The Masters: RE: The New Cast (The Crisis in Time Series Book 1) Read online

  The Masters:

  RE: The New Cast

  part 1 of 3 of the Trouble in Time Saga

  By Matt Weldon

  Copyright © 2017 M.A. Weldon

  All rights reserved

  The Masters is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be, by way of trade or otherwise,

  lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any

  form, binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition

  including this condition being imposed upon the subsequent purchaser.

  Special thanks for all the help and support:

  Cody M

  Chris W

  Kyle W

  John L

  Malcolm M

  Will A

  Jason T

  Ashley A

  Jacob K

  “Alucard”

  Wesley F

  Isaac R

  All of my family and the rest of my close friends

  In loving memory of Rainnie Weldon

  Chapter 1 – A Change in Time

  A hologram of the past appears out of a terminal. It is being watched by a hooded man in robes, the hood covering the top part of his goggles that he had on his face. The Hologram shows the land of Adus, on planet Ethoria, over a thousand years ago. This was during a time when people used powers as a way a life. He watches with curiosity.

  Skipping forward a little in time, the man watches the progression of the Master Tournament. A tournament held to deem which elemental warrior was the strongest. The winner was dubbed Master Water, who then announced that a fighter of each element would also be dubbed a Master and fight together as a team to protect Adus. Master’s Fire, Lightning, thunder, Rock, and Nether joined together to Form the Masters. Sadly, their downfall was the work of a black knight, the epitome of evil and darkness, the Dark Vanquisher. He led an army of black shadowy creatures, called Shadow Dwellers and almost caused complete destruction.

  The man with the goggles continued to watch, wishing he could help. He didn’t want to affect the past, however. The Masters then come to a final confrontation, without the help of Master Nether, against Vanquisher. He betrayed the Masters and hid before the final battle. The rest of the Masters sacrificed themselves to imprison Dark Vanquisher in the realm of Purgatory. The Master’s souls are placed into orbs and are spread around the continent. Nether eventually did the same.

  “It was after this that the people of Adus outlawed the use of powers. Over the years, people are born with new element powers and are put into orbs as well. The people of Adus forgot all about the use of powers and it was eventually looked at as a myth. It was then prophesied that the return of Dark Vanquisher was imminent. He did return but he wasn’t back for long. He was defeated shortly after his return and put back in Purgatory. This great feat was done by the great Sabre, one of the casts wielding all the Master Orbs,” Said the man with the goggles.

  The man waved his hand and the hologram terminal turned off. He turned to exit the room, closing the door behind him. The building was the man’s home. He looked out in the distance and examined the flowing multi-colored aura circling his small house. The man pulled his goggles up onto his forehead, followed by taking the hood off his head, hang off the back of his shoulders. He was also wearing black robes with purple trim, and slip-on shoes. The man is revealed to be Spex, also known as Master Time, protector of time. His house is located outside of time and all the realms. He sat down on a chair outside, realizing that it has already been five years since the events of the group of assassin’s attempts to control all of Adus. It was Sabre’s descendant, Revolver, that put a stop to them. Closing his eyes, he starts to reminisce about when he was given the title of the Proctor of Time. He was Master Time, and it was thanks to the help of a girl. She was also one of the casts. Spex smirks, as he remembers what a great friend she was.

  Suddenly, he gets a strange feeling, like something bad just happened. He opened his eyes and saw the circling aura around his house was different somehow. A crippling pain sudden shot into his head. It felt like a splitting headache. His memories started flashing in front of him. The pain was too great and Spex collapsed to the floor face down. He then blacked out.

  He opened his eyes, slowly, and looked around. Spex sat up and saw that the aura around his house was different than it usually is. He continued to study his surroundings, trying to search for an answer to what was happening. He slowly picked himself back up, rubbing his head. The pain was gone, which made him somewhat relieved. Spex still had to figure out what happened. He readjusted his goggles and clothing. Then, he walked back inside his house, through the door. The door closed behind him and he waves his hands by a terminal, pulling up a hologram of the timeline. Spex, concentrated, skimmed through the timeline and noticed significant changes.

  With a worried look, Spex says, “This isn’t good, like at all.”

  Spex sees major events and small details have been changed but is not sure how that could have happened. He saw something that caught his eye. It was during the story of Katana. He played the memory and a young female voice started narrating what was happening. It was the voice of Katana.

  We went around to the side of the house but found nothing. Then, suddenly, a couple of black, shadowy creatures came at charging at us with from behind. I didn’t know what to. Vlayru quickly took up a metal pipe that was laying up against the house. He started swinging at them, hitting them away. He then got hit in the face by one of the creatures. Vlayru fell near my feet and he looked unconscious. The other creature leaped into the air, readying a strike at me. I started to remember what our parents taught us when we needed to defend ourselves. I quickly went into a defensive stance and crossed my arms over my head. I was scared and closed my eyes. But then, I heard the creature hit something. I opened my eyes and saw something that looked like a bubble, shining blue. It was surrounding Vlayru and I. It looked like the bubbled was made of water. The creature was knocked onto the ground, just outside of the bubble. The bubble dissipated afterward.

