The Blurred Image, page 1
THE BLURRED IMAGE
CONNOR WHITELEY
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Copyright © 2023 CONNOR WHITELEY
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DEDICATION
Thank you to all my readers without you I couldn’t do what I love.
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
THE BLURRED IMAGE
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About the author:
OTHER SHORT STORIES BY CONNOR WHITELEY
Other books by Connor Whiteley:
THE BLURRED IMAGE
When her eyes opened, Jarire looked around constantly until she realised she was safe for a few moments. She had no idea what happened, where she was, all she knew was that her legs hurt.
Both of her legs pulsed crippling pain up into the rest of her body almost like she had been in some kind of accident or fire. She tried to remember what happened but she couldn’t.
Breathing in the cold stale air of the... she didn’t know where she was, all she knew was that the air was cold and stale like the enviro-systems had stopped working ages ago, so no fresh air would get to her.
Looking around in Jarire tried to look through the darkness but it was pitch black in here, she wouldn’t even see her own legs, let alone her own hand in front of her face.
Stretching out her arms Jarire tried to feel around her but everything was so smooth, so perfect. There wasn’t a single speck of dust, hair or blood on the walls or floor, the last detail was a relief. At least Jarire knew she wasn’t in some interrogation chamber of the traitor superhumans or Human Empire.
Jarire wanted to try and stand up but she could feel her legs pulsing and throbbing as the pain continued. As she reached down to her legs, Jarire felt something crispy and charred, it didn’t feel like flesh but Emperor it hurt!
As Jarire closed her bright green eyes, she forced herself to think about what had happened, she knew she was a soldier for the glorious Emperor but that was it. She couldn’t remember where she was from, where she was sent, if there was an attack, nothing.
But a strange blurred image of someone or something formed in her mind, it felt important but Jarire couldn’t understand it. It was like someone had taken a picture, an extremely important photo then blurred all of it. There was a single detail she could see, the background could have been red but that was useless.
The sounds of humming and banging echoed quietly around the room and Jarire nodded as she knew she was on a ship of some kind and the ship must have been firing their engines up. They were moving.
Jarire really hoped they were travelling to friendly territory, she didn’t want to fall into traitor hands, she was too important.
Jarire’s eyebrows rose as she tried to remember how she knew that, she didn’t know why she was so important, she just did.
Lights exploded on.
Jarire hissed as the bright white lights blinded her, she covered her eyes and she could feel her eyes violently react to the intense lights.
When she uncovered her eyes again, Jarire frowned when she saw a tall bald with dark skin wearing a heavy black armour. It was similar to the knights of Old Earth but this was a lot thicker, Jarire felt like she just knew who this person might be but she wasn’t sure.
But all Jarire could focus on for a moment was how beautiful this man was, she loved his smooth dark skin that highlighted his amazing cheekbones perfectly and those bright sapphire eyes were utterly stunning.
She wanted to kick herself for thinking like this, he could be an enemy for all she knew.
With the lights on, Jarire looked at her legs and her eyes widened as she stared at the twisted, smouldering remains of her legs. She had had no idea how they were damaged, her legs weren’t two sticks of flesh, they were one.
As Jarire kept staring at her charred legs that had been fused together and twisted into an unnatural shape, she couldn’t believe how this was happening. How could she not remember this!
Staring back at the man, Jarire smelt his earthy nutty aftershave and she cocked her head as she realised his eyes were pitying her.
“I’m glad they got you out, Jarire,” the man said, his voice smooth.
Jarire smiled at him. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
For a moment the man’s eyes widened in horror and sadness with tears filling his eyes, then he nodded and came to sit down next to her.
Jarire loved the feeling of his body warmth and metal armour press into her.
“I think you should know me since you married me,”
As soon as he said that, Jarire nodded as the memories of the massive military wedding, their children and their... passion flooded back to her.
“Jasonire,” she said, giving him a quick kiss. Loving how his soft lips felt on hers. “What happened?”
Jasonire laughed a little and shook his head.
“That’s what we need you for? We sent you in for a mission and an hour later you sent the nuclear distress signal,”
Jarire nodded as she remembered what he meant by nuclear distress signal. She still had no idea why she would use a distress signal had would make every single war capable vessel in the region come to her location.
The blurred image returned to her and something become a little clearer. The background was smooth, more defined, it looked like lava or something volcanic. Jarire didn’t know what it meant.
“What was the planet?” Jarire asked.
