The Sorcerer and the Stargazer part 20
Stargazer ICU, Above Stormhold, Nidavellir
The first time Maria a woke it was much too early. Her neural networks had not yet been optimized and her implants were wide open to allow Liz and Stargazer to observe Maria's functioning.
Maria wouldn't know about this until later. All she would know is that when she woke up she could feel everything. And her limbs wouldn't move, twitching slightly.
And she could see it from several angles. From the cameras she could watch as Michael roused from a dead sleep to her anguished squeaks. Massive streams of data flowed incomprehensibly through her mind.
She could feel the panic build and build and BUILD.
And then darkness.
The second time she was trapped in her head. Her head felt so heavy, but she could move it. Michael called for someone. She thought it was Liz. Liz smiled at her and said something she just couldn't understand.
There was another man, of middle height in a dark cloak. His blond hair and cold blue eyes reminded her of Tess. He said something to Michael who fumbled at some small bottle.
Michael nodded and gave her a kiss on her forehead. A kiss that seemed to linger.
Why couldn't she talk? Why couldn't she tell him how much she loved him?
He smiled at her and lifted her head slightly. His eyes were still full of worry and love as he lifted the vial to her lips. "You need to drink this, baby."
She tried to nod, but she was simply too weak. She did feel the liquid pour down her throat.
There was a cool sensation as she drank it. And the taste was simply unbelievable. She could feel warmth spread out from where it rolled down her throat. She could feel as the weakness and coldness left her limbs.
As she began to feel warmth flood through her, she felt the essence of joy and bliss careen through her. And it built and built and Built…..
And darkness again.
Maria opened her eyes a sense of wellness that she had not felt in…. How long? Maybe when she had been a child?
None of the tiny aches and pains she had felt as she had grown older were there. She felt shiny and new.
She sat up and looked for Michael. She could hear him softly snoring. Why wasn't he laying beside her?
She saw him sprawled across a couple of chairs right next to the medical bed she was laying on.
Oh, That's right. Didn't I die….
Wait a minute. If I died I wouldn't be here. I must have been hurt pretty badly.
She tried to slip off the medical bed quietly, but while her muscles didn't feel weak, she felt uncoordinated. Like her body had undergone sudden changes. She stumbled awkwardly and looked for something more than a sheet to wear.
After bumping into this and that, nearly falling a couple of times, she spied a ship suit with her name on it. She had not felt this awkward since high school. Maria shook her head slightly as she got dressed.
She was halfway done when she noticed something glaringly wrong. Her skin. All of her skin except her right arm, which still held her wedding band, were completely untanned.
Pale white skin. Even on her shoulders and legs. She scouted out for a mirror and looked at her face. It was still tanned. But even there, there were changes. The tiny beginnings of wrinkles were gone. Completely gone. And she scrubbed at her skin to see if some form of makeup or foundation.
Only skin. Perfectly tanned flawless skin.
What exactly had Liz done to her?
A part of her reached out and she felt a…. barrier of some kind. And beyond that barrier there were rustling whispers and majestic vistas.
It scared her. Not the barrier. It felt…. Safe. But what was beyond the barrier scared her in some fundamental way.
"Nice to see you are up," Liz said quietly as she walked through the door. "We were all worried about you. I finally had to drug Michael to make him sleep."
"Liz, what happened? I vaguely remember fighting in front of Stormhold, and then, then everything got so, so cold."
"You were hit with a Dokkalfar arrow. It was enchanted to turn you into ice. It almost worked."
Maria slumped to her knees. "It is true isn't it. I froze to death. I died."
Liz looked at Maria, simultaneously amused and annoyed, "Maria stop being melodramatic."
"I died. I died and you, you made me, made me into a m, m, monster."
"Maria, you are not a monster."
"I'm a cyber now aren't I? Not even human." Maria began to rub vigorously at her sides, trying to feel the metal. To feel the machine she now was….
"Maria, what are you doing?"
"I'm trying to feel the implants. Trying to feel the metal bits you have stuffed me with."
"For God's sake, why?"
"I know that Kyle…."
"And you thought I was making you into a combat cyborg? Maria you need to calm down. I just patched you up. But unless you want to spend the next couple of years bedridden, I had to take a few short cuts. And I will be honest, without a really nice gift from Marcus Frostfire you would still be bedridden, if only for a few weeks. I don't know what he gave you, but I want to learn how to make more of it. It made my best mednanobots look like crude toys. Of course, from what Marcus said, it would have had a problem with the amount of damage you had taken."
