The Surpen King - Part 2 - Rise of the Elves

by Charity Kelly

  With a gasp, he realized he had known Thestrst as a mortal. Thestrst had relived his life as Trst, Rhen’s childhood friend on Surpen, the boy that Loreth had forced him to kill in hand-to-hand combat. It hurt Rhen to look at Thestrst. He still felt guilty about killing his friend. He glanced to the left and saw himself in the painting. No, there were two pictures of him in the painting. One of his bodies had a blue glow to it, the other purple. Why was his face in a painting done by Themrock? He focused on Thestrst again and found himself getting angry. How dare Thestrst do that to him? As a Genister, Thestrst could have avoided him. He could have saved his life by flying away. Why had Thestrst deceived him? Why had he allowed Rhen to kill him? Rhen’s hands clenched and unclenched, as he tried to calm his growing anger. He was furious with Thestrst for making him feel guilty all his life.

  “Dad?” Slate asked.

  Layla slipped out of Rhen's body to hover near some pictures on the right. Rhen ignored her. He focused on his image again. He seemed to be playing cards with himself and Thestrst. Why was he glowing blue and purple? Wait. Therol glowed purple and Themrock glowed blue. What was going on?

  Layla zipped in front of him blocking his view, then gestured to his right. Rhen followed her to a picture of herself and Themrock. He couldn’t quite make out Themrock’s face. Layla pointed at Themrock repeatedly. Rhen stepped closer to try to see Themrock’s features. He felt a sharp pain in his neck that made him want to turn away, but he fought against it. Again, Layla pointed at Themrock. Rhen’s eyes began to water as he focused in on Themrock’s face. Through bleary, tearing eyes, Rhen finally saw Themrock. Themrock’s face was his. Why had his picture been used for Themrock’s image?

  Layla pointed at the picture of Themrock and then at him before blowing him a kiss.

  “What?” Rhen was having trouble comprehending what she was doing. Layla pointed at Themrock again and then at him before blowing him another kiss. Rhen’s head suddenly felt thick as if it contained too much. He blinked as Layla pointed at him and Themrock. “I’m… no.” He shook his head while Layla nodded. She pointed to two other pictures of Themrock. In each one Themrock had his face. Now that Rhen thought about it, he vaguely recalled that the portraits of Themrock that he’d seen in the other castles had also looked like him.

  Layla popped in front of him and kissed him. “No, stop.” Rhen protested. He couldn’t kiss Themrock’s wife… unless. “No.” Rhen shook his head as Layla zipped back up to the portrait of herself and Themrock. Again, she pointed at Themrock and then at him. She finished by lifting her hand and wiggling her fingers, showing him her wedding ring, then she pointed at Rhen.

  I’m… Themrock? As soon as Rhen thought it, he realized it was true. He collapsed to the floor as pain seared through every cell in his body, his powers filling his form. Themrock’s past memories flooded forward into his mind with such force that he had to cradle his head. Rhen curled himself up into a fetal position to try to alleviate the pain as his full powers settled into place.

  “Dad!” Slate yelled to his left. “Are you alright?”

  “Mm-hm,” Rhen mumbled. It was clear now. He was Themrock. How clever he had been to lock away his memories, so he could relive his life in peace. Rhen reached up to feel his hair, checking to make sure it hadn't grown. It was still short, which meant he was now completely Themrock. He couldn’t wait to get back to Ceceta and tell her. She’d been masterful at handling him all these years. As he thought about Ceceta, he realized he should reward her. Maybe he’d give her the powers of a Genister. Rhen hesitated. No, she wouldn’t want that. Knowing Ceceta, she’d want him to move with her into their house in Crithnians so they could live a quiet, peaceful life. Rhen smiled. He liked that idea. He couldn’t think of anything better. If everyone would just leave them alone, he and Ceceta could… Rhen frowned. What was he thinking? Therol would never leave him alone. He was still furious about the fact that Layla hadn’t chosen him for her husband.

  Rhen hit the stone floor with his hand. Gods damn Therol! Why wouldn’t he accept that Layla didn’t want him? Why had he ruined their friendship over it? He and Therol had been best friends. It wasn’t until Therol had decided that Themrock had stolen Layla away from him that they’d begun to fight. Rhen knew he hadn’t stolen Layla. She’d come to him. He had never pursued her. She’d ruined everything.

