Elecion Forces: War of Ages, #3

By Ceri London

Niall has left his world, his family, his friends, his mission now to destroy Balor. One mistake has the potential to unravel the course of human evolution, but destiny has converted him to its cause.

 

 

Trapped in Earth's past, he abandoned everything. Everyone. Thought he could bridge a dark star and destroy Balor in its own lair. Stop Balor's warlord before Lugus attacked Earth a second time.

 

Now he's trapped inside a kill zone of his own making, a stranger in an alien universe, trading on higher order talent to mitigate the death piling up around him. Living under cover for fear the wrong memory enters the memory stream and betrays Earth's existence to Balor before the proper time.

 

Amidst the chaos, one voice speaks up for him. A young visionary he's brought nothing but pain, and yet this young girl believes only he can save her.

 

This is how destiny works, see.

 

Forces a path with no escape. He can hide, practise deceit, and fight, but destiny will always hunt him down. Raise him high and slay him low until one day, new memories drown out the old. Now he's building a life in this strange new world, a life with people he cares for and responsibilities. Command.

 

Very soon, the entire galacticus will know his name. And so will Balor.

 

 

If you loved Frank Herbert's Dune and Gene Besserit, you'll love this contemporary blend of time manipulation mixed with hard science fiction bordering on SF Fantasy. Hit the Buy button now and enjoy an exciting epic thriller that rewrites history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ceri London
• Release date: Jan 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393874348

Book preview

CERI LONDON

ELECION FORCES

WAR OF AGES

Volume III

Ceri London’s

War of Ages

is a four-part series originally titled

Shimmer in the Dark

Volume I

Rogue Genesis

Volume II

Destiny Nexus

Volume III

Elecion Forces

Volume IV

To be published

Deacon Gerard RIP

Thank you for your encouragement.

ELECION FORCES/CERI LONDON—1st Kindle Edition.

Copyright © 2019 by Ceri London

Cover Art © 2020 Ceri London

All rights reserved: No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental. All events, conspiracies, alliances are fictional and are purely the product of the author’s imagination. Brands and media are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Book Layout © 2017 BookDesignTemplates.com

CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Five

About The Author

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Chapter One

He flew blind. Disoriented and confused. Stripped of his physical senses inside this bridge between worlds. Seconds stretched to eternity, testing his nerve. If his heart could beat, he’d be afire, the flee or fight response feeding the higher order function needed to complete his journey. But here, in the q-dimension, his heart did not beat, and if it could, he’d no air to breathe.

Trapped inside a kill zone of his own making.

Wouldn’t be the first time.

The thought spurred Niall Kearey to action.

Breath frozen on the ripples of space-time, he focused his mind’s eye on the planet awaiting him on the other side and grasped the faint tendrils of the link that tethered his bridge, a bridge on the brink of collapse.

Shifting pinpricks of light guided him.

Rage sustained him.

A maelstrom of hatred, fear, and resentment that had brought him to this place. But even as rage sustained his flight into the unknown, hope fanned the flames, a desperate gut-wrenching faith that drove him to commit to this mission beyond insane. He twisted a gravitational singularity to bridge a dark star, a portal to another universe, and when seen from his origin point on the far side of the dark star Bacchus, his destination had looked within striking distance.

No more.

He’d stepped through portals before, but never one like this. In his bid to escape the Morrígan snapping at his heels, he’d shut his entry point too soon. Now he existed in a bubble, alive and sentient, locked in flight formation, unseeing eyes fixed open, but hyperaware of the temporal waves crashing over him.

Focus.

Time elongated, leapt forward, resumed to the here and now. Astronomical distances shot past and then the planet he sought loomed large at incomprehensible speed. His bridge had shot him out the other side and his physical senses buckled under the dazzling frenzy of input. A fleeting glimpse of an alien landscape framed by a portal of shimmering light, and in the next moment, shiny black rock.

Something crystalline.

Between him and his goal.

In his face.

Niall slammed into the unforgiving surface.

Bounced back into space where green light enveloped him and hauled him sideways, through an open hatch.

A ship?

The light force dumped him on a hard, rough floor, a bone-jarring blow to his right hip. He fought the mind-numbing pain, lurched to his feet and spun to face a shiny form emerging from the shadows. His lungs burned, the atmosphere acrid, furring his tongue with a soured vinegary taste. Disgust blocked a second intake of air.

