He stopped for a second to catch his breath. Without warning, he threw up. He knew the other's had stopped and were double backing to get him. After he threw up twice more, he noticed the blood mixed in with the half digested food. He no longer had a senses of balance and he lost all energy he had. His knees buckled and he plunged into darkness, gasping for air.
Brian awoke with a start. His breathing was labored and sweat pored down his face. His body ached from the wound he had received. He couldn't remember how long he'd been a captive of the Royals. The entire time he kept crossing the barrier of conciseness and unconciseness.
He had had many 'dreams,' but the last one was by far the most disturbing. He shivered involuntarily. "Brili," A soft voice Brian didn't recognize called out. He looked over to the source. It was the woman who had given him the medicine earlier. There was something different about her. "Are you all right?" She gently touched his arm.
Brian shivered from her touch. "Yes. Just a-" He thought quickly, "a bad dream."
"Leiwa and Lila know of your past. I know they plan on imprisoning you once again even if you do tell of the man." She stated.
Brian looked her in the eye. He saw something he hadn't seen before in a member of the Royals; warmth and kindness. He knew she was telling the truth.
"How do you know?"
She lowered her voice, "It's my job to know everything the Royals are up to, as well as any other 'rebels.'" She paused, "They are going to ask you about the man. Whatever happens, no matter what they put you through, lie. They can not catch Alemc at any cost. Brili, this is vital to the entire galaxy."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Howie sat patiently waiting for Alex and Kevin to return. He heard the group heading up the stairs. He counted four sets of feet. This puzzled him because there should only be three. As they got closer, he sensed the fourth didn't mean any harm. In his doorway, Alex and Kevin appeared with two children, a boy and a girl.
The boy smiled, "I know you! You're the man who gave me the coins the other day."
Howie smiled back. "I see you remember me. My name's Howdo, but you may call me Howie."
"I'm Angel and this is my YOUNGER brother, Aaron," The girl had a smug look on her face as she looked at the boy.
"I don't believe two minutes matters much my dear," Howie said.
Angel turned to him and her jaw dropped to the floor, "How did-"
"I know a lot of things. If you two sit down, I'll tell you a story." Howie offered.
"We don't have much ti-" AJ started, but Howie held up his hand to silence him.
"It might help if you listen to this story two Alexander." AJ sighed and sat down behind the twins. "You still have many things to learn, patience is one of them." Howie watched as Kevin took a seat next to AJ.
Howie took a deep breath and began.
"Millions of years ago, when the universe was created, two things came about. The good and the evil. For every good thing there was, there was another evil thing. Somehow, the evil mutated with the good. Where some things were both good and evil, such as humans. Along the line, the evil things reproduced at a rapid rate. The universe was outnumbered with the evil things. Somehow, the evil all came together and became one-" Howie paused for a minute to think of the right term, "giant mass. It's hard to explain what it was, other then pure evil. It lives, in a way, but it must feed on the goodness while it's here.
"The four protectors came along and fought the great evil. They managed to trap it. It was sent to another place. The place is not physical, but not in another dimension. Do you understand what I'm saying? It exists, but not anywhere physical." The group nodded. While the evil was trying to escape it's prison, bits a pieces managed to get through. That's how there is some of the evil today.
"The four protectors could have only trapped the evil there while the variables were just right. Once every 30 or 40 million years, the core of our galaxy is in perfect alignment with the very center of the universe. By that I mean there is nothing it the way. That sends ultimate power to our galaxy, in particular, the planet Hungta, which you know is the very center system. "As you also know, Hunga, is the capitol for the Royal's. They chose that planet for more reason then one. The main reason was the Queen knew of the Great evil. She also knew of the four keys to unleash it. The guardians each took one of the keys with him to keep it safe. Over the millenniums, the keys were lost. The Queen managed to obtain them one way or another. The only thing she needed was to wait for the alignment."
"What are the four keys?" Aaron interrupted Howie.
"I was just getting to that," Howie smiled at the young boy. "It is impossible for you to understand what the keys are exactly without knowing what they do. So I'm going to explain each key's function as the process would go.
"When the power reaches the planet of Hungta, it must pass through a medallion with a special crystal in it. It order for the medallion to work, the spell must be cast on it. The spell is written along the edges in an ancient language. The spell protects the medallion form the power and it intensifies it.
"The power is then directed through the crystal to another crystal which sits about four or five feet away. That too, has a spell which breaks down the power to the part we can use. Again, that's hard to explain. The power is all the power in the universe, but only one section is needed to release the evil.
"The refined power then passes through another medallion crystal. Although the power has been sifted, that section itself it too powerful, so the last medallion sifts through it more.
"The final key is more like a door and lock. There is a type of 'door' the evil must come through. Kind of like the gateway. On the 'door' there is an ancient lock that can only be opened with the power in its state after the second medallion." Howie finished. He looked at the group. Each seemed to be soaking in everything he had just said.
"So.... which medallion do I have?" AJ finally voiced.
"Let me see it," Howie instructed. AJ handed it to him. Howie examined it quickly in the dim light. "You have the second."
"So, what AJ has will save the galaxy?" Aaron asked.
"Yes. And if the Royals find him, or the medallion, we're all doomed." Howie replied.