Issue 4: Sunshine and Owls
Piloting the Jupiter takes on a different meaning without my usual skill set to dampen the physical reaction. I can feel the g-forces until the pressure chair kicks in to keep me conscious!—Eliza Murphy
There’s another point to this “depowerment.” I ran the tests multiple times. New cell growth even I have no category for. Why is it masked from Arcane Net? My mind goes to other places. I feel it will be related to the 2nd phase. Now we are kept in the dark.—Lorain Lanis.
Each phase is required. The glint within Eliza will grow. For that final encounter.—Proctor Gansys
///Greetings: Pausing Playback. Would the Arbiter wish to activate Sheild Home Elysium? Eden Earth detected. Planetary Jump Completed. New Sector Terraforming requested. Emissaries of the Weave in attendance./// ----Interlude: The Final Tomes of Starlight
Paradise Falls
Recreation Sphere
April 28th, 2136
I let out a whoop as Zackary passed by in a burst of speed. The wind rushed by as my sled rounded the corner. As we reached the final gate I touched the pile of snow that buried me. The Murphy triplets were beside themselves. Their ringing laughter stopped as mom approached. Zach pulled me into a standing position.
I said, “They softened the snow.”
Richard, Albert, and Rebecca Murphy. Dexter’s pride and joy.
Doc checked me out. Her hands covered my forehead.
“Not hurt! Really.”
Mom replied, “This whole situation worries me. Where is this planet heading anyway?”
I said, “Without my Ur-Connection? I can only speculate.”
I reached out to bestow a bear hug. I no longer worried about the strength factor. I grinned, “I bet I can carry you a mile!”
Mom wrapped her arms around my neck, “Forward march!”
The shield world AI added cheerfully, <<We are heading to Alpha Point. To assist the Twilight Thronebearer. Needed biological factors are being added to your systems. Muscles, nerves, mind. Needed for the conflicts ahead. My delayed memory informs me you should enjoy these moments.>>
I informed mom and Doc of this.
Doc muttered, “Why won’t the Arcane Order missives give us an idea? Will you change that drastically?” My first encounter within Unity’s prison was about tearing into my memories. Mom caught the tail end of my thoughts.
>>We are going to be its target next. Our memories.<<
I set mom down once we reached the resort layer.
The others went ahead. I motioned to mom. She hesitated. The question within her eyes changed. Horror flooded through our closed link.
My mindvoice was subdued, >>It will go after Doc next. The Arcane Network will fill her HUD with misinformation. She knows that aspect. About the false information. She doesn’t realize the 2nd phase will unmask her memories. To be used to abuse me.<<
The knife would do its wicked work on me but I wouldn’t allow it to transfer to Doc.
It was why Eddie, Robin, and Arthur would hold the line. Arthon included.
Lilith would flood into Lorain. Mocking her. Not with barbs or violence.
With a mirror. Lorain had a personal tie to Lilith. Not of blood.
Amache. Where Lilith had rejected the Highest? I had seen glimpses while drinking from the offered cup. Doc turned. “Cornfed? You sure you didn’t bump your head?” She reached out and linked arms.
No matter how much I dwelled on those flashes my mother nor Lorain picked up on it.
The Highest wanted me to know but no other. Unity would ignore my mind. Figuring that I’d be kept ignorant. Just a tool. A rude awakening for them. In the end, it would save the rest of the Amache outside the mortal sphere.
The Beginning
Heart of Creation
Lethe bowed.
The King rose in the East. His golden light flooded all corners. Its beauty brought forth the air. She inhaled. Her form solidified. Her fellows cried out, “What be this?!” They rejected the face of Creation. Theirs had been the first of firsts. Flowing through the Dark Matter of the infinite expanse. What could exist beyond that bounty? They fled deeper into the void between worlds. Lethe called out, “Wait!”
Her people rejected the splendor out of fear.
Another howled.
She proclaimed, “I am Lilith! You know nothing! Those weak to your wiles fled into the depths.” Lethe beheld the Tower. Its gleaming spires bore her upwards. While the one below snarled. Smoke rose from her body. Lethe kept her gaze upon the golden ramparts.
The Fallen One snarled, “I renounce you!”
Ashen tendrils hooked themselves about Lethe’s feet.
“STAY!” White hands tugged at her arms. The ash faded.
Lilith wailed.
*****
The Highest carried the woman to the lake.
She peered into the waters. He lowered her in. “You have the right to choose.”
He plucked a drop and flung it skyward. A ball of fire cooled. The first shield world.
