Copyright 2024 – Daemon D. Hart
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The Human Bearer
The ship groaned all around him, but it wasn't a metallic sound like he'd expect from the structures around him. It was organic, human-like, no, Xeno-like, and Riordan wondered briefly whether what he was hearing right now was the hive of the common conscience that governed the half-snake kind or something else. He followed the melody, as the groans turned harmonious, although they had something dangerous in them, like the victorious chant of an army marching to face the enemy, with no fear on their minds.
"Speak for yourselves, I'm pissing my pants here," Riordan said to himself out loud to keep from going insane from the glorious hymn emerging from the minds of dozens of Xenos on the ship.
But did those voices belong to the Xenos he had known until now? They could very well belong to those snakes in the pond, his and Xana's children, those that weren't real and yet were at the same time.
He was running now, although it was getting harder because the water level grew. When he saw the wave turning a corner and heading towards him, it was too late. He stopped and turned, but it reached him in the blink of an eye. It was all so sudden that he hadn't had the time to take in a breath to keep himself from suffocating right away.
The animal inside him kicked like trapped and threatened. There was no choice for him but to die; the thought occurred to him as if it were natural for him to find his end there, and yet, a part of him rebelled against it. What had that big snake told him? That he could do what he thought he could do.
And he could breathe underwater. In a leap of faith, he let the water flood his nostrils, and his chest heaved in relief. Maybe he wasn't the greatest swimmer, but he began moving his limbs. The water level could rise to the ceiling for all he cared.
But what about the others? Bearers especially, because the Xenos could survive such a thing. Riordan pushed himself against a wall, determined to find a way out of that long hallway. At one end, he noticed a light, shining green and flickering gently. It was calling for him, although Riordan couldn't make out the words. Whatever it was, it had to speak a language unknown to him, because he could tell it was a sort of language, without going further than that in terms of understanding it.
He noticed that he was now swimming upwards, as he was following the light. Something began to obscure it from his view, and he wondered what that could be; as if a lid was being pushed over it, slowly but surely. He hurried to reach it, and once he did, he managed to squeeze through just as the light almost disappeared.
Where was he? He flailed around and managed to turn, only to realize that he had succeeded in leaving the ship somehow. All around him, the vast space lay, although he continued to breathe just like before. Nothing of what he felt told him that he had left the comfortable cocoon of the ship, or that he was no longer underwater.
The ship rose above him, an immense structure that took his breath away for a moment. At the corner of one eye, he caught a movement. Just as if he could space-swim, he pushed himself around, and little wonder there after his strange dream of the snake, he appeared to do that as easy as breathing.
He followed that movement; he could tell that there were shapes moving around the ship, large things of no clear consistence or form, and the only way to recognize them was how the stars disappeared whenever they passed through. Curious of their nature, he swam closer and closer. Was it possible to touch them?
He stopped and shook his arms vigorously in a vain effort to keep from getting sucked into the movement one of the shapes did, a brusque action that seemed to cut through the nothingness, leaving a crack of even deeper darkness behind. Those things were bad. There was no better way to put it, no matter how silly the language.
He willed himself to drop lower and then swam along the ship, as his eyes tried to make sure of what they were seeing. Maybe that big snake was right, and he was nothing but a feeble Earthian with limited sight and vision of things, but he was sure as hell that he intended to make the best out of what was possible for him.
Unlike the night before, he wasn't dreaming now. He was sure of it. The way it happened, it felt like the time when Gamni Gafilos had lured him out of the ship, by chance and not by choice, but with consequences he lived even now.
Only that there was no Gamni Gafilos left to torture them, and no other ship was in sight, let alone Galatea, which he had seen with his own eyes disappearing into the great unknown.
The large shapes glided over the surface of the ship, as if they were trying to wrap around it from all sides. There was danger lurking in their every move, and Riordan found himself forced to push away and watch from afar the frightening display of those huge ghosts' actions.
Ghosts. Why was he thinking of them as such? What could he do to warn those inside that the enemy was right outside, and could he really be sure that the patches of darkness spreading over Tu'lek like tar were that? He only had his gut to rely on, and now, that part of him was twisting in agony, as his mind forced itself to make sense of what was happening.
He was aware of his silent no's and internal screams fading into space, as he floated above everything, useless and scared. Now, his energetic moves led to nothing but turned him in the same spot, as he appeared to be trapped. Riordan wanted to cry out, Xana's name, Junior's, Xeus's, Marn's, Cario's, Kyle's...
