by Ross Buzzell
“Was that a…”
“Nelaka, it is very rare that they are found here. Usually it is far too hot for them to survive but it does happen. You are lucky I was here, otherwise it probably would have killed you.”
With a groan of agony the soldier begins to pass out. Just before he loses consciousness, Konner makes out two words that slur from his lips.
“Thank you.”
“We’re soldiers; we stick together no matter what.”
Konner responds softly as he continues in his task to get to the extraction sight. The power he had absorbed from the Nelaka did the exact same thing as when he was a child. His thirst was no more. He felt his energy restored to that of even before they had made the drop. His hand even stopped hurting. Looking over at the wrapped hand, Konner reaches up and pulls the wrapping off, without losing stride. The gash is still there but the wound no longer bleeds. At a second look, he notices that it was significantly smaller than when initially injured.
Ignoring the heat and the perilous rocks, Konner presses on without stopping or pause. The soldier on his shoulder still had not woken up, not being trained in medicine and without his bracer to run a diagnostic scan. Konner knows that he is no good as a medic to his brother in arms. With the lack of consciousness after so long, it has become painfully clear that the injuries sustained are actually serious so he begins to pick up the pace to a light jog. As the day sun begins to pass its apex in the sky, Konner feels the temperature of the Dead Lands begin to drop significantly with each step. Soaked in his own sweat, Konner could ring out his uniform and probably fill a bucket. He ignores the sweat dripping into his eyes and stinging as well the aches and pains that come with carrying a man on his shoulder for the better part of five hours. Eventually the sheer rock spires begin to clear and thin out; and in the distance a familiar humming catches his attention, the drop-ship.
Konner begins to sprint. As he clears the Dead Lands, he sees the ship is awaiting them and is already full of the other initiates, including the two that went the wrong direction. Konner rushes up to the ship and drops the soldier he had been carrying all morning into the floor of the ship. Being so concerned with the safety of his survival companion, he hardly noticed that no one else was dirty, hardly at all.
“He’s been out for at least five hours; we need to get him to a Healing Center immediately!”
Fi’Ran kneels down next to the soldier as Tal’lak calls out for the ship to take off and head to the Dead Lands Healing Center, which it does with haste. Within minutes the ship is at the Healing Center. The door is slid open and medical personnel grab the soldier, place him on a floating gurney and push him inside. Konner hops out of the ship; he turns to Fi’Ran and calls out over the hum of the engines.
“I’m staying with him; I have information the doctors may need. I’ll debrief you when he wakes up!”
Fi’Ran makes a circular motion with his hand, the drop-ship begins to lift off the ground, and Konner turns and jogs after the doctors catching up to them.
“What the hell happened to this guy?”
One of the doctors calls out. Konner begins to match their stride.
“He was shocked by a Nelaka in the Dead Lands. I was able to absorb most of the blast but he was exposed for a good twenty seconds or so.”
The Doctors pick up pace, leaving Konner behind as they go into one of the healing rooms; a nurse approaches Konner. She looks him up and down to assess him and gently she grabs the young soldier by his shoulders and sits him down. She begins to hook him up to an IV while she assesses his injuries.
“You look like you’re dehydrated but that is about it. Can you tell meyour name?”
“Konner Lorian.”
he says softly. The nurse bows slightly as Konner passes out from exhaustion. A few hours later Konner blinks himself awake to see a doctor standing before him. As he looks around he notices his bracer has reactivated itself. As he regains full consciousness, the Doctor begins to speak.
“We were able to stabilize your friend but his injuries are severe. His military career is over, for the foreseeable future at least. We also received a notice from Cryptea headquarters saying that you have to return immediately or you will be labeled as A.W.O.L. and dismissed…”
A wave of relief washes over the Prince as he hears the soldier will survive. A surge of panic and adrenalin quickly replace the relief as he hears he will be kicked out of the Cryptea. He had been there less than a week. No way was he going to let himself be kicked out already. Frantically he rips at his IV and pulls it from his arm. A sharp pain shocks through the limb at his carelessness. Standing up Konner presses a few glyphs on his bracer opening a portal just outside the compound and dives through. The portal closes behind him. In an all-out sprint Konner passes through the barrier surrounding the facility and enters the front door. Turning down the hallway, he gets to the barracks to see that everyone is asleep in their bunks. Konner had been in such a rush that he had not noticed that the night time sun had risen. Taking a deep breath and being safe from expulsion, the young initiate makes his way to his bunk. Climbing in bed, he allows himself to drift off to sleep.
