His instincts provided the answer as his body washed with a brilliant orange aura. Yes! What did he do whenever he was in danger while training others with unskilled abilities? He had to buy time to work things out.
“Raitr,” D’gorra said, trying to reassure him. “Calm down. Please. You don’t understand, D’abar is a very conniving man. You might think you know him, but you don’t. He’s my most fastidious adversary on the council.”
Raitr clasped his hands, summoned his powers, and shoved forward. A ripple of power blasted out, penetrating through everything in the room. A purple aura wrapped around D’gorra, but it was no match for the nullification wave. It hit hard, extinguishing the protective barrier and throwing D’gorra against the far wall.
Raitr’s head felt light, the world around him surreal. I attacked my father.
He smacked the skylight controls, then flew up through the opening. Glancing back, he saw D’gorra motionless on the floor.
Is he all right?
His father stirred with a moan. That was all Raitr needed to see. He wouldn’t be followed, at least for a little while. “I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.”
Streaking into the dark sky, he heard D’gorra shriek his name.
* * * * * *
“I can feel him,” Siana said. She pointed to the sky. “There, isn’t that Raitr?”
“Flying out of High Dome?” Jeyla said.
“He must have discovered something! We have to follow him!”
Siana washed with a golden light and bolted from the ground. Grunts escaped as she pushed her abilities. “He’s going so fast!” Unlike Raitr who was in top shape, she was no athlete. There was no way she could keep pushing to catch up.
“I can’t mind-speak with him,” Jeyla moaned. “Use your telepathy!”
“At my level, I can’t really fly and tap his mind at the same time. Much less go this fast—”
“Try!” She slowed and focused on Raitr. A deep warmth filled her, accompanied by bands of lacy silver energy that danced around her golden glow. With a gasp, her mind reached telepathically for Raitr’s mind. Her mind’s eye flew faster than she could bodily toward him, then abruptly ricocheted against an energy barrier. Instantly snapped back into her body, she screamed in surprise, and tumbled feet in the air before recovering.
“Are you okay?” Jeyla said.
“I can’t get through. He has a powerful natural block up! That’s not just scared, he’s terrified.”
Diverting her energies to flight Siana burst forward, buzzing past Jeyla. But he was still too fast. The best they could do was keep him in sight.
They flew up and over the peaks circling High Dome, then down into a deep crevasse. They followed the snaking path until it opened into the ancient orange and yellow growths of Lojay Forest.
“There, that cave!” Jeyla pointed. “He went in there.”
The pair touched down and approached with caution. It was pitch-dark inside.
“Raitr?” Jeyla yelled.
They waited, but no response returned.
“Then we go in after him,” she said nervously.
“We have to be careful, he’s a trainer and if he’s not in his right mind—”
“I know,” Jeyla said, fear cracking her voice. They both illuminated with a gentle golden glow, casting light inside the cave. Inside, a host of small creatures skittered into cracks and holes as they passed.
Ahead, larger creatures stood defiant, snarling as the girls approached. If the creatures were truly wild, they would already have attacked. Something more was at play. Siana reached out and touched the mind of a creature. Its simple thoughts were clear: it was defending Raitr. How or why, she didn’t understand, but the intention was clear. “They’re helping him. We need another way around.”
“I have an idea,” Jeyla said. “Read my mind.”
“You sure?”
“Just do it.”
Siana began to see images form in the outermost levels of Jeyla’s consciousness.
“Natural predators. Project them into the minds of the creatures. Make them think we’re those.”
Brilliant. Jeyla’s ingenuity never ceased to surprise Siana.
No sooner had the images been placed in the creatures’ minds, they shrieked in terror and scattered.
The girls moved cautiously forward in the cavern. A few hundred paces in, a large, furred beast dropped from the ceiling. Unlike the other beasts, this one ran directly for them.
“Run!” Jeyla screamed.
Siana could hear it gaining on them when a flash of light streaked down the corridor. A meaty explosion followed a gurgling roar from the beast. Looking back, she saw the beast’s torso vaporize in a mist of red. She slammed Jeyla against the wall, concerned another blast might follow.
