“They were swarming me. I don’t understand. They’d never done that before….”
“You can’t trust them. Never turn your back on them—they’ll kill you the first chance they get,” she said.
“Where are Belitz, and the others? They had to have heard the commotion!”
“I came. Remember that, Decreta. When the others didn’t, I did.”
“Yes, thank you,” it said with a bow.
Her head tilted, brow furrowed. “Yes, thank you…?”
“Master Kajlit’ga.”
Kajlit’ga’s body froze in place as the mass of creatures melted into a glowing ooze that gathered around their host’s feet.
“Everything Kajlit’ga did was a lie,” their host said. “A manipulation, a twisting of truth.” The ground rumbled, and its feet sank into the glowing ooze as if in quicksand.
Panicked, the beast host’s eyes turned to Katen. It reached out for help while the ground began to shake. The lower it went, the more violent the quaking became.
Fio’tro bounded down off the ledge, followed by Fia’ra, then Katen.
Fio’tro raised his hands, which glowed with a golden light. Sprouts jutted up through the ground, and thickened into massive vines that sprawled across the ooze. Fio’tro was still the master of plants, something Katen channeled in the real world.
Katen and Fia’ra ran across the organic bridge and grabbed the beast’s hands. Their host was easier to extract then Katen expected. As it was lifted out, the shaking subsided.
When the creature was safe with them, it turned and said, “Belitz told me later that Kajlit’ga ordered them to not help me—that they would be court-martialed if they disobeyed her. He asked me not to say anything, but added he couldn’t stand seeing me be her toy. I didn’t understand it all then, but I knew something wasn’t right that day. As for Belitz and me, we became best friends after that. And those aliens—she told me they were being moved to better housing. I discovered we were removing them from their homes and transplanting them into Nukari work colonies. More of her lies. Could I blame them for wanting to kill me—any of us?”
“This beast is like us,” Fia’ra said.
“It understood what they were doing was wrong,” Fio’tro said.
Anger swelled within Katen. He didn’t want to hear how innocent the creature was, or how similar it was to him. He wanted to reach the mindscape, and do what he had been asked to do.
The scene grayed and dissolved around them. The darkened corridor returned, but without the dampness. Again the walls glowed with a gentle illumination, lighting the path forward. The floating ball of light, now with arm and leg buds, was already speeding ahead.
They came to the largest cavern expanse yet. At the far end was a bridge that spanned over a swirling whirlpool. The way to the bridge was sealed by a great dome of violet light.
“That … must be the way down,” Fia’ra said.
“But it’s blocked,” Katen snarled.
Fia’ra touched Katen’s shoulder. “Then there’s more for us to do here, my sweet. Soon the way will open.”
She pointed to the floating object as it disappeared down a different corridor. They followed to keep sight of it.
The color of the floating ball of light turned a pale blue, and slowed dramatically. A sound echoed from ahead. Dampness returned around them.
“Crying?” Fia’ra said.
They came to an adjoining corridor and found a small cavern. Alien symbols throbbed erratically within the walls. The temperature also grew notably cooler. The shadowy form of their host shuddered, down on one knee, whimpering before a blurred figure. The humanoid was distorted, incomplete, as if the memory had degraded.
“Father …”
Strained, the blurred image responded, “Decreta … you know you are my favorite. You always will be.”
Fia’ra repeated the name softly. “Decreta … our host’s name …”
The woman with the blood-orange hair phased out of the darkness next to the sobbing beast. She barked, “He left you … you, your brothers, and your sisters. He’s moved on to better projects.”
The beast’s tears turned to rage as it roared, its claws swiping through a polluted memory. The woman broke into ribbons where the beast’s hands had ripped through, ribbons that then peeled back and dissolved away. The beast appeared to have a violent reaction to the woman, the one it called Master Kajlit’ga.
“I … I can’t remember his face….”
