Thirteen Forgotten Worlds (Seam Wardens Book 1)

by Brant Williams

  "They are inviting you to learn from them. They are offering to… teach you their magic." Elias seemed completely shocked. "Up until now, I have been the only Seam Warden they have offered this to. It is an honor so high I have no words to describe it to you."

  The Sesha wriggled on my hand drawing my attention back to the creatures.

  “What should I do?” I asked gesturing with my Sesha-covered hand.

  “Hold your hand to your mouth to take your Sesha. You of all people will need them for the journey ahead.”

  Well, that didn’t sound ominous or anything.

  I raised my hand toward my mouth and felt a Sesha jump to my mouth and wriggle down my throat. An overwhelming feeling of warmth and well-being flooded through me. I now understood the looks of ecstasy on the other cadet’s faces despite having a nasty, black worm crawl down their throats.

  A second Sesha made the same journey, and the feeling increased.

  A third.

  A fourth.

  A fifth.

  They had jumped to my mouth and traveled down my throat before I even realized it had happened. The feeling of warmth was now spreading throughout every inch of my body. I was so overwhelmed that I could do little else but wait and feel.

  A sixth.

  A seventh.

  A hand grabbed my wrist and pulled it away from my mouth. I was able to regain focus enough to see that it was Elias, who now looked concerned.

  He turned and spoke to the monks in their strange language, and the chanting stopped. One of them stood up and approached. He reached out a hand – it looked completely human except for the fact that it was a blue-green hue that you didn't see on humans – and he plucked a Sesha from my hand. He crushed it between his fingers and traced a pattern on my head with the goo that came out of it. I was still too overwhelmed from the intake of seven Sesha to resist or pull away.

  The monk said something to Elias and then backed away. As one, all the monks stood back up, and they resumed their chanting. One by one they slowly filed out of the structure and back into the woods.

  None of us moved or said a word as the sounds of the chanting faded into the distance. Once the monks had left, I turned to Elias.

  “What just happened?” I asked.

  Elias stared off at the place where the monks had disappeared into the woods. “I’m not sure,” he said. He pulled his gaze away from the woods and turned to face me. “This is completely unprecedented.”

  Reid and Abby came over. “What’s going on?” Abby asked. “Were those the Monks? Why did they show up? What did they want?”

  “I don’t have a lot of answers right now,” Elias said. He sighed and rubbed his face. “This was incredibly unexpected, and I am still trying to process the implications of what just happened.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “But I think I need a few minutes to talk with Pierce here alone and share as much of what I know as my vows allow.”

  Reid didn’t look too happy at the prospect of leaving us alone to talk, but Abby grabbed his arm and pulled him to where the other cadets lay spread out on the floor. The two of them began pulling out high-calorie ration bars and drinks from their packs to give the cadets when they returned to consciousness.

  Elias pulled me over to the far corner of the structure. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Physically or emotionally?”

  “Both.”

  I took a second to take stock of how I did feel. “Physically, I feel fine. Great even. Emotionally, I’m not quite as good. It’s awesome that I was able to take on seven enhancers. I never even dreamed that would happen when I imagined how this day would play out. But I am totally confused about what happened. Why did all those Sesha attach to my hands? Why did the monks come out and offer to teach me their magic? What did you know that made you think there would be something special about me and my taking enhancers today? There are so many questions that I don’t even know where to begin.”

  Elias listened carefully and nodded as I spoke. “Completely understandable. Let me see what questions I can answer. Let’s start with why I thought there would be something special about you. The simple answer is that you survived a Sorlith bite. The Sorlith are holy creatures to the Monks of Uchima. They are alpha predators on Uchima, and only the Monks can tame them. I believe that the venom in their bite has some effect on humans that makes them more receptive to the Sesha.”

  “So, since I had some of the venom in my blood you thought I would be able to take on more Sesha?”

  “That’s the gist of it, yes. I’ve had a theory ever since I survived a bite from a Sorlith when I was in my twenties that it somehow increased the number of Sesha a person could take. I had been to Uchima many times before I had been bitten and nothing unusual had happened. We had met with the monks, and they were not hostile to us, but they had no real desire to interact with us. After the bite, all that changed. The Monks somehow knew something about me was different and offered to take me in and train me in their ways. I became the first Seam Warden to take on a Sesha. Once they saw that humans could survive the process, they agreed to let others take them on. Over time, we’ve seen just how many a typical Seam Warden can take.

  "The timing of the bite and the change in the Monks was too coincidental not to be somehow related. But I could never test my theory on a person because the chances of surviving a Sorlith bite are... less than promising. You are the only other Seam Warden that I have seen survive a Sorlith bite. And as we just saw, you certainly gave some strong evidence to support my theory.”

  "So, how does it work? Did we develop antibodies from the bite or do you think the venom changed something about our physical makeup that made it so we could take on more Sesha?”

  "It could be either. I have no way to know for sure. It's possible that I have cause and effect completely backward. It might be that there is something innate in us that enabled us to survive the bite. There are too many variables to sort it all out conclusively."

  “So, what now?” I asked. “What happens next?”

