Chapter 2: Alone

Darkness was all around him. He heard yells and screams. He saw people running and stumbling in the dark, fighting for their lives. Suddenly a brilliant light flashed around him, causing him to duck and shield his sensitive eyes. Momentarily blinded, a face floated before him, a woman, the same woman that had appeared to him before he landed on Helion Prime, then again on Crematoria. "Vengeance belongs to us ALL!" She exclaimed grabbing at him. Another sound. He turned quickly and heard a scream fading off into the distance. "Riddick!?"

"Kyra!" He jerked up in his bed, bathed with sweat. His heart was pounding and his breath coming in gasps.

Slowly his heart rate and breathing slowed to normal, he got up out of bed and rolled his shoulders to work out the knots that had formed.

It had been two weeks since he ordered the Necromonger fleet to turn and head for the Underverse, in that time he had not seen anyone but the young woman, Jeera, whose sole duty in life was to bring him his meals and clean the rooms from which he had not left after issuing the order. He had given orders that he not be disturbed, but it seemed as though he would be anyway: Every night he had had nightmares. They all followed the same general pattern; darkness, a battle, a woman talking of vengeance, and Kyra.

He shook his head. Always Kyra. Every time he thought of her it was as though he was stabbed through the gut. He never knew that such loneliness, such pain, such guilt was possible. Even when he hadn't seen her for those five years, knowing that she was alive helped him keep going everyday. He had spent those five years thinking of her, protecting her from the fuckin' mercs by luring them away from Helion Prime where he had left her in Imam's care, and surviving on a God forsaken ice heap of a planet.

Now she was gone and it was because of him.

"Not for me," he thought in denial, "I don't deserve it. Why did she die for me?"

There was a knock on the door. His head jerked up at the sound.

He pulled out his blade, and walked to the door. Slowly he opened it. A Necromonger commander was standing outside his door.

"I thought I asked not to be disturbed." He said, his voice cold and soft.

"Yes Lord Marshal," the man replied unhesitatingly. Apparently he was used to dealing with men who could kill him in an instant. "But we are ready to make the transition to the Underverse, and you are needed in the Command Center."

Riddick did not answer and finally the man began to fidget under his gaze.

Awkwardly, the man stumbled to dismiss himself and left, leaving Riddick alone once more in his room. It was time. As he pulled on his utilitarian black clothes and sheathed his hidden knives he reviewed his plan. He would make the mother fuckers pay; he would tear their 'Underverse' apart with his bare hands if he had to. He would avenge the death of Imam…And Kyra.

Quickly he left his room heading for the Command Center.

As soon as Riddick stepped into the Command Center he stopped short. Displayed on the view screen was a sight unlike anything he had seen before. Directly ahead of them was a giant neon cloud that twisted and writhed like a snake in the final throws of life. The cloud seemed almost to reach out to them as they sat poised just on the edge. Every Necromonger man and woman was staring at the sight transfixed: The Gateway to the Underverse.

Riddick shook off the awe inspiring sight with a slight shrug of his shoulders and took his seat in the center of the room. "Make this happen." He ordered, causing everyone in the room to jump.

A short, greasy man walked up to him, "Lord Marshal," he said self-importantly, "I am the new Purifier. I feel it is my duty to inform you that no one is allowed to pass the gateway of the Underverse without the Necromonger mark. If you pass through the threshold before you become one of us, before your time, you risk becoming forever damned to never rising again in the Underverse."

Riddick looked at him. "I think I'll take my chances." "I am already damned" He thought inwardly, "Now make this fuckin' happen."

The Purifier bowed and backed away to his seat.

Orders were given throughout the room and the lights dimmed. The sound of men and women strapping themselves into their seats filled the air. Finally all was silent.

"We are ready for the jump to the Underverse." Announced a young navigator.

The flight commander nodded and began counting down. "Ten. Nine. Eight…" A vibration started to spread throughout Necropolis. "…Seven. Six. Five…" The vibration became more and more intense as the engines revved higher. "…Four. Three…" A long mournful wail began. It started quietly and slowly built. It seemed be coming from all around them. It was the sound of millions of souls in pain. "…Two…" The wail became so loud that many began to grasp at their ears. "…One." A loud BANG, and the world seemed to explode into brilliant color and light. The wail seemed to reach into their very souls and tear at them. The citizens of Necropolis added to the wail with screams of their own.

The pain was almost unbearable. Riddick grasped onto the arms of his chair, his knuckles turning white, tendons and muscles clenching and bulging under the strain. His goggles didn't even help keep out the lights, they seemed to be dancing on his very eyelids. Just when the pitch of the wail became so intense that he felt as if he would be ripped to pieces from the vibrations –

Everything stopped.