“We had Peter’s memory wiped. As for Fred, we suggested to him that our visit was just a dream and added a few imaginative details to make him believe it,” Liyanna explained. She had seen through the lie and saw more than she bargained for in Fred’s mind. She hoped most of the images were just the result of a very vivid imagination.
“Shouldn’t we follow him?” S7 said.
“No. We don’t need him anymore. Arty’s in an underground lab.”
“Do you know where?”
We’re standing on it. Basco, are you in?”
“Almost there…” The man’s hand moved in precision, pointing, tapping, pushing and pulling sideways in the air. The youngest among the Guards, his head was shaved with three stripes on each side and the middle portion tied in a braid. An earring flashed red in one ear, blinking at every movement his hands made. “I see another firewall. Could be that lab.” His fingers moved rapidly over an invisible keyboard. “And…we’re…in. Aha! Hm. Interesting but…not surprising. We have a matching copy of the lab’s layout with HQ. I’m pulling out our—”
“What’s interesting?” Mindy asked.
“This island is manmade and it’s not meant to stay in one place. Anyone who gets a glimpse of it will think it’s just one of the Philippines’ islands that appear during low tide. They’d only see a small, uninhabited piece of land because of the cloaking device surrounding the area. But that’s not all of it. Our island is part of a bigger manmade land mass and when the “party” starts, it means the convergence of all islands into one.” Beside the laboratory’s floor plan, the map Basco showed the Pacific Ocean and the countries near it. Red markers, representing the islands, moved towards the center of the ocean. Their own was on its way to merging with the others. “One grand reunion.”
“Something bigger is going on. We shouldn’t have come here,” S7 said. When Liyanna didn’t respond, he shook her by the shoulders. Mindy blocked the Sentry about to lunge at him. “What’s wrong with you?”
Liyanna stared blankly ahead. Something was tugging at her consciousness repeatedly ever since she stepped foot in the third dimension. She remembered its significance just now. It was the cord that connected her to her bonded mate. It was getting weaker and this drove her to project her astral body to find out what was happening.”
“Arty?!” Arturion held the Cord, a three-inch thick white rope, in both hands. He chanted to himself. The Cord thinned a centimeter. She gasped. He was trying to break the bond. “Arty, don’t do this!”
Slowly, his eyes met hers. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know – the bond.”
“We put it there” she swallowed. “A different lifetime.”
“You should never have come for me. I didn’t ask you to save me.” Head bowed, he continued the mantra.
“Wake up!” The sting of her cheek jolted her back to her physical body. In front of her, a Sentry loomed over S7, who sat on the floor glowering at his attacker.
“Sentry Martel,” Liyanna called. “Find Pellinor and take him to me.” The Sentry reluctantly turned his back from the ex-spy. He bowed to her and disappeared.
She looked at her team. “You are right, S7. We shouldn’t have come here. Basco, send a message to the nearest squad that we’ll be joining them.” She edged closer to the boundary of their circle. “I’m sorry.” Light swallowed Liyanna, the last she saw was Mindy staring at her with sadness. She was the only person who could easily read Liyanna without eavesdropping on her thoughts.
Liyanna followed the fading Cord. Midway, it vanished. Panic made her lose control of her Merkaba. She dropped on the floor, her elbow disturbing a table filled with laboratory equipment. One Erlenmeyer flask, which stood too close at the edge, dropped with a crash. Glass scattered in all directions. The liquid it contained sizzled and dissolved everything it touched. Burnt rubber invaded her nose. The chemical was slowly eating away the sole of her shoe. It had also come into contact with her jeans, the holes down her pant leg as evidence. She retreated from the spillage, careful not to break anything while looking for a place to hide. Men were getting closer, drawn by the sound coming from the lab. A hand pressed on her mouth, making her stiffen.
It is I, Liyanna, Pellinor said. He pulled her to a corner behind a desk.
Two scientists entered. The same ones she had sensed. They had come to investigate where the sound had come from. Pellinor’s Glamour found its way toward them. Instantly, the incident was forgotten and they returned to their initial task.
