Still using every ounce of strength he had, he managed to guide the shuttle out of Earth’s atmosphere. His jaw dropped with astonishment with the wonder before him. A giant gaping wormhole rested above them, its circumference already bigger than Earth’s. Strangely, everything seemed to be at peace; nothing was being sucked into the gaping hole at the moment, which defied the laws of physics. Remnants of destroyed Gnol ships floated helplessly around them.
Macaria leaned forward in her seat. “Where is the Raqel II?”
Koroan switched on his ship’s communicator. “Commander Soren. This is Koroan Chast. Do you copy?”
He waited for few a seconds, but there was no reply. “I repeat. Commander Soren, do you copy?” Again, there was no response.
“That coward,” Macaria said through gritted teeth. “I will have his head if he fled.”
Koroan didn’t respond to Macaria’s agitated comment. He just focused his gaze upon the massive wormhole before them. The sight was breathtaking as blue light rippled around the horizon of the portal. He glanced below him as far as his field of vision would allow and noticed the white plasma energy that had shot into space from the pyramids on Earth was coalescing once again and pulsating with energy.
His eyes widened with the realization of what was about to happen. Yanking on the flight controls, he veered the shuttle away from the gaping wormhole that was about to devour them and hit the thrusters.
“Where are you going?” Macaria snapped.
“That energy below us is about to erupt again,” Koroan said as he set the shuttle’s trajectory toward Earth’s moon.
Macaria unbuckled herself and stood up. “Is the child secure in the cargo hold?”
“Yes. But I suggest you secure yourself in your seat, my Queen. Another energy blast is about to explode.”
Macaria gave him a reluctant nod and was about to buckle herself in again, when she jumped back to her feet. “Celeste!”
Koroan jerked his head around, looking into the cargo hold where his grandson was safe and secured in a bassinet with plastic shielding. There, pulling herself up on the bassinet, was his wounded daughter. Her wound seemed to be healing itself as her regenerating powers began to come back.
She made eye contact with him again. This time, her gaze wasn’t one pleading for her life. Instead, this look was one of unforgiving anger toward him for not helping her after Macaria stabbed her.
Macaria withdrew her sword and extended the blade, the red plasma snaking around its razor sharp edges once again. “It is time to end this,” she said, taking a step toward her.
Koroan, however, grabbed her by the arm before she could finish off his daughter. “No, my Queen, let her live to suffer. We will take her back with us to Terrest, where she will watch us raise—”
Before he could finish his sentence, an enormous energy beam zipped past the shuttle. The concussive blast then sent the ship flailing out of control. Celeste, not secured in and still in her weakened state, was thrust to the back of the shuttle, her body slamming hard into the cargo hold doors.
Macaria, using her powers against the g-forces, quickly suspended herself in the air as she replaced her sword back on her belt. With her powers, she managed to secure herself back into her seat and watched as Koroan fought to maintain control of the shuttle.
He saw in the distance the Raqel II, sitting motionless in orbit above the moon. “Commander Soren!” he said, trying to connect with the mother ship again.
The static-filled reply of Commander Soren’s voice came through. “My Lord.”
“Prepare the ship for hyperspace. . . . Once we arrive safely in the hangar bay, make the jump back to Terrest, and order the remaining ships to the same.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
Koroan looked at his thruster output. They were maxed out at full speed as he narrowed the gap to the Raqel II. Unexpectedly, a force more intense than any Koroan had ever felt latched on to the back of the shuttle, causing its engines to moan under the strain.
“The wormhole is active,” Macaria stated, unmoved with emotion.
Koroan watched ahead as he tried to maintain control. The Raqel II began moving toward the shuttle, and behind it, the moon began to break up into pieces. Explosions began to erupt over the surface of the Raqel II as large chunks of the moon slammed into it. Less powerful Gnol ships careened out of control and were pulled into the wormhole’s horizon.
Koroan lost complete control of the shuttle and its trajectory began to reverse back to the wormhole as its gravity locked on to it. The Raqel II, notwithstanding, with its powerful hyperdrive engines, sped toward them.
