Airith- the Kentilan War Read online

  Above them, on the three hovering vessels, mechanics ground as gunned turrets mobilized for an onslaught.

  “Easy, you handle those Valdovas, and I’ll handle the Three,” Rapha chuckled to Airith in his cocky tone.

  Just as Rapha finished, a disappointing fizz sound signaled that his Skyfire armor was slowly retracting to reform his cloak. Beside him, Airith’s Skyfire armor was dissipating as well.

  “Well okay. We really need the Creator to finish these upgrades, so they last longer than a few minutes.” There was a nervous lilt to Rapha’s tone as he saw all three hundred Valdovas begin to circle closer in slow and careful steps. “Looks like we have to do this the old-fashioned way.”

  “And what way is that?” asked Airith.

  “Basically, pure badassness and sweat, no tech. I just hope I can take out enough so you and Isabel Rae can get out of here and rush either to the Katalina or the Penelope. Just get out of here,” Rapha growled.

  Airith offered no response but Rapha could sense her despair. This was unlikely to be a victorious battle. Airith raised her sword. Rapha lifted his fists, and Isabel Rae casually sat down to play with her portable video game, ‘Unicorn Death Match, 1986. Remixed’. The small, archaic device had an ink blotted screen and batteries that were long dead, but Isabel Rae still snickered as she punched at its worn yellow buttons.

  A loud blast of the regal horn signaled an event. The soldiers immediately holstered their weapons and saluted as the Three exited the ships individually on small hover discs.

  Rapha knew the Three intimately. They were Mother’s personal death guardians, made from Mother’s first and only Sadness birthing cycle; one created to grant extremely deadly abilities and programmed to loathe any threat to Mother. They were instilled with the primary goal to kill Emperor Kentila and the Creator. The Three were known as the Brothers of Sadness; their names were Vidmantas, the oldest, Martus, and Remic. The youngest had been born as conjoined twins and separated before being moved to their incubation stage.

  No one had ever seen the brother’s faces; they all towered inches above the other Valdovas masked in heavy helmets. Vidmantas was the tallest of his brothers. His cloak swept after his heavy steps and the massive ion blaster he dragged along in his right hand screeched. A searing red cut across the upper half of his mask, where his eyes should have been. His brothers followed closely behind him. Remic and Martus both wore similar helmets, theirs with compound eyes of six.

  A chill ran down Rapha’s back as his eyes centered on Martus. A piercing scream echoed from the depths of buried memories. Screams that had filled the halls of Mother’s chambers and made their way into the minds of the growing embryos. Even as an unaware youngling, Rapha had known Martus’s voice and despair, until Mother had cut out his tongue after the surgery that separated him and Remic.

  The Three marched up the broken stairs that led to the entrance of the Chamber and towards Airith and Rapha. The Valdovas parted to make a clear path as the Three approached. Vidmantas came to a halt barely a few yards from the trio. Casually he raised a fist. The air cracked with the simultaneous click of a thousand rifles, all aimed at Rapha, Airith, and Isabel Rae.

  “Well, here we go,” Rapha sighed as he turned off his music.

  THE THREE

  V idmantas clasped his hands over his head and clicked a latch. A small fizz of cryolite fumes ushered the opening of his helmet. His skin was pale, and his eyes were dark slits under his prominent forehead. A soldier stepped forward and collected his helmet and fur robe.

  “Hello, little brother.” Vidmantas cocked his head slightly as a wicked smile split his face. A cold sweat washed over Rapha. Vidmantas turned to Airith and his sinister smile became sly. “And to you Airith, my bride. How has life been treating you since your…’enlightenment’?”

  “I may have been your servant, but I’m thankful I escaped before we were bound.” Airith flashed her sword, and the frenzied half roiled. “If you want to be bound that bad, all you need do is draw a little closer and I’ll—”

  “Run your blade through my body and watch me die with pleasure?” he finished for her with a chuckle. “And then run off into the sunset with my brother? Your little boyfriend here.”

