by M J Webb
Jake swallowed hard as he considered the life threatening journey he was about to take, it was yet another leap into the unknown for him. He had been warned of the risks and his eyes were wide open this time, but he had absolutely no idea what was being demanded of him and what he would be expected to do. Whatever strengths or qualities were required to pull it off, he really didn’t know whether he possessed them, or if he was up to the task. To add to his dilemma, this time he actually had a choice in the matter. He wasn’t being pushed into the light by his friend, he could choose not to go if he wanted, to stay safe here in Lichfield. No one could blame him, could they? Not after all he had been through already. He had already proved himself several times over. No one besides him and Harry would ever know.
“Well, what’s it going to be? I told you, Jake, it has to be now, right this instant.”
The Keeper took another deep breath as he looked deep into his grandfather’s eyes. “Hmmmnn. You know what? Game on. In for a penny, in for a pound. Let’s go for it!” he declared boldly. “I have to try granddad, I owe it to Ben. I know there are risks, there always seems to be risks of some description, but I’m not gonna desert him now, he’s like my brother. And I know that if the tables were turned, he would do it for me. Now, what do I have to do?”
Harry forced a very weak smile to his chapped lips. “I’m so very proud of you. I always have been. You’re so much like… Ah, never mind, are you sure about this? If I’m wrong, and you’re not the one, it’s…”
“Huh, I’m not sure what you mean by ‘the one’ granddad, but yes, I’m sure. I don’t care about me now, I’ll take my chances. If this is what I have to do to save Ben, I’ll…”
“Okay,” interrupted Harry, “that’s enough for me. You’ve made your choice, I can see that. Good. Now, place the stone in the middle of the floor.”
Jake did as he was instructed, juggling the stone between his hands due to the heat it was still giving off. Then he stepped back a little to stand beside the bed. Harry nodded at him and began to chant a spell he had learned from Tien a long time ago, a spell he had memorised so that he knew it off by heart, but a spell he had never had the courage to use for himself, for he knew that to have done so, would have meant certain death.
“Cashlesh it veruq nicch leshtuq semin, aresturn nach valiq Ben. Cashlesh it veruq nicch leshtuq semin, aresturn nach valiq Ben. Manetscar.”
The small stone suddenly erupted into a prism of bright, white light that extended upwards from the floor to form a small doorway, just large enough for someone to enter. Jake looked quickly over at his grandfather for instructions.
“Go! Now Jake, quickly!” rasped Harry, with all the urgency and strength he could muster.
The teenager embraced his granddad as hard as he dared given all the wires that were attached to him. Tears were still streaming down his face and he hated having to say goodbye again. “See ya then. I love ya with all my heart.”
“Me too, sunshine. Me too. Now, go!” replied Harry, his eyes also swelling with tears. “I’ll see you soon, and good luck.”
Jake turned around, took one more deep breath and stepped confidently into the light. As soon as he had vanished it disappeared, leaving Harry once again all alone in the room. Within seconds, he felt himself getting weaker and weaker as the stone’s effect waned and it reverted back to being a tiny piece of worthless rock. He gave a little chuckle to himself and managed just three words before he drifted peacefully back into the coma that he knew had saved his life.
“That’s my boy.”
Chapter 2
21st August – Inside the light
The next thing Jake saw was a blinding flash of bright, white light, followed immediately by a familiar, multi-coloured kaleidoscope that entwined to form a long, twisting, endless tunnel, when he stepped into the light that the reolite stone emitted. “Oh no, here we go again!” he cried, as his body surged forward.
Instantly he was sent into a very fast and violent spin. This was a completely different experience altogether compared to the last time he had travelled through the light. This time it was perfectly clear to him that he was dangerously out of control, and he knew instinctively that something wasn’t right. He panicked a little and flailed, trying to halt his momentum. But, as hard as he tried he just could not stop spinning. He was speeding up and he knew his body couldn’t take much more. He screamed out furiously as gravitational force began to place intolerable strain upon his body. He did not know what to do. His heart was beating so fast and his blood flow was so restricted that he quickly reached the point of losing consciousness. He began to feel as if it might explode at any moment, the pain became unbearable and he let out a mighty scream. He very quickly neared the absolute limit of his endurance and he realised to his horror that the tunnel had beaten him, his body felt like it was sinking and he knew that his time had come. He was perilously close to death and incredibly afraid, more frightened than he’d ever been!
