by Cara Violet
“Aye, that is why we fight with you… You are our beacon, Xandou,” Yasminx said with large eyes.
Beacon? Where was he leading them though? Or was he running them aground? Would they really fight with him through the death they had all just witnessed if it was to arise again? No, they shouldn’t have to. Trying to free himself of the unrelenting anger he was experiencing, he rotated away from Yasminx and began walking out of the Guest Hall.
“We will always follow you, Xandou,” she said.
His cheeks spread only slightly in more of a fake smile, and now at the doorway, he said: “And we only remember the ones who do not act.”
“Where are you going?” she asked.
His eyes glazed over. Where was he going? Why were they all still following him? Did he make the right decision letting Kaianan go and remaining here, focusing on protecting Rivalex, and the Insurgence? Was he undoing all his hard work as a Guardian and reputable Giliou Shielder? He had decided that being here was the better option—it was about injustice, about trying to stop the Necromancers from destroying Layos.
Yet he had kept Kaianan limited to the information about her past—trying to shelter her of course. However, what if this lack of knowledge became her downfall outside of Rivalex? Could that really be held against him if something were to ever happen to her? He gulped in unease. The guilt was still eating him alive. Yasminx had just asked where he was going, and still he was torn between doing the right thing by Layos and being there for Kaianan.
“… I’m going to find some answers,” he said, unsuccessfully hiding the fury that continued to spread to every inch of his demeanour.
Chapter Six: Running for Your Life
She waited and waited, one … two … three… then – nothing –
“Kaianan, get the holom up,” someone was shaking her, “we have to find Rashid,” the voice came into tune.
“Arlise? What the—”
He didn’t give her any time to finish, he yanked her up by the upper arm, undid her restraints and there, at his feet, she saw the Reaper and two Morphs.
“umm …” Kaianan began, still staring at the unconscious Morphs and Reaper, then back up to Arlise nearly forgetting how tall and lanky he was; thin arms, skinny torso, gaunt face, bloodied abdomen, but he was tall, very tall.
“Can you run?” he said over the top of her. Following her silence, he asked again.
“I can move, I guess.” She took a step with a stagger. “Where’s Reddy? Find him, please.”
Arlise rolled his eyes and left her. It gave her a chance to scan the erratic crowd for Reddy. Her head jerked left and right and then – stop – that second skin of white and silver flames graced her vision once more. Between multiple Morphs, glowing in white flames, Arlise ducked away from advancing tackles and attacks of Morphs, and easily knocked them out with a wave of his hand.
He was using Kan’Ging aura. She could feel it. Kaianan was slightly frightened. What was he?
Further from him, Kaianan spotted Reddy on his knees. She hadn’t realised she had stopped breathing, she willed herself to work her lungs and move out of the way of clashing Morphs and humans.
“Arlise!” she pointed in Reddy’s direction. Arlise disarmed Reddy’s captives and heaved the small boy on his feet.
“Ow!” Reddy cried, clasping his lips as Arlise swiped the adhesive tape off of his mouth. After that, Arlise pushed Reddy onto the nearest rusted sewer wall ladder that led up out to the street.
“Hey, where’s Kate?” Reddy protested half way up the metal ladder beams.
“Go up that way and get to safety,” Arlise said then turned around. “Kaianan why are you daydreaming? Move.”
Kaianan had forgotten where she was. The Morphs were still fighting off the humans sapping through the place and then she spotted, lying on the floor next to her, a dead Morph, a broken scabbard and a blade –
“Hey, that’s mine.” She hobbled over to her Silver Rapier and threw the fragmented scabbard holding her blade across her shoulder.
“We need to get to Flinders Street Station,” Arlise, without his aura, was grabbing onto her arm and forcing them into a fast walk.
“If we don’t die first,” she hissed out.
