Lost in Space Part 12: Ch 5
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Summary: The fate of the universe will be decided in the final five chapters.
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Coming from my chest, a wave of yellow light enveloped every inch of my skin. It causes my hair to look as if it is combusted, consumed by fire. Bright orange, almost honeyed, with hints of white flames, floated around my line of sight, acting like my hair. I radiate brighter than ever before. I am heated, and a burning sensation flared across my arms and face. A character from the universe’s first language scorches my skin repeatedly, elevating from bone, and for the first time, I’m able to understand what it says. The expression is roughly translated as “strength.” I have become quite literally what the universe needs.
Seven’s bond is now whipping towards me, cracking and causing a sonic boom as it cuts through the air. The hurricane of energy pummels me, blowing my aura in the opposite direction. The metallic whip is an inch from making contact with my face for the second time, but I bring the bits and pieces of what was once the flat, broad, and sharp part of my trusted sword, the late Licata’s broken gift, and block it.
Wapeesh.
It strikes it. A flicker of its electricity springs away from the contact point and grazes my shield as it returns back to the uglier of the two Lords left. In the middle of my success is Four thrusting their sword. It pressed against Saamuki’s blood-red sword, which funny enough looks much more heavenly than Four’s pretentious light sword, grinding, and half a heartbeat off from making a hole into the squishing muscle between my creasing eyebrows. I throw their sword off of mine. It stabs the floor and gets stuck. Four tries prying it free, giving me time to turn on the offensive. I can hear Seven’s chains rattling as it’s being waved towards me. After tearing the air, I send the fragments of my blade towards the way too enthusiastic Lord’s closing wound as they’re smiling while watching my scattered, flying weapon coming towards them. My weapon pushes the Lord’s weapon back to them and then is about to dig through their all-white, too bright cloak into whatever their flesh has become. They deviate away from its direction at the last minute. Seven is annoyingly theatrical, after all, but at least I finally landed a hit on Four. Saamuki’s sword slices through the monstrous figure before me. A cut has been made through their stomach, but seeing the Lord’s blood on her sword is an eyesore. There’s a drastic contrast between the dark shade of red and the bright yellow along the tip, dripping towards the crossguard.
Four’s sword pops out of the ground while I flick their blood off. The Lord grips the wound and looks at me with shock as their teeth point away from the hole in their face, then interest. “Congratulations. You’re not wasting my time,” Four sarcastically affirmed after their teeth clink together. Speaking of clinking, again, Seven’s whip comes at me. Its suddenness pushes me, but I’m able to block it. “You’ve gotten respectfully stronger in such a short amount of time. One would be jealous, but it’s not enough.”
Summoned a second sword, the two clashed with the single sword in my hand. It sends out a ringing sound with each swift and brutal hit, causes a deepening crack in the unfortunate blade in my hands, and pushes me towards Bichak. Seven is the least of my worries as they continue to hit at my side, rougher than before, but my shield won’t hold on much longer as well. As for Bichak, who’s at my back in pain, his words enter my head without opening his mouth. “Please hold on.”
Both weapons in my possession snap. Saamuki’s sword breaks into two, and my shield explodes, sent to dust. I sandwich the two of us, the only ones left, in a cube. The four Lords, whose bodies are decaying, have their essence passing through. Finally, we’re safe from danger. Although, it’s only a matter of time before this breaks because I’m on one knee with my arms at eye level. The two Lords continue to attack. Four clashes their swords, and Seven lashes against the illusion. The two break into it. Pieces of wall and the roof rain down on us and fade once they land on the floor. I quickly patch it up, but that took too much out of me, so I only have one arm in the air.
Something hits the floor behind me. Turning around, I see Bichak’s tears are red. He’s bleeding out of his eyes. His light is fading as he’s trying to use the book to stand back up, but the crystals are still spinning around him. They’ve either been spinning faster, or I imagine them to. Either way, despair is clearly plastered on our faces. Because of it, the words on my arm now mock me. My face looks bitter, but I’m crying. It all finally hits me. Saamuki is dead. Syco is dying. Kaishi and the others are going too soon if they aren’t already. Mikrovos stabbed all of us in the back. So much pain. Too many sacrifices. We had to endure it for so long, and for what?
I’m sorry, everyone.
I can’t do this.
I can’t be anything but a failure.
A familiar voice sighs, “Not this again.” One of Four’s swords went right through the roof and would’ve killed me if it weren’t for the owner behind that voice jerking me away. Shiitakee is sitting between me and Bichak, who seems to not notice the spirit and thankfully not me talking to my deceased mushroom friend because it would’ve looked like I’m talking to nothing from his point of view.
