by Nathan Wall
“We would have been great together,” she whispered, sticking the sword deeper into his flesh. “All you had to do was love me.”
“Your father really did a number on you,” Jarrod coughed, smiling. “When are you going to learn that maybe it isn't the men in your life, and that it really is just you?”
“I should have known it would never work with a remake. Your blood is not pure enough.” Maya grinned, licking her thick crimson lips. “But your mouth is certainly inviting.”
She kissed him, slithering her tongue down his throat. His skin grew pale the harder she sucked on his lips. Jarrod wrapped one arm around her back, shifted the other up her chest along her breast, and then around her neck. The color returned to his skin as massive chunks of the suit flowed off her body and onto his, demolishing her wings. The two tumbled back to the ground, spinning out of control. The chrome-black and pale-blue armor reformed over Jarrod's body. He kicked her away and toward the ground.
“I hope you learned how to fly without wings.” Jarrod laughed, spreading his arms and forming the wingsuit. He soared toward the large fertilizer plant on the edge of town with the wound on his shoulder tearing even further. He skidded to a stop. Maya slammed through the complex, causing a large portion of the facility to explode. “I guess not.”
Fire sprouted high into the night sky and a rush of air whooshed over him, blowing away dirt, sand, and small debris. Several smaller explosions erupted in a zigzag, slowly getting closer to where he was standing. The suit’s vision filtered out the extreme heat fluctuations of light and focused on Maya who ran toward him. Jarrod dug his feet into the ground and pushed off, creating a plume of dust in his wake as he sprinted toward her. He leapt into the air and smashed into her, driving her back through the plant.
They tore through several silos, toppling the structures down on themselves. They exchanged quick blows to the sternum, intertwining with one another as they continued to spin in a circle. Jarrod twisted her left arm end-over-end and drove his right hand into her elbow, snapping it. Maya stood, popped her arm back into place, and dug a palm into his gaping shoulder wound.
The fire continued to rage hotter as their suits adjusted for the temperature, but relayed to their minds just how intense the flames were getting. Metal staircases and walkways melted. The complex tilted in on itself, groaning. Jarrod kicked her shin, bringing Maya to her knees, and drove his hand into her face, blasting her though an office and out onto the main street.
Maya bounced off the road, kicking up dust clouds of asphalt, and rolled to a stop. Jarrod soared through the air and landed on top of her. The fertilizer plant erupted once more, tearing through the surrounding area. The explosion tore chunks of their armor off of them. Fire washed over Maya and Jarrod, eviscerating half of the town in the process. Smoke billowed into the air like a mushroom cloud. The earth shook for miles.
The flames subsided. Jarrod and Maya became visible to each other, slowly pushing themselves to their feet. Maya held her starstone and her suit slowly stretched back together. Jarrod's armor was torn to shreds with just a few aurascales still holding together. It remained stagnant, unable to repair the damage. Maya smiled, the starstone glowing in her right hand, and reopened the rift, bringing Lian and Sanderson out of the other end. Maya glanced at them and jumped behind Jarrod, putting him in a chokehold.
“You could not drain enough of my star to save yourself.” Maya licked his face, feeling a pull of animalistic sexual tension she was ill prepared for. “I thought about letting you live long enough to watch me kill them, but you have already proven yourself to be more than I care to deal with any longer. Perhaps having them watch you die is just as rewarding.”
Jarrod struggled to move, but she kicked the back of his knees and forced him to the ground. She looked at Lian and blew her a kiss. Lian put her fingers to her head, focusing on Maya.
“As I have said before, you cannot reach me when I have the protection of the whole starstone.” Maya giggled, slowly twisting Jarrod's head up and to the right.
“I know that,” Lian replied with a stone cold look.
“Then why are you trying to reach inside my mind?”
“She isn’t,” Jarrod laughed. “She’s telling me to remove more of the star from you so that she can.”
