The Guardians' Pendants (The Zor Chronicles Part I) (12 page)

“Water,” she breathed,
hardly surprised until she came to realize that she was now
situated much higher than the original series of tunnels, and that
any source of water here would certainly not be coming from the
ocean. What was it, then? An underground stream of sorts, perhaps?
As Kaho grew nearer, however, she came to realize that it was not a
stream at all, but rather a stationary body of water, lit only by a
slight crack in the cavern’s sealing, leading – eventually – to
broad daylight, peeking through the darkness of the underground
clearance ever so slightly.

Kaho paused, stopping
whilst looking over the underground pool as her Veha’s Pendant
suddenly began glowing even brighter still, pointing downwards,
leading to a sense of uneasiness washing over the female Veha as
she began to realize that whatever she was looking for lay not
within the rocky walls of the cavern itself, but rather below the
surface of the newfound subterranean pool of unknown contents and,
naturally, of unknown dangers.

Slowly she eased
forward, taking a deep breath. She dipped her feet into the water,
pleasantly surprised by its lukewarm temperature. Then, without
looking back, Kaho inched even further forward and plundered into
the depths of the pool, guided only by the blue light that hung
around her neck, leading her into the depths of perpetual
blackness. She kicked hard, swimming swiftly and smoothly downward,
marveling at how easily her body seemed to move under the water,
and how natural it seemed. It did not take Kaho long to deduce that
it was probably one of the perks that had come with her new Veha
powers, specially outfitted to the environment of her homeland. She
was taken aback also by the lack of her body’s need for oxygen as
she continued to swim; it was as if she had developed the ability
to last much longer underwater than an average Zor without the need
for air.

As
the water’s darkness continued to consume her, there suddenly came
a glimmer of something that was not much further down. The light of
her Pendant glowed even brighter and the object appeared to become
even more of its own mind as it began to tug, dragging Kaho further
downward now as her eyes fell upon the object – or objects, rather
– for which she had supposedly come. At the bottom of the pool,
laying beneath a bed of sea grass, lay a pair of Lanu Twin Blades –
deathly sharp, incredibly lightweight and very hard to come by,
Lanu Twin Blades had been a weapon of choice for many Veha Lanu to
come before. It made perfect sense, then, that the sight of these
legendary weapons only propelled Kaho further downwards.

As she reached out for
the closest of the two blades, however, her quest into the depths
of the underground pool took a surprising turn as her Pendant was
suddenly not the only other thing with a mind of its own. Kaho
froze in shock as long tangles of sea grass that surrounded the
newfound weapons began to move on their own, slithering towards the
swimming Veha. She attempted to escape, but found swimming against
the force of her Pendant’s pull to be an impossible task. Fear
coursed through her body and panic ran rampant in her mind as the
weeds encircled her arms, pulling Kaho further down and effectively
immobilizing her. She looked upwards through the darkness of the
water, beginning to feel the need for oxygen finally creeping up on
her after all this time. It seemed that her new powers had their
limits, and along with the end of those abilities, Kaho realized at
that moment, could very well come the end of her journey, lost in
the depths of the water where it was quite possible that nobody
would ever find her.

And so her thoughts
wandered now as the world grew foggy around her. They wandered
towards the distant light that still broke through the darkness far
above at the surface. That light appeared to engulf Kaho as the
world around her began to change shape, spinning uncontrollably
until it finally settled upon a scene that was far from the seaside
caverns of Af’Lanu. Kaho found herself standing before the Tavar
Mafa, looking on at four familiar faces. Before her was Ikani,
standing triumphantly alongside Lanaru and Enoke on either side. To
her right stood the towering figure of Veha Oren. All four of them
appeared to be in good spirits, smiling and laughing as they
overlooked the surrounding Hub City beneath a cloudless afternoon
sky. All seemed well.

“Hey!” Kaho cried,
reaching out towards them. Her voice seemed to echo from all
directions. “Over here!” she exclaimed. “Enoke,
Ikani!”

There was no response,
not even a single sign of acknowledgment.

“Lanaru?” she asked
finally. Still nothing.

She tried to run
towards them, desperate for recognition, but her body seemed
trapped – immobilized on the spot by some invisible force as tears
began to run down her cheeks. Watching on, her brothers all seemed
to be perfectly happy without her presence; they had even located
Oren, who now seemed to be amongst their ranks as well. His
addition it itself seemed to fill the void left by her absence, and
then some. Though she could not see into their minds, Kaho was all
but certain that she did not even exist there as a memory – for
that matter, she feared that she would never rise to be more than a
passing thought that would only serve to darken the blue skies as
they reminisced about her failure to survive out on her own. To
them, she was perhaps but a reminder of the dark days that were now
behind the other Veha – lost, along with her legacy, deep below the
surface.

The
surface.

The light seemed to
grow closer. Yes; it was now in reach. Kaho’s fingers brushed upon
the metal handle below, and her eyes snapped open anew. There was
no looking back. With one swift movement she had grabbed hold of
the first Blade, quickly cutting herself free before grabbing the
second. From there, she darted towards the surface, not daring to
look behind. The light above only continued to draw nearer as the
broke the surface of the pool, gasping for air as she struggled to
remove herself from the water in her greatly weakened state
following the sudden adrenaline rush. Still shaking violently, Kaho
forced herself onto her feet, glancing upwards at the hole towards
the surface. Her eyes widened when she came to the realization that
her eyes had not been playing tricks on her at all – it
had
gotten
larger! Squinting at the blinding daylight, Kaho watched in
amazement as the pool at her feet was suddenly showered with
falling rocks, plunging into the depths from which she had just
escaped. She looked upwards in disbelief as a familiar face emerged
from above, peering down into the cavern.

