The Rise of Onyx Read online

  The Rise of

  Onyx

  Angelina Singer

  Dedicated with love to my grandfather, John B. Calcagno, “Nono”, who has been my biggest encourager and always tells me to never stop. I don’t plan to anytime soon, Nono. And it’s all thanks to you.

  Cover art by Sara Freitas

  Copyright © 2018 by Angelina Singer

  VOLUME ONE:

  THE MACHINE

  CHAPTER 1

  Luna’s calm footfalls fill the acoustics of the Grand Hall, where Onyx has been charged with the responsibility of producing enough orbs to keep the entire human population from dying out. She approaches him, smiling, despite his extreme boredom and feelings of utter despondency.

  “Hello, Onyx.”

  He lifts his head up from where it was resting on the back of the throne, and looks down at her with weary, eyes not unlike a cloudy blue sky.

  “Hello, Luna.”

  She walks a bit closer to him, just reveling in his presence even though she must stay far away from the current that runs through him now. A silence loaded with desperation fills the space between them, as the human portions of their hybrid forms become desperate for each other.

  “How is… everything here going?” She motions to the area around the throne, but Onyx understands that she means everything in the Sorting Room, as well as the orb production.

  “Just fine, I think. I’m new at this, but I am also getting quite tired of it.”

  Luna tilts her head slightly. “You’re tired? I thought you don’t get tired anymore, because of the current? At least, that’s what Griffin told me.”

  Onyx shakes his head. “Well, I don’t get physically tired anymore, perhaps that is what he meant. I just mean that sitting here, and not really doing anything, is quickly wearing on me.”

  Luna nods, and frowns sadly. “Well, it’s important, what you’re doing, you know. You saved all of us.”

  Onyx sighs. “I know, but I do wish I had the chance to make that choice on my own. I was volunteered to do this, and even though I didn’t know what I was getting into and didn’t really want to, there was not time to find a suitable replacement before the entire Upperworld was sucked into the portal.”

  “Well, I think you are amazing. I really do.”

  “That makes one of us.”

  Luna takes a step closer to the throne.

  “Not too close Luna, I’m dangerous. Don’t forget that. I could not live with myself if I….” He cannot even bring himself to finish that sentence, but he counters with another one instead. “No wonder Zephyr always seemed so cold. This is a miserable existence.”

  “Maybe it’s worse for you because you are part humanoid.”

  Onyx nods. “It is possible. Although, I guess we’ll never truly know about Zephyr’s origin. Not that it matters now – he is long gone.”

  She hastily changes the subject before Onyx gets too upset again. “Well, Evander and Griffin are working to get you out of there, isn’t that exciting! There is so much to be grateful for, Onyx. I’m grateful for this. I’m grateful for the chance to have you back, even though nothing is guaranteed.”

  Onyx brushes a piece of his short, shaggy, pale blonde hair out of his eyes. “You and me both, Luna. Any day now, I am trying to believe I’ll be freed. But it is steadily getting harder and harder to fully believe that.”

  “I understand that, I do. But you have to stay positive, please? Can you do that, at least for me?” Luna is not accustomed to being the stronger one – as long as she has existed, it has always been Onyx to make her stronger and keep her safe. Now it is her turn to do the same for him, and she’s not used to the responsibility it holds.

  “I’m going to try, Luna. That’s the best I can say about that right now. Beyond that, I really don’t know.” He runs his hand through his bleached-blonde hair and sighs again.

  “Whatever happens, we’ll at least be able to say we tried.”

  “That is true, but oh my pod I really do hope it works. I can’t do this forever. I just can’t.”

  ✷✷✷

  “Griffin, I have to attend to my shift in the record keeping office for a while. In the meantime, why don’t you send me the digital plans you have for the machine, so we can get right on that?” Evander continues walking toward his office where much of the Upperworld’s data is kept under heavy security. His protegé, Griffin, follows excitedly on his heels.

