by Matt King
He’s opened a synapse.
She hooked the chakrams to the latch on her back. Whatever was about to come through that doorway was beyond what her weapons could handle. Instead, her hand moved to the thin metal device hidden on the inside of her belt. She pressed the button and held it.
“For the treachery of Aeris Calamere, Paralos has sent me to claim what he is owed.”
Treachery? Aeris, what have you done?
She fought to keep her expression neutral. “And what does the old god think he deserves?”
“The life of every Vontani on this island.”
Her eyes caught the change in the synapse. The white face transformed into the rippling image of another planet. Something broke through the pathway between the worlds in a huge, writhing mass.
Gemini floated away from her, lifting himself higher above the water, presumably to watch.
The Reventry alarm sounded again. Colliere ran up the steps, taking them three at a time as she joined the last of the Vontani making their way to the front. She saw her family—including Beryl—congregating beneath the tall windows overlooking the city. The rest of the matriarchs were already in place, ready to lead their sect of the Vontani against whatever threat approached. To a woman, each had armed themselves and donned their armor, not used since the last fight with the Garoult. The bands of hair that gave them sensory advantage were free and flowing, ready for battle. Colliere locked eyes with each of the women leaders as she took her place at the head of the army. She didn’t need to calculate their number; she knew it by heart. They were a handful short of one thousand. From what she saw coming through the synapse, they were outnumbered by a huge margin.
And so we’ve been before. We can survive this, she told herself. She hoped the others couldn’t see the doubt behind the words.
Beryl stepped to her side. The chakrams on her back caught a glint of moonlight. She looked around at the Vontani. “What’s coming?” she asked.
Colliere shook her head. “What, I don’t know, but their numbers are great. They’re here to wipe out our race.”
“Who are they? Garoult?”
“Worse,” she answered. In the distance, the portal on the hill blinked shut.
A rumbling approached from the tree-covered hills in front of them. Colliere stepped forward to see it. A wave of darkness flowed from the forests like ink running across the earth. Thousands of the slithering creatures emerged, enough to make Colliere’s heart thud beneath her bones. They would be on them in seconds.
“By the old god…” Beryl said.
“No. From him.”
“Colliere, we cannot defeat them alone.”
The first wave of beasts reached the base of the hill below the Reventry in a buzz of angry snarls.
“We are not alone.”
A wall of white light formed in front of the Reventry. The rest of the Vontani shielded their eyes and drew their weapons. Colliere waited.
One by one, the Alliance stepped through the synapse.
The four mute Horsemen, clad in black.
The godclone Cerenus, his cape rippling as he flew.
Aeris, still regal in her brown ceremonial armor.
Bear Lawson, towering above the rest.
And finally, August. His red eyes formed glowing spheres behind his mirrored face shield.
He drew a pair of swords from the sheath on his back. “Anybody here order some backup?”
ASCENSION
CHAPTER ONE
As soon as the synapse snapped shut, August heard the low rumble of the approaching fight behind him. With the portal gone, he and the rest of the Alliance stood in the deep shadows of midnight. The half-built castle above them only gave off a little bit of light from the torches around the exterior, but with his new eyes, he didn’t even need those. He did as Soraste had taught him after he first woke up with his mechanical vision, switching to infrared by imagining himself closing eyelids that were no longer there. His vision flickered. The sensors in his new eyes bathed the shadowy landscape in a carpet of blues, reds, and greens. Warmer objects glowed brighter. Bear and Aeris switched from the dark colors of their armor to a warm yellow, many shades lighter than the Vontani and the Horsemen beside them. Hovering a few feet above their heads, Cerenus glowed like a star.
“What can you see?” Bear asked.
August looked down the hill. Shit. Why now? He couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic when he saw the outlines of what was coming, but their numbers were terrifying. “Snakes.”
Bear’s black face shield hid his eyes behind glowing orange orbs. “I don’t guess you mean like copperheads.”
“Uglier. They’re like snakes, if snakes were your size and had arms and a mouthful of teeth. You remember that night I made a mess in your field?”
“I do.”
“Well they’re the ones who bled all over your corn. Paralos called them Oneads.”
“Paralos. Figures.”
A rushing wave of Oneads surged toward the base of the hill. They were maybe a minute away, at most. Thanks to his mask, the others couldn’t see the look on August’s face as he scanned the charging army. There’s too many, even with Cerenus.
The Horsemen took out their weapons. One of the brothers looked right and pointed at the cove with his curved blade.
“It seems we have an audience,” Cerenus said.
Gemini. The identity rang true, despite his appearance. It was the shade of red that gave him away. August could never forget it. It had been the last thing he’d seen before Gemini bore August’s eyes out of his skull.
“This wouldn’t be the infamous Gemini, would it?” Cerenus asked.
August broke his stare. “Keep an eye on him, but don’t get too close. Stick to the plan.”
“Gemini,” Aeris said. “It can’t be.”
August looked at her without answering. She met his silent response with one of her own, one that said he shouldn’t try to fight Gemini again.
“What is our plan?” she asked after they turned their attention back to the snakes. Her purple eyes had lost their color after he switched to infrared, but August could still read them. She was worried, even if she wouldn’t dare show it in front of her people.
