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No one said anything for a long while. The Wanderer’s eyes glowed white within his cowl.
He was the first to speak.
“There is little time to speak, Alex. We both know the end is near. As you might have guessed, the Elekai were attacked. This morning, we tried to fly to Los Angeles. But Askala guessed our intent. She caught us on the open fields, and many Elekai fell. Almost all the Elekai rest in the pool.”
“What about Askal?” I asked.
“Yes, he is here, too,” the Wanderer said. “I suppose in one of the further caverns.”
“How did that...thing...get in here?” Anna asked.
“It was not only from above that we were attacked,” the Wanderer said. “Several burrowers found their way into the caverns. That one disturbed my meditation in the Sacred Grove.”
I thought “disturbed” was too light a word for what the Wanderer had suffered.
“How long will it take for the dragons to heal?” I asked.
“For some, not long at all,” the Wanderer said. “As for the rest...they will be ready in time for the final battle. That is, if there is a final battle to be fought. Los Angeles must be saved first, but I dare not let the Elekai fly there. They will not be ready.”
“Then how are we going to save the city?” Anna asked. “That’s why we came.”
The Wanderer looked at her with solemn eyes. “I will come with you. With luck, I may be able to turn the tide.”
“What?” Anna asked. “How?”
“You’re riding on our spaceship?” I asked.
Somehow, it was hard to imagine the Wanderer doing that.
“Yes,” he said. “I’d rather fly on a dragon, but there isn’t time for that.”
The Wanderer was probably the only person who could honestly say that.
“But...how are you going to stop the Radaskim?” Anna asked. “It’s just you, and there are thousands of them.”
“There is only one way, for which I must pay the ultimate price. I must release the hidden power of the Elekai. It is the only chance, I think, to save the city.”
Hidden power? The ultimate price?
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Are you...”
The Wanderer’s eyes seemed to answer the question that I left unasked.
Whatever the Wanderer had planned, it would cost him his life.
“The Releasing...it involves my giving up my power. It will allow me to directly control the Radaskim dragons. I’m unsure how long it will last, or even if it will work. It’s the only chance I see.”
“And it will kill you?”
“Yes.” The Wanderer’s eyes seemed to focus on something far away. “I can do this, because there is now another, to take my place...”
It was then that I realized he was talking about me.
“Wait...you want me to become...” I didn’t even know what to call it.
“My time to lead has passed. Askala has grown too powerful, and she has forced our hand...” The Wanderer gave a bitter smile. “It is the same, on every world. She forces our hand before we’re ready to play it.”
I had no idea what the Wanderer was talking about. All I knew was that he wanted me to fill his shoes, and that was something I could never do.
“You mean – I have to lead the Elekai when you’re gone?”
The Wanderer nodded. “Yes.”
“Why not one of the dragons? Why does it have to be...?”
I shook my head. There was no way I was up to this.
“This is your world,” the Wanderer said. “This is your fight.”
The Wanderer gestured upward – above the rim of frothing ichor, the nearest dragon’s head was visible.
The Wanderer continued. “They were the first to lose their world, millions of years ago. On each world, we make a home like this for them. We’ve saved the genetic blueprints for every species located on our home world, Askalon. You see the trees, the plants, the life of Askalon within these caverns.” The Wanderer turned back to me. “The Askala have already fought their war, but through the xenovirus and the Elekai, they are preserved, for as long as we exist in the universe. But the time of humanity has come, as it has come for every race discovered by the Radaskim.”
I guessed I understood what the Wanderer was saying. This was our war. Our fight. And if the Wanderer was going to die, I was the only one left who could take control.
“If it’s the only way...” I said. “I’ll do it.”
“No,” Anna said.
The Wanderer turned to her, his face questioning.
“I don’t understand why Alex has to die. Isn’t there another way?”
The Wanderer looked down at us. He said nothing at first. After what seemed an eternity, he spoke.
“Alex was chosen by the Elekai,” the Wanderer said. “He was chosen by me. And Alex accepted the call.”
“That doesn’t answer anything!” Anna said, frustrated. It was all she could do to keep herself in control. “Why him? And why does he have to die?”
“Anna...”
