Annihilation 08: Searching for a Hero

  The Annihilation Series

  Searching for a Hero

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter One • Chapter Two • Chapter Three • Chapter Four • Chapter Five • Chapter Six • Chapter Seven • Chapter Eight • Chapter Nine • Chapter Ten • Chapter Eleven • Chapter Twelve • Chapter Thirteen • Chapter Fourteen • Chapter Fifteen • Chapter Sixteen • Chapter Seventeen • Chapter Eighteen • Chapter Nineteen • Chapter Twenty • Chapter Twenty-One

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Running Out of Time

  Books by Saxon Andrew

  About Saxon Andrew

  Introduction

  For the first time since it was founded, the Stars Realm was at peace. The major forces of evil had been destroyed and there was no civilization that could take on the power of the Realm. But evil has a way of growing like a cancer. Long dormant, many civilizations looked around and coveted what others possessed. Looking at the big picture, all appeared to be calm and peaceful on the surface, but a closer inspection would reveal the growing numbers of would be conquerors starting to flex their muscles. These seeds were growing in power and numbers, but against the backdrop of creation, they were difficult to see in the hundreds of billions of galaxies.

  Five hundred years had passed since the destruction of the last five major evil civilizations that threatened Creation. The Realm’s military had shrunk in numbers and most of them were used closer to home. The heroes of the Realm had vanished over time and the numbers of Royalty who still possessed psychic abilities had decreased to being almost non-existent. The ability to sense what was coming had been lost and the Realm was flying blind into a future none could see or anticipate.

  The Giant Northern Mountain Cats notified the King that Creation had sent a message to find a special warrior. This warrior was needed to lead the Realm against a coming enemy that was as dangerous as any the Realm had ever faced. Peace was ending and the orders went out; the Realm began searching for a Hero.

  Chapter One

  Coryn shouted from the kitchen, “Paul, it’s time!”

  Paul ran into the kitchen from the bedroom with fear on his face, “Are you sure?”

  Coryn doubled over and he assisted her to a chair in the living room. He ran back through the house, grabbed a light blue bag, and sprinted back to the living room. He punched a button on the front door and went back to help Coryn stand up. He took her to the door which they stepped through together and were teleported to Jixie Memorial Hospital’s emergency room. Two nurses rushed forward and one put Coryn in a gravity chair and rushed her out as the other had Paul place his hand on a tablet. The nurse looked at it, “She’s not due until next week.”

  Paul looked up with shaking hands, “You need to tell that to the baby.”

  The nurse shrugged, took Paul’s hand, and pulled him through two swinging doors, “Let’s get you to your wife.”

  Paul followed the nurse as they moved through a maze of doors and found an orderly waiting for him outside the delivery room. The nurse looked at the orderly in surprise, “It’s happening.”

  The nurse shook her head and turned to Paul, “Is this her first?”

  “It is.”

  The nurse shook her head again and helped the orderly put a sterilized gown on Paul. He was taken into the delivery room and heard Coryn screaming at the top of her voice, “WHERE’S MY HUSBAND!?!”

  Paul rushed over to the table and took her hand, “I’m here, my darling; I’m here.”

  Coryn closed her eyes and gave in to the pain of the contractions. She gripped his hand like it was her most precious possession and Paul looked up at the Cainth pediatrician with concern written all over his face.

  “Everything’s normal; she’s doing fine.”

  Paul looked back to Coryn and felt the strength of her grip.

  • • • • •

  The infant came into the world screaming his anger at his emergence into a strange new place. The doctor lifted the baby to inspect him and the baby stopped crying. The doctor looked at the baby’s face and saw the infant’s eyes were open and staring at him. He knew it wasn’t possible, but he could swear the infant was actually seeing him. Newborns were not able to focus their eyes right after birth, but this infant continued to stare at him with eyes that were striking. The doctor stared into the infant’s eyes and said, “Ping!”

  Coryn looked at the doctor holding her baby and said barely above a whisper, “What did you just say?”

  The doctor forced his gaze from the baby’s face and looked at his mother, “I said, ping. Ping is the Cainth word for eyes; your baby has the most remarkable eyes I’ve ever seen.” He handed the baby to Coryn and she looked at his face; the infant smiled. Coryn felt love explode in her heart, “Yes he does, Doctor. Yes he does.”

  The Cainth smiled at the proud parents, “What’s his name?”

  Coryn continued to stare at her baby, “Paul Anderson Kendel.” Paul’s smile was instant; the baby was a going to be a junior. Coryn looked up at the doctor and smiled, “But we’re going to call him Ping.”

  The small Cainth slowly nodded his head, “It’s a name that fits him.”

  Coryn looked back at her first child and held him close, “Yes…it does.” The infant closed his eyes as Coryn held him close to her breast.

  • • • • •

  Ping sat in his backyard with his next door neighbor’s child. Mios and Ping were the same age but looked very different physically and they loved playing together. Ping was average height and build with light brown hair. Mios was tall for his age and solidly built. His hair was black and his eyes were blue. He was named after a province in France where his ancestors had lived millennia before. His father insisted his family had a direct lineage to the ancient country and that LaSalle was a name of high distinction. Usually his wife rolled her eyes when he started going on about an ancient country called France.

