The Stone of Azuria: The Ardent Saga Read online

  Table of Contents

  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

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Epilogue

  The Stone of Azuria

  The Ardent Saga

  Derek Howe & Nathan Howe

  Copyright © 2016 Nathan Howe, Derek Howe

  Cover design: Alex Dia

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are a product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, locales is entirely coincidental.

  For our fellow City of Heroes players. Especially those that played on Protector.

  Chapter One

  James

  Whoosh. The powerful wind pushed against James’s back, his hair fell in his face. This wind was familiar to James, not a standard wind gust. He peeked up in time and saw one of the many superheroes that lived in Cynosure fly overhead. Bright pink with subtle hints of black meant it could only be Gravitation Woman, one of the members that patrolled this part of Cynosure. The city was broken up into five parts because of the rivers that flowed into the center and formed an island.

  James' feet dragged as he walked to his apartment off campus that he shared with his cousin David. The evening air cool, the Sun sets behind him. His shadow drawn out to match his mood. It was one of those days where nothing worked out.

  The campus was old, built back when the city sprung up, not long after the battle that saved earth over five hundred years ago. The buildings were old red brick but well maintained. None on the campus were especially significant, that's what James liked about it most. Many of the building had large flowing windows. James spent many hours staring out them, dreaming. Street lights flickered on, the electronic hum of them sounded around James.

  Cynosure arose after the Cataclysm the largest city in Ensurift (the country that rose in what used to be America). Cynosure was the unofficial Ardent, people with powers, capital of the world because it has the biggest and best training center for the coalition. Both good and evil Ardents flock here to forge a name for themselves.

  With that in mind, James didn't want to be out late. He increased his pace. His immediate family wasn't Ardents, unlike his extended family. They had powers to protect themselves. James pined to be an Ardent.

  David was on his way back from training for the Hero Coalition at the center of the island, downtown. The coalition was made up of the best and brightest Ardents. David was supposed to meet James as he left his class, but he wasn't there. James expected David to be late, training ran late often.

  James continued on to his apartment, only a few blocks off campus. He tried to walk as fast as possible without drawing attention to himself. Hunching over, looking small and unthreatening. That wasn't easy, James was over six feet tall and worked out regularly at the campus gym. Yet it was for naught against an Ardent.

  James stumbled forward he was pushed from behind. He spun around with wide eyes and a sneer. David stood behind him laughing. "The look on your face."

  "Not funny," James said fuming, his heart raced. Sweat covered his palms. "You could have been an evil Ardent."

  David's smirk went away, and he shrugged. "I don't think a crazy Ardent would just push you. But point taken Cuz."

  As to erase James worries, David raised his hand, a twelve pack of their favorite beer. "Figured we'd begin the weekend off right."

  James sighed. Excellent, he thought. After the scare David gave. A few beers to take the edge off were what the doctor ordered. "Works for me."

  "Sweet, it's going to be epic, no training and no school stuff."

  James nodded. They didn't have any pressing concerns for school. Which meant letting go. "What's the plan?" James asked as they rounded the final corner before their apartment.

  David paused. "Do you smell that?" David's nostrils flared.

  James shook his head. "Nope."

  "I smell death," David said and handed James the beer and stepped forward. "Rotting flesh."

  It slapped James. The most pungent scent he ever experienced, death, the best description for it. That's when the zombies surfaced around them. They rose from the ground. James dropped the beer. Glass shattered around his feet. For a moment the stench was replaced with a more pleasant aroma. James' heart raced, his fingers shook at the sight of the zombies. The skin hung loose, bones stuck out in random on its body, maggots and flies swarmed around them. Razor-sharp claws on most of them. They walked with swiftness unlike James thought they would.

  David activated his powers. His Ardent power was transforming his skin to stone and enhanced strength. The stone skin made him immune to most physical pain unless magic is involved. David didn't use his powers often around James.

  One of the zombies lunged at David (from James' understanding the stone skin slowed him down) and struck him on the side. David grunted loudly, and blood flowed from the wound. Magic, damn.

  It shouldn't have surprised either of them, the way they spawned out of nowhere. David countered the attack, punching one in the face, then the one next to it, creating a hole, "Run!" David said as he shoved James through the gap. James stumbled through untouched, panting. He ran away as fast he could, but he halted when he heard David scream again. "Ahhh!" James pivoted to see zombies on top of him. Three snatched him from behind and pulled him down. James wished he could assist. Instead, he found himself looking to the sky for Gravitation Woman. It hadn't been that long since she flew over, but nothing. No heroes were coming. David's sister Petrice had to understand what was going on and alerting the other Ardents, she was a telepath.

  The heroes must be busy dealing with other ruffians in the city. Otherwise they should be here. The zombies glanced at James and smirked as they lugged a now motionless David away.

