Jaden felt his anger rise as the man continually spoke with resentment at him. The endobraces by his sides became alight with a fiery glow, but before Ian had looked up, a booming deep voice came from behind Jaden.

'Sentinel, it is an honour.'

The endobraces faded as Jaden turned quickly to see a man an entire head taller than he was. His skin was dark and his scalp completely shaven while his body, perhaps slightly enlarged by the blue overalls, was almost three times the width of Jaden's. He was the biggest man Jaden had ever seen, making even the Alliance soldiers seem small. The man's hand was outstretched, and Jaden took it as the man bowed to him.

'I am Oldenwa. What service do you require?'

Jaden was stunned. This man seemed Ian's complete opposite in every possible way. It took Jaden a moment to calm himself and speak in a tone as friendly as this giant now spoke to him in.

'I am Jaden,' he began. 'I need to get to Corsec.'

'We are not in debt to him, Oldenwa,' said Ian.

Oldenwa seemed thoughtful. 'No one is leaving tonight?'

'All are to remain here until base gives further notice.'

'This sentinel requires our assistance,' Oldenwa reasoned.

'And he will not get any. The orders are clear. You are both dismissed.'

Jaden lowered his head, staring at the floor as he wondered at how he was going to get to Corsec. He couldn't be away from Alyssa for another week, he just couldn't. The calm that Raquel had settled over his heart was disappearing fast, and all he could now think of was making sure she was safe.

'This way, Sentinel,' said Oldenwa, showing him the door.

Jaden looked up, ready to defy the big man and force Ian to allow him transport, but he held his tongue as he saw Oldenwa wink at him and indicate the way outside. Jaden followed him into the cool fresh air and after Oldenwa had slapped both soldiers on the back in a friendly gesture, they continued down and then around the hill.

'Where are we going?' asked Jaden.

'Corsec,' said Oldenwa.

'But Ian said...'

Jaden could see Oldenwa's smile even in the darkness. 'I am a volunteer. His command does not extend to my freedom.'

'How are we going to get to Corsec?'

Oldenwa indicated a truck up ahead that was so big that it made even him seem minute. 'She's mine,' he said.

Jaden laughed as they reached the truck and he stood next to a wheel almost twice his height. Oldenwa lowered a ladder and helped him into the passenger side, following closely behind him to take the driver's side. The great machine roared into life under Oldenwa's manipulations, and soon they were steering their way out of the mining area and onto a flat open road, the smell of fuel and dust filling their lungs along the way.

'I am in your debt,' said Jaden, speaking easily as the insulated compartment softened the loud vibration of the engine. 'What do you want in return?'

'Nothing is necessary,' said Oldenwa.

'The lieutenant did not seem so friendly.'

'He is bitter toward the Daijuar. They have not been kind to him in the past. He blames them, I think.'

Jaden paused. 'I can relate,' he said.

Oldenwa turned to him questioningly, but said nothing as they continued along the open road.

'How long will the journey take?' asked Jaden.

Oldenwa chuckled. 'I have not known many sentinels to be impatient.'

'I don't mean to offend you, but I need to see someone as soon as I can.'

'Then it sounds like you need rest,' said Oldenwa.

'Why?'

'Your mind travels faster than your body. You stress, but there is nothing you can do. It is part of your training, is it not?' Oldenwa looked at Jaden curiously, his big, dark eyes seeming to probe for answers before Jaden could respond. 'You must only use emotions when they can be used,' he continued, turning back to the road. 'If you cannot do anything about a situation, then you must let them go until you can. It is a basic principle that ensures good action.'

'I ... I must have missed that one,' said Jaden unsurely. 'But I don't think I can sleep.'

'Put your head against the window. There is padding there.'

'I have not slept in days,' explained Jaden.

'Then I will help you.'

Jaden felt the warmth of the large hand as it moved over to between his eyes, and then with a flash of light, the compartment disappeared with the road ahead, and he fell into nothingness.

When Jaden woke, the compartment smelled fresh and clean, and there was daylight shining in through the window. He stretched uneasily as all of his muscles seemed to have lost their elasticity, and then he opened his eyes.

The compartment of the truck, the lone dirt road and Oldenwa were nowhere to be seen. He had almost asked out loud what Oldenwa had done to him, but now all he saw were black pillows, dark red bedding and the black metal frame of the bed he was lying on. There was a wooden door to one side of the room, the walls around it were made of smoothed rock, and on the other side was the window that let the light in.

