Disciple of the Dead by Jacob Holo

Author:Jacob Holo
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781517781392
Publisher: Baen Books
Published: 2023-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13: Disciples of Vayl

Othaniel floated above the circumference of the Aperture Halo’s immense brass ring. She spread her seraph’s regenerated hand in front of her, then clenched it in a tight fist. The new muscles felt stiff but functional.

The Aperture Halo hummed with power across its whole moon-sized ring. Ziggurat eyes covered the surface, all open, all facing her brother.

Zophiel held the portal lance before him like a humble offering and descended towards the base of a grand spike: one of seven that stretched almost to the ring’s center. The spike’s thick foundation dwarfed his seraph: a black dot against the curving wall of brass. Ziggurat eyes blinked excitedly, awaiting his approach. A circular panel depressed, divided into over a dozen segments, then slid aside.

Zophiel placed the lance into the waiting carriage. Rings contracted around it, locking it in position.

Black energy danced across the spike’s five-hundred-kilometer length, forming great arcs that resembled solar prominences. Zophiel spread his wings and flew away from the spike’s base. The panels closed shut and the energetic discharges died down.

The Aperture Halo was inert once more.

“Finally,” Riviel breathed, her voice ripe with anticipation and reverence.

Othaniel gazed up at the warships forming a protective barrier around the Aperture Halo. Over six hundred vessels of various sizes and classes filled space around them, their reflective armor gleaming in the light of the giant star far beyond. Despite the distance, they were close enough that the blue giant filled much of the horizon with its fiery girth. Fierce solar wind roared upward, so thick that it diffused the star’s glow like smoke or mist.

Zophiel landed on the ring next to his sisters. All of their seraphs had regenerated from the battle, though the same could not be said for their Ziggurat weapons. Othaniel’s right arm had healed, but her armlet was gone, lost in Cathedral somewhere. Riviel’s shield continued to reform itself. Three of its eyes had reopened, but the shield still looked like a half-melted sheet.

Zophiel stepped across the brass surface, a lone sword docked against his back.

“The Aperture Halo is ready,” he said.

“What must we do, Brother?” Othaniel asked.

“It requires a surge of chaos energy to start the processes, much like an ignition laser. Once the process is started, it will become self-perpetuating. The lances will draw the necessary chaotic forces from the aperture itself, guided by the Ziggurat machines inside the ring. Follow me, Sisters.”

Zophiel spread his wings and took off. He led them a third of the way around the ring’s circumference, coming at last to a smooth brass mountain that jutted out of the ring’s upper surface. Ziggurat eyes, each several kilometers wide, formed a circle around its base.

Zophiel dropped onto the mountain’s flattened peak. Othaniel and Riviel landed behind him.

“Please do as I do,” he said. “But I must warn you this will not be pleasant.”

Three pillars deployed from the floor, each stopping level with a seraph’s chest. Zophiel approached the central pillar and placed his hands into two shallow grooves. The pillar unfolded like a complex mechanical puzzle.

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