  Screw it. James chased after them, at least he could try to follow them, tell the others where they went. But when he reached the corner the trail of blood from David vanished.

  ***

  Several hours later James sat alone in his apartment, cradling the lone beer they had at the table. It had been a torturous ordeal. After David vanished he called his aunt, a few minutes later the police showed up. He had to handle, both the regular police and Ardents and their investigator, Violet, a stern woman who wore a helmet cloaking her face and a purple and black Hero Coalition uniform.

  His cousin and other Ardents that patrolled the district arrived. They tried to be nice to him. Telling him, there was nothing he could do. It's why he ached for powers, or to forget. If he had powers he could have interceded. The Hero Coalition members kept telling him he'd have got taken away too.

  James yearned to forget. It was too much. The sight of the zombies had been burned into his mind, with them haul
ing his best friend away. Him standing there motionless, frozen with fear unable to rescue his friend, his family. James fiddled with the now empty bottle in his hand. Fermenting on it. He stood and blasted the radio not caring if he woke the neighbors. James hunted for anything to cause him to forget.

  Found nothing, left to dwell on it more and more. Fuck this. James stood and left the sterile apartment. He wasn't sure where he wanted to go, but anywhere was better than being here. His apartment held memories of the good times with David. The nights playing games, the nights drinking, they caused nothing but pain now.

  He ended up on the roof of his apartment building. Occasionally people used it for large parties on the weekend. Tonight the roof barren of people, late enough that they would have left for the night. Remnants remained of a keg party. Empty red cups littered the roof and drying puddles of beer lingered on the floor. Now the beer reminded him of the zombies. James gagged. Vomit made it to his mouth. He held most back.

  He'd never be able to forget the smell and David screaming for his life.

  James stumbled to the ledge, the building fifteen-stories. The more he pondered it the more he ached. He stood up on the ledge and peeked downward. A fall would do it. End his life.

  Don't. Petrice said in his head. James hated it when she did that. She swore she'd never do it. Never listen in on him.

  Leave me alone. I have to. James inched closer. Peering to the ground below.

  No, you don't James. We love you. You did what you could.

  No! I failed David. You should be furious with me. How could they not be? He just let it happen. Let David be taken away.

  We failed David. You're not alone. Please wait. I'm on my way. We can talk about this. Figure it out. Locate David.

  He's gone. Dead. And I'm going to join him.

  James scanned the sky. In the distance, he could see Petrice flying towards him. He had to leap before she got him. She'd be able to save him.

  He held out his arms and vaulted.

  Noooooo! Petrice screamed into his head.

  Chapter Two

  Petrice

  Why did he jump? Why? Petrice thought to herself. James plummeted to the ground in front of her. The stories of time slowing in life or death situations were garbage. To Petrice it time sped up. James fell to his death, and Petrice watched in terror. Her heart pounded and her palms sweaty. She had trouble focusing.

  Petrice wished he paused for a moment longer. Someone should have gone home with him or forced him to stay at their place. Leaving him at his apartment alone was plain stupid. At the scene of the abduction James had a depressed appearance and Petrice understood better than most how he felt about being normal. Petrice beat herself up for not seeing this coming.

  Petrice reached out with her limited telekinesis. It was different when she used it on herself. It let her fly, just not as fast as other Ardents. But when she used it on anything else it wasn't as effective, and distance mattered. Stalling James' plunge, from a quarter mile away, might not be possible, but she was going to try. She put everything she had it in, not worrying about the effects it had on her. Her only goal was to save James. He wasn't small like Petrice was, weighing over two-hundred pounds. That made it even more challenging, Petrice was barely five feet tall and a hundred pounds soaking wet, with black hair pulled back into a ponytail. And in most circumstances, she'd never be able to lift James, and that mattered to her powers. But this was different. It had to be different. She'd be able to do something. Her adrenaline soared. She sensed him. It wasn't much. She reached into her powers accessing as much as possible.

  James' slowed, but it wasn't enough to pause his fall completely. The impact devastated James and Petrice through the connection she held. Petrice clung to the fact that he lived as she descended to the ground next to his motionless body.

  Petrice wanted to look away, but couldn't. She gingerly reached out to soothe his pain, she wished she could heal him, but the damage was beyond her skill level. Only recently Petrice learned the finer parts of her powers, healing via telekinesis and her telepathy. She was as least able to sever James off from most of the pain.

  His right arm was almost completely severed from his body, blood shot everywhere. His left eye had a nail protruding from it. Nothing she could do, she squinted for something to treat his wounds. She frantically called out to her family, requesting advice.

  There were towels in the back seat of a car and borrowed them. The sheets easily wrapped around the shoulder and arm. Hoping it slowed the bleeding and allowed the doctors to cure it.

