LIGHTNOVELONLINE Issue 65: Through A Mirror Darkly
Issue 10: Through A Mirror Darkly
What is past is usually prologue. My universe was full of promise once. Only now do I see more clearly. I see through Ichabod’s eyes and it gives me something precious. Hope for the future.—The Piper.
The Odessens are a nuisance no matter what Universe it is. Mine didn’t have any Ayeers left. I made sure of that. I do find it delicious that they are caged by Houses that cannot function without someone saying, JUMP! GOOD CLOWNS! Oh had I been born here within this universe…I would have been a commons fool lapping it all up.—Thoth
From the story my mirror told me, the United Earth Front corralled Thoth’s forces. As of this entry, I know what his actual origins are. But on reflection, based on the blood feud of Ayeer vs Urraden, his overall drive to pillage Eden Earth’s Leylines to destabilize his origin Universe wouldn’t have worked anyway. The bonus for him was causing grief for the Markav here as well. He had crimes enough to pay for within both universes. No wonder Grandpa Ayeer watched us all so intently. He had seen the results within the UEF universe. Typha was united there out of a crucible that shook the foundation of their society. Earth was the one that had lifted them from the muck of constant house warfare. The fact that the other Eliza was asking for assistance to capture him was telling. That Earth had a lot on its plate. It was the center holding everyone together against the oncoming flood of Unity.—Sleeping in Starlight, a memoir of the 22nd century.
Earth United Front Quantium SYSTEM Announcement: All forces report to sector stations. Unity incursion is imminent. ALL STATIONS DEFCON ONE ALERT! This is not a drill. Brood Mother’s detected! Void Walker Scouts deployed. Ready Darkmatter Shielding.
Utasa Sector (UEF Universe)
Sector Defence Hub Bravo-Delta-229
Date Redacted/Chronological Flow Stabilizing.
Eliza Odessen grunted. Her eyes glued to the ship’s readouts.
Another day, another tip for the Jar that mother loved so much.
Commodore Eddie Olsten barked, “Let’s get those nanolayers online. We have some Unity Brood to vaporize!” He turned to salute the Hologram of Jennifer Murphy. The Lighting Fist of the UEF. Her responsibilities had grown since her promotion to acting Theater Command (Ground Forces). Along the family line her father said, >>This is a bigger force than normal. They are seeking something.<<
>>Of course they are. What’s mom want me to do then? Find one of the Brood Brains and give it a love tap of impressions?<<
His response was dry,>>Indeed. But be very careful. We cannot lose your demi connection to the Weave. I am sending a full battalion to cover you.<<
She frowned. Hating the fact that so many kept her safe. The weight of all their lives hanging by a thread by her actions. Being a Weave-Speaker had its advantages. Insights beyond the ken of most sapients but they were a rare breed. Swaddled within the protective embrace of everyone. Lanis didn’t treat her that way though. A rare spark of wicked humor shot through her. She was going to marry that man someday. Louis was a rare breed of Human. He could cook, shoot and make her laugh. An award-winning combination that she would guard fiercely. In and outside of the bedroom. Red dots filled her vision. The enemy had arrived.
With bells on.
*****
Z’tar paced about his cell. A waste of material this was.
The Oddessens had found him.
He’d let them. Fools.
The life leaving A’kan’s face had been glorious. His wife and sons piled next to him. The blood feud ended. That bright gray gleam gone from little V’alkor’s eyes the ultimate reward. All because of a broken Scholar possessed by Rats. Ugly little things. But fortune favored the bold. Urraden was a House meant to rule. The Ayeers were soft pitiable things. Whining about peace while the whole world burned with the various incursions of Unity. He thought the Void Walkers had the right of it. Even the Terrans had used their might to bring everyone in line. It was the only reason this sad world even spun. It lacked something vital though. This energy he had managed to coax out of a multidimensional traveler.
Magic.
A new and wondrous ability.
He had cut that man open from chest to groin.
The bones layered with elements that had confounded his medical scanners.
No matter. It had one other element.
Vibrational patterns. That usually faded after a time. Thus masking the point of universal origin. One had to take a trip to the Heart of Typha to the Throne Chamber to re-attune a person with their universe. It had been far too guarded even for him. So he sat. Listening to the offer of freedom. Ishtar’s pitiless black orbs promising oblivion and salvation all in one hand. The gray one was searching for a Key. Not just any plain device but something that could open the doorway to Unity and the riches beyond it. Z’tar didn’t care. He wanted to bring the rest of his people to their knees. Magic would provide. Ishtar was a tool that he could use. No matter what price he had to pay. He would see Typha burn for its folly. Giving themselves over to the benign tyranny of humanity was the least of its sins. With the magic from this foreign universe, he would come back. Armed with a weapon that would destroy the Throne of the Multiverse. Cutting them off from everyone and saving them all from Unity.
