Legacy of the Defender (The Defender Series Book 1) (48 page)

“Happy to see me?” the voice said.  I recognized it instantly.

“
We need to go now!”
  I yelled over the rain.  “I need to find that….”

“You mean this?”  A sly grin scrawled across the Sergeant’s face as he raised the large home up.  “Can you carry her?”

“Yes, forever.”  The words came and I knew at that moment, it was a lie.  Tremendous fatigue had already won and I struggled to catch myself.  “You better grab her.”  The world spun faster. 

“How could a mighty warrior be so vulnerable?”  I thought. 

I had all my memories.  My training and knowledge would dwarf most army generals.  Yet my body was still subject to damage...just like a human, even one with an angel for a father.  As I looked back towards the barrier while handing Eryn into his arms, a slight twinge of pain ran across my heart.  The ripples in the surface flexed and I could see the integrity of it was about to fail.  I turned to yell to the Sergeant to get her in the car when I felt my ear drums pop. 

No one was safe until this was over.

XXXVII

Unity

The containment burst like a star going super nova. 

A brilliant flash of light moved so fast that the human eye could probably not detect it except in hindsight or perhaps as a revelation in a dream.  The rainbow spectrum of colors formed patters and runes for only a fraction of a second.  That was the only warning I had and no time to react.  For in that moment an object of scientific horror came into existence in the dimensional pocket we had just left, and it died within the same time span.

My face impacted the hood of the car with perfect accuracy to leave a facial imprint.  Gravity shifted to behind me instead of below, but instead of flaying backward, it swept my feet towards it first.  It was more of an insult to injury in my eyes because the daemon hit a lot harder.  The winds shifted as if a hole suddenly opened into a vacuum chamber, sucking everything into a void.  This is probably what it would feel like to be in a ship decompressing in the darkness of space.

An image flashed of a bubble popping and showering the area for micro seconds with the rainbow effects visible in the soapy opaqueness.  Weightlessness took me up and away.  I had nothing.  No strength nor energy could help when I was not in control of my motions since all my abilities helped me defy the physics set in place to govern a planet or realm.  Gravity had me in its claws just like where I had been when killing the daemon; only this time, the foe could not be defeated with steel or tactical maneuvering.  Mercy would play no role here.

The items before me began to peel away only to fly with me.  Pavement, grass, and the earth itself erupted from its place for centuries taking trees out by the roots.  Nothing was safe form my vantage point.  The wizard Sigvard had bought us time... perhaps his actions slowed the inevitability of what just happened.  I felt sorry for him dying the way he did.  First he got his entrails introduced to the light of day by a large clawed foot.  That was no way to die.  Yet he survived long enough for gravity to rip him apart. 

Suddenly it hit me.  The wizard had all the time he needed because he was in the middle of it; he just had to survive long enough to do whatever he was about to do.  Hours if not days could have already passed out here and with him inside based on my little knowledge of black holes, he has not had time to finish his incantation.  I based my theory on the idea that he was still alive.  I had to trust that he would finish what he started.  That bore to mind one thought, however.  What would happen out here if he was still finishing his spell and it took a day? 

Changing my thoughts to survival, I looked behind me.  Not enough debris was in the air to block vision.  Light started to dim slowly.  My vision was bending and blurring in slow motion.  Yet my mind functioned normally, and my awareness of time still stayed the same.  Only its flow around me changed.  Like everything else I had no idea how much time had passed. 

A thought hit me when closing my eyes to combat the effects of nausea starting to form in my core.  I decided to use this time to relax and stop fighting the storm.  My mind centered on myself, and pulled the conglomeration of the events of the day into one cohesive thought and began to file it away.  Inside my mind was the answer I needed save myself.  If the Sergeant managed to get Eryn to safety, then all was not lost.

Guilt filled my thoughts, not over concern for me but for being more worried about Eryn than humanity.  Mankind was my responsibility.  The issues at hand were larger than the sum of my and Eryn's life together.  From this point forward, my thoughts included everyone’s safety.  Perhaps this was why angels had to prove themselves before they could take a mate...it was not because they were denied love, but because their duty was just as important.  This journey was about keeping my oath as well as my family on equal footing.

