by R S Penney
Azra stepped forward, looming over Kalia. Her soft laughter was nothing short of demonic, as if she carried a small piece of Hanak Tuvar inside her. Which very well might be the case. She certainly wasn’t human anymore.
Kalia used a move Desa had taught her.
She trapped the other woman’s leg between both of hers, and with a quick tug, she pulled Azra off her feet. The hooded fiend toppled over, landing on her backside.
Kalia was on top of her in an instant, forcing Azra down onto her back, pinning her. If she could just draw her belt knife. They could end this. Desa would complete her work. The nightmare would finally be over.
A pale hand reached up and seized Kalia’s throat. Bony fingers dug into her skin, choking her. Such raw power! Kalia’s vision began to darken. A thick fog settled into her mind, making it hard to think. She almost failed to notice the shadowy figure who landed on the plateau.
Tommy.
Azra screamed in frustration. With inhuman strength, she flung Kalia sideways into the wall. Pain shot through her body as her shoulder slammed into the stone.
In a heartbeat, Azra was on her feet and rounding on Tommy. She strode toward him like a predator on the hunt. “Come on, boy!” she snarled. “Do your worst!”
Azra jumped, twirling in the air for a spinning kick.
Tommy ducked, a booted foot passing over his head. He backed away, but Azra landed in front of him. She kicked him in the belly, forcing him to bend double and groan in pain.
Retreating to the edge of the plateau, Tommy pressed a hand to his stomach. His face was red, tears glistening on his cheeks. The poor lad was winded. Who wouldn’t be after a hit like that?
Azra knelt to retrieve the pistol that Kalia must have dropped at some point. Funny, she didn’t even remember losing it. “I don’t even need Field Binding to kill the two of you!” Azra said. “I am stronger! Faster! The gifts Adele gave me overshadow everything she took away. Her power courses through my veins!”
Pulsing her Gravity-Sink, Azra threw herself into a powerful leap that had her coming down on top of Tommy.
Frightened and frantic, the poor kid did the first thing that popped into his mind. He stretched out his hand and triggered the Force-Source in his ring, unleashing a tempest of kinetic energy that hit Azra like a freight train.
“Don’t!” Kalia shouted.
But it was too late.
The blast hurled Azra backward and up…up to the very top of the pyramid. Cackling with mad glee, she pointed Kalia’s gun out to the side and fired blindly at the crystal. Somewhere up there, a woman screamed.
Azra giggled as she floated away. “And so, the world ends!”
29
Bullets flattened themselves against the enormous crystal, bouncing off without leaving a scratch. Lost within the Ether’s embrace, Desa gasped, but it shouldn’t have surprised her when the crystal survived. The smaller ones were thin and brittle. This thing was as tall as a watchtower and solid all the way through.
Her few seconds of elation ended when Nari’s scream filled her ears. One of those bullets had pierced the other woman’s back. Nari fell over, stretched out on the roof of the pyramid in a pool of her own blood.
And the light around her went out.
Half a mile away, Hanak Tuvar screamed as it tore through the cocoon that they had used to imprison it. Without Nari’s strength, Desa couldn’t maintain it. The demon rematerialized, standing four stories high, tentacles writhing as it crept toward the city. Its distortion field swept over the outer buildings.
Desa let go of the Ether.
Kneeling beside her friend, she smoothed a lock of hair off Nari’s forehead. The other woman was dying, her every breath a ragged gasp. In a few moments, she would be gone. No. It couldn’t end like this.
What to do? Think, Desa!
She searched desperately for all the plans that she had abandoned, for the strategies that Nari had called reckless and untenable. Better to try something – even something that would fail – than to sit here until the demon consumed her.
Memories flitted through her mind, half-formed ideas that coalesced into something unexpected. She was riding Midnight while the red haze closed in on her, Hanak Tuvar’s meaty tentacle hovering over her, ready to squash her. The distortion swallowed her up, and then she shattered a crystal, unleashing a rainbow.
