Author's Comments

It took a long time to write this story. Originally, it was meant to be for NaNo, but I changed my mind sometime during 2010's NaNo, and withdrew from it. It wasn't til roughly March that I began writing this story, piecing together the parts I would need to complete this story, fleshing it out from the framework I could see in my mind.

Finding Dizzy again and reestablishing our ties helped me to breathe more life into this story, with her playing as Kaiya for me, because she was the one who knew her best... so long ago we wrote together. And here we are, writing again.

Encouragement from several Elliquiy members also enabled me to continue, particularly that of CatCat, Daylily and Calie. Most of it came from CatCat, though as she was very eager to see me finish this story after reading the second version. So, as my way of saying thanks, I'll be including them in this story.

In fact, those that got me to continue will all have characters in this story.

Most of this story was written while I was more or less disconnected from the Internet, and while I was suffering bronchitis and pneumonia. At the same time, no less.

Prologue

It was the end of one among innumberable campaigns, and this day would either make or break the Ontrose army. General Keiro Dreamwalker had struggled for half a decade against the Shadow, taking his cause across worlds and dimensions, both physical and nonphysical and riding a groundswell of popular support amongst the Houses -- all of which had led him to this place. A last stand where the Shadow was bound to be forced to balance themselves out with the Light.

The battle over one of the worlds would decide it all.

The General's teeth ached from clenching his jaw, but he stood on the top of the hill, overlooking the forces arrayed below, ostensibly calm and confident. He had not intended to be the Light's leader, but the role had been forced on him, and he'd never lost sight of the goal. The ancient incestuous system had oppressed many populations. The more powerful Houses devoured the weaker ones to steal their military and financials. Ultimately, even those powerful Houses split up and tore at one another, as if it were some kind of game. It had gone on far too long.

For five years now, Keiro's ever-growing forces had battled old-guard loyalists to the Shadow and Light, winning victories and suffering defeats. Any reasonable person could see that there was great imbalances between Shadow and Light. People across the worlds had only needed a man to serve as an example, someone to light the spark and unify their grievances. Keiro had fallen into this role by accident, but like a piece of driftwood caught in a whitewater flood, he had been swept along to his inevitable destination.

Now his forces converged over the main prize: Lysharia, with its glorious white stone buildings, tall towers, and ancient museums -- window-dressing that made the world to be marvelous as he claimed it was. His friend, Akiro Sokovchenko's world.

Commander Skylar Sakurazaki, the Shadow's supreme commander, would never admit defeat, clinging to his position of Power with claws. Rather than relinquish the advantage the Shadow's imbalance had, the old man would see the worlds of Light laid to waste, without regard to the innocent citizens he claimed to represent and protect. And if the General allowed it to come to that, he would be no better than Commander Sakurazaki. But he didn't see any way around it.

In the battles of the army of Ontrose so far, Keiro had been careful to keep civilian casualties to a minimum, but he knew that Commander Sakurazaki would eventually force his hand. He would draw a dark line of morality in front of him and dare him to cross it. Today might be that day...

"Steady ahead." His flagship, the Divine Rakurai, was named after a story he once read, one of the first casualties in the string of political and economic schemes that had provoked Keiro into action. "Frigates and sweepers forward. Open the gunports and show them we mean business."

"Aye, General."

With an intense focus, he studied the screen and the planet growing larger by the minute; Lysharia sparkled with tiny dots of ships, stations, and orbital activity. It was a sapphire laced with clouds, green continents, and city lights that sparkled across the night side. The crown jewel of all jewels amongst the Light.

Keiro's eyes were dark and old beyond his years, not having seen laughter in a long time. His brown hair was neatly trimmed, and his jaw had a tendency to show beard shadow, but he had shaved carefully only a few hours before. He intended to be presentable for this engagement, no matter how it turned out. He had his obligation to history...

