Guardians (Æthyrium Rising - Guardians Book 1)

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  “This is your shuttle!” the Sergeant shouted over myself and the twenty other cadets as we stood on the pad. Next to us was the shuttle he was talking about, which was basically the shuttlecraft we’d gone to the Valkyrie in except double in size lengthways.

  “It’s gonna take you up to Kilthren’s Pride and from there you’ll be returning to Urbetes!”

  I was still in shock about the whole thing, apparently some sort of intel regarding an attack on Urbetes had reached the Brass and we were gonna be the first on the ground. Seemed like a waste of resources to be sending the students instead of the real soldiers, but there were enough of them coming along anyway, and according to most the fear was unfounded.

  Something about using forest warfare was being talked about, which didn’t really make any sense. The running theory was that the Commonwealth was going to use guerrilla tactics to try and take Urbetes. That, to us, seemed crazy, especially considering that it was a military city filled with soldiers.

  “Why aren’t we taking the Valkyrie?” Tyr asked, successfully hiding the whiney tone he’d been using with us since finding out we were taking Kilthren’s Pride.

  “The Valkyrie, though undoubtedly the best ship here, is in the middle of a Warp-Tech overhaul. While Kilthren’s Pride is fitted with the best model we’ve got and should get you to Urbetes in less than twelve hours.”

  I had to admit it was impressive, but it still felt a bit odd that we wouldn’t be riding ‘home’ home. Like taking a boat around the planet then going back to your country in a different boat that has none of your old stuff in it.

  Granted, old stuff in that instance was simply a chip in the wall’s paint that I’d accidently made when I kicked off my boots, but still, a girl needs belongings.

  The shuttlecraft opened its doors and the Sergeant cleared the way, “Get in your assigned seats!”

  We wasted no time with a needless ‘Yes sir’, something we’d grown quite used to over the course of the past few weeks.

  “You excited?” Mouse asked the group as we came to sit side-by-side at the back of the shuttle.

  “About going to a place that’s about to get lit up by the Commonwealth?” Tyr asked sarcastically, “To tell you the truth I’m really not. I feel ready, don’t get me wrong, but I still don’t think it’s gonna be in our best interests to get blasted from orbit.”

  Mouse fell silent for a second and looked between the two of us, “I was actually talking about how great it’s gonna be to get back home Mister Grumble. Do you really think the Commonwealth’s going to burn the city? Doesn’t really fit their style, does it?”

  Tyr gave an uncaring shrug, he still hadn’t quite snapped back like Mouse and I had, which was understandable, “I’m just saying that’s how I’d do it. I know we’ve got intel that says guerrilla tactics, but I don’t believe that even the Commonwealth is that stupid.”

  The doors slid shut and the shuttle started lifting into the air, “I agree,” I said once we were moving at a more comfortable angle, “forest warfare has got to mean something else…”

  Suddenly the cabin was filling with theories about exactly what forest warfare meant, some saying it meant they were going to lure everyone into the Outskirt Forest and kill us in there, others both jokingly and seriously saying that they were going to use a bioweapon that turned us into trees.

  The overwhelming consensus was that it was all just some mind game that the Commonwealth was playing with us, a trick to get as many of our forces on one planet while they attacked another.

  That’s how the rest of the journey went really, all the way to Urbetes.

  We docked with the Space Elevator and thought we’d be met by smiling faces and loving parents, but instead found a gruff looking man in what looked like an officer’s uniform without all the bells and whistles, “My name is Loril Kayne and I’ll be giving you your assignments. Also, Cadets Nokri, Jadari, and… Mouse,” he said with a mocking chuckle as he read off a tablet, “step forward.”

  We did as we were told and came to stand at attention at the front of the group.

  “Your mother and father are sorry that they couldn’t come out to see you tonight, your father has a meeting with the Brass and wanted to make sure you got here safely. Me? I don’t give a rat’s arse, but listening to your father is in my best interests. Now get back in formation,” he said before spinning on his feet and gesturing for us to follow, “we’ve got a lot of places to go and not much time to do it.”