"I…."
Liz reached over to the mirror and touched it on the side. The surface of the mirror was no longer reflective and looked more like a video screen. Lying on the bed was a very pale Maria, her right arm frozen in place. Black ice covered most of her body as medical robots began to operate, cutting pieces away….
"Slightly over fifty-eight percent of your body was converted to ice, Maria. Fifty-eight percent. Another twelve percent was too badly damaged to save. But over the years after eradicating cancers and repairing the destroyed tissue, well, building you from near scratch…."
"But am I me? Or do I just feel like I am me?" Maria slumped slightly.
"Yes. I say yes. I was able to protect your brain and spinal column. Your wedding ring actually saved your left arm. And I also saved. No, I will let Michael tell you." Liz smiled softly. She paused slightly, head cocked, "Look, I wanted to head off any extreme reaction but I really have a lot to do. But before I go, let me ask you this. Am I a monster, Maria? Is Kyle?"
Maria shook her head.
Liz gave her a huge hug. "Neither are you. But there are monsters out there. And the Stargazer is off to eliminate one of them." She backed away and looked at Maria. "Michael should wake in about twenty minutes. That should give you three hours before a working breakfast that both you and Michael are to attend. I suggest you and Michael spend the time well. He's a keeper, not my type, mind… But he stuck with you. He watched over you through the whole process. He loves you Maria. He really does." She walked back towards the door.
"And what are you going to do, Lizzie?"
"Well I had to drug Mr. Worrywort Evans, too. He will be waking not long after Michael. I promise not to be too late to breakfast…."
Maria shook her head as she watched Liz walk away. For a moment she forgot all of her troubles and worries and smiled at Liz's happiness. She then walked back to where Michael still lay sprawled on a couple of chairs and watched as he slept.
-Scene Break-
Tower of Bones, Hecatan Wastelands, Nidavellir
The last pleasant thought Signy had was of being in Ivan's arms. He had kissed her forehead, "My love, things are going to get bad. But you must hold on. You must not give in. But it will hurt. They are evil and it will hurt a great deal."
And he had been right.
She was now attached to a large enchanted pole. Attached by seven deep spikes up and down her spine, with the last imbedded in her brain.
And it would not let her die. Each of the spikes had sent out tendrils that had encompassed the whole of her being, body and soul. It held them securely. There would be no release until they were done taking all they could from her.
And take they had. Her breaths were shallow from the tiny remnant of her lungs they had left her, her now dwindled heart beat swiftly to maintain the tiny bits of living tissue remaining. And under her heart and lungs…. Nothing. Her skin hung like garment over an empty framework.
They had not cut her, only reached in and taken. Her skin had been no barrier to their questing hands. Her screams at the feeling of their bare hands on her organs cut off at the removal of her voice box. Then silence as they removed her ear drums. Her mind had shrieked as they took her eyes and placed them in a jar.
Those last had been returned to her, coated with a substance to keep them moist….
They had taken her tear ducts and her eyes could no longer close.
And she could not die. Worse the strange intense vitality that /Siyan had given her had stayed. Most of her flesh was being consumed by the depraved denizens of the Tower, but she could feel her body striving to repair itself. She was awake and alert. And she could see.
She was not alone, there were three others planted at various points in this room scattered with tables. Only Ivan seemed alert, his eyes burning fiercely as he stared at the pretty petite blond who was being tucked into the table, by a handsome young Dokkalfar.
Ivan's pillar was already docked, and she could see it was doing something to him. Consuming his essence. Draining his very soul of the vitality that had made him who he was.
The other two victims were further along than Ivan, one almost empty of essence. Signy watched as one of the people at the girl's table turned the tap and a glittering liquid poured out, and the girl's soul emptied.
And still she could not die. Signy could see the ash-like soul remnant as it clung there, still attached to its body and the totem that had destroyed her.
A troll waiter walked up to the table and hit a button. One by one the spikes that held the girl gave way and the body slipped into a hole underneath it. A drained and empty husk to be discarded.
Signy could feel as a couple of trolls set her pillar firmly to the table were she would be the main course. And as they made the last connection she felt a horrible pain lash through her soul, and she could feel as part of her soul was liquefied and drained from the pillar into the tap at the table.
Signy was ready to be consumed. She saw the three Dokkalfar girls as they laughingly walked up to the table and sat down. She watched as they ordered a dinner of some sort.
