Ice Phoenix
Chapter 34 - Whispers of madness

Terrana was lost in her own mind, in a world of darkness from which she couldn’t return. She ran around, searching for a place to hide, but everywhere she looked, she saw Baneyon falling, his blank eyes staring at her as the demon ripped him apart. The sound of her own screams had long faded, and she tasted blood in her mouth caused by the rupture of her vocal chords.

Baneyon. Baneyon, come back. Baneyon, wake up. Look at me!

But he wasn’t moving. He wasn’t fighting back. Instead, he had chosen to suspend her in the air while he fell. While he died. A hole grew in her chest, a mass of darkness and pain that slowly consumed her.

Hello, Terrana.

Terrana blinked. When next she opened her eyes, she found herself staring into her own face. “T2,” she whispered. T2 stared back at her with dark, malicious eyes, her hair billowing around her shoulders. She grinned, and Terrana felt a wave of intense hatred from her.

“Get away from me,” Terrana screamed as she tried to back away. But she couldn’t move.

T2 sniggered. “First, the prince and his beast called me Anarret, and then you come up with an even worse name! T2, really?” Her face turned ugly. “You’ve gone and done it this time. You killed him.”

“Killed who?” Terrana shouted. “I didn’t kill anybody!”

“Aaah ... but you did. You killed Baneyon. It’s all your fault. You were useless, only getting in his way. He had to worry about you, and in the end he died trying to protect you.”

“That’s not true!” Terrana shouted. “The demon killed him!”

“The demon killed him because he was trying to protect you,” T2 snarled. “If it wasn’t true, why did you come here? Why did you come into my world to hide?” She descended on Terrana, her face twisted and full of rage. “When Mum and Dad died, you hid in here. And Archie, you couldn’t bear to think about him! You locked them away while you cried your silly eyes out and I had to deal with all the hurt. But one day, Baneyon came. Baneyon pulled you out of here, and you abandoned me. You left me to deal with the pain while you selfishly lapped up his affection! And now Baneyon’s dead, and you are trying to throw that hurt back onto me. I won’t take it anymore! I won’t suffer anymore! Do you understand?”

“Stop, please stop!” cried Terrana.

“I won’t stop! I won’t be locked up anymore!”

T2 screamed, and Terrana had to cover her ears so that the high-pitched voice wouldn’t rupture every blood vessel in her brain. Hands grabbed her by the front of her cardigan and threw her against an invisible wall. T2 was so powerful. She pressed her face into Terrana’s, and Terrana was shocked to see tears running down her alter ego’s cheeks.

“You killed the only person I loved,” she growled. ”You. You killed him with your uselessness! I won’t stand for it anymore, you understand? I won’t let the people who hurt him get away. I will not be condemned to suffer, forced to watch everyone I love die over and over again. You will let me out!"

“No, I won’t let you control me,” Terrana cried. “You will only hurt people if I let you take over. You nearly killed the prince the last time!”

“But I didn’t! Admit it — you want revenge just as much as I do. You want to kill them all for making Baneyon suffer!”

She was right — Terrana wanted revenge. She wanted to kill the people who had hurt her beloved Baneyon. The same people who had crushed her heart. The other girl stared into her eyes, and a menacing smile crossed her features. “You just freed me.”

Terrana cringed. By admitting her desire for revenge, she had just given T2 a get-out-of-jail card. T2 was no longer standing directly in front of her. She had vanished, leaving Terrana to fade into the shadows. Time passed, becoming an eternity. In a blinded world, Terrana did not see or hear anything apart from the pathetic sounds of her own sobbing. But there were moments when a tiny window would open, and she could hear an angry fire raging outside. Whenever that happened, she was overwhelmed by a strong desire to kill, and it was with the greatest restraint that she did not throw herself through the window. Eventually, a strange feeling of disappointment washed over her, and later, filled her with welcome silence. She felt herself drifting facedown, as if she was looking through her goggles in the sea.

Terrana. Wake up.

She waved the annoying voice away like a mosquito.

Terrana, you have got to wake up! The other you is tired and is sleeping. You must wake up now, or she’ll trap you forever.

Baneyon?

Yes, it’s me.

You’re okay!

No, Terrana. I’m not okay. I’m dying. But I can’t leave you like this. You have got to wake up.

You’re lying! You have to be okay otherwise I won’t wake up.

Terrana, listen to me. I warned you to never change into her. Her powers are beyond control and only you could have stopped her. But you didn’t listen, and as a result people got hurt.