“Shh… down here,” he pointed at a tunnel to the left which filtered them into a separate sewer and half-sighing, she jerked her arm from his grip and followed him. He led them further down the passageway, spotting an exit out to the surface. “Let’s go.” He climbed up the ladder steps stuck on the curved concrete wall, and lifted and pushed the heavy lid sideways when he reached the top. “Watch the traffic, okay?” he stepped one foot aside and let his body dangle against the curved concrete wall so she could clamber up and out first.
Kaianan stuck her head up then crouched back down, falling into Arlise as she did. “What the fask of a Harpy was that?”
“Cars, remember?” He pulled her back onto the ladder. “Just be careful.”
She looked again and when the path was clear, she lifted herself out of the small opening and waited for Arlise behind her.
“Okay, move—” he began to say, but Kaianan was intently listening to the splashes echoing in the tunnel below. As soon as she heard the voice reverberating up the tunnel, she panicked.
“Reddy?” Kaianan narrowed her eyes at Arlise as they both stood in the middle of the road.
Arlise let out a moan. “Don’t look at me like that. I directed him to safety. He chose to come back through the tunnel and find you … He’s your friend, is he not?”
“Oh, for holom sake—” She couldn’t finish, a loud horn was sounding, she was knocked sideways to the sidewalk, and coughing she realised Arlise’s arms were around her and she barely missed getting hit by a car that was driving by.
“Wait, Reddy.” Arlise said, dropping Kaianan and looking to the curly redheaded boy as he was about to climb out of the sewer and get hit by a larger vehicle. His ginger strands flopped back down and, after waiting a moment, his blue eyes peered back up at them and Arlise waved him over.
“Kate,” he said panting, running to them, “just letting you know, no-one calls me Reddy anymore. Just Reign.”
“Oh, is that so?” she said, folding her arms.
Arlise studied them both. “We don’t have time for this reunion.”
Kaianan rolled her eyes, getting to her feet. She noticed the city was becoming heavily occupied by throes of humans; on the streets, in filled trams and in bustling cars, surrounded by the strong smell of food and spices.
“The multicultural festival is on today,” Reddy explained.
“Oh, great … just perfect …” Kaianan said.
“Hey, it means you might fit in.”
“Let’s just go.” Arlise said, outwardly annoyed.
The city was the same as Kaianan remembered it, older buildings of stone and mortar alongside newer glass and steel ones, built along north and east running streets and lanes.
Kaianan watched cultured preforms in hordes plod through city stalls that lined the river and ran parallel to the city. The three of them tried to hurry through the dawdling beings, who were constantly stopping at small ornate stands, buying anything from fabrics to food and wine. Using her whole concentration to not stop and join them, especially when she could smell the fresh pastry cooking, Kaianan kept going.
“This seems like it was a fitting idea,” she said irritably, stuck in between a man guzzling a hot pastry and a couple throwing their hands about in animated bartering. One individual was heckling so loudly and throwing himself about that he had drawn an even bigger crowd around him—they had their devices out, pointing at him.
Reddy frowned. “I thought it would be.”
“Well, you thought wrong.”
“Enough out of you two,” Arlise said through them.
“He started it,” Kaianan pointed at Reddy.
“Kaianan,” Arlise’s face flared in irritation. “Quickly; this way.” They finally broke free of the humans a
nd headed down a one-way street, escaping onto another boulevard that followed a bridge across the river. Kaianan glanced at the square, beigey-copper blocks that were sticking out all around a huge square building, it was like a four-sided jigsaw puzzle.
“Fed Square,” Reddy said, staring at the cut-out pieces on the structure.
Kaianan then turned her head, “Wait, I know that place.” The iconic Flinders Street Station sat to the left in front of them. Kaianan remembered the building—with all its grooved mustard partition and olive dome glory—just like she did the Manor. She watched the black clock hands tick by against the antique white clock faces. Time must travel fast on Earth, she thought.
“This way.” Arlise gestured. Kaianan nodded and scurried up the stairs of the station, into the tiled foyer, following him into the open elevator on the right. She felt Reddy brush against her leg as he followed, and watched Arlise click open the secret compartment of buttons and slam level three, jolting them upward as the voiceover directed them.