*****
Lorain reached out to steady me. Her eyes went wide as my palms smoked. Each bore the sigil of the three. I pressed my hands into the snow just outside the resort. There was no pain. I brought my hands to my face. Three circles on the left palm. Golden in color. On my right? Black.
A voice flowed through me, “You have the right to choose.”
The world dimmed.
I watched as Lethe made her choice.
The Highest pointed, “That path shall have love but you shall never bear children. Life unending. Until you both find Final Rest.”
Her form shifted. He placed her within a crystal sphere. “Sleep until you may be reborn.”
Doc had given up everything. Even knowing my path before I knew it myself.
I reached out with the palm marked with the black circles. I would take her pain unto myself. When the 2nd phase attempted to harm her? I would be there to shield her from the worst of it. No matter what happened to my physical form. My mind or my soul.
Shield World Paradise Falls announced, <<Approaching Temporal Anomaly, White Owl remnants detected.>> I linked in with the Jupiter, even if I didn’t have any powers, I could fly.
I replied, <<Activate outer defensives. Beta Pattern.>>
*****
White Owls fled from the warp within space. The remaining Arcane Order ships outside the oddity turned about as a UEF transponder exploded onto the nets. Beams of light crossed the distance. As each touched a beleaguered ship, their shields recharged. Owls exploded in bursts of feathers when caught out in the open. Gwen shivered. No Apex owls were present yet that tangle of fear ate at her heart. Anna pushed the young woman onto the bridge. “Stay with your sister.”
The Jupiter Rising catapulted from the protective atmosphere of the planet. Eliza shouted, “Strap in!”
J’ino smiled. Her fingers danced across the weapon’s console. Lorain glanced up from the sensor suit. “Ready on all fronts.”
*****
I let out a whoop as I sent the Jupiter into a diving spiral. Silver flamed spheres trailed from our launchers. Jupiter noted, <<Energy spike detected within Temporal anomaly.>>
I veered the ship counterclockwise to the ripple. The remaining owls trailing the ship aged rapidly. Until they lost the power of flight. Their forms were sucked into the null sphere. Wraith forms rose from the outer shell. My left palm itched.
Voices rose from the circular marks, “Body, Mind, and Soul. A compact.” They weren’t human.
Thronebearers. “Our bones litter the sky. For we failed in our covenant.”
Space warped around us and we found ourselves within an ocean. The gleaming white bones of the Thronebears pushed Jupiter Rising towards the golden gate. We pass through the glimmering waters to find a vast city. The color leeched from the surface. The buildings pointed towards the gate like grasping fingers. The voices grew louder. “Requilary of the Golden Host.” I brought the ship about. One building stood out.
A golden dome glittered. It opened as I settled the Jupiter within. Lorain reached out to touch my face. “What kind of tattoos…..”
The world grayed out within the ship. Except for myself, Anna and Gwen. A flash of light carried us away from the ship. I stared. The three statues towered over us. One marble white. One black and the final was a rich purple.
A male voice rang out, “What shall you give up to save the ones you love?”
By reflex, I pushed Gwen and Anna out of the way as a massive white Ax loomed down upon us. My back twitched. Anna remarked, “Anyone else seeing this?” The trees were gold. Red leaves rustled in the breeze as birds called out. I nodded, “Over there. A hiking trail.” Gwen shivered and crossed her arms. She asked, “Why did the white statue try to kill us? What would it gain? Why only us?”
Anna answered, “It wanted to see how Eliza would react. She passed.”
Gwen said, “Even without powers….just like your old Union Hall tests.”
Anna peered up at me. Touched my forehead, “Just so. He has his answers about you. Golden Child.”
I replied, “He gave you pretty big shoulders too!” Anna smiled. It didn’t reach her eyes though. They were worried. “This is about those owls.….” The ones from Gwen’s past.
I said, “There are three sets of Apex Owls. Grand Arch Demons. The Hollowed. The Nameless and the Broken.”
Gwen shivered, “Broken.”
Anna confirmed, “Amarche all. The 6 of Unity weren’t the only ones. Lesser fiends serve them.” We reached a clearing. Gwen and Anna clutched at each of my arms. It was Dexter and I heaped upon the Twilight Throne. Hilary in her hybrid form consumed my face. While Thoth ate away at Dexter’s. Thoth reached out, “Join us! Consume the half-mortal host!” Another figure stepped forward. Whipcord thin.
