She says with a sinister smirk across her face, “I take it you’ve never seen a wizard before?”

  “I have, during a troop show for the Guild.”

  The mage laughs, “That is not anything but apprentices learning how to wield their newly found power. No wonder you stare so.”

  Kat stays silent, not sure what to say. What she said sure seemed true and she instantly felt out of her depth. How the hell is she supposed to stand up to something like that, even with Whisper and Fury by her side.

  “I guess you are a smart one at least. You know when to keep your mouth shut. Ryker always did say he valued your mind above all of your other qualities.”

  “Why are you so interested in what Ryker has to say about me?”

  “You call him by his first name now. How odd. I was told you only referred to him by his last name. So it would remind him that all you were was a puppet. A doll. A plaything.”

  Each word sank into Kat like a dagger. Her memories of how happy she was with Ryker were nothing more than a drug messing with her body chemistry. And this woman knew. She stands, even though her body is sore from the recoil of the explosion.

  Kat says with a smirk, trying to play up every word, “I get it now. You’re the new girlfriend.”

  The wizard shifts her stance, lowering the undulating ball of plasma to her side. “I am. Gwen Stacy is my name and I am one of the Guild’s enforcers. Forging a close relationship with Ryker Mallory is an important task to ensure the Guild’s resources for the future.”

  “That sounds very Guild like of you but you like him. As in you like like him. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be trying to verbally bring me down. It just shows how insecure you are about how he feels about you. I mean, he still talks about me to you. That has to be hard.”

  “I am doing nothing of the sort. I do not need to degrade you, a lowly lumesc. For I am already beyond you. I am Ales. Chosen. You, as a lowly filthy human lumesc, could never reach where I have ascended. I am merely stating a fact. A toy should know it’s a toy.”

  Perfect, Kat thinks, she hit a nerve. Now all she needs to do is press on that a bit more. “Oh, I get it. You’re jealous. I being a lowly lumesc made him happier than you, an ascended Ales has been able to. I can see it written all over your face.”

  Gwen’s face turns a deep shade of red as she raises the orange and yellow ball up from her side and points it at Kat. “You ignorant lumesc puppet. You are nothing. He used you like a sex doll, even going so far as to never allow you to address him by his first name. I have nothing to prove to the likes of you.” A snarl comes across her beautiful lips and eyes. “Now burn like the worthless lumesc you are!”

  Kat thinks she might have taken that a bit too far as she watches in slow motion as the plasma flies out of Gwen’s hand in her direction. Everything around the fiery ball of death fades into the background till it is all she can see. She calls to Whisper, “Whisper, a little help.” Before an answer can be heard, she can feel the heat of the miniature star on her face. Watching her life flash before her eyes.

  Opening her eyes she’s starring at short black hair, soft blue eyes, and a strong chin. She had to be dead and this had to be heaven. It was the only explanation that she could come up with as to why Graven was holding her in his strong arms. She could smell him; it is an earthy smell. It reminded her of Gale’s garden and all the times that she spent helping her pick fresh vegetables for supper. She felt like she could curl up and go to sleep with that smell by her side. Kat’s eyes focus and she can now tell he’s trying to say something but isn’t sure what. He looks away from her and she can feel his embrace get stronger, and he’s warm. Again she feels safe, comfortable. She snaps back to herself when she finally hears his voice.

  “Katrice, you alright? Katrice!?”

  She nods her head, “Yea I’m fine. I thought I was a goner and I thought that you were dead.” Then slaps him on the chest. “Why aren’t you dead?”

  “Yea, ‘bout that. It's a long story. So let’s get out of here and I will be more than happy to explain.”

  “You’d better.”

  “Promise.”

  Kat looks around and doesn’t see Gwen anywhere. “What happened to the wizard?”

  “I absorbed her spells. She got flustered so I punched her. That won’t stop a Guild enforcer, but it bought us a few minutes.”

  “You what!?”

  “Look, like I said, we need to get out of here. Then I’ll explain.”

