by A A Warren
Sartarus strode over the catwalk that led to his domed chapel. Salena paced alongside him, her arms bound in a pair of glowing siphon cuffs. Behind them, Ecotyl led a compliment of purple robed guards, the elite holy warriors of Sartarus’ zealous faith.
Salena held up her hands, and glanced up at the tall man pacing beside her. “Lyko, are these restraints necessary? Do you really fear me so much?”
The gleaming golden mask turned and his intense eyes stared down at her. “I apologize. They are uncomfortable, I know. But I am no fool. You are a dangerous woman, my dearest. It was you who first opened the door to eternity.”
She shuddered as she looked into his eyes. Behind the shadows of the mask, peeling, withered flesh surrounded his manic sapphire pupils. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I see what it cost you.”
She lowered her arms and stared straight ahead. They were walking towards a circular pool of water in the center of a vast domed chamber. Explosions, brief flashes of light and flaming trails of gas lit up the black space outside the towering windows that curved up from the floor. A battle raged around them, but the tall, robed man beside her seemed to pay it no mind.
“The human body was not gifted with the abilities of your race. Channeling and controlling dark energy… It took me many years to learn the ancient ways. But your people were not the only ones to master such arts. I traveled into the deepest regions of uncharted space. I searched for ancient artifacts, reclusive masters, crumbling temples… anything that could show me how to cast the ritual, as you did that night.”
“Lyko, look what it’s done to you. It’s poisoned your body. And your soul…”
“It was you who poisoned my soul, ‘dearest’. I’ve spoken to them you know. Our son. Our daughter. Perhaps after all these years, cavorting around the galaxy with your lovers and playthings, you’ve forgotten their names.”
She pivoted towards him and swung out her arm. The slap struck his mask with a dull thud. She winced in pain as her soft flesh hit the cold, hard metal. The she glared up at him, cradling the fingers of her hand.
“Bha krung!” she hissed. “How can you say that? I’ll never forget, Lyko! How could I?”
Sartarus touched the side of his mask where she had struck him. “Then why? Why didn’t you bring them back to us?”
“They’re gone, Lyko. It isn’t them you see. This thing, Daizon… it twists reality, it tempts its followers. It devours your mind, and shows you what you want to see. It’s not real, none of it is real! All it wants is to be free… to devour every atom in this galaxy.”
Sartarus turned way from her as they approached the pool. “I’ve spoken to them, you know. Little Alaine. Beautiful Savisa. They say they miss you. They cry for their mother.”
A hologram flickered to live above the rippling waters.
The glowing image of General Kyr glared down at them. “It’s about time, Sartarus. Where in blazes have you been?”
“Where I’ve been is no concern of yours, General. I am here now. And I have found what I need. Our weapon is fully functional.”
“Excellent. I’ve deployed the first pylons. Do your part, and we can finally end this war.”
“It shall be done. For the glory of Daizon.”
The hologram blinked out, as Sartarus flipped a series of levers mounted next to the pool. The panels of the domed roof slid open, revealing a series of concentric metal rings. Rows of ancient symbols, similar to the markings on the pylons, adorned the surface of the rings.
Salena looked up, as the metal rings lowered from the ceiling and hovered over the waters of the pool. Their symbols began to glow. As the light grew stronger, they spun around in the air. A low hum emanated from the rotating circles of metal. She noticed there were gaps in the burning symbols… missing shapes and figures, blank sections in the spinning metal rings.
Sartarus glanced at Ecotyl. “Commander, leave us. Deploy our pylons, and alert General Kyr and myself when they are in position.”
The commander bowed. “Yes, Lord Sartarus.” As he led the guards out of the chamber, Salena grabbed Satarus’ shoulder with her cuffed hands. “Lyko please, I beg of you. Don’t do this!”
