"I can sense animals," Tory chimed in, in her little voice. "I can communicate with them in a way." She took my hand and squeezed it, relief showing on her features at having it in the open.
"How about you, Caden? Why don't you share your secrets?" Ajax challenged him.
"I don't know," Caden shrugged, "I have a way with solar cells and the like. I know when there's an alarm present and I can find any path. You've all seen me in the mazes. I'll always find the way out."
"So was the door an alarm?" Ajax questioned him further.
"Yes," he admitted, and this time he was the one looking sheepish. "But he kicked it in before I could say anything. I didn't expect him to do that."
"I'm just strong," Balor spoke up, grinning as usual, "And good in a fight. Plus I'm funny. And good looking. And, I don't have a girlfriend in case you girls were wondering." He winked at me and Tory, and I couldn't help but laugh. Balor had a way of lightening the mood whenever things got too tense.
"All right, let's decide what we're going to do here. Enough of this, we need to get a move on." Ajax was our leader once again.
"Do you think this was part of the exercise? For us to end up out here and go into the caves?" Malik asked.
"I don't think so," Ajax answered. "I'm not sure how this happened, but since we're being honest, I'll tell you I think the exercise was tampered with. Both Kaia and I saw the bag in one of those classrooms, so how did it end up here? Is it even the same bag? Do we go into the caves or back to the building?"
We were divided on how to proceed. Caden and Balor thought we should go back to the building. Malik said we should go into the caves. The rest of us weren't sure. None of us relished the idea of heading into the dark caves. Who knew what we would find? Also, if it wasn't part of the exercise, would there still be an escape? Could the Teachers still monitor us?
"Should we ask Professor Baal?" I questioned Ajax. He thought about it, unsure. We weren't supposed to contact the Teachers. We were supposed to get through the exercise without assistance.
"No," he decided. "We make our own decision. What should we do?"
"If we go on the assumption that this isn't part of the intended exercise, why go into the caves?" Caden asked, making a good point.
"This is a chance for us!" Malik insisted. "This is bigger than the bag. Let's go see what they want. Let's see what's in there. I don't think any other team has this opportunity. Forget the building. I don't want to go back there." Actually, I didn't want to go back there either.
"I'll go into the caves." I sided with Malik. I'd take the cave dwellers over the Virtual fighters. The others reluctantly agreed and we began to walk into the darkness.
We walked silently for a time, setting our orbs to float beside us. They provided some light in the dimness of the caves. The tunnel twisted and turned, but did not branch off so we didn't have to guess at our path. Caden would have known the way in any case, and could lead if the path forked in more than one direction. He spoke truthfully when he said he could find his way out of anything. I'd seen him do it. After a few minutes of walking, he stepped beside me and put a hand on my arm to hold me back while the others walked ahead.
"I don't think you're a freak," he said softly. He was remorseful, I could tell. Still, I felt hurt he had questioned me and forced me to admit what I would have rather kept to myself. When I let the silence lapse even longer he nudged me with his shoulder.
"I just want you to trust me like you trust him," he whispered. "And I don't understand why you go to him when he is awful to you back at the University." He might have been whispering, but Ajax turned his head and looked back at us as if he'd heard Caden's words. Caden ignored him and continued, "If your brother was here, he wouldn't let him treat you poorly and he wouldn't like it if he caught you holding his hand." It was true, Ajax was awful to me when we weren't training and I wasn't even sure how much I trusted him. After all, he'd been lying to me since I got to the University, but I didn't think my brother would have any influence on him. He hadn't so far. Ajax blew him off the same way he blew me off. I shouldn't have held his hand though; Caden was right, but I couldn't take it back. As frustrating as it all was, I had to let it go for the time being. I had to trust Ajax while we trained. I had to trust them all.
"I do trust you," was all I answered, and I nudged his shoulder amicably. I didn't want to say anything else, lest Ajax could hear. Caden liked to take the role of Tiergan; he was my surrogate big brother, and in much the same way, he was often overprotective.