Instead, a familiar voice echoed down the corridor. “Jeyla?” Raitr yelled through heavy pants. “Siana? Are you okay?”
* * * * * *
“That’s crazy!” Siana said. “We can’t just go after Speru. We don’t know where he went.”
“We can’t stay here,” Raitr said, imploring. “You don’t know what my father’s capable of. He already tried to have Speru killed. You should have seen his face.”
“I’m going, what’s the plan?” Jeyla said.
Siana looked on in disbelief. She couldn’t recall a time Jeyla ever agreed with anything Raitr said, much less a plan to leave their world and go into the great unknown.
“We’ll use the night to find Trax,” Raitr said. “I’ve been working with him for a while now—his specialty is barriers. And he owes me.…”
“You want him to punch a hole through it?” Jeyla said.
“Is that possible?” Siana said. “We don’t know anything about it.”
“If it’s a barrier, he can do it,” Raitr said. “I know something that will convince him to help us, too.”
“Siana and I will get some supplies together, and meet you back here.”
“Wait, I didn’t say I was …” Siana stopped midsentence, yielding to her lack of options.
* * * * * *
“We all set?” Raitr said, looking at the three backpacks filled with supplies.
The girls nodded. He hoped this was a good idea. What choice did they really have, though? Speru was out there somewhere, and his father couldn’t be trusted. Since they had to hide out anyway, they might as well be searching for Speru. Getting access to D’abar seemed pointless now. Certainly his father would have warned the guards to be on the lookout for them. In D’abar’s catatonic state, there wasn’t much help the old man would be to find this Rhysus Mencari or Speru anyway.
A tall figure wrapped in flowing black garb emerged from the cave.
“Siana, Jeyla—meet Trax,” Raitr said.
“Let’s not waste time,” the brooding man in black said. “The longer we wait, the more time we give them to find us. We go straight up now.”
With a nod, the four focused their abilities and took to the sky.
As they passed through the atmosphere, Raitr looked back at Alo and hesitated. High, white-peaked mountains sprawled across its many continents, along with expansive swaths of oranges and yellows, all divided by deep-pink oceans. He’d never been allowed to travel this far above his world. It was beautiful. Doubt burned within him.
A twinkle drew his attention. Coming over the horizon, the moon, glowing like a star, slowly emerged. Speru. He’d made it glow like that when D’abar released the lock on his abilities. I’ll find you, buddy. Renewed conviction banished his doubt.
“Let’s move it!” Jeyla said, taking the lead.
Raitr noticed a group of Defenders patrolling, heading away from them. “We’ll have to keep our distance. We won’t be able to handle more than one or two Defenders.”
How far away from their world was this shield? From the images, not too far. Suddenly the four hit an invisible barrier, a pillow-like cloud, which pulsed with white energy where each of them impacted.
&nb
sp; “This must be it!” Jeyla said, surprised.
“Go for it, Trax!” Raitr said, pointing.
With a nod, Trax joined his hands, which instantly crackled with energy. A pulsing wave emanated forward. The white energy of the field throbbed where the wave connected. Outside of the light show, nothing appeared to be happening.
Raitr looked back toward the planet and nervously watched the orbiting Defenders. So far, it looked like they had avoided detection. Returning his gaze to the field, he saw the field’s white energy had dented inward.
“It’s working,” Trax said.
Slowly the energy forming the dent began to twist. In moments it was a gently spinning vortex burrowing deeper into the shield.
It sure is taking a while. Checking again, Raitr noticed the multicolored comets patrolling had changed course. A few were headed directly for them.
“Trax, we have inbound,” Raitr said.
“I’m going as fast as I can!” Trax replied. “This isn’t exactly easy.”
There was a brief hissing as the wave burrowed through the field into normal space. Slowly the hole began to widen.
“Hurry, they’re going to be here any moment.”
“Should I try to buy us some time?” Siana said, looking at the guards drawing nearer.