  “Sure thing, Evander. I’m just happy we might get to help Onyx, I can tell he is starting to falter quite rapidly.”

  Evander slowly nods. “That is true, Onyx is merely a placeholder, nothing more. He was never cut out for that position of permanent stagnation - he’s a worker, and needs to get up and do things more stimulating than just sitting in a chair.”

  “So, I’ll keep working on it, and check back with you soon, I guess?”

  Evander nods at Griffin as he closes the door of the record keeping office behind him. The young record keeper shows a lot of promise, but often lacks tact and can be a bit clingy at times. Luckily, Evander has patience to spare - if Griffin had anyone else assigned to him as a mentor, he may not have been so lucky in that department.

  Griffin makes his way back to his pod where he has saved his experimental documents on his computer. The time machine, as he has begun to call his little pet project, is largely theoretical, but he is confident that bringing it to life could bring with it some fascinating capabilities for the Upperworld - perhaps it could even function as a sort of insurance clause to avoid fiascos like the one Luna got herself sucked into what feels like forever ago now. So much has happened since the day Delphine mixed up the orbs and Luna was sent to Earth in her place. But thankfully, things are better now and Luna is safely back in the Upperworld where she belongs. Zephyr wanted her killed, but Onyx went down to earth to protect her from the assassin Zephyr sent after her. It had been a crazy time handling all of that as well as the revolution taking place in the Upperworld as Zephyr himself began dying on the job - and Onyx unwittingly took over the reigns. Now Griffin hopes to be instrumental in reinstating Onyx back as a mentor instead of just the very stagnant work of being The Most High Being. This was his chance to do something revolutionary - because bending time and space was no small matter, as he knows all too well.

  His computer comes to life at the scan of his thumbprint on the touchscreen, and then he inputs his password to open his very experimental documents. He had been toying around with some digital blueprints as of late, purely for fun before he realized that this machine might actually have a very real purpose. Now, he looked at his work with freshly critical eyes, knowing that it would be responsible for the safety of real lives - both Onyx’s life, as well as the brave souls who would agree to be the first time travelers in human history. A small bead of sweat emerges on his forehead as he takes a deep breath, breathing in both the potential for history to be made, and for the utter disaster that could occur if the machine somehow malfunctions, pod forbid.

  CHAPTER 2

  Luna drops yet another orb into its appropriate receptacle tube in the Sorting Room. The process has become so incredibly natural for her now - she doesn’t even need to give it a second thought. Onyx had taught her well, but her natural ability did the rest. And right now, it is a blessing that she can carry out her very important job without much brain power being expelled - her mind is elsewhere at the moment.

  I can’t stop worrying about Onyx. I know Evander and Griffin are doing what they can to get him off of the throne, but it might not work. And then what happens to him? What happens… to us?

  Her constant thoughts bounce around her head relentlessly as she tries to clear her mind and focus on her tasks at hand. Walking across the vast Sort
ing Room carrying an orb in the palm of her hand, Luna tries to focus on some sensory details to ground her in the moment she is in. In the past, this tactic had worked to steady her mind in moments of turmoil, but at the moment, her efforts seem fruitless.

  After depositing the most recent orb into the receptacle, she pauses to catch her breath and steady herself once more, lest she make a fatal mistake - for real, this time.

  So much has happened, and I never had time to process it all. Onyx is trapped. I’m here doing my job alone. And Jade… oh, poor, troubled Jade…

  A single tear slides down her cheek as she remembers the truly horrific way Jade let her level of prestige go to her head, which resulted in her very untimely death. She was never that close to Jade, actually, perhaps a bit intimidated by her. But there’s something in Luna’s mind that keeps pushing her back to the moment she met Jade and the way things went so sour so fast. And amidst the memories of her former superior, her very graphic death in the throne room has branded itself with the hot iron of reality and its terrifying wiles.

  “Hi, um, Luna?”

