Crux Magi Page 3
“I don’t believe I’ve met you before,” the Queen said.
“I’m Crystal. I’m the leader of the Sentinels on Earth.”
The queen nodded. “I’m aware of the Sentinels, and our legends tell of the Archons.”
“The Archons have been freed, your highness. They’ve joined forces with the Crux. We were attacked by one of the Archons in Crux Space, and I barely escaped with my life. They are coming, I can promise you that.”
“You need to prepare,” Amanda added, echoing Crystal’s opinion. “Tell your people; they need to know.”
“My people…” the Queen muttered to herself. “My people will not want to hear this. They despise war. We’re a peaceful Dynasty. We’re already dealing with mass protests over the Nexus War. The people are unhappy with the way things are.”
“They’re going to be even more upset when the Crux start burning their planets to a crisp,” Amanda suggested.
“I understand. But for the average person on the street, until that Void Dragon is bearing down on them, they won’t understand.”
Amanda nodded. “I know. It’s human nature.”
“What was it the other day?” Queen Nuala asked, turning to her aide.
“The biker, Ma’am,” one of her aides answered.
“That’s right,” Nuala said. “Yes. We had riots at the grav bike track when it was revealed that one of the bikers who was competing was a Valk family member. We got her out, but the race had to be cancelled.”
“A grav biker?” Amanda asked, interested. “Anyone famous?”
“I don’t think so, no. She’d been racing in the amateur league. What was her name again? Kaydence. Yes, that’s right, Kaydence Valk.”
“Kaydence?” Amanda repeated, suddenly much more curious.
“Do you know her?” the Queen asked.
“I might do. Do you have a photo?”
The queen turned to her aide, who quickly hunted down an image of her, and had a nearby holo-projector display it.
The face of Kaydence, the biker that Amanda had been racing against in recent months, appeared as a 3D image, and slowly rotated back and forth.
“Shite.”
“I take it you know her,” the Queen asked.
“I do,” Amanda answered, and looked back at the queen. “What do you plan on doing with her?”
Kaydence
Tyrael, Septheus System, 686 Light-years from Sol
The air snapped, and Amanda appeared on a platform in the canopy of the planet. She sucked in a deep breath of the planet’s fragrant air and released it with a sigh. It was incredibly fresh.
She stood on a manmade platform attached to a more modest-sized branch that was away from the more populous areas of a nearby city. She could see more platforms above her, further up the branch as it stretched into the greenish-blue sky. Wooden buildings were dotted about around her, built out of the branch itself, but most seemed empty or disused, and there was hardly anyone about. A grav car was parked nearby with a couple of people inside it, and a little nearer, a man waited beside the railing on the edge of the platform. As Amanda met his gaze, he nodded and approached.
“Amanda, is it?” he asked.
“That’s right,” Amanda confirmed.
“We were told to expect you. So, you’re going to take her off our hands then, right?”
“That’s the plan, providing she agrees,” Amanda confirmed.
“Alright. Hopefully, she does. This seems like a waste of resources to me.”
“Oh?”
“Why should we be protecting a Valk, hmm? She should have been put on a transport and sent back to Mace. Fray her. Who cares what happens to her.”
“Is that right?” Amanda asked, surprised to hear this view from one of the people who were guarding her.
The man raised his hands. “Hey, that’s just my opinion. I’ll do my job as directed, of course, but, I think we have better things we could be doing.”
“So, where is she?” Amanda asked, keen to change the subject.
“This way,” the man replied, and led her across the platform. He nodded to the two officers in the nearby unmarked car and led her to a building that had been built out of the massive branch. He led her inside, through a few security devices on the door, into a corridor. In a room on her left, two people sat monitoring video feed on holos. They looked up briefly, nodded to her, and returned to their jobs.
“Through here,” the guard directed her to another door at the end of the corridor and opened it for her. The room beyond was sparse, with just a few bits of furniture. Just enough to make it liveable.
