Kaianan

by Cara Violet

  “Dersji!” Sachindra shrieked, watching him ‘port in behind Maki.

  Ignoring her, Dersji powered down his aura, and scanned the room in a quick assessment. The Liege were scattered round and Arlise was being manhandled by Humkar. The temple was in a state of ruin and somehow a Felrin cruiser had crashed landed inside. He rolled his eyes and clutched onto Maki, quickly ‘porting them out. “Move, Sachin,” he said just as he disappeared.

  Arlise heard his father’s voice and swallowed. Something clicked in him. Memories flooded back to him, of days long gone, sitting on Dersji’s lap watching Farcry at only two years old, his first time holding a blade and sparring with him, the day he learnt how to control his aura, and even to his first successful mission with him. His heart bled from the recollections and it beat faster as insurmountable energy started suddenly, and unexpectedly, bursting through him.

  Stepping into the cockpit of the Felrin cruiser, Maki scrutinised Dersji who had just dropped his aura and said: “Can you pilot this?”

  “That’s why you brought me here?” Maki strapped herself into the pilot’s seat with a look of apprehension.

  “Just get us in the air.” His purple ‘port out dissipated next to her before she even had time to turn her head.

  Dersji ‘ported back to the marble stairs, where Sachin and Garen where tackling Daem-Raal around Humkar’s throne chair. Kan’Ging use was still an issue, Dersji couldn’t turn it on at all. He extracted his blade.

  “Father,” he heard Arlise call over the clashing staffs and blades.

  Dersji turned and laid eyes on his son who was gripped around the neck downward by Humkar. He watched white sparks surrounding Arlise growing, wider and wider, bursting in vicious flames. Humkar having to drop his hold eventually. Dersji felt all kinds of emotion wash over him staring at Arlise; love, sadness, pain. Knowing that the moment Arlise had died twenty years ago was not true, that he’d left his son to rot with these creatures, agony flowed through him. Dersji could barely smile. Yet when the whirlwind of Arlise’s aura became a huge gyrating ball of energy, he frowned.

  “What are you doing?” he said incredulously to Arlise. “It’s been what, twenty years since I’ve seen you, and while I’m glad you’re alive, you’ve still got idiot-for-brains.”

  Arlise glowered and lost all of his happy memories. His forcefield suddenly exploded outward, blowing the Liege, Daem-Raal, Humkar and Dersji skyward.

  Dersji coughed and spluttered amongst the settling rubble in anger and irritation. “My boots were bloody clean … Arlise, concentrate your aura; don’t explode it, it doesn’t do anything but sting those around you,” Dersji wiped his now non-existent eyebrows.

  “Yes, sir. However, you did have eyebrows before … must work.” Arlise stood calmly and winked, then he analysed the temple continuing to shed walls and roof.

  “Ah, still the dissident, aren’t you? …” Dersji smirked, “and since you brought it here and can use your aura, do us all a favour my smart mouthed child and get the cruiser in the air.”

  With a focused effort, Arlise held his hands up and his white aura blazed again. The mist of white projected out of his fingers to the cruiser, igniting its engines and lifting it, sending Daem-Raal tumbling.

  “That’s my boy,” Dersji boasted to the collapsing Daem-Raal around him. The vessel began to regenerate, closing holes in the metal, reforming broken glass and lifting it further up into the sky. After a few minutes, the cruiser was stable in mid-air.

  Arlise lost control of his hands, and panting, he collapsed to his knees.

  “Get Garen in the cruiser, Sachin. Now!” Dersji was shouting, swinging his blade at the furious Humkar while the Daem-Raal had gotten back on their feet.

  “But … our son,” she pleaded, turning her head from Arlise back to Garen, who had been injured by Humkar’s staff and was about to be swallowed by a swarm of Daem-Raal.

  “Move, Sachin!”

  She scowled at him and returned to Garen. The cruiser swung in front of them.

