by Brandon Barr
“Another facet of the charter is a set of strict rules regulating portal travel to protect against Beast worlds. These rules are already in place, but until you are chartered, all travel is restricted. Once your world gains membership, Loam’s citizens will be able to travel to other worlds within the Guardian’s protective web—but only to worlds that are at the same level of advancement. Blind travel through the portal is prohibited, unless of course you are a Missionary. This is to protect your world from Beasts.”
Winter felt herself drawn to the Missionaries. She recalled Karience’s brief tutorial aboard the starship. If one traveled through the portal unaccompanied, they wound up on a random world. She imagined how dangerous this could be, but also felt its excitement.
Another question entered her mind. “Where were the three Emissaries murdered?”
Karience seemed surprised by her question. “At Anantium’s Royal hall. There.” She pointed to the towering castle jutting from the northern horizon.
“We are safe here, then?” asked Winter.
“Yes,” smiled Karience. “This is protected space. You are safe here. Come, it’s time to see the God’s Eye.”
Ahead, the path emptied into a large circle of dirt rimmed with scrub brush and haggard, wind-beaten trees.
“What was here before you arrived?” asked Winter.
“Nothing,” said Karience. “The Royals left the portal unguarded. Anyone could walk through at any time. In the three thousand years of their rule, no one had ever entered their world, so they were not aware of the danger. When our three Missionaries stepped through, they walked into the city unnoticed.”
“How can three Missionaries all go to the same world?” asked Aven. “Wouldn’t each go to a random world?”
Winter smiled, she was glad to find Aven showing interest.
“Remember the idea of a person’s wake. Once the first person enters, they leave a wake behind that anyone can follow, and that wake is sustained for as long as people continue to enter one after another. This is also the reason we have the Shield Force, since an entire army can come through because of one person’s wake.”
The idea of an army arriving on Loam was rather disturbing to Winter. All those hundreds of years, the Royals had never known of the danger.
Karience came to a stop at the edge of a cliff. Winter could see the source of the soothing crash and crackle. The sea seemed to be constantly beating against the rocks on the shore. Suddenly a memory caused her to take a step back. She’d remembered the vision she had when she was pushed off the platform. She had fallen from a great cliff, and below was a beach with crashing waves.
“What’s wrong?” tapped Aven.
“Nothing…too close to the edge.”
“We are here,” said Karience. “This is the God’s Eye. The portal to other worlds.”
Winter searched her surroundings. Nothing looked like a portal. Nothing appeared unusual. Aven looked just as confused.
“What did you expect it to look like?” came a voice from out of a rock. Suddenly part of the rock fell away from the main hulk, and Nephitus’s face appeared as a mask was taken off. Several other figures came out from different places. They wore clothing that perfectly mimicked the surroundings they’d stepped out from, their faces covered in a cloth material that had the design of brush or rock.
Nephitus came up beside her and Aven. Only then could she see the strange object in his hands. Some form of weapon that blended perfectly against his body.
“Are you ready to go through?” Nephitus asked.
“Where is it?” asked Winter.
“There,” he pointed. An old, bent tree with a few scraggly leaves clinging to it was the only thing she saw. It hung over the precipice of the cliff.
“Come,” said Karience, putting a hand on Winter’s shoulder. “It is the same on every world. An old tree, a cave, a pile of rocks, a shallow pool, somewhere, as much a part of the landscape as the rest of the world, is a portal.”
Winter stared at the bent tree.
Her heart was filled with an awe that tingled all the way down to her fingers, as if they were being warmed on a cold night by a roaring fire. The Makers were wonderful to have made it like this. The aura of something ancient marked the tree. It was beautiful in its own way, as other trees were, yet it was inhabited by something beyond itself, a mystery much larger than the sea. Here, now, she felt the draw of purpose drawing her forward. The Makers were calling to her. Taking her toward a destiny.
Karience turned to the others. “One of you can take Aven, and another, Pike.”
“I’ll take Aven,” said Arentiss quickly.
“I’ll take Pike,” said Zoecara.
Karience nodded. “We will meet you on Bridge world shortly.”
Winter followed Karience up to the tree.
“Hold my hand this first time. It will be more comfortable that way. Once I go through, you have only a few moments to follow me to my world.”
Winter took her outstretched hand, and in a step, Karience’s body was gone and Winter felt as if she were simply walking beneath an old tree, about to step off a cliff. Her knees locked at the sight of the edge, with the rocks and sea so far below, but her hand was still holding on to Karience, and with a tug, she was pulled from the cliff.
BIRTH
When the Beast’s forces first overwhelmed our security station, I was struck powerfully by the horrific sight of the hoards of nightmarish creatures. Elongated jaws. Spikes and spines rising out of hollow, misshapen heads. And skin covered in patches of hair and scales. It is no wonder they call them Nightmares.
They took the small Guardian post first and carried off those who had VOKKs. I watched from the sewer, where I stayed hidden for three days until a Guardian Annihilation Force arrived and rescued me.
I’ll never forget the images I saw in those three days. The doomed Guardians being drug off by those monstrosities, the ghoulish creatures butchering and eating every living thing. Thank the stars for the Annihilation Teams. Thank the stars for men and women of the Guardians who are willing to die for the freedom of others.
