by Anna Carven
Ektans snorted. “So ghosts, then.”
“They’re not ghosts.”
“Whatever they are, we need to get moving.” Nythian moved closer until his body pressed against hers ever so slightly. He craved this closeness, this physical connection, especially after he’d had to put up with some cursed ithari occupying her body.
The irrational savage in him couldn’t stand the thought of sharing her with another.
But he knew that without Anuk’s bond, Alexis wouldn’t have been his to claim in the first place.
He couldn’t undo the destruction his people had wrought on this planet, but he would make sure the Tharian reached her portal.
He owed her that much.
TWENTY-FIVE
“HERE IT IS. The Aukon. The Eternal Portal of Souls.” Rucha’s voice was a hollow echo as he stared up at the domed ceiling. Alexis squinted, shielding her eyes against the sunlight.
At the top, a perfectly round window revealed the cloudless blue sky. The afternoon sun shone through, forming a spectacular shaft of light that sparkled with tiny dust motes.
An intricate geometric design was etched into the smooth pink stone, a spectacular fractal pattern that extended from the top of the dome right down to the floor.
No human mind could have conceived of such a thing. The sight sent a little shiver over Alexis’s skin, raising goosebumps. She quietly switched off her light device. There was no need for it in here. In the back of her mind, Anuk began to stir. Her energy felt different; more intense somehow.
Rucha’s green eyes glowed. “My Queen has instructed me to explain our evolution to you. Listen carefully. It is important. I will keep it simple and quick. We do not have much time.” Sunlight fell across his elegant features, and his expression was haughty, giving her the impression that he considered them inferior beings. “Ever since the first Tharian learned how to survive beyond the physical form, we have had a two-stage lifecycle. There is the physical stage, in which a child is produced and grows to maturity, and then there is the ithari, the incorporeal stage. All ithari must bond with a host. If this bonding does not occur, the host remains unenlightened, and will not be able to join the group mind. The ithari remains unfulfilled and cannot pass on.” Rucha sighed. “The ithari have gathered here whenever one of their own is ready to join the Universe. At the point of transcendence, there is a moment of connection where all ithari become one. It is only possible because of this structure, which allows our energies to merge. Every time we do this, we take another step towards enlightenment. That is how our knowledge is passed on. We do not have a written history anymore. We are our history.” His face showed no emotion, but his voice was full of barely restrained anger. “An ithari can only pass through the portal after it has bonded with its true host and the host has matured. It is part of the lifecycle. You see what your Kordolian recklessness has done to our people? You have destroyed our history and condemned an entire generation.”
“Not us,” Nythian said, his voice low and dangerous. “Kordolians did this, but it was not us. Don’t mistake us for your enemies, Tharian. We don’t kill indiscriminately.”
“You lie, Kordolian. I can almost smell the blood on you. You’re soaked in it.”
“Times change.” Nythian shook his head in irritation. “What you are telling us doesn’t even make sense. You pass your history down at the point of death, through some mysterious process of transcendence? Why not keep physical records? You Tharians are an ancient species. Where is your technology?”
Rucha’s expression became disdainful. “Records are imperfect. They are always manipulated and distorted; they always lead to war. We are long beyond the point of technology. It has been hundreds of thousands of revolutions since we had need of primitive machines.”
“And look where that has gotten you. You couldn’t defend against the Imperium when they invaded your planet.”
Alexis gave Nythian a cautionary look. This wasn’t the Nythian she was used to. This man was cold and harsh and unrelenting. Why did it feel like he was on the verge of doing something terribly violent?
Rucha went quiet for a moment, his expression distant. “Your people are not as advanced as you think, Kordolian. You are about a million revolutions too early to try and understand. The same goes for you, human. We don’t invade other planets. We do not need to kill to survive. We were in perfect balance until your kind came here.” He turned to Alexis, his green eyes ablaze. “Progress is not always what you think it is.”
“I couldn’t care less about your enlightened ideals, Tharian. You have to survive before you can progress.” Nythian’s fangs were bared. Damn, he looked angry. “We protect what is ours. At all costs.”
Clearly, the Kordolian and the Tharian had a difference of opinion.
Unconsciously, Alexis placed a hand on Nythian’s arm.
It’s okay.
He would fight to protect what was his. She got that.
Nythian’s hand found hers and to her relief, he gave her a reassuring squeeze.
“I don’t think this is the time to get into a debate over ideological differences or things we'll probably never understand,” she said quietly. “Rucha, your queen is waking up.”
They were on the edge of a large circular platform of white polished stone. Nythian remained just outside the column of light, looking perfectly sinister in his dark exo-armor. Of course, he was completely concealed from head to toe, protected from the harsh sunlight. The others had melted into the background, leaving the two of them alone with Rucha.
Besides the three of them, only Ektans and two of his warriors were in here. Lodan and the others stood outside, guarding the entrance.
Alexis took a step forward, moving her body halfway into the blazing column of golden light. Her transformed hand shimmered as if it had been dipped in molten black metal.
