Epic of Aravinda 1: The Truth Beyond the Sky (24 page)

CHAPTER
33

THE TULARI SANCTUM

Zahn stepped into the inner room.

The moment his foot touched the floor, the entire room filled with light, and the three guardians opened their eyes. With impressive speed, they took a gasp of air, stood up, and pointed their palms forward, toward the darkness.

“Who has entered the Tulari Sanctum?” one of them said. Its voice was deep and reverberated off of the polished walls.

“Identify yourself,” another said.

Zahn spoke to the guardian nearest to him, which was the one who had spoken first.

“I am Zahn from Avani, a world many thousands of light-years from here. I have come here because my world is under attack by the Vakragha. Only the Tulari can stop them from consuming my planet whole.”

“Why can we not see you, uninvited one?” This one sounded female. She turned toward Zahn, and he saw her angular, yet feminine, face.

“Yes! Be you ugly, intruder?”

“No, my friends and I only wish to remain safe until we can discern your motivations. As I said, my world is in great danger, and I have come a great distance on a Confederation ship. Will you allow us to use the Tulari to save my world? We will return it here when Avani is safe. Please, it is our only hope.”

“Mortal!” the first one yelled. “If only you could begin to know how many have come with such a story, yet all were unworthy. It is too powerful for even three mortal beings to wield. Go back to your home and salvage as much as you can before the dark scourge destroys all that you love. That is all you can do. Waste no more time, leave now!”

“No! Being mortal doesn’t make us any less worthy. Doesn’t a civilization have the right to protect its planet?”

“We have given you our answer.”

The guardian folded his arms.

“So you can do nothing to help us?”

“We cannot give the Pearl of Great Price to mortal beings.”

Zahn breathed heavily. He couldn’t believe that these towering guardians, which had appeared to be wise and mighty before they spoke, had revealed themselves to be so unwilling to help them.

“Well, we aren’t leaving until you help us. Billions of people are going to be enslaved by the Vakragha if we do nothing, and I am
not
going to give up now, especially not after coming this far. You’re going to have to find a way to help us, or—”

Zahn paused for dramatic effect.

“—or we
will
fight you.”

One of the guardians laughed.

“Mortal, there are three of us. Do you realize your folly?”

Zahn stepped back into the hall.

“I’m going to distract them,” he whispered. “When I do, use your resonator to nudge the Tulari off of the pedestal, Asha. And Mom, I want you to throw this at the guardian nearest to Asha once she grabs the Tulari. Can you do that?”

Zahn handed her a small ball filled with an orange liquid.

“What are you saying, Mortals?” one guardian said.

“What is this?” Darshana said as she examined the small ball of liquid.

“It’s a special acid that Asha’s father gave us. It’s supposed to slow them down. Everyone ready?”

“Okay.”

“Got it.”

Zahn stepped back into the light and smiled, even though the guardians still couldn’t see him.

“Yes, there are indeed three of you,” he said. “And there are three of us, which means you’re still at a disadvantage.”

In an instant, Zahn darted forward and shot the nearest guardian in the eyes. Asha simultaneously shot the one behind that guardian in the face, and both growled in surprise, covering their faces for a moment.

The third guardian held out his left palm and shot a bolt of light toward where Zahn had been standing a moment before. Zahn rolled forward and dodged the bolt just before it impacted on the wall, causing huge pieces of stone to fly everywhere and litter the floor. Asha used that opportunity to fire a repulsing burst at the Tulari atop the pedestal, but it only moved slightly.

Zahn noticed that Asha’s cloaking field flickered for a moment. One of the guardians she’d shot in the eye noticed, too, and lunged toward her.

Asha fired at the Tulari again and finally managed to knock it loose. As it fell, Zahn called out to her.

“Asha, watch out! Your cloak is faltering!”

But she didn’t have time. One guardian grabbed her by the neck and pushed her up against the pedestal, choking her.

