THURSDAY'S MUSINGS

Status: Writing on Starchild Duel. Chapter 146.

Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails.

Watching: Nothing at the moment.

Listening to: Dance Rush-1997; Disc 1. (Some old favorites--including the "Macarena")

Reading: Kushiel's Scion. Page 252.

TOPIC: SNEAK PEEK INTO STARCHILD DUEL.

This may be jumping out a little--far ahead as a matter of fact--of what's been written so far in the book, but I wanted to show my readers some up and coming action from the sequel to The Starchild.

Enjoy!

***


Talia charged into the storm itself–not caring of the danger that it truly presented itself–even as the winds roared, howled, or screamed at her in earnest.

She didn’t care.

Nemesis was as good as dead–once she found her!

But minutes of searching in this blind soup produced nothing–and so the stranded Starchild of Ancient Lore tried another tact.

Believing she had escaped.

Gathering herself up for the chase, the teenager rocketed up towards the heavens themselves for the next twenty seconds–encountering huge pockets of air turbulence in the process–but hitting past Mach 5 all the same.

Her own speed was producing shockwaves of its own–which sought out the air turbulence and crushed it.

The storm’s fury increased as a result of her meddling–and sheet lightning raced about in a gloriously blinding display of awe-inspiring motion and dazzling pyrotechnics.

Peals of thunder followed suit–wracking the stranded Starchild’s hearing as she continued to her ascent–but couldn’t quite reach her.

None of it could reach her!

But as fast as the storm was, Talia was going much faster.

Mach 7.

A nimbus of energy formed around her as she ripped right into the upper limits of the atmosphere–leaving a glowing trail behind her as a result of intense friction.

Weightlessness greeted her soon after, but Talia didn’t care.

She was on the hunt.

“Where are you, Nemesis?!” She called out into the thin air of the ionosphere itself. “In the name of Taro Aii–where did you fucking go?!?”

Endless emptiness greeted her in reply.

Talia smashed her fist and open palm together in outright frustration.

“Fine. You want to play games? So can I…” She whispered in deadly earnest. “Let’s see how you like this one.”

The girl dived towards Earth once more, breaking open the sound barrier in less than a millisecond. But she wasn’t finished. Not by a long shot.

With each passing second, she was nothing but a blur of speed built on two emotions: Anger and…love.

But only one would win out.

* * *

Isis fell back into the soft embrace of the sandy ground beneath her–digging up a couple of nice furrows in the process.

“Ooof!” She croaked–after feeling the wind being knocked out of her. “Who in the world–?”

“That would be me, you pedantic fool. Or have you forgotten all about me…already?” Nemesis’s cold voice cut through the storm’s wrath.

The Starchild wiped the back of her mouth gingerly–feeling what she thought was nothing more than drool; turned out to be nothing more than her own blood.

Isis grunted to herself.

“Nice shot. I didn’t think you had much left in you–after the pounding Talia gave you earlier.”

Nemesis laughed.

“That little mouse? Oh, how she does try to overcome me! But with each passing second, with each passing injury, I just grow stronger and stronger. Her hits on me have become more of an annoyance than anything else.” She stepped closer to the downed protector of the known universe.

“And what about you? Do you seem to be up to the challenge, my little herald of Chaos? Perhaps you and I can exchange blows at our true power levels…?”

Isis’s eyes glued shut for a moment–as she instantly recalled what she told Calis.

“The planet would never withstand that kind of leveled energy release–even for a picosecond. You know that as well as I, Nemesis.” She said matter-of-factly.

More laughter soon followed.

“Do you think I really care about this little sphere? I could care less if it was destroyed in the process! I only want you!”

Isis McGowan shook her head in bewilderment.

“This isn’t a date, Nemesis.” Then she smiled. “And besides–you’re not even my type.”

Nemesis’s emerald green eyes glowed brightly for a second–piercing the storm’s choking sand veil.

“Oh, so we have a comedian in the midst, do we?”

Isis got to her feet–staggering just a bit–but stood and faced Nemesis without any recourse.

“Laugh this one off–if you can.”

The Starchild vanished in a blur of motion–catching Nemesis with a solid punch to the face; staggering her smartly. The woman delivered a reverse punch on the follow up strike–throwing her off balance even more, and then reached around her hunched over body–grabbing her firmly by the middle–and finally pivoting around on one foot with her burden.

“You always were too full of yourself, Nemesis.” Isis said under no certain terms, before slamming her sideways right into the ground with brute force.
Geysers of broken earth shot upwards as a result of the ensuing impact, but the Starchild of Ancient Lore wasn’t finished with her just yet.

“Time to take out the trash!" She announced with unmistakable glee–reaching down and grabbed Nemesis by her legs–tearing the woman out from the desert confines of her own partially embossed earthly tomb.

Raising her up with one hand–with shivers of sand and rock debris cascaded off of the bruised Daughter of Chaos–Isis McGowan simply shook her head; having zero sympathy for someone who didn’t share in the greater respect for life in general.

“Believe me when I say this, Nemesis: You’re going to wish that you have never met me after this day.” And with that, she spun herself around in a tight arc and launched her most hated adversary straight up into the storm-laden skies.

* * *

Approaching speeds measuring upwards of Mach 15-Talia McGowan saw Nemesis coming up at her with such force that it literally surprised her.

But that emotion came and went, as the teenager pounced on a glorious opportunity without hesitation.

“Surprise!” She crowed with grand maliciousness–and jack-hammered Nemesis right back to Earth with overpowering results–sending her earthward at an astonishing 34,600 miles per hour.

A caterwauling peal of sound rippled right across the desert, across Shark’s Bay–as Nemesis’s body screamed through space and thundered right into the Earth without mercy; cutting right into it like a hot knife through butter.

But Talia was right behind her–separated only by several seconds. The girl righted herself at the last moment, and dropped right into the gaping hole made by the impact–feet first.

The whole Pit area imploded with a savage intensity–with most of the auto-frames tossed about like toys in an instant.

Some of the more unfortunate ones lit off in quick succession due to the mounting compression waves subjected against them at close range. Still…others managed to escape the onslaught with varying degrees of damage.

Spectators in the stands next door scattered about like scared mice–while the participating pilots in the Desert Storm had caught the tail end of the conflict. As a result, most of the auto-frames were badly affected by the shockwaves from the terrific impact.

A great many of them on the outside track were picked up and shoved 1,200 yards out further from the starting line–only to rain back down in crushed heaps of metal, plastic, and power cores. Those closer to the grandstands were crushed against one another. Some explosions were seen dotting the lineup, while the fresh screams of tortured metal and sharp exclamations over the open comm net filled the air.

“Don’t think I’m done with you yet–Nemesis!” Talia declared with burning indignation. “I still have something to give to you–from my sister–you uncaring bitch!”

Then she transformed right then and there–the whole area being wiped away in an instant by a searing white light–and became an awesome release of energy and unfathomable power.