Venusian Nights

I pushed off and glided to another piece of cover on the opposite wall. I concentrated and shaped the energy to be a shimmering barrier of light with my left hand and held it in front of my face and body as I stood up from my current cover. A shard of light shattered upon my shield as I gathered more energy with my right hand. I didn't shape it into a destructive blast but let it lengthen into a flexible cord. I swung my right hand and the whip of light followed my motions.

The whip wrapped itself around a guard's neck. She reflexively reached for her neck to no avail. I jerked the whip. My intentions traveled down the whip and she was yanked with enough force to overcome her grav-boot's grip on the wall. She collided with the final guard and they both went tumbling into the air.

I released the whip but there remained a ring of light still tightening around the previous guard's neck. I formed some of my remaining energy into a small blade and lunged at the final guard. Still disoriented from her collision she didn't see me coming as I flew toward her dagger trained at her neck. I rammed her and I wrapped my bare legs around her while we spun through the hall. I plunged the dagger into her neck and her blood splattered across my nude body, painting my pale flesh red.

I released the body, and floated for a few moments to catch my breath. I didn't have to long, more would be coming. I spun back to the blast door and gathered what little strength I had left for another blast.

I glided down the twisted labyrinthine halls dodging patrols as best I could and pressing on despite the rumblings of the station and the approaching sounds of chaos. I got to one of the escape pods, but standing in front of the hatch was Mother Abigale. She was standing with her back to me... and on the ceiling, I must have gotten turned upside down in the confusion. She was clad in the backless white robes of the priestesshood, her black hair in a braid that coiled about her in zero-G. The flowing geometric tattoos that lined her body were shimmering with power. She held a white gold staff in both hands parallel to the ground.

I turned myself around and stood on the ground before her, nude and covered in blood. She turned her head to me and spoke with her face in profile, "You have blasphemed this day, Child."

I couldn't turn back now, "I need to go to her, Mother!"

She turned to me so she could look me in the eye, her sharp words bit into me, "You are selfish, she was not the first candidate you were aware of. You thought we would make an exception just for you? Because she was you sister?"

A fire weld up in my chest, "She might have been my sister, but that doesn't lessen the injustice, I swear this will end."

Her muscled arms flexed as her hands gripped the staff, her lips pursed into a stearn frown. I gathered energy, preparing for a fight I couldn't win. But then she stepped aside, planting the staff beside her. Her voice was distant, "Perhaps it is the season for change."

I raised my eyebrows.

She motioned to the escape pod, "Go! Before they catch you."

As I floated into the escape pod she motioned to my side, "Be sure to keep an eye on that."

I touched where she motioned and found a small tear in my skin, no it was a wound, I was stabbed! When was I stabbed, where was the pain?

As I secured myself into one of the seats, I saw Mother Abigale float down the hall with her feet length braid trailing behind her. When she reached the end of the corridor she turned and smiled warmly at me, "When your done, Find me beyond Sol's light. Goddess be with you."

The hatch shut with a hiss. Mother Abigale and the Temple drifted away, and I was alone in the void.