His deep blue uniform was neat and impeccable, the coppery rank insignia prominent on his collar, though he sported no medals or decorations. Keiro had refused to let his men present him with accolades until they had actually won. He had not entered this conflict for glory or wealth, but to reset the balance between Light and Shadow.

"Tactical display, Freya. Let me see the distribution of our ships and project the defenses that Lysharia has mounted."

"Here they are, General." The tactical officer called up a display of the 560 Light ships - a fleet that was certainly superior to what the Shadow could muster here on short notice. Destroyers, fast harriers, frigates, sweepers, large carriers, even civilian cargo ships refitted with armor and weapons.

Above the capital planet, cargo ships and short-range in-system yachts and transports scattered, seeking shelter. A meager ring of security ships kept station near the main transportation hub, the orbiting nexus of interstellar lines that connected Lysharia to the rest of the worlds, across dimensions and galaxies. Not nearly enough... Keiro's forces could - and would - overwhelm the security ships and seize the hub without much resistance.

"Commander Sakurazaki has mounted no primary defenses that we can see yet, sir."

"He will." Keiro said. It couldn't be that easy. "May Morrigan feed well tonight... and the bill be small for us."

Over a secure link, Maya Relic, General Keiro's second-in-command and close friend, broke in from the bridge of her own destroyer, cheery as usual, "Maybe that's the old bastard's answer. One look at our fleet, and he ran to hide in a bomb shelter. I hope he took sanitary facilities and some extra undies."

The men on the Divine Rakurai's bridge chuckled, a release of tension, but Keiro slowly shook his head. "He's not stupid, Maya. Skylar knew we were coming, and he's been losing battles for years. If he was going to surrender, he would have cut a deal to save his own skin." He didn't like this.

As his fleet spread out and prepared to form a blockade, the surface-to-orbit traffic around Lysharia increased dramatically. Passenger pods and shuttles rose into space, people evacuating the capital world of the Light, now in the Shadow's possession, in a disorderly rush.

"Maybe the bastard already fled," Maya suggested.

"That doesn't sound like him," Keiro said, "but I'd bet a month's pay that he called for an immediate evacuation to cause chaos."

An overloaded interstellar hauler accelerated away from the orbiting transportation hub, its framework crowded with passenger pods that dangled like ripe fruit. A second hauler remained docked at the hub, but it would not be loaded in time. The last-minute evacuees would be stranded there in orbit.

"It's like a stampede. We'd better wrap this up before it turns into an even bigger mess. Four frigates, take the hub," Keiro ordered. "Minimal damage, no casualties if possible."

His first ships streaked in, broadcasting a surrender order. As they approached the hub, the second interstellar hauler broke away from the dock and lurched away from the station, only half loaded. Three passenger pods disengaged and dropped free, improperly secured in the rush, and the ovoid vessels tumbled in free orbit.

"Stop that hauler! No telling who's aboard," Keiro said into the secure link. He dispatched one of his large, slow carriers to block the vessel.

Passenger shuttles and evacuating in-system ships flurried about, retreating to the dark side of Lysharia in panic. Keiro clenched his jaw even harder; Commander Sakurazaki had made them terrified of what he and his supposed barbarians would do... when it was Commander Sakurazaki they should have feared.

The second interstellar hauler continued to accelerate away from the hub, even as the General's slow carrier moved to cross its path before the hauler could activate the ultrafast Inversion engines.

The carrier pilot yelped over the secure link, "He's going to ram us, General!"

"Retreat and match speed, but do not deviate from the path. If the hauler pilot insists on a crash, give him a gentle one."

The Light carrier refused to get out of the way even as the hauler moved forawrd. Keiro admired the fortitude of the carrier's crew; if the fleeing hauler activated the Inversion engines, they would both be a vapor cloud. The hauler closed the distance and the Light carrier blocked it, slowed it; the two ships collided in space, but the impact was minimal.

As the four Light frigates again demanded the surrender of the interstellar hub, the ten small Shadow security ships left their stations and swept forward in a coordinated move, opening fire on the General's warships. Explosions rippled along the first frigate's hull, drawing shouts of astonishment from the crews.

