Rash'Tor'Ri (Soulguard Book 4), page 22
"Not important," I returned in a deeper voice than before. I looked down at the still form in my arms and reached inside of her mind to do what she had once done for me.
All was black except a small circle of light in the distance. I began to run toward that light at an astonishing speed. The power of the mind was what fueled anything I could do here. Due to my recent changes, that was powerful, indeed.
I was there in an instant. A small patch of light surrounded by the glowing forms of those who supported her. I stepped past them into the circle to find the six year old girl I had saved in Tennessee. She was huddled in the center of the circle of light, looking fearfully out into the darkness that tried to push its way in to take her. In her arms was a small baby doll that carried the same glow as those in the circle. I pulled them close and heard her tiny voice.
"My Angel?"
Then she was back to the form I knew and loved. I could still see the frightened child inside of her, the one afraid of the darkness that would come for her.
"How are you here? Who is that with you?"
I looked sideways to see another form, burning with a dark red flame, just as I was burning with the brilliant flame that lit up the circle. I knew exactly who it was and I nodded to that dark and violent side of myself. Somehow I knew it would take all of us to Pull enough to fulfil whatever "balance" the Source required.
We turned, my dark side and I, to face the darkness as another of the Souls surrounding us faded and the circle grew a little smaller.
YOU WILL NOT HAVE THEM!
I felt Lyrica step up to stand between us. Her hands slid into ours. The baby doll was gone but there was a presence of someone with a psyche yet unformed. I knew this was our child in the womb of my beloved.
IF POWER IS WHAT YOU MUST HAVE, THEN POWER IT SHALL BE!
We Pulled, together, from deep inside of the Source. I felt Lyrica's will join with my own as well as the dark will of my other self. The power Paige had drawn from the Source was miniscule in comparison to what came ripping through our streams to be absorbed.
No one knows exactly what a Source Coma truly is. No one had lived long enough to even find out until I had survived. My best guess is that it is a balance of the power a person has used that is taken back. Most who have ever fallen into the coma burned out in seconds. A Soullord is different. Our bodies were created to withstand the Source.
I still would have died if my friends had not connected as supports to keep me alive long enough for Lyrica to step in. My Source Coma had been small compared to the power required to do what she had done. Fifty Mages were linked to her and she still fell. Those fifty refused to disconnect and many had fallen. She had pulled through our streams for hours when she saved me.
We were out on that plain for two days, but when I walked into Lifeline, I carried the sleeping form of my Little Angel in my arms. Thirty two Mages followed me carrying another eighteen. Twenty eight Soulguards followed. Seventy two men and women had died holding that circle around the Mages. They had killed four thousand Kresh before the gates had closed, killing the other forty thousand that had survived the inferno Lyrica had created.
People crowded forward as we entered to retreat at the sight of what I had become.
I was six feet tall, after the changes that had occurred and my uniform was noticeably tighter than it had been in the shoulders and legs. My nails weren't fingernails anymore, they were talons. The biggest thing that sent people backing away from me were my eyes. They were dark, almost black, instead of the white of the Human eye. The Iris was red and the pupils like pits of black. I saw them through the eyes of those around me and it was disconcerting.
I only hoped my Little Angel would forgive me for what I had done. I may never forgive myself.
Chapter 46
I sat by the hospital bed and looked over at my oldest friend. His Aura glowed but his mind didn't. On the bed to my left lay my second oldest friend.
I had pieced together what my friends had done. They were the reason I was able to save my angel's life. The Source requires a balance, I suppose. When Lyrica had fallen, Trent Deacons had seen four Mages fall down almost immediately. Another fell in seconds. One after another, they were falling. He and Mattie had been there when Lyrica brought me back and neither were stupid. They'd figured out the need for power that Lyrica's body was under.
I saw my two oldest friends embrace through the eyes of the Mages around them No one else realized what they had done but I knew immediately. They had, not only let the power surge through them, but Pulled with their combined will. They fell, but they were the last to fall. The others were enough to hold whatever this need for power was for a longer time.
Everyone had awoken except these two. Whatever the Source had done, I couldn't feel anything from their minds. Their bodies lived but their minds? I could find nothing when I felt for them.
"I'll find a way," I muttered as I squeezed Trent's shoulder.
I had placed them in the position to protect my Little Angel and they had done so. I stood up and brushed the hair from the face of Mattie Riordan with a finger.
"Thank you, my friends," I muttered.
Lyrica was sleeping again. I would have to tell her when she woke this time what had happened. There was much more I would have to explain than the loss of our friends.
What I'd done at the gate plagued me. If I hadn't released that which I carry inside would we have been able to save Division Two which had been swamped on our southern flank? Could I have done a Code Alpha and saved the lives of all of those Mages? Could I have stopped the deaths of Alec Brighton and Adaya Tovah?
Adaya Tovah, who Mage Bombed herself before she would let them bury her alive again. Alec had followed suit after his Division had fallen.
