Age of Mystics (Saga of Mystics Book 1)

by Chris Walters

  Both men gave a short bow in acknowledgement of the order. “Meyer, once we are close, you will take eight men and go left flank. Miles, you will take eight and go right. I will take center and go straight to the gates. We will have to kill many of them to show our power and resolve, and we will be tired as we draw close. Due to numbers, they will underestimate us, so don’t let your soldiers play with them. Death will rain on them today.”

  In unison, both men said, “Yes, Sensei!”

  “Okay, go get ready, dismissed.” Eric turned back, was there anything else he wanted to take with him? He rifled through the items and found a couple of books, as well as a ring he had not put on since his marriage had ended four years before. Then he walked into the pitch black of the private training room and sat to meditate and prepare his mind for what he must now do. Days ago, the men of Fort Carson had been comrades in arms, now they were to be the enemy and he could not think of them as anything but the foe they were.

  Eric finished his meditation of roughly thirty minutes and walked out into the growing darkness of dusk. He saw people gathered and without counting them all, it seemed that every villager was preparing to go with them. The implied threat had worked. Eric smiled a satisfied smile. This meant they could bring all of the supplies. He walked out to the middle of the street to find Meyer corralling the villagers.

  “Any dissenters?” Eric asked coldly.

  Meyer shook his head, “No, Sensei. We have a full count of every soldier and every villager.”

  “Excellent,” Eric replied, “I will leave two soldiers from my group to watch over the town-people. How long before we can leave?”

  “Within the hour, Sensei.”

  “Okay, make it happen.” Eric walked off toward where Damiano was chatting with his set of soldiers.

  “Miles, with me,” Eric called out and Damiano came running over.

  “Yes, Sensei?” Damiano asked.

  “Meyer has his troops ready and all of the villagers in tow. What have your men done?” Eric didn’t even try to hide his disappointment at the lack of efficiency of the group.

  Damiano’s eyes went wide, “Sensei, we were waiting to leave, as you have asked.”

  Eric turned on him and got close to his face, “Then I suggest you and your men help gather our supplies and get them to the villagers immediately, am I clear?”

  The second man bowed deeply, “Yes, Sensei. My apologies.”

  “Apologies aren’t needed if you do it right the first time.” Eric said to him and let it sink in. “Now, go. Make it happen.” Damiano ran off to his men and Eric watched as they frantically tried to “help out’, all the while getting in Meyer’s way.

  Within the hour that Meyer had quoted, they began their march southward. Eric was beginning to see the value in the former soldiers over their less-trained brothers. None of them had the power that Eric did, but he was able to train people to use Chi. That had become apparent over the last week. Discipline and order were traits that took longer to train. I will have to find a way to reward discipline over other factors. Yes. Discipline and fidelity are the cornerstones of this new order. He knew the biggest test of his men was about to come to fruition, as well as the biggest test of his leadership. He steeled his resolve and prepared himself for what lay ahead.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  There was no hope of a rescue. Ted was just devastated, they had searched as best they could up and down the river bank and found nothing. It had been hours since Cal had fallen into the river. Max said the dogs smelled death. He couldn’t accept that Calvin Ward was really dead. It was too much to deal with. They had taken shelter from a passing lightning and hail storm in an abandoned house nearby. Calling it a house was being simplistic, it was a mansion, as many of the houses on the border of Black Forest and Colorado Springs were. Someone had broken in, broken things and stolen everything they could get their hands on, but it still sheltered his small group from the storm.

  Everyone in the room was sad, but none more than Cal’s family. Natalee had climbed trees to get a better look, which was a feat in and of itself. Ted had no explanation for her sudden fighting ability, immense strength, and lightning quickness. He had no more explanation for this than he had for his own daughter’s new ability to mentally connect with dogs. But, Nat had scaled those trees like she was a squirrel, and jumped between them even, as she tried to get sight of a body, even a dead one. But, Cal had slipped into that drain and they couldn’t even have the benefit of a burial.

