by Zy Rykoa
‘No,’ said Oldenwa.
Vennoss paused. ‘Well, thank you. We are in your debt.’
Oldenwa smiled. ‘I require no payment.’
Jaden was carried away on a stretcher, Ryan taking hold of one side and helping to lift him into the back of a vehicle waiting for them. Jaden was then taken to a medical unit in the east, where he would receive the care he needed.
Ryan returned to his grandfather and the big man.
‘Thank you,’ he said to Oldenwa, who bowed slightly. ‘If you are ever in need of anything, please, do not hesitate to ask.’
‘The same to you, General.’
Ryan acknowledged the offer with a nod. ‘Come, it is not safe to stand here. The Alliance forces are massing at the other side of the Quartun Bridge. In the next hours, we’re going to have about two hundred thousand of their soldiers coming up here. I have ordered my forces to join us here in the fight. Can the Daijuar help?’
‘We need rest, but we will manage,’ said Blair, joining them.
‘Good,’ said Ryan, and he turned back to Oldenwa. ‘And you?’
‘I will do what I can.’
‘You all have more experience with the Alliance than I do,’ said Ryan to the Daijuar. ‘I will leave it with you to decide where you should be.’
‘That is wise, Ryan,’ said Vennoss.
Both bowed to one another as Ryan walked to the closet command room on site. Lendon Ode met with him inside.
‘My people are coming to defend here,’ said Lendon.
‘We need all the help we can get,’ acknowledged Ryan.
‘Yes,’ said Lendon, ‘but I believe we have lost this war. Perhaps it is time to start an evacuation.’
Ryan almost shuddered. ‘I do not wish to leave this city.’
‘There might not be a choice soon,’ said Lendon grimly. ‘At least if we leave now, we will have more time to get away.’
‘I will consider your proposal,’ said Ryan, and he walked to the screens to begin issuing further orders.
* * *
As Ryan expected, the coming hours brought a force of enormous proportions across from the Quartun Bridge, with hundreds of thousands of troops occupying its full length. The defence systems taken by the Alliance at zone one were soon recaptured, enabling the Resistance to attack them as they came. But those closest to the bridge were bombarded by Alliance air strikes, causing the Resistance to retaliate with their own air offensive. The battles in the sky and on the ground continued for several hours, forcing Ryan to call for more troops from the south to help in the north. He knew this would allow the Alliance from the south to come back into the city, but an extra ten thousand Alliance troops were the least of his worries, as close to one hundred thousand were making their way up the natural dirt ramp. Many perished on the way, the Resistance defences pounding the Alliance forces from above. But the sheer number was too great, and all but a few of the Resistance defences fell within the first hour of the Alliance ascent.
When there was little else that he could think to do and the other two commanders of the Resistance had become silent over the radio, he asked them if it were time to abandon the city. When both reluctantly agreed, Ryan sent word to all zones to retreat to zone six in the east, telling them that the Daijuar would protect their escape from there on.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians made their way east first, most using the underground tunnels set up to get beyond the concrete wall guarding their escape route, followed by the first retreating zones from the south. The northern zones remained fighting alongside the Daijuarn shields that had been erected, and were the last line of defence between the Alliance and absolute victory.
Soon, all ten Daijuar present, including Multias and Quian from Waikor, were blocking the Alliance from the north and south, with Oldenwa helping at the back and making sure no stray missiles hit any civilians. Their shields held strong, even with the improved weaponry of the Alliance, and Dahla was thankful that no weapon like the one she had faced at Waikor was present.
When the last of the civilians and most of his soldiers were safely evacuated, Ryan left with the other commanders, through the tunnel and out beyond the concrete wall. He jumped up on the back of a jeep with Lendon, and watched the lights as they played out ahead. The sounds of explosions on the Daijuarn shields and gunfire was soon too far in the distance to be heard any longer, and Ryan bowed his head, as much from the shame and disappointment of leaving his city to be destroyed as from tiredness.
