CHAPTER 21

Hamunaptra Resort

Earth, Sol Sector

There were blinding lights engulfing half of the arena. Some people covered their eyes and some simply closed them. And they too felt the ground beneath them shake. But they were all trained soldiers and warriors. None of them screamed in panic but all of them were becoming more cautious.

As the ground slowly stopped shaking and the light faded out, they could see in front of them a huge hole. The surface was like water, rippling and changing in size. The hole was around 4 meters in diameter.

Dr. Faric broke the silence, "A passageway."

General Gunn and Commander Riker both commanded their troops in their own languages.

"Ready….."

Ardeth went forward, holding the golden scepter in his left hand and a long heavy sword in his right hand. The Dnunians were surprised to see the sword. The handle was carved beautifully in flowers and leaves design and there was a line of Dnunian characters carved along the sword. It was read: STREGA, or in English: Silver Flame. The lovely yet deadly royal sword had been especially made for the Princess. Every royal family member possessed one. The sword glowed silvery under the sun, yet when Ardeth moved it somehow it left behind a trace of greenish waves on the air.

Troy turned to Eryc, demanding explanation. Eryc merely said, "He needs it." He quickly drew his own sword STREGO, the Golden Flame. Unlike Strega, this sword was golden in color and it left a trace of bluish waves when Eryc drew it up.

Troy didn’t pursue the matter. There was no time. He too drew his own sword. At the sight of the sword, every Starfleet who knew about weapons immediately fell silence. The sword was long and looked heavy. It looked like ordinary sword, and the handle was so simple compare to the twins’. But when he drew it out of it scabbard and held it high to signal the soldiers to be prepared, it left traces of beautiful rainbow colors. Every time Troy moved it, the color changed. Anyone could see immediately that the color would definitely distract attention of the enemy, thus giving him chances to strike. It was such a wonderful craft and a dangerous weapon at the same time. It was called Myadorya, The Light.

The Starfleet personnel all drew their swords. Theirs were replicated swords they designed several hours before on the replicator. Everyone had the same sword.

General Gunn and Commander Riker led the troops into the passageway. Ardeth followed closely behind them. They marched into the passageway with confidence.

General Gunn looked around him, and so did everyone who arrived. They were on the desert, at night. Troy held out his sword.

"Myadorya!" He called out. And then there was light. It was white light, quite bright. But in the gloom of the desert it only served as dim lighting. The sword did not get its name from nothing. The Starfleet officers who were assigned to bring some torches were starting to turn on their equipment too. The torches were small, but their lights were bright and wide.

"Where is this Amara that you are talking about?" Janoj asked Ardeth.

"Aren’t you glad we do not have to meet it?" He responded.

"I’m picking up signals of another opening, Your Majesty." Dr. Faric said. His eyes on his tricorder.

"That way." He led on.

The others followed him, still in full alert. A moment later another passageway opened. The blinding light once again engulfed them and they marched once again into the passage. Everybody was happy that finally they did not have to fight the army of the lost souls that Ardeth had been talking about.

"Salvia!!!!" Suddenly Eryc cried. He suddenly felt her presence again. He could see things that she was seeing. She was standing on the other side of the passageway. She was also calling his name.

"I’m coming for you, Salvia!" Eryc ran forward. Despite of the guards’ speed to try to stop him, protecting him from rushing into unknown territory, he managed to escape their grabs and ran into the passageway. The guards ran after him.

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Captain Picard walked towards Salvia’s tent. He called her to come out but there was no answer. Instead, Hazanah came out to greet him.

"Good morning. I’d like to see Princess Salvia." He greeted her in return.

"You will find her in the Chief’s tent, Captain." She answered and went back inside the tent.

Picard thought that there must be some trouble, for Hazanah looked angry. He quickly went the other way towards Ardeth’s tent. He hoped that the Princess didn’t get herself into more trouble again.

"Please come in, Captain." Picard heard the Chief’s voice inviting him in.

He went in and saw Salvia sitting on one corner of the tent. She looked disturbed and uneasy. Ardeth too looked more tensed than the day before.

"Salvia, I think we better be there now. The portal will open in less than an hour." He said.

