by Mikayla Lane
“I told you, it wouldn’t let anyone else in,” he said with a grin.
“You son of a bitch!” Mike screamed. “You killed him!”
“I never laid a hand on him,” Haruki replied with a nonchalant shrug.
“He never went near the damn door,” Dog argued, coming to Haruki’s defense.
Dog wasn’t the kind of man to lie for anyone and figured he owed it to the guy for keeping him from entering the chamber after Dale.
“You’re controlling the damn place somehow!” Mike accused in fear and anger.
“I have no idea what this place is or what’s going on. You’re the idiot who told me to come in here under threat of violence,” Haruki replied as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“I don’t fucking believe you!” Mike screamed, his face turning a fiery shade of red. “What’s that mark on your neck? How did you get here? Who the fuck are you?”
“I got that when I was a kid from laying my head on the metal lock button in my Dad’s old car on a scorching hot day. Third-degree burns,” Haruki lied. “I got here on foot while hiking as I told them outside. Your disappearing troll dragged me in here anyway.”
“No, no, no!” Mike muttered as he shook his head, pacing behind several of his men. “You’re lying! Why is the place opening for you? How do you know what it’s saying? You’re a part of this! Tell me who you are!”
Haruki smirked and shook his head.
“You’re delusional. You probably need more vitamin D after living inside here,” Haruki countered and turned to look at Deanna. “Are you getting enough sunshine and vitamin D, honey?”
Deanna just looked up at him blankly, stunned at what was happening. She knew he was lying about the mark on his neck. She could hear the way his voice changed and became a little deeper when he said it. Which led her to believe that he really didn’t know what was going on in the pyramid and why it was responding to him. Or why Dale had disappeared, and to where.
Haruki turned back to Mike and shrugged his shoulder.
“You lying bastard! You said that only you and the whore could go in there! Now get inside, or I’ll have them open fire on both of you,” Mike threatened.
“Oh, crap,” Deanna whispered as she looked fearfully at the place where Dale had disappeared.
Haruki saw the shaking fingers holding the guns on him and Deanna, and gently squeezed her hand. He let go of her and moved with confident strides towards the chamber.
Deanna watched Haruki walk past her and step inside the room, standing where Dale had been. His body began to glow just like Dale’s had, and she closed her eyes, unwilling to watch him disappear.
“Son of a bitch,” Mike whispered as the other men whispered nervously amongst themselves.
Chapter Five
Haruki felt the power flow through him as if he were a conductor of the energy vibrating within the pyramid. Images began to flash through his mind of worlds he’d never seen before, and other men that bore the mark of Dranan. Like the one under his ear and on his brothers.
The whispers he’d been hearing since he arrived became louder in his mind until he could distinguish individual words among the cacophony of conversations that were taking place around him.
“Warrior,” whispered loudly through his mind.
“Dranovian,” another voice said.
“Open the door,” was said so loudly Haruki’s eyes flew open and he stared into the frightened face of his mate.
He shook himself from the power, turning it off like a switch in his mind as he held his hand out to Deanna.
“You won’t be harmed, I swear it on my life,” he promised as his eyes pleaded with her to trust him.
Deanna looked back and saw Dog shaking his head vehemently while Mike and the others waited to see if she’d do it. She turned back to Haruki and gave in to the urge to go to him. Her first steps were hesitant, but the closer Deanna got to Haruki the more confident she became.
She stepped across the threshold of the door and closed her eyes, waiting for something to happen and sighed in relief when Haruki put his arms around her.
“I would never let you be harmed,” he whispered in her ear.
Deanna could hear the smile in his voice and opened her eyes as she turned to him.
“What happened to Dale?” she whispered as she looked around the chamber. “What is this?”
Deanna looked in amazement at the four dark granite pedestals stationed in each corner of the room. There was no murals or color of any kind, only the black granite.
“I have no idea,” Haruki admitted with a shrug.
“What is that?” Mike demanded, standing back from the doorway while everyone crowded around him to get a look inside. “Touch one of those pillars.”
Haruki walked over to the door and crossed his arms over his chest.
“I’m the ruler of this kingdom, and I’m not doing a damn thing you want until you disarm your men,” Haruki said, throwing Mike’s words back at him.
“Go fuck yourself, freak!” Mike snapped.
Haruki laughed and put his hands on either side of the door.
“You can either play nice in the sandbox, and we can all learn about this place together, or I can just have you removed from here the way Dale was,” Haruki threatened, his voice dropping dangerously low as his eyes bore into Mike.
“You can’t threaten me! I’m Michael Zickerbergen! I own this fucking place and therefore I own you too!” he screamed at Haruki.
Haruki narrowed his eyes at the obviously unstable man. With the power in the chamber flowing through him, Haruki could easily recognize a mental defect in the man’s brain that was very similar to an anomalous beast. Mike was a bully with no backbone who used others to do his dirty work, and Haruki knew he had the upper hand. At least for now.
Haruki closed his eyes for a moment and held his hand's palm up. He channeled the energy in the chamber and opened his eyes when he felt the fluttering in his hands. Deanna gasped while Mike and the others backed away from Haruki and the door.