Somber reflection took its hold as I focused on my breathing.  My energies slowly crept out from my core to the tips of my fingers.  The flow was so slow that I wondered how many years of my life fell away.  How much of the depletion would be permanent?  All this hinged on surviving this event, of course.  My thoughts turned towards trying to turn on my healing and to my surprise, it came on.  The warmth spread through me, pulsating as it flowed.  My tired bones felt leeched of the core essence that empowered me.  Only when I stopped fighting did it re-emerge to assess and reverse the damage done by overtaxing myself.  I knew it would take time.  Right now time around me slowed, but to my amazement, my conscious thought was unaffected, as if anything that went on beneath my skin remained unaffected by the effects of time.

My thoughts kept me company.  With the ability to mull them over, it felt like this time was not a total waste.  Hope that Sigvard, with his arcane abilities could deliver was starting to weigh heavily on me.  If he did not, imagination ran amuck with the level of the devastation that would occur before the dimensional pocket collapsed and severed its connection to this world...to my world, which I was responsible for now.  Focus on such things would only add to the stress of the situation.  Eryn was with the Sergeant and trust, as minimal as it was, did fall to believing in the badge he wore, not in the appearance of his bad suits. 

He did give off a “protect-and-serve” vibe.  Perhaps my mistrust stemmed from his punching me in the face many weeks ago. 

Why was S.W.A.T. at a hospital when I awoke? 
The randomness of this thought hit me but did not follow the thought process to its extent before I came back to the now.

To a have a total memory influx of gargantuan proportions in the middle of an epic fight that happened to be the catalyst of those returned memories has its own complications.  I do not know the exact amount of time that passed in the other realm, but Father told me it was significantly longer than the time I spent in my coma.  Six years to the day seems trivial.  I know I had a physical body there and that it really was not just a spirit realm.  There were all the same things to worry about there as there were here.  Eating and sleeping were such a small part of the dynamic because surviving was a combination of everything.

In my wildest imagination, I could never imagine my dreams were memories
.

I had all these skills and none of them fully prepared me because my mind was not in unity.  Had my mind, body, and spirit been one, the outcome of today would have been different.  I paused.  The life I knew now was a series of tests…one leading to the next and each progressively getting harder.  Perhaps that is the never-ending challenge.  Maybe the steady progression is why life flows the way it does.  A constant challenge to defeat or resolve greater problems; this keeps the mind moving forward and always sharp. 

Clarity stuck.

A true warrior is always making his own way and seeking his own path so subconsciously, I have been taking the harder road all this time, not because I have to, but because it made me a better fighter.  Lack of learning makes one stagnant, and stagnation is the killer.  The feeling that rolled through my mind was applause like I heard it from the firm hands of my master.  Trials do not have to be exponentially tougher, but if you have no reflection from the last engagement to seek out better results through better decision making, then you cannot streamline and improve the process.  The trick is you have to keep the mind challenged, not simply seek a tougher opponent.  Eventually, your path will take you to the pinnacle of your career as a warrior.  You either live or die.

My job was to stay ahead of the attempts the horde made to gain access to Earth and this was certainly one of them.  Right now more daemons could be coming through and I was not in a position to act.  Physical movement was just not possible.  Calling my swords would not help.  My options seemed to be limited when it hit me.  If I could have slapped myself, I would have.

I could teleport
. 

Laughter ensued inside. 

The acceptance that this was who I was finally hit home with no more questions, other than knowing how continue my studies every day to be the best Defender possible.  My thoughts relished in the Zen moment of it all.  Doubtful that my enemy could overcome physics, the very laws set in place from the beginning of time were constant.  The energy and skill it would take for the horde to get at me while gravity held me would be monumental.  The exception being…I could get out. 

Healing finished its job. 

More laughter.  "Yes Tathlyn...you can teleport," they chimed.  “There is no point in slapping yourself now.”

It was time to open my mind the rest of the way to the possibilities because all that I had seen should not exist according to man’s calculations.  They always fall short of realizing that life has no limits, and God did not limit man.  My skills came from his training.  The runes were simply a reminder that my abilities developed by my teacher were part of me.  They had to start the process by building the runic network inside of me.  I was not invincible or unstoppable by any stretch of the imagination.  I was formidable.  Did Malnuras and Father know the outcome of my decisions?  Is my path preordained?  Not that it mattered if I was predictable to my father.  Making him proud did rank high in my priorities.