After some time, we came to a place where we had to make a choice. The tunnel branched off in several places and one of the passageways was narrower than the rest and had a stream of water flowing on its floor. We all paused, considering our options. If we had to choose the passage with water, we would definitely be getting wet.
"Do not tell us we have to go down this passage," Balor insisted to Caden. "Don't even say it!"
"We have to go down this passage," Caden answered without hesitating. He was sure of it. Of course we did; it was the only one whose sides rose up steeply from the water allowing no room to walk along the edges. To stay out of the water, we would need to cling to the walls like the cave dwellers.
Caden took a few steps into the tunnel and threw his orb, watching as it disappeared from view. It took a good ten minutes for it to return.
"It's a long way," Caden seemed hesitant about the distance. "It's a long way and the water is pretty deep. It's only shallow for about a meter." Nobody said a word as the realization we would actually have to swim through the caves sunk in. If we had to get in the water, our energy suits would have to come off. They were designed to function no matter what the weather, but could not be submerged in water for any length of time.
I took the pack off my back and let it fall to the floor. "It looks like we need to get undressed," I said. There was no avoiding it and I just wanted to get on with it already.
"Yeah ladies, time to take off your clothes," Balor flashed a wicked smile.
"Knock it off, Bay," Ajax spoke up, his voice full of authority. "Everybody strip to their underclothes and we'll get in the water. Malik, check the packs for a water proof bag. Let's go."
Tory and I put a little space between ourselves and undressed quickly. After what had happened with Ajax on the footpath, I had warned Tory about wearing substantial underclothes during training exercises, and I could see she was glad for the advice now.
"What happened to your back, Kaia?" she asked, her eyes wide with concern. "And your legs?" I took a look behind me to see what made her knit her brows with worry. Faded staff marks slashed across my thighs and calves and I was sure my back looked the same. The Virtuals had hit me over and over again, but the marks didn't look fresh. The welts were faint, as if from an old injury that hadn't been healed properly. They were healing on their own.
"I got hit," I shrugged, willing her to drop it. Thankfully Balor caused a diversion and her attention was drawn away.
"Help!" he shouted playfully, "It's a cave dweller!" He pretended to be alarmed as he pointed at Caden whose skin was so pale it also seemed to glow in the gloom of the cave. I stifled a laugh and avoided meeting anyone's eyes in case we burst into laughter.
"Shut up, Bay," Caden punched him in the arm but laughed affably, unruffled by the jest. His skin was pale enough to brighten the space around him, but unlike the cave dwellers, his body was covered with hair in the same red hue that topped his head. It blanketed his chest, arms and legs, giving him a manly look. Without his shirt, he looked very grown up. I smiled in his direction, knowing full well how it felt to undress and feel vulnerable about it.
What was striking about standing there half naked together was how different we all were from each other. Tory was small and petite, with skin the color of pale sand. She was curvy and soft where I was lean and long legged. I was much taller and my sun burnished skin proved a sharp contrast to hers. Balor bulged with muscles, while Ajax was slender, his body li
ke ropes of muscle rather than boulders. And where Caden was pale as milk, stocky and broad, Malik's skin was a rich, dark mahogany and he was tall and sleek.
"Hey," Malik said, pointing at the cuff on my arm. "Your brother wears one just like it."
"He does," I smiled, pleased he had noticed. Ajax stole a glance at the cuff then looked away quickly. Did he remember asking me about it on the footpath? It was hard to tell with him. I had to fight the urge to straighten his necklace again.
We rolled our clothing up into tight little balls and placed it in our packs. Malik took the packs and secured them together before bundling them up in a large, waterproof bag. We retracted our staffs and set them to float with our orbs above the surface of the water.
"Lead the way, Caden," Ajax said, gesturing toward the water. Caden waded in, sure-footed and confident, even in his underwear. "Now you, Balor." After Balor went, it was Tory, then Malik entered with our bags. I followed them and Ajax took the rear. We walked for several meters with cold water swirling ever higher around our legs. When it became waist high, we began to swim. The waterway was narrow and the cave walls close for what seemed a long time. There was nothing to see except tunnels and water, and the feeling was almost claustrophobic. I wondered how anyone could live underground in such a place.
