HTG - Chapter 170

Kalon

Chapter One-Seventy: Kada - Part One

Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant

Ruling Government: Republic of Hekate

Solar System: D-2,946

Planet: Ravena Minor

Location: Ara Continent, Ravena’s Temple

There is peace in the stillness that I feel around me, solace even. Maka is a beautiful thing to behold… thought turned to purpose. The breath of life’s desires felt by a force that is older than all of us. Where did it come from… who shaped it? Was it always here?  

When I was a child, my mother used to tell me stories of a time before the gods, one where the skies were brighter and the spirits of old walked freely. She called it the age of magic. That word, magic, a word that is foreign to my people. She told me that how we live now is but a shadow of the past. She told me the old ones could shape worlds and bend reality to their will. They created the stars, they created everything you can hold, everything you can shape. 

I asked her what they did not create and she said only one thing came into existence without a hand shaping it.  

Love… 

She said that love is something that life found itself and made beautiful. It is something that no god can ever truly destroy. It is as old as magic itself she said, or perhaps it is magic itself. The tying of hearts across infinite distances, worlds and galaxies apart it can still be felt… even after death the heart still longs. She spoke that hearts are not complete until they find the one they seek.  

Before I met Luna, I did not understand her meaning, not truly. I didn’t know what love really was. Before I met her, love was an idea, a concept of two people sharing warmth in the cold of reality.  

By all means, I shouldn’t love Luna, she is the water to my fire. She is the weakness that melts my armor of ice, the stone that dulls my blade instead of sharpens it.  

Yet… I do love her. As easy as I breathe, I love her.  

She taught me that the blade does not always need to cut, that there is purpose beyond being a sharpened blade. She taught me of peace... she makes me hope for a world someday where my blade can rust and never be called upon again... something to strive for, something to fight for.  

She showed me that love does not have to be pain, she showed me that her way feels… kinder. My way, the way of my people is cold like steel, brutal… efficient. There is more to life than that, more than the way my people taught me.  

There were so many eyes that looked to me, each asking for wisdom I do not have yet. If I want to lead them to a better future… I must become more than I am. I must take the best qualities of all the peoples of the galaxy… only then can these hands build something beautiful. Only then will I feel worthy to lead them.  

I must learn, I must adapt… I must evolve my thinking… my being.  

There was a feeling in my dreams after the Cursed Edict crawled into my heart, like I was close to finding something that is not meant to be found, a third art… a third Maka. The blend between them, the perfect balance. Something brimming with pure power, something… beautiful.  

It is elusive though, that feeling. So much so that maybe I imagined it.  

There is a stirring in the peace of my fickle thoughts, a sensation that rises like water to the skies before it rains. One that pulls my focus from the swirling colors of Maka around me. There is pain… someone I care for is in pain, tremendous pain. It calls to me through the ebbs and flows of Maka around me.   

The pulse grows louder, echoing around me.  

Arrum… his soul is screaming… rage… pain… 

The Maka in the air vibrates as my will shapes it. He needs me. I cannot rest any longer.  

Swirls of light blend in a cacophony of beautiful colors. Arrum’s energy is what pulls me back, it is the light that I follow from the darkness, until… 

*** 

Realm of Reality 

*** 

My eyes stagger open wearily, the light blooms as I open them. I feel tubes in my throat, my body is wet and there is a dull throb of electricity dancing in my legs. My hands reach out and touch thick glass. Whatever liquid I am in is thick and strangely comfortable, it doesn’t even irritate my eyes. My body is covered by some kind of thin suit that is fitted perfectly to my skin. 

There is urgency in my chest… why is there urgency? My thoughts are muddled for a few moments until I remember that I felt Arrum through the Maka. I can’t feel him anymore though. Worry grips me, driving action into my weary body. I do not know how thick or strong this glass is. I search for a way to leave the chamber but see none, everything is smooth and recessed besides the tubes and wires that attach to me.  

I remember seeing Luna use Maka to vibrate the air once, to slow our descent after we fell a great distance. Back in the markets. She showed me how to do it. The air feels thick with Etheric Maka, there is even some Netheric here, lingering around me like a shroud.  

My hands splay outwards and I pulse my will into the Maka. Shards of Etherium dance in the devices that hold them. There are thousands upon thousands of runes all around me. Runes that I do not know the meaning of, save the few that Solara taught me. When I push my will outwards, I feel them bend, I feel them bow under the pressure, as though they are willing to break if I but ask.  

Interesting… Are these runes meant to keep me here? I do not feel like I am a prisoner, there is the crest of Luna’s house on the wall opposite me. How did I come to be in her house’s domain though? The last thing I remember is being pulled into the Realm of Dreams after I…  

My hand traces to my chest, touching where I plunged the Cursed Edict into my heart. I pull the fabric down. There isn’t even a scar. If I am here in Luna’s house, then she must have taken me and cared for me. What of the others though? What of Arrum?   

The worry threads, pulling at my arms as I strike the glass container. It shatters in one blow and all the liquid falls out with me. I pull the tubes from my throat, but it is not sore like the last time. My body feels… strong. The gravity is nearly the same as Ora. Which means I must not be on Ravena Prime. Fennec told me that Ravena Prime’s gravity is so strong that he does not venture there without an exosuit.  