I couldn’t help it! I thought you had died. She thought you had died. She was hurting so much and — and we both wanted to save you. I didn’t realise that sharing the same feelings with her would let her out.

Terrana, you must always fight her. Never give her control. My body is on the ship. Please wake up, and come on board. I can’t last much longer.

The voice faded. Baneyon! Baneyon, don’t go. Don’t leave me!

But the voice did not respond and Terrana panicked. If Baneyon was still alive, she had to be with him. She couldn’t abandon him. Her eyes opened and they stared out with the same brown irises that belonged to the real Terrana. The first thing she saw was an angular starcraft hovering not far from her. There was a tiny person standing in its doorway. Obviously he could see her, and he knew she was looking at him. He beckoned her with a wave of his hand. Almost immediately, she found herself being pulled towards him.

When her feet finally rubbed the cold steel floor of the craft, the little person spoke. “Hello, Terrana,” said Grandmaster Deitrux, looking very grave. “We meet for the first time.” Then, he removed the phoenix blade from her hand ever so gently.

There was a sombre mood aboard the starcraft. The smell of death was strong as Terrana walked with the grandmaster. She noticed the faars standing to one side of the hangar, while people huddled directly across from them. Her eyes widened as she recognised Lorn, Prince Gil Ra Im, and the little man who had been with Baneyon. There was also Lady Anrath — she was standing next to the prince. They were huddled around some rather large capsules lying on the floor. Terrana suddenly realised what they were.

“Baneyon,” she whimpered.

“He’s here,” said Grandmaster Deitrux, leading her to the capsule farthest from the prince. When they reached it, he used his finger to draw a line across the top of the capsule, unlocking the lid. It opened with a slight hiss, and Terrana gave an involuntary cry when she saw Baneyon resting inside. He was missing an arm and a leg, and deep gashes ran down his chest and stomach. There was a horrid, fleshy wound below his ribcage.

Tears ran down Terrana’s face and she leaned forwards, taking hold of his remaining hand. It was cold. “Baneyon!” she cried. “Baneyon, can you hear me?” She looked up at Grandmaster Deitrux. “He’ll be okay, won’t he? He’s going to get better, right?”

“We are doing everything we can,” answered the grandmaster. “But we need to get him to a hospital right away. Master Kuldor is flying us as fast as he can to his world, where Baneyon and the others will receive the best possible treatment. You can help him by remaining at his side. Can you do that?”

Terrana nodded and wiped away her tears. Grandmaster Deitrux petted her gently on the head. He then left her alone with Baneyon and made his way to the cockpit, where Master Kuldor sat. As the door shut behind him, Kuldor spoke. “That was risky, pretending to be Baneyon to reach into her mind.”

“It worked though. She returned to herself.” Grandmaster Deitrux placed the phoenix blade safely out of the way, then floated to the seat next to Kuldor. “But the sooner we arrive in Gratch, the safer I will feel.”

“You and I both know that Baneyon is technically dead. He has suffered multiple organ failure and it is only a miracle that your qi continues to sustain him. His breathing will stop and there will be nothing we can do to prevent that. Not unless we reach a medical facility in the next half hour.”

“And we both know that’s not going to happen, right?” Grandmaster Deitrux said sadly. “We are hours away from the next gate.”

Master Kuldor chose not to answer him. Instead, he asked a question of his own. “Her Highness?”

Grandmaster Deitrux felt part of his soul die with him as he thought of the queen. “Dartkala help us all. Some parts of her remain. She is fighting to live. Her son continues to channel his qi into her, despite being told it will not help her injuries. Lady Anrath is keeping an eye on him.”

For a while, they remained quiet. Kuldor gazed out the window, his big gentle face filled with sadness. He had been fond of Baneyon, and he respected the queen immensely. While he would certainly grieve over the former, losing the queen would have far more repercussions throughout the thirteen sectors. UWIB would be thrown into disarray, because officials would most likely demand to interfere in the process of finding the next successor for Sector Six.

Bounties would materialise everywhere, because without the queen to protect the faars, people would try to capture them. The capture of even a single faar could create tension between the sectors and lead to war. Kuldor groaned inwardly — now was not the time to think about such matters. He had to get everyone to Gratch as soon as possible.

“It has been a tragic day,” Grandmaster Deitrux said, his voice laden with sorrow. “We lost good people.”

“Not all though,” replied Kuldor. “Raimus and Lady Fless are still alive. It is a lucky thing that the demon did not realise that Raimus possessed three hearts. And it was also lucky that Quempa came to and saved the both of them from certain death.”

