Child of Time (12 page)

They stopped trying when the dragon spoke. “He must
not be disturbed until it has finished or the energy released could
destroy us all.” The dragon thundered the warning.

“What dragon lord are you. I am not familiar with
your colors. Theo asked impatiently.

“Father of dragons you of all people should know who
I am, after all you created me or rather will. I am Ray, kayloo and
protector to Kiyan, child of time.”

Theo wasn't prepared for a revelation of this
magnitude. It was true he had taken the form of a dragon the first
time and had revived Kendra when she was killed trying to protect
him while hibernating. She had ceased to be human and changed into
a dragon lord that could shift into a dragon. Over time there had
been other humans that he had gifted with a dragon's voice. Some
still walked earth and others were here on the joined worlds. But a
kayloo being turned into a dragon? That had never happened before.
They were shifters but had never been able to take the form of a
dragon.
He said I would change him? Kiyan! He must have reversed
the flow of time again, that had to be it.

----------

Kiyan wasn't sure what had happened, the last few
hours or minutes were a blur. Details made their way through the
pounding that was in his head. There was an attack, his friends,
they, something had happened to them. The memories began to clear
up as the pounding abated. They were dead, all of them. He had
tried to save them but it hadn't been enough. Ray was dead too, but
he felt something in the corner of his mind, he felt another mind
present. It was strangely familiar yet it was not recognizable at
once.

“He is waking up.” The words sounded strange to
Kiyan. Trying to open his eyes he looked into a sea of black, black
that was as black as the night yet as bright as the sun. Trying to
focus he moved his hand. Don't try to move yet young one. The
strange mind spoke in his head. Kiyan knew who it was but couldn't
place it. Ray! The realization broke on Kiyan like a cold wave. The
pounding was nearly gone now and Kiyan was able to think clearly
now. The mind he felt was definitely Ray but Ray was dead, how
could this be. And the others, rage filled Kiyan as he remembered
how his friends had died. Opening his eyes again all he saw was
blinding light yet he felt everything around him with perfect
detail. Blinded by his rage he felt but didn't recognize those
present.

Letting his rage flow through him he stood up.
Feeling the dragon step back from his path he advanced. He extended
his mind until he could feel the planet, pausing when he felt all
the people on the worlds going about their lives he realized the
destruction hadn't come yet. His only thought was that he needed to
stop the drakken from finding this place. Reaching out and feeling
the whole nebula he searched the library of memories and learned
all that was known about energy. Feeling the nebula was charged
with energy unlike any he had felt before yet he knew how to bend
it. Wrapping the flow of temporal energy back onto itself he
created a barrier that separated space from time. Using the
separation he divided space with a thought, the joined worlds were
safe. Only the ascended could move through the time bridge that
held the bubble of space connected with the universe. Kiyan felt
all the minds of his ancestors helping with the feat, lending
knowledge and strength.

Finishing his task Kiyan was overwhelmed by the waves
of energy that assaulted him on all sides. Kiyan felt Kendra and
Theo call. “Come back to us, you have much to learn and this war
will be needing you.”

--------

Corban was not that surprised any more by Kiyan. He
had accepted that Kiyan was special long ago. Ray was now a dragon,
and Kiyan had somehow released a huge amount of energy. After
waking up, Corban had felt the rage and sense of loss that Kiyan
felt. Observing Kiyan's energy he watched as it shifted and
changed. Upon Kiyan opening his eyes he say how much energy was
still in Kiyan. A few more moments and Kiyan's physical form began
to dissipate, shifting into pure energy. So that's how one ascends
he thought to himself. Kiyan's energy began expanding until it was
beyond Corban's senses. Looking around him he saw Theo and Kendra
collapsing onto the ground.

