by Caleb Monroe
I take the cord and plug it into the wall, but nothing happens. “That was very anticlimactic. I figured after saying that last line I was all but ensuring that we would run into trouble when I plugged that in.” Shadow shoots me a look. “Oh, well.” As I take my first step away, I hear a slight hum coming from behind me.
“Is that you?”
Shadow chirps at me.
We both turn around to find that the metal football has begun floating just above the bed. “I guess it just needed a moment to warm up.” We approach it again, and I can see that the outline of the object is starting to glow as if there were orange lights underneath the surface of it. “I wonder if it is motion-sensitive like everything else in the building.” We get right up next to it, but as I wave my hand in front of the center of the object, I get nothing in response to my movements. “Maybe there is a start button on the back of it.” Shadow growls at me, so I tell him, “I will be careful; I promise.”
I search the surface of the object saying, “I’m at a loss.” I start to scratch my head and look at Shadow. “At least we know these things can float.” Suddenly, pressurized air begins to expel from the sides, and we watch as the football-shaped metal object splits down the seams causing the orange light from inside to seep out coloring the soft cloud-like bed below it a dull orange color.
I can hear gears turning as it begins to open allowing two arms and legs to rise from the opening. Once the arms are fully extended, a pyramidal-shaped head forms on the top.
Shadow and I both get closer. “So, this is what they look like in one piece.” Shadow chirps at me. “I was thinking the same thing.” Shadow nudges me with his beak. “I know I can’t read your mind, but I’m pretty sure you were wondering why a robot needs a bed.” The machine releases another burst of air before starting to split around the equator of the body. The upper part of the torso peels back as if the metal were as soft as cloth. When the inner cavity is fully visible, I realize that my assumption was wrong.
I get up right next to the bed saying, “There is a pilot inside. A very tiny and cute pilot.” Right in the middle of the body cavity is a chair that is being occupied by a fourteen-inch-tall creature that is covered in hair. It has two arms, two legs, and basic facial features. “This guy, or girl, looks like a miniature stuffed bear. They must have used these exoskeletons to move around and work in; maybe it helped them overcome obstacles despite their small stature.”
Shadow props one leg onto the bed and tries to smell the pilot, but I put my hand out to stop him. “No, buddy. We should have never disturbed it in the first place.” I reach down and pull the plug from the wall and we watch as the exoskeleton closes back up and returns to the bed. “I think we should just go. Why don’t we head up to the top floor and from there we can go home?”
We get inside the elevator again, and I press the top button. The elevator carries us to the top floor, opening into a wide-open room that is roughly the same size as the lower lobby we entered.
“This whole floor is empty,” I say as we make our way out into the room. We only take a few steps before the floor begins to reorganize and form a table. “I probably should have expected that,” I say to Shadow.
When we reach the center of the room, three more tables form and a large tube sprouts from the ground. “That’s a new one. What do you think it leads to?” I can hear air running through the tube and when I get close enough, I wave my hand over it. That is when I hear something traveling up toward me as it bounces off the sides of the tube. I hold my hand over the tube knowing that this might be a stupid idea.
I pull it back at the last second to avoid the object as it ejects from the tube and goes flying into the air.
I reach above me snatching it from the air. “It’s a pearl.” I take the elemental pearls that I stole from the guard during the party and place them next to this one on a table to my right. “It doesn’t have any color to it, but this is definitely an elemental pearl. I think I know where we are, Shadow.” I wave my hand over the tube again and it sends me another pearl.
“I think we are on the home world of the Aurameni. You must have gotten this world’s frequency from the pearls when you opened the portal. The Aurameni were the race that taught the people of Liferné to build the elemental weapons. Cecilia told us how not long after her people met the Aurameni, the Mortem Mangoners came and wiped them out for their technology.
“This is the very world that started the war between the crystal army and Cecilia’s kingdom. We have to get back there, Shadow. Now that we see the power of the Mortem Mangoners against the Aurameni, who are more technologically advanced than the rest of us, imagine what they could do to the inhabitants of Liferné.”
I look down at Shadow, but he is not listening to me. The feathers of his mane and fur down his back are standing up as if he senses a threat. I quickly put the pearls in my pocket and take my Sica out to be ready for whatever Shadow has sensed in the room. “What is it, Shadow?” He slowly moves closer to the glass-like wall and growls. “What do you see?”
As we get up next to the semi-transparent wall, I see something dart through the sky, and it is heading for the smaller skyscraper across from us.
“After it.” Shadow shoots a cry at the wall creating a large hole that he quickly dives through. I follow his lead, leaping out of the building where he catches me with ease and takes off for the other building. “We can’t let whatever it is get away. Faster.”
As we approach the ledge of the other skyscraper, we see whatever is on this world with us taking off for the sky again. “It’s a griffin, and someone is riding it.” I cannot believe my eyes, but what is flying in front of us is another rider. “Wait! We just want to talk!”
The rider speeds up, but Shadow is too fast and we begin to overtake them. That is when I hear a cry fired off creating a portal that will make following all but impossible.