He spun around and grabbed her chin, jerking her face up to look at him. “Enough! Enough whining and begging, you selfish bitch!” She gasped as his manic stare bore into her glowing eyes. “Don’t you understand?” he snarled. “It’s not just me, not just us. The entire galaxy has suffered one bloody war after another. Billions of lives snuffed out, billions of loved ones lost. Humans, aliens, it doesn’t matter. In the end, the only destiny of life… is to kill. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”
The hum grew louder. The rings glowed brighter.
“Lyko, please—”
He dropped her chin and gazed at the pool of water. It too had begun to glow and churn. “In Daizon, there is peace. Everyone is welcome. Everyone can have whatever they desire. There is nothing to fight over. No wars, no one has to die. In Daizon, we are all eternal!”
“That’s because it’s not real, Lyko. It’s all a lie. It’s nothing but a dream!”
He glared at her. His mask shifted slightly, and the corners of his eyes wrinkled. She realized he was smiling beneath the gleaming golden shell.
“Perhaps you’re right,” he said. “Perhaps it is a dream. But I have lived a long time now, my darling. I have seen so much death, so much horror.” He held out his hands, gesturing towards the blazing explosions and the distant stars above them. “But this so-called reality is a dream as well. A nightmare we can never wake from. I prefer my dream. And so will you.”
He waved his hands over the glowing controls. The hum grew louder, and the glow from the rings filled the room with a blinding crimson light. With a deafening wail, a massive column of energy burst from the rings, and struck the surface of the water. It seemed to disappear into the depths of the dark pool, and the water sizzled and bubbled at its touch.
Salena gasped. She took a step closer to the pool. Her eyes glowed brighter than ever before. A muscle in her face twitched, as she sensed the presence of dark energy. A massive amount of it, so close, and yet just out of reach.
A harsh, rasping laugh echoed over the wail of the energy beam.
Sartarus was laughing at her.
“It must be frustrating for you, my dear. So much dark energy, and yet you cannot channel even a drop of it.”
“How?” she whispered. “How did you create this?”
He gestured to the pool. “Daizon guided me. This is his power, made manifest.”
A voice crackled over the room's speakers. “Lord Sartarus… the pylons are in place. Both ours and General Kyr’s.”
“Excellent, Commander,” Sartarus replied. “Tell Kyr the weapon will fire momentarily.”
He shook his head as he shut down the comm channel. “Kyr,” he hissed. “He funded my research, helped me locate the missing pylons and artifacts I required to open the prison. He thinks he can control me, and use the power at my fingertips for his own desires.”
He looked back at Salena. “Tonight, he will learn. He controls nothing. There’s only one thing I need. The missing tablets, the lost symbols. They are critical to sustaining the ritual. And you will give them to me, my dear.”
“What makes you think a human like you could even survive such power,” she snapped, a note of defiance rising in her voice.
Sartarus unfastened the clasp of his robes. He tore the garment open, and Salena gasped at the sight of his body. The charred, mangled flesh… pale, shriveled skin, specked with gaping sores…
Set in his chest, just to the right of his heart, a violet crystal protruded from his skin. It pulsed with a strange, unearthly light. The flesh surrounding the foreign object was puckered and ridged with scars. Tiny lumps shifted and crawled beneath the skin… flesh-weavers, clusters of nanobots fighting against the decay that consumed his body.
“R’kur was not the only one that left behind a shard of its essence,” he said.
“You rejected Daizon’s glory, my dear. But I took the great one into my flesh, made it a part of me. And it has guided me ever since. Guided me to this, my final salvation.”
“Father…”
The voice was a distorted whisper, echoing within the column of energy. Salena’s eyes grew wide as she saw movement over the withered man's shoulder. Tiny figures darted within the crimson beam.
“Come to us father… We miss you.”
She could see their tiny faces, pressed up against the glowing barrier of energy.
Her children.
She shook her head, cleared her thoughts. “Lyko, please. It’s using you, it’s just showing you what it knows you want. It’s not real.”
Sartarus stepped towards the pool. “It’s real enough, Salena. Real enough to end my pain.”