  A bolt of lightning screams across the horizon. Before Kat could tell what was happening, she is pulled away from the bolt. Graven’s body shielding her own with his hand outstretched to catch it. A flash of light, a clap of thunder, and a loud ringing are the only things that cross her mind for the next few seconds. Graven slowly takes a knee with her still in his grasp, hand still stretched out and focus still on where the attack came from. Steam rises from his hand and arm as the muscles in his arm quiver uncontrollably.

  With concern in her words, Kat asks, “Are you alright?”

  He takes a sharp breath in though his nose and exhales quickly. “Yea. I’m fine. Hurts like hell but can’t really do anything to me. Well, one thing. It gives me momentary superhuman like abilities.”

  “You’re a mage too, aren’t you?”

  “No I’m not but my birth parents were. We need a plan and I need back up for this. Think you can handle it?”

  Kat’s face feels hot realizing her emotions were taking over and she wasn’t acting like herself. “Yes, I can help.”

  Whisper says, “Thank whoever I can call God for that.”

  Graven laughs, “Thanks to you too. I couldn’t ask for a better pair of women to back me up.”

  “You at least have one of us to assist. Kat here was trying to leave this meaty existence behind.”

  Kat defends herself, “I… what, hey now Whisper. Where were you when I called for help?”

  “I was right here on your wrist like I always am and you didn’t call for help. You went catatonic when that ball went flying for you and apparently I can’t act of my own free will unless you allow me.”

  Graven says, keeping his voice low, “Hush you two, she’s back.”

  Kat turns her head, still in Graven’s arms, to see Gwen walking back toward them with two glowing balls. One in each hand.

  Graven says, “Crap. Kat brace yourself. I’ve got to slow her down and you get ready for an opening.” He lets go of her and she falls to the ground. He vanishes from her sight, appearing next to Gwen in the middle of a kick. The ball from her right hand disappears as she blocks the kicks. The ground beneath their feet cracks and indents with the fire behind them getting pushed to the side. Kat feels the shock wave in her chest as it brushes past her, almost knocking her to her feet.

  Gwen says, “Retched human, who to you think you are to touch me? Me, the Solar Queen!?”

  Graven smiles and says, “I am the black raider your people call Devourer.” He bows, never taking his eyes off her. “Nice to meet you, Solar Queen.”

  Gwen’s eyes widen, “You, I’ve heard of you. You killed Gaia.”

  Graven takes a step backward, readying himself into a fighting stance. He nods. “That was either me and my squad, or him. I chose, he lost.”

  Her lips curl up the edges of her mouth, “I’ll kill you and all doubts about my superiority will disappear. You will die here today, Devourer.”

  Kat watches blurs—where two people once stood—collide. Their bodies flash in and out of view as punches and kicks land, followed by shockwaves of force drumming against her chest like a concert. The only thing that she can think are the last words Graven told her, look for an opening. How is she supposed to look for an opening when she couldn’t see the two in the first place?

  She asks, “Whisper, can you make out what’s going on, I can’t see a thing.”

  “Not really, I’m trying to place their trajectories but everything isn’t matching up.”

  Fury wakes up, “Hey Kat, what’s going on?”

  Kat says, “Fury! Are you ready to go?”

  “Yea I’m ready and loaded. The only thing left is to choose the load-out.”

  Whisper says, “Kat, I just found a file that’s locked while I was looking for something to help with my projections. I need your ok to open it.”

  “What is it Whisper?”

  “It’s a new weapon configuration for me and Fury.”

  “Go for it.”

  “Accessing file, thank you monkey.”

  Flames scorch the ground on either side of Kat and she can feel the kiss of the flames and heat.

  26

  Graven turns to look at her, with pain in his eyes. Steam flows off his body and out of his mouth as he exhales.

  Kat thinks, Blocking a fiery blast like that, for me. Idiot…

  His once soft eyes seem hard and distant. “I can’t do this much longer Katrice. You need to take a shot.” His voice comes out as exhausted as he looks.