Mordred. His face was ruined. He pointed a skeletal hand at his enemies, “You gorge. Envisioning this future. You have already failed.”
Hilary sild forward. Her lower half-formed into a sickly gray snake. “We are stronger than Unity. For it has no form. It is merely a conflagration of Lesser Amache.”
I strode forward. This Thoth had no knife. Their images grew faint. While the Twilight Throne sharpened. The Truth was hidden below the surface. Unity wasn’t alone in its thoughts. The Highest saw everything. Every desire. Every need. Unity had failed in its choices. So had the Amache. Not to the same degree. I could see that now with how my threads tied to the Curator.
Three sides. The Fallen. Unity’s members.
The reborn. Like Lorain.
The Dark Matter Corus. The Amarche who sought atonement for fleeing the birth of Creation.
If Twilight failed her tests? We would not be at full strength.
So that Unity could carry its violation into the Highest’s plane.
Mordred cackled, “The Arbiter already knows. For the Arbiter isn’t a title. You may have broken my mind but I shall have the last dance.”
Thoth staggered to his feet. He pulled that knife from his belt. The belt. That was not Thoth. The All-Father smiled from the depths. They all wanted Unity’s power but only one would make it to the end. The visions shifted. Those eyes had never been Thoth’s. It had always been him. But how had he gathered enough to jump bodies? Questions that needed answers.
Mist rolled over all of us before I could examine the Urraden belt further. Gwen’s fingers tightened around my forearm. Her manicured nails pressed against the synth cloth of my dark blue flight jacket. She hissed, “Why show us this?!”
Anna traced a sign on my other arm.
She is still clouded by the Broken ones.
Gwen was to take the mantle of the Three. She would stand for the Female Aspect. Tobin would inherit the Cosmic and Jace would embody the Male Aspect. I had to find out why she was targeted. Jace and Tobin had faced many trials as well. Anna tapped me on the shoulder.
She traced another line across my throat.
Golden Child, remember who “leads” Unity.
I twitched. A female aspect. I dug into the earth below our feet.
Until my questing fingers met resistance. I pulled a white bracelet from the hole.
It had no other features. A blank slate. I pocketed it. Gwen blurted out, “I don’t want to be afraid anymore.” A three-storied temple rose past the treeline. Three domes. One white, one black, and the final one that was familiar purple. I took point. I motioned to Anna. Those stormy blue-gray eyes narrowed.
Lucifer was the Male Aspect of Unity.
McQuire nodded.
I spoke audibly, “Alright. So who is the Cosmic for that side?”
Gwen bit her lip. “In what way?”
I replied, “If Unity mimics the Highest in every way but without the Truth of Creation….”
Gwen pulled my right arm over her shoulders. “Well, we are hybrids. Maybe the Cosmic for the side of evil…” I turned it into a half hug.
Anna snarled, “Hilary Brookes.”
My stomach turned. “It does make a sick level of sense.”
Gwen pleaded with the heavens, “Then why am I the one hounded relentlessly? If my brothers….” I stopped her. “The Female Aspect of Unity kicked out its Male Aspect. But since they are false mirrors…”
Anna continued, “They will not work in harmony.”
Gwen sucked in a breath, “Abyzou wants to link with me permenantly. Take my body. So she can use it as a second skin.” I held up a hand, adding clues as I went, “That is how the All-Father will jump bodies as well. You hollow out the aspect closest to you. They have to be the same sex as you.”
Anna surmised, “That is why The All-Father is using Meathook. Long story. We encountered it during the Breach War. His soul is gathering materials as his “host” is slaying mirror images of the All-Father across the multiverse.”
Gwen said, “But what about the clones?” I shook my head, “That is different. Cloning sucks away the original soul. It keeps splitting until there is nothing left but embers.” Like Chronos. Gwen ran an index finger upon the rough walls of the temple.
I asked softly, “Can you have children?”
Gwen paled. “Yes.”
Abyzou was attempting to create life. No matter the means.
Moonlight flooded the temple. Casting shadows against the walls as all the statues within the courtyard animated. An armored knight pointed his blade at us, “What shall you sacrifice to save those you love?” Gwen placed herself between us.
She said, “Will it always be a sacrifice? What of creation? Of birth. Renewal!”
The knight lowered the sword, “The mind opens.”
The ground gave way and we tumbled further into the void.
*****
The Highest plucked at the figure of the Knight upon the chessboard.
“Her mind is finally quiet enough to hear.”
This was only the beginning.
Issue 3: Here
Issue 4: Here
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