Remnant Resistance

By Stephen Bambrough

Following the events in The Remnant And The Righteous we find our unlikely hero Griffin Holster armed with his new gravitational distortion device on another adventure. Banding together with Jess and Bill to help a mysterious man find a way to stop the ancient time portals. Their mission, to prevent an impending invasion of demonic Remnant and humanoid Angious creatures alike. This time his journey takes him out of England and to a land where mythical monsters and creatures were rumoured to be present for centuries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Apr 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524630249

Stephen Bambrough

Born in 1992 in Germany and moved to England at the 10 age of two with his parents, Stephen attended education 11 through a Catholic school where he liked to question 12 what was being taught. Through the years he found 13 himself in a career in maintenance with a lot of spare 14 time on his hands to fill his curiosity and creativity in 15 life with travelling and writing.

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© 2016 Stephen Bambrough. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/01/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-3022-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-3023-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-3024-9 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1: All In The Past

Chapter 2: A New Destination

Chapter 3: Country, Castles, Calm

Chapter 4: Anybody Home?

Chapter 5: Lost and Found

Chapter 6: The Legend

Chapter 7: Armageddon

Chapter 8: The Possessed

Chapter 9: When the Bell Tolls

Chapter 10: Unwelcoming

Chapter 11: Different Agenda

Chapter 12: Finding Faith

Chapter 13: A Common Ritual

Chapter 14: Teutonic Knights

Chapter 15: Recovery

Chapter 16: Old Techniques

Chapter 17: Deal with a Devil

Chapter 18: Fallout

Chapter 19: Tunnel vision

Chapter 20: Disaster Zone

Chapter 21: The Returned

Chapter 22: Death Race

Chapter 23: Game Changer

Chapter 24: Revelations

Prologue

Barely able to keep my weary eyes open, I was completely exhausted both physically and mentally. I wish I could say there were some insightful thoughts going through my head but, truth be told, my only thought was to get to a bed and fall asleep for three or four days straight. Griffin Holster, Remnant killer and saviour of the world – it has a nice ring to it. If the world found out that would probably be the news headline, along with the help of my companions of course, Bill, Jess and Jasper… The thought of Jasper instantly brought my mood down. I felt responsible; I had no control over the situation and now he was gone, just like that, gone.

Everyone had gone quiet as the makeshift vessel beached up on the shoreline on this sunny evening – at least I think it was evening, the stormy weather had been completely dispersed by the explosion of the capsule device. I had lost all sense of time. Across the horizon my blurred sight made out the outlines of a few people looking out and probably wondering about the strange lights in the sky that had occurred when I blew up the island. An elderly couple walking a small dog arrived next to the boat looking bewildered.

Looks like you lot have all been through the wars mentioned the old man becoming instantly concerned.

Lizzy, call an ambulance will you, dear, he ordered before turning his attention back to us.

Are you alright? Can you move? he enquired.

I wish I could have answered him properly but in my destroyed state my brain was not functioning and all I could think about was why anyone would have a stupid little dog like theirs.

I bet your dog’s called Rex or Rover or something old like Albert. I laughed like an idiot. The man looked at me completely confused.

Think you had better hurry with that ambulance, dear. I think the boy’s lost his marbles, he called over to his wife.

Sirens alarmed seconds later as a set of blue flashing lights raced along the road and stopped next to the beach.

Well, wasn’t that fast? said the woman looking surprised at the phone in her hands.

My eyes were almost completely shut when a couple of men raced along the beach from the ambulance until they were next to the boat.

We’ll take it from here thanks, one of the men told the elderly couple.

Can you move? Speak? asked the youngest looking man. As much as I wanted to I couldn’t answer. I had had enough and closed my eyes, falling into blissful unconsciousness.

Chapter 1

All In The Past

I still look like the same person, apart from a couple of newly gained scars, and I still think in the same manner I did before recent events took a hold of my life. Perhaps I have gained a slight increase in confidence; I’ve certainly become increasingly grateful for the people around me, Jess and Bill in particular, and have found a new sense of responsibility to keeping them close and safe. Although saying this I do feel like my life has a new found meaning, I have actually become a person of usefulness – I have had a small epiphany in that sense. People may never find out what I had done but I knew, that is all that mattered. My name is Griffin Holster and I no longer feel like an ordinary man in an ordinary world.

