Izikiel (32 page)

The
Tellusians
were fully mobilized. Fifty spaceships stood in the midday sun, their hulls reflecting the light in shades of grey, blue and white. Five thousand heavily armed special operatives slowly filed into the waiting ships while the orbital sun platforms were loaded into the cargo holds. A sizeable crowd of bystanders had gathered to watch the armada depart. None knew what was going on but all could sense an air of desperation and finality hanging over the
Tellusian
forces. Their every movement and expression betrayed hints of their belief that they would not be coming back.

The fifty—
first ship stood slightly apart from the others.

‘If we travel through the
Aurora
system then we avoid the risk of detection as we can jump in within striking distance of
Vesta
. The last thing we want to do is give them a chance to call for reinforcements,’ Vorn said.

‘I agree
. Getting through the asteroid field with this armada will be tricky but it’s still our best chance to avoid detection,’ Cassandra said. Turning towards Izikiel and Jenevieve, she added. ‘The Void Lords will be able to sense if we use the power of the Eternal Flame. That means that we can’t help them until we reach
Vesta
.’

‘I understand
,’ Izikiel said. ‘Jonas, Xavier are the troops clear on the landfall?’

‘Yes,’ Xavier said. ‘The moment we
touchdown they spread out and activate the field generators. The orbital sun platforms will shield us during the initial insertion and then the field generators will provide additional cover from the dark veil.’

‘It’s critical that we get those generators up as quickly as we can. If they get that dark veil over us
, then it’s all over. Vorn, your ships will need to provide a steady orbital bombardment.’

‘Understood,’ Vorn said.

‘Do we know what the situation is on
Vesta
?’ Te’Anne asked.

‘I’ve been liaising with the
Prime Minister’s covert ops division. They sent their last remaining stealth ship into the system. It never returned. We have to assume that the ship was destroyed, which means they’ve got an orbital, as well as, a ground presence. I just wish we had some way of knowing for certain.’

Listening to Vorn’s voice
, Izikiel felt himself reaching out towards the Eternal Flame. Within moments his ethereal form was soaring through the cloud filled sky of
Tellus
. Reaching open space, he spun around and accelerated at the speed of light towards the asteroid field, passing into the
Aurora
system. Floating above the frozen remains of the true believer fortress, he felt a terrible sadness as he realised that much of the northern continent was scarred by earthquakes. There was little hope that even an Elemental had survived the cataclysmic collapse of the
Ecclescia
.

Accelerating further
, he passed into the
Vesta
system. The familiar sight of the twin suns greater him as he sheltered in the remains of the shattered ringed world of
Orbis
. After a moment’s hesitation, he glided closer.

Even from such a distance
, he could clearly make out the three gigantic black citadels embedded in what had been the New Babylon star port. A dark swarm moved around their base which Izikiel realised were void spawn. As the planet slowly rotated on its axis, another citadel was revealed. This one was planted firmly in the northern polar cap, astride the remains of the Great City.

The very spot where
Lady Serafine had united the colony worlds and the Elemental race. Where Da’Amo had taught him to use the power of the Eternal Flame. Izikiel felt the heat rise up within him as he prepared to launch himself forward.

(
‘No, Izikiel, this is not the way,’) the hollow voice spoke directly into his mind.

Startled, Izikiel looked around. His gaze came to rest on the flaming tendrils emanating from the twin suns of
Vesta
.

(
‘They must be made to pay for what they have done. Da’Amo. The Great City. New Babylon. I am ready,’) he said.

(
‘No, Izikiel, not yet. There is one final test which you must pass before you will be able to defeat the Void Lords.’)
Jenevieve
’s words came unbidden into his mind.
Darkness
. The final test. He shuddered at the connotations.

(
‘I will lead the colony forces and Elementals here. We will retake
Vesta
. This I swear.’)
There was no response. None was needed. He knew what he had to do.

‘There are three citadels where the New Babylon star port once stood. A fourth citadel rests on the northern polar cap. I saw no evidence of an orbital presence,’ Izikiel said as the warmth of the
Tellusian
sun washed over him, banishing the image of a defiled
Vesta
.

‘How did you...oh,
never mind. That’s good news, it means we should be able to get close enough to deploy,’ Vorn said.

‘Yes. Your forces will need to land and retake New Babylon.’

‘What are you going to do?’

Izikiel’s face took on a look of grim determination as he replied.

‘I’m going to tear that fourth citadel to pieces.’

