by Corin Cain
The old me rises up triumphantly, and I dive forward – kicking the giant Bullfrog back with both feet.
The towering monstrosity loses his balance and falls backward with a thunderous splash. I mount him, clambering across his chest, jabbing the tiny Orb-Blade into his eyes again and again.
He gurgles in rage and agony, trying to grab me.
“Ling!” I scream out. “Ling! Ling!”
I scream out her name over and over, each time jabbing that blade down into Gab’nah’s face. His ugly green countenance is ripped open, until his brains spill from his eye sockets and his webbed hands finally fall limply at his side.
Then, I’m thrown off the fucker – as another Bullfrog knocks into me, one of his arms missing and the stump spewing blood.
Another hand grabs me, and I turn to stab it…
…until I recognize Marcel standing there, his aura like stone in my mind.
We both turn and look up the steps.
Lord Oblog is alive up there – his Sentinels standing around him. They’re a wall of silver and metal, blocking our view.
They’ve stopped firing, though. Lord Oblog doesn’t care about killing the Aurelians – he just wants to be protected as he sends wave after wave of Bullfrogs and Toads charging forward.
Each one dies at the whirling Orb-Blades of my triad.
I sense that they have not gone unscathed either, and my eyes confirm it. To my right, Marcel is bleeding - but his aura reveals no pain.
“Where’s Tessa!” I demand.
“Safe!” He booms back, and then scoops me up and throws me over his shoulder, rushing me out of the throne room.
His huge feet splash through the water as he carries me away from the chaos. The doors close behind us. Alarm bells ring out in my ears as we thunder through the corridors toward the ship’s hanger bay.
“No!” I sense his plan. “Oblog will send troops there!”
Oblog’s been two steps ahead of us the entire time. My triad only surprised him by taking a suicidal risk, and only because I made the unthinkable decision to sever my own finger and give them my position.
Theirs was a last-ditch plan – to Orb-Shift into a fast-moving mothership. The odds must have been ten-thousand to one, and if the Aurelians had shifted even five feet further to the right, they might have ended up inside the bulkheads of this ship, crushed to death.
Their Reaver is a smoking ruin.
Which means it’s no way out – not anymore.
They managed to beat the odds to get in – but now, we have no means to escape. The rational thing is to go to the hanger and steal a ship. Oblog will predict it.
“Where?”
Marcel is in the blood of battle, but even in his rage, he’s asking me – trusting the vision and insight I’ve demonstrated that has led us here.
His Orb-Blade is extended in his right arm, while he holds me over his left shoulder. I deactivate my own weapon. I’m useless in comparison to my warrior triad, and I know I’ll only slow them down if I try to stand on my own feet and fight alongside them.
So, instead, I use my brains.
Orb-Deck.
Quint telepaths the words, and I confirm their genius through the Bond.
We’ll never steal a shuttle to escape – Lord Oblog has already foreseen that strategy.
The ship’s bridge will likewise be well protected – but the Orb-Deck will not.
Orb-Shifting has become so dangerous that only a madman would try it – or a triad of Aurelian warriors just desperate enough.
Marcel and I turn the other way, while Quint and Lucius run ahead of us – but there’s no one in our way.
I was right – Lord Oblog sent the bulk of his men to the landing bay to cut us off, assuming we’d try to steal a ship and escape.
Instead, we reach the heart of the Toad mothership.
The metal doors to the Orb-Deck loom in front of us. Marcel gently places me down, taking the rear position to guard us from behind.
Lucius and Quint cut through the doors with their Orb-Blades, hacking them open. Their Orb-Blades are made of a contradiction of energy and matter, sputtering and burning as they slice through the reinforced doors like they were made of tissue paper.
Some of the metal is cut away – but some of it just ceases to exist; as if the Orb-Blades were slicing them out of this reality and throwing them into another.
Within seconds, Lucius kicks the last bits of the door aside, the metal crunching away as they’re forced open.
