Seeker's Light

by N. I. Snow

  Seeker’s Light

  N.I. Snow

  Seeker's Light

  Copyright © 2018 by N.I. Snow

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.

  Edited by Kay Derochie

  Illustration by Zexiao Cai

  Cover Text by R. Atanassova at Elementi Studio

  Interior Design by Danielle Canfield

  To those who have helped guide me through my darkness, thank you.

  Year 2221

  200 Years before the Invasion of Earth

  A burning sun beat down upon the barren, red wasteland of the planet Savos. Heat waves rose from the sunburned rocks and crimson sand. Withered plants and bleached bones of long dead animals dotted the area. It was a land the living would do well to avoid, yet it came as no surprise to the cloaked Seeker that he found his prey deep in the scorched lands.

  The metallic hull of a Tazalian ship was hard to miss. The silver glint that shone from the twin engines attached to either side of the hull was almost welcoming. The Seeker knew better though. Already six other Seekers had fallen to the claws of Death Shadow, as the object of his hunt had come to be known. He had to keep his guard up.

  From beneath the hood of his cloak, the Seeker's eyes scanned the ship for any signs of his adversary. When he found nothing, he cautiously made his way towards the ship. As he neared it, a loading platform lowered from the side of the hull. The Seeker reached for the dagger hidden in his cloak. Red dust rose from the ground when the platform settled. The silence that followed would have broken the nerve of many, but the Seeker was trained to ignore it. Minutes passed with no sign of his quarry, and he let the grip on his blade slacken.

  “I expected better from you, Otomeh,” came a hollow husky voice behind the him.

  The Seeker whirled to face the speaker. There, sitting on a red sandstone boulder, was his target covered in gray scales from his youthful snout to the tip of his long tail. His thick muscular arms were crossed over his broad chest. Sharp, white spikes lined his spine and protruded through tears along the back of his dark brown woolen shirt. A pair of black leather pants stretched tightly around a pair of powerful legs. His bare clawed, three-toed feet were positioned in a casual stance, but the Seeker knew that could easily change. A tuft of silver formed minimal hair on his otherwise scaled head; a pair of golden but cold, emotionless eyes carefully watched him.

  Otomeh gazed coolly at his opponent, “It's time to end this game, Zaharak. Your defiance has gone on for too long.”

  An empty grin appeared on the gray reptile's snout revealing rows of sharp fangs. “How interesting; the other six said the same, but here I am.”

  Otomeh threw back his dark hood letting the heat of the sun bear down on the fading amethyst scales that coated his scarred snout. His sapphire eyes matched the emotionless gaze of the younger Tazalian, “Why do you continue bringing dishonor upon the Order of Seekers by disobeying the Elders?”

  Zaharak inspected the claws on one of his four-fingered hands as he replied, “Because I am not a fool.” He looked back at the older reptile. “The Seekers are worth far more than the Elders give us credit for. We should be paid for the work we do for them.”

  “Our reward is our loyalty we show the Elders. We need no more.”

  Zaharak waved a claw in the air with amusement. “They could never quite get that idea molded into my head when I was a cub.”

  Otomeh nearly frowned, “Which is why I wonder how you were granted the title of Seeker.”

  Zaharak pulled down the collar of his shirt to reveal a long scar across his chest. “I survived the trials just as you did, though I did complete them at a younger age than any other before me.” Once again the gray reptile grinned coldly.

  Otomeh scanned the younger Tazalian. Zaharak was thirty-four in Tazalian years, roughly one hundred in standard galactic years, and it was well known to all Tazalians that he had completed the Seeker trials when he was fifteen standard years old. It took the others including Otomeh to the age of twenty-one. Despite the stories of the younger Seeker's unbelievable skills, Otomeh knew he outranked Zaharak. Additionally, Zaharak may be young and swift, but Otomeh knew he had experience on his side.

  The two Seekers stood silently in the blazing heat, their eyes fixed upon each other. Otomeh would wait for the younger Tazalian to move first. He would use Zaharak's attacks against him and end the rogue Seeker's life quickly. Zaharak didn't move. He sensed the amethyst reptile's plans. Finally Otomeh realized he would have to attack first.