Koroan’s shuttle continued to flail backward and was about to enter the horizon of the gaping wormhole when the Raqel II turned so that the hangar bay faced them. He saw the damage the hanger bay was in and wondered for a moment if they could even dock with the Raqel II successfully. They were only within fifty yards or so of the safety of the mother ship when it was grasped by the intense gravity of the wormhole, its hyperdrive engines doing everything in their power to counteract the behemoth wormhole.
Koroan tried his thrusters one last time. The shuttle shot forward, breaking free from the wormhole’s gravity just enough to launch them into the hangar bay. With no control, the shuttle crashed to the hangar bay floor as airbags deployed all around them. “Make the jump now!” Koroan shouted into his comlink.
*****
Outside of the Great Pyramids, Giza, Egypt . . .
Jake was still conscious but barely. He could feel the intense heat of the burning and twisted metal he lay under as the Nighthawk burned. His skin felt as if it was melting and dripping off of his bones. The blast had severely weakened him, but the strength of his transfigured body was able to keep him alive. Any other mere mortal would have been torn apart as a result of the explosion after Macaria had thrown down the Nighthawk. But not Jake; his body regenerated as fast as it was being destroyed. The only problem was that he grew weaker by the minute under the intense weight and heat of the twisted ship.
Using every ounce of strength he could muster and a bellowing scream, he thrust his arms out and launched the debris and metal off of him as he jumped to his feet. Through the bellowing smoke and intense heat, he heard a female voice calling his name. Celeste, he thought.
He leapt from the burning metal, landing a short distance from its radiating heat. His clothes were in shreds and his body was significantly burned. He looked down at his arms, hands, legs, and feet. The burned and charred skin began to miraculously regenerate.
“Jake!”
Jake looked up and saw Nichelle running toward him. She wrapped herself around him after reaching him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Where’s Celeste?” he asked, looking around, pushing Nichelle away.
“She went after Macaria.”
“No,” he said after seeing his wife standing in front of the Great Pyramid. A Gnol shuttle faced her with its gun turrets pointed at her. In addition, the plasma energy that had completely engulfed the three pyramids just a few short minutes before was now gone, but it coalesced in the sky above them. As the wind whipped and hail pelted their bodies, he was about to take off after his wife when he saw Macaria walk up to Celeste from behind. She withdrew her sword and extended it from its hilt. “Celeste!” Jake shrieked as he darted off for his wife.
He tried using his telekinetic abilities to thwart Macaria from the attack, but he couldn’t get hold of Macaria through the wind and hail. He ran faster as Macaria plunged the sword into his wife’s back. “No!”
After Macaria withdrew her sword, Celeste dropped to her knees. Then Macaria walked in front of her and said something before she jumped onboard the shuttle. “Celeste!” he cried through the howling wind.
But she didn’t hear him. He was within ten feet of her when she jumped to her feet with a determined look on her face.
“Celeste! No!”
She took off after the shuttle and jumped higher into the air th
an any being he had ever seen before. Skidding to a halt, he watched helplessly as the shuttle sped off for space and Celeste rolled into it just before its cargo hold doors closed.
As the wind swirled around him and sand and hail pelted his body, Jake dropped to his knees in despair. Nichelle, who had been running after him, finally reached him. She dropped to her knees as well, draping her arm over his shoulders.
Jake just stared up into the sky. All he could see were billowing dark clouds and a giant wormhole forming. The wormhole didn’t concern him at the moment. What mattered was his family, the family he was afraid he would never see again. “Th-they’re gone. . . . Celeste and Calum . . . They’re gone, Nichelle,” he said desperately.
“I know,” Nichelle replied with emotion creeping to the surface.
Nichelle looped her other arm around him and laid her head on his shoulder for comfort. Although the gesture was comforting, Jake couldn’t pull himself away from the spot. He was hurting too much and couldn’t avert his gaze away from the sky. The two just sat in the sand, speechless, with the wind swirling around them for a long time. The hail finally stopped, making it easier for them to see the giant monster above them that was about to consume Planet Earth.
