Drew’s eyelids fluttered. “Hi, J…Jaxx.” He took in a deep breath and his eyes shot wide, his mouth screwing up in pain. “It…hurts. It feels like…my stomach…is rotting away or…burning up. One of the two. I can’t figure…out which.”
“Yeah —”
Puckchrrrrr!
A loud sound interrupted Jaxx and he spun around to see what it was. Outside the craft, a ship was descending. Flames shot out of the ship’s belly and the ship hovered lower and lower. It clanked loudly when it landed. Its engines came to a slow, but gradual halt.
A United States flag was stamped on the outside cabin. The doors opened and out stepped a large Marine, cap on, muscles bulging. The guy didn’t look happy.
5
South of Whitefish, Montana
Drew wanted to die.
Crap. He couldn’t, though. He was supposed to rule over something, according to Mya. Rule over what? That part was still unclear.
By this time tomorrow, he’d no doubt be dead. In that sorry state, he’d be ruling over a gravestone and some dirt, which probably wasn’t what Mya had in mind.
Drew heard a craft land. Jaxx dashed toward the end of the ramp, surprise in his eyes.
But everything was a blur. And, hell, of all things, he was even hallucinating a boy named Damion.
Or was this the boy Mya was looking for? Was Damion real? He attempted to shrug, but pain soared through him just by thinking of lifting his shoulders.
Drew blinked several times, then yawned. He lurched forward, gripping his tensed stomach.
Don’t yawn. Bad idea.
Megan tapped him on his cheek bone, taking him out of his drawn-out stupor and his cringing pain. “Yes?” he said. His face slackened when he saw worry written all over her face.
Yeah, he got it, he understood what was happening to him, but until he saw that look in Megan’s eyes, it hadn’t fully sunk in — he was a goner, soon to be another victim in this drawn-out alien bullshit war.
“Jaxx,” said Drew in a drunken tone. “Get back in here. We have to fix…we have to fix me.”
Jaxx continued his long stare outside, ignoring Drew. He ducked his head back in. “A Marine is coming our way.”
Mya perked up, her mouth slipping into a giant smile. “Dad?” She rushed to Jaxx’s side. Her hands went up in excitement. She jumped off of the ramp, disappearing from view, only to appear in Master Sergeant Angel Segarra’s arms a few moments later as he stepped onto the ramp. She was hugging her father, kissing his cheek several times.
His serious expression changed and he laughed, giving her a kiss, his smile fading when he saw Drew. He let Mya down. “What’s happened?”
“I was shot.” Drew touched his belly for emphasis.
Segarra’s face hardened. “Those pieces of shits.”
Drew slowly shook his head, letting out a giggle, his drunken voice trailing on. “No, no, no. The funny part about this is that it was a human who shot me, not an Agadon.”
Segarra crossed his arms. “What the hell?” He leaned into his shoulder mic. “Do we have a doctor on board?”
“Negative, sir,” came the reply. “Where we’re headed, there are several doctors.”
Segarra nodded in agreement. “Perfect.” He looked Jaxx up and down, Jaxx doing the same to him. Two equal bad-asses knowing each one could fuck the other up. “Who are you?”
“Kaden Jaxx. I’m here —”
“To save the world,” Mya butted in.
Segarra looked Jaxx up and down again, then took a step away from him and toward his craft. “Alright. Follow us. We’re heading to Denver.”
“Denver?” inquired Jaxx. “What for?”
“That’s where a huge standoff is taking place between my guys…” he thumbed over his shoulder, gesturing to the carnage in the city. “…and the assholes who did that. There will be plenty of medical help there. We’ll guide you to the base.”
Jaxx shifted on his feet, standing more erect. “Not with these children on board.”
“Excuse me, Sir?” responded Segarra.
Jaxx cocked his head to the side, motioning toward Damion. “They aren’t going anywhere near the combat hotspots. Understand?”
Segarra’s face contorted. He took a step toward Jaxx, pressing his finger on his chest. Jaxx didn’t budge. “You listen to me and you listen well. I’m in charge of the United States defense against these blue sons of bitches. My daughter can take an entire regiment out in seconds and you think we should just leave her someplace nice and rosey-like so thousands more of my men and women can die?”
