The Quest (Psionic Pentalogy Book 4)

by Adrian Howell

  “I am doing something,” replied the Historian. “I am helping you.”

  “I’m hardly your best bet, Mr. Historian,” I scoffed. “If I fail, would you have the Angels win? Have them rule over this world forever?”

  “It is not my place to choose the planet’s future. I merely nudge it along as I see fit. Besides, there is no such thing as forever. Don’t assume that any one person is capable of making a deep dent in the history of our world. You and Catherine are but one very small chapter.”

  I looked at the Historian defiantly. “If I succeed, it’ll make a dent.”

  “Perhaps, young Adrian. History will tell,” said the Historian, shrugging. “Speaking of which, in addition to your vow to never stray from your chosen path, you must promise me one more thing. Once you have dealt with Catherine Divine, you must allow your bloodline to end with you.”

  “I was planning on doing that too,” I said. “Knowing what I know now, there’s no way I’m ever having kids.”

  The Historian grinned mischievously. “So I trust you will make no more mistakes like the one you made with Laila Brown?”

  “That is none of your business!” I said embarrassedly, and then muttered, “I should never have let you read my history.”

  The Historian chuckled. “I am a collector of stories, Adrian. I have seen many histories, and that little chapter of yours is not particularly unique. However, I must admit that I found other parts of your life quite intriguing, and I wish to know how your story ends. I shall be watching your progress with considerable interest.”

  I fought off the urge to call him a nosy bastard, and said instead, “Kill Catherine. End the bloodline. Is that all you ask in return for safe passage out of these mountains?”

  “Do not agree to these terms lightly, for I will hold you to your promise,” warned the Historian. “It is not too late to reconsider. Who knows? With companions like yours, you may yet break through the Angels without my help.”

  The Historian had spoken gravely, but I found it difficult to take his words too seriously. Promising the Historian what I had already promised myself seemed a small price to pay if it meant my team could avoid running the gauntlet a second time.

  The Historian frowned. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking that I don’t know you, Adrian, because I do. I know you at least as well as you think you know yourself. Where you are about to go will test the very limits of your resolve. If I am to bend my principles and use my power to help you, then I will not see you turn away from your path. Do you understand me?”

  I did.

  “Then consider yourself under oath, as I most definitely shall too,” said the Historian.

  “Will that be all, Mr. Historian?” I asked.

  “That is absolutely all I could ever ask of you, Adrian Howell.”

  I felt a touch of ironic sorrow in the Historian’s tone when he said that, and I felt compelled to ask him, “If you could ask anything of me, what would you ask?”

  “I already have your vow!” snapped the Historian. “You have nothing more that I want.”

  “But you must want something,” I insisted. “Even if it’s not mine to give, there must be something aside from equilibrium. What is it you really want, Mr. Historian? What do you want for yourself?”

  “I have been alive for more than three thousand years,” the Historian said stubbornly. “I have had plenty of time to get everything I could possibly wish for!”

  “But there is something, isn’t there?” I pressed, encouraged by the slight irregularity in the Historian’s power flow.

  Suddenly the Historian sighed heavily. “So subtly you exact your revenge for my meddling,” he muttered, his power fading almost to nothing. “Fine, Adrian, I will tell you what I want. Have you ever been in love?”

  “You know I have.”

  The Historian nodded sadly. “Then in but sixteen years, you have already lived more fully than I ever will. What do I want? I want my teeth to grow in. I want my feet to touch the floor when I sit in this chair. I want to be free of this ridiculous child and feel for myself what it’s like to truly love a woman. I wish to have a family, and to someday die of old age. For all of my powers, I am incapable of these most basic functions that define us as people. That is why I collect stories and histories, Adrian. They are all that I can have.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, and I meant it. “I wish I could help you.”

  “Thank you,” said the Historian, shaking his head, “but there is little hope I will ever get what I truly want in this life. That is one of the few things you and I have in common.”

  Before I could think of a reply to that, the double doors opened and Havel ushered the rest of my team into the office.

  “It is time for you to leave,” announced the Historian, hopping down from his chair. “Right now.”

