The Fall of Destiny Book 2 - The Light Gardens

[Saint]

Preceeded by:
The Midnight Tower.

Succeeded by:
The Fall of Destiny (No link yet)

Cover:



Blurb:
15 Years have passed since the warriors defeated Rahn. The world has been a much happier place. Crime rates have fallen drastically, anger is less common, and people are generally in a happier mood, and they don't even know why.

But Boris Tokarev, The Leader of the Russian Rebellion Forces, is about to change all this. He threatens mass disaster if his demends aren't met, and those demands require Matt, Hailey and the other surviving warriors to carry them out.

The most disturbing facts are yet to come though, because when they discover what Boris is really up to, it becomes clear that this new word won't last much longer unless they act fast.

Character Drawings:
Sakura Prince

Contents: Just click to be taken straight to the chapter.
Prologue - Guilty Conscience
Chapter 1 - Looming Threat
[spoiler=Upcoming Chapters]Upcoming Chapters:
Chapter 2 - Decisions[/spoiler]

[Saint]

Prologue

LEICESTER – ENGLAND

Adele sat at her desk, her mind racing with what she was about to do. She didn’t know if it was right, in fact she knew very strongly that it wasn’t, but she had to do it. Her life was on the line here. The thing that was confusing her, is that she was going to be helping the very person who was putting her life on the line.

She opened the drawer in her desk, withdrawing a small bottle, which had once contained Dilute Potassium Cyanide, and been emptied into her Master’s tea. She had kept as a sort of ‘momenteo’ It had reminded her to never do anything for Rahn again, but now it wasn’t working. She gripped it tightly, so tightly that the bottle shattered in her hands, and what didn’t stick into her hands fell straight to the table.

Her head was swimming, but she still sat firmly where she was. The phone rang and she tapped a button on her desk, the screen in front of her on the desk lit up, and a face appeared on the webcam. He was a ragged, but still well kept man, with dark hair that wasn’t quite black and a beard which reached not far past his chin that matched it. He lifted his head and Adele shifted in her seat.

“Do you have them?” he asked. His voice was rough, and he had a Russian accent.
“Yes.” Adele replied. “The Brtitish launch is ready for your men to take control of any second.”
“The Launch codes?” asked the man at the other end of the webcam.
“You’ll need 2 for each of the three launches, and once one is used, it cannot be used again, even if it is cancelled.”
“Excellent, and these codes are?”
“For security reasons, I am having my men e-mail you the 6 codes from 6 separate accounts. I would advise yourself to provide me with another private address to send them all to.”

“Good” He said the single word, then shouted something in Russian. A rather short man appeared at his side and there were some very quick mumblings, of which sounded Russian, but Adele wouldn’t have understood even if they were English due to the speed of them. The short man nodded his head and ran off.

“My men are setting up such an account now, the address will be revival@tokarev.ru and it should be active within 20 minutes. I expect the codes to be in the inbox by 3:00 tonight.” Announced the man.

“They will be.” She said, before pressing another button, turning off the screen. She stood up and walked straight for the door. What was she doing? Why had she just agreed to that? She still didn’t know, but she did know that this was the wrong decision. Even though she knew it was wrong, she still went ahead with it. It was her only choice.

She kept a pistol in the drawer next to the door, and she took it out before she left the room. It was a fine gun, a TT-30. It was a semi-automatic Russian model, developed by Fedor Tokarev during World War II. It was originally developed as a replacement for the older Nagant M1895 Revolvers. Strangely enough, it was a gift to her from Boris Tokarev. The name was a complete co-insidence however, as they were no relation despite sharing a name.

She took the elevator from the 3rd floor to the ground and walked out the front doors, pistol in hand. She went to the river which was only a few streets away from her office, and found the bridge. It was ironic really. He father had commited suicide on this very bridge. He’d hung himself with her skipping rope, she’d only been 9 at the time. Now she was 43, and she wanted to go out at the same place.

She held the gun up to her head and put her finger on the trigger. Something knocked her to the side, and she smacked her head off the wooden floor of the bridge. She stood up, holding her head, and looked at the man who had hit her. He was holding her gun, so she couldn’t get at it.

“What are you doing” she screamed, tears trailing her mascara down her face. “Let me die”

“No, Suicide is not the way. I don’t know you, and I don’t know how bad it is, but no-one deserves to die” his voice was very convincing. She collapsed to her knees and looked up at him. She saw her father in him. She crawled over to him on her hands and knees.