Jaxx stepped into Segarra’s finger. “The kids are important to ridding the entire planet of the Agadon. If we don’t keep these two kids safe, then not just thousands, but millions and even billions more will die.”
Segarra’s nostrils flared. “Billions already have.”
“Listen chief, I —”
“Stop,” yelled Mya. “We are going, Jaxx. There is a third child in Denver that can help us.”
Damion stood, crossing his arms like Segarra. “She’s right. I feel the child too. It’s a girl.”
Drew raised his shaking hand, dried blood caked on his palm. “I have a suggestion. Let’s get this bullet out of my six-pack abs and save the world afterwards?” He paused, a sting of agony running up to his throat. It subsided quickly. “And, Jaxx, please trust Mya.”
Jaxx balled up his hands. “No. They are too important. We’re not moving until I can find a safe refuge for them.”
Pfffshhhhhhh!
The ramp hissed and started to close, jostling Jaxx and pushing him into the cabin. Segarra jumped back onto the ground outside and out of the way, nearly losing his balance.
Drew’s eyebrows squished closer together. “What’s —” A ball of pain jumped in his stomach, slamming into his innards. He leaned forward, clutching his belly. Damn, it hurt. There was no way he was going to make it if they don’t find a doctor right away. Maybe he could make the flight, but not much longer after that. “What’s going on?”
Megan was in the cockpit. Her hand was on a button, giving Jaxx an incredulous stare. How did she know the exact button to press? Her voice was low, but powerful. “You are forgetting your nephew. We need to find him a hospital right away.”
Jaxx gasped. Drew could tell Jaxx knew Megan was right. “I’m sorry, Drew.” Jaxx let out a loud breath. “We’ll deal with my issue when we get you fixed up.” He walked by Drew and touched his nephew on the top of the head. “Everyone. Strap in.”
Jaxx sat at the cockpit seat and eyed the control panel for a moment. “These are written in English?”
Damion gave a curt laugh. “Don’t you know the craft adapts to you? Not the other way around?”
Megan got behind Drew and wheeled him forward next to her seat. She locked the wheelchair in place with its brakes. She sat, holding on to his arm rest. She patted his forearm. “We’ll get you the help you need.”
Drew knew he wasn’t a doctor but he could see that he was bleeding internally. It hurt like hell and he could see his stomach bulging. It was puffing out far too much, creating a sack-like substance in his lower abdomen. “I don’t think I’ll make it.”
“Going up,” yelled Jaxx, taking a look over his shoulder, making sure everyone was strapped in. “We’ll follow your dad, Mya.”
Mya gave a thumbs up. “We’ll be fine, Jaxx. Trust me. Okay?”
Jaxx didn’t respond and the craft vibrated, then lifted off the ground. “Next stop,” said Jaxx, “Denver.”
6
Nearing Rock Springs, Wyoming
Jaxx followed Segarra’s Marine ship — a craft with a wide cabin, twice the size of a 747 cruise liner in width, but the length of a small puddle jumper, fifty-passenger jet. It had several cannons under the long, wide, drawn-back wings, and was painted in camouflage. Much different than the more rounded Agadon flying transport Jaxx was in right now.
They flew low, giving Jaxx an altimeter reading of one-thousand
feet. The terrain below was dry, brown, and flat with some hills in the distance. They were coming up on a vast city, though without big skyscrapers, telling Jaxx this wasn’t a metropolis.
The holy-shit holodisplay blinked, Rock Springs, Wyoming.
He pressed a few holographic buttons, zeroed in on Segarra’s ship, and set his craft’s course to latch onto Segarra’s trajectory. In laymen’s terms, autopilot would trail Segarra’s craft without need of Jaxx piloting it — for a while.
And there was something Jaxx needed to do. A question that had been burning in his mind since he’d returned to Earth. He stood. “Mya and Damion, can I speak with you?”
Drew was asleep, breathing well, hopefully out of pain. Megan was conked out as well, no doubt tired from the lack of sleep she’d most likely had since the alien invasion started.
