Souls of the Never: A Fantasy Scifi Romance Time Travel series, with Dragons, Elves and Faeries. (Tales of the Neverwar Series Book 1) (16 page)

32 – Sanctuary – The attack on B’ran

Derren had never been in B’ran’s quarters, but Laren had. During their time on the Island she had recounted the meeting she’d had with him, shortly after arriving on Sanctuary. How B’ran offered her a drink which must have been drugged, as the vague memory of him forcing himself upon her sickened her.

She had been seven years old at the time. Old enough to know what had happened was wrong, but young enough so B’ran was able to ridicule her story, painting her out as a misguided child with a vivid imagination.

Laren attempted suicide a dozen times over the years before she met Toshi. What started out with him being her protector and counsellor had grown into mutual love between them.

So as she stepped through into a room which had been a place in her nightmares for years, she shuddered. Then Katheryne was there beside her, and she felt the strength renew within her, and her confidence return as this presence which was Katheryne linked with her and bolstered her spirit.

Derren was there along with Chran, whose skin was bright green, a sure sign of his eager anticipation. As Laren closed the portal she looked around the room, the entranceway to B’ran’s quarters. It was empty, but music could be heard playing from an open doorway ahead.

Derren took the lead and advanced toward the sound. A quick glance around the frame and he looked back, two fingers indicating two people in the room. The rest of them closed up towards the doorway, but Katheryne put her hand on Derren’s arm.

There was something...wrong. As she extended her senses into the room and saw B’ran for the first time, there was an aura of….staleness, surrounding him. He was definitely alive but it was like he was preserved, not fresh somehow. Then as Katheryne tasted his thoughts, the truth and the revulsion it caused within her made her withdraw, disgusted.

He was using the energies of the young Liberi to extend his life, siphoning off their life force a trickle at a time to inflate his own. He should have died years ago.

Derren saw her sickened expression but Katheryne signalled she was fine, so they approached the doorway and Derren flew inwards.

The other person in the room was one of the traitors, a Liberi called Rhen, from the planet Oaxa. He was large and reptilian with claws at the end of his long fingers. Derren had known him for years and although they weren’t as close as Toshi or Laren, they had spent many a night drinking each other’s health.

His betrayal had hit Derren hard, but not as hard as he hit Rhen now. Derren knew he needed to take the reptilian out fast using maximum force and violence, lest Rhen be allowed to use his superior strength and size to its best effect.

Derren’s attack knocked Rhen off balance but he was already recovering, so Derren launched into a fluid sequence of attacks, blows so fast they couldn’t be seen by a normal eye.

Katheryne was no longer normal, however, so she watched as over a hundred punches and kicks landed on Rhen in under a second. The effect was devastating. Ren’s body convulsed so fast his internal organs battered his insides, the thick bones of his ribcage shattering and piercing his lungs, and with each successive assault blood flew from them, out of his mouth and nose. In another second Ren lay dying on the floor with Derren in tears standing over him.

Katheryne crossed to him and laid her hand on his shoulder as she poured her love and support into him, in an attempt to relieve his guilt. She was gratified when he turned and gave her a brief smile. A crash interrupted their thoughts.

B’ran tried to raise the alarm but Laren intercepted him and threw him against a wall, shattering a picture frame with his head. As Derren and Katheryne turned she screamed in fury and attacked.

Laren lashed out with her foot, connecting with B’ran’s large stomach. They heard the air empty from his lungs as he flew across the room. They stood back. They knew what had happened here so many years ago. Laren needed to vent her anger.

“Remember me B’ran?” she hissed between clenched teeth as she hauled him up and head-butted him, breaking his nose into a bloody hole above his mouth.

B’ran screamed in pain, but his voice was silenced by fear as he recognised the grown up seven year old face, grimacing two inches from his own.

“Yes, you do, and I’m glad,” she whispered. “There won’t be any drugs to blunt the pain I’m about to cause you.”

She grabbed him between the legs and B’ran squealed like a pig as she sank her fingers in and squeezed as hard as she could. His face grew red as he gasped for breath, but Laren simply held on and smiled.

“Please,” he whimpered, “please stop.”

Laren released him just long enough for a look of relief to show on his face, before she reached down and grabbed one of his hands, twisting it effortlessly to break his arm so badly the bone protruded from his skin.