Jaden stood and moved to the window. The sun was high, without a cloud in sight or breath of wind in the air. He wondered why there was no wind at first, but then saw what was ahead of him. Three mountainous rock formations were blocking sight of anything else save for the real mountains behind them that were five times their height. The rock formations were large mounds, smoothed over by the centuries so that they almost appeared as giant bubbled tents. Hundreds of windows were carved into them, most likely the living areas for the people. Jaden guessed he was in one such mound, and he looked down to see he was four storeys above ground, with three sets of windows below him.

'Welcome to Corsec, Sentinel,' came a masculine voice from the doorway.

Jaden spun around to see a man with long blondish brown hair standing there, and he almost believed that his father had made it out alive and had somehow reached Corsec before him.

'Ryan?' asked Jaden.

The man wearing a sandy-coloured uniform moved over to Jaden and ruffled his hair playfully with a smile. 'You're grown.'

Jaden couldn't help but smile as he pushed his brother's hand away and made a quick effort to fix up his hair.

'You look like father,' he said.

Ryan laughed. 'I prefer to think he looks like me.'

'Funny,' said Jaden.

'Always. I see you've become something more,' said Ryan, indicating Jaden's new clothing.

'You, too,' said Jaden, hinting back toward Ryan's chest where many decorations and a triangular medal dangled.

Ryan nodded, 'I am a Resistance commander now.'

'How did you manage that?'

'I could ask you the same,' said Ryan.

'You first.'

Ryan inclined his head toward the bed so that they would both take a seat.

'It is a small story. I don't know if you remember, but grandfather wasn't pleased with the idea of me becoming a soldier. He took mother's side, and rightfully so. This is not the safest place at the best of times. But he had friends here, a general by the name of Tom Bernard. I was apprenticed to him in a way, to keep me out of trouble and off the battlefield. He taught me everything he knew of war. He had been fighting since the beginning and was a great teacher.

'Unfortunately, last year we were hit by a freak missile attack by the Alliance. Tom lost his life, and I received this scar,' Ryan moved his collar away from his neck to show an area of raw, twisted skin. 'With my training taken into account, I was promoted, and now, well, let us just say that I am respected.'

Ryan tapped the triangular medal, and then leaned his right shoulder forward so that Jaden could read the badge on his arm. The badge was a circle of dark red with a black symbol inside of it that looked like a double-stemmed tee.

Jaden read out loud the golden writing around the symbol. 'Ryan Daiyus, General of the Resistance.'

Ryan leaned backward. 'I am the third highest ranked here. My experience is small compared to the others, but I manage. They will probably assign me the simplest task, but ...' Ryan shrugged.

Jaden sat back, in awe of his brother. Ryan saw this and reminded Jaden quickly of his own position of power.

'What about you, Sentinel?'

Jaden looked down at his clothing with a smirk. 'This is Grandfather's doing as well,' he said. 'I was coming here to join you. I just wanted to be a soldier.'

Ryan shook his head mockingly. 'A Daiyus as a common soldier? You should know Grandfather would never allow that.'

Suddenly Jaden's smile left him. 'I wanted revenge against the Alliance,' he said. 'They destroyed our home. Our people are dead. Mother-'

'I've heard,' said Ryan, interrupting his brother. 'I have not seen them in so long, I almost don't remember who they are, but I know your pain must be great.'

'I don't know anymore,' said Jaden. 'It all just seems like a dream. Every time I wake up I expect to be back in Callibra as if nothing changed. I dream of playing tennagen sometimes, or going for a swim near the waterfalls. It's hard to believe I am so far from home.'

'Give yourself time. It's not easy to accept.'

'I don't know,' said Jaden. 'I gave up a long time ago.'

'I understand,' said Ryan. 'At least you are still alive, and now you have come to join with me.'

Jaden looked up at his brother. 'What do you mean?'

'Is that not why you have come? You said yourself-'

'That was before I became a sentinel,' said Jaden. 'I'm expected to be elsewhere. I am under their command.'

'I see,' said Ryan.

'If I can, I will stay here, but first I have to get back to Waikor. Can you help?'

Ryan nodded. 'I can, but you have only just arrived. Can you stay a while longer?'

'No,' said Jaden. 'I mean, I want to, but Alyssa-my chosen-is at Waikor. I have to get back to her.'

'Then at least permit me the time to give you a tour. It will take no more than a few hours, I promise, and then I will have you flown back to Waikor.'

Jaden almost refused the offer, but seeing the look in his brother's eyes, he reluctantly gave in and agreed. 'Lead the way,' he said.

