THE JOINING: The Cycle of the Shards Book One
Chapter 39

Shanna couldn’t let herself believe it was over. As long as this had taken, as much as they had been through, how could this ever end? What about Critock? What about Kyle! With a gasp, and before anyone could even make a move to stop her, she whirled around and out the rear doors without a thought to her safety at all.

Phelps watched her go from his position on the stairs, and knew she shouldn’t be out there alone. With a quick check on John and Jim, again nodding for them to follow, he gingerly made his way down the steps and to the door. John was right behind him, while Jim had sped up when he saw his sister Claire, still huddled on the floor. He went to her, helped her to stand, and embraced her, silently promising to be there for her for whatever aftermath would follow these horrors.

As John began to cross the threshold to the outside, he heard a small voice, and felt a slight bump against his leg. He looked down, and saw the miniature comet that had been fighting on their side. Tomkari pitched up to look at the boy, no longer having the strength to maintain his camouflage from the humans, and then simply asked, “Can I get some help?”

On Marconia, at least in the one spot where it could truly be said everyone knew what was going on, all was celebration. Cheers had gone up when they had seen the first missile destroyed outside of Earth’s atmosphere, and even larger ones when the second missile had impacted, and every system they had to track the Shard’s radioactive emissions had gone dark. There could be no doubt that Critock and Tomkari had completed their mission, and both Earth and the Marconian Empire itself were saved.

While he was elated from their mission being a success, Qua’roti Alpha didn’t show it on his face. Instead he simply stared at one specific signal that had gone dark instantly along with the detonation of the second missile. The pig-faced General that had reluctantly teamed up with Alpha came up alongside him, clapping him on the back a slight bit too roughly.

“Congratulations, I suppose? The war is off.”

“So it is.” Alpha did nothing else to encourage the General, who frowned.

“Somehow I thought you’d be happier, the Qua’roti stock is bound to go back up once this makes its way through the back channels. May have saved your clique for another few cycles...”

“There’s no signal from Critock, General.”

“Oh?” He peered closer at the systems, and confirmed for himself that the small light remained off. “Then he did his duty. Thousands of cycles late, but still...”

Alpha shook his head. “There are other possibilities. The signal could have been cut off, the band damaged...”

“Or the most obvious one. Prince Critock went to Earth to finish the job he started a thousand cycles ago. He completed his mission against all odds, saving that worthless little rock at the same time. But no one survives against The Shards, Qua’roti Alpha, you of all people should know that.”

Alpha slammed a hand against the console. “You know nothing of the Shards.”

“And I don’t care to. Mystical religious insanity is your department. Not mine. I’ll leave you now to your ‘celebration’.” The General started to walk away, but was interrupted by another question from Alpha.

“Will the deal be honored?”

The general made a snorting noise. “Does it really matter now?”

“General.”

“Fine. Yes, yes, full pardon and reinstatement of honors and rank. As agreed.” He continued to walk, one last word on his lips as he exited the hanger. “Posthumously.”

Qua’roti Alpha didn’t challenge the assertation, and instead went back to staring at the console, fighting himself from beginning the mourning process for his lost Tomkari, who had worked so hard to rise up from his previous life and hardships, and Critock himself, who had given his all for an Empire that no longer wished to acknowledge his existence even after untold sacrifice. He sighed, a single tear falling from a green eye, as he waited for a signal that would never come.

There were calls to her from behind by Jim and Phelps, but Shanna Ewing was undeterred. She had to know what had happened! There was no time at all to wait for safety or patience. She needed this and she needed it now!

She gasped as she reached a cloud of smoke that seemed to stretch from the black grass on the ground to the very clouds above, blotting out the sun and blocking her way. The lack of wind blowing after the waves had prevented it from disbursing and so it hung in the air quietly. She attempted to breach it, but while it was static and undoubtedly would fade, all that she was left with was the inability to breathe without coughing, forcing her to retreat.

As she regained her breath, her hands on her knees as she slightly bent over, she looked up, trying to see through the smoke and the haze. She could see where there should be a large dark shape of the hill, instead it was about three-quarters smaller. Other than some unidentifiable debris, there was nothing there. Nothing alive that she could see...

...Except...

There was something there. Something just within the haze. It seemed small, but it grew larger as it was heading closer to her. Phelps came up behind her as they realized that was going to come through the smoke, and it was now the shape and size of a human.

The boy’s body came through the smoke, and Shanna gasped. He was bloodied, bruised, and was stumbling. But he was alive. Somehow, against all the odds that they had been placed against, they had all survived! But something was different. The movement was unfamiliar. The face was blank.

As he cleared the smoke, Shanna ran to him. Reaching him quickly, he collapsed to his knees, his arms holding him up. Shanna kneeled and embraced him. “You’re alive!” She was crying again, but happily. She moved back, and looked into his eyes.

There was no black inside his iris, not even a speck. Kyle looked back at her, and simply started repeating a single sentence.

“I can’t hear him...I can’t hear him.” The voice was distant and shell shocked. Tears began to pour from his eyes. “Oh God...I can’t replace him...I can’t hear him anymore...” He began to simply weep, and Shanna clutched him to her.

John walked silently up to the scene along with Jim, who was helping Claire walk, not sure what was going on but knowing it was important that all of them were together right now. He was holding Tomkari in his outstretched hands, the wisp still recovering from the battle. John glanced at Phelps who gave him a look that plainly said to remain silent.

Tomkari understood the look as well, but commented quietly anyway. “The band is broken.” He slightly nodded towards Kyle’s right wrist, wrapped behind Shanna’s back, and a small silver strand that hung loosely. Tomkari knew nobody else knew what that meant, but he did, and he said it for them in a numb voice. “We can’t go home.”

The tears and weeping continued from Kyle, who had lost something unimaginable, and did not know if there was anything gained from this. As far as he knew, Critock, the invader from space that had crashed into his life and showed that there was a entire universe out there, had sacrificed himself for them all, and in the process spared the boy who had fought him most of the way. He closed his eyes, and cried silently into Shanna’s shoulder.

Shanna held him tightly to her, not willing to ever let go if that was what Kyle needed. But tears fell from her eyes in mourning for the soldier. For ‘Cri-Tock’. He had been better than even he thought he could be. In the end he wasn’t the one that had caused destruction, had not betrayed his empire. He was a hero, reluctant though he may have been. Shanna Ewing turned her head up to the sky, which while still spotted with smoke and falling ash and rock was a bright blue, and imagined beyond Earth. Beyond the atmosphere, beyond the moon, the planets, the galaxies, was there anyone looking for him? Would anyone come for Critock? Who were they? What did they do to him?

The clouds continued to move through the sky, and the planet Earth spun on. The solar systems moved in harmony with the galaxies they were contained within, and after thousands and thousands of cycles and years, the War of the Shards was finally over.

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