The Spectrum Force Volume Three by Heather Ray (ready player one ebook txt) 📕

"There they are..."

Phaedra's eyes slowly opened, the view of her private chamber replacing the magical vision of brilliant energy her most recent spell had created.

She smiled, leaning smugly into her throne.

Of course, her incantation had worked. Her Shadows were undefeatable… a magical collective of foot-soldiers that melted into an amorphous pool, able to rejoin the group and restore their strength, and quickly return to battle.

The pool was able to quickly scan the entire planet, their unique magical properties allowing them to maintain their strength even in direct sunlight. Considering the small circumference of Edenia, it was only a matter of time before a platoon stumbled upon the humans. And by creating minor earthquakes by pounding against the planet's surface, the Shadows were able to trumpet their approach. Predictably, the humans in turn prepared for the assault, igniting their energies and in effect declaring their precise location. The signal became strong enough for even the scientists to register, and strong enough for the Shadows to home in on.

The plan fell seamlessly into place. The Shadows had literally smothered the humans.

Still, while the Shadow fleet was certainly powerful enough to overwhelm the new heroes, Phaedra would be no closer to discovering the truth about the Diadem.

So they followed instruction: swallow one human, and inject the Seed into it.

Phaedra began chuckling, the tickle of burning embers on her skin. She gazed at her hands, watching the faint orange climb her arms.

"The Seed has been planted," she whispered, grinning wickedly, "Once she awakens, the eyes of Orange are as my own."

If these new heroes were anything like the overly-compassionate Spectra, they would never abandon one of their members, even though she may be injured. They would surely see the outer effects of hosting a Seed, but they wouldn't recognize what it meant.

If anything, the outward appearance of Orange would only make the rest more protective, rather than suspicious. And through Orange's eyes, Phaedra would determine exactly what their intentions were on the planet.

Perhaps they'd even discover the secret of the Diadem for her.

Then

she would kill them.

"Why the hell

aren't you dead yet?!"

Craig could tell he was panicking; he was quickly running out of ideas.

In truth, he didn't really have time to plan any. When the danger first registered, Blue sensibly rocketed toward the sky, anxious to make as much room as possible between himself and the aggressor. He wanted to buy enough time to come up with some logical strategy of attack.

Unfortunately, no matter how high he flew, the creatures followed him.

Without a plan, he was forced to improvise, falling into an intricate pattern of ducking and dodging while throwing around powerful bolts of energy. Any of his basketball teammates would've recognized the offensive pattern, only played with energy spheres instead of basketballs.

However, Craig quickly discovered how little he accomplished by dodging and firing, and he began slowing down.

What else can I do?

Suddenly, a flash of red grasped his attention. His jaw hung slack as he witnessed a fierce red ball, encircled by a swirling golden ring, collide with the wall of creatures that had begun rising from the ochre.

A wry smile pulled his face as he watched Yellow wrap her arms around Red exuberantly. Maybe, if I had put as much into those practices as the others, I'd be able to make a contribution here...

Instead, he'd only been giving half-hearted effort to the Force. And only half-hearted effort to basketball.

It just wasn't humanly possible to give both

all he had. And both demanded exactly that.

A chill crept through his entire body when a thought formed. I... I just can't do this. I'm letting everyone down...

*Confidence is one of your greatest weapons!*

Craig jumped in surprise, leaving him wide open for one of the creatures to land a swing. Craig toppled, rubbing his jaw painfully. But his attention was nowhere near the fight at hand.

*Who's there? Ray?*

It didn't sound like Rachel... unless she'd been sucking on a helium balloon.

*You are a Soldier of Light!* the voice continued, its tone growing anxious, *You must believe in yourself, or no one else will believe in you!*

This sounds like one of those cheesy after-school flicks...

*You cannot save the Diadem like this!* the voice pleaded, *You must follow me!*

*And where are you?* he demanded.

He was answered by a surprising sight. A thin figure, less than four feet in height and cloaked in heavy rags, appeared in front of him. Craig startled.

"Wow guys... what was that?"

Tamara and Keith disentangled themselves, the former beaming excitedly at her roommate. "Why, that

was the Supreme Fireball Impossibly Strong Golden Hula-hoop Attack!"

Rachel stared at Tamara incredulously.

The green form that rapidly flew toward them was equally astonished. "Huh?"

"It was Keith's idea," Tamara accused.

Matthew shook his head to cast off the confusion. "We've got to save Jocelyn!" he declared, "That... tar stuff swallowed her whole! And when I tried to get closer, it seemed to try to swat me away!"

Tamara gasped. "What do we do?"

"So far, the Super Fireball- whatever is the only attack that did any apparently long-lasting damage," Rachel noted, "Whenever I fried one, another took over. But now, they've seemed to slow down... almost retreat a little."

"Then we'll do it again!" Keith decided, "The five of us." He began to pull away towards Blue, who seemed to be frozen in the air. "Craig! Yo CRAIG!"

Matthew frowned slightly. "Maybe we shouldn't include him yet. Remember Jocelyn's somewhere in that goop. If we up the power too much, we might hurt her."

Keith nodded, floating back towards them. "Okay then, me and Tammy will do it again. Then Ray can join in, and if we think that's still not enough, we'll add Matt's power."

"Matt, where exactly did Jocelyn disappear?" Tamara asked.

"Over there, by the tree line."

"Then let's make sure not to directly hit that area," Rachel decided, "but hit close enough to jostle it. Hopefully, we'll get an idea of how powerful the attack is by the damage it does on impact."

Her three teammates nodded, and Yellow and Red rejoined hands, an orange aura building between them.

Blue paid absolutely no heed to the burning energy that built a few dozen yards away. He also completely ignored the Shadows that had mysteriously begun to recede.

All he could see was the cloaked figure hovering before him.

"Wh... what are you?"

He reached toward the faintly glowing apparition, and shivered as his hand passed through.

"Whoa..."

*Astral projection... only you can see me. Death cannot find me if only Light can see me.*

Craig puzzled over the strange reply. "Don't worry... I won't let those black things hurt you. We're the Spectrum Force!"

*No... not 'death.' Death

, the living servants of eternal darkness that seek to devour our reality!*

Does she mean the Empire?

"I don't und-"

Before he could finish his comment, a powerful burst of energy exploded behind him, sending him catapulting helplessly with the updraft into the dense Edenian forest.

"That was… unexpected," Tamara exhaled, her eyes sliding open. She stared in numb awe at the long blades of grass before her, her mind swimming.

How did that happen? She and Keith had constructed their signature attack just as before, and Rachel had deposited her own energy, in the form of an additional spinning ring. The team had decided to try that attack, and Keith had launched the double-ringed sphere toward the oddly calm ochre coating the knoll.

The subsequent explosion threw the entire unprepared Force nearly into orbit.

Yellow closed her eyes, and slowly began to take measure of her injuries. She started by moving her right elbow.

Check.

Left elbow, shoulders, ankles, knees, neck, back, and everything in between.

Everything responded with minimal pain. Astonishingly, she was only slightly sore.

Relieved, Tamara carefully rose to her feet,