by Lucas Flint
But the very first thing Bolt saw when they entered the Third Layer was the Temple of Dread. It towered over every other building in the area, a twisted abomination that looked like no religious building Bolt had ever seen in his life. It looked more like the claw of some terrible dragon reaching up toward the sky, its individual towers like claws reaching toward the sky.
Regardless, Bolt was pleased at their progress. He knew, even without understanding a word of the strange language spoken by the Darzens, that they were heading directly to the Temple, which was likely where the Soul Crown was. Klox may have intended to sacrifice them to the Dread God, but Bolt and his friends would rebel long before that happened.
But as always, even the best laid plans would run into roadblocks that the planner did not foresee. And sometimes, the best laid plans would go off the rails entirely and crash in a ditch on the side of the road, forcing the planners to improvise.
The second sign that Bolt got that his plan wasn’t going to work exactly as he envisioned it was when they reached the center of the city. It seemed to be a town square of sorts, if Bolt had to describe it in human terms. A wide circle opened in the center of the Dread City, with a tall platform in the center. The platform, unlike every other thing in the Third Layer, was made of old, rotting wood. That was significant, because Bolt had yet to see any structures made of wood while on Jinkopa, or any wood at all aside from a few small, scraggly trees that were probably dead.
Here, Klox and the six guards who had agreed to escort him and his ‘slaves’ came to a stop. Bolt looked around quickly, wondering if they had already reached the Dread Priest, but the town square was entirely empty. Yet he still felt as though they were being watched, like the spirits of the long departed had made their home here and were watching them intrude upon their territory with jealousy.
“Why did we stop?” Shade whispered to Bolt. She tugged at her ropes. “Can I go crazy yet?”
Bolt shook his head. “Not yet. Wait until we see what the Darzens are going to do.”
Klox was talking with the head of the guards, a Darzen who towered over the others and carried a huge ax on his back. The head guard was gesturing wildly at the Temple and the odd wooden platform in the center of the square, while Klox kept shaking his head and pointing at the ‘slaves.’ Both spoke in the Darzen language, which meant Bolt couldn’t understand a word they were saying.
“Hypno, can you understand what they’re talking about?” Bolt whispered to Hypno, who was behind him.
Hypno put on a thoughtful face. “No, not really, but I understand their tone. They’re not happy.”
“They must be having some disagreement about what to do with us,” said Captain Galaxy in a hushed tone. “Perhaps the head guard is telling Klox to wait here while he goes and gets the Dread Priest. Klox, obviously, isn’t happy about that because he wants to present us as a gift or sacrifice to the Dread Priest himself.”
“Well, I’m sure they’ll be able to figure this out rationally,” said Bolt. “I don’t know much about Darzen arguments, but given how they’re both members of the same species and religion, they’ll obviously come to some kind of compromise they both can live with.”
As Bolt said that, one of the other guards had circled around behind Klox, who apparently didn’t notice. The head guard did, however, and nodded briefly at the second guard when he was directly behind Klox.
As if he had rehearsed this part, the second guard drew a long, jagged knife out of his armor and jammed it behind Klox’s armor. Klox suddenly cried out in pain before the head guard kicked him in the gut, sending Klox falling onto his hands and knees. Klox tried to get up, but the guard head slammed his foot into Klox’s head so hard that he shattered his helmet, sending the remnants of Klox’s energy being pouring out of the hole in his head.
Then the head guard pulled out some kind of gun and pointed it at Klox’s energy. A burningly hot, blue flame exploded from the gun, incinerating the energy as it poured out of Klox’s armor. There was no scream of pain from Klox. Just the sound of hot fire burning Klox’s energy, similar to what happened to the energy of the Darzen who Bolt fought on Hero Island what seemed like a lifetime ago now.
In seconds, the last of Klox’s energy was incinerated by the flames and the head guard cut off the fire. All that was left was Klox’s empty armor, which did not even stir.
“Uh oh,” said Hypno. “There goes my buddy.”
