50 years ago, halfway across the galaxy …
Heavy footfalls echoed in the great hall as her boots found grasp onto the flooring. Her stride was quick, and confident, but her face advertised worry, and concern. She was clad in white, all white, from her boots to her dark hair which spilled to her shoulders. I had never seen her like this ever, for it was long before I had ever been born, but this was her true form. A white jewel rested on her forehead, circular in appearance it had many different facets, and through her movements each facet would catch a different amount of light, and gleam from them. Her eyes were mostly white, the iris matching the rest of the organ.
About her the hall was dark, and the windows that were taller than her looked out onto the rest of the city, which was lit similar to cities here on Earth at night, but the only difference was the occasional flashes of explosions, followed by the muffled sounds that filtered through the palace's walls. Normally this hall would be filled with ambassadors, and diplomats. Governors from the outer colonies would scramble back and forth as they sought audiences with the leader of the kingdom, but all that had changed, and now the only people inside the entire palace was the royal family, and the royal guard. It had gone dim, for it was a fortress under siege.
She reached the next set of doors, and cast them open with her mind, like the rest of her race did, and they opened slowly into the next room, where two people stood beside a piece of furniture similar to a desk. This was the main room, a chamber that dealt with the affairs of state. It bared little resemblance to a throne room, or even the oval office. It was simplistic, and the two people beside it were dressed similarly to all the other citizens on the planet, as well as their daughter which had just entered the room.
"His forces have just breached the gate," she exclaimed mentally. Mobiums never used verbal communication between members of their race, to do so was even considered disrespectful. "We must get you to the transport immediately, before it's too late."
"I know," replied the older man, her father, the king. "Once he was inside he issued a communication to us informing us that we would be allowed to depart peacefully, but never again allowed to return." He turned towards his wife who had stood faithfully by his side for so long now. Her resolve to her duty as the queen had never faltered not even now on the eve of the end of their reign.
"Terisian," she offered, "I'm so sorry that this came to pass. I always pictured that our reign would come to an end with your marriage, never like this."
"Mother," she replied, "it's no longer important, we'll make ourselves a different life among the stars now."
"She's so brave, Maxsimusel," offered the queen, "how did we ever raise such a courageous daughter?"
"She's of your blood line Isalian," he replied, "the answer that question can be found within yourself." Isalian smiled, graciously of course as only a queen could. She finished packing several things into a container, and then slung it over her shoulder, while her husband placed several rectangular metallic devices into his pack. Footfalls echoed in the corridor behind them, and Terisian turned towards the approaching being.
"My lords," announced a young male mentally, "the transport is ready to depart. We must hurry before Harabec's forces reach the palace entry port." He was clad in armor similar to Guardian Armor, but it was a dark blue shade. It was slightly older in design, and possessed different weapons from the ones that were found on mine. His helmet rested in his hands, at his side, and it, like the armor revealed several battle scars from what seemed like weapons fire. He glanced quickly at Terisian who could only look away in shame.
"Thank you Commander," replied Maxsimusel, and at the solider turned and began to retreat the way he came. The king stopped him though by calling out to him. "Shen…" The solider turned and quickly returned to the door's edge.
"Sir?" he asked softly.
"Thank you," replied Maxsimusel softly. Shen nodded graciously, and then again retreated into the hall. The king turned towards his daughter, as he and his wife began to move towards the exit following the same path as their loyal solider. They're footfalls were softer as they wore softer footwear then their daughter who wore the traditional uniform of her order, of which Commander Shen had been apart of. The king made no move to look at his daughter as he asked, "Has the rest of the guard been evacuated into the city?"
"Yes father," she replied. "Only two volunteers will accompany us, Shen, and Commander Nahrian who will be the pilot."
