Secret of the Crystal - Omnibus Edition Books 1-3 (Time Travel Adventure)

by Larson, Brian K.

  Many centuries ago, our people, the Ackturrians, settled on this planet after leaving our home world. We left a broken and dying world only to cause more devastation to one another. Both sides agreed to split and go separate ways. One side would stay and the other side would find a new world. There are others that are spread among the nearby stars but wish to remain alone and separated in order to prevent further destruction. Our people found a way to live in peace and harmony, isolated from each of our sects.

  We came to Ackturra, and we felt at home once again and began to colonize and grow in our newfound home world. Not many years after we settled here, our people found a wonderful power source. The focus crystals that were found in these Crystal Caverns held a great source of energy and influence. We found that we could communicate with the crystals telepathically. It became apparent that they were a form of sentient life. The focus crystals allowed our people to gain certain powers, powers of telekinetic abilities, wisdom, knowledge, and our longevity. All they asked for in return was for our people to live harmoniously and to not spoil the world. Each focus crystal would live in a symbiotic relationship with each individual. Life on Ackturra was good.

  Several thousand years passed without conflict. Ackturrians thrived in their new home, and with the help of the focus crystals, our people were able to advance technologically without harming the planet’s ecosystem.

  News traveled to the other star systems and brought others to come and open trade alliances with our people. Most came only to trade with us, and it was profitable. One race came to trade, but what they asked for was not something that we could allow. They were called the Zelinites, and their hearts were unclean with a craving for rule and power. They sought the focus crystal and wanted to use its influence to advance their control over other races.

  At first, they came asking to trade goods for them. When the council refused, they tried to obtain them by force, and a great war began. The war raged for many years, and the focus crystals, with their power, gave us victory over our enemy. The Zelinites were enraged by our refusal to turn over the crystals and had devised a plan to destroy them. They developed a way to infect the crystals and corrupt their power.

  Hoping that the Ackturrians would abandon the crystals and give them up to the Zelinites, they delivered a massive payload of toxin to the Crystal Caverns, the home of the focus crystals. Many crystals shattered in the explosion, and the remaining began to change color. All of them twisted into an unclean desire for power and corrupted the possessor. The Zelinites’ plan backfired, and the crystals unleashed even more power for the possessor, and the war was won over our enemies. The Zelinites retreated back to their home world, but the damage done to the focus crystals had devastating effects. Over time, the crystals began to corrupt the possessor as even the council was not immune to the power crystals new, unclean desires.

  The council, now wanting ultimate power, passed a law in the land. Ackturrians would no longer be allowed to possess a power crystal, and they sealed the entrance to the caverns; only members of the high council were allowed to embrace the crystals.

  There is a way to cure the crystals and return them to the pureness they once were. The answer lies deep within the mind of the chosen one and can only be accessed in another time and place. I must not reveal the answers here; it must be discovered when the time is right.

  Locked within this chest is the only remaining pure focus crystal. It has been sealed in a container and must not be opened while inside the cavern.

  This is the only way to prevent the crystal from becoming corrupted.

  I can only hope that the person that is reading this scroll is the chosen one and that he holds the power to heal the focus crystals.

  Helen

  High Priestess of the Council

  Jhahnahkan finished reading the scroll and carefully set it down next to the chest. He thought to himself in disbelief, I knew there was something about the power crystals. I knew it the moment Tamika connected with my mind. But who is this Helen? I don’t ever remember hearing about her being on the high council.

  He started to hear his father’s voice echo in his mind, and a vortex began to open up before him with a rush of wind, which began to pull at him.

  He heard the words of his father, Qiaoshan, “Naeg’ Mos Magniglieo.”

  Jhahnahkan reached into the box and retrieved the cylinder containing the pure focus crystal just before the vortex pulled him in. An image of the council chamber began to appear within the vortex.

  He saw his father standing, holding his crystal, with the other members of the council focusing their crystals on his. He was able to see his brother, Jhovahkan, staring at his father in an evil way, and he saw that his crystal was no longer pointing at his father’s crystal but at his father.

