Spacer Clans Adventure 2: Naero's Gambit (22 page)

Naero leaped forward, running and drawing her long gleaming battle blades.

She had fought the
akakoth and defeated them before.

But never three of the fierce beasts at once.

Iika caught up to her with ease.

“I
’ll distract and draw them off if I can. You must defend the young ones!”

She zipped away in a blur. Naero ran at top speed, but Iika shot away from her as if she were standing still.

Then Iika increased her speed until she became a streak.

She ran right up the back of one
akakoth, leaped off of its tossing head and flipped, kicking the next one in its sensitive eye and flinging its head back.

She hit the short grass running. The two monsters went mad, forgetting all else in their fury to get at her and drag her down.

The largest of the three akakoth still sped straight for the young ones.

Naero spun in with her heaviest kicks, swatting the monster to the ground. Wheeling as it smashed into the earth, her scything blades sliced deep, nearly taking off the head.

Yet even as it died, it thrashed violently. Naero had to fight it off to keep it from smashing into the young ones.

By then, several other brave adults raced in to scoop up the young and race back to the barrier.

Naero turned to escape herself, but spotted Iika and Bahan, racing back toward the barrier. Several dozen akakoth churning right behind them on their very heels.

As fast as
her friends were.

The distance was just too great, and they
slowed down.

Tua speed only held up so long.

Naero’s brave friends weren’t going to make it.

Iika reached out and took Bahan
’s hand. They kept running.

Time
dilated.

Naero knew very well th
ey were both about to die.

Without warn
ing, in sudden despair–Naero lost it.

The Dark Beast within her tore itself loose
without warning and broke free.

Naero
nearly blacked out, feeling as if someone else. Some thing else had control of her.

It did.

She swelled up in a cloud of heady energy and coruscating ribbons of dark and light, raw, unstable power.

She felt like an unstoppable giant, and laughed as one who had lost all reason.

In a flash she charged into the rampaging mass of akakoth. Clouds and gouts of dust and earth whirled in a tempest around them.

She slaughtered them with frightening ease.

She murdered them in whole batches, in waves, by the dozen, by the score.

Some she shredded to pieces. Many others exploded from within. Still others she blasted and reduced to ash, until the
akakoth shrieked in terror and fear such as they had never known, and died in bloody flashes, glowing shreds of them scattered on the high winds.

Iika and Bahan ran from her in terror.

Naero chortled with glee and even reached out to crush them.

Something smashed into her, knocking her head aside.

Hashiko, pulsing with Cosmic energy like a small star.

Naero laughed and slapped her out of the way with
the back of one hand.

Then Master Vane stood before her.

Glowing red tentacles of pure Chaos energy erupted from the ground itself. Ensnaring and holding her back for the moment.

She roared and struggled to break free.

Within she wrestled with her dark beast for control of her mind and body.

“So, the truth is
finally revealed. You are in fact, a monster,”
Vane said.
“I’m intrigued to study you. But perhaps we should put an end to this folly before you become even more of a threat. I foresee that only the Eye of Annihilation can put an end to your madness. The mightiest of all Chaos attacks!”

All of his other eyes closed.

The single, largest glowing red eye centered in his forehead pulsed with pure Chaos energy and Cosmic power, set to destroy her.

Then Naero heard it. Even in her madness and terror.

The Tua sang their song of greeting. The entire tribe surged forward.

Even the young and the kits.

Sha nii hah, ahluu-nii-haa, mah nah-hii, jah ah-loh, ah-dii!

They flung themselves onto her, unafraid, and continued singing their song of love
as they swept over her like a soft, undeniable wave.

Shae-lah vah hii nah, ellah vii shiinah, jahmii va
e sha-noh, Shae-lah vah Yah-vae!

Naero felt herself shrinking back down to her normal dimensions.

The Dark Beast within her relented, went dormant, and slumbered once more.

Only the love of the Tua and their songs calmed
her, returning her back to sanity. And gave her full control over herself once more.

Master Vane seemed shaken and uncertain by what had just transpired. He looked confused.

He strode forward twice as if he were about to act. Finally he stopped completely, drew his hood back over his head once more and turned away.

