Jason

Mack

Zeta

Stro

Mr. Haven

General Haven

All entered the base. Mr. Haven, being unaware that his two oldest sons were with right there, looked around at the dusty, desolate airplane hanger. Loud bombs and distant gunfire coming from just outside shook the old dust that had settled in the rafters over the years.

“This is Area 51?” asked Mr. Haven. “I thought it’d be more — don’t know —”

“Area 51-y?” Jason finished, deepening his voice to disguise himself further from his father.

“Yeah.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of Area 51.” replied the General as they walked through the empty hangar.

“I’m still fascinated by the fact that you humans are not aware of anything beyond your planet.” said Zeta, keeping a mindful eye on just about everything.

“What do you mean by you humans?” Mr. Haven asked with a combination of intrigue and concern.

“We’ll explain soon enough,” Zeta replied.

They came to two huge metal doors. Compared to the rest of the rundown hangar, these doors looked new.

“Twelve inch thick, solid steel doors. Heavy bolt lock. Only authorized personnel are allowed in and even then biometric scans are mandatory,” said the General in a mild but commanding voice. “What you’re about to see is classified. You will not speak about it to anyone else or so help me God I will reign the full might of the U.S. Government down on you. Are we clear?”

“That means we're about to see some crazy stuff,” Jason whispered to his brother, leaning in towards Mack.

The General faced the doors and a blue light above them slowly illuminated, like it was waking up.

“State name and rank.” A robotic voice commanded.

“General Robert Michael Haven.”

“Acknowledged,” the voice replied. “Please prepare for a biometric scan. Fingerprint and retina scan required.”

A blue keypad illuminated off to the side. The General placed his right hand on the keypad and at the same time a laser scanned his right eye.

“Identity Confirmed. Welcome back, General.”

The giant doors began opening. The General stepped inside and the rest of the group followed. When the doors closed the General said out loud “Level Nine!”

They began descending and the deeper they went the further away the loud booming from the outside got.

It was an awkward ride down.

Two Xenton.

Two mysterious warriors.

and two humans.

All of them had questions for each other, but none of them wanted to start asking right away.

The elevator slowed down and as the doors opened they were welcomed to a sight that no one outside the base had seen. First and foremost, the walls and floors were covered in a white, marble-like material that gave the space a pearly white appearance. That, and the added appearance of white lighting, made the place absolutely bright. There were people everywhere moving about. Some wore lab coats while others were obviously military personnel wearing fatigues. As they passed the General they saluted him.

The group exited the elevator and began walking through the underground base. It was as though they were walking through a maze as various hallways could lead to anywhere within the base. Anyone’s guess was fair game.

“Level Nine is the most secure base in America.” began the General. “Nothing terrestrial can enter this level without proper clearance.”

“Terrestrial?” asked Jason.

The General turned to him as they walked. “Yes! Before the appearance of you two and the rest of the Xenton the Pentagon was at ease. Now that you’ve arrived, and now these two –” he pointed at Zeta and Stro, “And the horde of vicious alien creatures twenty stories above us, we now have great concern.”

“So, we’re all – like a security threat, huh?” Jason asked.

“Very much so,” said the General.

“Huh. Cool!” Jason replied with a touch of enthusiasm.

“So what exactly do you do down here?” asked Mr. Haven.

“It’s a research facility,” said the General. “A place to develop and test new applications for military use.”

“Based on acquired ‘alien tech,’” said Jason. “Right Unc — I mean General?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny that claim,” he responded nonchalantly.

“That is easily confirmed considering the force field protecting the base right now is of Oltalian design.” Zeta added, not realizing the General’s attempts at secrecy.

The General sighed.

“Oltalian?” asked Mack, picking up the word almost immediately. “You guys are Oltalian?”

“That is correct.” Zeta replied.

“The same Oltalians who left Earth in the before time?” asked Jason.

“Yep!” Stro replied.

The General listened intently to gather intel on his newly formed allies. Mr. Haven, however, was still in awe of everything that was going on. “What’s an Oltalian?” he asked.

“Uh – for now, they’re aliens.” Jason replied.

Mr. Haven looked at Zeta and Stro confusedly.

