HTG - Chapter 158

Kalon

Chapter One-Hundred-Fifty-Eight: Jutarak - Part Three

Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant

Ruling Government: Talum Merchant Federation

Solar System: D-447

Location: Orarak City, Colosseum

The wind howls, pressing back the sand and dust from its epicenter, the object in Adonius’s hand. It is an Edict, I am sure of it. If it is anything like the one I have known, it will be a bloodbath for my people, regardless of his skill. The runes upon his arm spin, dispersing the excess energy from the Edict in arcing electricity.

“You dared to blaspheme against my God!” Adonius yells, he begins to laugh as though filled with madness, “Now they send me to strike you down!”

“Run,” I breathe to the others, but my own feet carry me forward towards him.

I take up the blades tucked in my boots, one in each hand.

He swings his god’s Edict, now in the form of a mace with spikes on the end, I barely dodge it. The air cracks as shockwaves ripple where I was. Sekat, he is faster than he was before. He turns and swings wildly again, his skill has not improved. Diving towards the strike, rolling under it, I slide one of my blades across the back of his knee, severing the artery and tendons. The other I stab into his kidney. He falls to one knee swinging the Edict backwards, hitting only my shadow.

I feel others moving behind me, in my shadow, their gait familiar to me. It is Arrum and Nekam, blades in hand. They move in unison, slashing at him as he swings his Gods Edict. Neeba follows soon after. My eyes blink as I see flashes of the futures Krotha showed me. My stomach turns in knots. They will die if they linger here.

Within a minute Adonius is covered in hundreds of slashes and stab wounds. He gasps for breath, leaning on the Edict, kneeling upon the ground. I come again slashing arteries and stabbing him in his organs. He cries out in pain, anger in his eyes. I must end this swiftly. My blades move with a fury as they stab again and again.

“Helenius, my God… grant me more of your power,” Adonius cries.

The roar of thunder follows after lightning strikes Adonius again. More runes begin to appear on his chest, spreading over his body to his legs now, a grin rips across his face as his wounds heal once more.

Vek this god of cowards, thwarting the song of our blades. Adonius stands again, the runes upon his body glowing brightly. He slams the Edict into the ground. Light streaks as the ground is torn asunder, blasting all of us back. Lines filled with light trace upon his exposed skin, warping the flesh forming cracks as his body swells with the blessing of his god.

The others pull themselves up from the ground. There is fear in their eyes as they stare him down. Arrum is the first to move, rushing towards him. The song of his blade driving him past the fear in his bones. Adonius swipes at the air before he even gets within a few paces, sending Arrum flying backwards, tumbling into the sand. Adonius swings the Edict in a circle, and gusts of wind send the others back too.

My feet pull me again towards Adonius, rolling under the blast of air. He swings and the edge of one of the spikes rips through the armor Solara gave me, as though it was made of paper. Ripping open my flesh. As the Edict rips into me, I hear words like a chant coming into my mind.

Pride above mercy

The chant stops as the spike leaves my body, leaving me dazed. He is faster yet again, creating a divide that even the skill I have honed my entire life cannot pass. This power makes up for his lack of skill. My knife cuts through the air, seeking purchase in his chest, it does not land. He grabs my left arm, clenching firmly, I feel the bones in it break. The blade falls from my grasp.

“Pitiful, it’s no wonder the Kuwathi fell. Your kind are unworthy of being anything but a doormat,” he says as I try to fight against his grip.

It is too firm. He is unnaturally strong now with the blessing of his god. I can feel the hope slipping from my body.

“Who are you to defy me?” he asks incredulously, throwing me through the air with my broken arm.

My body slams into the wreckage of one of the broken pods. He is upon me before I can even stand. Kicking me in the chest, his other leg soon follows, like a sack of bricks it knocks the wind out of me. I fly into the wreckage again, my body breaking, bones splintering. Wheezing upon the ground I cough up blood. With the Edict he is as strong, or stronger than Dargo was when I fought him before.

“You speak of my boot on your people’s neck. I will carve your body up and use it to polish them,” he grins with a twisted smile, madness rolling in his eyes.

Arrum and Nekam come, jumping in his blind spot, stabbing into his back. He lets out an angry roar, they are gone before he swipes where they were. My body struggles to stand, he kicks me in the ribs, breaking several. Sharp pain fills my mind.

“I am Adonius, son of Helos… you are nothing… son of no one,” he says, grabbing me by the hair, pulling me up as I pulled him before, “The audacity for you to even look upon me, the injustice for you to defile my noble flesh with your filth.”

My eyes look upon him in defiance.

“I will make you watch as I take all that is precious to you and…” he begins, but my blade in his throat interrupts him.

Fire burns in my eyes, he throws me to the ground. Pulling the blade from his neck. The skin folds back slowly sealing the wound. He tries to speak but his vocal chords have not healed yet.

