Phasia shot barrage after barrage of energy into its heart. Slithers of cracks appeared, Phasia's eyes burned zeroing on the fissures. A third time she swooped down as the portal fractured. This time she was followed by billions of Zater Jen as she breached the portal.
The Zater Jen streaked through as the Light Guard held open the breach with energy shards produced from their bodies. Unbidden, millions of other Zater Jen descended and crammed their bodies within the portal sustaining the opening for others to escape.
Being time travellers, it took all the surviving billions of Zater Jen less than a microsecond to jump through, executing a quantum time jump. All three billion Zater Jen had occupied the same space at once in order to jump beyond the portal's boundary before separating into their individual selves.
With the brave volunteers still holding open the breach, the Light Guard were the last to exit. The conflicting universes exchanged a brief explosion of contrary atmospheres then the portal was sealed once more forever, trapping the doomed millions of volunteers within.
Phasia lamented those millions who had sacrificed their lives so that billions could escape. It was too much for her. She collapsed into her son's arms.
“I'm sorry I couldn't save them all!” she sobbed.
“No matter, mother. It was foreseen. They will not be forgotten.”
Not consoled by those words, Phasia slowly withdrew from Hellennius, surveying the environment around them.
With three billion Zater Jen controlling the timestream around them, Phasia found the fearsome weirdtime storm she had fought through to get this far had died down. Calm seas of temporal energy rippled around her. She basked in the energy as she reverted back to her Celestian self. She felt weak, exhausted, having expended a vast amount of energy. And sick over the deaths of millions.
She suddenly looked up, noticing all the Zater Jen were facing toward her and bowing, including Cosmogod. She was about to nonchalantly refuse their praise, when she realised there was someone behind her.
Phasia spun around. A young girl stood amidst the tachyon waves gently lapped up against her.
“Hello, Phasia,” she said, with a child's innocent smile.
Phasia was dumbfounded. “Do I know you?”
The girl just smiled, a childish pressing of the lips together, as if that was answer enough.
Phasia scrutinised the young girl; she couldn’t have been much more than twelve, but had the bearing of a warrior queen with her pale white skin, long ice-blonde hair, and the unmistakable deep blue eyes of her father. “You’re . . .”
“Yes, I am,” the Time Empress confidently replied with a hint of a haughty smile.
Phasia returned her smile. “Oh, my!”
CHAPTER FOUR
To the eyes of human astronomers searching the skies in the twenty-first century, the area of the cosmos known as the Sloan Great Wall was the largest known structure in nature—until knowledge of the Axalan-discovered Grand Immensity was divulged in 2241. If the astronomers had been able to peer closer at the Sloan Wall, they would have seen a thousand-light-year long stellar field birthing stars, assume they would form solar systems, and perhaps life-bearing worlds with civilisations which would one day encounter humanity.
But the civilisation within this stellar nursery was not one any astronomer would have wanted to meet. Significant sections of the star field were not made of stars, but of living creatures of energy; spawning, feeding, growing, searching, flittering through time and space for the one place that mattered.
It took thousands of years to accumulate enough spawn to begin construction. It was one thing to travel alone, but for this journey, something else was needed. There was no rush for they had all the time in the universe. The creatures formed together, interlocking, feeding from the expanse of the super galactic cluster which formed their nursery in order to maximise their strength and temporal capabilities.
When they had finished, a new gigantic star, more than ten times Earth's sun stellar mass, shone in the heavens. Their leader threaded his way through the teeming masses, his golden aura touching every one last of the trillions of them, until he reached the center of the living star; the golden heart of a rejuvenated race.
He gave a command and space warped. A part of the Sloan Great Wall collapsed as the Helstar couldn’t resist one last feed for energy. After all, the next time the Lore fed, there would only be one small, yellow star to eat.
“Zane! Wake up! Zane!”
Zane jumped at the deep voice bellowing her name, more out of fright at the instant recognition of the voice than at the realisation she was somewhere in a black expanse.