“Please. I’m begging you. Give it back.” She cried.
“No, not if you’re going to shoot yourself.” He said, determined.
“I wont, just give it back please, that gun is worth so much to my family” she lied.

“I’m calling the police, they can decide what to do” he said. He was obviously confused, and he reached for his mobile. She saw her chance, and punched the man in the chest. As soon as she hit him, he grabbed her hand, but she used her other hand to punch him in the jaw as he’d bent down to grab it. He stumbled backwards, dropping the gun.

Adele dived for the gun, but the man ran into her, ploughing his foot into her side. She kept a firm grip on her gun, and she pulled the trigger three times. The man flew backwards from the force of the bullets hitting his chest and Adele Phelts ran up to the edge of the bridge before pulling the trigger on her head.

Click.

No bullets. Adele was confused, the gun held 8 bullets. She had no time to think about where the 5 bullets had gone, she jumped onto the handrails and off the bridge.

[Saint]

Chapter 1

Mr Wilson was a tall man, with artificially tanned skin and bleached blonde hair. His eyes were green, or rather his contact lenses were green, no-one knew their real colour. He wore an expensive suit, Italian design, made in Spain. This was a man who was shrouded in secrecy, and even his own mother wouldn’t recognise him. He was the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and for the first time in over 12 years he was worried.
He opened his mouth and spoke, his voice was strong and deep.

“Get me them here now” He said. The people he was referring to were 6 English people. Luke Green, Joanne Plait, Martin Pazdon, Hailey Prince, Matthew Prince and finally Sakura Prince, who was only 12 years old. He highly doubted that Sakura would come, in fact he very much wished that she wouldn’t. Mr Wilson was really uncomfortable working with children; he had been ever since his 6 year old niece had died from an asthma attack. He always saw her face in any child he spoke to.

The man who stood next to him ran to enforce the order, trailing through the FBI headquarters in search of the foreign independencies offices. He had to go up 3 flights of stairs, remember that the FIO offices had moved that week, and go down 5 more flights of stairs before he finally reached the offices, out of breath.

He rallied the names of the 6 English people to the woman in charge, and within seconds they were located. Each of the addresses were lain out in front of him on a screen. Instantly there was a problem. According to the data, Matthew, Hailey and Sakura Prince all lived together in Chefries, and Martin Pazdon lived in Scunthorpe, but next to the names of Joanne Plait and Luke Green, there was a big bold ‘NO KNOWN ADDRESS’. This was bad. He picked his phone out of his pocket and pressed speed dial number 1, Mr Wilson.

* * * * *

Mr Wilson picked up the phone and heard the bad news from his secretary.

“Mr Tokarev, I regret to inform you that we cannot bring the six people you requested here, as we only have valid addresses for 4 of them.”
“I don’t care how many addresses you have, I want all 6 people before me when I make my demands, or you know what will happen”
“Yes, but do you have any proof at all that you are in possession of ten missiles? Our satellites have just completed a scan of Russia, and there are no more than 3 missiles grouped together at any location.”
“Who said they are in one place, Mr Wilson?” said Boris, with a slightly sarcastic tone in his voice. “These missiles are scattered, but onto the topic of proof, do you really want me to fire one of these missiles at its target now?”

“Of course I don’t, but it is hard to believe a man who has no proof of what he is saying.”
“Oh, you will have proof soon enough Mr Wilson, I can assure you of that”
“I would like to make a deal with you Mr Tokarev.”
“I’m listening” said the intrigued voice.
“Sakura Prince, the girl. She doesn’t have to come.”
“Oh, is that true, then what do I get out of this little bargain if I were to agree that she doesn’t?”
“You get nothing, but what use is a 12 year old girl to whatever your demands may be?”
"A valid point.” Said Tokarev, who didn’t like children much either “Fine. The girl stays in England, on the condition that all five of the others are here within 24 hours.”
“Excellent” concluded the head of the FBI, turning the monitor which bore Boris’ face off. He reached for his phone and pressed the re-dial button
“Find them. They are to be here in 24 hours, Sakura stays in England.” Was all he said before hanging up.

* * * * *

DHWARFSLALE HOSPITAL – OHIO – AMERICA

“Nurse? Could you fetch me another glass of water please?” asked an elderly lady
“Of course I can Mrs Dailey” said the nurse with a smile
“Please call me Charlotte, Mrs Dailey makes me feel old.” Asked Mrs Dailey nicely.

