“Stop crying!” That cold and distant rage built up in Syrfila’s veins. “Stop crying!” Needles pricked behind her eye until she slapped Alicia across the face, leaving behind a palm-sized red imprint. The imprisoned woman spat out another pitiful cry.
“Please…” Syrfila hated that word.
“I don’t get it.” She threw her hand into the air, knocking the remainder of her cigarette onto the floor. “Why does everyone cry over her? What the fuck is so special about some whore who can’t even get shit right a hundred lives later?” She stared at Alicia’s red visage. “You tell me. You tell me what’s so goddamn amazing about that savior of the world and her piss-ass boyfriend. Tell me!”
When Alicia did not answer, the needles continued to prick at Syrfila’s skull, her fingers developing wills of their own.
Everyone kept crying. Nobody ever gave her answers.
She burned her cigarette against Alicia’s knee.
The scream from the ineffable pain was enough to make Syrfila clasp her hands over her ears. Perhaps that scream was loud enough to raise the suspicion of someone nearby – like Syrfila’s landlord.
“Shut the fuck up!”
But just as the scream died, the screech of the freight elevator came to life. Syrfila tentatively touched the handle of her gun, holstered in her belt.
Miranda stepped out the moment the cage doors opened. “What the hell are you doing?” she asked. When she saw the poor girl tied up in the chair, she repeated, “What the hell are you doing? What kind of twisted fuck are you? This wasn’t the part of any plan!”
Syrfila chortled. “This doesn’t concern you, babe. Run along home and get some rest. You had a long weekend and even more trying morning.”
Miranda shook her head. “You’ve played some nasty games before, but this one tops them. Do what you want to me, but leave everyone else alone.” She was now close enough to smell the stench of burning flesh. Was that a burnt ring on the girl’s knee? “What the hell has gotten into you?”
“What, jealous? I gave you a better present – this is kids’ shit.”
“Let her go. Grab the Relic if that’s what you want, but let her go.”
Syrfila met Miranda’s round eyes for the first time that evening. “What, don’t you want to have a little fun with her first? I’ll let you do whatever you want. Maybe take out some of that aggression you have for me.” She took out another cigarette.
“This is low even for you.”
Syrfila blew out a trail of smoke. “Take a good look at who she is.”
Miranda did. Fine black hair and light skin. The bridge of the nose and the purse of the lips that had crossed her path more than once before.
It was Danielle’s ex, as recognized from appearances in M-Town or at the clubs and bars on weekends while the two dated. Miranda’s gaze went straight to the butterfly locket around Alicia’s neck. How poetic. “Like I said, low for even you.”
But Syrfila no longer listened to her. “I’m going to lure them here.”
Fed up with what she saw, Miranda stalked toward the elevator shaft. “I’m not going to be a part of this.”
“Going home?”
Miranda clutched her purse tighter in her arms. “After that horrendous phone call earlier, I had to see what type of mischief you were into this time. Wasn’t quite expecting this.”
“Just get out.”
Miranda didn’t say another word as she lowered the gate behind her and hit the button to be taken back to the ground floor. On the other side of the room, Alicia wilted in her seat.
She could only spend a second worrying about herself before Syrfila returned. “Please don’t hurt me anymore.” That scar would remain on her knee for the rest of her life.
“Oh, sweetie, I don’t hurt pretty girls like you.” Syrfila forgot the stench of burnt flesh calling her a hypocrite. Somehow, Alicia did not trust the reassurances with all the heart a hostage could have.
THIRTY-FOUR
Ten and some odd years after his birth, Charlie still had a propensity for leaving wet spots on Marlow’s floor.
“For the love of the Void.” He got down on his creaking knees to clean up the mess. “Why can’t you tell me when you need to go out?”
The Basset Hound whimpered on his way back to his bed.
“I’m not mad at you,” Marlow began. “I’m just sorely disappointed.”
Somebody howled from beneath the desk.
“I’ll get Evan to walk you in the capitol gardens so you can shit on the president’s tulips.”
“Sir, the last time I let him do that, I was barred from the gates for a month. I think you were, too.”
Evan waved back at him from the other side of the computer monitor. Marlow used his cane to heave himself back up and left a towel on the floor.
“Did you get those files I asked for?”
“Sure did, Boss. Lanelle is going over them before sending them your way. Should only be a few hours at the most.”
“Good, because we’re running out of time.” Marlow scratched the hairs on his chin.
“Be sure to tune into Terra Tribunal later to see their latest affronts on your mission.”
“What’s that now?”
“The entire Federation knows what’s going on with Earth. Lanelle had to do damage control earlier, which included appearing on Terra Tribunal at the last minute.”
“What?”
Evan shrugged. “It was only a matter of time before one of the plants realized it.”
“Damnit.” Marlow could make an official statement that Earth was not Nerilis’s next target, but Lanelle had apparently already handled it. “That’s fine. Just make sure those files get to me before it’s too late. Tell Lanelle I’ll buy her dinner for going out like that.” He closed the communication line.
A shadow moved behind him.
“Why are you here?” he asked Danielle.
