Grabbing a pair of socks out of his drawer, Joshua walked back over and sat on his bed. Putting on his socks and boots he mumbled, “So, since the entire complex feels like the pits of hell with the dark energy of the Gates vibrating through it, I take it this meeting is not a good one.”
Hunter sat forward leaning his elbows on his thighs to brace himself. “No. Not good at all. We didn’t even get twenty-four hours’ worth of rest this time. The Gate openings are getting closer and longer. Fighting the Wraith is basically non-stop and taking its toll on everyone. Frankly, I’m worried about Stormy. She doesn’t look good.”
Stormy, their Power Keeper, transferred Life Power to give the Warriors strength to fight the Wraith. She had once been human with hidden genetics and had been transformed into a Sphinx. Khenti Michael was forced to Join with her to save her life, but in the long run, it had been a good thing since it brought Michael and Stormy together. The man loved her more than anything. If something happened to her, Joshua knew their leader would be devastated. Kind of like what he was feeling now.
“Yeah. She’s been looking paler and paler. It seems harder for her to draw the Power in. I think we’re in trouble. Fuck.”
Blowing out a pent up breath, Joshua massaged the wrist his Sefu Element resided on. Half element and half biological, it hummed against his skin. He was already fired up for the next battle and the Element would detect his surging Life Power. At least what there was left of it that he hadn’t used up during his Power Burst last night. The Element might look like jewelry silently sitting there but when his energy was pushed to it, the Element would reflex into a deadly silver and crystal Power Sword.
He looked down at the silver Element wrapped around his hand and wrist where it resided for the rest of a person’s life once it bonded with them. To him it looked like a thick silver chain wrapped around the base of his middle finger, twisted down the back of his hand, and then wrapped around his wrist. On the back of his wrist, in the center, was his Power Signature. His special sign was two wolf paw imprints.
Joshua sat in silence with Hunter for a moment trying not to think about the next few hours and what they might bring. The time for inner thoughts didn’t last long, though. Joshua sat up straighter as did Hunter when Khenti Michael’s deep voice connected through the Warrior Link. Gentleman, any time now would be nice for you to join us.
Hunter stood up and picked up Joshua’s protective gear tossing it at him. He turned to head out the door tossing over his shoulder, “Time’s up, Warrior. Let’s go get another ass beating from the Wraith.”
“Speak for yourself, asshole. I’m going to be the one kicking some Wraith ass.”
With gear in hand, Joshua was hot on the heels of Hunter. He barely bothered to slam the door shut behind him in an effort to keep up with the long-legged Warrior. Hunter could move quickly when he wanted to making him one of the most proficient and deadly Warriors among them. Being an expert in every weapon and technique in existence as their combat trainer gave Hunter even more of an edge. In between Joshua’s expertise in Sefu Elements, creating deadly weapons, and understanding how to make them sing, Joshua considered himself a pretty fair competition for Hunter when they had time to train.
Reaching the top of the grand mahogany staircase, Joshua patted the top of the large golden Sphinx statue. He considered the statue his good luck charm and thought they were going to need every bit of luck to get them through another night of hell. He bounded down the stairs two at a time, jogged across the polished tiger-eye marble floor, and reached the elevator bank just in time. Hunter had already punched the call button. The elevator arrived in seconds and the doors opened. Joshua smoothly entered right behind Hunter.
Three floors down to the eighth level, the elevator carried them in no time. The doors whooshed open and Joshua led the way this time to the planning room. The surveillance equipment center was a part of this level as well. Joshua shook his head thinking of Ethan. Ethan was the brainiac Warrior who understood all of the equipment and seemed never to sleep with his constant monitoring of the complex. He was always typing away at some computer or hand held device, interpreting readouts, reporting results and all sorts of other geeky stuff.
Arriving at the planning room, Joshua reached for the door but before he could get his hand on the knob, it was jerked open. He looked up to find Raven standing there blocking his way with a shit-eating grin on his face and a drink in hand. “About time you fuckers showed up. Michael’s pissed.”