Bullets rattle from behind. Quint grunts, stumbling, and his aura flares in pain.
I gasp, feeling the shadow of his agony in my own aura. For the first time, I wince at the agony of my amputated finger. Until now, the adrenaline has been pushing the pain down.
Lucius rushes forward, scooping up the bent-over body of his battle-brother. He carries him onto the Orb-Deck.
There are no Bullfrogs or Sentinels here – just scared-looking Toads with trembling arms. Some of them are armed, and they shoot wildly in panic.
Their panic costs them their lives.
Within seconds, only one remains, sputtering and blubbering. “Please! Please! Please!”
This craven Toad knows only one word in Common.
Marcel growls out in the Toad language. I can pick up just enough to know he’s rattling off coordinates.
The Toad shakes his head, pleading silently – until Lucius places his humming Orb-Blade beneath the Toad’s jiggling throat.
The Toad rethinks his resistance – then rushes to a computer, hammering buttons wildly on a holo-screen.
I look at Lucius, who is supporting Quint. Blood spills from his bullet wounds. Quint tries to stand, but he falters, falling back to the ground. The mighty oak of my warrior has fallen.
Then, the coordinates pop up.
On the holoscreen, I see the coordinates for Colossus. My triad is going to Orb-Shift the Toad mothership directly into the orbit of the Aurelian home-world.
Quint coughs. I run to him, and the pain spills through his aura as he holds his bloody chest.
I rip my dress, pushing the fabric against the bullet holes. I try to stop the gush of blood.
Marcel drops to his knees beside me, gripping my hand. He stares into my eyes, his green gaze deep and emotional.
“If we don’t make it, Jamie…”
If we don’t make it.
Ships disappear in the void. They Orb-Shift, snapping out of existence – never to return.
You’d have to be crazy or desperate to risk what we’re about to.
But right now, I feel like I’m both – crazy and desperate.
But if we’re going to disappear, we’re going to disappear together – my triad, and their Fated Mate.
Ahead of us, the terrified Toad punches in a code, and then presses the buttons frantically. The alarms of the ship ring louder, as the Orb-Drives hum into power.
Lucius kneels beside me, pressing his big hands against Quint’s wounds – trying desperately to stem the flow of blood.
As he tends to his battle-brother, Lucius turns and stares into my eyes.
He doesn’t need to say anything.
His aura tells the story.
Waves of caring, protectiveness, and gratitude flow through the Bond – from Lucius, and Marcel, and even the wounded Quint.
The three of them have no fear. The die has been cast. Either we make it to Colossus and face down the Aurelian Empire, or we blink out of existence as one.
Then, the alarms fall silent.
The ship suddenly wavers, reality bending and warping all around us. The floor and ceilings merge into one, as colors change as if I’m looking through somebody else’s eyes.
Blackness.
Nothingness surrounds me.
I’m not human anymore.
I’m a ball of light, and orbiting me are three planets. One is green and lush. One is blue and icy. One is brown earth – scorched, but strong.
I can see them, but I can’t feel the
auras of my triad. I can see them as something else – as gravity pulls us together in a cosmic dance. We pulse together – across centuries, millennia, and eons.
They orbit me, and a great calm fills my mind. We’re nowhere, but we’re together – dancing and spinning in the emptiness.
Nothing exists but us.
Nothing matters to us. We’re here, and I never want to leave my triad. We’re here, where our hearts are beating as one. Deep inside my flaming core buds the seed of something new – something made of all four of our energies.
Then, I blink.
The spaceship reappears around me.
Through the wide viewport, I see the green and blue bulk of Colossus. Rising from the atmosphere come hundreds of Reavers fighters – darting all around us, circling the mothership.
Then, massive warships roll into view, blocking off all escape – beams of energy shooting from them and latching onto the Toad mothership to prevent its escape.
I wave. I have toes and fingers – nine of them, at least.
I gasp for air. In the void, I’d forgotten to breathe.
