Xero Chronicle: Invasion

by Ross Buzzell

  The Boronian Xero Chronicle

  Invasion

  Copyright © 2018 By Ross Buzzell

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Ross Buzzell.

  Chapter: 1

  Xero is pulled into a wormhole and once again spat out the other side, the sky is dark as Xero slides to a stop. An ancient familiarity settles onto Xero as he looks up, the gravity pulls on him, the smell of the air, even feel of the ground beneath him. He knew he was no longer on Earth and gives a quiet, psychotic laugh as the realization sinks in. Xero stands to his feet, he can hear the breathing of two beings behinds behind him, one massive, even for him, the other quite a bit smaller.

  Slowly Xero turns to see the Dark Titan and a Boronian Royal Guard in black and crimson armor, Xero grips his blade.

  The Dark Titan puts his hands up:

  “I would love nothing more than to destroy you too Xero, but my master told me your arrival was imminent and that I was to aid your in revenge.”

  Conflict fills Xero, part of him wanted to slay the beast where he stood, the other desired for revenge against his brother. The drive for revenge ultimately wins out as he loosens his grip on his weapon; turning to the royal guard he calls out.

  “You wear the armor of the commander that banished me, who are you?”

  Xero says with a censure in his voice. The young Boronian peers through the slits in his helmet up to the giant. Xero can see only admiration in the boys eyes. As if he knew Xero only wanted the best for his people

  “I am Disa’ani my liege, my father told me all about you, how banishing you was the most difficult thing he had to do, after his death I inherited his role as general of the royal guard.”

  Xero is taken aback by the boy’s words.

  “How long have I been gone?”

  The guard looks confused for a moment and speaks with a confused tone.

  “Twenty five years my lord.”

  Xero takes a step forwards and he raises his voice.

  “That cannot be right, it has been thousands, I have been gone for eons!”

  The Dark Titan places a hand on Xero’s shoulder and tries to bring reason to the baffled soldier.

  “Perhaps time moves more quickly where you were sent compared to here, it was all the way across the galaxy.”

  Xero takes heed of his newly found allies’ words, the thing known as time dilation was not lost on him, he had to compensate for it once or twice before but never on this scale. Slowly he turns and faces the palace, the silhouettes of people inside can clearly be seen, Xero draws his sword as monsters slowly form out of the shadows around them. They have no eyes and no light emits from them just shadows of fangs and claws given life by an external force, their screeching fill Xero’s ears as the sweet revenge that he had been savoring for eons was almost within his grasp.

  “Leave the Lorain’s to me, kill the rest.”

  Xero, the Dark Titan, and Disa’ani, all three charge the palace as fast as their feet will take them. As they charge the palace, the marching beat of the dark creatures filled the air, nearly drowning out those of Xero’s, the Dark Titan brings his hand before him and snaps his fingers before dropping it back down to continue his stride. Before his hand reaches the bottom of its swing the side of the palace shifts, then cracks and begins to glow as if the atoms making up the wall were beginning to melt. After another three strides the glowing portion of the wall explodes in a violent eruption of fire and debris, blasting a massive hole in the structure.

  “INTRUDERS!!!!”

  A woman’s voice cries out from inside the palace, the Dark Titan takes point and two of the shadow monsters take their place at either side of him, Xero and Disa’ani follow closely behind standing almost side by side. The flames of the now partially burning palace, one that has never had an enemy set foot within its walls, until now, lick up the sides of Xero, Disa’ani, the Dark Titan and his monsters. Upon entering the room Xero steps next to the Dark Titan and sees a familiar face, one who has hardly changed since his banishment, the Queen. She stands between him and a young woman holding a little boy, there is something familiar about that boy. The Queen’s eyes lock with Xero’s and a twisted sense of pleasure fills him as he sees terror and dis-belief wash over her face.

  “That’s not possible…”

  She whispers before turning to the other woman in the room and yells commandingly.

  “Na’era, take your son, go help the King!”

  The woman darts towards the door, Xero tracks her movements as he debates on if he should slay her now or wait until the Queen falls.

