by D. N. Leo
“That happened when she saved your ass.”
“Gale!” Lyla scolded.
“I think you have to tell him, Lyla. He’s a big boy. He can take it. So you saw a fireball, huh? That makes it even worse. She’s reckless. She walked right into it. There wasn’t any fight. Just the one you saw and chose to be in.”
“What does that mean?” Michael asked. “What’s he talking about, Lyla?”
Gale grabbed his computer gear. “I opened the holocast for you, but I can’t control it as an outsider. Once you’re in it, it’s totally under your control. And you were hacked the very moment you engaged physically with Samuel.”
“So he’s real?” Michael asked.
“Yes…and no. Before the attack, he was real. When he charged at you, he vanished. Then it was between you and him. I saw nothing, except you falling like a stone. So this lady here wanted to see what you saw, and she connected with you. The rest is history. The fight and the reason you were in it is between you and Samuel. I think Samuel would have burned you alive if Lyla hadn’t jumped in.”
Gale strode toward the door, mumbling to himself on his way. “I’ll leave you two to work it out. And for your information, Ryan is still in Xiilok. And I think I found traces of Cayson, too.”
Lyla looked into Michael’s eyes. Those beautiful eyes grew intense. She knew it was difficult, but Gale was right—she might have to push this. “You were a child when it happened. You can’t blame yourself for that, Michael.”
“It’s none of your business, Lyla.”
“It is when I have to risk my life to save yours.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re irresponsible to say that, Michael.”
“Irresponsible! Hell, I didn’t have to do all this from the beginning.”
“Then why did you? Repaying debts? My father saved you, and you think you somehow owe him. My father didn’t ask for your repayment, did he?”
“You violated my privacy.”
She gazed into his eyes. “Hell, I did. So bite me!”
Michael stood up. “I’m done with this. I’m going back to Iilos in the past. I’ll tell Ciaran I failed the mission.”
She stood up and locked eyes with him. “Tell him, too, how you let me die. Because after you leave here, I’m going to go back to Xiilok to sort this out with the smugglers. When they attacked you, I went all the way in to save you.” She raised her bandaged hands. “And because of that, I figured out how they attack. I’m going back to stop them from hurting more people.”
“It isn’t your fight.”
“I’m the daughter of the king of Eudaiz. When someone tries to harm our citizens, it is my fight. More than that, Cayson is my confidant, and Ryan is my second father. And now, Gale and I have figured out that the smugglers might be into something larger than just stealing identities. That puts our universe at risk, so it’s definitely my war. If you want out, I guess all I can say is goodbye, Michael.”
“You and your father are just the same. You never have to ask people to give!”
She smiled. “My father would let you think for yourself and make up your own mind about what you want to do with your life. On the other hand, I will prove to you that the way you think about yourself is wrong. I won’t risk my neck invading your privacy for nothing.”
“Good luck! So what have you figured out about Samuel, and how do you plan to use me?”
“There isn’t a Samuel. Samuel is just a form the Shadow takes. And it can take many forms, depending on its purpose—and that’s something I don’t quite know yet. What I do know is that the Shadow is a hybrid of a space creature and a machine. And after witnessing its encounter with you, I think it attacks people’s most vulnerable emotional weaknesses. To do so, it must physically engage with its victim. The baseline for an attack is that it has basic information that you voluntarily give.”
“Identification.”
She smiled. “Yes, so merely filling in a form would be enough. Or verifying yourself at a control panel. Or entering a holocast communication. Based on Gale’s estimation, it has hacked the surface data of the EYE system and stored it. So when it gets your identification, it compiles that with the stolen data and simulates scenarios of your most vulnerable psychological weaknesses.”
“That was what Samuel was trying to do.”
“Yes, once the victim bites the bait…”
“But I didn’t fall into the trap.”
“Unfortunately, Michael, you did. It didn’t have to be a physical reaction or a conscious recognition. Psychologically, your mind registered your deepest emotional wounds without you even knowing or consciously admitting to it. So then the pain is triggered, and your mind will click. It wasn’t you. It was your mind that played tricks on you.”
“Right, but say it gets people upset. Then what?”
“I’m not sure about what will happen in other cases. But in your case, what it tried to do was to get your full biological and psychological profile, copy it, then burn your physical form.”
“Burn me?”
“It didn’t burn you. You burned yourself.”
“Self-combustion?”
“Yes, but it was a slow burn. The longer it takes to collect your profile, the longer the burn is. And because you fought back, it gave me time to jump in and interfere.”
“It’s like getting the information and then burning the original proof of existence?”
“Yes. It chose you because you were the communicator of that holocast. It could have been me, Michael.”
“So how do you want to stop this?”
She smiled. “I need your consent this time so that you won’t accuse me of violating your privacy. But if you help me trace the Shadow and destroy it, when it counterattacks, you now know what it will go for.”
“My most vulnerable emotional wounds.”
“Correct. Do I have your consent?”
“Yes, I give my consent to Lyla J. LeBlanc to use my information in any way she sees fit to infiltrate the infiltrators of her computer system and save her universe from the cyber attack. How does that sound?”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
He held up her injured hands and kissed them. “You’re a hell of a brave woman, Lyla.”
Chapter 11
Cayson yanked at the chains they had used to secure him to a steel pole in the middle of a stone chamber. It was hopeless, he knew. He had no idea where he was. But he had to do something. The cowards had snatched him from his own bedroom in the middle of the night and had chained him here. Judging by their language, they were most likely Xiilok creatures. He hadn’t had a chance to talk or negotiate. If they wanted to use him as some sort of ransom, wouldn’t they need proof that he was alive?
