by Jedi Reach
Xenia leaned her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him while she looked through the glass.
“I’m here for you.” she whispered.
Jace wrapped his arm around her. He appreciated Xenia being there, but he wasn’t going to let the death of his men slip away. Jace wanted to be motivated by the pain. He wanted the loss to fuel his inner strength. The Nova Leader critically thought about his actions and consequences. The whole Nova operation was started by a wide-eyed kid who wanted to help others and got himself in a world of hurt. Now, it was a fight to even survive.
Stone came to Jace’s mind.
‘Neither of us can change the past Jace, you know that.’
It struck Jace with mighty force. What happened; happened, only the future can be changed now. He knew he had to succeed. Not just for himself but for everyone who trusted him. Come hell or high water, Jace knew he had to press on strong.
CHAPTER 16
Adron and Lea, accompanied by a couple viromorphs, walked through the stargate, and once they arrived on the other side, Adron touched Lea’s shoulder and her body became wrapped in virol. Lea looked over the new landscape with awe. The sky was hazy and orange; thick clouds loomed overhead. A desolate alien city stood in the distance, covered in red mist.
Adron led the path toward the city, his viromorphs and Lea close behind. Upon arrival into the abandoned city, Lea couldn’t help but notice the structures. There were statues that resembled the likeliness of humans, only some differences in the ears that were long and pointed, and the eyes were much bigger. Most of the city was in ruins. Though the buildings were advanced and made to last, they were empty, and years of abandonment led to nature taking over.
“What happened to this place?” Lea’s curiosity got the better of her. Adron observed the landscape. Memories of the past came to him.
“I can show you.” he said, his eyes trailing to Lea’s.
Lea came closer, she knew what that meant.
Adron gently placed his hand on Lea’s left temple. The world around her faded and her consciousness teleported into an old memory.
**************
Lea opened her eyes and found herself in another time. Adron was gone and night was upon the alien world. Thunder struck, the ground trembled and a hailstorm of rain plummeted from the sky. A loud, eldritch horn sounded from the distance behind the Scion. Lea spun around, frightened and alerted.
A battalion of otherworldly ships descended from great heights and swooped over Lea with lightning speed, headed to the outer rim of the ancient city. The Scion fell to her knees from the force and observed five humanoid figures beaming down from the ships. She got to her feet and ran to them. One of the figures were awfully familiar.
“Adron!” she called to the leader.
An ancient, younger Adron dressed in battle armor looked back as if he had heard something, then shrugged it off once his generals came to his side, discussing an inaudible plan. Lea caught herself from giving into the vision. It seemed so real she had forgotten what it truly was. Swarms of black bio-organic matter swirled around Adron and his crew, forcing them to drop to their knees and scream in agony. Lea ran closer toward them, only to see that their pain soon become an embrace. Adron rose to his feet, his virol covering him while the rest of his crew followed suit, albeit, far less in control than their leader.
Adron set his sights for the inner part of the city, taking careful note of the well-armed alien guards who surrounded it. The leader spoke to his crew and in the skip of a heartbeat, lunged into the air with tremendous force. The city guards opened fire at him, shooting beams of hot plasma that smacked into Adron. Yet the overlord seemed unphased by the time he descended from the sky and crashed into the guards, knocking them to and fro while his crew proceeded to infiltrate the city.
Though Adron’s crew displayed superhuman agility, strength and force as they took down the guards, leaping from building to building, Adron was on a different level. Lea thought she had seen the extent of his power in the current time, only to find herself terrified and strangely aroused by just how powerful Adron could be. It made her wonder how much he was holding back in the present.
There was no amount of firepower that could hold Adron and his crew back from proceeding and overtaking the base. They made quick work of their foes and by the time the battle ended, only fire and ruin remained. Adron peered over the bloody, battle-torn field, soaking in another victory his mighty crew of Abolishers achieved. He looked over his shoulder, only to discover the virol began taking control over his generals.
