The Survivors: Books 1-6

by Nathan Hystad

  I didn’t want to know any more than I had to right now, so I let the question sink to nothingness. My stance was blissful ignorance.

  I trod down the corridors, walking toward the bridge that would lead me outside. It had been a while, but the lights were still on. It was eerily quiet, just as it had been, with the slightest buzz of power in the walls.

  Walking the halls had a sense of finality to it. Not for the first time, I had the feeling I wasn’t going to make it out of this alive, and part of me was all right with that. Mary mattered, the lives of those whom the vortex wanted to devour mattered, but I was just a blip on the radar.

  “You are more,” Barl said, probably trying to comfort me. It didn’t work. Instead, I shoved his voice down and kept moving. It wasn’t long before I made it to the doors that would lead outside. I prepared myself for anything and opened it.

  It was dark and silent. Lava burned red-hot in the distance: an ocean of doom. Thick clouds hung overhead as they had, and thin forks of lightning shot sideways just past the city lines.

  She wasn’t here, but she had to be close. I scanned the skies. The clouds were too dense to see anything beyond.

  “Let’s hope this works like she said it would.” Rivo had given me instructions on the suit’s thrusters, but I still wasn’t sure they could get me into orbit. I activated them and was startled at the stream of blue energy that rumbled below my boots. The knees locked, and I lifted off the ground before increasing the output. Struggling to maintain balance, I floated into the air awkwardly at first, but after a few moments of hovering there, I felt more confident.

  Before I knew it, I was rising into the sky, higher than the empty skyscrapers of a long-gone race. I still didn’t know who’d lived here and wasn’t sure I’d ever find out. Wind rushed against me as I rose, and I leveled out my body to counter the opposite force.

  The light I was containing pushed out, enveloping me in a sphere. They’d created a shield, protecting me from the crackling lightning around me as I flew into the clouds. As I lifted, I saw the powerful lava ocean glow red in the otherwise black night. The clouds thickened as I raced through them, breaching the ceiling of them like a seal from the water. I felt free for the first time in weeks but quickly remembered why I was there, and the weight crashed back onto my shoulders, threatening to spin me out of control.

  The energy shield surrounding me glowed brighter as I shakily passed through the world’s atmosphere. My muscles tightened within my EVA, and I struggled to keep my eyes open as the burning white light around me shone like a beacon of hope.

  Then all was calm. I eased the thrusters back, feeling the Theos relax their grip around me, and opened my eyes to see the lightning storm below and the red-hot ocean steam in the distant landscape. There was nothing quite like seeing a planet from above but being outside a ship when doing it was more than awe-inspiring; it was terrifying.

  Something buzzed on the side of my suit, and I didn’t recall what the sensor was there for. I fumbled my hands to the vibrating section of my flank and found the Locator Clare had made sure was securely clipped in place. In all the rush of finding the Iskios, I’d forgotten about the device linked to Mary’s DNA. Clare had said the range wasn’t great, but here it was, alerting me Mary was near.

  She was here! A cross of excitement and fear at what she may have become filled every inch of me as I saw the sensor lines blink on the Locator’s screen. It showed a map, with me blinking red near the planet, and an icon I could only hope was Mary blinking blue at least ten thousand kilometers away. She was getting closer, and fast.

  “Here we go,” I said to myself as much as to my passengers and looked away from the world below. I could make out a green object in the distance. Each passing minute saw it getting larger. Mary was here, and she’d brought the Unwinding with her.

  How was I going to rush toward this vortex? I’d heard the after-effects of its wake of destruction. It left no room for mercy; it just consumed all life and matter in its path. Would Mary even listen to me? Would she be able to stop it, even if she tried?

  I hit the thrusters once again and pushed away from the planet, the Theos’ gifted shield still burning white around me, just enough to see through it with my visor dimmed.

  I flew toward the vortex with trepidation. I hated being out in space, and somehow here I was doing it again. The Theos’ voices inside me eased the stress by releasing something to calm my nerves. I wondered if they would take me over, using me as a vessel if they needed to. I assumed they’d do whatever they needed to stop the Unwinding and the Iskios from destroying anyone else.