“You left your circle.” The man speaking to her wore a clean laboratory coat which looked a size bigger than his thin frame. His shaggy hair hid pointed ears and his eyes were like a cat’s. “The witch wouldn’t let me return to my true form,” he explained.
“I can’t find him.” She gasped for air.
“Then, there’s no point in completing this mission.” He offered a hand to take her far away from this place.
“The energies—” Liyanna could feel the energies overwhelming her physical being. Without the bond, there was no one to share it with. In an hour, moving would feel like wading in deep water. Liyanna would be lucky if she even lasted for three days.
Chapter 29
Liyanna
Her vision blurred. She was seeing two Pellinors instead of one. Her hands and feet were cold. Liyanna was quickly losing control. Her present environment was overpowering her hypersensitive senses. All she wanted was to curl into a ball and be left alone.
It seemed a long time had passed when she felt the energies passing through her became bearable. Her head cradled in Pellinor’s arms, she opened her eyes to see his trained on hers. She stared back and averted her gaze when he would not.
“How are you feeling?” Gently, Pellinor helped her sit up.
“Better.” Liyanna wondered on how he was able to help. She noticed he had not released her hand and gave it a pointed look.
“I am a part of Mother Ethair. I’m siphoning your surplus of energies to Earth. As long as we have physical contact, you’ll be fine,” he explained. “If you still have his crystal, you can use it as a focus. It will lead you to him.”
Clutching the stone, she concentrated. Liyanna saw the same vision: Arturion floating in a stasis chamber, with tubes attached to him. This time, however, she looked outside the tank. The contraption was connected to cables attached to machines that three scientists were operating on. The monitor’s screens reflected on their faces. It flashed red. Not a good sign. The men were also entering commands into the system. She glanced at Arturion and examined his aura. It was fading just like her mother’s before she died. Quickly, she looked at the screens. His vital signs were dropping one by one... The scientists were shutting down the machines.
Taking Pellinor with her, they reappeared behind the scientists. Liyanna snatched Pellinor’s blow dart from his belt and tranquilized the men, while her partner loosed two bolts in rapid succession towards the stasis chamber. The first put a dent on the surface, the second hit the same spot. The glass cracked and extended outward. Inside, a bubble formed. Pellinor ducked behind the computers with Liyanna. The water burst from its container, swamping the whole laboratory. A warning bell blared within the facility. Steel bars appeared behind them from ceiling to floor. It divided the laboratory into three rings. It encircled the damaged chamber, the area where the scientists work, and the last two feet away from the wall and the door. It wouldn’t be long before security guards arrived. Thankfully, Arturion’s body had been swept away from the chamber. He lay prone on the floor, deathly pale and naked. She placed two fingers on his neck. The pulse throbbed faintly, then went painfully still.
“No, no, no! You can’t die.” She could See his spirit lingering beside them. “Arty, stay with us. The bond – if you give up now, you’ll be taking me with you.”
I’m sorry, Arturion said. You’ll have to find another way. You have to go now. He set this trap knowing you’ll come if you knew I was in danger. He had them kill me…
“Live. Please.�
�� Liyanna gathered healing energy into her hands and used it to energize his heart. More energy poured into her as she gave him more.
Let me go.
Seconds painfully ticked by when Pellinor suddenly said: “Liyanna. He’s breathing.” He pulled her hands away. Liyanna saw Arturion’s chest rise and fall. At the middle of it, a faint line appeared. The bond was weak but intact. Liyanna had saved him and the energy she shared with Arturion would sustain him. But there was one last thing she must do before going home.
‘Could you take him home?” Liyanna smiled when Pellinor hesitated. “I’ve drained my excess energies reviving him. I’ll meet up with the others,” she promised, seeing no need to tell him that she might not be able come back.
“Be safe.” Pellinor covered Arturion with his coat, hefted him into his arms and disappeared.
She waited. The warning bell went dead as well as the electricity. It was Reno’s doing. She counted six seconds before the generator reactivated the lights. Liyanna hoped they got everyone out.
