Not long after he’d hidden, he’d begun earnestly listening again, but a thundercrack of sound tore through the cabin. The shattering noise, amplified by his special hearing was too much, and he reeled. Noah clamped his hands over his ears, trying to still his spinning brain. Even as he gritted his teeth in pain, he realized what the sound must mean. His eyes widened and in disbelief he thought, the roof was ripped off! Maybe the orb had helped him understand what he’d heard—was still hearing—but he knew for sure he was right. Noah could pick up the thousands of wood splinters crack and fall, spraying in every direction above him. Ruined nails clattered to the ground, ripped from walls. Noah’s mouth went dry. I can hear people breathing in the sky, he thought. They aren’t speaking any language I recognize, though. Maybe…it’s the Aelves. A flash of terror filled the sandy-haired young man, and he tightened his arms around his knees.
Luckily, the roof over his hidden cubby still held, but he could sense that now, most of the cabin was just…gone. With his orb hearing, he noticed when a pair of feet landed in the middle of the lab. Noah’s hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. Has to be Aelves, he thought. His fears were confirmed after he heard the inhuman voice. The Aelve sounded mostly like a man but had an odd, lilting voice. He spoke in choppy, accented English. “Human. Where is the orb? Do not attempt a lie. One of your kin told us of its whereabouts.”
A lighter flicked, and Doc Broad sucked in hard before letting out an easy breath. Somehow when the Doc spoke, he still sounded calm, even friendly. “Welcome to my house. I’d appreciate it next time if you knocked. It’s common courtesy for us Earthlings, and—urgh.”
With his orb hearing, Noah heard the lighter clatter to the lab floor. Fear for Doc’s safety made his hands move on their own, and he opened his hidden cubby door a crack to peer out. Through the slit, he saw Doc Broad lurching into the air, his body contorting. Noah’s friend and mentor’s hands clawed at his neck as the slim man desperately tried to breathe.
A woman floated in front of Doc, and she definitely was not human. Her pointed ears poked out of her hair, and her deep-set eyes stood a little too far apart. She wore a tight-fitting silver outfit. The Aelve woman’s skin was pale, almost like an albino, but she also looked unhealthy, sickly. Her flaky, frayed white hair had been tied into braids. Behind the floating Aelve woman stood several other Aelves, all sporting gleaming, silver tunics with leaf patterns. The clothing looked thick, like armor, but still hung like clothing.
One of the Aelves stood closer and wore a different color than the others, blue–his outfit seemed softer, made of a different material, and was cut differently, less angular. The floating Aelve woman glared at Doc and spat a string of words. Her speech sounded almost like German mixed with Chinese.
The Aelve in blue floated up next to Doc, his posture stiff. He said, “Human, I like your manners, but we need the orb. I need it. You will tell me the location of the orb if you wish to live. If I, Kahlek of the Blue Mountains, take control of the orb, I give you my word that you will live.”
Noah’ eyes widened with concern and fear. He had no idea what would happen next, and could barely believe what he was witnessing with his own eyes. In the back of his mind, he was distantly surprised that the Aelves didn’t look like the feral monsters he had imaged from Doc Broad’s stories. Despite their magic and alien uniforms, they could almost pass for an extremely good cosplayer with good makeup skills. Then what the Aelve had actually just said landed on his conscious mind as his brain slowly caught up. A hope began to grow. The young man desperately hoped that Doc would claim ignorance and the Aelves would let him go. Noah held his breath, clenching his hands together so hard they began to hurt.
Doc managed to choke out, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Do what you need to do. The future doesn't scare me at all.”
The male Aelve in blue gave Doc an unreadable look before nodding coldly. “Fine. So be it.” He turned to talk to his female companion in their own language.
