by J.P. Yager
Dacian Velkas watched his assassin depart from the comfort of his personal quarters. The vermillion craft shot off from Razerus. Soon Render would round them all up and place the Void Star in his hands. He would have one of the final pieces for his collection and possibly the most powerful device in the universe. It was also the only artifact left that legend claimed could prolong his life.
Months earlier, a separate artifact had been uncovered from one of the Outskirt Worlds. Whatever it was, it unleashed some kind of power. It was unknown what happened next after the radios died and those who had been there disappeared. But a Ruveran ship intercepted some survivors and they spoke of the end of the universe and how they needed to find something called the Void Star. It was something they claimed the darkness called for.
But what was this device? Was it a weapon or a healing instrument? Everyone thought it did something different. But all agreed it was powerful.
Dacian needed a reversal of his own before his health failed him and he died. He wanted another thousand years to rule the universe. Even if this star gave him one more day to live, it was worth all this trouble.
And now it was within reach once more. He was pleasantly surprised the Ecath had been successful after he had screwed up betraying his crew at Flora. No matter now.
In the silence of his private office, he heard a quiet murmur, a shade less than a whisper. He felt naked in his sleeping clothes. Though someone would have to have a death wish to sneak into his quarters.
“Hello?” He got up from his desk and checked outside the entrance. Two baffled guards turned to face him. He shut the door in their faces.
“Velkas…” the whisper called.
The hair on the nape of his neck stood on end, and he turned to see who was there. He was alone. His bedroom was large, but no one could hide within it. He was a bit of minimalist at home. Valuable art hung on the gray walls; black marble flooring with gold trim lay beneath his feet; and his oversized closet was open with no one inside.
“What is this?” he asked the nothingness.
Velkas threw on a robe and went to his balcony. His was the penthouse suite, so nobody had said it from anywhere around there. There was nothing flying by his place. He closed the slider on the way back inside. Was he losing it?
“Come here…” the whisper beckoned.
Where? he wanted to ask and end the ridiculous game of hide-and-seek.
He went back to his private office, and there in his chair sat a lavishly dressed figure. He seemed to form out of the shadows. The stranger appeared to be in his thirties; he had long, dark hair and thin, trimmed facial hair. He was handsome and seemed to know it. His feet were playfully resting on Dacian’s desk, kicking off things that were too near. He was dressed in a black suit from another era and wore a long black tie. Then he flicked his fingers and was wearing black robes.
“How…?” Velkas was still finding the words difficult to find. No one got the drop on him.
“Easy there.” The dark figure made prayer hands and smiled. “I come in peace.”
“Who…?”
“Does it matter?” The dark figure looked away as though he was thinking about it. “You’re right. Introductions are important. And I would like to avoid being called ‘The Darkness’ or the ‘The Dark One.’ You’re right. I’ll have to name myself. I’ve always been partial to Abel. So call me that if you want.”
Velkas continued to stutter. His older age brought heart tremors pretty easily. He held his chest and breathed deeply. A weak heart was one of the many ailments that threatened to kill him at any minute.
“I’m sorry I snuck up on you like this. There’s just business that couldn’t wait.” Abel disappeared from behind the desk and reappeared at Velkas’s side. He did his best to pretend concern for the aging dictator. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to make you a deal.”
Velkas took his heart medicine from Abel’s hand and chomped a couple of the pills down. He followed them with a glass of water. He took in deep breaths until he stabilized.
“You okay? Are you coherent?” Abel warped back to his desk and threw a glass model ship up and down. “I don’t have a lot of time here, Dacian.”
Velkas took the seat opposite the stranger. Energy seeped from the ominous being. It made him feel darker emotions and think terrible thoughts. “What are you?”
“I am Abel. And that’s all you can comprehend.” Abel let the glass ship hit the ground and shatter. “Fine, I’ll try to explain it. Imagine two very different planes of existence. One is this one, the world of life. The other is a shadow of it, a realm of nonexistence, if that makes sense. No? Oh well. Well, I’m the keeper of that other place. The one and only member.”
Velkas just focused on his breathing. How had he lost control of this situation so quickly?
“Right. The deal. Here it is. I am going to consume everything through the universe of life. It’s going to happen. It is happening as we speak in fact. My problem is this little device you are also after. Yeah. The Void Star. Now, I can’t touch the thing; it’s against the rules. But you can, and I need it destroyed. It’s a simple act to destroy it…”
Velkas listened, and as ridiculous as it sounded, he felt like this entity was being reasonable. “What do I get if I do?”
“I will make your death fast and painless.” Abel chuckled. “I see your thoughts, old man. Your mind goes straight to the opposite, doesn’t it? What if you don’t help me? I will enter you and become a part of you, torturing you mindlessly with pain you can’t begin to imagine, breaking your mind and allowing you to watch. The choice will be yours when the time comes. So…”
Abel reappeared at his side. He was holding him like a used-ship dealer. “Make the right choice.”
Velkas nodded.
“I really like you. You can lie straight to my face.” Abel grabbed Velkas’s arm, and it went numb.
In his vision, he saw everything Abel was. He saw the hatred and pain, the endless darkness, the abyss that he was, the waiting he had endured to break through, and then the fatal mistake his people had made centuries ago. He saw the missing Breaker and the door that had opened what was left of the barrier and allowed this thing to enter their world.
“There you go.” Abel looked at the crumpled form of Velkas. “Sorry about that, mate. I had to be sure you understood the stakes. I’ll let myself out.”
Lying on the ground, Velkas shook, his mind unable to comprehend what he’d seen. He had crushed civilizations, millions of lives, countless worlds, and in less than ten minutes, he was weeping from one chance meeting.
Whatever the darkness was, it was getting close.
Chapter 17