“Where are we?” Jane asked.
From seemingly everywhere, a voice resonated. “You are now mine. This is my mind. The genesis.”
“W-What?” retorted Ryan. To his right, he saw Justice standing. She did not move a muscle and stood like a soldier.
“What are we going to do?” exclaimed Sam.
“Did we just lose?” added Dustin.
“No, we cannot!” cried Johnny.
“Oh, but you already have,” the voice answered. The ground beneath shook violently, and each fell like dominoes. Peeking up and rubbing his eyes due to the strange blue colors, he made out a small light. It expanded until legs began to form—
and arms—before Titan fully materialized. “Now you see, don’t you?” he asked them, feet stomping onto the ground. “Your gifts are minor compared to the power of the Titan.”
“I will kil you!” roared Ryan, pushing himself up. Before he advanced, the surroundings vanished. He turned in fear. Everything had become blackness. “Guys?
Johnny?”
“Mr. Slade, it is only you and I.” At once, the blackness was altered, bathing his surroundings in the blue aura from before. Looking around, he could see the others in some sort of transparent cage. He ran toward their location, but slammed into a transparent wall. “What?” he griped. He stood up again, placing his hand on the invisible barrier. “Oh God.” In a fit of anger, he punched with all his strength, but nothing could free him.
~~~
On the other hand, Johnny was in his own predicament. When the darkness enveloped him, Titan appeared, but he could only make out the bright crimson eyes of his enemy. “I hope you see the truth now, Johnny Sparks.” The eyes circled him, speaking into his ear like a serpent. Johnny tried his very best to keep the voice away—
to shake it off—but to no avail. “You are not fast enough,” Titan whispered as he circled.
Being unable to see his form made this real nightmare all the worse. “You never wil be.”
Johnny swung his arms around, attempting to grapple Titan. But the eyes had disappeared, replaced by a large holding cel with invisible barriers. While peering out, he saw Ryan trying to burst out of his own. Johnny banged on the cel . “Let me out of here!” But the worst had not yet passed.
After a few seconds elapsed, Johnny turned at the sound of crying behind him. The orange atmosphere around him faded into darkness. In its place, he could make out a single city light. It rained sadly. Underneath the gleam stood a girl with her arms wrapped around her shoulders, shaking in the cold and unforgiving weather. Johnny sprinted towards the sight. The light wails froze him in fear. Upon his arrival, the girl looked up to him. “J-Jane?” he asked. “What happened?” The rain had him soaked and sopping wet.
Still crying, Jane answered, “You couldn’t. You were not fast enough. You will not save us.” Simultaneously, Johnny began to slightly cry, cocking his head as his eyes glimmered. “Face it Johnny! We cannot beat him! He is more powerful than we are together! Even more than Sonovan!”
At this comment, Johnny glanced upward, staring into Jane’s eyes. He narrowed them. “After everything Sonovan has taught us, you say that?”
“It’s the truth!”
Johnny shook his head twice. He stood over her, glaring into her eyes in a way he wished he would never have to. “Get out of my head, Titan.” At once, Jane vanished, fading away like a mirage. Out of nowhere, a large fist contacted his chest. He was punched into the ground, except the support went out from under him. He felt himself falling and fal ing to a place so deep, so dark.
Without warning, his body rocketed into a soft bottom. He pushed himself to a standing position. He had landed inside some sort of ancient corridor, walls constructed of gray bricks. He walked down its passage, but there was nothing on the walls except one flaming torch. Gathering it in his hand, he examined the brick walls.
“Where am I?” he shouted. The echoes served as the only reply, reverberating down its alley. “Deep breaths Johnny. Deep breaths. This isn’t real. He’s trying to scare you.
I’m not afraid of anything you throw at me!”
Turning a corner, the flames’ light basked a chair with a large skeleton on it. Johnny jumped. Upon further inspection by the flames, he discovered the chair was a throne.
He squinted to make out a gold-plated label adjacent to the skeleton’s head. Johnny Sparks. His heart almost stopped beating. Titan had struck fear into him now. “Ugh…
argh! Come out! Face me!” Turning his body, he bolted down the dark corridors, desperately trying to escape. After nearly seven turns and non-stop running, Johnny came to a dead end. Across the blockage was a horrendous sight. There were dead bodies—Sonovan, Dustin, Sam, Ryan, and Jane. He backed up, clearly unprepared.
