Chapter Seventy-Two: Juk

  Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant

  Ruling Government: Talum Merchant Federation

  Solar System: D-447

  Planet: Ora

  Location: Tarvashal, upper residential district, Near Private Shuttle Bay

  The horned woman eyes me curiously, time is still halted in her presence. I cannot move in the frozen time, but my eyes still perceive. Luna is next to me, her face covered by the tinted mask, I can barely make out her eyes and the outline of her face with the light around us. She is scared. Seeing her like this makes my chest hurt, even though my heart does not beat. She has saved my life three times now, there is a debt between us. Twice from the Shulka, once from Fennec and Ralia. Besides that… there is something more between us. I do not want to watch her die. More practically, if she becomes a Shulka, even if the rest of us don’t die from the onslaught of Netherium rounds that come toward us, she will destroy us all. I can scarcely imagine a Shulka with her abilities. The entire city might be at risk.

  My eyes take in everything that they can while time is suspended. Gauging where people will be and where the Netherium will find them. The shuttle is seven paces from the metal lattice walkway. Two paces above us, shooting downwards, if it were lower, perhaps I could jump to it. Glass hangs in the air around us, and I can see a large shard of it will land in Ralia’s neck. I have not decided if I will try to stop it when time returns to its natural flow, Luna is my only priority, the only real ally I have here. Letting Ralia die though… it will mean her sister Salia will likely die as well. I cannot flex my jaw while time is frozen, but I feel the sensation of it wanting to clench tightly. We are all roughly twenty paces from the next exit where Fennec was headed, and thirty-five from where we came. The twins will never make either exit. Even if a shard wasn’t going to kill Ralia, she would have to use Salia as a shield, even then, depending on the speed of the Netherium rounds, she would likely still die… a death steeped in great remorse.

  It is strange how much more difficult it is to simply let them die when time is slow enough to think about it. Should I try to save them all, after they threatened my life? I don’t owe them. Usually, I would be reactive. Not giving a second thought until after. Luna is the only one that I owe allegiance to, the only one that I care about here. That is strange also, to care about her… a master.

  The horned woman paces around me slowly. Tapping my shoulder rhythmically, the tempo becoming faster, I think she means to tell me that time comes. Let it come, I am ready for the first three breaths.

  Her eyes glow brightly, her hand raising in front of me, her fingers coming together, the moment that they snap, time rips back into full swing.

  My left leg plants hard, slamming my shoulder into Ralia and her sister, knocking them out of the way of the large shard of glass and three rounds of Netherium.

  One breath.

  Rebounding after knocking them over, I see Luna trying to grab me to pull me close to her, I dodge her hand, throwing one of the dulled blades toward Fennec, trying to deflect a round coming for his throat before it arrives. My now empty hand is in place to block a round of Netherium from Luna’s chest. It slams into me, the chant roaring into my mind.

  Embrace the Abyss

  The second breath comes with pain flooding my arm. With my other hand, I pull Luna toward me, shielding her from what I can, it is all I can do to repay her. Through the mask, her eyes catch mine for a split second before she looks toward the churning rounds of Netherium. They pound into me, the feeling of power seeping deep into my veins, struggling against the agony of my flesh being torn into.

  My mind becomes muddled by the third breath. I try to repeat the phrase, but time dilates again after only saying “Juk…” to dream.

  As time stops, so too does the chant, yet the feeling of Netheric Maka is still there. Resonating deep within me, powered by the Netherium rounds embedded in my body, I feel they have splintered inside. The rounds are hollow, meant to break apart on contact, and they were not as fast as I thought. Perhaps it is also so that it does not explode in the barrel firing too quickly. The outfit that Fennec gave me appears to have stopped the glass shards from cutting me, but it was not as effective against Netherium. Holes litter what I can see of my sleeve.

  Luna’s runes have already activated, I see on her body three places where I failed to block her. Black ichor already etches from them, crimson mixing with the blue of her runes near the areas. It will spread soon, once time comes in full swing. She is better off than Fennec though, he is littered with fragments that have bounced off my body. They are aiming for Luna, it seems the others are collateral damage.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  I cannot see the twins in my perception, only Luna and Fennec. Even though I search the reflections of shattered glass, I still cannot find an angle on them. Luna’s eyes are on my hand that caught the first round, her weapon in the process of raising at the ship. Fennec is already firing toward them, but I can see in one of the shard’s reflections that his first shot will land high. Something else comes from his other hand, another device like he used on those men in the hallway. One device may not be enough, I should throw my other blade’s core.

  She does not speak, the horned woman, she never does. Though she does walk around looking at my work, giving hints I think with her gaze at what I should do, the hints are subtle, but they are there, reflected back in the shards of possibilities. I don’t know why she is helping me. She could have just held my tongue from speaking like before, yet, she did not, she wants to help me… no, that cannot be all. Perhaps she wants me to help Luna, that would make more sense, given her appearance. Why does she look like her, and want her protected? A tap on my shoulder and a sly grin tells me that I need to focus on what I see, time will wait no longer.