Gleefully through hiccups, I admit my relief, “Shiitakee, you’re back.” My smile is turned back into a frown. “We’re all going to die. Your sacrifice will go in vain.”
“Well, yeah, it will if you keep sulking in the middle of a fight. I’m surprised you’re not dead yet, but I praise whatever higher being is out there that you’re not. The universe needs people like you, and I’d rather not have this no-smoking life I now have been for nothing.” He touches my shoulder, and once again, he recharges me. I’m glowing again.
“But I’m never going to be enough. I wasn’t enough to save Saamuki.”
“You sure about that?”
A ball of blue light zooms past us and smashes Four. Four falls back. Their swords stab the ground before they stumble back further, and Seven is blasted away. They spin in the air before falling face first. Watchers are trying to help the latter Lord back up. Saamuki is fully healed, blue, and is floating above us. The blue fire swirling around her doubles in size, and with it, the temperature skyrockets, heating the room as she shrieks out, “They’re dead now because of you!”
She charges towards Four again. Four lunges at her with both swords, but they just go right through her afterimage. She reappears at their right and punches them right across the face. The Lord nearly trips on their footing when forced to the left.
Left and right, Saamuki is punching. Four barely has time to counter. All they’re able to do is try to shield themselves, but her punches are causing their swords to crack. It’s only a matter of—
Both shatter, and the sudden release of energy pushes Four back. Before Four can create two new ones, Saamuki is charging up for a blast, but Seven is creeping up on her. Their whip ruptures the air around it. It flings towards her, and as I cause this already disintegrating six-shaped barrier to vanish so I can deflect the incoming weapon by blasting it away, someone jumps on the seemingly slowly disappearing illusion and shoots at the incoming blast’s owner. At the same time, Saamuki fires with a shout. It would’ve easily destroyed a planet.
Half of Four is smoldering. Their blood is spurting and oozing, but their body is slowly fixing itself. Not only are they a lighter shade of yellow, but also transparent, tiny tentacles are wiggling from the destruction and wrapping across the wound. They harden when they flatten across what’s left of the Lord’s body. Saamuki can’t do anything in fear of the consequences of killing a Lord. The explosion, release of energy, may have the power to detonate a solar system, but most importantly, it will kill all of us instantly.
Kaishi, whose faintly glowing blue lands in front of me, is watching Seven’s reaction. Seven is holding the side of their face where a couple of their eyes were blasted away. Her glow fades away as she then turns towards me, and as she helps me back up, she asks, “My love, are you okay?”
I’m aching everywhere, but I’m not dead, so I nod. I wish Bichak could do the same, but as soon as the four Lords are absorbed, his frontside is planted on the ground. The only other ally conscious isn’t done yet. They force themselves up and try to reconnect the connection of Four and Seven. The latter tries to take advantage of our distracted states, but I block the incoming thrust of their whip when I manifest a shield. It breaks soon after it hits. Whereas the former just swats away Bichak’s attempt. Four with their body whole again explains with laughter, “Do you plan to waste what’s left of you with another meaningless attempt? Have you forgotten I wrote that book? I know how to counter the spell.” A symbol appears on their forehead. It translates to “locked.” It fades away before they continue their explanation with, “I will keep countering your pitiful attempts until you wither away like my siblings. Seven and I will rule the universe alone for countless millennia to come. You’ve lost, mortals.”
“No, we haven’t. Not yet.”
Hands behind their back, Four leans down to me. “Should I assume you think you can stop me? Human, you’ve survived this long because I’ve let you. I could squish you right now if I wanted to. Like so...” Saamuki tries flying away, but Four already has her. Her blue hue fades. She screams with the slow crushing of her bones. The two of us down below try stopping this queasy over-the-top showmanship of power. Kaishi’s arms stretch towards her, and I shove a wall toward their face, but Seven stops us in the middle of our preparations. Seven aims low, causing us to separate and jump about.
Bichak is trying to force himself up. He gags but swallows it down. Kaishi and I are working up a sweat as we’re hopping about and trying to counter. Each attempt is forced to be canceled with the fear of getting zapped. We’re at a standstill until limping Mikrovos, whose hand on his forehead, came back into the picture.
Four pauses their crushing and greets him, “Welcome back.”
