The Shadow Connection

by Adair Hart

  Ares walked over to a table near the rift door controller. He interacted with a console on it. The projection of a huge floating cathedral appeared. It was made of a mix of black crystal, stone, and metal. Large strands of shadow energy hung in the open space around it.

  Dr. Snowden rubbed the goose bumps on his arm. Although he knew shadow matter was different from baryonic, it still made him anxious when around it. He wondered if that was some type of interaction aspect, or if it was just in his mind. The space outside the patch of land under the cathedral reminded him of a briar patch. “That’s pretty foreboding.”

  Ares gestured at the facility. “And also where the Torvatta is. Caltorus has it in his throne room as a showpiece for the moment.”

  “A showpiece?” asked Dr. Snowden.

  “Caltorus has other objects of high value scattered around. I’m not sure if he got them or if his predecessors did, but there are many of them from different places, and he has the Torvatta singled out for display in the throne room. Apparently, he can’t figure out how to access it.”

  “Caltorus would not be able to. Nonetheless, that is where we will go,” said Evaran.

  “Good luck with that. You’ll need some explosive force to pop that rift door seal on their end.”

  Evaran rubbed his chin. “Mary, do you have any directional explosives?”

  “Way ahead of you,” said Mary with a nod. “We have some on the other ship that landed on the other side of the island. I’ll have them bring it. We usually use them for antipersonnel.”

  “That should work,” said Evaran.

  Ares pointed at a line that appeared on the projection. “This is your best path toward the throne room. From the rift door, which is at the end, you head up this pathway that has platforms and stairs. Once at the top, go right. It will take you to another open area, and then you just head north through several buildings, and you’ll be at the throne room. Be aware that the doors have a manual option and that although they have a console to operate them, they’re all isolated.”

  “Decentralized security,” said Dr. Snowden. “We’ve seen that before.”

  “Then you understand that as you progress from each room, you need to open the door ahead, and close the one behind you.”

  “We appreciate your help on this,” said Evaran.

  Ares shook his head. “For the record, I think it’s foolish to assault his home base, but you’re Evaran, and your ship is there, so I understand. I hope my cooperation doesn’t require me to go with you.”

  Evaran shook his head. “I do not require your presence unless you want to be there.”

  “Well, I don’t. No offense.”

  “Very well,” said Evaran. He held a finger out at Mary. “I need you to coordinate everything here and secure the rift door. Tim, Robert, Hermes, Erik, and Dr. Snowden can assist you. The group going to the throne room with me is Emily, Jake, V, Zed, Thor, Guan Yu, and Lady Hassrik.”

  Robert snorted. “You don’t think I can hold my own.”

  Mary laid a hand on Robert’s shoulder. “There are other ways to help that are needed.”

  “All right. I know when I’m not capable. I’ll be there in spirit,” said Robert. He eyed Jake. “Do me proud, Son.”

  “On it,” said Jake.

  “Defending the rift door is not something that will be trivial,” said Evaran. “While we are inside, the rift door will be under siege from the cathedral. It will serve as a distraction. Do not take it lightly, because those coming at you will not.”

  “We’ll stand strong,” said Dr. Snowden.

  Hermes smiled. “I’m more of a lover than a fighter, but hey, if we need to retreat, we can always just go back through the rift door.”

  “I am not sure about the lover part,” said Evaran with a grin.

  “Hey!”

  Evaran half smiled as he faced the others. “Hold it for as long as you can.”

  “Let’s do it,” said Emily.

  Dr. Snowden watched as several of Mary’s group appeared with explosives. From their appearance, he guessed they were moose shifters due to their huge size and antlers. They set them up facing the space between the rift door rods. Evaran interacted with the rift door controller, causing the familiar golden portal to appear. The other side was pitch-black.

  Once everyone was clear, the explosives were detonated.

  Dr. Snowden peered in and saw that a hole had been blown through whatever was sealing the door. A barrage of weapon fire came through the portal.

  Evaran extended his shield and charged into the portal, followed by everyone else.