Joshua shoved him out of the way entering the room with Hunter right behind him. “Then get the hell out of the way, Raven. You’re slowing me down.” Brushing past the black-haired Warrior, Joshua made a beeline straight to the leather chair in the center of the room. This was his chair and no one gave him grief about it since he was second to Khenti Michael.
Not like it was the only one. There were several other leather chairs, leather couches, small tables, and other furniture taking up the large room. In the front was a huge war planner’s desk filled with keyboards, monitors, computers, and other surveillance equipment. Every time they met in this particular room there seemed to be another piece of equipment added to the collection. There were even monitors with images of charts, reports, and images from video monitoring equipment attached to the walls. Among all of this was Ethan, furiously typing away and occasionally running his hands through his short black spiked hair, which made it stand up even more.
Joshua lowered himself into his chair and took a deep breath. Just being in a room full of Warriors and Guardians, the non-stop banter, and the humming of the electricity through equipment was unbalancing his unruly Power. His energy was spinning more and more out of control with the lengthening period of time away from Alexandria. He clenched his fists trying to get control and when Raven passed by him within arm’s reach, Joshua snagged the alcoholic drink out of his hand.
Raven growled and spun around drawing back his fist, “Son of a…”
“Enough!” Michael thundered, drawing everyone’s attention. “All of you sit down and quit screwing around. We don’t have much time.”
Michael appeared to be distracted himself and Joshua noticed with concern that Stormy wasn’t present for the meeting. A rare occurrence. She was almost always within Michael’s reach.
Moving to find a seat, Raven cast a dirty look at Joshua. Joshua wasn’t intimidated, though, and returned the glare slamming back the rest of the drink. He set the empty glass beside the chair on a small table and enjoyed the slow burn hoping it would dampen some of the unruly energy in his body. What there was of it.
“Now if I can have all of your attention. Ethan may have identified an anomaly causing the Gate to open more frequently. We need to keep an eye out for it and neutralize as soon as possible. Ethan?”
Ethan stood up from behind the many monitors and strode around to the front of the desk. He rotated one of the monitors to face forward as he went.
“Shit, yeah. I think I’ve narrowed it down. If you see here in the Gate readings, there’s a spike of energy right before the Gate opens. I’m pretty sure it’s not a piece of electronic equipment doing this but something else.” He paused looking at his captive audience.
“Oh for Ancients sake man, spit it out. We don’t have time for the theatrics.” Jacob shouted at him.
Joshua looked at Jacob fully agreeing with him. He was as impatient to move on like everyone else. The only reason why Jacob was still sitting on the couch and not hovering by the door was because his Mate, Eleina, was sitting on his lap.
Ethan shrugged, “Sorry dude. The readings appear to indicate it’s an energy directed at the Gate causing the opening. An energy that has humanoid patterns.”
Joshua sat up straighter, his entire focus centered on Ethan.
“Do you think it’s Lexi…” He stopped in mid-sentence. Damn it, don’t use her pet name in front of these guys, you idiot. Just what he needed, showing more weakness.
He forcibly cleared his t
hroat and continued.
“Do you think it’s Alexandria?”
He had to ask the question even though he was heartbreakingly sure the answer was no.
“Dude, I wish I could say yes. But, I just don’t think so. If it was her, the reading would have a Sphinx pattern and I would think she would have come back to us by now.”
Joshua dug his nails into the leather of the chair and his breathing became deep and rough. Every time a small amount of hope of Alexandria returning surfaced, it was drowned again by depressing reality. What little Life Power was left in his system began to cycle faster and faster. Looking at his wrist, he saw his Sefu Element was beginning to glow brightly.
“Fuck”. He staggered quickly to his feet. His one goal, to get out of the room before his Power exploded again.
It didn’t help either that the Gate’s energy spiked indicating an opening was imminent. In between the feedback from the Gate and his own energy imbalance, Joshua didn’t think he stood much of a chance of controlling himself. But he had to try. At least until he got to the staging Cavern and let his energy loose on the evil Wraith.
Before he left the room, he paused not looking at anyone but apologizing anyway.
