In a flash, Degnit’na and a few Nukari beasts appeared by the symbol wall. The man closed his eyes and symbols began to float from his mind to the creatures. With increasing accuracy, the symbols were returned to him from their minds. As his mind began to pass individual symbols, the others returned a complementary symbol.
“Telepathy,” Katen said, intrigued.
“He trained them with telepathy?” Fio’tro said.
Degnit’na and the creatures disappeared as the door to the meeting area opened. Inside they found two highly decorated Nukari soldiers behind Kajlit’ga, who stood before a room of cowering beasts. Her angry gaze greeted the mindwalkers as they entered. However, it was different from before. She was gazing upon her subordinate, not a mind-invader. This must be Decreta’s literal memory of the event. Kajlit’ga was not talking to them, but to Decreta.
“It’s about time you showed up! Triple maneuvers tonight before lights out. Never make me wait!”
Kajlit’ga pointed to a holographic display. “This is Rhysus Mencari. Memorize his face—you’ll be hunting him soon. He and his band of misfits have complicated our operations one too many times. They have abilities just like you, so don’t expect you’ll bring him and his band down easy.”
Katen watched, his head cocked in curiosity and intrigue.
“We’re collecting more information to determine where best to intercept these targets. As soon as we have a more detailed plan, expect to be deployed. But first, our colleagues are in need of our services.”
The older of the decorated soldiers projected a display of star charts. “Three teams will be selected to provide scouting and defense detail for our new star generator. My second-in-command here, Rang’ta, will work with Kajlit’ga to select the appropriate team for this assignment. Expect to deploy first thing in the morning.”
“This is very recent,” Fia’ra said. “Look how clear everything appears.”
Katen nodded. “It seems they know about more than Miss Purg.”
As the memory faded, the three returned to the main area. Katen noted the new blast marks, which scrawled across the walls. Nukari beasts appeared, sparring vengefully with one another, while others trained against mechanized dummies. Despite landing powerful attacks, Kajlit’ga chastised their progress.
“You will do better!” she shrieked, smacking a device on her wrist. A shrill tone rang out, and the room appeared to pitch, then jostle violently.
“She uses a punishment device,” Katen mused.
Even through the blurred and distorted perspective, he could see other beasts flailing on the ground, most wailing in pain. He allowed the sound to fill his own mind, memorizing its bitter song.
The sound ended abruptly, accompanied by Kajlit’ga’s harsh screech. “You won’t rest until I think you’ve improved!”
The beasts scrambled to their training positions and began anew. The room thundered with power blasts and the grunts and cries of sparring creatures.
A distortion formed, rending the area in half. Another version of the room, from an earlier time, appeared on the far side. The stark white walls were replaced with warm, cheery colors, and Degnit’na sat quietly in a meditative posture along with a ring of peaceful Nukari beasts. Katen recognized the stark contrast between Decreta’s two masters.
“These creatures look powerful,” Fia’ra said.
Kajlit’ga’s voice thundered from behind, startling Fia’ra. “You! Report to my quarters immediately!”
“His mind is so disturbed. It’s hard to tell when he’s interacting directly with us, and when he’s recalling an experience,” Fia’ra said.
A familiar ball of light appeared before them, then floated toward the exit.
“At least this is obvious,” Fio’tro said.
The ball snaked through various passageways, and they were greeted by blurred forms as they followed it. Again, one of the strange blue creatures stood watch while they passed through an intersection.
“What do we do?” Fia’ra asked, her voice unsteady.
“Don’t stop,” Fio’tro said.
The blue creature stared eerily as the mindwalkers continued on.
“Maybe the blue creatures are just observers? They’ve never attacked us,” Fia’ra said.
“Not yet,” Katen replied.
They entered a lift, which automatically sped upward. Upon arrival, they were led down more corridors to a dead end. Degnit’na appeared before them, loving eyes gazing upon Katen. Again, he realized the perspective was from Decreta’s original memory. Degnit’na wasn’t looking at him, but rather his own creation, Decreta.