He sensed aggression, an evil intent, spied scuttling limbs to his left, a claw reaching towards him.

His heartbeat skidded.

Nope. Gonna take a raincheck.

His mind hooked a stomach-churning wave of magnetic flux and identified its source, a containment of dark energy powering the ship. Not on a scale approaching nuclear devastation, but sufficient to generate a bridge out of here and...

Niall snapped off this portal too early as well.

This one on purpose and with a tighter hold on his exit.

The resulting explosion vibrated in his ears, rattled through his bones, and chased him into and out the q-dimension.

Fuck. Courting death got old real quick.

He had at least landed his bridge inside the planet’s stratosphere.

In free fall, with only his wing suit to aid flight, Niall fell into a deadly spin. He squinted against the winds buffeting his body and hauled in a lungful of pungent air, the breath still cloying, heating his throat, but sufficient to stay the darkness edging his vision. Once more, his higher order abilities kicked in, an instinctive survival mechanism Niall knew well. Time slowed, enough for him to manipulate the abundance of dark energy around him, alter the planet’s gravitational potential, and cushion an otherwise deadly collision with the cliff face.

He hit feet first, knees bent, and fell side on.

Tumbling hard across jagged black stone, fear squeezed his heart. Niall shielded his head with one arm, grabbed out with the other, and snared a rock with gloved fingertips before his momentum dragged him onward. Ribs cracked against stone as he hurtled head over heels down the slope of punishing rock. He finally crashed to a waterlogged stop, face down in cold water. Soft sand squelched through his fingers as he lurched up with a sharp cry that he cut off as abruptly.

This trip just got better and better.

Venting under his breath, Niall clamped an elbow against his aching chest, staggered to his feet and promptly collapsed back to his knees, water lapping his thighs. He blinked, shook his head, spraying droplets in all directions, and tried again.

His shocked body stayed put.

Shake it off. The voice of his first CO.

Damn right. Niall fought to focus, assess his situation.

A fierce wind whistled in his ears, but his mind detected something louder. A white noise he resolved to a quantic reverberation stretching far into the q-dimension—the psychic shockwave of his initial arrival into this solar system. To be fair, it was his first dark star. Closer in, he sensed the aftermath of a second smaller shockwave, this one the ship he’d destroyed.

Maybe he shouldn’t have done that last.

It had been a snap decision, a self-defensive act triggered by the malevolence of the entity on that ship. That creature hadn’t had his best interests at heart.

Make an epic training demo. How to make first contact. Not.

His mind’s eye connected the white noise to flares emitting off the boiling corona of this planet’s sun. Scratch that. Dual suns. Niall scanned further, worry churning his gut. His mangled bridge—the first one—had ripped a gash in the ocean of space-time. Destroying that ship in a portal bloodbath hadn’t helped. So much for a covert infiltration... officially botched this one. Enemy forces could be closing in while he knelt thigh-deep in... what? Niall searched azure water so clear he could pluck out the diamond-like glitter studding an otherwise red crystalline sand bed.

Damn, he was an arrogant fool.

Thought he could bridge the divide between universes and sneak in behind Balor’s back. Instead, he’d set off a freaking cosmic intruder alarm.

Gotta move.

Squinting through narrowed eyes, still on his knees in water, Niall studied the geological formation responsible for his aching bones. He traced a cliff of granite rock to the sky, its peak rising beyond his vision. Majestic pillars of blue vegetation dotted the miles of tranquil pond surrounding him on all other sides, the columnar trees at least twenty meters apart. Not great options for cover. Niall tried and failed a second time to place a booted foot on the sand bed.

Might as well be knee deep in molasses.

Gravity weighted him down, a force much stronger than Earth’s gravitational pull.

Undulating movement shifted sand to his left and his pulse leapt. His eyes snapped to a rising track headed directly for him.

God-dammit, move!