Mages that had followed me had died because of the power I Pulled through them. Not the power itself but they had fallen as they reached their limits. Three of them were taken by the Kresh before the others just stopped and shielded while I rampaged.
I had ripped Souls from Kresh and Human alike when they were held prisoner among the Kresh I would attack. The decision had already been made to use the Code Alpha but what I had done was done with no emotion except for the rage and desire to kill the enemy.
I am a monster, yet they all call me the hero. I had saved the day. They saw what I did but they don't understand why. Perhaps it's something they shouldn't know.
One thing was certain. The war on Earth had changed. We knew where all of the gates were located and they would be reinforced. I looked toward the airport as I stepped outside of the Hospital in Sydney. I could see the glimmer of one good thing I had learned.
Beside the tarmac was a gleaming portal that led to the gateway. With the Source and a lot of support Mages, I had opened the portal I had created to a width of about thirty feet.
I wasn't sure how far I could make one of these things but it seemed to require my telepathy and my abilities as a Soullord. Who knew what the future would hold for that particular skill?
"Your car is here, Boss," Prada said from the left side of the door I had exited.
"Thanks, Andrea."
I slid into the back seat as Prada opened the other door to join me. Alexei was at the wheel.
"You sure he's the one you want drivin'?" I asked. "I seem to remember the last time he drove. Just remember, Alexei, it's a car, not a tank."
"Car… tank… not much difference. Just less armor."
I buckled my seat belt.
The airport was a short distance and I could have done it faster if I just ran. They started using the car after I had been swamped by people the last time I had made the trip to the hospital.
Most of the refugees had been moved out but there were still some that waited for ships. They weren't near the problem as some of the forces that had been at the Gate. The telepathy I had used crossed both races and there were a lot of people who looked at me as some sort of freak. Others as some sort of Messiah.
Both versions of what they thought of me were hard to take. The ones who think I'm some sort of savior actually bother me more than the ones who think I'm a monster. I happen to agree with the latter. What did I really do? I killed my way across a continent ending in a rampage with the sole intent to exterminate a race. My harshest judge would always be myself.
"You're getting lost in there again," Prada said.
"I can't help it," I returned. "I keep thinkin' of what I could have done. Maybe I could have…"
"No," she interrupted. "You couldn't have stopped what happened to Adaya or Alec. The Kresh had some heavy hitters on the southern flank and there wasn't enough time to stop it."
"I didn't even try," I muttered.
"You ended the damn war," she said. "It took a few lives to do it. It's a harsh truth and you know it, but you did what no one else could have done. If we had continued there would have been thousands of more losses to our forces. Yes, we lost friends, but we could have lost so much more."
I looked at her for a moment. Perhaps she is right. I don't know. I suppose the future will tell if I am the monster or the messiah. Or maybe I'm just a guy who is stuck in the middle, doing the best I can just to be Human.
***
We stood at the front rail of the cargo ship that was slowing to enter the harbor at Greymouth, New Zealand. Two soul weary Soullords. Lyrica was nestled in at my side. She had been so quiet after everything was out in the open. We had lost friends in both of our conflicts and she took it even harder than I had. I had to wonder if it was all worth it. We had killed more Kresh in Australia than all the other places they had come. But what had we accomplished?
"Stop it." She said, squeezing my waist. "I can hear what you're thinking now."
Her head came up as we rounded the edge of the harbor.
"What did we accomplish?" she asked. "Look."
Ahead of us, packed on the shore at the docks was an enormous crowd of people. My enhanced vision let me look closer. A smaller group stood out on the docks awaiting the ship. I saw Paige Turner and seven children. In the front stood a little girl whose head bobbed around as she tried to see the ship better. Her aura rolled with anticipation. When she saw the two of us on the prow of the huge ship, it glowed with a joy that had us both in tears.
What had we accomplished? Three hundred thousand people awaited us on the shore that could attest to what we had accomplished.
Epilogue
The squeal of Rachel woke me from a dead sleep. Two small forms charged into the bedroom.
"Sam pulled my hair," Rachel complained in her Australian accent.
"You called my mate a turd," Sam returned.
"That's because he is a turd!"
I pointed at Lyrica, "Do you guys really want to wake her up?"
They stopped and ran from the room. I heard her snicker from under the covers.
"Who taught her the term, 'turd'?"
"I don't know where she would get somethin' like that."
"Mmm hmm," she said. "Sure you don't."
She slid from under the covers and stood in front of the mirror over the dresser. Her hand rubbed her abdomen, gently. It had begun to bulge the smallest bit in the last month.
My admiration was interrupted as I felt the Gate open. I was on my feet in an instant and reaching for my uniform. Lyrica was across the room and pulling her pants on. As I exited the bedroom, Lydia Doresti, met us.
"Sorry those two got past me…"
"Sorry, Lydia," I interrupted. "The Gate just opened. We have to get to work. Can you pack a go bag for the kids in case this gets out of hand? I'll need you to get down in the shelter until the clear signal."
She nodded and rushed toward the group of kids we could hear squealing in the Den.
