Child of Time (55 page)

They turned at the sound of slow clapping.
“Impressive. Thirty to one odds.” The group looked around at what
could easily have been a hundred dead or dying drakken. “I suppose
if you want something done right you should do it yourself.” The
dark lord stepped out of his shade and stopped clapping. “You elves
really are getting on my nerves. It would do me good to kill a
few.”

Sapphire pulled an arrow and took careful aim. “You
aren't welcome on our world.” She let it fly straight at the dark
lord's head. A shadow formed in the path of the arrow. When the
arrow hit the shadow it turned to dust and settled harmlessly at
the dark lord's feet.

“Such clueless creatures. Wait.” Recognition dawned
on the drakken's face. “I fought you once before didn't I. You were
that life bender. Aren't you supposed to be laying waste to your
precious forest?”

“I freed her from your control.” Kiyan stepped
forward.

“And who might you be? Not that it matters, you will
all be dead shortly anyways.” The dark lord flexed his claws in
anticipation.

“I'm not an elf.” Kiyan swung his sword
expectantly.

“I'm not an elf either, that tells me little to
nothing.” Kiyan could see the drakken getting annoyed at the
exchange.

“I'm a human.” Kiyan let his words hang in the air as
he charged forward blazing with icy flames. The drakken raised a
barrier of shadows with a flick of his hand. Kiyan reached the
black shifting wall an instant later. A portal opened through the
wall when Kiyan slashed at it. Diving through the hole Kiyan rolled
back to his feet to find the dark lord holding a black sword of his
own.

“I hate humans. The only ones that might be out here
would be ascended.” The look that came over the dark lord's face
made Kiyan shudder. “I am going to destroy you piece by piece.
Kiyan leaped forward and swung his sword low. The dark lord blocked
the blow and responded with a counter attack. Kiyan parried the
counter attack and retreated a pace or two.

“What makes you sure you can kill me?” Kiyan circled
warily.

“Such ignorance. I am Corsav. I was chosen by the
dark one and given the power to bend dark energy.” Corsav shot a
lance of shadows from his free hand towards Kiyan. Kiyan met the
attack with his blade and deflected it but saw the pitted surface
of the sword after the attack. The dark energy appeared to simply
destroy matter when it made contact. Kiyan's ice flames absorbed
energy but this was the opposite of energy so they had no effect.
Kiyan shot a blast of ice fire back at the drakken. With speed that
surprised Kiyan, Corsav managed to block the attack with a wall or
shadows.

“All your bending is useless. Dark energy is
invincible. No bending school can stand against me.” Kiyan tested
the truth of Corsav's words with a virtual storm of bending
attacks. All of the elements simply seemed to melt when they
contacted the shadowy wall. Kiyan lastly released a blast of fire
on the wall. Sensing a draw on his energy and the wall giving way
slightly, Kiyan doubled the intensity of the flames. There was a
surge of energy as the wall failed and the energy blasted through
the flames. A wave of darkness flooded over Kiyan an instant later.
Kiyan felt the energy being ripped from his shields until he
blasted a pulse of fire at the darkness. The shadows disappeared
under the flood of energy and Kiyan saw Corsav smoldering in front
of him. Only a blackened red mark on a cheek and Corsav's blackened
clothes told of the fire he had been engulfed in.

“When my new fleet gets here with its mechanical
crew, I'm going to destroy your planet.” Corsav unleashed blast
after blast of shadowy energy. Kiyan dodged what he could and
neutralized the rest with his own blasts of fire. The shadows began
coming at Kiyan from all sides requiring every skill he had to keep
from being overwhelmed. Suddenly the strikes stopped leaving Kiyan
panting for breath. Looking to see what had bought him relief Kiyan
saw Kendra blasting the dark lord with waves of brilliant white
light. It looked like Kendra was just using blasts of light but
Kiyan could sense the energy being channeled through her attacks.
It only took a second for Kiyan to catch his breath and he burnt
his way to Kendra's side.

“He is using dark energy. It cancels the energy in
matter making it extremely dangerous.” Kendra released a beam of
light at the figure that was wreathed in shadows when he moved too
close. It has to be neutralized with equal amounts of energy. Kiyan
realized that his fire attacks had been most effective because they
required the most amount of energy to bend. The strangely eroded
landscape attested to the canceling effect that the dark energy had
on matter.

