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Episode 41: Awakening
"Elazar…"
The sound was a faint whisper in his mind as he roused from his unconscious state.
"Where am I?" he thought as he forced his eyes open just enough to look around. He tried to move his hand to his face to wipe some of the sleep from his eyes, but when he did he felt the cold bite of manacles around his wrists.
He slowly opened his eyes farther, blinking them to clear his vision.
"Elazar…"
The whisper came again. He looked around the room slowly. The light was dim here – not quite dark, but not much better.
He sat on a cold grey floor. To his left lay a black expanse. He didn't know if the room extended into that blackness or not, since he couldn't see into it at all. To his right lay a curious device. A crystal altar jutted up out of the floor. It looked to be no more than half his own height, had he been standing. Erupting from the clear, smooth skin of the altar were nine shining tubes, no more than a finger's width in diameter. The tubes snaked down into the floor. Where they went, he had no way of knowing, but if he had the chance to find out, he would.
Elazar continued to look, trying to find out how the First of the Nine could be speaking to him here – wherever "here" was.
His eyes made another complete circuit around the room before the voice spoke again.
"Elazar… I am here…"
The altar glowed faintly as the words came to him.
"What is this place?" he whispered, afraid that the Sentinels might hear him. He didn't see any of them in the room, though, come to think of it, he hadn't seen a door either. How had Aurelia gotten him into this place to begin with?
"It is a prison." The First of the Nine replied faintly. "I am only able to speak to you because you are so near the device that holds me and my eight companions captive."
"We finally found it?!" he replied, elated at the possibility that he had unearthed a means for the Nine's release.
"Yes…" the First replied, "Though I do not think you are in any condition to do anything about it…" there was sadness in her voice.
"What do you mean?" Elazar asked, "Just because of these chains?"
Just then he moved to sit up straight and felt a wave of pain kick him in the chest. He looked down. He wished he hadn't.
Crusted blood covered what was left of his shirt and the movement had opened one of the wounds, causing it to bleed more. He felt another sharp pain and knew that he had a broken rib – if not two or three. Who had Aurelia given him over to?
"The Sentinels did it." The First supplied. "I could hear them. And to my dismay, see them as well. They are evil creatures, born of the darkness where Seytan*dwells. I begged Isa* to stop them, and He did. Surely you would be dead if He had not held them back. Those creatures know nothing of compassion, and one of the others heard the Malha order them to kill you. I do not know if she knows you are alive."
Elazar groaned, though it was not an expression of despair, instead, it was a groan of pain, mingled with relief.
"Can I get out?" he asked the First of the Nine.
"I do not know." She replied. "We do not know where you are. We only know that you are near the Tower. None of us has ever been able to find this place."
"I don't see a door in here." Elazar replied, looking around one more time, "Unless it's somewhere in that strange dark void…" he tried to point with one manacled hand, but couldn't move his fingers.
"Look up, Elazar." The First directed.
For the first time, the man turned his eyes to the ceiling. It was not high – less than twelve feet above the floor. Then he saw what the woman was talking about.
"If that is a door, it is the strangest one I've ever seen." He said, studying the thing.
The "door" was no more than a four foot-wide circle cut into the ceiling. It was sealed up, of course, and Elazar didn't see any way to open it from this side. If he was to get out of here, it would have to be through that door, but he would need to wait until someone else came in here.
Would anyone else come down here? If Aurelia didn't know he was alive, she wouldn't send anyone down here for him. For all she knew, he was a rotting corpse. Then a thought came to him.
"How long have I been down here?" he asked.
"More than four weeks." The First replied, "When you did not return a day or two after you left us, we all went in search of you – as well as we could, of course. We are not as free as you and Mariposa are. I… told her where you had gone and she insisted on helping us find you. She is the one who has been haunting the tower, searching for you ever since."
"But if she's seen –"
"We altered her appearance for this search. She no longer appears as she once did. Now, she goes in the form of a white tiger – much as you did with your fox. She will not be recognized, even if she is seen. She does not have the freedom you had, my friend, but she can manage with the resources available to her."
Elazar sighed in relief, then asked, "Who's been keeping me alive?"
