***
Darren had fallen asleep in his office again. This was a common occurrence as he was often up until the early morning reading or writing. With his wife less than a month away from giving birth to their first child, Darren seemed to find himself sleeping on the sofa in his office more frequently than normal of late as it was preferable to waking his wife while slipping into bed. This may have been their first pregnancy, but it did not take Darren long to figure out that his wife's sleep took priority over his comfort.
On this particular night Darren had fallen asleep in his grandfather's recliner with a pen and a couple of notepads strewn across his lap. He sat up and tried to gain a sense of just how late, or early, it was. It took a few moments before he gathered himself and noticed the glowing light coming from his bookshelf. Not long after this he heard the buzzing sound. It was low pitched, constant, and just loud enough to be audible. Darren was not sure if it was the light, the buzzing, or simply discomfort that had awakened him, but it began to matter little as he started to focus on the light.
Darren rubbed his eyes, placed the notebooks from his lap on the floor so he could get up, and stumbled over to the bookshelf. As he neared the shelf he discovered that the light was coming from behind a stack of books that was almost at eye level. Darren removed the books from the shelf and there behind them was his grandfather's cube, glowing like a miniature star.
It must have been at least four years since Darren hid the cube behind those books, and almost as long since he had last thought about it. For a moment he stood there basking in the brilliant glow of the cube. Aside from the light it shone forth, the cube looked unchanged and as pristine as the day he received it. Slowly Darren reached out his right hand to remove the cube from the shelf. It was cool to the touch and as light as he remembered. Almost instantly a flash of light burst out from the cube in all directions and then a single beam of teal light shot out towards the north. Again the words from his grandfather's letter echoed in his thoughts. When the time comes you will know what to do. As if a long dormant seed in his mind finally sprouted, it became clear to Darren what he needed to do. I must follow the beam and take the cube to where it wants to go.
This night was not the first in which Darren had questioned his sanity, but even in his current mental state he was not crazy enough to wake a woman who was over eight months with child. Darren needed to do this on his own. He knew in his heart that was what his grandfather had intended all along. Besides, he did not know where the cube was planning to take him and he dared not risk his wife, pregnant or not, on a journey to some unknown place in the middle of the night. Quickly and quietly Darren slipped on his shoes, grabbed a jacket and his car keys, and snuck out the door with cube in hand.
The current time was still a mystery to Darren, but thankfully the hour seemed late enough that nobody else was out and about. He got into his car, placed the cube on the center console and pulled out of his driveway. Even with the roads devoid of any traffic, driving was no small task at first as Darren struggled to reconcile the path the cube would have him take and the ones the roads made available to him. Before too long Darren found himself heading north on the freeway up the coast with the beam perfectly aligned with the road ahead.
It was almost an hour before Darren noticed any deviation in the direction the beam was pointing. As he continued to make his way north the beam slowly veered left towards the coast until finally it was perpendicular to the freeway. Darren exited the freeway and followed the roads until he got as close to the shoreline as they would allow. Certain he had not yet reached his final destination he parked his car, grabbed the cube, and set off on foot. It was still a couple hours before sunrise and the beam was easy to follow in the dark. If anything Darren feared it was so easy to see that it would attract the attention of someone in one of the nearby beach houses scattered along the coastline. Luckily they were few and their inhabitants had all been asleep for hours.
Darren was quickly forced to abandon the footpath as he continued in the exact direction the beam was leading him. He waded through plants and over dunes until he found himself only a few feet from the cold waters of the Pacific. Suddenly the beam went out and another burst of light pulsed from the cube. Darren immediately came to a stop. Panicked he looked all around and was relieved to not see any unwanted guests on the beach with him. A few minutes went by as he stood quietly on the beach taking in the sounds and smells of the sprawling ocean before him.
The night was so calm that Darren should have noticed the figure rising from the water in front of him right away, but he did not. He was so lost in the moment, partly because of the serenity of the beach and partly due to being understandably tired, that the figure was almost completely out of the water before Darren became aware of its presence. It had to be at least eight feet tall, but that was not its only quality that told Darren it was not human. It wore a full body suit unlike anything Darren had ever seen, except maybe in science fiction movies, and its limbs were disproportionally long compared to its torso. Darren's instinct was to run but he could not make himself, so he continued to stare at the figure as it stood towering over him less than three feet away.
The figure was soon joined by two companions who looked identical to the first in every way. As Darren slowly started to back away the one closest to him held up a six fingered hand imploring him to stop. Without a thought Darren found himself ceasing his retreat up the beach. As Darren came to a stop the figure reached up and removed the tinted helmet from its suit. Darren found himself looking right into a pale, slender face with four piercing, black eyes, no nose, and what Darren could only describe as the most unique smile he had ever seen.
Thinking back later, Darren was pretty sure this was the exact moment when he should have dropped the cube and ran for it. The creature began to talk to Darren in a language he could not understand using sounds that he would never be able to accurately recreate or even adequately describe. Darren shrugged and gestured to his ears, trying his best to convey that he could not understand what was being said to him. The creature smiled again and gave a slight bow as it tapped away at a keypad on its right forearm.
"My apologies. I was asking you where is the human Donald Blake. You are not him, correct?"
