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Sins of a Future World: Chapter 9
The journey down to the planet did not take long. The battle had been held dangerously close. It was currently night in the capital city of Berring, which was good as Jace hoped to draw as little attention as possible. The Senate would be waiting for him, but he did not plan to show up. Instead of landing in military hangers of Berring, Jace had instructed Calae to set them down outside the city.
Ryn stirred as they entered the atmosphere and his eyes opened slowly. The luminescent blue orbs flicked to Jace before Ryn smiled softly.
"I am glad you are safe." He said quietly. "I was worried, but Calae convinced me to sleep."
Jace left the piloting to Calae and came to sit next to Ryn on the bunk. "Good. You need to rest." He said, stroking the boy's hair.
Ryn lifted his head and moved so that it lay in Jace's lap and gazed up at him. "I dreamt about you." He said wistfully, putting a hand to Jace's face. "About the day before all this happened. When we..." Ryn blushed a little and averted his eyes.
Jace leaned down to kiss Ryn's forehead. "We'll do it again." He promised. "Once you're well." Taking on a teasing tone Jace leaned down next to Ryn's ear. "We'll do it again and again until you can't walk straight."
With a light giggle, Ryn turned his head to kiss Jace. "Or maybe I'll do it to you." He said mischievously.
Raising his eyebrows in mock surprise Jace answered with, "We'll see about that." Before running a gentle hand down Ryn's chest and stomach and tickling him softly.
Ryn squirmed and laughed but then suddenly winced and tensed up, breathing in sharply through his teeth.
Concerned, Jace removed his hand. "Your head?"
Nodding, Ryn moved his own hand to his temple. "It gets a little bit worse every time."
Jace ran his fingers gently through Ryn's hair. "We'll fix it."
Ryn smiled up at him, though it was pained.
They touched down in a remote field several miles outside of the city. It was an area that hid the small shuttle well enough that it would hopefully remain unnoticed.
"Your home world is quite beautiful." Ryn commented as they emerged from the shuttle.
Jace looked around at the nature that he had not seen in some time. "It is, isn't it?" He inhaled deeply. "I haven't been on the planet's surface in a long time."
"I wish that I could see more of it." Ryn slid his hand into Jace's. "With you."
Squeezing the boy's hand, Jace nodded resolutely. "I'll show you the whole planet."
"Initial scan indicates that we are less than six miles from the most accessible point of the temple." Calae's voice came through the wrist links they both wore. "I have plotted the most direct route for you."
"Thank you, Calae." Ryn replied, then looked up at Jace. "Shall we go?"
They trekked along the route that Calae had given them for some time. Jace was relieved to see that it avoided the city directly and instead took them into a wood to the north. It was heartening to see Ryn's reactions to the simple things of Varros; the trees and the shrubs that Jace had grown up with. The pure childlike wonder almost caused him to forget their dire situation.
He was reminded very clearly however when, after crossing a small brook, Ryn suddenly fell forward with a pained cry. Jace was able to catch him before he hit the ground and immediately sat down, holding Ryn's slender frame.
Ryn was breathing heavily and seemed even paler than usual. Even though it was still very early morning and the air was cool, he was sweating heavily.
"What happened? Are you alright?" Jace put a gentle hand to Ryn's forehead and found him to be feverish.
"The Archon has been masking his discomfort for some time." Calae's voice came through. "Vitals are strong still, but he is in no condition to continue traveling like this."
"Hush, Calae." Ryn whispered. "I am fine."
"You're not fine." Jace said, feeling tears in his eyes. "What does the fever mean?"
Ryn's eyes met Jace's and were filled with fear, but Ryn said nothing.
"Fever presents in the late stages of his condition." Calae said, always infuriatingly calm. "Given the rate at which it has advanced, the estimated time before another serious attack is less than two hours. I project that Archon Embara in his current state will not survive another day."
The world seemed to be falling to pieces. "How far away are we!?" Jace demanded.
"3.2 miles from the access point." Calae replied.
"Hold on, Ryn." Jace instructed. He scooped up the small boy and began to jog as quickly as he dared in the still dim light of the early dawn. Calae turned Ryn's wrist link into a powerful floodlight, allowing Jace to quicken his step.
Though he was in good shape, Jace found himself very quickly fatiguing. Ryn was very light; but carrying him while running across uneven terrain caused Jace to feel the exhaustion before the first mile was even up. Pushing through it, he thought about the short time they had spent together and how close they had become. He wanted more time; needed more time. And he knew Ryn felt the same way.
"1.5 miles remaining, bear left at the fir tree." Calae instructed as he ran.
Jace could feel his pulse racing and he tried to keep his breathing steady. "Almost there. Almost there. Almost there." He continually panted, reminding Ryn but also himself.
Cresting a small hill, Jace saw a rock formation in the middle of the wood that looked somewhat out of place.
"There." Calae told him. "There is an entrance."
Searching around the large formation, Jace found that there was indeed an opening in the rock face; narrow and hidden, he probably would have missed it if he had not been looking for it.
"Jace." Ryn said quietly. "Put me down, I can walk."
"Are you sure?" Ryn still looked so weak.
Ryn nodded. "I can feel my ancestors in this place. They will give me strength."
Jace carefully set him down. Taking a deep breath in and straightening himself, Ryn entered the cave. The pain was clear on his face and Jace was starting to notice a headache as well. He was not sure if it was because of their connection or because of the long run he had just made.
"Proceed slowly." Calae instructed. "This cave runs deep, and it would not be hard to lose the way."
