Time of Shadows (The Saga of the Seven Stars Book 2) Read online

  Time of Shadows

  By: Dayne Edmondson

  Copyright 2014 Dayne Edmondson

  Kindle Edition

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  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to www.amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written consent of the Author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Published by Dark Star Publishing

  Edited by Athena Bedford and Jennifer Ingman

  Cover design by Larry Lonsby Jr.

  Cover art by Marwan Islami

  ISBN 13: 978-0-9897435-6-3 (Paperback edition)

  ISBN 13: 978-0-9897435-4-9 (Kindle edition)

  ISBN 13: 978-0-9897435-5-6 (ePub edition)

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to thank my wife, Kate for standing by my side through all of the publication process and being supportive at every step of the way. You are my rock.

  A big thank you has to go to the people who made this book possible. Larry Lonsby Jr, thank you for your great artistic talent in creating the cover image for this novel. Athena Bedford and Jennifer Ingman, I want to thank you for your fantastic editing services. Without you, this book wouldn't be what it is today.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue - A Flash of Light

  Chapter 1 - Darkness

  Chapter 2 - Into the Light

  Chapter 3 - Homecoming

  Chapter 4 - Unexpected Allies

  Chapter 5 - Stories

  Chapter 6 - Moonlight

  Chapter 7 - Awakening

  Chapter 8 - Regrets of a Fool

  Chapter 9 - Departure

  Chapter 10 - Shackles and Cages

  Chapter 11 - The Long Road

  Chapter 12 - Practice

  Chapter 13 - The Tower

  Chapter 14 - A Daring Plan

  Chapter 15 - Parting of Ways

  Chapter 16 - The Arena

  Chapter 17 - Stoneridge

  Chapter 18 - Fire

  Chapter 19 - Visitor in the Night

  Chapter 20 - A Challenge

  Chapter 21 - Binding

  Chapter 22 - A New Day

  Chapter 23 - A Howl in the Night

  Chapter 24 - Introductions

  Chapter 25 - Revenge

  Chapter 26 - Glory of Death

  Chapter 27 - An Embrace

  Chapter 28 - Questions

  Chapter 29 - Grave Tidings

  Chapter 30 - Meeting the King

  Chapter 31 - The Shadow Falls

  Chapter 32 - The Goodbye

  Chapter 33 - Preparation for War

  Chapter 34 - Vengeance and Fury

  Chapter 35 - Anger and Regret

  Chapter 36 - Thoughts

  Chapter 37 - Devastation

  Chapter 38 - Freedom

  Chapter 39 - A Plan

  Epilogue

  About the author:

  Excerpt

  Prologue - A Flash of Light

  “Calculations are complete. Awaiting further orders,” the metallic voice of Juliet informed Doctor Ulysses. Her holographic representation floated above the holo-projector plate, virtual eyes watching the man who sat in the chair before her.

  Doctor Ulysses let out a sigh of relief. Thank God it worked. “Thank you, Juliet. Begin the first transference.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  As the holographic face of Juliet disappeared, Doctor Gregory Maximus Ulysses III turned to the view port on his left and stared out at the quasar. He was the sole resident of the space station, with its heavy shields and composite armor protecting him against any radiation. The view still took his breath away at times; the majesty of the quasar, with its brilliant flashes of light as particles were drawn into the event horizon of the massive black hole was a sight few beings in the galaxy had witnessed. Unfortunately, the witnessing of such a sight this close came at a terrible price.

  Doctor Ulysses' eyes turned toward the holograph frame sitting on his desk. There, in a life-like rendition, sat his wife, Margaret, and his two children, Chloe and Frederick. The image had been taken at Sulfur Falls on Orion 3 some 15 years ago. It seemed much longer. That was the last moment of happiness he remembered before the war.

  Now his family was gone, his wife and children killed during the fall of the Orion system early in the war against the Krai'kesh that had cost so many human lives thus far. Doctor Ulysses had, from that day forward, focused solely on his work, in an effort to keep his mind off the sadness of those events. Now his work had finally paid off, or so he hoped.

  His concentration was broken by the sound of Juliet beginning the first transference sequence. The energy indicator on the screen hovering on the wall before him showed energy levels rising to 150%, drawing upon the energy of the quasar. A roar began to build in the core of the station, as the energy was channeled, and within moments there was a flash of light and a bright yellow glow emanated from within the containment chamber directly behind the doctor's desk. The first transference was complete.

  “Activate trans-location to pre-designated location, Juliet. Then begin calculations for second transference. Activate second transference once calculations are complete.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  Moments later the light within the chamber had gone, trans-located.

  Following on the heels of the emptying of the chamber was a build-up of energy similar to the first transference, followed by a relatively longer flash of light as matter was transformed into energy and transferred into the containment chamber. No sooner had the light settled into the chamber than the doctor gave the order to trans-locate the matter to the second predesignated location.

