Orion Colony Complete Series Boxed Set J.N. Chaney (books for new readers .txt) 📖

They lifted their closed right fists into the air above their heads. They clenched their palms tightly, until a trickle of blood ran down their arms onto their chests.

“Legion is our enemy and one we take responsibility for creating,” Dama shouted. “Today marks the end of his reign once and for all. Together with our new allies, we right the wrong our ancestors created so many years before. Are you with me?”

The room erupted into a roar, all of the warriors buying into her words. Dama really knew how to give a speech. I half wanted to cut my hand open and yell along with them.

As the soldiers who participated in the blood rite began to gear up, I felt a tug on my right hand. I looked down to see a little Rung child.

I knelt down, looking at the kid. Her long eyelashes and the bright pink hair told me she was a girl.

“Are you the Chosen One?” she asked.

I looked around, confused as to how she would even know that term. Stacy and John shrugged. Tong evaded my eye contact. He was definitely the culprit, but why?

“Tong?” I asked.

“They already knew,” Tong said with a shrug. “Sulk heard Jezra talking about it back at our camp. He told Dama, and when she asked me, I had to tell her the truth.”

Great, so I’m the Chosen One for these people now too, I thought to myself. Well, if you’re already the Chosen One, might as well act like it.

“Sure, kid,” I told the small child. “I am the Chosen One.”

“You’re not going to let the Legion virus get us, are you?” she asked with large eyes. “It already got my mom and dad. I don’t want it to get me too.”

Aw, the poor kid. This made me hate the virus even more and gave me more determination to get rid of it once and for all. “It’s not going to get you,” I told her, placing a hand on her small shoulder. “You have my promise. I’m not going to let it.”

Her eyes never left mine. I could tell she wasn’t sure if she could believe me. I thought of Lou, then thought of what he might say to this grieving child.

“A friend of mine believes—believed that everything happens for a reason,” I told her. “I think I’m starting to believe that as well. And if that’s true, then I’m here for a reason. We all are. We’re here to end Legion and bring peace between the Rung and Remboshi. I promise you as long as I’m alive, I won’t give up.”

I wasn’t really sure where all of this reassurance and confidence was coming from. Maybe it was from seeing the blood rite, maybe it was the little girl in front of me who needed to hear these words so desperately, maybe it was Lou and his sacrifice, or a combination of them all.

“The man said you’d come to help us.” The little girl gave me a smile, wiping tears from her eye. “He said you’d come.”

“Dean?” Stacy asked, securing her helmet. “We’re ready.”

“I’ll be right there,” I said, standing but looking back down at the girl. “What man?”

“The other man like you.” The girl gave me a look that said I should know what she was talking about. “He said you were brothers.” A chill ran down my spine as I digested that information.

The noise in the room picked up in volume as warriors all around us made last-minute checks.

“What did he look like?” I asked, searching the room around us frantically for any sign of Maksim. “When did he come here?” That was all we needed right now, another being that liked to throw a monkey wrench in the works simply by his presence. Maksim was pretty much the reason we were all here now and was definitely not welcome to join in the festivities.

My eyes roved around the room. It would have been impossible to miss him, right? Dama had not mentioned anyone else and neither had Sulk.

“Where is he?” I asked, turning back to the little girl.

She was gone, lost in a small group of children on the other side of the room.

“Hey, you good to go?” John asked, joining me. “You look like someone just told you they killed your pet butterfly.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” I said, gripping the Dragon’s Breath tighter in my hands. I made my way over to the rear of the large chamber where a narrow access panel was being removed screw by screw.

Dama stood toward the front, decked out in dull grey armor with a visor that looked more like an ancient knight’s than anything high tech.

“Dama, was there another human that made it into your bunker?” I asked in earnest, although hoping the answer wouldn’t be what I thought it was. “He would have been tall, kind of skinny, possibly wearing a red handkerchief?”

Dama looked over to me. I could barely see her eyes through the narrow slits in her helmet. I wondered where they found this medieval design, how it could look this way centuries and universes apart.

“A human calling himself Brother Maksim came to us before Legion struck.” Dama nodded. “He warned us of the onslaught. He told us to go find you, that you would help us. He also started on the tech that would be able to allow us to speak to one another.”

“What?” Stacy asked in disbelief. “You didn’t think this was important to tell us? You lied to us?”

“I never lied,” Dama said in a calm, cool voice. “Brother Maksim made me promise to keep it a secret unless you were to ask outright. You asked and I did not lie.”

“Okay, but you withheld information from us that is actually very important. Maksim does not always have our best interests at heart. He caused the crash that brought us here,” Stacy told Dama.

“This man is very dangerous,” Tong added in from her right side. “Where is he now?”

“Dead, or at least