Ominek’s cruiser eased up alongside the docking port of the derelict station. Initially, he was going to deploy a shuttle and take the hangar bay, but the Indra’s presence had made him weary. He knew the Indra was the ship Morwen and her squad used to stop him on Eryn several months back. Not wanting to walk into an ambush for what was effectively a treasure hunt mission, he opted for the safest ingress point. The cruiser jolted as it docked forcefully with the station. His daughter turning to give him a nod.
“Thank you Tanak. Be a dear and help guide our new friends into the station. There could be pesky Federation spell soldiers skulking about in the dark.”
Tanak bowed her head, her eyes narrowed to mere slits. He was proud that she was always suspicious of him and not the unquestioning loving idiot her older sister had turned out to be. It was likely why Tanak had survived where Tua had not. Well, that and the absurdly over indulgent penchant for violence and bloodshed.
His daughter’s wings ruffled irritatedly as she turned and began ushering the primals towards the docking tube. Ominek wanted the primals in the front in case a fight was to be had. Better to spend the primals than to waste more dragons. Once they were in position, his daughter threw the latch on the hatch and the door slid upward to reveal the tube leading into the darkened station. No one moved for a long moment, waiting for the inevitable incoming fire. When none came, all eyes turned back to Ominek who simply shrugged.
“Perhaps it’s not all of them. Go on then and be careful. If you find anything of interest, summon me.”
“Understood.” Tanak said. Luffa stood at Tanak’s side and stared daggers at him. Regrettable but necessary. He needed her to play her role. In another life, it was possible they could have been actual friends. She seemed nice enough, but that just honestly didn’t interest him at all. Only for what purpose she could serve for him.
As the pack of primals and his daughter strode forth, he folded his arms curiously. “Just what will you be, Luffa? A sacrificial pawn? Or a key piece of the board?” Ominek whispered to himself.
“I don’t like this one bit,” Luffa whispered to Tanak. She was a dragon hatchling, and thus, the enemy, but Luffa knew Tanak disliked her father as much, if not more, than she did. The enemy of my enemy, or whatever it was humans liked to say.
“Do you actually intend to allow my father to have the bombs? If we find them, I mean?” Tanak asked.
Luffa tensed. Was this a loyalty test? What was Tanak’s real game here? She knew Ominek was crafty. Perhaps he’d sent his daughter with her merely to keep an eye on her. She turned to regard the corridors, long since abandoned and devoid of life. Were it possible for dust to accumulate, she suspected it well would have. Instead, they just found everything in disarray.
She spent a point of her AP and allowed her manifest light magic to radiate her aura. Papers and light objects fled from the pressure of her aura. Tanak grunted and gave her some space, but gave Luffa a thankful nod for the light. Without power, the station was like an unlit maze. Tanak wove a few soul signs and cast an orb of soul magic. The billowing ethereal green orb floated above her hand.
“No. I won’t hurt you. Yes, I’ll release you when I’m done. I promise,” Tanak whispered to the orb, which brightened some after the one-way conversation.
“Were you talking to your magic just then?”
“No. To the soul.”
“The what?”
“The soul.” Tanak said, holding it out.
Luffa stared at the soul and blinked until she could feel the faintest pulse of it back to her. She stepped back, startled.
“I-you’re a-a necromancer?”
Tanak shrugged meekly. “Barely. I know some basic spells. But I lack the power to do anything complex. Any souls I summon are volunteers or were bound to be for service by my father. I release them to the cycle when I can.”
“Does it hurt?” Luffa asked, pointing to the small orb of soul energy.
“No, they are souls. They lack bodies to feel pain. But souls that languish in the light realm can feel phantom pain. Too much of it drives them mad. It causes them to mutate into malicious spirits like revenants, phantasms, Banshees and specters.”
“None of that sounds fun to be around.”
Tanak’s gaze fell again. “They aren’t. Unfortunately, learning to shackle, binding, and necromancy are requirements for weaving as a Sauridius.”
Luffa studied her own hands. She, too, had been forced to learn things she might not have otherwise. She flexed her hands. “I often wonder. Would I have learned to weave had I not been a war slave?”
“Would you?” Tanak asked her curiously. More than that, there was interest there.
Luffa shrugged. “I don’t know. I had a friend who was a spell warrior. I think it would have been nice to learn some of his techniques.” She said, fondly recalling Private Sala. One of Amara’s friends. The war primal that had pledged himself to Morwen’s squad. Luffa wondered if she’d ever get the chance to see him again now that she was stuck working with the Enemy. The idea of fighting him made her temporarily ill.
“Are you ok? You look pale suddenly?”
“I-I’m fine. Thank you. Just worried.”
“As am I. If father finds these magi-bombs he’s after he could really cause some damage with them, and worst of all, he wouldn’t even need to be present to use them. It’s not right. He needs to be accountable.”
Luffa blinked, seeing Tanak in the whole light of truth now. Tanak was concerned for Luffa because she wanted to stop her father and Luffa was an unknown quantity. She wasn’t being tested for Ominek, she was being questioned for herself. She smiled softly at that. Happy to have found a mutual ally in all this madness. Counting on her own brothers and sisters had proven a fool’s errand.
“If it comes to that? We’ll make sure he doesn’t then.” Luffa gave Tanak a serious nod. For a moment, she considered what a powerful duo, a primal and a dragon, could be on the battlefield.
Tanak held a hand up silencing Luffa, she niffed at the air a few times and tasted it with her tongue for long moments. “We’re not alone.”
