“Ari, you were dead. Are you sure you’re okay?” Kirian whispered.
Ari looked at her. “I think so.”
Kirian turned to the doctors and shot them a gloating look. Then she knelt back down and hugged Ari. “I am so glad you’re okay, zombie Ari. I mean, I’m cool with that, just don’t bite me. And don’t worry, I won’t let them shoot you.”
“We’re not gonna shoot her, Kirian,” Harry said. He joined Kirian next to her while the doctors buzzed around them again like asteroids. “Just breathe, Ari,” he said. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Ari looked down at her finger. “The ring.”
“I should have cut it off.” Kirian started pacing. “I’m so sorry. You wouldn’t be a zombie now if I had cut it off.” She felt terrible.
“Kirian,” Ari said. “If you had cut the ring off, then this galaxy wouldn’t have a chance. We still might not.” She looked around, like it was all coming back to her. “Are you saying you almost cut off my finger? And you’re worried because you think I’m a zombie?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. To both,” Kirian answered. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m not a zombie and I’m not going to bite you. Well, I’m not going to bite you, anyway. I don‘t know what I am anymore.” Ari held out her hand to Kirian.
Kirian helped her up. She looked like she was okay. “Oh wow, you really are hot,” Kirian said, pulling her hand away from Ari as soon as she was upright. “So, the ring thing worked?”
“What do you mean I’m hot?” Ari asked.
“The doctors, they said your body temperature was over a hundred and ten degrees,” Harry said, taking a step back. Apparently, he wasn’t convinced Ari wasn’t a zombie.
Once Ari got up, she looked around at everybody. She seemed surprised that they were all staring at her. “What now?” she asked.
“Um, you’re glowing again,” Kirian said. “That’s getting more and more common for you, though.” Kirian couldn’t help laughing, especially at the doctors. They looked pretty freaked out.
Ari looked down at her body. Kirian was right, she was glowing again. In fact, this time she was nearly translucent. Maybe she was some sort of zombie ghost. Alarmed, she felt her body, stomach and then arms and legs to make sure they were real. They felt physical enough.
And they were hotter than normal, only she didn’t feel queasy or have a headache like she usually did when she had a fever. It didn’t matter though, none of it mattered. In fact, the only thing that mattered right then was getting the ring the energy source it needed.
She looked at the worried faces around her and faked a smile. How could she tell them what happened to her? What she saw? She barely believed it herself. “How long was I out?” she asked.
Kirian turned to Harry, who turned to a doctor. “We got here exactly four minutes and twenty-eight seconds after we got your call,” the doctor said. She was young and had long brown hair. She was still staring at Ari like a medical test subject either gone horribly wrong or horribly right as she wiped a stray hair from her face. “You’re very lucky, Ari.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Ari said, turning to Kirian. “And I assume you called them right away?”
Kirian nodded.
“What happened, Kirian? I don’t remember.”
The realization hit Ari that according to Kirian, she was probably only unconscious for five or six minutes, which was crazy. She had experienced years’ worth of knowledge. Of course, she had no idea how much of it would help them all not to get destroyed in the next few hours.
“Oh,” Kirian said. “You don’t remember? We talked, you put on the ring and we turned to leave. That’s when you collapsed and went into some kind of seizure.”
“Okay,” Ari said, understanding the timeline since she had put the ring on. With everything she had experienced, she was trying to wrap her mind around the double timeline of what was happening here and what she had experienced in her head. Again, though, she was going to drop that for now and focus on the task at hand.
Ari turned to Kirian and Harry. “Okay, this thing is coming for us. This thing is a Staar-killer. A real one. The ghost stories are all true and they’re worse than you think. He’s known as The Devourer. He’s not here to conquer or kill us, he’s here to absorb me and kill the rest of you. And death is just the beginning. He’s destroyed dozens of galaxies and he’s just getting started. If we don’t stop him, the lives of untold billions are at stake. Entire worlds.”
Ari stopped there, seeing the looks on their faces. It was a lot to take, even for Ari. And they hadn’t seen the information, the proof, the reality that the ring had shown her. They couldn’t possibly understand what it was she was trying to tell them, but they looked appropriately scared. And that would have to do for now.
“Look, I think the ring can help us like Ray said. But it’s depleted. It needs energy. Oh, hang on, first things first,” she said, stretching out her arms. She closed her eyes and focused for a moment, conscious that all eyes were on her and that she probably looked stupid. For now. But if this worked then she would look pretty cool. She wobbled.
Kirian caught her. Again. “What are you doing, Ari?”
“The ring has enough power right now to restore communications and magic,” she said, not opening her eyes yet. She concentrated.
“What is she talking about?” Harry asked.
“Stop distracting me,” Ari said.
“You’re the one who keeps talking about it,” Fleek said. “And what do you know about magical communications?”
“I know lots of things,” Ari said, keeping her eyes closed, which she could do now because Kirian was holding her to keep her steady. “Eons of knowledge and generations of learning were made clear to me in the five or so minutes I was unconscious. No wonder my body shut down.”
“Is there anything in that info dump that will help keep us from going extinct?” Kirian asked.
