Bridgeworlds: Rise of the Magi

by Randy Blackwell

  ~*~

  Kasey and Protos left the tower before Myles was brought back. They’d missed Ariana and the news of new allies. Ariana was the first of those who were on Soterion to introduce herself to the Magi. Kasey, on the other hand, had been given a mission from the Master, and she was focused on fulfilling it.

  Though it was a significant distance to travel, they were able to fly to the mainland. When they finally landed on the shore, Protos considered what they needed to do so they could interact with the Malakadam, the people who dwelt in Loefel Meren. Though there were four different races here, Kasey and Protos didn’t exactly fit in due to their transformations. But blending in was paramount to their success. Protos warned Kasey, “We can’t reveal our wings here. Your wings of fire and my feathered wings would raise too many questions. The only Malakadam that have wings on Soterion are the Gabad. The Miyka like us don’t have any wings.”

  “I understand,” she replied. “I’ll be careful where and when I fly.”

  “So what is it that you wanted to speak to me about when we arrived, sister?”

  “I need you to find a Remmy on the mainland that you think you can trust and ask him to locate Alicia. I know that she wasn’t my daughter, but I'm still concerned for her. Nekar told me that she’s here on Soterion. I just want to know where she is and that she’s safe.”

  “Okay, but if Nekar is the one who brought her here, she may not be in this time.”

  Kasey smiled, “All I ask is that you try.”

  “Very well, my sister, I’ll try. Then this is where we part ways.”

  She gave him a big hug. Her eyes filled. “I slipped a device in your bag that can make you invisible or make you look like one of the images captured on it. You can even capture more images if you need them and use them to disguise yourself. It’s one of Omar’s inventions, and it belongs to the Magi, so please return it once you’ve found her. I also have a tracking device on me so that you can find me once you’ve found her. Just follow the compass that I put in your bags, and it will lead you right to me.” She gave him one last hug then started walking north up the trail.

  As she hiked along, she saw a Raphad for the first time. He appeared to be 25 feet tall and wore long robes. Even though he was so large, he had a gentle smile. Passing him felt like the inspiration of viewing a majestic mountain.

  He bowed his head to her politely and said, “Good morning, m’lady.” He passed by her, heading south.

  It was only when she got about a mile farther up the trail that she realized he was headed straight to the shore directly across from the island. The island was far enough away that those as tall as she was could barely see it. But he had a much higher vantage point and could probably see the island easily if he stood on the shoreline. He might even be able to see the tower. Kasey wondered what she could do. It’s not my problem anymore, she told herself, and pressed on.

  She walked for a while until she found herself at a fork in the path. She could either head north or northeast so she knelt for a moment and prayed that the Master would guide her decision. Then she looked up and decided that she would follow the path north. Joy filled her when she found that the path led to another coastline. She ran onto the beach and walked along the shoreline all day. Kasey grew tired so she made camp on the beach and watched the two suns set one after the other. This world was so peaceful, so beautiful and amazing to her. Kasey decided that she would never go back to Earth.

  ~*~

  Back at the tower, Omar, Myles, and Ischus walked down the stairs with Ariana flying along at their shoulders. They were anticipating the arrival of Erestar, and hoped Seux would join them as well. Heading for a conference room, they encountered Tyree coming up the stairs. He approached Omar with a sense of urgency and whispered, “I need to talk to you. I’m ready to tell you what happened and why.”

  Omar told Myles to go ahead with the meeting. The others nodded their agreement and continued down the stairs as Omar and Tyree ducked into Tyree’s quarters.

  Omar had been bothered for some time with Tyree’s unexpected appearance in the Core of Musterion. It had plagued Omar that this quiet and thoughtful friend could turn into a senseless, violent soldier. They’d spent the past year or so trying to bring Tyree back to sanity, and it hadn’t been easy. What bothered Omar the most was that the only times Tyree seemed to make progress were after the nights when Omar would find Kasey kneeling outside Tyree ’s door. Each time she’d been bowed over with her hand on the door praying for the Master to restore his mind to him. The idea that prayer could work really irritated Omar.

