Nightlights: Guardians of the Edge

9.4: Lightning --

As soon as they were admitted back into the Tower, Elian spoke, his voice throbbing with sarcasm. "You came back. How nice."

"Just out for a stroll," said Seth. "Interesting world out there and it pays to get to know it if we're going to be stuck here for the rest of time, don't you think?"

"You must think I'm stupid. Part of me is a thousand years old. I know why you went out there."

Jehane looked at the nearest light sculpture apprehensively. Elian sounded furious in a way Kentigern never had

Calmly, Seth said, "Be honest. You think you know why we went out there, and you're angry you don't know for sure."

"I'm pretty damn sure you wanted to avoid me!"

"Well, you haven't been very friendly lately, have you?"

"Friendly! How friendly would you be when you're trying to figure out how to save up to seven billion people from a madman with alien technology that you should be able to understand, and meanwhile, half of the people you actually care about are trying to escape back to Earth? And my mother-" Elian's voice broke off.

Then, a desperate note in his voice, he said, "Look, I'm sorry. I've been a little stressed. Please don't do anything stupid just because I'm-Just don't, okay?"

Ajax, Jehane and Seth exchanged looks. Seth shrugged and Ajax set his jaw.

"We all want the same thing," said Jehane carefully. Seth rolled his eyes and Jehane scowled. "And actually, we were talking about helping you. Well, me helping you. Maybe if I shared my abilities with you again, that would be useful?"

After a long silent moment, Elian said, "Sure." He sounded far too cheerful, all of the sudden. "I've been working on a better interface, too. It's in the core."

Jehane hesitated. If she managed to convince Elian to open a portal, how long would it last? Long enough for her to get to the Portalry and go through?

Ajax said, "You want me to come along?"

Chewing on her lip, Jehane said, "Yes. At least for the first time."

Ajax narrowed his eyes, but shrugged. "Lead on."

A chair had been constructed in the core, made of the same materials as the walls. The arms of the chair ended in deep, shimmering palm rests, and delicate bars curved out from the headrest like fingers.

"Pretty nice, huh?" said Elian, anxiously. "I hope it's comfortable. I've had a set of machines working on it the last few days."

"Just in case I stopped arguing with you?"

"Well, I like construction projects. And I thought-well, you'll see. Take a seat."

Nervously, Jehane settled into the chair. The headrest's stone fingers bent toward her, resting lightly on her head. She placed her arms on the rests, and realized the palm rests were actually pools of goo. "I put my hands in this stuff?"

"Yep. And then you can send a bit of anima through it."

At first touch, the goo was cold, but as she pushed her hands into it, it warmed up dramatically. Then she took a deep breath and flared her anima.

The shadow music that was a merging of Elian and Kentigern seemed to grow louder and then, floating in front of her was a translucent image of Elian. But it wasn't Elian as he had been last time she saw him. His hair was white, and his dark skin was now ink black, with little flickers of light moving over it. One eye glowed a vivid blue, the same shade as the writing on the walls, while the other was covered with by a mirrored lens. On the other side of his image, she could see Seth and Ajax watching her curiously, but they seemed faded and distant. Lights moved around her, like the motes made large and colorful.