The nurse took Charlottes glass and walked to the water fountain in the corner of the room, bringing it back to her without spilling a drop.
“Thank you dearest, do you know, of all the hospitals I’ve been in, this is the only one so far that hasn’t complained when I ask for something simple like a glass of water.”
“Well, I just love helping people out” said the nurse, and it was true. All her life, the nurse had been a kindly lady, and she had worked at this hospital since she was 18 years old. She sat down on the end of the bed and asked the elderly lady how her day had been.
“Oh, it’s been alright I suppose. Apart from the part where I fell down the last two stairs and broke my hip” she said before laughing.
“Well, that usually does ruin someone’s day doesn’t it?”

The talk carried on for about ten minutes, and when the nurse finally got up to leave, she wished Charlotte a good night and walked off towards the nurses changing rooms on the ground floor.

She reached the blue door and turned the handle to walk inside. The room was the same as it had always been. In 20 years of working here, she hadn’t remembered any mentioning of a refurbishment to the nurses changing rooms. The walls were coated in a pale yellow paint that was peeling off the wall in places, the doors that lead to the individual changing rooms were metal, with a number engraved on the top if each one.

It looked like she was the only one here, so she walked to the showers at the back and took her clothes off completely, leaving them in a pile outside the door so that people knew she was in there, as all the locks were broken. It wouldn’t matter anyway, there weren’t any male nurses orking at the hospital and she was perfectly comfortable with the other nurses seeing her naked.

No-one came in though, and she washed herself in peace. She came out of the shower and picked her pile of clothes up, changing into her normal clothes in the open space in the middle of the changing rooms, as opposed to shutting herself into one of the small changing rooms.

Refreshed, she took her bag out of the locker with her name on. The other lockers were open; the daytime nurses had all left. She was usually the last to leave, but at least 2 of the evening nurses would usually have arrived by now. Well if they had, she thought, they hadn’t come into the changing rooms. She packed her nurse’s uniform into the bag and took out her cell phone.

It vibrated in her hand, and the theme tune to ‘Big brother’ played through the little speaker. She nearly fell back of shock, but she got over it and answered the phone to find it was her friend Katie calling her. She never bothered to check the caller ID; she could recognise all her friend’s voices instantly.
“What’s taking you so long Janet?” asked Katie through the phone.
“I just finished up in the nurses changing rooms, I’m just checking out now.
“What did you do, Shower in there?” asked Katie sarcastically.
“Yes I did actually, look I’ll be there in about 10 minutes OK? Stop worrying about me”
“I’m not worrying about you, I’m worrying we’ll miss Orlando” Joked Katie. “Hurry up, you hear me?”
“Sure Katie, I wouldn’t miss Orlando Bloom now, would I?”

She hung the phone up and laughed. Katie always loved Orlando Bloom, and she looked as if she was going to faint when Janet had given her the tickets to his Autobiography signing for her birthday. She walked towards the front doors with a slight hurried pace and found the taxi waiting outside for her.

“Where to miss?” asked the taxi driver courteously. Janet didn’t respond. She was looking up to the sky with her mouth wide open. There was a large black object in the distance, and it was coming closer and closer to where she was standing. She composed herself, telling the man in the taxi to get out of here, fast, and pointing to the black object in the distance. His eyes widened and he turned to ask Janet to get in, but she had gone, he saw her run into the hospital again, and took her advice, hitting the accelerator and screaming out of the windows for people to run for their lives.

Back in the hospital, Janet was running, shouting for people to get out, fast. She looked around for a fire alarm and smashed her fist through it, breaking the glass and setting the alarm off. She ran back outside and saw the object was much closer now. It was coming towards them extremely fast, and Janet could make out what it was now.
A Missile.

When it hit the hospital, there was a huge explosion, fire was spreading everywhere, and people were screaming from all directions. Janet opened her eyes, she must have been knocked to the floor. She stood up shakily, and a man ran over to her.
“Come on!” he shouted. “We have to get away from here.”

She took the man’s hand and he half-dragged her away from the remains of the hospital. She noticed that she stood in front of about 30 people.

