Ashes of the Realm: Book 04 - The Return of the Realm (4 page)

Trey listened to the exchange and began to feel remorse. There was never a simple answer to complex issues. The rage he felt toward his family’s death was directed at the Old Realm and he was beginning to see that it was misplaced. The Old Realm had its own suffering to cope with and he knew that even if they had come back, his family would have still died. He was also angry at Weed and Seed for not telling him about the destroyed buoys, but grudgingly saw that revealing that information would have served no purpose but to make his sorrow and anger worse. He knew they did it to spare him more pain. He looked over at the two Algeans and saw they were sad. Their leaves were brown and they were holding each other tightly. Trey said, “You did him a service.”

Weed turned toward Trey, “We never intended to cause him harm. He is a giant among our species and we caused his death.”

“I entered his mind briefly before he died and had to get out. He has been living a sorrowful existence since the day he ordered those buoys destroyed to protect his charges. I saw that once he learned that all the civilizations had been destroyed, his torment was unimaginable. At the end, he was yearning for release. He deliberately released the structures that held his mind together. He’s running around the Dorg-Ross now being chased by Wes McCann. He’s in a happier place.”

“I can’t help but think we killed him.”

“His decisions are what killed him. He couldn’t live with them any longer. You are not to blame.”

Seed said, “Do you still blame the Realm for the loss of your family?”

Trey paused and thought about it, “I’m not really sure. Yesterday I was certain…but today…I don’t know. I know my anger is no longer present.”

Danielle said, “You two were not the cause of Sprig’s death. He had stopped taking part in the Realm’s activities hundreds of years ago and even Twig said he was just not himself anymore. Now we know why.” She turned to Trey, “We never asked about that psychic blast we felt.”

Trey took a deep breath and said, “That blast happened when Cassie and I were released.”

Danielle furrowed her brow and looked at Tag. He was just as stunned as she was and Danielle turned back and said, “That blast was stronger than any ever recorded.”

Cassie smiled, “Only forty percent of that blast was released into Creation. This ship caught and stored sixty percent of its energy.”

Tag said, “That’s impossible.”

“Maybe it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. This is the first truly psychic ship ever created and its power is growing from our auras.”

“Where did you learn to build it?”

Trey looked at Cassie and said, “I’m going to share a vision given to me. I think it will explain a lot.” Trey showed them his visit to the temple and then the vision of Creation. Danielle and Tag watched and afterwards they were silent. Trey watched them waiting for a response and after five minutes of silence he said, “What are you thinking?”

Danielle looked at him with tears welling up in her eyes and said, “We lost our way. We forgot our purpose and now we’ve been discarded by the force that created us. So much suffering we could have stopped. We are even guiltier than Sprig.”

Trey watched Tag get up and kneel in front of Danielle’s chair and say, “That’s why our psychics have lost their heart. They are no longer connected to Creation. All of us can feel it.”

Danielle buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed. Tag held her and heard her say, “So much wasted time; so many wasted lives.”

Trey looked at the two Algeans and said, “I’ll answer your question now. I no longer blame them.” Cassie came into Trey’s arms and put her head on his shoulder and thought to him, “I pray our love will be this strong.”

Trey continued to watch the Gardners and thought, “It will be.”

The Algeans, along with Grace and Alex, embraced the moment and felt the love of the two human couples. Alex felt something and looked at his readouts, “Grace, our power banks are at a hundred percent.”

Grace immediately scanned the readings and was shocked, “How? How…?”

“I don’t know, but it appears the two couples have doubled our power reserves.”

“We need to tell Trey.”

“Later, not at this moment.”

Grace looked back at the four humans and said, “You’re right. Not at this moment.”

• • •

The Four Council Members looked at the Distributor on their monitors. They had rushed back to their home world when they felt the huge blue psychic blast blow by their ships. Most of the other Demons were back and more were arriving every moment. All of them felt fear and their leaders were confused about what action to take. The First Councilor asked the others, “What do we do?”

