by Brad Stucki
Darzeen was quiet a moment, gathering his thoughts as the rest of them tried to be patient and allow him to do so. They could tell he was striving mightily not to be confused himself.
“I was the one who blocked Javin’s memories. I pulled him away from a tremendous explosion Javin created in order to destroy a compound of Rolla’s people who were invading his planet. But that invasion is just now happening, and Javin, in that time, is still on his planet, Earth, trying to defend it from Rolla’s father’s invasion force led by Nemesis.”
Rolla hissed at this, and Javin was again mentally jolted by Darzeen’s comments.
“Because Javin has traveled backward in time as he has gone through the Portals, he is now at a time and place ‘before’ he has actually been taken from his home planet, and before I saved him and blocked his memories. That is why I’ve seemed confused. When, after our Sharing, I realized Javin’s memories were blocked, I started to realize what had happened.
“Now I know I must return to my realm and rescue Javin at the appropriate time, or the timeline will be ruined. I will have to block his memories as I had planned and set him on the course he has followed. If I don’t do that, all that has occurred may be altered which could, in turn, destroy the progress which has been made.”
“Wait a minute!” Javin interrupted. “You’re saying that you need to block my memories because that’s what you did . . . In the past? No, you’re saying that you need to do it in the future, because that’s what you did . . . In ‘my’ past.
“But my memories need to be unblocked now! If you blocked them, you can unblock them. That’s what we need! Kokos thinks I have the rest of the plan we need in those blocked memories!”
“She is probably correct, though I am also correct. If I don’t pull you from your world at the right moment, you will be killed and will not be able to perform your purpose in the Grand Plan.”
“But you already did that,” Javin said, accessing Darzeen’s memories, trying to see where Darzeen had blocked his memories. He couldn’t find them.
“You can’t find those memories,” Darzeen explained, “because it hasn’t happened yet -- for me. It has happened to you, but to me, I haven’t done it yet, so I don’t have those memories you are looking for.”
“This is very confusing,” Sauros said aloud.
“Tell me about it,” Javin said through the mental touch.
“I just did,” Sauros said, and then stopped. “Oh, I see, another ‘figure of speech.’”
Kokos giggled aloud.
“I’m glad someone is finding this funny,” Javin said, his humor resurfacing at the irony of it all. Then he started to sense something. “Fallon is coming. He’s supposed to tell me their answer about Sharing. I’m going to have to focus on that.”
“Maintain contact,” Sauros said. “We will all be with you.”
“I must go,” Darzeen said. “It may not make sense now, but I have to be where I can rescue Javin from the explosion, and set him on the path he has been following. I will then return, and we can see about unblocking his memories. But first, I need to make sure the timeline stays whole!”
Darzeen let go of Rolla’s hand, nodded to them all and closed his eyes. He started to fade from view, returning to his own realm and the work they all realized through his mental urgency he needed to do.
Sauros looked around at the others. Kokos shrugged. Rolla nodded and then they all focused on the bond with Javin, keeping a close touch with him so they could assist and Share.
Chapter 35
Javin fell back from the bond, holding onto it only slightly and fully concentrated on his surroundings. He could sense the return of Fallon, a Dark Guardian. He could also sense Sauros, Kokos and Rolla still with him. The bond was intact though weaker, standing by, waiting to surge forward at need.
Javin was seated against the wall, next to the tray of food and drink he’d finished earlier. He still didn’t know exactly where he was, but the thought came to him he was probably on the Guardian’s home planet where things still existed in the physical world, and why the Dark Guardians he’d seen appeared somewhat fuzzy, out of phase.
Then he saw it, a dark swirling point appearing in the center of the room and growing, coalescing until it formed into three of the Dark Guardians, Fallon standing in the center, facing Javin.
“Took you long enough,” Javin said.
The Dark Guardian chuckled. “Patience. Time no longer touches us.”
“Apparently,” Javin said. Then he noticed the Dark Guardian cocked his head, startled at Javin’s statement.
“I mean, since you took so long,” Javin explained. He didn’t want to make Fallon suspicious, and for some reason, he didn’t think it would be wise to let him know just yet that he knew his brother Darzeen and knew the history of his people. Yet that’s what he must be broadcasting.
“What do you know of us?” Fallon asked. His tone grew more ominous. “I sense something in you. More knowledge than you should have.
Heck, Javin thought. He realized the Guardians had a sense of empathy / telepathy that was quite powerful. Darzeen had exhibited it, and the memories he had from Nemesis confirmed how careful he had to be in order to hide anything. Even now, he could feel Fallon start to probe.
Javin instinctively raised his skin-tight shielding, not even thinking as he did it.
“You shield yourself,” Fallon said. “How do you know to do this?”
“It was instinctive,” Javin said honestly.
“You say you want to Share, yet you block me?”
“Like I said, it was instinctive,” Javin said. “So, you have agreed to Share?”
The two guards on either side of Fallon moved forward, standing to either side of Javin, towering over him. Fallon also moved forward to stand directly over Javin.
Javin moved to stand. Fallon motioned for him to stay seated.
“No, we have not agreed to Share. You will simply give us what we want. Even though you are shielded, I have other ways to get what I need.”
