ASH GOT UP ON SHAKY LEGS and hastily made for a door halfway down the corridor, Linares not far behind. He listened for her unsteady steps, seeing that she too was still shaken from their recent escape. ReplyForward
“Qarnan,” he called, “We’re not out of this yet — the engine’s not in great shape.”
“Ymm,” the bounty hunter’s muffled voice replied from inside, “bmmcmm mm ymm mmhmm!”
“…What?” Ash balked, finally reaching the doorway and leaning inside.
It was a kitchen, or more accurately a mess hall like he’d seen on passenger freighters or decommissioned mortal warships. The greasy room held two tables, a metal counter, a fryer and a refrigeration unit, the door hanging open as Qarnan’s waist-up rooted about inside. He pulled up from the refrigerator and a submarine sandwich hung from his mouth; the thick, crusty roll crunching in his teeth, lettuce, cheese and a purple tentacle dangling out the side. The bounty hunter rolled his eyes and took the sandwich out, chewing massive bites as he clarified:
“I said ‘yeah, because’a you assholes.”
Linares joined Ash in the doorjamb, “You took the contract, bounty hunter,” she challenged through her shaky breath, “You know the risk of your business.”
Qarnan scoffed and sauntered towards them. “Y’know,” he barked, taking massive bites from the sandwich, “Normally I can square with that. But see, now? Now I’m saddled with two fugitives, I’m on the run from some’a the nastiest hornswogglers in the ‘verse, I got a bounty that ain’t worth nuthin’ no more, and a boat that’s barely holdin’ tagether! Yer gonna have ta forgive me, fer bein’ a little chapped!”
As he finally reached the two Ascendants and ended his rant, a fleshy lump of fur and stitching clambered into sight on one of the tabled and growled at them. The abomination took them both by surprise, Linares standing back with her mace raised, acting on instinct. Qarnan slid between her and the creature, raising the sandwich like a defensive weapon, and Ash sidestepped the chaos, grabbing the head of Linares’ mace on the backswing before she could splatter the animal.
“HEY, WHOA, WHOA!” Qarnan whooped. Silence held for a beat as Ash prevented her attack, she didn’t resist, realizing she wasn’t in danger. “This…is Lambert. Lambert lives here…You are guests.”
Qarnan tossed the remaining half of the sandwich to Dawg, then shouldered past the two Ascendants out into the hall, they followed close behind as he exited onto the walkway over the hangar. He finally got eyes on the mess of equipment strewn about and the fixtures missing from his walls, and howled in fury.
“Awwww, COME ON!” He stomped down the stairs, leaving Ash and Linares on the upper level. “I had all this shit in the perfect place! And now—RAAAAGH!” He kicked a case into the wall, where it shattered to pieces. “THIS JOB IS SUPPOSED TA BE PROFESSIONAL! WHO MESSES WITH A MAN’S LOOT?!”
He dug through the scattered gear, grumbling and cursing as Ash and Linares now had a moment alone. Ash leaned on the railing and looked uneasily at her.
“So…you’re…Valkor’Alinares?” She turned to face him and crossed her arms. The silence was awkward. “I, uh…I…”
“What were you expecting?” She cut off drolly.
He swallowed and nodded, working up what courage and energy he had left. “…I’m sorry. I know it probably doesn’t mean much, but I’m…so sorry. I can’t imagine what—”
“You are right. That doesn’t mean much.”
Ash took a breath — he couldn’t begrudge her for feeling this way. It’s probably how he’d feel. “Well…thanks for helping me, all the same.”
“I am not helping you,” she exhaled, turning back towards the corridor.
“Where’re you going?”
“The bridge. I am assuming command of the ship.”
Ash looked between her back and Qarnan down below, not paying attention as he whipped an empty rack against the wall. “NO! THOSE SCUP-SIPPERS TOOK THE MAN CANNON!!”
He continued sorting through clutter as Ash jogged around Linares. She halted impatiently as he put up his hands plaintively. “I know you’re eager to get moving, but we have some priorities right now.”
“I am not afraid,” she brushed off.
“I didn’t say that,” he assured, “I’m keen to get distance too, but if we’re not careful about where we exit Rift space, we could attract a lot of unwanted attention.”
“Not unwanted,” she reasoned, “I’m taking you back to Arleth.
He blinked at her. “…Come again?”
She furrowed her brow and walked around him. “It was a simple sentence, what confused you?”
He slid ahead of her again and stretched an arm across the doorway to the corridor, she again halted impatiently. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not going to Arleth.”