“You and Cerenus take that side, we’ll go left.” He turned to Colliere. “As for you—”
“We know how to fight,” she replied.
“Alrighty. Good talk.” August waved to the troops behind her, trying his hardest to appear like the carefree smartass they remembered him as. “Nice to see everyone again! Hope you’re all ready to stab stuff.”
The Vontani didn’t blink an eye.
Still as friendly as ever.
Paralos’s army was nearly upon them now. As if they’d heard his orders, half of the Oneads broke to one side of the mountain while the other half broke off to flank the opposite side. Aeris took her place at Cerenus’ side and lit the fire in her hands. To August, the red and yellow light flickering up her arm reminded him too much of fires she’d described to him while they waited to die on Earth. He looked away quickly.
The shrieks and growls of the snakes were deafening. He watched them come as he joined the ends of his swords together to make his swordstaff.
Bear stepped to his side. He flexed his powerful hands. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“Let’s give these ladies their money’s worth.”
August charged first, leading Bear and the Horsemen down the hill with Colliere and her Vontani following close behind.
When he’d fought the snakes on Earth—a sadistic test of his powers by Paralos—the old god had gloated that August had only survived because the Oneads worked better in large groups. It only took a few seconds for them to prove why. Like an impenetrable wave of teeth and claws, the snakes surged forward, long, muscled bellies pushing them up the hillside while their clawed hands slashed the air. Strings of thick saliva connected rows of teeth.
He rammed his sword through the torso of the first one that came close and
then swung it in an arc to knock the rest away. As he fought, a part of him remembered he needed to stay near the Horsemen. Their segmented body armor wasn’t as strong as his, and they weren’t able to heal without Cerenus’s help. The thought crossed his mind to turn back and check on them, but that all fell away when the next group of snakes rushed forward. He ran straight for the heart of them, feeling like he, alone, had to take them on. To his infrared vision, they were a wall of uniform cool blue, marked only by the warmer reds of their snapping jaws.
Fangs bit into his arms and legs, pulling him from all sides. A nearby Vontani scream turned into fits of gurgling as the Oneads ripped the woman apart. His armor kept their teeth from doing the same to him, but it couldn’t do anything against the pressure and pain. He lost hold of his staff. His arm went numb. He managed to get both hands into one of the snake’s jaws to pull it apart like he was ripping paper, but no sooner did the snake fall than another took its place. They were relentless.
Finally, his fingers ran across the handle of his staff on the ground. He held it in a vise grip while he tried with all his strength to give himself enough room to use it. A snake snapped its jaws across his mask, whipping him back and forth as it tried to pull his head off his shoulders.
In a collective shriek, the snakes fell away. August looked up to see Bear above him, a writhing mass of Oneads in his arms. He squeezed until the last creature’s spine snapped. He tossed the dead bodies at August’s feet.
“I didn’t need you to do that,” August said as he stood.
“You were supposed to stay close.”
A snake darted toward them. August swung hard to cut it in two. “I’m fine.”
“It’s not you I’m worried about.”
Bear turned to deal with another group of Oneads. When August looked back, the Horsemen were fighting as they always did, slashing and killing like it was a dance they’d practiced their whole life. It wasn’t their normal flawless performance, though. The snakes had them rushed and sloppy. One of the creatures made it close enough to bite down on a brother’s arm. It took him out of the flow long enough for the rest of the snakes to descend. A second, larger one moved in behind from the Horseman’s blind spot.
There was way August could get there in time. “Move!” he yelled.
The brother looked back to see the snake’s jaws rushing toward him.
Before it could bite down, a chakram came screaming from August’s left, lodging itself in the middle of the beast’s skull. Colliere ran to the brother’s side and ripped her weapon free, killing the second snake in the same motion as she brought it down across its spine.
She glared back at August. The look told him everything she was thinking: too many Vontani were dead already.
The remaining Vontani followed her forward in a rush, choosing to meet their attackers head on. August gathered the Horsemen and joined them.
On the other side of the hill, Aeris and Cerenus held their own against Paralos’s army. None of the snakes could get close enough to touch them. Aeris sent out her fire in waves, shooting a cone of energy from her hands that sliced through the animals’ hides. In the time it took the monsters to push forward again, she’d recharged enough to cut through the next wave. August didn’t like looking at her with his infrared vision while she fought. He could see the energy of the gods moving inside her, brewing the storm of fire she released from her hands. She seemed less like a real person when he saw her that way.
Next to her, Cerenus was in his element. The godclone was all smiles as he took on the creatures. If they got too close while Aeris was recharging, he would lift them off the ground in large groups and toss them in the air for her to blast like she was shooting skeet. They worked together like they could predict each other’s moves, something August couldn’t help but notice had become a pattern in recent battles. When Cerenus got bored, he toyed with the snakes, creating a synapse on the ground and a second one in the clouds. The snakes blindly charged forward, falling through the portal and then to their deaths as they rained down on the rest of the army like daggers from the sky.
