AEGIS EVOLUTION

by S. S. Segran

  Sébastien walked around the convoy, gun slung across his back. The rest of the men guarded the soldiers, but Dominique’s and the chief’s gazes were drawn to the lifeless bodies splayed at their feet.

  “I don’t know,” he finally answered. “More of them will come when these pigs don’t return. We could be in over our heads.” He covered his face. “I really don’t know what we’re going to do.”

  Dominique put a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.” She glanced up at the sky, her throat working. Despite her words, she felt hollow inside, wishing she could do more, wishing she could ask for help. But the League was already stretched thin around the globe, handling the devastation brought by the crop destruction.

  Sébastien dropped his hands to his sides. “I’ll deal with the mess out here,” he said softly. “Why don’t you help tend to the sick ones?”

  Dominique dipped her head but before she left, he added, “And, Dominique? We’re going to have to talk about how you did what you did back there.”

  She paused, swallowing, then said, “We’ll save that for another day,” and left the scene.

  As she walked, she realized the evening was nearly upon them. She saw the glow of the oil lamps from the entrance of the hut in the distance and her stomach churned. If the past couple of weeks were any indication of what was to come, the people inside would soon perish and the next wave of diseased will take their place. As terrible as that was, it also meant there would be fewer people to defend the village should another raid occur.

  She halted in her tracks and looked up toward the darkening sky, searching for a solution. I can’t let this happen. I just can’t.

  Lowering her head, she caught sight of a beady-eyed, white-chested crow staring at her from a tree to her right. It shrieked as if cackling at her, then spread its wings and took off into the evening.

  1

  Fresh, soft snow covered the forest surrounding a valley that fit snugly between two remote, majestic mountain ranges. The air was cold, invigorating, befitting an October morning in northern Canada.

  From the air, the valley appeared uninhabited but, in reality, it housed an uncharted village. A narrow river, now mostly frozen over, meandered through its length. While the northern bank housed mostly clusters of five-sided abodes called neyra by the residents, the southern bank was home to a small school, a community hall, a youth center, storehouses, a large barn, a stable, a convalescence shelter, and even a greenhouse. The roof of every building was expertly fashioned and camouflaged to mimic the appearance of the surrounding foliage.

  The scenic village of Dema-Ki was home to just over seven hundred inhabitants, all descendants of a hybrid race of people with an incredible range of abilities, from telekinesis and omni-linguism to extreme speed, agility and strength, and a plethora of other gifts that varied from individual to individual. As extraordinary as this would be in the outside world, it was part of everyday life for the peaceful villagers.

  Toward the western end of the valley, a granite rock wall encircled an expansive training ground. Spruce, aspens, firs and other species of trees dotted the mostly open and tranquil space. In a wide clearing, Mariah Ashton bounced on the balls of her feet as she blew into her hands to keep them warm. Her copper-blond hair, tied into a bun, was hidden under a white beanie. Ten yards across from her, in a royal purple headband and moose-hide tunic, stood Saiyu, her mentor and one of the five Elders of Dema-Ki. Though the Elders were advanced in years, they hardly looked their age and moved with the vigor and nimbleness of youths. Combining grace with a regal demeanor, they cast an ethereal presence wherever they went.

  “It’s so cold,” Mariah complained to the redheaded teenager standing beside her; he had a black hood on and looked at ease despite the chill in the air. “My fingers are gonna be blue by the time we’re done.”

  Aari Barnes grinned and held up his gloved hands, wiggling his digits. “I’d offer you my gloves, but I’m not that much of a gentleman.”

  “Pfft. Jerk.”

  “Pfft. Brat.”

  Aari, one of her four closest friends, was one of the most intelligent people she knew. The others were elsewhere around the training ground with their own mentors as the group started on their tenth week of training with the Elders.

  Mariah cupped a hand over her reddened nose to warm it up. Ten weeks, she thought. It’s taken us ten weeks to reach the final stage of training.