Luna was sent to Ravena Minor to pray at the grand temple of Ravena. If I had to guess, that is where I am. Which must mean that her Goddess wants me here. Solara told me that Leora does not like Ravena. My only interaction with her was when I healed Fennec. Perhaps we can find some common ground.  

The runes that were drawn seem to vibrate and then fade as I step over them. I feel pulses of Maka from them, as though someone stored them. The tracing of the weaves that unbind, they feel familiar to the style that the Sage taught Arrum and I.  

Interesting, I wonder who shaped them. Now that there is air to breathe without a tube, I notice that the thick liquid smells similar to expended medigel, and some other things that I can’t quite place.  

A stirring on the edge of my perception causes me to turn. A sick feeling rises up as I see her face. Black hair past her shoulders, the tips look dipped in crimson, her black painted lips are curled into a smile as her red eyes pulse with intrigue. She is not here in the flesh, not really, all the same, her presence makes my hands grip tighter.  

Her voice rattles in my mind, the tone softer than I’ve heard it before.  

You have awoken at last...  

She wanted to say blade. I could feel it when she hung on the last word.  

“Begone, Krotha.” 

Her smile falters and she looks down, disappointment sprawling across her face.  

As you wish. 

She disappears like a phantom of black smoke. Leaving me a little perplexed. She has never obeyed before. Never simply listened, she always tries to assert her dominance. So why is she not now? I remember what her and the other demons said to me.  

We the Nine find you worthy 

You shall carry our Legacies 

Champion of the Abyss 

What does that even mean though? I frown as I wipe the goop of medigel off of me, slopping it to the floor as I walk, following the path of the runes toward the large metal doors. The concentration of them is higher here. Was it to keep me in, or to keep others out?  

There is a panel on the wall the lights up as I approach the door. The prompts are written in Imperium standard dialect. I select the open door option and the lights flicker red in the room.  

A cold monotone voice echoes in the room, “Warning, this is a classified area, you do not have access to this door, you do not have credentials in the system, anomaly detected, alerting nearest security administrator, please stand by for questioning.” 

I don’t have time for this. How strong have I become? I once saw Luna pull a Kuwathi city door closed, it was massive. I kick the door, a thunderous rumbling shakes the floor after I do, yet it does not break. I wonder what type of metal this is. The paneling around it seems newer than the metal around it, as though it was installed after the rest of the room. I wonder if they reinforced the entire room then. My skill with Maka sensing is not yet refined, yet I can hear and feel things differently than before.  

My frame is not as full as I would like, but it is not withered. This door may be too strong for me to break open, but what about the gears that hold it in place? Did they replace those too? The seam of the door is near perfectly flat, there is no way to wedge my fingers in between it.  

I feel a tremor from far away… Arrum. My eyes blink as I try to parse the meaning of the feeling… did he break a boundary? I can’t sense his emotions in this realm. But I know he is here on this planet, close enough that I can reach him. I turn and grab a desk from the floor, ripping the bolts out with ease, something I could have never done before.  

It slams into one of the walls, again and again, until it is so bent that I discard it and punch with my hands until the wall gives way and the metal bends from my path, leading me into another room, this one’s door is not like the others. It bends under my first strike, it bows under my seventh and it is bent enough for me to squeeze through by my thirteenth.  

I find myself in a long hallway with murals painted on them. Thousands of Murals. Each bearing Ravena’s flag conquering different worlds.  

“You… you there!” a voice demands from down the hall.  

I turn toward them, they’re wearing heavy armor that covers every part of them, everything except for their face since the helmet is retracted.  

“You’re… well, how the hells did you get out? Was all that rumbling you? Good gods man, did you tear a fucking hole into the wall?” 

I nod, he doesn’t seem hostile.  

“You could have waited, I already called Elder Dargo to let him know someone was bashing things in there. Fucking hells, I’m going to be blamed for that. You better tell them that’s your fault, I don’t care whose bastard you are, Raven’s don’t go around breaking shit.” 

I tilt my head at him, I’m not sure what Luna has told them about me. More importantly, why is Dargo here? 

“Eh… sorry, I lost my temper, um, yeah, well, if you could just wait here and,” he sighs loudly, the others with him shake their heads and look away, “If… if you could not tell Lady Lunara about that little… you know, outburst, it would be much appreciated.” 

“Luna is here?” I ask.  

“Lady Lunara,” he emphasizes the word lady, as though warning me to say it too, “Once you talk with Elder Dargo, I can let her know you’re awake. She’s been here almost everyday to check on you…” 

“Where is Arrum?” I ask.  

One of the others in heavy armor nudge him and shake their head, “He’s um, not here at the moment, but, like I said, if you could… hey, where are you going?” 

I’m already three strides down the hall when I hear his boots giving chase. My legs feel like they haven’t run in months. If Dargo is on his way, then I must find Arrum before he finds me. I am in the fifth boundary, I do not know if I can fight Dargo yet, something tells me I can’t.  

“Oi! Stop man! You’re going to get us in trouble!” 

I do not stop even after their words become dull in the distance, I run toward where I felt Arrum before.