  Terry looked aghast. “We at least need our mountain gear back, Mr. Historian.”

  “It’s alright,” I said to her as I stood up from the sofa. “He agreed to help us get past the Angels.”

  Terry’s jaw dropped even lower. “What did you promise him, Adrian?!”

  “Nothing I probably won’t regret,” I replied. “But it’s okay, Terry. I know what I’m doing.”

  “That’ll be a first!” Terry huffed loudly, but she seemed relieved nonetheless.

  Looking around at us, the Historian said, “You will leave this place with nothing but the clothes on your backs. Where you go from there is your business, except for Adrian, who is now bound to his quest.”

  The Historian stepped up to Terry, saying in a solemn tone, “Teresa Henderson, you are a great warrior and I honor your dedication to your cause, and to Adrian. He will need your very best for this, and then some.”

  Terry nodded, carefully shaking the Historian’s hand.

  The Historian shook James’s hand next. “James Turner, what an adventure this must have been for you. Your next one will not be nearly as easy, and I do hope you are up to it.”

  “I hope so, too,” said James.

  The Historian gave him a wink. “Your combat instructor thinks more highly of you than she is willing to admit.”

  Then the Historian turned to Ed Regis. “Major Edward Regis, you would have been the first Wolf to ever enter this mountain. I hope your decision leads you to a better life, or at least an honorable death.”

  “Which do you think it’ll be?” asked Ed Regis.

  The Historian grinned. “History will tell.”

  Ed Regis crouched and shook his hand.

  The Historian turned to me again. “Adrian Howell… It would be meaningless to wish you good luck, but I sincerely hope that you find it in you to see this through. I honestly do not know where Randal and Catherine are, but you might find that information in the hands of those closer to this war. For now, learn to expect the unexpected.”

  I bowed silently. There was nothing more to say.

  Finally, Alia. The Historian looked up into her face with kind pity. “Alia Gifford, I wasn’t thinking of your feelings this morning when I told Adrian about his past. It was not something you needed to hear at your age, and I do apologize.”

  Alia smiled at him and said, “It’s okay, Mr. Historian. Besides, not even you are right all the time.”

  “How very true,” said the Historian, bowing his head slightly.

  “How are we going home?” asked Alia.

  The Historian looked up at Alia again, asking, “Have you ever seen the movie, The Wizard of Oz?”

  “No, but Addy read the picture book to me like ten times.”

  “At least ten times,” I confirmed.

  The Historian chuckled. “Then you already know where this is going, dear Alia. Close your eyes.”

  Alia did, and then the Historian said to the rest of us, “Maybe you all want to close your eyes. It will make this slightly less painful.”

  I looked once more at Havel, the old man with whom I shared a distant ancestor. He smiled as our eyes met
, and then bowed his head, saying, “The wise Historian believes it is meaningless to wish you good luck, Master Howell, but I am not as learned in these matters. I wish you the best of luck. Godspeed your way.”

  I returned the bow, and then closed my eyes.

  My temperature dropped to zero. It felt like a billion tiny needles piercing every cell in my body, but when I tried to scream, the pain was already gone.

  Opening my eyes, I found the five of us standing in the quiet white light of a nearly full moon, at the top of a lonely, grassy hill that overlooked a small farmhouse in the distance.

  “Where are we?” asked James, gasping for breath.

  “It was only a little past lunch when we left,” said Ed Regis, looking up at the clear night sky. “I’m guessing that we’re on the other side of the world now.”

  Looking around, Alia said unhappily, “For a minute, I thought he was really going to send us home. I forgot we didn’t have one.”

  “Home is where you make it,” Terry reminded her. “We’ll find a place somewhere.” Then she frowned at her left stump. “He could’ve at least let me go get my hook before sending us away.”

  “Nothing but the clothes on our backs,” I said, touching my amethyst to make sure that I still had it. “So this is how it begins.”

  I was just as surprised as the Historian at how quickly I had come to terms with his information and what had to be done to restore the balance of power. It was only this morning that we had learned the true name of the last Angel master, but our meeting with the 3000-year-old boy felt like ancient history to me. Out of his mountain, back in my own familiar side of the world, I now felt the crushing weight of what I had promised him, and more importantly, what I had promised myself.