  The first thing Dr. Snowden noticed was that the Druuz who were behind the seal were sprawled out on the ground. The rift door sat on a slightly raised platform. Ahead of him in a multirow half-circle configuration stood an array of black crystalline pillars. Behind the rift door was the end of the land the cathedral sat on. Dark, hairy-strand-filled space awaited with open arms. He gulped as he looked forward.

  A small group of Druuz popped out behind some of the crystals and opened fire with their staff weapons. An elite guardsman with red scales and silver armor charged forward. He dual wielded a huge sword and staff weapon.

  Evaran, Dr. Snowden, and Emily formed a wall with their shields, reflecting back enemy fire. Erik and Lady Hassrik slipped off to the side, while Thor yelled as he charged toward the elite guardsman. As they engaged in a sword-and-hammer duel, Erik and Lady Hassrik appeared behind the Druuz guards and attacked them. Guan Yu and Zed joined Thor.

  V flew toward the back and around the pillars, dodging fire and shooting stun and repulsion beams from his arms. His actions drew the attention of the rear Druuz.

  The elite guardsman knocked Thor back with his sword. In his other hand, he aimed at Evaran, Dr. Snowden, and Emily and fired. The beam pushed them back. Guan Yu struck the elite guardsman in the chest with his guandao while Zed swept the legs, causing the elite guardsman to fall.

  “Focus fire your stun beams!” said Evaran.

  Everyone that could fired simultaneously.

  The elite guardsman growled for a moment as it tried to get up. While on its knees, it shot out a sweeping beam from its staff that hit Erik and Lady Hassrik, who were dealing with the guards. They went flying.

  “It’s not working!” said Emily.

  Tim charged through the rift door and ripped the staff weapon out of the elite guardsman’s hand. Thor took advantage and grabbed the sword while Guan Yu swept away the shield. Tim tossed the staff to Evaran, who jumped midair and caught it and shot a beam out when he landed.

  The elite guardsman fell back down and stopped moving.

  Without the elite guardsman backing them, the rest of the Druuz fell quickly.

  Evaran looked around. “Whatever this beam is, it is powerful enough to handle these elite guardsmen.” He nodded at Tim. “Appreciate the help.”

  “No problem. Now I want to go with you and stomp some ass.”

  “And leave me here alone?” said Mary.

  “I said I want to, not that I would,” said Tim with a wry smile.

  “There will be more fighting here than what my group will encounter, but I know you can handle it,” said Evaran.

  “Damn right,” said Tim.

  Evaran pointed to some towering crystals in the distance. “My Torvatta is there. I can feel it.”

  “We’ve got the other Druuz secured Earth-side, and we’ll secure this rift door,” said Mary.

  “Before I go, let me lock other rift doors from coming here,” said Evaran. He interacted with the rift door controller. After a moment, he wrinkled his eyebrows as he pulled off his UIC. “Apparently, Caltorus has protected them. I am unfamiliar with the locks. In order to prevent it, I would need to shut down the rift door.”

  “That would trap us here,” said Mary.

  “We can leave it up. As long as you have the Earth rift door connected, no one should be able to come through. However, once you go back and seal it on your
end, the rift door here will be available to others in Caltorus’s network. Recapturing the rift door will be a high priority for Caltorus.”

  “We got this,” said Mary. “Go.”

  “Very well. Let us head out,” said Evaran. He took off up a small flight of stairs with his small group behind him.

  Emily hustled to keep up with Evaran. There were several platforms with a small set of stairs they had to go up. Once there, it split off into three directions. When they reached the top, it gave her a view of the cathedral they were going to enter. It looked ancient, with intricate etched symbols and designs on the walls. Having the ability to see nothing but space off the sides was unsettling. Energy strands, looking like hairy gas streaks, hung suspended outside the land the cathedral sat on.

  From where they stood, the cathedral had several entrances. The one that Evaran was leading the group to was off to the right and just a courtyard away. She figured the main force would be coming from the central one and hoped that Dr. Snowden would be okay when they did come.

