Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure

by Christian Kallias

  “Right, and your unborn child gets killed in the process; and then he saves you?”

  “He actually saved me a few hours before that happened.”

  “Okay, I give up. You two have some real issues, that’s for sure.”

  “I’m not gonna argue that,” said Chase, attempting a smile.

  “Where were we?”

  “You not being completely honest.”

  “Yeah, right. So I had his picture, and I ran a search in the local sector and got lucky. Your fighting pic from the fight pits on Ponos One showed up. I didn’t really know if you might be this Argos, you know?”

  “Alright, I guess I can’t blame you for not telling me, but it did raise some suspicions on my part.”

  “I kind of figured as much, which is why I prefer to be straight with you. No more secrets. If we’re to partner to bring him down, I don’t want you thinking I could have an ulterior motive. We need to be able to trust each other.”

  “Good.”

  “Now, are you going to tell me how you know Argos is or was in the Megara system?”

  Chase smiled for a second, but then his expression saddened as he recalled how he knew they would most likely be too late.

  “What just happened? Why did your expression change?”

  Chase exhaled. “Someone I know was fighting him. I . . . I’m pretty sure he’s dead by now.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “I heard him say goodbye in my thoughts.”

  “That’s not creepy at all,” she said, shaking her head. “Can you hear my thoughts?”

  “No. Not trying to, though, and I don’t think I can do it consciously; but I’ve heard others before.”

  “Heavy stuff.”

  “Yeah. Argos, however, seems very skilled at reading people’s minds.”

  “You’re not serious?”

  “Totally. He’s also very good at brainwashing and mind control.”

  “Perhaps you were right; perhaps this warrant is not worth the risk. I mean, the more I hear about your brother, the more dangerous this whole endeavor sounds.”

  “I told you, and it’s not too late to back down, Keera. But I’d ask that we try to locate Ares first . . .”

  “Who’s Ares?”

  “The . . . The man . . . My old mentor, the person Argos killed.”

  “Why did you hesitate there? What did you want to say instead of ‘man’?”

  “God.”

  Her eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “No no, let’s back up a little. Ares is a god?”

  “Was. To some, yes, but that’s not the point.”

  “Not the point? That your brother is strong enough to kill a being that some people worship as a deity?”

  Chase didn’t know how to get out of the hole he had buried himself in, so he just shrugged.

  “Now, about this god business.”

  “Look, let me stop you right there. They’re not gods; they’re an old race called the Olympians.”

  “WHAT? As in the Gods of Olympus? That would make Ares the god of war, right?”

  “You’ve heard of them?”

  “Only in books. I like to read.”

  Chase raised an eyebrow.

  “Excuse me for liking to educate myself.”

  “I didn’t say anything.” Chase smiled.

  “You made a face.”

  “Alright, I’m just surprised, that’s all. Not many people are aware of their god status, or even the existence of the Olympians.”

  “You’re shitting me, right? Everyone who’s read about myths and legends from the last ten thousand years knows they were instrumental in defeating the Furies! I mean, the Olympians are badasses, and to think Argos killed one is just scary as shit.”

  “Yeah . . . about that.”

  “I’m almost afraid to ask. About what?”

  “I’m a Fury.”

  “You’re what now?” Her face turned white.

  “Probably just part or a long descendent or . . . I don’t really know.”

  “How can you not know?”

  “I don’t have memories of most of my adulthood; only about the last ten years.”

  “Would you mind pinching me?”

  “Why?”

  “Just do it, please.”

  Chase pinched her arm and she let out a little shriek.

  “Alright, not dreaming; but at this point I really needed to be sure.”

  “Am I to understand you’d like us to part ways once I find Ares?”

  “And miss out on meeting Olympians? No way! Since I was a child I’ve read stories and legends, battles and myths involving them. I mean, part of me thought it was all bullshit, but if any of what you tell me is true, I want to be part of it more than I want to cash in the warrant.”

  “Really?” Chase was dubious.

  “Okay, perhaps not more; but I really want to be part of this, yeah.”

  “I like your enthusiasm. I just hope it doesn’t get you killed. I don’t think it’s safe for anyone to be around me.”

  “What if Argos is still in the Megara system?”

  “That’s a possibility. After all, he clearly needs me for something, so perhaps killing Ares was his way to bait me.”

  “That would make sense, if he needs you and knows you’ll come for him. We should assume it’s a trap, then?”

  Chase nodded and looked pensive.

  “There’s one thing I don’t understand, though. If you’re a Fury, and Ares was your mentor . . .”

  “Yeah, what about it?”

  “I thought Olympians and Furies were deadly enemies. I mean that’s what I have read. How come you two were even talking?”

  “I know, but Aphroditis contacted me. She sees the future or something. I’m not entirely sure of anything anymore. But she’s persuaded me that I’m the key to saving the universe from the forces of darkness.”

  Keera burst into a laughing frenzy.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I’m sorry, it’s not so much what you said but how you said it, Chase. You know? I mean, you’re a nice guy and with all that happened—you saving me from rape a few hours ago . . . And now you’re casually telling me that a deity told you that you’re the key to saving the universe. Boy, do you ever sleep at night?”

