Legacy of the Defender (The Defender Series Book 1)

by Jacob Spadt

  Clarity stuck.

  A true warrior is always making his own way and seeking his own path so subconsciously, I have been taking the harder road all this time, not because I have to, but because it made me a better fighter. Lack of learning makes one stagnant, and stagnation is the killer. The feeling that rolled through my mind was applause like I heard it from the firm hands of my master. Trials do not have to be exponentially tougher, but if you have no reflection from the last engagement to seek out better results through better decision making, then you cannot streamline and improve the process. The trick is you have to keep the mind challenged, not simply seek a tougher opponent. Eventually, your path will take you to the pinnacle of your career as a warrior. You either live or die.

  My job was to stay ahead of the attempts the horde made to gain access to Earth and this was certainly one of them. Right now more daemons could be coming through and I was not in a position to act. Physical movement was just not possible. Calling my swords would not help. My options seemed to be limited when it hit me. If I could have slapped myself, I would have.

  I could teleport.

  Laughter ensued inside.

  The acceptance that this was who I was finally hit home with no more questions, other than knowing how continue my studies every day to be the best Defender possible. My thoughts relished in the Zen moment of it all. Doubtful that my enemy could overcome physics, the very laws set in place from the beginning of time were constant. The energy and skill it would take for the horde to get at me while gravity held me would be monumental. The exception being…I could get out.

  Healing finished its job.

  More laughter. "Yes Tathlyn...you can teleport," they chimed. “There is no point in slapping yourself now.”

  It was time to open my mind the rest of the way to the possibilities because all that I had seen should not exist according to man’s calculations. They always fall short of realizing that life has no limits, and God did not limit man. My skills came from his training. The runes were simply a reminder that my abilities developed by my teacher were part of me. They had to start the process by building the runic network inside of me. I was not invincible or unstoppable by any stretch of the imagination. I was formidable. Did Malnuras and Father know the outcome of my decisions? Is my path preordained? Not that it mattered if I was predictable to my father. Making him proud did rank high in my priorities.

  It was time to get out of here.

  The energy inside of me reached its crescendo. I visualized the road behind the car in my head even though only part of it was even visible, hoping that this dilation field did not reach the car yet or expand too far so I would not appear back inside of it. A wave of nausea rolled through me as perception began to warp...dizziness ensued. The hold that space and time distortion had on me did not want to let go at first. I did not move for several moments internally. A strained sensation inside my mind made the blood in my head pound with each beat of my heart, and I realized that my shield was up fully the entire time. Knowing full well that I could not teleport with it off, the risk would be great. Prayer for guidance came to mind, but the answer was inside of me. The stresses about to tear at me would try to tear me apart so I would have to overtax myself to start the process with my shield up and drop it at the last minute. Without a choice, I started to build up further.

  At first the vision was minimal, like holding back a dog when it was trying to run away. As the pressure built, it became like trying to pin a man in a wrestling match. It took some skill, but it was possible. You might not get away without a few scrapes, but you were not always worse for the wear. I felt like my eyes were leaking tears but realized it was blood, for my vision turned red.

  The vision turned into trying to wrestle a bull without a rope and one hand tied behind my back. I was having difficulty grabbing a hold of it at the beginning. My hand kept losing grip as it was trying to toss me aside. Determination finally won out when I grabbed a hold of its head and threw my legs around the great neck. Death would be the only thing prying me from this. It bucked and slammed me into everything possible, trying to break me free, but I prevailed and hung on. It felt like blood was running down my throat now.

  Something inside my mind snapped.

  Suddenly I was in front of a car with my hands on the hood. Its tires spun on the pavement and great clouds of black smoke rolled off the rear of the car. The noise sounded like it was ripping the black top up, and the road was protesting the grievous wound and crying out. Bucking wildly back and forth, the rear end of the car was practically bouncing, and as it came down the pressure against me increased. My hands began to crush into the car. The hood crumpled around them. I pushed with tremendous force to break the car free and before I knew it the nose of the car caved in. My hands and arms went into the fan which promptly shredded them...breaking the fan in the process. The pressure in my head burst. Pain exploded in my eyes. They felt on fire.