“Faster, Shadow.”
Shadow uses all his might, but the rider has too much of a head start and they get through the portal before we can catch them. It closes only seconds before Shadow can get to it.
Shadow pulls up and takes a moment to catch his breath. I pat his side saying, “That was great, buddy. You almost had them. I wonder who that could have been.”
Shadow and I do not waste any more time on this ruined world, and he opens a portal that will get us home. I take one last look at the destroyed city and realize that this is the fate awaiting Liferné unless we do something… but what can we do?
Chapter 9
Shadow and I fly through the portal where we are greeted with the wonderful sweet air that fills Liferné, but I am a little baffled because it is still night time here.
“I guess the sun rises at a different time on the Auramenis’ world. Why don’t we get back and get some rest? We have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
Shadow’s portal did not leave us with far to go before we reach our mountain base. When we get about a half mile from home, we are joined in the air by a few of the griffins that are on patrol tonight. “Hey, guys. Is everything going well at the camp?” They all chirp in response. “Great to hear. Keep up the good work.” They turn away from us as we head toward basecamp.
“Run us by the tunnel first. I want to check on Captain.” Shadow takes us into the forest and lands a few feet away from the tunnel. I see a few griffins emerging covered in mud. “Seems like things are going well down there.” I pet them on the head for a moment before making my way to the lip of the tunnel. “Captain!”
I watch Shadow’s ear, because I know he is able to hear Captain before I am able to see him. His ear twitches and turns toward the mouth of tunnel, and a few seconds later Captain emerges from the large opening.
“Hey, Captain. Looks likes things are going well.” He shakes off some mud that was caked on his mane before chirping at me. “Are we at least on track?” Captain chirps again at me telling me the good news I was hoping to hear. “Perfect. I knew the additional help would m
ake this a lot easier for you and your team. Now, just make sure you are getting enough rest between shifts. I am going to need you to lead when the time comes to use this thing.” I pat Captain on the side, and he returns down into the deep, dark tunnel where our only hope of salvation lies when the army of the Mortem Mangoners come to Liferné.
“Ready to get some sleep?” Shadow helps me onto his back and then takes us back to the field at the base of the mountain where he lands in an open spot. “See you in the morning,” I say as I get comfortable resting my head on his belly. It only takes a few seconds before sleep finds me and carries me away…
“Jacob, are you there?” I open my eyes to find myself standing in the forest back on Earth. “Where are you, son?”
“Mom, is that you?” I frantically run around weaving in and out of trees trying desperately to find my mother. “Don’t move, Mom, I’m coming to find you.” I search for what seems like forever, but I cannot find my mother. I start to panic, and I feel like the forest is closing in on me.
I close my eyes for a moment hoping to push the fear aside, and when I look up again, I find that my mother is kneeling next to me. I feel her put her warm arms around me saying, “I love you, Jacob. I don’t want you to ever forget that.”
“How could I forget that you love me, Mom. You and Dad will always love me. I know that.” I let my head fall into her arms.
“That’s right. We will always love you, Jacob.” My father has now come out from the trees to join his family. He, too, bends down to place his arms around me, filling me with a warmth I thought I could never feel again.
“I miss you guys so much, but I want you to know that my life has finally gotten back on track.” I lift my head, but when I open my eyes, my parents are not there. In their place is now Cecilia and Shadow. “What are you two doing here? Where did my parents go?” I scan the forest, but they are nowhere to be found.
“They know, Jacob,” Cecilia tells me with a soft smile.
As I look upon her beautiful face and see Shadow’s peaceful black eyes, I know that everything is going to be fine from this moment forward…
Suddenly, my head crashes toward the ground, and I wake up rubbing the back of my head. “What the heck, Shadow? What’s going on?” Shadow had jumped to his feet so fast that I was tossed off him and sent hurdling toward the ground.
Shadow does not offer any type of apology for his actions, because he is standing at full alert and facing the forest. “Someone is coming, right?” Shadow growls, and I look around to see that at least five other griffins have already joined his side. “Let’s give our uninvited guests a proper greeting.”
I jump onto Shadow’s back, and our group takes off for the forest. We fly high above the trees trying to get any indication of whoever is coming our way. “I can’t see anything through the trees. You guys having any luck?” None of the griffins seem able to pinpoint anything, but then a grey griffin darts off toward the forest floor. “After him, we don’t know what he is flying into.”
Shadow and the other four griffins head in the same direction as the grey one, and I am caught off guard when I hear the grey griffin fire a cry that sends a cloud of dirt and leaves into the air. Shadow pulls up, allowing the other four griffins to get ahead of us and turns to look back in the direction of the camp.
“We don’t have time to go back for help. If this is trouble, then we will have to deal with whatever it is the best we can.”
Shadow takes off for the forest floor, and as we get closer, I hear a bombardment of cries being launched at whatever enemy is coming our way. I am confident that our group can handle any problem due to the amount of training we have put all the griffins through, but then sounds of cries from women and children fill the air changing everything.
