Issue 5: Mirror Mirror on the Wall
Chronos, somehow these insects have more ships than originally calculated. I surmise that the Eternal Empire has given us false readings on Eden’s readiness level to help safeguard their pathetic multiverse.—Sister Nyx
Where did the Terran Alliance get all those new ships!? Unknow configurations!—Typherian Scout Corps
The Arcane Order knew how many we would need to overwhelm the enemy. The trick was making it appear less than it was. Until the final boot could come kicking. What the Highest had planned from the start was only the tip of that divine boot.—Sleeping in Starlight: Convergence vol 6
Outer Lunar Orbit
UEF Typha
May 18th, 2116
I hurled my spear into the hulking form of the Seed Brood. It buried itself deep within the chest of the brute. It bellowed as my fists connected with its horned head. Scales exploded as the flesh underneath disintegrated. Black Scrawl exploded from its gaping jaws. I pulled my arm back. Dad’s words echoed through my skull.
Don’t hold back against the evils of the world.
I drove my right fist upwards. Cracking the monstrosity along the jawline. Brain matter exploded through the top of its head. One down.
12 more to go.
The spear shot back towards my outreached hand.
I dove towards the next three hulks of mismatched flesh and bone.
Doc and the other Defenders would be needed elsewhere. I headbutted the lead Brood. Brains exited from the backplate of the skull. A weird purple gray combo that reminded me of rotted eggplants. I aimed my spear. Driving it into the next enemy’s spine. Bisected it in half.
To think the first one I saw nearly killed me within Area 51.
White noted, <<You are nearly awakened.>>
Power hummed through my entire body.
*****
Dexter charged the dragon. His sister could dispatch the Seed Brood easily enough. A few Bardaxian missiles exploded across its exterior. His fists connected with its right eye. Membrane splattered across the void of space. Floating within the expanse. The fire burned from his eyes as it zeroed in on the Living Stone’s frontal lobes. Blackened scorched marks appeared. Black Scrawl attempted to knit the damage but to no avail.
Dexter smashed through the other side of the dragon. Black dragged his claws into the hardened scales for good measure. Taking massive chucks in the process. His feline grace carried him to the very tip of the monster’s tail. Black roared into the void. The vibrations reached the closest Keeper Null vessels. Metal warped. Then exploded outward. Keeper drones floated into the vacuum. Their bodies imploded into crimson mist as they disappeared.
Dexter jumped from the remains of the dragon.
His momentum carried him into the swarm of Keeper Null ships. His eyes blazed with cosmic fire as he rendered countless hulls into slag. The beams burned white-hot across the cold of space. Nyx predictably jumped from the battlefield. They had a family to save. She knew that. Dexter focused on the honeycombed surface of the Ayeer Estate of this Typha. Its golden surface rippled. There was no time. He commed his grandparents. They had to go in now.
Plains of Spring
Ayeer Estate
UEF Typha
I fell to my knees, my stomach released its contents. My entire body spasmed.
Doc raced over. Her green eyes went wide, “I…can’t tell where this is coming from!” My grandmother M’taris dashed over. Running a medical scanner over me. Dexter said, “They made a clone of my sister. The clone is fighting the soul process. She doesn’t want Eliza’s soul.”
V’alkor reached down to grab my arm. “We should…..”
I gestured to the amber walls. “No time. Medicine can’t cure this.”
Great Grandfather needed us.
V’alkor glanced down at me. A dubious expression on his features. “Can you just open the way and we go through?”
Dexter responded, “No. This will need the both of us.”
Another stepped out from the shadow of the Jupiter Rising.
His blond hair and ice-blue eyes were all too familiar.
Micheal Brookes.
He said, “You’ll need more than that. Chronos took my DNA but that’s not the only connection we had.” The human was followed by Father Brookes and his mother!
I perceived a shadowed shape that clung to the old FBI agent. Like a second skin. Micheal said, “Fear not. The one that is anchored to me is a lost soul. I have a different delivery to make with her.” He faced me directly. “You know of whom I speak.”
The clone.
I nodded. Used my spear to haul myself to my feet. I caught glimpses of the foes she was battling. The words, “I defy you!” on her lips. She didn’t want my life, my soul, or otherwise. Her mission was already ordained. Micheal turned to his companions, “I'll venture inside with them.”
My grandmother stated, “Who can go?” V’alkor’s gaze hardened.