Brute strength powered Niall up and onto his feet, that and some reverse gravitational potential, an old levitation trick he’d learned from a more friendly Morrígan. Unfortunately, his abilities didn’t stretch to walking on water, not that he’d tried. He splashed towards the mountain’s outskirts and hit solid ground as his submerged stalker closed in. Niall picked up speed, sucked in a hissing breath when the water thrashed one meter off the lake’s shore. He stumbled away, pain in his side making him hold back a cough prompted by the ammonia tang blistering his throat. He could have done with a supply of oxygen, but other than his wingsuit, he’d brought nothing that might betray his origin.

Anyway, he’d sensed this alien world supported life.

Just not water snakes.

He probed his bruised chest, winced at a cracked rib or two.

Not the worse scrape he’d survived.

With the immediate danger over, Niall craned back his head and traced the rocky slope to the darkening sky. His inner eye searched for the dark star connecting Balor’s universe to his own, heart sinking when he found only an alien star system and no black holes. A couple of wormholes, but they appeared to lead deeper into Balor’s gargantuan lair. Gave off the same heebee-jeebies he now associated with Balor.

His concern mounted as he failed to locate the dark star.

Where are you, Bacchus?

The collapsing star had to be somewhere. In a long-ago century, both Morrígan and Asterean had escaped the scourge of Balor with a bridge. They’d fled to Niall’s universe using the dark star Bacchus as a gateway. Settled on Astereal.

Except, crap. Nothing. He could find nothing.

Given the seismic noise he’d created, the lack of a path home could be seen as a blessing, an unexpected gift he didn’t deserve, but still his heart thumped madly. He continued to scour the q-dimension for a possible bridge home, unease shifting rocks in his gut. The uncomfortable truth slugged him hard. The dark star had ported him to a place with no corresponding black hole for a return journey. Maybe the planetary alignment was off—stars shifted and his bridge had encountered massive time distortion. He stood lost in doubt and dread for several aching seconds before a deepening awareness forced his attention back to his immediate physical surroundings. When he’d shut the portal on Astereal, he’d shut the door not just on his past... but on his universe.

One certainty firmed with every searing breath.

He couldn’t stay here.

Chapter Two

A ten-mile hike in body-crushing gravity had reduced Niall to stumbling steps. His eyes watered, a burn tickled his throat, and his blistered mouth no longer fit his swollen tongue. The sparkling lake tempted. Not yet. But soon, maybe. He’d fashioned a basic air filter from one of the pocket inserts in his black wingsuit, but the scarf didn’t help much. He aimed for a metaphorical brick wall—a mental barricade he’d encountered before and with a distinct overtone of Morrígan. That shield hid something, likely a Morrígan community, hopefully a friendly one.

That shield had drawn him to this planet in the first place.

Thinking about it, Morrígan would more easily adapt to planetary conditions not so ideal for humans.

His interplanetary recce skills needed an overhaul.

A disturbance in the q-dimension had him ducking inside a crevice. Hidden by a rocky outcrop he inhaled a shallow breath and mentally tracked a low-flying aircraft. It whined overhead, looked to pass over his position, but then jerked left and pulled hard about.

A tendril of predatory aggression probed his psychic shields.

Okay, that wasn’t friendly.

The aircraft had emerged from a portal and odds on he’d garnered unwelcome attention by taking out that spaceship. The ship circled over the water and descended. His mind blocked a vicious probing stab that hit twice more in quick succession and then a fourth time, almost as if he were broadcasting a signal that could be triangulated. He checked his shields for leaks, both thought and emotion—that aircraft hadn’t diverted off course for kicks, had probably spotted his heat signature. He peered out using eyes, ears, and his higher order sight to pinpoint the ship’s position... discreetly. The mountain crackled with magnetic flux, a source of dark energy he could harness at a pinch. This planet—the whole damn solar system—pulsated to an undercurrent, similar to the q-dimension and yet unlike anything he’d seen before, an ominous vibe that grated in his head. In this universe, Niall didn’t know friend from foe, and his big-bang arrival demanded a high degree of caution. The slightest disturbance in the local grid could tip off his location, and his abilities.

To evade Balor, he needed to work under the radar, employ years of special ops training and experience. Gather INTEL. Make preparations.

Right here and now, he needed a damned weapon.

He crouched for a fist-sized rock. Hell, it weighed a freakin’ ton. A scraping sound stilled him. He slowed his breath to shallow intakes of air already low in oxygen. Movement crossed his augmented awareness, a disturbance of the geomagnetic field. Abandoning the makeshift weapon, Niall searched with his mind, keeping his shields high, and detected metal.