Kaydence sat on a threadbare sofa, watching a vidscreen, wearing a long t-shirt and shorts. She looked up as Amanda walked in after the guard, and her eyebrows climbed towards her hairline.
“Well, fray me,” Kaydence said.
“I’ll leave you two to talk,” the guard informed her. Amanda thanked him as he left the room.
“What did I do to deserve this?”
“Nice to see you, too,” Amanda said as she wandered through the room, towards the dark-haired woman.
“What are you doing here, Red?”
“I heard about your little incident at the track. Sounds like you sparked a riot, Kaydence Valk.”
“So, what if I did?” She didn’t react to Amanda using her full name.
“Well, I’m here to offer you a ride,” Amanda answered. “We’re heading back to the Nexus, and there’s a space on my ship if you want it.”
“And why would I want to travel with you? I could get a transport out of here.”
“You could…” Amanda replied with a shrug. “But, you might not make it out of Septhian Space alive. You don’t seem very well-liked, is all I’m saying.”
Kaydence grumbled to herself. “It’s only my name they don’t like.”
“True. But people have died for less.”
“I’m safe here. I’m protected.”
“Maybe. But for how long? That guard who showed me in made it quite clear to me what he thinks of you, and what should happen to you.”
Kaydence screwed up her face and stuck her bottom lip out. “I don’t need them.”
Amanda sighed. “Look, it’s up to you. I’m not going to force you ont-”
“You’re damn right you won’t, and where do you get off coming here and gloating? Huh?”
“All I’m saying is-“
“I know what you’re saying,” Kaydence interrupted again.
Amanda sighed, but was determined to finish her sentence. “All I’m saying is that the offer is there. Take it or leave it, I don’t mind.”
“Well, you can shove your offer where the sun doesn’t shine,” Kaydence spat.
“Nice,” Amanda commented. “Okay, well, I tried. Best of luck, and I hope to see you on the track again someday,” she said, and turned to leave. She opened the door to the corridor.
“Wait,” Kaydence called out.
Amanda paused and looked back. Kaydence still sat on the sofa, frowning and screwing her face up. “Yes?”
“Ugh,” Kaydence grunted. “Alright.”
“Alright, what?”
“Alright, I’ll go with you.”
“Are you sure?” Amanda inquired.
“Yes, I’m sure. I’ll go back to the Nexus with you.” Kaydence dropped her head into her hands.
“I’m going now,” Amanda pushed.
Kaydence threw her hands into the air. “Alright, alright, just give me a moment, I need to grab my things.”
Amanda nodded as Kaydence got up from the sofa and started to pull her things together. She muttered and grumbled the entire time.
“So, you have your own ship, then?”
“That’s right,” Amanda confirmed.
“You must be doing alright for yourself.”
Amanda shrugged. “I guess.”
“Parked outside, is it?”
“Not quite,” Amanda replied, peering at the fast-food cartons that lay discarded about the room. She hadn’t exactly been living in luxury while she’d been here.
“Vague much?”
Amanda smiled to herself. “I’ll just go inform the guards that you’re leaving.”
“You do that,” Kaydence said confrontationally.
Amanda left Kaydence to her chore and stepped back into the control room. “Hey.”
“So, what’s it to be?” the guard asked. “Is she leaving?”
“She’s coming with me, yes.”
“Good. Maybe we can get back to some proper law enforcement, aye guys?”
The other two murmured their agreement.
“We’ll see ourselves out,” Amanda informed him.
The guard waved a hand dismissively at her. “Yeah, whatever.”
She wasn’t surprised by their reactions, given the guard’s earlier opinion on the matter. She couldn’t really say if Kaydence had been at risk by staying here, but she was sure that she’d be safer on the Arkady.
Returning to Kaydence’s living area, she watched the young woman finish packing her case, and then finally turn to her and with one hand on her hip said, “Ready.”