"I’ll be there in a minute, Jean-Luc. Go first." She answered in a cold voice.

It sounded like an order to Picard’s ear. He looked at Ardeth and he avoided his gaze. There was something going on between these two people. And Picard was a perceptive person. He could guess what had happened. So he walked out of the tent saying that he would expect her to come soon.

"I’m sorry…" Salvia said once Captain Picard was out.

"I’m not." Ardeth looked at her intensely.

"It was the most wonderful night I’ve ever had. Don’t tell me you’re sorry, Salvia. I know you enjoyed it as much as I did." He said.

Salvia drew he knees up and cupped her face with both her hands. She was sobbing.

"I… I… enjoyed it. I’m not suppose to. That’s why I feel sorry. I’m not suppose to…."

She didn’t finish her words and cried. Ardeth came to her and sat beside her. He caressed her long red hair. She was still hiding her face behind her hands.

"Not suppose to what? Fall in love? Well you’re not. Now look at me, Salvia, we need to talk."

Salvia looked at him in disbelief. Her eyes and face were wet. "I hate it when you say we need to talk. You’re just like him… or he you."

Ardeth couldn’t repress a smile. He held her close.

"That’s what I’m going to talk about. Your Ardeth. Salvia, know this. You may not realize that when you were making love to me and called my name, in your heart you were calling his name. You are not falling in love with me. I’m just a man, at the right time and right place to meet your desire. You were so high last night. I could feel your body and your warmth in me, but not your mind. It was somewhere else, with someone else."

He caressed her hair again and held her even closer.

"Salvia, I cannot lie to you and pretend that I’m not interested in you. I’ve fallen in love with you the moment I saw you at the oasis. So please, my dear, don’t blame yourself for what we did last night. You didn’t betray your love to your Ardeth. Blame me for having his looks and voice."

Salvia looked into his eyes. She didn’t say anything.

"Now you better go. You wouldn’t want to miss it when the portal opens up. If it didn’t work and you were stuck here forever, we can talk more. But if you managed to go back to your time, just forget about me and live happily with your beloved. You can consider what we had as a one night stand."

He rose and took her hand. "Dry your tears. You don’t want other people to see your weakness."

Salvia stood before him and smiled. She dried her tears and hugged him. She whispered in his ear, "I’m glad I know you, Chief Bay."

She kissed him lightly on his cheek and walked out of the tent. Ardeth smiled and followed her out. When they reached the location, Salvia was stunned to see hundreds of armed Med-Jai warriors. She stood next to Captain Picard who was consulting his tricorder.

"Are you going to war?" She asked Ardeth.

"Yes. Against the evil spirit of Amara." He said.

"Who?"

"They believe that we have somehow arisen the evil spirit by opening the portal." Picard explained.

"I don’t understand." Salvia said to Ardeth.

"You do not need to, Your Highness. We know that Amara will emerge from the whole, because it is written in the prophecy. Your only concern is to try to go back to your time."

"Do you believe all this bull shit, Jean-Luc?" Salvia whispered to Picard.

"Yes. I believe that they believe in what they think is true. We might have other explanation about the Amara, though."

"What’s an Amara, then?" She asked.

"I do not know yet, it could be anything from magnetic fields to Q apparition." Picard said.

Salvia sighed and fell silent. They all waited for the opening as the clock ticked closer to the predicted time.

Suddenly, a bright light burst from the middle of the tomb. And once again the Med-Jai witnessed a great phenomenal sight as the portal opened up into a big hole.

Salvia felt a bang of existence inside her head. She suddenly ran towards the hole, screaming.

"ERYYYYYYYYC!!!!"

Captain Picard and Ardeth simultaneously tried to grab a hold on her but they missed her by an inch. She ran freely towards the mouth of the hole. Strangely, they suddenly heard someone else’s voice from the hole. A male voice shouting.

"I’m coming for you, Salvia!"

And a few seconds later a male dressed in dark purple uniform, carrying a long beautiful sword came running and met her half way. He had the same red hair, curly and long. His face resembled Salvia so much and he somehow looked too pretty to be a man. He was tall and slender.

He threw away his sword as he came to her and took her into his arms and held her tight. He kissed her passionately and she kissed him back. Ardeth frowned. His guessed would be her twin brother, but from the way they were acting, they looked more like lovers.