  Something changed. The pressure subsided.

  "It is done," a voice in my head declared all distorted. It was not my swords speaking to me, but based off the phrasing it was the wizard finishing his task.

  As I fell into blackness, hands caught me.

  I recognized the feeling. Soft and gentle the sensation was as they cradled my head. Voices unclear called to me in muffle tones. A second set of hands grabbed a hold of me firmly, surprising me at how strong they were. They guided me into a back seat of a vehicle. I crawled in. The car did not lower any.

  More muffled voices.

  I focused on turning my healing on and was thankful it responded so quickly. Within minutes I watched the red retreat from my eyes – a welcome sight greeted me. Eryn sat in the front seat holding onto my now healed hand. Her lips moved and slowly noises turned into words. She was crying and smiling as she spoke.

  "Time...you better...that...sense...."

  I smiled at her and tried not to look like a dog with water in its ears. The road flew by as the car traveled at a high rate of speed. I looked behind me still not hearing everything she said. A cataclysmic sight unfolded behind me as trees uprooted and flew the direction from which we came. Cars, houses, and fences all broke apart and got sucked towards the place we had just been. People hid in their homes as they broke apart around them and flew helplessly toward the vortex. The winds outside howled as the car cut through it. I looked back at Eryn. She was screaming and hitting my arm.

  "What...in…were...make...alive...they...it...natu...."

  The wind increased. Its force buffeted the car heavily. The Sergeant evaded flying debris as best he could. Much of it hit the car and some of it even cracked the windows. It occasionally felt like the tires lost grip on the road when the car maneuvered around something toppling towards us. Several impacts happened that I swore were going to flip us. Eryn was terrified. I was sick over the loss of human life all around me.

  "How...you...we...it...taken...survived...you...truly...touched by...must like...very much…hear...now? You...this? we...to...die." The sentences were not making sense so I reached out and touched my chest and then touched her on the forehead. She nestled her face in my hand and closed her eyes, her face shrouded in fear. Finally, the missing pieces filled in. I could hear again.

  "Tathlyn are you...you had us really worried...happened in there?

  Things moved as if in a dream, slowly, yet horrifically. I stared, still dazed.

  "You’re going to have to wait a few more minutes," I did my best to say; very sure it sounded like some degenerative disease had taken root in my brain. The wind lessened a little but objects toppled towards the gravity well behind us. I remembered hearing that term in a science fiction movie but could not remember which one.

  As if by magic, the forces pulling on the car subsided like it broke free of a magnet. Glancing behind I could see everything sucking into a giant cloud that rippled with energy. Several moments passed as I watched. Eryn stopped crying and looked behind. Only the occasional sniffle found my
ears over the roar of the engine. Winds diminished. Debris fell to the ground just like watching a tornado dissipate; the only difference was there was not much of a debris pile. The ground past a certain point was a crater.

  "What happened in there Tathlyn?” The inquisitive tone came from the Sergeant. Silence held my tongue, not sure where to start. The truth was too unimaginative to speak of, yet something told me not to lie to him. I decided to go a different route. I did not know I could fully trust him with it all so I summoned a sword to my hand as I spoke.

  "Hold your hand up."

  "Why?"

  "Do you trust me since I am letting you into aspects of my life that may satisfy some of your questions?” I asked.

  "Tathlyn what are you doing?” Eryn protested…her eyes curious, as she did not know where I was going with this. She looked at the sword tip dipped just below the seat and barely out of sight.

  "Hold up your left hand and do not turn around," I said to the Sergeant and waited. He sighed and did so but more so out of not wanting to press the issue. Eryn watched as the sword drew a line in the meat of his palm. He yelped slightly and did not pull his hand back. A small crimson line ran its way down and dropped off his hand.

