Chapter 22: The One

I managed to elude the militia soldiers sent to escort me back home. When they came for me, I set off an explosion and allowed the toxic atmosphere into the facility. They were forced to flee. Then, I barricaded myself in the secret lab in the basement. They haven’t come for me yet. They likely think I died in the explosion. They assumed it was just a crazy scientist committing suicide, but they couldn’t be more wrong.

Ryan’s wounds were almost healed. He could move his arm again. Fluidity returned to his senses. He shifted his balance on his legs just to test them out. Everything felt almost normal. At last, he could fight again. The only problem was waiting for the right opening. Ryan was so deep in his strategic thoughts that he almost didn’t hear the Horde Mother when she mentioned Saria’s name.

“You’re the woman from the recording,” gasped Éclair. “You’re Frieda Kaves, the Fire Minister’s ancestor!”

“Okay,” said Ryan. “Didn’t see that coming.”

“WHERE ISSS THE DAUGHTER?” demanded the Horde Mother more aggressively as she skittered toward them.

Ryan stepped between Éclair and the Horde Mother as he scooched them back. Éclair backed away with him while pointing an accusatory finger over his shoulder towards the advancing creature.

“You injected DNA from a Celestial Beast into yourself!” Éclair exclaimed. “You were the first infected patient! You created the Parasites! Cost the lives of billions!”

“TELL USSSS WHERE THE DAUGHTER ISSS NOW!” screeched the Horde Mother, her pale featureless face rippling dangerously. As she spoke, Parasites flanked their rear, their tentacles whipping menacingly through the air.

“Does Saria know that her own relative became the mother of monsters?” asked a strangely fiery Éclair.

“Yeah, I’m processing that little tidbit too. But now may not be the best time to irritate hentai lady,” said Ryan, wanting the Horde Mother to be less agitated before he made his move.

The Horde Mother hissed and waved a clawed hand towards them. “WE ARE NOT MONSTERSSS! WE ARE THE NEXT SSSTAGE! ALL WILL BECOME ONE WITH USSSS AND HAVE ETERNAL LIFE ASSSS OUR CHILDREN!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryan noticed something above them. Hanging on one of the countless tentacles were his gauntlets which the Horde Mother had confiscated earlier. He could still feel his psions inside the gloves. He could detonate them and bring down a good bit of rubble. But he needed the Horde Mother to be directly underneath them to make for a decent diversion. Ryan nudged Éclair, nodding towards his gloves. Éclair realized Ryan’s plan immediately and started backing away towards the gauntlets. Hopefully, the Horde Mother would continue to slowly follow them as she had been doing, and then they could position her perfectly within the trap. The Horde Mother did follow after them as her Parasites closed in around them. But they needed more time. They needed more room to maneuver.

“Why do you want Saria now?” asked Éclair, realizing the need to play for time. “Sentimental to see one of your few living relatives? Is there some part of you that is still Frieda Kaves?”

The Horde Mother clawed the air and let loose a shriek of annoyance. “THE THOUGHTSSS OF THE ORIGINAL HOSSST FADED MANY YEARSSS AGO. NOTHING OF HER REMAINSSS SSSAVE FOR THE RECORDING. NO, WE NEED THE BLOOD OF THE DAUGHTER BECAUSSSE SSHE ISS CLOSSSSESST TO THE SSSOURCE.”

“Tell me why,” persisted Éclair as they both continued to draw the Horde Mother towards the trap. “What will you gain if you find her?”

That’s right, Éclair, thought Ryan. Keep her distracted. Keep her talking while we draw her in little by little.

“WE ARE ... INCOMPLETE. HER BLOOD WILL AID USSSS IN OUR EVOLUTION. MAKE USSSS SSSTRONGER ASSSS IT HASSS BEFORE.”

“Has before?” repeated Ryan questioningly, becoming alarmed at the implications.

“What ... what do you mean by that?” inquired Éclair.

“IT WASSS HER BLOOD THAT AIDED IN OUR REAWAKENING. MANY MILLENNIA AGO, ALL WE KNEW WASSS HUNGER AND THE NEED TO SSSPREAD. WE TRIED TO SSSPREAD OUR CHILDREN THROUGHOUT THE SSSTARS. BUT WE WERE SSSTOPPED ... SSSTOPPED BY THE MAN MADE OF LIGHT!”

‘The man made of light’? That sounds like Zand!

“WE HID OURSSSELVESS FROM THE MAN OF LIGHT AND WENT INTO A DEEP SSSLEEP. HE SSSEARCHED FOR USSSS, BUT HE COULD NOT FIND USSSS. WE WAITED IN DARKNESSSS FOR AN ETERNITY. AND THEN, ANOTHER FOUND USSSS.”