He stepped into the pool… His steps splashed across the surface, even though she could tell the water beneath him was deep. He paused at the edge of the energy barrier, and took a deep breath. He looked back at her. “I’m sorry, my wife. Sorry for the way things ended between us. Sorry you chose to live in pain, rather than paradise. But I have to go. They’re waiting for me, in there. In Daizon.”
He pushed forward into the glowing crimson beam. His body shot ramrod straight, and his muscles spasmed, as bolts of energy traced across his body. His gnarly fingers dug into the flesh of his palms, and he cried out in pain. But still he pressed forward, until he stood in the center of the beam. He held out his hands and threw his head back as the energy coursed through him.
His body levitated in the beam. Soon, he hovered near the top of the domed chamber. When he gazed down at Salena, his eyes glowed with crimson fury.
“You will delay me no longer,” his voice boomed. “Give me what I seek. And then… I shall allow you to die.”
He thrust an arm forward, and crimson lightning leapt out from within the beam. Salena’s head snapped back as the powerful energy struck her, crackling across her skin. It penetrated her pores and eyes, and filled her mouth with an unholy glow.
She screamed, as the arcing bolts of energy lifted her up, and suspended her body up in the air.
“You cannot hide from me,” Sartarus hissed. “I see it in your mind. The tablets Aroyas stole, the missing symbols. Now the ritual will be complete. This time, Daizon will not stop with a planet… the great one shall devour all, as is his right. He shall reshape this flawed creation into a new paradise.”
Sartarus smiled beneath his mask. “This time, nothing will stop us. Nothing will stop… Daizon!”
Chapter Thirty
Talon clenched his jaw as the Star Claw dropped out of portal space. The ship streaked towards a lone planet, a tiny, glowing green dot in the black depths of space.
Avra glanced at her display. Their course heading blinked on her holo screen, confirming their destination. “I don’t know how you did it, but the jump was successful. We made it back, that’s Vendaru up ahead.”
He grunted as he slid his arms out of the control docks. “Now I know why Salena needed so much rest after opening a star-path. I’m exhausted, and starving as well… I could eat a zebrak whole.”
A nervous laugh escaped Avra’s lips. “Sorry, no zebraks onboard. Just protein paste and vita-fluid.”
An alarm wailed through the bridge. “Now what?” he growled.
As they rushed closer to Vendaru, tiny pinpoints of light flared in the darkness.
Avra squinted at the readings on her screen. “Looks like a battle. Dominion forces are in low orbit over the planet. Hang on, there’s an incoming transmission from the surface.”
She tapped her controls, and a hologram flickered to life in the center of her console. The glowing image showed Prince Lucian, standing next to his advisor, Captain Javis.
“Coalition Command, we read you,” Avra said. The comm unit transmitted her words to the planet’s surface. “This is HMS Star Claw, inbound to Vendaru.
The prince gave them a nod and a grim smile. “Captain Zobo, thank the gods. I hope you bring good news.”
Avra bit her lip for a moment, and did not reply.
“Star Claw, do you read us?”
“Yes, we read you. Zobo didn’t make it. This is Avra and Talon.”
“I see… and Salena?”
“We… we don’t know. Sartarus has her. What’s your situation down there?”
“We’ve been suffering under a sustained attack. The Coalition fleet has managed to hold back the Dominion ships, but our shields have taken a beating from Kyr’s bombing runs. There’s no way we’ll survive the gravimetric distortion of—”
A burst of static interrupted the transmission. The image of the prince flickered and dimmed in the air.
Avra boosted power to the signal. “Your Highness, we’re losing you. What distortion, what are you—”
The hologram glowed brighter again. “Sartarus and Kyr have deployed their weapon. According to our sensors, the gravitational waves it's emitting are identical to the readings from Hadros. But this time it’s stronger, by several orders of magnitude. If you can’t stop—”
Another burst of static flooded the speakers. The image wavered, then blinked out and disappeared.
Talon pointed out the window. “Avra, look…”
As they circled around the green planet, a swirling red cloud came into view. The vortex pierced a hole in the darkness of space. Bolts of energy crackled with the spinning void.
