State of Mind (10)
Everything and Everyone Converge at the Silent Kingdom
IMPORTANT NOTE: Alright here’s the deal: I wanted to release this weeks ago, but after taking a bigger look at the series, I realized there’s a bunch I want to revise including entire chapters/arcs. But I also don’t like the idea of this just sitting forever in my drafts so here it is! The end of volume one for this unfinished draft of State of Mind. As always, any and all feedback is welcome. Thanks for reading, and if you do like this series, I’ll get back to it eventually. Never abandoning this one :)
10. Under the Ozan Star
Artwork done by me, Jacob Cannon in Photoshop.
Year C-82, Quarter 4
(10 years ago)
“On my terms.” A teenage Axeon repeated after the camera had turned off. He sighed and pulled the black hood over his head.
“That one was better.” The girl laughed behind the recorder. “Though there’s still something in your voice. A tickle.”
“A tickle?” Axeon responded, not sure if he should be offended. “It’s just my voice.”
“I can’t explain it, you just sound… off.”
“Huh.” Axeon sighed. “Well, it’ll do, right?”
“Oh, yeah.” Emma replied excitedly. “It’ll do perfectly.” She kissed him on the forehead and began uploading the footage.
The lights were particularly dim in the old abandoned chamber of commerce. It was one of the few rooms in the entire kingdom that hadn’t utilized the natural light of window technology. The walls were made of old cement, before Ozanian Trade Feds secured far more advanced building materials that, in Axeon’s opinion, made most rooms less aesthetically pleasing. He liked the old commerce chamber because of its interesting arches and oddly tilted ceiling. He appreciated the dust that had accumulated on every wooden ledge and the spiral designs where the podium once stood, before the Eclipse’s revolution. The lights were dimming out and they would inevitably die, darkening the beautiful room. But Axeon and Emma would be long gone by then.
After confirming the coast was clear, the two of them left their makeshift headquarters and walked down the main corridor of 15, Westhall. Emma walked giddily, jumping a tiny bit with every step. She purposefully avoided the gaps between the tiles she walked over. Axeon kept up beside her, smiling to himself. They arrived at the elevator and took it down to Emma’s place. She opened the door and leaped onto the couch, ready to fall asleep.
“Em?” Her mother asked quietly in the dark. Emma sat up, and shoved Axe away. She did not anticipate anyone being awake. Axeon received the message and left to go back to his chambers. The prince’s chambers were located on the forty first floor of Easthall. It would be a long journey home, but he reveled in every moment, and his heart pounded the whole way. Through the dark hall and the walk across the Invisible Bridge, Axeon was almost skipping with a cheesy grin he couldn’t seem to lose. When he finally arrived at his bed and the lights were off, he was unable to fall asleep. He couldn’t even close his eyes. The mixture of excitement and anxiety ached in his stomach, and he tried to imagine the future. His future. Tomorrow, he would escape the Silent Kingdom and his father’s clutches for good. With his love by his side. It was everything he ever wanted.
When morning came, during that green summer, Axeon’s body was tired, but his head remained strong, caffeinated by the anticipation of adventure and love for Emma. He puffed up his chest in the mirror and tried out a few different smiles from different angles before settling on the toothless grin. His bag was fully packed and ready to go aside from his toiletries which he would use first and his chargers which took ten seconds to pack. He held up the book he’d been reading to pass the time to prevent getting blinded by the green light of the Ozan star. He put in a bookmark and placed his hands over the golden layered text that read: Wings of the Future.
Emma also didn’t sleep that night but for very different reasons. They clashed in their makeshift rocket factory.
“I’m scared, Axeon.”
“You don’t think I am too?.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t do this.”
“Em, remember what we talked about?”
“That this would happen.”
“And?”
“We have to be– I don’t like this, Axe. I don’t care what we talked about, we went too far.” She shook nervously. Axeon looked down, sad but determined. He put his warm hand on her shoulder and rubbed his thumb gently across her neck.
“We can’t focus on the past, Emma, we’ll get lost in the darkness. What we have ahead of us… that’s the light.”
“Right. Right, you’re right..” She laughed it off unconvincingly. Axeon sighed and held her hands tight.
“Everything is going to work out exactly as it’s supposed to.”
