Spacer Clans Adventure 3: Naero's Fury (39 page)

Naero couldn’t take it all any longer. He started screaming.

Womi flashed into another dimension.

Naero looked at and
felt herself. She gasped, still shaken. Thankfully, she seemed all back to being her normal self. Even her Cosmic disease and her Dark Beast were back to being the ominous threats that they were.

That wasn’t exactly comforting, but it was better than the disorienting madness of the
Opposite dimension.

She wondered if the contraries wou
ld even be able to deal with that place. There they’d probably make sense.

“I don’t think I ever want to go there again,” Naero said. “Where are we now?” Now that she had her act back together again, she looked around.

There was aether, but everything was suffused with light. The very air seemed to glow with particles of radiance. A shining aura lit both her and Womi.

“This is the Dimension of Light. It is a glorious place.”

They soared through towering, endless clouds of light, nebulae of brilliant stars. Floating, liquid-like seas and oceans of light awaited.

After Naero healed Womi there with her glowing hands, she felt like she didn’t want to leave. But Womi told her they had to.

Next, stop: The Dark Dimension.

Here everything was shades of darkness and the power of raw unlight. Vison seemed completely reversed. It was still possible to see somewhat, and sense things, but everything was shadows.

“I thought it would be evil,” Naero said. “Why doesn’t it feel evil?”

Womi laughed. “
Dark, Light–Black, White–Good and Evil. Such distinctions do exist everywhere, but not in the ways you think. Things are what you make of them. All things can exist in all dimensions. They are the myriad possibilities that do not come from a place–they come from sentient minds blessed or cursed with free will, depending on how you look at them.

“
You can still commit every evil act at the zenith of the realms of light. Just as you can still do all good things in the nadir of the realms of darkness.
And everything in between, Naero.
The choice is always yours. Only the planes of The Lifespark and the Darkforce are absolute–positive and negative realms. Life and Death. Existence and Non-Existence.”

“What are the Kahn-Dar?”

Womi grinned. “Whatever we wish to be, when we wish to be it. We are opportunists, yet we have our own rigid code of honor. We will devour each other if we can, but at the same time, we can also be incredibly loyal and loving. Haven’t you figured us out, yet?”

Naero covered her mouth with both hands. “Haisha,” she exclaimed. “You’re pure Chaos
–always as you are–as you choose to be.”

“That’s how we are always free.
Ready to go?”

“Surprise me.”

“I will.”

Naero shrieked.

They passed through a dimension that was all flame and fire. Thankfully, in their energy forms, they weren’t burning up.

“We’ll pass through the elemental energy planes and their borderlands. The Plane or Dimension of
Fire is actually where the borders of the dimensions of Heat and Air come together. Just as the Plane of Ice is the border between the dimensions of Cold and Water. There’s a Plane of lava between the planes of Earth and Heat. There’s even a Plane of Mud.”

Naero nodded. “Between Earth and Water–I think I see the pattern, Womi. All the elements
stand on their own and interact with each other at some point. Do I have to heal you in every one of them?”

“No. Just the primary nexes: earth, air, fire, and water.”

One by one, they did so. Each time, Womi regenerated a little more, regaining a bit more of himself.

They passed into the Dimension of Dreams and Possibilities, next to the
Spirit Realms, on the borders with Light and Darkness, and The Lifespark and The Darkforce.

“
All of the Spirit Realms can be perilous places, even more so than the other dimensions. Each realm has its dangers. All sentients have a complex spirit or soul. Our choices cause our spirits to be drawn either toward The Harmony, or the Darkforce, and thus send our souls on a journey toward one or the other.”

“Your people knew the G’lothc and served them for a time. Where are the G’lothc souls in the
Realm of the Dark Spirits?”

“So close to the border with the Darkforce that they are nearly indistinguishable. That would be a fearful place indeed. I have never been there, and have no wish to go
to it. Thankfully, we do not have to. And the Spirits of Light can be just as perilous, trust me. We will remain at the borders of each plane, long enough for you to heal me. That should be enough.”

