by Zy J. Rykoa
THE HEROES FALL
WHEN WAR CALLS
Copyright © Zy J. Rykoa 2014
MAPS
World maps can be found at www.theheroesfall.com
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No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photocopying or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the copyright owner (Zy Jay Rykoa).
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
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Chapters
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter One
One’s history defines so long as it is remembered.
Date Unknown
The world had ended.
It was the first thought in Jaden’s mind as he woke in the chamber, deep beneath the surface of the Earth. He was not sure how something so terrible had happened, for all of life to be wiped off the face of the planet so suddenly, but he knew it had something to do with the very thing that had kept him alive. The energy. The power. The thing that he had come to know as the Immortal Essence.
World War IV had been lost. Not by the World Protection Alliance, the Peace Movement or the United Resistance, but by every living thing, and worst of all, the people like him. He was one of the few who had found control over the mysterious energy that seemed to have consumed the planet. Jaden could still feel the power coursing through his veins. It had been up to him and the others to save the world, but they had failed, and only he remained. He felt a jolt of pain in his stomach as he remembered the violent volcanic eruptions, the massive waves from the ocean as the seafloor buckled dramatically, and the incredible heat as masses of the essence were unleashed upon the world, vaporising all in their path.
It had been a tragic and brutal end to life, and there had been nothing he could do to stop it. He could only protect himself as he fell into this chamber and sealed it from the horrors above. He had run. He had hidden. And now he faced a fate worse than death; he was now in absolute solitude, without a hope or a dream, savouring the nothingness of existence without life.
‘I remember that feeling.’
Jaden opened his eyes in surprise, as if he would see something in the darkness. He had heard a man speak. At first he thought it was a figment of his imagination, a sign of madness from his confined state, but it had been real. It was deep and comforting, a voice of a father to a son.
‘Who’s there?’ he asked.
The man laughed, seemingly finding humour in Jaden’s startled state. ‘You may call me Michael,’ came the reply.
Jaden looked around in the blackness. Before he had come here, before the world had ended, he would have called enough power to him to light this chamber, but after the damage it had caused, he feared even summoning enough of the essence to give a faint glow. He was sure he was not alone in this chamber, though. He wasn’t entirely convinced he was still sane, but the voice was definitely there, not just in his head.
‘How are you alive?’ asked Jaden.
‘The ability to manipulate matter is not exclusive to you,’ said the man.
It was true. Jaden was powerful, but others could use the essence as well. Were there others that had survived by using the power? It was possible. They would be scattered around the world, but it was possible. But this brought up a new problem; he had been alone when he fell, so no other could have been near him. There was too much destruction. How was this man able to speak to him now in this chamber? Was he able to move through the rock as if it were air? Did he know how to teleport himself? It made no sense. By all logic this man could not have been here with him, and yet here he was.
‘How did you find me?’ asked Jaden.
Again the man laughed. ‘I have been watching you since you first showed potential.’
‘When?’
‘Many years ago when you were sixteen, still living in Callibra.’
Home, thought Jaden. It was where he had been born, where he had last seen his family. The last moments of a simple life before war had beckoned him away. But the past was now in fragments. He could barely remember how he had left the village or where he went afterward. The years of trauma caused by the essence had taken their toll on him. He was but a shell of who he used to be.
‘I don’t remember you,’ said Jaden.
‘We have never met,’ said Michael, ‘but I have spoken to you more than once.’
Jaden was thoughtful, searching deep into his memories. He recognised the riddle for what it was, and knew it could only have meant one thing.
‘The voice in the wind,’ he guessed.
‘Yes.’
‘Who are you?’
‘I am the builder of the world you helped destroy.’
Jaden paused, trying to make sense of this extremely confident and apparently illusive man. What did he mean by saying he had built the world? Was he upset that Jaden had helped destroy it? If he was, he did not show it. Why had he been watching over him, and how could he have watched over him without being seen?
‘I don’t understand,’ said Jaden. ‘What do you want from me?’
‘It’s your time,’ said Michael.
‘My time for what?’
‘To succeed where I failed.’
‘You’re going to have to be more specific,’ said Jaden, sitting upright and holding his head up with his hands. ‘I can’t even remember my own failures.’
Michael laughed. ‘Memory loss is normal after what you’ve been through, it’s quite remarkable that you remember anything at all. The power has a way of doing that to us. It’s why there are no records of World War III.’
‘What do you mean it’s normal?’
‘There have been others that have suffered this fate. I am one of them.’
‘What did you do?’ asked Jaden.
‘I almost died, but after I had recovered ... I rebuilt the world, which is what you will do soon.’
Now Jaden had to laugh. ‘Me? I destroy worlds. I can’t rebuild them. It would take a billion years to undo the damage I have done. I wouldn’t even know where to begin! It’s just rock and water up there. I could put one rock on top of another rock and call it a castle if you like, but I don’t see how that’s going to help.’
‘On the journey of life, desire is your compass. To know where to begin, you must first want a destination.’
‘I don’t know what I want anymore,’ said Jaden with a sigh.
‘That is also normal. It is hard to want anything when you no longer have needs. You have become too powerful.’
‘Maybe, but one who can build a world would be more
powerful than I am. So how do you still have desires?’
‘By recognising the needs of others.’
‘Everyone is gone,’ said Jaden, bluntly.
‘For now … yes. But once you have rebuilt the world, there will be life again,’ Michael explained, and for a second Jaden thought he heard something walk by him, something with padded feet, as if it were wearing cushions on its soles. When Michael spoke again, it was from another part of the chamber. ‘For there to be a desire, there needs to be a vision, and for there to be a vision, there need to be memories from which one can build.’
‘And if I don’t have any?’
‘Then I will remind you of your origin.’
‘How?’
‘As I mentioned,’ said Michael slowly, as if emphasising his next words as something Jaden needed to understand beyond all else. ‘I have been watching you since you first showed potential.’
‘How will I remember?’
‘You still wear a crystal around your neck. It was used to record much of your life and the events surrounding you, and then I had it given to you so that you could make better use of it. Some things you can't have known have been added to help you understand. I was afforded no such luxury in my time, but I knew you would need to see it all again someday.’
Jaden picked up the crystal that hung from a silver chain around his neck, the faint blue glow inside of it still present after all these years. It had been a gift from someone very important to him, although he could not remember who. It was in a silver, diamond-shaped encasing, and while seeming weak, in all the battles he had fought it had never broken or left him. He realised then while studying it that it had been enriched with technology made from the Immortal Essence, its molecular structure modified to become a lot stronger than ordinary silver.
‘First you must see who you once were,’ Michael continued. ‘Before everything went wrong. Perhaps with the memories of the people you loved, you’ll remember the needs of others once more. I will show you your personal journey and all that you’ll need to see to understand how this happened.’
Without another word spoken, Jaden lifted the crystal to between his eyes, just as he had done so many times before. He felt his mind propelled into its realm, where the stories of old would come to life, and his dreams would become a reality. He would watch all that Michael had to show him as an unseen presence, unfelt and unheard, a ghost in a world that no longer existed.