She didn’t seem to hear me, instead focusing on the Wanderer, demanding an answer from him that he couldn’t give.
The Wanderer waved us up the path. We looked at each other before following him. As we walked, the ichor closed behind us. It wasn’t long before we stood on the white, crystalline shoreline. The dragons continued to slumber in their healing trance.
“You ask me why he is to die,” the Wanderer said. “The process of converting Askala requires a giving up of the spirit, similar to what I am going to do. When you ask me why he in particular has to die, you are forgetting something important: in the end, we will all die, sooner rather than later.”
Anna didn’t respond. The Wanderer had a good point: it seemed unimportant to focus on the death of a single person when, most likely, we were all going to have to face that death.
All that the Wanderer had told me before came back: on hundreds of worlds over millions of years, the Radaskim had invaded and the Elekai had resisted. The Elekai always chose a champion to fight the Radaskim. That champion, on each of these worlds, had always failed, in the end. The Radaskim were always too powerful to be resisted, crushing all who stood in their way. Earth was just a tiny planet in a vast universe. What was one death compared to all that?
“There are many things I do not know, Anna,” the Wanderer said. “Many things I will never know. I do know that Alex must face Askala, that he has been chosen by the Elekai to destroy her. He can only do so by infecting her. And yes, it involves dying.”
“But, why the sacrifice?” Anna asked. “Can’t he just infect her and get away. Or...”
“The...transformation,” the Wanderer said. “It is hard to imagine how such a thing might be accomplished without death.”
“Wait...” Anna said. “Transformation? What transformation? You mean Askala, or...”
“Askala will become Elekai. I don’t know what that will do to Alex, but it certainly involves his death.”
“So, is there a chance that it won’t?”
“There have been...times...where we thought we won,” the Wanderer said. “Just on a few worlds. Always, the champion had died, the Radaskim faded...but in time, they came back, more powerful than ever...”
The Wanderer went quiet, thinking. Anna waited for him to continue.
“I see that you care for him very much. And Alex will need that. Love is the only thing that makes the darkness of the world worth enduring, and you humans have a lot of it.” The Wanderer paused. “No one knows what happens in the heart of darkness, between the Champion and Askala. Only the Champions know, and they are all dead.”
As the Wanderer spoke, Anna’s hope died in her eyes. Watching that was more painful than anything I could ever remember
“But none of us must give up. Despite the costs we all have to bear – there is always hope. Always.”
The Wanderer looked across the lake, toward the entrance of the cavern.
“We must not linger here. Take me to your ship.”
***
WE SWAM THROUGH THE lake and reached the far shore, leaving the glittering cavern behind. The Wanderer led us up the twisting tunnel until we reached the roots covering the opening. The Wanderer raised his right hand. The roots unknotted and retracted into the floor and walls, revealing the glowing night. For miles upon miles, the fields emitted a pale, pink radiance, and in the distance, shining hills rose.
The wind blew warm as we stepped out of the Xenolith. The roots once more enclosed the opening.
I reached for my radio.
“Makara? Ashton? Do you read me? We’ve left the Xenolith.”
“Coming down,” Ashton responded. “We’ll be there in a minute.”
Within a few seconds, Perseus appeared in the sky, its landing lights gleaming. A short time later, the ship lowered to the xenofungal bed.
The Wanderer walked toward the ship, Anna and I walking on his either side. Perseus’s blast door slid open, revealing Samuel and Makara standing at the top of the ramp.
When we stepped inside, we found everyone waiting, including the Raiders. Everyone looked at the Wanderer in surprise.
As the door shut behind us, we stood in silence. Everyone seemed to be shocked that the Wanderer was with us – this mysterious, prophetic man who was the leader of all the Elekai resistance against Askala and the Radaskim.
“The Elekai were attacked first,” I said.
“There’s no army?” Makara asked.
“Their dragons are being healed,” I said. “Very few got out unharmed, if any. The Wanderer knows a way we might save the city.”
Suddenly, everyone noticed what had changed about Anna.
“Anna...” Makara said. “What happened in there?”
“They have this huge lake made of...something, I don’t even know. I was under for a minute, then I came out, healed.”
“Completely?” Julian asked.
