Tag: Fantasy

49. Interlude

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

  Jennifer had made the mistake of asking Vincent and Polypt if there was a way to see outside of the vehicle. It was made of a smooth opaque metal and there were no windows of any sort – the only structures the ship seemed to have inside included a storage cabinet that looked half built into the smooth wall and a control panel that Polypt had been showing to Vincent and the other team members as they arrived. She had thought that perhaps a screen would display the outside of the ship, but instead the smooth metal of the hull itself seemed to become transparent, giving a full 360-degree view of the outside. The control panel inside remained solid and opaque, as did the cabinet.

Jennifer had shifted nervously at the change, glancing down to see that even the floor of the ship had gone transparent. It unnerved her to be standing on something that felt solid enough under her feet but that she couldn’t see – like she was floating. She wanted it to return immediately to how it had been, but her stubborn streak kept her silent – she didn’t want to admit that it unnerved her.

 They waited for the rest of the team to arrive, each member getting a basic rundown on vehicle operation. Jennifer felt inwardly relieved to see that some of them were more visibly disturbed by the interior view. Once they were all gathered, Vincent had made a final plea to be included in the mission. “I’ve already learned so much about this craft. Just let me stay in it, you don’t even have to take me into the mothership,” he pleaded.

 Jennifer pursed her lips when he said “mothership,” wondering if he was taking any of it seriously, and gently but firmly insisted that he could not go. He finally nodded and stepped off the ship, still upset but at least following orders. Once the exterior was sealed, Polypt operated the controls. It was like zooming out on Google maps if they had decided to make Google maps a VR experience. There was nothing to grab onto, so Jennifer clenched her hands into fists and held her breath as the ground dropped away at an alarming rate, and Vincent’s pouting figure disappeared beneath them.

 If someone had told Jennifer that she was on a moving vehicle, she might not have believed it. There was no rumbling, shaking, or gravitation pull as the ship accelerated into the sky, so as far as her body was concerned, she was standing completely still in a quiet room.

 That made the view somehow worse.

 A part of her had thought that it would take longer. That the trip itself would be more substantial. But instead, the horizon of the world peeled back, revealing the curvature of the Earth, and all too soon they were above the atmosphere. Several members of the team gasped in awe at the sight spread below them, Jennifer included. It was amazing. For a moment, her mind reeled trying to tick off in her head how many women had been to space, but it was a subject on which she was woefully lacking in knowledge. The moon landing had occurred when she was a toddler, but she still had vague memories of the day, of her father’s excitement and how contagious it had been.

 “We’re approaching the ship,” Polypt said, her mandibles clicking softly as she spoke. Jennifer’s head swiveled, trying to spot it, causing Polypt to make a strange rustling click that Jennifer realized was a laugh. “It’s invisible. The sensors on the control know where it’s located at least, and will dock us into a craft notch appropriately.”

 Jennifer nodded, feeling a flutter of trepidation. “And they won’t know we’re coming?”

“No. They know that I escaped on one of their craft, but they are not expecting my return. They sent several craft down to search for me, but I have been using my time waiting for your team tracking those vehicles. Vincent was able to make it appear that we are another of those craft, returning earlier than scheduled.”

Jennifer nodded, frowning slightly. “Vincent was able to do that?”

 Polypt nodded. “He learned quickly what I showed him, and improvised intuitively from there.”

Jennifer considered that for a moment, already experiencing her first twinge of regret so early in the mission. “Do you think we should have brought him with us?”

Polypt’s head swiveled around as her body remained still, tilting slightly, and staring at Jennifer with large, glittering eyes. “No. He would have not have been helpful going forward.” Jennifer stared back wordlessly as Polypt’s head turned to focus forward once more. “We are ready to dock. The location this craft notches into leads out into a hallway There should be no one there to greet us, but we should be cautious exiting in case someone happens to be passing by.”

 Jennifer nodded, gesturing for her team to arm themselves and to step close, reaffirming the plan although they had all gone over it already. As a prisoner, Polypt had very little knowledge of the ship. The only interior space that she was aware of as large enough to store a full airplane was a docking bay where equipment and supplies could be loaded. They would go to investigate the airplane and retrieve the black box. After that, Polypt would lead them to the area where she had been kept, where there were more holding cells for other prisoners. Polypt suspected that humans were being kept in the cells neighboring hers.

If they were caught, the plan was to split up – Hall and Reese would accompany Jennifer and Polypt to the holding cells to find and account for all the human prisoners. The Rescue team would take anyone they found immediately to whatever nearby craft they could escape on. The others would split up and cause chaos, drawing the Bastards away from the Rescue team. After an hour, regardless of mission success, everyone was to find the nearest craft to abscond with and operate it well enough to at least crash into the Earth below.

  It was suicide, but it was the best they could manage on short notice. What if the humans were imprisoned in a different part of the ship completely? What if they weren’t alive? What if the plane had been broken down completely? What if they were immediately spotted and their tactics and weaponry were easily outpowered and outmaneuvered and they were captured? What if, what if, what if… and even if they did everything great and all piled into the nearest several crafts they could commandeer, what if they controlled the thing so poorly that they shot off into space instead of towards the Earth? They all only had a basic crash course on operating the vehicles, after all.

 The craft slid into place so smoothly that Jennifer didn’t know they had finished docking until Polypt said, “Be ready.” Jennifer nodded, gripping her handgun loosely at the ready, gesturing Manuel and another member of the team forward. As the exit opened, it revealed a beige hallway with taupe floors that looked almost like a smooth stone. The color scheme threw Jennifer off for a moment – perhaps in her mind she had a mental image of something sleek and futuristic, gray, black and white, smooth metal like the vehicle they had just arrived in before it had gone transparent. Something with harsh white and blue lights.

 The two that had moved toward the door peaked down both sides of the hall, then gestured that the coast was clear. Polypt took the lead – she claimed to have a peerless internal sense of direction and remembered the way clearly. As the entire team moved down the hall, Jennifer realized she could hear the faint sounds of voices speaking in English. “What is that?” she asked quietly.

“They play the broadcast – what you call the Stream – through the entire ship. It is available to watch in every room, and as such is easily heard even in places where it is not playing.” Jennifer strained her ears for a moment, attempting to pick up the sounds of her daughter’s familiar voice, then shook her head. She had no time to focus on anything but this mission.

Luckily, the first part went smoothly. Polypt led them directly to the storage bay, and they only had to duck back to avoid a pair of figures walking ahead one time. Despite their curiosity to see what the Bastards looked like, not a single member of the team attempted peaking too long at them, and Jennifer was inwardly proud of their resolve. The storage bay seemed miraculously unoccupied. The plane sat out in the open, gleaming in the lights that flickered to life automatically as they entered the room.

 “That’s it. Flight 5071,” Reese let out a low whistle, lowering his weapon as he looked over the length of the plane. “All in one piece.”

 “Think of how many hours we spent looking for broken bits,” Hall griped, grimacing.

“This is good, we know that the crew and passengers all came aboard in one piece,” someone else said as well.

“Enough chatter. Obtain the black box and perform a cursory search of the plane.” Jennifer stood back, keeping an eye on the door with Polypt and Manuel as the others entered the plane, performing a quick sweep and grabbing the black box. She listened to the sound of the Stream playing faintly in the air, and heard a voice shouting loud within it, fiercely declaring, “She’ll die! She had less than a year to live!” Jennifer frowned, her fingers traveling to the pocket where she kept the letter from Cassandra, and wondered what was happening in the Stream.

Hall and Reese were back out first, Reese securing the box in his pack. The rest of the team trailed out after their cursory search of the plane, reporting that the people were predictably absent. In fact, most of the plane’s interior had been cleaned out. All the oxygen masks had been hanging loose and the trays were down, and all the chairs were in their upright position. All the luggage compartments were open but empty. The plane itself was intact, but most other items had been removed. The food cart, the snacks, the brochures, the luggage, anything that seemed immediately removable was gone.

 “What would be the point in cleaning everything out and leaving the plane intact?” one asked, ruffling his hair.

 “Perhaps they let the passengers keep their personal items? Maybe they were studying everything? Hard to say,” Manuel responded.

