Issue 14: Pearls of Wisdom
I allowed myself to get wounded. I knew that would bring Eliza back. She would wonder what could breach the solid defense of my wards. It does flatter me. She still thinks I am invincible. I know what she hunts is greater but I did find a use for X’mil’s body, I put a tracker on it. Not one of tech but magic.—Judgement
Corpse set to near atmosphere orbit. Noted intended trajectory. Compensating Gravitational Fields to prevent Necromantic energies from escaping Shield World.—Paradise Falls AI
Even after all I had seen and experienced? Meathook unrattled me. I am not ashamed to admit it. He? It was a force to be reckoned with. My equal but in the service of Evil.—Sleeping in Starlight: Echoes of the Abyss.
Gate of the First Star
Elysium
Time Nullification Sphere
J’ino opened one eye as they passed beyond the barrier. Thought better of it and wrapped her arms around her daughter’s neck. Flying within her battlesuit was one thing. Freefall was quite another. Eliza squinted, “There is a ground level. Everything else here is glowing cubes. Silver, white, black, and gold. For now.”
J’ino noted, “Silver for you. I assume.”
A few gold and silver cubes moved towards the pair. Eliza asked, “Gold for Dexter?”
J’ino nodded. “He showed me the belt he wears now.”
*****
Mom glanced up at me. Her expression was equal parts curious and worried.
I put her at ease, “I figured if I got an upgrade? He would as well.”
She relaxed. I half grinned.
Mom hugged me tighter. I rubbed the back of my head.
“I know. I do have a notion of what the Highest intends.”
Dad was within the Mirror of this place. With my brother. The same quest with different results. I muttered, “Are men and women really that different?” Mom didn’t reply immediately. Her snort was enough. She spoke after pulling one of the cubes to her chest.
“Beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
It was white. I had the silver. I combined them.
White’s tiger form floated next to me.
“…..furthermore….” She paused. Her massive head swung to face me.
She floated. Her tail curled around my left forearm. “Those Merfolk know quite a bit. I hope it will help that Sunset fellow.”
I sucked in a breath as the cubes broke apart. The black and gold dived below. Burrowed under the ground. As if they never existed. Voices called, “Arbiter. For you? This shall be an answer. One of many.”
The remaining cubes circled us. “Reach out with the Ur. You shall know a Truth of the World.”
Stars whirled by. We saw the Amarche flee. The Curator stood defiant. As the red wind flowed through the Darkmatter. He shouted into the starless void, “Devourer of Flesh!” Tendrils sucked the Amache into its grip. No longer dark matter beings. They had twisted forms. Their pale bodies were familiar.
The Lesser Owls.
The Curator held his hands to the light that poured into the vast dark.
“Help us!”
It wasn’t the Highest. The energy prickled against my skin. A man with flowing white hair. Golden eyes and a shimmering silver-green tail emerged. A merman. He placed himself ahead of Curator. “You have rejected the Light. Take what is left of your people and hide.” There was no recrimination in the other’s voice. Just fact. His name flowed from my lips, “Poseidon.”
The pantheon of gods. Each religion had a piece of the puzzle.
I rubbed my face, “The Amache split into three.”
The obvious question was paramount. How did the Highest and this Red King get here? To start the cycles as Mortals knew them.
I continued, “The Fallen. The Curator’s Faction, the Merfolk. That dwell within the Weave. It existed before the Highest rose.” Mom shook her head, “I think you are right about the 3 parts of the Amarche but the Weave? I thought that came after. From the Arcane Records.”
The Silver Lady placed a hand on my shoulder. Turned me from the vision for a moment.
“Greetings Arbiter.”
I responded, “I imagine Dexter and father are getting the other piece to the puzzle.” The cloaked woman bowed her head, “The Weave rose around the Amarche. They did not perceive it at first.” She waved a hand at the scene before us. “The Red King infiltrated the Weave. To reach the dark matter reality of the primordial.”
I opened that part of myself to the Ur-Flow.
Endless echoes of myself rose around us.
“He was made to control. Take the flesh? It provides avenues to the soul.”