He was floating farther from everything. That was even scarier than witnessing the ghosts wrapping themselves around the ship, knowing that everyone he loved was inside, unaware of the danger, or maybe aware and just as scared and powerless as he felt. Why had they run away from him like that? He didn't even have the solace of having them close when the big nothing would come for all the souls onboard Tu'lek.
Because he wasn't there, and maybe he should have stayed, and yet, that light had been so compelling, dragging him out. It must have been with a purpose. He couldn't imagine that what happened to him was just happenstance. It had all to do with the dream.
Tu'lek shook and its engines fired, all at the same time, filling Riordan with even more dread. They were trying to escape from that hard embrace. If they succeeded, he would be left behind... but they would be safe, and that was what mattered.
One of the shapes draped itself over the bright light of the large exhausts and snuffed it as if it were mere candlelight. Riordan tried to push himself closer. If he could just sneak past those creatures, he might get inside, be with the others. Such forces appeared to him monstrous and all-powerful, and he hated that feeling, because as long as there was a chance, humans – and Xenos – had to continue fighting.
Where are you all?
He was screaming, but there was no sound. His anguished call would only fall on deaf ears, and that was where he was, while they were inside the huge metal hull, with no possibility to hear him. Now he wished he would have had Ferix to himself for those lessons for a while longer, because he didn't know how to call for those who were probably fighting their own battle while onboard the ship.
Oh, you, almighty being, are you watching this?
Even though his words rang in his ears only, he could hear the bitterness in them, the hollow hope. The deity – the way he saw the snake in his dream – must be just as deaf as other gods to the plight of those worshipping them. What a bunch of bull, he wanted to lash out, but he could do nothing, nothing but float around like a leaf in the wind, and not even as that, because there was no pushing and pulling him in any direction.
Tu'lek appeared to bend under the pressure of what those ghosts were doing to it. Riordan's heart squeezed painfully in his chest. No one would survive something like that. Once the hull was breached, it would be a matter of time, little time, until Tu'lek would no longer be capable of sustaining life. Even the mighty Xenos, without the safety of their well-prepared ship, would perish in the cold unforgiving space after a while.
Riordan blinked as he saw something bigger than both the ship and the ghosts attacking it rising above. It was... yes, his eyes weren't playing tricks on him... it was the snake from his dream, a lot larger than the space allowed by a ship's corridor, and it seemed to have appeared as if summoned by Riordan's bitter plea.
He had to give credit to himself too much, but at this point, he'd take anything, no matter how flimsy. After all, he was no better than a drowning man clasping at straws in the hope that there was someone on the other end, fighting to pull him out.
His blood was pounding in his ears as he took in the amazing scaly body, shining in reflections of green, blue, yellow, and red. But what was it doing? Was it... watching?
Hey, hey, what the hell?
He waved his arms, but they were moving slowly as if they had gotten numb all of a sudden.
Do something, can't you see what's happening?
The snake turned his large hypnotic eyes to him. They shone like a pair of green suns against that darkness, but the light that came from them faded quickly. Whatever power the creature had, it held it contained within, and that wasn't fair.
Save them, please, save them, why am I even seeing this?
His words, like his thoughts, were incoherent, tripping over one another, losing their sense as soon as they left him.
You must say it, Earthian. Your half is doing it already.
What do you even mean? Do you want me to beg you? Is that it? I'm begging you. And my half? Xana? Is he begging you, too?
No, he is fighting, as should you.
Are you insane? What can I do? I'm just a...
The snake coiled its body around the ship but without touching it or seeming to care about the fight taking place on its surface. There were now explosions everywhere, as the outer shell was getting peeled like a boiled egg. The large green suns were now in Riordan's face, and he could see himself reflected in them as if they were mirrors.
What are you?
Riordan felt his jaw hurting. The anger was growing inside him. He growled on the inside, wallowed, and screamed, but it was all silent, and only the way his body hurt from too much pressure was a sign of the tumult he was going through.
Say the word. Command them.
What? Who?
The snake moved to one side, and Riordan then saw a long thick tail shooting through the shell of Tu'lek and piercing through one of the dark ghosts attacking it. The assailant broke in two, but only for a moment, as it pulled itself together, becoming whole again.
My children, you're talking about them?
You're asking redundant questions, as always, Earthian. And they're not yours.
And yet they are. Do you want me to... what? Sacrifice them? So that the rest... live?
The giant snake appeared to be done with him and turned, landing behind him. Riordan looked over his shoulder, but the heat coming from the huge being was burning his face now. One of his arms moved on its own accord, and he was pointing at something without any reason.
Destroy.
