Chapter 5


*We have received news that Zan is back on Antar.*
*What?!* Aldonis exclaimed. *I thought Zan was dead.*
*Zan isn't dead. He's been hiding on planet Earth ever since the assault on the Royal Family.*
*Then why haven't we been informed? Why is it that we haven't heard anything of this until now? We have heard nothing of his arrival until now.*
*It has all been kept very secret. Hardly anyone knew of these plans, but we have received word that Khivar is aware of them.*
*How is this even possible? Zan died. I saw it with my own eyes. The energy strike hit him straight in the stomach, and almost ripped him apart. There is no possibility that he can be alive.*
*There were some researchers working in secret on a highly advanced and elaborated plan to save our planet from destruction by taking care of his essence.*
*His essence?*
*Well, I don't completely understand it myself, but basically Zan's essence; his soul, what defined him, was mixed with Earthling DNA and he was recreated into a human being.*
*So Zan has lived on Earth all these years? Why hasn't he returned earlier? People have been dying here. People are still dying!*

*I don't know what has kept him away for so long. The original plan was to have him hide on Earth until he had reached maturity and had trained his powers and then return to free us from the horrors of Khivar. But I guess something went wrong.*
*Where is he?*
*We are trying to locate him as we speak, but he seems to be hiding carefully. We don't think he's alone.*
*Who's with him. Other loyalists?*
*No, it is under my belief that Rath, Ava and Vilandra were also recreated.*
*You mean that the whole Royal squad has been recreated and are on this planet right now?*
He received a nod as reply.
*Then it is of great importance that we find him as soon as possible and prepare our men for action. This can be what we have all been waiting for, for years.*
*There is still hope.*

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*Hi honey,* he greeted her as she walked through the old wooden door. The house was small and plain, but they wouldn't want it any other way. There were several reasons it served them to keep it that way. It was a way for them to hide out in plain sight. They blended in with the poor people, and there were no suspicions raised against them. They were both involved in the Loyalist movement. They were both being trained to be able to stand up to the soldiers of the king, to break through the monarchy and bring peace to a starving planet.
She placed a lingering kiss on his lips and smiled tiredly.
*Are you okay?* he asked, concern etching his face.

She sighed as she sat down across from him. *You will never believe what happened to me today.*
His curiosity was peaked. *What?*
*I was summoned to the palace..*
*The palace? Why?* He was suddenly worried about her. What did the men in the Palace want from her?
*They wanted me to take on this...uhm...case.*
*You're working for the Palace?* he asked.
She gave him a faint smile. *I guess I am.*
He rose quickly, frustration oozing off him. *I can't let you work there!* he said forcefully, his fists clenching at his sides.

Watching him with worry, she answered *I have to."
She knew that he was worried about her, and she knew that she was putting her life at stake just by putting one foot inside the palace.

He turned around, fire blazing in his eyes. He was angry. It was that familiar anger that so easily could put its claws in him. He wasn't angry with her. It was the whole situation. The way they were living. She was the only bright light in his life, and he wasn't going to just passively watch as they pulled her away from him. Because if she were working at the Palace, it wouldn't take long until they found out where her loyalties lay. And it was no secret that Khivar didn't think highly of people who sympathized with his enemies. He had shown this many times to the people. He had burnt down whole villages at night; whole families burning to death as the smoke prevented them from waking up and escaping. Only to prove his point of what it meant to stand up to him.

His voice softening somewhat as he saw the sad look in her eyes, he said *I don't want you in there.*
*I know...but I can't let this mission go,* she said slowly, wanting him to understand. Needing him to understand. She needed to have him on her side in this. She wasn't prepared to not have his support, but she wasn't prepared to give up on what she had been assigned to do at the Palace either.
*Why?* he asked her, wondering what could be so important to her to risk her life for.

