Unleashed

by D. R. Johnson

  “You will,” Queen Bettina said, moving to Fi’s left and eyeing the spotlight. “I have a mission for you, Fi Kal. You will usher in a renaissance for my government and the Nebula.”

  Fi examined the black gown. She wanted to identify some type of muscle contractions, but the gown seemed too heavy. Fi wanted to see some form of nerves or some weakness. However, she couldn’t expect it. Arrogance blinded the monarch.

  “You built your life around hunting, and I need you to hunt,” she said, stopping inches away from Fi. Bettina stared at the back of the room and Fi stared at the front. “You possess many qualities, and I must harness them. I must harness all of them if I am to complete Lady Cerasi’s training.”

  Fi noticed the unfamiliar name but refused to show interest. This woman wanted Fi to believe that she knew her, but she didn’t. Fi never built her life around hunting. She did it to survive, and even then, she quit when she joined Sora. Queen Bettina already revealed a lack of awareness.

  Nelson clenched his teeth, stepping closer to Fi. “Speak to your monarch when she gives you the grace of a conversation.”

  Indeed, Fi would kill him.

  “No, Captain, it shows resilience,” Queen Bettina said. She still didn’t face Fi. “Resilience that must now be put to the test, for the sake of Lady Cerasi. Bring him in.”

  Bettina waved Nelson toward the entrance and he backed away, pressing a button on the right. The doors hissed and split, revealing three shrouded figures on the other side. Once they moved, Fi heard the jingle of chains. The spotlight illuminated the soldier on each side. They pulled their prisoner behind them, and the spotlight illuminated the protruding face tentacle.

  Fi hissed. “The snake lives.”

  Queen Bettina turned and strolled to Chief Bosnan’s side. The shackled scientist had a blank stare but Fi spotted the indignation in his large eyes. Cuffs restrained his hands and feet, but his shoulders displayed a small slouch that indicated reluctant, frustrated defeat. Fi took a small degree of pleasure in that. Chief Bosnan didn’t cast one glance toward Bettina and allowed his eyes to rest on Fi.

  “Chief Bosnan used one of my own shuttles to escape the Bombard, as I am sure you remember,” Bettina said, finally facing Fi. “Therefore, when a landing port reported its presence mere days later, it was simple to apprehend him. A great victory for my government, considering his brilliance.”

  “I don’t know if you’ve heard, your Majesty, but his brilliance leaves his contacts disgruntled.”

  Bettina nodded. “Indeed, but that comes from a lack of proper guidance. I examined a corpse from his first army, and the concept was incredible: A fully-controlled human, willing to do whatever their master required.”

  Fi’s back tensed again, but not from the cold. The stoic monarch’s goal finally started to make sense. Fi fought to retain her own stoic expression. “Your memory fails you. Those soldiers died.”

  “Soldiers are not what I require, Fi Kal,” Bettina said, directly approaching Fi. Neither showed any emotion, but Fi found her face inches away from Bettina’s. Bettina’s breath touched Fi’s cheeks and it felt colder than the metal. “I require the control.”

  “You have become desperate if you are resorting to brainwashing,” Fi said, lowering her voice and pulling her head forward. “Partnering with Chief Bosnan is something that you will never be able to return from.”

  “He is no partner,” Queen Bettina said, remaining still. “He submits to me, as you now will.”

  Nelson rolled a tray from a corner. Smart, using the room’s lighting to mask that. An unfamiliar, small electric device sat on the tray. Nelson pushed it toward Fi, while Queen Bettina stepped back and motioned to Chief Bosnan. Bosnan still didn’t glance at the Queen but proceeded, turning his attention to the device. Two wires stretched from the square, but the square featured a screen and keys.

  Now, only inches separated Bosnan and Fi. She had already grown tired of these close proximities.

  “All of those rants about revenge on the Queen and justice for Catalan,” Fi whispered, glaring at the scientist. “Only for you to sell out when she gives you a chance to further your work.”

  “You are as short-sighted as your comrades if you believe I am here willingly,” Bosnan said. His hoarse voice cracked as he whispered. “I did have research to recover and break new ground on, thanks to your lover.”