Haruki twirled his fingers, awed at the small balls of energy that danced in his palms. He looked up at a frightened Mike and casually threw the lightning ball into the air and caught it.
“Would you like to see what would happen if I threw this at you?” he asked as the group of men took another step back.
“Want to see your brains splattered on the walls?” Mike snarled at him before grabbing a gun from the man next to him. He pointed it at Haruki’s head.
“We appear to be at an impasse,” Haruki noted, still playing with the energy in his hands.
He was fascinated by the way they responded to his thoughts and launched them into the air in front of him. He grinned as they spun around, remaining close to him.
“There is no impasse, you bastard. I own this place, and you, now get out of there! Bring your whore with you,” Mike demanded as sweat poured from his brow despite the chilled air in the pyramid.
Haruki shook his head and created two more balls of energy in his palms before releasing them to join the other ones floating in the air in front of him.
“You can’t own something that doesn’t belong to you,” Haruki challenged.
“I said get out of there,” Mike said through gritted teeth.
Haruki only created two more balls, releasing them to dance with the others.
“What are you doing? What is that?” Deanna whispered as she watched the sparkling blue and white balls float around him.
Haruki turned to smile at Deanna and concentrated on speaking to the energy for a moment before he created two more balls and held them out to her.
“They won’t hurt you,” he said, hoping she’d trust him enough to take the sphere from him.
Deanna looked into his strange eyes, the amber swirls appearing to glow, and she reached out a shaking hand before she realized she did.
They ignored the gasps behind them as Haruki held out his hand beside hers and rolled one of the
balls into her hand.
“Oh!” Deanna gasped at the tickling sensation that encompassed her palm.
She stared at the small ball as it moved with a life of its own in her palm, leaving a slight vibration where it touched her skin. It didn’t hurt at all. In fact, it was pleasantly warm.
“Is it alive?” she whispered, not taking her eyes from the strange ball.
“It is energy. All life is energy, all energy is life,” Haruki explained.
A loud boom suddenly echoed around the chamber and Haruki turned to see the barrel of Mike’s gun smoking, his face ashen as he stared at Haruki with wide eyes.
“You tried to shoot me in the back?” Haruki asked, shocked at the man’s cowardice.
“The ball absorbed the bullet,” Dog whispered as he stepped closer to the door to stare at the balls dancing in the air.
Dog’s curiosity overwhelmed his fear, and while he wasn’t about to try and enter the room or touch one of the balls like Deanna was doing, he had too many questions not to ask them.
“Are you telling the energy not to hurt Deanna?” Dog asked. “Is the power being generated by the pyramid, or you?”
Haruki smiled at the man who’d tried to protect his mate earlier and appeared to be one of the only reasonable people here.
“I did tell them not to hurt her. Here, let me show you,” he offered as he created another ball in his hand and held it out to the fascinated man.
Dog’s weathered face broke into a huge grin, and he held his palm out without a second of hesitation. He sucked in a sharp breath when Haruki rolled the ball into his hand.
“Oh, wow!” Dog whispered as he pulled his hand closer to his chest and stared down at it. “It vibrates. I can feel little electrical shocks as it moves around. It’s like a static charge.”
Dog was suddenly surrounded by a group of scientists and security personnel who started firing questions at him regarding the ball of energy. Haruki only grinned when Dog looked up at him with gratitude in his eyes.
“It’s incredible,” Dog whispered.
“This isn’t show and fucking tell!” Mike yelled in rage then pointed his gun at Dog’s head. “I may not be able to hit that freak, but I can shoot you.”
“By the time this is over, I’m going to beat the tar out of you, boy,” Dog gritted out, his anger overriding his fear.
“Don’t you dare hurt him, you bastard!” Deanna screamed as she tried to get around Haruki to get to her friend.
Haruki shook his head and dropped his hands to his sides, closing his eyes as he concentrated. Seconds later, he flung his hands outward, and a massive swarm of small energy balls flooded into the tunnel. They disappeared as quickly as they came and left everyone looking at one another to see if anyone had gone missing or was injured from the balls.
“What the fuck?” Dick whispered as he looked for the rifle that had been in his hands moments earlier.
“Where’s my gun?” Mike screamed out as he stomped his feet like a toddler and looked around his men for another one.
“That’s not exactly a fair playing field, now is it?” Haruki asked with a smirk. He was really beginning to like this place and the immense power it gave him.
When Mike turned to confront Haruki, Dog slammed his fist into the younger man’s face.
“Ow! Ow, fuck! You bastard! I’m going to kill you!” Mike screamed in pain and rage as he clutched his bleeding nose.
“You keep it up, and you’re going to be the only dead fool around here,” Dog snapped back.
“I’m starving. Are you hungry?” Haruki asked Deanna.
He’d never been so hungry in his life and knew that the excessive energy he was using wasn’t being replaced as quickly as he’d hoped. He needed food to help speed the recovery process, or he was going to be defenseless, and he couldn’t allow that to happen.