“Why isn't it destroying him?” Kiyan reacted to a
wave of black that erupted towards them. He channeled as much
energy as he could into a fire blast. He felt the energy heat the
air to its plasma state and become a superconductor. A bright flash
of light dispelled the dark wave ahead of them and the air shivered
from the thunderclap.

“Its only being channeled through him. It’s not
coming from our universe.” Kendra watched the seething shadows wash
past them and sink into the corroded sand.

“Two of the betrayers fight me.” The voice was more
emotion and energy than it was spoken. It was not the same voice
that the drakken had been using heretofore. “Your sacrifice will
not save your universe or even this pathetic world. The drakken
couldn't be seen through the billowing shadows as the powerful
presence took complete control.

“You were banished from all light universes.” Kendra
was practically glowing with rage. In response to her words a dense
shadowy hand reached towards the fighters. Kendra channeled a pulse
of light that dimmed the sun and ravaged the approaching arm. Kiyan
made another test of his newfound ability to manipulate lightning
and joined his energy with Kendra's attack. Their combined strength
shredded the attack leaving only a few wisps that seemed to die
under the sunlight when they lost contact with their source.

Kiyan had felt a strange mind when he struck at the
shadows. It was warped beyond comprehension. Keenly intelligent but
primarily driven by the basest of instincts. A deep hunger and
burning hatred raged in the mind he felt for an instant. The
fragment of the memory made Kiyan shudder as he thought about it.
He had felt for an instant the mind of the dark one and it
terrified him. He sensed vast stores of dark energy beyond anything
he could comprehend being marshaled at the dark one's will. A
feeling of hopelessness washed over him making his knees week until
he sensed Kendra's thoughts. Having a reference made Kiyan realize
that his sudden fear wasn't his at all but was being projected by
the dark one.

“We can't defeat him unless.....” Kiyan recalled the
immense energy he had sensed. “We have to close the connection. The
drakken must die.”

“Easier said than done.” Kendra charged up another
attack and held the glowing orb of energy for a second. “You are
right, there is only so much energy that can be channeled through
the dark lord at any one time. If we destroy the drakken the
conduit will be closed.” Kendra released the orb of light. It
streaked forward and penetrated into the building shadows before
exploding in a blinding flash of light. Kiyan felt the drakken at
the center of the dark maelstrom more than he saw it. The dark lord
was standing in the middle radiating massive amounts of dark
energy. Kendra didn't waste time telling Kiyan that they needed to
act soon or there would be too much dark energy here for either of
them to fight. Kendra sent the thought as she began sending orb
after orb into the expanding clouds. Each blast made them collapse
a little but it only slowed the advance.

Kiyan sucked energy out of the air and used it to
supplement his attacks. Flashes from Kendra's orbs and the
thunderclaps from Kiyan's lightning bolts were enough to make blind
and deaf anyone as close as the drakken but he seemed to only be
getting stronger. The black shadows towered above them as the dark
one poured dark energy through his connection to the dark lord.
They only had a moment of warning before the clouds collapsed on
themselves and flooded towards the two ascended. Kiyan closed his
eyes and braced for the racing blast but opened them an instant
later when he felt Kendra's energy boil around him. He saw Kendra
standing next to him in a circle of light. Pure energy poured out
of her outstretched hands feeding a shield that held the darkness
at bay. The pained look on her face told Kiyan that she couldn't
hold out for long against the forces that assailed her. Kiyan drew
deeply on his energy reserves and threw out his arms as the energy
flowed. A wave of white hot energy blasted away from him and bolts
of lightning shredded the darkness that was crushing Kendra's
shield. Kiyan struggled to breathe when he finished the attack. It
had taken more than he had anticipated to drive the shadows back.
His stomach sank when he noticed that for all the effort he had
only managed to clear a narrow margin around themselves.

“If only there were more of us.” Kiyan forced the
words between gasps for breath.