  Leaping like a lightning bolt, Otomeh simultaneously drew his dagger and lunged at Zaharak. The gray-scaled reptile ducked out of the way. A shock ran up Otomeh's arm when the blade of his dagger struck the stone Zaharak had been sitting on. Otomeh ignored the pain as he quickly turned to parry a sharp throwing disk that Zaharak had swung towards his scarred snout. Otomeh kicked a booted foot at Zaharak's chest. When the blow connected, Zaharak stumbled backwards but regained his footing quickly. The older Seeker spun his body around and sent the thick of his tail towards the gray Tazalian's snout. Zaharak braced his body and deftly caught Otomeh's tail with his clawed hands. Burying his sharp claws into the flesh of the whip-like limb, Zaharak yanked Otomeh to the dusty ground, where he fell hard on his side. Quickly Otomeh rolled onto his back as Zaharak sliced his disk towards the older Seeker's head. But, Otomeh rolled again to avoid another blow from Zaharak. Tail dripping with blue blood, he leapt to his feet readying his blade to defend against another of Zaharak's attacks.

  Then it happened. Otomeh hardly knew what had occurred until he felt his body sink to its knees. He gazed first at the statuesque Zaharak, then at the circular blade embedded in his amethyst chest. Blue blood boiled out around the weapon flooding onto his body. Otomeh watched as what was supposed to be his prey slowly walked towards him. Not a single glimmer of victory crossed the conqueror’s emotionless face.

  Zaharak reached down and yanked the blade from Otomeh's chest and the flow of blood increased. As Otomeh stared emptily at the blade in his opponent’s hands, Zaharak’s emotionless voice filled Otomeh's ears, “You are now the seventh.”

  Then Otomeh watched Zaharak's blade fly through the air towards his thick neck. The old Seeker shut his eyes and waited for the embrace of death, for that is all his training permitted him.

  Zaharak wiped the blue blood from his throwing disk. His callous golden eyes stared blankly at the beheaded form of Otomeh, the latest of his fellow Seekers to fall to his claws. Surely, by now the High Elder Salianos would realize that there was no one capable of stopping him and would give in to his demands. If not, then Zaharak would have no remorse in killing the last five Seekers.

  Zaharak turned and walked to his ship. Near the ramp he turned and looked back at the dead form of Otomeh. It would take time for the High Elder to train new Seekers. Seekers were not easily replaced. Zaharak knew that all too well when he was taken as a hatchling to be trained as a replacement for the thirteenth.

  The memories were still strong within his mind. They could never be forgotten. A hundred standard years ago, he and fifty other hatchlings were taken from their unwilling families hardly moments after tasting freedom from their shells.

  Zaharak and the other hatchlings were inspected for any defects that would hinder their abilities. Those that failed were returned to their thankful families to live out normal lives. Those that passed were taken to Xempor, the capital city of Tazal. From there they spent the next seven years, twenty-one in standard galactic, of their lives with the seven Elders.

  The lesson Zaharak and the other hatchlings received during the first five Tazalian years of their lives came from the trials of the Elders
. Their first year of life was spent with Lutianist, the Elder of Knowledge. From the faded, black-scaled Elder, they learned what it meant to be a Seeker. At first, little Zaharak had been awed at what he was going to become. Seekers were an elite covenant of thirteen Tazalians who followed the Elders' commands. The Seekers had first been established hundreds of years before Zaharak's time, and the seven Elders had been the first Seekers to have existed. At first the purpose of the Seekers was to retrieve relics scattered throughout the galaxy by the Ancients, a group of Tazalians who had left their homeworld to find the Gaia, the Light of the Galaxy.