  They went right and crossed the pathway to the courtyard before the right entrance. Druuz exited the right entrance and began to fill the courtyard.

  Emily saw that they were mostly guards, but a few brutes were peppered among them.

  Jake shook his head. “Ares wasn’t kidding about this place being heavily defended.”

  Evaran pointed ahead. “We are getting closer. We do not need to defeat everything. If we can get to my Torvatta, then we can leave with it.”

  “I know. It’s the getting-to part that’s going to be rough,” said Jake as he looked his Seceltor blaster over.

  “I welcome the challenge!” said Guan Yu.

  “As do I,” said Thor, slapping Guan Yu on the back.

  Lady Hassrik shook her head. “So much bravado … but I like it.”

  Emily enjoyed the brief moment of camaraderie. The Druuz assembling before them promised a good fight. Zed was quiet, but she figured due to the circumstances, he probably didn’t truly feel like part of the team, although he was making an effort to contribute. She still was upset at him over what he did, but he had helped her fighting, and for the moment, there were other priorities to focus on.

  Evaran lowered his shield and, with his staff in his right hand, charged forward.

  Emily provided cover for Jake with her shield while she shot mist and stun beams. V flew above and was dishing out stun beams when not being shot at. Jake took pot shots when he could. Thor tossed his hammer forward, clearing a pathway for them. Zed and Guan Yu charged into the guards, selectively targeting the brutes. Lady Hassrik took advantage of the confusion to slip into the guards’ ranks and spin like a whirlwind with her glowing dual red blades to sow discord. Each Druuz she hit was overcome by a red aura before crumpling.

  One of the brutes grabbed Zed and body slammed him. Lady Hassrik ran up the brute’s arm, wrapped her legs around its head, then stabbed it in both eyes. She jumped off as the brute fell to the ground. Another brute charged toward Evaran. He somersaulted over it while pushing on its back with his staff. As the brute stumbled forward, Emily hit it with a sticky globule, causing it to root in place and then fall forward. Zed rushed over to it and hit it in the back of the head until it stopped moving.

  Emily realized that death was unavoidable here. If stunning did not work, the only reliable way to keep some of the more resilient Druuz down was death. She recognized that to Thor, Lady Hassrik, Zed, and Guan Yu, this was not an issue, and was probably expected. Emily still had her doubts, and even though the stun did not work on the brutes, she hesitated on killing them.

  Once they cleared the courtyard, they entered the large building that sat at the end of it.

  Emily wrinkled her eyebrows at the many objects of varying levels of technology on the sides. Each one was propped up on a short pedestal with a light shining down on it. Small placards sat under them. “This looks like a trophy room.”

  Evaran took a moment to scan some of the objects. “It appears that Earth is not the only place that has been raided.”

  Emily walked up to one of the objects and ran her hand across it. “Not even sure what this is, or how old it is, but I’m guessing it held some value to the people who it was taken from.”

  “Most likely,” said Evaran. He headed over to a console in the wall and placed his UIC. After a moment of browsing his ARI, the doors to the room sealed shut. “It appears the UIC can work on this technology. The doors are sealed for the moment. This is a good opportunity for me to peruse their systems.” He tossed out a remote view orb and began to examine his ARI.

  “What’re you finding?” asked Emily.

  The orb shot up a projection of a regional star map.

  “It seems the Druuz are scattered across this expanse. They have some planets, and quite a few of these floating landmasses, but they are very far apart. I suspect they are linked via rift door. I recognize the coordinates of this area. They are far from Earth.”

  “So they’ve been using the rift doors to conquer worlds and bring back resources, technology, and whatever else,” said Lady Hassrik.

  “According to their logs, that is correct. It seems they have conquered a large number of civilizations. The approach is the same. Take out the biggest threats and then swarm the planet once it’s defenseless. There are … thousands of entries.”

  “Thousands?” asked Emily. “The rift doors must have changed a lot of timelines.”

  Evaran nodded.