Z’tar Urraden would be the reigning hero for the ages.
What fun indeed.
What name to give himself within this other universe.
Thoth would do. It was the Markav God of Plenty.
He pressed his palms into the energy barriers of his cell.
“I will have my pound of flesh.”
******
Pain brought the Piper to his knees. Pandora mocked him.
“You will do this little rodant.”
The Litari Dreamweaver flowed around him. Forcing his arms and limbs to move forward. Keying in the codes to unleash evil across time and space.
Her Living Stone runes and implants assisting with this diabolical action.
For his body was corrupt as well.
To deactivate the cells. Many would die but the goal was him.
The King Killer. Throne Breaker.
A pinprick of light formed within his mind.
Convergence. He wept. His hands curling gently around his friend. Whiskers brushed his cheeks as he brought the little one forward. He would await the Judgement of Lighting.
*****
Thoth panted. His feet carried him to the rally point promised. Sweat mixed with blood running down his face. The Simbak didn’t respond to his commands so he did the next best thing with it. Beat people senseless. Most often forgot that even low tech could kill. It was why he was able to slip past with a simple knife. Dulled until he used his matter manipulation to harden it. A closed casket burial for A’kan and his kin. A pity he had to bestow a quick death upon them. He would be long gone, with the Rat to take the blame, this Pandora had promised.
Ishtar handed him a device.
“Your enemies draw closer. They know of the prision breach. Activate it! It needs time to key in on the Universe of Magic.”
Blood pounded as it clamped down on his flesh.
Utasa Sector (UEF Universe)
The Nul-Station Prisonhouse
Date Redacted
Captain Eliza Oddessen held her sidearm up. Her steely gray eyes were unwavering. Each beat of her heart reminded her of her injury. Thoth was cackling. She growled, “By the order of the Throne and the Alliance of Many, you are under arrest for the highest crimes against sapients.” She fired, the beams dissipating as the mad king giggled. “I will find a world much more suited to my talents.” He had a Keeper multi-phase transversal pod clamping down on his forearm. Blood dripped upon the deck as the Weave encased him and pulled him from their universe. Her father, T’homus Odessen ordered his troops, >>Track that signal. Find out where he jumped too. Quickly now!<<
She whirled. Holding her mother in place as General Jennifer Murphy had murder in her eyes. Flashes of lightning rippled under her specialized uniform. Eliza winced at the demi power flowed outward. Jennifer’s expression changed. Her voice was controlled but furious, “Sorry kiddo.” Jennifer slapped a healing nanite pod within her daughter’s injured side. Eliza grimaced. That didn’t stop the fiery American from continuing her tirade.
“ Why did you stop me? I could have short-circuited his device!” The younger woman pointed at the floor. Jennifer’s eyes narrowed. She could see it now. The poison of Unity. His very blood was a conduit. Murphy half hugged her daughter. If she had stepped into that space to deactivate the item her brain would have been mush.
Odessen strode towards his wife, “I know. Believe me.” He kissed her on the crown of her head. Thoth had broken out of the prison made specifically for him. What troubled T’homus the most was: who helped him?
They had round the clock surveillance.
How did he manage it? His daughter eyed him.
“Father, I cased the area. An echo came back. Somehow Thoth managed to gain access to the outside. Via the First Turning corruption. Someone gave him something from Unity’s domain. The imprint was of animal origin.” She held up a hand and put one on each of her parent’s shoulders.
Giving them access to her senses of clairvoyance.
Her mother muttered, “The Piper.”
*****
Again the Piper lied.
Saying he was of their universe. Wanting to research how to defeat Unity. The UEF captain couldn’t see everything. Nor did he wish her to. His home was the black heart of Unity. Screaming across the Infinite. The older woman. The one that commanded speed and lighting. She hooked her fingers into his collar. Dragging him to his feet. His eyes turned away. Guilt, fear, and horror oozed from him like a puss-filled wound. Jennifer spoke, her voice low and hard. “Tell me, what possessed you? You who are supposed to be a guardian of life.”
A question that was both right and ever so wrong.
Pandora’s wicked smile imprinted upon his brain for all time.
“It calls. He went to the Lands of Magic. Light and evergreen.”