That single word had come from him, and he didn't understand how or why. But, as soon as it left his mind to float through the vast space, more snake bodies shot through Tu'lek and started to stab the dark shapes trying to strangle and destroy the ship.
Don't let one escape.
This time, it wasn't forced out of him. He lost himself in a frenzy, as he ordered left and right, his eyes seeing from all sides at the same time, all the weak points of the enemies, and he was guiding his own army against that redoubtable enemy.
His arms moved, his legs walked through space, his eyes were burning in his head, and he was all of it, all at the same time. The creatures that had been clutching and biting out of Tu'lek until only moments ago were the victims now. Those long large snakes skewered them, not allowing a moment for the shapes to renew themselves, turning them into smaller and smaller parts until they had to be transforming into fine dust, as it didn't appear that there was anything left of them.
The snakes began coiling around the ship, covering all its wounds, just like in his dream. He understood it all now. They were indeed, saving it, protecting it.
And then, the space moved and tiny projectiles by thousands and thousands fell as a rain against the coiled bodies of snakes, coating them with a new layer that instantly turned into glass. Riordan remained suspended, up into the nothingness, and waited. The layer exploded, but its particles were now fine like broken crystal and bright, no longer dark.
His eyelids fell over his eyes, and his entire body collapsed. He had the sensation that he was gliding over the large snake's body, its scales smooth as silk, and he couldn't stop that descent.
He couldn't care where he would land. Tu'lek had to be safe in that hard embrace of snake bodies, bodies that he must have helped into creation along with Xana. His mind went blank and peaceful.
"What the hell?" he murmured and held his head. "I think we should stop meeting like this," he joked, as his eyes met Marn's, who was hovering over him, as if he was just waiting for him to wake up.
"I would like just the same," Marn replied. "Because it would mean that we are away for good from all danger."
Riordan pushed himself up but refused Marn's helping hand. "What the hell happened this time around?"
"The situation is too complex for you to understand."
"Because I'm a mere human? Save that for someone else. Where is Xana? My boy?"
"Everyone's alive and well, thanks to you. Your intervention was timely."
"My intervention? Do you mean that there was something you didn't plan? Without letting one soul in the entire universe know?"
Marn didn't seem chastised in the least by his harsh words. "A leader cannot be a good leader without a fair share of impossible decisions."
"Heavy lies the crown much?" Riordan shook his head. "I don't care how feeble and poorly designed you think my mind is, I'm pretty sure I can take it. You went and did something by yourself. While keeping everyone in the dark. Just what gives you that right? And those--"
He stopped, as a sudden heaviness pushed his chest inward. "Those were our children," he said in an icy tone. "And you sacrificed them."
"They were and weren't yours. As for sacrificing them, I believe you commanded them to fulfill their purpose. I saw you."
"Stop bullshitting me," Riordan hissed, as unwanted tears began falling down his face. "You sound just like someone I know."
"Who, Xana?"
Riordan wiped his cheek angrily and stared at Marn. "You saw me, you say. Then you saw who actually used me like a puppet for this crazy plan of yours."
The surprise on His Royal Chancellor's stern face seemed genuine. "Who are you talking about, Riordan?"
"Don't give me that look, you... snake," he exploded. "How could you do something like this to us, Marn? You made me use them as a shield for the entire ship." His voice dropped to a pain whisper.
"There was no other way. And you must understand, they aren't real. They never were."
"Oh, yeah? Then show me your goddamn ship! Show it to me how it looks now on the outside! And I'll show you real!"
Marn gestured for a bot present in the room to wheel itself forward. "This is all from the cameras outside. It's a real time feed. What should I see, Riordan?" He had the same paternal tone as always, but Riordan had no time for that kind of bullshit. Not anymore.
Through the tears, he watched the feed. He browsed through all the cameras, swiping over the bot's screen, faster and faster, until it all became a blur. Or maybe those were his tears that he could no longer contain.
"What happened?" he wailed and caught his head into his hands. "What happened to them?"
"I don't understand what you are saying, Riordan. Come on, say it to me. I know how much you dislike having your mind read."
Riordan slapped Marn's protective arm away. "I dislike having my mind read? I hate your guts, you fucking asshole! You used them as a shield, my children, and you don't even know what happened to them after they did your bidding?"
Marn no longer seemed only surprised. He appeared to be downright startled. "I will have Xana brought here. You will talk to him, won't you?"
Riordan saw dark in front of his eyes. He only felt that he punched Marn in the face. He braced himself for getting hurt, but, instead, his arms were caught and forced by their sides, while his entire body was pulled into a hug.
tbc
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