Javin felt a power start to surround him not unlike what Nemesis did. Even through the shielding he felt his body being pulled partially out of phase.
The pain was excruciating, like his body was being pulled apart at the cellular level. He couldn’t breathe even enough to gasp. Then it eased.
“That is a small sampling of what we will do if you do not open up and let me read you.”
Javin was panting, trying to give his body time to recover from the complete tensing of all his muscles at once. He felt, deep within, the bond with Sauros, Kokos and Rolla moving to come forward. Quickly Javin pushed them back more roughly than he intended, but they understood on a deeper level what he needed them to do so they receded once again, deep enough to remain hidden until bidden forward.
“Okay, I’ll Share.” Javin said.
“That is not what I said,” the Dark Guardian loomed over Javin. He started to feel the power surge around him again, prior to another round of pain, so he quickly held up his hands.
“No! Wait! I’ll tell you. I’ll give you what you want. It’s what I’m here for, after all. No need to be brutal about it. Just tell me what I need to do.”
“You will lower your shield and let me read you.”
“No problem,” Javin said. And he consciously willed the shield around him to dissipate while calming his mind. Perhaps this would be his opportunity. He’d have to be very subtle though. He’d have to play it by ear.
Deep in the recesses of his mind he heard Kokos giggle, though her heart was filled with concern, he felt her humor at his figure of speech. “Playing by ear,” he heard her echoing humor. It made Javin smile in spite of himself.
“What are you smiling about?” Fallon asked.
“I just found this suddenly amusing. You feel like you have to threaten and torture to get me to do something I came here to do willingly. Don’t you see the irony?”
Javin sensed the anger start to surge within Fal
lon so he held up his hands again. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to get you riled up. The shielding is down. I’m calm. Read away.” Javin struggled to maintain his composure and quickly urged Sauros, Kokos and Rolla to sink deeper within his consciousness, to try and remain hidden.
Fallon and the guards stepped forward. Fallon placed one hand on Javin’s head. It felt strange, like it was there, not there, then there again. Tendrils of a mental touch started to seep in and around. Javin stayed open, calm, welcoming the touch, embracing it. It went deeper, delving, starting to draw memories and knowledge. Images flashed in Javin’s mind as they passed through and out into Fallon. Then Javin started to panic.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to Share, but he realized Fallon would detect they had already Shared with his brother, Darzeen. It was too late now. And Javin forced himself to relax again, allowing the probing tendrils to go deeper, swirling around in his mind, allowing the contact to grow more solid, secure and flowing.
Then Javin realized, as he’d hoped, the conduit was large enough he could subtly start to draw backwards from Fallon. Would he detect it? Javin gave it just a little more time, allowing Fallon to be more intent on drawing, then he started to draw on Fallon, just a trickle at first. When he wasn’t noticing, he widened it just slightly and continued to draw, trying not to even think about what he was doing.
There was a sudden gasp Javin felt through the conduit, though the two-way drawing was still proceeding. Javin’s touch through the conduit didn’t appear to be the reason.
“You didn’t tell me you had already Shared with Darzeen!” Javin felt relieved and was glad for Fallon’s distraction on an entirely different matter than noticing Javin’s touch.
“We didn’t have much of a chance to have a two-way conversation,” Javin said. “It’s all there for you to read. I’m certainly not trying to hide anything. I’ve opened up completely. Besides, it will be good to know what your brother is thinking and feeling – at least had been thinking and feeling not long ago.”
Then Javin realized Fallon would soon also learn Javin could, and had, maintained a bond with his friends across a far distance. It couldn’t be helped. Javin hoped the gains outweighed the losses. He was handing Fallon all of their knowledge and possible advantage.
“This is amazing!” he heard Fallon say. “This fills in so much!”
Chapter 36
Javin was beginning to hope Fallon’s heart would be softened and the rift between the Guardian factions would be healed. Perhaps coming here would prove to be a good idea after all?
“This is making much more sense, now,” Fallon continued, the awe in his voice rising. “We could have just waited . . .”
Javin felt the mental conduit strengthen as Fallon focused on drawing Javin’s knowledge and memories more deeply. He took the opportunity of Fallon’s focus to widen his own drawing, to continue to take, while giving of himself. The link was moving swiftly and Fallon, never having had this strong of a link before, probably wouldn’t realize what was happening. And the link was growing, subtly, slowly, to the point where now it was almost fully combined into a real Sharing.
Deep inside himself Javin could also sense Sauros, Kokos and Rolla drinking in, participating in the flow of knowledge and memories. It was working. And Fallon had yet to realize.
Then abruptly the link snapped! And Javin felt the searing pain of again being shredded at the cellular level.
“You didn’t think I would notice? You didn’t think I would see what you were trying to do?” Fallon hissed. “I found you . . . And your friends there lurking, trying to drain me!
“I was doing this the easy way, allowing you to let me have what I was looking for. You said this is what you wanted. Yet you presume to steal from me!”
The pain intensified and Javin felt he was nearing the blackout point, the point he’d been before when Nemesis was doing much the same thing to him. Deep in the recess of his mind, he felt Sauros and the others being pushed out. They couldn’t remain with him even though they had before. Why? Why were they leaving him?
