Beyond the Empyreal Stars

36.

36.

He was on the roof of Grand Central when he saw her ship. It had been hours since he saw her leave, escorting the Navigator to D.C. They'd gotten the comm about them being attacked and how Odette demanded they go on without her, but he knew she wasn't dead when he saw her ship, abandon on one of the streets.

No, she couldn't be.

The three Whispians who'd cornered him were, though, burn marks caused by the energy beams from his Bodtic gun going straight through their chests. Everywhere below him was lit up with bursts of light, screams of rage as the humans and Alliance races attacked with everything they had. Something had to have happened, something he didn't see.

And they were winning. It wasn't just because it was what Duke wanted to see, but what he actually was seeing. The Whispian gunships were crash-landing in fiery wreckages. The Whispians themselves, along with their Glaci allies, were being killed or fleeing. Fleeing, however, though result in their certain death once Comae or King Rine of Boreal got word of their cowardice.

At first, he thought something was wrong with the Aviatrix Odette had been flying. It was spinning as it tried taking off, wings hitting the skeletal buildings on both sides. Duke ran over to the edge of Grand Central's roof, watching nervously as he waited for her to steady the ship, sighing in relief when she finally did. But when it was just about to take to the sky...

An energy beam shot out from behind one of the buildings, hit the ship, and sent it to the ground engulfed in a fiery inferno.

Duke froze and couldn't look away as the ball of flames hit the earth. No one could have escaped the wreckage...

Odette.

An invisible force punched Duke right in the stomach, knocking the breath from his lungs. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't feel the rain that poured, couldn't make sense of anything that just happened.

Odette.

She was Terrian. No...half Terrian. But being half Terrian, she could still heal, right?

Maybe she escaped, burned, but would heal in a few minutes.

Yeah, that's what happened...

No. No, it didn't.

She was gone.

Odette was gone.

She hadn't just left him like she did before. This was something she couldn't come back from. She was dead.

Dead.

A slow clap started behind him, but Duke didn't turn around. He didn't need to see the person to know who it was. All he needed was the voice.

"I have to admit, I didn't think you humans would be able to pull it off," Pallas admitted. Duke could hear the smirk in his tone. "But you did have Alliance help, so I'd call that cheating, wouldn't you?"

Duke hung his head in defeat, even though Earth had been anything but defeated. Even though his planet was winning back everything taken from it in the last five years, the one woman who meant everything to him was gone.

Dead.

"If you're going to kill me, just do it already," he hissed, turning his head slightly so he could see Pallas's advance, a silver bow drawn back with a sparking arrow notched on.

"Kill you?" Pallas laughed. "I won't do that to you just yet. Take away your family and the Terrian Paragon you love...I think I'll do that instead. I want their screams to haunt you until you're begging me for death. You might have hidden your family away, but your Paragon...oh, I've got her locked up safe and sound with that man she treats like a father..."