Alright, people… Now things start getting interesting.
Last time we met Logan and his twin brother Tom and their adoptive father Luke, who have come to visit Telera, which is Misty’s planet BTW, by special invitation.
We learned a bit about them, many many small details which I am sure you probably don’t care enough about to want a list of, but here are the big things:
Luke is human, from Earth (Sol is the official name of our solar system), some kind of scientist, and telepathic!!
Logan and Tom are native to the Blue Solar System, where Misty is from, but from a sister planet.
So, the boys, teenagers by the eye rolls and slang, decide to race to the trees and just as they get there they are attacked by some unknown assailant.
And just in case you didn’t catch number one, we last saw Misty when she saw movement where there shouldn’t be any.
So, without further ado:
INDEX | Chapter 1 | Scene 1 | Scene 2 | Scene 3 | Next Scene →
Fear coils in my gut as my heart remembers to beat again; fluttering wildly as if to make up for the few moments' faltering. If these strangers are an advanced squad, I am doomed.
Taking stock of my situation I have to admit, I can barely stand. I cannot even hope to fight my way through. If I try to hide I will be caught, if not by these then by the trackers who have been on my tail for the past three days and my lead is closing now as I stand here frozen with indecision.
No! No, I can't go back. What they will do to me... I... I can't let them get me... But what can I do now? How am I going to get out of this?
On the edge of despair, I sink to my knees. What can I do? Gazing at the beautiful bowl of almost perfect snow, bathed in violet by the mingling of blue Lemus and red Korus, I find myself looking inward, searching for the strength I lack. There's nothing left... I think, remembering another of James' lessons.
* * *
"A Teleran body contains two types of energy,” James tells me as he walks around the gurney with his hands clasped behind his back. As I lay staring up at the ceiling, strapped down, with a gum guard in my mouth and wires attached to me in a few places, he has my full attention. I hear every word he says with perfect clarity.
“This is what sets Telerans apart from every other living being. The first kind, is the same type of energy that other races have, you can see it like an inferno when you look inward, let us call it Raw.” He inclines his head as he comes to stand over me, two fingers tapping against his temple. He leans over and looks me in the eye, “The second kind is unique to Telerans, we will call it your Vital energy, ” he says softly head cocked to one side with a smug little smile on his face. He stares for another moment then breaks eye contact and I breathe a sigh of relief as he continues his pacing.
“All Telerans are born with it,” He continues, moving out of my sight again, and I crane my neck to see where he has gone, blinking the brightness of the overhead lights, from my eyes. “You can’t see or feel it, because it is the life force that surrounds each cell in your body like a cocoon. These tiny shells together form a barrier which allows you to naturally build up and store more Raw energy than any normal being can contain.” His footsteps stop. I can’t see him at all but I feel the energy start draining out of me right away as he turns on the machine.
“In extreme circumstances, you may reach a point when your Raw energy becomes depleted.” He says after a little while as the warmth drains steadily out of my body. I push it down, trying to control the flow but it is like trying to catch water with a sieve. Panic rises in me when I realize that I can’t control it. My muscles all tense so hard that if it weren’t for the rubber in my mouth, I would probably have cracked a few teeth. I feel cold.
“In such a case, by drawing on all your discipline, it is possible to access the reserves of Vital energy stored in your cells, it is how the great general Akheal summoned his last energy to disrupt Maxillia's core and end the Twenty-Cycle War.” He says with aplomb and turns the machine all the way up. The energy streams out of my body even faster. The gurney is now slick with sweat and I can’t catch my breath.
Then, James is inside my head. I can feel the cool tendrils of his mind coiling around my impulses and my body relaxes without my permission.
“I can show you how, but you must only use it as a last resort. Know that if you overdo it you will end up drawing off your Vital energy barrier and lose the ability to store energy completely."
* * *
Deep inside me, I see only a few small bright spots, the dregs of my power. I have never been so close to reaching my limit. Even James’ machine couldn’t drain me so low, and that was not a good day.
