9.
The Light of the Darkest
"Always planning ahead, aren't you, Vaako?" Kyra's voice smoothly echoed through the small passageway, curling around and enticing his senses in a way no woman ever had.
"With Dame Vaako as your wife, you would too," he said quietly, lip twitching in distaste at Kyra's scornful laughter. It wasn't that she was possibly the only woman able to handle Riddick, but Riddick be the only man even remotely capable of handling her.
As they descended deeper into the frigid depths of the Necropolis, Kyra remembered in silence the look of hope mixed with anticipation that Riddick's eyes held when she said it would be possible for her to move into her old body. She had based suspicions of Riddick's feelings towards her and, she admitted to herself, she would respond just as eagerly. Shaking the thoughts from her head, lest Jack catch them, Kyra followed Vaako.
They finally came to an opening in the dark passageway that was eerily lit with blue lights that Kyra thought was blue flame, but she wasn't sure. She did all she could to block these sights from Jack, knowing that when they parted, the visions would send her into nightmares. Tall vaulted ceilings clashed with the common Necromonger style by copying old Gothic architecture, similar to an elegant crypt that would lie beneath a cathedral. Indeed it was a crypt, it seemed to Kyra that all past important purifiers, commanders and the like were buried here.
"Where are the Lord Marshalls buried?" She asked suddenly and Vaako sent her a cold glare. "I mean, your dedicate your entire lives to your death, so the body of your lord should be kept sacred and untouched, shouldn't I?" She questioned, her voice a little more demanding.
"Those not of the faith can know not the fate of a Necromonger's physical being." He growled and Kyra wondered if there was a written scripture of the Necromonger faith. Of course she asked.
"Do I look like a Purifier to you?" He turned on her suddenly, his anger evident, but she narrowed her eyes at him and returned his anger but in a cold gaze. His voice echoed off the high ceilings and he suddenly looked ashamed, dipping his head low in embarrassment. But he turned back around and kept walking, glancing at passing tombs.
"Those of the faith should be willing to share to those of possible conversion," she said, using his language from before. Or had she known that from somewhere? She followed him, glancing at the passing graves.
"You speak as if you know the scripture itself, woman, it is possible. Memories from your conversion could still be with you," Vaako replied quietly, his voice now more interested than angry.
"Question about that, Vaako. If I do successfully manage to bring my soul back to my body, will I still be a Necromonger?" She thought his was a reasonable question, unlike her pestering ones from before.
"Once again, I am no Purifier, but it is possible I guess." His voice lowered with a sort of reverence as they passed a series of highly decorated tombs. Kyra stopped to look at these, but was interrupted when Vaako grabbed her arm and pushed her forward.
"It is unwise to gaze upon the fully dead and passed on." He said, his voice getting lower.
"Why?" She asked, gazing up into his harsh eyes.
"I do not know, it was just something I was told when I first came to this place." He remarked, looking back down at her. "Hurry, Riddick will not like how long we've taken here."
They walked the rest in silence, twisting through smaller passages until they reached a wall. Kyra was about to make a smart remark when Vaako took out his jagged dagger, not unlike the one she had seen Riddick kill Lord Marshall with, and slipped it into a nearly unnoticeable crack in the wall to their right. Five blocks ground forth from the wall they were facing, the black smooth stone shining with the reflected light. Vaako stared at them briefly before pushing them back in. He pushed different ones, similar to a number security code, Kyra supposed.
The wall was silent until it drew up and allowed passage to the two. It closed behind them and Kyra shivered slightly when she felt the immediate change in temperature. It was near freezing, the frost on the walls and carved statues could attest to that. Vaako seemed unaffected by it as he led her to a single tomb that rested in a room that was lit by the natural light of the ice. In a black open tomb, Kyra started when she saw her own body. Her lips were tinged blue, her hands white with no blood and her entire presence seemed without life.
"Why the secrecy?" She whispered without even realizing it.
"We Necromongers do live for our death, but it doesn't mean we will not desecrate something that seems to offend the faith, even if it is a fellow dead." He replied, sounding almost ashamed. "And yes," Vaako said, anticipating her next question, "Riddick did visit here. Often in the beginning but soon he never even came near the original passageway."
She nodded, looking at herself so cold and asleep. A warm rush of anticipation went through her just thinking of being able to be back in her own body, where she belonged. She had never much liked the idea of having to take over Jack's.
They had transported the body into a closed off med bay, whose doors were fiercely protected by Nawkon, whose mere presence was enough to send any reasonable Necromonger scrambling for safer grounds. Riddick waited in one room, his expression unreadable as he saw Kyra's body laid out on a black operating table, her cold skin making the black stone even colder. He listened as Kyra discussed a few matters with Vaako, who was quieter then usual.
He didn't realize that she was standing in front of him until she spoke, making him startle slightly. Her eyes were full of caution, but it inwardly pleased him that he didn't smell an ounce of fear on her. When she had wanted something, she never allowed fear into the equation.
"Riddick, are you going to stay?" She asked, her voice light.