He screamed in agony and horror as she continued her assault, breaking the fingers on his other hand, punching him so hard and so many time that his face was reduced to a toothless bloody mess, but all the time careful to limit any damage which would prevent his interrogation. It was torture, pure and simple, but she had lived with torture ever since this thing had robbed her of her innocence.

Finally she stood back, breathing heavily, her eyes red with anger and tears. B’ran cowered in a ball at her feet and as she lowered her head to his ear, he tried to turn away. “I’m not finished yet,” she whispered and B’ran cried out in terror and agony as she ripped his ear off.

Laren stood back, spitting as she wiped the blood from her mouth. The others looked at her with varying expressions. Derren’s was one of staunch approval, and Chran’s skin shone with a maroon tint as he conveyed his pride in her.

But Katheryne looked on in horror at the broken creature before her. Derren had just killed Ren, but that was nothing compared to the violence she watched Laren inflict on another being.

Then she remembered back to a couple of days ago, to when she almost killed the beast. She recalled now how much she enjoyed it at the time.

As she looked into Laren’s soul, Katheryne realised none of this was about enjoyment or satisfaction for her. She needed to do it, for if she didn’t, she would have to live with the demons of his assault for the rest of her life.

She looked across into Laren’s eyes and nodded her acceptance. She felt Laren relax. Katheryne’s approval was important to her, much more so than the others.

Katheryne laughed inwardly. If she’d been so inclined, she might be happy about the disciples she was gathering. As it was, she was glad she’d gained another close friend and a moment passed between them as if to confirm it.

The peace was broken when Derren walked across and lifted B’ran into a chair, where he slumped, groaning in pain. Derren pulled another over and turned it around sitting backwards across it looking directly at B’ran.

“So,” said Derren, grinning his crooked smile, “where were we?”

B’ran sat bleeding but defiant, as if the appearance of Derren had given him a sudden boost of hatred.

“You are all going to die,” he gasped, wincing as the effort of speaking caused fresh waves of pain to flow through him.

“Hmm.” Derren was still smiling, “You first I reckon, B’ran. In fact, I’m sure Laren there will be only too happy to assist, though you may not enjoy the experience as much as we all will.”

Laren leaned in, licking her lips. The blood from his ear was still on her face and her cruel grin wiped any defiance from him.

“What do you want?” he squeaked, trembling. “You’re going to kill me, I know that, but tell me what you want.” He looked over at Laren with terror in his eyes, a fleeting glance, as if any more would provoke another attack. “Just keep her away from me.”

Laren chuckled, increasing his discomfort.

“Now…what do I want?” Derren asked rhetorically. “You, dead, but you already know that. So I suppose I’ll have to ask some hard questions B’ran.”

The grin continued to bore into B’ran and he wilted, any attempt at resistance gone.

“You can start by answering the question I asked you from my cell,” Derren said. “Why? Why did you betray your own people, people who trusted you and your friends to protect them? You have everything. Position, power.” Derren looked around at the luxurious surroundings. “You have all this so tell me, why?”

B’ran shifted in his seat before realising how painful that was.

“This was never enough,” he said with bitterness in his voice, “This is...was...a stepping stone to more. You have no idea how much power is out there for the taking.” His face had a vacant look as he imagined what he would never have.

“The master would have rewarded me with much,” he cried, “I have done so many things to assist his return, and he would have gifted me with power unimaginable.” B’ran was wandering now, madness seeming to take him as he started to ramble.

Katheryne stood beside Derren, and he sensed her essence even without physical contact. He realised her attention was directed towards B’ran.

She placed her hand on Derren’s shoulder, using his knowledge of this man she had never met to search out the chinks in the armour he might have erected against a lesser attack.

His defence was swept aside effortlessly as Katheryne emptied his mind, taking all his knowledge, all the plans and plots and deeds he had done in Tenybris’s name, and instantly she knew. And with the knowing came the revulsion and disgust as the one act of utter evil came to the fore of his mind.

Derren felt a shudder ripple through her as the hand on his shoulder tightened to the point of pain.

He reached out with his own awareness, seeming to stand above his own body and perceived a torrent of conflict as his soul mate stood at the centre of a storm.

Two beings battled in the confusion, identical in all respects except for their ultimate goals. In one aspect Katheryne restrained her rage to allow B’ran to exist, knowing what he had done. Derren still didn’t know what this was.

