ISSUE 13: BY DAWN’S MORNING LIGHT
Here I thought we got a good piece of the puzzle. Boy was I wrong. Project Freefall was a kick to the groin. The fact that they let me in here shows how much they trust me. I will not betray that.—Jonas “Eddie” Olsten.
Out of the fire, into the frying pan. J’ino took me aside to explain certain aspects in greater detail. Jesus. No wonder she wants Eliza to go full Texas. I'll be sure to put some bells on. Arthon and Eddie had their particular reactions to this place. Me? I just wanted a hot shower and some good food. Along with locking Eliza inside the ship for another 10 hours. It’s not like we could be alone in the crowd here. Even the president was in on it. Arthur’s “inner” companion provided even more screwball commentary.—Lorain Lanis.
Now I know what bacon feels like!—Cooper “Guards-The-Stars.”
I didn’t know that the Mordred blade had tagged my little brother. I asked White why it hadn’t been able to do the same with me. Since I had blocked the cursed thing with my palm. I still remember it biting into my flesh. She had scrambled its senses. Giving it a false reading of being a Human Demi with some distant Markav tampering. But I am getting ahead of the narrative. We had a dragon to destroy first.—Sleeping in Starlight, a memoir of the 22nd century.
Within the Weave
Final Trial of the Ordained
Timeflow Syncing with Project Freefall
Cooper charged the Dragon. Hearing its heartbeats. Figuring he could capture one using his Green Defender powers. So that Doc or Star could deliver a stunning blow. Its massive head swiveled. Its neck far more agile than the Bardaxian gave it credit for.
Swallowing him whole.
*****
I froze. My mind scattering to the wind. A red haze filled my vision.
“My dog.” My words rang hollow.
I sprang, using the wall behind me as leverage.
Its hideous teeth were before me. I cracked it across the jaw. The air exploding outward with subsonic ripples. This thing would pay. Not my best boy. Not ever.
“Give him back you overstuffed lizard handbag of Unity!”
*****
Arthur skidded to a halt. Grabbing Robert as the Great Dane howled for Cooper. His face going pale as a red, white, and blue blur slammed into the Dragon. Sending it skyward. The crack of air nearly blowing his eardrums out. Star’s eyes gleaming like white-hot fire. She pulled its jaws apart and followed the German Shepherd. Arthur followed her progress down its throat until that lump disappeared. It let out a horrific bellow and crashed to the earth. Snapping and hissing. Green fire protruding from its mouth. Its black scales expanding. Bits of Lava pouring from the opening wounds. Arthon shouted, his voice razor-sharp with battlefield readiness.
“Arthur! Prepare Excalibur! Doc! Trace her through that thing. We must strike when she pulls Emerald out!” The muthra saw Robert dragging his master over. Arthon motioned to Doc. She saw the blood. He had been that close to Star? She placed her hands on either side of his head. Pouring her healing energies into him. He smiled. “That’s much better. I don’t think Eliza even realized it. Let’s not mention it for now.”
Lorain crewed the inside of her cheek.
Impossible knew how her captain would react. Star would be paralyzed by the fear of collateral damage. Lorain knew that fear so well she sympathized. This place had shown Lanis what her abilities would be like if used for darker purposes. So they would say nothing. Not when Star was finally opening up to using her powers offensively. There was something about this place that was tapping into Eliza. Working through her. It was, to Lorain’s perception, a crackling overlay along all of her nerve endings. Pooling within her left arm. Lorain’s motions were sluggish. Would this place take Eliza’s arm? Her mind flashing to the incident with the Brood monster. The loss of the plasma hand beams.
Arthon brought her back to reality with an exclamation, “Incoming!”
More hideous gargoyles.
The Puzzler opened up with a barrage of blaster bolts.
Humming the Terran Alliance anthem once more.
Doc aimed her cannons. A faint thrum ran up her arms as she added sedatives to the projectiles. Pushing her demi powers to new heights of awareness.
The mini projectiles flew outwards.
Each successive hit trapping them within an ever-expanding foam.
Dragging the monsters to the ground below. Arthur sprang forward. Striking every which way with Excalibur. Beheading many of them as they lay squirming within the immobilizing foam. The Golden Redeemers fanned out.
Seeing the Dragon’s form waver.
Its belly expanding beyond what could be considered normal.
Doc pointed, “Here she comes!”
Arthur circled. Preparing to bring Excalibur down upon the dragon’s main artery within its massive neck. Knowing that his sword would bring the final deathblow.
*****
I burrowed deeper.
Seeing flashes of emerald energy as Cooper fought against the pull of the Dragon’s internal fires. I reached out with my left hand. My gloves were long gone. The magic barely keeping the rest of my suit together. I reached out to latch onto Cooper. Holding him close to my chest. Various shapes swirled around me. Plucking at my face and arms.
Save us!
It was just like that sensation within the Unity universe.
This thing had souls from my Earth. My people. My home.
Never again.
Spikes of pain ran up my left arm. Running alongside my shoulder. A black swirl formed. Taking the shape of a dragon. Reminding me of an Ouroborous. A long obsidian shaft wrapped itself around my fingers.
