Sonora, and the Scroll of Alexandria

by Travis Hall

  “Oh, Zeus,” Barmanu said as a barrage of lights escaped the black hulls of the ships.

  Sas’s brother took a hard right and dropped down into the snowy fog of the mountains. A barrage of hadron bursts exploded into the rock, showering the transport with ice and debris. The smaller ships and hovering skimmers began their pursuit.

  “We have to go now!” Milly screamed among the violent explosions and howling wind.

  The clock only had a minute left. The ship’s constant direction changes slammed them into the walls as they made it to the back of the transport. Mr. Swan let out the back ramp. The wind and cold blew through the cabin.

  “Barmanu, let’s go!” Sas yelled.

  From behind them, they could see the dark shadows of the pursuing ships.

  “You have to go without me,” Barmanu yelled back, turning into a crevice in the mountain, which shielded them from the onslaught of hadron missiles that trailed behind. “The automatic pilot is destroyed. You can’t survive unless I get this thing out of the way. Now go!”

  Sas didn’t have time to argue. The clock showed thirty seconds. Barmanu turned back for one last look at his brother. This was the moment that they had trained for, the one event in time that all honorable warlocks dreamed of from their birth. The heroic sacrifice of protecting those they loved was the ultimate honor. Sas nodded and then pushed everyone out of the back of the transport. The chilling air pierced their skin, like miniature knifes cutting all at once. There wasn’t much airtime as they descended toward the sharp, jagged rocks of Mt. Everest. Sas swirled his arms in midair as Milly and Mr. Swan maneuvered like professional skydivers, scooping up the flailing teens. Allora turned, with her back facing the ground, watching as the transport got to its top speed, heading straight toward the dragon-class cruiser that hovered in the sky like a mountain above the earth. The transport dodged the multitude of hadron bursts as it exploded into the cruiser. The bomb blew the cruiser apart, and a large fireball grew outward.

  Allora turned her body around to face the ground as Sas pushed out the cloud of hadrons, creating a beam of energy that hit the ground, causing it to swirl. Allora leaned to the left, trying to get to the mass of people falling through the air. Sas grew the portal opening larger, but Allora was still out of range. With her current trajectory, she would smash into the rock. Milly pushed off from the group, grabbed Allora, changed their trajectory, and then pushed off just as they were about to slam into the ground. They hit the group and fell into the expanding portal.

  chapter

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Noah’s ARC

  Allora felt the familiar pressure of the portal pulling at every cell in her body. She shot out of the portal and landed in the shallows of a lake. They crawled out of the frigid waters and collapsed on the soft, grassy plain at the edge of the expansive lake.

  “Crystal Lake,” Allora pronounced while shivering.

  “Yes, I had to dump us outside of the perimeter shield,” Sas said, shaking the water out of his furry coat. “The port inhibitors wouldn’t allow us any closer.”

  “We need to get back to town and evacuate it,” Milly said. She looked as though the water hadn’t even affected her. The battle suit had prevented any cold from getting to her skin.

  “We need to get to the school and find the scroll,” Allora said, helping Katie up from the grass. “They will send everyone to get that thing.”

  “That is exactly why you and the other three are going to Sas’s cave,” Milly said.

  “Mom,” Allora pleaded, stomping through the field. “I left the Eye in my locker as well. I have to go back and get it.”

  “Sas, you will take Allora and the other three to your cave and then rendezvous in Sandy to coordinate the evacuation.”

  Milly took out the skipper rod from behind her back and sparked it. It unfolded and melted down in the shape of a rolling carpet.

  Mr. Swan pulled out his own skipper. “Don’t worry. I’ll find it,” he said, giving Allora a wink.

  They took off, skipping over the tree line, west toward town.

  “Sas, we need to get to our school,” Allora pleaded, knowing there was no way to get past the furry guardian.

  “Milly be having a point,” Sas said, swirling his arms. “If that scroll thing be where you say it be, they are going to send everyone they’ve got to get it.”

