Dark Solar Complete Trilogy: Oleander - Wolfsbane - Maikoa

by D. N. Leo

  “He was electrocuted,” Michael said.

  “What?”

  “What matters here is that I am alive, and that I might be a dragon. Isn’t that right, Ciaran?”

  “You know my views about the dragon part. And I don’t think that would calm the mood of your lady here. Dinah, he received three doses of electric shock so that I could test his electromagnetic energy. A woman who claimed to have something to do with his past attempted to put him into cardiac arrest and terminate him with some kind of key code. She called him dragon before she died. I suspected his electromagnetic energy had been manipulated.”

  “Do you have any results yet?”

  “I need a few more hours. What’s the news on your end?”

  “Good news or bad news first?”

  “Bad news,” Arik said.

  “Good news,” Michael said at the same time.

  “Your choice,” Ciaran said.

  “The bad news is that it seems that Arete has manipulated a lot in multiversal space, arranging for some kind of merger between the three worlds.”

  Ciaran frowned. “The material world, magical world, and Amalgam world? I read about that in Eudaiz.”

  “Yes, that’s it. It seems Arete has tried to manipulate the creatures in different worlds to take prominent positions when the merger occurs. I think it would be in the form of the apertures. That was why he was hunting and recruiting everywhere—he was trying to find those that could survive a jump through the aperture.”

  “He wanted people to jump?” Michael asked.

  “He isn’t that kind. I think he wants to use whatever they’ve got to develop a mutation primer. When the merger occurs, he’ll ask creatures to hold positions in different worlds, but he will take the primer and jump.”

  Ciaran nodded. “The jumper will have the ultimate power. “I’ll bet his idiotic associates will believe him and not realize world merging is a myth.”

  “I don’t think it’s a myth, Ciaran.”

  “Says who?”

  “My father.”

  “Who is an angel!” Arik said.

  “This is serious business. It isn’t for everyone,” Dinah said. “If it was a myth, Arete wouldn’t have spent centuries building it up. Hundreds of years ago, my father and several others were humans, and they jumped what they thought was the light. I think it was the aperture.”

  “So Jael survived. Like me,” Arik said.

  Dinah nodded. “Arete, Asana, Roallix, and several others jumped. That was why Arete was searching everywhere for those who jumped the aperture. I think the time of the merger is creeping close, so he panicked and pushed things ahead—and made a mistake. Still, he ran. I don’t know what his next step is, but I’m sure it has to do with people here on Earth.”

  “I’m ready for the good news now,” Arik said.

  “I know the formula for the mutation primer.”

  “You do?” Ciaran smiled. “What do you need to make it?”

  “Oleander, wolfsbane, and maikoa that grew in Xiilok. Plus blood from the creatures from the angelic, Amalgam, and material worlds. I have the first two handled. Now I need blood from a creature from the material world. The stronger the person is, the better the potion will be. That makes the perfect creature you, Ciaran.”

  Dinah pulled out a syringe from her stash of needles and gave it to Ciaran.

  “How much blood do you need?”

  “No, there has to be a ritual. When my parents gave me the blood, they had to recite some kind of vow or declaration of the kind of creatures they are.”

  “Dinah!”

  “Yes, Ciaran.”

  Ciaran stuck the needle into his vein and drew blood. “Do I look like the kind of person who performs rituals?”

  “No, but it doesn’t hurt to do so.”

  “Well, it hurts my ego.” He smiled and gave her the blood. “I’m sure my blood will be the same whether I perform a ritual or not. Trust me.”

  “Thanks.”

  Arik winked at Dinah.

  “Now I need a lab.”

  Ciaran smiled. “I never thought of that.” He pulled out a cell phone.

  “That’s an Earth communicator!” Dinah said. “I thought you would have connected back to Eudaiz by now to get your resources. Can you use real equipment for this?”

  “This is what they call a cell phone on Earth. It’s primitive, but it works. And no, I haven’t yet connected to the multiversal network.”

