They reached the camp feeling exhausted. Kaloc hadn’t allowed time for a rest, and had maintained a gruelling pace for the whole journey back. When they arrived, he immediately rounded up his soldiers and spoke to them in low, serious tones that Chris, Susie and Joe couldn’t hear. But Chris read Altac’s mind and knew Kaloc was warning them to be wary of any Nethral soldiers. After issuing his instructions, Kaloc went over and began rifling through some of his personal possessions, eventually pulling out a round object neatly wrapped in cloth. Chris watched him carefully unwrap the cloth and examine the object in great detail. Satisfied that it was undamaged, he climbed to his feet and walked over.
When he sat down, Chris felt an overpowering emotion of sadness. This was someone who had fought for so long, so hard, and always alone. He had survived on nothing but his own strength of will and courage. Yet, despite all his efforts, he had failed to stem the tide of invasion, and witnessed only death and the disintegration of his world. Chris looked across at Susie, who was also watching Kaloc. He knew she was sensing the same as him. Kaloc was very close to total exhaustion. The latest setback at Demoss had almost broken him.
In both hands, Kaloc held a perfectly round stone, with what looked like something resembling a cloud or mist suspended in it. He laid it on the ground next to them. “This is called a Vizion stone,” he explained. “It helps Guardians focus their thoughts when they peer into other worlds. Normally only a Guardian could use this stone. Anyone else would risk death by even touching it.” He laid his staff on the ground. “But these aren’t normal times. This stone should help focus Chris’s and Susie’s abilities.”
“But you just said that anyone, except a Guardian, would risk death by using this stone,” Joe said.
“You are hardly anybody else,” Kaloc said, his eyes flashing angrily.
“Arrr…right,” Joe replied, looking across at Chris.
“It’s fine,” Chris said quickly, deciding not to test Kaloc’s mood any further. “I’ll try.” Before Susie or Joe could raise any further objections, he placed a hand on the stone. Immediately the stone’s surface became cold and the air temperature around it dropped dramatically.
“It’s drawing power from the surrounding atmosphere,” Kaloc said, leaning forward eagerly.
The mist in the crystal miraculously cleared and Chris felt a surge of energy shoot up his arm. Visions, strong and intense, played through his mind. Earth, his house, Cathora, the underworld, all flashed past, assaulting his senses and sending his mind into a spin. Then, as quickly as they came, they were gone. Kaloc had pulled his hand from the stone.
“That’s enough for now,” Kaloc said. For the first time the tension seemed to ease from his face.
“What happened?” Joe asked, shuffling closer on his knees and peering at Chris. “Your eyes were rolling around like a couple of loose marbles.”
“You need to control the visions,” Kaloc said, “but the stone hasn’t done you any harm. We will work on training you to focus your visions in the next few days.” He turned his attention to Susie. “Just put one hand on the Vizion stone like Chris did.”
Susie looked across at Chris.
“It’s all good,” Chris said, in his most encouraging tone. “You see all sorts of things.”
When she placed her hand on the stone, as with Chris, the mist cleared. Her body suddenly went rigid and she squealed, pulling back her hand sharply.
“It can be frightening at first,” Kaloc said sympathetically, but clearly pleased at the outcome. “You will both be able to use the stone, so I will start training tomorrow. You both need to slow the visions down long enough to control them.” He wrapped the stone up carefully again in the cloth and put it inside his battle tunic. “We now all need to get some rest. The next few days will be crucial if we’re to have any chance of stopping Zelnoff sending his forces to your world.” Picking up his staff, he rose and pointed to the makeshift beds in the section of the cavern Altac and his men had prepared as sleeping quarters. “Rest,” he said in an exhausted tone. “The next few days will require all our courage and strength.”
The lessons started in earnest the next day. Kaloc seemed much improved after his rest, and laid out a vigorous agenda of mental exercises for Chris and Susie. They spent many hours in meditation, trying to clear their minds of all thought. Only by doing this, Kaloc assured them, would they be able to control the stone and not be deluged with an impossible flood of visions. But clearing their minds of all superfluous thoughts proved difficult and extremely boring at times. Still, the seriousness of the situation was not lost on them, and they did their best to apply themselves. Even Joe, normally impatient and vocal, didn’t complain in any way.