Dexter responded, “It would be best if it is just the two of us but something tells me Micheal will protest. Along with grandfather.”
*****
Micheal Brookes paced. Every time he got close to that amber barrier, flashes would eat away at him. He knew what Chronos had done to seal this place. Bel’s spirit muttered, <<None of us got the better draw did we….>>
Micheal inhaled sharply. No, he responded silently, we didn’t.
He could see specters. In all his life he never thought he’d be a demi. Doctor Impossible, clothed in her iconic green, black and white suit walked over to him and said quietly, “You don’t just see Spectres. You see the dead affected by Chronos. Specifically from him. Each of his primary underlings are fashioned from his flesh and whoever they killed or experimented on….”
She paused. Her mouth snapped shut. Eliza wasn’t close by but Impossible didn’t want to say anything else for now.
Micheal hissed, “Ishtar? Who was he based on? You will tell me later, yes?!”
She nodded. The movement barely registered upon his mind.
Micheal already had enough reason to want to see Ishtar taken off the field. He hadn’t asked for this hand of cards. What mattered is what he ‘d do with them. One Royal Flush at a time. He would hunt all the Void Walker monstrosities down.
*****
Doc’s apology hit my senses. I knew she couldn’t say more near me. So I approached the main archway. Coated in that sickly amber. In the creations of the Highest or the Weave? It was a bright healthy brown-gold. In this place? It was dulled. Marked with deep scarlet lines. Two space black pitiless voids stared out at me. I turned. Micheal Brookes nodded at it. “I can see him too. You aren’t the only one touched by Void Walkers.”
M’taris headed back to the Jupiter. She had wanted to come but someone had to watch the babies. V’alkor wouldn’t be denied this. I didn’t want to stop him either. Doc would remain outside. To help anchor me to the present. Dexter pulled out his white trident. I pulled out my spear. Together we parted the amber. V’alkor and Micheal followed. Each wrapped in our field of vision through Black and White. I had our grandfather. While Black encircled Micheal.
As the Amber enclosed us a sound howled through the hallways.
“Sssssssssssssssisssssssssssster………”
Thoth’s voice. Reverberated with a sick echo.
The Great Dining Hall
Ayeer Estate
Time Stamp Error
Varn Ayeer snarled. Thoth twirled the knife above his wife. He hadn’t killed her at the mirror portal. He had dragged her back to the Dining Hall. That towering Void Walker next to him. Its hollowed eyes mocked him.
He shouted furiously, “You are no family of mine murderer!”
The process repeated. Results unending.
The knife descended.
Her hollowed body twitched as Thoth buried the hilt into her neck.
*****
It was a shard. A mote of memory. The surface shifted.
Lines, crystal jagged impressions licked at the outside. A broken mirror. Four auras sparked behind my eyelids. A gray hole radiated from 3 forms. Varn’s aura was, for lack of a better word, overcharged. Three silver rings floated behind him.
Dexter linked with me, >>Their souls. He protects his family.<<
I worried about the angry green miasma that encircled Varn.
Being trapped here had taken its toll.
*****
Varn squinted. A blond man with ice blue eyes circled the demons. His face contorted with cold rage. A tick formed at the corner of his mouth. He wasn’t Typherian. Varn was trapped. Unable to move. He prayed that this was the deliverance that the Arbiter mentioned. Her face rose in his mind’s eye. Weathered by hidden wisdom.
You will know me by another name.
A soft glow poured into the room. Varn couldn’t turn his head.
Power flowed into his exhausted limbs. A light feminine tenor resounded, “Easy now.” The mist lifted slightly. He sucked in a breath as his enemies faded from sight. He frowned. Unable to move his limbs. The curse was still in effect. He tried with all his might but his head remained forward.
The same line spilled from his lips, “You are no family of mine murderer!”
*****
Micheal Brookes examined every nook and cranny of the dining hall.
The tactile sensations of the room remained the same. While the figures of Thoth and Chronos no longer entered from the opposing doorway, the soulless body of Sy’mir Ayeer kept slumping forward. Her heart’s blood flowed from the wound in her neck. Only to reset moments later. This was the loop Varn had been trapped in for over 1000 years. Brookes spoke, each word clipped, “We have to cut the threads from the Amber. The Keeper threads.”
Another man’s life was stolen. The old FBI agent clenched his fists.