Amanda smiled. “Good, let’s get out of here.”
“You got a grav car out front or something?”
“Not quite,” Amanda replied and worked her Magic, willing both herself and Kaydence to be on the main deck of the Arkady. The air snapped, and the scene around them instantly changed.
“Oh, fray me.” Kaydence crouched to steady herself and fought to keep her breakfast down. After a few more seconds, during which she composed herself, she finally stood back up and looked at Amanda. “You’re a fraying Magus.”
Amanda smiled. “Guilty as charged.”
“I had no idea. Oh
jeez, I’d forgotten how much I hate being Ported,” she said, holding her stomach. “Uh, can I get a glass of water?”
“Of course,” Amanda answered, and conjured a glass on the table closest to her guest.
Kaydence picked it up and dropped into the nearest sofa. “You need to warn me before you do that again.”
“Sorry, I will,” Amanda answered, taking a seat in the next chair over. “I didn’t mean to surprise you. It was just the easiest way to move you.”
“Whatever,” Kaydence replied and sat back, taking another sip of cool water. “You didn’t use your Magic to win your races, did you.” It was more of a statement than a question.
Amanda shook her head. “No, that wouldn’t be fair.”
Kaydence looked at her as if seeing her anew, and appraising her with fresh eyes. “No, it wouldn’t,” she replied softly.
“We’re heading back to the Union Spire on Axia, by the way. Is that alright?”
Kaydence shrugged. “Of course.”
“We’ll get you a room, a place to stay in the Spire if you like.”
“You can do that?” Kaydence asked, surprised.
“Yeah,” Amanda confirmed. “Shouldn’t be an issue.”
“You’re that Amanda, aren’t you? I’d not made the connection before, mainly because I avoid the news, but, you are, aren’t you?”
“That depends on which Amanda you mean. It’s a common name.”
“You’re with the Terran Foundation… Alliance… whatever.”
“You were right the first time. Terran Foundation. Yeah, that’s me.”
“Fray. I just hadn’t connected the two things. I just didn’t expect someone like yourself to be riding in grav bike races.”
“Understandable.”
“Why do you do it?”
Amanda thought about that for a moment. “I just love it. Always have. I love biking.”
“Fair enough.” Kaydence sipped her water again.
“So, Kaydence Valk. What’s your connection to the Valk Dynasty? Where in the family are you from?”
Kaydence looked away. She seemed uncomfortable all of a sudden. “Why do you want to know?”
“I’m curious. Indulge me.”
“Do I have to?” Kaydence asked.
“No. I guess not. But you are a guest on my ship, so I think I have a right to know who’s on it.”
“I’ve not been a part of that family in a long time,” Kaydence answered.
“You ran away?”
“Ran away. Disowned. Take your pick.”
“I know a little bit about running away,” Amanda replied, thinking back to some of her earliest memories of running away from the orphanage she’d grown up in.
“You do?”
“I grew up on Earth,” Amanda explained. “I never knew my parents. I was raised in an orphanage. I lived there for sixteen years before I finally ran away to the big city. It wasn’t quite what I had hoped it would be, but there was no going back.”
“Did you want to?”
“No, I didn’t, but I’d be lying if I said I’d never thought about it. During those early days, sleeping on the streets, I certainly had a few wobbles, but I stuck with it.”
“Hmm,” Kaydence mumbled.
“I’m saying that things can get better,” Amanda extrapolated.
“I know. I don’t really want to go back either. I hated it there. They didn’t want me. I wasn’t born a Magus, like you. I wasn’t what they wanted.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Amanda sympathised.
Kaydence shrugged. “It’s okay. I’m over it.”
Amanda wasn’t convinced of that, though. She sensed a lot of buried pain beneath Kaydence’s dismissive manner.
“Is that why you left?”
“I guess. I didn’t fit the mould, and I wouldn’t be who they wanted me to be. All I ever wanted to do was to ride in the grav races, but that wasn’t becoming of a Valk, apparently. So, I left.”
