Whatever this new power was, it was helping her take out these Androids quick and easy. She shifted into the frozen world countless number of times, analyzing the movements of the Androids all around her, and when she returned to reality, she had enough information to pick out all the movements of every single one. She could deal proper damage to them while blocking their attacks at the same time. Once she got the hang of this new power of hers, she shot at them with a storm of arrows, hitting them with her destructive force.
It took about ten minutes to wrap up the entire batch of Androids. The metal shards scattered around the room were the only remains of their robotic bodies. The floor beneath her tremored, shaking and convulsing more vigorously with every second.
And then it just disappeared, like the blurry mist that disappears in the warm morning light.
She fell through the now non-existent floor, leaving the gray metal room and heading into the black void in front of her, her mind willingly entering its familiar depths once more.
***
Chris sat up, her mind confused about what had just happened to her.
She put her hands to the dark walls, trying to figure out whether this was reality or just another dream. She sighed when she felt the smooth surface under her fingers, the mere presence of that wall giving her a sense of relief.
Her mind jumped over to her battle with the Androids. Just what kind of power had she used? Was it even hers? But then again, that was just a dream, which probably meant that power was just something she had imagined.
The cell wall opened up, and bright flashes of light shot into her eyes. She winced in pain and shielded her eyes from the intense light. Being in the darkness for so long had made her eyes excessively sensitive to even the dullest of light.
A man stood in the doorway, his dark silhouette standing firm in the bright light. She squinted hard, noticing that he had walked up to her. “Come along,” he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the cell. Everyone stood outside of their cells, all of them as normal as before.
Kai looked straight at their captors, as serious as ever. Lisara yawned drowsily in a ‘what’s going on?’ fashion. Chris figured that the playful side of her had found the quietness of the cell quite comfortable enough to catch her forty winks. Everyone else just seemed tired and sleepy, which was probably from the constant worry.
“We’ll take you to the Commander now,” a cadet told them. Twenty armed cadets surrounded them in an escort.
“I thought the Commander would come see us,” Kai murmured.
A cadet grunted, “The Commander will not come to see filthy beings like you.”
Kai caught the man by his chest, “You better watch your-”
Chris heard the high pitched noise of a laser beam being fired from a blaster. And then it happened. Again.
Everything around her froze, her very body, Kai, the cadets. But her mind was still active. She let go of any questions that her mind had and focused on the scene around her.
Luckily for her, she was right in front of both Kai as well as the cadet who had fired his blaster so she had a perfect view of everything. She looked at all the images appearing in her vision, and in an instant, she knew the exact path the laser would take.
She tried to move her body along, wondering how she was supposed to deactivate this power of hers. She strained her legs, and the scene around her pulsated with a dull light.
That was the answer.
She pushed her body harder, trying to get out of her frozen state, and the scenery around pulsated with a brighter white light. And then everything unfroze.
She wasted no time in pulling out a blaster from a cadet next to her and threw it in Kai’s direction, trying to put it right between him and the incoming laser beam. The intense beam of particles hit the blaster, energizing it to the point of breakage, and caused it to explode with a small bang. The cadets stood stunned and so did everyone else, all their eyes on Chris, making her feel nervous and awkward.
“Umm...We shouldn't keep the Commander waiting should we?” she fidgeted around. Everyone still stared at her, until the man who Kai had threatened finally reacted.
“Uh yes,” he said. “We should go meet the Commander.”
He didn't seem like he held a grudge against Kai for what just happened. Maybe he was too distracted by what had just transpired in the room. So instead of dealing with Kai, he ushered everyone out of the room, giving Chris a small glare when she passed by him on her way out.
“How did you do that?” Carlos asked her.
“I don’t know,” Chris said. “I had this dream and all of a sudden I was able to use this power in it. I figured it was just a dream-exclusive thing, but then this happened.”
Carlos looked at her with an observing eye, “Did you by any chance feel any sort of fear during this dream?”
Chris stared at him, “Yeah I did,” she said. “But how do you know?”
“That’s the only possible conclusion,” he said. “That fear must have activated it.”
“Activated what?” she asked.
“You don't get it do you?” he asked. “You’ve finally got it.”
“Got what?” asked, still as confused as ever.
He smiled at her. “Your NOVA form.”
***
Chris was stunned.
The NOVA form was the highest prize for a cadet. And she’d just received it; primarily because she had been so afraid of everything that had happened to her. Seemed like kind of a weird way to get a NOVA form, but she’d take it anyway.
“What exactly does this power of yours do?” Carlos asked. “From my point of view, I saw a kind of blur and then you threw the blaster.”
“I can kind of stop the physical world around me, the people, the objects, everything. But my mind is still active and running, so I can see it all,” Chris said. “But the exciting part is I see these faded images that show me what a particular object in my field of vision is going to do. So it’s like seeing the future in a sense. I basically calculate the next movements of my target even before it makes them.”
