they began to rouse him.
“It isn’t over yet, so why are you still lying there?”
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by Damian Shishkin
First Edition – February 2014
Author photo by Nicole Logan
ISBN
978-1-4602-3860-8 (Hardcover)
978-1-4602-3861-5(Paperback)
978-1-4602-3862-2 (eBook)
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Author photo by Nicole Logan
Produced by:
FriesenPress
Suite 300 – 852 Fort Street
Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 1H8
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Distributed to the trade by The Ingram Book Company
Rise of Aen Page 43