by S. E. Weir
Sis’tael’s mandibles were completely extended, which showed how alarmed she was. “She isn’t responding right, but that gesture looked like she wanted us to be quiet.”
“I don’t know. Perha…”
Phina moved forward in a stumbling run that grew steadier as she gained momentum. Drk-vaen bellowed in protest, and Sis’tael ran forward to stop her. He wasn’t far behind her. Phina had obviously gone mad.
Feet from the barrier, Phina leaped and dove into it. Sis’tael stopped in shock. Drk-vaen reached out to grab her and did his best not to trip over her legs as he came to a halt. They stared as their friend broke free of the force field inside the bubble and fell limply to the ground.
Then again, he had been told over and over that the young female was brilliant.
Moments passed, and Phina didn’t move. There wasn’t even a breeze to ruffle her hair. Drk-vaen’s hand slid down Sis’tael’s arm until he found her hand. Sis’tael grabbed his arm with her other hand. “Do you think…”
“She’s going to be fine,” he assured her.
If only he could begin to believe it.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Etheric Empire, QBS Valiant
Braeden’s eyes widened, his head turning in the direction the trio had traveled down to the planet. He was keeping tabs on Phina in his concern for her well-being while he helped the team pass out supplies for the Aurians. Phina’s mental activity had suddenly decreased.
As he swallowed roughly, afraid for the worst, he felt a small hand on his arm. He looked down into the light-filled eyes of She-Who-Mourns, her expression grave. “You are concerned. Is it Phina?”
Braeden still felt weary from his ordeal, so he gave her a nod and gestured to a large, sturdy container full of bandages that sat off to the side. Since most of the Aurians’ health issues were related to dehydration and malnutrition, the supplies for wounds hadn’t been touched very often, but the containers worked just fine for makeshift seats. He and the female threaded their way past Aurians and those from the Empire helping them with food, water, medical treatment, cleanliness, and places for everyone to sleep.
“I am concerned about them, yes.” Braeden shook his head as they sat down. “From what I can tell, they have found what they sought, but I think something is wrong with Phina. I am having trouble keeping the mental connection steady with my lack of strength. I wish there was more we could do to help them, but we can only wait and hope.”
She-Who-Mourns sat straight, her body poised and elegant. She reminded him of Anna Elizabeth. She nodded thoughtfully. “Hope is important. It is what kept my people alive when all seemed lost.”
Though he was concerned, Braeden couldn’t repress his curiosity and leaned forward. “It has been some centuries since my people visited your planet. May I ask what the word ‘el’adron’ refers to?”
The small female clasped her hands together and looked up solemnly. “It means ‘light of our hearts.’” It is sacred, a spiritual leader who is also a judge of others. Our word is law to our people. All who are el’adron have the su’adon.” She gestured to her light-filled eyes. “You see that mine are the only eyes like this. All the rest of my people have violet eyes. The su’adon is influence, able to share comfort or peace, or hope, sometimes fear or pain. In my role as a judge, I also invoke the truth and bring it to light. It is a role we all take seriously, so it is hard for some, like He-Who-Acts, to see that I too make mistakes at times.” She hesitated but continued, her eyes filled with sorrow. “It is considered highly improper, akin to abuse, to use su’adon on a pledgemate, but perhaps if I had, I could have prevented this tragedy.” She bowed her head as tears fell from her eyes.
Braeden could see that many of the nearby Aurians were listening to their conversation, including the male in question. He was frowning but listening to the words the el’adron spoke. He-Who-Acts quietly came forward when She-Who-Mourns cried and crouched to put his hand on hers.
“I can’t deny I was angry, but after hearing your explanation and thinking about it, I understand why you said nothing. You have always been careful to give us hope, and knowing the cause would have taken that away.” He gently squeezed her hand and let go. “You did nothing wrong. You were more wronged than any of us. You are our el’adron, and I believe in you.”
