Chapter Forty-Two: Revelations

 

Domino's POV

It seemed that the stairs went up and up forever, each crystal studded step draining my energy. I wondered if I actually would have enough energy to fight Lawrence when I reached the top. For as the altitude increased, so did the brightness of the glowing walls. There was no doubt about it; Lawrence was at the top of this tower...waiting for me. A low rumble shook the tower as raw energy sparked off the walls and earthed itself far below, as I looked up and down all I could see were clouds swirling slowly, I could neither see my destination nor the floor. I didn't know how many steps I had climbed...or how many I had to go.

Part of me began to regret stunning Thunderchild and Jara, I had a horrible feeling I was going to need their help.

 

Thunderchild's POV

I paced the bridge restlessly as the Illustrious swayed in the energy discharges which buffeted us, Zidane kept a close watch for any energy spikes as I stared out of the view screen, I had the engines and sensors at maximum at grave cost to weapons and shields, which explained the occasional shudder as sparks of raw energy flashed past us. Zidane looked at me questioningly as I passed him again.

"She'll hold...She has to."

Zidane nodded and went back to checking his instruments.

There was a sudden bleeping noise from Zidanes console, and instantly I was at his side.

"I'm picking up an energy reading ahead...no...Make that two energy readings."

My hands moved Zidanes to one side as I took control of the Invincible, Zidane was about to protest but seeing the scowl on my face he thought better of it and just relinquished the controls.

"I see it...I'm altering course to intercept...hey!"

Zidane jumped as I yelled out and began hitting more buttons on the control panel.

"I've seen this energy pattern before...it's the Invincible!"

Zidane was at my side in an instant.

"I see it too...but what's this other reading? It's dwarfing the Invincible!"

"Yissan! Look!"

I looked up to see what Jara was pointing at as the many coloured clouds moved away. Directly in front of us was a large tower made of many colour crystals, it was a lot bigger and more ominous than the crystal tower which Jara made in Ankh-Morpork a year ago, on a level plane with us and moored to the tower was the Invincible, still looking as badly damaged as it had when we had entered the portal.

"She has to be in there...somewhere." I muttered, setting a course which would take us to the same moorings as the Invincible.

Mikoto nodded and stepped forward to look at the tower.

"It's massive." she observed.

I nodded in acknowledgement, it certainly was huge, at least a hundred stories tall, probably more...the airship mooring point was about three quarters of the way up the tower, I carried on looking up the tower, casting my gaze to the very top...the high level clouds swirled around it like the beginning of a tornado and I had a fairly good idea just who was up there to cause that kind of raw power to be earthed.

"Zidane, Mikoto, Kuja...I want you to guard the Illustrious."

Zidane was instantly protesting but I held up a hand to silence him.

"No Zidane, let me and Jara handle this...we'll need the Illustrious to escape..."

"But Domino is my sister..."

"And she is my WIFE, now if I have to Zidane I will chain you to this ship...but you're staying here!!"

Zidane looked angry but wisely said no more, the rest of the journey to the moorings was spent in silence as I concentrated on piloting the somewhat awkward Illustrious.

Eventually we slowed alongside the long platform which protruded from the tower, I wondered how a stone platform could protrude so far from the tower without falling down, but I guessed that the normal laws of physics were null and void in this place.

I slid my index finger across to the teleporter control and was forced to select the destination manually as the automatic scanner was having a nervous breakdown trying to comprehend the crystal world. I nodded to Jara who came and stood by my side and then I turned to the genomes.

"Please, don't come after us...I don't want you to get involved in this."

Kuja shook his head.

"Lawrence made us...we are already involved..."

I frowned, he had a point.

"Look Kuja, this is going to be dangerous...and with all due respect, I don't want Lawrence turning you against us."

All of the genomes looked angry and Mikoto opened her mouth to begin a retort but I quickly interrupted her.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean for that to sound as rude as it did...but, you must understand...since Lawrence made you, he knows how to control you."

"And what of Yugami?" asked Mikoto

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose.

"I guess I'll just have to cross that bridge when I get to it."

She nodded slowly.

"Take care Thunderchild."

"You too."

I tapped the teleport control and the Illustrious faded away to be replaced with a long, narrow stretch of rock, to my left floated the wreck that was the Invincible and to my right the Illustrious. Jara beamed in beside me a second later, the wind which funnelled up the tower blowing her long brown hair around her face.

"We'd better hurry...I don't know how far ahead Domino might be." I said, drawing Draconus and pushing my black cape behind me, I was still wearing Fury's clothing I realised, but I shook my head and put the disturbing thought to one side, I could get changed later.

We began running towards the tower, I could see a large entrance a short distance away, a thick black shadow blocking any view of what lay within, the hairs on my arm stood on end as bolts of energy streaked down the outside of the tower and flashed away into the clouds below. I tried to focus on the doorway, and not the seemingly endless drop below.