There was no wine list. Signy's soul would be the refreshment.
Signy felt a cool breeze waft up from underneath her. She looked down at her eternal fate. A few feet past the hole there was a net set up to catch her body.
But not the remains of her soul. For she could feel that cold flame underneath it all, could almost see its blue flames, eager to consume another soul remnant.
No afterlife for Signy. No rebirth. Only a few seconds as her soul was burned off and destroyed like it had never been.
She looked up to take one last lingering look at Ivan. His dark eyes met hers across the expanse. And he mouthed 'I love you.' before continuing to glare at his destroyers.
She did the same and watched as they took the first glass of her soul….
-Scene Break-
Nicholas looked at the sexless nude creature that hung at his table. Tedori reached over opened the tap/ A soft glowing liquid poured out. She filled a second glass and handed it to him.
Last night with Tedori had been both the most amazing and terrifying nights he had ever spent with a woman. Most of the night she had taken the form of Tess, and that had brought back pleasant memories when he had thought she would be the one for him.
Really he had never truly given that dream up. And Tedori had fulfilled those fantasies.
He turned to Tedori, raised his glass, and the drank. It was the most heady liquor he had ever drunk. It filled him with a warmth that went so much deeper than any natural substance could.
Tedori's cheeks flushed as she finished the glass, savoring each drop.
"So what are we celebrating?" Nicholas asked.
"The circumvention of destiny. See that brunette over there, the one with the Wolf trim?"
Nicholas nodded.
"She would have in time brought the broken remnants of your race to permanent reconciliation with the Ljosalfar. Only it won't happen now. She is drinking the soul the Ljosa who would have become the leader of the Ljosalfar. Little Mira is treading down a path that will tie her to me, to us. Let Freyr rage, his days are numbered, and with this act the Ljosalfar are closer to extinction."
Nicholas glanced at his now empty glass and gaze at the mute humanoid who glared back at him. "So this wine…?"
"Is three parts Indari vintage wine from Jotunheim to one part human soul. Good isn't it"
"Then…."
"Nicholas don't pretend to be naïve. You knew very well what we did up here. Don't make me regret my choice of you to father my next child….."
Nicholas found himself caught at a moment of decision. For a brief moment Tedori's enchantment of him weakened. The choice he made here would forever shape his destiny. A last chance granted to him through the anti-Jotun toxin running through Ivan's soul.
A poison built not on hate or evil, but rather knowledge. Odin had planted a seed of prophecy within the boy. A soul scent Tedori would crave and desire. And consume.
And it would kill her in time.
But Nicholas could not fully comprehend this. All he saw was the choice between resisting depravity and probably dying by Tedori's hand…. Or power, ruling over a slice of hell with Tedori.
As always Nicholas chose power.
"Tedori, my love, there is something coming…."
Meanwhile over at the other table, Mira sat with her friends. Their time in the Tower had been a wondrous experience/ There was something wrong about the place, some hidden darkness. But the service had been great.
She was even thinking of buying the slave boy she had had last night. Sure he was human, but he had been sweet.
And this place was not healthy for his kind. It might be a little scandalous, but surely her family would be happy enough about her choice to switch to the Owls to let it slide.
Plus she was young and would not be expected to marry so early. And a few Halflings might be useful, particularly if they were day-walkers like their father.
The roast chicken was superb. The wine was better, filling her with a warmth she had rarely felt before. She just wish she knew what the nude creature beside her table was. I looked like a human, but there was a yellowish tinge to the skin and eyes. And it was sexless, its skin a smooth expanse without even a belly button.
Strange.
But the eyes…. It was almost like she could see something there….
And she could. Of course, just as Nicholas could not fully fathom the gift of prophecy he was consuming from neither could Mira fully understand the Sight she was receiving from Signy.
But while Signy's gift had been augmented by Siyan's blessing, it was still an Alfar gift. A gift that Mira's ancestors had spurned in their pursuit of dark knowledge and power, but still …
The tiny voice of her distant ancestors, those who had been called simply the Alfar, before the division that would sunder their race had never been truly suppressed in Mira. The voices, the ancient voices told her how to interpret the strange sensations and visual oddities.
For the first time she could See. She could see her seemingly bubbly friend Bonwhin's slowly curdling soul, dying under the evil she sought to master. The evil that would in time master her as it had so many of the Dokkalfar. As it already had Hradis. Her bright aristocratic friend had already made her choice, had already traveled the distance. She was evil.