  While Ciaran called his Earthly associates, Dinah asked, “You think he hasn’t called Eudaiz because he had a fight with Madeline?”

  Arik shook his head. “I think he’s saving the best for last.”

  29

  “Are you sure Dinah can handle the potion herself?” Arik asked Ciaran as they stood in front of an abandoned office block outside the city.

  “Since when do you doubt her capability?”

  “I don’t doubt it. I’m just worried.”

  Ciaran nodded. “I totally understand. You have a lot more to lose now that you love her.”

  Arik shrugged. “There’s nothing you can do about Madeline? It doesn’t sound like you at all.”

  “She walked out on me. She made her choice. What do you suggest I do?”

  “Got it!” Michael grinned and pushed opened the rusty door on which he had just broken the lock.

  Ciaran looked at Michael suspiciously. “I believe the LeBlancs have been giving you a generous living allowance so that you no longer have to perform the tasks you did in your previous profession.”

  Arik chuckled. “I didn’t know your previous profession had to do with thievery.”

  “I didn’t need to do this today. But old habits die hard, and my skills are pretty sharp.” He grinned and gestured them in.

  The interior of the premises was dusty. There was broken furniture everywhere.

  “Someone moved out in a hurry!” Ciaran muttered.

  “All right, let's go see if we can find a dragon,” Arik said.

  After a while, they came back to the main foyer empty-handed.

  “It’s just not possible. They had to leave a trace,” Ciaran muttered. Michael walked around, admiring some old photos on the wall of team sports and corporate events.

  “It seemed like it was a good workplace,” Arik said.

  Ciaran stood staring at the wall.

  “Apart from thirty years’ worth of dirt, what’s wrong with this wall?” Arik asked.

  “What does the logo look like to you?” Ciaran asked.

  Arik looked at the three round circles on the wall, all intersecting one another at the center.

  “Well, philosophically speaking, I think it might be the three worlds that Dinah was talking about merging. But you said that’s a myth, right?”

  Ciaran contemplated. “I don’t believe in the three-worlds-merging theory. But each circle looks like an eclipse. An eclipse is an astronomical event, and there’s nothing magical about that.”

  “It’s a total solar eclipse,” Michael said.

  Both Ciaran and Arik looked at him.

  “What’s wrong with having an interest in astronomy?”

  “Nothing. On the contrary, it’s a very good interest. I like it,” Ciaran said.

  Michael smiled and said, “Each circle does look like a total solar eclipse. But as far as I know, this planet isn’t multi-sun.”

  “You’re saying there are multi-sun planets?” Arik asked.

  “Absolutely!”

  “Or the eclipses occur in multiple dimensions of time and space. And on this occasion, the dimensions line up, so we have three solar eclipses,” Ciaran said.

  Michael winced. “My interest in astronomy doesn’t stretch that far. But it sounds like an interesting theory.”

  Arik nodded. “The triple eclipse theory actually ties in with the three-world-merging theory. From the multiversal perspective, creatures in the magical world might use the explanation of the worlds merging more comfortably than multi-dimen
sional triple eclipses.”

  “So we’ve been asking about the same thing, one event,” Ciaran muttered. “This company Tri-Sun now makes perfect sense. Tri-Sun—or triple solar eclipses. They knew it all along. But who are they, and where on Earth can we see the triple eclipse?”

  “And we still haven’t found a dragon!” Arik said as he paced around the room hoping to find more clues.

  “We can see the eclipse in Ha Long Bay tomorrow,” Michael said.

  Ciaran and Arik turned and saw Michael waving a small flyer. “I got this ad from the hotel. Best spot for an eclipse observation tour. I thought it was interesting, so I kept it.”

  Ciaran looked at the flyer. “It’s an hour and a half flight from here. Let’s go.”

  “I thought it’d take two hours,” Michael said.

  “Not on a private jet, Michael,” Arik said. “We’ll pick up Dinah on the way there as well?”