Darren's jaw dropped and he struggled to move or make a sound of any kind, let alone formulate an actual response to the question he had been asked. Not only was Darren on a beach in the middle of the night talking to a creature that was clearly from another world, but apparently it knew his grandfather. It was a lot to take in. "Ummmm, no? Donald Blake was my grandpa. My name is Darren." Darren was pleased with himself for managing to get that statement out.
"We are not familiar with this term. Please explain grandpa."
"Well, uh, let me see. Grandpa is another word for grandfather. Your grandfather is the father of your father. So, my father was Gerald Blake and his father was Donald Blake. So Donald Blake is my grandpa."
"I think I am in understanding. You are of the progeny of Donald Blake."
"Yes, that is correct." Darren could still not believe what was going on, but he was surprisingly calm nonetheless.
"We thank you for this knowledge. We also thank you for keeping the Tallath safe for us."
"The Tallath? I don't understand."
"It is the object you hold in your hand. It was given to Donald Blake to keep safe. We have come to retrieve it from him. Yet it is you that brings it to us." The creature gave Darren another smile that was filled with warmth unlike any he had ever felt.
"Yes. My grandpa asked me to take care of it for him after he died." Saying these words caused Darren to gain a new perspective on how much trust his grandfather had placed in him and it was hard to keep his emotions in check.
"So Donald Blake has died? This saddens us. He was a valued ally. They will sing songs of his service on our home world. They will do the same of yours as well Darren Blake."
"So you knew my grandpa?" The thought of th
is was exciting to Darren on so many levels and he struggled to get past it. He could not help but wonder what kind of stories his grandfather had kept secret from him.
"We knew Donald Blake much as we now know you. You and he will both be recorded in our history as Keepers of the Tallath. It is a very high honor."
"So this, Tallath?" Darren tried to wrap his head around the situation. "You hid it with my grandpa, and now you need it back?"
"That is correct. The time for us to use the Tallath has come. When our task is complete your galaxy and many others will once again be safe."
This statement sent a chill through Darren. "Are we not safe now?"
"At this precise moment? Yes and no. My kind guards your galaxy and many others like it from armies that would stamp them out as you would a small flame. Long have wars raged far from here, yet ever growing closer. Now though, we can use the Tallath and secure peace for all under our watch forever."
"What does the Tallath do? Is it a weapon?"
"The Tallath itself is not a weapon, but we do have weapons that can harness its power. To fully explain would take far more time than we can afford. Hopefully you will be calmed to know that you are holding one of the most powerful tokens of this existence and we can use it to preserve your world from complete destruction."
Darren could not help but laugh at that. "Oh yes, that is quite calming," he said sarcastically.
"That is most excellent." The creature held out its large hand. "We must depart now. May I have the Tallath?"
"Of course," Darren said without hesitation. He took one last look at the cube before placing it in the hand outstretched before him.
The three figures turned and started walking back towards the ocean. Before putting his helmet back on, the one Darren had spoken with turned back towards him. "Thank you for completing this task Darren Blake. Your world owes you a great debt." The figure then put his helmet on and the three creatures disappeared into the surf.
For a while Darren just sat in the sand waiting for any sign of the visitors he had just met, but none came. As the sun started to sneak out from behind the hills to the east Darren knew he should get home before his wife started to worry. His thoughts bounced back and forth between the amazing creatures he had met and his grandfather the entire drive home. He was so lost in his thoughts that the hour long drive seemed almost instantaneous. As he walked through the front door his wife was there to greet him.
"You know if you are going to sneak out in the middle of the night you could at least bring back breakfast." She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. "So where'd you run off to anyway?"
Darren just smiled. "Nowhere important. I just had to take care of something for my grandpa."
###
Acknowledgements:
It is my sincere hope that this story is the first step towards a long career in writing and storytelling. While there is much work to be done to make that happen, there is no way I would have even made it this far without much support and encouragement from my family. My amazing wife has been on my case for years to get serious about writing and she is finally getting her wish. Another big thank you must go to my mother-in-law who has been tremendously helpful in shaking some of the rust off of my writing and showing me ways to streamline my words.
I also want to thank my good friend Patrick Koepke. He has been a big inspiration to me and (probably unknowingly) helped give me that final push to get serious about writing. He is an amazing writer and friend and I look forward to many more years of bouncing ideas off of him, annoying him with all my little questions, and matching wits with him in Heroclix. You can find out more about his writing here.
Finally I need to show some love to the Bolt City crew. Their book Explorer: The Mystery Boxes was the inspiration for this story. A special thanks to Kazu and Jason for the joy they have brought into the lives of me and my whole family with all of their amazing work.
About the author:
Chris Yarbrough has always had a head full of ideas. Growing up on a steady diet of cartoons, comic books and video games will do that to you. Sometime in 2012, after years of changing plans on how to get these ideas out of his head, he decided to stop planning and get serious about extracting them from the made up worlds in his mind. It was time for Chris to get down to the business of writing. The result will be a collection of novels and short stories that may not always have much in common, but all needing to be written.
Chris currently lives in the Austin, TX area. He works as a Web Developer by day but is more focused on being a full time husband and father.
Keepers of the Tallath is the first piece of fiction published by Chris.
Find me Online:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisYarbrough
My Blog: https://yarbroughwriter.blogspot.com/
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