  Rich stood up in the middle of the group, near where Kate, Kyle and Natalee all sat crying quietly. “I know Cal wasn’t one for church,” he began, “But, would it be okay if I said a prayer?” When no one objected, Rich said a soft prayer and reached for his guitar, which he began softly playing. Much like the situation with Kim in the first few days, Rich’s guitar playing calmed the emotions and restored hope that things were going to be alright. Ted began to wonder if it was anything like Nat and Max’s gifts. He pondered this as they all listened, and then he spoke to the group.

  “Everyone,” Ted started, “I today have lost the best friend I enjoyed for forty years. It is hard to function. But, Cal would have told us to keep moving, to stick with the plan.” Everyone nodded, so Ted continued. “Before we go, we need to talk about some things, I think.”

  Kayla looked up at Ted, even she didn’t know where he was going. He said, “The abilities, or powers or whatever, let’s discuss them really quick.”

  Kayla interrupted him, “Is this really the time, honey?”

  “I understand,” Ted replied, “but there is never a good time. I think Cal had more to say about it, and if we don’t get it out in the open, we might not have another chance.” The quiet in the room let him know that it was okay to continue. “Has anyone experienced anything unusual in the last few days? We know about Max and her dogs, I think we all know that Nat has some kind of ability with movement, strength, and instinct. I have noticed some pick up in my senses, that I wasn’t really attributing too much, but I think it is in the same vein as Nat’s abilities. Anyone else?” He looked around the room, expecting one of his family members to talk, but it was Kim who spoke up.

  “I have been a Christian since childhood. I have prayed and prayed for things and never experienced anything that could not be attributed to chance. But, I have to admit what is before us, what God has placed in my path. I seem to be able to warm things with my hands. Not a great help in the heat we have experienced, I know, but there may be some need for it.” Kim sat back down nervously. Even in the twilight, he could see how hard it was for her to admit that.

  Kyle didn’t stand up, he just said, “Well, there is this.” He held his hand out and a small ball of light appeared in it. It functioned more like a flashlight than anything else. “Not very useful.” He said.

  “Seems pretty useful in a world of darkness,” Rich’s southern drawl cut through the darkness they all experienced when Kyle stopped showing the light. “I don’t know if anyone had noticed, but when I play the guitar, it seems to calm the nerves. I don’t know if that is real or not.”

  “I noticed it,” Ted interjected. There were a few murmurs of assent.

  Adam was next to share. “I think I can heal people, but it takes a lot out of me.”

  “But I was able to refill his energy,” Erica offered in sort of a bubbly fashion that made Ted smile.

  His mother-in-law then inserted her words, and they seemed almost filled with shame. “I have nothing. I am the same old boring person.”

  Both Kate and Kayla broke in with “Me too.”

  Jessica said, “I haven’t tried.” And they had a nice little laugh around the room, which had about the same effect as Rich’s play had.

  “Okay, that is good.” Ted was starting to get an idea, “In the Army, we inventory our strengths. These are our strengths. Let’s make sure to train them, to try them out, to use them when needed. Let’s not be afraid of judgment. This is the new world; l
et’s make the most of it.”

  As it had grown to night, they couldn’t really see each other and the group broke into little conversations. But Beth stood alone near the window, and Ted could just make out her form in the small difference between the darkness outside and the darkness inside.

  She called to him, “Ted?”

  He walked over to where she was, “Yeah, Mom?”

  “What is that light?” She was looking out the window, and in the far distance, he could see some orange glow and its reflection on some buildings. The room grew quiet and people went to windows to look.

  “Is that the big church, Uncle Ted?” Natalee asked. Ted had always disliked that church, with its televangelist pastor and holier-than-thou congregation. He had seen it on his visits to town to see the family, but also knew its reputation nationally and its impact in the area from the last time he had been stationed at Fort Carson years before.

  “Yeah,” Ted answered, “I think it is.”

  “Is it on fire?” Kim asked worriedly.

