Chariots of Heaven

  * * *

  The trip to Draco was long, but Kira was grateful for the time alone to think about the recent turn her life had taken. Digesting the news about her father took some time. She regretted the harshness of her response, realizing that revealing the truth must have been hard on him as well as her. She couldn’t imagine having to tell her children that they were really the offspring of a stranger from a different world, especially if she couldn’t tell them who it was or why they had been abandoned.

  Was she really just the puppet in some stranger’s scheme to overthrow a kingdom? How could that be? It seemed impossible, yet, she knew her father hadn’t lied. It really did explain some things, if she thought about it. She always felt different growing up, somehow always knowing there was more to the world than her people had taught her. And her mysterious ability to use Tythonian royal technology suddenly made much more sense.

  If she was the descendant of one of the council members then who was it? Could it have been Aithos? He did show a level of familiarity with her that the others hadn’t, but if that were the case then why was he so surprised by the news? Surely it couldn’t have been an act. What about Velion? He had appointed her to the council despite the protests of the others, was it because he knew she was his daughter? That didn’t make sense either. He hadn’t been any more aware of the location of Earth than the rest of them. If she really thought about it, none of the men on the council made sense. Did Kronus have another child that the others didn’t know about?

  Kira shook her head, dismissing the thoughts. The never-ending questions were giving her a headache, and she knew she should really be preparing for what was ahead. The navigation computer indicated that there was only an hour left before she arrived on Draco, and there was no telling what sort of resistance she would encounter when she got there. Would there be guards? It was a prison planet after all, so it was almost certain that there would be, and what of her sister? How would she know where to look for her? If only she had Aithos with her; then she could track her sister’s holodisk, assuming Aeria hadn’t taken it away from her.

  Thinking of Aeria drove Kira nearly to madness. She had never particularly cared for the woman, but what she did was unforgivable. Trying to execute her and then kidnapping her sister was beyond recompense. She only hoped Aeria had left Draco already and wasn’t waiting for her to show up. She felt comfortable enough in her armor, but Aeria was supposedly a remarkable warrior, undefeated and terrifying to behold.

  That was the kind of trouble she hoped to avoid, although she wasn’t certain how she would be able to do that forever. Even if she did manage to find Kaya, where would they go? Where could they hide? After the attack on the palace they would surely be hunted, and what of Earth? How would the accusation of her being a traitor affect her people and the way the council handled Earth? Would they change their decision, and end up enslaving them after all?

  Kira sighed in exasperation. The situation was beyond repair, and thinking about it didn’t seem to be helping. She needed to focus, she needed to calm her mind and plan her attack. Once the ship dropped from subspace she would scan the planet for life and determine the most likely place Kaya would be. Luckily she had taken Thanatos’s advice by reading the owner’s manual; otherwise she wouldn’t have known she could do such a thing. In fact she had spent nearly four hours of the previous day poring over it, trying to learn as much as she could about the ship, in case she needed the knowledge. She discovered that the ship was equipped with several weapons arrays and about a dozen missiles, including one nuclear warhead.

  She shuddered at the thought of such a destructive device being on board. Master Yu-On had taught her about them, showing footage of the devastation that they left behind. The kingdoms made an agreement that they would only ever be used as a last resort, and only by the authorization of one of the council members. Frankly, Kira was surprised Velion had entrusted her with one, but then again, she was supposed to be a council member. If things had gone according to plan, she would have been groomed to be just like the others, and would have been given dominion over a territory, and probably her own planet to rule. She couldn’t lie that the thought was pleasing to her, but now it was just a dream. She doubted there was any way they would ever trust her again, even if they figured out that she was innocent.

  Kira looked over at the navigation computer, which indicated she would be arriving at Draco in ten minutes. Breathing a nervous sigh, she stood to her feet and started stretching. If she was going to level a full-on assault on a prison, she would need to be limber. Luckily, she had managed to get some sleep the night before despite her anxiety, so she felt rested and ready to find her sister. She just hoped that she could avoid any unnecessary attention.