“Not yet,” Raitr replied.
The hole was nearly wide enough to get through. Raitr watched the approaching Defenders begin to glow with power, preparing to attack.
“Incoming!” Siana yelled.
Raitr saw Trax look back at the energy balls heading straight at them. His hands balled into a single fist, severing his work on the shield, and he reached toward the inbound attack. A dome of energy appeared around the group and absorbed the blasts.
“It’s closing!” Jeyla said, pointing to the hole in the milky-white shield.
“You have to focus on the field,” Raitr said. What should he do? Trax couldn’t keep the tunnel open and defend them. Maybe he could use his nullification wave? But what would happen to the Aloans out in space without their abilities? He didn’t have much of a choice. His hands glowed with power.
“Let me try,” Siana said, closing her eyes. Her face tensed and eyes twitched as silver bands mixed with her golden aura. In moments the approaching Defenders began to scream and swat at empty space.
“Trax’s almost there,” Jeyla said. “Just a little longer!”
The two Defenders were wildly flailing now, stopped for the moment, but then Raitr noticed three more en route.
Siana strained. “I can’t handle more than these two.”
Raitr’s hands flooded with power again.
“Go—go! He’s done it!” Jeyla said.
“Hurry, I can’t hold this for long,” Trax said.
As the others entered, Raitr paused. “You coming?”
“I can’t,” Trax said. “If I move the whole thing will collapse. Go! I’ll find a way around those Defenders. We’re even now—now GO!”
Raitr entered the tunnel. The thick walls glowed like an energy storm. As he exited he looked back in time to see Trax dodge a blast and fly away. In moments the tunnel closed over.
“That was close,” Jeyla said.
Siana turned toward Raitr. “Now what?”
Raitr looked at the endless space in every direction. They needed to find Speru. He smiled. He’d do what he always did to find people. Closing his eyes he focused on feeling Speru. A faint sensation whispered from afar, but too far to sense its direction. Speru was out here somewhere. But it seemed the usual approach wasn’t going to work this time. Given the power Speru displayed, maybe there was another way.
His eyes scanned the open space. Energy gathered around him, slowly forming tiny spires of various lengths.
“What are you doing?” Jeyla asked.
“Finding the most powerful person I can.”
A few spires began to lengthen, pointing in different directions. One, in particular, was the longest, and the thickest of them all.
“That way,” he said. “It must be Speru.”
Sneak Peeks
D'mok Revival: New Eden
Prologue
D'mok Revival: New Eden, is the direct sequel to the Nukari Invasion Trilogy. It serves as the entry point to an entirely new trilogy focused on what happens next.
******
A young boy skidded to the edge of a mountain ledge. With a mischievous chuckle, a cloud of dirt and rock billowed over the side and careened hundreds of feet straight down. His body tingled. His heart pounded. He felt alive!
“Jask!” a beast-woman snapped from a ledge twenty feet below. Scale-covered arms shielded her large, yellow, lizard-like eyes as pebbles pelted her. Flesh-tearing teeth gritted; her leathery lips quivered moments from a snarl.
“It’s been over ten minutes. I’m getting bored up here,” he chided. The climb seemed an effortless feat for him, unlike his mentor, Shasa. Her scaly form worked best on flat ground, not near vertical, rocky surfaces. “Keep up the good work! Maybe see you in like, another ten minutes?”
“I didn’t pick this route,” she hissed, deflecting the chastisement and refocusing on her next foothold.
Jask put his arms back and shifted his weight. With perfect control he bent forward over the edge. His heart fluttered in anticipation. Would he fall? Would Shasa scream? He loved these training sessions.
“Jask! Get away from the edge!” she said, voice filled with fear.
He smiled, satisfied with the result. Shasa doted on him constantly; it was all well intended, but she needed to relax. He wasn’t in any danger. With all the time they spent training, she knew what was a real threat. “But you always tell me to push myself—to keep testing.”