"Two very brave individuals," said Isalian softly, "I only wish we could offer them something in return." The family quickly hurried through the hall to the chamber beyond, which was the center point of the entire structure. Ahead led to the main gates, to the right the living area, and to the left their transport which would take the last royal family of Mobius, away from their planet. The king and queen walked ahead of their daughter now as Terisian felt compelled to stay a bit behind them should any devious attack come from behind. The hall they were in now opened to a simple room which had a main door to a courtyard beyond were their transport stood ready to lift off. Crossing through the threshold, the sounds of the city outside came at them at full strength. Flashes of light continued to flood the night sky as those who were fiercely loyal to the royal family offered limited resistance to the new order that had encroached into their beloved city, and kingdom. The three stood momentarily in awe at the show of light which reflected off the smoke that flew through the air. Overhead came a rush of aircraft as robotically piloted crafted secured the airways for the advancing forces.
Broken from their trance, the king and queen proceeded slowly up the ramp, but Terisian paused for a moment as she felt a slight presence. Behind her came a rush of air, and she turned to see a another male, roughly the same age as her land behind her. The night hid the dull color of his silver armor that resembled Shen's and in turn, her own as well.
"Terisian," he offered softly.
"Harabec," she returned coolly. "I thought I explained myself clearly before that you were no longer welcomed in mine, nor my family's presence.
"I wanted to see you before you departed," he said sullenly. "I mean I needed too."
"Well now you've seen me," she said, turning back towards the ramp.
"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed.
She spun around and rage became prevalent in her eyes. "You're sorry? How dare you even try to apologize for what you've done. You've betrayed more than just your order's cause, you've betrayed your kingdom to lead the rebel forces and overthrow us. Don't you dare apologize to me."
"He will bring a better world than this one," was all that Harabec could offer. "You may hate me for what I've done, especially to you, but I have no qualms about the fact that this is the right choice. Our race could no longer tolerate the wars of morality, it was not our place to enforce law upon the galaxy. I'm sorry you could never see that, especially during the time we shared together."
"Goodbye Harabec," returned Terisian emotion spilling into her voice, especially that of anger, and rage. "I never want to see you again." She turned away, never to even glance back at him once, and strode up the ramp where she found her father standing at the very top.
"Terisian," he said softly as the ramp closed behind her. Her head was bowed in front of him, which she did to hide her tears that had begun to flow down her cheeks. Humans and Mobiums had evolved similiarly, our forms very much the same, and we also possessed similar reactions to events as well. Her father though need not sense the tears to feel her despair. "Harabec believed a certain ideology which came into conflict with your own. He may have been a traitor to our kingdom, but those two facts still aren't going to change the way you feel for him, the way you always will."
Her tear stained eyes rose to meet her fathers, and she regarded him softly. "Please father, I never want to hear his name again." The ship lurched as it rose into the sky, and quickly ascended through the atmosphere. Behind them, their planet, and their kingdom, and their life fell away, and as the dark clouds fell behind them, and gave away to a starry backdrop that could not be seen within the craft, an end to an age had come to pass, and a world would be forever changed. But it wasn't just their world, it would be many, across the stars as their ship vanished into the black on its way into time.
Track Insert – Backstreet Boys "Incomplete"
It had been two years. So much had changed, and then again nothing had changed. The world I knew now was not the world I known then. I had already done so much back then, and now I had done so much more, but in a way, maybe now it didn't seem as rich and fulfilling. I found myself in a much lonelier place then before. I wasn't surrounded any more by the people that been there in the past. Peter and Shen had gone abroad, traveling to the rest of the world, and experiencing life. Peter wanted to spread his music, and Shen spent a good deal of this time in mediation in some of the quieter places of the globe. Matt had stayed where he was, kicking back, and just enjoying life as much as he could. Agent Blake had been moved up some in the ranks of his organization, and held considerable sway among that the powers that were. Sean had settled down, married, and begun teaching again at an elementary school, even adopting several foster kids, trying to give others the chance to expand their own lives, in a reality a chance to live. The others, Zach, Xander, Anna, and Evan still had no memory of anything that had transpired in their lives for the four years of their secondary education, and neither did Mady. They had gone on as all people do, continuing their education at higher levels, for the most part, experiencing life as all beings do.
