The Beginning of the End (Universe in Flames Book 4) (26 page)

“Roger that.”

Saroudis ended the communication and rose from his chair. He approached the viewport and, for just a moment, he let his thoughts get lost among the stars.

*   *   *

Ronan got up and saw Arknon doing the same.

“Arknon!”

“Hey, Ronan, I take it I have you to thank for still being alive? Thank you, my friend.”

“I don’t really remember much.”

“Glad to see you both up,” said Ryonna.

“How did we get healed?” asked Ronan.

“Chase. He arrived in the nick of time.”

“Where is he? I want to thank him for saving us.”

“He’s outside, fighting with that Fury that almost killed you.”

“I really thought crashing the
Phoenix
on him would take him out.”

“I second that,” added Arknon.

“Let’s hope it injured him enough so Chase can finish him off.”

“I’m worried about that, Mom. When he rose from the furnace he was burned to a crisp and he healed himself like it was nothing. How are we supposed to defeat an enemy like that?”

“By never giving up. But I won’t lie to you, son, this is going to be the most devastating war . . .”

Ryonna hadn’t had time to really think about anything but Ronan these past few hours, and she was happy he was alive, but she felt a sense of urgency in her soul. This was not over, and they would still have to find some sort of shelter or get evacuated if any of the ships in orbit had survived. Right now, staying so near a battle involving two Furies was not safe. She knew it with every fiber of her being.

“We need to get out of here. If one of Chase’s or his enemy’s attacks comes our way we’ll be obliterated.”

“Right. Can the ship still fly?”

“I was about to go check that with Keera. I’ll be back shortly. Please don’t go outside just yet.”

As if to enhance her warning the planet started to tremble.

Ronan nodded. “Right.”

When Ryonna entered the cockpit, Keera was hitting her controls with both her fists.

“That bad, huh?”

“Yeah, the
Valken
isn’t going anywhere I’m afraid.”

“We couldn’t have flown into space anyway, not with half of the cargo bay’s ceiling missing.”

“That’s for sure. I’ll miss this ship. It got me out of many jams.”

“If Chase manages to defeat Miseo my people will help you repair it.”

Keera raised an eyebrow and gave her a look.

“That’s sweet, Ryonna, but I don’t think so. Your people have almost been wiped out today. It will take years to rebuild your planet and that will only happen if Chase defeats his opponent. Too many things can go wrong.”

“Then the Alliance will.”

“Ryonna, what’s wrong with you? It’s just a ship. You do realize that your world is in ruins, right?”

“I don’t think it’s fully sunk in just yet.”

That’s when it actually hit her and she changed color.

“What is it, Ryonna?”

“Jonas . . . My late husband’s brother, he . . . he lived in one of the destroyed cities.”

“Perhaps he left before it was attacked. As soon as this is over I’ll help you look for him. But we need to get out of here.”

“Yes, that we must.”

A minute later the four of them exited the
Valken
on board the all-terrain buggy Keera owned for planetary exploration. The moment it was down the ramp Keera caught a glimpse of something moving a hundred yards in front of her. She veered to the left abruptly, skidding and drifting heavily. Two of the vehicle’s wheels left the ground for a second. They reconnected at the end of her turn.

The passengers looked at the fight between Chase and Miseo. Their eyes only saw blurry shapes traveling way too fast to follow.

*   *   *

Argos made a flyby near general Arkoolis’ last position. Upon descending near the planet’s surface he had seen the extent of the damage inflicted in the area. It wasn’t pretty. Almost every city had been leveled and fires still burned as far as the eye could see.

Droxia had been obliterated in only a few hours. It had been thanks to his ingenious plan of distracting their large protection fleet, most of which had been destroyed by only a handful of Zarlack destroyers. Argos caught himself feeling bad for the Droxians.

What the hell is happening to me? Why would I even care
. . .
?