An energy-based sidearm.

He tracked the weapon’s movement, closer and closer.

Aggression curled into the crevice like red-curdled smoke.

Adrenalin spiked, flooded Niall’s body as the waning sun backlit a towering alien form, the creature’s pelvic region somewhere close to Niall’s chest. Several limbs extruded in a strangely-jointed manner. The weapon lowered and Niall kicked out.

The sidearm flew sideways.

Niall dived after it.

He slammed the rocky ground, rolled, and grabbed a hold on the weapon as razor-sharp talons stabbed either side of his spine. Niall kept moving, scrambled out of its grasp. Agonizing fire tore through his lower back. He choked back a scream, wrapped both hands around the creature’s energy weapon and twisted onto his back, squeezing the weapon hard.

Nothing happened.

Hostile aggression smothered him. Claws filled his sight.

His fingers found a projection in the weapon’s smooth surface and a wide beam lit up a blue leathery boned skull with a V-shaped slit. The insectoid-like alien reared back, but then emitted a clicking sound, its arm raised to strike.

Niall’s pumping heart hit overdrive.

No. His mission did not end here.

Not with humanity’s future in the balance.

Time slowed.

Subconscious manipulation of space-time had saved his ass too often, but this creature was beyond anything he’d encountered. Think! Niall mentally stepped outside the physical plane and used the slower time flow to examine the weapon in his hand—a simple energy pack with a self-charging casing. No focusing system. No magnetic targeting.

Because...

Back in the present, Niall fired a second time. His mind contained the beam, forging a narrow electromagnetic causeway of raw energy into a tight pathway that leaked into the visible spectrum, a green light, the same color as the forcefield that had scooped him up in space. Blue-grey flesh scorched black as the creepy bastard’s screech blasted Niall’s eardrums. The alien toppled. Struck the ground hard. Keeping his weapon trained on the fallen creature, Niall studied its smoking carcass spread-eagled across a full two-meter expanse of rock. Blue-grey sinuous muscle supported a chest-plated structure that overlaid a thin skeletal frame, the top half resting inside a ball and socket pelvic structure. Its size, bulbous head, and an intuitive certainty told Niall he’d fought his first Formorri in the flesh and Balor’s henchman wasn’t getting up.

So. They weren’t invincible.

He studied the Formorri’s weirdly jointed limbs and plated chest, noted the red blood glistening on long vicious talons.

His blood.

Pain ripped across his back as he recalled the Formorri’s attack. He couldn’t assess the damage, but those talons had dug in maybe a couple of centimeters, either side of his spine. A throbbing set up and spread. It could have been worse. Those talons measured at least five inches and would have met up the other side of his spine, destroying his kidneys on the way. Niall raked in air laced with ammonia. Clammy sweat broke out on his forehead. Pain skewered his head and a dark veil drew across his vision.

Maybe he could close his eyes.

Just for a minute.

A shrill scream shocked him out of a growing fugue.

His whole body jolted.

What the hell?

Ignoring his wounds, Niall crawled towards better cover, clutching the alien laser gun to his chest, only now noticing that the scarf he’d made to cover mouth and nose hung around his neck.

It hurt to raise his arms and grasp the material.

A frightened shout cut short his attempt to mask up again, the voice gruff and desperate. A second cry followed, this one higher pitched, female.

She sounded young. Surely Morrígan.

Niall groaned, tried to see over his rock. Moving hurt, aggravated his injuries, but the girl was in trouble, and he possessed a weapon with clout. He stood, convinced every muscle in his back had been shredded although he knew that wasn’t true. He nearly dropped his new gun taking the first step.

He hesitated. Do this and he put his mission at risk.

There was a bigger picture to consider.

A second jarring scream increased his discomfort. Throaty with anguished desperation, pleading... the sound of a life on the edge, a cry hard to ignore.

Goddammit!

An old friend’s advice flitted through his head.

Once you commit, make it count.

Didn’t mean he needed to expose his position too soon.