“But we have lost every single lacer,” said the grandmaster. “L-Master Kalum has just passed on. This will not go down well with the L-Council.”

Kuldor sighed heavily. “And we have lost Baneyon, Ferro and possibly Her Highness. I’d say we are equal.”

Grandmaster Deitrux suddenly sat up straight. Master Kuldor shot him a concerned look. “What is it?”

“Baneyon’s body has rejected the last of my qi. His heart has stopped beating … we were too late, Kuldor.”

Master Kuldor’s hands clenched into tight fists, the only sign of his grief. Like the grandmaster, he had hoped that Baneyon could have held on a little longer. “It won’t be long before Terrana learns that he is dead,” he said.

They remained quiet; neither of them wanted to discuss what would happen when Terrana learned the truth. Kuldor sighed. “How is Quempa?”

“As expected. He blames himself for not being there with Baneyon when the demon attacked.”

“It wasn’t his fault. No one could possibly have predicted what was going to happen.”

“Sadly, that is no consolation for him. He and Baneyon had been partners for a long time.” It was the grandmaster’s turn to sigh. “They’re all keeping their distance from the girl. None of them can get the fire out of their minds.”

“I had been thinking of that too,” said Kuldor, tapping his fingers lightly on the dashboard in front of him. “What are your thoughts on it? How did she do it?”

Grandmaster Deitrux met Kuldor’s eyes. “I don’t know. We’d have to have been there to understand what she did. Lady Anrath told me earlier that the faars sensed something terrible and flew them out of harm’s way. They remember seeing the sky catch fire. It exploded into blue-green flames, they said. I’ve never heard anything like it.”

Kuldor leaned back in his seat and sighed. “Perhaps, if we could solve how she did it, it would help towards explaining her ability to see things as they happen while she is asleep.”

“There is a deep mystery surrounding her,” said Grandmaster Deitrux. “It was our mistake not to look into her background with more diligence. It is apparent to me now that someone was deliberately hiding her away in Sector Thirteen.”

Grandmaster Deitrux could not look more troubled than he did now. He did not show it, but the death of the younger Imeldors and L-Masters had affected him deeply, and as head of the Imeldors, he would be in the firing line for questions from the L-Council and UWIB concerning the events at Si Ren Da. Terrana’s existence added a bigger problem to his plate and he contemplated whether or not to reveal her existence to UWIB and the lacers.

“Now would be unwise,” said Kuldor, reading his thoughts. “We cannot risk focusing attention on her when we should be concentrating on the demons and pursuit of the pendant.”

“Perhaps you are right, Kuldor. But I only hope, for everyone’s sake, that Terrana’s appearance in UWIB is not related to the demons, and that whoever had been hiding her in the Sector Thirteen will not decide to make an appearance now.”

Kuldor’s eyes widened in surprise. He hadn’t thought of that.

Beyond the cockpit, Terrana held onto Baneyon’s cold hand, her tears trickling into his open wounds. Her chest was so tight that she could barely breathe. She leaned in close to his ear, and choked as she tried to speak.

“Baneyon, can you hear me? I’m here, Baneyon, on board the ship. I’m holding your hand right now. Can you feel it?”

She watched him closely, hoping to feel him move or twitch, but he remained still. Using her sleeve, she reached out to wipe a smear of blood that had matted his hair along the forehead. She noticed the sorry state of her cardigan and realised that she was not wearing anything beneath. It was as if the cardigan had been the only garment worth saving.

“Baneyon,” she whispered. “You can’t die, I forbid you! If you die, I won’t … I won’t forgive you.”

Memories of their first encounter came back to her. There he was, on the water, carrying her after he rescued her from the fire. He was doing his best to shield her from the pain of her injuries while allowing her to say her final goodbyes to Puddy. He was by her side at the hospital, speaking to her kindly after she had woken up and screamed. He had dragged the mean counsellor away, and he had stayed with her every day after that, talking to her about nothing, about everything.

She had been a lost cause, but Baneyon had never given up on her. He had done everything to make her feel at home, even trying to recreate the dishes she would normally eat back in Fiji.

“Lunch is ready. This time it’s really good. I roasted a kantakry bug fish with caramelized root vegetables. You would like it.”

He had understood her pain after losing her family, becoming the pillar she had needed.

“You can cry you know. If it’s hurting you, just let it come out. No one person could keep all that grief in there without exploding.”

Before she had known it, she was clinging to Baneyon and sobbing her soul out while he comforted her. But he couldn’t do that now. Instead, he was the one lying down and in pain, and she could not do anything to help him. She started to shake. Someone laid a coat over her shoulders. She looked up to find Quempa staring at her sadly.