  On a trip to Northern Canada over a year ago, the plane carrying Mariah and four friends had crashed near the Yukon-Northwest Territories border. The people of Dema-Ki had taken them in and nursed them back to health. As they healed, the Elders revealed to them that they were part of an ancient prophecy of a cataclysmic threat to humanity. After an initial deep bout of disbelief and skepticism, the friends had eventually agreed to stay and develop their latent abilities. That life-changing decision opened up a whole new world for them.

  During their time in Dema-Ki, they’d completed the first stage of their training: self-defense techniques and learning how to harness their individual powers, as well as the second stage, which was similar but much more rigorous.

  Before the friends could begin the third and final stage, the Elders had sent them back to their families with the memories of their time in the valley suppressed. Then, on a trip to California just a few months prior, their recollections had been triggered by someone they’d learn was a Sentry, a descendant of the people of Dema-Ki living in the outside world. From then on, their entire trip to the Golden State became a cross-country race to stop a calamitous scheme set in motion by a clandestine organization bent on wiping out most of humanity and establishing a new world order.

  Mariah felt like her head was spinning as she remembered everything that had happened to her and her friends.

  The final stage of the training they were now in was the longest and most demanding; it focused on the friends using their abilities in tandem. This was uncharted territory, even for the Elders as it was outside the range of their own capabilities. Guided by the prophecy, which stated that the friends were chosen because they possessed this unique and powerful ability, the Elders embarked on training the teenagers with unquestioning faith. That they had to use their gifts jointly was essential in order for the friends to fulfill their roles as the bearers of light against the gathering storm.

  Mariah hoped they were on the right track. So far, they’d had minimal luck with the banded approach.

  Up ahead, Saiyu waved Aari aside. Aari removed his gloves and tossed them to Mariah, then went to the far end of the clearing behind the Elder. The language barrier used to be a problem; Aari and Mariah’s respective mentors didn’t possess the gift of omni-linguism that the other Elders and many villagers did, but in the teenagers’ two and a half months in Dema-Ki, they had learned enough to have basic conversations.

  Mariah gratefully slipped on the gloves, then rolled her shoulders and fixed her gaze on Saiyu, ready for her warmup. The Elder had laid out a variety of objects on the ground in front of her. Before Mariah could assess them, the items were suddenly airborne and careening toward her. She focused on the first object—a stubby branch—and altered its direction with her mind, the same method Saiyu was using to launch objects at her. She deflected a leather pouch filled with sand in the next millisecond, then faced an incoming water-pelt, followed by three large pinecones in rapid succession. By the time she recovered from her efforts, she noticed too late a melon-sized ice-ball rocketing toward her.

  Thunk.

  She landed on her back, groaning. There’s another bruise to add to the count… Great. Pretty soon I’ll have a full constellation on my body.

  She brushed the ice fragments away and shakily got up. Aari, at the far end of the clearing, was hiccupping with laughter. “Hey, ’Riah”—he could barely get the words out through his giggling—“you should probably get some ice for that!”

  She scowled, then pointed her finger at him. His hand jerked up
involuntarily and he smacked himself in the face. He staggered back, grabbing his nose. “Oy!”

  Saiyu was doing her utmost to not smile or give the pair any kind of encouragement, but Mariah saw the amused look on her mentor’s face.

  A gruff voice called out and the three of them turned. Elder Ashack, a black-haired, blue-eyed man who was Aari’s mentor and Saiyu’s mate, made his way over, carrying a large cube made from a pine log. Mariah eyed his bare, muscled arms. Is that all he has in his wardrobe, sleeveless shirts? How is he not freezing?

  The Elder plunked the cube next to six others in the middle of the clearing and beckoned Aari over. Mariah and Saiyu watched as Aari did his warmup. The boy's concentration was obvious. Each cube began to shimmer and, within moments, all had disappeared from sight. Mariah smiled slightly. It was nice to see how far they’d come. The two of them were now quicker with their abilities and capable of handling multiple objects at a time.

  We’ve still got a ways to go, though, she thought.

