Breeze Corinth (Book 1): Sky Shatter

by Olson, Michael John

  “Again, a coincidence. Nothing more,” Achilles said.

  “Oslo told me a lot of things, and one of them was that there is no such thing as coincidence, all things happen for a reason.”

  Achilles turned to Raza as she threw her hands in the air. “Very well then, leave. You’re right, who are we to keep you here? You’re not a prisoner.”

  “A proposal, Master Corinth,” Achilles announced.

  Breeze sighed. “What now?”

  “Humor this ancient machine one last time. I would like the three of you to have one last training session, but this time as a team.”

  Breeze laughed. “You just won’t give up. We weren’t meant to be together, how else can I say it? You have to know when to quit.”

  “An incentive, perhaps? One last training session and at its conclusion, this unit pledges to render assistance in completing repairs on the ship so you may continue your journey home.”

  “One last get together so that the team that never was can disband? Sure, I guess.”

  “I’m for it too,” Ray broke his silence, “I know I let everyone down. I have a lot to prove to myself and to all of you.”

  “Ray, listen, you don’t have to—”

  “No, Breeze. I was supposed to be team leader, Oslo said as much. But I fell apart and looked at what happened to me. That…thing got into me and made me a puppet.” He shook his head. “You know, I have to admit it probably got into me before the trimaran accident, but I just don’t know how.”

  “Well, you were messing around in the basement where that Bram guy was. Did you run into something down there and you just don’t remember?”

  Sally glared at him. “Breeze how can you say that, you don’t know if that’s true.”

  “Fine. Let’s get this over with.” He jerked a thumb towards the ship. “I need to step inside and grab my uniform so we can get started. But remember, I’m leaving after this.” Breeze turned and began walking to the ship when Sally called out to him.

  “We have nowhere to go. We lost our homes and families. What about us Breeze?”

  He whirled around. “Look, you can come with me. I’m going to warn you though, it’s desert country, you might not like living there.” He turned and continued to the ship.

  “What makes you think I won’t?” she said softly as he disappeared into the ship.

  Breeze came out minutes later in uniform and stood next to Achilles. The robot clapped its hands with a reverberating clang. “Very well, let us begin. Students, to the shoreline.”

  They walked away from the scout ship and headed to the sandy banks of the river where the teens stood in a row while Achilles and Raza stood side by side before them.

  The robot raised a hand. “Students, your task is a simple one, or so it may appear on the surface. I shall be positioned further upstream, and the goal will be for Breeze to ascend from here, fly above the river to my location, and tag me. I assure you there will be no resistance on my part whatsoever. Be warned, young aviator, you shall encounter obstructions along your course, courtesy of Raza, while she remains hidden along the riverbank. Sally, you will place yourself at the top of that mountain,” the robot pointed to a peak directly to the west, “where you will perform the role of forward observer. You will project from there and rendezvous with Breeze to inform him of any obstacle or threat along his path. As for you Raymond,” it pointed upriver, “you will patrol the river bank on foot as Breeze flies by you enroute to his target. You will also be kept into the dark as to what obstacles he might encounter, but as his teammate, you will help clear his path.”

  Ray nodded. “Great, let’s get started.”

  “Enthusiasm is infectious in humans and it pleases me to observe this from you. Any questions from Breeze or Sally?” Achilles asked as it looked their way.

  The two glanced at each other and shrugged.

  “Fantastic! Let us commence. Breeze, please remain here. I will give you the signal to begin your run over the wireless.” Achilles turned and walked upriver, and the others followed. The robot’s hover truck appeared out of the treeline and glided over to them. They climbed into it and raced away.

  Breeze stood alone as the sound of the river flowing put his mind at ease. He watched as the water flowed over the rocks that jutted up from the bottom and created eddies that marred the otherwise uniform flow of water as it headed upstream.

  He turned his attention downriver where he saw the scout ship with its shining hull basking in the sunlight. He felt the urge to get into it and fly away when he looked back at the rocks in the middle of the river.

  “It’s so simple,” he muttered, “get past the rocks and life becomes…so easy.”

  He turned and headed toward the scout ship as he removed the wireless receiver from his ear and tucked it into his chest pocket.

  Just get in and fly away. Leave it all behind. I won’t be hurting anyone.

  He was halfway to the ship when he heard a voice in the distance. He stopped to look behind him. Seeing no one, he resumed his journey when he heard it again, but louder, and it was distinctly female.

  “Sally?” He stopped dead in his tracks and spun around. “Are you projecting already?”

  No response.

  When he heard the voice again, it felt like it was coming from all around him. It was faint, yet distinct. He closed his eyes and listened.

  “Arriving…soon,” was all he heard.

  He shook his head as he pulled the earpiece from his chest pocket and stared at it, then placed it back in his ear and heard a voice. It was Achilles.

  “…you should be arriving at your destination soon. Breeze, are you receiving this transmission? You have yet to acknowledge and the starting signal has already been given. By my calculations, you should have arrived at the mid-point of the course by now. Please respond.”