 Jennifer turned to Polypt to ask her to lead the way to the holding cells when Reese, still standing at the door, hissed, “We’re about to have contact!”

 Reese and Hall quickly moved back from the entrance and let the door shut behind them. Every member of the team took aim. There was a long and drawn-out moment of anticipation. Jennifer wondered if perhaps the alien would walk past, continue down the hallway, and it almost seemed like that might be the case. But then the figure paused, turned back and stepped through the entrance, frowning up at the lights that were inexplicably on when they shouldn’t be.

Everything about it came in threes. It moved on three legs, set evenly around the body like a tripod, and had three arms, one set on other side of its humanoid torso and one smaller appendage rising from its sternum, holding what looked like some kind of electronic device like a tablet. Three eyes arranged across a broad flat face. For a moment, Jennifer had a hard time understanding the face, which seemed to lack a nose or mouth, until a seam somewhere near the chin gaped open, revealing small, round, pearly teeth. Its skin tone was just a little too unnaturally pink, and the eyes were large and pale grey in shade.

  The eyes widened as the mouth gaped in shock, and it pushed up with all three legs to its full height and let out a soft shriek, like an animal trying to make itself look more threatening. It slammed one of its hands down on the tablet it held in the smaller appendage just as it was ripped to shreds by gunfire. Polypt’s head swiveled as a faint ringing sound started in the distance, not dissimilar to a radio alarm clock.

  Jennifer grunted angrily, kicking the tablet out of the weakened grip of the creature’s body. Purplish black blood left a smear in its wake as it skittered across the floor. “Okay, people, we’re on a time crunch now. Go, draw attention away from the Rescue crew for one hour, then find a vehicle notch and launch back to Earth.” Several grim faces nodded, filing out into the hallway, and splitting up to run in different directions. Jennifer sighed and turned to Polypt, Reese, and Hall. “Take us to the prisoner cell blocks,” Jennifer said.

 Polypt led them into maintenance ducts to keep them out of sight. The alarms were more muffled here, and as they moved past rooms, Jennifer could hear bits and pieces of the Stream a bit more clearly. She could hear snatches of conversation about someone returning. So the choice had been presented… Jennifer wished she could sit and watch for a moment, find out who was being sent back, but she didn’t have time for that. If the choice was presented, the attack on Earth would be starting soon.

Despite her size, Polypt crept easily through the space. It wasn’t long until Polypt swiveled her head back around to say, “We are in the cell block where I was kept. This maintenance passage attaches to each room on this side, so we can begin to check the spaces as we pass.” Polypt’s head swiveled back to the room they were next to. “This one does not appear to have a human. This individual was here when I escaped.”

She moved on ahead of them. Jennifer followed, peering into the room curiously. Inside was a strange, furry creature that was laying on the bed. The room was sparse, but did appear to have some basic amenities and the creature did appear to have some personal items in the room. Just ahead, Polypt said, “This was my cell.” Something in her voice was strangely emotional for once, and she moved by the room quickly. Jennifer peered in curiously, but it had been cleared of personal items, or perhaps Polypt didn’t have anything to her name.

 “There are newer occupants here. They appear to be human.”

 Jennifer sighed in frustration. The cell block stopped at 30 cells and even with 2 people to each cramped space, they had not accounted for all the passengers and crew. “I don’t suppose you know of another cell block?” Jennifer asked.

  Polypt frowned, shaking her head. “I do not,” she said. “This is just one side of this hallway. There are an equal amount of cells on the other side.”

 Jennifer frowned. If those were all loaded with more people per room, there was a chance that it meant everyone was here… but if they had other aliens, or even if they had two people to each cell like they did on this side, that still didn’t account for everyone. They found an exit and checked the rooms on the other side, walking down the hall and peaking into the doors. The other side was thankfully all humans, but there were only 2 to each room as she had suspected, which accounted for 116 individuals. Including the 4 that had traveled to another world, they knew where 120 people of Flight 5071 were. Which still left 12 either dead or unaccounted for. Still, the vast majority of people they were looking for were here and they were on a time crunch. Polypt found a panel that opened the doors in the area, which slid up into the ceiling. Curious faces began to peak out, and Hall and Reese moved down the hall, greeting the people they met and giving firm assurance that they would all be returned to Earth, as well as asking questions to determine identities and figure out who was missing. Part of the reason that Hall and Reese had been chosen for this rescue was that they had memorized the list of the missing, and they quickly assessed who was and wasn’t present.

  The furry creature stood at the end of the hall. It had also been freed when all the doors had been opened, and it had stepped out of its room, but now it stood back and simply observed the proceedings. The only thing that made it look like more than a large stuffed animal were the eyes – they were small and beady, but glowing green pupils shifted at the center, moving quickly, watching everything around it. Polypt watched it with curiosity, but did not seem to think it was harmful. “Just another victim of the Bastards,” she said when Jennifer asked.

 The noise level of so many people talking was worrying Jennifer. “How close are we to the nearest three vehicles?” she asked Polypt, figuring they would need at least that many to cart this number of people back to Earth. She hoped that the distraction team had carried all the activity far from them – they were going to have a hard time getting this many people out safely as it was.

  “Not far,” Polypt began giving directions, but Jennifer was immediately distracted by something. Her daughter’s voice. She moved close to the nearest cell, peaking in to see that an image of the Stream was playing near the ceiling. She could see her daughter staring back into the screen, staring directly into whatever device was recording her. “I’m ready,” Cassandra said. “Take me back.”

 “Cassandra…” Jennifer whispered quietly as the Stream stopped.

48. Interlude & Cassandra

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

Interlude

“This is fucking insane, Jen. You’re pushing 60.” Terry paced her office, running his fingers over his head for the umpteenth time. His hair stood ruffled and messy at odd angles on his head, and paired with his wide-eyed stare, it made him look half crazed. Comparatively, Jennifer felt strangely calm – her will set, the way it used to be when she worked field missions as a younger woman. It was the resolve and sense of purpose she had been lacking in her life since she retired, and she realized that she had desperately missed this feeling. She stared at herself in the bathroom mirror as she finished pulling back her hair into a tight ponytail. It was true that she wasn’t young, but she didn’t think she looked her age, and thanks to her recent gym obsession, she felt more physically fit than she had in the past decade.

Terry groaned audibly, running his hands through his hair again. He could see that he wasn’t going to convince her to not go, but he wasn’t done trying. “Certainly this should be run up to someone in another branch? There’s got to be someone with training more in line with this mission. Some group of commandos that will cream themselves at the thought of infiltrating an alien ship.”

Jennifer shook her head as she stepped out of the bathroom. “With the tech they have, there’s certainly surveillance. If we take too long planning and make a big fuss among too many different people, we risk them finding out that we know about them, and we lose the element of surprise. It has to be now.” She paused for a moment, then added. “Besides, Polypt said they were going to make their move soon. We don’t have time for bureaucracy.”

 As she strapped on her holster, Terry scoffed and gestured to her gun. “You’re going to storm an alien shape with a fucking sidearm! Tell me you’ve got better weapons at least?” She ignored him. Attempting a different tactic, Terry swung around and gestured toward Larry, who wagged his tail weakly at the acknowledgement. “Who’s going to take care of the dog!?”

Larry whined softly, as though to punctuate the question. “You will,” Jennifer said. “He needs to be fed in an hour. One cup, food’s in that cupboard.”

Terry took a deep breath and let loose a string of expletives with so much force and volume that it caused Larry to jump slightly in alarm. Then her friend walked out of her office, grumbling loudly as he went. Jennifer settled behind her computer, checking in with the Stream briefly. A part of her wondered if their team was already monitored and if they had already lost the element of surprise she was banking on. They had spent too much time deliberating on the matter as it was.

When they had first gathered for the meeting, the possibility that their office was surveilled was brought up immediately. After all, they were one of the groups that were actively looking into finding the source of the Stream and the passengers of Flight 5071. If they were being watched, then certainly the aliens already knew about Polypt’s presence, though Polypt said that she doubted they were being given any more than minimal attention. Still, out of an abundance of caution, they had kept that initial meeting brief as they improvised an alternate meeting location for field agents and for team members that wished to volunteer to go on the mission. They had dispersed from the office, knowing that they had to approach the new meeting location quietly and separately. It was one a little removed from a normal safe house or any of their known locations. An abandoned barn set far out on a rural property that someone passed daily on their commute to work. They all left their phones in the office and arrived at different times, having parked at varying distances and hiked in. Just arranging and arriving at the meeting location took up most of the night and the next day, even if only half the team had been summoned. The other half maintained operational procedure back in the office, keeping up the appearance of business as usual.