  When they were alone, Tyree blurted out, “There’s war on Earth, Omar. It’s like nothing the world has ever seen before. It’s horrible, and it’s slowly destroying the entire planet. There was a draft and I was selected by the Marines. But before I went to Parris Island for training, Jack Raven came to me, offering to make sure that Misaki and the other coma patients were taken care of. She is likely one of the safest people on Earth, but still, the planet is in danger.”

  “I am glad she is safe… at least remotely safe. But… I just never would have thought I’d see you with dog tags around your neck.”

  “Because of my scientific knowledge, I was put on a special team that developed new weaponry.”

  “Well, at least you didn’t get put on the front lines. What of my sister? Was she still ok?”

  “Yes, Omar, Jack set up good caregivers and security for her and the others. But she is still in a coma. As to the military, I saw combat. But it wasn’t half as traumatic as entering Musterion.”

  “What happened?”

  “For the past decade on Earth, the government, the scientific community, and even Jack Raven have been looking for you. Jack found me a year after you disappeared and forced me to let him into the sealed room with the portal. No one has seen Jack since. Like you, he never returned.

  “Then over a decade after you disappeared, in the midst of war, I was called out of battle and shipped back to the States where I was brought to the Pentagon. I found myself sitting in General Elder’s office. He gave me orders that were personally signed by the President of the United States. As I read the orders I saw “Location Unknown". I found that they planned to send me through the portal to retrieve you and Jack Raven. I explained your doorway theory and that there might not be a way back, but General Elder told me that it was a risk he was willing to take. So I was sent through the portal into this dimension.

  “But from what Kasey has told me, there are five different domains within Musterion. There’s Gabriyel’s realm, the Master’s kingdom, Thanatos’ realm of darkness, the Great Red Dragon’s domain, and there’s the Core where everyone from Soterion comes to live. The problem for me was that I came into Musterion deep in the domain of the Great Red Dragon.”

  A knock sounded on Tyree’s door. “It’s Peel-off. I have something urgent that I must tell you, Omar!”

  “Hold on, Tyree. I need to see what this is about.” Omar went out the door and stood in the hall, staring down at Peel-off.

  “Kasey and Protos have disappeared. I used my ability on Kasey and discovered that she’s on the southeastern coast of Caelsis. Omar, she’s on the mainland. She’s no longer here on the island.”

  Omar felt a headache coming on.

  “There’s also some equipment missing. It’s nothing extravagant—just two of your invisibility devices.”

  “That’s okay, I told her I’d give her a few things in return for her services, and I’d already lent them to her anyway. I don’t know why she left, but let’s not panic just yet. She’s a mysterious creature, I’ll admit, but I don’t think we’re in danger.” Omar stopped for a moment to think through this news and then added, “We might check to see where she is from time to time but right now I have an important meeting to get back to. We’ll discuss this later with the Council.”

  Peel-off bowed and said, “Sorry to interrupt.”

  Omar returned to Tyree, who continued
his story. “Omar, I came to Musterion five hundred years before you did. Because of where I arrived, I was captured by the Drakoni, the servants of the Great Red Dragon. Normally they eat those they find wandering in the maze, but they kept me alive. They never outwardly expressed why but they tortured me, asking many questions, and among those questions was always questions about the technology I had brought with me. I think that was the real reason they held me. The equipment should have been non-functional after so long but the Drakoni have some kind of magic, and I think they used that to preserve my equipment. They fed me, but I had to survive on raw meat, just as the Drakoni did. I was kept in a cell where I was allowed to move around, but I was forced to watch horrible things that I don’t even want to relive long enough to describe them to you. Now imagine this kind of life for five hundred years.

  “I have a device implanted in my dog tags that we’d developed for the war. I managed to eventually convince one of the Drakoni Overlords that they needed to give me access to my things because there was a hazardous material that could destroy all of Musterion. For many years they wouldn’t believe me, but eventually one of the guards decided he could give me my things, but only in my cell. When I found the dog tags, I activated the device. It’s a matter displacer that I created with a stabilizer field that protects the user. Everything immediately collapsed, and I escaped from my cell and got past the Drakoni.

