2006, 1st February

Space Station, Apotheosis

Lucia woke from her trance like sleep in unfamiliar surroundings.

The sheets wrapped around her smelled of unfamiliar deodorant, and golden sunlight spilled in from the windows, which struck her as profoundly odd.

She peeked out of the windows to a scene that was most definitely not outer space, judging by the sunlit fields of green.

There were discrepancies in the image of course; the image was of a much higher resolution than any display technology she had ever seen before, but she could still tell the difference, and anyway, the movement of the grass swaying in the wind was far too symmetrical in its pattern.

She strolled into the shower, and came out, taking a whiff of her own discarded clothes, and wrinkled her nose in displeasure.

So she slipped into one of Michael’s shirts and trousers- the man appeared to own absolutely no casual wear, for whatever reason- and despite it not being a perfect fit, she pulled on her running shoes and walked out to visit Magnus in the hospital ward.

She found his boyfriend, Anders, pacing around the room, frowning slightly at her when she arrived.

“Magnus is already completely recovered, if you’re here to see him. He went off to find that mage friend of yours, the one that was here yesterday.”

Lucia could tell from his tone that he wasn’t exactly keen on being left behind, but not having the patience for small talk, she merely turned on her heel, and walked to where she knew she would find them both.

Michael was still rubbing the exhaustion from his eyes when she arrived.

He ran a displeased palm over his developing stubble, and rose from his seat.

“That stimulant shot I took takes a minute to kick in. I should go clean up, now that you’re finally here.”

Magnus frowned and said, “We still have to go back and do something about that ancient vampire we left buried in the middle of a capital city, you know.”

“He’s-’

“-not-”

“-there-”

“-any-”

“-longer.”

Michael and Lucia spoke simultaneously, and Magnus looked between them, amusement clear on his expression.

“And you two know this how?”

“I’ve had a learning experience recently, and learned not to take the intelligence of creatures like this for granted. They’ll always have a surprise or two up their sleeve,” Michael told them.

“Senses,” Lucia said, “With the inordinate amount of activity going on around it lately, there’s no way the creature did not notice a change. Being thrust into an unfamiliar environment, it’s going to lie low, collect as much information as possible. And as soon as it senses it is not being held any longer, well… it pops out, and makes its way into the world.”

“Where in the world?” Magnus asked her.

“America.”

“Why America?”

“Europe and Asia already have their… how should I put this… apex predators. America does not. A haven for half bloods, looking to escape a pure blood’s hunting grounds. I suppose Australia could be another option, but the logistics wouldn’t quite work out.”

“As fascinating as all this is, it’s not an immediate concern. The creature is centuries out of it’s time, maybe millenia. It’s not going to make any moves for a while. But Hans is still very much out there. As is your father, Lionel.”

Lucia frowned.

“What does my father have to do with all this?”

“Later. I need a shower and a shave.”

Saying so, Michael stormed out.

Magnus leaned back with a sigh, his eyes running over Lucia.

“So… Nice shirt.”

“Shut up.”

After a pause Lucia asked him, “What do you think we’re going to be doing now, moving forward.”

“Lucia… I think Michael plans to use you to replace your father.”

“What does that mean; replace my father?”

“Obviously, your father has been secretly working alongside Apotheosis for a while now. Maybe they decided he’s bad for their image, or that he’s becoming too much of a liability.”

“So this thing at Mars today is, what, meeting with my new collaborators slash overlords?”

“Maybe. Should be good for us at any rate. You finally get the backup you need to really eliminate your father.”

“That’s if you’re right about this. That’s a big if.”

“I remain eternally optimistic.” Magnus replied sarcastically.

Shortly, Michael returned, freshly dressed up in yet another suit, and entirely clean shaven.

“Well. Lucia, Magnus. Are you two ready to do this?”

They both nodded and rose, and Michael led them to the hangar.

Soon, they were off through the void of space in utter silence, then Lucia had the strangest feeling of passing through a ripple in reality itself, a feeling she had come to associate with passing through a bleed.

And the engines began to roar audibly around their exterior once more, indicative of passing from the void of space to a soup of matter surrounding them.

Michael piloted the voidcraft, steering it towards the surface of the blazing red planet, and the surface of Spirit-Mars emerged into their visual fields.

