Chapter Seventeen — Part 4

“I like to gloat. It’s fun. I have every intention of making you an example for anybody who might try to cross me in the future.” Wastik punched me in the head, and I let out an uncontrolled yelp.

Wastik must have sprained his hand, because he rubbed his wrist for a moment. Just to prove he wasn’t hurting too badly, he struck me again.

“We both know that only a very fortuitous circumstance brought my power about. If it weren’t for two critical mass asteroids at the edge of the Scandivat solar system, the Scandivats’ colony would have no need of a new home. Wasn’t easy, pushing those asteroids out of their unstable orbits and spinning their incredible mass so they would strike each other and the Scandivats’ colony with enough force to create a thermonuclear detonation. It took months of calculations.”

“You’re so smart.” I said condescendingly. “At least you managed to tell me what part was broken. It’s you, Wastik. Since you’re the person responsible for breaking the universe, I’ll have to fix you.” Anger boiled in my blood, hot and intense.

“Like to think of it as upgrading, really. You know, remove the useless mash and make a few enhancements to the new ones. I knew that the angels and the Governor of the Forever Children would try contacting the Scandivats’ colony, and send a Forever Child as an ambassador. I had to keep that from happening twice.”

“So you killed Jupe and my parents, and the Governors before her.”

“Oh, I did more than that. It took two asteroid strikes to kill your precious Forever Child and wipe out the old Central. I think the replacement is a grand example of ignorant youth, don’t you? I slaughtered the Governors and the Elite Guardian Angels, leaving only the bureaucrats and the children to resist me.”

I was shocked, and it must have shown through my beating. He looked at me, as if he had said something he regretted. Then he smiled wickedly, his eyes dark slits without a hint of sincerity.

“I’m sorry, I guess you didn’t know that you’re the last angel. You hadn’t heard about that, had you? I’m afraid you can’t call on angels for help now. Without the Guardians, your bureaucratic race is frozen in place.” He looked at me, his eyes feral. “The only Humanity that will remain is mine. My Elves will rule the world and humans will be a thing of the past.”

“Not if I can help it.” Genesis burst through a hole in the dark.

The local Otherspace brightened, and I felt my strength returning. It gave me a chance to collect my wits.

“How’d you get here?” Wastik asked, turning on Genesis. I kicked him in the butt, sent him spinning.

“Hurry Governor. I can’t keep this place stable for long. We have to take our chances in Realspace.”

Wastik recovered from my assault and he looked angrily at Genesis and me.

“I’ll kill you both.” He materialized a sword, ready to slice me in two.

The earrings started to glow, then fizzled, and I felt part of me tapped and drained by their effort. I was still too weak to defend myself, but Genesis jumped straight into Wastik’s blade. The Forever Child was no fighter, and his wings were slashed to pieces in seconds. Genesis was left drifting in the center of his own blood splatters. The look of pain on his face was more than I could deal with, and my concern turned to anger and fear. White searing strength rose up from my soul. Genesis faded from sight, leaving Wastik and me alone once more.

Otherspace became Mixedspace once again, but my helplessness didn’t return. I’d remembered to make a pocket of Otherspace around me, skin-tight and strong enough to force back the chaos. I was glowing with golden energy, Otherspace energy trickling from every cell of my body, and my strength returned to me. The earrings resonated and added their power to my protective field, and when I turned to face Wastik, he crouched down cautiously.

“You’ll pay for what you’ve done.” I said.