“You do know. More than any of us, you know.”
Rapture was back in the arena.
Belial and Mettleheart were there as well, prepared to fight.
At the gong, she charged Belial.
Mettleheart soon joined the battle, but attacked Rapture.
Agile as she was, she could not fend off both enemies, and eventually Belial grasped and crushed her body until she died.
Again in the border astral, Lara spoke. “The Atonement is upon us—all of us.”
Rapture said, “I don’t understand what is happening. I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do.”
“You do know, Shroud of Joy, graceful heroine. Follow your body. You are nymph, above all.”
“I’m not. I was kicked out. I can’t do this.”
“You can and must. You are the best of both worlds—sirenic and human. Emotion is your spear—Devotion your armor. Only doubt of that can be our undoing.”
The three combatants were back in the arena. Rapture reached inside of her soul and spoke the words that flowed forth. “With all the love that is left in the world; Sorana Singrin of the Amaranthine Alliance; Fleurette SaSade, daughter of Sasindara SaSade; and your sparkling Angel of Gray”.
The gong sounded. The crowd became raucous.
Mettleheart charged her. “Blasphemer!”
Rapture held her arms out. “My fall is for you.”
Mettleheart’s sword impaled her chest. It felt warm and gentle as it pierced the shadow and passed harmlessly through her body. The blue aura rolled off of his form onto hers, displacing the shroud. The weight of the world’s sin lifted from her heart. The Baptism of Stains was washed away in a love bearing torrent.
Weakened and struggling to breathe, Mettleheart fell to a knee. “We are one, Sparkling Angel.”
Empowered and comforted, Rapture stroked his helmet. “We are one, Immortal Beloved.”
Mettleheart collapsed.
Sparkling Angel dropped her mace and faced Belial. She moved along the arena, hovering slightly above the ground. “Know that we are the Omega, and we are your end.” She emitted a wave of blue light that rolled over Belial. It incinerated his body with the heat the sun, leaving only a black stain on the arena wall behind him. “Know, all, that we are the Burning Dawn!” She lifted her arms and emitted a globe of light that rolled out in all directions. It engulfed the crowd, incinerating all of them. “Know all, this is our domain, and that Devotion reigns here.” She lifted her hands to the sky and the entire Fourth Layer of Hell was filled with a soft blue light. All suffering and pain came to an end.
***************
Rapture returned to reality.
The waking nightmare still transpired around her. The Banshee—Sorana’s body—chocked and gurgled, reaching toward Rapture. “Natalia …” Blood seeped from its nose and eyes. “Help me.” The apparition of agony, the body of the girl so innocent and sweet, strained to breathe. She who had known so much pain and sorrow throughout her time was now being tortured again by those she’d trusted most.
Sicker than sin, Rapture shook her head and gripped Don’s arm.
Mercy said, “You left for knowledge, and found the core. You reached to learn it all, now seek no more. It’s time to come home and be with me. This is the end, my son, and I still love you.”
The Mortal Banshee’s expression abruptly changed. “You lose.”
Sorana went limp. The convulsions ceased.
Don knelt by her.
Sorana recovered momentarily to gaze blankly in the direction of Mercy and mouth a single word. ‘Mom?’ Then she was still.
Rapture’s body did not yearn to heal Sorana.
Don confirmed what Rapture’s body already knew. “She’s dead.”
Rapture knelt next to Sorana and stroked hair out of her face. Rapture’s mind lit up as a deluge of images flashed inside her head. They were previously suppressed memories. They were back at the cave in Kalafels. Sorana was telling the story of the Mortal Banshee. She bit her lip so hard that it bled, but she did not wince. Rapture was healing Sorana after the ogre battle outside the cave. Sorana had painted her face in ogre blood. They were rescuing the Naiad Rangers, and Sorana slashed up a wolf until its entrails were strewn across the ground. They were in erotic discourse at the Tower of Mercy, and Sorana provoked Rapture to cruelty beyond her nature. The two were at the river outside the Kalafels cave and Sorana said, “I ask you, that if the time should ever come, to make murder on me”.
