by Rob Roth
“Malic! Eld has caused your plans to fail, and your scheme has been broken! We will never fire the beams on that ship, because I was given a vision of what you intended — to destroy the Dream Realm and breach the Pristine Lands!”
“What?!” cried out Elysia, as she stood frozen in place, startled by Jace’s words. “How could he possibly do that?”
Malic looked at Jace with pure hatred, and snarled at him and said, “Maybe so, human. But for that transgression you, your world, and everyone you care about will still die!”
Malic's full attention was on Jace now. Severs and Davis saw their opportunity and launched a hail of fire at Malic. Unfortunately, even in his enraged stated the Malicon flared every time stopping the bullets.
Jace knew he was out of options, and his last thoughts were of Elysia and his friends, when Malic focused the power of the Malicon on Jace and his Elicon.
The orange beam shot from Malic's fist, and hit Jace with its full, violent and deadly force.
The realization came to Jace that he could hardly see, because of the intense white light shining all around him. Where was he? He wasn’t sure if he had fallen asleep, or just awakened. And he didn’t have a sense for how long he had been here. Or where he had come from. Then, he heard a voice in his mind. Not words, but nevertheless he could clearly understand them.
“Have you come here to make good on your promise, Eldian?”
Jace was confused. What promise was this person talking about?
“For too long you have lived your life in a balance, Jace Larkin. There is a part of you that is content with what you now have, living your life on your terms after suffering immense loss, seeking your own purpose and self-acclaim. Living for yourself. Serving yourself.
“There is another part that wants something more. A life of meaning and challenge, sacrificing yourself for a greater purpose. The ability to protect others made possible through a sworn sacrifice once given you along with a charge.And now a growing sense that others are a small reflection of another who is greater than all. A calling to serve one you cannot see and yet see all around you.
“So, I ask you, Eldian — have you come to make good on your promise?”
Jace couldn’t recall a promise…
Slowly, all the light seemed to flow inward toward a source somewhere in front of him. As it reduced in intensity, he could begin to see another Realm before him, even more beautiful than the ones he had seen in the Pristine Lands, and beyond description — and a beautifully adorned throne with a person sitting on it. As the light continued to dim he began to see the person before him.
Kaylin!
But no, the vision sharpened more, and her distinctive features became clearer. Even though dressed in a gown of splendor he had never seen before he would recognize her anywhere...
“Elysia!” Jace exclaimed.
“No, not Elysia,” she said in the voice he clearly recognized as hers.
She smiled at Jace with eyes full of love. Now he was totally confused.
“I took her form so you would be able to see me clearly. To understand me clearly. She is one reflection of my essence, as others have been. Elysia serves me faithfully and upholds what is right. She made that choice long ago to serve me rather than one who would have others live a life apart — thinking they serve no one but themselves, when in truth they have enslaved themselves to serve the way of the corrupted one.
“So, I ask you again — what choice do you make, Jace Larkin? Are you here to fulfill your promise?”
Suddenly, Jace realized exactly what the one sitting on the throne was asking. The memory of his conversation with Elysia came back to him: ‘If Eld is anything like you, I would surely serve him with all my heart'. In a sense he had it backwards. Eld was not like Elysia. Elysia was like Eld, and that is why he loved her so much. Because in her he saw the goodness and love that flows from Eld. Jace no longer had any doubts.
“Yes, I am here to keep my promise. I want to serve you. I have always wanted to serve you. I just didn’t realize it.” Jace replied.
“Would you like to stay here with Me in the Realm Beyond?”
“Yes, I would. If you would have me here.”
“You will be with me, and I will be with you. And more so at a later time. Now I would have you go back to finish what you started. However, I must warn you that you are not able to stop Malic. He is much too powerful and beyond the ability of anyone on Earth.”
“Then why go back, if no one can stop him?”
“No one can stop him. But I did not say he could not be stopped.” said Eld
The instant the orange beam hit Jace, he was immediately surrounded by a blue light that was holding off the power of the onslaught from Malic. He didn’t know exactly what had happened. The moment he was hit by the orange beam he blacked out, but only for a second. The warmth of the blue stone was now emanating from his pocket
“Jace! The Elicon! Trust the Elicon!” Elysia shouted as she started to run toward him.
Severs and Davis fired another hail of bullets, hoping the distraction would be enough to buy Elysia time to get to Jace, as they feared Malic would target her. It seemed to work as Malic glanced their way for an instant, giving Elysia time to run up and stand next to Jace.
Jace didn't know why the Elicon had chosen to protect him. He certainly hadn't done anything that he was aware of, to warrant it. And he wasn’t exactly sure what he should do now. But then again, Elysia kept telling him it wasn't about him doing anything, it was about Eld. Perhaps he only needed to trust Eld.
Jace recalled how it had been at the boundary. He had calmed himself and thought about wanting to help Elysia, to help her people, and to let this Eld do whatever he needed to do through Jace and the Elicon.
Jace held out his closed fist and asked Eld to help. Instantly, a powerful blue beam shot out at Malic, surprising Jace almost as much as it did Malic. Their two beams battled against each other, neither gaining an advantage. But one good thing, Jace thought, was that Malic had taken his hand off the artifact to fight back.
