The Fenimeldiyaan: Origins - Chapter 9
One of the little girls tugged at Apollo’s sleeve. “Grandpa needs yer help. Please come with me. I’ll show ye the path”.
Apollo hesitated. “But what about finding the crystals? And what about the guards?”
“Others will deal with them” she replied. “Jude be here now, adding his strength to ours. Please, we need to hurry!”
Before he could answer, the five guards whom he had detected burst into the kitchen, armed with a combination of swords and short-barrelled energy weapons.
The nearest child never stood a chance. A single swipe of a sword cleaved her head from her shoulders. Instead of blood splurting everywhere, a burst of energy exploded, taking the guard with it.
The remaining four guards spread out, slashing with their swords while at the same time firing off multiple rounds from their laser blasters.
Apollo decided that Andreas would have to wait. Whatever the problem was, his conscience would not allow him to abandon the children. He attempted to extend his shield around them, but it was far from easy, given that they refused to gather round him and insisted on continuing their search for the crystals.
For someone more familiar with healing, it pained him to have to use his powers to kill. He shuddered as one of his energy strikes took out another guard, wondering if the unfortunate man had any relatives to mourn his passing.
Seeing one of the children approaching another guard, he ran over to intercept. However, the little boy wielded a sword which he had retrieved from one of the dead guards, jabbing and slashing with it. The guard raised his blaster and the boy took the opportunity to stab the man in the stomach. He followed through with several more slashes of his borrowed blade until the guard lay sprawled on the tiled floor.
Two of the little girls had opened a cutlery drawer and were busy throwing knives and forks at the guards. The flying items of cutlery did no serious damage but served as a distraction. Apollo took the hint and aimed energy blasts at them, again consumed with guilt for his actions.
---------------------------------
“I can’t wait any longer” Andreas said to River. “I’ll most likely get caught in the trap but this version of meself be expendable. Ye’d best run away and find somewhere to hide. One of the others will come and get ye”.
River stared at him and held up her book. “I won’t leave you” she had written.
He patted her on the shoulder and smiled at her. “I appreciate the solidarity but ye have to go. Ye don’t want to get caught along with me. Or destroyed when I trigger something nasty in one of the equations. Ye’ll be safer on yer own”.
He turned his back on her and began working on the first layer of encryption, hoping that she would take the hint and go. He could tell from her energy signature that she had not moved. He sighed and continued with his work, sending out telepathic warnings to her at intervals.
The rumbling vibrations from down below started up again and more cracks appeared in the floor. Andreas leaped over them while dismantling the third layer of the encryption coding.
He had begun working on the fourth layer when a huge crack, bigger than any he had seen so far, split the floor, cutting him off from River. It widened, causing the floor to tilt at crazy angles, reminiscent of the deck of a sailing ship caught in a violent storm.
River stumbled, dropping her book. It slid away from her, down an incline towards another crack which had opened up. She made a grab for it, falling over as the next wave of vibrations shook the whole fortress.
Andreas abandoned his work on the codes and turned around in time to see her sliding into the widening chasm. He leaped in after her, hoping to catch her before she plunged to her doom in the boiling lava pools.
Nearby, the network of crystals exploded, taking out a large section of corridor and causing the ceiling to collapse.
----------------------------------
“Twenty seven more crystals destroyed” Andreas muttered to Gerald. “But at a terrible cost. River Meer has been sent into another dimension. One of me other selves has gone in after her. Let’s pray for their safe return”.
“I’ve never been much of a one for prayers” Gerald remarked. “But I’d hate to see that poor child come to harm. Though she has powers, she be an innocent and she deserves a chance to live”.
Andreas nodded. “We all deserve a chance to live. I think we’ve gotten most of the crystals now. I can detect three in the barracks and one more in the armoury. Let’s be on our way”.
He picked up Gerald and translocated to save time.
----------------------------------
The elderly Mazia paused in the middle of drawing another equation. Tears rolled down her wrinkled face and she gave a small sob. “I sent Grandpa into a trap. But twasn’t intended for him”. She curled her fingers into a fist and shook it in the air. “I’ve been stupid. Beyond stupid. Should’ve seen that coming. Ciracea has a contingency plan set up. Even if we succeed here, one of her shards will continue her work elsewhere, with full access to River Meer’s powers. I ain’t fit to call meself a Chronomage any longer”.