He slapped the stone from her clutches and it hovered between both of their outstretched hands. Maya released Jarrod and latched onto the stone just as he did. Their fingers dug into the metal object, tearing it in half and exposing the glowing pink center. Lian entered Maya's mind, freezing her. Jarrod absorbed his half of the stone and repaired the damage to his suit. Maya's half of the starstone bounced off the street as she stood naked and frozen.
“Not so tough now, are you?” Lian smiled, winking at Maya.
“You are a fool,” Maya said, unable to move her mouth. The second half of the starstone began pulsating. The light which beamed out grew more intense. Her stomach convulsed; unable to control her laughter. “A star not made whole must to be put to rest. Otherwise, it collapses.”
“What is she talking about?” Jarrod asked, looking back at Lian and Sanderson. “How do we put it at rest?”
“It's going to create a reverse blast.” Lian released Maya from her mental grasp. “Stop it.”
“A reverse blast?” Jarrod asked. “Like the weapon I used to take down Oreios’ rock monsters?”
“Except bigger,” Lian replied.
“I cannot stop it.” Maya tugged at her hair, her eyes wide, yet angry. Her laugh bubbled from deep inside her gut. She indulged herself on their ignorance to their impending demise. “I can only do it with the whole star in my grasp.”
A pink vapor trail formed around her and ripped her through space and time against her will. Something angry awaited her.
“That’s it? Come back,” Jarrod yelled, jumping at where Maya used to be. He looked at Lian, but as if reserved to her fate she shook her head. “Come on, let's go. We have time.”
“I've seen it,” she said calmly, grabbing Jarrod's hand. “We won't outrun it.”
“You guys had half a star,” Jarrod looked at Sanderson, yelling. “How did you put it at rest?”
“We didn’t. We reactivated its power with a nuclear reactor and allowed it to constantly rebuild its metal alloy. It stabilizing was an accident.” Sanderson walked over to Lian and gave her a hug. He tilted his head back and looked in her eyes. “Your brother is alive. Read my mind. Find him and be happy.”
Jarrod walked over to the stone and touched it, but was blasted back. The skin on his right hand was completely charred. He looked at Lian, shaking his head.
“No.” Snot ran down Lian's lips and chin. She shoved her face into Sanderson's chest and gripped tightly to his shirt. The stone rose into the air, shaking. A loud ring protruded from it. She sobbed. “He'll save you. Not me. You.”
“Form your armor over her like you did to me in Moscow,” Sanderson yelled, trying to get his voice over the high pitched squeal. He clamped his hands over his ears, but blood still seeped through his fingers. He looked to Jarrod. “I'm sorry I couldn't be the father the two of you deserved.”
“I can save you both.” Jarrod placed his hands on their shoulders. Slowly, the aurascales spread over them. However, there wasn't enough power to completely form the armor over both of them. He reluctantly lifted his hand off Sanderson's shoulder and hugged Lian, whispering to her, “I'm sorry.”
“No. Don't do it.” She struggled to pull away from Jarrod, but he squeezed tighter. She clamped her fingers onto his face, trying to poke inside his mind. “I'll find your damn soul and compel it. You freak. Let me go and save him.”
Jarrod looked at Sanderson who writhed in pain on the ground. The two connected eyes for the last time. Jarrod scooped his arms under Lian and sprinted away from the stone as one final pulsating beam of light erupted from the glowing center. A forceful tsunami of air slammed into his back, toppling him over, and rolled them across the ground. Sudd
enly, they stopped moving and slowly hovered into the air. All sound vanished from their surroundings. They could both feel themselves slowly being sucked back toward the center of the riptide.
“Hold tightly, damn it.” Jarrod wrapped his legs around her waist, curled both arms under hers, and dug his hands into the ground.
The force grew stronger, tearing portions of the armor off of them. Trees, animals, cars, buildings, the street, and just about everything else was pulled apart and sucked into the tide one atom at a time.
Lian's grasp started to slip, so Jarrod pulled his injured arm out of the ground and grabbed her wrist. A large wave of earth lifted into the air and smashed down on top of them. Calm returned to their surroundings.