He landed the
Dark Star
. A battle had clearly occurred in the area. When Argos stepped out of his ship he saw obvious traces of fighting, not only with Droxian military but also between two Furies. The landscape had been devastated, with crevasses and craters in the ground, as well as large trails that went for miles. These were clear signs of two powerful beings fighting. Argos wondered who had won, but was again surprised when he hoped Laiyos had been the victor.

Could it be that I’m losing respect for my own race? I wonder
. . .

After all, they had treated him like nothing while he was clearly the only reason for their resurgence. No matter how badly he tried to put his public humiliation behind him, he hated the supreme commander with a vengeance. Miseo was a more tolerable Fury to work with, but he had sensed something a little off about him as well. Perhaps the son aspired to replace his father. He wouldn’t put it past him.

Argos took some altitude and scanned the area. Then something caught his attention. It was pretty far away, but it definitely looked like a humanoid body. He flew there and landed near Arkoolis’ corpse.

Argos smiled.

Impressive. Looks like Chase is getting better by the day.

Good for you, brother. I take it you’ve now moved on to fight Miseo. But if that’s the case, if you’re not dead already, it won’t be long now.

He felt a sting in his heart and clenched his fists. Rage filled his entire being.

I hope that nosy brat remembers that he promised me the final blow.

Argos flew back into his ship and vectored towards Miseo’s last known location.

Ares stepped inside’s Athena’s temple on Olympus. The place was huge, with large white columns all around, but also inside the temple.

“You’re not exactly welcome around these parts. But you know that, right?” said a beautiful yet intimidating woman with long, golden hair.

Athena was a tall and lean Olympian. She was dressed in white, with flower motifs embroidered into her beautiful gown. Above her throne, mounted on the wall, stood her golden shield. It caught the sunlight from the outside and diffused it nicely into a soft, warm light all around it. It gave the entire area around the throne an ethereal quality.

“But I would be remiss if I didn’t say it’s good to see you. Well, whatever is left of you.”

“Hello, sister, you always had a way with words.”

“Some things never change.”

“They ought to if we want to survive.”

“Don’t waste your time. Artemis and Apollo both told me you visited them not long ago.”

“I see. Can we still discuss the issue, though? Father was not very receptive, to say the least.”

“What did you expect, Ares? You broke the old man’s heart.”

“I was unaware he possessed one.”

Athena laughed for quite a while. “Now who has a way with words? But thank you, it has been a long time since I laughed that much.”

“I wish I could tell you I came so we can reminisce about the past and have a few good laughs, but the hour is grave.”

“So I hear. Your protégé singlehandedly managed to free the Furies from their timeless prison,” said Athena, shaking her head from side to side.

“Well, in his defense, he didn’t know he was helping his evil twin brother achieve that objective.”

“We sure don’t have the monopoly on family feuds, even though ours are legendary.”

Ares smiled. Of course, in his current energy form, she couldn’t see it, but evidently she sensed it.

“I’m glad to see your sense of humor has improved. You were a much less fun Olympian in the old days, you know? Pre-banishment times.”

“I try to not think of those days too much.”

“I bet. You wreaked havoc. But let bygones be bygones, I say.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

Athena rose from her throne and went to a beautiful marble table nearby to serve herself some wine.

“I would ask you if you want a glass . . .”

“Funny.”

“I’m teasing.”

“I know, sister. Believe me, there are things we said to each other in the past that I wish I could take back.”

“You’re were blinded by your thirst for power. I don’t think you need to worry about that now.”

She walked back to her throne, sat back down and took a sip of the delicious beverage.

“How is it, being in a non-corporeal state?”

“It has its advantages. And I’m still learning everything I can do as days go by.”

“Except you’re not supposed to stay here, at least not forever.”

“I know. I just can’t stand idly by while the universe around me is destroyed, at least not if I can do something about it.”

“Did you ever ask yourself if perhaps that’s its destiny?”

“Was that Athena talking or my father?”

“Touché. But now that most inhabitants of this universe don’t really pray nor fear our wrath, it’s a little more difficult to care about what happens to them.”

“We both know you don’t mean that. I never took you for one that craved such things.”

