Greetings Fellow Readers!
And my horrible client is finally out of my hair! Other than that, I don't really have too much news, other than my anxiety is finally starting to diminish. The current piece was way too long to share as one, and there wasn't a great part to cut it at, so I hope you all enjoy what you get. The rest will be provided on Tuesday! Until then, enjoy your weekend!
Saasha was pleased to see Siar and even more pleased to see the baby that Bolx was carrying. Seanar’s gift to the Saith. What he and Siar had done tugged at her aching heart, reminding her of the sacrifice that Brucel had done for her and their son. Two lines had been merged and she was pleased. She had been concerned as to how Siar would react to Bolx but as the man was cooing over her child, she knew that she had been worried over nothing.
“Come, we have a lot to discuss.” She led them into the council room.
There was a need to bring to light what had occurred in the last few years to a few council members that were relevant at this stage. Some could not be there personally so there was a large screen to the left of Saasha as she sat down. As members logged on to the meeting their picture would appear on the screen as a small block. Several people were on the screen already as well as in the room. A hushed silence fell on the room as they noticed Bolx. Some went deathly white while others gasped. Saasha simply held a hand up before saying. “I will explain as soon as everyone is here.”
Soon more people filed into the room and once Saasha was satisfied with the number that was there she stood. “This isn’t Bolx of our time.”
Stunned silence as the giant continued to play with the child in his lap. He didn’t want to be involved in what was happening, but his existence could no longer be hidden.
“Some of you may have noticed that those we seemingly buried have been returned to us. A total of twenty soldiers…”
“If you say time travel Saasha I am going to retire.” Said an ageing Jek.
Frowning Saasha could only sigh over the old man and simply say. “Time travel.”
“I knew it!” Mertz clapped his hands on the screen. “Only way it was possible!”
Saasha raised a hand and said. “I am not here to discuss the possibility of time travel or the complications thereof, or the possible damage it can cause. I am here to discuss the disturbing reports I am getting from allies and friends from around our territories.”
She pointed to Gatex and then sat down. The lithe Saith stood up and put down a cube in the centre of the table. He tapped it once to show a holographic image of Saith's explored space.
“Where you see planets that are blue those are planets which had life. The census was taken five years ago.” He tapped the cube again and the room gasped as several planets seemed to wink out of existence. “This was a month ago. Eight planets that were known to have life have suddenly died and the occupants are nowhere to be seen. Six planets’ resources have been drained. One planet has completely disappeared. All this is only in the space we have travelled.”
He tapped the cube again. “Kai space five years ago versus now.”
More planets winking out of existence. Bolx looked up now and his face was pale. Gatex continued to go through the list of allies and the missing or dead planets. There was a staggering number.
“This is the information I have received from the humans. They have fewer planets with life on them but many of their resource planets and the people that were on them have seemingly disappeared.”
“How is this even possible?” asked Jek. “Planets disappearing should cause changes in gravity…”
“The planets that disappear or are drained are isolated and they do not affect the gravity of the planets around them unless in extreme cases. In the cases that they did those resulted in dead or dying planets. If I put all the data together this is what I get.” Gatex tapped the cube again.
This time it was a black strip that showed white spots that seemed to be growing as if tearing through the black. Gatex pointed to a blue mark on the image. “We are here, there seems to be ‘holes’ opening in space causing the death of planets. Think of it as a bug eating through your clothes. Enough holes and the fabric falls apart.”
“Are you saying the universe is collapsing?” asked Shannon, who sat next to Brucel on the screen.
“I suspect as much, Your Majesty, I’m afraid my expertise does not lean towards understanding the concept of how universes are born or how they die.”
“What can be causing this?” asked Larden.
“The Fell Dragon.” Said Bolx softly.
Everyone turned to him, surprised by the fact that he could speak at all.
“The Fell Dragon did this to my timeline, but we never realised until it was too late.” Bolx stood up and pointed to one of the larger white holes. “This had consumed most of the Human and Saith territories. The Kai were gone and those that were left were fighting those sent by the Fell Dragon to collect life or they were dying of a wasting disease which sucks the life force from you to feed it.”
“The Serpent is a known legend amongst my people.” Said Silens. “The devourer of worlds and life but it is a child’s story. What proof do you have man that wears my son’s face?”
“I can’t give you proof.” He said simply. “All I can do is tell you how this is going to progress and why it does so.”
He looked up at Shannon and Brucel before saying. “You have a son on the way that you have been keeping quiet about.”
Saasha turned in her seat to stare at her youngest who blushed under her gaze and simply said. “We have struggled for years to conceive after our daughter. We wanted to be sure before we told anyone.”
“This little one is Seana, her father died of a genetic bone disease. She will not inherit it, and neither will her brother one day.” He looked to Siar. “Seanar was a good man, and I am sorry you didn’t get to know him as my sister did.”
He then looked to Jek and grinned. “You, old cockroach, were still alive when I was thrust into this world.”
The table was dead silent and Bolx continued. “Is that proof enough for you to take my words to heart?”
“It is enough.” Said Mertz as he crossed his arms. “What do the Kai say?”
A green-armoured Kai cleared his throat. “My name is Gala and I currently rule the Kai. We have reviewed all data and have found that your young spymaster is correct in his conclusions. Yet the thought of people travelling across time is preposterous and this we cannot accept.”