  The final ten minutes of the trip seemed to drag on for an eternity, until the ship dropped from subspace and Kira was overwhelmed with the desire for more time to prepare. The first scans of the area indicated that there were no other ships in orbit above the planet, which alleviated some of her anxiety, but not all of it. Sitting in the pilot’s seat and working at the control consoles, she scanned the surface and was surprised to find that the majority of the planet was completely barren. There were only two sections where any life was detected, and both appeared to be cities of sorts. One of those must be the prison, Kira thought, marveling at how minute both settlements were. One settlement was much smaller than the other and resided on the dark side of the planet, which was almost completely covered in ice. The other settlement was almost twice the size and resided on the bright side of the planet.

  This made things easier for Kira. She had anticipated having more places to worry about, but if there were only two settlements, then that meant Kaya had to be at one of them. But which one should Kira start with? If she attacked the wrong one first, then the second one might have time to prepare for her arrival, reducing the chance she would find her sister before they called for help.

  Kira closed her eyes and tried to think. Which one would Aeria have taken her to? If her ship dropped out of sub-space at the same place that Kira’s ship had, then the closest and most logical settlement was on the bright side of the planet. It was the best rationale she could come up with, so she decided to just follow her gut. Taking a deep breath, Kira took control of the ship, beginning her descent to the planet.

  The atmosphere of Draco was much thinner than the one on Tython, making the descent less jarring than her previous landing. As far as she could tell, the planet had minimal technology, which was surprising for a prison planet. She had expected there to be heavy security and a large military presence, but the council must have decided against such measures. As she approached the ground she started to understand why. The planet truly was primordial, filled with jagged mountains and volcanoes that were constantly erupting. It was a wonder that anything could survive on the planet, even with all the technology of the so-called Gods. Clearly this was a place where one was sent when they could think of no greater punishment.

  Deciding that it would be best to land her ship away from the settlement, so as to hide her approach, Kira searched for a decent landing spot. This was no easy feat as the terrain around the settlement was anything but forgiving. She had to circle three times before she found an area large and smooth enough to set the ship down, and even that spot was precariously close to a nearby volcano. She would just have to be quick and hope that luck was on her side, because this would be a short trip if her ship was destroyed before they could escape.

  As her ship touched the ground, Kira let out a long sigh as she readied herself for the task at hand. Pulling up the scans of the settlement, it looked like the entire thing was encompassed by a gargantuan wall that was several yards wide. The area inside the wall was nothing more than a few hundred small buildings, and a couple of large complexes. At the far end, there seemed to be some sort of mining operation as there were large industrial buildings and expansive underground tunnels. The scans also indicated that the ambient tem
perature of the settlement and outlying areas was far hotter than either Earth or Tython. For a planet with little to no atmosphere, that was impressive.

  Deciding there was nothing more she could do to prepare, she walked to the back of the ship. Taking a deep breath, she opened the rear hatch and was instantly blasted by the hot air outside. Squinting in the extreme heat, Kira stepped out of her ship.

  Humid. Hot. Suffocating heat and vapor. The smell of sulfur and fire. Kira looked around at her surroundings as her heart sank. How would she ever find what she was looking for in this place? All around her was a dark, burnt, jagged landscape with little light except for the orange glow of molten rock far below her. The heat was unbearable and the smoke stung her eyes. She walked a few feet and looked down into a crevasse to her right. A hundred feet below her she could see a wide river of molten rock splashing and gushing slowly down the mountain side. The heat rising from it was enough to make her eyes water. She looked away towards her left. Her eyes followed the rock wall up until she had to crane her neck to see the peak of the mountain she had landed on. The top of it was hollow and was emitting an ominous red glow. All along the face of it she could see more molten rock spewing out and running down conduits like rivers of fire. Occasionally she heard explosions as more molten rock tore through the nearby mountainsides, spraying ash and steam.

  She could feel fear creeping into her mind. She had never been to a place like this nor had she ever imagined such an unforgiving landscape. It was no wonder the others were so afraid of it; but there was no choice. Something very precious was here and she needed to reclaim it. Kira tried to remind herself of the important task she had set out to accomplish, but the vaporous air and unbearable heat clouded her mind. She tried to search for a clear path towards the settlement, but there was no easy way to get there. She would have to put her jumping skills to work and hope that she didn’t accidently fall into a river of lava or a hidden crevasse.