‘Granddad was right,’ he thought, as he contemplated his own demise, ‘I’m not strong enough!’
But then, from out of nowhere, something inside of him told him that he had to fight harder, that he could beat this thing if only he tried, and that he mustn’t give up. All of a sudden he was certain of only one thing; ‘this is not my time to die!’
“I’m not going to go without a fight!” he yelled.
He remembered his grandfather’s words. The thought of the probable plight of his best friend also helped to steel his nerves and he became more determined than ever to succeed. He focused all of his attention on the winding tunnel ahead.
“Raa! Yes! Good! Concentrate, Jake! Use all of your thoughts and energy to picture when and where you want to go. Or this journey you take now will surely be your last.”
The resounding echo of a voice came from nowhere and everywhere within the tunnel. It was real; it was not inside Jake’s head. This was no figment of his imagination, but he had absolutely no idea who was speaking to him. He did not recognise the slow, booming voice that had shouted out the warning, but he knew instinctively that he had to listen to it and do exactly what he was told, if he wanted to stay alive.
Despite the stomach-churning ride he was now on, and the fact that his heart was still beating so fast that he had pains in his chest, Jake closed his eyes tightly, slowed down his breathing and tried hard to picture the battle in Leagh forest where Ben had been poisoned. The images appeared clearly in his mind within seconds, he could see the Taskan warriors attacking him and Verastus in front of the trees, the memory of it was so vivid that it was as if it was happening all over again, right in front of his eyes.
“Good, Keeper! Excellent! Now, hold onto that thought. Focus all of your energy upon it. Your journey will soon be at an end.”
Jake closed his eyes even more tightly and concentrated as he had never done before. His head began to hurt but he ignored the pain and a few seconds later, before he realised he was doing it, he found himself whispering quietly.
“Gestaq fenlaq is arteraz, gestaq fenlaq is arteraz, gestaq fenlaq is arteraz.”
Suddenly, the tunnel ahead of him ripped itself apart with tremendous force and a deafening noise. His body stopped rotating without any warning and he was ejected violently from the vortex, a split second before it disappeared. He had no time to think, everything happened so fast and he now found himself falling, far above the tree tops and heading towards them at terminal velocity! Screaming, he raised his arms to cover his head and braced himself for the impending impact.
He felt his body whipped by branches and twigs and suddenly, he was still. His body was suspended in mid air inches from the ground. He stared wide-eyed and thankfully at the grass below. He breathed in and out hard and fast to catch his breath. His blood tingled in his veins. Then he dropped like a stone and landed on the soft grass with a loud ‘Ooomph.’
He had made it safely through the light.
Rising shakily, Jake was astonished and amaze
d to find that he could see himself standing only yards away. He was looking at his own instantly recognisable back. He had a sword in his right hand and he was about to engage some ferocious looking enemy warriors who were approaching fast.
Before he had time to think, Jake stepped forward and entered his own body, knowing instinctively that it was the right thing to do. Then, he sensed rapid movement coming from behind him. He turned around just in time to see a Taskan warrior he must have missed earlier, racing in for the kill, his double-edged sword twirling and gleaming in the dappled forest light as he raised it to strike the youngster down.
Everything had happened at such an astonishing pace that Jake was not at all afraid. He was calm and resolved. He realised immediately that the stone had worked its magic and returned him to Nadjan, to a point somewhere in time before his friend had received his mortal wound. He was now reliving the fight in Leagh forest and he smiled broadly as he determined to make the most of the second chance he had been given.
