by Thomas Fay
‘Yes. Your forces will need to land and retake New Babylon.’
‘What are you going to do?’
Izikiel’s face took on a look of grim determination as he replied.
‘I’m going to tear that fourth citadel to pieces.’
NINETY ONE
The fleet departed Tellus and sailed through the emptiness of space for five days. While the Valiant Crusader was an advanced prototype, many of the other ships were older and not equipped with quantum-helix drives. In fact, only about a handful of the ships in Vorn’s Armada were possessed of the powerful engines. No one was quite sure when the term Vorn’s Armada had become the unofficial name for their fleet. Not that the former merchant captain seemed to mind.
‘We’re nearing the asteroid field. We should be jumping across to the Aurora system within an hour,’ Vorn said.
‘How long until we reach Vesta?’ Izikiel asked.
‘Based on our current speed, I’d say that it will take us about five days to travel through Aurora and then another day to reach Vesta. So, all up, just over six days.’
‘It’s going to be a tense six days,’ Jonas said. Then he grinned as he poked Xavier in the ribs. ‘C’mon, let’s go see what there is to eat.’
Izikiel smiled as the two broad shouldered ex-security officers disappeared into the central compartment of the ship. His smile disappeared as he looked at Cassandra. Her dazzling blue eyes glowed with an inner fire as her voice spoke directly into his mind.
(‘Yes?’)
(‘We need to speak in private. Follow me.’)
Excusing them, Izikiel walked down the short corridor connecting the control room to the central compartment. Te’Anne sat on the couch watching Xavier and Jonas going through the ship’s food stores. She smiled at him.
(‘The medical bay,’) Cassandra said.
Nodding, he followed the human-form Elemental down a side corridor. As they passed by an open doorway, Izikiel was surprised to see Jenevieve kneeling in front of the little girl. She appeared to be whispering something to her but Izikiel was unable to make out what she was saying. The look on Jenevieve’s face was one of profound respect. Could Jenevieve be able to perceive who the little girl really is, despite the temporal flux surrounding her?
(‘In here,’) Cassandra’s voice interrupted his thoughts. They entered the sterile white confines of the medical bay. Sealing the hatch, Cassandra turned to look at him. Her eyes had shed their deep blue colour. In their place now burned two orbs of liquid fire.
‘What would you have us do, disciple?’ the voice sounded like Cassandra’s but it was hollow as if spoken across a great distance. Izikiel realised that he was being addressed by the collective voice of the Elementals.
‘I know now what must be done and how this will end. I need your help. Engage the void spawn with us on Vesta. Help us rid the true believer’s world of the darkness of the Void.’
There was a momentary silence during which Cassandra’s eyes lost their fiery sheen. When she spoke again her eyes once again blazed with the intensity of twin suns.
‘What you ask, we cannot do. Our fiery havens are all that saves us from complete obliteration by the Void Lords. If we leave, then we risk being destroyed.’
Izikiel’s heart sank. How could they back out now?
‘What of the alliance? You have honoured your word to Lady Serafine thus far,’ he said.
‘It is true that we had pledged our allegiance to the disciple known as Lady Serafine. She was one with the Flame and wielded its power to destroy the hordes of the Void. We have seen no evidence that you have done the same or in fact that you are capable of doing so. The risk is too great for us.’
‘Do you doubt that I am a true disciple?’
‘No, disciple. We can sense what you are. We can also sense that you are not yet one with the Flame. Until that happens, we cannot aid you.’
Cassandra’s eyes returned to their deep azure colour and she looked at him in silence.
‘That didn’t go exactly as expected,’ Izikiel said.
‘I’m sorry. I believe that you are as powerful as Lady Serafine, if not more so but there is nothing I can do to convince them.’
‘Then let me.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Let me address whoever it is that leads your race. Let me plead our case in person.’
‘Are you sure about this?’