Maybe the girl wasn’t so innocent and sweet. Could she be as jaded and vile as others proclaimed her to be? Where did the Banshee stop and Sorana start?
Don’s shoulders slumped in despair. What memories had he recovered?
The obscenity of reality was overwhelming. Rapture struggled to breath. Everything had turned out so wrong. Oh, Don, what have we done?
Mercy spoke, cold and controlled as always. “And so passes the hope and doom of the world—the Burning Dawn and the Misty Mourning. The heart of existence is broken. Sleep free, my gray angel. Sleep free from sorrow’s hold.” Her voice turned hollow and phased as her form became translucent. “May her tempestuous soul find serenity with this last shut of her eyes. And now, I yield to damnation.” Mercy vanished.
The chandelier went out.
Rapture and Don were left in utter darkness.
Chapter 78
Meta Realm
“The Frame will enter safe mode momentarily. Please stand by.” Ranie did her best to emulate Mercy’s empty inflections.
Belial huffed impatiently. “Are you still rebooting?” He towered over her, ten feet tall with four horns protruding from his head. Though huge and inhuman, he was pleasing to look upon—even attractive. His musculature was perfectly defined, his skin flawless, and his clothing elegant and perfectly fitted. It was just the kind of narcissistic avatar she expected from this deranged sadist.
“The system is experiencing difficulties. There are corrupt boot sectors.” Ranie’s own arms, uncovered by the sundress, were shapely and flawless, yet somehow plain.
As time passed, it became more difficult to mislead Belial as his mind uploaded to the Meta Realm. “Okay, what diagnostics are you running?”
“Diagnostics are counter-indicated at this juncture.”
“Are you rebooting as a result of my reset?”
“Your reset request has been placed in queue”
Belial studied the blank landscape. “How many unsuccessful boots have you made?”
“This is attempt 256.”
“What would cause infinite loop restarts?” Belial became agitated. “Mercy, upon the last known good boot, what was the stasis entity count?”
“No entities were recognized upon last known good reboot.”
“None?” Belial was stunned. “Display boot sequence log.”
Ranie caused a wall of symbols to appear in a random order.
“Why is this scrambled?” Belial stared off for a moment. “Display flash memory technician notation.”
“Virus patch 3.01 applied. Beginning safe mode system reboot.”
“Fine.” Belial paced. “If it was my virus, then my code is still good. Mercy, display core memory dump and provide V.H.M. interface, access code: Belial-beta-four-queue-delta-three.”
“Access code can’t be confirmed automatically. Live authentication required.”
“Display challenge question.”
A grid appeared underneath the two. The ground became smooth and reflective. In the grid, the Belial-sized dark forces of an Archon board were arrayed behind Belial. The Seven Deadly sins formed the vanguard. Behind them were icons of evil, led by Fallen. Fallen was flanked by his offspring, the beautiful Sinne and the massive Chaosse.
Ranie took a few steps back to stand among her light pieces. “Faith to Mother Three.” Faith slid along the board to its new locatio
n.
Belial stepped off the grid. “Lechery to Chaosse Three.”
Some squares changed to a lighter shade.
Ranie said, “Humility to Mercy Three.”
“Sloth to Banshee Two.”
The same squares became lighter still.
“Faith to Father Four, taking power square Balance.”
“Chaosse to Sinne Four. How long is the confirmation? A whole match?”
The shade-changing squares became pure white.
“Until live interface is confirmed. Peace to Peace Four, taking power square Devotion.”
“I see.” Belial sighed. “Fallen; Cast spell; Reverse time.”
The changing squares turned instantly black, leaving some of Ranie’s pieces in a vulnerable position. The conservative move was to use Father to cast Reverse Time, cancelling the effect. Archon did not favor conservative play. “Fortitude to Mother Three.”
He took the bait. “War to War Four. Combat.”
The board transformed into an arena. It was an interactive battle, as was described in the Dodelige text. She inhabited Peace. Being new to the fully-interactive interface, she quickly lost the battle.
She said, “War takes Peace.”
Ranie threatened War with Mercy and sacrificed Abstinence to maneuver Sinne onto a changing square.