“Here, take this” said one young girl from the crowd, who had handed her a bottle of water. The girl who had handed it to her was about 7 years old, with light brunette hair and she wore one of the hospital dressing gowns. Janet noticed her left arm in a cast.
“Thank you darling, but why are you giving me this?” said Janet, confused.
“You saved us.” Was all the little girl said.
Janet held out her arms and the girl rushed into them, hugging her.
“Thank you.” Whispered Janet in the little girl’s ear. She took a sip of the water and handed it back to her. The people in front of her all smiled, and a tear fell from Janet’s eye.
“Mrs. Nurse Lady? Why are you crying?” asked the little girl.
"Because if I’d have noticed it earlier, there could be more people standing here now” replied Janet, her face streaming with tears now.

“Don’t blame yourself Mrs. Nurse. You saved us.” The little girl was right. She was a very smart little girl.

She HAD saved all these people. The thought of it brought a smile to her face, and she held her arms out wide and hugged the girl again.

[Saint]

The Light Gardens

Chapter 1 – Looming Threat.

DHWARFSLALE HOSPITAL – OHIO – AMERICA

“Nurse?  Could you fetch me another glass of water please?” asked an elderly lady.

“Of course I can, Mrs. Dailey,” said the nurse with a smile.

“Please call me Charlotte; Mrs. Dailey makes me feel old,” asked Mrs. Dailey nicely.

   Taking Charlotte’s glass and walking to the water fountain in the corner of the room, the nurse filled it as requested and brought it back to her without spilling a drop.

“Thank you dearest.  Do you know, of all the hospitals I’ve been in during my time, this is the only one so far that hasn’t complained when I ask for something simple like a glass of water.”

“Well, I just love helping people out” said the nurse, and it was true.  All her life, the nurse had been a kindly lady, and she had worked at this hospital since she was merely eighteen years old.  She sat down on the end of the bed and asked Charlotte how her day had been.

“Oh, it’s been alright, I suppose, apart from the part where I fell down the last two stairs and broke my hip,” she said before laughing.

“Well, that usually does ruin someone’s day doesn’t it?  It’s nice to know you still have a sense of humour,” the nurse laughed.

   The talk carried on for about ten minutes, and when the nurse finally got up to leave, she wished Charlotte a good night and walked off towards the nurses’ changing rooms on the ground floor.

   She reached the blue door and turned the handle to walk inside.  The room was the same as it had always been.  In 20 years of working here, she hadn’t remembered any mentioning of a refurbishment to the nurses’ changing rooms.  The walls were coated in a pale yellow paint that was peeling off the wall in places, some of tiles on the floor had left their bearings completely, and those that hadn’t were fighting for survival as it was.

   The doors that lead to the individual changing rooms were metal, with a number engraved on the top if each one.  It looked like she was the only one here, so she walked to the showers at the back and took her clothes off completely, leaving them in a pile outside the door so that people knew she was in there, as all the locks were broken.  It wouldn’t matter anyway; there weren’t any male nurses working at the hospital, and she was perfectly comfortable with the other nurses seeing her naked.  No-one came in though, and she washed herself in peace.

   She came out of the shower and picked her pile of clothes up, changing into her normal clothes in the open space in the middle of the changing rooms, as opposed to shutting herself into one of the small, claustrophobia-inducing changing rooms.

   Refreshed, she took her bag out of the locker with her name on.  The other lockers were open; the other daytime nurses had all left.  She was usually the last to leave, but at least two of the evening nurses would usually have arrived by now.  ‘Well if they had,’ she thought, ‘they hadn’t come into the changing rooms.’  She packed her nurse’s uniform into the bag and took out her cell phone.

   It vibrated in her hand, and the theme tune to a T.V. game show played through the little speaker.  She nearly fell back of shock, but she got over it and answered the phone to find it was her friend Katie calling her.  She never bothered to check the caller ID; she could recognise all her friends’ voices instantly.

“What’s taking you so long Janet?” asked Katie through the phone.

“I just finished up in the nurses’ changing rooms, I’m coming out now.”

“What did you do, shower in there?” asked Katie sarcastically.

“Yes, I did actually.  Look, I’ll be there in about ten minutes, okay?  Stop worrying about me”

“I’m not worrying about you, I’m worrying we’ll miss Mister!” joked Katie.  “Hurry up, you hear me?”

“Sure Katie, I wouldn’t miss Mister now, would I?”

