Christian Kallias

   Chase was standing on the edge of the canyon. The air was warm, brushing his hair and face gently, enveloping him like a blanket. He felt at peace, relaxed. As light as a feather, floating on a soft wind. His mind had expanded beyond his body, taking in the breathtaking view of the reddish-brown canyons and night sky above. The three moons almost perfectly aligned with the giant ringed planet in the distance.

 

   Chase breathed in deeply and breathed out slowly, purposefully. His mind was empty, filled with nothing but his steady pulse and the beautiful view. It was in this state of perfect balance, where the rest of the universe fell away, that he felt her coming back to him. His very heart warmed with the thought.

 

   Sarah. His beloved.

 

   She appeared just as he had remembered. Her brilliant crimson hair flowing in the wind, her deep green eyes shining with the light of the multiple moons. She looked like magic. Like endless possibility. Like a future he wanted to have.

 

   Time seemed to suspend as he passed his fingers slowly through her rippling hair. At first, she’d been lost in the view, but at his touch, she turned to him with a radiant smile.

 

   His heart started pounding away in his chest. Growing stronger with each pulse as he gazed in loving admiration at her celestial body. Stronger and stronger it grew, swelling his chest with the weight of his emotions.

 

   But then all at once, it was too strong.

 

   Chase clutched at his chest as the rhythmic beats sharpened to excruciating pain. His breath caught in his throat and he reached out to Sarah.

 

   But Sarah was no longer there.

 

   Her body remained, frozen in place on the beautiful horizon, but it was not the Sarah Chase knew and loved.

 

   Her skin was tinted deathly grey and her beautiful green eyes had filled with the darkest black. It was like looking into a void.

 

   All that remained was a shadow, an echo of her and Chase felt that hopeful future fading away.

 

   Then all at once, the pain and pounding in his chest subsided. Had his heart just stopped?! He stared at Sarah in a blind panic, unable to understand what was going on.

 

   “Sarah!” he cried. “What’s happening?!”

 

   She turned her head with a strange, jerking motion that was not entirely human. A bone-cracking echo followed the movement and made Chase’s blood run cold. He wanted to stop her, to stop her before there was nothing left to save, but she kept turning towards him—shattering what sounded like every bone in her body. She opened her mouth and a bright red light shot out of it, blinding Chase and burning his face.

 

   “Why, Chase?” she asked in a voice like hers, but deeper. “Why did you do this to me?”

 

   Chase shook his head in horror. “What did I do?”

 

   As if to answer, she floated off the ledge and levitated in the air in front of him. He tried desperately to get to her, but she was always just out of reach. Her body started shivering, each motion crushing another bone, each one sending cold shivers down Chase’s spine. Something was about to end here. Something was going very wrong.

 

   Then, with no warning, she threw back her head with the most earth-shattering, heart wrenching screech Chase had ever heard. It was as if it was coming from the very depths of hell. Her body began bleeding the red light—it exploded out of the cracks in her gray skin before Chase’s eyes—ripping her to pieces until suddenly…

 

   All that was left of his beautiful Sarah was gone.

 

   Falling to his knees, Chase threw back his head and unleashed a scream of his own. Tears streamed down his face, smudging Sarah’s ashes, and he dug his fingers into fists so hard they made his hands bleed.

 

   There was no controlling this rage. No caging the fury that ran coursing through his veins. Teeth grinding and eyes closed, screamed out for his release, unleashing the full power of that unimaginable rage on the heavens above.

 

   Canyons exploded, water was thrown into the air, the ground started shaking and breaking beneath him. The three moons exploded in quick succession while the giant ringed planet cracked first in two parts before shattering to dust.

 

   I need to control this, he thought desperately. I need to make it stop!

 

   But he had lost all control over what was left of his mind. It was pure darkness now. Pure hate. As dark as the hell the loss of Sarah had sent him to.

 

   Wait…Sarah.

​

   With every bit of energy he had left, he conjured an image of Sarah in his mind. A frozen picture from happier times back on Earth. Times when her eyes were green, not black, and the radiant sun caught in her hair.

 

   The blackness in his mind began to recede, little by little. His consciousness returned to him as the hate and anger dissipated slowly away. When he felt like he could stand it, he dared to open his eyes.

 

   What he saw made no sense to him.

 

   There was simply nothing left. The ground he was standing on had vanished. As had the rest of the planet and its three moons. He was floating in space. Drifting helplessly amongst a sea of shards from the planet he’d destroyed and faceless bodies that looked like shadows.

