Azalum reached up with her frail hand and touched Da’Mira on her pale white cheek, and said, “We are all related. All connected through time, through blood and through common ancestry. You might find we share a similar DNA.”
Da’Mira gave Azalum a searching glance, unsure of what she said, “I’m afraid you lost me.”
“Perhaps we could discover the meaning together.”
Da’Mira glanced over toward Charles and asked, “How long have you been awake?”
“Long enough to hear what Azalum said,” Charles replied and sat up. He grunted. “I worked it all out when I was unconscious. It must have come in a dream.”
Da’Mira studied Charles. His eyes were bloodshot, and his lips had a purple tint. “Are you, all right?” she asked.
“I have to admit that I’m dizzy and sore. I’ve felt better.”
“Maybe you should rest.”
“Milady, I’m fine. Don’t you want to hear what I’ve worked out?”
Azalum smiled, said, “Let him talk. I’m eager to hear him.”
Da’Mira’s brow furrowed, and she nodded. “All right, what have you figured out?”
Charles sat up, pressing his weight on his hands. He looked back and forth between Da’Mira and Azalum. He narrowed his eyes with purpose and said, “The Cosmos travelled in time. It’s always been a hypothesis. Now I have a working theory. That’s how humans survived out here. The crew of the test ship must have settled on a planet and over the years built –”
“The Magus,” Azalum said; her voice perked up. She reached out her hand to Da’Mira. “Help me up.”
Charles, haggard stood with Azalum and Da’Mira. “The Magus?”
Azalum took a deep breath, said, “You are Origin?”
I AM ORIGIN>>> WELCOME BACK AZALUM OF TYKINREN>
“Origin show all related history of the Cosmos, the Magus and the War of Elista.”
“You mentioned Elista before, to Uklavar,” Da’Mira said.
“Watch,” Azalum pointed at the images that appeared on the walls.
Da’Mira stepped forward. Some of the illustrations she’d seen before, but when new images appeared she turned back to Azalum. “So, the Cosmos traveled in time?”
Azalum replied with a tired nod and said, “They travelled back seven thousand years to a time when the people of Earth were barely living out of caves. Unable to return home, they settled on the planet Tykinren, my birth place and the inception of the Magus.”
“What is the Magus?” Charles asked. The pain in his voice reminded Da’Mira that he hadn’t recovered from Uklavar’s attack.
New sets of images appeared around them. Other members of Charles’ team gathered to watch.
“The crew of the Cosmos, comprising of five women and twenty men passed through a ripple in space time. It not only transported back in time, but also altered their DNA down to the finest detail.”
“Altered –” someone asked.
Azalum raised her hand and continued, said, “The experience traveling through time gutted them. Tore their souls inside out and rebuilt them in ways that no one understood. Traveling through the event horizon, bestowed on them life extension – that allowed most of the crew to live well-over a thousand years. Besides that, it gifted them with incredible powers. Their minds could harness natural kinetic energies embedded in the universe.”
Da’Mira’s eyes sparkled, she asked, “Is that what you did… to fight off Uklavar. Did you use those powers?”
“From each generation the abilities of the original crew were passed down to their descendants, some maintain the strength of the founders; while others have seen their powers lessen,” Azalum struggled to speak. Her face knotted, and she used her staff more frequently.
Da’Mira reached out for her, but Azalum waved her off.
Azalum coughed out each word as if it were her last, saying, “I haven’t much time. I must tell you… you have to know… Origin meant to observe… won’t tell you, so I must.” Azalum’s words were broken and hard to understand.
Da’Mira noticed Azalum’s face withering, understanding the woman was running out of time she said, “Please – tell us.”
“Uklavar will attempt… attempt to find his army. Even I do not know where they are. His massive war fleet is out there… somewhere in deep space. Lock… locked in a time dilation field. If he finds them and releases them…” Azalum’s legs buckled and she tumbled to the floor. Da’Mira and Charles reached out to catch her. They eased her down.
Haggard, Azalum forced out the next few words, saying, “You must find his army before him. Prevent him from releasing them. He will… he will… he’s destroyed everyone else. He will turn… turn his sights on Earth next. Earth next.” Azalum stopped breathing.
Da’Mira reached out and placed a hand on Azalum, her skin was ice-cold. She and Charles shared a remorseful stare.
“Let her rest. She’s earned it,” Charles said and stood.
