The Guardian (Coranite Chronicles) (2 page)

As the force of the wind brushed against his face, Darek laughed like crazy. The feeling of soaring across the sky was exhilarating.

“Be careful!” warned Slade from the other side of the field.

Darek couldn’t hold back his excitement. Leaning forward, he released a burst of energy and the hover board jetted faster and faster into the sky. In a spiraling motion, Darek spun around and sailed up and down through the air. Darek had some trouble maintaining control at first, but within a few laps around the field, he felt more confident.

Darek gazed upward and saw the face of other world staring back at him. There was no sky, for here in the mysterious place known as Lacuna, there were just two long stretches of land: one land below and one above.

Yes, Lacuna was not your ordinary place. It wasn’t even a planet. It had no sun or moon…yet it had day and night. It was a void between dimensions: a place where nothing made sense, a place where seasons came and went…and mountains moved in a heartbeat.

However, right between the two planes of Lacuna, in that vast expanse of air shared between the two worlds, fluffy clouds drifted about. It was calling out to him and Darek couldn’t resist the urge. Boosting into that space between the lands, which he considered something of a sky, Darek found himself cutting across the clouds, trying to tear them apart with his hands. Running through the clouds was like running through a hazy mist.

“HA! This is great!” Darek yelled. It was his first time experiencing flight without being surrounded by cold alloy or the vastness of space. It was pure freedom and joy.

Slade zoomed past Darek; he had taken to the skies with his own hover board. Slade motioned for Darek to head down. Darek followed Slade into a forest and they zipped between the trees; Darek saw a deep chasm in the rocks below. Hearing a noise behind, Darek glanced over his shoulder. A teenage girl was flying toward them on a hover board.

It was Elize. She was tagging along. Her hair fluttered in the wind, her uniform flapped wildly, and her usually calm eyes were now strained from all the dust and leaves flying in her face. Together, the three of them sailed down into the darkness.

After flying deeper and deeper down, Darek wondered how they’d be able to keep going through this pitch-black space. They had gone so deep that not even traces of light could make it this far.

Boom!
A thunderclap echoed across the underground canyon.

“Hang on!” shouted Slade.

Huge bolts of lightning came tearing across. Every five seconds, another bright flow of electricity would flash, giving them time to plot their path before going further. The three of them raced down the canyon, desperate to escape the lightning’s fury.

Darek’s breath left him every time a bolt of lightning came near. It was as if the lightning was taunting him—daring him to get closer.

Elize roared over the rumbling peals of thunder, “We’re almost there!”

WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

After she spoke, Darek could already hear a foreboding noise—the howling of the wind. There before him was an amazing, awesome sight. His eyes fell upon a powerful, swirling funnel-shaped wind that stretched from the storm above, down to the canyon floor below; it was a giant perpetual tornado in this dark abyss.

Though he didn’t want to admit it, his heart was shaking in fear. He already had thoughts of running away. Having to dodge great bolts of pulverizing lightning while running into a monstrous mile-high tornado wasn’t exactly the test he had in mind.

But Darek had already given up his sanity a while ago and willingly stayed close behind the others. To his surprise, Slade dove toward the bottom of the tornado. They landed a good distance away from the bottom of the tornado.

Slade shouted over the sound of the wind, “Okay, we’re going to fly into the tornado from down here. It’s going to pull you in, and from there I want you to ride the wind upward. Our destination is above. There’s a cavern up there.” Slade pointed to where the tornado and clouds touched. “It’ll be fast. Keep your balance. Take a deep breath before you head in. You won’t get to breathe inside the tornado. Do not—I repeat—do not get flung away. The force of the tornado might smash you against the wall of rock. And if that happens, well…the test is over, that’s for sure.”

Darek yawned. “Okay, let’s get going.”

“No questions?”

“None.”

“Feeling confident?” asked Elize.

“Not at all,” said Darek. “I’m just tired and I want to get this over with.”

“Really?” Elize smiled. “Let’s see if that’s still the case when we reach the top.” Elize shot forward into the chaos.

Darek hesitated to move.

“You coming?” said Slade, drifting slightly ahead with the hover board.

“Y-yeah,” said Darek, his heat sinking. “Just need to brace myself. You go on ahead. I think it’ll be easier if I can…follow you in.”

Slade nodded and flew towards the tornado.

Watching him disappear into the swirling sand, Darek muttered, “Here goes nothing…”

Darek sailed into the fierce winds. He was relieved to see there was very little debris flailing about; he was mostly pelted with fist-sized rocks. Swirling around and around was dizzying to say the least, and he could barely tell which way was up. Every so often red sparks would scatter beneath the hover board as he tried to stay in control.

Glancing up, his eyes caught sight of Slade mouthing words. Darek wondered what he was saying. Darek tried screaming over the unceasing whirring, but nothing came out. His voice was stolen by the wind.

Slade anxiously pointed at Darek’s feet. Darek looked down, his eyes widening in horror. One of the belts had snapped off. His foot was steadily slipping off the board. Darek began spinning chaotically and was tossed away from the others.

Elize decided to save him with her powers as a Judge. She stretched out her fingers and all ten of her nails grew several feet into a tangled mess. While riding the tornado, she kept watch over the glimpses of Darek’s distant body. It was hard to see him. He kept going in and out of view as he spun round and round. When she finally got the timing down, her snake-like nails lashed out into hazy winds and coiled around him. She reeled him in, her fingernails bound around him like rope.

Darek saw a massive rock wall above them. They went straight into a large hole in the rock. Elize lost control of her board and bumped into Slade, sending them both flying in different directions. Darek came loose and was flung across the cave. All three of them landed on the cold hard floor.

