Dead Time Series

by Jason Wilcox

  “But enough from me, I give you Azgiel.” With those words, she opened her hand and a ball of light emerged. She threw it down causing a bright flash that left behind an intricate web-like design of glowing white lines on the ground. Holding her hand out, she called for him to come up. The audience had quieted after the flash. The only sound Azgiel could hear was the heavy breathing Kaz made while they walked up to the Witch.

  Azgiel stood on the small cliff’s edge looking out over his small band of followers, who numbered nearly a thousand. Light from the web-like veins below lit the audience and himself. As he looked out, they began talking quietly among themselves. The whispering created a low hum as they looked up at this man that looked nothing like Azgiel.

  Steven’s body was far smaller than his original one, and much less muscular. They needed to know he was still the same. It was time to show them he was back to unify them under his direction once again. His army would then follow him to destroy Triaad, starting with the dark souls on this planet.

  The crowd silenced as Azgiel raised his hands into the air. “I have returned.” Azgiel’s voice boomed, but there was no response. The whispering kept up and he lowered his hands. Time for a show of my power. A sting in his eyes made him blink. He could feel the darkness fill the eye socket as they turned to black. His soul within flexed against the outer flesh shell. White skin turned to a dark gray. Energy zapped at his fingers, and the crowd stopped whispering.

  “You dare doubt it is I, Azgiel?” Azgiel snapped. “I will not have this.” He threw his hands forward and a blast shot out in a bubble-like shape. A combination of thick shadowy air and a small amount of electricity knocked the audience back, zapping them as it went. Screams of pain rang out as the explosion made its way through the creatures. It was only enough to get their attention, not enough to actually do harm.

  A clatter went through the gathering as they threw themselves to the ground, bowing before Azgiel. He smiled as he relaxed and his body went back to normal. “Good! With all of you behind me, we will rise up and destroy the traitor and oppressor.” Cheering broke out as his followers got back on their feet.

  “We’ll start with the army of dark souls that plague this planet. We will no longer be captive in these woods.” More horns and cheering rang out. “We will collect ourselves here and build an army like no other. We will crush all that oppose.”

  Raising his hands, Azgiel tried to calm the excitement. “My followers, it is good to be back, even if our reunion has to be with me in this weak human’s body and not my own. Fear not, I still hold my power within and nothing will be able to stop us.”

  CHAPTER 13

  Caden thought about Domblin. Why is my mind hallucinating about Dead Time and warning me not to go in? He looked around at the scientists and men getting ready to go in. Am I subconsciously scared?

  Robert walked past him and headed over to a group of scientists to talk. If I get through this project alive, I’m going to have to get into the counselor and tell her everything, even if it is a job killer.

  He tightened his jaw and let out a deep breath as he looked at what was going on around him. Everyone was there. The place was alive with excitement. All but Bain were suited up. Caden watched the scientists run around hurriedly. Surprisingly, Allen was nowhere in sight. While Caden approached the area to suit up, a hand grabbed his shoulder.

  “I forgot to mention, the guns are in the drawer next to the switch that sends you into Dead Time,” Robert whispered into Caden’s ear.

  Without looking, Caden responded, “Have you told Bain?”

  “He knows,” Robert’s comment sounded distracted. He let go of Caden’s shoulder and walked away quickly to get everything running.

  “Caden,” James called out from the left. He looked over to see him dressed in the gold suit. “Come on, your suit is right here.” Caden walked over focusing on James.

  James gave a dirty look to Palmer, one of Bain’s men, as they walked past. Caden leaned in and glared at James, hoping to give the message that he had better not cause problems. A large smile grew on James’ face, which Caden hoped meant he would behave.

  Caden was surprised at how odd looking the suits were. The mask was not quite see-through and had micro wires running through it. Gold chain-link armor kept everything protected, along with a large oxygen tank that was underneath the suit. It made the men look like hunchbacks. Picking up the suit, he was surprised to find it was lightweight for being gold and very flexible.

  James ignored Caden’s last comment and kept smiling. “You need to lighten up. They’re all hot heads, and you know it just as well as I do.”

  Caden shook his head in agreement, but didn’t want to say anymore. It was time go. They walked over to a small platform. All the scientists stood around watching in anticipation.

  “All systems are ready,” Allen spoke up, looking over to Robert.

  Giving a nod, Robert took a couple of steps towards the controls. “Everyone in place. And on three, two, one…” Robert lowered his finger to a button, and then silence. All noise stopped. Robert stood with his finger still pressed to the button, frozen in place.

  Never before had Caden heard such silence; he felt deaf. The void of sound put pressure on his eardrums. Everything in front of him stood motionless as if it were an enormous picture.

  Palmer’s voice came over the microphone, breaking Caden’s focus. “Is it okay to move around now?”

  “Go ahead and get moving around. We need to get used to the suits and equipment quickly so we can actually put these things to use,” Bain responded as he walked to the center of the room. “Let’s start with practice sparring and some basic moving around, just to get the feel of things.”