  “Nah,” Adam said, “I am pretty sure those are bonfires glowing on the side of the buildings.”

  “How far away is that?” Ted asked, to no one in particular.

  “If we hit that bridge to the south and make our way there,” Kyle answered,” Maybe a mile and a half to two miles.”

  The storm had passed and the darkness was deep, Ted was worried about losing another person in the group to the river. “So, we know where we are going in the morning then.”

  Everyone agreed, and people spent the rest of the night playing with their abilities. The most useful of these was the examinations that Adam performed on every member of the group. He was able to find some small infections. He even found a skin lesion on Rich and took it out, completely healing Rich. This had tired him out and Erica had come to give him some more energy, but he had stopped her telling her that it would help him sleep. Kyle had learned pretty quickly that he could throw the ball of light. It did no damage, but then he didn’t need to think about it to keep it going. Right now, it was about a centimeter in diameter and would last under a minute, but it was still pretty cool.

  Ted and Nat had worked on their abilities together, and Ted had discovered his were a little different than hers. His were defensive mostly, and kept him from being hurt when he sparred with her. Ted was pretty sure that anyone else who sparred with her would have been hurt pretty badly, she had not fully learned control. Jessica had also discovered a skill, but it didn’t work well. She could move things telekinetically, but all they did was shake from side to side, and it drained her terribly to try. People tested their current limits, and Ted found hope in it. They were embracing the world, as it is. He was pretty sure that is the only way they could survive.

  TWO WEEKS PASSED

  “One group confronts another, their aims different, their cultures at odds. One comes out victorious and the other is lost to time.”

  -Merritt Kelly, On Ancient Warfare

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Smoke billowed into the sky above towering flames from the church. Kyle looked back at the burning buildings, wondering how they could have done things differently. The megachurch was so big that it burned high into the dawn’s waning darkness. They had a group of more than thirty now, and he and Nat would take the lead on their trek to the front range of mountains. These last two days had taught them that they needed a more defensible home.

  It hadn’t started out that way. When the group had arrived at the church, they had been welcomed by the parishioners, who had made a tent camp in the courtyard between their three buildings. Everyone pitched in and it almost felt normal, more like a camping trip than a complete change in the way the world worked. It had actually been kind of fun, except for the part that the pastor thought their powers were “of the devil” and refused to let them practice in the camp. It didn’t really stop most of them and they would practice outside the camp whenever they had the chance. Even very religious people like Rich and Kim had found the prohibition just fear of the unknown. They had been there a little more than a week when the trouble brewed.

  Two days ago, some young men who seemed about Kyle’s age, maybe a little older had come to the church asking for food. Max’s dogs had immediately sensed something was wrong. Nat had grabbed a broom handle and walked to the front of the camp, looking as demure as possible, but something in her told her she might be needed. Adam had watched the men and commented that it reminded him of some villagers from when he was in Afghanistan once, that the Taliban would come to town on friendly terms, but were looking for something. He said it often ended in some kind of bloodshed, and this was no different.

  The men had come at the break of dawn the day before, armed with axes and machetes and tore into the camp. After all of it, Ted said he thought they were trying to take food and supplies. The pastor told them to put their weapons away, there was no need for them here, and he had been killed on the spot. Kyle couldn’t believe how quickly society had broken down, that in America people would act like that. The rest of the people in the camp must have been pretty delighted to see Kyle’s group jump into action. But they were stunned when the two most dangerous people turned out to be Nat and Maxine. Nat was like a person from a Kung Fu movie, she moved fast and brilliantly, but it was Max that had scared the “campers”. To see the little girl with rage on her face as she stood mid-camp and directed her dogs (there were thirteen of them now) into an attack of awesome force and brutality. The men had then taken hostages to use as human shields. Kyle had personally had to restrain his ten-year-old cousin to keep her from unleashing the dogs right into the group.

