His growl was low. Red, we’ll be there in about forty seconds. Just hold out that long.
The winds increased and I knew we didn’t have forty seconds. We probably didn’t have ten. The Seventine were swirling around us. The half-Walker girls with long hair were attempting to stop it from whipping everyone in the face. It was cold in the mountain now, the iciness of each breath rattling in my chest.
“The first step is for us to connect our power,” I shouted to be heard above the wind. “Prepare yourselves.”
Just before I released my tether I turned to Lucy. “Go,” I yelled. “Find Brace and Jedi.”
Wide blue-yellow eyes locked on me, but for once she didn’t fight. She just turned and sped out of the room. The winds almost sent her flying, but her wings managed to catch on, allowing her to glide through a small gap and out of the door.
Okay, now that she was gone, I felt better. Crap was about to go down, and I needed to know she was safe. I reached for my golden tether and shot it out toward the seven half-Walkers. It hit one at a time, but was moving so fast the seven of us were connected almost instantaneously. I had known in theory that it was going to be a lot of energy. Damn, when there were only six of us it had almost been too much to handle. So I knew seven would blow my socks off.
I was half right.
It wasn’t our socks which we lost, but our damn heads. The moment the power exploded between us the well inside me erupted and then everything went dark.
Chapter 12
Our story has been passed through time. It is said that millions of years ago there was an area in space which was devoid of sentient life forms. It was the ultimate black void, encompassing the size of a thousand star systems. The gods looked upon this and thought it was a waste, so they decided to combine two of the most powerful mineral elements they could find and create life.
The collision between the lalunas and moonstale was incredibly intense. Beyond anything the Gods had expected. From this ricocheting of power, beams of energy were released. First came the original Walkers – seven of them – perfect and powerful. They would be the leaders. The ones to bring intelligence to the worlds, to maintain order and to keep the balance. They each held elemental power and needed the other to be a complete circle. Then the universe ensured that there was a system to keep them in balance, so the Seventine came next. And for a time the fourteen of these powerful beings coexisted, peaceful, prosperous and powerful.
The first world to form was in fact called First World, and it would be the mother planet to all others created in this range of star systems. The inhabitants of First World would be the wisest and most benevolent of beings, and from this energy six other planets would eventually emerge.
At first everything went according to the plan of the Gods. The seven original Walkers formed an alliance with the Seventine, and they all worked together to influence the tides of change across the seven worlds. They balanced good and evil, both sides possessing foresight and a maturity which was lacking in the newly formed inhabitants of the worlds.
But, as always, all things will change and over time a thread of arrogance grew in the fourteen original powers. They became obsessed with power, controlling not only their Walker clans, but also the inhabitants of the seven worlds. They believed themselves to be Gods, that they knew better, and that free will should no longer be trusted to such primitive species.
But they were not Gods and in fact they still had to answer to the Gods, who were growing frustrated with the mess the Walkers were creating. However, the Gods had not realized that the fourteen had grown much too powerful. They could not be defeated or destroyed. So the Gods planted the first seeds of mistrust between the Seventine and the originals. Pitting them against each other. Fighting between brother and friend.
In the end, the originals took the steps to lock away the Seventine, and in doing so lost themselves. The worlds have never recovered from their loss of leadership. Darkness was all too prevalent.
The Gods waited, biding their time for the moment when they could bring back the originals. And they hoped this time they had the strength of will and character to not falter under their burden, to not crave that which was not theirs to crave. They needed the perfect blend of races and power. The Walker side made them strong and their other half kept them grounded.