“Need a hand, sister?”
came the deep voice of her brother of the South.

Enoke had
arrived.

Chapter XI –
Underlying Secrets

“What am I?” Lanaru
asked himself aloud.

Sitting on the edge of
his bed, he peered across the single room of his dwelling into the
mirror that rested opposite to him. Even the physical proof in the
form of his taller and stronger figure coupled with his shining
dark green armor was no longer enough to justify who he was, or
what he had become.

“Who’s sick idea of a joke was it to hand out these Pendants
and leave us like this?” the Mara muttered to himself, clutching
the jagged glowing stone that still hung around his neck, resting
on his chest plate.

He stood up, eyeing a
pair of pilot’s goggles that were laying on his floor and kicking
them across the room in frustration.

“I
mean, what were they thinking? ‘Hey, let’s give them great hero
powers and stunning hero looks, and not give them any idea of how
to use them or what to do! Let’s make a total joke of them in front
of the new Tavar; let’s make the new
Veha
the laughing stock of the entire Zor
population!’”

At that, there came a
knock on Lanaru’s door. He jumped in surprise, taking deep breaths
in an effort to calm himself down once more.

“What now?” he wondered
aloud, walking towards the door. “I suppose that’ll be the others
running helplessly back here, as if I’m doing any
better-”

Still flustered, Lanaru
pulled the door open, but froze upon seeing a pair of Hub Zor at
his doorstep, accompanied by a pair of Sirens positioned close
behind them.

“Hey,” Lanaru greeted
them casually, attempting to stay calm. “How’s it
going?”

The Zor to his left
sneered. “You’re the one that they call Lanaru, are you not?” he
asked.

“The one and only,” he
replied, trying to maintain confidence in who he was. “Veha Lanaru,
if this hero’s attire does not speak for itself,” he added with a
nervous chuckle. “How can I help you?”

Neither of the guards
appeared to be at all amused.

“
Well, if the events that took place three days prior in the
Hub are of any indication, I believe it would be needless to say
that you don’t exactly fit that title,” the guard on the left
corrected him. “You are, however, deserving of a new occupation
here in Af’Mara,
engineer,
” he
stated.

“A new occupation?”
Lanaru questioned, surprised. “But why?”

“Paradius Authority’s
command,” the other guard replied simply. “You have been
re-assigned amongst many others to weapon production. You should
not find yourself lost along your way, however; you will be located
in the cellar beneath Aircraft Hangar C.”

Lanaru paused for a
moment to process what was being said. He has worked in Hangar C
for nearly his entire career as an Engineer, working on engineering
aircraft technologies to propel Paradius further into the new age
of technological discoveries. The Hangar was just about everything
he had ever known, and yet he had never been aware of any sort of
cellar beneath its floors.

“Now, if you would be
so kind as to come with us, we shall escort you,” stated the first
figure.

At first, Lanaru
hesitated, feeling flustered at the thought of being demoted to a
task as simple as weapon production after working with aircraft for
so many years. And, what was more, he was supposed to be a Veha
now! Why should he submit and abandon what he still believed –
albeit deep down – to be his new duty Paradius?

Finally, however, he
spoke. “All right,” Lanaru answered simply.

The journey through the
familiar streets of Af’Mara City had a different vibe about it
since Lanaru had last headed to work several days prior. The city –
the only one outside of the Hub at that – was shockingly quiet all
around him; absent were the almost constant sounds and sights of
people hustling about and of flying aircraft in testing or the
latest innovations in Pod transportation under experimentation. It
was far removed from the likes of the other Satellites’ Villages;
Af’Mara City was much more advanced in its studies and technologies
than all others, and was known to be filled with lively ambition
and hopes to create a better future for Paradius as a whole. In
every way on that day, however, things seemed to be the least
lively that Lanaru had ever seen them. As they reached the runway
leading up to Aircraft Hangar C, uneasiness began to course through
the Veha’s body.

“So, uhh, where exactly
is everyone?” he finally piped up.

“Orientations, for the
most part,” one of the guards answered without taking his eyes off
of their approaching destination. “To prepare them for their new
jobs.”

“New jobs?” Lanaru
asked.

The two guards
snickered amongst each other, as if something were funny. “I guess
you weren’t listening back at home,
engineer,
” one of them stated
condescendingly. “Or did you simply think that you were that
special?”

The other guard, much
calmer and more professional, butted in. “You’re not the only one
who was relocated, you see. The Authority has simply seen it to be
in the best interest of the Zor to redirect their attention to more
practical projects.”

“If Paradius is truly
in imminent danger,” the first guard began, “then we must do what
we can to build up our inventory of weapons.”

“That’s why all Zor in
the City have officially been reassigned to factory
work.”

“Hey, I’m no pawn in
some assembly line!” Lanaru exclaimed as they entered the Hangar
and took the entrance down to the cellar located at the far end of
the vast main room. “I’m an engineer, do you hear? An
engineer!”

Before he could protest
further, however, he was escorted into a small, windowless room
lined with worktables and was quickly left by the guards, who
slammed the door behind them, clicking it locked.

“Who
do they think they are?” Lanaru cried, protesting aloud. “Whoever
they are, they sure don’t seem to know who
I
am!”