She stopped the moment she entered the office. “I came to do some research.” That was the best she could come up with after being put on the spot like that. “We’ve gotta get that other Relic, right?”
Marlow waved at her to go about her business. She went into the library and brought out a few folders to peruse. Charlie finished his supper and joined Danielle on the couch, his small body curling up next to hers. He fished for head scratches whenever he could.
Other footsteps appeared. Danielle froze upon the couch cushions as she remembered promising Devon to come to Marlow’s together. Oops.
“Hey,” Devon greeted. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
“I was worried about you because you said we would get Chinese food for Marlow.”
“I forgot.”
Marlow’s ears perked up at that. “Chinese food?” Even sorcerers who had dined upon every delicacy in the universe for nearly three-thousand years couldn’t say no to authentic Chinese food.
“Don’t worry about it.” Devon pulled Charlie out of Danielle’s lap. “I was a little late anyway because…well, let’s say somebody stopped by my apartment unannounced. Sorry.”
“Alicia?”
Devon shook his head. “Another girl.”
Danielle’s heart choked her throat. Jealousy? “Oh,” she muttered. She had to nip this in the bud now. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“What about?”
She stood up. “Let’s talk in private.”
Danielle closed the door to the library as soon as they were both inside. No telling where this conversation would go, so it was better to stay near the door in case she had to make a hasty exit. Devon, on the other hand, pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Everything is okay, right?” He crossed his arms and looked her up and down. “Please don’t tell me you’re pregnant.”
She ignored that. “We cannot be in a relationship.”
“We’ve been over that already,” Devon said. “One-night stand. Got it. Don’t have to yell.” His tone straddled between whatever a
nd fuck off. “What the hell spurred this on?”
The words Danielle wanted to say clashed with the words she should say. “I have to convince myself of that, okay?”
“Huh? But you said…”
“I know what I said!” Confessions had never been so hard. “I have to convince myself that sleeping with you isn’t going to make me feel better.”
“I’d say, especially after that last failed attempt.”
Furrowed brows slapped Devon across the face. “Are you seriously telling me that you don’t feel the same thing I do whenever we do those things?”
“Depends?”
Danielle gave up. She took the chair Devon offered her and sat down, body slouching as it lost all will to support itself.
“Being close to you like that made me feel safe,” Danielle said. “Man, woman, no matter who was in this with me, I would probably feel the same way. I’m trying to learn that an addiction to that would only make me feel worse.”
Devon was silent for a moment. “I wish I could say I feel the same.”
“You don’t?”
Devon shook his head. “No.” His cheeks reddened. “All I felt was anything I used to feel for you. I don’t think I need to explain that further.”
“Then why am I afflicted like this?”
“I don’t know. But if you do not want to be with me because you, oh I don’t know, want to, then yeah, it would be a mess. I think we know this to the point it’s like beating a horse with the bloody stick.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just…”
“I’m not your ideal match. I know.”
“Well, yeah.”
Before an awkward silence could mount between them, Marlow’s voice barked from the hallway.
“Get out here!” he snapped. “We have a news program to watch.”
“A what?”
“I finally got the Basic to English audio translator working. Get out here. Now.”
A TV program was beginning the moment they walked into the office.
“Lightning apparently does strike twice, especially when you’re Jilarah Gabould, the only guest to make it onto our show twice in one week,” the woman on the screen said. “I’m Fasheila d’Halim and this is the Terra Tribunal!”
***
“First, as word breaks out that Earth has become the next target of the infamous planetary executioner Nerilis Dunsman, people across the Federation are scrambling to get in contact with loved ones living there. But is it futile? And why Earth? What is Dunsman’s ultimate goal? We try to answer these questions so that you, our witnesses, can better understand what’s happening in our universe.
“With us again tonight is the captain of Terra III’s Special Task Forces, Jilarah Gabould, who reports directly to the Commander of the Federation Forces and the President of the Federation himself. Jilarah was here earlier this week to discuss recent evidence pointing toward Earth being the new target. However, many remained skeptical. Jilarah, how did you and your detectives discover that Earth was next?”
“We started getting data from some of our Earth-based plants a few weeks ago that some older gentleman was on the Asian continent. Our spies had been keeping an eye on him for about thirty to forty Earth years as he came and went out of meetings and supposedly moved hundreds of thousands of yen around manufactured bank accounts.”
“How much is Japanese yen in comparison to our currency?”
“The exchange rate is about one hundred yen to thirty-five dollars.”
“I see. So this was your first tipoff that it may be Nerilis Dunsman? How did you know?”
“That was just another indication on top of other sources. Some of our plants in the United States of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation told us that they saw a man who looked like Dunsman in this same vicinity over the past twenty or so Earth years.”
“That’s a long time. Please remind our witnesses when and where Master Dunsman’s last target was.”
“It was about thirty-three years ago, the planet that used to be known as Alora’k II. It contained about five-hundred million, all of whom were Voided.”
“And this was a planet, not a moon, correct?”
“Correct. It was an agrarian planet under Terra III’s control, although not a formal member of the Federation. A major food source for planets and moons that qualified for the Social and Welfare Assistance Act.”