“You don’t need to accept it.” Said Bolx. “I don’t care if you all want to arrest me and put me in the deepest darkest dungeon you have but at least heed my warnings that something big and dangerous is heading this way.”
“How do we fight something we do not see?” asked Siar, speaking for the first time.
“The Commander has a good point.” Said Larden with a grin. “And congratulations, I never had a chance to say that.”
“Thank you, General.”
“Commander?” Bolx looked confused at the title.
“The Commander is the top-ranked student at the end of planetary service. Marked for further leadership training.” Said Saasha. “Was this not something done in your time?”
“People were dying so fast whoever remained alive long enough were thrust into positions of power just to keep us going.”
“Back to my question. How do we fight what we cannot see?”
“I…I didn’t stay long enough to see the end of the war.” Said Bolx heavily. “I was sent here against my will.”
“Which brings us to our next two problems.” Said Saasha as she pointed to her twin brothers. “Have the two of you and Mother figured out anything more than what I gave you?”
Aastii stood up as Gatex removed his cube. Kessa put another cube on the table but remained seated. He tapped it once and another hologram appeared showing a humanoid shape.
“This is Saita.”
The table erupted with noise and Saasha allowed it for a few minutes before she raised a hand. Silence fell instantly.
“We will not go through this again.” She growled. “We already spoke about the possibility of having a non-Saith on the Guard and I am looking at her potential.”
The noise erupted once more, and this time Saasha slapped the table hard. Silence once more fell upon the table. Even Seana was silent now.
“Aastii please continue.” Said Saasha.
The man cleared his throat. “Twenty-four-year-old human female presently in physically good health on medical evaluation for the Games. We were made aware of several biomechanical additions to her body. An eye, as well as an arm, had been replaced due to damage incurred as a child which had no impact on our study of her. This, however, did.”
Kessa tapped the cube, and the humanoid figure showed the various discs and wires of the System.
“This is what we need to discuss at length.” Said Aastii.
Shannon sat forward with her mouth hanging open. “Could you send me the schematics of that?”
“Sent.” Said Kessa as he typed on a data pad.
Shannon immediately picked up a similar data pad and started to scan through the information sent to her. There was silence at the table. They all saw her face pale as she threw the datapad down and run from the screen. Brucel looked after her in concern but only nodded his head at something that was said off-screen.
“She’s gone to be sick, clearly she understood what all this means but I don’t.” Brucel picked up the data pad and scanned through it. “The only thing I understand is the term cellular death. This thing is killing her?”
“Yes, has been since it was inserted into her body.” Said Aastii. “Likely she is well aware of this fact. There must be considerable pain.”
Kessa tapped the cube again and the image was overlaid with the marks Saita bore. “These are energy lattices. They are throughout her body. I suspect that the energy created by this system is being forced between layers of skin to prevent it from burning her nerves raw. It is likely the only reason she has managed to survive this long.”
“Between the ages of 16 to roughly 21, she was experimented on, and this is the result.” Said Aastii.
The table fell silent before another soldier raised a hand before getting to his feet. “Humans have this capability?”
“Yes and no.” said Aastii. “Jarah is sharing his research with us in terms of Saita.”
“Jarah?” Saasha seemed confused.
“Seems that when you reached out to Lord Pura Saita’s childhood doctor saw that as an opportunity to contact us and give us everything we were lacking.” Added Kessa. “I somehow suspect that his King is unaware of what he did because the communication was short, and he barely spoke.”
“From what we have gathered from research notes is that Saita was taken from her biological family because of her unique ability to copy other abilities of those around her. She was taken when she was three years old and subjected to genetic experiments and grafting. She was one of millions experimented done by Doctor Sellious, a human doctor. She was the only one who managed to survive. Even clones didn’t manage it.”
“The sick prick then allowed her to escape as a young teen who was just about non-verbal in her communication skills to form bonds with people,” Kessa said. “All of that so that this machine can be placed inside of her.”
“The Doctor reckoned if she had a reason to live then she would fight to live as each component was inserted over a period of four years.” Aastii indicated that Kessa could continue.
The man tapped the cube once more to show a short, muted, clip of the operation where the large disc was placed in Saita’s chest cavity. Everyone at the table went pale until Silens stood up and pointed to the restrained hand seen in the background. “She was conscious?”
It took some time for Kessa to answer. “Yes. Turns out a lot of the augmentation that was done to Saita caused a side effect where her body metabolizes most pain medications too quickly. It would seem that no type of anaesthesia was used for the 24-plus operations she was subjected to.”
Sorry for the abrupt end, but it I didn't cut it here, you'd all be reading till tomorrow!
For those of you that haven't read Seeking a Prince Jek is an annoying character that refuses to die and is a constant thorn in Saasha's side. The only reason she keeps him around is because of his good advice.
Tune in next week for the continuation of this meeting, see you all then!
For those of you just joining us, please note that this the third book in the Fell Dragon series. Follow this link to read the two earlier books:
Fell Dragon Book 1
Fell Dragon Book 2
Start of Book 3 here
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
Saasha’s Direct Family
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Haven't read the other parts yet? Follow these handy links:
Part 25>>You are Here>>Part 27