Chapter Twenty Eight--THE SENTINELS

 

 

Ari's face utterly transfigured. The Blue Sentinel swarmed over him entangling his inner and outer self. In some subterranean fathom of consciousness, Ari existed in the past, present, and the future. An awakening was activating, reviving, and gaining control. Soft sweet sensations of warmth flooded through him as massive amounts information traveled to every nerve fiber. At first, the impulses appeared too fast in a painful, cascading overload. Slowly, they adjusted his physiology, leaving him calm and serene. Multiple ancestral memories shock waved through Ari's spine.

The key To Ascension

He is the Chosen

The Chosen One lives

His conscious mind echoed with these thoughts and a billion other pieces of information. Each prickled as it entrenched itself in Ari's body. The information projected outside him and at the same time he felt it within. He sensed himself step outside his body and into an ocean of knowing. In it, he was one with every answer to every question that ever was or will be. The light of the universe claimed him.

The importance of becoming Supreme Magistrate, The Ancient Ones’ Destiny, Atlantian Destiny — it was all so clear. Ari was permanently altered.

He is risen.

Suddenly, intense pain racked his body. Black Sentinel attacked Blue. Ari was caught in the middle of their war, of dark and light.

He distantly heard Face in the background. “We’re under attack!” The distant words grew louder. “Ari, I have your connection back. We are under attack!”

Ari sensed a visual from Face. An unknown light-ship is trying to blast our ship and the pyramid.

The pyramid shook violently. Walls shattered. Lethal fragments of ancient cracking walls crashed toward Ari. The struggling Sentinels flew out of their customary corner, speeding to the exit.

Ari looked for Yu through the clouds of debris. Spotting her flattened on the chamber floor, he desperately rushed to help.

Face communicated to Ari, “Permission to take off? We’re under attack. Our defense shields are about to buckle.”

All hesitation vanished. “Yes!” Ari ordered. “Full speed. Now! Stay in communication range if possible.”

Face rapidly worked with the resident SIC to hasten their departure. 4-D controls rapidly appeared and disappeared as needed.

Face addressed the resident SIC, “Let’s see if they take the bait. Liftoff on 3,2,1.”

Face lifted their spacecraft off the top of the pyramid. The encroaching light-ship was about to plasma blast the pyramid again. Then it suddenly veered away following the vanishing craft.

“Yes!” Face rejoiced, “They’re coming after us.”

Then the enemy halted. As if making a decision, it reversed, assailing the pyramid.

Face communicated urgently to Ari, “Prepare for another attack.”

“Don't be a decoy. If you have to leave us, do it. Take back what we know. It could save . . .”

His urgent words disintegrated as another plasma blast hit. Although he was safe for now in the ship, Face felt stones crumble around Ari and Yu.

Ari held on to Yu, replacing her defensive headgear. “This headgear is a fleeting as we should be. Can you walk?”

The strength of his order forced Yu around the edge of consciousness. She reached for self-awareness, “Help me!”

Ari dragged Yu against the wall. Ari felt the knowledge of the ages. Somehow he knew the resting place of the Sentinels had not been activated for over 600,000 years and that something important was in front of him. Though the dust, he stared at the details of the secret symbols in front of his nose. “Face, link on to this.”

“I’ve got them. Brace for a jolt. They’re making another pass.”

Ari prepared for the worst. He reached into the triangle opening, pulling out the fuming comet fragment. As he touched it, the fuming increased. He focused on it as the massive walls collapsed around him. Stones ripped the air from all directions, exploding as they fell.

A stone missile whistled shrilly, hitting the comet in his hand. No sooner was the comet air borne than the Sentinels surrounded it. In a millisecond, it vanished. Face spotted it an instant later as it whirred outside.

The Sentinels spun up into space, dead on at the attack ship. It was a direct hit. As spectacular as when dreams collide, it ignited. Both vanished as completely as grit from the crumbling pyramid merged with endlessly drifting dust in the Red Planet’s thin atmosphere. A huge orange sun fled into the endless darkness of space.