  I did not like that man, for obvious reasons, but I like to think I was handling him pretty well considering. I’d grown accustomed to just keeping my mouth shut when I didn’t particularly like someone, and when I absolutely had to speak it was short, to the point, and almost robotic.

  The Elevator was rather barren compared to what it had been when I’d last rode in it, however we got to ride with the shields down and take in the majesty of Kaltjarna in the dead of night. To be honest though, it wasn’t all that interesting at night.

  Sure there were lights and that lit up various spaces across the continents, but beyond that it was all just one dark patch of land as far as I was concerned.

  Loril started listing off names as we got closer to the bottom, as well as tasks and sections of the city, before finally getting to us, “Mouse and Nokri, you’ll be taking patrol duty near where you used to live, lucky you, and Jadari will report to City Hall and aid in evacuation efforts. You’ll be fine to wear what you have on now, and will be supplied with guns, gear, and earpieces on your way out.”

  Tyr, Mouse, and I all shared confused looks before turning to Loril, “Are you sure they’re splitting us up?” I asked as the doors opened and we stepped out.

  “You have your assignments Nokri,” Loril said from inside the Elevator, “just be glad you’re with anyone. Report to your sectors.” and from there the doors shut and he went back up.

  “Wow… What a dick.”

  “Mouse!” Tyr exclaimed with a laugh, “Swearing, really?”

  “Yeah?” she said, looking at both of surprised faces, “So what? You guys swear all the time.”

  “But you don’t.” I said, leading our group toward the others, “I remember the first time you heard the word ‘shit’ and you totally freaked out.”

  She shrugged with a disinterested sigh, “Guess people change…”

  …But War Doesn’t

  Separating was hard for us, but the knowledge that we’d meet up again soon was enough not to mess around with our orders. We went our separate ways, Mouse and I getting escorted in a truck to our destination, a ten foot high wall that was a bridge the last time we were there, while Tyr was taken away with a bunch of other soldiers on foot.

  It was strange being home, stranger still was the fact that I was a part of the people that I’d admired when I’d last been in Urbetes, looking up to the people in blue and grey fatigues that patrolled the city’s walls and streets.

  I’d never particularly liked officers, in case you hadn’t noticed, but the cadets, the pledges? Most, if not all of them, were Kaltjarnan natives, and I felt like they’d done their dues in order to end up where they were.

  They were me but better.

  I certainly didn’t feel worthy of admiration though. I was just a jarhead doing my job, a really boring one at that.

  “Think we’ll see any action?” Mouse asked nervously as we walked across the lit wall, looking over to the tunnel that led to Outskirt forest on the other side.

  I shook my head and checked my state-of-the-art pulse carbine’s holographic display which still, unsurprisingly, read ‘100%’, “Remember how many attacks we had when we lived here?”

  Mouse thought for a moment before responding, “Zero?”

  I nodded, “That’s right, zero. I reckon it’ll be classed as a ‘busy day’ if we run into a stray cat.”

  Mouse seemed unconvinced, but kept her wary nervousness mostly to herself.

  After another few minutes of silent patrol and
counting the square blue lights along the ground, I stopped and let my gun dangle by my side, “Why is this so boring?” I asked the stars as I threw my head back and rolled it until it cracked, not because I had a sore neck, no, I just wanted something to do.

  “Boring’s fine with me.” Mouse said almost happily, “Besides, do you really want to be getting shot at?”

  I shrugged, “Maybe. I just never thought that of all the things to kill me in this war it would be boredom.”

  “Well maybe if you keep moaning about it, it’ll get better.” Stromweld said as he and two others walked up behind us.

  I turned to face him and his entourage, all dressed in the same fatigues as Mouse and I, “What do you want Stromweld?”

  “Your patrol’s over in fifteen and we’re up next. Figured seeing as you’re so bored that you’d like to finish up early.” he said with his charming smile.

