Fury to the Stars (Universe in Flames Book 2)

by Christian Kallias

  UNIVERSE IN FLAMES

  Volume II

  Fury to the Stars

  By Christian Kallias

  Copyright © 2015 by Christian Kallias

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  First Printing, 2015

  Cover artwork by Christian Kallias

  Christian Kallias

  christian@kallias.com

  www.christiankallias.com

  www.facebook.com/ChristianKallias

  www.twitter.com/kalliasx

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  C H A P T E R I

  C H A P T E R II

  C H A P T E R III

  C H A P T E R IV

  C H A P T E R V

  C H A P T E R VI

  C H A P T E R VII

  C H A P T E R VIII

  C H A P T E R IX

  C H A P T E R X

  C H A P T E R XI

  C H A P T E R XII

  C H A P T E R XIII

  C H A P T E R XIV

  C H A P T E R XV

  C H A P T E R XVI

  C H A P T E R XVII

  C H A P T E R XVIII

  C H A P T E R XIX

  C H A P T E R XX

  C H A P T E R XXI

  C H A P T E R XXII

  C H A P T E R XXIII

  C H A P T E R XXIV

  C H A P T E R XXV

  C H A P T E R XXVI

  C H A P T E R XXVII

  C H A P T E R XXVIII

  C H A P T E R XXIX

  C H A P T E R XXX

  C H A P T E R

  I

  Chase was standing on the edge of the canyon. The air was warm, brushing his hair and face gently, enveloping him like a blanket. He felt at peace, relaxed. As light as a feather, floating on a soft wind. His mind had expanded beyond his body as he took in the magnificent view of the russet canyons and the burning night sky above. The three moons were almost perfectly aligned with the giant, ringed planet suspended in the distance.

  As he gazed out at the abyss, he felt the steady rise and fall of his chest. His breath came slowly and purposefully. His mind was empty, filled with nothing but the flawless view and his own steady pulse. It was in this state of perfect balance, as the rest of the universe seemed to fall away, that he felt her coming back to him.

  Sarah. His beloved.

  His heart warmed with the very thought. She appeared just as he remembered. Her brilliant, crimson hair flowing in the wind, eyes shining with the light of the moons. She looked like magic. Like endless possibility. Like a future he desired above anything else.

  Time seemed to suspend as he passed his fingers slowly through her rippling hair. At first, she’d been lost in the view, but at his touch, she turned to him with a radiant smile.

  His heart began to hammer in his chest, growing stronger with each pulse as he gazed in loving admiration at her celestial body. Stronger and stronger it grew, swelling his chest with the weight of his emotions.

  But then, all at once, it was too strong.

  Chase clutched at his chest as the rhythmic beats sharpened to excruciating pain. His breath caught in his throat and he reached out automatically to Sarah for help.

  But Sarah was no longer there.

  Her body remained frozen painfully in place against the beautiful horizon, but it was not the Sarah that Chase knew and loved.

  Her sallow skin was tinted deathly gray and her beautiful green eyes had filled with the darkest black. It was like looking into a void.

  All that remained was a shadow, a mere echo of what used to be. Chase’s eyes grew wide with fright and dread as he began to feel that hopeful future fading away.

  Then, all at once, the pain and pounding in his chest subsided. Had his heart just stopped?! He stared at Sarah in a blind panic, unable to understand what was going on.

  “Sarah!” he cried. “What’s happening?!”

  She turned her head with a strange, jerking motion that was not entirely human. The bone-cracking echo that followed made Chase’s blood run cold. He longed to stop her. To stop her before there was nothing left to save, but she continued turning towards him, shattering what sounded like every bone in her body. She opened her mouth, as if to scream, but instead, a bright red light shot out of it, blinding Chase and burning his face.

  “Why, Chase?” she asked in a voice like Sarah’s, but deeper. “Why did you do this to me?”

  Chase shook his head in horror. “What did I do?”

  As if to answer, she drifted off the ledge and levitated in the air in front of him. He tried desperately to get to her, but she was just out of reach. Her body started shivering, each motion crushing another bone, each one sending cold shivers down Chase’s spine.

  Something was about to end here. Something was going very wrong.

  Then, without warning, she threw back her head with the most earth-shattering, heart-wrenching screech Chase had ever heard. It sounded as if it was coming from the very depths of hell. Her body began bleeding the red light—it exploded out of the cracks in her ashen skin before Chase’s eyes—ripping her to pieces until suddenly…

  All that was left of his beautiful Sarah was gone.

  As he fell to his knees, Chase heard another scream, this one decidedly animal. It hardly seemed possible that the sound could have come from him, but his throat burned as if the noise had dug its claws in before it was ripped out into the air. Tears streamed down his face, smearing the lingering ashes that clung to his cheeks, and he curled his fingers into fists so hard they made his hands bleed.

  There was no controlling this rage. No caging the fury that ran coursing through his veins. Teeth grinding and eyes closed, he screamed out for release, unleashing the full power of that unimaginable rage on the heavens above.

