by Ross Buzzell
As he holds off the two younger men the third, with the lightning bolt makes it past Xero’s defense and slams a shoulder into him. The blow sends a shock, literally, through his system causing Xero to fall back. He bounces off the ground and into one of the pillars that explodes into cloud vapor. A massive lightning bolt slams into the ground behind the three ‘gods’ who are ready for anything that is thrown at them. The lightning bolt dissipates and at its epicenter stands the Emissary, like Xero having not aged a day since she had been sent into exile for being a carrier of the plague.
The three brothers charge Xero but stop as the Emissary puts her hand up and calls out to them individually in the same commanding tone she had used on Xero all those eons ago.
“Poseidon, Hades, Zeus, stop!”
The three men stop and slowly back up as Xero climbs to his feet. Blood drips ever so slightly from his lip. That blow was strong, almost as strong as a full-fledged Boronian. He was proud of the warrior. Too bad he would have to die. Xero had never felt anything that strong on this planet before. It was the battle he had been hungering for since he had arrived. The center and eldest brother, Zeus makes a powerful declaration. As he speaks the ground shakes as if the roll of thunder itself were his voice.
“Kronos, you are to flee now, or be bound in Mt. Tartarus for all of eternity!”
Xero climbs to his feet. Looking at his old ally he calls out to her.
“Emissary, I see you have made this place a little bit like home!”
“I had nothing to do with this place’s creation. It was Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon who came together to build this little piece of home.”
Xero looks at the three, intrigued but ultimately unimpressed. They were large, muscular men. The epitome of human perfection with the raw power of a Boronian thrown inside. Xero looks at the three while still addressing the Emissary.
“I thought all Boronians that were sent to this world had no power.”
“THEY didn’t.”
The Emissary retorts.
“But through thousands of years, eventually our genetics began to return, mixed with the natives of this planet the results were…”
she indicates to the three men.
“Glorious, and they aren’t the only ones. There is an army of men and women whose Boronian heritage has begun to show once more!”
Xero grips his blade and prepares for battle.
“There can be only me!”
he growls as jealously forms in his heart. He was to be the ruler of this world. No one else was to stand in his way, let alone a human. Xero charges with a primal roar swinging his blade as hard as he can at the ‘gods.’ The three brothers dodge Xero’s attack. They engage the behemoth holding their own against him.
They had been trained well in the style of Boronian combat. Hades jabs at Xero with his pitchfork whose end had cracks in it. Lava and brimstone drips like sludge from the weapon. Poseidon’s trident melts into water. As he lifts his arms up, the water turns into a massive three pronged weapon. Poseidon throws his hands forward. The trident flies at Xero. Poseidon’s aim is true and he catches Xero between two of the spires. Xero is thrown back. His sword flies out of his hand as the massive water trident pins Xero to one of the crystalline walls. Zeus winds up and a massive bolt of lightning strikes the spear as Zeus’ weapon turns into a lightning bolt itself. The bolt burns through the air with a deafening roll of thunder. Both Xero and the Emissary shout in pain at the sound of the lightning bolt but only Xero begins to seize as the bolt strikes the water. The sensation of this raw power coursing through him is un-paralleled. The lighting coursing through him feels as if it is setting his very atoms on fire. The mix between the water and the lightning overload Xero and he falls to the ground unable to absorb the energy from Zeus.
On the ground, Xero grips the floor on his hands and knees. The three gods approach Xero to finish him off. Xero looks up and throws his hand out. His sword, unhesitatingly, flies towards him. Poseidon moves to strike down the dark Boronian but he stops suddenly. All three brothers look over; Xero’s sword had flown through Poseidon’s back handle first and through his chest to get to Xero’s hand. The gaping hole in his chest is able to be seen straight through as his heart, sternum, spine and even some of his lungs had been removed by the sheer force of the impact. The fallen soldier looks at the two remaining gods as Poseidon’s crimson blood oozes down the blade, onto Xero’s hand and dripping to the pure floor, staining it with the blood of its creator.