“You can’t afford to think like that” Judaas admonished, ducking to avoid a flaming shuriken thrown by Ciracea. “She’s had centuries to conceive her plans. And we have centuries to undo them. Starting with this one. I’ve already sent out a petition to the Elders”.
“The Elders won’t do anything” Mazia growled. “They’ll give the usual excuse that it ain’t their place to intervene in events outside the Fenian Galaxy. If it don’t affect them, they’ll be content to ignore it. Same as always”.
Ciracea laughed and threw several more fiery shurikens, aiming at both Mazia and Judaas. “Stupid, selfish and short-sighted. And they have the nerve to criticise me! Time to end this place and put you all out of my misery!”
She directed a huge fireball at the wall of equations which Mazia had constructed, obliterating most of them and causing time to speed up again.
----------------------------------
River was falling. She had managed to grab her book before the crack had widened beneath her, opening down into the lava. It seemed so cruel, that she’d finally met someone who was kind to her, only to die for refusing to leave him. She squeezed her eyes shut, sobbing silently as she fell. Something struck her head, a chunk of rubble, and as she fell, she lost consciousness.
When she woke in a forest, she remembered nothing of how she had gotten there. Only that she was searching, and she had to find it. What that was, she didn’t know. But she set off with a purpose, to find whatever it was she was looking for.
----------------------------------------
“There be one,” Gerald said, pointing to a stone in the wall of the barracks, hidden behind one of the beds. He was grateful that he could at least do something to help, even injured as he was. Andreas grabbed the crystal and crushed it.
“One more to go,” the little man said. “Me other self be taking Morgan there now.”
“What do we do, then?” Gerald asked. “Return to the fight ‘tween Mazia and Ciracea?”
“Aye,” Andreas said. “But ye mustn’t get involved. I’d hate for something to happen to ye, and for yer friends to have to explain it to yer wife.” He winked a little at Gerald.
Gerald’s mouth opened and closed several times, picturing Elsa’s fury if Morgan and Apollo returned without him. Although she had her oath to never kill another being, she might just break it for them. Gerald sighed, wondering if he would ever make it back to her. “Aye, ye be right about that,” he agreed, still not sure how he felt about the eccentric little man. “I won’t go hurling meself in the way of anymore magic for ye neither.”
“It be a deal,” Andreas said with a laugh, and translocated the two of them back to the dungeons.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Morgan didn’t much enjoy translocating. It was uncomfortable and beyond strange to blink and find oneself in somewhere completely different than one had been a moment before. Yet that was the case when Andreas took them both to the armoury, where the last crystal was.
“Spread out and look,” Andreas said. “We need to find it.”
The two split off into opposite halves of the armoury. “This is the last one we’re looking for, right?” Morgan asked as he shifted through weapons, trying to find the stone.
“Aye. The others have done well in finding them,” Andreas answered. Judging by his tone, he was distracted by his search for the crystals.
Morgan said nothing else as he dug. He couldn’t help but feel that some of this was his fault. Apollo’s absence, for one, and Gerald’s injury for another. He continued shifting through weapon after weapon until he saw a blade hanging on the wall, and its pommel.
A black crystal.
“I’ve got it!” Morgan said, running to the wall and trying to grab the sword. Unfortunately, the ground shook and cracked beneath his feet, and Morgan swore as he fell, just barely managing to grab onto the lip of the crack. Beneath him was lava, fiery, red, burning.
Morgan’s fingers slipped, just a bit. “Andreas!” he cried, panicking. What he wouldn’t give for a flying spell at that moment! In another few seconds, he would fall. Maybe it would be for the better. Apollo would mourn, certainly, but maybe it would be better for the world if he just died.
However, he didn’t let go. He wasn’t quite at that point at yet.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the guards tackled Apollo. In his distraction, he hadn’t seen the man sneaking up behind him and tackling him, bringing him down to the ground and uncomfortably close to a widening crack. “No, no,” Apollo said, straining, trying to use his staff. The man pressed down on it, pinning him down grimly.
Apollo struggled under his grasp, but he increased the pressure, choking off Apollo’s breath. “Heavens preserve me,” he gasped out, as he felt the ground crack beneath him, preparing to fall out from beneath him.