Mya smiled, her eyes bright and excited. Damion, on the other hand, was stern, like a teacher to a problem student. The kid just wasn’t happy.
“My parent’s let me find you, and you want me to turn back and find safety instead?” groaned Damion, his eyes searching Jaxx’s.
Jaxx assumed Damien’s parents were dead. Clearly, there was a lot more to it, though the questions had to come later. “That’s not why I want to speak with you. We need to link up. I need to know why the pyramid network is still open on Earth, but nowhere else.”
Mya beamed. “Let’s hold hands and close our eyes.” Mya put her hands out, touching Damion’s and Jaxx’s.
Jaxx kneeled down and grabbed on to Damion’s as well. He closed his eyes and a blast of static electricity shot through him. His body trembled and he shook uncontrollably. A thousand volts streaked up his spine and back down into his sacrum, lighting up his DNA, opening dormant strands in order to connect to the pyramid nexus.
A golden light encapsulated his vision. He shot out of his body, hovering above Earth, then above the solar system, moving faster, higher and farther away until he was above a grid connecting all pyramids from one side of the galaxy to the other. It was large, resembling crisscross patterns of light — like a spider’s web.
A download blasted into his mind from a higher source, one more wise, one that even its name would rock Jaxx to his knees.
He clenched his teeth as images, voices, and instructions ran through him like a hailstorm. Yes, indeed all pyramids created in the cosmos were connected, and were for means of instant travel, healing, and energy to power anything small and large — as long as you knew how to harness that specific energy.
But why wasn’t it working on Earth? Why didn’t the pyramid nexus close here? What was the challenge?
In a matter of seconds, he found himself hovering over the Great Pyramid of Giza in Cairo, Egypt. A golden light beamed out of the pyramid’s capstone, merging with a grid of lights just above. Jaxx nodded, understanding this was just a piece to a puzzle. This pyramid was broken — in a way. Humans had blasted away portions of the pyramid, chipped away at important copper rods, cones, conductive properties, and had stolen ancient and important hieroglyphs, stripped the pyramid’s outer white casing, and on and on.
Because of this, the pyramid had malfunctioned.
Back on Callisto, when Jaxx had opened the galactic pyramid network, the golden web connecting all pyramids had opened on Earth, just as they did in the rest of the galaxy. But since the pyramids on Earth had been tampered with, the network’s energies flooded too far outside of the pyramid walls, compromising Earth’s nexus.
In essence, the energy was no longer contained, and connecting to other pyramids in the galaxy couldn’t be done with Earth-bound pyramids, at least not at the moment. Through the years, curious minds and greedy hands picked away at the behemoths, and in turn, harmed them. Closing Earth’s network to reset the nexus was going to be tricky — if it could be closed at all.
Did they need to fix the pyramids across the world? Repair them? If so, that would be nearly impossible and would take millions of people across all races, religions, and backgrounds.
Jaxx sunk deeper in his meditation, his breaths going longer, slower.
How do I remedy the problem?
A sensation came over him, telling his spirit body to move upward in his hover.
He did, touching one of the strands of lights, and was instantaneously transported to the Pyramid of Cestius in Rome, Italy. It had also been touched by humans in the past, all curious to know more about the pyramid, yet it wasn’t hampered as much as the Pyramid of Giza. Nonetheless, the energy was flowing too far outside the pyramid’s beautiful walls.
He touched another strand, and the world around him turned into a blur as he zipped away, heading toward another pyramid. He halted above Xi’an, China at the Qin Shi Mausoleum Pyramid, his own body a shining Being of light, almost the same color as the pyramid network.
Yet, this wasn’t what he was looking for.
Yes, this one had been tampered with, but so what? He didn’t need to see every damaged masterpiece. But there was something missing, something unique that would tell him how to close the network, to push the Agadon out of E-quadrant — Earth’s system.
He touched another beam of light. This time, he was above the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico. He was getting closer, he could feel it.
A light above him fizzed. It was different than all other golden energy shafts connecting to every pyramid on Earth and beyond. That light was an enigma, something important. He pushed himself into it and flew like a bat out of hell, the wind rushing against his etheric body.