Focusing, a warmth spread across his body and with it a subtle golden glow. The weight of gravity faded, and he slowly floated backward. He playfully locked eyes with Shasa as he levitated. Holding her position on the cliff wall, she observed his corrective action. Though she didn’t say anything, she didn’t need to; he could see pride reflecting in her eyes. He’d come a long way in a short amount of time and they both knew she had a hand in that.
There was a time, not long ago, when no one wanted to train him. So different from the other created Nukari beasts, most thought he’d amount to nothing. He enjoyed proving them all wrong.
In an attempt to be an attentive pupil, he touched down a few feet from the edge.
“Test your abilities, not your mortality,” she said while she struggled up the steep ledge toward him, “or my sanity.” His deep brown eyes looked upon the horizon and marveled. This is the highest we’ve been yet! Majestic purple mountains stretched as far as he could see, covered in thick blankets of emerald forests, patched with jagged, stony spires and capped with gleaming white snow. The view, his reward for exceeding his training, grew more amazing with each mountain they climbed. There were only two higher than this one. Shasa promised, upon their final lessons, they’d scale Mount Kaijuu. Not only did he like the challenge that brought, his stomach fluttered with anticipation of what the view would be like from there.
For the moment, he wanted only to take it all in. The crisp air tingled in his lungs. Mammoth birds of prey swooped in the distance. Even the clouds themselves seemed within reach. But not quite. He wanted to be higher. Levitating was for kids. He wanted to soar, just like the others. That reminded him …
He pivoted and dashed across the plateau, then gazed into the valley below. Thousands of feet down, their makeshift camp teemed with life. Everyone looked so small, like little dots swarming around. His two beast mentors, Yezen and Ishara, were sure to be awake.
A perfect fantasy played in his mind. He’d return to camp soaring with style, flying above the rooftops. The others would be in awe of yet another record broken in the mastering of his abilities. They would cheer!
His heart fluttered. They might say he wasn’t ready, but he knew he was. And now he could prove it to everyone else.
Ten feet
of running space will be about right, he thought moving away from the edge. He nibbled his lip. It’s time.
Slow, steady, deep breaths centered his mind. This was going to really push him. He’d have to keep his mind on-task the entire time. No distractions.
An image of a copper-skinned woman with long black hair overtook his thoughts. She lay prostrate on the ground, limbs twisted like a fallen marionette, a deep red stain spreading out from her body. No! His head shook trying to dislodge the evil memory. His heart raced, breathing quickened. Not now. An aching claimed his heart. The specter of loss clung to him.
Jask, remember who you are.
The memory of a gentle female voice filled his mind. The image of the copper-skinned woman gave way to a majestic bird-woman with opulent white feathers. Ishara. Her gentle smile calmed him. His heart slowed; his breathing grew more relaxed. Tell me who are you, Jask, she said.
“I am Nukari. I am the chosen. I am a beast warrior!” he said aloud. Once more he breathed in the crisp air. His golden light returned.
A sound from behind drew his gaze. Shasa’s hand reached over the ledge searching for a firm grasp. He grinned. She wasn’t going to like this, but it was still going to happen.
He stomped into the stance practiced so many times before. Determination filled him. He charged forward, glowing brighter with each step.
“No—no, no! DON’T! YOU’RE NOT …” Shasa gasped out as Jask tempted fate and leaped off the edge, into the air.
He giggled from the tickle in his stomach as he plummeted downward. The wind whistled in his ears. A rush of adrenaline accompanied the sense of great speed. With outstretched arms he intended to command his power.
But the glow around his body faded. The cold mountain winds began chilling his skin as if he were naked. His eyes grew wide. Something was wrong. Gravity’s weight was asserting its full strength. It wasn’t like this before. Where was the energy? Where was the sense of power that filled him before?
Focus! He must be too busy thinking about sensations and not enough on channeling his abilities. He tried to take a breath to relax, but couldn’t. Panic claimed him, along with the thought that Shasa and the others were right. He wasn’t ready.
D'mok Revival: The Nukari Invasion Anthology Page 103