“Khenti, I’m sorry. I need some air.”
“Understood,” Michael said. Joshua’s leader truly did. He could tell through the Warrior’s Link.
“We’ll meet you down there shortly before the Gate opens. If you can, stay engaged through the Link and I’ll update you that way.”
Joshua nodded and exited quickly into the hallway. He made it about halfway down the hall to the elevator bank and had to stop. He leaned against the wall with one hand and closed his eyes trying to concentrate and bring down his hyperactive system. His Power circled and bubbled like a volcano getting ready to blow. He knew if his energy did explode he would end up face down on the ground because of the low level of Life Power he had left. All of the Warriors were low and he suspected there wouldn’t be any transference of Power for this round.
His suspicions were confirmed when Hunter asked the question and Michael answered it through the Link. Joshua could detect the tension in Michael’s answer. No Hunter. There will be no transference this time. You’ll all have to do the best you can and conserve what Power you have during the fight. Stormy needs a break, no matter what she says.
Yes, there was definitively a point of contention from the last of his statement. Joshua could picture their petite blond haired Power Keeper standing up to her Mate telling him she was fine. Khenti Michael, of course, would try to play his leadership role on her like he did with the Warriors, which never worked with her. She was small but stubborn as all hell and simply would do what she thought needed to be done. Michael must have really performed some fast talking and promises to get her to rest.
Rest. The very word made his entire body shake with the need to lie down and stay in bed for several weeks. But he had to suck it up like everyone else and be the Warrior he was supposed to be and not a damn pansy. Taking a deep breath, he pushed away from the wall and forced himself to stand up straight. Feeling a bit better, he listened to the rest of the planning through the Link while he finished moving to the elevators.
After stepping into the elevator upon its arrival, he put on his battle gear. Luckily, he had remembered to grab the lightweight chain mail before he left the planning room. While he geared up, Joshua listened closely to the approach to be used when the Gate opened. Standard formation of Warriors and Guardians, hold the perimeter, watch for escapees on the ends. The Wraith were slick and would try anything to get through their line. It had happened before and Jacob had had to hunt the creatures down. He was a Tracker. Jacob had destroyed the Wraith he had found but another had used the opportunity to complete its evil mission resulting in Alexandria’s disappearance.
Just the thought had Joshua’s Power spiraling up again and his inner Sphinx growling ominously. He had to move and was relieved when the elevator arrived at the staging cavern and he could get out. He stepped out pausing in the entryway when his Sphinx snarled. Down, boy. Save it for the fight.
Michael brought his attention back to the planning with a ping through the Link. Can you handle that? Joshua refocused on the conversation. He had missed something while being lost in his own inner conflict.
Sorry, Khenti. Repeat.
Joshua could almost hear Khenti Michael’s inner sigh. We were discussing the approach of clearing the way and if you’re up to it and have control, firing some of your Power Bursts at the Gate for a distraction. Eleina can mix in some of her Power Spheres. Then Ethan can get in closer and try to pinpoint whatever the source is opening the Gate. If we’re lucky, we can disable it.
I agree and will make it happen. Grimacing, Joshua dreaded the upcoming drain to his Power, but there was no way he was going to tell his leader how bad off he was. He would make it happen or go down trying. And he might indeed go down trying. The energy from the Gate was off the chart screeching on the higher end of the energy scale. To him, it felt as if every hair on his body was standing on end.
Stepping into the main area of the staging cavern, he took note that most of the Guardians Elite were already present and preparing for the upcoming battle. They were checking weapons, stretching, and discussing strategies. The Elite went through many of the same preparations the Warriors did but without a Warriors Link to speed the planning. They were expected to be just as proficient at everything else as the Warriors when it came to being skilled and deadly at battle.
Joshua remembered long ago, the Guardians had only been a presence to observe and record the historical events that occurred with the Sphinx. When they realized the Warriors were dwindling in number, their head Guardian, Arik, and many of the other Guardians took an oath to fight beside the Warriors. Each Guardian who passed the rigorous training and tests was awarded the official title of Guardian Elite and all were considered equals to the Sphinx Warriors. The only difference was their inability to heal as quickly as the Sphinx, so had to train even harder and wear extra gear. Plus, Michael strategized so they didn’t take the brunt of the battle keeping it focused on the Warriors.
