Chapter Seventy-Four: Suluk Nadu Dama Ul

  Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant

  Ruling Government: Talum Merchant Federation

  Solar System: D-447

  Planet: Ora

  Location: Tarvashal, upper residential district, Private Shuttle Bay

  ***

  Realm of Dreams

  ***

  The waters bubble and boil against the heat coming from my flesh as I sink deeper into the depths. Krotha has not followed, I do not know why, and I do not care. I have only one goal now, one thing that binds my existence into reason. Get to the bottom, break it, and break from the Realm of Dreams. Swells in the endless seas try to press me back, but I do not stop, the dark ones who have beaten Barnak’s troop of spirits, they grab at me. I do not resist their pulls. I welcome them for the first time in my life. Water rushes, the hands changing as they pull me, the ones that linger too long becoming a slurry of ash even in the frigid water. With each one that is destroyed, I feel a surge of energy pulsing in me. Everything is so chaotic, so overwhelming, yet I endure. I must. She needs me.

  The pressure becomes tenfold as I reach the expanse where light dare not venture. Deep in the murk of the Realm of Dreams, thousands of paces beneath the surface of the raging waves. Only darkness dwells here. I no longer feel hands gripping me, I am alone. Still, I continue. I must. I will not fail here, I will not give in. The horned woman would not have sent me into the depths if there was not something that could help me save Luna. I will find it, I will bend it to my will and I will kill this Dallus who has threatened her. He will feel the embrace of my blade’s song.

  Wrath torrents inside me as I reach the bottom with a thud, and the second chord of my blade’s new melody strikes. My knees buckle under me, pressed firmly against the surface of the bottom. I cannot see, but even against the pressure, I can feel the solidness beneath my knees. It saps the strength from me somehow, the barrier that separates me from what lies beneath. I slam my hands upon it, barely able to make a thud with the heavy water around me. I feel something beneath, but I don’t know how to reach it. The Wrath rises higher, this is not enough to stop me. It will not stop me.

  I try to focus and find the melody again to strike the third chord, but the barrier… it becomes more voracious, demanding even more energy from me. The waters spin around me as the heat from my body becomes lower, no longer enough to boil it. My thoughts are becoming more muddled as well. As though I am losing myself in the churn around me. I must not forget, I must not give in, I must… pain floods me. Red lines bloom in the darkness, flickering upon the surface of my body. In the shallow light, I see tendrils of dark ichor crawling up my arms from where they press against the bottom of the endless seas.

  The shadows that enter my mind cradle me, trying to soothe the Wrath, slowly swallowing my being, memories flow past me, allowing me to glimpse them as the ichor tries to return me to the endless void of the thereafter. I am grateful for them; they are the salve to the pain. I see many fond memories before me, played upon the surface of my mind, mostly of childhood.

  I hear the words of the one who raised Arrum and me. Sage Artemius, people of all clans and tribes would come to him for blessings on their journeys. While he was alive the city had order, it had hope, it was the only time my city did more than just survive, under his care and knowledge many thrived.

  The memory of him plays before me, as my body breaks from the ichor consuming me.

  In the memory, I am as I was, no more than thirteen at the time. I sit upon a ledge with Artemius overlooking our city of patchwork metal. He is an elderly man, perhaps the oldest of all the Kuwathi I have ever known.

  This was a few years before he died. The echo of its sorrow bleeds past and mixes with the pain.

  “Kalon, do you know the difference between a good person and a great person?” he asks, dragging on his old pipe, the smoke billowing in the air, he blows concentric rings that pass through each other.

  “The size of their tribe?” I hear my younger self asking him.

  He shakes his head, dragging on his pipe.

  “How good they are with a blade?” I ask.

  He shakes his head once more, this time with a chuckle, blowing out a ring of smoke.

  “A good person seeks to protect their own honor and the honor of their tribe, following the principles they pass down to them.” He says pensively.

  “And a great one?”

  “A great person seeks to protect the honor of all. A great person will live by ideals that they craft from the tribulations they experience. A great person is unbeholden to the way of others, they carve their own path - no matter the cost to themself.”

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  I see my younger self’s furrowed brow at his answer.

  “A great person has the power to change destiny, a good person simply lives by what fate dictates.”

  The words resonate with me now, the feeling of wrath’s tempo rising again against the overwhelming forces that try to bind it.

  “Which type of person do you strive to be?” he asks me, with kindness in his eyes, unlike other Kuwathi.

  “A great one,” I say, looking up to him.

  “Even if that means you will experience great hardship?” he asks me.

  “Yes.”

  He ruffles the hair on my younger self and smiles. The memory begins to fade pulling me back to the pain. It is fire in my veins, every part of me feels the impending doom, save the parts that the wrath protects and presses out from. I try to reach out to the Sage, but the memory is gone now. More memories flow into my mind, of my friend Arrum, reaching down through the storm after Neeba tried to kill me. The memory of him defying fate and rescuing me. I see myself yelling up to him, while I am tangled in the cords of my parachute.

  Adar Ulic Bekara - While there is life, there is the will to keep it.

  The words paired with seeing Arrum’s courage cause another ripple to run through the dream world. If Arrum were here, he would tell me to fight. The Sage would tell me to rise above the obstacles in my path, making their hardships into my strength. This is not how my story ends. I do not submit to death… it will submit to me. The rhythm of wrath begins to play louder, pulling a memory deep from the crevices of my mind. Something my mother used to say to me.

