Starbreak (Rise to Omniscience Book 2)

by Aaron Oster

  The stone was glowing a cherry red in the twenty-five-foot area the skill had effected. He also noticed, with no small amount of pride, that the only part remaining of the electric-spine lizard was a glowing core.

  As he landed, Sarah ran up to him and looked him over, poking at the areas of his shield that were cracked. Morgan let his shield fade and smiled tiredly at her. The attack had taken a surprisingly large amount of energy and now he felt like he needed a nap.

  “I’m glad to see that you’re not hurt,” she said, finally finished with her examination.

  She smiled at him then and punched him lightly in the shoulder.

  “That was one hell of an attack.”

  Morgan was about to reply, when a very familiar sounding voice rang out from behind them.

  “Yes, a most impressive attack indeed.”

  Both Sarah and Morgan whirled at the sound of that voice, and both stared as Gold walked into the cavern.

  36

  “Gold! What the hell are you doing here?”

  Sarah, eloquent as ever, was the first to react.

  “Who, me?” Gold asked, coming to a stop about twenty feet from them. “Oh, I was just in the neighborhood and decided to drop by for a visit.”

  Sarah gave him a dead look.

  “Really? That’s what you want to go with?”

  “I agree wholeheartedly. His sense of humor leaves something to be desired,” a sultry voice said.

  Sarah blew out an annoyed breath, as Katherine emerged from the tunnel as well, dressed in an extremely revealing, skin-tight uniform.

  “What are you doing here?” Sarah asked, more than a little annoyed that Princess Busty was here to ruin the party.

  “Oh, don’t be like that,” Gold cut in. “She did go through an awful lot to get you out. The least you can do is thank her.”

  Everyone, including Morgan, stared opened mouthed at Gold.

  “What?” he asked, after seeing everyone’s reactions.

  “Who are you, and what have you done with Gold?” Sarah demanded, eliciting a snort from Morgan and a laugh from Katherine.

  Gold let out a huff and marched away, muttering about ungrateful students.

  “You look quite well, Morgan,” Katherine said, walking up to him and beginning to prod him in nearly the same fashion as Sarah.

  “It looks like you’ve grown quite a bit in the few days we’ve been apart.” She cupped his face in her palms and examined his violet eyes.

  “My, my. Quite a few changes indeed.”

  By now, Morgan was feeling quite uncomfortable, and Sarah was shaking in anger.

  “Do you mind?” she hissed, slapping Katherine’s hands away from him and interposing herself between them.

  “Oh my, have I offended you in some way?” Katherine asked, quirking a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

  “Yes!” Sarah yelled, going red in the face. “You just barge in here and start manhandling him, after we’ve been stuck here for over a week! Who the hell do you think you are anyway?”

  “The soon to be queen of the North Kingdom,” Katherine replied, her tone turning a bit frosty. “And Morgan’s future wife.”

  “Never agreed to that,” Morgan cut in.

  Sarah flinched a bit when she said this and took a moment to calm herself somewhat. Morgan chose that moment to intercede on her behalf, for which she was very grateful.

  “A lot has happened since we last spoke,” Morgan said. He was uncharacteristically serious, which immediately got everyone’s attention.

  “I’d rather we get out of here before we start discussing any of it, though. I’m very hungry and we have been trapped in here for quite some time.”

  “Of course,” Katherine said, dipping her head and removing the key from a small pocket in space.

  She plunged the key into the air, and Sarah let out an excited squeak as the portal opened.

  “It’s about damn time!” she yelled, before jumping straight through.

  ***

  Morgan sat in one of Katherine’s comfortable couches. He was dressed in a comfortable pair of silk pajamas, something which he’d considered to be an extravagant waste of money. He still thought they were, but if someone else was going to buy them for him, he wouldn’t say no.

  He was content and full, having taken another bath and gorging himself on a delicious meal of steak, roasted potatoes and a massive mug of something called root beer. The bubbly liquid had tasted very strange at first, but after a few sips, it had started to grow on him.

  Sarah was seated next to him and had taken the liberty of sprawling out on the couch, leaving her legs to rest on his lap, as she reclined back into the cushions. He’d noticed that she’d been clinging to him ever since they got out, as though afraid of losing him. He was very happy to actually understand why she was acting this way and not be completely clueless about the situation.

  Katherine was an extremely attractive woman; the most aesthetically pleasing woman he’d ever seen, in fact. That didn’t change the fact that he still felt no romantic inclination towards her, but Sarah seemed to be worried that he would. So despite his discomfort at the contact, he allowed her to keep clinging to him. He did like Sarah quite a bit and had he had the capacity, he had a feeling that he would be romantically involved with her.

  After Samuel had partially fixed him, Morgan had understood the basic concept of sex, but none of the nuances that came with being in a relationship or even the differences between them. Since his rank up, he’d been understanding more and more. He imagined that he understood better than most people his age, as where he could examine it from a purely logical view, others tended to see it through a fog of desire.