A deep chuckle echoed within the walls of the laboratory. A leg passed through the door, then a head. A tall, pale, blonde man in his thirties crossed the room, unhindered by the solid objects in his path. Power, dark and dense, exuded from him. He gave her a once over and said: “We meet again, sister.”
Suddenly, an invisible force slammed her against the cage. The bars shuddered at the impact, reverberating in her bones. Liyanna had not even seen him blink.
“Rather, half-sister.” He paced languidly. “It’s not nice to invite yourself and not say hi to the guest of honor.”
“I thought I was invited.” She leaned heavily at the bars.
“Oh, you’re the entertainment. Yes, it fits you better than a guest.” He tapped his chin, thoughtfully. “You never learn, do you?” The man seemed to expect an answer. The problem was, memories of her past life failed to give her details of what he was talking about. “You look so much like that woman. Shall we see where your similarities end?” His lip curled into a smile.
Glass from the damaged stasis chamber lifted off the floor. One of the smaller pieces zoomed past him and continued its path towards her. Liyanna dropped to the side at the last moment, the glass nicking her ear. She reached for the staff on her back but decided against it. There wasn’t enough room to use it. The staff would only hinder her movements.
“Lucky save, that one.” He clapped his hands. “Let’s do it again.”
Three more came at her. She rolled away from one and kicked the other two as her legs flew in an arc above her. Liyanna got to her feet, sensed another attack at ten o’clock. The glass whizzed past a centimeter from her nose. Pain stabbed her. A two-inch wide fragment had lodged itself on her left shoulder. Blood oozed from the wound. She tried to pry it out and ended up almost blacking out in pain. It had embedded itself in bone.
“Aw. We’ve only just started.” For a moment, he looked genuinely disappointed until it turned into a wicked grin. “Let the dance begin.”
Five large pieces of glass from behind him sped towards her. One of these, she observed, went through him. As Liyanna avoided the attacks as much as possible, she realized two things. First, this man liked to play with his victims. Second, she was losing focus as pain lanced down her arm and shoulder. To detach herself from her injury, she focused on defense and observed her torturer. She began to see little things about him: how his facial features didn’t quite catch the laboratory’s lighting; how he could move around unobstructed by inanimate objects and vice versa; how his shoes weren’t ruined by the wet floor; how the puddles remained undisturbed in his wake; and how he kept his distance from the bars separating her from him. When she got the chance to move closer to her opponent, she could see right through him. A hologram? But it didn’t make sense when he has an aura. As she bent low to avoid getting her head sliced open, she picked a piece of glass in each hand. The smile on the man’s face turned into a scowl. A dozen jagged glass shards threatened her from opposite directions.
Liyanna threw her weapons towards him, twisting in midair and narrowly avoided being sliced to pieces. She landed in a crouch. One of her own had struck a solid object attached to the hologram. It was in his breast pocket.
“You cannot harm me, Liyanna,” he said, brushing the front of his suit.
Liyanna kept her face blank. She had gotten accustomed to his attacks by now. He was serious when he said dance. The man was making her move to a rhythm through shards of glass. The knowledge boosted her confidence. Eventually, calmness overcame pain and fear, enabling her to initiate her Merkaba.
It was time to end it.
Light surrounded her being. It protected her from further injury as she advanced on her enemy and plucked the object from his pocket, taking her directly to the mastermind of this sadistic game.
The place she arrived in was dim. There was a light behind her. She turned around saw a large screen looming before her. It showed the place she had just escaped from. Liyanna looked around her. People in formal gowns and suits had their eyes fixed on her. She was standing on the platform with Fred at the speaker’s lectern. He held a larger version of the tablet S7 had loaned from the security guard. The bronze pocket watch she had snatched earlier matched Fred’s aura.
“You?!”
Fred grinned and clapped his hands. “Bravo!”
