The Guardians' Pendants (The Zor Chronicles Part I) (7 page)

“It appears he speaks
the language of the Sirens,” Kaho concluded. “Surprising, perhaps,
but certainly important considering their abundance throughout the
Hub as of now.”

At that, Ikani stepped
forward, facing the Tavar as he began to speak.

“Great Tavar, we have
come to you today bearing great misfortunes, but an even greater
sense of hope,” he declared loudly. “We have been informed of a
great danger that is now upon the land of Paradius. As we speak,
troubles may lurk in the shadows, waiting to strike. In terms of
when they shall, we cannot say, but one thing is for
certain.”

Ikani breathed deeply,
thinking back to life in his home village. Of his friend Niru, and
of others such as Hari. “Prosperous times or dark times, the Gods
always know what is right,” Ikani recited the words that Hari had
spoken to him the previous morning. “And under these circumstances
the Gods have chosen us to fight against this evil and to vanquish
all threats from this paradise home of ours.”

“Is that so?” Nuraka
questioned, raising an eyebrow. “And who might, err,
you
be?” he
asked, his question directed at all four of them.

“We are the new Veha
Guardians of Paradius,” Kaho announced. “I am Kaho. To my left is
Lanaru of Af’Mara. This is Ikani of the western island,” she
signaled towards him with her right hand. “And this is Enoke,
hailing from the southern Satellite of Af’Lagi.”

“Chosen Veha, you
say?” Nuraka asked, scratching his chin. “Very well then; I welcome
you all here today with great hopes for our future. Now, if you
will excuse me for a moment -”

Once again, the Tavar
leaned towards the Siren to his right and began to talk in the same
foreign tongue. Bending in and listening close, the Siren
eventually nodded and, along with the other, was quickly off. Soon
afterwards there came the sound of opening doors to the left of the
four Veha. Turning their attention to the source of the noise, they
watched as the two Sirens entered into the pit, escorting a
creature of the likes of which made the Veha all take several steps
backwards.

“What in the name of
the Gods is that thing?” Ikani asked, feeling fear rise up from
inside of him at once.

Its body resembled a
mountain of rock, bearing scattered patches of moss and all. It was
enormous, both in height and in its great width, towering over the
four Veha who stood still, not daring to move.

“A Stone Golem,” Enoke
replied in alarm. “Quite nasty creatures, and none quite natural
either.” He went on to explain, “There are a few in the rare
specimen sector of the Vaults. One escaped once; I saw it with my
own eyes.”

Its monstrous arms and
legs both bore power ties – strands of energy that bound the Golem
to the Sirens who stood behind it, restraining the great beast.
Once they were cut, the Stone Golem would be set
free.

“If you saw it, then
did you manage to catch how to take one down?” Lanaru demanded
fearfully.

“Funny, I would have
thought to ask
you
that,” Enoke retorted. “After all, it was an
Af’Mara science experiment gone wrong that created
them!”

“Hey!” Lanaru snapped.
“I’m no scientist!”

“Whatever,” Enoke
scoffed, shoving the others aside.

“Prove yourselves
worthy Guardians!” exclaimed Tavar Nuraka from above, signaling
towards a rack of swords in the corner. “Defeating this Stone Golem
will be no easy task,” he added, “but for all mighty Veha, it
should be nothing more than routine peacekeeping
drill.”

Enoke, flustered and
overcome with annoyance towards his Mara counterpart, was the first
to act. He advanced towards the rack of swords and hastily snatched
up the first blade. “I don’t need a flight engineer with his head
in the clouds holding me back. I’ll take this beast down
myself!”

“Enoke!” Kaho cried.
“You can’t!”

“Who says I can’t,
Kaho?” Enoke snapped at her, turning his back the Golem. Who says
--?”

Too late. With a flick
of the Sirens’ wrists, the power ties were severed and the Stone
Golem charged in the direction of the Veha.

“Enoke, look out!”
Ikani called.

It was no use. His
back remained turned as the Stone Golem stalked up behind him,
raising an arm and taking a powerful swing at Enoke that sent him
flying through the air. He slammed hard back onto the ground
several feet behind the Veha, rolling a ways afterwards and
struggling to move.

“No!” Kaho cried,
hurrying after her fallen brother.

“This is your chance,”
the voice of Nuraka boomed. “Prove that the Gods made the right
choice in you!”

“We must fight
together!” Kaho urged as she helped Enoke back onto his feet before
grabbing a sword for herself now. “It’s the only
way!”

“I’m with you, Kaho!”
Lanaru exclaimed, wielding a sword of his own now as he positioned
himself in the corner opposite to Kaho and away from the Stone
Giant who was roaming the center of the pit, gazing menacingly
around at the Veha who had all taken to corners. “On the count of
three, we charge it!” Lanaru cried.

“Are you mad?” Ikani
bellowed from the far corner. “Charge
that
thing? We’re hardly
ready and I haven’t even got a sword yet!” he
cried.

“No one’s fault but
your own, miner,” Lanaru snapped back.

“Lanaru,
wait!”

Once again, it was too
late. Lanaru, sword at the ready, began to single-handedly charge
the Golem. Ikani flinched, expecting the worst, but was surprised
when the latter flew over the giant’s head with a great leap into
the air, landing on his back. His sword dug deep into the beast’s
back, lodging in as Lanaru fought to maintain his grip. The Golem
roared in pain, shaking violently in an attempt to free himself
from the Veha’s grip.

“Impressive,” Nuraka
spoke quietly to himself, out of earshot of the others. “For a solo
effort.”

