by Jake Stone
Nothing about it would hint that there’s anything of value inside. But as I gaze at the red seal staring back at me from the front—an elegant piece of metal engraved with the image of the corfew—I realize that there’s something gravely important within.
“Why didn’t you turn this into to the council?” I ask.
“I couldn’t,” she signs.
“And why’s that?” I ask.
“Look for yourself.”
I hold her gaze, hesitant to do what she says. What could be so important in this satchel that she would hide it from the Republic? Unlocking the seal, I open the bag and peek inside, where I find a thin stack of parchment paper that has been pressed together.
The pages nearly crumble in my hands, their edges torn, the writing barely visible. But I hold it up, nonetheless, narrowing my genetically enhanced eyes at the faint writing.
There’s an art to the lettering, an extravagance in the way the lines are drawn, like calligraphy, only much more beautiful. It’s nothing like the solid black writing of a scientist, or the messy scribbling of a monk drunk on cranish. No, this was done by someone with care.
“What are these?” I ask.
“A memoir,” she signs, “written by a sister of the church.”
“How old is it?”
“From the first war.”
“The first war?” I ask in amazement.
“Five hundred years and counting,” she signs.
“And what were these scrolls doing in the mountain?” I ask.
“They were left there.”
“By whom?”
“The Scion.”
I arch a brow, waiting for her to explain.
“The one who foretold of the Light Bringer,” she signs, motioning at the pages.
“The Scion?” I ask with a frown.
“A young girl who fell under a trance after seeing a vision.” Chun Hei looks down at the papers, her lips curling between her teeth as she pauses for a moment. “She claimed to have spoken to the dead and even tell the future.”
“She sounds crazy.”
“At the time, most thought the same, but after a while, they soon realized that there was truth to her words, that she indeed could see through space and time, able to describe places that she’d never seen before, people whom she’d never met, events that hadn’t happened.”
“Like a psychic?” I ask.
“No,” she says. “More powerful. More precise. She was so successful in her visions that the government of her planet began to experiment on her. They locked her away in a prison, allowing their best scientists to poke and prod her. But when the Dark Horizon opened, and the planets of the galaxy were forced to fall under the rule of the Republic, she was given to the church as a weapon.”
“So the Republic used her against Zendal and his armies?”
“No,” she says sadly. “The church saw her as an abomination, and she was quickly moved to one of their churches where she was befriended by a young sister who took pity on the girl. Eventually, they became friends, and the sister helped her escape.”
“To where?” I ask.
“I don’t know. The scion’s ability to conceal her destinations was so great that they were never able to recapture her.”
“Wait a second,” I say, thinking back to what she’d said earlier. “Did you say, destinations? As in … plural?”
“This is the important part,” Chun Hei signs. “According to her visions, she knew that the Light Bringer, whoever it would be, would need more than the power of holy light to destroy Zendal.”
“Like what?” I ask.
“Artifacts,” she replies. “Weapons. Knowledge. It’s all in these pages, Xander. The maps. The locations. All we have to do is follow them.”
I stare at the parchment in my hands, overwhelmed by the powerful significance that these crumbling pages hold. Could they be the answer to my problem? The way I finally reach the Dark Horizon, free Rachel and return home?
“You still haven’t answered my question,” I say. “Why didn’t you turn these pages in?”
Chun Hei grants me a grave stare. “For the same reason we didn’t tell the council about what happened in the cavern with Bantha. I didn’t want to lose you.”
“I don’t understand,” I sign. “How could these pages put me in danger?”
Chun Hei reaches into my lap and turns the pages. Her touch is light, careful, and she makes sure that none of them can fly away in the gentle breeze. Finally, as she turns to the last page, she glances up at me, a look of guarded concern in her eyes. “Scion’s visions were strikingly vivid and detailed,” she signs. “Just look for yourself.”
I gasp as I stare at the image on the page, a penciled drawing of a young man with dark hair and innocent eyes. The likeness is remarkable, and I have to shake my head from freaking out.
“She saw you,” Chun Hei signs. “She knew you were going to come.”
I shut the pages, handing them back to her and quickly rising to my feet. Heart racing, I begin to pace, thinking. This can’t be real. How could she have known I was coming from five hundred years ago? I shake my head, refusing to believe it. “This can’t be right.”
“How can you say that?” Chun Hei rises to face me. “After everything you’ve done? Inside the cavern with Bantha? We saw the light come out of you. You can’t deny that.”
The truth of her words silences me, and I can only look away in aggravation as I’m overwhelmed with panic. What she says did happen. The light of the corfew did rise from me. Not just once. But twice. And even though I know this to be true, there’s still a tremendous part of me that doesn’t want to accept it.
“We have to follow this map,” Chun Hei signs, holding up the satchel that safely contains the parchments. “Only then can we unravel the secret of the Light Bringer.”
“How?” I say. “We’re Battle Saints. We go where the war takes us.”
She starts to giggle.
“What?” I ask. “What’s so funny?”
“I was just thinking,” she signs. “It’s a good thing then that you don’t follow orders very well.”
A laugh escapes my lips, despite myself, and I feel the tightness of my chest suddenly loosening. With a sigh, I plop back down on the boulder next to Chun Hei and begin to scratch my head. “This is just too much to take in,” I tell her.
“I understand,” she signs. “But you must understand that time is of the essence. So do what you must to process it, but remember, you’re not alone.”
She reaches up to brush back my hair, and I feel the gentle touch of her fingers along my scalp, assuring me that everything will be alright, calming my restless soul.
“Alright,” I finally say. “Tell me then, where’s the first place we must go?”
Author’s Notes
Thanks for reading!
Was it fun? If so, please leave a quick review. It would really help me out a lot. "Ghosts of Korath" was a fun write. As a fan of horror, I wanted to send Xander and the girls to a freezing planet that played home to a cursed witch, where they’d have to struggle within the bowels of an ancient mountain against all sorts of monsters.
The first draft took me a month. I wrote everyday between breaks and at lunch, hurrying to get it out as fast as I could. But then, as I began to edit the piece, I quickly realized that the third act was all wrong, and I was sadly forced to rewrite the entire thing, which took me even longer. Ugh... But it was worth it. The added storyline of Xander being captured and meeting Bantha was really fun, not to mention his experience with Galail in the cell. There were a lot of other things as well, but probably too much to get into here.
I really appreciated all the support I received for the last book. It was my first novel, and I've learned quite a lot since, specifically the need to get your manuscript professionally edited by someone who seems to know what they're doing. That was a mistake I was determined to avoid this time around. Hopefully, there aren't too many errors to get in the way of your enjoy
ment.
On a side note: Right now I'm working with a publisher on ACX to get "Slaves of Dardekum" made into an audible book. It should be up in the next couple of weeks. Please check it out to see when it's up.
If you’d like to ask me any questions, or just want to be the first to find out when the next book is coming out, please click the link below and subscribe to my mailing list:
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Thank you again, and I hope you get to live your own amazing adventure.
Till next time!