The guards immediately turned toward the slaves. The head guard pointed at Bolt and the others and, despite not saying a word, Bolt immediately understood that the head guard was telling his subordinates to slaughter them.
“Okay, Plan B!” Bolt shouted. “Time to let loose!”
Bolt snapped the ropes around his wrists and shot toward the guards. He threw a punch at the head guard, but the head guard ducked and, grabbing Bolt’s outstretched arm, turned around and threw him across the square at the wooden platform.
Bolt crashed onto the wood platform hard. He lay stunned in the wood pile before shaking his head and jumping to his feet. Looking down at the town square, Bolt saw that his friends were already in battle with the Darzens. Shade was fighting two at once, slashing at them with shadow tendrils while jumping out of the reach of their weapons, while Captain Galaxy was running and gunning, shooting her sound blaster at one of the guards that kept trying to come after her. Hypno, by contrast, was simply standing around quietly, looking quite at peace with himself, mostly because he had managed to convince one of the guards to attack one of its brethren.
But then the head guard jumped up onto the platform and landed in front of Bolt. The head guard pulled his ax off his back and wielded it before him like a sword.
“Foolish human,” said the head guard in a deep, rumbling voice. “We saw through your plans right away. Brother Graalix warned us that humans like you might be coming to interrupt the ritual. Hence why we killed K’kloxin’shse, because he was a traitor attempting to bring enemies directly into the Temple.”
“He really wasn’t,” said Bolt, “but I guess it doesn’t matter, because you’re going down either way.”
Bolt fired a red lightning bolt at the head guard, but the head guard deflected it off his ax, sending the lightning bolt flying into the sky. Then the head guard rushed toward Bolt and swung his ax at his neck, but Bolt dodged the blow and slammed his fist into the head guard’s stomach. The blow sent the head guard staggering backwards and Bolt moved in, throwing another punch at the head guard’s chest.
But then the head guard back-flipped off the platform and landed on the street below. Bolt’s fist hit empty air and he went staggering forward, swinging his arms wildly in an attempt to regain his balance.
Coming to a stop at the edge of the platform, Bolt looked down and saw the head guard standing down there, holding his ax tightly in both hands.
“What are you doing down there?” said Bolt. “Too afraid to come back up and fight me like a man?”
The head guard’s eyes gleamed with amusement. “No. I’m going to kill you my way.”
Before Bolt could do anything else, the head guard slammed his ax into the base of the platform as hard as he could. The platform shook badly enough that Bolt fell forward off it. He landed hard on the street on his back, and the next instant, the head guard slammed his foot down on Bolt’s chest, making him gasp in pain.
“I shall present your head to the Dread Priest and the Avatar as a gift,” said the head guard, raising his ax over his head. “To the Dread God!”
Right before the head guard brought his ax down on Bolt’s head, a red laser beam came out of nowhere and struck the head guard’s hands, sending the ax flying out of his hands. The head guard cried out in surprise, but then in the next instant a green and yellow blur struck him in the side hard enough to make the head guard stumble off Bolt and stagger to the side. The head guard staggered for several feet until he fell over on his side, groaning in pain from the blow.
Blinking in surprise,
Bolt sat up and looked at his savior. The man standing before him looked to be about his age and seemed to be a superhero, but Bolt had never seen this guy before. He wore a skintight yellow-and-green costume very similar to his own, but he also wore a helmet and visor that blocked most of his face from Bolt. His body seemed to be faintly glowing with energy, though Bolt sensed that this guy’s energy was different from his.
“Are you okay?” asked the superhero, looking down at Bolt with a worried frown. “Can you still fight?”
Bolt jumped to his feet and nodded. “Always, but thanks for the help, uh—”
“Beams,” the superhero said. He held out a hand toward Bolt. “Call me Beams. I’m a sidekick who works for Rubberman.”
Bolt had never heard of Rubberman, but he shook Beams’ hand and said, “I’m Bolt. Former leader of the Young Neos and current member of the Neohero Alliance.”
Beams frowned. “What’s a neohero?”
