Everville: The Rise of Mallory (12 page)

“We will ready our soldiers. As you already know, we are a race of shape shifters and have no need for weapons or transport. When you command, we will transport those willing to Everville using the power of the element. We will aid you in the complete annihilation of The Keepers and their armies in retaliation for the destruction of our children and in gratitude for the near limitless supply of power and energy that you have gifted us,” the Governor said.

All of the members of the council stood up and clapped, though the ones who were not handed an artifact immediately began to envy those that did.

Word spread quickly of the impending battle and over a million Alarians volunteered to fight. Even those who chose not to volunteer or didn’t approve of the battle felt there was little risk or potential loss to the Alarians. From what they were told of The Keepers, it was unlikely they would face retaliation if they lost. More importantly, both cities would benefit from the energy provided by the element. For now, those that volunteered readied themselves for battle and waited for Mallory to give the order to attack.

Chapter 13

The Arrival

W
hile a battle was about to unfold in Everville, disappointment and concern had begun to set in with the members of the Echo Club at Easton Falls University. Avery had called in Anika and Dante to discuss the situation.

“I’ve spoken with Zee and Adaline. It looks like Jacob already completed the construction of the artifacts. Eli was able to acquire all the materials needed for Jacob, who has been very quiet since his meeting with Eli. It appears that whatever Jacob’s plans were, he has succeeded,” Avery said with disappointment.

Anika shook her head, and Dante wrinkled his face and looked withdrawn.

Cleophas walked in from the other room and saw the expressions on their faces.

“Listen, this doesn’t mean that Jacob or Mallory will ultimately be successful in the destruction of Everville or concentration of power there or here. It’s a setback, yes, but let’s not forget that Owen’s already embarked on a journey to The Third Pillar of Truth. He was successful the first two times, and I have to believe that he will be successful again.

“You may be tempted to go after Jacob and look for the small container of the liquid element, but I would caution against it. Assuming he hasn’t already depleted it, Jacob may have already transported it to The Other In Between or to Mallory. I think more importantly, though, it’s unclear how much power Jacob possesses with the newly created artifacts. At this point, I think the prudent thing to do would be to watch and to wait,” Cleophas said with certainty.

Dante sighed. “Maybe you’re right. As much as I would like to help, I’m not sure there is anything we can do beyond that. If Jacob possesses even a small amount of the element, he’s going to be difficult to stop”

“Whatever happened to the other members of the Echo Club? I haven’t seen or heard from them,” Anika said in bewilderment.

“Unfortunately, neither have we, Anika. We’ve called around, talked to their roommates, but no one has seen or heard from them recently. It’s very troubling, very troubling indeed,” Avery replied in frustration.

“What about their parents? Has anyone tried contacting their parents?” Anika said in response.

“Yes, I even notified the school. If they don’t show up within the next twenty-four hours, there will be a missing persons report filed on all of them,” Avery continued.

“This is just crazy. Do you think Jacob had anything to do with this?” Dante asked.

“To be honest, I don’t know what to think. I’m not sure what’s going on, but we will get to the bottom of this. I know all of this is frustrating, but we will figure this out one way or another. At this point, we’re just going to have to wait and see,” Avery said.

Dante and Anika may have had to wait, but back in the surrounding lands of Everville, the armies of the giants and the Ubaloo were fast at work getting as much of the mineral rock moved into place and ready for extraction as possible.

“Is that the last of it?” Borak asked Faine.

“Yep. That’s it,” Faine replied.

The giants had just transported the last of the piles of mineral rock mined behind the walls of Vermogen using the monstrum. Borak and a hundred giants now had to transport the monstrum back through the portal. At the same time, the Fron had just finished getting enough of the special minerals from beneath the catacombs of Everville for transport to Brackenbone, which they needed to begin the construction of the final collector, the collector that would be used to restore access to the portals once the transfer of the element had been cut off.

“Let’s go!” shouted Borak to the one hundred soldiers holding the monstrum. They had begun their journey back to the portal one jump at a time. By the time Borak and the giants made it a few hundred feet towards the portal, the Fron were already arriving with the special minerals from Everville.

During his return, Borak and his giants could see the remaining Ubaloo soldiers preparing for battle. As in each of the eight surrounding lands of Everville, half the army would stay behind to protect the land while the other half departed to the land of the giants to join up with the army of giants to prepare for the battle that loomed ahead.

“This is the last of it. Bring it over here,” shouted General Varrick.

The mineral rocks that had been piled up by the monoliths were now being smashed and stripped down as quickly as possible. The General hoped that by the time Borak returned, the modifications to all of the portals would be complete and they would be able to stop the flow of the element to the dragon once and for all.

The initial pile of rocks by the first monolith was already stripped down, and the giants were attaching the mineral elements to the outside of the portal within the monolith. They would need to repeat the process on each monolith until the final portal in the last monolith had been prepared. Once that was complete, they would have to wait for the order to activate the portals simultaneously at the direction of The Keeper.

“Line your men up over here,” Colonel Consilium said to a contingent of his soldiers.

He had placed the giants in three separate rows because it was unclear whether the attacking army would come from the portals within the monoliths or if they would come from someplace else. Consilium had also placed a column of soldiers from all of the armies by each of the monoliths. By having a row of giants in the front, in the back, and in the middle, the giants would be best positioned to defend the armies of the other realms while simultaneously being able to take an offensive position against an invading force.

The soldiers were now in position, and the focus shifted to assisting with the modifications to the portals. A few hours later, the second portal was completed. While the remaining soldiers waited for the completion to the modifications, they were making large pits in the ground for roasting meat. The soldiers had gotten hungry from the bustle of preparing for battle as well as transporting all of the boulders.