  Shielding her face from the heat, she prepared to leap to the nearest flat area. Pushing off the ground she jumped high in the air, soaring nearly seventy feet to the nearby rock face. The humidity in the air skewed the image of the landing, and what had appeared to be a level plane, was actually a slanted and slippery rock face. When Kira’s feet hit the glassy surface, she lost her balance and fell hard against the rock, propelling her into a downward slide towards a cliff.

  Panic overtook her and without planning it, she closed her eyes and envisioned a rock wall. Immediately the slanted rock surface morphed its shape, forming a large wall at the end where the cliff had been. Kira slid hard into it, slamming her body against the unforgiving stone. Pain shot through her shoulder as she collided against the newly formed wall.

  Heart racing and brow sweating, Kira’s mind reeled from the close call. If she hadn’t formed the wall in time, she would have fallen into a wide river of lava and her rescue attempt would be at an end. Why hadn’t she thought of changing the stone earlier? She was able to mold rock to her will, so why was she risking dangerous leaps?

  It had to be the heat. It was unbearable and was making it hard for her to concentrate. Closing her eyes again she envisioned a solid, level surface and before she knew it the slanted rock she was on shifted until it was level. Standing to her feet, Kira rubbed her shoulder. She would have a bruise there later, if she survived the day.

  Employing her rediscovered resource, Kira focused on the jagged landscape before her. Closing her eyes she envisioned a long and flat pathway. Holding the vision, she moved her hands pushing and pulling the rock before her into a level pathway that she could walk on. Opening her eyes she was pleased to find that a long, level pathway had been molded before her. There were breaks here and there where the crevices were too wide, but leaping across those would be much easier than her previous attempt.

  Relieved at the new path before her, Kira took off again. This time she moved a bit slower and gauged each jump with precision. With this tactic it took only a few minutes before she was close enough to see the outer wall of the complex.

  To her surprise there didn’t appear to be any guards patrolling the wall. As far as she could tell the entire area was unwatched, which gave her a moment of relief. She was afraid she’d have to fight her way into the settlement, but if there were no guards making her way inside wouldn’t be a problem. From the look of the wall, it had been cut out of the surrounding rock, which meant that she’d be able to manipulate the stone and potentially walk straight through.

  Grinning at her lucky break, she failed to notice a green object streaking across the sky that was headed directly for her. As she approached the wall the object came crashing to the ground right in front of her, kicking up dirt and rock, and knocking her to the ground.

  Slowly recovering from the unexpected collision, Kira sat up. Blinking and coughing in the dust, she looked around to find the source of the impact. As the air cleared, it revealed a human-like figure crouching in a deep crater. Recognizing the figure immediately, Kira’s heart sank in disbelief.

  Standing up, Aeria let out a high pitched laugh, “So you managed to survive after all, half-breed? I should have known it was too easy. Oh well, killing you in a fight will be more fun anyways.” Aeria grinned maliciously as she climbed out of the crater she had just made. Kira was at a loss for words. Why was she still here? Did Aeria know she would be coming? “Oh, what’s wrong? Cat got your tongue? Or weren’t you expecting me?” Aeria grinned maliciously.

  The shock finally wore off and Kira got to her feet. Seeing the goddess again made the fury flow through her veins again. “What have you done with my sister?!” she shouted, leveling a spiteful gaze at Aeria.

  “Oh she’s in good hands, don’t you worry. You really ought to be more concerned with yourself right about now,” Aeria replied, clearly enjoying the exchange.

  Deciding that a fight with Aeria right at the wall might accidently put her sister in danger, Kira took Aeria by surprise and turned to flee. Dashing back the way she came she tried to get some ground between her and the settlement. Aeria did not pursue at first, but merely watched in amusement as Kira fled.

  Aeria called out, “Did I scare you away?! Was it something I said?!”

  Kira stopped following the path and veered off to her right. She didn’t want to be near the walls, but she had no desire for Aeria to destroy her ship either. Leaping from one ledge to another she was able to gain a good bit of distance from both the settlement and the ship. Finally landing on a wide and solid plateau, Kira stopped and waited for the goddess to follow after. She knew Aeria wanted a fight, and wouldn’t be able to resist following after her, especially when she thought Kira was afraid of her.

  Just as expected, Aeria came after her, but what Kira did not know was that Aeria had the ability to fly, a fact that became abundantly clear when she arrived at the plateau, only to hover a few feet in the air.

