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  Julieth looked out a window at Solaris. A massive fissure cut into the planet. “Time is a luxury we have none of.”

  “Assisting Ineal in making this weapon may be our only choice,” Ivanus spoke.

  “It would not be large enough even if he were able to create one or a few of them. We need another solution.” Julieth massaged her temples. Her head throbbed and streaks of light moved through her vision. Pain spiked in the back of her skull. “I need to lie down. I need rest.” Darkness swelled in on her sight. She walked to a nearby chair and sat with Ivanus’ help. As she sat, darkness consumed her. She was completely unaware of the world.

  Chapter 7

  Blackness. The world had never been so black.

  Was this a dream?

  But it feels so real… Julieth’s mind was in awe of the dark. Something was reaching out for her. Where had she been? Why was she here? I was on the ship, she realized. Everything was going dark. I must be unconscious. She felt dozens of things reaching for her, weaving their tendrils through her mind. The essences. She fought them but knew they would soon break in and overcome her. Then, suddenly, they left.

  Go. Leave her now.

  It was the voice of the good essence bonding with her, the one who had kept the others at bay for so long.

  Julieth, the voice called to her. I have been listening. I have a plan for destroying the essences… all of us, but it will cost much. It will cost everything.

  What is your plan, spirit? How do I know I can trust you?

  Do you have a choice? Have I steered you wrong yet?

  You have been true to your word to help me and I have no other options to stop them from devouring my planet.

  The one called Ineal says that the heat of a sun can kill us. I remember that day long ago when Ineal used these weapons he speaks of against my kind. There are thousands of essences, far too many to destroy with guns. But the heat of a sun… that is the key.

  But how else other than weapons?

  Go to the essences. Go to Solaris’ core. I will sing a song that will call to them. They will flock to you to consume you but when they bond with you I will lock them in your form.

  All of them? That is madness.

  It may cause you to go mad and destroy you… but if it does not then we have a chance. If this ship can get you close enough to one of Solaris’ suns then you can fly into it and kill us all. You will die. We will all die. That is the cost. How much is saving your planet and all of the planets after Solaris worth?

  Julieth did not answer. There had to be another way. But if there was another path then it eluded her. Why are you helping me?

  Again you question my intentions. I watched the essences kill my mortals and my planet to make me one of them. My world was populated with good souls. I refuse to join the other essences. They need to be stopped even if it means I too must die.

  It sounds like you and I are very alike. Chill moved over her. If this is the only way then it must be. Thank you greatly for everything that you are and for saving my planet.

  Do not thank me until we are dead. There is such pain before us. I will release your mind now so that you will awaken. Act quickly. Solaris’ soul can only last but so long before succumbing to their desires.

  Julieth felt the voice release her mind. All had been black but now she felt a great void of nothing everywhere around her. What will happen when I die? Will this be what it feels like? Will I exist at all? Her mind folded in on itself, destroying the temporal plane. There was no more nothing.

  The light of the world was coming for her.

  Chapter 8

  Light sheared into her vision, blinding light, causing Julieth to flinch and cover her eyes.

  It was not a gradual awakening but instead a jolt. The essence she had spoken with knew there was little time to waste.

  “We need to move now,” she spoke rapidly, looking up to see Riad, Ineal and Ivanus talking nearby. The medics had all gone.

  “Julieth!” Ivanus rushed to her side. “You fell asleep. You were so…”

  “I know how to stop them, to destroy the essences.”

  Ivanus’ eyes were leery. “How? Did it come to you in a dream?”

  Julieth couldn’t tell him. He wouldn’t approve… but she had to get him to listen to her. “It was the good essence bonding with me. If we go to Solaris’ core then it will call the others to me and it will encase them in my body. My body will contain them. Then we will need to get my body back to this ship.”

  Riad walked to her. “So that they can consume my people.” Anger raged through him. “No. There is another way to remove them from your planet or we will leave them there. I will not jeopardize my brethren.”

  “Brethren?” Julieth was astonished. “You are so far removed from them. And since when do you care for anyone other than yourself and your goals? Don’t you want revenge?”

  The gears in Riad’s eye whirred. “What will you do after they are a part of you? How will you contain them and remove them from the ship?”

  “The good essence assures me they can be contained within my body. I would ask that you lock me in a cell. Then we must go near one of Solaris’ suns. I will fly into the sun and kill them all.” Julieth’s hands shook as she braced them on her knees.

  “That is the plan?” Ivanus touched her hand. “To take the life of the woman I love? No. There must be another way.”

  “It is the best plan we have.” Riad’s voice was deep and steady. “We leave now and leave Ineal and Bayne here. We can teleport down and then back up once you have pulled the essences into yourself. I will bring a rocket booster so that I can catch you should you go unconscious once it is done.”

  “I beg you to reconsider,” Ivanus pled.

  Julieth could not look at him. It broke her heart to hear the man she loved plead for her life. “What is one life for the lives of many?”

