14
“They were from Threa,” he explained. “They called themselves the militia. They tried to take control of the Central Unit and the Spire, but failed. They were forced out of the city, and they then left the planet. There were so many that went with them. But we knew they wouldn’t be gone long. And when they came back, we underestimated their power. But we managed to… keep some of us safe…” Mason trailed off.
“And that’s why you created the Guardian,” I said, not questioning.
He nodded. “We needed more than the protection the Central Unit offered. We were not warriors, and very few of us had the intelligence and skill of the Rathe. We were peaceful. We needed the Guardian.”
“What are you talking about? You have the intelligence of the Rathe,” I complained to him.
But he only snorted and gave me a look that caused me to wonder what it was that I may have missed in Aleric. And that perhaps, I should have been having more conversations with him, and getting to know the people from Rathe, instead of immersing myself in the violence of Heart. Perhaps that was what Mya had meant when she told me to visit the Colony - to give my mind a workout.
“How many are there?” Jordan questioned.
“On the planet, more than everyone from Heart, Rathe and Terah combined. In orbit, we’ve no way to tell.”
“We stay together, no matter what,” this Jordan said quietly to me, but he was still looking at Mason. He closed his eyes and exhaled, and when he opened them, his gaze locked with mine. And I knew in that moment that if he wanted to leave, to get as far away as we could, I wouldn’t object. I couldn’t put him through that again. I would follow him wherever he chose to go.
It was the sound of other voices that broke our silent focus upon one another. Looking away at the same time, we saw Haize, Aleric, Lena, Dax, Seph, Phaedra, and Castor, enter the room, followed by Mya and three others from Rathe, whose names I knew but couldn’t recall. But they knew me. And upon sensing my question they re-introduced themselves as Kaiden, Gage, and Xzavier.
I moved to give Mya a brief hug hello, but instead she took my hand in an Earthly greeting, covering it with both of hers. As she did, I felt a shroud descend upon me, as though a thick woolen blanket covered the upper portion of my body. It was invisible to the eyes, but could most definitely, be felt. And when no one even glanced our way, I wondered if anyone else could sense it. But if they could, they didn’t indicate.
When the shroud didn’t let up, I tried to pull away from her, afraid I would suffocate. But she only smiled, and grasped my hand a fraction tighter, holding me in place. It was then that a voice whispered in my head.
If ever you need anyone, or anything, you come to me. No matter what.
Her thoughts entered my mind as though they were my own, but the voice was most definitely not. And once the words were spoken, she smiled again before removing her hands from mine. As she did, the shroud lifted, and my first instinct was to gasp back air, but I didn’t. I didn’t need to.
It was strange at first, to hear another’s voice inside me, when all I’d ever heard was my own and Jordan’s. And I decided, that if that was her way of quietly offering friendship, then I would share in that silence with her. And I returned her smile, nodding ever so slightly as I did.
Upon turning back to our other guests, I noticed additional chairs had been generated, enough for all in the room. But before anyone sat, Aleric placed his hands upon the table and stretched it out to accommodate us all.
I had no idea my table could do that. But after what Mason had indicated, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the Central Unit’s power that had done that to my table, or if it was just Aleric, without any help from outside forces.
I decided it was a question for another time, and I sat near one end of the table, not wanting to be in the middle of the discussion. Jordan angled the corner next to me, and held one of my hands firmly in his.
Mason began with what he’d detected, followed by Aleric and Seph as they described what they’d found in their travels, north of the city. And what this meant for us all.
Jordan’s eyes never left mine, his face was a blank sheet, and his soul was even harder to read as he kept everything locked within him. I tried over and over to reach him, but I soon gave up, and instead I settled upon simply seeing him, and touching him. However, I could tell by his stare, that he was not afraid for himself, nor for anyone else, but only for me.
Aleric and Seph detailed the technology they saw, the sheer size of their enemy’s force, until finally the discussion turned to the reality of bringing back the Guardian.
Hearing it said this time though, was not such a shock. I was prepared, even if only a little, at the possibility of it coming back. And I squeezed Jordan’s hand, trying to reassure him.