“And you’d be right. But lately I have been wondering what it meant to be alive. Immortality has the disadvantage of making things really boring after a while.”

“Well then, perhaps you should hear me out.”

She took another sip. “Why the hell not.”

“The Furies have risen from the dead.”

“They were never dead, and there lies the problem.”

“Indeed. Still, they haven’t yet had time to manufacture their armada of old. Their ships fell during the last war. Before coming here, I took a tour of their world, and they’re almost done building their first exterminator-class destroyer. But now that Argos has managed to feed them a continuous stream of resources, they’ve started building others, many others.”

“And you want us to stop them?”

“My thinking is that we have to try. It took our participation in the universe-wide coalition of worlds to defeat them back then. It stands to reason we’ll have to play a part in that once more.”

“Unless we let the younger races take care of it, like we all promised we would.”

“The others races might want to rethink that old pact as well. If it was a new race tying to rise to power I would be inclined to agree with you. But the Furies are almost as old as us. The new races don’t stand and chance. In fact, for a long time it also looked as if we wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“You’re forgetting something. It took the legendary spirit ships to make that happen. Without them the Furies had reached a level of technology even higher than our own.”

“Then why don’t we just get them back? If Zeus didn’t destroy the key to the dimension prison, I bet these ships are also still lying somewhere, taking dust until they are again needed.”

“I wish I could tell you more but I simply don’t have this information. Perhaps they are . . .”

Athena lowered her eyes and she looked at her empty glass. She lifted her other hand with grace and the jar containing the wine flew to her, poured her another drink and went back to the table.

“Couldn’t you have done that before?”

“Like I said, Ares, I’m bored. Sometimes I need to stretch my legs.”

“About the ships. Any information you can give me, even sketchy, would be welcome.”

Ares saw something in her eyes. There was something she wasn’t telling him.

“Please?” he pleaded.

“Look, Ares, I’m really happy to see you and I am glad for this talk, but I’m unsure you want to know the information I have, which—and I must stress this point—might or might not be true.”

“Why don’t you tell me anyway?”

“Very well. But you’re not going to like it.”

“Will you tell me already?”

She sighed.

“According to some information I came by three thousand years ago, the legendary spirit ships were destroyed.”

“Are you certain of this?”

“What part of ‘might not be true’ didn’t you understand?”

“Right. Anyone who could let us know? Do you remember who told you this?”

“Father, but he did it in passing really, so unless we ask him directly, which I doubt he would like coming from you . . .”

“And what about if you asked him?”

“Sure, I will go to him and say, ‘Father, didn’t you tell me the spirit ships had been destroyed? I vaguely remember a conversation we had eons ago, please tell me more.’”

Ares didn’t appreciate the sarcasm but she had a point. Zeus would immediately know he had put her up to it. At the moment he’d rather have Athena as a potential ally rather than alienate her from their father. Athena was a very powerful Olympian, and an incredible tactician. The Earth Alliance sure could use her help.

“You’re right, he would see right through that.”

“Of course he would.”

“One thing, though, why are these ships so special? Do you know?”

“Again, I’m not the right person to ask.”

“Anything you can remember, even a small detail?”

“I don’t know about detail, but I remember that they were a piece of extremely advanced technology that came from the previous age, possibly pre-dating our own creation.”

“Creation?”

“Well, Zeus likes to tell tales about how we came to be, but there are those amongst us who think we had creators. The very first race to travel the stars.”

“They have a name?”

“They probably have one, but I’m sure father burned every reference to it from history. Anyway, it is said that these ships have the ability to channel and focus one’s internal power and deliver that energy into space safely.”

Ares’ blood froze. The implications were huge. If such a ship existed, someone like Chase could use his power in space without creating black holes and other tears in the space-time continuum. He could probably wipe out an entire fleet with just one of these ships. Ares knew then and there that these spirit ships would be the key to the whole Fury war.

“I wish I could tell you more, really. And I will think about carefully slipping a kind word in your favor with father if the occasion arises.”