  The second part of Aari’s warmup required him to cloak a grove of four trees. He struggled slightly but managed to conceal three. As he started on the fourth, Mariah flung a pebble at the back of his head, distracting him just enough that the very top of the spruce remained visible, floating incongruously in the air. He pulled a grotesque face at her.

  The first exercise they did together required Aari to hide two objects from sight and Mariah to move them. It was something they’d been struggling with for a week and it was truly an infuriating task. The Elders did their best to help but this was new territory and they treaded it carefully.

  In order to move an object, Mariah needed to see it, or at the least visualize an object she had seen previously. Since that wasn’t possible, her next best option was to connect with Aari in the novasphere, a dimension of higher consciousness, to sense the object’s position. Much easier said than done. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

  All there was at first was a shroud of nothingness speckled by flashes of gray. She breathed slowly and observed the flashes as they gently disappeared. As the darkness gave way to a gradual brightening in her mind, she began to sense Aari’s presence and instinctively reached out.

  She gasped. There was no way to explain it. It was as if she was suddenly seeing through her friend’s eyes but there was no actual image there, merely an awareness, as if she could feel the physical outline of everything around her. She sensed the objects—the leather pouch and water pelt from her warmup—and willed them to move. The objects wrestled gravity and rose a few feet above the ground.

  Beside her, Aari mumbled under his breath, “There you go!”

  She moved the objects slowly toward the Elders, who were waiting with their hands out. She dropped them into their palms and opened her eyes. The mentors were staring at their hands in astonishment, which looked funny to her until Aari released his cover on the objects and they became visible.

  Aari pulled her into a victorious hug, whooping and rocking her from side to side. “You did it! You actually did it!”

  She squealed happily and hugged him back. “That was the weirdest thing ever! It was almost like an edge detection effect, except it was all by feeling.”

  Saiyu ran over and wrapped her arms around her apprentice. The comforting scent of pine needles and mountain air wafted to Mariah’s nose. “Well done,” the Elder said, beaming.

  “Thank you,” Mariah replied, words muffled by the sandwich hug. She lifted her index finger over her head at Aari. “I think it’s his turn now.”

  Aari’s exercise was to render one of the log cubes invisible while Mariah moved it around, but she didn’t feel it was challenging enough and took it upon herself to make it harder for him. As he worked on concealing the cube, she flung it around willy-nilly like it was on a roller coaster. Aari frowned but, to his credit, didn’t complain. It took a while but he finally managed to make the cube disappear. Mariah was impressed. “Good job.”

  He puffed his cheeks. “That was tough.”

  “That’s the point!”

  They took turns shuffling through other, similar challenges until the Elders decided they’d had enough teamwork for the day. Ashack and Aari had the run of the place while Saiyu led Mariah to where the trees were denser. Mariah breathed deeply, taking in the freshness of the forest while relaxing her mind and body.

  “I have one more task for you, and then you are dismissed,” Saiyu told her. They came to a halt at a small stream. In it sat a boulder the size of a small car. The Elder nodded at the giant rock. “I want you to try and lift it.”

  Mariah rubbed her arms nervously as she took stock of the boulder. “That looks pretty heavy…”

  “I know, youngling. But try.”

  Mariah sighed inwardly. She’d never attempted to lift anything this size before and knew it would be strenuous. Channeling her attention to the boulder, she willed it to move. It budged ever so slightly. She tried again, and this time it rolled sideways a bit and stalled.

  “Keep going,” Saiyu urged, with an almost palpable of confidence. It looked as though she wanted to say more, but she didn’t. Mariah knew what it was her mentor would have said; it wasn’t necessarily about how high Mariah could lift the boulder. It had more to do with her overcoming her fears and believing that she could achieve what might seem impossible.

  Saiyu’s intense gaze implored the teenager to try again. “Lift it.”

  Though Mariah had no desire to continue, her mentor was too much of a motherly figure for her to say no to. I’m gonna need two mega-sized aspirins after this, she thought as she focused on the giant rock.

