Emergence (22 page)

Melissa turned to look as they reappeared, and sure enough, their aspect was different. They seemed steeped in knowledge in power, as if they were elder Archsussa.

I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut
.

Before she could blink, the Strumbrion hurled bolts of sussa at her, one after another. While she could deflect them or absorb their energy, she could feel her strength beginning to wane. She tried to fire back, tried to muster the strength to counter their assault, but she was overwhelmed.

I need to turn the tables, and quickly.

She raised her arms, and manipulated tendrils of sussa to divert the snowstorms around Imathrin into a massive funnel. Higher and higher she commanded it rise into the sky, until its terminus lay just above the Strumbrion.

Melissa twisted her hands, and the spinning vortex of snow turned from white to a cloudy grey, issuing great plumes of steam. She brought her arms down violently, and the whirlpool emptied itself on idelfada, inundating them with deca-liters of boiling water.

They screamed and roared with pain, falling back through the sky. Rather than wait, she pressed her advantage, hurling bolts of power. Two succumbed to the onslaught, but the other winked out of existence.

Damn! When he gets back, he’ll be even stronger than I
. “
How can they do this, Toby? Why did you never teach me this?
”

“
Because it’s wrong, Lissa. When you do as they have, and wink out of existence, the time spent in the void will not only make you stronger but it will drive you insane. Think about how we suffer with lack of sleep? They spend all that time utterly alone. The more times one does that, the farther from their humanity they go
.”

She turned to the Freilux. “
Then I must break him now, before they return
.”

Like lightning she advanced on the Freilux, and he threw up a spectral shield. She threw all her strength against it, hitting it over and over with fists enhanced with sussa, trying to force her way through. She got to within a few meters of the Freilux, only to find him standing relaxed and confident.

“Look behind you.”

She whirled around, to find the two Strumbrion had recovered and were speeding towards her. They flanked her, and she could feel some kind of tension linking them together.

Whatever this is, it won’t be easy
.

Suddenly, Asil’s platform descended out of the sky, firing energy bolts at the Strumbrion.

Melissa cringed. “No, Asil -- no!”

One of the Strumbrion fired a sickly plume of violet smoke, and it enveloped the house, smothering the fire that swirled around it. The platform turned dark, devoid of sussa, and plunged out of the sky. Melissa tried to reach out to it, to cushion its fall, but the Strumbrion exerted a dampening field. It crashed hard on the ground, and Melissa screamed.

“Asil!”

As she blinked, the Strumbrion disappeared, only to reappear directly around her. They grabbed onto her, and she could feel their power. Their hands seemed to go down deep into her flesh, siphoning off her strength. Melissa tried to shake them off, sending off wave after wave of explosive energy, but they were indefatigable in their resolve.

“Soon it’ll be over, dear one,” said the Freilux. “Just relax, and accept your fate.”

The two Strumbrion twisted her back and forth, and she felt her body would be torn asunder. Somehow she managed the strength to entangle one of the Strumbrion in sussa and toss him down through the clouds to the ground. But the other grabbed her arm where the unhealed wound was.

“What have you done to yourself?” jeered the Freilux. “Let my personal physician take a look.”

The Strumbrion pressed its finger into the wound, and it grew inside and opened again, revealing her flesh. She screamed in pain, crying and wailing trying to shake the creature off but it was stronger and in control. She could feel her very soul fracturing, and though Toby screamed in her head to press on, she felt a final blackness begin to creep upon her sight.

“Lissa!”

She knew whose voice it was in an instant.

“Vincent! Help me!”

A thunderous explosion sent a shockwave through the battlefield, as the ship of the scientists materialized up above. Beside it flew Vincent, and he appeared as an immense black bird with wings of slate.

“Let her go!”

A bolt was fired from the ship, one unlike anything seen before. It flew with the speed of sussa, but it was a solid projectile, fired with the forces of magnetism. Melissa couldn’t see it fire, but heard the sound of the explosion, and saw a long, metal rod suddenly appear within the Strumbrion. It fell back, losing its grip on her, down through the clouds.

Melissa could hold on no longer. She fell down to Imathrin, writing in pain. Vincent swooped down and landed next to her, as the ship continued to fire on the Freilux’s forces.

“Are you alright?”

“No!” she cried. “It hurts, Vincent, it hurts! And I can’t heal myself. I can’t lose now; I won’t let my brother die! And my Asil is gone -- it can’t be for nothing.”

“It won’t be.” He held his hand over her wound, and it closed, leaving a long black and blue blemish. “This will hold for now. Rest -- you should recover your strength in a few minutes.”

Melissa clung to him with all her strength. “Thank you for coming.”

Vincent ran his hand along her cheek, and bent his head down to kiss her, long and hard. “I would never desert . . . my love.”

Melissa almost collapsed with joy to hear his words.