The Vontani matriarchs closest to Aeris and Cerenus saw their help wasn’t needed and pulled their troops closer to August. He stood in place as they passed by, joining the Horsemen and Bear as they finally began to push the snakes back. The numbers were starting to even, which meant the battle would be over soon.
With the threat diminishing, August turned his attention to Gemini. His light pulsed as he stood watch over the battle. The Alliance had a plan for if they ever came across Amara’s champion again. Cerenus claimed to have enough strength to shield them from a blast if Gemini managed to catch them by surprise. His plan didn’t account for shielding the Vontani, however, and Cerenus’ idea assumed Gemini hadn’t gotten any stronger. Something about the kid was different now, that was obvious. Stronger or not, he could still be killed. As August looked around at the Vontani, he saw another race of people depending on him not to fail. He’d already failed one. He didn’t plan on letting that happen again. He broke off from the Alliance and headed for the docks.
Gemini saw him coming and drifted lower toward the pier.
“August, what are you doing?” Aeris yelled to him. A snake sprang toward her. She killed it by grabbing its throat and flaring her fire until its head bent sideways with a ringed burn mark around the neck. She dropped it and ran to August’s side.
“Go back to your people, Aeris.”
“Not without you.” She glanced to Gemini. “You know our plan. If you’re not close to us, Cerenus can’t shield you.”
“If I do my job, we won’t need a shield.”
“You are not thinking.”
“This is all I’ve thought about.” The image of Earth, dead and scorched because of Gemini, drove him forward. He walked down the dock steps. Gemini was nearly on top of the water.
Aeris watched him descend with a wary eye. “August, he is beyond you. Let Cerenus handle this.”
“Cerenus isn’t the only one who knows how to fight.”
“August…”
“Just tell him to be ready with that shield if you need it.”
“And what about you?”
He turned away from her. It didn’t take Vontani senses to know she was fuming behind his back.
Waves sloshed against the pier’s wooden pylons, replacing the sounds of the fading battle. At the end of the dock, Gemini waited for him, still surrounded by the transparent sphere of red. August blinked to return to his normal vision. He didn’t need enhancements to see Gemini in the dark. Lightning bolts of energy flew off Gemini’s body, connecting him to the inside of the sphere like a plasma ball. His skin was transparent, showing a churning sea of red beneath, and his eyes were coal black, rimmed by cracks in his skin. The closer he got to Gemini, the more the air smelled of smoke, as if he were on the verge of lighting the sky on fire.
“No snappy line?” Gemini asked. “I half expected a ‘Fancy meeting you here.’”
“Wanted to make sure it was you first,” August replied. “Anyway, fancy meeting you here. Now are you gonna stay in that hamster ball all day or are you gonna come out and fight?”
“Can I see them?” Gemini floated forward, nearly touching the dock with his sphere. Thin wisps of smoke rose from the wooden slats.
“See what?”
“The new eyes,” he answered.
August switched his staff to his other hand and pressed the button at the base of his neck to retract his mask. The sea air rushed against his face. He could feel it everywhere except his eyes.
Gemini beamed. The inside of his mouth was white hot. “Impressive, although, I can’t say it does much for your looks. I’m sure the Vontani whore was disappointed.”
“Aeris prefers ‘Woman of the Night.’”
“Well at least you’ll be able to see her in the dark. I’m surprised you’d let me get away with calling her that, by the way. Thought you were the chivalrous type.”
“Sh
e can stand up for herself.” August took a step forward until he was close enough to feel the heat of Gemini’s aura. “But she doesn’t need to know if I hit you a few extra times to defend her honor.”
“Is that right? And how—”
Without hesitation, August gripped the handle of his swordstaff and slashed it toward Gemini’s throat. Sparks flew as the blade cracked against the side of the sphere, bouncing off like he’d struck a metal wall.
Gemini studied the fading scar of red on his shell. The power beneath his transparent skin churned. “Funny. That sounded like a bell ringing from in here.”
“Paralos has you hiding behind a shield now?” August hissed. “You’re an even bigger coward than I thought.”
“We’ve never had a chance to talk,” Gemini replied, sidestepping August’s challenge. “Not a real talk, anyway. Seems like every time we get together, you try to kill me and nearly end up dead yourself. Sorry to say you won’t be escaping this time—you or any of your friends—but I thought maybe we could chat a bit before you die.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Not even for old times’ sake?”
“What do you want to shoot the shit about? The weather? It’s a little humid for my taste. Now can we get to the part where I swing these swords and you die?”
“Why do you do it?” Gemini looked over at the fading battle. “What makes you fight so hard?”
August took a quick look at the dwindling fight. Cerenus eyed them from the edge of the cove. “I’m sorry, did someone replace our normal Gemini with a store brand? Since when do you care about anything?”
“You were so quick to sacrifice yourself back on Earth. Why? What did those people ever do for you?”
“They don’t have to do anything for me to not want them dead.”
“No, it’s more than that,” Gemini replied. “Is it guilt? Past crimes and all that? I hope not. Kind of boring, if you ask me.”
“It isn’t guilt.”
“Not what it looks like to me.”
“What does it look like to you?”
“I see you standing here, knowing you could never kill me. I think you want to die.”