‘It’s over,’ he said.
‘For now,’ said Lendon. ‘But we live to fight again.’
‘How long must we do this?’ asked Ryan, now finding himself wishing he was still back at home in Callibra, and that he had never needed to leave at all.
‘For as long as we can,’ said Lendon simply, and they both sat in silence, watching as the rings faded back to a calm blue, and then directing their attention to the magnificent displays of the Daijuarn shields.
A deafening roar above woke them from their sombre daze, and they looked up to see a blue-flamed aircraft shoot past. It was accompanied soon after by close to one hundred more, all flying in the direction of Corsec.
‘What are those?’ asked Ryan.
‘I don’t know,’ said Lendon.
‘Do we fire upon them?’
‘No,’ said Lendon. ‘They would have attacked us if they meant us harm.’
‘You’re right,’ said Ryan, amazed that his fatigue had made him ask such a question. ‘B why are they flying into my city?’
‘Time will tell,’ said Lendon.
Moments later explosions lit up ahead of the Daijuarn shields and beyond. The blue-flamed aircrafts seemed to be attacking the Alliance forces. The Daijuarn shields were lowered and soon vanished almost entirely, erected only temporarily to block any stray fire still coming at them.
Ryan’s eyes lit up in disbelief. ‘They’ve come to help us!’ he shouted, and he jumped to the front of the vehicle, picking up the radio device. ‘All personnel move back to Corsec. Everyone else remain where you are. The Alliance is under attack! Go! We can still win this fight!’
Ryan turned back to Lendon with a pained smile. ‘We’re saved,’ he said.
Lendon laughed as the vehicle was turned around with the others, and all returned to Corsec to continue the fight. Together, with the help of the blue-flamed bombers, they were able to drive the Alliance forces back out of Corsec, forcing many of the Alliance troops to retreat before even making it across the Quartun Bridge.
The Diadon navy seemed to have had a change of heart, or had received word of the change, as they also returned to seek their revenge on those who had sunk some of their ships. Their full arsenal was released on the fleeing Alliance troops, trapping thousands on the bridge under the fire of the newly arrived air force. Within a few hours, the Alliance force had been reduced to less than fifty thousand in the north, who fled deep into the Tiquan continent, out of the Diadon navy’s range.
The Resistance did what they could to drive away the remaining Alliance troops in Corsec south, but Ryan quickly ordered them to go no further than the border. He wanted his force to remain behind, and for the Alliance to return to Callibra, where he would send strikes of his own in the coming weeks.
As the last of the blue-flamed aircraft disappeared on the eastern horizon, a cheer rose up from the people of Corsec. The battle had been won. Their city had been saved.
Ryan thanked the Diadon navy for returning and the Daijuar for protecting them when they had needed to flee. With all the stress, fatigue and pain of war, all were finding it hard to relax even in victory, but they did their best to show gratitude. Ryan was interrupted when a black helicopter flew overhead, its search light scanning for something on the ground. It made a second pass, returning to Ryan and hovering a moment, its search light directly on him. It then landed nearby and a man leapt out and ran toward him and the Daijuar. He gave Ryan a letter in a large orange envelope, saluted and then r
an back to the helicopter without saying a word.
Ryan studied the envelope, unable to recognise the symbol stamped upon it. He flipped it over, and in handwritten lettering it read:
To the Young Sentinel,
May good fortune find you.
Curiously Vennoss walked closer to look at the envelope, exchanging a confused glance with Ryan before both shrugged and made their way into the medical unit, where Jaden was recovering. The battle was over for them, the rebuilding would begin the next day, but for now, they wished to speak with Jaden about the mysterious letter he had just received.
Chapter Thirty
In the silence the call is heard.
April 17, 997 R.E.