 Jennifer had to find a way to transport a large insectoid creature as well. Luckily, Polypt seemed capable of compressing her body tightly into small locations, and bending in ways that made Jennifer feel uncomfortable to watch. She confined herself into the back seat of Jennifer’s car, and Jennifer parked far enough out from roads that their hike in was made across a wooded landscape before they came to the field where the dilapidated barn stood. The meeting itself was long as well, as they hashed out who would be going, when they would go, and what they would do when they got there. A lot of their plan relied on Polypt’s knowledge of the alien ship, which was sadly sparse as she had been a prisoner there.

In the end, Jennifer had insisted on going. Polypt would be there as well. Vincent had enthusiastically asked to be brought, but she had to turn him down, uncertain of how he would handle field work. She would be bringing Manuel though, as well as the two that had been assigned to finding Flight 5071, Billy Hall and Jake Reese, as well as half the field team, all eager to finally be of use. In total, there would be 10 of them – 9 humans and a human-sized preying mantis.

 It was probably at some point during the meeting that Cassandra had been freed from her imprisonment on the Stream. After the meeting, the team that would be going to the alien ship stayed together to hash out details, visit the craft that Polypt had reached Earth in, and agreed to meet up within 12 hours, giving them enough time to rest, refresh, and prepare themselves. Polypt remained at the vehicle with Vincent, who insisted on at least attempting to understand the tech enough to possibly give them an advantage on their return to the ship.

 Now, sitting and checking the Stream, Jennifer could see that the group in the other world were resting. Soon, one of them would be given the choice to come back to their world, at which point the Stream would end and the aliens would begin their invasion. She stared for a long moment at her daughter’s sleeping form on the screen, curled up with the elf. It was reassuring to know that even when the Stream stopped, her daughter at least had found some small semblance of happiness. Assuming they overcame their enemy…

She went down a mental checklist of everything she needed. She wanted to arm herself a bit better before she arrived at the ship, which would require one stop on her way over. “I’m ready,” she said out loud to Larry. He gave a low woof and wagged his tail. She shut down her computer and stood to leave her office before pausing a moment.

  Turning back to her desk, she carefully slid the top drawer open and pulled out the envelope with the letter Cassandra had left. She folded it and tucked if carefully and securely into a pocket. She held her hand over it for a moment once it was put away. It seemed silly to bring it, she didn’t know if she’d have a moment to read it, and she risked it being damaged or lost if it wasn’t kept safely here. But still… With a sigh, she moved over to gently rub Larry between his ears and left.

Cassandra

 I stifled a scream as four floating objects appeared suddenly in the air before us. They were black and shiny, reflective in the dim light of the cavern. One hovered close, bobbing low, and I found myself staring in shock at the small and warped image of my own face barely perceptible on its shiny surface. “Greetings,” it stated in English, its voice tinny and hollow, like listening to someone over a phone.

 Captain Kaphryn’s grip on her sword was so tight that her knuckles were turning white. “Was that… did it speak?” she asked, her voice expressing her discomfort at the situation.

 Lyre frowned, shifting close, and I could feel the warmth of him pressing against my shoulder. I noted that both Peyton and Lucas shifted closer together to stand in front of Lexie. Asterollan’s bright glow as he reached for his magic illuminated the entire room.

The orbs hovered in the air before Peyton and Lucas, bobbing gently, silent. “Greetings,” Peyton finally said, her voice even and smooth, just at about the same time Lucas cleared his throat and nervously said, “Yeah?”

The orb that had addressed them bobbed lower. It seemed to study their grouping briefly – Peyton and Lucas and Lexie. Lucas frowned, looking like he was about to try to swat the thing away, when it twisted and bobbed closer to me. I drew a deep breath, staring into the reflective black surface as it smoothly slid closer, hovering inches from my face, and did my best to steel my nerves so I wouldn’t take a step back. These things had been watching us this entire time. Certainly they wouldn’t harm us now? “Greetings,” it said again.

I frowned and said, “Greetings?” Raella narrowed her eyes as I spoke English back to the orb.

 The orb twisted in the air. “You are to be presented with a choice,” it said, its voice flat and robotic.

I blinked in confusion, and looked around at everyone else – they all looked confused, and scared. “Just… just me?”

“Yes. You.” I swallowed hard.

“Is it speaking your language?” Raella asked at the same that Lyre asked if it was speaking English.

 “English?” Lexie squeaked, her eyes boggling.

“You can’t understand it?” Lucas said in surprise, frowning at Raella.

As everyone continued to talk in confusion, I stared back at the orb. “What choice?” I asked, my mouth dry, my voice barely perceptible above the clamor.

Only Peyton focused hard on our conversation as the others talked. She stepped closer to listen better, standing shoulder to shoulder with Lyre. As the orb spoke, I felt the blood drain from my face. “You can return home.”

“Return home?” I whispered.

“Only her?” Peyton asked loudly. “She’s the only one that can return home?” Peyton’s voice caused the other conversations to quiet down. Lyre’s head swiveled to look at her, understanding her by whatever magic had made it so that Peyton, Lucas, and Lexie never had to learn the language here. For a moment I silently cursed her for speaking up.

“Home?” Lexie said, her voice a near reverent whisper.

Lucas muttered a comment to her asking if she was a parrot and she elbowed him.

“Yes,” the orb finally said, its voice vibrating with a pleased hum.

I swiveled my head around to look at everyone else. Peyton stared back at me evenly, her lips thinned and her expression thoughtful. Lucas frowned, looking confused, and Lexie stared at the orb with wide, sad eyes. I tried very hard not to look at Lyre, but I felt his hand grip my arm. “But… just me? Why just me?”

“Because you were chosen.”

“I don’t want to go home. Can’t someone go in my place?” I glanced briefly at Lexie before looking back up at my reflection on the orb.

“No. But before you make your choice, know this: if you don’t return home, it will be destroyed.”

I felt my mouth drop open in shock at the statement. “What? Destroyed how?”

“We will destroy it,” the orb said, its tinny voice once again taking on the pleased hum. I felt a shiver run up my spine.

“And who the fuck are you?” Lucas said, his voice louder than usual, angry.

“That does not concern you.”

My mind raced, considering my options. If I didn’t go home, it’d be destroyed? Everyone I had known my entire life – my entire family, all my friends, coworkers, the patients at the doctor’s office I worked at, my dog… everything, destroyed? “I’ll go back,” I said immediately. “But can it wait a day? I have something important to do here.”

“No,” the tinny voice hummed, and for some reason it sounded so smug I wanted to hit it out of the air. “You must make your choice within the hour. You are out of time.”

“But I have something I have to do here!” I repeated, my voice getting shrill.

“That does not concern us.” Lucas actually did swing at the orb then, but his fist whished harmlessly through air as it floated out of reach. “We will give you time. Make your decision.”

As it floated away, Raella said, “What did it say? You can go home?” I felt Lyre’s grip on my arm tighten at her words.

Lucas began to angrily pace underneath the orbs as Peyton relayed the entire conversation to those that hadn’t been able to understand it. As she did, I stared absently, watching Lucas pace and the way his animosity made Peter tense as well. The spider chittered, its eyes glittering in the low light of the cavern. “We may need you against Shadawn…” Raella began weakly.

 “She has to go,” Lexie spoke immediately, cutting Raella off. “She can’t let Earth get destroyed. My family… my baby brother, my dad… mom…” Lexie’s voice choked a little as she spoke, and she turned to me, gripping my hand tight, tears welling up in her eyes. “You have to go back! You can’t let them die!”

I stared back at her wordlessly. When I finally worked up the nerve to look at Lyre, I saw grief on his face, but understanding as well. I had expected stubbornness and was a little relieved, but more than that… I felt exhausted. Overwhelmingly sad. And I realized then that I had already made my decision.