“Control yourselves! Do not let it overtake you!” Adron commanded. His squad began lashing out, the symbiose between the virol and the hosts no longer balanced. They held their heads and screamed with a psychic roar that disturbed Lea so much that she wanted the vision to end. One of Adron’s generals, a tall, grey-skinned woman with long, black hair, moved to his side and fell into his arms, her eyes blackened by the virus taking over.
“Adron, I can’t see you the way I want to.” she whispered as she faded, delirium getting the better of her.
“Yrei, stay with me!” Adron held her close.
“I don’t regret anything following you. My heart always has been yours.” Yrei struggled to speak.
Adron’s virol coating receded from his face, unveiling a much younger face than what Lea previously thought she saw. The overlord traced his fingers on Yrei’s cheek and closed his eyes.
“I can’t let you die like this.” he said.
“Don’t! We don’t need them!” Yrei held him.
A tear left Adron’s eye.
What should I do?
Adron looked up at the night’s sky, the thundering rain pouring down on him like nails. He had a decision to make, and it was one that threatened to take all his principles. All what he and The Abolishers had fought for.
**************
Lea stumbled out of the psychic vision, struggling to catch her breath and make sense of everything she saw. Adron looked at her carefully. He wondered if he had shown too much. The thought didn’t cross his mind because of privacy, rather, the fact that Lea saw Yrei.
“Who was that woman?” the words barely left Lea’s lips.
Adron walked a few feet from the Scion, kneeled and scraped some dust in his hand. He was in the same spot he held Yrei centuries ago.
“Her name was Yrei,” Adron seemed dismissive of sharing yet for some reason, he felt comfortable with Lea. “She was my right hand; my first mate.”
“Was that all?” Lea moved to his side.
“No,” Adron rose to his feet and looked back at the young Scion. “She was my love.”
“Adron… I’m so sorry.” Lea felt a crushing sadness.
“By the time I contacted Federation, which was an act of betrayal to my crew, it was too late for her. I knew she died right here in my arms even though they took her away and I denied it for so many years. What was left of us Abolishers were arrested and deported to old prison colonies.” Adron said.
Lea didn’t know what to do. She felt so horrible for what happened and at the same time, a sense of a relatability for such tragedy.
“My crew is long dead. I’m aware of that, and yet, I still find myself drawn to their energies.” Adron continued while a psychic manifestation of Yrei appeared in front of him.
“What do you hope to accomplish by finding our remains?” Yrei asked.
“Forgiveness.” Adron said.
Yrei looked over at Lea and smiled before vanishing into thin air. Adron dropped his head.
“I don’t know why I thought I could find them alive. I am alone. It is the fate deserving of my past failures.”
Thin little fingers interlocked with Adron’s hand.
The overlord looked back.
“You’re not alone. Not anymore.” Lea said.
**************
At the edge of Site X’s outside compound, the bodies of the infected were laid to be burned in a
quasi-funeral where staff members, including the main Nova team, gathered to pay their respects. Jace, Xenia, Aiden and Scott stood in the front of the crowd, watching over the burning bodies. The flames danced into the sky, contrasting the setting sun over the wavy seas. No words were said. Only silent grimaces and thoughts of what was to come next.
Xenia peered over at Jace and discerned how much the deaths of his men affected him just by the look on his face. She held his hand and emitted a telepathic comfort to him that it will be alright. No response came from Jace and to the alien beauty’s surprise, she couldn’t read his thoughts even when she tried. Nevertheless, Jace lightly squeezed her hand as an act of thanks for her being there for him, then he moved away from the crowd for some alone time.
The Nova Leader traveled a distance away from the base and arrived atop a hilly area that gave a better view of the sunset over the seas. There, Jace contemplated his next course of actions; for himself, Xenia, Nova, the Scions and even mankind at large. A tall, shadowy apparition suddenly manifested behind Jace, darkening the environment with its presence.
“You also know of suffering and loss.” Adron said.
Jace seemed kept his sight fixed on the horizon.