What can I do?
The strangers have slowed down I see, when my eyes refocus on my surroundings. There are three of them. The leading two are more than halfway across, and the silent watchers haven't awoken yet, but they are clearly not Telerans. They wear strange colors and show no discipline. If they were the rebels, the watchers would be picking them apart for frolicking the way they are. They must have pass tags, which means permission.
Teag told me about visitors once, that they are a nuisance, unschooled in Teleran ways, and often cause more trouble than they know. "A Royal folly, bound to end in violence," he'd said. The memory brings a smirk to my lips, and then everything becomes clear.
Korus slips under the horizon, caressing the hills with scarlet. Lemus is close behind. All my fear slips away, my heart steadies, my breathing slows. I know what I can do, what I have to do.
I can die.
I close my eyes and stabilize my flickering energy, and glorious warmth floods my body. It feels so good.
A familiar serenity settles over me, training, conditioning. It is more important to function than to feel. If I can provoke a confrontation... In my current state, one shot may be just enough to end it.
Concentrating, drawing on all the discipline James instilled in me, the clarity Chrys helped me refine, those few bright spots come together, bolstering one another, growing gently, swelling larger as I draw a little Vital energy in. Not too much, just enough.
Lemus is starting to go down. The hunters will catch up to me in a very short time. I can sense them clearly now, soon even these visitors must hear the dogs. They are more than halfway to me.
The visitors are all men. The two in front are younger, adolescents. Reaching out with my senses, I feel their Raw energy. Manorian. Surprisingly even that, is not enough to rekindle my fear. The third has an unusual energy signature. It is so weak I can barely make it out. And yet they show him deference, I think as they meet. I watch them, considering my target as they exchange something, speaking softly among themselves.
The one in red is the smallest. He looks in my direction. I am hidden in the shadow of the trees, and sitting very still. I don't think he sees me. He looks away again and I slip a little further into the gloom, just to be safe, as the older one, with the weak energy signature, moves off back towards their craft.
The wind shifts and I shiver. It is gusting through the trees now, coming from behind me and carrying the sound of baying, and fanning up sparks of fresh terror. Out of time.
I get into position as Lemus slips down behind the hills.
The Manorians start moving closer. The green one is ahead but won't be for long. He is larger than the red, and not as quick, but he seems a good deal stronger. He is the better choice for a target. My energy gathers and I feel another wave of delicious warmth. One perfect shot should do it...
A few hundred more paces to go. I focus, concentrating the energy in my right palm. It is almost hot enough to burn my skin.
One hundred and fifty paces. The red one retakes the lead.
A hundred and twenty paces. They have not seen me yet.
Ninety. The red one turns around, laughing, his black hair flying in the wind. My fireball is a little more than a span in diameter, hot and condensed, I puff it up just a little to make it look more impressive.
Seventy paces. One more deep breath. It won't do much harm but the insult should be enough.
Fifty. Now-
I fire.
The blast sails smoothly past the Red, he sees it, recognizes it and his laughter dies in his throat.
It hits, green on Green, and the big one goes down.
I step out from the shadows and take the stance of the first Form, and it's all I can do to keep my feet.
Okay, you get the picture, two viewpoints, Misty’s pic is the wind thingy, Logan has the tribal dragon.
As for this scene, Misty is at the end of her rope, attempting a suicide-by-cop thing over here. Logan is the one in red, obvs, Tom in green and Luke is the one with the weird energy signal. We got a glimpse of Misty’s past at the institution and a little insight into her fear of capture as well as a little info on the ‘energy’ that they keep using.
As always, hit the heart button or comment if you want more and if you know someone else who enjoys a good fantasy, please share.
Oh good, the energy thing was explained in this scene. Thanks I was wondering how that worked in "this world".
It's a great story and the multiple perspectives work for me without getting in the way of the story flow. I'm a reader, not a writer, with a slightly different perspective I think. If a storyline has a hook to get my attention and it flows naturally without shaking my interest, it's a good readers story! You've got it so far!