  “He isn’t my boyfriend!” Airith snapped.

  “And I’m not little!” Rapha flexed his chest.

  “Of course, but he does happen to be the one who you were last seen with before your return to the birthing chambers after you were sent to not only kill him but the Creator as well.” Vidmantas feigned a deep breath. His eyes roamed her mockingly, with a dark intensity growing with every second. “And then out of nowhere, you decided to try to kill not only me but Mother. Your recklessness damaged the whole birthing chamber. And for what? Because you started to have carnal desires and a longing for independence?” He took two heavy strides toward her.

  Rapha stepped in his way, shoulders arched and eyes blazing.

  “Oh, how cute.” He flourished a puppy face. “Do you think you can protect her? You have no idea.” He shook his head disapprovingly. “But I must thank the Creator for this moronic move,” he teased as he ran a delicate finger across Rapha’s shoulder, with marvel in his eyes. “I must thank him for cramming you two with the last of Skyfire. Now, we can easily rip you apart and take it for ourselves.”

  Rapha flinched but stood his ground. Vidmantas was delighted.

  “Your disobedience will be rewarded with months of treacherous pain. Mother’s orders, of course. However, I would have preferred that you be left to rot in the plagued sewers. So, before we begin the process of slowly ripping your body piece by piece, what do you have to say for yourself?”

  Rapha squinted his left eye and scratched his chin in thought. “Sorry, I didn't understand anything you just said. I forgot to turn my dipshit translator on. Just hold one second and you can re-say all you just said.”

  Rapha twisted both his ears and made fake robotic sounds “Beep, boop, boo, beep, boop.” Vidmantas face hardened. Rapha stopped and shook his head. “great, continue with that bubbling diarrhea spewing from your mouth.”

  “Hey, did this one ever learn to talk?” Rapha grimaced at Martus. “Or do you still sound like a shitty Skrillex song drunk on a full bottle of dumb bitch juice?”

  Martus, a hulk twice the size of Rapha, stepped forward with a clunking sound. Vidmantas held out an arm, blocking his path. “No, brother, I’ll pluck his feathers. So where is this Skyfire you clearly used to dismember a large mass of my private army?” Vidmantas stalked toward Rapha, clenching vivid and vicious muscles. “Let’s see it. Let’s see you, what do they say it does? Bend time and space to slow the world around you while granting you unbelievable power? I want to see it! SHOW IT TO ME!” he bellowed as his hand snapped like a whip and sent Rapha crashing into the ground a foot from where he previously stood.

  He heard Airith gasp and turned to see her tightened her grip on the sword. “Oh, what do you plan to do with that? Scratch me?” He chuckled, and stormed in her direction, eyeing the twitching of her fingers and the level of the sword, but willing her to be intimidated by his advance. Although she knew better; she knew the weapon she wielded was bound by two powerful forces of Homecity she would at least take a limb before she went down.

  “It will leave more than a scratch and you know it!” Airith raged and braced for an attack, watching every resolute move of the approaching monster.

  “Well we wouldn’t want that to happen now, would we. What a waste of a perfect body and beautiful face” replied Vidmantas with laughter. “I plan to bring you back to Mother, have you disassembled and reprogrammed to love me the way I was promised you would.”

  Vidmantas gestured with two fingers and his brothers alerted like remotely controlled drones. “Take him and beat him. Let her see what consequences come for mingling with the weak and rejected. Take the little one and throw her back into the Wastelands where she belongs.”

  Martus moved first. His metal boot ra
mmed into Rapha’s abdomen. Airith screamed, clutching her sword, but her grip faltered with every kick. Martus descended with rage; he wheezed and panted as his boots repeatedly bludgeoned Rapha. Rapha gurgled up blood as Martus ruthlessly stomped his face. Remic watched for a moment to let his brother have his fun, then joined in with a burst of cackling laughter that rang for miles.

