Void Star (24 page)

     "The machine is dead," Raxus noted.

     "That's what this drive core is for. A jump-start."  Trevor said.

     Trevor ran to the middle and pulled up the access panel. He set the case next to it.

     Raxus watched as Trev struggled with the wiring. He looked like he was trying to find the power relay.

     "I don't understand why I wasn't shown how to do this," Trevor said angrily.

     Raxus finally understood his part. Scribes were also mechanical engineers. "Allow me."

     Trevor let the Eckelion get to work. Raxus scanned over the system and popped open the case. The little blue man hooked wires here and there. Then he disappeared below ground. Raxus panned through the system network and realized he had his work cut out for him.

     Trevor took his surroundings in. The metal disc tracks spiraled to a point in the ceiling as though it opened up from inside.

     That was when Trevor heard the faint clatter of metal on metal. There was a battle going outside the chamber. He wanted to go and help them, but the Void Star was whispering to him in his mind to wait. That it was almost over.

     "There we go." Raxus plugged the drive core into the main power relay.

     The large room shuddered violently like in an earthquake, nearly knocking them both off their feet.

     An electric bolt surged from the system, striking Raxus back. He took the overcharge to the chest but was otherwise unharmed. His robes were smoking at his breast. He shook it off and pulled himself together. He scaled the way back up.

     The metal discs above them rumbled grudgingly and then started to move. Mud dropped at points throughout the room, caked on from centuries of disuse.

     Trev opened his pack and brought the Void Star out. It was streaking alive with light.

     The discs were moving along their tracks much faster and speeding up.

     That was when Trevor realized the sounds from outside the chamber had ceased. He turned, and there was Nya.

     She had removed her helmet. Something had damaged it. She was sweating with a streak of blood across the good side of her face. Behind her was the fallen body of Dosh, he was bleeding out, weak and watching. Rooting him on with his eyes. Boost's figure was sparking and dismembered.

     "What we started that night ends now." Her voice was like rough sandpaper, as it truly was.

     "You always had to win."

     Trevor handed the star to Raxus, who ran off to the other side of the room with it. He hid behind one of the scary stone figures.

     Trev took a defensive fighting stance. "Ready?"

     Nya could only laugh at the unarmed young man. He had never learned how to fight. His weakness was one of his most charming aspects. And he was a blind man wearing a blind. Nya didn't even want to react to the insult that he remotely stood a chance here. She brought her diamond blade up and went after him.

     She swung the blade at his neck with her fastest strike. As it went to connect, he seemed to vanish. As she sensed him to her lower left, she struck again. Then he was at her right, rolling back. She dove at him again. He flipped over the attack, and suddenly, she felt his boot hitting the back of her head, sending her into the platform at the center of the room.

     She was vaguely aware of the discs spiraling around them now at insane speeds and the electric lights that were bursting to life all around them, sending sparks into the gathering ball of light in the middle. The temple was coming back to life.

     Nya searched around and saw him waiting for her. She circled around, looking for the perfect moment to strike.

     "I thought you were the best fighter in the universe, Render."

     "I am."

     "I doubt it. It's probably just another one of your acts. Spy. Crappy fighter. You probably use autopilot to do all those fancy maneuvers."

     "I loathed every minute I had to spend with you," she spat back.

     "I was going to call the relationship off when I thought you blew up. You were a terrible lover even when you had your looks." The statement was mostly true.

     She felt the scar that took up her face and screamed as she rolled forward. She gave the direct point of her blade all the force she could muster behind it to kill the insolent cretin. In a flash of movement, Trevor kicked the blade from her hands and used his other leg to kick her off her feet back toward the center platform. The sword spun out of both their reaches.

     "Render, what does that even mean?" He continued to move around her.

     "It was an old call sign from my training. What does it matter?"

     “I guess it doesn’t.”

     Nya didn't see the lights of the room and the spinning disc that were all feeding into an explosion of light. Nya was focused dead on him. She kept making fists and cracking her knuckles as she continued to size him up.

     "It’s just that I can't believe I wasted time mourning you. You are poison. I wish I had known who you really were."

     "We poisoned each other," she rasped, running a hand across her scarred neck.

     "That is how
you
would see it."

     Hand-to-hand, she came next. He ducked and weaved, avoiding every strike she tried. As she grew fatigued, he only seemed to become faster. He blocked, ducked, and dived into a spin to parry again. It was unbelievable with his eyes unseeing. Breaths were becoming harder to get as her oxygen feed had been broken by the weird robot.

     Meanwhile, the temple was erupting with activity. The ceiling rumbled to life. It spun within hidden tracks and opened slowly. The sky appeared above them. The afternoon sky was black and getting ever darker. The darkness was dividing into thousands of arms and then diving down from all corners of the galaxy at them. The only light came from within the temple.

     "It's time!" the little alien yelled. Everything was up and running.

     Nya almost went to punt the little thing, when her last strike caught air again. The diamond blade reappeared, skidding back between them. She saw the sword get kicked up and momentarily disappear. Then after a flash of movement she felt a pressure in her chest, sharp and deep.

     She looked down at her own sword. The one she had used to kill countless enemies of Ruvera, including Scott Andrews.

     "My father's soul can rest," Trevor said. He kicked her legs out, and she fell.

     She reached up to draw the sword out and then fell back. Struggled to gasp, she didn't get back up. She tried to find another breath, but death found her instead.

     The Eckelion handed the star back to Trevor. Above them, tentacles of darkness were reaching out for them.

     Trev threw the Void Star into the pulsing light. In the center of it all, there was an explosion. The container burst open. A shock wave of light burst from it, and then a streak of light exploded upward to meet the darkness. The two forces hit each other, and the shock reverberated out. It flickered into a myriad of colors.

