PROLOGUE


            “Will it work?”

            “I sure pray to Aeden it does, otherwise we’ve wasted ten years on a pointless and impossible prospect.”

            “Commander…are the risks really worth it?”

            “Nathanial, I don’t care.  I want to go back.”

            Silence fell upon the pair, and they both continued to examine the newly-built device that lay on the desk in front of them.  It was a sleek, silver, metal box.  Its only redeeming feature was the intricate symbols carved into the top, a collection of jagged lines and Elven runes intertwined in a graceful work of art.

            Nathanial glanced at the Commander, who simply cocked an eyebrow in response, not taking his eyes off the strange cube.  He seemed as determined as always.  That was something that Nathanial had always admired about the man.  No matter how trivial, tough, or even how small the job was, he would always do his best to make sure it got done, and see it through himself to the very end.

            The both of them sat alone with the box, unphased by the noise around them, that of other Resistance members scurrying to and fro.  The Commander gave Nathanial a solemn look and nodded.  The tall man backed up as the Commander brushed his fingers along the side of the device, readying himself to activate it at last.

            “Commander…”

He turned his head as he heard Nathanial utter his name.  Forcing a half-smile, he offered the big guy his hand.  He took it after a brief moment, not quite ready to see him go, and pulled him forward into his embrace.  Caught at first off-guard, the Commander hugged him back, bidding farewell to his close friend, potentially forever.  After a moment, they let go, and both turned once again to the foreboding box that sat before them.  The previously busy room was beginning to thin out, leaving behind an eerie silence.

            The Commander looked one last time to his companion.

            “Nathanial…it’s…been a pleasure…”

            Nathanial simply smiled and nodded in return, understanding that he wasn’t the best at sentimental moments.  The Commander smiled back, this time for real, and his eyes lingered only a moment longer on his friend before turning for the last time to his new creation.  He reached out a hand and placed it on the cube, over the carvings.  Outwards from the underside of his hand spread a greenish-yellow light, which shifted rapidly to orange, then red, then violet to blue, going through seemingly the entire colour spectrum over and over in a matter of mere moments.

            Suddenly, it changed.  The rainbow-hued light turned instantly into an emanating swirl of darkness, pulsating as if it were alive.  In the time it took for the Commander to grasp that fact, a small light appeared in the middle of the vortex, and he knew exactly what was going to happen.  All this happened in the space of a half a second, and he turned to warn his friend, but all he managed was to get a quick glimpse of his friend’s frightened expression before all went silent and the room was overtaken by darkness.


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            “C’mon, Shad, I’m serious!” Shey pleaded as they walked through the town.

            “Suuuuure you are…”

            “When have I lied to you?”

            Shad stopped on the spot, and Shey staggered backwards to avoid accidentally crashing into him.

            “Do you really want me to answer that?” Shad remarked, grinning.

            Shey sighed, fixing his trademark red bandanna, which covered most of his wild green hair, though some still hung out from the sides and front.  Both his shirt and his eyes matched the color of his hair, but they contrasted with his tan pants and bland, brown shoes.  He was pretty skinny for a 16-year old, and his height didn’t help much.

            “Okay, okay, but…when have I tried this hard to convince you of some stupid joke?” he tried again.

            Shad laughed, his blue hair shifting slightly in the wind.  Next to each other, they were a pretty odd pair.  Shad stood 6 feet tall, which was quite a bit taller than Shey.  He was pretty muscular, and had green eyes, which most thought went nicely with his hair.  While his shirts generally varied, he always made sure to wear his favorite black jacked, and always wore jeans and black boots.

            “You mean like the time you spent an entire month trying to convince me you were a ninja just so I would give you those smoke bombs I bought?” he replied.

            Shey opened his mouth to say something back, but nothing came out.  His friend did have a point.  Instead of pursuing the subject any further, he sighed, giving up at last.  They walked on, momentarily in an awkward silence, going on until they finally reached Shad’s house.  It was a pretty huge place.  Shad’s parents owned a very popular dojo, where tons upon tons of people came to train, so money was never really an issue for their family.

