The Third Key (GUARDING THE LIGHT) (5 page)

"Yeah...
yeah.
"
Jason
’s soft and hushed voice
wasn’t sounding clear
.

"Just
a ‘
Yeah
’?" Gunnar asked,
faking a
disappointed
tone
.
"W
hat’s
the matter
?
I
don’t feel like you’re
telling me everything.
"

"
Sumiko
is there
!
S
atisfied
?” The answer burst out of
Jason
.

“
Sumiko
?
Sumiko
who
?”

With
a tone in his
voice that
Gunnar
had
never heard before
,
Jason
spoke:

“
There is a g
irl
. She lives across the street,
at
that
Oriental
Villa
.
Her
father
used to
beat her
AND he
r mother. A
couple of months back
,
I
showed him how easily
a
person
can die and
scared him
half to death
....."

"
Okay that
I
understand.” Gunnar sat for a minute without saying anything. “No wonder this is hard for you.”
He paused again.
"
Having said that,
I’ll be
honest and direct with you, as always. If you go
,
you have
a chance to save her along
with the rest of us here on
Planet
Earth. If you don't
, you
’
ll
have to
watch her
and others suffering and dying in
the
most horrible ways!
It all ends for
us,
if you
don’t
stop that
Que
bec
demon
..."

"
It’s
Quabil
,
not Qu
ébec!
And
originally
from
Somalia, not
Canada"
, said
Jason
, trying
to be funny
and not doing it very well
.

"
Look
, my friend
.
Just go
! Go up there, take your powers back, do whatever it takes.
I will make sure
this
girl stays protected while you
are busy saving
our
asses...
"
Gunnar smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

Jason
sat
quietly
on th
e edge of a chair with a
n elbo
w on his knees, looking down at the
ground
. Gunnar
understood
what was going through his mind
.
The
Guardian
s
of
the
Light
had a fully different lif
e with great power and privilege, but they couldn’t really enjoy themselves in
femal
e company. Gunnar knew that.
They both knew
it,
and speaking about the ‘
elephant in the
room' was not
necessary
.

VII.

After a minute
Jason
stood up,
his eyes filled with pain.
The
future
seemed
very unsure and distant
.
This s
ublime duty
called out to
him
…
he had
to go
despite the cost
. If
not
,
the consequences
would
be horrific. He had seen
the horrors that
occurred
when demons invaded
Zeinn
,
a planet
popula
ted with
a
simple-minded humanoid race that surrendered
to
the
demonic
forces. But, i
f he did
accept
the p
osition of a
‘
Guardian of the Light
’
,
he had
to
be at
peace with
all of it.
That
would mean an entirely different future
. That
would mean losing
Sumiko
,
losing
the
Warrior Academy and friendship with Gunnar ……
practically
everything he loved and cared
for
right now
.
All for duty.

He placed his muscular hand on
Gunnar’s
shoulder, looked directly
into
his soul and smiled
:

“
It is
my
duty, I have to go. Thank you my friend. Thank you for everything.”
Gunnar could see
the
fire of determination burning in
the
eyes of his friend.

“Can
I do something, can I help?
Should I prepare a Jet,
gather a team … anything?
”
Gunnar
asked
intently.

“There are no Jets
flying
where I
have
go”,
smiled
Jason
.

“A f
ew things
only”, Jason continued.
“
Please
make sure
Sumiko
is O.K.”,
pointing
to the
window with his
finger
,
“
at
that Villa
. The f
ile on Matsu
moto and
everything about him you will find on
my
hard drive
,
you know the
password
.
”

“Matsu
…who?”
There were seriously too many new people in this conversation that he didn’t know about, Gunnar decided. He resolved to ask Jason about his double life, later.

“Her lunatic fa
ther. You know some
things about him
,
I
believe -
not an innocent guy
.
If
needed, call Ivan and hire five or six of his ex-
military
men
that I
trained. Be aware
that
Matsumoto is well
connected…
”

“
Don’t worry, what
else?”

“
T
he boys. T
ell Michael to take over the trainings and seminars
at the Warrior Academy
. Help him, s
e
e what’s
best
to do
…… those boys are great
, we shouldn’t leave them hanging”
.

“
Hey, it’s not over yet”, said Gunnar, wanting Jason to keep his eye on the future.
“
M
a
y
the
Lord
be
wit
h
you.
If I can help you in any way,
you know where to find me
.”

Jason smiled. “Of course I do
. B
e we
ll
,
my friend
,
and pray
- pray
with all
your
heart. You can also organize
the
group meditations and c
hanting of mantras as you did on the Solar
Eclipse. But
you would have t
o multiply the participants by a million at least”, Jason grinned, trying
to comfort Gunnar
before
taking off.

Jason’s eyes narrowed
as he turned away
, and the laser-like
determination was obvious
.
He took off his
clothes and Gunnar could see
a few
new bruise
s on his strong muscular body. W
earing
only
underwear,
he took the
diamond
position
, sitting on his knees
with arms resting on his lap. He
prepared to leave in his mind
.
Behind Jason’s determined eyes
,
Gunn
ar was able to recognize the sadness of his difficult decision, but it didn’t stop him. H
e started breathing
deeply in preparation
for another “quantum jump”.

Jason spoke calmly.
“Maybe
it
is best that you leave now.
Everyone on the Council and elsewhere are panicking (since those on the higher planets are panicking) –
we
’d
better not
risk you
get
ting
teleported wit
h me. I need you here
.
”

Gunnar
moved
toward the doors. B
efore he
reached them
,
an
explosion of golden light
blew
him
against the wall of the next
room
.
With a
fizzing sound
,
the
room
began vibrating, and o
nly
trained
reflexes saved
Gunner
from smashing his head
against the wall
. As
he regained his
balance
,
the
pressure
vanished
with
the
bright golden
light
.
It was dark, and the place on the
ground
next to
the
bookshelf
was
empty.

Part 2

Kailash
:
(Please Don’t Try This at Home)

VIII.

There
are many breath-taking places in this universe but there is only one Kailash.
It is not simple to describe a p
lanet where everything
resounds with spiritual power
.
It’s even more difficult to describe
the person
at the
center of that place
. Everything, simply everything there
is
structured
around
Durjay
. Over the centuries, different cultures have
given him
various names
that
display
his
good qualities
.
Durjay
or ‘
The
Unvanquished’ i
s
one of those names.

E
ven
the
most powerful personalities on
higher
planetary systems
offer him
respect.
His p
osition in
the
Council of Light
was one of the highest
,
and
not that long
ago
,
Jason
had been one of the rare souls
ignorant enough
to dare
to disrespect
him
. Normally
,
those
unfortunate souls
were
sent to
the
lower h
ellish regions of existe
nce;
Jason was one of the
very few
who had
managed to avoid
that destiny
.