Ivan Kal - What War Had Wrought

“It is useless,”she said. “You are very powerful, but we are too far from each other to do any real damage. The only thing you have accomplished is to change the human’s executioner. Garash will kill him easily enough.”

“You underestimate my former student,”Lurker of the Depths sent, as he felt and thwarted the Erasi’s attempt to slip his hold.

“I see… you are his teacher. His technique does feel like yours,”the Erasi sent, trying to distract him as her counterattack lashed out and disappeared harmlessly against his defenses. “Perhaps you should release me and help him; you might be able to save him from certain death.”

“Adrian needs not my aid,”Lurker of the Depths sent. Slowly, he felt his grip on the Erasi’s mind slipping. She was powerful, and he was too far away to throw all of his strength at her.

“It does not matter. Either Garash kills him, or I will finish what I started once I am free of your hold. You must feel it; I will be free of you soon.”

Lurker of the Depths knew that she was right. However, he was the most powerful telepath of the Sowir for a reason. “What is your name?”Lurker of the Depths asked, distracting the Erasi as he prepared his final attack.

Surprise passed through the Erasi’s mind, and after a moment, she answered, “I am known as the Weaver.”

Finished with his preparations, Lurker of the Depths stopped his mind tendrils from attacking. “I am Lurker of the Depths, of the Sowir,”he sent, along with a feeling of his home’s oceans and the deep dark of their depths. “Allow me to give you a gift, to always remember me by.”

With all the power that he could muster and send across such distance, Lurker of the Depths abandoned his attacks and opened his defenses, sending one large message, ramming it inside the Erasi’s mind. The Sowir were a race more connected through the Sha and their minds than any other in the Empire. They shared emotion, thoughts, and experiences constantly, craving the comfort of other minds, supporting one another.

His message was a thing that only a Sowir could craft, and only a Sowir could understand and bear. The combined feelings of the Sowir race, the horror of their actions against the other intelligent races, the realization that all they had done was wrong, that their beliefs were wrong. The dying ripples of Sowir who had killed themselves from shame and disgust, the feelings of all the other Sowir on his homeworld who had continued living bearing all that horror. The pain of a race as its foundations crumbled.

Lurker of the Depths’ mind pulled back as he felt the Erasi’s mind receive the message, and feel pain that no one being was ever supposed to bear alone.

Adrian opened his eyes and looked at the form of the Gatrey slumped in concentration. He turned and saw Anessa propped against a small boulder and the other O’fa standing above her ripping away pieces of her armor. For a moment, he debated finishing the Gatrey first, but Anessa was in trouble, and tiredly he tried to stand and almost fell over from exhaustion. His body was still fresh, but his mind was tired and his energy levels were low. With his imp, he triggered the NX-02 release, and started running as the drug filled his system, giving him some of his strength back.

“Tell the shuttle pilot to be ready for liftoff!” Adrian told Iris through his imp, not waiting for her response.

He ran towards Anessa as the O’fa pulled the last piece of her armor off and raised his glowing hand for the final blow. He tried to reach out with his mind, but it was still recovering from his battle with the Gatrey, and he was too far to reach out with any other Sha ability. He was going to be too late. Time slowed down and he watched helplessly as the Erasi’s hand descended towards Anessa’s heart. His mind went into overdrive as he tried to find a way to prevent what was happening. He couldn’t let this happen, he couldn’t lose another, not again. Then, miraculously, the hand stopped, and a moment later a wave of terror brushed by Adrian. Immediately he recognized the signature. Turning his head, he spotted two blue forms running towards Anessa—Akash in the lead, with Sora a couple meters behind him. In a split second, Akash crossed the distance, just as the O’fa realized and nullified the wolions’ emotional attack.

Adrian ran as the O’fa regained his faculties, and Adrian’s heart broke as Akash pounced on the Erasi. A scream escaped his throat as the O’fa’s hand pierced through Akash’s flesh even as he was taken to the ground by the wolion’s weight.

Adrian’s mind went white as the O’fa pushed Akash off him, throwing him to the side and pulling his arm out of the wolion’s chest. Adrian felt Akash die, and with him a part of Adrian died as well. Suddenly a hole appeared in a part of him that he hadn’t even knew existed. Pain and rage filled him, and he ran towards his enemy. Color seeped out of his world, and everything unimportant disappeared; only the Erasi remained. Adrian launched a mental attack against the O’fa, but his strength was a pale shadow of what it could be; his mind still too tired. His attack disappeared against the O’fa’s defenses, but by then, Adrian had reached him. The O’fa, warned by Adrian’s mental attack, sent a kinetic blast towards him, but Adrian didn’t even slow as he threw a blast of his own, one that consumed and overpowered that of the O’fa, hitting him in the chest and staggering him.

Adrian reached the O’fa and his right fist slammed into his head, throwing him backwards. The O’fa tried to retaliate, his movements fast, sure, and practiced, but to Adrian, they might as well have been thrown by a child. He danced out of the way, his hands deflecting all four of the O’fa’s arms. Adrian slapped one of the O’fa’s hands, and raised his other as a stream of plasma left it to land all over the O’fa’s helmet, scorching it. Sha built up between them as the O’fa threw a shield that deflected the plasma, and then stepped back out of Adrian’s range. But Adrian was focused. He reached out with his telekinesis and pulled the O’fa back towards him.

Sha bent as Adrian bound all of the O’fa’s arms to his body for a fraction of a moment. The O’fa quickly destroyed Adrian’s binding, but by then Adrian had stepped close, reaching around the O’fa and trapping his arms against his own body. Adrian clasped his hands behind the O’fa, and with his imp triggered the command. The turret rose above his shoulder and fired point blank at the O’fa’s helmet.

Bolts of fire washed over the O’fa’s head. Sparks flew out and struck Adrian, but he didn’t care. The O’fa grabbed hold of the Sha, and Adrian moved to counter, but the O’fa was more powerful. A force grabbed hold of Adrian’s shoulder, ripping the turret to pieces and disrupting his hold. Another telekinetic tug made Adrian stagger backwards, and freed the O’fa completely. Adrian could see that freeing himself had cost the O’fa much of his remaining strength, and his helmet had layers peeled and scorched. The O’fa’s entire armor was covered in battle damage, and Adrian moved to attack again. The three spheres left Adrian’s forearm and flew towards the O’fa, one striking his head and the others making circular orbits around the O’fa to strike at his knees from behind. The disorienting strike to the head and the two on his knees forced the O’fa on his knees. Adrian stepped forward. His mono-blade slid from his forearm, and Adrian raised his hand for an attack.

But the O’fa was ready. He latched on to Adrian’s hand, freezing it in the air. The fingers on his two upper arms started glowing in a yellowish light as he stood and stepped forward, aiming them towards Adrian’s neck.