  Bosnan did have an obsession with controlling the creatures on the Bombard. It made sense to Fi that his fixation didn’t end when he escaped the flagship.

  “Willing or not, you are foolish to give your work to her.”

  Fi noticed a circle on the end of each wire when Bosnan grabbed both. He squinted as his shackled hands held the first over Fi, before placing it on the back of her left temple. Electricity crackled and needles emerged from the circle, piercing her skin and attaching the circle. Fi growled, more out of anger than pain. Bosnan placed the second circle in the center of Fi’s forehead and the process repeated.

  “These are the closest external locations to both the amygdala and the frontal lobe,” Bosnan said, looking from one circle to the other. “Of course, due to the layered structure of the brain, it is hard to pinpoint exact positi—”

  Fi threw her head forward and head-butted Chief Bosnan, who lost his footing. The chains’ jingle echoed. Nelson began to charge, but Queen Bettina threw her arm out and pulled him to a quick stop. Chief Bosnan attempted to pull himself up, but the chains restricted leg movement and kept him on the ground.

  Fi glanced past him. Queen Bettina didn’t display pleasure or disappointment. Her stoic gaze remained on her prisoners.

  Chief Bosnan moaned, rolling onto his stomach and using his hands to get himself on his knees. Then, he used his upright position to stand, putting his feet flat.

  “That was for Viktor,” Fi said, relaxing her head against the metal.

  “A forgotten failure,” Chief Bosnan said, wiping purple blood from his nose and approaching the small device. He pressed a key. “Your stalling tactics are laughable. Let us begin.”

  The shock hit Fi’s brain and the room faded, but she didn’t fall unconscious. For a second, the shock overpowered her senses. She didn’t feel a quick jolt, but instead, she felt a continuous stream of electricity drilling into her brain. Fi didn’t hurt from the shock, but she never experienced a feeling like this. She could still hear her surroundings, considering how clearly the hum from the device echoed. The device only stole her vision.

  “If this does not work as expected, Chief Bosnan, Catalan will suffer,” Queen Bettina said. Her voice sounded muffled, as if Fi swam underwater. “Find one of her earliest, most significant childhood memories. The first stored in her amygdala.”

  Fi heard the click of a key. Suddenly, she plummeted, or at least, that’s what her body thought. Fi saw nothing and felt nothing beneath her, falling aimlessly through a pit that didn’t exist. She focused on her muscles, trying to cling to the physical reality around her. Her muscles tensed on the slab and she honed in on that small movement, rather than the sensations of her mind.

  Another scene formed in front of her, stealing the attention she gave to her muscles. Grass pricked her skin and dirt slid between her fingers. Fi’s vision restored and she saw the farmhouse. Shingles rolled off the roof and onto the dying countryside, while chipped paint decorated the outer walls and doors. The clear sun shined from the west, completing its usual trajectory.

  “Come on, Fi, toss me the ball!” her freckled, silver-haired brother shouted. Fi glanced to see him standing a few feet away, jumping up and down.

  Fi no longer felt anything. A numbness overtook her and she couldn’t even feel herself breathe. She tried to block the sight out, recalling that Bosnan, Bettina, and Nelson stood in front of her. Not her little, eight-year-old brother.

  “Get me out of here,” she said, trying to grit her teeth. She didn’t know if she succeeded. “I’m not doing this, and I’m going to make you regret trying.”


  “Huh?” her brother said, frowning. “Come on, toss me the ball. Mom will be out here any minute!”

  Fi stood, noticing that her height barely surpassed her brother’s. After she stood, she noticed that she held a torn rubber ball. A ball that she remembered more than she preferred. Fi released it, allowing it to crumble to the ground. Her brother gave her a confused look, while Fi backed away.

  “Carrack! Fi!” a shrill, sobbing voice said. Fi looked to see her tall, bald mother stumbling out of the farmhouse. She rushed toward her children. “You must come inside. The sun is setting, and Carrack can’t be out here in the dark.”

  “Please, Mom, it’s not even night yet!” her brother said, backing away as she came close. “We can still play.”

  “Don’t question me,” her mother said, snatching Carrack’s arm and yanking him into the air. Carrack yelped. “Do you want to end up like your father? He had the same disease that you do, and it took him at night. You want to suffer like him?!”