“Maybe. Hard to say. There’s too much for my brain to process for me to figure it all out right now. Almost done with restoring the tiny bit of magic on this planet. Wow, we don’t have much, do we? And then the ring needs to be recharged. And the other thing that I know right now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that there are people in the universe that want us to win.”
“Win what? Who wants us to win?” Harry asked.
“The war,” Ari said. Then she opened her eyes. She looked around at her friends as if seeing them for the first time. “Done. Fleek, test it out.”
“Test what out?” he asked.
“The Fractals, of course. I gave you an upgrade while I was at it. You’ll feel the fractals now, instead of having to download them. Frankly, I don’t know what this kind of integration will do to you, but after the separation they quite insisted.” She gave him a smirk. “It seems like the fractals missed you as much as you missed them.”
Fleek blinked three times and gave her an extended look of surprise. For a moment, it looked like he considered making a snarky comment. Then he changed his mind, looked hopeful for a moment, and closed his eyes. Within seconds, a fractal appeared in front of them, in three dimensions and beautiful colors.
He smiled and then opened his eyes. “It’s beautiful, Ari. I don’t know how to thank you.”
“It’s not for you,” Ari answered. “The Fractals weaken our enemy. They take away force fields, special powers, etc. You’re going to the front lines, Fleek. Go to Arcturis and help Soda and the others hold out until we can get back. You’ve got this, okay? Just do what you do best- listen to the Fractals.”
Ari turned to Harry. “Can you have your best men escort him to the portal and go with him? I saw the present. They need him right now in Arcturis.”
“Aren’t we all going?” Harry asked.
Ari shook her head. “The ring needs to be recharged, Harry. Something in the tunnels here underneath Regal has what we need.”
Harry’s face turned white. He opened and then shut
his mouth a few times. “Ari, nobody goes down there. Not for centuries. It’s not safe. What’s down there, well I always assumed was just urban legends. At least I hoped. Even I have never been down there.”
“But you have the ancient plans, to the city, right? Just like Regal has the murals. Regal has the infrastructure plans.”
He wiped his face with his hand. “Okay. I guess nobody said any of this was going to be easy. I do know where the plans are, I just never wanted to have to use them. What are we looking for in the plans?”
“The hole. You’ll know it when you see it,” Ari said.
“I’ll go root around my office for those maps,” Harry said, letting himself out.
“What about you, Kirian?”
“I’m in,” Kirian said. “Monsters in underground holes. Running toward the danger, eh? I like the new zombie Ari.”
“What do I do once I get to Arcturis?” Fleek asked. “You know I’m a musician, not a fighter.”
Ari looked back at him and was amazed. His whole appearance had changed. He looked great. The haggard, desperate look on his face was gone, replaced by perfect skin. And if she wasn’t mistaken, a glow. Even his hair was perfect.
“Oh,” said Ari, “I’ve seen you fight like a space pirate. Plus, you and I both know that with the fractals, you’re damn near impossible to stop. Have you forgotten about how you walked scot free out of a maximum-security prison and then joined a top secret intergalactic takeover negotiation at the finest conference room in the Galactic Ambassador? If we hadn’t unfrozen all of your bank accounts and issued you a pardon from all of those bogus charges, I would say play the lottery, but now there’s no need. The only thing you need to do is find the Overlords and protect them. Well, that’s the first thing, not the only thing. Next, do whatever the Fractals tell you to do to kick some alien ass until I get this magic ring charged up.”
“Then what will you do?” Fleek asked. There wasn’t any irony or sarcasm in his voice at all. If anything, he sounded awed. The whole thing felt surreal.
“I’ll do the same as you. I’ll listen to the magic. And hopefully we can stop this Devourer thing in his tracks. According to the information I was given, this galaxy is ground zero. The line has been drawn. If I can get this ring working, then we’ll get a bunch of company, both good and bad.”
“That sounds like fun,” Kirian said. “A few minutes ago, it felt like we were all dead no matter what happened. Now it sounds like we might have a fighting chance.” Kirian looked hopeful.
“Something like that,” Ari answered. There was a knock on the door.
Carpe appeared in front of a gang of men, Kracken included. Carpe was limping, and his leg was bandaged, but he seemed to doing okay with it. In fact, it looked like he had added double the weapons he usually carries. “I heard Harry needed people to fight their way back to the portal.” He grinned. “I figured why not, I’ve already cheated death once today.”
Ari looked at Kracken. “Thanks for helping us back there. How did you end up being in this group?”
“Well,” the handsome, green-skinned blast from Ari’s past said. “Harry took every able-bodied man he could get once the invasion started.” He cocked a sly smile. “Even me. Said he’d save me for the most daring, death-defying missions. I said, ‘because I’m just that good, right?’ And he said it was because I was just that expendable.”
Ari narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s in it for you?” She knew Kracken never, ever did anything unless it was specifically in his own self-interest. She didn’t trust him. Not even if the world was about to end.
“If I survive and prove trustworthy, I get into Regal. On a provisional basis.”
“That’s what you want?”
“Hey,” he said, “I worked for Soda and Mantix. I think I can handle working for Harry.”
That brought a round of laughter from everybody.