  The planet behind me kept fading further away. I needed to get Mary to the surface, away from the vortex. Another half hour later, it felt like the vortex wasn’t getting as close. She must have stopped pulling it.

  My earpiece buzzed. “Well, if it isn’t the mate. We knew you’d come someday. It was inevitable.”

  She was near. Where? I spun around, trying to spot her. The icon on my Locator showed the dot right next to mine. “Mary, I know you’re in there. Come with me. I can help you.”

  “She’s beyond your help,” Mary said in the Iskios voice she’d used back in the crystal pyramid. “Wait.” The voice grew in pitch. “What is in you? What have you brought to us?”

  I heard something else in its voice: fear. “The Theos are back. I’m infused with their energy. We’re going to stop you!” I shouted. “I am Theos!”

  She appeared as black mist crept away from her body. It had been hiding her in the blackness of space. The voice that wasn’t hers laughed now. “You are a human, and a pitiful one at that. You are no match for the Iskios. Stay still while we devour the Theos energy and become even more powerful. Yes, you’ve done us a service today. We’ll feed on their life force and they can be part of what they resisted so long ago.”

  “I know what happened!” I shouted. Mary was floating toward me. She wasn’t even in an EVA, and as she neared, I saw she was in the same clothing she’d been wearing when I last saw her. I wanted her to get closer. I needed to see she was okay. That the baby was okay.

  “What happened?” the Mary-thing asked.

  “The Theos. They drove you from their home.”

  “Our home!” It cut me off. Mary was closer now, maybe thirty yards away. Her eyes were entirely black, and there was no sign of my wife acknowledging me.

  “Then when you didn’t get the point and continued to expand on your horrible violence, they finally dealt with you. It would’ve been much easier if they did what they should have done in the first place.” I was goading them now.

  “And what’s that, human?”

  “They should have killed every one of you, then and there. Lined you up and ended the monstrosities before you could evolve to…whatever this is.” I pointed beyond Mary at the green swirl in the distance.

  “You’re wrong. We should have turned on them and kept our planet. Either way, our destiny is coming to fruition. And now, there’s more life to destroy. More energy. Always more energy.” Mary was close now. She floated ten yards from me. I wanted to go to her but couldn’t. That was a sure way to get killed before being able to stop anything.

  Without knowing how or why, I lifted a hand, and a beam of light shot from my fingertips toward Mary. It hit the barrier around her, stopping dead as the black mist absorbed it.

  “Nice try. You really do have Theos in you. Because that was weak,” it said through Mary into my earpiece.

  The Iskios were trash-talking me. That was new. I lifted both hands, and white energy coursed again, this time not just a dart but a stream. It hit the barrier with ferocity, and Mary screamed. Mist scattered, and she began to fall for a moment. I ceased the flow of energy by closing my fists, not wanting to hurt her out here.

  “If you want more of that, come with me!” I shouted, bent my legs, and hit my thrusters. I balanced myself with the rear air thrusts, and soon I was screeching back toward the planet. I didn’t have to lo
ok at my Locator to know the blue dot was right on my tail.

  “You’re going to regret being born, human,” the voice said, but I didn’t react. I just kept flying.

  The Iskios floated Mary behind me, and I found they were a little slower than my suit. It was a hectic journey back to orbit, but I felt relief when I finally did look to see Mary’s blue icon still beeping toward me.

  The Unwinding vortex was a speck in the distance. At least that was a positive.

  I turned my communications off for a second. “Okay, boys, if you’re going to give me some powers, or whatever you want to call it, now might be the time. Otherwise, we’re kind of screwed.”

  Barl’s presence lifted to the forefront of my mind. “Here.” I felt a shift inside me. Pressure moved against my legs and extended to my chest and arms. I didn’t know what it was they’d done, but everything was clearer. A fog was lifted. All the stress, concern, worry, and anxiety I’d been feeling were gone. This was it.

