Breeze Corinth (Book 1): Sky Shatter (26 page)

He strode over and dropped his backpack at their feet. “I came here because my father said it would give me chance to see more of the world, and that I would get the training to better control my powers. Well, I can say that I’ve definitely seen a lot, and that you guys aren’t really instructors now, are you?”

“My, the brilliance that spills forth from this one. Please, Oslo, send him on his way before he dazzles us with more, for I fear we could not bear it,” Kera retorted.

Oslo raised the back of his hand to her face, and then addressed Breeze. “I promise that if you stay, I will focus everything that I have, all of the resources at my disposal, to teach you how to master your flying abilities. But son, you can do so much more than fly. Surely you understand this?”

Breeze shrugged. “I just know I never get hurt. If I slam into the ground or into the side of a mountain, I leave a crater behind. What if I could learn how to fly better, then what? I go back home to the scrap yard and do what? Enter in the air shows and get paid to be a freak? I’ve got enough problems as it is, I really don’t need anymore. You said it yourself, I’m the lowly son of a scrap metal hoarder.”

Oslo shook his head violently. “No, I take it all back. I had to say something to get your attention.”

“Such a brilliant tactician,” Kera murmured.

Oslo shot her an angry look.

Kera rolled her eyes and turned away.

He turned back to Breeze. “Please, don’t give up on me like the others. Be different. Stay the course. Give me time.”

“Time for what?” Breeze stood up to the towering man and looked straight into his eyes. “What do you want from me?”

Oslo started to speak, and then stopped. He became flustered and he turned to Kera.

She blinked at him. “Oh, my counsel you now seek? Very well. Tell us, Oslo, we stand here before you as a captive audience. Regale us, what
do you want
from them?”

Oslo’s face turned red and his breathing became labored.

“Stop that,” Kera said. “You always had such legendary difficulties telling people what you want. Is it safe to say that’s almost how you lost Raza?”

His eyes went wide as he glared at her.

“Oh my, hit a nerve, did I? Turn your wrath away from me. I did not start this, you did. Tell Breeze of your grand mission, and let us see if it can withstand the trial of a young man’s judgment.”

Oslo closed his eyes tightly and clenched his fists.

Kera cackled. “Not so easy now, is it. You accuse me of hiding from the world on this island? Turn the mirror upon yourself. Crisscrossing the globe on your sailing vessel, while avoiding Elephim to find the children of gods long perished. To raise an army to march against those who have put this planet in shackles. Tell him. Tell him everything. What is there for you to lose? It appears you are down to just one recruit. And not much of one, from where I’m standing. What will he do, crash into his opponents? Brilliant strategy, yes?”

When Oslo opened his eyes, they glowed. He looked down at Breeze, and then dropped to one knee. “Kera, in her usual acidic way, is quite right. The truth never should have been shielded from your eyes.” He swallowed hard as he took in a deep breath. “I had decided to recruit the paranormal children of the world. To create and train a fighting force, to hone their skills and help them rediscover the glory of Earth from the past. To destroy an enemy that resides above and have driven us into these dark times we live in today.”

Breeze nodded his head. “Okay, now I’m really leaving.”

Kera clapped her hands slowly. “Fantastic salesmanship. Pure gold.”

Oslo ignored her. “Breeze, I know your father. He is capable of doing fantastic things with metal. All sorts of things. He’s more than just a dealer of scrap metal. He is a creator and a fabricator.”

“My father? Are you serious? What has he created? I haven’t seen anything.”

Oslo smiled and pointed. “You.”

“Me? Are you kidding? He ignores me most of the time and acts embarrassed when he does pay attention to me.”

“Breeze, all things happen for a reason. There is no such thing as coincidence.” Oslo stood up and straightened his jacket. “There is so much to tell you. So much to learn. If only you would give me the time.”

Breeze picked up his backpack. “Well, you had plenty of time. If you just told us this earlier, who knows, we might have listened and just gone along for the entertainment. But now, no.”