  "Do you swear to me that your intentions to me are genuine and that you will never betray me, on your life, for you know full well I can kill you at any time?" His chuckle caught me off guard, but his head nodded with a sigh.

  "Yes, Tathlyn, I will not betray you. Now, what in the heavens happened in there? Did an anti-gravity bomb go off or what?" His sentence ended and silence hung in the car as if it was a phone commercial for long distance.

  "Then I have a story to tell you." Eryn looked over at him. She had a curious look on her face and her brow furrowed slightly. She shook her head and looked at me. At first I did not catch that she was trying to get my attention. The car stopped around back of a house and she was acting very weird with her expression as if she was trying to say something. After another few seconds, she finally spoke.

  "Tathlyn, he is hiding something." The Sergeant stepped out of the car and opened my door. In doing so, he poked his head through the window. Eryn looked at me as I was backing out of the car in a crawling fashion. She was worried.

  "It is okay. We will be safe,” he said.

  She hesitated but removed her seat belt and opened the door. Joining me around the drivers’ side on the side walk, she glanced behind us. Trees cut part of the view out but also hid the back yard from a lot of prying eyes even in a slightly urban environment. Several miles away a large cloud of dust rose up. I took her head in my hands and kissed her gently. She trembled for a moment then relaxed.

  "Let us go inside where we can talk." A sudden ease settled over me as I stepped towards the door of the house and crossed from chaos to calm. I glanced at him waiting a few feet up. "We need to get you inside because you really are naked.” The stress on the last word "really" made me look down in confusion.

  I was still without clothes.

  XXXVIII

  Catalyst

  This day keeps getting better.

  I walked in the house not sure what to expect. It was the first time there were any good vibes between Sergeant Rick and me. A short time ago, we stood in Eryn's house and he saw my ability to heal. Trust was a hard word to use. He passed a test that day and told me to keep my head down. His appearance was not just odd, but peculiar.

  His house was rather sparse and was void of any real furniture. Some strange pillows adorned the floor with a low table, and I would have felt funny sitting there naked. I stood just inside the door and waited until he checked outside one last time. Caution was fine by me.

  Eryn made a wash room request and was already half way down a short hall by the time I made any observations. I looked down at my body for the first time, watched the runes slowly rotate, and pulse. It was like watching a painter change his mind in the middle of a painting; each rune would form then shift to another one. The raised scar tissue was gone where the runes moved. I deduced my mind knew where they belonged and responded with some sort of mark. The hypnotic patterns drew me in easily. All those memories tried hard to remind me of who I was. It is amazing it took seeing Amduscias.

  I needed to take it easy right now for a few minutes. A glance up at the wall caught my eyes.

  There were paintings on the walls. The theme surprised me, for there were lots of pictures of mystical creatures and some of the angels watching over mankind. I looked closer and, to my surprise, the armor on the angels was highly accurate, right down to the cloak I had seen in Heaven. Closer examination brought my weapons to my hands for the angels were standing on a solid gold wall. In the background, there was a portal…with a very large man in front of it. Daemons flowed through the opening and the man and the angels cut them down.

  Something in the room changed.

  "Do not be alarmed," a soothing voice came from behind me. I spun around quickly to find no one. My eyes panned the room. The voice had a distinctive sound. One heard before but in another place. I suddenly felt less threatened and lowered my blades. An angel materialized before me in all of her splendor, fully armored and just as beautiful as I remembered them to be. She offered me a nod. "My lord, please forgive the secrecy over the last few months. I feel bad for misleading you this entire time.” My jaw dropped. Not from the recognition of her face but at the words she spoke. I looked around the room then back to her.

  "Where is the Sergeant, and why does he have these paintings? Did you tell him of this event?" She smiled. I heard Eryn coming down from the hall.