“The first is always the most special,” Degnit’na said, patting Katen on the shoulder before walking with a slight hunch through a closed door. The area darkened, and a sign appeared across the door’s metal frame.
The sign read: Off-limits. Sealed for evidence.
“Evidence?” Fia’ra said, examining it closer.
Kajlit’ga’s voice boomed from the other side of the door. “We’re conducting an investigation into the violation of creation protocol and Nukarian ethics.”
A strange cold began to creep upon them. The light of the corridor grew dimmer.
“This feeling,” Fia’ra said, alarmed.
“Like that maze,” Fio’tro said.
A dancing light floated across the hall to a new doorway, which transformed into cell bars before them. Angry howls and screams echoed into the hall.
Decreta’s form emerged from the light. He hesitated, stiffened, and then puffed out his chest. His face contorted, gaining a beastly appearance, then he pushed away the cell bars. He moved forward, until he stopped under a spotlight in the middle of the room. A grotesque, hunched creature with blood-orange locks stomped from the shadows. Katen noticed the creature’s resemblance to the woman called Kajlit’ga. Was this how Decreta felt about the woman, as this hideous creature?
Its shrill voice echoed around the room as it berated Decreta. “I thought you were special! I guess I was wrong.”
There was no masking that voice. Clearly, the creature was Decreta’s interpretation of the woman he hated.
Before their eyes the representation of Kajlit’ga multiplied, the duplicate versions shouting more insults, “Why do I waste my time on you?”
Again, she multiplied. With each copy came a different insult. The area around Decreta filled with a chorus of shrieking Kajlit’gas. The voices grew angrier, and louder, until the beast froze in place and became silent.
A corner of the room illuminated with a gentle blue light. There, a scene of Decreta holding a lifeless body appeared, a body that seemed to be the Nukari he had accidently killed in an earlier memory. The humanoid form of Kajlit’ga appeared next to him.
“Think of the Nukari lives you have saved by suppressing those creatures. This soldier was careless.”
“I killed my brethren,” Decreta said, shaking.
“He died in the line of duty—protecting us. It’s a risk for a soldier.”
“But he was Nukari!”
“He was careless! He let himself be thrown by the enemy.”
“All Nukari are special.”
“He was ineffective. He doesn’t matter!”
Her humanoid form disappeared, while Decreta gazed upon his dead friend and lamented, “She once taught me all Nukari were special, and never to be harmed.”
Kajlit’ga’s words echoed again. “He was ineffective—he doesn’t matter!”
“Is that true? If you’re ineffective, you’re not special, and don’t matter? What if I become ineffective? Will I stop mattering?”
Her phrase from before echoed again. “You disappoint me. I thought you were special, perhaps I was wrong.”
A portal appeared next to Katen. On the other side, they saw a room flashing with the light of the storm through the windows.
“So many tangential engrams,” Fia’ra said.
“The beast’s mind is complex,” Fio’tro said.
/> As they stepped through, the portal closed behind them and Decreta’s voice rang out. “Who are you and what do you want?”
The group turned and found Decreta standing defensively behind them. A hooded man stood in the rain just outside the doorway.
“I needed to talk to you,” the shrouded figure said.
Decreta squinted, as if trying to place a familiar voice. When the man pulled back his hood, the beast recoiled. “Degnit’na …” Eyes wide, he looked over the haggard form of his creator. But more than haggard. His face was badly scarred, as were his arms and hands.
“Atri said you were tortured. It was true!”
“They took me from all of you, Decreta.”
“Where have you been?”
“Since escaping? In hiding, with friends. There are many who don’t believe in what is being done. You, your brothers and sisters, are all caught up in this madness.”
“What are you talking about?” Decreta said.
“Kajlit’ga, and all those above her. They are using all of you as pawns—disposable, just like I was—”
The door to the outside kicked open. Kajlit’ga emerged from the rain, her military uniform soaked, her blood-orange locks matted and heavy. Degnit’na looked defiantly at her. Her eyes widened, angry wrinkles defiling her youthful face. She howled madly, “You were dea—” She stopped, looking at Decreta. “Guards!” she yelled.