  “Mom, please,” Carrack said. Tears formed in his eyes as he dangled in the air.

  Fi scowled and stepped forward, but her breath slowed. She wanted to hyperventilate and she hadn’t felt that inclination since childhood. She applied strict rules to her body and what she allowed, but now, that faded. She only wanted to let the panic attack flow.

  “Her emotions are growing stronger than her thought processes,” Chief Bosnan said. The sight of her brother and mother remained in front of Fi, but his muffled voice echoed over the sky.

  “Target that. Trace those emotions to where they are the strongest,” Queen Bettina said.

  Fi shrieked. Her mother shot her a look of rage while her brother’s confusion grew, but she only wanted Bettina and Bosnan to hear it. She wanted them to hear the rage that would lead to their demise. Perhaps that gave them what they wanted, but she would teach them how far they misplaced their desires.

  The setting around her shifted, placing her inside the farmhouse’s living room. Fi spun around, taking in the clutter and the torn furniture. Rotten food laid on the counter that connected to the kitchen. Fi ran to the small, compact kitchen and glanced out the window, noticing the sunset. Carrack, months older than before, stood at the end of the room, holding the doorknob. Her mother stood across from him, near the stove.

  Fi grabbed her hand, stilling its tremble. She knew which memory they had accessed.

  “I’m not sick, Mom!” Carrack screamed. “Let me go outside! I want to play with Fi—”

  “Play, play, play,” her mother said in-between sobs. “Is that all you think about?! Your father was sick and went out one night, and I found his diseased corpse the next morning. How could you do the same thing to me? Do you not respect your mother?”

  “I’m going!” Carrack said, turning the knob.

  Their mother launched forward, grabbing Carrack and slamming him against the counter. “You will not defy me!”

  “He doesn’t have a disease, and neither did Dad,” Fi said, only it came from the voice of a ten-year-old. She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t let her emotions get the better of her like her mother had. “It w-was the spice addiction. He overdosed. No illness, Mom.”

  She blinked tears away. She had to stay logical or she would end up like her parents. A lack of thinking killed her father’s body and a lack of thinking killed her mother’s mind. Fi could save Carrack if she remained calm.

  “She’s reliving it,” Bosnan said. Fi ignored his echoes.

  “Keep your mouth shut, girl,” her mother said, glaring at Fi. Red filled her eyes. “You just want to take my baby from me. Is that what you want, Carrack? Your selfish, blank-faced sist—”

  “Fi!” Carrack shrieked, shoving his mother off him and breaking for the door.

  Fi sprinted to join him, but their mother recovered and blocked Fi’s way, grabbing Carrack by the collar and roaring, before flinging him behind her. Carrack stumbled over his feet and smashed into the stove before Fi could move. She gasped and wanted to run to him, but stopped when she saw him slump to the ground. Blood already trickled in multiple directions.

  Fi didn’t have to check. She knew the result.

  “No, no!” her mother said, dropping to the ground and shaking Carrack. “My baby, my baby…”

  Fi began hyperventilating. She didn’t save him. She darted for the door and finished the action that Carrack started. She focused on her feet, throwing one in front of the other as she escaped the farmhouse.

  “You killed him!” her mother said. Her voice carried over the farm. “Murderer! You took him—”

  Fi stilled her breath. No, she couldn’t react like her. She couldn’t end up like her.

  “You never obtained justice for your brother,” Queen Bettina said, drowning out Fi’s surroundings. “I will turn your one failure into a thousand successes. Serve me and obtain justice for me. Obtain justice for a thousand brothers across the Nebula in my name.”

  The continuous shock grew stronger and inflicted pain. She screamed as the currents overwhelmed her.

  “Redeem yourself for your inadequacy,” Queen Bettina said. Her voice became clearer than before and the currents increased again, prompting another cry. “Redeem yourself in my service.”

  Fi saw her mother yanking her brother off the ground again. She stumbled toward them, but the pain prevented her from attacking. She fell to the ground and found herself touching black boots. Queen Bettina loomed above her, while her mother and Carrack remained in the background.

  Bettina extended Fi’s sword. “You let him die when you were on your own. Indeed, as your mother stated, you killed him. Only I can redeem you.”