"Halt!"

"Wha?"

I skidded to a stop and froze, the voice had come from behind me, and although it was a man's voice, it was not Lawrence's. I slowly turned around.

"Ilvian..."

The silver genome nodded, his sword blade scant inches from my throat, Rhiana stood opposite, her blade aimed at Jara.

"So Fury...you come all the way here chasing Lawrence, with this woman..."

"I'm not..."

"You lied to us Fury...you said you could help us, and all you did was to leave us at the hands of a mad man."

I could see the rage in Ilvians eyes as he spat his words out at me.

"I'm sorry..."

A mechanical hand closed around my throat and lifted me from the floor.

"Yissan!" cried Jara as I flailed around uselessly, wanting to speak but nothing but choking gasps would issue from my throat as I struggled to breathe, Draconus clattering to the floor.

"Ilvian! Stop it! You've made your point!"

Ilvian narrowed his biological eye at me and sneered.

"No...I want to see this bastard suffer. Like he made all those genomes suffer!"

Rhiana swung her sword around until it pointed at Ilvians neck.

"I said ENOUGH!!"

Ilvian stared at her in surprise.

"You would kill me, sister? Kill me over this worthless fool?"

I could see blackness at the edge of my vision, I went limp and tried to survive on what little air I had left.

"Listen to yourself Ilvian! You sound just like him! Don't lower yourself to his level!!"

Ilvian stared at me icily again for a few moments and then let go, I fell to the floor, both of my hands around my throat, gasping down air gratefully as Ilvian sheathed his sword.

"Look at you...pathetic." he spat, kicking me in the side with his metal foot, I winced as the blow knocked me over on my side.

"I'm....not...Fury..." I gasped

"What do you mean? You look like him, sound like him..." said Rhiana sceptically.

"He was a poison...a..curse...I broke free."

"You'll have to excuse me if I don't believe you." said Ilvian with a sneer.

I nodded, I expected as much.

"Then kill me...kill me and spend the rest of your life serving Lawrence."

I could see the hesitation in Rhianas eyes.

"Trade one mad man for another...is that what you want? You have to believe me...my name is Yissan Gojenta, I am not Fury...I am his opposite...and if you'll let me, I'm going to help stop Lawrence."

Rhiana sheathed her sword and put her hands on her hips.

"Very well, we'll let you live..."

"Rhiana!!" protested Ilvian.

"Listen to him Ilvian! Does that sound like Fury to you? Do you think Fury would surrender so easily? I remember that Zidane talking to his wife about this man...how Fury was the exact opposite of everything he held dear...I believe him."

I slowly stood up and brushed the dirt from my trousers.

"I'm glad that you believe me Rhiana...please, take Ilvian and beam to the Illustrious, Zidane, Mikoto and Kuja are waiting there for us...tell them we sent you."

Rhiana nodded and took Ilvian by the arm.

"Come on Ilvian, let's get out of here."

"But..."

"I said come on, this may be our only chance of freedom...our only hope...come on...brother."

Ilvian shot me an evil look, but seemed surprised that Rhiana had called him brother.

"Very well...sister."

Rhiana bowed to me and Jara.

"Good luck...to all of us."

 

Domino's POV

Finally, I could see light at the top of the stairs, meaning my destination was almost upon me, and the time of reckoning was at hand.

"Yugami...."

I blinked and whirled around to look behind me but there was nothing there...had it been a trick of my imagination?

"Yugami...."

No, there was something there, calling me on...Lawrence, it had to be.

I sighed, it was to be expected, Lawrence knew I was here, and knew the reason why I was here.

A few more steps and I was there, on the top, a broad expanse of flat black crystal with a bright light glowing at the end furthest away from me, as soon as my foot made contact with the crystal floor, the bright light flared and then dimmed, revealing Lawrence...but not the Lawrence I had witnessed before, this Lawrence had a powerful aura around him and his eyes glowed so vividly it was as though there were no pupils at all.

I swallowed once and then pulled my other foot up onto the floor.

There was no going back now.

"Yugami...."

 

Thunderchild's POV

We ran up the stairs at a reckless pace, I almost slid off them more than once but I didn't care, I had felt a shudder of power run through the tower and the icy grip of fear had hammered into my senses, and I knew that already we were too late.

"She's already up there!" I shouted as we skidded across another floor and began running up another flight of stairs, I was becoming seriously fatigued but I wouldn't let it get on top of me, not now, not when everything was coming to a head.

There was a flash and a low rumble from the top of the tower which lay somewhere in the gloom above us, the flash wasn't particularly bright but I could tell it was only because it had travelled a fair distance.

"We're too late...there's no way we can make it up there in time." I hissed as I slid to a halt.