“Wait… You can’t go. They won’t let someone else do it? It can’t be you!” I blinked in surprised confusion, turning to look at Asterollan as he shouted suddenly. Everyone had turned to look at him in surprise at his outburst.

  “What?” Lexie started angrily.

Asterollan pointed at me as he spoke, his brow furrowed. “She said she had a disease before she came to this world. Being here made it disappear. If she goes back, and the disease returns… she’ll die. She’ll die! She had less than a year to live!” I gaped at Asterollan for a moment and he stared back, his expression furious. “I don’t want you to die,” he said fiercely. I hadn’t even considered the idea, but what if he was right? What if I got home and the cancer came back? Was that part of why I had been chosen to make this decision?

Who was making us choose?

 Now it was Lyre’s turn to angrily say, “What?” I avoided looking at him, cursing the moment that I had told Asterollan about my cancer. Lyre shook my arm briefly, trying to get me to look at him. “What does he mean by that?”

Lexie looked stricken, staring at me. “No,” she said softly, drawing the word out.

I swallowed hard but gripped Lexie’s hand tight. “I’m not going to let Earth get destroyed,” I told her resolutely, staring directly into her eyes. She looked a little relieved, but mostly terrified and sad.

“You can’t…” Asterollan started.

I looked at him, cutting him off to say, “I already made my decision.”

I asked the others to give me some time in my last hour here and pulled Lyre with me into one of the derelict buildings. The second we were alone, he pulled me close, pressing his face to mine, kissing me desperately. “Is it true?” he gasped.

I closed my eyes tight for several long moments, forcing myself to take three deep breaths, but then felt that I was wasting what little time I had left. I opened them to stare back into his bright blue eyes and nodded. He had always been pale, but paled considerably more at my nod. I placed my hands on his face, rubbing my thumbs along his cheek gently. “It might not come back. I might go home and be just fine.” He didn’t look convinced, so I added, “There are treatments. They might extend my life.” I remembered how bad my chances had been when I had discussed those options with the doctors before.

“I will find a way to bring you back,” Lyre said, his expression set with determination. “I don’t know how long it will take, so you have to do everything in your power to live as long as you can. I will bring you back!”

I swallowed hard. I thought about the therapies that the doctors had discussed before, the low quality of life that they brought on, for such a short extension to my life – maybe months, they had said. Maybe an extra year, if I was lucky. I knew logically it wasn’t worth it in my case, but I nodded as he spoke. “I promise,” I whispered. “But you have to help defeat Shadawn. You have to make sure the others succeed, finish what we started here…” He gripped the sides of my face, pulling me in for another desperate kiss that left me breathless.

As I gave in to this one last brief moment of passion, I heard the voice of T’Keran whisper like a soft breeze in my ear.

(The favorite of my favorite is my favorite…)

 I hoped that meant Lyre would be safe.

47. Interlude

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

Jennifer languished in the warm water of the gym’s shower, allowing it to wash over her. It was relaxing to simply exist, without thinking or obsessing over everything she didn’t know. Her workout had been enjoyable – she was now spending a little over two hours at the gym each night. She felt stronger than she had in years, especially for a woman her age.

As she stepped out of the shower, she could hear her phone vibrating in her gym bag. She forced herself to have patience, drying herself and dressing before looking at the device. Several missed calls and text messages, all from her team. For a moment, it brought her immediately back to that first day – when she had stepped out of her morning shower and found so many missed messages and calls about Cassandra’s flight. The similarity of the situation sent a shiver down her spine. She pulled up a website immediately, checking to see the most recent videos from the Stream.

She watched the battle with the fire giant closely, awed at the power on display. Cassandra seemed to focus mostly on a supporting role, healing fallen companions. Cassandra had rarely liked taking the lead on things, even as a child. She watched the battle end suddenly with the young girl from their world falling into a trance and communing with the giant, which she identified afterward as the fire god. And then the truly shocking moment – Lexie, looking directly into whatever was capturing the video feed, saying, “What the fuck is that?” She pointed, acknowledging for the first time that there was something there- something physically present where they were.

She had seen what was recording them.

The office was in turmoil over the events, but Jennifer didn’t call a meeting immediately, much to their shock. “It’s the middle of the night,” she told the staff that anxiously greeted her as she returned to the office. “And even if it is a new development, there’s still nothing we can do but watch. Let the others sleep for now, and we’ll discuss this at the morning meeting.”

Despite that, Terry arrived minutes later, carrying two mugs of coffee. He set one on the desk for Jennifer – black and sweet, just the way she liked it. Leaning against the wall, he rubbed a hand through his short hair. Jennifer took a sip of the coffee he had brought her, and raised an eyebrow at him. “Did you just wake up?”

“Yeah,” he said. It seemed he was about to say more, but then he shook his head and took a long pull from his own cup. “I’m surprised you’re not treating this as more of an emergency. I thought you’d want all hands on deck.” She smirked at him and he groaned and took a very long drink from his own cup, nearly emptying it. “I could be sleeping.”

She traced the rim of her mug with a fingertip, glancing at the Stream on her desktop monitor. “I think I’m just happy that there is something that is physically there and recording. Or at least confirmation of it.” She paused for a moment and added. “But even with that confirmation, I already know we won’t be able to do anything.” Terry frowned but said nothing. With a sigh, Jennifer sat back and took a sip of her coffee again. “I don’t think we’ll be the ones to figure this out. We’re going to need luck, or a miracle, or an intervention.”

She had been right in her assessment, and the team didn’t make headway at all. All they could do was watch. There was a lot of excitement about the Stream when those that were being watched attempted to mess with the recording devices. “Scry balls,” Vincent called them one day.

“Scry balls?” Jennifer asked. She had seen them called the same thing on the internet, but wasn’t sure where the term came from.

Vincent nodded. “In the game Dungeons and Dragons, there is a spell called Scry that allows you to spy on someone from a distance. It’s kind of like that…” Jennifer shrugged. It was as good a name as any for the mysterious objects.

When Cassandra caused the cave in, Jennifer found herself screaming at the monitor in frustration at her daughter’s stupidity. Her yelling was so loud that poor Larry jumped up from his sleep instantly, growling, his head swiveling to look for danger. Startled at the uncharacteristically aggressive sound coming from the old dog, Jennifer immediately made soothing noises, and seeing no immediate danger, he hesitantly wagged his tail and whined. She sat down next to him, petting him, hardly able to watch the events unfolding in the Stream.

When the door to her office burst open, she didn’t look up immediately. She flushed, wondering if she had really screamed that loudly, wondering what she had been yelling. Or if maybe someone had come with news about what was happening in the Stream, something she had missed in those critical moments following the cave in… she felt something in her chest clench in panic for a moment as she wondered if Cassandra had died. “Ma’am?” a voice said hesitantly from the doorway.

She looked up to see Vincent, his eyes wide, his face pale. It did not calm her at all. “What is it?” she asked, her voice deceptively steady.

“There’s a…” Vincent paused. His mouth worked for a moment, as though he were confused about what to say next. Finally, he settled on, “We have a visitor.”

Jennifer frowned. “A visitor?” she asked, confused. “Who is it?”

“It’s best if you come see for yourself.” Jennifer stood and followed Vincent down the hall. They made their way to the entrance of the building. Before she fully stepped out of the hall, she could spot a few members of her team, standing tensely with their guns drawn. She wondered what kind of visitor merited this reaction, and her head swiveled to see what they were staring at and…

She blinked, and took a half step back. Her hand reached absently for a gun she never wore anymore, and she had to stop herself and force her fingers to clench into a fist.

It wasn’t human.

As Jennifer stepped into sight, it seemed to unfold, or perhaps to stand straighter, raising itself to its full height – easily three or four feet taller than the average man. All the guns aimed at it lifted, trained on its head. It lifted four arms into the air, palms out.

Something of the appearance reminded Jennifer of an insect like a praying mantis – it was long and lithe and had too many limbs. The arms it lifted didn’t seem to be much differentiated from the legs it stood on – spindly limbs at the end of which were small, long fingered hands. The skin was brownish, with bright yellowish green spots. It wore clothes, which almost seemed so ludicrous that Jennifer could have laughed. It didn’t have the large grabbing legs of a mantis, but the head had a similar triangular shape and large, glittering black eyes.

