Free A Warrior's Revenge by Guy Stanton III

the
enclosure for all the girls to fit, but as the last girl stepped in
the great stone doors started to shut causing fearful screeches of
fright from the group at large.
    “Easy now! It’s alright. There will be a
light in a moment.” Loric said in a calming voice.
    As the doors slam shut light flooded into
the space and the girls stared at wonder at the illuminated walls
of their prison and then the prison of stone started going
downward.
    It was a curious feeling Kana reflected to
herself, she’d never felt the odd falling sensation before, but she
surmised it was kind of like falling out of a tree in slow
motion.
    The fall downward continued and Kana had to
fight against the urge to throw up. The falling sensation finally
stopped. The walls of their prison retreated upwards, while the
floor remained as part of the floor of a circular domed space that
was only lightly illuminated enough for them to see that the space
they were in was empty.
    One girl shrieked and pointed as a figure,
which had seemed to materialize out of thin air was coming toward
them through the dim light. The light in the room brightened and
the members of the group could clearly see the approaching figure
now.
    Kana stared in amazement; it was a woman
that walked toward them! How had she come to be in this room? There
were no visible openings to it. Was this woman even real, was
Kana’s panic strickened thought.
    The woman came to a stop and smiled softly
at all of them, which was somehow calming because of the
genuineness of the smile. Kana reflected that she was very pretty
for someone who couldn’t be real.
    “Hello everyone. My name is Abby. How may I
help you?” Asked the figure of a woman graciously.
    Loric stepped forward out of the group
toward the woman. Something about Loric seemed to make the image
before them remember something because she said, “You’re all grown
up now Loric. It has been a long time for both of us. You have come
for her?”
    “Yes.” Was all Loric responded with.
    “Follow me master and I will take you to
her.” Abby said, as she bowed her head forward to Loric before
turning and walking away.
    Loric followed and not knowing what else to
do the group followed along after their leader. A doorway appeared
before their guide and opened and everyone followed her through it
and down the long hallway that ended in a room full of glittering
lights that was dominated by a column of what appeared to be water
in the center of the room. Within the column of water was a
woman.
    Kana raised a hand to her mouth in shocked
wonder. What was this place and who was the woman? Was she even
alive?
    Thousands of cords that had bright streaks
of light racing down their lengths came off the surface of the
water and led out into the room where they connected in a complex
weave into a glittering display of light and technology beyond
Kana’s comprehension.
    The water itself within the column appeared
to be swirling around the woman, as evidenced by the ripples of her
hair being worked about by an unseen current. She was very
beautiful and Kana could see a similarity between her and Loric.
They were clearly related, but Kana was not sure how. Loric had
said that all of his family had died except for him.
    The figure of a woman called Abby stepped to
the side saying, “It is for the master of Thunder Ridge and he
alone who can awaken the Guardian.”
    Not even hesitating Loric stepped up to the
swirling water and put both hands through the shimmering veil that
held back the water from escaping and took each of the woman’s
hands that floated in the swirling water.
    The woman’s eyes opened to reveal a
shimmering blue sapphire color with an intensity that made the
women of the group step back out of fear. The shimmering veil that
bound the water disappeared and the water cascaded to the floor in
a tidal wave, as the woman collapsed against Loric, who caught her.
Every light within the room went out, plunging the space