  Luna composes herself long enough to turn around and meet the calm gaze of the ever-joyful Brielle. The younger sorter has started to look up to Luna, which, flattering as it is, adds even more pressure for Luna to be as perfect at her job as she can be.

  “Oh, hello Brielle. Is there something specific I can do for you?”

  “Me? How about you? You seem… more upset than usual.”

  Luna nods, realizing that keeping her guard up is a useless endeavor. “A lot has happened, yes. And I suppose I just now am processing it all.”

  Brielle nods and pats Luna’s shoulder kindly, even though she doesn’t have the capacity to experience or understand human emotions the way Luna does.

  “I can only imagine what you must be feeling. Of course, I don’t totally understand, but I can try. If you, ever want to talk about it.” Brielle smiles sweetly, and brushes aside a bit of her freshly-tinted metallic golden hair. Luna thinks to herself how nicely the color suits her in context with Brielle’s signature bright smile, but the words don’t make it to her lips before she crumbles in a pile of tears.

  “Alright Luna, maybe you should take a break? I’ll let Sebastian know you need some time to make sense of everything.”

  Luna nods almost imperceptibly amidst the tears, and she fights the urge to laugh in between it all, since the reason she’s crying is ambiguous even to herself. She knew that Sebastian, her shift manager, would understand and happily take over for her. But there is always that subtle sting living in the pit of her stomach that reminds her of her own inadequacy.

  ✷✷✷

  Hard at work in his office, Griffin continues studying the blueprints of the time machine that he developed, and begins drafting a list of the supplies he’ll need to bring it to life. A lot of the list is fairly self-explanatory, like welding tools and scrap metal to provide the protective frame for the wildly intricate technology beneath it. The more detailed structures to be at the heart of the machine involved some deep studies of physics, gravity, and wormholes - some of which is vastly theoretical, at best. Griffin fights the urge to scream at his monitor and give up, but he continues on. Finding loopholes in the laws of physics is exactly as difficult as it sounds, if not more.

  Okay, it seems that the most important thing is to attach a power source to the flux capacitor, which should make time jumping possible.

  He smiles to himself as the first part of his conundrum shows signs of defeat. As he prepares to make the fatal kill and triumph over it, he remembers some more logistics and quickly enters them into his computer.

  We’ll need a remote access point for the travelers - so they can come back from wherever, or whenever, they are. And also, we’re lacking a power source. I’ll have to talk to Evander about figuring out that part - I never can figure that part out.

  Inventing gadgets is nothing new to Griffin, even if time travel is. He has notoriously become known in the Upperworld as the bona fide tech genius, similarly to Evander. Both of them had outfitted the recent revolution against Zephyr with a whole slew of soundproofing devices to keep meetings private, as well as conveniently located electronic nutrient dispensers in the main hall. Everyone who’s anyone in the Upperworld knows that Griffin and Evander are the ones who could potentially pull this off.

  Griffin sighs to himself, thinking about all the pressure this places on his still relatively-young shoulders.

  I want to help Onyx, I really do. But this is so foreign and risky. Either I get this machine to work and we accomplish what we need to, or I don’t and Onyx will just have to suffer. Or worse - maybe the machine works, but we irreparably change time and human history.

  He tries his best to shake off that latest bout of irrational yet rational fears, and refocuses on the critically-important task at hand. That is, until he hears the restricted access door open behind him.

  “Griffin, how’s the time machine coming along?”

  He spins around in his chair and sighs, while forcing a polite smile in Evander’s direction.

  “Oh you know, it’s… coming. I’ve been playing around with a lot of different options, nothing is truly sitting right with me just yet.”

  “Can I take a look?”

  Griffin nods dejectedly, happy to step away from his incredibly challenging work after hours of mentally draining focus. A small eternity seems to go by as Evander wordlessly clicks, moves, and rubs his chin at the digital images, graphs, and lists that Griffin has compiled.

