A small smile curled on her face, a single thought in her mind.
She loves him.
***
I shouldn’t have done that, Taylor thought, wiping her eyes and pushing every thought of Q out of her mind.
She glanced at the sheath in her hand, feeling the rough black leather under her skin. She looked around the hangar, and made sure no one was coming.
Her hands deftly pulled out the weapon, a nightmare-dark blade with mystic inscriptions engraved on it in ancient gold. She gripped its hilt and felt the tiny vibrations coming from within it. Her mind wavered, her thoughts pulling her back into her past with the blade. She let herself go, allowing her train of thought to take whatever path it wanted.
She remembered the last time she had used the sword, the only time she had ever used the sword. Valkyrie, as the weapon was called, was her late mother’s former weapon, and was the strongest combat weapon in the Dark Knight arsenal.
Her mind recalled the last time she had used Valkyrie. It was just one memory repeating over and over again; the time she destroyed an entire battlefield to defend the Dark Knights from Levi. She had annihilated an entire desert in the process, carving it into long mountain ranges, tall hills and deep valleys.
Q told her she had created something beautiful out of a plain desert. But she couldn’t look at it the same way. She couldn’t handle the fact that she wielded power that could level landscapes and carve out massive mountains. It didn’t felt right. It felt like she was a danger to herself.
Every time she looked at the sword, she could only remember the one time she had ever used it, the one time she had caused more destruction that she had ever seen. She wanted to give the sword away, and she would have done so, if it weren’t her mother’s possession, her final legacy.
Taylor looked at the weapon, its black blade showcasing her sharp reflection. It reminded her of the anger she had felt back then, reminded of how she lost control of her will. She slipped the blade back into its sheath and placed it by her side.
She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.
Ugh, she thought. First Q, and now this.
“May I be of assistance, Taylor?” Zelph asked.
“I forgot you can read my thoughts,” she sighed, realizing the AI probably saw the memories she had just recollected.
“Well, yeah, I can’t exactly shut myself out of them. Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like no one knows about that whole thing.”
“I’m quite sure it isn’t as bad as you make it out to be,” he said. “Though I must admit I may not know all the details of the events that transpired.”
“It’s fine,” she smiled. “Thank you.”
“Now, regarding your relationship with sorcerer Q.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What about it?”
“Well I was just-”
The ship jarred violently and Taylor flew off the floor, crashing into the wall opposite her. She quickly picked herself up, trying hard to balance herself as the ship began to tilt.
We’re crashing, she realized.
“Connecting to the Orion’s console,” Zelph said. A holographic image of the Orion appeared in front of her, showing that it was slowly tilting into a complete vertical position. “Status found. Main engine offline due to explosion.”
“That can’t be good,” she muttered as she swiftly moved onto the main deck. Everyone had already gathered there. Chris and Elizabeth were on the two secondary controls while Kai was hard at work trying to steady the ship. He had two panels on either side of his chair, and his fingers blazed past them at top speed.
The Orion didn’t show any signs of tilting back to regular position though.
“Damn it!” he yelled. “Those damn White Knights!”
Taylor’s mind sharpened. The term White Knights alone had increased her concentration.
“What happened, Kai?” Q ran onto the deck.
“Our engine was taken out by a stealth missile,” Kai said. He pointed to the viewscreen, which showed they were entering a dark planet. “The missile launched from there,” he said.
Drakon, Taylor clenched her teeth.
“The White Knights must have realized we’re here to help out with the war,” Elizabeth said.
“That just makes our job harder,” Kai muttered.
The holographic screen lit up in blood red, with the words ‘Systems Down’ written on it. Kai’s hand went limp to his side. He turned around in his seat, and looked right at them, his face frozen. “We’re going to have to fly.”
An explosion hit the deck, and the Orion imploded.
***
One moment Q found himself in the Orion.
The next he was in deep space. His mind was razor quick and he instantly summoned his Elementa of Light to create energy suits for everybody, protecting them from the harshness of space.
“Taylor wants to talk to you,” Zelph said.
“Patch her through.”
“WHERE’S RUBY?!” Taylor yelled.
“I’m here you idiots,” the Griffin floated right beside them, her wings outstretched. Griffins were accustomed to inter-space travel, which seemed weird for some reason. Q took no chances though. He formed an energy suit around her and pulled her towards them.
“Can you put everyone on one link, Zelph?” he asked.
“Done,” he said a second later.
“Guys?” Q asked.
“Yes?” they said at once.
“The energy suits will protect you from just about anything you’ll face,” he said. “I don’t know what the situation is like down there, so we may not have a soft landing. Be ready for that.”
“Okay,” Kai said, the only one to respond.
A light flame surrounded them all as they made re-entry. It lasted for a few seconds and then they shot into Drakon’s lower atmosphere. A collective gasp went through the intercom. The surface of Drakon was supposed to be dark and black.
But now it was littered with white everywhere they looked. Thousands of White Knights were all over the surface, attacking the Dark Knights.
Q could see the Palace of Darkness just a little to his right; a massive three-tower castle, with the middle tower about twice as tall as the other two. It’s dark surface, which was usually smooth and perfect, was now full of scratches and cracks.
