Star Warden Book 2: RQ Chapter 10

 

All the Pieces

An empty crater was the perfect representation of what Samuel felt. It was all that remained of the Guardian Haven. He was sitting near the edge while his wife laid her head on his shoulders and hugged him tight as tears fell from her eyes. They were both silent, unable to put into words what they were seeing or more accurately what they were feeling. Both of them wanted to blame themselves for falling into Daimos's trap. Logically it was not true, but logic alone could not soothe the heart.

The emotional pain overrode any physical exhaustion from his battle with Vicious. He did not suffer from the usual pain when using the sword's magic as before. But he was still not efficient in its use.

In the crater, there were signs of excavation meaning that Daimos had taken the ship as well. If he had the energy Sam would have cursed and called the Dark Lord a vulture, or a Vulture lord. Though a vulture only eats the already dead avoiding battle with anything healthy whether that made the vulture more moral or Daimos more courageous is hard to say. However, one might argue that using an orbital strike to kill was cowardly and at least the vulture will fight for its food even if it's against wounded or sick opponents.

“Sam,” Kaguya said softly.

“I know. We can't spend forever here. I just.” The next word was going to be 'wish' as in he wished he could give them a proper burial. He wished he knew ahead of time, he wished he checked his armor more. But wishes were just words. There was nothing more he could do here, that was the naked truth.

As they stood up Sam readied the Talisman's gateway command function. As long as one had the proper coordinates one could travel anywhere in the galaxy either using an established mirror or not. But the coordinates were key and if inputted incorrectly one could walk into a star or black hole. There was another restriction in that if an area or mirror was blocked off from public access then no gateway could be opened. After all, nobody wants someone popping into their homes uninvited. The same for any physical gateways that were already active at the time.

As he typed in the numbers for Fort Aquarius, he heard the sound of his name being yelled. He turned to Kaguya but she was looking around too until she shouted and pointed into the sky. A large bald eagle joined by a smaller one, and in its talons was Peace waving and shouting at him.

The moment the eagles touched down. Kaguya rushed over and hugged Peace. The two eagles took their original forms of Niall and Bridget again. Bridget flew over and embraced Sam who returned the gesture. Tears fell down her face.

“Thank God you're alive!” Sam could not stop his own tears of joy. No other words were shared as everyone enjoyed the fact that their friends survived. He even hugged Peace as well.

They all returned to Aetherium in better spirits. Going to Sam's home in Camelot where they all had a light meal with hot chocolate. Niall explained that his mind was in the Weave at the time allowing him to sense the incoming attack. Reacting quickly he drew upon the local energy of Ramia's weave to save himself, Bridget, and Peace.

“If they were not nearby I might not have saved them.”

Sam then explained what happened on his end.

“So, unwittingly we did the Dark Lord's bidding. Ramia's resistance has been crushed and now the archives are in his data banks. While all we could do is escape with our lives.”

Peace bitterly sipped his hot chocolate.

“It was not a clean sweep. While he was downloading from the Archives, Excalibur was downloading things from him."

Niall beamed a smile. Recognizing that Sam got in contact with the spirit of Excalibur. 

“Congratulations. Your first step on your path as the heir.”

“Excalibur?”

“I'll fill you in later, Peace. Suffice it to say, we have a Spellbinder.” Sam materialized the leather-bound computer tablet in his hand. If none knew better it would have appeared he created it out of thin air. But it was merely stored in a compressed data state in his Talisman.

“Bad news is we don't have the software that was to come with it. Good news is we know where we can find one. The Unicorn Kingdom.”

“Surely he already secured the software by now,” asked Peace.

“No, he hasn't found the exact location for it. Now that he has the Spellbinder hardware and software we should be able to grab it ourselves while he's no longer looking.”

“The sword didn't delete the data?”

“Excalibur doesn't want to expose itself to Daimos. Deleting the program or creating a fake might leave a trail. Right now Excalibur is our only ace in the hole but if we play our cards right. Then by the time he does find out hopefully, we will have added new weapons to the arsenal.”

Peace sighed. “Permitting victory without opposition. We should have destroyed the data to at least deny him.”

“I'm not all sunshine and rainbows about it myself. But think about it if Daimos learns Excalibur is in play best case scenario he takes some extra precautions. Worse case the Abyss finds out too and starts getting more active. The absolute worse is that Daimos and the Abyss start working together and that makes our job harder.”

