The Targothian: Sargas: Targothian Trilogy, #1

Introduction by James Rosenthal Jr

Well....where to begin....

Larry has been a friend of mine for a time now. We have sat around, drank beer, talked of old military stories, and done some karaoke, as well as attended Octoberfest in Addison, Tx. Needless to say, he has got some stories to tell....but to be able to put thought to words to a book is truly amazing. He has got a knack for describing what everyone feels but cannot say.  I have enjoyed his books and continue to look forward to what he has next. 

Larry, my friend, my bruder from annuder mudder.....this book tells of the Motherland, Targoth....where we were conceived. I am humbled and proud to know you and be a part of this.

TACTAB....it’s not just letters or a fancy saying...it’s our life motto.

Dedication to my family

I wanted to take the time to thank my incredible wife Allison who stands by me and can deal with my eccentric brain.  Thanks to my parents for raising me and not stifling my creativity when I was young.  Thanks to mein bruder James, for being a brother to me, though we share not the same blood, there is more to family than mere blood.

And especially, thanks to all my readers.  I may write for myself, but you people are the ones who keep me in business.  I feel that a writer must write for his or herself, and if others enjoy the stories told, then that is icing on the cake.

Prologue

It has been an incredibly long time since my little journey began.  My life from before everything changed was a regular ordinary life.  I was born in 1975 and I grew up in the quaint little town of Valley Center, KS.  A lot of weird things occurred in that town. 

Over the course of my life, I’ve encountered sights that most people would assume to be caused by either insanity or instability.  I learned rather quickly that the universe as we know it is so much more than what we see in front of us.  There are realities in between the shadows.  Worlds far out in the depths of space.

I had name given to me by my parents.  That is a name I haven’t gone by in a long time.  Sometimes, I don’t even remember it.  I suppose it doesn’t matter much at this point.  My old name I wouldn’t even answer to now if someone used it.  I am now someone else, different then that young man who was taken and changed all those centuries ago. 

I am now Sargas and that won’t ever change, and though much, oh so much, time has passed from then to now, rest assured that my memory is accurate.

So now, let’s start this.

Chapter 1

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I graduated high school in Valley Center in the year 1993.  I never really felt like I fit in with all those people.  I know that sounds like such a cliché.  In all the movies and books, there is the person who becomes some sort of savior or a vampire with a soul or they find out that they are part witch and go on to protect the world from some evil coven.  Well, I am not that savior.  I was thrust into a situation that I wasn’t prepared for and it may have even been truly destiny, but I am no liberator.  Some might say that I am, but I’ve never felt that way.  In my opinion, the word prophesy is thrown around entirely too much, a plot device used in stories in order to explain away why the hero is the one to perform the particular quest in question.

As I said, I graduated in 1993 and got my first real job, not counting bagging groceries my senior year of high school.  I fit in more with my coworkers than I ever did in school.  But, I knew I didn’t want to be there forever.  Since I was a small boy, I had wanted to join the Air Force like my father did.  He served for four years and was a military cop.  My father and I looked a lot alike.  We both shared the same dark hair, though his was much darker whereas mine was a medium brown, much like my mother’s hair.  My father and I had the same eyes.  Sometimes when I shaved I would squint my eyes for a second and think my dad was looking at me.

When I was younger, I used to look forward to following my father’s footsteps.  I wanted to join the Air Force, be a cop, and get out and be on the Kansas highway patrol.  My dad himself was on the Wichita Kansas police department for over twenty years before he retired. 

Alas, my time in the military didn’t bring that dream to fruition.  Instead, I ended up becoming a survival equipment technician.  They are the people who inspect and do maintenance work on parachutes, life rafts, and other pilot survival gear.  Don’t ask me how I got that job, I don’t even remember after all this time.  But, it was probably for the best, as I think I wouldn’t have made a good cop.  My temper is quick to flair and at times I have a problem with authority. 

I had enlisted in 1995 at the age of nineteen and turned twenty right after basic training ended and I went to tech school at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. 

Not too long after I went to my permanent party base, Eglin in the Florida panhandle, I met a woman named Jennifer, and I fell in love with her way too fast and did the stupidest thing imaginable and married her.  If I hadn’t though, perhaps my life wouldn’t have taken the turn that it did and I wouldn’t be transcribing my long life right now.  I’d have died of old age centuries ago and not even been a blip on the Universe’s radar.  Looking back at that possibility, I wonder if the Universe would have been better that way.  Who knows?  Not like you can change the past.  Well....I suppose if that were entirely true, I wouldn’t be doing this right now. 

I found out after we had married that she had a drug problem, and soon thereafter, I was back to living in the dorms on base.  I didn’t know what I was going to do. 

