ConQuest (The Quest Saga)

by Dhayaa Anbajagane

  The academy was formed completely out of concentric circles. The building became larger and larger the closer they were to the center.

  When they finally got off the platforms, they were in a huge open area; a stone arch lay before them.

  “Entrance to the academy,” Taylor said.

  “How do you know all of this stuff?”

  “It says ‘Welcome to Aliea’ on the top.” Taylor pointed to the top of the arch.

  “Oh!” Q felt like an idiot.

  Q didn’t know which class he would be in, so he went to a lady standing next to the arch.

  “Excuse me but how do I find out which class I am in?” Q asked her.

  “Oh! You must be Q and Taylor. You’re both in class Q.”

  Q thought that it must be some sort of a joke.

  Q goes to Class Q?

  Didn’t anyone see the funny side of that?

  He asked her for directions and thanked her before leaving.

  “Last class. Building on the left side,” she had said.

  Q and Taylor stepped inside the arch. The area beyond the arch was a complete forest. Plants and trees covered the place.

  He looked around. Searching for some sort of civilization. He was able to make out a building to his left.

  The building was made of pure glass. He searched for the door and entered it.

  He heard the noisy chatter of kids in classrooms.

  Taylor walked by a lot of classrooms. The kids were all having a good time laughing and playing about.

  This might be good after all she thought.

  The classrooms were something of a dream. There was a device that was projecting a holographic blue screen and the teacher was writing on it using a stylus-like device.

  The whole thing looked way beyond earth tech. The chairs and tables added to the highly futuristic look. The tables were attached to the chair. Both stuck to the bluish grey theme.

  They found their classroom and sat down.

  Q took the seat in the left corner next to the window. There were a few kids chatting away but Q didn't pay any attention to them.

  It was his favorite seat. If the teacher ever started getting boring he could always look out of the window and gaze at the view.

  Taylor took the seat in front of him. She turned back and flashed him a smile.

  Q smiled back at her.

  Their teacher hadn’t come in yet. Q wondered what she’d be like, a funny, helpful kind of teacher or the ones that scream at you from day one whether your grades are A plus or D minus.

  A young lady entered the class. She wore a white top and a black skirt.

  “Hello, everyone. Before we start class I’d like you all to welcome our new students, Q and Taylor.”

  She turned to them and said, “My name is Juliana and I’ll be your instructor. Nice to meet you.”

  Everyone turned back to look at him. Q felt really tensed.

  “Anyway, now that we’ve settled that, let’s come back to business. We still have to select a representative for the ‘Battle of Heroes’. Any suggestions?” Juliana asked the class.

  Q was wondering what this ‘Battle of heroes’ thing was when a girl in the front got up.

  “I vote for Kristin!” she squeaked. A few other hands went up to show that they supported the decision. On second thought it wasn’t just a few hands; almost the whole class had their hands up.

  “Why thank you!” the guy sitting in front of Q said. He gave Q a smirk as he got up. He had blond hair with dark black eyes. His face was pointy and tanned.

  “What’s this guy’s problem?

  “Wait, he’s Kristin?”

  Q had questions running through his mind.

  “I’m honored that you’d think of nominating me,” he said and bowed before everyone.

  They all started clapping. Some of the girls screamed. Q had seen this kind of scene in Japanese anime, which were the cooler version of cartoons by the way, but he’d never figured that something like that could even happen in real life.

  This guy seemed like a total gentleman, but if anime had taught Q anything it was that gentlemanly characters like Kristin were always villainous people with hidden and drastic back stories.

  The rest of the day Juliana spent teaching everyone about the proper protocols to be followed while flying a spaceship. Q had to struggle hard to make sure he didn’t fall asleep during his first day at school. When the bell rang he was almost half asleep.

  “Hey, wake up!” Someone shouted in his ear.

  Q sat up sluggishly. It was Taylor. She looked pretty irritated. Q wondered why.

  “You do realize school got over right?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Q yawned.

  “C’mon sleepy head,” she said and they both left the classroom.

  “Wait up, you two!” someone said.

  Q turned. It was Juliana.

  “We’ve arranged a dorm room for both of you,” she informed them.

  “I appreciate your giving us a room but we’ve already got a room back at ‘Demon Riser’. Plus we’ll have to check with Carlos,” Q explained.

  “I know about that. I just talked to Carlos today. He left with Kai this morning so he asked me to arrange for something,” Juliana told him cheerfully.

  “Left? Like in left Aliea?” Taylor asked.

  “He didn’t tell you? He had some work to take care of back on moon base so he left just this morning,” Juliana said.

  “Wait, he left for moon base?” Taylor said. The note didn't tell her that he was going halfway across the galaxy!

  “Did he tell you when he’s coming back?” Q asked.

  “He was mum on that part. I’d figure it won’t take long. After all, there’s not much one can do on moon base,” she said, her voice becoming softer and softer.

  “Fine then, where exactly is our room?” he asked Juliana.

  “The Atom block, room 22.”

  “What about the keys?” Q asked.

  Juliana smiled. “You’ll see,” she said and walked away.