  Jhahnahkan knew what his brother was going to do. Without even thinking, he broke the seal on the canister and removed the crystal, thinking, If I am to save my father, I must do this.

  He began to exit the vortex, and it seemed like everything moved in slow motion. He saw a red beam of power exit his brother’s crystal aimed at Qiaoshan.

  Tamika broke her connection and threw her crystal at the red beam. Her crystal connected with the beam, resulting in a huge explosion of power.

  The power crystals lit up with a brilliant light. Jhahnahkan extended the pure crystal out in front of him, and the power of the explosion threw him back into the open vortex as the crystal absorbed the shock wave.

  He fell back into the vortex and saw his father being launched backward into the air, his arms and legs flailing in flight.

  Qiaoshan fell onto his back and lay motionless. Luanren began to weep for her lover while Tamika knelt by her dead father’s body and embraced him.

  Jhovahkan walked casually over to where his father had been standing and picked up Qiaoshan’s crystal from the ground. Ghaia approached her firstborn son and took him by his arms and held them up to the sky as he continued to hold his father’s crystal in one hand and his red crystal in the other.

  “Behold,” she said with a commanding voice, “Jhovahkan is now ruler of the high council. Through the death of Qiaoshan, he shall claim his rightful place as firstborn of the house of Sö’. It is written, so shall it be done!”

  As Ghaia spoke, Jhovahkan raised his power crystal and touched it to his father’s crystal. A clap of thunder sounded in the heavens above and resonated in the council chamber. The two crystals merged with a brilliant light and became one crystal.

  “I will be more powerful than my father,” Jhovahkan shouted. “I will rule this council in the manner it had been meant from the beginning! The high priestess has spoken, so shall it be done.”

  Jhahnahkan watched as he fell backward into the vortex, seeing the council chamber vanish before him. Feeling dread of what he just saw, he remembered the vision he had the night before as this vision started to become reality. He began to swim and pull at the air as he tried to return to the council chamber. He heard thoughts in his head, Power crystal. Do not resist. They will make you powerful.

  He resisted the thoughts in his mind as he held the clear crystal in his hands. He pressed it up to his forehead and started to lose consciousness.

  Jhahnahkan was tossed to and fro in the vortex, and then the maelstrom opened.

  He hit the ground, and his head struck a rock. The vortex closed behind him, and all was quiet.

  He lay silent, lifeless, and bleeding on his left temple.

  A cool evening breeze gently blew across him as he lay in a field of tall green grass.

  * * *

  Chapter 4 – Amnesia

  Earth: Year 1983

  The sunlight woke Jhahnahkan, and he slowly picked himself up off the dew-covered ground. He was cold, wet, and confused. He reached up to his pounding temple with his hand and drew back blood with his fingers and smeared it between his thumb and first two fingers.

  Jhahnahkan looked around and thought to himself, this place did not s
eem right. He looked up to the blue sky. Puffy white clouds were all around. He looked to the sun on the horizon and then turned around to see one moon in the sky descending. Where is the second moon? He thought to himself. I think there should be two moons.

  He continued to look around at the ground and wiped his hand across the dew-soaked grass that had grown waist-high. He touched the moisture with his lips and tasted the liquid.

  Jhahnahkan’s head continued to pound as he began to stumble across the field. His crystal still lay in the tall grass. He had forgotten who he was and where he was from.

  He knew he was in a foreign land. Nothing seemed familiar about this place. He continued to make his way across the grassy field and wrapped his cloak around himself to keep his body warm. He continued, holding his head with his other hand, as if trying to help the pounding diminish.

  He traversed the grassy field for nearly a mile before he came to an opening. Jhahnahkan came out into a culvert and climbed the side of a dirt mound. It appeared to be an old dirt road.

  The sun had fully risen, and the heat began to dry his clothes. He looked both ways down the road to see which way was the best to go, but the road stretched out for what looked like miles in either direction. He felt as if he were in the middle of nowhere. He looked back to where he had been, and with the breeze blowing, there was no trace of him being in the field.