My reflections fell silent. We all watched as Poseidon shouted, “You shall find no purchase here.” He aimed his trident. It flickered in the dark matter cluster like a lantern within a deep cave. Beams arced. Dark Matter shifted. The crimson cloud surrounding the merman dissipated.
The tendrils sank deep into the pale bodies of the first owls. Poseidon was only delaying the inevitable. He held his trident aloft, “You who seek refuge within the shadow! Not all are blinded to your ways. Of three deaths shall the Arbiter come. To cleanse the First Shadow from all!”
The owls writhed within the semi-dark of the newly birthed universes of creation.
They fled from the light cast by Elysium. No, Elysium’s suns.
Planets had yet to exist. The crimson reach of the Red King did not reply. It dug itself deeper. A hidden side of the Weave! The Silver Lady pulled me away from the vision. “That path will be for your brother to find.”
We passed through the dark matter cluster. My mom pointed out, “The first stars of creation.” One glimmered blue. The other was white-hot. While the final? Made of Dark Matter itself. The Highest had known the Amache had existed before all others. The Silver Lady pulled us forward. We passed through the Dark Matter star.
The Curator shouted,” Who or what are they!?”
The surviving Amache of the Threads murmured, “They were us. The Pale Ones. The Trident wielders!” Curator expanded. I could see the outline of his dark matter form encompass miles of space. The dim glow of constellations formed around the pocket cluster. Beyond those cosmic shores, gold and crimson light clashed.
The Highest vs the Red King.
Silver Lady tugged at my hand. “You cannot go there. That is for another to learn.”
Dexter.
My father.
Just as mother had joined me here.
She continued, “Energy flows from all things. The will of the feminine. The will of the masculine.” She gestured to the tear that Poseidon had climbed through. Other Amarche forms twisted. They flowed alongside the Hatheon ruler. As we passed through the tear my mind expanded. Poseidon turned and rallied his people.
“Even now the Arbiter sees us! We must prepare. The Oversoul will endure! Just as the Ouro endures beyond the grasping claws of destruction!” Their word for the Highest gave me pause. Oversoul. What did it mean?
Mom nudged me, “That temple over yonder. It has some unusual shapes, wouldn’t you say?”
Instead of the three perfect circles entwined, each point of the temple had three Nonagons. A nine-sided polygon. The temple was made of Weave threads. Pure energy! The oldest civilization within the Weave. Poseidon intoned, “First there was naught but the dark matter. Then came the Weave. But the Amache ignored the Weave. Thinking they were the only things to exist. It was the breath of the Oversoul!”
The ruler thumped his trident against the threads crisscrossing the space.
“We shall hold here. For those who will come after. Those of flesh and bone. The excess soul within shall guide their path.” Ur-Memory flowed. That was why we had to cleanse the arcways. We weren’t just purging Unity’s influence. That had always been the cover. The deeper wound was the Red King. The vibrant green trident passed through my chest. This was the past. Yet Poseidon's glowing eyes locked onto me. “Arbiter, the voice of the Mortal World. Entwined by past, present, and future. Guide us through the Veil. “
I tested his senses, “What is the Veil?”
He replied, “The connection between mortal and Oversoul.”
Poseidon stroked his blazing white beard. His face was lined yet eternal.
He pointedly stared down at my mother, “So shall the Links carry across time.”
I blinked. We were back aboard the Jupiter Rising. The gem melded to my left palm. Entwined itself within the three circled tattoos resting there. The golden rings blazed for a moment. “So shall you see the Threads of Life. Not just within the Ouro and the Weave. But into the deeper dark. Into the Dark Matter itself.”
That last statement rolled through my mind in Thronebearer speech.
Everything tied into that.
I would walk through the echoes of the Golden City with new eyes.
Alert klaxons resounded throughout the ship.
<<Incoming Unity thralls. Fleshwalker.>>
I dashed for the cargo bay. My spare uniform hung within suspension near the exit.
The cargo bay doors opened seamlessly.
Shields pulsed as half armored artock flung themselves against the defenses.
The coms network was chaotic.
<<How?! All units report!>>
<<They didn’t drop pod in!>>
<<….they are coming in from everywhere!>>
Golden Bulleteer flashed in next to me. “This didn’t come from space. It's like…”
I finished, “…they are phasing in. The Dark Mirror network isn’t just a counter. It's embedded into the old world….” My grandfather grunted, “I'll ask later. Can we stop them?”