Then the walls gave way to caverns, and the water began to flow with such swiftness, we could turn on our backs and float with the current. The scenery changed drastically and we passed by caves of unimaginable size, spaces as large as entire Universities. Some of the rooms were sleeping areas with bunks carved into the rocks, each large enough to sleep two. Others were dining rooms, where light filtered through and brightened the area, and boulders served as chairs or tables. Some of the caves stored food, and no light trickled in to their cold dark places. We saw caves made into wine cellars, with more bottles than we could possibly count.
There were gardens down there too, where the sun came through crevices in the rocks and fed the green plants blanketing the floor. From above, those roofless places would appear as huge chasms to be avoided.
We raced along with the current trying to take it all in. People lived here. They lived and they thrived and I knew in my heart they wore no energy suits and did not feed into any grids. Were there children too? I wondered. I felt uneasy as I saw all the signs of this underground community, feeling their presence, though I couldn't see them. Our passage through the caves had many witnesses, including the spiders on the walls, whose bodies were thick and solid like iron embedded in the rock. Those huge, ancient looking creatures watched us pass but made no movement. The cave dwellers brought us in here and wanted us to see this, I felt sure of it. Why?
They want us to see. Ajax said his words to me silently, his thoughts in line with my own. He let his emotions surround me for a moment: confusion, apprehension, and just a bit of the anger I also felt.
Ajax, I answered back, saying his name the way we used to do as children. After spending the day together, we would go our separate ways, to our own houses when our parents forced us apart, and I would lie in bed and reach out to him. I would say his name, searching for his presence across the night, and he would answer.
Kaia.
The same way he answered me now, and I smiled at the memory. I felt better then, and glad he was with me despite all the negative tension between us. His simple response to our old way of communicating made me feel at home, just because he was there. When I left for the Academy as a child, I would try to call to him, but the distance was too great and we lost the connection until now.
At last the current slowed, and we came ashore at the edge of a great cavern. The space was immense and the rocky shore upon which we stood stretched around a lake of water. Flickers of light danced across the water inexplicably, until I realized the walls of the cavern were embedded with lanterns, all aglow. They had electricity. The thought burned my heart; they had power, they had food. They did not wear energy suits and they did not feed any of the grids above.
On the far side of the lake, the cave dwellers emerged from a tunnel and stood on the opposite shore. They looked at us, and we looked at them. Their leader held the black bag in plain sight. I had questions for them, I'm sure we all did, but the distance across the span of the lake was too great to communicate without shouting.
Join us, he said in my head. Join us and be free.
I wondered if he tried to offer the same message to all of us, but I didn't have the chance to ask. As he spoke the words, the world shifted in front of us, creating a hazy line between us and them. A first it was a small jolt, which shook the ground and left us slightly unbalanced, but the rumbling continued, similar to what we'd experienced in the building. The cave dwellers swam in and out of focus as the caves themselves shifted between the underground world and another one full of green trees.
"The exercise is changing again!" Balor's voice sounded panicked. "We need the bag!" Yes, the bag was what we needed, no matter if the scenery was going to change before our eyes. The Teachers were trying to re-take control of the exercise and we needed to grab and go.
Throw me the bag! I pleaded with him as I dove into the water before our chance was taken away. I swam furiously for the opposite shore, hoping he would throw it out to me.
It occurred to me that the rumbling in the building, the shifting staircases and undulating floors, might have been a mistake. If the exercise was tampered with as Ajax surmised, perhaps it was so, right from the beginning.
Those thoughts fell away as I swam through the cool water. Ajax shouted into my head but I kept on, surfacing when I heard the cave dweller call to me.
Now!
