In A Universe Without Stars 1: Skyeater (8 page)

“It
takes time, which is why I fear I’ve come too late, you have to have your
device on your person until it fully syncs.” He turns and looks at Cole. “Only
second to the rate you’re syncing, Cole. You’ve advanced faster than the
others, syncing at thrice the speed than normal. The only other way to gain quick
mastery of your powers is through experience.”

Cole
and Julio look at each other. He wonders if anybody else had to fight off the
invaders. The invaders he still doesn’t know the name of.

“When
the time comes, can you lead the human race to salvation?” Jahum finally asks.

“I
can’t really say no to that,” Julio replies. Cole doesn’t answer immediately.
They both look at him. Jahum wants him to save the world.

Fuck
that.

Cole
doesn’t know what to think anymore, definitely not after tonight. He doesn’t
care what he has to do, what people expect for him to do or if he dies, he just
wants to hold Thora again.

“I
want to see my wife first.” Cole wants her.

“It’s
too late for that but I can link you both so you can find her when the time
comes,” Jahum states.

That’s
not the answer Cole wanted.

He
doesn’t know why but he needs her. Is this sudden want from knowing that she is
carrying his child or is it from another excuse he’s giving himself to live?

The
gym’s empty.

“Come.
The briefing will begin soon.” Jahum walks off and Julio follows. Cole stands
there, staring at nothing.

How
can he deny me after taking her from me?
Cole can’t take it. He
can’t take the responsibility of going into a one sided war to try and win. He
can’t get through this without Thora.

She’s
the only one who really understands him. He needs her to tell him it’s going to
be all right. He wants to say he was sorry for what’s he’s done.  He needs
somebody to help him through the end of the world.

But
he knows it’s pointless to want anything in this world though. So he just
follows Jahum.

7 – The Galactic Council

Jahum
walks
into the briefing room, Cole and Julio follow. It’s a
medium size conference room filled with chairs and a podium in front. There’s
two hundred chairs but only half are taken.

Cole
and Julio take some seats at the end. Jahum keeps walking to the front, five
Astrons stand on the podium.

Jahum
makes it to the front and lifts his hand, he isn’t one for introductions, at
least not anymore, so he just begins.

Everybody’s
vision blurs out; he takes control, projecting sights and sounds into the
chosens
heads, and then we are in his mind. We zoom through
the expands
of outer space, the sparkling galaxies,
multiple star systems, gas odysseys, it’s a sensory overload.

 Space
is darker and emptier than most would expect and yet galaxies still churn with
wonderment, gas clouds twist and swirl in a theatrical fashion, stars still
sparkle in careless easements off in the distance.

But
that isn’t what he wanted them to see. They zoom toward a star system, speeding
past planets and stars until they close into a giant crystallized space
station. It hovers over a giant Earth-like planet the size of Jupiter. There’s
life on it, habitable but once thought impossible by human scientists.

The
crystal structure is made by complex glass patterns, its jagged points curve
inwards toward the planet.

We
were once leaders of a galactic council called the Sovereign Empire, SE6 for
the six ruling races in the council
.

Jahum’s
voice projects overhead.

The
most awe inspiring council in the galaxy and some think even the greatest in
the universe
.

They
zoom into the station, its layout is in a more logical form but blue jagged
glass covers the walls and ceilings. Hundreds of different aliens roam the
halls, in many shapes, colors, and sizes.

All
were safe here.

They
zoom into a giant cathedral. There’s six podiums in front of hundreds of seats
filled with species of all kinds, a giant circular window shows the planet they
hover over, like the glass window of a clock tower, slowly watching the planet
tick its life away.

In
the main podium is an
Astron
, Jahum. He’s at the peak
of his power. His skin is translucent, blue veins pulse through him and he
emits a blue glow. He has two arms and two legs, hundreds of small six inch
wings cover his body. Two large wings spout from his back. He floats gently off
the ground.

Beside
him in the second podium is a Serephin.

One
of the largest group were the Serephins
.

In
the crowd, Leif exchanges aggressive glances with the Serephin in the podium.