  “Earth is far from defenseless,” said Thor.

  “Yes, and that is not even considering the Kreagan Empire,” said Evaran. “They would not let someone like Caltorus gain a foothold in their empire. I suspect that is why Caltorus was playing the game he was instead of executing a direct assault.”

  “Makes sense,” said Emily. “By getting your Torvatta, he probably thinks the biggest hurdle is over, without realizing the hornets’ nest he walked into.”

  “A mistake on his part. Nonetheless, I have downloaded their archive. There is a lot to go through.”

  “I suppose … you won’t give any of that to the Helians,” said Zed.

  “I will give limited information on the coordinates and associated data at a later time. Based on the star constellations I am seeing, they have some temporal excursions as well.”

  “Time travel?” asked Jake.

  “Yes. The rift doors can connect two points regardless of space and time. It seems Caltorus was using them without realizing that. He would not be able to know unless he had a map of the areas he went to over time. V, display some of these species they conquered.”

  “Acknowledged,” said V. He hovered and shot down a rotating set of holograms.

  Emily examined the various aliens that appeared. It bothered her that if they showed up here, then they were most likely unwilling participants in Caltorus’s ambitions. She shook her head. “What’s the end goal with Caltorus? These trophy items?”

  “No. It is what all supposed gods search for. A challenge. Even if Caltorus is not winning, he is enjoying this.”

  “He’s sick in the head,” said Emily.

  “I do not think so. Humanity enjoys a challenge as well, especially when up against a wall.”

  “I hear that,” said Thor.

  Emily shrugged and then surveyed the other trophies. Her breath staggered as she paused in front of one of the displays. The teardrop body with eight segmented arms was no stranger to her. “Evaran! It’s a Time Warden!”

  Everyone hustled over to where she stood.

  “What is this monstrosity?” asked Thor.

  Evaran scanned the Time Warden, and then the small placard underneath it. “Intriguing. It appears Caltorus was able to handle a Time Warden ship.”

  “I take it you’ve met them before,” said Thor.

  “Many times. Our last adventure was removing them from a timeline. It was … difficult.”

  “Their appearance is hideous,” said Lady Hassrik.


  “I’ll say,” said Emily. “They’re pretty tough. It took me and Evaran all we had to take out just one of their predators. At least now we have some gauge of what Caltorus is capable of. I wonder if he has fought the Purifiers.”

  “According to the logs, he has. It is one of the groups I searched for. From the Druuz perspective, they won every battle, which may be true, or not.”

  “Small universe when rift doors come into play,” said Emily.

  Evaran nodded as he grabbed the remote orb that had been following him and put it back on his belt. “We should head out. I will be able to control door access up to the throne room. However, this does not mean that the areas we are going into are unguarded. The next area ahead is a tunnel that leads to some type of worship center. Also, Dr. Snowden has contacted me. The rift door is under siege, but they are handling it so far.” He waved forward. “To the next area.”

  Dr. Snowden watched as Evaran and the small team took off. Looking around, he knew he was in good company. Tim was tough, and Erik was fast. Mary could transform into a tree that provided a good defensive option. Dr. Snowden figured he, Hermes, and Robert provided ranged options, and Dr. Snowden had his shield and multiple other types of beams to help. He wished V were around to provide tactical assistance. The medium-sized crystal pillars spread out in a multilayered arc ahead of them at least offered some cover. He swallowed hard at the thought that this might be his last stand.

  “Relax,” said Mary, placing a hand on his shoulder.

  “I’m good,” said Dr. Snowden.

  Mary eyed him. “You’re too tense for that.”

  He sighed. “I came close to dying on my last adventure with Evaran. I guess … it still haunts me to some degree.”

  “With Evaran around?” asked Mary.

  “He couldn’t help me. I was saved by another version of Evaran, as weird as that might seem to you.”

  “Not weird at all. My mother said she knew multiple versions of Evaran, and trying to figure out what you could and couldn’t say could be tricky. Once you accept time travel as a possibility, it opens many doors to weirdness.”