Those eyes focused on her as it rose up. “I wish to help,” it said, it’s voice a high pitched trill. It spoke perfect English, with a strange and punctuated accent, but English none the less.

“Help with what?” Jennifer asked, stepping forward and gesturing for her team to lower their weapons.

“Help your captured people. Help your planet,” the creature said.

Jennifer paused. After a hesitant moment, she gestured for the creature to follow. She didn’t want to lead it to her office and give poor Larry a heart attack, so she took the creature to the employee break room that they had set up. The break room was large and spacious and had plenty of chairs and tables, and her team could also join and listen, and keep their weapons ready if needed. As she led the way, she pulled Vincent close and whispered for him to get everyone up and at the office. She gestured for the individuals that had their weapons still at the ready to move into the break room first. Even without direct orders, they took positions at the corners of the room to fully cover every angle.

Jennifer stepped in and sat down at one of the tables close to the center of the room. She gestured for the creature to join her and rested her linked hands on the table in front of her.

The creature stepped in and paused for a moment, staring at the chair that sat across from Jennifer. Obviously feeling that it would not be comfortable sitting in such a thing, it gently pushed the chair out of the way and settled onto its thorax on the floor, lowering itself into a crouch that brought it comfortably to eye level with Jennifer.

“What… who are you?” Jennifer asked at last.

The creature’s head swiveled gently as it took in its situation before focusing its eyes on Jennifer. “I am here to help,” it said again.

“Then explain yourself, and explain quickly.”

“I am from another planet.” Someone muttered “No shit” under their breath, but neither Jennifer nor the alien acknowledged it. “My world was subjected to something very similar as what your world is going through now. What you call the Stream.”

Jennifer frowned, not understanding fully. “What do you mean?”

“It is a long story.” Jennifer could see that more of her team were gathering outside the room – some entered, and some lingered at the door or out in the hall. Those that stayed outside took turns peaking in, wide eyed in shock at their first sight of an alien visitor. She nodded to the creature to begin. “I will start by saying that I did not come here of my own will. The aliens that brought me here are the ones that are responsible for recording your people, and they hold several humans on their craft as we speak. I managed to escape to the surface of your world, in the hopes that I could help you to divert the crisis that fell upon my people.”

“They’re keeping humans?” Jennifer frowned. “The people from Flight 5071. Where are they keeping them?”

The alien gestured toward the ceiling vaguely, and Jennifer understood it to mean very high above.

“But our people have been on the alert for an… extra-terrestrial ship. It was one of the possible theories that many had about the source of the Stream. How has no one spotted this craft?”

“They have advanced technology… and some degree of magical prowess.”

Jennifer started to open her mouth to protest at the term “magic” being thrown in so casually, but paused. Her own daughter was being recorded using magic on a nearly daily basis now. She had been pulled into another world by a means that was certainly magical. If these aliens were here and recording and sending that record to be watched… Was it so strange to think that they could use magic too? It hurt her head to think about it. “Magic,” she said finally, tersely. She thought about the scry balls and their invisibility. Perhaps that was how they kept their ship out of sight, wherever it was. “You said they came to your world too? They aren’t the same as you?”

The alien shook its head. “No.”

“And what crisis did they cause your people, exactly?”

For a moment, the alien’s head tilted down slightly – from the shift of its features, Jennifer felt distinctly that it was frowning. “They destroyed my planet.”

Jennifer grimaced, not liking the answer. “Tell me what happened.”

The closest approximation that Jennifer could make to the alien’s name when it introduced itself was Polypt. Very similar to the Graces, Polypt had been pulled into another realm. However, magic was a known element on Polypt’s planet, and being pulled into this realm wasn’t completely unheard of to them – it was part of an ancient pact made between those worlds, and it was considered a great honor. Those who were Chosen on Polypt’s planet were summoned to perform a great service. In fact, many of Polypt’s people trained their entire lives, hoping to be worthy of being Chosen.

But it was Polypt who was Chosen, somehow. Despite being a normal individual that had never trained for the task, Polypt had found herself in this other realm. It had struck her as initially strange – something had clearly gone wrong with the summoning. But Polypt had made the best of the situation and had decided to devote herself to the duty. Unbeknownst to her, her entire journey was broadcast for her entire planet to see.

As a chosen Priestess, Polypt’s duty was to clear the other world of something she described only as an “encroaching dark.” She made friends that she traveled with, she focused on strengthening her magical abilities, and she helped to fight back the encroaching dark. And just as she had come close to finally saving the world … she was approached by the aliens responsible for the broadcast, responsible for interfering with the summoning and sending her.

They gave her a choice: she could stay and save the world she had settled into, but her home world would be destroyed. Or she could return to save her home – and know that she left the other world to its doom. She had anguished over it, but knew that she couldn’t allow her home to be destroyed, so she had chosen to return. The aliens had the ability to bring her back. She had left that other world that her people had made a pact with so long ago, she had left her friends to fight their own battle, to possibly die.

And despite her choice, the aliens had destroyed her home anyway.

“The magic required to pull an individual spatially from one location to another further location is very powerful. It leaves a distinct signature that they can track, and usually exists in a predictable pattern. From what I have been able to learn, they use that to track down species that have a bountiful enough planet for them to harvest resources from. They interfere with the transference spell, so that they can bring the individual back to the point of origin. They spend the time studying the planet, its resources and technology, in order to ensure a smoother acquisition. I suspect the broadcasts and the world’s reaction to it are also a source of entertainment for them,” Polypt said, her tone turning bitter as she spoke.

Jennifer frowned. “What are they called? Do they have a name for their species.”

Polypt gave a strangely familiar gesture – a shrug. “I never learned. I just called them Bastards.”

“I see.” Jennifer frowned. She glanced around the room, and the faces that surrounded her – some disbelieving, some pale with terror, some determinedly set and angry. “So they watch our people like a television program, and then after presenting the victims with a moral dilemma for their own entertainment, they destroy the world and harvest it for resources. And then they move on to the next place where they can interfere?”

“Yes,” Polypt said simply.

Jennifer leaned back, staring hard at Polypt for a time. “When you escaped to the surface… was it on a ship or a craft that could take you back to theirs?”

“Yes. It was not very big, but I can take perhaps a small handful of individuals with me. If they are not expecting me to return, we might able to infiltrate and destroy their ship.”

“No. We need to infiltrate and save the people of Flight 5071. And then we can destroy the ship.” Polypt looked hesitant at that, but Jennifer placed a hand on the table in front of her. “That is non-negotiable. We’re saving our people first.”

Polypt nodded. “I understand. But I will remind you, that it is our love and devotion to our own that they enjoy using against us most. It was how I destroyed my own world… and perhaps another, that I will never see again.”

Jennifer nodded. She stood, and left Polypt under the guard of several members of her team while gesturing for the others to join her in the meeting room. She knew they were in for a long discussion on what do and who would go, but she also already knew that she was going to go herself. No one was going to talk her out of that.

46. Lucas

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

It was a little clusterfucky sneaking back into the cavern with a larger group and using the compass spell a couple of times to narrow down the place where our friends were being kept imprisoned. The building was guarded – there were just two guards though, and that seemed simple enough to deal with. Still, we paused for too long to brainstorm the rescue. Raella and Zolambi wanted to exercise an abundance of caution, which seemed to annoy Lyre, who wanted to immediately save Cassandra. But Raella made several points – if Peyton and Cassandra were fine and could use magic, why hadn’t they escaped? We weren’t close to the city, but being within the same dimly lit cavern, if we all lit up with magic the display would garner immediate attention. If we did end up using magic, we had to figure out a quick escape route. The discussion reminded me so much of attempting to make a plan with my friends in D&D that I was on the verge of manically laughing in panic because the stakes were very real and we were wasting too much time. “There’s more approaching,” one of the dwarven soldiers said, and we became very quiet, making sure we were out of sight as we apprehensively watched.