When the shuttle took off, most of Easthall shook in a way that while not unheard of, was incredibly rare. Especially without notification, the workers in Easthall were rushing to the common areas for more information. One man who was young but looked like a hundred year old decaying zombie, led a group of disgruntled civilians to the Council of Five’s meeting chambers, which was sealed and grunted.
“Stop hiding the truth!” The young Zombie man, Kaula, began the chants and it devolved into unintelligible gibberish with no clear ideas of what they were actually asking for.
Inside the chamber, two important Councilmembers were conspicuously missing: The Sunset King, and Master Servia Swann. While the other council members had no idea what was going on, it seemed Nylon and Servia had been actively attempting to stop the pursuit of a cruiser.
Unconscious, Emma’s heart beat fast in the med bay. Axeon was sobbing uncontrollably and pacing around the room.
“Vitals are low, suggesting immediate surgery” the medical computer explained without the same urgency as its words. It was low and had a hum that hung on every other word.
“We have to get help.” Axeon held her hand tight and prayed for her to wake up. “What settlement has the closest hospital?!”
“Draft Raimer on the Tertian planet, Xircus. I will set the coordinates and alter our path.”
“Just hurry! Please, Emma, stay with me. Stay with me.”
“Fourteen year old girl, appears hypoxic, genetic imprint unrecognized. Recommended treatment unknown.” The computerized nurse said in an uncanny human voice. The Xircanian doctor appeared confused and even frantic. He called in his colleagues to get more eyes on the bizarre situation.
“Her… blood, it’s glowing. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He explained and whispered away with the other doctors as Axeon held her hand, feeling the constant pressure of time moving forward filling his brain with static. A sound Axeon recognized as a flatline echoed through the glass room, and an orderly pulled the kid out, as he screamed and cried. The doctors spent all of one minute attempting to resuscitate her before calling it. Her body was immediately transported to a Tertian lab where it would be studied for decades. All Axe could hear was a ringing in his ear and all he could feel was the crushing weight of being hopelessly alone in an unfamiliar place and knowing it was all his fault.
Year C-92, Quarter 2
(Present Day)
Nylon Gray could see the viscerally clear green sky and the small planet’s curve from the invisible bridge. In deafening silence, hundreds of guards loaded into the freight elevators, preparing for battle and preparing to die. With them, stood their king, draped in a rarely worn bright red robe with golden lining. His simple, rusting metal crown glistened in the artificial light of the compound. Ohma and Henny were also present, along with the disgraced Royland Kaith.
“Hey Roy,” Henny prodded, giggling obnoxiously. “I don’t think they're paying you for this one.”
“I’m not here for reward.” He grunted, taking the obvious bait. Ohma rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. As they arrived on the ground floor, a place most of them had never dreamed of going to, there was a panicked message being spread:
“It’s coming down!”
Edrick did not budge an inch as the Montus Apside became a meteor heading straight toward the Invisible Bridge. He grabbed Axeon and looked into his eyes.
“You need to pull yourself together.” He commanded. “Remember what we practiced. When I say go, we both teleport ourselves in there. As soon as you find somewhere safe, find father in the Mindsphere. Trap him there so I can do what must be done. Can you do that?” He asked rhetoricaly as if they weren’t hurling straight into it no matter what.
Axeon nodded at his brother. It was a brave and obvious lie.
“GO! NOW, AXEON, GO!”
“What the hell is going on down there?” Jace yelled uncomfortably, pacing around the quarters. Minghuang was sitting a dark corner, rather unaffected by the explosion that shook the entire compound.
“Ohma and Henny–” Minghuang began, in a calming voice.
“Could already be dead.” Jace completed her sentence causing her to frown and shrug back into the background. Tyra nodded her head.
“I agree. Besides, all of us clumped up like this, the moment they break in we’ll all be done for before we have the chance to scream. We need to know what’s happening.”
Sal nodded and cocked her gun. Ray touched his needle sword’s hilt so tight his palm started to hurt.
“Two of us go up, two of us go down. Raymond, stay with Tyra.” The boy sneered and rolled his eyes. He released his grip on his sword. “We gather information on what the hell is happening.” Minghuang announced as the four others grabbed their essentials and prepared to head out. Tyra understood and gave her friend a smile with piercing eye contact. Ray was watching the whole scene unfold, but the Rohan siblings did not seem to care at all. They were ready to fight. They separated with Tyra and Minghuang at the elevators which they all cautiously took in their respective directions. It all happened so fast that the doors closed before Tyra realized her brother was not beside her.