"What the hell are they doing?" Maya Relic cried over the secure link. "We've got hundreds more ships than they do!"

"Return fire," Keiro said. "Disable engines if possible... but do what you need to do."

The frigate captains launched retaliatory fire, and three security ships exploded. Two others were damaged, but the rest circled around, undeterred. Streams of explosive projectiles flew in all directions, most of them directed at Keiro's frigates, but countless others missed their targets and hit nearby vessels, including the evacuating in-system ships that were scrambling away from the interstellar hub.

When he saw two civilian transports explode, Keiro yelled for his fleet to close in. "No time for finesse. Eradicate those security ships!"

In a hail of return fire, the Ontrose vessels assigned to his command, blew up the security ships before they could cause further damage. The General's jaw ached. He hated useless death. "Why wouldn't they stand down? They had no chance against us."

Lieutenant Shiki, the weapons officer, cleared her throat, "Sir, if I might suggest, we can force the issue now. Threaten to blow up the whole hub if the Shadow doesn't surrender. That would cripple them."

"But that's not what I stand for, Lieutenant," Keiro said. "Hostages and terrorist acts are for cowards and bullies. The people of all worlds need to see that I'm different." The Shadow's propaganda machine had already painted him with the broad strokes of "monster" and "anarchist." If he were to sever the lines of transportation and trade among the worlds and dimensions, the people would turn against him in a matter of weeks.

"General, the interstellar transportation hub is ours," said the first frigate captain. "We have the high ground. Nobody on Lysharia is going anywhere."

Keiro nodded, but did not let let down his guard. "Harriers, round up those loose passenger pods before they burn up in orbit."

"This is making me damned nervous, General." Shiki transmitted. "How can Commander Sakurazaki just sit there, with almost seven hundred Light ships lining up in orbit?"

"Here it comes, sir!" broke in the weapons officer. "Commander Sakurazaki's battleships emerging from Lysharia's sensor shadow."

Now Keiro understood. "The security ships were trying to stall us. All right, how many are we facing?"

Shiki ran a scan. As they stormed forward, Commander Sakurazaki's ships moved in a random flurry, as if to disguise their numbers. "Three hundred and fourty, sir. And that's an accurate count. Probably all the ships he's got left with him right now."

Though the army of Ontrose under his command outgunned them by a substantial margin, he was sure Commander Sakurazaki had given his fleet no-surrender orders. If the General's fleet gained the upper hand, the Shadow's defenders might initiate a suicide protocol... though he wondered if they would follow such an order. General Keiro Dreamwalker engendered such loyalty among his own men, but he doubted Commander Sakurazaki was capable of inspiring such dedication. However, the security ships around the interstellar transportation hub had already demonstrated their willingness to die.

"They're not slowing, General!" Lieutenant Shiki said in a crisp voice.

"Message coming in from Commander Sakurazaki's flagship, sir." said the communications officer.

The screen filled with the image of an older gentleman wearing a Shadow uniform studded with so many ribbons, medals, and pins that it looked like gaudy armor over the uniform shirt. The man had sad gray eyes, a lean face, and neatly groomed muttonchop sideburns. Keiro had faced this opponent in eight previous battles, winning five of them, but only by narrow margins. "Commander Sakurazaki!" Even as the Shadow's last-stand defense fleet came toward them, the General forced himself to be calm and businesslike, especially with the man. "You are clearly outgunned. My people have strongholds on numerous planets and dimensions. Today I intend to take Lysharia. Only the details remain."

"But history rests on the details." The Commander seemed dyspeptic from the choice he faced. Skylar had been a worthy foe and an honorable man, well-trained in the rules of engagement. "The Shadow has commanded me to insist upon your surrender."

