Shattered Lives

MY NAME IS ARSHES MEGANE AND I AM IMMORTAL. As the Guardians’ quest to find the dangerous, unstable fragments comes to a head, they have learnt that their greatest strength is not their magic but their unbreakable bonds of friendship. Their enemy knows it, too, and tries to divide and conquer. The Guardians have a ridiculous radical plan to identify their mysterious enemy, but it hinges on a girl who has sold her soul and believes the White Guardian murdered her father. To save the world, they must first save her soul. But their greatest threat comes not from without but from within, and it is not the magic of enemies but the secrets of friends that have the power to shatter their lives. This is the story of The Salvation of Tempestria, as told by an immortal girl from the future using an Illegal Time Intervention to save the world…or possibly end it.

Chapter 1 It was the aftermath of the multi-pronged attack that saw the Melrose Academy school building destroyed and Maia, White Triumvirate representative, unmade. Forever erased from Time. As one would expect, gentle reader, there was much to be done. Out of respect, the Council organised a memorial service for Maia and all the others who were lost that day. A strange concept, that: a memorial to celebrate the lives of people whom nobody remembered because they never existed. After that, though, the Council returned to business-as-usual with the newly promoted Keir taking Maia’s seat. The Guardians had had little reason to interact with him before. Time would tell what that relationship would be like. However, in much the same way as in the aftermath of the Fall of Kullos, the Guardians were quick to extricate themselves from the clean-up and reorganisation. They needed to stay focused on the bigger picture. ***** From all that had happened since the Guardians began to try and recover the fragments of Kullos’ dimensional control device, it was clear that their real nemesis was from the future. “That’s the only explanation that makes sense,” Cat insisted. During the events that led to the Fall of Kullos, the would-be Guardians had benefited from help from the future. Since then, the interference had been less benevolent. “Nevertheless, we can’t do anything about future threats,” Dreya pointed out. “All we can do is deal with the Black robe wizard that’s been plaguing us these past few years.” “And the only link we have to him is Nalani,” Mandalee added. “If only we could get her to co-operate.” ‘That does not seem likely,’ Shyleen opined. “Actually, I think she would be willing,” Michael told them, “if you could convince her of the truth. When I was fighting her outside Melrose, just before she was fully trapped in my petrified prison, I think she broke through Pryshia’s control. Just for a moment. Just long enough to give me this.” He showed his friends a small slip of paper, which read: HELP ME At the time, Michael had thought she was futilely trying to push him away with one hand. It was only later that he realised she’d been hiding that slip of paper in his pocket. With everything that had happened since, there had been more important things to deal with, so he hadn’t brought it up until now, several days later. “Well, that’s one line of enquiry,” Sara spoke up, “but I think Jess and I have another.” Jessica nodded. “Yeah, we reckon we should have a look around Daelen’s base on StormClaw Island.” “It’s a good idea,” Michael concurred. “Somebody must have been there since Kullos was defeated in order to get their hands on Mandalee’s shattered Pureblade.” “It is a good idea,” Dreya affirmed, “except we already looked, though I don’t know what we expected to find.” The place was still wrecked following the battle of the shadow warriors. Sifting through the mess, they had been unable to find anything to explain how it was possible for Mandalee’s Pureblade to still have been in their world. No matter how many pieces it might be in, it should have been transferred to the original, doomed Tempestria through the Cosmic Rift, along with everything else that had been contaminated by the power of Heaven’s Surrender. The only reason the fragments of Kullos’ control device still existed was that Kullos had sent them through portals in time and space. Thus, they were not on StormClaw when the transfer took place. The same was not true of Mandalee’s Pureblade. If there had been any more portals, the Guardians would surely have noticed them. Mystery though it was, it was largely academic now. Given how many splinters of the Pureblade had been used in various attacks, Mandalee was convinced there could be none left. That danger was passed. Now they could return their focus to the control device fragments. They had three of six, while their Black robe wizard enemy had two. The sixth and final fragment had been sent into the future, so there was no way to retrieve that, yet. “Nalani is definitely our best approach now,” Cat agreed. “I see what you’re saying, love,” Jessica acknowledged diplomatically, “but I still think you should let my sister and me look around StormClaw, just in case.” “If you’re still feeling guilty about us nearly being killed in the Melrose explosion, don’t be,” Sara insisted. Her sister nodded. “You have to let us help. We know the layout of Daelen’s bases better than anyone. There might be something you guys missed.” Mandalee shook her head. “We know you’re trying to help,” she assured her friends, “and we appreciate that, but I don’t see how there could be anything to miss: the place was obliterated.” “Including the basement?” Sara asked pointedly. The Guardians shared a puzzled glance. “What basement?” Cat asked. “Exactly!” Jessica cried. “You see? You don’t know as much as you think you do!” Sara reminded her friends that when they met, and for a few years before, their job had been to look after all of Daelen’s facilities. He had maintained a system of permanent portals connecting seven worlds, of which there were only two from which they had been banned. The first was Phitonia because they were plague carriers who would kill anyone they came across and many more as the disease spread. The other was Tempestria, for fear of alerting Kullos to their alien presence. That left five bases with which they were intimately familiar. Moreover, before taking up permanent residency on Tempestria, the Chetsuans had been able to spend a brief time on Daelen’s Phitonian base as part of Dreya’s schemes. The shadow warrior had turned the surrounding perception filter into a containment field through which their disease could not cross. From what they had seen, the Phitonian base matched the other five, so there was no reason to suppose the Tempestrian one on StormClaw was any different. “The basement was where all of Daelen’s technology was stored,” Sara told them. “Of course!” Cat realised. “We’re being thick! There was shadow warrior technology underneath Kullos’ throne room in his fortress. It makes sense that Daelen would have had something similar in his base on StormClaw.” Mandalee nodded. “You’re right. We’re just not used to thinking in terms of technology.” “There can’t be anything to power it, though,” Dreya pointed out. Daelen had ripped power from all his bases to fight Kullos. Subsequently, solar energy generation had enabled them to get the lights back on, but shadow warrior technology couldn’t run on that. It needed higher planar energy. Dreya had command of such power, of course, but she was loath to use it for such a purpose. “That probably wouldn’t work anyway,” Michael offered. “It would most likely require the right signature – Daelen’s signature. Although I may be able to help with that.” Other than his weapons, Michael’s only possession from the old days, fighting alongside Daelen, was a ring. It contained a low level of higher planar energy because it was actually a shadow warrior device. Sara had used it to test her fragment detector, but its original purpose had been to grant him access to the technology in his Tomb. That suggested it would allow him access to any similar technology on Daelen’s base. He wouldn’t be able to power the technology for long, but Sara insisted that wasn’t a problem. She had experience with Daelen’s systems and would need only a moment to change the security to grant access to Dreya’s signature. Then she could power it, should it prove worthwhile. “It has to be worth investigating, at the very least,” she concluded. “Sounds like a family outing to me!” Cat declared. Michael looked around at his companions: the Chetsuan twins, one human, one leopard god, one Faery, one half-Faery who was pregnant with a girl child that would be somehow half Shadowkin, and himself, a demigod. “Strangest family I’ve ever seen,” he remarked. “And all the better for it, love!” Jessica insisted. There were nods all around – even Shyleen began to purr appreciatively. Michael grinned. “Couldn’t agree more, my dear!”