Jaden sat among green grasses on the hilltop, staring toward the blue ocean in the distance. He had been here for what seemed years, unable to return to the physical world, trapped in the haunted dream, condemned to an eternity here for a crime he could not remember. The boy with black hair was gone. He had walked away on the first day before Jaden was able to reach him. Jaden hadn’t followed. He thought it best to let the child go on his own. The boy would know where to find him if he wanted his help. It was not his place to decide what was best for the boy anymore. That right had been forfeited. He was not sure when he had done it or what he had done, but there was a weight upon his chest, of something in his past that would not allow him to go any further.
Ever since he had arrived here, it had seemed to be dawn. The sky was a dull blue, mostly covered by gray clouds. But all was at peace. There was silence, without a breath of wind about him. It gave him time to think, to wander through his thoughts without care for anything that had happened, without fear of what might be, and without hate for all that had occurred. He was free here, even if imprisoned.
He knew he had lived many years in some other world, where none of what he saw around him existed. But without the memories of that lifetime, it was little more than a whisper in the back of his mind.
There were fleeting visions that came from time to time, each revealing a new piece of the puzzle; a face, a scene, and sometimes a voice. Some made him feel anger while others made him calm. He welcomed each as a change, something more to think on. He was happy for the rest, but his mind continued to yearn for more than what was here. There was more to learn, more to achieve.
As he began to fidget with the grass in front of him, a blurred scene grew from darkness. He could not see where he was, but there was the sound of crashing water behind him. He put his head down, allowing tears to fall from his closed eyes. He was not sure why it made him cry, but he knew the place was one he truly missed from the other world.
He lifted his head as the scene disappeared and he waited the next hours in silence.
A voice spoke to him later, but like the scene, it too seemed blurred and unrecognisable. He had not heard any words, but he felt the need to get up and search around him. There was nothing here but dirt and grasses, and he quickly began to race back through the fields. He didn’t know what he was searching for, only that he needed to find it soon. Wind began to push the grasses forward as he ran faster and the sky began to flash with lightning. He saw the black-haired boy then as he reached the top of another hill and stopped in shock.
The boy’s face was calm as their eyes first met but quickly contorted into utter hatred.
Jaden shook his head. ‘Why are you still here?’
The boy glared fiercely, but said nothing.
‘Get away from me!’ shouted Jaden. ‘It’s over! Let me go!’
No matter how loud Jaden yelled at the boy, the boy remained where he was, defiant beyond anything Jaden knew.
The storm intensified as the two fought through an invisible wire linking their minds, and Jaden fell to his knees when he realised he was no match for the dark-haired boy.
‘Why?’ asked Jaden. ‘Why don’t you just forgive the world for what it is?’
Before the boy could respond, Jaden felt himself being pulled into the earth beneath him by powerful claw-like grips. He woke to darkness, unable to open his eyes. He felt the claws around his wrists, holding him down. But he would not let them defeat him. He would fight them to the end. He ignited the endobraces as he sat up and felt pain like knives slicing into both arms, forcing him to recoil back in agony.
Warm hands pushed him back down and held him there gently.
‘Easy,’ came a familiar, husky voice. ‘Easy,’ it repeated.
Jaden tossed and turned, struggling with the pain in his arms. Something was wrong. Something had happened when he had tried to use the Daijuarn energy.
When the pain subsided in the coming minutes, he found he was able to open his eyes, but no longer could he see the barren fields of the dream. He was behind a dark green curtain with three people at his side as he lay in a bed, his arms in bandages and strapped to the bed frame—what he had thought were the claw-like grips.
Jaden searched over the faces around him. His brother Ryan was at his right side, the traveller Tarsha was next to him, and on the left, he now saw that the familiar husky voice had belonged to his grandfather. Memories began to flood back of the battle, of standing before his enemy and the power that had come. They had been foolish to try to kill him. Their actions that day had decided their fates. But the innocent people that were underground and the Daijuar who had been running to save him … had he killed them too?
‘I didn’t mean to hurt them,’ he said aloud.
