Guardians of time: Planet of hope

Chapter 1

TARSHAN!" Jarac the war messenger hurriedly ran to Tarshan the representative of the supreme council of Guardians, almost out of breath after running a long way to get to the councils chambers. A really tall and grand building situated in the centre of the planet Shilo.
     Being the war messenger Jarac always had to bring the bad news. Still so young and having to be right in the middle of a war was taking its toll. Bags under his blue eyes and his face almost grey from his lack of sleep. His hair black and ruffled, no time to make himself look neat. He was a very fit young man and he had to be, he had to run up and down the huge stairs that lead up to the Supreme Court.
     Tarshan was an old man now. A long grey beard and a receding hairline. He was a retired guardian and a well-respected member of the court.
    Guardians wore a shiny belt made of the most precious material in Galaxia, Felery. It was bright red and was more precious than all the diamonds on Earth. Ingrained in the belt was the symbol of the Guardians. An eagles head attached to a lions body, with the wings of a dragon. The ultimate symbol of a hero.
    Although he wore this belt his clothes weren't that of royalty or splendour. In fact the garments he wore were that of humble nature. They were plain white like the garments that the civilians of Shilo wore. If he didn't wear the belt many probably would not even know who he was.
     As Tarshan heard his name being called he turned around to see Jarac running towards him. Tarshan knew that this meant bad news being the war messenger.
   "What is the problem Jarac you look worried" Jarac attempted to get his words but failed. He was so out of breath he could only pant
   "Come rest in my quarters until you are able to speak my friend" Tarshan had a fond spot for Jarac.
He had known Jarac since he was a baby. He viewed him as his own son.
     Jarac declined the offer immediately. "Tarshan this is urgent." His words finally slowly starting to come out. "The Dialex are getting closer, reports show they defeated the planet of Mortak an hour ago."
    Tarshan's face then became serious. This was grave news indeed. Jarac continued with the bad news. "Millions killed Tarshan. And the survivors have been made to slave for them. They are repairing the damage on the planet the Dialex had made on their orders, and are being forced to make more ships and weapons for them."
     Tarshan's face sank at hearing this news. "What of Yedou and Fradon?" These were the two guardians of Mortak, very young and inexperienced Guardians. They had only been assigned to Mortak a year ago.
     Jarac's face said it all. His head went down. "Fradon.....he was defeated. The Dialex got to him. There were too many of them and they caught him off guard."
     Tarshan shed a tear. He was a compassionate man. Even though he had been a Guardian and probably a legendary one he was a kind man. And he had a soft side. Especially when it came to his companions and those close to him.
     Jarac did bring one piece of good news though, even though it wasn't good news it was a bit better than the previous news. "Yedou is alive though. But he's being held captive by the Dialex in their dimension." Tarshan didn't really become uplifted by that news. In fact he thought it was worse news. "That's not good, not good at all."
     Jarac looked confused. "At least he is alive Tarshan. There is still hope for him." Tarshan's eyes told a different story.
     Jarac was still young. He didn't understand the evil man Karlem was. And what he could do to him. A man hell bent on revenge, sometimes just killing a man wasn't enough.
    "Jarac this must stop. We need to return peace to Galaxia, and between all dimensions."
     That was something everyone wanted in Galaxia. Galaxia was a peacekeeping dimension. The guardians themselves were peacekeepers, they were there to protect and negotiate, and they had not been in a war for centuries.
    "I'm reporting this to the supreme council. Something must be done and fast. We cannot afford to sit around and hope for a miracle".  He turned around and quickly made his way to his quarters.


     The supreme court of the Guardians was a magnificent room. The room had seats that went round the room in a circular fashion. The seats would slope outwards from the middle, each row getting higher.   
     The seats were colour coordinated and had a different colour on each row; they alternated from red to black. At the front of the room was a platform which was raised above all the seats. It had 3 chairs.