There were several Underlings approaching, but I couldn’t get an exact count. They approached the two guards at the door, and after a brief conference with each other, they opened the door. I watched the stone smoothly slide out and to the side, impressed by the motion of it and wondering what their technology was like. The first few soldiers stepped down into the entrance. I couldn’t see what was happening clearly – the one in the doorway dropped to his knees, and the Underling behind him lifted one clawed hand and suddenly there was screaming coming from inside the building. I tensed at the sound, wondering if we should rush down to help. I saw Lyre start to stand out of the corner of my eye, and watched Zolambi grip his shoulder tight, pushing him back into a crouch. “Wait,” he said softly.

Lyre grimaced, but didn’t move.

When the screaming died down, Peyton stepped out first. Thanks to the compass spell regaining its depth, I had known that she was alive, but I breathed an inward sigh of relief anyway seeing that she appeared unharmed. Cassandra stepped out next, looking paler than normal and trembling so hard it was visible from where we were. Lyre groaned softly, but from what I could tell, she looked unharmed as well – just scared shitless. I realized after a moment that there was some sort of dark spot in the middle of their foreheads and wondered what had been done to them.

A few moments later, Asterollan and Captain Kaphryn also emerged. I heard the bookish Jon Umberling sigh in relief. A strange weight lifted off my shoulders as I glanced over at Lexie, remembering what Asterollan had promised… if it came down to it. There was some brief discussion amongst the grouping, after which Kaphryn stepped back into the building and the door closed, hiding her from sight. Then the other three began to walk, loosely surrounded by the Underlings, heading directly toward the city. I could hear Raella cursing lightly under her breath and raised an eyebrow at her language.

“We’re never going to be able to save them once they’re in the city,” she finally said. “We need to hurry.”

One of the dwarven soldiers nodded, but said, “A few of us are going to get our Captain. If she’s alive, we can’t leave her behind.”

Raella nodded. “I’ll go with you,” Jon Umberling said. He flushed, and added, “I’m sure I could figure out how to operate the door faster.”

“Fine, but catch up to us quickly,” Raella said. A pair of the dwarven soldiers left, taking a roundabout way to approach the building and the lone guard unseen. Jon Umberling trailed behind them. The rest of us went the opposite direction, looping out of sight and then hurrying to catch up to the Underlings that were marching our friends away. I felt my heart racing, wondering how we were going to handle the situation, if we would be able to catch up in time to help free them, especially if we couldn’t use magic.

I realized that we were quickly catching up now, because the group had paused for some reason. A fight had broken out. I could hear Asterollan shouting in pain, and saw Cassandra attempting to desperately flail at the Underlings that had grabbed her. Peyton seemed to be standing her ground, for now… but she was outnumbered, and they were moving in close around her. I could hear the clicking, screeching noises they made even from this distance.

Lyre broke out into a run immediately upon seeing Cassandra in danger. I could see him reaching for his magic, heedless of Raella’s hissed warnings. Shrugging, I ran after him – if our cover was already going to be blown, it was better to act fast and hit them hard. I heard Peter chitter excitedly behind me. Even before I rounded the last stalagmite, I heard Peyton give a triumphant shout as I came within range of her mind reading ability, and as I slid into view I summoned as many vines as I could to grow out of the ground and strike at the Underlings surrounding her, eviscerating as many of them as possible. Peter trilled happily and launched himself at the head of one of the Underlings, biting and tearing its ear off. “The entire city is going to see!” Raella said as she caught up. “We need an escape route!”

I turned to glance around. The Underlings that had captured Cassandra had been knocked back somehow, and were currently being mercilessly burnt to a crisp. Lyre was helping Cassandra up from the ground as he continued to focus his magic on them. The dwarven soldiers had engaged some of the remaining Underlings. I watched Chase and Zolambi help Asterollan to his feet as Lexie stood back, bouncing on her heels nervously. “The platform!” Peyton said as she approached Raella and me. She turned to point down closer to the city. “It’ll take us to Shadawn!”

“It’ll take us closer to the city,” Raella grumped. We could hear the screeches of Underlings from below, who had seen the displays of magic. We wouldn’t have a lot of time before we were overwhelmed. Glancing back, I could see that Jon Umberling, Captain Kaphryn, and the pair of soldiers that had gone to rescue their Captain approached at a quick jog. Jon was red with exertion, his eyes flashing with worry as he heard the screams of the Underlings from the city.

“We’ll get on the platform first and then collapse the tunnel behind us,” Peyton said.

“We need to hurry then,” Raella said with a sigh. She began to shout, urging the others into a run, directing them toward where the line of light that showed the path of the platform was. Peyton paused to poke around the corpses of the Underlings, picking up a few items that were too small for me to see. “What was that?” I asked.

“Worry about it later. We need to run,” she said, patting me on the back. I frowned, staring in worry at the strange mark on her face, but there was no time to think about anything. I ran, calling for Peter to follow.

I could hear Jon Umberling’s labored breathing, and felt a stitch of pain in my side, my own lungs aching as we ran at a breakneck pace down to the other end of the cavern. There was movement all around. I could hear the screams of the Underlings approaching. I gasped as one dropped down in front of me from above, but Peter trilled and tackled it bodily, sending it sprawling. I called for the spider again as I kept running.

Looking ahead, I could see that Lexie and a few of the dwarves had taken the lead, running fast. And emerging from the city were many Underlings, moving to block our path. I felt a momentary despair staring at them as they approached, but then Lexie lit up like a fiery beacon and a massive wall of flame engulfed them. The light was so bright that I had to raise a hand to shield my eyes, and I could feel the heat of the flames even from behind her. I heard some of the dwarven soldiers hoot in exultation as we continued to run.

We reached the platform, launching ourselves up onto it. I paused to help boost the dwarven soldiers and Jon Umberling as Lexie danced nervously from foot to foot above us, shouting, “Hurry, hurry hurry!”

“Someone figure out how to move this thing!” I shouted. Raella was already quickly fumbling with a panel that looked like controls of some sort, and as soon as I boosted him up, Jon Umberling rushed over to help her. The platform began to move, slowly at first. Realizing I was the only idiot left standing on the ground, I gripped the edge and pulled myself up, and could feel Peyton and Asterollan steady me, pulling me over the side.

I looked back at the mass of shrieking figures moving towards us. Lexie stood at the end of the platform and released another massive blast, a moving wall of fire that caused the entire tunnel to rumble alarmingly, and I focused on summoning something thick and tangled to block the tunnel – I had expected more vines, but was almost shocked to see the thick trunks and branches of trees blast through, thoroughly blocking the tunnel. But as the platform picked up speed, all of it – the blockade, the eerie screeching shrieks and screams of the Underlings – fell behind, out of sight, out of hearing.

I stared back into the tunnel, breathing heavily. Then with a sigh, I flopped on my back and closed my eyes. “Holy shit,” I said.

It felt like we were on the platform for a couple of hours, zooming along at a speed that was hard to determine in the dark. It moved smoothly, and there were hardly any distinguishing features for us to tell how quickly we were moving past things. Despite it being an open design, the movement of the passing air wasn’t strong enough to pull us off. Maybe it only felt fast because it was the fastest thing I’d been on since arriving in this world. Regardless, the breeze felt nice after all the running.

Before long, the platform followed its lit track into another cavern, with only a few sparse buildings near the line. We tensed, wondering if we would find more Underlings here, but as it slid to a stop, we realized the entire place was eerily silent. “Hello?” Lexie called out curiously, but nothing answered. We stepped off the platform. The dwarven soldiers cautiously investigated the surrounding area before reporting back that it was safe.

Now that we didn’t have the wind whistling in our ears or any Underlings to worry about, Raella summoned her globes of light and we examined the marks on Asterollan, Peyton, and Cassandra’s foreheads. Peyton showed us the dark gemstones that were the keys, and explained that it was suppression, and they discussed how to free themselves from it. Attempts to destroy the stones didn’t result in much luck, and Asterollan kept insisting that he thought moving out of their range would break the connection. Peyton was reluctant to test the theory, so Asterollan offered to be the guinea pig. I handed the stone to Peter and instructed it to move to the far side of the cavern. When the spider was almost all the way across the large, echoey space, the mark on Asterollan’s head lifted and dissipated into the air. He immediately reached out for his magic, summoning his blazing sword of light, and flashed a cocky smile at Peyton.

