Lazer beams meant to destroy their ship whizzed by on all sides. Just as many hit the ship as missed and it was clear that the xaxews pursing them in their ships meant to blast Pultine and Rusa to nothing.
“Do we even know how many are after us?” Rusa asked. “I don’t know enough to use the radar technology of this ship.”
“Why are you so worried?” Pultine asked.
“Because we’ve been flying for a long time and they haven’t let up. It seems like they’re firing more than they were before.”
“So you doubt my ability, then?” Pultine asked. “You think they will destroy us in this ship? It sounds like after everything, you have lost all faith in me.”
“After everything, I’ve learned that faith in you means very little because it is based on limited knowledge and understanding of your goals. I do not know you, Pristine. To have faith in someone or something, one must know and feel them intimately, but my knowledge of you is just a figment of my own imagination. You are not real to me. You’ve shown me time after time that I am not worthy of your truth, that I am beneath you and undeserving of your intimacy. So yes, my Pristine, I have lost all faith in you because that is what you wanted. I am your obedient weapon. I have burned my sapience, my wants and desires, completely from my soul and it is nothing now but the sentient animating force that is forever pledged to you and your well being. I am no longer a thing capable of faith. I am your automaton.”
Pultine held back laughter. Rusa was being melodramatic and even though she thought him ridiculous, she could see that he was very serious and seemingly distraught.
“I though Yana made you more,” Pultine said as the explosion of laser fire connected to her forcefield around the ship. “I thought the rhasd made you more. But you are being very sensitive, very this-realm. And I am beginning to think that you were wrong for the process of remakung. Maybe you can never be more than a jeris.”
Rusa was quiet as the muted explosions continued. He kept his eyes on the view outside the front window.
“So I am a failed experiment?” he asked. His feathered body was hard and tense, his wings spread from his back like he meant to take flight.
“There is nothing wrong with what you are Rusa. The only failure here is my own. I should never have let you come. Seraphiel is not your enemy, he is not your problem. I stirred up trouble on Wiis because I wanted an excuse to throw away the ceasefire negotiated between the Mmoatia and the Aerphim. My hatred of Seraphiel has blinded me to the troubles I have caused. Rusa, I can send you home if that is what you want.”
Rusa shook his head as he glared straight ahead.
“You talk now,” Rusa growled, “as the xaxews pursue us across the stars trying to kill us? This is not the time for this discussion. We had plenty of time in the tunnel on Sakpata’s disc, and time before we left Wiis, but we didn’t take advantage of it. As soon as we get rid of the xaxews, we should talk before we land on Endla. We should talk honestly and openly.”
“I promise you that,” Pultine said. “I need you to take charge of my axes. Keep us on course and the ship intact while I take care of the xaxews.”
Rusa had maintained control of Pultine’s axes in her absence before and even though she was using her power to sustain his life in the void of space, he took over as she moved through the energy barrier that surrounded the ship.
Pultine was greeted by a fleet of xaxew ships that had similar designs, but in many shapes and sizes. She hovered in the void with her wings beating steadily at her back. Her dark body began to send off sparks of light that intensified until the sparks were large and collided with the approaching ships. The darkness of space in the vicinity ignited with the destruction of hundreds of xaxew ships.
PRL Serials 