As soon as Jace and Sal got to the bottom floor, and saw the destruction, their stomachs dropped. Chunks of ice and snow the size of buildings were tumbling down the twin mountains.
“Watch out!” Sal pulled her brother away from a small avalanche and collapsed herself into the freezing snow.
Jace ran, pistol in hand and sword sheathed, to pull his sister out of the snow.
“I thought there would be an army.” Jace kept his hand on the gun while he pulled Sal out of the snow.
“Well there isn’t, and we need to run.”
“Run? No we gotta go back inside.”
“Jace, everyone in there is dead. It’s all coming down.”
“No, if that’s… then we have to save them we need to go back for them. Sal, our mom’s in there. Jace wiped some snow off his face and saw he tumbled into a young kid he knew well.”
“They’ll find their way out. But if you go back in there, you will die. And I won’t let you.”
“We’ll die out here!” He pushed his sister and ran, gliding on the icy snow and back toward the elevators. Sal closed her eyes tight, looking out at the great green storm, and back at the constant rumbling and shattering of ice. When she opened them again, Jace was already gone. She ran back in after him.
“Ray…?” Jace looked up to see the shadow of his face in the green sunlight. “You shouldn’t be down here. Weren’t you with Ming and Tyra? Shit, it doesn’t matter, we gotta get everyone somewhere safe.” Jace shouted, cold sweat and melting ice raining down his face and looked around frantically.
There was an empty look on Ray’s face. One of horror and confusion. Jace took a deep breath and thought about staying with the kid. “Come on, let’s go!” He shouted and ran into a narrow hall. Raymond felt the rumbling and instinctively used his arms to cover his head as the walls, floor and ceiling shook. There was a huge crash as the ceiling caved in on the hallway Jace ran into. When the dust cleared, Ray could see his torso had been severed off with his legs pinned a few feet up in the rubble. The boy screamed at the sight of Jace’s remains and ran as fast as he could in the other direction before Sal arrived in horror.
The father and son of the Gray bloodline stood in awkward tension within their now shared Mindsphere.
“You wanted to talk to me all this time,” Axeon said, anger boiling in his Mindsphere-created skin. “So talk.” He pointed at his father, who was quite the distance from him and on his knees.
“What are you doing, Axeon? Why would you help him destroy our home?” The king said, first handedly.
“Edrick wants his kids back. He’ll do what he has to, to get it.”
“You really don’t get it, do you? How powerful he is… How manipulative… You think his kids want to go home with him? Back to being abused and mistreated at every turn.”
“You have no right to talk. You banished Edrick. You never cared about him. You hate him.”
“There are plans in work, moving pieces you know nothing about because you’re one of them. It’s not your fault, son. Edrick’s always been a convincing salesman, but he it’s always a con. I need you to free your head from the fog and look through an objective lens. I did not kill Emma Jade. I did not force you to leave nor did I bind you down. All of that was you. I am no more responsible for your sins than you are mine, and neither of us are responsible for Edrick’s choices. Stop this bogus insurgency, Axeon. Stand down.”
Axeon took a minute to process it all. Anger boiled over him in the form of sweat and the strong desire to punch his father in his mind-constructed face.
“You never even mentioned him.”
“I had my reasons…”
“You thought he would be too powerful? But his kids—”
“If you’d seen what a Mason is capable of in your lifetime, son, you would be just as scared. And you should be. Mason or not, Edrick will still stab you in the back, just as he does everyone in his life. ”
The boy grunted and looked down as the starry sky brightened above them.
“He is as much your son as me. You caused this.”
“I’d do it again if I had to. I know you don’t trust or like me but deep down you have to know that my primal instinct will always be to protect you. You are my son and nothing can ever change that.”
Axeon wanted to scream but found himself with water building in his eyes. He released some silent tears that disappeared into nothingness, reminding Axeon he was in the Mindsphere. He focused as hard as he could on the stones from the cave and the wood from the trees. In his Mindsphere, he was able to build a prison for his father, delaying his return to the battlefield.