“Breeze, there are others like you. You are not alone. You will be tempted to use your gifts in front of the ignorant masses. They will hunt you down and destroy you. They will not stand by and tolerate something they do not understand. They live in a fog of ignorance and poverty. Their hatred of themselves is far more powerful than the hatred they feel towards others. But they will take it out on those like you. Please, I implore you. Stay.”

“Nah, I’ll take my chances. Back home I can just keep flying around in the desert at night. Nobody has ever bothered me there.”

“And what happened when you flew out of your little world and into another? Did you not tell me your tale of flying into the Bad Lands and not realizing it? And what of the strange howling creature that you encountered at the lake, or the elderly couple who helped you get home? Did their story not pique your curiosity?”

Breeze slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Oslo, just tell me about that Bram guy you have in that creepy basement. That’s what I really want to know before I leave.”

“Bram was a good friend. A friend I lost to what I believe was a worthy cause. Together with my wife, Raza, we engaged in what we thought was a grand experiment, which turned into a noble failure.”

The blue color of his eyes faded as he stood up and walked to the balcony railing. “We came up with a plan. It was simple at first. Bram was a first rate projector, one of unlimited potential. Far greater than anything Sally has demonstrated to you. With a thought, Bram could step outside his corporeal body and fly through the air and to the stars themselves. His ability also let him see into the souls of others, to the point where it almost drove him mad. He marveled at the human capacity for duplicity as he saw how their thoughts never quite matched the words they spoke.” He chuckled. “I suppose if he was here right now, he would say the same about me.” His tone grew somber. “I came up with a plan to use the power of a projection device I designed and fabricated along with a robot assistant of mine. A device that would allow him to travel into the far reaches of the universe. That contraption you saw him inside of was a vehicle, but not the sort that you would travel with. This one tapped into the depths of the earth, drawing forth the vast reservoir of electromagnetic energy from the core and redirecting it through his body. Bram would step into the tube, or “The Chair,” as we would fondly refer to it, and use the extra boost of energy to project out into the vast depths of space.”

“Why?” Breeze asked.

Oslo turned to face him with an arched eyebrow. “Good question. We had always suspected that what ailed our world was something so sinister, that its face could not be seen. Like the wind, you could see its effects, but can you really grasp the wind? Bram and I had a theory. If he could find a way to project backwards and forwards in time and observe, what would he see?”

Breeze shrugged. “Who cares? Look, if this guy was a time traveler, why not just change the past?”

Oslo shook his head. “You must learn to listen, and not speak when a story of this magnitude is being told. Attention to detail is everything in life. The most minor of mistakes can cause mishaps that reverberate throughout the fabric of time. But I will answer your question. Bram could only observe what was happening, but could not affect it. He would return to his body, often drained and exhausted, and would tell us everything he saw. We began to put together a picture of a past that showed the footprints of a shadow society that was eating away at the heart of our own. It didn’t use force. It didn’t use weapons. Their methods were very simple and effective. They used us.”

Breeze sighed. “I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me.”

Oslo nodded. “Most don’t. When one thinks of revolutions, you picture weaponry and bloodshed. You imagine quick victories and the toppling of governments. The oppressed masses are now the victors. Peace and prosperity reigns throughout the land. No, it was not like that. This revolution took a very long time. It was planned out well in advance and would take centuries to see it through. But in the end, victory was achieved. And it was done without them firing a single shot and not one bit of destruction came directly from their hands, but through surrogates and useful idiots who aided and abetted them. The people, over time, just gave up, and handed their freedom over to them.”

“Them?”

“The Elephim,” Oslo said.

“By the thousands,” Kera whispered.

Breeze looked at her with a blank stare.

She continued. “By the thousands they would come together and undermine the very society that they swore to protect and defend. They would sow the seeds of dissent and bring the world that nurtured and created them to its knees.”

Oslo strode over and stood next to her. “Kera is referring to the name of the shadow group,” he declared.

“The Elephim?” Breeze said.

