Free The Purification: Book 3 of the Evaran Chronicles by Adair Hart Page B

extended a hand toward Emily. “You look well.”
    “Thanks,” said Emily with a smile. She shook Lord Vygon’s hand.
    Lord Vygon jerked his head back. He narrowed his eyes and raised a finger. “Okay … something’s off here.”
    “Meeting others out of sequence at this point in my personal timeline is not uncommon, especially for an area where I spend some time, such as Earth. It is inevitable I will meet others who have met a future version of me, Dr. Snowden, or Emily,” said Evaran.
    “Right … so … this is your first time meeting me then, I’m gathering.”
    Dr. Snowden found this aspect of time travel fascinating. It highlighted the difference between a personal timeline and universal timeline. In the universal timeline, sometime in the past, Lord Vygon met Evaran, and by extension him and Emily, for the first time. That would be how Lord Vygon knows them now in the present. However, for Evaran, in his personal timeline, that event in the past has not occurred yet, so he would not know Lord Vygon. Dr. Snowden remembered Evaran had said that the future already exists. That must apply to both personal and universal timelines, regardless of scope.
    “Yes,” said Evaran. “This is our first meeting.”
    Lord Vygon nodded. “Well then … not sure what brought you out here, but my base is nearby.”
    “We could talk on the Torvatta,” said Evaran.
    Lord Vygon shook his head. “No temporal shielding for me.”
    “Very well.”
    Lord Vygon waved forward. “Follow me.”
    They followed Lord Vygon as he wound through the forest. After several minutes, they came upon a large rocky structure with a cave opening. Evaran launched his illumination orbs as they neared it.
    “You won’t need those,” said Lord Vygon. “The cave is lit inside.”
    Evaran snapped his head around. “We are not alone.”
    Lord Vygon flung his arms to his sides as he stood beside Evaran. Blunted blades extended above his forearms and wrapped around to the front of his fists. The bases of the blades were anchored to the forearm guards’ ridges. “I hear them too.”
    Evaran gestured for Dr. Snowden and Emily to move to the cave entrance as bald, black-clothed male humanoids swarmed the area. They wore padded boots and a covering over the lower half of their faces. A small circular crystal was embedded in their foreheads. Red triangles surrounded their eyes. They wielded metal staffs with a glowing crystal embedded on one end, while curved daggers hung off their belts. A barrage of beams shot out. Lord Vygon ran behind Evaran as the beams hit Evaran’s shield.
    “They are shooting mass teleport beams,” said Evaran, studying his ARI. He extended his utility handle into a baton and aimed at several of the humanoids. Boom! White concentric circles shot out, sending several of the humanoids flying. Those not hit moved behind the trees.
    “That won’t work well here. Too many obstructions,” said Lord Vygon. “You can’t be teleported, so draw their fire. They also shoot bolts, those will be the ones to block. I’ll hit the perimeter. I could use V’s help with distraction. Just like old times.”
    Evaran tilted his head. He sidestepped one of the humanoids that had charged forward and batted him away. “Are you sure?”
    Lord Vygon ducked as a beam shot over his head. “Of course. Don’t worry, I won’t kill. My blades are blunted.”
    Evaran narrowed his eyes and nodded. “V, assist Lord Vygon.”
    “Acknowledged,” said V. He flew high into the air, dodging beams as Lord Vygon shot out into the forest.
    Evaran hunkered down, letting the beams hit his shield, and switched to his ranged stun beam. He took potshots, but the amount of bolts trying to hit him caused him to focus on moving his shield around. As Lord Vygon and V went around the perimeter, the amount of bolts began to decrease.
    Dr. Snowden’s breathing went haphazard as he watched the fight. Lord Vygon was a blur, and the bodies being tossed into the