  “Wait, this seems different,” Spex said, confused, “It looks like I should start over and look at the whole time-period. Maybe I can get some answers on how the timeline changed.”

  Spex started the entire period of time from the beginning. Her story takes place sixteen years after Dark Vanquisher was imprisoned by Sabre. There was peace up until about this point. Katana’s voice started to narrate again.

  As I woke up one morning, I sat up and looked around my room, checking to make sure I wasn’t still dreaming. Every now and then, I would get these intense dreams. When it first started to happen, my entire body would get sweaty and I would feel gross. I’ve gotten used to it since then, but I still get sweaty from time to time. In this dream, I’m this great warrior fighting with all these elemental powers, like Ice, Fire, and Water. Alongside me are my best friends, Vlayru, his dad Ryuusei. This man who is wearing sunglasses and a cape is also there. We are all fighting against theses shadow-like figures. In one dream, we even fought this sinister, shady-looking man in a top hat. He gave me the creeps.

  I got up, stretched, and walked over to my closet to pick out clothes for the day. After, I took a shower and got changed. I looked in the mirror with my blue eyes and fixing my reddish-brown hair. My mother then called me from downstairs.

  “Tana! Come and eat breakfast, slow poke!” Sh
e yelled from the kitchen.

  My mother, Hana, is an awesome person and she’s fun to hang out with. Last week, she took me shopping, and then to see a movie. She loves to spoil me.

  I ran to the door, and made my way downstairs and into the kitchen. My mother was finishing making my breakfast. She was wearing an apron over a red dress that was tight on the top of it. Her dark brown hair was all off to one side and stopped about almost to her shoulder. She turned to walk towards the table and saw her red-colored eyes.

  “I have to go and meet with my friends today,” She told me, as she hands me a plate of food.

  The plate had some pancakes and scrambled eggs with cheese on top. Cheese is a delicacy because dairy is hard to come by in the Aquis Republic, which is the nation we live in. The land isn’t good for pasture, so we get it from the Central Union. That made the cheese all the better in my opinion.

  “Which friends?” I asked, stuffing my mouth with her amazing pancakes at the same time.

  There was a pause in the conversation, as my mother grabbed some dirty dishes and put them in the Sink. She continued, “Oh, some old friends of mine. We’re taking a trip to visit the Central Tower.”

  She has been going to that tower ever since I can remember. It was in the middle of the continent And yet she never invites me, nor even bothered to explain why they go there. Also, I felt it weird that she came back from these trips so quick. Usually, a trip there would be a few days.

  “It’s important to me, Ryuusei, and Ayla,” She stated.

  I paused in the middle of chewing and gave my mother a shocked look.

  I quickly swallowed, then blurted out, “Ryuu and Ayla are going? Vlayru isn’t going, is he?!” I said in a surprised tone.

  “No, he is coming to hang out here until we get back like he usually does.” My mother answered.

  She took off her apron and hung it up on a nearby hook on the wall.

  I then said, “Well, at least I’ll have company-”

  “-No funny business young lady!” she said, sternly.

  “Mother!!” I yelled right back, crossing my arm.

  I felt my face blush. Vlayru is my best friend and is like a brother. Plus, what I had in mind was to go out and explore the forest. It wasn’t like we had home schooling to do. The tone my mother used pretty much meant that we must stay cooped up in the house.

  She looked away for a moment then back to me, “Well, I have to run. I’ll see you when I get back, Katana! Love you!” she said cheerfully, as she sped out the door.

  Katana is my full first name, but I prefer people to call me Tana. I went over to the window to see who these other friends were, but no one was there.

  “That’s weird. Plus, my mom had disappeared too,” I confusingly said to myself.

  I took one more good look around, shrugged my shoulders, then went back to eating my breakfast. I finished my pancakes and eggs, I washed the dishes, and then realized something.

  “I forgot my necklace! That’s really important!” I said aloud to myself

  I ran back upstairs to my room, and over to my dresser. There it was, lying on top of my dresser, next to a picture of me and my mother. It was a necklace with a cross on it. I picked it up and put it on. I don’t know why, but I feel stronger when it’s on. Like I could fight someone and win. My mother said it was a gift my father gave me before he passed away. I went back downstairs and did some chores. There was then a knock on the front door. I went over and opened the door to find Vlayru standing there.

  “Hey, What’s good? Nice skirt,” He said.

  He noticed that I was wearing my button up white shirt, my long frilly blue skirt, and high top black boots.

  I looked down at my outfit and smiled, “Oh, thank you. Come on in.”

  Vlayru, who had long jet-black hair past his shoulders. He also had white-colored eyes, which I thought looked creepy at times. A black shirt that said False Imagination, blue ripped jeans, and some shoes. False Imagination is this awesome rock band that we both listen to.

  Vlayru walked through the door and said, “My parents left and I was bored.”

  I thought for a second, as we walked into the living room, then brought up “I thought you were supposed to be here sooner? The adults left for the tower almost an hour ago.”

  “They went to the tower again? News to me,” Vlayru said, plopping on the couch, “The old man must have forgotten to mention that. Again.”