Split
between two factions, the Eliite led by Leif and the
Lucifers
led by his brother
.

His
brother was a member of the council. Leif gets up and leaves.

Leif
and his group didn’t believe in our peace keeping ways
.

They
follow Leif to a room, where he sits, simply staring out a window into the
vastness of space where only a single star sparkles.

They
wanted war and destruction, to show their power, to get a meaning from it. So they
waited, waiting centuries.

They
zoom to the Astrons floating at the podiums as the world in the window behind
him spins faster and faster.

While
our powers slowly diminished with our age. Until we descended from our
celestialisty
.

Their
glow fades, their skin becomes cold and hard, wings and feathers fall off and
vanish. They slowly descend to the ground until their feet finally touch it.
The Astrons third and fourth legs are their old wings.
They attacked, wiping
out our once great empire.

The
window cracks behind them, the planet slowly turns into ruin, the vast green
and blue seen from space turns dark and black from the death and destruction.

They’re
back in the briefing room. Cole lets out a belated breath. That was amazing,
not what happened to the Astrons but the experience. Will he be able to do that
eventually?

Jahum
continues:

“Now
they go from planet to planet looking for a race worthy enough to stand against
them and if they cannot, then they simply destroy them.” Jahum looks at Cole.

“We’re
millions of years old, we can no longer stand against them. So we are passing
our powers to you in hope that you can rise up against them and become the new
protectors of the universe. It’s a difficult job to be thrust into but if you
succeed then you will gain our knowledge and become what many would claim to be
as gods.”

For
some reason Cole trusts this thing, he’s not sure why. Is it because he saved
Thora and him or is it something else?

A
map of Washington, D.C. projects on the wall, “Now for your one and only
mission. Washington, D.C. was the only city to not be attacked by the Eliite in
the initial wave. It’s the only safe place on Earth.”

The
chosen start to chatter among themselves. They don’t take his last statement
well.

“The
Eliite only gave the U.N. a couple hours to prepare. Their forces have set up
the best they can for an invasion of this nature but without you, it is
futile.”  

“What
about Dallas?” A random chosen yells.

“Every
major city in the world has been wiped out. The Eliite are spreading out to
destroy smaller cities and towns.” The crowd gasp, getting restless.

It
should be a surprise.
Cole’s surprised they even left Washington
alone. Maybe the others were saved before the attack. It’s noticeable within
the crowd who has seen battle. They’re the ones who look lost and defeated, but
they don’t have the outright fear as some others. They look like Cole.

Defeated.

“Their
main forces are preparing for the final attack on Washington. If you fail here,
Earth will fall and your race will meet its end. I’m sorry we didn’t come
sooner but the time to fight is now.”

A
display pops up in front of everybody except for Cole.

“We
have split you in teams of five, each team will have a designated zone they
will protect or attack. Take this time to suit up and get acquainted. We’re
launching in an hour,” Jahum says as he walks off the podium.

The
floating display in front of Julio shows the number two, the place he’s
stationed and the group he is with, which is an assault group.

“Shit,
I guess this hangs on me. I guess,” Julio says, he looks at Cole, he has
nothing. “Where’s yours?”

Before
he can answer a voice comes over head and tells them to meet their group in the
loading bay.

Jahum
approaches them.

“I’ll
come see you before we go,” Julio turns to leave.

“Wait,”
Jahum says, he didn’t raise his voice, but the effect was the same as if he
did. “Go with one of the Astrons to get up to speed on your powers.” Jahum
motions to an
Astron
across the room.

“Alright,”
Julio replies. “Kill
em
.” He lays a hand on Cole’s
shoulder and is gone.

“What
about me? Where’s my number?”

“For
now you’re not going.”

“What?
Why?”

He
doesn’t know why he asked that. He didn’t want to do anything, especially not
fight against them again.

“You’re
different from the rest, with the rate you are syncing with our genome I
believe you’re ready.”

“Ready
for what?”

“To
ascend,” Jahum says.

“Ascend?”