Naero continued to heal her friend at each stop they made.

Next they reached the Galactic Nexes. Here, each galaxy in their universe was like an open window, waiting for the traveler to go through it. They spread on in every direction, as if from the center of a great sphere, layered on and on into infinity.

“Do not go that way,” Womi warned. “Unless you are an experienced
traveler, it is far too easy to lose your way, and never find your way back.”

Naero healed him
again. “There, is that it?”

“Yes, thank you, Naero. I am nearly complete again. There’s just one more place I want to show you.”

They appeared in a realm–of nothing.

It was stifling.
Petrifying.

“Womi. What is this awful place? I don’t like it.”

“This is an alternate dimension where the Darkforce has had its way and won–destroying everything–even itself in the end. Nothing remains. No possibilities whatsoever.”

“The Darkforce did all of this?”

“Not just the Darkforce. The Great Destroyer awoke in this dimension. The Great Destroyer is an entity that suffuses all existence in the power of the Darkforce, where all is annihilated, leaving nothing behind. The Cosmic Prophecies are real, Naero. It is possible for this devastation and oblivion to occur in every universe that has existed, does exist, and will exist.”

“I don’t want to see this anymore, Womi. Please, get us out of here.”

The next instant, they were back on board
The Shadow Fox
, in the medical bay.

Womi seemed almost completely healed. His range of motion back to normal. He flitted about in joy and popped around at will, obvious
ly pleased with his recovery.

“Now keep your word to us, Womi. Tell us where the Dakkur have established their new homeworlds in the Gamma Quadrant.”

“I will,” Womi said. “I can’t show you on a map, but I can take you there and show you. Once you get some bearings, I’m sure you can eventually figure it out, with all of your tek. Hold onto me again.”

Naero
checked suited up her togs again, and turned to her friends. “Gotta pop out one more time. Back shortly.”

With that they were gone.

Womi was huge once more, and Naero rode on his neck, just behind his head with her saddle and reins. They were flying through space, somewhere in the Gamma Quadrant.

Om, your getting all of this, right? Can I put you in charge of recording all of the
galactic navigational scans?

Doing so now. Will compute them all with the KDM once our
full scans are complete.

Thanks.

“Womi, can you give us even a rough idea where we are, here?

“Somewhere near the edge of your galaxy, in
an outermost spiral arm.”

“But you’re sure its in the Gamma Quadrant
, right? And yet–maps and star charts mean nothing to you?”

“My mind has trouble thinking in those ways. I see energies and locations, not the greater whole.”

Naero considered the possibilities. “Hmm…two spiral arms are at the edges of the Gamma Quadrant. The Sagittarius Arm, and the Scutum-Crux Arm. We have to be in one of those. It will take time, but we’ll figure it out.”

“The
new Dakkur Homeworlds are six in number.”

Womi showed her each system, flashing through the galaxy at will, gating over vast distances.

“Maggoth, Shokk, Kolothon, Xoggoth, Churrok-Kul, and Nakkra-Kron–each has been completely subjugated and taken over, with thriving, Dakkur breeding populations.”

Each of the Dakkur worlds was stretched out in a line, over great swaths of distance separating each one.

But in each location, the Dakkur and their Ejjai slaves brought havoc and destruction to all of their sentient neighbors, fighting six separate, interstellar wars, each within a diameter of several hundred light-years around every established Dakkur homeworld.

Naero gasped.

The enemy had invaded their galaxy at these far distant points, in a quadrant her people had yet to explore.

And from
what she saw…their enemies were winning and gaining strength, throughout all six of those areas of influence.

When they had seen enough, Womi took her back to her friends.

“You have kept your word to me,” Naero said. “I honor you for that. I suppose you’ll be going now, Womi, my friend?”

Womi made himself about her size, and whipped his tail through the air in excitement.