“It’s damn near breakfast time,” Harry said before looking around at the crowd of people in the tunnel. “My crew is in here, but we can head down and get some food whipped up pretty quick.”
“I have so many questions for you if you wouldn’t mind answering them?” Dog asked Haruki.
At least four other scientists in the tunnel all chimed in that they had questions as well.
Haruki turned to Deanna to see what she thought and wasn’t surprised when she grinned and shrugged her shoulder.
“I’m with them, I have so many questions I’d keep you occupied through breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a year,” she admitted.
Haruki moved closer to her until they were almost touching and leaned down.
“You will have forever with me and can ask all the questions you want,” he whispered in her ear and couldn’t help but grin at the slight shiver that ran through her.
“OK, OK, I can adapt. Plans can change . . . I can still work with this,” Mike muttered to himself as he paced in a small circle.
Haruki ignored Mike and smiled at Harry.
“I’d be grateful for some breakfast. Thank you,” he said.
Harry puffed up with pride.
“How about you and Dog bring our girl down with you, and we’ll have some fresh coffee brewing while we get cooking,” Harry said, looking pointedly at Haruki and Dog.
Both men understood what he was saying, and Haruki couldn’t be more grateful to the two older men for thinking of the protection of his mate. He would definitely make sure the two didn’t regret their efforts.
Haruki had nodded at Dog before he turned to Deanna. He held his hand out to her while Harry and his crew left to start breakfast.
“Would you do me the honor of joining me for the morning meal?” he asked.
“Yeah, yeah, let’s all get some damn food,” Mike mumbled as he headed back down the tunnel.
Deanna burst out laughing. The entire situation was swiftly becoming so strange that she was beginning to wonder if it was all a dream.
If it is, don’t let me wake up, she thought as she slipped her hand into his large, warm one.
“I would love to,” she replied.
Haruki led her out of the chamber and was a little surprised when the door closed behind them with a whisper of sound.
“Will it let you back in?” Deanna asked, afraid she wouldn’t be able to see inside again.
“I have no doubt that it will,” Haruki answered.
Dog stood in front of them and began the trek out of the pyramid, following the line of people headed towards the mess hall. When there were several feet between them, Dog turned to Haruki.
“That Mike isn’t right in the head,” he whispered. “You need to be careful. He isn’t going to give up, and he’ll use our girl to get what he wants.”
“I have no intention of letting him harm anyone, but especially not Deanna. Are there many of you who would fight against him if necessary?” Haruki asked, trying to figure out where they stood against Mike and his minions.
Haruki had already guessed that Mike was unstable and would willingly kill him or anyone else that he believed stood in his way of getting what he wanted. It was the reason he refused to tell his brothers what was going on until he could get the situation under control.
Haruki knew that if any of them came, they would be able to manipulate the energy in the same way that he could. Whatever this place was, he believed it was built specifically for the Dranovians. The last thing he wanted Mike to know was that there were others who could control the power of the pyramid.
He feared that Mike would stop at nothing to get his hands on the technology and would more quickly kill him and hunt his siblings to get it.
If they think I’m the only one, they won’t look for my brothers, he thought. Dog brought him back to the present.
“You’d have me, Harry, Trevor and a few of the scientists, but that’s it. Everyone else is bought and paid for, even some of the scientists. This is all money and power to them,” Dog said with a sad shake of his head.
“I have no doubt Mike is currently plotting a new s
trategy where I am invited to partake in the profits if only I assist him,” Haruki replied.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t count on living to see any of that profit, though,” Dog assured him, wanting Haruki to have no illusions about Mike’s intentions.
“What is the real reason he is here?” Haruki asked.
He could guess what it was, but he needed to hear all the facts so he could determine a course of action. Haruki knew that this place belonged to him and his brothers. Why he didn’t know, but he intended to find out without Mike.
“Mike is the CEO of Social Solutions. They do everything from social media to power plants to oil. The government sold him the rights to the technology that runs this place. It’s free energy and Mike plans on harnessing the technology and selling the electrical power to people for trillions of dollars,” Dog explained.
“I’m such a fool,” Deanna whispered. “I thought I was here to help humankind, not help enslave it further to the big corporations.”
Haruki gently squeezed her hand in support.
“I’m glad you are here,” he said.
Deanna blushed as they stepped out of the pyramid and followed the line of researchers and workers heading towards the mess hall.
“Who are you?” Dog asked. “How can you power it? Where did you come from?”
Deanna looked up at Haruki, wanting to watch his face when he answered Dog to see if she could catch him lying.
“My name is Haruki. I was born on this planet, and I have no understanding of why I can power it. At least not entirely,” he admitted, unwilling to say more until he knew who he could trust.
Deanna couldn’t tell if he was lying or not, but she did note what he didn’t say.
“It belongs to you, doesn’t it? Or your people? That’s why you understand it, and it reacts to you. You’re a descendant of the builders, aren’t you?” she asked, keeping her voice low so no one else would hear her.
Haruki wasn’t surprised by her intelligent observations and smiled down at her as Dog waited with bated breath for his answer.
“I believe it does belong to my people, and therefore I am a descendant of the creators,” Haruki admitted.