  Airith watched with a knot in her throat. Each kick sent shivers through her, but she refused to move, feeling the hot gaze of Vidmantas boring into her and the telepathic feel of his sly smile. He would be daring her with his eyes, daring her to do something stupid. Something expensive; one Rapha could not afford. She refused to look at him but kept her eyes on the bloody pulp that was Rapha. Her body rattled down to her feet. She heard Vidmantas laugh; he was enjoying it. She had to squelch her emotions. She took a deep breath. She managed to keep her upper body still, but her legs continued to tremble. She willed that to stop, and when it did not, she realized, she wasn’t trembling. The ground was.

  A tremor shook the place and her legs wobbled. The earth grumbled as the ground began to shift. Wide cracks tore through the ground, and an indigo essence glowed to the surface with blinding intensity. Screams rang out from the soldiers as they dropped into the belly of the earth. The others scrambled from reach, grasping for higher ground, climbing onto boulders and running straight at the Three.

  The color had drained from Vidmantas's face.

  “Phara?” Vidmantas whispered.

  “Phara?!” The meaning of the name struck Airith. She dashed for Isabel Rae, who remained wrapped in the solitude of her video game. Rapha dropped in a heap as Remic and Martus exchanged glances and then stared at their eldest brother.

  “Phara!” he screamed as he turned to his brother, grabbed a fleeing soldier and bashed him into the ground.

  “They told me she was dead, that they killed her in the last uprising,” Remic muttered, staring down at the small crack starting between his feet.

  “Well, obviously that was false information!” Vidmantas screamed just as another tear in the ground made him stumble and catch himself. A soldier ran up to him with his helmet. He yanked it from him with a force that threw the smaller man on the ground. “Take cover!” he screamed at the soldiers scrambling for their lives.

  A blast of indigo light erupted from the ground a few feet from where he stood. The force knocked him onto his back. He roared and shot back onto his feet. The light had formed a dome over Airith, Rapha and Isabel Rae, glowing with an intermittent hum.

  Airith, Rapha, and Isabel Rae stood still and in shock. Even the Fellas clung closely to Isabel Rae.

  From the indigo wall, a distorted liquid figure emerged, leaving a trail of essence in its wake. It slowly transformed into a beautiful young woman. She was nearly bare, wearing the ancient Indigo apparel, a few pieces of clothing, that only concealed her breasts and hips. Her arms glowed with a thousand prayer beads, an ancient Indigo relic lost to history, and her forehead was adorned with a life band, one emblazoned with Magija filled gems. It was Phara, the one, and only daughter Mother ever created.

  She was a perfect clone of the stillborn baby Mother still carried in her glass womb.

  “Are you okay? Let me give you relief.” Phara knelt to Rapha.

  Rapha stared blankly.

  Phara rose, with her arms spread and her eyes closed. She began to whisper soft incantations in ancient Indigo language as her body and her hands swayed, mimicking waves. The beads hummed to life with the soft glow of indigo. Abruptly, she smashed her hands together and the beads chimed a metal clang, some of them erupting like small eggs and spilling indigo essence on to Rapha. The liquid simmered on contact, roiling like a living amoebic being. Rapha tossed his head back in a scream, as the essence crept along him, rooting itself in his wounds and the cracks of his cybernetics, weaving and repairing as it went until it was gone.

  “If you seek trouble, best come prepared.” Phara sighed disapprovingly, looking from Airith to Rapha.

  Airith scoffed. “Whatever, ‘priest.’ Why are you helping us? Do you have any idea who I am?”

  “Or WHAT you are?” Phara cut in, stooping softly to squint at Rapha, marveling at her work.

  “Is that jealousy I sense in your voice?” Rapha scoffed in a condescending tone. “And, er, thanks.” He jumped onto his feet and flexed his limbs.