            Shey had been living with them for basically as far back as he could remember.  According to them, he was left in the town when a large group of raiders came through, and they took him in.  He was left with a notepad giving his name as Shey Elendin (Elendin being a quite popular Elven name), and his birth date as Faeron 7th, Year 563 LD.  Shey had always taken it as a sign that his parents left him there because they loved him, because they didn’t want him growing up around a bunch of nasty, violent, thieves.

            As much as he always wished he’d known his real parents, he was content to be living with a loving family like Shad’s.  His mother, Aileen Tanel, was an amazing cook, and a very caring woman.  It was her that had demanded that they take Shey in and raise him as their own.  The father, Elliott, was a renowned fighter in the area, and a pretty nice guy so long as you didn’t get him angry.  Overall, it was more than he really could have ever asked for.

            “Hey, Shey?” Shad started, trying to spark up a conversation again.  He never could go very long without talking.

            “Yeah?”

            “What do you think of me?”

            Shey said nothing at first, utterly perplexed as to why Shad was asking this.

            “U-uhmm…w-well…uhh…you’re…my best friend, Shad, umm…you’re just…a really great guy…you know?” he managed to say, caught a bit off-guard.

            Shad gave a small “Mmm…” before it was quiet again.  After a bit more silence, he looked at Shey, smiling.

            “Thanks,” he told him, “you are too.”

            Shey laughed and thanked him in return, most of all just glad that he’d come back to his senses.

            “What was that about, anyways?” he probed, now genuinely curious.

            Shad just kept smiling and shook his head, looking forward.  “Oh nothing.”  He quickly moved the conversation forward, avoiding dwelling on the subject any further.  “So how’s school been goin’ for ya?”


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            Shizad stood in the middle of a barren desert, looking for any sign that humans had ever even been here before.  He ran his fingers through his dark red hair, sand dislodging itself as he did so, his black cloak shifting slightly in the light, sandy wind.  It didn’t make any sense, he’d been told that the base was around here…

            “Of course,” he muttered to himself.

            He held out his black-gloved hand, palm facing towards the ground, and channeled some of his magic energy into it.  He then quickly closed it into a fist, and the ground a few feet in front of him crushed inwards, forming a roughly circular hole in the ground, and whatever debris had been left from the implosion was sent to the Void.  Looking into the hole, all that could be seen, and quite vaguely at that, was plain white tile.

            Peering into the shadows, he jumped down into the hole, which was about ten or so meters deep, and went down on his legs to dull the impact, one hand on the ground.  He stood up and glanced around, seeing at first nothing but plain metallic walls.  He took a single step forward, and suddenly loud alarms blared from every conceivable direction.  Before he even got a chance to react, he heard a different noise, one he didn’t quite recognize.  Looking around warily, he realized he was in a large, empty room.  As he did so, several turrets lowered themselves from the ceiling, all pointing at him.  Though he didn’t know exactly what they were, since that technology shouldn’t have even existed, he knew it was most definitely not a good sign.  Watching the strange devices cautiously, he slowly took another step, and the turrets fired.


                                 ****************************


            Shey walked out into the desert that bordered their town, Triel, feeling slightly down.  He wanted Shad to believe him, but he promised Commander Kao upon joining the Resistance that he would never, ever, ever show anyone the base or talk about it, but he trusted Shad enough to not go around telling anyone what he said.  He probably wasn’t the brightest candle in the town, but he was a great friend.  His best friend.

            After about half a mile or so of walking, Shey finally spotted the F-shaped cactus he’d been looking for.  Glancing around, making sure nobody was watching (though he found it unlikely anyone would be, but decided to play it safe anyways), he grabbed the lower arm of it and squeezed.  One of the few spines that was actually sharp pricked his palm and, after briefly analyzing his blood, opened the entrance to the base for him.  The ground ahead split apart, sand waterfalling into the newly-opened gap, revealing stairs that descended down into the darkness.


                                 ****************************


            Shizad walked out of the now-battered room, leaving the remains of the turrets scattered amongst it.  Before he got a chance to resume his search, he heard a loud whirring noise coming from not too far away.  He continued walking anyways, throwing careful looks behind him just in case.  He couldn’t stop, though, not now.  Not when he was this far.  He was absolutely determined to find this mysterious “box”.


                                 ****************************


            “1, 3, 9, 2, 5, 4, 7, 7, 9, 2, 3, 8, 1, 5, 9, 6, 8,” Shey murmured to himself as he punched in each respective number in on the keypad in front of him, having had memorized the entire passcode by now.

