Naero raised her chin. “High Masters, I thought that I had clearly done so, long ago. And is that not why I have been summoned here before you all? To decide my fate, after all that has happened?”
“High Adept Maeris,” Master Tree said. “I look at you, and I foresee full measures of the greatest dangers and catastrophes, equally combined with the chances for amazing breakthroughs and stunning illuminations. I am at a loss–to either study you intensely, or side with Master Vane, and eliminate the many threats you pose–once and for all. My mind and heart are greatly and deeply torn. And I fear that either course of action, could be a very, grave mistake.”
Master Jo jumped in. “Naero. What is it that you wish?”
She lowered her eyes for a moment. Then she turned to her companions. “Jan, Shalaen, Gaviok. I love you all, and would give my life for you. Now, in your love for me, I want you all to promise me–however this turns out–it is my choice. I am filled with energies and powers I may not ever be able to control. If I am driven mad by them, or become a danger to others, or lose control beyond all hope–I want the High Masters and Intel to end my life and destroy me.”
She touched each of them, with both hands.
“I want to remain who I am, who I wish to be, in control of my faculties and abilities. If I should become a monster–as some fear. If I turn on those whom I love, with destruction and death, I could not bear that. If I become such a threat, I want that threat to be eliminated, even if that means I must be killed. Promise me, on your highest honors, that you would not oppose or seek to hold it against others, even after my passing. Promise me. Please. I beg of you.”
She put her arms around her little brother. Jan sobbed. “I swear it, sib. And that all goes for me as well!” he exclaimed.
She hugged Shalaen next. “Naero, my sister, you have my word.”
Finally she put her arms around Gaviok and held the mighty warrior’s head to her breast. She knew that the mantid could both smell and sense emotions–he knew her love and respect for him.
Gaviok turned pale pink in color–nearly white. Naero had never seen him take on such a hue. “My word is yours, Naero. You know what that means.”
“I do–it is adamant. It is unbreakable–and you honor me greatly, abani.”
“I thought I knew what honor was…until I met you, Naero.”
Naero hugged him again, and placed a kiss on his insectoid brow.
Gaviok went pure white in her arms.
Naero turned back to the High Masters and strode forward before them, neither cowed nor defiant.
“You ask me what I wish. I want to remain myself–who I am–who I am meant to be. I wish to learn how to control these terrible powers within me, and use them all for the good of my people. Please, I beg of you, help me…please help me. I fully comprehend the dangers that lurk within me. I fight them each and every day with all that I am, and even I fear, too often, that will not be enough.”
Master Jo stared down at her. “We can only promise you an extremely difficult path to trod, Naero Amashin Maeris. With no guarantee of success.”
“So be it.”
Master Tree folded his arms behind himself. “We shall take these burdens on together and explore them in great detail,” he told her. “Be warned. We shall test you and your powers to every limit, to every breaking point. But you must tell us all that we ask of you, and obey us, even when it does not make sense to you. Can you do all of these things?”
“I will.”
Tree turned to Vane. “The decision must be unanimous, High Master of Chaos Wisdom. And you have been strangely silent. What say you?”
Vane remained seated, and spoke calmly from under his hood.
“You both know I think this to be a grave mistake and why. Yet I am prepared to prove it to you, once and for all. Go thy way, therefore. Waste your time on this creature, for it shall profit you little. You are on fire already and refuse to see that you are already burning. Your wasted curiosity and good will and opinions are irrelevant, and will mean nothing in the end. I shall bide my time, and when it is vital for me to act for the good of all, I will do so. And no hand shall prevent me. It will not take long for me to be proven right. I have spoken.”
High Master Tree turned back to Naero. “Find your way among the adepts of my order,” he told her. “You and your brother shall be under my hand directly, but you will each be handled separately. You brother will be examined, healed if possible, and prepared for his own path of testing and training. Later today, Master Jo and I will have many questions for you to answer in great detail. And then, upon the morrow, your intense training shall begin, in every way that we can devise. Do you accept these terms and these challenges?”
Naero bowed her eyes. “I do, High Masters.”
“With the severity of your training, you will also be given time to relax and heal, if need be. Your family and friends are welcome to come and go, and visit you as it is possible, according to our laws. If some of them wish to stay, a place will be made for them, nearby. You will need their support, greatly, I fear. We would not deny you that.”
“Thank you,” Naero said.
“Then, for now, I release you to get settled and prepare yourself, High Adept. Go your way, with your brother and your friends.”
“Thank you, High Masters,” Naero said. “Thank you all for giving me this chance.”
Master Vane grunted in disgust.
4
The Thanoran sky above them was partly cloudy the next morning and presaged rain coming in from off the ocean. The sun struggled to shine down.
The Mystics had set up a sparring arena nearby, carved into the top of a low green hill. It measured nearly three kilometers in diameter, and was filled with a variety of terrain features, from grass, to rocky outcroppings, to sand, brush, and dense trees of several amazing varieties. There was even a small lake, deep feeder streams coming down from the nearby mountains, a small waterfall, and what would become a tributary to the nearest, large river basin, emptying out into an even larger, salt marsh river delta out to the costal sea.