  "But as I was running through the tunnels, the Great Red Dragon caught me. He said that I could go, but Musterion was his world and all its inhabitants were his servants. I didn’t know any better, so I believed him and ran. I didn’t realize until recently why he let me go, but he had looked at me as if he could see my soul. He knew that I was a battle-trained warrior and if he told me those lies, I’d shoot first and ask questions later if I ever found the Musterlings. That’s why I attacked on sight when I came to what you call the Core. There was war going on, and I thought everyone was an evil servant of the Dragon.”

  Omar ran his hand through his hair and let his mind race as he considered what Tyree had told him. Five hundred years? He didn’t know if he would even be sane after five hundred years of that kind of life.

  “I learned the language of the Drakoni,” Tyree started again. “I listened as they talked, and I know a lot of their plans for Soterion. I also know that there are other worlds besides this one. There’s a multi-dimensional galaxy with Musterion as the center gateway. I remember it all now, Omar! Listen to this. I’ll tell you things you never imagined.”

  “The Great Red Dragon rules over Thanatos, who is the master of Bio Nekros, a world crawling with undead. Bio Nekros belongs to Thanatos and he rules it however he wishes. There are many other worlds, and they all connect through Musterion. These include Earth, Soterion, Musterion, Bio Nekros, Gnosis, Pneumatikos, and Astorgeon. Pneumatikos was the world that Kasey went into after she was saved and transformed.

  “Oh yeah, speaking of Kasey, the Great Red Dragon’s plan was for Thanatos to have Moluno kill Kasey and Myles so that they’d never make it to Soterion. There’s a prophecy on Soterion that only those who lived in the first Kingdom of Soterion would remember. It says that a Miyka who’s not really a Miyka, with the help of an Adam from another world, will bring a weapon to Soterion across many worlds that will be the salvation of Soterion. It’s called the sword of Soterion by the Drakoni, and it has the power to defeat the Great Red Dragon.”

  “Kasey never displayed a weapon of such power.”

  “But things are not always what they seem. If there’s anything I learned on Musterion, it was that.”

  Omar rubbed his chin. There was a lot to consider here, but most of all he wanted to know what this weapon was. “It looks like we’ll need to find Kasey. Do you have any idea where she might be headed?”

  “My guess is that she’s going to Suchikos. The Drakoni Overlords said that if she ever made it to Soterion, they hoped the Great Red Dragon would wage war on Suchikos. Suchikos is the kingdom that was founded by the twelve Jews who were the first to ever make it through the Maze of Musterion and come to Soterion. It’s now known that none can pass through Musterion to Soterion without a human with them. But with a human, it’s possible. Don’t forget, Omar, that just because you look like an Akana and have their natural abilities, it doesn’t make you an Akana. You’re still actually a human. Kasey is also human despite her current form. The Dragon knows all of this.”

  “But I don’t know why Kasey would hide from us the fact that she had such a weapon.”

  “You’ll have to ask her.”

  “There’s one more thing that I need to know from you, Tyree. Will you join the Magi?”

  Tyree shook his head. “I’m a Marine, Omar, and I have my orders. I won’t take you back to Earth against your will. But I still must find Jack Raven. It’s my belief that there’s a portal to Musterion within the walls of Suchikos. It would be something that the original twelve would’ve hidden somewhere in the kingdom. I need to find it so I can return to Musterion and look for Jack Raven.”

  “You mustn’t go back there. What if you end up captured by the dragon again?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” answered Tyree. “Orders are orders no matter what planet I’m on. I’ll complete my mission and then try to come back to see if you’ve changed your mind about staying here.”

  “We’ve found a way to genetically mix the DNA of a dog with Roca's to make a creature we call the Kuon. They’re giant dogs that have wings but are covered with feathers. They have barbed feathers that have venom in them, and they can shoot them. They’re intelligent creatures. They are fast, and you can ride them. They’re also loyal, and once they bond to a master, they’re bound to him for life. I’ll send you with two. One is for you, and the other one is for Kasey if you ever run across her. If you don’t, you can bond with both of them.”

