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    Oblivion Gate Episode Two
    Oblivion Gate Episode Two
    Oblivion Gate Episode Two
    Ebook171 pages1 hour

    Oblivion Gate Episode Two

    By Odette C. Bell

    2/5

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    About this ebook

    Grace has been kidnapped. But it’s the least of Sheppard’s troubles.
    The Xandian resistance has lain low for 50 years. It is time for them to rise. And Shepperd and his team are their first targets.
    When Maglite is attacked, Sheppard is drawn deep into a battle which will swallow him whole.
    But if he thinks his destiny has become twisted, it’s nothing compared to Grace. Her transformation has begun, and nothing on Earth or Xandia can stop it.
    It is time for Pandora to return to the land. And it is time for the land to rise up and meet her.
    ....
    Oblivion Gate follows a soldier and a prophesied weapon fighting for the truth in a far-distant realm. If you love your fantasies with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab Oblivion Gate Episode Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOdette C. Bell
    Release dateJul 23, 2018
    ISBN9780463979419
    Oblivion Gate Episode Two

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    Book preview

    Oblivion Gate Episode Two - Odette C. Bell

    Chapter 1

    Sergeant Mark Sheppard

    Another day in Xandia, another damn ceremony.

    All I wanted to do was get back to the tavern to see Grace, but as always, things were out of my hands.

    At least try to smile, Squire grumbled from beside me as I stood to the side of the stone podium.

    I am smiling. Can’t you see? I kept my hands firmly tucked behind my back as I turned my head up and stared at the sky.

    The clouds were still there, marching across the horizon like an indomitable force getting ready to sweep over Maglite.

    We had a half hour, an hour tops before the deluge opened up again.

    I opened my mouth to ask the one thing that had been on my mind all day, haunting me like a nightmare, Colonel—

    No, Sergeant, Squire let out a long-suffering sigh that told me she’d had an even worse night than I had, there’s been no news about the portal yet. Our best – and only – estimate is still at least two more days before it’s operational and we can hear from Earth again.

    That’s not what I was going to ask. How’s Grace? It was a question I’d been itching to ask since I’d been forced to head to breakfast with Lady Tallet this morning. And it’s a question that just kept getting stronger, pounding into my gray matter like a pestle to a mortar.

    There was this itchy sensation crawling up the back of my head, this creeping coldness that kept playing down the insides of my arms and across my chest. It was the same sensation I’d get before a big mission – the kind of operation that was do or die.

    There was no good reason for my body to be throwing up those kinds of sensations now, though. This ceremony was hardly going to be the most trying mission of my life.

    Squire gave me an odd look. The civilian? She’s fine. I left her with Josh and Matthew eating breakfast.

    I made a face.

    Squire knew precisely what it meant, and her left lip twitched hard. She’ll be fine.

    You left her with Josh? Hardly the best example of what the Taskforce has to offer.

    He’s had a rough time with the death of Shane Walters. He’ll get back on track, Squire tried, keeping only half her attention for me and the rest for the packed square around us.

    As always, this ceremony was drawing a crowd. I could hardly comment, as humans had always led a superstitious existence, but there was a religious fervor in Xandia that went beyond anything I was used to on Earth.

    I had to quickly remind myself there was a reason for that. To the Xandians, they didn’t need to pray to an unhearing god in heaven – their gods walked among them for all to see.

    I cleared my throat. Is—

    Squire didn’t let me finish. Her gaze had switched to a band of burly looking merchants who were skulking along the edge of the crowd. The ceremony was being held in a kind of town square, though it was a lot grander than anything you’d have back on Earth. Earth may have access to better building techniques and materials, but we’d lost our sense of pageantry and architectural drama last century. Xandia still had it, and though Maglite wasn’t even a big city in the grand scheme of things, they still had a town square that was fit for the gods. There was a massive statue in the middle surrounded by a carved stone pool. At the bottom of the pool were reflective glass-like tiles that depicted one of Xandia’s favorite creation myths. It was a theme you would see repeated everywhere across the land.

    It was on vases, tapestries, rugs, murals – everything.

    It was the birth and death of the land.

    According to the myth, the gods had come from the stars one day and created Xandia to hold their secrets and wealth. One day, when the Xandians could no longer hold on to those secrets and that wealth, the gods would return and destroy all.

    Unlike Earth, that creation and destruction myth was accepted by almost everyone I’d met on Xandia, and by all reports, everyone shared roughly the same religion.

    … But why the hell was I concentrating on that now? The only thing that should be holding my attention was the odd sensation still crawling across my skin. It tickled between my shoulder blades, itched along the small of my back, and raced through my gut, feeling like ice melt.

    Just try to smile, please. You look like you’re having your teeth pulled, Squire sighed from my side.

    "I feel like I’m having my teeth pulled. I just can’t…" I trailed off, stopping myself from sharing my worries with Squire. She was a woman who played it by-the-book. And the ominous feeling descending on me was most definitely not by-the-book.

    What, Sergeant?

    I don’t know. Something just doesn’t feel right, I settled for summarizing my feelings without going into the details. Squire didn’t need to know that with every second my stomach was tightening into an even tighter knot that felt like some vengeful surgeon was trying to strangle me with my own gut.

    Squire dipped into a strange, edgy silence.