One was for Tarshan the representative of the supreme council. The other was for Rapnore, the leader of the Galaxian armies, a Guardian who wore the same belt as Tarshan. And the last chair which was the biggest was for Ralex who was now the Supreme Guardian.
     In the stands below there were sections for each Guardian. Each section was for each planet. There were the Guardians of Holath, Urimas, Vercheck, Plotinue and many more planets.
     There was an air of courtly splendour with the Supreme Court, as only the most highly approved of person's along with Guardians were allowed in there, legendary Guardians who had fought in many battles for Galaxia would attend. It was the highest privilege if anyone was invited.
    Although this was not a time when you can see the beauty of its construction, because now was a pressing issue being discussed in the Supreme Court. Tarshan had just informed the Guardians of the pressing situation that was on their hands, and this sent the court into uproar.
   "We must do something! No action has yet been taken. Not even peace talks with the Dialex!"

Gralor pleaded with the court. He always seemed to be picking fault in the decision making of the Guardians, especially since Ralex became Supreme Guardian.
    Rapnore now spoke his thoughts to Ralex, "We need to regain peace between the dimensions this is getting out of hand. Millions are dying and we are just sitting here. My men can't keep going sir." Rapnore was earnest in his request. Being the army leader you would think that he would be relishing the opportunity to lead his troops into battle.
     But the reality of it is many here had already been in a war or a fight, and nobody after that thought it was heroic or glorious. It matured them after, realising what the reality is of war and battles. It was just doing what was right.
   "But you cannot reason with the Dialex! They are ruthless and used to war. Not a day goes by without them killing others or each other. They are a blood thirsty people. We cannot negotiate." Gralor replied back to Rapnore angrily. He didn't even notice that he just contradicted his previous statement.
     The discussion was getting heated between the court members. Everyone was desperate to see the back of this war, yet no one was able to see a solution to the problem.
     Tarshan was very concerned. He felt soon if the court kept dividing itself like this it could lead to creating different factions or sects between the Guardians. This would make everything worse. Some Guardians had already been reported as joining Karlem in his fight against the Guardians, many traitors believed that it was the Guardians fault this war had started.
     In recent years since the rumour about Karlem joining with the Dialex many Guardians and Galaxians started to doubt the abilities of the Guardians and the council to be able to protect its dimension. They all had known the terrible stories of how powerful and ruthless the Dialex were. A bloodthirsty race wiping out entire planets just for the pleasure of eating the flesh of many different races.
     In panic many had joined with Karlem believing his confidence and being sure in his decisions would protect them. The situation regarding this has gotten even worse. Ever since the war began many Guardians had left the council, while many still doubted the leadership of Ralex.
   "But we cannot go on like this we need peace! Many Guardians have left us and my men don't have their leadership or skills to help them win the battles now! I cannot be in so many places at once, we need more on the battlefronts! Negotiations are worthless now. We need warriors!"  Rapnore was now losing temper. He was loyal but he was starting to doubt Ralex too. In fact Tarshan was worried there was plan of mutiny in the council. He would mention this after the meeting was over.
     But something did also seem to be on Ralex's mind. He seemed preoccupied. He was thinking about Karlem. He sensed something in the air was off.
     Ralex was a unique Guardian with almost every skill a Guardian could possess. Speed, mental ability, strength, intelligence, agility, accuracy. These were all abilities that all different races have, but a guardian with the right training can harness the potential they hold to the full.
     Ralex finally spoke words that nobody thought a supreme Guardian would ever say. "Peace is no longer an option" Ralex's voice still sounded young and inexperienced, the youngest ever Supreme Guardian.
     With his red hair and shiny green eyes and slim jawline, He still looked young. The whole court gasped, shocked at the decision. A
Supreme Guardian would usually want to stop war, never allow it to continue.
     Tarshan seemed confused, this didn't sound like the honourable man he had seen grow up. There was a lot of whispering and murmuring in the court, the decision was a controversial one, and it wasn't half unexpected.