Periodically, Kaloc pulled out the stone to monitor their progress. At first, the visions flashed past in a blur of colour and sound they could neither grasp nor understand. But by emptying their minds and focusing their thoughts, the visions slowed and became clearer and more meaningful. The stone seemed to act as some type of amplifier. All they needed was to bend the visions to their will. Although they could achieve this, it proved extremely difficult to maintain focus for very long. Only after many days of strenuous mental exercises and headaches did they gain enough control to use the stone effectively.
During this period, Kaloc spent an increasing amount of time monitoring the portal. He had managed to link it to the other seven portals without being detected and spent much of his days absorbed in the task of monitoring their activity. Apparently there were an increasing number of transportations between portals. Kaloc guessed that Batarr was running tests, ensuring their links were stable. This activity increased dramatically in the second week, and several times he detected that all the portals had been activated at once. But the surge of energy required for transportation was never reached.
Sometime during the second week, Kaloc called them to a meeting. “The portals appear to have been successfully linked,” he said solemnly, laying down his staff and sitting down beside Chris and Susie. “So transportation to your world must be imminent.” He pulled out a small, ornately carved box from one of his coat pockets and turned to Chris. “Batarr had something of mine to help you focus on me. What he didn’t know is that I also have something of his.” He held out a small box for inspection. “It’s a flint box for lighting fires,” he explained. “Batarr also left it behind at one of our meetings, years ago. I had almost forgotten I had it.”
The box was beautifully carved and inlayed with gold and silver.
“But what about Zelnoff?” Chris asked, leaning across and handing it back to Kaloc.
“They will have to link their minds to perform the transportation. If you find Batarr you will also find Zelnoff.” He carefully placed the box back in his coat, not taking his eyes off Chris. “The attempt to disrupt the transportation can only be done once. There will be no second chance. You must take the flint box in your right hand and place your left hand on the stone. Susie will also have to place her hand on the stone. The box should guide you to Batarr and the stone should help focus your thoughts. All I want you to do is to distract Batarr and Zelnoff long enough to weaken their concentration. This should allow me to change the destination of the portals, but timing will be critical. We are relying on the element of surprise. If we intervene too early, they will abort the transportation; too late, and I won’t be able to alter anything.”
Chris and Susie nodded solemnly, barely able to believe what they were about to do.
“What I don’t understand,” Joe said, “is what happens if Zelnoff gets hold of Chris or Susie? You know. Drives them crazy. I mean… what happens if Zelnoff tells them to attack us or kill themselves?”
At this question Kaloc merely shrugged. “There’s a serious risk. And I don’t know what will happen. It will be up to Chris to fight any visions or suggestions Zelnoff throws at him.”
“Well if I see anything strange, I will be taking away the Vizion stone,” Joe said defiantly.
Chris immedi
ately saw Kaloc’s eyes flash. “I will control when Chris and Susie will break contact!” he replied, in a voice, which sent shivers up Chris’s spine and set off butterflies in his stomach. “You will not interfere!”
Joe swallowed involuntarily and went red. “That’s cool. That’s cool,” he said quickly. “Just checking you had everything under control. You’re right…of course, ah…you know best.”
After the meeting, Kaloc retreated back to the portal and continued his vigil. This time he left the Vizion stone uncovered near him and the flint box close by, a sure sign he thought the final transportation was imminent. Chris and Susie were terrified; for the first time fully realising this was no game - it was deadly serious.
After his confrontation with Kaloc, Joe also became very serious and spent a lot of time offering advice, which mostly never made any sense, but they were grateful for the distraction and the good intentions.