The Palace of Darkness was the main stronghold for the Dark Knights. Levi had already breached it one time before, but the Dark Knights were lucky enough to have Taylor and Q with them then. It took both of their powers to save the Dark Knights from total annihilation.
But compared to that attack, this one seemed gigantic. The ground rushed up to them and Q could see the army of White Knights right below them all.
“Guys, we’re going to land as hard as we can,” he said. “Don’t worry, the energy suit will keep you safe.”
“This is a bad idea,” Ruby said.
Yeah, Q grinned.
All six of them thundered into the ground, sending rocks and dust flying outward. Q picked himself up almost immediately. His joints hurt but other than that he felt fine. He looked around and saw five other massive circles of barren land, and around them were a crowd of White Knights all collapsed on the ground, knocked back by their sky drop.
At least we took out a few, Q thought.
“Great job,” Zelph said. “A few hundred done, a few hundred thousand more to go.”
“You know, for an AI you sure have a ton of sarcasm,” he said. He turned back and saw the Palace of Darkness just a hundred yards away from him.
The Empress must be in there, he realized.
He was about to charge when he felt an arm on his shoulder. “Q!” a voice yelled out.
Q turned around and saw an old man in helmet-less, black battle-armor smile at him. Beside him was a fair-skinned, teenage girl in similar armor.
“Hello Commander Lokai,” he said. “Hello, Empress Andrea,” he bowed.
“Y
ou really shouldn’t do that during a battle,” she smiled.
“We’re okay for now,” Kai and everyone else rushed up to them. “But it won’t be that way for long.”
The White Knights mobilized again and were crowding around them once more. Q activated his Elementa of Light, and his entire body began to glow with a bright white light.
“Oh dear, the entire gang is here now,” a voice boomed through the air. A man in White Knight armor broke from the army and walked towards them, all cool and calm.
He removed his helmet, and made his way forward. His wavy black hair flew through the air, and his lips curled into a wide smile.
“Albion,” the Empress clenched her teeth. “Of all times, you chose to come now.”
“Why of course,” he smiled. “I can only make an appearance if the full audience is present.”
Wait, did he expect us to come here? Q worried.
“You seem confused, sorcerer,” Albion smirked at him. “Yes, we did believe you’d come here.”
“We?” Taylor asked.
“My, my,” Levi appeared out of thin air, the Masked Magician right beside him. “Don’t tell me you actually thought he was working alone.”
“Q, I’m getting feedback from a weapon located outside the atmosphere,” Zelph said. “Based on your memory files it’s called the Infinity Cannon.”
Q’s eyes widened. He can’t be serious.
Levi turned to him, a wicked look in his eyes. “It was nice knowing you.”
***
He’s got to be kidding, Taylor thought.
“He’s joking,” Kai said. “Even if the Infinity Cannon used the Lambda Driver it’d take more than twenty four hours to charge. It hasn’t been that long since he last used it.”
“Quite knowledgeable,” Levi smiled, both impressed and annoyed at once. “But there are things far worse than an Infinity cannon.”
The dark surface below them trembled harshly, and everyone fell to the ground. No doubt the Masked Magician was using his Elementa of Gravity.
“Let’s have some fun shall we?” the Magician grinned.
“Attack!” Albion yelled and the White Knights charged immediately.
Taylor looked around. There were about two thousand Knights charging into them at once.
Shouldn’t be too hard, she thought and reached for her sword. Her fingers hesitated for a moment, but she powered through her thoughts.
Valkyrie slid out of its sheath, and glowed in the pale light. She saw the Knights around her hesitate to advance, the sheer aura of the blade pushing them back.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” she smiled. Her mind infused her body with her life energy. She imagined it flow into every bone, every muscle and every cell of her very being. A dark flame burned around the blade of the sword, and the inscriptions began to glow.
Everyone around her brought out their Elementa. Kai’s shards of metal shot out in a circle, aided by Chris’ blazing bursts of wind. Elizabeth knocked out soldiers by the hundred with her Elementa of Earth. Q stood in between them all, powering his Elementa of Lightning and Fire to the max. Bolts of bright lightning shot down from the sky, and blazing-red fire storms started all over the battlefield.
Chaos had begun.
Taylor battled past the Knights that dared to charge her, their attacks hardly scratching her. She parried and attacked, sending hundreds of Knights down in the matter of minutes. The battlefield around her was clearing up faster as the Dark Knight army pushed forward as well.
“You seem to be having fun,” the Masked Magician materialized right before Taylor. He stretched his hands, and a wave of wind threw all the White Knights away, giving them both some space to battle it out.
“Why don’t you go fight Q?” Taylor asked, irritated.
“Don’t joke around,” he chuckled. “Ever since you became a sorcerer, everyone knows you’ve become the stronger one.”
Taylor gripped her sword tight. She had never fought the Masked Magician before, and this really didn’t seem like a convenient time for a first try.
