Chapter 5 - The War Room

Amber and Cameron stood reverently outside the prodigious command center.  Cameron was having a hay day.  Never did she imagine such a spectacle.

At least not at her old elementary school.  C.B. Berry.

What a lot of people didn’t know was that C.B. Berry was a convergence merry-go-round.

And the kindergarten-first grade courtyard was the mecca.

The closer they got to the barrier, the louder it pulsed. They could see the sound bouncing with such veracity that to step inside would seem to completely de-atomize anything that dared to touch it.

The energy reverberated like a mad drum.

The momentum of the heavy vroom was reticent of the inside of a dryer.

Cameron looked to Amber with calculated apprehension.  She didn’t know what to do.

Amber seemed to be observing the layout.  Like a poll vaulter, right before they get ready to run.

Amber was familiar with this place.  She had seen it before.  But she never had been inside.

Rarely did the Guardians of Aspire meet here.  Summoning the command center took an incredible amount of energy.

Hollywood was a flame to actors.

Nashville was a beacon to musicians.

New York was the hub for Wall Street.

Arlington….was a walking, talking, breathing epicenter of mystics. The pinnacle of spiritual alignment and allure.

“What are we supposed to do?” Cameron asked Amber. She stared up at an energy cloud that was clearly the source of this magnificent shield. It kind of looked like a portal but it was much too high to reach.

The force field looked painful.  As if the slightest touch would ignite lightning bolts through your skin.

But there was a pattern.  Amber watched it carefully.

Vroom, thump thump, vroom, zap, thump thump, vroom, thump thump, vroom, zap, thump thump…shmazzz

Every once in a while it would emit an electric pulse so strong that the sheer inertia would breakthrough the spiritual veil.

Which is exactly what Amber was counting on.

Amber shook her head while simultaneously muttering to herself.

“Come with me, I think I know how to get in, but a fair warning, you might not like this,” Amber mentioned while scaling the wall where tiny steps appeared.

Cameron did a double take.  Were those steps always there?  She furrowed her brow and followed Amber.

The steps seemed to elongate as to accommodate her size and stature which was considerably longer than Amber’s.

The steps ascended up a funnel smack in the middle of the titanous energy cluster.

Cameron looked down.  They must have climbed 30 feet or so.  As she turned, she saw several tiny clusters of what looked like galaxies.

Amber bit her lower lip, then looked to Cameron.

“Where are we?” Cameron asked with great trepidation.

“This is a militia command center. You could pick any one of these locations and it will take you there.” Amber pointed at what Cameron thought were galaxies.

“Are these galaxies?” Cameron mused.

“Some of them are.  Some are alternate realities.  We aren’t supposed to really meddle in alternate realities though, as they can alter the original design.”  Amber stated.

Cameron felt her heart thump. It felt like an itch.  Her fingers began to tingle.  Alternate realities?

“What are we supposed to do?”

Amber looked up at her and then the command center.

“We need to get you an audience with the Guardians of Aspire. That way you can please your case,” Amber said, using her finger to outline a large circle in the inner wall of the command center.

A portal appeared as if she were running her finger through water.

“I have to plead my case?” Cameron asked nervously.  “They’re not going to save me.  I’m a complete screw up,” Cameron quietly weeped.

Amber looked over at Cameron with a sense of protection.  She wanted to protect Cameron.

She wasn’t sure what Cameron was referring to.  She didn’t see her as a screw up.  Maybe just young and misguided.

She really liked her and knew how important it was for her to get back to her baby.

“Cameron…if you want to go back.  Give them a reason to say yes…” Amber told her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tight.

Cameron gulped back her anxiety and tears.  Her chest felt heavy, like a bomb would explode if you pushed the wrong button.

“What if they tell me no?” Cameron asked, her eyes melancholy with already determined defeat.

Amber got annoyed. She looked at Cameron who was about two feet taller than her.  Cameron was wigging out on her.  She didn’t have time for this back and forth.

Cameron wasn’t going to go anywhere like this.

SLAP!!!!!!

“Snap out of it!!!” Amber hissed, her palm glitching from the hard smack she just left on Cameron’s shoulder.

Cameron, stunned, sobered immediately.

“A hundred percent of shots not taken are always missed.” Amber said calmly, her voice low, almost like a matriarch.

Cameron looked at Ambers annoyed posture and nodded her head quickly.  She dried her tears.  She composed herself. She took a deep breath.  She could feel her lungs tingling.  Her shoulders felt electrified.  Ambers energy was still coursing through her.

Amber was right.  She was going to have to fight for what she wanted.

She nodded to Amber again, awaiting their next steps. Amber nodded back, then looked at the portal she had unveiled.

“We will go together.” Amber said, grabbing Cameron’s hand in hers again.

“When do we go in?” Cameron asked, unsure.  The beacon of energy was changing frequency so fast her head was about to spin.

“When we see the lightning bolt, we have to grab it.” Amber instructed.  Cameron’s eyes widened and her brows arched.

The girls waited, as if getting ready to run up on a high speed train.

Vroom, thump thump, vroom, zap, thump thump, vroom, thump thump, vroom, zap, thump thump…shmazzz

At that moment, Amber and Cameron grabbed the lightning and were yanked into the portal.

Cameron felt her arms and legs seize.  Her head snapped back.  Like a voodoo doll, she just suspended.  Her mind was a blank.  Suddenly she felt nothing.

White light glowed from her eyes, ears, mouth and fingers.  Amber wrapped her arms around Cameron to ground her.  She had done this before but Cameron had not.

Amber knew she would need a friend.

The cloud started to get smaller and smaller, the pulse accelerating so quickly until there was no discernible rhythm.  Just a fast hum, so soothing it could put you to sleep.

Then…one final blast.

The light was blinding.  The portal vanished.  Silence.  The plane Cameron and Amber had left looked like an ordinary courtyard again.

They had transcended…to another dimension.