“Damn it,” Bannor growled. “You can’t hold this piece of trash!” He pointed to the Chyrith hanging limp in Garn’s grip. “His magic will tie your people in knots! You’re just frelling lucky we got to him first.”
“Eclipse, Quasar,” a distorted but recognizably female voice said from the doorway behind them. “Step back.”
The two military commanders stepped aside as three female figures all dressed in strange stylized blue armor and carrying black crystalline staves strode in. Bannor frowned seeing the threads of their items—magic armor? It wasn’t weak magic either. The lead figure touched the side of her helmet, the visor unfolding from around her angular gold features.
Marna focused glowing green eyes on the assemblage. Her gaze tracked to the mangled figure of the Chyrith Eclipse had identified as Councilor Gharad.
“Koass, I really can’t let you take him… for a lot of reasons. The Kriar people have to know how dangerous these creatures are and the threat they pose.” She glanced to Senalloy.
“He’ll get away!” Bannor snarled. “You can’t stasis this guy. I know. I can tell. The moment he’s conscious he will cut through your teleport blocks like they aren’t there! I got him only because he was cocky. These guys aren’t afraid of the eternals, they aren’t afraid of anything and there’s a reason!”
“And how would you know this, Child?” Marna said, staring at him with burning eyes.
“Because I’m frelling covered in his blood—!” He stopped as a wave of dizziness made the room do a slow roll in his vision. Sarai came and helped steady him. He swallowed and forced himself to focus. “You can’t hold him… I don’t know if we can.”
The smaller of the blue armored figures opened her visor. The elfin face of Eladrazelle was revealed.
“I knew this would happen,” Aarlen growled, brushing back her white hair. “This miscreant is so going to disappear…”
“No, he’s not,” Dominique growled, moving out of the group to stand with Marna. She pointed at the Kriar matriarch. “We are going to have a talk about this though. You didn’t call me—you said you would.”
“Okay, okay,” Wren blurted, holding up her hands. “Just calm down. I’ll fix it.”
Koass turned an incredulous look on her. “You’ll fix it?”
Marna folded her arms. “Explain.”
“Glad to,” Wren responded stepping forward and cracking her knuckles. “Give me a little room,” she made shooing gestures to clear the other members of the coven from around her. She brushed back her gleaming blonde hair and held out her hand. “Loric, give me Mon’istiaga.”
The gray-haired elder blanched and took a step back. “You jest.”
“I do not,” she said, keeping a level stare on him. “You want to make sure this creep doesn’t get away? I’ll fix him.”
“He can’t stand trial with his head chopped off!” Marna growled.
Wren rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to kill him. I’m simply going to make a little adjustment.”
“A little adjustment??? With a sword that cuts planets in half?” Aarlen rumbled. “Am I the only one who’s skeptical?”
“Mon’istiaga and I have an agreement,” Wren said. “He behaves or he never gets to come out and play.”
“Loric, trust Wren,” Gaea said. “I believe she knows what she’s about.”
Loric glanced around. “You’re sure, Wren?”
The blonde ascendant sighed. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m a big girl now. Hadn’t you noticed?”
The elder winced. “That’s what worries me.”
“We’ll take it slow. I haven’t tried using him as a full ascendant.”
Loric blew out his cheeks and reached over his shoulder into empty air. A ringing sound resonated through the room as the powerful blade of Shiva manifested in blaze of red sparks.
Loric’s hand shook as the weapon thrummed and vortexes of blue, gold, and green spun in dizzying orbits around the shimmering blade. The power around the item made the air itself seem to bleed.
“Wow, he’s pretty excited,” Wren remarked.
“I’m feeling a bit antsy too…” Damay said, holding a hand to her chest.
“Are you really sure?” Loric said, wincing as the weapon twisted and writhed in his grip, the air in the room was rippling and gusting as the mystic energies from the artifact of the first ones pulsed like a beating heart.