“Thank you, sister. You’ve actually been more helpful than you know today. I’ll probably swing by to see you again in the future.”

“It’s been nice talking with you, Ares. Don’t let it be centuries this time, and please make sure to visit me at least once more before you decide to sail on the Styx.”

“It sure won’t be centuries, and the Styx will have to wait until after the Furies have been dealt with. Thanks again for your help.”

“Anytime.”

Ares vanished into nothingness as Athena took another sip of her drink.

*   *   *

Chase parried Miseo’s next incoming wave of front and back kicks, but Miseo was now on a par with him with respect to speed. He had to stay incredibly focused to not get hit by the incoming blows. It didn’t let him breathe, though, and he couldn’t find an opening.

For the time being he had to contend with just blocking, dodging and parrying. But then Miseo threw him a curveball and hit him square in the face with a heel kick. Chase temporarily lost balance but managed to recover quickly.

Miseo switched to a series of punches next, alternating between jabs, hooks and uppercuts. Then Chase got an idea. It was risky, but he had to try something. He couldn’t stay on the defensive forever.

Chase let Miseo execute his next punch combo and feinted being sucker-punched by one of the uppercuts, but then he grabbed Miseo’s forearm and swiped his left leg with enough force to make him lose balance. He then pulled Miseo forward and hit him with a scorpion kick, a move his Fury enemy was clearly not prepared for.

Miseo stumbled back, disoriented. Chase lost no time lighting up two fireballs, sending one of them low intentionally. It exploded in front of Miseo, who probably didn’t understand why Chase hadn’t fired at him directly, but it provided him with a dust screen. The second one shot through the cloud and was aimed at his head, but Miseo dodged it by tilting his head to the left. Before he realized it was a ruse, Chase was already in the air, landing an extremely powerful flying kick, hitting Miseo’s cheek with the full force with his shin. Miseo fell to the ground a few yards away

Chase flew in pursuit, but Miseo pushed hard on his hands and back-flipped into a standing position. He threw both his clawed hands forward. Chase felt an invisible force field slow him down in midair. The more he tried to push through the more he slowed down.

An idea took form in his mind. He consciously pushed even more and saw veins on Miseo’s arms grow bigger in order to increase his hold on Chase. It now looked as if he was stuck in midair.

Chase then suddenly stopped pushing and flew backwards, helped by the opposing kinetic energy blast from Miseo’s counter. The moment Miseo let go Chase was already twirling madly in the air, curled into a ball, and out of the blue shot two columns of energy. But he didn’t shoot them at Miseo. He used them to increase his thrust as he flew towards Miseo like a shooting star, head first. When his head impacted with Miseo’s torso, Miseo was clearly unprepared for that ingenious move. His armor cracked upon impact and Miseo was thrown backwards for miles.

Before Miseo could hit the ground Chase was already under him, hands firmly planted in the ground as he catapulted Miseo into the heavens by extending both his feet upwards. Miseo whirled uncontrollably during his ascent and was only stopped when Chase smashed his face with a fireball-infused right hook. Miseo saw stars before his eyes and Chase lost no time grabbing him from behind and locking his arms at shoulder level.

Chase twirled with Miseo locked in. The resulting whirlwind soon created a powerful cyclone as Chase then forced them both to shoot back towards the ground from miles high. They looked like a comet about to impact with the planet.

At the last second, Chase release his grasp and somersaulted in midair, using kinetic energy to pull himself backward. Miseo crashed into the ground with the force of a thousand bombs. The resulting explosion could be seen from space, with a giant shockwave traveling for hundreds of miles around the point of impact.

Chase’s hair flew madly in the air as he witnessed the spectacle from above. He checked his power levels and worried when he realized he was at a less than twenty percent. He would need to finish Miseo with his next set of attacks or he would run out of juice.

When the dust had settled, there was a fifteen-mile-wide crater on the surface of Droxia.

Chase wondered if perhaps he had defeated his enemy, but his instincts told him otherwise.