  Maki, adopting the gearstick, lowered and stilled the cruiser, allowing Sachin to get close enough to heave the half-conscious Garen within the cruiser’s lowered latch. She hoisted herself upon the ledge, scanning for Arlise. She spotted Dersji overpowering Humkar and getting the better of the one-on-one duel, but moving her eyes further away, she could see the mass of Daem-Raal surrounding Arlise.

  “DERSJI, ARLISE IS BEING TAKEN!” Her lungs almost burst with her cry.

  Distracted by both her voice and her desperation in the Siliou, Dersji turned his attention to his son and Humkar’s staff came quick and fast in a sudden impact.

  “That bloody woman will be the death of me.” He gurgled blood and looked down to the silver mercury staff now embedded deep in his abdomen. He dropped his blade.

  “Literally,” he breathed out with a sniff. He let his purple aura surround him and ‘ported to Arlise with the staff still wedged in him. He disengaged the Daem-Raal, aware dozens more were clawing closer. In his anger, he somehow, swirled his lavender Kan’Ging aura around him, pulled out an onion and bit into it while he shielded Arlise under his body.

  “Perish, you mugs.” Dersji’s aura exploded outward with a furious detonation—savagely blowing the Daem-Raal into the adjacent temple walls.

  The two Brikin men rolled down the cracked and fragmented marble steps. Dersji held onto his son this time—the only time he could recall—and weakly flagged the cruiser heading toward them. He coughed up blood and onion, cradling Arlise.

  Humkar fought his way—without his staff—past the weakened Daem-Raal. “Get the Relic! NOW!”

  The cruiser came closer. Dersji stood and with his last bit of strength, he hauled his half-conscious son into his mother’s arms. He then felt a sudden jolt of pain pulse through his veins and abruptly everything was fading out of his vision. Humkar had ripped his staff out of Dersji’s stomach. But the cruiser had lifted up and out of the temple before the Daem-Raal could stop it.

  “Take him,” Humkar ordered in spite with a swish of his hand. Dersji slowly crumpled to his knees in a pool of blood.

  Arlise awoke screaming with rage in Sachin’s arms.

  Dersji looked up and suddenly his mind clicked. He visualised where he needed to be—he needed to help her. She was going to die, so was her family. Something had to be done.

  “Arlise,” he whispered, certain that his son could hear him and understand, “get the girl.”

  And with that he fell to the marble floor as hundreds of the Daem-Raal swarmed around him.

  Chapter Twenty-One: The Underworld of Earth

  This wasn’t the way she had imagined seeing her sister again—gagged and bound, and on her knees. Kaianan felt a force build up so quickly inside of her she didn’t have time to gage her own reaction. The fear triggered something else—a stirring contained her veins, in her blood, and suddenly her body began to vibrate … Reddy fell back … Within a matter of seconds, Gorgon transformation initiated, and in another instant of blinding green lights and hissing, she was her half-serpent half-human form.

  “Talk about your thick skull,” Levon sniggered. Kaianan’s serpents right now were screeching out of her head. “Can’t control the emotions, can you?”

  Kaianan was roaring, louder than anything, along with her serpents; her throat was burning. What the holom was she doing? She went for Levon.

  She heard someone calling her name as she charged. It was Julius. She felt relief wash through her, yet her body didn’t sway from Levon.

  “Follow me,” Levon smirked. And when the sprite clapped, another burst of black smoke shot out from his hands, completely covering him and the Chituma hologram.

  Her vision was filled black. Panic pricked all over her skin. Desperately Kaianan began to sift through the fog.

  “WAIT! NO!” Her shouting became pointless. It was hopeless, with each frantic hand wave, she failed to locate Levon or her sister. Tears stung her eyes and she kept mumbling: “I need to
find her. I need to find her. I need to find her.”

  “Kaia, breathe,” she heard Julius say from somewhere.

  Terrifying emotion was burning through her flesh. She couldn’t stop searching. How was she supposed to breathe? Did she even know how anymore? Where was Chituma–innocent Chituma?

  Once the mist diminished, she was confronted by a space of emptiness.

  They had gone. Her sister, along with the Sprite, were gone.