That is why I joined. To stand together with humankind. To fight against the Beasts. To protect all people, on every world, and be there, in your darkest hour.
-Call to action vid, recruitment division, Guardians
CHAPTER 12
AVEN
Only a moment ago he had stood on Loam and watched Winter pass through with Karience. Then, after waiting for their wake to still, Arentiss had maneuvered him to the cliff’s edge. Now he found himself enclosed in a vast cave encircled by lights. Looking up, the ceiling was as high as a cloud and the length and width was the size of a valley.
“Big, isn’t it?” Arentiss walked him forward, keeping hold of his hand.
“What is this place?”
“We call it the dome. Six hundred years ago, our world came under attack from a Beast world. After three years of fighting we regained the portal, but six major cities were destroyed. It took another two hundred years to root out the Beast’s followers, the Shadowmen, who’d hidden themselves in our society in small collectives. That was a dark time in our history. We built this place in response.”
“Built? How is it possible to build something this large?”
“It was a feat, but remember, this is an upworld. We are quite advanced.”
“What is your world called?”
“We are Birth 4 to the Guardians, but if you’re a local, it is simply Birth. In more ancient times, we believed our world was the child of two heavenly lovers. Birth One, Two, and Three have similar origin stories.”
The portal had let them out into a large open space. Aven looked down at the rock-like floor his feet touched upon. It was some kind of grey, unnatural material, and it stretched out almost as far as he could see in every direction. In the distance were what looked like buildings.
Arentiss led Aven toward a blinking red light that hung from a pole. Ten men and wom
en stood there with weapons similar to what Nephitus had held back at the God’s Eye. They nodded to Arentiss and Aven as they passed. Under the blinking light was a moving walkway. Stepping on, he nearly lost his balance, but Arentiss’s hand in his had steadied him. As they moved along, he noticed their speed quickening. Wind began beating his ears as the strange empty space sped by and the distant buildings grew larger. On the vast empty space he saw large towers rising from the hard grey floor. They seemed to fly past them on the walkway, and it appeared as if the towers were game pieces pushed along by giant invisible fingers.
“Those towers are weapons. Part of our defenses in the event of another attack from a Beast world.”
The platform began to slow, then came to a stop. The buildings that had seemed so small were now large and imposing. A walled city within the colossal structure.
Arentiss led him by hand underneath a large archway that seemed to serve as a gate into the city. Hundreds of oddly dressed people walked the streets within. A soldier at the entrance held a small black box up to her face. A red light flashed across her eyes.
“Haut Lo,” said the soldier to Aven. Almost instantly Aven understood what had been said. “You’re next.”
He held the box up to Aven’s face. The red light flashed his eyes. The soldier nodded and Arentiss led him inside by the hand.
Aven realized she hadn’t let go of his hand since they’d stepped through the God’s Eye.
“I can follow you just fine you know,” said Aven.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you don’t have to hold my hand.”
“Your hand feels good in mine,” said Arentiss, stopping to address his question. “Your touch sends endorphins to my brain, and that triggers good feelings inside me. But if it makes you uncomfortable, I can release you.”
Aven wasn’t sure how to respond as the bizarre concept of endorphins slowly began to take form. Arentiss’s face held no emotion, and her voice was just as impassable. Was she flirting with him in some strange cultural way, or was he simply providing her some kind of friendly, practical use? Either way, her odd personality was becoming more and more endearing.
“No, I don’t mind,” said Aven.
“That is good for me. Your touch produces more endorphins than any I’ve held. I think likely due to your pleasant disposition and attractiveness. Now, let’s get going. We’re meeting the others on Bridge. That means we need to acquire a Bridgeworlder. Bridge is the center of the Guardian's activity. It is the world that connects to every other world.”
“How is that possible?”
“Bridge has Emissaries from every world. And every chartered world has at least one Emissary from Bridge.”
They passed through a large metal door into a tunnel lit by green lights. People in uniforms of various colors hurried all around them.
“Is there an Emissary from Bridge back on Loam?”
“There was,” said Arentiss. “Have you been told what happened?”
“You mean the murders.”
“Yes. Two of the Emissaries killed were from Loam, the third was from Bridge. We are bringing an Emissary from Bridge back with us. Under normal circumstances, a non-chartered world such as yours needs only three Emissaries, but things have changed.”
“More new faces,” tapped Aven.
“Were you trying to communicate with me by hand just now?”
Aven laughed, and felt his face and neck tingling. “I’m so used to telling my sister what I’m thinking. I guess I forgot whose hand I was holding.”
“You mistook my hand for your sister’s?”
“Yes, that’s what I said.” Aven glanced at Arentiss and found her thin lips scrunched into a sort of rueful smile. She was clearly amused.
“Will you tell me what you said?”
Aven thought for a moment.
“I just told her that her hand felt all wrinkly, like Mother’s.”
Arentiss gasped and yanked her hand away, and for the first time, Aven saw anger on her face. She looked hurt.
“That was a joke,” said Aven. “I’m sorry.”
Her furrowed brows eased slightly. “You were teasing me? You didn’t tell her that?”
