Interra (Awakened Series Book 5)

by Harley Austin

  “That can’t hit shit,” Elle easily dodged a plasma bolt. “Stay evasive and you’ll have a better chance of not getting hit.”

  “What happens if one of those things tags one of us?”

  “You don’t want to know.” Elle glared at Ian.

  They had just entered the clearing when all of their danger senses rocketed off the scale—too late. They only saw the flash. Elle, Jerrod and Beau landed dazed onto the grass, not far from the edge of inner forest, their skins all illuminated in a golden hue. Serena was simply blown backward with Ian into the forest. Both began to get up but found themselves surrounded by the bi-ped automaton weaponry. Neither dared move as the bots’ targeted and re-targeted them over and over, waiting for the slightest move. After long moments the bots backed away, replaced by well armed soldiers, their weapons at the ready.

  “Get up,” one of them barked. “Slowly.”

  Jerrod, Elle and Beau picked themselves up off the ground, quickly recovering from the blast that left a monstrous crater in the forest ground.

  “Newsflash,” Elle groaned, getting to her feet, “they mined the forest too.”

  Close to a hundred yards between them, one of the soldiers holding Serena and Ian spoke in a normal voice. He held up a piece of equipment. “This is a portable backscatter; it detects psionic potential. If this detector goes above a four, your friends are dead. Any questions?”

  The three of them said nothing.

  “I said, any questions!” the soldier emphasized.

  “No. None.” Jerrod spoke, also in a normal voice he knew the halfblood officer could hear his words easily, even at a hundred yards.

  Dozens of soldiers came out of the forest now, their weapons all trained on them.

  “Elle, don’t you dare move,” Jerrod spoke quietly, afraid to use even the smallest of telepathy.

  “Is than an order or a request?”

  “Order. Dammit.”

  “You’re no fun.”

  The officer of rank searched and then removed the crystalline wand from Serena’s makeshift holster for it.

  The large company of soldiers approached them and then shoved Serena and Ian into Jerrod and the rest, ordering them to stand clustered and pressing all of them together.

  “You’re going to take us through the shield.”

  “Where’s Aramis?” Beau asked.

  “Don’t worry about it. You’ll be joining him soon enough,” the sergeant sneered. “Now open it up.”

  “We don’t know how,” Jerrod informed.

  “The hell you don’t.”

  “You have empaths. I’m telling the truth.”

  The sergeant looked at the halfblood woman next to him. She was shaking her head. “Apparently, he’s telling the truth.”

  “Apparently. It’s a trick.” He leveled his pistol at Jerrod. “Open it!”

  “I don’t know how,” Jerrod insisted.

  “Open it, or by God, you’ll be the first one I drop!”

  The crystal in his hand suddenly burst into a bright light, searing his hand with its sudden heat. He dropped it, but instead of falling to the ground, the slender wand shot like a bullet, through people, bots, rocks and trees, disappearing into the forest.

  The sergeant glared at Jerrod, his hand still burned and throbbing.

  Jerrod shrugged.

  Without warning soldiers began lifting from the ground, levitating against their will, as if gravity had somehow been removed from the area. Someone fired a shot at them, but Elle’s barrier shield had already had more than enough time to coalesce. The blast reflected harmlessly off of it. The sizable crater the weapon left in the semi-visible shield healed quickly. Serena joined in, holding onto Elle, her eyes immediately lit. The barrier suddenly expanded, many fold, and tripled in its thickness.

  Elle flashed Serena a look of surprise. “Remind me that I only want to play on your team next time.”

  “You are on my team.”

  Serena was busy repairing the small craters in their shield as hundreds of weapons now detonated against it from the floating soldiers discharging their weapons at the group.

  The others watched as soldier after solder began flying off at high speed into random directions, some into the forest they’d come from, some down the no-mans-land clearing—but a few flew into something above and behind them. The flying soldiers struck something invisible, and in a subtle soft flash of light, they were instantly gone.

  Jerrod looked up, watching some of the soldiers vanishing above them. “Holy shit! Don’t take any steps backward. We’re standing right next to the barrier!” Jerrod moved all of them several yards away from its undetectable edge.