  “For now, nothing. I told them you need to complete your Seam Warden training before you are able to learn from them. If that's even what you want to do."

  I thought about it for a minute. Did I want to continue training as a Seam Warden or did I want to explore the possibilities that the monks’ invitation opened up? The Seam Wardens were a known quantity. I knew what they did and how I would go about becoming one. The monks were much less certain, but based on what I had seen of Elias, I could learn some really cool skills there.

  “I want to stay with the Seam Wardens until I’ve finished my cadet training,” I said. “Will the monks wait?”

  Elias nodded. “They’ll wait,” he said. “They don’t make this offer lightly. Now that you have so many Sesha in you, they feel responsible for making sure you understand how to use them properly. Part of it is to protect you, but you need to understand that part of it is to protect the Sesha you have been entrusted with. They’re sacred to the monks.”

  I heard voices and saw that the other cadets were starting to awaken. Elias saw me looking at them and placed a hand on my shoulder.

  “Go see your friends. This isn’t a decision you have to make today, or anytime soon. You and I will talk again when the time is right, and then I will tell you what it means to train with the monks.”

  “Thank-you, Elias,” I said, and ran over to check on the other cadets.

  12

  The City of Love and Sharp Tongues

  The next few weeks were a whirlwind of activity. We continued our classwork but cut back our unarmed combat training and Boom Stick practice sessions to focus on getting used to our enhancers.

  It was strange that we knew they were actually called Sesha, but everyone used the term “enhancers” outside of Uchima. Even the name of the Sesha was sacred to the Monks and was only to be used while in Uchima.

  I had learned about other belief systems before and was pretty good at empathizing and
seeing the world from other perspectives, but this was the first time I had learned about what was, essentially, an alien religion.

  We spent the next several weeks learning how to move the enhancers from one function to another – speed, strength, or healing. The hardest part was the initial learning of the feeling associated with each function being triggered. Once each of us figured that out, it was easy enough to switch from function to function. Abby and Reid assured us that it would eventually become as automatic as flexing a muscle.

  I had a bit more of a learning curve since I had seven enhancers and had many more combinations to work through. I had to learn how to “flex” all of the muscles at the same time and in different combinations.

  Once I started to get the hang of it, I was able to drop from thirty feet with no problem and would be able to do quite a bit more with practice. My record was actually fifty feet, but I did break my leg on the landing. Fortunately, I was able to heal it in less than ten seconds.

  My strength on seven enhancers was insane! I lifted over a thousand pounds during a practice session, and I could tell I hadn’t yet come close to reaching my limit.

  The speed was probably the hardest to get used to. With one or two enhancers it wasn’t too hard to maneuver and keep under control, but once you hit three, I had to relearn all my reflexes and reaction times. It took time and practice to zip around using multiple enhancers and not accidentally run into solid objects. When running at such an accelerated speed, objects appeared so quickly that they seemed to come out of nowhere.

  Eventually, I got to the point where I had improved my reactions enough not to kill myself with four enhancers, but it took a lot of pain and use of my healing ability to recover from repeatedly running into solid objects at speeds close to a hundred miles per hour.

  I looked forward to testing the limits of how fast I could run on a straight track where I could really open up and not worry about dodging things.

  Boom Stick practice was now a whole lot easier. We had been so focused on accuracy for so long, that I could shoot out pinpoint accurate blasts anywhere I aimed. Once we added in an enhancer for speed, we were all able to perform at the levels demanded by our instructors. The intense focus on accuracy at the sacrifice of speed made perfect sense. With the enhancers, we now had accuracy and speed.

  It felt good to finally feel like we had mastered the Boom Sticks.

  In fact, things went so well, that we were given a day off and allowed out of the Seam Warden headquarters on a day trip.

  While the actual physical location of our headquarters was with the Seams in New Portland, we had dozens of doors that lead to places all over the world.

  Want to go to Hawaii? Just walk through the right door, and you will be there instantly. How about the Alps? There was a door for that too. The majority of the world was there at our fingertips. And for those places where we didn’t have doors, there were the gate boxes. But given the inherent inaccuracy of going to new places via a gate box, they were typically only used when needed to react to a breach that had no door nearby or for returning to base.

  Shortly after they announced we could venture out this Saturday, Zachary, Gabriel, and I made plans to visit the pyramids of Egypt. None of us had ever been, and the fact that we could go there in an instant was amazing. We spent a couple of hours researching what there was to do there. It was going to be fantastic.

  And then, Alexa approached me after training and asked if I wanted to visit Paris with her.

  It took me all of about half a second to decide. Of course, I was going to go. I felt sort of bad about ditching Zach and Gabriel, but not nearly bad enough to turn down Alexa's invitation. Especially once I realized she meant just the two of us were going out together.

  I would have ditched front-row tickets to the NCAA basketball finals to go out with Alexa.

  Zach and Gabriel were pretty gracious when I explained to them the situation. Zach grinned at me and shook his head. “I can’t blame you,” he said. “I would ditch me, too.”

