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Kalon
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Chapter Thirty-Nine: Kidak
Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant
Ruling Government: Talum Merchant Federation
Solar System: D-447
Planet: Ora
Location: Beneath the planet's surface, Naro City, Near Yul Clan Assembly Hall, Walkways of the outer city
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Blood crystalizes on the frozen walkways. Warriors drag the wounded behind them to the Clan hall. None stop me as I pass; they do not know what has happened yet. Putting on my war mask, I move quickly between them. Looking for Arrum’s wounded stride amongst the people that come and go. It is not hard to find where the battle is, the blood leads the way. Hundreds crowd in narrow corridors, loud explosions rumble the ground. Laser cutter core bombs no doubt. The air is saturated with Netherium dust even this far away. To fight using such means is bad for all sides. If they are the ones doing it, it only strengthens my belief that they must have Etherium. I must hurry, in Arrum’s condition this will only speed up the process. Soon it will be irreversible.
Something is different this time, as the dust grows thicker, I do not feel weaker like I did before. It is almost like… I feel stronger. My muscles feel more full as though it were normal Maka. My mind becomes distracted as I pull closer still. Faint whispers in the shadows of my thoughts between the screams… Embrace the Abyss.
Shaking my head to be free of the whispers, I move faster. Why do my legs feel less burdened? I recall the rhythm I felt in the dream world when I tried to channel the Netheric Maka like the Shulka do. Is it truly possible? My stride lengthens again, increasing my pace faster, surprising me. My belly no longer aches from my wound, the skin around where it was feels firm. I don’t have time to think about it, my focus is on finding Arrum.
“We need to fall back!” one of the tribe chiefs yells to Nekam over the noise of battle.
He does not reply, his eyes dance back and forth looking at the state of his warriors. His face is covered against the Netherium dust that sprays in the air. The side of his left eye is crimson. The others look the same or worse. They are not wrong to call for a temporary retreat. I still have not found Arrum. Worry rises in me to greater heights. Near the middle of where the battle occurred, there are people rapidly devolving into shriekers, bodies laden with crimson-tipped arrows. It is madness everywhere I look with no clear victory on either side. Both Clans have pushed back and now throw spears and shoot arrows at each other from a distance. Neither side is willing to cross the gap of bodies that lay in the corridor. Nearly two hundred lay dead, and another twenty scream in the old tongue calling for their gods. Their words falling on deaf ears.
So many eyes glow with bioluminescence. So many with crimson. This war will have no victor at this rate. It was folly to fight them head-on. Nekam seems to have realized this well, his expression worsening, dried blood cakes his brow and he nurses a wound on his side.
“Arrum!” I yell, looking amongst the hundreds, there is no reply from him, so I yell again, pushing my way to the front of the warriors. Nekam looks at me, there is anger in his half-crimson eye.
“You were told to stay back.” He says in a low growl, but he does not focus on me for long, he has more pressing concerns.
I do not pay him any mind, soon Nevari will tell him of the poison from Neeba’s tongue and I will likely find his blade in my back. No, I must find Arrum while I still can. He is all that matters now.
“Arrum!” I yell, pushing further to the front. It is hard to push through, there are three layers of shield wall to stop me.
My breath catches in my throat as I see Arrum finally. Breathing deep I slam through two layers. The ones in the first punch me yelling for me to get back. I must get out there. I see Arrum. He is amongst the dying. Rage smashes into me as I kick the shield from a man's hand jumping out from the gap and taking it up as I roll to my feet. Arrows fly and strike the shield, and Netherium tips poke through the metal. The chant grows louder in my head… Embrace the Abyss.
“You fool,” I grunt as I grab Arrum’s arm and try to drag him over three dead. Blood sprays as arrows fly toward us.
My rage rises, they are trying to hit Arrum even in his condition.
“I must earn my honor, I will wed her, I swore it,” Arrum says in a daze, waving his blade. He is descending into madness. I have seen it before. He is slipping faster because of the Netherium arrow in his leg.
His eyes are deep crimson. Black ichor rolls up his throat. Despair pierces my heart as I see how far gone he is. He is on the edge. I cover his mouth with a cloth to try to stop him from breathing the dust. Pain hits my back as an arrow ruptures the shield and finds purchase just above my kidney. The chant roars as I feel the Netherium inside my flesh.
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Embrace the Abyss
My eyes look up and I see Nekam coming to the front of the shield wall, his eyes are wide as he looks upon us, but he does not give the order to advance.
“He is your blood!” I yell to him, then pleading “Help him… please.”
Nekam turns his gaze away from me. Shame fills his eyes as he gives the order to pull back. After everything we have given him… After all we have endured for him… for his aspirations. Something swells from the deep recesses of my soul as I see our clan abandoning us.
Rage burns my blood as another arrow strikes me again. My eyes swell with darkness, my knees buckle as I fall onto the ground, clutching Arrum, trying to shield him as best I can… until it is only darkness I see.
