Blade Of The Immortal

Omega: Universe
Book One: Blade Of The Immortal

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Chapter 6: Last Words

Chapter 6: Last Words

Duryah put the child down at last, wiping the sleep from her eyes. After she got back from telling Detrom about tomorrow, Connar began crying and she had to try and keep him quite or she’ll never get any sleep. Through the closed door, she could hear the front door open, then, after a little while, the door closed. Jor’Ale getting water, she thought.

Gritting her teeth, Duryah sat down on the bed - carefully, as not to wake Connar up - and shook her head. She hated doing this to Jor’Ale, but there was no other choice. She knew that he was sorry for doing that, but he needed to learn to trust her. She knew that he had kept secrets from her, secrets that he thought would harm her, but damn it, that was not his right! They were married! She told him everything about her, and he needed to do the same.

She also knew that she couldn’t force Jor’Ale to do anything against his will; that was why she was doing this. She knew that when the right time came, he would tell her what she wanted to know.

Connar began to whimper and Duryah put a finger on his mouth and hushed him. “Hush, little one. Hush.”

She got up and walked to the closet, opening the doors. She sighed, then put her hands on the bottom of her dress and pulled it over her head, then kicked it to the ground. She reached into the closet and pulled out a nightdress and put it on over her head.

Closing the closet door she turned back to face her son on the bed. She saw something through the window, right next to the bed, and walked up to it. She squinted her eyes, but couldn’t see anything. She shook her head and sat down on the bed, smiling at Connar.

She just reached out to him when the whole wall next to her blasted out with a defining roar.

***

Within the confines of the large room in the middle of the Great Hall, the great super-computer, one of the most complex things ever made by the Zarons, blinked and swirled, the Eye of the Watcher coming into focus as it worked trillions of calculations, making thousands of things happen at the same time all throughout the planet. It knew that something was happening. It could, for a lack of a better word, see that something was going on.

That was one of the reasons why this version of the Watchers was made. The earlier versions could do this as well, but only on a slower, less sophisticated way, and the Zaron monarchy knew that they needed Watchers who could really watch what was going on all over the planet at any time that they wished, so they decided that they would make a super-Watcher! A Watcher that could do absolutely everything, at least theoretically. Of course, that was also their mistake. They had made this Watcher too smart. It was no longer under the boot of the Zaron King, and he did things not in order to follow the instructions of the King, but on his own accord. It has its own plans, and so far, everything that the Zarons did falls right into place.

It searched out through the land of the planet until it could see what was going on. It focused its Eye on a small house in a small slave town right next to Aphrodian City, a two story building with one wall blown away. It could see what Pir Linn was going to do. It also knew what the Aphrodian will do - it knew them that well. It knew, according to the Watcher’s calculations, calculations of the man’s past reasoning, past actions, of what he will do in retaliation.

If the Watcher had a face, it would be smiling right now.

These fools! it thought to itself. They were doing everything it would have told them to do all by themselves. Everything was going to work out the way it had planned. Of course, being the super-computer it was, it knew that its plan wasn’t 100%, but it was good enough.

The only way its plan will fail is if that Aphrodian did something stupid, like something against his character, like not go insane or something. It knew that it was taking a chance, that judging the mind of the living was a risky business, but it had no choice. And besides, it was confident that the Aphrodian will do everything that his behavioral studies suggest he will do.

Just to be sure of its own calculations, the Watcher ran to program of this particular Aphrodians behavioral habits through its super-computers, then, half of a quarter of a nano-second later, the results came back. According to the Watcher’s super-computer, the chances that this Aphrodian will deviate from its previous behavioral patterns is about .0035%!

The Watcher suddenly swirled around on its stationary gyro-gears. The first thing that I will do when that Aphrodian comes to get me, it thought, and after I transplant my mind into his body, the first thing that I will do is laugh out loud!!

***

Duryah sat staring in front of her, her mind in a daze of confusion. She tried to breath, but nothing came at the moment, the breath knocked out of her. She inhaled deeply, trying to get enough air back in her lungs in order to move. Finally getting in enough air, the world around her came crashing back.

The room was a mess. There was debris everywhere, and where there was once a wall, a huge, gaping black hole took its place. There was dust flying everywhere, and even if she didn’t have all the air knocked out of her, she would have found breathing difficult.

Connar was still on the bed, still wrapped around in cloth. He was crying and screaming, but no matter what, no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t find the strength to even move. Then something moved in the darkness of her room and Duryah froze.

Through the smoke and dust and debris, a huge, dark thing moved. It was huge - at least seven or so feet tall - and it had spiked, black armor all over its body. She couldn’t really tell what it was, but she was very sure that it was Zaronian.

The thing moved around the room quickly, seeming to search for something. It walked over to the bed, then over to the cupboard, then over to the door, then walked out to the middle of the room and just stood there. It seemed to look from one side of the room to the other, its hands on its hips. Then it seemed to see her next to the wall, then walked over and stood in front of her.

Duryah tried to back away, looking left and right in desperation. Then the figure in black reached down and grabbed a fist full of her hair and began to slowly pull her to her feet. She let out painful screams as she was pulled up. When the Zaronian stopped, she slowly opened her eyes and started when she saw that she was face-to-face with the Zaronian, who was at least seven feet tall!

