The Chronicles of AzzaNation: Dawn of a New Age

by Matt Mihilewicz

  After Ravez made sure that all three of the brotherhood members saw him, and fully understood his capabilities, he continued his point.

  “Because whether you like it or not, you need me.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  L eo stood with Jacob and Diandra, hiding among the trees. In the distance, he could see the walls of Fort Koivisto, standing tall, creating a menacing presence. Under normal circumstances, he would be scared at the thought of trying to infiltrate a fortress like this. But he was feeling oddly confident. Jacob and Ravez had worked together the night before to figure out the best strategy for rescuing Zane. They had stuck with most of Jacob’s plan, and filled in the gaps with Ravez’s expertise.

  The mercenary would go in first. He would make himself invisible and sneak into the fort, disabling guards on watch as he did. His main objective would be to take control of the ELC cannon in the Fort’s main tower. Once Ravez was successful, he would signal Jacob to teleport the team in by using the cannon to blow up the barracks in the fort. Jacob would then teleport the rest of the group inside, while the soldiers were confused and unprepared.

  Leo’s mission was still finding Zane, but instead of looking around the entire fort aimlessly, Ravez’s raven Jynn was supposedly going to lead the speedster to the psychic. This part of the plan did raise some concerns. He didn’t understand how a bird was supposed to know where Zane was being held any better than he would. But Ravez assured him that Jynn would know the way, so Leo decided to give the mysterious man and his bird the benefit of the doubt. He would just have to trust Jynn to find Zane in time.

  To help give the two of them as much time as possible, Diandra, Jacob and Ravez would fight off the fort’s soldiers. By their last estimations, the fort had a few hundred soldiers garrisoned inside, so Leo would have to act fast, if he wanted any of them to survive the ordeal. As he looked out at the fort, he tried to psych himself up. The fate of the brotherhood and the entire planet rested on his ability to find Zane. More than that, he wanted his friends to survive. He would never forgive himself, if he was too slow and caused them to be captured or killed.

  It had been twenty minutes since Ravez left for the fort, and during that time, Jacob had his ELC pistol charged and ready. He never took his eyes off Koivisto. He was ready to teleport the second he saw the ELC cannon fire.

  Jynn squawked at Leo, getting the speedster’s attention. The raven was sitting on his shoulder, feeling right at home. Normally, a raven would have a hard time being with a stranger, but Jynn was no ordinary bird. Once again, when Leo’s gaze met Jynn’s he saw something inside the bird—something almost sentient. He double checked the color of the bird’s eyes, seeing if they were a shifter’s yellow…but it was not that simple.

  “Who are you?” asked Leo softly to Jynn, and the raven squawked in response, tilting his head to the side.

  Their interaction was suddenly broken by a loud and massive explosion coming from Fort Koivisto. They all turned and saw smoke rising from the interior. Ravez did it! He took control of the ELC cannon, and now it was their turn to do their part.

  They all grabbed onto Jacob, and in a flash, they were standing within the massive walls of Fort Koivisto. An alarm had been activated, which overtook all sound within the fort. Dead soldiers were lying on the ground—the ones that were still alive were confused, scared, or trying to regroup. Ravez kept up his barrage with the ELC cannon until a few soldiers started focusing their returning fire at his location.

  Jacob quickly grabbed Diandra and turned to Leo, “Hurry up and find Zane!” He yelled through the constant ringing of the alarm.

  Leo couldn’t actually hear Jacob, but he knew what he had to do just the same and turned to Jynn. The raven leapt from Leo’s arm and flew to a nearby doorway, which led into the interior structure of the fort. Leo matched the bird’s speed and they began their search for the psychic.

  As soon as the door was open, Jynn flew through the corridors with direct purpose and precision. He knew exactly where he was going, not having to backtrack or waste any time. Eventually, the bird stopped abruptly and looked back to Leo, signaling that it needed to land by flapping its wings, and the speedster held out his arm as a steady platform. Once perched safely, Jynn looked at Leo and then turned to face a nearby door. There was nothing significant about the door itself. It looked exactly like every other one they had passed in the fort, made of simple wood with an unassuming design…but something about Jynn’s demeanor told Leo that this is where they needed to be.

