Worlds Without End: Aftermath (Book 2)

by Shaun Messick

  Adrian knew that Skip was right, and the unbearable grief began to return as he leaned onto Skip’s shoulder and cried. Skip embraced him as they mourned the loss of their loved ones.

  After a few minutes of mournful silence, Adrian pulled away from Skip’s shoulder and looked at Nichelle. He noticed that something was different about Nichelle’s demeanor. Of course, her eyes were still red and swollen, but the look on her face told him something different. She almost seemed like she was overjoyed. Confused, he asked, “What is it, Nichelle?”

  “The tree. The tree of life that we told you about with the fruit.”

  “Yeah, what about it?”

  “Maybe it can heal them.”

  Adrian looked down in total despair and then looked back up slowly. “You don’t know that, Nichelle. Their injuries were too severe and they have been dead for way too long.”

  In almost a near defiance, she shook her head. “No ...” she said as she began walking toward the exit. She then called ahead to Sage. “Sage, can you get me next to Mount Resumpsi so that I can lower myself down to the entrance of the mount with the winch?”

  Sage, who had been listening to the entire exchange, answered back through all their comlinks. “Yeah, but you’ll need to hurry. I don’t want to waste fuel hovering because there is no safe place to land near that mountain.”

  “Belay that order, Colonel,” Adrian said with authority as he grabbed Nichelle by the arm to stop her. “No, I am not allowing it. We know that Koroan will be here any minute. And believe me, we don’t want to be around here when he shows up … Sage, get us up to orbit so that we can get out of this atmospheric interference and communicate with Scott and Petey.”

  Sage was about to respond, but Nichelle interrupted him as she angrily pulled her arm away from Adrian’s grasp. “No, Adrian. I’m going!”

  Adrian grabbed her arm again. “No, you are not. I don’t want to lose another person I care about. I ...”

  But he couldn’t finish the sentence. He was exhausted beyond comprehension and emotionally spent.

  Nichelle’s expression and tone softened as she placed her hand upon his cheek. “Adrian, please, you must let me try.”

  He didn’t have the energy to argue with Nichelle. She was determined. Yet, if this mystical fruit could bring his son and Celeste back from the dead, then it was worth the shot. Without a word, he nodded his approval.

  Nichelle smiled compassionately and kissed him on the cheek. As she began to leave the medical bay, she said, “I promise, I won’t be long.”

  * * * * *

  Koroan stepped onto the pad within his quarters, dropped to one knee, and bowed his head. Nothing. Confused, he looked up at the hologram projectors within his quarters. They were working before he had made the trek to Gnolom. Now, he needed an update from his queen, to see if she had encountered Jake or Celeste. As he stood, a deep foreboding began to flow through him. Something was wrong.

  Turning around, he quickly stormed out of his quarters. He entered the command bridge. “General, once our missile targeting systems are in operation, destroy that rebel ship,” he ordered, making his way to the command bridge elevator.

  “Yes, my Lord,” General Lychen replied. “If I may, my Lord, where are you going?”

  Koroan entered the elevator and turned around. He answered his general before the doors closed. “I must take my personal shuttle to the surface alone. I will inform you once I return to orbit.” And then, the doors closed.

  * * * * *

  Nichelle had successfully made her way into the hollow of Mount Resumpsi. The previous explosion that they had detonated to distract the spirit within Mars I had done little damage to the mount, only dropping a few boulders near the entrance to the cave leading down into the hollow. They were easily removed with her telekinetic abilities.

  Now, she stood under the giant tree within the gold pyramid. The light, provided by the few remaining fruit left, had diminished considerably since the she had seen the tree. The fruit that had once been living was now dead and had fallen to the ground next to her, obviously dying because of the energy being sapped from the tree by an unknown source.

  Choosing her steps carefully, she made sure that she did not step on the rotting fruit, remembering what it had previously done to Jake’s boot. Looking up, she focused her sights on the brightest glowing piece she could see. She opened the space bag that she had brought with her. Reaching up slowly with one arm, she prepared to grab the fruit with her telekinetic ability. She was fearful, however, that the fruit would die after it was plucked from its life source, which caused her to pause slightly. But she immediately pushed that thought out of her mind as she thought about Celeste.