“Who?” asked Ryan, chancing a glance upward. They had passed under the gauntlets now. A few more feet and the Horde Mother would be directly under the bombs.

“WE KNOW NOT, BUT HE WOKE USSSS FROM OUR SSSLUMBER. WE TRIED TO DEVOUR HIM, BUT HE WASSS TOO SSSTRONG, AND WE WERE SSSTILL TOO WEAK. HE COULD HAVE DESSSTROYED USSSS, BUT INSSSTEAD HE GAVE USSSS A GIFT. OUR FIRSSST MEAL IN AGESSS. THE BODY OF SSSASHA KAVESSS, SSSARIA’SS DAUGHTER.”

Éclair put a hand to her mouth, and whispered, “Rachel’s mother!”

“HER BLOOD REJUVENATED USSSS ... GAVE USSSS SSSTRENGTH TO REBUILD OURSSSELVESS MUCH QUICKER THAN BEFORE. WE ... WE UNDERSSSTAND ... WORDSSS NOW. WE KNOW WHAT WE NEED TO EVOLVE, TO ACHIEVE PERFECTION. GIVE USSSS THE DAUGHTER ASSSS PROMISSSED AND WE WILL SSSPARE YOU.”

“Promise or no promise, we’ll never betray Saria to the likes of a nihilistic glutton like you,” said Éclair defiantly.

“Yeah,” agreed Ryan, though confused by Éclair’s vernacular. “What she said.”

“THE TIME FOR TALK HASSS ENDED!” hissed the Horde Mother.

Suddenly, tentacles sprang out of the ground like weeds, entangling Éclair and Ryan in the blink of an eye. Ryan and Éclair struggled in vain as the tentacles wrapped themselves around their arms and legs while lifting them high off the ground. Ryan felt like an anaconda was squeezing the life out of him as the tentacles tied around his torso so tightly that he struggled to breathe. Though the tentacles were disconcerting, Ryan was even more distressed to see Éclair in the same predicament beside him.

“Éclair!” gasped out Ryan, reaching for her futilely.

“Ryan!” said Éclair as she reached for him as well, but the tentacles held her too tightly.

“TAKE USSSS TO THE DAUGHTER NOW, OR WE WILL ABSSSORB YOU!”

“Never, you witch!” screamed Éclair as she tried to freeze the tentacles off, but her ice wasn’t strong enough to break the Horde Mother’s grip.

The gauntlet dangled from tentacle to tentacle above them now. If Ryan detonated his psions in that moment, the rubble would likely end up crushing them instead of the Horde Mother. Maybe the gauntlets might swing over the Horde Mother’s head as she gloated over them. Whatever the case, Ryan knew he needed to do something fast before the Horde Mother decided to add Éclair to her undead army.

“YOU WILL OBEY USSSS!”

“We will not!”

As Éclair struggled, a faint light emanated from her ... the same white light that shined out of Zanderius. Ryan had seen Éclair glow like that a few times back on the Fallen’s ship. The Horde Mother shrieked and slinked away from Eclair, covering her head. The Parasites shuddered and retreated a few steps back as their jaws jittered nervously.

“THAT LIGHT!” hissed the Horde Mother. “YOU!!! NOW WE UNDERSSSTAND! YOU ARE ONE OF HISSSS ... YOU BELONG TO THE MAN MADE OF LIGHT! THAT WRETCH WHO BURNED OUR CHILDREN AGESSS AGO!”

The Horde Mother then extended more hair tentacles from her head, latching onto the walls and ceilings. She used her tethered tentacles to raise her bulk into the air. She hovered so high up that her long tail was raised at least a dozen feet off the ground. The Horde Mother pulled herself towards Éclair and raised her large tail. She angled the stinger at the end of her tail to point it directly at Éclair’s face. A green liquid dribbled from the spike as it inched itself closer and closer to Éclair’s eye socket.

“WE WILL SSSEND THE MALE TO BRING USSSS THE DAUGHTER, BUT YOU WILL GO TO YOUR MAKER. AND WHEN YOU FIND HIM, YOU WILL BRING USSSS HISSS HEAD! HE WILL NOT KILL YOU BECAUSSSE YOU ARE HISSS DAUGHTER, BUT YOU WILL KILL HIM!”

Suddenly, the gauntlets shifted position above them. The Parasite Queen was now positioned directly under the gauntlets. They would probably get buried under the rubble too, but anything was better than being turned into a Zombie.

“And that’s our cue,” said Ryan, snapping his fingers.