He stood and backed away as She-Who-Mourns looked up in surprise. Her tears fell faster as all the Aurians in the large room faced her and bowed their heads. “We believe in you, el’adron.”
She-Who-Mourns stood and crossed her hands over her heart. “Thank you, my people. You honor me with your belief and trust.” She bowed her head to them in return, then turned to Braeden with hope and determination.
“There is something we can do for Phina. We can ask the universe to aid her.”
She closed her eyes, then sang one of the most gorgeous pieces of music Braden had ever heard. It spoke of love and duty. It spoke of justice and truth. It spoke of hope and trust.
By the time She-Who-Mourns finished, her eyes glowing with light, Braeden believed. Phina might struggle, but she would survive.
Etheric Empire, Planet Lyriem
Phina’s body burned as if every nerve was on fire. She left the black realm of unconsciousness, knowing nothing but pain that seemed to go on forever. She tried to scream but couldn’t push the sound past her throat.
Then it ended.
She lay still, panting for breath. Feeling disoriented, she made a few attempts to open her eyes, finally slitting them to look around. All she saw was green, a bright shade so vibrant it almost didn’t look real. Where was she?
If she hadn’t already had an experience where she had lost consciousness and didn’t even know her name, she would have panicked. As it was, she knew herself. She just had no idea where she was or how she’d gotten there. Obviously, she was on a planet.
As her eyes gradually grew used to the strange radiating light, Phina was finally able to open her eyes completely. Numerous trees and plants bore fruits and vegetables. It looked like paradise.
Phina finally convinced her body to move from its sprawled state and slowly pushed up.
“Phina! We’ve been so worried about you!”
A relieved grunt followed, one that was too deep for the first voice.
Who could that be? She ran through the possibilities and came up blank. Body so tense she longed for a massage and still shaky, she finally gained her feet, picking her tablet up on the way, and turned around. The sight of the two Yollins thrust her most recent memories into the forefront of her brain, disorienting her for a minute. Right. Drk-vaen and Sis’tael. Her friends. They were helping her find and stop a crazy person. And there was something to do with a…cat? She shook her head in confusion.
“Are you okay, Phina? You looked like you were in pain.”
Phina rubbed her face, attempting to dispel the lingering ache as well as stimulate thought. The effort was only marginally successful. “I will be. This stuff isn’t exactly a walk in a park.”
Drk-vaen and Sis’tael exchanged glances, then looked back in amusement. “Well…” Drk-vaen began.
“It kind of is.” Sis’tael finished.
Phina looked up in surprise, then glanced at the green foliage. After a few moments, a smile graced her lips up. “I guess you’re right.”
“So, what’s the next step?”
Phina avoided looking at her friends. “Maybe you two should stay there while I explore.”
Drk-vaen took a step forward and stopped mere inches from Phina, separated only by the luminescent translucent barrier. “Not going to happen. Try again.”
After staring at his fierce, determined face for a moment, Phina nodded. “Fine. Just don’t say I didn’t try to save you two from the crazy stuff.”
He gave her a smile so fierce that if she didn’t know him, she would have been frightened. “No worries, Phina. Crazy is what we Guardians and Marines run toward.”
Shifting, Phina raised an eyebrow
to Sis’tael. “Looks like he’s been practicing his scary face.”
Her friend grinned. “Oh, yeah. Mister Scary has come out to play.”
Drk-vaen shook his head and rolled his eyes in mock disgust. “You females sure know how to knock a male’s ego down.”
Phina playfully buffed her nails, then examined them, giving him a bright smile. “Just doing my part to keep males humble.”
Drk-vaen grumbled as Sis’tael recovered from her laughter. “What I want to know is, how we are going to get in there without going through a similar painful experience?”
Phina considered scenarios in her head for a few seconds, then assessed her body. She felt much better, not as stiff as she had moments ago. She thought back over events and realized she had been massively and dangerously depleted of energy just before plunging through the barrier. When her body felt like it was on fire, it must have been the quick pull of energy to replenish it once the drain was gone. She shook her head, not looking forward to the return to the ship.