To call the installations sprawling would be an injustice to the term; training grounds, administrative blocks, power stations, research fields, residential complexes, massive, decadent tombs, all stretched across more space than many countries, dotted with pits of fire, all around a central grand hall.

It was utterly wasteful; the amount of space they had occupied would never be filled by the population of the organisation’s members, unless they started harbouring members from across multiple timelines in this single location; assuming they did not have similar setups in their own timelines.

The Voidcraft flew into a Hangar sealed by a spatial ward, and all three of them disembarked.

The environment in the martian hallways of Apotheosis stood in stark contrast to those of the space station they had left behind, halls of black marbles accentuated by scarlet light, squarely opposite of the sterile white of the station.

“What kind of aesthetic is this?” Lucia wondered.

“Can’t imagine this is comfortable on the eyes. Especially for the normal people without a supernatural sense to assist them.” Magnus said.

“Most Hollows stationed here have plenty of bio augmentations,” Michael explained, “To better work on a somewhat even footing with the mages here.”

“Who are we here to see anyway?” Magnus asked him.

“Abas Khan. The man who engineered a more direct link between Apotheosis and Lionel Bellone- or tried to, anyway. Also the High Lord of the military wing of Apotheosis.”

“That sounds like he’s dangerous.” Lucia observed.

“Yes. That’s a mild way to put it.”

They made their way across the dimly lit halls, and Lucia noticed they did not draw nearly as much attention from the surroundings as they would back on earth.

This place suited her just fine.

Sounds of violence emanated from ahead, as the corridor itself widened, and they emerged to a series of larger chambers, partitioned from the central corridor with glass.

A dark skinned woman in a tracksuit, with cracks akin to those on heat-cracked earth, glowing with unnatural red light on one side of her face, went through the basic motions of a kickboxer, with remarkable speed and precision, against another opponent that was clearly not human, the way its mass yielded below her knuckles as she struck.

Android- and the woman warped its metallic structure with each strike.

Soon, her sparring partner fell to pieces, the same way several of her earlier partners had gone, judging from the scrapped remains around her.

“Adana!” Michael hailed her.

The woman’s face took on a weary expression as she regarded the three of them.

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She walked out as the sliding glass doors parted to let her through.

“Michael. What a surprise.” She said, in a dry tone.

“Charmed as always, Adana. We need to see Abas.”

“What on earth for.”

“Stick around and find out.”

“More of your games?”

“Games? No. Mine? Also no.”

“Come on, then. The stomatopod is this way.”

Lucia drew closer to Michael’s side, and said, “Did she say stomatopod?”

“It’s the kind of thing you have to see for yourself.” He replied.

Led further along the black hallways, both Lucia and Magnus detected the oddest scent in the air- some organism, not strictly human.

It was in fact, a stomatopod, black exoskeleton lined with glowing bulbs of bioluminescence.

Only, larger than most blue whales.

“Welcome to the personal ship of Abas Khan.” Michael said.

“How is that thing even alive?” Magnus breathed.

“Did you say it was his ship?” Lucia asked him.

“Don’t fall behind now.” Adana called from ahead of them, then disappeared behind what appeared to be a hatch built into the exoskeleton of the creature, and Michael followed suit, followed by Magnus and Lucia.

The interior was equally as uncanny as the exterior, a seeming weave of metal and flesh creating the hollow interiors of a biomechanical chimaera, illuminated by bioluminescence.

Lucia felt a presence up ahead, heavy in the air, tangible in an unnatural way.

And very reminiscent of her father.

She felt the existence of a being that stood apart from all other organisms, a true apex.

A man, heavily muscled, thick black hair upto his shoulders, sat upon the floor ahead, legs crossed over each other and spine perfectly straight.

“I see you’re younger today. Special occasion?” Michael asked him.

Lucia noted the implication that the man could alter his apparent age at a whim.

And that Michael was apparently close enough to this being to address him so casually.

“Michael. I know the Ulfhednar. And who is your undead friend?”

“The one who will bring down Lionel Bellone. And replace him.”

Abas studied Lucia, his gaze penetrating, and Lucia subconsciously raised her guard.

After a pause, he finally said, “You… are his daughter.”

He turned to Michael.

“But what makes you think she can destroy Lionel?”