  She gently levitated the fruit down, and then held it in midair to get a better look at one of the most beautiful and delectable pieces of fruit she had ever seen. Knowing the air within would not damage her bare hand, she pulled off her glove and reached out slowly to feel it with her own touch. The gold light, glowing from the fruit, was not blinding. It was warm to the touch, almost soothing as her fingers glided along its smooth surface. She was tempted to grab it and take a bite for herself, wondering about its taste. But for some reason that did not feel right to her. She then placed the fruit inside the bag and sealed it shut.

  Turning, she carefully made her way around the rotting pieces that surrounded her, sprinted across the bridge and out of the pyramid. As soon as she exited it, however, her mood suddenly changed. A deep and abiding fear resonated throughout her. She could feel evil, evil like she had never felt before. Macaria was in the hollow.

  Ignoring the foreboding doom that was about to overcome her, she began to sprint for the tunnel that would take her out of the mountain. As she ran, the mountain began to tremor, and massive stalagmites from the hollow’s ceiling with razor sharp edges began to rain down, crashing on the garden’s floor. Her breathing increased as she zigzagged her way in and out of the deadly torpedoes. The tunnel, leading to her freedom, was now within thirty yards. Just then, a massive boulder from a nearby rock face came crashing down directly in front of her. The impact knocked her off stride and threw her headlong into the same rock face with such velocity that it smashed the back of her helmet. Her legs crumbled as she dropped the bag and then fell forward onto her hands and knees.

  Dazed and confused, she tried to get up, but she couldn’t. Her vision became blurry, and just before she blacked out, she thought she saw the blurry image of a horrifying woman standing directly in front of her and smiling at her with contempt.

  * * * * *

  Macaria stepped forward, simmering in enmity for the mortal who lay unconscious before her. Turning to her right, she levitated the same boulder that had knocked Nichelle off balance and into the rock face a few feet above the mortal’s head, which was large enough to crush her skull. Macaria was about to let the boulder drop when a flash of light immediately filled the entire cavern. She lost control of the boulder, and it was immediately thrown to the side away from Nichelle.

  Absolute rage and disgust surged through the evil spirit because she knew who was behind her. Turning around slowly, she made eye contact with the Holy Spirit, his entire presence engulfing the expanse of the hollow.

  “You,” Macaria seethed, pointing a gray, spindly finger in his direction.

  The Holy Spirit floated closer to her, and she cowered in his presence. “Be gone, Macaria.”

  Despite the overwhelming urge to flee from his presence, Macaria stood in defiance. She wasn’t about to let everything that she and her dark master had planned for thousands of years be destroyed. “Under whose authority?”

  The Holy Spirit stood to his full height. “Under the authority of the almighty God and his son, Jesus Christ.”

  The wicked spirit shuddered at the mention of the Savior’s name. She hated that name and everything it stood for. She tried to resist, but she couldn’t stand the goodness that had now permeated the entire garden within the gigantic cavern of
the mountain. She had to flee, and with a shrill scream, she vanished into thin air.

  * * * * *

  The third member of the godhead knelt down before the mortal that lay unconscious before him. She was still alive, but had suffered significant head trauma from the impact with the rock face. Reaching down and through her helmet, he touched her forehead with his glowing, white finger. In an instant, her eyes popped open and she jumped to her feet, somewhat stunned. He knew that she couldn’t see him, but she seemed to look around as if she could sense his presence. She continued to look around, and then reached down and picked up her bag. Once she got to her feet, she sprinted toward the tunnel that would take her out of the mount.

