Chapter 33 – Shadows of the Past
The Shiza-haran ripped through space at half the speed of light. Its orders were simple. Break through the Valean blockade and destroy all Valean space born presence in the system. Its senses ranged out and picked up the presence of the Valean blockade several light years away. It picked a spot in space, somewhere behind the blockade, applied its power to that point and created a gate from it to its present location. It flew through the gate and emerged behind the Valean blockade.
The Valeans didn’t even know the Shiza-haran was there until it was too late. The blockage vessels were huge slow moving monstrosities that carried enough firepower to challenge fleets. Unfortunately, all that firepower was currently pointing in the wrong direction. The Shiza-haran chose the closest blockade vessel as its first target. Coherent beams of white light lanced out from the Shiza-haran and pierced through the tough shields of the blockade vessel and dug deep into its armor. A power sphere followed close behind and finished breaking through the armor. The Shiza-haran flew through the gap and deep into the vessel.
Inside, the Shiza-haran wreaked unimaginable havoc. At half a mile in diameter, it was dwarfed by the massive blockade vessel on the outside, however inside the vessel, the Shiza-haran was a veritable giant. It blew through walls and floors as if they weren’t even there. Any Valean unfortunate enough to be in its way was simply pulped into unidentifiable organic matter. Within minutes, the Shiza-haran reached its destination: the engine room with its anti-matter bottle. A concentrated beam of energy pierced the bottle and the relatively small fragment of anti-matter dropped. A split second later, gigantic explosions rocked the ship and tore it apart. The Shiza-haran rode through the energy storm, absorbing just enough energy to top up its reserves and allowing the rest to add to the destruction of the ship.
As the Shiza-haran left the point of destruction, hundreds of Valean sting ships converged upon it. Hyper Velocity Kinetic Missiles arched towards the Shiza-haran but it simply reached out with its senses and deflected the majority of the missiles. Those missiles it missed impacted on its shields. With the energy the Shiza-haran had absorbed from the exploding blockade ship, the Shiza-haran didn’t even notice the impacts. Again with its extraordinary senses, it reached out and targeted a batch of sting ships. Then, it unleashed dozens of beam blasts that blew them out of space. Because it was a relatively young Shiza-haran, it was smaller than average. However, it was still more than a match for the forces arrayed against it.
More sting ships arrowed in on the Shiza-haran. In response, the Shiza-haran disappeared under a translucent camouflage. The sting ships milled around for several crucial moments as they raced to reconfigure their sensors to look for the Shiza-haran. They never got those moments. The Shiza-haran suddenly appeared behind a squadron of sting ships and wiped them out before they even knew it was there.
The Shiza-haran kept using its hit and hide tactics until a fresh squadron of sting ships arrived and got organized. Half the squadron was configured to find the Shiza-haran while the rest was ready to hit the fast moving being with HVKM’s. It was too little too late though. The Shiza-haran’s tactics had successfully drawn the bulk of sting ships away from the blockade vessels. It suddenly opened another gate and jumped away from the sting ships until it was within striking distance of another of the blockade vessels. A heavy barrage of beams and power spheres blew a hole into the hull of the massive ship. Following the same tactics as it had used with the first blockade ship, the Shiza-haran dove in and within minutes, there was a huge expanding sphere of energy and debris where a multi-million ton ship had once been.
The battle lasted for hours. The Shiza-haran was relentless and tireless. One by one, it destroyed the blockade ships. Squadron by squadron, it destroyed the sting ships. In the end, there was only one blockade ship left with no escorts. This time, rather than destroying the ship, the Shiza-haran flew around it and took out its defensive and offensive gun batteries one at a time. The ship tried to run for it, but the Shiza-haran stopped its flight with a well placed power sphere. Soon, the blockade ship was nothing but a free floating hunk of space debris. The Shiza-haran reached out with its senses, grabbed hold of the ship and began to tow it. It quickly built up its speed as it raced towards the planet that the blockade had been defending. The Shiza-haran carefully picked out its target, calculated its trajectory, and with a final heave, thrust the multi-million ton missile at the planet.
The crew of the ship had no working external sensors left. If they had, they probably would have tried to blow up its anti-matter core rather than allow it to complete its decent. Those Valeans that managed to escape in life pods wept tears of frustration when they realized the target.
Over 8 million Valean citizens died when the ship crashed down upon the largest city on the planet below.
