Awoken (18 page)

“My working monocle. I invented it to allow me to see through things. It helps when I am tinkering inside all this machinery,” Mordecai replied with fondness as he described his favorite tool. “That monocle is the closest I have ever come to improving on the Creator’s work. Awoken are programmed to near perfection when they awake, but they cannot see through solid objects. See! The Creator did not think of everything, young sir. An independent thinker, that is what I am.” Mordecai tapped the side of his head knowingly.

Oa laughed and replied, “I am glad I met you. My name is Oa. You sound a lot like my friend, the way you talk. Ohm always goes on about stuff like the Creator and program—”

“What name did you say your friend had?” Mordecai demanded, raising his hand to cut Oa off.

“Ohm, his name is Ohm,” Oa replied, taken aback by the sudden question.

“Get out. Get out! No friend of Ohm is a friend of mine. He is the one who tried to defile my noble goals. Leave my shop,” Mordecai shrieked, shoving Oa toward the door.

“I don’t understand; wait a weeble! At least take this back. I don’t want to take your best invention,” Oa stammered, the monocle still in his hand.

“I have more. Just get out!” Mordecai snapped, pushing Oa through the open door. It slammed closed as soon as Oa was through.

He looked down at the monocle in his hand and placed the tool in his satchel next to Seeker.
So Ohm was the Awoken Mordecai spoke of
, Oa thought to himself. Mordecai’s words had revealed that despite Ohm willingness to lecture on random topics, he kept much hidden. Oa knew he would have to confront Ohm about it. Oa trusted his friend, but he needed to know what happened. Why had Ohm gone so far to revive a soul ember, and how had he been infected by the Void?

“Oa! I see our timing is perfect; that’s the Creator’s programming for you,” Ohm joked. His voice carried from down the lane as he stepped out of Simon’s shop.

He would come out saying that exact phrase,
Oa thought to himself, amused by the coincidence.

“I see you found your hat,” Oa said as he ran over to greet his friend. “You look ridiculous.” He laughed after a brief attempt to control his mirth.

“I think it’s quite dashing, and so would Fred if he could comprehend style,” Ohm replied evenly as he adjusted the nonsense resting on his head. His hood was pulled back to make room for the cone-shaped hat resting on his head. A narrow, round brim ran around the bottom of the cap.

Oa laughed again. “I must not be able to comprehend style either,” he admitted.

“Apparently not,” Ohm agreed. “So, what did you explore?”

“Er, I just went over to
Tunjee’s Flying Lodges
, but they didn’t have anything close to the caliber of the ARI,” Oa said casually, concealing his visit with Mordecai for the time being. He expected there would be an opportunity later to discuss Ohm’s past.

“Too true. Nothing can outperform the ARI. Let us head up to the top of this market and take a look. We should be able to see most of the city from there,” Ohm said cheerfully, putting his arm around Oa’s shoulder.

They walked up over to a nearby flight of stairs at the outer edge of the market plaza. They ascended through several levels of the city until they reached a long ramp that led up to a balcony. There were no shops or stands, just a railing that ran around the edge. Oa leaned out over the edge and looked straight down into the bottomless pit below.

“So how was Simon?” Oa asked. “Did he know anything?”

“He was still the same. Not much changes for this city other than the location,” Ohm said lightheartedly. “And no. He hasn’t heard of any other labs, which was disappointing. We should go get Kai now and show her ar—”

Ohm was interrupted as two figures pounced on him from behind, shoving him up against the railing. The force of the impact sent his newly acquired hat spinning off his head down into the chasm below. To his right, Ohm briefly glimpsed Oa struggle with a third attacker before his pupil tumbled backward over the railing with a yell. Ohm’s hand shot over the railing after his friend. Fractions of a weeble later, Seeker slammed into Ohm’s hand, sticking with an unseen force. He immediately felt Oa’s weight on his arm as the young Awoken pulled himself back up.

Ohm refocused his full attention on wrestling off his attackers. He threw his right shoulder up and caught one attacker in the neck, sending her tumbling backwards. Ohm threw his elbow back and caught the second attacker in the midriff, causing the foe to lose his grip. Ohm spun around and shoved the second attacker back with his bandaged stump. Ohm’s left arm still hung over the railing, trapping him in one spot as he held onto Seeker. He recognized the three Awoken immediately: the Marauders he and Oa had stolen from. As they rushed at him, Ohm leaned back against the railing and picked both of his feet up. He kicked Jad hard in the chest, sending the Marauder flying backwards to land square on his rear. Ohm leaned forward again and planted his feet on the deck. Fighting the weight on his arm, he pulled forward and swung his handless arm up like a club. The blow knocked Kiri back.

