by J.P. Yager
Trevor searched the terrain for any sign of hope and found none; the grass valley was hopelessly devoid of cover. There was a riverbed, but there was no way it could protect them. There were odd-looking lightning rods littering the valley; they were basically long metal poles standing around uselessly. But they were nowhere close.
The missiles closed in.
The group watched as the first missile burst midair and then, just as suddenly, the second.
Trevor turned to the lightning towers. They were much higher, with large cylindrical bodies beneath them. They were anti-aircraft turrets.
“My people must have fixed our defenses,” Dosh told them.
“Clearly,” Trev said, though he was thankful.
“I wonder how they knew…” Dosh let the thought drop. “We’re not far.” He pointed to a spot where a river spilled into a lake. “My people must be manning the defenses. We’ll have to do the rest ourselves.”
They ran down the open field. Dosh led the way with the others on his heels.
On any other occasion, the green valley would have made for a nice day trip. The weather was perfect, the air cool. The smell of the ocean blew past them from some faraway shore. The smell reminded Trevor of Aquaria.
The thought brought back multiple images of what had happened since the beginning of all this. The Salarian had been imprisoned for trying to help him. The Nymarian with the data pad, Kaida, Glade—all died for a cause that ultimately centered around him. He couldn’t let them down.
The defensive turrets continued their barrage against the lone Ruveran fighter. Several fiery explosions rang through the air. When Trev looked back, he couldn’t see Nya’s ship. He didn’t think they could hit her. She would never go down so easily.
They huffed it all the way down until they finally reached a point at the front of the lake.
Dosh pulled up a section of ground and revealed a small room beneath. “Wait here.”
The ground began to shake beneath them. The water of the lake started rippling and then bubbling up.
Dosh reappeared. “That’ll do it.”
From the center of the body of water, the top of a structure emerged. It came up slowly and loudly. A machine was screaming from underground somewhere. The lake separated itself from the long building that arose.
“This is the temple. It used to be hidden in the sky, but it was brought down during the Great Valian Rebellion. Our great ancestor Dego engineered a way to hide it again after we lost the war.” Dosh motioned for them to follow as soon as a walkway appeared. Stone blocks emerged from the depths of the lake to connect the shore to the temple.
They sped up their pace.
Trevor looked over his shoulder.
He now saw a field of destroyed turrets and a single fighter opening on them. The laser fire seemed to hit a hidden barrier surrounding the lake. They pinged off harmlessly.
“Don’t worry. She won’t be able to get us with electronics,” Dosh told them.
Unable to strike at them, the ship spun around and dropped. In a hurry, it landed by the stone walkway. Render popped out when she landed.
“She’s motivated.” Trevor turned back forward. The group reached the nave of the temple and went in.
“I’ll need time to activate the device,” Trev said.
“I can help you,” Raxus said.
“I will do my best to seal the temple in time and slow her down if I can.” Dosh nodded. “Now you must do your part. You have to stop the darkness.”
“I will slow her down too,” Boost added. “I don’t see another use for me.”
“You’ve done admirably, Booster.” Trevor patted the scraped-up robot’s head. “And thank you too.” He told the Salarian.
Boost even looked like he was smiling at the compliment. Then, Trev nodded his thanks again to both of them and ran deeper into the unknown.
-o-
Nathan continued to crawl through the vents. He and his team were able to escape in the chaos, but the Ruverans would have things together by now. Velkas would be under lock and key.
Stranded on Razerus, there wasn’t even a slim chance he would survive this. Finally, at long last, his journey would be over. The Void Star promised a closure he would never have expected. He would always love Maura and Arilyn, but his heart had found someone else and they would be together again shortly.
“It’s okay.” Nathan heard from up ahead. The musical sound of her voice filled his heart with a new strength to continue forward.
He crawled through and looked down the crawlspace. Up ahead, Kaida was motioning for him to follow. She had the look of a flesh-and-blood person but with a slight glow, close to what had happened to Trevor had Nathan seen the same thing. She smiled at him to let him know it was okay. “C’mon. I know the way.”
He didn’t want to yell, so he merely asked, “How is this possible?” Even though he had seen the future, he still couldn’t believe it.
“Anything is possible.” She started down the duct she was near.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you when I had the chance,” he said, following her. “I’m not one for romance.” He paused to catch his breath.
Kaida giggled up ahead. “I didn’t think you were.”
“That night inside my room at the Helcarion, I—”
“I know. Me too.” Kaida laughed to herself as she went. “Of course, now you’re one to talk.”
Nathan saw her legs swing up an access ladder and go up. He followed.
“Do you know where you’re going?” he asked.
“Of course. I’m helping you,” she said simply.
His mind went back to what the Void Star had showed him. No matter what he did, he was going to be reunited with his loved ones. He would hold Kaida in his arms again. But there was one more thing he had to try to do before that happened.
“We’re almost there,” Kaida said, still climbing.
Nathan continued to follow and readied himself for his final battle.
Chapter 27