Chapter 9
Over the next three and a half years Konner continued his training through watching and learning as the members of the Cryptea continue to give him the cold shoulder. They eventually thought that by giving him just enough information to say that they are training him it would cause him to fail. This in fact is the opposite of what happened. Being forced to train by himself and learn tactics and fighting styles without formal teaching caused Konner to study harder and work at bettering himself longer than the others. When the watchful eyes became more lenient, Konner would sneak out of the facility. He contacted old friends and trained with them, teaching them what he had learned so that they would give him actual sparring challenges. Jil’Thorin, Man’Sanfur, Bara’Helor and Disa’ani were recruited one at a time by Konner to aid in his training with each having a specific strength that Konner would need to learn to adapt to. The training with the four would start off one on one. After he got a single individual to his same level, Konner would pair them with a second, Jil with Disa and Bara with Man. Each step of the sparring process would go until Konner would at least come to a draw while only using the same resources his counterparts would have.
By half way through his second year, Konner had pushed his hand to hand combat skills to the point that he could take on all four soldiers by himself without the aid of a weapon or his bracer. These were skills he carefully kept hidden from the other initiates and especially Tal and Fi, as he was unsure what this knowledge would bring raining down on him. After his four friends reached the point where each one of the four was proficient enough to take on the average initiate in hand to hand combat and win, even keeping up with Konner on their own, the developing Prince decided to start training them in the Cryptea’s style of weapons combat. Jil, Bara and Man all chose swords but Disa’ani decides to use a spear as his weapon of choice. Over the next year, Konner trained the four relentlessly in an effort to better his own skills with hand held weapons and to better his teammates as well. As Konner enters the last six months of his training, Tal’lak and Fi’Ran call the initiates, including Konner, into the courtyard.
They all fall into line, Konner taking up the rear, as usual. Marching in unison the masterfully trained warriors march out of the facility to see the courtyard filled with members from the Sol’lor Academy, all of whom were hand-picked by Tal’lak and Fi’Ran themselves. The Cryptea line up directly across from the students in formation with Tal and Fi standing between the groups; Tal steps forward and addresses the students from the Sol’lor Academy first.
“You all have shown great promise in your classes. It has become very clear to all of us that you have what it takes to be a part of the Off World Squadron. Teams of four will be picked out by your own personal Cryptea initiate who will spend the next three months training you just as hard as we have been trainin
g them. And should you survive and pass your training, you will join your Cryptea initiate on their final test to see if they are ready to go from initiates to full-fledged Cryptea.”
Fi steps forward to the Cryptea, walking up and down the line as he addresses each and every one of them, looking all of them in the eyes, save for Konner. This does not bother the Prince because he had discovered the Dead Lands survival exercise was faked, just to see if Konner would break. With only he and the unknown soldier going through it; after that, Konner dedicated himself to proving that he belonged in the Cryptea even with everything else fighting against him. He would succeed.
“Cryptea, these are the very best of the best that Sol’lor Academy has to offer. Now they are not Cryptea material but they are damn close. They are OWS material. You will each get to pick four for your squad. Choose wisely because they will become your battlemates; you will serve with them for the rest of their lives and the rest of yours. So choose wisely!”
Fi stops at the opposite end of the line as Konner, and tells the first initiate to pick their squad, then the second and the third. As the crowd thins out and it is only Konner and one other left to choose, Konner looks at the squad selections and notices only four are left, all of whom leave with the last candidate and Tal. Fi stands before Konner. His arrogance has only grown over the years as he lords over the Prince. Konner has become more discrete with his defiance, giving his ‘enemy’ the sense of victory.
“You are not ready for an OWS Konner Lorian; you are relieved to the barracks until further notice.”
“If I do not get an OWS, I can never be a Cryptea. Do you certainly believe that I am not ready for one?”
Konner asks respectfully. Fi says nothing. He only points to the compound and waits for Konner to leave; the Prince salutes his superior before leaving into the compound. As the doors shut behind him, however and Fi is no longer in sight, Konner turns and goes down the right corridor away from the barracks. Silently Konner sneaks to the end of the seemingly endless corridor on the off chance that anyone in the facility is not in some training exercise or another. As he makes it to the end, Konner places his hand on the far wall. Touching glyphs on his bracer causes a portal to open against the wall. On the far side stands Disa’ani and Man’Sanfur who are now full grown young men. Both quickly step through the portal, looking back, Disa whispers to Konner.
“Go ahead and close it. The girls could not make it, some last minute weapons maintenance.”
Man’Sanfur laughs a little as Konner closes the portal and greets each of his friends with a hearty forearm shake.
“That’s what they get for pulling pranks on the trainees. They do not get to break into Cryptea headquarters. How did you bypass the anti-displacement field?”
Man’Sanfur asks as he shakes Konner’s forearm back.
“Easy, I have been gradually weakening the fields output since I got here. This hallway is the furthest point out of the structure, so once that field made it past this wall I stopped. No one has noticed so far.”