She turned around and there he was: the red crystal being who had visited her on Earth. They were definitely a long way from her bedroom in Sword Industries.
“Oh, you again,” Zane tried to feel friendly, bending her lips into a smile. Inside she was absolutely terrified, trapped as she was with no Astral help.
“Where am I? I was in transit and then, then . . .” She struggled to remember what her last thoughts were. “Did you attack me?” she accused him.
“No,” he responded, somewhat coldly.
Zane’s memory struggled to keep up as she recalled her predicament at the Chronopolis. “Did you do something to the Astrals and the Chronopolis?” she asked.
“No.”
“What about me? Did you do something to me to make me older than before?”
“No.”
“Did you bring me to Earth millions of years in the future?”
“No.” For a fourth time.
Don’t speak much, do you? she thought.
“No.”
Zane thought she could hear amusement in his voice that time.
“Fine, then what are we doing here? And why are you so interested in me?” she asked.
“You must come with me,” he said, almost ominously.
“I don’t think so . . .”
Before she could finish, the being held out his eye-palmed hand and Zane felt an irresistible force reach out as she flew into his arms. She thought she’d be crushed up against hard crystal, but his skin was softer than she thought, and soothingly warm to the touch, too. She could see through his armoured exterior and the energy coursing through him. Then she looked into his eyes: Golden, majestic, deep with time. Zane got lost in them, timelines swirling across his orbs, showing her past and future.
Though Zane felt no sensation of movement she knew they had travelled somewhere else. She still gripped her rescuer/abductor around the shoulders, but let go as she looked around her surroundings.
It was temporal space, but not as she knew it. It was still pitch black, but here time particles splashed against each other in exploding spectra, splintering into fractal ripples which twisted away to form bizarre flat dimensional planes in which Zane could see stars and galaxies. As the fractal planes floated away like rotating mirrors, they paradoxically grew larger and larger until at the horizon, Zane could see whole universes. It was a never-ending process, as universe after universe was born and floated away to lead its own life ending up drenched in darkness.
“Holy, sheesh! Where are we?” Zane whispered in awe.
“Nowhere and everywhere,” came a familiar and reassuring voice.
Excited, Zane spun: “Phasia!” She leaped from the red being’s side and flew over to Phasia, giving her a big hug. “Oh, Phasia, I thought I’d never see you again. Where have you been? Who is this guy who brought me here? What is this place?” Zane had so many questions, but Phasia answered them all patiently.
“Well, first off, you’ve changed a bit. Do something with your hair?” the Celestian Knight jibed. “You have grown into the daughter your father wanted, I must say. Isn’t that so Ego Byss?” She laughed at the crystal being who stood silent and impassively nearby.
“Ego Byss?” Zane repeated. “Sort of makes sense, lots of ego and eyes like deep abysses of time. Who is he?”
“Ah, well. He and his peop
le are the allies I went to find. They call themselves the Zater Jen.”
“Zater Jen?” Zane paused, fishing within her memories. “After your father?”
“Well done for remembering. Yes. I found out that when he disappeared he had actually found these beings, brought them back to life, gave them meaning, and so they named themselves after him. And then to top it off, my father brought my son to them.”
“Your . . . ?” Zane looked over to her left and saw a man in gold crystal armour glide over to her.
Phasia smiled proudly. “Zane, meet my first-born son and your long-lost, half-uncle, Hellennius the Cosmogod, leader of the Zater Jen.”
Zane was lost for words. She stammered, overwhelmed by emotion, not knowing what to say. “Wow! After all this time . . . that’s so, so . . .” She started to cry. Understanding, Phasia wrapped her arms around her.
“Oh, Zane, we’ll find your father, don’t you worry about that. Shh, now! I thought you’d outgrow crying by now.”