He heard footsteps. The guard must be bringing him food as he had before. He didn’t plan on touching any of the food they provided, no matter how long they held him captive. Not only was their food too disgusting for him to even think about swallowing, but he was also afraid it may be poisoned.
He wasn’t afraid to die, but he didn’t want to be controlled by any kind of chemical that might cause him to harm people he cared about. He didn’t want to reveal Lyla’s identity. And he would never do anything to jeopardize his future with Fifi—whatever it might be.
He couldn’t afford to daydream now. He had to get out of here. His Eudaizian code of conduct snarled at him from the back of his head, warning him that he might be harming innocent people by what he was thinking of doing. But what about those he cared about? If he did nothing now, harm would come their way.
Thinking no further, Cayson lay down on the ground and pretended to be unconscious. As he suspected he would, the guard panicked when he entered and saw him on the ground. He came closer to him to check on him. Cayson grabbed the guard with one hand and punched him in the temple with his other hand, knocking him out. He wasn’t much of a fighter, but he had learned enough to defend himself.
Cayson gr
abbed the key from the unconscious guard and freed himself.
Fifi clutched Linx tighter to her body as they sank even deeper into the mud, breathing through two small straws she had made from the hollow stems of giant water lilies. It was the only way the hounds of the brotherhood wouldn’t smell them.
She had thought the brotherhood was the protector of the village. She knew now, however, that they were the ones responsible for capturing innocent citizens. She didn’t know why they had taken her. Her family wasn’t rich. They had an unusual heritage, but that wouldn’t be beneficial in any way to the brotherhood.
It had been a while. Feeling that the hounds had gone, she surfaced, hiding underneath a large leaf. When she was sure the coast was clear, she led Linx to the bank of the muddy pond. The little girl’s body shook with the cold, and she was as pale as a sheet. Fifi held the girl tighter to give her some warmth. She wasn’t sure it how well it would work, because she herself felt as if she was going to freeze to death.
She had two options—die from starvation and the cold or go back to the village to seek answers. She decided to head back to the village. They needed clothes and food, and if the brotherhood had been kidnapping and slaughtering people, she needed to find out why.
They skirted a narrow strip of trees on the black hill. From her vantage point above, she could see the village lit up with torches and bonfires. People walked around in festive costumes. What’s the occasion? she wondered. But soon her questions were answered. The three leaders of the brotherhood marched out into the middle of the open ground—with her parents in chains.
She sat Linx down next to a large tree. “Linx, I have to rescue my parents. Can you stay here by yourself?”
Linx nodded.
“I’ll come back soon. But if I don’t, take this.” She gave her bracelet to Linx. “I have sent a message. Someone named Cayson will come to rescue you. Remember, show this bracelet to him. He has an identical one. If he doesn’t have a bracelet just like this, it’s not him. Don’t go with anyone but Cayson, okay? He’s a good man. He’ll take care of you.”
“Who is he?”
“He’s my husband. Well, he will be if we are ever officially married.”
“So he’s not your real husband?”
“Oh no, darling. He’ll always be my husband, in my heart. The official marriage just gives me permission to bring my family to another universe.”
Linx nodded. “Eudaiz.”
“What?”
“My parents always wanted to go to Eudaiz. They talked about it all the time. Something about an official application. Is that like your marriage?”
“Are you sure they talked about Eudaiz?”
Linx nodded.
Fifi felt a chill run up her spine. She had just found the common denominator between her capture and Linx’s—both of their families wanted to migrate to Eudaiz. But why had the brotherhood killed Linx’s parents? And what did they want from her parents? Why had they captured her in the first place?
She secured a few large tree branches around Linx for camouflage, then went to the village for her parents.
From behind a small bush close to the village, Fifi saw her parents tied to two large poles. The leader of the brotherhood said, “I asked you one last time, are you willing to give me the list, or will you die for those strangers?”
Fifi felt her blood boil. That was what the brotherhood was all about—the list. Her parents would never agree to giving it up.
There was no time to think. She raced toward the brotherhood’s house. The streets were deserted because everyone was gathered around the bonfire to watch her parents burn. They would die protecting their own kind. They would never reveal the list.
She quickly gathered some dry tree branches. She made a small fire and from it made a trail of fire into the brotherhood’s house. She had grown up learning quite a few tricks from her own people—making fire was just one of them. The fire caught quickly, exploding straight into the dark sky like a giant torch.
It worked. She had caught the brotherhood’s attention just before they burned her parents. The men yelled at each other, scrambling back to the house to put out the fire. But Fifi knew fire. This fire would destroy everything in its way.
As the leaders of the brotherhood headed back to the house, two lower-rank brothers escorted her parents to where they had been held captive.
Fifi stepped out from the dark to stop them.
“Fifi!” her mother cried out. “I knew you’d be fine.”
“Behind you!” Fifi said to the gangsters. They turned around, and two large tree trunks with sharp edges swung at them from a large tree at the side of the road, piercing them from front to back.
She didn’t need to check the men. She knew they had no chance of surviving. Instead, she darted to her parents, untying her father first. Before she could get to her mother, she heard clapping from behind a tree. The three leaders of the brotherhood stepped out.
“Fifi Anton, you’re a brave girl.”
They three of them approached Fifi at the same time.
“Don’t touch my daughter,” her father roared. He picked up a tree branch and charged at the brothers. The leader pulled out a dagger and stood waiting with a smirk on his face.
END OF SOUL OF ASHES SAMPLE
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Shade of Darkness
Mage of Bloodstone -Book 2
The Multiverse Collection
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