I’m not going to die this time, I thought to myself over and over, trying to send my words to him. But it was also my own effort to reassure myself as well. You won’t lose me again and I won’t lose you. The ward won’t get to me. I promised, remember? I’m not going anywhere.
You better not, he said back to me, but his lips hadn’t moved.
I gasped at the feeling, surprised and shocked to have heard him. Even though I’d heard his voice in my head back on Earth, it was not something I’d expected to hear ever again, or at least anytime soon.
Jordan broke out of his own trance, no doubt also realizing, that we’d heard each other. However, the more I tried to process it, the more I felt it was only my imagination. I’d just been focusing so intently upon him, that I was bound to imagine something of the sort.
But the shocked expression that widened his eyes, I was sure, mimicked mine, leaving me in doubt once again, of what was real and what wasn’t.
“Finally,” I heard Aleric murmur through the hum of conversation.
“What?” Haize asked.
“They just connected,” he responded. I turned to him to see him smile at Haize, before looking back at me.
“What?” I asked, unsure if he was talking about me and Jordan, or something completely unrelated.
“You two,” he said, pointing at us, one then the other. “Just connected.”
“What do you mean?” Jordan asked.
“I thought we already were,” I added.
“You heard each other. Your minds connected in thought. We’ve been expecting it.”
“It should have happened sooner though,” Haize said.
“It most likely did,” Aleric replied. “But this is the first time they’ve realized it.”
“You heard me?” Jordan quietly asked.
“You heard me,” I whispered back.
He clasped my fingers, entwining them with his. A thrill of electricity ran through me, and I focused upon my breathing, trying to get myself under control. I had to look away from him though, and I decided instead, to stare at our joined hands. Although that wasn’t much better, knowing what his hands could do. And so, I shifted my gaze back up to Haize.
“What do you mean it should have happened sooner?” I asked her.
“You are biologically harmonized, there was nothing stopping you from making that connection,” she explained. “Not once you were here, with the Central Unit’s help.”
“Other than the fact that there mustn’t be too many thoughts that pass between you,” Lena murmured.
“Shut up,” Jordan moaned in her direction. But she wasn’t offended, she only smirked in amusement.
“We hear each other now?” I had to ask, more for reassurance. The excitement I felt at the very idea, plastered a smile upon my face, despite the recent bad news.
“You should do more than that,” Aleric answered.
I wanted to ask him what else there could possibly be. But I decided I didn’t want to know. I’d rather be pleasantly surprised when it happened, as the thrill of the unexpected still coursed through me.
Their conversation quickly turned back to the enemy. We had a fight ahead of us. Another one. And as much as I needed to pay attention to what was being said, I couldn’t keep my focus on their conversation. I just wanted them all to leave my house so I could be alone with Jordan.
He squeezed my fingers as he focused upon me once more, and whispered to my mind, Soon.
∞
Before they left, Aleric and Haize reminded us to be mindful of our thoughts, particularly when in the company of others, or outside of our house. Very few had mastered the technique of closing off their mind to another. And they were certain that we should soon begin hearing everyone else. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I hoped that when and if it happened, the noise wouldn’t overwhelm or drown out my own thoughts.
But that evening, once we were alone, the thrill I’d felt at our new connection, was short lived. For through Jordan’s mask of happiness, I could feel his pain. Every ounce of torment that he was suffering coursed through him. After hundreds of years of being completely oblivious to who he was and to all that had mattered to him, that sense of loss had now descended upon him. Not only for the pieces that had come back to him, but for that part of his life that he was sure was lingering somewhere within him, just barely out of reach, and needing to be mourned.
And the following morning, we both agreed that a day away from the Arena was necessary. Training, I knew, would become an all-day necessity. I was sure Lena would not let up. The warriors would be in full-gear, full-practice, ready-mode. But I didn’t care if Lena yelled and screamed until she was blue in the face, Jordan had just lost a life and a family he didn’t know he had, and still couldn’t quite remember. Thankfully though, all we’d received from her was a scowl.
However, after making our slow way out of Tira-Mi, he paused at the edge of the desert. At first, he didn’t speak. He only stared toward the east, where the city lay. I let him have his quiet moment of thought before asking if he was ok. And he informed me that he wasn’t yet ready to visit Mason. He knew he needed his help, and he knew he needed to remember. But he wanted to process first, the few details that he had.
