Light blared like a blast of horns #SciFi #MFRWhooks

A Blast of Light

The infernal, cheerful whistling began again. Pietas tried in vain to escape the sound. Shackled at the ankles, hands bound behind him, he remained flat on his back. There were no comfort choices inside his pod.

No. Not his pod. He would never claim such a place.

The prison pod. The nightmare pod. A casket for the living.

Would that whistling never end?

Whoever guarded him whistled, night and day. He must have lips made of steel. How a human kept that up day after day was beyond him. Or perhaps... Did an Ultra guard him? Had one of his people come to free him?

Pietas opened his mouth to call out, and clamped it shut.

If it were one of his people, he needed to wait for them to act. They would do so when the time was right. For now, he suffered bouts of agony as feeling returned to his hands and then left in repeating cycles. His metabolism healed him, but brought pain. He focused on that, accepted the pain, welcomed it, and examined every step of its journey through his body. What one understood, one could bear.

An Ultra does not seek to escape pain. If one inflicts pain, one must bear it. Pain must be borne. Pain is a warrior's ally.

He hovered in a nightmare-filled, windowless, endless monotony of thirst and hunger.

Punctuated with unending lilts of bouncy, alert, happy, chipper whistling.

At first, he'd welcomed the sound. The rising and falling notes broke the tedium of everlasting darkness. It stopped for brief periods, but began again soon after.

He'd considered calling out and asking them to stop. He had gone so far as to open his mouth. But asking implied weakness. He acknowledged no tool of torture.

Beg mercy from humans? Never.

This was not stasis. Stasis meant cessation of thought. Of emotion. A dreamless kind of sleep. The end of awareness. A not-time.

They'd frozen his people in these pods, but they'd imprisoned him.

Or perhaps his blood ran so hot, no human force could freeze him.

The tune changed.

For the love of all that's holy, will you shut up!

Blessed silence fell. But then light blared in his face like a blast of horns.

What fresh perdition was this? They'd tortured him with darkness. Now they'd torture him with light?

Pietas tried to force his eyes open, to face the torture, but after so long in darkness, the light stabbed his eyes. He twisted his head to avoid it.

"You-- you're awake?" The startled voice hovered close, muffled by the pod. "Security! Security! Prisoner Six-Six-Six is out of stasis! I say again, Prisoner Six-Six-Six is out of stasis!"

The alarm in the male voice gave Pietas a measure of pride. Even imprisoned, he engendered fear. They had taken away his name, and given him a number that among humans meant a demonic beast.

Let the legend of Pietas--by name or by number--bring fear straight into the heart of man. No... let it bring terror.

The alarmed voice led him to another thought. Had they not known he was awake? No. These vile creatures had readouts of every type. How could one mistake his beating heart and steady breath for anything other than wakefulness and life? They meant to keep him aware and suffering. They knew.

But whoever was guarding him hadn't. Pietas might hate humans, but he knew the difference between genuine alarm and fake fear. He'd been instigating the real thing for centuries.

Interesting. He could use that.

His eyes adjusted to the light, and he focused on the face hovering over the small window above him.

Was that...Ghost Six?

The light cut off, taking with it the familiar comfort of sight. Pietas bit the inside of his cheek to keep silent.

First Conqueror, War Leader of the Ultras, did not beg.

He did not. He did not.
---

Bringer of Chaos Series #SciFi and #SpaceOpera

Enemies: 1 immortal, 1 mortal. In exile. Together.
Genre: space opera, science fiction

Bringer of Chaos: Origin of Pietas

On the day of impending peace talks with humans, Pietas, narcissistic leader of the immortal Ultras, must bow to the will of the mighty Council or face impeachment. As he suspected, the peace talks devolve into an inescapable trap.
Faced with the perma-death of his beloved mother and the destruction of his people, Pietas surrenders. Once imprisoned aboard a vessel bound for the edge of the galaxy, he finds an unlikely ally in the human to whom he surrendered.
How low has he fallen! He now has no choice.
Either he will doom his people to exile and face the end of his own immortality, or place his faith in that which he most hates. A human…

Bringer of Chaos: Forged in Fire

Exiled to a barren world with only a human for company, the immortal Pietas demands the mortal serve him.
When Six refuses and insists they are equals, Pietas is outraged. How dare a mortal refuse anything he requests?
But when he needs Six’s support to find and join his people, Pietas must learn to humble himself and ask for help–politely–and even more outrageous–request forgiveness. From a human.
For without aid, the immortal king might spend an eternity alone, never finding the people he has already died over a thousand times to save…

Lights Out (Ghost Corps)
(short story / anthology)

Bringer of Chaos Series #SciFi and #SpaceOpera

Lights Out – Bringer of Chaos prequel is included

He can save mankind. After he does one important thing. Die.
Join the Ghost Corps, they said. You’ll live forever, they said. You’ll save mankind, they said. They didn’t say that to do it, first he had to die.
When Tornahdo signs on the dotted line, he puts his life into the steady hands of the mighty Ghost Corps. Three grisly deaths and three agonizing resurrections later, he’s assigned duty on the space station Enderium Six.
He’s facing his most dangerous mission yet, the very reason the corps exists.
Do they expect him to win? Fat chance. Tornahdo and his team are already dead and this mission is codenamed “Lights Out.” No, there’s more to this than he can see.
To discover the truth, he must face an unbeatable, unkillable enemy, and this time–somehow–find a way to keep himself alive…

Lights Out, part of the anthology The Expanding Universe 4: Space Adventure, Alien Contact and Military Science Fiction, edited by Craig Martelle.
Read more and discover the rest of the anthology
Universal link: https://books2read.com/u/bzP2G2

Bringer of Chaos: Watch Your Six

Is immortality a sentence greater than death? Or the key to everlasting vengeance… Coming Soon!

Illustrated Bringer of Chaos Series Quote Books

The most powerful of all the immortal Ultras, Pietas ap Lorectic rules his people with an iron fist and a heart of stone. Or so he would have you believe. The man behind the myth is a scientist, deep thinker, brilliant strategist, and passionate lover. He has shared his thoughts with few. These books are a collection of full color illustrated quotes on by the man known to other immortals as the Bringer of Chaos.
Yours free

An exiled, immortal king, a ginormous panther 'kitty' and the most dysfunctional family since forever #SciFi #SpaceOpera #Pietas Click To Tweet

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About Zealot6 – Media Production

Zealot6 specializes in audio, video, and music. He believes communication and consistency are the keys to a great experience with a client.

I hired him the first time because I needed help syncing spoken words with images and music. He was relatively inexpensive to hire and had a super quick turnaround time. I loved the final product.

After using his services once, I decided to try again when I created another video. This one was great as well. Since then, I've worked exclusively with him to create videos. I plan many more over the next year and hope to have his help on all of them. He's polite, easy to work with, and thorough.

Want to hire Zealot6 yourself? He's on Fiverr.com.

Check out his work by watching the Ritual of Strength or The Ultras video. Each is performed by Nik Nitsvetov as Pietas and Zack Black as the voice of Pietas.