"The Sentinels," the First replied. "I do not know why they did it; they could have simply left you to starve or die of thirst here. Instead, they have been maintaining your body through some form of life-support system. Your chains are not what they appear to be…"
Elazar looked up at the manacles that bound him to the wall. Then he saw something odd. He twisted his head, ignoring the pain in his sides, and peered up to see that, out of the top of each manacle a series of tubes jutted up from his bonds and into his hands.
"Wait – why have I awakened now? Why not two or three weeks ago? Why not during this beating?" he asked, looking down again at the wounds he'd suffered, but couldn't remember receiving.
"I do not know…" the First replied. "Perhaps they also fed you an anesthetic, which has run out." She paused, "Or perhaps they intend to try to kill you again."
Elazar stared blankly at a portion of the floor, thinking.
For a while he did not reply to the First of the Nine's assessment, then he said, with determination, "Let them come. It will be their undoing."
"Do not be hasty, Elazar," she cautioned. "It could also be that they have finally forgotten about you, or intend to sever your body from their systems, in which case, no one would come –"
She was cut off by a sudden flash of light. Had he been looking up, Elazar would have been blinded.
The light radiated from the ceiling in a solid cylinder, reaching from the door, all the way down to the gray plated floor below.
Once the initial flash ebbed a bit and Elazar's eyes became more accustomed to normal lighting again, he looked up to see the circular door descending. On it stood a single Sentinel; his twisted face turned to Elazar.
The door came to rest on the floor. The Sentinel stepped off the small platform. Instead of floating back upwards, the gray circle remained on the floor where the Sentinel had left it. The thing stepped towards Elazar and he caught just the barest hint of glinting silver as the Sentinel slipped something into a pocket.
It was too late to pretend to still be asleep, so Elazar glared at the Sentinel with all the ferocity he could muster. The thing continued forward, its steps ringing through the odd room.
The Sentinel came close enough to Elazar to reach out and touch him. It extended a hand towards one of Elazar's manacles, pulling each tube slowly out of its captive's hand.
Elazar felt a stinging sensation as the tubing was removed, but the pain was nowhere near what he was feeling from his broken ribs.
Having finished one hand, the Sentinel moved on to the other one. Once all the tubing was gone, the thing reached into the same pocket it has slipped the silver item into upon its arrival. The Sentinel withdrew a strange amulet and pointed it at Elazar's face as it began to whisper over and over again the words, "Malha Guardiana."
Instantly knowing what the Sentinel intended, Elazar fought back with the only weapons available. He kicked at the thing's legs, and missed, then kicked again and felt his foot land a solid blow to the Sentinel's left shin.
Both man and Sentinel let out yells of pain as the creature fell to the floor, the amulet it held, skittering across the ground towards the crystal altar.
Elazar kicked again, trying to land another blow before his attacker could get up and have the advantage again. He landed another kick, this one to the creature's eyes. It yelped and its hands flew to its face. It rolled towards him, uttering terrible sounds, though Elazar knew that not all of them were sounds of pain. Anger resounded in those awful wails as well.
"Adonai, help me get out of this alive," he prayed as the Sentinel rolled over and struggled to its feet, but just as it did, it let out another roar and collapsed again.
Elazar realized that his first kick had dealt more of a powerful blow than he'd thought. The Sentinel's left leg was bent awkwardly mid-shin, and though the thing did not bleed, Elazar could see where the bone had broken and part of it now jutted out of the creature's grey skin.
The Sentinel still held one hand to its face, covering its wounded eyes. It clawed towards Elazar with the other hand, reaching out with long talons, scratching at the air, hoping to catch the man with its razor-sharp nails.
Elazar bit down hard on his tongue trying not to scream at the agony that ripped through him as he avoided the creature's grasp. His ribs cried out in pain at every movement, but it was either be in pain, or be dead, and he would rather take the pain. He couldn't die now – not when he'd just found this place they'd sought for so many years.
He had a perfect shot at the creature's midsection and pulled back his leg to kick it again when he heard the voice of the First of the Nine.
"Let it touch you…" she said.
Elazar, not knowing why, obeyed and waited for a moment when the thing's claws wouldn't shred him to bits.
His chance came when it reached out an open palm to block his kicks. It didn't know how close to him it was since its eyes were still covered.
In that moment, Elazar threw his head forward with all the strength he had left and touched his face to the thing's bare palm.