“Oh my, how lovely!” roared the Freilux. “The prodigal son has returned and bit the hand that created him. Well, how can I blame you? Lissa is a lovely little thing.” 

“You are done, Freilux!” yelled Vincent with great fury as he got to his feet. He clenched his fists and steam issued from his form, as heat swirled like a vortex about him. Melissa had never seen an Archsussa so focused on violence and war.
He must be something different, like I am something different
. “Your minions are broken, and my allies surge! Surrender, and I will let you live.”

“Let
me
live?” scoffed the Freilux. “I think you need to get your eyes checked by your scientists.”

It was then Melissa and Vincent could feel it coming. The last Strumbrion was returning from the void.

But . . . it is so powerful!

“Get away Melissa,” shouted Toby, “run!”

“I can’t run Toby, I just can’t -- I’m finished running. I . . . I know what I am. I am idelfada.”

“But you don’t know who that is.”

The Strumbrion pulsed back into existence, its form radiating intense energy. All across the battlefield, both soldiers of Toby and the Freilux paused to witness its arrival, as all were blinded by its dark light. For a few moments the air was still, devoid of current and moisture, as it seemed the forces of nature stood breathless. And under its undulating, silvery cloak, a visage gleamed darkly, as if a jewel made of jade or ebony and through its facets peered out a deathly yellow light.

“Reveal yourself to her, my pet,” said the Freilux. “Show her whom she fights!”

The idelfada slowly pulled back his hood, and Melissa almost lost consciousness at the sight. Weakness corrupted her limbs as doubt lay siege against her reasoning.

“Father?”

“Your father was quite a competent warrior in his prime,” yelled the Freilux. “I figured; why not bring him back, as an idelfada?”

“Finally, I can fight Darian!” roared Vincent, spreading his wings wide. “Come dark creature; let us dance!”

“No Vincent!” cried Melissa, as he ascended into the sky. “He’s my father . . .”

But all she could do was watch as they fought each other. In fact, all anyone did was stop and watch as they fought, so brilliant were the skies lit by their exchange. The air grew hot as Vincent threw attack after attack against the Strumbrion, while over and over again he merely deflected and did not attack. After a while, Melissa divined what was happening.

“He’s wearing you down,” she shouted. “Watch out!”

And as Vincent paused to regroup, the Strumbrion struck with three massive blows the shockwave of which shook Imathrin itself. Vincent fell back through the sky, trailing blood.

“Vincent!” she cried, as she watched him fall through the sky. “
Vincent!
”

In an instant Vincent recovered, a long distance from the Strumbrion. Melissa saw him make a motion with his hands, and knew what would happen next.

“Don’t do it, Vincent -- please!”

“I must go into the void, and learn.”

“But you’ll lose your mind!” she cried desperately. “I can’t lose you, not now.”

“If I don’t, he will destroy me. Goodbye, Lissa.”

“
No!
” she yelled, as he disappeared through a ribbon. “Stop it,” she yelled at the Freilux, “stop it now!”

“Me, stop? When you and your little Toby started it? I can’t pull back my pets once their released. And look -- you even have a chance for a real family reunion.”

The Strumbrion descended rapidly towards her, its fists glowing with sussa. Melissa got to her feet, and tried to summon the strength to face him.

But he’s my father! He must have some of his memories within him -- he can’t just be a mindless slave
.

As he drew closer, she saw the ship of the scientists arc towards him. It fired three massive bolts, but quicker than she could see, the Strumbrion broke them all in his hands.

“Get out of there!” she yelled to the ship. “Run!”

The ship tried to come around again, but the Strumbrion was too quick. He brought his hands back and released a mighty surge of power that went straight through the ship. Down through the clouds it fell, leaving three massive explosions in its wake, trailing a fatal plume of smoke and plasma.

Who was on that ship? Sliona? Richard? I can’t have lost them -- not with Asil!

She lay back on the ground, her will broken. The Strumbrion descended quickly in front of her, and pummeled her with bolts of sussa. She survived only because of a shield the instinctively threw up. But with each blow, she began to lose the will to live.

“
Don’t give up now, Lissa!
” cried Toby in her mind. “
Please -- try to fight
.”

Maybe Daria was right. This life can be too much sometimes
. “
I can’t, Toby. I don’t even know what I’m fighting for. I need . . . I need to do what Vincent did; go into the void, and learn
.”

“
Don’t Lissa. You are on the right path. You hated what I became, and I can’t blame you. I went into the void, after I ran away from father. It changed me, made me colder. I would give anything to take that back, if only so I could be the brother you remembered me to be
.”

“
Oh Toby
.”

Her father pressed harder, digging through her shield, beginning to impact her body.

“
It hurts Toby, it hurts!
”

“
Lissa!
”

It was then she remembered the network of sussa she accessed when imprisoned by the scientists.