“You want to try me?”
He saw her shoulders tense up and he leaned on the doorjamb. “I don’t have to,” he reasoned, firm but de-escalating. “There’s whole galaxies between us and Arleth, and this thing barely has the lights on.”
“Then we will find a refueling port and commandeer a new ship.”
“By yourself?”
“If I have to.”
“Well good luck with that, the closest fueling ports to us are privately owned and all their ships have trackers, backup-trackers and fail-safe protocols to shut them down if they don’t register with the dock master every few hours. Bulloch’s Edge isn’t too far, system like that might have some ports without much scrutiny, that is if you’re comfortable with third-party arbitration over—”
Linares grabbed him by the shoulder of his harness, hauled him out of the doorway and slammed him against a support beam with a resounding CLANG. In fairness, he was intentionally droning on, thinking he’d either bore her into giving up or annoy her into lashing out, and unfortunately it happened to be the latter.
“We are going. Back. To Arleth.”
Ash grabbed her arm bracing him to the pillar, assertive but controlled. “No,” he imitated her emphasis, “I’m…getting out of…this system.”
Neither of them noticed Qarnan suddenly standing beside them, clamping a firm hand on both their shoulders. “Wrong…Both of you…are getting off my boat…before I BURST A BLOOD VESSEL!”
The metal and fabric coating each of them groaned as their grips on each other tightened. Ash was fairly confident he could handle Qarnan now that he knew his tricks, but Linares proved strong, resourceful, and more skilled than himself. If he didn’t hold back, it wouldn’t be a fight — but that was still a non-option. The three of them held out for a few beats, before Linares risked a hushed warning at him.
“You know what she has planned?”
“I do.”
“Then you know Arleth is the only place that could stand against a Proto-Force.”
“Good thing they don’t have to,” Ash shrugged as he slipped the obsidian shard out of his sleeve. Linares’ eyebrows lifted, as Qarnan clocked it quizzically.
“Hell’s that thing?”
“Shard of the Umbra Zone. Pocket dimension,” he answered tersely, still keeping his eyes on Linares, “Prehistoric entity inside. My sister wants to open it up and end the universe. Needs me for it.”
Qarnan rolled his eyes and groaned, releasing the two Ascendants. “Ah geez, I didn’t know this job was political — that ain’t my kinda music!”
As Qarnan paced to the railing, Linares shook her head, snapping back forward, “Atrocita wants all our heads now, Arleth can protect us and the shard!”
Ash scoffed, “Hate to break it to you, but that shiny rat’s nest can’t protect anyone.”
She tilted her head insincerely, “I’m sorry, are you afraid to go back to the horrors you endured in paradise?”
“Lot of words I’d use for it,” Ash dismissed, “‘Paradise’ isn’t high on the list.”
“Yes, I’m sure you suffered and toiled under the yolk of clear skies and pure air, while you slept in my room and loved my family.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Wasn’t a lot of love to go around, ma’am.”
She scoffed, “Of course, what could I expect from Darkspawn like you—”
At that, Ash jerked up swiftly, effortlessly prying Linares’ arm off his chest and forcing her back a step, while a thunderous rumble warbled around him. “Do not…call me that.”
Silence held as he released Linares’ forearm, the Ironstorm looked ready to strike back and flinch in fear at the same time, while Ash exhaled, the rumbling subsiding quickly thanks to his harness. Qarnan glanced between the two, then grunted and headed for the exit.
“Where’re you going?” Ash asked after him.
“Sensin’ a tension in the room,” he lazily pointed between the two Ascendants, “Papa Sledge don’t do heart to hearts.”
He stalked out of the hangar, leaving them alone. Beats of silence passed as Linares stared daggers into Ash, while he himself forced himself to relax. He paced around her in the center of the platform, kneading his hands and searching for the right words.
“…Look, I — I know what you went through, and—”
“Do you?” She narrowed her eyes and stepped back towards him, “Do you know?”
He bit his tongue. “I know it should’ve been me! I know that, but neither of us had a choice!”
“Yes, but somehow I’m the only one who paid for it! You grew up in my people’s love!”
“Love!” He scoffed at her, “How many times do I have to say it? They. Did not. Want me!”
“Poor thing,” she sneered, “Were the guardians of light and beauty mean to you? I couldn’t imagine your suffering while I was being lashed and beaten into a killing machine!”
“I couldn’t do anything to help you, and I tried! I wanted to mount rescue party after rescue party, but I was bound by the treaty’s laws like everyone else, I was just as helpless as you!”