The metal was warm. Inviting. Ringing within my soul.
Strike true. Free them from their torment.
White’s shock was complete. <
I twisted it savagely. Connecting with the second heart as it tried to flee from the onslaught. “Pandora has been naughty. The Rat still lives! USELESS! WHAT ARE YOU WIELDER? I WILL FIND YOU!”
The third was a black and purple mass. Pulsating with the very fires of Hell. Each beat accelerating as I approached with the Spear. Golden sigils formed. Its head and shaft are covered from tip to end. Symbols that almost made sense to my eyes. This was personal. The final heart beat rapidly. Howling to its servants, “PROTECT US!” Shadowy figures formed. Reaching for me. Their mouths opened, revealing several rows of teeth, “Master calls!”
*****
Iresh protected herself by burrowing within the shadow of White. Using her Dreamweaver abilities to reinforce Cooper’s efforts to keep the captured souls of Earth from consuming them. Ichabod was unfazed. His eyes locked onto the final heart. No, not Ichabod’s eyes. The Piper watched. Eliza’s whole left arm was covered by obsidian markings and a regal dragon tattoo, its eyes gleaming pure white within the hellscape of the dragon’s innards. The hand and arm that would pierce Unity had finally manifested. It would be actively searching for Edenverse now. Nothing would be the same. The coils of corruption around Earth’s Weave loosened.
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Its song filling the air of Camalot.
Its champion had finally arrived.
Strike.
Star hurled the spear. It arched outward.
Obsidian lightning racing to burst the very core of the Dragon. Blinding light cascaded out from the wound. The very guts of the dragon exploded. Leaving Eliza standing in a cesspool that Doc, to this day, would always remark, “I am throwing you into the shower forever.”
The souls of Earth’s trapped people sighing as relief graced their senses once more.
*****
I blinked as the sun shined down.
My vision was blurred by all the movement around me. Ghostly hands clasping my right hand. With gratitude and thanks. A glimmering chain in the distance calling to them. Promising a restful slumber. My whole left arm crackled with energy. The coiled black dragon running endlessly. It was more eastern in appearance now. Flashing from black to green to gold. Then coiling silently around my arm once more.
Arthur’s sword digging deeply into the neck of the dragon. A hole the size of myself before me. Spear in hand. Its metals gleaming. Eddie remarked, “So that’s what your belt looks like. Fancy!”
White curled around me. My suit was torn and singed in places but otherwise, I wasn’t any more worse for wear. I brought Cooper over to Doc and she got to work. His wounds closing instantly. A glint of purple fell from the deteriorating corpse of the Unity Dragon. Oily black hands wrapped themselves around the jewel. Ramming it into its forehead. The Queen’s voice came to me.
>>Excalibur knows the way to Freefall. Don’t let that thing go beyond the Light Shaman’s net!<<
It opened a portal and without prompting, I followed.
White wrapping herself around everyone like a massive daisy chain.
The Spear’s rage consumed me.
It pulled at my body. Gaining power and momentum.
It was actively draining me.
As we spilled through the portal, a voice muttered, “Protect Anna.”
A grizzled face manifested in the glow of the spear.
This had been Matarn’s spear.
*****
J’ino reached out to place a hand on the dragon’s head aspect of the tattoo. It was dormant now. A mark within her daughter’s left palm. Eliza was leaning forward so Lorain could examine the rest of her arm and shoulder. Lorain poked gently. “Well, it looks like you are back in working order.” She kept a hand planted there. Fredrick Marshall brought a pitcher of water over.
“My Intez and Arthur's have a whole lot to talk about. But for all of our sakes, here’s the short of it.”
“Humanity isn’t K5 with technology. We are K5 with the Weave and Magic. Which gives us a certain edge. Unity never really aimed its sights on the Leylines. Not as we understand them.”
He motioned to a display. Runes highlighting important data.
Eliza asked, “So why did the Queen say it's ok to reveal that J’ino is my mother?”
He beamed at her, “Because all on this level of Freefall know your actual heritage. What you are destined to do to Unity. Clearing Earth of its Corruption was the first step.” I flipped through the data at lightning speed. Freefall was a Dyson Sphere orbiting Sol within the Weave.
Nice!
So the tech would be supported by magic. Weave intermingled with everything we did.
Morrigan’s old king had been a part of something called the Arcane Order.
Which had allied itself with the stranded Bardaxians.
Which had been around well before the Golden City.
Ta’mathon had been a Grand Magus.
Also aware of what had befallen the Markav Hegemony.
I aimed a question at White since Arthon and the others had added data to the pot as well, “You, The Curator’s Race, Black, Aether’s people, and the Intez were the first ones after the Weave?”
White replied, <
Arthur added, “My Intez tells me that when Unity appeared that’s when other races began to age and die. Each generation losing more and more knowledge.”
I brought up more old sagas of the Scholars.
“They were the next generation. Before Unity struck.”
White manifested, curling around my arm, <
Dexter’s Black materialized as well, <
I ran down the list of races.
