Jehm - The Awakening by Stan Stevens

Forward

Before the beginning, before the forward passage of time, there was the void. Dark and silent. Existing as an eternity and an instant. Both all and nothing. Within this void was the Creator - Jarah. She existed in the moment, yet spanning all eternity. In that moment She had a thought, a notion so pure, so beautiful, She began to sing.

She sang of the stars, countless like the grains of sand on infinite shores. She sang of whirling galaxies in vast dimensions, dimensions that were unique, separate, yet one.

And so the facets were formed. Substance formed from the void, reverberating in harmony with Jarah's song, each facet a different dimension resonating with a different melody.

Facet upon facet formed filling the void. What she created was beautiful. She felt its presence and smiled. Jarah sang of each facet and within each one a world began to dance to Her melody. She sang of light and warmth, of leaf and bough... of life...

She sang of Jehm...

Chapter 1

Nevada Desert ley line - present day.

"Millias, leave them, we must go, NOW!" Called Morden over his shoulder as he hurried up the ramp into the rear of the long crimson craft resting on the desert sands cooled by the night air. Noisily he deposited the wooden case in the corridor that he had been cradling. Any ordinary man would not have been able to even lift it. His crimson leather clad muscular frame belayed an inhuman strength. A strength that went beyond his mere physical appearance and made light of his load. He continued up the corridor at speed.

"But, Morden, we cannot leave them. If they are found..." Protested Millias as he scampered up the ramp. Similarly clad, he too was well built though slightly smaller than Morden.

"LEAVE THEM," bellowed Morden stopping briefly. "We do not have time. They knew we would be here - come on!" Millias hesitated in the doorway momentarily, his broad chest heaving with anxiety. In the distance he could see lights closing on their position - so many lights. Slapping the panel on the wall to secure the hatch he turned and hurried after his comrade with a case identical to the one resting in the corridor. Morden was already strapping himself into the pilot seat as Millias caught up with him laying the case by his own seat before dropping into it and attending to his harness. Morden's hands danced over the controls bringing the ship to life. As Millias fumbled with his fastenings he glanced out of the windows, forward and to either side. The lights were fast approaching.

"How could they know?" protested Millias. "It has been a thousand years since we were last at this place, and a thousand years before that." Morden settled back in his seat and grappled with the huge inertia of the ship as it rose from the desert floor. Vents and control surface on the craft broke its sleek lines as the ship angled for the escape. Complex landing struts were drawn into its body as the engines wound up with an increasing shrill - a shrill that was little more than a sinister hiss inside the cockpit.

"Stories, dates, old myths, it makes no difference," said Morden in an agitated tone. "They knew we would be here tonight, we will not be here long enough for them to discover more than they know already." Morden was not afraid. Humans did not scare him. There was no way of telling how many were out there. Had it been tens or hundreds he and Millias could have squashed them all like ants. But even ants have a way of getting into places they are not wanted.

Searchlights trained on the ship as Morden pushed the throttles forward. As the shrill roar rose so did the ship. The searchlights struggled to stay trained on the craft as it sped skywards. An endeavour that became pointless as the ship shimmered and disappeared.

Millias strained to look back as best he could through the window, the angle was awkward but his view was no longer hindered by the ship's fuselage. He watched as powerful beams vainly pierced the clear night sky trying to find them. Countless dots of light converged on the spot where they had been moments earlier. They had escaped but Millias was uneasy.

"What if they find the shards, the ones we left behind?"

"You worry far too much, Millias," replied Morden. "The wash from the ship will shift the sands and cover them. In time the energy in them will dissipate. The shards themselves will deteriorate in years to come. Even if the Scattered Ones do find them they will learn nothing."

"But..." Millias' mind wrestled with and even greater fear, "but what if... what if, they come to hear of them?" Morden knew exactly what was playing on his comrade's mind. He laughed dispassionately.

"The Guardians? The great protectors of Jehm? It would be about time. So what if they do find out? By the time they did it would be too late, the war will already have swung in our favour." Morden manoeuvred the craft into orbit and began preparations for the the next leg of their journey. "Go back to the hold and secure the shards." Millias rose obediently, picking up the case he had laid down earlier, and make his way back towards the cargo area. Morden pondered their situation. The evening had gone well, but it could have been better. He wondered if the other parties had met with the same fate. Had they been forced to leave valuable shards behind? As long as they had enough shards to turn the course of the war, enough to sway the war that had lasted for countless millennia, that was all that mattered.