  The boulder lifted a couple of inches off the ground, but that wasn’t enough. She pushed herself further, face turning red from the effort, and became increasingly aware of a tension in her head as if someone had tied a belt tightly around it. Keep going…

  It took nearly a minute but the boulder finally lifted about a foot above the water. Black spots started to grow before Mariah’s eyes and her head throbbed. When she felt something warm and wet trickle down her nose, she let out a grunt and the boulder dropped. “There,” she rasped.

  Saiyu, looking pained but proud of her apprentice’s effort, passed her a handkerchief and gently massaged the teenager’s temples, giving her words of praise as Mariah dabbed away the blood. Once she felt better, they headed back to the clearing where Ashack and Aari were also wrapping up their session. They waved goodbye to the Elders and headed off to check on their friends.

  As they strolled side by side through the trees, Aari remarked, “I like how some training sessions are short but intense on some days, and on other days they’re long and intense.”

  “I guess we don’t have the luxury of relaxed training,” Mariah said. “Not with the entire planet spiraling out of control. It’s so easy to forget what’s going on out there when you’re here. Dema-Ki’s such a world of its own… and I gotta admit that I love it.”

  “Me too.”

  They neared another clearing and hung back just enough to be out of sight of the girl with wavy dark locks who sat cross-legged with her back to them. Peacefully seated directly in front of her were three massive timber wolves. They were still for a minute, then the wolves stirred and looked around, uncannily humanlike in manner.

  Mariah’s jaw dropped. “She can control more than one animal at the same time?”

  “I think she’s jumping into each one quickly,” Aari whispered. “Look at the way they’re moving. That’s totally Tegan in control.”

  Tegan Ryder was present in two places at the same time. Her physical self, Mariah knew, would be motionless until she ended her mind-link with the wolves she was guiding.

  Mariah searched for the lone girl’s mentor. “Where’s Elder Tikina?”

  “She’s around somewhere,” Aari said. “Probably figured Teegs could hold her own for a while—which, I mean, she is.” The corner of his mouth lifted slightly in wonderment. “Man, I’d give anything to kn
ow what it’s like to mindlink with an animal. What a shame we’ll never get to find out for ourselves.”

  The pair watched one of the wolves stalk around the clearing as Tegan got a feel for the creature, before heading toward the adjacent training ground to scout out the last two members of their group. They moved with great care, watching their footing as even a cracking branch might interfere with their friends’ training.

  A faint whoosh sounded over their heads. They craned their heads back and saw a phantom leaping from tree to tree with stealthy dexterity. “Follow the big monkey,” Mariah murmured. She and Aari took off after it, their suede boots making hardly any noise in the snow.

  They soon found themselves at another training area within the forest. Kody Tyler, an emerald-eyed African-American teenager sporting a ball cap backward, spotted the two and grinned. Then, signaling for silence, he scanned the trees, searching for the phantom.

  Mariah and Aari retreated and watched from behind a frost-covered shrub. Two Elders observed the proceedings calmly from a good distance away. One was a tall, regal-looking man with tanned skin and sparkling blue eyes wearing a black-and-silver cloak. The other had flaming red hair with matching brows and a beard concealing a mischievous smile.

  One more muted whoosh drew the pair’s attention up into the trees. The form they had followed peeled off, circling around Kody as it soared from one tree to another. Its movements were silent but, with his enhanced senses, Kody followed its every move. The figure dove onto him, arms spread wide to take him down, but Kody rolled out of the way. The phantom bounded back into the trees, nothing but a blur, and melted into the shadows.

  Kody kipped up and scoured the trees again, concentration etched on his face. He reminded Mariah of a hunter being hunted as he moved slowly, quietly, ears perked. He suddenly stiffened, preparing to lunge to safety, but was pounced on from behind and flattened into the snow. He flailed and got his head up just long enough to spit slush out of his mouth and yell, “I could’ve dodged that! I could’ve definitely dodged that! Somebody please get this sasquatch off of me!”