Earthborn Alliance

by Matthew DeVore

  “But last time—”

  “I’m aware of what happened last time. Power is a dangerous thing left unchecked. You must master it.”

  Aleena sat on the ground and closed her eyes, focusing on the tiny spark inside her. Slowly she reached deeper and deeper until she felt the spark widen quickly. She snapped her eyes open, shutting it off.

  “No,” Aleena said. “I don’t—”

  “It’s all right, child. Try again.”

  She closed her eyes. This time she felt herself sinking toward the nozzle that would swallow her and spit her out into the ocean of power. Suddenly the spark opened, and she tumbled into an overwhelming sea.

  “Now shut it off.”

  Valaan’s voice sounded far away. She tried not to panic and began to creep her way back to the surface. The small spark reformed, and she opened her eyes.

  “What’d I do?” she asked, afraid some uncontrolled magic had wreaked havoc on her friends.

  A low rumbling chuckle came from Valaan. “Nothing happened. You did fine.”

  Aleena stood. “I’m done for now.”

  “Fine. Why don’t you join the others.”

  She squared off with Meghan and helped her with deflecting charge attacks. Over and over they drilled, Aleena teaching the girl to use her opponent’s momentum against them.

  After an hour and a half, Valaan stopped them. “Aleena, you and Ethan face off. The rest of you, back away and watch.”

  She moved to the center of the empty square and rolled her neck out.

  “Now, Ethan, before we begin, I want to show you two more things.” Valaan took up position next to Ethan. “Look at the ground under her feet.”

  She couldn’t help but look down as well.

  “Reach out and find the grass, its roots, and the dirt it’s anchored to. Can you feel it?”

  Ethan closed his eyes. “Yes, I can feel it.”

  “Good. Now make a decision. Either pull or push the matter out from under her.”

  The ground began to vibrate under her feet. She desperately wanted to step aside, just to irritate Ethan, but she didn’t. It’d ruin the point of the exercise, and she didn’t want to go into battle with a completely incompetent partner.

  Even still, a little banter wouldn’t hurt. “Is something supposed to be happening?” she said.

  “Shut up,” Ethan responded.

  She couldn’t help herself. “A little feisty today, huh?” She looked up at him across the grass. A tingle ran through her chest. Get a grip, girl. You’re mad, remember?

  Suddenly the ground rolled out from under her and she fell flat on her butt. “Oof.”

  “Great job,” Valaan told Ethan.

  Her rear still stung as she got back on her feet.

  “Now do it again with your eyes open,” Valaan instructed. “It won’t do you any good to close your eyes only to be jumped from the side.”

  Once again the dirt rolled out from her feet, knocking her to the ground. The grin on Ethan’s face was starting to annoy her.

  “Next I want you to imagine using the ground just in front of you as a barrier. Pull it straight up like this.” The earth directly in front of Valaan and Ethan as well as from the surrounding area rolled toward them and rose into a solid wall, hiding them from her view.

  “If anyone is standing close in front of you, the shift of the earth will plant them firmly on the ground.” Valaan collapsed the wall. “You try.”

  Ethan’s squinted at the ground. Nothing happened.

  After several minutes, Aleena got tired of watching. “Hey, Ethan,” she called out. “Catch.” Purple magic rolled down her arms concentrating, into a little sphere that shot at him.

  “Stop,” Ethan yelled, cheeks turning red. Tendrils shot out from the sphere forming as it approached him, but they crashed harmlessly into a wall of rock that swooped up from the ground.

  “Wonderful,” Valaan said from behind the wall.

  A moment later, the rock resettled into the earth.

  “You were going to let that thing hit me, weren’t you?” Ethan seethed.

  “Obviously,” she answered. “But it didn’t.”

  Suddenly she felt as if a rushing river of power crashed into her. Instead of pushing her back, it flowed straight to the spark inside her. She gasped and took a few steps back, then fell to her butt. It was intense and it felt… really, really good.

  She stood up and looked herself up and down. She could still feel it, flowing into her.

  “Are you all right?” Valaan asked.

  She looked across the square at him and smiled. “Oh yes. I feel… I feel amazing. I feel… powerful.”

  “Aleena, stop,” Valaan ordered.

  “Stop what? I didn’t do anything.”

  “Stop now.” Panic rose in his voice.

  She certainly didn’t understand. Whatever was happening to her was intoxicating. She felt invincible.

  “Aleena,” Ethan yelled.

  That caught her attention. There was something in the tone of his voice. She tilted her head, realizing he was concerned. That’s when she noticed she was glowing, radiating emerald green, like her armor.

  The euphoria began to fade, as did the light emanating from her. She could still feel the new flow of power, but it was quickly becoming background noise within her.

  “What were you doing?” Valaan asked, his voice still unsettled.

  She read his emotions, which matched his voice. “Nothing,” she replied. “I was just standing here. Then it felt like a rush of power poured into me.”

  Valaan took a few steps forward. “And now?”

  “It’s still there, just lessened.”

  “And how do you feel?”

  “Great.”

  Valaan eyed her suspiciously. “Let’s take a break.”

