Token (Token Chronicles) (26 page)

I angrily look back at them, my eyes red from frustration and pain.

“They will pay for what has happened to her. I will make them all pay.”

“The troops, they are waiting for you. They are waiting for their leader. Show them that you are finally here ready to take them into a new world.”

Yes, I will show them. They will rally around me. Cromus, the entire Grodarian Federation, the Elitists, the Hawk Islands will all be destroyed and dismantled. The nation will belong to the people again. After we win, I will dedicate my life to getting Hadley to fall in love with me again.

I don’t say anything else to them. I just stand up and begin making my way to the central floor of the base where the troops are gathered. I march my way through to the front of the crowd and stand on the lifted platform.

“My fellow soldiers,” I announce. “The time for action has come upon us. Cromus has sent his soldier puppets out here looking for us. He knows we are about to rebel, but fear not. We will be victorious because we are the side fighting for good. We are fighting for change. We are fighting for freedom. No army can stop us. We will no longer allow Cromus and Grodar to deprive the citizens of this great nation of the basic necessities. We will not allow our people to starve out in the middle of the streets. We will not allow for those in need of medical attention to be turned away. We will not stand for children to be sold to Islands to become toys for the Elitists to play with. We will not stand for it. We can begin a new nation. A nation of freedom. A nation where you are given all the opportunities you can think of. A nation that is ruled by the people, not a soulless dictator and his select rich friends. We will restore our country to prominence. We have the power to decide, all we have to do is win. There is no victory without sacrifice, gentlemen. We have all sacrificed so much already, but I am asking for a little bit more. We will fight to our last dying breath. We will leave this country to be free for our children, our children’s children. When you leave this world, you can die knowing you left the world a better place than when you entered. And that is something to be proud of.”

The crowd begins to explode in cheers and war cries.

“What are we fighting for?!” I scream to the crowd.

“FREEDOM!” they yell back.

“What? I can’t hear you.”

“FREEDOM! FREEDOM! FREEDOM!”

While they are chanting, I draw from the flames of the fire-lit torches and create a giant fireball and send it hurdling to the back of the caverns. It strikes the wall and explodes sending a rock shower over the crowd. I stop all the rocks in mid-air demonstrating my control and power to my soldiers.

“To a new Knav! To a new nation!”

Chapter 19

Island 3

Token: Nayze

I was supposed to be tasked for the Hub City mission with Kincaid. It was the plan all along, but he decided I should go back with Rogan and Butler to help liberate Island 3. I fervently disagreed with his decision. I desperately wanted to be one of the men to watch as Cromus and the Grodarian Federation fell from power. Kincaid took me aside after his speech and told me about Hadley. He told me about how his powers work. He is only able to control them when he is calm and centered. His state of mind is anything but stable right now. I am afraid he may be going on a suicide mission. At his mother’s encouragement, he asked for all of the troops assigned to raid the capital to be reassigned. There was no arguing against him. Kincaid didn’t want to risk hurting any of our own troops, and I have never seen such determination in him. After all those months of searching for Hadley, and he finds her without her memory of him intact. I would not want to be standing in his way. I know he will not fail. I only hope the rest of us are as successful.

I will find satisfaction in watching the Grods scramble around like rats when we take them by surprise, but we haven’t been told the complete truth about our roles in this mission. When we arrived in Ridian, we were told since we came from the Islands, all of the former Tokens would lead the expeditions to take control of their respective Islands. But neither I, nor any of the other former Tokens from Island 3 are in charge. The leaders in charge of this mission are Jayce and Daylen, and two other gentlemen I have never seen before in Ridian until they stepped onto our transport.

They can say they are in charge all they want, but nobody knows this Island the way we do. We know where the Grods work in the day. We know where they sleep. We know where to find them. We know how the Grods on our Island think. There is nowhere they can hide that we cannot find them. I look forward to seeing some of my friends still remaining on the Island. I look forward to arming them with a weapon myself and telling them they can fight for their freedom. They can control their own destiny from here on out.