“Give it here,” she said. “He’s just trying to intimidate all the shaladens. It’s a competitive sword thing.”
“It’s doing a good job!” Tal rumbled.
Wren pried the weapon out of Loric’s hand, as her fingers closed fully around the hilt, a roar of power crashed around her, making the wind shriek and her body burn like golden fire.
“Oooh, that feels good,” Wren murmured in an echoing voice that made the room tremble. The blonde ascendant’s face was lost in shadow, and her blonde hair whipped and writhed as though in a gale. Her glowing blue eyes had become livid slits of smoking flame.
Bannor felt Sarai clutch his arm. Daena and Janai who had been lost in the crowd suddenly had him between them and Wren.
The Kel’varan sighed, the chamber seeming to flex and resonate with her breathing. She put a hand on Loric’s shoulder. The powerful elder flinched like he expected it to hurt. “You see,” Wren boomed. “Mon’istiaga’s thing is fear and intimidation. The more scared you are, the better he likes it. He is very, very male. He reads your thoughts and auras. If fear and intimidation are part of your make-up, he just naturally has to demonstrate his authority.” She took a step toward Aarlen, the blade rumbled like a hungry animal. The pale woman swayed back, holding herself still, but obviously affected by the display. “He really likes you Aarlen.”
“I can’t say it’s mutual,” the elder replied in a tight voice. “Do you really have control of that thing?”
“Does a rider really have control of the horse?” Wren looked around. “Garn, bring that freak over here so we can get this over with.”
“I still don’t understand,” Marna growled. “What can a sword do?”
“Shiva was a disciple of destruction,” Wren said. “This blade cuts anything—hopes, dreams… it can cut your bones and leave no scratch.”
Garn stomped up with the Chyrith under his arm. The blue-skinned eternal frowned, his glowing eyes flickering. “This ain’t honorable, but I can’t say this blight deserves any less.”
Wren held the blade in both of her hands. “Mon, if you draw so much as one drop of this arse’s blood, I am never using you again. Is that understood?”
The weapon made a moaning sound.
“I mean it. You cut his magic and that’s it. They need his mind and they need his spirit—just his magic. Got it?”
The blade made a rumbling.
She crashed the weapon on the floor. The strike made everyone in the room reel back a step.
“I mean it!” she yelled at the weapon.
Mon’istiaga made a different sound, one that sounded more like acquiescence.
“All right then,” Wren said. She stepped up and made a crosswise cut through the Chyrith’s abdomen.
The insensate creature howled. Its eyes went wide, shafts of light radiating from dark orbs. The entity’s body thrashed and writhed for a moment and then went still.
“Ewww,” Daena breathed.
“Do it again,” Sarai growled, huddling close to Bannor. He pulled her closer.
Wren was studying the Chyrith and shaking her head. “Damn these creatures are powerful.”
“What is it?” Marna asked.
Gaea raised her chin. “His magic is growing back.”
“How is that even frelling possible?” Aarlen wondered.
“I think if you stasis him now, the growth will be slowed enough that his magic won’t be a problem for a while,” Bannor said. “His magic is g
oing to need regular trimming. I—” He shook his head, noting the speed at which the entity’s threads were restoring themselves. As powerful as his own tao was, this Chyrith possessed a life-force even more persistent. “Just whoa. I don’t know why I’m still alive.”
“Because you don’t know your own strength,” Wren murmured, her voice echoing and pinging in the room. She raised the blade of Shiva, the weapon rumbled and hissed. “You know Marna, it might be better if this guy was dead. I can’t stand guard over him with Mon’istiaga night and day—that would be dangerous.”
Marna was staring at the Chyrith, obviously conflicted. “Koass—truly—for the sake of my people we need to hold this—thing—here on Fabrista Homeworld. We need to show this threat for what it is.”
“It’s not going to help,” Senalloy said, shaking her head. “If the masters come…” She blew out her cheeks.