The Shiza-haran didn’t care. Its orders had been simple. Its mission was complete and it opened a gate and disappeared from the system. The Pracetorian fleet would arrive soon and complete the destruction of the Valean colony.
Out of the freezing darkness of space, a little boy suddenly emerged into the blazing sunshine. He squinted his eyes and looked around the busy city street. No one seemed to be paying him much attention. He remembered his instructions and started to cry. When no one paid him any attention after several minutes, the boy started to feel real fear. He had to get someone to notice him. He just had to!
The volume of his cries increased until he was wailing in the street. Most of the people on the street gave him the occasional startled or disgusted look, but no one stopped. All of a sudden, the little boy felt a soft gentle hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and rubbed them to clear the tears. A woman was kneeling down to his height and was looking compassionately at him
“Are you alright, little boy?” asked the woman.
The little boy wanted to shout that he was really fine but instead he said, “I’m lost!”
“Awww, you poor baby. What’s your name?”
The little boy wanted to tell the woman to run away but instead he said, “Michael.”
“That’s a nice name Michael. Where’re your Mommy and Daddy?”
The little boy wanted to scream that he didn’t have a Mommy and Daddy but instead he said, “I don’t know. I’m lost!”
The woman hugged the little boy and said, “its ok, sweetie. Which way did you come from? Maybe we can retrace your steps.”
The little boy wanted to shout “Run away!” But instead, he took the woman’s hand and led her down the street. They came upon a dark alley and the boy led the woman in. He didn’t want to, but he remembered the last time he had disobeyed. His bruises had stayed with him for many days. Uncle Sal and Uncle Mitch had locked him in the closet and had given him nothing but scraps to eat for a week. This woman was different than all the other people the little boy had taken down this alley though. For one thing, she was really pretty. For another thing, she seemed to really care about the little boy. The little boy imagined the woman lying on the floor in a pool of blood and shuddered inwardly. Then, the little boy imagined what would happen if Uncle Sal and Mitch got their hands on her. The last woman that the little boy had led down this alley had screamed and screamed for a long time. The little boy didn’t want this woman to scream like that.
They were getting closer to the spot now. The little boy suddenly pulled his hand from the woman’s grasp and ran past the spot. Startled, the woman ran after him and right past the spot where Uncle Sal and Mitch were hiding. They weren’t quite ready and the woman was past them before they could attack.
“Michael you friggin little traitor!” yelled Uncle Sal.
“It’s ok Sal, it’s a dead end. She can’t escape,” said Uncle Mitch.
A dead end! The little boy had forgotten about that! Several feet from the wall, he turned to face his Uncles. What surprised him was that the woman was still by his side. “Please go,” said the little boy.
The woman smiled down at him and said, “I’m not leaving you Michael.”
“But they’ll hurt you!”
“No they won’t!”
“End of the line missy!” growled Uncle Sal.
Uncle Mitch giggled like an excited schoolboy. “Look at her Sal! She’s a beauty. Much better than the last one!”
“Think she’ll scream like the last one?”
Mitch pulled a large bladed knife from behind his back and licked the blade. “I’ll make sure she screams!”
Both men were giggling evilly, so neither of them was prepared when Michael suddenly charged them. “Leave her alone!” he cried.
“Michael, no!” shouted the woman.
Michael managed to get a good kick in on Uncle Mitch’s shin before Uncle Sal backhanded him across the face. Michael landed in a heap several feet away. His head hit the concrete ground hard.
“We’ll deal with you later,” said Uncle Sal.
“Yeah you brat,” said Uncle Mitch. “I’ll teach to hurgh –“
The woman charged forward and delivered a crushing kick between Uncle Mitch’s legs. He toppled over like a falling tree.
“Bitch!” yelled Uncle Sal. He swiped a roundhouse at the woman but she ducked and threw an uppercut that snapped Uncle Sal’s head back. The woman grabbed Uncle Sal’s head and then pulled it down to violently meet her left knee. Uncle Sal fell like a sack of potatoes. Uncle Mitch was still groaning so the woman kicked him in the head.
The little boy saw all of this with blurry eyes. The woman came over to him and he asked, “Are you an angel?”
“No Michael,” said the woman. “My name is Mary.”
The little boy didn’t hear though. He had passed out. Later on, when he awoke, he was in a dark room in a clean bed. The room had a strange smell that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. He could hear voices outside the room. There seemed to be three voices, two were men, and one belonged to a woman.
“Is he going to be alright?”
“Yes, I think so. He’s got a bad concussion though.”
“How bad?”
“There might be some memory loss.”
