Chapter Eleven:

" Wooden doll, painted face,

Twisted limbs, stilted grace.

Wrenched strings, frantic pace,

Broken toy, empty gaze... "

 

Drive them away...

Drive them all way...

Before they find the monster inside...

The words echoed in her head, on and on like a never-ending harangue as Reya stood before a huge wooden table. The table had been there as long as she could remember, taking a prominent place in Krelian's study. One side was dark and charred black, a testament that it had survived a fire. She rested one hand on the scarred surface, feeling each cut and groove against her fingers. Each mark was an untold story, a piece of a past that had been left behind in the ashes of time.

Five hundred years...

Yet there are still some things that you can't leave behind...

She did not understand and perhaps she will never be able to comprehend the secret desires that drove Krelian. It had been an all-consuming need when she had been a child to know him but now Reya no longer cared. She could no longer afford to care. She had her own objectives to achieve and she was determined to see them to the end.

Her finger traced the outward expanding rings of ancient oak, round after round in a pattern. Strangely, the activity calmed her, giving her a sense of immunity towards the confrontation that she was expecting. The others may have been fooled but nothing escaped Krelian's eyes. It had been too much of a coincidence that a refueling Gear would crash into one of the main power cluster storage linked to the main dock system terminals. Especially after it was discovered subsequently that a Fire Element had gone MIA. A man as astute as Krelian had no doubts whom was responsible. He had no other reason to summon her into his study otherwise.

He was making Reya wait. Several hours had at least slipped by since she first stepped into the room. It has been a very effective psychological weapon to make her feel guilt and remorse before he even lay her crime before her. Reya smiled sardonically, Krelian was getting predictable. Her finger stilled on a journey around a ring when the door behind her opened almost soundlessly. Slowly, she turned to face him, inclining her head in acknowledgement.

" You were responsible for the incident at the docks. "

It was a statement, not a question.

Keeping her eyes downcast, Reya did not response.

" Why did you help the Fire Element escape? "

Again, she did not answer.

" Who was Sigurd Harcourt to you? "

Reya maintained her silence, not giving the satisfaction of an answer.

Then she felt a sharp burst of pain explode when the back of a hand smashed against her face with enough violence to sent her crashing into one of the towering bookshelves that lined the perimeter of the room. The blow would have dazed Reya for a moment but the pain that emanated from her bruised jaw and shoulder brought her focus back quickly. Her dark verdant eyes watched Krelian under the shadow of her long black hair, which had fallen into her face as she fell. He towered above her, a still statue as if craved from stone but his previous act had betrayed him however.

Anger...

I can feel his anger....

Reya was almost overwhelmed by a hysterical urge to laugh but she brutally suppressed the crazy impulse. Instead she pulled herself up by holding on to the edges of the shelves that housed the ancient tomes that not only contained history but were a piece of history themselves. She lifted a hand slowly to touch her jaw, where a purple mark was beginning to form, tentatively as she brushed her hair away from her face. It was a subtle gesture of defiance and she knew it was not missed on him.

She was no longer the child who cowered under his slightest displeasure. While Reya had to obey him, she was no longer afraid of letting him know subtly the distaste she felt for her tasks. Sigurd was gone, Igraine no longer needed her protection now that she had Hyuga and as for Kahr, she had broken his trust with her own hands. There was no one else left that mattered to Reya anymore. She regarded Krelian apathetically, looking through him with the still green pools of her eyes.

" He was my lover. " Reya spoke quietly, her voice almost a whisper.

Krelian laughed mirthlessly, cynically.

" You are a fool, Areya. Did you really think he could have loved you? Could you even understand the difference between love and lust? "

I understood...

What we had was perhaps too brief...

But it was no lie...

" Or was it a game? Some sort of experiment to see if you could be like Salvation? You can never be like her, Areya. Cease this silly pretense of being human. You have no feelings. You were made, created in a place no different from my laboratory. You were nothing more than a few cells, a mass of ectoplasm. No flesh and blood woman gave birth to you. "

His words made a mockery of her whole existence, debasing Reya to nothing. Yet if Krelian had expected to crush her spirit, he could not have been more surprised. Reya made no agitated protest or did she crumble into shocked denial. She crossed her arms and gave a slight nonchalant shrug.