He even stopped using the voice.

“We will watch you even more closely now, Maeris. You were nigh to death this day. If you cannot learn to control this madness of yours, rest assured, you will be destroyed, for the sake of all.

Vane looked over at Hashiko where she lay groaning, just coming around. He glared at his appren
tice with great disappointment.

“Get up and regenerate already.
It can’t be that bad.”

Hashiko snarled and sneered at Naero in pure hatred, struggling to rise. Yet there was increased fear in her glance as well.

26

Master Vane came for her the very next day, right after she awoke.

Again, he did not use the voice.

“Get up. We must gauge where you are at now that you’ve obviously gotten past your block,” he said flatly. “I want you to show me everything. What you know. What you don’t. What you can do. What you cannot. Don’t hold back. Don’t try to lie to me.”

All of t
hat by itself took most of the day.

Master Vane transported them to a coastal desert by the sea.

“Now take us back to the caves,” he demanded.

Naero discovered
immediately that she could transport herself just fine, but not someone else along with her.

Next he motioned with one
glowing finger and tore open a huge gash in her right thigh without warning.

Naero
cried out, and dropped down, clutching her gushing wound and gritting her teeth.

“What the hell is this for?”

“Regenerate,” Vane commanded.

Naero focused on closing the wound and healing herself.
She stopped the bleeding and re-knit the tissues and blood vessels, but the effort left her spent.

“I
’m…going to pass out,” she stated.

Vane backhanded her, hurling her backwards, slamming her onto her back.

“Idiot. Tap into the planet’s flows. Don’t just use up your own reserves.”

Naero
laid there. Watching the sky spin above her.

“I
…can’t.”

He glared down at her.

Scary.

“W
hy the hell not, Maeris?”

“T
ried it…before. The rush of energy…Too much. I nearly exploded.”

For the first time Naero saw Master Vane blink in either surprise or confusion. Maybe even a little fear
.

“H
mmm…that would be an unmitigated disaster. We can’t have that now, can we? At least not until I could send you somewhere safe out in space, where you could detonate harmlessly.”

Naero sucked in air.
“It wouldn’t…be harmless…to me.”

Vane waved one hand absently.
“Pish, posh. Then we’d be rid of you at least. Yet yours is an increasingly intriguing case, Maeris. Unlike any I have ever seen. Even your uncle, and that is saying something. You are quite the freak of nature. Literally.”

Naero laughed weakly.
“So, I’m so unique that you won’t destroy me today?”

“
I wasn’t going to say that, but very well. Not today at least. But I’m still pretty sure that I’ll have to eliminate you at some point, Maeris. For right now, let’s practice tapping into Janosha’s cosmic flows without vaporizing yourself and half the continent.”

“Y
eah. That would be inconvenient.”

“
Of course. Not when I have things just the way I bloody want them. Now you’re thinking. So here’s how you do it. Let me show you by channeling through you. This is going to hurt–quite a lot by the way.”

Bastard. What else was new?

It took them three hours for her to just learn the basics of Cosmic linking, tapping, and channeling. Three agonizing hours, not the least of which was Vane’s relentless, insulting nature.

And at the end, he went right b
ack to testing her other various psyonic and Cosmic abilities without any further to do.

By late
afternoon, Naero neared the point of collapse once again.

“I
need…need to eat and drink something,” she stated at last. “I can’t keep going.”

As usual, Vane
grew a bit frustrated by her limitations.

“
What’s with you, Maeris? You have not trained your body to take in gradual small quantities of nutrients and liquid from your surroundings, maintaining an optimal equilibrium and dispensing with the time-wasting and annoying need to intake bio-mechanical fuel and void waste products?”

Naero glared at him.
“No! I must have missed the class on that, Master Vane. If you haven’t scanned the news blurts, I just got past my block. And I readily admit that I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. That’s why I’m here. For you to train me. But I’m sorry. Yes. I still need to eat, drink, rest, and void waste products.”

Yeah, she could void all right. All over Vane
’s glowing red noggin’.

“Unlike you and Hashiko, I still happen to be human.”