Ryan’s fingers drew sparks as they snapped and ignited the psions within his gauntlets. The weapons instantly exploded in a flash of red light above their heads. The Parasite Queen looked up with a screech of surprise as several enormous boulders buried her in a landslide. The tentacles wrapping around him went slack, giving him just enough room to wriggle free. Both Ryan and Éclair went sprawling to the ground as burning rocks tumbled all around them. A piece of debris angled itself towards Éclair. Still in freefall, Ryan put his left hand behind him and released a jet of flame that propelled him towards Éclair. He caught her just in the nick of time. The momentum created by his flame jet launched them both safely beyond the reach of the falling boulders.

Ryan and Éclair rolled to the ground and came to a stop only a few feet from the Parasite Horde. The creatures seemed disoriented as they gathered around the rubble where their mother had fallen. Ryan was tempted to think they would just stop moving now that their queen had been destroyed. However, one of the Parasites turned in his direction and gave out a piercing shriek of outrage. The other Parasites soon echoed their comrade’s cry, and they barreled down on Ryan and Éclair from all sides. Ryan sprang to his feet over Éclair and raised his hands. Back at the ship, he had actually brought four clawed gauntlets with him. Two he wore on his wrists, but the other two he stored within himself as psions. A handy little trick that Torsha had taught him last year at the exams.

The twin-clawed gauntlets appeared on his arms in a flash of red light, each equipped with two blades that burned with Ryan’s red flames. Bellowing out a booming roar, Ryan charged the Parasite ranks with fiery iron claws. He stabbed the lead Parasite with both gauntlets right into its opened jaws, then he spread his arms apart and split the creature’s head into six even slices. As the first Parasite fell, tentacles from its comrades sprang all around Ryan, forcing him to retreat. While springing back, Ryan hacked up any tentacles that got close to him, swinging his clawed fists madly. Ryan’s flames blazed through the air as he cut through tentacles like they were butter, the skin on the monsters’ flesh boiling wherever his blades made contact.

As Ryan grappled against the furious Parasites, he noticed Éclair’s hook spear sticking in the ground a few feet away. A Parasite attacker managed to land a hit on Ryan, swatting him with its long, bony arm. Though the blow stung, Ryan used the momentum of the attack to throw himself closer to Éclair’s spear. As he spiraled through the air, a Parasite launched itself at him with its four jaws. Ryan twisted around so that he grazed off the Parasite’s worm-like neck, and then he rolled off its back. As he fell off the Parasite, Ryan spun his blades wildly, slicing through the monster’s spine and ribs. This act sent him further forward so that he landed directly in front of Éclair’s spear. In a single motion, Ryan hopped to his feet and kicked the spear from the ground, sending it spinning towards Éclair.

Éclair jumped up and caught the spear just as one of the Parasites reached her, wrapping a massive hand around her waist. In a swift motion, Éclair severed the arm of her assailant with the blade of the spear. The monster dropped Éclair screeching in pain as ice coursed its way from the stump on its arm, partially freezing the monster’s upper half. Eclair hit the ground running as she quickly joined in the melee. While Ryan busied himself with holding back their left flank, Éclair attacked the right, spinning and weaving through the Parasite ranks with the fluidity of a dancer. Her long, silver-gray hair flew about her as she moved.

Éclair was the epitome of grace, spinning her glowing hook spear like a parade leader with a flag. When a Parasite barred her path, she spun around it, dodging its attacks, and ripping out its guts with the hook in the process. Just as she finished her spin, she bent down and put a hand to her feet, creating blades of ice on her boots within an eyeblink. Éclair pushed herself forward and skated, leaving a trail of ice as she zipped through the battlefield. Wherever she cut or stabbed with her spear, trails of ice spread from her enemies’ wounds. Éclair soon made a path towards Ryan by hooking a Parasite by the inside of its jaws with her spear and then pulling its huge bulk to crash into two others that stood between her and him. Even amidst the carnage, Ryan was dazzled by her beauty. As always, Éclair shined even in the most grotesque of places.

Finally having reached each other at last, Éclair and Ryan stood back to back. The Parasites seemed a little warier as they encircled the two of them. Only about half of the gored Parasites stayed down, the rest crouched low within the army covered in wounds of snow and flames as they hissed angrily. Over the line of surrounding Parasites, Ryan caught sight of Grafael still hanging by tentacles in the distance.

“Think we can make it to him?”

“Ask me after we do,” said Éclair as she dashed towards Grafael.