Air fills my lungs, sweet and real, and I stare in wonder.
With life – there can be death.
Reality hits me, and so does the fading agony of Quint’s aura in my mind. Hot blood covers my hands as my proud warrior fights to stay alive.
The Toad mothership will have no choice but to surrender. Orb-Shifting into Aurelian space is an act of war – and Colossus is the Aurelian homeworld, no less.
Making matters worse, Lord Oblog has human slaves aboard – along with Gods-know-what-else in terms of contraband. When he’s captured – one of the ten highest ranked Toads in their entire Empire – it could be the spark that sets the universe aflame with war.
But I don’t care.
In the midst of universe-changing politics, my triad may be collateral. If the Aurelian Empire decides that their actions were treasonous…
I just want the universe to leave us alone.
Quint’s eyes roll backward. He’s got a faint smile on his face, even as his aura weakens in my mind. He passes out just as brighter red blood spurts across my hands – his life blood.
I press my palms against the bullet holes, alongside Lucius and Marcel – working desperately together to keep his life blood inside of him.
But even as he fades from life, the haunted, beautiful man lying in front of me is at peace.
He’s found me.
I glance up. Through the viewport, I see more ships are taking off from Colossus. They dart up from the Aurelian home planet like hornets from a disturbed nest. More Reavers and attack ships break out of the atmosphere and warp towards us, shifting out of reality – but these ones are marked differently to the black attack ships circling the Toad vessel.
“The Priesthood,” Marcel explains. “They’re in those ships – and they’re running.”
The Toad mothership will expose what’s been going on – the clandestine business arrangement between the Aurelian Priesthood, and the natural enemies of the Aurelian Empire – the Toad confederacy.
Oblog’s ship is filled with evidence that ties the Priesthood to their peoples’ greatest enemies. Of course they’re rushing to escape – even risking death to Orb-Shift away.
A huge battleship starts to disappear out of reality – one of Priesthood ships, trying to escape.
I watch as the front half makes it…
…but the back half stays above Colossus, sheared as if by a knife – leaking tumbling Aurelians, and steaming oxygen, as the vessel slowly breaks into pieces above the atmosphere.
The Orb-Shift failed.
I gasp, watching the rest of the chaos.
Out there, in the orbit of Colossus, the disaster with the battleship doesn’t dissuade the rest of the fleeing Priests. Reavers and battleships wink out of existence, disappearing to Gods-know-where.
I watch, and it’s all like a dream to me. The politics of the universe surround me, but none of it matters. All that matters is my triad.
The Toad mothership shudders as boarding vessels latch on. Soon, Aurelian shock troops will flood this vessel – slaughtering all the remaining Toads and Bullfrogs who try to put up a resistance.
As if on cue, I hear the sound of armored boots echoing down the hallways. The doors burst open, and Aurelians pour into the Orb-Shift bay, their Orb-Weapons activated.
“Stabilize him!”
The leader of the Aurelian shock troops sees Quint lying in Lucius’s arms, and bellows the command in the High Tongue.
I blink. I know this language – like I was born to it. Like my understanding of the Toad tongue, it must be residual knowledge, shared across our Bond.
Aurelians surround me, and I’m dragged away from Quint. I reach out – I need to touch him. As his aura fades, I need to feel him.
I watch as the Aurelians seal his wounds with hand-held sealant guns – which shoot beams of black energy that forges his skin back together.
Quint’s aura no longer fades from my mind. It’s weak, but stable.
In the real world, the Aurelians struggle to stabilize his physical condition – and the high-tech medical equipment seems to do its job.
Nodding at Quint’s condition, the Aurelian Captain turns to us.
“What the fuck are you three…”
He trails off when he sees our eyes. Then, Marcel stands to his full height. He’s a head taller than the Captain, and he stares down at him with the piercing green eyes that mark him as a Bonded Aurelian.
The Captain turns to me – the human female who is clearly the Fated Mate of these three warriors.
His stern expression softens.
“She’s?”