Jagged fragments appeared from the darkness, floating before the beast. Fia’ra walked slowly toward Decreta and inspected them. Katen looked on, incensed, intuiting the needed task. Were they now to help piece together the beast’s own memory fragments? Fine. They’d do whatever it took to get to the mindscape.
“It’s like a puzzle,” Fia’ra said, reaching out, touching two fragments and gently bringing them together. They fit perfectly, revealing an ear and the sight of short, graying hair. She reached for the other pieces, and slowly joined them together. As the last piece fit into place, the object floated from her hands and meshed with the blurry object. Suddenly it turned into a smiling old man.
The image spoke again. “Decreta … you know you are my favorite son, my favorite child. You always will be.”
Decreta looked up in disbelief. “Father …”
He looked to Fia’ra and smiled thankfully, yet deep sorrow filled his eyes.
“I didn’t understand how he could abandon us, after giving us life. I thought perhaps we were nothing more than a project. He never made us feel that before. So why would he start then? It would all make sense … later.”
The images lost their color and dissolved into the floor. The air grew warmer, and the walls illuminated gently, cleared of floating symbols inside.
The floating sphere of light glowed more radiantly as it grew larger still. The stubby knobs extended, creating a masculine head shape, toned arms, and strong legs.
“This thing doesn’t look like Decreta,” Fio’tro said.
“Because it’s not!” Katen snarled.
“What could it be, then?” Fia’ra said, with a puzzled stare locked on the curious specter.
Without a sound it floated on. They had gone only a few hundred steps when they heard a pained gasp. The floating entity stopped, allowing the three to catch up. They watched as Kajlit’ga stabbed the man Decreta had called Father with a jeweled dagger. Decreta watched in horror. The breathy and pained gasp of his father played over and over.
Decreta roared angrily, “She killed him. Right in front of me. He had just told me of her treachery—tried to warn me when she found us. She stabbed at him like a crazed beast. And right then I knew, everything she ever told me was a lie.”
Blood streamed from the man’s mouth as he collapsed into a heap. Kajlit’ga turned and looked at the mindwalkers before looking back to Decreta. Katen summoned his staff in a flash of light, unwilling to take chances with this memory.
“He made you weak,” Kajlit’ga bellowed. “He held your potential back. I—I have made you strong. Never forget that without me, you are nothing. Nothing but a tainted genetics experiment!”
Katen snarled instinctively. It might be an engram, and this woman came generations after his own creator, but he knew Nukari treachery. He remembered the manipulation and the lies he, Fia’ra, and Fio’tro were fed. There was no forgetting the mental anguish they inflicted to keep them in line. And here, before him, this Kajlit’ga continued their twisted tradition.
Decreta howled with rage and lunged at Kajlit’ga’s engram. Katen took great pleasure in helping to destroy the evil memory in Decreta’s mind.
As the area warmed, Decreta turned to the mindwalkers. “Before Kajlit’ga came, Father taught us how to appreciate life, not just how to destroy it. He taught us how to use our gifts in other ways.”
As Decreta’s image dissolved, the triad found themselves at a dead end. The floating entity glowed, then stretched to Katen’s height.
Hands and feet wiggled happily. They could see a solid body outline now, and even the pronounced fauxhawk hairstyle. It didn’t appear to be their host, yet there wasn’t enough detail to tell who or what it really was. It pivoted on its newly formed legs and dashed down the corridor.
They followed it back to the whirlpool. The purple wall of light had disappeared. Decreta stood at the end of the bridge, looking into the swirling energies. “I was ready to die. Wanted to die. But, perhaps there is still hope for me.”
He dove into the swirling pool and the ground began to rumble around them. The energy drained away, leaving a pit. A rumble drew Katen’s gaze back to the cavern-like walls. They shook, then melted completely into the ground.
Katen staggered, suddenly strained.
“Are you all right?” Fia’ra said.
He waved her sentiment away.
“We could create a mental anchor. Allow you to rest, then return to the mindwalk again when you’re ready.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head.