  They were five years old and their favorite game was having space battles with toy space ships in the small sandbox, which was located under a huge oak tree in their back yard. They would mark out the box and have an area for subspace where a ship could go and then be moved to another location in the sandbox. Both of them kept their ships close to the edges to prevent them being attacked and both of them had become quite proficient at playing the battleship game.

  Mios looked at Ping and saw him move his cruiser six inches into the center of the sand box. He smiled and looked around at Ping’s other ships and immediately saw his battleship was located on the far side of the box. “You’re going to pay, evil Ping Emperor.” Mios moved his battleship inside the subspace line and immediately moved it behind Ping’s cruiser. Mios looked up and laughed; Ping was about to lose his second most powerful ship. He would fire on the cruiser on his next turn and Ping couldn’t move it far enough away to avoid being hit. They were only allowed to move their ships six inches and they both knew a battleship could fire a whole twelve inches. Ping’s battleship was about eight inches inside the subspace line and it would take two moves to get it in to save his cruiser.

  Mios continued to laugh and Ping looked at him, “I guess I made a dumb move.”

  “Oh yes!”

  Ping shook his head and Mios laughed harder. He looked at his battleship directly behind the cruiser and suddenly furrowed his brow. Sand was moving behind his battleship and after a moment he saw a red colored ship emerge from under the sand. “Wha…wha…what?”

  Ping smiled, “For my next move, my Searcher fires on the rear of your battleship.”

  Mios was stunned; any ship on the board could kill a battleship if it fired from directly behind it. Mios�
� mouth was wide open as Ping removed it from the sandbox. “How did you do that?”

  “I buried it when you weren’t looking.”

  “But, but, but…”

  Ping smiled, “You didn’t count.” Mios was starting to get angry and he quickly counted Ping’s ships and saw three more Searchers were unaccounted for. He looked at Ping as he said, “Do you wonder where they are?”

  Mios stared at the sandbox, “How did you know to put it at that spot?”

  “You always jump in to attack from the rear.” Ping laughed and punched Mios lightly on his arm.

  Years later, Mios would think about that game; he never won again from that moment forward. He could still see, in his mind, the position of every ship in the sandbox and as an adult he could see that Ping had moved his ships to force the exact outcome. He wondered how the sand had fallen away from the Searcher and couldn’t remember if the wind was blowing. The subtle moves Ping made were impossible for a five year old. There was something about his friend that was different. Still, he loved the young boy with the striking colored eyes. He was a brother he never had.

  • • • • •

  Six year old Ping sat in class and watched a history video about the two humans who had founded the Star’s Realm. Thomas and Danielle Gardner fascinated him and he listened to his class mates ask questions. Mios raised his hand and the teacher pointed at him, “Why did Thomas Gardner hide his abilities?”

  The teacher smiled, “If those in power saw his talents, he would have been moved away from his family and watched very closely. Earth’s government at that time tightly controlled the population to prevent an Alliance attack.”

  Ping sat up straighter in his desk. He raised his hand and the teacher nodded to him, “Would that happen now?”

  The teacher smiled again, “The Realm is always looking for those with superior talents to use to defend the Realm.”

  Another student asked another question but Ping had misunderstood the teacher’s answer and wasn’t listening. Those that were different would be taken from their families. Ping had started to notice some things he could do that those around him couldn’t. There was no way he was going to be separated from his parents. He decided at that moment that he was not going to do anything that might allow that to happen.

  Mios glanced at his best friend and saw his eyes were narrow and his eyebrows were close together. Something was bothering him. He started to ask but the teacher said, “Mios, you need to pay attention.”

  Mios whipped around and nodded to the teacher. What was bothering Ping?

  • • • • •

  Ping was in the fourth grade when trouble raised its head. He had always gotten along with his classmates and everyone liked playing with him. He had a ready smile and never said anything that would hurt another’s feelings. Sometimes, that could be taken for weakness. Sixth level Alex Madden was the school bully. He saw Ping smiling on the playground at recess and didn’t like it. He went over to the smaller youth and pushed him, “Why are you laughing at me?”

  Ping caught his balance and stared at the much bigger boy, “I wasn’t.”

  “I say you were!”

  “Saying it doesn’t make it true.” Ping tilted his head and stared at the bully. Alex looked in Ping’s eyes and saw an intensity that made him pause. His eyes were bright green but had a blue starburst around both pupils. He had never seen eyes like that. There was something about his eyes…

  “Are you going to let him get away with that?”

  Alex saw Gregory Smith standing behind him and knew he had to save face. He moved forward and swung a vicious right hand at Ping’s face. Ping moved his head slightly back and Alex’s round house swung by his face, missing by less than an inch. Alex almost fell from the missed swing and he turned and swung at Ping again, looking to hit him in the stomach. Ping moved slightly to the right and, once again, Alex missed. For the next five minutes, Alex moved around the playground swinging at Ping and was unable to deliver a blow. His anger was monumental and he finally rushed forward, intending to tackle the smaller boy and take him to the ground. Ping leaned back and delivered a short accurate uppercut to Alex’s chin as he rushed in head first. Alex dropped like a bad habit.