“‘Just as helpless as me’??!” She snapped and shoved him. He did not resist. “You have one of the most powerful Proto-Forces in the universe inside you, ready at a moment’s notice to make you stronger than any god, a strength you choose to ignore! You don’t get to say you were just as helpless as me!” She shoved him again, this time to the ground. “And don’t you dare talk to me about honoring the treaty when you abandoned it! You left Arleth on a whim, and I had to risk my life rebelling against an empire of monsters! I had to keep myself safe by slaughtering people for Atrocita’s ego! I had to hide from my abusers and my family, I did things I can never live down just to scrape by in the shadows, just because you were born! Don’t you ever compare your struggles to mine!”
Ash spread his arms wide, not yet getting up but firing back all the same. “And what was I supposed to do?! Invade Cindreth by myself and plunge the universe back into war?? Now you do sound like an Astral!”
“I don’t care what you should’ve done,” she hissed and leaned over him, “I care about what you can do now! I’m free, free from Cindreth and Atrocita; and I have you. If I take you back to Arleth, we’ll be giving them an unprecedented gift: their adopted son returned and their lost daughter brought home! We’ll be safe, do you not understand? We’ll be heroes!”
Ash laughed at her. “Heroes? You really don’t know anything about where you come from.” Her head bobbed back in shock, then anger. “You think I’m gonna win you a place in the spotlight on Arleth?” He challenged as he got to his feet, “What do you expect to happen if you take me back? A welcome home with open arms? A parade?? Do you know what I was to them? I wasn’t their ‘adopted son,’ I wasn’t even a person to them — most of them called me an ‘it!’” It was Ash’s turn to prowl closer now, backing Linares up. “I wasn’t even dirt to them! They used to tell me so. They’d say ‘at least life can grow out of dirt.’ My entire life, they treated me like a rabid animal, waiting for me to snap, so they could say they were right all along about me. Until they heard I had some elder weapon inside me, oh no, that’s when I started to matter! That’s when they came forward with gifts and praises, suits of armor forged in the heart of a star, statues and towers named after me, that’s when everyone said they believed in me all along! If you think I’ll ever set foot back on that—”
Lost in his rage, he looked at Linares again, and stopped. He watched her watching him: defiance, resentment…and exhaustion. Desperation. And now, thanks to him, defeat. He noticed the open gash below her chin as well, untreated and seemingly not bothering her as blood trickled down her neck. It wasn't a severe wound, but from her wobbling posture and glassy, fading eyes, the force may have concussed her — but she'd fought it off until now.
This argument seemed to eat up all the energy she had left, but she held on by a thread. A thread, it looked like, that held her up many times in the past. At first Ash thought she looked unbreakable, but now he saw she wasn’t invincible, she was just barely keeping up. He exhaled, his shoulders slumping. He suddenly felt the weight of his fatigue, his harness, and much more, bearing down on him. He rubbed his temples and groaned, walking away from her and easing on a supply crate. He sat still for a while, head in his hands.
“I know it still doesn’t mean anything, but…I'm sorry. I never want to see Arleth again, but...I didn't think about what it means to you,” he picked his head up, but couldn’t look at her. He stared at the grimy grate floor and made himself small. “It was never fair what happened with us — neither of us had a say, but you’re right. You are the one who paid for it. I can’t give back the years you lost, but I can promise you this…whatever happens, I won’t let the Entrophs take you back. I owe you that much.”
Linares stood silent for a long time before she slumped against a support beam, sliding down to the floor, sitting perpendicular to him. “…I hated you for so long,” she said hollowly. “I always had this image of you when I was growing up...the son who escaped a life under Cindreth, got to be the prince of a world bathed in light. When I heard that you left Arleth, I was...so angry. I was ready to kill you when I saw you — because I thought you threw away the life you already stole from me.” She finally looked over at him. "But I think I know why you really left. Your father killed a Proto-Force and seized its power, then used it to defeat all the others. Nexus Terminus was his to wield, and at first, it was thought a noble thing…but then…"
"I don't really know what happened next," Ash admitted, "Nobody does. The High King had assumptions, but after the Proto-Forces fell, no one on Arleth knows why Maladact did what he did. I just know how he got there, and…and I don't want to prove that his way works."
"…Then what's your way?"
Ash bit his lip and mulled it over before finally meeting her eyes. "I don't know. I just know what I don't want to be." She chuckled bitterly, seemingly in agreement as Ash now examined the Umbral Zone shard. "Any ideas for this?"
