Kanushin (Starweaver's Tapestry #1)

Chapter 24: You and I (Act II Finale)

Diah felt the air in her lungs dissipate and fear grip her heart. Her pulse pounded in her eardrums like the sound of a booming drum. The room around her started to tilt and shrink as panic chipped away at her composure.

'There's no way,' She thought. 'The Kunar couldn't possibly stage an attack like that, right?'

'The largest and most powerful military race in the galaxy?' Her mental Wyrna sneered. 'Surely, you must be joking. Has my own daughter, too caught up in her girlish distractions, forgotten her teachings? My death will be on your hands.'

Diah's skin tingled. She needed to get to Vensha, and it needed to be that very moment. Any more time passed was considered time wasted in her mind. Her brain screamed at her to take a breath, Instead, she pointed at Nox.

"Is the Nova ready?" She asked.

Nox nodded. "Yeah, for the most part. There's still some small details that need to be looked over but -"

"Is the Nova ready or not?" Diah asked pointedly. "Can it fly?"

"Yes. It's better than ever, " Nox bristled at the sudden change in Diah's tone.

Diah turned and went out the door without a second thought. The arid air of Elontra splashed her face as she took off toward the Aurora Nova. The sound of hectic calls and footsteps followed her.

"Diah, we need to plan things out," Zaius said from behind her. "Imi is still being repaired and we just fought for our lives. We need a moment to regroup."

"We don't have a moment!" Diah shouted as she twirled to face him. The others started to spill out of the house and join them. "We need to get to Vensha, now! We need to warn the Alis. Don't make me find another way home."

'That's it. Leave them all behind. Come back to your mother,'

"Stop!" Diah yelled and grabbed her head. She just wanted the voice to be silenced, to leave her alone to her own thoughts. Zaius stepped back in surprise.

'I will not! You are the one that left me behind. You are the one that never listened. If you had stayed, they would never have targeted us. Iva died because of your own actions. Now so will I, so will Gallard, and so will all of these people that you have dragged into your own mess.'

"Please!" Diah screamed. She fell to her knees in the dirt of Bugu's junkyard. Her vision flickered and she saw an endless stream of images flash through her mind. The city of Liotik burned bright orange as the flames swallowed it whole. The Aurora Nova blasted apart into chunks of Zanathum and fiberglass as it was bombarded by large cannon blasts. Zaius laid crumpled in her arms, cold and still as a warship exploded on the horizon. A door rose from the ground in a tower of pink particles and endless reflections. She felt a presence pull her toward the door, one that was familiar, yet somehow still unknown in the inner recesses of her mind. She reached to push the door open.

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Kirrik checked on Imi again before he left out of the door with everyone else. As he stepped outside, Diah fell face first into the dust. Zaius yelled her name, but there was no response. He shook her shoulders lightly. Sky ran down the steps toward them while Nox and Balakus looked on in concern from the side. Kirrik walked up next to Bugu, unsure of how to proceed.

"I think you need to be heading out," Bugu said, eyes focused on the scene ahead of them.

"We have two of our group down and out, a potential double-invasion afoot and we still don't fully know what the Kunar are up to beyond that," Kirrik listed out. "How does going anywhere in our current state make sense? I'd rather cut ties here, take Imi and get back to what we were doing."