  After she had left, he made his way into the temple containing Gnolom’s Tree of Life and eyed the dying tree. As he stared up near the top of the tree, he counted only three remaining pieces of the precious fruit left. Dread suddenly engulfed him. It was a feeling that he was unfamiliar with because of the privilege he had to live in the presence of the Father and Son. But lately, he had been experiencing this unpleasant emotion more and more, and he didn’t like it. He knew that this moment was a critical one in the war between good and evil. And yet, he wondered why God Himself wouldn’t just step in and stop it?

  Of course, this question was a rhetorical one and he knew the answer, but it was one that kept repeating itself over and over again in his mind. He understood that it was up to God’s children to stop the evil that was growing in the galaxy. Nonetheless, he didn’t know if he had enough faith in his mortal brothers and sisters to defeat it before it was too late. The thought of defeat caused him to shudder. He couldn’t bear the thought of what would happen if Satan and Macaria were to get their hands on all three of the golden tablets. And even if they were to obtain all three tablets, they still needed the key to unlock them.

  He knew that he was that key in mortal form. Sadness suddenly draped over him like a black cloak. What was his Father’s plan now? This plan that Satan and Macaria had devised was their last chance to obtain bodies and achieve their ultimate desires. If they were actually to pull it off, the plan of his Father would be frustrated and all of His children would live forever in misery under Lucifer and his chosen queen, Macaria.

  “What now, Father?” he asked, lowering his head and thinking about his mortal parents. His chosen parents were now dead. In fact, as he watched his mortal parents die, the Father strictly prohibited him from escorting their spirits to paradise where they now resided. Instead, his Father sent another angel to escort them from their mortal journey into paradise where they would dwell in joy until their resurrection. He trembled again in remorse as he thought about what would happen to his parents’ spirits if Lucifer succeeded.

  The finality of his parents’ deaths shocked him. He always believed that he knew that he would be born to Jake and Celeste Palmer, and they would teach him in the ways of God and protect him. Who was he going to be born to now? Moreover, what man and woman would be strong enough to protect him in infancy from the clutches of Koroan Chast? Another chill surged through him as he thought about the type of person he would become if he were to be raised by Koroan Chast. He just hoped that if the worst-case scenario were to arise, that he would be able to maintain some semblance of his true character.

  He peered back up at the remaining fruit as another piece shriveled and fell to the ground. It simmered and steamed upon impact. The energy being sapped from the tree was almost gone. And he knew that he couldn’t stop it. He hovered out of the pyramid toward the large boulder that covered another small cavern within the mount. He sensed the growing evil inside and knew that he could not enter to stop what was happening. In truth, he had no idea what was hidden within the cavern.

  Closing his eyes, he transported himself outside of the mount and watched Nichelle as she was raised back into the warship by the tow cable. He didn’t know why, but the Lord had allowed him to save her life. Was she to be his mother now? He didn’t know. But he doubted very much that the fruit of life she carried with her into the ship would heal Jake and Celeste. He knew that they had made a drastic mistake in coming to Gnolom.

  CHAPTER 23

  Onboard Gnolom 1 . . .

  Adrian was growing impatient as he paced back and forth in the medical bay of Gnolom 1. Skip sat in a chair next to Jake’s covered body, his arms on his knees and his face in his hands in despair. “Where is she?” Adrian asked. “She has been gone way too long.”

  Skip didn’t respond.

  Colonel Merrok’s voice crackled through the comlink. “Adrian, I’m detecting a ship entering the atmosphere.”

  A lump formed in Adrian’s throat. “What kind of ship?”

  Sage hesitated. “I know its energy signature. It’s Koroan’s personal fighter, and I am reading only one bio-signature.”

  Skip’s head snapped up, his eyes red and swollen. “What’s his E.T.A?”

  “Three minutes.”

  “We’ve got to get out of here, Adrian. I’m pretty sure Koroan has detected our ship as well.”

  Adrian nodded in agreement and tried to radio Nichelle one more time. She didn’t respond. He cursed and then spoke to Sage. “Sage, wait until the last possible minute before leaving. We are not going to leave Nichelle alone on this planet with that monster.”

  “Copy that,” replied Sage.