  Jhahnahkan began to walk toward the sun, which he assumed was east, that is if this planet’s orbit was similar to my own world, he thought to himself. That much he knew. He was not from here.

  Jhahnahkan walked for what seemed like hours down the road, encountering no one. The heat of the day began to exhaust him, and he needed to find water and shade to rest under.

  His head was still pounding but had diminished slightly. The bleeding had stopped and had dried, crusting on the side of his face. His lips had cracked under the hot sun. He took off his cloak and wrapped it up and tucked it around his waist as he continued on his journey.

  In the distance behind him, he heard the noise of a vehicle approaching. He turned and peered down the road, only to see a cloud of dirt rising in the air. As the vehicle began to get closer, he could see that it appeared to be an old rusted pickup truck chugging its way toward him.

  Nearly exhausted from the heat of the day, his legs buckled, causing him to fall to his knees. His body trembled, his lips cracked, and his tongue was dry from the lack of water. He looked up as the truck slowed and pulled up to his side and came to a stop.

  The truck was a 1953 Ford F-100 and had several dents in the rusted blue-colored body. Behind the wheel was an elderly man who appeared to be in his late seventies. He wore a tattered gray baseball cap, and his face had not been shaved clean for several days, evidenced by the stubble on his face. He wore a dark blue work shirt with the name Rex stenciled on the left side.

  The grizzled old man was missing most of his teeth and sported a wide smile and protruding lower jaw.

  The man reached over and struggled to roll down the passenger side window and then sat looking at Jhahnahkan for a moment. After he finished studying him, he asked, “Are ya all right, son?”

  Jhahnahkan looked up at the man and stared back before answering, “Does it look like I am all right?”

  “Where ya headin’, boy?” the man asked.

  “I do not know. Guess I am lost,” he replied.

  “Well,” the man said, “don’t just sit there in the hot sun, burning up like a crispy critter. Get in.”

  Jhahnahkan began to pull himself to his feet as he held on to the truck door. His efforts were in vain, and he fell once again to the ground.

  The hunchbacked old man got out of the truck and limped over to the other side of his truck and helped Jhahnahkan to his feet, “Ya don’t look so good, mister. What happened to ya? That’s an awful nasty bump on ya noggin,” he said with genuine concern. “Come on now, let’s get ya inta town and have someone look at that.”

  Rex supported Jhahnahkan with one arm around his neck and the other around his waist. With his free arm, Rex opened up the truck’s passenger door, and it creaked and made a popping sound, “Don’t worry about a thing, mister. She’s a good-running old beast,” Rex said with a chuckle. “She complains about it, but only a little.”

  Jhahnahkan made a groan as he was helped into the seat of the truck.

  Rex slammed the door, and it popped open again. He again slammed the door a bit harder, and the truck door closed tight.

  “Hehe, ol’ Betsy does have a few kinks in ’er,” he said with a laugh. “I wouldn’t lean up against that door though. She might decide to just pop on open again.”

  “I will be sure to remember that,” Jhahnahkan acknowledged.

  Rex returned to the driver’s seat and closed the door, jammed the truck in first gear, and popped the clutch as he stepped on the gas, causing Jhahnahkan to lunge backward in his seat.

  Rex shifted into second, which created the sound of gears being ground in his ears. He shifted into third gear, only this time Rex double-clutched, and the gear grinding was minimized.

  “Yep, she is a bit cantankerous, but she hasn’t failed me yet,” Rex said with a smile.

  He reached under the seat and pulled out a flask, pulled out the cork, and took a swig. He handed the flask over to Jhahnahkan and said, “Here, take a snort. It’ll make ya feel better.”

  Jhahnahkan held the flask up to his lips and took a long swig and nearly choked on the taste of the liquid.

  “Yep, that’s purty strong stuff there, son. Just take it easy at first. I use it strictly for medicinal purposes, ya see,” Rex said. “Go on, take another.”