“I really don’t trust Rashid, Arlise,” Kaianan said, analysing him. What with him being reenergised for no apparent reason, she didn’t think she trusted Arlise either.
“Kaianan, stop being over-anxious, I know what I’m doing,” he said. “Please have trust in me.”
She nodded reluctantly.
“Good, and leave the talking to me.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Good idea.” Reddy laughed.
“I could end you in seconds, preform,” she exposed the whites of her teeth and Reddy’s laughter diminished quicker than it had appeared.
“Kaianan, enough.” Arlise scowled at her. The elevator counter alerted them to their arrival at level three and the door slid open to its corresponding ding.
Chapter Seven: Unanswered Answers
If Desrix expected Xandou to be in a better mood today, that would be wishful thinking, because when the Giliou Shielder entered the last chamber in the Far quarter of the Manor where Lord Raquel was being detained, Desrix was certain he was about to explode.
“Xandou,” Desrix rose halfway from the Miry chair he was sitting in, opposite the lord to greet the Giliou.
“No need to get up Desrix,” Xandou said quickly, “thank you for your speed in this matter.”
Desrix sat back down and pulled opened the chair beside him under the Miry table and Xandou sat not making eye contact with him. The Giliou only had eyes for Lord Raquel; the thin man was currently fidgeting with his fingers on the table, and sipping water in between giving Xandou looks of conceit.
Desrix wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to tempt the brash Xandou right now. Not after what he had been through, but the lord spoke up anyway: “How goes you Xandou, well?”
The room was like a tiny chest, and if Raquel wanted to fill the small bluestone-walled space with unease, this was how to do it. Desrix hated that he was in the middle of it.
“Mr Raquel,” Xandou said, as the side of his jaw clenched several times, “you have such a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He then removed a parchment from his robe and placed it on the table for the lord to see. “What went on here?” he said, pointing to the script.
Raquel, without his glasses, rubbed his black eyes trying to recognise the script. Desrix meanwhile could only read the top of the parchment: The Royal Testament and Family Will. The Gorgon Family will? What was this about? And did Raquel know anything about it? When Desrix noticed perspiration forming around the lord’s receding hairline and forehead, he knew he did.
“Ah, Xandou,” Raquel said cheerily, “how I knew you would be looking for answers.”
“Then give them to me, if you’re so confident.” Xandou said scathingly.
“What do you want to know?”
“Why does it stipulate the ownership of land belongs to Chituma? Why is Kaianan left nothing but the King’s Silver Rapier?”
“Some things are predetermined Xandou; the family were preparing for the period of enlightenment. They had obligations, standards to meet. It’s all coming to fruition now.” Raquel twirled his fingers around his nose and Xandou shot him a scornful look in return.
“What is?” he said.
Raquel paused, then said, “as it is written in the prophecy. Kaianan is the sacrifice, Holom’s door will open because of her.”
“What? Kaianan is supposed to lead this.” Xandou explained it more to himself and the next minute he was up out of his chair pacing the room.
“She is the prophecy, Xandou … it has and always will be the Felrin who are the destined leaders of the Universal Order.”
Desrix was confronted by a change in Xandou’s demeanour. How much more of this could his good friend hear before going into complete meltdown?
Raquel continued on, “The King and Queen never believed Kaianan would survive. They had it on good authority she would be the sacrifice.”
“Who gave them such knowledge? How could they have believed such treachery!?” Xandou was shouting now and when he slammed his hands on the wooden Miry table, Desrix cleared his throat.
“It may all be a hoax, Xandou,” he said, making an effort to push the vacant chair back and eye it to say: ‘sit down.’
“Nonsense,” Raquel cut in, “it was the foreseer that gave us an insight to her certain demise.”
“Boku Jove?” Xandou slammed his fist onto the table for a second time. “That is impossible. There is no way can I believe that, Raquel.”