“Oh my god,” he gasped. “That’s a high level power in the Elementa of Wind! The Wind Elementa has attacks that speed up a user and create the illusion of time slowing down. The only difference here is your mind is analyzing the past movements your target makes, and using it to accurately predict future movements.”
“Does that mean my Elementa is the Elementa of Wind?”
“Most certainly, yes,” Carlos said. He was clearly excited that she had achieved a NOVA form while possessing the very same Elementa that he did. He did calm down a few seconds later though, and everything went back to normal.
The cadets didn't turn anywhere into the branching corridors and kept urging them straight ahead until they reached a huge metal door at the end. It automatically slid open, and they pushed them through it into the room on the other side.
Chris looked around. Over the whole floor lay a red carpet with golden threads as a border. The metal wall was decorated with all sorts of weaponry; blasters, cannons, swords, and shields. Velvet furnishings were scattered around and a huge chair stood at the back of the room. A hand extended above the chair and waved at them to come forwards.
“Sit down,” the Commander said.
A couch faced the back of the chair. Carlos sat down and everyone followed suit. Chris expected the man to at least face them as he spoke but apparently he liked his identity to be a secret.
“Welcome,” he said. “You must be wondering what you’re all doing here.”
No one replied.
“So you all have an oath of silence,” the man chuckled, “Well, I just wanted you all to know why we’re doing this.”
Chris was confused. He didn't act like a Commander at all. What kind of a guy tells his enemy why he was attacking them?
“Tell us then,” Carlos replied calmly. “What was the necessity to take down Aliea? Taking down a group of young cadets is nothing but
cowardice.”
“Do not worry, Commander,” he said. “What I am doing now is not exactly an invasion. It is an AcQuest.”
“A what?”
“AcQuest is an ancient word. It is the archaic way of expressing the act of acquisition,” he said. “This invasion of Aliea Academy is not for its destruction; rather it is for its acquisition. I will not be harming any of Aliea Academy’s cadets. I will simply recruit them and use them as my own. But if they don’t co-operate, then…”
“Don’t you dare lay your hands on them!” Carlos shot out of his seat but two guards pushed him back onto the couch.
“High Commander, you must not lose your temper,” the man said like he was speaking to a child.
“Why are you doing this? Why does Aliea have to suffer this fate?”
“You know very well why I have to do this.”
What is he talking about? Chris thought.
He took a deep breath, “The Wielder of Light,” he said.
Carlos clenched his fists, “You would attack a whole academy for one person?” he asked.
“No, Commander, I would not,” the man said. “One person is not the reason we attacked, though I’ll admit he was the final trigger. Aliea Academy as a whole has risen in power through the past few months. It has brought out a particular caliber of individuals, the ‘NOVA cadets’ as we call them, who each have the ability to single handedly change the outcome of any situation.”
“And this is wrong why?” Carlos asked, his voice infused with his anger and irritation.
“History will show you that nothing good has ever come from letting one person handle too much power. Aliea has created more than just one of these ‘overpowered’ cadets. The Academy’s power will soon monopolize the entire Universe. You cannot be allowed to create anymore NOVA Cadets.”
The room quiet. Carlos put his head in his hands, unable to retort to what the Commander had just said. Chris couldn’t respond either. She knew the Commander was making crazy statements, and yet she couldn’t find a way to actually prove him wrong.
Is he actually right? she thought, Is that why I can’t find anything to say against him?
“What you’re saying is just stupid,” Lisara broke the silence. “You’re destroying Aliea on the base of a whim? You don’t get to decide the Academy’s future. We do.”
“You were formerly on our side, yes? But now a traitor,” the Commander sighed. “Makes me ascertain my one rule in this business, trust no one but yourself.”
Lisara was stunned. How did he know who she was?
“I know of your sister as well,” he said. “Spies do not escape my notice for too long.”
Trisha looked at Lisara. Chris was stunned as well. No one other than her, Kai, Carlos and Juliana knew about them being sisters. How had this man come to know about all this?
“You must be stunned. You must be wondering how this man knows all this,” the Commander said. “Let me tell you, you may be spies infiltrating my side, yes, but did you ever think that there was a spy inside Aliea?”
“Aliea Academy has an extensive screening process for all its new recruits,” Juliana said firmly. “There is no way a spy from your organization could have enlisted.”
The Commander laughed, “Doesn’t the Academy’s student president take care of a portion of the screenings?”
Carlos gasped, “Jake,” he said. “Jake helped the spy get in didn’t he?”
“Spot on, Commander. I must say, the officials at Aliea do have a brilliant sense of ethics.”
“Don’t you dare talk about ethics you-”
“We all work for the Quantum Array, Commander,” the man interrupted Carlos’ surge of anger.
“What do we care?” Kai asked.
“I make sure our prisoners know who we are before they meet their end.”
“We don't give into people like you,” Juliana said. “No matter how strong they are.”
“Oh really?” the man was amused.
“At least we have the guts to bite back,” Kai taunted him. “You’re afraid to even show yourself.”
