Note: Sorry this took so long, but for some reason what I had planned for this chapter refused to be written and what I planned to happen later in the story seemed to have stood up screaming 'WRITE ME!' I fought and fought, but lost the fight. (sigh) What made it worse; I hadn't finish creating some of the characters yet, so I had to take time to flesh them out some.

Chapter Three: Those Left Behind

Previously on Earth's Magic:

Devon (in his human form) turned to leave, but stopped when Althea said, "If I hear you are taking your frustrations out on the students, again, I will report you. After all, this worthless, little freak's word is considered more valuable than yours."

"We shall see, Ms. Althea Strom just how valuable you are, "he sneered as he walked out.

(Earth, European Dig Site)

The overcast morning sky seemed to mirror the mood of the dig team, as they attempted to clean up the mess left behind by the attack. One student was removing the police tape as others were going through the damaged crates.

The sound of an approaching air-car caused a few of them to look up. One of those that looked up was the man in charge, Professor Miles. Seeing the air-car bearing the Earth Military Alliance emblem approach and then land, the professor said, "This is not good."

Wiping his forehead, Jack walked up next to the professor and asked, "What's the Military Alliance doing here? Didn't they finish going over the place yesterday?"

The air-car's door opened. A man with grey streaked black hair and wearing a naval-style service uniform stepped out. He turned to reveal a large scar on the left side of his face and his eagle insignias
"Oh crap…"said Jack, "What the hell is Captain Marshall doing here?!"

"Go back and get the other's together, "ordered the instructor, "Wait by the tent."

Jack was more than happy to get away from the angry looking war hero and raced off to follow orders.

The professor walked over and held out his hand to greet the captain with a handshake, "Captain Marshall."

The captain ignored the professor's hand and with a cold glare said, "Where is Althea?"

"Sir, I … don't know"

"I left my niece in your care, "he said, his icy blue eyes not blinking once,"What happened?"

Miles sighed and then indicated for the captain to walk with him. "I'm assuming you already met with the investigators. From what I understand, Horde soldier's attacked the site. Strangely they took only one thing, a broken sword. During the attack there was an explosion and one of the attacker's was seriously injured. His 'friends' left him behind to be captured. At first I thought they also took Althea, but from what I understand the captured Horde agent was extremely upset about your niece getting away. Blaming her for the explosion."

"Yes, I know that. He is still being interrogated as we speak, "said Captain Steve Marshall as they walked towards where the tower once stood, "Is this the place?"

"This is where the tower was and now that it is completely gone, we can see that there was a hidden chamber underneath it."

The captain closed his eyes and stated, "But no human remains."

The professor considered his next words carefully. "As you know, one of the reasons why we chose this place was the local legends that spoke of warriors with magical abilities and weapons. Many of the stories mention of a doorway to another world that was used by some sort of dragon cult, "said Professor Miles with a half-shrug, "I didn't bring this up with the investigators since it's not really something that's easily believed. We wouldn't have bothered starting a dig site here, but with magic being proven real and Althea seeing traces of it all over the place…"

The captain's eyes lit up and a small half smile appeared, "I've seen these 'doorways' in action. The Horde calls them dimensional portals. I would like to see this hidden chamber up close."

About an hour later, the captain turned on his safety helmet's light and looked around the room. Ignoring the sound of falling rubble, he saw bits and pieces of stone statues in the dim light. A stone horn here, a scorched stone sword grip there. They were all against the walls and most bunched up against the wall closest to the entrance, as if something forcibly shoved them. When he reached the end of the hall, he found the burnt and broken remains of the portal's frame. The stone work appeared molten and distorted, but above it still remained the cracked carving of a stone keep with two moons above it. The war hero pulled out a digital camera and took snap shot of the carving.

(Earth Military Alliance Naval Research Facility, that afternoon)

Two guards saluted as Captain Marshall walked through doorway. The door closed behind him with the hiss of an air tight seal. At the far end of the room were the remains of six damage Horde vehicles, each in different stages of being taken apart. Nearby were work tables filled with bits and pieces of the vehicles, each being closely examined by researchers and their assistants. The captain ignored this having seen this or something similar every day since the war. He was looking for something more on the software side.

A young woman with spiky bronze colored hair wearing more than recommended red and gold makeup was spinning in her old style desk chair, snapping on some gum. "Susan, "the captain said with a stern tone.

"Hey Stevie!" the girl said as she waved and stop spinning, "Whatcha got for me?"

"I need to know if there is anything in the Horde records we got, that might tell us what this means,"he answered holding up a camera's memory card.

With a tilt of her head and a big smile, Susan took the memory card and inserted into her steampunk styled computer. A single, detailed image of the carving appeared on her monitor. The captain leaned a little closer and said in a low voice, "Let's just keep this between the two of us for right now. "

The girl nodded with a knowing smirk. "This may take a few minutes. The old…"the computer sounded off like a steam whistle and the girl's eyebrows' rose, "That was faster than expected." A few keystrokes later and the girl said, "Well this is in…ter…est…ing. It's a marker showing where a permanent portal goes. This one supposedly goes to some place on a planet called Eternia. Now that's a planet I read about a few times."