  The soldier in me wanted to snap at him about protocol and duty, but I was at a point where I really didn’t care about any of that. Hells, I was at a point where I’d let him share my bed for the night if it got me out of patrol detail.

  Of course, that wasn’t plan A, “And I assume you’ll just do this out of the kindness of your heart?”

  His smile broadened, “Well, maybe for a kiss? Pick up where we left off?” he said in a way that fell somewhere between creepy and cute, which I expected considering we hadn’t so much as talked since Eira left.

  Mouse shot me a look of shock and I ignored it, “Hmm. How about you get started on patrol and I give a big, fat kiss in the middle of the mess hall tomorrow, in front of everyone?”

  “Deal!” he almost shouted, his pitch sky-rocketing for the second syllable.

  I smiled and gave him a wink, “See you tomorrow then.” I said as we walked passed him and his friends and toward the stairs that led to the street.

  “I can’t believe you’d trade kisses to get out of patrol.” Mouse said disappointedly once we were on the street and out of earshot.

  “Oh Mousey, I’d trade a lot more to get out of patrol. And who cares? Not like I have feelings for the guy.” I lied.

  “That’s exactly my problem!” she shrieked.

  “Keep your voice down,” I snapped as I pushed my finger to my lips, “and how is that a problem? He likes me, I don’t like him. Emotions won’t get tangled.”

  “That’s the whole point of kissing and… the other thing. You’re meant to have a connection.” Mouse trailed off abashedly.

  “Says who? Statistically speaking, I am very unlikely to make it out of this war. I like kissing and the dreaded ‘other thing’. Why waste what little time I have left pretending otherwi-?” I stopped when I heard some crackling in my ear followed by the words, “Bombers incoming!” and “we’re about to wipe them off the map.” from two separate voices.

  “Get down!” I shouted when the first of the apparently inert bombs smashed into the wall behind us, though it wasn’t until I lifted my head that I heard screams from where I’d left Richard and the others.

  I scrambled to my feet and ran back to the wall, letting my weapon slip from my hands and clatter on the road behind me.

  Right as I was about to reach the stairs there was a heavy sounding crunch and the screams stopped, followed by a dozen or so egg-shaped, bowling ball sized objects getting launched into the air.

  I held my ground for a solid five seconds before hearing a cough.

  One of Richard’s friends came to the top of the stairs, covered in blood and dirt while holding one of the eggs.

  “I think it’s broken…” he said weakly as he stumbled down the stairs. “Stupid Commonwealth crap.” Those were the last words he said as the top of the egg, which he was looking into, glowed red for a moment before blowing open and fired thousands of what looked like watermelon seeds into his face, all but completely removing his head.

  “Mouse…” I said under my breath before turning to face her, an egg in her hands. I started my sprint and shouted “Don’t look at it!” as it started to glow.

  In a brief moment of dimness, my sister said “Huh?” before turning the device on me.

  I barely managed to cover my eyes and shut my mouth as the egg, though at least twenty feet away, fired and buried dozens of the seeds into the left side of my face.

  I stood there, stunned, but other than feeling like I’d just gotten paintballed in the face, was fine.

  “I’m so sorry!” Mouse shouted miserably as she ditched the egg and approached me, “Are you okay?”

  I nodded, “I’m fine…” I trailed off as I felt something crawling under my face, in my lips, my forehead, everywhere. Then I heard something and turned to see small saplings growing out of Richard’s friend’s dead body.

  “No… No no no!” I screamed as I started clawing at my face, “Run Mouse! Go! Find Tyr and get out!” I ordered as I tore strips of flesh from my face and felt the seeds pop out from my skin as my nails dug under them. It stung horrifically, but it was all that I could do while I listened to Mouse’s footsteps bound away.

  By the time I reached the end of my nightmarish tearing I had at least three deep wounds and a dozen smaller scratches from my forehead to my chin and blood pouring past my eyes, but I breathed a sigh of relief that I wasn’t going to have to live with the nickname ‘Tree Face’ for the rest of my life.

  However the sigh quickly turned into panicked breaths as the sounds of fast growing trees filled the street around me.