  Canyons exploded, water rushed into the air. The ground started shaking and breaking apart beneath him. The three moons exploded in quick succession while the giant, ringed planet cracked in two before shattering to dust.

  I need to control this, he thought desperately. I need to make it stop!

  But he had lost all control over what was left of his mind. It was pure darkness now. Pure hate. He could feel his own personal hell overtake him.

  Until suddenly, he thought of her again.

  With every bit of energy he had left, he conjured an image of Sarah in his mind. A frozen picture from happier times back on Earth. Times when her eyes were green, not black, and the radiant sun caught in her hair.

  The blackness in his mind began to recede, little by little. His consciousness returned to him as the hate and anger dissipated slowly away. When he felt he could stand it, he dared to open his eyes.

  What he saw made no sense to him.

  There was simply nothing left. The ground he was standing on had vanished. As had the rest of the planet and its three moons. He was floating in space. Drifting helplessly amongst a sea of shards from the planet he’d destroyed and faceless bodies that looked like shadows.

  What—just happened?

  Chase looked around in horror as an overwhelming feeling of dread settled in the pit of his stomach.

  Had he done this? Had he just destroyed an entire solar system? It wasn’t possible…

  Tiny, weightless tears poured from his eyes before losing themselves amongst the debris in the blackness of space.

  This can’t be happening. It can’t be happening.

  He repeated the silent mantra again and again.

  I couldn’t have done thi
s. And Sarah has to be alive. She can’t just be gone…

  One of the tears landed upon what looked like a tiny hand made out of glass. Upon impact, the hand began to solidify before Chase’s very eyes—hardening and coloring itself until he was staring into the grave face of Aphroditis.

  Chase stared at her in horror, fighting the urge to hide his face. He didn’t want to ask, but he had to. He had to know. “Did I do this?”

  Her sad eyes looked back at him with pity. “Such is the power of the Fury, Chase. Without control, it can destroy everything in its path.”

  Chase’s eyes flickered wildly around, resting on the debris of the shattered planet. “But this? I didn’t mean to do any of this.”

  “Of course you didn’t,” she said kindly. “But the loss of your beloved sent you into an uncontrollable spiral of hate and rage—unleashing the Fury inside you.”

  Chase covered his mouth with his hands, unable to reconcile the terrible guilt ripping his heart in two. All those people… All those worlds…

  Dead. Because of him.

  “You must learn to control your powers,” Aphroditis cautioned, “or there will be casualties your soul will not be able to bear.”

  “I… I already can’t. How could I have done this?”

  Then she gave him a small smile. “Fear not, Chase. This isn’t real.”

  It was like someone had popped the molten balloon growing in his chest. He covered his face and exhaled slowly. “This is a vision?”

  “Yes, and an important one. One that shows what can happen if you lose control.”

  Chase’s mind flashed back to the battle. “Like I did on the ship?”

  “Yes.” She inclined her head. “On the ship you were able to control your powers by sheer instinct, but we may not be so lucky next time around.”

  “Well, what can I do?” Chase cried in desperation. “I didn’t ask for this! I don’t want these powers! They’re a curse!”

  “No, Chase,” she answered quickly. “They’re not a curse, but a gift. In you lies the key to saving the universe from the forces that seek to destroy it.”

  Chase’s mind struggled to keep up. “Obsidian?”

  “The Obsidian Empire is but a pawn. There is another threat out there, a far more dangerous one…”

  “But—”

  She held up her hand. “All in good time, Chase.”

  He bit his lip. “Can you at least tell me if Sarah is alive?”

  Aphroditis smiled. “She is alive. At least for now. But you need to wake up, Chase. And please, try to keep yourself calm.”

  Chase frowned. “Why would I need to—”

  Before he could finish, the stars blurred to lines and he was sucked into space at a speed faster than hyperspace. He struggled to keep breathing as the sky around him faded to black. A few seconds later, the force of a tremendous impact knocked him awake.

  His vision was blurry as he blinked several times, trying to open his eyes. A muffled buzz blasted with familiar regularity, and he shook his head slowly as he tried to place the sound. All at once, it clicked. He was back on board the Destiny, and the buzzing he was hearing was a red alert. Pulling himself up, he looked around his quarters in shock.

  Now what had happened here?!

  It looked like someone had taken a wrecking ball to the place. Every bit of furniture was smashed. Everything Chase owned was in a splintered heap on the cracked floor. Even the walls were dented in.

  “Holy shit,” he murmured as he looked around.

  Then the doors opened and Daniel ran inside with weapon drawn. He stared around at the demolished room in utter shock before his eyes fell on Chase, standing in the middle.

  “What the hell?”

  Chase felt all the color drain from his face. “I… I think I did this.”

  Daniel shook his head with a frown. “What? Chase, no. How is that even possible?”