After several minutes of ominous serenity on the surface, Jarrod punched through the ground. He pulled himself up, tired and worn from dragging Lian out of the several feet of dirt and rubble. He stood and looked around in awe of what he saw. She rolled to her stomach, coughing up dust as well as slowly taking in the devastation. Everything around a ten mile radius was completely wiped out, and it all looked now like a desert wasteland. He lowered his hand and helped her to her feet, draping his injured arm around her shoulder.
“Can you do me a favor?” he asked, the aurascales vanishing from his body. She nodded. He continued to talk softly, falling to his knees. “Can you see if you can find Claire and Austin's thoughts?”
Lian closed her eyes, grimacing as she searched for several minutes. Finally, a smile crept to her face as she opened her eyes, crying, and jumped on top of Jarrod. She kissed his cheek and held tightly to his neck. He rubbed her back, taking in a long, deep breath.
“Tell them we'll be right there.” He sighed, trying to stand up before lying back down. “Better make it a few more minutes. In fact, why don't they just come pick us up?”
“I think they can manage that.” Lian nodded, closing her eyes and putting her fingers to her temple. “Where do we go from here?”
“We grow the family,” Jarrod said, gently rubbing her knee. “We find your brother like Sanderson wanted.”
Epilogue
Hordes of helicopters and drones swarmed over the demolished wasteland. Violent, dry winds blew in from the south, hammering the flat desert area like a giant blow dryer. Grains of earth and debris kicked into the air and swirled around as several dust devils sprouted up and washed over the hundreds of men who poured out of the helicopters and large army trucks.
Above the ruckus, two men hovered in the air, undetectable to the people below. Large wings with shimmering feathers in various shades of red softer than a baby's touch, yet made up of millions of aurascales extended from their backs and out of their large cloaks. Each wore a hood draped over his head. They slowly lowered to the ground and landed behind a group of men that piled out of a massive truck.
Travis and Christian marched to the frontline of the soldiers with black goggles pressed firmly over their eyes, shielding them from the particulates in the air. They looked at each other and then nodded at their men, commanding them to search the area where a small town and a fertilizer plant used to be.
“Do you think it was him?” Christian asked, scanning the tablet on his left wrist. A blinking dot appeared, indicating a spot underneath the ground about a mile ahead. He looked up and circled his finger in the air. A Humvee emerged from a dual rotor helicopter, pulled alongside them, and stopped, allowing them to hop onto the back. They each held handlebars and Christian tapped the side, letting the driver know they were ready to go. The vehicle sped toward the target, passing through the hooded figures as if they weren't even there. “I've got a signal. It's similar to the one that was stolen.”
“It seems mighty coincidental for another event to happen here.” Travis looked at Christian, yelling above the deep purring of the Humvee engine. “Why didn't he come back to us?”
“Would you?” Christian shook his head, smirking. “Hershiser says he killed his team. Makes sense that he would come back to his home and do this here. I never trusted him.”
“He always got under your skin.” Travis rolled his eyes. “It's not that you never trusted him.”
The Humvee stopped, sliding up to the source of the signal. Christian and Travis disembarked and jogged to the position where the signal originated. The two invisible men stood behind them.
“We're above it.” Christian pointed at the ground. He looked over to the men in the vehicle. “Get the drones to dig it up. It looks to be a couple meters down.”
Three drones soared in and hovered over the area. Several laser pointers created a circle about six feet in diameter around the intended target area. Several quick pulses of energy blasted into the dirt, quickly carving a hole into the ground. When they reached the desired depth, the drones stopped slicing the path and flew off.
A helicopter hovered into the area and quickly landed. More dirt was sprayed around as a man in a tight black suit, fedora hat, and Wayfarer sunglasses stepped out of the helicopter. While other men ducked and shielded their faces from the wind and dust, this man didn't. When he approached, a noticeable lump in the side of his neck was prominent. Christian walked up to the man and handed him the tablet off his wrist.
