The Guardian (Coranite Chronicles) (35 page)

“Yeah, yeah,” the other Sorren replied, yawning. “I know. He’s important. But…let’s say he dies—by accident, of course—”

“Don’t even joke about it,” Sorren growled.

Sorren leaped into the air. His whole body looked like it was suddenly sucked into a tiny black hole. And then…he was gone—leaving the other Sorren and Kite to deal with the spirit assassins.

CHAPTER 28

Destruction

Frustrated and scared, Darek kept jerking his head back, but he still couldn’t get his head out. Instinctively, he pushed his hands up against the sphere. Using his arms as support, he was able to finally pull his head out. Darek breathed a quick sigh of relief…until he noticed his hands were now stuck inside the sphere. Nervous, he gave his arms a little tug. Yup, it was really stuck.

He glanced around the room. Freddie was sitting on the windowsill, watching the sky. Slade was leaning against the door, listening for footsteps.

“Hey,” Darek said. “A little help!”

Slade and Freddie turned their heads to look.

Slade asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m stuck! Can’t seem to pull my arms out of this thing!”

“You serious?” asked Slade.

“Really? That’s never happened to me before,” said Freddie.

Slade strode over to him. “Here.” Slade held onto Darek’s forearm and pulled. It wouldn’t budge. Slade called out, “What are you waiting for Freddie? Give me a hand!”

“On my way.” Freddie leaped off the window and pulled on Darek’s other arm. He couldn’t get it to move at all. “Wow, this is really stuck. How’d this happen?”

“I-I don’t know! I didn’t do anything!” Darek exclaimed.

His eyes widened at the sight of the sphere shining more radiantly than before.

“What’s happening?” Slade asked, shielding his eyes from the light.

“I’ve never seen this before,” said Freddie, as he gazed at it. The light reflected off his eyes and mesmerized him. He grinned. “It’s beautiful—”

“UGH!” Darek’s head flew back. “AAAARGH!” He grimaced. “HELP! HELP ME! GET ME OUT!” He struggled more wildly now, throwing his shoulders back and jerking his elbows. “HELP! SLADE! HELP ME!”

Slade grabbed his shoulder and asked, “Darek! What’s wrong?”

Darek slowly looked down at his arms. Blue vein-like markings crawled up his skin.

“What
is
this? What’s happening to me? WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME?”

A bright blue beam of light burst out from the top of the sphere and shot upward. The ceiling shattered and fell apart. Slade looked up at the beam. The ray stretched to the sky. He gawked at it. The light seemed to be opening up a massive hole in the sky. And through that hole…Slade saw stars and space. Their universe.

“I can’t believe it. Darek, look!” Grinning happily, Slade shook Darek’s shoulder. “The sky! It’s opening! Do you see it? I don’t know what’s going on. But look at that! Home! We can go home! If we could just fly out of here…” He turned to Darek, expecting to see some excitement or hope. But Darek would not tear his eyes away from the strange blue veins emerging along his arms. Darek cried out. Slade lost his grin.

“I-I can hear…” Darek broke off, sounding frightened.

“What?” Slade asked.

Darek’s eyes widened. “I can hear…voices in my head.”

“Chrovel?”

“No—not him. He’s been sleeping to keep me alive. I’m hearing other voices.”

Slade didn’t know what to make of it. “What kind of voices?”

“I don’t know!” Darek shouted. “There are just hundreds—no, thousands of voices all screaming in my head! And it feels strange…” His voice trailed off. “Like energy is flowing into me. And I can’t stop it! It just keeps flowing!”

“Don’t worry,” said Slade. “Maybe it’ll just stamp some blue veiny tattoos, let you go and then we’ll be on our way home!”

Darek shook his head. “What if it won’t let me go?”

“I’ll drag you out of here myself—without your arms, if I must!”

Darek frowned. “B-but I like my arms. I’d like to keep them.”

“That’s just a worst-case scenario.”

“That’s not making me feel any better,” said Darek weakly.