  “That’s why we need everyone. We’ve got to search for it!” Tanner added.

  “I’m sorry, but your safety is more important,” Sas said, pushing out the hadrons to create the portal.

  Sas instructed everyone to jump through the portal. They landed at the edge of the perimeter, right near the sentry tower of Sas’s cave. After navigating the interior and pushing through the liquid rock wall, they congregated near the pond inside the cavern. Sas put on a few more weapons and attached a sash and belt. He now looked like a warrior. He left the cave, telling them to stay inside. Just to make sure, he locked the exterior walls, making it impossible to get out.

  “What are we going to do now?” Dax asked, taking a drink of water.

  Allora took a towel and dried off, exchanging her clothes with some that she had left there previously. Katie and Tanner did the same, followed by Dax. Then they sat by the pond, defeated looks plastered on their faces as they stared at the blue bugs swimming around on the bottom. Allora pulled out the jade orb that was snugly placed in her wet jeans. The perfectly round orb remained still, unwilling to share its one secret. Allora thought back to the pyramid, sitting inside the portal chamber and watching the golden light show them the exact location of the scroll. It was so close, yet they still didn’t know how to get to it. That’s when she realized that Sas had his own portal chamber in the back of the waterfall. Her eyes grew wide in excitement. It was a long shot but worth a try. Without a word, she sprinted behind the cascading water.

  “Where is she going?” Dax asked.

  “I don’t know, but I’ve seen that look before,” Katie said, getting up from the ground and running after her best friend.

  Dax and Tanner followed, walking into the large, round chamber as Allora was placing the jade orb into the center of the chamber floor. It was slightly concave, allowing the orb to stand on its own.

  “Great. Another dead end,” Katie said, after waiting for a minute without anything happening.

  “You’re such a pessimist,” Dax said.

  “I’m the pessimist?” Katie argued. “You’re about as negative as they come. Everything is doom and gloom with you.”

  They kept arguing as the entire floor jerked them off their footing. The bottom descended slowly, spinning on an axis. The entire thing was an elevator, dropping down into a cavern below. The blackness was only illuminated by the flicker of the glowing orbs above. Allora focused her mind and pulled the orbs below, further illuminating an expansive chamber carved into the rock. The walls were painted with artwork that was worn from time but still legible. Beautiful landscapes and epic warriors fought with spears and swords in a never-ending cycle of battles that wrapped around the walls.

  The rocky elevator shuddered as it hit the bottom. They stepped off and walked forward toward what sounded like rushing water. As they stepped through the dimly lit cavern, the sound got louder. Allora dropped the orbs down so that they could each carry one. When they got to the other side of the cave, they noticed what had been making all of the noise. A stream of groundwater to their right was flowing down a slide that dropped into total darkness.

  “No way,” Katie exclaimed, knowing exactly what Allora had in mind. “I am not doing this all over again.” Allora stuck out her bottom lip, tilted her head, and fluttered her eyes. “No. Nuh-uh, no. Not happening. No, no, no!”

  “Whatever, you sissy,” Dax said, shoving his twin sister to the side and walking backward toward the water slide. “This is my favorite part!”

  Dax leapt backward, launching himself down the slide with a yell of pure joy.

  Tanner smiled wide an
d jumped after his friend with a similar scream of excitement. Allora shrugged her shoulders and smiled. “You coming?” She extended her hand. “Forever together?”

  “Forever together,” Katie said, taking her best friend’s hand and standing on the edge of the watery abyss.

  “One…,” they said, smiling reluctantly at each other, “…two…three!”

  They leapt down the water slide. The water was bone chilling, causing both to exhale as they careened down the smooth slide. The orbs gave them minimal visibility as they zoomed through the rocky tube at over forty miles per hour. The slide turned right, then left, and then right again. They screamed as their bodies were taken in a loop. Allora figured that they were heading west toward town but couldn’t be sure of the direction.