  Caden was amazed by everything he saw. Their shadows didn’t follow them. They stayed in place from where they had been standing when they entered Dead Time. Ripples were being created behind Bain as he moved—like thick heat waves that came off roads during a very hot day.

  Caden moved his hand upward creating the same waves. A blackness followed right behind his arm that would last for a second. It was like the air bubbles that would follow his arm when he moved it through water. Movement was more restricted by a small amount of resistance, but Caden wasn’t too worried about it. He was fascinated by the blackness that followed his arm.

  Bain noticed him. “It’s the light that does that. You’re moving the light particles around. They come back together like water does when you move through it, but if you notice, it stays a little foggy afterwards. That’s caused by the particles not coming back together in the same position they were in, which distorts the image you see.”

  “I’m impressed,” Caden said as he looked up at Bain.

  “Don’t be,” Bain responded. “I only know because that’s what Allen told me after we went in last time. He came up with a pretty good theory.”

  Mike dove at Palmer from the stand and began to spar with him. They moved in slow motion like a fight scene in an action movie. Along with their slower speed, they were able to jump higher and float through the air for longer periods. Palmer did a Superman dive toward Bain, which to Caden looked like he was flying. He chuckled softly.

  The whole world seemed to have changed, which fascinated Caden. It was nothing like he had ever experienced before.

  Palmer’s arms were out straight as he tackled his boss to the ground. Bain, using his legs, pushed Palmer off, throwing him into the air. Palmer seemed to be as light as a feather slowly floating back to the ground. He positioned himself like a ballerina with one foot coming down on his toes and the other foot up in the air. His arms were pointed upwards with the palm of his hands pressed together. Bain started laughing and then everyone joined in. Surprisingly, the teams were getting along fine.

  Robert had only wanted them in for a couple of minutes, and Bain took it upon himself to make sure that happened. “Now remember,” he explained, “the exit button is under the armor on your right shoulder. All you have
to do is hit that and time will start once again. So, go ahead and do that now.” The men hit their shoulders, becoming frozen like everyone else around them.

  Bain looked over at Caden. “You ready to try the guns out?”

  “You bet,” Caden said as they walked toward the drawer that held them.

  Caden loved walking. He compared it to what it must feel like when walking on the moon. His whole body was lighter and felt amazing as he lifted his legs and would almost float a little until he pushed them back down. He felt like a child at play, exhilarated and excited.

  “Since you’ve had time to talk to Allen, I’m wondering if you’d answer a question?” Caden asked with a smile. “Since the oxygen tanks have a limited amount of air in them, how is it that Steven was able to stay in Dead Time for so long?” He tapped on his oxygen tank making a clanking noise.

  “Allen said they have no clue,” Bain said, holding his gun up to the target that Robert had hung on the wall. “You ready?”

  While lifting his gun and aiming it, Caden nodded. They both fired. There was no kick as the gun went off and no sound. The bullets exited the barrel about an inch before they came to a dead stop. “Wow, that’s pretty ineffective,” Caden said.

  “Yup.” Bain lowered his gun. The bullet hung in mid-air. “Well, you ready to head out?” Caden nodded as Bain exited Dead Time, becoming a frozen statue. Ready to leave, Caden reached for his exit button, but stopped short when he noticed a dark creature move in the corner of the room, next to a large black machine with frozen lights. He blinked. The shadow was gone. He rubbed his fingers together, debating if he should ignore what he saw and leave, or investigate. Taking a couple steps forward, he tried to look into the shadows.

  Letting out a breath, he relaxed, realizing his mind must be playing tricks on him. He reached down, ready to push the button. While looking down he noticed a shadowy dark footstep next to him. Before he could look over something hit him from behind, finishing his action of hitting the button, bringing him out of Dead Time.

  His head pounded as time started again, signaled by a loud bang that rang out and echoed through the room. Scientists dove to the ground to take cover. There had been no sound from the gun firing until time started back up. The sound was magnified compared to a normal shot fired. James, Palmer, and Mike seemed rather confused by the noise and the fact that their bosses were on the other side of the lab holding guns.

  Caden looked around to see if the dark creature was still there, but it was nowhere to be seen. He blinked his eyes and rubbed his left temple, trying to get the headache to relieve. Did I see what Steven had seen or are my worries getting the best of me? He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. Keep it together, Caden. You have to keep it together. When all of this was done, he knew he was going to need to chat with the therapist to see if his PTSD was flaring up.

  “You forgot to put them back,” Robert said distracting Caden from his thoughts.

  Bain tossed his gun to Robert. “It doesn’t matter. They’re useless. The bullets don’t move once they exit the suit material. We would never be able to use them in Dead Time. I think it would be best if we just stuck with knives,” Bain said as he looked where his bullet should’ve been on the floor.

  “Or swords,” Caden said with a chuckle picturing himself with a sword and his gold armored suit. “Ones that match our armor maybe.”

  Robert was about to respond to Caden’s flippant remark when Bain spoke up. “Our bullets actually shot the target.”

  “They what?” Caden said with surprise. The last he had seen of the bullets, they were hanging in mid-air.

  “Wow,” Robert said as he put his finger into one of the holes made by the bullet. “Not only did they hit the target, they must’ve been going at an incredible speed to put a hole all the way through a concrete wall.”

