Through The Ascension Room***Book One COMPLETE***

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE ~PART FOUR~

CHAPTER

Twenty-five

Cynthia and Tristis move in close together.

"Together Alex." Cynthia says lifting her hands with me. We begin to focus our energies and once again we are swept up from the ground we stand on and replaced in a similar scenery minus the mob of people climbing over the Cliffside.

"That should buy us like 10 seconds," I say sarcastically as I try to massage the cramp out of my hand and forearm brought on by the multiple jumps in a row.

"Follow me!" Tristis yells to us as he takes off in a dead sprint into the surrounding trees.

Me and Cynthia share quick glances before heading off in the same direction as Tristis.

"I may have a backup plan." Tristis yells over his shoulder with a tone of optimism in his voice. He stops his run and me and Cynthia are barely able to catch up as he makes a forty-five degree turn to the left and again picks up the sprinting pace.

"Tristis where are we going?" I ask in between gasping breaths. It's not easy to keep this pace after traveling through space and time with just your mind.

"You remember your backpack you buried out here on the burial?" Tristis asks again while stopping for just a moment as he takes in his surroundings before changing directions and continuing running.

"Yeah, I do," I say realizing what he's getting at. Again he stops this time for a little longer. As I catch up to him I observe where we are at and try to remember the location where I buried my pack.

Then I see a grouping of oddly slanted trees nearby and remember that they were near where I buried the pack.

"This way!" I say taking off towards the clearing where I buried the pack. Adrenaline now being pumped throughout my body, as excitement for our unfolding plan grows little by little.

"there! There it is!" I say pointing ahead of me.

As I near the spot where I dug the whole thousands and thousands of years ago I drop to my knees and begin thrashing at the ground with my hands. Dirt is packed hard under my fingertips but my ferocity is not detoured. Cynthia and Tristis join my side as they slam their knees onto the ground next to me.

In seconds I'm inches into the ground and in no time my fingers catch the cloth of the pack. I dig the last bit of dirt holding the pack below and I rip it from the ground. The color is stained a dark brown color but held together nonetheless.

Undoing the pull-string holding the pack closed I tip the pack upside down spilling its contents onto the dirt ground.

"Alex! This stuff isn't that easily replaced!" Tristis says angrily at me as he begins to sift through the devices I so carelessly strewed across the ground floor.

"Here it is," Tristis picks up an odd but familiar looking device brushing the dirt from it. I remember this device as Dr. Finley placed it into my pack the day of the burial. The device has a nameplate on it and it reads: 'Dr. Albus Finley'.

"Alex quick! Give me your arm!" Tristis says powering up the device.

I hold out my arm and Tristis places one end of the device against my forearm as he fiddles with buttons and knobs on the other end of it. Claw like arms spring from the body of the device and they grip my arm.

"Hey! Whoa! Whoa! What are you doing?" I ask cringing at the devices grip.

"Hold still. Almost...done." Tristis responds intently focused on whatever is going on at the other end of the device. I give in and trust he knows what he is doing as I turn away from the device and wait for it to be over.

Faint sounds begin to grow louder from somewhere in the trees. Shouting and heavy footfall begin to sound louder and closer.

It's them. They've found us, again.

"Tristis. . ." Cynthia says clearly growing unnerved.

"Almost got it," Tristis says when the device gives off an ear piercing ringing sound and the tracking chip is ripped from my arm through a small incision. The pain is quick and intense. I bite down hard on my lower lip. The faint taste of copper fills my mouth. Despite every instinct in my body telling me to jerk my arm out of the clutches of the machine, I hold it in place as still as I can while the device cauterizes and seals up the cut.

I rub my arm where the chip was pulled out and quickly admire the new scar.

Tristis expels a cylinder from the device with the bloodied chip inside of it. He raises it above his head as he is about to throw it into a nearby rock.

"Tristis wait. This could by us a couple more minutes. Let me see it," I say raising my hand towards him.

He places the chip in my hand and a smile creeps onto his face, "Like the clock?"

"Exactly."

I hold the chip in my hands extended in front of my body and close my eyes concentrating on the chip as I did months back with the clock in the training room. Focusing my energy I send the chip through space and time as far as I possibly can. Then we waited.

First the shouting and footsteps stop. Then the murmurs. Then silence again. They bought it.

"Ok Alex. One more jump. Just to be safe. You ready Cynthia?"

We both nod to Tristis as we huddle once more for a jump.

"Hey Tris, you think these vests have enough juice in them to take us into another time line maybe?" I ask giving him a shifted grin.

"I sure hope so. We might as well give it a try."

I raise my arm with the localizer eye level as I punch in a series of buttons. The localizer reads +3.16/+0, 902, 7.23.2013. The same timeline that I was sent back to destroy. Maybe it's still there...Just maybe.