Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller Brandon Ellis (ebook reader for comics txt) 📖

Epilogue

Kaden Jaxx lay on a granite table in the middle of a pyramid. A sharp wave of hot energy shot through him. His chest lifted violently toward the ceiling, his back arcing away from the stone table, his body shaking. A flash of light singed his vision and penetrated his cells, widening them, expanding them. He slowly drifted, his hands and feet tingling, his spine firing signals to every area of his body, activating latent DNA. With a distinctive click, he was connected to the pyramid and a vast network opened up like a map before him, golden beams connecting planet to planet, pyramid to pyramid. Its lines created a sacred torus—the geometric seed of all life, the primal shape of all DNA.

Then, for a fleeting, terrifying second—in which he doubted his choice, doubted whether dying to save a world, a people, his one true love, was the right move—absolute darkness.

Out of that darkness, a star appeared. Then another and another. He was in space. The harmonious chimes and songs from invisible angels surrounded him.

Wasn’t space supposed to be a vacuum without sound?

Not today.

He flung forward at a ridiculous pace, passing through the solar system, bypassing planets and moons he’d never known existed, speeding on a stream of light pulling him along like a surfer on a mammoth lauloa, the mystic Hawaiian wave that never ended.

Until it did.

He landed on something hard, strong, and unbreakable, then bounced and shuddered to a stop.

He gasped for air as if emerging from under water for too long. He pushed himself up, his hands behind him, propping his body in place. His heart pounded and his eyes darted around, taking in his new surroundings.

He blinked. Where the hell am I?

He was in another pyramid, this one with white walls, less polished. No one was in the room but him.

He blinked several more times. He was in a new place—on another center stone in another pyramid.

He hopped off the stone, his boots landing on the hard, granite floor. He backed away and butted against a wall. A breeze drifted across the front of his body, bringing the scent of nature; trees, flowers, wheat.

Wheat?

He glanced over the rock slab lying on top of the sarcophagus. He didn’t know if he was dreaming or dead. If this was death, it was a damn sight livelier than he’d expected. But he had to keep moving. There was something he was supposed to do. A tunnel descended on the other side. His exit.

“Hello?” his voice echoed off the walls.

The ground rumbled.

He walked toward the tunnel, bracing himself against the center stone as the ground shook a second time. Did he hear an explosion? He crouched, ducking under the shallow frame that made up the tunnel’s entrance, and headed down, hoping to reach the outside—wherever and whatever outside was.

“Hello?” he called again.

No reply.

Karoooooj!

The tunnel vibrated and Jaxx slipped, landing on his rear, then slid down the passageway. He pointed his boots outward to catch him when he hit the ground.

He stepped through the opening and out of the pyramid. A village with white huts, made from a shimmering material; fields of wheat-like grain, tall as corn stalks, were laid out in front of him and went on for miles. A massive pyramid hovered twenty feet or so above the ground and spun in the distance. A red light blinked at its apex.

“Where the heck am I?” He turned and gazed up at the pyramid he’d exited. The capstone was golden and gleamed brilliantly under the two suns—one sun blueish-white, the other yellow-white, together casting a yellow-blue that suffused the air.

His mind raced, searching for answers. This must be the afterlife.

He stepped back, glancing around, his body heat rising from the humidity.

A hiss echoed across the land, loud and far away. He glanced in the sound’s direction. A pyramid was lifting off the ground, a sandy cloud curling beneath it. The pyramid spun and hovered twenty or thirty feet, its golden apex changing to a blinking red.

He frowned, his jaw dropping. He’d never witnessed a freaking pyramid hover, let alone lift off the ground and off its foundation. Who had? What was it doing? Were rocket boosters going to unfold from the bottom and propel it off the planet?

He scanned the area, desperate to find who in God’s name was controlling that thing.

Jaxx jumped back at a deafening, unearthly sound, the ground trembling. Again, his mouth fell slack, this time in horror. Large black combat-mechs with their thick, monstrous torsos and arms, giant legs, and fire billowing out of their feet, were entering the planet’s atmosphere, leaving a smoky trail behind them.

Jaxx spun, eyes wide, and ran toward a wheat field, the stalks taller than him, something he wasn’t used to. Wheat never grew this tall on Earth.

His heart raced and his feet took him as fast as he could go. As Jaxx barreled through the tall grains, the sounds of more combat-mechs filled the air, the ground shaking under his feet.

He skidded to a halt. Surrounded by the long, thick wiry grasses, Jaxx observed that their tan color matched the terrain he stood upon. He didn’t know how long he had run or how far, but he was lost in the sea of stalks.

A crunch then another crunch. The steps came closer, the wheat jostling as someone or something made its way toward Jaxx.

Another combat-mech ripped through the sky.

The footsteps stopped. The wheat’s movements ceased.

Something touched Jaxx’s sacrum and quickly ran up his spine, making his back tingle. He spun, staggered, feet planted slightly wider than his hips, ensuring his body’s weight was distributed fifty-fifty on each foot, ready for the coming fight. He brought one elbow and forearm close to his body, protecting his solar plexus, liver, and ribs, his hand in a fist. He brought the other fist close to his face, positioned near his jaw.

No one was there.

He closed his