“I understand that.”
“I’d had enough of their shit anyway. Valk society is so hostile, so confrontational. I mean, I’m all for a bit of healthy competition, don’t get me wrong. But they were always pushing for war and fighting with their neighbours. I hated it. I just wanted out of there.”
“So you took up grav bike racing.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s good, and you’re doing alright?”
“I guess. I’m still in the amateur leagues, though.”
“So what? You’re doing something you enjoy, I think there’s a lot to be said for that.”
Kaydence smiled to herself. “Thanks.”
“That’s alright.”
“No. I mean it, and thanks for getting me out of there. I really did hate that house they had me in.”
Amanda grinned. “I did wonder. It was pretty gross.”
“It was, wasn’t it?”
“Come on, let’s get you into a room,” she said, and guided Kaydence across the main deck to one of the side rooms that adjoined it, and left her to settle in.
Centrum
The Centrum Ring, Galactic Core, 25,640 Light-years from Sol
Lilitu stared out of the viewing gallery, into the heart of the supermassive black hole. The void of nothingness, surrounded and bisected by its glowing accretion disk that burned in the darkness. The incredible power of this natural phenomena was staggering, even to someone like her. She wasn’t sure if she could survive being plunged into that thing.
The Cage. That’s what the Crux call it.
An apt name, she thought, given its nature and what was held within it.
Somewhere, deep inside, was the Demiurge. Somehow, he survived, and it was only through the constant vigilance of the Crux that he remained there.
A vigilance that she and her fellow Archons now shared, for better or worse. She hated the Demiurge with a deep and abiding passion. She’d prefer to kill him, but she had no idea if that was even possible, or how to do it.
So, for now, they were stuck being jailers.
The irony of that didn’t escape her, having been prisoners themselves for so long. Everyone got what they deserved in this life, eventually. She caught her reflection in the glass and admired the way the light played off the glossy black outfit that she wore, with its trailing skirts that opened at the front to show her legs.
At least I’m not wearing rags anymore.
“Your turn watching the Cage, is it?” she asked without looking back at the two figures who approached. She knew who they were from the feel of their Magical signatures.
“It is,” Naga replied.
“I sometimes wonder what we’ve gotten ourselves into,” Enkidu said.
“I sympathise,” Naga replied to him. “This wasn’t what I thought we’d be doing when we agreed to this alliance.”
“All deals have a price. But is the cost of this one too high?” Lilitu asked, looking back at the two Archons. “Should we renege on this deal?”
Naga pressed his lipless mouth together in consternation. “No. Not yet.”
Lilitu nodded. “A wise choice.”
“I do not enjoy keeping father locked up,” Enkidu stated.
“You wish to kill him?” Lilitu asked.
“And you don’t?”
“I do. But if we don’t do our part, then we risk setting him free.”
Enkidu grumbled and scratched at one of his many horns.
“I am genuinely interested, by the way, but if we abandon this deal, I think there might be some consequences.”
“Of that I’m sure,” Naga replied. “Tell us about your mission.”
“We attacked Bastion Station, destroying it. ”
“Excellent. I hear tell that the Crux advance has reached the closest edges of the Nexus,” Naga stated.
“You hear correctly, I believe it has. I shall be joining the assault.”
“Save some for me,” Enkidu rumbled.
“There will be more than enough to go around,” Lilitu replied.
“Good.”
“Then it begins,” Naga said.
“It does, indeed,” Lilitu agreed.
“We’ll leave you to your thoughts,” Naga announced. “We’ll be needed at the Pillars.”
Enkidu grumbled.
“Very well, I shall see you soon.”
And with that, they were gone in a brief snap of air.
It amused Lilitu that after so many years of disagreeing and squabbling with one another that they were finally starting to get along. It had taken their release and a trip across the galaxy to join with the Crux for it to happen, but it could have been worse.