Kalon

Chapter One-Hundred-Fifteen: Sek Sek

Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant

Ruling Government: Talum Merchant Federation

Solar System: D-447

Planet: Ora

Location: Research Facility

My hands hover over what is left of Fennec's body. Both Amara and Leora have their hand on my shoulder, but it is Leora's voice that slithers into my mind.

When the connection is made, you must be ready. She is quite powerful.

Leora's face bears concern, I still cannot see Amara's, but her hand tightens, echoing the concern. Deep breaths restore the calm.

"I am ready."

The energy flows from them both into me, mixing and deriving meaning from their will. The brothers Haki and Daki bring Etherium shards to my body, each becoming dust before three beats of my heart. The debris in the room is rattling as gravity pays reverence to the distortions forming around me.

When my hands connect with his skin… I feel the depth. Like an ocean of raw power, I feel her will rise against theirs. She does not hide her appearance from me. I see flashes of her standing in skies filled with purple lightning, her eyes burn like twin suns of purple chaos, and her hair streams in the wind of her own making. She is the mountain, we are but the wind upon it… and she wants us to feel it. If her expression did not say as much, her words surely do.

You thought this would be enough?

Anger seeps past the calm… anger that she would let Fennec suffer, for what? Because someone other than her wishes to help him?

"We would not have to help him, if you would," I seethe, my voice dripping with borrowed power as every cell in my body saturates with Etherium.

Why should I help him?

I feel the endless seas inside me raging. The golden eyes flash when I feel another pulse from Ravena's power smashing against us, yet it is strange… there is no hunger for Ravena… the golden eyes do not want her. Why do they not? I hear Ravena's words meant for Leora passing through the connection.

You dare defile my blessed with your filth yet again… you have grown bold in your obscurity, Leora.

Power arcs from Fennec's body as it shifts and turns, his runes blinding. The Etherium from the shards pulling towards him to power it. Leora's voice crawls into my mind.

There is no point in continuing. We have lost. Sever the connection.

Leora's hand retreats from me.

"Sek Sek…" I seethe, calling her a coward.

We gain nothing from throwing away what precious little we have. We must choose our battles wisely. This one cannot be won today, not even by you, Child of The Dawn.

Leora keeps calling me that, though its meaning escapes my understanding. What does she mean, Child of The Dawn? Does she speak of the thing I carry, or something else? My mind draws back to focus as Amara's hand trembles and shakes, but she does not leave, even as the waves become stronger, I hear Ravena laughing, causing the rage to rise. How far will Amara go? Until she becomes as withered as I am? My teeth grind at the thought. I would not mind if it was Leora… but I don't want to see Amara hurt any longer. Ravena's words carve into my mind.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

You thought that because you bear an insignificant Spark you could bend my will? You are nothing. Weak of will, weak of body, unworthy of note, and unworthy of my house's heir. Die in obscurity with your Goddesses, die with the knowledge that you are not enough… that you will never be enough.

I release the connection, the lingering of Ravena's laughter burning in my mind as her words still cut me. I don't know what spark she speaks of, but I assume it has something to do with the golden-eyed one. Amara kneels next to me now. Unable to stand, her body smoldering where her runes once lay. I can feel her ebbing from my perception, as though she has become so weak that she cannot show herself here much longer.

Why am I so weak? Why can I not shape the world? I look to the floor, Fennec's body barely changed under the strain of two Goddesses. Even if Leora had given everything, it would not have been enough, this much I can feel. As much as I detest her words, I know she is…

No.

She is not right.

I can be more. I am more. The defiance rises. Who is Ravena to tell me no?

Standing, I move to the crates of Etherium, the rich pulse of the Maka swells the closer I draw to it. My body is not like other people. The black fire. Netherium. The golden eyes. There is much that I do not understand. However, there is one truth that I know. Even with a withered body that barely stands, I am as I have always been… stubborn to admit failure.

"I need more."

"There is little more that we have found," Haki says, looking at my arms, the burns up them, "Perhaps we should…"

"The Netherium."

Daki stares at me now, they both know some of what I can do, but they do not know the extent of it. If I can break the next Netheric boundary, perhaps I can press Ravena from Fennec… or, perhaps if I can manifest the black flames in reality, I can erase her runes from his body.