Picard let out a long sigh, but a moment later he was surprised to see the Princes of Dnunia emerging from the hole. And behind them came thousands of Dnunian soldiers and Starfleet officers.

Ardeth Bay watched the Dnunian Princes one by one hugging and kissing Salvia. They were all taller than humans. The soldiers too, looked like army of death people. They all had pale white skin like a troop of walking corpses. Ardeth couldn’t help shivering. He watched his men looking at them too. It was a horrific sight. He was glad they were not his enemies. But what made his jaw dropped was a man in a black/blue jumpsuit. And that man too was stunned to see him.

"Ardeth!" Salvia shouted.

He turned to look at her and smiled. Yet before she could run towards him Janoj managed to grab her left arm. She shook him off and ran towards Ardeth. Suddenly a tall big man stood in her way and took hold of her.

"Vassago!" Some of the Princes murmured the name.

"I hope I’m not too late." He said in a thunderous voice.

"You look all right, little one. You just smell like a horse." He chuckled while holding her still.

"Let me go, Vassago. Let me go." Salvia cried.

"You will have plenty of time to play, my dearest. Now I must take you back home. Nay, nay, don’t cry on me, little one. You know I hate to see you cry." He said again.

Salvia let out a desperate cry. She shoved her shoulder on him, but Vassago was the biggest of them all. No matter how she shook herself off him, he stood there like a wall. He grabbed the key from her and threw it to Janoj.

"Janoj, give me the key and hold her until I tell you to let her go."

Troy ordered and then signalled Vassago to do something. Vassago kissed Salvia and walked towards Picard. Meanwhile Troy destroyed the key with the phaser gun.

"Captain Picard, I’m Vassago of Dnunia." He introduced himself.

"Your Highness," Picard bowed slightly.

"Who is in charge of this place?" He asked.

"This is Chief Ardeth Bay, Your Majesty. He’s the leader of the Med-Jai." Picard introduced Ardeth to Vassago.

Vassago was surprised to see his resemblance to the other Ardeth, but kept it for himself.

"Chief Bay, we need you to do us a favor. You see that portal over there, it will close in a few minutes. That portal however is not connected to our time. Thus we cannot go back in there. Our technology however will open another portal directly from the 24^th century, once we turn off the key to this passageway. There are technical reasons that you might not understand that prevent us from opening it sooner. I have given 3 hours for our scientist to start opening the new passageway. It is to avoid opening it too soon before we arrive in this place and time. So if you will allow us, my soldiers and the Starfleet people, to rest for 3 hours in your land, it will help us a lot."

"Certainly, Your Highness. I will lead you to the oasis to get some fresh water." Ardeth said.

"Thank you."

"Your Highness, why are you bringing so many soldiers?" Picard asked.

"That, Captain Picard, you must ask Mr. Ardeth Bay VII." He walked away to join the others.

Picard introduced Ardeth to Ardeth. Both smiled and hugged each other. Ardeth Bay VII was obviously older than Ardeth Bay. But Ardeth Bay looked more mature.

"I’m glad to meet you." Ardeth VII said.

"It’s good to see you too, Med-Jai." Ardeth hugged him.

"I hate to tell you, I’m not a Med-Jai warrior."

"You are. It’s in the blood. I think that’s why you brought so many men with you. You are afraid of the spirit of Amara." Ardeth guessed.

"Yes. But I think my guess was wrong. We didn’t meet anyone at all when we opened the passage to the last coordinate of time. That portal over there opens to this place of 4000 years ago, exactly the same year. The year of the Scorpion."

Ardeth let out a deep sigh, "Then we are not safe. For the Amara will come and the army of the lost souls will get us. You can trust me on this."

As if hearing what Ardeth had said, a loud bang was heard from inside the portal. Then they could hear the sound of high-pitched shrieks followed by thunderous sound of footsteps running.

CHAPTER 22

Captain Picard went to join the Starfleet troops. General Gunn immediately shouted commands in Dnunian language arranging his soldiers. And Ardeth Bay too prepared his warriors to fight.

"Fight by my side, Ardeth." He said.