“Memory loss? How much do you think?”
“I’m not sure. I’m more concerned about his emotional state. He could be feeling a lot of guilt.”
“Why? It wasn’t his fault those bastards were using him as bait!”
“He doesn’t see it that way. When he woke up earlier, we had a quick chat.”
“He’s woken up before? Why didn’t you call us?”
“You haven’t adopted him yet. Right now, he’s my responsibility.”
“It’s ok honey. What did he say when he woke up?”
“He was feeling really really bad for having lied to so many people. He said that sometimes he wishes that he could just forget it all. So, I suggested that maybe he should.”
“What?!”
“You encouraged his memory loss? Why?”
“He’s too young to carry that burden of guilt. It’s better for him this way. When he is older, you can find a specialist to help him unlock those memories and deal with them. But really, why would you? Won’t he be happier this way? He has a clean slate.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“I suggest putting him in an orphanage for a while before going through with the adoption process.”
“Why?”
“He needs time to adapt. Right now, he doesn’t remember anything. He needs some time to build up new memories to replace the old ones. He needs to heal.”
“How long?”
“A couple of months at least.”
“A couple – “
“Maybe longer.”
“But – “
“Shhh, it’s ok honey. We’ll monitor his progress at the orphanage. When we think he’s ready, we’ll come back and re-introduce ourselves to him.”
“But he won’t remember me!”
“Would you rather he knew you as Mary the vigilante or Mary the soon to be mother?”
“Oh…”
The little boy grew sleepy and closed his eyes once more. He didn’t understand very much about what he had overheard and right now and he didn’t really care. All he wanted right now was some peace and quiet. No more screams, no more blood, and no more voices yelling Michael…Michael…Michael…
<<Michael!>>
Huh…what? Big Bro?
<<Yes.>>
Where…am…are…we?
<<I am not
sure. I woke up just before you did.>>
What the hell was that
anyway? These visions are getting more
and more frequent and more and more weird!
I’m scared!
<<I am too,
Michael. Not only are the vision getting
stronger, we are now sharing them.>>
Yeah, I saw that
one…that was you, right? You were
attacking those Valeans and that colony.
<<Yes. I am
afraid so. Now that I have experienced
the vision, I distinctly remember receiving my orders and my own simple blind
obedience to them.>>
Just like that
Shiza-haran we found!
<<Yes.
Somehow, after I merged with you, I became free from all compulsion to
obey the Pracetorians. I seemed to have lost most of my memories
too…>>
Yeah, but now they’re
coming back. And I think mine are coming
back too…but…oh, this is so confusing!
My memories seems to be mixed in with
yours. For a while there, I was you, and
I was attacking and killing innocent people!
<<And for a
while there, I was you, and I was leading innocent people to their deaths. That woman…that was your mother, was it not?>>
Yeah, I think so. She looked a lot younger, but yeah…Big Bro,
I’m really starting to get scared. First
<<I feel like
you do, Michael. First May leaves and
fights for her life thousands of miles away and I cannot help, and now these
memories resurface. Why did I obey
obscene orders blindly? How could I have
killed all those people? What happened
to me?>>
What happened to us?
Michael scanned his surroundings and realized that he had drifted off into space once more. He looked wistfully in the direction of the Moon but did not head off in that direction. After he and Big Bro had found the dead Shiza-haran, they had been back several times but have never been successful in reviving it. There was no feeling of familiarity coming from the direction of the Moon anymore, and Michael knew instinctively that the Shiza-haran was completely dead now, and that meant that the gate it had been maintaining was gone too.
Michael shrugged his shoulders to readjust the backpack on
his back so that it fit more comfortably below his wings. He had flown
He was eager to get home to see Serena and his nephews, but
he was also very eager to see how
He knew that
---
It was mid-morning when Michael dropped into his backyard. He changed back into his human body and dropped his transparency camouflage with practiced ease. He pulled on some clothes from his backpack and then opened the patio door to his house.
“Hi Serena! I’m home!” he called out. Almost right away though, he felt a little chagrinned and hoped that he hadn’t woken up the twins.
Serena appeared and stepped into the kitchen. Rather than rushing over to hug Michael though, she stayed on the far end of the kitchen. “Hello, welcome back.”
Michael was a bit taken aback by Serena’s cool welcome. “Um…are you ok? Where’re the twins? I hope that I didn’t wake them up.”
“Ted picked them up this morning,” said Serena. Her expression was guarded.
“Ted? Isn’t he working?”