Her entire body tingled with a strange kind of energy. The green glow of the ithari danced at the edge of her vision, the strange ethereal bodies circling the dome, rising higher and higher.
The geometric patterns carved into the ceiling of the dome began to glow, and a low hum reverberated around the dome. The melodious sound had a strangely calming effect.
We are here at last, Alexis.
Anuk? As if in a trance, she slipped her hand out of Nythian’s and entered the circle of light. He remained perfectly still, watching her.
They were all watching her.
I’m awake now. My children above are restless and afraid. They have learned the meaning of hopelessness all over again, but soon they will understand. I will give them the key to the future of our species. You see, Alexis Carter, I have learned how to bond with you, a human, and if I can do this, then so can they.
“You mean… they can bond with humans?”
Not just humans. Kordolians, too. I will show them how. It took Enki eating my corporeal heart for me to learn. You will ensure that only worthy hosts are chosen.
Holy hell. That meant…
“You can bring people back from the dead?”
No. You were the exception to that rule. It wasn’t your time. But living hosts, yes.
“And they all need hosts…”
In order to pass through the portal, yes. It is an important stage in our lifecycle. It is the reason we survived above all others. We will have to open our planet to outsiders once again. A host who carries one of us will have to stay on Tharos until their ithari dies.
Alexis remained silent. She couldn’t think of many humans who would want to trade their comfortable existences on Earth for life on a desert planet with a disembodied alien stuck inside one’s head.
Oh, there were a few crazies who would jump at the chance, but…
Our kind can prolong lives. We can cure physical ailments. We can restore bodies. Once the ithari moves on, life continues as normal for the host.
Okay, so that changed things a little. “How many ithari are left?”
In human numbers, one hundred and
fifty six thousand, three hundred and forty one… minus ten that have been stolen by the Kordolians, just as Rucha said. For what purpose, I don’t know. I suspect something terrible. You must find them. You must tell Rucha to guide you to the Acolytes of Malku, and you must stop them from betraying our people. Before, I would never have said this, but… you must kill them.
The enormity of what Anuk was telling her hit Alexis square in the chest. Somehow, she had to find these so-called acolytes and stop them. Then she had to recruit the equivalent of a small settlement of willing humans to host these restless Tharian spirits until they were ready to become one with the Universe… whatever that meant.
“Will they transform?” she asked softly, thinking of a hundred thousand human bodies turned blue by their Tharian companions, their touch becoming deadly like hers.
That would be a fucking disaster.
I will forbid it. They will obey me. No human flesh will be transformed into Tharian. Besides, the process shortens the lifespan significantly.
“You knew that at the time?”
I do now.
“You’re putting a lot of faith in me, Anuk.”
You’re my host. I know you better than you know yourself.
The old Alexis would have walked away, thinking this whole thing was total insanity.
Spirits?
A hand that could kill with a touch?
Kordolians that were actually noble?
Most of all, Nythian, this fierce, dangerous alien… was all hers?
It was insane, but it all made perfect sense in her Universe.
She could do this.
You can. Send me home, Alexis. I am ready.
In the background, Rucha was speaking to Nythian with great urgency, but his voice barely registered.
Are we starting? Is this it? She’d been expecting it to be a little more… ceremonial or something.
What am I supposed to do, Anuk?
Close your eyes.
Alexis threw caution to the wind and did just that.
Feel it?
What?
Feel it, Alexis. Now Anuk’s tone changed, becoming stern and commanding, a side to her she’d never seen before. A strange energy rippled through Alexis’s body, and she dropped to her knees in the center of the stone circle.
She pressed her palms against the cold stone and looked up to the pure blue sky.
There. She could feel it now, a gentle, seductive pull that grew stronger, like a riptide in an ocean, threatening to sweep her away. The sunlight blurred her vision, which was tinged with green at the edges.
I need you to let go.
Wh-what do you mean?
Drop your guard. Forget the things that make you hard and sharp-edged. Dissolve your barriers. I need you to be as innocent and open as you were on the day you first came into being.
How am I supposed to do that? She stared up at the blazing sky. Her vision split, becoming a kaleidoscope of white and blue and green.
Think of the last time you felt that way.
She glanced to the side and saw Nythian standing at the edge of the circle. He was the dark aberration in her vision, a black hole sucking in the light.
And he was the only being in this room—perhaps in the entire Universe—that she completely trusted.
“Whatever it is, just do it,” he said quietly. “If Enki managed to let go of her, then so can you. I’ll be here. I’m not going anywhere.” He shrugged, as if releasing a disembodied Tharian into the afterlife were an everyday occurrence.
His voice; rough, gravelly, baritone… she clung to the sound, used it as her anchor. She remembered the way he spoke to her, his lips so close to her ear they were almost touching, his breath feathering her cheek, his powerful arms around her.
When she was with him, nothing in the Universe could touch her.
She held onto that memory, and Anuk’s presence amplified that feeling a thousandfold.
Let go.
He’s here. Everything’s going to be okay.
Bit by bit, her inhibitions fell away. She let her barriers drop, let Anuk take over for one last time as the light entered her body through her eyes and spread all over, becoming one with the thousands of souls circling above.
