Mythic Warriors (MW) is a serialized, sci-fi novel. You can read it in the correct order by beginning with MW1, then MW2, MW3, and so on.
A Week into Captivity
For the past five days the routine was the same at the Force Five encampment. Brianna and Gambles came out of his little home at the same time. Gambles instructed his trainees who were assigned to guard Justice while Briana joined Hanley, Mary, and Pasco on a small riser that had become their teleportation launch pad. After a few incidents when Force Five materialized in the midst of students practicing their power, they created a pad that was always to be left open for teleportation.
Though Justice remained confined, a hostage of Force Five, he was able to stay in touch with Pierce telepathically. They devised ways to test the electromagnetic forcefield that kept Justice physically imprisoned yet didn’t interfere with his powers of telepathy nor with some of his telekinetic powers. At Pierce’s instruction, Darren and Kelly developed their own version of a forcefield prison cell for Warriors One.
After they were confident that their cell could restrain anyone, they asked Pierce to test it. Pierce stepped forward into a open area. Darren and Kelly manifested a forcefield around him.
“Is this it? Are you ready for me to test it?” Pierce asked them and they nodded.
Seconds later, Pierce was standing beside them. “Did you intend leave the cell open on the bottom?”
Darren looked disappointed. “I can’t teleport through the ground.”
“But I can.” Pierce walked back over to the opening. “Should be an easy fix. Let’s try again.”
On the second test, it took Pierce a few minutes to find a weakness and to exploit it to escape.
“This is why you are Gurubhai and I am a colleague who is still learning.”
“I am still learning as well. Do you think this is similar to the forcefield that confines Justice.”
“Yes, Gurubhai. Similar but clearly not as strong.”
That evening Pierce and Justice telepathically discussed potential weaknesses in the field that held him captive.
Justice told Pierce, ‘This forcefield draws its power from the bedrock formation. I’d have to interrupt that connection, stop the cycle that makes the power self-sustaining, or simply redirect the power to another use.’
‘There’s no physical device. Correct?’
‘No device that I’ve detected. Remember those ghost stories where residual energies kept repeating in one location like a film loop? This forcefield is like that. Brianna set something into motion. Left alone, it would weaken over time. However, Gambles has his goons add their own energetic thoughts to it on a daily basis.’
‘I didn’t know much about the paranormal before the war, but on the battlefield, I experienced déjà vu. Premonitions about what was to come. I also saw soldiers who were suddenly killed, still wandering the battlefield.’
‘Rituals.’
‘What?’ Pierce wasn’t sure he understood Justice’s telepathic message correctly.
‘Rituals broke the cycle of residual energies in those hauntings. Physical items like salt and the smoke of white sage with a few intentional incantations could be sufficient to break repetitious forms of energy.’
‘Interesting.’
‘This forcefield is much stronger and more tangible, but I think that the principle might hold true.’
‘We’ll begin testing that here.’
The next day, Pierce called the squad together. Pierce consulted with the remaining five squad members. Hope, Darren, Kelly, Prophet, and Canter listened closely as Pierce explained the theory on using rituals to break a self-sustaining cycle of natural energies that had been directed through intelligent thoughts.
Rob’s murder by Mary was still fresh in their consciousness. Rob’s betrayal which resulted in Justice’s imprisonment was nearly as bad as his death. Until they had freed Justice, the Warriors One squad decided not to intervene in Force Five attacks on the anarchists. Until they were able to free Justice from his forcefield cell, they didn’t want to risk becoming imprisoned as well.
Anarchists were an unknown element in the New Age order. To most, they appeared to be small communities of traveling entertainers. That was the common impression of these gypsies. Anarchists were self-centered and hesitant to ask for outside help even from other anarchists. When it became clear that their survival was threatened, especially by the direct attacks of Force Five, they started to reach out to similar groups.
Force Five left a dozen thugs guarding Justice’s cell daily while they killed groups of anarchists that Pasco identified as potential threats. After five consecutive days of killing, the team returned to find all dozen thugs were staring intensely at Justice who sat in a lotus posture in his cell.
Pasco saw the thugs staring at Justice. “What’s wrong?”
“He hasn’t moved since you left. I think he’s dead,” one answered.
“He’s sitting upright. He’s not dead.”
“But he has not moved all day. How could he be alive?”