Up in the air a fierce battle was underway. The ship had been holding its position near the hole, wanting to be hit by the beams, but seeing that wasn't happening, it began to maneuver to protect itself. While the missiles hadn't punched through the field around the ship, their impacts were weakening it, and those on board knew they couldn't exist in this world without it. The ship began firing on the fighters. While the fighters were fast and agile, the spaceship was quicker, and one by one the fighters were being taken down.
“Jace!” said Dooley, “Our birds are taking a beating!”
Jace didn't know what more to do. He couldn't risk having Dooley and Allison fire the particle beams — Malic was too close to the artifact. Even worse, although at first they appeared to be battling to a standoff, the orange beam slowly started to advance as Jace felt himself wearying. He just wasn't strong enough by himself, even with the Elicon.
“Elysia, try your Elicon!”
“I have, Jace! It won't work! I am pristine and your world is tainted. It cannot respond.”
Well, I’m sure tainted, thought Jace. “Elysia, hand it to me!”
“The Elicon is bound to only one person, Jace. It can't respond to you.”
“Elysia, trust me! Hold me tight and give me your Elicon!”
Elysia wasn't sure what would happen… the two together could be incompatible and negate each other. But Jace seemed so sure… so she handed her Elicon to him and then pulled Jace close, holding on with her arms.
Immediately the second stone Elysia gave him glowed, and the force combined with Jace's stone. The intensity of the blue beam became almost blinding, and it slammed into Malic with unbelievable force. Malic was straining with all his strength of will, but he was losing the battle. How could this human possibly overcome him, he thought?
Then he realized — it wasn't the human opposing him, it was Eld himself through these two! In that instant of realization
Malic knew he had no chance of winning. He had avoided direct opposition to Eld for twelve thousand years for that reason. In a burst of orange light that bathed the whole skies for a split second, suddenly Malic was gone.
Jace turned his fists toward the artifact, hoping Eld wanted it gone as well, and it melted under the intensity of a blue flame.
“Dooley cancel that Blue Falcon! Fry that ship!”
Allison and Dooley both fired at the same instant, and the ship above literally exploded like a starburst, reminding Jace of fireworks on the 4th of July. But before the debris could fall to the ground, it was sucked into an invisible hole far above. Jace pointed his fists toward the hole, and a blue beam shot out. Although he could not see anything except a rainbow of light flashing, Jace knew the Elicon was sealing the breach.
“Jace, how did you…” Elysia started to ask Jace, but he silenced her with a long kiss.
After he broke away from her startled face, he said, “I was beginning to think no one could defeat Malic, when I thought, ‘maybe no one could, but perhaps two could’.
"Do you remember what I said when you told me you were feeling disconnected? I said 'If Eld is anything like you, I would surely serve him with all my heart'. You already had my whole heart then, because I had given it to you back in the Pristine Lands. And you are so much a part of me, Elysia, I hoped your Elicon stone would see that part of you in me and would activate. It appears it did. Since I am tainted it could operate with me in this tainted world.”
“Jace, that was a crazy, reckless idea!” replied Elysia. “What am I going to do now that you've thoroughly confused the ownership of my Elicon stone?”
“I guess you will just have to stick close to me for now, as we try to work it out,” he said with a grin.
Later that day, Dooley, Allison, Daniel, Davis, Jace and Elysia gathered back in Jace’s room for a sort of victory celebration. They all had lots of questions about what had happened that day.
“Jace, how could you possibly know that Malic’s real plan was to attack the Pristine Lands?” Elysia finally had the chance to ask Jace.
“I didn’t tell you, but last night Eld gave me the same vision I had received before. ‘The link that binds the two together…The hand of man reaches out…To firmly grasp the one seeking... And to recover the lost… The end of all dreams.’ This time the last phrase was slightly different. I wondered why Eld would give me the same dream, when we had figured it out and knew the aliens had already recovered what was lost. At that instant, I realized they hadn’t. It was the Pristine Lands that were lost to them, and Malic wanted them back.
"The artifact linked Malic to the ship. If we fired the particle beam on the ship, the power would have been channeled through the artifact to Malic. Just as the beam blew a hole into the Dark Lands, Malic would have used that power, with his Malicon redirecting it, to blow a hole into the Pristine Lands.
"I figured they couldn’t breach the boundary that same way from the Dark Lands, because of the single nature of its realm and the realms of the Pristine Lands, which are clearly separated. And the boundary Elysia and I repaired was too strong. But in our world we have two natures and touch both sides of the boundary, since we have a part that is pristine and a part that is corrupted. That gave Malic an opportunity to breach through the ‘back door’ of our world. In the process, our world… the Dream Realm… would not have survived.
“Dooley and I were anticipating a large number of ships coming through the bloody hole, but only one came through. Would that really have been enough to attack the Pristine Lands?” asked Allison.
“They apparently could only have one ship in our world at a time. Daniel and Davis told me they had never seen two at any given appearance. That seemed a little odd to me, especially when they were searching for the Elicon and the blue dust. But my guess is, if Malic had blown a hole into the Pristine Lands, they would have passed through our world one right after the other, streaming into the Pristine Lands. As one left our world the next one could immediately come in.”
