Hello there Oemi. Yes, here it is the long awaited update. I cannot wite much as I am on a time limit (damn those library computers). As my time to write is limited, it will not sound nearly as streamlined as some of my other passeges. And I have begun formulating a plan for another story involving the rebellion (you kno, the one
Aries awoke suddenly, his heart throbbing in panic. He looked outside and saw with relif that it was still daylight. His wings felt empty and he noticed that Shiva had left him. Dropping from his perch he exited the open closet and found Shiva hanging from a light fixture in the ceiling, breathing heavily. "Shiva…is everything alright?" She turned and looked at him, and her eyes had a wild look. "I'm not going back to sleep….not while I don't know where he is.' "Who?" Aries asked, feeling his stomach beginning to drop.
Shiva turned away from him, staring into the blinding light of day, ignoring the fingers of blinding pain that seared her optic nerves. "You might think me crazy for this…but I think that Damocles is trying to reach me through my dreams." Aries's eyebrows rose… "Shiva…are you sure that you didn't just have a really vivid nightmare?" Suddenly she was upon him, teeth bared, a low growl in her throat. He froze. " In my dream I kept killing him, over, and over and over again. And very time I did it, when I was finished, I'd look and see your face…not Damocles. Then you'd look up at me and say, "Finish the job, Shiva…Join me in the underworld." Shiva took a shuddering breath and said, "I think he's trying to subvert me to his own ends. I had to force myself to wake up, because by the end, I'd begun to take a sort of sadistic pleasure in killing you." Her hackles rose as she whispered, "I don't even know who I am anymore…all I can see is his body, dying over and over…" Shiva released Aries from his prone position and got up. "The wound is hurting again Aries…it hurts worse now than it did when I got it. And half of the pain isn't even physical. I can feel it in my spirit." A sudden shiver of pain lanced down her scar and Shiva cried out: "Aries…Something's not right…call Serfaina…NOW!" Aries leapt into the air and flew for the door to Serafina's room. "Serafina, something's wrong with Shiva…she need help now"
Serafina popped up out of bed, instantly alert. Quickly she threw on a bathrobe and stood, pulling her laptop from her nightstand. Suddenly a loud klaxon blared from the living room. Her laptop immediately flickered on showing an active schematic of Shiva's body, words scrolling in red across the screen. " WARNING, NERVOUS SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY AT 70 CAPACITY… 37 PROBABILITY OF CARDIAC ARREST IF IMMIDIATE MEDICAL TREATMENT… Serafina didn't need to hear anything else. Quickly she pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt, grabbing her lab access key and hovercraft card. She said to Sago, who by this time was awake, " I've got a full scale medical facility at the lab, we need to get there fast. I'll carry Shiva downstairs to my hovercraft, then you two can either follow me from the air or fly into the car's cabin via the sun roof. I'd advise the sun roof as the car can move way faster than you can fly.' Sago nodded, "Sun roof…got it."
Serafina dashed out of her bedroom, laptop in arm, and picked up Shiva who was shivering, her body having broken out in a cold sweat. Her eyes were closed and Shiva's muttering streamed in through Serafina's Bluetooth headset which she had programmed with the translator matrix- "Damocles…trying to reverse…subversion protocols initiated…first barrier shattered… Zotzzzz…connected…" It was all gibberish to Serafina who carefully picked her up and strode toward the lift She called over her shoulder, "Hovercraft is red…or heavy grey if you are colorblind." Aries cried, "I'm not colorblind!"
As Serafina entered the lift and felt the tug of gravity as the car began to descend on antigrav generators something that Shiva had said in her shock induced stupor kept rotating around in her head… "Zotz…subversion protocol?" She looked down at the bat as she strode toward the parking garage. Something tells me that she didn't get slashed by an ordinary bat…the damage is too severe...
Back in the subway tunnels Damocles and Diatra were both fast asleep. Insde Damocles's mind Goth chuckled darkly as he continued to broadcast his signal. He had already broken through the first layers of Shiva's mental defenses; the 'spiritwound' he had purposefully inflicted had seen to that, now each time he repeated the dream sequence her protests became minutely weaker and weaker…soon very soon he would have a fix on their position and then the real fun could begin.
Damocles 's mind had been crushed into the darkest corners of his brain's cerebral cortex. As he watched the feed that Goth was sending his daughter anger welled up within him. He battered at the 'walls' of his prison…and was surprised to hear a faint clank register in the stream of spiritual data. The ghost of a plan began to form in his mind.