  Mom, where should I take him? Cynosure General? She asked in her head. She had kept her updated. Her mother was a hero years ago. She retired to raise Scott (Petrice's older brother), David (younger brother) and Petrice.

  Her mom didn't reply right away. In the meantime, Petrice scanned for David's car. It should be around here, he always parked out front. After several minutes she spotted the little compact and hopped in, she used her powers to start the car, and then drove over to James. She carefully loaded him in into the back seat of the car, just large enough to hold him. She had to wrestle the legs in.

  Mom?

  I heard you the first time honey. None of the hospitals will be able to save James. You did what you could, but the only people capable of saving him now are at Hero Coalition headquarters in downtown.

  Petrice wasn't sure that was the best location, they didn't work on Non-Ardents. But if her mom said so she trusted her. She took off at once. Okay, she replied back.

  I'm calling to inform them that you're on your way.

  Thanks, mom.

  Petrice disconnected from her, it wasn't easy talking in her mind. It made focusing on the world around her difficult.

  The small compact car darted in and out of the late night or early morning traffic depending on if you just woke up or not. There wasn't much, thankfully. But James didn't have a lot of time, and the roads of Cynosure weren't exactly designed for speed. Petrice wished the city founder, Titus, still lived. She wanted to let inform him the street layout sucked.

  The trip took longer than Petrice wanted, but she traversed the bridge that connected midtown, with downtown. The island of downtown was only ten miles across, and the Hero Coalition headquarters in the dead center. At least that was something for Petrice.

  In front of the building a group stood, several men and women in scrubs with a stretcher. Petrice leaped out of the car, opening the back seat with James. The medical personnel nudged her to the side and went to work on extracting James from the car. They worked with care, not to do any more damage than was already done. James hung on to his life by a thread. When Petrice reached out to him, he was in more pain than ever. She did her best to calm his mind, sooth the pain, but it just wasn't enough. Not all the pain was physical. His heart ached for the loss of David, the feeling of helplessness.

  Once they extracted James from the car they strapped him on the stretcher and rushed inside. Petrice trailed behind them, allowing them space. But she didn't want to let him out of her sight.

  Once they made it to the elevator, they spun to Petrice, "I'm sorry. But you can't follow."

  "But he's family."

  "It doesn't matter. This is a secure site, and you are not cleared."

  Petrice huffed and folded her arms. "Fine," she sneered.

  The doors closed in her face. She noticed it wasn't one of the normal elevators, she read on the front Cynosure Dynamics. They dealt with both bioengineering, along with many other things. They were part of the Hero Coalition yet separate, many of the people who worked in the department were Ardents but many weren't. The smartest people in the world applied to work for them and were rejected.

  Petrice retreated to the front lobby of the building. Outside David's car sat it required relocation since it was in a no parking zone. She waved at the guard at the desk, another Ardent, Kraftig she thought his name was, and pointed to the car, indicating she was moving it. He nodded. She quickly che
cked in on James, no changes. She walked past the giant statue in front of the building. Most times she barely gave it a second thought, the statue of Titus loomed over her. They said that he came here and formed the city after the great event and battle that altered Earth and gave rise to the Ardents. Some thought he was still alive today that he with the others from then were immortal. It would be nice if he could pass that over to James.

  At the car, the rear was completely trashed, covered in James' blood. Seeing the mess reminded her of David. The scene of his abduction had blood too. Part of her believed James was right and David was gone, she couldn't find him. She hoped that something else was behind that.

  Petrice drove the car to the rear of the building and used coalition cleaning supplies to wash it. The blood soaked into the seats. Nothing she could do. At least trying to clean it kept her mind from wondering. By the time she finished the Sun rose.

  She dropped the car off where she got it. She periodically checked on James, he was doing better. The treatment was doing something.

  Petrice wanted to fly back to the Hero Coalition headquarters in downtown. She wanted to be there when James woke, and she was sure his parents arrived, and her mother.

  But she had to check in back in midtown, with her boss, Valiant Rush and Invincible. Invincible took over the whole of the Hero Coalition less than a year ago. He reports only to the board that funds the Hero Coalition. Petrice landed on top of the building, on the sanctioned spot for flyers, next to a helicopter pad. The building was the tallest one in this part of the city. It made for an unpleasant experience, being up so high, but Petrice had gotten used to it over the last year of her training. The first few years she refused to use it after she learned to control her flying. Her trainer insisted she practice with it.

  Petrice was about to progress to her next stage of training at the main headquarters where James was at. She had to learn how to command her mental powers in support first and on herself. Soon she would learn to utilize them in combat. David and Scott basically went right into combat as do many others who don't have to worry about supporting others with their powers.