Xero swings his blade in a single swift movement causing Hades to stagger back putting his hand on his throat. Poseidon dissolves rapidly into water as he falls to the ground; Hades begins to ooze magma from the mortal wound delivered to his neck and turns into pumice as he falls before shattering upon impact with the ground.
Zeus leaps backwards putting distance between himself and Xero. He slams his lightning bolt on the ground and sparks fly toward Hades pitchfork and Poseidon’s trident pulling the two electromagnetically together with the lightning bolt. The three combine to make a formidable weapon similar to Xero’s back on Boron, only gushing with electricity and plasma which burns everything it touches, save for Zeus. Xero leaps at the god sword in full swing. Zeus blocks Xero’s attack. The energy travels down Xero’s blade and sends energy coursing through his body. Xero seizes up and lets out a shout of pain as he falls to his knees. Zeus proceeds to slam a fist down into Xero’s back which bounces the Boronian off the ground, winding him in the process.
As Xero gasps for air he realizes he had greatly underestimated this opponent. Xero feels strong fingers wrap themselves around his neck as Zeus grips Xero’s throat and lifts him off the ground, holding the weapon against Xero’s chest. The hyper-weapon’s plasma burns so hot that even Xero’s skin sizzles as it touches him.
“This world will not be subject to your rule.”
He cries out as he stabs Xero through his side. A white hot pain surges through Xero’s body as he is impaled by this surprisingly powerful human. Xero roars in pain once again, the energy flowing through him overloading his brain and his muscles, fighting to even breathe. Xero forces his arm to move. Against all the trembling and the fact that his muscles had locked up he musters all of his strength. Gripping the weapon, Xero pulls it forward impaling himself even further. With his free hand Xero reaches up and grips Zeus’ throat. Zeus reaches up and tries to rip free from Xero’s grip but to no avail. Xero leans his head back and throws it forward as hard as he can colliding his forehead with Zeus. A massive pressure wave shoots out in all directions as a result of the force from the head-butt. This causes Zeus to drop his weapon and stumble backwards; Xero takes full advantage of the opening. Mustering all his strength he yanks the weapon from his gut and throws it at Zeus. By the time the god notices what happened, he falls to his knees, his spear running through his chest as blue electric blood oozes down his white toga.
Xero forces himself to his feet, putting pressure on the wound. The wounded soldier latches his sword back in its resting place on his back. Glaring at the Emissary he begins to approach her, passing Poseidon’s puddle, Hade’s pumice pile and yanking the spear from Zeus. The plasma still leapt from the weapon and lands on the ground, the clouds and Xero’s skin. The scent of his burning flesh does not detour him as he single-mindedly approaches the Emissary. He looks at her and is able to see the power that courses through her. Xero points the spear at her.
“You created these gods. You activated their latent Boronian genes to give them abilities, all for a chance to destroy me?”
The Emissary, at peace with her fate, nods at Xero.
“I have, and mark my words, you may kill me and stop the gods of this day, but there will be a day down the road where my line will not fail to destroy you.”
Xero, having heard enough runs her through with Zeus’ spear. The Emissary smiles as she falls to her knees. She whispers with her dying breath.
“After so much of your evil, I have finally contained you.�
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With that the Emissary lets out her final breath. Slowly she disintegrates atom by atom and all is silent. Her yellow energy dissipates but is pulled into Xero’s sword through its nature of absorption. Hades remains gradually begin to glow as they melt into magma. Poseidon’s puddle also begins to whirl up into the air. The ground begins to crack beneath Xero and fold in on itself. Xero attempts to run and escape but is unable to as he feels his feet begin to heat up. Xero looks down as magma begins to move up his legs and harden. Xero begins to struggle but is unable to get free as the magma begins to freeze from Poseidon. Gradually the ground crumbles around him and the floor begins to sink to the ground. Xero lets out a cry of defiance as the magma consumes him. He is frozen solid before falling into the collapsing mountain of Mt. Tartarus creating a deep chasm in which to hold the ever crazed Boronian.