“Almost immediately, Naero. I have important things I must see to. Yes, we are friends, now. As strange a friendship as there has ever been. But I shall always be in your debt. I have your marker still. You can come to me any time, if you like. Perhaps I can help train you further in dimensional traveling.”

Naero smiled. “I’d like that. My people and I would
also like to remain on good terms with you and your people, Womi. Is that at all possible? We know who our enemies are now. Let’s work together.”

Womi shook his head. “I can only speak for myself, Naero. My people are not
at all communal. We can’t agree on anything very often, unless it is to swarm and feed–or mate. We only wish now to be free, and after this latest disaster, I doubt if the Dakkur will be able to persuade any of us to do their bidding, ever again. I will come visit you, when I feel like it. Do the same with me. Good fortune to you and your kind. If you intend to fight the Dakkur and these dark G’lothc spirits, then I think you will need that and much more. Try not to get killed, and please do something about that nasty Cosmic energy infection of yours.”

Naero grinned. “Death is to be avoided.”

Womi smiled. “It most certainly is. Farewell for now.”

The next instant, Womi vanished.

Naero was going to miss him.

Her right wrist felt naked without
the little blue dragon wrapped around it.

38

Naero attacked Baeven again, deflecting off the
heavily reinforced and shielded practice room walls and ceiling. They fought in a blur of speed and strength.

She attempted to sweep his legs.

Her leg rebounded painfully, as if Baeven were made of Ur-metal.

She countered with a spring
flip kick to his face to daze him.

She spun and flipped away.

Baeven just missed grabbing one of her ankles.

She grinned.
Not this time.

“
Hold,” he called out.

They had been sparring and practicing and trying out several techniques and combinations for almost three standard hours.

Both of them perspired and breathed hard.

Baeven had a bloody lip and one ear.

Naero had taken more damage than that, bruised and bleeding in several places that she strove to ignore and regenerate.

“
I’m still seeing a problem with developing your skills, Naero. You’re focusing too much on everything at once: speed, power, technique, strategy, precision.”

“
So, what do we do?”

“
Let’s go back to basics. Focus on developing one element at a time. You’re incredibly fast, Naero–just like your mother–and she was faster than anyone I ever knew.”

Since they were on a
breather, Naero rested her hands on her hips and looked around. She snatched up a lix pak and chugged it down.

“
So, what do I do?”

“
Stop worrying about all the rest of it. Focus on speed. Pour all of your focus and your energies into moving faster. Concentrate solely on that. That is how I increased my speed. Power and all the rest can come later.”

“
So, I become faster. But if my attacks don’t do any damage, then they won’t even matter?”

Baeven shook his head.
“You’ll never get it then. You can’t think about your progress that way. Like I said, don’t worry about anything else. Speed. Focus on speed. If you can keep me from striking you, that is a victory. If you can slip in and even touch me, without me hitting you, that counts as another victory for you–just for now.”

“
Okay. I trust you.”

“
Don’t go that far. I’m still your opponent. Give me your hands, Naero.”

She did so.
“What for?”

Baeven modified her Nytex gloves to where they glowed bright green.
He did the same thing to her feet, knees, and elbows.

“
There. Now if you can touch me, you’ll leave behind a glowing green nanomarker stain on contact to prove it. We can reset each time we go again.”

She grinned her fighting smile through her bloody nose and lips.

“Good. I don’t just fight with my hands.”

They squared of and sparred heavily for yet another hour.

At first she had the same problem penetrating Baeven’s formidable defenses.

She manage to slip in a few grazing touches.

But Baeven clobbered her good another time, not letting up on her at all. In fact, the fury of his attacks seemed to increase.

Then, slowly, within the last half hour things began to shift. First she began to evade his combinations with greater
and greater ease.

Then she slipped in under his guard and tapped him right on the nose. The glowing imprint of her fist gleaming right between his eyes.

By the time the hour had ended, Baeven struggled more and more to connect with her, and several of her glowing touches showed themselves bright on his body–half of them in vital areas.

Naero got so excited she giggled.

“It’s working. I’m really starting to get it. Thank you for showing me how to train this way, again.” She leaped up and hugged him.