It was time to get out of here.

The energy inside of me reached its crescendo.  I visualized the road behind the car in my head even though only part of it was even visible, hoping that this dilation field did not reach the car yet  or expand too far so I would not appear back inside of it.  A wave of nausea rolled through me as perception began to warp...dizziness ensued.  The hold that space and time distortion had on me did not want to let go at first.  I did not move for several moments internally.  A strained sensation inside my mind made the blood in my head pound with each beat of my heart, and I realized that my shield was up fully the entire time.  Knowing full well that I could not teleport with it off, the risk would be great.  Prayer for guidance came to mind, but the answer was inside of me.  The stresses about to tear at me would try to tear me apart so I would have to overtax myself to start the process with my shield up and drop it at the last minute.  Without a choice, I started to build up further.

At first the vision was minimal, like holding back a dog when it was trying to run away.  As the pressure built, it became like trying to pin a man in a wrestling match.  It took some skill, but it was possible.  You might not get away without a few scrapes, but you were not always worse for the wear.  I felt like my eyes were leaking tears but realized it was blood, for my vision turned red.

The vision turned into trying to wrestle a bull without a rope and one hand tied behind my back.  I was having difficulty grabbing a hold of it at the beginning.  My hand kept losing grip as it was trying to toss me aside.  Determination finally won out when I grabbed a hold of its head and threw my legs around the great neck.  Death would be the only thing prying me from this.  It bucked and slammed me into everything possible, trying to break me free, but I prevailed and hung on.  It felt like blood was running down my throat now.

Something inside my mind snapped.

Suddenly I was in front of a car with my hands on the hood.  Its tires spun on the pavement and great clouds of black smoke rolled off the rear of the car.  The noise sounded like it was ripping the black top up, and the road was protesting the grievous wound and crying out.  Bucking wildly back and forth, the rear end of the car was practically bouncing, and as it came down the pressure against me increased.  My hands began to crush into the car.  The hood crumpled around them.  I pushed with tremendous force to break the car free and before I knew it the nose of the car caved in.  My hands and arms went into the fan which promptly shredded them...breaking the fan in the process.  The pressure in my head burst.  Pain exploded in my eyes.  They felt on fire. 

Something changed.  The pressure subsided.

"It is done," a voice in my head declared all distorted.  It was not my swords speaking to me, but based off the phrasing it was the wizard finishing his task. 

As I fell into blackness, hands caught me. 

I recognized the feeling.  Soft and gentle the sensation was as they cradled my head.  Voices unclear called to me in muffle tones.  A second set of hands grabbed a hold of me firmly, surprising me at how strong they were.  They guided me into a back seat of a vehicle.  I crawled in.  The car did not lower any.

More muffled voices.

I focused on turning my healing on and was thankful it responded so quickly.  Within minutes I watched the red retreat from my eyes – a welcome sight greeted me.  Eryn sat in the front seat holding onto my now healed hand.  Her lips moved and slowly noises turned into words.  She was crying and smiling as she spoke.

"Time...you better...that...sense...."

I smiled at her and tried not to look like a dog with water in its ears.  The road flew by as the car traveled at a high rate of speed.  I looked behind me still not hearing everything she said.  A cataclysmic sight unfolded behind me as trees uprooted and flew the direction from which we came.  Cars, houses, and fences all broke apart and got sucked towards the place we had just been.  People hid in their homes as they broke apart around them and flew helplessly toward the vortex.  The winds outside howled as the car cut through it.  I looked back at Eryn.  She was screaming and hitting my arm. 

"What...in…were...make...alive...they...it...natu...." 

The wind increased.  Its force buffeted the car heavily.  The Sergeant evaded flying debris as best he could.  Much of it hit the car and some of it even cracked the windows.  It occasionally felt like the tires lost grip on the road when the car maneuvered around something toppling towards us.  Several impacts happened that I swore were going to flip us.  Eryn was terrified.  I was sick over the loss of human life all around me.