  The speedster gave Jynn a nod and the raven hopped onto Leo’s shoulder as they moved towards the door. Leo held his breath as he tried the handle, and let it out in relief as it opened.

  “Here we go buddy,” he whispered, mostly to himself. Everything up until that point had happened so fast, he barely had any time to take it all in. Here he was, infiltrating a royal compound, in search of a psychic who could help the Brotherhood of Light dethrone the king of AzzaNation. In his wildest dreams, he never would have placed himself in this situation, even a month ago, let alone as a kid—there was something about it all that was thrilling and surreal. It made the young man’s heart race, and he couldn’t help but smile.

  As the door opened, Jynn flew into Leo’s face, suddenly, knocking the speedster back. At first, Leo was annoyed at the raven. Why is he getting in my way? Thought Leo. But then he quickly understood as a high charged ELC blast shot through the doorframe, colliding with the stone wall of the corridor—evaporating parts of the stone where it struck.

  He peeked around the door and saw a set of stairs that led into a poorly lit dungeon. At the bottom of the stairs were two guards, each armed with an ELC rifle. As they spotted him, they let loose a shot to follow the first one. Leo ducked behind his cover once more, and looked to his feathered companion.

  “Thanks for saving me…” the bird tilted its head, looking at him. “I’m going to leave you here for a second okay?” Jynn hopped off his shoulder, and Leo stood up tall, taking out his own ELC pistol. The Brotherhood had been kind enough to give him one, but he had still hoped he would never have to use it. He moved its dial to a high stun setting and prepared to advance.

  He moved so fast that the guards were pushed back by a burst of wind. They didn’t catch on that he was behind them until it was too late. He raised his pistol and fired two quick shots, each one finding its target. Together, the two guards fell unconscious to the ground, leaving Leo alone in the room.

  He saw a table with a half-finished game of King’s Drop on it. But more important than an unfinished gambling match, he saw the prize of what they were guarding. A seven-foot-tall metal box stood in the center of the room. There were no windows or holes in the structure of the box, and only a small panel resided on the exterior. Leo assumed that this chamber held Zane within it, who was undoubtedly having his powers suppressed. The young speedster had never seen a prisoner box of this magnitude before, but he guessed that the panel on the front had to be a keypad, and he was hoping that one of the guards laying before him held that key.

  As he searched the guards, Jynn flew down the stairs and joined him. Leo barely noticed the bird, as he looked aggressively in the guards’ clothes to no avail. He searched the two of them and then the whole room over and over—but it was pointless, the key was not there. As he realized this, he tried his best to remain calm, but his heart was beating hard inside his chest, his breath sped up, and he began pacing around the room.

  “Oh Kahl, this is bad! This is so bad—what the hell am I going to do?”

  In his panic, he didn’t see Jynn fly from the ground on to the table with the guard’s game of King’s Drop still sprawled out. The raven landed on the flat surface and faced off against the prisoner box…

  The box began to shake, finally drawing Leo’s attention. The raven’s eyes had a light blue aura emanating from them, as Jynn never broke his focus for a second—he didn’t move, and never blinked. Leo didn’t know what he was watching, but he was s
lowly learning not to question the strange things he saw anymore—otherwise, he would spend his whole day living in paralyzing awe. He decided, for better or worse, to let the bird do what he had to, and hoped that whatever it was, it would end with Zane’s freedom.

  The box containing Zane began to shake more and more rapidly, and as it shook, it made the ground in the room shake with it. Leo didn’t know exactly what was happening, but he decided that his best course of action would be to get to cover. He ran to a set of boxes he saw in the corner of the room, and just as he was kneeling, the room began to shake uncontrollably—which made pieces of the ceiling fall throughout the area. Leo covered his head, with a piece of wood, and hoped that Jynn would be alright. He peeked out, trying to get a glance of what was happening, and saw the raven standing as confident and strong as ever—still faced off against the box. The room was falling apart around the bird but he stood his ground. Then, in a sudden and violent wave, the door to the box came flying off. Jynn flew up, just in time, and dodged the metal door in expert fashion.

