He slowly sat up with Sally in his arms. She was beginning to fade, and as he tried to touch her face his hand passed through it. He could see her lips moving, but heard nothing. Then she disappeared.
Another brilliant flash erupted from the other side of the river followed by the sound of crackling wood as a tree tilted over toward him. He rolled out of the way and sprang up to his feet as it crashed to the forest floor.
“Okay Raza, you want to make this tough, let’s do it,” he snarled, then vaulted into the air and streaked over the river.
He was halfway across when an explosion of light erupted from the shoreline. It was immediately followed by a wave of energy that crashed into him and repelled him back, sending him crashing through the forest and leveling several trees before he slammed into the ground. He lay still for what felt like an eternity, and then gasped for breath when he sat up as a stab of pain arced up his spine.
He fumbled for his earpiece but it was gone. His knees buckled slightly as he stood up and tried to steady himself. He gazed at the tangled mass of trees that he toppled and cleared a path that ran straight to the river. He lifted off and headed for the sky.
“Very good, Raymond. You have progressed far better than I thought,” the voice said to him.
A crooked smile crept across Ray’s face as his arms dangled at his sides while his hands smoldered.
“You are more than just a walking battery full of energy, ready to erupt at a moment’s notice with deadly blasts of power. Oh, no, you are so much more. Now, listen to me, and learn how to control and shape each blast. Hit your opponent then steer him, like a hand pushing an object about.”
Ray looked at his hands and turned them over. “I…understand. When I hit Breeze, I could almost feel myself gripping him.”
“Yes. Energy is transmutable. Whatever your mind can conceive, you can make it a reality. You can shape current events. Drive Breeze away. Make this lonely place so inhospitable that it will encourage him to leave and it will clear your path of any obstacles between you and Sally.”
His eyes widened. “Did I hurt her?”
“Nonsense, she is immaterial when she projects. I assure you she has returned to her body safe and sound.”
“She was kissing him. I saw it,” Ray growled.
“Even greater incentive to push him out of the way. Very out of the way. Let him travel over the Bad Lands in his misguided quest to return to his father. Let the savages and wild creatures of that forsaken land dispose of him. Don’t let him take what is rightfully yours, for you have a dynasty to build with that girl and children she must bear for you. Prevent him from stopping you.”
Ray stood rock still. His eyes were transfixed at the path of obliterated trees that Breeze had cut through on the opposite bank, when he opened his hands with palms facing down along his sides. They began to throb and glow as he slowly lifted off the ground.
“Yes, Raymond, you are a natural; you understand that you, too, can take to the skies. Now, my brave young warrior, confront your adversary and vanquish him, then claim what is rightfully yours.”
Ray’s eyes glowed with a pulsating white while arcs of energy crackled across his body as he floated upright across the river, picking up speed with each passing moment. Ahead of him, he watched as Breeze landed on the river bank.
Raza barreled down the forest trail in Achilles’ hover truck while thick branches whipped the vehicle as it raced along. She tried to raise Sally on the wireless, but received only heavy static, and received similar results when trying to reach Breeze and Ray.
She came to stop at the end of the trail with the front bumper banging against a tree. She jumped out and ran down the path to the riverbank. As she drew closer, she could feel the electricity in the air, accompanied by a powerful hum. She yanked out the earpiece as it was overwhelmed with static, when she emerged from the forest and stumbled onto the shoreline.
She gasped as she watched Ray glide over the river in her direction with massive arcs of energy erupting around him, and the intense glare it created forced her to shield her eyes.
She waved at him to get his attention but to no avail, for he was oblivious as he continued on his trajectory.
She looked down river and saw Breeze standing on the shoreline. His shield was up as it reflected the intense, blue light that Ray radiated. Breeze began to slowly step back as Ray advanced upon him.
Raza squinted her eyes as she tried to find Sally’s tell-tale shimmer anywhere near Breeze. Not seeing it, she reached for her earpiece.
“Achilles, can you hear me?” She heard only static as she looked upriver and saw dark clouds swollen with rain were rolling in from the north. She looked back at Ray and Breeze.
“Achilles, what do I do?” she shouted above the static.
Breeze had touched down on the west bank of the river just in time to see Ray talking to himself and nodding his head vigorously while standing along the opposite shore. His eyes widened as he watched Ray lift off the ground and glide over the river toward him. Breeze reached up to his earpiece to contact him, only to remember he had thrown it away earlier. He cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted.
“Ray, was that Raza who knocked me out of the sky? Tell her to ease up, it’s only a training session!”
The only answer he received was seeing Ray’s eyes glow into a searing white. His shield went up instinctively as he slowly backed up.
Ray began to crackle with blue arcs of energy while the river below boiled as hot steam began to rise and partially obscure him, prompting Breeze to lift off and drift downriver.
Ray’s head swiveled as his eyes glowed fiercely and he changed course to follow him.
“Ray, is this part of the plan? Did Raza put you up to this?” Breeze shouted at him.
Ray didn’t respond as the arcs of blue energy raced even faster across his body, and the sound of static became overwhelming.