The Divine Rakurai bridge crew chuckled at the absurd comment , but Keiro silenced them. "That won't be possible at this time, Commander." This was the last chance he would give, and he put all of his sincerity into the offer. "Please be reasonable - you know how this is going to end. If you help me secure a peaceful resolution without any further bloodshed and no damage to Lysharia - a planet beloved by all of us - I would be willing to work out amnesty arrangements for yourself and your top-tier officers, even a suitably supervised exile for the Shadow's avatar, Lady Mihoshi, and some of the worst offenders among the nobility."

While the Shadow ships surged closer, Keiro continued to stare at Skylar's image, silently begging the man to see reason, to flinch, to back down in the face of harsh reality.

For a fleeting instant, Keiro thought the old Commander would reconsider, then Skylar said, "Unfortunately, General, the Avatar gave me no latitude for negotiation. I am required to force your surrender at all costs, using any means necessary." He gestured to his communications officer. "Before you open fire, you should see something."

Multiple images flooded the panel screens on the Divine Rakurai bridge of forlorn-looking people, gaunt-faced, sunken-eyed, and plainly terrified. They were packed in metal-walled rooms that looked like spacecraft brig chambers or sealed crew quarters.

Keiro recognized some of the faces.

Over the secure link, Shiki Miyamoto shouted, "That's my brother! He's been missing for months!"

Some of Keiro's bridge officers identified other captives, but there were thousands. The images flickered one after another.

"We're holding them aboard these ships, General." Skylar said. He had blood on his scalp and forehead now, which he wiped with a cloth. Something had happened when the camera went to the hostages.

"Seventeen-thousand hostages. Members of your own families and their close associates. If you open fire upon us, you will be killing your own."

Keiro's stomach churned with revulsion as he looked at the terrified hostages, including women, children and the elderly. "I always thought you were a man of honor, Commander. This loathsome act is beneath you."

"Not when the balance is at stake." Skylar looked embarassed, even disgusted with himself, but he shook it off, still holding a cloth to his head. "Look at them. Have all of your forces look at them. Once again, General, I demand your surrender."

"We've all faced tragedies, sir." said Shiki, with an audible swallow. "We should have known the Avatar would stoop to such barbaric tactics."

"We've got to take Lysharia, General!" said the navigation officer.

On his own ship, the old Commander barked an order, and on the transmitted images, the Shadow's guards strode into the field of view, brandishing shock prods with sizzling electric tips. The hostages tried to fight back as the guards fell upon them with the shock prods, burning skin, shedding blood. As the hostages screamed in pain, Keiro felt the torture as if it were inflicted upon his own body.

"General, we can't let them get away with this!" said Lieutenant Shiki.

Skylar raised his voice to a grim command. "Guards, set shock levels to lethal." His ships continued forward. "Surrender now, General. The blood will be on your hands."

The two fleets closed until they were separated by only a hair's breath in space. All gunports were open, weapons ready to fire.

"You are an animal, Commander." Seventeen thousand hostages. "I will not surrender. Weapons oficer, prepare--"

"And we have your lover aboard, General." Skylar interrupted, and her image flooded the screen. Keiro had thought she was safe, sent away to a quiet village on Lysharia under an assumed name. And yet, she stared at him through the screen, her face bruised, hair bedraggled, sealed in a brig cell somewhere. But which ship?

The General froze for just an instant, a pause too short for a single breath.

For Commander Sakurazaki, it was enough. He barked a command, and all three-hundred and fourty Shadow warships opened fire at point-blank range.

Keiro woke up then, heart pounding as the last images of his warships exploding faded before his eyes. He realized that it was a dream. Yet a deep sense of foreboding told him otherwise as he worked to calm himself. His intuition told him that it wasn't entirely a dream, that it was a precursor to worse things to come...

Chapter One

A woman with a calm, ageless face watched another, who appeared to be in his twenties. The young man's blue-grey eyes were empty, bleak like death and he didn't turn as the other shook her head with a touch of sympathy and sadness in her cool green eyes and glided away.

Once outside the room that housed a horror worse than death, it seemed the Healer breathed a soft sigh of relief but the anxious woman waiting outside didn't believe that. Wouldn't believe it.