He had been there at the start. Soon he would see the end.

*** *** ***

Far, far below FBI agents swarmed the ley line, placing tape crisscrossed by yellow and black around the area, cordoning off the spot where the craft had landed. Senior officers barked orders as vehicles sped into position. As a precaution, heavily armed agents in Kevlar body armour spewed purposefully from several black armoured personnel carriers to secure the perimeter, protecting the other agents within. To the untrained eye the whole event would seem like chaos - but it was all executing to a finely detailed plan.... apart from one minor point. They had been unable to prevent the mysterious craft from taking off, but at least now they had hard evidence that extraterrestrials had landed. They had been doing something... but what?

What?

Portable floodlights were erected bathing the immediate area with light. Nothing would go unnoticed and whatever had been occurring would soon be made known.

Amidst the eerie light of the flood lamps that had the effect of creating a black nothingness beyond the cordoned perimeter to those inside, scientists began scouring the area with various instruments, most of them unknown outside the special FBI department. Clad in biohazard suits they searched inch by inch. Through the sand thrown up by one of the many helicopters circling the area one of the scientists broke away from his colleagues and hurriedly approached one of the senior agents.

"Agent Bradshaw, this.... this is incredible." The excited scientist shouted to be heard above the incessant thud of rotor blades and through his sealed suit.

"What is it? What have you found?" Special Agent Glen Bradshaw had to shield his face from the unnatural sand storm as he listened to the scientist. His FBI jacket flapped open revealing his gun strapped to his chest, a weapon he rarely found the need to draw. Though he was an accomplished martial artist and marksman his department called more on his research skills. His wife, Tenika, her dark hair tied back, stood at his side similarly dressed. Just a couple of inches shorter than her husband's six foot, her athletic figure was evident as the prop wash from the helicopters caused her clothing to cling to her toned frame. The strong artificial light accentuated her dark skin displaying her Afro American roots. She was equally high ranking in the department they had both founded. They strained to hear the report.

"The ley lines, the readings... the readings are phenomenal, totally off the scale." The scientist gestured excitedly to the landing site and beyond.

"It can't be just a factor relating to the craft landing, the readings extend way beyond ground zero. Harrison, the dowser... we've had to take him out of the area.... he nearly.... he nearly blacked out."

Glen and Tenika looked at each other, each having no answers to suggest.

"Carry on searching," shouted Glen, "get all the data you can. Keep a look out for something tangible, something physical -- there has to be something we can take back to the lab. The isolation team is standing by, as soon as you make any kind of find, call them in." The scientist nodded and hastily returned to his task. Glen looked around desperately seeking some kind of clue.

Something caught his eye.

Unthinking, he began to walk slowly towards it... almost drawn to it. Slightly away from the attentions of the search team something was glowing, occasionally hidden then revealed by the prop wash from the helicopters shifting the sand. In spite of the instructions he had given to the scientist Glen could not help himself... he felt drawn. He was nearly upon it when Tenika noticed he had spotted something.

"Glen? What is it... Glen?" She called above the cacophony of activity. She began walking after him slowly then her heart sank as she noticed what had attracted his attention.

"Glen..." she yelled, "Glen don't touch it! For God's sake don't touch it!" She broke into a run and raced across the sand, careering to a halt, grasping at his jacket to hold him back. "Glen, NO! Leave it!" She shrieked, but his hand was already a hair's breadth from the glowing rod.

The flash was instant, his life over in a second as he was hurled backwards by the shock. The last thing Glen heard was his wife screaming his name.

Tenika sank to her knees by her stricken husband. The scene before her was frighteningly familiar. She had dreamed this nightmare a thousand times before. With a shaking hand she stoked his face trying to ease the expression of pain dominating his features. Through her tears she glanced to one side, there in the sand, where Glen had stood moments earlier... something grey, no longer glowing, like a long pitted rod. It had taken away her husband. In an instant it had changed her life.

it was to change her life in more profound ways still.