“She can’t.” Michael told him bluntly.

Lucia frowned; the fact was true enough, but hadn’t he brought them here to fix that situation?

“She won’t need to,” Michael continued, “Because he will allow his daughter victory.”

Abas’ eyes widened in realisation.

“Of course. He has already realised that an alliance with him, especially considering his past and current occupation, is largely unpalatable to a significant percentage of our organisation-”

“Including me,” Michael said, smoothly, “But Lionel wants this alliance, both for immediately obvious reasons, and ones that will probably become apparent later. And if Lucia deposes him then-”

“Michael. It still takes significant strength to keep the supernatural denizens of even Earth alone in check.”

“She has that ability.”

“She hasn’t even-”

“I believe I can speak for myself.” Lucia interrupted them.

Abas regarded her. “You believe yourself capable of this task, vampire?”

“Obviously.”

“And yet, I see a foreign enchantment on you. Michael’s doing, no doubt.”

“To enable me to move in sunlight. Nothing more.”

“Adana will judge your capabilities. Adana, take them to the sparring chambers and see what they can do.”

Lucia frowned, and Michael approached her side and took her by the shoulder, leading her behind Adana while whispering in her ear.

“Adana is a Talon. The most capable mages of the military wing earn that designation, aside from Abas himself, and one is assigned to the protection of each High Lord, as well as being entrusted with the most high risk assignments. I don’t believe this is anything more than a test of your limits. You’re not really expected to win.”

After a pause, he added, “This would be a good time to surprise them.”

“Tell me what you think she’s capable of.”

“She’s the apprentice of Abas himself, so her specialty is life magic. She’s an expert in that field. But that’s good for you. Your undead state makes life magic all but useless to directly harm you. She’s still going to be a very capable shapeshifter and a physical powerhouse, with regeneration as potent as anything you’ve seen from a werewolf, and much further than even that. Besides that, it’s hard to tell exactly what she’s added to her repertoire since the last time I saw her.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

They reached the sparring area again before long, with Michael, Magnus and Abas staying behind the glass partition as Adana walked through in front of Lucia-

Who promptly sprang like a panther in the hunt.

Adana whirled on her feet and was barely able to intercept her charge, and they tumbled through onto the floor.

Lucia unleashed a hail of blows from the top, each landing unerringly, but Adana was talented in her own right, her guard moving to intercept each blow, and Lucia could feel the muscle beneath her forearms, like cords of steel.

She began to burn the blood within her system, and her limbs filled with supernatural power, the glass partitions rattling with the force of each blow.

Adana’s guard remained intact, every bruise on her skin clearing in not a fraction of a second after the damage had been done, and the bones beneath her muscle relentlessly firm.

It was only when her flesh began to bubble that Lucia cut her assault short, and retreated, only to have a massive raptor-like creature tear its way out of Adana’s clothes and dive for her, claws outstretched.

Still not fast enough, and she evaded the charge, leaving a vacuum streaking behind her.

Till the creature seemed to blur through reality, and its claws found her, tearing through borrowed shirt and abdomen alike.

The damage was superficial, with her perfect control over her circulatory system, and several of her organ systems having been rendered vestigial by her condition.

It hurt all the same, and the creature blurred through intervening space once more, dealing a score of blows again, with speed that even outpaced her.

“Dimensionalism,” Michael breathed outside, frowning.

Adana- or the creature she was now- accelerated her passage through time, landing more blows, spotting an opening and-

Getting her arm torn clean off.

Baited.

Lucia unleashed a psychic compulsion, making Adana back off, while draining the reptilian arm she had torn off dry, resupplying herself.

Baring her fangs in a vicious snarl, she took initiative once more.

She had figured out a pattern, and threw it off with psychic compulsions, even as the blood ran ever drier in her system, burning out as she called her powers.

The damage did not stick, not even grievous harm to the central nervous system, all healed away nigh instantaneously.

Lucia knit together her own wounds, but the hunger grew ever deeper, howling within her.

Adana abandoned the form of the raptor, now human again, and unleashed her power, this time as ripples through reality, warping Lucia’s limbs as they did the very light around her, reminiscent of ripples cutting through the reflective surface of water.

Lucia howled in anguish, but could not afford to drop.