Fading though she was, Linares held firm and anchored herself to the situation at hand, clearing her throat and sitting up straighter. "It is, um…it is a fragment of a subatomic plane," she explained, bringing herself back to life by recalling the information. "Near indestructible, apart from — Atrocita thinks, apart from an energy signature of its like."
Ash nodded, running a finger over its edges. "I thought it felt radioactive."
"Extremely."
"Can't just throw it out the airlock then," he scratched, "Signature might register now that it's out in the open. Can't exactly leave it on an inhabited planet either, might raise a few eyebrows when its indigenous die by the acre from rad poisoning."
"Arleth would withstand it," she offered, more diplomatic this time.
Ash bit his cheek and nodded begrudgingly. "Maybe…or they might find it useful themselves." He turned and sat facing her on his crate. "Look, I…I don't think it's a safe option, but I won't try and tell you what to do. We're probably headed to a space port, from there, I can help you get passage wherever you wanna go. If that's Arleth, I can at least point you the right direction."
"I cannot go back there without you," she replied, not aggressive but sad and resigned.
"…All due respect," he looked down, "You're their flesh and blood. If I'm gone and they get you back…hell, they might give you your own holiday."
"I do not want a holiday," she said shakily, "I do not want accolades or reward, I just need..." she trailed off as she looked down and kneaded her hands, only now noticing the wet blood still coating them. Above that, she finally noticed the bib of her own blood coating her neck and chest plate. "Wha…what is this??"
"Your blood, I expect."
"No, I…how??"
"Qarnan's got a few tricks for us," he sighed and stood up. "That doesn't look so good."
She looked at her blood and flicked it away, "It is nothing."
"Have you cleaned the wound?"
"I am an Astral," she asserted, "I do not suffer infection."
"We're not supposed to suffer injury either," he countered, "But when we bleed, we bleed like everybody else."
"I have bled before," she stood up as well, lazily turning from him, "It will heal."
"If you want it to heal properly, I can take a look."
She looked back at him and cocked her head doubtfully. "You are a healer as well?"
He shrugged and took a few cautious steps closer. "…Everyone wants me to break things for them. So I like to fix things." She hesitated, then swallowed and turned back towards him. He came closer, and she lifted her head, exposing her neck and the underside of her chin, gathering the few wet strands of her hair and pulling them back into the quaffed top of her head. He gently laid a hand on her shoulder and tipped her chin back. "This, uh…this is gonna hurt."
"Pain is no stranger."
He tensed, then focused on her wound. He conjured the Tectonic Mantle within and condensed it as far down in his stomach as it could go, concentrating it until he could extract the smallest amount of energy. He tapped into an emotional core separate from the Mantle's usual fuel source of fight or flight or resentment; instead he focused on guilt and responsibility. Here he was, standing before the one who suffered in his place, while he bemoaned the privileged life he left behind. Discriminator, yes, and torturous in its way, but he was at all times safe and autonomous. After all, he reminded himself, he chose to leave, and no one pursued him. He thought back on what Linares told him, of how her simple act of escaping constant abuse led her on a path into further darkness, where she had to cause deliberate harm to keep herself alive. He felt a new anger now, a righteous one, under a guiding star: this was not fair. Ordinarily, he could ignore that — that's just the way things are. But this time, he heard Zik's father echoing in his mind:
'Instead of how you could make them.'
The Mantle obeyed him without incident, without flare and without struggle. A tiny thread of orange light crawled up his arm and into the tip of his right fingers as he drew his first two fingers over Linares' wound, cauterizing it slowly. She took in a sharp breath, but otherwise held stoic and steady, ignoring the pain as she stared upward. The sight of her being able to tune out pain so effortlessly only fueled Ash's indignation, and with care, he drew the Tectonic energy across the wound that spiderwebbed under her chin, the longest laceration licking up uner her jaw and up her left cheek. By the time he was done, he'd sealed the wound into a reddish scar. He stepped back and exhaled his emotions, while Linares lowered her head and blinked a few times, irritated by the burning sensation, but it soon subsided. She exhaled as well and nodded at him. He gave the tiniest smile in return, but she swallowed and shook her head. "What about him?" she raised, looking toward the exit.
"Who, Qarnan?" Ash looked back, then glanced across the floor on the walkway. Amidst the strewn equipment, he followed strands of unspooled black tape to a few scattered black data tapes — centuries out of date from what he knew of, but the basic design was familiar. They also bore Earth writing, similar to his posters, and he chewed his cheek as he scooped one of them up. "…He just needs a little good faith."