The Guardian (Coranite Chronicles) (20 page)

Slade and Darek ran to one of the tunnels. When they approached the opening, however, it vanished, along with the wall around it. They wheeled around and raced to another opening…only to see that one vanish too! Stretching across the ceiling, the image of the violet sky became more and more visible.

Panicking, Darek sprinted to another hole that would lead to out. He tripped over a rock and fell. Instead of falling onto a hard stone platform…he fell onto dirt. The platform was gone. Darek stood up. His hands were covered in dirt.

“Is this real…?” Darek gasped. Then he looked around.

The cavern, stone platform, Golems and obelisk were completely gone.

The trembling had stopped. The shockwave had disappeared.

Dumbfounded, Darek exchanged glances with Slade. Then Darek gawked at the scenery around him. There were no longer inside of the moon. They were standing in another place—a place with a purple sky, maroon dirt, and patches of white grass.

“This isn’t…where I think we are, right?” Darek said.

“Not sure,” said Slade. “See if we can teleport.”

Darek breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh yeah, that scared me for a second. I completely forgot we still had this thing. It’s a good thing Jenson gave it a good battery this time.” Darek checked the ITD on his wrist. “Where should we go?”

Slade took a moment to ponder. “Just for now…go back to Ixius.”

“Ixius? Why—”

“Just do it.”

“Okay…” Darek activated the ITD. “We’re going back to Ixius!”

A bright green light reached down from the sky and landed on top of them. They floated for a bit…and then flew high into the sky. However, Darek was surprised to see that…they were not going into space. The spiraling teleportation stream carried them to another distant point in the sky and then landed on the ground.

Darek and Slade emerged from the light. Their surroundings were still pretty similar. The sky was still purple and the grass was still eerily white.

Darek looked confused. “That never happened before. A malfunction at a time like this?”

“It’s not broken,” said Slade. “I expected this to happen.”

“What?”

“Darek,” said Slade. “You’re going to have to face the facts.”

“What are you—”

“This is not our realm,” said Slade. “I’m sure you’ve already figured that out by now. This is…the spirit realm.”

“But it can’t be!” Darek snapped. “The Guardians said that was only a seal! That wasn’t a gateway! Why would we be able to go through—”

“I don’t know!” Slade barked. “But we can’t just pretend this isn’t happening. The teleportation proves it.”

“How does it prove anything?”

Slade thought how to best explain it. “Here, look at this.” Slade crouched on the ground and drew a straight line on the dirt. Darek crouched down as well and watched him curiously.

“See this line?” Slade pointed to it. “This is the border between dimensions. On one side of the line is our universe. And on the other is Lacuna. Lacuna is a separate dimension.” He drew a little circle on the side of the universe. “Let’s say this is us on a planet. When we teleport, we go through the border, passing between both dimensions, and then we come back. But…where do you think the spirit realm is on this drawing?”

Darek scratched his chin and then pointed at the vertical line. “On the border?”

“Nope,” said Slade. Slade drew a circle around our universe. “It’s right here.”

Darek raised a brow. “But…I thought you said that that’s where the planet is…”

“Exactly. The spirit realm overlaps our physical realm. In other words…” Slade stood up. “Where you are right now is Ixius…if we were in the physical realm. The ITD works. It’s not broken and it doesn’t make mistakes. We are on Ixius—except…we are also on another ‘floor’ of our dimension.”

“So…the ITD is not going to help?”

Slade shook his head.

Darek asked, “Then how do we go back?”

Slade slumped to the ground and sighed. “That’s something we’ve got to figure out.”

CHAPTER 15

Havoc

The Golems stood on the platform, motionless. They were still inside the moon. The chaos was over. Bits of the obelisk were strewn on the floor.

“What…just happened?”

“I don’t know. But the Guardians are gone. Did they escape?”

“Come in, King squadron.” A voice spoke over the comlink. “This is Command. Have you destroyed the gateway?”

“Command,” said the leader. “We’ve destroyed whatever was in here. There were a few Guardians that tried to stop us…but they’ve disappeared.”

“We are still under attack. Enemy reinforcements have arrived. We’re taking heavy losses. We are retreating. Return to the carrier immediately.”

“Roger that, Command,” the pilot answered. “We’re pulling out.”

However, before they headed for the tunnels, the pilots heard a low, raspy voice echoing in the enclosed space: “What is this place? It looks…strange. Do you think…maybe…?”

“Who’s there?” one of the pilots asked, turning the Golem around.

As the pilot watched the screen, he saw several shadowy figures come into view.

“The Guardians? Are they back?” The pilot stared at the figures on the screen.

“It looks like it,” said the other pilot. “Let’s finish them off. One of them was especially dangerous. Better to get rid of them now.”

The leader pushed his Golem forward and charged at the shadows. He sliced right through the shadow…but the shadow disappeared. It did not turn into crystal.

“Behind you!” a pilot cried out.

“Behind?”

The lead Golem turned around. A black fog surrounded it.

“What’s going on?” said the leader. “I can’t see anything! What’s this? Get it off!” He fumbled with the controls, making the Golem twist and turn.

Finally, after a minute of thrashing the Golem’s arms, the black fog vanished.

“Is it…gone?” the leader asked.

The other pilots moved their Golems forward and examined the area.

“I don’t see anything,” said a pilot. “The other shadows are gone too.”

“Okay, I think we’re done,” said the leader quickly. “Let’s get out of here.”

The lead pilot tried to move his Golem to the exit. He pushed the control stick forward, but nothing happened. The pilot paused. Then he tried to move the Golem again. However, the Golem still wouldn’t move.

“Oh great,” said the pilot. “Something’s wrong. I can’t seem to move.”

“Same here,” another pilot said.