“These creatures can’t be invincible,” Koass said.
“They have whole galaxies as breeding colonies,” Senalloy said. “They crush resistance like a swarm of insects. There’s no way to stop that without numbers… numbers that don’t exist in Eternity. They have unified an entire universe to their purpose.” She sighed. “Our universe…” She gestured to Gaea. “Our universe…” Her voice trailed off. “I was really getting fond of being free.”
“We don’t know for sure they are coming here,” Marna said.
“No,” Senalloy said. “We just have a spy. One of the ruling cast here on Homeworld. Why would one of them come when they have trillions of slaves?”
“Trillions?” Someone murmured.
“Koass,” Senalloy said. “Help Marna. Neuter the Chyrith if you can. Put him on trial, make an example, get the Kriar people in the fight. As we know, the Karanganoi didn’t go near the Chyrith, the Chyrith went after them. If this agent was here, Fabrista Homeworld is targeted. This whole incursion was a test to assess our strength. Homeworld, the Protectorate, every god, every goddess, every elder in this universe and all their combined resources—that’s what it will take—just to slow these creatures down. If you don’t have a completely unified front, whole worlds will fall in days. Once they get a foothold they can’t be stopped. The only thing that gives us any chance at all is that Gaea is personified here in the flesh. They won’t be able to turn her against us—” She swallowed. “At least I hope not.”
“Well, ain’t that a rosy picture yer painting?” Tal muttered, rubbing the back of his head. “Here I was starting to get bored…”
“If they aren’t stopped, it’s a lifetime of war, an eternity of never ending battle.” She let out a breath. “To do what we did,” she gestured to the mangled Chyrith. “That will never be forgiven if they learn of it.”
“Your words have a frightening ring of truth,” Marna said.
“What the frell do we do?” Daena burst out. “We can’t mobilize an entire universe. I mean I don’t want to be anybody’s slave or anything, but this is…” Her voice trailed off.
“It’s big,” Aarlen said. “It’s big and I’ve been expecting it. So, have Vulcindra and Elsbeth. Right?” She glanced over at the red-haired Shael Dal.
Elsbeth pushed a hand through her hair. “The sixty-one worlds of the thirty-first magocracy have been preparing to fight for centuries. Albeit our preparations were against a Daergon incursion, but these Chyrith seem a far more insidious evil…”
“Wren,” Garn rumbled. “Cut this slob again, he’s starting to twitch.”
Everybody glanced back to the giant blue eternal. Indeed the Chyrith was twitching.
“You know, we’ve been standing here talking,” Corim said. “Isn’t anyone worried this creature might go into shock and die?”
“Killing that frelling thing is the least of our worries,” Bannor growled. “Keeping it unconscious and preventing it from killing anyone else is the problem.”
Wren made another slash through the body of the creature causing it to yell out and thrash in pain. Another creature and there might have been some empathy among the observers, but no-one seemed ready to give solace to this invader.
“Gaea,” Marna asked. “Can you keep this creature detained?”
The green mother looked at the Chyrith. After a moment she sniffed. “It is within my capabilities, yes.”
Marna stared at her. “Why are you answering that way?”
“Because,” Gaea answered. “You were going to come in here without telling us, without the eternals as back up and we not only would have lost him, we would have lost you as well.”
“You don’t know that.”
Gaea folded her arms. “I do know that. Aarlen might be excessive in her criticism of you, but she is not wholly wrong about your motives in this maneuver. You would have swept this under your skirt and denied us access to this villain.”
“It was just supposed to be a misguided Kriar citizen!” Marna bristled.
“My child,” Gaea pointed to Bannor. “Made it possible for you to track down the seeds of dissent this beast has been sewing. I—we—expect a little more courtesy.”
Marna glared at Eladrazelle. The little Kriar looked back.
