Passengers to the Beyond (Part 2 of 3)

---

🔵 | ⏪ PART 01 ⏪ | ⏪ PART 02 ⏪ | ⏸ | 🔵

Xris felt the vibrations and knew for a certainty they were jumping. It worked! The crystal's coordinates were true! A second later, they jumped.

Making Jon disgorge all over her.

Twice in one day, have to ask Otho if this has ever happened to him. Her first impulse was to hug the boy, to console him. They would never hurt him, truly. But her master's words echoed in her mind.

Control your impulses - or perish.

Jon wanted to lie down in a puddle of his own making and just... be. Let the Repears finish their foul magic and be done with it. All his childhood, the banished Gods haunted his dreams, the ones that disavowed their promise. He dreamed of the monsters that left when they were needed most, and returned when they were not. Then, when Jon finally witnessed them for himself: they looked just like him, normal humans... a man and a pretty girl... what did it mean?

He saw the pretty alien girl crouched beside him, covered in his spew. His royal training took hold of him. "My apologies, little one. That was... unbefitting of me..."

The alien girl cocked her head. "I've had worse stuff sprayed on me." Her mouth twitched. "Little one? I'm most likely twice your age, regal one."

Is she mocking me? Jon squinted. "I... understand." Better play it safe.

Xris chuckled. "You can call me little one if you want." She got up, proffering her hand. "I think it's cute. Come on. My master is waiting for us on the bridge."

The bridge was spacious and efficient. Its massive windows displayed a gaseous, gray planet with three moons curtained by hundreds of thousands of stars. Jon thought of it as the God's nest. He didn't fully understand what he was seeing. All he knew was that it made him feel incredibly small. Smaller than he'd felt his entire life.

Otho beckoned them both. He placed the hexagonal crystal into Jon's outstretched palm. "This is yours, Stuart's nephew."

Faded were the once bright markings on the crystal. Jon was apprehensive about his family's heirloom. "You are giving it back?"

"That is your key home. When the markings shine with their former luster, the coordinates to Sillburn shall be restored."

"Sillburn?"

"Yes. Your home planet."

"My...home...planet? I..."

Otho held up a hand; Jon gulped audibly. "Xristina, he is your charge on this excursion. Anything were to happen to him, and your apprenticeship ends."

"Yes, master."

"Good. Now, prepare to embark."

Xris took Jon's hand and lead him through several see-through hallways that stole his breath. They reached the docking station, and the embarking ship - The Lancer. To Jon's surprise, Otho was already in the cockpit, waiting. His garb had changed, the robes and cloths replaced by plates and belts - he still wore his wide-brimmed metal hat.

Jon let the banished girl place a breathing apparatus that doubled as a communication device on his face. It attached to his mouth, then jaw, then finished at his ears. Jon's bewildered face amused Xris to no end. She remembered how fragile her charge's brain might be, however. She told him to close his eyes and relax - Jon happily obliged.

"You can open them now, we've arrived."

Jon found himself amidst gray wastes, a grey horizon, and greyer clouds in the distance. The ground was also bouncy, and the air felt... thick. He noticed the Lancer wasn't landed fully but floated off the ground. Jon felt like he woke up in a dream.

"He looks so funny, master. All the time."

Otho gave Xris a sharp look. "Do not get attached to such creatures. They are beneath you or I. Especially not now, when we are so close to the precipice. Our Contract binds him to us, nothing more. Understand?"

"Y-Yes, master."

Jon heard their distorted voices through the strange devices they had on their faces. He didn't appreciate how they talked as if he wasn't there. Before he could say just that, Otho disappeared. Xris grabbed Jon and lifted him onto her back in one slick motion.

"I'll have to carry you, regal one. If you are not careful, you will sink, and be lost forever. I can't risk that."

"I... I see." Great...this dream is only getting weirder... "Why are we here? Where are we going?"

"Not my place to say. Hold tight. If you feel uneasy tell me beforehand. I've received enough puke for one day."

They bounced through the gray wastes, puffs of stringy gas following in their wake. As Xris expertly avoided each pitfall, Jon could see only darkness beneath. He stopped looking down. Jump after horrifying jump, they approached the only land mass he could see. A mountain made of obsidian - black as space itself.

Otho awaited them at its base. "Stuart's nephew, you are to remain here, at the entrance of this cave. Understand?"

"What -"

"Go inside and you will perish, head out into the wastes and you will perish, climb the mountain and you will perish."

"Don't leave me alone out here!"