  Tyree put his hand on Omar’s shoulder. “It’s been good seeing you again, old friend. I hope to return to you some day.”

  “I hope to see you again also. Be careful out there. This is a strange dimension. Of that I’m quite sure.” In the years that Tyree had worked for Omar, they’d never really displayed affection for each other, but at that moment Omar hugged Tyree and patted him on the back. “I mean it, be careful,” he whispered.

  Tyree took one of the tags off the chain around his neck and handed it to Omar. “This has the matter displacer imbedded in it. I hope you don’t ever have to use it, but it will help you in a moment of desperation.” He patted Omar on the shoulder, then picked up his bags and left.

  Omar’s eyes welled up as he watched his scarred and hardened friend walk out the door. Overcome with sorrow, he sat down on the floor as tears came to his eyes. He wished that life wasn’t so hard sometimes. Tyree had been like a son to him, and it was hard to let him go. He even thought about praying at that moment that he would get to see his friend again someday. But he remembered that he was a scientist and decided to let it go.

  23

  Tyree

  Several days passed as Kasey hiked along the beach. It was a beautiful journey and she’d resigned herself to following the shore line. Not knowing a specific place to go, Kasey just walked and communed with the Master, hoping to grow in an understanding of her mission. The past few days had been a special spiritual time for her where she could be alone, fast, and seek the will of the Master without interruption. Now here she was again where she’d set up a campfire, spread out a bed, and fallen asleep on the beach without a care in the world.

  But this night wasn’t the same after all. She was woken abruptly by a stabbing pain in her leg. She sat up suddenly to see a giant blue scaled tentacle wrapped around it. She drew a moss dagger from her bags and tried to reach the sword but couldn’t. She frantically stabbed the thing with her dagger as it raised her thirty-five feet above the beach and began pulling downward when she moved out over the ocean. It happened so quickly that before Kasey realized it, she was submerged under water. She knew not to str
uggle because every muscle movement meant she would lose more air. She tried to remain still while the tentacle pulled her closer to a beast.

  This creature was massive and was probably as large as a stadium. It had finned horns on its head like some kind of water dragon. As it opened its mouth she saw its sharp teeth protruding and a forked tongue reaching out like a serpent. It had gills, and its eyes were like those of a frog. Kasey quickly realized that she couldn’t defeat this giant so she prayed for help and before she could finish her prayer, help arrived.

  She saw Tyree swimming beside her. He held out a laser rifle and severed the tentacle to free Kasey. He signaled for her to swim to the surface, fearing that she was out of breath. She had trained as an assassin to hold her breath for long periods of time, so she was fine. She did swim up a little but turned around to make sure Tyree was ok.

  She watched as the monster grabbed Tyree but he didn’t even fight it. He simply held on to his remaining dog tag as it began to swallow him whole. What? Does he have a death wish? That’s when Kasey’s wings ignited without her even thinking about it; and as she flapped them, she began to move downward swiftly. She was trying to think of a way to save him when suddenly she was seized and pulled up by her good leg. Something was pulling her to the surface so she turned with her knife ready and saw what had grabbed her. It was a large dog-like creature that had the markings of a Doberman with red and black fur, but it had wings also with red and black coloring and it flapped them to pull them to the surface. When it rose above the water, it carried her to the beach and dropped her there. She sat up wondering about Tyree. That’s when she saw that there were two dog-creatures, and the other one was circling the area where Tyree had been.

  Kasey jumped up and yelled, “No!” as she ran back towards the water. But just as she reached the sea water, she felt the entire beach shake as if a large bomb had gone off. The Kuon that was circling the water shot straight up in the air like a rocket. Something told Kasey to get away fast so she too swiftly shot into the air with her wings ablaze. She looked down just in time to see thousands of water drops floating up towards her, giant pieces of the sea creature followed closely behind. It all suspended in the air for a brief moment until everything just fell back into the water.