  He was brought out of his musings as Sarah shifted a bit, readjusting her legs and eyeing him nervously. He gave her a reassuring smile, patting her gently. The sound of a door opening and closing heralded Gold’s arrival, along with Katherine. They’d gone out to give the two of them some time alone after their ordeal in the beast zone, and Katherine had said that she had some business to discuss with the Assassins Guild, as well as try and locate a traitorous coward.

  “Good, I see that the two of you are rested,” Katherine said as her eyes landed on the two of them.

  “Yes, but we have important things to discuss with the both of you, and not a whole lot of time in which to do it,” Morgan said, sitting up straighter in his seat.

  Katherine and Gold both nodded and took a seat opposite them.

  Morgan cleared his throat, trying to find the best way to broach the subject.

  “How close are you to finding a way to overthrow your father?” Morgan asked.

  “Four months at best. Why?”

  “We have less than 55 hours if I’m correct. Can you manage that?” he asked.

  Katherine raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn’t react.

  “Explain,” she simply said.

  So Morgan did. He explained everything Samuel had told them, recounting the story in as much detail as he could. Sarah filled in in a few places but otherwise remained silent.

  By the time he was finished, both Katherine and Gold looked extremely worried.

  “This isn’t good news at all,” she said, rising from her seat and beginning to pace. “Not to mention that the timing couldn’t be worse.”

  “How do you mean?” Morgan asked.

  “I tried contacting the Assassins Guild to get them to leave you alone, but they flat out refused, saying that once a contract was signed, there was no ending it.”

  She blew out a breath and sat back down again, rubbing slowly at her temples.

  “They’re gathering a force big enough to ensure your death. I would normally have you wait here until I can end the contract, but if what you said is true, then I can’t afford to keep you locked up here.”

  “Wait,” Sarah cut in. “I thought you said that there was no way to end the contract.”

  “There is, though the Guild doesn’t exactly make it public information
,” Katherine replied. “If the current head of the Guild dies, then all contracts become null and void.”

  “Is it even possible to kill the current head?” Morgan asked. “After all, I would assume that the leader of such a powerful and well-placed group would be a terrifyingly powerful individual.”

  “Normally it wouldn’t be. Their leader never leaves the safety of their compound and it’s usually guarded very heavily.”

  “So why is now different?” Sarah asked.

  Katherine’s lips quirked up a bit.

  “Arnold betrayed me while I was fetching the key to rescue you. He fled from the palace, likely to find protection elsewhere. If I don’t miss my guess, he was hoping to use the information he had to bribe his way into someone’s service.”

  “I know he’s a treacherous snake, but what does that have to do with the Assassins Guild?” Sarah reiterated.

  “I may have let slip that he’d been spotted near the border of the South Kingdom,” she replied, her smile growing slightly wider.

  “You may have forgotten, but your father placed a bounty on his head, as well as Morgan’s. Since Arnold has been so successful in killing their members in the past, they’ve sent every high powered member they currently have in the region after him.”

  “Meaning that the defense around their base will be severely weakened,” Morgan finished for her.

  “I would expect nothing less from my future husband!”

  “Never said yes,” Morgan replied offhand.

  “So, we now have a dilemma. Kind Edmund needs to die within the next 55 hours. Morgan can’t leave the palace for more than a few hours without the guild catching on. So, we’ll have to eliminate their leader first, and only then will we be able to attempt to kill Edmund,” Sarah said.

  Katherine nodded.

  “Why can’t anything ever be easy?” Sarah exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air.

  “It gets better,” Katherine cut in before she could start going on a rant. “If we hope to succeed against my father, I will not be able to go after the Guild. I’ll need the time to throw together a plan of action and bring all the forces I have in. The most I can do is provide you with transportation there and back.”

  “Mother fu…” Sarah began, but Morgan clamped a hand over her mouth.

  “None of that. You’ve got a foul mouth, but that’s beneath even you,” he said.

  Everyone stared at him in shock.

  “What?” he asked, slowly removing his hand from Sarah’s mouth.

  “Since when have you cared what I say?” Sarah asked.

  Morgan looked at her for a few seconds in incomprehension, then it hit him. He’d reacted without even thinking about it.

  He grinned.

  “Looks like my understanding of propriety is improving.”

  “I’ll say!” Sarah said excitedly.

  Gold cleared his throat loudly, getting everyone’s attention.

  “As great as this all is, we’re faced with a serious problem here. We have a very short amount of time before a world-destroying beast rises from its ten thousand year slumber. In that time we have to kill the leader of the most powerful group in the five kingdoms, and kill a king in the middle of his war camp.”

  Gold’s uncommonly serious tone put a damper on everyone’s spirits until a wide grin spread across his face.

  “Sounds like fun. I’m in!”

  “That’s great and all, but we still need a plan,” Sarah said, cutting him off.

  “And we’ll have one,” Katherine said. “For now, you two need some sleep. I’ll begin planning now and should have something by morning.”

  “But…”

  “No buts!” Katherine cut her off. “Even if we wanted to act now, we couldn’t. We’ll need to give it at least 24 hours before we can act against the Guild, and it’ll take at least 48 for me to arrange the attack on my father.”

  “That really won’t leave us with a whole lot of time,” Morgan said, brow furrowing a bit.