" Was that what you summoned me for? " Reya could tell by the almost invisible distention of Krelian's eyes that she had reacted unexpectedly.

What you've already knew, can't hurt you...

And I've known...

Known this long before...

He was silent for a moment as if considering. " No, the escape of a Fire Element is of no consequence. I have another task for you. Take your squadron to Elru and wait for further instructions. "

" Yes, my lord. "

 

There would be more missions, more senseless destruction in the war and Reya had her part already set out. Regardless of what Krelian said, she had angered Krelian and her punishment would come not only swiftly but also dearly. He only had one purpose for her and that was perhaps what she had been created for. As she moved towards the door, she could feel the weight of his eyes on her measuring and speculative and the invisible pressure remained even after the door slide closed behind her back.

" So you were the one responsible for the Lamb's escape. How ... unexpected and bold of you, Areya, " a faintly mocking voice remarked.

Reya choose to both ignore the comment and the speaker, moving past her without acknowledging her presence. As she passed, insolent indigo eyes raked her face noting with interest the vivid bruise that marked Reya's cheek. An amused smirk twisted full red lips as the owner of the indigo eyes made the obvious conclusions.

" My.... You certainly provoked a reaction from him. After five hundred years, you could have thought Krelian could control his emotions better than that. "

" Stay out of my way and I'll steer clear of yours, Miang. " Cold green eyes almost burned as they regarded the woman with dark blue hair.

" Is that a threat? " Miang lifted a finely arched brow returning Reya's glare with one of her own.

" No, that is a promise. "

Whatever the price...

I'll protect those I love...


The twilight was gathering as nature washed away the golden glow of day, painting the sky a deep ebony black. Creeping across the dark canvas, a waning moon and her scattered retinue of glittering stars made their appearance. Lying spread-eagled on the glassy plain, Reya glanced into the encompassing night. The scene brought her a strange sense of peace. Closing her eyes, she could almost feel her place in the whole universe. Perhaps, somewhere on this earth the man she loved was watching the same night sky.

The wind blew in, lightly dancing through the long glass and stirred strands of her hair across her face. It would have idyllic except the wind also brought along with it the smell of smoke and carnage. It shattered the fragile atmosphere of harmony and stark reality sharply into focus. Elru was destroyed; the whole continent almost wiped off the face of the earth. Such was the destructive power of the Contact. They thought they could control him but they were wrong and Solaris paid for this mistake with the life of its mighty surface army. Solaris had miscalculated and so had Reya. She had not expected that Hyuga would be sent to Shevat or had she foreseen how an encounter with the Contact could mangle both the body and soul of Kahr.

She had failed.

Reya thought she could protect her brother and sister by distancing herself from them but she had been wrong. Now she could only watch helplessly as Igraine withdraw deeper and deeper away from her into the web that Krelian had spun for her while Kahr hovered at the edge of his sanity. Reya knew with sick certainty that there was no way to bridge the gaping distance to her siblings and the knowledge of what she was would only serve to sever the brittle ties that still bound them.

With the main army annihilated, her squadron was activated so often that there were prolonged periods where they remained on the surface and the missions that they performed had earned them the unsavory name of a surface predator called a hyena. It was an apt description of what they did however. They were like a pack of the savage beasts that prowled the grasslands, marauders that specialized in taking down the weak and defenseless. Reya had lost track of the number of outlying settlements that had fallen under their thorough and relentless assaults. Her hyenas were known not to leave any survivors.

Upon the open plain, the Angel of Death surveyed the world, a lonely forlorn figure before it was swallowed into the darkness of night.


