Dissension Read online

  “Lupercus, get them through the portal! I’ll get Brato and Eliana,” he yelled.

  Lupercus grunted and let out a deep breath. He gripped the spheres to his chest and turned on his heels. Running full speed, he dove into the wall and vanished.

  Daviathan quickly dispatched the remaining spectrals and rushed outside. In the middle of the street Eliana and Brato stood back to back surrounded by an army of spectrals and ravens. They were both severely injured and bleeding heavily onto the floor, but in their eyes glistened a defiance that made the hairs on Daviathan's neck stand.

  “Just give us the children and we will end your suffering,” one of the spectrals heckled.

  "I will give you death you filthy mongrel!" Brato spat.

  "Don't play at bravery. We have taken your city. Our legions stand before you victorious. Save yourself, perhaps I will keep you as my pet."

  "Come then, let us reawaken Elisia with the blood of her foes!" Brato and Eliana hunched forward.

  Daviathan clenched his fists then started toward the courtyard. The shadows hid him well, now that nearly all of the Zaspar had been depleted. He inched closer and closer, gripping his dagger tightly.

  All of a sudden a voice exploded inside of Daviathan’s head.

  “We are done for my friend. Please protect the boys, see the prophecy through and return honor to our people,” Brato's voice echoed.

  Daviathan paused and fought back tears. "No, there is still time," he mumbled. Swallowing, he continued forward, creeping through the shadows.

  Brato held Eliana’s hands in his own and smiled at her. “There is no place I would rather be,” he whispered.

  She smiled back at him. “Do it.”

  Brato turned to the spectrals. His eyes were the most intense white that Daviathan had ever seen. His entire body and Eliana’s seemed to glow and radiate an energy that caused the air to distort. This was the real power behind the elementals, they were one with the universe. Every ounce of their being had been scooped from the cosmos to form the perfect balance and in the end that was where they would return.

  “We will end our own suffering you cowards," Brato roared with life. "But know this, you will never find our children!”

  “Brato, no!” Daviathan screamed, but he was too late.

  With a shrill and an ear splitting whoosh, the city lit up. Light poured out of Brato and Eliana overwhelming the spectrals, engulfing them like a radiant cloud. Daviathan covered his face and knelt down. The light rushed over him, blowing him into a wall and knocking him unconscious.

  He was only out for a few minutes, but when he came to, the streets were empty. Brato and Eliana were no more and any trace of the spectrals was gone. Only the crumbling walls and cracked streets remained.

  Daviathan stumbled around trying to collect himself. He was disorientated and weak, but he knew the war wasn't over. He could hear the rush of footsteps as more spectrals made it to the city and headed for the center.

  In a daze, he staggered back into the hall and ran for the portal. He was almost through it when a spectral leapt up the stairs and landed with a crushing thud. Daviathan dove into the wall just as the spectral hurled an axe towards him. The gleaming, double sided blade buried itself into Daviathan’s back and he fell into the portal and vanished.

  Daviathan was sucked off of his feet and spun through the weightless void. He felt the familiar sensation of being in a vacuum, but also the pain of Relusian steel buried in his back.

  Suddenly his feet slammed into the ground and he fell forward onto his face. He tried to stand, but couldn’t. Lupercus quickly ran to his side and closed the portal. He pulled the heavy axe out of Daviathan’s lower back and tossed it to the ground.

  “You’re okay my friend,” he whispered as he placed his hand over the wound.

  As it started to heal, he rolled him over and sat him up. His face was covered in ash and his eyes told a story of defeat.

  “Brato and Eliana?”

  “They did not make it,” Daviathan responded.

  He looked into Lupercus’ eyes and then to the other elementals who were now refugees in a foreign world. His eyes caught the gleaming spheres sitting on the ground in front of him and suddenly a sharp pain jolted his heart.

  “Lupercus, I only see two...where is the third? Where is the third sphere?”

  “I…I lost it in the portal.”

  I

  ALL THINGS BEGIN

  Somewhere in the Western United States

  “Careful with that,” demanded a scraggly, gray-haired man in a white lab coat.