  He clenched his hands in anger. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to punish both Layla and Therol. Not only had they both been breaking the Code Book’s rules for centuries now, but they’d also pitted the Genisters against each other.

  "Dad!" Slate yelled, before screaming in pain.

  Rhen jerked upward. A Rasack stood in the room with Slate’s limp body dangling from its mouth. It wasn’t the Rasack’s poison that was killing his son, but the purple powers that were wrapped around his neck. Therol stepped out from behind the Rasack. His eyes glowing purple. Rhen realized he’d been right. Someone had followed them into the room. Therol. He kicked himself for trusting his eyes and not scanning the room with his powers.

  Therol grinned at Layla. "Well done, gorgeous. I appreciate your help."

  "You told me you wouldn't hurt the boy," Layla snapped. With Themrock back, she finally had her body. She was leaning against the door frame in the center of the room, her hands on her hips.

  Therol shrugged. "I lied."

  "Release him!" Rhen yelled.

  Therol smiled. "No, Themrock. I don't think so."

  "Release him, now!" Rhen yelled, his hands filling with blue energy.

  Therol laughed at the sight. "Ah, so you really are back for good. Excellent."

  Rhen floated to his feet. "Let him go, Therol, or so help me–"

  "You'll what? You’ll kill me? Then where would you be? You can't heal him of the Rasack’s poison. Only the Genister who made the Rasacks can do that.”

  Rhen stepped forward towards Therol. "What do you want? You want Layla? She’s yours."

  “Hey,” Layla shouted.

  Therol took a deep breath. With his child in danger, Themrock was powerless. Therol had finally won. “First, I want to fight you. I want to hurt you so much you can’t even breathe. You deserve it. It was wrong of you to bend the rules, allowing your mortal body to use your full powers. Then, after you’re wishing you’d never taken a mortal shell, I want you to turn Layla into a Genister. After that, you will open a door back home to our dimension, so the two of us can leave this gods-damned place.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” Layla hissed.

  “Agreed,” Rhen said, ignoring Layla. The only thing he cared about was saving Slate.

  Therol pursed his lips and waved a finger at him. “Not so fast. You aren’t allowed to slip back into Rhen, ever again. You have to remain a Genister.”

  “Fine. I agree.” Rhen pointed at Slate. “Save him.”

  Therol waved his hand and the Rasack lowered Slate's body to the stone floor. With a flick of his wrist, he sent his purple powers into Slate, healing him. Rhen rushed over and knelt down by his son, picking him up in his arms. "Slate?" When Slate's eyes blinked open, Rhen knew he’d be okay.

  Suddenly, Rhen grunted in pain as Therol jabbed him through the back with a spear made of his purple powers. Rhen placed Slate back onto the ground, then held the spear in place as he rose to his feet. He didn’t want to fight Therol near Slate. Flying up into space, he heard Therol laugh as he chased after Rhen.

  Therol lashed out at Rhen with his whip, trying to catch him, but Rhen avoided his efforts and flew further. When he was far enough away, he stopped and pulled the spike from his body. His fingers crushed it to dust. Therol screamed with anger and tried to snag him again with his whip. Rhen became ethereal so the whip passed through his body. Therol tried blasting him with his powers, but Rhen dodged them.

  “Fight!” Therol yelled.

  “I will. I’m just waiting for you to tire yourself out. Once you do, I’m going to beat you right out of that mortal shell.”
Therol yelled again and threw more power balls at him, but Rhen evaded them. Frustrated, Therol shouted, “Fine, come and get me then.” He disappeared.

  Rhen grunted. This was almost too easy. He phased in front of Therol, when he appeared in Universe 3 and punched him in the stomach. Therol gasped and fell backwards. Rhen phased behind him and kicked him in the back. As Therol tumbled out of control, Rhen popped himself onto Therol’s back and elbowed him in the shoulders. Therol screamed and phased away, but Rhen went with him. They scuffled back and forth through several Universes until they ended up back on Universe One.

  Therol was furious. This wasn’t at all what he’d wanted. “With your powers, damn you. Fight with powers.”

  Rhen mocked Therol by pouting. “Sorry, you didn’t specify that.” He grabbed his whip and slashed Therol across the face, drawing blood. Therol threw a purple power ball at him but he was sloppy and it sailed over Rhen’s head. Rhen whipped Therol across the other side of his head, cutting off the bottom part of his ear. “Stop,” Therol yelled. “This isn’t what we agreed to.”

