The Quest Saga Collection: Books 1 - 5

by Dhayaa Anbajagane

  “Hellooo?” Taylor waved her hand in his face.

  “Oh sorry. Got a little distracted.”

  “What do you think happened?”

  “Giants took it down,” he kept his voice down. “Why? What do you think happened?”

  “I think the same thing, but the coincidence is interesting.”

  “What? Two galactic stations getting knocked down is interesting to you?”

  “No. But two galactic stations knocked down, one by the Corein giants and the other by the indiff giants.”

  “Yeah so they were both giants. They’re not the same.”

  “But they’re from the same planet.”

  Q eyed her, “You think their planet is declaring war?”

  “Don’t you think it’s odd, that the Corein giants would take down S.P.A.C.E and then the indiff giants would take out the shuttle station? The shuttle station is the closest docking zone to S.P.A.C.E, which means anyone who left S.P.A.C.E alive would have to come by the station. Both these places being attacked is not a coincidence. I think it’s part of a plan.”

  “Are these giants pretty aggressive?”

  “The indiff ones are animals, not a single sophisticated thought in them. They’re like supersized versions of early man. But the Corein giants are smart enough, and strong enough, to try something fishy and get away with it.”

  “But didn’t we see those giants back on Earth? That biker guy was a Corein giant wasn’t he?”

  “I honestly don’t know what he was doing there. But then again, we did see a Phalatopian so I think that makes the giant thing less surprising.”

  Q smiled so wide his teeth started to hurt.

  “What?” she moved back “You’re freaking me out.”

  “You remembered,” his voice trembled softly.

  “I did?” she paused. “I DID!” And that one yell proved enough to awaken most of the passengers.

  “Sorry,” she whispered but they had all been scared into full-awake mode by that one scream.

  I guess this conversation is over, he sighed.

  He couldn’t talk about any of those things with the passengers around. Carlos wouldn’t approve. That sucked because he’d really wanted to have that conversation. Especially since Taylor seemed to be getting her memory back bit by bit.

  “How are you two holding up?” Carlos walked in.

  “I’m fine, and I think Taylor’s regaining her memories bit by bit.”

  “Ah, the post-coma effects are probably coming into play now.”

  “So I’ll remember everything soon?” she asked.

  “It won’t happen that quickly,” he leaned in and kept his voice down so that the passengers wouldn’t hear. “You might need maybe one or two more coma inductions to get all your memory back. You’ve been in direct contact with a phalothopian for far too long to be able to regain your memories this easily. I’d give it a few days maybe.”

  Taylor nodded her head.

  “We only have to bear another hour or so of this ride before we reach our destination.”

  “And where might that be?” Q asked.

  “Secrets are more fun aren’t they?” Carlos smiled and went back towards the pit.

  “Yeah, sure,” he grumbled “They’re more fun for the person that knows them already.”

  “I think I know where we’re going,” Taylor smiled.

  “And I’m guessing you’re not telling?”

  “Not telling you. Yup.”

  “Why do you people hate me so much?”

  “This way it’ll be surprise, and I don’t hate you, you know that.”

  “And we all know that I just looove surprises.”

  Taylor clutched her head, and stayed quiet for a bit.

  “Head hurts?” She nodded.

  “Want me to call Carlos?”

  “I’m fine,” she said meekly and dropped her head onto his shoulder.

  And before he could even turn and protest, she’d closed her eyes and dozed off.

  “Fine,” he rolled his eyes and sat still.

  He remembered a time Taylor did the exact same thing when they were in the tower back on Earth. She’d caught a fever back then and all she managed to do in her exhaustion was to put her head on his shoulder and fall asleep.

  I wonder if I can go back, he thought for the first time.

  His mind slowly drifted off as he closed his eyes and slept.

  ***

  When Taylor opened her eyes the first thing she saw were the gleaming faces of Carlos and Kai.

  “Here we are stranded on a ship,” Kai said. “And you both are having a nice romantic moment together.”

  She had no clue what they were talking about until she turned to her side and saw Q’s head resting on her shoulder.

  Don’t blush. Don’t blush, she thought.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be at the pit?” she asked Kai, desperately trying to change the topic.

  “We’re almost at our destination.”

  She turned to Carlos, and he just nodded.

  This is going to be fun, she thought.

  “Anyway,” Kai said. “We’ll go into descent soon so I figured we’d wake you two up.”

  “He’s still asleep though,” she pointed to Q with her free arm.

  Kai bent close to his ear, “HEY Q! Stop flirting on my ship!”

  The poor guy was so startled he half-fell, half-jumped onto the floor.

  “There we go,” Kai dusted his hands like a job well done.

  “Descent confirmed,” the speaker system announced.

  “Ah,” Kai said. “Time for me to head back. You guys wanna come with?”

  Taylor really didn’t have anything better to do so she followed him to the pit along with Carlos and a dazed Q.

  “Take a look at that beauty,” Kai whistled.

  Taylor squinted at one of the screens. On it was a planet about the size of Pluto, but instead of a cold blue it seemed to have a really mysterious pink. The surface seemed hazy, with swirling clouds of shifting pink.

