Spike's Last Life First Five Chapters For Free
#spikeslastlife
Hello Beautiful People,
Below are the first five chapters of Spike's Last Life By Yours Truly MEEEEEEEE Noel Alvarado.
For those of you that signed up for the ARC copy, you will still be getting the completely formatted ARC copy version of the book.
For those of you that didn't sign up for ARCs, you have three options to read the full story if you want to read more after this excerpt:
Sign up for the ARC:
Pre-order here:
Sign Up For My Paid Tier On Bindery And Get Chapters 6- 35.
Chapter 1: Activated
Spike died today on his twenty-fifth reincarnation.
He knew it in his core before it happened. All his memories rushed back to him like a deep breath after being submerged underwater for too long. His soul started to recognize the flaws in everything around him.
Then, he died alone.
This is story of his last life.
Chapter 2: Thea: Thea's Last Life
The night sky is lit up by the collapsing universe. Bright fissures of green, pink, blue and white hues consume Time Keepers, Lycans, and Lykos.
My blood-soaked half-wolf and half-human hands don’t keep a sturdy grip on the slicked blade. I try to use my powers and nothing comes out. Something or someone is tying the Threads of my abilities to prevent me from using them.
The sword plunges in to my rib cage. A mix between a howl and cry chokes my throat. My hybrid form strength momentarily deters the blade from going in deeper, but the damage is done.
Avi smiles above me laughing.
Iridescent pockets of the universe shimmer and open all over Lykos.
My blood. My people. My family.
Time Keepers panic trying to seal the wounds in the universe as they grow exponentially larger.
My death. My powerlessness. My failure.
All this is a sick joke to this callous man.
Fuck.
This is how I die. With my family dispersed fighting their own battles. I die a failure. I can explain to you the pain of the blade cutting through my body. Long winded details of each calculated slice. But I don’t feel that pain. I feel the pain of being a failure. A bittersweet melody of the circle of life. To twisted beings, murder is an essential act done to others for the sake of enjoyment. They will find ways to justify their actions with religion or the greater-good. Don’t be fooled. All murder is born out of a need to feel better about oneself. I failed my people today by dying. I am their queen and I could not outlast these heartless, murderous men.
Heartless, murderous men always tend to survive longer. Is there any real justice and accountability for these vile men?
Fires consume Lykos.
My beautiful planet.
The battle wages on in front of the castle, inside the castle, and throughout the Central City. Ships hang in the sky above drifting through billowing clouds of black smoke. Our himeji castles wither to ashes. Wolves all over the planet devour Time Keepers pushing back their invasion.
Spike opens Pulses, blackholes, all around Kairos. Kairos stands three stories high in his Alpha Wolf Form clawing at Jimmy, my brother, to his right. Waves of ice magic freeze Kairos’s feet. Jimmy’s rage only grows deeper. He surges his secondary powers through Kairos. A planet splintering howl quakes the ground. That’s when I notice the scythe-shaped ice formation going in through Kairos’s stomach and out his upper back. But that isn’t what’s causing the howling cries of pain. Jimmy is trying to destroy his soul.
Avi stabs his sword deeper in to my rib cage. My weak bleeding hands meld with the sword against the serrated edges. I can’t keep going. Kairos is temporarily immobilized.
Jimmy leaves Spike’s fight to help me. Time Keepers flood his surroundings blocking him from stopping Avi. His ice powers desperately cuts through Time Keepers. Every ounce of pain clouds his eyes as he is forced to fight for his own survival instead of mine.
My hands tremble. I’m losing the fight. Spike opens a Pulse through Kairos’s chest. Jimmy sends a crown of icicles in to the Time Keepers and Kairos. The icicles decapitate Kairos’s wolf head. It rolls beside me. Avi screams above me. His smile turns to bitter rage.
“Just die already.” He instructs me.
With all his frustrated force, he stabs the sword through my heart. My vision blurs. And in the blurriness, I see wings surrounding me. An essence flows through me.
* * *
The following days were filled with picking up the pieces of our shattered kingdom. At some point last night, Spike was taken back to Tempus.
Avi used the last of his energy after he saved Kairos. The Queen’s body disappeared. Wolves worked to rebuild their great kingdom. My brother joined me in my unscathed bedroom overlooking the half-shattered, half-intact buildings. The eastern portion of our castle burned to the ground. Along with it, the Weaponry, soldier’s barracks, and extra food supplies.
“He took Spike.” Jimmy holds back angry tears at the bedroom door.