Bota was much faster than his comrades, and he dodged the strikes, charging into Ohm. “Where are our embers, thief?!” He growled.

“You idiots just shoved Oa and the embers into the Void,” Ohm shot back. He head-butted Bota, sending blue sparks flying from the slits in his mask and cracking the goggles Bota wore.

“Then I will take this one at least,” Bota grunted, grabbing hold of the chain around Ohm’s neck. The soul ember Ohm treasured had slipped out in the fight, and the dangling object had caught the Marauder’s attention.

“No!” Ohm roared, but it was too late. Bota merely had to step back and yank on the chain for it to break free of Ohm’s neck. He was pinned up against the railing, clinging to Seeker as Oa pulled himself to safety.

Bota backed up, still clutching the chain as Oa came sailing over the railing. He retrieved Seeker from Ohm’s hand as he passed, landing spryly on his feet. Oa saw the soul ember dangling from the chain in Bota’s hands, and suddenly he understood the mystery behind the chain around Ohm’s neck. Seeker bolted from his hand, flying straight at Bota. It stopped abruptly, lightly clinking against the soul ember. After latching onto the stone, Oa yanked Seeker back into his hand. He tossed the ember over to Ohm while Bota stared down in shock at the worthless chain he was still grasping.

“We really need to talk about that ember Ohm, but right now I want to know how these scavengers caught up to us,” Oa demanded, surprised at his own awesome moves and smooth demeanor.

Bota pulled out his boltspitter, aiming it at Oa.

There goes the bravado
, Oa thought to himself as he took a nervous step back.

“We hunted everywhere looking for the cripple with the Ice blade. Every rumor we heard said he was an ancient wanderer and that the one constant in his travels was a hat shop in this city,” Bota said pointing at Ohm.

“Seriously, Ohm?! Your reputation is hats?” Oa said, turning to his mentor who had recovered from the scuffle and was gently placing the ember into a pouch strapped to his waist.

“When you have been around as long as me, building a fearsome notoriety gets boring. I decided to go for something less dramatic,” Ohm replied, ignoring the trio in front of them.

“Shut up and give us the embers back!” Bota shouted.

“Not going to happen,” Oa said backing up toward the railing. “I took them so you would stop serving Eol and find something better to do with your lives. If you want to give Eol the embers so much, why don’t you consider giving him your own?”

“Eol can have those embers over our lifeless corpses!” Kiri snarled her face lighting up in anger.

“Wait, I don’t understand. What are the embers for?” Oa asked in confusion. Fear and regret crept into his mind. Had he made a mistake?

“We tried to make you a part of our crew. We concealed you because Bota and I saw something special in you. So Eol killed the rest of our crew, our family,” Jad clarified as he stepped forward.

“After you fell, we fought Eol to try and rescue our comrades,” Bota added, his voice growing hoarse.

“You resisted? So you weren’t going to trade me in, Bota?” Oa questioned, accusingly.

Bota just looked down in silence. Kiri and Jad looked over at their leader in confusion, keeping their questions to themselves in front of the outsiders.

“What makes them more worthy than the embers you fed to Eol in the past?” Oa asked, keeping his tone hard.

Jad stopped looking to his leader for an explanation and turned to Oa. “We just chose to protect the ones we loved. The Sleepers would have torn us apart if they could have had just one more immersion. Our hands may be stained with ember dust, but our last fight was against Eol to rescue the souls of our crew. That bag is all we have left of our family,” Jad explained.

Oa felt sorry for them. With deepening regret, he realized he had misjudged the situation, and made a mistake. He looked over his shoulder at Ohm, who merely shrugged. Oa turned back to Jad.

“I know you protected me, and I’m sorry I stole the soul embers from you. I was only trying to free you from Eol’s grip and protect the embers. We were taking them to the Enlightened City where they would be safe,” Oa explained, revealing his plan to the Marauders.

“You really think Eol won’t find you there, too? Just give us back our crew and run for as long as you can until Eol leaves you nothing to run to,” Bota scoffed.

“You’re wrong! You gave up and betrayed your comrades as soon as you decided to bow to Eol. You all accepted his lie that someone had to die; no wonder you couldn’t keep your friends safe,” Oa shot back in anger. He grabbed the ember bag from his satchel and threw it towards the Marauders. “Here have this back.”