  “Hopefully we didn’t hit anyone or anything behind that wall.” Concern weighted his voice and his eyebrows furrowed as Caden looked through one of the holes.

  “I think,” Robert began to say with excitement, “we can still find a use for these guns even if they don’t shoot far in Dead Time.”

  Caden leaned up against the wall with his head lowered. The room began spinning. His vision blurred, but after blinking a couple of times, it cleared up.

  “Everything okay?” Bain asked him.

  “Yeah,” Caden responded while trying to get his helmet off. “I just have to get this suit off.” He walked over to the stand where they had gone into Dead Time to take it off. As he was finishing with his oxygen tank, Allen walked up.

  “After you’re done, get Robert and Bain and remind them that we need to meet downstairs in the lower lab,” Allen said quietly and walked off.

  Caden finished taking off the oxygen tank and took a deep breath to try to clear his spinning head. He looked over at Bain and Robert who were talking by the target. Bain almost had his suit off, while the other three still had theirs on. Caden walked over and whispered to both Bain and Robert what Allen had told him. Without looking to see if they were following, Caden made his way down to the lower lab so he could sit down. His head started throbbing half way there.

  It didn’t take long for Bain and Robert to get down there even though Caden felt it took forever. Once they sat down, Allen stopped tinkering on equipment and started talking.

  “Okay, so to get you up to speed, I ran tests on rabbits last night.” He looked at Caden. “Before the break-ins. Anyhow, the switch that sends you into Dead Time converted perfectly over to the rabbit’s body. It connects simply to the back part of the spinal cord. We had a one hundred percent success rate when we put every single rabbit into Dead Time.”

  “So how did you get the critters out?” Bain asked.

  “We had a bracelet-like remote timer on their legs that controlled how long they would stay in,” Allen explained. “It was fun to see where the rabbit would reappear after putting them into Dead Time.” He looked over at the rabbits caged against the wall. They twitched their pink noses. Little black bands poked out from under their white fur.

  “Would the human ones be on timers as well?” Robert asked.

  “No,” Allen said. “They would have a remote built into something that looks like a watch. This control can get them in or out. It can also be set so the whole team can go in together. Bain and Caden would have the master controls for the team.”

  Robert raised an eyebrow and smiled. “You said you could have this thing up and running within a day? Are we still on schedule? With our equipment being out there in someone else’s hands, I want our men to have the best to go after them with!” From the way he spoke, Caden could tell Robert was getting anxious.

  “With Caden’s help, I believe so. You know how fast our engineers can produce stuff once we give them the basic idea, so I’m figuring we could install their chips before the night’s out. The watches, if you don’t mind me calling them that, should be ready at the same time if you get the engineers in here working with us.”

  “I’m not sure if I want a chip put into Matt’s spine at this time,” Robert remarked, losing his smile. He eyed Caden for a moment while biting at his inner cheek. “Second thought, go ahead and install it, but I want him kept locked up. So when you do his, do it in his cell.” He looked over at Allen. “But for now, let’s get the other five agents ready.”

  Caden was still sitting quietly trying to pay attention. His vision kept getting fuzzy and his head pounded. He wanted to say something about what Robert said with Matt, but he couldn’t formulate words at the moment.

  Robert looked over at him and said something, but Caden couldn’t make it out. Sounds seemed to disappear and then everything went black as he passed out, his head thudding on the table.

  CHAPTER 14

  SECOND RECORD OF TAGEN

  Myree Date 15-3-23.2

  Tagen processed everything he had just gone through. Between the demons torturing him and being blasted by Mauldrin’s powers while he
had been pinned to the tree, he was in poor shape. However, he was still in awe about how powerful Mauldrin had been at Azgiel’s camp. He couldn’t believe he was in the situation he was in. In his weakened state, there wasn’t a chance he could take on the demon that he heard next to him, nor any other demons that might’ve been roaming around. It was time to make an escape.

  From the safety of a hilltop, Tagen looked back at Azgiel’s camp where Mauldrin and his army still stood, ready for other attacks. He could make out some of what was going on through the trees that surrounded Azgiel’s camp. Tents were on fire or knocked down; a couple of horses were kicking and trying to get loose from being tied to trees near the fires. Mauldrin’s men had already been gathering some of the weapons and shields from the fallen demons and were piling them up.

  Wanting to stay alive, Tagen continued to retreat. Azgiel was dead and Triaad was bound to reward Tagen for his efforts. The effects from the torture, shattered bones in his legs and feet, slowed him down. Blood dripped from multiple wounds on his torso, shoulders, and legs.

  He made it halfway to the gate, which would allow him to travel back to Triaad before he collapsed in utter exhaustion. His side was bleeding badly, and he could barely step on one of his legs, thanks to one of Azgiel’s demons crushing it. From the damage done to his body and the running, he wasn’t healing, in fact, he was getting worse.

  Frustrated, Tagen tried to get back up, but he was still weak and failed. He decided to sit for a bit to catch his breath. In the distance, something moved. Sniffing, he could smell dark souls.