---------

When Kiyan regained consciousness he was laying in
Corban’s bed. The glowing had gone away and the room was only lit
by a dim glow wood seedling in the corner. Sitting up he saw James
sleeping in a chair nearby and Kiyan could sense Marisa nearby
also. He could sense worried emotions coming from both of them.
Trying to remember what had happened he racked his brain, it was
useless. There was a blank spot in his memory. The last thing he
could recall was being in some sort of fight. Perhaps it was a
dream he reasoned to himself. Remembering glimpses of a devastated
world he shook his head. Hearing footsteps approaching he looked
up. The person that entered the room was wearing a hooded cloak and
the light in the room wasn't enough to illuminate under the hood.
Kiyan used the air to feel the person’s face. The features he felt
were unfamiliar to him, scales covered the finely formed face and
piercing black eyes looked back. Looking deep into the eyes Kiyan
recognized Ray. When Ray lifted the hood Kiyan watched as the
scales melted into his skin and Ray looked as human as anyone. He
had a distinctive look about him but no one would ever think he was
anything other than a human.

“But how? Why didn't you tell me you could take a
human form?” Kiyan was confused, he thought he had known Ray but
here was something that made no sense. There had never been a
Kayloo that could take a human form. Humanoid yes but distinctive
to their species.

“
Young avatar, it was your father that sent back
the energy to change me. He rewrote all my forms so I could better
protect you in the future.”
Ray whispered in Kiyan’s mind.

“You're awake finally Kiyan. We were worried about
you.” James woke up and walked over to Ray. “Kendra told us what
happened. Did you really come back from the future? From what I saw
it seems pretty dangerous.”

Kiyan wasn't sure how to explain accept with the
truth. “I watched as the drakken destroyed everything. They killed
everything on the worlds, I had to come back to stop them.”

Kendra says that you protected the Refuge somehow. “I
don’t know how you did that but it took a lot out of you. You have
been sleeping for the last week.” Kiyan could sense James’ concern
in his voice. “I’m glad you are ok.”

“Ha it would take a lot to hurt Kiyan now. He is
ascended however it may take years before he learns to use his
powers like the other ascended here. No one has ever ascended at so
young of an age.” Ray Surprised Kiyan by speaking audibly.

----------

“
Come the council is waiting.”
Theo sent the
message quietly.

The Council of the Allied Races had assembled by the
time Kiyan arrived. Kiyan was feeling a little self-conscious when
he saw how many people had come. There were representatives from
the Thorans, Water Elves and a half dozen other races sat waiting
around the table.

Theo whispered in Kiyan's ear. “There is nothing to
fear from them. They are our allies in this war and they want to
meet you.”

“Greetings Kiyan, we only have some questions for you
about the future that you experienced. We need to learn all that we
can, anything can give us an edge over the drakken.”

Kiyan opened his mind and began showing those present
what he remembered. There was only shattered fragments but he hoped
it would help. He showed them everything that happened even when he
passed backwards through time. He tried to hide his feelings but
must have slipped a little because he felt Theo filtering the
memories.

One of the aliens were no longer able restrain
herself. There was a feeling of sorrow as he showed the last part.
“We are sorry for what you had to go through. But this is also good
news, we are able to shift our focus from preparing a defensive to
a planning an offensive. The fleets of drakken that are approaching
will begin to explode soon after the rift is sealed. You destroyed
them as you moved from the future, there should be little to none
left in a couple more weeks.”

Another alien spoke next. “Kiyan we know that you
haven't finished your training yet but we think that the drakken
will try to corrupt the timeline in order to destroy us. You and
the rest of the ascended race could be invaluable temporal agents.
You could enter the timelines at various points and prevent
incursions that might erase the future.”

Theo spoke to the assembly. “We understand what you
mean and we mean no disrespect however there are already ascended
protecting the integrity of the time line. Kiyan is still young but
he is one of our most powerful, he needs to be able to control his
powers before he takes on any missions. The space time shield that
Kiyan built will protect from the attacks of the drakken fleet but
they might be able to use temporal weapons. If they do they could
cause the barrier to break down. If it does then the space time
bubble will be detached and drift in the void. We believe that if
this happens we can tether it with a dimensional fragment but that
will not allow for transit between dimensions so we must resort to
a mobile headquarters.”

