Blair is drawn to a red, glowing glass vial lying atop a pillar in the middle of the chamber. He reaches for the vial, which glows brighter when he touches it. The chamber begins to quake. His instincts urge him to run; instead, he studies the curious drawings etched on the vial. The drawings appear to depict his journey over the past twelve days, ending with his entrance into the cave.
When the chamber stops shaking, Blair slowly turns around to see a group of Atiru elders. He kneels before them.
"We all are chosen for a purpose," the oldest of them says. His eyes turn a golden color. "Drink the blood and Essence of the one you are destined to protect."
Blair lifts the vial to his lips and drains its contents. His head begins to spin as the elders chant in unison. He drops to the ground, and sees that the cave is engulfed in flames. He tries to get up, but some strange force holds him down.
One of the elders places a necklace around Blair's neck. "You have been chosen."
Blair enters a cosmic trance. He can feel another presence within him. A profound, unassailable connection is forged between him and the young boy who would be king, Zec son of Uphu.
Blair has become Zec's Guardian. His life's work has only just begun.
Chapter 8
Angelica Varras looks up at the sky and over her shoulder as she walks toward her house. Since the passage of the Alien Exclusion Act, she just can't seem to shake off the feeling of being followed. At the front door, she pauses to take one more look around before she places her hand on the door's fingerprint scanner. The door unlocks and she walks into the kitchen.
"Did you guys eat yet?" Angelica shouts to Eddie, who's in the living room with his friends.
"Yeah, we ordered pizza and wings from Domihut," her younger brother shouts back. "There's leftovers in the oven if you're hungry."
Angelica places the groceries on the kitchen table and starts putting things away. When she finishes, she grabs the remaining slices of pizza from the oven, puts them on a plate, and heads down to the basement. As she walks toward the back of the basement, the sensory lights flicker on. She pushes down on a red brick that causes a shelf against the wall to slide aside, revealing a doorway. When she walks inside, she's greeted by her older brother Khary.
"Food! I'm starving," he says.
"Hello to you, too!" Angelica says. She smiles at her brother and CJ, another member of the Resistance. "Any updates?" she asks as she walks to the table where Khary and CJ sit surrounded by glowing screens.
"Oh, yes," Khary says without taking his eyes from the monitors. "Our agents have informed us that Eza and her protector are on their way to Port Jervis, and from these recordings, we can now definitely say that the two have reconnected."
"You're sure?" Angelica asks.
"Yes! Everything suggests that our king lives in Port Jervis."
Angelica hugs her brother. As she straightens, the house rocks violently, knocking her over and spilling the two boys from their chairs. With an overwhelming sense of dread, Angelica looks at the surveillance screens and sees UN Special Task Force soldiers in black exoskeletons entering the house through the blown-out front door.
Upstairs, Eddie gets to his feet and gallantly tries to put up a fight. He sends force blasts at the UNSTF soldiers that the soldiers easily evade. His friends — Azhalians themselves, but powerless — draw weapons and start shooting. To her horror, the UNSTF soldiers cut them down in seconds.
Another explosion knocks Angelica back down to the floor before she can grieve. She crawls to Khary and grabs him by the arm. They pull each other up. "We can't leave any of this information for them," she says urgently.
"I need a couple of minutes," Khary responds. He sits back down and starts wiping the data from the system.
"I'll get them for you." Angelica steps out of the safe room and fires a blast at the hidden electrical panel to seal the entrance. She can sense the approaching soldiers. She draws energy from her surroundings in anticipation of the imminent showdown.
"This is the UNSTF," a man booms over a megaphone. "We have the house surrounded. Come out and surrender, or you will die."
Before giving them a chance to respond, agents rush down the stairs, and Angelica sends a force blast at them. They return fire. She slides against the wall to dodge the oncoming projectiles; they retreat. She takes a peek and sees robotic attack walkers moving down the stairs now. She sends blast after blast into the staircase, until it collapses and blocks the entrance to the safe room.
An explosion buckles the far wall. Angelica slides down to the floor and smiles. Her king has been found!
❖❖❖
Seconds ago, he received an alarming message from the unwanted but necessary partner he calls Arnold. If confirmed to be true, their partnership is in jeopardy. He sits down at the desk in his home office, turns on the desk lamp, and removes the signal jammer from its drawer. After verifying with his laptop that the message was not a hoax, he enters a code into his phone to bypass the jammer and taps the only name in the contacts.
"I thought we had an understanding," he says.
"We did," Arnold responds, "but as I expected, you've been hiding crucial information from me — and this was the only way I could get it."
"Are they all dead?" he asks.
"Yes, but not by my command.
