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  Guardian War #3

  By Brad Stucki

  Copyright 2016 by Brad Stucki

  Kindle Edition

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  Prologue

  Javin was suspended in darkness as tiny pinpricks of light zoomed past. He knew he was traveling at high velocity in some sort of tunnel. It vaguely reminded him of another time he’d traveled this way before. The memory of the previous time was there, he just couldn't access it. Memories of his past, beyond the world he had just left, were blocked. This time he remembered how it all started; his stepping through an archway in an ancient temple from a world he had just left. Where the archway would take him, he didn't know. He only knew stepping through would take him where he needed to go. A sense of mission and of finding answers had drawn him through. He needed to find a being named Nemesis, recover the first two Articles of Power, find the third, and protect them all. Beyond that he hadn't a clue. Oh yes, he also had a score to settle. On the world he'd just left, he'd found some friends . . . and lost some.

  His clear memories had started with him waking up lying naked in a jungle he'd never seen before. From there it had gone downhill. He’d met new friends and made enemies.

  Somehow, he and his friends had fought back against an evil threatening to overwhelm the planet he’d found himself on. Now he was chasing through the ether of space, or time, or both, trying to recover what had been stolen, and trying to catch the criminal who’d stolen them.

  To add insult to injury, the criminal he was chasing appeared to be his twin. How that could be he couldn’t fathom. He hadn’t any recollection of having a brother. That wasn’t outside the realm of possibility, though, because he couldn’t remember anything previous to waking up on that jungle planet several weeks ago. There must have been a previous life because he had flashes of insight and knowledge he knew he had before. It was just that he couldn’t access any memories, though he had knowledge which seemed to be accessible when he needed it.

  Why was that? It was the why that was driving him on as much as trying to help his friends. The only way he could find out about his past and know who he really was, was to continue on with the fight. He knew too much to let go of that. If he didn’t continue, darkness would overwhelm everyone and everything. He’d seen it in a ‘vision?’ from one of those friends he’d lost. It was all beyond understanding. Still, there was nothing for it but to press onward.

  The tiny pinpricks of light continued to stream past. He had no sense of motion. He ‘looked’ down and realized his body was gone! It was amazing he was still conscious. Was he now just incorporeal energy, an intelligence being transferred to his next destination? Is that how this type of traveling worked? Maybe he should be nervous but he wasn’t. He’d traveled this way two other times and each time he’d come out of the gateway whole. Besides, there was nothing he could do about it now. Either he would make it or he wouldn’t.

  Then he remembered he wasn’t alone. His lion-man friend Sauros’ Bho was with him. He ‘looked’ around, though how he was doing that he hadn’t a clue. Maybe the best description was that he ‘perceived,’ and ‘felt’ his friend. He felt a sense of wonder, and then recognition at the mental ‘touch’ as they acknowledged each other.

  Sauros would not be denied coming along with Javin on this chase. Sauros’ Bho had lost more than Javin. He’d lost his betrothed and his father. He’d also given up his kingdom.

  Who knew, maybe Javin had lost a great deal too. He just couldn’t remember.

  The whole thing was crazy if he thought about it. They had gathered their packs, strapped on their weapons and stepped through a stone archway in the inner chamber of an ancient pyramid on a jungle planet where the pyramid ruins had never been inhabited by the people living on that planet. To top it off, they hadn’t a clue where they were going when they stepped through. They just ‘knew’ it was what they needed to do in order to continue on with their quest.

  Javin sensed the wry humor in Souros’ Bho as well.

  Then up in the distance Javin ‘perceived’ a white dot as it appeared and was growing at an increasing rate. It continued to swell until if flashed, swallowing them as they spurted through the stone archway under a new sun . . .

  Chapter 1

  “Ow!” Javin said. Sauros’ Bho had landed on top of him as they sprawled out in a heap. The ground was solid packed earth, and it was hot. At least they were back in physical form and as far as Javin could immediately tell, they were in one piece, clothes, packs and weapons. This was better than Javin’s first time traveling this way when he’d appeared on the jungle planet stark naked. But that was history now.

  Javin and Sauros had set out on their expedition garbed in the dress mufti of Sauros' family livery, a dun colored tunic and pants with soft leather boots up the calves. At their sides they each carried a span-long blade sheathed in leather skin of the canny Birta’ Fah, a giant, carnivorous lizard on Sauros’ Bho’s world.

  Javin had insisted they fashion a pair of packs where they could carry other supplies, such as food and water. Sauros had been a bit confused by that. On Sauros’ world, they never really needed a pack. They had water always to hand in small, fresh pools replenished each night out of the straining mist as it lifted with the day. Food was plentiful for the taking from fruits on the lush jungle trees to the profusion of smaller animals easily snared.

  But Javin, from the knowledge of memories he still couldn't access, had explained that they may end up in a place where they couldn't simply gather water and food from their surroundings. Sauros had shrugged and acquiesced and bid his people to follow Javin's directions. Now they had arrived at their destination . . . wherever that was.

