Reincarnation

by Timothy McGowen

  I didn’t call for Sumahon to direct me this time and let a large portion of my Sri pour into my body and shot upward like a bird diving but against the pull of the planet beneath me.

  My eyes scanned the horizon and picked out the details I needed, and several I didn’t. Every circle of green had nearly faded to a brown that spoke of life disappearing. Smoke rose up from nearly every village that had once been a center of life. I felt my stomach clench in response to the dead villages and what they represented. How many of my people had died while these invaders stripped our planet dry of the strange rocks they were after.

  I also made out several craters where the invading lizardmen had landed. Off to the right of the canyon, I spotted the one I was looking for.

  “She should be there,” I said to Sumahon, “That is the one I saw her at last.”

  “Either way, we are probably going to our death.”

  Then my eyes locked on another ship only several hundred feet away. That would be our target. I planned on detonating the last spider-spear-bomb on that ship and using the distraction to free In’ah and double back to get the lizardmen to follow me down towards the canyon where I could blow them all to bits. Perfect plan.

  I let myself begin to freefall towards the ground. The wind and speed of my fall made my eyes water, but I kept falling.

  Just as I was about to slam into the edge of the cliff, I reversed a portion of my Sri and swept myself backward. I felt my body lurch as it tried to go two directions at once, and my vision nearly overtook with blackness once more, but I held on, and the force of my Sri worked perfectly.

  I thudded gently onto the ground and quickly made it to a fully standing position.

  “You are getting better,” Sumahon said, “But you could have easily killed us.”

  “I always land on my feet,” I responded. Did I always land on my feet? There had been several times in recent memory that most definitely proved that was not true, but I let the lie stand, and Sumahon didn’t say anything against it.

  It didn’t take long for me to find a suitable hiding spot so that I could survey the spacecraft. The normally dry hard ground still had a touch of moisture from the rain, and so he made almost no noise while positioning himself and waiting.

  The crater in the ground was at least a hundred feet wide and bowled down about twenty feet with a ledge of rough dirt and rocks lining the edge like a loaf of bread where someone had scooped half the warm insides out and left dry flaking crust on the edges.

  I had found a particularly large chunk of rock right on the edge of the crater and held his spider-leg spear at the ready. My breath came in ragged puffs of hot air. I was afraid, but I couldn’t let that stop me.

  Clenching my fists hard over the shaft of my makeshift spear, I stood, still completely covered by the tall rock in front of me. I would slip out and throw the spear before they could target me with their strange beam weapons.

  Another half dozen quick breaths left my mouth, and I almost entertained the idea of running, but I didn’t.

  I stepped wide and, in an instant, took a quick survey of everything in front of me.

  The ship was unmoved and half-buried in the surface of Ki’thar. Three lizardmen stood talking, and another was in the process of moving the explosive containers further from the ship. They’d obviously heard about my tactics, but that wouldn’t matter for what I had planned.

  The biggest, the one moving the canisters, looked up right at me. His large scale-covered face contorted into a snarl, and he yelled.

  At the same instant, I threw the spear with all my might.

  Squelch.

  It missed the ship but collided against a stack of half a dozen explosive canisters.

  “Ready for me to detonate?” Sumahon asked. I could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

  Down below, the three other lizardmen stared at the spear I threw in confusion for only a moment before crying out and running towards me.

  “Not yet,” I send the words directly into Sumahon’s mind, “If we blow it now, I doubt we’d survive.”

  Sumahon let out a kind of sigh in my head but stayed silent. I ran as hard as I could towards the cliffs.

  I could see the edge of the cliff in the distance, but I still doubted I was far enough away. My feet thumped heavily against the hard ground below me, the bit of rain had done little to soften it beneath a few inches of dirt.

  I spared a glance behind me as I ran, hoping that the lizardmen were still following and was surprised by what I saw.

  Not even twenty feet away running with long wide strides, three of the lizardmen moved in eerie unison, and by the looks of it would overtake me within minutes.

  A speck of movement caught my attention, and my eyes scanned the skies. Distantly and higher in the air, a lizardman flew! A flickering light shot out behind him, some kind of strange backpack.

  “Blow it now!” I screamed, not even bothering to speak mentally.

  If Sumahon responded, it was lost in the rock shattering boom that followed.

  Even at least 500 feet away, I was lifted from my feet and thrown forward. As I flew forward through the air, I could feel debris cutting into my flesh. I slammed hard into the ground and felt the warm thin layer of mud cover me. Gross, I thought as I began to stand.

  Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion, and I blinked several times, trying to clear my vision. Finally, I was able to see clearly, and a surge of adrenaline shot through me.

  One of the lizardmen lay still on the ground a few dozen feet away, but the other two were making it to their feet. They shook their large heads and pulled free their dangerous gadgets.

  It was time to move. My plan could still work, I just had to make it to the edge of the cliffs.

  Collecting my thoughts, I prepared to launch myself into the air when a thought occurred to me.

  “Sumahon, can you track that flying Lizardman and give me an approximate location even if he is behind me?” I asked as I scanned my viewport and began running towards the cliffs at a sprint.