Katen heard the sound of thick mud sloshing, followed by a small band of troops stomping through the doorway. Decreta began to move, and Kajlit’ga activated her wrist device. The perspective blurred to a lower obtuse angle as he collapsed in pain to one knee.
Soldiers grabbed Degnit’na and tried to drag him away. However, the old man broke free and ran toward his creation. With a pained grunt, Decreta pushed himself to his feet. He saw Kajlit’ga ease off the wrist device and grab a jeweled dagger.
In an instant, she plunged it into Degnit’na’s back. Like a crazed beast, she wildly pulled it out and stabbed again. The two tumbled to the ground. He barely had time to cry out before blood burst from his mouth.
Decreta bellowed, but the continued sound from Kajlit’ga’s wrist device drove him back to his knees. From atop Degnit’na’s lifeless body, Kajlit’ga watched as the Nukari beast wailed and shook. Satisfied with Decreta’s submission, she let go of the wrist device and slashed Degnit’na’s lifeless body twice more before standing with a huff. She threw the dagger onto the corpse and scowled.
“This is how we take care of traitors and deserters. Take him away!”
The soldiers moved toward the body as she approached Decreta. The rage melted from her furrowed brow and reddened cheeks. A sob escaped the beast as he looked at his creator’s lifeless body. Kajlit’ga grabbed his jaw; her eyes pierced his.
“What was this?” Kajlit’ga snapped.
“I was told to come here.”
“By whom?”
Decreta stumbled out, “Someone said you asked for me to be here.”
Her eyes looked him over in doubt. “Do not forget, that man left you!”
To the walkers, Decreta’s own thoughts echoed, “Liar. That won’t work anymore, I know the truth.”
“I need you more now than ever. Our enemies are strong. You must focus. Find them and do what you must to stop them. Do you understand?”
He silently nodded.
“Good. The transport will leave in four hours for home. I will brief you and the others then. You will be effective. Failure is not an option.”
She turned to leave, but looked back. “Can I count on you?”
Again he nodded.
“Good.”
Decreta’s thoughts echoed, “Effective meant special, to not be effective was not to be special—to not matter—to be expendable. I was in danger.” He watched the soldiers drag Degnit’na’s body away. A thick streak of red marked the floor. “I knew then it was a matter of time before I met my demise.”
Thunder raged and rain pounded harder. A portal back to the dark room with the spotlight appeared. They stepped through and continued into the corridor. There, a blue creature waited. With an angry hiss, it lunged forward.
The space around them warped and they found themselves encapsulated in an enormous bubble of swirling white-and-blue engrams. Multiple limbs tipped with thick claws emerged.
Katen’s staff appeared in his gripped hand. Thrusting it forward, the blue creature’s claws snagged it. Hitting the beast wasn’t his plan. Holding it at bay was. He saw Fia’ra grab another gold ingot from her necklace and toss it into the air. Her hands glowed as the alloy blew apart into tiny beads. With a wave of her hand, the minute golden balls whizzed past Katen and pelted the creature. It howled as vines sprouted around its feet.
“Hold it a little longer!” Fio’tro hollered.
Sprouts wound up the blue creature’s legs, bound its many-clawed limbs, and constricted its body. The creature struggled in vain. Katen looked over his shoulder in time to see Fio’tro’s hands glowing a hellish red. Large blooms grew from the vines, turned in, toward the blue creature, then belched a pollen-like substance onto it.
The effect was immediate. The creature shuddered as its blue carapace melted like a flame next to wax. The hole created revealed a glowing core, which Katen struck with his staff. The creature immolated as a beam of energy exploded from its head, blasting a hole through the ceiling. The body turned inside out and slowly dissolved away.
“Those could be a problem,” Fio’tro said.
Fia’ra took extra breaths as she tried to talk. “Where to now?”