"Sounds familiar, "said Marshall with a thoughtful tone.

The girl turned around to look straight at the captain and said, "It should! Remember when that junkoid asteroid nearly hit? Major Steele and Colonel Blaze nearly screwed up, crashing on Eternia. The Eternian's helped them out saving Earth, and…"

With a raised brow, the Marshall asked, "Have you been digging around classified files again?"

"Not since ya caught me. Read about it before you made me a model citizen, "she said with a not so innocent smile and using her hands to indicate a halo over her head, "But I have also read about 'em in the Horde records. Seems like these Eternian's kicked their butts about twenty or so years ago and the plan was to use Earth's resources to take em on again."

"Hmmm and a large portal to Eternia could have been a valuable way to sneak forces onto that world, " Marshall mused scratching his five o'clock shadow, "Find all you can on this Eternia. Use my authority if you have to, but don't mention that it's related to Althea's disappearance. If anyone asks, say that I'm looking for possible allies against the Horde."

As the Captain walked away, the girl cracked her fingers and then started typing away.

(Earth Military Alliance Hospital, prisoner ward)

The demonic looking Devon sneered as the orderly brought him his meal. Most of his body and half his face were covered in bandages, and he still radiated 'danger' in spite of being strapped to the bed. Instead of sweating in fear like last time, the orderly winked with an evil smile. Devon's sneer turned in to a smirk as his hand and leg cuffs were released.

The orderly's form melted away to reveal a younger, female version of Devon wearing a skin tight cat suit with metal studs on the shoulders and a barbed whip rested on her hip. The female helped Devon off the bed and handed him a bottle containing a foul looking liquid. "Master Devon, "said the female as she knelt down, "I am yours to command."

Devon swallowed the potion in one gulp and shook as the painful but healing qualities of the potion set in. His eyes flared as he summoned his armor and then ordered coldly, "Make me a path out of here, Lillian. A bloody one."

(Earth Military Alliance Naval Research Facility, Captain Steve Marshall's office)

Marshall sat down at his desk with a mournful sigh. Glancing up once to verify that the door was closed, he tiredly rubbed his eyes with one hand as he picked up the one personal picture on his desk. It was a rare photo of him in civilian clothes getting ready to take 8 year old Althea to a base Halloween party. She was dressed up as Indian Jones, complete with a 'crystal' skull candy bucket. This was one of the first happy moments they shared since his sister and brother-in-law, Althea's parents, died in a terrorist attack a year earlier. The woman he hired to help keep an eye on Althea and run the house insisted on taking the photo. The now older and hopefully wiser sailor could never thank that batty old broad enough for it.

With a sad smile he put the picture back in its place and picked up the wrapped gift that was placed next to it. Althea left it with him before leaving off for Europe, asking him to wait until his birthday to open it. His birthday came and went a week ago, but it completely slipped his mind until now. He carefully removed the wrapping paper and opened the small box. Inside was a note on top a flat piece of a smoothed, grey striped stone with an upward pointed arrow engraved on it. It was about the size of one of his dog tags and even had a hole on one end to indicate it was to be worn.

Placing the box down, he opened up the note and read:

Hey Steve,

Sorry I'm going to miss your birthday this year, but I guess it's my turn to be away on assignment.

Anyways, I found this in one of those boxes the university had me go through to keep me busy so I didn't go stir-crazy while recovering. When I 'saw' it was the real thing, I tried to tell the guy in charge of the stuff. He said it was from one of those rune stone sets the role players use and actually told me to toss it. I didn't even get the chance to tell him what I 'saw' in it.

This thing has a serious protective aura on it. So next time you're out saving the world, wear it for me. Ok?

Love,
Althea

Marshall took off his dog tags. Then with a small smile and glistening eyes, added the strange stone to the chain. Every little bit helps after all.

(Susan's work station)

Susan nearly jumped out of her chair when the alarms went off. Recovering quickly, she started typing away at her keyboard. Security camera videos popped up, one after another. "No no no no…"she muttered before calling out "CAPTAIN!"

She quickly put on her metallic looking headphones and hit a button, "The Horde agent Devon is escaping the prison ward! All available units to the Military Alliance Hospital...he is to be considered extremely dangerous…"

(Hospital)

Walking towards the landing air cruiser, Devon ignored the gunfire as Lillian sent blasts of black flame towards the men and women attempting to stop him. "Come, my dear, "he said, "Stop playing with the rabble. It's time to go."

Lillian smirked and used her whip to send out a large wave of the black flames to strike down the soldiers and guards before stepping into the cruiser. As the cruiser flew off, a familiar air-car appeared and fired on it.

Looking at a monitor, Lillian said, "Its Steve Marshall, my lord."

Devon leaned back into his chair and ordered, "Get rid of him."