"It’s an honor, Chief." Ardeth VII replied and stood ready beside him.

"Here, this scepter can close the portal. I’m not familiar with it."

He threw the scepter to the Chief. Ardeth held Strega firmer in his hand. He had never been in a real battle before and he was quite nervous now.

The thunderous sound of footsteps sounded closer. A moment later they could see dark figures running out from the portal. Their shrieking voice almost deafened the troops. General Gunn ordered the troops to adjust their G-belts.

"So this is the army of the lost souls." Janoj said to Sharc.

Vassago turned to Janoj who was still holding Salvia’s hand.

"Let her go, Janoj. Eryc, come here!" He barked to his youngest brother.

"Can I trust you to look after her?" He asked.

"What?" Eryc said in disbelief. "I…" He was about to protest.

"I said can I trust you?" Vassago almost growled.

"Yes, Vassago." Eryc said, sighing heavily.

"Then go now. I want you to get as far away from the battle as possible. If anything should happen, and you see the portal is opening, don’t think twice. Get yourself out of here. Can I trust you?"

"Yes, Vassago. You can trust this wimp." Eryc answered sarcastically.

Salvia on the other hand was furious.

"I’m going into the battle with you, Vassago. You can’t do this to me. I’m not made of glass." She shouted.

"SALVIA!! ERYC!! Do as he says!!" Troy’s voice thundered behind them.

The twins turned and gulped. They were always a little bit afraid of Troy, though they didn’t know why.

"Get Lost!!" Troy shouted at them again.

Before the words ended Eryc took Salvia’s hand and ran out south towards the village, away from the battlefield.

As they ran they could hear swords clanging against swords. They ran uphill towards the mountains. Eryc didn’t let go of Salvia’s hand. The noise of the battle was deafening horribly. They could hear cries of war from Dnunian soldiers were being answered by the shrieking cries of the army of the lost souls. Yet both of them didn’t turn to look. They kept on running up hill.

When they reached the top of the hill they turned their backs and looked down at the battlefield. What they saw was horrible. Thousands of creatures were pouring out from the hole. They had dark grey skin and no hair. They wore black torn robes. Their faces were frightening to look at, with deep sunken red eyes and sharp teeth like jackals. They didn’t have nose either. There were only small holes to replace the noses. The skin covered their bone loosely as if they didn’t have flesh. Maybe they didn’t. They had black sharp fingernails. Their look was so repulsive. They all fought with swords.

From up the hill, the twins could see the gleaming of the swords. The Starfleet people held the ground on the left side of the portal, while the Med-Jai warriors on the right side. The Dnunian soldiers who were much stronger covered the front line. They were leaping up and down like grasshoppers.

"They must have reduced the Gravity by 50%." Eryc commented.

The soldiers leaped up and swooped back down swinging their swords. Each could kill 2 to 3 creatures at one swing and leaped back up before the creature could catch him. The Med-Jai and Starfleet fought bravely. They too moved swiftly killing the creatures. But the creatures kept coming even faster like water pouring out of a hole.

Salvia looked worriedly across the battlefield. She was looking for the sign of Strega. She saw the rainbow waves moving gracefully around in speed. Yet she could not see Troy because he was engulfed by the color of Myadorya. Then not far from him she could see traces of yellow bright light. It was quite hard to see it from a far because of the color of the desert. But she sometimes could see Sharc leaping up, holding his sword Lothya (The Sun).

"Look, Vassago is in action."

Eryc pointed out the blur of blood red color. It was like a snake moving in the air. It was beautiful to watch, but Salvia and Eryc knew that down there Vassago was fighting not dancing. The Narnya (The Blood), his sword was the heaviest among the others. Only Vassago alone could handle it that swiftly.

Eryc looked for the sign of The Silnarya (The Shadow) to see if Janoj was still fighting. A second later he found its traces of calm greyish shades.

"Where’s Strega?" Salvia asked.

They started looking for the greenish ribbon wave. But they couldn’t see any.

"Where is he, Eryc? Where is Ardeth?" She asked.

"I don’t know, my dear. But I’m sure he’s all right. Maybe the sword is to heavy for him and he chose to fight with scimitar."

"I hope so…." Salvia said softly.