“I called him home and
“Oh. Serena, is there something wrong? What’s the matter?”
Instead of answering, Serena stepped aside and another person stepped into the kitchen. The appearance of this person was so unexpected, and so shocking that Michael couldn’t find his voice for several moments. Though her hair was completely white, Mary Wellington’s face had not changed. Her expression though, was currently one of fury.
“Mmm…Mom?” asked Michael in a tentative voice.
“Don’t call me that you murderer!” snarled Mary.
“What? What do you mean….Mom? You’re alive!”
“Doppelganger! Freak!” shrieked Mary. Her anger seemed to be reaching a boiling point.
Michael didn’t know what to say. He was still reeling at finding his mother alive and in his house. He looked to Serena but she backed away with a frightened expression on her face. “Serena! What’s going on? Mom’s alive? Serena! Why’re you afraid of me?”
“Don’t talk to her you murdering beast!”
“What do you mean murdering…Mom, what’s going on!”
“Don’t call me Mom!”
“But it’s me, Michael!”
Mary raised her right hand, the one encased in silver and pointed her palm at Michael. “You’re not Michael!” A glow around Mary’s hand was all the warning that Michael got. He dodged to the side and barely managed to avoid the blast of light. Behind him though, the patio door shattered outwards.
The attack woke up a part of Michael. He instinctively drew upon his power reserve and threw a shield around himself. He also readied some power in case he had to counterattack. He wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to attack his own mother though. He didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t know why his mother was attacking him. The sight of his mother’s silver hand was just another shock that piled on top of all the others that he had experienced since walking into his house.
Mary threw another power sphere that Michael deflected with his shields. “Mom! Why’re you attacking me? What did I do?”
“Do? What did you do?!” Mary’s face showed her incredulity and her rage slackened a bit to show her sadness. Then, the moment passed and her face was a mask of hatred once more. “You killed him! You killed Michael!”
Mary’s announcement so shocked Michael that he barely managed to deflect the next power sphere. “What? Killed? Mom, I AM Michael! I’ve changed.” Michael looked to Serena once more. “Didn’t you tell her? Didn’t you tell her about my metamorphosis?”
Mary stepped in front of Serena protectively. “Stay away from her you murdering freak! She told me. She told me everything!” Mary changed her tactic and reached out with the Shard’s powers and grabbed Michael and pulled him close. “You are not human, and you’re NOT Michael!”
Michael let himself be pulled close. He looked into his mother’s rage crazed face and realized that something must be wrong with his mother. Maybe it was her silver hand, or maybe it had something to do with her being back from the dead. He didn’t know what. All he knew was that he had to protect Serena from her, but he also didn’t want to hurt his mother either. He looked imploringly into his mother’s eyes and said, “Mom, something is wrong with you. Please, let me help! Maybe whatever happened to your hand drove you crazy or something!”
“You’re the one who’s crazy!” With a shriek, Mary pulsed outward with her hand and threw Michael across the room and through the broken patio door. She pulled more of the Shard’s power into herself and her right hand ached with pain.
Michael stepped back through the broken patio door with both of his hands glowing. He had a resolute expression on his face. “Mom, I don’t know what’s going on and I don’t know why you’re trying to hurt me. I can’t let you go on though. If you attack me again, I will protect myself!”
With an inarticulate cry, Mary unleashed her power at Michael. He deflected the power sphere and threw of his own back at Mary. Mary waved her hand in front of her and the sphere flew away. Then she pointed a finger and blasted a beam of light at Michael. Rather than deflecting it, Michael absorbed the energy into his body. From his finger, he blasted a beam of light back at Mary. Mary held her silver hand up and the beam of light was absorbed into it. They were evenly matched!
Mary glanced away briefly and suddenly, several knives flew out of a kitchen drawer and shot towards Michael. He stopped them with his shield and responded by throwing a chair at Mary. It bounced away from Mary but was then snagged by an invisible hand and then came arching back towards Michael. This time, Michael dodged and tried to get some breathing room. That was when he noticed that Serena was no longer behind Mary. Where had she gone?
---
Serena ran up the stairs, away from the sounds of battle. After what Mary had told her the night before, Serena had been filled with dread. If it weren’t for the proof that Mary had presented, Serena probably would never have believed her. But if Mary was right, who or what had Serena been sharing a house with for the last year and a half?
She raced to her room and grabbed the telephone. She had to stop the fight that was going on downstairs and there was only one person whom she thought could help. The phone rang a couple of times and then a voice answered, “Hello?”