  The shock increased once again and Fi grabbed her head. She had never experienced physical pain of this magnitude.

  She saw her mother tossing Carrack into the stove. Fi reached forward but her hand fell against the counter, weakened by the pain. Queen Bettina materialized at her side and extended the sword again.

  “Redeem yourself for your inadequacy.”

  She needed the sword. She needed to kill her mother. She needed to end this horror. She reached for it, but Bettina pulled it away.

  “Redeem yourself...” Bettina said, locking eyes with her. The stoic pale face represented everything that Fi’s mother didn’t have. She glanced to her mother’s tear-stained, red face. The emotion-fueled face and body that murdered her brother. “…in my service.”

  She hesitated and the room stilled. After a few seconds, her mother’s voice filled the void.

  “My baby, my baby…”

  Fi grabbed the sword, while Queen Bettina kept one hand on it. The electrical current’s power increased again, nearly keeping her from her attack, but Bettina ushered her forward. The two marched side-by-side and Fi plunged her sword into her mother’s back and through her chest.

  Fi watched her collapse, finally silenced. She smiled.

  Her childhood home vanished and the dim, dark green room returned to Fi’s vision. Queen Bettina’s stoic pale face occupied most of it. She again extended Fi’s sword, while the physical pain continued to fade.

  “Only I can redeem you.”

  “Caleb,” Selas said, swallowing the dryness out of his throat and putting on a serious face. “I have Jekk. He is safe and…awake, even. Soon, the three of us need to rendezvous and I can explain everything. It’s time to put the past behind us, brother.”

  “Yes,” Jekk said, stepping in front of the screen and giving it a re-assuring nod. “I’m alright, Caleb. I want all of us to be together again.”

  “I want that, too. I will send you another message when we can arrange a meeting,” Selas said, smiling toward the screen. He hit two keys and the transmission sent.

  Selas wanted to hear Fi’s proud reaction. He knew that she would approve and take pride in him facing this fear. He knew that she would’ve stood by his side and held his hand through that transmission. He hated the irony in the fact that this reunion cost Fi her freedom. He’d spent many yea
rs living in regret and assuming that his family stayed in his past, and in that, he moved on to Fi. Now, he traded Fi for his brothers.

  The work of Anziar and his darkness. Selas rubbed his temples, knowing that Anziar relished in all of this. He didn’t know where Anziar had gone after leaving Jekk, but he knew that Anziar wanted to use this to overpower him. He couldn’t allow that, no matter how this weakened him or how hopeless this situation may become.

  Selas feared that it would become hopeless. If he stopped and focused, the darkness would weigh him down. The darkness that he suspected weighed Fi down. Living with Anziar for so long had developed his instincts.

  “It will be alright,” Jekk said, smiling and walking toward the communications center’s exit. “The Taban brothers will be reunited, which is something you once never thought possible. This is something to celebrate, Selas.”

  Indeed, they would be reunited, but first, he had to rescue Fi. The meeting on Ondon would already delay it for far too long.

  “How ironic it is that you are the one comforting me,” Selas said, smirking and shaking his head. “You’ve been awake for one day and are calmer than I’ve been the last 14 years.”

  “I always was the calm twin.”

  Selas nodded, following Jekk out of the communications center and turning left. As they progressed through the corridor and into the main hold, Selas watched Jekk’s smooth, easy movements. After several hours of recovery, Jekk had found the ability to move again. Selas had assumed he still would have physical disabilities, and his body still held obvious evidence of that, but Anziar’s control had somehow served as a catalyst to the healing of Jekk’s brain damage. He credited that to Jekk’s inner strength, rather than any intentional action of Anziar’s.

  “Selas, Selas 2.0,” Trika said, giving them both a nod as the brothers passed her in the main hold. “Think I saw Sora in the medical bay.”

  Selas nodded, moving in front of Jekk and walking into the next corridor, before turning right and entering the compact room. Sora sat at Kossk’s bedside, lifting his injured leg and examining his mobility. Kossk hissed as he extended it but didn’t recoil. Selas grimaced at the reminder of Anziar’s scheme. Anziar used every second of his reappearance to harm Selas’ friends and family.