*The case concerns a little girl....a human girl...from the planet Earth.*
She was surprised by his reaction. She had expected him to look at her in disbelief and start to question her sanity, but there was only interest in his eyes. Almost excited curiosity...but also fear.
*From Earth?* he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
*Yes,* she answered, trying to figure out his reaction.
*Why would there be a girl here from Earth?* he asked her. *And why is she at the Palace?*
*That's what I want to find out,* she said. *I just took an intensive course this morning to acquire her language to be able to communicate with her.*
*You've met her?* he asked, his voice raising in intensity.
*Yes...she looks just like an Antarian,* she answered.
*How old is she?*
She shrugged her shoulders. *I'm not sure... maybe two moontravels.*
He looked surprised. *She's that small?!*
She thought about it some more and then nodded. *Yes, if the aging process isn't different on Earth I'm certain she must be of that age... What's going on, Aldonis?*

He rubbed his forehead, his green eyes momentarily lighting up as he came to kneel in front of her. He took her hands in his and looked her into her eyes.
*Serena, we have strong evidence to believe that Zan is here on Antar.*
*What?! Zan? As in Zan, the King?* Serena was astonished. Was Zan alive?
*Yes,* Aldonis answered, excitement in his eyes. *He's been on Earth all these years, preparing to help us.*
*Are you serious?* she asked, her mind still trying to gasp the information.
He nodded. *Don't you think it's a little suspicious that as rumors are going around that Zan has returned, a human girl turns up at the Palace?*
*You don't think they are connected somehow?* Serena asked, thinking about the terrified little girl who had already captured her heart.
*Nobody knows why Zan decided to return now...and why he hadn't come any sooner. What if this little girl has something to do with his arrival. Why would the Palace be so interested in a human girl anyway? There must be something special about her.*
Serena stared into her mate's eyes, as her thoughts were lingering on the girl with the amazing eyes. She had known deep in her heart already from the very first glance at her that she was special. Was she connected with the long lost King? And in that case...how?

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The translucent image of Liz's body started to disintegrate into the humid breeze.
"Did it work?" Michael asked, startling Max.
Max turned around and faced Michael.
"Yeah," he answered before he brushed past Michael to get to Liz.
"Where are you going?" Michael asked.
"I need to check up on Liz," Max said over his shoulder.
"But it worked, right?" Michael asked, trailing after Max to the tent Max and Liz shared.
Max didn't answer as he disappeared inside the tent. Michael followed close by and found Max kneeling beside Liz's still figure on the ground. Michael was worried for a second that something had gone wrong, but then he saw Liz move under Max's hands.


"Come back to me," Max said gently, unable to hide the hint of guilt and worry in his voice. His fingertips gently brushed against her forehead, where there was evident perspiration from the strain of the astral projection. He could feel that she was all right through the connection, but she was exhausted. She had tried too hard. She had pushed herself too hard. She needed to sleep, but she wasn't asleep right now. She was floating in some state between sleep and consciousness, and Max was afraid that some part of her was still left in the astral projection. He could see how she struggled to open her eyes, making her eyelids look very heavy. He was staring at her, longing to see those beautiful brown eyes of her that would tell him that she was okay.

"Yes, honey. That's it," he coaxed, "You can do it. I'm right here."
Her heavy eyelids slowly slipped away, and she looked up at him.
Relief marked his features as he said, "That's good, Liz."
He kissed her lightly on her forehead, before he trapped her eyes with his to stop her from sinking down into that semi-unconscious state again.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Really tired," Liz said slowly, her words carrying a little slur due to the difficulty to form words in her exhausted state. Her eyelids blinked heavily, and she yawned.
"Liz, I need you to concentrate on me," Max said.

He was terrified that she would fall back into that comatose state. He needed her to fall asleep, but he was afraid that she needed his help to be able to do that. Her eyes rolled back in her head, before her eyelids fell back down. Max could feel her fall back from the connection, and he was surrounded with the feeling of how it had felt before, when their connection was blocked. He quickly tucked his hand under her head and lifted it up, shaking her by the shoulder with his other hand while he simultaneously tried to keep the connection from slipping away in his mind.
"Liz! Liz! Look at me!!"
Michael moved inside the tent and hunched over Liz's form on the bed. Max gave a start as Michael clapped his hands hardly together above Liz's face. The sound jerked Max out of his concentration and he looked angrily at Michael.
"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded.
"I was waking her up," Michael answered matter-of-factly, and pointed at Liz. Max turned his head back to Liz and found her looking at him again. Max firmly gathered his concentration. He wasn't going to let her slip away from him again.

