In A Universe Without Stars 1: Skyeater (17 page)

He
opened it, a folded piece of paper fell out. He didn’t pick up, he was too
memorized to pick it up. Inside was a brand new PAM watch, worth thousands of
dollars. How and where did she get the money for this?

It
was too big for him. He picked it up and examined it, rubbing the face and
watching the intricate ticks and tocks of the movement. He looked on the back,
there was an engraving.
From a loving mother to a distant son, I love you
and you will always be a perfect son to me
.

He
looked down and picked up the folded paper on the ground. He opened it. It was
a letter from his mother.

Hello
Cole,

If
you’re reading this then it means that my time has come. I will always love you
and I want you to live a long and happy life, I know it will be hard for you
with me gone, but I’ve made peace with my god and I want you too as well. I’ve
always wanted a big family and I’m sorry I couldn’t provide one for you.

So
I got you a present, it’s for your college graduation and yes, you are going to
college and you are going to be an engineer and I’m proud of you for being one.
I saved up and bought this for you now just in case I wasn’t around to see you become
a grown man. I was hoping you would have the same dream as me and would want a
big family. If not then I’m sorry I imposed this on you.

With
this watch you can watch the time pass by as your kids grow old, and the
wrinkles grow on your wife’s beautiful face and pass down this watch when your
kids grow into adults and when they graduate and so on and so forth. With this
watch, I hope you can create a legacy I never was able to.

Since
I was never married, you still have my name and since you have that I will live
on with our family name for generations to come. Even if I’m not around any
longer.

This
letter is getting a little long so I just want to finish by saying that you are
my perfect little boy, I love you and don’t let anybody take that love away
from you.

Cole
closed the letter. And then closed his eyes.

===

Another
moment, another flash, another memory.

 A
19 year-old Cole stood at attention in front of a colonel at his desk. They
were at an air force base office. Cole was dressed in his military blues,
second lieutenant ranks gleamed on his collar.

The
colonel shifted through some papers on his desk, muttering to himself. “So you
graduated high school at the age of sixteen and finished college in three
years,” he said, leaning back in his leather seat. “Why in the hell did you
join the military?”

Cole
didn’t muster, he stood as still as a gargoyle statue on an old church perch.

“Oh,
at ease and you’re free to speak,” The colonel said. Cole moved to parade rest,
feet apart, hands behind his back.

“To
become a better man and the perfect soldier, sir.”

The
colonel grabbed his mug and took a sip. Cole’s scar was still fresh on his
face, much more noticeable than his present self’s.

“That’s
it?”

Cole’s
face finally broke. “And, umm, also to become strong enough to break past any
threat whether it’s internal, external, or extraterrestrial sir.”

The
colonel burst out laughing, he held his chest and started to cough.

“Well,
boy, you
ain’t
no superman and you
ain’t
going to single handily save America, but you did the
next best thing and that was to join the United States Air Force.”

The
colonel put out his hand.

“Welcome
to the world’s greatest military power, son.”

===

Another
flash, another memory, only a couple years later.

A
Humvee drove down a dirt road in a Middle Eastern country. It stopped in front
of a small hut. Cole walked out and up to the vehicle. He opened the door and
got into the passenger seat.

Julio
was the driver. “So you’re my new commander,” he said, he looked at the major
ranks on Cole’s shoulder. He put out his hand and Cole shook it.

“My
name is Julio Garcia, I’m your second-in-command, and this is Chris Love, Reese
Handspring, and Erik Chives,” he said while waving to the back. Three soldiers
sat there. Cole’s got his team.

Cole’s
Humvee drove down a deserted road in the middle of nowhere. Small hills and dry
mountains peaked off in the distance. They came up to a fork in the road. Both
paths seemed to lead nowhere. Cole, Julio and Erik jumped out the Humvee and
walked up to the sign. It was in Arabic language, or just scribbles to them.

“Can
you read this shit?” Julio asked Erik.

“Yes,
I can read that shit,” Erik said.

He
rummaged through his bag and pulled out a translation book. “Some words are
near intelligible, it’ll take me a few minutes.” Erik said.

“Post
haste, Chives, our mission is to support Bravo team in a raid, we’re already a
few minutes behind.”

“Yes,
sir,” Erik replied.

“Major!
We have a distress call!” Chris yelled from the Humvee. Cole and Julio ran back
to it and opened the door.

“Where?”

“It’s
at some village called
Farahk
, sir,” Chris answered.

“I’m
trying to contact HQ for orders but there’s interference on the line.”

Erik
ran up behind them. “Our destination is to the right.”

“Chives,
where is
Farahk
from here?” Cole asked handing him a
map. Erik grabbed and examined it.

“It’s
to the left of the fork, sir,” He replied.

“We need to decide which way where going,
because with the look on your face, Bravo team might not be getting the backup
they need,” Julio said.

“So which is it, sir?” Chris asked.

Cole looked at the scribbles on the sign.
“Garcia, take us to the left and toward the distress signal,”

“Yes sir.”

Cole stood in front of the same colonel who
sat at the same desk at an air force base office. Except he was a general now
and his expression was uglier.

“I already talked to the higher ups, you
ain’t
gonna
get the blame for
diverting from your objective.”