I lean over and peer down the row of our soldiers for this mission. About thirty in all. It should be plenty to overtake the Island given we will have the element of surprise. Rogan and Butler are seated next to me with their eyes closed trying to psych themselves up for the battle. We are all raring to go. We have been patiently waiting for this moment for a long time. I personally hope I run into Gunnar.

“Alright, we are getting close to our drop point,” one of our new commanders shouts near the bay doors. “Turn your jumpsuits on.”

We are borrowing a bit of new technology from Grodar for this mission. The jumpsuits we were all equipped with will allow us to jump from 20,000 ft. and glide to the ground without a parachute. As our arms and legs extend, the special fibers slow down our velocity and allows us to control our direction.

“Our drop point ETA is 1 minute. Let’s go. Everyone line up,” our commander orders. “Your target is the north side beach. It is far away from where the Grods are normally stationed and we will slowly work our way over to the South side until we have established complete control. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” everyone shouts back.

The bay doors begin to slowly open as the mechanized sound of the gears reverberates throughout the transport.

“Go, go, go.”

We all begin to jump out of the ship one by one. When I finally take my leap, the rush of the wind is exhilarating. As we begin to come into closer proximity to the Island, I slow my dive speed down by extending flaps on my arms to control my velocity. I can see North Beach and begin to glide in that direction. I can already start to see my comrades landing regaining their sense of balance. After we have all landed, we begin to make the plan for our avenues of attack.

I decide to take charge since our apparent leaders will not be able to since they do not know the landscape.

“Alright, we will split into six teams of five. Butler, you will lead your team into the fields to take over that perimeter. Remember to look out for Zeke as he is our informant for this Island. There should not be many over there, but remember to arm the Tokens you find with your extra weapon. Rogan, you will command the next squad and your goal will be to cross into the District. You should be able to find….”

A loud shot is fired. Rogan falls over to the ground.

“Rogan!”

There is a gaping hole in his midsection. His breaths are wheezing heavily and in seconds, he is gone. When I look up, the rest of our troops have their hands raised to surrender. Emerging from the woods of North Beach is at least quadruple the normal amount of Grods that would normally be stationed here. They are all heavily armed.

“Drop your weapons,” one of them shouts. Everyone obliges.

“Damn. That shot was meant for you Nayze, not Rogan. I suppose I will have more fun keeping you alive than dead though.”

Gunnar is laughing as he says it. How did they know we were coming? Someone must have tipped them off.

“But Zeke on the other hand.”

Zeke is pushed out in front the crowd of the Grods with his hands cuffed. He is sitting on his knees staring at me.

“Zeke here is a rat. He has been helping the Rebellion all along. Well we can’t have that now, can we?”

Gunnar fires and Zeke falls over face first into the sand. I look away in anguish.

“Good work gentlemen. You led them right to us,” Gunnar commends.

Who is he talking to?

I turn around and see the two new men on our ship chosen to be this mission’s commanders all have their weapons trained on us too. They betrayed us. I won’t stand for it. They may kill me, but at least I will go out fighting. I pull my secondary weapon from its holster and turn around to fire at them, but when I click the trigger, nothing happens. The weapon isn’t loaded.

“Don’t be foolish, Nayze,” Jayce says from behind me. “You have lost,” Daylen says with smugness.

Both of them now have their weapons trained on us too.

“You two? You two were a part of this? Why?”

“We were made a substantial offer. I am sorry. It has to be this way,” Jayce replies.

I turn around to see the giant smirk on Gunnar’s face. I have never been angrier in my life. All we have worked for is ruined because of the betrayal of a few men. Once Kincaid cleans up the capital, he will come back and set us free. I know he will personally enjoy given Gunnar his come uppings.

Gunnar pulls out a jolting device. I do not know what he plans to do with it. He must not know all of our devices have been fried off of our spinal cords.

“Welcome back to Island 3,” Gunnar says glaring at all of us.

He clicks the button and immeasurable amounts of pain are shocked throughout my entire body. As I hit the ground, writhing in agony, the rest of my team is being jolted as well. Something has gone seriously wrong.

