Chapter 7
The jump between realms felt a little longer than it had in local realms. Instead of thousands of kilometres like last time, this time they had jumped several thousand light years.
When the girls entered Rune, they both stood for a moment, adjusting to the lack of vibrations. They felt a strong negativity, but it felt like it was coming from somewhere far in the distance. Feeling a little sick in the stomach, they both breathed a few lungsful of stale air to force it to pass. Penni's Oracle transformed into a bow. It was simple in design, with the Oracle still sitting at the centre.
“Keep your ears and eyes open, Sari,” said Penni.
Sari's Oracle transformed into a circular cutting disk. It could be either thrown like a boomerang, or used in combat as a blade.
“I'm ready.”
“We'll head straight for that source,” said Penni, thinking about the other Guardian. “I suspect our third power will turn up when she's needed.”
They both started running through the forest. There was no time to lose. The sooner they got there, the sooner they could take out the Master.
After moving swiftly through the forest for a few hours, they heard some shouts and gun fire in the distance. They crept up over an embankment and saw several soldiers bearing down on a female Guardian with a sword. It was Calana. There were several whitened bodies lying around the area.
Then Penni saw a whole platoon emerging from the forest. They wore military uniforms. The only thing that looked out of place were their black, demonic faces and red glaring eyes.
They were all sporting powerful energy weapons that looked like they'd do a lot of damage. Hand-to-hand combat with these Shadow Lords may have been easy with Incarnational powers, but the weapons would make it a challenge, especially with their numbers.
At first, a huge barrage of energy fire came toward the three Guardians, and they all took cover. After only a short break in fire, Calana's sword responded with a big burst of white energy. Several Shadows were lifted into the air and thrown back onto the others.
As they began firing at Calana, Penni sent several bolts toward them with her deadly bow, taking out a few of the closer ones.
Meanwhile, Sari neared a group of them. She threw her discus, cutting through several arms holding big guns. As the discus did its rounds, she dodged fire, and then caught her weapon, slicing a few Shadows as she passed.
Penni fired bolts at Shadows that were trying to target Sari, while Calana sent more bursts of energy at the next wave. She then engaged some closer Shadow Lords with a few strikes of her sword.
It was a strange scene: three women with ancient-looking weaponry fighting a heavily armed platoon of professional Rangers.
Without the assistance of the Golden Stars, the women would have needed more drawn-out tactics, such as leading the soldiers through the forest and picking them off in smaller numbers. But with these new powers, they were far more dynamic and could easily preempt anything the Shadow Lords could throw at them.
There was also some close hand-to-hand combat with the more ruthless Lords who held barbaric-looking swords. Penni sparred with her bow, sometimes pushing an arrow through the odd Lord.
Sari did a somersault in the air, spinning at the same time, her disk cutting into several Lords as she landed. Calana gallantly fought like a master swordsman, out-matching any who challenged her.
Then suddenly everything was quiet. All the Shadow Lords had been slain.
Penni look around at the dead Shadow Lords. She saw that the bodies had tattered uniforms hanging from them – not Galactic Shadow uniforms, but a type of standard military uniform. And it suddenly dawned on her who these Lords once were: they were the allies; they were Rangers.
“Well,” said Calana, brightly. “You finally arrived. If you'd got here on time we could have staged this better.” She trailed off, looking at Penni and Sari with sudden understanding. It had been many years since she had seen them, but she now recognised them. The tenth Guardian was right: you will know them. They were her half-sisters.
“Hey, hang, on lady!” snapped Penni, rudely. It wasn't normal for her to talk like that, but they had run here as soon as Arden had let them go and fought like they had never fought before! Sari's face conveyed the same thought. “We got here as soon as we could. In fact we ran here. And the battle... I've never seen Sari so dynamic.”
Calana was very irritated at the mention of Sari. “The Tenth Guardian never said I would be baby-sitting.”
“Hey, that's not fair!” said Sari.
“How old are you anyway, little lady? Fourteen? Fifteen?” asked Calana, glaring at Sari. “Does your Mum know you're here?”
“Age is irrelevant,” said Penni firmly, “and after all, she was chosen by the Goddess.”
Penni noticed that struck a chord. She was entitled to pull Calana into line. She was the Central Way, and if the Right Way was going too far to the right, she had to pull it in.
The three were all silent for a while, before Penni looked at Sari.
“Hey, are you all right?”