     "Did it work?" Raxus asked.

     The Eckelion looked up and saw the darkness was still coming. It had slowed somewhat as though the light wasn't strong enough to battle it anymore. It was giving them time to do something, but what?

     The light in the center of the room turned a hot-blue hue. Raxus scrambled back from the heat. With his mouth agape, he watched an entity come from the blinding light. It was like something that resembled a blank spirit with indiscernible arms, legs, body, and head—the Avari from his vision. It was a creature born of light.

     In a soft voice, it said, "Now…we become one."

     The light creature entered Trevor's chest.

     Raxus watched as the human began to glow. Trevor looked down at his hands and saw they were bright with balls of energy flying around them. His eyes were aglow with unimaginable power, showing through his blind. They turned on Raxus. "Thank you for your help. It’s time for me to go."

     "You're leaving? What about everything we've all done? You have to stop the darkness."

     "And I will. This world is lost. I have to go back and make sure this dark future doesn't come to pass. That is the true purpose of the Void Star. If I succeed, everything will have a chance to go back to the way it was before the Dark One found a way into our world."

     The young man reached a hand up, and a portal opened within the energy beam in the middle.

     Raxus could see the black arms of death reaching down for them. He understood then that Trevor was right. There wasn't anyone left to save. They were all that remained.

     Just then, the ground stopped shaking. The lips of darkness were reaching from horizon to horizon and from the sky.

     Raxus didn't know what to say as the human jumped into the portal. It looked like he was ripped into a thousand pieces by the light, and then…he was gone.

     Darkness came suddenly and swallowed the walls.

     Moments before Raxus ceased to exist, he saw a black figure burst from the darkness. It was a beast made up of shadows. When it saw him, its mane of white hair appeared eerily human. The creature entered the light portal and disappeared inside as the portal closed.

     Then he and everything else was gone.

Epilogue

     Beams of light rushed past him. Clouds of energy and indiscernible colors washed over him. He was whole, and yet he was not. Trevor was a part of it, flowing along the seams of power, awash with a thousand unknowable things.

     He could feel familiar echoes all around, bits of pieces of the things he had known. His father was somewhere out there, telling him he was okay. A gruffer persona and lighter, fluffier one passed through to somewhere else.

     He could almost hear his uncle Nathan's voice. "You did it, kid. Now get ready for the next part." And then he was gone.

     The creature he was now a part of fed him strength. Whatever the thing was, it was the type of figure that led others.

     "I still don't understand what I'm supposed to do."

     Trevor became aware there were other beings of light around him. They gave out similar calls but different feelings. They hungered to find their own chosen one.

     Then he could hear the commanding voice within him communicate with the others.

     "I have the first. Now you must find the other ones we need," his creature of light said. "We'll all meet at the Origin. Be prepared, the Dark One has created a beast to hinder us. Hopefully, my friends, we will see each other again."

     One felt like it joked back; another answered angrily; and a third softly indicated it would miss them. Then, Trevor could feel the creatures leaving them. They were exiting the tunnel of light he was falling through. Then they were alone together.

     "Why aren't we going with them?" he asked the voice within.

     "A human cannot exit the stream from within. You have to wait until the door opens for you."

     "When is that?"

     A fourth creature of light interrupted them. Whatever it was saying was contrary to what the leader wanted.

     His creature spoke to this one too. "Why must you always fight me Mykia?  We Avari were created for this purpose. You are bound to the one known as Tyvella. I know you already feel him. You are united in spirit. You will meet up with him there on Earth at the correct moment, 513 years from where we just left. Then open the door for us on Vale before the rebellion begins. I will have a better plan then. Mind the timeline and beware the forces of the Dark One until we meet again."

     Trevor couldn't make out the thing's reply, but he could tell it was apprehensive whether it had chosen well. It disappeared too.  When he heard Rysta say ‘Tyvella’, it sounded like ‘Traveler’ in his mind.

     So they were going to Earth somewhere in the past?  The rebellion on Vale?  Rysta couldn’t be talking about the legendary fall of Vale, could he?

     "Well, we still have a long way to go. I will answer all your questions in time. I can see you are uncertain that your friends' sacrifices were for a purpose."

     Trevor couldn't hide his thoughts from this creature. Nathan, Kaida, Glade, Dosh, Raxus, and even Boost had all sacrificed for a cause they barely understood, for a cause he wasn't so clear about himself.

     "I cannot lie. I don't know how your choices will ultimately play out, but at least there will be a future to return to. But first, we must succeed in what we do next. Others like you must rise to the challenge. The Dark One will eventually find a way to reach backward in time to stop us. I will explain more as we go along."

     Trevor didn't want to ask any more questions for now. He was mentally exhausted. It had been a long journey since watching the ocean on the shores of Aquaria, running from the Ruveran Empire, escaping
Razerus
, almost dying from a parasite, avenging his father's death, and then going into a portal of light to who knew where. He wasn't ready to start thinking about the future depending on him.

     He merely floated through the ethereal plane, letting himself feel the rush of pulsing light and have his much-deserved rest. He had to prepare for the next leg of the journey, screaming backward through time to unite with the one known as the Traveler.

Acknowledgements

     Thank you all who support me, especially my wife Justine. Thanks Graphiczxdesigns, you did a fantastic cover. Createspace editor Lora, you were perfectly suited for the work you put into this manuscript. But the biggest thanks you goes to you reader. I hope you enjoyed the ride. Let me know your thoughts, especially if you saw something I can fix ([email protected]).

     Now, I look forward to completing the next leg of this adventure and many others with new heroes and new stories to tell. We’ll see what the future holds for this series and others I have in the works. Until then.