  Ping looked up at Gregory and the large boy turned and ran. A teacher arrived at that moment and grabbed Ping by the arm and pulled Alex up off the ground, “What’s going on here?”

  Alex was still stunned and couldn’t say anything but Ping said, “We were playing chase and he fell.”

  The teacher looked at Alex and he managed to nod. The teacher released their arms and said, “Well, you need to be more careful.”

  Ping nodded, “We will.” Alex stared to fall but Ping held him up. He assisted him over to a bench and Alex shook his head, “Thanks for not telling on me.”

  “No problem; you’re better than you act.”

  The recess bell rang and Alex watched the small fourth grader run toward the school. He spent the rest of the day thinking about what he had said.

  • • • • •

  Jodie Martinez watched the fight and was amazed at how Ping had been able to avoid being hit. When he helped Alex to a bench, she knew she wouldn’t have done it; the bully was a thug. She walked into class and nudged Mios, “Where did he get the name Ping?”

  Mios looked over at the most beautiful girl in his class and stammered, “Wha..what?”

  “Where did he get the name Ping?”

  Mios looked over at his best friend and smiled, “When he was born, the doctor took one look at him and said Ping.”

  “Why?”

  “His doctor was a Cainth and, in his native language, Ping means eyes.”

  Jodie looked over at Ping and after a moment looked back at Mios, “I understand.” She turned back to her desk and Mios knew that Ping was now an object of Jodie’s attention. He couldn’t wait to tell him. He had the prettiest girl in school interested in him. He was really lucky.

  • • • • •

  Ping arrived at school and was troubled. He hadn’t slept well the night before and he couldn’t get a grip on what was bothering him. He was in the sixth level and he knew he looked forward to class every day. The majority of the studies this year were about the history of the Realm and he loved it; so what was making him nervous? As the day wore on, his sense of dread increased. He went out to the playground for recess and shook his head when Mios and Jodie invited him to join them on the spinner. He watched as Jodie and Stacey Miller climbed on and put their legs inside the metal frame. Mios grabbed one of the metal arms and started the spinner turning. He jumped on with them and forced his legs around a support to avoid being thrown off the quickly turning device.

  Ping stood thirty yards away from them and closed his eyes. He forced all thought from his mind and suddenly he raised his right arm and pointed it toward Sally Johnson, his sixth level teacher who was leaning against the huge oak tree next to the playground. He moved his hand toward her with a hard push and she flew away from the tree and rolled several times in the grass. At the same moment he moved his left arm toward the spinner and it came to an abrupt halt, flinging Mios off. He was suddenly standing beside the spinner pulling Mios and Jodie to their feet. He gave them a push and they ran across the playground trying to catch their balance. Ping picked up Stacey and instantly they were in the path of Jodie and Mios who stumbled into them, knocking all of them to the ground; that’s when a booming sound exploded over the playground.

  • • • • •

  High overhead, the driver of a huge commercial hauler heard a loud explosion and felt the rear floating unit rip apart. The giant three bladed propeller was turning at high speed in the housing and it hit the main support beam, shearing off two blades when the main power unit blew up. The two blades shot out of the housing toward the ground below.

  • • • • •

  Just as Sally Johnson rolled away, one of the giant blades hit the trunk of the giant oak and penetrated all the wa
y through it into the earth on the opposite side. Ten feet of the giant blade still protruded from where it hit the tree. Sally Johnson had been standing at the exact spot of penetration.

  Less than a second later, the second blade hit the spinner dead center and the noise of metal on metal was deafening. Everyone on the playground stared at the fifteen foot tall metal blade sticking out of the ground vibrating back and forth in the concrete as the spinner fell apart in two pieces. Suddenly, a dark shadow covered the playground as the huge hauler fell toward the ground. Everyone screamed and ran.

  Ping saw the driver of the hauler was doing all he could to miss the playground and bring it down at the row of trees that lined the four lane street next to the school. However, the rear of the long vehicle was dead weight and it was falling almost straight down. Jodie saw there was no escape from the crashing vehicle and she closed her eyes and grabbed Ping. Ping lifted his right arm and pushed it at the rear of the hauler, and it suddenly shifted rightwards for a moment, and then moved toward the trees. It plowed into the trees just outside the fence that enclosed the playground and snapped four of them off at the ground. The hauler came to a stop straddling the four lane street.

  Jodie opened her eyes and looked around. Ping said, “The driver managed to move it away.”

  Jodie wrapped her arms around Ping’s neck and started crying from the shock of almost being killed. Ping held her until the school nurse arrived to take the more traumatized students inside. Stacey went with Jodie, leaving Mios and Ping on the playground staring at the emergency vehicles arriving at the crash site. Mios said without looking at Ping, “Nice job moving that hauler.” Ping held his breath and Mios turned to him, “I’ve always known you’re special and you don’t have to worry; no one would believe me anyway.”

  The corner of Ping’s mouth went up and he gave Mios a small punch on the arm.

  Chapter Two

  Rider looked at the young cat, “The one we’re searching for is alive.”