"Healer?" All she knew was that Keiro Dreamwalker, her warrior had screamed once while battling the Shadow, working his way towards his Warder, as he referred to her. Somehow, his Warder had toppled dead from her seat in one of the trucks for no obvious reason.

The reports of those that witnessed the events said quietly, with many a shudder, that Keiro had gone insane for no apparent reason, giving his enemies no quarter, no mercy at all. It was said that the scream he'd made was so terrible that the enemies cowered beneath the wrath of his blade.

Perhaps it was true. She'd witnessed the field where he finally had fallen to a lucky blow from the enemy in the rear just as he reached his lover. The ground was black with blood, the scent a mixture of blood and unholy rage. The kind that took no prisoners.

Holes in the ground circling the truck that his Warder resided in was also further evidence to that testament, as if he was trying to dig a moat and ensure none could reach himself and his former lover. Then there was the remaining trace of Power, from both Keiro and his Warder, indicating that even well after the battle, the Power used was immense enough to leave a permanent trace.

Perhaps he'd gambled and used his most effective weave that he knew, to take as many as he could with him? Or was it his lover that'd used the weave? She had no way of knowing, not with the mixed traces of male and female Power strongest in the epicenter.

She shook aside the thoughts and turned to the Healer as the Healer tried to compose herself after seeing the horror in the room she'd just came out of.

"It would be better if you'd allowed the Shadow to carry him away." The Healer said, grimness cracking the edges of her serenity. She felt a great desire to empty her stomach. The Commander of Light stared at her and she had to resist that urge, tasting bile. Light preserve her from that terrible fate. "I will be leaving in the morning." Keiro should have known better than to draw too much of the Power. Why had he?

"What about Keiro?"

"He is dying, Commander! And there is nothing I can do. Better dead than alive with this curse! Ask another Healer more skilled than I." She heaved a sigh then continued, "Or speak to your deity, for the wounds he sustained is of mind and body. Not to mention the snapping of his bond with his Warder." And the Healer swept away.

Breath flowed into his chest. Then out, his gaze looking far past the window he stood by. In and out... Still his chest moved and he wondered what it would be to die, vaguely. Once he had clung to life fiercely, refused wounds their prize but now, without Power he was already half-gone.

Would it hurt? The final breath sighing out, blood falling, perfect crimson droplets, drip, drip, drip. Some part of him knew Kaiya was dead, that the snapping of his Power had snapped their bond too and killed her, even as she sent out a killing stroke with what remained of her Power and consciousness, as he sought to keep her safe in battle, like a brittle branch cracking, sending splinters sliding into his skull. All whilst taking as many Shadow Warriors as he could with him.

A soft ethereal voice sounded in his mind, singing to him, "Remember me and smile, for it's better to forget than to remember me and cry... For every goodbye makes the next hello closer..."

Did the air stir with the breath of the living, some person who had never known the true joy of the rightly named True Source, or some woman still clenched by life, by Power? Did it matter?

Gone it was, like the memories of his lover crooning songs to him, dancing away. And it made him ache with longing, the bright burning sun just beyond his fingertips no matter how he strived. When had he ever taken it for granted?

It had been an ounce too much, a gamble that had shredded his very soul. The Shadow had not been worth that, even as he protected his lover. Not worth it... he wanted to scream it but he could not cry out, could not even whimper. He saw his grave and longed for it. Peace? Had life ever given him his peace? No, not that he could recall, even with the Power filling his life, a cup brimful of the very Light itself, it seemed.

A strand of brown hair fell across his face, brushed his skin with the memory of Kaiya's hands stroking his head gently, then cupping his cheek. A soft, gentle kiss to his lips... It faded, just like her touch.

He laid down then on the bed by the window, his head turning to watch the sunset as it began to make its tracks through the window, the sweet voice of his lover singing to him causing him to smile as he listened, "Do you remember the time... when simple things made you happy? Do you remember the time... when little things made you laugh? You know, Life is simple, because the best is yet to come..."

