by Troy Dukart
“Good day, shipmates. Take a seat,” motioning his hands to release us from attention. “I'm going to get right to the point. Through our combined intelligence sources, we determined this maelstrom is the result of an alien portal opening to our world. Everything we send through loses connection immediately upon crossover.”
“Guess that's why I'm here,” I shook my head.
“We have constructed a team to investigate. Our coalition partners also could not determine what lies on the other side either. That is now our mission.”
The person with their helmet on earlier sat ahead of me. Three white painted paw-prints on their shoulder caught my eye.
“Remain on standby in case of another outbreak. The first group deploys tomorrow morning. That is all,” the Captain ordered.
We were dismissed.
CHAPTER 45
Yessa
We woke at 0600. After eating breakfast, our team met on the deck. They instructed us to would fly down into the maelstrom and gather as much data on the portal as possible. Sounds fun, right?
“How did you convince them to allow you on this mission?” I asked Karma while she ate cereal.
“I talked to your boss about coming. Told him he didn't have a choice,” she said with a straight face before we broke into laughter.
I left it at that, “You'll need a suit.”
She pointed to her waist, “Already got that covered.” Pushing a button on her belt activated her suit. Chinese in design, with Tibetan scriptures written all, and colored in midnight blue with red accents under the armpits.
Us Americans received a special Space Suit, able to handle amphibious environments as well as zero-G. I would lead the mission. Our goals were to investigate the cause of the maelstrom and report back to our superiors on any findings. The mysterious soldier who always had their helmet on would accompany us. When I asked their name, they replied, “Vexer, ma'am.”
At 0730, my team and I departed towards the maelstrom. Flying up in the sky off the carrier, we approached the gigantic swirl, which proved to be much more intimidating than I thought. “Alright team, on me!” I ordered.
Heads first, we dived down into the swirling vortex towards the ocean floor. The further we dived, the colder the temperature became. The sunlight faded with our descent. Three minutes later we reached the portal. Using our built-in night vision, we analyzed the anomaly. We slowed down and hovered over it.
Alien text floated in a purple and green ooze pool, reminiscent of the cave we found the God Blade in.
“Readings?” I asked.
“None of the elements present in that, sludge, are identifiable from the periodic table ma'am,” Iovine reported.
“You take some pictures, Dill?”
“Yes ma'am, and am retrieving a sample,” he said while sucking out some of the ooze into a syringe.
“That's good enough for me. Let's head back so they can analyze that.”
Suddenly, the sound of crackling thunder echoed above us. The temperature directly above began to plummet. Turning up my environmental volume, I could hear a sound reminiscent of a waterfall. The dot of light at the surface turned black, which led me to one conclusion. The maelstrom was collapsing and the water would come crashing down and crush us.
“Oh, SHIT!!!” Dill yelled.
“ABORT! ABORT the mission!” I commanded.
I motioned to escape into the ocean but to no avail. The walls of the vortex hardened and we couldn't pass through.
“We're gonna die!” Iovine cried.
“No, we're not!” the mysterious soldier said.
“What?” Karma replied.
Vexer put his hand into the ooze and it glowed bright white, “It wants us to go to the other side.”
“It's talking to you!?” I asked perplexed.
He floated down to the sludge pool and passed through.
“We're gonna be crushed if that hits us!” Karma exclaimed.
With no other options, I looked to my teammates, “Shit! Everyone, we're going in!”
One by one they flew through. The officer code was for us to be the last one to exit, to make sure our team survived. I gazed up at the water before flying through, “I won't let you down Strafe. I'm going to end this.”
Seconds before engulfment, I took a deep breath and dived into the unknown.