  Q and Taylor started walking to the dorm, which was quite easy to find since there were signboards for each place inside the campus. They reached the place in a short while.

  Q looked up ahead of him. The atom was a huge dome made entirely out of glass. It looked the sort of office ‘Apple’ would have.

  “Wow!” Q said as they walked in.

  The inside of the place looked just as good as its exterior. It had a lounge full of bean bag chairs and actual plants, not those silly plastic mimics. There were tulips and orchids and all sorts of plants that Q couldn’t even begin to name.

  Taylor had to drag Q to the elevator because he stood there gaping at the place. They got into the elevator.

  “Scanning life forms,” a robotic voice said.

  A red grid of light scanned Q and Taylor.

  “Scanning complete. Gaia; Q and Taylor Quasar from Sector 21.12.12.”

  Q was astounded. How did the elevator know that?

  “They must have a database on us,” Taylor guessed.

  The elevator moved on its own. Q couldn't imagine what his room would be like.

  The elevator door opened and Q could see it for himself. There was only one door in the whole floor.

  “There’s only one room in a floor?” Q asked.

  “Looks like it,” Taylor said.

  Q opened the door and almost swooned in delight. He had fallen in love with the room on first sight. It was like the room was taken out of a science fiction novel.

  The floors were made of grey tiles while the walls were light blue. There were windows of glass all around the room. It was a two floor room, each floor about half as tall as the whole level, which was still really tall, mind you. The top floor had nothing more than a few bunks.

  Taylor was as equally impressed. She was more interested in the colors the room had. Q didn’t pay much attention to it but now that he had seen them he saw how they were different.

>   The colors were those that resembled the whole of earth. Clear green grass-like tables, blue sky-like walls, the black night-like beds and the most beautiful of all, the pinkish sunset lamps.

  Q looked at the closet. They had a bunch of clothes all ready for them. Taylor came over and looked into the closet.

  She shook her head in disapproval. “They have even worse taste in clothes than you do!” she declared.

  They stared at each other and burst out laughing.

  “Looks like we have to go shopping,” Taylor told him.

  Q stopped laughing. He looked like he’d just heard a death sentence.

  “I’m going to go to sleep.” Q fell on the bed and willed himself to go to sleep.

  Taylor just smiled and lay down on the couch.

  “It’s best if I never tell him,” she mumbled and went to sleep.

  Moon Base

  Kai tapped on the control panel nervously. Having Carlos breathing on his neck wasn't exactly a good feeling.

  “May I ask why we’re going here again?” Kai asked.

  “There’s been some suspicious activity going on at moon base. Weapons missing, cadets going unconscious. We’ve pulled everyone from there but there’s still something going on back there.”

  Oh! fun, Kai thought cynically.

  He looked through the window to see a grey lifeless planet.

  “It’s been a long time since I saw the moon,” Kai said.

  “Go on, Kai.”

  Kai pulled the Atlas down on the surface.

  “Now what?” Kai asked.

  They heard explosions nearby.

  Kai looked out of the window. A huge dark form was approaching them. It shot dark beams at the surface in front of it, melting it into lava.

  “What is that?!” Kai said.

  A mad laugh echoed through the Atlas.

  “Team Apocalypse welcomes you,” a mocking voice boomed.

  Kai felt something hit his head and everything went black.

  Sonic Burst

  Q woke up when he felt a pillow smothering his face. He pushed on it desperately.

  Taylor’s smiling face emerged from behind the pillow.

  “Are you crazy? What are you doing?”

  “We have to get ready, silly.”

  “Ready? It’s the middle of the night!”

  “We’ve only got an hour left before dawn and we both know how long it takes for you to take a bath,” she said trying not to laugh.

  “It’s not my fault if I want to be extra clean,” Q sulked.

  “You’d better start getting ready. We’re gonna get late otherwise.”

  Q got ready in about half an hour which was a new record for him. Taylor got ready in a jiffy and they ran to class. Oddly, the whole class was empty.

  Taylor saw one of the cadets run by.

  “Where’s everybody?” she asked him.

  “They’re all at the battle grounds. A girl picked a fight with Khan!”

  “Who’s Khan?” Q asked.

  “He’s Aliea’s best fighter…” the guy started. She got interrupted by a huge red sphere rising into the air.

  “Get down!” Taylor yelled at Q. The sphere exploded.

  A wall of sound came hurling at Q. It hit him like a freight train and blew him right off his feet. He saw Taylor running towards him and let himself be swept away by the darkness that engulfed him.

  Battle of Heroes

  Q woke up. He looked around him. He half expected Taylor to be there but she wasn’t.

  He was on a snow white bed with curtains around him.

  “Right. The explosion,” he remembered. “I must be in the school infirmary.”

  He got up. He instantly felt light headed. Everything seemed to be spinning.

  “Take it easy,” said a girl running to him.

  She was wearing a long white lab coat which made Q assume she was the nurse. She seemed to be of African descent; with her dark skin and curly black hair. Her eyes were as black as the night. She had a round face with a certain calmness on it and looked to be about his height. She flashed a smile at him.