  Sauros stood to his full considerable height and brushed himself off. His powerful body covered in a soft pelt of the same redish dun color of their clothes with his thick mane of hair reminded Javin of a majestic male lion. Where he drew the picture from in his mind he didn't know.

  Javin looked at himself. Everything was accounted for. Javin was of what he considered a medium build with whip-chord muscles and clean-shaven features. Javin knew his black eyes and brown hair to be a curiosity others had remarked upon when considering the almost universal golden brown eyes of Sauros' race. Javin also knew he had an athletic fighting ability that was second nature to him and undoubtedly came with his previous life, whatever that was.

  “I apologize,” Sauros said, holding out a hand to Javin's shoulder. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” Javin said looking around for the first time on this new world. The landscape was barren dirt with a redish hue. Rocks and boulders littered the ground as far as the eye could see. Off in the far distance a range of mountains seemed to ring around where they stood. Sauros pointed overhead at the strange glow of an orb hanging in the sky just above the mountainous horizon.

  “It’s the sun,” Javin said, remembering this was a sight that Sauros had never seen before. He came from a jungle planet where the cloud cover was so dense the sun never shone through. This sun, however, was dim and a bit smaller than what Javin was used to, and the sky was a bit darker though the sun was still plenty high. Even at that, the air temperatu
re was hot. Then he caught himself. What did he have to measure it against? It was that memory thing again. He knew it was a different sun than what he was used to. There wasn’t any memory to attach to it, just the realization.

  “It’s a dwarf star,” Javin said, again gritting his teeth against the knowledge without any associated memory. He thought he’d gotten used to that happening. “I think we’re a long way from where we started. It’s a dying star, so the light is less, but the atmosphere of this planet must be dense enough to keep the heat in because it’s warmer than it should be. And now that I think about it, do you feel different?”

  Sauros tilted his head in thought. "I do," he said.

  Javin was silent for a moment as they both assessed what they were feeling. It was a strange 'dampening' effect, like some slight buzzing that was in their heads but they couldn't 'hear' it. More, it was 'felt' but on other than a physical plane.

  "It is unique," Sauros said. "Do you know what it is?"

  Javin glanced at the sun, shading his eyes with a hand, squinting into the less than brilliant light.

  "It could be radiation from the sun," Javin said. "We probably should find some shelter.”

  “Oh,” Sauros said. Clearly he didn’t understand what Javin was saying. He was a warrior, not a scientist. “Now what?”

  “Good question. You see anything that resembles civilization in any form? I figured we would come through in another ruin somewhere. I guess I figured wrong.”

  “I see nothing but dirt and rocks.” Sauros’ Bho had turned in a circle scanning the horizon as well. “I also think we’ll need to find water soon." He smiled at Javin, indicating he now understood the need for the packs.

  Sauros had come from a very moist world where water strained out of the dense cloud layer every night and had plentiful water. They carried some with them but the lack would be a big problem for them both soon.

  “This is a desert.” Javin grinned wryly at the knowledge. He knew the term and what it meant, and again, knew he had a memory of it somewhere inaccessible to his conscious mind. “There must be some plant life somewhere that would indicate some water below the surface.”

  “Oh,” Sauros said again, and smiled, showing his sharp fangs while wiping a sheen of sweat beading on his face. “I don’t see any plants, do you?”

  “Not a one.” Javin gazed up at the sky and the sun again. “This is strange. I wonder why the archway brought us here? It doesn’t look like a place anyone lives. I had the distinct feeling when we were thinking of going through the archway that we’d be brought to where we could find the Articles and track down Nemesis.”

  “I felt it too,” Sauros agreed. “Yet I don’t see any sign we are in the right place. Perhaps we should go back through the gateway, especially if it's dangerous to be out in the open because of this . . . radiation you said.”

  Javin nodded and they both turned back to face the stone archway that seemed identical in every way to the one they’d just stepped through back in the abandoned pyramid on Sauros’ world. It was empty. It seemed like a free standing stone archway that they could walk through and end up simply on the other side.

  Sauros put his hands up to touch what might be an imaginary plane made by the horizontal angle of the archway. His hands passed through. Nothing happened.

  “Something’s wrong,” he said turning to Javin.

  "Obviously.” Javin turned and again surveyed their immediate surroundings. “Remember in the pyramid how all the rectangular slabs were arranged around? It made me think of a rough circuit board, or a switch system.”

  “Oh,” Sauros said and grinned again, this time wider. “You must realize I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. I am just answering to at least give you the appearance of having a conversation.”

  “Sorry,” Javin said. “It’s frustrating to me too. I know what I’m talking about, but I still don’t have any memories to go with it.”

  “What about the slabs?” Sauros prompted.

  “Well, there aren’t any here. Maybe this is just a receiver, a one-way gateway.”

  “It would have been nice to know that before we stepped through,” Sauros said. “Still, I felt as you, that we needed to do it. Perhaps we should still trust that feeling and continue our search here.”