‘Yes. Without the Elemental’s help we will not succeed and the cold, dark future we have witnessed will come to pass. I cannot allow that. Yet what they have said is true. I am not yet one with the Flame. There is one final trial for me to pass before that will occur.’
‘Which is?’
Izikiel hesitated for a moment.
‘Darkness. I have mastered the elements, the ability to heal and even the power to travel through time. The final test is darkness. I must face the creatures of the Void. Only through such a confrontation will I become one with the Eternal Flame.’
Cassandra nodded. Closing her eyes, she stood motionless for a time. When she opened her eyes again, Izikiel saw that they were once more burning with fire.
‘You wish to address us directly, disciple?’ the distant voice asked.
‘Yes’
‘Let it be so then.’
Izikiel felt himself being drawn into Cassandra’s burning gaze. At first he sought to fight it but realised that he had asked for this. So he let go. The fire drew him in, through the connection created by the Elementals. Passing through the conduit, he looked around.
He was no longer in the medical bay aboard the Valiant Crusader. Instead, he stood on the surface of a sun, its fiery plasma discharge all around him.
‘Welcome, disciple.’
NINETY TWO
A lone figure walked towards him. It was a man in his later years, with silvery white hair and deeply wrinkled features. He moved slowly as was befitting his advanced years. Yet Izikiel knew this to be an illusion. No human being could walk across the burning surface of a sun. This was an Elemental and not just any. This was their leader, the one who would decide the fate of all living beings in the Galaxy.
‘Why have you chosen to appear in this form?’ Izikiel asked.
The man smiled.
‘We felt this form would put you at ease. Projecting across such a great distance through another Elemental is an unsettling experience even for one such as you.’
‘I feel fine.’
‘Then perhaps we have underestimated you, disciple,’ the man said.
‘Then you will help us?’
The man laughed.
‘Your race never fails to amaze me. Your never ending fountain of hope sustains you even in the darkest hours. Yet I fear even that will not be enough to vanquish the Void Lords.’
‘I know. I have seen what becomes of this Galaxy, what becomes of Tellus, the most heavily populated of the human colony worlds. The Void triumphs here and Tellus is left little more than a dead, dark husk of a world overrun by void spawn.’
The man said nothing.
‘Don’t you care?’ Izikiel asked.
The man’s eyes erupted in orange flame, brighter than his surroundings.
‘Of course we care! It was the Elementals who engaged the Void Lords after the fall of Vesta to prevent the extinction of the human colony worlds. It was a desperate measure and we have paid dearly for it. For almost a millennium we have been trapped in our self imposed prisons, unable to leave.’
‘What about the Baron on Aurora?’
‘He was sheltered by the Ecclesia. But even he was trapped on that frozen graveyard of a world, cursed to watch everyone around him die while he endured for hundreds of years to fulfil his vow to Sofija. Now I fear that he has paid the ultimate price.’
‘I am eternally grateful to him. He allowed me to regain my memories even though it destabilised the Ecclesia and led to the cataclysmic rupturing of the surface of Aurora.’
The man nodded.
‘What
about Cassandra? She appears to move freely.’
‘She has concealed her true form and taken human guise. If she were to ever reveal herself then she would become a target for the creatures of the Void.’
‘As Da’Amo did. He sacrificed himself to save me on Vesta and drew the Void Lords to himself,’ Izikiel said. ‘But wait, how is it that the Void Lords could sense a mere true believer across such a great distance?’
‘Da’Amo was no simple true believer. He sacrificed his body to become one with the Eternal Flame. While not technically a disciple, he achieved a level of awareness akin to that of a true disciple. The pain must have been excruciating.’
Izikiel pictured the horribly burnt visage of his mentor. The image haunted his thoughts as it attested to the Eternal Flame’s ability to devastate even those who served it faithfully.
‘Why?’ he asked.
‘You already know the answer to that question, disciple.’
