“Thank you.” The spring captain turned to the rest of the court. “I know you want to see the future as much as I do, but before we get to that, I’d like to speak to them both in private.”
“What?” the winter captain stood from his chair. “We didn’t agree to that!”
Lilian held up a hand. “Trying to change the future is a very delicate endeavor. Small changes can easily snowball out of control. Bigger changes can become system-wide disasters.”
“As much as I hate to agree with that right now,” Omor said, “she’s right. Let her speak to them in private for now. I’m sure she’ll tell us the things we need to know after our first vision of her future.”
“She’d better …” The winter captain sat back down, but was clearly frowning.
“What did you expect?” The fall captain shrugged. “I still think that taking one of the royal family into our ranks had been a mistake. There’s something like too much equality, too much tolerance.”
“Too much freedom?” the queen asked, and the fall captain looked away. She probably had hit a nerve. “True equality is hard to achieve. Oftentimes we end up with replacing one kind of dictatorship with another.”
“We’ve heard that speech often enough.” The winter captain stood. “Have your private meeting, I’m waiting outside.”
The fall captain followed suit, and both of them left the room. Omor stayed behind and stared at the former queen.
“I hope you’re doing the right thing,” he whispered, before standing up and leaving the room.
Lilian pressed her lips so strongly together that they turned a lighter shade of pink. “They don’t know, how much responsibility is still on my shoulders.” She almost shook herself, then relaxed. “I’m sorry. In more ways than one. I’m unable to stop what’s coming, and I know that you two will have to endure some hardships.” She offered them her hands. “I’ll link our minds, because what I have to tell you must not leave this room.”
Orphelia took the spring captain’s hand slowly. Lia reached for Lilian’s hand as hesitatingly as her friend.
If everything is still on the way to the future I’ve worked towards, then the empire will arrive shortly, the queen began. We won’t have much time. The queen looked at Orphelia, while Lia’s thoughts reeled. The empire was still coming? But they had left the hyperspace tracker at Fornax’s grave!
I’m sure you know already, but as both an impera and a donar, you’re a princess. You’re the only one that can stop the empire’s fleet from eradicating the people on the station.
But how? Orphelia’s voice resounded in her head as well. So they truly were linked.
You have to expose your secret. The queen’s aura of authority had returned. There is a passphrase you need to tell Admiral Horologii, then show him how you can manipulate five elements of your choice. That will put your authority on equal footing with my brother’s. That will force him to negotiate for your release to them.
Why can’t you stop him? Shouldn’t they be forced to negotiate for your release, too?
The queen shook her head. I haven’t been abducted by the pirates. If I suddenly show up, then he knows that something’s wrong. Orphelia didn’t answer, but looked at the floor. Please. You are the only one that can stop them from destroying this place.
Lia looked at her friend, who was still looking at the floor. She was probably weighing the lives of the pirates to the reputation of her mother. She barely knew the former, but apparently valued their lives.
She doesn’t want her mother to get involved, Lia thought in her friend’s stead. The only way for her to be a princess would be, if her mother was … unfaithful.
There’s no need to worry about that, the queen thought back. After all, you have been born to normal humans. So why should it be impossible for a princess to be born to non-mages as well?
Orphelia suddenly looked up. There was relieve on her face, so much so, that Lia could feel it through the link.
Orphelia will have to board the admiral’s ship. I need you to accompany her. The queen turned to Lia. She’ll have to designate you as her personal donar. The admiral will respect you, if you demonstrate to him that you have at least five pools as well.
Lia wetted her lips and averted her gaze from the queen. Will that stop Amir?
The queen was silent for a moment. I don’t know. But I know it will protect the FAE. After that, Orphelia can request me as an advisor, and she can continue to counteract Amir’s decisions. It will give the council more power, as they have to decide on certain issues, but it’s necessary. At least it should delay his plans – and we need as much time as we can get.
The queen looked back at Orphelia. I’m … I’m sorry that I’m sacrificing you like this, but I see no other way forward. Were those tears that glittered in the queen’s eyes? I’m sorry, Lia, but there are a few things that I can only tell her.
Lilian let go of her hand, and she watched in silence as Orphelia pressed her lips together. Her friend stared stoically at the former queen, and the color drained from her face. What else was she telling her? There was no way for her to know at this time.
Orphelia looked away from the queen, and from her, when Lilian finally let go of her friend’s hand.
“Let me call the others back in,” the spring captain said, sounding gloomy.
Lia scooted closer to Orphelia, hoping that her friend would tell her something, anything. She stayed quiet far longer than usual. Only when the door opened, did she whisper a single sentence: “I wish I never awoke as an impera.”
Lia had no chance to ask her what she meant, as the three other captains returned to the room. They took their respective seats. “Now,” the fall captain said. “Let’s see what your actions will amount to.”
The spring captain turned to Orphelia. “I think it’s better, if you sit this one out.” Then she turned to Lia. “If you would?”