The glowing entity ran to the end of the bridge and followed Decreta down. Katen fought the dizziness and started for the bridge. A shrilling from behind drew their attention to the sight of a twisted ball of spastic tentacles.
Katen stared at the beast, recognizing the tentacles that escaped when the beast’s mind was first breached, earlier in the mindwalk. Fia’ra and Fio’tro moved between the creature and Katen. A haze plagued Katen’s head as the others engaged in battle. He struggled, trying to ground himself firmly back in the mindwalk.
Fia’ra screamed when a tentacle lashed her side and sent her reeling to the ground. Katen felt her pain, just as he had when they were trying to escape from the Nukari. Why should he care? They were dead anyway, mental constructs.
Yet, something inside of him burned. Guilt? Obligation? It was an odd sensation he couldn’t place. Whatever it was made him feel ill. He watched Fia’ra struggle to her feet and lunge at the beast.
It was taking time, but they were hurting it. Fio’tro’s hands glowed, and thorny vines grew up around the creature. The vines began to twist like a blender, gashing into the tentacles and shearing them off. In a flash, they regrew.
Fia’ra concentrated, energy zapping between the bony protrusions along her skull. In a shriek, bolts of energy shot forward, electrocuting the beast. She hesitated, rebuilding her charge, giving the creature enough time to lash out with its tentacles. They snapped at her side and sent her reeling away, screaming in pain. Katen gnashed his teeth, inflicted again with her pain.
He could just run, dive through the hole and get to the mindscape. But what if he really did need the others to maintain the mindwalk? Fio’tro could easily have thrown him from the mindwalk before, even if it should have been impossible. If something did happen to Fio’tro and Fia’ra, he could be instantly excised from Decreta’s mind. No, he wouldn’t risk that. He gripped his hand harder, and leaned on the staff to push back to his feet.
“We fight together!” Katen yelled. “Fia’ra, we’ll open up a hole. Grow something inside it and rip it apart from its insides out.”
She snapped a gold ingot off her necklace, while Fio’tro and Katen summoned new vines that grappled the beast and pinned it to the ground. Smaller tendrils sprouted off the central stalk and spread inside the mouth, prying it open. Fia’ra threw the ingot into the creature’s mouth, then her body stiffened in focus. A shadowy blackness wafted from her body. The ingot illuminated inside the beast, then began to expand. Katen admired her molecular manipulation abilities, and enjoyed channeling them to rapidly grow plants when combined with Fio’tro’s power.
The ingot filled the creature’s mouth before spear-like barbs extended forward, gouging through the creature’s flesh. Impaled in hundreds of places, from the inside out, it met a horrid end that brought Katen elated pleasure.
Fio’tro stuck the final blow, which caused the aberrant engram to implode and disappear in a shower of light.
With the way cleared, Katen motioned and headed toward the bridge. Peering over the edge, they could see a bright light at the bottom of the deep tunnel. Together they jumped, and plunged into the pit.
Part 2:
The Mindscape
Katen looked about as they drifted down from a swirling vortex of energy. A sense of mania filled him. This was what he expected.
“It’s beautiful,” Fia’ra said, looking around.
They floated in a crystal-blue sky that met an opulent mindscape below. The tunnel through which they arrived floated like a wormhole just above them.
The fauxhawked entity that had guided them here waited patiently on a floating island directly below them. While still mesmerized by the scenic landscape, the mindwalkers floated down next to the entity.
Lush forests, tall, white-capped mountains, golden fields, and flowing rivers stretched on as far as Katen could see. Even small hamlets sprinkled the land.
“I’ve never seen a mindscape so vibrant,” Fio’tro said. “Such a change from that chaos we just left.”
Katen’s gaze remained on the distance, intrigued. A massive temple stood at the top of the largest mountain, dwarfing the land below. The Nukari symbol was chiseled into the stony walls. A wide yellow beam radiated from a central tower into the sky, while two blue beams returned in pulses to the towers on either side.