The spell awkwardly warped her field of view as well, and she looked at Michael’s face, even turned away from him-

And he pointed his fingers at his eyes.

She let her hunger loose, and clouds of shadow devoured the light in the room.

Cutting off line of sight, and the spell lost its hold.

But she was dangerously deprived now, the clouds thickening to compensate, power lashing out erratically in tandem with her deficient circulatory system.

The glowing cracks of red light across Adana’s face, not dulled even by the shadows, gave her away, and Lucia lunged, fangs bared-

And stopped by armour of bony plate-

Trap.

Hard spikes drove into Lucia’s chest.

Not penetrating deep enough to pierce the heart, stopped by dense muscle, but painful nonetheless.

The shadows receded, but Lucia’s hunger remained unfulfilled.

And now it burst through her very form.

Matter around her began to collapse in on herself, physical body replaced by a black scar on the face of reality, an all-consuming void.

Time itself rushed faster around the building critical mass while dimensions lost all meaning, swallowed by the gaping void, and matter was rent to blazing streams of plasma.

White hot energy seemed to rush outward, then stop abruptly , curving on itself, contained within a perfect radius.

Then the blazing corona of energy was gone, and the shadows retreated, and Lucia, flesh once more, dropped to what remained of the stone floor beneath her feet.

Of Adana, nothing but her skeletal structure, not white calcium but some dark alloy, remained, flesh having been stripped clean, and for the briefest moment, Michael believed she had been killed, even her brain matter having been consumed, but in the blink of an eye, she was back, an unconcerned if impressed expression on her face.

Even Magnus, used to staggering displays of regeneration, frowned.

“Enough!” Abas declared.

Adana nodded and waved her hand once, and the arena had fought on was restored to its previous, flawless state, even as the clothes on her back seemed to reappear from thin air, and Lucia blinked in confusion and exhaustion.

Michael walked through the destroyed arena, slipping out of his own suit and placing it around Lucia’s shoulders.

She saw unmistakeable pride and satisfaction on his features.

Abas walked forward, seeming to reevaluate, considering something before he spoke.

“It normally takes a Master of Death Magic to open a Bleed to the Horizon realm of Death. But you turned yourself into one. Innovative. And very impressive. She loses out a bit in overall versatility but her power is formidable still.”

He turned to the Talon.

“Your assessment, Adana?”

“Even without that final move, she’s very effective. Very well trained, and not a single wasted movement. Tell me, vampire, where did you learn your Muay Thai?”

“Never heard of it.”

“You seemed to use it well enough.”

“You used it,” Lucia replied, “I just did what you did.”

Responding to Adana’s look of incredulity, she added, “I guess that’s supposed to be hard or something?”

“Even without that,” Adana continued, “She moved like she had perfect foresight.”

“There’s no perfect foresight,” Michael said, “The future holds an infinite number of deviations. Foresight has almost no combat application.”

“I wasn’t looking into the future if that’s what you’re thinking.” Lucia said.

“Oh?”

“There’s one most optimal movement for every position we were in. I knew you’d make those moves, and reacted to them. Thanks for not letting me down, by the way.”

“Enough,” Abas said, “I have decided. Lucia is more than capable as a replacement, but I know nothing of her character. Strength isn’t enough.”

“I’ll vouch for her,” Michael said.

“Good enough. How about your other problem; the one with Hans. How’s that coming along?”

Michael smiled.

“I have something planned to lure him out as well.”

Abas nodded, and gestured to Adana to come away.

“Lucia,” Magnus approached them, “Something bothering you?”

“The way she placed everything back where it was,” Lucia said, “Her clothes had the exact same wrinkle on them as before we started fighting.”

“If I had to guess,” Michael said, “That was a time shaping spell. In layman’s terms, she excised a segment from a timeline in which this fight hadn’t even occurred and stitched those segments onto this timeline. That would require expertise in Dimensionalism… I wasn’t aware she had progressed that far.”

Lucia’s frown deepened.

“And she didn’t even use that during the fight. I can’t think of a counter to that kind of technique yet.”

“It was a test, not a fight, Lucia,” Magnus said, “I’d say you accomplished what you needed to.”

Michael, on the other hand, grinned.

“I like the fact that you used the word yet. We’ll get there one day. For now though, we have other things to worry about.”