Nearing the buildings, she slowed her pace. A small dust devil rolled down the wide thoroughfare, sending the creatures beneath the sand scurrying away. Through the dust, Ash saw a shadow moving through a window. It was near imperceptible and likely just something shifted by the swirling winds—but with so many lives hanging on the outcome of her finding an escape, she couldn’t afford to make a mistake.
Hopeful, Ash tried stretching her mind to find the cause of the shadow. A grin crossed her face as her intuition heightened. Her instincts had been right, there was something lurking within the ancient city. A chill raced up her spine. It was like standing at the entrance of a graveyard at the stroke of midnight. She was sure that someone or something was watching her.
Deciding it wasn’t safe to enter the city, Ashlyn backed up. Her retreat drew the lurking creatures out of hiding. Dozens of Draconian apparitions floated out of windows and open doorways—some rising from beneath the sand. They had been all around her, watching her as she walked to the city.
Visually, they were the same ghostly manifestations that had attacked her aboard Destiny. Their Draconian claws, head, and neck were solid, their torsos growing ever more ethereal as it moved downwards from the head and shoulders.
Taking an offensive stance, squared shoulders, left foot forward—Ash raised the sword to shoulder height, both hands on the hilt. When the closest apparition came to within two paces, Ash pressed forward, taking step after step, pivoting, spinning—cutting and hacking her way through them. She’d felled near two dozen and still more came.
From beneath the sand, the clawed hand of a Drac reached up and grabbed her ankle, trying to hold her in place. Quickly dispatching the two specters coming at her—Ash followed the swing with a slash to the wrist of the hand grasping her. Enraged, the Draconian rose from the sand and rushed her. With a slashing strike, she killed it.
Hundreds of Dracs poured out of the city, the loud roars and echoing screeches leading her to believe that thousands more were behind those leading the charge. Without her powers, the sheer physical numbers of Dracs made it impossible for her to win.
Ash started to retreat, with aggressive swings attacking those that came within reach of her sword—her pace quickening as their numbers grew.
As more Dracs arrived, they slowly encircled her. Before they could cut off her narrowing path of escape, Ash turned and broke into a full run, sprinting out into the desert.
A small cooling breeze swept past her, taking the screams of the chasing specters with it. The unexpected silence brought Ash to a stop.
The Dracs chasing her had run headlong into an invisible barrier—a barrier that even blocked the Draconians’ bloodthirsty cries. Infuriated by her close proximity and their inability to reach her, a few turned their rage upon their own kind. Brawls broke out amongst them, the violence spilling onto others gathered along the wall.
Within moments, near a thousand Dracs were fanned out along the barrier—their eyes conveying their rage, and hatred.
“Why do I suddenly feel like Carrie at her high-school prom?”
Appreciative of the respite, Ash bent and put her hands on her knees—making a conscious effort to take slow, deep breaths. In the heat of battle, she’d missed the subtle change—the air had become cooler, even the metallic scent of the city was gone. Whatever the invisible threshold was, it had saved her life.
Ash straightened and shrugged her shoulders, grateful for not being able to hear the shrill screeching noise of the Dracs.
“Ash, I’m sorry,” said Steven in the meld, his voice sorrowful.
“Steven! I’m here, Steven. I’m here. Where are you? Are you in the nexus—the netherworld—how do I find you?”
Ashlyn’s heart fluttered, exhilarated at hearing his voice. He was fighting, growing stronger. Intuitively, she felt his heartfelt words were an acknowledgement to the deaths of their children. His words a plea for forgiveness.
“Where am I supposed to go, Steven? Where?”
A loud roar from behind drew her attention. On the horizon coming straight at her was Pegasus, her hull bathed in radiant golden light.
“I’ll be damned. Now that’s something I didn’t expect to see,” said Ashlyn aloud.
Chapter 18
Revelations
The large ship came to a stop less than thirty feet above her. Ash could feel the ship’s shield extending, her skin tingling as it enveloped her.
