The Guardians' Pendants (The Zor Chronicles Part I) (17 page)

“Now what?” Ikani
groaned, glancing upwards.

Suddenly, the rock
ceiling above them began to crack. The Sirens began to retreat as
they were showered with small fragments of falling rock before
there was a loud cracking that shook the entire cavern. The ceiling
began to give way above them, and the Sirens below emitted shrill
cries of defeat as they were lost in the piles of rubble. Ikani did
his best to guard both himself and Havea from the collecting dust
and the rocks that were still falling.

“Is the entire cavern
giving in?” Havea cried from behind the Veha.

Before Ikani could
state that he hadn’t a clue, however, the dust began to clear.
Standing tall atop of the highest pile of rubble was the Veha of
Af’Lagi.

“Enoke!” Ikani
exclaimed.

Before he could say
anything more, the Veha was joined by two others, who leapt into
the cavern through the newly formed hole above.

“Kaho, Lanaru!” he
cried. “How did you know I was here?”

“Ah, y’know, a little
bit of luck,” Lanaru responded almost nonchalantly, raising his
arms and readying a pair of Fan Blades that extended from cuffs
fastened to his arms. “And a little bit of help from these
Pendants, of course.”

Ikani marveled at the
glow that emanated from Lanaru’s Pendant as he
spoke.

“No time for staring,
miner; we’ve got to get out of here – this roof isn’t going to hold
up for much longer!” Lanaru exclaimed hastily.

“Right!” Ikani answered, hurrying to join the other Veha.
“Follow me!” he commanded, grabbing hold of Havea.

“How are we going to
get out?” Ikani asked, standing amongst the others and facing a
newly formed hoard of Sirens that surrounded the cavern’s entrance.
“We’ll never get past all of them.”

“Says who?” Enoke grunted. He clenched his first tightly,
raising them high above his head before smashing them hard into the
ground below. “Get a load of these new Gauntlets!” he exclaimed. A
shockwave seemed to explode from Enoke’s fists as they made contact
with the ground below, sending a wave of rocks flying in their
direction. The Sirens scrambled out of the way.

“Going somewhere?”
Lanaru asked tauntingly. With a swipe of one hand, he sent a
twister of whirling winds towards the Sirens, forcing them back out
through the end of the tunnel. “Courtesy of Arkem and Fau; these
Fan Blades aren’t too shabby, are they?”

“Let’s go!” Kaho cried, cutting off Lanaru and hurrying out
through the now-accessible entrance way, Twin Blades in hand and at
the ready as the Veha quickly left the cavern and began racing up
the mountainside.

“Wait!” Ikani cried. “Tavar Havea is still inside!”

“What?” Kaho called
back in a mix of panic and confusion. The Sirens, their numbers
appearing to be almost endless, were beginning to regroup around
them again.

Ignoring here, Ikani
hurried back down the mountain towards the hole in the wall,
stopping only when he heard a familiar voice from within. It was
Havea, trapped beneath a pile or rubble, unable to
move.

“Go!” cried Havea. “You
must hurry, before it’s too late!”

“But what about you?”
Ikani asked in dismay as the Sirens began closing in once
more.

“Do not worry about me,
Ikani,” he replied simply. “Save Paradius… at all
costs.”

At that, there was yet
another great rumbling that erupted from the cavern as the entrance
was sealed shut by a final wave of falling debris. Ikani watched on
in horror as the cavern imploded completely, sealing the Tavar
inside.

“Ikani!” came the sound
of Kaho’s voice once again from behind.

“Save Paradius… at all
costs.”

Not looking back for a
moment, Ikani contained his emotions to the best of his ability and
hurried back up the mountain once again. A couple of times Sirens
came charging in their direction, but the female Veha was quick to
knock them down with a swift strike from her Twin
Blades.

“There’s still more!”
Ikani bemoaned worriedly, glancing back in fear. “What do we
do?”

“Keep running!” Lanaru
snapped from above. The Veha had now reached the very peak of the
mountain, overlooking the Village of Af’One far below, lit only by
the feint glow of the moon in the dead of night.

“It’s a dead end!”
Ikani exclaimed in dismay. “Where to now?”

The Sirens were gaining
on them. Enoke backed up, but stopped as he reached the edge of the
mountain. The ground crumbled beneath him and he took a quick step
forward. The Veha reached themselves for the impending
assault.

“I say we jump!” Ikani
declared suddenly.

“
Jump
?” Lanaru spat back in
disbelief. “Are you mad, miner?!”

“It’s the only way
out!” Ikani pointed out, stepping closer and closer to the ledge.
“There’s no way we can take down an army of a hundred or more
Sirens. We must do it… and have faith that the Gods will allow us
to pull through!” he cried. “Follow me!”

Not even daring to turn
around, Ikani shut his eyes tightly and leapt off the
ledge.

“I swear, if he gets us
all killed…” Lanaru muttered.

“Then we die as heroes
who weren’t afraid to take risks!” Kaho retorted before leaping off
the ledge along with Enoke, plummeting into the blackness
below.

“Ikani!” Lanaru barked.
“If we make it through this, I’m going to kill you!” he threatened,
diving off the ledge just in time to avoid the charging army of
Sirens.

Finally Ikani opened
his eyes, though there was little for him to see. He was
freefalling through utter blackness, save for the scattered lights
of the village far below. Slowly, however, those lights began to
grow nearer to Ikani and the other falling Veha as they hurtled
towards the ground.

“I’m sorry,” Ikani
spoke softly to himself, looking up in the direction of his
companions hurtling towards him. “I’m sorry I let you all
down.”