Naero had spoken with High Masters Tree and Jo long into the night before. They grilled her with every question they could think of concerning her powers and abilities, and to what degree she could use or control each of them.
They spoke with great length about the events on Janosha, and what she thought had happened to the planet.
As Om himself said, no one knew exactly or understood what had happened.
They reserved grilling her on her Dark Beast for another entire evening, and told her as much.
At dawn, she met twelve Order adepts on the practice field right at dawn as she was instructed, under the watchful eye of Prime Adept Von Ramirez, the blazing blue adept with the intense, Cosmic energy aura.
All twelve of the other High Adepts welcomed her with what she guessed to be an attempt at a sound thrashing.
They set upon her all together, without warning.
Naero used every ounce of skill and power that she possessed, and gave a good account of herself, even punishing them when and where she could. But even after extensive training with Baeven, it was still like fighting a dozen Hashikos all at once.
Each of the adepts had their own styles, combinations, and methods of fighting to deal with.
They came at her from all sides, and battered and kicked her around the sparring arena. Naero did her best to get away and separate some of them, but they continued to close in on her time and time again and pummel her.
Four or five of them she might have been able to handle, at most.
But twelve High Adepts all at once were simply too much–too overwhelming. In less than an hour of such intense sparring and chasing, she was already battered and exhausted.
“Hold,” Prime Adept Von finally called, having watched the lopsided contest intensely all the while.
The twins, Changs Fu-han and Lijuan stopped kicking Naero and immediately helped her up, offering her t
heir hands in the warrior’s grip, all the way up to the elbow, as their steel forearms solidly locked and embraced.
“You are a formidable opponent, adept-Naero,” Fu-han said, wiping the blood and dirt from her nose.
Lijuan smiled, rubbing her badly bruised neck from one of Naero’s spinkicks. “They told us what a fighter you are, but we never expected anything like this. Welcome, to a place of honor among the Order adepts.”
The other ten closed in eagerly, all smiles and good-hearted, readily offering Naero their names and arms to shake.
Except for the twins, they all seemed to be in male-female pairs:
Raymon Cherokee and Miisha Aztec
Allon Nelson and Dojen Kothari
Rinaldo James and Karabella Vaughn
Jaedar Ahmed and Huan Lii
Sean Walker and Heron Alexander
“Do you always fall upon the new adepts with such a welcome?” Naero asked.
They grinned. “Such an initiation for a new adept is customary for all of the Three Orders when we train,” adept Heron added.
Adept Raymon laughed. “Remember that, when you train with the Change adepts tomorrow, and the Chaos adepts the next day. They all say they have big plans for you.”
“I just bet they do.” Naero could feel herself pale slightly. “Something to look forward to at least,” she muttered.
Adept Jaedar put his hand briefly on her shoulder. “You should feel proud, adept Naero. Most adepts are forced to submit within the first five to ten minutes of the initiation–at best.”
Adept Huan agreed emphatically. “Only one other adept lasted longer that you. He endured the initiation for well over an hour before he chose to submit.”
“And who in the heck was that?” Naero asked. “One of you guys?”
Von Ramirez shook her head proudly. “He is my counterpart and the other prime adept of Order Wisdom, but we shall not speak his name for now. He is currently on a far-off, secret mission for the Intel and the High Masters. And Mystic customs say that it is bad luck to speak adepts’ names, while they are on such a mission or at war. Hopefully, he shall return to us. And when he does, then you shall behold the Champion of all the Orders. He has advanced far beyond any of us, at great cost to himself, and knows no rival or equal upon the sparring field. Then you shall meet a true warrior, one who has surpassed us all.”
Suddenly the three High Masters stood above them, looking down.
Von led the Order adepts and Naero to bow their eyes slightly, in respect for the High Masters.
Master Vane spoke first. “Well, Maeris. Why did you allow these others to beat on you like that? Why not just flip out, like you did on Janosha? You could have easily unleashed your monstrous side and crushed them all.”
“You would like that, wouldn’t you, High Master Vane?” Naero said. “We were just sparring, here. There was no need to take such terrible risks. There wasn’t a High Master that needed to be rescued.”
Vane only sneered back at her.
“We have heard much about this vaunted Darkforce creature, lurking within you, adept Maeris,” Master Jo said.
The three High Masters positioned themselves all around her suddenly equidistant, and the other adepts instinctively drew back.
High Master Tree looked at her sternly.
“Unleash this creature. We wish to see it firsthand and study it for ourselves. Unleash it. I command you to do so. Do it…now.”
Terrified, Naero tried to pull away, but they were all around her.
“You don’t know what you are asking me to do. Like I’ve told you, I can’t control it, and it would have access to all of my energies and powers, and more beyond that. It will feed off this strange planet and everything on it. Everything, don’t you understand? If I do so…I might not be able to regain control of it again. It could kill everyone, and then keep going–until someone or something stops it.”
Master Vane smiled slightly. “Indeed.”
