The Realms of Ethair (7 page)

A small plan began to form and with it his heart
ached, making him gasp sharply. He would lose her friendship, he
realized.
No. The mission is more important. She – her life is the
mission. Duty comes first before personal feelings. I’ve taken an
oath. I must finish this. To see her safe and alive should be
enough. It will have to be enough.

His feet moved on its own taking him to where
Sola had said she would be residing. His stride lengthened with
urgency and slowed only when he caught sight of the house at a
distance. Light shone through the windows invitingly. He resisted
the urge to let himself be known to its occupants, unsure of how
she would receive him.

He laid his palm on a nearby tree and
asked its spirit the permission he needed. Without further ado, he
climbed it and found a position where he could have the best view
and still remain unnoticed. Securing himself on a branch, he
watched the two women by the window. Arturion felt relieved at the
sight of Karina. Kala proved to be good company when he saw his
friend smile at something the girl had said.

Worries about prophecies, the future, and
the plan he had put into motion crowded his mind. He concentrated
on the scene before him. Gradually, the tension in his shoulders
eased and trivial thoughts replaced his other concerns. He had been
so preoccupied in making sure of their escape that he had not had
the time to notice his friend’s change of appearance. Her hair was
longer now and her features sharper. She had considerably lost
weight since his last visit to Karina’s home.

The fear in her eyes during last night’s
Merkaba had pained him. Arturion had lost control of the situation.
It was his fault for underestimating the Zertans. He had not
anticipated that They would make their move so soon.

At this distance, he could already smell
the change in her aura, a subtle scent of lavender. Its density was
almost indiscernible to those sensitive enough to feel it that she
could have been mistaken as a member their community. The
transition has long been underway.

It should have been next to impossible for
the Zertans to find her. How had they learned about her?

Karina
’s head turned to his direction. Unconsciously, he leaned
back into the shadows, bumping against the tree, and shrank his
aura fearing detection. The size of her aura had grown larger that
it covered most of the forest. If she was more adept with her
abilities, she would have immediately sensed his presence; worse,
identified his exact location.

At present, his heart raced at the
possibility that she might have felt him nearby. His misgivings
remained unrealized as Kala distracted her with a crystal tablet.
They were both in deep conversation as they shared the object
between them. At some point, Kala met his gaze and he knew that she
would not give him away.

Arturion descended from his perch and thanked
the tree spirit for granting his request. When he asked if he could
repay the kindness, the tree spirit appeared. She had taken the
shape of an ethereal young woman with dark almond-shaped eyes.

“Answers in return for the favor.”

Arturion nodded.

“Why do you hide, Gate Keeper?”

“Because,” he stared past the spirit. “I am
afraid.”

“She is light and air and of earth. You have
nothing to fear.”

“Yes, but I have failed her. I fear losing
her friendship.”

The tree spirit smiled wanly and shook her
head, retreating within her tree.

Arturion had turned to leave when he heard
the spirit’s whisper through the rustle of her leaves. “I will be
your friend, Keeper. I am Mira. Call my name and I shall heed
it.”

Sola sat across him. His foster father’s head
bowed in thought after he had brought the news. Sara placed her
hand over Arturion’s. It was a habit of hers to make physical
contact with those near her. As a child he had sought for his
mother and her small gestures had helped him feel that he was not
quite alone in the world. He began to treat her as he would his
mother as
time
passed.

“Are you certain that your plan worked?”
Sola’s eyes bore into him.

“Yes. Reno and his Black Guards helped cover
the trail.”

“The Others. Your encounter with one of Them.
This is the flaw in your plan. How would you deceive them when they
have sent Theirs directly? Usually, Their humans do the dirty work.
Rarely do They involve Themselves.”

“My encounter turned out to be a defective
prototype – a drone someone released. Reno has imprisoned it in a
concealed location until the Galactic Federation sends one of their
representatives to transfer it to a more secure area.”

“They are still at war with the Cabal.”

The Galactic Federation (GF) is a large
collective of beings from different parts of the galaxies and
universes formed with the sole purpose of achieving a harmonious
existence or universal peace.

The Cabal is another organization responsible
for numerous atrocities in the world. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki
bombings in Japan, year 1945, were suspected to be a part of the
Cabal’s machinations. The nuclear bombing had caused a chain of
events in the universe and reminded everyone of the devastation
that occurred after Atlantis engaged in a nuclear war. The last
incident, the March 11, 2011 tsunami and nuclear terror attack in
Japan, had been the turning point, which caused the GF to engage
the Cabal while keeping mankind ignorant of the ongoing war.

The Federation has been watching
activities on Earth closely to prevent another incident from
happening and to ensure the long-awaited evolution of the planet
and its inhabitants comes to fruition.

“
They are neutralizing most of the fear and
chaos the Cabal has been organizing. As for the Others, they have
lost the advantage. They will not touch Kris –Karina’s sister and
friends when they believe her…dead.”

“
True, unless she comes back from her
supposed death,” Sola acknowledged. “The immediate danger has been
averted. We have to thank Reno and his people for their
efforts.”

“
Karina’s life is still in danger,” Sara
said softly.

The two men looked to the high priestess for
an explanation.

“You may have forgotten the dangers of her
transition.”

“I brought her here heeding the prophecy.”
Arturion frowned.

“
The prediction refers to the Zertans.” At
the mention of the name, Sola started to protest but the high
priestess held up her hand. “Hush, my son. It will not do to turn
your superstitions on me. I have lived far too long to know that
superstitions gain strength with belief. They can be as human as
they wish to be for all I care. Their lust for power – control and
domination – knows no bounds, but they are gradually and steadily
losing their hold on Karina’s world no sooner than the Cabals. They
cannot follow the dimensional shift. They are simply stuck in the
lower dimensions for as long as they hold negativity at the very
core of their beings.