  Urbetes was lost.

  Green Thumb

  I felt like all of my blood had flooded into my chest as I spun in flustered little circles. Trees were tearing through buildings as they grew impossibly fast and I didn’t know where to go. Gunfire was tearing throughout the city and somewhere on the opposite side to where I was there was an explosion and someone cried out “We got one!” through the comms, “Touched down in the forest, will proceed to- aahh!”

  I ran for the wall, narrowly dodging a set of vines as they shot up from the road and into a nearby building. The stairs where Richard’s friend had been lying were all but gone as I climbed through the trees and to the top of the wall.

  But I didn’t reach my destination.

  Instead, a tree, seemingly maliciously, shot up from below me and sent me high into the air while I desperately clung to the branch that had scooped me up under my arms.

  I needed to get to the Outskirt Forest on the other side of the tunnel, the place where trees took twenty years to mature, not twenty seconds. The forest of Urbetes had other plans though.

  It felt like forever before the tree stopped moving, and I found myself hyperventilating as I looked down at the fifty foot drop on the tunnel side of the wall.

  “Pull yourself together,” I growled between almost hiccoughed breaths, “don’t be a little princess.”

  I started to calm down, well, I got mad. I couldn’t stand being called princess. With fear gone from my brain I was suddenly able to start thinking again.

  I started consolidating and stopped focussing on all my problems at once, I needed to get down from the tree, that was the first hurdle I had to overcome.

  I looked around for a vine to swing for or a branch to drop down to, but it was hopeless. Then I looked down and saw another tree, maybe fifteen feet below me, ready to shoot up.

  My skin crawled, though thankfully in the normal way, and I took a deep breath before letting go of the branch, falling onto the tree below me, cracking through several small branches in the process before a thick one came up to break my fall.

  In a flurry of random movements and kicks, I eventually found myself on the ground and running. I was passed the wall and felt safe, but it seemed that seeds had gotten to that side as well. Suddenly I was sprinting toward the tunnel, kicking off roots as the appeared in my path.

  The tunnel was in spitting distance when I heard a rumble and was suddenly in the air, my back forced against the leaves under me. The trees just refused to stop growing and, based on
how fast the cliff was zooming by, the one beneath me was doing so at almost thirty kilometres per hour.

  I steadily rose to my feet, the tree beneath me acting as more of a forest floor than a canopy, and began timing the rate at which the cliff face was going past. I waited in terrified patience and, without hesitation, ran and leapt off the tree right as the cliff disappeared.

  I was falling for a good two seconds before I landed chest first on the very edge of the cliff and bounced slightly, landing me in such a way that my legs ended up dangling precariously while I frantically tried to breathe.

  “Suck it up princess.” I gasped out as I, using up almost all of my strength, pulled myself up and onto relative safety.

  Everything hurt as I got myself into a seated position, my legs dangling off the edge as I watched my home slowly get swallowed by the forest.

  The Space Elevator looked to be faring alright at least, a small victory I told myself. That could change in an instant though, especially with the way the forest was growing. Trees shot up and men flew through the air, screaming all the way.

  Then I noticed the screams and pleads for help that were cascading through my comms, I wanted to respond, to let everyone know that it was going to be fine, but then I saw the two-inch diameter branch coming out of my left side.

  I chuckled at it as I felt the end that was jutting out of my back, “Heh, that’s gonna scar.”

  That’s about the time I keeled over.

  Call to Action

  I woke to a crackle and a pop from my ear-piece, “-ello?” a static-y voice pleaded, “Is there anyone out there?”

  I propped myself up on my elbow and forced myself to sit and, upon deciding that I wasn’t a few seconds from death, pushed my finger into the wrong ear, went to speak, then switched over to the right one, “This is Cadet Nokri.”

  “Oh thank the Gods…” the young male telecommunications operator let out before obviously realising that he’d said it aloud and quickly snapping back to a more serious tone, “This is medical frigate Eir. We’re currently in low orbit and searching for survivors. What’s your current position?”