Fragment of Destiny

Scores of dusk blades and armored skimmers filled the horizon before disappearing behind the rim as Samuel and Tess touched down in Central. Samuel had been ordered to proceed immediately to the detention center to begin the interrogation of Slobber-pot in hopes of finding a way to halt the malravian aggression. During the entire flight, Tess sat silent, the icy calm of a person who understands fully that they are now a prisoner and powerless to escape.

Samuel tried to piece together how she could have gotten mixed up in all this. Demetrius had told him some things but he had so many questions he didn’t even know where to begin. As much as he longed to have her back as a friend, he feared taking off his helmet now. In the end, Samuel decided it was better than she not know he had been the one to kill Yami.

Exiting the dusk blade, they were ushered into a waiting skimmer. Samuel winced as he watched a novice cuff Tess before forcing her into the prisoner transport section at the rear of the vehicle.

The ride to the detention facility was short and passed in unbearable silence. Fear and suspicion were thick in the air the noxious flow coiling around his barrier like a serpent. Samuel moved with leaden feat when the skimmer hatch opened. He wanted to know what they were going to do with Tess, but even as he waited another enforcer shouted at him.

“Come on the high inquisitor wants to in the interrogation room now.”

Reluctantly Samuel turned toward the building, there was nothing he could do for Tess now, but at least she was alive. Steeling himself for the interrogation to come, he moved quickly to the prep room.

Samuel was surprised to find Professor LaBou waiting, he had expected Dolan.

“Professor, what are you doing here?”

“They brought me in to run an analysis on the big man. His biological makeup is apparently of interest to you people.”

Samuel looked through the prep room’s one-way window at the detainee. He was indeed a big man, massive in fact.

“What you see before you, is the result of illegal genetic splicing done with malravian DNA. It is remarkable that he is alive at all. With the things he has done to himself…” Arthur trailed off shaking his head.

“You mean that he was his own test subject?”

“Precisely, or at least that is what he confessed to when I asked him. He has been surprisingly forthcoming and to this point, everything he has told me, at least on a biological level, appears to be true. I have further tests to run back in the lab. So I will leave him to you.” Arthur looked toward the interrogation room door and wet his lips, “And be careful in there. They have him chained up but I don’t think they could hold him, not if he really wanted to get free.”

Samuel nodded feeling his barrier waver at the thought. Then he remembered Tess. “Professor wait, there is something you need to know. We found Tess. She was in Crescent. I believe she is being held here somewhere.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Arthur said his face instantly flush with emotion. Samuel’s barrier cracked under the intense pressure and Arthurs flood of relief and trepidation oozed in. Samuel groaned as Arthur nearly crushed him in an embrace, despite the battle armor, before darting out the door.

Fixing his eyes on the door to the interrogation room Samuel exhaled and reset his barrier. Entering the room Samuel felt a familiar tinge of emotion like an alien taint of what should have been human. The hulking man looked and felt unruffled as if he were no more chained to a wall than Samuel was. Getting a good look at the man Samuel cringed inwardly, the deformity on his jaw was more disturbing than the pictures showed. The lower left side of his face was a gnarled clasp of flesh that moved with the man’s heavy breathing, drool seeping from the underside of the deformity.

“What’s the matter Samuel do I frighten you?” He said with a laugh; causing, even more, drool to spindle down to the floor. “That’s right I know who you are. Don’t act so surprised. Go ahead take off the helmet. Let me see those purple eyes of yours. I know I may not look it, but I am a man who does his homework.”

“Then you know that this is the end of the line for you. Though, I do have to thank you for saving Demetrius.”

“It was my pleasure. He has been an instrumental part in getting our enemy to show his hand.”

“Dolan is not my enemy. And as far as hands go.” Samuel paused and gestured to their surroundings. “Yours is a losing one.”

Larry smiled a grotesque smile, Samuel hadn’t thought the face could get any uglier. “But I am not talking about Dolan. He is just another pawn in the grand scheme.”

“What do you mean?” Samuel asked. He knew he could force Larry to tell him whatever he wanted, but for now, the tail held his interest enough to let the man continue unhindered.

Instead, Larry just laughed at the question. More drool slopping in a puddle on the floor.

“Fine,” Samuel said raising a hand as a show of force. “You know what comes next. You’re going to tell me everything I want to know.” Samuel said and he placed a hand to Larry’s massive left arm.

Larry only chuckled even more. “Empathic manipulation, I am impressed it seems you have really grown into your ability. But you know, I have had a lifetime of resisting.”

Suddenly an overwhelming wave of bloodlust flooded the room. Samuel staggered under the weight of it gasping to hold on to the last shreds of sanity as his barrier burnt up like paper in a firestorm. The urge to kill was so strong it was all he could do to keep his hands from tearing at the man’s throat. Then in an instant, the pressure was gone. Samuel looked up stunned by the serene calm over Larry’s face.