  “You seem surprised; does that mean silly old Thanatos never taught you how to fly? What a pity, that will take some of the fun out of killing you,” Aeria jeered, clearly reveling in the advantage she had over Kira.

  “I wouldn’t count on it, you psycho. I have no plans on dying at your hands,” Kira spat back at her, readying herself to fight.

  Aeria laughed and shook her head, “Silly little half-breed traitor thinks she’s going to beat me, the goddess of war. If you insist on a fight, then I can oblige…” but Kira didn’t allow her to finish. Launching herself directly at Aeria, Kira drove her knee into the goddess’s midsection with as much might as she could muster. The attack was not expected and the force of it knocked Aeria out of the air, sending her flying into a nearby rock wall.

  Despite her surprise, it didn’t take Aeria long to recover from the attack. Standing, she glowered at Kira and said, “For that, I’ll be sure to draw your death out.” Letting out a scream of rage the goddess leapt forward, heading straight back at Kira, but she was ready. Waiting until the last possible second, Kira dodged Aeria’s
attack, countering by blasting her in the shoulder with a shockwave as she passed. The wave sent Aeria flying again, but this time she was able to recover before hitting another rock wall.

  Landing hard several yards away, Aeria stood and laughed. “So you want to play with energy, do you? I thought we could spar for a while first, but if you insist.” With that she twisted her face into a scowl and pulled her arms to her sides. Kira looked on in horror as the goddess pulled in the largest shockwave she had ever seen. With a wild look Aeria let out a roar, thrusting the enormous blast directly at Kira. There would be no dodging the attack, so Kira crossed her arms in front of her and ducked her head. Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, she readied herself for the blast.

  The wave hit like a freight train, knocking Kira back and throwing her to the ground. She slid nearly a hundred feet across the jagged mountainside before finally coming to a stop. Coughing in pain, Kira got back to her feet and tried to recover from the blow. Looking up just in time, she noticed Aeria starting to amass another attack. Without thinking, Kira pulled at the stone around her and flung a huge boulder straight at Aeria. The goddess failed to react in time and the boulder hit her in the chest, knocking her to the ground.

  Kira tried to take advantage of her downed opponent by pulling at the ground again and sending two large boulders flying directly at Aeria; but neither would make it. With lightning speed, Aeria leapt to her feet and pulled out her twin blades, slicing through both boulders in a green blur.

  Seeming to decide that the game was over, Aeria attacked again, this time with both of her swords. Moving at an alarming speed she closed the gap between her and Kira in a heartbeat, and started swinging the blades in a blind fury. Kira had no time to escape or counter so all she could do was dodge the attacks. Aeria’s attacks were relentless, but Kira would not falter; each time Aeria swung her blade, Kira would move out of its path just in time.

  Keeping this up was no easy feat as Aeria was much faster than Kira. Several times her blades came within a hair’s breadth of hitting Kira, but none of them made contact. Finally one of her attacks overextended her reach, leaving an opening for Kira to counter. Kicking as hard and quickly as she could, Kira hit Aeria squarely in the chin, sending the goddess flying backwards.

  Before hitting the ground, Aeria was able to flip herself over and land on her feet. Pausing for a moment, she stared back at Kira with more malice than Kira would have thought possible. Aeria tasted the inside of her lip and spit a large glob of blood on the ground. Kira could see that the blow had done more damage than expected, if only to the goddess’s ego.

  Recognizing the minor victory, Kira taunted her, “Seems you aren’t immortal after all. You bleed like the rest of us.”

  Aeria didn’t respond with words but instead did something completely unexpected. The goddess leapt into the air, flying up and away from Kira at breakneck speed. Once she had gained enough altitude she stopped and turned to look down at Kira. With an intense look of concentration Aeria started rotating with her swords extended to her sides, almost as if she were dancing in the air. Over and over she oscillated the blades in an elaborate fashion, gaining speed as she did so. Spinning faster and faster until the goddess became a blur of armor and swords.

  To Kira’s amazement Aeria started to glow brightly as she spun in the air. Without warning, massive green energy balls started shooting out from Aeria in all directions, spraying the mountainside around Kira. Each time a ball collided with the mountain an enormous, ground-shaking explosion sent debris flying in all directions.