I wanted desperately to stay with him, but I didn’t want to intrude. This was something that I couldn’t help him with. He would need time alone. I didn’t want to make this painfully obvious to him either, and so I reminded him of his ocean that needed to be finished; the world needed to be made right again, even if it was only painted.
I couldn’t go back to the Arena though. I needed to stay in the city, to be as near to him as I possibly could. And so, I decided to visit Mason. However, I also hoped that Aleric would be there. I hadn’t asked him before, about the burns upon his body when he’d returned from his field trip. I had a feeling it had been discussed the previous evening, but my attention had been pleasantly elsewhere.
“We both have a habit of losing time, when we are in the city,” Jordan said, and smiled at me. And once we reached the garden gate that led to our house in the city, we stopped walking. He rose one hand to my face to caress my cheek with his thumb, and I angled my head to lean into his hand. “I’ll be fine. I just need…”
“Time,” I answered for him.
He tried to smile as he thanked me for understanding. “Meet me for sunset in Tira-Mi,” he finished, before briefly claiming my lips.
I watched him enter the house, and then turned toward the Spire. He would be ok, I told myself, every step of the way.
Mason as expected, was in his room, focusing intently upon the screen before him. He didn’t sense me enter and I was content to quietly wait, but Ani, who’d accompanied me through the Spire maze to his room, cleared her throat, pulling his attention our way.
“Lydia,” he exclaimed, trying to appear happy to see me, but was startled by our presence, and he poorly concealed his frustration. “Come in.”
“I’m sorry if I’m bothering you,” I answered, as Ani left us.
“No, not at all. Jordan isn’t with you?” he asked.
“No. He needs time to… process everything.”
“He would do better if he had at least, some of his memories back,” he said.
“Why didn’t you help him sooner?”
“Part of me was hoping he wouldn’t have to remember.”
“And the other part of you?” I asked when he didn’t volunteer the details.
“Some things don’t need to be remembered, as you well know.”
I had to stop myself from responding in agreement, to think about the memories that he was referring to. My memories. My family. I’d spent years trying to forget, to not think of them, because of the pain and the loneliness that always resulted. But once I’d connected with Jordan I let it all go, and the memories freely flowed through me, forcing me to see it, to react and find acceptance.
Before I could respond to Mason though, he continued in his attempt to justify himself.
“Not everything is about loss and pain. Sometimes it’s things we have done, the decisions we have made. And sometimes it’s things we were not able to do. Not everything should be remembered.”
He stared at me, sobering his thoughts for a few moments longer before shaking off the mood that had overtaken him.
“But what brings you here?”
“I’m here to annoy you,” I said, but I couldn’t manage the smirk I had planned to give him. “Jordan needed to be alone, and I need to stay as close to him as I can,” I admitted. “So, you’re it. What can I do?”
He stared at me for several moments before responding, “I guess it would do you good to see it,” he said.
But I didn’t want to ask what he was referring to. Instead, I was content to let him show me whatever he had to offer.
“Perhaps if you understand the danger, you won’t be so quick to go running off on your own mission,” he mumbled, as he led me to the back of the room.
But I caught every word, and knew right away what he meant. And maybe he was right. Maybe if during our attack on the Guardian and its wards, if I’d stayed with him while he healed Jordan, instead of storming off to stop the Guardian on my own, I may have had a much less painful end.
He waited for me to be seated, and then pressed my hand to the table top, causing the memories to come to life once more. And I wondered why he didn’t just press his own hand to the table, but he responded before the question was even close to leaving my mouth.
“Because my touch will access memories that need to stay where they are,” he sighed.
I didn’t need to question what he meant, as thoughts of their initial attempts to insert people into the Spire passed through me. I’m sure he’d spent years trying to suppress those images in his head. And after hearing of the attack on this planet, I couldn’t imagine what other thoughts he had to contend with.
“This is the final stage of their attack,” he explained, as one scientist came forward, encasing me in his memory. “The wall you see around the city was the Central Unit’s making, but it wasn’t the same wall that was here when you arrived. That was the Guardian’s. It came much later.” And he stayed with me as we watched.