“Phina?”
She looked up, revisited several ideas, and settled on the simplest and most likely to work based on her hazy memories. Phina braced herself, then thrust her arm forward with great force. She broke through the barrier, grabbed Drk-vaen’s hand, and pulled the Yollin through. He stumbled, and his weight pulled at her as it met the resistance of the barrier. However, within seconds, her friend had come through. Without any ceremony, Phina dropped his hand, leaving him wobbling for balance, and moved over a couple steps to accomplish the same for Sis’tael.
She wobbled too as she shook off her disorientation. “Well, that’s one way to do it.”
Phina shrugged. “Me pulling you through seemed like it would have a better outcome than you doing it yourself.”
Her friend gave her a shaky smile. “We aren’t unconscious on the ground, so I guess I can’t argue with that.”
Drk-vaen put a hand out to help Sis’tael stabilize, though Phina suspected he needed the contact as well. Phina stepped into the foliage around them to give the two some space, pushing through the dense stems and branches. She looked at the plants and the translucent barrier that buzzed with energy.
“This looks like a forcefield that is generated by the machine to protect the area around itself. Drk, how wide would you say this unlikely natural wonder is?”
He thought for a moment. “Perhaps one hundred and twenty meters?”
“Maybe someone should have come looking by now?”
Drk-vaen became more alert, his eyes searching the area. “Now that you mention it.”
“Hmmm.” Phina took one more look around, hands on her hips near where her knives were sheathed. “Let’s take a look closer to the center, but keep a watch. With foliage this thick, there could be dozens of people around without us realizing it.”
Sis’tael jerked her head from side to side, her mandibles clicking in agitation. “Thanks for sharing that disturbing thought.”
Phina gestured for the Yollins to spread out. It wasn’t until they had moved several torturous meters through the jungle-like terrain that she remembered she didn’t need to rely on her five senses.
She mentally reached out and found the minds of her friends, then expanded her search. It didn’t take long to realize that only one other mind resided in this oasis.
Phina continued forward and pushed through a leafy curtain, then stopped dead.
An Aurian male stood in front of a device that pulsed and radiated light. It was wide enough that two of her could have barely touched fingers as they spanned the circumference. A thick rod reached up from the base toward the cavern’s ceiling. Phina didn’t know how high since her full attention now rested on the male.
He appeared ragged, his clothing worn. It stretched out from his center in strips and pieces. Though he seemed thin, he appeared to be vibrantly healthy. His hair had grown to twice the length of a normal male’s, though it was uneven and the strands were unkempt and knotted.
Her perusal took her to his face. His jaw had dropped, and his bright eyes were wide with disbelief. He sputtered his shock before finally getting words out. “What? How did… Who are you people?”
Her Yollin friends turned to her with amused and expectant expressions. Phina gave them a glare they returned with innocence, inasmuch as a Yollin could convey that expression. She shook her head and decided to ignore them in favor of the crazy male…alien…person.
“We are part of a team from the Empire that came to save the people on your planet.”
He drew himself up in astonishment. “Save them? From what?”
“From that is my guess.” She nodded at the machine behind him.
If he’d had eyebrows, they would have lowered in anger and disbelief. “What do you mean by that? My shining one wouldn’t harm anything! Can’t you see what’s around you? This whole area grew because my shining one caused it to!” His claim ended triumphantly.
Phina viewed him dispassionately. This guy seemed to have no idea of the harm he had caused. That put a different twist on things. She had expected either a dead guy or a cold-blooded murderer. Instead, they found a fanatical bumbler who didn’t understand how many people had died because of him.
She sighed. “I hate to be the one to tell you, but your ‘shining one,’ as you call it, has caused thousands upon thousands of deaths.”
He gasped. “How dare you say such a thing! My shining one causes life, not death!”
Phina pulled her tablet out. “Stark, bring up the video of the planet, would you? “
“Sure thing, boss.”