The Parasites sprang just as Éclair led the charge forward with Ryan close behind. They focused their energies into just getting past the Parasites instead of fatally wounding them. They dodged, somersaulted, and rolled around the frantic attacks of the Parasites, only counterattacking when necessary. Éclair and Ryan worked seamlessly together as if the whole thing was a dance they had practiced for years. In fact, their tempo almost reminded Ryan of their brief dance back on the North Star. The two Elementals circled around each other as they moved forward, slashing at enemies from all sides in perfect coordination. When Ryan’s stroke went too wide and left him open, Éclair was there to slice the tentacles that sprang at his lower section. When Éclair leapt too high, Ryan batted away any jaws or claws that got close. Ryan sprinted and Eclair skated as they flipped and jumped over their frustrated chasers. Ryan’s twin gauntlets blazed with streaks of red fire as he maimed or decapitated any monstrosity in Éclair’s path. Éclair’s hook spear left tufts of frost in the air as it glowed blue, spinning like a propeller in her hands. The hulking Parasites seemed slow and clumsy in comparison to the swift Elementals. The hunters couldn’t catch their quarry no matter how hard they tried while Ryan and Éclair moved closer to Grafael with every second.

Things seemed to be going great ... and then the ground started shaking. Right in front of Éclair and Ryan popped the Parasite Queen like some demented jack-in-the-box. She rose from the earth screeching loudly, her hair tentacles lashing out all around her. Ryan and Éclair had to jump back in order to keep themselves from getting entangled. The Horde Mother slashed at them with her arm, but her tail was still buried in the ground, leaving her out of reach. The Horde Mother put her long hands to the ground to pull herself out of the crevice. As she struggled to haul herself up, the skin on her shoulders and back started bubbling profusely. Then something exploded from the Horde Mother’s back in a torrent of flesh and sinew. Out of the bubbling mounds of flesh sprang four long and spiky protrusions that resembled a spider’s legs. The spiny legs were black and stretched out longer than the length of the Horde Mother’s body, and each leg had two clawed toes at the feet. After growing out of the Parasite Queen’s back, the spider legs then dug themselves into the ground and hoisted her out of the hole she’d been stuck in. The Parasite Queen now towered over Ryan and Éclair on the newly grown spider legs from her back.

“THERE IS NO ESCAPE FOR YOU, DAUGHTER OF LIGHT!” boomed the Horde Mother, her face rippling angrily as she spoke.

Parasites pounced at them from behind, so Ryan kept them back with a flurry of fiery slashes through the air. While he busied himself with the underlings, Éclair dealt with the Horde Mother personally. The Parasite Queen lunged for Éclair with her left hand. Éclair expertly parried her blow with a flip of her spear. The Parasite Queen reached for Éclair a second time with her right hand. Éclair caught the blow by the staff of her spear, she then twisted so that the attack glanced off the spear’s shaft which made the Parasite Queen lurch forward by her own weight. Offset by the shift in balance, the Horde Mother’s hand dug deeply into the ground where Éclair had been moments earlier. The creature tried to backhand Éclair blindly, but Eclair swung around and hooked the palm of the monster’s hand as she dodged the attack. Éclair then yanked back hard on the staff, using the hook of the spear to rip the Parasite Queen’s hand clean off.

Ryan still fended off the slowly advancing Parasites at their rear as he only half-observed the exchange between Éclair and the Horde Mother. The Horde Mother brought the bloodied stump of her arm to her face and studied it curiously. She seemed surprised by the injury as if she didn’t understand what happened to her hand. Then lines appeared on the void that was her face. These lines became cracks as the Horde Mother’s faceless head opened up to reveal four jaws with row upon row of rotating teeth within. The loudest shriek yet bellowed forth from her opened mouth as a green gas seeped from her throat. The shrill noise persisted as the Parasite Queen continued screaming with her head wrenched back. The surrounding Parasites retreated as her cries stung the air.

The noise became so bad that Ryan had to put his hands to his ears. “What is she doing?” he yelled to Éclair, though he didn’t know if she could hear him.

Éclair’s face went pale with pain and confusion as she covered her own ears at the sound. Then Éclair’s eyes widened with sudden realization. She let go of one ear and took hold of Ryan’s shoulder.

Even amidst the shrieking, Ryan heard Eclair shout, “Put your helmet back on now!”

Ryan didn’t know why Éclair would say such a thing, but he trusted her. He gave the mental command that made the facemask woosh back onto his exposed face, and Éclair did the same. No sooner had they donned their helmets did the Parasite Queen lurch her frothing head forward and blew out a cloud of green vapor. The cloud of poison that issued from the Parasite Queen’s mouth was so powerful that it knocked Ryan and Éclair off their feet and sent them flying dozens of yards back. The pair went tumbling to the ground like ragdolls caught in a storm as they rolled for the longest time.