  Overcome with panic, Kira frantically tried to dodge the energy blasts, but she wasn’t quick enough. Fleeing one green ball, she leapt into the path of another and collided with it. The explosion was bright and deafening, and the pain that came afterwards was beyond description. The collision sent her flying hard into the mountainside, causing her to black out.

  A few moments later Kira came to. Her body screamed in agony, but she knew she had to keep fighting. Wearily she stood up, swaying in the extreme heat. Looking around at the blasted mountainside she realized that she had been thrown nearly a hundred feet, and was now surrounded by much more dangerous territory. There were rivers of lava on all sides of her and the ground under her feet was as sharp and jagged as glass.

  The ash in the air burned her eyes as she searched the horizon for her enemy. Aeria was faster than expected and the steam rising from the lava made everything hazy. Squinting, Kira once again saw the green object she now knew to be Aeria streaking across the sky towards her. Aeria was screaming with fury and coming at full speed with her twin blades outstretched.

  Clenching her teeth, Kira flexed her arms and with as much willpower as she could muster, she summoned two massive boulders from the jagged mountainside and flung them directly at Aeria. The look of fury on Aeria’s face shifted to amusement as she dodged not one, but both of the boulders. Kira panicked and without thought, turned to her left creating a massive shockwave that propelled her backwards, out of Aeria’s path.

  Everything seemed to slow down as the adrenaline surged through Kira’s veins. Flying backwards, she crossed both of her arms in front of her, envisioning a barrier. Immediately her armor responded and molded into a large metal shield that stretched from above her head, all the way down to her knees. She formed it just in time, because immediately after conjuring the shield, Aeria crashed into the mountainside with unfathomable momentum. The collision was so intense that the shockwave sent enormous chunks of debris hurtling in every direction.

  Blocking the debris with the shield drove her backwards even faster and hurtled her towards a slanted wall of jagged stone. Again, almost without thought, Kira used her momentum to flip her body gracefully through the air until her feet were pointed towards the wall. Landing hard against the stone surface, she clenched her leg muscles as tightly as she could and used the residual inertia to spring herself back towards Aeria.

  Flying directly back at the goddess, Kira amassed a huge shockwave. Aeria turned to look half a second too late and Kira, with a scream of rage, unleashed the shockwave into the ground below. The mountainside exploded again, hurtling large boulders directly up at the goddess, who for once did not have time to react. With a look of terror, Aeria was thrown back in a blur of dirt and rock.

  Kira landed next to the massive crater, and watched as the goddess disappeared beneath the spray of stone and rock. Panting and doing everything she could to stay on her feet, Kira stared at the massive pile of rubble before her, watching for any sign of blonde hair or silver armor. Everything seemed to go quiet as the rocks settled on what Kira hoped was Aeria’s grave.

  A few moments passed without incident, but before Kira could take comfort in her critical blow, bright green light started to shine through the cracks in the rubble and the ground began to tremble under her feet. Panicking, Kira swung her arms down and summoned a stone barrier from the ground before her, forming a wide wall of rock. As she did so the mound that Aeria was buried in exploded with green light, sending the dirt and rocks flying in all direction. With a scream of rage Aeria shot towards Kira’s barrier. Lowering her shoulder the goddess crashed through it, colliding with Kira on the other side. The unexpected blow knocked the wind out of Kira and sent her flying several yards back, landing hard against the rocky mountainside.

  Gasping for air, Kira tried to stand, but her damaged body screamed in protest. She had been thrown against the mountain too many times, and even her armor wouldn’t give her the strength to stand. Only managing to prop herself up, she watched in terror as a dirt- and blood-covered Aeria marched towards her in fury. Her hair was caked with mud and the orange gleam in her eyes from the nearby lava made it look as though she was about to breathe fire. Kira tried to move away, but couldn’t find the strength.

  Frantically, she tried to remember back to her training. What would Thanatos do in this situation? Kira searched her mind as Aeria closed the gap between them, panting heavily as she ma
rched. Never forget your surroundings and use them to your advantage, she could hear him say. But I’m surrounded by lava and ash! What good is that? she protested, but she didn’t have to think about it for long before remembering that lava was just molten rock.