With the speed of the damned, he launched into an expert and deadly attack of his own upon the enemy warriors that surrounded him. With swift, economic thrusts and swipes of his sword one by one the reptilian Taskans hissed and fell. Before the last of the enemy had fallen, Jake turned his head around to search for Ben. The young boy was wounded and he was kneeling in front of the stricken Taskan warrior he had been fighting. The mortally wounded creature had Tien’s sword embedded in his stomach and Jake knew that he was just about to flick out its venomous tongue and inflict the wound which would kill his best friend.
He reacted once again without thinking and he threw his sword gently up in the air.
“Bratiq.”
Jake shouted out loudly a word that had entered his head from out of nowhere, whilst the sword was aloft, his right hand flicked in the Taskan’s direction at the same time and his first two fingers extended naturally to aim the sword’s path.
The bladed weapon shot like a bolt of lightning towards its target and with such force that it passed straight through its victim, killing the seasoned warrior instantly. The sword whistled and flew far into the forest. It embedded itself to the hilt in the trunk of a large tree with a loud crack.
“What the…?” began a shocked and exhausted Ben, as he looked swiftly over to where the sword had come from. His best mate was standing there with his hands on his hips, breathing hard. Then, almost immediately, Jake began to laugh out loud. His confused comrades were still recovering from the fight and couldn’t see what was so funny.
“Jake? What…? How…? Where did you…? Ah, never mind. What you laughing at? It ain’t funny you know. Geez, that was close, wasn’t it? You cut it a bit fine there didn’t ya, eh?” said Ben, as he looked down at the Taskan warrior who was lying dead on the ground before him.
Jake was awash with emotion. Relief quickly gave way to exhilaration and euphoria. Every possible feeling seemed to come to him all at once; he was laughing and crying at the same time. No words would come to him at first. He turned around to look at Verastus. The Falorian had not moved a muscle since Jake’s attack began. He had not time to. Jake’s actions had been so fast that Verastus was motionless with shock, struggling to believe what he had seen.
“Alright ‘V’?” Jake asked of him nonchalantly.
Verastus closed his mouth and nodded an automatic reply before he recovered the power of speech. “Ay raas! You are certainly living up to the legends about the Keepers Jake. You are… Well, a warrior! When…? How did you do that? And how did you know about the danger to Ben? We were facing enemies of our own ahead of us, you do not have eyes in the rear of your head, you could not have seen him from where we were, I do not…”
“Understand?”
Verastus nodded sharply.
“Come on. I’ll tell you everything I know. But somehow, I don’t think you’re gonna believe me,” stated Jake, as he placed his arm around his companion and walked him over to Tien and Ben.
When they reached them Jake hugged his best friend as if greeting a loved one he had not seen for years. The others didn’t understand why. They made camp and as Jake explained everything that had happened, they knew exactly why he had.
Ben was struck dumb by the tale and he was very quiet. He had several nasty wounds. A deep gash on his stomach was bleeding heavily, but Tien stemmed the blood loss before applying an ointment of herbs and bandaging it tightly.
Eventually the youngster spoke. “Wow! Eh, I’ve just realised, you’ve actually seen the future!” he said, amazed by his own revelation. “You’re like a Jedi Knight or summin’.”
“Ahh, knock it off will ya, Ben?” replied Jake. “Give it a rest, Jedi’s don’t do time travel.”
“Huh? Oh, okay, but, I’m right though, ain’t I? Just think about it? You’ve moved through time. Ha, my best buddy’s a time traveller! That’s massive! What was it like then, eh? Come on, tell us ev’rythin’.”
Jake looked at each of his expectant friends in turn. They were all eager to hear of his experience and waiting for his reply. He was struck by a strange sense of wellbeing and contentment all of a sudden, despite all of the dangers and the uncertainties that lay in store for him here on Estia, he was glad to be back amongst his friends, and amazed to feel like he had returned home.
“Okay, I’ll tell you. If you must know, it was horrible! I only had a brief glimpse of the future, I wasn’t there that long and I was asleep for most of the time. What I did see was the deaths of two of the people I care most about in my world. Well, one, and a very near miss at any rate, and both were my fault!” he snapped, emotionally.