The other one, however, terrified him. It was still Katheryne, but she was frightening in her aspect and determination to destroy. As it dawned on him the target of her rage was not only B’ran but something else unknown to him, he knew he had to act. For if the chaos inside the other being triumphed, the Katheryne he knew would be lost forever; he couldn’t let that happen.

He summoned what power he had, so insignificant when compared to hers. The love at his core, the pool of hurt he would become if she was lost, called out to her. She answered, gladly, and Derren sensed her relief as the madness faded from her features and she looked at B’ran in disgust.

That even B’ran’s mind refused to rebel against what had been done, was proof of the depth of depravity to which he had fallen. She desperately wanted to reach out with her mind and burn his brain, slowly as it stewed in its own fluid.

But she had travelled the path of madness and rage, so she withdrew, using the love provided by Derren to force the monster which threatened to consume her back into its cage. It would be there when she needed it, but for now she had to try and deal with the revelation she had discovered.

“They killed her,” Katheryne breathed and she stood, fists clenched so tight her nails bit into her palms. Derren sensed her fury hiding beneath the veneer she was being forced to maintain.

He embraced her, and she fell weeping into his arms.

“They gave my mother’s soul to Tenybris, Derren,” she whispered, “They reached back through time and offered her up to him.”

Derren rounded on his old teacher. What he felt now was beyond hate. He wanted to end him but couldn’t. There was more they needed to know, but Derren vowed that every moment of his remaining life would be utterly miserable. And he would not die easily. Derren would see to that.

Then he looked at his lover’s face and saw the dread in her eyes, the tragic certainty of what she had to do. He realised the truth and his heart turned to ice. The fate of untold realities rested in the decisions about to take place in the next few minutes. They met each other’s gaze with despair etched onto both faces; they knew there was only one choice.

Katheryne had to go back. Go back and correct the aberration in time before the universe was utterly destroyed. She had to erase the last two years of their lives to prevent Tenybris using her mother’s spirit to free him from his prison to begin his conquest again.

And if Sanctuary was lost to them with Tenybris’s followers in charge, any hope of organised resistance would be denied to them. They would be utterly defeated.

None of this mattered, however, as they saw the anguish in the other’s eyes. It had taken so long, the pain of disappointment and loneliness as Derren searched for her had ended. Finally they were together, joined at last body and soul as one. But now Katheryne had to wipe it all away, everything they had shared and felt and experienced over the last few fleeting days. Days that had lasted an eternity, all of it would be gone.

33 – Sanctuary – Hearts broken

Derren ran his hand along the curve of her back. He knew she was ticklish, but the sounds she made weren’t laughter. He delighted in it anyway, as if anything escaping her lips was music to his soul.

Katheryne rolled over to face him and she put her hand up to touch the side of his face, drawing him down to her lips, needing him to kiss her.

Heat exploded as they touched, neither seeming to tire of the other’s embrace, the contact of their bodies, physical and spiritual.

Their first physical coupling had been…intense. The experience in the dream had been the height of rapture, but it was cast into insignificance by the sensation of feeling Katheryne move against him. They had provoked reactions in each other which had driven them to the edge of madness and lust, drawing back only when both were finally spent.

Now the passion reignited, Katheryne’s hunger matched by his own, her need for him overwhelming, as her mouth parted and she invited his tongue to explore her.

Their breath became the others as they tasted each and every sensation their souls offered. It was exquisite, perfect. What they shared made creation pale into inconsequence.

The hollow in Katheryne’s dream, the same one they were both entwined in now had been the catalyst for the passion, the helpless embrace they were in, and they needed to milk every instant, for both of them felt the disaster ahead.

For now it didn’t matter. They soaked each other up. Every emotion, every feeling and memory they shared as if they too had experienced it.

The thoughts of each other were vague, in fact they didn’t matter. Thought was irrelevant as desire took over, driving concern for anything else away. Katheryne responded as Derren caressed her, her pleasure resounding throughout him, feeding back into her in a loop of never ending ecstasy.

She writhed and bucked beneath him, gasping and calling his name over and over.

And then he was beneath her, her body a vision as she straddled him, loving him as she felt him inside her, fire exploding within them both, seemingly endless, but not enough to fulfil their needs; never enough for that.

In the end they lay, one soul in two bodies, together for an instant, but damned to be apart forever. Each tried uselessly to draw on a thread of hope they could be forever together.

That they could be here now, in each other’s arms, seemed to taunt them, somehow giving them hope they could be with each other for more than a moment.