Vane smiled ear-to-ear. “We’ll just have to fix that, won’t we? Very well, don’t get all testy. Return to your cave and fuel up. Void all you want. Then get right back here. We still have lots of work to do.”

Naero bowed her head slightly, just as Hashiko did.
“Yes, High Master.”

She
returned within half a standard hour. Fueled up and ready to continue.

Master Vane
floated in the air, taking a nap.

He
suggested cutting off one of her limbs to see how fast she could regrow it.

Naero respectfully decline
d.

As far as psyonics went, she could imitate or use any skill or technique that she had been regularly exposed to, at varying levels of ability. Even Hashiko
’s sonic attack, used against her on a regular basis.

She could imitate such abilities, but they were still weaker and less
-effective.

By the end of the day, as the sun set
late, Master Vane paced along the shores of the Janoshan sea.

“Y
ou have a plethora of abilities and skills at your command, but they are all still pitiful and weak. You can’t focus your Chaos energies enough to help you use Cosmic energy. This is also key to your problems with tapping into Janosha’s Cosmic flows safely. It all goes hand-in-hand.”

“
Okay. So, what do I do?”

“Y
ou need to concentrate on controlling and focusing raw Chaos energy into something you can use. That’s the first thing.”

“H
ow do I do that?”

“I
’ll try to show you, but you’re usually pretty stupid.”

“T
ry me.”

“F
irst, watch what I do.” Master Vane produced a ten millimeter orb or pulsing red Chaos energy almost instantly.”

“I
summon the Chaos energy and control it. I can shape it into anything I want. With any function I want. In the end, it’s just an exercise. Once I can control the energy with my force of will and imagination, I can do anything with it. And thus, I no longer need the basic tool. I have expanded my mind and my mastery beyond the need for simple constructs, and I can merge my understanding of Chaos energy as a vital and integral part of the Cosmic whole. Thus Chaos energy is the key to fully mastering the ability to manipulate Cosmic energy, the Wisdom of being a Mystic all rolled up into one understanding.”

“U
h-huh,” Naero said. “So what do I…”

“D
on’t be stupid. Try to form something with Chaos energy. Something tiny at first. A pebble. A hair. A pin. Anything.”

Naero sat down, centered hersel
f, and steadied her breathing.

She focused on shaping cosmic energy in front of her.

A small red dot took shape.

She tried to stretch it into a wire or hair, to either side.

She instantly felt something escalate out of control.

The resulting blast blew a
small, fused crater into the sand, scorched her, and flung her out into the sea.

Master Vane shielded himself and waited for her to swim back.

He grinned at her. “Tricky, isn’t it?”

Naero wondered if she could kick him in the nuts.

Did the bastard even have any?

“S
hielding yourself comes later. First you have to master your ability to focus the Chaos energy into something stable and useful. If you can’t get the flows balanced just right…Bang!”

“Y
ou could have told me it could explode in my face.”

Vane chuckled.
“Must have slipped my mind. But hey, now you know. Let me try doing it through you and let you take over along the way.”

Even that seemed impossible.

Several long attempts and three more explosions later, it was well into the night. Clouds began to roll in. A storm came in from the sea.

The best
Naero could manage was a thin, glowing red hair or wire about thirty millimeters in length.

“U
tterly useless,” Vane said. “But, at least it’s a start. However pitiful. Well, that’s about all of your presence that I can stomach for one day, Maeris. Let’s go back. I’m sure Hashiko will be eager to train you tomorrow morning. Now that you can actually access some of your abilities.”

Naero swallowed hard.

With all of their focus on testing her and using Chaos energy.

She had forgotten all about Hashiko.

That night Khai congratulated her again, and told her not to worry.

Vane had been
a jerk, as usual, but Khai informed her that her progress was actually way better than average.

He continued to have breakthroughs of his own to build upon.

So much of Mystic abilities were simply cumulative and took time to fully comprehend and master them.

But on
ce Naero could do something, even to the least degree, with practice and discipline, she could get better at it.

She knew that much.

But that wouldn’t help her the next day.

And
morning came all too quickly.