She walked forward a few steps so he could see the screen, trying to ignore the hesitant steps he took backward until he couldn’t go any farther. She stopped a few paces away, turned the tablet around, and held it up. He froze; his eyes were riveted to the screen, his gaze hungrily drinking everything in.
For the first few seconds. His ensuing shock turned into a mix of disbelief and anger. “What is this? This can’t be Lyria! It’s dry and barren. Lyria is green and full of life!”
Frowning, Phina ventured. “The other Aurians called the planet Lyriem.”
“’Song of sorrow!’ What would cause them to change the name so much?” the Aurian asked.
She raised her eyebrows and pointed at the stark, barren land on the screen. “That, I imagine.”
The male stared at the screen with a scowl.
Phina sighed as if she weren’t painfully aware that the fate of life on the planet rested on the shoulders of the male in front of her and her ability to convince him to help her figure out the device. “Believe or disbelieve what we say. It won’t change what is.”
His eyes narrowed, and he glared at her. He ignored Drk-vaen and Sis’tael, who had quietly taken up flanking positions. “How do I know you aren’t showing me somewhere else and trying to trick me?”
She shrugged. “It’s possible. I’m not, but you can’t know for certain with me showing you a generic landscape. We are in a time crunch here, though.”
The male, who was leaning protectively against the machine behind him, looked pathetic. “Well, I’m not giving you my shining one just because you tell me to! I’m a highly evolved, intellectually advanced being. I need proof! I need information! I need…”
Sis’tael muttered, “A life?”
“…facts and pictures! One video doesn’t mean anything.”
Phina eyed his thin face and body, likely a result of living within the energy-suffused forcefield for years. It wasn’t until you looked into his eyes that you saw the frantic need that approached obsession. Those eyes aged the man far more than his body appeared.
“Stark?”
“Yes, Phina?”
The male cringed when he heard the voice through the tablet. Obviously, his time around tech the last few years had been rather limited. Shrugging, she steered her mind back to the issue at hand.
“If I give you a location, can you send the picture back to us?”
&
nbsp; “Sure, boss.”
Phina raised an eyebrow with an expectant look at the crazy Aurian. He shifted from side to side, biting his lip, wringing his hands, and avoiding her gaze. “What?”
“You asked for proof. We are trying to get it for you. Where did you live?”
He ducked his head rather sheepishly. “Ah. Right. We lived in Tre’falar.” Thankfully the male saw her lack of understanding and moved on to describe the direction and distance. Phina turned back to her tablet.
“Stark, you got that?”
“Yup. Coming to your tablet in ten seconds.” He counted down until the screen showed the ruins of a town. Astonishment washed over the Aurian’s face.
“This…this can’t be right.” His voice was panicked. “No, no! This can’t be all that’s left. What happened to my family? All our neighbors? My pledgemate, She-Who-Shines? They can’t all be gone!” He looked up, eyes frantic. “No, you’re still tricking me! This could have been made to look like my home, but it’s not! It can’t be!”
Phina felt twinges of sorrow for him. He had lived for years in ignorance, and the scales were now falling away from his eyes. Such revelations were painful. It would take someone with a heart of stone not to be affected.
Knowing it would be the final nail in the metaphysical coffin he had made for himself, she brought up the footage from within Stark that had been taken when his pledgemate described her escape and the ensuing disaster. The pained noises he made when he saw her face brought tears to Phina’s eyes. After handing the tablet to him, she took a few steps back to be respectful.
The male sank to his knees in front of this infernal alien device. His expression changed from pain to disbelief, then horror, and finally acceptance. He continued watching his pledgemate while Stark played the scene. His face was visibly older when he finally rose and handed it back to her, now solemn and somber.
“I was such a fool.” He shook his head, then looked up earnestly. “I didn’t know. I did try to leave and find her every few years, but this force field kept me here.” His eyes touched hers with quiet desperation.