"There is nothing that can harm you if you stay at the base of this mountain. Understand?"

"...I understand."

"Xristina, prepare."

"Yes, master."

And they were gone.

Inside the darkness of the cave, Otho and Xris appeared at the edge of a great chasm. Their powers could only take them so far, as they were about to fall in the deepest, depts in the universe.

Otho looked at his apprentice, proud and confident. Yes. After all these years, he had found the one. "Prepared?"

Xris looked at him through blackness complete. And nodded.

They jumped down the chasm.

Xris got out two daggers, throwing them at the monster's exposed belly, ducked as a tentacle destroyed the stalagmite behind her. She rolled as another came from above, then a third - got sliced in half by Otho's hat. Xris turned, threw, struck. Rolled, weaved, dodged. Struck. And on it went.

They fought in the void. No light shone in this artificial darkness, and no sound escaped. No otherworldly powers persisted, and no enchanted artifacts worked. Only the most skilled combatants could stand a chance against this unnamed, unseen beast.

Otho threw his hat, again and again, using Xris as the decoy. He was uncertain if he was wounding the beast, but he had to believe. He'd been training his entire life for this fight, searching endless space for a partner worthy to share this combat. As Xris ran through the chasm he knew that if he died, he'd still made the right decision.

But he wouldn't die, the fate of his kind depended on it.

As they fought, only their collective training kept them on the verge of dying. It was time for otho to act as the decoy, as Xris threw sliced tentacle after tentacle. In that void, their bodies didn't tire. Their minds, however...

Suddenly, they felt something. A weakening in the beast's defenses. Both warriors made way towards it.

Otho knew what must be done, he dreaded doing it, but no price was too great. No sacrifice to steep. He let the monster hit Xris, the crack of the impact was silent, but Otho heard it all the same. He ran up, and buried his phaser in the beast's side.

It shrieked, the sudden burst of noise would've deafened any mundane creature - but Otho was anything but mundane. Light, dim but blinding, escaped from beneath the beast and started flowing through the chasm. Expanding.

There was little time to spare. Otho appeared before the beast's heart, sliced a chunk before it evaporated, took it. The light was getting brighter. Then he appeared next to Xristina's limp body, picked her up. Established a Connection with the girl so he could Travel with her body. Next, he appeared at the mouth of the mountain, as the light threatened to swallow them.

"Little one!" The Stuart's nephew rushed to meet them. Otho despised the fact that he needed this weakling alive but there was nothing to be done. He must do the unspeakable to survive. He touched the boy, forging a Connection with him as well. A taboo by all circumstances. But this warranted it. He then placed Xris on one shoulder and grabbed the boy on the other. Appeared in front of the Lancer.

"What's going on? Is she dead?"

"Into the ship, boy, before we get swallowed!"

"Swallowed? From what? The gas? I thought you said -"

"Into the ship!"

Otho left Xristina in Jon's cradle as he manned the controls. The once gray planet getting brighter by the second. "Strap yourself and Xristina!" Otho yelled, raddled for the first time in his life.

He didn't have time to see if the boy obeyed. He launched, beams of light now streaming beside him. Not good. He flew recklessly into the open docks, nearly crashing into the wall. "Listen, boy! You know where the bridge is, yes? Take her there!" Again, Otho didn't have time to witness the boy's approval as he disappeared.

Jon, confused, afraid, sad. Picked up the little one's body and started running through the see-through hallways she once led him down. He didn't know why, but his eyes started to hurt. And it wasn't the tears that made them burn.

At the bridge, Otho scrambled through the controls. "Boy! Place her down! To me!" The deck's windows displayed an ever-glowing white ball, slowly but surely expanding. "The crystal! Place it on the podium!"

"What? I - I - I can't, you -"

"Place it or we perish!"

Jon placed the now glowing crystal on the podium. It gripped him then. He couldn't let go. The crystal was forcing him into place. His hand burned, but he couldn't let go. Soon, the ship started vibrating. Soon, it jumped.

Leaving behind a galaxy devoured by endless white.

🔵 | ⏪ PART 01 ⏪ | ⏪ PART 02 ⏪ | ⏸ | 🔵

---

Obligatory shout-out to the 🍕PIZZA🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙

Welp, we're almost done folks! 😁 Believe it or not I fear the ending will be too short for this one. But we'll see, it's always longer than I intend it to be. 😅

👊 Follow me on my HIVE blog 👊

Image source.

Have a great weekend! Stay safe! 🙌