“T’Akor!” I hear from around me. My people who have not fled as they should have, rush him now.

No…No…No… my eyes take in the folly of those who come.

His face opens in a grin once more as he spins on them, his Edict ripping them apart in droves. It is hopeless, they cannot beat him. Yet still they come, to give others time to flee. If only I had the strength to defy this god of cowards, my people needn’t die.

I do have the strength… I could call the Cursed Edict.

No… that is exactly what she wants.

Henek is the first to me, he grabs me up, pulling me towards the tunnels where my people flee, towards where Adona has planned for them to go. Nekam and Neeba come next carrying Arrum who clutches his ribs, he is breathing though, he will live.

“Leave me!” I say, trying to fight against henek, but my body is broken and weak without a supply of Netherium. If only I had some, if only I had Netherium… then I could fight him, I could fight them all.

“No Alakin, I cannot,” Henek says, more resolutely, “Will not.”

“Agar Buki T’Akor,” Nekam says in the old tongue as we crest the tunnels entrance. Scores of my people in front of us and behind.

It is a phrase I said to them once before. Its meaning – Live today so we can rise tomorrow.

There is no tomorrow for me though, I feel the demon Krotha rising in my perception, having defeated Amon. On Krotha’s face a smile begins to sprawl as she moves towards me.

The walls of the tunnel shake, I hear Adonius’s voice at the end of them. The screams of people being slain in his path.

“Where have you gone filthy coward?” Adonius yells down the tunnel, “Are you crawling like the insect you are, waiting for my boot to crush you underfoot?”

Krotha places her hand upon my chest, darkness swells in me. Covering the glow of my eyes, pulling me into the Realm of Dreams. Her voice echoes in my mind as I fall towards it.

My turn

***

Realm of Dreams

***

My eyes open, Krotha is before me standing upon the mountain of stone that drives up from the sea of my soul. Amon lays upon the ground, four of the other demons hold him down, the violet spark from his eyes dimmed, barely a flicker.

“It has been too long since I was able to play in the Realm of Mortals,” Krotha says, raising her hand outwards. Her voice nips at my ears with the cruelty in its tone.

Her eyes glow a deep crimson, with a matching red dress upon her body. Just as I remember her, her hair is jet black, save the ends which look like they were dipped in her eyes glow. Her lips are painted black. She wears a red petaled flower in full bloom upon the side of her head.

She moves her hands above in the sky, the dark clouds parting and a disc forming, images appearing upon it. My heart thumps as I see it is a view from the eyes of my body in the real world. Red energy arcs from my body’s hand as it holds the Cursed Edict, the shape of it changing as everyone around me is blown back, pressed against the walls of the tunnel by the pressure of it.

“No!” I yell, rushing up the mountain towards Krotha.

She howls with laughter as the remaining demons leap on me, pressing me against the cold stone.

“You have had your turn. With Dashkatul so close, you will not overpower me again,” her eyes burn brighter, “Watch as I reap the souls you have abandoned to slaughter.”

I struggle to no avail against the demons. As she moves her hand, my body in the real world follows its movements, sending a blast of energy through the air, killing scores of my people. No… not like this. My heart breaks as I see the confusion in their eyes.

“Vitar…” Amon says in the old tongue, as he too struggles, “Fight against them.”

In the old tongue the meaning is clear – Strength of Will. But his words are lost on me as hope flees me. The dead she leaves in her wake as she carves a path towards Adonius makes me feel powerless against her. Like I used to feel against the weight of the masters boot.

“You are stronger than you realize,” he says to me “This is your realm, your soul’s domain which they intrude upon. I have seen your strength, Child of the Dawn. Call forth your power…”

As I parse the meaning of his words, the violet spark in his eyes grows brighter once more.

“I have seen the glow of your soul… Jutarak.”

“Silence!” Krotha roars, the four demons on Amon smother him, holding his mouth firmly closed.

The images from what Krotha does with my body play in front of me, time beginning to slow as I see my body fast approaching a crowd, not just filled with my people. The children of the masters my people spared, clutched tightly to their mothers chests are also among them. Pain burns my memories, a scene I know too well.

My will thrashes inside me for her using my body to commit horrific acts of violence. There is a vibration within the core of my being, radiating outwards, striking at the darkness. The embers of my will spark inside of me, creating a flame. I see Arrum standing between the people with his hands outstretched, his eyes tell me his truth, echoing some of the words that I have spoken to him in the past.

You are more than this

Do not become like them

We as a people must rise

I feel meaning giving rise to action within me. My soul begins to burn under the pressure of my will, the darkness recoiling from the light as I try to pull towards the realm of reality. The Realm of Dreams shakes as the demons try to stop me, but they will not. For my will is more than my own, I carry with me the golden eyes, and they do not accept Krotha’s will.

I feel the golden eyes beginning to stir in the depths of my soul. Pulses of primordial power echo from the deep.