What War Had Wrought (Rise of the Empire Book 7) Page 13

  Suddenly the two of them were inside the central chamber of his construct, surrounded by the gray walls of the cave. The tunnels leading to other areas of his construct were closed, leaving only the central cave. Adrian saw the Gatrey’s surprise, and struck before she had the chance to recover. He unleashed an attack on her mind, which manifested inside his construct as spikes that sprung from the rock floor to impale the Gatrey’s avatar from the floor.

  “I’m impressed,” said the Gatrey’s avatar as she shimmered and stepped out of the spikes, seemingly unhurt. “You are a mindbender; I did not anticipate this.” She looked at him askance. “You have a large true-mind. A cave inside of a mountain. Simplistic, yet massive and powerful.”

  She took a few steps forward and Adrian attacked again. More spikes sprung from the rock floor, impaling her once more. She stopped for a moment; her face showed sign of strain and discomfort, and then she shimmered again and stepped out of the spikes for the second time. “Very powerful, but I have fought against many mindbenders over many millennia. You cannot defeat me,” the Gatrey said, almost sadly, as she sent an attack of her own which manifested as chunks of rocks flying toward Adrian’s head.

  “Why are you doing this?” Adrian demanded, as he deflected the rocks with his mind. “We could’ve had peace, and now no matter the outcome of this trap, you will have only war.”

  “It is simple; it is in the nature of the strong to seek domination. We have learned these lessons a long time ago. Better that we stop any who have potential to threaten us while we are superior.”

  “It doesn’t have to be like that. We can still have peace, a cooperation of equals,” Adrian said.

  “You are young and naïve. Equality among those of different opinions and goals is impossible. Eventually one swallows the other; it is the law of nature.”

  Adrian could see that he wouldn’t convince her, and she was more powerful and more experienced, he could feel that. Focusing, Adrian forced his mind to work faster, bringing his entire construct into his mindspace as he kept a tight hold on the intruder in his mind. Telepaths inherently could perceive and process information faster; their brains could for short periods of time speed up. But Adrian’s mindspace was something on a completely different level. While a telepath could experience minutes as hours, Adrian could experience minutes as days. Nothing in the construct changed, but Adrian could see that the Gatrey had noticed a difference.

  “What…are…you…doing…?” she said slowly, every word spread out, her face contorted in pain.

  “You are in my head now, and you might be powerful, but your brain back in your body can’t keep up with mine,” Adrian said as he started attacking her.

  Spikes from the ground pierced her, and rocks pummeled her as Adrian kept her mind locked deep inside his own. He knew that he was hurting her, because she was trying to escape. Adrian was keeping her mind tight inside his construct, and with the mindspace straining her brain by forcing her to experience everything much faster than she was used to, she couldn’t even mount a defense.

  Then as Adrian knew she was nearing her limit, she roared and a screech pierced through his mind, forcing his avatar to the knees. A large rock appeared and smashed into Adrian from the side, and he lost focus—and in the process lost his mindspace. His construct lurched and the walls shook as time changed speed.

  Adrian rose from the floor, and from a kneeling position looked at the Gatrey, her avatar form now battered and wounded, but standing and walking towards him. “I thank you,” she said honestly, as her attacks still pierced his mind, filling it with a painful screech. “I have forgotten what it feels like to be so close to death, to have my power challenged by an equal. So before I kill you, I will bestow upon you the greatest honor one telepath can give to another. I name you, Heart of the Mountain.”

  Her hands rose, preparing for the final blow. Adrian was close to his limit, his power expended and his mind injured; he had nothing left to defend himself. Then, he felt a presence, large and familiar, surround his mind, and Adrian lowered his shields to allow it in.

  The Gatrey’s avatar flew backwards as invisible force threw her across the room. The Gatrey rose from the ground and looked at Adrian, and the newcomer standing beside him.

  Lurker of the Depths stood inside Adrian’s construct, his power blanketing Adrian’s. “Kar Daim needs your help. Go, I will deal with this,” Lurker of the Depths sent him in private, and then his power grabbed hold of the Gatrey, allowing Adrian room inside his mind.

