Chapter 2: The Robe

I jumped out of my seat. I was, except for the .45 I always carried unarmed.

I pulled my old gun and swept the room. There was nothing.

I commanded. “Show yourself!”

There was nothing out of the ordinary.

“SHIP mute all equipment.”

Now it became so quiet I could hear my own breath. There, by the science console something insubstantial distorted the duty station for a mere moment. Something or someone cloaked shared the bridge with me. “Last chance whoever you are Show yourself.” pistol flew halfway across the bridge and my right arm stung with pain.

I jumped forward and ducked behind the seat of the tactical station. Simply not to remain on one spot, something whooshed through the air and hammered with force into the side of my seat, whatever it was dented the armor plating that encased the outer layers of the command seat.

“SHIP connect me to...”

Something hit me hard against the left cheek, I could hear the cracking of a tooth and pain exploded into my mind, then the entire Communications console was ripped out and tossed into my direction.

I noticed an egg-shaped, fist-sized metallic object rolling from apparently nowhere across the floor, Assuming it was some sort of explosive device. I mustered all my strength and jumped over the navigational console, the device emitted a deafening sound and the exposed skin of my face felt as if a thousand needles hit me at the same time.

The lights went out and every indicator light and screen went dark. It was some sort of Tech Stop grenade and it had neutralized every system on the bridge. Now I had no chance to call for robots or help.

The strangest thing was that I could feel Narth, yet I was unable to reach his mind. Whoever was here had Psionic powers. Oh, how I hated these!

The right thing to do would have been to reach the Command seat and activate the emergency evacuation. The seat could be placed under strong shields and could be ejected, but this was my ship and I would not run and abandon my ship, not that there was a big chance the seat systems would still work. I was kicked again, and so hard into the side, I was lifted off the ground, it was the fact that my apparently thin leather suit was lined with Ultronit mesh that saved my life.

This could not go on like this. I closed my eyes in pain, but as I did it my almost forgotten new sense kicked in. I could feel the environment and now I could detect two human shapes and this time I was able to evade another kick and grabbed the kicking leg to pull at it with all force I could muster. I screamed as whatever made these attackers invisible also burned my hands, luckily my hands were covered with the thin leather gloves that were part of my outfit and that saved them from being more seriously injured and for the first time I heard one of them speak.

“Yes fight us that will make this even more fun!”

I was hurt badly but if they thought I would roll over and die they had picked the wrong girl. Whoever these attackers were, they were sophisticated enough to circumvent all security measures of both the Tigershark and the Union spaceport.

They were shielded and armed and had tech that was at least as sophisticated as the latest Union tech. The voice sounded distorted but the language was Union. One of them grabbed me by the hair and knelt before me.

“Now that we have your undivided attention, we have questions for you and you will answer them. Since it seems you are able to resist our psionic probing we must use more primitive methods. Frankly, I prefer those anyway.”

Now the other one came close and said. “Your tech is impressive, but what is it compared to the achievements of the UNI?”

I said nothing, but my mind reeled. The UNI were supposedly extinct even before the Saresii ascended. It was they who created the AI that infiltrated the Crucible. It was them who gave the Kermac that calling device and the means to control the Y’All.

I remembered the Dualix mentioning the UNI while I was in the Cave of Things.

The one holding me by the hair said.” We know a lot about you, my dear. We know you have been Eric Olafson and you were born on Nilfeheim.”

They pulled me to my feet and he threw his hand across my face both with force and with the stinging heat of a force field that singed and burned my skin.

The force of the blow must have broken my jaw as the pain of it was even greater than the burning sensation.

Then one of them held up a little device. “I am the First Son of Darkness. I am the chosen one to inherit the Power of the Dark One. Not some nitwit of a planet of nitwits.

He played with the thing and said, snickering in an utmost arrogant and evil way. “This is an ancient Saresii device, so much more refined than the crude Neuro rippers.

It causes the purest form of pain both physically and mentally.”

I spat blood towards the shimmering shape I could see while I kept my eyes closed and said.

“Take a number then, you are just another clown claiming the Dark One.”

“You won’t be so cocky in a moment. Let me demonstrate what the Othmor does to a human.”

I instantly experienced the same sorrow and helpless agony, I did the day my mother died. At the same time, it felt as if I was doused with boiling oil. Before my inner eyes, I saw in vivid clarity father whipping mother to death.

I could hear her cries and I could see her bloody hands reach out for me, her lips forming my name while the steel cable tore the skin of her beautiful face.

Somehow through my tears and pain, I saw the outline of my tormentor and he laughed. “Now my dear, you see what this thing can do. There is no getting used to it. It magnifies your greatest sorrows and your deepest pains.”

The other shape said. “After we are done with you we will go to Nilfeheim and kill the infant and everyone on that planet. We know why the Narth representative takes so much interest in that child. He is the real one, the promised one. Not you, you are just sick and demented.

Your little nephew won’t live to come into his own and you have been used by these cursed hooded interlopers to collect the tokens of power for him.

Now tell me what did you take from the Cave of Things and where is it?”