In the next few days, Kaloc rarely left the portal and never slept. Chris could feel the exhaustion creeping over him and prayed that the transportation would happen soon. Otherwise Kaloc would barely be in any condition to divert it, let alone come to their aid if anything went wrong. Twice he rushed Chris and Susie over to the portal, only to stop them picking up the flint box at the last moment.
More time passed. Chris and Susie could barely sleep. Only Kaloc’s immense will kept him awake. The tension mounted to intolerable levels. Then Kaloc signalled them again. Chris and Susie rushed to take their places, half expecting another false alarm. But this time he didn’t stop them, he remained absorbed, with one hand on his staff and the other held against the whirling frame of the portal. Then his eyes focused on Chris, and for a second Chris could read all of Kaloc’s thoughts, his fears, and the final signal to proceed.
Chris focused on all that Kaloc had taught him. He drew a deep breath and let his energy flow to a single point. His mind cleared and slowed. Then, with one final steadying breath, he placed his left hand on the stone. The visions hit him immediately, but he had control, they slowed and stabilised. He took the flint box in his right hand and the visions suddenly changed. He could see not one, but all the portals swirling into blurs, spinning into vortexes. Their winds rapidly increasing, gaining speed and intensity, and marching toward them were the armies of Zelnoff; the Zentor, the Taal and many strange creatures he had never seen before. He increased his focus. Batarr appeared, his hair flying behind him in the fierce wind and his hands on the portal, an expression of extreme concentration on his face. Chris moved closer, trying to absorb his thoughts. There was nothing. He threw all his concentration, all his strength into Batarr’s mind. Suddenly he was linked; the visions poured toward him. He felt a powerful presence, bent only on one purpose. Zelnoff knew he was there, but refused to be distracted. Chris increased his effort, throwing visions at him, trying to penetrate his mind. But his mental powers were vast, too disciplined, too strong. Chris met a wall of mental thought he could not breach; nothing he tried had any effect. Then he felt a second presence. It was Susie. She merged into him and gave him added strength. His mental abilities soared. He renewed his onslaught. The mental barrier started to weaken. Small holes and cracks, leaking thoughts, appeared. He drove in harder and more thoughts leaked out - war, battles, conquest, power. He pushed even harder, sending visions into the breaches he had already created: children dancing around a Christmas tree, children opening presents, sunsets, anything that was opposite to what Zelnoff was thinking. More thoughts were seeping through the barrier. These thoughts were less focused, confused, indecisive. Yes, he screamed, and drove in again. Zelnoff’s mental grip on the portal was weakening. He sent another wave of children playing on a beach, eating ice cream, building sandcastles, singing nursery rhymes. The breach became a flood of angry, wild, insane thoughts. His grip on the portal was almost broken. He poured in more thoughts: school assembly, his favourite cartoon programme, a heavy metal rock group. The link to the portal snapped.
Chris felt an enormous mental giant turn his attention toward him. He felt the rage building, searching for an outlet. A wall of thought struck him. Horrendous scenes of slaughter and carnage, battles bathed in blood and death, but he expected this and he mentally removed himself, became an impassive observer to the spectacle. Then, as quickly as they appeared, they were gone, there was nothing.
In the distance he saw a figure silhouetted against a light. The figure started walking toward him, taking powerful strides. He was dressed in a soldier’s uniform and was tall and strong. As he came closer he stepped into the light. Chris felt goose bumps sweep over his whole body, his heart beat doubled. It was Altac. He smiled insanely at Chris, his eyes fixed upon him with a menace that filled him with terror. On his right side was a sheathed sword. Slowly, drawing out the sword, he held it aloft, momentarily smiling at it, like it was an old friend. Then he continued forward, never taking his eyes off Chris.
Chris no longer knew if this was real or not. Altac had been Batarr’s trusted commander; maybe he had been under Zelnoff’s control all along, or worse still, was Zelnoff. The implications flooded his brain. He stood up but felt light-headed, his legs felt like jelly under him. Altac continued advancing, wearing the same maniacal smile. He stopped directly in front of Chris, raising the sword over his head.