  Conner jogged over from the sideline. “Sweet. Allison’s waiting for me in the command center.”

  Aleena turned away to keep them from seeing her smile. She forced her face straight and turned back. “Ethan.”

  “What?” He didn’t use the friendliest tone. She could tell he wanted to accompany Conner.

  “Let’s take a look at the transmitter. The faster we get a message out, the more of a chance we’ll have that they get here in time.”

  “Provided they come at all,” Conner said.

  “They’ll come,” she assured them. “They have to.” She didn’t quite believe it herself, but they could all use the hope. And they had nothing to lose.

  “I think it’s a great idea,” Valaan offered. “After all, this is what we’ve been working for the past few months. This is our chance.”

  Ethan looked back and forth between Aleena and Conner. “Fine.”

  “Are you coming?” Aleena asked Valaan.

  The Elf glanced between her and Ethan. “I think you two can handle it.”

  “Are you sure? You said yourself that this is what we’ve been working toward.”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Suit yourself. Let’s get to it, then.” She reached out and grabbed Ethan’s hand, pulling him with her. Once they were out of sight, she dropped it.

  They walked in silence to Aleena’s room in the command center, where she grabbed the communications cube she’d extracted from the transport.

  The room was small and sparse, but somehow maintained the elegance of the Elven facility.

  Stepping in the hallway, they came face-to-face with Allison. Her face turned bright red. “How’d I know I’d find you here?”

  “Wait, no. This is just bad timing,” Ethan said.

  “Maybe for you,” Allison snapped, “but it was perfect for me.”

  “Yeah, well, I thought you were meeting Conner,” Ethan spat.

  Allison stamped her foot. “I am. And it’s none of your business. Clearly you don’t trust me. And you.” Allison glared at Aleena. “I thought we were friends.”

  “We are friends,” Aleena said sweetly. “I want nothing to do with His Majes
ty. It’s just business.” There was a tiny tug in her heart, the words stinging as she said them. I’m angry, she reminded herself.

  Allison’s expression softened a bit. “If you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment.” The girl stormed down the hallway.

  “She has terrible timing,” Ethan said angrily.

  “Hmm.” Aleena started walking down the hallway in the opposite direction, then looked back over her shoulder. “You coming?”

  She heard his footsteps rapidly slap the floor as he jogged to catch her.

  “I don’t want to be king,” Ethan told her. “I told you that already.”

  “Then don’t be,” Aleena said flatly.

  “It’s not that simple, Aleena.”

  “Sure it is. You’re the king. You can do whatever you want. Declare yourself not the king. Dissolve this stupid kingdom.”

  “But they need a leader. We can’t keep injecting instability into their government, especially when we need their help.”

  She didn’t bother answering. If he was going to be stubborn, so would she. In fact, she didn’t speak to him at all for the rest of the walk to the building containing the transmitter. He tried talking to her on several occasions, but she ignored him. He deserved it.

  At last they found themselves on the third floor of a towering building. The base of the transmitter was contained in a radiation-focusing housing, encased in transparent temperature- and impact-resistant Elven plastic. The material was hard as steel and could withstand temperatures approaching that of the interior of a star.

  The transmitter itself rose to the height of the building, in a shaft that opened to the outside at the top.

  “Whoa,” Ethan remarked, staring at the enormous amplifiers attached every twenty feet to the coiling transmission lines.

  The console was active, but several yellow lights were flashing on the control terminal’s surface. Aleena flipped through pages of text on the monitor built into the surface of a long, white workstation extending out from the transmitter, through the protective encasements, and into the room.

  After several minutes of reading, she finally felt like she had a grip on the situation. “There’s good news and bad news, but mostly bad news.”

  “What’s the bad news?” Ethan asked.

  “The terminal isn’t compatible with a transmission cube like this. Also, there isn’t enough power to send anything but a few sentences or less.”

  “And the good news?”

  “The cube can be manually inserted into the transmitter’s base.” She walked around the terminal to the transparent window and pointed at a small square-shaped hole at the bottom of the tower. “If we can get the ship’s transmission cube there, the transmitter will automatically send the most recent message.”

  “But?”

  “But we can’t enter the containment without shutting off the transmitter, and we can’t shut off the transmitter because there won’t be enough power to restart it.”

  “None of this is making me feel better,” Ethan said. “What else?”

  “That’s it. Isn’t that enough?” She moved to the corner, slid her back down the wall, and pulled her knees to her chest, staring at the transmitter. “It’s over, Ethan. We lost.”

  “No, we can’t lose. It can’t end like this. There has to be a way to defeat the Urlowens. If not this, then something else.”

  “You can’t always win. Trust me—I know.”

  Ethan joined her on the floor. “You know, the last time we sat like this….”

  “I know,” she said. “The hibernation chamber.”

  “I know I found you for a reason.”

  Twisting her head, she looked into his brown eyes, which sent warm tendrils through her body. Her lips felt like they might catch fire.

  “You’re blushing,” Ethan said.

  She whipped her head back to the front.

  “Look.” Ethan laid a hand on her knee. “We can do this. You can do this. The Alliance needs you. I need you.”

  Her chest exploded with heat, but she refused to let him see a reaction.