  “I know, but it would appear that we no longer have a choice,” Katherine said, blowing out a breath.

  They were all silent for a few moments until Sarah let out a wide yawn.

  “Fine,” she replied when Katherine gave her a meaningful look. “We’ll go to sleep, but you’d better have a good plan when we wake up.”

  She stood from the couch, then hesitated.

  “Where should we sleep?” she asked, looking around the large room.

  Katherine pointed to the far wall on her right, where a long curtain hung.

  “There’s a sliding panel behind there. You should find a suite with a couple of beds.”

  Sarah raised an eyebrow at her, and Katherine shrugged.

  “This is the only place in the palace that’s protected from prying eyes. I needed somewhere for important guests to stay, so I had it built.”

  “Ah. I was wondering why you seemed to take so many visitors in your bedroom,” Gold said with a grin. “I was beginning to think that you just liked inviting strange men in here.”

  Katherine snorted out a laugh, but Sarah just shook her head.

  “Come on, Morgan. We should really get some sleep.”

  “I’ll follow you in a minute. I have something I need to talk to them about before I go,” Morgan said.

  Sarah raised a questioning eyebrow, but he just waved her on. She looked as though she might argue, but then let out another massive yawn.

  “Suit yourself,” she said, then turned and disappeared behind the curtain.

  “What did you need to tell me?” Katherine asked coyly, taking a seat next to him and placing a hand on his lap.

  Morgan reached down and very deliberately removed it.

  “You might find this hard to believe,” he began, ignoring Katherine’s incensed look. “I guess I should start at the beginning.”

  He then explained everything that he’d found out about himself from Samuel and then from Dabu. Surprisingly enough, neither Gold or Katherine seemed shocked when he told them of his memory loss, or that someone had apparently tampered with his mind. He did however, get a reaction when he told them of Samuel’s deal.

  “So, what you’re saying, is that if you manage to fulfill this god’s request, he’ll fix you?” Katherine asked excitedly.

  “That’s what he said, and I don’t doubt that he can deliver. After all, he’s already given me the ability to comprehend things I previously couldn’t, though he did suppress my slowly returning memories in exchange,” he replied.

  Katherine let out an excited squeak and leaned forward to wrap her arms around him.

  “Now I have to finish this mission! Once Samuel fixes you, we’ll get married and you can rule the Kingdom with me!”

  Morgan let out a pained wheeze as she squeezed the air out of him, but he managed to get one thing out before the lack of air forced him to black out.

  “Nope.”

  37

  Morgan arose early the next morning feeling refreshed and energized. He checked the small clock on the wall and was surprised to see that it was only six in the morning.

  What was going on? He was never up this early, let alone feeling this awake.

  He looked over to the bed next to his, to where Sarah had been sleeping when he’d come in the previous night. It was empty.

  This was way too weird for him. Sarah wasn’t as much of a heavy sleeper as he was, but she’d never been up this early, either.

  Morgan quickly rolled out of bed, amazed at how limber he felt. Not even a drop of stiffness in his muscles from the previous day’s fighting. How very odd.

  Morgan exited the small suite and emerged into the large bedroom. There he saw Sarah, sitting at a table, fully dressed in her armor and eating breakfast.

  She looked up as he approached and gave him a wide grin.

  “Good morning,” she said, more chipper than anyone had a right to be at this hour.

  “Morning,” he replied back, not feeling at all like his
usual cranky self.

  “Can you explain why we’re both up at the crack of dawn and why I’m not tired?” he asked, taking a seat across from her.

  “It’s the new rank!” she replied excitedly. “It looks like we’ll be needing less sleep from now on.”

  “How do you know that?” he asked, noting that a plate had been set for him as well.

  “Gold was here when I woke up and he was nice enough to explain it to me. He and Katherine both left to take care of some things but said they’d be back by mid-afternoon to go over the plans for the evening.”

  Morgan nodded, then picked up his knife and fork, and cut into the huge stack of pancakes before him.

  He wasn’t sure how to feel about the change. He liked that he was so much more powerful than he had been, but losing out on sleep seemed like too much.

  They ate in silence for the next few minutes, until at last, Sarah spoke up.

  “So, what did you talk to Katherine and Gold about last night?” she asked.

  “I told them everything that I know about my memory loss. Apparently, they already knew, but they seemed surprised to hear that Samuel said he’d cure me,” he answered in between bites.

  “And what did Katherine have to say about that?” she asked in a quiet voice.

  “She was excited that I was going to marry her,” he replied.

  “And are you?” Sarah’s voice was so low now that he had to strain to hear it.

  “You don’t have to get all upset,” Morgan said, reluctantly setting down his fork. “As I keep telling her, I never agreed to marry her, only to think about it. And since I now understand what that is, I’m even less interested than I was before.”

  “Really?” Sarah asked, perking up a bit.

  “Yes, really. I realize that Katherine is an extremely attractive woman, but I have no interest in any of that. All I want to do is get stronger and I won’t be able to do that if there’s no world to get stronger in. So for now, I’m focusing on the battles ahead.”