“Vulcanire. Next to our homeworld,”
She tried to think about the world and everything to do with it but there was nothing. Sure, Jarire knew it was a death world that some stupid companies had decided to set up mines on the world, to their peril and deaths. But there was-
Jarire remembered landing on the planet, her armoured feet crushing the black rough volcanic rock as she moved, the sound of her rebreather humming as it failed to stop the volcanic ash from filling her throat.
She was there.
“I remember getting on the planet. Why were we there? How many did I go with?”
Jasonire shrugged. “We don’t know. You told me you loved me and you’ll be back soon. A few minutes later you took out a squad and headed for the planet,”
Jarire laughed for a moment, she couldn’t remember why but she just knew it sounded like her. She loved serving the Emperor, even if it meant being impulsive.
“Why didn’t you come after me?” she asked.
Jasonire looked to the floor. “I wanted to. I really did. But the Captain-”
She placed a loving finger on her husband’s smooth dark lips as she understood, in the back of her mind she remembered something about a moany, moody captain.
“Is there anything you remember? A threat? A friend? The sound of screams, war cries, anything?”
“No, I don’t remember anything and...” Jarire’s eyes widened as she remembered. “Oh Emperor, forgive me for I have sinned,”
In her mind Jarire saw the blurred image clear to become a perfect image of a horrific warrior slaughtering her friends as lava and ash poured around them.
Jarire stared into her husband’s beautiful eyes.
“I remember. I remember everything,”
“What’s wrong?”
Jarire took a few deep breaths of the cold stale air.
“I need a direct line to Earth. It’s the beginning of the end,”
As Jarire and her husband to the bridge, Jarire explained what happened and how the Empire was going to die.
***
Breathing in the boiling hot air through her broken rebreather, Jarire coughed and choked and really hated this stupid rebreather mask on her face as she could feel the volcanic ash coating her throat.
Feeling her hard smooth gun in her hands, Jarire scanned the area, focusing on each of the massive volcanic rocks forms around them, forming a mini-crater. She hated it down here, Jarire didn’t want there to be an ambush but she knew that was a certainty at some point.
But she had to admit how beautiful and utterly stunning the bright orange lava was as it flowed out of the rock and formed vast rivers around them. That fact bought some comfort to her but not as much as she liked.
She knew if the enemy did attack from the rock forms, they would have to jump across the river of lava which wasn’t an easy feat but she knew superhuman Angels of Death, the superhumans soldiers designed by the Emperor himself, could do it.
Jarire hated the traitors and the traitor Superhumans with all of her heart but this was still strange. The distress signal from the planet was at this location but there wasn’t anyone here.
The sounds of volcanoes roaring and spitting out lava filled the air but Jarire knew there was another soun
With Jarire knowing she was just overreacting, she looked at each of her five squadmates, great warriors and loyal, loyal to a fault, each in their smooth black armour with their own guns.
They all nodded their respect to her and she nodded back before she looked up at the ash covered sky and wondered about her husband. She hoped he wouldn’t be mad or concerned too much about her, Jarire had sort of disappeared on him but someone was in trouble and she couldn’t let something happen to them.
Jarire smiled to herself as she padded a large light bulb-shaped object on her waist, that little object was all she ready needed. She only needed to press it and all the warships in the region of space would come running to her, she couldn’t believe how easy it was to borrow from one of the loyal Angels of Death.
Someone screamed.
Jarire spun around.
But when she looked at what had happened, her mouth dropped as she stared on the true horror of the universe, she stared into the cold hard eyes of the Lord of War.
The ultimate warrior of the Angels of Death, second only to the glorious Emperor for combat, Jarire hated to think of all the myths and legends around him, he had killed entire populations for fun.
She didn’t know why he’d turned traitor and was leading them, she didn’t care. He was a threat to her but she knew fighting him was certain death.
As she stared at the Lord of War in his immense black knight armour that covered all of his twisted muscles and five metre tall body, Jarire tried not to focus on the two massive axes in his hands but she couldn’t. The axes alone were twice the size of her.
But it was his horrific, scarred, sliced up face she knew she would never forget.
He charged.
Her friends attacked.
They bought her time.
Jarire ran back.
Whipping out the light bulb object.
She aimed it up.
The Lord of War attacked.
Slaughtering her friends.
Slicing through them.
Flesh splattered everywhere.
Blood splashed into the lava.
Steam hissed.
Bones shattered
Skulls smashed.
Jarire screamed.
She pressed the object
Nothing happened.
The Lord laughed.
It echoed around the mini-crater.
It deafened her.
She pressed it again.
Nothing.
Five shattered corpses laid at her feet.
The Lord smiled at her.
Jarire screamed again.
