Chapter 5: The Offer
Chapter 5: The Offer
Elisa was sound asleep. A child can only take so much. The events of the past hours had drained her completely, her small body finally surrendering to exhaustion. Her eyelids fluttered occasionally, suggesting dreams lurked beneath. I hoped they were kinder than the reality she had witnessed. My daughter was strong, and that always remained true. But even the strongest souls have limits.
I cradled her against my chest, unwilling to let her go even for a moment. Her warmth was the only thing tethering me to sanity. Her hair smelled of smoke and the metallic tang of blood, but underneath remained that sweet scent that was uniquely hers. The scent of innocence that had somehow survived the slaughter.
We were on a spaceship.
Yes, an actual spaceship. Only, at the time, I was too tired to really care about that. My body ached with wounds both physical and deeper, the kind no healing could touch. The loss of Lynn and Jackson sat like a boulder in my chest, crushing my lungs with every breath. Grief and shock had numbed me to what should have been utter astonishment.
The vessel was more advanced than anything I had ever seen before. Bleeping computers, a crew dressed in dark uniforms, a pilot in what I would assume was the cockpit. The walls were curved, made of some dark material that wasn't quite metal but wasn't plastic either. It seemed to absorb sound, creating an eerie quiet broken only by occasional electronic chirps and the low hum of engines I couldn't see.
No rivets, no visible seams, no wires or tubes or any of the mechanical elements I would have expected. Everything was smooth, polished, with glowing panels that responded to the crew's touch. Lights pulsed in patterns that seemed to follow some logic I couldn't decipher.
Through a viewport nearly the entire length of the chamber we sat in, a sea of stars surrounded us, brilliant in their dark beauty, as if an editor of shadow and light had placed each in the exact perfect spot. There was no moon, no Earth visible. Just endless void punctuated by those distant suns. How far had we traveled? How fast? The questions floated in my mind but couldn't find purchase against the wall of grief and exhaustion.
Lady Vash stood somewhat near us, those around her moving with the efficiency of long practice. They spoke in quiet tones, using words and phrases I didn't recognize. Occasionally, one would glance in our direction with expressions ranging from curiosity to outright suspicion. No one approached, maintaining a respectful distance from their leader and her strange cargo.
"I am sure you have questions," she said, turning her attention to me after dismissing a subordinate with a slight wave of her hand. Her voice carried easily across the space between us, though she hadn't raised it.
I leaned my head back against the cool metal of the ship. Yes, I did have questions, but more than that I simply... hurt. Every inch of my body throbbed with pain. The adrenaline had long since faded, leaving me hollow and raw. The cuts along my side burned with each breath. Dried blood cracked on my skin when I moved.
Pain must have been present on my face, because Vash materialized a red bottle out of thin air, something that should have floored me, but I was too tired to care about, and tossed it to me. The bottle appeared from nowhere, as if she had reached into an invisible pocket and pulled it out. It spun through the air, catching the starlight filtering through the viewport. I caught it with my free hand, the glass cold against my palm.
"Drink this."
I stared at the ruby liquid inside, suspicious despite everything. Moments ago, my family had been slaughtered. My world had been turned upside down. Trust was a luxury I could no longer afford.
"I don't know you," I said, my voice rough from screaming earlier.
An eyebrow arched up, cold perfection. Her face remained composed, but I detected a hint of impatience in the slight tightening of her jaw.
"I saved your life, Thorne. Do you seriously believe I would go through all that trouble only to kill you now?"
She had a point. Logic fought against instinctive caution, and logic won. If she wanted me dead, she could have simply left us to the monsters. I popped the cork, drinking the cool red liquid. It was mostly tasteless. Like water with a slight invigorating edge. It slid down my throat, leaving a trail of warmth that spread through my chest and into my limbs.
My body twitched, heat blossoming inside my wounds, causing them to squirm like worms beneath my skin. It itched, and I hissed, ripping my shirt up. The cuts along my side, deep gashes that should have required dozens of stitches, began to close before my eyes. Flesh knitted together, the edges pulling inward until only thin pink lines remained.
"Healing potion," Vash stated before I could ask, as if the explanation was so obvious it barely warranted mention.
I ran my fingers over the newly healed skin, finding it tender but intact. The pain had vanished completely, replaced by a pleasant warmth that continued to spread throughout my body. Even my bruises were fading, the purpling marks lightening before my eyes.
"What is happening? Have I been transferred to some fantasy nightmare world?" The absurdity of it all finally broke through my shock. Monsters, spaceships, healing potions... it was like being dropped into one of the video games Jackson used to play. The thought of my son sent a fresh wave of grief crashing through me, momentarily drowning the questions.