“We should close the capsule and allow him to rest,” he said.

Terrana nodded and straightened. As she reached over to shut the lid of the capsule, she remembered something. She stooped over and kissed him gently on the forehead, remaining in that position for several seconds.

“Just so you know,” she whispered so that no one else could hear, “I know you used Eliksha’s measurements for your credit pin. So, if you don’t wanna die broke, you better wake up soon.”

Her hand reached out and slowly pulled the lid shut. Terrana turned around to look for the others, and spied Lorn and Prince Gil Ra Im across from her. The prince was seated by an open capsule while Lorn stood, watching her with steely eyes. Terrana reeled back in surprise — it was as though he hated her!

She looked at the prince and was shocked to see how haggard and weak he appeared. Her next thought left her wondering who it was that lay in the open capsule. She walked towards them, but Quempa laid a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

“It’s better we leave them be,” he said. “The prince is under a lot of strain.”

“Who’s in the capsule?” she asked.

“His mother,” said Lorn. Terrana stiffened. Lorn had walked up to them quite suddenly. Terrana drew back from his angry gaze.

“Is she going to be all right?”

“Would you be if someone punched a hole through your stomach?” he snarled.

Terrana blanched. “Did the demons do that to her?”

Lorn looked stunned. “You don’t remember?”

“Remember what?”

“You broke through the barrier, Terrana. You turned into —”

Lady Anrath cried out suddenly and they looked past her to see the prince keeling over into the capsule. Terrana dashed to him immediately.

“That’s enough, Your Majesty! You cannot last much longer,” said Lady Anrath. She was pulling him back from the capsule, away from his mother.

“Release me! My mother is dying! How can you tell me to stop?”

Terrana reached his side and glanced into the capsule. Her chest tightened when she saw the nearly lifeless queen.

“Prince,” she said softly. If he heard her, he did not acknowledge it. His eyes were filled with pain as he fought to break free from Lady Anrath’s iron grip.

“Your mother would never forgive me if I allowed you to die with her!” said Lady Anrath. “You must live on, to inherit her will if she dies, do you understand? It is your duty.”

“You speak as if my mother was dead already!” growled the prince.

“No, Your Majesty. I speak as your mother still living, relaying what she would wish of you. Down to her very last breath, your mother is the queen of Swiva and ruler of Sector Six, and she would want to ensure the protection and safety of her people. Do not disrespect her by giving your life away too!”

“If I don’t help her, she will die! She’s not dead yet!" His expression was just as pained and lost as Terrana’s had been earlier. He collapsed suddenly, and would have fallen to the floor had Lady Anrath not been holding him.

“I can stand on my own!” He tried to push her away.

“Your Majesty, anymore and you will die!” cried Lady Anrath. “You’ve done all that you can do. Now, you must be her son and stay by her side in her final moments.”

Prince Gil Ra Im’s shoulders shook. He reached out towards his unmoving mother and wrapped his hand around her limp one. With his other hand, he stroked the side of her beautiful face, his expression anguished. When he spoke, his voice was raw and full of emotion. “Mother, you didn’t prepare me for this. I’m not ready to take your place.”

Terrana watched him in silence, fresh tears coming to her eyes. Kuldor and Grandmaster Deitrux walked out of the cockpit, coming to stand on either side of the prince. The grandmaster laid a hand on the prince’s shoulder. They stood together around the capsule in a small group, watching over the queen. Queen Julere’s face, even when she died, was still as beautiful and commanding as ever.

For a long while, everyone remained still as they struggled to come to terms with the queen’s passing. The silence was broken only when they heard a groan and the capsule next to them popped open. Raimus sat up, clutching a pli-gel bag to his chest. He took one look at the others before glancing into the queen’s capsule. His expression saddened. Tears filled his eyes.

“Dartkala have mercy,” he said. “Why her?”

He tried to get out of his capsule, and Quempa hobbled over to help him. When he stepped out, he glanced over at the other capsules, sensing the others inside. Then, he walked over to the queen and bowed low and long before her, even though the movement sent shards of searing pain through his body. Everyone except for the prince did the same.

When they finally straightened, Raimus wiped his tears away. “At least, she has Baneyon with her,” he said. “May Dartkala forever watch over them.”

He wondered if he had committed some terrible faux pas when everyone threw him horrified glances, including the young prince. He couldn’t have known; he had been unconscious when Terrana had transformed and killed the queen. He didn’t know that it had been Baneyon’s near death while fighting the demons that had triggered Terrana’s transformation.