Agony etched Derren’s face as he drew Katheryne mouth to his in a final passionate kiss. There might be another embrace before the goodbye, but this was their last sharing of souls and they mingled, merging in mutual union.

Katheryne’s eyes as they parted were devastated, as were his. Their hearts broke as they drew apart, needing but not wanting to accept what had to be.

As they stood and began to get dressed it was as if a wall was forming between them. They both knew it was necessary for their mutual sanity, for if they gave in and defied what they both had to do, then all creation would suffer an eternity in bondage and torment as Tenybris consumed the universe.

What they had discovered had been done was so profoundly shocking, so ultimately destructive that it must be prevented, and Katheryne was the only one capable of doing so.

B’ran had used the twisted being Dwenn’s power to break the cardinal rule which all Liberi were unable to.

They realised the rot throughout Sanctuary was unassailable. B’ran, though now dead at Derren’s hand, had confirmed the majority of the leadership had already been turned, and no action by them could prevent the others from succumbing within days.

Except for widespread executions there was no way to prevent the fall of this world, which was another force guiding Katheryne toward what she had to do.

As they walked towards the camp set up on the beach she realised she didn’t even know how she was to do it. None of the Liberi could describe the process of time travel because they were genetically incapable of even attempting it.

The memories that she had taken from B’ran were useless, because he had used Dwenn to carry out the atrocity. Dwenn was gone too, and thankfully Krista had survived intact. She was scarred deeply, but she was still here with her brother and Katheryne.

She thought of Perri now and how much she missed her. She should be here now, and she knew Krista would feel the same happiness.

There was something happening between the two of them. Katheryne wasn’t sure either of them knew it, but as Krista had broken when Dwenn’s trap almost killed them all, Perri had fallen for her. Her bravado about cute guys and her feigned shock at Krista’s sexuality had been an act, Katheryne knew now.

She supposed she should have been surprised. Perri had never given any indication of being attracted to anyone other than boys, and she knew what was emerging between her friend and Krista would probably surprise her as much as it did Katheryne.

But all she felt now was a reluctant acceptance, only reluctant because it didn’t matter. In a short while all this would be gone and who would ever know if the moment needed for Perri to fall for Krista would ever come about again.

Oh my god Katheryne thought. The block was gone now that Dwenn was dead. She could go get Perri.

But just as she had this thought she realised, what would be the point? She could bring her here for a few hours, only to wipe them from reality a short time later.

She felt so alone. She couldn’t reach out to Derren without risking the possibility of both of them rebelling against what had to happen.

She couldn’t bring Perri here to talk, if even for a moment.

And Krista was still so damaged, thinking she was so alone without realising there was another hope for her soul.

“Hurts doesn’t it?”

Katheryne jumped as she realised Chran had sneaked up on her. Sneaked may have been too strong a word, however. His people had developed a genetic ability to camouflage themselves over five hundred years ago. It came naturally to them now, enough so she could barely see him in the twilight under the jungle.

“Leaving someone behind I mean,” he continued in his deep low voice, “Someone you love.”

He sat there, dark as the jungle around him, but with his eyes twinkling in sadness.

“Who were they?” Katheryne asked as she sensed a kindred spirit.

Chran sat down beside her and she was shocked to discover she had been sitting here for so long.

Derren had walked to the far side of the fire to spend some time with his sister.

“My wife and daughter,” he said as his skin turned a shade of blue. “I watched as our home was burned by the dragons. I couldn’t lift a finger.”

Katheryne blanched in empathy as she felt his anger.

“It’s so cruel the way it happens to us you know. We only gain our power in death they say.” He sat, and bitterness flowed from him.

“The lucky ones don’t remember. Normally the Liberi travel when they’re young, too young to remember clearly what came before their arrival.”

“But some of us have lived a life beforehand, got married and had a family. I had both.”

Katheryne felt Chran’s pain. She felt it and needed to help him, but as she projected her power, he turned to her.

“Please...don’t. I need to remember. The hurt helps.” She withdrew, understanding his denial.

“You need to keep the memories for both of you Katheryne,” said Chran, now a shade of deep red. Slowly she began to understand the subtle change in shade as passion.

“You’re about to take away the last two years of everyone’s existence, and after it’s done there will only be one person left who will have the memories of what has happened. You, Katheryne will remember it all.”