  Alexa and I met up just outside the Cadet Wing bright and early on what felt like Friday night but was technically Saturday morning – just past midnight. Paris was nine hours ahead of us, and if we wanted to spend the day there, we had to work off Paris time.

  I was a bit nervous when Alexa first told me the time. How was I possibly going to be able to enjoy my time with Alexa if I was on the verge of falling asleep? She then told me that the doors that led to other areas had the ability to reset our bodies to the time zone we traveled to and compensated for missed sleep. So, while it was really past midnight here, our bodies would feel like it was nine AM and not be exhausted.

  “It’s a cool feature,” she had said, “but it’s limited. You can’t hop from time zone to time zone without any sleep. The technology can compensate for a day or two of missed sleep, but no more than that.”

  I had struggled with what to wear for the outing – should I call it a date? – Or whatever this was that we were going on. Should I get dressed up or just keep it casual? We were going to be hiking all over Paris, so comfort was probably a higher priority than fashion.

  I wore the plain, black, Seam Warden shirt with its protective properties, but I ditched the tactical vest. I also opted for a regular pair of jeans, but ones that I had customized with a transdimensional pocket that led to the box I kept my Boom Sticks in.

  Alexa, however, had gotten all made up for the occasion and put me to shame. She was absolutely gorgeous when she didn't try, but I discovered just how breathtaking she was when she did. I stared at her in the most caveman-like primitive stupor, my higher brain functions completely taken over by instinctual desire.

  I was used to seeing her in the Seam Warden uniform with the black long-sleeved shirt and tactical vest. Which, when she wore it, had a certain military hotness to it. Let's be honest – she made anything look good. But today, she wore a simple knee-length, black skirt with boots and a white blouse. The clothes she wore were simple, but what I felt while looking at her was very complicated.

  I finally managed to pull my mouth closed and stop my staring long enough to speak.

  “Wow. You look beautiful.” Oh, yeah. I was quite the silver-tongued devil all right. With lines like that, Alexa would be throwing herself into my arms any second now.

  Or just laugh at me.

  Instead, she blushed and self-consciously brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.

  Huh. Maybe she liked awkward, tongue-tied guys?

  We walked through the Seam Wardens headquarters toward the Transdimensional Transportation Area – TTA for short. This was the section where all the doors connecting to the various parts of the world were located.

  Along the way, we passed dozens of Seam Wardens who looked at us walking together and gave us that grown-up smirk. The one where you can tell they think they know exactly what is going on and find it cute.

  But I was in too good of a mood to let this annoy me.

  In addition to Seam Wardens, we passed several different kinds of alien species. I recognized many of them from our studies, but there were some that Alexa had to identify for me.

  "Are any of these creatures actual Seam Wardens?" I asked.

  “Some of them are,” she said. “They have to go through training like the rest of us, so that eliminates some of them from becoming actual Seam Wardens, but there is no requirement to be human.”

  We reached another of the massive steel doors the Seam Wardens seemed so fond of. This one opened by lifting straight up. It was over five feet thick.

  “This door can close in under a second during an emergency,” she said. “All the doors connecting to the outside world are in the TTA. If something goes wrong, they can be sealed off from the rest of headquarters.”

  I guessed when you dealt with creatures like the Gorasaur we saw in Primor, it paid to prepare.

  We entered the TTA – a large room filled with dozens, possibly hundreds of doors. They each stood a fe
w feet apart and didn't seem to connect to anything. It was surprising at first but made sense when I thought about it. The doors connected to transdimensional space, like the pockets on our vests. They were attached to another door at another location and didn't need to have anything physically behind them. This allowed them to get a bunch of doors together in a relatively small space.

  Behold the wonder that is transdimensional physics!

  Four large Sasquatch guarded the TTA. I had seen Sasquatch before and remembered when Spencer had brought one into Uncle Mike's house.

  Now that I could look back at it objectively, that had been pretty funny.

  The four Sasquatch were easily eight feet tall and covered with dark fur. Being the Star Wars nerd I was, they reminded me of Chewbacca, but with more ape-like features. They didn’t wear any clothing except for a tactical vest like the other Seam Wardens wore but with fewer pockets. I assumed that was to make the pockets larger so their massive hands could fit into them.

  Each of the Sasquatch carried a large OPEN rifle attached to a sling and wore a massive sword strapped to their backs. I wasn’t sure why they wouldn’t keep them in the transdimensional pockets of their vest, but I had to admit it looked impressive.

  One of the Sasquatch approached us as we entered. He seemed to recognize Alexa and his face split with a huge grin.

  “Alexa!” he said in a deep, rumbling voice. “When did they let you out of Cadet prison?”

  “It’s just a temporary reprieve, Olmus,” Alexa said. “We just have the day off.”

  “Excellent! Where are you and your boyfriend off to?”

  Boyfriend? I could get used to that.

  Alexa laughed and shook her head. “Always the subtle one, aren’t you?” Alexa said. “We’re headed to Paris for the day.”

  Olmus placed a hand over his heart. “Ah, the city of love! I should have known.”

  “Will you show us the door, please?” Alexa asked. Her neck had gone red and splotchy – a sure sign of embarrassment for her. I couldn’t help but smile.