Eternal Horizon: The Chronicle of Vincent Saturn (Eternal Horizon: A Star Saga Book 1) (34 page)

“What?”

“What I’m trying to tell you is that as a Tel Kasar, you don’t need a hazardous situation to awaken that power.”

“But how…?”

“
Move it.
”

Vincent swallowed, turned towards the sword, and tried to lift it once again. After several attempts, he realized that his mind kept wandering elsewhere, and the thought of mentally moving an object became absurd once more.

“This is all new to me, Duell,” he said, giving up. “I’m confused.”

Duell sighed. “Your ambivalent feelings are stopping these powers from progressing…” He paused and then said, “In order to win this upcoming battle, you shall have to let go of them.” He turned around and began descending the steps.

“How can I?” Vincent called out to him.

Duell stopped. “Purpose. You must accept the fact that you coming here was not mere coincidence, but a far greater purpose. You need to find it.” He then added, “Meet us in the cafeteria at lunchtime,” gave Vincent the slightest of nods, and continued to the castle.

The Xenian’s words did in fact bring a sense of despair. Yet he was right: Vincent needed to let go of his past and concentrate on the forthcoming future. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and extended his hand.

I’m a Tel Kasar,
he thought.
I can do this…
He tried to clear his mind, forgetting everything and everyone he knew.
Yes, I can… and I will…
He opened his eyes and moved his hand.

The wooden stick weaved, and Vincent gasped. “Duell!” He turned around, but the Xenian was gone.

He didn’t believe his own eyes, which in turn was the reason he couldn’t do it again.

“What are you doing?” Gaia’s voice broke his concentration. She stood behind him, leaning on a post. She was out of the fancy dress and wore a simple white shirt and a pair of jeans.

“I…” Vincent opened his mouth. “I don’t know.”

She chuckled at his dumbfound look. “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s a great burden, this power imparted upon you.”

“Tell it to Duell,” he said, leaning down to physically pick up the stick. “He wants the impossible!”

“He’s worried about you. He’s trying to make sure we survive the battle. You have to be prepared.”

“And if we do survive?” Vincent turned to her. “What then?”

“Don’t think so far ahead. Just enjoy every moment you’re given and listen to him.”

Vincent exhaled and looked down.

“Are you all right?” she asked, looking at his swollen lip.

“Exander…” he said.

She shook her head and then said, “Follow me.” She stepped down from the gazebo. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to show you.”

Vincent followed the Princess down the narrow serpentine steps leading through the gardens. The walls of greenery shot up on either side for twenty feet, hiding exotic birds that filled the air with their breathtaking melody, producing noises unheard to human ears; the wind picked up their songs and sent them dancing on the treetops. They continued down for several more minutes, passing beneath multiple arbors filled with flowers with insects resembling giant bees buzzing around them and collecting nectar. Myriads of lizards of luminous colors scurried beneath their feet, chasing hopping bugs.

“Don’t worry… they’re not venomous,” said Gaia as she saw him stepping away from the tiny creatures.

“Where are you taking—” Vincent opened his mouth, but then froze in wonder.

At the end of the steps was a grassy cliff overlooking a gigantic ravine. The suns shone bright in the azure sky where roamed a flock of wild Uruzu creatures. Below, a river wound between the hills, falling down into the gorge through a huge waterfall—the crescendos of the millions of breaking splashes echoing through the air.

Gaia turned around, sunrays glistening in her bronze hair. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Wow…” Vincent gasped. “I’ve never seen a landscape such as this…”

“I discovered this place when I first visited Urtan with my father,” she recalled, staring away. “It’s been over twenty years, but I still remember it clearly. Everyone was looking for me for hours… and Father found me here, playing. I climbed on his shoulder, and we stood here, watching the sunset. I made him worry that day… oh, how I regret it now.”

Vincent stepped to the edge and looked down. The drop to the crystal lake at the bottom of the ravine was over four hundred feet. Big marine animals similar to catfish were visible on the lake’s bed.

“It’s Urtan belief that their civilization began here,” Gaia said. “They believe that this crater was formed by a comet which brought first life to this planet.”

“It’s plausible,” Vincent said, moving next to her. “I remember reading somewhere that comets contain every building block of life.”

“Yes, that’s correct.” She took a deep breath. “You see the beauty of this world—especially this place. It’s a perfect place for meditation.”

Vincent was so amazed at the extraordinary view that he hadn’t noticed how close he stood to her. As she spoke, she leaned back, almost resting on his chest. He could smell her tempting scent, and his heart began to beat uncontrollably. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, hold her close to him, yet he stood still, frightened of what her reaction would be to such a bold move.

“It’s like time doesn’t exist here…” she continued. “You see how insignificant all our worries are before the power of nature… You can just forget everything here…”

They sat down on a large log that lay across the cliff. The wind tenderly brushed their faces and played an oceanic tune by swaying the leaves of the humongous trees.