  With in a minute, all of the levitating soldiers had been flung hundreds of yards away, landing hard and well away from the small group of young gods—except one. The officer who’d threatened Jerrod. The group watched as the major’s RF badge tore free from his clothing and sailed into the forest. A moment later, a dark-blue robed and hooded figure emerged from the jungle, approaching them. The still floating major began floating closer toward the barrier. He began yelling. “NO! Please! I wasn’t going to hurt anyone!” he begged. The Invicti all watched, spellbound, as he drifted above them. “Stop. I’m not—” There was a soft flash. And then there was silence.

  “Oooh, I am such a bitch sometimes.” The woman pulled back her hood.

  “AMY?!” Jerrod’s eyes were huge. They all were.

  “BUT—how?” Elle looked utterly astonished. “You’re dead. I felt you. You were dead? Right?”

  “Come, come, now Jerrod, Honey; Elle, Sweetie. I may not be Invicti, but I have my own little talents. Now we have about thirty seconds before the next wave of their soldiers get here. Serena, Honey, if you’re going to do something, now would be a good time.”

  “But I don’t know what to do?” she stammered.

  “Everyone! Hold onto Serena!” Jerrod ordered. He then looked Serena in the eye. “They wanted to use us to get past the barrier, Serena. You’re the key, remember? You have to think like you’re protecting us with your will. Surrounding us with your empathy as we walk through. Do you know what I mean?”

  “I know exactly what you mean.”

  Serena’s eyes were not just lit, but suddenly ablaze! Her feelings invaded all of them as they held close to her. She could now see the soldiers running quickly like speeding cars toward them from out of the forest. Like herds of rampaging animals the troops came closer. Serena stepped quickly toward the barrier with her entourage; a faint unworldly glow suddenly enveloping all of them as they stepped into the barrier.

  The impenetrable field—yielded.

  It washed over them as if hugging the very being of each of them as they moved through. Ian’s foot was the last to pass as the soldiers raced to pierce the veil with them—but the barrier did not yield to their bodies. Each of the soldiers exploded into atoms as they began striking the barrier at full sixty-mile-per hour sprints, flashing out of existence.

  All of the sun gods stood along with Amethyst, just on the other side of the barrier and watched as the first wave of soldiers vaporized instantly into soft bursts of nothing. No blood. No screams or cries of pain. Just an instant flare of non-existence as the atoms of whatever touched the barrier simply destabilized and disintegrated into nothing.

  Hundreds perished before the orders to stand down were received. The troops who stopped first in front of the barrier, however, were still being pushed into it by the gathering crowds of soldiers who’d collided with those in front of them. The gods watched, pained, as dozens more died needlessly, pushed into the barrier by the herd of halfbloods that had gathered and finally stopped their assault run.

  The thousands of soldiers, obviously receiving orders from someone over their com sets, now backed away from the barrier in the trampled meadow grasses of their no-mans-land. As if in a well rehearsed dance, each drew their ionic weapons while fanning out and backing away. The most forward of the soldiers dropp
ed to their bellies taking aim, while the others behind them crouched. Quickly, a kind of amphitheater of rows upon rows of pistol and rifle-aiming soldiers, thousands of them, bore their weapons as if targeting the group in unison.

  “Oh, shit.” Jerrod quipped. “Everyone, cover your eyes!”

  A flash that looked like a burst of bright sunlight struck the barrier as thousands of the weapons discharged all at once.

  With their eyes closed they felt and saw nothing on the other side. When Jerrod opened his, he saw only a slowly receding blackness where the barrier had been attacked. As the blackness faded away, Jerrod could only look away; as did the rest of them. The combined energy of their own massive weapons firing at once reflected back upon them. No one survived who’d been closest to the front. Thousands now lay dead and dying, their remains still burning and smoldering. The reflected energy of the thousands of ion weapons cut a massive swath through their ranks and into the forest behind, setting it aflame and burning brightly with a new thick grey and black smoke rising into the peacefulness of the cavern.