 

   What…have I done?

​

   Chase looked around in horror as an overwhelming feeling of dread settled in the pit of his stomach.

​

   Had he just done this? Had he just destroyed an entire solar system? It wasn’t possible…

 

   Tiny, weightless tears poured down his face before losing themselves amongst the debris in the atmosphere.

 

   This can’t be happening. It can’t be happening.

 

   He repeated the silent mantra again and again.

 

   I couldn’t have done this. And Sarah has to be alive. She can’t just be gone…

 

   One of the tears landed upon what looked like a tiny hand made out of glass. Upon impact, the hand began to solidify before Chase’s very eyes—hardening and coloring itself until he was staring into the grave face of Aphroditis.

 

   Chase stared at her in horror, fighting the urge to hide his face. He didn’t want to ask, but he had to. He had to know. “Did I do this?”

 

   Her sad eyes looked on him in pity. “Such is the power of the Fury, Chase. Without control, it can destroy everything in its path.”

 

   Chase’s eyes flickered wildly around, resting on the debris from the shattered planet. “But…this? I didn’t mean to do any of this.”

 

   “Of course you didn’t,” she said kindly. “But the loss of your beloved sent you into an uncontrollable spiral of hate and rage—unleashing the Fury in you.”

 

   Chase covered his mouth with his hands, unable to reconcile the terrible guilt ripping his heart in two. All those people…All those worlds… Dead. Because of him.

 

   “You must learn to control your powers,” Aphroditis cautioned, “or there will be casualties your soul will not be able to bare.”

 

   “I…I already can’t. How could I have done this…?”

 

   Then she gave him a small smile. “Fear not, Chase. This isn’t real.”

 

   It was like someone had popped the molten balloon growing in his chest. He covered his face and exhaled deeply. “This is a vision?”

 

   “Yes, and an important one. One that shows what can happen if you lose control.”

 

   Chase’s mind flashed back to the battle. “Like I did on the ship?”

 

   “Yes.” She inclined her head. “On the ship you were able to control your powers instinctively, but we can’t run the risk that you won’t next time around.”

 

   “Well what can I do?” Chase cried in desperation. “I didn’t ask for this! I don’t want these powers! They’re a curse!”

 

   “No Chase,” she answered quickly. “They’re not a curse, but a gift. In you lies the key to saving the universe from the forces that seek to destroy it.”

 

   Chase’s mind struggled to keep up. “…Obsidian?”

 

   “The Obsidian Empire is but a pawn. There is another threat out there, a far more dangerous one…”

 

   “But—”

 

   She held up her hand. “All in good time, Chase.”

 

   He bit his lip. “Can you at least tell me if Sarah is alive?”

 

   Aphroditis smiled. “She is alive. At least for now. But you need to wake up, Chase. And please…try to keep yourself calm…”

 

   Chase frowned. “Why would I need to—”

 

   Before he could finish, the stars blurred to lines, and he was sucked into space at a speed faster than hyperspace. He struggled to keep breathing as the sky around him faded to black. A few seconds later, the force of a tremendous impact knocked him awake.

 

   His vision was blurry as he blinked several times, trying to open his eyes. A muffled buzz blasted with familiar regularity, and he shook his head slowly as he tried to place the sound. All at once, it clicked. He was back on board the Destiny, and the buzzing he was hearing was a red alert. Pulling himself up, he looked around his quarters in shock.

 

   Now what had happened here?!

 

   It looked like someone had taken a wrecking ball to the place. Every bit of furniture was smashed, everything Chase owned was in a splintered heap on the cracked floor. Even the walls were dented in.

 

   “Holy shit,” he murmured as he looked around.

 

   Then the doors opened and Daniel ran inside with weapon drawn. He stared around at the demolished room in utter shock before his eyes fell on Chase, standing in the middle.

 

   “What the hell…?”

 

   Chase felt all the color drain from his face. “I…I think I did this…”

 

   Daniel shook his head with a frown. “What? Chase, no. How is that even possible?”

 

   Chase took a trembling step backwards. The room around him started spinning and he began to feel sick. “I…I…”

 

   The last thing he remembered was the ground coming up to meet him and the distant echo of his friend calling for a medical emergency…

 

 

 

You can sample more of Fury to the Stars on the book's page on Amazon with the Look Inside feature or Send a Free Sample. Thank you for reading.