     Ralex continued, standing up and taking two steps forward so the whole crowd could see him. "Karlem is a ruthless man. He will stop at nothing to kill ALL of us, especially me. Negotiations will be pointless. The war will continue. And we will not lose." Ralex sat back in his chair and leaned his elbow on the arm rest with his finger on his chin. He was a man determined to thwart Karlem's plan, nobody was going to stop him.
     There was another situation which they had not discussed which Tarshan wanted to discuss most of all. "What should we do about Yedou?" Tarshan said with a hint of concern in his voice. Ralex turned his head to Tarshan on his right. His face showed sorrow. He wanted to save them as much as he did. But he knew that it would be a mission not worth the risk.
   "Nothing can be done. We cannot save him. I'm sorry Tarshan." It pained Ralex to say those words as he would never have wanted to leave any Guardian behind, especially one as young as Yedou.
   "We must save him! We cannot let him die at the hands of Karlem, he is too young." Gralor insisted profusely. Yet again Gralor was disagreeing with Ralex and causing conflict within the court. Sometimes it was hard to imagine he was one of the heroes who defeated the Varg 10 years ago.
    The Varg were a race on Galaxia who wanted more to their name, clever and sly they would often cause problems with the Guardians. They once attacked Shilo in anger that they were not given permission to take inhabited planets as their own. They had short temper and didn't like negotiations if they didn't get exactly what they wanted. The Varg since then had broken off a treaty with the Guardians. Their sense of fairness was confusing. It was either all for them or we destroy it.
   "And how do you propose we do this. We can't just walk into the Dialex dimension and take him back, plus the portal is always moving in different places as Karlem has control over it. The only way we could get through is if we send several of our heavy armoured Tiran ships in. And that would be suicide! We cannot afford to do that."
     A Tiran ship was the finest war ships in the Guardians arsenal. The ship was Huge, with it being as big as the island of Madagascar on Earth. It had technology specifically powered by Guardians abilities, allowing whatever Guardian who controlled the ship to tailor the weapons to match their ability. For example someone with strength could fire an extremely powerful laser beam which destroys everything in front of it for miles. Though the downfall of this ship was that it was extremely slow and if outnumbered could be easily be defeated. Plus these ships weren't built to travel between portals.
   "I'm not talking about a full on rescue, I'm talking about a stealth mission." Everyone in the court went silent, listening attentively Ralex leaned forward on his seat. "I have a plan set up Ralex. I will take a jumpod and skip past the portal into the Dialex dimension, once there I can activate the invisibility cloak and get to the mothership."
     A Jumpod was the kind of ship built for interdimensional travelling. It was small, quick and very easy to control. It could go invisible for long periods of time and this made it the perfect ship for the mission Gralor was suggesting. Only issue was it had no weaponry and was fragile, so if discovered it would be easy to destroy. Not to mention the fact it was still only a prototype.
   "The plan itself is decent." Ralex commended Gralor's ambition, but that's where it stopped. "As you know there have been problems with the Jumpod, the testing needs to continue. Plus even if it was all good to use how on Shilo would you manage to get on board the mothership? And how do you know that he is even on the mothership? And where would you find the mothership? There are too many factors in that plan to make it impossible. Not even a slim chance of success"
     Gralor didn't bother protesting. He knew himself that it was a long shot for this plan to work. The rest of the court seemed disappointed with Ralex's negativity, it always seemed like bad news when he spoke, and he would usually put down other Guardians ideas if they didn't match his own.
   "This meeting is over" Ralex said as he stood up and walked through the large doors situated behind the platform.
      As he turned his back the crowd went a riot again, some shouting for Ralex to be replaced. They were rightly upset. Ralex had not made a decision or a plan of action of how the crisis of the lack of Guardians should be solved, he has left Yedou in the hands of Karlem and he had no intention of making peace. This meeting had yet again, like all the previous meetings since the war's beginning, had been pointless.