Chapter 19. 'V' is for Valkyrie

Ithaniel nodded in surprise. "It's been a while."

"It has." Eurides said. "Walk with me."

He stepped over Winston and the world changed

beneath his feet.

"You should of stayed out of my way." Eurides said.

They stood quietly side by side on the crest of a desert dune.

It was a dark clear night. "This world can still be ours." Ithaniel said.

"That's your dream not mine."

"I was hoping you might of reconsidered."

A single point of light appeared in the sky above and grew brighter

than everything that surrounded it. It described an incandescent arc

that pulsed as it passed overhead, and the desert sand glittered

as night became day.

"Just for a few moments," Eurides said. "I shone like the Sun."

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The dunes rolled like an ocean surface as shock waves travelled

down from above, then the desert floor shook with the force of

a distant impact. "Why are you showing me this? Do you think I've

forgotten how we fell."

"What I haven't forgotten," Eurides said, "is your part in it."

"I wanted it to happen, that's true enough," Ithaniel held up his hands

and smiled, "but you can't blame me for the time displacement that

occurred. That was pure phenomena."

"What it was, was a harsh lesson in perspective," Eurides said,

similar to the one you're about to experience."

The smile left Ithaniel's face. There was a thin silver chain wrapped

around his wrist. "What's this?"

"It's a cluster of magnetic fields that I curved in on themselves and

held open."

Ithaniel saw the pendant and the 'V' that was inscribed on it.

"When you took the gun from Winston's hand, you closed them

over yourself - you're part of them now, the fields are complete "

"Don't do this Eurides."

"'V' is for the Valkyrie Ithaniel. You remember the transport ship

don't you?"

Ithaniel began to burn like the inside of a furnace.

"In Norse mythology, the Valkyrie choose who are to be the slain

on the battlefield. It's quite poetic don't you think."

Ithaniel burned brighter still, becoming a blinding mass of plasma

energy. "The next time we meet Eurides, I'm going to destroy you."

Eurides smiled. "If there is a next time."

*

Eurides stood beside Winston. "Time to move on my friend."

Winston came to, lying on his side coughing and spitting dirt.

The chain fell from his hand.

His entire body ached from the over pressure of the explosion.

After checking Robbie and Arthur's bodies for signs of life,

Winston crawled over to where Toby lay. Toby was gone too.

"Fuck me." Winston sat back and shook his head.

He was thinking through his options, when he heard a call for

help. Winston looked across the battlefield and listened.

When he heard it again, he checked his medical kit and set

off in the direction he thought it had come from.

In a boot print he left behind Eurides saw a glint of silver.

"And that Ithaniel, is where you are going to stay - lost and

forgotten."

*