  “Yes, it is.” Rhen appeared behind him. He kicked at the back of Therol’s knees, breaking them. Therol disappeared into Universe 6, but Rhen was right behind him. “You wanted to fight.” He punched Therol in the gut. “Then you wanted to leave with my wife.”

  Therol’s body was healing as fast as it could, but Rhen was relentless. “You don’t even care about her,” Therol yelled as Rhen grabbed his hand and broke two of his fingers. When Rhen reached out for his neck, Therol exploded a blast of energy in his face. Rhen fell backwards, blinded. Therol tossed energy ball after energy ball, pummeling Rhen’s chest. Finally, Rhen phased away. He was back a minute later, this time throwing his own powers about. The two men threw countless power blasts at each other, back and forth. They disappeared in and out of the Universes, pummeling each other as hard as they could with their fists and power blasts. “Damn, you’re better at this now,” Therol hissed, while hiding from Themrock behind the main sun in Universe 12. “I’d almost be afraid of you if I didn’t know that you won’t kill anything.”

  “You’d be surprised at what I’m capable of now,” Rhen said.

  Therol laughed. “Right. I don’t believe that for a minute. You’re not a fighter. You never were and you never will be. I laughed when you tried to learn how to fight on Surpen, because I knew that no matter how much you learned, no matter how much you wanted to become a killer to destroy me, you never would. It’s just not in your nature. Even now. You could kill me, but you haven’t.”

  “Rasack’s piss.” Rhen lunged himself at Therol. They fell backwards into the sun, their bodies burning. Therol phased away before his shell took on too much damage, Rhen following right along behind him, kicking him and punching him whenever he left himself open.

  As they skidded across the surface of one of Surpen’s moons, Thellis appeared with the other Genisters. “We’re here!” Thellis cried out, blasting at Therol with his green powers.

  “I’ve got it,” Rhen told them. “You can go.”

  Thamber tossed a golden powerball at Therol. It exploded under his feet, throwing him off the moon. “No, we’ll help you.”

  “Go,” Rhen said, chasing after Therol, who was now making his way towards Rasack. “It’s easier for me if you’re not here.” He threw up a power shield to protect Theta from one of Therol’s power blasts. “Please.”

  “No,” Thestrst told him. Rhen glanced at him briefly. He and Thestrst were going to have a serious talk when this was over. Thestrst flew past Rhen. “We’re not leaving you. We’re helping you. It’s our right.”

  Rhen cursed and yelled at them continually to leave. Every time he was about to blast Therol, he had to stop what he was doing to save one of the Genisters. Therol was spending his time recovering from the damage Rhen had done to him earlier, while Rhen was saving the others. “You’re not helping,” Rhen said, shoving Tharis out of the blast zone of one of Therol’s attacks. “He’s healing himself.” Rhen turned and used both hands to blast Therol. Therol crashed through an asteroid, causing it to fracture and split in half. Inside the asteroid was one of the blue powerballs of extra energy that Themrock had hidden in his Universe. Themrock had been forced to hide powerballs randomly throughout his creation so that he could lessen his powers enough to fit into a mortal shell.

  The powerball began to float towards Rhen’s gravitational pull. Rhen saw Therol eyeing it and swore. He phased himself into the path of the powerball, hoping to absorb it before Therol did, but he was too late. Therol had reached it first. Therol laughed, his eyes glowing blue momentarily, as he absorbed Themrock’s powers. “Gods damn it!” Rhen hissed. Now Therol was even more powerful. As Therol flew sideways, away from Rhen, he tossed a purplish-blue power ball at Theta. Rhen phased in front of her absorbing the blast. “Leave,” he yelled at the Genisters.

  “No, we’re helping you,” Thamber said, throwing another golden power ball at Therol.

  Suddenly, all of the Genisters, except for Rhen and Therol, were squeezed together inside a red power ring. “I’ve got them,” Thaster said, appearing nearby. Rhen hesitated. He wasn’t sure if the fight had just expanded or not. “You give me the secret to having children and I’ll keep them safe so you can settle your score with Therol.”