The captains took each other’s hands, with Lia making up the link between Omor and Lilian.
“Before we begin. Please include Lia in the vision.” The summer captain looked past her and at the former queen.
“I’m not sure she should see this,” the spring captain whispered.
“She has a right to see it.”
Lilian hesitated and closed her eyes. “Very well. I’ll include her.” Then she turned to Lia. “That’s if you want to.”
Lia nodded. “Please include me.” Maybe she’d see something that’d explain her friends glumness.
“I hope this won’t change the future further,” Lilian whispered, then continued louder: “Please begin.”
Lia nodded and pushed spirit and time mana toward the former queen. A moment of silence passed, then another, until the magic finally took hold of them.
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***
“Careful.” The former queen’s words echoed in her mind, then she stepped into the tube in front of her. She immediately floated along the several meter long structure until she arrived on the other side.
The crystalline floor and the metal bands inlaid into it clued Lia into where they were: This was the Crystal Citadel. But for some reason, there wasn’t any gravity.
“At least the power’s still on,” Lilian murmured and looked around. It was somewhat disorienting to see her vision move around, but not to feel anything of that motion. “Seems like life-support is also still functioning.”
Lia felt a shiver run down her back. She had forgotten the prophesied zombie outbreak on the station. So that was still happening! Even though she felt the urge to look around, to check whether she could see any of the undead creatures, she couldn’t – she was limited to what Lillian would look at.
“Are you sure he’s here?” Omor’s voice. Lillian turned around to look at the summer captain. “He had no other choice, but to come here.” Why did she sound so sure? “The king has to be present during the princess’ coronation.”
Then this was happening after their return to the Crystal Academy? Probably shortly after?
“Where is he then?” The winter captain’s voice.
“Probably still up …” Lillian turned around. There was a hissing sound, and a block of crystal barely missed her face. Several paces away, a human – no a mage – floated in the air. Judging by the robes, he was a donar. There was no life in his eyes, no recognition. When he opened his mouth, all she heard was some hissing and gargling. He moved his arms, and another piece of crystal shot at the former queen.
Lia felt her eyes go wide. The zombie was using magic. He was probably still alive, too, but his mind seemed to be gone.
“Why is that donar able to cast magic? Alone?” The fall captain’s gasp echoed her thoughts.
Lilian cast her own magic, and a stone pillar rose from the ground. It wrapped itself around her attacker. “I have no idea, but we have to stop them, or they might breach the hull,” she called.
“Winter!” Omor called, and probably used the donar to be able to cast magic himself.
“Is … is there a way to turn them back?” The fall captain hovered past Lilian, an energy saber in hand. Despite his hesitating question, he seemed ready to kill his opponents.
“I don’t know. If their mind has been overwhelmed, then … maybe. If it has been erased …” The tickling feeling of magic leaving Lilian’s hand signaled that she used magic. A gust of air propelled her forward, just a moment later, directly at the donar that had attacked them.
Her attacker hissed and pushed against them with his own gust of wind. Lilian’s magic fought against his, wind attacking her body from both sides. The donar’s mana gave out first, and the former queen managed to touch him.
There was this horrible noise, and the whole vision faltered. Cracks appeared in the reality before her. Lia was sure she heard Lilian groan, as she struggled to keep the vision together until her future self pulled her hand away. “They … they are still connected to … him.” The queen was panting, and the cracks in the vision stayed. Shouldn’t they fade?
“Then all of this is Amir’s work?” The winter captain’s voice came closer, but the former queen didn’t turn to the woman. She kept staring at the donar before her, and Lia felt how she pressed her lips together.
“Amir somehow managed to connect all these donar to himself. It was probably his way to get around the limitations of even a planet-wide ritual.”
“But how?” Omor floated closer to the donar and hit the back of the still screeching man’s head with a karate chop. The ensuing silence made Lia smile, and she felt it mirrored on the body of future Lilian.
“I have no idea.” The queen sighed. “We have to ask him, when we find him. If he’s still coherent himself.”
“Is there a reason why he shouldn’t be coherent?” The fall captain drifted against a wall and jumped forward from it.
Lillian propelled herself forward with magic. “My guess is that whatever happened has affected everyone in his network. And as the central point, he’s also part of the network.”
Omor grunted in response, pulling the winter captain behind himself. “Then let’s hope we get something out of him.”
As they closed in on the main market square of the station, they heard even more grunting. Zombie donar were crowding around the teleporter, touching the various crystals as if they wanted to activate it. There were more donar on the ground, deep black wounds in their head. They were clearly dead. Some of the metallic lines leading to shattered crystals were bent and cut.
“Seems like they’re trying to leave the station,” the fall captain murmured.
“Do you think whatever they got is contagious?” She could hear the winter captain’s gulp.