The Horde soldier piloting the cruiser objected, "Sir, Horde Command has…"

Devon's eyes flared.

The soldier gulped and then proceeded to use the cruiser's rear guns to fire at the Alliance air-car.

Steve Marshall dove to avoid the blast and then angled to get in position to fire again. Only this time two smaller Horde open cockpit fighters appeared and fired on him. He dodged the first few blasts, but one landed and took out his engine. The air-car went down, with a trail of smoke behind it.

"At least that one nuisance out of the way, "grumbled Devon as the Horde air cruiser and its support flew off, not bothering to verify the kill.

Marshall fought his air-car controls all the way down to no avail. The vehicle crashed at a shallow angle on an abandoned stretch of road and slid across the broken black-top, eventually coming to a stop. The door popped open as Marshall took off his seat belt. Stumbling out, he quickly got away from the smoking wreck. Seconds later, the car exploded knocking the captain to the ground.

With a groan, Marshall got up and dusted himself off. "Note to self, "he said hearing the sounds of a helicopter coming in close, "Next time you take on a Horde air cruiser, do it in a fighter."

(A little later and back at the hospital)

A medical support helicopter landed and the side doors slide open. Marshall jumped out and moved out of the way to give the medics room to work. Once he was far enough away from the noise, he activated his communicator and rung up Susan. "Report, "was all he said. Susan reported that the Horde aircraft had escaped but everyone was on high alert. The Military Alliance Council was demanding answers but she was having fun so far making up different ways to tell them to shut up in a polite or civil way. "Have someone send me a car, will you. As for council, what else is there to tell them? Devon escaped and we now have definite proof that the Horde is still interested in Earth. If they want the details, they can read about it when I finish filing my report. If they continue bothering you, hang up on them. That's an order."

The captain closed up his communicator and looked around hoping to see who ever was in charge. He took a deep breath seeing that Admiral Kang walking marching towards him. Captain Marshall saluted the two star admiral with a "Sir."

The admiral returned the salute and said, "I heard you had a bit of an adventure."

"Nothing new, "Marshall replied, "I tried to stop the Horde air cruiser, but it had support."

The admiral's eyes narrowed, "I heard that your air-car was totaled. The pilot that flew you in mentioned over the radio that he was amazed you survived the crash and without a scratch."

"Don't see why, "Marshall said with a smile, "I've survived worse."

The admiral shook his head with a sigh and then said, "Walk with me."

The two walked towards past the rubble to a pair of recently planted trees that somehow survived untouched. "I don't like this, Marshall, "said Kang, "It's been almost a year since the war and now this. We are not ready for another invasion."

"I don't think they are either, "said Marshall, "Otherwise they wouldn't be bothering with all this cloak and dagger crap."

"We don't need guess work, we …"

Marshall interrupted and said, "What if I told you I might have found possible allies against the Horde. One with a proven track record in regards to fighting them. "

Admiral Kang turned to look at Marshall and said, "This wouldn't have anything to do with your pet hacker going through classified pre-war records would it?"

"Actually, it does, "Marshall answered, "Digging through the files acquired from the captured Horde ships, has recently brought up an interesting bit of info. A world called Eternia was able to fight off the Horde and hit them so hard that the Horde has left them alone for decades. The same world a pair of astronauts …huh…visited shortly before the war. From what little I heard, most of the Eternians and the ruling family were actually quite friendly. Even helpful."

Admiral Kang got a thoughtful look and then asked, "I assume you are going to ask the council for permission and support to go to this Eternia?"

With a shrug, Marshal said, "Who else has as much experience with dealing with aliens? During the war, I fought against and alongside some of the strangest beings you can image and a few you can't. I know for a fact that the Horde is hated and feared throughout the galaxy and perhaps beyond. The trick is to get those people who are willing and able to stand up against Horde to work together. This Eternia could be the first step, beyond Earth, to do this."

"Why do I have a feeling you watched way too much science fiction when you were growing up?" sighed the admiral. Then he looked towards the now ruined hospital and said, "When your findings are ready, send me a copy and I'll see about backing your request. If nothing else, I'll get part of your research team's budget when you are lost in space."

(Horde Mother Ship, 'Deathblaze')

Lillian stood next to and just behind the seated Devon as a cloaked figured finished his report and then quickly left. "So the infamous Steve Marshall has survived and now has plans to leave Earth to see if Eternia is willing to work with the Earthlings. Why do I have a feeling that is only part of the reason he is going there, "He took a sip of his blood red drink. Scratching the scarred side of his face, Devon told Lillian, "Please be a dear and see if there is any connection between Steve Marshall and Althea Strom."

Lillian smiled as she turned and picked up a file that was on the table behind her. "There is no need to look, "she said as she handed over the folder to Devon, "All that is to be known can be found in this file."

Devon open the folder and one of the first things he sees is a photo of a 8 year Althea in a Halloween costume and Steve Marshall in civilian clothing.

To be continued….