“What did you say? Baneyon is not dead!” Terrana growled, blackness flooding her eyes. Raimus gasped and stepped back. She advanced on him while everyone else moved away — the panic in their eyes was obvious as they tried to regroup behind her.

A deafening noise suddenly struck the ship and it shuddered violently — they had struck something. Kuldor sprinted to the cockpit. The pressure in the hangar suddenly increased and strange whispering noises filled their heads, growing louder with each second.

“Kuldor!” shouted Grandmaster Deitrux. They were all covering their ears to shut out the awful whispering. Even Terrana was snapped back to into herself, trying to stem the bleeding from her ears.

Kuldor burst into the hangar, visibly shaken. “A gate’s appeared ahead of us!” he shouted. “We’re being sucked into it! Zip on your suits and prepare yourselves. We must not be pulled into that hole!”

“How can that be?” Raimus shouted. “There are no gates in this part of the In-Between! Did you miscalculate our heading?”

Kuldor’s expression was terrifying when he answered. “There’s been no miscalculation. It suddenly appeared in front of us. The gate belongs to Olden Kartath!”

His words might as well have been a death sentence. Everyone paled. The same thoughts ran through their minds — madness and time flux.

“Tell us this ship has protection from the nightmares!” Raimus cried, his puffy face even more swollen from fear.

“We never planned to cross Olden Kartath,” replied Kuldor. “In fact, we shouldn’t be anywhere near Sector One. This ship has no sleep serum.”

“We may be able to deal with the nightmares,” said Lady Anrath quickly. “As long as we avoid the time flux belt, we can locate the other gate and leave. We can induce a sleeping mind state and navigate our way through this.”

Kuldor shook his head. “We don’t have a lock on our coordinates. This gate is not the registered gate our ships pass through. We could be in the time flux belt already!”

The whispering in everyone’s heads grew louder as the ship came alive with vivid images. “What’s that?” Raimus pointed to the floor. A creature he had never seen before crawled through the steel grid panels. Its breath reeked of decaying corpses. No one else saw what he saw; they were trapped in their own visions of hell. Millions of voices flooded their minds. Help us, please help us! Please save us.

The apparitions’ pleas were like knives to their brains, and everyone began to shriek, covering their ears to block out the voices. Visions bombarded them — races they had never seen before, their faces gaunt and terrified, crawled towards them. Fire and explosions ripped apart their planets. A dark cloud trailed the dying people, absorbing their qi. It turned them into shrivelled husks until they were stepped on and turned into dust.

"No more!" screamed Terrana. ”Please no more!”

Quite suddenly, a brilliant light appeared, bathing them in soothing tones. It washed away the images and whispers, and silence ensued. Terrana stumbled to her feet groggily. The light had washed the blood off her face and her head no longer felt like exploding. And they weren’t on the ship. And it was raining.

She gasped as whatever shield that had been keeping her dry vanished and she was suddenly drenched in a downpour. The rain was warm. She took a step forwards and realised she was standing in a shallow stream under an open sky. Smooth pebbles poked her feet.

Streams weaved in and out between white, smooth rocks and blue grass. Tall trees grew on the banks and, like the rocks, their trunks were white and polished with fine silver lines etched into the bark. Their branches spread out in a manner that Terrana had not seen before — they interwove with each other, forming large spherical structures at the top. Pale pink pods hung from these spheres.

She looked towards the area where the streams converged into rapids and sucked in her breath. They must have been on very high ground because the rapids vanished into thin air, and up ahead she saw nothing but sky, and heard the majestic roar of waterfalls.

Beyond the waterfalls, two planets loomed in the distance. They were so close that she could make out the mountains and rivers that marked their surfaces. She disliked the look of one of them though; it was covered in a red haze and reeked of death.

“Where are we?” Lorn asked. He was standing behind her, and next to him was the prince. Kuldor, Quempa, Raimus, Lady Anrath, and the grandmaster were also standing in the stream close by, looking around in wonder. There was no sign of the capsules in which the queen and Baneyon lay.

Terrana blinked, attempting to shake the rain off her face.

“It appears that we have been transported to DalKal 7, the third planet of Olden Kartath’s galaxy,” said Lady Anrath.

“How do you know this?” asked Raimus.

“We learnt a few things from our last visit to Olden Kartath.” Lady Anrath pointed to the red planet. “That planet is Syrog where the tonien was kept, and the other is DalKal 2.”

“The fair haired creature is correct. This is DalKal 7, and it is here that you must answer for your crimes!”

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