by Zy J. Rykoa
* * *
Jaden had felt them coming through the ground. He knew the Alliance was planning an attack here in the northwest, where there were no defences to keep them from entering the city. That is why he had chosen to make his stand here, to confront those that had taken his home and family from him. He had left Raquel the same night she had sat with him, deciding she was of no help to him anymore. He had yelled at her, telling her that she was to blame for all that had happened, from keeping him from Alyssa and allowing her to be harmed. He had accused her of being no better than the Daijuar, the ones who manipulated him through Alyssa to get him to do their bidding.
He knew he couldn’t trust anyone anymore. They only helped him for their own gain.
He had wanted to take his anger out on them, but after weeks of thought, he realised that he could not punish anyone for the accident that had claimed Alyssa’s memory. Even if he had been there, there was no way to guarantee he could have stopped Alyssa from falling. But the reason the people from Ceahlin and Waikor had fled, the reason that there had been commotion at all and a need to travel was directly in the hands of the Alliance. It was by their threat that the people had needed to leave. It was by their attack that he had lost his home. It was because of them that Alyssa had fallen. She no longer remembered him because they had attacked.
If anyone deserved to be punished, it was the Alliance.
As the Alliance military unit formed a line in front of Jaden, time seemed to slow until seconds kept in beat with his heart. Only the wind seemed to be making a sound, all else was still in the standoff. The Alliance force recognised what was confronting them in Jaden and seemed to be hesitating, deciding how best to operate with him being in their way.
Jaden raised his right hand, his movements precise in the slowness. A giant wall of blue light then formed that stretched across the entire field and up to the sky. Two Alliance fighter jets about to turn and dive toward him crashed into the wall and exploded on impact, the burning debris falling down at the northern cliff face.
The clouds parted a little as gusts of wind began to blow strongly around the almost barren field of dying grasses. Although it was approaching midnight, the sky was still alight, orange now as the rings were revealed as a thin band almost directly above Jaden. He was facing southwest, the Resistance defence systems behind him and the Alliance coming out from the destroyed mountain ridge in front. Seeing their two fallen jets caused them to fire upon him, and his right hand came back down to meet with his left to form a shield around himself.
He jumped and flipped backward with a missile that was fired at him, and then jumped forward again, somersaulting with the force of the explosion to land ten yards closer to the Alliance. He remained crouched on the ground for a moment before turning to his left, igniting another shield to this time disintegrate a second missile, and then another to his right. Alliance bullets had little effect on the shield around him, making it seem as nothing more than a pond with pebbles being thrown into it before being repelled a second later. For all his anger at Raquel, his training had helped him for this moment.
The Alliance ceased firing when they realised their weapons were of no use. Jaden remained facing them, but his eyes were diverted to the ground as he took in deep breaths. He was sensing the land, feeling all that was upon it. The Alliance was bringing something forward, but before he could understand what it was, he was forced to defend against more missiles and gunfire. He jumped from left to right with almost lightning speed, dodging some while blocking others before they hit the ground at his feet. The Alliance was trying to take away his footing, in hope that without anything to stand on, he would no longer be able to defend against them. But he knew this was a distraction.
The fire ceased again soon after, and Jaden faced the military unit ahead once more. Whatever they had brought out was now pointed directly at him. It took him a moment to realise what it was that they had brought forward, but soon recognised it as a much larger version of the weapon from Callibra. The plasma cannon, as Alkon had called it.
Alkon had mentioned in their talks that it had been made to kill the Daijuar, and had almost succeeded at Waikor, two Sentinels almost falling at its mercy. Jaden smiled to himself. It had been made to kill the Daijuar, but he was not Daijuarn. The Alliance would try and fail. He could have ended it now by moving out of the way, but he decided he would humour them a little more.
The weapon lit up as more missiles were launched at him, as if they were still trying to hide the weapon from him. Jaden blocked each missile effortlessly, but as a red dot found its mark on his chest, he began to feel a fever. He was heating up, burning all over. His head began to spin as he became dizzy, and he could no longer remember where he was. He felt it then, the familiar force from the ground pulling him downward. Like two giant claws from beneath grabbing at his entire body, it encircled him and felt to be dragging him beneath the earth as the spiralling spears enclosed around him. He fell to one knee, trying to resist it while still defending against the Alliance attacks.
‘Not now,’ he said.
He opened his eyes to see the weapon flash, and then with a sound like a jet engine there came a blast of purple, white and yellow light. Jaden forced all of his energy into his shield, and the ground shook as the two powers collided. He tried desperately to keep his eyes open, but had to close them again as the heat became too intense and his concentration wavered. The force from beneath the ground continued to threaten to take him from his body as the colours of fire exploded around him, but he held strong, even as the pain began to tear at his sanity.
He felt like giving up—to let the ground swallow him whole. But he could not let the Alliance believe that they had won. He could not let the Resistance think that he had fallen to this weapon. He had to stand strong, no matter what.
As he fought on, he felt he was gaining the upper hand. He managed to stand again, even with the invisible claws around him, and he pushed the power of the weapon back several yards. But he was soon to question his ability, as he felt the presence of a second weapon being brought out. Its mark was upon him, but it was lost in the light.
Behind him he could sense three Daijuarn Sentinels standing nearby and one man slowly walking toward him behind them. They were coming to help him defend against the second weapon, but he didn’t want their help. They had caused enough trouble in his life already. But the truth was that he didn’t know what was happening. He felt scared. He wanted them to save him from the invisible claws. He feared that this was impossible. But what he feared most was that if they came to him now, they would die with him as the ground opened wide and took them all beneath the surface.
The second weapon flashed as it fired.
Jaden felt his body shake all over as the second burst of power hit his shield. Beads of sweat ran down his brow as his shield began to fade and his limbs went limp. There was a high-pitched ringing in the roar as all disappeared before him, and all he could see was white. He felt the power of the weapons strike him, shooting a hole into his chest, but he didn’t cry out in pain, for no pain could match the agony being inflicted upon him by the force in the ground.
With a final whisper, he sent his love to Alyssa, and gave himself back to the earth from which he had come, sacrificing himself in hope of saving all those around him; the men and women of Corsec fighting against the Alliance, the Daijuar racing toward him, and the many civilians still underground. Tears streamed down his cheeks in the final moments as his body resisted the forces no more.
There was nothing more he could do now.
It had come.