  She fell to her hands; tail bent over, she opened her mouth and heaved. Clinging to the rocks beneath her fingers, her body spasm – then again – until she lost grip of the gravel and her weight collapsed underneath her. Panting wildly, Kaianan converted to the crouching, feeble preform version of herself.

  The dancing couple flew their blinds shut the same time Reddy began to cry into Julius’s leg.

  “Please Reddy,” Julius said. “Kate needs my help.”

  Reddy let go of Julius and ran back to his room with his football.

  “Reddy, please,” Kaianan cried out, letting the tears stream down her face. Had he seen the small snapping serpents come out of her head? Or the long snake tail that shot out of her green skin? Was he frightened by her? She was disgusted in herself at that thought.

  Suddenly Julius’s arms were around her, she felt his combat attire against her skin and carefully, he carried her back inside. The warm sheets of her bed pulled up over her. A wet rag was wiping her face of excess vomit. Her eyes drifted shut staring at Julius’s green eyes. Her body was aching all over, she wanted to get up and go searching for Chituma. Her body refuted that.

  “Sleep, Kaianan.” his voice was low and quiet.

  She slowly reached her hand down along her quilt and found his fingers, intertwining them with hers. She fell asleep gripping tightly to his hand.

  Kaianan awoke with a gasp.

  “Chituma!”

  “It’s okay.” Julius’ voice spoke. He’d been asleep next to her; his arm draped over her legs when she sat up, and he was still in his combat attire.

  “We have to find her!”

  “Kaianan breathe.” He sat up, rubbing his hand on her back.

  She tried, firstly by inhaling then exhaling.

  “It’s does nothing,” she hammered out, “I still need to find her.”

  “Okay, we will,” he said casually.

  She frowned. “What do you mean we?”

  “Well, I’ll come with you.”

  “You would?”

  “Yes. Go have a shower and get ready. That woman keeps patrolling the dorms and I want to get out of here anyway.”

  She nodded and got out of bed, working out she was in a blue nightie. “Did you dress me again?”

  His face contorted like he didn’t want to answer. “Don’t get mad.”

  She rotated back to her bathroom and heard him get up. She began brushing her teeth and gargling, then stopped, staring at herself in the mirror. Was she mad? He’d only dressed her, and now he was willing to journey with her to find her sister. How could she be mad at him? She didn’t care who he was, he made her heart flutter, made every muscle in her body sing. Her nervousness was replaced with exhilaration. She spat the liquid from her mouth, pivoted around and went straight back to her room. She was running for some reason, running for him.

  He’d just turned around, and smiled when he saw her coming. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “I’ve never felt better.” Her cheeks were smiling so much they hurt her. “I,” she began trying to find the words—but what to say? “I just wanted to say thank-you.”

  A coy grin etched over that perfect face. “We need to go, so you need to finish getting ready.”

  She nodded and blankly stood there smiling.

  “Kaianan, now.”

  Kaianan had suited up in the green tunic she’d arrived here in, and found the boots and dark slacks to match. She looked at her face in the mirror. She didn’t look as half as bad as she thought she would have, her skin looked good and her eyes looked fresh.

  “You finished in there?” she heard Julius’ call.

  She swung open the door. “Almost.”

  “Good, ‘cause we need to leave.”

  She frantically brushed her hair and began braiding.

  “How has Chituma ended up with an evil looking Sprite?” Kaianan said, thinking out loud.

  “I don’t know. What do you know so far?”

  She hesitated. “Hmm, I know that my guardian told me she would be safe, on another planet, with a Giliou Shielder.”

  “Hmm.”

  “It sure doesn’t seem that way.” Her hair was finished and she’d tied the end up.

  He walked up to her and brushed an indocile strand behind her ear. “We’re going to find out what happened okay.” She nodded, lifting her chin up. He kissed her softly on the lips and grinned. “You know you’re beautiful, right?”

  He’d said that once before. She’d opened her eyes to laugh at him and became rigid. Something about Julius up this close made him look like …

  “Julius, do you know who Caidus is?”

  “What?” he asked, retreating a step, surprise in his voice.

  “Do you know him?”

  Julius’s face betrayed him. “When did you see him last?”