***
Realm of Dreams
***
The waters are a deep crimson as they smash me deeper into their swells.
So… this is where we die? Not by Shulka, but by our own people. For what do they slay us? What is the point of it? Why do we always get stuck between the machinations of petty tyrants and their lust for power? Arrum deserved better than this. Our Clan is losing that war, the other side has Etherium, and we do not. We are doomed, in the war of Netheric attrition, whoever has more Etherium wins. Those that survive will be sold, and for what? What do they even gain from this? Why are we stuck in this cycle of pain?
Arrum will die here, there isn’t anything I can do. Yet still, the bitterness bites at me. All of the years of pain we have endured, bowing and scraping to survive only to be cast out. To be blamed for the failings of others, be punished for showing mercy. There is no justice here among these people. They are the sickness, they are the rot.
The waters churn more as they push me deep into the depths, deeper than I have ever been before. The pressure of it is crushing on my soul. There are no silver flames to bring relief this time, no flashes of images, just pain and despair.
I feel the Netheric Maka tearing inside me, flowing deep. Yet, there is that strange feeling again, through the pain… there is power. Like when the Shulka bit me and left Netherium in me. If I find the rhythm… can I find it again?
A pulse ripples in the water as my blade's song strikes the first chord of this Netheric melody of malady. Uneasy feelings rise, like something crawling beneath my skin, choking me, strangling the hope that once dared to breathe in me. Another pulse, this time stronger as the second chord is struck. The waters try to pull me faster as the hands of the dead begin to grip me.
Time dilates as the third chord strikes. The waters erupt with the chorus of its tempo as the song begins to play, black flames roll from my body, burning the hands of the dead until they release me. The waters swirl violently, thrusting me upwards, pushing me into the skies until I feel the call from the realm of reality.
***
Realm of Reality
***
My heart beats with a thud in my chest as something primordial rises past the rage, fueled by my life of oppression. This feeling gives birth to that which I have only felt once… when they killed my mother... the melody of it burns away all other things. It is the song of…
Wrath
My eyes open, and I can feel the red glow of them. The air hangs still as time dilates. All of my senses heighten almost simultaneously as I feel the wrath mixing with the Netheric Maka.
Pain erupts from my body as I feel energy vibrating inside of me. Red lines made of light begin tracing and flowing into crudely shaped patterns across my skin. My vision shifts as another arrow pounds into my shoulder. I can see the Maka in the air… I can feel it all around. So many lights, so many colors just like the gaunt man described. My eyes turn towards the enemy clan. They carry Etherium shards, it is so bright. So alluring. If I can get even one of them, I can help Arrum. All I need is one. Just one.
Wrath fills my body as I rise, pulling Arrum up and shielding him with my body. The torn shield rests on my back as I move toward Nekam and the others. Arrows slam into me, threatening to topple me over, but each one gives me some kind of strength as my body drinks the Netheric Maka. The red lines of light become more complex across my skin as their designs shift and move.
I am upon Nekam and the others now, laying Arrum down at their feet. The lights in the walkway flicker from all the Netherium in the air. Removing the rag that blocks my mouth from the dust, my lungs breathe deep the Netherium, each breath increasing the sounds of the chant in my mind until it is beyond a roar.
Embrace the Abyss.
Looking at Nekam, his eyes squint at me, looking at the slew of arrows in my body. He looks at the deep crimson lines of light that flow across my flesh. As he gazes into my eyes, I see something from him I have never known… fear.
“Take him,” I say, but my voice is distorted, deepened by the Netherium that crashes inside of me.
Pulling from my flesh one of the arrows, I see the Netherium has turned black and begins to crumble almost like ash. My body is breaking it down somehow, using it like the Shulka. I do not know how much longer my sanity will remain… if it will remain. Before I die, I will get one of those shards for Arrum. This much I can do, this much I must do.
Speed explodes from my legs as I turn, holding the shield above me. I feel the arrows falling from my body as the Netherium turns to ash. The air swells with it, so much it is intoxicating. The chant cascades higher.
Embrace the Abyss
The lights flicker off in the walkway as the Netherium rages into torrents all around, it is beautiful... My body feels lighter and stronger than it has ever been. Slamming into the enemy's frontline, I slice with my blade cutting any who stand between me and the Etherium that twinkles in the distance. They are defenseless, blinded in the darkness, whereas I can see everything so clearly. As I tear Etherium from people’s grasp, my hand ignites in light, so much energy it is brimming with power. Like being struck with lightning. The red lines upon my body shift and tangle with blue. Pain slams into my chest, nearly sending me to the floor. The two energies are churning inside of me. I cannot touch it with my flesh lest I lose the Netheric Maka’s power… I need it, I need more of it.
“Kidak!” someone yells in the old tongue.
Its meaning is clear… Demon.