Niall blasted out a telepathic crack of pain... raw genuine pain. And then he waited, muscles shaky from adrenalin overload, weapon raised. Perspiration dripped into his eyes. He blinked it away, looked through a stinging watery haze, flinched once as a second large blue alien stormed around the prominence of rock, one paw buried inside its catch with ease.

Niall didn’t hold back.

He blasted the fucker’s monstrous skull clean off. A young girl raced into view, nearly collided with the alien but caught the tail end of Niall’s laser burst as his concentration lapsed.

She jerked, colorful layers of clothing swishing around her torso as she spun away from the collapsing energy field.

Shit!

The alien’s carcass toppled back and hit the ground with a resounding thud, its pincer-like grip buried in a Morrígan male. Niall scanned the snagged Morrígan for life, noting his blue-tinged skin tone and taloned hands possessing just four digits. The Morrígan looked taller than those Niall had met on Astereal, which was surprising given the strong gravity on this world.

He mentally scanned the area again, searching for more of the Formorri’s signature hostility but found nothing. The girl had crept around the Formorri’s smoking remains to reach the unmoving male who lay twisted on his side. One hand protected the left side of her face where Niall’s blast had caught her. She dropped down beside the dead Morrígan.

Patr, Patr!

Niall swore, his curse a soft whisper.

Whimpering in low moans, the girl flapped her free hand over the alien paw embedded in her father’s back, although Niall second-guessed the girl’s relationship to the Morrígan for the contrast between her and the two dead bodies couldn’t be clearer.

The kid’s skin was tanned a golden-brown, nothing like the blue hue of the male she called Patr, and her hand possessed four fingers and a thumb. Based on her human-looking features, he guessed her to be Asterean. Whatever her parentage, her grief for the stricken Morrígan tugged at Niall’s heart. Aching desolation strained her desperate pleas as she bent double over her patr’s body.

When Niall staggered forward, she looked up. He saw a child, a young teenager maybe, her expression contorted with distress. Behind her transparent eye protection, tears clung to thick black lashes. Her eyes weren’t Morrígan either. She had round black pupils, not that squared off shape, although black strands of thick, coarse Morrígan hair blew across the filter mask covering her nose and mouth. An oily substance smeared her skin—possibly solar protection? Beneath the cover of her hand, a striated red burn stretched from jaw to cheekbone and back to her ear. Would the lake water be safe to use?

He gestured to her face, searching for the words.

Cool wound, he managed, his Morrígan stilted. Cover.

Her aura blazed with fury. You! Her voice emerged clearly though the filter, her Morrígan accent strong. One finger pointed at him. You kalou Formorri!

Niall didn’t recognize the word kalou. He switched to Asterean, taking a guess at her meaning. Yes, I kill Formorri. This is your patr? Maybe I can help. He cringed. The girl’s father was beyond medical intervention.

He took a step forward but she shook her head.

No. My father dead! Her voice broke into a keening wail that she caught before it took hold. She’d switched to Asterean though, her accent hard and the dialect varied, but understandable. You did this! You brought Formorri! You killed my father! It had to hurt her to speak with the burn to her cheek, but the accusations tumbled out one after the other. Who are you? Where did you come from?

Niall frowned. No, I... He took a breath. Formorri killed him. I’m sorry. I got here too late.

She shook her head, broadcasting accusation and fury. "But you brought the Formorri to Xosi! They track you here and now they find us!"

Kalou. Not killed, but brought, or called. Summoned.

A sinking in his gut took root and, unable to refute her charge, Niall bit his tongue on further defense. Cursing, he moved forward, the effort pulling on the wounds to his back, his bulk forcing his young accuser to shuffle aside. He fell heavily to one knee, and pressed two fingers against her father’s jugular.

A lack of pulse confirmed death. Why dead though? The Formorri’s talons had penetrated the Morrígan’s back below the lungs and heart. With the girl watching, Niall jiggled the alien’s talons free. He couldn’t see signs of an arterial breach. He examined the dead male’s skin tone, observed the wrinkles around his eyes. The Morrígan was older than he’d first assumed, and no warrior. Maybe the trauma had triggered a fatal coronary. Whatever the final cause of death, Niall could do nothing for him.

He struggled back up. I’m sorry, I didn’t intend this, I didn’t realize... There were no words. Pulse rising, he cast his mind wide for more Formorri.