Noah’s heart lurched and in the space of a second, every failure, every cowardly moment he’d lived through over the last two years came crashing in. He felt all the self-loathing, all the guilt that he’d buried in his heart time and time again. Memories played themselves one after another. He wanted to turn away, but his conviction wouldn’t let him. Yusef had died for him. Noah had aided in countless slaves captured by the Red Chain. He’d been beaten, and hurt himself, and had debased himself just to survive. But no, not this time. He refused to fail Doc Broad, to just stand by and watch his friend be murdered.
His heart beat wildly, but he otherwise felt calm, a deep sense of purpose setting on his shoulders. The sandy-haired young man didn’t have a plan, but there was no time. Anything to prolong the life of his friend, his teacher, that was the goal. Noah burst out of the cubby, grunting as his backpack got caught on the door, shifting and pushing harder to stand. Doc gurgled, “Noah, no!”
All the eyes of the Aelves swiveled and locked on the newcomer, their eyes flicking to the orb in his hand. Noah balled a fist and stared at the male Aelve in blue. The inhuman man seemed unnaturally composed, his hand held behind his back. Noah pointed and hissed, “Kahlek, right? Your word, bastard. Say it again—swear it! Let him live, and I will give you the orb!”
Even under the struggle of the strange magic, Doc’s conflicting emotions were plain. “Stupid kid,” he managed to whisper with a smile. The female Aelve barked out more of her guttural language to the one named Kahlek. Her hand made a beckoning motion, and Doc slowly floated closer to her. Kahlek sounded angry, like the Aelves were having an argument.
***
Chris Broad felt crushing pressure on all sides. The terrifying situation was bizarre, surreal, but he knew it wasn’t a dream—his body hurt too much. His life hung on a thread, but all he could think of was Noah, how the boy had managed to be both so heroic and so very stupid at the same time. Chris was frustrated, but had also never been so proud of Noah—the young man had finally set himself free! The floating man wished he’d have more time to see his young friend continue to grow, but reality was cruel. Chris knew he probably didn’t have much longer to live–his vision had begun to turn red. With his body under such intense pressure, including his clothing, he felt the charged battery in his pants pocket digging into his thigh. Gravity, Chris’ analytical mind assessed. Gravity magic, or maybe some sort of air magic.
Blood began to pool in his throat, but he managed a gargled laugh. Magic—that’s it! There’s a reason they’re afraid of electricity! Keeping a single battery, what a strange coincidence, what are the odds? He tried to chuckle again but could only manage a wheeze.
***
Moore frowned at the human in disgust. The creature looked very much like every other of its kind, and this one smelled like smoke and narcotics. She believed it was a male, not notable for anything other than being small and thin. How had these pathetic creatures managed to destroy her powerful husband? Whatever the humans were saying to Kahlek, she didn't care. There would always be new humans to interrogate and kill. Besides, even if they never found the useless Blue Mountain orb, it would be no great loss.
The Silver Cloud mage tripled her gravity magic against the floating human, condensing it. She hadn’t pulped a human in a while. Maybe this time she could make the head pop off higher than before.
As her magic flexed, a light flashed. The power had pushed hard enough to merge with something forbidden, foreign, and the pressure had created feedback. Violent energies mixed, creating a feedback loop and time stuttered before the world erupted. Moore distantly registered her shoulder slamming into the ground below, and then everything went black.
***
Noah watched in horror as Doc Broad's body exploded near to the female Aelve, blasting her to the ground in a spray of blue energy, ash, and viscera. The other Aelves were all knocked down like bowling pins. Kahlek had been further away than the woman but still hit the ground hard, rolling. The other A
elves in silver got tossed around violently by the cracking energy, all of it moving that one direction. A few of them bounced off the remaining walls of the cabin, three landing in the lab itself.
Noah ran to what remained of Doc’s body, not much more than a severed arm and some clothing. One of the pockets probably contained the last of the dead man’s cigarettes. Noah’s chest heaved, and the world became muted like everything was very far away. He felt his tongue get too large, and his spine crawled. His hand reached for the Doc’s arm, but then pulled back. No, his friend was gone now. Gone.