“We will stop Uklavar,” Da’Mira offered a silent pledged.
Da’Mira glanced at Charles. Before she could ask him what he was thinking, Colin fell through the hidden door into the chamber. He fought to pull himself across the floor. A thin line of blood trailed behind him. “The Highlander –”
“He took her!” Colin yelled in a wrenching voice. His face twisted, his eyes held in darkness. He reached out toward Da’Mira, in pain yelling, “He took my sister!”
Da’Mira and Charles ran to Colin. Charles rolled him over. Colin’s face swelled with bruises. Different shades of blues, grays and pinks blotted his features. Da’Mira gave him a drink of water.
Colin lapped it up like a dying wolf pup. He forced open his eyes and took a deep breath. The fury stirred in him. “He took Corah…” He sat up with a little help from Charles.
“We will stop him... I promise.” Da’Mira said and looked up at Charles’ disapproving eyes.
Colin forced himself up to his feet, almost knocking Da’Mira down. The right side of his white jersey soaked in scarlet. Weak-legged, he said, “I’m going with you.” Then he collapsed back to one knee, refusing to fall.
Charles knelt to Colin, and hooked his arm in the Highlander’s and said, “Let’s get you looked after before we go off saving the galaxy, shall we?”
Da’Mira grabbed hold of Colin’s other arm and they led him over to a small area set up by the excavation team. Before Colin could protest, one of the team members cut off his jersey. Da’Mira leaned in close to him.
“Rest Highlander, soon you will need your strength.”
Charles cupped Da’Mira’s arm and led her away with a forceful tug. “Why are you giving him false hope? We are not prepared to go on this undertaking. What do any of us know about fighting a war? Or a being of such immense power?”
Da’Mira looked at Charles’ hand. “You heard Azalum. If we don’t act Uklavar will sweep across the galaxy and in the process destroy Earth! Now remove your hand.”
Charles released his hold and said, “Look around you. We are thirty scientists, all of us pacifists and you want to turn us into fighters?”
“No –” Da’Mira said and glanced at Colin.
“The Highlander?”
“I have my warrior,” Da’Mira whispered. Then she gave Charles a long-energized look. “Professor Long this is your chance. All your life you’ve searched the galaxy and alien worlds obtaining wealth for the family Tannador. I’m giving you the opportunity to be part of something greater… the origin of the universe is within your reach. Will you pass it up? Will you give up the chance to learn something no other man has learned before?”
Charles shared Da’Mira’s excitement. His eyes sparkled, and in an excited voice said, “You make it sound too good to say no.”
Da’Mira’s eyes didn’t waver. She needed all the help she could get. Deep down she had no idea how to raise an army, how to fight an alien god-like creature, but she wouldn’t give up. It seemed adventure had always been in her blood. There was
a bit of Rachel Tannador in her.
Da’Mira felt another touch from Charles, this time softer and caring.
“I’ll follow you, Milady,” Charles said. “I’ve always known I’ll die in the pursuit of knowledge. Why not save the universe while I’m at it?”
Epilogue –
Avara thought of – Veranda
She felt herself being ripped apart; her existence shredded. Every cell in her body vibrated and jumbled, pulled to the edge of creation as she traveled through the wormhole. Her thoughts of home clouded, by every passing moment. Laid out before her she saw points in time. This is different than the last time – Avara thought, unsure of what was happening to her.
Slipping from one point to another, it didn’t take Avara long to understand that she travelled in time. Images appeared before her in reverse order. Awestruck, Avara saw herself in the Origin chamber with Colin and his sister. She tried to call out, but the moments past by so fast and before she knew what happened she stood on a ship – a high-born ship – staring at the Lady Tannador
Avara called out to Da’Mira, “HELP ME… LADY TANNADOR! IT’S ALL GONE WRONG… HELP ME… COLIN… COLIN WHERE ARE YOU?”
By her confused demeanor Avara realized Da’Mira couldn’t help. Cumulated memories jumbled in Avara’s head, focused she remembered Uklavar, and called out one last warning, “HE IS COMING MILADY … BE CAREFUL… BE CAREFUL!”
Da’Mira blurred from Avara’s sight like a ripple in a pond and she traveled further back and back. She just didn’t travel in time, but in space. Through the eternity of black and nothingness Avara found herself on Earth.