It seemed such a pointless way to die.
Apollo hesitated. “But what about finding the crystals? And what about the guards?”
“Others will deal with them” she replied. “Jude be here now, adding his strength to ours. Please, we need to hurry!”
Before he could answer, the five guards whom he had detected burst into the kitchen, armed with a combination of swords and short-barrelled energy weapons.
The nearest child never stood a chance. A single swipe of a sword cleaved her head from her shoulders. Instead of blood splurting everywhere, a burst of energy exploded, taking the guard with it.
The remaining four guards spread out, slashing with their swords while at the same time firing off multiple rounds from their laser blasters.
Apollo decided that Andreas would have to wait. Whatever the problem was, his conscience would not allow him to abandon the children. He attempted to extend his shield around them, but it was far from easy, given that they refused to gather round him and insisted on continuing their search for the crystals.
For someone more familiar with healing, it pained him to have to use his powers to kill. He shuddered as one of his energy strikes took out another guard, wondering if the unfortunate man had any relatives to mourn his passing.
Seeing one of the children approaching another guard, he ran over to intercept. However, the little boy wielded a sword which he had retrieved from one of the dead guards, jabbing and slashing with it. The guard raised his blaster and the boy took the opportunity to stab the man in the stomach. He followed through with several more slashes of his borrowed blade until the guard lay sprawled on the tiled floor.
Two of the little girls had opened a cutlery drawer and were busy throwing knives and forks at the guards. The flying items of cutlery did no serious damage but served as a distraction. Apollo took the hint and aimed energy blasts at them, again consumed with guilt for his actions.
---------------------------------
“I can’t wait any longer” Andreas said to River. “I’ll most likely get caught in the trap but this version of meself be expendable. Ye’d best run away and find somewhere to hide. One of the others will come and get ye”.
River stared at him and held up her book. “I won’t leave you” she had written.
He patted her on the shoulder and smiled at her. “I appreciate the solidarity but ye have to go. Ye don’t want to get caught along with me. Or destroyed when I trigger something nasty in one of the equations. Ye’ll be safer on yer own”.
He turned his back on her and began working on the first layer of encryption, hoping that she would take the hint and go. He could tell from her energy signature that she had not moved. He sighed and continued with his work, sending out telepathic warnings to her at intervals.
The rumbling vibrations from down below started up again and more cracks appeared in the floor. Andreas leaped over them while dismantling the third layer of the encryption coding.
He had begun working on the fourth layer when a huge crack, bigger than any he had seen so far, split the floor, cutting him off from River. It widened, causing the floor to tilt at crazy angles, reminiscent of the deck of a sailing ship caught in a violent storm.
River stumbled, dropping her book. It slid away from her, down an incline towards another crack which had opened up. She made a grab for it, falling over as the next wave of vibrations shook the whole fortress.
Andreas abandoned his work on the codes and turned around in time to see her sliding into the widening chasm. He leaped in after her, hoping to catch her before she plunged to her doom in the boiling lava pools.
Nearby, the network of crystals exploded, taking out a large section of corridor and causing the ceiling to collapse.
----------------------------------
“Twenty seven more crystals destroyed” Andreas muttered to Gerald. “But at a terrible cost. River Meer has been sent into another dimension. One of me other selves has gone in after her. Let’s pray for their safe return”.
“I’ve never been much of a one for prayers” Gerald remarked. “But I’d hate to see that poor child come to harm. Though she has powers, she be an innocent and she deserves a chance to live”.
Andreas nodded. “We all deserve a chance to live. I think we’ve gotten most of the crystals now. I can detect three in the barracks and one more in the armoury. Let’s be on our way”.
He picked up Gerald and translocated to save time.
----------------------------------
The elderly Mazia paused in the middle of drawing another equation. Tears rolled down her wrinkled face and she gave a small sob. “I sent Grandpa into a trap. But twasn’t intended for him”. She curled her fingers into a fist and shook it in the air. “I’ve been stupid. Beyond stupid. Should’ve seen that coming. Ciracea has a contingency plan set up. Even if we succeed here, one of her shards will continue her work elsewhere, with full access to River Meer’s powers. I ain’t fit to call meself a Chronomage any longer”.