No one responded so the Distributor said, “I suggest we launch another of the older fleets and start them harvesting as much Remid as possible.”

“Why should we do that?”

“We will all die if we run out of our supplies. We need to make plans for a long campaign and we must insure our supply.”

“Won’t those ships come and destroy our ships again?”

“If they have been tracking our movements, they must have seen that we have followed a direct course through the universal chain. We will go to a universe much further down the chain and I suspect if we go directly there and start our farming, we will go unnoticed.”

The First looked at the other three and they nodded, “Launch the fleet.” The First then said, “What do we do about that Creation Wave?”

The third said, “We need to get help.”

“What do you mean?”

“We should ask the Family about what we should do.”

The First felt his fear but forced it down, “They would derive great pleasure in killing us.”

“That would normally be true, but this is not normal. The strength of that wave must have caused them as much trepidation as us. They may welcome our help.”

The First looked at the others and said, “That will be an action of last resort. We should attempt to find where the blast originated before we even think about going back to the Family. Do you agree?”

Everyone hesitated but finally nodded.

The Distributor said, “How long will we search before we go?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I want to gather as much Remid as possible before we make that move. I want to make sure all of us have a large enough supply to last us a very long time if we are forced to run.”

The First Councilor said, “Send all four fleets out. We will collect our powder and then see what must be done.”

The Fourth said, “Are you sure you want to send the advanced ships?”

“If they can’t stand up to those ships, we might as well find out while they’re doing something productive. If, like the Distributor says, they probably won’t be followed, it’s worth the risk.”

The Distributor watched the four and said, “I’ll send them out immediately.”

• • •

Cassie sat in her chair with her eyes closed, watching the dimension of the Orange Demons. She had remained on the Robbins while Trey and the Gardners met with the Emperor. She had felt something tug at her subconscious, so she began searching for what caused it. She leaned back in her chair and just let her mind be free. After thirty minutes, she saw a huge glow and focused closely on what she was seeing. Millions of ships were leaving the Demon’s Dimension and jumping away. She started looking in the Realm’s dimension, fearing the worst. She waited and watched and after an hour nothing showed up. They weren’t going there. Where were they going?

She got up and had Greyson teleport her to the Emperor’s Quarters where Trey, Tag, and Danielle were meeting with Timmy and Virze. She appeared and the four of them stopped talking in midsentence. Trey looked at her, “What’s wrong?”

“The Demons have launched millions of ships.” She saw Danielle put her hand to her throat and she said, “I’ve not seen any of them go to the Realm.”

Timmy said, “What do you think they’re doing?”

Trey said, “Give us a moment.” He and Cassie held hands and pushed their view out to all of creation. They let their minds go free and after ten minutes they found the universes the Demons had jumped to. Trey opened his eyes and said, “They have invaded four universes, far down from their last conquest.”

“Why do you think they did that?”

“I’m not really sure, Your Majesty.”

Danielle said, “What do you mean by far down?”

Cassie said, “They have been invading universes sequentially for the last million years. Those universes are far beyond the last one they harvested. I suspect they are unaware that we can see their movements. Perhaps we should go confront them there?”

Danielle said, “Let’s see if we can figure this out.”

Trey looked at her and knew she was the best there had ever been at finding the truth. He saw Tag sit back in his chair and knew he had an idea about what was about to happen. “By all means, help us see it.”

“Why do they invade universes?”

“To harvest a powerful drug that they are dependent on.”

“How dependent are they?”

“We believe that if they quit taking it they will die from withdrawals and the death won’t be pretty.”

“Do they usually invade one universe at a time?”

“They always did before we destroyed their stock piles. Then they invaded with multiple fleets until they harvested enough to replenish the amount they lost. Once that supply was replenished, they went back to using one fleet.”

“Now they are using four fleets, so we can surmise that either they have had their stock piles reduced or they are going to build a larger amount in their inventories.” Danielle paused and asked, “Which feels right to you?”