“You’ll survive.”
“Mother’s gone. Father is being healed.” Jimmy’s frustrated voice erupts, “What are we going to do?”
“Rebuild.”
“I know that. But what about Spike and Mom?”
“Love comes and goes. Let us fortify our kingdom and rebuild our armies.”
“You are so cold.” Jimmy stares at me trembling, “It looked like you died last night.”
“‘Nothing kills a wolf. Not even death.’ Isn’t that our family motto?”
Jimmy’s suspicious eyes flicker from me to our kingdom’s destruction.
“I’m going to find mother.” I smile, “And we will take them down.”
Jimmy leaves me alone slamming the door to the room. Moth wings sprout from my back and I soar among the lingering smoke clouds.
Many homes lay in various states of rubble and destruction. Medics individually haul deal bodies on to fire-proof stretchers to man-made fire pits. They place the stretcher on automatic, small elevators lowering them slowly in to a purple flame. A thin black tray underneath catches the ashes. The ashes are poured in to an urn and distributed to the family members.
Deaths in mass cancel all rituals that a normal death would require. Normally, the bodies would be washed so they can pass cleanly in to the afterlife. A ceremony would proceed the event with families and friends. Priests would gather and chant their prayers until every single member of the family has wafted incense on the urn and the priests are done with their prayers.
Or so I’ve heard.
Today, no prayers are uttered. A deafening silence interrupted by the crackling of wooden beams and buildings collapsing. Fire fighters battle between helping the remaining wounded and putting out fires.
As I pass the outer edge of the city, I cross in to woodlands. Enormous, thick black trees with purple leaves and waving purple hills lead to the base of a snow peaked mountain. A lake at the base of the mountain supplies the Central Kingdom of Lykos all the fresh water it needs. I land on the shore crunching on the black and brown sand.
My hands dig through the wet sands and summon the Purple Poison Kairos injected in to the planet last night. The clear blue water turns the color of ink. Fishes rise to the surface belly up. The water boils angrily. The poison creeps up the mountain side ensnaring deer and foxes. Their bodies mutate with multiple heads and spilling organs. Their eyes vicious. Intentions deadly.
The mutated animals descend upon the villagers below and cause mayhem.
I unravel the Threads of the universe and cross in to the Fourth Dimension. My wings dodge angry Thread Beasts and lost souls. I open a rip through Tempus’ Throne Room and close both holes behind me. An injured Kairos with his head in a cast sits on the throne.
“We are one step closer to destroying the wolves. The Poison has been activated.”
“How are you enjoying your new vessel?” Kairos painfully bellows.
“I’m getting used to it. She was easy to push out. The brother seems to have his suspicions.”
“Nothing to worry about. We’ll have control of Lykos soon. The brother won’t matter then.”
Chapter 3: Lykos Emergency Transmitter Network:
Emergency Transmitter Network:
The wolf soldiers at the Central Kingdom have been corrupted. -J
Safely evacuate the citizens to the Steps. I will be waiting for you here. What about Thea? -Unknown
She is different. Old motto from Kairos’ reign was spouted by her. Dad’s acting weird too. -J
Trust no one. -Unknown
Chapter 4: Spike: Spike's Twenty-Sixth Incarnation:
The elderly voice speaks to me in my dreams, Remember to always be a spike in his side. And never forget, I love you, my little Spi.
Spike Guerrero. My name is Spike Guerrero.
I’m Activated? Already. They would never activate me right away. Activation is like waking up from a nightmare. Before you were Activated as a Time Absorber, a sleeper agent of Tempus, you had no control over your body. You could see out of your eyes before they flipped the switch and you had thoughts, but you were basically a robot. A tool used to spy on others. When the Activation switch was flipped, you started to remember your past life times, you could see who you actually were as a Time Absorber, and you were finally conscious to the world around you. You were no longer trapped in the dreadful subconscious of data-collecting.
I’m in the same Venus, humanoid body I was in for my twenty-fifth incarnation. Flesh and bone, yet still alien underneath. Odd for Kairos, Avi, and the Time Keepers to put me on the same planet and body twice in a row. Every time I have been revived, it has been in a new body from one of the twenty four planets in our galaxy. Something is different this time around.
For starters, alarms are blaring throughout the Revival Building. I want to stab my ears so I don’t have to hear them.
Vakander shakes me violently, “C’mon, Spike. Shake it off. We have to run.”
His caramel hands slap my face until he realizes I’m fully awake. He wears a black trench coat with a white shirt underneath. His black slacks are wrapped tightly against his skin.