“This is futile.” Said the Sunset King. “Axeon, look at who you stand beside! Look what you’ve brought to my doorstep, to your own doorstep. Forty-five years of peace ended. It’s not too late, boy. You can stop him and save everyone.”
“I don’t care about saving anyone.” Axe gritted his teeth.
“Oh, Axeon. And what of his children? You truly believe they want to go back with him? That they are here by force? They’re your cousins, Axe, your niece and nephew. They need someone that isn’t their parents. Someone who hasn’t failed to show them the way.”
“I’m not that person.” Axeon felt ashamed and shook his head, tears building up in his eyes. “I’ve never been that person.”
“You still could be.”
On the collapsing Invisible Bridge, Edrick held his father’s unconscious body by his red cloak. Axeon lay beside them, keeping Nylon’s mind busy.
“DAD!” Tyra’s voice hit like a dagger. He turned to see his daughter, taller than before, beside another girl, one he recognized.
“Minghuang Xhi, right?” He zeroed in on her without even looking at his daughter. “I killed your boyfriend. What was his name? Simon?”
“Sebastian…” Minghuang muttered in disbelief. Tyra pointed her gun at her dad. The frigid air started to overcome the smoke and ash leftover from the crash.
“That’s right. Sebastian. He didn’t give you up, you know? Played dumb about even knowing you all the way up until I sheathed my sword from his gut. And guess what? I wasn’t even looking for you. I was tracking Romeo and this pile of garbage he calls a ship.” He pointed toward what was left of the Montus Apside, lodged in the innards of the bridge. “He’s the one you should blame, really. But, I guess you don’t need to because I killed him too.”
The shock washed over the two girls and Tyra pulled the trigger. He teleported away for a second while the bullet passed. Edrick chuckled.
“Careful sweetheart. You might hit your grandfather… Or your uncle…” Edrick looked at Axeon’s small face, his eyes clenched tight. “This boy… He had everything I ever wanted. And he chose to throw it away. To run away. Don’t be like him, Tyra. People like him… Well…” He held Axeon over the side of the hole in the bridge. The cold red storm pulling him in. He dangled him off the side with his right hand, and Nylon by his left. “These are not survivors.”
Edrick released his grip and let both bodies drop forty stories into the the freezing mountainside right as Ohma and Safe Henny ran up behind the girls.
“No…” Ohma, still out of breath pushed Tyra aside and ran towards the carnage. “NO!”
“YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” Safe Henny open fired laser rounds at Edrick but he disappeared into the mist.
Ohma pulled a device out of her pocket. She shuddered and pressed the blue button on the side. Everyone on the bridge plugged their ears as the Mind-Muter played the haunting frequency Tyra had experienced once before. Ohma, pushing through the pain, heard Edrick screaming in the hall around the corner. He had tried to escape further into the complex. Ohma trudged through the agonizing ringing in her ears as she found Edrick and tied up his hands behind his back. She then placed a red transmitter on his neck, and then hit the blue button once more.
Everyone was able to finally breathe again and stand up except for Edrick. He remained crying on the ground, the pain only increasing. Safe Henny rubbed her head and realized what had just happened.
“YOU KILLED THEM!” Safe Henny kicked him in the stomach, giving him another source of pain to reckon with. He still managed to whisper the words.
“My children… Give me my children… I’ll leave forever…”
“You’re never leaving again.” Ohma announced. Tyra and Minghuang watched her lift her gun up to the man’s head. “Edrick Swann. For high crimes against the Blood of the kingdom, I sentence you to die.”
In an infinite moment, before the bullet had reached Edrick’s head, Raymond Swann located his father, and teleported them both into the air. Ohma’s bullet hit the metal wall.
“What…” Tyra shook her head, truly unable to process any of what she just saw. “Where did they go?”
“They can’t be far. Henny, call a search across the entire Kingdom. We must find Edrick Swann and bring him to justice.”
“Nylon and his…”
“They’re dead, Safe. If they’re not, they don’t have the time it would take us to even attempt to rescue them. I’m… I’m sorry. Find Edrick.”
Henny, maybe for the first time since Ohma had known her, obeyed orders without pushback. She ran passed Sal who was just as petrified, for an entirely different reason.