A floating platform lowered from beneath Pegasus. And on the platform, were Tara, Gorok and three women. All of them were smiling, happy to see her. Tara took hold of Gorok’s hand as one of their daughters stepped off the platform and went to Ashlyn.
“La’nel?” questioned Ash, barely recognizing the little girl she’d said goodbye to a few days before. La’nel had grown into a beautiful woman. She wore a full-length, wispy, light blue silk dress that gave her the look of a Roman goddess.
“Yes, Lady Ashlyn. We’ve come to get you. My husband, your son, requests that I bring you to him.”
“Your husband?” Ash was speechless.
“You are safe now,” La’nel added.
Gorok, a gentle giant of a man, waved them to come to the platform. “I too am glad we have found you but we must go quickly. Our time here is short.”
“Come, Lady Ashlyn. Everything will be explained.” La’nel took Ashlyn’s arm and led her to the platform. Tara, unable to contain her excitement any longer, broke from Gorok’s grasp and hurried to Ashlyn, giving her a big hug. “I have missed you terribly.” Tara’s eyes filled with tears.
“I don’t understand. I’ve only been gone a few days,” said Ash. “How did all this happen?”
Gorok spoke. “That may be true here—but not in our reality.”
Tara then interjected. “Your son has worked hard to bring us here. It was not an easy thing for him to do. Gorok is right—we must hurry.”
“I can’t leave Steven. I made him a promise,” said Ash. “I have to find him.”
“And you will—your son has foreseen it,” said Tara, comforting Ash.
The platform began to rise into Destiny. Ash turned, taking a last glimpse of the ghostly apparitions clawing at the barrier.
La’nel followed Ashlyn’s gaze to the creatures outside. “That too was Ja’kal’s doing. He erected a barrier around the city to protect you, giving us time to race to your location.”
On their ascent into the ship, all of them gathered around Ashlyn, welcoming her return. Their love brought tears to Ashlyn’s eyes.
As the platform fused with the hull of Pegasus, the Keeper appeared. “Welcome home, Lady Ashlyn. I have waited for this day.”
“Keeper, what happened after you beamed me down to Heaven?” asked Ashlyn.
“May I suggest we head to the Observation Deck. We can talk along the way,” said the Keeper.
“Yes,” said Gorok. “Your son is anxious to see you.”
“As am I to see him,” said Ash.
“In answer to your question, Lad—” The Keeper smiled. “Ashlyn. I do not want to have you chasing me with a broom to swat my bottom.”
Ashlyn laughed, visualizing the image.
“Seconds after I beamed you down, the Draconian vessels began to attack. I destroyed several of the first ships to arrive but as they converged on my location, Destiny began to take damage. The only option was to initiate a jump.
“The Draconian ships followed, even tracking deeply complex series of multi-spatial jumps. For months, I rarely had more than a few minutes before they arrived. There were a few occasions, where I was able to lie in wait, attacking the first vessels to arrive. I had hoped it would discourage them from following, but it did not.
“It was near a year before I was able to lose them by initiating a dangerous maneuver near a dwarf star. I followed it with a series of longer jumps to assure I was not being followed.
“I must admit, that when I sent a probe to Heaven and discovered that a rift had been created, engulfing Heaven
and all the other planets in the system—I thought you were dead.”
“What you and I had not known was that when Hadaesia was attacked, Ja’kal transported Gorok’s family and himself to Earth.”
“He was only three. How could he do that?” asked Ashlyn.
“He is very powerful and fear is a powerful motivator. As you are aware, he has the inherited abilities and powers of both you and Steven. He reacted instinctually, and having no home of his own to lock onto, he used the one within Tara’s mind. Her memories were like an anchor that he followed to transport them.
“They lived on Earth for many years, and the children grew. During all that time, Ja’kal never stopped searching for us. He discovered that by letting his consciousness stretch, he could search both forwards and backwards in time. It was the rift that kept him from finding you. It was a barrier his mind could not telepathically penetrate from the outside.
“But in his search, he found me. He asked me to come to him.
“After constructing a new time gate, I made the jump to them.”