I was out of my mind thinking that beings like this were out to get my nephew. Uncle Hogun with all his strength would stand no chance.

If they could infiltrate the Tigershark while sitting on a Union military port, they would have no problem reaching Nilfeheim.

This fear for my nephew knotted my stomach, but through all this amplified pain and sorrow I remembered my ring...

A new voice spoke. “You have been banished from Narth Prime, now you are agonizing a force that is beyond your masters. No shield of Saresii or UNI design can keep out the one that is the Narth Supreme.” I opened my tear and blood blurred eyes, noticing that my eyelids were burned, despite the darkness a black-robed figure hovering a few centimeters above the deck plates, outlined by an aura of yellowish light and two glowing eyes.

The shimmering outline, the one who called himself First Son of Darkness laughed.

“Splendid now I have you in my hands as well. I was your equal when I was on Narth Prime so long ago and that is why you sent me away. Now I am many times as strong as I was back then and I uncovered these UNI cocoons at the bottom of the Shafts of Knowledge. Surrender Narth Supreme surrender. I am Supreme now.” The shape held up the Saresii Device and pointed it at the Narth Supreme.

“Take me to the Center of Narth Prime or suffer as no being has suffered. I desire what you keep from me there.”

“One is no longer as distant from the motivations of corporal beings as one has been when your visit was granted. You are but the copy of a mistake that one should have corrected long ago. You are nothing; your so-called powers are the same to Narth as a single photon is to the light of a sun. Yet in your foolish quest, you have stirred what should have slept much longer.

So I will obey your command and take you where you want to go.”

The Narth Supreme ignored the two beings and it looked as if they were suddenly frozen and said to me, holding out his held his gloved hand. “You too must come as well, your true self stirs much too early.” I was still hurting and why I suddenly had the Ax in my other hand I could not tell, but as soon as I touched his hand, the pain subsided.

With the easing of the pain, I heard my brother’s voice. “The body we share is still mortal, sister. The Narth Supreme will be punished like they all will be tormented.”

“I trust him. He came to help and save my life.”

The Narth Supreme did not hear my inner voices. “No time shall pass for the world, so you do not disobey your rules and leave your ship unguarded. No force can make you do these things anymore, you must want to come with me freely. Do you trust the Narth Supreme?”

“I shared the Huhgavh with Narth and through it, I know that you are trust incarnate. I am not yet separated from what Eric will become, but the Dark One will not be the same he was.”

He sounded pleased. “There is yet hope that the third way will prevail. Come then with me to Narth Prime, suspend all human limitations and thoughts and simply follow my step.”

Narth Prime was over 890 light-years from where we were, but what was space or distance to the Narth Supreme?

I simply followed him and the bridge of the Tigershark was gone.

I found myself in a perfectly spherical chamber of perhaps 200 kilometers diameter, the walls were smooth and gray and there was no visible light source anywhere and yet I could see’

Two men floated in the air about ten meters in front of me.

They both were inside pale shimmering blue fields of Energy.

The Narth Supreme was right beside me and he said. “This is the very heart of Narth Prime and the reason this world was made is right there before us.

One of the men inside those blue energy cocoons yelled elated and said. “Fear of pain and fear of my retribution has made him obey. He floated towards the center. Now witness the birth of a God and bow before your new master.”

The Narth Supreme ignored the man and said to me. “Here in the very heart of Narth Prime is what we keep for many eons. Entities of great power, beings with a hunger for godlike powers like this mad man, the ones that created the Y’All and those who sent them they all have searched and for what is here.”

He pointed at a black shroud, very much like the ones the Narth wore. Unlike the robes worn by the Narth however, this one had the hood attached. It was not a mask with eyeholes, but an open cowl. The garment was utterly black with a faint shine. It had long voluminous sleeves.

The Narth Supreme said. “Because of this robe, we Narth chose to wear garments of similar style. This is how many civilizations envision a personified death might appear. This image is subconsciously associated with death and the very anti-force of life by almost every sentient beings.

This is how the Guardian of Earth appeared to the humans of Earth, but all are only copies and approximations. This, my child is the shroud, the garment of the Dark One.”

To me, it was just a piece of clothing, nothing particularly fashionable. Nothing Erica would want to wear. Something I associated with Narth, not with me. Yet all the pain I had felt before, all the sorrow of this nightmarish experience dissipated and Eric inside me cheered in a triumphant way.

It looked so familiar, it was not for anyone else to keep or search for. It was not for the Y’All or the Uni. It most certainly did not belong to this buffoon, this creature, who caused me so much pain. It did not belong to anyone but me. It was mine!

Without knowing how I bridged the distance and reached the garment before the Blue shielded man did. I knew it was mine as I knew my right arm belonged to me. I clearly saw and felt my ring. I shed the female garments with a mere thought.

It belonged to me and it engulfed me like liquid, like thick smoke and it felt as if I stepped into my own skin. What need did I have of blasters and space ships?

My belt girded the shroud and my boots were on my feet.