  As Aeria quickened her pace and prepared to kick Kira in the stomach, Kira desperately pulled at the nearby lava stream. Immediately the orange liquid swelled and gushed over the nearby rock, rushing directly towards Aeria. Kira grinned, impressed with her quick thinking, until she realized that the lava was heading straight for her as well.

  Aeria stopped mid kick, and with a look of horror, leaped away from the incoming lava. Kira gritted her teeth and tried to move again, but she still couldn’t muster the strength. She knew there was only one thing left to do, so with closed eyes she amassed another shockwave and pointed it towards the ground beneath her. With an explosion of rock, Kira was sent flying up and away from the lava. This time she was able to swing her body around and land on her feet, although doing so made her realize just how damaged her body was. She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep fighting for much longer.

  Staggering to her feet, Kira looked around for Aeria. Through the steam and vapor Kira could see her standing several yards away and was surprised to find her cupping her hands over her left cheek. Squinting to make out the details Kira noticed that Aeria’s armor was scorched in several spots from where the last shockwave had sprayed lava at her.

  “What have you done to my face?!” Aeria roared as she pulled her hands away from her cheek. Through the steam Kira could make out several circular burns speckled across the left side of Aeria’s face where the lava had melted her skin. With a look that was beyond fury, Aeria screamed, “You will suffer for this, half-breed! I was going to just kill you, but now I’ve decided to make you watch your sister die first!” With a wild look, Aeria turned away from Kira and prepared to leap into the air.

  Kira knew that if she didn’t stop her there would be no catching her. Mustering all of her strength she bent her knees and shot towards Aeria. Like a rocket she soared across the lava pool and before Aeria was able to take off, she readied her attack. With a scream of rage and pain, Kira bent her elbow and drove it as hard as she could into Aeria’s shoulder, managing to take the goddess by surprise once again. The two of them crashed to the ground in a jumbled mess of dirt, metal and blood.

  Kira’s body screamed in protest yet again but she wouldn’t listen. She had to protect Kaya if it was the last thing she did and there was no way she was going to let this clearly deranged woman get anywhere near her again. With a groan of effort she got to her feet and reached down to grab Aeria’s ankle. With a great exertion of strength, Kira pulled hard on Aeria’s leg and flung her into the nearby rock face. The already-stunned Aeria crashed into the stone wall, causing it to crumble on top of her. This time Kira would not hesitate to see if the goddess recovered. Amassing one shockwave after another, Kira unleashed a frantic barrage on the rock pile before her. The stone crumbled again and again as shockwave after shockwave hit it, until enough had been blown away that she could see Aeria again. With renewed fury, Kira hastened the speed of her blasts, blowing the stunned Aeria further and further into the rock wall behind her until she could no long muster the strength to stand.

  Dropping to one knee a few feet from Aeria, Kira’s head swam with exhaustion. She stared at the crumpled body of the goddess before her as she panted with fatigue. To her surprise the goddess started to stir. With a groan of pain, Aeria opened her eyes to look at Kira. With a wicked grin and a labored laugh Aeria whispered, “Is that… all you’ve got? How does it feel” –Aeria coughed and spat another glob of blood onto the ground- “to know you’ve failed your sister again?”

  This time the wrath was too much to quell. Reaching out, Kira grabbed one of the goddess’s twin blades by the hilt and turned it against her. Aeria’s eyes widened in terror, but it was too late. With a scream of indignation Kira drove the sword into Aeria’s chest, slicing through the armor and cutting through to the other side.

  The goddess coughed and gagged as blood oozed out of her body. She tried to say something but it was no use. Kira let go of the sword and stood over her as she took in one last breath. Aeria’s head slumped over and her eyes went lifeless. It was finished.

  Kira stood there in the sweltering heat and humidity for a long time, staring at the lifeless body of the goddess before her. She felt strange, never having killed another person before. She felt a pang of guilt, wishing it hadn’t come to this, but there had been no other choice. If she hadn’t finished her, there was no telling what she might have done to Kaya.

  A tear rolled down Kira’s cheek as she bent down to close Aeria’s eyes. In a quiet voice that was nearly drowned out by the erupting of a nearby volcano, Kira whispered, “I’m sorry it had to be like this. It wasn’t that long ago that you saved my life, and now I’ve taken yours. I hope one day I can repay the debt.” With that Kira turned and limped away.