“Considering our situation is difficult already. I fail to see how our actions will change anything. At least if we destroyed the data the Dark Lord would have taken a blow as well."

“I agree,” stated Kaguya.”However, we may be able to conduct a larger blow against the Dark Lord and advance our cause at the same time. We take up the fool's role now for a larger success later."

"I know how it looks but we just need to try the stack the deck as much as we can before we get caught."

Peace made a groan signaling a reluctant agreement. 

“Then when the deck is stacked. I'm going to turn Daimos into a can opener.” Bridget then sipped her cocoa. Her eyes had visible white veins the equivalent of a human's eyes turning red after crying. Bridget had cried after surviving the orbital strike and cried when returning to Aetherium.

“Damn right,” said Sam.

“I wish I shared your optimism,” said Peace. “We can say the words but do we do not possess the means to enforce them. Daimos has conquered Powers only know how many other worlds. We don't know where the rings are or a way to track them. Even if we could we lack a rocket ship or knowledge of other stellar coordinates to open mirrors to them. All we have is words and words are not enough.”

“Words are the start, Peace. I don't have all the answers now but we need to tell ourselves and each other that we are going to turn this around. We must believe in ourselves first then the change will come. We need to believe when the world around us bleak, no especially when the world around us is bleak!”

“You'll get no argument from me. I just wish we had more to go on.”

“I just want to rip machines apart. Tear em all apart and destroy them. Along with any advanced tech. Progress.” Bridget spat on the floor. “How is easier death and destruction progress? We all should have stayed in tribes with iron weapons.” Niall put a comforting hand on Bridget's shoulder. Sam couldn't blame her for the rant. Even if her people could reincarnate seeing her fellows die in a flash would still hurt.

“Right now. Let's focus on one thing at a time. We get the Spellbinder program and help out any allies in the Unicorn Kingdom. After that, we will have time to figure out the other problems.”

“These problems of ours may not be as insurmountable as you perceive them to be,” said Niall.

“I'm listening.”

“I have been relaying my conversations with the Enchantress to certain allies in the cosmos. An ally that goes into the dark places others fear to tread, those who serve the light, who stand on the bridge and say no evil shall pass. They are the Soldiers and Scholars of the Argent Temple or better known as the Argent Templars.”

“Why are we only learning of this now?”

“The Templars do not interfere in the internal affairs of planets, Peace. Especially if that world has not regained space travel. They involve themselves with interstellar or inter-dimensional threats while covertly providing aid to developing worlds as missionaries, scholars, and merchants. I only came into contact with them recently when the Enchantress informed me that Daimos was a Codex AI.”

“Aha, told you, Peace!” Sam was jubilant. “Always keep your spirits up. You never know what's around the corner!”

“This is joyous news. But I do wonder how come I have never met one here or heard one?”

“Well, Your Radiance. If they do their job right you're not supposed to. But as for why none are here on Aetherium. That is because our world is mostly legend to other places in the galaxy and not on known star charts.”

“That did not seem to stop the original Daimos from arriving from another world,” Peace remarked.

“Indeed. Somehow the Doctor escaped his exile. How is still unknown to me. But that is a question for another time. Once I re-establish contact in the Weave. I will arrange for you to meet them. But I will need a few days rests. My connections to the Weave will need to recover from the events on Ramia. To feel thousands of voices cry out in terror and then go utterly silent..is traumatizing.”

Niall's eyes became dull losing light and luster. His voice shrunk to a near whisper. He heard every one of their voices. The only reason he was able to be here and talk with the Warden and company was due to sheer willpower. He did not wish to ruin the celebration, and he will have plenty of time to rest. 

“Don't worry, Chief. Daimos is going to be held accountable for every one of them.” Sam raised his mug. “To Jeremias, Benjamin, and all we've lost.” Everyone joined him in the toast.

They spent the rest of the evening talking before dispersing for the evening. Niall promised to inform Sam as soon he got in contact with the Templars. When they were gone he grabbed and swung around Kaguya while smiling. She laughed with him and why not. They needed the laughter. Yes, innocents were lost, but friends lived and they had future allies in the wings. They were alive and being alive meant there was hope.

And in the darkest of times, everyone needs Hope.

Interlude 1

Chapter 9