One of the other aliens spoke next. “When you warned
us that this day might come the Assurian race began building
battleships using the latest technology that the allied races had
access to. We have managed to integrate gravity cannons, stealth
technology, the latest generations of AI integration, temporal
drives and generators into the designs that the ascended used in
the last time war. We can have the fleet here before three cycles
are complete.”

“Thank you Deltac, we can use these ships to base our
defense.” Theo seemed impressed.

That last alien spoke. “Prometheus you have helped us
before when our dimension was collapsing. Thanks to you our race
lives on in a stable dimension. The least we can do for you is to
offer it as a hiding place for the refuge. If you shift it into our
dimension we will guard it.”

“Perhaps that is the best path that is available.”
Theo thought for a minute. “Yes it can be done. If we tether it to
your dimension then cut it loose on this end then it will shift.
Sheila, your dimension would be the safest place for the refuge.
The drakken would never find it there. We would be in your debt for
this.”

Sheila responded adamantly. “Nonsense it is our
pleasure to help you. We are forever in your debt this is only a
little in the way of payment.”

“Then it is settled,” Theo announced, “We will hide
the refuge then we will regroup and scan for incursions and find
any remaining drakken. A long war is ahead of us. The future of the
known time streams are hanging in the balance.”

--------

Grolar grunted to his first officer, prepare the
temporal shielding, our scanners are detecting increased
chronitonic activity. Soon he thought to himself, the dark master
would be ruler of this universe, none could stand in his way. As
his disciples the drakken would be given what the dark master
didn't want. The thought of the untold riches that would come his
way made him happy or as happy as he could be. The fleet was
cloaked, an invention of the dark master himself, and was drawing
closer to where the epicenter of the event had been. A dozen stars
going super nova at the same instant was not something that
happens. It had to mean that the ascended were close. Where they
were the precious refuge where they protected those pathetic soft
skinned creatures was close by.

Grolar's first officer interrupted his thoughts.
“Captain the rift is closed, there are no more reinforcements
coming through. Grolar considered killing the first officer for the
interruption, after all he was just one of the younger clone
batches. But reason overruled when he remembered how good the clone
was at running the ship for him. The rift should have remained
open. Those ascended must have devised some trick.”

“No matter, there are enough of the first wave here
to destroy the refuge and find earth.” Grolar was almost happy at
the news, more riches for him. The ascended shall pay for their
blasphemy of the dark master with their lives. “By our hands the
immortals will fall. The darkness will poison them and consume
them.”

Grolar felt warm suddenly, perhaps the environmental
systems have malfunctioned.
I'll have to kill the engineer if it
isn't fixed fast enough.
“The temporal shields have failed!”
The first officer snarled, in another moment the captain's blaster
had done its job and left a charred corpse. The navigation deck
began to glow even as Grolar felt his scales start burning. This
wasn't supposed to happen, there was no glory in death without a
hundred enemies dead at one's feet. Those accursed tyrants of time,
there was no hope of the ascended's victory. This was only a minor
setback. It was white hot now and Grolar succumbed to the heat
before the ship exploded.

Chapter Seven: Journey

Merlin lay in his tower unable to even pretend to
sleep. The last few days had been a lot to deal with. Apparently
finding direct assassinations were failing, the drakken had chosen
a different approach. The drakken had managed to infiltrate a few
nomadic tribes and had manipulated them into joining together and
laying siege to Camelot. That in itself was not a problem, the
problem was that inexplicably all the knights and soldiers had
fallen ill with some sort of plague. It took all Merlin’s life
bending skills to keep all the castles defenders from falling dead.
It was a plague like none other. Striking its victims dead within
twenty-four hours and not having any perceivable cure. Merlin had
scanned the food and water without finding a cause. The air itself
hadn’t offered clues either. There was no cause and no cure, the
only thing keeping the people alive was Merlin boosting the immune
system and regeneration rate of the residents of the city. The
worst part was that Merlin was already feeling the drain on his
energy, it would be a matter of a week or two before he gave
out.