Sari’s eyes warned her not to ask. Penni had completely dropped any expectations about this new Guardian and focused on business.
Calana was silent at first, still deciding how she would deal with this unexpected situation. She decided she definitely wasn't going to watch out for them, even if they were her sisters. They had to prove their worth. OK, they had a little triumph with the Rangers, but the real battle was still ahead. Sari still looked far too young and fragile to face the Shadow Master.
“You girls are way out of your league,” said Calana.
Penni pulled Sari aside and pointed at the closest dead Ranger.
“Just let her go for a while,” whispered Penni. “She's got something to sort out and she strikes me as someone who can be very set in her ways.” She grinned. “Did you notice the uniforms on the bodies?”
“Yes, Rangers,” said Sari.
“It's happens a lot. The Shadows lose numbers in their own galactic military and make up for it in the newly conquered worlds,” said Penni. “But all these Rangers being converted to Lords so soon?”
“There's no time for the Master to establish his dominion on Pern. He's transformed all his forty-two Lords and the nine Angels here on Rune,” said Sari.
“It may not be enough against Super Guardians,” said Penni. “I wonder what else is in store.”
Calana had listened but didn't respond. Suddenly she started walking away.
“Let's move.”
Penni and Sari looked at each other, but were both very keen to lighten things up between them. So they followed obediently.
The three Guardians raced through the forest, neither Penni nor Sari speaking another word. Between them, they had decided to give Calana as much space as she required. Becoming friends wasn't the immediate priority.
Back on Udicia, all the seven Keepers were in deep meditation. They were all working through their realms to strengthen the girls’ connection to them.
In Delicia, Ulef worked to coax them into moving clockwise around his realm, the Realm of Innocence. Approaching the centre of the realm this way and neutralising any Shadows moving anti-clockwise, would be the best offence against the Master.
In Bersia, Larn knew the three girls had finally come together. He was working out the Realm of Security between them, which was the heart centre in the human body. This would bring the realisation of their real relationship in a subtle way, without distracting them from their goal.
In Varlia, Remm had his attention on their communication. Proper speech between them was essential, as anything less would drive them apart.
The Guardians moved across Rune very fast. Because of their powers they could run up to sixty kilometres an hour! This way, they could cover much territory and make a substantial curve to the rotation of the realm.
They were aware that the Master could send more reinforcements at any moment. But the sun was going down and, even if they looked like super heroes, they still felt like humans. They needed rest and decided to stop for a few hours before continuing on.
“You made good progress today,” said Calana. It was pitch-black, and all they could hear were each other’s voices and the sound of the forest, although they could look up and see a beautiful starry sky.
“We made good progress today,” corrected Penni.
“It's neat running so fast,” commented Sari.
There was a long silence.
“Has your father ever spoken about his past?” asked Calana.
“You know our father?” asked Sari.
“Of course! He's our Keeper,” said Calana.
Penni could feel there was more than that. “Why do you ask about his past? What's it got to do with your connection to the Keeper?”
Calana was silent for a moment. “I'm not sure yet, but you girls have obviously been left out of the loop.”
“OK, so let’s talk about you,” said Penni. “Where are you from?”
“Varlia,” said Calana. “But I'm half Bersian.”
“We're from Bersia,” said Sari. “Which parent was Bersian?”
“My father, although I've hardly seen him throughout my life,” said Calana. “I grew up in Varlia, and when I was twenty-one I became a Guardian. So I travelled all over the galaxy.”
“How old are you now?” asked Sari.
“Twenty-seven.”
“Ah, so you became a Guardian when I did,” said Penni, “although I was thirteen.”
“So, Sari, was I right about your age?” asked Calana.
“Actually, I'm sixteen,” said Sari.
“I think it's too young, but who am I to judge? If you're here, you're meant to be.”
Penni was glad Calana finally spoke, but she was hiding something close to her and Sari.
They all finally slept, but it didn't seem very long, maybe only a few hours, as it was still dark when they awoke.
“Let’s keep moving,” said Calana.
They were moving fast again, this time through the night. They continued on their spiralling path, moving closer and closer to the centre of the realm, knowing that at any moment they could be under attack from the Shadows.
To be most effective, the spiral had to be done in three and a half turns. They ran for several more hours, but at the second turn of their spiral, they suddenly heard screeches echoing across the forest. The Master had sent another wave of minions.