As for me, well I stayed out of trouble as best as I could. I disappeared from the light, and hopefully history would go on without me ever being noticed. I kept tabs on certain people from time to time, making sure that their lives progressed as problem free as possible, even if they didn't recognize me or knew I was there. As all things do though, my surroundings changed, and I found myself in a new place, with new people I barely knew. Life brought me to North Carolina, where very different things happen, but maybe that's better for someone like me, for so much had already happened to me. The peace and quiet would do me a little bit better perhaps. Or so I thought. In truth though, I grew bored quite quickly, and it wasn't long before I started thirsting for that adrenaline high that always came mid battle against Evan, or some other foe. So I had to find other ways, constructive ways, of attempting to fix myself without alerting other people to my special abilities. I turned to activities like driving to stay my hand, and for a little while it worked. Cars and the open road kept me nourished, but like with all people like me, it wasn't something that could ever truly satisfy my inner being.
I would patrol every now and then above the roof tops of what was known as Wilmington, a small coastal city that was barely awake sometimes. It wasn't the Northeast by any means, almost sort of like a retirement home for super heroes, and most of the time it was quiet. From the beach community on the nearby barrier island, to the quaint downtown area that had its dark side after dark, it was almost comic book in some way, but this was where I was now, and this was the area I had to deal with. For the first time I was also by myself. True I had gone into battle before without Sean as my operator, but now I was always going into battle without someone behind the scenes monitoring anything. It was a little bit different, but at the same time it just felt right.
It didn't hit me then, but I was very lonely. I didn't really talk to anyone anymore, enjoying my own private solitude to the company of others. Maybe I didn't really trust anyone anymore, but whatever the reason, I was still by myself.
Solitude is never a permanent situation on a planet inhabited with sentient life, and as is always the case, soon everything began to catch up to me. It probably all started with the dreams I started having. I'd wake up in a cold sweat, but I couldn't remember the dream I had been having, or any of them for that matter. It wasn't just one; it was many dreams throughout the night, and no matter what, every night I was always to be afflicted with lots of the same dream. They weren't nightmares per say, but they just always seemed to force me awake.
I decided the best person to talk to would be an old friend who I hadn't seen in some time. Being the early spring it was quite warm down in North Carolina, but in Pennsylvania it wasn't quite as warm, but nonetheless we sat out on his porch in light jackets as the sun drifted over us on a nice Saturday. Al had changed jobs, and no longer worked at the school. He decided it would be less stressful, and less dangerous to pursue a practice in the private sector. I hadn't seen him in two years, but when I had called him, he invited me over to talk. I had caught him up on everything that happened, and told him about the dreams I was having too.
"What do you think it means?" he asked me.
"That's what I was kind of hoping you could tell me," I replied.
"Honestly, based on what I've heard it could be anything," he said. "Not being able to remember the dreams is significant though. Do you think it has anything to do with your, background?"
"I don't know," I replied. "I have no idea what triggered it either."
"Well, what do you do when you're not fighting crime?" he asked.
"You mean most of the time now?" I asked him sarcastically. "Well, I have a job that I've been holding down."
"Doing what?" he asked.
"Selling computers," I replied. "It pays the bills."
"Anything else besides that? Are you continuing your education?" he asked.
"No, not really," I replied. "I think my life's pursuit is pretty much all figured out."
"Well, if its not paying the bills it's not much of a job," he said. "Besides, what happens if you ever want to walk away from that life, or you can't do it anymore?"
"The only way that's going to happen is if I'm dead," I replied.
"You've been having these dreams for a month now you said?" he asked, changing the topic.
"Roughly," I said.
"Did anything happen about that time," he said. "Did anything change in your routine?"
"Not that I can remember," I said. "I haven't even morphed since then, or really done anything except portal."