  Jerrod shook his head in disbelief. Much of their ranks now dead, dying or wounded. Those that could were backing away from the barrier.

  The sun gods were silent. They looked at each other and then looked at the faces of the soldiers on the other side. Some of the looks were that of bewilderment, while most bore the look of sheer seething hatred.

  Somehow, rain began to pour over the forest now, drenching all of them and dowsing the fires with extinguishing waters.

  No one moved. Jerrod felt sad for the halfbloods on the other side who’d survived their own attack. Sure, most of them hated him. But in the eyes of others, he saw pain and even sadness. Then someone began walking toward the barrier. A single soldier, probably not any older than his late teens, an Asian-looking guy. They watched as he walked closer to them, then dropped his weapon belt and com gear while moving through the still hot and now wet-steaming charred ground, stepping around the ugly remains of his fallen comrades, in the new heavy rain.

  He walked right up the invisible barrier, perhaps only inches from it, his eyes exactly focused on Serena. He said nothing. But just watched her.

  Curious, she began to approach the young man. Jerrod was about to stop her when Amethyst gently touched his arm. Jerrod pursed his lips.

  When Serena was right up to him she stopped with only the barrier between them. He looked barely sixteen. Both watched each other for long moments.

  “What’s your name?” she asked, her tone sad yet compassionate.

  “Tanner.”

  “You’re very brave, Tanner.”

  “Forgive us, Highness. We have—”

  The bright shot rang out from somewhere behind him, striking the young soldier squarely in the back.

  “—failed—you …” he winced, in terrible pain. He began to slump forward into the barrier.

  But he never touched it.

  With Serena’s arms outstretched, she caught the young man, pulling him through the barrier.

  “I’m—I’m sorry, Princess,” he apologized again, drawing a final breath. But Serena’s eyes were already ablaze. The young man’s skin seemed to take on a golden glow as he lifted softly into the air.

  Jerrod nudged Amethyst. “Watch this, you old witch,” he quipped, mentally settling back to watch the show. Amy was already watching; completely intrigued by the unforgettable princess.

  The young man rose and softly twisted as the glow of his skin grew brighter until he was impossible for even the halfblood army to look at. Then he burst into a new bright-white light that slowly and softly faded. His hair now stark silver-white, he descended, his boots landing firmly on the grass, and on strong new legs. His pain was gone, his mind new with power and thought—even his clothes were freshly whole and bright white. Serena steadied the young new god, although he didn’t really need it.

  “Thank you, Tanner.” Serena said.

  The youth looked at the fading golden glow of his new skin. He began to sink to his knees but Serena took hold of his closes, keeping him standing.

  “No.” Serena admonished. “You bow to no one. And no one bows to you.”

  He nodded his understanding.

  The sun gods watched as the two of them hugged for long moments. Then Serena walked with him back to their group as the army of their enemy looked on from the outside.

  Tanner smiled weakly, not really sure of what to say.

  Jerrod smiled. “Welcome to Interra, Tanner.”

  Tanner nodded, then turned to look at the throngs of halfbloods now watching them from the other side.

  “What about them?” he held up his hand. “They’re being led by monsters.”

  Jerrod nodded. “We can’t help them right now, Tanner. Right now, we need to help Rion.”

  “Rion?” Tanner suddenly remembered. “They have Rion. He’s already inside the city.”

  “Considering what just happened with all of us, I can believe that.” Elle looked around at all of them. “The only question is, how many did they bring in and where are they now?”

  48

  F rom atop Interra’s tallest spire, in a room that opulence could not begin to describe, Terrell sat in the central and largest of the seven golden thrones. The panorama view of the city outside was breathtaking below.

  Also below him, at the foot of the stairs that led to the dais of thrones, Rion kneeled, flanked by his multiple heavily muscled and well-armed guards.

  Terrell read from a small tablet handed to him from a page who then quickly left.

  “Well, Rion, mightiest of all the gods,” Terrell stood. “Everything is going exactly according to my plan. As anticipated, your Invictus friends have entered the city; and are walking directly into my trap. Once I have eliminated them, one by one, I will eliminate you.”

