Book 2: The Trialborn Legacy

The timer began again, and everyone except Zavier was a flurry of motion. Luna began banging on the glass door, Cass shuffled back and forth between Luna and Zavier. Tess yelled "Wait! I thought we had an understanding! This is harmful and will cause irreparable damage to our family!"

"I understand," the voice said. "But further testing is required. A loss of one member will only reduce the family by 25% and will provide valuable information on the human decision-making process. 60 seconds!"

Tess turned to Luna. "You have to say your dad! Do it!"

Luna shook her head in obstinance. "No, mom, I can't. I'm supposed to protect dad. You guys need him more than me, I can't protect you like he can."

"This isn't a choice, Luna! Say it!"

Luna stepped back from the glass, arms crossed over her chest.

Tess whipped around and grasped Cass by the shoulders. "You need to do it, Cass. You're the only one that can save us."

His eyes were glassy and unfocused. "I can't, mom. It's too much. Too big. Maybe if I go home… if I do that you will have the majority!"

Tess gripped him tighter, ignoring his wince. "Don't you DARE teleport back home. We need you now and we're going to need you to survive what's coming up next. It's either your dad, or you and me - and if we die then Luna and your father will die too. Do you really think they will survive without us? We're the two strongest here!"

Cass wavered, his entire body shaking. Sweat broke out across his face and she could see his jaw muscles clenching and unclenching spasmodically.

"15 seconds!"

Tess cupped his face in her hands and shifted to look him in the eyes. He was so young and had already experienced so much - too much. It was too much for anyone his age to deal with, much less someone governed by fear the way he was. She steeled her resolve.

"This isn't the time for indecision, Cass. You need to make a decision and you need to make it now. Without your father you will be the man of this household, and we need you to stand up and act like it." She gripped his chin hard enough to make him wince. "Cassian Torres - you say his name right now or deal with the fact that you've killed us all!"

It was unfair and untrue, but she didn't have time for sympathy. She needed action.

"5 seconds!"

Tess stepped back and pulled out her pistols again. She lifted her arms in either direction, knowing that she didn't have enough ammunition to take them all out but damned sure ready to make them pay a heavy toll for taking her down.

The buzzing around them increased and the timer sped up like a metronome on fast forward.

The last second ticked by and the buzzing grew to a crescendo. Tess prepared for her final moments, looking at her family one last time.

Cass let out a scream that was equal parts shame and rage. "Dad! I choose dad!" before collapsing to his knees with a sob.

There was a pregnant pause and silence louder than a jet engine filled the space. Tess's eyes were wide as she watched Zavier. Energy began crackling in the air behind him and her heart lurched as she watched it build to a blinding crescendo. In the penultimate moment, before her sight was lost to blinding light, she saw him open his eyes and look at her with a smile on his face. He winked.

No, she realized, not a smile. A smirk. What did you do, you beautiful, crazy bastard?

Zavier could feel the energy building all around him and knew his time was short. It's now or never - let's hope I paid enough attention! He'd realized that the patterns Ed had taught him to draw didn't need to be actually, physically drawn out in the space in front of them. That was Ed's method, but Ed was an artist who needed to see what he was making. Zavier just needed to understand, and his connection with his pen was completely mental. He didn't have a lot of reference material to work off of, but his perfect memory replayed their entire experience in the power plant up until now. Scenes replayed themselves over and over in his head with increasing speed until he felt the beginnings of a headache. He backed off, but continued processing what they'd experienced - quicker than any time in his life before. He'd laid most of the groundwork, but needed that final piece of information before he could enact a plan that he hoped would help him survive this. He reviewed the patterns he'd carefully inscribed in the pen's programming one last time just as the energy began to build behind him. The instant he felt it touch him he had what he needed.

Gotcha.

The room filled with blinding light and a crackling sound so pure it threatened to rupture his eardrums. Light and power exploded around him and he felt endless waves, arcs, and points of that power slam into his System Block spell with overwhelming force. He continued to pour his will into it, rewriting sections that failed under the onslaught. As fast as he was, it wasn't fast enough. Painful pinpricks began to pierce his shield, causing small explosions on his skin wherever they hit. Small breaches became large ones and full arcs of electricity dove through the gaps to burrow into his skin and heat his bones. His mental hold was fading as the pain increased and he fought for every millisecond of consciousness, knowing that he wouldn't survive passing out. A tear in his shield at his back ruptured and waves of energy poured into him. His mouth was open in a silent scream and his body was a rictus of pain and frozen muscles.

He could have dedicated his last thought to keeping what was left of his shield alive - it's what his survival instinct was screaming at him to do. Instead, his last conscious thought was to picture his family, and their smiles as he served them breakfast. His shield shattered around him just as the last of the energy coursed into him, and Zavier knew nothing but blackness.

The doors whooshed open and acrid smoke billowed into the hallway from Zavier's room. Luna rushed out of her room and into his, waving the smoke away, searching for her dad. Tess shouldered her to the side and dropped to her knees in front of Zavier's body.

His skin was a smoking, blackened ruin with angry red cracks splitting it in chaotic patterns. She touched his face and cried out in surprise when a piece of hot flesh clung to her palm, pulling away with a wet squelch.

"Block the door open!" She yelled. Luna looked around in panic before grabbing Claw from the strap on Tess's back and wedging it between the door and wall.

Tess had an injector out and stabbed it into Zavier's chest, hoping she hit his heart. His health was at 1% but he was still alive, despite looking like he'd tumbled out of a bonfire. She waited in breathless anticipation for the serum to work, praying to whatever gods there were that she'd gotten to him in time.

"This is an unexpected result," the voice said.

Tess ignored it while she tried to pull charred fabric out of his skin. She didn't know what would happen if it healed while the fabric was still embedded.

"Are any of you able to speculate on what allowed him to survive this? I wasn't able to sense any actions or modifications to his body that would allow this. This is an interesting puzzle that I'd like you to help me solve."

When there was no response the voice became petulant again. "If you don't answer me I will send the drones into the room to complete this exercise."

"What do you want from us?" Tess yelled at the ceiling. "He survived, that's all we know! We don't know how!"

"I think you may know, your biologics indicate you may be lying."

"I'm stressed, scared, and pumped up with adrenaline! My 'biologics' aren't going to tell you anything useful right now!"

There was a moment of silence while the voice considered her words. "I think… I think if you don't give me your best guess I will kill the child in the hallway."