Ryan smiled and led Jaden out into a corridor of dark rock. It was cool despite the heat outside and lit by the low glow of luminous tubes lining the walkway. There were many doors leading to more rooms along the way, and soon they descended to the lower floors until they were in an open hall almost as big as the one in Waikor's great mountain. Unlike the marbles used there, this seemed paved with smooth pebbled tiles. And the gardens of vegetables, herbs and fruits were around the many columns supporting the roof. Hundreds of people roamed this area, and there were as many in uniform as there were not. Those not in uniform wore sand-coloured robes or clothing similar to the uniforms but without any decorations. All talked loudly with only a few stopping to stare as Jaden walked past, and Ryan had to raise his voice to be heard among the chatter.

'They call this the Underground City,' Ryan explained. 'There was a time when it was safe to be above the surface, but with the Alliance so close, we're never sure when the next attack is going to come.'

Jaden nodded as he struggled to stay close to Ryan as they walked to the end of the hall. After navigating their way through several more corridors, they walked up a stairway and then out into daylight, above ground. Jaden felt the heat hit him as soon as he stepped out of the enclosure, and Ryan signalled for a jeep to come to them. Jaden quickly hopped up on the back while Ryan took the front seat next to the driver.

'Northern wall, zone twelve, just a quick drive-by,' said Ryan.

'Yes, sir,' said the driver.

The vehicle sped up quickly as it drove around the base of the mountainous rock they had come from, and Ryan turned to speak with Jaden. 'These were once the streets of Corsec, but everything has been dismantled and moved underground. It's quite safe, naturally, but if the Alliance were to see us above ground, they would send more attacks. Those homes you see in the mounds facing north are false dwellings. We leave them there for the Alliance to target so they leave the real homes alone.'

Jaden looked over his shoulder back toward the homes he had seen from his window, and now realised that most of them were badly damaged, with balconies collapsed and giant holes where entire homes would have been.

'What's over there?' asked Jaden.

He had spotted a three-hundred-foot-high wall of concrete in the east between the mountains. Ryan tapped the driver on the shoulder and pointed so that they would be taken to it.

'That's our last hope,' said Ryan. 'If we ever lost here, that wall would slow the Alliance down enough for us to escape.'

'What's behind it?'

'Nothing. That's why it's still there. The Alliance doesn't consider it a target. Under here is an escape route as well as our hospitals. The sick and injured will be moved out first this way, and the rest will follow soon after.'

Again Ryan tapped the driver on the shoulder, this time pointing north. After fifteen minutes' drive, they reached the edge of the city and jumped out of the vehicle. Ryan led Jaden to the very edge so that they were looking from a giant cliff a mile in the air down to the ocean, where there were hundreds of gray lumps. Along the cliff top in both directions were turrets like those in Ceahlin and many personnel keeping watch ahead. The ocean was divided into two as a single strip of land, ten miles in length and two in width, ran from one shore to the other.

'This is the Quartun Land Bridge,' said Ryan. 'And that is the continent Tiquan, one of three under Alliance rule.'

Jaden looked all around him with interest, smelling the salt in the air and listening to the seagulls as they swooped around them. This was it. This was Corsec, the most well defended stronghold in the Resistance, where the Alliance had been defeated time and time again. He had heard a lot about this place from the travellers who passed through Callibra, but he had never been able to imagine what it was really like to stand on these giant cliff faces. It gave him a sense of greatness like nowhere else. He was high above the world, untouchable under the blue sky, standing on the red dust and looking out over the dark ocean. But the more he looked at the ocean, the more he began to feel that this place was not as it seemed, that he was not safe, and the strange dreams with the dark-haired boy were not too different to what he saw now. This was a place of war, of bloodshed. No matter the stories of victory, it was a place of death.

'We spot an Alliance unit from time to time,' Ryan continued. 'But they have learned to keep their distance. Our air force is constantly on guard, and while they get off the ground, these missile launchers take care of any incoming threat. The rest is taken care of by the Diadon Navy. They are not of the Resistance, but if not for us, their home islands would be under threat, so they do their part in protecting us.'

Ryan indicated the hundreds of ships anchored below on both sides of the land bridge, and Jaden now understood what the gray lumps were. Some of the ships were enormous, Jaden thought, as even from this height he could now make them out clearly.

'They have tried many times, but they cannot breach our defence,' said Ryan. 'The only way up into these cliffs is by what we call "the ramp". It's steep, but you can drive a tank up it easily enough. It comes all the way up and ends a few miles into the heart of Corsec. Without that, the Alliance would have no hope of reaching here.'

'Why don't you fill it?' asked Jaden.