Pride x Familiar Read online

  Pride x Familiar

  By Albert Ruckholdt

  Copyright 2014 Albert Ruckholdt

  Smashwords Edition

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Acknowledgments

  This is dedicated to my family and friends who supported me on this venture when it first began a few years ago when writing a novel became an undeniable dream.

  A special thanks to:

  Audrey, who read my early works no matter how dismal they were, and lied to me out of the goodness of her heart.

  Emma, who with her teenage outlook on life gave me the confidence to continue on the path I’d chosen.

  Shani, who edited and critiqued my work with a sharp tongue, keen eye, and a woman’s touch.

  My sister and her fiancé, whose quiet support I greatly appreciate.

  And my mother, a precious, patient sounding board to the litany of complaints and self-doubt I expressed while writing this novel and its previous incarnations.

  Table of Contents

  Illustrations (maps, etc.)

  Reflections – 0

  Prologue

  Reflections – 1

  Chapter 1 – Reunion

  Reflections – 2

  Chapter 2 – Countess

  Reflections – 3

  Chapter 3 – Briefing

  Reflections – 4

  Chapter 4 – Decision

  Reflections – 5

  Chapter 5 – Playful

  Reflections – 6

  Chapter 6 – Princess

  Reflections – 7

  Chapter 7 – Spirited Away

  Reflections – 8

  Chapter 8 – Waterworks

  Reflections – 9

  Chapter 9 – Minor Players

  Reflections – 10

  Chapter 10 – Aftermath

  Chapter 11 – Bloodline

  Chapter 12 – Doubt

  Chapter 13 – Divisions

  Chapter 14 – Crime and Punishment

  Reflections – 11

  Chapter 15 – Team Galatea

  Reflections – 12

  Chapter 16 – Revelation

  Reflections – 13

  Chapter 17 – The Fifth

  Reflections – 14

  Chapter 18 – Clear Intentions

  Chapter 19 – Incapacitated

  Chapter 20 – Underground

  Chapter 21 – Valkyrie Maiden

  Chapter 22 – Brahmastra

  Chapter 23 – The Vault

  Chapter 24 – Family

  Chapter 25 – Ravana

  Chapter 26 – Lisanna

  Chapter 27 – Avienda

  Reflections – 15

  Chapter 28 – Truths and Lies

  Chapter 29 – Kallum

  Epilogue

  About the author:

  Illustrations (maps, etc.)

  Reflections – 0.

  To this day, nobody knows what triggered the Cataclysm.

  That’s what it came to be known, a word synonymous with both the massive trans-space shockwave, and the wholesale destruction that it caused.

  That shockwave hit the mass shadows of planets, stars, and a host of other celestial bodies.

  Anything with a substantial mass shadow that dimpled into the realm of trans-space was smashed to pieces.

  If you were on a planet, there was nowhere to run.

  The shockwave would shatter the world like a ball made of soft earth.

  Even large starships weren’t spared.

  Many of the super-liners and super-sized military fortresses perished when the trans-light shockwave struck their presence within trans-space.

  Racing out from an epicenter near the center of humanity’s galactic civilization, the shockwave wiped out billions in the span of a day. Millions more died in the days that followed, as the intersystem civilization was brought to an end.

  The Cataclysm brought a finale to humanity’s First Golden Age.

  It set the stage for the survivors to lay the foundations for the Second Golden Age.

  And the remains of those scores of shattered worlds, moons and stars became the material that fueled the expansion of the Hurakan Nebula.

  Nobody noticed when the Aventis appeared.

  By the time they did, it was already too late.

  They were everywhere and anywhere.

  From the very beginning they had infiltrated the newly founded United Systems Alliance and the neighboring Coalition of System States.

  The problem was that the Aventis looked just like us.

  That’s because they were us.

  They were human, but they were also something more.

  They were hosts to the Symbiote.

  It was the Symbiote that made the Aventis strong, fast, and hard to kill.

  Despite their lack of numbers, they quickly overwhelmed humanity, or should I say, the Regulars.

  So, after a few years of struggling against the Aventis – who fell into eight distinct clans known as Prides – humanity gave up and raised the white flag.

  At least, that’s what history tells us. That’s what we’re taught in school. That’s what dramatic holovid re-enactments portray.

  The truth is a little different.

  The War of Supremacy wasn’t over in a flash. It lasted seven years and took place over hundreds of thousands of cubic light-years.

  It was fought inch by inch, light-year by light-year, and the tide of battle only turned in favor of the Aventis late in the war.

  The Alliance and Coalition united to form the Human Territories which subsequently became the Human Empire ruled by an empress with a heart of ice.

  The Aventis fought under a single banner, preferring not to make claims of territory as the war dragged on.

  That was two centuries ago.

  It’s a history that’s a little different from what people know today.

  I guess it can’t be helped. As the saying goes, history is decided by the victors – the Aventis.