Ash was in awe. She’d missed so much, and yet, for her, seemingly only days had passed. She remembered a moment in the nexus where her memories of Steven had been hard to grasp—and she’d questioned how long it had been—thinking it might have been far longer than it seemed. The Keeper’s words confirmed her suspicion.
Stepping onto the Observation Deck, Ash came to an abrupt stop. “Enlil?”
“This is your son, Ja’kal,” said Tara, correcting her.
Even as she had uttered Enlil’s name, Ashlyn realized her mistake. It had just been so shocking and unexpected. Seeing him looking identical to Enlil had caught her off-guard, and she’d reacted instinctually to his visual presence.
“Just days ago, he was three, and we were splashing water at one another,” said Ash with a small grin, the memory warming her heart.
The man’s eyes opened, and with warmth and heartfelt emotion he said, “Yes, mother—I am your son, Ja’kal, and I have missed you. And I too, have often thought of that day when I splashed you and you chased me. I look forward to doing so again.”
“And I’ll bet that I can still catch you,” said Ashlyn, her eyes watering. She looked at all the beauty of the star filled sky in the room. “So, what is all this?”
Ja’kal hovered a few feet off the ground, his legs crossed. “I find it easy to let my mind expand in this place. I created what you see here. It is an accurate depiction of the region of space where the rift exists. It moves in real time, charting the rift’s expansion.”
All around them, hung holographic star systems comprised of thousands of planets, nebulae and star clusters. It was visually wondrous. “It’s amazing Ja’kal,” said Ash as she took a step forward, wanting to give him a hug.
“Ja’kal put his hand up, stopping her from coming closer. “I am sorry, but I cannot be interrupted. Though you see my physical body, I am not here. My consciousness is out there, searching for my father. He is the key to closing the rift.”
Ja’kal waived his hand, rotating the hologram of space around him. The shift brought the rift to the front, where all in the room could see it. “As you can see, it has already consumed many star systems. It has now grown in size beyond my ability to control. I had contained it for a time, but I could not sustain such an effort indefinitely. It is my belief, that with my father’s help, it may yet be sealed.”
“And what is the result if it can’t be sealed?” asked Ash.
Ja’kal waved his hand, progressively advancing the time line. “This is a two-hundred and seventy-thousand-year depiction.”
The rift grew, its black maw consuming everything it touched. Within seconds, all was dark. “As you can see, given enough time it will consume the galaxy.”
Waving his hand, the entire universe came into being, the holo sped, bringing to life thousands of galaxies each second. The blackness consumed each as it grew. “In just over thirteen million years, it will have consumed the known universe. All we know will cease to exist.”
Ash shook her head in dismay. “It’s my fault. I knew the darkness controlled him, I thought I could save him. He was fighting the darkness, he was coming back, growing stronger. When he spoke to me I was sure there was still hope. And when he sent me into the rift, I took him with me. I didn’t know…-” Her words trailed away.
Tara went to Ashlyn’s side and put her arm around her. “Your son is very powerful. He will find a way.”
“Mother—you say that you took him into the rift with you?” asked Ja’kal.
“Yes,” said Ashlyn. “I used a gravity tether to pull him inside with me.”
“And you say that even though he was controlled by the darkness, you heard him speak to you?” Ja’kal’s gaze upon Ashlyn was intense.
Ash nodded. “I gave him a complex equation. During my time in the darkness, I found that the Draconians don’t like deep thought patterns. They take the easy route, choosing to follow their more primitive, instinctual needs. Most of what they’ve acquired, they gained through the acquisition of conquered worlds, not through actual research and development.”
“And what was the complex equation?” asked Ja’kal.
Ashlyn smiled. “A game of chess. Steven loved chess, and being a student of strategic warfare, he believed that chess exemplified the best of both. It required more than knowing the moves, it required understanding your opponent.