“
You’re most welcome,” he said, always a little startled by her affectionate displays and outbursts.

Especially after the pounding he had just
administered.

“
Now…I want you to help me work on something, Naero. Something personal, that you alone know to be my own special weakness. Something that I desperately need help with, perhaps as equally difficult and definitely more dangerous.”

Naero gave him her puzzled look.

“Okay. I’ll try.” What was there that she could teach him?

Baeven almost looked embarrassed.

“Both of us know full well that our energies also feed and empower what you refer to as our Dark Beast, the Darkforce shadowthing that exists within us. This demon, beast, monster, or whatever you want to call it, is part of us and our imagination. Yet we know that it only yearns to break out and destroy everything in its path.”

Naero hung her head in shame and nodded.
“Yes. I have been the victim to my own Dark Beast as well, too many times it seems.”

“
Yes, killing Master Vane. That is why Khai is after you.”

Naero grimaced.

She didn’t have the heart to tell her uncle that killing Master Vane had been her fault alone. On that occasion, her Dark Beast had nothing to do with it.

“D
on’t torture yourself so much, Naero. I believe everything happens for a reason. At one point, Vane was convinced that I was I was the Great Destroyer, as well. The Chaos Master’s solution to everything was the same: kill it. If it might be a threat, destroy it.”

Naero had a sudden flash of insight.

“Vane was your master too. And like me, he tried to kill you.”

Baeven nodded.

Naero rested a hand on his strong arm.

Baeven placed his hand over hers.

“I know you did not want to kill him, Naero. And I know for a fact that he gave you no choice but to defend yourself. Everything that lives has that right. Even the Mystics cannot take that away from us–whatever they say. We are not obligated by any right, law, or duty to allow anyone to force us to stand by while they murder us.”

Naero bowed her head.
“Still, I wish with all my heart and soul that it had not happened–that his blood was not on my hands. I will always regret that.”

“
I guess that’s the difference between us, Naero. Because I wouldn’t have. Perhaps that is why I need your help and advice so badly. I’m more ruthless and brutal than you are. My life has twisted me in that direction. I know it.”

“
What can I do, Uncle? I don’t know how to help either of us.”

“
You’re doing it right now. You seem to be able to directly control your Dark Beast, as you call it. And you can do so, all on your own, it appears, without someone like Jia to constantly calm you down and block out the madness. Something I cannot do on my own…yet.”

Baeven paced away from her, throwing up his hands in frustration. “
Is it something I lack within? Is part of me truly evil or mad? Why did your artifact statue speak directly to you? It explained so much to you. I never got any of that information. Why not? I always felt that the artifact I merged with was trying to say something to me, but I could never hear it.”

Naero Shrugged.
“I don’t know, uncle. I could have never conversed with mine, had I not learned Kexxian from the KDM.”

Baeven’s eyes widened. “Perhaps that’s it. Tell me again, what your artifact told you about the three
ancient artifacts in general?”

Naero sighed. “The last of the three has yet to be found, on the lost world of Xanathar. Jan, Dan, Aunt Sleak, or one of her two daughters will somehow be destined to locate it, and become selected as the Champion of that artifact and its wisdom. The remaining artifact represents Order. Its tek is supposedly
almost pure Drian.” She licked her dry lips.

“Go on,” Baeven said.

“My artifact represented Change Wisdom. I am supposedly the Champion of Change–hopefully Enlightened Change. The tek of my artifact was almost pure Kexxian–a fitting match for the KDM.”

“So the tek of my artifact was based on that from the G’lothc?”

“Yes, you are supposedly the Chaos Champion–and that includes the Darkforce as well. Together, the three Champions of the Three Wisdoms control the power of The Harmony, the only power that can balance out the Destroying nature of the Darkforce. The so-called Great Destroyer is the embodiment of the Darkforce itself.”