Other memories bubbled up.
She was standing in a forest of skeletal trees, cringing before a creature with an odious grin that sent shivers down her spine. Heldrid leaned in close to whisper in her ear. “It will try to impose its will upon the world. You must not let it.”
Its will.
The distortion field.
“‘Within my realm, my power is absolute,’” Desa mumbled. She was back on that rooftop in New Beloran, watching as Hanak Tuvar ripped streetlamps out of the ground and sent them hurtling toward her.
She blinked, coming back to reality, and bent to run her fingers through Nari’s hair. Retrieving a shard of crystal from her pocket, she pressed it into the other woman’s palm. “I’m sorry,” Desa said softly. “We tried it your way. Now, we have to go with my plan.”
She stood and then turned to face the gigantic crystal, pressing her hand against it with fingers splayed. A thought was all it took to trigger the Force-Source in her ring. She emptied it of every last ounce of kinetic energy.
Cracks spread across the surface of the crystal, hair-thin fissures from which light spilled forth. They snaked around it in tight circles, rising up to the very peak. The whole thing started to vibrate.
And then it shattered.
Desa threw her head back, waiting for the rainbow to wash over her. But no rainbow came. Not at first, anyway. Just as she was starting to wonder – as confusion set in and her hope began to fade – a single tendril of light struck her in the chest. And she was cast into another world.
Rojan charged through the gap between two buildings, looking back over his shoulder. Dozens of grays followed him like a pack of ravenous wolves. Most had lost their weapons at some point, though a few still carried rifles or pistols. Even so, they were out of ammunition.
Panting as sweat rolled over his face, Rojan forced his eyes shut. “What’s going on up there?” he shouted.
Belan, one of his Field Binders, ventured a glance toward the pyramid and then shook his head. “I don’t know!” he replied. “She seems to be trying to destroy the crystal! I have no idea why!”
“What?”
The other man’s assessment was confirmed when Rojan stepped onto an open street that gave him a view of the pyramid. Cracks spread over the crystal, each spraying light. But why? Why would Desa do such a thing? It was their only weapon against…
Rojan turned around, no longer troubled by the feral, gray creatures that chased him. Something much worse was on the way. The red distortion field engulfed the outer buildings, consuming the city inch by inch.
So, that was Desa’s plan. One last desperate attempt to stay alive for another day. Maybe they could come up with something else. Maybe there was some other option they had not considered. It didn’t matter. If you were alive, you could fight another day. If you were dead…Well, that was pretty much the end, wasn’t it?
He turned, running for the pyramid, holding his breath as he watched the crystal shatter into a million tiny fragments that all disintegrated. The rainbow would come any second now. A brief reprieve from the demon’s onslaught.
But nothing happened.
Rojan’s heart sank when he realized that they had come to the end.
Warm sunlight fell upon Desa as her eyes fluttered open. She was lying in a grassy field, surrounded by trees that she couldn’t name. The sky was clear with only a few thin clouds; the air was sweet with the scent of spring.
She sat up slowly, blinking as she tried to get her bearings. Where was this place? The last thing she remembered, she had been atop the pyramid. The crystal had shattered and then…this.
H
er exhaustion was gone, wiped away. She felt as if she had just woken up from a blissful night’s sleep. Was this Paradise? Tommy’s people had legends about the place where the souls of the virtuous went when they died. Was she dead then?
She had a hard time believing that whatever gods ruled this place would admit her. Not if they knew about her laundry list of sins. So, how could this have happened? And how did she get back to her friends before it was too late?
Desa stood up, brushing a lock of hair out of her face. She looked up to the sky, searching for some sign of whoever – or whatever – had brought her to this place. “All right!” she yelled. “I’m here! Whatever this is about, let’s get on with it!”
No one answered.
There was nothing to do but explore this strange place. She picked a direction and started walking. Based on the position of the sun, she deduced that she was heading west. The trees all around her were tall with oddly shaped leaves. Some of them reminded her of those she had seen in the Borathorin. But this was no forest. More like a meadow teeming with vegetation.