“Come on, Darek,” Slade snapped. “Now’s not the time to break, man. Worst time to break. I know things are looking bad, but you got to stay hopeful and optimistic.”

“Y-yeah.” Darek nodded. “I-I’ll try.”

“All right,” said Slade. “Let’s think about this. Freddie, what do you suggest?”

Freddie scratched his head. “We could just keep pulling.”

Slade chewed his lip. “Okay, that’s…really all we can do I guess.”

Slade grabbed one of Darek’s arms. Freddie grabbed the other. They tugged and they yanked. Then they pulled and pulled some more. They kept at it for a while. And the more they pulled, the more Darek realized there was nothing that could be done.

“Forget it,” said Darek. “Just go. This isn’t working.”

Slade laughed. “Remember that time when I told you to abandon me and you told me you’d rather die?”

Darek smirked. “Yeah, but I still had to say it. It’s just one of those moments.”

While Slade continued to pull on Darek’s arm, he noticed the area around him getting noticeably darker. A great shadow covered over them. Slade slowly turned his head around.

“Is it time?” said a mysterious voice.

Darek tried to look over his shoulder but he couldn’t get a good view behind him.

Slade gulped. “A Coranite! They’re already here!” Slade glanced at Freddie. “Looks like we’ll have to fight!”

“Yeah, it’s time.” Freddie grinned. “The boy can’t do anything to stop it.”

Slade raised a brow. “What? What are you talking about?”

Freddie said to the Coranite, “But don’t kill them. Not until we get back our brethren.” He gestured to Slade. “We can use this guy as a hostage. Restrain him.”

Slade glared at Freddie. “I’m not sure if I want to know. But I’ll ask anyway. What’s the meaning of this?”

“Yes, it’s quite a simple situation to understand.” Freddie snickered. “Or do you want me to just admit it? That’s easy enough. Yes, I tricked you two into coming here.”

“So, everything about you being human…was a lie?”

“Not everything,” said Freddie. “This body, you see, belonged to a human before I possessed him. His life, his family, and his memories—those were real…and I stole them.” He placed his hand over his heart. “But you know, after all that time we spent together, I think that whatever remained of his soul was even starting to like you!” Freddie sneered. “Does that make you feel better? Do you feel joy in knowing that dead man likes you?”

“Why go through so much trouble for a couple of humans?” asked Slade. “You could’ve just killed us on the spot. You didn’t need to corner us.”

Freddie laughed. “It seems to me you don’t have a clue about what’s happening right now.” He pointed to the sphere. “With this eye you can see everything in the physical realm. It is because it is deeply connected to it. In fact, it is so deeply connected that we have found a way to use it to communicate with our brethren. It was clear to us…that it could be used for something much more than just communication.”

Slade looked confused.

“You still don’t understand? Well, perhaps Darek would understand better,” said Freddie. “This sphere is a direct connection to the greater spirits trapped inside the cores of planets in the physical realm. For years we have been waiting for the arrival of a human—a human with enough spiritual power to survive in this realm. It is in the prophecies of both the Guardians and the Coranites. The key to destruction. Darek is that key.” Freddie smiled widely. “At this moment…his hands are reaching out to the spirits—drawing them in.”

“Drawing them in…” Darek trembled. “No. You don’t mean…like Chrovel. Then these voices—”

“They’re not your imagination,” said Freddie, laughing louder. “There’s a reason why only you can hear them. And that’s because thousands of spirits have already flowed into your body! Really, it’s quite amazing. You are freeing everyone—both Coranites and Guardians—from the cores of the planets! The Coranites will rise again—by YOUR HANDS!”

Darek screamed.

“And that’s not even the half of it!” Freddie said, looking up at the hole in the sky. “By causing such a tear in the barrier between the realms, we are now free! The other realm is ours for the taking! We can exact our revenge against the humans for casting us into this hell!”

“Revenge, revenge,” said another voice. “Is that all you guys think about?”