Baeven waved his hands. “I don’t care about the Cosmic Prophecies right now. If your artifact spoke to you in Kexxian, then does that mean that I have to learn G’lothc in order to speak to
mine?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps. But where
are you going to learn G’lothc?

A vicious grin spread across Baeven’s face. It was more than a little unnerving. “Perhaps our friend Ullogk can tutor me.”

“The G’lothc spirit that tried to attack your mind? I thought you were going to destroy it?”

“There hasn’t been time. It’s still whimpering in the prison I constructed for the vile thing. I will see how cooperative it can be, given the right encouragement.”

“Be careful, Baeven. Don’t let it know anything we don’t want it to know. If the G’lothc were anything like the Dakkur, it’s possible that what one of them knows–all of them will know after a while. We don’t know how their minds work, or their souls. They’ve managed to survive even death somehow, and still remain a threat.”

“We’ll see. I’ll keep you updated on my progress with the thing
’s interrogation. I’ve broken its mind, so learning its language shouldn’t be too difficult, given time. Now, back to the present. I need you to teach me how to control my Dark Beast without Jia. It is vital that I learn that.”

Naero sighed. “I’m not
even completely sure how I control mine. And I can’t always do so. I completely lost it back on Janosha. I destroyed the enemy, there–but it was only a fluke that I didn’t annihilate everyone else on our side.”

“
But you didn’t,” Baeven said. “If it had been me, I couldn’t have stopped myself at all. That’s too big a risk.”

“
Om helped me, perhaps in some of the same ways Jia helps you. He found a way to cut me off from the Cosmic flows so that my Dark Beast could not feed on those energies. Of course, that was much easier once the planet was gone. He cut off my oxygen as well. As I grew weaker, so did my Dark Beast.”

Jia intruded on their discussion.

“Naero, I’ve been comparing data with Om. We’ve been meaning to tell you this for some time, but we waited until our analysis was complete. You did not vaporize the planet of Janosha.”

“
I didn’t? Then what happened to it? How could it just disappear? Planets just don’t do that.”

“
Not usually. Yet somehow this one did. It is not entirely impossible. Baeven has told you about Ur-Jahal, the homeworld of my people the Driathans. It is an entire planet that is cloaked and hidden, as if it has never existed. What few know is that even it’s location can be changed, if need be, in order to keep it safe. But doing so would require a vast amount of Cosmic energy, almost staggering beyond belief. Only the Kexx and Drians had the tek to even attempt such things. Not even the G’lothc could perform such a feat, for their energies were always devoted toward destruction and the subjugation of others.”

Naero sighed again and held up her hands.
“I remain stunned and confused by want happened, but at least it’s good to know that I wasn’t responsible for wiping out an entire planet and all of its lifeforms.”

First of all, the energy levels were all wrong, Naero. Analysis proves that you
simply could not have destroyed or transported an entire planet. Even the amazing energies you unleashed at that time could not have accomplished such a feat

Naero smiled.
“Well, then wherever Janosha is now, I hope it is safe and free.”

“
We cannot affect that either way. Back to the matter at hand,” Baeven said. “I would like to train with you, in whatever way we need to. We both need to learn to better control these Dark Beasts within us. I want to be able do so on my own, without depending so much on Jia. She can’t keep propping me up. She will need to take up her own body once again at some point, and serve her people as she was destined to.”

Naero shook her head
. “I can explain everything that I’ve figured out, but I need just as much help as you do, Baeven. But you’re right. We both need to find a way. We have to try, for the sake of everyone.”

“
I agree.”

“
Baeven, all of those years that you trained with the Mystics, didn’t they address stuff like this? What did they teach you?”

He nodded.
“The condition we share is unique and has not been encountered before we two. Advanced meditation, mental and psyonic discipline, deep personal introspection and therapy sessions have the potential to help. Yet none of that has worked for me; I’ve tried. Once in combat, with my life threatened, the bloodthirsty monster inside me ignores any attempt to control it, and puts forth all of his efforts to break free and assume total control. I have fought it all my life, and only Jia has been able to help me control it.”