A garbled voice reached my ears. One I hadn’t heard in a long time.
“Heya big blue girl scout. X’mil was just the start.”
Striker Nix.
*****
Nix waved his father’s thralls forward.
He didn’t owe anyone any loyalty.
This was just a means to an end. While his shipmates had caused problems out there in the forests? He had been working on the side. For a resort planet this place had quite a few unexpected defenses. Planting all the dark mirror nodes had been a chore. Each one couldn’t be placed near any active buildings. Too many Light Shaman wards. So he had traveled from pole to pole. To find gaps in the networks. Both tech and magic were quite formidable here. He was a pirate. So he did what he knew best. Recon, hold in place, spring the traps. Eternal Empire tech was more up his alleyway but even that place had its drawbacks. It was known as Emir’s Folly. After the destruction of Eternal Mars? The remains of the World Eater had caused an unusual virus to burst forth in its wake.
It began as a red mist concoction that was infecting various pirate sectors. Many had maimed their faces or bodies in response. A strange symbol seared onto their flesh. It was a bloody infinity pictogram. Three long vertical lines through it. Ragged as claws. Encased in a black circle. It unnerved him. The eyes of those fanatics gleamed within the darkened holds of ships, spheres, and distant dead world.
All hummed the line, “In service of the Throne. Flesh given. Flesh Consumed. Fingers grasping the corpse of the Father and Brother to All.”
Nix felt the ring shift under his flesh.
It had been given to him by his father. Draken Nix was a hollowed-out zombie. But he had connections. Those ghostly pale eyes lingered on Striker for a moment longer. His father had said, “It will hide you from greater foes. Do not go near the Uncovered.”
Striker asked, “Uncovered? What the hell is that supposed to be.”
Draken Nix’s four additional eyestalks had swiveled to stare out into the abyss.
“It is not for you.”
Nix responded sardonically, “Of course not. I am not one on one with your zombie god.”
The younger alien didn’t care for Unity. Or its fatalistic viewpoints.
Draken said nothing else. The Dark Mirrors had swallowed them whole.
In the end, it wouldn’t matter. Each of these fighters phasing through to this shield world was infected. Nothing would save them. Absolutely nothing. The ring coiled tighter about his middle finger. A faint pulse matched his rapid heartbeat. He grimaced.
“Ashes to ashes. As the human book says.”
*****
Lorain’s voice crackled over the defense net, <<I repeat! Don’t let them touch you! Unknown viral presence detected. Sealed suits only. That goes for all demis. ALL DEMIS!>>
Mom motioned towards the Arcane Null room, “Mary left you a present.”
I missed the days of super-powered monkeys. The threats of common thugs. Bank robberies. Those were mundane. Putting an end to a tech demi’s plans for world domination. I bet Sunset Showdown’s adventures were tame in comparison.
Mom grinned, “That Floridian would surprise you. I’ve read a few reports.”
I emerged with my very own battlesuit.
The helm clicked into place. Hissing as all the seals clamped shut.
I said, “How does the line go? Locked and Loading!”
Mom aimed. Her battle mech suit locked onto three dozen Artock forms.
“Locked and Loaded. Commence fire pattern beta!”
The suit opened up with micro missiles that batted the invading force away from the Jupiter Rising. The thumb-sized silver spheres adhered to the necrotic flesh. Igniting it in such a way that limbs went flying. My Thronebearer senses caught on before the first missiles hit. There was nothing there. Only flesh husks. No soul to be found. This was one part of the Red King’s forces. Not the Living Stone. The endless might of Artock from all across the multiverse.
My duty was to find the souls entrapped by the Red King. Unity would be the bridge.
If I survived it. It was not a certainty.
The Ur-Flow took me. I zeroed in on red ligaments surrounding the brain and hearts.
Burned it away with Thronebearer speak.
A horrified voice came over the com net. <<What kind of star is that?!>>
High above. I spotted it. That pulsating cosmic fire. It wasn’t fire. It wasn’t a star at all.
It was necrotic.
Issue 13: Here
Issue 15: Here
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