The Lord swung his axes.
He was scaring her.
It was working.
He flew at her.
She pointed the object at him.
She pressed it.
It fired.
A white fireball slammed into him.
The blast blinded Jarire for a moment.
Throwing her back.
The Lord screamed.
Jarire blinked.
A bright white fireball engulfed the Lord.
He was screaming.
Tech on her armour hissed.
The signal was sent.
Help was coming.
An axe slammed into her legs.
Jarire screamed.
The lava roared.
More lava poured out.
The lava busted its banks.
The lava was coming for her.
The Lord kicked her.
Knocking her to the lava.
The lava coated her legs.
She screamed in agony.
She smelt her flesh cook.
The Lord laughed.
Raising his axes.
Gunships approached.
Jarire couldn’t see them.
She knew they were coming but when she expected the axes to come down and slaughter her, they didn’t.
Through the crippling agony she looked around but she didn’t see the Lord of War, she didn’t see anything else as her body shut down and darkness claimed her.
***
With the message sent and the Emperor’s Council fully aware that the Lord of War was alive and well, Jarire allowed herself to rest on the bright white hospital sheets of her bed.
She never quite understood why hospital beds (even ones on ships) were so uncomfortable but she couldn’t care less after today.
The smell of sweet nutty chemicals and cleaners, that reminded her of delicious sweet caramelised nuts in winter, gave Jarire a tiny bit of comfort but as she stared at the bright white walls and ceiling, she couldn’t help but focus on the image inside her mind. She had seen the Lord of War shatter her friend’s bodies and escape.
She still didn’t know how she felt about that but the traitors were coming, she knew that, everyone in the Empire knew that by now.
In truth, Jarire didn’t know what she was more concerned about, the death of her friends or that the best warrior (second to the Emperor) had returned to the Empire and was actively killing and probably scheming again.
Jarire could hear the doctors whispering outside and she hated the doctor’s advice about resting, there was a war coming that she needed to help with, she didn’t want to see her Empire burn by some crazy superhuman. She needed to help.
Raising her head slightly, her eyes narrowed as she stared at the black metal spider legs that had been fused to her upper body, she smiled as she stared at them.
Jarire remembered the doctors giving her some choices of normal legs but she had always loved the sight of seeing the Angels of Death with spider legs after they were paralysed in battle. And considering the war ahead, she wanted to use every single advantage she could, be it psychological or physiological.
As she stared up at the smooth white ceiling, Jarire focused on the image in her mind and made sure she remembered that deranged, sliced up face of the Lord of War. In that moment she promised herself to find and kill him, she would avenge the death of her friends no matter the cost.
But as her beautiful husband with his stunning bald head, bright sapphire eyes and beautiful dark skin walked in and kissed her hand, she knew that was all tomorrow’s problem.
For now she had to live, heal and love her husband but there would be a time for vengeance. It just wasn’t today.
GET YOUR FREE AND EXCLUSIVE SHORT STORY NOW! LEARN ABOUT NEMESIO’S PAST!
https://www.subscribepage.com/fireheart
Keep up to date with exclusive deals on Connor Whiteley's Books, as well as the latest news about new releases and so much more!
Sign up for the Grab a Book and Chill Monthly newsletter, and you’ll get one FREE ebook just for signing up: Agents of The Emperor Collection.
Sign Up Now!
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/f4p5xkprbk
About the author:
Connor Whiteley is the author of over 60 books in the sci-fi fantasy, nonfiction psychology and books for writer’s genre and he is a Human Branding Speaker and Consultant.
He is a passionate warhammer 40,000 reader, psychology student and author.
Who narrates his own audiobooks and he hosts The Psychology World Podcast.
All whilst studying Psychology at the University of Kent, England.
Also, he was a former Explorer Scout where he gave a speech to the Maltese President in August 2018 and he attended Prince Charles’ 70th Birthday Party at Buckingham Palace in May 2018.
Plus, he is a self-confessed coffee lover!
OTHER SHORT STORIES BY CONNOR WHITELEY
Mystery Short Stories:
A Smokey Way To Go
A Spicy Way To GO
A Marketing Way To Go
A Missing Way To Go
A Showering Way To Go
Poison In The Candy Cane
Christmas Innocence
You Better Watch Out
Christmas Theft
Trouble In Christmas
Smell of The Lake
Problem In A Car
Theft, Past and Team
Embezzler In The Room
A Strange Way To Go
A Horrible Way To Go
Ann Awful Way To Go
An Old Way To Go
A Fishy Way To Go
A Pointy Way To Go
A High Way To Go