  “Yes, Arik. We’re going nowhere without Dinah.”

  Soon, they arrived at the lab and saw Dinah rushing out with a big grin on her face.

  “I love that brilliant smile!” Ciaran said.

  Dinah held up a syringe. “A success!”

  “One dose?” Ciaran asked.

  “Yes, Ciaran. And it should be injected just before the individual makes a jump through an aperture. This potion will aid in the transformation process and help the person survive the energy surge and arrive at the other end of the aperture as a new and powerful creature.”

  “Can a person survive triple apertures?” Michael asked.

  “I’m not sure. I’m working on a theory that creatures can jump one aperture at a time because only one of them occurs at a time.”

  Ciaran shook his head. “Actually, the jumper of the triple apertures will only have to jump once, right after the three eclipses line up.”

  “Three eclipses? What am I missing?”

  Arik smiled. “I’ll explain it to you. But right now we have a flight to make.”

  The group boarded the airplane, and the private jet took off.

  “Still not calling Eudaiz, Ciaran?” Dinah asked.

  “I’ll call when the time is right.” Ciaran instructed the pilot to land in a nearby town. “It’s better to survey the inland first. Then we can go to the water a little later. My people will organize what we need by the water.”

  They landed at a small airport in a rural area.

  “Great location. Very peaceful. How are we going to get to the water from here?” Arik asked as he looked at endless rice paddies divided by small clay borders and bamboo fences.

  Ciaran and Dinah focused on their electronic devices to navigate and plan.

  “I’ll arrange transport,” Michael said and scurried away.

  A short moment later, they heard Michael yelling, whistling, and making all sorts of strange noises to try to get the two animals in front of a cart moving.

  He didn’t seem to be communicating well with the animals.

  “I should have paid for bigger donkeys,” Michael said.

  Ciaran laughed.

  Arik said, “They’re not donkeys, they’re buffalos, Michael! They’re not good transportation because I can walk faster than they can. Where did you get them?”

  “The village over there.” Michael pointed.

  “I’ll get some real transport,” Arik said and went into the village.

  A moment later, he was back.

  Ciaran looked up from his electronic device. “What in God’s name is that thing, Arik?”

  “It’s pretending to be a motorbike. Are you taking it or not?” Arik adjusted his long body on a small scooter which appeared to be green beneath a thick layer of clay and dirt.

  In the distance, they heard the engines of monstrously big motorbikes growing closer. Ciaran grinned. “That’s what I want.”

  He turned around and saw a group of goons riding motorbikes, zooming on and off the rice paddies, destroying the crops and headed directly toward them.

  “They aren’t my people!” Ciaran said.

  30

  Jett stopped his motorbike and locked eyes with Ciaran. The group of local gangs in front of Jett stopped their motorbikes and had their hands on their pockets with guns hidden. They waited for Jett’s signals.

  “Wrong guys,” Jett said.

  “What?” a goon asked.

  “I said these are not the people we’re looking for. Go back into town and wait. I’ll go back to the boss and get more information.”

  “But they’ve seen us!” another goon said.

  Jett growled. “People have eyes. Of course they can see you. Are you going to shoot all of them? And if you lose me my job and my money, I’ll put a bullet in that stupid head of yours. Now go!”

  The gangsters turned around and drove away.

  “Madeline is destined to have her heart broken!” Jett muttered, glancing at Ciaran once more before driving away.

  A short moment later, Jett entered an abandoned warehouse, where piles of containers were stacked up to the roof of the building. There was a dark blue container with an x-mark on the door that was open.

  Inside, a robotic voice said, “Verification needed.”

  He placed his thumb on a small panel which had just opened on the wall.

  “Verified,” the voice said.

  The container shuddered slightly and then moved. He had been here before but could never sense the direction of the movement. It seemed to drop down a long distance, then move sideways, then ahead. He could feel the extremely fast speed when the movement was horizontal. With about fifteen minutes traveling time, he guessed the destination was a fair distance away. Each time, the paths changed. He had had a real sense of the location.