“I am going to share a few things with you, but it is because I want to,” Larry said. Samuel stumbled backward but found himself locked in place by some overriding force. An intense curiosity for what Larry would say next weighed heavy on him and he found himself almost giddy for the man’s next words. Fear surged in the back of his mind and he attempted to reform his barrier but it was battered aside with no consequence.

“I assume you were sent here to get information from me about Corwin, the Malravian attacks and how to stop them? Am I right?”

Samuel only grunted giving an affirmative nod.

“We have known about these modified malravians for quite some time. I even got my hands on a few of them. That’s how I managed this,” He said gesturing to himself. “Then we stopped seeing them popping up in Crescent for a while. It was not until your two friends showed up that this case was blown wide open. That girl, your crystal-less friend.” At once Samuel’s mind went to Ju, what did this monster want with her?

“She is not a crystal-less after all. She is the key to everything. She can change the state of the energy inside a crystal that gives its user their ability. Change it, manipulate it, even absorb it for herself. You have seen this same ability first hand, haven’t you? I can see it in your eyes.”

Samuel felt hollow as Seth’s final moments and the agony he had felt when his crystal was drained played through his mind.

“At present, she has only begun to scratch the surface of what she can do. Above all else Samuel you must ensure she survives.”

“What do you mean survives?” Samuel demanded.

“You would not have realized this, but she has been hunted from the moment she was rejected from your academy as a crystal-less." It was then that Samuel realized that he meant Tess, not Ju. He felt an unbidden weight lift off of him. "You didn’t really think the enforcers would undertake such an elaborate, and secretive search, for Arthur Labou’s, missing Crystal-less daughter, without some ulterior motive? Contrary to what you may have been told Corwin is not an organization he is a person or at least was at one time. They may have told you that I worked for Corwin or was a ring leader in a secret organization. After the attack on my city, I think even you can see that story is a load of crap. The only thing your precious high inquisitor got right was that Corwin is indeed behind the malravian attacks.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“If Dolan had given you any actual intel you would know I am a collector, and I specialize in information. I can see the wheels turning in your mind Samuel. Haven’t you spent enough time in this interrogation room to know truth from lies when you hear it?”

Samuel found himself in awe of just how much this man knew about him, and about things he should not have. Even so if what slobber-pot said was true then Samuel had gotten the information he had come for.

“You said Corwin was once a man, then what is he now. Like you?”

“No, not like me, I am one of a kind. He is something far worse. Tell me, Samuel, were you schooled in the Halsinion history that the Imperium so brazenly considers myth?” Samuel nodded, his grandmother had told him stories. Whether or not they were considered history, he didn’t know.

“The Halsinion history of the wraith wars is incomplete. The war has never ended. It is still going on to this day. Even now your fellow enforcers are fighting and dying against the hordes under his command.”

“You mean to tell me that the immortal god of death is real?”

“Not a god, and hardly immortal. However, that girl is the only true weapon we have with which to fight him. I believe she must become the new wraith slayer of our age, but only time will tell.”

Samuel’s head was spinning with the implications. He could be lying, but if he wasn’t. Then his train of thought came to a halt. “What do you mean time will tell?”

“You’re a bright young man. Think about it. Now that we have this information, and Corwin knows that we do. Do you really believe he will sit by and let us plot and plan? No, not when he has command over his malravian army. Even now Crescent has fallen, and the remaining enforcers are being called back to defend Central. Will you sit by with hands in your pockets as this city is overrun?”

Slowly Samuel felt the threads of curiosity unwind releasing him to move again. He hesitated a moment unsure what to do next, then he opened a link to Elroy. If Renkofski was telling the truth, then he needed to find Tess and Ju.

“Elroy, come in,” Samuel said. There was a brief silence before he could hear Elroy on the other end. “I need to know what is happening in Crescent.”

“Ok, hang on a second.”

Samuel could hear a slight curse as Elroy came back to the link.

“Dolan has recalled all of the enforcers, he is abandoning Crescent to the malravians.”

“And one more thing.” Renkofski said interrupting, “You will want to retrieve Mr. Cross’s crystal for him. He will be needing it soon.”

Samuel glared at Larry before dashing from the room, the heavy door locking behind him. “Elroy can you patch me through to Dolan I need to speak with him right away.”

“Patching you through now,” Elroy said.

“Sr. Novice Spector, make it quick I am meeting with the overseer,” Dolan snapped as the link connected.

“Serious bad news sir. A faction or person called Corwin has been breeding these modified malravians which I believe is how he is commanding their forces. Also, sir, the prisoner believes Corwin has created another weapon. It is somehow capable of controlling the mist that powers the crystals themselves-”

“Great work Samuel,” Dolan said cutting him off. “Now I need you back at the barracks immediately. We need every enforcer for the defense of Central.”

“Understood sir, but there is one more thing-” Gunfire rang out over the link then it went dead. Fear surged through Samuel shattering his barrier and caused him to slump against a wall for support. Breathing heavy he forced the barrier back in place, now was no time to let fear take him. Whatever was going on he needed to find Tess. Just then a communication scrolled across his heads-up display. It was being sent over all channels. It simply said,

“Awaken.”