  -Neak’o, Sri Projector, Level 19, Experience 83% -

  “Done,” Sumahon said, “Now fly before they kill me!”

  I shut my eyes for a moment and focused my mind. My eyes shot open, and I released my Sri in a controlled explosion beneath me.

  I shot into the air like a piece of debris from an explosion. My vision flickered, and I let myself transition into a controlled freefall, using small bursts of Sri to direct myself and slow my descent.

  I glanced at my overlay when a red blip began to blink repeatedly.

  “Go right!”

  I acted on Sumahon’s command without hesitation, and it was the only thing that saved us.

  A beam of golden light whizzed past me, missing me by inches. I could feel the heat and energy of the blast on my skin and craned my kneck just in time to see another blast being fired by the flying lizardman.

  I watched my overlay and zipped to the left this time. Again it barely missed me, but I was getting the hang of what Sumahon had done to my display. The red dot stopped blinking and shot to the other corner of my screen. The lizardman was trying to get a better angle to shoot at me.

  The blinking began again, and an arrow with a countdown told me which way to dodge and at what time. With seconds to spare before the attack would hit, I zipped to the side again and heard a roar of anger break through the sound of the air rushing past my ears. Someone was mad.

  “Time to fight back!” I said to Sumahon.

  I waited for another shot to be fired and enacted my plan. From the distance that the lizardman was keeping, I guessed it’d be a hard shot to make, so I turned just as the beam of light shot past me and exploded Sri so that my direction reversed and I shot towards the flying lizardman.

  I could see his eyes widen beneath the strange goggles he wore,
but he wasn’t able to change direction fast enough.

  My hands burned with the Sri energy I had begun to store in them. Just as I was about to zip past, dangerously close to the lizardman, I reached out and punched his chest. The energy released in a satisfying crack. The entire upper section of the flying lizardman had been vaporized into a spray of red and chunks of flesh.

  I got him.

  My arm screamed in pain, and my body was flung into a spiraling fall. I could see the ground as I turned, and it was coming too fast.

  I used my remaining Sri to shoot myself upward. My timing had been a little off, and I flew in a mostly forward, semi upward angle while still spinning wildly.

  Using what little Sri I had left, I was able to straighten myself out. The spinning and low availability of Sri had caused me to go off track and overshoot the canyon’s edge. I braced myself as I slammed into the ground on the opposite side.

  My angle of decent and speed meant I rolled across the ground for nearly a minute before stopping.

  Every part of me screamed in pain, and I could see the multiple lines of sapphire blood from the explosion now mixed with mud and dust.

  “They are nearing the edge,” Sumahon said, his voice seemed a distant whisper as I struggled to breathe while laying on the ground, “If we don’t blow it now we will miss our chance.”

  “Blow it.”

  I felt the wave of power and was lifted from the ground and thrown, just as my vision filled with black, and I lost consciousness, a welcome escape from the pain.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Blood dripped from nearly every inch of my frame as I stepped over the edge to the final crater. I half walked, half slid, down the embankment keeping my eyes locked on In’ah the entire time.

  She had caught sight of me the moment I began to walk over the edge, along with all three lizardmen in the crater. A part of me had been worried that I was too late, but I was here and so were they. I had no way to know how long it had been when I awoke on the ground, but I was done with tricks and plans. I had nothing left to do now but save In’ah.

  I could feel Sumahon’s urging that we turn back. That I save myself and leave this dying planet, but I pushed him aside in my mind and stepped forward.

  The smallest lizardman stood over In’ah, she was bound with her wrist tied behind her, but otherwise looked fine. Two other lizardmen stood a few paces away talking in their strange hissing language.

  I was surprised at the reaction from the lizardmen. None of them seemed surprised at my appearance. I stopped short of the pair of lizardmen, but still they ignored me.

  I could feel the heat from the energy that crackled just below the surface of my hands. I felt the force of the Sri stronger than ever and ready to lash out at my command, but still they didn’t acknowledge me.

  “Release her!” I screamed, “And I will let you live.” I let each word hit with the impact of my intent. I would kill them all and I would free In’ah.

  Finally, one of the lizardmen seemed to notice me and turned in mock surprise. It was a lizardman I hadn’t seen before, but he was easily the biggest I’d had the displeasure to meet so far.

  I watched as he walked forward his body swaying dangerously and his teeth showing. He wore a blood red shirt that pressed tight against his massive muscles that corded throughout his chest.

  His skin was a dull green and his eyes fixed me with a ferocious glare. Orange strips ran over both eyes and a deep scar disfigured his face just to the left of his eyes.

  “We were casting bets at how long it would take you to recover from that blast,” the lizardman’s voice was smoother and more gentle than I would have expected, “I was certain after all I heard that it wouldn’t take you long to recover yourself and you didn’t disappoint.” The large lizardman patted his leg just over his pocket.

  “But how rude of me,” the lizardman said inclining his head ever so slightly without removing his eyes from me, “My name is T’thrack. I am the commander of this small force of Velruokuo.”