I surfaced quickly and found green trees on the opposite shore. Then the scene shifted and there were caves again. The bag flew at me from unseen hands as the world continued to undulate before my eyes. I caught it and turned toward my friends. Their shore was fading as well. Malik stepped a few feet into the water and threw a rope out toward me. I swam after it and held on tight. Ajax, Tory, Balor and Caden all lined up behind Malik and grabbed onto the rope serving as anchors. Whatever happened, we would stay together.
I held the bag and the rope in both hands and struggled to hold my breath as the water crashed violently around me. There was no question of trying to pull myself toward them, they had to pull me. It seemed as if I thrashed in the water for hours, when in fact it was only seconds until the world changed completely and I landed with a thud. Instead of a mouthful of water, I had a mouthful of grass. At least I still had a hold of the rope and the bag.
"On your feet," Ajax wasted no time getting to me. He held his hand out and I took it, grateful for the help. My insides were shaky, having crashed into the ground twice already. I looked around, taking a moment to catch my breath and acquaint myself with our new surroundings. We were on a hillside again, but this one was lush and green. Rolling hills stretched as far as the eye could see, and a river ran through a valley carved between them. The air was crisp and the sun was low in a bright blue sky. Dusk would be upon us soon. A slight breeze carried the scent of grass and wildflowers. The view was breathtaking, but there was no time to enjoy it. Underneath my feet I could feel the faint rumble of approaching footsteps.
I took several deep breaths, trying to settle the pain I felt everywhere, even in my teeth. Malik stepped over and put a hand on my back.
"I know you're hurt, but try and clear your mind of the pain," his deep voice filled me and I closed my eyes and felt the heat radiating from his hand, spreading a gentle numbness throughout my body. Malik had superior healing hands, and he wasn't even a full Healer yet. His voice soothed me and his hands rejuvenated my body. In only a few moments, I felt ready to face what was coming.
"Quickly, Kaia," Ajax said, tossing me my pack. The others were already getting dressed and I quickly shrugged into my own energy suit, wet underclothes and all. I felt squishy underneath but there was nothing to be done about it. We gathered our things hastily, putting our
orbs away and our packs back on. The black bag was too large to fit inside so Malik secured it to my pack with a bit of rope. We kept our staffs handy and began to run for the line of trees to the east. If we could make it to the trees, the fight would be easier. Virtuals could not climb.
We didn't make it in time. The Virtuals burst from the trees at a maddening pace and attacked without making any sort of formation. They were on us quickly and we lost precious seconds calling our staffs to life. There were many more of them than I expected, more than I could count at the time, and their blows rained down on me in quick succession. Each blow sent a little more energy fleeing from my already weary body.
I couldn't see the others. The Virtuals surrounded and separated us. I jumped onto the back of one and used its body as a shield against the others. It stumbled and tried to shake me off, but I sent a blow to the place where its heart would be, and its energy faltered. I could have paralyzed it right then, but it protected me from many other blows and I paralyzed four others from atop its back. Finally, in desperation, it tumbled over the hillside and I landed under it, then we rolled in a tangle down the hill, my body hitting against hill and rock and dirt all the way down until coming to a rest on the muddy banks of the river's edge, free of the Virtual momentarily.
I lay on the ground, rattled by yet another fall. Each breath pushed painfully against my ribs and my eyes swam with stars. When I tried to focus, it took me longer than I would have liked.
The Virtual rose from the water first and stood over me, its legs straddling my body. It would have been easy to quit then; I was tired and it took a great effort to focus on the guard. But I had to keep going. If I quit now, all the effort we put into getting the bag would be for nothing.
I took a deep breath and called its staff to me, catching the guard by surprise. The staff flew from its hand and into my own, and before it could reach for me, I grabbed one of its legs and yanked it. The Virtual fell toward me but I rolled over quickly and it crashed in the water. I jumped on it immediately and stabbed the place where its heart would be, using its own staff. The energy fled from the Virtual, up the staff and into my own body in a rush of adrenaline. Energy flowed through me like liquid sunshine, and all the pain and weariness dissolved in its wake.
The Energy Crusades Page 13