The girl swung away, her thin body hunched over in silent misery, chest heaving in short rapid breaths. A tumult of broken emotion swirled around her, her anguish undermining whatever shielding she possessed.

Your aura is... strong, Niall warned, and if there are more Formorri...

She speared him with a mix of indignation and censure, but her aura contracted nonetheless before fading out. Niall lifted an eyebrow, her skill impressive. He checked his own psi output, relieved to find his emotions contained behind rigid shields. We need to get that burn treated. Do you have water? He really didn’t want to use the lake water. Her hand lifted, but didn’t touch her blistered cheek. She shook her head. Is your home far? he asked.

He prayed it was not.

The girl nodded, seemed to fight with a decision, but then she rose to her feet with enviable ease and bent over her father. Her hand hovered over the Morrígan’s eyewear for several seconds before she stripped the protection off, together with the face mask. When she offered them to Niall with outstretched hand, his throat constricted. He knew her anger had not abated and that made the gesture unexpected, selfless even.

He accepted the precious items with appropriate gratitude. Thank you.

The kid refused to meet his eyes. You go now! Leave Xosi! You bring danger to our world.

It’s not that simple. I have no ship. And I can’t leave you out here. Alone with her dead father.

Her chin thrust towards him. More Formorri will come. Where scouts killed, warriors must follow. All worlds in the galacticus know this. You must go. Tribes hide.

Tribes. Worlds. Galacticus. She’d already told him so much.

For one, her tribes were nothing like the Formorri.

He needed to overcome her distrust. Maybe her tribe could help him. He studied the girl, her scowl fierce enough to strip skin off. Although her aura stayed hidden, stubborn tension lined her jaw and her dark eyes darted around them, and then to the sky. She fought terror as well as fury. This was a strong-willed, intelligent girl living on the edge. Her words painted a lifetime of evasion and subterfuge beneath the roving eye of a powerful enemy. Niall had been in Balor’s universe barely hours before encountering the Formorri. How had her tribe survived?

Turning her back on Niall, the girl ducked down and worked her hands under her father’s shoulders. All her effort could not move him.

We can fetch help, Niall said, anxiety building. He checked around them, a stiff rotation, blood slick under his suit.  Better dress his wounds before he passed out.

The girl ignored his suggestion and made a second attempt at moving her father, grunting when she managed to shift his dead weight a couple of feet.

Niall grimaced. We’ll get help. Come back.

No. I not leave him. Her glance shot to a sudden thrashing at the water’s edge. One of those water snakes lurking under the sand. You go. Now. Leave Xosi. Same way you came.

Except that was the sticking point. He couldn’t return home and he could see no bridge off this planet that didn’t lead directly to Formorri. Didn’t matter. He wasn’t leaving her alone, nor could he help her without better support. Niall mashed his swollen lips together and put on the face mask and eyewear.

The girl threw him a couple of sharp glances as she struggled to drag her father. Then she growled out, You are still here? Her impressive rebuke faltered when red-booted heels skidded forward and she fell on her backside with a bump and a yelp. Emitting a strangled cry of frustration, she leapt back to her impossible task.

Hell, they both struggled with their self-imposed tasks. It hurt like a bitch unzipping the last wing sections of his suit. Niall thumped onto his knees to slice the material into strips with the aid of an unbloodied Formorri talon. He tied the strips into a long dressing, gritted his teeth, and began the laborious task of wrapping the bandage around his lower torso. Meanwhile, the girl shifted her father ten feet.

You are hurt?

Niall looked up and discovered her walking towards him. It’s nothing. Except he felt shaky. Blood loss.

She unwrapped the mess he’d made. Formorri did this? she asked, probing his wounds.

"The ugly one. Ow. Niall hissed as she probed the edges of the wound on his left. The uncomfortable pressure lightened. Got me good, huh?"

When there was no reply, Niall swiveled around. The dark-haired girl stood in mute shock, her aura visible now, a psi cloud of horror and fear. Eyes wide with terror stared back at him from behind her transparent eyewear, the burn on her cheek stark against a face drained of blood. She clutched his makeshift bandage in a trembling fist. One end trailed across the ground.

Niall checked around them. Found nothing to warrant her concern. Was it him that distressed her? His wounds?