Vincent closed his eyes. Slightly more than a day ago he was sitting on the sandy edge of the canyon on Earth, enjoying a similar breeze, but it now seemed that that was far away in a distant world, a different life…

At that moment—in that place next to Gaia—he felt total serenity. It was the best feeling in the world.

It was bliss.

“Oryon…” Vincent whispered.

“What?” Gaia asked. “Are you having visions?”

“No.” Vincent opened his eyes. “I felt a connection with him for an instant. This place… he felt such a moment of peace once, but it was on a different world…
Kienor
...”

“
Kienor
?
” Her eyes widened. “That’s a planet on the opposite end of the galaxy!”

He noticed her puzzled look. “It’s just something that popped up in my head. I’m sorry, I must be creeping you out.”

“No, I believe you, Vincent,” she said, turning back to the valley. “I just hope you’ll remember what the Illandali told him.”

“Yeah... I keep hearing that term. May I ask, what are the Illandali?”

“They’re a race that existed thousands of years ago. They were the wisest of all the Ancient races. Fed up with the evil in our galaxy, one day they simply vanished.”

“Vanished?”

“Yes, just disappeared, leaving behind an empty planet, planet
Zazaban
, the one where Oryon and Duell were ambushed. Some say they died out after pioneering some apocalyptic contraption, while others imply they left our galaxy and traveled to the center of the universe.

“The technology the Illandali possessed was beyond contemporary understanding. People regarded them as gods. It is said that they could actually create matter and even alter time.”

“So, whatever the Illandali man told Oryon is vital to our goal?”

“Yes,” she said, smiling at the fact that he said
our
. “What about your father, Vincent?” she asked all of a sudden. “Who was he?”

Vincent sighed. “I never knew my parents… They died in an accident when I was a child.”

“I’m so sorry...”

“No, don’t be. I never got the chance to know them.”

She looked aside. “It must’ve been so hard for you.”

“Well, what could I do?” Vincent sat upright. “I stayed with my aunt until college, and then I went to the academy…” He paused, realizing how boring his life story was compared to theirs. “I never had a care in the world,” he then said. “I just… lived in it…”

They sat there for another hour, retelling the stories of their lives while enjoying the scenery. She told him of Xenon, of the Imperial government, of her political campaigns and of her cause for Urtan, while he told her about the credit card bills, the mortgage payments, the fast food, and the movies.

*

When they got back to the castle, Gaia went off to aid the Urtans in their preparation and left Vincent to wander the castle on his own. He began to pace the atrium, enjoying the various sculptures and paintings, and eventually found the twins in a small gym. Damocles piled up as much weight as he could, and it was still not enough for that behemoth. He swelled up, nearly doubling in size, easily throwing around the huge dumbbells. Exander sat on the mat in a split position, his arms crossed. He immediately threw Vincent a “don’t bother me” look.

Duell was nowhere in sight, so Vincent exited the castle and passed the front gallery into the quad. Unlike the castle itself, the outside was bustling with many Urtans. But no one paid any attention to Vincent—they didn’t even know humans were not a part of the known universe.

Instead of heading down the stairs, he headed to the alley to his right that led him to the airstrip where he found Spaide.

The Dirsalian was working under a small fighter jet, tampering with its engine. Beside him was a round table filled with tools and gadgets.

“Hey,” he said, rolling out from under the ship. “You mind
passin
’ me that gizmo.” He pointed to a wrench-like tool atop the table while wiping the sweat off his forehead with his other arm and smearing it with grease.

“Don’t you have robots to fix such things?” Vincent asked, handing him the tool.

“Yeah, but I don’t trust ’em,” Spaide replied, going back underneath. “Especially not on the ship I’m gonna pilot.” And then he added loudly, “I hate robots!”

“You’re going to fly in this battle?”

“Oh yeah. Believe me, I’ll do more good that way.”

Spaide’s chosen jet was fairly smaller than the Imperial fighter they used to successfully escape from the
Nomad
, but pretty much had the same design: a small cabin, short wings with rockets, and a fin. Vincent looked around and noticed that all the other ships were different. The Urtan vessels were in the shape of an eagle and not more than ten feet long.

“Cool,” Vincent whispered as he saw an Urtan soldier slide inside one of the ships through the back and spread off into the sky.

Spaide stuck his head out. “What was that?”

“Why not fly one of those? It’s more of an armor suit than a ship!”

Spaide got up. “It looks weird, don’t you agree?”

“
Weird?
It’s the best piece of equipment I’ve seen. It reminds me of cartoons I used to watch as a kid.”

“Yes, but it’s designed for Urtans. They’re slim and tall. Besides, the neural translator doesn’t decode words, so there’s no way I can understand the controls. It looks like a bunch of gibberish to me. Now this”— Spaide slid his hand over the dusty hull of the jet—“is a thirty-year-old Xenian Model, B277. I’m so familiar with this ship that I can take it apart and put it back together without a manual.”

“So, Xenian’s the common alphabet?” Vincent asked.