She soon came to a rocky hill that she climbed with a few muttered curses. With a thought, she triggered her Gravity-Sink, ordering it to take only a trickle of energy. That made her lighter without completely freeing her from the Earth’s pull. It was only then that she realized she had all her accoutrements. Guns, daggers, Infused rings on each hand: she was ready to fight if the need arose.
Halfway up the hill, she noticed a strange whooshing sound that she associated with running water. Her suspicions were confirmed when she reached the top and found a bridge that spanned a river at least half a mile across.
On the other side, a pillar of light rose into the heavens, a rainbow of colours shifting in an endless cycle. Was that what she had come for? The power of the Ether? Why hadn’t it surged forth when she shattered the crystal.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
The sound of a familiar voice made her turn and gasp as a young man emerged from the space between two trees. He was tall and lanky, exceptionally pale with black hair that he wore parted in the middle. The brand on his cheek was gone, but she knew that face. It haunted her in her nightmares.
Stumbling backward onto the bridge, Desa grabbed one of the ropes that held it suspended. “Sebastian!” she gasped. “Is this…Are we dead?”
“One of us is.”
Desa narrowed her eyes as she studied him. “Why are you here?” she asked. “Is this another illusion like the one Vengeance created?”
Sebastian chuckled as he trudged up the hill, shaking his head in dismay. “Oh no,” he said. “It’s really me.”
“And I assume you want an explanation.”
Cocking his head, the young man raised a thick, dark eyebrow. “Why would I want that?” he muttered. “I should think the reasons behind your decision were fairly obvious. I did betray you.”
“Yes,” she said, nodding. “But I still shouldn’t have killed you.”
“A bit late for remorse, don’t you think?”
“Sebastian, under any other circumstances, I would sit here and endure whatever harsh words you have for me. But my friends are in trouble. Tommy is in trouble. If you care for him, please help me.”
“That’s what I’m here to do!” He gestured across the bridge to the colour-shifting light on the other side. “Everything you need is right there.”
“The Ether?”
“It awaits you.”
Desa turned to go, starting across the wobbly bridge, holding the ropes so hard her knuckles whitened. She managed only three steps before she felt a rush of air above her and the distinct pulsing of a Gravity-Sink.
Sebastian landed right in front of her and turned around to face her with a mocking smile. “Not so fast!” he chided. “Our business is not concluded!”
“I don’t have time-”
He stepped forward, forcing her to retreat. She recoiled from the cold fury in his eyes. It was the merciless stare of a judge who had just sentenced a condemned man to death. “If you want the power,” he said, “you must prove yourself worthy of it. Face me in single combat.”
“Into the pyramid!” Miri screamed.
She scrambled up the steps alongside half a dozen Field Binders who ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Their Infusions were depleted, and now, there was nothing left to do but trap the enemy in a bottleneck and hold out as long as they could.
The grays weren’t far behind, flooding into the open field that surrounded the pyramid like a swarm of angry insects. The distortion field tightened its grip on the city, spreading over the buildings, closing in on the centre.
When Miri ventured a glance, she saw Hanak Tuvar looming in the distance. The humongous squid bellowed, lifted a tentacle and then slammed it down on a tiny house, crushing it to rubble.
We can’t survive this.
Miri stifled the urge to sit down and give up. She would not relent, not for an instant. So long as she could draw breath, there was hope. Even if it was fading fast.
When she reached the plateau outside the pyramid’s entrance, she found Tommy and Kalia waiting. The pair of them were battered and bruised. Tommy kept pawing at his chest.
Kalia rubbed a sore shoulder with the opposite hand, hissing air through her teeth. “It’s our fault,” she panted. “We let her get past us.”
Miri paused to lock eyes with the other woman. Any anger she might have felt vanished like fog dissipating under the sun’s touch. “No time to worry about that now,” she said. “Quickly! Get inside!”