“He’s more alive than you. Be careful.”
Pasco walked away from the thugs over to Gambles who was taking off his helmet. They conversed in the silence of telepathy. ‘Somehow, I think Justice is getting through to our trainees.’
‘I expect he is. Why don’t we put a different group in charge tomorrow.’
Gambles raised his hand and sent a lightening bolt from his hand through the forcefield. The bolt knocked Justice off his perch.
Justice stood up and noticed that the forcefield around him waivered. Its color changed and it was weaker. Brianna also noted the change and immediately raised her hands to reset the prison walls. After she strengthened it, she shot an angry look at Gambles.
“Are you trying to release our prisioner?”
Justice observed the entire cycle from lightning bolt through Brianna’s anger at Gambles. “Watch out Gambles, your girlfriend might be more powerful than you have become.”
“Good to hear you say those words, Gurubhai. Clearly we have become more powerful than you. Brianna is my girlfriend and my concern.”
“I don’t belong to anyone.” Brianna retorted and walked away.
Later that evening, Justice recounted to Pierce the weakness caused by an electrical bolt on the forcefield.
‘We’ll test that here. Assuming it works, we will take action tomorrow.’
A Surprise Visit
Before dawn, six members of Warriors One donned their military-issued uniforms. Hope, Canter, Prophet, Darren and Kelly waited for Pierce to get the telepathic signal from Justice. They had a plan to confront Force Five as they attacked a group of anarchist and to free Justice simultaneously. If the plan worked as well as hoped, no one would get hurt and Force Five would end up in psychic cells similar to the forcefield that held Justice. However, their cells would be grounded to prevent interruption by an electrical surge.
Justice watched the familiar routine of Force Five from his cell. Hanley, Mary, and Pasco gathered on the teleportation pad. All watched as Brianna and Gambles emerged from their love shack. Gambles paused to offer instructions to a new group of thugs who would guard Justice for the day. After giving them instructions, he walked over to the teleportation platform.
Before the Force Five left, bullets rained down on the encampment. Several of Gambles’ thugs were struck and dropped dead. The military of the Allied States of Earth launched an attack on Force Five.
With a sweeping motion of her arm, Brianna knocked the drones out of the air above them. Drones ranging from small helicopter models to large plane styles crashed and burned in the nearby forest. When they looked towards the forest a full 48-member platoon of soldiers rushed towards them. Each soldier was surrounded by a bright blue forcefield.
When Brianna started to incant the death chant, Gambles stopped her.
“The chant won’t work against those forcefields.”
“Then we will bury them alive!” Brianna raised her arms. The others including Mary, Hanley, Pasco, and Gambles followed her lead. As they ripped sections of the earth from the ground, they didn’t notice the appearance of the Warriors One who positioned themselves on the outer limits of the battle. A dozen thugs who emerged from their dorm were the first to see Pierce. They began to chant a manifestation chant for protection. Pierce turned their intention against them. They were bound and gagged and then transported instantly to a prison cell far away. Gambles saw Pierce but could not respond quickly enough to save his trainees.
Hope directed an electrical discharge at the cell that held Justice. The forcefield dropped for a second. It was long enough for Justice to escape.
Pasco yelled, “Follow me!”
He clapped three times and teleported Mary, Henley and himself to another location. Gambles and Brianna were occupied with trying to save the remaining thugs, and respond to the attacks by the military and the members of Warriors One.
Hope and Darren projected a forcefield around Brianna and Gambles.
“You think you can catch us!” Gambles yelled at Hope.
Thirty of the original platoon of 48 approached. Each projected a magnetic ray gun at Brianna and Gambles. The forcefield Hope and Darren erected was reinforced. Brianna and Gambles found themselves imprisoned.
Pierce debated with the military commander about who was best equipped to keep Brianna and Gambles restrained. After a long consultation with Justice and a quick call to senior ASE leadership, it was decided that the state would keep Brianna and Gambles while the Warriors One pursued the remaining three members.
Force Five was now divided. Brianna and Gambles were locked in separate prison cells. Pasco, Mary and Henley were on the run. The attacks on anarchist groups ceased.
Despite new found security, the anarchists continued to form their own state. The anarchists’ preference for personal authority and self-governing was increasingly set aside to ensure their survival. The new anarchists were becoming a global player on the world stage.