  I sighed, as to not get irritated that he practically just threw himself on the couch. It was kind of disrespectful. I noticed that he seemed a little irritated when I mentioned his dad. I ignored it and continued.

  “Well, that’s what my mother told me, but It’s weird. I went to go look outside for her so call “friend” and they were gone in seconds.” I said as sat down on the couch.

  “Yeah, that is weird. So, you don’t know about this person?” Vlayru asked me.

  I thought for a minute then answered, “No I don’t, unfortunately. I wish I did though. If it was so important, why are we always left behind?”

  He gave a little “humph”, then turned on the TV with the nearby remote.

  We started to watch some cartoons for a while. I started to think about playing some video games and challenge Vlayru to a fighting game. He always somehow beats me, no matter what game we play. Suddenly, we heard a loud thump from outside. We looked at each other then back to where we heard the noise. We both got up and went to investigate. We quietly made our way out the back door.

  Our house was located just outside of Waterfall City, the capital city of Aquis Republic, near a forest. All of the nations are named after what element powers people used to be born with and used as a means of living. That was before it was used to fight which got out of hand. Now, everyone in the continent doesn’t use these powers because they were abolished after someone nearly and the world with his destructive powers. But, it’s just some story that only our parents believe to be true.

  We went around to the side of the house but found nothing. Then, suddenly, a couple of black, shadowy creatures came at charging at us with from behind. We swung around to face them, I didn’t know what to. Vlayru quickly took up a metal pipe that was laying up against the house. He started swinging at them, hitting them away. He then got hit in the face by one of the creatures. Vlayru fell near my feet and he looked unconscious. The other creature leaped into the air, readying a strike at me. I started to remember what our parents taught us when we needed to defend ourselves. I quickly went into a defensive stance and crossed my arms over my head. I was scared and closed my eyes. But then, I heard the creature hit something. I opened my eyes and saw something that looked like a bubble, shining blue. It was surrounding Vlayru and I. It looked like the bubbled was made of water. The creature was knocked onto the ground, just outside of the bubble. The bubble dissipated afterward.

  I someone in a black cloak with the hood up walk up to me. he leaned over with his hands on his hips and look directly at me.

  “This is only the beginning for you,” He spoke.

  The man gave a little chuckle and walked away. I then blacked out, as I fell to the ground.

  “This isn’t good at all,” Spex said, in a displeasing tone, pausing the playback.

  He crossed his arms and continued, “I’m already seeing changes being made here. From what I remember, it was two men who attack Tana and Vlayru, not those creatures. Also, I don’t remember Vlayru’s mother being alive or Vlayru even knowing who she is. Also, who is that guy in the black robe? I have to keep watching for clues.”

  Chapter 2 – The Truth

  I awoke and opened my eyes. the sight of my mother sitting by me in my bed became clear. I looked around and it looked like the sun was setting, due to the orange light coming through the window.

  “What happened?” I asked my mother, Rubbing my eyes

  I then moved one of my hands to my forehead and began to rub it and put the hand down on my stomach. My head felt a little so
re.

  “Well, you passed out after those guys attacked you.” My Mother said.

  She had her hands on my head as I stopped rubbing it and put it down by side.

  “I did?” I asked, trying to sit up.

  My mother helped me up. I then realized that I was in my room, in my bed.

  I continued, “Wait, who was that guy who took down all those shadowy creatures who attacked us? He was wearing a black cloak, I think.”

  “Someone in a black cloak? Do you mean…” She slowly replied back in a kind of mellow tone.

  She turned to look toward the corner of the room, “…Vlaykre, I think she knows. You can come on out.”

  “Vlaykre? Who’s that?” I said looking where my mother was, curiously.

  All of a sudden, a man in the black robe made an entrance through a purple light, which looked like aura, in the corner. The purple aura disappeared and the man walked a little closer. I can now see that his robe had markings on the sleeves and spikes on the shoulders. He had the hood up so it was hard to tell, but it looked like he had long jet-black hair with streaks of gray hair and a goatee. His eyes were purple and were also glowing.

  “Hi Katana, my name Vlaykre. I’m an old friend of Hana, Ryuu, and Ayla. I guess we can’t hide it from you any longer.” he said to me.

  I started to get questions.

  I told him, “You’re not the one I saw from earlier. He had a different cloak on.”

  Vlaykre had a curious look on his face then said, “Well, we can discuss that later.”

  He turned to Hana and asked, “Are you sure, Hana?”

  Hana looked away and closed her eyes for a moment, then back to Vlaykre.

  She replied, “Yes, I’m sure. I know we wanted things to be normal. But, just like before, you can’t escape destiny.”

  “Right. Okay, Katana. Let’s go downstairs. Everyone else is in the living room.” Vlaykre told me.

  I slowly got out of bed and we followed him downstairs. There was Vlayru standing near his parents, Ryuusei and Ayla. Ryuu was wearing dark gray monk robes that crossed over in the front, a sash around the waist, loose pants and slip on shoes. He also had white eyes, same as Vlayru. Ayla, with her short red hair, was wearing a sleeveless button up top, jean shorts, bracelets on her wrists, and sandals. Unlike Vlayru and Ryuu, Ayla had light gray eyes.