  “Can’t see as we have any choice,” Javin said. “You have any idea as to what direction we should start walking?”

  Sauros stood still for a moment, contemplating. Javin realized and 'felt' what Sauros was doing. He was going inside himself to ‘feel’ what direction they should head. On Sauros’ world, they had both had an experience where a small spherical crystal had embedded itself above each of their hearts. Those crystals had marked them as two of the prophesied “Mulda' fi,” or "Promised Ones," those who were destined to save that world from a Time of Trouble. And they had . . . at a price. Those crystals had given them special powers they were still trying to understand and control.

  Javin had a vague recollection of getting his when he was a young child from a mysterious yet familiar stranger. At that time it hadn't been imbedded in his breast. Instead it had been a 'Gift' that he'd kept as a 'lucky marble.' The rest of his life was blank save for that one episode and impression. It had come to him in a waking dream when the crystal had embedded itself into his breast on Sauros' world. No. There was one other of those waking dreams he'd had. It had been in the throne room of Putra' fi Sorro . . . Javin shook his head at the remembrance.

  He wished he could remember more. His memory was blocked. Since he had knowledge of science and fighting which seemed second nature to him, and surfaced at need, he knew there was something more lying beneath what he could now remember. Instead the only clear memory he had was of waking up on Sauros' world and what had happened since.

  So far, the crystals had enabled them to create a protective barrier close around their bodies like an invisible armored skin. They also had discovered they could ‘feel’ each others’ thoughts. They didn’t know over how far a distance that was possible. One final power was apparently the ability to transport from one place to another without an archway. Again, they didn’t know over how far this could be done. Javin had done so once over a very short distance under extreme conditions. It took its toll in personal energy. Javin had been all but helpless after doing so. It had nearly cost him his life. Others had lost theirs. A pang of sadness hit him as the memory surfaced.

  At least I have some memories, Javin thought. Even if they aren’t good.

  “This way, I think,” Sauros said. Javin knew he had ‘felt’ Javin’s pang of guilt and sorrow but didn’t say anything. What could he say? The person who'd died had been Mouhra’ lah, his betrothed. She had sacrificed herself to save Javin. Sauros had not said anything about it. He wouldn’t talk about it. Javin could ‘feel’ through the crystal in his breast that Sauros felt great sadness over the loss of his beloved, but there was no blame in his heart for Javin. Just the opposite, in fact. There was great loyalty and friendship. There was a bond that had brought them both to trusting each other with their lives. It was going to be put to the test again, it seemed, for they were now stuck in a new world with no visible means of survival other than the packs on their backs and the long knives at their sides.

  “Lead on,” Javin said.

  Chapter 2

  They'd walked for several hours. Then after having stopped for a brief rest and drink from their water bladders, Sauros got Javin's attention.

  "Look."

  Javin looked to where Sauros was pointing. Because they'd been walking in the direction of the setting sun, they hadn't noticed they were coming up on a hidden ravine. The landscape was so monotonous in its lack of vegetation and unending hard pan that the defile was invisible until they’d come upon it.

  The ravine was wide, though not very deep. It was a long dry and eroded river bottom. Obviously it had been eons since water had flowed here. The ravine wove past them in either direction as far as they could
see. It must have been two hundred paces across, though the erosion over the expanse of time had made the slopes on either side gradual and an easy climb. The ground below was relatively level, free of the boulders and rocky escarpments of the landscape they had been traveling.

  It wasn't the landscape that had caught Sauros' attention. Javin gaped. Relief flooded him. In the center of the ravine directly in front of the path they'd been traveling stood a cylindrical column made of what appeared to be a reddish concrete. It was tall enough to stand high above the level, but not tall enough to have been seen above the edges of the ravine. It was stout and from this distance Javin judged it to be about 15 paces wide. He could barely make out what appeared to be metal rungs leading up its side to an open rectangular port just below the top of the structure.

  The open port was dark. At least it was evidence of civilization.

  "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Javin asked.

  "I believe I am," Sauros answered.

  Together they strode down off the edge and made their way to the cylindrical column. Javin's relief was two-fold. He knew they had to get out of the rays of the red sun. It must be radiation that was causing the strange 'dampening' feeling he was having. Sauros felt it too, though he hadn't mentioned it since that first time. Javin didn't know if it was lethal, but best not to take chances. Second it was confirmation that they'd been sent to a particular place in coming through the portal and not some random accident. Well, that second part still was unsure, though at least with signs of some civilization it was better than nothing. Much better.

  Javin could sense from Sauros he felt exactly the same. Javin was still getting used to the strange empathic bond he had with Sauros through the crystal spheres embedded in both their breasts. How did it work? Why was it there? These were all questions Javin was hoping would get answered here. Then there was the task of trying to find Nemesis and recover the two stolen Articles of Power. What Nemesis could do with those, and what he 'would' do with those he didn't want to think about.