Masters of Fate

by A. K. DuBoff

  25

  The pieces were in place. All that we needed to do was detonate the spatial disruptor alongside the crystal sphere… and then somehow escape with our lives. True to form, the part of the plan where we didn’t all die had been the most glossed over.

  “Okay, how does this go, again?” I asked.

  “We ride the detonation wave to 8D and seal the Saps inside,” Toran replied.

  “Right.” I paused. “No, I still don’t get it.”

  “It’ll make sense in the moment,” Maris said. “Hoofy will be there with us as a guide.”

  I took a deep breath. “All right.”

  The Sanctum was speeding toward the location we’d identified during the first phase of our plan, corresponding to the location of the energy core in the Saps’ native 6D plane. If our assessments were correct, we’d be able to survive the detonation and then return through 8D to the Evangiel, which would be waiting for us, safely out of the blast range. And if we were wrong… well, we wouldn’t be around to feel bad about it. Theoretically, it wouldn’t matter, since anyone could subsequently initiate a universal reset to before the Darkness ever appeared. Still, I hoped I’d get to be a part of that special moment.

  “ETA two minutes,” Richards informed us over the ship’s comm.

  “All right, standing by,” Kaiden confirmed.

  One of his hands still rested on the sphere; thus far, no creatures had transitioned through it, so we didn’t want to press our luck. It was only in retrospect we realized how lucky we’d been for no invasion force to enter through the sphere on the Evangiel; keeping the ship moving whenever it was within the Saps’ territory had likely saved us from an unexpected attack.

  Toran stood next to Kaiden with the spatial disruptor at his feet. “One more task.”

  “It’s gonna be a wild ride,” I said.

  Kaiden nodded. “I have no doubt.”

  The Sanctum closed the remaining distance to our destination and dropped in altitude.

  “You sure about this?” Richards asked over the comm.

  “Not at all,” I replied, “but we’re doing it anyway.”

  “I like your attitude,” the captain replied. “Blasting now.”

  A low rumbled reverberated through the cargo hold as the Sanctum’s beam weapon charged. Through the viewport in lower deck hatch, I watched the beam lance toward the sand and crystal pit we’d identified during the first phase of the mission. The beam easily melted through the ground, too bright to look at, even with the auto-tint shading on the viewport. After seven seconds, the beam shut off.

  “One entry shaft, made to order!” Kess declared.

  I smiled. “Thanks.”

  The cargo hold hatch opened. We gripped the railing of the rescue platform as it began to lower toward the twenty-meter-deep pit. At the base, a dense boulder of dark rock now exposed, had survived the beam blast.

  “That must be the manifestation of the energy core on this plane,” Kaiden said.

  “Then that’s where we’ll set the disruptor.” Toran patted the device.

  Kaiden continued to keep one hand on the viewing-sphere as we were lowered, knowing that the risk of Saps trying to transition through it increased as we got closer to the site.

  A meter from the bottom of the blasted-out shaft, the platform stopped. I motioned my friends to jump off of it.

  “All set,” I told Richards as soon as we were clear. “Now, get back to the Evangiel and jump out of here.”

  “Don’t worry about us,” Richards replied. “It’s been an honor.”

  “Happy hunting,” Kess added.

  The platform began retracting into the belly of the ship.

  “Okay, Toran, get the sphere in place—remember to keep a hand on it. Kaiden, get the spatial disruptor set.”

  They got to work.

  I turned to Maris. “We’re going to have a major blast coming our way. The shield needs to hold. That’ll be the only thing between us and…” I didn’t want to complete the thought.

  She nodded, determination in her eyes. “Everything up until now has been practice. We’re ready.”

  “That’s right.” I drew my sword, savoring the power of it in my hand. Much of the plan would come down to me and my timing.

  Above us, the Sanctum blasted away the moment its cargo hatch was closed.

  Kaiden took a deep breath. “All right, we’re committed now!”

  I watched the ship disappear into the sky. “Ten minutes to go.” The default timing had been set with Colren in advance, which should provide adequate time for the Sanctum to get on board the Evangiel and the ship to jump away. If we didn’t hear from them, we were under standing orders to detonate no matter what. If they were ready to jump before then, they’d tell us.

  Several uncomfortable minutes passed while Kaiden and Toran completed the equipment preparations.

  “This rock thing is weird,” Toran observed while he worked. “I’ve never seen a material like this.”

  “My pendant is glowing like crazy,” Kaiden said.

  “Must have some connection with the crystals,” I suggested.

  Kaiden stared at it pensively. “I wonder if this is some sort of ultra-dense crystal—like a diamond is to coal.”

  “I could see how that would be a significant energy source, assuming it maintains a direct connection to the crystalline network,” Toran said.

  My stomach twisted. “Too bad we have to blow it up.”

  “It will endure,” Hoofy said, appearing before us for the first time on the world. “But they are coming.”

  The viewing-sphere turned black beneath Toran’s hand. “How do we stop it?”

  “You can’t. They have been waiting, building their forces. You must detonate now.”

  “Kaiden, Toran, get back,” I instructed. After a momentary hesitation, Toran removed his hand and ran to stand near me with Maris. “Shield!” I instructed.

