The Heroes Fall -1- When War Calls

  Chapter Thirty

  In the silence the call is heard.

  April 17, 997 R.E.

  Jaden sat among green grasses on the hilltop, staring toward the blue ocean in the distance. He had been here for what seemed years, unable to return to the physical world, trapped in the haunted dream, condemned to an eternity here for a crime he could not remember. The boy with black hair was gone. He had walked away on the first day before Jaden was able to reach him. Jaden hadn’t followed. He thought it best to let the child go on his own. The boy would know where to find him if he wanted his help. It was not his place to decide what was best for the boy anymore. That right had been forfeited. He was not sure when he had done it or what he had done, but there was a weight upon his chest, of something in his past that would not allow him to go any further.

  Ever since he had arrived here, it had seemed to be dawn. The sky was a dull blue, mostly covered by grey clouds. But all was at peace. There was silence, without a breath of wind about him. It gave him time to think, to wander through his thoughts without care for anything that had happened, without fear of what might be, and without hate for all that had occurred. He was free here, even if imprisoned.

  He knew he had lived many years in some other world, where none of what he saw around him existed. But without the memories of that lifetime, it was little more than a whisper in the back of his mind.

  There were fleeting visions that came from time to time, each revealing a new piece of the puzzle; a face, a scene, and sometimes a voice. Some made him feel anger while others made him calm. He welcomed each as a change, something more to think on. He was happy for the rest, but his mind continued to yearn for more than what was here. There was more to learn, more to achieve.

  As he began to fidget with the grass in front of him, a blurred scene grew from darkness. He could not see where he was, but there was the sound of crashing water behind him. He put his head down, allowing tears to fall from his closed eyes. He was not sure why it made him cry, but he knew the place was one he truly missed from the other world.

  He lifted his head as the scene disappeared and he waited the next hours in silence.

  A voice spoke to him later, but like the scene, it too seemed blurred and unrecognisable. He had not heard any words, but he felt the need to get up and search around him. There was nothing here but dirt and grasses, and he quickly began to race back through the fields. He didn’t know what he was searching for, only that he needed to find it soon. Wind began to push the grasses forward as he ran faster and the sky began to flash with lightning. He saw the black-haired boy then as he reached the top of another hill and stopped in shock.

  The boy’s face was calm as their eyes first met but quickly contorted into utter hatred.

  Jaden shook his head. ‘Why are you still here?’

  The boy glared fiercely, but said nothing.

  ‘Get away from me!’ shouted Jaden. ‘It’s over! Let me go!’

  No matter how loud Jaden yelled at the boy, the boy remained where he was, defiant beyond anything Jaden knew.

  The storm intensified as the two fought through an invisible wire linking their minds, and Jaden fell to his knees when he realised he was no match for the dark-haired boy.

  ‘Why?’ asked Jaden. ‘Why don’t you just forgive the world for what it is?’

  Before the boy could respond, Jaden felt himself being pulled into the earth beneath him by powerful claw-like grips. He woke to darkness, unable to open his eyes. He felt the claws around his wrists, holding him down. But he would not let them defeat him. He would fight them to the end. He ignited the endobraces as he sat up and felt pain like knives slicing into both arms, forcing him to recoil back in agony.

  Warm hands pushed him back down and held him there gently.

  ‘Easy,’ came a familiar, husky voice. ‘Easy,’ it repeated.

  Jaden tossed and turned, struggling with the pain in his arms. Something was wrong. Something had happened when he had tried to use the Daijuarn energy.

  When the pain subsided in the coming minutes, he found he was able to open his eyes, but no longer could he see the barren fields of the dream. He was behind a dark green curtain with three people at his side as he lay in a bed, his arms in bandages and strapped to the bed frame—what he had thought were the claw-like grips.

  Jaden searched over the faces around him. His brother Ryan was at his right side, the traveller Tarsha was next to him, and on the left, he now saw that the familiar husky voice had belonged to his grandfather. Memories began to flood back of the battle, of standing before his enemy and the power that had come. They had been foolish to try to kill him. Their actions that day had decided their fates. But the innocent people that were underground and the Daijuar who had been running to save him … had he killed them too?

  ‘I didn’t mean to hurt them,’ he said aloud.

  ‘Hurt who?’ asked Vennoss.

  ‘The Daijuar.’

  ‘They are recovering,’ assured Vennoss.

  ‘What about the Resistance?’ asked Jaden.

  ‘Some did not make it,’ said Vennoss sadly. ‘But their lives were not lost in vain. If not for your actions, many more would have died.’

  ‘How many?’

  ‘It is not important,’ said Ryan.

  ‘How many?’ Jaden repeated angrily.

  Ryan paused and looked at Vennoss for a moment. ‘We estimate two thousand.’

  ‘And the Alliance?’

  ‘More than ten thousand,’ said Tarsha, holding back a note of excitement as she unbound his arms.

  Jaden shook his head, unable to make eye contact with any of those around him. When his arms were free, he began unwrapping his wrists despite his brother’s protests. He wanted to see where the endobraces had been and why it hurt so much. The skin on both arms was now scarred and distorted over charred veins. He remembered feeling them burning into him when the power had come, as if he had overloaded the endobraces somehow. No longer would he be able to use the Daijuarn energy, but he would wear the markings of them for the rest of his life.

  ‘Let me go,’ he said suddenly.

  ‘Rest, brother, you are not in good health,’ said Ryan.

  ‘Untie me, now, or I will.’