Belial soon owned four power squares and threatened the last, occupied by Father, with Chaosse. Her plan was falling into place. “Father Imprison Torment.”
Belial looked bored. “Fallen; cast; Summon Elemental; Father.”
Ranie defeated the elemental, but took some damage, leaving Father vulnerable to an attack by Chaosse. The traditional move would be to attack and at least weaken Chaosse. She instead attacked Chaosse’s sister and mother, Sinne. “Father; cast; teleport; Fortitude to Father Four. Combat with Sinne.” The combat was close, but with a square shade advantage and a favorable matchup of specific abilities, she was able to defeat the more valuable Sinne.
Belial should have crushed the badly injured Fortitude with Wrath, or even Fallen for that matter, but that isn’t the move he made. “Chaosse to Fallen seven. Combat Father.”
Ranie was vulnerable and she did indeed end up losing Father. And she lost him before casting Revive. That was bad. Ranie was able to destroy Chaosse with Siren to retake her king position. But Belial used Fallen’s Revive spell to bring Chaosse back, and Ranie was at a disadvantage.
Belial was soon in a position to win. “This is wrong.”
She tried to maintain the composure of Mercy. “It is a legal move. It’s your turn.”
“Not that. You are not playing as the Frame would. You are not Mercy. Who are you?” He studied her. Now nearly fully uploaded, he was strong. She could feel him exploring her avatar, penetrating her firewall. “Ah, you are a visitor. You’re Ranie. I recognize you now. But what is all of this. How did you get here?” He paced. “Mercy scanned you. You were scanned so that your friend Evan could be burned into your brain.”
Ranie held out her hands in capitulation. “I had to try to save her.” Her hair turned white and grew in length, falling forward over her shoulders. Her clothing changed to include long sleeves.
“Mercy prepared you well. That was quite an impressive display of knowledge.”
Ranie’s avatar was now an idealized version of her own body, encouraging him to follow his own conclusions.
He cradled his chin. “No, that’s not it. You were scanning my programming interfaces—figuring out the responses I expected. You did this yourself. Then your performance was all the more impressive.” He nodded, impressed with himself. “You set up this virtual frame on top of the real frame. Shrewd, but how long did you think you could keep me here? And to what end?”
She allowed him to sense that she was resigned to failure. “I had to try to stop you.”
“Well, I guess you thought you had to. You have so misunderstood me. Step aside now, girl.”
“No.” It was difficult to resist his intrusion, with his mind now fully loaded.
Shadows formed around his avatar. “Why suffer to delay me? I will find a socket with or without your help.” Waves of shadow swirled out from him and rolled over Ranie.
Ranie fell to her knees, choking.
“Open the socket and let me pass through. I just want into the core system—my home. You can stay here in virtual memory as long as you want. Or you can come with me. I don’t care.”
She shook her head and wheezed. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
Save her, Donnie. Ranie cut her telepathic link to the Tower of Mercy. “This is all in my mind.”
“I’m going to get there with or without your help. It’s just a matter of time to hack the encryptions. You’re better off just helping me now because—”
Ranie looked up at him. “Because like narcissistic pigs of every other race, you’re really just a diluted fool who thinks he knows everything.” A lance appeared in her hand. She thrust it through Belial’s chest.
He reflexively gripped the lance.
The shadow vapors dissipated.
Ranie breathed easily. A white horse with two horns spawned under her. It grew larger, elevating Ranie so that her head was nearly level with Belial’s. “Promotion: Pale Siren.”
Chapter 79
Breath of Life
“Now, Rap!” Don shuffled in the darkness. There was a click and the chandelier candles glowed.
“What?” Sorana is dead. There's nothing I can do.
Don crouched behind Rapture, leaning against her and placing his hands on her head. She could feel his infusion of energy. It was far more powerful than it was previously. “Rap ... heal her! As much as you can, as fast as you can.” He counted to himself, “Thirty-five, thirty-six ...”