The Magician threw his hands up into the air and a twister of black sand covered him up completely. One moment the sand was straight like a pillar, hiding the Magician from view, and the next it shot outward in a wave of debris. Taylor shielded herself from the harsh sand. The Magician rushed up to her and kneed her in the stomach.
Taylor flew through the air, and landed hard on her back. She gasped for breath, and she felt around, trying to see what she broke. Thankfully she had infused her body with enough life energy to make herself more durable than normal.
But that didn’t prevent her from feeling pain. She lay still on the ground, trying to catch her breath. Her lungs felt like they had just exploded. Her muscles felt like they’d been torn, and her bones felt like they’d been broken.
“Is that all you’ve got?” the Magician asked disappointedly.
She pushed herself off the ground, Valkyrie gripped tightly in her fingers.
Bear the pain, she told herself.
The Masked Magician disappeared and reappeared twenty yards away from her. She pushed all her power into her body and shot forward right at him. Valkyrie vibrated harshly as the sword flooded with raw power.
The Magician’s smile dropped, but it was too late for him to do anything. Valkyrie pierced right through his chest, the sword’s power proving too much for the man.
I’m sorry, Taylor thought as she pulled her sword out, letting the man collapse to the floor.
“That was quite a good attack,” another Masked Magician appeared beside the one on the ground.
“Damn it. A clone,” she muttered, and gripped her sword tighter, ready to attack once more.
“Not really,” a wide smirk shone through the Magician’s mask.
The clone began to glow, and a layer of glowing dust floated away from its body, revealing something else underneath.
Taylor’s heart stopped at the sight before her. Her mind went crazy.
A girl lay on the floor, her blood red hair floating gently in the wind, her pale skin glowing in the light. Her flame-colored eyes stared at her, sad and forgiving all at once.
“ELIZABETH!” Taylor gasped, her hands clasping her mouth, her sword dropping to the ground.
Elizabeth coughed up blood. “It’s not your fault, Taylor,” she said weakly, her wings of snow white lying outstretched beneath her body, silent and still.
“No! No! NO!” Taylor dropped to her knees, her eyes wide in horror, her body quivering. “This can’t be happening.”
Elizabeth smiled, “Q is yours to protect,” she whispered.
And Aliea’s guardian angel closed her eyes.
Forever.
***
2-3
Taylor’s mind was in complete disarray. The walls around her were pure white, with high-tech lines of neon purple running along them, their ends curling into small circles.
A holding cell, she realized.
Her hands and legs were secured to the walls with orange energy bonds. She didn’t even try breaking free. She knew she couldn't.
The hum of running engines was nowhere to be heard, which meant she wasn’t on a White Knight ship. A ground base maybe. But it didn’t matter to her. All that she could think of was what she had done.
Elizabeth’s face popped into her vision over and over again, the Seraphian’s words echoing in her mind until she got sick of them.
Q is yours to protect.
A part of Taylor’s mind concealed everything that had happened with Elizabeth. She knew she couldn’t handle any of it if she actually thought about it. Her mind was in no state to bear the harsh reality of what had happened. Instead she tried to remember what had happened after that battle, but she couldn’t recollect a single moment.
Zelph? she called out, but the AI unit didn’t reply.
A door slid open. “Ah! Our favorite Dark Knight is finally awake,” Levi walked into the room, followed by no one else.
Taylor looked at him blankly. Usually she felt rage whenever she saw this green-eyed devil. But now all she felt was a dull sensation. The only thing she could actually feel was the longing to feel something.
“C’mon now, don’t be so dull,” Levi grinned at her. “You helped us out a lot!”
Those words snapped Taylor’s mind out of its daze. “What?” she asked.
What is he talking about? she thought.
“After you killed Elizabeth everyone went into a state of shock. You gave us a big enough distraction to get what we wanted.”
That’s how he was able to capture me, she thought. He used the distraction.
“You weren’t the only one we captured, you know,” he smiled.
She tensed, her breath stopping in her throat.
“Well, it’d be easier to just show you,” he said and looked to the wall opposite them. It rumbled as it split off from the ceiling and sank into the floor. A glass panel stood behind it, separating her and Levi from the room on the other side.
An inclined glass table was inside the other room, and on it lay a black-haired, grey-eyed boy.
Taylor’s eyes widened, “Q!” she yelled.
“Now, now,” Levi said. “This is not the time to be yelling. He can’t hear or see us. We’ve dulled his senses with our own special...concussion.”
“You monster!” she yelled. She tried to summon her Elementa of Darkness and break free, but nothing happened.
He sighed. “I thought you’d realize you’re too weak to use your powers,” he said. “Q is in the same condition. How convenient that you and Q come to me this helpless just when I needed it.”
Taylor kept silent, her mind trying to anticipate what was yet to come, trying to anticipate what she could do. Levi looked at the room and nodded. A section of the ceiling slid open and a cubical black machine lowered down.
“What are you doing?” Taylor’s eyes went wide, and her breath, erratic.
“Just what is necessary,” he smiled cheerfully.
Tentacle-like arms extended out of the machine. Each one was made of snow-white metal, and had a sharp needle at the tip.
The Quest Saga Collection: Books 1 - 5 Page 84