  They all waited in nervous anticipation a few seconds longer when Sage’s voice crackled through again with anxiety. “I’m detecting another bio-signature coming out of the mountain.”

  Somewhat relieved, Adrian radioed to Nichelle again, but there was no reply. He figured her comlink must have been damaged somehow. Not sure, he sprinted out of the medical bay and down to the compartment at the bottom of the ship with the tow cables. Once inside, he punched the button that opened the bottom panels. The wind whipped into the compartment, nearly knocking him off balance. Scanning through the dust, he saw a figure running toward the ship.

  He lowered the winch just as the figure came through the dust cloud. It was Nichelle. She looked up at him and signaled that her comlink was damaged. Once she secured herself to the cable, Adrian hit the switch to pull her in. As she ascended up toward the ship, he noticed she was carrying a bag and assumed that she was able to retrieve at least one piece of fruit from the tree that they had told him about. While she ascended, he wished that he could stay long enough to see the pyramid containing the Tree of Life. But he knew that wasn’t possible, Koroan was nearing their position.

  “Adrian!” Sage hollered through the COMM, snapping Adrian out of his thoughts. “We’ve got incoming!”

  “Wh—”

  But before he could get words out, plasma blasts from Koroan’s fighter hit the backside of the cruiser. The ship trembled, causing him to fall out of the tow compartment. Reaching back as fast as he could, he caught himself on the edge of the compartment before falling down nearly one hundred yards to his death. Panicked, he tried to pull himself back up into the compartment, but the winds were too powerful. Luckily though, Nichelle managed to grab him around the waist and pulled him back in with her.

  Once they were safely secure, Nichelle unhitched the tow cable and slammed the button closing the compartment’s doors. As they sprinted back to the medical bay, the ship shuddered once again.

  “Adrian! Get up to the command bridge now!” Sage bellowed.

  Just as they reached the medical bay, Adrian sprinted past Nichelle on his way to the command bridge. “You and Skip get buckled in,” he ordered.

  Without a word, Nichelle veered left and entered the medical bay just as another explosion rocked the ship. The force of the explosion caused Adrian to fall to his knees. The ship was being rocked with a series of plasma blasts. Managing to maintain his balance, he finally made his way into the command bridge.

  As he rushed to the copilot’s seat adjacent to Sage, he saw him frantically pushing applications on his computer screen to activate the ship’s defensive plasma guns. “He
’s targeting our weapons systems,” he said, still punching commands on his screen.

  Adrian jumped into the chair and buckled himself in. “Divert flying controls to me. You maintain the defensive guns.”

  A viewscreen popped up in front of Adrian just as Sage swiped the flying controls over to his terminal. Adrian hit the thrusters, hoping to outrun the smaller, swifter ship behind them. Their heads pressed back against their seats from the force of the thrusters firing. But the ship shuddered again as it shot its way up out of Gnolom’s atmosphere. “Damage report.”

  “He’s managed to destroy our missile systems, and his ship is too small for the defensive plasma guns to get a lock on,” Sage replied.

  Adrian didn’t respond and looked at his viewscreen. They were nearing orbit, when he heard the tone indicating that his pursuer had fired a missile. He tried to veer the battle cruiser to the right to avoid the missiles, but it was too big. The missile impacted the backside of the ship with a large explosion. Suddenly the ship became sluggish, losing all thruster power.

  Frantically, he tried to get the thrusters operational again as the massive ship began to fall back down toward the surface of the planet. Another plasma blast hit the top of the ship as Koroan’s fighter passed over the top of their hull. Gnolom 1 was falling with such velocity toward the surface that the ship lost all of its gravity, making it more difficult for Adrian to try and get the thrusters back online.

  “He’s coming back around,” Sage warned.

  Adrian glanced at Sage’s viewscreen. Koroan was lining his fighter up behind them for another missile shot that would make it impossible for him to get the thrusters functioning again. Turning back to his own viewscreen, his eyes went wide. The peak of Mount Resumpsi was directly ahead, and if he didn’t get the thrusters working very soon, they would be forever impaled upon its rocky surface.