In my brain, I had a hard time reconciling the situation.  I treated her great.  She treated me like shit.  In my youth, and even later on, I’d see sweet women with men who were bastards, and I would always think that once I found a woman, I’d treat her great and she’d be in love with me.  Not always, as it seems.  Again, I digress.  Forgive me.  I am old and I tend to ramble.  I might not look my age, but believe me, I am way past the point of what humans consider a senior citizen.

I might not remember every single detail from my life before, but I remember this night.  It is burned into my memory like a branding that will forever mark my soul. 

In the Earth calendar, it was the second of October of 1998.  It was a Friday.  I was taking one of my usual walks in the evening.  Since I was living in the dorms again, I was distant from everyone off duty.  I wasn’t unfriendly, but I enjoyed my privacy.  Inside I was a wreck.  I would take walks at night once the sun went down.  It cooled the humid Florida air quite well, making my constitutionals much more comfortable.  I didn’t walk any place in particular.  I’d just go towards the base post office and around and towards the library and then eventually back to my room.  I was lucky enough to get a single room.  Before I was married I lived in the base dorms and had a couple of different roommates. 

This night, I had a weird feeling inside.  I didn’t quite know what to make of it.  All my life, I had been having these dreams on and off.  I never remembered much about them when I woke up, but three things always stood out in my mind afterwards.  Two of these things were words and the third was a symbol.  Since I was seven years old this happened every so often.  Until that night, I never knew what to make of it.

That night on the second day of October, in the year of 1998, I, a young man of twenty-three, had his life change in the most unimaginable of ways. 

It had just turned 2100 hours and I put on my shoes and headed out the door on my nightly walk, ignoring the feeling of foreboding.  I didn’t pay much attention to the time on my watch until I reached the post office.  Only fifteen minutes had gone by.  Sensing something was out of place, I looked to my left and thought I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.  Must be my imagination, I assumed.  I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was eyeing me from somewhere I couldn’t see.  I turned to head back to the dorms, but as soon as I turned around, I froze.  I couldn’t move.  I tried to call for help, but my voice wouldn’t come out.  Something was keeping me from moving or talking. 

Something was eerily familiar about all this.  Like something from a long-forgotten dream.  Inside my own mind I was screaming.  I saw a faint glow coming from my flesh.  I was shining slightly, but from a source I knew not what.  It was a lot like sleep paralysis. 

I managed to move my gaze up and saw that above me was a hole in the air.  It was about ten feet above where I stood.  It was a large black nothingness, barely visible against the night sky, but I saw it clearly enough.  The hole was growing bigger. 

Wait, no, it wasn’t.  It was growing closer.  How the hell can a hole in the sky like that even exist, let alone move on its own?

My feet were firmly on the ground.  The hole was moving down towards me.  It was now inches from my face.  I heard faint voices coming from the other side.  Was this in fact some sort of nightmare?  Had I not gone for my walk but instead passed out on my bed?

The hole stopped moving for a brief second, then it overtook me, engulfing me whole.  Was this how Jonas felt?  The blackness enveloped me, and the sense of vertigo was overwhelming.  I felt like I was falling, yet I could still feel my feet on the ground.  Whatever was happening, it could not be anything of the normal, everyday world. 

The falling feeling eventually stopped and I could tell that I was indeed standing on solid ground, but I was no longer outside in the slightly humid Florida night air.  Where in the hell was I?

Chapter 2

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It appeared that I was standing in some sort of dark cavern made of stone and steel.  I could see the walls, but barely.  The room was circular and about twenty feet around.  The dark gray walls surrounded me, going high up into the obscurity above.  There was a chill in the air, yet I was sweating.  Not profusely, but as if I just did a small sprint in the warm and sunny afternoon.  I quickly patted myself down to check for injury.  I had all my limbs.  I didn’t feel like I had lost any organs, but as I wasn’t a medical professional how could I know for certain?

I was still wearing the same clothes: jeans, black sneakers, and my AC/DC t-shirt.  Interesting.  Did I somehow end up going down a highway into hell?  I looked at my watch, more out of nervous habit than needing to know the time.  It was dead.  Not like it would matter if I knew if it was noon or midnight. 

The silence was intense.  I could swear I heard voices mumbling, but maybe that was just my thoughts arguing in my head that this is just a dream or some sort of psychotic episode.  Never before in my life had I felt such a deep fear.  Looking up and around, all I saw was blackness.  But, yes, those were voices.  Knowing I might regret it, I called out.  Hey!  Who’s there?  What the hell is going on?  The mumbling noise stopped.  Above me, a light came on, illuminating the faces of thirteen people.  Some were men, some were women.  All looked at me with an intensity I have never experienced.