  “Thank you,” Adrian said, and with one last look at the Gatrey, together Lurker of the Depths and Adrian pushed her out of his construct and mind.

  ***

  Lurker of the Depths felt Adrian’s mind detach itself from the Erasi attacker, and without waiting, he turned on the mind that he had a tentative hold of, sending tendrils of his mind to bore into her defenses. He was struggling, and straining himself by stretching his mind from the shuttle to the meeting place; he was at the very edge of his range, and couldn’t bring to bear all of his mind’s power without extending himself too far and breaking his mind. That meant he couldn’t do what Adrian had done and bring the Erasi into his construct, but he could still hold her at bay. Her mind was exhausted from the fight with Adrian, but still Lurker of the Depths could feel considerable strength from her. His attacks encountered her defenses, and started boring holes that were already there from Adrian’s attacks, but each time he focused on a single point, she would reach over great distance to strike back at him.

  “Another surprise. You too are a mindbender,” the Erasi sent. “And even more impressive, that you are able to reach out and hold me from such a distance.”

  Lurker of the Depths ignored her, and reinforced his attacks.

  “It is useless,” she said. “You are very powerful, but we are too far from each other to do any real damage. The only thing you have accomplished is to change the human’s executioner. Garash will kill him easily enough.”

  “You underestimate my former student,” Lurker of the Depths sent, as he felt and thwarted the Erasi’s attempt to slip his hold.

  “I see…you are his teacher. His technique does feel like yours,” the Erasi sent, trying to distract him as her counterattack lashed out and disappeared harmlessly against his defenses. “Perhaps you should release me and help him; you might be able to save him from certain death.”

  “Adrian needs not my aid,” Lurker of the Depths sent. Slowly, he felt his grip on the Erasi’s mind slipping. She was powerful, and he was too far away to throw all of his strength at her.

  “It does not matter. Either Garash kills him, or I will finish what I started once I am free of your hold. You must feel it; I will be free of you soon.”

  Lurker of the Depths knew that she was right. However, he was the most powerful telepath of the Sowir for a reason. “What is your name?” Lurker of the Depths asked, distracting the Erasi as he prepared his final attack.

  Surprise passed through the Erasi’s mind, and after a moment, she answered, “I am known as the Weaver.”

  Finished with his preparations, Lurker of the Depths stopped his mind tendrils from attacking. “I am Lurker of the Depths, of the Sowir,” he sent, along with a feeling of his home’s oceans and the deep dark of their depths. “Allow me to give you a gift, to always remember me by.”

  With all the power that he could muster and send across such distance, Lurker of the Depths abandoned his attacks and opened his defenses, sending one large message, ramming it inside the Erasi’s mind. The Sowir were a race more connected through the Sha and their minds than any other in the Empire. They shared emotion, thoughts, and experiences constantly, craving the comfort of other minds, supporting one another.

  His message was a thing that only a Sowir could craft, and only a Sowir could understand and bear. The combined feelings of the Sowir race, the horror of their actions against the other intelligent races, the realization that all they had done was wrong, that their bel
iefs were wrong. The dying ripples of Sowir who had killed themselves from shame and disgust, the feelings of all the other Sowir on his homeworld who had continued living bearing all that horror. The pain of a race as its foundations crumbled.

  Lurker of the Depths’ mind pulled back as he felt the Erasi’s mind receive the message, and feel pain that no one being was ever supposed to bear alone.

  ***

  Adrian opened his eyes and looked at the form of the Gatrey slumped in concentration. He turned and saw Anessa propped against a small boulder and the other O’fa standing above her ripping away pieces of her armor. For a moment, he debated finishing the Gatrey first, but Anessa was in trouble, and tiredly he tried to stand and almost fell over from exhaustion. His body was still fresh, but his mind was tired and his energy levels were low. With his imp, he triggered the NX-02 release, and started running as the drug filled his system, giving him some of his strength back.

  “Tell the shuttle pilot to be ready for liftoff!” Adrian told Iris through his imp, not waiting for her response.