This doesn’t make sense. I’m supposed to leave for Smalltown. Doc was going to follow me. He was going to give up smoking since he was almost out of cigarettes anyway. Something burned his arm. He turned and noticed a wall had caught on fire, and some of the splinters from the cabin being destroyed were eagerly lighting up. Noah shook his head and turned back to Doc’s remains. The chaos around him didn’t feel real. Regret hit him like a sock full of rocks. He should have run. Now he knew his friend was dead, and it was all his fault, but he still wanted to make certain that Doc was really gone. It was a stupid thought; the remains were literally in front of him on the cabin floor. Noah just couldn't accept that the man who had done so much for him, almost been like a father to him in the past few months, was gone, murdered by these monsters.
“Aelves.” The young man tasted the word, and it grew sour on his tongue. He breathed in the hot, poisonous air, and said the word again, his chest wracked with scarlet hate. In that moment, he realized he’d never understood true hate before, had never despised a single word so strongly. Aelves.
Noah blinked and realized the orb wasn’t in his hand anymore. He must have dropped it during the explosion. The Aelve in blue that spoke English, Kahlek, bent to pick something up, and Noah caught the glint of the orb on the floor at the pale monster’s feet.
***
Kahlek told himself he felt no excitement while reaching for the orb, the moment was an inevitability, after all. Once his fingers made contact, he began to force his will into the sphere. This was his moment to imprint his will, his voice onto the orb and reclaim his inheritance. The Unaleshi scholar recalled the Blue Mountains song in his heart, the tune his master had taught him. The song was one of the first of his people, predating the time the Goddess had corrupted them.
Something was wrong. His imprint stopped halfway through, the song ended. It’s…another’s will is already here! Kahlek realized in astonishment. Another song. How? Two wills at once shouldn’t be possible unless…. He carefully examined the orb and found a crack.
Kahlek spun to find the remaining human man. The human tried to bond with the orb? The Blue Mountains scholar clenched his teeth, examining the crack in the precious sphere again before collecting his calm. He was a scholar of his tribe, and he would compose himself as such. Now was the time to use knowledge, not passion. The human was unable to fully imprint the orb because of the damage. This same damage allowed me to add my will to it as well. He knew he had to be right, but that meant he only had one chance now. The human must be killed, or his will forced out.
He wasn’t sure where the human was, and time was precious. He’d just force out the other will. The First Song of the Unaleshi would allow him to do so, now that he had partial control of the orb. As he began to concentrate, focusing on the melody, pain spiked in his back, and he tumbled forward. Kahlek spun around, anger and pain singing through his body. One of Moore’s scouts had recovered, standing next to a Silver Clouds mage, Fohesh. The sneering mage pointed his hand at Kahlek, and it began to glow.
***
Noah knew if he had been smart, he would have run instead of hiding. He hadn’t had any hope of grabbing the orb or even avenging Doc. But now, for some reason, the Aelves were attacking each other. If he was going to act, to do something, this would be the perfect time. He was hesitating, though. Even if he got the orb and escaped, the Aelves could probably easily track and kill him with their magic. No more running away, Noah, he thought. Redford, Talbot, or crazy floating aliens, none of it mattered. Nothing would make him change his mind now, Noah had decided who he wanted to be.
He glared at the only thing he hated more in this world than his past self, the Aelves. They had stolen away the person who had redeemed Noah. In light of that fact, everything became somewhat simple: Aelves—all of them—needed to die. He could smell his own burned hair, triggering the memory of the explosion that had killed Doc.
The batteries, Noah realized. Doc put that battery in his pocket. The flying Aelve woman exploded when she was close and used her magic. Maybe…the batteries must disrupt their magic! Noah snarled, his eyes blazing. A feeling he’d never really experienced before filled his entire body, giving him fiery strength. If it was his time to die, he might as well take the Aelves out with him. They need to pay.