“Don’t even say it. We didn’t know for sure it would be that simple,” she told him.

He shrugged and allowed his magic to drop, the sword disappearing. I called for Peter to come back. As we were waiting, Peyton also took the chance to pull Raella, Zolambi and Chase together. “I need to tell you all something important,” she said, almost hesitantly. “Greyjon is dead.” I could see Cassandra tense and stare at the ground nervously.

Raella looked startled for a moment, then she nodded. “I… I see,” she said, her voice quiet.

“How?” Chase asked, her tone anguished. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes.

I noticed Cassandra opening her mouth as though to speak, but Peyton cut her off to say, “It happened quickly, and there was nothing we could do.” I frowned at the vagueness of the statement, but Chase nodded in acceptance.

Zolambi sighed heavily, crossing his arms. “He was an excellent soldier, and will be missed. The city of Kimber has suffered a great loss for his death.” Then Zolambi glanced around at each of us. “But we understood the stakes when we were chosen. This was always a possibility.” Chase nodded, though she looked a bit uncertain that she had agreed to possibly dying.

We decided to rest for the evening, grieving and tired as we were.

We slept in the next day, not really in a hurry to get to the last leg of our journey. We knew we were close. All that was left was to face Shadawn and save the world. We fixed a gloomy breakfast and discussed our options. “You’ve been instrumental in getting us here,” Raella said to Captain Kaphyrn and her soldiers, “but the coming battle will rely heavily on magic. It will be safer for all of you to stay here… and prepare for us to return, so you can get us home.” I felt a bit cheered at her words, thinking about that – about returning to the surface, and building a new life. It felt like it was in reach.

Kaphryn nodded. “I won’t argue against that. We’ll scout a little and see if we can find an alternate path to the surface. Backtracking might be hard…”

“I assume I’m staying here as well?” Jon Umberling asked, a little nervously. Raella nodded, and the dwarven scholar exhaled in relief. “Of course! I couldn’t be any help in a battle.” He chuckled.

Raella paused for a moment, looking over at Chase. “I want you to stay here as well.”

Chase blinked several times in confused surprise. “What? I can’t… I’ve come this far, Raella!”

“I understand, and I don’t doubt your skill, but I will feel better if you are not risked. Besides, we have alternate means of completing the seal now, which we would have to use anyways now that Greyjon is… not here.” Raella frowned, pursing her lips. “Stay and help Captain Kaphryn and her people find us another way out to the surface. Certainly you can finagle a spell capable of helping in some way?”

Chase grimaced, but didn’t argue. I glanced at Lexie, wondering if I could convince her to similarly stay, when I noticed the strange frown on her face. She stared into the air, focusing hard on something. I remembered that she could see the strange balls that were watching us, and wondered what they were doing to catch her attention, when they suddenly appeared, clear and present and easy to see for everyone. Several of the dwarven soldiers shouted, startled, as their invisibility dropped.

“Greetings,” a voice boomed tinnily from the spheres.

45. Cassandra

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

I had a strange dream, like I was sleeping peacefully until I was swallowed into a void, and then I had fallen into the ocean… The first thing I became aware of was voices, very near to me, quietly talking. Voices I recognized. I realized that Peyton and Asterollan were with me, and the thought was somehow instantly calming. The next thing I immediately became aware of was my headache – it throbbed just behind my brow in the middle of my forehead, sharp, like a pickaxe poking into my brain. I sighed as I stirred and sat up. I felt a strong hand grip my shoulder and elbow, helping steady me. “Are you okay?” Asterollan asked. His voice sounded harsh, but when I opened my eyes, I saw the worry spoken plainly on his face – as well as the dark circle on his forehead.

I nodded, hardly able to take my eyes off the mark. “I… I just feel like someone took a pickaxe to my head, but I’m fine.” The memories of watching people get crushed by rocks, of losing Lyre behind me in the cave-in swirled through my mind, making me feel nauseous. And Greyjon… A bad headache was the least I deserved. I placed my hands over my face, rubbing slightly, wishing I was sleeping again.

We were in some kind of strange stone building with a dim ring of lights set into the ceiling. It looked almost like it had been formed out of the rock itself. The floor dipped down, completing the dome in a kind of lopsided oval. It was like being inside a stone egg that was set with flat platforms along the walls at spaced intervals, like beds. I was laying on one of those platforms. Maybe they were beds after all.

Peyton and Kaphryn sat on another platform nearby, watching me as I sat up. Captain Kaphryn watched me intently, warily, and Peyton sat, her arms crossed and her head tilted as she stared. I could see the same dark circle on Peyton’s forehead, and reached up to my own pounding head where I assumed I had a similar mark. It struck me as immediately strange for a moment – every time I had seen a tether on an elven slave, the marks had been different, unique, usually encompassing one entire half of their face and trailing down their necks. For some reason, I understood intuitively that this was not the same. Rubbing my forehead again, I asked, “What did they do to us?” As I asked, I reached for my magic. I could still feel it, sense the power around me, but it was just out of reach and I couldn’t grasp it.

Asterollan frowned. “I thought it was tethering at first, but…”

“It’s not. It’s suppression.” Peyton frowned, uncrossing her arms and gripping the edge of the platform she sat on. “They’ve had enough dealings with the elves that they’ve developed a method of suppressing magic. Apparently, the process is quite similar to tethering, but there’s no Focus, because they don’t want us to cast. Instead, there’s a key.” I looked up at the dim circle of lights above us, blinking as I stared into them. It looked suspiciously like electricity. Before I could even voice the thought, Peyton said, “Yes. It’s electricity.” I raised an eyebrow at her nervously.

“They… they have electricity,” I mumbled the statement in shock. “Where are we?”

“It’s a city of some kind. I don’t know the name of it. The Underlings minds are… hard to understand. I don’t even know if they built the city themselves, or just found it… They seem to understand and speak Blest, but they also have their own language…” As Peyton spoke, I tried to imagine words coming out of the toothy maw of that strange, eyeless face I had stared into before and shuddered.

“That scholar had mentioned before that there were records of a transport that could run the Graces straight to the seal, deep underground. It supposedly ran on some kind of mysterious energy, maybe this electricity you both mentioned,” Kaphryn spoke up, a frown on her face. “We were just discussing the possibility that the Underlings have tapped into its source.”

“That scholar?” I repeated her words, raising an eyebrow.

Her frown deepened and a flush rose up her face. “That… Jon Umberling.” I stared at her a moment, amused at her reaction, but decided not to comment on it and only nodded. “We saw the transport briefly, when we descended into this cavern. We should make it our goal to get to it.”

“It ran along a glowing track, kind of like a futuristic train,” Peyton described for me. I sighed and rubbed at my forehead again. “The gems they used to suppress us are the keys to that,” she said, changing the subject as she read the thought that flitted across my mind. “But when we tried to attack them and take them by force… well, it ended poorly.”

I frowned, wondering how strong the Underlings were if they easily overpowered people like Asterollan and Peyton. I also imagined that as a Captain, Kaphryn wasn’t a pushover either. “Somehow, they used the keys against us,” Peyton said a bit defensively, reading the concern in my thoughts.

“You need to quit doing that,” I said.

Peyton smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry. I’ve been… opening it up a little more lately. Trying to get us out of this mess.” I nodded, understanding. “What I have learned is that they can’t take the suppression keys far from us for some reason. Whether that’s for a good reason or a bad reason, I can’t say, but the guards outside have got ours.”

“What would be a bad reason?” I asked, feeling a little confused.

“Maybe we die if they get too far from us,” Peyton suggested, a little too cheerily.

I stared at her, my jaw dropping open at the thought. “Or,” Asterollan said, finally speaking, “they become less effective at containing us with distance.” His hand was still on my shoulder, and I felt him give a reassuring squeeze. When I glanced up at him, I saw that his eyes were unfocused as he frowned, deep in thought.

Peyton raised an eyebrow, her eyes lingering on Asterollan’s hand on my shoulder for a moment before she said, “I’m simply trying to posit the possibility that it wouldn’t be wise to just go running out of the range of the gems. At least not until I can get a read on what the result might be.”