The fleet departed
Tellus
and sailed through the emptiness of space for five days. While the
Valiant Crusader
was an advanced prototype, many of the other ships were older and not equipped with quantum-helix drives. In fact, only about a handful of the ships in Vorn’s Armada were possessed of the powerful engines. No one was quite sure when the term
Vorn’s Armada
had become the unofficial name for their fleet. Not that the former merchant captain seemed to mind.

‘We’re nearing the asteroid field. We should be jumping across to the
Aurora
system within an hour,’ Vorn said.

‘How long until we reach
Vesta
?’ Izikiel asked.

‘Based on our current speed
, I’d say that it will take us about five days to travel through
Aurora
and then another day to reach
Vesta
. So, all up, just over six days.’

‘It’s going to be a tense
six days,’ Jonas said. Then he grinned as he poked Xavier in the ribs. ‘C’mon, let’s go see what there is to eat.’

Izikiel
smiled as the two broad shouldered ex-security officers disappeared into the central compartment of the ship. His smile disappeared as he looked at Cassandra. Her dazzling blue eyes glowed with an inner fire as her voice spoke directly into his mind.

(
‘Yes?’)

(
‘We need to speak in private. Follow me.’)

Excusing them, Izikiel walked down the short corridor connecting the control room to the central compartment. Te’Anne
sat on the couch watching Xavier and Jonas going through the ship’s food stores. She smiled at him.

(
‘The medical bay,’) Cassandra said.

Nodding, he followed the
human-form Elemental down a side corridor. As they passed by an open doorway, Izikiel was surprised to see Jenevieve kneeling in front of the little girl. She appeared to be whispering something to her but Izikiel was unable to make out what she was saying. The look on Jenevieve’s face was one of profound respect.
Could Jenevieve be able to perceive who the little girl really is, despite the temporal flux surrounding her?

(‘In here
,’) Cassandra’s voice interrupted his thoughts. They entered the sterile white confines of the medical bay. Sealing the hatch, Cassandra turned to look at him. Her eyes had shed their deep blue colour. In their place now burned two orbs of liquid fire.

‘What would you have us do, disciple?’ the voice sounded like Cassandra
’s but it was hollow as if spoken across a great distance. Izikiel realised that he was being addressed by the collective voice of the Elementals.

‘I know now what must be done and how this will end. I need your help. Engage the void spawn with us on
Vesta
. Help us rid the true believer’s world of the darkness of the Void.’

There was a momentary silence during which Cassandra’s eyes lost their fiery sheen.
When she spoke again her eyes once again blazed with the intensity of twin suns.

‘What you ask
, we cannot do. Our fiery havens are all that saves us from complete obliteration by the Void Lords. If we leave, then we risk being destroyed.’

Izikiel
’s heart sank.
How could they back out now?

‘What of the alliance? You have honoured your
word to Lady Serafine thus far,’ he said.

‘It is true that we had pledged our allegiance to the disciple known as
Lady Serafine. She was one with the Flame and wielded its power to destroy the hordes of the Void. We have seen no evidence that you have done the same or in fact that you are capable of doing so. The risk is too great for us.’

‘Do you doubt that I am a true disciple?’

‘No, disciple. We can sense what you are. We can also sense that you are not yet one with the Flame. Until that happens, we cannot aid you.’

Cassandra’s eyes returned to their deep
azure colour and she looked at him in silence.

‘That didn’t go exactly as expected,’ Izikiel said.

‘I’m sorry. I believe that you are as powerful as Lady Serafine, if not more so but there is nothing I can do to convince them.’

‘Then let me.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘
Let me address whoever it is that leads your race. Let me plead our case in person.’

‘Are you sure about this?’

‘Yes. Without the Elemental’s help we will not succeed and the cold, dark future we have witnessed will come to pass. I cannot allow that. Yet what they have said is true. I am not yet one with the Flame. There is one final trial for me to pass before that will occur.’

‘Which is?’

Izikiel hesitated for a moment.

‘Darkness. I have mastered the elements, the ability to heal and even the power to travel through time. The final test is darkness. I must face the creatures of the Void. Only through such a confrontation will I become one with the Eternal Flame.’

Cassandra nodded. Closing her eyes, she stood motionless for a time. When she opened her eyes again, Izikiel saw that they were once more burning with fire.

‘You wish to address us directly, disciple?’ the distant voice asked.

‘Yes’

‘Let it be so then.’

Izikiel felt himself being drawn into Cassandra’s burning gaze. At first he sought to fight it but realised that he had asked for this. So he let go. The fire drew him in, through the connection created by the Elementals. Passing through the conduit, he looked around.