He thought deeply. What had Sonovan told him? How could he conquer this fear?
“Just remember, Johnny,” he told himself. “Remember what he said. Remember.” Then he recognized the perfect invigorator had been with him al along. “Do what you do best.
Be the hero. Be the hero, Johnny. Be the hero. Be the hero!” He screamed, rushing towards the wall, only envisioning one outcome: his breakthrough. And that it did. The wall, including the bodies, burst forth as he rammed straight through.
He did it. On the other side of the superficial y impenetrable divide, he found himself inside a dark and dingy room with a blue light in the corner. There was a ghostly whisper. “Extraordinary,” it said.
~~~
Despite his desperate attempts, Ryan could not break free from this entrapment.
“You couldn’t save me,” said a voice. He gulped, dreading the figure who would be there. Before him was Rose, not Justice, wearing the same clothes when he had first met her. That fateful day.
“Rose? I-I know. I couldn’t save you. But I wil . I don’t know when.” He walked closer until he was hovering over her body. “But I wil save you if it’s the last damn thing I ever do.”
“You can’t.”
“I will, Titan. My desire makes it so. Just like how, uh, Zydok had done. Sonovan told me about him.”
From seemingly everywhere, Titan growled, “And where is he now, Slade?” Rose vanished. Ryan could feel his own psychic power increasing. Maybe, just maybe, he could prevail.
~~~
Sam and Dustin were both kept far apart. Despite what Titan had put them through—
the exact events Johnny had gone through, they remained resilient. Out of the entire team, including Jane, they had been the strongest. Anything Titan threw their way had been pushed aside. Not even their parents proved to be a threat. But then Titan found a weak spot. Their grandparents.
“Dustin, do you see that?” asked Sam, pointing through the blackness towards two elderly people standing. For once, they were together. “Is that…”
“Grandma? Grandpa?” finished Dustin. They both ran toward them and wel -nigh had a heart attack. They looked exactly the same from before their deaths.
“Dustin. Sam. You abandoned us. You were selfish then! How can you expect to prevail when you abandoned your own family?”
Sam glanced at Dustin. “Don’t let him get to you. Don’t.” Nevertheless, Dustin approached both, clasping his grandmother’s hand.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t save you,” he croaked. “I miss you so much.”
“We miss you too,” responded Albert, his grandfather. “We love you always, no matter your deed.”
Sam, now next to his brother, brought Albert into a hug, who reciprocated. Speaking into his ear, Sam said, “We will prevail. For you.” He then backed away, as did Dustin.
The two grandparents grinned, but their eyes became totally red instantly. The brothers jumped in fright.
“You won’t,” was the low, hoarse reply. Titan had spoken through the fake bodies.
Both vanished.
~~~
Jane could not see a thing. Panic and distress began to settle in. “Where are you?!”
s
he screamed, dreading the moment of his appearance. “Come on! S-Show yo-yourself!” Little time was needed before it became apparent there would be no answer.
This had transformed into a living nightmare.
As the saying goes, the anxiety rose the more time elapsed. She began to worry an escape was unfeasible. Tip-toeing through the blackness, she tried to feel her way, though there was no wall to fall back upon. She felt like she was drifting, alone, in the middle of an ocean, seemingly no bottom or barrier.
Throughout the area, she could barely hear the sounds of multiple voices, but each so low in tone and pitch she could never understand. They would fleet through her hearing and then out, taunting.
Without warning, a light turned on in the distance, illuminating one small spot in the dark, sodden wasteland. Two people stood erect in the light. A dog sat between them.
“M-Mom? D-Dad? Mom! Dad!” She rushed to their location, but knocked into an imperceptible, obscured barrier. Upon collision, she bounced off and onto the sodden, muddy terrain. On the ground, she looked up to them, both dressed in work clothes, but totally expressionless with eyes fixed in a straight line.
She got up and placed her fingers on the barrier, despite neither person nor dog moved. “Y-You’re not real. None of this is real.”
