Chapter Six #4
His body gleamed with cruel elegance, but Azazel’s sharp eyes caught something. The faintest cracks webbed Baelon’s glass-like skin, and his movements seemed less fluid than before, his steps almost... hesitant.
He radiated sharp angles and jagged edges, his form sculpted from deep blue apatite, with veins of silver and deep indigo threaded through his crystalline skin. His eyes, deeply set within his face were twin pools of multifaceted fire, and they narrowed as he studied Azazel.
Azazel exhaled, keeping himself centered.
Surprisingly, his inner demon remained still and quiet.
“Obviously, I didn’t know better,” he stated aloud in a patronizing tone that cut through the hum in the room.
“Because your arrogant intentions are flawed.” He tilted his head, his calm gaze fixed on Baelon.
“It appears your plans are ineffective in achieving your goal.”
Baelon’s smile twisted, and his mirrored eyes compressed into fine slits.
“You flatter yourself. You are nothing but an echo of dust. I find your words as empty as the so-called rebellion you’ve joined with those traitors aboard this ship.
I will break all of you without reservation.
” His voice carried a resonant echo that sounded from everywhere at once.
“You are a caged, flesh-bound animal. Broken.”
The tendrils around Azazel tightened, bruising his ribs.
He didn’t allow his expression to falter.
Instead, he focused inwardly. The pain was a distraction, a crude tool.
He tilted his head, unruffled. “Broken? Hardly.” He flexed his mind again, not to escape but to test. The bonds strained under his touch, like taut wires stretched thin, as if ready to fray. Might be breakable, then.
Baelon’s expression flickered. The light within his body dimmed before flaring again. A tremor ran through him—brief but telling.
Azazel noted it, tucking the observation away.
“You’re weakening,” he stated with a steady tone.
He cocked his head when a thought came to him from a novel he’d read not so long ago.
If he remembered correctly, the aliens attacking Earth in that story didn’t take into account the natural countermeasures the planet carried.
H.G. Wells might’ve been on to something when he wrote War of the Worlds.
“I suspect this dimension doesn’t suit you, does it?
” He pursed his lips and examined the crystal man with an up-and-down glance.
“Your inner light is dim, Baelon. And if I’m not mistaken, a good amount of your edges have dulled.
I believe this universe is eating you alive,” he observed, his voice measured.
“This dimension is rejecting you, isn’t it?
Your kind wasn’t meant to stay here this long, was it? ”
Baelon hissed, and the surrounding walls pulsated.
The psychic bonds around Azazel tightened and pressed into his mind. Pain lanced through his temples, but he met Baelon’s eyes. The crystal dictator’s crystalline face twitched—an almost imperceptible reaction, but enough for him to recognize his strike had landed.
“Let it go,” Azazel continued. “You and I both know that anger won’t fix what’s rotting inside you.
” He softened his voice, sending tendrils of psychic energy to sift through Baelon’s fury in an unobtrusive fog of intent.
“If you stay here, nothing will stop the cracks forming in your foundation. Not only with yourself, but with all Krystalii. You must recognize what this dimension is doing to all of you.”
“You know nothing of my kind,” Baelon snarled, stepping closer. His form shimmered as he grabbed Azazel’s wave of psychic energy and made it his own, ripping
into his mind like jagged glass.
“You’re nothing but a worthless organic being who does not have the intelligence to comprehend the grandiose Krystalii.”
Azazel winced as he blocked Baelon’s psychic intrusion with practiced precision and focused his thoughts on a single, unwavering point.
Soon the assault rolled off him like water over stone.
“I understand more than you think.” His tone was cutting and stern.
“Your strength... it’s borrowed, isn’t it?
Amplified by this ship, by your constructs.
But it’s unsustainable. Every moment you remain here, your entire existence will erode around you. ”
The chamber trembled, and the crystalline glow inside the Krystalii leader intensified. Baelon’s jagged features sharpened, but as Azazel watched, he saw tiny cracks along the other’s body spread, splinters that ran along the crystal being’s translucent skin.