“Rather risky for you to appear now, even if you’re just a projection.” Jace responded, a calm yet dragon-like-rage emanating from him.
“Risk is what creatures like you and I do. It’s what keeps us alive.” Adron moved to the Nova Leader’s side.
“Even if it means murder?” Jace clenched his fists.
“Self-defense is murder? Imagine yourself breaking free. How far would you go?” Adron responded.
Jace focused on controlling his rage before he exploded.
“I must imagine you hate me greatly, and yet I must ask, why?” Adron asked.
“I don’t hate you. It’s a matter of what we are.”
The overlord focused his utmost attention at Jace.
“What are you?” the projection asked.
“The effect to your cause. The negative to your positive.”
“This gives you a blind, unreasonable faith?”
“Not at all,” Jace peered into the shadowy projection’s flaming red eyes without an ounce of fear. “It simply makes me unstoppable in succeeding.”
Adron smirked beneath his virol. It was a long time since he had met someone so tenacious.
“Lea told me about you. What you are to people like her; Scions. Just as you are the other side of the coin to me, I am to you, Jace. I am your negative to your positive, your night to your day…”
The Nova Leader gave Adron his utmost attention.
“…we both worked for people who made promises then left us to the cold. We both value our freedom and fight for it so that others like us could or could’ve been freed, even if there were losses along the way. This dream you share for Scion freedom is more than Scions or any fancy title earthlings want to label it. It’s something creatures like us universally strive to achieve, and by no means is this path easy.”
“The greater the destiny, the greater the afflictions.” Jace quoted a book from an old author in Switzerland he loved.
“Then we have an understanding.” Adron replied.
Jace’s rage dissipated. In that moment, both him and Adron had respect for each other, even if they were on opposite ends.
“It seems we do.” the Nova Leader said.
“Then how will this end?” Adron asked.
“With the dream accomplished, one way or another, don’t you agree?” Jace responded.
Adron smiled.
“Until we meet again.” he said before vanishing.
“Until then.” the Nova Leader said a moment later.
CHAPTER 17
Adron awoke out of a deep state of meditation after finishing his contact with Jace back on his prison world. He rose to his feet and took a breath while Lea came to his side upon realizing the overlord had completed his task.
“How did it go?” she asked.
“Better than expected. It seems there might be a resolution for us after all.” Adron faced the Scion and replied.
“Did you tell him about our plan?” Lea grew cautious.
“Of course not. Though I must confess it is debatable. What makes you think they will be loyal to us?”
“They have to be. They’re after the same thing as us.” Lea moved closer to Adron and held his hand. The overlord observed her action thoughtfully. He thought about Lea’s confidence and how much her fear of him had diminished.
What was the young Scion thinking and better yet, feeling, for him?
“You’d trust me to lead again?” Adron asked, willfully giving vulnerability. In a way he was testing Lea. However, the Scion could care less. She was past the point of games.
“I do.” Lea confessed; her direct honesty more moving than any superhuman power. Adron’s virol receded to almost nothing but his old, worn-torn armor and he leaned forward to kiss Lea. The Scion hungrily pulled him into her, embracing the kiss with all her might. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her.
A metal ball rolled into the room and in a split second, Adron grabbed Lea and shielded her as the ball erupted into a blue explosion, hurling Adron and Lea across the room in different directions. Adron got a hold of his senses and looked around the room, only to see fire, rubble and ruin, along with several of his viromorphs dead. But even that wasn’t the cause for panic in Adron’s world. It was Lea. He noticed her lifeless under burning rubble.
“Lea!” Adron shrieked as he got to his feet.
Another ball rolled next to Adron and exploded with a tremendous invisible force that floored the overlord. Adron and his virol both screamed in agony as the virol covering his body chaotically malfunctioned from the ultra-low sound waves emitted from the new ball.
Lars leapt into the room, covered from head to toe in an upgraded battle armor from his last appearance. Instead of one shoulder cannon he had two on each shoulder and their crosshairs were fixed at Adron.