“Decreta is the leader of his unit of three beasts,” Fio’tro said flatly.
“The two he’s paired with—he’s still attempting to reach them,” Fia’ra added. “Look at the blue beams. Same with that central beam to his Nukari masters.”
“We will start at the temple,” Katen said as he leaped into the air. He collided with an invisible barrier, which flashed and threw him violently back.
“Kah-Tae’un!” Fia’ra cried, going to his aid.
Still dazed, he looked back in time to see the barrier of energy pulse one last time where he had struck. “What is this obstruction?” The entity remained silent. Katen shook his head madly. They should be free to explore the mindscape. He was so close. Perhaps the entity had something to do with this?
“What are you?” Katen snarled at the entity.
The being’s warm light ran blood red as it lurched forward in pain. The island shook while the color drained from the landscape below. The mindwalkers looked about, confused.
A great fog rolled over the mindscape as the floating island began to move. The wormhole-like tunnel disappeared into the distance as the island zipped across the sky.
When the island slowed, the fog peeled away, revealing a much different landscape. Dark, ominous ruins scattered across a desolate land replaced the beautiful forests and majestic mountains.
The island unhurriedly descended toward the rusted ribs of a starship buried in the ground. Stopping yards from the craft, a bridge of light appeared, connecting the tip of the island to a blast hole in the hull.
“We’re going in there?” Fio’tro said.
The being stood, recovered from the pain, and motioned. Katen hissed begrudgingly. They started down the bridge; the hull began to sparkle and the sky darkened. Time appeared to rewind, restoring the ship to its former splendor. Long-expired lights beamed once more in windowed portals, and a warm green glow ignited across the ship’s bow, the craft’s impressive engines. What was once a blast hole before them was now an airlock, and the craft floated in a nebula teeming with stars.
“The fleet!” Fio’tro said, surprised.
Katen looked back to Fio’tro and saw their ancient armada of Nukari rapidly approaching.
Fia’ra said, “But how would Decreta have any of these memories? He didn’t exist when this took place.”
Katen continued forward to the airlock. Passing through it, he found himself on the command bridge of the ship. A din of confusion echoed madly while crewmembers scurried to their stations. The D’mar moniker was proudly displayed on their outfits and across the floor. Katen looked curiously across the crew, stopping on one spiky-haired
man.
“There,” Katen said, pointing to a figure hunched over a display, calling out numbers.
The spiky hair was unmistakable, the living version of the glowing entity that accompanied them on the mindwalk.
“Our guide,” Fia’ra said.
The ship lurched sharply, throwing the crew to the floor. Control consoles that skirted the command center exploded, showering the bridge with shrapnel and flames. The environmental system roared as the hull was breached.
The captain shouted over the roar, “Seare, report!”
The spiky-haired man scrambled back to his feet and found a functional terminal.
“Three direct hits. The engines are gone, the core reactor is holding: for now.”
Another crewmember cried out from her console, “Intruders reported. They’re boarding us, sir!”
The captain barked, “Abandon the bridge—to the secondary bridge! We’ll assess options there.”
While the crew ran from the bridge the captain entered a sequence on his command chair. The antigravity system deactivated, causing those fleeing to flail wildly before golden glows washed over them, allowing easy movement.
“So the entity is Seare?” Fia’ra said.
“I still don’t understand,” Fio’tro said. “How could a memory become a prominent construct in Decreta’s mind?”
When Seare exited with the captain, the flames of the bridge froze in place, as if held rigid in time, and the bridge blurred around them. The mindwalkers followed those fleeing down emergency poles, then through a winding set of ventilation tubing. The D’mar moved carefully, avoiding teams of Nukari already in the ship. Through the walls came the exchange of laser fire.
Exiting the vents, the D’mar headed to the secondary bridge, snaking through the final corridor. A group of Nukari soldiers ambushed them and demanded their surrender. Seare looked sternly at his comrades, then yelled, “Go!”
D'mok Revival: The Nukari Invasion Anthology Page 97