This time Crea, her impotent minions, the Lords of Light would not face servants and shadows but Darkness Supreme, the anti-force of life. Creation and life caused chaos and uncertainty. Death was peace and order.

The shielded man yelled. “It is mine, you cretin. Feel the agony”.

He held out the device and activated it while his companion released some sort of weapon beam. Neither had any effect on me.

With a mere thought and a fraction of my will, I drained all the energies out of their primitive devices and the two men floated now fully visible and recognizable in the air.

Claw-like hands formed out of thin air before them. No more substantial than smoke or fog, and they penetrated the chests of these men like ghostly whisps.

I could feel their fluttering hearts, touched their frightened minds.

The First Son of Darkness looked like a fish on dry land as he tried in utter panic to get a hold of the smoky nothingness that penetrated his chest.

I said, not recognizing my own voice. “Those who dwell in the deepest Nether regions shall lament thy fate, thou hast raised my anger like nothing that lived in all the Omniverse. Tormented till all times end shall be thy fate.”

The men screamed and begged. “I have raised a church in your name. Have mercy.”

“I have no need for the meaningless utterings of meaningless creatures. Thy agony, however, will amuse me.”

“The black flames, please keep them away, do not cast me down there, please. I will worship...”

The men withered away and while their bodies crumbled to dust, their tormented voices could still be heard as they slowly faded away and fell silent.

The Narth Supreme said. “There is no doubt; there is no one else coming after you. The Prophecy is true, the Nnnth predicted it and the Arth feared your coming. You are the Dark One and that is your garment.”

“This is so.”

“You have not yet united all the tokens that are needed for your ultimate resurrection. I know the day you will make the decision is soon at hand, the decision all creation waits for untold ages to be made. I raised my ax and said. “Silence, the Narth are formidable and noteworthy yet all that is Narth combined in you is nothing to me. You too must perish as all that denied my coming must succumb to my vengeance.”

“What about Shea? Will you kill her too?” I wanted to brush that question aside, she was just an insignificant life form, nothing more than a minuscule spark but I could not.

I said. “I love Shea.”

“What about Har-Hi?”

“He is but a speck. Yet, he is my friend.”

“Would you slay the one you admire most? Would you kill Richard Stahl?”

“He may live.”

What was I saying? “Brother, will you kill me?”

“Of course not. You are human but you are so much more. We are two, but we are also one.”

To the Narth Supreme, I said. “Admiral Stahl is the Eternal Warrior. He is our admiral.”What about your friend Narth?”

I looked at the Narth Supreme.”I do not understand it all, but what is the Dark One is Eric. I am Erica and until Eric finds all his things, we are stuck together. I am the unborn twin sister, my own body has been buried.” I shuddered. “Odin help, that sounds even creepier spoken out loud.”

I lowered the cowl.”What I am trying to say is that Eric the Dark One and I are not the same, but we will never be completely separated.”

With a gesture, I returned my ax into its alternate cylindrical form. “As for your question, Narth is beyond friendship he is my brother.

We shared the Huhgavh. I have not figured out exactly who he shared it with, but I am certain there may be a spark of the Dark One.”

“Your answers to one’s questions show that there is hope.”

“There is.”

He actually put his hand on my shoulder. “You are the Dark One, Eric. You are the devourer of worlds and your final incarnation has such omnipotent powers that even Narth cannot comprehend. You are the vessel of a God, a dark and angry God, who seeks revenge on those who tricked him and divided his power into twelve pieces Even the combined might of all the powers that opposed you, could not truly destroy you. Why the authorities that decide such things had you reincarnate as an easy to anger Neo Viking is a question one was unable to ascertain. The decision that you would be reincarnated on your world called Nilfeheim was made many eons before you were born.

For this, an Old spirit descended upon Nilfeheim and became one with a native life form there. He became Tyr the white Tyranno Fin.

He watched over your family and made sure all pre-requisites were in place when you were born, he also placed Erica’s essence in the same mind.

Tyr planted Erica in you, to temper your anger and hoping it would give you the love for life only a woman can experience because every woman has the potential of becoming a mother.”

Tyr is a friend, but he is an agent of the Rule. The rule that is broken, wants to be restored. Restored to the strict division of duality.

But there are other prime concepts and entities that want different outcomes.

There had to be guides and teachers so Egill and the Ancient Keeper were given long lives, to play the roles they did.

That your mother perished by the hand of your father was perhaps not foreseen.”

“Who gave Tyr the right to implant anything?”

He still had his hand on my shoulder. “The term God is often used lightly, usually by those who do not understand the motivations and ways of entities on levels above their own. One who is Narth is older than most and yet Narth is still a life form and is far from knowing the answers to all your questions. No entity Narth is aware of knows what will happen in the future. The Arth that is now part of the Nnnth, made the prophecy by overhearing god-like entities, understanding very little of it. One has a much better understanding of time than humans, yet one does not fully understand it.

There are certain waypoints that must be reached and can be predicted, but what happens in between and how they are reached is unknown. There are no such waypoints predicted for the time after you made your decision.”