They advanced at what felt like a crawl with Calae guiding them through the damp corridors of the cave. As they advanced, Jace felt his headache growing steadily, and Ryn became visibly more and more tense and pained.
"It will happen soon." Ryn gritted out. "Jace, you should leave. Get as far away as you can. Distance can dull the pain."
Jace said nothing, he just put his arm around Ryn's shoulder and continued on through the darkness, wincing against the ache.
A bolt of white hot pain shot through him, and Ryn collapsed to his knees shivering. "It hurts so much." He rasped out, tears beginning to run down his face.
"Come on, Ryn." Jace pleaded. "We're almost there. Hold on."
He helped Ryn back to his feet, but his legs would not support him. Jace picked up the trembling boy again and gritted his teeth as another wave of pain assaulted him. Ryn wailed in agony before going abruptly silent. Looking down, Jace saw that Ryn's eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow and ragged but even.
"Archon Embara has lost consciousness." Calae told him. "It will lessen his pain, but yours will become greater."
As if on cue, Jace felt like someone had driven a railroad spike into his skull. He fell forward, barely catching himself. The cave was spinning, and his vision was shifting between complete darkness and angry painful flashes. His stumbling steps seemed to go nowhere. Calae was speaking to him but he could not make out what she was saying. She did not stop though, and he latched onto the sound of her voice as the only thing that was constant.
It felt like hours of sheer agony, stumbling every few steps. Suddenly, Jace rounded a corner and came face to face with a wall of metal. It was blueish sliver polished so thoroughly that it was almost reflective. In his confused state he could not make sense of it.
"Ambassador Marron."
Jace sank down to his knees, laying Ryn gently down.
"Ambassador Marron."
The pain was too much, his vision wavered dangerously.
"Ambassador Marron." Finally, Jace realized that Calae was calling him.
"This is the entrance. You must get it to open."
"... how?" Jace eventually managed.
"Your connection with Archon Embara should allow you to open it."
Jace forced himself to breathe. In and out, very rapidly. He hit himself in the sides of the head with clenched fists trying to psych himself. Recklessly he dove into the connection between his mind and Ryn's, seeking an answer, knowing that both their lives depended on it.
The pain was staggering. It forced him out almost instantly and he opened his eyes panting and nearly sobbing.
"You must shield yourself." Calae told him. "Your body is strong but your mind is unprotected."
"How!?" Jace demanded. He felt himself shaking violently, uncontrollably.
"The same way that you calmed his mind before."
Jace was in too much pain to think. How was he supposed to remember what he had done two minutes ago, let alone days ago. Without consciously realizing it, it came to him. Like a thought with a will of its own that had been there all along and just decided to come loose. He heard the strange words of a language he did not recognize, accompanying a melody that had comforted him since childhood. He remembered standing on the bridge of the Luminous Hand, hearing Ryn's pure voice, alongside the electric hum of the anima.
Focusing all his mind on these thoughts, these treasured memories, Jace once again ventured into the connection between them. The pain at first was maddening and Jace almost shrank back again. Forcing himself to press forward it suddenly felt, not less, but somehow more bearable. The song of his childhood mixed with the loving memories of sharing it with Ryn made him strong. And suddenly he heard another voice, small and wavering, lost in the tumult of endless suffering, singing the same song.
The two noticed each other simultaneously, and a spark of hope was kindled. The song got louder and the roaring beast that was Ryn's torment shrank back from it, if only for a moment.
"What do I do!?" Jace asked Ryn, though no words passed between them. "How do I open the door?"
"The anima of this place." Came the soft reply. "They must awaken."
The great tsunami of torture broke its temporary cage and washed forth, as though seeking revenge for being blocked out. Jace was pushed violently back into his own head and was left drooling and sobbing desperately. He wanted nothing more than to crack his head open on the stones underneath him, just to end it all.
Well, there was one thing he wanted more. His thoughts again turned to Ryn; from their first meeting on the Lograin to the first genuine laugh they shared. The promises he had made echoed in his mind.
He had to wake them up. That was what Ryn had said. That was what he had said on the bridge of the Luminous Hand. They woke the anima up with the song from Jace's childhood.
Jace did not even realize he had begun to mumble until he heard his own voice. Words he did not fully understand except for a few glimpses of meaning gained from Ryn's mind. It was not a song, more of a vaguely melodic chant, very hoarse and interrupted by ragged breaths. The very last ounces of his strength he poured into his tattered voice. The agony and desperation was clear in his words.
Another voice joined him, stronger, more measured, carrying the tune of his whispered hymn. It was Calae. Her electronic voice blared from both of their wrist links, echoing off the walls of the cave.
Jace felt rather than heard a third voice join them. Ryn's high soprano seeped through his mind even though he lay unconscious. His will to help was strong, but his internal voice was strained close to breaking into madness.
Fighting against fading vision and struggling against the urge to end himself, Jace almost didn't notice the deep rumbling that slowly began to fill the cave. A cavernous voice took up the song, shaking the ancient stone around them. The thunderous sound of rocks splitting in two drowned all else out besides the deep electronic voice that boomed through the cave and the woods beyond.
A blinding white light struck Jace full in the eyes causing him to groan in agony. The light came from a slit that had appeared in the smooth silver door in front of them. More voices could be heard from beyond. Voices carrying their song on, carrying promises of hope. As the chorus swelled, the gap in the door grew wider and the light grew brighter.
With a final gasp, Jace's voice gave out, but the song continued, growing louder every moment. It filled all the corners of Jace's mind with a warmth so inviting that he could no longer fight against his weariness. His eyes closed and he slumped over, dawn once more to sleep by his grandmother's lullaby.