A wail unlike anything Elazar had ever heard escaped the creature and it fell to the ground, but not before reaching out once more with its other taloned hand and slashing whatever it could get ahold of.
Elazar felt the claws make contact and expected a burning pain to follow, but as the creature sank to the floor, dead, he realized that it was not him the thing had hit. Instead, one of his hands fell limply to the floor and the clang of a broken manacle echoed in his ears.
He tried to move his hand, but could only manage to budge a couple of fingers. He forced the arm to move, flexing his shoulder and upper arm, flailing the appendage around until he'd regained enough feeling in it to reach out and grab the dead Sentinel's clawed hand and use it to cut away his other manacle.
His bonds clanked to the floor and within a minute or two Elazar had the use of his other hand and arm back. He tried to stand up, but found that to be a bad idea, so he made his way on hands and knees to where the Sentinel's amulet had fallen.
It was a strange thing, though he had seen the like of it before. He cautiously picked it up. It bore the face of Aurelia graven into the front, but on the back was written something he had never seen before, since he had never actually handled one of the amulets until now. He was about to try to read it when he heard the too-familiar shrieks of Sentinels.
Had the dead one somehow alerted others? He didn't have the time to find out. He stuffed the amulet into one of his pockets. Looking first at the cylinder of light, then at the crystal altar, he struggled to his feet with great difficulty and lurched towards the altar. If there was a way to release the Nine, he had to find it, and he had to find it now.
He heard the footsteps of the terrible creatures as they came closer and closer to the opening in the ceiling.
He had just made it to the altar when the first of three Sentinels dropped into the room and rushed towards Elazar. He turned to fend off the creature and fell, his unstable legs betraying him.
As he fell, he caught hold of a lever that jutted out of the floor a mere foot from the crystal altar.
The lever moved.
Two more Sentinels jumped through the ceiling just as the whole room began to rumble and shake.
Elazar looked to the Sentinels, thinking they might know what was going on, but none of them reacted to the strange event, instead, they all had their lifeless black eyes trained on him.
All three jumped to pounce on him just as the room gave a mighty lurch and pitched to the left, towards the void on the other side of the room.
Elazar found himself hanging from the small lever for dear life as his three attackers plummeted down into the darkness.
Looking around, frantic to find something else to hang onto he saw the tubing attached to the altar. The crystal monument didn't seem to be going anywhere, so he reached out with one hand and grabbed hold of the first tube. He tugged on it, testing its strength. When he thought it would hold his weight, he let go of the lever and was about to push it back to where it was before he'd fallen on it.
Just when he let go, the tubing gave way, the end anchored in the altar shattering at its base and coming free of the crystal.
Elazar grabbed frantically at the thing, trying desperately to hold on. The tubing slipped out of his hand.
He reached out for the lever, his only other possible hope. He missed it.
Elazar felt himself free-falling through the blackness that had just enveloped the three Sentinels.
"Adonai, help me." Were the last three words he thought before he disappeared into the void.
There was light – much more than she was used to.
She blinked, holding up a hand to shield her eyes until they could adjust. When she did she heard a curious hissing, then the sound of a seal being popped open.
What was going on? How was she awake?
The glass lid separating her from the outside air suddenly slid open and she took her first breath of real air since… she couldn't remember how long it had been.
She sat up and looked around the room. It was as she remembered it.
She slowly pulled herself up out of the stasis pod and stepped onto real ground. She nearly fell over as her sleep had weakened her muscles a fair amount. Thankfully the pods had been programmed to maintain their occupants' muscle mass well enough, and she was still able to stand, if shakily.
She was dizzy – understandable. She'd been asleep far too long.
What had wakened her?
"Elazar!" she exclaimed out loud, the word forming slowly on her ill-used tongue, then she thought, "Where are you? Where does the chasm you fell into lead?"
She searched the room quickly, reasoning that, if Elazar had pulled out her cable from the main unit that it must connect to this chamber somehow, and if it did, then the chasm the man had fallen into might lead down here to the world's core too. It was a long fall and she had to find the end of it before her friend did, or else he'd be dead.
She ran, as well as she could, through the tunnel leading out to the surface, but after several hundred feet of finding nothing, she turned around and headed back to the chamber.
This time, she scoured every inch of bare wall, looking for something – anything that might be a door to some other room that Elazar had never found during his waking hours in this place.