PATREON SUPPORTERS
Hero Tier
Billy Parker
Yahya Chaudhary
Howard and Ruth Dukart
Dreamer Tier
Jeanne Waslosky
Believer Tier
Mom
Thomas Meurling
Scott Cleary
Gunner Avenetti
Ron Cockrell
Kathleen Moran
Dean Spencer
Honor Raconteur
Jed Wilcox
S. J. Saunders
Bryce O’Connor
Broc Sewell
Franki Love
Little Dragon Designs
Tania Gomes
The Painted Dogg
I couldn’t finish this project alone or without support, and I’m forever indebted to the people on this list. Your donations mean the world to me. My dream became a reality thanks to your generosity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My mom Amy, for always believing in me and being there in my hard times. This project would never have been possible without your love.
Grandma and Grandpa for all the love. You are a blessing in my life; I’m so lucky to have you.
My Cover Artist, PrinceG07. Thank you, my friend, for bringing my vision to life so vividly! Find this incredibly talented guy on:
Instagram: @PrinceG07
Artstation.com: PrinceG07
The United States Air Force for instilling a strength in me that only could be earned, not given. If I called you a friend while in uniform, I miss you and am rooting for you!
To Alton, my best friend in the Air Force. Thank you for being my travel/party buddy, confidant, and a good person. You helped me stay sane in that world lol.
Rock and Metalcore music for providing me with so much inspiration. Some bands specifically would be Slaves, Issues, I Prevail, Red, and Linkin Park.
Every fan of mine on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads! This book is for you!
My favorite book blogger, Zoe, O’Farrell, for the amazing support. Check her out, she’s wonderful!
Instagram: @zooloosbookdiary
Website: www.zooloosbookdiary.co.uk
Yahya Chaudhary for your generous support of this book. B-Town for life homie!
All my day-one homies of the B-Town crew. You know who you are.
Stories that take me on an unforgettable ride are what I live for! Give me a good movie, video game, or book and you’ll have the key to my heart. To contribute to what I love is an absolute pleasure and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this book!
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my greatest hero, Chester Bennington. Thank you for giving me 17 years of music and inspiration. I remember the first time I watched the “Crawling” music video in 2001 and becoming instantly connected and in-love with your craft. Linkin Park helped me fall in love with music. I’m glad I got to see you in concert. You will never be forgotten.
I love and miss you.
-Troy
For mental health information and help, check out this great website:
https://www.changedirection.org
HELP AN INDIE!
Beloved Reader,
Please leave me a review on Goodreads, Amazon, or any other reviewing platform and tell me what you thought about it! Reviews help indie authors so much! I read every single one!
Also, please tell you friends on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and anywhere else you can! Tag me and I’ll see it!
Because I am an indie author with a limited budget, I wrote these books for the love of writ
ing and storytelling. I used Autocrit to edit this book, an online editing program. If you spot an error in the writing, please let me know and I will feature you in the acknowledgements of the updated version! Thank you for your support and understanding!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Troy Dukart is a United States Air Force veteran, born in Aurora, Colorado and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He’s an avid consumer of video games, music, and movies. He published his first two books, The Venerate Order and The Venerate Redemption, with publisher Creativia while serving active duty.
After separating from the Air Force in the fall of 2018, he spent two months in Europe and traveled to six countries, where he found many inspirations for this book. Travel is his favorite activity in the world, as it connects you to others.
His love for writing and reading developed after coming across the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. He’s been lucky to meet her and considers Roth and Stephen King to be his literary heroes. Their influence is deep in The Venerate Saga series. He’s a HUGE fan of the I am Number Four series as well.
An alumnus of the University of Minnesota: Twin Cities, he graduated in 2012 with a BA in Asian Languages and Literature: Japanese. Later that year he spent six months teaching English in Osaka, Japan. Japanese video games, anime, and culture are very close to his heart.
An avid Toastmasters International enthusiast, he currently holds the title of Advanced Communicator Silver and Advanced Leader Bronze. Public speaking and leadership development are a big passion for him.
The NFL, NBA, and volleyball are his favorite sports. He’s a diehard Vikings and Golden State Warriors fan.
He currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
FOLLOW TROY DUKART:
Facebook: @veneratesaga
Goodreads: Troy Dukart
Instagram: @troysterwrites
Twitter: @Venerate_Order
Website: www.venerateorder.com