Serena yelled into the phone, “It’s Serena. You need to come over right now! They’re trying to kill each other!”
Serena slammed down the phone without waiting for a reply. She covered her ears with her hands but her eyes were inadvertently drawn to the proof that Mary had laid out earlier. She had seen Michael’s original transformation with her own eyes. However, over the last year, another transformation had happened ever so gradually. In fact, it was so gradual that Serena had missed it entirely. The proof that Mary had presented was two photos. One showed Michael at his prom. The other was a young picture of David Wellington. They looked almost alike. So alike in fact, that they looked as if they were father and son – this was impossible because Michael was adopted. When Michael underwent his metamorphosis last year, he had claimed that his appearance had simply matured. If that were true though, why did he now resemble his adopted father so much?
---
Four figures suddenly materialized in front of the
There was the sound of a muffled explosion from inside the house. May frowned. What the hell was going on? May and Mary had arrived one day earlier than planned so that they could surprise their respective families. Whatever was happening inside Michael’s house now didn’t sound like a surprise. It sounded like a battle! Serena’s voice had sounded panicked on the phone, which had sparked May’s urgent arrival via teleportation. Whatever was going on inside the house now, May had to get in there fast to stop it! She nodded at Yen Tian. Yen Tian stepped up and gestured at the front door. It burst inward and May and her companions raced inside.
What confronted May was a veritable battle zone. Mary and Michael were locked in a deadly combat. They were facing each other, at about ten feet apart, and there was a deadly beam of light between them. There was a large sphere of light that was flowing back and forth along the light beam, as if it were being pushed back and forth between the combatants. One end of the light beam was connected to Mary’s silver hand. The other end was connected to Michael’s right hand. What really shocked May though, was that Michael’s entire right arm was silver! It looked almost as if Michael’s arm was partially transformed into his alternate form. She didn’t know that he could do that!
“Stop!” cried May at the top of her lungs. Neither Mary or Michael paid her any attention though. “Stop it you two! Mary! Michael!” There was still no response. What could she do? She ran through the inventory of her gifts but couldn’t settle on one that would give her the desired result. She glanced around the house. Mary and Michael were currently in the kitchen. She and the San Yen Jing were by the front door, beside the living room. Her eyes settled on the plasma TV in the living room and then she looked at Yen Nian. Thanks to their shared link, May’s intent was immediately clear to Nian. The plasma TV lifted up, flew across the room, and into the beam of light that connected Mary and Michael. As soon as it intersected the energy beam, it blew up and sparks showered both combatants. It had the desired effect though.
As if sensing a new development, Mary and Michael looked up from each other and down the hall. Mary reacted first. “May? What are you doing here?”
Michael was not far behind. “May? What’re you…when did you get back?”
May strode down the hall and placed herself between Mary and Michael. She looked at Mary and said, “Serena called me.” May looked over at Michael and said, “I got in yesterday. Now, what in the hell is going on here?”
“Ask her!” said Michael curtly. “She shows up out of nowhere and started to attack me!”
May leveled a hard gaze at Michael. “She did not just show up from nowhere. For the last six months or so, she’s been in
Mary met May’s gaze for a second and then broke down crying. “That’s not Michael! Michael is dead!”
May felt the presence of another person and then suddenly Serena was there hugging the crying Mary.
“Stop saying I’m dead!” exclaimed Michael. “I’m right here!”
Serena threw two photos on the ground. “Michael, I never noticed the change because it came upon you gradually. If you’re really Michael, why do you resemble David do much?”
May glanced at the photos and felt a chill run down her spine. From her vantage point, she couldn’t tell who was who. She looked back at Michael, whom she had not seen in over a year. The changes were subtle, but now that she was looking for them, she could see the differences. Michael had indeed changed over the last year.
Michael looked down at the photos and his face turned white. “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about…I…Serena, you know I’ve gone through changes. I’m not exactly the same as before…ever since I bonded with the Shiza-haran…”
Mary’s head came up and she cried, “The Shiza-harans were mindless slaves! It’s impossible to bond with one the way you claim you have.”
Michael’s head reeled backward. “Slaves? What do you mean?”
“The Pracetorians turned them into mindless slaves,” said Mary. “Before that though…they…before they became Shiza-harans…they were Elders! You are nothing but a crazy Elder! Somehow you slipped from the mind-control of the Pracetorians, killed my son, and then deluded yourself into thinking that you could take his place!”