  “Zygrade,” she smiled.

  “Never thought it was actually real,” he mumbled.

  “Why not?” Q asked.

  “There used to be a legend,” Kai said. “That on a planet called Zygrade existed a multitude of young warriors so well trained they’d reach the top of any military organization, whatever their expertise may be. Zygrade was said to be home to the most prestigious military academia in the galaxy.”

  “So it’s like the Harvard of the galaxy?”

  Everybody stared at him for a minute, “Go back to sleep,” Kai chuckled.

  And ironically enough Q curled up on a tiny seat in the back of the pit and tried to sleep.

  “He’s exhausted,” Carlos said. “Guess the trip is finally getting to him.”

  “He held out long enough though,” she said.

  They entered the atmosphere of Zygrade and it was already getting eerie. Apparently being surrounded by pink wasn’t as comforting as people thought it would be. The lower they sank, the denser the pink surrounding them became.

  Different shades of pink haze evaporated and condensed continuously, making it seem like some supernatural force was controlling it. Taylor could almost imagine Dracula coming out from behind the sheet of smoke and trying to suck on their blood.

  The ship’s interspace communication systems blared, “Unidentified Spacecraft, this is a restricted airspace. Please specify mission immediately or we will take counteractive measures.”

  Carlos spoke up, “This is Carlos. S.P.A.C.E has been compromised, and the shuttle station on Kryptos was taken down. Requesting temporary safe hold for myself and my passengers.”

  Taylor could hear the guy cough and splutter when he heard it was Carlos who was on board.

  Still happens, she thought and a smile escaped her lips.

  “Permission granted,” the voice declared.

  A section of lights shone through the hazy clouds and lit up a runway, leadi
ng them to a beautiful sight.

  A clear dome shone brightly, encapsulating a huge city. Tons of buildings of all shapes and sizes lay in concentric circles and at the center was a huge tower that reached a little more than halfway up the dome.

  “What in the world is that?” Kai asked.

  “That’s the academy,” Carlos smiled.

  “What? Really?”

  “Yeah, anyway, let me take over as pilot.”

  “No way, dude you never flew this thing ONCE in all the time we were on it.”

  “Let me do it,” he said.

  Kai rolled his eyes, “Fine. Whatever keeps you happy.”

  Carlos put himself in the seat and started shifting the images on the screen, a little slower than Kai but just as professional.

  “This is Carlos. Do you read me? Over.”

  The intercom opened up, “We hear you loud and clear Commander.”

  “COMMANDER!?” Q and Kai yelled at the same time.

  “Figured you guys would do that,” Taylor chuckled.

  “You knew?” Q asked her.

  “Yeah.”

  “How come?”

  “I’ve come here before, so I pretty much knew all of this.”

  “WHAT?” Kai said.

  “Shhhh, Calm down. You’ll scare the passengers with your yelling.”

  Luckily, the scenery around was mesmerizing enough to distract Q and Kai from the topic.

  Meanwhile Carlos had changed all the screens to show different images and readings from the one Kai had been using.

  “All systems have been double checked, no possibility of entry flare. Ready for withdrawal. Open section 66 on my command.”

  “Yes commander,” the voice said.

  The ship started to speed up and lowered down until it was almost kissing the lighted ground.

  “Begin withdrawal.”

  A square section opened up on the lower section of the dome and the ship shot through.

  Inside the dome were the hundreds of buildings they’d seen earlier, but now they could see a few people walking around here and there, few of them glancing up at the sky to look at them.

  Taylor felt like it had been an eternity since she’d come here. She really missed the place. A lot.

  “Amazing,” Q’s eyes widened. “Where are we?”

  Carlos stood up and put on his newly characteristic grin.

  “Welcome to Aliea Academy.”

  ***

  3-2

  “Aliea academy,” Q repeated and took in the sights. Even the passengers had exited the ship and had started looking around.

  Yes, they’d just experienced one of the worst events of their life, but Q couldn’t blame them for having small smiles on their faces. This place was amazing.

  A multitude of towers stood all around, overwhelming him with their sheer size. Their black surfaces were sleek and metallic, creating a slight glistening effect even in the late evening light.

  His eyes looked up and saw the tallest tower stand majestically above the others, rooted in the center of the city. He felt like it would come to life and kill everyone.

  Even he had no clue how that weird thought had entered his mind.

  The tower was black, seemingly even darker than the rest, like the color on Taylor’s suit. A single line of neon red ran along its walls, ending in a large circular outline towards the top.

  “What is that thing?” Q whispered in awe.

  “The Demon Riser,” Taylor said. “Aliea Academy’s control center.”

  Perfectly named, he thought.

  “Would all of you follow me please,” Carlos pointed to the survivors who now seemed more like excited tourists than people who’d almost died.

  Carlos walked towards one of the younger residents who were walking around. The boy listened to him and nodded his head so fast Q was scared it would fall off.

  “He’ll lead you guys to the infirmary,” Carlos said.

  They thanked Carlos before following the boy to wherever the infirmary was.

  “Well,” he said. “We’d better get going as well.”

  “Where?’

  “We’ll just head to the Demon Riser. Easiest place to be for first timers.”

