Read Online Amidst The Rising Shadows (Book 3) by Ken Lozito - Free Book Online

you. You have no idea what he’s capable of. You don’t know what he has done to our people. Everything you see--,” Ronan said, but was cut off as the door hissed open and soldiers, armored head to toe, came in.
    Aaron instinctively glanced at the wall, looking for a clock. Had thirty minutes passed already? The spartan gray walls had nothing even remotely close to a clock on them. Ronan returned the Keystone Accelerator to the panel in the wall and closed down the holo display.
    Aaron had no illusions of a fair trial here, but he'd much rather walk than be dragged to wherever the Zekara wanted him to go.  
    The towering soldiers in their dark armor filed in around him, and each held some kind of rifle. The soldiers were easily seven feet tall, with their faces hidden behind a helmet. The door hissed open, and they left the room to the musky damp smell of a hallway carved from dark stone. The jagged edges of the hall had an unfinished look, and Aaron wondered how long the Zekara had been there. There was track lighting with cables running along the edges of the floor. They came to a large reinforced door where two more soldiers were posted. Small drones zoomed down the hallway, pausing briefly at small panels that opened, allowing them through.
    The large door opened, and a small breeze came through. Aaron’s eyes widened at the enormous cavern before them. An intricate network of catwalks sprawled throughout the place. Dark stone walls extended beyond his field of vision, becoming shadows, leaving him to wonder whether they were underground or inside a mountain. A   Zekara soldier shoved the butt of his rifle into his back, moving Aaron along.
    There was a buzz of activity throughout the place, and Aaron could see thousands of Hythariam going about their business. None of them appeared to look anything like the hordes he had seen when he had peered through the portal and got his first glimpse of Hytharia.
    They stepped onto a floating platform. Railings rose up in front of them, and Aaron grabbed on. The floating platform whisked them away, flying overhead toward the central part of the vast cavern they were in. Aaron marveled that the Hythariam carved all of this out to escape the destruction upon the surface. He knew they were technologically advanced, but being able to dig all of this out was a monumental feat in and of itself. Over to the right was small field of green that looked to be a hydroponic garden. There were several throughout the cavern that he could see. Aaron wondered how they weren’t running out of air with so many Hythariam about.  
    “Are there more caverns like this?” Aaron asked.
    “No talking!” the solder at his back said and slammed his rifle into Aaron’s back again.
    Aaron winced and sagged on his feet. He turned back and glared at the soldier.
    “Turn around, human,” the soldier barked. “Better yet, give me a reason. I want you to. Just one reason. BANG!” he said brandishing his gun. “No tribunal...nothing. Problem solved.”
    Aaron turned back around, and his soldier escorts grumbled under their breath. Ronan’s face was a mask of impassiveness. He couldn’t trust him. He could feel it in his gut. As the platform began to descend, Aaron’s mind raced, searching for a way to survive this. Even if he could get away, where would he go? The dying planet was a death sentence.
    The platform landed in the middle of a small stadium. Several drones zoomed in, and large displays flicked on around the stadium. Aaron’s head figured prominently on screen. The Hythariam gathered in the stadium grew quiet as the platform finished its descent. A soldier secured his shackles to a small pillar rising out of the ground and joined his other escorts to stand well off to the side. More soldiers filed into the stadium, circling around the edges.  
    Murmuring swept through the crowd. Aaron looked at the display of himself. His brown hair had grown past his shoulders. His clothing was almost