Axeon wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead. All he felt was freezing cold and all he saw was white. He bent the knee on his right leg, which was completely covered in snow and screamed in agony. A glint of green shined passed the clouds, briefly blinding him. When his vision was restored, his screams silenced and he sat up, shocked. His father lay, completely still, his head completely submerged in the dirty snow. A harsh wind tried to stop Axeon from standing but could not. He made his way toward Nylon’s body and fished him out of the snow. He put his ear to his father’s chest, relieved to hear a weak heartbeat. Axeon lay his father back down and lifted his armor from his torso, revealing a nasty slice through his hip. The snow underneath him was becoming red with his blood as Axe tried to tie up the wound. Nylon breathed slowly through his nose and then coughed.
“Don’t move. We’ll get help.”
“Axeon…” He whispered with all the energy he could muster before falling back asleep.
“I’m here, dad.”
“The Mindsphere… Axeon meet me in the…”
Axe understood. He had trouble focusing with the pain and the cold, but he focused on his breathing enough to get him there. To the cave system that dwelled inside his mind. His father was waiting, by the fire, with his uniform, his crown, in all his glory. All of it had been torn apart.
“I’m so sorry, my son. I did this. I am the reason all of this happened.”
“It’s over now. Right?”
“Yes, it’s over now.”
“Is it going to hurt?”
“No, I don’t think so. Not while we’re in here. I think it’ll just be like the light of the fire dimming. I think we’ll be welcomed into the darkness.”
“It’s cold, even in here. I can’t stop shivering.”
“Come, sit right in front of the fire.”
It didn’t do anything. But Axeon stopped shivering nonetheless. He could finally think for a moment.
“The last thing I said to the best friends I ever had… I insulted them. I lied to them, tried to drag them down. They didn’t deserve that.”
“We all have regrets.”
“Emma didn’t deserve what happened to her either. Maybe it’s for the best that I won’t be around anymore.”
“You didn’t deserve any of this. And neither did Edrick.”
“I guess we’ll both get what’s coming to us, then.”
“Yes. I suppose we will.”
“I wish things could have gone differently.”
“Me too, son. Me too.”
The light of the fire began to fade, and the image of Sunset King Nylon Gray, dissipated into the dark. It was coming. The end. Any second now.
Another voice entered the darkness. At first it was only a mumble. Then Axe heard him clearly,
“I don’t know. Maybe they’re dying? The tunnel is closing, get me the hell out of here!”
“I don’t…” Axeon walked over to where he heard the voice and was shocked to see the man he shared the room with, way back on the Zip to Memorio. “Elly…”
“I said get me out of here! He’s making contact and I don’t wanna go down with the ship. You know how angry my dad would be if I…” The voice droned out, becoming a mumble again, and the full weight of the darkness was encroaching.
“You’re not supposed to be here… You shouldn’t be able to be here… How… How are you here? Who are you?” Axeon muttered, deep in his mind, into nothing, while he drew his final frozen breath, half buried in a snowstorm. The green sun set over the bodies of the father, the king, and his son, the fool.
A giant golden hand reached out and scooped both of them along with the pile of snow they were stuck in. The sky was a bright orange as if it was on fire. The hand placed them both safely inside of Ozan’s walls and then lifted up the Invisible Bridge, repairing it and sealing it from the inside. On top of the world, floating above the twin mountains in a ball of electric energy was Tyra Swann, controlling it all like a puppeteer. Her eyes, red from tears and pain, were passengers of her mind.
The mind of a girl who was just betrayed in a way she never believed possible.
The granddaughter of two powerful, dangerous bloodlines.
The mind of a Mason.
END OF VOLUME 1
TO BE CONTINUED
(And also re-written)
What’s in store for Volume 2?
Where did Edrick and Ray disappear to?
What happens to Ozan now?
Who is Elly really and why could he enter Axeon’s Mindsphere?
What is Minghuang’s backstory?
What happened with Morgan and the Earthborn?
Where are Runda and Tohm?
What’s happening in the Tertia & Multi-World War?
Wasn’t there something about aliens? The hell happened with that?
How will Sal react to the death of her brother?
Who is Duncan Egg? Seriously, I don’t think it was ever explained. Who is that dude?
What is a true Mason capable of?
Just some stuff to chew on until the series is back. If you have any questions, I might be able to answer them and you should definitely reach out!
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in volume two!