“You can’t afford to think like that” Judaas admonished, ducking to avoid a flaming shuriken thrown by Ciracea. “She’s had centuries to conceive her plans. And we have centuries to undo them. Starting with this one. I’ve already sent out a petition to the Elders”.
“The Elders won’t do anything” Mazia growled. “They’ll give the usual excuse that it ain’t their place to intervene in events outside the Fenian Galaxy. If it don’t affect them, they’ll be content to ignore it. Same as always”.
Ciracea laughed and threw several more fiery shurikens, aiming at both Mazia and Judaas. “Stupid, selfish and short-sighted. And they have the nerve to criticise me! Time to end this place and put you all out of my misery!”
She directed a huge fireball at the wall of equations which Mazia had constructed, obliterating most of them and causing time to speed up again.
----------------------------------
River was falling. She had managed to grab her book before the crack had widened beneath her, opening down into the lava. It seemed so cruel, that she’d finally met someone who was kind to her, only to die for refusing to leave him. She squeezed her eyes shut, sobbing silently as she fell. Something struck her head, a chunk of rubble, and as she fell, she lost consciousness.
When she woke in a forest, she remembered nothing of how she had gotten there. Only that she was searching, and she had to find it. What that was, she didn’t know. But she set off with a purpose, to find whatever it was she was looking for.
----------------------------------------
“There be one,” Gerald said, pointing to a stone in the wall of the barracks, hidden behind one of the beds. He was grateful that he could at least do something to help, even injured as he was. Andreas grabbed the crystal and crushed it.
“One more to go,” the little man said. “Me other self be taking Morgan there now.”
“What do we do, then?” Gerald asked. “Return to the fight ‘tween Mazia and Ciracea?”
“Aye,” Andreas said. “But ye mustn’t get involved. I’d hate for something to happen to ye, and for yer friends to have to explain it to yer wife.” He winked a little at Gerald.
Gerald’s mouth opened and closed several times, picturing Elsa’s fury if Morgan and Apollo returned without him. Although she had her oath to never kill another being, she might just break it for them. Gerald sighed, wondering if he would ever make it back to her. “Aye, ye be right about that,” he agreed, still not sure how he felt about the eccentric little man. “I won’t go hurling meself in the way of anymore magic for ye neither.”
“It be a deal,” Andreas said with a laugh, and translocated the two of them back to the dungeons.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Morgan didn’t much enjoy translocating. It was uncomfortable and beyond strange to blink and find oneself in somewhere completely different than one had been a moment before. Yet that was the case when Andreas took them both to the armoury, where the last crystal was.
“Spread out and look,” Andreas said. “We need to find it.”
The two split off into opposite halves of the armoury. “This is the last one we’re looking for, right?” Morgan asked as he shifted through weapons, trying to find the stone.
“Aye. The others have done well in finding them,” Andreas answered. Judging by his tone, he was distracted by his search for the crystals.
Morgan said nothing else as he dug. He couldn’t help but feel that some of this was his fault. Apollo’s absence, for one, and Gerald’s injury for another. He continued shifting through weapon after weapon until he saw a blade hanging on the wall, and its pommel.
A black crystal.
“I’ve got it!” Morgan said, running to the wall and trying to grab the sword. Unfortunately, the ground shook and cracked beneath his feet, and Morgan swore as he fell, just barely managing to grab onto the lip of the crack. Beneath him was lava, fiery, red, burning.
Morgan’s fingers slipped, just a bit. “Andreas!” he cried, panicking. What he wouldn’t give for a flying spell at that moment! In another few seconds, he would fall. Maybe it would be for the better. Apollo would mourn, certainly, but maybe it would be better for the world if he just died.
However, he didn’t let go. He wasn’t quite at that point at yet.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the guards tackled Apollo. In his distraction, he hadn’t seen the man sneaking up behind him and tackling him, bringing him down to the ground and uncomfortably close to a widening crack. “No, no,” Apollo said, straining, trying to use his staff. The man pressed down on it, pinning him down grimly.
Apollo struggled under his grasp, but he increased the pressure, choking off Apollo’s breath. “Heavens preserve me,” he gasped out, as he felt the ground crack beneath him, preparing to fall out from beneath him.
It seemed such a pointless way to die.
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