21. Sun-Scorched Sorcery
21
Sun-Scorched Sorcery
ISSA
‘ A moment, Dr Elaris.’
The bridge was too bright, too full of staring eyes, and Ki’Remi’s rasped words, raw and rough, carved right through her.
She hesitated, locking her guarded eyes with his molten meta gaze.
He leaned in to whisper so only she could hear. ‘ Kidaya , please.’
She took a ragged inhale, then, nodding, marched toward the Admiral’s ready room.
Ignoring the burning reproach of the crew’s collective stare and Rhye’s affronted, stupefied curse.
The doors sealed behind them with a quiet hiss.
She turned to face him, arms crossed, primed for whatever argument he was about to launch.
‘What’s this Sanopic Jar that celestial warlock spoke of?’ he growled.
She exhaled, lifting her hands to her earrings, small, inconspicuous orbs, nothing more than simple adornments.
Except they weren’t.
She touched them, and the atmosphere around them warped.
The jewelry shivered, elevating from her lobes.
Spiraling toward each other, they collided midair in a burst of golden energy.
They twisted, stretched, reshaped.
Until they became a vessel.
It hovered before them, a tiny but infinite receptacle filled with an incandescent swirl more lucent than any nebula, ions, and atoms swirling in endless, hypnotic motion.
A mass of souls, the most ancient and transcendent, thrummed within.
Ki’Remi advanced, his fingers twitching at his sides, eyes locked onto the artifact.
‘This is what you stole from the repository?’
‘The same. Some spirits inside have existed since before this universe’s birth.’
He huffed. ‘Can’t you give it back and call this quits?’
A bitter laugh slipped from her lips. ‘Not without securing my father’s life.’
The silence between them stretched thick, heavy, unrelenting.
Then, he uttered what she feared.
He stepped closer, his voice calm, absolute.
‘I’m coming with you.’
She jolted. ‘ Nada , you’re not.’
‘I didn’t ask, Issa.’
Her jaw tightened. ‘You can’t help me. While you’re a meta, you’re one man and don’t have what it takes to fight the dominance of gods.’
The Rider exhaled in a controlled heave of his chest.
‘Is that right?’
His eyes narrowed, then glazed over as if lost in thought.
Without warning, his physique snapped as if lightning arced through it.
His head arched back, revealing his sinewed nape.
His silver eyes flashed to white hot, the blinding light taking over his eyeballs.
‘The fokk ?’ she whispered.
The air in the room shattered.
A storm of power erupted from him, an unseen force rippling outward, slamming into the walls, the floor, and the very fabric of the space around them.
Issa stumbled back as his figure morphed.
He was not just transformed; he was recast and transposed.
His skin eclipsed, the rich honey hue of his complexion bleeding into a jagged, rough-hewn silhouette formed of ancient, sun-scorched darkness.
His muscles stretched, towering higher, thickening, becoming more than just Ki’Remi.
Another form peeled from him.
Then another, a second, and impossibly, a third.
The man before her wasn’t just one man anymore.
He was many.
Issa’s breath hitched as one after another, significant, terrible figures loomed over her, shifting between states of existence, half flesh, part myth.
‘ K’Shivi, the Savant Seer ,’ the metamorphosis growled in a roared introduction.
He was colossal, broad, and monstrous. His chest was marked with jagged carvings of an ancient script, and his fingers crackled with lightning that pulsed through his veins like liquid fire.
His eyes were abyssal voids, staring at her like they perceived every lifetime she had ever lived.
‘ Korai, the Shadow Sorcerer ,’ came the impassioned roar.
Draped in midnight, the being was woven from shadows and whispers.
His power was insidious and creeping, a force that could unravel the threads of the universe if he so desired it.
‘ Kirego, the Sophist Soothsayer ,’ came the final ethereal snarl.
The wraith, formed of bone and smoke, dripped with silver war paint, his mouth stitched shut, but his thoughts invaded her mind.
‘You will learn. The gods are not as absolute as they claim to be. Nor as potent as they believe.’
Issa’s knees buckled.
She fell to the floor on one knee, one hand pressing into the cold steel beneath her, her heart hammering.
This wasn’t possible. Nada , no way.
She lifted her gaze to find them all gazing at her in the form of a roar, a storm, and a whisper of utter power.
Without warning, like the snap of a collapsing star, they vanished.
She blinked, her pulse racing as her lover swayed, as the wild energy in the room snapped and transformed him back into his human form.
He reached a hand toward her.
She stared at it, then at him.
‘You’re also not what you seem,’ she whispered.
Ki’Remi let out a slow breath.
‘I long suppressed who I was,’ he growled. ‘But no more.’