“Up to this point, that was Master Dunsman’s most ‘destructive’ endeavor in terms of sentient life loss, yes?”
“Yes. It was the largest amount of people we hold him responsible for murdering.”
“How many people are there on Earth?”
“A little over six billion.”
“Six billion?”
“Yes, although this does not account for undocumented individuals.”
“How many of those people are from the Federation or not originally from Earth at all?”
“There are approximately twenty-five million registered Federation citizens. Unregistered ones are hard to distinguish, but we believe there may be about fifty thousand. Most of these unregistered people are Federation criminals.”
“Let’s go back to Dunsman. How certain are you at this point that Earth is his next target?”
“About ninety percent sure. We’ve begun evacuating Federation citizens as a precaution.”
“So you would be willing to say, on this broadcast, that Earth may be destroyed within the next few weeks?”
“Yes. I would. The evidence does not say otherwise.”
“Amazing. Who gets priority evacuation?”
“At this point, non-authoritative citizens. Our ‘plants,’ however, will be evacuated last if Earth has not been destroyed at that point, as they are our leading informants on these matters.”
“Where are these plants located?”
“In larger governments. We have the most in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, and Japan.”
“Again, how are you sure that Master Dunsman is really there?”
“I can’t give away all of our sources, Fasheila, but they are reliable.”
“I understand. What are you and your team doing to stop this mad man?”
“Well, that’s just it. There isn’t much we can do because of Master Dunsman’s nature. He is a julah from the planet of Yahzen, a graduate of The Academy, and a former Head Priest of the Void. We can’t just bring him in like a common criminal. Previous attempts have led to massive loss of life on our end. We’re lucky that the julah are allies to the Federation.”
“And this brings us to our next guest on tonight’s program. Also with us is Lanelle Lanerak, first assistant to another famous julah, Master Ramaron Marlow, and one of the only registered participants of the Process. She is the leading non-julah expert on Master Dunsman. Thank you for agreeing to join us on such short notice, Lanelle.”
“I would say it’s a pleasure, Fasheila, but after five hundred years I’m not inclined to think so.”
“…All right. Well, Lanelle, what can you tell us about Master Dunsman, such as his habits, why he is doing this, or anything else you can think to add?”
“Here’s the thing, Fasheila. We can’t anticipate anything Master Dunsman does. He thrives on keeping us off guard. We don’t know why. Maybe it’s his nature. Maybe he’s bored. Maybe it’s all a conspiracy and the government is actually backing him in this endeavor… not that we think that, but maybe.”
“Uh…”
“But, yes, Master Dunsman is after Earth now, and no, we don’t know why, aside from that maybe he wants to kill more people each and every time. Six billion people is a lot.”
“Anyway, you work with Master Ramaron Marlow, yes? You’ve been in his employment for how many years?”
“Yes, I do his dirty research work outside of his own independent studies, and I’ve been doing it for about five hundred years
since he originally contacted me. That was about… forty-seven planets ago.”
“And what is it that you research, exactly?”
“History of the targets, possible Relics… the usual, like that. I’m a historian by nature and I have a large list of citations and contacts to refer to. I also do some research on Master Dunsman, but Master Marlow knows way more than me since he personally knew him.”
“And, if I am correct, you are currently ‘trapped’ in the Process?”
“I wouldn’t say trapped, but yes, I am in it. I can exit any time I want, however. I stay on with Master Marlow because of my vast knowledge on his subjects. I want to help. It was my idea to go into the Process before the end of my first life, so he wouldn’t permanently lose me.”
“If I am not mistaken, Master Marlow has only put three souls into the Process, correct?”
“Yes. Me and his two mercenaries.”
“Aha, that brings us to our next topic of interest and relevance: the mercenaries. Even the Federation Government has granted special permissions, citing that only Master Marlow’s mercenaries can stop Master Dunsman, although they have failed a staggering ninety-eight times. Why is this? That the government sanctions this without using their own Forces, that is?”
“This is the mercenaries’ job. They may fail, but they know what they’re doing. Plus, more importantly, Nerilis Dunsman is a julah! The only type of person who could even match his prowess is another julah. Guns are not going to take out Master Dunsman. Magic is. Magic like Relics.”
“What are Relics?”
“Tangible manifestations of a planet’s soul.”
“Planets have souls?”
“In the sense that they are created by the sentient creatures dwelling on their soil. Relics change over time as humans’ spiritual strength transfers from one artifact to another.”
“So these planets have a ‘soul,’ which is broken up into tangible objects such as Relics. How does this relate to Master Dunsman?”
“When the two Relics of a planet are brought together, the planet assumes that it will be erased from existence and begins to disassemble itself in the form of natural disasters. This is how Master Dunsman destroys planets. He finds the Relics, brings them together, and performs a ritual that obliterates their spiritual power and sends it to the Void. The Void then claims every soul on the planet, and with no power to back it up, the planet blinks from existence. We actually have footage of a previous planet being destroyed. It quite literally just… disappears. Quietly. As if it never existed. Even the surrounding space is not affected. Scientifically, it makes absolutely no sense, but then again, magic rarely has to do with science. Science comes from magic.”
Rebirth (Cross Book 1) Page 35