“The name is derived from an ancient language no longer spoken but by only a few who study the old ways. The Elephim came from all segments of society. But the common thread they shared is that they were like us. Paranormal. You see, Earth of the past was guarded and served by the Helios. Think of them as paranormal sentinels. They were the noble warriors that were Earth’s champions. I am proud to say I was able to meet the remaining few, until a new government regime put them into… retirement. Never to serve Earth again.”

Oslo stroked his chin as he looked toward the ocean. “The Elephim showed themselves to the world once their grip on the levers of government was complete. They would use paranormals at their disposal to enforce their regime and the population never resisted. The Helios who did continue to fight were hunted down and destroyed.”

Breeze backed away slowly.

“Your recruiting skills are lacking, my dear Oslo, look how he shrinks away,” Kera said and pointed at Breeze.

“He asked for the truth. He is now receiving it. It is up to him to choose his reaction. If he runs, so be it. Outrunning the truth is no different than trying to outrun death. We all succumb to it,” Oslo replied.

Breeze held up hand. “Your story sounds great. Really does. But if you’re trying to get me to join up for some sort of a...super team of sorts, to do who knows what, forget about it. Suddenly, life back home isn’t so bad.”

Oslo chucked. “After listening to myself tell the tale, I would be forced to agree with you. Not a pleasant picture did I paint for you. But then again, reality is never really pleasant. One must fight to create a better life, as there will always be those in the shadows so eager and willing to tear it down.”

Breeze jerked a thumb toward the stairs. “Look, your story sounds great but this school of yours, whatever. And the crazy man in the basement, not so great. You brought us here to put together a team of teenagers to fight some invisible enemy. I can see why you held out on us for so long. I don’t blame Sally and Ray for taking off. I guess I should follow their lead. I’m out of here.” He turned and walked down the steps.

“Breeze, please. There is so much more,” Oslo called out.

Kera grabbed his hands. “It’s over, my good man. Let it go. Let’s not make any more trouble than what has already been created.”

He wrenched his hands away from her. “You don’t understand, Kera. I have nothing left to go on if he leaves.”

“No, you have Nina. You always have. Don’t make the same mistake I made by turning your back on your child. Better to die together, than apart.”

Breeze dashed down the steps and toward the hangars. He had an eye for a sleek sliver of a ship he saw the RF repairing from when he first arrived and checked upon its progress periodically over the weeks. It was jet black with a tinted canopy. It seated one comfortably, with a just enough space behind the pilot’s seat for storage.

He arrived at the hangars and slipped underneath a partially raised vertical door.

Oslo stood before him. “Breeze, please. Hear me out.”

“How do you do that?” Breeze jumped back with a startle. “I mean seriously. I’m running all the time like a maniac and you just show up out of nowhere.”

“Young man, what I can do, you are capable of so much more. Paul, listen to my words. Stay. Give me a chance. I have failed you, this I know, but let me at least balance the scales.”

“No one calls me by that name. I don’t know why you would think using it would make me listen any more than what I already have.”

Oslo raised his hands. “Forgiveness, and there is much of it I need. Breeze, I have lived for so long and to the point where I can barely keep track of my memories. I close my eyes and I’m overwhelmed by a flood of images of all the people I have known, but the faces fade away before I can recall their names. But I do remember a time, and it was a glorious time, when dynamic young men and women such as yourself, would take up the cause of protecting Earth from those who would do her harm. Those were good times. It was a time of peace and incredible prosperity. But everything has a cycle and we were due for a fall. This is the way of the universe. But the pendulum has not swung back in our direction. It seems to be...stuck. Frozen in time. This is not natural. There is a force, of some unknown origin, that is holding it back and preventing us from regaining and rebuilding what we have lost. I grew tired. Tired of the sleepless nights of being haunted by these memories. I left my home in Scandinavia and sailed across the ocean to come back here after I was awakened from my slumber towards death by a voice from the past. It was Bram, whispering in my ear to wake up, telling me that hope was not lost. He was coming back from his journey into the depths of space with the solutions to our troubles and to overthrow the yoke of oppression that hangs over our planet. Come back to Perihelion, he said to me, and help me guide my spirit back to my body. I yearn to come home and become whole again.”