The three women cleared the edge of the forest and looked up into the dawn sky. It looked like someone had stirred up a pack of flying foxes from their tree!
There must be about nine Shadow Angels coming in to land, thought Penni.
Penni lined one up in the air, with her specialised bow, sending a bolt through the beast's heart with deadly accuracy. The Angel cried out, began slowing turning white and crashed loudly into the forest.
Penni was about to signal to Sari, but she had already disappeared. If there were any Angels on the ground, they won’t see her coming, she thought.
Penni ran into the clearing, firing energy bolts one after the other. A few made their mark, and another fallen Angel crashed loudly to the ground. Others she had missed, landed with a thud and a roar.
Calana engaged the first beast, cutting the barbed end of its tail, and then stuck her sword through its heart. The beast turned white and fell backward, the ground rumbling under their feet.
Penni was now sending bolts at a much closer range, which was just as effective. The Angels were shooting fireballs out of their mouths, which the Guardians continually had to dodge.
Just as the two felt they were starting to get pushed back, a flying discus sliced across the necks of the leading Angels. Sari had crept up from behind! She caught the discus when it returned and started running toward a beast. She flew into the air, over the top of the Angel, grabbed one of its horns and sliced through its heart as she flipped over the other side.
Sari was now in the middle of the pack and was cutting a few tails with her disk as they tried to swipe her. She bent over backward to avoid being cindered, the fire from one beast burning another. Penni picked off those that were about to attack Sari from behind, as Calana engaged another one.
Suddenly, the ninth Angel that had hesitated to land earlier, came down and cindered the three remaining Angels on the ground. The Guardians stood there bewildered. The Shadow Angel did a few more circles in the air before landing before the girls. Slowly, it closed its wings.
“Hello,” it growled. “I'm Captain Raywond Hiler.” He pulled a disk out of his tattered uniform and showed the three.
At that moment they all understood. It was horrible: the Shadows had staged a nightmare. A nightmare that would haunt the women for the rest of their lives. They had just slain all the Keepers and Guardians of this world.
Sari vomited on the grass.
How could this have happened? thought Penni. A Master cannot pull this off. The Oracle manifests absolute truth, but why didn't we know the truth? Why didn't we know they were Keepers and Guardians?
“A Master cannot turn Keepers and Guardians into Shadows,” said Penni. “At least not on this scale.”
Calana was handling it better than the others, because she'd been in messed-up situations before, although not this bad. “No, but a Wraith can.”
“Arden said he was watching these Wraiths very closely, in case we were in any danger,” said Sari, wiping her mouth.
“I agree,” said Penni, but still a dread haunted her. Not a dread because there was a Wraith around, but because of all these dead Guardians. She couldn't look at the bodies.
“Have you learnt anything through your connection with them, Captain?” asked Calana.
The Shadow Angel didn't look very well. He was struggling to deal with his Shadow awareness.
“I'm...not sure,” said Hiler. “I'm fighting to get back to the Goddess and I'm fighting to push the Master away. So I haven't been under the spell like the others. I think it's because I had the Oracle, where the other Guardians were potentials.”
“But your Oracle has been corrupted,” said Penni.
“Not corrupted,” corrected Calana. “It just becomes dormant when it goes into the wrong hands. But it's obvious the power from it has kept you from fully transforming.”
“Which means he can help us,” said Sari hopefully. “Can we move from here?”
Calana glared at Sari, but her face softened. She had coped well in this terrible situation, she thought.
“OK, let's move.” She looked at Hiler. “Pass me your Oracle.”
Hiler passed her his Oracle and she laid hers against it. The blackened Oracle returned to its silver colour and was now emitting vibrations.
She went to pass it back but hesitated. “You know this might turn you into a white statue.”
“I know, but it's better than staying like this,” said Hiler.
Hiler took the Oracle and suddenly cried out in pain. His wings and the horns on his head receded but didn’t disappear. The red in his eyes became much lighter.
“He’s much better,” said Sari.
“Are you further away from the Master?” asked Calana.
“I...think so,” stammered Hiler.
“The Shadows have staged a shocking blow to the future of the transformation in this quadrant. They’re willing to do anything to break our will,” said Penni. She looked at Hiler. “But no, our will won't be broken that easily. Captain Hiler is proof that we can fight back.” She held her hands in a prayer-like pose. “Let's all thank the Goddess from the bottom of our hearts for giving us these strengths.”