Breathe. Help him.
Eliza pressed a kiss to the top of Varn’s head. “We are on the case Great Grandfather!”
Micheal saw the Typherian’s black gray orbs clear. He blinked rapidly. Brookes showed this to Dexter. “That blinking mean anything to you?”
Dexter watched for a few more cycles. Noted that the pattern changed each time. V’alkor translated. “Mirror Room. The Dark encompasses the first leaf of Dawn. Three shall open the Way.”
*****
The Mirror Room reeked of old blood.
I gagged. Images flashed. A giant Cockatrice. Arrows of Light. I leaned against my grandfather for a moment. Ice coated my blue Banner boots. It wasn’t natural. I shivered.
What is one more lost soul to you? Guardian of nothing! Even now you seek your Progenitor’s immortal flame. It will kill you both!
It charged. Its words brought fury to my core. Another arrow found its mark. Its bright white-hot flame pierced the darkness. Dexter pulled at me, “Focus. See the mirror. Find that which binds you and Micheal together.” A twisted figure towered over me. Sinister. Her features warped. An angry cross-marked visage. Teeth pulled back into a rigid scream.
The crimson liquid in a vile glass. Pain.
Nyx’s mark. Micheal hissed, clutching his chest in the same spot I did. We both turned and staggered towards the mirror. The blood leaked from both our noses. Splattering on the golden leaves engraved upon the floor. The Mirror stated, “Gateways compromised. Keeper Presence detected. Authorization?”
Dexter pressed his thumb to the uppermost right corner, “Thronebearer Of Past, Present, and Future. Guided by Breaking Dawn. Triple Cypher: Urraden Ayeer Murphy.”
The mirror intoned, “Temporal signature verified. Guardian of the Dead. Guardian of All Life, Guardian of the Lost Souls.”
*****
White’s tone grew despondent, <<Guardian of the Lost Souls?!>> She slammed down on our link before critical information could leak out. So that was my Clone’s job. If she succeeded. I shook my head. Stared up into the bright blue surface of the mirror. “She will win. I know it. I have faith.”
My grandfather faced the mirror, “How do we remove the corruption?”
It responded, “Unknown. Please Advise.”
Micheal snapped, “If I was one of those gray bastards….” He circled the room. His movements were controlled. His right fist clutched his chest. A grimace plastered on his face. He muttered, “They would place it so they could continue to analyze. Experiment. Dissect. For we are just stimuli to them.”
Nyx’s form rose within my mind’s eye. Stark against the medical lights of the room. All too clear in recollection. I concentrated on that piece of her that was inside me. The link that would spell doom for Unity. Micheal mirrored my movements. “She put a piece of Chronos inside you. Didn’t she?” His thunderous expression revealed the revulsion.
Brookes retorted coldly, “Along with her essence. I see them in dreams. They are looking for a Creation level ship. I heard the Word. Their fates are sealed.”
Dexter’s hard glance stopped Micheal from saying more.
*****
Cathrine Bel asked, Her soul bleeds. Can we stop it?
Micheal could see the ragged edges. The clone didn’t want someone else’s life. Micheal understood this on a fundamental level. What was left of his heart ached for everyone. They were all adrift in time. All for different reasons. The Path was set. He would see it to the end. He raised his hand. The pain flared within his chest. He pointed. A twin set of stars were engraved upon the domed ceiling. Black Scrawl exploded from the connected rings of the Twin Suns. How droll of the Keepers to hide the root within such a place. Micheal pulled out his necklace. The cross glowed brightly. He did not close his eyes.
Evil would die this day!
*****
I whirled in place.
My spear held above my head as the cyclone gained strength. Micheal’s cross filtered through the whirlwind. Its energy lashed out at the Scrawl that attempted to dive into my mouth. A deafening crack resounded throughout the room. A being of ash, shadow, and flame emerged. Its red hot talons melted panels on the floor. Two emerald green orbs turned to slits, “Mother says you must die!” It charged. Dexter met it head-on. His fist connected with its disfigured jaw. Its upper mouth filled with dagger-sharp teeth while the lower end dribbled gray-blue mucus.
The fluid leaked onto the floor. Dissolving duracrete, metal, and bits of my brother’s gloves. He retreated. Summoned his pearly white trident. His face alighted with battle lust. His eyes blazed. Golden beams burst forth. Bisected the demonic creature. It hissed. “It will take more than that!”