  “There are more than enough times when I have trouble, in fact.”

  “I bet. I mean, I’d be scared shitless if someone told me that. How did it not paralyze your every move? I would have second-guessed every one of my actions in your place.”

  “I’ve had my doubts, and some of the decisions I’ve made cost lives . . . millions of lives.”

  Keera’s expression changed.

  “You heard of the Zarlack and Obsidian attack on planet Earth?”

  “Yeah, not long ago, in fact. Now that the new Earth Alliance is kicking the Zarlacks’ butts, the Alliance is almost all we hear about on the galactic news broadcasts. It’s funny, I had never heard of Earth before. But they’re in the news every day or so now.”

  “I saw some of those bulletins.”

  “You were involved with that?”

  “You could say that.”

  Something beeped and Keera looked at her controls.

  “You’ll have to tell me another time. We’re dropping out of hyperspace.”

  “Any habitable worlds?”

  “Scanning . . . Nope.”

  “Can you scan for signs of technology?”

  “Let me recalibrate the sensors. Wait . . . I detect something faint. Could be a misread. Within an asteroid field.”

  “Aphroditis told me they were hiding from Argos, so the asteroid field seems a likely candidate. Let’s check this out.”

  “Adjusting course.”

  Chase approached the target destination within his cloaked F-147.

  “I’m almost there.”

  “What happened? I saw you leave the cargo bay and then I lost you. Can
’t see you on any of my sensors.”

  “I’m cloaked.”

  “That’s a neat trick.”

  “Yeah. Please let me know the moment you detect any other ship’s presence. Stay alert and perform continuous, long-range scans.”

  “Expecting visitors?”

  “I have no idea what to expect, but we’re not in a position to take on too many adversaries. The F-147 is a killing machine, but it’s only one lone starfighter.”

  “Copy that. I’ll let you know if anything shows on my instruments.”

  “Thanks, Keera, see you soon.”

  “Chase?”

  “I’m listening?”

  “Be careful, okay?”

  “No promises,” answered Chase before turning off the comms.

  As he approached the asteroid, his instruments registered more signs of technology. This is the place, he thought. In fact, he could feel it in his bones. He didn’t need any instruments. He felt drawn to the place.

  Soon he detected a small entrance within the floating rock, one of the biggest asteroids in the field. He maneuvered his craft and scanned for force fields or shields. There was an artificial force field, but nothing preventing entry, so he de-cloaked and landed in what looked like a cargo bay.

  He stepped out of his ship and started walking. Soon he arrived at a brightly lit, pristine, white corridor that went both ways, but he knew to take the left. It was a weird sensation, knowing instinctively where to go.

  Near the end of the corridor there was some damage to the walls: a panel ripped out of the wall with some cables dangling, and traces of blood. An arm lay on the ground. A battle had taken place here. He proceeded cautiously.

  He stepped through a destroyed entrance, with lots of debris and rubble, into a big room. A body lay in the corner. Ares! A dark pit grew within his guts. He took a few steps towards Ares’ motionless body. He was missing an arm and there was a large hole in his chest. Chase swallowed hard. He knelt beside the body. Ares was dead alright, for a few hours at least. His body was cold and all color had drained from his skin.

  “I’m sorry, Ares. I . . . I never wanted this to happen.”

  “I know,” he heard.

  A jolt ran through Chase’s body. He jumped to his feet and spun around, instinctively adopting a defensive fighting stance.

  “Who’s there?”

  A golden light appeared a few feet away from him, first as a sphere, but it soon took on human shape. Although the energy entity had no face, he knew it was Ares.

  “I thought you were dead?”

  “I am, Chase.”

  “Doesn’t really seem like it at the moment.”

  “My physical body died. This is all that’s left of me.”

  “I see. . .”

  “I can sense you have questions.”

  “Yeah. If you can sense it, why don’t you explain it?”

  “When Olympians die—the physical death—our energy is transformed into this form. We become beings of pure energy and thought. Humans call it a soul, but it’s an inaccurate description.”

  “Neat.”

  “We’re not supposed to stay around, though. Normally we go to Elysium.”

  “Elysium?”

  “What the humans call heaven.”

  “You’re shitting me, right? Heaven exists?”

  “Not the way religions of Earth paint it. It’s just a specific plane of existence in the universe that only a few beings can reach when their physical body dies.”

  “Why didn’t you go, then?”

  “I wanted to see you again, for one thing.”

  “I’m glad to see you too, and sorry as well.”

  “Don’t be. It’s not your fault. The moment Aphroditis broke the rules and contacted you, this was always a highly probable future.”

  “Still . . .”

  “Chase, you really need to listen to me now.”

  Chase exhaled in frustration, but out of respect for his old mentor he nodded in agreement.

  “Look, I understand how you must feel. You think we told you to kill Sarah and your unborn child, and no one should ever be put in that position.”

  “You told me it wasn’t you already.”