Greetings, young one! I heard one of the people say to me.  I spotted the speaker.  He looked to be just a few years older than I but with close cropped jet-black hair and clean shaven.  Though he looked to be in his late twenties, for some reason he came off as a tired old man.  His accent was hard to place.  Somewhere between German and British.  Forgive us if we don’t speak your language properly.  We only recently learned it.  I am Arakus P’Tan Arak of Elginia.  I am one of the thirteen council members of the High Council of the Elginian Imperium, and on behalf of Emperor Bar Roma the Fifteenth I welcome you to the Citadel of the Bah’Tene.

I didn’t know what else to do in the situation.  I waved.  For such a strange circumstance to be involved in and the powerful fear I felt, I was handling things rather well.

You must forgive us so abruptly bringing you here, but we can assure you, it is important.  But, come, let us speak more face-to-face.  With that, the floor beneath me vibrated a bit, and it appeared that I was standing on a platform.  It began to rise very slowly, bringing me to face level with my hosts.  It wasn’t that high up after all.  Now I could see their faces more clearly.  They all appeared to be my age or just a bit older, but all had an air of superiority to them.  They all seemed arrogant and judgmental, viewing me as something of an insect.  The only one who didn’t give off a bad vibe was Arakus, who spoke as soon as the platform stopped moving.

First, young man, some introductions are in order.  As I said, I am Arakus P’Tan Arak.  To my right is Lord Vontorlad, Lord Mil’R Ot Fortuna, Lady Sardonia of Vinspirion Prime, Lady Conratlaton, Lord Tarkuun, Duke Dengos of Elginia, Zonglabesh the King of Moon Imperium Seven, Baroness Syltron and her brother Master Smoth, Yun’op, Master Bradloy, and finally, Kop Va of the Imperial Clericdom.  We are the thirteen council members of the Bah’Tene, as well as the advisory council to the Emperor.  None of them had anything that really stood out, except for Syltron.  She was pretty hot, for a blonde.  I was more into brunettes and occasionally redheads.

So many questions.  Where to start?  Why don’t you all have titles?  I can’t believe that was my first question.  But, all things considered, I wasn’t freaking out like you’d think I would have in the situation.  Was it because I was jaded by being married to a drug user?  Did I perhaps think I was still sleeping and having the most vivid nightmare possible?  At the time, I just didn’t seem that threatened.  Scared?  Yes.  But I didn’t feel in danger.  It is hard to explain.

The one called Duke Dengos spoke next.  The ones that do were born into them.  All of us are pure blood Elginian.  Only the nobility and their most trusted servants and military leadership may join the ranks of Bah’Tene.  Lady Sardonia mumbled to herself.  It was in what must have been her native language.  Though I didn’t understand the words, from the tone I could tell it was rude.

Excuse me? I said.  Why don’t you speak so that the alien in the room understands?  Looking back I have to smile at my hostility towards them.  Here I was, a twenty-three year old guy from Kansas, being brought before thirteen mysterious strangers, yet I still managed to show my usual sarcasm that I exhibit when annoyed.

What I said, Sardonia continued, was that only worthy Elginians may join our ranks, and I don’t like how some primate tene... Arakus cut her off with a wave of his hand.

Young man, Arakus spoke, there is much to tell you before we send you into the Grand Test.

Test?  Grand Test?  Somehow I knew this test wouldn’t be something that I had already learned in high school.  I asked what sort of test they were talking about.

The one I remembered as Syltron stood, making her seem very tall next to all the seated members.  I remembered thinking she was one big bitch. 

The Grand Test is a test of heart and soul to see if you are worthy of being Bah’Tene.  You already have the rare genetic sequence that is required.  Now, we have only to see if you can pass.

Arakus nodded.  Yes, and if you do, you will have power and ability you would not possess as a mere tene.  He must have noticed the puzzled look on my face.  A tene is what you may call a mortal.  While we Bah’Tene are not really immortal, we do live a thousand of your human years, without aging, until our life span is expired, and we instantly age to a millennium old, and turn into dust and bones.

One of the other’s spoke up.  I wasn’t sure who it was at the time.  We are much harder to kill, but it isn’t impossible. 

Arakus nodded and looked right at me.  I will tell you the truth, even if you succeed in the Grand Test, you won’t be the same man you are now.  We won’t force you to take the test, but rest assured, if you don’t, you will have to remain here the rest of your days, looked after, of course, but you won’t be allowed to return to your own home.

Why the hell not? I blurted out.

Because, Arakus continued.  You are no longer in your own time.  My eyes glared at him.  You were in the Earth year of 1998 before.  We need you specifically to join our ranks, but you were not born yet.  We had to open a tear in reality to bring you here to Elginia.  It isn’t easy, requiring an intense burst of subatomic energy and to do it again might cause catastrophic danger to the solar system, if not entire galaxy.  Right now, on your home world, the year is 1498.  Sometime in the month of June.  I don’t really remember, I am terrible with Earth’s calendar.

