Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1) (38 page)

Chapter FIFTY-FOUR

THE POWER OF THY SWORD

First, a sense of calm, safety, when he touched Yrrha, as if the Arinar was trying to soothe him. It said, “It will be all right.” Then it was Ijjok’s turn. Ray felt as if he was seeing
everything
that had ever happened and would ever be. He could see, even
hear
the ongoing battle over Earth, transports leaving the planet for safety, children crying as their mothers held them in fear.

When it was K’ta’s turn, he felt the touch of a thousand universes, overwhelming his mind with their presence. Suddenly, he was aware of life around him in a way he’d never known existed. He saw worlds of beauty, worlds of despair and worlds that died eons ago, all screaming his name in glory, billions of souls cheering the name of Lohil. He sensed another pair of eyes,
a thousand eyes,
turning towards him but ignored the feeling.

And finally, he touched Serhmana. Now, he saw those worlds bowing before him. The universes bent before his will. He saw planets reshape, stars re-align in his name. Serhmana was searching, using Ijjok to locate its target and carry the will of Lohil. Ray felt Serhmana asking him what to do.

And Ray whispered, “Baeal.”

Beams of light erupted from his eyes and mouth, washing him in bright red. It covered the bridge first, passing over everyone and everything it touched. Serhmana was hunting.

The cleansing light of Serhmana covered the dying husk of
Deviator
and then jumped on to the planet-killer, hovering above the super-dreadnought. Ray felt the Baeal screaming in pain and protest inside the ship. The enemy ship fired but the beam was blocked by Yrrha’s shield, just as it had stopped the devastating fire from the Worm, dissolving harmlessly.

The red light was now a cocoon, wrapped around the planet-killer. It squeezed the ship, tearing it apart piece by piece. Ray watched the ship turn into scraps in mere seconds. Serhmana’s light didn’t let a single piece escape its grasp. When it was done with the planet-killer, there was nothing left.

Ray saw the Worm in the distance turning away from the super-dreadnought, but he knew it was in vain. Serhmana’s light reached the enemy mother ship in a flash and washed it with its devastating power. The screaming inside Ray’s head was an orchestra, playing their masterpiece in crescendo. Ray knew he was destroying a race but he didn’t care. He hadn’t started this war with Baeal, they had. And now, they were paying the price.

It took about a minute for Serhmana to destroy the Worm in full. It didn’t look so intimidating now, being eaten by a divine power he summoned, no matter how much it tried to hide behind its black smoke. Ray felt the stones’ joy through the bond, but he also felt
longing
. They were searching for their brother, Mara’tthane.

Ray tried to say he was sorry but the stones understood and comforted him. Serhmana promised it would cleanse all the galaxy of Baeal’s taint. If Mara’tthane was around, it could have barred anything from
bleeding
into his realm forever. But K’ta assured him the Baeal were a dying race and Ray was ensuring their eradication.

About a minute later, Ray felt Serhmana talking to him,
“It is over, brother. Now, we have to rest.”

“You can talk,”
Ray said.

“No, you can hear.”

“But the gate’s still here.”

“You asked us to remove Baeal and we did. You have to destroy the gate. Without our brother Mara’tthane, we cannot cut the connection.”

“Thank you.”

Ray gently pulled his touch from the Arinar. He looked around the bridge, trying to figure out what to do. Everything was dead except the force fields. No way could he overload the engines or arm weapons without the controls being active, no matter how much energy the ship had. Ray put his hand back on Serhmana.

“Brother?”

“I know you’re tired, but I need one more thing. I apologize.”

“You are family. No need to apologize.”

“I want you to overload the ship’s core.”

“I cannot protect you from the power of Arinar,”
Yrrha joined the conversation.
“You will die.”

“It’’ll happen soon anyway, no life support, no oxygen. Maybe that’s for the best. No Lohil, no danger from Her,”
Ray said.

“She will come, brother. She heard your voice.”

“The thousand eyes...”

“Yes.”

“Just do it.”

Serhmana sent an assuring feeling over the voice and Ray felt the power building up inside the stone. A second later, the red beam flushed over his body and covered the super-dreadnought one more time.

“It is done,”
Serhmana said.
“It will be over soon. We will miss you, brother. Until fate reunites us, farewell.”

“Thank you.”
Ray pulled his hand off and pushed himself toward where he last saw Sarah.

“Meow!”

“There you are.” He found the cat, still trying to
swim
toward Sarah. He caught Darty with his right arm and helped the poor cat move. Sarah was a few meters ahead, floating. Ray tried to slow himself by grabbing a console with his free hand and came near Sarah, managing to stop without hitting her. He checked her pulse but couldn’t hear anything.

Darty put a paw on Sarah’s cheek and looked questioningly at Ray.

Ray kissed the cat’s forehead gently. He heard a growling from the below decks, feeling the ship tremble. Ray gripped Darty firmly. “It’ll be over soon, Darty. It was one hell of a ride.”

Then he heard the noise of a powerful explosion from somewhere deep inside the
Deviator
. It felt like an earthquake. Ray closed his eyes, smiling. Then his eyes blinded by a brilliant, white light and his ears rang, deafening him.

***

“Meow!”

Ray opened an eye, “What!”

“Meow!”

“What the…” He was on the floor, Darty sitting on his chest. He turned his head around to see where he was. It was the bridge of
Deviator
all right, still looking awfully smashed. “If this is the afterlife, they sure don’t know how to market it. Ouch!” He felt the pain in his ankle. “Horrible, conditions…”

“I feel like a thunderbolt struck me in the a—”

“Sarah!” Ray turned to his right, ignoring the pain, and the protesting cat.

“Skipper.” Sarah opened her eyes and stared at the torn-apart ceiling.

“Sarah!” Ray gave a heavy sigh of relief. “I thought you were dead.”

“Maybe we are.” She raised her hand slowly, pointing at the ceiling.

“What?” Ray looked. There were birds flying. “Is that…sky?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“And those are trees. You can also see a mountain and a waterfall, and if you look through the other gap, it opens up to a nice lake.” Captain Samir walked near them, limping. “Rise up and shine.” He lent a hand for Ray and Sarah to stand up.

“Where
are
we?” Ray asked, looking around. “I’m guessing we didn’t die.”

“Uh oh,” Sarah murmured.

“What?”

“Did you blow up the gate?”

“Yes.”

“Like Ga’an did?”

“Oh…”

Sarah shook her head. “He’ll be pissed and I’m definitely not the one to tell him what happened.”

“Oh, Light…”

About the Author

Oganalp Canatan is a well-known metal music artist with several international releases from various record labels. He is also a passionate book lover and an avid sci-fi & fantasy reader. His passion for stories evolved in recent years from writing for online RPG communities to creating trilogies.

Shadows Bear No Names is his first endeavor as a writer, being part of "The Blackened Prophecy" series and through the years, he intends to increase his story count significantly. That is
"unless the morons start World War III"
by his own words.

The follow up for Shadows Bear No Names,
Balance of Power
is planned to be released in late 2016.