  Taking in the next three breaths of movement, I am sure what I must do, though I do not know if my body can take more shots of Netherium. These rounds are extremely potent.

  Time is not kind when it comes into focus this time after she snaps her fingers.

  The first breath is agony.

  Pain rips through my hand, it is shooting up and down my limbs, all over my back, I stumble forward, and the chant is louder than before. I barely manage to throw my dulled blade at the craft to add to Fennec’s explosion, from the angle, I can already tell, I have failed. The blade will fall to the city below.

  Embrace the Abyss

  I lose count of the rounds as they enter my body while I shield Luna from them. They rupture inside of me, giving me a new definition of pain. I cannot speak to try and call the horned woman to halt time, I cannot even call air into my lungs, yet time's cadence is slowing. Something more than the Netherium is ripping my body apart. The horned woman’s gift is not without consequence then.

  An explosion rocks the air behind me. Fennec’s device finally went off. Luna pulls me into her, spinning around, shielding me from the debris. The glass and metal walkway we were walking on is collapsing. It rumbles, though the sounds are becoming more distant. The Etheric energy shield from her waist flickers from all the Netheric Maka in the air. It will not work like it did in the markets against plasma rounds. I feel her groan as shrapnel sprays into her. Crimson dust sprays all around us. I want to protect her… I want to shield her, but she is too strong to fight even with the strength the Netheric Maka gives me. The chant roars as the Netherium begins to break down inside me. Bright crimson lines erupt from my skin, I feel darkness swirling in my eyes. Time slows even more as I feel the Netheric energies pulsing in me… like the Abyss itself calls.

  Embrace the Abyss

  I try to fight… but I am but a man… the realm of dreams calls me with its lullaby.

  ***

  Realm of Dreams

  ***

  Torrential rain mixes with thunderous skies that swallow all other sounds, only muffled when the waters crash into me. Slamming me against something solid and jagged. Hands do not pull me down toward the depths, instead they lift me up. My eyes are confused again as I see Barnak, my old Clan Chief among the dead who raise me up. They are legion in number, their spirits a mix of colors, different from the crimson shadows and waters. Beyond them, I see the ones on the edges fight a horde of shadowy spirits. I don’t understand what is going on. Their hands are kind as they press me up, a strange sensation of hope filling me. In their eyes I see kindness. My eyes blink back at them as I realize I know some of the faces.

  They are the dead that Luna and I returned to the flame. No longer withered and filled with horror on their faces, they are filled with… hope against the despair. Barnak leads them with other spirits, ones that were taken by the flames in their tribe chief attire. They are so many now, they almost outnumber those who seek to drag me under.

  As I pull onto the island of black rock, Barnak grasps my hand, placing it over my chest. In his eyes he tries to impart deeper meaning, meaning that is lost on me in the chaos of the winds and waters that batter against us.

  Barnak’s legion is losing though I realize, more shadowy figures begin to emerge, more than I have ever seen before, emboldened by the Netheric Maka that swims in the air and the endless seas of the dream world. Lightning arcs crimson, sending shockwaves through the air with its thunder. The legion of shadows pulls down the legion of swirling lights. I move to help them, even in the confusion of what is going on, I know that they fight for me, they fight to protect me. As I try to enter the waters, a loud cracking of energy from above shakes the realm of dreams.

  Barnak’s eyes widen as he looks above in the dark clouds. All the spirits look upon the thing that emerges from the fissure formed in the sky. It is the being swathed in darkness. My skin tingles as I look upon it, its form becomes more revealed now, the darkness that swathed it falling away, the body in the shape of a woman, eyes red like fire. Her hair blacker than night’s first song, the ends of it bright scarlet as though dipped in the lullaby of Netherium’s embrace. Her hand waves and the seas of endless waters pull away from the stone that I stand upon, a sphere of air forming around it as before.

  “My, what a strange body you possess,” the woman says.

  Her voice is no longer distorted as it had been in the past, yet the malice hangs in its tune. Time dilates and she is next to me now, my body frozen, her eyes taking measure of me. Energy pulses from her, red light swirling around her frame.

  “Or is it your soul?” she muses, tilting her head to the side, “There is a strangeness around you, mortal.”

  She splays her hands open, pain swallows my thoughts instantly, every fiber of my being on fire.

  “Curious,” she says, coming to my face now, the pain abating, peering deep into my eyes “What are you I wonder…”

  She grasps my face turning it side to side slowly, the pain returning from her hands, like white hot metal searing my flesh, yet there are no wounds from it. Her face is cruel in its beauty, I can find no trace of empathy on it. Her words vibrate the air as she speaks.

  “Let’s peer closer…”

  A wicked smile forms on her black-painted lips.