Chapter: 16
A thousand years pass as Xero is trapped in stone through the powers of the now fallen ‘gods.’ History turns into tales and tales turn into legend. With the slow passage of time the powers that hold Xero begin to wane. The rock that holds him gradually begins to crack and fall away. Xero’s eyes are different than they once were. While one time angry yet still logical, he had a new air of frantic insanity about him. His eyes are unable to focus on one thing for more than a split second as he continues to try and shatter his way free; with a primal scream the rock completely shatters free of Xero who falls to his knees. Not having moved in a thousand years Xero’s body was stiff, like the prison in and of itself. He could barely move or his own will.
In agonizing pain Xero forces his hand to move as he reaches for the blade that was entrapped with him. With an exhaustive effort Xero drops his hand onto the hilt of the sword. As he does Boronian symbols crack through the bone, first emitting blue then a sickly yellow. The large Boronian feels a surge of energy fill his body from the sword as he is made whole from the power stolen from the Emissary. Xero drags himself to his feet and looks up the chasm in which he was imprisoned. The light at the far end was just a speck in the distance. Xero uses his heightened hearing but hears nothing around him. There was no way in and out of the hole he was in except directly up.
Not having anything to fuel him Xero is unable to climb, jump or fly from his prison. Panic grips his fractured mind as he begins to slam his fists into the walls leaving his sword stuck into the ground. The maddened Boronian’s mind races as he is flooded with conflicting emotions of rage and guilt of his actions since his banishment. Both sets are so strong it rips his mind apart from the inside until he can no longer focus. His hands bloodied from his attempts to destroy the wall, Xero continues to batter himself in the style of a berserker until a hushed, soft beeping catches his attention. Slowly the animalistic Xero turns and looks at his sword. His family crest glows and flashes beeping softly as it does.
Xero pushes off the wall and stumbles to his blade, falling before it. Xero climbs up the erect weapon. The cold steel beneath his fingers re-ignites his rage yet the visions of all the innocent that had died at its tip has an equally strong pull on the broken soldier. Xero looks at the symbol of his family. As tantalizing as it is, Xero ever so slowly puts a finger up to the crest. Lightly he touches it and in a flash of self-collapsing light Xero is gone from the pit.
Outside the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia lies a small sea separating the countries from Scandinavia. In the center of that sea, between the two sets of countries the temperature begins to rapidly drop, with frost forming in the air. In a blinding flash of light the entire sea, from Scandinavia to the Baltics freezes over instantly as Xero, with his blade still stuck in the stone of Tartarus teleports atop the ice. Xero looks up as the radiation of the surface gradually makes his body whole once more. His hearing comes back. Ten miles away he can barely hear a ship of men panicking in their native tongue. Looking below him Xero can see the heat being irradiated by all the fish from under the thick ice. The scent of the rapidly cool air fills his nostrils and lungs for the first time in a thousand years. Xero looks back down at his sword. With a wicked smile he pulls it from the stone before he presses the glyph again causing him to vanish once more.
On the docks of a trading town by the name of Caffa, ships come to the city full of supplies and leave full of money. The docks bustle with healthy men and women as they go about their business. Xero is pulled through the wormhole of his design and dropped on the docks of this port town. The business of the town and the civility of its people were almost too much for Xero’s fractured mind to handle. He falls to the ground holding his head and lets out a primal roar of pain; this catches the attention of everyone on the docks. Xero begins to panic once more. Reaching down to his fallen weapon Xero presses the glyph again, and once again he vanishes in a flash of light. As the light fades, all the people who had been around him begin to cough as black sores rapidly form on their skin.