"We can't just give up!" replied Jara.

"I know...but there's no way we can both get up there in time...I guess I could try flying both of us up...but I don't know if I'd have the strength to carry you."

Jara looked like she was about to agree with me but suddenly went quiet, I ignored her and sat down on a step.

"I feel so helpless...I know she wanted to do this herself...but she's gonna get herself killed."

"She's stronger than she looks."

"So's Lawrence."

Jara sighed and rubbed her eyes, then she looked up to the ceiling and then back down to me, as though coming to a decision of some sort.

"Could you fly yourself up there?" she asked.

I nodded slowly, wondering what plan she had in mind.

"Probably...though it would be slow work...I'm not exactly in marvellous shape at the moment."

Jara nodded.

"Perhaps I can help."

"How?"

"Yissan...prepare yourself for a shock."

Those words, even as she spoke them, served to make the icy cold feeling in the pit of my stomach grow even colder, a shock? Now? Hadn't I had enough shocks already.

No...it would seem that I had more to come.

Jara gently reached down to my scabbard and drew Draconus out of its scabbard and then gingerly cut down the front of her robe, letting it slide off her body. Underneath she wore a blood red skirt and halter top. Then she handed Draconus back to me and closed her eyes, focusing with all her might on something. Suddenly she flung her arms out to the heavens and from out of her back a pair of red tinted feathery wings emerged, stretching out to their full length before folding back in and around her.

I let Draconus fall out of my hand and onto the step below me.

"Jara?" I gasped, my mouth agape with shock.

"Yes, it is me Yissan...it would seem that we share a closer bond than we realised. When I was young, my mother disappeared one night and was never seen again, leaving my father to raise me...eventually he remarried and I accepted his new wife as my mother...at least, now I know why my mother disappeared."

I nodded.

"For the same reason my father left...because they had to go back home."

Jara put her hands on my shoulders and I felt my wings tear through my clothing behind me, letting my shirt fall to the ground and exposing my bare chest...but I didn't care about this, my history had taken another unexpected turn and I didn't want to miss any of it.

"We are both cross-breeds Yissan...that is why Funaho called me 'mother' she recognised the alien within me, as she recognised you as her brother."

"Then you are my sister?" I asked, suddenly realising the possible consequences of the revelation.

"No...no, I do not believe so...Funaho would have most likely have told me otherwise. Besides...don't you want to know the name of this alien race?"

"Yes! Please! Tell me!!" I begged of her, to answer a question that had bugged me for so long.

"They are called Hyrrens, although the Terrans always called them the Drakkons because they were once known as Draconians. Long ago, the Hyrrens lived in the Twilight Forest, those structures you see in there today, most of them were built by Hyrrens."

"Most?"

Jara shrugged.

"Even the dragons didn't know who built the rest."

"Please...go on."

"Anyway, the Hyrrens lived in the Twilight Forest for millennia, using portals to travel to other worlds, including Terra where they tried to co-exist with the natives, posing as either gods or mythical creatures...such as dragons...but..."

"What went wrong?" I asked, knowing that the Hyrrens didn't live in the Twilight Forest...or indeed Terra anymore and hadn't done for some time.

"A disease, probably brought on by excess genetic engineering, wiped out most of the Hyrrens in the Twilight Forest and forced them to withdraw to an uninhabited world they found in the portal system."

"Could we find that world again?"

Jara shook her head.

"No...they sealed it after they left...they didn't want anyone following them, in case they caught the disease too."

I stood up slowly, letting Jaras hands fall off my shoulders and raising my own to feel her wings...aside from the colour difference, mine were tinted light blue, there was no difference at all. I couldn't see a tail but presumed it was hidden under her skirt...and as I looked at her hair, I could even make out small red highlights.

"But the disease didn't kill them off completely, otherwise they wouldn't have come to Terra and made us." I protested.

"I never said it did...no...obviously they saved themselves and decided to use another means of transport."

"Spaceships?"

"Uh huh."

I rocked back gently on my feet, this would have explained the odd stories of unknown flying craft seen above the skies of Terra long ago.

"So...they're still out there."

"Somewhere..."

"Looking for us..."

Jara nodded.

"I think Funaho was the beginning of it...they'll be confused because of the destruction of Terra...it's quite likely they gave us both up for dead. Perhaps in time they will find us."

There was a heavy explosion from above us, making us both look up suddenly.

"I think time is something we don't have much of." I said quickly.

"Do you think we can help her?" asked Jara.

I looked back down and looked her in the eye before replying.

"I'm willing to die trying."

"Even with what you now know about your life?"

I shook my head.

"If she dies, I don't have a life. Now come on...let's go!"

She nodded and slid her arms underneath mine, holding me close but taking care not to impede my wing span.

"Let's do this together." she said, and up we flew.