ConQuest (The Quest Saga)

by Dhayaa Anbajagane

  “Head straight in for the centre,” Taylor suggested.

  “You sure?” said a voice behind her. It was Elizabeth. “We might walk into a trap.”

  “That is true.......” Chris broke off, not knowing what to say next. No one knew what to say.

  Kai maneuvered the ship, though there wasn’t much to do since they weren’t being attacked.

  A scene was playing in the back of his mind, one of the ‘what if’ scenes. He wondered what would happen to them if the energy beings refused to help at all. They would have to go about it all alone.

  He wondered if they could do that. Without Q, they had lost their most powerful member.

  “Do not underestimate yourself,” said the Orion.

  “Is that supposed to be funny?” he asked within his mind.

  “What is this ‘funny’? Is it a feeling?”

  “Forget about it. My mistake trying to talk about feelings to a spaceship.”

  “You are a joker card, one of the most destructive as well as weakest cards in the game. If you unleash your destructiveness, I’m sure you’d beat Apocalypse.”

  Kai sat quietly. ‘Joker card, huh?’ he thought.

  “Alright then, I’ll be the most destructive joker you’ve ever seen,” Kai said.

  He was starting to feel a bit more confident. He had the whole electronic world in his control. It was just sitting there, waiting for him to activate it.

  He saw a speck of blue on the horizon.

  “Guys! Come over here,” Kai called out to everyone.

  Everyone came over in a rush.

  “What’s up?” they asked.

  He pointed to the horizon. “That is.”

  They weren’t able to see it initially, but when they caught a glimpse, their eyes widened.

  “Is that…?” Chris asked.

  “The Palace of Being,” Kai confirmed.

  “It doesn’t seem to be very well protected,” Taylor said.

  “Seems that way, but we’ve got to be on our guard. It’s not like we can just stroll in there and go ‘Hi!’” Elizabeth said.

  “That reminds me, what are we going to tell them?” Taylor asked.

  “We tell them everything, about Apocalypse, the map, the patrol, and most important of all, about Q. If we mention he’s the ‘Hand of God’ we get a lot of points on the like-meter,” Kai said.

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Chris said.

  “Okay guys, get ready, we’re going in,” Kai said.

  Everyone, other than Kai, went to the passengers’ area and latched themselves to the chair with seatbelts.

  Kai got into the atmosphere. Then he wondered why the energy beings needed an atmosphere. Maybe the people who visited them would need it. You’d think the powerful beings in the universe could survive without oxygen.

  Kai struggled with the controls as they landed. He finally managed to put them down on the surface.

  Elizabeth stared at the view outside when suddenly everything went white.

  When the light died down, Elizabeth was looking at a familiar sight. It was the playground in her hometown. She looked around. She wasn't in the Orion anymore. None of her friends seemed to be there either. She walked up to the gate and peeked in.

  Nobody was there. She opened the gate and went inside.

  She got onto the swings and started enjoying herself. That was when she saw him. He looked ordinary, dressed in blue shorts and a black T-shirt. His black hair was rough and un-kept.

  The boy just stood there staring at his feet. After a while Elizabeth got bored of the swings. So she went up to the boy.

  “Hey, what’s your name?”

  The boy looked at her with his silver-grey eyes, shook his head and ran away from her.

  “Wait! I’m not a monster,” she yelled and ran after him.

  The boy was too fast and after a while she gave up chasing him. She need not have given a chase since the boy came to her. He had something in his hands, but he wouldn’t show it to her.

  “I’m Elizabeth!” she squeaked.

  The boy smiled and gave her something. She took it and brought it up to her eyes. It was a butterfly brooch. It was one of the most adorable gifts that she had ever got.

  “It’s awesome!” Elizabeth said, her voice, squeaky, high-pitched and full of energy.

  She looked up but the boy was gone. She looked around for him, but he had disappeared.

  Chris’s face suddenly appeared out of thin air. Everything around Elizabeth seemed to change back into reality.

  “Wake up!” Chris yelled.

  Elizabeth moved her hands to let them know that she was awake, but her mind was still actively analyzing information from the dream.

  It was a dream that she had had a lot of times, but this time was different. This time she had seen the boy’s face. She had looked at the face and there was no doubt about it. She finally realized who the boy was.

  “I was so worried about you,” Chris said.

  “I’m fine,” she replied

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. I’m all right.”

  “You girls okay?” Kai asked, finally making an appearance in the passengers’ area. “I’m sorry about the bumpy ride.”

  “What do you say we step outside?” Kai suggested.

  They wore their suits and armor and got ready to get out. They knew there was an atmosphere but they didn’t know if they could survive in it.

  “Opening doors,” Kai announced.

  The light fell on them as the door opened. This place seemed to have an orange sun just like the earth, which was welcome to any earthling after seeing a purple or green one.

  The sun reminded Elizabeth of the sunset that she had shared with Q. She smiled at the memory.

  They looked up at the sky. It was bright blue. The resemblance that the planet had to earth was uncanny. The palace was a spectacle by itself. It was a huge glass pyramid with four pillars around it.