  Breeze gazed at the ship. It was so close. He looked upriver as he listened to the chatter over the wireless. Raza was asking Sally if she had spotted him yet. Ray chimed in that he was standing by waiting for his arrival.

  He sighed heavily and his shoulders slumped. He tapped his earpiece. “Umm, yeah, received signal, inbound to target.”

  The chatter continued as they confirmed his transmission. He turned back one final time towards the ship. “Let me finish this and we’re gone,” he said aloud, then turned and broke into a run. He lifted off the ground and quickly accelerated into the sky. He looked to his right and saw the farm house as he flew by. It could have been a good home, but it wasn’t meant to be.

  He raced upriver as fast as he could. The trees tops on either side were a blur of colors from their autumn leaves.

  Sally’s voice came in over the wireless. “Breeze, I see you. You should really slow down. I don’t know what Raza has planned for you.”

  “My plan is simple. Race toward Achilles, tag him, and fly right back to the ship.”

  “And just leave us?”

  He heard Sally’s voice plain as day, but it was not coming in through the wireless. “That’s pretty much it because all of this pointless. Where are you coming from anyway? I can hear you, but it’s not through the earpiece.”

  The air shimmered before him and the astral form of Sally appeared. She floated just ahead while keeping pace with him. “I’m right here Breeze. I won’t leave you.” Her arms were folded across her chest as she glared at him.

  He refused to make eye contact with her. “I know what I want Sally, but I’m not going to find it here.”

  “What do you want, Breeze?” She drifted a little closer.

  He was silent for a moment as he followed the winding river through the mountains.

  “I want to belong. I want to be useful. I’m tired of hiding, I just want to live,” he finally replied.

  “Is running back home
going to give you all of that? You always told me that your father was ashamed of your flying, that he always made you hide your powers.”

  “No, that’s not what I said!” he shouted at her, then shook his head. “My father wasn’t a bad guy. He was just never the same after my mother died.”

  “Do you think he was ashamed of you?”

  He glared at her. “I don’t know, but he was always hammering on me to do better. Pay attention in school, learn more about the foundry, stuff like that. I guess I felt like I could never measure up to anything that he wanted.”

  “Trees,” Sally said.

  “What? I’m trying to open up here Sally and you want to joke around—”

  “Pay attention!” she shouted.

  He had veered off the river and was heading straight toward a cluster of trees on a mountain side. He banked hard to the right as he struggled with the gravitational force from the sudden maneuver, then glided back over the river and resumed course when he saw Sally floating off to his side.

  “Thanks,” he grumbled.

  “That’s what teammates are for, we help each other out.”

  “I’ll come back Sally, I promise.”

  “Will you?”

  They flew in tandem for several minutes in silence, while following the river as it wound its way through the mountains. He looked over at Sally and saw the sadness in her face. He began to reach out to her, but then pulled his hand back.

  A flash of light suddenly erupted before them. Breeze scanned the area to seek the source when Sally screamed.

  “Boulders!” she cried out.

  He turned to her. “What’s the matter with you—”

  “Watch out!” she yelled and reflexively dodged a gigantic rock while another passed through her and slammed into his shield, knocking him out of the sky and sent him spiraling toward the water below. He gritted his teeth and pulled up just as he almost impacted the shallow river where he could see the rocks beneath the surface glimmering in the sunlight.

  He regained altitude and resumed course when Sally drifted into view.

  “Some teamwork,” he grumbled.

  “Sorry,” she said.

  “Where did it come from? You’re supposed to be my spotter!”

  “Breeze, I said I was sorry. What more do you want?” She pursed her lips as she glided along with him.

  “Look, Sally, I didn’t mean it that way—”

  “Again!” she cried out and pointed to the right side of the river.

  Multiple boulders intermixed with trees came hurtling towards them. Breeze twisted and dodged while his shield absorbed the impacts, though each strike made him grimace and his sweat-streaked face grew pale.

  Sally instinctively threw her arms up to protect herself as the hurtling objects passed through her, causing her astral form to crackle with static.

  The assault ended as quickly as it began. Breeze scanned both sides of the river, but couldn’t spot their assailant. He turned to Sally. “Are you ok?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Glad to see you’re concerned.”

  “Come on Sally, give me a chance here.”

  She nodded. “I know. You’re right.” She drifted closer to him. “You know, I could almost feel every one of those boulders and trees pass through me.”

  “Impossible, you’re projecting. Your body is on the mountain back at the starting point.”

  “I know. I shouldn’t feel anything, but I do. It’s like the further out I project…the more it feels like I want to materialize.”

  “That’s crazy, you can’t do that.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” she replied meekly.

  His eyes narrowed. “What’s the furthest you’ve ever traveled from your body?”

  She shook her head and thought about the night on the beach when Kera tested her. “I’ve gone pretty far before, but I do have my limits.”

  “Oh? What happens when you reach your limit?”

  “I kind of fade away, and end up being pulled back into my body.”

  Breeze looked behind them. “Well, we’ve traveled pretty far and you’re still with me.”

  “It’s like if I don’t want to be somewhere, I just return to my body by default. But if I really want to be someplace and stay, I can.”

