The battlefield was still quiet. Our soldiers were waiting with bated breath, waiting for the enemies to come off ‘pause’. Waiting for the Seventine to finally show themselves.
Movement drew my gaze. Cerberus growled, and Crete morphed into his prehistoric panther size. Something was coming. I expected the Seventine, but it was …
Que.
He stepped out of the royal forest, and moved in a gliding motion across the blackness of the deadened field. A flare of emotion rocketed through me. I hated him with a passion; he was a sociopathic asshole, but – I still couldn’t tear my eyes from him. He wore his newly stolen power like the finest cloak you would ever see. His arms and legs were covered in black leather, and I wondered if some of his limbs still resembled a cyborg.
“Why the freak is Que suddenly so mesmerizing?” I heard Fury ask.
Comprehension clicked with me; Brace was a fraction faster.
“It’s the original power inside you. It’s drawn to the stolen power within Que,” he said.
The power Que had gathered from the universe, the free power of the originals, it recognized the power in us, and it was calling us. Drawing the seven half-Walkers toward him. And the connection worked both ways. I could see the confusion lacing Que’s blue eyes and furrowed brow. The faltering steps as he fought against the urge to cross the last hundred yards to reach our side.
Could we use this to our advantage? I thought the words, but Brace and the half-Walkers all picked up on them.
Only one way to find out, Delane answered, and with axes drawn she moved. She was done with waiting; it was time to fight.
The rest of us fell in with her, weapons drawn, power zapping between us.
Winds started to blow up around Delane. Her short hair whirled and the wings which almost double-spanned her body were fully erect and towering above her head. Lina strode beside her, wings also aloft as the unicorn used the currents to drift above the ground. The pair liked to combine this sort of glide and walk. It was a much faster way to travel than for those of us stuck on two feet.
I felt the pull of power as the storm brewed around the Angelica. Then her winds were soon joined by water torrents from Talina, fires from Fury, and the shadow of Sapha. Ria waved her hand, and from within the ground thick roots responded, springing up around Que. Our powers were joined now in a beautiful kaleidoscope of energy and elements.
Any weaknesses? I asked Eva.
I wasn’t expecting any. Que did not tolerate weaknesses in himself or others, but if there was one there, Eva would find it.
I felt her focus, a wash of her spirit energy fluttering into the air. Her breathing increased, before stuttering in and out for many moments.
He wears so many ghosts of the dead. Walker and others. He carries their souls upon himself.
Her tone was eighty percent horrified and twenty fascinated. I was all horrified. Ghosts of the dead.
I remembered when Que had killed those Walkers at that battle long ago, the one where Brace was possessed by the first Seventine. Walkers everywhere had freaked out because it was supposed to be impossible to fully kill a Walker. Upon the death of their body their essence would be released to regenerate, their energy reused for another Walker life.
But Que had somehow done the impossible. He would touch a Walker and then they would cease to exist, their energy completely wiped from the great cycle.
Brace growled. That’s what he was doing. Not killing them, but sucking the energy into himself. Holding their essence captive.
His tone held disgust and guilt. He blamed himself for not standing up to his father over the years. I wished he wouldn’t worry about that now. For all he knew, had he made a stand, Que would have absorbed Brace and he’d have been trapped. Never able to find me. No melding bond.
I don’t understand, I said slowly. How were the souls not freed when he was blasted into a zillion little cells?
They must be tied to his energy, so until he actually frees them, they can never seek rebirth. At least until Que’s energy is sent for rebirth.
Ugh! An eternity stuck on that assface. We had to do something about that.
Eva was still examining him. He wears weakness over his heart. He has much sorrow and pain within him, and if we can free those souls around him, then he will be easy to detain.
So the souls are giving him power? I clarified.
Yes, she said, their energy fuels his energy and gives him several layers of protection. There’s only one other being I’ve sensed this much energy within, and that’s you, Abby.
She must have been able to see into my ‘filing cabinet’. I was packing a punch in there.
The Seventine have sent Que forward first. They’ll be hoping he can use his touch of death to thin our ranks, Ria said. She tightened the vines which were further surrounding the large Walker.