  There was a pathway that led into the pyramid. Chris remembered the last encounter she had had with the mummies. That was when Q had saved her. She had remembered Q again.

  After he had left them, they all kept recollecting memories of him time and again.

  It was emotional for everyone. They kept thinking about Q all the time. They knew he was their friend, and yes it was only natural to keep thinking about his absence. But on a mission like this, it’s just pure distraction.

  “So, I guess we’d better go in,” Taylor said and led the way. The others followed her.

  Taylor couldn’t remember the last time she had led a team. Q had lifted the burden off her completely. He hadn't made her feel responsible for everything especially since everyone else expected her to lead as she was a dark knight.

  Q took care of anything and everything.

  They entered the pyramid. There were lines of flames, lit upon sticks held by iron rings attached to the wall. It looked like a typical Egyptian tomb.

  “I’m coming over,” said a voice. It didn’t take Taylor long to realize that it was Ruby. She had this habit of popping in from time to time. Apparently she could travel dimensions at will, she wasn’t able to take anyone else though. Dimensional travel had some sort of laws to follow.

  Q finally got why she kept popping in and out all the time.

  And right on cue, Ruby popped out right in front of them.

  “Need my help?” she asked. She was in full size now. She never grew that big since she never fit anywhere at that size, but here she had a lot of space. To make a quick comparison Taylor was about a quarter her height.

  Ruby shrunk down until she was a little taller than Taylor.

  “We’re fine right now, though you should stick around,” Taylor suggested. “There might be traps around this place.”

  “Nice to see you, Ruby,” the other’s said.

  They walked up the passage till they came to a solid stone wall. The wall had an inscription on it. Taylor couldn’t read it but
Ruby could, probably since she’s an Egyptian beast anyway.

  “It says ‘Those who trespass beware your lunch money’” Ruby translated.

  “Seriously?” Kai asked.

  Taylor wondered how many kids had stolen lunch money from Kai. He was such an idiot.

  “She’s just kidding,” Taylor explained to him

  “The truth is that I can’t read this since it isn’t Egyptian.”

  “So it’s some sort of Zyxian language?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Has to be,” Ruby concluded.

  “Look at the pictures!” Kai exclaimed.

  They took a closer look at the pictures. They were all drawings of U.F.Os and people from Egypt worshipping them.

  Chris seemed to have gone into a trance after looking at those pictures. She went to the door and traced a symbol with her finger.

  “Ritulya!” she said and the door exploded to pieces.

  Everyone just stared at her.

  “I don’t know how I did that,” she admitted.

  “Intentionally or unintentionally that was 100% awesome!” Kai said.

  They followed the path that the door opened up to. It looked exactly the same as the previous pathway but it was a little bit narrower.

  They followed it until they reached another door. This one was made of solid marble. It had a huge metal lock on it. Breaking the lock should’ve been the easiest thing to do, but the locks here seemed to be different from the normal ones.

  Luckily for them, Chris came to the rescue again. She walked up to the door. Before she could say anything, Elizabeth stopped her. She pointed to the pictures that were appearing on the door. They were all pictures of the Taj Mahal. It looked like there were humans that were shaping the dome. There were also a few others that were working on the pillars outside. The scenery though, was completely different. It was a desert land, not a beautiful garden.

  “So Humans built the Taj Mahal as well?” Elizabeth said.

  Chris walked over to the wall and then turned to look at everyone else. She wanted them to approve first. They all gave her the thumbs up.

  “Ritulya!” she yelled and the door burst into a fine powder.

  There was no path this time, but instead there was a bridge. It was a rope bridge and it was across a river of black water.

  “Powerful acid,” Ruby said. “Could dissolve metal in seconds,” she laughed. Taylor wondered if this was something to laugh about.

  One false step and they’d be toast.

  “Why can’t Ruby fly us over?” Kai asked.

  Ruby stooped to one side to let everyone get on. Once they were all secure she flew them over the bridge.

  The pathway curled about a little bit. They went around mountains and hills, until they saw a cave ahead of them.

  “We’re here,” Ruby told them.

  Kai walked into the cave.

  “Kai, wait!” Chris called out but Kai didn't listen to her.

  They all followed him.

  Kai walked up to end of the cave. There was darkness all around him but he could feel something in there. He placed his palm against it. It felt different compared to the other walls. This one was special. He knew it was.

  He closed his eyes and focused. Immediately there was a loud explosion and the wall came apart. After the smoke cleared they saw a welcoming sight.

  There was a high tech tunnel and in the middle, a glowing portal.

  “Energy beings, here we come,” he said.

  The others just smiled. They were a step closer to their goal, a step closer to avenging Q.

  Palace of Being

  They stepped into the portal and emerged in a void of darkness.

  “W..Where are we?” Chris asked. She wasn't normally afraid of darkness but this darkness had a deathly aura.

  Elizabeth looked around the place but couldn’t see anything other than darkness that stretched on till infinity. Taylor just closed her eyes, trying to feel the presence of any living thing.

  “So you finally showed up,” boomed a voice. Everyone looked around them. They couldn’t see anything. What’s more, the voice seemed to be coming from all directions.