  Maris waved her hand, and a purple shell appeared around the spatial disruptor and viewing-sphere. “How are we supposed to get to them to do what we need to do with these shields up?” she asked.

  “Still working on that.” I assessed the scene. “Wait! I’ve got it. Shrink the shield.”

  Maris gave me a quizzical look.

  “If it’s tight enough against the sphere, we might be able to prevent them from transitioning completely,” I explained.

  “Ah, yes!” She made the necessary adjustment, positioning the outer boundaries of the shell just beyond the crystal sphere’s surface.

  “All right, if this can hold, we can drop it at the moment of detonation,” I continued. “Stars, is the Sanctum back to the Evangiel yet?” With the way things were going, I didn’t know if we’d be able to wait until the agreed upon detonation time.

  “Something’s coming through!” Kaiden gripped his staff, ready to act.

  Dark forms pressed on the inside of the shield, flexing the shimmering purple outline.

  I stepped closer, prepared to slash them if they broke through. “How long until our detonation time?”

  “Three minutes twenty seconds,” Toran replied.

  There was no way we’d make it that long. The purple shield was already starting to stutter as the creatures pressed against it. I estimated less than a minute before Maris wouldn’t be able to hold it any longer.

  “Maybe I can force them back.” Kaiden’s staff electrified, and he shot a lightning charge toward the sphere. The energy danced along the surface.

  “I can’t loosen the field enough to allow it to pass through,” Maris said. “I can barely hold it as it is.”

  “You’re doing great,” I encouraged her, my mind racing for another tactic. “Maybe—”

  “Dark Sentinel team, you’re clear to proceed,” Colren said in our earpieces. “Jump commencing in fifteen seconds.” The commlink cut before I had a chance to reply.

  “Okay, set seventeen seco
nds on the detonator,” I instructed Kaiden. “Maris, on my mark, drop the shield and then we all make contact.” I ran to the sphere and surrounded it with my friends. Kaiden finished setting the timer and joined us, each of us hovering one hand over the sphere and Hoofy alongside us with his horn poised.

  With one second left on the detonator, I gave the order. “Now!”

  The shield collapsed, freeing the beings waiting to emerge inside. Before they could fully materialize, we touched the sphere.

  Reality unfolded around us, turning to blackness. With a flash, the eighth-dimensional window maze came into focus. Hundreds of window facets shined in the corridor, all displaying the energy core site spanning the dimensional planes. The viewing-sphere floated between us.

  I immediately raised my sword, blade pointed down several centimeters above the sphere’s surface. “Stay focused,” I told my friends. They wrapped their hands around mine on the hilt, and Hoofy touched his horn to our hands.

  The disruptor detonated.

  Its wave of destruction spread throughout the innumerable window facets. It accelerated through the hyperdimensional energy connections to the farthest reaches of the Saps’ domain, sucking everything it touched into a new dimensional pocket within the disruptor field.

  The disruption around the new dimensional bubble continued to expand, pushing through to the higher planes. It was coming for us.

  “Focus!” I shouted as the bubble broke through.

  My sense of reality warped as the windows disappeared around me. They unfolded and expanded, each of the facets becoming a crystal. The crystals stacked on one another, forming endless fractals spanning as far as I could see. Somehow, we’d been pushed into the ninth dimension, the domain of the crystalline network itself.

  I wanted to wonder at its beauty, overcome with pure joy. But, the dimensional pocket was collapsing beneath me. I was falling back to the lower planes.

  The branching crystals collapsed into single facets and the windows returned to focus. The dimensional pocket we’d created was folding back, moving toward one of the windows. This was the moment we’d been waiting for.

  I thrust my sword into the viewing-sphere while directing our combined magical energy toward the dimensional pocket. We focused our energy to force the pocket into that single window. I cried out with exertion as the energy channeled through me.

  The sphere shattered, throwing my friends and me to the ground. I landed hard on my back, stunned.

  I propped up on my elbows. “Did we do it?”

  Inside our targeted window-facet, the disruptor wave dissipated, leaving only darkness. The other facets around it were now filled with light.

  Kaiden grinned. “I think we did!”

  Hoofy bowed his head. “You have succeeded. The Overlords are now confined within the dimensional pocket, and this is the only exit.”

  Toran rose to his feet and went to inspect the window. “Amazing.”

  I stood up and joined him next to the window. “A single exit point is one too many.”

  “Not sure we can do much about that,” Kaiden said.

  “There is,” Hoofy stated. “You can fold it so it will never be found.” He trotted to the facet’s location and pointed his horn toward it. “Elle, your sword is part of the crystalline network itself. It has the power to reform this plane of reality.”

  “How do I—”

  “Follow your instincts,” he told me. “The power is within you.”

  I examined the area around the facet. I knew what I needed to do.

  Trusting my gut, I traced the tip of my blade down the outer edges of the facets adjacent to the darkened section where the Saps were trapped. The two vertical lines glowed bright white. I then held my open right palm toward them, sending the same telekinetic energy commands I would to collapse matter. The two lines glowed brighter for a moment and then started to draw together, folding the dark facet backward and trapping it in a now-hidden fold between them. No one would ever find it unless they knew where to look.