The mirror’s shielding activated as bits of debris cascaded about.
The harmonic tones thrilled, “Varn Ayeer vitals fluctuating!”
I pulled Micheal with me. Dexter remained. V’alkor motioned to me in the coded language. His fingers fast, Break the link!
*****
Varn hissed. His body only slightly mobile. He no longer said the repeated words. The demon chortled in his ears, “I die? You die! They all DIE!”
He prayed.
One way or another? They would escape.
Even if he had to take that Body Dancer with him.
It snapped, “Mother promised a feast! I will eat the baby first. So tender and sweet!”
The doors lifted off their frames, dissolving within the golden light of the Highest.
The human man yelled, “Our Father who Dwells Above! Begone from this plane demon!”
It recoiled. Faded into the essence of the room. A pulsating shield of holy light engulfed him. He stared. There she was. The Arbiter. Half-formed. Unmarked by the trials of Death. Varn opened his mouth.
“It is connected to my soul. Forced upon me by the one known as Ishtar.”
She replied, “I am Eliza Murphy. Known as the Star-Spangled Banner of Earth and Typha Eden. What must I do?”
Varn bowed his head, “Go within. Find the Dark Seed. Save my wife and children.”
Eliza phased through his body.
*****
White sprang forth. The soul-shard scape of Varn’s existence spilled out before them. In the distance a smokey black Stormfront. She snarled, her fangs bared, “We shall cleanse the righteous! So that he may serve!” Her tiger form slid through the craggy rock as Eliza took to the skies. Her spear held out before her.
Ready to strike.
Black tendrils rose from the ground.
The demon chortled, “You may try!”
Eliza dove. The sonic boom followed.
“EVER SKYWARD! NEVER BOUND!”
*****
Varn raised his sword.
Clothed in ancient battle armor. Before the Houses. Before the colors. There was only the Arcane Order. His white and golden carapace glowed. Divine might flowed. “I am a paladin of the Order. YOU HOLD NO DOMINION HERE!”
His radiant blade hacked away at the vile obsidian vines.
Their green taint flowed. Steam rose as they met the will of his Faith.
Within his cloak, three other souls remained dormant. No harm would come to them.
He joined his great-granddaughter. As she smashed into the earth. Waves of sonic energy restored his armor. A mighty domed glass fortress rose. Trapped the Body Dancer within the restored Weave. His eyes prickled. Tears flowed.
The Words came to him.
“By the Will of the Highest and all of Creation. The song of Elysium endures!” He carved a symbol upon the crystalline surface. Three golden rings floated above them in response. His sword flashed. The corrupted flesh recoiled.
“NO! MINE!” The Body Dancer squealed.
Its tendrils smacked against the barriers. Eliza’s barriers.
Varn thundered, “Eden stands with me!” He raised his sword arm once more. It flashed repeatedly. Each strike ripped through another strand. He yelled, “ENOUGH! YOUR RULE IS AT AN END!”
*****
Lorain raised the coms, <<Evacuate!>>
Jupiter’s transports blinked. Loaded all those within a 5-mile radius of the Ayeer estate aboard her corridors. M’taris shouted, “What in the name of the Three is that!?”
Smoke and ash rose from the building. Amber faded.
Three circles appeared on the ground around the estate. Scorched into the earth.
A deep masculine voice echoed, “By the Will of the Arcane Order, I bring forth the Eternal Flame. BEGONE!”
A golden beam shot down.
Lorain brought the Jupiter around. Doing a half-flip. They all watched as golden rain soaked the planet. Not just the Ayeer…..
M’taris cursed, “Is that a Tower?!” It reached for the Heavens. Beyond the outer shipyards. To the very suns that circled this planet. Its crystalline surface reflected the rays of the rising suns.
*****
All the wounds on my body disappeared.
The soul sickness remained. Lightened by the actions of Varn Ayeer. A stately woman with plated golden hair stared up at me. She murmured, “I know your face.”
V’alkor knelt. The Tower was singing. In sync with the prayers of Varn and Micheal.
He spoke, barely above a whisper, “Hello mother.”
A faint cry echoed as the baby woke. A young boy rubbed his eyes, “What happened?”
Varn descended the crystal steps, “We have much to talk about.”
Issue 4: Here
Issue 6: Here
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