Security guards near the exit had opened the doors. People were leaving. The audience was only interested in a show when it didn’t involve the possibility of one of them getting hurt. And the last report they had from the main office said that the main server and its backup had been completely destroyed. They were upset that one of their investments had gone up in flames and had rooted for Fred to fix the problem. But they had not anticipated that she would leave the stage set up for her and turn up in their ballroom.
“You’re not the only one who’s clever in keeping secrets, Alena.” His head snapped to the side at the same time Liyanna was flung against the wall. “How come you get to keep your looks and I don’t?” He raised his chin and her feet left the floor. “I don’t really mind though. I used to hate looking in the mirror and seeing how much we resemble each other.”
“When did you remember?”
“I don’t quite recall the exact date. I believe it was in college. I hitched a ride with Peter when a drunken truck driver swerved and hit us. It was very disorienting to have two memories that I accidentally killed two of the best doctors in the country. And then I met his father. He did a great job concealing their deaths and helped me understand what was happening to me and the world.
“It took me a while to realize what was right under our noses. Alas! Our common friend Arty was from Merleina and you were Alena. Two thorns persistently stuck in my side. So, I waited.
“I had you watched and sent the drone to finish you. Peter had gone after me knowing that I pilfered the drone from his father’s laboratory. Yes, poor Peter who was only doing his father’s bidding by staying at my side, became the unlucky witness when I burned your house to the ground. You see, I was so furious with myself for not anticipating Arty being present at the scene. But now I understand why I didn’t get to kill you that day.
“I have a proposition for you, half-sister.” He moved closer to her. “Surrender and I shall let your friends go.” The screen flickered and refocused. The scene had changed. The camera focused on two people kneeling on the floor at gunpoint. “Fight, you and your friends die.”
“What did the Zertans offer you?” She looked at the screen.
“The Zertans offered me power to rule the world. They still want you, especially now that your friends have completely destroyed all our research and stole our subjects. They prefer that I deliver you alive.
“It was easy luring you here when your boyfriend showed up and I saw what everyone else did not. A bond as old as yours would reawaken and strengthen, particularly when nurtured with love. Love was your and father’s downfall and it will be again – my mistake. Y
ou’ve already fallen.” He patted her cheek.
“You forgot one thing.” Fred frowned, his hand stayed on her face. “I’m not Alena. I’m Liyanna.”
Mindy
They were running away from the building, rather S7 and the Black Guard carrying her on his shoulder. They had gone after her when they realized she had taken the slip, Mindy couldn’t believe they were leaving her best friend – their Very Important Person – their Liyanna – behind to save their asses!
“Put me down!” She thumped the Guard’s back with her fists and tried more than once to kick him.
“Hey, wildcat. Stop struggling.” S7 looked tired and exasperated with her.
She hit the Guard’s back with renewed vigor. One of her fists clipped S7’s ear.
“Oi, watch it!”
“I can’t leave her out there.” She swiped at her eyes.
“You don’t get it, do you? She left us.” S7 glanced at her. “Besides, she’s a helluva fighter not a harmless kitten.”
She stopped kicking. Mindy had forgotten how strong her friend had become. She wished for a sign that Liyanna was okay.
“What is that?” Mindy pointed at the beam of light piercing the night sky which seemed to go on forever. No one answered. Probably the Guard knew but he wasn’t sure. His thoughts had gone blank just as his mouth sagged at what came next. Strange red and green lights swarmed around the light and stayed for a while. When the beam of light vanished, the colored lights began to disperse. One of these headed in their direction and stopped right above them. A pillar of light descended. A Being, inhumanly tall and slender with a body covered in blue scales, carried the limp and bloodied form of her best friend.
“Tina!” Mindy squirmed out of her Guard and fell on the ground. She wanted to run to Liyanna but S7 caught her arm and wouldn’t let go.
“It’s not human.” S7 was afraid.
The pearly silvery scales on the Being’s head glowed as he studied Liyanna with big, dark blue pupils. The tips of his three-fingered hands lit neon blue and spread throughout Liyanna. Her wounds closed and the glass in her shoulder eased out and fell on the grass.
The Realms of Ethair Page 20