  “So, you want to be here?”

  “Yes,” she said and looked into his eyes.

  “Okay, so you can travel pretty far then, that’s good.”

  She sighed.

  “What, it’s a good thing, right?”

  “Sure, Breeze.” She changed the subject. “We’re almost in the zone where Achilles should be. Tag him and you can leave I suppose.”

  They continued flying side by side. With each passing moment, Sally’s astral form became more defined and clearly visible. She reached out and touched Breeze on his shoulder. Startled, he turned to look at her as they flew past Ray standing along the river bank.

  Achilles had instructed Ray that he was to provide protection for Breeze as soon as he was spotted. Because his teammate would be subjected to a heavy assault when nearing the robot’s vicinity, his mission was to clear Breeze’s path of any obstacle that might arise with his energy blasts.

  Ray whittled away the time waiting for Breeze to arrive by skipping stones along the river’s surface. He made it a point to throw each stone further out than the previous, then counting how many times it would skip before descending into the icy waters. He soon grew bored and began throwing branches and sticks into the river, zapping each one as they flew in the air before hitting the water when he stopped abruptly and looked around. The isolation began to overwhelm him and the sound of the rushing river was becoming monotonous, but it was broken by the rustling of leaves and branches when a sudden gust of wind blew through the forest.

  He shivered and pulled his jacket closer to him when he heard a faint whisper.

  “It shouldn’t be this way,” it said.

  Startled, he looked around, then waved his hand and laughed. “Too weird, this place.”

  He leaned over and looked into the river. He could see his reflection in the shimmering water when a blurry reflection of a man stepped next to him.

  He gasped and whirled around. There was no one there.

  “Hello?” he called out, but received no response. He looked back at his reflection in the water and saw only himself. He slowly backed away.

  “You know she belongs to you,” the voice said.

  He turned to confront it but saw no one. “What do you mean? Who are you?”

  The response he received was a sudden gust of wind that rustled the trees and made them sway.

  Ray took a few steps downriver, and then stopped. His eyes were glazed over.

  “Must be tired,” he mumbled as he sat down on the river bank.

  “She is yours for the taking. She will be your queen. Never allow anyone to get between you and your bride,” the voice spoke again in a smooth and comforting tone.

  Ray stiffened. “Who are you?”

  “No matter, call me what you wish, I mean you no harm. Think of me as a friend filled with good advice,” the voice replied reassuringly.

  Ray looked around wildly. “I thought I was rid of you. Sally said she pushed you out.”

  The voice chuckled. “My dear Raymond, do not be afraid, what she exorcised was merely an associate of mine whom I employed to find you. You are a god Raymond, and I make it a point to find young godlings such as yourself. I do apologize if my associate was a bit crude in how he managed you, for his task was to see if you were worthy of my attention, and you are. You must understand I require the use of such underlings, for I do not possess the strength to do so on my own, at least not yet.”

  Ray stood on the shoreline and watched the rive
r flow by with a thousand mile stare. “I still don’t understand how it got into me. When did it happen?”

  “Think back, Raymond. At Perihelion, you were growing frustrated at the lack of star treatment that you so richly deserved, and that fool, Oslo, did not give you the respect that is yours by default. Inside, you were screaming for an answer as to why no one recognized the fact that you are a military prodigy by birthright. Luckily for you, your voice was heard and my associate came in on a storm to answer your pleas of anguish. You do remember the storm, don’t you? The one you and your teammates experienced while you commanded the trimaran, and magnificently too, I would add? Remember the surge of power you felt during the storm? That is when my hound, my associate, found you and entered you. And there is another storm coming, Raymond.”

  Ray looked upriver. Walls of dark clouds were rolling in from the north.

  “I’ve been searching for you for a long time, and I have much to tell you,” the voice said.

  Ray picked up a stone and tossed it into the river as his hands began to glow. “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “Good, it always pays to be receptive. Never be afraid to try new things, Raymond. That is always the sign of a good leader.”

  “I am a good leader. Father said so.”

  “Yes, I know, a very wise man. Now, here is what I suggest we do about Breeze, for he is heading our way as we speak.”

  Ray’s eyes glistened when he saw a flicker of motion downriver and turned to look. Breeze and Sally were approaching and he was puzzled as to why Sally was visible at all.

  As they flew by, he saw that they were locked in a passionate kiss.

  His hands trembled and shook.

  Breeze peered at Sally. “I can feel your hand on my shoulder. How can you do that when projecting?” he said and reached up to touch her hand. It felt warm to the touch.

  “I don’t know. This is new for me too,” she replied and reached out with her other hand and touched his face. She smiled when she felt the smoothness of his skin.

  He leaned in closer and she sighed while drawn in by the warmth of his body. She pressed her face against his and held him tight.

  A flash of light erupted around them followed by a kinetic force that sent them both plummeting to the river before Breeze managed to level out and skim across the surface to the opposite bank. He cocooned Sally with his body as they slammed into the ground, his shield plowing a deep furrow before coming to a stop.