“Do as we bid, adept!” Master Tree shouted. “You promised to obey our commands.”
Even High Master Jo yelled at her. “Do it!”
Their three auras flared until they became pillars of scarlet, azure, and golden flame surrounding her, threatening to incinerate her with their raw might.
They each held both hands out against her.
“Very well,” Naero told them. “It is you who demand that I do this thing. I will not be held responsible for whatever happens.”
Naero spread her stance and clenched both fists, closing her eyes.
Somehow she felt strange, as if there were great pressure or gravity, like that of several atmospheres, crushing down on her. And it seemed that even within her own mind, she was cut off from Om within her.
Perhaps she could find a way to unleash just a portion of her Dark Beast–the way Baeven could–so that she could show them–warn them how dangerous it could be.
Yet she had not even learned to do that much.
The instant she even considered unleashing the Darkforce creature trapped within her, it flung itself with all its weight and fierce might against the fickle barriers she had set up inside her.
Its raving, rampant lust for power and destruction shook Naero to her very core, as it always did.
And though it warred against every sane thought in her being, Naero did as she was commanded, and turned the vile thing within her loose.
She wrestled with it instantly, trying to regain control of its madness–madness that rushed and swept through her body and soul.
The ground withered and split beneath her very feet as it tried to tap into the direct energies of the planet.
Something blocked it from being able to do so.
Next, it sensed the strange, alien artifact nearby–the obelisk or whatever the hell it was. Naero saw the thing clearly for the first time in her mind, but it seemed to shift and change form in her vision, all the while calling to both her and her Dark Beast, with its own fierce, seductive call.
The thing was like a statue at first, then a Cosmic flame, then it boiled and shifted. Then the vision and all sense of the artifact completely winked out, cut off as well. But how? What was doing all of this? Via what power?
Just as Naero’s Dark Beast triumphantly seized control of her flesh to fall upon all that stood nearby in fury–Naero found that neither she, nor her Dark Beast could actually move. Something kept them both frozen in place, as if they were locked where they stood.
It snarled and howled in frustrated defiance, roaring up through her throat. Naero fought with all her might, trying to ram and tamp the thing back down inside of herself, compacting and pressing it. She tried to force it back into its hiding place.
Yet the more force and violence she applied, the stronger it seemed to grow, even though it was stopped now by the frozen prison of their body.
Finally, seeing no way to actually unleash its will, it exhausted itself and withdrew on its own, falling back in angry despair, slinking back into its dark hiding place, biding its time until it could truly break free once again.
It did not even bother trying to comprehend whatever had thwarted its efforts this time.
Naero gasped suddenly, realizing that she was even having trouble drawing breath.
She clamped her own barriers back down on her Dark Beast, as it slunk and slumbered inside of her.
Then she toppled down onto the shattered crater all about her, almost completely spent. She thought she might black out, and the sky above seemed to darken and spin.
High Master Tree touched Naero, and she could finally breathe properly at last, and weakly twitch.
“What…what did you do to me?” Naero asked.
Master Tree attempted to explain. “We used the power of all three Wisdoms and the ultimate Cosmic energy of the combined Harmony to suppress the Darkforce creature inside of you, and immobilize it.”
“Even with all three of us focusing all of our energies,” Master Vane said, “we were barely able to do tha
t much…this time. Tell me. What do we do as she continues to grow even stronger and ever more powerful? Eventually, she will surpass even us–all three of us combined. What then?”
“Don’t tell her that,” Master Jo protested. “You will only give her Darkforce side hope. What she knows, it will know, also. And now–thanks to you–it will know that such may be eventually possible. Each time we attempt to wrest control of it or study it further, the thing will struggle even harder to break free!”
“Oops,” Master Vane said. “Fools. As if it will not have enough raw cunning to figure out all of that on its own.”
“Be that as it may,” Master Tree said. “We have finally gotten a good look at it up close, and we know that we can suppress its emergence–at least for the time being. We have also gained many valuable insights and perceived its energy flows and bindings, and how it attempts to use them all. We saw how it tried to feed on any energy flow available. We can contemplate all of this, and study the thing further, adding to our knowledge base. It has weaknesses that can be exploited; it is not all powerful.”
Naero was still having trouble getting back to her feet.
The three High Masters ignored her and walked away, still heavily debating and arguing everything they had just witnessed and observed.
Von looked over Naero and placed a hand on her. “I think that’s about enough for her first day; the High Masters did her in with all of that. She’s completely drained for now, but they’ll still want to grill her more tonight. And–of course–the Change adepts can’t wait to have their fun with her tomorrow.”
The prime adept motioned to two others. “Allon, Dojen, take Naero back to her quarters and put her to rest. Then catch up to us by the sea cliffs north of here for our daily Cosmic energy meditations and drills.”
Naero was still dizzy when Dojen and Allon hoisted her up and carried her back to her own quarters, nothing more than a small, pop-up Nano-cabin, the same type that were commonly used for impromptu shore leaves–easy set up and take down.
Spacer Clans Adventure 3: Naero's Fury Page 4