"Do you have any friends down there?" he asked.
"A few people I have meals with from work every now and then," I told him. "They're into cars, but no one I spend a good deal of time with, or talk to."
"Xander is down there, isn't he?" asked Al.
"Yeah," I replied. "He's around, though I haven't seen him at all, not that he would know me."
"Do any of these people know about your secret?" he asked, putting emphasis on the word 'secret.' I chuckled briefly which was rewarded with an awkward look from Al.
"You almost make it sound like I'm in the closet," I replied. "No, no one knows about my powers. I talk to Sean every now and then, and Peter and Shen send e-mails, and I see Matt every now and then."
"So in effect you've cut all the links between you and everyone else who was part of your life during the conflict with Evan," he pointed out.
"Yeah," I said. "I guess you could say that."
"That sounds pretty lonely," he suggested. "You don't have anyone to share this with anymore who is a major participant in your life. You're carrying all the weight, all the responsibility on your own shoulders."
"It's not that bad," I said softly. "Besides, it's not like I've spent a lot of time recently being a hero."
"You miss it?" he asked, like asking if someone missed playing a sport back in the day.
"There a moments when I remember some of the high points, and I wish I could do it full time again," I said.
"It gave your life purpose, maybe that's what you're missing now," he suggested. "Maybe that's what the dreams are about."
"I don't know," I replied. "It seems like there is more urgency to the dreams than anything else."
"Well, like I said before," he said. "Until you can remember them, there is no telling what they are for sure; you'll just have to find a way to cope with them."
I yawned, stretching my arms back in the chair. "Yeah, you're right." I stood up slowly, and looked down at him. "Thanks for lending me your ear."
"You're welcome," he replied, standing up and offering me his hand. "You should drop by more often."
"You don't want me to do that," I replied. "Trouble follows me, remember?"
And it did indeed. I remember waking up for work on day, and reading on the news that the President had committed a larger budget to the space program, which was strange considering how against it he had been when he first had taken office. I spent most of my morning exercise ritual thinking about it, and as I got dressed, I wondered why I hadn't heard from Agent Blake in sometime. Usually he had several missions for me, especially in the mid-east, especially since the country was still fighting the conflict over there. Even with all my secret service, I had never met the President, mostly due to my own lack of interest, but I had understood he was somewhat grateful for my service. I don't want to say that they were reliant on me for certain things, but they did like to call on me for certain more dangerous missions. I guess Blake was just busy with something else, which is why I hadn't heard anything from him. Well, that was about to change.
Like I had told Al, I sold computers at one of those large retail outlet stores. I'm not going to say which one, but you probably been in one of their stores, and used their name around the house a great deal. Well I was in the process, or rather just completed the process when a phone call came in for me. I was up at the technical support counter, having just rung someone up when one of my colleagues brought the cordless phone over to me, and told me I had a call on hold. Taking the handset from it, I turned hold off and answered it.
"This is Keith," I said into the receiver, "how can I help you?"
"Its Blake," came the reply.
"Harry I thought I told you never to call me at work," I told him.
"Shut up and listen," he said commandingly. "We've got a big problem here, and I haven't been able to contact you until now."
"I'm listening," I said seriously.
"You need to drop whatever it is your doing, and get to a safe place now," he said. "A deal was brokered last week, and the terms of the contract involve your life, you need to be some place no one can find you."
"What kind of deal?" I asked. "And what is the 'gang' doing making deals like that." I censored my speech carefully due to the fact I was still in a public area.
"They had no choice," replied Blake. "None of us did. They effectively traded the lives on this world for yours."
"What are you saying?"
"Keith," he said softly. "Three weeks ago, we were contacted by representatives from your family's home planet from a starship that had arrived in our system. They're deal was our world for you, and the powers that be decided this was a good deal for them. We've been ordered to not even speak to you about…" Blake had been stopped mid sentence as the line went dead on the other end, but I had heard the keywords I needed to get moving. I dropped the handset, and leaving the tech support counter, started heading back to my department to grab my things, and take off. I stepped onto the main walkway, which was a large yellow round circle which made up a corner of the store when I heard a voice.