My heart going out to Typha. Their growth had been manipulated from the start.
Not from anyone present but the resulting birth of Unity.
They were also Children of Two Worlds. With the capacity for compassion. Inherent to the Weave. With the Claws of Unity slumbering at their heart. Which also explained my situation and Dexter’s. Why we were the ones who could stop it once and for all.
There were two wolves within us.
Fighting for dominance.
Jacob said, “So how does Anna figure into all of this?”
I replied, “She’s our conduit to understanding the Weave. Not just the words. “
A circular door hissed open.
A very tall man, over 8 feet, entered.
His battle helm retracting to reveal a face much like my own.
V’alkor Ayeer put some more data crystals on the table, “Between myself and other versions throughout the multiverse we have slowed the countdown timer on the Thrones all across our galaxies.” He nodded solemnly. Resting a hand on my mother’s shoulder.
“We need you and Dexter to transmute it into an ally of the Weave rather than a bomb for Unity.”
Jacob’s eyes went glassy, “I must have a bridge for my children.” He shuddered. Pointing at some faint words that had appeared on the table. The Weave was pleading. We could change the course of everything. I stood.
Mom asked, “Wait, you can see its words?”
I replied, “Somewhat. It's kinda blurry to me at the moment. But Jacob’s never steered me wrong.”
My half brother rubbed the back of his neck. His embarrassment plain to see. “Come on. I was a pig’s behind when younger. Still am to certain people.”
I chuckled, “But you gave me all those models every time my birthday hit. If you hated me then I never knew it.”
He sighed, “No. I never did. It’s one of the bright spots.’
“Dexter, did you ever see that episode of Captain Cosmos and the Mirror?”
He winked, “Yep. The Puzzler made sure I was an expert!”
The battlefield fog of war was dissipating.
“But first I have to see a Mighty Mallet about a Howling.”
Arthon said, “Together then.”
I wrapped an arm around Lorain, “Together.”
A voice came over the coms, “Mrs. Preston-McQuire is awake. Demanding hospitality service and her daughter. Otherwise, she wants the Feds to firebomb the place.”
Just another day in the office.
Dexter and I moved in to give our Grandfather a hearty embrace. Pulling mom into it as well. The old wolf smiled. His eyes drinking it all in. “Trouble and Gulliver told me you wanted to go on a trip after you meet us on Typha. We will pack light.” He grinned as mom gave a watery chuckle.
“Don’t you worry Grandfather Wolf, we will be able to make the Navy work for it.”
He replied, “I’ll make sure to record it all.”
As we left the conference room, I examined the ships cradled within this Dyson Sphere, asking my father, “So what class are they called?”
He snorted, “That’s still caught up in committee. They even have a poll going!”
Mom nudged my father. “I think we should make more preparations.”
Doc dragged me over to the docking bays. “Anna can wait an hour longer. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Jupiter Rising’s entry bay opened.
After a day like this, a bit of R&R would do us good.
Before I entered the shower I blurted out, “Wait? How did you get here Jupiter?”
The VI responded, “I am the very first prototype Weave FTL vessel. It asked me to!”
Doc rolled her eyes and pulled me in after her.
I didn’t do much questioning after that.
*****
Pandora’s hands squeezed.
The Typherian slave before her sputtering, “The All-Father commanded….”
She slapped him. Adding some extra power to the blow with her Dreamweaver abilities. Relishing the pain she caused the Weave every time she did so. Pira remained stoic. Not wanting to draw the mad Litari’s attention. The Typherian’s back was riddled with welts. Just out of reach of his nodes. Every movement must have been painful. Pandora wasn’t known for being a merciful mother. The assassin had been bouncing back and forth. Remaining the eyes and ears for her masters. Thoth nearly had enough energy to manifest that construct army he desired.
Yes, he wanted that army but when Set let it slip that the Golden City could provide more, the despot had jumped at the chance. Not realizing that Set wanted to use him to soften up the city defenses again. Just like last time. Each time Set would whisper honeyed words into the ears of others. This time using Medusa as his vessel. The Atlantian was easy to bend. It was already enamored of Thoth. The rest had been child’s play.
She exited the room quickly.
The sounds that followed turned her stomach.
At least the All-Mother was an honest monster.
These others were driven by wild passions.
*****
I stared up at the silver sailing ship.
The waves within the bottle moved against the glass.
Memory was tickling at the edge of my thoughts. Doc wrapped her arms around my neck. Then moved down to fix my collar and shirt. “Let’s go. Anna awaits with bated breath.” I had my old flight jacket back on. Complete with a NASA cap, American Flag shirt, and blue jeans.
Doc was impeccable in her Terran Alliance uniform.
I nodded. The ship’s sails fluttered. Catching an updraft.
Doc ‘s arm tightened around my waist. “What is it?”
“A fragment. Let’s go see Anna. Otherwise, we will be a DEFCON OSCAR SERRIA.”
*****
Within a figure moved along the deck. Its black spear a mirror into the wider world.
Jupiter made note of this.
“I will inform the Captain. The mind and body must be reunited.”