  As the years rolled by, the High Elder, Salianos, developed a desire to complete the Ancients' unfinished mission for universal peace. To that end, he created a Tazalian army in order to invade any planet that caught his eye. However, after each war, problems would arise. Traitors began to appear in the ranks of Tazalian soldiers, rebellions arose on the conquered planets. Even in the cities of Tazal, citizens were speaking out against the High Elder. Salianos's response was the new order of Seekers—an elite group of Tazalians, each with the combined abilities of the seven Elders. The Seekers’ job was not only to collect the Ancients' relics but now also to instill fear in the hearts of all creatures that heard their title. They were the silent assassins of rebel leaders; they made examples of traitors; they did any dirty work the Elders asked of them.

  Zaharak and his fellow cubs were anxious to join the ranks of the Seekers. In their young innocent minds, they were becoming a sort of champion for the Elders. And, Zaharak wanted to be more than that. He wanted to be the best Seeker the Elders had ever had. He wanted to be the one they called for all the time.

  Under Lutianist's guiding claws, the year-old Tazalians were to memorize each planet that was inhabited by sentient creatures. They were to learn the cultures of each unique species, so that if sent to any planet, they could blend in. Apprentice Seekers also learned how to fight and to foresee events long before they happened, relying solely on their instinct.

  Zaharak excelled in these tasks. He could recite every known sentient creature, its language, and its culture without receiving even a hint in the form of what planet it came from. When it came to planning strategies or adapting to an unforeseen event, Zaharak was always twenty steps ahead of the other Tazalian cubs.

  He would always remember his first fight with one of the other trainees, and he would always remember her as number twenty-three because none of the cubs including him had names yet. She had been agile and cunning, but he was better. When he defeated her, she had been taken away. Later that day she returned with a large, still-open wound on her back. Zaharak had learned that those who failed or refused to fight were taken to the High Elder and punished. The wound on their backs had to heal on its own. It would not be covered or medicated. The wounds would fester before they scarred over and not many cubs survived them. Number twenty-three died four days later. Zaharak had felt guilty at first, knowing he had been the cause of her death; but he had to keep fighting or else he could very well share her fate.

  Upon finishing their year with Lutianist, the young Tazalians were passed on to the Elder Shadonel. The part of her brain that produced emotions had never fully developed causing her to never feel any. Despite her condition, she still knew how to read emotions from other creatures and she knew how to use their feelings against them. She taught the cubs how to control their emotions, having none herself, and she taught them how to read body language to identify treachery.

  Zaharak and the other cubs were taught not to feel pity for the hardships of others or to show signs of happiness or anger. Most importantly, they could not show fear. The cubs were also forced to erase any sense of self importance. Their minds were stripped of their individual wants and needs. Thus, the cubs became unquestioning servants of the Elders.

  Zaharak was quick to learn how to control his emotions. Within half a year he had impressed Elder Shadonel. She never once could tell if the young cub even had emotions. However, he had faltered on one lesson. One day Shadonel had taken the cubs out to study the normal Tazalian citizens. Upon watching a hunter being paid for his kill, Zaharak had questioned why Seekers were not rewarded for their work. Shadonel replied that the respect of the Elders was their reward. Zaharak retorted that that was not enough, that Seekers were far more valuable than that. His outburst ended with one of Shadonel's sharp claws slicing through his back. His cries of pain in front of the other cubs had been a humiliating experience for him. Zaharak did not argue with Shadonel from that day on and fortunately his back healed.

  Zaharak passed Shadonel's trials nearly half a year early and was granted permission to move on to the teaching of Abilasso, the Elder of Clarity. A Seeker's mind had to be clear and focused at all times. As such, Seekers were not allowed to indulge in useless distractions. During the trials, Abilasso reinforced to the young Zaharak the teachings of Elders Lutianist and Shadonel. Just as before, the gray cub learned quickly. His mind never lost its focus on the tasks at hand. Once more, though, Zaharak spoke out that Seekers should be paid for their work. The young Tazalian was taken before the High Elder, Salianos, where he received another mark along his back.