His molten meta eyes held hers, raw with promise.
‘If calling on my ancestors is what it takes to keep you safe, kidaya , then I will embrace it. If we put our minds and abilities together, perhaps we may find a way to prevail through this trial.’
Issa swallowed hard, still reeling from witnessing his true essence and also from what he was offering.
The endearment, the care in his timbre, slid into her heart, and she fought back tears.
She blinked at him before placing her hand in his, sighing as he pulled her to her feet.
‘I’ll take it, Sable, because fokk , I’ve run out of options and time. However, be prepared; this shit we’re about to walk into might blow all your foundations of reasoning, intellect, logic, and knowing away. You have been warned.’
Ki’REMI
He gave her a quick, fierce kiss, which she pulled away from with a wry smile.
‘ Sante .’
He winked. ‘We’ve got this, Elaris.’
He had a handle on it, didn’t he?
If he didn’t, he’d figure it out as they went, as long as they were with each other.
Issa turned back toward the holo controls in the admiral’s ready room, opening a direct line to Zavei Rhakiba Caleph D’Ketheron again.
His deific and cosmic-gold eyes narrowed as she appeared onscreen.
Issa straightened, lifting a defiant chin. ‘A companion will be joining me.’
Zavei’s gaze flicked with lazy disinterest to Ki’Remi.
His expression barely shifted.
‘ This mortal? Tis of no consequence to me.’
The deity gave them a smirk. ‘Instead of just yourself, you will both die together.’
Issa didn’t flinch, and neither did the Rider.
Yet, as Ki’Remi stared at the Saatifa warrior, the enormity of his commitment hit him.
Surrender, imprisonment, and a journey into the freakin’ unknown.
He suppressed a curse, even as the menacing celestial growled through the display.
‘We will receive you not before long. You have an hour of Pegasi time. Pack lightly.’
With that, the screen faded to black, and silence fell.
Issa’s torso heaved.
Unwilling to see her distressed, Ki’Remi prowled to her side, wrapping his sinewed arms around her.
She didn’t cry.
She just clutched the fabric of his vest and buried her face in his chest.
He kissed her forehead, lending her strength until he sensed a shift, a neural node tap as his metanoids fluxed.
Almost at once, a flicker of awareness whispered across his synapses.
A presence, one he was all too familiar with.
Mirage.
The Sable Group’s omnipotent AI slipped into his consciousness with subtle sophistication, an undetectable ripple beneath his thoughts.
She tapped, a virtual knock even though she had the power to tear through his neurons and pull them apart at will.
Sable.
The sultry, knowing purr of her voice coiled through his mind, as rich as the finest contraband rum.
It was almost comforting.
Yet still, even after all these years, it was unnerving.
I’ve been tracking your vitals, Sable. Your readings are elevated. I’d ask if you were engaging in recreational activities, but the fact that you’re facing what appears to be a flotilla of lethal capital ships suggests otherwise.’
Ki’Remi exhaled. Caught up in a bit of a diplomatic nightmare, Mirage.
Define ‘nightmare’.
Imma about to be escorted at ancient-blade-point to meet a god, or gods, who might or may not decide to smite me on a whim.
Ah. The insertion into the unknown is upon us, then.
Despite himself, the corner of his mouth twitched.
For all her omniscience, Mirage had the personality of a bored numen demiurge with a razor-edged tongue and too much processing power.
Are you willing to advance into the lion’s den, or should I gather the Riders to retrieve you?
Ki’Remi’s jaw flexed.
The rational part of him wanted to say yes. To activate every resource at his disposal and burn his way out of this ridiculous celestial cage about to fall over Issa and himself.
But then he glanced down at Issa, her face still buried in his chest, and his heart jolted.
Nada. I can do this for now. I have to proceed, come what may. Tis my orders and duty.
Also, he couldn’t let his woman go in alone, even though this was her war for her father’s soul.
He’d convinced her she needed him. That if ever she came under crossfire, he’d have her six.
While spying on her people and assessing whether the Sacran threat level was as lethal as intimated.
The incongruence of both missions burned, but he tamped it down, choosing logic to override his emotions.
The sooner he got this shit done, the faster it’d be over.
He sent a neural tap to Mirage. I’ll comm you if I need you.
Sawa. I’ll be here in the background, taking readings as you proceed.
With that, she slipped back into the backdrop, leaving only the cold realization that he had just turned down reinforcements against a literal pantheon of gods.
He shook his head. ‘ Fokk me,’ he muttered under his breath.
Then, he tilted Issa’s chin, eyes solemn with quiet resignation.
‘Let’s roll.’
She nodded, and so, together, they surrendered to the inevitable.