  Chapter 9

  Solaris’ Core

  Heat. Dense, thrushing heat swarmed over the beasts as they huddled in darkness against the core’s cavern walls. Their hair moved in waves in the wind as thousands of essences attacked Solaris’ soul, its core. Veins of black bled over the molten core as the essences attempted to both consume it and turn it into one of their kind.

  Ragoor stood at the cavern lip, gravity pulling him toward the molten orb. He was in mortal form. “Death. What did we come here for but to die? We never had a chance of saving our planet, our home. Curse you!” he shouted at the essences. “Curse you and eternity!”

  Light flashed from behind him and he turned to look, dodging to the side in fear that it was another essence.

  Julieth, Riad and Ivanus solidified out of the nothingness of the air.

  “You have returned!” Ragoor ran to them.

  “There is no time.” Julieth placed a hand on his shoulder, expanding her wings behind her.

  -------

  Julieth’s heart raced as she took flight. The heat of the planet core bled moisture from her body. Her skin and lips were chapped. She flew toward the core, horrified and in awe of the mirage-like essences swarming there. What I do now will lead to my death, she thought. Either way, if I sacrifice myself so that the planet may live or if I die alongside Solaris, I will die. A cinder flicking off Solaris’ core hit her back and her feathers caught fire. She beat them quickly and put out the flames. As she neared the essence horde she was astonished to realize they were mentally trying to connect with her. She felt their tendrils reaching for their brethren locked in her flesh. “Come to me!” she shouted at them, holding her arms wide. “Consume me and free your kind!”

  The essences ignored her, still touching her with their mental tendrils, but not concerned enough to attempt to connect with and devour her soul.

  Help me, she pled to the good essence bonded to her.

  Julieth’s sight became a purple-green aurora, her body partially not her own as her mouth opened wide. From her lips came a soft, beautiful song. It pulsed and entwined in four par
t harmony. It was her voice and it was not. She could hear it and yet knew she was not singing. What a beautiful song the essence sang. The words were something foreign and ancient.

  The essences, all of them, turned to her in unison. She could see faces in them where she never could before. Their hateful eyes glared at her in hunger.

  They sped to her, flooding into her body, through her mouth, into her lungs and branding themselves into every stretch of her skin.

  Her purple-green sight flushed with burning red. Thousands of voices screamed in her mind for release, the dead souls of many worlds. She had no control. Her wings would not move. She fell into the orbit of Solaris’ core, sweeping quickly toward its molten lips.

  Thank you for your sacrifice, Solaris’ soul, the Earth Mother, sang in her mind above the screams.

  The core released a burst of gas, thrusting Julieth’s body away.

  Suddenly she was in Riad’s arms as he flew with the rocket-pack to catch her. All went dark. Her mind was being unraveled within her.

  Chapter 10

  Starship Expanse 1 – Julieth’s Mind

  Darkness. Burning pain. Hate-filled screams of thousands of souls imploded again and again, imprisoned within the structure of one mind.

  The mind observed; trapped, maddened by the invasion within. It was not aware of what it was, of its own existence. It searched every barrier of the consciousness to escape but found no release.

  A pulse.

  A voice in the distance.

  “Julieth…”

  What did it mean? Had it heard that word before?

  The mind yearned to be extinguished. It pled with the souls to release it… to destroy it, but there was no release.

  “Julieth…”

  Current suddenly bloomed through it, silencing the souls.

  The mind grasped for the current but it fled, opening way for the screams again, a wave washing back over it, her. I am a her, it suddenly realized. What does that mean?

  Current bloomed again, more vibrant this time. The release from the souls was greater than the last. She swam in the release, searching for a way out before being consumed again.

  I… I am Julieth, she realized. Ivanus, I am here, Ivanus! she screamed within herself.

  The bloom of light opened wide as it returned. Through it in the distance she saw his face. “Ivanus,” she spoke as a whisper. The hull of Starship Expanse 1 burst to clarity before her. The faces of her friends watched her through a glowing orange screen.

  Veins of electricity wove across the screen, an ever-changing web. Ivanus looked exhausted. “Julieth, you have been unconscious for days. I love you.”

  Riad’s cybernetic hand was on a lever close by. “You are behind one of the ship’s shields. We utilized electrocution technology to return your consciousness to you. We do not know if your mind will remain here or if you will lapse back. The shield is in hopes of protecting us if the essences leave you.”

  Julieth could barely move. She looked down. Her arms and hands were swollen and covered in a thick webbing of charred flesh. She felt no pain but did not know why. She looked to Ivanus, yearning to be held by him. “Ivanus…” she whispered again but found she could make no more sound.

  “Rest.” Ivanus put a hand to the orange electricity shield. “I will not leave you. I will never leave you.”

  Julieth tried to move her hand. It shook, but she could not lift it to meet his. “Ivanus…”

  Ivanus moved to a chair close by. “Leave, I will watch over her and call if we need you,” he instructed Riad, Ineal and Cross.