Chris’s body was shaking violently, sweat was pouring off him and he was screaming hysterically. He turned to run, but strong hands restrained him. Altac’s sword was still there; ready to cut him in two. Then something hit him hard on the right side of his face. The pain stunned him and sent him staggering backward. A second slap twisted his head around sharply, forcing him to raise an arm to fend off the next blow.
“Yes!” he heard. “It’s working, hit him again.”
Another blow nearly knocked him off his feet.
He raised both arms against the blows.
“Don’t stop,” the voice urged, “keep going!”
Another blow crashed into his arm, bringing him to his knees. He recognised the voice. It was Kaloc.
Another blow struck him in the face. Altac and the sword were gone. Pepas, one of Kaloc’s soldiers, was slapping him around the head with an open hand, while everyone else looked on anxiously.
“Stop it, stop it!” Chris yelled, still on his knees, trying to shield his face from more blows. The next blow never landed. Instead, Kaloc appeared, an anxious expression on his face.
“He’s back,” he announced with clear relief in his voice.
A multitude of arms lifted him up. He was sobbing and crying uncontrollably. Blood was pouring down his face. The faces in front of him gradually came into focus. It was real, he was back, he could hardly believe it. A fresh wave of emotion set off more sobbing.
Joe was inspecting his face, which was quickly taking on the shape of a large balloon.
“Why did you have to hit him that hard?” Joe puffed out his chest and thrust it towards Pepas.
“Believe me, it was necessary,” Kaloc replied, also inspecting the damage. “The swelling will go down in a few days,” he concluded, wiping away some of the blood with a cloth.
Joe grumbled a reply, which luckily no one heard.
Chris was gradually regaining his control, amid pats on his back.
Susie was still next to him, breathing erratically, her eyes wide with shock. Chris tried to crawl over to her but stopped in his tracks. Altac was leaning over, watching him with a worried look on his face. As Chris continued to stare at him, Altac began to look a little perplexed. Kaloc had noticed it too, and was watching Chris curiously.
“I saw Altac,” Chris said. “He had a sword and he was going to cut me in two.”
His words cut dead all conversation and immediately Kaloc’s soldiers isolated Altac from the rest of the group.
“Tell me exactly what happened,” Kaloc said, “and don’t leave out any details.”
Chris, in a still faltering voice punctuated with sobs and deep steadying breaths, recited everything he co
uld remember, watching Altac while he spoke and monitoring his thoughts. He detected no sign of guilt, only confusion and disbelief.
“Alright, I think I know what has happened,” Kaloc said, when Chris had finished. He signalled for his men to relax. “Zelnoff tried to flood your mind with scenes of violence and slaughter, hoping it would drive you to do something terrible, maybe even attack the people you were with. When this failed, he tried to convince you that he was Altac, or he somehow had Altac under his control.” He looked across at Altac, who had taken up a defensive position, as though expecting to be set upon at any time. “I can assure you neither is true. Chris, you have never detected any suspect thoughts and I have known Altac as a trusted friend for over twenty years.”
Chris looked over at Susie, who appeared to have recovered slightly.
“I didn’t see Altac,” she said in a faltering voice. “I broke off contact when I saw those horrible scenes.”
Chris continued his probing of Altac’s thoughts. If he was working for Zelnoff, he was putting on an amazing act of appearing completely innocent.
“So if Zelnoff was focusing all his attention on me…” Chris said, looking back at Kaloc.
“You and Susie were successful.” Kaloc completed his thought. “You broke Zelnoff’s concentration long enough for me to change the co-ordinates of the portals’ destination. By the time Batarr managed to close down the portals, most of Zelnoff’s elite troops had already marched through into oblivion.”
“We won, we won!” Joe raised his fist in triumph and did an impromptu victory dance. All the soldiers also cheered, and for some moments the whole party was caught up in celebration as all the tension, disappointment and agony of the last weeks was released. Even Kaloc couldn’t stop smiling and personally embraced Chris, Susie and Joe. In the midst of all the excitement, Pepas tried to apologise to Chris for hitting him, but Chris just dismissed his apology and instead thanked him profusely for helping to bring him back from Zelnoff’s induced nightmare.