  Hanson nodded grumpily before setting the cardboard box onto the table. He pulled a small knife from his pocket and gently cut through the tape that held the top together. As he folded the box back, the man slapped at his hand and shooed him away.

  “We’ll take it from here. Bring us another subject,” he spat.

  Removing his hands from the box, Hanson turned and lumbered over the tiny man like a Sasquatch. His broad chest rose and fell, like an avalanche thundered underneath the torn, navy blue work shirt. His wide jaw was clenched tight, his eyes thin and dark as he scowled at the feeble man before him.

  There was something cryptic and menacing about Hanson, besides the fact that he looked like the offspring of giants and great apes. His glare alone seemed dangerous.

  “Please forgive Dr. Heizwick’s crude tone Hanson. He’s been under incredible stress lately,” Dr. Vorcick said, as he hesitantly moved in between them.

  Dr. Vorcick was roughly the same age as Heizwick. He was thin and balding with a pair of glasses hanging from his long nose that made him look like a librarian. He was the more diplomatic of the two and understood the true dangers of their work.

  Hanson eyed him momentarily and considered his words. He grunted under his breath then turned and stormed out of the room, ducking his head as he passed through the doorway.

  Once he was out of earshot Dr. Vorcick turned to Heizwick and whispered, “You must learn to be more polite to the help.”

  “Why? That mindless ape can hardly remember his name.”

  “Yes, but that mindless ape is the only thing standing between us and them,” Dr. Vorcick raised his eyebrows and nodded.

  Dr. Heizwick turned back to the box and slowly pulled the flaps back. A bluish glow emitted from the inside. He reached his hand into the box and withdrew a small glass canister with metal caps on either end. The canister was unmarked and filled with a glowing blue liquid that sparkled and moved, as if it had a life of its own.

  “Are they all there?” Dr. Vorcick asked.

  “Yes, help me load them into the centrifuge.”

  One by one they removed more than two dozen identical canisters. They placed them into a large centrifuge that sat at the end of an operating table.

  Dr. Heizwick smiled greedily when they were finished, rubbing his hands together in satisfaction. As Dr. Vorcick reached to turn on the centrifuge, Hanson burst through the door. He was struggling, trying to control a young, brown haired girl that he dragged behind him.

  “Argh! Let me go! Don’t touch me!” the girl yelled at the top of her lungs, as she frantically fought against the enormous man.

  She was a tiny thing, possibly in her early twenties. She was severely malnourished and covered in cuts and deep, purplish-blue bruises. Her long, brown hair was knotted and clumped together and a soiled blue and white medical gown did it’s best to cling to her skeletal frame.

  Her hands and feet had been chained together in a manner normally reserved for hogs. A heavier chain had been wrapped around her waist and Hanson held the end tightly in his right hand.

  “The tranquilizer aint working as good,” Hanson complained.

  The girl lunged forward and buried her teeth into his calf. Without hesitation, he brought his heavy fist crashing down on her head with a bone jarring thud. The girl simply flinched and sunk her teeth deeper into him.

  “You see what I mean?” Hanson yelped.

>   Grabbing her by the ears, he yanked her head backwards and slung her onto the floor. She sat up and wiped blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. With a scowl on her face, she looked at Hanson and growled like a wild animal.

  "I'll kill you...I swear I'll kill you," the girl yelped.

  Hanson smiled then punched her again. Gripping her by the throat, he lifted her off of the ground and slammed her onto the operating table. The doctors had barely noticed the skirmish and continued to tinker with the centrifuge.

  Hanson quickly secured her to the table with a number of metal bands and leather straps. She snapped and snarled at him, but she was too weak to fight against the restraints. Hanson looked down on her with disgust then spit in her face.

  “She’s all yours. Hopefully she’ll make it longer than the last one,” he snickered then walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

  The girl moaned and cried out. She tossed her head back, banging it into the metal table over and over. The sound was like a bell being rung of the cacophony from a timpani drum.

  Dr. Vorcick glanced at her with a look of contempt. “I’ll never make sense of your species. Sad creatures you really are,” he mumbled.