Events, dates, moments lost to everyone but her. When she saw Colin strapped to a poll and harshly whipped she reached out for him. He made eye contact with her and although she failed to contact Da’Mira she cried out to Colin – “COLIN… HELP ME… PLEASE I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME… HELP ME…” Avara tried to remove the hood from her face to expose herself to him, but it wouldn’t move.
In the blink of an eye Avara was jerked back further and further. She tumbled out of control. The moments of Earth’s history passed in front of her. The slave uprising of 2413, the death of the island rebels by the newly formed Orlander security force in 2342, the construction of breeding facilities in 2250. Avara became exposed to every moment of man’s inhumanity as she travelled, back and back.
Calculations, solutions, invocations the total sum of all equations in time and space became known to her from the moment she left Shin’nor’ee in 2442 until she arrived in…
Avara opened her ice-laced eyes. She lay on a cold hard metal floor. Cargo crates filled the room around her. She sat up, then stood – springing to her feet, renewed and refreshed. She pushed back her hood. Somehow, and she didn’t know for sure how, her mind now stored the accumulated knowledge of history.
Empowered and unafraid of the new memories and knowledge in her mind, Avara felt different and was prepared for what was ahead of her. She looked for a way out of the room. By the vibrations on the floor she assumed she was on a ship. An old cloud class, she thought with a thin grin.
A door on the far side of the room sat ajar. Light beamed in from the other side. She heard voices and quietly approached, hearing a heated conversation. Avara hovered and listened.
“I’m sorry, Milord,” an indignant sounding man said. “The newly arranged charter of the Union, drafted by you, I might add, states that the great families must be accompanied by their prodigy into orbit. Since your granddaughter isn’t on board you must remain behind.”
“She is delayed. My private security team is out looking for her now,” a second, grisly sounding voice replied.
Avara leaned in toward the crack in the door to get a look into the room. There she saw an old man in a wheelchair, well-dressed and well-mannered. The first man leaned in toward him; his finger jabbed in the old man’s face.
Avara sized up the first man. Tall, lanky and authoritarian, he wore an old uniform from the defunct industrial era around the time that all nations gave up their sovereignty and became one government. With her new knowledge Avara dated his appearance around the year 2100. Yet the officer spoke of the new charter of the Union. This is the purge, she thought and narrowed the date down to the day that man abandoned the Earth and moved into orbit. July 29, 2152. Avara had traveled back in time over two hundred and ninety years. She let that knowledge sink in.
“I’m sorry, Milord, I have other pressing matters to attend to and I am finished with you,” the lanky man waved his hand and signaled two other uniformed men into view. “Take him down to deck two for departure back to the surface.”
“This is outrageous!” the elder man said. “I have a high orbit platform awaiting me… you will not treat me in such a manner.”
The two guards manhandled the wheelchair. When the old man fought back the lanky officer slapped him across the face.
Avara bolted from her hiding place, forgetting how afraid and timid she had been when she cowered from Uklavar. “Unhand him! Get back!” she ordered and kicked at the tall officer. She noticed a name tag on the man’s uniform that said R. Grandfield.
“Who are you, what gives you the right!” Grandfield asked.
Avara slapped away the other two soldiers and took up position next to the old man like an over protective mother.
“Well,” Grandfield demanded again.
Without missing a heartbeat, the old man told a lie, “This is my granddaughter, Moyah. It seems she could make the journey.” He reached up and took Avara’s hand.
Avara looked down at him, speechless. She returned her gaze to the officer.
Grandfield’s posture stiffened, and he said with a salute, “My apologies Lord Everhart, Lady Everhart, I meant no disrespect.”
Avara’s mouth sat agape. Cold chills creeped across her skin. She glanced down at the old man in the wheelchair who gave her a wily smile.
Could it be so simple? Avara thought. She calculated the ramifications. Impossible, yet possible – she saw the outcome and the duty laid out before her.
Throughout the web of time, Avara became its most important catalyst.
About the Author
Charles F. Millhouse published his first book in 1999 and he hasn't looked back. Having written seventeen books in the Science Fiction/Pulp genres. His imagination is boundless. From the 1930’s adventures of Captain Hawklin – through the gritty paranormal old west town of New Kingdom – to the heroic battles of superheroes in the IDENTITIES series, Charles breathes life into his characters, brings worlds alive and sends his readers on journey’s they won’t soon forget.
Charles lives in Southeastern, Ohio with his wife and two sons.
visit stormgatepress.com for more details.
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