  “How are you feeling? You know, considering you fell victim to a sonic burst.”

  Q looked around “Where’s Taylor?” he asked. Was she hurt as well?

  “She’s fine. They’re all in class now. You might want to rest some more though. You’re not exactly in good shape right now.”

  “I don’t need any rest,” Q protested, taking off the bandages.

  The girl opened up her palm. A blue flame emerged from it.

  “Maybe I should rest,” he said and stopped removing his bandages.

  The girl closed her palm and the flame disappeared. “I’m Christina, by the way. My friends just call me Chris,” she said.

  Q introduced himself.

  “So you’re the school nurse?”Q asked. He couldn't believe that the school nurse was a girl this young.

  “No no. I’m just taking over for today. I’m actually a healer at Aliea.”

  Q looked through the window on his left. His heart stopped beating.

  It was Jake! He was perfectly all right.

  Q was ready to give that guy a piece of his mind for abandoning Taylor last night.

  He got up from his bed. His vision started to blur.

  Chris caught him just as he was about to hit the floor.

  “You’re too weak. I told you,” she said. “What were you after anyway?”

  “That guy. He’s the academy’s president, right?”

  “Yeah. His name is Jake.”

  “What do you know about him?”

  “He’s a really good fighter. Amazing with almost any weapon.”

  Q looked at Jake walking away. He’d have to talk to him some other time then. He really wanted to know what happened to him that night.

  “You’d better get back to class now,” Chris suggested.

  “I can’t even stand up,” he said.

  “That’s what this is for” Chris gave him some white blocks. Q recognized them. They were the doctored sugar cubes.

  Q ate them up. Energy started to surge through his body.

  He stood up. His vision didn't blur this time. “Thanks.” He waved to Chris as he left the infirmary.

  Q opened the door to his classroom. Immediately his classmates swarmed around him.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Boy, that must’ve hurt.”

  Juliana pulled Q away from the crowd. “Now class, let him be. He’s just recovered from his injuries.”

  “Go take your seat, Q,” Juliana told him.

  He saw Taylor smiling at him as he walked to his seat. She looked like she’d been quite tensed all this while.

  “On popular demand, the battle of heroes will be held today. We will take all of you to the battleground right now. We will finish the tournament in one day, so no rest for anybody,” Juliana said.

  Q groaned but all the others cheered. They looked like they were ready to give up anything for this tournament.

  “First up we’ll have a practice bout,” she announced.

  All the students lined up and left the classroom. Q joined them.

  This would be the first time that he’d see the battleground. Taylor had described it to him but that had only made him more impatient to see it.

  All the students walked along the path until they approached a huge dome-shaped structure.

  Q stared in awe at the towering dome.

  “Fully reinforced rabbitiyiminixilieum. It can withstand any attack; creating the ultimate battle arena,” Taylor told him.

  Q stared in awe, not at the tech but at the name. Couldn't someone have named is something simpler?

  He realized something. “But if the stadium is protected, then how did the sound wave…”

  “Breach it? My only conclusion is that the sonic blast was too powerful for the wall to take. The girl who caused it is still in a coma so we won’t know for some time. She was a transfer student. Came
in today and immediately picked a fight with the academy’s best, Khan. Then she unleashed a sonic blast that stunned both Khan, her and you as well.”

  “But then, how come no one else was affected?”

  “Well, it could be because of the fact that we all ducked at the blast and the sound wall passed over us. Most of the cadets were in regulatory armor which lessens the damage significantly. You on the other hand were completely defenseless.”

  Juliana gathered everyone and took them inside the dome structure.

  Everything inside the stadium was made extremely thick to make sure it’d resist all sorts of situations. The ceiling was transparent at the very top. The floor of the battleground was made of regular sand which Q found odd.

  You have a high tech stadium, the least you could do was have high tech floors but Q figured they’d have a reason for using sand instead of metal.

  Juliana spent the next ten minutes explaining the rules of the match. It was a two-minute match, the opponents had to knock the other out or make him or her surrender. Any foul play would not be encouraged. The number of weapons was unlimited.

  That kinda put Q at a disadvantage since he didn’t have any weapons.

  Then she listed out all scenarios that would be declared as a foul. A student causing a foul would be withdrawn from the tournament.

  “Without further ado........ Let us begin!” she said.

  The cheers were so loud that Q was worried that he’d go deaf.

  “First match, Q vs Kristin,” she said.

  Q’s nerves tightened. He remembered the gentlemanly dude from before, the proclaimed ‘hero’ of the class.

  That was when Q realized what he was up against. However corny the guy was, he was still voted as the best fighter in class. That had to count for something.

  “Are you coming or what?” Kristin asked, his face full of confidence.

  “Yeah. What the hell.” Q got into the battle arena.

  Juliana went through the rules again. Then she asked them to take their weapons out.

  Kristin took out his sword. He touched the hilt to his forehead and mumbled something. Instantly the sword got covered in ice. He pointed the sword at Q.

  “Could I borrow a sword or something?” Q asked.