Renegades (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 3)

Chapter 43

He found himself being thrust forwards, the being flying alongside him, and he was suddenly in space. The stars were flying around him, and everything seemed vast and infinite. This is several years in your future. The being said. Mankind has embraced the stars, and is beginning to push the boundaries of their frontier into space. He looked below him and saw what looked to be a large silver and chrome ship flying through space. That ship belongs to what you call the GDF. He looked at the being in shock. So that means...we didn't win? The being seemed to shake it's head. This is the future, or one possible future. All of time and space can be seen by us, like a large map that stretches on for eternity. But this is the future that created us. You invented something known as a Quantum Drive, a device that could bend space and time to your will. This is the first attempt to achieve a cross galaxy teleport. He watched as the ship below him started to glow with a blue light, which then changed into a dark shade of purple. The ship began to fade in and out, like it was flashing out of reality for brief moments. Then, the entire thing disappeared. The ship was never seen again. They just assumed the mission failed. But they succeeded. In ways they could never imagine. The being flew in front of him. Out of the thousands of people on that ship, only 7 survived. I was one of them. When we teleported, we were transported to not just a different time and place, but a different dimension. We ascended to a higher plane of existence. The 5th dimension, as you humans call it. We found ourselves evolved to beyond humanity. We could bend time and space to our will. After spending time in our pocket universe, we saw what the end of humanity would be. A mass malfunction of Quantum Drives would occur, and create a gigantic singularity that would consume the entire universe. He looked at the being and spoke slowly, taking it all in. A singularity...like a black hole? The being seemed to nod. Our power was weak. We could not change the course of the future, but the past we could. With our last bit of strength, we created the Tablet and the Pieces, and scattered them across the universe. Whoever brought those Pieces together would be able to access our dimension, and see what we saw. He looked down, into the vast space below him. But...why me? Why send me all those visions? The being seemed to touch his heart, making it skip a beat. You had potential. Like Merrick did all those years ago. He could not complete our journey, but he merely laid the path. You managed to walk across it.

He then found himself back in the middle of all the beings, and stared up at them. I understand what I have to do now...I choose having all the power in the universe. The beings seemed to nod, and one of them looked down at him, and he thought he detected a hint of sadness coming from it. In order to ensure that all of the Quantum Drives can never be replicated, you must erase all traces of the energy that powers them. That includes the Dorado Pieces...and yourself. He looked down at his hands, then closed his eyes. He thought of his friends...and her. Then he looked back up at all of them. I'm ready. The beings then reached out their hands, and a bright golden light seemed to flow out of them and into him. He felt his heart racing, and energy rising within his body. Then, he began to glow, to the point where the glow inside him was outshining the glow of the beings. As he began to fade away again, one of the beings spoke inside of his head. Thank you, Nolun Metreo.

Andress was waiting anxiously for Nolun to reappear after he had seemingly just vanished, and was looking at the door which had closed after him. She had pounded on it a few times, and called his name, but nothing seemed to happen. Just as she was beginning to wonder if she would be stuck down here permanently, she heard something behind her. Then, something hard hit her in the back of the head, and she hit the wall. As she staggered up, she saw someone aiming a chrome pistol at her head. Her eyes widened as she saw a bruised and bloodied Morticia staring at her, breathing heavily. "Don't...move...a damn...inch." She cocked the gun, and Andress stood up slowly. "There's no point, Morticia. It's over. It's all over." Morticia stared at the door, a wild look in her eyes, and then stared back at Andress, smiling an evil grin. "Well...I can still kill you, can't I?" As her finger tightened on the trigger, the room suddenly exploded with golden light, making both of them shield their eyes. Then Andress opened hers and saw Nolun standing in the room, a bright golden glow coming from his body, and his hair flying wildly. Morticia stared at him, and her face was one of pure agony. "NOOOOOOOOOOO! THAT POWER IS MINE!" She shot at Nolun several times, but the bullets just seemed to disappear as soon as they got close. Nolun simply walked up to her, and she stared at him, her eyes wide and filled with fear. "Stay away from me!" Nolun simply looked into her eyes. "I won't hurt you." He said with a echoing voice, then he turned towards the door. "But they will." The door opened again, the light this time hitting Morticia in her chest, and pulling her into it. As the door closed, Andress could hear her screaming.

Andress looked over at Nolun, and was in awe at how much power he appeared to have, and she could even feel it reverberating onto her. "What...are you?" Andress asked, and Nolun looked down at his hands. "I don't know...but I'm still me." Andress got up, and she hugged him with her one arm. "Hang on." He said into her ear, and grabbed her shoulder. "I want to try something. This might feel a little weird." Before she could ask what, she felt a tingling in her shoulder, and then gasped a bit. After it went away, she looked down, and her eyes widened as she saw that her stump had now become a full-fledged arm. She looked at it, and moved her fingers. Andress looked up at Nolun, and stepped back a bit. "Oh my God..." She whispered. Nolun smirked a bit. "Not that far off, actually. Now, let's get out of here." He closed his eyes, and Andress felt a rushing sensation in her stomach, then found herself suddenly above ground, the sun beating into her eyes. They were back on the desert that they had driven on earlier, right above the mine. "Nolun! Andress!" Andress looked around and saw Bunker standing next to the rest of the crew just a few feet away from them. Andress smiled, and ran up to everyone, who were all staring at Nolun. He was smiling, and floating a few feet in the air. "We did it guys...now there's one last thing I need to do." Andress stared up at him, a worried look on her face. "What are you talking about?" Nolun looked down, a sad smile on his face. "I have to get rid of the Quantum Drives. They're gonna bring about the end of the world. That's why this whole hunt existed. To find someone worthy to wield this power...but then I have to get rid of it...including me." Andress ran up to him. "NO! There has to be another way!" Nolun shook his head. "I'm sorry..." He touched Andress's cheek, smiling at her. "Goodbye." He said, and then began to fly off into space. Andress looked up, crying. "I love you..." She whispered to herself. All of the crew saw the golden light from Nolun shine even as he made it into the atmosphere. Then, all of them watched as a large glowing shockwave exploded from that light, and reverberated across the planet, and no doubt all of space. They all stared up at the sky, crying, and Andress looked at her arm, newly reformed...the last thing he had done for her. Then, they all heard Trace shout out. "GUYS! LOOK!" Everyone turned, and saw what looked to be some sort of glowing shooting star fly down from the sky, and land a few feet from where they were. They all all ran over and saw a cradle of light hovering above the ground, and inside was Nolun, his body lying sideways. Andress ran over to him, and looked down, feeling for a pulse. Then, she heard him speak. "I love you too..." His eyes opened, and she saw that the brown in them had been given little specks of gold. She smiled, tears running down her face, and the two of them kissed, never wanting to let go.