  He raised the flask up to his lips again and swallowed another long swig. “Yes, that is taking the pain away now, but this is the strongest whiskey I have had in a long time,” he said before taking yet a third drink.

  “Okay now,” Rex said as he snatched the flask from him, “don’t go drinkin’ it all fer yourself now.”

  Rex took one more sip for himself and corked the bottle and returned it under the seat. “Don’t want ol’ Sheriff Matson ta see this now, do we,” Rex said smiling. “Yer not running from the law, are ya? ’Cause I don’t want any trouble with the law, ya know. Just mindin’ my own business, if ya know what I mean.”

  “I do not think so. I cannot remember.”

  “Whattya mean you can’t remember? Ya must be in some kind of trouble. Looks like someone worked ya over purty good. It wasn’t them there Russell boys now, was it? ’Cause I sure don’ want any trouble from them. They’ll kill ya for the fun of it if they wanted ta.”

  “No, I am certain that it was not. I do not think I am from here.”

  “I can see yer not from around here, dressed in those funny clothes and all.” Rex said.

  “What do you mean by funny clothes?” Jhahnahkan asked as he looked at himself.

  “Well,” Rex said, “people just don’ go walking around dressed like that, and what’s with that cape and those Medals you got pinned on ya? Those don’ appear like anythin’ I’ve even seen on our military, and whatta ya doin’ out here in the middle of nowhere town with no vehicle, no water or no food or…”

  Jhahnahkan interrupted Rex, “I wish I could give you more information, but I really do not even remember who I am at the moment.”

  “It’s that nasty bump on yer head there. Probably have a concussion,” Rex said with a nod. “Yer lucky I happened along when I did, ya know. This must be the hottest day of the year so far. Nearly a hundred degrees today, and the ol’ weatherman says there’s no chance for rain anytime soon.”

  Jhahnahkan interrupted Rex again, “Can you answer some questions for me? Maybe that will help me to remember who I am and where I came from?”

  “Well, sure, I’ll do my best,” Rex offered. “Fire away.”

  “I do not have a weapon.”

  “No, no, no, I mean ask me yer questions. You are a strange one, aren’t ya. Don’t even talk normal,�
� Rex said under his breath.

  “Where am I exactly?” Jhahnahkan asked.

  “Well,” Rex began, “ya were bout halfway between the town of Rosemont and Phillmore, farming country, ya know.”

  Before Rex could continue, Jhahnahkan asked, “This planet, what do you call it, and what system are you in?”

  “Well, now, son,” Rex started, “I guess you must have hit your head harder than we first thought.”

  Jhahnahkan interrupted Rex once more, “I am sorry, Rex. This must seem strange to you. Your people must not know about life on other worlds yet. Please bear with me,” he paused to gather his thoughts, “These questions are important. Please answer them no matter how strange they may seem.”

  “Well, okay, son, I’ll play along until we get someone to take a look at ya,” Rex said with a worried look on his face.

  “Now,” Jhahnahkan asked again, “what is this planet called?

  “Earth”

  “Are there two moons or one?

  “One”

  “Have there always been blue-colored skies?”

  “Yep”

  “What is your star called?”

  “We earthlings call it Sun or Sol or whatever,” Rex said in a mocking voice.

  “What is this rain you speak of? You said the weatherman said that there is no rain in sight?”

  Rex interrupted Jhahnahkan this time, losing his patience, “Okay, spaceman, that’s ’bout all I can take. What’s this all about anyway? Are you a Martian or something?”

  A memory sparked in Jhahnahkan, and he started to see a vision of people sitting around a banquet table. He was telling them of a place he was told about but had forgotten the name on his journey. A place that sounded like what Rex had referred to. He held his hands up to his head in pain and cried out, “What did you just say?”

  “Are you a Martian? You know, from Mars,” Rex said, only this time he seemed more interested in Jhahnahkan’s response, “Our fourth planet!?”