The Chosen by Taran Matharu

Author:Taran Matharu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

CHAPTER

26

Cade awoke to sunlight streaming through the holes in the roof. For a moment he lay there, comfortable for what felt like the first time in an eternity, his only disturbance the dull throb of pain from the bites in his legs and the screech of birds and other creatures greeting the dawn. No longer thirsty or hungry, he took a moment to enjoy the feeling. But before he could, the Codex’s words from the night before came rushing back to haunt him.

He had spent the better part of an hour questioning the Codex on this, but it had shut down communication. The Strategos, whatever it was, seemed to have decided that Cade had learned enough for that day.

What will happen if we don’t complete the qualifying round?

The end of the world, apparently. Was that even possible? Considering everything he had seen so far, anything was possible. Dinosaurs no longer extinct, yet somehow in the same, unevolved form, millions of years later. Romans from centuries ago, all from different time periods, together at once. But what time period was it? Were they still in the modern day, or had Cade been taken to the past?

Or maybe transported to the future?

And yet, there was little evidence of things being brought backward in time from his future—unless the Codex and the force fields were some form of advanced, man-made technology from the year 3000.

It was a mystery that would need to wait for another day. One thing he knew for sure—whoever had created this place, they had the power to destroy the Earth. For all he knew, they could teleport it, bit by bit, into the sun.

He pictured his parents, burned away in an instant. The thought of them gone, just like that, filled him with such despair. And the children. Everyone. Every species on the planet, from the smallest bacteria to the whales beneath the oceans.

But worst of all, the future of humanity was at stake. Two hundred thousand years of human achievement, and all its unrealized potential thereafter, gone in a flash. Unthinkable. Yet here he was, lazing in the dappled sunlight.

Resolved, Cade rolled from his place on the altar, only to find himself alone, unless he counted the Codex.

03:09:12:51

03:09:12:50

03:09:12:49

No sign of Quintus.

“Quintus?” Cade called.

He kicked himself. The boy was quite deaf—shouting was futile.

Groaning, Cade approached one of the amphorae in the corner and, after making sure it wasn’t the one full of ants, took a deep swig. That done, he stuffed his mouth with the last of the jerky, grimacing as the gamy taste coated his tongue. It had tasted so good when he’d been starving the night before.

For a moment, he considered taking the sword, propped in its scabbard against the wall. He decided against it. If he couldn’t find Quintus he’d come back and wait for him.

Quintus had pushed a paving stone in the way of the entrance, most likely to keep out scavenging dinosaurs, but Cade managed to scrape it aside and squeeze through. In the

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