Chapter 19. ''V'' is for Valkyrie


    Ithaniel nodded in surprise. "It''s been a while."


    "It has." Eurides said. "Walk with me."


    He stepped over Winston and the world changed


    beneath his feet.


    "You should of stayed out of my way." Eurides said.


    They stood quietly side by side on the crest of a desert dune.


    It was a dark clear night. "This world can still be ours." Ithaniel said.


    "That''s your dream not mine."


    "I was hoping you might of reconsidered."


    A single point of light appeared in the sky above and grew brighter


    than everything that surrounded it. It described an incandescent arc


    that pulsed as it passed overhead, and the desert sand glittered


    as night became day.


    "Just for a few moments," Eurides said. "I shone like the Sun."


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    The dunes rolled like an ocean surface as shock waves travelled


    down from above, then the desert floor shook with the force of


    a distant impact. "Why are you showing me this? Do you think I''ve


    forgotten how we fell."


    "What I haven''t forgotten," Eurides said, "is your part in it."


    "I wanted it to happen, that''s true enough," Ithaniel held up his hands


    and smiled, "but you can''t blame me for the time displacement that


    occurred. That was pure phenomena."


    "What it was, was a harsh lesson in perspective," Eurides said,


    similar to the one you''re about to experience."


    The smile left Ithaniel''s face. There was a thin silver chain wrapped


    around his wrist. "What''s this?"


    "It''s a cluster of magnetic fields that I curved in on themselves and


    held open."


    Ithaniel saw the pendant and the ''V'' that was inscribed on it.


    "When you took the gun from Winston''s hand, you closed them


    over yourself - you''re part of them now, the fields are complete "


    "Don''t do this Eurides."


    "''V'' is for the Valkyrie Ithaniel. You remember the ship don''t you?"


    Ithaniel began to burn like the inside of a furnace.


    "In Norse mythology, the Valkyrie choose who are to be the slain


    on the battlefield. It''s quite poetic don''t you think."


    Ithaniel burned brighter still, becoming a blinding mass of plasma


    energy. "The next time we meet Eurides, I''m going to destroy you."


    Eurides smiled. "If there is a next time."


    *


    Eurides stood beside Winston. "Time to move on my friend."


    Winston came to, lying on his side coughing and spitting dirt.


    The chain and the pendant fell un-noticed from his hand.


    His body ached from the over pressure of the explosion.


    After checking Robbie and Arthur''s bodies for signs of life,


    Winston crawled over to where Toby lay. Toby was gone too.


    "Fuck me." Winston sat back and shook his head.


    He was thinking through his options, when he heard a call for


    help. Winston looked across the battlefield and listened.


    When he heard it again, he checked his medical kit and set


    off in the direction he thought it had come from.


    In a boot print he left behind Eurides saw a glint of silver.


    " And that''s where you are going to stay Ithaniel - lost and forgotten."


    *