  For something that looked scary, Q found that fact hard to believe.

  Carlos flagged a bus-like vehicle that was floating off the ground, and they all got on.

  A hover bus, he thought.

  The bus shot past roads, making the scenery seem like blurs and streaks of color. In a few minutes they were at the dark tower, that at close up seemed way more freaky than before.

  Q looked up at the outer walls of the Demon Riser. They seemed to keep going up higher and higher almost endlessly.

  Carlos led them through the sliding glass doors, and as soon as he entered, everyone’s eyes looked towards him.

  “Is that..,” a young boy whispered.

  “Oh, my god!” A girl squeaked.

  Q didn’t understand any of these reactions.

  A guy walked up to Carlos and shook his hand, “I just want to thank you for everything you did for me.”

  What? Q thought. He was completely bewildered by how his brother was being treated. Maybe he’d saved this academy from a war or something of the sort. The reactions sure seemed to suggest that.

  “You’re welcome,” Carlos smiled at the boy, and led Q and the others to the end of the room.

  They took a rocket-propelled elevator to one of the higher floors in the tower and headed toward several doors placed at symmetric distances.

  “This, is our room,” Carlos said to all three of them, and the doors automatically slid open with a metallic hiss.

  The whole room looked like the inside of a space shuttle, its pure white aesthetics working well with the sleek, black furniture. The end of the room had a few bunks and towards the front was a large couch placed right next to a large screen television mounted on the wall. Kai whistled in delight. Q agreed with him. This place was awesome!

  “Good room?” Carlos asked.

  “Ooooh yeah!” Kai jumped onto to the couch and bounced a few times.

  Taylor turned to Q, “So you’re wondering what all that fuss was about?”

  “Well I was actually wondering what this Academy was but yeah, the fuss thing works too.”

  “Aw c’mon,” Carlos said. “It wasn’t that bad.”

  “Are you serious?” Q asked. “Those kids were like ‘Oh, my god! It’s Carlos’,” he tried his best to mimic their voices, but only succeeded in making everyone laugh.

  “Well, I’m a well-known person around here.”

  “Why? Because you’re the commander here?”

  “It isn’t just that.”

  “What else is there?” Kai asked, still bouncing on the couch.

  Carlos looked at Q, “Our family kind of built Aliea Academy.”

  ***

  “What?!” Q said, in a mix of surprise and admiration.

  “Our family was the one who started the place,” Carlos repeated.

  “Wait, mom and dad knew about this whole Zyxian thing?”

  He nodded, “Yeah. They used much of their fortune to build this place during their late 20s.”

  Q was stunned. His parents were both involved in this whole thing. He had plenty of questions running through his mind, but he tried to calm down, trying to prevent himself from becoming overwhelmed by everything.

  “How do you even afford to run the place?” Kai asked.

  “We make intergalactic stock market investments. That’s how we get most of our working capital,” he said and stumbled a bit, nearly collapsing to the floor.

  “You okay?” Taylor held him steady.

  “Just a little exhausted,” he said and walked gingerly towards the bunks. He lay on one of them and closed his eyes, as though the very light were burning his retinas.

  “I think I’ll take a nap for now,” he said. “You guys can walk around if you want to, and I’m pretty sure you won’t
get lost. If you do though, just ask around for directions. The people here are very friendly.”

  “I’m going to take a look at the space hangar.” Kai said instantly and dashed out the door.

  Q wondered if he should just sit back and relax for a while. Seemed like a pretty good idea.

  “You want me to show you around?” Taylor asked Q.

  Or he could do that.

  “Well, I’d rather have someone explain to me what this place is.”

  “It’d be better if Carlos does that. He has much more information than I do.”

  “Fine,” he smiled. “So where are we going?”

  “There’s this real fancy mall just a few blocks away.”

  Why would they need a mall at a city in the middle of nowhere? Then he realized that there were plenty of young adults living here and a place with teens and no mall was just asking for trouble.

  They walked out of Demon Riser, and Q finally got a good like at the structures at the core of the city. He’d passed by too fast on the hover-bus to register any visuals at all.

  The roads here were pure metal, a grayish shade that had a few lines of electric blue running through them.

  He figured he’d see plenty of Zyxians but everyone here looked a little too...human. Maybe they were in disguises. He reminded himself to ask Carlos later.

  “You must be new here,” a voice said.

  Q turned around as boy walked up to him.

  He was a little taller than Q and quite muscular. His wavy, auburn hair bounced around with every step he took, often falling over his square face and black eyes.

  The guy looked at Q, his gaze shifting up and down. “Hi I’m Jake, Aliea Academy’s student president,” he said.

  “Nice to meet you,” Q shook his hand. So this place is like a school, he thought.

  “So what are your plans for today?” Jake asked, turning to Taylor.

  And Taylor seems to know this guy pretty well, he realized.

  “Just looking around,” Taylor said.

  “Do you want to take a look at the academy?” he asked enthusiastically.

  “Nah, I’ll pass,” he said. He’d only come out because Taylor had wanted him to. He was far too tired to go sightseeing, especially when the motivation factor wasn’t very high.