Avra gasped. “By the gods!” She glanced at her display, and her fingers danced across the sensor controls. “Talon, look at the edges of that… thing!”
The sensors magnified a tiny speck from the image. A tall, metal pylon shimmered in space, floating on a gigantic lifter disk. Three more identical pylons drifted in the black void. The four towering monoliths formed a cross, thousands of kilometers along each axis. A circle of rippling energy flowed between them, forming a boundary for the swirling red void.
“It’s the pylons, from Salena’s report.”
“The Crimson Maw,” Talon said, his voice a low whisper.
Avra glanced at the display. The ring of energy grew wider as each pylon floated away from the others. “Whatever it is, it’s growing larger. Each pylon is moving through space at an equal velocity. As they drift apart, the diameter increases. I’m reading an energy surge coming from the cloud. It’s… it’s massive. I’ve never seen anything like it. It—”
Her words caught in her throat. As the Star Claw zoomed closer, they could see something emerge from the cloud.
Tentacles.
Huge tendrils of lumpy pink flesh reached out through the void of space, flailing towards the planet before them. As they loomed over the glowing green sphere, the planet’s swirling atmosphere broke up and vented into space.
Talon squinted… he saw tiny red ships come into view, nestled within the writhing mass of planet-sized limbs.
“The Dominion fleet is caught in that thing’s grip as well. Salena is in there! Which ship belongs to Sartarus? We have to—”
No!
He winced in pain as the voice echoed through his head. Closing his eyes, he pressed his fingers to his temples. The single word was like a red-hot knife, twisting into his brain.
Avra glanced up at him, as the ship continued racing towards the glowing cloud of devastation ahead.
“What is it? Are you alright?”
“Salena,” he grunted. “I can hear her. The bond between us isn’t broken. But she’s in pain!” A strangled grunt of pain escaped his lips, as he gripped his head tighter. “Arrrgghhh!”
Talon, listen... You must do as Ikari said. The Crimson Maw is the prison of Daizon. You must bring the shard there.
“Talon, what the hell is going on?”
He shook his head, but he could not answer.
There isn’t much time. Please Talon, do as I ask. Do not fear for me, my warrior. You will see me again.
He collapsed in the chair.
“She’s gone,” he said. H
e wiped his hand across his eyes, clearing the sweat and haze from his vision.
“Is she alright?”
“I don’t know. She was in pain, I could feel it. But she said she would see me again.”
“So what do we do?”
He stared out the window at the swirling cloud. The massive tentacles crept toward the planet. The relentless tug of their gravitational pull sent plumes of the surface gas venting into space.
“She said to listen to the guardian, Ikari. To bring the shard into the crimson maw.”
Avra clutched the controls tighter. The ship rattled as it drew closer to the spinning cloud. Outside, the explosions of the space battle grew larger. A burst of light flooded the windows as a frigate on their port side exploded into glowing cinders.
“Let me get this straight… you’re telling me you want to fly into that thing?” Avra snapped.
He looked over at her. “I know it sounds crazy.”
She shrugged. “Yeah. Yeah it does. But then again, giant space tentacles eating a planet for lunch sounds pretty crazy too.”
The ship’s proximity alarms wailed. A pair of blood hawk fighters swooped into position behind the Star Claw.
“Dominion fighters,” Talon shouted. “They’re locking on!”
Avra darted the ship left and right as she increased thruster power. The ship leapt forward, dodging debris and other ships on the battlefield.
She gripped the controls tighter, as the massive tentacles grew larger in the front window. Two of the gigantic fleshy limbs were drifting together, crossing over each other. Due to their colossal size, they seemed to move in slow motion, but the sensors showed that they were passing through hundreds of kilometers in mere seconds.
Pushing forward on the controls, Avra dove the ship through a narrow space between two of the colossal tentacles as they lumbered through space. The gap closed behind her. The two fighters struggled to pull up, but the wall of flesh was too huge, and they were going too fast. Twin explosions burst through the narrow crack behind them. The enemy contacts blinked off on the holo display.