It’s like the Aurelian Captain is looking at a religious artifact, the reverence with which he stares at me.
“She’s Bonded.”
The Captain stares at me for another second – and then seemingly snaps out of his trance. With a click of his fingers, Quint is lifted away on a stretcher. I try to run after him, but the Captain grabs my hand tightly.
Marcel snarls. His aura spikes at the sight of another man touching me. He instinctively reaches towards the hilt of his Orb-Blade.
“No!”
Before he can draw, he’s assaulted by a dozen Aurelian soldiers. They haul him to the ground and cuff him. Then, I see the clink of cold metal around Lucius’s wrists.
The Captain stares down at me.
“I take it I won’t need cuffs with you?”
He speaks slowly in the Common tongue. His words are unpracticed, and I surmise this officer has spent the majority of his lifetime here on Colossus, speaking only High Aurelian.
“They will not be necessary,” I nod, speaking in the High Tongue. His eyebrows raise.
Marcel and Lucius are pulled away from me – marched down the hallways towards the boarding vessels.
Being on a Toad mothership without explanation is one thing. Reaching for your Orb-Blade to assault an officer is quite another.
“You will explain yourself to the Queen.”
16
My prison, if you can call it that, is the penthouse suite of a luxurious hotel, bordering a huge, slow-moving river.
My triad is near. I can sense them.
Quint was brought to join his battle-brothers in captivity after his condition was stabilized at one of the state-of-the-art Aurelian Hospitals.
The moments during which I didn’t know if Quint would live or die will remain the most terrifying of my life – but now, the sudden urgency of terror has been replaced by a dull, nagging anxiety.
Now, my life is not in my hands.
My future belongs to Queen Jasmine, and her warrior triad.
Marcel, Lucius, and Quint don’t have the same luxurious confinement as I do. They’ve transmitted images through the Bond, and I can see that they’re in true jail-cells.
I was terrified of that, until Marcel reassured me that the worst of the criminals – the o
nes looking at execution – would be put in a Bond-Blocking cell.
Queen Jasmine, it seemed, did not seek to punish us by taking away our Bond.
That’s a good sign – unless she’s allowing me to feel the Bond just one last time, before she indeed cuts them down as traitors.
I close my eyes and luxuriate in our shared auras. I never want to stop feeling my triad in my mind.
I’ve been here for days now, without news. I hate not knowing what’s going to happen. I hate not knowing if the universe is at war, or in a breathless hush before sides are chosen, and allegiances forged.
My triads’ calm auras reassure me – but all four of us know the truth. Our fate is no longer in our hands. It will all depend on Queen Jasmine and her Emperor triad.
When I do begin hearing news – allowed to listen to the holo-broadcasts, and read the bulletins – I learn that the arrival of Lord Oblog’s vessel in the orbit of Colossus had wide swept consequences.
As the roots of their rebellion were revealed, the Aurelian Priesthood fled – taking with them all who wished for the Empire to return to the Old Ways.
There were a lot.
In fact, a full third of the population of Colossus fled – and left the Aurelian society shattered.
Will my triad and I be made an example of? To keep others from deserting to the side of the Priests and the Old Ways?
Will Queen Jasmine call my triad traitors? Will she convict them for smuggling supplies between the Separatists and the Aurelian’s oldest enemies, the Toads?
Or, will she hail them as heroes – for uncovering the treachery, and bringing a high-ranking Toad Lord to justice?
On the larger stage – will this ‘diplomatic incident’ plunge the universe into war?
They’re all useless questions.
All these giant concepts mean nothing to me. All I want to do is to get to Atlantis with my family. Marcel, Quint, Lucius. Our unborn son.
My old dream – of disappearing to X12 and starting a farm, all alone – has long since faded into obscurity. It’s changed, into something more powerful. I still want to get away from everything – but not to fade away.
I want to build.
I run my hand across my stomach. There’s no sign yet, but I know I’m pregnant with my triads’ son.