Igraine ran frantically through the empty hallways of Krelian's Lab heading towards the internal Gear hangar that housed her own Imarla and Reya's Caliginus. Tears were flowing freely from her light blue eyes and she hastily dashed them away with her hand. They must have been lying to her because her sister would never do anything like that. They were only spreading those vicious rumors because they were jealous of Reya. Their words were all lies. Lies created by envy and spite.

But would Miang also lie to her?

"Oh Igraine, I can't believe it…" Her indigo eyes shimmered with tears. " I can't believe that she was capable of… of…. They were only children…"

She is a killer of women and children....

Reya is a killer of women and children....

" It can't be. It can't. " Igraine repeated the words over and over again, a self-delusional tirade.

She reached the hangar in time to see the exhausted figure of her sister climbing down from Caliginus. Reya had just returned from an extended tour of duty to the surface and was plainly worn out but Igraine could not wait. Her doubts needed the clarifications that only Reya could provide.

" Graine? What are you doing here? "

" I had to see you, Reya. "

" See me? Why? Is something wrong? " Worried by her sister's strange behavior, Reya started forward with a hand reached out in concern only to see Igraine backing away.

" They... said... you... you... were responsible... You destroyed Tasma! "

Tasma...

The word was an accusation; another sin to be branded deep into her damned soul.

" Miang told me... She told me that... Tasma was only the first.... All those other towns and cities... You destroyed them... Innocent children... Defenseless women...."

Reya's hand fell limply to her side as Igraine flung word after word like a weapon into her. She had known that the day of reckoning would arrive but she had not thought that it would be this soon. There were no excuses, no reasons, nothing for her to justify her actions.

" Tell me you didn't do it! Tell me that it is not true! Tell me! Reya! Tell me!"

Reya tried but her lips could form no word to defend herself or comfort Igraine. Not a single sound passed her lips even though her mind screamed at her to say something. Flat glassy green eyes could only regard her sister bleakly. Igraine recoiled with horror at the truth that was reflected in Reya's eyes.

" No….. No! No! You are not human! Not human! You are not my sister! " She ran from Reya, tears falling furiously down her face.

Human...

Cease this pretense of being human...

You have no feelings...

Yet why did it hurt so much then?

The faint memory of Krelian's words echoed in her mind as Reya sank to her knees. She had nothing - Sigurd was gone, Kahr had been driven away and now Igraine had renounced her. The pain tearing at her heart was so great but her eyes remained dry because she had no tears left to shed.

I've become the monster....

Reya clenched her fists so tightly that the nails cut deep into the tender flesh of her hands, wetting them with blood. While the agony of Igraine's repudiation burned her like fire, the pain also brought sharp clarity to her mind. She could no longer afford to wait for certain events to come to pass. Reya glanced at her blood stained palms and saw her destiny.

Now was the time for her to set the stage.


 The room was strangely built into the shape of a cross and each point denoted by a cluster of four glass cribs while the center intersection housed an elevation platform. It was dark with the only source of illumination coming from the eerie yellow glow emanating from each of cribs. Reya moved slowly from crib to crib, gently touching the glass as she watched what lay beneath. Each of the cribs housed a nucleus in various growth stages with some existing as mere cells where some have already developed into embryos. The low hum of the life support system filled the air, providing the essential oxygen and nutrients to life forms nested with a crib. As she completed her circuit of the room, Reya headed towards the platform. As she walked, the memory crystal that dangled from a fine silver chain clasped in her hand sent small flashes of light dancing as the light from the cribs reflected off its facets.

Reya stopped at the small terminal beside the platform and closed her eyes as her mind reached out towards her Gear, Caliginus. The terminal controlled the life support system and access was protected. The only way to hack pass the security was to access the main computer system through the data link on Caliginus and use the system to decipher the code and password protecting the terminal. The process barely took a few minutes and the terminal flared to life. Inputting the command through the main system, Reya proceeded to terminate all operations. Warnings flashed from the terminal but she overwrote them and sent the affirmative.

As she stepped on to the platform and started the descent to another level, the yellow glow begun to die. The next level was laid out as the previous room but only a single huge glass crib graced the northern cardinal point. Reya already knew what resided in that crib before she came to stand before it. Looking up, she glanced upon her own sleeping face.