Still cloaked, Darshana ran up and threw the small ball of liquid at the guardian choking Asha. Her aim was true, and it exploded into a hissing, bubbling liquid which covered the guardian’s eyes and mouth. The guardian released Asha and clawed at his face. Nearby, the other guardian noticed that Darshana’s cloaking field had flickered and fired a red bolt of light from his palm toward her. It impacted onto her side, and she collapsed onto the ground.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pedestal the third guardian caught the falling Tulari before Zahn was able to catch it. When he caught it, the guardian made eye contact with him, and Zahn realized that his cloak must be failing, as well. The guardian shot a red bolt toward Zahn, but he just managed to dodge it and rolled behind a large chunk of stone that had been blown loose from the wall. He fired back, but his resonator didn’t seem to affect the guardian at all.

He looked at his hand. He was invisible for the moment, so he quietly crawled behind a different piece of rubble. As he sat there, Yantrik’s words came roaring back to him.

“Let me know how they work,”
Yantrik had said.

Zahn would definitely have a few things to tell Yantrik when he saw him again.

If he saw him again.

“Mortal!” one guardian called out. “We have your friends.”

He knew that they were trying to trick him into revealing his location, so he remained as quiet as possible. In the distance, he heard one of the guardians cough.

“You shouldn’t have come, off-worlder. You are wasting your friends’ lives.”

Behind him, he heard someone familiar whisper his name.

“Asha?” Zahn whispered a bit too loudly. “Asha, are you okay? How’d you escape?”

She crawled over to him.

“Your mom helped me. But… she was hit, Zahn.”

A feeling of shock soon transformed itself into guilt.

“I shouldn’t have brought her. I shouldn’t have brought her. We should have left her in the ship where she’d be safe.”

“Then she would be stuck back on the ship, and we might have been killed already,” Asha whispered. “Zahn, we needed her help. She knew the risk.”

Zahn closed his eyes, and for the first time since they’d rescued her, he prayed. Within his mind, he called out to his guides for help.

In the distance, he heard one of the guardians approaching.

“I don’t think our resonators work against them, Asha.”

“I know.”

Zahn reached out for Asha’s hand and she took it.

“Don’t you see?” the guardian bellowed. “Now you must hide from us. You are all cowards, and you must pay the penalty for cowardice.”

At any moment, a blood-red bolt of light was going to flood his vision. He heard the footsteps of the guardian draw nearer.

This was it.

He was going to die here.

As a last effort, he took the lens out of his pocket and tried to wedge it into the sonic barrel of his resonator. It was a tough fit, but it was his last idea.

Behind him, he could see the wall growing redder as the guardian approached. He would have only one chance.

“Leave now or perish!” one howled.

“I’m going to stand up,” Zahn whispered to Asha.

“What? They’ll kill you.”

“They’re going to kill both of us. I’ve got a plan. When they’re distracted, run back to the ship and start firing into the pyramid’s open door.”

“Zahn—”

“No time to argue.”

He threw a small piece of rubble across the room, and when it hit the far wall, the nearest guardian shattered it with another bolt. Slowly, Zahn rose up from behind the large stone he’d been hiding behind, and he was pointing the resonator directly at the nearest guardian.

At seeing this, the guardian grinned arrogantly.

“I am immune to your weapon, mortal. It will not save you.”

“Then shoot me, you beast!” Zahn screamed.

The guardian’s eyes flashed like fire, and he blasted Zahn with a blood-red bolt of light. The bolt careened toward him, impacting onto his resonator.

But when it hit his resonator, something unprecedented happened. The bolt of light bounced off of the tip of the gun and headed straight back toward the guardian who shot it.

The guardian barely jumped out of the way in time, and the bolt impacted onto the stone wall behind him, blowing more huge chunks of rock from the wall. Asha covered her face as thousands of small bits of rock flew through the air.

The guardian stood up and dusted himself off.

He looked furious.

“We told you! Mortals are not worthy to wield the Pearl!”

His yell echoed down the halls, and then the sound of the yell was dwarfed by the sound of another explosion, this time originating from outside of the pyramid’s walls.

Natural light flooded the inner room, and a gust of wind blew in from the outside. Zahn and Asha looked out from the edge of the boulder and saw a short, radiant figure enter the room through a hall that had been dark before. Appearing to be clothed in light itself, the figure was so bright that they couldn’t discern its facial features at all. Zahn noticed that even the guardians shielded their eyes.