“It all goes back to the Challenger Sea Base. I returned to our cabin one evening and caught him watching a holo recording of a game being played between Nikolic and Arsovic. He’d decided to watch it because it was historically unique, being the longest tournament game ever played. Not knowing who the winner was, he instructed Gena, the base AI to play the recording and not reveal the winner. He thought it would be challenging to see how each man approached the game, and if he could tell by the choices they made, who the eventual winner was going to be. As it turned out, he began critiquing their play as it unfolded in real time.
“I remember laughing because he was getting so upset, accusing them of missing moves that could have finished the game. He sat there for the entire twenty hours that they’d played, following all two-hundred and sixty-nine moves.”
Ash grinned. “When the game ended, he cursed Gena for not telling him that the game was going to conclude without a declared winner.
“I’d hoped that the maddening memory of those lost hours, combined with the games deep complexity would give him some breathing room to rediscover himself.”
“Very, very clever. And what were the words he spoke?” asked Ja’kal.
“Mostly, he spoke to me telepathically,” answered Ash. “In the beginning, it was rudimentary—occasionally relaying a chess move or two from the game in the precise order they’d originally been played. It was slow, methodical—but by saying them to me, it showed he’d at least gained momentary control to send a short message.
“There had also been a moment where the Draconian leader seemed confused in his speech when addressing me. I believe Steven used my own words, restructuring them into a positive statement so that I’d see he was growing stronger.
“Later, he even gave a short three-word apology, for not having been able to stop the Draconians from killing our children.”
Tara moaned. “I am sorry for your loss, Lady Ashlyn. I did not know.”
“As am I,” said the Keeper. “There have only been a few times that I wished I had a physical body, and now is one of those moments. I would love to give you a hug.”
“Thank you,” said Ash, looking at Tara and the Keeper.
Ja’kal waved a hand, enlarging the hologram of the rift until he was centered within it. “Keeper, turn us around. Take us back into the rift. We’ve been searching for him in the wrong place.”
“Yes, Lord Ja’kal,” said the Keeper. “Returning to the rift.”
“How are you able to enter and exit the rift at will?” asked Ash.
“I cr
eate a small quantum singularity around Pegasus. We travel as a rift within a rift. But it is not easy to maintain such control and focus. The depth of meditation required to maintain the singularity while still leaving part of my consciousness free to search for Steven and interact with the Keeper, limits our time.”
Ja’kal’s confidence, judgement, and knowledge were impressive. He had grown into a leader, his skills and abilities far surpassing her own. Ashlyn was proud of the man he had become.
“What happens when we find him?”
“We do not yet know, there are many variables. I beg your forgiveness, but I now ask for privacy so that I can let my mind search for him. I will let the Keeper know when all of you can return,” said Ja’kal as he waved his hand, rotating the rift.
“Come, Lady Ashlyn. We have prepared your quarters for you. It is as you remember it aboard Destiny. The Keeper had thought you would like it.
“My husband will let us know when he has found his father,” said La’nel, speaking softly so as not to disturb Ja’kal. They stepped into the corridor outside. “Would you like me to get you something to eat before retiring?”
Ash shook her head. “Thank you, La’nel, but I’m far more tired than I am hungry.”
She took the hand of Tara and Gorok in her own. “I have many questions, but they can wait until after I’ve gotten a few hours of rest. Though, I do want to say ‘thank you’ for raising Ja’kal. He turned into an incredible man. It’s all due to you.” Ash then gave the two of them a hug.
She turned to La’nel. “I couldn’t be more proud to have you as my son’s wife—all of you are now part of my family.”
“We have always been family,” said Tara.
Ashlyn laughed. “Yes, we have.”
Alone in her quarters, Ash headed for the shower. She gave a big smile as she stepped inside the room. La’nel had been literal in stating that her quarters were as they’d been aboard Destiny. It was the oasis. A soft breeze was swaying the palm tree fronds, and a waterfall was stirring the pond. Torches along the edge of the beach were lit invitingly, adding a golden warmth to the rippling water.
2289 A.D. - Arcane Darkness: A Paranormal Fantasy Adventure Saga (The Ashlyn Chronicles - Book 3) Page 17