Nichelle finally broke the silence. “What did they unlock?”
Jake shook his head as the fog began to clear from the desperation of perhaps never seeing his wife or son again. “I don’t know.”
He had witnessed and experienced wormholes on several occasions. But the giant phenomenon hovering above them in space was something to behold. The billowing clouds began to dissipate and the wind died down, leaving them with a spectacular view. The wormhole’s horizon expanded in every direction as far as his vision would allow. The scene was simply breathtaking.
As they continued to stare at the beautiful scene before them, the ground began to tremble. At first, the earthquake started out small. But within seconds, it was a full-fledged earthquake. Jake and Nichelle fell over as bricks from the ancient Great Pyramid began to break free from millennia-old resting places. A brick chunk as large as Jake’s body broke free from its resting place and plummeted to the ground. It landed with thud right behind them.
“We’ve got to get away from these pyramids!” Nichelle yelled as she stood up and pulled on Jake’s arm.
Jake jumped to his feet and the two took off for a clearing one hundred yards away, away from any pyramids or buildings. They stumbled and fell as the earth rolled under their feet, each time jumping up and running again. Before they got to the clearing, a gaping crevice opened up a few feet ahead of them. With no time to stop, Jake grabbed Nichelle and jumped over the crevice, sailing a good twenty feet through the air. They landed on their feet and continued to run and stumble as the earth rocked and rolled.
Finally, they skidded to a halt in the clearing, hoping that the earth wouldn’t open up under their feet. They turned and watched in awe as the ancient Egyptian Pyramids, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, each toppled over, the earthquake shaking the very foundations for which they were built upon. All that remained of the ancient structures were piles of rubble.
Jake looked around. Everywhere he looked it looked as if the earth was breaking apart. He and Nichelle just held one another as they awaited their fate. The earthquake raged on for another thirty minutes or so when they realized that the blue horizon of the wormhole was dropping down toward them.
For a moment, Jake began to panic with the realization that the entire planet was being sucked into the behemoth wormhole. In a matter of seconds, planet Earth was about to be ripped to shreds from the sheer force of gravity contained within the wormhole itself. He pulled Nichelle’s trembling body in closer to his as the horizon hit the top of his head. He closed his eyes, waiting for death to come. But it didn’t.
To his dismay, he opened his eyes and realized he was still alive. He could even breathe and could still feel solid ground under his feet. His and Nichelle’s bodies had crossed over the horizon into the wormhole as well as most of the ground around them. Day turned into night and the earth stopped shaking. A calming peace fell over them as he watched the stars in the sky elongate, signifying that they were now traveling on Planet Earth through the wormhole.
*****
Underground Pyramid under the Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan, Mexico . . .
Adrian abruptly woke up. He didn’t know how long he had been out of it since hitting his head on the gold entrance door to the underground pyramid. After regaining his bearings, he checked on everyone else. Everyone was okay as they stumbled to their feet, except for Bantyr. The blast had sent Bantyr hurtling through the entrance to the next room. Adrian ran toward him. After reaching him, he checked for further injuries. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. . . . Still can’t feel my legs, though,” Bantyr replied with a nervous chuckle.
Adrian smiled nervously, reminded that his son could be paralyzed. He looked up and waved for Skip, who had just stumbled to his own feet, to help him.
Skip stumbled over to them and he and Adrian held Bantyr up by each one of their shoulders. Kevin walked groggily to them, followed by Chris, Jennifer, and the soldier. Blood dripped to the stone floor from the gash on Kevin’s head. “We need to get out of here before there’s another earthquake,” he said with urgency.
Adrian nodded as he and Skip made their way to the staircase. “Get on my back,” he insisted, pulling Bantyr onto his back so that he could ride piggyback as Adrian climbed the stairs. Kevin and the others stepped ahead of him to walk up the staircase. Skip lingered behind, just in case, to help Adrian.