An eerie light radiated from the hole in the ceiling, and the ground trembled. Katen looked suspiciously about before bellowing, “Run!”
The shaking intensified, making it impossible to continue on foot. They summoned their abilities and began to fly down the hall. A strobing effect drew their attention. Behind them, they saw the eerie light burst from the room they’d just left. Anything the light touched instantly dissolved.
“The engram is ripping apart,” Fio’tro said while laughs and cries, screams and conversations, along with images of people and places swirled on the crest of the light as if caught in a torrent.
“Go!” Fio’tro yelled.
They focused and moved faster. The light grew quicker and approached faster than they could flee.
“We’re not going to make it!” Fia’ra cried.
An immense heat licked at their backs. Fia’ra screamed, “Burning … my back—”
A portal appeared before them. A ghostly hand reached down and pulled each one through. As the portal closed, the engram of the station imploded.
The three panted heavily as they collapsed to the ground. They watched as Seare took the floating island skyward. Below, they saw a massive spider-like creature gnawing at the land where they’d just stood. On its back was a large Nukari symbol. The beast shrieked as it watched its prey slip from its grasp, then it leaped from the charred ground and scuttled back to the great temple in the distance.
“It’s red,” Fio’tro panted.
Katen looked up to see the beam entering the center of the temple change from yellow to red.
When Fio’tro recovered his strength, he looked over the mindscape below. “There. It must have come out from there.”
He pointed to a section of the mountain near the temple that had opened up, revealing a metal cocoon inside. Arriving at the temple, the creature quickly began to devour it. The three beams that once entered the temple converged on the creature, causing it to glow. Energy exploded from the spider, flooding down upon the mindscape. Katen looked on, intrigued.
“What is it?” Fia’ra said. “What—?”
The entire mindscape quaked as cracks of light skittered across it. In a mighty roar, the mindscape fractured. Chunks of it were thrown into the sky, while others fell away.
Fio’tro shuddered. “It’s destroying the creature’s mind!”
The creature began to hop from chunk to
chunk in the sky. Carefully timing its jumps, it drew closer to their floating island. Seeing the coming danger, Seare spread his arms wide and maneuvered the island through remnants of the mindscape as he took them back to his island of engrams. As they arrived, the floating island fused with the ground. He pointed to a fountain just a few yards away. Water began to bubble freely from ornate fixtures. They drank, and their energies were restored.
In the distance, they saw the spider creature approaching. Seare directed the group to follow him. They hurried to a small outdoor shrine just over the hill from the fountain. A D’mar symbol appeared at the center of the floor. As the four stepped onto the symbol, it glowed with a warm green light. Fio’tro looked back, shouted, “It’s coming!”
Seare lifted his arms. The light from the symbol floated upward, bathing them in a blanket of warmth until suddenly, the light’s energy shot like a geyser into the sky, breaking into a great dome over the entire island.
The spider jumped toward the dome, as though expecting to easily penetrate the lightshow. Great arcs of energy rippled from the dome, stopping its momentum midair. The spider shrieked as the green energy ate at its skin. Seare’s form listed from the strain.
“Seare?” Fia’ra cried out.
His head shook, unable to respond.
“He can’t hold that off forever. We have to do something!” Fia’ra pleaded.
Fio’tro held out his hands and glared at the creature. In a flash of light, a long sickle-shaped weapon appeared. “We need to attack it more directly!”
Fia’ra nodded and conjured a bolo tipped with three massive golden ingots.
“We should leave,” Katen said flatly.
Shocked, the two turned to him with angry looks.
“The mindscape is gone,” Katen explained. “The creature’s brain-dead. There’s no reason—”
Fia’ra stomped her foot and raised her weapon. “Seare saved us. We can’t leave now!”
Opportunity grasped, Katen smiled malevolently, attempting to leave the mindwalk. His eyes grew wide as he realized he couldn’t. Fio’tro’s next words were smug.
D'mok Revival: The Nukari Invasion Anthology Page 99
