Zai was calm. They were no longer in the dark. They were in the strangely bright green jungle again outside the white ball shaped house. The female Raath Zel and the little Raath boy were waiting. Zai walked over to them. The others were about to try to stop Zai but D intervened.
“Give him a moment with this one,” said D.
“Who is she?” asked Janessa.
“Zel? She was the love of his life.”
“What happened to her? What happened to their son?”
“They never had a son,” said D, “Raath stopped random breeding a long time ago. All Raath were born in artificial wombs and genetically modified. When they faced extinction Zai persuaded the few survivors to begin random breeding again. They were still capable of it but Zai and Zel never got around to it before she was killed.”
“You make it sound like there still might be some Raath out there?” said Duron.
“Funny universe we live in,” said D, “There is a lot you don’t know about Zai and the Raath. They were the most efficient killers in the universe. War was like art to them. They had several different clans, each one dedicated to a different form of combat. Zai was a son of the Heaven and Earth clan. They were the elite among a race of warriors. Those in their clan were each trained to be a jack of all trades of combat and warfare. And Zai was the greatest warrior they ever produced. Try to keep that in mind. They were the deadliest warriors ever and Zai was best they had to offer in their entire history. He is one of the deadliest men in the universe. And all he ever really wanted was a family of his own. All he wanted was a wife and a child and nice little house.”
For a moment it almost looked like D would be moved to tears. But Zai came back over to them and said, “I am ready to go.”
The jungle began to melt away like paint.
“One more thing,” said D, “I want to tell you each something before I go.”
To Ryoko he said, “When you get back find Kerrigan. You know what has to be done.”
To Duron he said, “If you screw up with Janessa again I am going to come and get you. I can bring all kinds of cosmic shit down on your head so get it right this time or get out.”
To Junitha he said, “Keep up the good work.”
To Janessa he said, “If Duron screws up again don’t hesitate to kick his ass.”
“Okay then you guys should get going,” said D.
The others were pulled away back to the circle of light. Janessa forced herself to stay.
“Hold on a minute,” she said, “There’s something else going on here. Why did Zai go out of his way to protect me and not anyone else? And why did you look at me back there? What’s so important about me?”
“Nothing in the grand cosmic scheme of things,” said D, “I have my reasons.”
“What are you really?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes I want to know,” said Janessa getting annoyed with him.
“Okay,” said D, “but you may not understand.”
D changed before her eyes. Janessa could not tell if he was still the same size or if he was becoming some kind of giant. His appearance was completely different. He was wearing a white toga over one shoulder that ended just so you could see his feet. Around his waist was a sash fastened by a golden emblem with the letter D on it. His body looked like it was made of obsidian. The volcanic rock looked polished and perfectly smooth. But there were cracks all over it. The cracks were like canyons with rivers of glowing molten lava flowing through them. His head was smooth. He had no hair, no ears, no nose or mouth. He had eyes. But they were not eyes. They were like great windows designed to look like eyes. And behind those eyes she could see the glow of a great roaring fire. His voice came from every inch of him.
He said, “I am the balance. You must go now and defeat the Spectral Horde. Then you must return to Earth and prepare for the coming of the Veggs Morv’tika, they are a threat to all of creation.”
“I don’t understand,” said Janessa, “why did you ask Zai to protect me?”
“We do things for family.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
But he was gone.
No comments:
Post a Comment