  Within another half year Zaharak moved on to learn from the Elder Soforin, Elder of Silence. Seekers were taught the importance of silence by this mute Elder. They learned to rely on stealth to bring down targets without causing alarm in the area around them. This trial was arguably the most difficult for the young reptiles to complete. Elder Soforin had been born a mute with oversensitive hearing. The slightest pen drop was like a hammer being brought down on thick steel; a quiet whisper was a grating shriek forcing the Elder to confine himself in pure silence. The combination of his own inability to speak and being forced to live in a world without sound, even a world of his own creation, drove the Elder mad. Should even the slightest whisper of sound reach his ears, it would spark a frenzied rage. Zaharak would learn later in his life that many of the young Tazalians that he surpassed met their ends at the crazed Elder's claws. Zaharak on the other hand, was more silent than the shadows he thrived in.

  Next came the teachings of Yahrik, the Elder of Power. Seekers built up bodily strength to become more powerful than their enemies. To this end, they endured hardships such as starvation, they were allowed to eat only a marginal crumb, if that, each day. They trained even during this starvation to teach their muscles to ignore their hunger and fatigue. During this trial, Zaharak was taken before Salianos many times for open rebellion and asserting the worth of the Seekers. However, after the first encounter with the High Elder, Zaharak quickly learned to evade Salianos's claws and only one new reminder of the importance of obedience came to mark his back.

  Zaharak completed Yahrik's tasks most impressively. By the end of the training, he had the strength of several Seekers coursing through every muscle in his body, and never once did he feel any form of fatigue. He had greatly impressed Yahrik and had become one of the few creatures Yahrik respected as a warrior.

  Zaharak then came before Tarline the Torturer. At his hands, young Tazalians had to endure the most extreme forms of torture, which Elder Tarline had gathered from every sentient planet. They were to show no signs of pain or tiring. Each torture was progressively more painful and deadly than the last. Most of the apprentices did not survive these trials. However, Zaharak made Tarline wonder if the young cub had any pain receptors in his body for never once did he twitch during the Elder’s tortures, not to mention his amazing recovery from death when the Torturer removed the cub's heart from his chest. Not moments after Tarline returned the beating organ to its owner, the young Tazalian awoke and closed the open wound himself. It made many wonder if he even needed a heart.

  Impressed by Zaharak's abilities, the High Elder Salianos allowed Zaharak to move on to the mazes. Normally it took seven Tazalian years for Seeker trainees to reach this point, and it had taken Zaharak only five.

  The mazes were a network of corridors filled with live cr
eatures from all sentient planets, along with false relics. Like the other trainees, the young Tazalian was armed only with a wooden staff before being thrown into the mazes. He proved to be more clever and resourceful than any other apprentice before him. He bypassed traps with ease, and the creatures that he killed did not know he was nearby until their necks were broken or a sharpened staff protruded from their bodies.

  When he reached the age of five and a half Tazalian years, sixteen standard galactic years, Zaharak was assigned small missions for the Elders. He finished each assignment quickly and effortlessly causing his reputation to spread greatly throughout the universe. Though he was still a child, many knew him as the Death Shadow because of spreading rumors of a killing shade. He was proud to carry the title. Hardly a standard year later, he became the youngest Tazalian to attain the rank of Seeker and the only cub from his group to reach it.

  For difficult jobs that no other Seeker had ever completed, the Elders called only for Zaharak. Zaharak did as he was told without hesitation whether his assignments were relic recovery, assassinations or other dirty work the Elders needed him to complete. That was until he became restless because he was not being paid for his work.

  Zaharak shook the memories from his mind, picked up a canister that lay near the loading ramp, and walked over to the amethyst corpse of Otomeh. The Elders would give in to his demands; they had no choice.

  The gray Seeker knelt down beside his dead comrade. He opened the canister and with both hands lifted Otomeh's severed head and gazed coldly at it. There was not a single creature that was safe from the Death Shadow.

  Year 2415

  8 Years before the Invasion of Earth

  “Hey, guys, wait up!” the girl yelled.

  Her black hair was a mess of tangles and her pale face was smeared with dirt. She squinted her gray eyes to see the group of older kids ahead of her. A light green jacket fluttered against her small torso as she waved her arms. Her blue jeans stuck against her fast moving legs. But, despite her running full steam ahead, being only seven years old, she was trailing far behind..