  Why they chose to rewrite history, is a mystery to me. Even knowing what I know today, I can’t fathom their reasons. But in saying that, I still have a long road of discovery ahead of me.

  So it was that more than two centuries after the Cataclysm, people had all but forgotten the point of going to war against these ‘superior’ humans. And the truth was, the Prides only went to war to ensure their own survival, but afterwards they managed – dare I say ‘ruled’ – humanity pretty well.

  No wars. No conflicts. On the whole, a fairly stable economic and political environment.

  Of course, the Aventis remained at the top of the food chain, and Regulars remained one step below. They had preferential treatment in business, education, sports, and pretty much everything else.

  But it wasn’t all bad for the rest of humanity.

  Just not as good as it was for those that belonged to the Prides.

  However, the door to joining a Pride wasn’t closed.

  During their teenage years, a Regular human was tested for compatibility with one of the eight strains of Symbiote that uniquely characterized the eight Prides.

  Haruka was tested when she turned sixteen, and her body had a high compatibility with the Avenir Pride.

  I was tested too and my results showed negative – I’m talking less than zero – c
ompatibility with all of the eight strains of the Symbiote.

  It’s like the damn things hated me as much as I hated them.

  I had my reasons for hating them; reasons for resenting them.

  In truth, I was happy to be left out.

  I just never figured I would fall into a third camp.

  You see, one day I found out I wasn’t as Regular as I thought I was.

  I was actually more like an aberration.

  An anomaly of great value to the Prides.

  But I wasn’t the only anomaly around.

  There were hundreds like me in the colony alone.

  Nonetheless, that did not make me feel any better about the situation I landed in.

  Prologue.

  (Caprice)

  I was surprised by how quickly she brought us to a stop.

  She hit the van I was travelling in with her Fragment, partially crushing the driver’s cabin, forcing the vehicle off the street and onto the sidewalk.

  It was a stroke of good fortune the sidewalk was empty of pedestrians at the time.

  My Fragment reacted automatically, and the Valkyrie Armor manifested in heartbeats, protecting me as I sat in the passenger cabin.

  The crippled van crashed into the corner of a building and came to a stop.

  As it did, I kicked out the cabin door with my armored legs, sending it flying into the wide alley between the building and its neighbor.

  I leapt out expecting to be challenged and I wasn’t disappointed.

  The wrecked van rocked as our assailant leapt onto the rooftop.

  Even though she was wearing a helmet, I could tell I was facing a girl.

  Then she leapt toward me.

  And she was fast.

  I realized in a heartbeat the lev-bike riding suit she wore was a skinsuit in disguise. It amplified her speed and strength beyond human limits.

  In contrast, I only had the Valkyrie Armor and my school uniform.

  Perhaps she expected to subdue me quickly, and I will admit that with her speed she certainly came close, but after a dozen or more seconds exchanging blows between her jousting lance and my bladed gauntlets, she ran away, and I was left standing in the alley wondering what the Hell had just happened.

  I caught a glimpse of her fleeing on the lev-bike she’d used to chase down the van.

  Again I wondered, what the Hell had just happened.

  I spared the driver and guard in the van a look. They were injured but not mortally. They were Aventis after all, and I could hear an emergency siren in the distance drawing closer by the moment.

  I looked down the alley and the buildings.

  Yes, I could do it. The walls offered enough purchase for the Valkyrie Armor’s legs to kick off.

  However if I faced the girl again I would be at a disadvantage.

  I needed to even the odds a little.

  Using the blades of my left gauntlet I cut the passenger door free of the van, then dragged out the man slumped over the dashboard.

  He was an Aventis of the Lanfear Pride, and I needed his blood.

  Ignoring the pain as my maxillary canines extended, I bit the soft flesh where the neck met the shoulder, and tasted his blood as it flowed into my mouth.

  A mouthful, then a second. It was all I had time for.

  The longer I remained by the van, the further away she travelled.

  I lay the driver down against the van, then wiped my mouth clean as my canines painfully retracted.

  Then I walked quickly into the alley.

  I jumped up and then bounded off the nearest wall.

  Ricocheting like a bullet between the two buildings, I climbed upwards, finally executing a backward flip as I cleared the shorter of the two.

  Landing on the rooftop, I gained my bearings and looked in the direction of the school.

  Damn, we were so close to it.

  Why had the girl waited so long? Why not strike when we entered the habitat?

  I had no doubt she was heading for the school.

  No more time to waste.

  And then the pain hit me.

  The Symbiote elements rich in the Lanfear blood grew at an accelerated rate.

  I collapsed onto my hands and knees in agony. I decided not fight against the pain and released a howl as the Symbiote replicated and spread throughout my body.

  It might have been minutes before I was able to stand again though my whole body trembled and swayed. A feverish sweat soaked the inside of my uniform.

  But I couldn’t afford to wait for the effects to completely subside.