  “The Invictus will defeat you.” Rion informed him matter-of-factly, his voice still weak.

  “Oh, please. Spare me the pathetic devotion to your prophetic pronouncements. The Invicti are no more resourceful than you.” Terrell clapped his hands. “Bring him in.”

  Rion watched as four guards dragged in an already tortured, emasculated and sorely beaten Aramis, his chrome freezer suit preventing his body from healing anything but quickly.

  His hands bound to his sides like Rion’s, the guards unceremoniously tossed Aramis hard onto the ornate stone floor, next to Rion.

  “Kneel!” Terrell ordered.

  Aramis painfully pulled himself up weekly into a kneeling position. “You have some real keen friends, Rion.”

  “Silence!” Terrell descended the stairs. “You see, Rion? Your prophecies are worthless. I have already thwarted them. The ancient Masters were pathetic.” He approached the two gods, his voice drew quiet and calmly sadistic, as if he were being compassionate. “And once I have captured the rest of your renegade Invicti, I will have all of you put to death—here. Right here. In the ancient’s own throne room. It will be a—fitting end to the last of your warring excuse for a race.”

  * * * * *

  The light of the city began to slowly wane, bringing on a kind of night within the massive cavern. From high atop one of the taller buildings, the small group of gods, including Tanner now, found spacious living spaces, warm and inviting, and well away from the swarms of Wraith endlessly searching the streets for them far below.

  Every building seemed to be secured and locked, except to Serena. Nothing was locked for her. In a large and dimly-lit apartment, richly decorated, the seven of them sat together, huddled within a seating arrangement of soft couches and chairs. Serena sat right next to Jerrod on a couch. Ian and Beau found a couch opposite them while Tanner, Amy and Elle took their own chairs.

  As if by some ancient art none of them understood, Amethyst’s wand brought forth all manner of fine foods heaped onto the coffee table before them—sliced fruits and elegantly cut vegetables, steaming soups and tall frosted mugs of very cold malted beverages and juices.

&nbs
p; “I still don’t understand how you were resurrected, Amy.” Jerrod ate something that resembled a thick chili from a bread bowl.

  “I am who I am, Jerrod. I’ve died more times than I can remember. Within a few days, I awaken. It tends to leave one, a bit cocky.”

  “Maybe that wand of yours could conjure us some new clothes?” Elle noticed that Amethyst was nicely dressed again, her dark blue cloak now laid over the back of her chair.

  Jerrod agreed. “And some weapons would be nice.”

  Amethyst shook her head.

  “Oh?” Elle raised her brow, “You like seeing all of us dressed in early twenty-first century burnt rags?”

  Amy drew a sip from tall-thin glass of white juice. “You already have all you need. We want the Wraith to believe that they have you surrounded, pinned down, and weak. The weaker they perceive you, the safer you’ll be.”

  “I don’t know, Amy,” Beau began, “It kind of feels like that at the moment. Isn’t that exactly the situation we’re in right now? Holed up in this building while our enemy outnumbers us by the thousands? It’s only going to be a matter of hours, maybe days at the most before they discover where we’re hiding. I don’t think this is just perception. I’m feeling pretty weak and outgunned at the moment.”

  “Beau, you let others far too easily determine your value and who you are. Back in Lyon, who was in-charge?”

  “Obviously, you and the Seven were.”

  She shook her head. “No. You were the one holding all the cards, not us. But we were able to make you feel powerless, using your friendship with Aramis as leverage.”

  “You think the Wraith are doing the same thing?”

  “Of course. These people are bullies, Beau.”

  “Bullies with guns,” Ian quipped.

  “I didn’t say they were harmless, Ian. I meant they are unsophisticated.”

  “They defeated the armies of the Seven.” Jerrod thudded his mug on the low table.

  Amethyst let out a short chuckle. “Please. Jerrod. Do you know who you’re dealing with? These are the Sentinels and the Seven. Two factions who have been engaged in war for the better part of a thousand centuries. And you think some upstart with shiny new planes and a ridiculous ion slingshot is going to at all slow them down? Get serious.”