  As the night turned to dusk, the men tried to get away, but Max’s dogs were on them. Not one survived. It was only then that he had seen that the men had lit all three buildings on fire and the fire took hold quickly. The camp had burned, and all his group could do was save those who remained and get them out. And now, their group of thirty plus survivors was about a mile away watching their camp, and church, burn. It was almost over now; it had been burning for hours. Most of their supplies were inside those buildings. Kyle had pulled the last shift of guard duty while most of the others rested. He couldn’t sleep anyway.

  He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Jessica walking up with a piece of the jerky they had taken from his work. She offered it to him, but he just shook his head.

  “You have to keep your strength up,” she said quietly, “come on, it is the breakfast of heroes.”

  He laughed and took the food and began to chew it. “Is Ted up yet?”

  Jessica nodded and Kyle walked back to where his Uncle and Aunt had laid down for the evening. He spoke quietly, so as not to wake anyone who was actually able to sleep.

  “So, what now, Uncle Ted?” Kyle started, “You had a chance to rest. Still think the mountains are the best place?”

  Ted nodded, “Your dad thought we should go to the Hillside, and I think I know why now. That restaurant is on a cliff that would be hard to scale. The entrance to it is a fairly narrow canyon from a secondary landing. We could set up a camp at the base of the road up to it, with another inner camp up at the restaurant. I doubt anyone is there, I think it has been closed for more than a year.” Ted looked down at the ground. “It will be hard for your mom. That was the restaurant they always went to for special occasions.”

  Kyle remembered all the times his family had gone to the Hillside. They had enjoyed birthdays and holidays there, but mostly, until it had closed it was the place where his parents celebrated their anniversaries. The view was the best in town, because it looked out over most of the city. He had not really considered it, but it really was best for defending a position.

  “I think in some ways,” he said, “it will be better for Mom. Plus, it has that little waterfall and pond, right?”

  “Right,” Ted replied, “Good for drinking. We will have to forage and stock it up.”

  Foraging was the word they used to des
cribe how they collected their food and supplies. In the old world, it would have been called stealing. But the concept of personal property had been lost in the last couple of weeks. There were so many people who had died, or just never come home. They would forage through empty houses for useful items and food. Even in just two weeks, it was hard to find any store that hadn’t been looted down to its bare shelves.

  “What about our abilities?” Kyle asked and drew up a small ball of light in his hand.

  “We need to talk about that. Can you see if Rich and the others are awake?” Ted began gathering up his items from the ground and packing them into the backpacks he and Kayla and Max had brought. Kyle walked around and gathered up their group. It had not taken long for Adam and Erica to become more of an item, and they were nestled up together in a half open sleeping bag. Kyle woke them and the others and gathered everyone together. As they walked back to where Ted was, the whole camp seemed to follow.

  “Hey, everyone. You can gather your things,” Kyle told them, “Our group will be talking over where we are going.”

  “Don’t you think we should all talk about it?” a man said, Kyle thought his name was Tom.

  “They are right,” Ted said from behind him, saving his from having to answer, “everyone gather around. Let’s talk about where we are going.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  Cliff’s feet hurt. They had been walking for over a week, seemingly to an endless list of unrelated places, but always leaving with something the Hermit seemed to want. Not that he was saying anything. Cliff wasn’t sure if it had been seven, eight or nine days they had been together, but the Hermit hadn’t said a word. He would communicate by gestures mostly. He would point to something and move out without comment, and Cliff would follow.

  They had broken into the mall, taking survival supplies from the Sporting Goods store and some knives and swords (yes, swords!) from a cutlery shop. For some reason, they had also broken into every jewelry store and the jewelry departments of the big department stores, coming away with only diamonds and diamond-embedded items, hundreds of them. Cliff had no idea what value there would be for the gems now, but they had loads of them if they were valuable again. Cliff assumed that the Hermit was homeless and had attached the idea of wealth to the gems, but it was a guess. Two nights before, Cliff had woken to find the Hermit, huddled in a corner, rubbing the gems in his hands like Gollum with the One Ring. It was kind of creepy, but the next morning all had returned to normal.