Chapter One

Ellora struggled against the hand over her mouth. Her fingers clawed at its skin, but it didn’t relent. The ground beneath her feet disappeared and she started to kick, hoping that she would be able to make contact with whoever it was behind her and they would let her go. Finally, she heard a door close and the cold stone of a wall on her cheek as the person who held her pressed her to it.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” a man’s voice said into her ear. “Be quiet and I’ll be able to help you get out of here.”

Ellora didn’t know if she should trust the voice. She didn’t know if there was any reason why she should believe that this person would help her and wasn’t just another of the Order who were trying to capture her. She struggled again and the man held her tighter.

“I knew your husband.”

With those words, Ellora fell still. Her body went limp and the arm around her waist softened and gradually moved away, but the hand over her mouth stayed in place. The man’s mouth came to her ear again.

“I’m going to let you go,” he said. “I need you to stay quiet. Don’t say anything at all. I will explain everything to you, but you are going to have to trust me. You are just going to have to listen to what I have to say and be willing to do what I need you to do. Can you do that?”

Ellora nodded and felt his hand come away from her mouth. Just as she had agreed, she stayed quiet.

“Good. I’m going to take your wrist. Follow me. You’ll be able to see in just a minute.”

Ellora felt the man take her wrist and let him guide her through the darkness. The wall that she had been pressed against was close enough that her shoulder brushed against it and she found comfort and security in it. Suddenly it fell away and she felt him pull her through a door and close it. A bright white glow started and grew quickly and soon Ellora could see the man in front of her holding a lantern. He put it at his feet and the light shined up on his face. He was younger than her, but there was something ancient in his eyes that looked like pain and secrets. There was something strange about his appearance, but she couldn’t quite place it. She knew that he wasn’t Mikana, and he didn’t look Denynso, either. There was a vaguely human quality about him, but something in her told her that he wasn’t human, either.

“My name is Mhavrych,” he said.

“I’m Ellora,” she said.

“I know,” he said. “I told you. I knew Aegeus.”

“I never heard him mention you.”

“He wouldn’t have,” he said. “Of everything that he couldn’t tell you about the Order, I am the greatest secret.” He hesitated and Ellora saw his face harden even further. “Even the rest of the Order doesn’t know about me. They only know what I am trying to protect.”

“If they know about what you are trying to protect, how do they not know about you?” she asked.

“The Order believes what the Order believes,” he said. “They think that they are the only ones who can save the Universe, when they don’t even know what they are protecting it from.”

“I don’t understand,” Ellora said.

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” Mhavrych said. “Not yet. But I don’t have the time to explain it to you now. Your husband knew things that no one else in the Order did, and that is what caused what happened to him. I spent many years fearing that he was dead because of me.”

“He’s not dead,” Ellora said, as much to convince herself of it as she was telling him.

“I know. I’ve seen him.”

Ellora’s eyes widened and she took a step toward Mhavrych as if being close to him would somehow bring her closer to Aegeus.

“Where is he?”

“When I saw him, he was on another planet. He was enslaved by a man named Ryan and was among an army of strange blended species that he had created. I thought that I was going to be able to help him, but before I could free him, Ryan moved him again.”

“To Earth,” Ellora said. “He brought him to the facility where he has been breeding hybrids. There are many people who are after him, now. One of my sons is still on Penthos facing the army.”

“Penthos,” Mhavrych said, nodding. “That was where I was when I saw him. It was only for a brief time and I didn’t even have the chance to speak to him.

“What were you doing on Penthos?” Ellora asked.

Mhavrych stiffened slightly.

“I have work there,” he said. “It has to do with what I am protecting.”

“For the Order?” Ellora asked.

Mhavrych shook his head.

“From the Order,” he said. “There was a time when the purpose of the Order was to protect the Universe and all that exists within it, but as your husband discovered, corruption was extensive within the ranks. Though there are still members who believe in the original mission and fight hard for it, there are others who have been so influenced by the corrupt members that they no longer remember what they are meant to do.”

“I need you to tell me what you are protecting,” Ellora said. “I lost my husband to this for many years and I’m not willing to give up fighting to be back with him.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to,” Mhavrych said. “I still need his help. I need the help of everyone who has been fighting Ryan. He is the final link to what I have spent many years trying to guard. I tried to help them. I saved a warrior named Nylek from the hybrids and a couple named Kyven and Emerie from an animal who lives deep within the planet.”

Ellora felt her heart jump.

“Kyven?” she asked.

Mhavrych nodded.

“Yes. He was trapped beneath the ground in a cavern with a creature known as a Meldor. Its weakness is light. I was able to get it away from them long enough for them to get out of the cavern.”

“Kyven is my son.”

She could see Mhavrych straighten and nod slightly.

“He looks like Aegeus.”

“He looks much more like me,” Ellora said. “It’s my son Maxim that favors his father.”

The man looked at her earnestly.

“What I need to do has greater importance that I can even explain. Aegeus knew. He understood the danger of the corruption within the Order and the threat that it held not just for Uoria, but for everything. I need you to help me.”

“I will do anything that I can,” Ellora said. “But they’ve already caught me. They know that I’m down here.”

“We can get out,” Mhavrych said.

He led her to what looked like an old wooden chest in the corner at the far end of the room. Ellora watched as he drew a key from the bag at his hip and used it to open the chest. Inside there was an old, dirty cloth sack.

“What is that?” she asked.

“This is what I have been protecting,” he said. “If we can get out with this, we have a chance to finish what your husband started.”