A loud whoosh filled his ears and just like that, he stopped in a hover. He glanced down at his feet, seeing what was below him.
Was that Machu Picchu?
Beautiful lush, green grass glowed on covered flat rocks. It was surrounded by well-built structures made from rock quarried from somewhere afar. Yet, this wasn’t it. The answer was underneath.
His eyes, like x-ray vision, saw through the mountain that this city sat upon. Deep within, tucked in a cavern that could fit a baseball stadium, was a black, pristine pyramid.
That was it. The hidden piece. The key pyramid.
He’d found it.
He took a deep breath and shot back into his body. He jerked, his mind racing, his questions answered. He opened his eyes and dropped his arms by his sides.
Jaxx spoke as if someone was speaking through him. His mind was clear, his tone strong, and words sprang off his tongue like a channeled song. “Every planet in the galaxy gifted with pyramids has a key pyramid. That key is a pyramid cased in black granite born from the center of our galaxy. And one child in each galaxy, out of the trillions of galaxies, is fit with a DNA strand to turn that key pyramid on and off. This pyramid is like a nexus control valve. And, as I’m the DNA key to our galaxy, I’m the one who can flip the switch, or turn the nozzle on and off.”
He cleared his throat, coming out of his harmonious state, shaking his head like a dog. “Whoa, that was a rush.” He cleared his mind and thought for a moment. “We enter the key pyramid and close the network in Peru, South America at Machu Picchu. It’s the only way. We can reset the network, then open it back up correctly to allow only the positive ET’s access.”
Mya put her hands together. “Well done, Jaxx.” She glanced at Damion. “We need a third child of the same frequencies and vibrations that our aura’s have in order to close the network. And we have found her exact location in Denver.”
Damion nodded. “Yeppers.”
Jaxx stood, not liking what he was hearing. “Are you suggesting you two, along with a third, are coming along with me to Peru?”
Mya unbuckled and stood on her chair, doing her best to be as tall as Jaxx. “Yes. Please, Jaxx. Let us come along. It’s the only way. You’re the key, but in order to use yourself as a key, you must have three nearby with similar frequencies as you.”
Jaxx turned and walked toward the cockpit. “When we reach Denver, you can find your third. That’s fine. Once you are within the cover of safety,
you can link up with me again while I make my trek to Machu Picchu’s underground pyramid. Do you understand?”
Mya sat down, slouching, her head in her hands. “That’s not the way, Jaxx. It won’t work unless we are all there. Don’t you feel that? Didn’t the source of it all show you that when we linked up just now?”
The source of it all? What was Mya talking about?
“Jaxx doesn’t know, Mya.” Damion shook his head. “He will ruin it for everyone, and those two over there won’t live to rule.”
Mya scrunched up her nose at Jaxx. “Megan and Drew are destined to rule. Don’t stop that.”
Destined to rule? His nephew? The kid was a genius, but a leader? Not even close. These two children were talking nonsense. Jaxx had a mission, and part of his mission was keeping them all alive. He was sure of it. He couldn’t deviate from that plan.
The craft began to descend. Jaxx rushed over to the cockpit, taking over the controls. A bright light flashed in the distance, past a city with skyscrapers. A small mushroom cloud filled the smoky sky, and balls of fire erupted miles in front of him.
It was Denver. They were heading into a war zone. His plan to keep everyone safe may have just taken a nose dive.
7
Denver, Colorado
Drew jostled in his seat, and for a moment, he felt fine with no pain seeping out of his stomach. Maybe the entire episode of him being shot was just a screwed-up dream. Most likely, the entire alien invasion and the United States government leaving Earth was just a big, bad nightmare.
He smacked his lips together and reached for his bong on the table next to his bed. He was glad he was back in Charlotte, North Car —
“Agh,” his hands flew to his abdomen. He cringed, his eyes squinting. Why was he hurting so much? His face went slack and he swallowed hard. “No,” he whispered, realizing like a swat to the back of his head, this crappy dream was a reality. He had been shot. The government had left the planet. And Earth was under attack.
The Complete Atlantis Series, Books 1 - 5: Ascendant Saga Page 94