  "Hey Sergeant, whoever your lady friend is could you tell her I had to borrow some...." She froze as she walked into the room. Her eyes beheld the majestic beauty of an angel. White and blue wings were in full view tucked neatly on her back. The beautiful craftsmanship of the armor radiated light. The golden hair fell to her shoulders as if there had never been a hair out of place. Her gaze fell to me, and she just stared. Eryn stood transfixed.

  "Would you like to tell me how you got that picture and where the Sergeant is?" Again the smile.

  "Tathlyn…she is the Sergeant," Eryn whispered, barely audible and full of awe. She could not take her eyes off the angel and she walked slowly forward to gaze up at the majestic being towering over her close to my height. Eryn did not speak a word... she simply hugged her. Laughter rolled from my mouth at the sight of this. I was sure it looked even funnier to them for me to be standing there naked.

  "As I was saying, please forgive the web of deceit I had to weave to help guide you on your journey. I imagine you have hundreds of questions, but first let us get some food. I am famished. Allow me to change back to something less shocking.”

  There was no flash or dazzling; she shifted back to the form of the Sergeant and motioned us into the kitchen. Her hand waived and the table filled with food. A bundled item wrapped in burlap sat on the table chair closest to the door. She walked over and picked it up.

  "But first, here are your clothes," she said.

  "My clothes…you mean? How did you get those?"

  She raised an eye brow as if she was saying, “Are you really going to doubt me now?" I walked over thinking that she would be handing me a set of my big clothes from Eryn’s house. As I undid the brown twine, a feeling of familiarity came over me and the desire to get into the wrapping was just like a present. With two fingers the twine snapped. The burlap fell away to reveal something I had just been thinking about a short time ago. My armor was a gift from my teacher. It looked brand new. My loin cloth worn for all those years that I washed by hand several times a week was even there. I held up the shirt admiring it as if it was new to me.

  Eryn was at my side looking. Her eyes were still wide with amazement while she munched on some carrots. She was looking at the material and got lost in the pattern. She reached out and touched it, not saying anything. I stood there and let her look for a few minutes while she touched the foreign material, a mesmerized lo
ok on her face as she processed.

  After a few moments, I leaned over, "Let me go put my clothes on so we can talk. I'll be just a moment." I left, finding the bathroom. It was apparent how the bathroom gave away that a woman lived here. It was full of fluffy things that gave definite proof of a lady’s presence. The towels were all matching and fresh. There were little soaps on the counter in a bowel. It was obvious she did not need to wear real clothes because she seemed to be able to change her appearance, and the armor seemed to come and go on command, like my swords.

  While dressing, the conversation was easy enough to follow.

  “Are you really an angel or is it some sort of illusion?” Eryn’s voice said audible through the door.

  “I am an angel.”

  “Why pose as a man. I mean…why not just be you without wings?” There was a pause. I re-entered the room right at the end of the silence when the "Sergeant" began to reply.

  ""My real name is Celuine. I have been here for about five earth years.” She turned towards me. “My job was to help trigger your memories, Tathlyn. Establishing myself as a police officer, I watched over you. It made sense to join the police and eventually S.W.A.T. to prepare some men in the event we needed help. An information leak allowed the church to send someone to be there to watch you when it was not possible for me to be there. In time, I learned that someone within the church had taken a personal interest in you, and I traced the story back to a priest with a twin brother who was part of the Wiccan Coven. He began to siphon information from his brother."

  "I spent years putting out that fire and burying your unique problem under a mound of paperwork when I learned they were planning something. They wanted to use the energy to create a psychic battery for their project. I thought that they were trying to tap into higher levels of magic at first...then whispers in the covens suggested they wanted to create a gateway back to Salem. The time right before the witch trials...to change the tide and if that was successful then the Spanish Inquisition was the next target. They were so dedicated they did not care how it affected time. Essentially time travel seemed to be silly as an attempt but they were supposedly going to try. The priest that tried to kill you was the Wiccan brother. He had already killed his own brother to take his place at the hospital when you were to wake from your coma. They knew the day of your return. His intent was not to kill you but to trigger the change that would increase your power. They were going grab you after the funeral."