He walked past us. For a moment, he said nothing. Then, standing before Four, he wiped his smeared blood off his face and grabbed hold of the symbol on his forehead. It began to flash, and he began to cry out. Four asks what’s the meaning of this then asks if he hit his head too hard. Mikrovos tells them, “You promised me no one would get hurt. I’m done being your puppet, and I’m especially done watching you hurt my Saamuki!”
Once Mikrovos rips off the symbol, he jumps and impales the Lord in the chest with his horns. The Lord lets go of Saamuki, and he catches the nearly unconscious reptilian. She mutters, “Mikrovos?”
Mikrovos crashes to the ground with Saamuki safely in his arms, but the two aren’t safe for long because Four manifests a new sword and swings it at them. Mikrovos cannot dodge in time, but the blade doesn’t go through the two. They’re not hurt, but Sakhra is. Sakhra’s body is glitching around the sword, which is deeply embedded into his chest. Saamuki, being too tired to speak, can only reach her hand out towards the deleting Sakhra. Sakhra’s body is vanishing pixel by pixel.
He slides off the weapon, turns around, and walks towards Mikrovos and Saamuki, swaying almost drunkenly. She reaches out to him. He smirks. “I guess you owe me again.” She sniffled then began to weep. He reaches out towards her, and while his body is nearly gone, he manages to wipe away her tears. “I’m proud of the woman you’ve become, my daughter.”
Sakhra is gone. Mikrovos is comforting Saamuki, and I can’t hold in my anger.
“No more,” I cried out. I grabbed Seven’s whip. It burned just as much as before, but this time I’m able to ignore the pain. I force it out of Seven’s grasp and empower it with my powers. The pain ceases. It’s brighter than before, and I use it against Four. Four’s sword connects with my stolen weapon, but instead of wrapping around it, it shatters it and Four’s forehead.
The once cocky Lord now feels their forehead in a panic. “Impossible!”
Then, a stream of their essence begins to travel between us towards Bichak and his crystals, but the Lord isn’t going down so quickly. They make a run towards Bichak, but Kaishi is one step ahead. She shoots both knees, one after another. The Lord falls and begins to wilt, unable to heal their wounds.
Reaching out towards Seven, they plea, “Please, Seven. Help me.”
All of their lips let out a wide toothy grin that stretched uncomfortably, nearly tearing the skin around their lips. Kaishi’s ready to shoot, Mikrovos steps back, and I’m prepared to use Seven’s whip again.
Seven responds with a bow, “As you wish.”
Opening all of their mouths, they begin to suck up the feeble Lord. Four lets out an outcry, and the three of us move, but with the snap of Seven’s fingers, Watchers step between us. They attack, but they’ve merely become obstacles. We breeze through them quickly, but not fast enough because, by the time we get close enough, the Lord’s cannibalism is finished. Four’s teeth encircle the sides of Seven’s head. I can feel the massive boost in strength even though the fused Lord hasn’t done anything but dodge.
The Lord merely stares at us, but with just that, they push us back. Seven points a single finger up in the air and charges it. Without yet touching us, it blows us back even further. Us out of the way, Seven takes back their chain.
They point their finger at us. We don’t have anything strong enough to deflect it with. If we dodge it, Seven will just charge it again. We can’t escape. We’re going to die. Realizing this, too, Mikrovos shields Saamuki for what’s to come even though it’s pointless. Kaishi looks at me. “No, this can’t be the end. After everything we can’t die like this. I won’t let anyone else die today!”
I’m brighter than before. I summon both Saamuki’s broken sword and mine. Both hands, which both have orbs of light floating above them, grab the two weapons and collide them together. It takes everything that I have. The fused sword, which has a golden aura spilling out of it, is as big as Mikrovos. It has two fat blades of equal length with the same symbols that were on me prior. The weapon is massive, too heavy in my normal state. Because of my nanites, my arms don’t shred over trying to lift it up. Still, even this is too much for them. I need help. I can’t do this on my own.
All around me are those that have fallen. Each comes one by one. The Director. Skeema. Shiitakee, of course. Khavas. Licata. Sakhra too. Lastly, a group of people who my heart tells me are my crewmates. Maybe I said my plea out loud, or perhaps I’m just easy to read because Kaishi joins in too. She presses her right shoulder against my left and wraps her hands around the handle. They smile at me, but it’s when Kaishi states, “Together,” that we go.
Seven tries bring us down with their chain. It whips the air before coming right at us. Without words, the two of us slashed right through the chain. Piece by piece, they snapped, scattering everywhere. One weapon down another to go, Seven aims.
“This is for everyone,” I exclaimed.
“We forgive you,” several voices whispered into my ear.