  “This looks… somewhat promising. I have some questions about some of the theories and accouterments that you have suggested.”

  “Of course, ask away.”

  Evander pauses to phrase his question as well as he can. “Without seeming immature in my asking, how are we sure this won’t mess up anything irreparably?”

  “That’s the thing - we’re not.”

  CHAPTER 3

  “Well if you miss him so much, just go to the throne room and talk to him.”

  Luna smiles through the tears clouding her face while trying not to snap at the well-meant yet infuriating suggestion from Brielle.

  “I would, and I probably will in a little while, but you don’t understand… there’s more to it than just that. He’s not the same. He’s not happy, doesn’t feel good. And not being able to be close to him is killing me.”

  Brielle’s eyes widen with concern at Luna’s latest comment. “Wait, you mean you are actually dying? Let’s get straight to the infirmary and -”

  “No! I’m fine.”

  The finality of Luna’s words slaps Brielle in the face, and she recoils with a note of confusion plastered on her face. Luna softens her approach in response.

  “I just mean… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I mean, I’m okay, Brielle. But this is still really hard. On Earth, humanoids talk more figuratively than literally often times - it’s just part of their speech patterns. I must have picked it up, I should have explained…”

  Brielle shakes a few strands of her golden hair out of her face. “I understand… there are just a lot of things that I won’t understand. And I’m working on being okay with that, somehow.”

  Luna smiles through her tears and gently grabs Brielle’s hand. “I really do appreciate you being there for me when I needed you most. You’re an amazing friend, you know.”

  “It was the proper thing to do. We must support each other for the Upperworld to subsist and thrive.”

  Luna smiles at Brielle’s paraphrase of the Upperworld handbook database, but shakes her head almost imperceptibly. After all she has experienced on Earth, it is amazing to reflect on how far she has come, and how little she now relates to her Upperworld counterparts.

  Earth changed me. Now I just hope that was a good thing, and not something I’ll regret. Not that I really had a choice, anyway. Luna sighs, thinking about all that has happened and all that is to come.

  “You know, Onyx really sa
ved us all. At least, that’s what Evander told me.” Brielle pats her hand reassuringly, but she still fails to understand the complexity of Luna’s emotions. But it’s nothing personal, of course. She just wasn’t born to be equipped for that kind of thing.

  “Oh, believe me, I do know that. I just wish we had known he’d be stuck for a while until we figure out a solution.”

  “Would you have hesitated?”

  “Hesitated to what?”

  “Hesitated to let him go do what he needed to do?”

  “Oh, I guess not. Seeing how it would be an automatic death sentence for everyone and the entire human race.”

  Brielle huffs in frustration. “Well, that’s the right answer, I guess. But what do you feel about it? I don’t really know anything about emotions, since I’ve never experienced them and never will, I guess. But I have a hunch that maybe you wouldn’t have gone along with it so calmly had you known the outcome.”

  Luna’s violet eyes blink away some lingering tears. “You know, I think you’re right, Brielle. But I still don’t want to admit that I would put everyone in jeopardy just to keep him near me.”

  Both sorters break eye contact to look around at the blank walls of Luna’s pod, still beckoning for some more personalized decorations. She hasn’t had a lot of free time lately, and decorating her space was never a priority, what with all the craziness that has been going on. Regardless of the lack of creativity on the walls, Luna feels more at home in her own pod than any place on Earth. At least, as at home as she can be when she’s not in Onyx’s arms. That home would have to wait.

  “Brielle, not that I don’t like having you here, but would you mind terribly if I go to see him now?”

  “No, not at all! Yeah, let me just grab my stuff and…”

  “Alone, please.”

  Brielle pauses and nods slowly, and then backs out of Luna’s pod. The door shuts behind her as Luna runs her hand through her tangled, midnight tresses. After a few deep breathes and fixing her hair, she too leaves her pod and begins the long walk through the purplish fog of the Upperworld toward the throne room where her beloved has been stationed indefinitely.