Baelon laughed, a brittle, discordant sound. “You dare to psychoanalyze me? How quaint. Perhaps I should peel away your mind to see where your confidence originates.”
Azazel smiled, unfazed. “You could try, but we both know you won’t. You’re desperate to maintain control—not just over me, but over yourself. Your foundation is cracking, Baelon, and deep down, you know it.”
Baelon froze and his mirrored eyes betrayed a flicker of uncertainty. The chamber’s hum faltered, the once-perfect resonance breaking into uneven vibrations.
Azazel had planted a seed of doubt—small, but significant. “You can keep me here,” he continued with a shrug, “but every second I fight weakens you. Every moment you remain in this dimension, it grinds you down. You’ve already lost, Baelon. You just refuse to face that inevitability.”
The walls trembled, and for the first time, Azazel felt the cage falter. A crack—not physical—but psychic in its structure. He allowed himself the faintest smile.
Baelon’s eyes flared as he stepped back. “I assure you, you will never leave this place alive.”
“Oh yes, I will. And perhaps I’ll take you with me.” Azazel allowed a slice of resolve to lace his tone. “And judging by the looks of you, you won’t have the strength to stop me.”
Before the last word left his lips, a blazing white light engulfed the room.
Turning his head, Azazel did his best to shield his closed eyes and waited until he sensed the unexpected intense light had dimmed enough for him to open them.
He peeked through slitted lids, and his head jerked as he took in the sigh before him.
It was Toni. Standing in the middle of the room as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
And perched on her left shoulder was JR14, as if he’d always been there.
Fists on her hips, she cocked her head. “What are you doing tied up like that?” She looked behind him. “And why is the gemstone jerk lying on the floor?”
The psychic lattice tendrils wrapped around him disintegrated, leaving him free to move. He jumped off the small dais he’d been standing on and spun around to see what she was talking about.
Baelon lay flat on his back, eyes and mouth wide open, as if frozen.
Sending out an exploratory psychic ribbon to the prone Krystalii, Azazel grabbed Toni’s hand. “We’ve got to get out of here before he wakes up. Ready?” Not waiting for her to answer, he teleported them out of the room.
Azazel took them to the only place he could think of—the rebel hideout. If that bright light was what he suspected, things were moving faster than he’d hoped.
“Toni,” he turned her so she could look at him. “Did you disrupt the Nexus Core?” He held his breath as he waited for her to answer.
Her eyes widened as her mouth opened.
“You bet she did!” Tharion’s clear whoop from behind them answered before she could.
Azazel released Toni but wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He wasn’t ready to part from her yet. The pain of leaving her behind tore at him when he hadn’t known if she’d be safe or not.
“All the ship’s communications are down or sporadic,” Laytrii announced.
She sat at a command console on one side of the room, her emerald crystal body turned away from them as her fingers flew across the device.
“The abrupt silence from the Nyrlith to the fleet is causing panic.” She turned to look over her shoulder at them.
“And no one has to be psychic to know that.” With a wink from one of her verdant eyes, she curled her mint-green lips into a smirk.
“As the other Krystalii relearn how to use antiquated communications, it’s giving Vaeloryx and the others a chance to disrupt the Dimensional Rift Epicenter.
” Turning back to the console, she resumed her frantic pace on the 3D keyboard floating in front of her.
“Unfortunately, I doubt they made it since it’s still online.
And I can’t contact them. I’m afraid we’re running out of time. ”
“Is it because Baelon is dead?” Toni’s hand covered Azazel’s stomach as she leaned close to ask the question.
Even through the battle suit, Azazel warmed with her touch. He shook his head. “No, he was just stunned by whatever you did. That’s why I had to get us out of there before he woke up.” He turned to Tharion. “Did you try the Resonant Node to contact either of them?”
“Of course we have.” The golden crystals on Tharion’s body dimmed. “When we took the Nexus Core out, it somehow interfered with that as well.”