My blurry eyes allow the blank, white room to come into focus. Red flashing emergency lights strobe through the darkness. Operating artificial intelligence and needles full of serums in the ceiling look like octopuses swimming through the air. Templite medics lie dead on the ground. Blue blood coating the tiled floors. My reflection in the blood shows that I’ve been de-aged. I have to be at least twenty-four. Vakander sighs relieved that I’m awake. He drops to the floor, picks up a Soul Core - a cubic, metallic frame with a circular, iridescent core at the center meant to capture souls before they pass onto the Cataclysmic Realm – and he starts dragging me out of the room.
“We need to get you the fuck out of here.” Vakander pulls me into a bright white hallway rushing towards a glass window. I never liked bright lights. Curses to the fuckers who installed them. We run at an awkward speed. My legs are still partially asleep. He continues, “Avi will be here in no time. May kept him distracted.”
Templite guards step out of an elevator on the opposite side of the hallway.
Vakander shoots the glass in front of us. Glass shards raining everywhere. How pretty. Sparking fragments twinkle against the grey Tempus skyline.
The guards pull out their Pulse Blasters and fire rapidly. His leathery, burgundy wings sprout through the chaos. Vakander wraps his hands around me and jumps out the window. Immense winds toss us around like being on a first date with the wrong man. Or right man depending on how he performs.
We free fall towards Tempus’ cobble stone streets. Vakander opens his wings and we are lurched back up violently.
All of this maneuvering is making me queasy.
Below, May waits in a trapezoid-shaped Craft in front of the Revival Unit. I can see her yelling for us to “fucking move it” from the front windshield. We fly through the rear cargo door and buckle into the seats beside May. Inbetween the seats sits my Placenta Pod.
They got my Placenta Pod? A round, oval-shaped white pod that looks like a bean.
Kairos will no longer be able to track me. A contained elation bursts out as a laugh. Relief would soothe my soul if it weren’t for the hordes of Templite soldiers on our backs.
May rapidly takes off into the atmosphere. We leave behind the Hourglass Castle, the Revival Unit, and Tempus. My stomach rolls with unease.
“This is a nice way to wake up from being reincarnated.” I state frustrated, “Couldn’t have lubricated the experience before you fucked me?”
“Don’t say weird shit like that to us. This is the best we could do.” Vakander reminds me.
“I just spent the last thirty minutes fighting your fiancé.” May yells dodging Templite Crafts cutting us off from the front and sides. She continues while swerving down, around, shoots them out of the sky, and then back up, “Don’t give me any shit.”
May shifts the Craft into space mode. An oxygen preservation windshield covers the first one. Vakander and May press countless buttons. The Craft breaks through the outer layer of the grey, abysmal atmosphere and crosses into space.
Fifteen Disc-shaped Crafts, with a pilot pod in the middle, shoot lasers at the rear of our Craft. May releases her purple Betrayal Pulse mirroring the attacks back to the attackers. Vakander stares out the window and uses his infiltration powers forcing himself into the minds of every enemy pilot.
“Crash into each other,” He orders them. Within seconds, every enemy pilot’s eyes cloud with a white substance, and they collide into each other.
May opens multiple Pulses and flies through Limbo. The Craft bypasses Vakander’s armada surrounding the Neutralist and Scorned Planets and through random areas of space to avoid Time Keepers.
* * *
May places the Craft in autopilot the moment we are light years away from Tempus. Vakander infiltrates the Craft’s processing software, lulling it, “No one can see you,” and it camouflages itself.
“Thank you for helping me.” I tell them.
“Anything for you, Spike.” Vakander adds in a nonchalant tone.
“Kairos and Avi are going to come after us with an army,” I warn them.
“Our armies are keeping his men at bay.” Vakander explains, “If we had done nothing, if we had let you be controlled by Kairos, more planets and universes would suffer from the Cleansing. We had to get you away from that life of data collecting and resurrection. Whatever you do, you’re caught between two swords.”
“Getting caught between two swords doesn’t sound too bad.” I retort.
“Go get some rest.” May tells me, “We have work for you to do already. And this might be the last night you get good sleep.”
“I never sleep well anyway,” I add. Time Absorbing life is constant data collection. Even when I was sleeping my brain would be programmed to send information to Kairos through my Placenta Pod Data Link. “What happened to my Data Link? I don’t feel the connection to him anymore.”