Anna nodded. “I don’t understand how, but I’m fine. I’ve never felt better, actually.”
Everyone turned to look at the Wanderer, who stood silent in his cloak and cowl. Some of the Raiders tried to back away upon seeing those whitened eyes. The Wanderer made no movement or sound, until the wardroom had gone completely quiet.
“There is a way to save Los Angeles,” the Wanderer said. “I can gain control over the Radaskim horde’s mind, if only for a few minutes. Maybe longer.” He paused. “Let’s hope longer.”
“That’s great,” Makara said.
“I fear this battle serves two purposes,” the Wanderer said. “Askala wants to destroy as much of humanity as she can in one stroke. That much is clear. But I also think she hopes this attack will draw me there. She knows I’m the only one with the ability to stop it – and she also knows this will cause me to die.”
This news was greeted with startled silence.
“What happens to the Elekai, if you die?” Ashton asked.
“There will be no Xenomind to lead,” the Wanderer said. “Our efforts would be directionless for a while, until a new leader rises to the mantle.”
One by one, everyone’s eyes turned on me. My face went white and my stomach twisted. I tried to speak, but no sound came. For some reason, the Wanderer’s saying it out loud and everyone’s looking at me made it worse.
But I had agreed. It was the only choice I had.
“I had hoped to better prepare you for this, Alex,” the Wanderer said. “But time is not on our side.”
“This...Releasing,” Samuel said. “How long would it take? What’s involved?”
“Land me on a tall building,” the Wanderer said. “Somewhere I can project the wave-thought. Alex, also, must be present. Keep us safe for a few minutes. That’s it.”
“Wouldn’t you two standing on top of a building make you targets for every dragon in L.A.?” Makara asked.
“Maybe with both spaceships, we can protect them long enough,” Samuel said.
We all knew it was desperate. We all knew there was little hope for victory. But we had to fight and do whatever we could to save Los Angeles. And if we had to go down fighting, against all odds, then that was what we had to do.
“Let’s go back,” Samuel said.
Everyone looked at the Wanderer for final words.
“Good luck,” he said at last. “Let us not make this our final stand.”
***
IT WAS AN HOUR AND a half before the city came into view. Ashton piloted Perseus high in order to escape the Radaskim dragons’ range. When he descended, we saw a large part of the already ruined city was in flames.
“Augustus,” Ashton said. “Do you have a copy?”
It was some time before the Emperor answered.
“Where is your army?”
“We don’t have time to explain. What’s the tallest building in the city under your control?”
“What? Why?” Augustus asked.
“I said there was no time!” Ashton said. “We have a weapon that could destroy the Radaskim army. We need the tallest building we can to work with.”
“That would be the Reaper HQ,” Augustus said. “Carin Black and his men are making their final stand there.”
“And your legions?”
“What’s left of them are retreating to the sea.”
“And you are in the Orion?”
“Yes,” Augustus said. “Along with my Praetorians. Black is in Reaper HQ.”
“Listen,” Ashton said. “We’ll need your help holding off the dragons. It’ll take time for the weapon to be set up, but it will neutralize all the Radaskim invaders.”
“And what is this weapon, Dr. Ashton?”
“Once again,” Ashton said, “there’s no time. You just have to trust me.”
Augustus paused a bit before answering.
“Fine. We are very desperate, Ashton. I will let Carin know what you’re doing so you don’t get shot by his SAMs.”
“Where is Reaper HQ?” Samuel asked.
“It’s the U.S. Bank Tower, the tallest building in the city. There’s a helipad.”
“Make the arrangements with Black,” Ashton said. “We’ll be there in two minutes. And get your ass in the air. We’ll need your help.”
Augustus had no time to protest Ashton’s gruff treatment. Ashton cut off and lowered the ship toward downtown. In the west, the sea was dark and empty, though fires and lights lit its shoreline – the remnants of the Novan legions. The streets below were dark and cluttered with rubble and flame. Swarms of movement plunged into the city.
The tall white tower approached. As we neared, human forms became discernable on its top. Reptilian screeches sounded from outside the ship.
I realized this could very much be our final battle. If we didn’t win here, Askala and her hellish legions would win all of Earth.
In moments, the extinction of the human race would be decided.