“But they look like kids.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“I can assure you, we are not kids. We are well over ninety-five of your Earth years.” Zeta said. His tone was always calm as he seemed to always be in a zen-like state, even when engaged in battle.

Stro, on the other hand, was a lot less reserved with how he behaved and spoke. If there was any comparison to be made he was more like Jason.

“Yeah man, we’ve been fighting baddies before your grandparents were even born,” Stro replied.

“Wait, so how did you two get mixed up with the United States Military?” asked Mack.

“We have been tracking these Coalt creatures for a little close to a decade now,” the General started. “Once we started finding dismembered corpses of these things we learned that someone was hunting them.”

“That would be us,” Stro added.

“Yes, exactly,” the General said. “I can only assume that after seeing our resolve, these two boys made their presence known to us and informed us that an alien invasion was imminent and the Coalts we kept on finding were simply scouts.”

“Scouts looking for that thing,” Jason replied.

“Precisely,” Zeta chimed in. “So we approached the General once we learned of the weapon and made a deal. In exchange for Oltalian technology you would help us not only keep the artifact safe but help us against the invasion.”

“Little did we know that Xenton existed on this blue rock.” Stro interjected. “We brought our own but she’s – well she’s no army – but is a great fighter and comes in handy from time to time.”

“Wait, that other Xenton is with you?” Mack asked.

It was a revelation to find out that the other Xenton wasn’t from Earth at all. If their assumptions were correct, then this Xenton came from whatever planet the Oltalains settled on after they left Earth all that time ago.

But how?

“Yep! Though how she got here is still a mystery.” Stro replied.

“You have the whole might of the U.S. Military as your ally, why do you need us?” asked Jason

“Because there are other things in motion that you must be aware of,” Zeta knew the General was listening in so he left it at that.

As they walked, a window looked down into what could be assumed as a testing facility. In there was a wormhole-generating device that stood as an archway.

“Dude! Is that a stargate?” asked Jason, pressing his armored face against the glass to get a better look.

“I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of a stargate.” the General replied.

“That thing can shoot you off to distant planets in far off galaxies right?” Jason’s enthusiasm was rising.

“I can neither confirm nor deny,” the General said again.

“Oh man, if this thing exists then what about Cheyenne Mountain? Dulce Base in New Mexico? Loch Ness?!” Jason’s eagerness was at its peak.

The General eyed the geeked out Xenton with suspicion until he finally said with narrow eyes, “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

“Come on,” Mack pulled him away from the glass, “You’re embarrassing me.”

“Dude! This is insane! My mind is absolutely BLOWN!”

“Yeah, yeah! Behave yourself!” Mack said, pulling his brother by the arm.

The group continued on until they came to two sealed, glass doors. Through the glass they saw the artifact sealed within a glass tube, sitting on a console. The doors slid open and the group stepped inside. In the room were scientists analyzing the artifact with continuous streams of liquid nitrogen being applied to it.

“Why the liquid nitrogen?” asked Mack.

“After doing some studying, we learned the artifact is constantly — how do I say this — in a way it’s alive,” a woman in a lab coat walked over to the group as she explained. “It’s like it is searching for something.”

“Everyone, meet Dr. Eliza Stockton. The leading mind in all things otherworldly. Though her credentials say Engineer.”

“Right, can’t have everyone knowing the actual truth,” she joked.

“What do you mean it’s alive?” asked Mr. Haven. “This thing has been in my garage for years and it's been alive this whole time?

“Well, not exactly. It has a consciousness per say but our data indicates that it was dormant until about yesterday.”

The sparkling twine that broke when I accidentally touched it. Jason thought to himself. “How do you even measure something like that?”

“Its consciousness is like a harddrive. It keeps records.” Dr. Stockton replied.

“So you’re telling me, this thing is a sword, that has a consciousness, and also has hardware, and based on what I’ve seen, also has some magical properties?”said Jason, trying to get to the bottom of this. “Can we please get to the meat and potatoes of this entire dilemma. What the hell is this thing and why does a horde of space wolves want it?”

“They don’t want it, it's their leader who does,” said Zeta, who’s staff had been reduced to a scepter. “King Cerberus has been on the search looking for this since he left our world.”