  I turned, seeing Mary float closer. My earpiece back on, they spoke again. “What do you think will be the outcome here? Stop fooling around, and we’ll end you quickly.”

  “Fair enough. Let’s just do it on the surface. I have a fear of heights.” I spun, shifting my feet over my head. I hit the thrusters again and raced head first toward the surface, this time over the lava ocean instead of into the lightning clouds.

  The Iskios-fueled Mary followed me closely as I zoomed toward the surface. Using the thrusters on the suit’s back, I cut the ones on the bottom of the boots and rotated, changing my trajectory. With the confidence given to me by the Theos, I raced low to the ground, under the lightning forks bearing down on the unpopulated city.

  I weaved between high-rises and through alleyways as I headed back for the skyscraper I’d emerged from. I had to get to Mary, but how? She seemed so far gone, and the brief interaction hadn’t shown me any sign that she was still inside her own mind. Damn it. I had to… the crystals.

  I needed to break the Iskios’ concentration. I recalled the room near the portals where crystals were piled atop one another in a tube: the power source for that building. Perhaps they could break the barrier of Iskios, and I could get through to her again. This time, if she tried to send me home with the wave of a hand, I had the Theos to prevent that.

  The building was approaching. I once again changed directions and flew straight up the exterior of the immense vacant high-rise, until I made it to the level I’d come from. I lowered myself down and felt my boots hit the solid surface. I breathed out a sigh of relief as my trek into space came to an end.

  Mary floated down on the adjacent building. It was across the street, a lot of air between us, but she felt close enough to touch. I lifted a hand and stretched it out toward her. “Mary, are you in there?”

  “Mary is gone. She is a fine vessel, though. As you die, know this. We will take her and the offspring into the final void as we end the Unwinding.” Her mouth moved, but the alien voice sent shivers across my neck.

  Inky black mist shot from her hand, straight across the open air. I ducked and rolled away from the blast. It hit the wall behind me, disintegrating the exterior, leaving a hole the size of a beach ball. Another came at me before I could dodge it, but my shield held. I saw the black substance get eaten in the light, and I fired back at her.

  The gun Rivo had given me was unslung from my back, and I pulled the trigger, seeing red beams cut through the air toward Mary. I didn’t want to hurt my wife, but I thought they might help disrupt the shield around her. They bounced off uselessly, and I dropped the gun to the ground before shooting more light at her.

  It absorbed much the same as before. She leapt across the chasm, landing sure-footed near me. I had to get her to follow me to the crystals. I turned to run, but a lash of black tendrils swung out from her hand and worked through my shield, grabbing my foot. I hit the floor with a thud, and in an instant, she was right above me.

  I thought I saw a flicker of my Mary beneath the black eyes, but I was probably just seeing things. “You are ours,” it said, raising both hands toward me.

  Black beams hit me, and I screamed in rage. It was primal as the pain racked my body, coursing from my head to my toes. I’d never felt anything quite as excruciating, and I shot back. I willed everything from the silent Theos inside me. They lent me what they could, and Mary was thrown sideways with my last-ditch effort, falling over the side of the balcony. I scrambled over to the ledge. “Mary!” I called, knowing it wouldn’t really be her hearing me yell. Instead of seeing a falling body, she floated back up and fired layer upon layer of black mist at me. She was laughing now, a terrible demonic noise.

  I fought to get up, to do anything, but it was hopeless. They were stronger than I was. I hadn’t harnessed enough Theos for what I needed to do. I would die here at Mary’s hands, with the Unwinding heading toward the planet, ready to suck everything in the system into the maw of the vortex. I’d failed.

  “Dean, roll away!” a familiar voice yelled, and I looked up to see Mary stumble backwards, screams flowing out of her in another’s voice.

  Suma was beside me, and the anguished cries became louder when the Iskios realized they’d been trapped. Suma held the same device we’d caged the possessed Leonard inside on the crystal world, and Mary bashed the energy field walls with black mist.

  My head fell back in exhaustion.

  Thirty-One

  “The vortex is getting closer. We have to do something,” Slate said. I opened my eyes and tried to blink away the looming headache.