  He ran towards Anessa as the O’fa pulled the last piece of her armor off and raised his glowing hand for the final blow. He tried to reach out with his mind, but it was still recovering from his battle with the Gatrey, and he was too far to reach out with any other Sha ability. He was going to be too late. Time slowed down and he watched helplessly as the Erasi’s hand descended towards Anessa’s heart. His mind went into overdrive as he tried to find a way to prevent what was happening. He couldn’t let this happen, he couldn’t lose another, not again. Then, miraculously, the hand stopped, and a moment later a wave of terror brushed by Adrian. Immediately he recognized the signature. Turning his head, he spotted two blue forms running towards Anessa—Akash in the lead, with Sora a couple meters behind him. In a split second, Akash crossed the distance, just as the O’fa realized and nullified the wolions’ emotional attack.

  Adrian ran as the O’fa regained his faculties, and Adrian’s heart broke as Akash pounced on the Erasi. A scream escaped his throat as the O’fa’s hand pierced through Akash’s flesh even as he was taken to the ground by the wolion’s weight.

  Adrian’s mind went white as the O’fa pushed Akash off him, throwing him to the side and pulling his arm out of the wolion’s chest. Adrian felt Akash die, and with him a part of Adrian died as well. Suddenly a hole appeared in a part of him that he hadn’t even knew existed. Pain and rage filled him, and he ran towards his enemy. Color seeped out of his world, and everything unimportant disappeared; only the Erasi remained. Adrian launched a mental attack against the O’fa, but his strength was a pale shadow of what it could be; his mind still too tired. His attack disappeared against the O’fa’s defenses, but by then, Adrian had reached him. The O’fa, warned by Adrian’s mental attack, sent a kinetic blast towards him, but Adrian didn’t even slow as he threw a blast of his own, one that consumed and overpowered that of the O’fa, hitting him in the chest and staggering him.

  Adrian reached the O’fa and his right fist slammed into his head, throwing him backwards. The O’fa tried to retaliate, his movements fast, sure, and practiced, but to Adrian, they might as well have been thrown by a child. He danced out of the way, his hands deflecting all four of the O’fa’s arms. Adrian slapped one of the O’fa’s hands, and raised his other as a stream of plasma left it to land all over the O’fa’s helmet, scorching it. Sha built up between them as the O’fa threw a shield that deflected the plasma, and then stepped back out of Adrian’s range. But Adrian was focused. He reached out with his telekinesis and pulled the O’fa back towards him.

  Sha bent as Adrian bound all of the O’fa’s arms to his body for a fraction of a moment. The O’fa quickly destroyed Adrian’s binding, but by then Adrian had stepped close, reaching around the O’fa and trapping his arms against his own body. Adrian clasped his hands behind the O’fa, and with his imp triggered the command. The turret rose above his shoulder and fired point blank at the O’fa’s helmet.

  Bolts of fire washed over the O’fa’s head. Sparks flew out and struck Adrian, but he didn’t care. The O’fa grabbed hold of the Sha, and Adrian moved to counter, but the O’fa was more powerful. A force grabbed hold of Adrian’s shoulder, ripping the turret to pieces and disrupting his hold. Another telekinetic tug made Adrian stagger backwards, and freed the O’fa completely. Adrian could see that freeing himself had cost the O’fa much of his remaining strength, and his helmet had layers peeled and scorched. The O’fa’s entire armor was covered in battle damage, and Adrian moved to attack again. The three spheres left Adrian’s forearm and flew towards the O’fa, one striking his head and the others making circular orbits around the O’fa to strike at his knees from behind. The disorienting strike to the head and the two on his knees forced the O’fa on his knees. Adrian stepped forward. His mono-blade slid from his forearm, and Adrian raised his hand for an attack.

  But the O’fa was ready. He latched on to Adrian’s hand, freezing it in the air. The fingers on his two upper arms started glowing in a yellowish light as he stood and stepped forward, aiming them towards Adrian’s neck.

  A blue shape came into Adrian’s vision—Sora, her jaws grabbing hold of the O’fa’s left lower arm. She pulled him to the side and off balance. Adrian’s free hand flew forward, sending a kinetic blast towards the O’fa’s shoulder and the hand that was coming down on Sora’s head. The kinetic attack threw the O’fa off balance and disrupted his hold on Adrian’s other arm. As Adrian freed himself, the O’fa grabbed Sora telekinetically, dislodged her hold, picked her up, and then threw her behind Adrian.