“Let’s not find out.” The former queen pushed herself toward the elevator tubes. Suddenly the groans subsided, and there was a screech. Gusts of wind pushed them off course, and pieces of crystals whizzed past them. Some stood next to the central fountain, diverting jets of water toward them.
“Let’s hope none of them have fire.” Omor grunted and redirected some of the projectiles back.
Suddenly there was a flash. A beam of light cut through the air, and the fall captain cried in pain, before deflecting the rest of the beam with his saber. Lilian grabbed him and pulled him into the open elevator. The platform didn’t move, but Lilian projected a field of gravity above them. The elevator itself protested with screeches as they were pulled upward and the field subsided. “As soon as we touch the ground, run. We need to get to the back entrance. The front will be overrun with students!”
“How often have you seen this future?” the winter captain asked.
“Too often!” Lillian grit her teeth so hard that Lia almost felt in her own body. “I’ve tried everything I could think of to avoid this future, but nothing worked.”
Lia shivered as she recognized that Ludwig had tried to prevent this exact outcome himself. Were there events that just couldn’t be changed? Events that simply had to occur, because someone, or something had been steering toward it for too long?
The sound of shattering glass pulled her back into the vision. A rock had flown past them and into the elevator’s tube. A new gravity field pulled them through an existing hole, and then to the ground. “Run!” Lilian moved, keeping the gravity field active. She looked briefly over to the academy gates. Students were floating in front of it, groaning, and either propelling projectiles made of earth or metal at them, or themselves.
Omor did his best to redirect some of the oncoming projectiles. Packed dirt burst on the floor, stones hit it with so much force that they left a crater, splattering them with brown. They didn’t run toward the gates but past it, along the way Ludwig had taken at the day he’d brought her to the academy. She only saw a glimpse of the gates. Everything looked familiar and yet different. Some of the illusions had probably failed.
The path ended at a small gazebo, held up by seven pillars, making it seven arcs. Lilian ignored it and ran through, taking the left arc across the one she entered. She ran right at the wall and through it, stopping in front of a door. She put her hand on a palm reader and it hissed opening, allowing her and the other FAE to enter one of the many corridors of the academy.
“Stun every donar you see,” the queen said. “I won’t give up on them, until I know that’s impossible to save them.” Lia noticed a nod out of the corner of Lilian’s eyes.
“Whereto now?” The summer captain looked around nervously.
“Let’s try the chapel behind the dining hall. I guess the imperi will have retreated there.” They started running and came to a stop as a door opened. Ludwig stepped outside, a stun gun in hand. He lowered it as he recognized the former queen.
“Lillian Saggitarius. It’s a pleasure to meet you again,” he said. Then another person came through the door. Lia saw herself, but something was strange. When her other self looked up, the first thing she noticed, were her eyes. The iris had the color of space, and stars were glittering within them. The vision shattered before she could really make out, what the second thing was.
Lillian pulled her hand away and hugged herself.
“What is it? Why did you end the vision?” the winter captain demanded to know.
“I … I’m exhausted,” the former queen whispered. “Channeling time mana and distributing the vision to five people is exhausting, even for me.”
Lia let go of Omor’s hand, the last of the vision still haunting her mind. What happened to her future self? What will happen to herself? Then she recognized the other thing that was strange. As soon as her future self’s gaze settled on the queen, her expression had turned to … hatred. Or had she hated the whole situation? There’s also one other question that suddenly came to mind. Every donar they had seen in the vision had turned into a zombie. Everyone. Except her.
Just as she wanted to ask her questions, Lillian spoke up again. “Get your people to start EDEN’s hyperspace generators. The empire’s coming!”
“What?” Omor shot upright. “Why? How?”
Lillian didn’t even look at him. “Ludwig put a hyperspace locator on Orphelia as well. Now hurry, we don’t have much time!”
The fall captain shot up as well and ran to her friend, inspecting her clothes. He soon found another small disc in the same spot on Orphelia. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
“Because they have to return to the Crystal Academy, and that wouldn’t happen otherwise.”
“Shit!” Omor swore. “I’d exile you on the spot, if I hadn’t seen that vision right now!”
“We’ll talk about that later,” the winter captain said and ran to the door, speaking to something in his wrist. “Gather the gravity and metal donar. We’ll have to jump shortly.” There was a small pause, then Lia heard his shout. “Yes, with the whole station! Now get to it!”
“Take Lia and Orphelia to the command post,” the former queen instructed, still without looking up. It was almost … as if she didn’t want to meet their eyes, as if she hated herself for what she was doing. “I have to stay back. Arthur must not see me.”
“Come.” The fall captain walked past them, clearly expecting Orphelia and Lia to follow him.
As both followed the brown-haired man, she heard Omor’s soft voice. “Lillian.” There was a pause. “I get the impression that you still haven’t told us everything. That you haven’t told me …”
If the queen gave an answer, then she didn’t hear it, as the sound of the closing doors echoed behind them with a finality that sent shivers down her spine.