“JR14—” Azazel turned to the spider-bot still sitting on Toni’s shoulder. “—can you interface with the ship’s computer and locate Vaeloryx and his companions without getting caught?” If that worked, he’d teleport to their location and help them.
“Affirmative.” The small android jumped off his perch, his wings fluttering out as he buzzed over to Laytrii and landed on the transparent counter. “Attempting interface.” One set of his front claws clicked together before a thin wire protruded from one to land on the console.
After a few tense moments, the bot retracted his line and swiveled his head to Azazel.
“Analysis: I am now synced with the Nyrlith and have complete access to their communications. Elite forces have captured the subjects who are now en route to the detention center.” JR14 tilted his head.
His multifaceted eyes shimmered in a rainbow of colors.
He must be accessing another part of the network.
“Announcement: Lord Baelon is waiting there for them.”
Ezeru!
“Then we’ve got to disable the Dimensional Rift ourselves.
” Azazel stood behind the jagged console panel next to Laytrii.
“When we do that, it might draw Baelon and his Elites away from them and give Vaeloryx and the others a chance to escape.” He looked over his shoulder at Tharion.
“Is there anyone else who can help them do that?”
Tharion shook his head with a thoughtful frown, glancing at the ragged group behind them. “I’m afraid not.” He gestured to the motley crew. “Vaeloryx took the best we had. I’m afraid the rest of us relied on them in more ways than one.”
“Speak for yourself,” Laytrii grumbled, then sighed.
“But I’m afraid he’s right. We’d put them in more danger if we tried and failed.
” She nodded to the moonstone-colored Krystalii healer, Lyrentha.
“While she and I could be of use in the field, our best use is here overseeing operations.” Pounding her fist on the platform, she grunted. “Such as they are.”
“Interjection,” JR14 announced. “I will coordinate with the Nyrlith and keep the lines of communication open, so when Azazel completes his task, you will be informed.”
Laytrii’s emerald eyes softened as she watched the spider-bot fly back to his perch on Azazel’s shoulder. “We would appreciate that.”
“While we can’t help you in the field, I’ve got something much better for you to use.” Tharion announced with a wide grin. “Can’t let you go empty-handed!” He gestured for them to follow him. “Come on. You’re gonna love this!”
The golden Krystalii led Azazel and Toni to the same chamber where they’d gotten their form-fitting suits.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t think about this earlier.
” Tharion gushed, looking over his shoulder.
“But after you left, I came back in here to look around and noticed this!” He gestured to a pile of strange poles and sticks.
“Here are some weapons we, ah, confiscated from an organic race from our dimension. Maybe you can use one of these. Hopefully they’ll help. ”
He handed a weapon to Toni, his crystalline features glinting under the ship’s dim lights.
“Trust me, this is no ordinary weapon!” His voice echoed in the large room.
“The same lattice resonance that fuels the Dimensional Rift powers this baby. It bypasses standard shielding and destabilizes crystalline structures at the molecular level.” He tapped the sleek, angular barrel.
“Perfect for disrupting Baelon’s guards—and the rift itself.
” He gave a theatrical sigh. “We’re lucky Baelon missed this before.
I bet he thought he had them all destroyed. ”
Azazel raised an eyebrow. “Missed?”
The golden-crystal male shrugged. “Well, you know.”
Toni chuckled. “Ah, what a good little thief you are. Here, let me try.” She held out her hand.
Tharion handed it to her, the bulbous end first.
“All you gotta do is press this here and ka-boom! There she blows.” He backed up with his palms raised. “But be careful—damn trigger is touchy as all get out.”
Toni raised the weapon away from them and clicked where Tharion pointed. A lightning burst of fire fractured part of the wall into shimmering shards.
“Yeah, now that’s what I’m talking about.
” She grinned, patting the barrel. “You and me, baby, we’re gonna save the universe.
” She glanced at Azazel with a mischievous grin.
“Who knew my mom was right when she made me take all those target lessons when I moved out on my own in LA? Damn, what a great movie this would make!”