           The door slid open, and as stepped through.  It had always annoyed him how each section of the base had its own separate code.  He often got them mixed up and found himself entering almost each section’s code into a single keypad before he got it right.  Sighing, he walked into the Research sector, taking his time.

            “Where the hell is everyone?”

            He’d never seen the base empty before, what was going on?  Did he miss something, was everyone getting a break?  Weird…

            The 16-year old went a bit further into the lab, deciding to check and make sure everything was at least still in place.  What he really found odd was that all the computers were still on, all the tables and desks cluttered…they wouldn’t leave it like this if everyone had left.  He kept checking around, watching for any sign of…well…he wasn’t sure, actually.  What he did see, though, was a very strange metal box…

            “There it is, thank you.”


                                 ****************************


            Shizad made his way through the increasingly confusing maze-like complex.  As he turned down more and more hallways, he picked which way to go next nearly at random, for the most part just trying to make his way to the very core of the base, where he guessed they would keep the important information.  Cliché, yes, but it made sense.

            Yet still, that noise earlier was bugging him, nagging at him.  Was that indeed, as he’d assumed earlier, someone entering the base?  Or could it have been someone leaving?  Or maybe someone had simply been here all along, and maybe the sound was of the activation of a security system of some sort.  That last thought was picking at him non-stop, keeping him constantly on edge, just in case.

            He heard a voice.

            “There it is, thank you.”

            It sounded like it was coming from a door on his left, just a few feet ahead.  He moved quickly over to it and pressed his ear up to the cold steel.

            “Oh, Theo, thank Aeden, you scared me!”

            He recognized that voice instantly.  Shey Elendin.  That damned kid again.

            “Hey, Shey.  Where is everyone?”

            That voice, though, not so much.  He assumed it was another Resistance member.  They didn’t know where the rest were either?

            “I dunno, I was actually gonna ask you the same thing.”  There was a short silence before Shey continued.  “What is this thing, anyways?  It looks like some sort of box, but…I can’t figure out how to open it…”

            “Oh, that.  That’s some weird top-secret thing the Commander had been working on.  He was actually involved in that project quite a bit, and made sure everyone that had anything to do with it kept quiet.  Nobody outside the research division knows what it is…everyone’s been really curious, though.”

            Odd…he thought.  This must be what I’m here for…what could be so important that Kao wouldn’t tell anyone what it is?  Whatever this is, it must be very important to him…all the more reason I need to get my hands on it.

            “That’s…weird…him and Nathanial never mentioned anything to me…”

            “Yeah…well…anyways…still…where is everyone at?  I mean, the warning alarm went off a while ago and I came to check what was up.”


                                 ****************************


            “Hmm…”  Shey stood a moment, brow furrowed, deeply confused, trying to consider what could happen to leave the base like this.  Theo said there was a warning alarm, so that means there must have been some sort of disturbance.  He looked around, surveying the room again.  It was so weird, it looked…completely undisturbed, as if everyone had just…disappeared…

            “So,” began Theo, “you haven’t seen any-“

            He was cut off suddenly as a black tendril shot out from his chest.  Shey would know that tendril anywhere.  Dark, thick, and, as he remembered most clearly, had backwards-facing spikes all over its surface, the ones that made sure that it killed on the way out.

            He started shaking uncontrollably, a cold sweat starting all over his body, staring at that tendril as it pulled out, not exactly excited at the idea of seeing its owner.  Theo’s body went limp, but Shey’s mind wasn’t making room to register any emotion but fear.  He bit down on his lip, and tears started to form at the corners of his eyes as, at last, Shizad’s figure came into view.  The dark red hair, the black cloak, the black gloves, black clothing, they were all there.  And the eyes.  Oh Aeden, the eyes.  Both were red, and the pupils each had three black lines coming outwards out from them, curving almost in a half spiral, and ending with the edges of his irises.  Once you saw those, it was usually one of the last few things you ever got to see.  Shey was one of the few who’d ever broken that rule.

            Shizad gave him a mocking smile, assuming his common friendly-but-evil demeanor.  Shey could do nothing at this point but watch.  His mind wanted him to get the hell out of there, but his body refused to respond.