“Hershiser, sir,” he said, leading the way to the hole. “Upon arriving, our equipment started picking up a familiar signal. It's faint, but could it be the one Oreios stole?”
“No.” Hershiser shook his head, looking intently at the tablet. He gave it back to Christian and looked down into the hole. “It's a completely different one.”
He snapped and a drone quickly lowered into the hole, latched onto the artifact, and then hovered back to the top. Hershiser stuck his palm out and the half-stone was neatly placed inside his grasp. The normally glowing center was dull and nearly colorless. He wrapped his fingers tightly around the slate-gray starstone and smiled.
“I'll take it to headquarters and analyze it further,” he said, walking away. “You've done well here.”
“Should we continue to search the area for survivors? For him?” Travis asked, following Hershiser.
“No. They're all dead and he's not here.” Hershiser hopped into the helicopter and the propeller started to crank up.
“What should we tell the news?” Travis asked.
“That a fertilizer plant exploded and demolished the town, claiming hundreds of lives. It was all a great tragedy.” He looked at Travis and removed his sunglasses. The color in his eyes glowed with a faint orange tint. He smiled. “In no way, shape, or form are we to link this with Moscow, London, or the other sites. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.” Travis saluted Hershiser and stepped away from the helicopter as it lifted off the ground. He turned around and walked past the two invisible figures.
Both of the transparent men looked at each other, slowly pulling the hoods off their heads. Thick, curly blonde hair hung shoulder-length on the first one, draping delicately over his fair skin and matching beautifully with his radiant blue eyes. The second man had dark, brown hair buzzed down to the scalp to match his amber eyes in perfect harmony with his tan skin reminiscent of long, sun-kissed Mediterranean days. The suit underneath the blonde man's cloak was reinforced by red aurascales and thick silver plates. He looked at his brother, Uriel, and nodded.
“Beelzebub has a new host,” Uriel said, walking over to the hole which was seared into the ground. “Should we alert Michael?”
“It is worth noting, but our current objective takes precedence,” Gabriel replied, looking around the horizon. His armor formed over his head, creating the look of a tiger as the red armor stretched across his face and reshaped it. The aurascales formed his nose, mouth, ears, and skin while silver streaks formed three triangular tiger stripes over his eyes, cheeks, and chin. His vision was enhanced, allowing him to see for miles on end. “Hundreds of lives were taken here today. Their souls are missing. We need to locate them and guide them to their final resting place.”
“What if we are unable
to find them?” Uriel breathed heavily, kneeling down and sifting his hand through the dirt. “A star has not collapsed in ages. Portals are opening all over the globe. Souls are vanishing. What is going on? Are the Corners arising from the ashes?”
“The Earth is different and has been reshaped since the Corners were destroyed. Their alliances are broken and their map is destroyed.” The aurascales retracted from Gabriel's face, allowing his blonde locks to flow freely. “All we can do right now is collect the facts and report to Michael.”
“Why do we not just ask Father?” Uriel stood.
“It is not our place to know what is going on, only to trust in Him and react accordingly.” Gabriel lifted his hand and a pink vapor trail started to sprout out of thin air.
“What of this one the humans all over the planet have been talking about?” Uriel put his hand on Gabriel's shoulder and turned him around. “Is he back? Is it possible?”
“I do not think it is him.” Gabriel looked away, pausing for a second. He then spoke to himself, under his breath. “I hope it is not…”
Acknowledgments
The following helped in some aspect, or another, in refining this story, or assisting in its readiness to see the light of day. This Novel could not have been completed without their tireless efforts, advice, and critique. I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.
- My wife, for the hours of reading with me looking over her shoulder...and the many more to come.
- My parents, for their unwavering support.
- Aunt Diane, Valerian, and Desiree, for plodding endlessly through the Novel and supplying feedback and encouragement.
- Jason and Drew, for deciding to get advanced degrees in boring sciences so that I could pick their brains and look smart.
- My brother, for making sure my butt is legally covered.