  That action gave Adrian enough time. His blade sang through the air in an upward motion. It met the O’fa’s right upper hand, and in a single slash, it cut through the O’fa’s forearm. The hand that had killed Adrian’s friend, his family, dropped to the ground. The O’fa recoiled in pain and stepped back. Adrian followed, his blade flying through the air in a move that would pierce the O’fa’s throat.

  Something smashed into Adrian’s shoulder, throwing him off, and his blade sliced through the O’fa’s shoulder, making a shallow cut as he was thrown to the ground. Immediately Adrian stood, and was hit subsequently with two more blasts. He ignored them, pushing himself towards the now retreating O’fa. Another blast hit him in the chest, throwing him to the ground again, and dozens of alarms sprung onto his HUD. But Adrian was lost in his pain; he readied himself to charge.

  Then his rage, his pain, dimmed, as if they were an old hurt. The world around him returned, at his side stood Sora, her eyes boring into him. She had dulled his emotions again, returned him from his rage. Adrian’s eyes took in his surroundings; Erasi forces were running towards the O’fa. Three had already reached the Gatrey and were carrying her back, and from here Adrian could see that she was twitching uncontrollably as if in great pain. The other O’fa was running, holding his stump with one of his arms. The Erasi forces were firing at Adrian from the distance, just as fire returned from behind Adrian. Adrian’s eyes landed on Akash, and he felt Sora nudge him to move. With a heavy heart, he did.

  He turned and ran with Sora towards Anessa, who was struggling to get to her feet. He glanced back as a bolt whizzed by close to Sora, and saw that most of the Erasi troops didn’t have full armor. He reached with the Sha to his three spheres on the ground, raising them in the air, and with an echo of his previous rage launched them at two of the closest Erasi, a Gatrey and a Ssarath. The spheres blasted their heads clean off in a shower of gore and blood, and the troops around them faltered.

  Adrian reached Anessa just as one of her Va Sun did, and together they helped her up and half carried her to the shuttle, as she was clearly dazed. With his adepts and the Va Sun giving covering fire, they retreated and reached the shuttle. Inside, Adrian spotted Lurker of the Depths, already strapped in and obviously exhausted. Adrian helped Anessa strap in, and then moved towards the front of the shuttle.

  “Get me a channel to the Bloodbringer, now!” Adrian ordered as th
e shuttle rose from the ground and started blasting towards the orbit.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Numvani orbit — Bloodbringer

  Dai Sha Garaam watched the holo in front of her as the shuttle carrying the Kar Daim landed on the planet. She was not as comfortable with them agreeing to the terms the Erasi set for opening a dialogue as Kar Daim had been, but she understood the reasons. The Shara Daim had a reputation among the other races, and one well deserved. This was all a part of them trying to change that perception. And Garaam knew that Anessa could take care of herself. She was a Dai Sha, and the Empire’s Lord Sentinel, her Dal A’sha, was with her, and Garaam knew that he was powerful as well.

  But that still didn’t mean she didn’t worry. She checked up on the Erasi super battleship on the holo and saw no change. It was still in the same orbit, its drives, weapons, and shields powered down, just like her own ship. The active scans of the Bloodbringer didn’t report anything unusual; there was no other ship in close to the planet, nothing suspicious even. Garaam nodded to herself, satisfied, just as the Va Sun at the sensor terminal said, “Dai Sha, we are detecting strange readings from the planet.”

  “From the meeting place?” she asked, concerned.

  “No, from the storm, Dai Sha.”

  Garaam frowned and brought up the information on c-board. The storm was massive, covering more than half of the planet, and its composition and charge made it hard to scan through. But the Bloodbringer’s scanners had picked up some unusual readings. She switched to visual sensors and zoomed in. For a moment, there was only the storm, and then the clouds parted.

  “Battle stations!” Garaam ordered. “Navigation, move us towards the shuttle’s location, fast. Open a channel to the Legions.”