“But two of my men died under my command, and
Bravo team was nearly wiped out in an ambush. I cannot continue, I will take
the full blame,” Cole replied.

The general rubbed his face, he looked
displeased.

“Alright I’ll sign your damned papers. You
had courage son, the military lost a damn great soldier today.”

===

Back in the room without end. Cole continues
to grip his head, Julio’s and Thora’s names echo out by unknown voices, like
it’s searching for something.

“Titans versus Gods, an imperfect universe,”
Jahum says. Cole clutches his head harder.

“What do you do it for?”

Cole screams out.

Julio
and Jahum stand
in the Astrons training gym. It’s just like a regular gym with weights, power
racks, treadmills, wrestling pads, and punching bags, it has a little of
everything.

“Since
you arrived late, you weren’t given a chance to train and learn your powers. So
with only two hours before you leave for battle, I will personally train you
for the next hour. First, take off your ring,” Jahum says.

“Cool,”
Julio replies.

He
takes it off and smiles, Jahum said someone else was going to train him but he
likes Jahum better. He swings his arms and hops around a bit to loosen himself
up.

“You’ve
subconsciously used your powers, I will need to open up your mind slightly to
give you full control over them.”

“I
have?”

“Yes.
We’ve been watching all the chosen, including you. When you fought against
Kabus and fell off the rooftop, your powers saved you from almost certain
death. Good job on surviving against Kabus, an alpha and an ascended, fighting
against a vastly superior enemy and surviving is something most humans wouldn’t
even attempt to do. Courage is a trait we were looking for in the chosen we
picked.”

“Thanks,
I guess.”

He
was just trying to survive, he thinks he was actually a coward in that
situation, but he’s not going to give back the compliment.

“Now,
I need you to empty your mind and try to think of nothing.”

That’s
a damn near impossible thing to do, to completely empty one’s mind. He doesn’t
even think humans are capable of it. He’s tried it multiple times when he went
through his yoga hipster phase. But he’s going to entertain Jahum’s idea.

He
closes his eyes.

He
tries to think of nothing, to forget everything. Nothing.

Nothing,
think of nothing.

Only
blackness, the true emptiness and nothing.

Julio
relaxes, his thoughts melt away in his mind. No more thoughts, he needs to
empty his mind. All his worries melt away and he thinks of nothing. Emptiness,
there is nothing there.

Then
he sees it, a light blue glow in the darkness, the only thing lighting his way.
He can feel its warmth. It gets bigger until it eclipse his nothingness and
darkness. He can smell it, feel it pulsating in his veins, he can damn near
taste it. His opens his eyes.

“This
is your power, even without the ring, you have become something more. Once your
mind is open to it, it is always open. Naturally, over time, you will gain more
power and ascend to a greater level. And then when you hit the apex you will
lose your power, as will everything in this universe. Your ring has some of my
power in it, helping the process, but even without it you can still do amazing
things.”

Julio
squeezes his fist, he can feel the power coursing through him.

“With
your ring on, you are at your current strongest strength, it will grow with
time and experience.”

Jahum
takes one step forward. A force field pops up in front of him like a light blue
wall. “Your power is malleable you can make many shapes based off of your
imagination. The more complex it is, the harder it is to make. To start off,
make the simplest but most useful object. A shield.”  

Julio
thinks on it, he puts out his hand. He focuses hard. A small orb appears in his
hand.

“Come
on, Julio.” He focuses harder. 

Bead
of sweat trails down his forehead. The orb shifts and morphs into a small blue
shield. Just a 4x4 square.

“Fuck
yeah!” Julio yells. The shield disappears.

“Very
good, now put back on your ring.” Julio puts it back on. The sudden surge of
power almost knocks him off his feet.

“Holy
shit,” Julio mutters with shock on his face.

Jahum
steps back.

“The
quickest way for your power to grow is to fight. I will be your sparring
partner.” Jahum says. He lights up and floats off the ground.

“Are
you ready?” Jahum asks.

Julio
braces himself and smiles.

“Come
at me, bro.”

It’s
an hour later, the gym is wrecked. The lights hang from a cord in the ceiling.
The wall is filled with holes and tears. Jahum still floats, he has five
individual force fields in front of him. He throws them at Julio across the
room.

Julio
runs incredibly fast and dodges them. Julio swings his arm and flings
a
energy blast at Jahum. Jahum
simply swipes it away and sends another force field his way.

Julio
swings his arm down, a force field appears in front of it and he screams. He
morphs it into a sword. He grabs it and cuts the force field in half and hurls
his sword at Jahum. Jahum puts up a hand and it stops in midair.

Julio
falls to his knees.

“I
think that’s enough for today,” Jahum says.

“I
was done anyway,” Julio says through his teeth, he’s covered in sweat, his breaths
are labored. Jahum flicks his fingers.

The
gym starts to heal itself. The holes in the walls fill, the knocked over
equipment uprights itself, and the lights morph back in place.

“Good
job, you show promise.”

Julio
gets up.

“Thanks,”
Julio replies. He’s never going to stop being amazed at what Jahum can do. He
suddenly feels less tired and lighter on his feet.

“Shower
and get dressed because we’re going to launch soon.”

He
leaves.

Julio
looks at his hands. With this power, maybe he really can fight. He’s going to
save the world.