Observing the staging cavern, Joshua checked on the condition of the Dimensional Gate. It was so close to opening, the pre-dimensional energy was already visible. The Gate appeared to Joshua to be one huge spiraling black hole with spinning trails of blood red, black, and strings of glowing white. Taking up half of the center of the Cavern, the Gate would occasionally wisp out and touch the walls even though the cavern was almost four football fields across. The entire scene was surreal with the background of the domed gray stone walls and the red mineral lines glittering from the light of the Gate.
Feeling like he was being pulled into the spiraling menace, he stepped back and turned toward the trauma cell, which was on the far back side of the cavern. The cell was used to care for the injured during battle, to stabilize them, and then when the medical staff could, move the patient to the main medical facility. Both medical sites were state of the art with everything needed to take care of any of the inhabitants in the complex, no matter what their genetic make-up.
Joshua strode across the cavern and stopped right before the Trauma Cell doors where Guardian Arik and Jenny, the medical assistant who took over for Alexandria, were standing. Arik nodded to him in greeting.
“You’re early, Joshua. Where are the rest of the Warriors? Coming last minute as usual?” Arik slapped him on the shoulder trying to lighten the mood.
Shrugging, Joshua returned, “Yeah. You know the rest of the yahoos don’t arrive until last minute. Minus Khenti Michael, who is planning, of course, and has an excuse. You know me. I like to get here early so I can take out more of the Wraith.”
Arik paused for a moment seeming to consider his next words.
“So, how is Stormy? Were you able to perform a Transference?”
Joshua ran his hand over his face. He was sure Arik already suspected the answer, but evident
ly needed to hear it.
“No. She needs to rest. We’ve been weaker than this and will just have to deal.” He caught Jenny drawing a hand held medical scanner out of her lab coat pocket.
“Don’t even think about it, Jen. You know I don’t like those things. I’ll be fine and if I get low you’ll be the first to know.”
She smiled nervously and shoved the device back into her pocket. “Fine. But you know Alexandria will be angry if something happens to you.” Jenny instantly paled and looked down at the ground sniffing.
“I’m sorry, Joshua. I forget she’s gone or maybe I’m just in denial.”
Arik put an arm around the distraught assistant and Joshua felt sorry for her. Alexandria had been close to her as a friend and as a mentor. Alexandria had been close to all of them and Joshua couldn’t stand to hear talk about her being gone but he understood too well the grief of her absence.
“We’ll find her, Jenny. If it’s the last thing I do, I will find her.” He stood in silence considering just exactly how he was going to do that when the Gate’s energy suddenly flared out.
Joshua moved forward with the other Guardians in a defensive stance and Arik pushed Jenny through the Trauma Cell doors and closed them. Joshua noted out of the corner of his eye that Arik had moved up beside him.
Reaching out with the hand his Sefu Element resided on, Joshua bent at the wrist in a reflex action pushing Power to his Element. Instantly it glowed, moved from his wrist, and settled into the palm of his hand. In the blink of an eye, the shape transformed and became the hilt of the Power Sword with his dual Wolf Print Power Signature settling on the end of the pommel. Once the grip and guard were formed, the blade lengthened out until a full silver edged Sword with a crystalline inner blade was complete. If he looked at the Sword, Joshua knew he would see the silver edges of the blade had intricate scrolling all over it. The Power Sword was both beautiful and deadly.
The Guardians prepared too, drawing their twin swords from the scabbards on their backs. They spread out until the rest of the Warriors arrived. It didn’t take long and they showed up rushing over to the group and reflexing their Swords. Michael, as usual, positioned himself up front. No matter how the Warriors tried to get him to let them do the head-on work, he refused to sit back and let his Warriors take on the brunt of the battle alone.
Sphinx Transformed (The Sphinx Warriors Series Book 3) Page 2