He has succeeded.

He has created his prefect doll...

She had been the failure archetype, plagued with undesired human weaknesses being not of his creation. With the new prototype before her, Reya new he could have weeded all these fundamental flaws out without compromising the ability to kill and destroy. She was looking upon the final results created from the tiny pieces of her that he wanted while discarding those that were worthless. Discarding the pieces that made her an individual; pieces that made her a human. The knowledge was a tangle of torn that was embedded into her heart, slowing stabbing and piercing yet she endured.

Turning away, Reya began what she had come to do.


The Gear hangar secluded in the Lab was empty, as she knew it would be. Only two Gears were housed within - Igraine's Imarla and her own Caliginus. As she studied the gleaming white Imarla, which resembled a sleeping angel enfolded within silvery wings, Reya could not denied the fact that the Gear carried the presence of her sister. Her own Caliginus was a total opposite. If Imarla was a reflection of her owner, Reya supposed that her Gear was the reflection of her. Like a creature born of darkness, Caliginus appeared almost one with the shadows. Even the four wings seemed to serve as a shroud that swallowed the light that fell upon the Gear.

Salvation and destruction....

Light and darkness...

Angel and fiend...

Swinging the memory crystal like a pendulum, her emerald eyes followed the passage of each slow arc as it moved from side to side. She was waiting, feeling each moment as it passed her by. As she waited, Reya felt a strange urge to pray even though she had never been indoctrinated in the religious teachings that Krelian imparted to Igraine. Yet, she had heard enough from her sister to understand and accept the fundamental beliefs that formed the theology. She professed no faith yet as her lips moved silently in entreaty, Reya nevertheless hoped that she would somehow be heard.

If there is a Higher Being above...

Watching this earth...

On to Your hands...

I entrust the ones...

I love...

Her prayer ended the moment a series of violent tremors rocked the very foundations of the hangar. The bay lights flickered and abruptly died as blasts went off deep in the hidden bowels of Krelian's Lab, raining loose pieces debris around Reya. She was too far away from the epicenter to feel the true fury but the intensity of the aftermath of the explosions told her what she wanted to know. While not enough to destroy a major section of the whole Lab, the damage would be extensive. It was the best she could do to achieve her own purpose without endangering the lives of the countless Lambs incarcerated within. Reya could not save them but at least what she had done would let them live a little longer before the Lab could be restored for the experiments to begin anew. As alarms and evacuation warnings sounded, Reya stood impassively amidst the tumult.

Like the last grains of sand falling through an hourglass, time was coming to an end for Reya. But there was still one last scene to play before the final curtain fall and she knew the lead actor would find his way to her. It did not take long before she heard the harsh grating sound of gravel being grounded against his booted foot. Reya lifted her head proudly to greet his arrival, making a defiant stand with Caliginus at her back. There was no fear as she felt the silent fury that emanated from the man before her. She had ruined his plans and for that the price would be high but this time, Reya would pay it under her own terms.

" I had thought better of you than to behave this way. " Cold hard eyes regarded Reya, provoking a feeling of bitter disappointment that almost crushed her spirit.

" Did you? " She gently shook her head.

" How did you know about the room and its contents? "

" With the extrasensory powers that I have, how can I not know when I am the archetype? Especially when your associate so kindly showed the room to me. " Reya regarded flatly Krelian for his reaction to what she revealed.

Krelian's face darkened but he said nothing.

" She has her own agendas, Krelian. I'm sure you knew that long before regardless of what she means to you... "

" The woman is nothing to me. She is merely another tool to be used in furthering my plans. " Though spoken dispassionately, his reply came too quick and sharp, belittling the truth in the words.

" You lie. "

The accusation rang out flatly.


"Graine? Are you in there? "

Reya prowled outside her sister's Jugend quarters, knocking on the door and keying in her designated access code only to be denied by the security system. Both girls had given each other a special access code to their rooms as a means to facilitate opportunities to see more of each other after their long separation. Yet, Reya was puzzled as to why she was now shut out especially when it was Igraine who had asked her to come.

