Wanderer Ch 33: Free At Last, The Price Of Victory!

(Thalassa) 

My body drifted in the abyss, surrounded by the shattered remnants of the black ships that had once held me captive. My breath came in ragged gasps, my limbs heavy, the last vestiges of weakness still clinging to me like a fading nightmare. The cold of space bit at my skin, freezing the remnants of sweat into jagged, mountain-sized icicles. The tiny vessels that dared to linger too close met their end against my form, breaking apart upon impact, nothing more than dust in the void.

For a long moment, I simply floated, disoriented, my senses sluggish. Then, clarity slammed into me.

I was free.

The realization sent a shudder through me, and with it, I felt the first rush of energy returning. It was slow at first, a whisper of what I had lost, but then it came surging back in a tidal wave. The cosmos itself reconnected with me, my essence entwining with the boundless power of the universe. It was overwhelming. It was intoxicating. And it reminded me of what I truly was.

No mere chains, no fragile machines, no insignificant mortal could ever hope to hold me.

But then I remembered—Eclipsa.

I turned sharply, my pulse hammering in my chest as I spotted her still ensnared by the black tendrils of the ships, her silver hair drifting weightlessly around her. A growl rumbled deep in my throat. The sight of her—my sister, my equal—trapped and powerless, ignited a fury unlike anything I had ever felt.

I launched myself forward, seizing the imprisoning wires in my hands. They were nothing to me. I tore through them as if they were mere threads, my grip rending the ships apart. Those that lingered too close met their end between my teeth, crushed into oblivion as I swallowed them whole.

Eclipsa sagged in my arms, her body weak but whole. I held her gently, my breath still labored. "Are you okay?"

Her violet eyes fluttered open, a smirk pulling at the corner of her lips. "I've had better days," she murmured, her voice laced with its usual lazy arrogance. "What happened?"

I clenched my jaw, my fury simmering just beneath my skin. "A mortal," I growled. "An arrogant fool who thought he could use our power for himself."

Eclipsa's smirk widened into something far more menacing. "Oh, did he now?" she purred, her voice dangerously sweet. She licked her lips, a slow, deliberate gesture that sent a shiver even through me.

My sister was many things—capricious, cruel, and infinitely cunning—but most of all, she was ruthless. Whoever had done this to us had made a fatal mistake.

Eclipsa turned her gaze toward the remaining ships, her fingers flexing with anticipation. "And where is our little madman?"

I scanned the fleet, my eyes narrowing as I pinpointed the ship that mattered. "The little mite is in one of these vessels," I said, my tone dark with promise. Then, my gaze flicked toward another ship—a battered, struggling thing among the others. "Along with the little man I worked so hard to capture."

Eclipsa raised a brow, her amusement evident. "Your tiny pet? Do you think he's still breathing?"

I clenched my fists, my towering form casting an overwhelming shadow over the helpless fleet before me. The void trembled around me as my cosmic energy crackled to life, igniting the darkness with a deep, ominous glow.

"He better be," I said, my voice dripping with lethal intent.

***

(Jack)

The corridors of the ship stretched out before me, dark and endless, like the inside of some monstrous beast. Every step I took echoed against the cold metal walls as I sprinted toward the hangar bay, my breath coming in short, sharp gasps.

Then, without warning, the whole damn ship shook violently.

I stumbled, barely managing to keep my balance before I was thrown straight to the floor. My palms hit the ground hard, and for a moment, all I could do was blink as the tremors rattled through my bones. Somewhere in the distance, I heard the groaning of metal and the faint sound of alarms blaring through the corridors. Whatever was happening outside, it wasn't good.

I forced myself back to my feet and kept running.

When I reached a wide observation window, I risked a glance outside. I wish I hadn't.

A hand—no, not just any hand, her hand—slammed into a squadron of ships. And when I say slammed, I mean it was like watching a planet-sized bear trap snap shut. Her massive fingers curled around the vessels, and just like that, they were crushed to nothing more than space debris. Ships that had once been menacing and indestructible now crumpled like tin cans in her grip.

"Yeah, they're definitely free."

That was my cue to get moving. If those titanic women were loose, it was only a matter of time before they turned their attention to this ship, and I did not want to be around when that happened. I sprinted through the halls, dodging fallen pipes and flickering electrical wires until I finally reached the hangar bay.

There she was—my ship, still intact, still wrapped in those damn black wires like some kind of mechanical spiderweb. And there, beside it, my weapon.

Black-armored soldiers turned at my arrival, their glowing red visors locking onto me. They lifted their weapons, but I was already moving, diving behind a stack of metal crates as a flurry of red-hot energy bolts flew past my head.

"Come on, guys, you already lost the war," I muttered as I popped up and fired back.

My gun sent out a pulse of blue energy, slamming into the nearest soldier and sending him flying backward like a ragdoll. Another lunged at me, but I rolled to the side, grabbed a fallen blaster from the ground, and fired off a quick shot into his chest. He collapsed with a heavy metallic thud.

I didn't waste time. Sprinting to the control console, I started working to release my ship. The interface was complicated as hell, a mess of alien symbols and cryptic commands, but I mashed enough buttons until something happened. The wires around my ship loosened, retracting like living tendrils slithering away from prey.

"Okay, that's step one." I glanced toward the massive hangar doors. "Now let's open up the gates."

It took another ten minutes of cursing, improvising, and randomly pressing things before I finally managed to override the hangar lockdown. The doors groaned as they began to slide open, revealing the vast, star-speckled abyss of space beyond.

Then, just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the sound of metal grinding against metal made my stomach drop.

The doors at the far end of the hangar hissed open, and in walked the last person I wanted to see.

Dr. Thanoros.

He moved with that same eerie confidence, his black mask gleaming under the dim lights, those red glowing eyes staring straight through me. Behind him, a battalion of black soldiers marched in, their weapons already aimed at me.

I tensed, fingers twitching toward my weapon.

Thanoros took a slow step forward, his voice a cold, mechanical growl. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

I swallowed. "Uh... freed a couple of very, very pissed-off goddesses?"

He ignored my sarcasm. "Years of planning, decades of research, all undone by your foolish interference."

I glanced at the soldiers surrounding him. "Yeah, well, to be fair, your plan kinda sucked. Maybe next time, don't kidnap cosmic titans and try to drain them like batteries?"

Thanoros's fingers twitched at his side. "You think this is a victory?" he hissed. "You think unleashing those monsters was a good thing?" He shook his head, almost disappointed. "Let's see how well that decision works out for you."

He lifted his arm, and in perfect unison, the soldiers raised their weapons, locking onto me.

"Oh no."