“Get down there, now!” When we break through the trees, I see that we were wrong about these trespassers. “We have to get them to stop, Shadow.”
The griffins are firing on a group of soldiers and their families, and Tayus is standing out in front trying to shield a small girl from the attacks. Shadow swoops down, landing right next to Tayus, and I jump off his back holding my hands out yelling, “Stop!” Shadow does not wait to see if they hear me over their screaming attacks and releases a mighty roar that causes the griffins to stop midflight.
“These people are our friends! You can trust them!” I make way to Tayus’ side, and the griffins see that I know him, causing them to start flying down to join us.
“That was close,” Tayus says.
“I know. Maybe a little warning that you were going to be bringing a small army here would have helped to avoid this.”
Tayus puts his shield on his back saying, “I wish I could have given you a proper announcement of our arrival, but there was no time. I had to move fast after that stunt we pulled at the party.”
“I guess your dad was upset.”
“I don’t believe ‘upset’ begins to express how he really felt about my actions last night.”
Shadow comes to join us, and I see the people Tayus brought staring at him and the other griffins with some fear in their eyes. “Come and sit down, guys.” All the griffins come to our side and sit down next to us. “Why don’t we get everyone to the safety of the mountain, and then we can talk more.”
I turn to look upon the disheveled group Tayus brought with him, and I see how tired and frightened these people are. Tayus abandons his typical bravado drenched accent as he says, “I promised all of you that I would deliver you from the tyranny of my Father; this hidden location beyond these trees will provide a haven for you and your families. I swear it on my life.”
***
Shadow stays by my side as we escort the refugees back to our base, but the other griffins fan out and encircle the group to protect them as we walk back.
Right before we break through the tree line, I turn to address the tired and beaten down people. “I’m sure you already know this, but my name is Jacob and this is Shadow. We are not who Pontis told you we are. We are not monsters looking to murder any Royal who gets in our way. We just want to help return this kingdom to the way it once was. I do want to warn you that when we step through these trees, there are going to be a lot of griffins just walking around freely. Please feel free to talk to them, to pet them, and even to play with them. I promise that they will not harm you, and in fact, they will do everything they can to help protect you while you are here.”
I step aside, letting the soldiers and the families Tayus brought with him enter our home. I hear Tayus ask, “Do you really believe that the griffins and the people of this world can be woven into one seamless community?”
“It has to work. This is what Cecilia wants for this world. They need to see the kind of world they are going to live in when all of this is over. Now, why don’t you tell me what happened after I left?”
Tayus props himself up against a tree, visibly exhausted from his ordeal. His confident accent has faded and been replaced by a more lethargic one. “To say things got interesting would be a discredit to the chaos we stirred at the coronation. When you escaped out the window, you would have thought that you set off an elemental fire bomb in the room. Everyone began to panic.” Tayus lets a small laugh come out saying, “Actually, chaos ran rampant through the room. Half of them turned on each other as they tried to get out of the room, while the other half turned on my father demanding that he ensure we are safe from the Mortem Mangoners and you.”
“So, they believed me?” I pet Shadow’s head as he moves to stand in front of us.
“Some of them did, and the fear they were experiencing stole the color from their faces. My soldiers and I took advantage of the mass of people clawing at each other to leave and disappeared into the raucous crowd. My father must have seen through our attempt to escape because I heard him ordering his soldiers to seek out and kill me along with anyone who followed my treacherous ways.” Tayus sees a small boy walking past him look in horror as he finishes that sentence. He
bends down putting one hand on his shoulder saying, “You’re safe here. My father can’t get us anymore.”
I cannot hide the fear on my face as I ask, “What about Cecilia? Did she get away with her claim to the throne?”
Tayus stands back up saying, “Don’t worry, I saw her being escorted to her room as we were escaping down the stairs. Our distraction caused enough chaos to force my father to cancel his plans.”
“That’s great.” A sense of relief rushes through my whole body, allowing me to calm down. I shield my eyes from the rising suns as a cool rush of air blows through sending an array of colorful flowers into the air.
Tayus continues his story, “Once we made it back to the barracks, I told anyone who wanted to come with me and fight for the kingdom that they had to get up and follow me at once. I never believed that I would get such an overwhelming response.” Now that everyone has made their way into the field, Tayus moves to my side as we look out upon the field full of people and griffins.
“How many did you bring?”
“I brought a thousand soldiers along with their families.” His accented words roll off his tongue nonchalantly.
“Did you say a thousand?!” I have to put one hand on Shadow’s side to steady myself before I spin around to face Tayus again.
Tayus’ confident accent has returned, “Plus, their families. The total is over two thousand, and that does not even account for those that were not fortunate enough to get out with us. My father ordered his soldiers to chase us through the rings trying to stop or kill us; he didn’t really care if we lived anymore. He sees us as he sees any other lower ring inhabitant: expendable trash. The hardest part was getting through the royal ring.” A dark tone sits heavily on Tayus’ words. “Many of the royals were shouting from their windows to the soldiers telling them we had spread out and where they could find us. Some of my men and their families got cornered. They didn’t even spare the children.”