Chapter 20

Hub City, Capital

Token: Kincaid

The clouds hang low in the dull gray sky. My whole life has built up to this one singular moment. I alone can set things right. I can avenge my father’s death. I can change the direction of this world. I can put us back on the right path. One of our transport ships got me as close to Hub City as possible without being detected. Once I have cleared the way and deposed Cromus, I will call for reinforcements to take the rest of the city. We are trying to minimize the casualties. My mother and the rest of our Rebel army are awaiting my signal. I thought it would be wise to only send myself in case I lose control. I am doing my best to stabilize my mind. Despite what has happened to Hadley, I need to remember what Briel told me. I have to remember what I am fighting for, who I am fighting for. It is not just her. I am fighting for the freedom of thousands.

 I am making my way through one of the outskirt villages. They are in shambles. Never have I seen such misery. I have only heard the stories, but seeing in person is much more surreal. I realize now I may have been blessed to have been a Token as a child. These people are suffering much worse than I ever could have imagined. There are children no older than eight or nine alone in the streets. As I walk into one of the dark and narrow alleyways trying to stay out of sight, I could not help but be attracted to the sound of laughter. A sound I am sure is foreign to shantytowns such as these. When I find the source, I can see two little boys fighting with wooden twigs.

After one of the boys jabs the other in the stomach with his twig, he proudly declares, “You are dead. I win, I win!”

“The only reason you won is because I let you be Benja.”

“Nuh uh. You got to be Zander, he was just as good as Benja. You are just mad you lost.”

I cannot help but to intervene.

“Excuse me boys. You said you are Benja.”

“Yes. He is my favorite Melee winner. The way he killed that man with his bare hands, he was such a great warrior. Didn’t you see it, sir?”

“You were allowed to watch the Melee. I thought it was only for the Elitists.”

“Well, sir, that used to be the rule, until the Federation realized they should open it up for public viewing a couple of years ago. People could stand to make a lot of money if they bet on the right Token.”

It’s the last straw. Exposing children to the violence of the Melee is inhuman. These boys are idolizing these men forced to murder each other. Cromus is destroying their innocence.

“Boys, why don’t you run along and find your parents? You need to make sure you are somewhere safe.”

“Sir, we don’t have parents. They both died years ago. It is just me and my brother now.”

“Well, you two be sure to find somewhere safe. You should not be out in the open in the next couple of hours. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Would you boys happen to be able to point me in the direction of Cromus’s mansion?”

“You can’t miss it, sir. It is just over the hill. It is the tallest building on the horizon. None others even compare.”

“Thank you. Remember to be safe. Don’t let the Hawkers find you.”

“Yes, sir.”

As I climb up the sharply sloped hill the boys mentioned, I am taken aback at the sight of Hub City. I have never seen so many grandiose structures. I have spent my whole life out in the Island, and all the time I have spent away from there has been spent hidden underground in caverns. All of the buildings are majestic, each of them truly seem to be scraping the sky. But off in the distance, I can see the tallest building. My focus has never been more pure, more resolute. Today is the day Cromus dies. As I begin to carefully navigate my way through the streets of the capital, I am surprised by the lack of security. All I see are the starving citizens scattered about on the streets. I have been cautious slinking behind one building to the next, but still not one Grodarian troop. Maybe some of them were called away to help defend the Islands. Maybe my scare tactic has worked, and they have abandoned Cromus and Grodar. As I begin to near Cromus’s mansion, I need to find my sources of power. In the alleyway I am peering at his mansion from, there is a small family hovered around the burning fire in a trashcan.

I grab a piece of loose paper and walk over to the can and light the end of it. I watch as the paper begins to burn, and I draw from the fire and create my fireball, my weapon. The family gasps in amazement. I begin to walk out from behind the alleyway out in the open. I concentrate and the wind begins to blow furiously from all directions. I walk straight up the path to the mansion. I can see a few soldiers standing guard out front. I ready myself to throw a fireball, but when they spot me, they all take off running. As I approach the mansion’s door, I slowly open it. I was expecting a large battle and struggle from the troops inside, but so far nothing. In fact, there seems to be no one on the bottom floor of the mansion at all. I see the steps ahead, and I begin to ascend them maintaining my vigilance. Each floor, I find the same thing. No soldiers. No other residents. Nobody. Nothing.