  The shaking of the room had stopped suddenly, allowing Leo to come out from behind his cover. Jynn flew inside the box, and landed on the shoulder of a human man. Leo could see that the man was passed out, as he was forced to stand in an upright position. He had a boyish face, and looked to be around six-feet-tall. His untamed brown hair fell every which way on his head, covering part of his face as well. Jynn pressed his head against the head of the man, Leo could only assume was Zane, and the blue aura returned. This time, the aura was emanating from Jynn’s entire body—and moving, slowly towards the man’s own head. Eventually, the blueish light moved entirely from the bird, into Zane, and then after a few seconds of complete stillness in the room, the psychic opened his eyes.

  Zane looked at Jynn, still sitting on his shoulder, smiled and used a finger to pet the bird’s head.

  “Thank you, old friend.”

  The bird chirped, and flew off his shoulder, making its way to Leo. The speedster, flabbergasted at what he was witnessing, didn’t even see the raven land on his own shoulder.

  “Heya mate, how you doin?” said Zane, walking slowly out of the box. He took a couple moments to adjust to his body—shaking his limbs and stretching.

  “…I’m good?” said Leo, unsuccessfully trying to hide his confusion.

  “Oh Leo, you’re a funny duck, you know that?” replied Zane, with a quirky smile.

  “H-How do you know my name?”

  “Oh shit, I thought you realized,” said the psychic, who was now taking weapons off the guards. “I was using Jynn as a vessel ever since they captured me. They may take my body, but I’ll die before I let that piece of shit king have my mind.”

  Leo looked over at the bird who was making himself quite comfortable. The speedster took a moment to observe Jynn’s eyes, and found that the bird had lost the mysterious quality it had before. That meant that the presence he had felt before had to have been Zane’s own consciousness. Now that the psychic was in his own body, Jynn was back to being a normal—albeit, incredibly intelligent and loyal—raven.

  “Does he mind?”

  “Not at all, we actually had a pretty great time together.” Zane laughed and walked over to Leo, extending his hand. “My name is Zane, by the way, but you already knew that, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah…” Leo gave a soft chuckle, taking Zane’s hand. “And I guess you already know me.”

  “Well I know your name, but I don’t exactly know you.” Zane gave a big friendly smile and then pulled the speedster in for a hug. “But give me time my friend—I’m sure I will.”

  Returning Zane’s hug, a smile grew large on Leo’s face. He had just met the psychic and already he felt like they had a special bond. He had no idea what to expect from a ‘savior’, half expecting Zane to be arrogant or filled with narcissism, but the psychic was surprisingly humble while still being sure of himself. It gave him an air of confidence that was reassuring. The psychic’s energetic ways, yet calm and happy demeanor put Leo at ease.

  “Well as I understand it, Leo my man, we should probably be getting back to the others.”

  The speedster snapped back to the moment, and immediately felt bad about forgetting the others. They were still outside, fighting waves of royal soldiers, while he was admiring his new friend. He shook his head at his own carelessness and turned to leave, putting his mind back on the mission at hand—after all, they were far from being done. Leo turned to Zane, and together they ran out of the dungeon, and back into the interior of the fort.

  _________________________

  Jacob was having so much fun! He loved proving his skill against the Royal Army, because he thought they were just dumb, talentless zombies. They all gave up their souls when they joined the army, which made their fighting tactics sloppy and predictable.

  He laughed at the guards in the fort as he teleported from one to another, shooting his ELC pistol (set to the highest setting) at each one. The look they gave him was always the same. They would see him, take a second to realize he was the same man they were fighting, and by the time their expression changed from confusion to action, Jacob would shoot his pistol, vaporizing each guard unlucky enough to be caught by the attack.

  “Come in Jacob.” His comm system went off. Jacob sighed as he was forced to take a pause from schooling the royals.

  “Yes. Jacob here. Go ahead Leo.”