“And this thing is…” said Jason, trying to get Zeta to finally give him an answer.

“This weapon is called the Kolabrus and it came from our home planet Oltima.” said Stro, finally answering the question.

“Okay, gonna need a bit more than that,” said Mack. “It doesn’t explain why this thing was in ou — I mean, this man’s garage.”

“This weapon was forged by a dark being named Zale, who tried to use it to take over our world. However, our deity Oltima stopped him before he could do so.” said Zeta.

“Your deity is named after your planet?” asked the General.

“Indeed.” Zeta replied. “King Cerberus invaded our world in search of it after rumors spread of its devastating powers. So our Master sealed its consciousness and sent it to Asaun, who resides here on Earth, instructing them to keep the blade hidden and safe.” Zeta continued. “How it ended up in your garage, sir, I do not know.”

Mr. Haven looked at Zeta and began to question everything he knew about the blade. How did his wife’s father get his hands on it?

“Okay – origins – check!” said Jason. “Why does this Cerberus thing want it so bad?”

“The Kolabrus blade amplifies the very darkness in every living thing making the holder unbelievably powerful. From those who carry the smallest seed of darkness, to those who bathe in it, like King Cerberus, these life forms will be drawn to the weapon, but the artifact itself will seek out those who are worthy to wield it. Those with the blackest of hearts and the most wicked intentions.” Zeta stared at the blade as he spoke these words. The ominous vibe gave everyone in the room chills.

“And that is why we had to ice it.” said Dr. Stockton. “It doesn’t shut it down completely, but it does slow it down from searching.”

“Okay, got it!” said Jason. “So the plan is to fight off an entire invasion and make sure these things don’t get their grubby little claws on it. That’s easy!”

Everyone believed Jason was being sarcastic but he was being absolutely serious. This came to light when Stro said “I like his optimistic attitude!”

“Thanks, bro! Someone has to have one!”

“Actually, the plan is a bit more elaborate than that.” the General said. “From what these two boys tell me, the King himself will come for the blade and our shield isn’t going to last forever.”

“That is correct. King Cerberus will come to retrieve the blade for himself.”

“Okay, how is that good?” asked Mack.

“Because we won’t have to do any kind of luring. He’ll simply be walking right into our trap.” said the General. “Just like our prototype Omega Cannon, our Alpha Cannon is much bigger and more powerful.” schematics were brought up on the computer off to the side.

Jason whistled impressively. “Yeah, that’ll do the trick.”

“Well it seems like you guys have a pretty solid plan. Why do you need us?” asked Mack.

“A failsafe,” said Stro. “In every battle you always want to be five steps ahead. Which is why once we learned of your existence here we located your Sky Sanctuary and spoke to the one called Arayan and he agreed to help us.”

“And what does Arayan have to do with any of this?” asked Jason.

A portal opened up just inside the lab. The light brightened everything up and stepping through was their cloaked mentor. The General was distraught that such a thing was happening in such a secured place, though it was misplaced as his concerns about things like this were expressed earlier.

“We must go, there is much to discuss,” said Arayan.

“Wait, you can’t just leave!” said the General.

“We can and we will,” said Stro, stepping through the portal.

“General, you have kept your end of the deal and we are grateful. But now we must consult with the rest of the Xenton in order to effectively put in place a counter failsafe.”

“Well shouldn’t I be involved in this?” The General protested.

“We all have the same goal here, General. Keep the blade protected. We will return.” Zeta turned to Mack and Jason. “Come.”

Jason and Mack exchanged looks and then turned to their Uncle and Father, both not having a clue who they really were. They were both worried about leaving them but they didn’t have a choice. Being in the most secure place on the planet gave them a bit of relief. Nonetheless, there was an increasingly growing army of mechs, pod swarms, and Coalts just on the surface and they knew the forcefield would not last long.

So far, they had no choice but to trust Zeta and Stro, so without saying a word, they stepped through the portal just behind Zeta who followed Arayan. As the light consumed them, the portal closed instantly.

Everyone in the lab was in awe. They didn’t take their eyes from the space where the portal once was.

Mr. Haven pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. He exasperated and then said to his brother, “How about that phone?”