Before Ikani could even
realize what was going on, he suddenly felt a great weight coming
from beneath him, carrying him high up into the air towards the
distant moon.

“What in the
-”

“Woohoo!”

Ikani’s eyes shot
towards the direction of the sound. To his right, he could make out
the silhouette of Lanaru, hooting and howling like his old self,
hanging on the back of a bird that was at least three times his
size.

“Kanalevai,” Ikani
breathed in wonder, gazing in either direction at the large wings
that were beating around him. “Oren’s great birds…”

At that, the Guardian’s
Pendant around Ikani’s neck began to glow anew. A smile crept
across his face, and before he knew it he found himself smiling
freely, feeling the wind whipping at him as he and Lanaru were
joined by Kaho and Enoke on either side.

“I
just realized something!” Ikani bellowed, fighting the wind that
attempted to drown him out. “Veha Oren, he
does
live on!” Ikani exclaimed, holding on tightly to the Kanalevai
beneath him as it swerved sharply to the right. “He lives on inside
of us; all of us!” he cried out.

“Then let’s not let him
down!” Enoke called from Ikani’s left. “Where to now?” he
asked.

Suddenly, something in
the distance caught Ikani’s eye. To his right – southward, it
seemed – a beam of blue light shone down from the heavens,
seemingly guiding them.

“Follow that light!”
Ikani cried.

“And
make it quick,” Kaho added. “Look behind you!”

Ikani spun around.
Through the night, he spotted the bodies of Sirens – dozens of
them, flying through the night, hot on their tails.

“They just won’t give up!” Lanaru cried. “I’ll take care of
that!”

Once again, he
channeled the power of his Fan Blades, sending a whirlwind heading
in their direction.

“I think I’ll have that
with a side of fire!” Ikani exclaimed, readying his sword and
sending a wall of flames hurtling in their direction. Almost
immediately, the fire and wind joined forces, creating a spiraling
inferno that burned all that stood in its path.

“Nice going, brother!” Ikani congratulated the Veha Mara,
laughing once more.

At that, Lanaru turned
back, eyeing Ikani with a smirk on his face. “You weren’t too
shabby either,” he remarked, winking. “For an
ore-miner.”

The Kanalevai were
beginning their descent now, and slowly but surely the ground below
began to come back into view. They guided the Zor directly to the
source of the blue light.

“I
know this place,” Ikani remarked as they drew nearer to the
surface.

“Looks like we’re back
where it all began, then,” Enoke stated, mimicking the robotic
voice used during Pod transportation. “
Welcome to the Af’Lagi Historical Vaults. We hope you enjoyed
your travels.
”

Chapter XV – Floor
X

With the chaos finally
appearing to be behind the Veha, at least for the time being, Ikani
took the time prior to their landing in Af’Lagi to fill the others
in on what he had discovered following their split. He told them of
Tavar Havea being captured, and how Oren had rescued him only to
disappear himself shortly after. He also spoke of Remula and his
motives; he told his companions of the legendary Shrine of the
Gods, and how it was now their task to locate the fated Shrine – if
it even existed at all – before Remula could beat them to
it.

Apart from filling the
others in, Ikani came to learn a great deal as well. He learned of
the others’ quests for their new tools – of Kaho’s journey
underground, Enoke’s nearly fatal expedition in the Af’Lagi forest,
and of the Fan Blades that Lanaru had received from a mysterious
Zor named Arkem. Also from Lanaru, he heard the story of the
Resistance – the great army that had assembled within the depths of
Paradius, concealed amongst the abandoned sectors of the Web and
bearing members whose origins spanned all of the Five Islands. The
Mara had informed that if things were to go as planned, the army
was due to appear in the Hub City later that night.

Finally, the beating of
the Kanalevai’s wings began to slow, and they touched down into the
night on the outskirts of the mountaintop Af’Lagi Village, in close
proximity to the underground tunnels that lead down into the
Historical Vaults.

“Well, here we are, I
guess,” Ikani announced as he disembarked his bird. “We’re right
back where this all began.

Kaho nodded,
approaching Ikani from behind. “It would appear that the mysterious
blue light had led us to the Vaults,” she deduced. “Which leads me
to believe that whatever it is that we seek must be somewhere down
there.”

Ikani nodded in
agreement. “The Shrine of the Gods,” he said. “We haven’t got much
time to find it, though. We must hurry and locate the Shrine and
quickly find a Pod Station afterwards so that we can make our way
to the Hub and meet up with the Resistance. They may be strong, but
they will not stand a chance without us there as well. Remula’s
army of Guards and Sirens is all but endless.”

He was expecting
resounding agreement in response to his plans, but was surprised
when the others remained silent.

“Actually,” Enoke began
finally, albeit reluctantly, “about that… the entire Web went down
yesterday. Or up, rather,” he corrected himself.

“Up?” Ikani asked, both
shocked and confused.

Again, Enoke hesitated.
“Up in flames,” he explained further. “We were traveling to Af’One
hoping to track you down when it happened; we barely made it out
alive.”

Ikani froze at the
sound of his brother’s words. His thoughts flashed back to the
visions he had been shown by X upon leaving the Spirit Realm.
Flames chasing him through the Web. Paradius in ruins. Shattered
glass hanging over the skies of the fallen City…

“
Save Paradius, Ikani… at
all costs
.” The last words of
Tavar Havea continued to haunt him. Ikani shook his head
frantically, trying desperately to free his thoughts from the
bindings of these visions, as eerily accurate as they seemed to be
becoming.

“Let’s go,” he
declared, marching ahead of the others into the
Vaults.