“Yes,
to ascend to a power greater than what you could’ve ever imagined. But if your
mind isn’t ready and you fail the process, you will die.”

“What
if I don’t agree to?” Cole asks.

“I
already started the process.”

Cole’s
taken back. “What?! How in the hell can you do…You can’t just do shit like
that!”

“We
had no choice, we had to when we gave you our powers.”

No
choice!
He had a choice when he forced Cole into this.

They
did give him their powers, which did save him from himself. But he doesn’t
really know now if he wants to die or not. With this power, he doesn’t know
what to think anymore. He’s slowly learning he has less power over his faith
than he thought, and even less power to end it. He has no choice but to go
along.

“What
about the others?” Cole asks.

”It’s
our last and final power we can offer you. To ascend to a place that no human
has ever been before. You will be the first to change humanity’s course in
history. If you don’t then the others will not succeed.”

“While
you send them to their deaths.”

“Naturally
they would be able to ascend over time but for now we can only rush the process
for you, if your will and mind are strong enough.”  

His
will isn’t strong enough. He knows that for a fact.

Cole
ponders on it, he really doesn’t have a choice, don’t ascend and everybody
dies, and ascend, fail, and everybody dies anyways.

He
doesn’t like those odds.

…

Julio
walks through the launch bay. Holes in the walls lead into the launch ships,
the numbers over the holes marks which ship is which. He walks past number
nine. The decor still doesn’t inspire his confidence, and it’s slightly
depressing to see how far they came. From magical hovering
deus
ex
machina
crystals to
this shit
. He looks inside as he passes number seven.

Everybody
looks shaken, trembling like babies in their little blue tights. The bay is
almost empty, nobody socializes and just sits in their pods. How can Jahum
expect them to fight like this? Scared and fearful.

He
wonders if they can actually win. He just doesn’t know. But If Jahum believes
in them Julio might believe in them too.

Julio
wears blue tights too, they’re uncomfortable as hell. Millions of years of
advanced technology and they couldn’t make non-chaffing clothes.

Jahum
said he couldn’t see Cole before he left, because he has to ‘ascend’ or some shit.
He didn’t get a chance to say goodbye or good luck. The same with Erin and
Arnold.

Rest
in peace.

He’s
not sure if he’s going to survive this one this time.

Julio
finally makes it to number two. It’s in a small cramped holding bay of the launch
ship. There’s only five seats, two on each opposite wall and one across from
the door, all only arm’s length away from each other. He sits in the one across
the door. The others are already there.

It
has the same drab industrial prison like interior as the main ship. He really
wants to fly in a crystal ship at least once before he dies.

The
chosen sit in the cup-like seats, like a kid’s car seat. They’re strapped in
with shoulder seat belts.

“This
is cramped as hell,” Julio complains.

Nobody
replies.

“These
are chaffing the hell out of me why do we have to wear these, they don’t
protect shit.”

Everybody
else is in their own world except for—

“They
provide ultimate maneuverability, they’re only second to fighting naked like
the Greek Olympics comrade. Our powers can protect us from anything these suits
can’t,” a man replies, laying it a little too thick with his Russian accent.

Finally
somebody replied, Julio wanted to get to know at least one of them before they
died. Usually the fastest way to learn someone’s vices is to annoy the shit out
of them.

The
man holds out his hand. “My name is Lance,” he says. Lance is in his
mid-thirties, he has a rough demeanor of a common East European man. He wears a
locket, probably his device.

“Nice
to meet
ya
, I’m Julio. Where are you from?”

“New
York City. You?”

 “I’m
from LA but born in Michigan. Ready to kick some ass?”

“You
seem eager to kill and willing to die my friend.”

“You
have to in a war. They didn’t have shit on me back in LA.”

He
was saying these things to try and build confidence. He doesn’t believe half
the things he says. Lance simply looks down and lets out a chuckle.

The
ship lurches, they’ve launched without warning, a lot more softly than Julio
expected. A map projects in the middle of the bay. It’s a map of them
approaching Washington, D.C.

 Seeing
that makes the butterflies in Julio’s stomach fly.