Ghosts of Lyarra (6 page)

“That is the appearance we must project to those in the shadows.” Bryx growled. “We are backed into a corner Empress, and the only one to offer help is the last one I wanted to accept it
from.”

“You are too harsh on him!” she said, calming down slightly. “After all he has been through, it is a wonder he chooses to help us at all. And with all that he has become, it would have taken so little for him to simply disappear and let the Empire self-destruct as I fear it is heading
towards.”

“But how can we trust someone who doesn’t remember who he is?” Bryx
protested.

“Memories don’t define a being, they only help guide them along the path of life.” She replied. “His mind protects him from the unheralded trauma he sustained in both his creation and demise. There isn’t a single being amongst the Empire that could endure what he has and remain standing. If he has offered his hand to help, I will take
it.”

“I must protest once more to the course of this plan!” he grumbled in
vain.

Iana smiled nervously as she noticed the buzzer go off, that signaled the start of the Council session. There were only a few more moments until the show would start, so to speak. She knew the plan, and though she didn’t fully understand the fine details of it, she knew her part and how to play it. It was difficult to put her life in Aen’s hands, but there was little else she could do. Whether or not she wanted it, the storm was coming and Aen was the sole one offering shelter from it. He was more powerful than she could imagine and he had truly realized every aspect of his power. Of course, she would have felt more comfortable if he had his memories back as she had connected with him during his awakening on Terra
Sol.

It was nearly time to start and she reached out to embrace her friend. With luck, she would see him when all this was near its conclusion; if not, she would see him in the
afterlife!

“Goodbye old friend.” She had tears falling down her cheeks. “Disappear and I will see you on the other
side.”

“It was my honor to serve you all this time.” Bryx said softly; breaking the embrace and heading to the secret exit in her
chamber.

“The honor was mine, Bryx. The honor was all
mine.”

Iana watched as he left through the doorway and it shut behind him. The last bastion of her former life had now gone. She was alone, though she knew Aen was not too far. It was hard for a predator to become prey, but she knew this was the only way to win this very lopsided fight. Wiping her eyes and cheeks, she made her way to the entrance, to the political citadel. She took a moment to gather her breath and calm her beating heart before letting the door open and walked, as majestically as always, into the den of
lions.

—
Lyarran Throne World Havyiin;
Grand Council Chamber

It was a startling sight; the Goddess of Light without her ever present shadow. To most in the room it was a shock, but to her it was a sign. For ages she had waited for the day when it was her upon the Throne of Light; ages that seemed to be never ending until now. For her whole life she was told of how this creature took her family’s place on the throne; for her whole life she schemed and lied to get to the position to take it back. Through the years she had watched and waited and then a child’s tale came true and everything
changed.

In this very room he had appeared - Aen, the Harbinger of the prophecies - and the entire vision that was the Lyarran Empire was shaken to the core. She saw what he was; not the weapon the others believed him to be, but like Iana she saw a ‘one of a kind’ creature with more power than can be controlled. But unlike her Empress, she saw that he could be used and manipulated to reach her goal or at least he could have been until he died in a flash! She was angry; everything she thought was coming together, looked to crumble before her eyes, but before she could get depressed it
happened!

There was a backlash over Iana’s involvement in the Terra Sol matter, and even more so in her lack of securing the Harbinger for Imperial means. From the Guild, to Fleet Com, to the Council and the everyday citizen, Iana’s luster diminished and cracks began to show in her previously flawless image. She had been waiting for something to happen; and while this wasn’t what she had planned, this was easily used for her benefit. In the shadows she had lurked for so long, she nurtured the seeds of decent and helped them grow a voice. What was once a whisper - so quiet and rarely heard - began to be spoken aloud for any and all to
listen.

Then she had to pull the trigger to turn the zealot assassins of the Guild against their master. What was thought to be the hardest part of her plan turned out to be one of the easiest. The Forgotten were the social outcasts of the Imperial ranks; those whose skills were unmatched in the art of war and stealth, but were unable to adhere to the strict rules and codes of the mighty Ifierin. Once she thought them to be undying in their loyalty to the Empress, with a few prods and pokes she found them anything but. The cult of the Forgotten turned out to be easily swayed by thoughts of change and the ability to carry out their culling of the herd at their leisure. Once turned on their master, there was only one obstacle remaining;
Bryx.

J`Karin`s were fierce warriors, but Bryx was off the charts when it came to skill in battle and defence of the Empress. She had seen with her own eyes him training with the Forgotten and besting more than ten of them at a time. There was little doubt that by Iana`s side he would never fail in keeping her safe from any and all threats. So despite being as ready as ever, she was still stuck with getting around the greatest threat there
was.

But now Iana was alone; standing before the Grand Council with no one by her side. No longer did she look mighty and unbeatable; now she was vulnerable and weak. Her heart raced in excitement, but she kept her mind closed and made her outward appearance unchanged. It was too soon to step from the shadows and reveal herself, no matter how tempting it was. No, she had to see the plan through to fruition. Getting ahead of schedule would mean mistakes and mistakes would lead to her failure and failure meant death. With no children and no other relatives, the family line to the throne ended with her if she screwed up now; and to be this close to not succeed would be the greatest failure of
all.

—
Temple of the Divine Light; Guild World Ryas

Aen faced little in opposition as he walked casually into the main chambers of the Temple inhabited by the Forgotten, and what opposition he did encounter was dispatched with the greatest of ease. There was little time to waste in dealing with the assassins he came across; the Council was due to go into session in a matter of moments and time was of the
essence.