To say the past few days have been a life changing experience would be an understatement. If I’m going to be completely honest I still struggle to believe the events which have transpired. The more I think about it the crazier it begins to sound. Remnant, Angious, Hesthenon, Helvius, and Terraforming capsules – it all equals madness, but I know it was real, I was there; I witnessed it with my own eyes and I survived it.

There was an awareness that I was in hospital, but I had been kept under constant sedation and spent most of my time sleeping and resting my wounds which were healing at an accelerated rate due to device on my arm.

Recurring nightmares plagued any sleep I could manage which achieved only to wake me up in a pool of sweat shaking at the vividness of the memories.

It was always the same setting. Me standing on top of the islands jagged cliff facing out onto the raging stormy sea. Lightning dominated the blackened skies as down below I spy Jasper struggling to stay afloat in the overwhelming ferocity of the swelling waves.

GRIFFFF!!!

Too far away to be of any help I scream at the top of my lungs at Jasper to swim to the nearby walkway next to the cliff face.

SWIM, JASPER, GOD DAMNIT!!

Helplessly watching on I see him reach the wooden walkway just for his body to be ripped back into the sea by the hands of the evil Lucifer, his face smirking up at me before he follows Jasper to the depths of the wild waters and they disappear from sight.

A cold and hostile hand perches on my shoulder. Turning my head I am met by the demonic gaze of those blue and red beady eyes of the Remnant just before it roars into my face with a horrific cry and its talons rip down, piercing my chest.

My eyes opened wider than imaginable as I struggled for breath, panting like I had never used my lungs before. There didn’t seem like there was enough oxygen in the room to satisfy me and I became even more panicked, clutching my chest where the Remnant had ripped into me.

A gentle hand rested on my shoulder and, unlike the one in my dreams, it felt comforting and protective. Looking to my right I saw a man dressed in a brown suit.

Steady yourself, Mr Holster. You have been through a great deal. We do not need you giving yourself a heart attack now, he said with a kind smile and the slightest hint of a German accent.

My state of panic began to recede and my vision came into focus. Taking a few deep rhythmic breaths I calmed to a more relaxed state. Looking up at this mysterious man I could take in more of his features. His hair was a sleek black and cut to a medium length weaving to the sides, his eyes were brown and supported on his face by a set of wrinkles where he had smiled or laughed too much. The square jawline was tipped off at the chin with a pointed small grey beard pulled up onto his face by his warming smile. I’m not entirely sure why, but the way he looked seemed to support his German accent, not that I usually like to stereotype.

Looking further around the room I needed to ensure I was still in the same place as when I closed my eyes. Everything was clean and white as the sun shone through the window blinds. Relief swept over me when I saw my ragged mucky clothes lying on the chair exactly where I had left them. The monitor next to my bed that was measuring my vitals began to steady and slow down from the alarming rate it had been recording a second ago.

Most people I have met seemed to have an irrational fear of hospitals, which I could not understand. I’ve always felt them comforting – it’s a room designed to keep you healthy and safe with people looking after you twenty-four-seven. Ever since I had to have my tonsils out I’ve found them reassuring and have never really minded being an occupant.

You’ve been sedated for quite some time, Mr Holster. I think it’s about time you got back on your feet, don’t you? The man’s voice interrupted my musings.

Who are you? I questioned. His smile grew bigger.

Well, I’m glad you asked. He walked over to the end of the bed where he began casually pacing side to side.

My name is Dr Dalton Meier and, before you ask, not the medical variety. You may have already guessed I am originally from Germany; I am still working on the accent. My age I hope I concealed slightly better at forty-two years young. I have an extremely generous IQ of one hundred and fifty-five. I am a member of the elusive Illuminati and of course my favourite colour… is blue. He listed his details tilting his head to one side.

He stopped still at the foot of my bed grinning at his own description. It took a brief second for me to click onto what he had just said.

Wow, wow, wait a minute, pal! Did you just say the illuminati? I asked sceptically raising a hand to indicate for him to slow down.

Now, that I certainly did, Mr Holster. Rather mysterious organisation isn’t it? Well I can assure you we mean nothing but the best in contradiction to some of the rather foul rumours lingering over our proud title.

Foul rumours?