Within his shield, all sound to Breeze was dampened, but he sensed the wave of energy emanating from Ray reverberating through it and he ascended to retreat.
Ray’s head snapped up as he watched Breeze fly away. He lashed out with a massive arc of energy that erupted from his body, sending Breeze cartwheeling across the sky.
Breeze felt not only the impact but the heat of the arc coming through his shield. He recovered from his spin and dove straight toward the river, then leveled out and began his attack run by expanding his shield into the shape of a battering ram and aimed it at Ray.
Ray responded with a blistering array of lightning arcs that hit his shield, forcing it to buckle with each strike.
As Breeze drew closer, the more withering the strikes were against his shield and the assault became unbearable, forcing him to peel off and ascend back to the safety of the clouds.
He leveled off and drifted with the wind while his heart raced and sweat stung his eyes. He wiped his face and he gasped for breath. Meanwhile, Ray hovered up to engage him as the air beneath shimmered from the energy he radiated.
“Taking you head on doesn’t seem to work, but what if…,” Breeze muttered aloud as he scanned the river and noted the shallow spots from his vantage point. He ran his eyes along the surface until he spotted an area of darker water. Dark water was deep water, this much he knew. Ray was almost level with Breeze when he rocketed away, displacing the air violently and forcing Ray to lose altitude.
Breeze morphed his shield into a spear, then pierced the river and plunged into its depths. He touched down on the rocky bottom and looked up and through the distorted prism of water where he could see Ray descending over him.
He began to float up as the air inside his shield was making him buoyant. Through the murky water he saw two oversized rocks and glided toward them, then expanded his shield and wedged himself between which firmly anchored him in place.
The darkness of the river was abolished by blue arcs of lightning as Ray appeared and hovered above the surface. Breeze could only see a silhouette that framed his searing white eyes as the water began to boil and hot steam rose, when Ray began to fire beam after beam into the river. The arcs pierced the cold water, but quickly lost their energy as they feebly glanced off Breeze’s shield.
Breeze smiled and took in a deep breath of satisfaction, and then gagged as the air inside his shield had turned stagnant. He realized he needed to get back to the surface and vent the toxic air so he could breathe.
As he mulled how he would get to the surface and dodge Ray, Ray was descending into the river. It boiled and hissed as it tried to envelope him. He increased the energy output and pushed the rushing waters away, keeping himself dry as he glided down to Breeze.
Breeze knew he had to act fast. He remembered how his shield filled with water when he laid at the bottom of the canyon after he was ambushed by the Elephim. Though he had to overcome the dreadful fear of drowning, he was able to breathe in the water, and eventually slipped into a coma. Achilles would later explain to him, during one of many training sessions on Raza’s farm, how his shield was a life support system, and that it adapted to any environment he was in. The robot had drilled him several times how to filter the air and flush out water and debris that might get trapped within the shield in a combat situation. It also showed him how he could extract air from water, or rebreathe the air within the shield.
He withdrew his shield so it hugged his skin, and then decreased the thickness to allow the river to dribble through. He shivered and gritted his teeth as the water began to rise and within seconds reached his chin.
Concentrating as hard as he could, he pushed the water out as the shield acted like a filter, squeezing the hydrogen into the surrounding water, leaving only pure oxygen for him to breathe.
He looked up and saw Ray just above him. He bent his shield into a concave shape and bolted up, scooping Ray in the process. Together they hurled out of the river. As they hovered briefly in the air, Ray twisted his body to face Breeze and fired a bolt of energy at him.
Breeze immediately dropped the shield and pushed out the mass of pure oxygen he had built up from within, and then took a quick gasp of air and raised it again.
The energy bolt ignited the pure oxygen and the explosion was immense, sending the two flying apart as a thunderous shock wave rattled the surrounding mountains.
Breeze was hurled toward the forest along the river and toppled several trees before he arched his back and lunged toward the sky. As he rose above the forest canopy, he spotted Ray sprawled out on the opposite shore, his body and the ground beneath him smoldering.
Breeze raced over and circled around him, mindful of Ray’s deadly beams. Eventually he descended and touched down a few feet away from him.
Ray grunted as he sat up. His skin was sizzling, his clothes were singed, and he reeked of burnt flesh. He placed a hand on his head as he stared hazily at Breeze. His lips were cracked and bleeding.
“What happened?” he asked.
Breeze recoiled in horror at the sight of him. “You tell me. Is this part of the training exercise? I thought this was supposed to be about teamwork…listen, are you okay?”
Ray shook his head. “I can’t remember a thing, just an explosion.”
“You don’t remember anything you do Ray, especially when you screw up. The explosion was my doing. You had me pinned down at the river bottom and I was running out of air—”
Ray stared at him with glassy eyes as he interrupted Breeze. “Where is she?”
“Sally?” Breeze turned and pointed downriver. “I guess she’s back at her projection point.”
“She’s mine. She belongs to me.”
“What?” Breeze cocked his head as Ray slowly stood up.
“We…I won’t let you get between us.”