Fourteen hundred and ninety-eight! I yelled.  Ok, I said through clenched teeth.  Let me get this straight.  You brought me five centuries into the past because you need me for your club?  Aren’t there other guys you could have kidnapped in this year?  Why did you have to bring me here and screw up my life?  All thirteen council members stood together.  Arakus cleared his throat and spoke. (Please bear in mind that this happened a very long time ago and I might be paraphrasing a tad, but my kind have incredible memories.)  As he spoke, my mind swirled with images and sounds I had seen only in my deepest state of dreaming.

"Fifty thousand years ago, here on the planet Elginia in what your people call the Andromeda Galaxy, our fifty greatest warriors gathered and met with the Archangel Michael.  Michael’s brother, Lucifer, had long been stranded on the primitive world of Earth, while his minions of darkness spread throughout the universe, seeking out civilizations that had left Earth in the time before the creation of the second generation human, Adam.  Many humans left their world and colonized distant galaxies, many long forgetting their own origins.  Lucifer’s men went out to seek them, to corrupt them, to use them.  Several scientists from Atlantis, the last great Empire in the time before Adam, had come over to Lucifer’s side, and they went to another galaxy, the one your people call Triangulum and on a world in the galactic core they engineered several abominations.

The Orions, the Reticulans, the Reptoid Men, and, perhaps worst of all, a corruption of the very core of mortals.  A sickness of the spirit that brought the dead back to life, their bodies devoid of their souls which have since gone into the spirit world.  A soulless being that craved the very blood of the living.  Nosferatus Exmortus, what eventually came to be known on Earth as a vampire. 

Michael had gathered our ancestors and bestowed in them a great power, only a fraction of an archangel, but nonetheless impressively powerful.  Our kind stopped aging at that point, and the lifespan extended to a thousand years.  We became hard to kill.  We developed a sense of our surroundings.  We alone had a special gene in us that allowed us to carry this power.  It is a rare thing to have.  In our native tongue, we named ourselves the Bah’Tene, which means Beyond Mortal.  We are the Sons of Michael.

Over the millennia, we have fought the Nosferatus and the Grays and many evils of the universe.  Eventually, some of us broke off and formed the Fallen, who sided with the Nosferatus and the other demonic hordes of the universe.  A great civil war happened that drove the Fallen from our galaxy and they traveled to the furthest reaches of the Three Galaxies." 

I interrupted him and asked what the Three Galaxies were.  It was the Milky Way, Andromeda, and Triangulum galaxies, all close together and were easy to travel around in with highly advanced light speed engines.  There were many smaller satellite galaxies nearby, too, but they were devoid of life.  The smaller galaxies had hundreds of thousands of stars instead of the billions in the larger galaxies.  There were very few colonies there from times past, but no life had ever originated there, though they did hold thousands of inhabitable worlds. 

Arakus continued.  Since that war over thirty thousand years ago, the Fallen have occasionally come back, but we have always driven them away.  But now, they have corrupted more of us, and we need to replenish our ranks.  That is where you come in, young man.  You have the blood of a powerful Targothian leader.  Sargas ot the Central Valley.  He led many of his people to Earth a thousand years ago and has since blended in with the Terrans of Earth. You are a child of Earth, but also a child of Targoth.  You are the descendant of Sargas.

Sargas?  Sargas!  That was one of the strange words I’ve had in dreams since I was a child.  That and Targoth.  I figured that eventually that bizarre symbol would turn up.  Dazed from the sudden influx of information, I looked back up at the council.  They seemed to be silently pleading with me to join their ranks.  But why me?  Even if I was descended from some alien warlord, I am not a warrior myself.  I’m an Air Force guy who does maintenance work on pilot’s survival gear.  I’m married to a druggie.  I really had no clue as to why I was here or if I’d even pass this test of theirs.

I looked at them.  I’m in. 

Chapter 3

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Arakus stood and gestured to me.  Thank you so much.  We look forward to you joining our ranks.  Pending your completion of the Grand Test.  I asked what this test was.

Vontorlad answered me.  The Grand Test was developed to harness the power of the gene that all Bah’Tene have in them.  It isn’t a guarantee that you’ll succeed.  Pass or fail, you will die.  We all die in the Test.  I swore under my breath.  Your subconscious will manifest itself and you will fight.  After you die, if you are worthy, you will resurrect as Bah’Tene.

I asked what happened as a Bah’Tene.  "First, you will be virtually immortal, as we said.  It will take much to kill you.  But don’t get arrogant.  There is plenty out there to end one of us.  You will heal