Freddie looked around but didn’t see anyone. “Who’s there?”

Slade noticed the whole room was getting visibly darker. Then a huge shadow hung over them. He turned around. Giant black wings, like that of a bird, sprouted out of Darek’s back. At first, Slade thought that those wings were actually part of his back. Then the wings folded and transformed into a man. Sorren had appeared.

“Then again,” Sorren continued, “it’s all I think about too.”

“Sorren!” Darek exclaimed. “But how? How did you get here so quickly?”

“I’ve been hanging on your back this whole time,” said Sorren.

“What?”

“When we met in Lacuna I imprinted a huge portion of my spirit on your back so I could reach you at any time. It was a risky gamble. Made me much weaker. Gave me a lot of trouble.”

“If it isn’t Sorren, the outcast,” said Freddie, glaring at him. “You have no place in this realm—you who are scorned by Guardians and Coranites alike.” Freddie cackled. “What did you come here for? Did you come to protect these humans?”

Sorren growled, “Two thousand years ago…I betrayed the trust of my two best friends, who were human
.
One of them sacrificed his life to save mine, though I should’ve died for what I did. And the other wanted to kill me. On that day I swore…”

Freddie howled in laughter. “What? To never let that happen again?”

Clenching his fist, Sorren spat, “No, I swore to destroy you all! You Coranites tricked me! Vallos tricked me! You killed my friends! You destroyed the world I loved!” The tower began to shake. A black smoke rose up around Sorren.

Sorren threw his hand up. A long black shadow stretched over his arm. The shadow grew into the shape of a giant double-edged blade. He swung his hand around, wielding the huge shadow like a sharp sword.

Sorren charged at Freddie. Freddie didn’t have time to escape. The dark blade of energy plunged straight through. Sorren ripped the blade out. Then small crystals formed over Freddie’s body until he was completely covered—the death of a greater spirit.

“Protecting these humans is just icing on the cake,” said Sorren, licking his lips. “My real reason for coming here is to see how many of you Coranites I can send to your eternal death!”

Flames of fire erupted on the candles surrounding them. A powerful gust of wind came in through the window. Shadows danced along the walls. Electricity flashed across like lightning.

Sorren spun around, keeping his stance low. Slade blinked. Coranites emerged all around them. They were surrounded by Coranites of various shapes and sizes, about fifty of them. Most of them were very large and looked hungry…for blood.

A gangling Coranite squatted on the windowsill and hissed, “You will die here, Sorren! There’s no escape!”

“You were given the duty to watch and protect the people,” Sorren snarled. “Instead, you slaughtered them, possessed them and made them your slaves! I will show no mercy to you—you who cannot be forgiven!”

Sorren rushed into the crowd, slashing away.

“How is this possible?” A Coranite shouted, unable to push Sorren back. “He has gotten stronger!”

Sorren pierced through him with his blade and smiled.

“Have you forgotten why Vallos feared me so? I am the bane of Coranites! Your death brings me life!”

Slade stood by Darek. “How are you holding up?”

Darek replied, “I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt as much anymore. But these voices are getting annoying. I can’t imagine how many there are.” Darek grimaced. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Are they giving you trouble?”

“Not much,” said Darek. “I hear fighting.”

Slade raised a brow. “Obviously.”

“No,” said Darek. “I’m not talking about Sorren.”

“What?”

“Inside my soul…there’s fighting,” Darek explained. “Chrovel told me that inside the cores of planets, there are both Guardians and Coranites. I’m absorbing both. No doubt there’s a war going on inside. I think I’ll be okay. The Guardians seem to be suppressing the Coranites quite easily.”

“Good,” said Slade. “Then the only thing we have to worry about is how to get out of here. I’ve got your back.” He watched as Sorren slashed through another Coranite. “But man, that guy is amazing! We’d have trouble with a single Coranite. But he’s holding off ten of them at a time!”

“Yeah,” said Darek. “I remember now why I was so afraid of him when he tried to kill me in the castle. His power is unreal.”