Javin was falling deeper into the black pit. He felt the pain as harsh as ever, but his mind, his soul was starting to disconnect with the fury of Fallon’s onslaught, pulling him asunder, stripping him of his self, his very ‘essence’.
Oddly his mind wandered a bit, thinking that this type of torture seemed to be a one-trick-pony for the Dark Guardians. Nemesis had used it on Chahzuu, used it on him several times, and now Nemesis’ former Master, Fallon was using it on him. All to the same end, to rip away knowledge to use for their own gain.
There was a peace that was starting to wash over Javin. It was the peace he’d felt before. Falling . . . Falling . . . Then he was caught! But not in the way he’d felt before. Instead he slammed hard back to reality. The waves of pain had ceased, and he felt a surge of power flowing around him. A familiar power that . . . He could reach out to and use. Grasp and hold. Strengthening him, bringing him back from the brink.
The darkness was quickly fading and Javin realized he was sharing that power, that another, someone familiar - no - several people familiar to him were reaching out, directing that power to him so he could accept it and use it.
It was Sauros! And Kokos and Rolla! They had used the 3rd Article of Power and channeled that flow of energy to him. That’s where they had gone. And that’s why they had left him. They had left to grasp and hold the power of the 3rd Article and were now channeling that power to him!
He would use it!
Power and energy suffused him, strengthened him and crystallized his mind. In the back of his mind he was amazed at how this could be done through the vast distance which must separate them.
The 3rd Article of Power was focused on Belief, Knowledge, Faith, Strength of Certainty, and it was a powerful force which could be focused to . . .
Javin blocked himself from the pain, and that blocking had fixed Fallon to him as if Fallon were caught in a trap and couldn’t escape. The conduit he had opened was frozen open. Javin opened his eyes and stared at a wide-eyed Fallon whose body was also frozen still. His guards were staring at Fallon, wondering if they should do something. Then they turned to Javin, obviously feeling the change which had come upon him.
It was a simple matter for Javin to reach out with the power and encircle them in a barrier which held them fast. It was easy since he’d experienced the shielding himself several times.
Javin tied the shielding off and forgot the two guards. They weren’t going anywhere, nor would they be able to send for help.
Now to Fallon. Javin was angry. He was fed up. He was tired of suffering through this type of treatment when all he was trying to do was save everyone!
Since the conduit between he and Fallon was frozen open via the power Javin was wielding, he thought it only fair that Fallon got a taste of his own medicine.
Javin had been surreptitiously Sharing with Fallon, but now, there was no reason to hide. And no reason to be gentle. He reached through and started to strip Fallon in much the same way he had been stripped.
Fallon’s mouth had been frozen open in shock, and now, Javin could see and sense the pain wracking Fallon, though he couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. He groaned in pain. And Javin saw tears come to Fallon’s eyes.
There wasn’t much left to draw, and Javin quickly had everything he needed - or wanted from Fallon. Then he felt a small surge in the back of his mind. And realized Sauros, Kokos and Rolla were still with him. The bond was active again. It was Rolla who was reaching out to him, calming him, bringing him back from his anger.
Javin released the drawing on Fallon and saw him sag in relief, though still frozen upright.
“We have what we need. Come back to us now.” It was Rolla reaching out to him through the bond. “Let Fallon and his people also consider what they have received. Perhaps then they will join us. Or at least those who can make a difference.”
Javin knew she was right. And was grateful for her int
ervention. He didn’t know what he might have done if she hadn’t stopped him. He looked at Fallon and his two guards and spoke aloud, though he made sure to echo it loudly in their minds as well for emphasis.
“We all must work together in order for any of us to be saved. You have the knowledge. Put away your pride and work with us. If you don’t, I’ll find a way to come back to your realm and demand an accounting of you and your people!”
Javin didn’t know how he would fulfill that promise but being filled with the energy of the 3rd Article of Power, he knew he would be able to do it.
Then he set the shielding on the three Dark Guardians to dissipate over time and started concentrating, finding the resonance of where Sauros, Kokos and Rolla were waiting for him. He had what he came for, if not in the way he’d hoped.
“And note this,” Javin said as he felt his body start to fade. “If you’re not going to help, you better not get in our way.”
Javin felt his body shift . . . from where he was . . . To the Archive room, and while making the transition, his mind drifted to Nemesis, wondering where he was.
Chapter 37
Nemesis was sitting on the throne he’d had erected in the audience chamber of the main dome the Aquarians had formed as their stronghold on earth. His conquest of earth had come easily, which was good. He hadn’t entirely relished the thought of having to destroy most of the planet to subjugate it. Instead it had only been the major cities New York, LA, Chicago, Dallas, London, Moscow, Seoul, Sydney, Beijing, and a couple of others in the rest of the world.
That’s all it had taken to knock the fight out of his human race. The only real danger had come from Javin, who armed with a suitcase nuke had been sneaking up on their fortress. Nemesis had sensed him coming, and because he’d sensed him coming had been able to send out a contingent of his Aquarian guards to stop him.
