Erica Olafson, Rise of the Dark One (Vol 10)
Copyright© 2019 by Vanessa Ravencroft
Chapter 5: Luc
I remembered Netlor well, I had been here with the Mother Superior who turned out to be the Commandant of NAVINT. I didn’t know all that much about Deepa, but I knew she cared for me and I knew she was able to change her appearance. How this exactly worked was a secret of the Sojonit Order. A secret, Shea had not yet and now most likely learned. Even though I was technically a Sojonit too, neither had I.
Back then I assumed it was a form of Psionics, and to this day I was not a big fan of these to me uncanny and invisible powers.
The spatial rift, I created with my ax had put me not far outside that city of mostly temporary buildings.
If I judged the position of the local sun correctly, it was very early in the morning. The local star was just about to rise and sent its first light of the day beyond the distant mountain line.
A cool breeze tugged on the black robe I was wearing.
My incorporeal brother inside felt deeply amused. “Sister, it is quite irrational to reject psionics. While I will not need such primitive control over a trans spatial energy form, you have been to Narth Prime and I do not think there will be many your equal.”
I snapped back. “You’ve been to Narth Prime just as well, and who knows maybe the Narth Supreme was talking to you?”
“I know and the Narth Supreme knows, Sister.”
“Well, we’re here. Let’s discuss this metaphysical, Loki cursed nonsense when we are back on my ship. Go ahead, take over and get that Token so we can go back.”
I was not pushed back and lost control as I did before when Eric came to the foreground, it was a strange symbiotic amalgam. It sounded even weirder when I tried to explain it to myself. Neither my legs not my arms were entirely my own.
Eric walked fast and let us down the main street. Seeing the number of tents and stalls. The flags, banners, signs and advertisement projections. I was certain it was pilgrim season. There were music and a din of voices coming out of tavern tents, but the street and side isles between tents and stalls were mostly empty. Most pilgrims and merchants still asleep or just about getting up. The distinct scent of cooked breakfast, coffee and the food odors of nonhuman meal choices mingled with the cool dry air.
A human man wearing one of those golden robes staggered apparently drunken from the opposite direction perhaps on his way to a hotel or similar place. He looked up and saw me, whatever liquor he had chosen to get into the state he was in seemed to have left him in an instant. He yelped in fear, turned on his sandaled heels and ran as fast as he could, disappearing between tents.
“Can’t be just our spooky outfit, brother. We don’t look all that different to them, except your robe is black.”
“Indeed Sister, as I grow into my true self, my aura intensifies. I am the Antiforce of Life and every living being known me instinctively. Mortals fear death.”
“I was afraid it was something like that, as I did take a shower before I went to bed.”
My brother found that amusing too.
We reached an odd building. Three big boulders, a flat Duro Crete roof concrete had been poured over it and the gaps between the rocks closed with bricks and mortar. There was a simple and ill-fitting wooden door.
I asked him. “You know where we are headed?”
“Of course, and so do you. Pay attention to the ring.”
My brother blasted the door in thousand pieces instead of knocking or opening that door.
There on a simple table sat an old man, mostly but not entirely human from what he could see. He must have been up already, as the had a plate of food before him. A large candle was the only source of light.
I could not tell what species or race he was. Unlike the pilgrims outside he wore a hooded robe much like mine, the hood draped down on his shoulders.
He stared at me with wide eyes and open fear. “The Master is here!”
His robe featured the same fanged skull symbol as my ring. I remembered seeing it on a man’s robe in Perrytown, a man who served the Church of Darkness.
Back then nothing the man said made sense and I assumed he meant my friend Narth. Now I was not so sure, had that man claiming to be a priest of that Church recognized who I, or rather who Eric really was?
The old man fell to his knee and buried his face between his hands. “I worship thee!”
“Flee! Run old fool! I require no church, no servants and no worship. Be gone when I return.”
My brother’s voice vibrated in an odd chorus with mine.
As we rushed down a worn-out flight of primitive stairs carved out of the sand-colored rock. Eric said. “I let him live because of you.”
“I didn’t like that geezer either, and my gods don’t require worship. Oh and brother, remember I can break my neck. We are pressed for time, but storming down these uneven stairs in a robe is a recipe for disaster.”
“Not to worry, sister.”
We had reached the bottom of the stairs and followed the narrow corridor chiseled out of the rock. The corridor was part of a burial site. Catacombs most likely left by the same civilization that built the city now in ruins around the statue.
Not many knew of these catacombs and I knew Shea and the rest of my science geeks would have loved to examine this place.
There were alcoves in the walls and inside, the dry rotten bundles and shapes of a dead semi-humanoid species.
I realized we moved faster than a normal human could walk or run.
We made many turns, descended several stairs and finally reached a larger room, dozens of candles and lanterns had been placed around a small version of the huge statue. It was cruder and made of rock instead of indestructible Uni metal.
Before I could ask him about this apparent dead end, my hand guided by him swiped the ax across the stone wall behind that crude statue and in doing so smashed a secret door to pieces.