Adrian was about to step onto the first step when he realized that they were forgetting something. He turned around and looked at Skip. “The plate.”
“Got it,” Skip replied, turning around and running back into the underground chamber. After a few seconds, he returned with the plate in his hand.
They then made their way up the staircase. They were more than halfway up the thirty-five flight of stairs when his legs began to burn. They were shaky and Adrian felt as if he couldn’t climb anymore. He was about to turn around and ask Skip carry Bantyr when the underground passageway began to tremble again. “It’s another earthquake.”
Skip skipped up a few steps and grabbed on to Adrian’s arms, trying to help him up as fast as they could move. Suddenly, a shudder threw the both of them into the stone wall. Kevin ran down a few flights to help, his eyes widening with fear. Adrian turned and looked. Below them, the staircase began to crumble as the earthquake raged on.
“C’mon! We’ve got to move now!” Kevin hollered.
Ignoring the pain and exhaustion in his legs, Adrian ran up the stairs, skipping two or three as he did so. Kevin and Skip lingered beside him, helping him carry Bantyr’s weight. The chamber continued to rattle as they ran. Then, a massive tremor knocked them off of their feet. They fell down, and Adrian dropped Bantyr, who rolled down a couple of stairs. Below them, the ancient staircase, made up of ancient wood, crumbled to dust and splinters.
Adrian gathered himself to his knees and turned around, reaching for Bantyr. Just below his son, the staircase continued to crumble to dust. “Dad!”
Kevin and Skip turned to help as well. All three caught Bantyr by the arms just as the step he was lying on crumbled to pieces. They quickly pulled him up and Skip launched Bantyr onto his back. Just as the stairs below their feet collapsed, they sprinted up the remaining staircase as fast as they could. It was as if the collapsing stairs chased them up the staircase. Finally, just as they reached the top couple of stairs, they launched themselves onto the stone floor of the Pyramid of the Sun.
They turned around and watched in dismay as the ancient staircase collapsed, crumbling into rubble thirty-five flights below. Now that they were safe from plummeting to their deaths below and being buried under tons of wood, they had another problem to tackle. The stone walls surrounding them were breaking into pieces.
Skip pulled himself up w
ith Bantyr still clinging to his back and took off for the exit. Kevin and Adrian followed as stone and dust rained down over them. With their hearts pounding out of their chests and as they gasped for air, their feet tore through the collapsing corridors as the earth rolled under their feet. Larger chunks of ancient stone fell from the permanent rising places, nearly knocking them over and crushing them.
When they reached the exit, they dove out just as the ancient pyramid collapsed in on itself. Skip rolled and Bantyr flew off of his back, rolling down the stone steps. Adrian gathered himself to his feet and took off after his son, soon followed by Kevin and Skip. Adrian, covered in soot and dripping with sweat, scooped his son up into his arms and chased after Chris and the others who had made their way to a clearing about a hundred yards away.
Once they arrived, they dropped to their knees in extreme exhaustion as the earthquake raged on. Adrian looked up and stood to his feet in awe. He recognized the blue horizon as the massive wormhole that was about to engulf them. Everyone had their eyes transfixed on the wonder above them and failed notice that all of the pyramids and structures from the Teotihuacan ruins had crumbled to the ground. As the landscape transformed around them, they, along with every living thing on the planet, were consumed by the gargantuan wormhole.
CHAPTER 20: AFTERMATH
City of Chast, Planet of Terrest, 6 Months Later . . .
Ariauna sat in the nursery of Koroan’s brand new palace on the outskirts of his great city. His new palace was simply breathtaking, encompassing over one hundred thousand square feet and rising over sixty stories tall. The exterior of the palace was made almost entirely of pure gold and crafted from the finest materials on the planet. The palace’s gardens were astonishing as well. The residence resembled a gigantic golden castle. The only residents of the palace were Macaria, Koroan, Calum, and the hundreds of slaves and servants that served them, including Ariauna.
Worlds Without End: The Prophecy (Book 3) Page 37