He checked the bandage in the dirt.

It’s best to keep that dressing clean.

He kept his voice soft, but she started anyway, flinching away from him. Then, after a moment, she lifted the dressing out of harm’s way.

Niall took a shallow breath through his new filter. I know it looks bad, but a tight dressing will help me walk. I could do with your help. Don’t be afraid.

She swallowed and her eyes briefly focused on him before skittering away. Her aura retracted. Not afraid. The words were brave. Her voice emerged harsh and shredded. After a few seconds more, she added, I am named Eilise.

Niall blinked, recognizing her disclosure as an olive branch, a measure of trust that he hadn’t earned. He held back from returning the gesture, not quite ready to take this next step in his mission. When had a simple name become the start of the end? Instead, he nodded and then stared forward as Eilise began to wrap the support bandage around him. That grief he’d thought buried tightened his throat, and suddenly, her loss became his own. He wanted to offer words of comfort, but Eilise held him responsible for her father’s death and there was little he could say to change that. He lifted his arms to give her room to work, holding a rigid control over his aura to hide the pain the process caused him.

Keep the wrapping tight, he instructed. He couldn’t begin to lift her father without this support. A dry cough aggravated his throat, although the filter had eased his breathing. Eilise. Is the water safe to drink?

The wetlands? No, but I have water. Eilise pulled aside his filter and offered him a water pouch. One sip only. Water is precious on Xosi. Not need for burn. Healer fix me.

Ah. Of course, the Morrígan had a healer.

He took only what she offered, barely a swallow.

This planet is Xosi?

Yes. She frowned, seemed reluctant to ask. You are named?

Niall had prepared his answer. Held off the moment no longer. Kelan. The name sounded strange on his lips. I am named Kelan.

The grief sharpened. For he had left his former life behind. Back on Astereal, the High Brighid of Astereal’s ancient past had warned him. Here on Xosi, in this universe, Niall Kearey did not exist. Could not exist. Balor would not find Earth until far into the future and Niall needed to keep it that way. To conceal his identity. Protect his memories. So, nothing filtered into the memory stream. That had been his decision on Astereal and the disappearance of the dark star Bacchus sealed his fate.

No dark star. No going back. Life ended. A new life begun.

I am Kelan now.

Simple.

He smothered his sorrow. Locked his former life up tight.

Anything that threatened the job Kelan had come here to do.

Chapter Three

Eilise measured her pace to the uneven footsteps of the stranger Kelan who traipsed after her, carrying the body of her patr before him. They followed a ridge of rock across the wetland, the treacherous water two strides either side of their narrow rock path, the wetland stretching to the setting suns to their left, and the mountain to their right.

Not far now, she said over the sob lodged in her throat.

Blinking back hot tears, she scanned the sand bed, alert for movement, listening for any disturbance. The fading light made the lurking water beasts difficult to spot and she jumped when a sabulam burst out the water and thrashed about on the rock before sliding back into the water.

Crap! Kelan whispered.

Eilise sensed his meaning and half-turned. The sabulam cannot cross the rock.

You sure?

Yes. Sabulam moved by blowing sand aside and swimming in the infill, sometimes they beached too far and couldn’t retreat back to the water. She’d suffered a sabulam bite once. Her matr had sucked the poisonous fang out of her foot, saving her life. How would her matr cope now? Doril and Lidar shared a mating born of love. The ache in her heart sank into the soles of her feet and the tears she’d held back welled.

The patr who loved her as his daughter was departed.

No more would Lidar teach her the Morrígan way.

No longer would his soothing touch chase away her visions.

Lidar’s death changed everything, and she wanted to hate him, Kelan, this intruder to their world. She didn’t want his help. She wanted him gone, to lash out and banish him from Xosi, except what good would that do now? She couldn’t turn back time. Stop what was to come. And it was too late, anyway. The externum carried the news of his arrival far and wide, the dark medium binding the galacticus together sensitive to minds like Kelan’s.

Eilise clenched her fists around her growing dilemma.

She needed him. She hated him. It wasn’t fair.

Why did Kelan come? Why Xosi?

She didn’t want Kelan here. She wanted Lidar back. She wanted everything back as it was, before the stranger.