Konner says with a bit of a laugh. Walking over to the side of the corridor, he places his hand on the wall. A light slides up and down scanning his palm.
“Cryptea initiate Konner Lorian, access granted.”
A computerized voice echoes. The wall slides away revealing a massive chamber that is only illuminated by torches that light themselves around the edge of the room; Konner steps in followed by Disa and Man. As they enter, three pedestals lift out of the ground just high enough to kneel on. They are followed by one larger one that lifts up a little over waist height. Disa’ani looks around in mild confusion but Man’Sanfur seems intrigued.
“What is this place?”
Man asks Konner, as a spiral stairwell falls into the ground with the center standing high holding a podium at its peak.
“Not really sure, every so often everyone comes in here. I can hear chanting every once in a while, but in order to enter during those times you have to be invited. And I have not.”
Konner approaches the stairwell and begins to walk down it. After only two rotations of the pillar in the middle, Konner notices that it is rather quiet, especially for how chatty Disa and Man are. He turns around to realize they are not behind him. Konner runs up the stairs to find Disa and Man looking into the pulpit at some object that emits a soft black light, which their bodies are blocking. Swiftly Konner gets between the two and without looking at the object closes the lid before giving each of them a light slap on the cheek.
“Hey, I brought you guys here to help you get better equipment. Now we are stealing from the Cryptea, meaning I need you focused and quiet. Do you hear me?”
Disa’ani snaps out of his mild trance almost immediately. Man’Sanfur takes a little longer to do so.
“Yeah. You are right. Sorry Konner.”
The prince shakes his head as he leads them back down the spiral staircase to a locked door. Konner crouches. Placing his hand on the door the bracer begins to pulsate with light and the doors silently open before them. With a wide smile on his face, Konner enters the locked room causing an orb of light to appear and illuminate a block of darkness as black as space, Energynium. Konner smiles a little as he looks back at his two friends.
“Are you ready for an upgrade to your weapons?”
A look of excitement fills Disa’ani’s face. Man’Sanfur is slightly spaced out still. Not having the time to worry about it, Konner takes his Energynium hilt. Igniting a shoto blade from the weapon, he begins to cut a little more than an inch from the block. The Energynium sparks and crackles as it is cut. As Konner’s blade breaks through the last of the block, he lays the slice on its side before cutting it into four even pieces. Taking his weapon, Konner places it on his hip before gathering the four pieces of Energynium. Konner turns around and hands two to Disa’ani, who immediately grabs them up. Handing the other two to Man’Sanfur, the mountain of a man puts his hand up and shakes his head.
“No thanks. I’m good.”
Konner stops for a minute; he takes a step toward his friend.
“Man, are you ok?”
Man’Sanfur nods a little before looking up at Konner.
“Yeah I’m good; I just do not know why we are doing this.”
Konner pauses for a moment. He lowers the Energynium to his side and his voice is soft and earnest.
“Because without the four of you I would not have been able to last this long; this is my way of thanking you for aiding me. Under Boronian law, all Energynium belongs to the High King and his family which includes me… and you four, you are my family too which means this belongs to you as well.”
Man’Sanfur shakes his head. This puzzles Konner as his mood had so suddenly changed.
“Disa’ani can have mine. Can we go back now?”
Disa and Konner look at each other in slight confusion. Konner hands the other two pieces to Disa’ani and nods.
“Of course, yes. Now Disa do not hoard those. Make sure the girls get theirs.”
With that Konner leads his two friends out of the Energynium vault. The door closes and locks behind them. As they move up the stairs, they begin to rise back into place and as they leave the room the podium and kneeling blocks fall back into the floor just before the lights go out. The door closes as the last of the three exits back into the hallway. Konner goes to the corridor’s edge and opens another portal for his friends to go through. Disa makes sure Man’Sanfur goes first. As Disa approaches, Konner stops him.
“Get him to a doctor. See if the barrier did anything to him and remember you have to bleed onto the metal and then you can forge the weapon with your thoughts.”
Disa nods and flashes his friend a bright smile.
“I will and thank you. These will be put to good use.”
With that Disa’ani goes through the portal and back to Caelum. Konner closes the wormhole before returning to the barracks like initially commanded.
Three months pass as the initiates train their squ
ads with all of the knowledge they had acquired over the past few years. Each and every initiate works night and day with their squads to get them up to speed and ready for the rapidly approaching War Games. As the day grows closer for the games to start, Konner manages to get into the hall of records for the Cryptea and do research on everything that the typical War Game entails. The day arrives for the first team to begin their trial and they are taken off world with no fan fair and just a ‘good luck’ from Tal’lak and Fi’Ran. They return a few days later looking worse for wear but successful. The second team heads out with a similar result. As the last team before Konner heads out, the Prince calls his OWS together to go over a strategy.