  Hearing Jaden’s tone, Ryan looked to Vennoss to know what to do. After a moment, the white-haired man nodded, and both unbound Jaden’s chest, waist and legs. Before they could hold him back, Jaden had thrown the bed sheets up and leapt from under them, racing through the curtain and out of the medical unit. They called for him to come back, but in his haste, it seemed he had not heard them.

  Jaden ran as fast as he could outside, paying no attention to the dawn or the still-smoking piles on the fields of the badly damaged terrain of Corsec city. The smell of death and burning flesh was still present, but he did not care about any of it. He was searching for something he knew was close, for something that he needed to see. In the next medical unit, he sensed it near, and he ran past the hundreds of beds where the wounded and sick lay to find it. He came to a drawn curtain in the next section, and without a request to enter he opened it and walked through.

  There was a young man lying in the bed, his head bandaged heavily and his leg in a cast. Sores and scabs covered his skin, and there was blood coming through the wrap around his chest. Jaden turned to see all the people sitting around the bed looking at him questioningly. He ignored them all except for one, the girl with shadowed blonde hair sitting at the end, the young man’s head in her arms.

  He thought he would feel anger for her being here, and hate that she was still with him. But as he saw Alyssa’s new love lying so helplessly before him and Alyssa with tears in her eyes by his side, he felt nothing of either, only remorse for all that had happened, and pity for those who had suffered the same fate as his people.

  ‘He saved her life,’ came a voice from behind him.

  Jaden turned to see the Kayde of Ceahlin standing at his side. ‘What are you doing here?’
he asked.

  Lendon glanced at him, maintaining eye contact briefly, searching for something. When he had found it, Lendon exhaled slowly and nodded. ‘I guess it is time you should know. He is my son,’ he said, indicating the young man lying in the bed. ‘I didn’t know that he was tending to her if that is what you think. I was busy with my people and I apologise for not keeping to my word. But even if he were not my son, I could not have let you harm someone for what happened. We are all innocent people at heart just trying to do the best we can with the circumstances we are given. To hate us is to hate life, and most of all yourself. You would have done the same if you were us. It is rare that true evil intention enters our hearts without confusion of what is real. I hope you can understand this, even with all that you have lost. Sometimes, Sentinel, there is nothing you can do to change the world.’

  Jaden was silent, staring at Alyssa as she turned back to the young man lying in bed.

  At first, it appeared Jaden was about to say something in reply, but then simply nodded to Lendon, and then without a word, he walked past the curtain, exiting the medical unit and leaving Alyssa with the new man she had chosen. No matter how much he wished to take her with him, he knew she was where she was meant to be.

  Outside, Vennoss, Ryan and Tarsha were all looking around desperately searching for Jaden. When they spotted him, they ran toward him. Jaden stopped and waited as they approached.

  ‘You must return to your bed, brother,’ said Ryan. ‘Please, come with us.’

  ‘I am fine,’ said Jaden sharply.

  ‘You—’

  ‘Don’t push,’ interrupted Vennoss, silencing Ryan with a wave of his hand. ‘He knows what is best for him.’

  Jaden lifted both hands and checked over them carefully. When he was confident he had assessed the damage, he looked at all three.

  ‘I am leaving,’ he said.

  ‘Where are you going?’ asked Ryan.

  ‘I am not sure.’

  Ryan was about to say something in protest, but seeing Vennoss glaring at him, decided it was better not to. ‘Then I hope I will see you upon your return.’

  Both Tarsha and Vennoss nodded to Jaden, and he walked through them, down the slope, heading toward zone three.

  ‘Brother, wait!’ called out Ryan, running to catch up with him. ‘This came for you. It’s addressed to “The Young Sentinel”.’

  Jaden took the yellow envelope from his brother and opened it. Inside, there was a handwritten letter.

  ‘I did not want to open it in case it was private,’ said Ryan. ‘It’s addressed in our language. Who’s it from?’

  Jaden was silent as he read the letter, leaving Ryan to wait patiently. He then turned and looked around all that he could see of Corsec.

  ‘How did you win?’ he asked.

  ‘Why?’ asked Ryan.

  ‘We were outnumbered. We shouldn’t have won.’

  Ryan shrugged. ‘It is a bit of a mystery. There were jets that came to our rescue.’

  ‘What colour were they?’

  ‘Black, with blue fire out the back.’

  Jaden nodded. ‘You have General Alkon Zaccarah to thank, once general of the Alliance. Now he has returned home.’

  Jaden handed the letter back to Ryan and then turned to continue on his way west. As Jaden left, Ryan read the letter:

  To The Young Sentinel,

  In show of my gratitude for aiding my escape, I have sent the Royal Air Force of Arinta to now aid both you and the Resistance in defeating the Alliance. With our forces combined, I trust the Alliance will retreat. I knew of their plans to be rid of the Diadon fleets. I heard they were successful. I am sorry I was not able to contact them sooner, but I ordered their return to your shores when I could.

  If this letter finds you alive and you wish to find a new home, know that your welcome in Arinta will not expire. When you arrive, request to see me by name. They will notify me and I will come and find you.

  I hope to see you soon.

  For peace, Sentinel.

  General Alkon Zaccarah of Arinta

  Ryan lowered the letter, watching as Jaden walked away.

  ‘Come back soon, brother,’ he said, more to himself as Jaden was too far away to hear him, and then he turned and made his way back to Vennoss, handing him the letter.