She found nothing.
"Send me where I need to be." She prayed, knowing that only God could help her find what she sought.
Just as her mind uttered the last word, something beneath her fingers clicked and the wall dissolved before her.
The other side of the wall was pitch black, but she didn't hesitate. She stepped through the opening without another thought. Her feet found purchase on solid ground and she prayed that there weren't any holes in the floor.
She couldn't tell from here if there was a hole in the ceiling or not.
"Light." She commanded.
Illumination started to flow around her and from there it rose up to the ceiling. It rose and rose, until the woman couldn't see it anymore. This was most definitely the bottom of that void Elazar had fallen into, and judging from the distressed wails she heard coming from above her, he would be here soon. The trick would be letting the Sentinels fall to their doom without sentencing Elazar to the same fate.
Thankfully, there were things about this world that she knew better than Elazar, or the Malha, or the rest of the ones in stasis.
Suddenly the ugly faces of three Sentinels and the lifeless form of a fourth came hurtling through the air, landing with sickening crunches on the hard floor.
The woman ignored the creatures, glad that their desecrated bodies were now free of the devils that had stolen them. Then she saw the one she intended to save.
He was about fifteen seconds behind the Sentinels. He had given up yelling. His eyes were closed, as though he had accepted the death that lay at the end of his fall.
The woman waited until the right moment then commanded, "Catch him!"
Strange webbing, much like the substance that made up the door to the world's core, though more solid, jutted out from the walls and formed beneath the falling man, encompassing him and dispersing his momentum.
The webbing continued to sway up and down for several long minutes until it finally stilled, releasing a stunned Elazar into the care of the waiting woman.
She reached up to take Elazar's hand, helping him to the ground.
The man's wide eyes stared at her and he asked, "Who are you? And how did you know I would be here right now?"
The woman smiled and replied, "I am Nuray of Guardiana,* First of the Nine, follower of Isa, and defiant of the Malha and all she stands for. I am also she whom you have spoken with these past many years, Elazar. I am glad to finally meet you face to face."
Elazar's jaw dropped as he recognized the red-brown hair, pale skin and green eyes of the woman he'd seen asleep since his arrival. Before now though, he had not known her name. In the light he saw for the first time a delicate scar that rested on her forehead. The mark was shaped like a waning crescent moon.
"Come. You must rest after your ordeal." The First of the Nine – Nuray – led Elazar back through the opening in the wall, letting the light fade back down to darkness, and sealing the dead Sentinels in as she closed the wall behind them.
*Seytan - Satan
*Isa - Jesus
*Nuray of Guardiana – There was another "Nuray" who lived on Earth over two millennia before; her story is told in one of the previous books, The Guardiana. The "Nuray" mentioned here is not the same one, though she most likely knows the story of the first one, though we'll see for sure later on in the series.
Episode 42: Rumors of War
Dommel stared out into the void before him. His new fleet had set out from Gamilon nine days ago. With him flew most of the ships in his former fleet as well as the Cobel, the only remaining ship in Gantz's former fleet.
Hearing the news of Gantz's demise had been… unsettling at best. No one really knew what had befallen the man and his forces. All the information they had said that everyone aboard all the Colonel's ships had just dropped dead. The emergency beacon had been sent after that, alerting everyone to stay clear of the area.
He was now arriving at Balan after a few delays. The trip through the Aquarius Gate was always unsettling for him. More often than not, he saw his son, Deror in those strange corridors. The boy had suffered death at the hands of the same malady that infected his beloved home, Gamilon. During the rebellion against the Usurper, Leader Desslok's older brother, Dommel and Elisa's son had been kidnapped by a servant of the accursed Malha Guardiana. During the man's flight from the palace, both he and Deror had been exposed to the tsarebetim scarring Gamilon and creating sulfur-like seas all across the world. The exposure had been the death of them both.
It had been a day of great mourning for Elisa and Dommel, and all who had known their son.
"Landing preparations are complete, Sir." Came the announcement from one of the crew.
"Take us down." Dommel ordered.
The crew obeyed and the orange and black sphere that was Balan loomed in front of them. The planet was odd. Around its equator, great storms raged, creating a red-orange glow all the way around the world. The rest of the planet was obscured by black clouds – all threatening storms that never came to be.