  As the light disappeared Doctor Ulysses took a deep breath and then said, “Juliet, activate the self-destruct sequence if you please. Set countdown for 1 minute. Allow voice override.”

  “Acknowledged, Doctor Ulysses. Self-destruct sequence initiated.”

  The war had taken everything from him; his home, his family, nearly his life on more than one occasion. He could only hope that the actions he had taken would bear fruit...that hope for the human race yet remained in the matter he had sent across time and space.

  Doctor Ulysses cast one last glance toward the quasar before closing his eyes and awaiting the end...

  Chapter 1 - Darkness

  Darkness. The first thing Johnathan saw was darkness. Not the darkness of night, where stars would illuminate the world or the moon would glow far above the Earth. What lay before his eyes was that of absolute darkness, with no light whatsoever.

  One moment they had been in the cafeteria of the university – now, only God knew where they were.

  “Ashley, Jason?” John called out immediately. Was that an echo he heard? His hand reached down and he felt the plastic of the cafeteria chair beneath him. He ran his fingers along the cold metal legs and hit...stone?

  “John?” His girlfriend's melodic voice held a tinge of panict.
“Where are you?”

  “I'm here.” Realizing how stupid that statement sounded, considering the fact they were in pitch black conditions, John began again. “It sounds like I'm to your left.”

  “Oh. Where's Jason?”

  “I'm...over...here,” Jason's struggling voice came from directly in front of John, accompanied by the jostling of what sounded like his backpack. “Just trying to….” A small light began to glow, causing John to shield his eyes briefly. He peeked out and saw Jason illuminated in the dim light of his cell phone. “There, got my cell phone out.” He turned it to face first Ashley and then John, illuminating them briefly before turning the eerie glow on himself. “Get your phones out.”

  Knowing Jason, the last of their small study group, was accounted for, John and Ashley began searching for their cell phones. John withdrew his from his jean pocket, while the sound of a rustling backpack came from Ashley's direction. Within moments, the two of them had their phones out and on, providing more illumination.

  “That's odd. There are no bars,” Jason said, referring to the cell phone signal. “Wherever we are, it's far from home.”

  “How did we get here?” Ashley asked.

  “Beats me. One moment I’m sitting there studying my physics book and the next second nothing but darkness. I thought at first maybe the lights just went out, but...I don't think that's it.”

  “I agree,” said John. “I felt the ground just now and it appears to be stone of some kind.”

  “Hmmm,” Jason replied. “Well, let's have a look around.” Without waiting for the assent of the other two, Jason's light began to move behind him, looking like a disembodied firefly in the darkness. After a few steps he reached a wall. Raising his hands, he placed it against the wall. “It's rock of some sort. Cold. I can't tell which kind in this poor light.”

  “Does it matter which kind it is?” snapped Ashley from her position facing the rock wall behind her own chair. “Rock is rock. Let's just try to find a way out of here.”

  “Relax, sis, I was just saying.”

  John remained silent, feeling carefully along the rocks behind his own chair, using the light as a glow rod to ensure he did not trip or run into anything. He was halfway toward Jason's light when the light cast by his phone was swallowed by the darkness. His right hand pursued the path of the light and felt nothing there. “I think I found something,” he called out. “There's a tunnel here. Grab your backpacks and come over here.”

  Jason picked up his backpack from beside his chair, while Ashley picked up hers and John's. They carefully skirted the circular lunch room table and made their way to John's location.

  Handing his backpack to him, Ashley asked, “How far back does it go?”

  “I don't know. But we're about to find out. Let's go.” Stepping forward, his light held before him like a shield in his right hand, while his left felt the wall, John led the way into the dark passageway.

  After what seemed like several minutes, John's light shined upon a wall before them. Stopping, he turned his light first to the left, where only more stone lay, and then to the right.

  “Over here,” Jason said, from the right. “The passage continues this way.” Leading the way, Jason began down the second passageway, which proved much shorter than the first one. Jason had taken only a dozen steps at most when he reached another solid wall of stone. His hand brushed the wall on the right, so he turned to the left. “Watch yourselves, there's a turn here.”

  Walking forward, Jason thought he saw a light ahead. Lowering his phone in an effort to reduce night blindness, Jason squinted ahead. Yes, up ahead looked gray, which stood in stark contrast to the pitch darkness behind them. There had to be a light source ahead. He increased his pace, though he kept his right hand pressed lightly against the wall as a guide.

  Jason's hand had just met the open air and he had begun to wave it around in search of stone, when a bright light erupted in front of them. Three pairs of hands flew to shield three pairs of eyes, phones in hand.

  Peaking out through the slits formed by his fingers, John said, “What is that thing?”

  In the center of what appeared to be an enormous circular chamber sat a shrine of some sort. “Shrine” was the best word that John could think of to describe the large structure. The shrine was seemingly made of stone and was attached to the ground seamlessly. It tapered up into a large circular platform that stood about waist-high. In the center of the platform was a spire that rose high into the air of the cavern. At the top of the spire was the source of the illumination in the chamber – a large glass orb that emitted bright yellow light.