“We severed it when we took the Placenta Pod from Tempus.” Vakander replies, “Kairos can no longer control you as long as we keep the Placenta Pod hidden.” He pauses, “Now, rest. We still have a long way to go before we’re safe. You can ask more questions when we get closer.”
Chapter 5: Thea: Dying on Lykos
The sword goes through my heart. My brother stabs Kairos with an ice scythe.
Moth wings beat clearly above me. But he’s a shadow. Pan? The Ethereal who died on Epsilon years ago. What is his soul doing here? If he was at peace it would’ve gone to the Cataclysm Realm. A hole in the universe seals behind him like flimsy, loose clothes threads getting sewed back together.
Avi discards my body once he sees Pan’s soul. Fires burn a quarter of our kingdom to the ground. Let’s hope the Step Islands can push them back. Time Keepers swarm Jimmy but he holds them off by skating on the ice. He refuses to shift in to his wolf form. An oversized tendril drops from the sky in the distance near the mountains and digs in to the ground. A purple liquid bubbles until it’s buried in the dirt. Red tendrils of power escape Avi sewing Kairos’ dismembered head to his body. Life resurges through the massive,dead wolf.
“You still fight?” Pan questions.
“I will not die here.” I bite back.
“Oh, but my dear, you are already dead.” Pan’s voice doused in fake pity, “My life force is the only thing keeping your body alive. Once my soul has melded with your body, you will transition in to the Cataclysm Realm.”
I will not die here. My kingdom needs me.
In the distance, My brother is swarmed by even more Time Keepers flying in on Pegasi. He is desperately trying to help Spike and me.
Avi and Kairos attack Spike from all angles, injuring him further. Jimmy loops and dives. He slashes down hordes of enemies all while screaming, “SPIKE. THEA. I’m coming! Just hold on.”
His screams tremble Lykos.
“SPIKE. THEA. I’m coming. Hold on!”
Kairos clamps Spike in his jaw and crushes his body in two. Avi catches both halves and restrains them with the help of other Time Keepers.
“Spike!” Jimmy breaks inside. He stops moving allowing all the Time Keepers to swarm him. Don’t give up Jimmy.
I’m not giving up. Jimmy Mind Links to me.
Jimmy traps the surrounding Time Keepers in a web of icy wrist restraints and starts Siphoning all of their energy. Avi opens a Pulse and carries Spike in to Limbo. Kairos turns to Jimmy preparing for one last fight. Kairos growls, “You know you can’t win.”
The portal closes behind Avi. Jimmy consumes the souls of all the Time Keepers for energy. A rare ability amongst wolves passed along generations through a mutated gene. The gene was given to the War Commander of Lykos to protect their home. This child has forever been named Soul Destroyer. The ability bars the soul from passing in to the Cataclysm Realm. It will forever be haunted living in the Fourth Dimension.
“Your brother is brave for going up against Kairos.” Pan commends him.
Kairos charges at Jimmy. Triangular blocks of ice spears impale Kairos. Gaping wounds drip pools of blood everywhere. The injured tyrant shoves the ice to the side and gallops towards Jimmy.
Jimmy’s fingers curl as he lures strands of blood from Kairos’s body. He freezes the strings and leashes Kairos in to one spot.
Blood ice spears blast Time Keepers out of the sky. Spirals upon spirals of blood spears twirl through randomly opening Pulses. The Pulses close as their owners are killed. Pegasi fly off abandoning their riders. Jimmy creates a bridge to Kairos’s face. His voice on the verge of being lost, “Don’t you ever come back to my fucking planet.” Jimmy plucks out both of Kairos’s eyes, “I will be reunited with Spike.” Jimmy twists Kairos’s jaw out of place, “And the next time I see you in the flesh, I will personally obliterate you from existence.”
Jimmy places his hand on Kairos and starts to steal his soul. Kairos lashes at his bloody leash.
The gaping fissures in the universe start to close.
Avi returns to Lykos. He uses the corpses sprawled on the floor to tie a separate leash on Kairos. Avi and Jimmy play a game of tug-o-war.
Pan’s soul consumes my body. My vision starts to blur…
“Let him go.” I yell to Jimmy.
Jimmy turns my way confused as he releases the leash, “Thea?”
“I’m fine. My regeneration powers healed me.”
I stare confused. I didn’t say that.
Avi retreats with Kairos and all his other Time Keepers. Avi nods in my direction before closing the portal.
The Mind Link between me and Jimmy severs.
0
Nov 24
Featured Book
Comments
No comments yet