“Search deep, Xandou, think about what he knows; what would he do to fix things?”
“Aye,” Xandou stopped pacing and leant his hands on the back of the chair, “he has given me guidance, and has foreseen things he has been obligated not to pass on.”
“But what if he is manipulating the situation?”
“Impossible.”
“No, Xandou, it’s not.”
That was a matter of opinion. Desrix did not like nor appreciate the exchange between them and he knew Boku Jove’s words were always selective. A foreseer spoke visions, not certainties or truths. Even his own future was in constant revision by his own actions. Finally, Xandou sat down beside him, silent, but it was the first time the Giliou Master had taken his eyes to him, and all that was present in those dilating pupils was fear.
Xandou was deep inside his thoughts. He couldn’t stop staring at his short-haired, feminine-looking friend, who was playing with his azure tunic, smoothing out the creases in slight contempt. Why did Xandou decide to have this conversation with Desrix present? Rookie mistake of interrogation 101. Raquel could not be silenced now. This information would be half way around Layos by this afternoon.
But the information itself? Was it true? No way could his King and Queen, who were like parents to him, ordain Kaianan to such a traitorous destiny. It had to be a lie. It was a lie. But again, he fought within himself, a deep contradiction bubbling inside his chest. He tried to convince himself, he knew them.
But did he really? He remembered how his perspective had altered when they removed Kaianan’s memory of Dersji Brikin. His mind took him to the day, King Reon telling him to be a Guardian and stay out of her mind. They didn’t just guide her, they manipulated her to be exactly who they wanted her to be. In the best interest of the people and the prophecy, perhaps. Not in the best interest of their own daughter.
He shifted uncomfortably knowing he had agreed to keep it a secret …
“I’m going to Forsda,” he said and Desrix nodded. He got up and left the Far Quarter Chamber without looking to Raquel or Desrix again.
Chapter Eight: Escaping Earth
“You bring this to us!”
Kaianan remembered that peaceful voice when she met Rashid on Earth. This was an angry man though. When she pivoted round, the dark-skinned, black cloaked Conductor of Earth held a face of fury. His bloodshot eyes narrowed under his long dreadlocked hair and Kaianan gulped in unease.
He was walking down a narrow hallway, into the waiting room outside the
lifts, they were standing in.
“We are fighting off hundreds trying to break our Vectors,” the Earth Conductor said as he reached them. “They are looking for you, they always have been, and now look, you’re back! What has this universe come to? Did I deserve this?” He looked angrily down to Kaianan and then up to Arlise.
“I’m sure you understand—” Arlise began.
“Hang on,” Rashid’s black eyes grew wide as he stared at the small red-headed boy behind Kaianan. “Who the hell is that?”
“Hell? … That’s no-one,” Kaianan said, swishing her hand out limply, “just a straggler.”
“I’m Reign.” Reddy piped up.
Rashid’s nostrils and eyes flared. “You’re a human?!”
Kaianan cringed at his tone of malice.
“For the love of it!” The Conductor raised his voice. “You fask of a Harpy. You’ve exposed this human? Do you have any idea what is at stake for him now?”
“Rashid, please, no need to get mad,” Arlise said. “I can agree she is as careless as a Harpy—”
“I need to get you both out of here …” Rashid clutched his forehead. “I had apprehensions about why there was an increase in security by the Underworld and now I know why. There are unknown races pushing through my firewalls right now so opening a safe Euclidean Vector will be very problematic. And I know the Underworld are not far behind you … we must venture out of the city where I have a better location to open up your Vector.”
“What is going on here? On this planet?” Kaianan said, confused by everything transpiring but still fully aware Rashid could have dropped her off at the Underworld lair to be executed.
“There are no Felrin to protect us here, Queen.”
“So, there is a civil war brewing between the Underworld and the Ministry of Earth? Outerworlders are trying to break in and you’re losing ministers too? Why can’t you ask the Felrin for help? You follow the Universal Order do you not? They can help you contain the Underworld.”