Zane tried to smile, but failed. “I haven’t been this way for long. I was as you last saw me on Earth way back when Aristedes and I left to look for my father. I've been to twenty-first and twenty-third century Earth, then somehow millions of years in the future, all grown up, and with temporal powers to boot.” Her crying had stopped, though a bit of frustration flared up as she explained her most recent adventures on Earth. “But I think I’ve been taken out of time somehow, somewhere. I don’t know where I’ve been or why I’ve aged. Do you?”
Phasia frowned and shook her head. “No, I do not know. It was not us. But don’t worry, we’ll figure it out, just as we’re figuring out what to do next here.”
Zane followed Phasia and Hellennius’s gaze out into the kaleidoscope of universes.
“So, what is this ‘nowhere and everywhere’? It’s amazing.” Gazing around, she saw shadowy figures in the deep background.
“We’re running simulations.”
“Simulations? On what? How?”
“There used to be such things called quantum computers. But there are much more powerful machines. Think of this as a cosmic computer, where the universe itself becomes the computer. We’re calculating the end of time, the end of the universe which this war will bring.”
Zane was speechless, because she knew Lightstream could only dream of doing this. If only she was here. “But the Astrals can help. They can do this, Phasia.” Her voice rose in panic as she spoke. “But I can’t find them or the Chronopolis. Do you know where they are? Have you been back there?”
“What's happened at the Chronopolis?” a shocked Phasia wanted to know. “Helexius, Spheron and the girls were fine when I left.”
“It's abandoned!” Zane replied, still upset from the memory. “The Astrals are gone and the Chronopolis has been sealed with an array of temporal defences. You didn't know?”
Phasia shook her head, but didn't show any sign of shock or surprise. “No, since I left to find allies, I have not been back. But I know this is not the only war front and it’s possible the Astrals have retreated to a more strategic location from which to fight, leaving the Chronopolis protected against intruders.” She didn't sound entirely convincing.
Zane wasn’t sure she understood or trusted Phasia. The Astrals were not here for the big war at the end of time?
Phasia knew what was going through her mind and answered before Zane spoke. “Magna Aura, Zane. The new homes of the children of the Celestian Knights are all under attack. Each is as important as the other. And if one falls the others will, no matter the time or the place. We are fighting for our very survival.”
Zane was certain Phasia was terrified, but couldn’t figure out why. “Why? How? Surely we can defeat Archron, a few Surge, and the Lore.”
Phasia looked sternly at Zane. “You must know what this war really is?” she rebuked the young Astral.
Zane felt a shiver go down her spine at her tone. “No,” she replied, meekly.
Phasia’s eyes darkened. “Oh universe! None of you know. I’m not even sure if Archron knows the full extent of what he’s doing.”
“What’s happening, Phasia?” a worried Zane's mind tried to imagine the worst that could happen.
Phasia’s lips pursed in trepidation. “Archron’s not doing this by himself, which is why I was looking for the Zater Jen. It is why I had to find and warn you, through Ego Byss. As he told you before, only you can save the future.”
Zane remembered her first meeting with the mysterious red Zater Jen on Earth: “My father. Ego Byss told me he was still alive and can save us. Is this true?”
Phasia didn’t say anything, but took Zane a little forward and showed her the images from the universes. They stared at the universal visions until Zane could make out strange, yet vaguely familiar figures.
“But, that’s impossible,” Zane shrieked, thinking her mind was playing tricks on her. “All of them? Still alive. Are they like you?”
Phasia paused. “No, Zane, not all of them. I can change back into my Celestian form. I have control over my powers, but they do not. Synther made sure of that. It’s too late to save them, but now we know what they are doing and they have to be stopped.” Phasia had steel in her voice, but not without considerable pain. This was a Celestian Knight mission to end all others, to right the past, and to confront the end of a love which was promised would never end.
Zane was surprised to be hearing and seeing these revelations. No wonder the other Celestians Knights felt they couldn’t trust Phasia. What other secrets did she bear?