Aven shook his head.
She grabbed his hand again with force. “That was strange. I haven’t been that angry in a long time. Usually I’m good at catching witticism. Rueik throws them at me all the time.”
“Do you hold Rueik’s hand?”
“Zoecara would not like it, so I refrain. And Hark is married, so that would be disrespectful.” She stopped. “You have a beautiful male body and a handsome face. Your words, therefore, have much power to spike an emotional high in me, or conversely, to create emotional lows that would appear on a psych graph as a deep valley. Thus my anger.”
“I’ll be more sensitive,” said Aven.
“I would appreciate if you were. My endorphin levels are much lower now.”
BRIDGE
The Oracle has arrived.
-Unidentified transmission, portal security, Bridge.
CHAPTER 13
KARIENCE
Karience always relished a trip to Bridge. She and Winter had gone through the portal to Karience’s homeworld of Night 2, and then were taken by a Bridgeworlder to where they were now, passing through the first security quadrant which consisted of a long walkway surrounded by empty space. Not a tree or rock one could hide behind, only a throng of people coming from the portal, or going to it.
Bridge world was the most unique and beautiful place, for there was almost no atmosphere, and one simply felt united with the blackness of space and bright shining stars overhead. The story of Bridge was long and tragic, but the Bridgeworlders had used ingenious creativity and scientific expertise to survive one of their two suns going supernova, a catastrophe that no other known civilization had lived through. The livable portions of the planet were enclosed in an insulating organic material their scientists had designed. Transparent to the eye, but stronger than most alloys. The only atmosphere was at ground level, no higher than a two-story building, pumped in by machines deep underneath the planet’s crust. And it was there, in the belly of Bridge, far under the surface, that most of its residents lived.
“And this Maker, Leaf, has not returned?” said Karience, continuing to dig deeper into Winter’s experiences as an Oracle. It was fascinating, her visions, and, even more, her apparent contact with a Maker.
“No, not like that first time. But Leaf told me he would be with me, closer than my next breath.”
Karience had heard of Oracles, but they were always on distant worlds and easily forgotten. She hadn’t even considered how such a person could be of interest to the Guardians. And now, because of Winter, she had discovered there was a high priority placed on acquiring Oracles, and that an entire subset of the Guardians, known as Consecrators, existed for the purpose of…what? Studying them? She found herself slightly anxious.
Having met Winter, Karience couldn’t help but feel concerned. She had no idea what a Consecrator’s objectives were. Or how they viewed the Oracles. And as she probed Winter with questions, and heard Winter’s story—how her gifting began; how she received visions; how the visions warned her while not always sparing her the forewarned pain—she found herself growing intrigued with the Makers, and who or what they were.
But she also found herself growing more and more protective of the girl. The fact that the Consecrators had not been forthcoming about why they wanted Winter did not sit well with Karience. She wanted answers. She wanted assured that no harm would come to the girl.
“Have you had any more visions since arriving at our facility?”
“No,” said Winter, and placed her hand in her hair. The strange blue butterfly crawled onto her finger and spread its wings. “Whisper hasn’t sent me anything. That is the name I’ve given the spirit that lives in this creature.”
“You say there’s a spirit inside the butterfly?”
“Ye
s…at least I think the spirit is in Whisper. Leaf wasn’t exactly clear about that.”
Karience was not accustomed to the mystical. She observed the butterfly, and had difficulty imagining it being anything more.
Winter seemed to be soaking in the strange surroundings. Since they had jumped through the portal at Loam and gone to Night 2, and now Bridge, Karience could see Winter was beginning to grasp the severity with which each world took up its defenses. Karience had explained to her that most of the measures taken consisted of large amounts of space where, if Beast armies were to pour through the portal, they would be eradicated by nuclear means.
Winter glanced at the butterfly in the jar around her neck, then tucked it back under her shirt. “What do these Consecrators want with me?”
“I want to know as much as you do. They’ve told me nothing.” Even the Magnus Empyrean had not told her why, but Karience left that unsaid. Above the eighty Magnus Empyreans who each oversaw hundreds of worlds, there were the ten Arbiters, and above them were the three Sentinels. Karience couldn’t help but wonder which of these had looked over Winter’s beetle feed. When they met Voyanta, the Consecrator, she hoped to find a loose tongue on the woman.
They were nearing the final gate. A large line waited to be scanned through into the City of All Peoples. A powerful hum swung overhead as a starship glided low above Bridge’s surface. Winter’s orange eyes darted upward, and Karience watched the expression on her face. It was like a child’s, viewing some mundane sight with the awe and wonder of a first time. Above, several hundred warships hovered, most docked, but each ready to be called into duty.
Bridge’s star that had gone supernova created a portal in space five hundred times the size of the planet. Forty-one other massive portals had been discovered throughout the Silver Hand Galaxy, each created by a star’s spectacular death. More we’re always being searched for. These star-sized portals worked differently than the world portals. Each had a consistent point within the galaxy that ships could reliably jump to. Some of the Guardians’ leading scientists posited some form of quantum connectivity between the supernova star and the newly formed jump point that spilled one out elsewhere in the galaxy.