‘Sofija’
‘Yes. She sought a volunteer to remain in the ruins of the Great City and await your arrival. Only one stepped forward. A promising young disciple who was willing to sacrifice everything in order to achieve the level of awareness required within such a short space of time,’ the man explained. ‘Sofija had already foreseen the destruction of Orbis and knew that their time was short. She needed someone to survive the fall of the Great City and Da’Amo was the only one willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. I can only imagine the pain he endured to unite with the Flame. It is amazing that he survived at all.’
Izikiel said nothing. In his mind he pictured a youthful Da’Amo volunteering to aid Sofija. He could see him standing on the steps of a giant temple dedicated to the Eternal Flame, offering to serve in whatever way was necessary. Sofija, a beautiful young woman with black hair, looking at him with a momentary sadness before accepting his offer. The two of them disappearing inside the temple. When they emerged, Da’Amo looking as he had when Izikiel had first encountered him. Had it all been for nothing?
‘Time is running out. Will you help us?’ he asked.
The man’s flaming eyes subsided and Izikiel caught a glimpse of the being beyond them. There was a timeless wisdom there of one who had lived countless lifetimes. Intertwined with it was a deep sorrow, a near bottomless regret.
‘You are brave and powerful, disciple. We see that now. Yet we risk everything if we leave the safety of the Eternal Flame’s fiery embrace.’
‘You cannot live the rest of your lives trapped. Surely the risk is worth your freedom?’
‘Our race has existed for millennia. We have survived through carefully planned actions. The attack on the Void Lords was rash. Perhaps only another such act will free us.’
‘Then you will aid us?’ Izikiel asked.
The man said nothing.
NINETY THREE
Izikiel found himself back inside the medical bay aboard the Valiant Crusader. Opening his eyes, he took a deep breath. Cassandra’s blue eyes appraised him carefully but she remained silent. He found himself in awe of her beauty once more. Of all the forms that the Elemental could have chosen, surely it wasn’t a coincidence that she appeared as she did.
‘You truly are an ancient and powerful race,’ Izikiel said.
‘One that I fear is stuck in its ways,’ Cassandra said. ‘Your efforts are commendable, disciple but I fear that they will ultimately not be successful in convincing the Elementals to join the fight.’
‘I never realised the full gravity of the situation. Honouring your alliance and aiding us resulted in the Void Lords turning their full wrath against the Elementals. Now you are chained to your fiery homes unable to leave for fear of being overwhelmed.’
‘It is, I fear, a stalemate that has existed for centuries. But the decision to aid you was not taken lightly and took considerable convincing.’
Izikiel’s mind showed him a vision from the Great City before its destruction. Sofija, the second disciple, talking to Cassandra. Arguing with her. Pleading. Finally, telling her the truth.
‘It was you? You were the one asked to argue humanity’s case before the Elementals?’ Izikiel asked.
‘Yes. I was reluctant, knowing what it would mean but when I learned that I was to meet a human and...’
‘Fall in love with him, you agreed.’
‘Yes’
They both fell silent. Izikiel’s mind was beginning to comprehend the full extent of the efforts that Sofija, the second disciple, had gone to in order to prepare for his arrival and save humanity. How could he do any less?
‘I need to speak to them again.’
‘But they have already given you their answer.’
‘Yes, but now I know how to convince them.’
‘Very well.’
*****
Izikiel passed through the conduit Cassandra created and found himself on the burning surface of a sun once again. The old man looked exactly as he had before, standing casually while solar flares lashed out at the darkness of space all around him.
‘Once more I am astounded by your species’ persistence,’ the man said.
‘It’s a flaw, I know,’ Izikiel conceded.
‘Will you plead your case once more? I can tell you that our position remains unchanged.’
Izikiel smiled.
‘No. I’m going to tell you a story.’
‘A story?’
‘Yes. I think you’re going to find it very interesting.’
‘Very well, disciple. We will listen.’
