Destiny's Kingdom: Legend of the Chosen by Daniel Huber, Jennifer Selzer Read Free Book Online Page B

yet pulsing with magnetic energy and vicious doom, it came to linger in front of him where Quade stood paralyzed, not knowing where to go to get away. The thing, this thing, this inky creature, had entered his ship, was hovering before him. And then, it lunged.
    A horrible scream echoed through Quade's head and it took him a few seconds to realize that it was actually himself that made such a hideous noise. He heard it in his own ears, felt it resonate in his throat as the terror and mind-numbing dread overcame him. He fought against his sickness, struggled to stay standing, grabbing hold of his console, but shock and dizziness held him paralyzed. Quade hadn’t even time to shut his eyes when he'd seen it rush toward him in the same way it rushed his ship, seeped through the hull like the thick metal wasn't even there. But somehow, this creature could not touch him. This creature that had the ability to move through metal and open space swirled angrily around him, smashed repeatedly against some invisible barrier between itself and his self. Quade looked down at his body, moved within the blackness that threatened to encompass him, but for some unknown reason, could not. He waved his arms, cutting through the ebony mist as he moved, but it seeped back together as soon as he stopped. He was untouched and unharmed but soon the sick dizziness overwhelmed him and when he crossed the cockpit, the apparition did not follow. He watched as it lingered, churning in its place, seeming to grow smaller as it hovered.
    Hysterical panic gripped him as quickly as the nausea had disabled him. Quade looked around for a weapon, but had none that would be of any use against a black vapor. It gathered itself into the corner of the ceiling, teeming with rage, it seemed. Quade was regaining enough of his senses to try and call for help and he stumbled toward the console to send a distress signal. Before he got there, the creature charged again.
    He tried to shout but choked on the sound, and again the invisible force encompassed Quade. It was as if a transparent bubble protected him somehow, and though the apparition still lingered around him, shrouding him in its dark energy, it's sickening magnetic pull, it could not break though to get at him. It was like watching spattering, splashing black ink against a window as it tried to reach him, to penetrate through, but something was keeping it out. Just as he was about to call up the emergency channel to transmit his distress call, he heard a shrill, squealing frenzied shriek that was gone almost before it sounded, and the creature ripped itself away from Quade and shot back to the ceiling. It pulsed and churned for a second then began to absorb into the bulkhead, rising through the metal, out of his ship and into open space.  
    It disappeared from Quade's sight for a minute, and he pressed his face against his forward viewers to try to see where it went, as it still did not read on his sensors. And then at the corner of the wide, arcing window, he could see it again, obscured against the deepness of space. Quade's hands grasped blindly over the control panel, rolling the directional trackball beneath his palm, guiding his ship to port so that he could better see where the ominous cloud was heading. He watched, numb and in shocked disbelief as the apparition began to dissipate as it moved toward the Bet/Kos nexus. Slowly, languidly, it crossed the short distance, noticeably losing the swiftness it had displayed just a moment ago. It came upon the arc of the nexus then seeped into invisibility as it disappeared into the very place that Quade had intended to jump his ship just moments ago.  
    Quade's nausea diminished a bit, and he realized that he was panting for breath. He held his head, trying to bring his senses around, listened to the labored sound of his own breathing filling the cockpit of his ship. The channel was still open for him to send a distress signal, but what would he say? With a