In the memory, the scientist had turned to see several others who were standing before a group of screens as they worked. They looked up at us momentarily. One of them was Mason. As we turned back to the window, the floor heaved then dropped several feet, sending us crashing to our knees. Our hands reached out to the rumbling, shaking window-wall to steady ourselves as we watched on, horrified. At the same time, a wall of gray spread across the city in one swift wave. Following this, all sound was sucked from the room in a moment of complete stillness before the second wave rumbled the building again. This time shaking apart it seemed, the very molecular structure of everything the shock-wave touched. The walls and the floor to ceiling windows fractured before settling back into their original form.
The technician collapsed to his side, from the force of the vibration around us. But from his position on the floor, he lifted his gaze to see the initial gray wave remain in place, as the shock wave rolled over the city. It shattered the Central Unit’s wall, before sweeping its immense destructive force to the edge of the city and beyond.
“It’s holding,” a familiar voice behind us called. But we paid it no mind. Immediately following the wave of destruction, we looked out upon what was left of the city, but all we could see was dust. Above this however, was the layer of gray. It covered the city like a blanket, or a cage.
I paused the memory. “What is that?” I asked, indicating the gray mass.
“Our effort to conceal and contain a large portion of the city. It helped us survive,” he said. “To those who had attacked us, all they would have been able detect was our total destruction.”
“Wait,” I said, confused by his words. “I thought they wanted the Spire? Why then destroy everything?”
“That wasn’t their intention. The force you felt explode around this building was designed to do just that. Explode around it, leave it untouched, but destroy all else. But we couldn’t let them have the Spire and the CU technology. We sent that layer of gray, our shield, around all that we could, to lead them to believe that they had destroyed everything. It kept us alive. It kept them out.”
I swallowed hard, and turned back to the memory. I couldn’t process the scene I’d just witnessed. I couldn’t even discuss the information he’d shared. Not another question entered my mind, except the need to know how bad the outcome was.
Mason took hold of my hand and swiped the memories sideways, moving them forward to what he needed me to see.
I was standing outside the city, on the other side of the gray shield. There should have been trees and grassy fields, but in its place, were only the blackened, barren ruins of the outside world. The surface and everything that had once lived upon it and beneath it, was stripped of life.
I paused the memory again, I didn’t need to see anymore. And I turned my face up to Mason’s. But his face was a mask, holding back every thought and emotion that accompanied that day.
“Keep going,” he whispered, but my hand shook as I resumed the memory.
I was with three others, all in white suits. Their faces were covered so I couldn’t see if Mason was amongst them, but we traveled around the globe, in an instant, from one place to another, searching for survivors. But there was no life, not even a trace. Just the same dark gray, ashy layer. There wasn’t even an outline of where any city or town may have stood. Nor even a trace of an ocean or a lake, just one great big empty basin after another.
I paused the images. I couldn’t go on. What I saw and felt through the memories was worse than anything I could have imagined. They’d turned an entire planet to ash. All that remained was the city. Threa.
“We renamed the city Threa, after we rebuilt it,” Mason responded to my thought. The bitterness in his tone caused his words to sound more like a growl. The anger, the loss, still filled him. I didn’t need to sense his feelings, or hear his thoughts to know that much. “A relic, in honor of the planet they’d incinerated,” he murmured.
He rose one hand to my face, and with his thumb, he gently wiped away the tears that streamed down my cheeks. Part of the emotion I was feeling had come from the technician’s memories, his feelings flooded me. But some of it was my own. The fact that someone would or even could, do all that I was seeing was incomprehensible.
“Their memories had to be blocked and altered,” he said, referencing those in the city that had lived. “We had to survive any way we could. We were all that was left.”
I moved my hand toward the table ready to shut it down. I’d had enough of the destruction for one day, but he stopped me.
“You should see the rest.”
I shook my head, I couldn’t experience anymore. Not today.
“Put your head down,” Mason said. “I can send the memories straight to your mind. They are easier to see this way.”
I folded my arms, then stretched them out before me on the table, and lay my head in the hollow they made. I felt his hand, soft upon my head, gently stroking my hair, soothing me.