  She suddenly, stopped banging her head and stared back at Vorcick. Snapping her teeth, she began to tug against the straps. Her arms trembled as she strained her muscles. The metal screws whined from the stress and one of the bolts securing her to the table snapped and went spiraling into the air.

  “Hanson, get back in here!” Dr. Vorcick yelled and staggered backwards.

  She whipped back and forth, the restraints threatening to break at any moment. Vorcick and Heizwick dropped their jaws in shock then quickly backed away. Knocking over a cart, they turned and frantically scurried to the door.

  "Hanson now!" Vorcick hollered in panic.

  With an ear splitting crack, one of the main straps holding her down tore clean from the table. She scrambled and tried to rid herself of the other restraints.

  Suddenly, the door swung open and Hanson charged back inside. He was out of breath, gripping a syringe that had been designed for elephants.

  “I knew that last dose wasn’t enough,” he groaned.

  As another strap broke, Hanson dove at the girl and tried to grab her arm. She caught him by the collar in mid-air and tossed him into the wall. With a smack, he hit the solid concrete and slid down onto the floor. The syringe flew off in the other direction.

  The girl let out a piercing scream as she strained to free her other hand. She seemed to be growing stronger and stronger with each passing minute. Her need for freedom and pure anger was like fuel.

  “Heizwick grab the needle!” Dr. Vorcick hollered as he tried to help Hanson up.

  The syringe had slid across the floor and was laying inches from Heizwick’s shoes. He glanced down at it then quickly diverted his eyes in the other direction.

  Hanson shuffled to his feet and shook his head to clear it. "Get off me," he snapped at Vorcick.

  Huffing, he ran back to the table and wrapped an extra strap around the girl's arm. Looping it through a metal bracket, he yanked it tight and pulled her back to the table.

  “Get off me! Get off me now!” she yelled as Hanson did his best to keep her down.

  “Heizwick now!” Dr. Vorcick screamed again. He held his hands out and pleaded with his terrified friend.

  Dr. Heizwick shook in place. He stared from Vorcick then to Hanson wrestling with the girl on the table. His beady eyes jittered back and forth as his teeth rattled like a snare drum.

  The girl screamed even louder. Her voice shrilled and squalled like some deranged creature. She kicked and flopped and snapped her teeth at Hanson.

  "I'm going to kill all of you!" she shouted madly.

  Something about her voice sent a bolt of life to Heizwick. He tried to compose himself, but his fear was too great. With trembling hands, he bent down and picked up the syringe. He quickly tossed it to Dr. Vorcick then scurried backwards towards the door.

  “Hurry up!” Hanson squealed.

  Dr. Vorcick ran to his side and plunged the hulking needle into the girl’s neck. As it emptied into her veins she quivered for a moment then went limp. Hanson relaxed his grip on her arm and then hurried to make sure the other straps were secure.

  “We’ll need to ensure the dosage is adjusted properly,” Dr. Vorcick huffed as he caught his breath.

  Heizwick looked at him awkwardly then slowly moved closer, cautiously inching away from the door. He apprehensively eyed the girl then shifted his gaze to Hanson. The towering klutz had proven himself useful, he thought.

  “Hanson, see Dr. Shields and let her know what’s just occurred. She’ll need to take a look at the decay rate of the last batch,” Dr. Vorcick continued.

  Hanson finished securing the girl then looked to Dr. Vorcick with a puzzled gaze. Vorcick sighed.

  “Yes...just tell her to see one of us.”

  Hanson nodded. He turned to Heizwick and rolled his eyes then headed out of the door.

  “Let’s get her set up before we have another incident,” Dr. Vorcick said. "We need this to work."

  He opened the centrifuge and pulled out a canister. He held it to the light and examined its contents. The blue liquid had separated and was now two distinct substances. A chunky, green sludge sat at the bottom and a thin, yellow colored liquid floated at the top.

  Vorcick smiled and began to hand the canisters to Dr. Heizwick. He took them with shaky hands and placed each one into a large, silver case that resembled a refrigerator with plastic tubes spewing from the top.