________________________________________________________________________

"We can’t fight like this." The Chief shouted at Ardeth.

"Like what?" He asked, ducking his head avoiding an attack.

"This will never end. We have to find the Amara and kill her. Then all of this will stop." Chief Bay suddenly ran off.

"Follow me!" He shouted.

Ardeth ran after him, swinging Strega to clear his way of the creature.

They both hide behind a big rock, taking their breath.

"Listen to me. We must go inside the hole and find the Amara. These Dnunians, they are strong and fast. They will hold until we come back. Do you want to come with me, or do you prefer to fight here?" He asked.

"I’m going with you, Chief." He confirmed.

"Good, I’m gonna need your help. Come, let’s find our way inside the hole."

"It’s gonna be difficult, Chief. These creatures are marching like machines."

"We have to try, son. We have to. Come now!"

They ran back to the left side of the portal and from there fought their way inside the hole. It turned out that it was not as difficult as they imagined, for the creatures seemed lifeless. Once they totally got out and touched by the sun, they came to life and started fighting.

They fought to clear their way in. But then they realized that it was actually easier than they had thought. The creatures were indeed marching like machines. They came to life when the sun touched their skins. Fifteen minutes later they have come inside the portal and were stunned by the view before them.

________________________________________________________________________

"There! I saw Strega!" Eryc shouted.

Salvia quickly looked towards the way Eryc pointed. They saw the green shadow of Strega moving, fighting its way inside the passageway.

"What the hell is he doing? Is he trying to get into the hole?" Salvia asked.

"Look! Vassago is following him." Eryc pointed at the red blood wave of color swinging behind Strega.

"Eryc, let’s go follow them."

"No way! You have no sword. And besides, Troy will kill me if he knew."

"I can’t just stay up here and do nothing."

"Neither can I, my dear. But we have no other choice." He held Salvia closer. And they once again stood in silence watching the battle.

________________________________________________________________________

Vassago saw both Ardeths were fighting their way inside the passageway. He quickly followed them curiously. When he came all the way inside he stood beside Ardeth VII and the three of them were standing in amazement.

In front of them stood a huge creature. Small creatures came out from a black hole in its belly, marching out like machines.

"Holly Yagnar!" Vassago whispered.

"So this is the source." Ardeth Bay VII thought.

Suddenly the Amara saw them. And it started to move its head closer to them. Chief Bay held his scepter high. Seeing it, the Amara shrieked out loud. A deafening high-pitched noise came out from its mouth. The gaping hole in its belly was closing and the Amara started to walk towards them.

Chief Bay was somehow looked confused. He held the golden scepter with both hands and pulled it.

"What are you doing?" Ardeth asked him.

"This thing should open up into a spear. That’s how we should kill Amara." He said frustrated.

"It’s coming at us!" Vassago shouted.

The three of them ran out of the hole, followed closely by the Amara monster.

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Troy stood in the middle of the desert. Dead creatures were around him. He looked at Sharc and turned to see the rest of his army. The Starfleet people were also stopped fighting. All of a sudden the flow of the creatures from inside the passageway had stopped. Yet no one dared to leave the battlefield. They all waited in anticipation of what might come next.

Salvia and Eryc started to climb down the hill to see closer. They walked towards the battlefield because they thought the fighting was over. Then suddenly all eyes turned to the three figures running out form the passageway.

"Ardeth!" Salvia pointed.

Eryc turned to see him and gasped. They were still quite some distance away from the field. He quickly grabbed Salvia’s hand and pulled her up again. He had to drag her because she was too stunned to move.

"A dragon." She finally managed to whisper.

They could see in a distant before them, indeed a dragon. It was not like dragons in earth legends. Dragon in Dnunia only lives in storybooks, read to children before they went to sleep. It was 6 or 7 meter-high. Unlike earth dragons, it had two legs with sharp nails. It stood on its two legs like a tyrannosaurus. It had two claws and a long tail with sharp thorny skin. Its head was similar to a jackal’s head, with a long horn in the middle. And Dnunian dragon did not possess breath of fire. What they saw in front of them was everything that were described in their storybooks.