" Graine? " She spoke into the intercom again.

After waiting for close to ten minutes, Reya received no reply. Giving an exasperated sigh, she was about to head back to her own apartment for a nap before dinner when a sound caught her attention. Unsure if she had imagined it, Reya stood still and listened intently. It came again, a sound that was suspiciously like a muffled sob and it distinctively came from behind the closed door.

" Graine? What's wrong? " Concern filled her voice as she began to worry.

" Why are you crying? Answer me, Graine! "

There was no reply but the sound of soft weeping became more audible. Reya wanted instinctively to offer comfort but closed off by the door between them, she could only clench her fist in impotent frustration. It was a kind of pain to know that her sister was hurting and being powerless to help her only made the ache more excruciating. Reya did not know how long she had stood before the door as each moment was like an eternity. But she tensed immediately the instant the sobs stopped The silence was a torture when the "Access Granted" message flashed across the access panel by the door.

Reya entered her sister's room quietly with trepidation, not knowing what to expect. She almost cried out when she saw Graine huddled in a corner beside her bed. Reya ran to her, her arms embracing her sister as she fell to her knees beside Igraine. She held her tight without saying anything, knowing that what Igraine needed was not her words but her presence. She gently rocked the older girl gently back and forth as she would a baby, humming softly under her breath the song that Sigurd had taught her.

" Reya... "

The room was dark and a glance at the window told Reya that night had fallen. She released her sister and was surprised when Igraine grasped one of her hands. Reya stroked her hair and kissed her sister's brow, waiting for Igraine to tell her what made her cry. She could hear Igraine breathing deeply as if she was trying to work up her courage. Reya however did not expect the startled cry of pain when her hand touched Igraine's face. Immediately, she reached for the lamp on the nightstand by the bed.

" No! "

Igraine cried out but she was too late.

" Who did this to you? " Reya's green eyes flared at the sight of the ugly bruise that marred Igraine's cheek.

Igraine tried to hide the bruise behind her hands in the face of Reya's anger but it was a futile gesture. Reya wanted an explanation but Igraine was not sure if she could tell her sister. As if giving her some time to make up her mind, Reya went to the bathroom and returned with a cold towel. Igraine flinched when she held the cold compress against the bruise on her cheek.

" Tell me no lies, Graine. I want the truth. "

Haltingly, Igraine told her.


The fury that radiated from her was so palpable that anyone could have felt it but Reya was alone marching down the silent hallways of Krelian's Lab. She was breaking her promise to Igraine but Reya did not care. Krelian had strike her sister breaking his own promise to her. She was furious at him but some of the anger was for herself because she had been stupid enough to believe his words. He had hit her over the incident with Hyuga and Erim but Reya suspected that things were not so simple. Igraine had begged her not to confront Krelian and she had given her word but as she approached his private quarters, a part of her relished the confrontation to come.

She had barely stepped into the dark unlit study when she saw the light from the doorway of his sleeping chambers. Reya was about to march in through the door when instinct detected another person's presence. Slipping into the darkest shadows, Reya edged her way quietly towards the doorway that connected the study to bedroom. She had spent too many years alone in Krelian's rooms that she can sense if someone else was about. Her instinct did not fail her and from her position by the door she could hear the sound of a woman's voice.

" I didn't think that you would strike your precious Salvation. Are you regretting your decision to let her go and keep Areya by your side instead? "

Miang?

Reya was astonished to see the woman with indigo hair in Krelian's private rooms. Yet it was the woman's behavior that shook her to the core. Krelian stood before the window of his bed chamber, his eyes distant as if deep in thought and Miang was pressing her body against his with one hand tangled in his long pale hair while the other stroked his face intimately. She brazenly provoked him with both words and action.

" If you had kept her with you, that Hyuga Ricdeau would never have been able to win her heart. She always saw you as a father figure and I wonder how she could have reacted if she knew your feelings are far from fatherly? " Miang taunted Krelian again even as she ran a finger over his lips but he did not answer her.