“
Our human friends, on the other hand, are
a very young race. They are fickle by nature but they are
redeemable. Their small acts of kindness have proven that they are
not entirely a lost cause. Some of them will remain in the same
dimension with the Zertans, while others – certain others, who want
a change for the better, will be taken along by Mother
Earth’s
ascension
;
choose to accept assistance from Arturion and his fellow Gate
Keepers; or, simply be reborn. They always have choices. Karina has
made hers.” Sara leveled her gaze at him.

“
I compelled her.” For all his grand words
in Karina’s living room, Arturion felt that he had decided for her.
He dropped his gaze to his tea, which had gone cold.

“Have you spoken with her yet?” By the tone
of her voice, she already knew the answer. “You must speak to her.
It will benefit you both to clear the air between you.”

“What of the danger to Karina?” Sola
reminded.

“She will survive?” Arturion asked.

“
The future is not set in stone. She may or
may not survive. It will depend on her choosing. She chose to trust
you; thus, she chose to survive. It is important that she receives
support from a friend. To abandon her now would weaken her
determination to live.”

Sara refilled their cups and sipped her tea
deliberately. She had said her piece and let her words hang in the
deepening silence.

Blue light flashed in Sola’s left sleeve.
He withdrew an oval mirror from a hidden pocket in his robes. He
looked into it for a moment and passed the object to his foster
son.

Instead of seeing his own reflection,
another person’s face was displayed on the mirror.

“Do they know?” Reno’s voice spoke in his
mind.

“Yes.”

“Then, you can share this news with them
later. The Black Guards are investigating on the people who have
made contact with Karina. It will take time to gather all the data
we need.”

The Order of the Black Guard is well known
for bending the ethical standards of their world when it suited
their purposes. They were formed as countermeasure against the
Zertans and the Cabal and regularly monitored both parties’
activities. Reno had been taken aback when their records failed to
show any connection of the Zertan’s knowledge of Karina’s
existence. As Commander of the Black Guard, he took his Order’s
shortcoming as a personal blow and decided to deal with the matter
directly.

“
No mind reading,” Arturion said. He
wouldn’t put it past them to employ Senka’s skills to look into an
individual’s memories.

Reno glared at him. His mouth set into a
thin line. The man was clearly unhappy that a Gate Keeper would
apply himself in the Black Guard Order’s methods.

“
At least not to Aly, Mindy, Nica and
Liza,” he added to appease his friend. “Karina would never allow
it.”

“If it would ease our honored guest, so be
it.”

The sarcasm was not lost on him. Reno has
been his friend even before his mother’s death. His best friend
knew him enough to know that the request was more for his peace of
mind than Karina’s sake.

“
At ease, brother. I shall try my best to
keep my overenthusiastic Guards on a tight leash.” A dark bushy
brow arched upward. “In the meantime, try not to get yourself into
trouble. Your brush with a Zertan drone was dangerous
enough.”

“What is the general status of the
situation?”

“
Thanks to our time traveler, Vito, the
official and unofficial report within the Zertan’s organization is
that Karina is truly dead. We will continue to monitor their
movements.”

“How is her sister?”

“I thought we agreed to keep this
objective.”

“
If I speak with Karina, she would ask,”
Arturion reasoned.

“
You’re right. You can tell her that the
woman is still grieving, but she is holding up well,” Reno said in
annoyance.

Arturion’s mouth twitched. Reno had
attended the funeral posing as Karina’s former colleague. He had
unwittingly seated himself beside Aly, who would not cease from
crying. It was an uncomfortable position for the Commander, unused
to seeing so many tears shed by one woman, let alone a tiny one. He
had tried to comfort her as best he could, which turned out to be a
serious mistake. The river of tears became a dam that had broken
loose. In a matter of seconds, a number of the visitors shared
their sympathies with Aly.

“
Don’t you dare laugh at me, Gate Keeper,”
Reno said sternly. “It was hard enough to approach an attractive
woman when I am not as pretty as you are. Never have I dreamt that
a Black Guard’s nightmare turn to reality as all those eyes turned
on us.”

“It could have been worse.”

“
Yes. There is, however, a tall, thin young
man who seemed to be asking too many questions. From what I’ve
gathered, his presence was not entirely welcome.”

“Peter?”

“Yes. Mindy was making dagger eyes at him.
There might be something behind it. We’re doing a background check
on him just to be on the safe side.”

A crash erupted in the background. Reno’s
head swiveled to the source of the commotion. “I have to go. My
apprentice has a habit of breaking my mirrors at the Comms
station,” he said drily. “I’ll keep you posted if there are
changes.”

The image in the mirror swirled and in its
place his reflection stared back at him. When he looked up, Sola
had already gone to attend to a local issue.

He relayed Reno’s message to Sara hoping she
would manage to speak to his foster-father within the day.

She joined him outside the perimeter of the
temple and quietly viewed the magnificent tree at its center. Some
of the people who passed them by greeted or exchanged a few words
with the high priestess at his side.

It was still early in the morning and
every tree branch and leaf were moist with dew. The sweet and
earthly smell gave him comfort. Every time he came back from a
mission, the scenery waiting for him always took his breath away.
He had started wondering if he had made a mistake in his choice of
career. Sola had given him a year to think it over.

Two years had gone by and he was still
undecided. The scenery lost some of its allure now. In his
subconscious, he knew that it remained unaltered and it was him who
had changed.