  The container came up a fraction and opened to a massive polished concrete floor, buzzing with activity. People rushed around, working on machines he had never seen before. He saw endless rows of computers, strange-looking equipment, and stacks of weapons.

  Is this the preparation for World War Three? He had been here before but had never seen the place operated on such a large scale, and he had certainly not seen so many weapons.

  He turned into the main office. His usual contact, the man who called himself TD40, turned around and smiled at him. Now Jett noticed the movements of TD40, and they seemed a bit robotic. But he couldn’t care less if TD40 was a robot or a fifty-year-old businessman as long as he got paid.

  TD40 gestured toward a man standing next to him—a tall, formidable man with dark hair and striking blue eyes. There was something in his eyes that made Jett uncomfortable—the tenacity of a predator.

  “This is Hoyt. He just took over the business and is your new boss,” TD40 said.

  Jett shrugged. “I’m a contractor. I don’t care. My work’s done here. As for the new part, I don’t want to do it. If you pay me for the installment of the code pad I took from Bridget, I’ll get out of your hair right now.”

  “Why hurry?” Hoyt asked.

  As soon as this man opened his mouth to speak, Jett knew instantly he should leave—with or without his money.

  “I have a new job for you, and it pays triple.”

  “No.”

  Hoyt smiled. “No one has refused my offer before.”

  “I don’t think any part of my answer is confusing.”

  “How about immortality?”

  Jett chuckled. “If I take a bullet in my head, I’ll be immortal in the memory of my loved ones. Wait, I don’t have any loved ones. So the answer, again, is no. Pay me, and I’ll leave.”

  “Well, that’s not up to you. I’ll pay you because that’s part of good business conduct. But there is no part of the business deal that says you can leave. Am I correct?”

  Jett didn’t know what to say, so he glanced at the exit and surveyed his escape hatch. “How long do you want me to stay?”

  “Until we settle everything. We can’t risk you run around revealing our location to others. But it won’t be long. Just a few more
hours.”

  Jett nodded. “I can wait. But I won’t do any more work.” He glanced at soldier-like people walking around a red open space. He was sure they were robots.

  There wasn’t a single window in this place, and he had no idea whether they were in the air, underground, or on land.

  Having no option, he stood aside to observe the buzzing activities.

  He noticed a symbol of three circles on the central wall. It looked interesting. He might have seen the symbol somewhere, but he couldn’t quite recall.

  31

  Arik gazed at the magnificent sight of Ha Long Bay and understood why the site had been considered a world heritage. The water was so still it mirrored the three thousand rock islands scattered around the bay. The gigantic rocks looked as if they hovered above the water. Some stood pointing straight to the sky, some looked like stone lanterns, and some just looked like dinosaur eggs.

  “There is no map of this area!” Ciaran muttered, looking at his computer.

  It wouldn’t surprise Arik a slight bit if tourists got lost among the elusive islands.

  They were on a private tour boat for several reasons. The jet boat Ciaran had arranged for made a lot of noise, and since he wasn’t sure where to go just yet, he thought it best they pretended to be tourists. Ciaran wanted to survey the bay before he could plan specific action.

  Michael sat at the back of the tour boat, looking as if he regretted coming.

  Occasionally, a tour boat cruised past. After that, the water returned briefly to its tranquility. Astronomy enthusiasts had gathered on small cruise boats, jet skis, rowboats, waiting for the moment.

  All these innocent people thought they were about to observe a total solar eclipse, not a three-dimensional multi-world war where anything could happen.

  Legend suggested that the locals had used these elusive islands as hiding places during the war. The enemies couldn’t find them, and sometimes, locals got lost among the islands and were never seen again.

  It was impossible to imagine a battlefield of creatures from the multiverse about to assemble here, where technology clashed with magic, and humans clashed with aliens. He couldn’t visualize battleships and space creatures flying around while small local fishing boats and tourist boats floated peacefully on the bay water.