And what then of Mira? What did her soul look like? Mira was afraid she knew. But it took one glance at the poor girl trapped at the pillar to know that this needed to stop.
There were limits that should not be crossed….
Worse this girl was one of them, one of the Alfar. Ljosa, it was true, but still Alfar. And they were destroying her soul. Ripping it to shreds so as to consume the pieces.
This went so far beyond even Owl necromancy…..
It must stop. It must stop now.
Hradis smiled at Mira, "This has been a fine experience. It will be nice for all of us to be able to study together again. Together we will be unstoppable."
Bronwhin reached for the tap and filled her glass one more time, a worried expression on her face as she looked between Mira and Hradis.
"Hradis, Bronwhin, do you understand what we have done? Do you understand the magnitude of our crimes?"
Hradis looked down her nose at Mira, "We are binding our friendship. Gaining an edge against all the competition we will face amongst our people. What need does this creature have of such gifts? Gifts that would only go to waste at her death."
"Creature? She is a girl. And she is Alfar."
Bronwhin took another sip and said, "Ljosalfar."
Mira looked at Bronwhin with shock, "So you knew too?"
Bronwhin would not meet her gaze.
Hradis stood. "I always knew you were weak, Mira." She raised her hand and spoke words to a common powerful death spell.
One that Mira knew as well. Hradis was a well trained and talented Owl, conversant with powerful magics. Mira was a Wolf, trained in both magical and martial arts. Had Mira cast a counter spell or an attack spell, chances are she would have lost and died.
But Owls have a weakness, particularly young Owls. They focus so much on the magical plane they often leave themselves open to physical attack. Hradis died mid-spell to a thrown knife to the heart.
As Hradis vainly tried to remember the Escape spell, Mira unsheathed another throwing knife and held it ready looking at Bronwhin.
Bronwhin's face was covered in tears. "I'm sorry, Mira. I didn't think it would come to this. The Council, the Council said if you resisted or refused to, to kill you."
Mira said nothing knife at hand.
"But I, I can't Miri. I can't kill you. I loved you both. I, I hope that someday you can forgive me."
And Bronwhin ran.
Mira stared after her childhood friend. Now what. Mira was now an outlaw and for what? She glanced at the girl still fastened to the pillar. A pillar that was keeping her alive and consuming her soul. "I am sorry, I didn't know…"
She heard the sound of hands clapping behind her. "Bravo, bravo. And so Destiny still strives to maintain itself. How festinating. Too bad both of you will be dead. I shall enjoy consuming your soul, Dokka."
It was the blonde from the nearby table. Only now Mira could see that it was no Dokkalfar woman who stood before her.
It was a Rime Jotun. One both ancient and evil.
Mira focused her power and assumed her fylgia, a Dire Wolf.
"Your pathetic tricks are no match…."
"Tedori, you must pay attention to me!"
"Not now Nicholas. When this is over I will consider listening to you. Already you are beginning to bore me. Perhaps I made a mistake after all."
"Tedori, they are coming. A lady wrapped in lightning! A golem of steel! An alliance of the mortals! They are coming!"
Tedori growled her frustration at Nicholas.
Mira looked for an opening. But this was a jotun. Mira didn't expect a good end to this.
The Tower began to shake violently.
Nicholas said, "They are here."
For just a moment Tedori was stunned.
Mira attacked.
-Scene Break-
Rapidly approaching the Tower of Bones, Hecatan Wastelands, Nidavellir.
Kyle could see the explosions as Liz fired missiles and shell fire at the Tower's entrance. The gates built to withstand the siege weapons familiar to Alfar warfare fell rapidly to the Midgard based weapons.
Mankind had been bred for war. For this war. The Final War.
Kyle knew none of this. Only the plan that had been worked out among his friends and allies over a pleasant breakfast. He could not know that he was one of a long line of human champions fighting against the tide of darkness.
He could not know that he was fated to be here. To be a Champion of Order and Good in this dark place.
All he could know was that this place represented and evil that must be stopped. And he would stop it or die trying.
As would his friends.
And so into the fire and confusion wrought by his 'guardian angel,' Kyle flew the Assault Shuttle into the breach.
The stunned defenders had no clue what had hit them.
Kyle smiled under his armor. As he opened the hatches to the shuttle, he said to all of his troops, "Showtime."
The Battle of the Tower had begun.