  After ten minutes, the tube opened up wider. Ahead they heard a terrifying scream that echoed through the tube. The girls looked at each other, unsure of what was about to happen. Up ahead there was a large opening into complete blackness, and there wasn’t anything they could do but scream as they dropped off a four-hundred-foot waterfall. Their bodies flailed wildly through the air. Unable to find the ground, there was no way that Allora could stop herself with a hadron bubble. She finally saw the white water of the falls splashing into the pool below, but it was too late to do anything about it. A wave of water met with her and Katie as they fell, slowing their descent. Allora pushed her feet down, just in time to meet the pool below. The impact still hurt, but she was alive. Allora kicked to the top, spitting up water and looking up at the amazing waterfall that they had just fallen off of. Allora looked around, but Katie hadn’t emerged. She scanned back and forth, sifting through the dark water. Katie burst to the surface, choking on water. Allora grabbed her and helped get her to the shore.

  “I swear to God, if you make me do that again, we are no longer friends,” Katie said as they crawled along the clay at the edge of the pool.

  Tanner was lying on the shore with his back against the ground and feet still in the water. Allora took his hand and smiled, knowing that he had just saved their lives. The pool was glowing from the four orbs that they had been carrying. Allora pulled in the hadrons and lifted the glowing objects out of the water and into the darkness. As the round, glowing orbs filled the blackness with light, sharply edged shadows covered the walls, followed by the outline of something the size of an overturned building. Then they saw the landing gear, rounded cockpit, and extended back of a large spaceship. It was the shape of a rounded arrowhead that extended to over three hundred feet long and almost one hundred feet high. The sides of the ship were covered in dirt, roots, and clay. The orbs got closer, illuminating the confirmation that they had arrived at their destination. Barely legible was the black writing of Alexandria ARC next to a large window at the front of the ship.

  “We found it,” Allora said as they stood next to each other, staring at the momentous ancient ship that had been under their feet the whole time.

  They walked to the base of the ship, searching for a way in.

  “I don’t see anything,” Katie said, scanning the underbelly.

  Suddenly Allora’s pocket started to vibrate and lift up. She pulled out the jade orb and felt a tug upward, so she let it go. The orb sailed up to a small, round socket in the base of the ship near the clay-covered metal landing gear. The ship shuddered slightly, causing them to step back. Then the lines in the ship widened and dropped down. The ramp hit the dirt and stopped, and the lights within the ship flickered on.

  They walked into the corridor of the Alexandria. Allora felt the excitement and fear of what they would find inside. The interior of the ship smelled of mildew and rust, but most of it was surprisingly intact. The graded metal floor made an echoing creak sound as they walked toward the center of the Alexandria. The corridor opened into a large room filled with small, round compartments lining the walls. Allora grabbed the handle of one of the compartments and pulled.

  “Are you sure you should be doing that?” Tanner asked.

  She ignored him and pulled further. A cold smoke billowed from within the tube-shaped compartment. Inside were small glass orbs covered in ice. Allora wiped away the frost, revealing a dark-red interior. Dax was opening the drawers in the center console, which were filled with different measuring devices, tools, and fragments of broken glass and metal.

  “What are we even searching for?” Katie asked, scanning tubes on the other wall.

  “I have no idea,” Allora said, pushing back the round tube.

  They continued to search the ship, moving forward into the other areas. Everything was covered in dust, and there were random lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling, metal boxes strewn on the floor, and litter everywhere. Allora would have loved to examine every part of the relic, but they didn’t have much time. The cockpit of the ship was large, spanning forty feet in length and thirty feet in width. At the center was a single chair, most likely for the captain of the ship. They slowly toured the room, looking for any clues to the location of the scroll. Dax sat down in the captain’s chair, imagining being at the helm of an amazing ship. Suddenly the ground in front of him lifted. It caused Dax to jump out of the chair and glance around as if he hadn’t been the instigator.

  “What did you do now?” Katie said.

  The round console lifted to about waist high, and a female voice said, “Hello, Captain. Where would you like to go?”