  “That night at the club, the one the Ministry of Earth had to break up. I thought you knew I was with someone.”

  “You could not be found at the club that night, though.”

  “I was at the gardens with him before you and I were …” she trailed off, remembering she’d turned up at his place uninvited. “It’s where we escaped to.”

  “Is there anything else you need to tell me?”

  She looked into his scolding demeanour; he’d become someone else. She tried to recall what she had done wrong. Should she tell him about Chituma? How Caidus knew her?

  “No, there is nothing else,” she lied.

  “We need to get to Earth’s gatekeeper,” he turned away from her.

  Was she doing the right thing? Was Julius trustworthy? Her mind changed ten times in the past few minutes debating it. Feelings were eating away at her; she couldn’t leave him. When he twisted away from her and clambered out through the window to the alleyway, she sighed, slung her scabbard over her, and climbed out the window after him.

  She became stationary.

  Reddy came into view at her doorway. He did not speak, he held eyes wide with confusion, and after a few moments, Kaianan shook her head and jumped down onto the gravel, running toward Julius. Maybe that would be the last time she would see Reddy, maybe not, but that haunting vision of him burned into her. She felt deep emotions pull at her heart when she thought of him, not understanding why she cared so much about a human.

  “Come on, Kaianan.” Julius said.

  She nodded and let the thoughts of Reddy leave her mind.

  “Can you wait here?” The noisy green machines sounding past on tracks commuting a few preform passengers in the city drowned out Julius’s voice.

  “What?” she asked annoyingly.

  “Just wait here.”

  “No.” Kaianan said in irritation. She stared around at the wide-ranging city buildings, and up at the low light of the single sun readying its rise. Everything was relatively quiet; the only visible humans were those venturing out of a nearby laneway—worn out faces and eccentric outfits shuffling past them. There was no way she was waiting anywhere.

  “I didn’t think so. This way then.” Julius lifted up an opening to some sort of sewer below the road.

  “Where are we going?” she said looking down and smelling the pang of stink.

  “You wanted to come, right?” Julius said flippantly, “well in you go.”

  She shoved him in the gut lightly, and hooked her body onto the steel ladder and lowered her body down. Julius trailed her.

  “This way,” he pointed south.

  Kaianan heard the wet puddles of water splash against her boots. She kept running.
r />   “Julius?” The voice came vibrating down the tunnel.

  Julius immediately stopped, so Kaianan did too.

  Julius waited a few seconds, a smile formed on his face. A recognisable person was emerging out of the shadows. “Jax, good to find you,” he said, “… ummm … this is, Kaianan.”

  Jax assessed Kaianan in obvious shock. He pushed his blonde tresses out of his blue eyes to stare at her. “What are you doing? You can’t—”

  “I wanted to find out if the Ministry will stop us from accessing Rashid to leave?” Julius said. “I need your help if they are.”

  Jax glowered. “You want to leave?”

  “Yes, we’ve got to help out a friend.”

  “You can’t,” his eyes on Julius, “maybe he’ll let her go.” Kaianan didn’t know why Jax looked to her with hope. She’d broken his arm, the cast on him a reminder.

  “Julius is coming with me.” Kaianan had no idea where it come from, she’d just blurted it out.

  “So let me get this straight,” Jax stared at Julius, “You come here from another planet to kill her, but then you don’t kill her and now you want to escape with her? Did I miss something? Because I’m sure I was in that meeting when they introduced you.”

  “Seems right,” Julius said.

  Kaianan scowled at him. “You came here to kill me?”

  “It was a cover story,” Julius said over the top of Jax’s words, “enough about it, we need to leave, now.”

  “Well, the Underworld may …” Jax began, “you know what, just follow me.”

  Julius nodded and grabbed Kaianan’s hand. She gave him a sidelong look which finally turned into a smile and he returned one of his own.

  Jax led them to a secluded section of the sewer. “Wait here.”

  Kaianan watched Jax climb a ladder on the sewer wall, open a latched door above him, and enter. He was gone for a minute or so before he stuck his head through the opening, waving for them to follow. Julius lifted Kaianan up first.