  Rhen watched the Genisters as they struggled inside Thaster’s ring. They were furious. Could he trust Thaster? His skin prickled as a powerball zipped past him towards the Genisters. It ricocheted off the side of Thaster’s power ring then went sailing back towards Therol. Rhen realized he didn’t have a choice. He needed to deal with Therol. Thaster would keep the others safe, for now. “I’ll tell you the secret, as soon as this fight is over.” Thaster nodded. They had an agreement.

  Rhen phased himself behind Therol then clapped both of his hands on Therol’s ears, before stabbing a blue dagger through Therol’s chest. Therol screamed and phased away to Universe 3. Rhen chased after him.

  As they fought, Rhen realized he could now absorb Therol’s blasts since they were mixed with his own powers. Therol struck him over and over again. The blasts stung Rhen, but didn’t hurt him. At one-point Rhen got close enough to cave in the side of Therol’s head. He had hoped the fight would end there, but Therol used his new enhanced powers to heal himself and jump to Universe One.

  Rhen followed Therol to Neptian’s moon. “It’s over, Therol,” he said, floating above the planet’s dusty surface. “You’ve lost. By absorbing my powers, you can no longer hurt me.”

  “No.” Therol refused to give up. He threw another powerball, but it passed by Rhen’s left side.

  Behind Rhen someone screamed. He whipped about to find his five children floating in the air over the moon’s surface. Rhen panicked. His eldest daughter’s shoulder had been clipped by Therol’s blast. He used his powers to heal her while yelling, “No! Go home now! This isn’t up for negotiation.”

  “We’re here to help,” Slate said, his powers flowing into his hands.

  “Go home!” Rhen yelled as he diverted Therol’s next blast away from his kids. Slate was the only one who could breathe. The others had fastened air pockets around their bodies so they could fight in space. “Please, children, go home!” He stepped in front of another blast, protecting them. Gods damned he wished the tigers were there to help. He needed someone to take his kids to safety.

  When a portion of Therol’s next powerball leaked past Rhen’s arm, he screamed with anguish as two of his mortal children were tossed off the moon from its blast. “Thaster! I need your help!”

  Thaster appeared at once, towing the Genisters along behind him. He saw the problem, scooped up Rhen’s children then placed them into his circular red forcefield. “I’ve got them. Finish the gods-damned fight, already.”

  “No!” Therol screamed, blasting Thaster’s forcefield repeatedly until it shook. Rhen flew into him headfirst, knocking him backwards. Therol phased himself in front of Thaster and shot him in the face wi
th his powers.

  Thaster couldn’t withstand Therol’s powers when they were combined with Themrock’s. He raised his hands to protect himself and lost hold of the protective forcefield he’d made.

  Fearing for his family’s safety, Rhen body slammed Therol aside to save Thaster. Therol fell towards the TUB just as an enormous wave of gravity flowed out of it. The wave was moving fast. It caught Therol’s ankle and pulled him in towards the TUB. Therol screeched and reached out for anything he could get his hands on. Because he had Themrock’s powers, he was able to pull on the spatial fabric that Themrock had used to create Universe One.

  Rhen had just finished sending his children and the Genisters to Thestran, when he felt his creation shift. “No! Stop!” He zipped forward and grabbed Therol’s hands. “Let go. I’ve got you. You won’t fall in, but you have to let go.”

  Therol’s fear was so great, he couldn’t hear Rhen. He could only feel the terrible pull of the TUB. He jerked harder on Universe One’s spatial fabric, trying to free himself.

  “Stop,” Rhen barked, his eyes on the planets around him. They’d started to move towards the TUB. Crap! “Let go of them. Don’t bring them into this.” Rhen pounded on Therol’s hands, forcing him to release his grip on Universe One’s space, but the planets continued to flow towards the TUB. With one hand on Therol, Rhen swung his other hand out to stop the planets and restore his creation to its rightful place.

  Meanwhile, Therol was losing his grip on Rhen. He made one last effort to save himself, by jumping forward with all his might and wrapping his arms around Rhen, pinning Rhen’s own arms to his sides. Rhen only had enough time to turn his head to see what was happening when he heard Therol scream in his ear and he was pulled into the TUB.

  “No!” Slate cried out, arriving a moment too late with the other Genisters behind him. He looped back and forth in front of the TUB yelling his father’s name. “No,” he bawled as Thellis put a hand on his shoulder.