  I glanced back to the invisible barrier holding Mary in, and silently expressed my gratitude to my friends, who’d once again come to the rescue and fought by my side.

  “What did you fire at her?” I asked. I was sitting down, my back pressed against the wall under the hole Mary had blown open.

  “Crystal pellets. Pretty cool, hey?” Slate looked smugly at me. “I remembered the crystals having an effect on Mary when the Padlog dropped stalactites on her, so Clare whipped something up.”

  Clare was getting good at whipping things up. I’d have to thank her about a million times, for a start.

  “Has she said anything?” I asked.

  Slate stared at Mary while he spoke. “The usual. We’re pitiful. All going to die. Blah blah blah.”

  “How did you know where I was?” I knew the answer already.

  “Leslie. And it’s a good thing she told us.” Slate broke his locked stare at my wife; his eyes were distant behind his helmet’s face shield when he turned to me.

  The Unwinding vortex was getting closer, probably being drawn by the trapped Iskios. We had to stop them.

  “I’m out of ideas. You’re up.” Slate helped me to my feet, and I groggily stood, holding myself up against the side of the building. “Where’s Suma?”

  “She said something about shutting down the drones. Remember those things? I don’t think we want them coming back while we’re sitting out here.”

  Suma was always one step ahead. I was grateful they’d come. Otherwise, I’d probably be dead, and Mary would be devouring the world by now.

  I knew she was inside there somewhere. But with her trapped behind the energy field, I couldn’t test the crystal theory on her.

  “Barl?” I asked, getting a shocked look from Slate.

  “What did you call me?” he asked.

  There was no reply from the now dormant Theos inside me. All their strength and power seemed to be stunned or gone for good. I shook my head. How could I explain it to him? “Sorry. I should tell you. I found the Theos world.”

  His eyes went wide. The Mary-thing got up from her crouched position and walked as far forward in her cage as she could, trying to hear.

  “You what?” He sounded incredulous.

  “I found them. I’ll explain later. It had something to do with my little blue friend, and a two-foot-tall bird man named Regnig.”

  Slate’s eyes stayed wide. “This was on Bazar
n?”

  “Yes. What did you find?” I asked.

  “Here, Natalia discovered this in the library. We were each researching different topics, and she found one on transference into stones. This is what you thought the Theos did?” He handed me a small tablet from a pocket.

  I flipped through it. “It’s exactly what they did. That’s how I got them inside me. I transferred their energy.”

  “Then you’ll want to see this. Go to page seven.” His voice held an urgency to it.

  I did as he requested and couldn’t believe what I was reading. There was no mention of the Theos using this technology, but it was implied. If this worked, I could save Mary. It was all theoretical, according to the readings, but I had no choice.

  “Slate, you’ve done it!” I wanted to jump up and down in joy, but I was still light-headed, so a fist pump was all I could muster. “Nat’s getting a big fat kiss when this is over.”

  Slate chuckled. “I’m not sure Magnus will approve.”

  The whine of the lift carried through the dead air, and Slate grabbed his pulse rifle, getting between me and the elevator. He let the gun slide to his side when Suma’s head popped up, her snout crammed into her facemask. She waved at me, and my heart melted. Here were two of my best friends. Slate, who’d been at my side and saved me countless times, and Suma, the Shimmali girl from a different world, who’d become our newest member. I thought back to the idea that we were all guided to this planet a couple years ago. The three of us discovering the portals that day and Suma’s never-ending curiosity bound our fates together.

  As we stood there with Mary caged behind the energy shield, I knew there could have been no other way. The clouds had lightened, and I could see the green swirling energy force, now the size of Earth’s moon in the sky. We had to end this.

  “Suma, I know how to fix Mary. We need to bring her to the portal stone.”

  ____________

  The portal room felt familiar, comforting almost, as we trudged into it. The Theos inside me remained silent, and I wondered if that was it for them. Slate said my eyes no longer glowed white, and there was an absence in my fingertips where I’d felt them earlier. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.