"Kada," Haki begins, but Daki shakes his head.

"We will get what we can find."

I nod.

Kneeling before Fennec again. Amara tilts her head at me, breathing heavily still. Again Leora is the one to speak.

What are you planning?

"To break the next bound," I say quietly, Ralia across the room clutches her sister who sleeps again. When she hears this, she gives me a strange look, reminding me that no one else is seeing the Goddesses except me. Months ago, I would have thought it mad. Now, seeing what I have, it is nearly impossible to deny that beings like them exist.

You cannot break the next bound, you were lucky the last did not kill you outright. You may think you understand the workings of power, but you do not. We have lost today, but that does not mean that we will always lose. Grow stronger, slowly, in a measured way. Then someday… perhaps.

Her words annoy me, as though she thinks I am but a child. Perhaps to her, I am. The scriptures that speak of her go back many thousands of years. In a way, all mortals are children to them. Yet that does not mean that we cannot teach them. That does not mean they cannot be wrong.

"In my world, there is only today, the promise of tomorrow is not certain."

Foolish…

"Perhaps," thinking fondly on a memory of Arrum now, "I never claimed to be wise."

I have seen Kotina bend metal alloy with her will, the man who I believe worked for the Inquisitor, the one who subdued me for Mallock, I saw him bend the air. When I spoke to Luna about it, she said she thinks the higher bounds can control certain elements, ones that resonate with them. The black fire, I wonder if that is the one I can control. I saw it burn away runes that Krotha tried to place upon me. Perhaps that is why I was born runeless. If I can remove Fennec's bond to Ravena, there may be a chance.

Looking at my withered hands, I wonder what they can do.

Time slows to a crawl as I feel the Netherium approaching. My blood stirs at the thought of tasting it. I feel a strange yet familiar presence stepping into my perception. Horns upon her head, bearing the face of the one who holds my heart. Cruel solace as I look at her. The horned woman. I still do not know her name, all I know is that she is not Luna, despite looking like her.

She steps by the other Goddesses, neither stirs, as though they cannot see her, nor feel her. Strange.

The horned woman stares down at me as I kneel. There is no malice in her, there never is. She lowers herself until she is at eye level with me, her hands slowly moving to my temples. Darkness finds my eyes for a moment as she paints new memories, it feels like when Krotha showed me possible futures. Was it her power then? Is she the one that Krotha said is sleeping within the Cursed Edict?

The images flash and take form in my mind. I see myself taking the Netherium from the brothers, consuming many crates of it, and becoming drunk on the power of it, until my body fails… like Leora said. Except after my body fails me, it rises again, creating a monstrosity of pulsing Netheric Maka. Tendrils of black ichor fall from my body, ensnaring those around me, burning them into the black flame. Everyone is dying… killed by my hands.

I recognize the beast that kills the brothers, the same one that Krotha showed me in the visions of the future. It is only now that I realize it was me, fated to slay them. The futures fade from my eyes, my normal vision restoring. The horned woman looks at me still, shaking her head slowly. Time stretches back and forth.

"How can I save him?" I ask between the ebbs.

She looks down at my hands before she releases my face. Her hands touch mine. A whisper at first, then a pattern, a song so beautiful my eyes begin to weep. A song that I feel in my soul I have heard over a thousand lifetimes, like it is part of me. When the chords of the song finish, I am left speechless for a few moments. She motions to the Etherium shards.

"It can be done?" I finally ask, time in normal motion again.

She nods slowly.

"Can you guide me?"

She shakes her head.

"Why?"

She places a finger over my lips to silence me. Is she worried they will feel her presence? I don't understand. Not fully at least. Who is she? Why did she come to warn me? Luna is not here… I thought she only worried about her. Strange.

The horned woman stands, nodding to me again. Giving me the courage to try with Etherium once more, but with the melody she has shown, while it is still fresh in my mind.

Leora and Amara are both turned to me, a curious expression on Leora's face, yet she does not speak as I move toward the crates.

The brothers enter the room, each looking weary, each carrying a small crate of Netherium.

"Leave it outside."

"But, you said…"

Daki nods, nudging his brother.

I turn to the crates of Etherium again. Removing the lids, dipping my arms into them. Letting go of everything until I find it… the rhythm.

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