Together, they ran down the sloping tunnel that led to the central chamber. If they could trap the grays in that narrow corridor, they might be able to survive for a few more minutes. A few minutes in which Nari might be able to think of a strategy. Or maybe Tommy could-
No!
Focus on the next task. Always the next task. Get everyone inside, fortify the position, and then they could talk strategy. Yes, if they could just hold out for a little while longer, maybe-
Her hopes were dashed the instant she entered the central chamber. A raised floor stood almost ten feet tall, and above it, a round hole in the ceiling let sunlight spill into the room. The crystal was gone, and her plan was useless.
Trapping the grays in a bottleneck would be useless if they could just climb up to the roof and drop down from above. She was low on ammo anyway. And the Field Binders had nothing to offer.
She found Dalen, Jim and Nari sitting on the edge of the raised floor, all looking despondent. She could see it in the way their shoulders slumped, in the way they stared dejectedly at the walls: they were out of ideas.
It was over.
Dropping to her knees, Miri covered her face with both hands. Sobs ripped their way out of her, tears leaking from her eyes. “I tried,” she whimpered. “Mama, I tried.”
Harsh, guttural voices echoed through the tunnel.
The gray men were coming for her.
Desa stumbled backward, stepping off the bridge and retreating down the hillside. “No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “No. There has to be some other way.”
Sebastian laughed.
He strode toward her with his arms spread wide, a mocking grin on his face. “What’s the matter, Desa?” he shouted. “Afraid to face me in a fair fight?”
He made a fist, pointed it at a nearby tree and triggered the Electric-Source in his ring. Lightning blasted the trunk, sending chunks of wood flying, and flames consumed what was left of it.
Standing on the hilltop, Sebastian placed a hand over his heart and bowed like a circus performer thanking his audience for their applause. “Turns out being dead gives you plenty of time to learn all sorts of useful skills.”
“I don’t want to fight you!” Desa protested.
Turning slightly, Sebastian gestured to the pillar of light behind him. “Don’t you want the power?” he asked. “Don’t you want to save your friends?”
“Not like this.”
“
We can’t just give the power away, Desa!” he bellowed. “Only someone who is worthy can wield it. A test was prepared for you, a challenge that was tailor-made for a woman of your temperament. You’re a warrior, aren’t you? Face your enemy, and take the power! Or watch your friends die!”
Yes. Desa understood. This wasn’t about proving her skills in combat. This was about demonstrating that she had the strength to make the hard choices. That she could live with the guilt if it meant saving the world. Her path was clear.
She reached for her pistol, but something made her hesitate. Sebastian wasn’t a demon or a monster or a killer. He was a youth who had been denied the chance to make amends for his mistakes. From the moment he started speaking, he had been taught to hate himself. All because he was the sort of boy who fell in love with other boys.
Desa remembered the vision Mercy had shown her, the man Sebastian could have been – a kind soul who dedicated his life to helping others like him. She had robbed him of that chance by acting in haste. “No,” she croaked. “No, I won’t hurt you again!”
“It’s the only way to save your friends!”
Desa started up the hill.
Tears streamed over her face, but she held his gaze, refusing to look away. “Does it have to be?” she asked. “Can’t you just step aside? Haven’t we inflicted enough pain for one lifetime? What good will come from inflicting more?”
Sebastian hung his head, exhaling roughly. When he looked up, the anger was gone from his eyes. “Congratulations, Desa,” he said. “You passed the test. The Ether accepts you.”
“Sebastian,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”
He threw his arms around her, and she returned the embrace, holding him as he trembled. “It’s all right,” he murmured. “It’s all right. I forgive you.”
Desa pulled back, resting her hands on his shoulders, and looked up into his eyes. She nodded slowly. “Thank you.”
“Go,” he urged. “Save Tommy.”
Clutching his stomach, Tommy sat down with his back against the side of the raised floor. He shut his eyes, resting his head against the stone. “Well,” he muttered. “At least, I won’t die alone.”