The figure spoke in a strong, resonating voice.

“And what about
im
mortals? Are they worthy?” it said.

All three of the guardians held up their hands to block the radiance that was blinding them.

“You are going to give these wanderers what they need.”

Zahn wondered who it was that would speak with such authority to these mighty guardians.

“What authority do you have here, Radiant One?” the first guardian said.

As the guardian was finishing his words, the figure held out a hand and lowered it. As his hand lowered, the first guardian became smaller and smaller, and as he became smaller, the pitch of his voice grew higher and higher. When the figure had stopped, the guardian was less than a half meter tall. When it realized this, it screamed in a high pitch and ran off down one of the halls.

As the figure approached the other two guardians, they knelt down immediately.

“Please diminish your brightness, Radiant One. Who are you?” one guardian said.

“I am the child-like laughter under a starry sky.”

“Please, Radiant One. Speak plainly.”

“I am ageless, and my name is of little importance. That is all you need know.”

The figure’s radiance diminished slightly, but Zahn still couldn’t discern any features. It was still extremely bright.

“Thank you for diminishing your radiance, Unnamed One. We recognize your power, but please tell us. How could these lower beings be worthy of such an unspeakable power as great as the Pearl?”

“Don’t you see? Their hearts are selfless in their desire to save those that they love. But not only this. Their selfless actions serve far more than even their own worlds. Indeed, they have allowed themselves to be Instruments of Light that, in time, will serve an innumerable number of beings. Because of this, they wield a rare kind of power. Therefore, you will give them the Pearl. Now.”

Reluctantly, the first guardian handed it to the radiant figure, and the figure turned toward Zahn and approached them.

Zahn looked at his hand. The cloak was holding steady, so how could it see them? The figure’s brightness was almost overwhelming now.

Asha and Zahn stood up. Even at just a few meters away, Zahn couldn’t see his face. The brightness was impenetrable.

“Wield it well,” the figure said as he handed it to Asha, who was closest. “And always remember, never allow your enemy to tell you who you are.”

“Zahn, the Tulari. I’m holding it. It’s real.” Asha’s eyes welled up. “I wish my father could be here to see this.”

“Radiant One, may I ask who you are?” Zahn said.

“I reveal hidden strength in times of darkness.”

“But why have you helped us? Did you hear my prayer?”

“What have you learned, Zahn? Have you seized the moments? Have you looked through new lenses and gained new insights? Have you expanded your understanding? Your opportunities have not manifested by chance. We have been guiding you and showing you the way whenever you had eyes to see, ears to hear, and the heart to feel.”

“Thank you, Radiant One. I am extremely grateful for your protection. But how do you know this? Who is ‘we’? Can you tell me who you are?”

“You must seize this time. Right now, you, your mother, and your friends are the only ones who stand between the Vakragha and the enslavement of your home. Remember, all you need do is to deliver the Tulari into the wormhole itself. Your mother will recover momentarily. Seize this time and go. If you do not act now, Avani will fall.”

The figure walked over to Darshana, sprayed a strange pink mist onto her collapsed body, and disappeared back down the hall where he had come in.

For a moment, Zahn watched the dust float around the room as it drifted through a beam of sunlight. Across from them, the guardians dusted themselves off, glanced at Zahn and Asha in disgust, and walked down the hall that the shrunken guardian had run down.

Darshana slowly sat up and looked around, and Zahn walked over and helped her get to her feet.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be of more help, guys,” Zahn said. “If it weren’t for that Radiant Figure, we’d all be burnt to a crisp by now, wouldn’t we?”

“Zahn,” Darshana said. “If it wasn’t for you and Asha, the Radiant Figure wouldn’t have had anyone to save when he arrived. Your resonator idea gave us the precious extra minutes we needed.”

“Thanks.” Zahn smiled. Somehow, she was everything he remembered her to be.

“Who was that, anyway?” Asha said. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“Whoever he was, he has a phenomenal understanding of biology,” Darshana said, stretching her neck. “That must have been the most powerful healing agent I’ve ever seen, because I can almost walk normally again. When that red bolt of light hit me, I was completely paralyzed. When I hit the floor, all I could move were my eyes. I almost thought—”