“What do you mean ‘same here’?”

“My controls don’t seem to be working either.”

“Mine’s busted too,” said the other pilot.

“What?” the leader said. “So all three Golems have stopped working? It’s only been about a half hour since we’ve launched. I thought they tested this thing!”

“Try to call Command for help.”

“That won’t be necessary,” said a low voice.

Their leader froze. The voice did not below to anyone on his team. “Who said that?”

Bang! The compartment shook. Bang! The pilot glanced around, looking terrified.

“W-what was that?”

Something didn’t sound right. Something didn’t feel right. It almost felt like the Golem was moving, but his hands weren’t even on the controls anymore.

The top of the compartment was ripped off. The pilot gaped above, his jaw hanging loose. The Golem he had been controlling…was now peering inside the compartment.

Speechless, the pilot gasped in horror, as his eyes met with the giant’s.

Then…the Golem spoke. “Look at this, brother!” it said, licking its lips. “Canned humans! What will they think of next? These modern times are truly wonderful!” The Golem tipped over the compartment, letting the pilot fall to the floor. “Mmm…it’s fresh and lively!”

The pilot scrambled back. He watched as the two other Golems tore the cockpits off their backs and threw them to the floor.

“They’ve…” said the pilot. “They’ve turned against us!” The pilot reached for the communicator in his pocket and said into it: “Command, come in! We’ve lost control—”

The Golem picked the pilot up between his finger and thumb. The pilot dropped his communicator. He felt like a little helpless kitten being dragged around by the back of its neck.

“Ha, ha!” said the Golem. “These humans! Look at them! Puny as ever! I could crush him with these fingers so easily!”

“Stop playing around, Strakken,” said the other Golem. “It’s time to raise hell. We’re going to pay these humans back, ten fold.”

“No, Zethu,” said another Golem in a female voice. “A hundred fold! Let’s make these humans suffer like they’ve never suffered before! Let’s give them the full extent of our wrath! Let’s make their hearts melt in fear!”

“Yes, Nairee, you’re right. We’ll pay them back as many times as we want.”

Though still in shock, the pilot managed to muster the courage to say something. “Are you really Golems? Golems don’t have the intelligence to speak!”

“Golems?” Zethu snickered. “Are you talking about these…brainless bodies that we are possessing? We are not Golems. We are Coranites—the true masters of this universe!”

“Coranites?” The pilot trembled at the sound of its booming voice.

Nairee said, “These Golems are perfect for us to possess! They’re minds are weak and their bodies are strong! We should find more of these…Golems for our brethren. With an army of these…” She raised the Golem’s fist. “The humans will die! And Dionus will return to power!”

“Yes,” said Zethu. “I sense he is free. We must find him. But first, let us play.”

Strakken dropped the pilot he was holding and danced around with the Golem he possessed, clapping his hands. “Yay! Finally! I’ve been waiting for this moment for centuries! Let’s all go play!”

“Oh, Strakken,” said Nairee, crossing the Golem’s arms. “You sure do love to play.” She turned the head toward Zethu’s Golem. “But how do we get out of here with these things? They don’t have wings to fly.”

“Our power is more than enough to make this body fly,” said Zethu.

Suddenly the Golem’s body was surrounded in a red glow. Then Zethu used his spirit energy…and sent the Golem sailing upward into one of the tunnels.

“Aww,” said Nairee. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to waste my energy for something like this.” Nairee and Strakken followed Zethu’s example. The three Golems soared up to the surface and shot out of the tunnel.

The Guardians watched as the Golems flew overhead and zoomed straight into space. Though relieved, some were also starting to worry.

“Those monsters are leaving! Maybe those humans are finally retreating!”

“But where’s Beld? How come he has not returned?” another asked. “And what has become of the seal? Is it safe?”

“What’s this? What’s this?” Zethu said excitedly, observing the battle in outer space. “A war? Bloodshed? Death? Destruction? HA! Splendid! And even Guardians are here!”

“Kill them all! Kill them all!” Strakken cheered, throwing his fist in the air. “Let’s kill them all! Hahahahaha! KILL THEM ALL!”

“Patience, Strakken,” said Zethu coolly. “Each one gets their turn.
Humans
first!”

Zethu landed his Golem on a battleship. He unsheathed the giant sword from the Golem’s hip and thrust the blade down. The blade sunk into the ship. Then he twisted and turned, creating a gaping hole. Strakken gripped the edges of the hull and tore it apart. The vacuum of space did not affect the humans. A thin force field formed around the hole to ensure the safety of the people inside. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop panic from striking them all.

The three Golems peered into the ship. The soldiers within the starship gawked at the faces of the ecstatic Golems.

“The hull has been breached! They’re tearing apart our ship!”

“Aren’t those things…our weapons?”

“What’s going on? Have the pilots gone rogue?”

Zethu cackled at the humans. “Pathetic little worms. Now you shall know despair!” He swung his fist, smashing the battleship. Screaming in fear, the humans scattered. All the people fled to the stairs and elevators.

“Zethu, you’re such a brute,” said Nairee. “We’re not going to kill many like this. Look, these monsters come with weird weapons that are much more effective. Even Strakken is already playing with them.” She pointed to Strakken. Strakken was sitting on top of the battleship, putting several pieces of equipment together. The smaller pieces came together to form a very large gun.

“Hey, Nairee!” Strakken smiled at her, waving his gun around. “Check this out!” He hopped to his feet, aimed the gun at one of the destroyers and opened fire. A massive pulse of blue energy was launched. The energy pulse dove right into the starship. Seconds later, the destroyer burst into pieces. “Sweet!” Strakken fired at other ships, causing a massive wave of destruction. Debris spread and drifted like snow.