  Ethan stood up and took the cube off the control console, tossing it up and down in his hand. “You can move objects without touching them. I’ve seen you do it.”

  “Sure,” she replied. “It’s basic matter magic. You’ll probably be better at it than me once you get more practice.”

  “What if you teleported the block through the glass? Then you could just hover it right over to the port and plug it in.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I already told you how teleportation works. I can only teleport myself to one place, where my magic was anchored.” She sighed. “And that happens to be a tree stump in the middle of nowhere, remember?”

  “Then a portal,” Ethan suggested.

  Aleena laughed out loud. “Where do you come up with this stuff? A portal is basically the same thing as teleportation. Instantaneous transport from one place in space to another. Plus, it’s never been done.”

  “No, a portal’s different. You have to walk through a portal, or float something through it in this case.”

  She narrowed her eyes and glared. “It doesn’t matter. Neither will work.”

  “Why?”

  “Power, mostly,” Aleena said, very annoyed at the conversation. Let it go.

  “But you have power. More than you thought. Even Valaan doesn’t know what’s going on.”

  “And that is terrifying.”

  She looked up from her knees to find Ethan staring at her like he thought she could do anything. It made her a little uncomfortable, but strangely motivated at the same time. She hated letting him down.

  “You can do this. I know it,” Ethan assured her.

  “You don’t know anything,” she replied, reluctantly getting to her feet. It was crazy. It wasn’t going to work.

  But that look on his face made her want to try.

  She took the cube from him. “This isn’t going to work. And worse, what if something goes wrong? What if the power overwhelms me?”

  Ethan slid his hand into hers. “It won’t. I’ll be here to talk you down.”

  CHAPTER 21

  Aleena closed her eyes. The weight of the transmission cube in her hand disappeared as it rose above her palm and moved toward the containment barrier. She mentally moved through her magic’s core and into the sea of power hidden within its confines.

  Rather than falling through the turbulent ocean, she managed to maintain more control. She slowly slid into the depths and focused on where she wanted the cube to be. She could feel the transmitter’s radiation permeating the space behind the hardened plastic. As she focused, she felt the power slip from her to the cube.

  “Aleena.” Ethan’s voice was faint. “Aleena, open your eyes.”

  She swam toward the sound, the ocean drifting away, contracting back into the small spark in her chest.

  She opened her eyes. The cube was hovering on the opposite side of the barrier. Shocked, she lost focus and the cube dropped to floor with a clang.

  “That’s not possible,” she whispered, turning to face Ethan.

  He was absolutely beaming. “Told you, you could do it.”

  Every quippy response she would’ve thrown back at him was pushed aside by her utter surprise. “It just can’t be done.”

  “Why do you keep saying that? It’s right there.” He pointed enthusiastically to the cube on the ground. “Now come on. Put it in the socket.”

  “I….” She was frozen. How?

  “Fine, I’ll give it a shot,” Ethan said.

  She watched him as he contorted his face, wrinkles appearing on his forehead and his lips protruding in an awkward slant. She wasn’t sure how anyone could even make a face like that.

  Shakily, the cube rose from the floor and moved toward the slot on the transmitter. It bumped into the socket a few times, oriented in the wrong direction. Finally it rotated and slid into the port.

  The console beeped two times, and Ethan ran t
o it. “What does it say? Aleena, what does it say?”

  She joined Ethan and read the Elven script on the monitor.

  “Transmission sent.”

  “We did it! We sent a message to another planet. And you, you teleported that thing!”

  A smile crept across her face.

  “What happens now?” he asked. “Will they respond?”

  She shook her head. “Even if they do, we won’t know. That part of the system’s busted.”

  “Then we’ll just have to hope for the best.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “How do you stay so optimistic?”

  “How do you manage to stay so full of yourself?”

  “Excuse me?” She slapped his arm and walked toward the door.

  “I just meant you’re usually really confident,” she heard him call after her. “I said the wrong word. Aleena. Hey, Aleena, wait for me.”

  Not bothering to look back, she picked up her pace. Ugh, that boy. “Leave me alone, Your Highness,” she snapped.

  They were back outside before he caught up to her. “Aleena, please stop ignoring me,” Ethan begged. “I can’t stand having both of you mad at me.”

  “Then go beg her for forgiveness.” Please don’t go.

  “Fine,” Ethan retorted. “Have it your way. I wasn’t interested in you anyway.”

  It felt like a dagger had just been plunged into her heart. “And don’t come asking me for help the next time an Urlowen points a rifle at you,” she yelled after him as he stomped toward the command center.

  She needed to get away, and there was just one place she could think of.

  The village it is.

  Aleena had only returned to the Arc once in the past two days, and that was simply to retrieve her armor. She’d been furious with Ethan and didn’t particularly want to talk with him. She even skipped training, which annoyed Valaan a bit, but out of all of them, she needed the least amount. He’d get over it.

  She was staying with Louis and growing to like his small home. The scenery was to die for, after all.

  “Aleena?” the old man called from the living room.

  She rolled out of bed, pulled on her armor, and went to see what he wanted.

  “Coffee’s ready.”