“Just breathe,” he softly said. “Let me take over your mind.”
Huh?
But before I could question, his voice came in soft waves, streaming with thought and emotion, and filling my mind with scenes forming pictures that rolled before my eyes.
I was inside a room similar to Mason’s. I had no way of telling how much time had passed. Sater had arrived. He was still only partially there, but with him was Aleric. He however, was as solid in appearance as the others in the room. They discussed Mason’s work. He’d developed the Guardian, and they were preparing to install it.
And the moment they did, a light emanated from within the room. It spread throughout the building, and burst across the cityscape. Mason and his colleagues moved to the window to watch the spreading light, as it replaced the grey shield. It reformed the city wall, and constructed the new ceiling, keeping all locked within its confines.
“At the same time,” Mason’s voice came to me through the memory. “The Central Unit sent its own shield around the entire planet, strengthened by the Guardian’s programming. But we knew even then, that once they’d detected the shield around the planet, that they would come back.”
As more people resumed their lives within the city, they were informed of the wall, and of the Guardian.
And the call for wards had begun.
The memories jumped forward, and my head was filled with several voices, arguing, fighting. There were people being inserted, and they were not from Threa. The technician whose anger filled me, couldn’t tell where they were from.
“Aleric confirmed they were from Rathe,” Mason said as he removed his hand from my head. As he did, I felt the memory leaving me. My mind was again my own. “This is where the Guardian began its search for more power, out of our need to be safe.”
He explained that shortly after, the Guardian expanded its search to Heart. And they sent Haize.
I questioned this. I couldn’t understand why they would willingly send someone, only to be in the Guardian’s direct line of insanity.
“To help others as they were brought over,” he said. “Neither Rathe nor Heart wanted to expose all they could do to the Guardian, and so they let themselves be pulled here. But they also came to watch the events unfold. To monitor not only the Guardian, but also those who’d attacked us, in case the city was attacked again, and taken.
“If that occurred,” he said with a heavy sigh. “The Heart planned to arrive in force and destroy what was left of us, before the enemy could take the Spire and the Central Unit. And the Rathe would not have stopped them.”
I was unable to speak. I was sure Mason was listening to my every thought, and I tried through my stunned silence, to keep my thoughts quiet, but I failed. The fact that the Rathe and the Heart were willing to let themselves be brought here and inserted, in an effort to keep their own home-worlds safe, was somewhat understandable in a deranged kind of way. But that they were ready to destroy this world if the technology should be taken, was something I just couldn’t think about.
My chest constricted into tight little ball. I couldn’t breathe. And as I tried to shut out those thoughts, I rose my watery gaze to Mason. He and Jordan were in just as much danger from those they called enemies, as those they called friends.
“The Heart,” I started, and then paused to make my question legible in my head before it came out of my mouth. “They would really destroy everything here? They wouldn’t try to help us?”
“They are helping us, and they will continue to do so, in any battle. But if we lose the city…” and he stopped, swallowing back words even he didn’t want to speak. “They may seem like cold-hearted killers, but after what they’ve lived through, they will do whatever is necessary to save their own.”
“I need to go,” I quietly told him. I didn’t want to hear anymore, if there even was anymore. But I stood up too fast and my blood drained into my feet. I leaned against the table, needing to steady myself, and I closed my eyes. While waiting for the feeling to pass, I thought only of Jordan. I needed him, his warmth, his strength. And I hoped his afternoon had gone better than mine.
“Lydia, we will be ok,” Mason tried to reassure me. “No matter what happens.”
A large part of me wanted to believe that. But it was too optimistic for my mind. Perhaps my ability to get others killed back on Earth, would destroy this entire planet. This was more my way of thinking. My own pessimistic belief that hadn’t claimed my attention for a long time. But as this thought passed through me, Mason grabbed my wrists and pulled me toward him. He wrapped one hand around my back, his other around my head, and held me tight.
“You have not killed anyone,” he said. His next words however, contained no trace of humor, and I couldn’t tell if he was serious or joking. “You did not, and you will not. Erase that thought from your mind, or I will insert you and erase it for you.”