And for a split-second, she joined the Universe, and she saw everything. Billions of years of Tharian history, the spectacular rise of one of the greatest civilizations the Universe had ever known, until they were destroyed by the terrifying Zor.
Now the few remaining Tharians existed in the wind and the dust of their once verdant planet, disconnected from technology, living in perfect balance, their memories transferred from one living body to the next through the ithari.
They could have stayed like that for another billion years.
She saw how the Universe began, and she saw how it would end.
She saw her own life, so tiny, so insignificant that it wasn’t even a microscopic speck of dust against the brilliance of the Universe.
There were no words in human language to describe how insignificant she was.
Nothing mattered anymore.
I’m ready, Alexis. You can let go now.
On the verge of going completely insane, she hesitated. An ache grew in her chest. She’d been bonded with Anuk for only a short time, but it felt like forever.
I know it is hard, child, but you will survive this. In the words of your formidable mate, don’t question it. Use it. Thank you, Alexis, for saving my people. Goodbye, human. We will meet again.
Goodbye, Anuk.
And with that, Anuk flowed through her, caressing her mind in a final gesture of overwhelming warmth, and then she let go, slipping away into the dazzling light.
For a single sublime moment, she joined the shared consciousness of hundreds of thousands of Tharians.
Then the ithari surged through the open portal and disappeared into the cloudless blue sky.
Alexis felt like her mind had been cracked open. Her emotions spilled over. Sadness, euphoria, anger, excitement, arousal… all mixing together in a hot, volcanic mess that no human mind should be able to withstand.
Every single barrier she’d ever erected was down. She was as helpless and innocent as the day she’d been born.
You are nothing.
In the distance, a man was barking orders. She saw other people; blue-skinned, silver-skinned, it didn’t matter. All she knew was that the sun was shining down upon her face, and it was blissfully warm.
She started to cry. She didn’t really know why.
“Get out, now. All of you.” The man spoke again, his voice deep and commanding. There was something familiar about his voice. It had a calming effect on her, despite his imperious tone.
Now he turned his focus on her. “Alexis.”
Is that… me?
“Alexis, look at me.”
The light was blinding. She struggled to focus.
“Alexis.” He said her name again. Only he could say her name like that.
Her world solidified again. Her tears stopped flowing.
She looked up. “N-Nythian?”
He stepped into the circle, and for a moment, his darkness obliterated the sunlight. “Told you I wasn’t going anywhere.” Now his voice turned gentle.
She couldn’t see his face behind that menacing obsidian helm, but it didn’t matter. He was solid and real, the perfect antidote to the madness that had overwhelmed her.
Nythian bent down and scooped her into his arms, and she felt light as a feather against all that hard, Callidum-encased muscle. He retreated into the shadows, finding a sheltered spot against the pale walls. Then he allowed his exo-helm to retract, the black stuff dissolving like pixels, disappearing into his smooth silver skin.
She’d never get used to that sight. He was just as alien as the Tharians, only he was their polar opposite;
Alexis relaxed into his arms as exhaustion flooded her. She felt completely drained, as if she’d just run a marathon.
Her emotion
s were a mess. Her thoughts were scattered. The things she’d seen were too vast and complicated for her simple mind to process.
“Welcome back.” Nythian said softly, caressing the side of her face. “You did it. She’s gone, isn’t she?”
“Yeah.” A sense of emptiness grew inside her, but then Nythian pulled her close, wiping her tears away with his thumb.
He filled her void.
Nythian stared at her intensely, his ruby eyes depthless and unreadable. He wore a strange expression, one she’d never seen before; perhaps it was that laser-hyper-focus thing Abbey talked about.
It made her feel terribly vulnerable and exposed.
Not that she minded.
“You’re beautiful,” he said at last. “Really fucking beautiful.”
“Huh,” she said softly, wondering what she’d done to deserve this.
But she didn’t have time to ask, because Nythian inclined his head, his gaze turning distant for a split-second.
Someone was communicating with him.
“Trouble?” she rasped, just wanting to curl up in his arms and let him transport her away from all this. She wasn’t used to being vulnerable like this, and ordinarily she wouldn’t have tolerated it, but when it was Nythian who held her, it was so easy to just let him take over.
A dark speck shot across the sky, then another, so fast she almost missed it.
Was that… a ship? With another in hot pursuit?
“Seems they’ve found us,” he growled, shielding his eyes with one hand as he looked up at the dome’s circular opening.
“Who are they?”
“Kordolians. Stragglers from the ruins of the Empire. Ex-military would be my guess. They’re vicious and out for blood. Ashrael’s taken down most of them, but a small group managed to escape in their cruiser.” His expression turned stone-cold.“Doesn’t matter. The Silent One’s right on top of them.”
“He’s in the second ship?”
“Nah. He’s on top of them.”
She blinked. “On their ship?”
Nythian shrugged. “It’s not a big deal for someone like him. I’m sure you’re curious as hell. I’ll explain later. We have to move.”