Bota snarled in grief and rage, he was done tolerating Oa’s self righteous attitude. The Lieutenant raised his weapon, pointing it at Oa’s head. Kiri and Jad both stepped forward and quickly pulled his arm down. They stood huddled in silence around the remnants of their crew, grieved by the truth in Oa’s words.

“Hey, I don’t mean to cut all this ember-wrenching drama short, but the city is about to be swarming with Legion soldiers,” Ohm interjected with grim humor as he stared down at the danger below. Oa turned and peered over the railing. Numerous Legion vessels were swarming up out of the abyss.

Jad snatched the bag off the deck as his comrades rushed to the railing. Bota leaned out further to look at the lower levels of the city.

“They already have Void portals planted!” he yelled, spinning around in time to see two Legion soldiers step up onto the far side of the platform. The red eye gleamed evilly from beneath their brimmed caps. Bota rapidly fired his boltspitter, shredding the ghastly demons into a cloud of black dust.

The group raced over to the platform entrance, gazing down the long ramp toward the city below. There was chaos everywhere as the Legion began to storm the city. Some Awoken had weapons and were fighting back, but the Legion nihilistols brought silence to the rebellion. Each time the soldiers fired, lives were ended. All across the city, death reigned supreme.

Legion soldiers marched up toward the ramp that led to the platform Oa and Ohm were on.

“It appears we are trapped,” Jad said somberly.

“I’ll hold them back,” Bota said grimly. He twirled the boltspitter in his hand deftly.

Jad turned to Oa and grabbed him by the shoulders. “We will cover your retreat, Oa. I hope you have better luck than us. You had better protect our crew. Eol’s Law seems inevitable, so please prove it wrong. Help us believe,” Jad said earnestly. He placed the bag of soul embers in Oa’s satchel. Bota looked over for a moment. Behind his goggles, ocular plates flickered in anger, but calmed as the Lieutenant understood and accepted Jad’s decision.

“Might as well live it up while we can. If we are going to die, I am going to go out making music, no more fighting for me,” Kiri said, pulling out one of the strange instruments from her pack she sat down and began to play.

“You’re all fortunate that I’m a good enough shot to multitask,” Bota said firing several bolts down the ramp. Each blast ripped a Legion soldier apart as more of the red-eyed monsters swarmed up the ramp. Bota pulled down the cloth that covered the lower half of his face, revealing a cone-shaped depression. It began to vibrate, filling the air with the deep, thrumming melody of his voice.

“Get out of here!” Jad shouted over the music. He sat down next to Kiri and pulled out his own instrument joining in the song. The three Marauders played together for the last time. Their melodies rose to the sky as the Legion’s weapons tried to drown out the beauty of their harmony. Bota stood defiantly at the top of the ramp firing as fast as he could, determined to atone for the lives his crew had taken. Through ferocity of action he would prove that within him resided a spirit of resistance, and a remnant of hope for the way things could be. Overhead, the lights in the sky faded as another cycle followed the Marauder’s final verse into oblivion.

Oa did not want to leave, but before he could linger, Ohm grabbed him around the waist. The pair aqua jetted off of the platform, dropping backwards into the city. The sky above was filled with Legion fighters, their three wings extended out around glowing red cockpits. Void weapons fired from the edges of the wings, tearing through the city.

Ohm landed on a narrow bridge outside the market. The Legion soldiers appeared to be concentrated within the area. Awoken rushed by them, trying to escape the carnage. Ohm and Oa ran with the fleeing Awoken into another open plaza. Ohm tackled Oa to the floor as the shots of Legion nihilistols silenced the air, killing several Awoken the friends had been running with. They jumped up and fled down a side passage, taking a short flight of steps up a level to lose their pursuers. They reached another bridge, and Oa was relieved to see the giant energy cables on the other side. Once they crossed under, they would be back at the ARI in no time. He rushed out onto the walkway; Ohm sprinted after him.

“Oa look ou—” Ohm’s yell was cut off by a deafening emptiness followed by a concussive explosion from a strafing run of one of the Legion fighters. The blast tore the walkway in two, throwing Oa out into empty space as Ohm fell down through several levels into a cavernous statue gallery below. Oa instinctively sent Seeker whizzing out to latch onto the other side of the bridge. He pulled himself up and quickly scanned below.