  “Wow,” Kaiden murmured.

  I let out a surprised laughed. “Did not know I could do that.”

  “Now that you have mastered your abilities, you can create a doorway to anywhere you wish,” Hoofy revealed. “This is a power to rival the Ancients.”

  I stared at my sword. “Seriously?”

  “You wield great power, I told you,” Hoofy said. “You have only scratched the surface of your potential. I would be honored to have the chance to join you in your future endeavors.”

  “Except, we’re about to go back to our regular old selves,” I muttered. At least, I assumed as much. I honestly had no idea what to expect from the upcoming universal reset.

  “May I join you?” Hoofy asked, ignoring my comment.

  “Of course!” Maris exclaimed. “I mean, five-year-old me would be furious if I turned down a unicorn companion.”

  I laughed. “Our families are going to have us committed if we breathe a word about what’s happened.”

  “All the more reason to get the team back together as soon as possible,” Kaiden said.

  “Very true.” I paused. “So, back to the Evangiel?”

  “Actually, if you can make a doorway to anywhere, do we even need to go back to the Evangiel in order to get to Crystallis?” Maris asked.

  “Everyone will be wondering where we are,” Kaiden replied.

  Maris shrugged. “But if we’re about to do a universal reset, does it matter? They won’t remember any of this, anyway.”

  Kaiden looked at me with longing. “That doesn’t give us any time to celebrate our success.”

  My heart ached as I thought about the different ways the next several days we could go. One option was to return to the Evangiel—to celebrate, receive the thanks of the Hegemony, and share final moments of friendship and love, all the while knowing we were about to say goodbye. Or, we could return to the Master Archive now while the victory was fresh and get to our new futures that much sooner.

  As much as I wanted more time with Kaiden, I couldn’t bear the thought of growing even closer before it would all come to a sudden end. I wanted to save something for the reunion I had to believe was coming.

  “I’ve never been one for long goodbyes,” I said at last. My gaze met Kaiden’s, and I saw the understanding in his eyes.

  “Returning to my family is all I’ve ever wanted,” Toran said. “The sooner, the better.”

  Maris frowned. “I wish I had something I was looking forward to back home. What I used to think was a pretty good life is now…” She faded out, shaking her head.

  “We remembered before, we can remember again,” I said. “We can find each other.”

  Kaiden took my hand. “We better.”

  Maris held up one finger. “Wait, what about the crystal shard? Don’t we need that for a universal reset?”

  “Not if we’re in the Master Archive, I wouldn’t think,” Kaiden replied.

  “What’ll happen to that shard, then?” I asked.

  Toran shrugged. “I’m not sure. But, that might not be a bad thing to have floating around somewhere. It’s not like the average person would know how to use it or have access to a viewing-sphere.”

  “True, I guess you never know when something like that might be needed.” I took a deep breath. “Okay, so we’re decided?”

  When my friends had nodded their assent, I took my sword in both hands and traced it through the air, picturing a doorway to the crystal cavern deep within the Master Archive. The air glowed bright white where the blade passed. After I had completed a full rectangle, the entire shape flashed white and then dissolved, leaving a gateway to our destination.

  “I’ve gotta say, this is a way more convenient way to travel,” I said.

  Kaiden sighed. “Figures we’d learn about this trick after we complete our task.”

  Maris shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll be called for future missi
ons—or maybe even some adventures!”

  “I will find you then,” Hoofy said. “Your next stop is a place I cannot go.” He faded from sight.

  “Well, he seems confident enough,” I said.

  “Assuming we can ever find these artifacts again,” Kaiden replied.

  Toran flexed his hands in his gauntlets. “I imagine that if these items truly have become a part of us, and us of them, that reunion is inevitable.”

  “I hope so.” I smiled, looking through the open doorway to the darkened Archive. “For now, let’s put everything back how it should be.”

  26

  It was bittersweet stepping through the passageway into the Master Archive on Crystallis. I hated the fact that our mission’s success meant our time together was coming to an end—at least for now. We’d become a surrogate family in our weeks together, living through experiences no one else could possibly understand.

  “I’m gonna miss you guys,” I said, my heart heavy.

  Toran nodded. “Likewise.”

  Maris started to tear up. “I’m not sure if I’m happy to be going home or sad this is over.”

  I gave her a hug and she squeezed me back. “Whatever future you want, go out and get it,” I told her.

  She nodded, pulled out of the embrace. “Same with you.”

  We walked slowly down the rock pathway leading to the crystal column for the Archive’s interface. Having witnessed the crystalline network in our brief touch with the higher plane, I had even more reverence for this place.

  “I have to admit, I wasn’t sure this day would come,” Kaiden said.

  “Things were looking pretty bleak at a few points,” I agreed. “There were times when I wasn’t sure we’d make it through.”

  “Yeah, seriously.” Maris shook her head. “The only thing that kept me from losing hope was Colren’s assurance that there are future entries in the Archive, so I knew it would all work out.”

  “No,” the mysterious voice in the Archive stated.

  My heart skipped a beat, surprised by the sudden interjection. “Sorry, ‘no’ about what?”