  “Would you please let me finish, Chase?”

  “Alright. Go ahead.”

  “I have no idea if contacting you was a good or a bad thing. I don’t have the gift of foresight like my half-sister. And honestly, I don’t know if what she sees can be taken at face value. But she sensed something in you. She sensed your purity of heart. Until I met you and we trained, I didn’t think much of you. Most Furies were just bloodthirsty creatures. They care not for others. All they want is domination, chaos; and they don’t mind spilling the blood of billions in their pursuit for power. Before they were defeated, they thought they were the only race deserving to live and had no problem obliterating any other race standing in their way. Their complete lack of empathy towards life was legendary. So many races are gone today because of them. So, about ten thousand years ago, my father and a few other older races decided to do something about it.”

  “They killed all the Furies.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “What do you mean, you don’t think so?”

  “Olympians don’t like taking lives.”

  “Uh-huh. Not really in line with what you told me about yourself.”

  “Alright, I’m amongst the exceptions. We’re living beings with free will after all, and some of us don’t respect all the rules.”

  “That’s pretty clear by now.”

  “Chase, understand I’m not the person I once was. I did terrible things. I plotted wars, used the weaknesses and fears of one civilization to destroy another. I was blinded; drunk on power, in fact.”

  “You don’t have to apologize to me. I wasn’t even born back then.”

  “I’m. . . I’m not so sure about that, really.”

  Chase’s expression changed. “You’re not seriously entertaining the idea that I could be tens of thousands of years old, right?”

  “Anything is possible. Perhaps you were preserved. I don’t know. All I know is what I felt battling you.”

  “And that is?”

  “An old soul, and a power beyond anything I’ve ever met before.”

  “Surely Argos as well?”

  “Yes, Argos also has this power. But it’s as though your powers are opposite sides of the same coin. He is a Fury alright: arrogant, scheming, drunk for power, but also scared.”

  “Scared? You’re shitting me. I can’t imagine my brother being scared of anything.”

  “Then you’d be wrong. I felt an intense fear when I fought him. Something running really deep, so deep he might not even know it himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in fact, it was that fear that subconsciously drives his actions.”

  “If you’re asking me to reason with him, you’ll be sorely disappointed, Ares.”

  “I know. The hatred between you probably can’t be fixed.”

  “It can’t, and his days are numbered. Now that he came here, I’m gonna track him down and avenge Sarah’s, my child’s and my mentor’s deaths.”

  “I understand, but please let me explain further.”

  “Very well.”

  “So, Olympians are not the killer types, and after realizing how wrong I was I . . . Well, I left my people. In fact, they more or less banished me. And I had centuries to reflect upon what I had done. This happened before the Furies were defeated. I had nothing to do with their downfall, so I cannot be sure. But I know my father, Zeus. While his might and anger are legendary, I don’t see him killing an entire civilization.”

  “What then? Where are the Furies?”

  “That’s just it, Chase, I don’t know; but perhaps some are still around.”

  “It wasn’t just the Olympians who fought them, right?”

  “No, in fact a coalition of almost all the worlds living back then assembled their forces and fought a war that lasted
generations. But they were simply too powerful. Sometimes a single Fury would arrive on a planet and destroy everything on his own.”

  “That explains some of my visions.”

  “Exactly, Chase. Furies are something else. They are powerful beyond reason. And they are aligned with darkness, of that much I’m certain.”

  “How do you explain me, then?”

  “The exception that confirms the rule?”

  “Are you telling me or asking me?”

  “Chase, I don’t know why you don’t have a blood thirst like the rest of your people. Perhaps you are a hybrid. Perhaps I’ve looked at it all wrong, and the fact that you’re so powerful doesn’t mean you must be a pure-blood Fury. Perhaps it’s that distinction that makes you so powerful.”

  “I have rage, anger and fury in me. I just choose to control them.”

  “I know, and I thank you for it. But there’s something else in you. At first, when Aphroditis told me you were the key I simply couldn’t feel it. You seemed too arrogant, too sure of yourself; a little childish really.”

  Chase smiled ironically.

  “No offense intended.”

  “None taken.”

  “But you constantly put your own life in service of others, ready to sacrifice it at a moment’s notice. So I don’t know what the future holds, Chase. All I know—and this is just a gut feeling—is that you have a role to play in what happens in this universe. You matter.”

  Chase released another long breath of frustration.

  “Does that bother you that much?”

  “I . . . I’m done, Ares. I just want to kill Argos and be done with all this. I’m not sure I want to keep living once he’s dead.”

  “You don’t truly believe that. Your anger and thirst for revenge are what’s driving you right now, and believe me, I understand. But no, deep within your soul, in your heart, I feel this is not true.”

  “I don’t feel what you feel.”

  “I know. Been there, remember?”

  Chase nodded.

  “Look, Chase, I sacrificed myself so my half-sister would live. I have a request, a favor if you wish, to ask of you.”

  “Protect her?”

  “Yes, please. She fled when I asked her to. I think she went to Earth.”