We jump and Seven blasts. Together we swing, and not only do we cut right through the blast, but we also cut across the Lord’s forehead.
When the two of us land back down, Kaishi orders Bichak, “Bichak, now!”
The Lord is being sucked into the crystal, but just like with Four, they’re not going down without a fight. They, though swaying, try to wail. Their teeth vibrate, preparing to make a sound, but they are abruptly stopped when a Tauvox elbows them in the stomach then uses the back of his hand to smack Seven’s face. Both fall. Seven is unconscious while Syco is in pain, clutching his soaked chest. It’s covered in his blood.
Sword vanishing into thin air and its light returning to me, I ran to him. “Syco, the nanites. Why aren’t they working?”
Kaishi, placing a hand on my shoulder, has me look up at her. “Before coming, here he had us remove his nanites.”
I’m on the verge of tears when I tell him, “You bastard. Why?”
Syco, with a bloody hand, reaches out towards me but retracts it before touching me. I grab it anyway. “Because I’ve done what I told you I’d do all those years ago when I was behind bars, little human. Besides, I miss Shiitakee, but may I ask you a favor before I go?”
“Of course, Syco.”
“Do you remember that promise I made to you when Commander Saamuki was unconscious after we defeated Commander Cala?” I don’t answer. I let go, and I looked away. I feel around my shirt, and I pull out my dagger. It’s bent the wrong way but still deadly. My tears fall onto the blade. He’s now holding my hand, grunts, and clutches his chest even tighter. “Please, my dear friend.”
I tell him what Apulsion said to me before he died. Syco smiles.
It was fast. It was quiet. It left me hollow. Kaishi held me, but I didn’t cry. I didn’t know how to feel.
She helped lead me to where everyone is, and that’s around the leafy giant. Bichak is getting treated by the somber Saamuki. I hand him back his dagger. He looks at me with his reddish eyes and raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything.
Checking the green alien’s pulse, Mikrovos states. “Alive.”
Nobody says anything to this. We’re all still digesting everything that happened.
What looks like an older version of Saamuki appears next to her. Saamuki’s free hand then glows when raised towards this mysterious figure. She looks up at her for a moment. Her mouth opens. Saamuki is about to speak. Hesitating, she looks at us, Mikrovos mostly. When she whispers something to the older of the two while touching her ring, something I didn’t get to hear, the figure smiles and places her hand on Saamuki’s shoulder. Then, she fades away. By the looks of everyone, it’s only the two of us that noticed Saamuki’s sister.
Watchers are looking all around us inquisitively. There are still a couple hundred or so Watchers left. Upon Bichak healing, Saamuki gets up and looks at each of us. “I have a promise to keep.”
So many gravestones. So many lives have been lost, and yet the war still goes on. There are still Watchers out there, low-ranked species who went past their quadrant limit. The consequence is known to high-ranked species, but not to people like me. To the Lords, we’re animals, but it’s not like those above us are that much better. To the Lords, they’re children. It’s exactly like how Four said. They played all of us. They used all of us. In this universe, there aren’t anymore Lords, but there’s still plenty of problems. At least things have died down. They’re not as bad as the Lords predicted. For once in their lives, people are truly living. They’re genuinely free now, but everything is still shit nonetheless.
I’m on a cold, inhabitable planet. Sitting on a rock, I look at the resting places of those I know and those that I didn’t get to. Looking up, it seems like the stars are within reach. They’re not so frightening anymore. After all this time, I feel fond of them, but I have yet to call them home. I laugh at that because I still don’t have a homeworld. Whenever I look at her, I’m reminded of what I did. I still feel guilty.
She’s told me multiple times, “There was no other way.”
I know, and I also know that if I didn’t do it, then they’d live like that for eternity, but while I can try to justify my actions, it still pains me.
“To be human is to feel pain,” she assured me.
I’m a partial Lord, essentially a god with what I could do, but the Lords have proven that even a god can’t just wave their hand and make the universe a better place. To be human is to accept our limits. To be me is to accept myself. To live is to accept the things we can’t control.
Using the compass, the late Shiitakee stole, Kaishi, Mikrovos, and Saamuki appear in the corner of my eye. Upon seeing that I noticed their arrival, Kaishi is smiling as she waves me over, whereas Mikrovos, who has his arms crossed, is smirking at Saamuki as she points at her screen, which depicts the Lord’s crystals. “Although it’s been one hell of a journey, it’s what’s brought me to find my home,” is what I told Mikrovos that night on Earth.