  A spotlight came on. In front of them sat five orange beings. Their skin was like it was foam. It constantly kept moving, like it was some sort of liquid.

  Taylor realized that it was the energy that was giving this effect. These people were the energy beings!

  The five of them looked at Kai and the others.

  Taylor walked up to them.

  “We’re here to ask for your help,” she started. “The universe as we know it, is being destroyed by Apocalypse. We have no option but to seek your help, if you’d ever be so kind,” she bowed. She knew people such as these liked respect and formalities.

  The council talked amongst themselves. They must have spoken in another language since Taylor didn’t understand a word that they had said. When they finally finished, they all turned towards Taylor.

  “We refuse the offer,” they said, in one monotonous voice. The voice made everyone feel like crawling into a hole and staying there forever. It was this fear that they created that had made them legends.

  Kai spoke up. “Why? Why don’t you want to save the universe?” he had personally found these people to be unreliable from the beginning but that didn't mean he was just going to quietly accept it.

  “Yeah. What are you afraid of?” Elizabeth asked.

  One of them stood up. “What did you say!?” he roared.

  “Sit down,” said another one. Her voice seemed sweet and nice, but Taylor knew the real venom lay deep underneath the sweet personality.

  “Why will you not help us?” Elizabeth asked.

  They remained silent. It seemed like they didn’t have an answer for that.

  “Where is he?” one of them asked. His voice was stern and arrogant.

  “Where is God?!” he yelled.

  The whole room rumbled. Chris was afraid that the ceiling would fall on them. Luckily for them it didn’t.

  Elizabeth was bewildered by the question. She had never thought of who ‘God’ actually was. She wasn’t really into philosophy.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “Don’t toy with me!” he banged on his throne “Where is he? Where is Q?”

  The whole room seemed to become ice cold. How could Taylor tell these beings that Q had died?

  She couldn’t even bring herself to believe the fact. How could she even begin to explain it to someone else?

  “He is dead, is he not?” they asked.

  Taylor opened her mouth but no words came out. She couldn’t speak. Kai and Chris looked at her. They too didn’t know what to do

  “He…he is dead,” Elizabeth managed to say.

  All the beings then got up at the same time.

  “You cannot expect us to help people who are responsible for the death of the God” the monotonous voice said.

  Taylor didn’t get why they called him ‘God’ but their other points seemed to make sense.

  “Now wait a minute,” Kai surged forward.

  “Ah! The God of the Dead wishes to make a statement? But before I answer that let me say this. Ask yourself who was responsible for the death of God. If not for your acts of stupidity, God would not have needed to sacrifice himself,” they said, in a tone that almost accused Kai of murder.

  Kai hung his head. They were right. If it weren’t for him, the Pandora Cannon wouldn’t have attacked them and then hit Q in the process. In a way, it was his responsibility.

  “Speechless, I see,” they said.

  “What do you want to do?” Ruby asked Taylor.

  “I don’t know. I guess we have to take care of it ourselves.”

  “Without Q?”

  “Without Q,” she nodded her head.

  “Well if you’re confident then I guess it’s okay,” she said.

  Taylor smiled. She couldn’t even remember the last time she smiled, but she didn’t need to time-
travel to know that it was Q who usually did that.

  She turned to the beings. “You think we need to beg you for help?”

  “Taylor? Um… What’re you doing?” Elizabeth whispered.

  Taylor didn’t take notice of her.

  “We’re going to save the universe by ourselves. Who says we need your help.”

  “Then why did you come to us?” they asked, a smirk on all five faces.

  “That’s because I didn’t know what JERKS you were,” she yelled.

  Everyone around Taylor stared at her. Kai wouldn’t have had the courage to say that to even one of the beings and here Taylor said it to all five!

  The beings just glared at her. Taylor didn’t bother. She didn’t care about what they did anymore.

  “Let’s go, guys.” She walked up to the portal. Everyone followed her.

  “I’m warning you mortal…” the voice said.

  “Shut up,” Taylor said.

  And with that Taylor and co. were back in the Orion. She didn’t know how they’d got back there but it had saved them some valuable time, so she wasn’t complaining.

  “I can’t believe that you said that to their faces!” Kai said, excitedly.

  Taylor wasn’t feeling exactly proud of herself. She didn’t know what she was going to do know. All she knew was that they had to go beat Apocalypse.

  “Plot a course to the centre of the universe,” she told Kai.

  “Yes ma’am,” he saluted her, a smile on his lips and ran to the pit.

  Chris was looking at the space outside. She recollected all the adventures that she had had, all happy ones, all up till….. up till Q. And now they were heading for a suicide mission.

  She knew it was suicide. Everyone knew it was. They just didn’t say anything about it to each other.

  “I wonder where Q is now,” she said. He was probably far away, only part remaining being a colorful ‘prana’ that searched for a host.

  Elizabeth looked at her feet. She had stretched her wings out a bit. She had been so stressed that she had forgotten all about her wings. Pretty ironic, but that was the level of responsibility that they carried.

  She looked out to the window. She saw a flicker of movement in the corner of her eye. She looked again, but didn’t say anything.