The Dnunian soldiers and Starfleet officers started to fire their phasers towards the creature, but it made no effect on it. Then they joined the Med-Jai fighting with their swords but it was in vain. The Amara stepped on the people and crushing them into bits and pieces. Its tail swiped the soldiers like flies. The 6 mighty swords seemed unable to wound it.

Chief Bay on the other hand, did not bother to attack it. He was busy chanting on the corner of the battlefield. Vassago managed to tell Troy that it could only be killed by the scepter. Troy barked some orders to his men and moved back to tell Captain Picard about it.

Vassago, Sharc and Janoj joined forces to attack the great creature. They made such a deadly yet beautiful movement to attract it’s attention from getting to the Chief. It was a formation of three, created hundreds of years ago to protect the life of the emperor. The formation then became an art that should be mastered by all Princes and Princesses of Dnunia. Each person had a side to protect. The formation might be developed depended on the skills of the 3 people. Since there were 6 of them, they had trained to master all sides of the formation. Thus, in case needed, any of the 6 could fight in any of the 3 sides. However, unknown to the Emperor, Troy and Vassago had developed this formation for 6 people all together instead of being separated in 2 formations.

Ardeth Bay had known about this formation. He knew that he had to help the Chief, and Strega was no good for fighting the Amara, thus he returned the sword to Salvia.

Getting her sword back, Salvia and Eryc jumped into the battle. Troy who noticed them quickly followed and ordered them to join formation with the 3 others.

The six royal members of Dnunian Empire now were jumping up and down. Soon their movements were too quick to follow and all that could be seen only the waves of colors emanating from their mighty swords. Myadorya, Narnya, Silnarya, Lothya, Strego and Strega formed wonderful waves of colors around the creature. Soon, the creature was not able to look and was busy trying to catch the 6 people who were moving faster than its eyes could see.

Ardeth quickly came to the Chief and helped him prepared the ritual to close the gateway. The Chief seemed to be trying to perform the same ritual that Monica Bleeth had done to open the gate.

"Ardeth, I need you to open up this specter into a spear. I must finish the ritual. Once you have the spear, you must throw it to its throat. Do not worry, it will fly away up high if I finish chanting. Just do it and the gateway will be closed automatically." He explained.

Ardeth had not time to reply. The Chief began to chant again, and he is now looking at the scepter in his hands, trying to figure out how to open it. He pressed some parts of it, pulled, and knocked, but nothing seemed to work. Until he saw the carving on the hilt of the scepter. He pulled it to no avail. Then he turned it. Ardeth was surprised to see a long metal spear appeared from the other end of the scepter.

He shouted to the Chief to let him know. The Chief motioned him to proceed and Ardeth ran out to the battlefield. He let out a long cry of war that his father once taught him. A war cry of the Med-jai warriors.

People stopped attacking the creature to give way to him to pass. The 6 Dnunians heard the cry and started to give way for him to shoot. Ardeth signaled that he was going to throw the spear. Troy ordered the other 5 to keep fighting so that the Amara did not realized that Ardeth was aiming at its throat. With his strength he threw the spears. Amazingly it felt so light and it flew directly to the throat of the creature. A sudden cold wind blew as if accompanying the spears to fly up and up towards the creature’s throat. With a blast of blinding white light it penetrated the hard skin like a stone to the water.

The Amara shrieked and a thunderous noise was heard all over. The gateway was starting to collapse and the Amara slowly disappeared into smoke. Finally with a loud bang, the last of the hole collapsed. Sand was blown all over and when it settled, the desert was once again bright and quiet.

The Med-Jai hoorayed, holding their scimitars up high above their heads. The Starfleet officers joined them, shouting hoorays. The Dnunian soldiers smiled and laughed, but non-of them jumping and hooraying. They shook hands with the humans and patted their shoulders.

Yet a moment later, all the eyes turned to the two Ardeths. They were standing side by side, smiling. He couldn’t believe that he had been fighting side by side with the greatest warrior Ardeth Bay. He too couldn’t stop admiring the warriors dressed in black around them. All his life he could only see their pictures and holograms. Never the real persons.

Salvia ran towards them. Ardeth saw her coming and greeted her with open hands. He was so glad to see her that a second later he had forgotten about the Chief and all the Med-Jai warriors.