The Acolytes of Crane (Theodore Crane, #1)(77)
Liam was torn by his father’s adultery. Mariah was dealing with her own issues at home, and until now, had not left anything to chance. Dan did just the opposite; he gave into chance, and scorned the boredom of his life with risk. That was then. Now, as a nascent team, we were already given purpose. We just had to capitalize on it.
No one loses a diamond in the rough and walks away.
We admired Zane for his resolve to protect Sephera, but Theodore was in our hearts. He was still the Earth’s Messiah, despite Zane’s verdict that he be stripped of this title. Wherever Ted was, whatever he was doing now, I knew it was in our best interests.
In that video, they showed us of Ted destroying the Ophanims and romping through the Garden of Odion. Zane had intended for that portrayal to have us recoil from the memory of Ted. In fact, it was the opposite. The only thing that I saw in that likeness was how powerful one boy could be. He was a kid who defied the savage world of abuse at the hands of his father. Ted was formed in the belly of cowardice; in his primary school years he was thrashed by the weathered hands of hatred. He once had told me that his father and mother meant nothing to him, because he meant nothing to them.
We valued Theodore. Even though our mystical fantasies of outer space were brutally demolished, we had replaced these idle thoughts of teenagers with deep connectivity and esprit.
Although I was not destined to be a spiritual leader, my love of logic and my incredible powers of observation could save us. I was the missing Linc. From that day on, I studied every move the resistance made. I looked for holes, gaps, flaws, and cracks. I was destined to find all the weaknesses of our adversaries, not for maliciousness, but to inaugurate our crew’s rise as the acolytes of Theodore Crane.
“In the morning Dan, Mariah, and I, would leave the Uriel on a one-way trip to the planet Karshiz. There, the Bromels in charge of us would leave our entire crew stranded with King Trazuline. What he wanted from us I was yet to discover.”
15 THEODORE: HELL
I am no longer Theodore Crane. I am prisoner eight-six-seven-five, reduced to a number within a database, and a nobody in a prison cell.
My first war was on the planet of Tritillia. It is hard to believe I can tell of this war so quickly. I think of my time on this planet, and it seems like it was an eternity, given that it was such a captivating civilization.
Make no mistake. Tritillia, the jewel of the cosmos. There is no other planet in the multiverse as breath-taking, yet treacherous. If heaven is real, it consists of a dream-like life on Tritillia, tinged with the anxiety derived from its menacing creatures.
Let me explain what Ed had briefed me on during our one hour of orbiting the emerald planet. This planet is navigated by its three massive rivers; the Latilliam, the Demonxillia, and the Dartilliac. Those rivers stitch the Tritillian landscape. Their plentiful tributaries nourish new life and give strength to bountiful layers of flora and fauna that exist all over the planet.
I lift my tablet closer to my face. I glance at my reflection on the shiny surface and perceive that the shadows upon my face are subsiding. I look healthier. Yes, I feel more energy. Finally, after weeks of foreboding, after weeks of drifting in and out of bare consciousness, excitement is in the air.
Must be these injections from that shapely nurse. Yes. That’s it!
If my hosts are trying to revive me, there must be a plot thickening outside these walls. I wonder if anyone else from my space adventures is here, captured like me.
“Alright, here we go. So let’s see. The Valeon sun’s red aura against the moons—varying in shade and tone—lavished the ground with a monochromatic display of light.”
The same dwarf star that birthed the neighboring planet Karshiz, home of King Trazuline, generously bestowed sunlight upon the plant Kingdom of Tritillia: a world ruled by plants and populated by millions of insects.
Both Tritillian phyla of life were deadly, yet alluring in their own ways. Beautiful roses seeped venomous sap from their barbed thorns. Razor-sharp leaves from the KeKua tree, if detached by turbulent winds, could amputate a limb.
Sentient plant beings, known as Elons, were native to the massive plant world that inspired fear into any wayward visitors that had the misfortune to crash-land upon the beguiling planet. The Elons were sly, graceful, volatile, and dangerous, all at the same time. They were not to be trusted. The Elons were just incapable of recognizing outsiders as friendly.
The Elons believed that creation of their world was divinely inspired; chaotic, genuine, and organic. They were right. They too denounced Zane for the methodological assembly-line mass production of his followers. To them, Zane was building a powerful empire out of nothing—just the inorganic materials of lost souls. He was suspected of luring unsuspecting beings to Sephera, where they would die. Even so, he would not let them rest in peace.
Yes, Zane’s creations were all clones—a label that detractors also derisively affixed upon the Dietons.
Looking back, I did admire these Elons. I thought they had a healthy and passionate yearning for freedom. To keep a symbiotic relationship with your planet is paramount in the scheme of love.
The emergent level of the forest stretched four thousand feet into the air, just before it finally touched the grace of the sky. As for the jungle beneath, it was so rampageous that not even the Elons could find complete solace there.
The Elons’ only native enemies were the insects. The insects had no remorse over nibbling away at the fiber of the Elons, should they remain too still. The other plants were not sentient, mobile creatures like the Elons and hence were more at the mercy of these ravenous critters. The insects of Tritillia were massive, domineering, nasty brutes. Most rivaled the size of the birds we knew on Earth. A Pegolatian moth was the size of our great eagle. In the unfortunate scenario that someone was foolish enough to take a shot at this gargantuan moth with a phaser gun, it usually would shed its scales, a toxic event that could destroy an entire village of Elons. Thankfully, such moths were difficult to find within the forest’s dense canopy.