“Adron Von Aegis, you have been charged with war crimes and treason against the Syraise Federation,” Lars spoke, his helmet making his voice sound robotic. “Surrender peacefully and you will come to no harm.”
Surrender?
A nerve snapped in Adron.
“NEVER!” he yelled, the virol quickly coming back to its senses and returning to its master’s will. The overlord leapt at Lars, only to be shot point blank by both of Lars’ shoulder cannons. Adron got back to his feet and charged again, narrowing the distance between him and his foe in less than a second.
The inhuman speed caught Lars by surprise. The hunter instinctively activated his energy shield to block the attack against the shadow monster. Adron attacked again and Lars blocked, forced backward from the sheer power of the blow. Lars backed off more to create range between himself and his opponent. He grabbed an object from his belt that transformed into a razor-sharp disc and tossed it at Adron. The disc moved faster than the plasma shots from the cannons, tore into Adron’s virol, then returned to Lars like a boomerang.
Seeing its effectiveness encouraged the hunter to hurl it again and by the time it struck the overlord once more, Adron was struggling just to keep his virol from leaving him. This was a well-thought of ambush. Lars came prepared with anti-virol weaponry and devices of all kinds, and to top it off, he was only beginning.
The hunter hurled his disc again. A portal opened in front of Adron and swallowed the attack followed by another portal that opened on Lars’ left that hurled the disc at the caster. Lars flipped over the reverse attack and caught his disc midair. He skillfully landed on his feet, turned his cannon towards Lea’s direction and fired without even looking at her, his sight still fixed on Adron.
Adron darted for Lea using his godly speed to block the plasma attack. The shot exploded on the overlord’s back and the impact sent him and Lea through the pyramid’s wall. They fell outside, Lea safe in Adron’s arms, but this battle was looking downh
ill for them. Adron needed time to recover from that last blow and Lea was in no shape to handle Lars on her own. Lars pursued them outside, using his suit’s jetpack to close the distance.
“Adron! Get up!” Lea cried.
“This is your last chance Adron,” Lars said across the battlefield, the winds howling before him. “Surrender or die.”
Adron felt an unbridled rage upon hearing the word surrender. He telepathically called his remaining viromorphs to come to their master’s aid. Lars noticed the hive following their leader’s call, so he readied his cannons, aimed and fired at them as they poured in. Lea opened a portal beneath herself and Adron then opened another a safe distance away from the impact. It gave enough time for the viromorphs to close in on Lars.
“Lea, go.” Adron whispered to her.
“I’m not leaving you!” she protested. “Get up! We’re getting out of here together!”
Lea stretched her hand forward and called on all her energy left, knowing it could kill her in their process. She thought of a place they could escape to and focused her entire being into manifesting the portal.
Lars made quick work of the attacking viromorphs. They were more of a pest than a threat as his ship, Daisha, joined the battle with destructive lasers from above and tore the beasts to ashes. Though Lars and Daisha were making work of the alien hell hounds, it was enough time for Lea to manifest her portal. She collapsed a second after it spawned and Adron realized he had to carry on somehow despite his injuries. He got to his feet out of sheer willpower, held Lea in his arms and carried her through the portal.
Lars and Daisha noticed the escapees and chased with bolts of plasma and lasers. The portal closed behind Lea and Adron a mere second before Daisha caught them, leaving an infuriated Lars behind to deal with the remaining viromorphs.
**************
You have felt pain; you have felt loss. You know suffering. You know what it is to lose, and yet, you continue and persist. What is it for? Is it to spread the pain? Is it for victory? Look at what I have brought you. I have brought you pain. What was once my plague; my affliction; my curse, is now yours to bear. What will you do with it? Will you make it your own and bring it to another? If so, what makes you any different from me? Truly, in the end, aren’t we all the virol? A bacteria; a disease; spreading our plagues for better or for worse. Would that make the cure what we do with what we are given? No anti-venom exists without venom. No cure without affliction. No blessing without dismantling a curse.