  “How can I do that, the two of you are moving too fast.”

  “I’ll make the opening, I promise.”

  His form blurs as he disappears back near Gwen continuing the fight. Followed by another wave of flashing lights cycling through every color of the rainbow. With each new color a new shockwave. Kat’s body feels beaten down by the repeated blasts.

  Whisper says, “Kat I’ve finished opening the file and loading it. Unlatch me from around your wrist and hook me around the center of Fury.”

  Kat follows the instructions and with Whisper wrapped around Fury, Whisper extends out her probes into Fury. Each connects with a snap and begin to take Fury apart. Allowing her access to his nanite chamber. Whisper starts to spin with a blue glow.

  Both Whisper and Fury’s voice say in unison, “Wrath online. Loading level one Magi-tech gravity shells.”

  Kat says confused, “Wrath, what happened to Whisper and Fury?”

  Wrath says, “We are still ourselves but we are one.” Kat takes hold of Wrath’s grip with both hands, taking a marksman’s stance, waiting for the opening Graven said he would make. Blurs of motion are flying around the outside of the barracks faster than she can track. Graven stops in place, watching Gwen circle about him. Foam dribbles down his chin as he snarls at her. His head snaps toward Kat and they lock eyes. His soft blue had been replaced with a dull rainbow. His lips part, showing his teeth like an animal with a pair of small horns now growing out of the sides of his head and up into the air from the back.

  He takes a few steps toward Kat. Attacks from every direction come in as Gwen lays out a barrage of beams and lances of magical power. Graven keeps his pace, slowly advancing toward Kat. Gwen stops behind him, landing on the ground.

  She says, “Ha, you are nothing more than a beast now. The more of my power you consume, the more it consumes you. Go ahead, kill your partner like you did your squad during the Black Raid, Devourer.”

  Graven’s pace and attention did not waiver. Kat looks into his eyes and she doesn’t see the man that she had gotten to know over the last few days. Her heart aches thinking about what she should do. Should she shoot him or trust him? She didn’t know enough about him or his abilities to make an educated judgment. She goes with what her heart tells her. And lowers Wrath.

  “Graven, It’s me, Katrice. Please, you don’t have to do this.” His eyes flash blue. “Remember, we are going to be a crew together. You, me, Whisper, and Fury.”

  His pace remains constant till he stands within arm’s reach and stops. Froth pours out of his mouth as he snarls with each breath. He reaches out with his right arm and grabs Kat’s throat, lifting her in the air.

  His grip is strong around her throat but isn’t enough to choke her. It’s hard to talk, but she says, “Please, Graven.”

  Gwen lets out a cackle of a laugh flinging her head backward. “Yes, yes, devour her like all the rest. Then I will finish you off myself.”

  Graven’s eyes soften as he gazes at Kat and he slobbers out. “Get ready to take the shot.”

  Kat’s eyes widen and she nods as best she can. Graven quickly turns and flings Kat toward Gwen. Who takes a step out of the way. Kat has a split second to aim as she passes by and squeezes the trigger.

  The gravity bullet hits Gwen in the waist. Her face contorts with surprise as the magi-tech bullet hits her. The black orb-like bullet pulses and starts to pull everything nearby into itself. Gwen strains her muscles as she fights against it with no luck.

  Kat braces for an impact with the wall she is flying toward. She slams into Graven’s chest resting back in his arms. She looks up to see his features returning more to his normal demeanor. He looks down at her the dull rainbow glow fading back to the soft blueish-green she remembers. He motions toward Gwen. Kat turns to watch and can hear bones snap as Gwen’s body begins to wrap into a ball around the pulsing black orb. With each pulse pulling her in closer.

  Gwen yells out, “You will regret this, worthless lumescs.” She lets out a wail of pain. “The Guild will know of this and will avenge me.”

  Kat looks away as Gwen’s jaw is ripped away from her face. Graven wraps his arms around Kat and his earthy scent fills her nostrils once more making her feel safe.