He has ruined everything!

Struck with certainty that Kelan had caught her outburst, she swung around and met his gaze, her hands still curled into tight little balls. She saw the strain in his face, the pale scar on his forehead, and the quizzical glint from behind the eye protection. Guilt intensified her anger. But she hadn’t asked for his help. He’d insisted. Forced her to guide him back to her people.

This stranger. This bringer of death.

Unable to bear the sight of her lifeless patr in the stranger’s arms, Eilise whipped her head forward and picked up the pace. As the ridge broadened into a flat expanse of rock, Eilise sensed Doril’s telepathic signature.

Matr!

With a sob of relief, she broke into a jog, ears detecting a growing murmur as minds tuned into hers, the Gwenni tribe familiar to her, a beacon to guide her home. She looked back. Night closed in fast and Kelan’s darkened figure dropped behind.

Wait for us, she called.

She didn’t await his answer, the need to reach Doril overwhelming. Within a minute, she heard Doril’s vocal call, first Eilise and then Lidar, a more desperate cry reflecting Doril’s inability to connect with her mate. Parties converged on her from several directions, but only one mattered. Eilise flew into Doril’s embrace.

Matr.

Doril hugged her so tightly, Eilise squealed. Her mother eased off, stepping back to where she could scrutinize Eilise from head to toe, her Morrígan eyesight better able to penetrate the dark. We heard the shockwave. When you didn’t come home... Doril brushed hair aside to better inspect the damage. Eilise! We must get you to a healer. Her voice broke. But what of Lidar? I cannot reach him.

Tears welled and the pain she’d held back broke through. The Formorri... Eilise couldn’t say the words, her cheek stiff and painful, her loss too sharp, and her tongue burred with thirst. She’d given Kelan the last of her water. Shaking her head, Eilise hunted for Doril’s water pouch and without bothering to remove it from her mother’s belt, she tore off the seal, pulled aside her breathing filter and drank a single measure. No one wasted clean water on Xosi. She wiped her mouth and replaced her filter before dragging in a deep breath. Formorri came, Matr. Two raid ships. Patr forbade me from contacting you. He said the Formorri would detect us if we projected, put the Gwenni at risk. We didn’t think they’d be interested in us, but one found us anyway. Patr tried to protect me...

Eilise couldn’t stop herself. Her mind broadcast the horrific scene far and wide, a flash of the Formorri’s creepy triangular-striped mouth turning towards Eilise as Lidar flew through the air and into a rock. Patr threw a stone. Another image, this time of the Formorri darting after Lidar, plunging its talons into Lidar’s back...

Doril keened a wail of sorrow.

A stronger, authoritative mind shut Eilise down before the memory overwhelmed them all.

Their leader, Telto.

Enough, Eilise.  The silent check helped her regain control as Telto looked into the darkness, to where she’d left Kelan, but then his gaze narrowed back on Eilise.

Bile razed her throat. I am sorry, she whispered.

You are young. His voice rumbled out from low in his chest.  Frightened. There is no need for apology. The tribe projects interference. Lidar was wise to counsel silence, although I fear the caution wasted. Foreboding edged his voice. The tribal leader towered over her, his rust-speckled scruff thick and bristly on his jaw, unlike his bald head shining under the light of the stars. Formorri raiders were bound to investigate a disturbance in the externum so close to the border. Who follows you, Eilise? His defenses are strong.

Eilise glanced behind her before returning her gaze to Telto. His name is Kelan. He caused the disturbance. She frowned, rethinking her earlier assumptions, but then shook her head. He must have, because he brought the Formorri to Xosi. I think he is Asterean, but his dialect is strange. I’m not sure where his ship is—or if he even has one—but Formorri raiders detected his arrival. One found me and Lidar, and it attacked Patr, but then Kelan... Eilise hesitated, unsure how to describe what had happened. "Kelan attracted its attention, I heard his mind too, and the Formorri who attacked us followed his call. It took Lidar, but it wasn’t interested in us, Telto. It wanted Kelan. He is... different. I know, because when I touched him—" She stopped, her vision too terrifying to describe. She wished she’d never laid eyes on Kelan.

You touched him? Doril demanded, distracted from her grief. "Why? What did he do to you? Why is