“Well, first you tell me what a Rubberman is,” said Bolt. “Or what you mean when you say you ‘work’ for him.”
Beams opened his mouth to reply, but then a low growl came from before them and the two heroes looked at the head guard. The head guard was rising to his feet and Bolt was shocked to see a dent in his side from where Beams had hit him. He wondered just how strong Beams was.
“Two humans,” said the head guard. “Impossible. Did you come with the other four and were hiding this entire time? No matter. I will kill you both. The resurrection of the Dread God must not be interrupted. This, the Dread Priest commands.”
Beams glanced at Bolt. “We can catch up later. Want to teach this guy a lesson?”
Bolt nodded and mock bowed. “After you.”
Beams cracked a grin. “Nah, you go first. It’s just polite.”
“Let’s split the difference and attack him together,” said Bolt. “Deal?”
“Deal,” said Beams with a thumbs up. “Let’s do this.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Beams had no idea what was going on here. When he arrived at the scene of the fight and saw four humans fighting about six Darzens, he had instantly chosen the side of the humans just because they were human. He thought they were IEA agents at first, but only one of them—the long, dark-haired girl wearing a uniform like Mr. Space’s and wielding a sound blaster like his—really looked like one. Two of them, an Asian man who stood watching two Darzens beat each other up with amusement and a young woman who had some kind of weird shadow powers she was using to slice and dice two Darzens at once, looked like they worked for the government, and the fourth and final one looked like a superhero, though not one Beams recognized.
It was the last one in the black and red bodysuit who Beams rescued, because he had been about to be beheaded by the head guard and none of the other humans had been close by enough to help. Though Beams usually didn’t warm up to people quickly, he found that he and the superhero, who called himself Bolt (Beams wondered whether this guy even had a superhero license, because he didn’t look like anyone Beams knew), clicked pretty well. He didn’t understand what Bolt meant when he talked about the ‘Young Neos’ and the ‘Neohero Alliance,’ but he would worry about that later when he had the time. Right now, he and Bolt needed to take down the head guard, who was already rising back to his feet from the previous blow Beams had dealt him.
“Okay, Bolt,” said Beams, glancing at his new friend, “this guy obviously doesn’t have ranged attacks, so if we can keep the distance between us and him—Bolt?”
Bolt was missing. Beams looked around wildly for him, but Bolt seemed to have disappeared completely.
The head guard seemed to realize that, too, because he said, “Ah, the human has fled. What a coward, as all humans are. But he won’t get far. The Dread City devours heretics and invaders. He will die well before—oof!”
A resounding clang came when Bolt suddenly appeared from nowhere and slammed his fist as hard as he could into the head guard’s abdomen. The head guard gasped in pain and doubled over before Bolt slammed his foot into his face with a roundhouse kick. Then Bolt followed it up by picking the head guard up and throwing him at Beams.
“Beams!” Bolt shouted. “Catch!”
But Beams, who didn’t have super strength, just dropped to the street. The head guard flew over his head, screaming in fear, and smashed into and through the wooden platform. He crashed into the street on the other side, where he lay as still as a stone.
“Beams!” Bolt suddenly appeared in front of Beams and yanked him up to his feet. “What was that? I said catch.”
Beams wrenched his collar out of Bolt’s grasp and dusted off his costume. “How the hell was I supposed to catch that? That guy has to weigh at least a ton, but you threw him around like he’s a paper doll.”
Bolt frowned. “Sorry. I thought you had super strength like me, since you kicked him so hard.”
“I can increase my speed and stamina by firing my lasers into my eyes, but I don’t have freaking super strength,” said Beams, shaking his head. “And how do you move so fast, anyway?”
“Super speed,” Bolt explained. “I’ve got a lot of superpowers. Super strength, super speed, flight, oh, and electricity, too. What can you do?”
Beams suddenly looked away. “Uh … I can shoot lasers from my eyes and blow stuff up. It’s cooler than it sounds.”
Beams couldn’t help but feel a little defensive in comparison to Bolt. He had never heard of an empowered human who had so many powers. He wondered what kind of serum Bolt had drank that gave him so many powers at once.