  Sitting on the ledge that was formed between the spire and the edge of the platform were several smaller objects. Finally adjusted to the light, John removed his hands from his eyes, slid his phone into his jeans pocket and stepped forward to inspect the shrine up close.

  “They look like bracelets of some sort,” John said as he held one in his hand. The bracelet was made of a silvery metal and felt cold in his hands. It was open, though there was no indication of a clasp or lock on it. He saw two other pairs of the bracelets located around the platform.

  Ashley and Jason joined John at the shrine and also picked up a bracelet. “What are bracelets doing in the middle of a cave?” Ashley asked. “And why are there exactly three pairs?”

  “It's almost as if someone knew we would be here, or wanted us to be here,” Jason said.

  Setting down the bracelet, John said, “That’s creepy. Let's try and find a way out of here.”

  The trio began looking around the chamber, running their hands along the walls of the cavern. After several minutes Jason stopped and threw up his hands. “This is useless. We've walked around the chamber several times and found nothing. No seam, no hidden levers, no ways out. The only passageway is the one back to where we came from.”

  John turned toward the shrine. “Maybe it has something to do with this shrine.” He walked up to it, picked up a bracelet again and placed it on his wrist. As the two ends of the bracelet met, they merged together, forming a seamless circle around his wrist, and emitting a slight blue glow. He repeated the action on his other wrist. Ushering Jason and Ashley forward, he pointed toward the other pairs of bracelets. “Try them on. There's got to be some connection.”

  Ashley shuffled to the shrine and placed a pair of bracelets on her wrists, with the slight glow accompanying the formation of the seamless circle. “I hope you're right about this, John.”

  “We've got nothing to lose,” John replied. “It's either this or starve, suffocate or die from lack of water, whichever comes first. If there's even the slightest chance putting these bracelets on can free us, we need to do it.”

  Jason was the last to place the bracelets on his wrists. As the last bracelet closed...nothing happened.

  John looked around, hoping that some entrance would appear. “Well, it was worth a shot, but it doesn't look like it worked. Let's try to find some other...” he cut off as the blue glow began again and intensified. Soon the blue was intense, radiating outward and eclipsing the bracelet. “Uh, guys...do you see this?” He looked toward Jason and Ashley and saw that their bracelets were doing the same thing.

  “Try to take them off,” Jason said. He suited action to words and tried to fit a finger under the bracelet, but found he couldn't. John encountered a similar situation - it was as if the bracelets were melted to his skin.

  “It's no use,” Ashley said as she tried pushing the band up her wrist to try removing the bracelet.

  After several seconds the bracelets began to expand, encompassing more and more of their forearms. The glow continued from the expanding liquid metal. As quickly as the metal expanded, it began to sink into their arms, like water being absorbed into a sponge. As the last of the liquid metal dissolved into the skin, John turned his wrist over, witnessing the glow cease. What remained was a blue symbol beneath the skin on the underside of his wrist. He checked the other wrist and confirmed that it t
oo had an identical symbol.

  The symbol looked like an 8 when his wrists were held perpendicular to his body, and an infinity sign when viewed parallel to his body. In the center of each loop in the symbol, a golden four-pointed star still glowed with an inner light. The entire symbol looked to go beyond an ordinary tattoo. It was deeper; the color was richer and seemed three-dimensional. No ink could do this.

  “What the Hell!” John said as he ran his fingers across the symbol on both of his wrists. There was no blood, no pain and no discomfort. John had gotten a tattoo on his shoulder during high school – it was Ashley's name – and he remembered the pain during the process and the care he had to take afterward with it to prevent infection. This symbol looked like a tattoo would after several weeks, yet somehow far more authentic.

  To John's left, Ashley was having a similar reaction. She clawed at the spot where the symbol had embedded itself in her skin, as if she hoped to tear it away like one of those stick-on tattoos. Only the inflaming of her skin resulted from her efforts, however, and after a few moments she ceased her clawing and looked up to meet John's eyes. There were tears in her eyes. “What is happening to us?”

  John stepped up to Ashley and took her in his arms, laying her head against his chest as she sobbed. The stress of their circumstances had hit home with the appearance of the mysterious symbols. “It's alright, babe,” John said. “Everything is going to be alright. Jason and I are here – we won't let anything bad happen to you.” He turned her around so that he was facing Jason. “Right, Jason?”

  “Huh?” Jason had been studying the symbols, taking pictures of each one with his phone, though they appeared to be identical, and muttering to himself. Looking up, he studied the situation and replied, “Oh, yeah, we've got your back, sis.”

  “Any idea what caused this?” John asked

  “Hmmm,” Jason said. “There are some metals which are liquid at room temperature and can be absorbed through the skin; gallium is the main one that comes to mind. How the bracelets would go from being solid to liquid without any major temperature change is beyond me though.”