This was one of the more intricate parts of his plan; the one that held the most timing of any other part and left little room for error. The lead up to this had held true to form thus far; Iana had played her part beautifully by keeping a low profile and the J’Karin had done his disappearing act. Along with him convincing his government to skip this session of the Council, it gave the perfect alibi for the giant’s absence. But now it fell to his shoulders and the chaos that would ensue from his actions. It was the part that was the hardest to convince the Empress and her guardian of, but it was more than necessary to preserve the Empire for the long run. To fight one hiding in the shadows, you had to crawl in after them
yourself.

As he rounded the last corner and came into sight of the secretive chamber, another assassin sprang out at him; this time seemingly materializing from nowhere. But Aen wasn’t taken off guard, he simply altered the creature’s gravitational mass and halted its jump in mid-air before igniting its very cells and burning it in ashes. As the remnants fell to the ground, Aen counted to himself; six. His guide had told him there were seven life signs in this part of the temple; there was one more waiting to attack somewhere
nearby.

There was no escape as he had shut the doors to this sector and barred them with more gravity than the whole planet could muster against it. Alarms and communication had been cut off from the EMP he had set off as he arrived; shorting out any and all electronic devices within a five hundred kilometer range. The inhabitants of the temple were trapped inside with a monster they could not defeat, but Aen still stayed on guard despite
it.

He didn’t have to wait long to come across the last of the Guild assassins as he opened the doors to the inner sanctum of the Forgotten. Though it had looked like a dead end in the passage, Aen knew there was a door there and threw a gravity wave that blew the doors right off their hinges. As the rock and timber fell, his last opponent stood waiting for him at the center of the enormous room. He took a second to admire his surroundings; it was a multifaceted room of about five thousand square feet with ornamented weapons and ancient scrolls adorning the walls. He had found the home of his
prey!

“Your blasphemous journey ends here, heretic!” the lone occupant sneered at him. “You have entered that which you shall never
leave.”

Aen smiled beneath his helmet, his adversary had no clue what he was facing. He had procured an old and beat up suit of Ifierin armor and donned it so as not to be discovered. Anonymity was the key here, and thus far it had worked perfectly. Taking a moment to size up his opponent, Aen gave the illusion of respect for the assassin though he had none. The Forgotten was a firecracker and Aen was an atom bomb; the mismatch was apparent despite the assassin’s
bravery.

“Before you die,” the assassin continued, “I demand to know what it is that brought you on this journey. What is it you hoped to accomplish by invading our haven? Why have you declared war on the holy
Forgotten?”

Lifting his right hand, Aen used his power once more to levitate his opposition and render him no more of a threat than an insect. His heart began to surge in his chest; this one he would truly enjoy
killing!

“You and your fellow killers are nothing to me, it is your master I seek to flush from the darkness. What prize is catching the puppet when the puppeteer still remains behind the curtain?” Aen replied to his helpless
foe.

Quickly, Aen let loose a blast of superheated energy and directed it towards the assassin caught in the air. Layer by layer his flesh, muscle, and then bone peeled away as it screamed in agony. In just a few seconds, nothing but ash remained suspended in the air where a sentient being once was. Aen was now alone precisely where he wanted to be, and wasted no more time to get ready for the next
phase.

From his back, he slung down the portable holo-link and set it up as quickly as possible. He then produced a portable fusion generator - an octagon shaped device about eight inches in diameter - and linked it to the device. This would give him a few hours of power to work with without linking to the Guild system which was on the fritz from the EMP. It would also keep him untraceable as the second he went live he would become the most sought after man in the Empire. Then he produced an AI core, which was contained in a small power matrix of its own and clicked the activation button to engage its services. Instantly, the orange sphere appeared and began to survey its
surroundings.

“
Whatever has happened and why are we in the Guild temple
?” it asked
immediately.

“You are called Caretaker, are you not?” he asked the machine. His voice heavily disguised by the helmet’s electronic
filters.

“I am, and who may I ask are you and how did you acquire my core matrix from the
Empress?”

“Check your newly uploaded directives; you will find that for the time being you are to do exactly what I ask of you. Iana has ‘loaned’ you to me for the moment and we have little time for further
discussions.”

Caretaker went quiet as it did a file search. Once it found the new files it read them, then read them three more times in disbelief that they were real. Afterwards it ran authentication programs to make sure the files were not faked, which they were not. All this was done in a few seconds and it let out a sigh of
disbelief.

“
What are your orders
?” it asked with a drone of
annoyance.

“Link this holo-device to the network and dial in under the preloaded prefix. I need the shading to be in red; distort the real time settings and bounce any trace programs to be run on the signal across the network in its entirety. Then, set up a live feed from one of the satellites above to show live images of the temple and play them on my mark. Do not question any of the words I say during the transmission and do not attempt to disrupt the signal once it is
live.”

Aen began to search the room and found what he sought; a hooded robe to further conceal himself and also add to the dramatic effect he was after. He watched as the AI went to work and wondered how often he had watched this same thing; he had read the files extensively about the time spent with the construct but still remembered nothing. In fact, he knew everything he could about his former self but none of it came from within. Most of it came from the detailed files of this
AI.

“
We are live and on mute with the Council session
.” It chimed in. “
I find it odd and somewhat astonishing that it is the feed channel used by the Prophets. How did you acquire this
device
?”