Connar began to scream and cry as Duryah let out a barely audible sob. The Zaronian smiled a dark, emotionless smile. “Where’s Jor’Ale?”

Duryah blinked. Jor’Ale? “W-what do you mean??” she finally was able to ask.

“Do you know what I am, slave? I am a Death Squad officer! You had better answer my question!”

“But... but I don’t know! Jor’Ale isn’t here! Why would you think that he would be?” Duryah swallowed hard, trying to think. This Death Squad, or whatever, must have followed Jor’Ale when he came here, and then somehow must have known that he stopped here.

The officer gripped her throat with his other hand while the other one lifter her higher. She tried to gasp, to scream, to even swallow, but she couldn’t. “Don’t you dare do that to me, slave! Tell me where he is!”

She shook her head, tried to tell him that he was no longer here, that he had met her husband then left, but the grip of the officer was like an iron vase. Then he let go of her hair and she slump down on his other arm, forcing the grip even harder. He then smashed her up against the wall, making a deep hole with her head.

“Don’t lie to me, you damn slave bitch! Answer me!!”

All the while, Connar was crying and screaming. The officer watched her eyes for a moment, then looked over at the child, then at her once more. When he saw her eyes go to him, a slight smile crossed his lips. With his other arm raised, a short, black tube came out of the armor above his hand. He moved his finger, and, with a slight buzz sound, a single shot of electric energy shot out and hit Connar full on.

He convulsed once, then sat silent.

With a defining scream of anguish, Duryah watched as the smoke rose from her son’s lifeless body. She was so overcome with grief and pain that she didn’t even feel the hot tube of the gun pressed up against her skull nor the sudden tightening of the grip of the officer’s hand against her throat.

“Now,” he said in a flat voice. “Are you willing to answer my question?”

***

Without hesitation Jor’Ale ran up the stairs, taking off his shirt as he continued up. He had never felt this... scared in his life. Not for his own well-being, but for his wife and son. They had no idea who he really was, and now it is his own fault that they are in danger. He cursed himself that he was so careless, that he never should have fallen in love, never should have stayed in one place for this long! Those damn Zaronian’s were bond to find him eventually, especially with his “terrorist” background.

He was, after all, on the Zaronian’s number one hit list.

About halfway up the stares he heard the distinct sound of a laser blast. No! By the Gods, no! He gritted his teeth and continued up the stares until he reached the door. Without even stopping, Jor’Ale raised his foot and kicked down the door, then rushed in.

The first thing he saw once he was in was that the whole side of the wall was no longer there, that it was completely torn open. He looked on the bed and saw nothing but rags and some smoke coming up, then he looked to his left and saw something big and black coming at him. Without even thinking, letting his instincts take over, Jor’Ale jumped to the side, just barely missing whatever was coming at him. Not even waiting for the figure to hit the ground he grabbed the nearest object and slammed it hard against the figure.

The figure let out a slight grunt, then Jor’Ale was put in a head-lock before he knew what was going on; much faster than he expected. That means that I’m not going against just an ordinary soldier... Then he noticed that this person had some sort of insignia sewn onto his sleeve... He could just barely make it out...

“By the Gods, NO!” Jor’Ale screamed when he recognized what the insignia was. Death Squad! They take no prisoners, nor do they show mercy - at least he never heard of them showing any... Then he remembered that laser blast, and only one thing came to mind.

Duryah!

With a frenzy, Jor’Ale swung madly at the figure, hitting him several times, each time harder than the last. The figure tried to fight back, but was overcome by the almost mad-like attacks of the deranged Aphrodian. Jor’Ale grabbed the figure by the head and began to slam it down against the wall, and didn’t stop until he heard a wet crunching sound. With a heave, he threw the body down hard and waited for it to move.

It didn’t.

Looking around quickly, he tried to locate his wife and child, but could hardly see his hands it was so dark. “Duryah!” he screamed. “Duryah, answer me!”

Then he saw his wife lying on their bed at the edge of the room, right next to the wall.

She wasn’t moving.

Tears welled up in Jor’Ale’s eyes as he slowly walked to her. “No...” was all he could say, over and over again. “No! She’s alive!” he said angrily, then rushed up to her and got down on his knees, shaking her gently. “Duryah... are you okay?” Nothing. “Duryah... please... answer me...”

Still nothing. Jor’Ale, consumed with grief, reached out and yanked her around so that he could see her. Cold, unblinking eyes stared back at him. Looking down, he saw that she held their son, the body charred and the clothes burned from where the laser hit him.

“No...”

Then Duryah’s eyes slowly blinked. Jor’Ale’s heart raced madly. Maybe there’s still time! he thought. Duryah’s eyes focused on him for a moment, then she opened her mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out. She winced in pain and Jor’Ale quickly hushed her. “Shhh. Don’t talk, sweety. Save your strength.”

But Duryah reached out with one weak hand and brought him closer to him. There was so much that she wanted to tell him, to ask her love, but she knew she would be dead in a few seconds, and instead of saying what she wanted to say, what came was, “...why...” Then her eyes glazed over and the life seeped out.

Jor’Ale just sat there a moment, stunned. Then he threw his head back and everything disappeared in the white light of his scream...

Garatt Jax