Nomads The Risen God

by Gary Mark Lee

  Chapter 36.

  Last of the Overlords

  Long before any humans walked the planets of the Outer Rim a race of creatures lived that were unsurpassed in intelligence and power, they sought to rule all the heavens and set about making that a reality and become Gods, but their minds held no mercy or love and therefor they could never reach their goal for what is a God without caring?

  From the writings of Oshismarie Inastro Sistashion.

  At the very same time the Mac-Mar met their painful doom three others were also undergoing an excruciating fate for Arn, Andra and Cian were still in the mind control grip of the last of the Overloards.

  Thankfully Egmar was spared that painful torment for she remained in the emptiness of her enveloping dreams but her first born son, Off-world mate and the man from the sea were not so fortunate for they wallowed in the darkest regions of their minds.

  For Arn was engulfed in a burning landscape filled with the rotting bodies of his people, they cried out to him to end their misery but he was helpless and could only stand frozen in time and watch and listen as his mother shed bitter tears for her son.

  “Why do you not help them?” she cried out, “You are their King and yet you do nothing”.

  The King pulled against his invisible bonds with all his massive strength but try as he might he could not come to their aid and that pain tormented him more than the eternal fires of the Pit of Marloon.

  Andra was in a netherworld of her own, she stood in the kitchen of her country home on Selcarie and looked into the kind faces of her mother and brother and seeing them brought tears to her eyes.

  “Silly girl, why do you weep?” Niana smiled, “we’re not real and the love you feel for us is false”.

  “No that isn’t true” Andra cried feeling her heart breaking.

  “I’m nothing to you” Simon laughed, “all this time you have loved a phantom”.

  And those words cut her more painfully then the jaws of a Whiptail.

  Cian also lived in a creation forced into his mind by the mind power of the Overlord, he sat on a rocky cliff side looking out on a storm tossed sea and from that boiling water a voice called out to him. “You are not worthy to inter my Kingdom for you have betrayed one who trusted you”, and it felt like his heart had been torn from his chest for the Akuna knew that it was true.

  Close to the captive but unknown even to the Overlord two humans and a woman of crystal made their way forward, the trek had been a hard one and even with the help of Niana both Osh and Alune were coming to the end of their strength.

  Suddenly the Touchtender fell to the ground and her breath was hard and fast, “Leave me” she said to the old man at her side. But Osh took her gently by the arm, “Never”, he replied with a smile “I have grown too fond of your cooking to let you go”, and pulling her to her feet they wrapped their arms around each other and continued on.

  The tunnel they followed was wide and littered with the castoff garments of the Nomads for they had replaced them with armor and marched away to do battle with the Mac-Mar but they did not leave the corridor unguarded and as the trio rounded a corner they came face to face with a dozen or more of the Dark warriors who immediately blocked their way and lifted their weapons to fire, but like before Niana moved forward and lifted her pale hand.

  “We will not harm you,” she said softly, “Go your own way and leave us in peace”.

  And like the Gorno the passageway guardians lowered their blasters and silently moved away leaving a clear path for Osh, Aluna and their guide to walk.

  Servant had watched as the three humans lingered in the tortured grip of his master but he felt no pity even though he had undergone the very same torments when he found the chamber in his diggings, but unlike those before him he surrendered to the power of the Overlord and now his mind was that of the vile creature near him.

  “Enough!” the Ergan-Mar called out and immediately the mind torments ceased and the hostages retuned to the world of reality. It took a moment or two for Arn, Andra and Cian to regain their senses then their eyes focused on Servant but although they could see him they were still helpless in seeking revenge and knowing what the Earth-eater wanted the King spoke.

  “I will not serve” his voice was weaker but still held a great defiance.

  “We stand together” Andra words were like her mates and hearing them you knew she would not bend.

  Cian said nothing but from the look in his eyes he dared not set him free.

  “Very well, if you will not surrender you will die and your bodies inspected to further the power of my master” Servant’s words did nothing to sway the courage of the humans for they all had faced death many times and would do so now with the same strength as before, “Your minds will be emptied and replaced with my masters as he has done with your people”.

  The eyes of the Overlord began to glow with a sickening light and once again pain filled the minds of the captives, but before their screams could fill the chamber another voice could be heard.

  “Free my children”.

  And turning, Servant saw a crystalline woman and two humans standing near, “You are dead” the Ergan-Mar called out, “Your supremacy is fading and my Master shall rule”.

  “Your power is ended” Niana replied.

  And with those words the pain vanished and likewise the bonds that held the captives and feeling freedom, the King drew the knife at his belt and lunged for the hideous Overlord and not the slave under him for he knew that power rested with the deformed creature.

  At the same moment Cian was also set free and the Akuna leaped upon Servant and they began to battle for their lives.

  Andra was naked and had no weapons but seeing her mate racing for their enemy she picked up a shard of green crystal laying on the floor and holding it in her hand she ran to stand side by side with the man she loved.