    My gaze ticked toward her, and for the first time, I truly noted how tensed her neck muscles were. She was standing to attention, her hands clasped behind her back as she surveyed the crowd.

    Without asking what was wrong, my gaze ticked back to those strange men at the back of the crowd.

    Except they were gone.

    Squire’s eyes clearly ticked through the thronging people as she looked for them.

    My stomach kicked. What’s going on?

    We received a potential tip-off that the separatists might try something today.

    I thought my stomach had kicked before. I was wrong. What it did now eclipsed that by a factor of 10. So much tension ran through my back and leg muscles, I almost jumped off the podium I was on and threw myself into the crowd.

    The sun was already high enough that its long rays had made it over the high fortified wall that ran around Maglite. As the illumination bathed the crowd, I started to see the glimmer of light against metal.

    It wasn’t unusual for Xandians to walk around with tools holstered at their belts – everything from hammers to, yeah, knives. Now my gaze darted from them as my fear peaked.

    It’s probably nothing, Squire tried to convince me, but her actions spoke louder than her words as she continued to stare through the crowd sharply.

    Who did it come from?

    We don’t know. Same method as all the tip-offs from before – a letter left at the doorstep of Base 11.

    I didn’t have to stretch my memory to figure out what Base 11 referred to. It was the tavern Squire and her unit were currently staying at.

    My cheeks became cold. What the hell did the letter say?

    That we should keep our eyes open today. Close them, and we’d miss the world changing beneath our feet. It’s less explicit than our usual warnings, so I’m hoping it’s just kids having fun.

    I pressed my lips together but didn’t answer.

    The kids of Xandia, growing up in an unfettered wilderness, had much easier ways to make fun than threatening Xandia-Earth relations.

    There it was again – the fear that had been growing all day. It washed over me, sharper than ever. It felt like I’d stood in the path of an explosion, and shrapnel was cutting me to shreds.

    Lady Tallet, as always, hadn’t arrived yet. It was customary when dealing with the Royal family to wait. The more important the dignitary, the longer you waited for them.

    Despite the fact I’d promised her I would be here today, I started seriously entertaining ditching this and heading back to the tavern.

    My whole body itched to go see Grace.

    Maybe Squire could read minds – or my tension – because she shook her head once. Just stay put, Sergeant. That’s an order.

    I opened my mouth, but finally the Royal procession began.

    In the distance toward the palace, I watched its enormous golden gates opening, the guards who stood on duty around it shifting to the side once they’d bowed for ten seconds with their swords held diagonally across their breastplates.

    At least the town square was in easy line-of-sight with the palace, so I didn’t miss a thing.

    Watching Lady Tallet’s Royal carriage sweep out of the gates was one thing. The fact Squire didn’t slice her gaze toward it once and rather kept doing methodical sweeps through the crowd was another entirely.

    Tension continued to climb me with all the ease and frantic speed of a spider, but there wasn’t a goddamn thing I could do about it as I waited for the Royal procession to reach us.

    Beside me, Squire never relaxed.

    And within, I couldn’t relax, either.

    Every sense I had told me I was missing something – that it was too late. And from now – from right here – there would be no going back despite how many tears I cried and blood I gave.

    Chapter 2

    Grace Brown

    In and out. I slipped in and out of consciousness like something rising to the surface of a violent ocean only to be swallowed by it again.

    I could… I could make out the fact I was being carried on someone’s shoulder.

    That was it. The frequent jarring thumps of their footfall transferring through my limp body were the only sensations that could penetrate the thick, choking fog in my mind.

    I couldn’t move, and God knows I couldn’t speak.

    But I could still feel as I was carried away.

    Here and there, I also heard snippets of voices.

    Were people talking, or were they screams? I couldn’t quite make out the register, and they were nothing more than faint impressions on the edge of my consciousness.

    The longer I was carried, and the further away I was taken from the tavern, the more I felt my mind slipping.

    It was like somebody had taken a drill to that wall in my head, and with every second, more of it was crumbling down around me.

    I no longer had this impression that I’d been to Xandia before – I knew it. With all my being. With every scrap of my soul.

    And most importantly, with all my power.

    … Power.

    Could I feel it? Just an inkling at the edges of my consciousness? Just a promise whispered in my dreams?

    Or maybe a curse.

    For the first time since I’d started to slip in and out of consciousness, I managed to move. I let out a groaning gasp, and instantly the person carrying me stiffened. They had a hand anchored over the small of my back as they locked me against their shoulder, and their fingers tensed. I suggest you don’t fight it, Miss Grace, they said.

    … Miss Grace.

    Though my memories of being attacked outside the tavern were still patchy, those two words came to the fore like a punch to the face.

    There was only one man who called me Miss Grace.

    Jarrak.

    I tried to jerk away; I had no strength. It was as if someone had bled me dry and replaced my body with glue.

    There is no need for fear, he said in a serious voice.

    I might’ve just been on the edge of falling asleep once more, but I could appreciate that I’d never heard Jarrak use such a tone.

    Back during the carriage ride, I’d had the suspicion that almost everything he’d done was a calculated act to keep people off-side.

    Now that suspicion came to the fore as his tone and demeanor changed.

    "Trust me, you’re better off with me than you are with them. Now submit once more. Sleep

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