            “Nice to see you again, Shey.”

            That was all it took.  As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Shey was off like a bullet.  His heart pounded a thousand miles an hour, the thud of it almost deafening in his own ears, the only sound he heard other than his own rapid footsteps.  He pushed as legs as hard as he could, adrenaline forcing them to let the pain go without notice.  Another tendril came from the shadow and extended in front of him, reaching for him at the same time, and Shey did the only thing that made sense to him at the time.  He ducked.  While normally a perfectly rational decision, this is a very bad idea when you’re moving.  Especially when your life depends on it.

            He ducked, and all the sudden force downwards caused him to skid momentarily.  He came to a sudden stop and went sprawling forward, ending up face-down on the floor.  Something else went clattering ahead of him.  The box?  Crap, he’d totally forgot he was carrying that.

            Wait, is that why Shizad’s here?  That box?  …well, if it’s that important to the Commander, wherever he is, I’m not letting this freak take it!

            Before he got a chance to do anything, Shey felt the familiar sensation of a Shadow vortex appearing underneath his stomach.  Instinctively he started grasping and clawing at the ground ahead of him, reaching for anything at all.  Luckily, he got his nails just underneath a tile, and he pulled himself forward just as a tendril shot up between his legs.  Pushing himself up, he swiped up the box with one hand, using the other to push himself forward a bit, and managed to get into a staggering run, careening off into another hallway just as Shizad summoned yet another tendril behind him.

            Once Shey was more than partway down the hall, he let out a huge sigh of relief, amazed he wasn’t impaled.

            Haha!  You can’t get me if ya can’t see me!

            He stopped and went into a door on his right, shutting it quickly.  Taking only a moment to catch his breath, he searched for a good hiding spot, before realizing which room he was in.

            The Prototype Room.

            This was good on the account that he was in a room full of very dangerous weapons that his time had never seen before, and all are at least several hundred years in earlier in existence than they should be.  It was bad on the account that, well, most of the stuff didn’t even work.

            Sadly, not being in the Research or Development divisions himself, Shey couldn’t tell what any of these things even did, or, at least, what they were supposed to do.  He took another deep breath and let it out, leaning back against the wall.

            “Why couldn’t I end up in the Armory or something…?” he muttered to himself, not sure if he should praise his luck or curse it.

            He turned around; making sure Shizad hadn’t found him, set the box on the ground, and then started randomly grabbing weapons.  He grabbed small ones and stuck them wherever he could hold them, carried some bigger ones under his arms, and even ended up strapping some bigger ones to his back and slung over his shoulder.

            That is, until he realized how inefficient that would be and dropped them all.  This time he just grabbed a few small ones and picked up the Commander’s box again, ready to make a run for it.  He turned and started to run to the door, when he saw Shizad in the doorway, grinning calmly.

            “Hello there,” he said, seemingly on the verge of laughter.  Shey pulled out the first weapon his hand touched and fired it at him.  A bright light flashed in his direction.  Shizad threw the heels of his palms over his eyes, letting out a short yelp, and Shey took that time to shove him out of the way and start running again.

            Gasping for breath, he somehow managed to keep up the pace, forcing his body to do more work than it could.  Luckily, however, he knew a shortcut to get to the nearest exit.  He just had to make a quick detour into the Information division.  Turning down another hallway, he reached the door into the division and pressed the button to open it.  Or he would have if there had been one.  Instead, his hand hit a keypad.

            “Crap!” he exclaimed under his breath, “Not now, oh Aeden, not right now!”

            Checking over his shoulder for Shizad, he started pressing numbers into the pad, deciding that in no way could the long passcodes be any more of a drawback than they were just then.  By now his lip bleeding from being bit down on so hard, fact he paid no mind as he punched in the last couple of numbers, hit “OK,” and waited for the door to open.

            Rather than that, he was treated to a soft buzzing noise.

            “…w-…what?”

            The code was wrong.  He felt a sinking feeling in his chest as he desperately tried a different code.

            Another buzz.

            “1, 9, 2, 2, 3, 6, 8, 7, 4, 3, 2, 9, 5, 5, 1, 4, 8,” Shey counted off in a panic, sure that his death would be coming around the corner any second now, and that it would be very, very angry with him.