  Cian's strength was great but the Ergan-Mar are a powerful race and even without their digging tools as weapons they were a formidable enemy, the Kandrac leaped high and fixed his arm about the thick neck of the Earth-eater but Servant let out a terrible scream and began thrashing about with his long arms and snapping jaws.

  The King and his mate came within a body length of the Overlord but they met an invisible barrier that would not let them reach their enemy, Arn had seen this before when he fought the God-machine in the Forrest of Caltarine but this was many times more powerful and although he strained with all his might his knife hand was held fast, Andra also could not reach the monster and they both stood transfixed and looking into the unholy eyes of the ghastly creature before them.

  Osh could see what was happening and move forward to aid his friends but Niana held him back with a gentle hand, “You must not help them” she said calmly.

  But the old man was frantic to save the Outlander and the Selcarie girl, “You cannot let them die” he called out, “You have great power, save them!”

  The simmering woman shook her head, “They must do this on their own”.

  And the Callaxion watched helplessly as Cian was thrown to the ground with the Ergan-Mar standing over him with a great rock held high above his head, “You are slaves and if you will not serve you will die!”

  Before he could act the Akuna leaped forward and drove his foot into the midsection of his enemy and he fell backward and the rock that he was holding slipped from his grasp and fell hard upon his thick skull with such force it crushed it like a Doff-bird egg, the Kandrac smiled but the battle had sapped his strength and he was too weak to aid his companions.

  Arn and Andra were also growing weaker for the mind shield of the Overlord was too powerful to overcome and the King turned his head to look into the eyes of the woman at his side.

  I cannot let her die he thought, I must save her.

  And at the very same time the Selcarie girl saw the face of the man she loved.

  If he dies. She thought, I shall die.

  Then they both reached out with their free
arms and let their hands and minds touch.

  We are Moric-Kan, the Twin Dragons.

  That gave them the strength they needed and moving forward they both drove their weapons into the misshapen body of the creature that had taken control of their world, a ghastly wail tore form the drooling mouth of the thing and it echoed through the chamber until it faded into nothingness and when it did the eyes of the once all powerful being turned black and the body slowly dissolved into a mass of putrid flesh and whatever life was in it vanished and the last of the Overloards died.

  Free of the creature Arn took his mate into his arms and kissed her hard on the lips and in that embrace all doubt, suspicions and fear drained from their minds and was replaced by certainty, trust, and courage.

  “I will never leave you” the King said softly.

  “And I will never part with you” Andra replied.

  Cian stood and watched as the two held each other and understood that the girl would never be his and it tore at his heart, but he also knew that Dietas was a loving Goddess and she would fill the days to come with other loves to ease his pain.

  Osh and Alune could hold back no longer and they rush to the side of the King and his mate, for a moment Andra did not recognize her old friend but seeing his wrinkled face cleared her mind.

  “Osh!” she called out, “How, why?”

  And seeing the confusion in her eyes the Callaxion came to her rescue, “The circumstances of how we came here is a long one so let us just say that we are well and very content to see you again”.

  Andra could also see Cian close to her and she remembered the things they had done and the feeling that once stirred inside her but those were days of the past and she turned back to her mate and kissed him once more.

  Alune had said nothing for she trusted in the will of the Gods to keep them safe and seeing Egmar standing alone she rushed to her side and removing her outer robe she covered the holy woman’s nakedness and feeling the touch of another’s hand Egmar opened her eyes and looked about her.

  “What place is this?” she asked, for the last thing she remembered was falling into the ground and watching her sister refusing to help her but she still bore a great love for Dennor and franticly looked about for her, “Where is my sister, what has become of her?”

  It was now Niana’s turn to speak and although the King, Andra and Cian had not seen her before they did not speak for something told them this was a friend.

  “Your sister is dead” the shimmering woman said, “She died many cycles ago and is now with my mother”. Egmar refused to believe, “That cannot be for she was with me”.

  Niana shook her head, “No, that was a phantom placed in your mind to lure you here”.

  Arn came forward still holding the knife in his hand, “Who are you to say such things?”

  The crystal woman smiled at the warrior and the woman at his side, “I have changed but perhaps this will stir your memories”, and before their eyes the tall figure transformed into the small child she once was and seeing her daughter Andra went to her and held her in her arms.

  “You have come back to me” she said with tears in her eyes.

  Again, Niana shook her head, “No, I have come seeking my mother for she calls to me”.

  “But I am your mother” Andra said.

  “You are the mother who gave me birth” the child spoke then turned to Arn, “And you are my father but I have another mother who needs me for there is a great danger”.

  Andra looked around her, “We are free and the monster who tortured us is dead, we’re safe now”.

  The child changed back into the glowing woman she was. “There is more that needs to be done for a great danger is coming.

  “What kind of danger?” Andra asked.

  “A danger that only my children can end”.