Coming up behind her, a voice spoke in her ear. “You made it real.” At once, the scene vanished like with the others, leaving her alone.
~~~
Suddenly, the cages they had been locked inside opened and faded away. Brushing off the dust, Johnny, Jane, Dustin, Sam, and Ryan walked out of their prison. “What the hell?” said Johnny. He was at last free of a jail cel —the point being unknown at the time. “Guys? Is this real y you?”
“Johnny?” asked Jane. She had been crying.
“Jane?” he responded. He ran over to her. “Are you all right? Are you OK?”
“No,” she replied. “I-I’m not. He s-s-showed me m-my pa-parents.”
Johnny sighed and brought her into a hug. He nearly got lost for a minute, just standing there as she cried into his shoulder.
“I hope that was a good appetizer,” said Titan. The being materialized again, except this time, he was not alone. Fifty Titans appeared around the team. The heroes backed into a smal circle. “Many of me, so few of you. It’s a foreshadowing real y.”
“What are we going to do?” whispered Ryan.
Sam and Dustin remembered what Sonovan had taught to them. This is why. This very moment is why he had taken them aside. “We don’t fight,” Sam directed. “We just don’t fear.”
“What?” questioned Johnny. “What do you mean?”
“It’s like how Sonovan said,” Dustin replied. “We overwhelm him with our desire. This can be the only way out of here.” The brigade approached closer still, boxing them in.
He had them right where he wanted.
“You’re mine now,” Titan taunted. The contingent of Titans prepared to eliminate.
“Do whatever you want. I do not fear you,” countered Dustin.
“Neither do I,” added Sam. Both he and his brother gave a deadpan expression to Titan, unafraid.
One by one, twenty of the fifty disappeared. Their heads col apsed into their neck and vanished. But that was still not enough.
At the same time, Dustin and Sam faded away. Johnny and the others gulped. “Uh, was that supposed to happen?” asked Johnny.
“I think so,” said Ryan. “They made it.”
“Argh!” roared Titan. “You must be the strongest I have ever come across. Who are you?!”
At once, the three left were separated into jail cells once again. The walls were soaked in blood, bones lay around each cell as if a part of the terrain. “You will kneel,”
said the voice.
~~~
Back in reality, Dustin and Sam were freed from his grasp. Somehow. They had grown very strong. “We did it!” exclaimed Dustin. Around them stood the static bodies of the others, including Titan. Their eyes gleamed a demonic black.
“But we have to get them out,” Sam replied. “Let’s not celebrate yet.”
“Sonovan, you stil here?”
Though invisible, Sonovan responded to them. He had the faith they would survive, and his faith was rewarded. “I am amazed, my friends. I truly am. But do not speak with me. Now is not the time. We must continue. You passed the most excruciating part.”
Sam’s white hair was strewn across his face, so he fixed it. On the contrary, Dustin channeled his power. He focused a vortex of wind on Titan’s body. In one swift motion, the air whisked Titan into the wall.
CHAPTER 30
VERSUS
Inside the psychic arena, Titan was priming to gang up on Jane, Ryan, and Johnny.
Before he could enact his sinister plan, there resonated a loud, ear-splitting snap.
Titan’s mind ripped away from theirs, liberating the remnant from his psychic clutches.
Sam and Dustin had forced him out, leading to the demise of the world he had built.
Back in reality, Titan glared sinisterly at the brothers. “Impressive.” Titan, standing onto his feet, was not deterred despite their narrow escape. Johnny, Jane, and Ryan col apsed. Justice stood close by. “Your minds. I was wrong. Much, much more resilient than I had thought.” These kids were starting to be like a fly that escapes every swat.
They just won’t die.
“Thanks guys,” Ryan said to the brothers. “Owe you one.”
“Yeah,” added Johnny. “Thanks.” Coughing, Johnny helped Jane up. “Like I said, Titan, déjà vu.”
“Yeah, what he said,” Ryan complemented.
“Let us finish this,” growled Titan. He had had enough. Time to end this.