" I don't blame you, Krelian. Salvation is a pretty young woman and you did fashion her after Sophia's shadow. She's almost the same age now as your Holy Mother too. Tell me, did she feel like Sophia when you kissed her? " Miang's laughter rang out, the sound loud and crude.

" Shut up, Miang. " His voice carried an under current of anger but Reya thought she heard guilt as well.

" No, I won't keep quiet. I was a part of the woman you loved too, Krelian. You can deny it all you want but you know I was part of Sophia. That's why you came to me... If you want me to shut up, make me. "

He moved so abruptly that Reya almost missed the action. She did not dare to comprehend the raw expression in Krelian's eyes as he held Miang with his hands wrapped about her throat. Instead of fear, Miang only smiled seductively. Reya did not want to watch but the two figures before her mesmerized her, freezing her limbs so that she was incapable of movement. She watched as Krelian grabbed Miang brutally by the jaw and kissed her. His violent passion raged like a storm out of control and the raw emotion only added to Reya's confusion. Like a thief, she stole away silently with the images of two figures locked together imprinted on her mind.


" I saw that woman and you together... " The emerald eyes turned towards him were melancholic, their beautiful brilliance diminished by a grief that only she could feel.

" You will never understand, Areya. "

" You are right, Krelian. I don't understand and I never will. Not about Miang, not about Igraine, not about your past and not about myself... "

With that cryptic remark, Reya turned away from him. At her telepathic command, Caliginus kneeled down beside her, four shadowy wings unfurled to their extent. The faint hiss of steel sliding against steel sounded behind her but Reya ignored the implied threat to climb into Caliginus' cockpit. Enclosed in her Gear, she faced Krelian once again and a bitter smile twisted her lips. Her mentor was standing with a naked blade in his hand, raised against her. Krelian had seen fit to grant her this honor but Reya would no longer dance to his tune.

" Have you turned into a coward, Areya? To hide behind Caliginus for this mistake that you have made? I taught you to wield your saber and I demand satisfaction. Show me, Areya. "

" No, not this time. I won't fight you. "

I never wanted to fight you...

" If you truly feel for Igraine then love her for who she is. Love her as a woman in the present and not a distant shadow from five hundred years ago. "

Reya closed her eyes as she said the words that Krelian never expected to hear. It was the conclusion that she had reached even though the knowledge, that the love he bore her sister had been far from fatherly, had first cut her like a betrayal. Raising the memory crystal that Sigurd had given to her to her lips, Reya gently kissed its cool hard surface. Perhaps she was the greatest fool after all.

Forgive me, Sigurd...

" Goodbye... "

" Father..."


A Piece of Me

(Adapted from Small Two of Pieces)

By Calis Cheah

 

Watching the world in the dark

With the stars of night

Sorrow and pain, a mask held them all inside

Like a broken bird on the ground

With wings that seek the sky

And your sigh like a whisper

Echoes deep in my soul

 

Two hearts beating, in the still of night

The rhythm never dies

We are lost in time

So far apart

And yet, I know that you are piece of me

I know that you are piece of me

 

Rain falling down on my face

Like tears in the light

Feeling alone, I searched for you in dreams

And the sound of your voice, that calls to me on the gentle wind

The shards of the fragment are my memories

 

We touched in the dark of shadows

Fading with the dawn

Silent words and fears, and a broken promise

That keeps hope alive

Separated by distance, time and space

Two souls remain as one

 

Author's Note:

After dragging my feet for close to three years, Piece is finally finished. This is my longest fic ever, breaking past the 100-page barrier. For everyone who has been following this story, I sincerely thank you for your support and apologize for the long wait for each chapter.

A sequel to Piece had been planned ages ago and some work has already been done on it. While I ponder over whether to continue writing this sequel, I would really appreciate some feedback on whether readers like yourself would like to read it. Send your comments to me at sigrd@hotmail.com

Yours sincerely,

Calis (19/05/01 11.39PM)