  Once all of the canisters were loaded, Heizwick closed the case and started to untangle the tubes. Dr. Vorcick handed him a bag of tiny, silver needles and together they attached them to the end of the tubes. Fearfully, Heizwick glanced back at the unconscious girl sprawled out across the table.

  “Do you think she’ll get back up?” he asked in an uncharacteristically childish voice.

  “We hope so don’t we?” Vorcick responded.

  Shaking his head, Vorcick began to insert the needles into the girl’s arm. Heizwick hesitated then joined him, gently pushing each needle in with trembling hands.

  Once complete, Vorcick stepped away and stared at the girl. Her arms were tucked neatly at her sides. Her legs twisted awkwardly, bound together by chains and the makeshift straps from Hanson. Blood oozed from the needle holes, slowly trickling down to her hands and plopping onto the floor.

  Grinning, Vorcick nodded at Dr. Heizwick as he pressed a blue button on the front of the silver case. With a gurgling noise, the green and yellow substances started to flow through the tubes.

  “I hope the reaction lasts this time,” Dr. Vorcick said as he picked up a clipboard.

  The fluids snaked through the plastic tubes and down through the needles. As more and more of the substance pumped into her arms, the girl started to convulse and her eyes flickered.

  “It’s happening! Did you turn on the recorder?” Vorcick asked excitedly.

  Dr. Heizwick ran to the corner and began to fumble with a panel of controls.

  “Quickly, the reaction is occurring much faster this time!”

  Heizwick finally located the recording switch and flipped it on. He ran back to the table just as the last bit of liquid left the tubes.

  “If we can stabilize the reaction we can isolate the strand,” Heizwick mumbled to himself as he jabbed at the keyboard next to him.

  “This is Dr. Vorcick. All of compound AB1 has been delivered to patient 346. We are now awaiting results,” he said into a small microphone that sat next to a series of monitors.

  The girl’s hand twitched and her eyes flickered again. It seemed obvious that whatever substance they’d pumped into her was causing great pain, even in her unconscious state. Her body spasmed and the doctors both inched closer with eager eyes.

  Heizwick pointed at the monitor as the little green lines that ran across it spiked up and down. His fear h
ad evaporated as his interest in the experiment increased. "It's going to work!" he elated.

  “I believe we are seeing the reaction occur,” Vorcick whispered into the microphone.

  Suddenly, the girl’s eyes flashed open and a bright light beamed out of them like a ray. Dr. Heizwick jumped back, crashing into a cart and knocking it over. Dr. Vorcick grabbed his arm to steady him.

  “We don’t want to startle her,” he whispered.

  “Is…is she awake?” Heizwick stuttered.

  Vorcick ignored him as he turned his attention back to the girl. The light emanating from her eyes was almost pure white. What started as a narrow beam was slowly expanding, widening and casting its glow across the room.

  The girl twitched and her mouth fell open. Her eyes thinned into slits and her skin started to harden and spike as it turned a deep shade of blue. She shivered and jerked on the table, jolting against the straps that held her down.

  Heizwick shot a nervous glance at Vorcick then shuffled away. "They will hold...won't they?"

  Without warning, the door burst open and Hanson stormed into the room. His shirt was drenched in sweat and he huffed wildly while trying to catch his breath.

  “You need to hear this!” he yelled.

  The doctors looked at each other and then followed Hanson into the hallway. It was a wide, dimly lit corridor with thirty foot ceilings and rocky stone walls. Either side seemed to run off for miles, disappearing into the shadows where the weak light couldn't follow.

  Hanson rushed down the hall to his left and the doctors hesitantly followed. Rounding a corner, they were almost knocked off of their feet by the stabbing screams that erupted ahead of them.

  The sound was horrible, spewing from the blackness like a crashing wave. Clenching their ears, they grimaced and stumbled backwards. Heizwick struggled to stand as he fell back against the wall.

  “What the hell is that?” Dr. Vorcick screamed.

  “The detainees, they all started a minute ago,” Hanson yelled back over the chorus of shrills.

  “She’s doing it,” Dr. Heizwick said and looked to Vorcick. “She’s doing it. We have to shut it down.”