After a moment, the matriarch deflated. “All right, Gaea,” she looked around. “Koass—everyone—I apologize. We will endeavor to demonstrate more solidarity in the future. Especially if this creature represents the threat that Senalloy says.”
“I accept,” Gaea said. “As Eladrazelle says, having this creature in the open is making me nervous. Leave us all go to a place you know to be secure.”
Eclipse tapped something on his arm. “Tarkath Shargris requesting secure point-to-point transport to security station Sabre-alpha. Alert Tarkath Chauser and have him on station to verify secure.” There was an acknowledging tone.
Wren put Mon’istiaga on her shoulder and looked around. “Yes, I’m feeling that nervous thing too.”
“If any Daergons come near us, I’m knocking them into next week,” Daena said.
“How closely was this councilor tied to the Daergons?” Koass asked Marna.
“Before Bannor’s intelligence, his connections were covered perfectly. There is a great deal of circumstantial hints that indicate a great level of involvement. For instance, I surmise that the genemar being used to attack the savants and the eternals was as Gaea surmised… a newly manufactured genemar.”
People in the room murmured.
“Damn, so I just now destroyed the real one then,” Bannor said.
“Or perhaps another duplicate,” Gaea said with a frown. “I don’t like that prospect.”
“Aye,” Koass said. “There’s no solace in that to be certain.”
“So,” Marna continued. “Despite everything we garnered from Bannor and our investigations, there were a lot of things pointing here but nothing really solid to confirm it. It wasn’t until I felt Dominique gate here, that I surmised you had ascertained his identity magically.”
Dominique frowned. “You were monitoring me?”
Marna raised an eyebrow. “I knew neither you nor your friends were going to wait for due process. If you could get to him first you would… So, of course, I was not going to let you abscond—” Her voice cut off and her eyes went wide.
At the same instant Bannor felt some kind of energy surge from outside whatever structure they were in. “Out!” He yelled. “Get us out now!”
Bannor dragged Sarai and Janai close, then pulled Daena so that he and she shielded the two princesses with their bodies. He felt flash heat on his already burned skin and a demon wind gusted through his hair. He spun Xersis into a shield around them all just as the air in the room flared white and an ear
numbing roar shook glass and furniture to pieces. A shock like being hit with a mallet spun the four of them. Sarai and Janai screamed. At the same time he felt the threads of eternity twist and kink around them.
The bubble of the shaladen encasing their bodies hit with a slam, bringing Sarai, Janai, and Daena down on top of him with breath-stealing thud.
“Whooof!” he groaned.
“Ack!” Sarai gasped. “Urgh. H-heavy!”
“Car—ellion,” Janai gurgled. “D-dane…”
“Sorry,” Bannor felt the other ascendant brace and lift some of her weight.
Bannor saw Sarai’s violet glowing eyes blink in the darkness of the cocoon of the shaladen. “W-what happened?”
He shook his head slowly. “Don’t know,” his voice came out muffled in the tight confines. “Some kind of blast…”
There was a rapping sound on the shell of the shaladen. “You can come out…” said the muffled words.
Bannor unfolded the shaladen from around them. Still smoldering and smoking debris fell from the surface of the mystic weapon. Aarlen and some of the others were brushing cinders and flames from their hair and clothing. It looked like everyone who had been in the chamber including Marna and her guards stood on the ledge in the vast chasm that Bannor remembered from his first “official” entry into Homeworld. Kriar and the creatures of a dozen other races were staring at the group as they tamped out flames and tossed off burning clothing.
Bannor helped Sarai and Janai to stand. “Sorry about being rough.”
“Where’s mother?” Sarai said looking around.
Janai pointed. “She, Father and Rye are okay.” She let out a sigh. She gave Bannor’s arm a squeeze. “Thanks, Brother.” She shook her head. “My ears—I can barely hear.”
The Queen focused on them after shaking the soot and flames off her clothing. She rushed over to give her daughters a hug. “That—that was too close.”
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