"Look into my eyes, Liz, and let your mind go blank," Max said slowly, careful that she heard his every word and understood what he was saying. She moved her head slightly, indicating that she had heard him. But she was just so tired. Max didn't waste any time, and soon he was deeply connected to her. He was deeply agitated as he found the disrupted and torn state of her mind. She had pushed herself far too hard, and she didn't know how to come back from the use of powers. She didn't know how to turn it off - and now her mind was dispersed, some of it disappeared in the connection to Max, where her mind had linked with his. Some of her mind was still inside of Max's, and that was wrong. He focused on pulling her mind together, of molding the parts together. As he pulled out of her again they both gasped at the loss of contact. But as Max looked into her eyes again he found the presence and consciousness in her eyes that he had missed earlier.
"Now, get back to sleep," he urged her gently. She yawned again as her eyelids fell down. She was asleep even before she had finished the yawn. Max leaned down and kissed her on the forehead before he pushed himself to his feet and signaled for Michael to go outside.

"What was that, Maxwell?" Michael asked as they walked away from the tent.
"She pushed herself too hard," Max answered, "She was in the astral projection for too long and she couldn't pull her mind back together."
Michael looked at Max sternly. "She can't push herself that hard."
"No, she can't. But don't say anything about it to her," Max ordered Michael. He didn't want Michael scolding Liz for something that she hardly had any control over. Not yet.
Michael stared at him. Didn't Max know that Liz would kill herself if she kept doing this?
"I'm going to talk to her," Max said, "But I'm guessing that she already knows that she went too far. She doesn't need a lecture."
"Fine," Michael huffed. They walked in silence up to a little area further away where there were a lot of stones piled up. This was their 'training area'. Under comfortable wordless communication they started to practice their powers, molding their movements together into a gradually improved complete fighting unit.

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Max tried his best to be quiet as he walked into the tent. It was now growing dark outside, and he was exhausted. He had been practicing his powers the whole day, and he barely had enough energy to do simple things, like heat a cup of water. Liz was lying on the bed, her body still recuperating from the astral projection that could have had disastrous ramifications. He pulled off his shirt and kneeled over the bowl of manipulated water in the corner of the tent to wash his face. Next he made his way over to Liz. He pulled the blanket away and crawled down beside her. She immediately shifted position as she felt him beside her, and curled up against his side. Max put his arm around her and pulled her close, planting a kiss at the crown of her head, relishing in the scent of her hair.
"Are you okay?"
He was surprised to hear her soft voice. He was obviously a lot more tired than he thought, having missed to feel her waking up through the connection. "Yeah, I'm just tired. How are you feeling?"
"Better, but still tired," she murmured, her warm breath brushing against his bare chest. She had positioned herself with her head on his shoulder and her fingers were now idly moving over his chest, drawing invisible unintelligible figures.

"I'm sorry about earlier," she said. "I guess I wanted too much."
"You aren't ready for that much yet," he said softly, capturing her moving hand with his and lacing their fingers together. They lay there in silence for a while, almost too tired to fall asleep.
"I want her here too." His voice was barely above a whisper. He could feel her sadness through the connection. "But you can't help her if you wear yourself out."
"I could say the same thing to you," Liz whispered, and Max could hear the weak smile in her voice. She was right. Again. He had pushed himself a little too hard today as well. They both wanted their little girl back, and they were both willing to do whatever it took to make that a reality. Nevertheless, they had learnt today that they should probably slow down some. Wearing themselves out to the brink of unconsciousness was not the solution.

TBC…