  Suluk Nadu Dama Ul – Believe in the fire within yourself

  The crimson lines that flicker upon my body erupt, blinding light soars from me, black flames mixing with red as I plunge my hands into the barrier. Feeling it move drives further belief… I can do this… I will do this. Cracks become fissures as the light grows upon my body, energy boiling the water once more.

  At the precipice when the tension releases, time stops its cadence. A flash of golden eyes surrounded by darkness appears in my mind's eye. Then suddenly, the waters smash away from me, the barrier shattering as I fall deeper into it. Light pressing into my eyes as words I have never heard flow into my thoughts, etching themselves across my soul.

  ***

  Realm of Reality

  ***

  My eyes burst open, air spilling into my lungs. Like the first breath after being trapped under icy waters. There is a humming in the air as my eyes look around, light dances all around us, artificial from the shuttles and the landing pad. More than that though, I see Maka in the air, swirling and rippling around the chaos of existence. My eyes follow the heaviest distortions, deep crimson spilling from seeds of Netherium embedded in her flesh, mixing with the near-blinding light from her own Etheric Maka trying to sustain her. Luna. She kneels a few paces away, her eyes quivering in mine. Something presses my focus, calling deep to the will I possess… it is then that I hear it, as the man named Dallus looks over at me, the third chord of my blade’s song.

  He holds me over the edge, his eyes blinking fast as he looks at me. He staggers backward, releasing his grip, but I grab his arm firmly. Strength from the Netherium cascades through me, something feels different now than before, like my heart itself beats fire into my body. Each pump of my heart spins it wildly inside me. I feel the wounds on my body sealing now.

  My boot slams into his face so firmly that blood sprays from his mouth. He stumbles back, taking me with him. No longer hanging over the edge, I swing my legs onto his arm and twist it unnaturally. I can see the Netheric Maka that swirls around me disrupting his armor's function, pressing away the weak Etheric Maka that shielded it. There is a satisfying crack of his limb before I land with a heavy thud on the ground, the tempo of the song becomes swifter as I lunge at Dallus again. He raises a hand to stop my next strike, leading me to roll forward under his guard, bringing my fist up and under his chin. The air whips as he nearly falls backward, barely evading my fist. He is faster than I thought. Air is sent into a flurry as I feel a tug behind me, pulling me away from him. My eyes blink fast as I turn and see Luna grasping me.

  “Kill them!” Dallus screams at his warriors, clutching his arm, leaping back further, blood drips heavily from his sideways nose.

  Dallus fumbles for something on his belt. The hilt of a sword with no blade. The four gold and red heavily armored warriors next to him back away as well. Raising up their rifles toward me. They are Netheric, I can see the glow. Meant for Luna no doubt, the wrath rises higher.

  “Run!” Luna yells at me, leaping toward the metal warriors, trying to block their aim, she crashes into the first, punching their breastplate so hard it sends them flying, sparks flying as their exosuit grinds to a halt on the metal grates.

  My feet move faster than they ever have before, closing the gap on them, steam rises from my body as the blood beats faster through me. I will not leave her. Stepping between the Netherium before it hits her, I feel the surge as it shatters in me. It is different from the ammunition the mercenaries used, somehow more potent. It roars inside of me. My heart beats faster, the tempo giving rise to meaning, giving rise to the rhythm of Netheric Maka in the air. I feel it now… the difference. Everything slows, so much that my heart feels like it beats normally, but I know it does not. Crimson energy pulses along my arms, sinking deep into my veins. Something is different than the last time I used Netherium to this extent, when they called me a demon. I feel the immense amount of Netheric Maka in my body, but I cannot hear the chant, as though even the abyss itself is afraid of the melody of my blade’s song.

  “By the gods…” one of the warriors says, dropping their rifle and pulling a rod from their back, both ends extend, the point of a spear unfolding from one end. Crimson light flashes on the edge of it. A Netherium-edged weapon. They came here to hunt Luna, the Wrath’s lullaby rises higher.

  The spear plunges forward, I kick it to the side as it does, the shaft barely moving. Their armor is strong. Much stronger than my body even enhanced. My teeth grind, but I do not relent. Trying to test their armor. Frustration builds fueling the wrath. I have no weapon that can pierce their defenses. Remembering that Dallus’s armor malfunctioned when I touched it, I roll towards the one closest to me. Placing my hand upon their heavy armor. I see the ripple of the Netheric Maka slamming into it, disrupting the circuit. Causing their mechanical suit to spasm.

  Another weapon slams into the ground next to me, striking my shadow, this time a mace with spiked ends, all tipped with the concentrated Netherium. My eyes trace back to the first armor that I touched. It has already found its rhythm again. It was not enough… I need to give it more. Time crawls as the next weapon cuts strands of my hair, slicing along my shoulder. The feeling of this concentrated Netherium slows time even further, nearly a quarter of the speed it naturally flows now.

  Luna kicks one of them in the head so hard that it bounces them off the ground when they land, denting one of the grates that we fight upon. Behind her I see light burst into form, coming from the once bladeless hilt of Dallus’s weapon. The blade moves through the air toward her back. She has not seen it yet. My legs move before my mind has even fully processed it.

  https://www.patreon.com/c/Godric_HTG

  The Forsaken Realm Discord Invite