“Kah, it is true Keeper,” replied Tien suddenly, “that you have seen one possible timeline, and it was a disturbing one I grant you. But here you are, here we are, we are all still alive Jake. The sun has risen this morning and the birds still sing. Nothing has changed. It would seem that you have grown from your experience, if I am not mistaken? You are not the person you were, are you? Perhaps, all that has happened to you these past few days was always meant to be? Perhaps, it was all planned? Have you considered that?”
Jake smiled at the old wizard as he realised there had to be some truth in his words. “Hmmmn… Yes, Tien, perhaps. I don’t know, time will tell I suppose, but we all need rest now, can we talk tomorrow?” he asked.
Tien nodded. “Yes, of course, Jake. Verastus and I will watch over you both tonight. Sleep now, in the morn we will continue our quest for the Bloodstone and you can tell me again of all that has occurred and all that you now know. For it is certain that knowledge is the best weapon we have to fight the evil one.”
The two young boys lay down next to one another and tried to get some sleep. Tien and Verastus took turns on guard.
Jake could not rest. He kept thinking of King Artrex and Princess Zephany. ‘How were they doing? Were they safe? Had they managed to outrun King Vantrax’ army?’ He asked himself a thousand and one questions until tiredness overcame him and he finally fell asleep. The cool night air was clear and the stars shone brightly overhead.
In the middle of the night, Jake was awoken by a very strange sensation. From every conceivable corner of his mind came the feeling that someone was calling him. He tried to dismiss it at first, believing it to be a dream, but the voices inside his head grew louder and louder until he could ignore them no more. He sat upright and looked straight at Tien, who was taking his turn on guard and still watching over him.
“I have to go.”
“Go? Go where?” asked the wizard.
“I don’t know. Not far,” replied Jake. “I must leave, I’m being summoned.”
“Kah, I see. Go then, I shall not wake the others.”
Jake smiled gratefully at the old wizard and crept silently away. He disappeared into the darkness. The forest was silent. Finally he came to a small clearing where the voices in his head instructed him to stop. Everything was eerily quiet. He looked around himself but he could see nothing at all in the pitch blackness and h
e was beginning to feel anxious.
“Err… Hello! Okay, I’m here! What now?” he shouted out loudly.
Suddenly, the whole clearing was illuminated by a bright, dazzling light. He turned around sharply and shielded his eyes with his arm. His heart leapt.
“Keeper,” strange, eerie voices said in unison. “Keeper.”
Jake tried to look but had to shield his eyes once more.
“Keeper, open your eyes,” said a strong, booming voice that Jake recognised from the tunnel he had travelled. The voice was curiously distant, as if taken by a strong wind, but the forest was still. It was the voice that had saved him, and Jake no longer felt afraid. The intense light faded slowly and he lowered his arm.
Before him were four ghost-like apparitions.
“Raart… At last we meet, Keeper. This is a day which has long been foretold. You will not know the significance of this meeting, nor its importance. You may, however, understand when I tell you that we are here for the benefit of all of Estia.”
Another apparition spoke. “We have come to you now, to aid you in your fight against evil and to do what we can to ensure you are victorious. The war of wars is upon us, Jake, we can no longer wait; we cannot watch and do nothing. The time has come to fight!”
Jake nodded slowly. A third voice, thin and aged, spoke next. “You have convinced us by your actions and your deeds that you are the one we have been waiting for all these years. You are he of whom the legend speaks, we are certain of it. We will guide you in your endeavours, we will arm you, we will be here to help you whenever you need us, for you will surely need all of your powers to defeat the wizard and his warriors now!”
Finally, the voice that had guided him in the tunnel and summoned him from his sleep began to speak again. “When the stormclouds gather around you and darkness is all you see, take comfort in knowing that you are not alone Keeper. We will not fail you, we will share your burden and we will enhance your understanding and your powers. From this day forward, until you restore the stones and our people are free, we are as one!