She passed him to her daughter. “Make sense of that mess. I have to corral more prisoners.” She dashed off with a burst of speed that made Eliza’s hair stand on end. Lighting crackling as she went. Her father watched as Piper hugged the rat to his chest. Even one such as he loved something so dearly. He brought out a medical hypo. “Here, we are not without compassion.” He used it to heal the wounds upon the Piper and his companion. Tears spilled over from the Scholar. He was more of a walking trash heap than what T’homus was used to. The King’s Own were rounding up the rest of the Urraden clan.
With Z’tar’s actions, their Rule of Typha would come to an end.
The Ayeers would have been the stewards for the next 200 years.
Now? The Throne would remain silent. Until another family suited to its maintenance could be found. Unless what A’kan said would come to pass. The Twin Rulers of the Sky. All Thrones interlinked to push out Unity once and for all. T’homus prayed for that day.
Eliza peered into the soul of The Piper. The Weave cautioning her.
Let him pass. He will help balance the scales.
She remarked, “You are no longer welcome within the UEF sector universe. As per our code, you will be supplied with basic foodstuffs and materials for your initial journey. May God and the Rulers have mercy upon your soul.”
Her heart warmed when she saw her father add more essentials for the rat.
She was more of a cat person but every four-footed friend was a joy.
The Scholar mumbled, “I will follow. Find the Path. Convergence arrives. On wings of White Flame.”
Eliza’s word was law when it came to Weave Proclamations.
So the Piper walked free of this universe into the next.
*****
Thoth embraced the pain as Ishtar removed his Typherian nodes.
His spine inflamed to the point that even death would be a welcome release. To access the “Atlantians” home as they called themselves within this universe, he would have to renounce his birthrights. So be it. Ishtar stored the nodes. While not the same DNA line as the Urraden here, it would be wise to use these to develop contingencies in case that particular line got rowdy. Each universe was filled with vast possibilities.
But one had to take a longer look to see the patterns.
The Keeper filled the walls with harvested DNA.
Slowly turning the Typherian into a Human engineered for Muthra work.
To plant such a thing among the remaining Markav here would yield welcoming data.
They had been too hasty sacking Illiarium.
He wanted to know what secrets were entombed within At’lan.
*****
Thoth knelt. His head shaved. His scars healed. No trace of his Typherian heritage remained. The old Markav was droning on about the “sacred texts.” This place was very behind his universe. Humans still lived within huts here. Delicious irony. The markings on the collar identified the speaker as one of the Head Engineers for At’lan’s Environmental systems. Most here called him Horus. Thinking that he was some god from on high. It was just tech.
Stupid Humans.
Complacent Markav fools.
He recited the “poems” which were just instruction manuals for ship repair.
They hired humans to maintain the ship without really giving the background context.
That would make his infiltration child’s play.
Excellent.
*****
The Piper watched the Golden Redeemers battle the forces of Unity. Each strike freeing Earth’s Weave from corruption. He waited. Seeing the sparks of White Flame from so long ago.
He rocked back and forth. More memories of his family re-emerging.
“Save them, Bearer.”
*****
Anna slept. Her dreams were vivid.
You are not complete.
She whirled. “Who’s there?”
A hand rested on her shoulder.
Her grandfather gave her a disappointed glance.
“What has happened to you child?” He looked young and vital.
Not what she remembered from the last years of his life. There were still things out there that modern medicine couldn’t solve. One of those things was brutal Accord War experiments. He had escaped an Iron Order prisoner camp. Eventually had children. But the wonders of prolong never took. So they had all watched him deteriorate far too soon. The number etched onto the back of his neck remained.
A2118.
She took one step forward. Then another.
Reaching out to him, “Poppi?”
“Anna.”
She embraced him. Feeling all the anger wash away. If only for a moment.
“Little flower. Danger is coming.”
He cupped her chin, “Let go of old sorrows. Listen.”
She blinked and he was next to an old blue Nexus motorcycle. The one she had loved riding along side. In the rocket cab. As her younger self had proclaimed it.
“But…they…..they all hate me poppi.”
He smiled. “No, you still have those who love. Even if you are encircled by thorns.”
Images of Samantha rose to prominence.
Followed by Eliza Murphy.
That confused Anna a great deal.
“But I am horrid to them.”
He reminded her, “ Because they see your pain and share it.”
The waves crashed up the shore. The sun was shining. Birds called out. She took another step. Sand crunching underneath. Her grandfather pointed, “You see that lighthouse. Find it.”
She stared. It was rotted out. But something gleamed inside of it.
Something she wanted to find.
Another step. As she looked down, footprints formed alongside her.
She was not alone.