   She hung the phone up and laughed.  Katie always loved Mister, a world-famous author, and she’d looked as if she was going to faint when Janet had given her the tickets to his latest book signing for her birthday.  She walked towards the front doors with a slight hurried pace and found the taxi waiting outside for her.

“Where to, Miss?” asked the taxi driver courteously.

   Janet didn’t respond; she was looking up to the sky with her mouth wide open.  There was a large black object in the distance, and it was coming closer and closer to where she was standing.  Guessing what it was, she composed herself, telling the man in the taxi to get out of there, fast, and pointed to the black object in the distance.  His eyes widened as he realised what she had and he turned to ask Janet to get in, but she had already gone.  He saw her run into the hospital again, and took her advice, hitting the accelerator and screaming out of the windows for people to run for their lives.

   Back in the hospital, Janet was running, shouting for people to get out, and fast.  She looked around for a fire alarm and located one behind the reception counter, smashing her fist through it, breaking the glass and setting the alarm off.  She ran back outside and saw the object was much closer now, and was coming towards them extremely fast.  Janet could make out for certain what it was now, and she was right.

   A Missile.

   It seemed to be zeroing in on the hospital, and people were pouring out of the entrance, some running, some wheeling beds.  When it hit the hospital, there was a huge explosion, fire was spreading everywhere, and all Janet was aware of was people screaming from all directions.  Janet opened her eyes; she must have been knocked to the floor in the panic.  She stood up shakily, and a middle-aged man ran over to her.

“Come on!” he shouted.  “We have to get away from here.”

   She took the man’s hand and he half-dragged her away from the remains of the hospital, trying to look away from the charred corpses surrounding her.  The missile had hit the hospital straight-on, killing everyone inside, and a good proportion of this fleeing.  Despite this, when the man had finished leading her away, she noticed that she stood in front of about fifty people.

“Here, take this” said one young girl from the crowd, who had handed her a bottle of water.  The girl who had handed it to her was about seven years old, with light brunette hair, and she wore one of the hospital dressing gowns.  Janet noticed her left arm in a cast.

“Thank you darling, but why are you giving me this?” said Janet, confused.

“You saved us,” was all that the little girl said.

   Janet held out her arms and the girl rushed into them, hugging her.

“Thank you,” whispered the little girl in Janet’s ear.  She took a sip of the water and handed it back to her.  The people in front of her just looked at her in a mox of admiration and mourning.  A tear fell from Janet’s eye.

“Mrs. Nurse Lady?  Why are you crying?” asked the little girl.

"Because if I’d have noticed it earlier, there could be more people standing here now” replied Janet, her face streaming with tears now.

“Don’t blame yourself Mrs. Nurse.  You saved us.”  The little girl was right.

   It’s strange how the words of a child can change your view on something so quickly.  She had saved all these people.  There was still the regret for those lost, but it was pushed back in the thought of the lives she’d saved.  The thought of it brought a guilty smile to her face, and she hugged the girl again.


   On the other side of the world, Matthew Prince awoke, sweating feverously.  He’d had a dream that he’d already forgotten, but knew was actually closer to a nightmare.  Something about the night was wrong.

“What’s wrong, Matt?” asked Kaman.

   Kaman, his incorporeal best friend, who assumed the form of a snow-white furred ermine.  She was like the mother he never got to experience; his had been cold, cynical, and had tried to kill him in her last few moments.

   Ever since his daughter, Sakura, had been born, he’d been having these dreams.  Dreams which foretold death, which he was sure were somehow linked to Rahn, an ancient sorcerer who wanted nothing more than to walk the Earth in his own body again.  The dreams Matt couldn’t remember were the worst, though.

   He’d had three so far, and the day after each, the news channels were riddled with information about a major disaster.  The first had been a plane crash, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.  Four hundred people were killed when the two planes somehow collided in mid-air.  The second was three cruise ships, all holding about five hundred people each, sinking at the exact same time.

   Finally, the third was an Earthquake in brazil, crushing homes and communities, and killing at least four hundred.  He did a sum in his head, though due to his lack of schooling, it took a while, and worked out that roughly twenty-three hundred people had died in total.

   This was bigger, though.  He could feel it.  He couldn’t remember any of it, but somehow, he knew this death count wasn’t in the hundreds; it was in its thousands.

TO BE CONTINUED…

[Chinaren]

Did you mean to repeat the bit with the old woman? 

[Saint]

I did, that's the re-written version of Chapter 1.  I did it a while back, but never posted it up.