  “Um, should we get out of here?” Dax asked, unsure of what the ship’s artificial intelligence would do.

  “No. Wait,” Allora said, noticing the concave center in the console.

  Slowly, she placed the jade orb inside, which prompted a light to flash. Allora felt an energy grab her hand, and she couldn’t let go of the orb. It hung onto her as if it were attached. Then there was a reverberation, followed by a piercing sound that caused them to cover their ears and close their eyes. Allora’s mind suddenly gave way to only light, and she felt her whole body being pulled into itself, like entering the outer realm. All around her was white light. She stood in a white sand desert. In the distance, a fuzzy image of a man walked toward her. The waves of heat and light were distorting the image, but it got clearer as the man got closer. He was wearing a gray battle suit with an odd-looking insignia on both shoulders. He had gray hair, a short, full, gray beard, glasses, a skinny figure, and a gray trench coat. He smiled as he walked toward her.

  “Hello, daughter of Zeus,” the old man said.

  “Who are you?”

  “I am the preprogrammed artificial intelligence representative of the captain of the Alexandria. My name is Noah.

  “Where am I, and why am I here?”

  “We are in the outer realm of the scroll,” the old man said. “This is an introduction for what you are about to experience.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You will,” Noah said, moving his hands like the conductor of an orchestra. The scenery instantly changed to the interior of the city of Alexandria. It was completely illuminated by flickering torches, with towering, beautiful buildings that were pristine. The walkways were clean, the marble was polished, and the statues were in mint condition, but the entire city was in turmoil. Thousands of people were clamoring about as they tried to make it to one of the transport ships that was about to leave through a large opening above the city.

  “Over five thousand years ago, the Titans invaded Earth through the gateways, which were permanently open at the time,” Noah began as Allora watched the panicked crowd climb over each other. “The first invasion was catastrophic, so the guardians of Delphi, or GODs as they were called, which included Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Demeter, Ares, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hermes, and so on—really, there were a lot of them—they convinced the other Sonorans of Earth to join forces against the Titans. There were many Sonorans on Earth, working to accumulate resources for the different city-states on Sonora. The Sonorans of Rome, Jupiter, and Venus; the Sonorans of Egypt, Ra, and Horus; the Sonorans of the Norse
, Thor, and Baldur; the Sonorans of India, Ganesha, and Maya, and many more joined forces and pushed back the Titans. Unfortunately, Kronos had his scientists create a weapon of immense power. Zeus and the other guardians tried to stop what would eventually destroy most life on Earth.”

  Allora noticed the Alexandria taking off from a launch pad at the center of the city.

  “The Alexandria was what we called an ARC, or Advanced Research Carrier. Our mission was to gather all the DNA from every species on Earth so that we could repopulate the earth should the guardians fail to stop Kronos. It was also tasked with keeping the truth of the events so that future generations would know how to stop this catastrophe from ever happening again.”

  Just as he said this, they floated above the city, along the outside of the Alexandria. Once in the sunlight, they could see a large blue wave coming right at them. The ship’s engine fired, launching it above the menacing wave, which took out an escaping vessel.

  “This was a very dark day in our history,” Noah said as they lifted above, watching as the wave continued its destructive path, wiping out all life in its wake. “When the waters subsided, we landed here.” The scenery changed to a deep cavern in the midst of an expansive forest. The Alexandria set down, landing in the deep pit, where they found it thousands of years later. Noah showed Allora the progression of incubation for the many species that now existed today, including an image of a human fetus floating in a glass tube.

  “You see, we altered the human genome slightly,” Noah said, staring at the baby within. “Before, the humans didn’t have the urge to expand or innovate. What we did was insert a part of our chromosome to create a void that would allow for curiosity and in turn force humanity to want to evolve as a species.” Allora looked at Noah, who seemed rigid and stern. “All of the scientists involved in this decision were apprehensive, but we wanted to give humanity a fighting chance. We wanted to give them the ability to defend themselves in the future.”