He carefully scanned the area and watched the Aelves, his vision cold, blood hot, when he remembered something, realized his chance…if it worked. The box. Inside the box are explosives. None of the distracted Aelves noticed as Noah rushed over and grabbed the box, ripping it open. He secured all the C4, which turned out to at least a few pounds of the stuff, about enough to fill a lunch box. He threw it all into his backpack with most of the batteries, saving a few in his pockets. One of the Aelves, the tallest who had attacked the one named Kahlek saw Noah. His glowing hands he’d been using to threaten the Aelve in blue swung to point at Noah.
With a growl, Noah threw his entire backpack at the group of Aelves. The improvised missile sailed through the air almost comically slowly, and the Aelves cocked their heads. The pack landed short, and Noah’s growl turned to frustration, but the bundle slid just a bit closer. The world went sideways as white and red light exploded in Noah’s vision. Through the distortion, he witnessed the Aelve with the glowing hands erupt into fire, burning alive. The inhuman monster screamed in agony as the white magic began lancing out from his hands, running wild, knocking down his comrades. Some of them screamed as the magic removed their limbs.
***
Moore finally stood, her ears ringing, her entire body barely responding. She’d somehow survived the magical explosion, but a shaky inspection revealed most of her hair was gone. One of her eyes refused to work anymore, and an arm was unresponsive. With a great deal of effort, she was able to correct the remains of the magical feedback in her head, but a lesser mage would have probably just died or lost control. Her senses were still in disarray from the gravity magic feedback and the resulting explosion. The human. This had to be the human's fault. The creature had somehow figured out a way to hurt her people with their own magic.
The Unaleshi mage shook her head. She wouldn’t rest until every human was dead or caged. The only human she could actually see now to vent her hatred on was the fragile looking male, standing and gaping at a group of dead, dying, or unresponsive Silver Clouds…and a fallen Kahlek. Moore’s lip raised in disdain at the sight of her incompetent subordinates, especially Fohesh, his magic out of control as the mage-warrior burned. I should purge the weak Blue Mountain boy, she thought, glaring at Kahlek. All of this was that weakling’s fault, and at this point, the Council and their rules were not a concern.
With all the energy she could muster, Moore summoned the deepest gravity anomaly that she had ever pulled. The weight of it almost crushed her, but she thought of her beautiful husband. She stewed on the human female that had beat her husband’s face into the ground, and tears swelled in her eyes.
***
Kahlek’s fuzzy, stunned mind immediately understood what was going on after he felt growing, crushing weight and noticed Moore standing on unsteady feet, her hands held outwards. She is going to take us all with her! he realized in horror. No! I was so close! Suddenly, his nostrils flared, and he began crawling, each movement more difficult than the last. If I bond with the orb, it can save me. His vision blurred in the distortion, but he could still see the orb. He used the last of his strength to lea
p for it.
***
The explosives hadn’t worked, but the batteries had done their thing. Noah had never seen C4 explode before, but he knew the Aelves wouldn’t still be around anymore to groan and roll around, or flail around on fire if it had. On the ground ahead, he could actually see the crack in the orb now, like it’d gotten bigger. Noah wondered what would happen if something could set the C4 off. Maybe throwing it hadn’t been such a good idea. Doc had mentioned electricity and pressure before. Maybe it needed both now?
When Noah felt a crushing weight, he scanned the inside of the destroyed cabin and noticed Doc’s killer showing her teeth, her eyes wild. Noah understood that the murderous Aelve was attacking. The orb rolled a little bit, coming closer. Noah was beginning to have trouble moving, but he took a couple batteries out of his pockets and threw them as best he could at the group of downed Aelves from before, and the monster woman holding her hands out. The weight grew greater, like he was at the bottom of the ocean, and Noah knew he wouldn’t be able to stand much longer. The world around him began to distort as his eyes were pushed into his head. The young man desperately leapt forward, reaching for the orb. As his fingers brushed it, he saw the Aelve, Kahlek, touch it at the same time.
Noise assaulted him so loudly his mind split, and two different notes became one. God seemed to shake the entire world, and everything around him flashed white. Reality cycled through every color of the rainbow before fading to nothing.
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