‘Hurt who?’ asked Vennoss.
‘The Daijuar.’
‘They are recovering,’ assured Vennoss.
‘What about the Resistance?’ asked Jaden.
‘Some did not make it,’ said Vennoss sadly. ‘But their lives were not lost in vain. If not for your actions, many more would have died.’
‘How many?’
‘It is not important,’ said Ryan.
‘How many?’ Jaden repeated angrily.
Ryan paused and looked at Vennoss for a moment. ‘We estimate two thousand.’
‘And the Alliance?’
‘More than ten thousand,’ said Tarsha, holding back a note of excitement as she unbound his arms.
Jaden shook his head, unable to make eye contact with any of those around him. When his arms were free, he began unwrapping his wrists despite his brother’s protests. He wanted to see where the endobraces had been and why it hurt so much. The skin on both arms was now scarred and distorted over charred veins. He remembered feeling them burning into him when the power had come, as if he had overloaded the endobraces somehow. No longer would he be able to use the Daijuarn energy, but he would wear the markings of them for the rest of his life.
‘Let me go,’ he said suddenly.
‘Rest, brother, you are not in good health,’ said Ryan.
‘Untie me, now, or I will.’
Hearing Jaden’s tone, Ryan looked to Vennoss to know what to do. After a moment, the white-haired man nodded, and both unbound Jaden’s chest, waist and legs. Before they could hold him back, Jaden had thrown the bed sheets up and leapt from under them, racing through the curtain and out of the medical unit. They called for him to come back, but in his haste, it seemed he had not heard them.
Jaden ran as fast as he could outside, paying no attention to the dawn or the still-smoking piles on the fields of the badly damaged terrain of Corsec city. The smell of death and burning flesh was still present, but he did not care about any of it. He was searching for something he knew was close, for something that he needed to see. In the next medical unit, he sensed it near, and he ran past the hundreds of beds where the wounded and sick lay to find it. He came to a drawn curtain in the next section, and without a request to enter he opened it and walked through.
There was a young man lying in the bed, his head bandaged heavily and his leg in a cast. Sores and scabs covered his skin, and there was blood coming through the wrap around his chest. Jaden turned to see all the people sitting around the bed looking at him questioningly. He igno
red them all except for one, the girl with shadowed blonde hair sitting at the end, the young man’s head in her arms.
He thought he would feel anger for her being here, and hate that she was still with him. But as he saw Alyssa’s new love lying so helplessly before him and Alyssa with tears in her eyes by his side, he felt nothing of either, only remorse for all that had happened, and pity for those who had suffered the same fate at his people.
‘He saved her life,’ came a voice from behind him.
Jaden turned to see the Kayde of Ceahlin standing at his side. ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked.
Lendon glanced at him, maintaining eye contact briefly, searching for something. When he had found it, Lendon exhaled slowly and nodded. ‘I guess it is time you should know. He is my son,’ he said, indicating the young man lying in the bed. ‘I didn’t know that he was tending to her if that is what you think. I was busy with my people and I apologise for not keeping to my word. But even if he were not my son, I could not have let you harm someone for what happened. We are all innocent people at heart just trying to do the best we can with the circumstances we are given. To hate us is to hate life, and most of all yourself. You would have done the same if you were us. It is rare that true evil intention enters our hearts without confusion of what is real. I hope you can understand this, even with all that you have lost. Sometimes, Sentinel, there is nothing you can do to change the world.’
Jaden was silent, staring at Alyssa as she turned back to the young man lying in bed.
At first, it appeared Jaden was about to say something in reply, but then simply nodded to Lendon, and then without a word, he walked past the curtain, exiting the medical unit and leaving Alyssa with the new man she had chosen. No matter how much he wished to take her with him, he knew she was where she was meant to be.
Outside, Vennoss, Ryan and Tarsha were all looking around desperately searching for Jaden. When they spotted him, they ran toward him. Jaden stopped and waited as they approached.