He was no longer in the medical bay aboard the
Valiant Crusader
. Instead, he stood on the surface of a sun, its fiery plasma discharge all around him.

‘Welcome, disciple.’

A lone figure walked towards him. It was a man in his later years, with silvery white hair and deeply wrinkled features. He moved slowly as was befitting his advanced years. Yet Izikiel knew this to be an illusion. No human being could walk across the burning surface of a sun. This was an Elemental and not just any. This was their leader, the one who would decide the fate of all living beings in the Galaxy.

‘Why have you chosen to appear in this form?’ Izikiel asked.

The man smiled.

‘We felt this form would put you at ease.
Projecting across such a great distance through another Elemental is an unsettling experience even for one such as you.’

‘I feel fine.’

‘Then perhaps we have underestimated you, disciple,’ the man said.

‘Then you will help us?’

The man laughed.

‘Your race never fails to amaze
me. Your never ending fountain of hope sustains you even in the darkest hours. Yet I fear even that will not be enough to vanquish the Void Lords.’

‘I know. I have seen what becomes of this
Galaxy, what becomes of
Tellus
, the most heavily populated of the human colony worlds. The Void triumphs here and
Tellus
is left little more than a dead, dark husk of a world overrun by void spawn.’

The man said nothing.

‘Don’t you
care
?’ Izikiel asked.

The man’s eyes erupted in orange flame, brighter than
his surroundings.

‘Of course we care! It was the Elementals who engaged the
Void Lords after the fall of
Vesta
to prevent the extinction of the human colony worlds. It was a desperate measure and we have paid dearly for it. For almost a millennium we have been trapped in our self imposed prisons, unable to leave.’

‘What about the Baron on
Aurora
?’

‘He was sheltered by the
Ecclesia
. But even he was trapped on that frozen graveyard of a world, cursed to watch everyone around him die while he endured for hundreds of years to fulfil his vow to Sofija. Now I fear that he has paid the ultimate price.’

‘I am eternally grateful to him. He allowed me to regain my memories even though it destabilised the
Ecclesia
and led to the cataclysmic rupturing of the surface of
Aurora
.’

The man nodded.

‘What about Cassandra? She appears to move freely.’

‘She has concealed her true form and taken human guise. If she were to ever reveal herself
then she would become a target for the creatures of the Void.’

‘As Da’Amo did. He sacrificed himself to save me on
Vesta
and drew the Void Lords to himself,’ Izikiel said. ‘But wait, how is it that the Void Lords could sense a mere true believer across such a great distance?’

‘Da’Amo was no simple true believer. He sacrificed his body to become one with the
Eternal Flame. While not technically a disciple, he achieved a level of awareness akin to that of a true disciple. The pain must have been excruciating.’

Izikiel pictured the horribly burnt visage of his mentor. The image haunted his thoughts as it
attested to the Eternal Flame’s ability to devastate even those who served it faithfully.

‘Why?’
he asked.

‘You already know the answer to that question, disciple.’

‘Sofija’

‘Yes. She sought a volunteer to remain in the
ruins of the Great City and await your arrival. Only one stepped forward. A promising young disciple who was willing to sacrifice everything in order to achieve the level of awareness required within such a short space of time,’ the man explained. ‘Sofija had already foreseen the destruction of
Orbis
and knew that their time was short. She needed someone to survive the fall of the Great City and Da’Amo was the only one willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. I can only imagine the pain he endured to unite with the Flame. It is amazing that he survived at all.’

Izikiel said nothing. In his mind he pictured a youthful Da’Amo volunteering to aid Sofija. He could see him standing on the steps of a giant temple dedicated to the Eternal Flame, offering to serve in whatever way was necessary. Sofija, a
beautiful young woman with black hair, looking at him with a momentary sadness before accepting his offer. The two of them disappearing inside the temple. When they emerged, Da’Amo looking as he had when Izikiel had first encountered him.
Had it all been for nothing?

‘Time is running out. Will you help us?’
he asked.

The man’s flaming eyes subsided and Izikiel caught a glimpse of the being beyond them. There was a timeless wisdom there of one who had lived countless lifetimes.
Intertwined with it was a deep sorrow, a near bottomless regret.

‘You are brave and powerful, disciple. We see that now. Yet we risk everything if we leave the safety of the Eternal Flame’s fiery embrace.’

‘You cannot live the rest of your lives trapped. Surely the risk is worth your freedom?’

‘Our race has existed for millennia. We have survived through carefully planned actions. The attack on the
Void Lords was rash. Perhaps only another such act will free us.’

‘Then you will aid us?’ Izikiel asked.

The man said nothing.