  “Let her go and I will spare your life.” I tried to inject the same fire I had when I had screamed but fell short. T’thrack was less than a dozen feet away and his incredible size and height didn’t help my draining confidence.

  “No,” T’thrack said, “I don’t think that I will. However, I can offer you a compromise. You see with the flick of my finger I could call down death on you and there is nothing your sinister magics could do to stop me. I have and have had several long-range gunners pointed on you since you blew up that last harvester ship. But I am a being of mercy and offer you a chance at life. Your planet is dead, and your people will live as slaves, unable to give birth any longer.”

  “I just want In’ah back and I will leave and stop killing your men,” I said, my forehead creased with the effort it took not to unleash my Sri upon this monster lurking over me.

  “You have a thirst for blood,” T’thrack said, his hands waving about as he spoke, “I can see it in your eyes, you crave it just as I do. The pair of you are young enough that I am certain the vice chancellor could be convinced to take you on as enforcers. You could travel the known galaxy with your precious friend, In’ah, and spill the blood of so many.”

  “He is a madman,” Sumahon said into my mind, “Tell him we will join! Tell him and we will live!”

  “Quiet!” I screamed aloud, my words meant for Sumahon and T’thrack.

  “I don’t thirst for blood. I don’t want to kill anyone,” I said, my words coming more and more manic, “but if you don’t release her to me now, I will end you.”

  “Very well,” T’thrack said, “This is my last offer before I end you. One on one combat and to the victory goes the spoils. If I can incapacitate you, you agree to submit to my will. But if you kill me, I will allow you to leave with your friend. An easy straight forward bargain and my men will honor this blood duel, do not worry.”

  “Hear me men!” T’thrack yelled, his voice boomed incredibly loud, “I will fight this runt and if he ends my life you will let him take the other slave and leave.”

  A round of ‘ayes’ were heard all around the crater. In fact, I realized, many more responses than lizardman. He indeed did have me surrounded.

  “I accept,” I said, the words barely a whisper as I channeled my Sri through my hands and into both my fingers. The energy shot from me in a powerful beam of light.

  T’thrack didn’t seem surprised, though. He touched something on his arm, and a translucent golden barrier appeared just as my attacks hit. A flash of light and then nothing.

  My attack hadn’t had any effect. I was already readying another attack and ran to the side, hoping to flank the shield. Blast after blast zipped from my palms, and soon T’thrack was lost in a cloud of light and dust.

  I stopped circling and let my Sri retreat just below the surface. Had I killed him so quickly? Nothing moved or stirred the air in the large cloud of dust and I began to let myself hope.

  “Boo,” T’thrack said from behind me. I threw myself down to avoid the attack I knew must be coming, but I wasn’t quick enough.

  A large scaled foot smashed into my chest and I heard a crack as I went flying several feet away. But I had dealt with worst pain and quickly rolled back to my feet and readied a concentrated beam of Sri.

  But T’thrack didn’t wait for me to fire this time, instead he pulled free his weapon and began firing off a beam just as my shot went off. Both attacks went wide as I jumped to the side and T’thrack did the same.

  I kept my roll going and managed to make it to my knees just in time to catch a kick from T’thrack. My hands hurt from the impact, but I held him firm. I quickly redirected my Sri into his leg and pulled.

  For the first time since I saw T’thrack I noted a change in his expression. The confident smirk was replaced with a yell of pain as my hands pulsed with Sri ener
gy and sunk into the flesh of his leg.

  “You damned insect!” T’thrack’s hand pressed against his forearm and the golden barrier shot up around him and I was thrown backwards, my hands burning.

  “Not so confident now are you!” I yelled as I concentrated my energy into my right hand.

  Before T’thrack could answer, my energy attack slammed into him. The impact of my beam against his golden barrier created an odd steam and hissing noise but I pressed the attack and kept the beam firing in one continuous attack.

  I could hear nothing else but the hiss of his shield resisting my attack and I could feel nothing besides the energy flowing from me and pressing against his barrier.

  As I focused more and more power into the attack, I felt a crack form where my attack pressed. It was small at first, but I found I was able to focus on the openings and my power filled the voids expanding them wider. So, I did so and then it happened. A loud crack filled the air and I felt his barrier crumble before my power.

  The world spun back into focus as I released the stream of energy and I realized that the entire crater was filled with the odd steaming mist. I shut my eyes and opened my ears to the sounds around me.

  The silence was broken by a sound to my left. I jumped backwards just as T’thrack came into view swinging a large glowing sword. I realized as I moved backwards that I wouldn’t be clear of the blade, so I quickly reached down and pulled Sumahon up in front of me.

  “Oh no you didn’t…”

  I heard Sumahon’s words just as the blade smashed into him. To my surprise and joy the blade reflected away from Sumahon as if it hit an impassable object. I had only a moment to smirk as blow after blow came down towards my face. With equal speed I blocked them each with Sumahon’s cover.

  “This isn’t exactly pleasant, and I wouldn’t recommend doing it for much longer, I CAN be destroyed you know.”

  But I couldn’t respond, and it took all my focus and speed to keep the blows, each aimed to kill me, from taking my head off.