Now, I’m no stranger to the stories of the illuminati but that’s all they were to me – made up stories, fiction. Was it so hard to believe that they actually existed? Usually I would have waved him off as a mad man but following recent circumstances my mind was a little more open to the idea.

Oh you know, all this controlling the world business. When actually we are protecting it, from an evil you yourself have already encountered.

You’re talking about the Remnant? I asked, knowing full well it was exactly what he was talking about.

Precisely! I mean don’t get me wrong, Mr Holster, we are a rather powerful force working below the civilian radar, retaining complete anonymity. We own certain companies, which bring in the necessary funding for our group and we have what you might call, a free pass within every country. His face betrayed a certain amount of smugness.

Our little group funded the moon landing with a little help from our researchers and some technology acquired which far surpassed anything we could have dreamed of at the time. That was our first encounter with one of the ancient devices, although sadly too large and too far away to be of any use to us, he explained further.

It was obvious he loved every second of this question and answer session. I frowned in his direction as he stood waiting at the end of the bed for a response. To be honest, I was willing to believe this man, but something inside me wanted to test him, the way he spoke was just unrealistic. I did enjoy listening to him but I felt the urge to break his smugness.

Bullshit!

He looked at me amused, pulling a small black torch from an inside pocket of his jacket. Lifting his right hand up with the palm facing me he shone a light half red, half blue directly up onto the centre of his hand. What I saw was pretty astounding. It was almost like a tattoo except it seemed to rise off from his hand like a hologram. The picture itself was the symbol I recognised as the Illuminati emblem, a pyramid encompassing an all seeing eye.

OK, that is pretty cool, but it doesn’t prove what you say is true, I insisted.

Raising an eyebrow at my determination he flicked the light away from his hand waving it side to side.

The symbol represents two parts which you may recognise. The pyramid being the glass prism used to refract the portal information, the ‘all seeing eye’ is our moon, the source of said signal. The tattoo will only become visible under a certain spectrum of light to which all members carry.

Underneath the symbol were the words, Lebe Ein Lautes Leben Leise.

What’s the sentence mean? I asked.

It’s German, young man and it translates to ‘live a loud life quietly’, our little group motto, he explained.

Swinging the torch around, he shone it down directly onto my hand. The same image lifted up in front of my eyes. I stared in amazement.

Consider yourself an honorary member, Mr Holster. Obviously due to the sudden nature of your union we will have to discuss in more detail our arrangements another time. I can only imagine the things you discovered on that island and to be completely blunt with you, we need you and that device attached to you. He pocketed the small light source as he spoke and I had the uncomfortable feeling that he was more interested in the device than me.

We arrived at the shore just as you and your companions arrived back to mainland. You made quite the scene. We were the ones that called the ambulance taking you to the hospital and, of course, we kept it all below the government’s radar. It’s all on a need to know basis right now. Your parents believe you are in police custody and we can certainly invent some other plausible alibi for the extended time you will be away. So, as you can see, Mr Holster, we have everything under control and you have nothing to worry about. He smiled at his control and insight over the situation.

Nothing to worry about? I’ve apparently just joined the Illuminati and I think we both know there’s going to be something to worry about, I replied.

Laughing at my comment he walked over to my side picking up a bundle of clothes from a table and dropping them on top of the bed.

I took the liberty of acquiring a set of clothes from your home. You should get dressed as we will be setting off soon. There are Remnant to be rid of!

Shuffling over to my old pile of clothes on the opposite side I picked up my tattered work jacket and rummaged in the front pocket for the letter I had brought back from the island.

Don’t worry. Mr Holland’s letter has been sent to its rightful destination. I assure you, Mr Holster. We are the good guys.

I was relieved that the letter had reached Dave Holland’s wife. After that whole dreaded experience on the island, I was glad I could change at least one person’s life for the better by providing some closure.

Thanks, it means a lot. I acknowledged his gesture beginning to let my guard down.

It’s quite alright. I will be waiting outside for you, he said with a nod before departing the room.

Then, once again, I was alone. Staring at the palm of my hand there was nothing to be seen by the naked eye. Everything was silent bar the rhythmic beat of the monitoring equipment. One of the nurses must have removed my anaesthetic drip while I was asleep as a small plaster covered the top of my wrist. My shoulder had been stitched up and bandaged which had been the main cause of grief during my stay on the island. Cuts and bruises on my face had surprisingly subsided