To add to its volatile disposition, the world was also one of the hubs for the Aquarius Gate network. Balan boasted a gigantic, diamond-shaped group of gates right above its equator. It was through one of those gates that Lysis' fleet had just appeared.
The ships descended to Balan's orbital shipyard and docked without incident.
Dommel, Juji perched on his shoulder, and his officers disembarked and were greeted by the world's base commander, Goer Volgar.
"General Lysis, it is good to see you have arrived safely –"
"Yes, Volgar." Lysis interrupted the other man, impatient to leave the shipyard and do what he'd been sent here to do. He didn't want to draw it out any longer than necessary.
"Please, accept my congratulations on your medal – " Volgar tried again, only to be cut off once more.
"I would like to see your base of operations." Dommel said simply.
"Oh – of course, General." Volgar replied, finally dropping the pleasantries and leading Lysis to the place he needed to be.
Once the door was closed and all but Lysis's second in command had gone, he turned to Volgar and said, "I have need of this place; by order of the Leader himself."
Goer looked at the other man in puzzlement, "I do not understand, General" he replied.
"I have been ordered to take your place here as commander of this base." Lysis clarified.
Volgar's face morphed into a look of horror, "But – but I have done exactly as I have been ordered to do, General. Why now? What have I done that I should displease the Leader so much that he would replace me?"
Lysis turned his back to the other man and looked out one of the nearby windows. His gaze fell on one of the shipyards down below. Another fleet of destroyers was being assembled with great haste and many had already been completed and were being docked out in other parts of the great shipyard.
"He has found you… lacking, Volgar." Dommel replied carefully, "There is something I must accomplish, and to do it, I must have full control of this place. Your help will not be required." With that he made a dismissing motion and his second in command took hold of Volgar.
"I don't understand!" the other man whined, "Give me another chance, please! Another chance."
Dommel's executive officer dragged Volgar out of the room and into another, locking him in.
Juji watched the proceedings with not a few chirps and squawks at Volgar's whining.
"See to it that he is watched." Lysis ordered his subordinate. "I don't want him getting out and causing problems during this operation."
"Yes, General." The XO replied and went off to find a suitable guard for the now-former base commander, Goer Volgar.
"I hope you know what you're doing, my friend." Lysis thought as he went over again the plan the Leader had disclosed to him just before he left for Balan three weeks ago.
Celestella listened absently as the news droned in the background. Ever since her sister's death she'd taken to playing something just to avoid the silence. Today the announcer was going on about what he perceived to be the political climate. Miezella laughed every time he said, "We know this is the case." The broadcast networks had no idea what was really going on. If they did, they'd be much too frightened to say anything at all, much less spout their ridiculous assumptions for what remained of the planet to hear.
She turned off the food prep station just in time to catch the last two words of the current story.
" – rebel factions?" The news announcer finished, then turned to something else, "In other news –"
Celestella froze. "Back up the broadcast by three minutes," she ordered the computer.
She was rewarded when the announcer's voice picked up at the tail-end of the weather report and started into the story she wanted to hear.
"We've received reports of several unhappy citizens raiding smaller military installations on the other side of the planet. Reports say that the insurgents have expressed discontent with the Leader's plans to take the planet 'Erats' to provide a new home for the Gamilon people. We have received reports of several outbreaks of similar sentiments here in Belarus and there are rumors of an impending strike here in the capitol. What does the future hold for us here with the outbreak of these rebel factions?"
Celestella turned the broadcast off as the announcer's words rang in her ears. How could there be such a group here on Gamilon? Who would be foolish enough to go against the Leader and his plans for the world and its people?
Celestella let the question roll around in her mind.
Perhaps there was another way for her to help the situation, even without her sister to aid her…
She tidied up her uniform, then left her quarters in great haste, her breakfast lying forgotten on the counter.
"I am aware of the insurgents, Celestella," Leader Desslok dismissed, not even turning to look at the woman after she'd announced her intentions to quell the rebellious murmurings among the people. "They are no threat to me, or to our efforts to secure Erats for my people."
"But, Sire, I would see to it that they will never become a threat. I know they are nothing to you now, but perhaps, with the right leadership, they could be," Celestella replied.
"I appreciate your zeal," the Leader replied. "And in light of the tragic death of your sister, I admire your dedication to your work here." He paused, finally turning to look at her.