Xero appears one last time atop a sand dune, on his knees, sword stuck in the sand beside him. The heat of the sun rains down upon him as the oven-like heat from the sand radiates from below. Xero’s eyes are closed. His mind whirls with rage and guilt but his senses are clear and one thing catches his ear, the sound of battle. The warrior’s eyes shoot open to see two massive armies in the lands below him fighting. Both armies are donned in Chinese armor. As Xero sees the war waging below him, the purity of battle aims his mind singularly on what he was trained to do while still on Boron, fight.
Gripping his sword Xero pushes off the top of the dune. With a monstrous roar he charges both armies. Standing head, shoulders and chest above the men in both armies Xero is a giant compared to them. With a single swing of his sword Xero cuts nine fully armored soldiers in half like a farmer cuts down wheat. The bloodlust that had built inside Xero is released sending the behemoth into a blood rage.
Giving no thought to which side was right and which side was wrong, Xero slaughters both armies indiscriminately. Slashing left and right the mere mortals were no match for the blood drunk warrior from another planet as he bathes in fountains of their blood. Upon the realization that both armies had an imminent threat, they immediately stop fighting each other and attempt to quell the raging beast that was ripping them asunder as a farmer splits wood. Just as all seems lost and that the Asian armies would fall entirely at the hands of a single blood-soaked madman a robed individual, wearing a mask of bone, gracefully walks over the hewn bodies of the fallen soldiers of both sides. A black line, with a slight curve, rests carved into the bone mask’s forehead. Crossed in the middle by a short straight line, it created the symbol of the powerful mage behind the mask.
Xero’s eye catches the symbol. He recognized it from thousands of years ago. It was the same symbol the corruptor had. Subconsciously Xero knew that it was the corruptor that led to his fall; this aims the raging beast towards the mage slaughtering dozens as he barrels towards his target. The mage throws a hand up and an invisible barrier forms between Xero and the sorcerer. Xero slashes at the wall but cannot break through. Slowly he places the tip of his blade against the barrier and pushes causing the barrier to crack and the tip of the sword to puncture through. The mage, who is nearly the exact same height as the blood-soaked soldier, speaks through a very thick accent to the panting, rage-filled monster before him.
“You will leave China or you will be my slave.”
Xero thrusts his blade through the barrier, shattering it like glass before putting the weapon to the mage’s throat.
“I have been in captivity before and I will never be again!”
Xero pulls the blade back to decapitate the mage, roaring as he does.
“You are of two minds monster. May we banish you.”
With rapid, fluid movements the mage draws energy from the ground. It flows up the long cloaks that cover his body, head to toe, and centers at his hands. The mage holds the ball of energy behind him by his hip as if protecting an egg. As Xero’s blade gets within inches of the mage, he throws the ball of energy into
Xero.
The ball of energy slams into Xero’s chest and rips straight through him. As the sphere of white and black energy passes through the psychotic soldier a blue aura is ripped from him as well. Xero falls to his knees and his sword is sent hurdling over the horizon as the aura takes on the face of Xero screaming as it is sent hurdling through the air. The spell flies into the sky and beyond the reaches of the planet. Soaring through the blackness of space the sphere of energy, entangled with Xero, slams into another beautiful green and blue planet in the solar system. Upon impact the spell releases a wave of power that washes over the blue and green marble scorching it, leaving only a massive red desert to encompass the globe. On the collision sight Xero’s face pushes from the sand and stops as he is once again locked away, this time leaving an imprint of his face on his prison cell.
Back on Earth the mage walks ever so cautiously over the hewn bodies of the army. He looks up and sees the remainder of both armies fallen on the ground. They are but husks, as the life force had been pulled from them. The only other living thing on this field of battle was the kneeling behemoth Xero. His hair slowly falls from his scalp creating a halo of once thick, dark hair around him as he rapidly goes bald. Whatever that spell was it did do one good thing for Xero. It made his mind clear. Engulfed in hate for his brother, for what was done to him. Xero no longer feels that itch in his mind. Instead he feels the embrace of the darkness that had been within him all these eons. The mage approaches Xero and cautiously speaks to the steadily breathing soldier.