"May I have a moment of your time?" asked the voice. I turned to my side to see a girl that looked almost my age walk towards me. She was somewhat attractive, but the most notable feature about her was her rich, dark blue hair. Definitely not a style you saw all that often, what was strange about her though was her dark clothes. She wore mostly black, her slacks, and top looked skintight, but thicker. I looked somewhat less opposing in my khakis, and store polo shirt.
"Who are you?" I asked, forgetting all my training when dealing with customers, but I knew almost immediately that she wasn't a customer. I sensed her in a way I had never sensed anyone before. It was like getting hit my a pillow in the face. And then, to make things worse, I sensed another.
"She's with me," said a more masculine voice. I turned to my right, which was the walkway back to the computer section to see a young man, also looking near my age, clad similar to her with more natural looking hair coming towards me from that direction. I suddenly had no doubts about the two beings facing me. Both of them were two people I never thought I'd encounter, and meeting me now with a presence I had first felt when I had met Shen. They were Mobiums, and they hadn't come to this planet with my mother.
My gaze fell from him, and slowly turned back towards her as I stood motionless from where I had stopped when she first had spoke. I had no doubt as to why the two of them were here, nor the fact that they couldn't sense the energy inside me. I knew who they were, and they had no doubt as to who I was almost from the instant they had walked into the store, but still I decided to have a little bit of fun with this situation. Slowly a cocky smile played across my face, but secretly it masked my building fear behind it. I had never faced another member of my race in full fledge combat, and I didn't know, and even severely doubted my abilities against them. "Can I help you?"
The male spoke for the two of them as they closed the distance and now stood two feet on either side of me. His voice was soft, but audible, a rare feat of true Mobiums. "By order of General Polaris, we are to escort you to the pick up site where you will be brought aboard his ship."
"I think you have me confused with someone else," I lied, though it was quite apparent to both of them. They exchanged glances, and then rather then replying verbally, the male switched to mental speak.
"We can do this without any form of drama, or we can take you in disabled," he thought. "The choice is yours."
"Do you know who I am?" I replied back in thought speak. "I'm a member of the Mobium royal family, and last time I checked, we don't recognize your government." I sensed shocked from the female at that mention of royal family, but the male expressed no such emotion. Instead he remained cool and confident.
"The government you have sought asylum has also surrendered you to us," he told me. "You have no options left, so you will come with us."
"I was not briefed about this," thought the girl. "This was not outlined in the mission."
"Silence," the male replied back to his partner. "This is the intended target, and we are taking him back with us."
"Don't count on it," I replied.
"If you attempt a course of flight here, these beings maybe harmed in pursuit of that," threatened the male.
"Is they're a problem over here?" came a new voice. My manager, who had been watching, came over to the three of us thinking that I was having a problem with the customers.
I turned to him slowly, part of my vision staying on the other two, and said as softly as possible, "You need to get everyone, including employees out of here immediately."
"What are you talking about?" he asked, thinking I had lost it.
"I have no time to explain," I replied.
"You will come with us now," said the male impatiently, and as all Mobiums due when they're level of patience drops, and they intend to emphasize a point, his eyes flashed a whitish color.
"Go now," I told my manager, and suddenly sprung into a defensive position.
No longer keeping his thought speech to the three of us, the male Mobium suddenly began to broadcast, and boomed in a deeper voice. "By order of the Emperor…."
"My name is Sonicus Maximus Arteurus Legali…" I echoed in defiance.
"…You are ordered to stand down, and surrender yourself…" he continued.
"…son of Terisian Arteuren Legali…" I continued.
"…or I will have to disable you and bring you in…" he continued.
"…aire to the Royal Throne of Mobius, and do not recognize your Emperor." I finished.