“Now I too could feel that uncanny pull indicating we were close to a token.”
After rushing fast for about another 2 clicks through a narrow and dark corridor we emerged in a cave, with a smooth metal floor.
A small band of a different, whitish glowing material formed a perfect spherical ring around a hip-high metal column in the center.
A shadowy figure appeared next to the column. It had no real substance. It spoke with a hollow ghostly voice. “You come again, Saresii. Speak then, the Brotherhood awaits your reports.”
“I am not Larthop. This vile excuse for a living being has been destroyed and his essence punished by the Judge. I came to take what is mine.”
The shadowy projection groaned. “You are the Dark One, you carry Bereaver. Free us from this prison. Only you have the power to shatter the barriers that hold us prisoners in this dreadful pocket dimension. We will serve you!”
“You caused your imprisonment to escape the destruction of your realm, a doomed precursor universe. You do not belong in this universe. This is indeed Bereaver.”
Eric swiped the ax across the shadowy thing.
I never heard a scream of such agony as the figure and the scream faded into nothingness.
Eric was not done, he hacked the column to pieces and gouged deep cuts into the floor. Big chunks of that metal floor lifted like weightless pieces of foam until he reached a compartment and retrieved a pair of black gauntlet style gloves. That vanished and instantly reappeared on my hands. A surge of unimaginable power pulsated through me. My voice no longer a chorus, but an inhuman sexless voice of palpable darkness thundered. “I am the Judge!”
Har-Hi suddenly saw the Narth Supreme shaking in fear and panic. Something he must have imagined of course. What could possibly frighten the Narth Supreme?
“Mighty Dai, you did not imagine what you felt. The entire Universe and those sensitive to these things felt this jolt and shift of truly cosmic powers. The Dark One obtained his gloves, now there are only three left and he is resurrected. The time of the Decision is near indeed.”
Har-Hi counted on his fingers. “If Erica gained two more tokens, should there not only two remain? Did she not speak of twelve tokens? Eight she already had.”
“Indeed my friend, your math is correct based on what knowledge even the Dark One possesses right now, but there is a 13th secret Token.”
“It is no secret anymore.”
The leader of all Narth got up. “She has returned to her chambers, farewell my friend Dai-Than prince. We will speak again.”
Before Har-Hi could say anything, the Narth Supreme was gone.
He sighed and said to himself. “I think I understand why Erica dislikes all this meta über power. I don’t understand it. At least she has some sort of internal god who explains things.”
All he cared about is his deep friendship with Erica.
He hefted the sword and held it up. “I always wanted one of these neat ‘cut everything’ blades, but that thing isn’t my style for sure. If I ever meet the smith making these I going to ask for Dai swords for sure.”
Har-Hi dropped the thing as it shimmered in bright light and it split and reformed into two Dai Swords, just like his.
“Galactic Spirits! Instant gratification! I am glad I didn’t ask for a spoon.”
He recalled the fight that almost cost his life, as he stepped out in the corridor and made a fist pump motion. “Don’t anger a Dai.”
He raised his head. “SHIP, the Captain is back?”
“Yes, she is and back on the bridge.”
“Summon me that worm to the Officer’s lounge please.”
Shea was quite content. She was aboard the alien wreck, that turned to be the remaining part of a seeder ship, TheOther had effortlessly pried open a metal panel for her and exposed a mess of conduits, pipes and what appeared to be a maintenance console of some kind. The nanites she had taken along were now busy to create an interface connection to her handheld analyzer.
The room she was in was connected to one of the large bio storage compartments. It appeared that much of the biomatter stored had deteriorated, but she hoped to find useful data.
While she was quite absorbed in her work, as usual, she suddenly noticed that she was no longer alone.
At first, she thought it was one of her team or one of the Marines checking on her, but as she turned and saw who entered the control room, her hand dropped immediately to the TKU she was wearing. In the doorway stood a tall humanoid handsome stranger. The man did not wear any protective gear, despite the fact it was bitter cold and there was no atmosphere.
The man emitted a faint red glow all around him like an aura. The most striking feature was a pair of large feather wings on the man’s back.
He spoke. “Don’t shoot and don’t call anyone. I mean you no harm, I am Luc your father.”
She instinctively knew the man spoke the truth, the last time she had seen him, he wore armor of sort and fought with a Knight of Light. Back then she was no older than maybe twelve and did not know he was her real father.
She was instantly filled with a deluge of emotions, chief among them anger and rage.
“You may have been my father, but you abandoned mother and me. I have a new father now.” Instead of her blaster, she drew her sword. “I know this weapon will cut you. Leave now or find out that I have been trained by the best.”
“Do you not want to know why?”
“No Luc, I don’t want to hear excuses. You left us! Mother died of disease, hunger and was killed by mindless beasts. I found refuge among galactic whores and was rescued by a human.
I told that frozen brother of yours that if ever meet you, I will return this sword to you, blade first.”
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