  “I got Zane! We’re coming up to you now.”

  Bummer, thought Jacob to himself. He hadn’t had fun like that in years.

  “Fantastic news Leo! Well Done. We’ll meet you in the courtyard.”

  He knew that Diandra and Ravez heard the conversation through the comm as well. Their mission was nearing its end, and it was going to be a success. That was two successful missions in a row for him. Not too bad at all! Things were looking up for him and the Brotherhood. Soon, Zane would defeat Grindaull, and they could finally get AzzaNation on a more peaceful track. But first they had to get out of the fort alive. One step at a time.

  “Diandra! Get to the extraction point. I’ll meet you there. Ravez. Lay down some covering fire.”

  A second later, both of them responded with their actions. Ravez started drawing the royals’ attention back to him in the tower, and Diandra dashed across the courtyard, firing energy blasts at soldiers as she ran past them. Once she made it to the fort’s inner wall, Jacob teleported to her, and as soon as he grabbed a hold of her—they were gone and in the woods.

  “Alright beautiful don’t run away on me,” said Jacob with his charming grin.

  “Just go get the others,” said Diandra, clearly not returning his flirtation.

  Jacob gave his patented laugh and teleported back inside the fort. When he returned to the courtyard, he saw Leo, Jynn, and a man who Jacob assumed was Zane already waiting for him. He moved towards them, as they ventured out of the fort’s doorway, and saw white for a second as a hard pain streaked across his chin. His sight quickly returned to normal, but it was filled with dirt and grass. He looked up and saw a royal female soldier with a stretched out arm like rubber coming towards him. Leo and Zane fired rounds from their ELCs but the royal maneuvered her body out of the way each time, folding it right and then left. She raced across the courtyard, barreling towards Jacob and let another punch fly, stretching her arm like elastic.

  Rather than fight the woman, Jacob teleported inside the fort, behind his friends. “Get in!” he yelled, and they quickly obliged. Once they were all behind the door, Jacob slammed it shut and broke off the handle with the blunt end of his ELC.

  “So, you must be our savior,” said Jacob, looking Zane over with a smile. “I’m Jacob—it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Jacob reached out his hand to the psychic, who looked scared yet amused.

  “The pleasure is all mine, mate,” replied Zane as he shook Jacob’s hand, “But if you wouldn’t mind waiting on the pleasantri—”

  As the psychic spoke, Jacob kept his
hold on Zane’s hand and grabbed Leo by the shoulder. A moment later, they teleported out of the fort and into the woods.

  Zane looked around in awe, admiring his new environment. “…Well, it appears that I am in your debt Jacob,” he said, right before he fell to his knees and began throwing up.

  “Hah! I guess the pukes affect psychics too! That’s so awesome!” giggled Jacob.

  “Yes, laugh at the man who’s going to kill Grindaull…Real smart Jacob,” said Diandra as she knelt beside Zane, trying to use her powers to ease his sickness.

  “Where’s Ravez?” asked Leo.

  Jacob looked around and realized that he forgot the sneak. He activated his comm, hoping Ravez was still okay, and not captured by the stretchy royal woman.

  “Come in Ravez.”

  “Hello.”

  “Ravez? You alright buddy?”

  “Jacob? Now that you mention it—I could use your help. I’ve been pinned down in the tower and I’m surrounded, so cloaking would be pointless.”

  “Alright buddy, just sit tight and I’ll be there in 3, 2, 1…”

  Jacob snapped his fingers for dramatic emphasis and teleported directly to the main tower. Except when he got there, it was empty. He tried using the comm, but all he got was static on the other end. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and alerted him to a presence behind him. He turned—hoping to see Ravez, but instead was greeted by the barrel of an ELC, and a second later, his vision was filled with the blue of an electric pulse—and everything went dark.

  _________________________

  Something’s wrong, thought Leo. He had been waiting for Jacob to teleport back with Ravez for ten minutes now, and they still hadn’t returned. Leo didn’t want to admit it but he had to face the very real possibility that Jacob and Ravez had been captured or killed.