“So, our world was just a tunnel?” said Dooley.
“Exactly, Dooley. One I believe that would have collapsed after taking that kind of abuse.”
“Then why did Malic take his sweet time and use the portal in Australia? I would’ve just come in with one of the ships…”
“The ships were limited to thirty minutes in our world at any time. Apparently the field around the ship could only protect the single nature of the aliens for a limited period. No ships were ever in our world longer than thirty minutes. I suspect the hole must not have been a stable portal, and their transit through it was not fully complete. I suspect Malic could not come through and remain very long. That’s why he needed the more stable Synchrotron portal.”
“I am still not sure how you were able to use the Elicon, Jace, when I could not,” stated Elysia.
“I’m guessing the Elicon is a unique creation. It is the one thing that seems to work fine in either a corrupted or pristine world. It just depends on the person wielding it — whether they have the nature inside that can match the realm they are in. Because of that I can use an Elicon here as well as in the Pristine Lands. What I still don’t get, is why I was the one chosen to find the Elicon — the only one who can use an Elicon in both realms.”
“Only Eld holds the answer to that question, Jace Larkin.”
The group seemed to go silent after that, so Jace assumed the questions had finally stopped. He was glad because he was mostly guessing at all this, anyway.
“Ok, mates. One more question that’s bothering me. This is for both Jace and Dooley,” asked Allison. "What the bloody hell is a Blue Falcon? Dooley knew right away not to use the particle beam after you called it a Blue Falcon,” Allie said looking at Jace.
Dooley and Jace looked at each other, and then both put on the look of innocence. “Oh, it’s just some military term,” said Jace. “Dooley taught it to me awhile back and somehow it stuck in my mind. It’s not important. The key thing is, Dooley knew instantly what I meant, and it was urgent that he did not fire the beams.”
“Military term?” said Captain Severs. “That’s no official military term I’ve ever heard of. Davis, have you ever heard of it?”
Davis was trying his best not to laugh out loud, but he couldn’t hide the fact that his face was turning beet red.
“Davis?” asked Severs again.
“Well, it’s not an official military term, Captain. But it is used unofficially by some. It means… ah…. well in more polite terms it means someone you think is a friend stabbing you in the… uh… back.”
“Dooley!” Allison exclaimed as she looked up the meaning on her phone.
After the celebrations and the laughter and camaraderie, everyone was tired and departed to their own rooms, and slept long and restfully. Jace asked them to come back to his room in the morning, for an important announcement. At the appointed time, they all showed up to hear whatever it was Jace wanted to say.
“Friends, it has been an honor serving with all of you, and I wish we could extend our time together. However, Elysia and I need to get back to the Pristine Lands. The Maliconi have a huge supply of blue dust now, and I fear the Eldoni will need my help again in protecting their lands. I also do not think Malic was destroyed, but simply gave up for now to plan another scheme to use the recovered exotic matter. It will likely take the combined strength of Elysia’s and my Elicon stones to stop him.”
After saying their goodbyes, Jace and Elysia took out their blue stones, and while holding hands, they gripped their stones and a single, larger portal opened up. They nodded their heads in a farewell, and then in a blue flash they and the portal had vanished.
Dooley then turned to Allison and said, “Well, until Jace decides to come back, it looks like I’m a free man with free time. Do you think it would be possible for the two of us to maybe work on our personal relationship a bit?”
“I can’t think of anything more I would ra
ther do right now, mate,” she said with a smile. “In fact, I’d love for you to come back with me down under. You can’t imagine how beautiful New Zealand is, or the Great Barrier Reef. You’ll simply be amazed!”
“Well, I was thinking there is a lot in the U.S. you haven’t seen yet,” said Dooley. “The monuments in Washington D.C., the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park…”
Dooley could see Allison looked a little disappointed, so he said, “I’ll tell you what… why don’t we flip for it?”
“Blimey! That’s a great idea,” Allison quickly agreed.
As Dooley reached down into his pocket and was hunting for a coin, Allison stepped behind Dooley, grabbed his shoulders, and threw him over her hip tossing him flat on his back.
“Looks like I won the flip, mate!” she said.
THREE DAYS LATER
“Seriously, Captain? We are camping out in the middle of nowhere, next to a small creek, in Paradise, Kansas! What were you thinking?”
“You can call me Daniel out here, Davis. I think you earned that,” said Severs with a smile. “And I figured, why waste a perfectly good RV, packed with all the right equipment? I had been really looking forward to this trip, and now I have a few days coming to me, so I figured, hey, why not finish what we started?”
“It was nice of the military to forgive us leaving our base at Thule, and reinstating us,” said Davis. “Have you given any thought about where you would like to be assigned after our little trip here?”
“Well, Davis, funny you should ask,” said Severs as he pulled out a faded photograph he’d carried for eight years, showing a pretty red-haired girl with green eyes. “I was actually thinking of going back to Thule air base in Greenland. It’s sunny now for the next several months. And I believe I have some unfinished personal business with a certain Corporal Mattie Stevens.”