‘The story begins about nine hundred years ago on the planet Vesta at the height of the Great City. The twin suns protect the planet from the Void Lords as the second disciple, Sofija, teaches the true believers. Humans and Elementals live together in peace, basking in the shared knowledge of the Eternal Flame. But it was not to last. Even though the Void Lords had been beaten back and driven from the human colony worlds, they were not defeated. They launched one final desperate attack. Channelling their anti-matter dark veils into the ringed planet Orbis, they shattered it into pieces. The resulting meteor storm destroyed the Great City.’
‘Yes, disciple. We know all of this. It was at this point in time that Cassandra, at the bequest of the second disciple, Sofija, asked for our help. We chose to honour our allegiance to Lady Serafine and have been paying the price ever since. I fail to see how this helps your cause.’
‘What you don’t know is why Cassandra chose to plead our case.’
The old man fell silent. Izikiel guessed that he was communicating with the other Elementals. He was unable to detect any of the exchange.
‘No, we do not know the reason. We suspected it was because of her friendship and respect for the second disciple.’
Izikiel shook his head.
‘No, it was for the merchant ship captain, Vorn. Sofija showed Cassandra a glimpse of her future, a future in which would meet and fall in love with Vorn.’
‘An Elemental in love with a human? Impossible!’
‘Yet true. If this is possible, if an Elemental can fall in love with a human, surely this proves that we are worth saving?’
The man said nothing.
NINETY FOUR
The Valiant Crusader rotated slowly along its axis as it aligned with the Vesta planetary system. Vorn poised his hand above the quantum-helix ignition panel. Silence descended over the control room.
‘Ready?’ Vorn asked.
Cassandra nodded. Vorn’s hand descended.
‘Wait,’ Izikiel said.
‘What is it?’ Vorn asked.
‘It’s too easy. The Void Lords have taken over Vesta. They must know that we are on our way and that we’re not alone.’
‘What do you suggest?’
‘Let me scout ahead.’
‘Be careful,’ Te’Anne said.
‘I will.’
The moment he said it, Izikiel ascended into the darkness of space. Catching the faintest solar particulates, he propelled himself into the Vesta system at the
speed of light. Reaching the remains of the shattered planet Orbis, he decelerated and sheltered on its leeward side. Inching forward, he sucked in his breath. Three Void Lord citadels were patrolling space above the planet.
Izikiel had seen enough.
‘They know we’re coming. Three citadels are in position above the planet. We’ll never make it to the surface without suffering heavy casualties,’ he said.
‘How are we going to get through?’ Vorn asked.
Izikiel flicked a glance at Cassandra. She shook her head. It seemed that the Elementals were still unwilling to join the fight.
‘Is there any way we can get past them?’ Izikiel asked.
‘No,’ Vorn said.
‘Can we engage them?’
‘Yes, but it’s unlikely that any of our ships will survive. There’s no ship powerful enough in our fleet to engage them. All of our forces are meant for ground deployment and orbital support.’
‘No ship that we have now can engage them. Inform the fleet. We jump in ten minutes. I’ll clear the way.’
*****
Vorn’s Armada appeared above Vesta in a tight formation. The three Void Lord citadels accelerated up from their low atmosphere orbits and converged on the fleet. So certain of their supremacy over the human fleet that they neglected to expand their anti-matter veils. The fleet fell away from the advancing citadels as if in full retreat. The Valiant Crusader the sole remaining ship in the centre. Just as the first citadel turned to pursue the fleeing human ships, a ripple expanded across the empty space between the two forces. Into that ripple, two gigantic ships appeared. The ancient Tellusian Juggernauts’ beam weapons raked the closest citadel repeatedly until it began to break apart. Within moments, the anti-matter containment holding it together unravelled and the citadel broke apart.
The remaining two citadels, recognising the danger, began to align their anti-matter veils. The Juggernauts continued their assault, engaging a second citadel. Its dark veil held together momentarily before dissipating into the darkness of space. The citadel held together for a few seconds after that and then it too fell apart.