  It wasn’t a choice. Or, if it was, it was a choice that I had made long ago, back when Cat and I were still children innocently playing with our powers, trying them out on each other without knowing where they would lead us. Back then, I was her brother, and she was my sister. We were family. Now, years later, as we stood on opposite sides of a raging river, I knew that nothing had really changed but the weather.

  How would I find her? How would I kill her? How would I live with it? I had no answers. I didn’t even know what day of the week it was. But I knew what had to be done now. I had to put one foot forward and start the journey.

  “So, um, where do we go from here?” asked James.

  “Let’s just walk down this slope a bit,” I replied quietly, taking Alia’s hand. “I’m sure we’ll find something.”

  This pentalogy will conclude in

  PSIONIC Book Five: Guardian Angel

  About the Author

  Born of a Japanese mother and American father, Adrian Howell (pen name) was raised for a time in California and currently lives a quiet life in Japan where he teaches English to small groups of children and adults. Aside from reading and writing fiction, his hobbies include recumbent cycling, skiing, medium-distance trekking, sketching and oversleeping.

  Send comments and questions to the author at:

  adrianhowellbooks@gmail.com

  Introducing Lester Smith’s D6xD6 Role-Playing Game

  Adventure in the World of the Psionic Pentalogy

  Come adventure in Adrian Howell’s Psionic Pentalogy world as your own unique character, with the D6xD6 Role-Playing Game! If you’re new to role-playing, you’ll find the game a quick-and-easy way to get started: Character creation takes only five minutes. If you’re an old hand at the hobby, you’ll find surprising depth to the system, which one reviewer called “the haiku of role-playing games.” Created by four-time Origins award-winning game designer Lester Smith, the D6xD6 Role-Playing Game is simple but elegant, a marriage of equality between storytelling and game mechanics. It features two dozen different worlds of adventure by professional authors, with new ones being added regularly. So join the secret psionic war in which young Adrian and his friends have become embroiled, and explore countless other worlds besides. To learn more, visit www.D6xD6.com.

  A Plea for Word-of-Mouth

  Thank you for reading PSIONIC Book Four: The Quest. The Psionic Pentalogy is an independently published work. Consequently, it does not have the big financial support of traditional publishing houses to promote the books, and instead relies much more heavily on reviews and word-of-mouth by readers such as yourself. If you have enjoyed this book, please tell your friends about it. Please give it a mention on any social networking sites you use such as Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please also consider leaving a review on your online bookseller’s site. Even if it’s only a sentence or two, it would make all the difference and would be very much appreciated.

  Psionic Pentalogy Book Review and Store Links

  Follow these links to review this book and get the next in the series:

  Amazon.com Review Link for The Quest

  http://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B00B26LDCU

  Amazon Store Links for Guardian Angel

  USA (Amazon.com):

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B7OHHXQ

  UK (Amazon.co.uk):

  http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00B7OHHXQ

  Canada (Amazon.ca):

  https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00B7OHHXQ

  Australia (Amazon.com.au):

  https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00B7OHHXQ

  Germany (Amazon.de):

  http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00B7OHHXQ

  France (Amazon.fr):

  https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00B7OHHXQ

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1: The Man at the Window

  Chapter 2: The Second Wave

  Chapter 3: A Changed Man

  Chapter 4: Far from Paradise

  Chapter 5: One Big Awkward Family

  Chapter 6: Terry’s Troopers

  Chapter 7: The Cracks in the Song

  Chapter 8: The Betrayal

  Chapter 9: Team Leader

  Chapter 10: Counterstrike

  Chapter 11: Major Edward Regis

  Chapter 12: Leaving Walnut Lane

  Chapter 13: The Mountains

  Chapter 14: The Hunt Begins

  Chapter 15: Predator and Prey

  Chapter 16: Those Without Reason

  Chapter 17: The Price of a History

  Chapter 18: Answers and Stories

  Chapter 19: The Balance of Power

  End Materials