Page 22 of Destinies of Diamond
I hadn’t expected him to acknowledge my concerns with such ease and openness, but then again, openness had never been our problem, not since I’d woken up trapped in that damn mating den. “I appreciate the Great Mother’s confidence, but I’m anything but ready. The baby is already throwing off my power. My hormone levels are all over the place. Leaving aside my libido, I’m concerned I might hurt someone.”
Jared cursed under his breath. “Can’t your mother help? I can try to contact my people again, but it might be difficult.”
“I have some herbal remedies now, but I’m not sure how much they’ll help.” Bracing myself, I reached for his hand and squeezed it. “Listen, Jared. You told me once that you had answers for me. You said you had a mission you couldn’t share and I respected that. But I can’t wait any longer. If you know anything at all about me, tell me. Tell me why I was chosen to carry this burden—why I was given such gifts when I did nothing to deserve them.”
Jared threaded our fingers together, clinging to me with everything he had. “Selene, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
Suddenly feeling like we were headed into dangerous territory, I released my hold on his hand and got up. “Please. I can’t wait any longer. I need to know. You owe me that much.”
“I owe you more than that, Selene, but you have to understand that I don’t have all the answers.” He sighed. “I will tell you what I can about my mission. But I don’t think it will help you that much. At the end of the day, you’re still the one who has to make a decision, no matter what goals I might have.”
That might well be, but finding the right path for myself would still be easier if I wasn’t stumbling along in the dark anymore. I only hoped Jared would be able to provide a little light, because if he didn’t, I had no idea what I was going to do.
The Warning
Jared
Sometimes, being a Heliad sucked.
Oh, it was useful to be able to exist without food or water, to be immune to radiation and have the ability to use light as a type of cloaking technology. But there were disadvantages to it too—namely our complete and utter inability to have normal love lives.
I knew I’d fucked up with Selene. If I’d only had more time, I might have been able to make her understand, but the others had arrived before I could explain. And even if they hadn’t come, I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to have anything to do with me.
No matter how much I liked to ignore it, the fact remained that I’d gotten her pregnant against her will. Selene wasn’t a Heliad, so the rules that applied to us didn’t apply to her. I’d rushed her because I’d wanted to be with her so badly, but I’d just ruined our relationship in the process.
“Like I told you, Selene, the whole war between us and Terra started because The Grand Judiciary needed fuel for its machines. But the reason why they came to be was always of interest to us. After all, the ancient gods of Terra went dormant millennia ago. Why did they awaken?
“One of my missions involved finding an answer to that question. Unfortunately, I failed. If anyone even knows anymore, it’s the chimeras. But the Harpies don’t seem to remember why they were awakened. I haven’t brought it up with Grand Chimeras, but I suspect their situation is the same.”
“It is,” Sphinx confirmed. “I think I knew, once, but… It was such a long time ago and my memories tend to go hazy as I go dormant. The more time passes, the more memories I lose.”
This didn’t surprise me, as I’d already reached that conclusion myself. Chimeras preserved some memories in their core soul, but if their shell was destroyed or if they spent too much time out of commission, the information deteriorated.
The Great Mother hypothesized this had something to do with the bonding process between what had been the minds of living creatures and the metal bodies created for chimeras. There was an incompatibility there, which was one of the reasons why chimeras needed pilots to function properly.
“In any case, I haven’t found any real information about that, but I did figure out something noteworthy. Did you know the Weltons never revealed the secret to the secondary alloy they use for creating chimeras?”
“Yes, Jared, but I don’t see how that’s in any way related to me,” Selene replied.
“I honestly didn’t realize it was related to you. But since it’s obvious that The Grand Judiciary is using apsids to feed chimeras, I started to wonder why they turned to that and what kind of methods they might have used in the past.
“Right now, my theory is that the alloy might contain human bone. It’s quite astounding, but human bone can resist temperatures of up to 1500 degrees Celsius. The DNA of a human being could have easily formed the basis of chimera bodies. Which brings us to you—a woman who wields both Gaia’s Gift and Tartarus’s. When you first arrived at Chimera Academy, I knew there was something special about you, something different. But it was just recently that all the pieces fell into place.”
“I don’t understand,” Selene said, still confused. “Even assuming chimeras are crafted out of human bone, The Grand Judiciary doesn’t need living people for that. They certainly don’t need me.”
“No, but the bone is only the raw material. You know how tachyon shields have intensity frequencies that allow them to block certain outbursts of heat? Well, creating that alloy requires a specific code too. It’s a code I gave to you when you were in the labyrinth, because I wasn’t confident I would remember it once my human body was wiped away.”
I needn’t have worried. I’d remembered it fine and had been able to use it more efficiently than I’d hoped. But Selene had asked me to tell her the truth, and I would try, insofar as it was possible, at least. “It’s why I was able to take control of the Sphinx on Mercury.”
“That still doesn’t explain the reason for Selene’s power, though,” Sphinx pointed out.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “No, it doesn’t, but you know as well as I do that it’s not so simple to explain that. After all, there’s a reason you chose her, and it’s not because of her inner strength.”
Selene was a very determined, brave woman, but there were a lot of women who were determined and brave. There were plenty of people who could have been more qualified to pilot the Sphinx. She did seem to have a natural talent for it, but I had no idea if that was her skill or something she’d borrowed from the Sphinx. As far as I knew, she’d never piloted any kind of vessel before her arrival at the academy, so it stood to reason that her chimera must have given her at least some of her abilities.
But what was unique about Selene was the power that had made it possible for her to face the mirror trial at the tournament and come out unscathed. Yes, she’d had her lovers’ aid at the time, but even that wouldn’t have been easy to organize and channel.
“To answer your question, Selene, I think The Grand Judiciary has been performing more experiments than they ever mentioned in their files. It would have been very easy for them to add a little something extra in the toxins they inject into Terran women and leave something behind when restrictions are lifted for an individual person.”