            Buzz.

            He kicked the door, wishing he’d just taken the long way instead.

            It opened.

            He stood speechless, staring at the space the closed door had just been, until he heard footsteps advancing quickly in his direction, at which point he decided it didn’t matter why the door had opened so much as the fact that it had.  He started running full-speed through the Information division, taking no time to weave in and out between desks, instead jumping and dashing over them.  Papers and various other items flew off in every direction as he sprinted and jumped from desktop to desktop.  At one point he slipped and fell off a desk, but he managed to right himself at the very last second.

            Finally he reached the door to the exit and slammed his fist against the button to it.  Collages of everything that could possibly go wrong flew through his mind in a chaotic whirlwind of images.  It jams, it’s locked, Shizad comes and finish him, etc.  No such thing happened.  The door slid open easily, and Shey hurried past it, up the steps, and out into the sweltering heat of the desert, a heat he’d never been quite so happy to feel.

            “Ha…ha…f-…finally…” he panted.

            Suddenly, his legs buckled beneath him, and he fell to his hands on the burning sand, simply dropping the box in front of him again.  He felt like never ever moving again.  Rolling onto his back, he closed his eyes and decided he could rest for a second.  With any luck Shizad was still wandering around the base, possibly even still blinded.

            After about a minute, Shey heard a door slide open not too far away.  He’d wasted too much precious time.  He forced himself to his feet once again, this time the pain in his legs and nearly the rest of his body by this point blaringly obvious.  He grabbed the box again and started to stumble off towards Trael, but before he even took two steps, Shizad’s voice froze him in fear.

            “Stop.”

            Shey did exactly as told him to, unwilling to go against this guy’s demands.  The shivering started up again, and this heart was thumping so hard he was surprised it didn’t shatter a rib.  Slowly, he turned around to face the man he was now sure would be his murderer, tears already starting their descent down the sides of his face.  He wasn’t ready to die, not at just 16…

            Shizad seemed to hesitate momentarily, and there was a short silence as Shey stared at the ground, expecting his death any second then.

            “…give me the box, and I won’t hurt you.”

            Shey looked up at him in disbelief, unable to imagine Shizad ever showing any mercy, then quickly shifted gears and looked off to his right.

            “I-…I can’t…” he sighed.

            “Shey…” Shizad said, almost pleaded, which shocked him yet again, “you know by now I don’t want you dead.  You would be very useful if you came back to me.  You owe me.  I locked that thing inside you.  Who knows what destruction it could have caused?”

            Shey only continued to stare off into the distance.  He didn’t know what he should do…until he remembered…

            Grabbing a gun from his pocket, he aimed it quickly at Shizad and pulled the trigger.  Nothing happened.  Shizad watched him disapprovingly.  Shey whipped out gun after gun, each failing to do anything at all.  Until he was down to one last gun.

            “This one had better work, or else you’re out of moves.”

            He was right.  Shey knew damn well that without a powerful weapon, he was no match for him whatsoever.  But he couldn’t give up.  What were the chances that every gun he’d grabbed was busted?  But then again, his luck today was practically nonexistent.  That sinking feeling came back, and his chin started to quiver as he raised the gun, absolutely sure now that it would fail.  He put his finger on the trigger…aimed the gun…and pulled.

            Nothing.

            Hopeless, he tossed the gun aside and didn’t bother to hold back the tears anymore.  His head hung, eyes closed, and he held the box tightly against his chest.

            “Shey…”

            “…you…you w-want the box…?”

            Shizad grinned.

            “Yes, that’s much better.”

            Shey raised his back toward Shizad, all the fear that it had shown before replaced with anger.

            “Then take it!”

            Shizad took in a sharp breath of surprised and looked confused for a moment, which was all Shey needed for his very roughly-constructed and not at all well-thought-out plan, which he himself thought was rather stupid, but he was desperate.  In that time, Shey took the box with his right hand, and threw it as hard as he could in Shizad’s general direction.  That was as far as he had planned.

            Shizad didn’t see this coming in the least, and so the box struck him directly in the face.  The rune side of the box collided with his skin, which, unfortunately for him, was all it needed.  Before either of them got a chance to react, all that was left was a strange metal box laying alone in the sand.