Asterollan’s hands pulled away from me as he shifted to sit on his own stone platform. “Now that Cassandra is up, we should run or try to fight them again. How many guards are outside now?”

“Just a few. But they’re waiting for something,” Peyton looked thoughtful, her eyes unfocused. I realized she was trying to push into the minds of the Underlings.

“Can you tell why they’ve captured us in the first place?” I asked.

Peyton flushed, looking mildly annoyed. “They work for him. For Shadawn. He created them.”

I gaped at her. “What?”

“I don’t know when or how or why, but they all seem to think they owe their existence to him. And from what I can tell, he still wants me.” She paused for a moment, then seemed to rethink the phrasing of her last sentence, and blushing furiously added, “As his Chosen. Shadawn wants me as his Chosen.”

I nodded, not really questioning. Even if Shadawn wanted Peyton as something more… was that hard to believe? She was a movie star. Beautiful, and ridiculously talented, and skilled at everything she tried… no wonder she caught the attention of would be evil godlings. “Okay. Stop that,” she said, reading my thoughts and still blushing furiously. “I’m not perfect.”

I snorted. “So, what’s the plan?”

Kaphryn sighed. “The door is sealed from the outside. I suppose we just wait, and prepare ourselves for the second they do unseal it.”

“And then?” I glanced around and saw that all three of them had set and determined expressions. I hesitated a moment, then nodded. “We fight,” I said nervously.

We moved closer to the entrance, taking up platforms that would allow us to move quickly against whoever stepped in first. Since I had already had plenty of sleep owing to passing out earlier, I sat up with Peyton to keep watch. Kaphryn and Asterollan each chose their own platforms to snooze on for a bit, taking the moment to rest. Peyton stared at where they insisted the door was, her eyes unfocused as she attempted to read more out of the thoughts of the guards outside the building.

I glanced around the small room nervously, though there wasn’t much to see. Eventually, my eyes rested on Asterollan. I stared at the features of his face absently, especially the notch in the bridge of his nose where the scar sliced across his face, a long white stripe across his otherwise flawless and tanned skin. It occurred to me again that if it wasn’t for that scar, he would be devastatingly beautiful. In sleep, his expression was less severe, instead veering toward melancholy. I wondered for a moment if he was having a sad dream…

“He’d do anything for you, you know,” Peyton said suddenly. I shifted, startled by her words, and looked up at her. She was staring at me, her head tilted curiously, her blue eyes seeming to stare right through me.

My heart raced for a moment, and I inwardly chastised myself for it. “I have Lyre…” I said, a bit harshly, and avoided looking in her eyes. I wondered if Lyre was even alive.

Peyton nodded. “Lyre would do anything for you too. But what if he’s dead?”

I glared at her. “He’s not dead,” I said firmly. She smiled knowingly, and I was instantly annoyed. Then, half curious if it would get a rise out of her, I asked, “Do you think Lucas is still alive?”

She looked a bit surprised for a moment, then something in her expression hardened. “If he’s not, it’s your fault.” The comment hurt so much I nearly gasped out loud, but Peyton’s head suddenly swiveled toward the door and she reached out to shake Kaphryn awake. “They’re coming,” she said quietly. I reached out to wake Asterollan, but saw that his eyes were already open. He sat up, pulling himself into a crouch on the platform. I heard the shifting of the stone as it pulled slightly out and shifted to the side smoothly, automatically.

Before we could move, I felt a sharp pain overwhelm my senses. My vision strained, sending strange halos of light flickering through my sight that warped everything so drastically that I shut my eyes tight. The sharp pain I had felt in my head before intensified, brutally. I realized I was screaming, a sharp piercing noise, and I could hear Peyton grunting in pain and Asterollan’s angry shouting. I managed to force my eyes back open in time to blearily make out Captain Kaphryn yelling and throwing herself bodily at the first figure that appeared at the door. She was easily swiped out of the air by one unnaturally long limb and thrown harshly, her back slamming into one of the platforms on the other end of the room. She gasped, moaning in pain as she crumpled to the curved floor, curling into a ball.

Peyton, gasping in pain, shifted forward, striking quickly into the neck of the figure. Her blow caused it to wheeze painfully, and it let loose a short, sharp bark of pain as it fell to one knee, but the one behind it held up a small black gemstone. The gem glowed brightly and Peyton screamed shrilly, clutching her head.

After a few moments, the pain subsided, but the strange halos of light still seemed to flicker across my vision, making me feel nauseous. The creatures stood for a moment in the doorway, holding the gems up, a threatening reminder they could use them on us again. One of them made a strange series of clicking noises from deep inside its throat, and then spoke in Blest. “Follow,” it said, and clicked and gurgled again. They stepped back from the door.

We hesitated for a moment, then Peyton stood and stalked out, standing just outside the door. I slipped off the platform I was on and followed, my chin lowered as I stared at the tall creatures that surrounded us. There were several of them, forming a loose semi-circle around the entrance of the building we were in. Asterollan jumped down from his perch, walking over to check on Kaphryn, and helped her to her feet. As they both stepped out behind Peyton and me, the Underling that had spoken before gestured with its hands at Kaphryn. “You. Stay.”

We paused for a moment, then Kaphryn sighed and stepped back into the building. The door slid closed, smoothly transitioning back into place. I stared back at the door. “What’s going to happen to her?” I asked, as the creatures began to move us forward.

Peyton’s expression paled before it even spoke. It gave a harsh series of clicks, much like laughing, and then said, “Food.” The nausea became overwhelming. I looked out across the dimly lit cavern, seeing a massive city on the other end, and the lights from similar domed buildings as the one we had stayed in splayed across the ceiling. Far below, I could see the glowing line of the transport that Peyton and Kaphryn had mentioned.

We seemed to be heading toward it. “Where are you taking us?” I asked. I had hoped to sound a little demanding, and winced when my tone came out desperate and frightened.

“To Master.” We walked quietly with the group for a moment. I wondered briefly if maybe this was for the best. They were taking us directly to Shadawn. We wanted to go to Shadawn. Granted, with the suppression in place, this confrontation wasn’t going to happen how we wanted it to. But maybe we could figure something out once we were there. My mind raced, wondering what action I could take, or whether Asterollan or Peyton had a plan…

I thought about Kaphryn being cannibalized by the creatures and froze in my tracks.

We couldn’t leave her. She was in this mess because of my stupidity. I couldn’t leave her. One of the Underlings shoved me hard between my shoulder blades, causing me to stumble forward a few steps, but something in my mind had set – I wasn’t going to take another step. Not where they wanted me to go.

It happened quickly. I stumbled forward onto my knee, felt my resolve harden before I even hit the ground, and heard Peyton groan as she read my mind. Distracted by my hard tumble, the Underling that had shoved me reached down to grip my arm and roughly pull me up, and Peyton swiveled into a sudden round house kick, her movements as graceful as a dancer. I didn’t even know what she was kicking at until I heard the crystalline sound of the gem hitting the ground.

Without even trying to stand all the way, I pulled from the Underling’s grip on my arm and dove toward the sound, hoping to find the gem in the dim light. I heard Asterollan tackle the creature as it grasped at me, rolling onto it, and then heard him scream in pain as his key was used against him, but I didn’t look back. I continued grasping along the ground desperately, but then felt the halos flair in my vision and screamed in pain, convulsing bodily and curling up into a protective ball.

I could hear Peyton struggling, fighting desperately. It must have been her gem that she had knocked free. I felt rough, clawed hands grip me, lifting me bodily, and I screamed and kicked, windmilling my legs in desperation. I felt dread well up in me as more clawed hands gripped me, tearing at my skin. This was hopeless, I realized. I began to cry as I screamed, feeling angry and frustrated, and looked up in time to see Peyton’s face.

She was fighting, lashing out with swift strikes and weaving out of the grip of the Underlings that were trying to catch her, her expression set in a grimace reflecting my hopelessness. But suddenly, her expression contorted. Her eyes widened in shock, and a smile spread across her face. “Yes!” she shouted, pumping her hands into the air as she literally jumped for joy.

I stared in confusion.

And then the vines shot violently from the rocks, eviscerating the Underling that had started to reach for her, and realization dawned on me.