Sky Swimmer

The Foolish Teen, Part 26

Olphina and many other Fluidians hold their palms outwards, as if searching or feeling for something invisible in the air. Floe's tears fly right into Olphina's outstretched palms, instantly revealing Floe's location beneath the rocky debris.

Bollingsworth, Dan, Olphina, Palace Guards and half a dozen Fluidians grab the slab of stone, heft it and uncover a badly bruised and battered Restorer. Not wasting a breath on thank you's or hello's Floe points to where Eric still lays buried.

They drag Eric's body out of the rubble. Dan drops to his knees. Cradles his son's body, hugs him close.

Floe whispers, trying to be get her voice above the din of the raging dogs within her, "I'm so sorry. It's my fault."

The heat of the flaming Matrix sears the sky above them.

Olphina needs to push matters along, they do not have time to waste on the dead, "Restorer, we must act now to stop the Warming."

Floe is up. Steadies herself. She walks away. How can she deal with this now? She must calm herself. She needs to find that quiet place her father, her... her guardian always told her to find.

Bollingsworth voice spikes with concern, "Floe!"

Floe turns, looks back at Dan. The knives and spikes litter the ground where they were pulled from Eric's flesh. Dan's body is convulsing, his clothes suddenly blossoming with blood and the wounds on Eric's body begin to mend, close and disappear. Dan is healing his son by taking the wounds onto himself.

Olphina is alarmed, "You can not bring him back without the ultimate sacrifice!"

Dan continues to absorb the lethal wounds from his son.

Bollingsworth, "Dan! Enough!"

Bollingsworth tries to pull Dan off his son. Dan grips his son even tighter, blood gurgling from Dan's mouth.

Eric gasps, takes in air... he is alive!

Father and son look into each other's eyes.

"Dad? What's happened?"

"I love ya son, nothin's wrong, just goin' to see your mom a little earlier than I planned."

Eric holds him tight.

---

The President is online, on-monitor with the G-8 country leaders. They hang on his every word,

"We have a choice, either we continue to throw everything we have at them or we take the council of these... other people who claim we need to do the opposite. They want us to stand down. To turn everything off. It goes against every fiber of my being. I don't give up without a fight, as you well know. But we need to do something extreme, and we need to do it now."

---

Livia continues to sky swim alongside the fortress wall, zigging and zagging, avoiding the strategically placed Soiler guards. They do not see her, she is nothing but a speck of black against the twisted, repurposed debris of the sieged airport.

She passes the cockpit of a learjet and cringes when she spots a pilot crushed in his seat. She rises above a balcony, out of sight of the Soiler guards. And there he is. Lord Hamada stands on the far end of the balcony, powering the Warming with outstretched arms.

On Livia's usually calm, pristine forehead a few beads of sweat appear. They are the only indication that she is about to engage the Underlord himself. In her hands are half a dozen steel balls. She incants and tiny little lethal blades extend from their interiors. Livia conjures a small twister, not larger than a breadbox and the metal balls spin from her hand within the vortex of that twister and Livia's lips are again silently conjuring and all the metal balls are suddenly flung with immense speed toward Hamada.

The bladed globes never reach the Underlord.

Transgressa materializes and protects her master with an Aura shield. The bladed balls are deflected and harmlessly lodge themselves into the walls around the balcony and conference room.

Underlord Hamada turns to face his assailant, at first unwilling to accept what his eyes so clearly spell out for him, "Princess? You can not have survived! You were still in your mother's womb when I killed her."

Livia knows she should get the hell out of there, but suddenly worries that if she abruptly leaves Hamada will suspect and discover the globes were not just meant as deadly projectiles. They are in fact explosives to be set off with a trigger.

She decides to keep the twin miseries occupied, "Sorry, Hamada, you and your Frankenbride here have me confused with someone else. But it doesn't matter, I've seen it all! My mother gave me the Vision Arts so that I would remember what you did to me and my people. I won't let you spread your violence any further... you are going down."

Transgressa is in no mood to banter, they do not have time to waste with the child, but her existence is indeed a troubling omen, it should have been foreseen. "My dear, you are the princess. Have no doubt of that. Your Royal Aura shines as clearly as it did on the day your parents were killed... but child, if you have the ability of Night Visions, then you have seen your own death and that is surely why you have come to us, to me, to fulfill the fate that is now yours to claim."

Livia is caught off-guard with the news that she is the Aireon princess, which delights Transgressa, the foolish teen had no idea!

Livia stammers, her danger all but forgotten, this new revelation igniting new understanding deep within her consciousness, explaining why she was hidden for so long, explaining why Fuegar always hovered over her like a personal bodyguard, explaining so many things!

"I can not be the heir..." and she holds back tears that well with determination in the corners of her eyes, "Because I do have the night visions and yes, I have seen how I die."

Now it is Transgressa's turn to be caught by surprise, she had simply been bluffing about the Death Vision, but the girl admits to it. This could be bad because...

"And I have seen how you die!" says Livia.

Livia calls forth a massive twister overhead.

Transgressa rushes Livia... signing... parts of the building come loose and create a massive war hammer that falls into her outstretched hands and all without breaking stride Transgressa swings the deadly mallet at Livia.

Livia air-saults up and over the war hammer which hits the side of the building causing the entire structure to sway.

And on her way down Livia kicks Transgressa in the head... the Soiler falters, takes another swing... misses as Livia ducks beneath the strike...

Soiler Warriors stream into the conference room.

Livia realizes there are too many... if she stays there is no way she will come out of this in one piece, but she does not run, instead she swims toward Hamada.