Trey and Cassie said together, “They need a larger inventory.”

“Good, so now we have to ask why they would need a larger inventory. Are they using more or are they afraid they don’t have enough?”

Cassie said, “They’re worried about their supply. I’m certain their population isn’t growing. They must be worried about the amount they’ve stored. Something they’re planning has them worried.”

“Are we expecting them to do anything?”

Trey looked at Danielle and said, “How long did it take you to see this?”

Danielle shrugged, “It’s obvious if you think about it.”

“No it’s not.”

Timmy said, “See what?”

Trey said, “We expect the Orange Demons to go to the Dark Galaxy to contact the Red Demons that they think are still there for assistance. I’m sure they are stockpiling additional stores in the event that they are forced to run. I’m certain that they still fear the Dark Galaxy Demons.”

“Why would they go there in the first place?”

“The Psychic Blast from our release must have severely frightened them. They fear the Creative Force more than their ancestors. Once they have enough stockpiled, they will go to the Dark Galaxy in the Stars Realm.”

Danielle said, “So if you attack them now, what will they do?”

“They will go to the Realm much sooner.”

“They will learn if you go to their current invasions that you can see wherever they go and whatever they do. That will frighten them even more and they will go to the Realm immediately.”

Tag said, “What are you going to do?”

Trey looked extremely uncomfortable, “Before I met the two of you, I would have gone to kick them out of those universes and not even worried about the Realm. I can’t do that now.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not completely certain the Realm is a lost cause.” Trey looked at the two Algeans standing next to Timmy and said, “They can ultimately make a difference in the battle to bring balance to Creation if they can find their way back. I’ve now seen that even when they made horrendous mistakes it was done to prevent suffering. They are lost but they can still find salvation. I’m thinking that our meeting them was possibly orchestrated by the Creative Force. Tag and Danielle choosing to join us leads me to believe that there might still be a place for the Realm in the fight.”

Weed said, “I wish that were true but I’m just not certain they can help us.”

“We won’t know unless we give them a chance.”

Virze said, “So what do we do?”

Trey smiled, “We give them that chance and then go kick the crap out of the Demon Fleets.”

Timmy said, “While we’re doing that, how many will die in those universes?”

Trey looked at Timmy, “Your Majesty, I’m not at all certain we will prevail against them if we do go there; especially if the Demons show up in their ships. I have no doubt that their advanced ships are in those universes and both Cassie and I still sense great danger in attacking them head on. We don’t have nearly enough ships to take them on now. We can possibly save one or two of those universes, but anything more than that is a gamble. The Realm’s Fleets could possibly help in the future but not right now.”

Timmy said, “Trey, this is your game. You need to play it the way you think we should go.”

Tag said, “It would be a huge mistake to go to those universes now.”

Everyone turned and stared at him. He said, “I’m past allowing innocent civilizations to suffer and die while I do nothing, but I sense that you would give too much away if you acted now.”

Cassie said, “He’s right. My sense of danger is off the scale about interfering with their current invasions.”

Trey stared at Tag and Danielle and she said, “You worry about our loyalty to the Realm.”

“How can I not? You two are the Realm.”

Danielle said, “Then you’re asking the wrong question.”

Trey stood there and slowly shook his head until Cassie said, “You should question the Realm’s loyalty to them.”

Danielle said, “Exactly right.”

Trey looked at her and saw it. “Then where is your loyalty?”

“My loyalty is to life. I’ve forgotten that oath but I will never forget it again. We are made to make creation a better place and we’ve not done the things that needed doing. I will not make that mistake again.”

Trey turned to Tag, “What about you?”

“I am a weapon. I was born to save life, not take it. I have learned over the centuries that my wife can always see the truth. I will go where she points me. I choose to make Creation better than I found it. I can honestly say that I have not done that.” Tag paused and added, “Yet.”