Finally, when all the noise died down, Joe asked Kaloc in his usual cavalier fashion. “So have we stopped Zelnoff?”
Still smiling, but now with a more subdued expression, Kaloc shook his head.
“Sadly, we are a long way from stopping him, but his advance forces, which he would have used to infiltrate your planet, have been destroyed. It will take a while for Zelnoff to rebuild these forces since many of these soldiers were the elite of his command.”
This news tempered much of their excitement.
“How long do you think it will take him to re-build his army?” Susie asked.
“I honestly don’t know,” Kaloc said, “but it has given us some important breathing space. You need to locate the rest of the Mytar as quickly as possible and somehow transport them back here, where they’ll be out of Zelnoff’s reach and we can train them to use their powers.”
“But how’ll we find them?” Joe asked.
“You have the keys,” Kaloc replied simply.
“But can’t you come back and help?” Chris pleaded.
For a brief moment, Chris thought Kaloc was going to say yes. But instead he shook his head. “It’s not possible. I need to stay here and try to convince the Nethral to help. I also need to guard the portal. Zelnoff knows of its existence now and will be searching for it.”
“But with your help we could find the others much more easily,” Chris continued.
“I wouldn’t be much help, I’m afraid. I don’t have the same powers for detecting the Mytar as Batarr does. Besides, if Zelnoff’s agents caught me on Earth, I would be killed immediately, then all would be lost.”
“So Zelnoff’s soldiers will be there?” Susie asked.
“It’s likely they will be watching,” Kaloc said. “The other Mytars’ signals must be too weak for Batarr and Zelnoff to detect, otherwise they would have found them long ago. They’ll be waiting for you to show them where they are, so you must be very careful at all times. Never travel alone and guard the keys well.”
This news quickly dampened the faces of the Mytar. Chris had visions of being kidnapped and forced to use the key.
“But I believe they won’t do anything until you find the other Mytar,” Kaloc added, on a more re-assuring note. “Zelnoff won’t risk exposure in case he alerts the Guardians of your world. Considering the setback he has just had, this would be a disaster. It’s more likely you’ll be in the most danger once you have found the remaining Mytar.”
“Will we still have our powers to detect Zelnoff’s soldiers if they come?” Chris asked.
“Your powers will be severely reduced, maybe even gone. You’re only meant to have these powers in this world, not your own.”
This news was not welcomed. Their powers had become like a comforting friend, a gift that they would now have to give back.
“And we have to find another three Mytar with the keys?” Susie asked, breaking the brooding silence.
“Only two Mytar can be found with the keys,” Kaloc replied. “The final Mytar can only be detected when the first five Mytar have reached an advanced stage of their development and have learnt to work in harmony together. Only then will they have the ability to detect the vibrations of the sixth Mytar. In your present state, I’m afraid you’re a very long way from this.”
Joe looked thoughtful for a moment. “But what happens if we can’t get along. I mean… what if we find the other Mytar and they don’t like us and we don’t like them.”
“Then all is lost,” Kaloc said bluntly. “If the Mytar cannot unite enough to find the sixth Mytar, then you won’t have the necessary strength to defeat Zelnoff. The sixth Mytar is the cement that binds you together and turns individuals into a single functional unit that can control all the elements and all life. Nothing will be able to stand in your path, providing you all function in harmony and not against each other.”
“Sounds awesome,” Joe said.
“But what happens, if we find these other Mytar and they don’t want to come with us?” Chris asked, feeling sure he would be quickly assigned to a loony bin if he ever told everyone about Zelnoff.
“Then I’m afraid you will have to force them,” Kaloc replied. “We’re all aware of what’s at stake. Once they’re here and start acquiring their powers, I believe they’ll be easier to convince to help.”
The Mytar nodded in unison, each remembering the first time they realised they were capable of feats they could have only dreamed of on Earth.
Chapter 14: The Journey Home