It was then that she noted the haunted look pervading his eyes and she quickly hid a small smile. At least she knew her Master's plans hadn't been derailed by the Eratite's small victory. Mirenel's sacrifice wasn't for naught. The Leader was still theirs, even though they were forbidden to interfere with his communiques with the Iscandari woman.
"I will allow you to see to the rebels however you see fit," Desslok allowed. "Provided… you do not cause too much of a stir among the general populace. The insurgents must be seen as a threat to our well-being. Do not make them into martyrs."
"I promise you, Sire. I will get rid of them subtly." She bowed to the Leader. "I shall begin the search for them as soon as I can gather the needed manpower."
The Leader nodded, "Very well." Then he turned away from her again to look out on Belarus then upward towards Iscandar.
Knowing she was dismissed, Celestella left to prepare for the coming purge. She would eradicate this rebel faction wherever she found it. There would be no one on Gamilon who would sympathize with those murderous Eratites when she was through.
She smirked to herself at the thought of killing these rebels. Who were they to stand against her Master's wishes?
"Mere insects," she thought. "They too will die in sad silence once I find them." She started to walk back to her quarters, then thought better of it and instead directed her feet towards one of the many places she knew her colleagues would be – one of the common areas near the center of the palace where they could get descent drinks and hold some semblance of intelligent conversation.
Elisa sat in her living room, wishing that Juji had stayed behind with her instead of going with Dommel this time, but the bird had refused to leave her husband when the time came for him to go. She'd grudgingly allowed the animal to leave, hoping that both he and Dommel would come back in one piece from this mission.
She had no idea what Dommel had been sent out to do. She'd asked, but her husband had told her that he couldn't say anything about it, just that it was very important and that he would be gone for some time.
As she sat alone, she wondered what he was doing right now. Was he fighting the Eratites…? The thought made her sick. She'd meant to talk with Dommel about what she'd found out from Gul Dietz and his daughter, Melda, but the opportunity had never arisen.
The smell of cooking meat wafted to her from the kitchen and the sudden urge to throw up took hold of her.
She raced to the washroom and vomited as the ever-present nausea she'd been feeling these past few weeks since Dommel's return home overcame her again.
Standing on wobbly legs, she left the washroom and got some water, trying to quiet her stomach with a couple of nausea pills, steadfastly avoiding the kitchen as she did it.
Instead of going back to the living area, she opted instead to return to her bedroom, now vacant of several of her husband's possessions. She sighed and sat on the bed, not knowing what to do, or where she should begin her endeavor with Dietz. He had given her a list of many of the Eratite sympathizers he knew of and the locations of all the military's vital shipyards, supply depots, and other locations of interest that might be used in their upcoming strike.
The goal was not to harm anyone, merely to destroy resources, sabotage ships, and otherwise frustrate the Leader's efforts to take down the Eratite ship and conquer her homeworld.
Elisa had been hesitant to accept Dietz's appointment of her as his second-in-command. She felt as though she were betraying Dommel, but her heart wouldn't let her dismiss the appointment lightly and she agreed to take it.
Her stomach roiled again and she was afraid she would throw up a second time. She was starting to worry she'd gotten into something that disagreed with her.
She pulled out her com and put in a call to her doctor.
A middle-aged woman appeared. "Alishya?"
"It's good to see you, Elisa," the physician replied. "But I'm assuming this isn't a social call."
"No, not exactly," Elisa admitted. "I think I might have food poisoning. I've been throwing up for a few days, and I feel terrible for a while, then I start to feel better."
"Alright. Can you come in tomorrow?" Alishya asked.
"Send me a message with the appointment time and I'll be there."
"Consider it done," said Alishya. "I'll see you tomorrow. Be careful what you eat between now and then."
"Thank you."
"Not a problem." Alishya ended the call.
Elisa tucked the com away and sat down on the couch.
"Your dinner is ready, Miss." The maid peeked her head through the doorway.
"I'm sorry..." Elisa sighed, "I don't think I can eat anything tonight. You both eat without me."
"Are you sure, Miss Elisa?"
"Yes. I'm going to go to bed early."
"Alright, well, goodnight. We'll put up something light for your breakfast."
"Thank you." Elisa left the couch and picked her way up the stairs to her room.