Once the pits had been made, the Fron were among the first to start eating. The food in the land of the giants was not as good as the wonderful delights the Fron were used to back in Everville, but the giants were really good at making charred meats that they smoked over the pits.

“This is really not bad,” Toe said to Sako while stuffing his face with roasted flesh.

“Yeah, this is pretty good. There’s plenty of it, too,” Sako replied as he turned to stacks of smoked meats off in the distance.

Toe looked over at the pits and saw what must have been tens of thousands pig-like creatures that had been killed and were waiting to be roasted. The armies were massive, and it was going to take an equally massive amount of food to feed them all.

A few more hours passed. The armies of giants and other creatures were sharing in the meat that was prepared. By that time, half of the portals were complete with the modifications, but it would be another twelve hours until the remaining monoliths were finished and would be ready to cut off the element.

General Varrick was under the impression that the invading armies would come either right before they stopped the transfer of the element or right after the process was complete. In any case, they were getting close, and the general was inspecting each contingent of soldiers to make sure they had all the supplies they needed for the battle.

More hours passed, and only a couple of the portals needed to be modified. The General could see in the distance that Borak had just arrived back with the monstrum. Borak and his soldiers didn’t have time to take it all the way back to its prior position, so they just placed the monstrum down next to the monolith where the arrived.

Borak and his hundred soldiers got into position, and as they did, the final portal was complete. The time had arrived.

The Keeper remained in his workshop and monitored the portal to Everville. General Varrick gave him word that the last portal inside the monolith was ready.

After The Keeper notified the Ubaloo in Brackenbone, making sure they were ready to continue working on the final collector, he notified the other realms that they would soon be cut off from all the portals. They would need to be ready for the next couple of weeks until the Ubaloo were able to construct the final collector behind the walls of Vermogen and restore access to the portals.

General Varrick was now waiting in his study for the order to come down, and then it did.

“General, the time has come. Activate the portals,” The Keeper said.

The General lit a torch and raised it high on a pole above his study for all the soldiers and the armies to see. Immediately upon seeing the lit torch, those stationed at the monoliths activated the newly modified portals. The mineral rock that was now attached to the monoliths began absorbing the element from the universe. Instantly, the flow of the element to Mallory and the dragon ended.

Back on the planet in the distant realm, Mallory had returned from meeting with the Alarians. Rathlar was pleased that the Alarians pledged Mallory their support, but was disappointed that only one of the cities would join them in battle.

In the few short days that Mallory was gone, Rathlar had grown another fifty feet. His wingspan now stretched more than a hundred and fifty feet across, and his flames were capable of inflicting serious damage. In addition, both Mallory and Rathlar had gathered a sizeable amount of element, but The Keepers still possessed the ability to mute Mallory’s mental powers through the use of their own artifacts, including their staves.

At that moment, they had been cut off. Mallory sensed that the element was no longer flowing. They were now limited to the sole amount of element in their possession, but once Mallory destroyed Everville, he would betray the Alarians and take the element that they possessed in the artifacts he had given them. The combination of element in both sets of artifacts would be enough to forcibly take the remaining element from Rathlar’s body.

With Mallory’s plan in place, he transported to the moon with Rathlar and gave the order for the Alarians to attack the armies in the land of the giants and informed them he would join them on the battlefield later.

By the time the Alarians were ready to make their move, anger had remade the hearts of those who had volunteered for battle. Their belief that The Keepers were responsible for the genocide of their seed instilled within them a burning desire for revenge, a hatred that went well beyond a desire to help a friend or gain the element. It was an infection, and one that was spreading alarmingly fast. That infection was greatest among Governor Jahal and the councilmen who possessed the artifacts. It was compounded by a growing lust for power created by direct possession of the element.

The sentiment could not be more different in the second city of the Alarians. There was growing concern within the city that the other Alarians would attract unneeded attention, and that the renewed lust for power and energy would result in the accelerated demise of their people.

Governor Laveda, of the second city of the Alarians, called a meeting of the council.

“We must seek a solution to end this new war. Governor Jahal has once again led our people into harm’s way in his continued pursuit of power,” Governor Laveda said in distress as she looked at the other council members.

“If Governor Jahal is unwilling, we must find a way to reason with his people and put pressure on him to stop this madness before it’s too late,” she continued.

One of the councilmen spoke up. “I agree, Governor, but I fear it’s already too late. The knowledge of the destruction of the worms has united the people in his city, and now he has almost unlimited power with the possession of the element. So long as he has the artifacts that contain the element, I don’t see what we can do,” he said as several of the other members nodded in agreement.

“Look!” said one of the councilmen as he pointed in the sky above the second city.

“It’s too late. They’re already on their way!” he shouted.

A sense of dread and helplessness gripped the members of the meeting. For the longest time, the Alarians in the second city had come to terms with the fact that they would live out the remaining years of their existence in peace, waiting for the last bit of energy sustaining them to dissipate. They had lived eons, outliving their own universe. They had done everything they needed or wanted to do. They simply wanted to be left alone until the moment when they embrace their final end. That hope for peace was now shattered.

“I can only hope that the race of beings in Everville are a noble one and do not attack here in retaliation,” Governor Laveda said with a great uncertainty.

Governor Jahal and the volunteers of the first city hovered above the moon, ready to make their move. The element made them strong. No longer constrained by the lack of power or energy, the Alarians would appear to the armies of Everville and the giants in the same form as their seed in The City of Worms, but they would wait to transform until they all arrived. The Alarians would display to the murderers of their progeny their true ancestral form just before the moment of attack. After that, they would take the shape of vicious dragons capable of pulverizing their enemies.