The blade gleamed with sunlight as his finger ran along its edge. Blood welled, accenting cold steel, blossoming as he raised it. He pressed it against his chest, felt its tender pricking, and pushed it deeper, gasped softly as his life spilled on the bed that he lay upon.

"For every goodbye makes the next hello closer..."

The woman that continued to sing was Kaiya, his ever-present lover, here even then as he came home, kneeling besides him and caressing his cheek and hair as she sang, with a sweet, yet loving voice, "The brightest star in the evening sky is yours to find for me..."

She smiled, leaning down and kissing him upon his lips again, nibbling at his lips before finally looking into his blue-grey eyes with her crystal clear blue eyes, so vibrant and full of life, as she spoke to him, "Go home, my Warrior. You are free... rest, and sleep, Keiro."

She continued to smile. more warmly now both with love and with relief for the simple fact that soon, her lover would be with her in the Summerlands. She watched him, realizing that he was slipping away slowly from her, as he smiled back to her, his vision slowly whitening, revealing the last sight he would ever see, the sunset over her golden hair, sighing for the last time. Now her Warrior was free, as he should be, after the years of service he'd given, having served the Light.

"The brightest star in the evening sky is yours to find for me..."

As his vision whitened further, his eyelids slowly closing, he felt the cool touch of another woman's hand, and dimly heard a soft voice calling to him, "Keiro... come back. It is not time for you to go..." It was a woman's voice, one that was cracking with the strain of maintaining the illusion of wellness. Worry crept into the woman's voice as she wove healing threads upon the man's chest in an attempt to save him before he truly died.

The knife was drawn out then, crimson tears welling out of the wound as it was healed, denying the man his ever-lasting rest. He fought weakly, seeking the peace that he was entitled to after his long service to the Light.

His vision blackened out then, affording him a few hours' rest as the healing weaves sought to hold the Gates that all entered when Death called, against his entry. And provided him with strength that enlivened his body, yet left his soul barren and longing for the peace he'd known under Kaiya's touch and the rare times they had time enough to enjoy each other's presence without war.

When the woman was assured that he was safe, she spoke quietly to two guards that had appeared at her use of the Power, watching what she was doing with sympathetic looks directed to the  unconscious man, "Take him to my room. Watch over him. Make sure he does not attempt it again, please. The moment he wakes up, come and get me."

"Yes, Commander." The two guards saluted to the Commander of the Light before taking the man away on a stretcher made of Air.

A soft sigh then a shake of the head as she stood up. For a moment there, she sensed what felt like an extreme sense of disapproval and anger. Where was that coming from? She had to look around for a few minutes before spotting an ethereal form that looked suspiciously like Kaiya.

"Oh, Kaiya, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry... but it's necessary. He is too important to let go just now." Her voice finally cracked, and the beginning of sobs came. She'd nearly lost one of her Warriors and a true friend, even though he'd not met her yet. She was lucky in that a guard had called her to Keiro in time to stop Keiro's death and reversing it, simply because everyone in the hospital was required to know when someone would pass on to the Summerlands. "Please, forgive me Kaiya..."

Kaiya shook her head, disagreeing, "He earned his rest, Commander! Let him know ever-lasting peace..." She turned to face the Commander full-on and spoke again within the Commander's mind, the tone of her voice hinting at the controlled rage within, "It is long past time for him to go. Will you use him up til he can no longer do what is needed for you? Will you force him to live in his hell, without me?" Her voice became increasingly incensed and threatening, and at the same time, colder.

"Know this, Commander, I will protect him as I once did amongst the living. Do not stop him if he tries this again." The sense of Kaiya's presence dissipated, leaving the Commander with a sense of loneliness and an aching longing for her lover.

"I'm sorry, Kaiya... but I can't do what you asked. Not yet. I wish it were under different circumstances, and that it was not I that made this decision. I hope you'll come to understand that, in time..."