“Good point,” Ari answered. “You guys get Fleek there. Help him get to the other Overlords. Tell them to hang in there until I can help. Oh yeah, one more thing. The same magic energy that makes your fractals work will also allow Ray to use his dice. Let him know, that’s your first order of business. With the fractals and the dice, you guys should be able to hold them off for a little while.”
They all nodded. Then they all stood there for a moment wondering what to do next.
Ari knew exactly what to do. She rushed forward and hugged Fleek and then she hugged Carpe. Kirian did the same. They all said their goodbyes, and then finally the group turned to leave.
“Have fun with the monster and the magic,” Fleek said on his way out.
11
And then it was just Ari and Kirian waiting for Harry. Ari waited for ten seconds or so before grabbing Kirian and leaving. She knew where Harry’s office was. She led Kirian from her apartment back through the halls of Regal and down through the lobby where she paused. There was no guard in front of the passageway to the back offices. It felt weird.
There was no time for her to reflect, though, they had to keep moving.
“I’ve been to Regal a million times and never been back here,” Kirian said.
“Welcome to the wonderful world of Regal upper management,” Ari said, weaving her way back to where her office used to be. She stopped and paused just outside her old Vega Security Command Center door. Then she opened the door and looked around, but of course it was deserted.
“What’s that?” Kirian asked.
“It was my office. Before all of this invasion stuff hit,” Ari answered. “Sorry about the distraction. We’ve got to get to Harry’s office.”
She closed her door and turned toward Harry’s office, but then she stopped again. The mural. She had forgotten about the mural. The magical ring on her finger tingled, as if it noticed the mural at the same time as she did.
Kirian stared at the mural. Then she walked back to the beginning of the mural.
Ari watched her. It was like she already understood how the mural worked. It was a spectacular immersive experience, for sure, but one they didn’t have time for. “Kirian, no!”
It was too late. Ari knew that look well, and she knew Kirian wouldn’t stop until the mural spit her out around the corner. Ari had already done this particular mural, but she remembered that Harry had said there were more.
She hurried to Harry’s office and threw open the door, wondering whether he had found the plans or not.
“Hey, Harry, any luck on the—” Her voice trailed off because he wasn’t there. The architectural plans were, though. They were sitting open on the desk. The question was, where was he?
“Harry?” She looked around the elegant office, but he was nowhere to be found. She had never been in here before.
She looked at the papers open on the desk. The architectural plans weren’t the only ones open. There was also what looked like an ancient, frayed coffee-table book. The book was open to a page that contained photographs similar to the one on the mural outside Ari’s office, but the pictures on this page was different.
Since the book was open, Ari held her finger to the open page and turned it over to see the front cover. The cover was a beautiful, shiny black color with inlaid gold and silver patterns. There was a title she couldn’t read in a language she had never seen before. Odd. Is this some kind of guide to the ancient murals inside Regal?
She laid the book back down to the page it was originally open to and looked closer. Within ten seconds, she was out the door and running down the hall to collect Kirian.
Kirian was laying in the hallway in a heap at the end of the mural. “Wow, that was a trip and a half,” Kirian said without looking up. “What the hell was that thing, anyway?”
“I forgot what Carpe called it,” Ari said, “but there’s more, and the other ones might tell us what to expect from the Devourer.” She held her hand out for Kirian. “We’ve got to go, Harry’s been holding out on us. This way.”
Once Kirian got up, Ari led the way. “Where are
we going?” she asked.
“I know where he is, he left the map on his desk.”
“Then he’s not holding out on you if he knew you’d follow,” Kirian said.
“It’s still uncool,” Ari said. She turned right and then left, which was generally what the vague map indicated. One more right turn and they found Harry in a heap on the floor. Ari knelt down. “Harry, what did you do?”
“I had to know if it was real,” he said, breathing heavily. “You don’t understand. I grew up here.” He looked around.
“You grew up at Regal?” Kirian asked. “That explains a lot.”
“Funny,” Harry said. “You don’t understand. I had older cousins and siblings who would scare the crap out of me with the stories out of that book. It’s why I avoided this mural. All these years I was afraid of it. I just wanted to see it for myself before you figured out it existed. I didn’t know what it would do to me.”
“And?” Ari and Kirian asked him at the same time.
He looked up at Ari and shook his head. “You’re going to have to do it for yourself. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
Ari nodded. The ring, tingling before when they were at the mural outside of her office, was vibrating now. The pull she felt toward the mural was undeniable. She walked back to the beginning of the mural that had just spit out Harry. Along the way, she passed disturbing images. Seeing the images on the wall as she went past just made it worse because she knew what the mural was capable of.
Finally, she was standing at the beginning.
Kirian was behind her. “You, first,” she said. That was different, Kirian not wanting to be first.
They were in a hurry, though. And no matter what secrets this mural held, there would still be a tunnel and monsters to get through when they were done. “Okay. Here I go.” She stared at the mural and let it suck her in. it felt like she fell in face first, tumbling into the void. Then the emotions and images all hit her at once, playing themselves out as before.
Overlord Alliance: Book 2 of the Neon Octopus Ally Series Page 7