“If we are meant to die this day then do not wish you
had more allies to accompany you.” Kiyan looked at Kendra when he
heard the words. She was hardly able to maintain her human form and
looked about to come apart at the seams. In that look he saw and
felt her unguarded emotions and memories. Intense grief for him was
the strongest emotion. She felt their death in the shadows that
choked the light around them. She mourned that he had not lived
enough. She felt powerless having failed to protect him. For not
having been there when he had needed her when he grew up. Under it
all was cutting sense of failure tore at her heart. Pride mixed
with guilt and love for her son streaked the raw emotions. In that
instant Kiyan understood volumes more about the woman he knew as
his mother but hardly knew as a person.

Deep inside him energy reserves Kiyan didn't know he
had burst and he blurred into action. The earth shook with the
force of the thunder bolts he hurled at the encroaching darkness.
Hope flickered in his heart as he earned ground inch by inch. But
oh at what a price. Kendra was battling alongside Kiyan but he felt
her wavering like an inferno about to consume the last of its fuel.
On all sides the dark retreated as if burnt by the power being
unleashed. Above a dark dome refused even a glimmer of the sun but
stretched thin.

“Stop or she dies!” Kiyan instantly knew who was mean
even before he saw Sapphire crashing through the shadows and land
on the cracked earth. Black cords bound her and squeezed the life
out of the elf. The shock was enough to cause Kiyan to falter for a
split second but that was all the dark one needed.

“NOOOOO!” Kiyan heard Sapphire scream as the dome
collapsed on them claiming every inch that they had won. Kendra
tried to throw up another shield but she was too far gone and the
force was too strong. She flickered for a moment before dissolving
in a flash as bright as a sun. The pocket left only took a moment
to reclaim as Kiyan tried to understand what had happened. Kendra
was gone. The void left made Kiyan realize how close she had been
to his mind. Rage replaced confusion and protected him for a moment
with its sudden influx of energy. The moment was short as his
shields collapsed and Kiyan felt the dark energy dissolving his
body like some nightmarish acid. Kiyan didn't fear death but his
mind flashed scenes before his inner eye as the agony consumed him.
He saw Terra weeping. He saw Riftor dead. Sapphire's skeleton was
all that remained of her now. He could see that like he stood
beside her bones. Nothing remained of Kendra. He saw every world in
his universe consumed with the hunger that was feeding on him now.
He saw the portal open and a fleet of new drakken ships enter the
universe. There was no one to meet them but they turned and slipped
into a warp frame of their own accord. The thought presented itself
to his mind.
The mechanical crew survived the portal. They can
build a crew like they built their fleets.

“NO!” The single word was all that Kiyan was able to
say before things began to shift. The shadows leaped back as energy
began to surge through Kiyan's body. The cringing shadows turned
red and faded. Kiyan felt the time displacement energy surge
through his body repairing all damage and filling his empty
reserves. The energy burned but Kiyan didn't care. He could become
colder than the abyss so why fear fire. Instead of trying to put
out the fire Kiyan let it burn through him. He felt Luke trying to
control the time slip and find a time when Sapphire lived. His eyes
were closed when he felt space return. He didn't need to open them
to see the drakken staggering back like someone had thrown scalding
water on his face. Kiyan could sense all the energy around him for
miles in every direction. There was a disturbance in the flow of
energy and he saw Kendra's energy form appear behind the drakken.
The memory of her death flickered to the surface for an instant
until Kiyan knew he was back at the start of the fight. He opened
his eyes and saw a slowly moving splash of darkness flying at his
face.

Kiyan effortlessly brushed the simple attack aside
feeling only the faintest tug against the star that burned inside
of him. Kiyan raised an arm and let the energy flood from him in a
torrent. Brilliant flashes slammed into the retreating drakken
sending him flying into a sand dune. Dark shadows leaked from a
dozen injuries.
He must not reach full power
. Kiyan sensed
the thought and recognized it as his. The drakken began radiating
darkness like a black sun.
It must not happen again, kill the
vessel.
Kiyan again sensed his own thoughts but also those of
every one of his ancestors. Without asking he knew that they had
seen the vision of the lost future and commanded him to stop it.
His momentary existence suspended in pure temporal energy connected
him with his ancestors strongly. Their will was his as he raised
his arm again for another attack. A wave of darkness rolled towards
Kiyan as he blasted the pure light at the drakken. Kiyan didn't
even bother trying to defend himself. The wave parted and fell back
from him like a gnat that has touched a hot light bulb.