"…immediately," he ended.
"What the hell is going on?" asked my manager, who now looked like he had lost it. Suddenly Eneas appeared in the hands of both Mobium agents, and a high pitched whined filled the air as the weapons charged up. Suddenly everything became very still, and everything, even all the customers in the nearby vicinity stopped moving. If my manager was clueless before, suddenly the puzzle became clear for him. My eyes fell onto the Eneas, then back up to meet the eyes of two agents, as a world of possibilities, and options flooded into my mind. I considered portalling, but didn't know if they could track it. Surrendering flashed briefly into my mind, but then I quickly decided against it. No this had elevated to this level to quickly, which meant there was only going to be one way out of this situation, and quickly the adrenaline my body craved began to fill my veins.
"Here we go," I said, and in that precise instant, the two agents raised their weapons and fired. I raised a shield of mental energy in front of me, which absorbed the two bolts from the weapons, then turned the shield into an energy blast forcing it forward into the two agents. Panic erupted around me, and people flew for the exits. My manager which I had protected with the shield was gone, and everyone cleared out behind me into the emergency exit. The two agents recovered quickly though, more experience with fighting people like me then most of the opponents I had faced in the past. The male was back up first, and as he leveled his weapon, I forced it out of his hand, and then casted him back like I was tossing a ball. He flew into a cell phone display, knocking several off the rack, and falling to the floor.
The female jumped up, and rather then trying her weapon, spun around with a kick, which I reached up and blocked, and together our two mental energies clashed, until I forced her foot back, and she spun back around regaining her balance. Her fists were to come at me next, and I blocked several of the blows, and then when she left her guard open, came in with a mental blast which threw her back through the air into the battery display which she crashed into, and onto the ground. The male regained his stance, and then launched a volley of mental energy attacks at me. He blast of energy he casted at me like a wizard from fantasy novels with just a quick flick of his hand, and as they came at me, I redirected them with a wave of my hand, but one caught me off guard, and slammed into my abdomen, sending me spinning through the air, and back onto the ground.
I pushed myself off the ground, and fired a mental blast at him as I did so, but he managed to duck under it, but as he did so, he recovered his Enea, and as he came back up, he fired two bolts at me. The first I blocked, but the second slammed into me. I had been hit with bolts from Evan's weapon before, but never without my Ranger armor, and let me tell you, they hurt. I lay there on the ground holding my side, as the male advanced towards me, and just as he was about to squeeze the trigger, another shot sounded, and a bolt struck him in the torso, forcing to the ground, and into unconsciousness. I looked over, and the female still held her Enea leveled at where her partner had been. A look of shock crossed my face as I looked up at her.
"I don't understand," I thought to her.
She turned, and regarded me coolly, lowering her weapon. "I did not know we were tracking down a member of the Royal Family. You have my apologies my lord. I am Lexa, a recent graduate of the Star Academy. I was a firm believer in the monarchy."
I stood up slowly, and looked down at my tattered shirt. "You better get out of here," I told her. "Shooting a superior officer is a grievous offense. They'll take you out of the military for it."
"I know," she replied.
I looked down, and then at her fallen component. My eyes then went back up to her, and I considered my options for a moment. If she came with me, I could have better intel on the situation I was facing, and that meant being more prepared for what was going on. Without it, I might be dead in the water, or worse. "You can come with me." She looked up curiously at me for a moment. "If you do, it means you can't go back home." She looked over at her fallen comrade who was beginning to stir. "You need to decide now."
She looked back at me, and the once confident agent who once approached me now wore a look of confusion. I could see what she meant by just leaving the academy, it was clear at that point. With her hesitation though, I spooled my mental energy back up, and slowly opened a portal. I turned back to her, and motioned to the portal. "It's now or never." Her face changed to that of resolve, and she nodded then headed over to the portal. She stepped into it, and as she did, the faint sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. Funny, I used to chase those, and now, they were going to be chasing me.