“Oh, cool,” said Bolt. “So if you can shoot lasers from your eyes, then you’re obviously—”
A loud groan interrupted him again. The head guard was rising to his feet once more, though this time, he was starting to look worried, as if he was afraid he was actually going to lose.
“What the heck?” said Bolt. “He’s getting back up again? What are these Darzens made of? Titanium?” He shook his head. “Never mind. I’m going to teach him a lesson.”
But Beams grabbed Bolt’s shoulder and said, “Wait a minute. Darzens can’t be killed unless you destroy their essence. As long as his armor remains in tact, you can beat him up all you want and it won’t matter a bit.”
“So what do you think we should do?” said Bolt, who sounded very impatient.
“We need to make a hole in his armor,” said Beams. “You’re stronger than me, so you should break a hole open in his armor. Then I will use my lasers to burn his essence until it’s all gone.”
“You can do that?” said Bolt, who sounded impressed.
Beams nodded. “Yeah, I’ve done it before, actually.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Bolt. “Okay, I’ll poke a hole in his armor and then let you do your thing.”
Without warning, Bolt disappeared again, only to reappear in front of the head guard. Before the head guard could react, Bolt began hammering him with super-powered punch after super-powered punch. Bolt punched the head guard so quickly that even Beams could not follow each punch. Beams had never seen a superhero as powerful or as strong as Bolt. The closest equivalent he could think of from back in his universe was Prime Man, but Bolt might give even Prime Man a run for his money.
Unless Bolt isn’t from my universe, that is, Beams thought, which, given all of the dimension-hopping shenanigans that have happened recently, might not be that far off from the truth.
Finally, Bolt punched a hole in the head guard’s armor. Green energy began pouring out of the head guard’s armor, so Beams jumped forward and fired a continuous beam of burning hot laser at the energy. The head guard cried out in pain as Beams’ lasers disintegrated his energy form, but the pain must have paralyzed him, because he didn’t move at all until the last of his energy was finally vanquished. Then the head guard’s lifeless body keeled over forward with a loud, dull clunk.
Beams cut off his energy beam and stepped back, blinking his eyes rapidly. He had used a lot of energy tod
ay already and he was beginning to feel tired, especially his eyes.
Can’t rest yet, though, Beams thought, glancing at the Temple that hung over the city like a dragon. Still have a lot of work to do.
“Great job, Beams!” said Bolt, suddenly appearing next to Beams. He held up a hand. “High five!”
Beams high-fived Bolt and said, “Thanks, but we did this together. If you hadn’t punched a hole in his armor, I wouldn’t have been able to kill him.”
“True,” said Beams, “but still, I’ve had trouble with Darzens’ energy form in the past. None of my powers are very useful for destroying their energy forms like yours. I can give them a beating, but I can’t do much else to them besides that.”
“Well, what matters is that we defeated him,” said Beams. “But what about your friends? Aren’t they still fighting the other Darzens?”
“Actually, we just finished up,” said a calm, cheery voice behind them.
Beams and Bolt turned around to see Bolt’s three friends walking up to them. Of the three, the IEA agent looked like the worse, while the Asian man was completely unharmed and even seemed to be enjoying himself.
“Quite a show you two put on,” said the Asian man as the three of them stopped in front of Beams and Bolt. “You two make a great team, though I’ve never seen you before, um—?”
“Beams,” said Beams. He frowned. “How did you guys manage to beat those Darzens?”
“I’ve got an incinerating barrier,” said the IEA agent, tapping a small disk at her side. “Used it to destroy their energy forms. They won’t be a threat to us or anyone else ever again.”
“Good to hear,” said Beams. “So, um, who are you guys again? Sorry, but I just got here, so I don’t know who any of you are.”
“I’m Shade,” said the young, pale-skinned and dark-haired woman he had noticed earlier. He also realized she was really cute. She pointed at the Asian man. “And this guy is Hypno. Don’t look into his eyes, because then he’ll make you do his bidding.”