Lying flat, Darek tried to comb down his ruffled hair and glanced over the others to see them gasping to catch their breath.

“I’ll admit,” said Darek, exhausted. “That trial was crazy.”

Slade and Elize laughed.

Darek looked confused. Was it something he said?

Slade sat up and said, “That wasn’t a trial.”

“Huh?”

“That was the entrance to the trial.”

“What?” With a look of disbelief, Darek rose to his feet. “You’re kidding.”

Slade shook his head. “Totally serious—”

“Slade,” said Elize, as she hopped to her feet. “Come quick!”

“What? What is it?” Slade followed her to a large circular gateway; he stopped in front of the giant metal door, which had a big orange jewel in the center. The door was wide open. He seemed rather startled.

“How…could this be?”

Darek asked them, “Is something wrong?”

“The gate—it’s open!” Slade exclaimed.

“Yeah, so?”

“The gate should be closed. If it’s open…it means someone is inside.”

“And that’s bad?”

“This is a sacred place for the Order of Judges,” Slade explained. “It is said to be the first home of the Judges, the birthplace of our Order. This is where we hold the final trials. Only Judges come here. Sometimes Judges will come to practice their basic skills, but I already told the others we were going to use this place today. No one from the Order should be here.” Slade clenched his fist and growled, “Some intruder has desecrated our sacred grounds!”

The trials could’ve been difficult, but Darek didn’t have to worry about that now…because someone had completed all the trials for him. As they passed through each gate, his stomach would lurch at the sight of these trials.

One of the trials would’ve had him swimming in murky waters filled with many mysterious creatures lurking beneath; another trial would’ve had him swinging from fragile vines over a pit filled with colorful gases; yet another trial would’ve had him walk barefoot across piles of scorpions and centipedes. Deep down inside, he knew he wouldn’t have been able to pass these trials. It looked dangerous and impossible.

When they arrived at the final room, a small chamber painted black, they found it empty.

“Nobody here,” said Darek. “Maybe they’re gone. Could’ve been a while ago, right? You don’t really visit this place much. Someone could have sneaked in here a while back.”

“No,” said Slade, “it doesn’t work that way. Everything is automated, powered by anti-law. The trials in this place reset automatically when it detects there is no living person inside. It’s to make it easy for us to use it anytime we wish.”

“But look,” said Darek, “there’s no one here! Maybe the anti-law has worn off.”

“No, it is very powerful anti-law forged by an alliance of Heroes and Judges. Something like that will not fail. Someone must be hiding here,” said Slade.

Darek said, “How can you hide in an empty room?”

Slade ignored him and looked around for hints.

Elize crouched down on the pitch-black floor and quietly examined the ground.

Darek asked her, “What are you doing?”

“I found entrails…” said Elize slowly.

Darek became grossed out when he saw patches of reddish-brown slime strewn in a line.

“What kind of entrails?”

She took the tip of her index finger and dipped it into the gooey gunk. Sniffing and licking her finger, she replied, “Scorpions and centipedes. Whoever completed that last trial…actually walked straight through it.”

Darek grimaced. “I can’t believe you just licked that.”

Elize laughed, “I was just kidding! Who’d be crazy enough to lick that stuff? You actually thought I’d do something like that?”

Azura would have licked it,
thought Darek. Before he knew it, he started to really miss Azura and her zany behavior. He remembered the powerful Aenarian and how she had forced him to eat bugs when they were stuck in the desert. While he did miss her, he sure didn’t miss those bug feasts.

Suddenly, Elize said, “Ah, I think this might be it!”

Darek and Slade came to see what she had discovered.

Elize placed her hands on the wall. “The bug guts end here. There might be more to this room than we thought.”

“An anti-law barrier?” said Slade.

“Looks like it,” said Elize. “But there’s nothing we can do about it. We need someone who can dispel anti-law. Ben could probably handle it.”

Darek cleared his throat. “Aren’t you forgetting someone?”

Slade and Elize gave him blank stares.

Darek gestured to himself.

Slade raised a brow.

Darek rolled his eyes and sighed. “You don’t think I could handle something like this?”

Both of them still looked puzzled.

“I guess you guys still don’t understand my power,” said Darek. “Just stand back and watch.” Darek materialized black gloves on his hand and pushed firmly against the wall. The wall melted into a thick black sludge, revealing another room behind.

In silence, they gawked at the inner chamber and slowly entered.

“It’s the—It’s the….” Slade could barely speak. “It’s the resting place of the first Judges! I thought this place was just a legend! It really exists!”

Slade, Darek and Elize stood inside a strange room that seemed to go on forever. The floor was nothing more than a mist that they could walk on. An arch bridge, in the peculiar form of running water, was suspended inanimately over the clouds and led the way to a mound of dirt. Over the mound, six tombstones—chiseled in the shape of crosses—were placed in a semi-circle.

They crossed over the watery bridge, and while they didn’t sink much when they walked over it, their feet sloshed with every step. After they placed their feet on the firm ground, the cracked dirt sucked the moisture from their shoes; flowers sprang out instantly around the grave.

Darek examined each tombstone and the inscriptions on them. One by one, he read them out loud, “Vence…Judge of the Silver Barrier. Phayir…Judge of the Harmonious Hammer. Korick…Judge of the Corrosive Cell. Sychil…Judge of the Blind Eye. Skarr…Judge of the Wayward Path. Nyle…Judge of the Silent Cry…”

“They all have titles,” said Elize. “Maybe it’s related to their abilities? I’d call myself Elize…Judge of the Sharp Claw.”

Darek laughed. “I think Elize is just fine.” Then Darek noticed something strange. “Wait, why are there only six graves? Weren’t there always twelve Judges?”

“The last Judge couldn’t bury himself,” reasoned Slade.