Vash didn't smile, her lips not even so much as twitching. She regarded me with those dark violet eyes, assessing my reaction with clinical detachment.
"You are leaving the dream. This is reality. Your world has Awakened."
I glanced around the ship, at the crew in their strange uniforms, at the impossible technology surrounding us. Reality? This was madness. Yet the warmth of Elisa against my chest, the now-fading pain of my wounds, the vivid memory of those creatures tearing through my home... all of it felt terribly, horribly real.
I looked at Elisa as she stirred, her small face pinched even in sleep. Little fingers clutched at my shirt, holding on as if afraid I might disappear. I smoothed her hair, careful not to wake her. She needed rest, needed escape from the horror, if only for a little while.
Vash went on before I could ask what she meant. She stepped closer, her movements fluid and precise, like a predator conserving energy.
"Resonance Flux is the life energy of the multiverse. It flows from, and connects all things. When it reaches a new world, that world becomes truly alive, connected to the Flux. We call it the Awakening." Her tone was the cold chill of a calculus teacher, explaining fundamental principles to a struggling student. No emotion, no wonder, just facts laid bare.
"And these blue screens I've been seeing?" I asked, remembering the strange text that had appeared during the attack. Flux Awakening... Level 1... the words that had preceded my sudden surge of strength.
"It is how the Flux measures power, how it communicates with life." She gestured vaguely in the air, and for a moment I thought I saw faint traces of that same blue light trailing from her fingertips. "All sentient beings develop a connection. Some stronger than others."
"Where did it come from?" The question felt important, though I wasn't sure why. Perhaps understanding the origin would help me make sense of why my family had been torn apart, why my world had been shattered.
Vash shrugged, the gesture elegant despite its dismissiveness.
"I am no philosopher who studies such things. I am a Nyxen Lady. The Flux comes from all life. It is energy, it is the source, or perhaps it merely is. I do not care. What is important is that it is power."
Power.
The word resonated within me, striking a chord I hadn't known existed. Power to protect what remained of my family. Power to prevent another Elisa from losing her mother and brother. Power to exact revenge on whatever or whoever had brought those creatures to my world.
It would become my purpose in life, that single word. Vash must have seen something in my eyes, because she did smile then. A small, knowing curve of her lips that never reached her eyes. She had dangled the bait, and I had responded exactly as she expected.
"You want answers. You want revenge. I know. But the Nyxen are not a charity organization. I did not rescue you out of the goodness of my heart."
There it was. The other shoe dropping. I had suspected as much. Nothing came without a price, not even in this new, impossible reality. I shifted Elisa slightly, adjusting her weight as my arm began to tingle with the first hints of numbness.
"What do you want? I'm just a construction worker. I build houses. Or I did." The past tense struck me like a physical blow. That life was gone now, wiped away in a single night of blood and terror.
Vash stared at me, and I could swear, for just a moment, she was staring into my soul. Her eyes seemed to look through me, past flesh and bone to something deeper. Something even I couldn't see. The scrutiny made my skin crawl, but I refused to look away. I would not show weakness, not to this woman who held my fate and my daughter's in her hands.
"You will find that nothing with the Nyxen is free. Here is what I will tell you. Something dwells within your blood that many people want, and many others want purged. They can sense it through the Flux. It sings. What I want, Varus Thorne, is an apprentice."
Her words left me reeling. My blood? Something special about my blood? I thought of the creatures in my home, how they had torn through walls and windows to reach us. Had they been drawn by whatever Vash was talking about?
"My blood? None of this makes sense!" I found myself getting angry, a storm of lightning surging in me. The rage I had suppressed since watching my family die threatened to break free. My hands shook, and for an instant, I thought I felt that same strange power from earlier stirring within me. I closed my eyes, quieting down as to not awake Elisa.
When I opened them again, Vash was watching me with renewed interest, as if my outburst had confirmed something for her.
"It need not make sense for the moment. You ask what I want, and I have told you. Perhaps you would like to hear what you would receive in return?"
I sighed, rubbing my face with my free hand. My stubble scraped against my palm, a small, normal sensation amid the surreal. I was exhausted, traumatized, and now being manipulated by a woman who looked human but clearly wasn't, at least not entirely. But what choice did I have? I was on a spaceship somewhere in the void, with a sleeping child who had just lost her mother and brother, and nowhere else to go.
"Here comes the carrot. Alright. Tell me." My tone was resigned but attentive. Whatever game was being played, I needed to understand the rules if I wanted to protect Elisa.
Vash smiled then, her expression like sunlight on a winter lake. Beautiful, brilliant, and utterly without warmth.