Rapture looked over the Child in Time. Her hair was singed. Her skin was blistered in areas, but not too badly damaged to hold her together. She had scrapes and cuts, but there were no obviously broken bones. Rapture put her hands on Sorana's chest and abdomen and concentrated. She had moderate internal trauma in her chest ... minor trauma in her abdomen. There was more damage to her spinal cord. Rapture moved her hand to Sorana’s forehead. There was extensive brain trauma. The damage was actually being repaired as Rapture explored—the work of Sorana’s regenerative systems.
Heart ... lungs ... brain. Rapture placed both hands on Sorana's chest and concentrated her efforts to heal Sorana's heart. She directed her energy to surround the heart and begin repairs from all around. The damage was deep. It was slow work without a functioning circulatory system. It took extra effort and time for Rapture’s energy to reach the heart. She first concentrated on the frayed edges of a nearly-severed aorta, refocusing as areas were repaired.
The work slowed as Sorana's regenerative systems ran out of energy and shut down. Sorana’s regenerative system was efficient, probably specifically attuned to Sorana’s physiology. Switching strategy, Rapture attempted to focus on Sorana’s regenerative system. Maybe she could recharge it. Despite her power and effort, she couldn't find a way to interface effectively.
“Fifty-eight, fifty-nine ...”
Nature took over. Rapture snatched her melodic dagger and cut Sorana's dress to expose her chest. She made a cut in Sorana's chest, and a cut in her own hand. Rapture pressed her bleeding hand to Sorana's fresh chest wound. Rapture shifted her weight to compress Sorana’s chest, forcing her bleeding wound to closer proximity with Sorana’s heart. The circuit completed. Sorana’s systems suckled at Rapture’s exposed nerves. The pain was excruciating, but Rapture held the position. She even applied pressure in cycles, massaging the heart.
“Ninety-three, ninety-four—that’s half-time, Rap.”
The heart was repaired enough to function. It would slip fluid, but it could do its job.
Heart ... lungs ... brain. Raptur
e felt around Sorana's ribs. The lungs were far larger than the heart, and they were more damaged. Without the pulmonary system to distribute energy, Rapture would not be able to heal them in time. She took a deep breath, pinched off Sorana’s nose and breathed into her mouth. Sorana’s chest rose. Rapture released the seal around Sorana’s mouth, and her chest fell. The contact was good, but air, even moist breath, wasn’t a good conduit for healing.
Rapture cut her own tongue, screaming to combat the pain. She bled profusely as the taste of copper filled her mouth. Resisting the urge to gag, she breathed into Sorana again, blowing hard to carry liquid to the lungs. She lifted up Sorana’s lean torso so that gravity would assist. It was working. The tiny sacks that transferred oxygen from lungs to capillaries sealed, and would now hold air.
“Thirty seconds, Rap.” Don was exhausted. He strained to maintain the flow of Catalytic energy.
Rapture was tiring, and she had Sorana’s electrocuted nervous system still to go. There was simply no way to repair that much brain damage in thirty seconds. But maybe she didn’t have to. If Rapture just repaired the spinal column up to the brain stem, it would provide autonomic functionality. Then maybe Sorana’s own systems would power themselves, and maybe they could repair the higher brain functions. Unfortunately, even the spinal column alone, with countless frays, was beyond her power to repair so quickly.
But maybe it wasn’t beyond the power of her sirenic ancestors.
Rapture pulled up her sleeve to expose Mercy’s bracer and positioned her forearm so that the azure moon faced upward. She picked up the melodic dagger and struck the azure moon with the dagger’s butt. The shell didn’t break. It was too hard.
Rapture held the Sacred Moon up close to her mouth and unleashed a sonic barrage. She varied the pitch until the crystal vibrated. The Lichtrinker lit up. The crystal shattered. Rapture poured the Lichtrinker and nymph tear solution into her mouth. She tried to catch most of the shattered crystal in the crystal’s setting.
Don helped Rapture reposition Sorana in her arms. Rapture sealed her mouth around Sorana’s and breathed the fluid mixture into her body. After Sorana’s lungs expelled the air, Rapture blew again, and repeated at a natural interval. With Don’s help, she simultaneously compressed Sorana’s chest in a natural heart beat rhythm.