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Before Luffa could react, a few of her sisters rushed forward and around the bend. Tanak and Luffa trotted after them to find Amara, of all people on the floor, weeping. She was holding her knees to her chest, with her head buried in her knees, and Luffa suddenly knew great fear and panic.
There were a multitude of reasons. This was just bad for everyone. Luffa and her brothers and sisters were traitors of Eryn. She’d betrayed her friend. But Amara was also an enemy of Ominek. If he discovered she was here, he might actually kill her only friend that she’d just reunited with.
“I’ll go tell Ominek!” Lira said, rushing off. She was showing herself as a quick pleaser of Ominek. The praise he lauded her with surely had nothing to do with it. Luffa huffed a sigh and crouched next to Amara.
“What are you doing here?”
Amara looked up with glassy eyes and tear-streaked cheeks. “I-” she stammered and cleared her throat. “I stole the Indra and ran away. I didn’t know you’d be here.”
Luffa frowned, wiping her friend’s cheek. “Oh Amara. What have you been through?”
Amara looked up at her with tear streaked eyes. “I saw them. I saw my family. It was in the past somehow.”
Luffa’s brows furrowed. “Time magic? That’s excessively rare.”
Amara scoffed. “Not if you’re me. I’ve done more time travel in the past few weeks than I’d like to admit to.”
Luffa sat down next to Amara protectively. “Tell me what happened. From the beginning.”
Amara gave Luffa a pained look. There was something she wanted to say but was afraid to. Luffa knew that look well. Fear. Whatever happened to her, she was genuinely concerned about it.
“Someone came to me. A demigod. Powerful Arch Mage. He did something to me. Woke something up.”
“Did you tell the others? Surely they would have helped?”
“I can’t!” Amara said, almost in a plea. “He threatened them.”
Luffa frowned, leaning back. “And you believed him. So this demigod shows up making threats. He sounds like a bad act to be caught up with. Is that why you ran without telling the others? They seemed nice. Like they would have tried to help.”
Amara shrank in on herself, deflating under Luffa’s comments. “I couldn’t risk it. He proved he could reach them whenever he wanted. My only option was to get away. To get stronger. ”
Luffa’s brow wrinkled again. The logic made sense. The execution did not. “So you came here?”
“I was…guided. By a part of my soul.”
Luffa nodded solemnly. A wistful smile creasing her lips. “It must be nice to move with that kind of certainty. To know something deep in your soul.”
Amara’s eyes brimmed with tears, and she shook her head. “I feel like I’m coming apart at the seams. I don’t understand what’s happening. I don’t enjoy doing it alone.”
“Shhhh.” Luffa said, wrapping an arm around Amara. “You’re not alone. Not anymore. This demigod can threaten your friends. But it won’t phase me.”
“It should.” Ominek’s voice sounded from the rear of the primals. He strode through their ranks and stopped short of Amara, Luffa, and Tanak. Arm’s folded, and scowling down his nose at them. Luffa’s heart raced and for a moment, she knew he’d shift and eat them right here, just to be rid of one of his greatest enemies. Luffa knew of Amara’s victory against him on Hidros.
“I should very much like to just devour you right here and now, child.” Ominek said to Amara.
Luffa rose, her gold aura billowing outward protectively. Aggressively. She was close to channeling her stone skin spell, too. Oh, so close. The metal deck plates beneath their feet strained under the power. Luffa’s and Ominek’s auras clashed between them. Indomitable wills warring.
Ominek’s hand rippled, revealing crimson scales and black talons. Luffa was certain this was it. This was where it would all come unraveled. Ominek would attack. Her brothers and sisters would be torn, conflicted, and be drawn into the fight on both sides. Chaos would ensue. Most would die.
“Leave her to me. Erlaut had me training her at the Weaver college. She’ll listen to me. She can be an asset.”
Ominek trembled in front of Luffa, not from fear but from an almost contained rage. Luffa could taste that in his aura. The undiluted hate at Amara for ruining his ritual on Hoshun. She could tell just how close he was to giving into his primal urges and slaughtering the entire station and leaving on his own. But she also felt something else tether him back from beyond. Like a magical rope pulling him back from the brink. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She was more of adept at fighting than divination. Not like Amara was.
After a breathless moment, Ominek drew in a slow breath and let it out. His hand shifted back into human form. The darker skinned man regained his composure and his aura backed off from hers. As the dread lord stepped back, Luffa caught herself sighing in relief quietly. Now it was her turn to tremble out of fear and relief. Luffa knew how close they’d come to being past tense.
“I have granted you a stay of execution. Don’t make me regret it. Collar her and find me those damn bombs. We have a colony to irradiate.”
With that, Ominek about faced, marching away from the gathering. Some primals gave him space. Others deferential looks to Luffa. Everyone wore concerned expressions. She turned to Tanak, who seemed apologetic for her father.
“I thought he’d actually eat us just then.”
“So did I.”
“Then why didn’t he?”
Tanak frowned, “Grandfather. This has his talons all over it.”
Luffa glanced down at Amara with a frown, pulling a mage collar from a storage pouch. She shook the frost off from being drawn out of the void. Crouching down, she snapped the collar on as gently as she could around her friend’s neck.
“I’m sorry Amara. It’s the only way.”
Amara shook her head, giving Luffa a brave smile. “It’s ok. We’ll figure it out.”
Luffa stood, holding a hand out for Amara to take. “Let’s find these magi-nukes so we can leave.”
Amara took her hand, rose with a sway. “Whoa. Was it like this for you?”
Luffa rubbed her naked neck. “All the time… But enough of the past. Let’s go find the future.”