As if having read her mind, Phasia pointed to the distant horizon to something Zane had not noticed before, or rather someone.
There was a little girl sitting crossed-legged among the warping universes. They bent around her, leaving her untouched as in reverence.
Zane watched in silent awe as the girl manipulated the universes around her, her small hands caressing the outer skies of the cosmoses. The universes glowed back before disappearing over the horizons, perhaps to become full universes with new life.
“That’s her isn’t it? The Time Empress,” Zane whispered.
Phasia confirmed with a nod. “She is the temporally-strongest Astral yet born. I’m her guardian for now. Her parents are in a war of their own, which their daughter cannot be a part of.”
Zane was curious. “Do I know her parents? Is she of the next generation or further down the line?”
Phasia smiled, though her voice was a little harder edged. “Just know she’s an Astral, Zane, no need to bother with the detail.”
Zane looked at Phasia then at the girl. They’ve taken her out of her time, maybe like I was, a suspicious thought running through her head. No wonder they don’t want me to know. What else is there? But all she said was, “What’s she doing?”
“She’s reading the universes. As I mentioned, we’re nowhere and everywhere. We’re standing at the beginning of temporal space where it wells up from the gaps between the great universal branes. From here we can see everything that has been and will be, all the possible futures curving out before us. We just tap into the temporal frame and psionically project all possible outcomes upon the baby universes as they fold out. We can fast-track millions of universes through billions of years in minutes.”
“Wow, head-hurting stuff! What are you using as psionic software?” Zane was intrigued.
Phasia pointed her head behind Zane.
Zane turned and a squeak of shock escaped her throat at the sight of a crystal wall that stretched forever. The shadowy figures she thought she had seen in the background were almost on top of her. “What? Who . . . ?”
“That’s the rest of the Zater Jen race, all three billion of them, attuned to each other and the universes. They’re how we found you and will stay with you. They can concentrate their minds together or work as individuals to forecast the events to come from the events that have passed. But so far, they all say the same thing: We lose. And we don’t know why. So, we are gathering ti
me. The Zater Jen are drinking as much temporal energy as they can before we attack and counter the Lore’s energy.”
“What about the Surge? If they became allies, then they could absorb whatever energy there is and also fend off the Lore.” Zane's face lit up thinking she had a brilliant idea, but Phasia shook her head.
“It’s not that simple. The Surge are proud beings, both proud of their physical form and proud because they never want to be controlled again. They were slaves once to a race of psi-beings and it was the Lore who freed them from the psis, albeit in a three-way battle. The Surge are the Knights Destina’s protection against the Lore and will side with the Knights Destina out of misguided loyalty, and battle for the Chryrians. There’s no love lost between any of the races!”
Zane knew she had heard something monumental, but couldn’t put it together: ancient myths mixing with her history and the bedtime stories told to her by her father about the People of psi, the People of matter, the People of time, and the dreaded People of energy.
“Holy shit!” The thought thunder-clapped in her mind as she realised everything she had been taught as myth was coming true. But was she just imagining things.
“Phasia, are these Peoples . . . ?” She couldn’t bring herself to say their name.
“Yes, Zane, these races, these Peoples, are the Antiqchronals—the first four Peoples: The Lore, the People of fire/energy of the original universe who drove the rest out; the Surge, the People of earth/matter burned into metal by the Lore; the Chryrians, the People of wind/psyche, whose poisoned minds cause insanity; and the Zater Jen, the People of water/time, imprisoned in bodies of crystal and exiled beyond futurecome. Yes, Zane, they exist, scattered as they were around the universes by the Lore. But here they are together with the Fifths about to war again.
“But why are we fighting amongst ourselves, again?” Zane was still confused.
Phasia paused, thinking Zane had already figured out the answer. She pointed to the emerging universes, each one showing a universe wracked and broken at war against twelve distinctive dark round entities.
The Destinia Apocalypse (The Starguards - Of Humans, Heroes, and Demigods Book 4) Page 7