  “Not much longer now,” Graven says in a whisper.

  Kat notices he hasn’t turned away and this makes her turn back to finish watching. It had been a very long time since she watched someone die. She did just kill a squad of mercenaries but she didn’t watch each individual bleed out. It isn’t something that she enjoyed doing but it felt like she should witness Gwen’s last moments. The concrete, crates, and ground close by start covering what is left of Gwen’s body. The sphere created begins to shake as it cracks apart.

  Graven covers Kat with his body as the sphere explodes. Dirt, concrete, and organic matter splatter in all directions. The only thing that hits Kat is the concussion of the blast. She and Graven stand up and look at the crater that is left. Kat then looks at him. His shirt is ripped to shreds with bruises lining his back like leopard spots. He turns to her with a smile on his face.

  “That was a good shot.”

  She smiles, thankful that they are alive, then says, “Thanks.”

  “I wasn’t expecting that Fury would be able to make magi-tech. Gravity bullets are seriously dangerous.”

  “It wasn’t just Fury, Whisper and him combined to make Wrath.” She says showing him the new gun in her hands.

  Wrath says, “We are Wrath.”

  “So, how about we get those supplies now and get the hell out of here.” He says with a smile on his face. Taking a few steps back toward what is left of the barracks.

  Kat tries to stop him, pulling at his arm. “Hey now, are you really alright?”

  He turns to answer her and she watches as his eyes roll back in his head and collapses.

  Kat screams, “Graven!”

  27

  Kat places her hand on the glass door to the medical bay watching Graven on the table. It's a familiar sight that she didn’t think she would experience again so soon. Right after the fight he only looked badly bruised. Broken bones and bruises were the least of his problems. Whisper had been operating on him over the past four hours. She didn’t want Kat in the room because she didn’t know if she could save him.

  She rushed him into the medical bay, Whisper into the console, then tried to get some supplies on the ship. Kat knew that he would want her to try and get something. Instead, Gwen had done a great job of stopping them. She destroyed the majority of the useful crates that were full of food or usable goods. There was one box of ammunition, one of clothes (mostly Conglomerate uniforms), and a bag of Mal-Tech merchandise like augmentation gear and virtual reality gear. A few broken boxes had useable food in it, which she grabbed, but in all, it didn’t amount to more than a couple of weeks of food.

  After loading the boxes, they took off as fast as they could with the cargo bay doors still closing as they left orbit. Whisper had already locked the medical bay doors by that point. Kat couldn’t just wait by the glass door watching as the metal arms flew around Graven. She had to do something, which was cataloging everything she got and is how she knew they didn’t get much of anything for what they just went through.

  Whisper had told Kat she was finished and that he was alright. More or less. This is a relief to her but now she isn’t quite sure what to do. She knows her feelings but does she listen to them. With the two of them on the run for the foreseeable future, it isn’t the life she envisioned. He wasn’t even in that envisioning till just recently. Graven slipped into the blank space beside her name without her noticing until it was too late.

  She opens the doors and walks up next to the bed, trying to stay quiet.

  Graven opens his eyes and smiles. “What’s with that look on your face Katrice, I’m not dead yet?”

  She says, “I know but, you’re hurt really bad.”

  “I’ll heal. I always do. The last time this happened my body healed on its own after a few days. I didn’t have the fancy medical facility like this.”

  She lightly slaps his arm, “You’re horrible. Making me like you then getting all hurt.”

  “So you like me now. I guess I should get hurt more often.”

  Now she punches his arm.

  “Ouch.” He says rubbing his arm. “You know I just got done with surgery. I’m fragile right now,” he says smiling.

  Kat places her hands on either side of his face and gives him a long kiss. She can feel a tingle start in her lips and travel through her body. As she pulls away she takes in a slow deep breath through her nose.

  She says, “Don’t you dare get that hurt again.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “So was that transformation what it was like during the black raid?”

 

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