It only took us a few minutes to get to the Headquarters from the house we were using as quarters for us, Lydia, and seven kids. Lydia was one of the Romanians who had been marked when I learned what the Mark was. She had come to help with the kids until we could prepare something for them in Oklahoma. It had stretched on for a lot longer than we had planned due to the fact that we both enjoyed having them there.
"Sir," the National Guard at the door greeted us, "The Gate opened, but nothing has come through."
Another voice yelled from behind him, "Someone came through! Two! Both are Human."
"I'm goin' out to see."
"We are," Lyrica agreed.
I rounded the building and passed the guns. I could see the distant forms. I focused my eyesight as I recognized the one on the left.
"Holy shit," I muttered and launched myself forward.
Lyrica caught up with me as I embraced my friend.
He pushed me out to arm's length and looked at me, "Boy, what have you done to yourself?"
I was looking at the blinding power rolling inside of his Soul, "Perhaps I need to ask you the same thing."
He grinned, "It's kind of a long story, Boss."
"Then, by all means, let's go somewhere and you can tell me."
"I'll start by telling you Hub is completely under your command. And I would like to introduce you to my wife, Sibine."
We walked out, past the guns, toward the HQ building.
"Love what you've done with the place."
I heard comments from around us.
"Who is…?"
"…came out of the gate."
"…thought he was dead."
"Welcome home, Ric," I said.
This Fallen World
By Christopher Woods
Chapter 1
I walked down the dreary street. Smoke hung in the air from the fires burning in the alleys that led back into dark corners filled with those less fortunate than the people who resided in the buildings alongside J Street.
Before the Fall, those in the street would have been rounded up and hauled away in vehicles to be incarcerated. Now, twenty years later, you'd find a better grade of people living in the alleys than the ones inside the buildings. Hell, maybe it wasn't so different, then.
Those, that had inhabited the city twenty years ago, were pretty despicable. I know this because I was one of the bastards. How things change.
"Fresh fruit, Mister?" a voice came from my right.
I glanced toward the young girl with an apron full of apples. Then pulled one of the apples from her apron. As I polished the apple on the lapel of my long coat, I listened for the tell-tale buzz from my rad marker. There was no buzz so I handed the girl a coin.
"Wow," she said, "is that an Old World coin?"
"They called 'em quarters," I answered. "Worth twenty Scripts. Take that and hide it well. There's a grocery store over on K Street. He'll change it for ya. He's good people."
She pulled a bag from her pocket and dropped the rest of the apples into it. She handed it to me.
"Mister, that's ten times the worth of the whole bunch," she said. "Thank you."
She slipped the quarter into a pocket and disappeared into the crowd.
I continued my trek down J Street. I couldn't spread too many of the coins I had found around too quickly. I had many more where that one had come from, but if word got out I was spending a lot of Old World coins, one of the Warlords would surely come down on me.
It didn't hurt to help the people around me when I could, as well. Most of the good will I had around the city had come from similar acts. Those on the street didn't have much, and when I helped them, they would remember. There will be a time I'll need help, and there are quite a few people who will remember.
J Street crossed Third Avenue ahead of me and my destination wasn't far down Third. There was a bar called the Strike Zone there. My contact had said he had a man who wanted to meet with me about a job. I tended to use the Strike Zone as a meeting place for potential customers.
I had helped the owner find his kidnapped wife eight years ago, and he kept a booth unoccupied for me to use at any time. Good will is a priceless commodity in a Fallen world.
I came within view of the bar and there were crowds of people waiting to enter. Some things never change. People search for escape from reality in any world, Fallen or not.
The doorman nodded as I strode past the line of waiting patrons, some of which yelled in anger.
"Kade," he said as I reached him, "welcome, as always. You're booth is clear, and there is a guest awaiting your arrival."
"Thanks Sam," I said and walked into the noisy, smoke-filled room.
I made my way across the large room full of dancing men and women. The music pounded some sort of digital created music from the Old World. I had found a stash several years back of several kinds of Old World music discs. I traded most of the discs for a player to Jared Mcknight, the owner of Strike Zone. I had kept a small collection of a style of music called Blues. I liked the Old World Blues music. Most of the rest had been dance music of some sort or another. Some digital, some of what they had called Country, R&B, Hip-Hop. I didn't care for most of those.
The Old World music had brought crowds of people into Strike Zone, and Jared had been making money hand over fist. Then the local Warlord had stepped in and began taxing Jared to keep his bar open. Now Jared made enough to get by but not much more.
"Kade!" Jared's voice boomed across the room.
I looked to my right to see Jared waving at me. He was pushing through the crowd toward me.
"Mathew Kade," He said with a huge smile, "a sight for sore eyes!"
"How are ya, Jared?" I asked.
"Could be better, but I'm still here."
"How's Jenny?"
"Pregnant."
"Really?" I said with a smile. "Congratulations, my friend!"
"Thanks, Kade," he said. "It never woulda happened without you."
"I'm pretty sure I didn't have anything to do with that."
His laugh boomed across the room again.