  I needed to move, and I needed to move now.

  Gritting my teeth against the agonizing storm inside my body, I took off at a run, and leapt high over the alleyway and onto the building ahead of me.

  While the artificial gravity within the buildings and at street level was the standard gee, the gravity high between the buildings was a tad lower.

  This made it easier to jump between buildings.

  I ran across a rooftop, and leapt over to the next building.

  All the while the Symbiote continued to grow and spread throughout my body.

  Soon, very soon, I would start to feel my body power up.

  Another rooftop. Another jump.

  I felt well enough to make the call. I rang Arisa as I ran across a rooftop.

  It wasn’t easy to run while holding the palm-slate to my ear.

  It wasn’t any easier to jump from one rooftop to the next.

  But this was one call I needed to make.

  I heard the call connect as my feet touched ground, and a heartbeat later I heard her voice.

  “Caprice, you have news for me—”

  “Arisa, you asked me to meet him as your representative. Correct?”

  “…eh, yes….”

  “You want me to bond him to the Lanfear Pride. Correct?”

  “Yes. What’s going on Caprice? You sound like you’re running.”

  “In that case…we have a problem.”

  “What problem?”

  “The van you sent for me was hit by a Familiar of unknown affiliation.”

  There was a long moment of silence. “Are you sure?”

  I didn’t nod as I ran. “Yes. She was using a Fragment—it resembled a jousting lance. She was also wearing a skinsuit. I didn’t get to see her face because she was wearing a helmet.”

  “Then how do you know it was a girl?”

  “Arisa, I know a girl when I see one. She had hips and curves, though her breasts were probably no bigger than mine. And she moved like a girl.”

  “Very well. Go on.”

  “The van’s a wreck and your men were injured. I survived because my Valkyrie Armor manifested an effect-field around me. I had to leave your men behind. I’m sorry….”

  “Gods damn it.” It was easy to hear her anger.

  I swallowed quickly. “Arisa, I don’t know if she’s working alone, but she may have followed me when I left Galatea. If that’s the case then I have a pretty good idea who she is.”

  “You don’t mean—?”

  “Constance.”

  “Damn it,” Arisa yelled. “She must be acting under orders from Prissila. Damn it. What is Prissila thinking?”

  I jumped across a wide alley and landed on the next building’s rooftop.

  “Arisa, I may be wrong. I didn’t get to see the girl’s face. Maybe Prissila has nothing to do with this.”

  I ran across the rooftop, avoiding the electronic equipment mounted on it.

  I tried keeping my voice steady as I ran. “But if it is Constance, then it means Prissila is ignoring the agreement between your Pride and hers.”

  Arisa sounded both incredulous and angry. “To strike in daylight like this is crazy. It’s sheer lunacy. There’s no hiding this from the other Prides.”

  “You said it yourself. Everyone’s been watching him for a year now. Then suddenly the Raynars offer him to the Lanfears. Maybe Prissila doesn’t agree with that. Maybe she wa
nts to claim him.”

  “It doesn’t change the fact that what she did is an act of aggression against the Lanfear Pride.”

  “Arisa, tell me the truth. Do you think she wants him dead?”

  “I don’t know. I just don’t know anymore. Where are you now?”

  “Island Two, Habitat One. Running on rooftops. I’m headed to the school. It’s about a kilometer away. I should be there in two minutes.”

  “You’re using the Valkyrie Armor?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where is the other Familiar?”

  “She’s on a lev-bike. I think she’s headed for the school. I lost sight of her a while back.”

  “She’s heading for the school? Why would she head to the school…unless she’s the only one they dispatched…?” I heard a cry of frustration. “What the Hell is going on?”

  I jumped onto the roof of a bridgeway connecting two buildings, then ran along its length before jumping up high onto the next building.

  “Caprice—take her out.”

  Surprise almost caused me to miss my next jump. “Arisa confirm—”

  “I said, take her out. Don’t kill her, incapacitate her. But stop her from getting to him.”

  “Is that wise?”

  “You let me worry about that. I’m going to have some of our people meet you at the school as soon as possible.”

  I didn’t ask her what that entailed because I didn’t expect help to arrive in short order.

  Arisa and the Lanfear Pride had been blindsided.

  I’d been caught flat-footed too.

  For now I would have to deal with this situation on my own.

  I made the next jump and landed on a commercial building shaped like an Aztec pyramid. “Very well, I’m going to intercept her as soon as I see her.”

  I ran the length of a balcony, then kicked off to the next building. When I landed, I heard Arisa ask, “Caprice, do you still have the vial?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Whatever you do, you must get that into his bloodstream. You must trigger his Awakening. I won’t allow the Ventiss Family to get their hands on him—not after striking at my men.”

  I swallowed hard as I ran.

  “Yes, I understand. I’ll make sure he bonds with your blood.”

  “Go Caprice, fly like the wind. His life may depend on you.”