Johnny smirked. He sprinted ful speed and socked Titan in the chest with an elbow and kicked the leg, col apsing him to one knee. The size difference imaged David and Goliath perfectly. Despite his size, Titan retorted like a lightweight boxer and grabbed Johnny, throwing him into the ground as if a ragdoll.
Justice acted after the first attack was thrown. Six against two. In the corners, Sonovan waited for the proper moment.
On the ground, Johnny screamed, “Ryan, watch out!” Justice leapt and attempted to light him into flames, but Ryan dodged the attack. Thus, she relentlessly blasted fireballs at him. He parried the attacks, the flame-balls bouncing off.
Jane, standing next to Ryan, focused and pul ed Justice out of the air and into the ground. But, she got up with no injury and even more pissed off than before.
“You wil all kneel!” Titan bellowed.
“Sam! Go! Ryan! Go!”
Sam shot ice blasts, but to no avail. Titan pushed them aside with his power. Johnny attempted to sprint, but Titan telekinetically stopped him mid-stride. “Slow down, Sparks.”
About to break Johnny into two pieces, Ryan sprinted and tackled Titan. The impact slammed Titan into the ground. Face open to strike, Ryan punched Titan over and over.
His hand reached back to rip the wire out of Titan’s head, but he was too late.
Mind on overdrive, Titan telekinetical y pushed Ryan off him and let him dangle in the air. He was nearly crushed under Titan’s mental grip.
Johnny had seen it unfold, and rushed to help. Titan saw him coming and back kicked him. Johnny flew across the room. Hearing Ryan scream, Dustin turned and yel ed, “I got you!” The air accelerated into a focused tornado, which blew Titan off his
feet. Ryan fell to the ground, but stood back up, rage fil ing his vision. “You’re dead,” he spat.
The two fought hand to hand. Titan unleashed a flurry of elbows and strikes on Ryan, who either covered like a boxer or dodged. Then Titan executed a ridge hand, which was succeeded immediately by a spinning hook kick, truly a sight to behold given the size of the Emperor of the Tetra. Ryan ducked, and, recognizing an opening once again, employed the lesson he had been taught. Shoulders square, he pushed off his back leg and smashed into Titan, causing him to lose ba
lance. He followed it up with a spinning side kick and reverse punch. Though invisible, Sonovan beamed—his training was being put to good use. Ryan recognized an opening to unhook the cord that connected to his head. “Take this you tall bastard! Johnny, go!”
Titan had turned in time and elbowed Ryan in the ribs as well. The strike sent him into the ground. “You are nearly as powerful as I, Slade,” he said, “but not enough.”
Sam seized the chance and froze Titan on the spot.
On the other hand, Justice was dealing with Jane and Dustin. Every attack Justice threw was pushed away by air. “Not this time, babe!” Dustin heckled.
Jane stepped in front of him to shove her back. Instead, Justice jumped over both of them and landed next to their shoulders. She kicked Dustin and spun into yet another side kick onto Jane’s back. Jane flew into Dustin at a high speed.
Titan, on the ground and vulnerable, bel owed, “Justice!”
She rotated her head and saw Titan frozen in ice. Instinctively, she blasted him with a dose of pure fire, melting his icy prison. Telekinesis did the rest, and the frozen shards floated off his body.
Johnny advanced in earnest to unhook the wire, but Titan was ready once again.
“No, you will never succeed, Sparks,” he replied, grabbing Johnny by the throat.
With an ample distraction, Ryan and Sam attempted to attack again. Ryan leapt from his place and would have landed a punch if Titan did not stop them both. “No, cannot have that.” He released and let them fal to the ground.
The three, Sam, Johnny, and Ryan pounced on him, but he had already activated a telekinetic shield. They bounced right off of him. “Oh shit, now we really can’t hit him,”
said Johnny. If they were not screwed before, it is possible to be now.
Jane got up and froze Justice. She also shoved Titan away from her compatriots.
Dustin mimicked her by causing a hurricane-force stream of air on Titan and Justice.
She slammed into the glass, and so did Titan. He grunted from the pain, but mostly because he had been caught off guard. Not even the telekinetic shield could protect him from a focused blast such as that. Their will is very strong, he perceived. After al , they had nearly broken through his own mind—though not strong enough to tread the full distance. Not yet, at least.
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