  Chase took a trembling step backwards. The room around him started spinning and he began to feel sick. “I… I—”

  The last thing he remembered was the ground coming up to meet him and the distant echo of his friend calling for a medical emergency…

  C H A P T E R

  II

  It had been days since Sarah had been left to rot in the dark cell. From time to time, a reptilian Zarlack would come in to leave what they obviously took to be food. It tasted horrible, a green-grey goo that Sarah had decided to pass on for at least five or six meals, until eventually her hunger grew too strong.

  The interrogation sessions had been grueling, but she had staunchly refused to say anything about Earth or the Alliance to Chase’s brother. She still couldn’t accept, understand, or even fathom the fact that he was Chase’s brother. How could brothers be so different? Chase was such a good man. He was so kind, brave, selfless. Willing to sacrifice his life, even for those of a different world. But this man, this thing, who looked so much like Chase, was nothing like him.

  She wanted to stay strong, but in moments like this, moments when she was finally alone, feelings of utter helplessness would overtake her and tears began to flow freely down her dirty face. She lifted a shaky hand and wiped them away. She could feel the calluses and caked blood on her palms scratch against her cheeks. Her fingertips ached where the nails had been cracked and splintered. She couldn’t see her body, but she could feel where each massive bruise cried out in anguish.

  Her cell was so dark that she could barely see anything. There was no bed, no view to the outside. It was a pit, a dark hole. And the longer she was trapped within it, the darker her own thoughts began to grow. That must be the point, she thought. Another mind game crafted to make her talk. She knew she needed to buy as much time as possible for Chase and the Earth Alliance to come and rescue her, but she wondered how long that would take. Maybe the Droxians went to war with the Alliance, as she had feared they would. If that was the case, she could be here for a very long time.

  The only thing that kept her going was the firm belief that no matter how long it took, no matter what he had to do to get there, Chase would come for her.

  She heard sudden footsteps coming down the hall beyond the door of her cell and hastily wiped her face. She was determined not to give them the satisfaction of seeing her break. The steps stopped in front of the door, and shortly after, it opened. A Zarlack grunt stepped inside. With no preamble, he grabbed her by the elbow and started dragging her away. Long gone were the days when they’d try to coax her to her feet or wait for her to walk beside them. Everything was force now. Unceasing, unrelenting force.

  The room was unpresuming but somehow menacing at the same time. As though her own pain, and that of the prisoners before her, had seeped into the taupe walls. It was also, by now, eerily familiar.

  As soon as they arrived, the Zarlack released her elbow and left her alone. Just like the day before and the one before that. The monster wasn’t there yet, but she had no doubt he would come soon enough. Even before she could hear him, her body started to float in the air.

  Here we go, she thought. Without a word, she closed her eyes and tried to empty her mind of everything—everything except an image of the one thing that was keeping her going.

  Chase.

  It was her only sanctuary. Her only escape. The only thing that made these interrogation sessions slightly more bearable. She would retreat to a place where the monster couldn’t follow. He couldn’t touch her there. Unfortunately… that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.

  “How about we don’t lose another few hours torturing you for nothing today?” he asked as he swept inside. At this point, he didn’t even bother to look at her.

  “How about you go fuck yourself instead?”

  “Impetuous as always. I can already tell today won’t be fun for you. I have neither the time nor patience, so let’s expedite things, shall we?”

  Sarah bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from trembling with fear. Now was not the time to show any weakness. The previous sessions had b
een nearly impossible to endure already. And while she was strangely proud that she hadn’t cracked under the pressure of the pain, the mental abuse, and the feeling of helplessness that grew every single day—if things got more violent, she wondered if she would be able to get through it.

  I have to, she thought, I just have to.

  And with that, she closed her eyes and thought even harder about Chase, projecting him mentally, trying to block all her other senses even as the pain started shooting up her body.

  Today she focused on the image of her and Chase walking down the aisle, hoping such a wonderful image, though fictional, would help her face what already promised to be the worst session yet. She had considered using this particular tactic a few times before, but kept it in reserve for a truly horrible time. Rationing the happiness for a day when she’d need it the most. Judging by the overwhelming sensory return she was getting from her pain receptors, today was going to be that day.

  The hall of the cathedral was magnificent. High ceilings, sparkling stained glass. Sarah stood in the center of the floor and pulled in a deep breath as she looked around. In just a short matter of time, she would marry the man of her dreams in this cathedral. It didn’t even matter to her that he wasn’t from Earth.

  He looked human, of course. A good looking, tall man with long, dark hair. She’d noticed him the first time she saw him in the briefing room back on Earth. He’d noticed her too, though he’d tried to keep it together in front of his commanding officer. She remembered the first time they’d made love in her apartment. She wasn’t the kind of girl who usually allowed herself to form such an intimate connection with someone so quickly, but Chase was different. She had felt it in her very soul.

  The fact that mere hours before he had invited her to pilot the first Earth-Alliance hybrid fighter to leave orbit and make a hyperspace jump had definitely helped. That alone had counted for at least twenty dates in her book. It had been the most exhilarating experience of her life, so when he came to see her that night, she already felt as though every single nerve was firing, aching for another adrenaline fix.