  Riad lowered his head to her level. “We are moving toward the nearest sun. Your sacrifice will save a galaxy.” The group walked from the room, leaving Julieth and Ivanus alone.

  She was afraid to close her eyes, afraid that the madness and darkness would return to her.

  A tray of some sort of food rested beside her. She yearned to eat but could not move. How will I fly to the sun when I cannot lift my arms?

  “You will get stronger,” Ivanus assured her. “Even now you are beautiful.” He was silent for long moments. She watched him, wondering what he was thinking. “Is there no other way than to sacrifice you? Solaris is saved.”

  Julieth looked to her hands. She felt dead. She had already been sacrificed. It was but a matter of time before the rest of her would be extinguished. It would be a release when the time came.

  Ivanus had dark circles under his eyes. His garments were tattered and dirty. “What happened to the world, to our world?” he asked. “We were going to defeat the essences and form a life together. It was going to get better. Where did that go? Why must we come to total despair and darkness to succeed?”

  What a beautiful thought, that the world would be better. Julieth breathed deep, her heartbeat slowing and her nerves calming. I never thought that; that my world would be better, be peaceful. I have only known war and death… starvation. He comes from a time before all the strife I have lived in. Solaris is not saved. The planet almost cracked in half and it is all but barren of vegetation still. And yet if I have brought some peace to my people by sacrificing myself to the darkness of the essences and giving them the opportunity to live better lives then my death will have value.

  “If I could die instead I would do it.” Ivanus brought her out of her thoughts.

  “No… I…” Julieth could speak no more.

  “Enough. I know what you would say. Save your breath, my love. Soon your strength will return and we will be able to at least speak.”

  Through one of the space craft’s windows Julieth saw Solaris’ form. Sunlight illuminated it as stars twinkled in the darkness. It was tranquil. A hopeless peace fell over her. Long moments of silence passed.

  “I can read.” Ivanus reached in his garments, pulling out the holy book he carried. Julieth was surprised to watch the furry snoot that followed him squeezing out of his shirt collar and resting on his shoulder. Dust moved in the air as Ivanus flipped the book’s pages. “When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. ‘Lord, have mercy on my son,’ he said. ‘He has siezures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.’

  “‘You unbelieving and perverse generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.’ Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

  “Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, ‘Why couldn’t we drive it out?’

  “He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’”

  A time later, when Ivanus finished reading, he touched his hand to the electricity field separating them. “I don’t know why, but I believe these words. I believe this faith. This book speaks of moving a mountain with just belief. I have to have faith that we will both survive what is to come. I spend every night in prayer. No matter what, I am yours, Julieth.”

  Julieth lifted her hand, astonished to find the strength she needed. As she touched the electricity field where Ivanus’ hand rested she felt warmth. Lines of orange electricity pulsed between her and Ivanus’ hands. The electricity vibrated through her body, reviving her energy. “I love you.”

  Ivanus smiled as he saw her strength. “I love you.”

  She tried to stand but crumpled down, one leg pinned beneath the other until she was slowly able to move them to a comfortable position again. “How far?”

  Ivanus pet the snoot as it nuzzled his hand. “We are two days from as close as we dare get to the sun.

  “Two days,” Julieth sighed. The plate of food, if it could be considered that, sat nearby. She reached down and picked up a small brown plank of something. It smelled sweet as she lifted it towards her mouth.

  �
�The food’s not actually bad,” Ivanus assured her. “It looks much worse than it is.”

  The plank crumpled into fragments and evolved into berrylike things in her mouth as they touched her mouth’s moisture. Much better. She breathed deeply and exhaled, allowing her body to relax. Julieth looked to Ivanus. He was clearly exhausted. “Go and eat with the others,” she begged. “I will be here later.”

  He stood. “After I eat I will return. I will have the ship’s captain get you more food.” He blew her a kiss as he left the room. Just before the door whooshed shut the snoot scurried back, curling up beside her cell and sniffing the air.

  Julieth sat in silence, watching the cosmos through the ship’s windows. She was resolute in the knowledge that she would soon give her life to save infinite souls. She held out her arms, looking at her charred, morphed skin. My body is not mine. The essences have overrun me. How long until the essences would completely destroy me? After an unknown time her body and mind succumbed to sleep. Ivanus came to check on her, touching a hand to her cell and then leaving with the snoot for sleep.

  Chapter 11

  Julieth awoke to almost complete darkness. One overhead light illuminated the chamber. It must be their version of night, she realized. Her limbs ached. She looked around, taking in the shape of each wall and furnishing. A low hum resonated around her. All looked different in the dark.

  A man stepped from the shadows.

  Julieth shrank back in her cell, leery of the unknown intruder. “Who are you?” After a moment she was able to make out the contours of his face. “Ineal?”

  He stood silently, just watching her.

  “Why have you come here?”

  Ineal knelt down before her cell, placing his hand flat to the ship’s floor. She almost expected a plant to form there but knew that Ineal no longer had those abilities. It is strange to see him as no different than any other person.