He nodded and looked at Vaako, who was staring at Kyra's lifeless body. No doubt an action like this would question his faith in the Necromonger way, but it was good enough that he was even helping. Riddick didn't want to think what a Purifier would say, although he wouldn't object to the one who had committed suicide on Crematoria. A fellow Furyan's thought would not have hurt this situation.
"Alright," she laid a small hand on his wrist, "I think this is going to work. Promise me one thing, though."
"Anything." He replied, surprised at the open desperation that laced his tone.
"Believe in this, believe in me. I can't have any doubt about this, not from myself or you, got it?" She asked and Riddick nodded.
Vaako stepped out of the room, watching the door close behind Jack's body. He stood next to Riddick, lost in his thoughts. He firmly decided that if Riddick was staying, he would stay too.
"Jack?" Kyra walked through the fields of Jack's mind for what she hoped would be the last time. She was looking for her younger self and found her fast asleep under the tree they had climbed on. She knelt and gently touched Jack's shoulder, who blinked sleepily before fully awakening.
"Thought you'd never come," she yawned, not noticing Kyra's grin at her comment. "What's going on?"
"I'll be leaving you soon, Jack. There's a chance I will be able to inhabit my original body, so I won't be in here bothering you like this." She said bluntly, slightly surprised at Jack's lack of response.
"But, you'll be…alive?" She asked and Kyra nodded.
"In a physical form you can be with when you're awake." She explained further and Jack nodded, but Kyra caught a twinkle of a tear in the corners of her eyes.
"I'm gonna miss you, Kyra," she mumbled, looking down.
"Hey, it might not work out and I'll be right back here." I think. She added silently, not sure what would happen if the transfer didn't work and then she would be blocked off from access into Jack's mind. "You have to stay asleep, though, alright?"
"Gotcha. Bye Kyra!" She hugged her before letting her go. Jack watched Kyra's form shimmer before fading completely. "Good luck." She whispered, laying back down in the soft field and grass.
"What's taking so long?" Riddick demanded, glaring at Vaako.
"It's been ten minutes, this could take days, Riddick, calm yourself." Vaako replied, his tone even and almost bored. The ex-convict leveled him a glare that would've sent any merc into a coma, but it slid off the Necromonger like water off glass.
"What exactly is she doing?" He asked suddenly, looking at the door. He almost felt unnerved by what was happening behind it - it wasn't something his beast could relate to. Switching bodies? Swapping souls? The Necromonger faith was strange enough, but if this meant having Kyra back, he felt he could deal with it.
He mused how a convict like himself, who once made one-on-one murder his hobby and living, was solidified in the universe with two simple ideas. Life and death. Back then there was no in between, either he was chasing his target or it was dead at his feet as he pulled his shiv out of the sweet spot. That was his unbreakable faith, as Imam had his own god, he had his own faith in life and death, not to mention survival. So when the Necro soldier he had stabbed in the back walked into Helion Prime meeting hall without any visible pain, his faith was shaken a bit. But he had killed him, so he knew that in all matters, human or Necro, humans could be killed. But by stealing the soul of the man who had protested conformity to the Necromonger faith? Riddick did not like that.
It had always been life, death and survival for him but to someone like Vaako, it was the survival of life in order to achieve death. Any convict in Ursa Luna, Crematoria or Butcher's Bay would laugh and then deck someone who wanted to 'achieve' death. You avoided death to live, to be part of the world, but Vaako sought his timed death, his predestined death that would lead him to some sort of glory beyond this world. Riddick shook his head, he had never quite understood the theory behind it.
Growling softly to himself, he wondered what he would do if this worked. He didn't want to imprison Kyra here, in the place that she had died, but it was her decision. He suddenly felt that going back to the faster life of chasing or be chased would be a welcomed change. But who would chase him? Most of the universe recognized him instantly, by name, voice or picture alone. Smirking, he bet that if Toombs got out of Crematoria, he would want a piece of his Necromonger Lord ass.
Thinking back on previous conversations with Kyra, he knew that she didn't quite approve of his conquering…habits and that she would want him to stop and change. Would he then leave that to Vaako? The Necromonger lord and commander that was without a Dame. As a side thought, Riddick believed that Vaako was better off without a woman to tie him down with her ambitions. He was sure that Dame Vaako had held no interest in what Vaako found to be most intellectually stimulating. Perhaps he could hand the power to both Vaako and Nawkon. He was sure Vaako was wondering what could keep him so quiet and deep in thought.
"Will it work?" He asked suddenly, making Vaako glance at him.
"Kyra is strong, but we will see. I don't know whether the spiritual form can re-grip a physical from." He replied, running his thumb down the right side of his jaw.
"Why were you made a Commander? You'd make a better book-writer." Riddick noted, suddenly realizing that he had never seen a library, a true library with books that had pages.
"We record all with our faith, we have no need of books." The Necromonger said coldly in return, as if Riddick had insulted him.
The man in question shook his head and kept silent, hoping that more time had passed then he realized and that Kyra would be walking out of that door any second. But the door stayed sealed and shut, much to his disappointment.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, sorry about the cliffhangers! Just can't resist them, that's all. Do we like the thoughtful Riddick? Yes? No?