  “What do you mean? What am I?” Airith seethed. And much to her frustration, Phara only smiled.

  “She’s jealous you got to be the child star and she on the other hand had to pray a hundred times a day around some green blob,” Rapha smirked.

  “I’m referring to you being created as nothing but a mere tool. An assassin meant to kill the Creator,” Phara slowly replied, looking far off in distance. “As well as you, Rapha.”

  “Oh, yeah. Well, things took a rad twist, didn’t they?” Rapha winked at Airith, who scowled back.

  “Listen. Whatever your problem is with me, you need to get over it. You were ordered by the Creator to stay in COCOON until we killed Mother. Now with you here, it is only a matter of time until she wakes, and not only will we have to deal with the cluster of roaches on the other side of this goo cage but also Mother AND her friggin’ Sadness.” Airith rolled her eyes.

  PHOOM, PHOOM!

  Cannon blasts bounced off the walls of the barrier in drawn bass sounds. The trio looked up at the walls; the blasts were minute distortions of pale green in the barrier walls. They all exchanged worried glances; there was no way the barrier could hold more than a few minutes.

  *

  Deep within tall walls lined with ancient scriptures, enclosed in a liquid capsule that hung suspended, hundreds of feet above chrome floors, a creature roused in sleep. Her fingers twitched as the warmth left them and coldness seeped into her, from millions of life cords, synced to a cerebral server that kept her in contact with her millions of children. Their warmth reached her, glowering and true, and in return, she took their hate, sadness, weakness, fear, and jealousy.

  But only one surpassed all. One separate life cord fed her the warmth of her love child. Its warmth kept her at peace and helped fill the void that was part and parcel of her synthetic parts. But now, that cord fed an emptiness; a coldness that made her fingers twitch.

  She opened her eyes. They were an onyx black, an abyss of all the emotion she collected. She sent an impulse to Phara and got nothing in reply. Desperation washed over the one-quarter of her skin that was still organic. She had populated the number of sensors in these parts, hoping to restore some semblance of human sentiency. Pulling herself together, she sent out a frequency; a wave that traveled for looking for one target. It returned to her. Phara was close by. She was not dead as reported; she had wandered into the danger beyond these walls…

  “MY DAUGHTER!” Her banshee scream bounced off the walls and swept through the tall corridors and out to the main entrance in a deafening pitch.

  *

  Everyone stood still moments after her scream had cracked the atmosphere like a thunderbolt. Isabel Rae lifted her hoodie over her head and clutched her knees to herself. Her Fellas hovered close, quivering in mid-air.

  “Mierda.” Airith had barely said it when the ground beneath them began to tremble. “Phara, is that you?”

  Phara shook her head. A black ooze erupted from the cracks in a blinding fury, sweeping the Valdovas away as tentacles rose from the swarm. The screams of fleeing soldiers were muffled in the barrier as the swarm swept them away.

  The tentacles rose all around the dome, writhing in a frenzy. The trio stared up in dismay.

  “Great rescue plan, Phara.” Airith scoffed blandly.

  “Oh, and what was your plan?’” Phara retorted.

  “Will you two shut up and help me come up with a way out of this shit show?” Rapha snapped.

  In unison, the tentacles descended on the dome, enveloping them. The walls zapped with electricity as the indigo light began to fail. The blackness gradually leake
d into the walls, mixing with the indigo light and sucking its source.

  “Argh!” Phara fell on both knees, clutching her sides.

  In the distance, sitting alone with her companions, Isabel Rae huddled close to Floop and Ploop. No one had seen her leave Airith’s side or leave the dome, but somehow, she was now sitting on a boulder far off, watching the drama.

  The trio watched gloomily and nodded in unison in some sort of agreement. Isabel Rae sighed as she struggled onto her feet. Then she began walking toward the Three. They had scrambled onto the higher ground when the swarm of sadness struck. Now Vidmantas watched the enveloped dome from afar, glowering with anger.