Almost on cue with
this unheard comment from the Tavar, Kaho charged the stone beast
herself. The Golem advanced forward and attempted to strike Kaho
with a powerful fist, but Kaho was swift to dodge. Rolling across
the ground below, she quickly avoided the attack and was back on
her feet. She readied her sword and swung. There was contact. The
razor-sharp blade pierced straight through the Golem’s left arm,
but Kaho quickly found herself stuck. Before she had any time to
let go, the Stone Golem shook its arm in a fit of rage, sending
Kaho – still grasping her blade – flying straight towards the far
stone wall. The jerking motion had also caused Lanaru to lose his
grip, as he went tumbling to the ground. He quickly hurried away
from the beat and retreated to the wall.

“What was the purpose
of that?” Lanaru blurted towards Kaho. “I had a perfect hold of him
as it was until you had to interfere!”

“Lanaru!” Ikani
snapped, hurrying towards Kaho, who had hit the wall hard and was
lying nearly motionless on the ground. “She was trying to give
teamwork ago! This isn’t all about you!”

“Well excuse me,
miner, but I don’t see you pitching in at all!” Lanaru scoffed.
“All you’ve done is cower in the corner!”

“That’s enough!” Ikani
yelled in a fit of rage, grabbing Lanaru by the shoulders and
wrestling him up against the wall.

“Behind you!” Enoke
called suddenly.

Before the other three
had time to reach, the Golem was already upon them. Ikani braced
himself for the impending blow, already feeling the humiliation of
defeat upon him. They had been cornered and furthermore defeated
not only by the Stone Golem but by their own differences. Suddenly,
before the giant’s final blow could land, there was a sudden
reappearance of the power ties, binding its limbs once
more.

“Enough!” Nuraka
declared. “I have seen plenty!”

The Stone Golem had
been detained once again and was being escorted out towards the
doors from whence it had come. The Veha, save for Ikani, limped
towards the center of the pit now, breathing heavily and attempting
to ignore the pain that was coursing all throughout their bodies.
Meanwhile, Ikani stood still beside them, his eyes downturned in
humiliation after having escaped the fight unscathed amongst his
injured squad members.

“You come here and
declare yourselves the new Guardians of this land,” the Tavar
began, “and yet you cannot even stand off against a single Stone
Golem! If the dangers you speak of hold any truth whatsoever, then
I am quite sorry to say that you are most certainly not what
Paradius needs.”

“But we
are
the
chosen Veha!” Ikani cried. “in the same way as Veha
Oren!”

“Oren is no more!”
Nuraka bellowed. “Chief Remula has deployed Sirens to search far
and wide for the missing Veha with no results.”

The four of them stood
in collective shock and disappointment at the sound of the
news.

“As if I needed any
more of a reason to doubt you,” Nuraka began. “Have you, by chance,
taken notice yet of your standing in numbers?” he
asked.

The Veha all froze. It
was a fact – a simple fact at that – and yet it had not occurred to
any of them until this time. As was consistent throughout all of
history, it was legend that the Gods had decreed that Paradius’
Guardians would have representation from the Five Islands – that
is, not simply the four Satellite Islands, but the Hub as well. And
yet only four stood in front of the questioning Tavar. Even more so
now, they stood before him with a sense of failure.

“We…” Ikani began, but
he stopped, attempting to compose himself and suppress his
frustrations. “We are as we have come, Tavar,” he finally responded
in a tone of defeat.

“Very well then,”
Nuraka began. “Guards! Escort these fools out of here at once, and
see to it that they do not interfere with Paradius affairs
henceforth!”

At that, the Veha
could feel the cold hands of the Sirens grabbing hold of them from
behind, pushing them in the direction of the double doors through
which they had come.

***

“Well that was
certainly a lovely meeting!” Lanaru proclaimed sarcastically,
throwing his arms up into the air as they arrived back at the Pod
station. “We come in as Veha, and we leave as
nothing.”

“We are not nothing!”
Kaho protested. “Remember what X told us!”

“You mustn’t live your
life based on visions,
sister,
” Lanaru mimicked,
rolling his eyes as he opened the door to his Pod.

“Where are you going?”
she demanded.

“Where do you think?”
Lanaru retorted. “I’m going home.”

“But we must work
together!” Kaho cried.

“You heard the Tavar!”
Ikani urged. “We are not worthy Guardians… we
are
nothing.”

“I don’t believe it,”
Enoke interrupted. “Are you giving up?” he scowled.

“What more is there to
do?” Ikani demanded. “We are frauds! We lack even the most basic
levels of unity. We lack a fifth Guardian – tell me how we can hope
to work together if we fall short in numbers from the get
go?”

“Perhaps he is lost,”
Kaho offered. “Perhaps he has been left behind.”

At that moment, Ikani
froze. Something inside of his mind had clicked. “Or perhaps he has
been waiting for us all along!” he exclaimed. “Of
course!”

“What are you trying
to say, miner?” Lanaru questioned skeptically.

“Veha Oren!” Ikani
declared. “He was – he
is
the Guardian of the Hub!
He must be our fifth Veha!”

“Ikani,” Kaho
interrupted. “That wasn’t what I was referring to. You heard the
Tavar; Oren is -”

“He is still here!”
Ikani insisted. “I know it!”

“How so?” Enoke
questioned doubtingly.

“Well
-”

“Exactly,” Enoke
blurted, cutting him off. “Stop trying to chase Oren. You heard
Kaho, and you heard the Tavar too. Our best bet would be to stick
together as us four.”

“But to be united we
must find what is missing!” Ikani insisted, hurrying to catch an
incoming Pod. “If nobody else is with me, I shall find him myself!”
he snapped. “I’ll prove to Oren that at least someone in this group
has some faith in him to pull through!”

“Hey!” Enoke yelled.
“Watch what you’re saying!”