“And if they had been mundane, ordinary experiences, well, that would have been fine. It will be unfortunate for some of course but unimportant to most. But you will retain the hurt and the pain the rest of us don’t remember, because we will have never experienced it.”

He grew intense now.

“Your memories are neither mundane nor ordinary Katheryne. They are vital,” he stressed. “Hold onto them because like my memories of my family, they matter. More to you than me perhaps, though mine are precious to me.”

“But with yours you can create a hope again. Perhaps even rediscover your love with Derren, even though he will be a different Derren from the one you know now.”

Katheryne heart convulsed at this. There would only ever be one Derren for her. Any other would be judged by his standard and she knew no matter how lofty they reigned they would be as nothing compared to him.

“I’m sorry,” said Chran. “Perhaps I should not have said anything.” He got up to leave, his skin a shade of dark blue again.

Katheryne was going to let him go without a word. But she turned to him and put her hand on his arm, and was shocked by how warm Chran’s skin was.

“Thank you,” she said, feeling bittersweet, “Thank you for opening my eyes.” She smiled warmly as she went on.

“I may curse you for it over the years, but I’ll never deny you told me the truth.”

Chran nodded, grief etched on his face as he walked away.

Katheryne sat and watched him, experiencing the same pain, and as she looked around she wondered if she would have the strength to do this. All these people sat around the fire with her were about to simply cease to exist.

She rose and began a slow walk down to the water’s edge, wondering at the reality of her dream made physical as the waves began to lap over her bare feet. Suddenly Derren was there beside her and as he took her hand she shivered and almost pulled it away.

But instead she turned and looked up again for what she knew would be the last time in this reality.

“I don’t want you to say goodbye,” he said. “There would be little point when only you will remember saying it.”

He stood looking down at her with that lopsided grin and her heart shattered into a billion pieces. Tears flowed freely and dropped to the sand below as she reached up to touch his cheek tenderly.

“I don’t want to lose you Derren,” she cried, “but I know I have to. Damn it, why does everything have to be so cruel.”

She began to feel bitter but Derren put a finger against her lips. He took her into his arms and she put her head into his chest. She could hear and feel the beat of his heart and time seemed to stand still.

“You will never lose me, my love,” he said tenderly, tears welling in his eyes also, “I will always be there in your heart as you have always been in mine. If the universe were to be destroyed a thousand times it wouldn’t matter, because what we have cannot be wiped away by something as trivial as time.”

“But what I’m about to do, to all of this” she beckoned to the island around them, “All of you will be gone forever.”

Derren smiled and shook his head.

“Not forever Katheryne…only for a little while,” he whispered, “One day we’ll meet again.” He cupped her head gently raising it so that he could look into the deep pools of emerald light that were her eyes, the eyes which had haunted his every waking moment for decades.

“There are a few things I’m certain of you know, and that we will meet again is one of them,” he promised, smiling. “Our souls will find the other part of itself across the gulf of the universe and they will know each other’s essence.” He raised the palm of his hand to cover her heart and Katheryne saw tears glisten in the moonlight as they flowed down his face.

“You just need to keep this half inside you safe and intact.” He glanced down to where his hand touched her, “So that when we do find each other again you can heal the fracture.”

He kissed her, each of them tasting the saltiness of the others tears on their lips and Katheryne knew Chran was wrong.

She was certain, totally without doubt now that whatever Derren she met would become hers again when their souls touched. For she knew that the love for him she held within her would be enough, because it was limitless and eternal.

And as her awareness drew outwards she looked down at the two bodies below and saw the energies flowing through them.

It was one constant aura of golden light which at once completely enveloped them before shifting to a shaft that passed through both hearts before intertwining their whole beings. And between the two bodies was the single soul that bound them together, unbreakable and irresistible.

She had dreaded this moment of parting for days and had done everything she could, made every excuse to delay it, but as Katheryne watched the scene below her she knew she was perceiving a constant in the universe. And she knew even as she soared upward, with Sanctuary now an insignificant pinprick of light below, she wasn’t leaving Derren. How could she leave something behind when she carried it inside her?

She stretched beyond, and the whole of the Never was below her now as if she was somehow detached from it. Her head struggled to comprehend what had just happened. Surely the Never was limitless she thought, but as she looked she could perceive a curvature stretching over the horizon.

She thought dimly back to a high school geography class where the subject had been infinity. Infinity, if she recalled correctly definitely did not have a curvature, of this she was certain.