The man laughed. The chair turned around, revealing a young boy no older than Kai and Chris were. He had chocolate brown hair and radiant, green eyes. His lips curled into a smile that had evil written all over it.
“Welcome,” he laughed. “I hope you enjoy your stay.”
Levi.
***
Burke looked at the glowing red box.
Think. Think. Think, he chided. He had to stop the Lambda Driver from overloading and he had mere seconds to do so. Overloading it was theoretically supposed to create an explosion rivaling a supernova. He didn't really know what could actually happen because he had never been stupid enough to overload the Driver on purpose.
The bottom line was that he needed to get the excess energy out of the Lambda Driver.
“That’s it!” He just needed something to absorb the extra power. He flicked his wrist. A small panel slid open and two thick wires rocketed out and secured themselves to the surface of the Lambda Driver. Burke had to admit he loved doing that. It made him feel like an amateur Spiderman.
“Engaging energy retriever,” he said.
“Activated,” his suit said.
Sparks of energy flew around the wires, as the energy flowed through them.
Burke grimaced. He felt like he had just been connected to a transformer. Huge amounts of energy surged between the Driver and his suit. He hadn't realized how painful it would be to take in so much energy, but there was no stopping now.
His visor brought up a red, warning dialog. Energy levels unsustainable, it said.
Great, he thought. Now my suit is getting overloaded instead.
He had no choice but to push a little more. He would rather have a broken suit than an exploding Lambda Driver. The wires glowed red. The excess energy was taking a huge toll on them.
Just a little more, he thought.
The Lambda Driver returned to its regular shade of deep black, a faint glow of red the only sign of the overload.
“Stop!” he gasped for breath. The wires instantly detached from the Lambda Driver and retracted back into his suit. His armor managed the excess energy efficiently. There were no longer any signs of the overloading. He realized that a good portion of the energy had been expelled as heat during the transfer.
He looked at the black box that just sat on the floor. Somehow it reminded Burke of the legend of Pandora’s box. Not because he, like Pandora, was curious, but because the box was something that could lead to a person’s downfall. Looking at the Lambda Driver reminded him of what Q had said, that the men who were threatening to destroy Zygrade wanted it. As the creator of the Lambda Driver he could testify that it was a cool gadget, but he wasn't sure it was worth destroying an entire planet for.
Just what were those guys really after? he thought.
“I’m coming your way,” Jade said. “Ten missiles behind me.”
“Ten?!” Burke asked. “You brought ten nuclear warheads to an empty tower?”
“Empty?!” Now it was Jade’s turn to be surprised.
Burke slapped his forehead. I should have told Jade the tower was empty, he thought. He had been so focused on the Lambda Driver that it had completely slipped his mind.
“What about the missiles then?” Jade asked.
“We’ll just get Q to-” that was when it hit Burke. They didn't have Q either. What were they going to do? Twenty kilotons of nuclear missiles were ready to go boom and the guy who said he would protect them from the blast had just disappeared.
“Bring them to the tower,” Burke said. “I’ll figure something out.”
“I’m five minutes away,” Jade said.
Burke thought hard. He analyzed every single method of possible escape, but any plan he made always hit a wall simply because the missiles were too fast to outrun.
He looked at the metal shutter covering the window. He lifted his fist up. Two small cylinders rose out f
rom his forearms and shot miniature missiles at the shutters. They cracked easily and exposed the opening he had made in the glass wall.
He walked to the edge and looked far into the horizon. He could see the smoke trail from the missiles rising up in the sky. A huge griffin flew in front of them, powering his way through the wind.
Better get the Lambda Driver, he thought. There was no point to this whole mission if he forgot that. He brought it out to where he was standing and stared at it silently. It was his invention, and it had brought everyone so much trouble.
Can’t believe I had to suck out all that energy, he thought. Then his eyes widened. “Jade, I’ve got an idea,” he said.
“I know.”
Burke was taken back. Mind reading, he thought.
“Yes,” Jade said.
“You’d better stop that. It’s getting really creepy.”
“I’m on my way to get you.”
“Done,” Burke said.
He lifted the Lambda Driver. It wasn't very heavy, but his suit made it feel lighter than it was. Its ability to enhance the user’s physical abilities was top notch. Of course, he had a limiter on it because he didn't know how much he could enhance a person’s abilities and keep them safe at the same time.
The sound of the missiles flying sent a shrill whistle through his ears and left them ringing. It’s now or never, he thought.
He jumped off the wall and used his booster to keep him in the air for a few seconds longer. He waited for Jade to head towards him and timed his drop perfectly, with the Lambda Driver in his hands. Jade adjusted a bit in the wind and caught him clean. The griffin fully extended his wings and shot forward at tremendous speed.
“That’s too fast,” Burke said. “We need to go slower.”
“Very well,” Jade slowed down.
The missiles gained ground on them. Burke stood up and put out both his hands. “Multiple energy retrieval activate.”
The Quest Saga Collection: Books 1 - 5 Page 60