“Ray, are you about to lose it again?” Breeze clenched his fists.
“You kissed her,” Ray said with a harsh whisper.
“What are you talking about?”
“I saw you,” he growled.
“Ray, you’re…wait a minute, what did you see?”
“The two of you flew past me. You were pulling her close to you—”
”—that’s because she was beginning to materialize. It was pretty amazing. I didn’t think she could do it but—”
“Desert rat! That’s all you are. You think you can take a girl like that and make her your own? You don’t stand a chance.” Ray trembled and shook as his hands pulsated.
Breeze raised his shield. “Stop! I don’t know what the hell is the matter with you, but this isn’t my fight, and I’m not going to stick around anymore to deal with this crap. Whatever your problem is Ray, I don’t really care —”
He was cut short as Ray lashed out with a violent blast of energy.
Breeze leaned forward and threw all of his strength into the shield, but was pushed back as his feet carved a trench in the sand. He peered through the searing light and could see that Ray’s face was contorted in anger.
“You kissed her! I’ve known her longer than you ever will, yet she kissed you first, not me!” he howled with rage as he pummeled Breeze with withering blasts of energy.
Breeze looked down when he felt cold water on his feet as he was pushed into the river. He had poured all of his energy into the forward part of his shield, leaving the rest of his body exposed. “Ray! I give up! She’s yours, take her. I’m done with this.”
Ray responded with a howl, redoubling his assault.
Breeze flinched at the icy water against his thighs and groaned as his arms trembled from the tremendous strain of Ray’s attack. He knew he needed to stop Ray before he could do any more harm, especially to Sally.
He cupped his hands and the shield corresponded to his actions by molding itself into the shape of a bowl. Ray’s energy beams bounced off the interior of the bowl, and like a parabolic dish, the energy was re-directed to the center and then reflected right back onto him.
Ray screamed in pain as he was flung back and flew through the air and onto the rocky shoreline. He lay comatose as his skin sizzled from the burns.
Breeze collapsed to his knees and gasped for breath when he looked up at the mountains that surrounded them. They were enveloped in dark clouds with lighting crackling between them, followed by rumbles of thunder. Off in the distance, he saw something emerge from the clouds and trailing smoke.
His trance was broken by the sound of Achilles’ hover as it crashed through the forest and out onto the shoreline. Raza jumped from the passenger side and ran to them. Achilles stepped out and scanned the area first before approaching them.
Raza knelt next to Ray. “What happened here, Breeze? What did you do?” she asked while cradling Ray in her arms then recoiled at the stench of burnt flesh.
Achilles stomped over and knelt down next to her. Servos whirred as it shook its head. “Raymond will need immediate medical attention. Let us endeavor to take him to the cellar of the farmhouse as expediently as possible.”
Raza snarled at Breeze. “What did you do to him? Are you so eager to leave us you’re willing to create a trail of destruction to make your point?”
“Raza, you don’t get it. He was going nuts on me—”
“Save it. Raymond needs our help.” She struggled to lift up Ray’s limp body. “Not again,” she said, “I lost one child, I won’t lose another.”
Achilles stepped in and touched her shoulder. She acquiesced as the robot lifted the teen and marched toward the hover and laid him down in the cargo bed.
Breeze was right behind them. “What can I do to help?”
“You’ve done enough,” Raza said as she climbed back into the cab, “now march back to the ship and leave. Better yet, just fly away.�
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Achilles raised a hand to Raza. “Mistress, if I may?”
Raza looked away.
Achilles pointed at the bed of the hover. “Breeze, stay with Raymond and insure that no more harm comes to him as we make haste through the forest.”
Breeze nodded and jumped in. Nausea swept over him when he saw Ray’s burnt face and body. He put a hand over his mouth and nose and leaned over to the back window of the cab. “Achilles, what about Sally?”
“She is quite all right and has responded to Raza’s request to return to the farmhouse. We will all rendezvous and assess the situation there.”
Breeze rested his head against the cab and watched the trees whip past as they raced through the forest. The hum of the truck’s motor made his mind wander and he thought of the day he stepped onto the center stage of the air show and all the strange events that unfolded since then. He then looked down at Ray. “I’m sorry about what happened, but you left me no choice. For what it’s worth, I’m done and I won’t get in your way.”
Ray responded with a deep, rasping breath as his eyes fluttered briefly.
Breeze took off his jacket and placed it over Ray to give him warmth as the air grew colder, then he shook his head as he stared at his burnt face. “I didn’t ask for any of this. I just want to go home.”
The truck glided out of the forest and pulled up to the farmhouse. Breeze lowered the tailgate and jumped out as Achilles reached in and gently lifted Ray out.
The screen door flew open and Sally ran down the steps. “Ray! Oh, no, what happened?” She rushed up to Achilles and immediately put her hand to her mouth, turning away in horror. She looked at Breeze with fire in her eyes. “What did you do?”
Breeze waved his hands in disgust as he turned and headed for the path that led to the scout ship.
Breeze Corinth (Book 1): Sky Shatter Page 51