  “I will hold them off.”

  The Queen’s voice changes, there is no longer terror laced in with her words but a sense of purpose, as if she had been a general her entire life. Xero turns his attention back to the queen as she draws two Energynium hilts from her sides, from each erupts slender straight blade that flash a golden yellow; her eyes flair with righteous indignation for the intruders as she takes her battle stance. A smirk forms on Xero’s face, he had never seen, nor heard of her ever picking up a sword before, the fight would end quickly. The Dark Titan glances over at Xero and with a gravelly voice he nods to the queen.

  “This is your fight, Disa’ani find the High King and Konner, pacify them if you but do not kill Konner, my master has a plan form him.”

  The thought of sparing even one member of the house of Lorian turns Xero’s stomach and now is not the time for a debate, now is time for action and in the back of his mind Xero decides he will go ahead and slay them all and if the Dark Titan gets in the way he will die as well.

  In a flash Disa’ani moves towards the open door on the far end of the room. The Queen moves to intercept him but Xero charges her with the two dark beasts that entered with the Dark Titan. The Queen is forced to stop but with a swift twirl and a flash of light her blades slash through the beasts, which have charged ahead, both evaporate in a cloud of smoke and a yellow flash.

  While Xero charges he draws his blade back and with a powerful swing at his target the sword stops mere inches from the Queen as her swords intercept his and stop it in its tracks. She glares up at him with a clinched jaw and anger in her eyes, even through the smell of burning wood and charring marble he is able to take in her scent, it is that of flowers. The gentle aroma fills his lungs and had he still been whole it may have caused his heart to skip a beat, or even distracted him for a moment, but it does not.

  “No matter.”

  The Queen says in a strained voice as she fights against the mounting pressure Xero places on his blade.

  “My son will kill the traitor.”

  The Queen snarls through clinched teeth. Xero smirks and shoves his sword at her with enough force to overwhelm her defenses but the Queen is fast, she leans back and drops her blades over her head causing Xero’s momentum to drive his own sword down the length of the Queen’s and into the ground. Xero’s sword tremors violently in his hands as the end of the weapon slams into the floor which causes the marble to shatter and jump into the air like tiny pieces of shrapnel. Nearly faster than Xero can see the Queen spins behind him, holding her blades outstretched like a tornado the banished prince feels a freezing sensation in his side and back as the Queen slashes her blades through him.

  Xero yanks at his sword, freeing it from the ground he turns to face the Queen, her eyes look him up and down and her jaw drops in horror. Xero glances down to see a massive cauterized wound across his gut and through his side which heals almost immediately causing a look of confusion to form on the Queens face. A twisted gri
n forms over his lips as he turns his attention back to the Queen. Behind her Xero spies the Dark Titan pulling an axe from his back, the handle extends as he draws the weapon before him.

  “You have been training.”

  Xero’s words are rife with surprise, he did not know she could fight, and something tells him that no one else did either.

  “Does my brother know about your hidden skill?”

  The Queen glances behind her to see the Dark Titan readying himself to strike, she backpedals a few steps, drawing the flames that lick at her heels into herself.

  “Every woman needs to know how to defend themselves Xero.”

  She growls as the Dark Titan begins to approach. He does not mind, he anticipated this fight going quickly but the longer it takes the more time his brother has to escape so as long as the Dark Titan allows him to make the killing blow the help is welcome. He begins to circle in on her too.

  “Are you not curious as to why I am doing this?”

  Xero smirks and lunges at her, she blocks his attack but she has both her blades locked with his leaving her open to the Dark Titan.

  “I know why, vengeance for a punishment that fits your crime!”

  She snarles as the Dark Titan lunges at her swinging his massive axe at her petite yet strong form. Her swords deactivate and had Xero blinked he would have missed it, but the Queen leaps into the air and spins horizontally allowing Xero’s sword to pass over her and the Dark Titan’s axe to pass under her, both weapons missing by less than an inch. As she spins through the air she re-ignites her weapons and slashes them across Xero and the Dark Titan’s chests, again a sensation of almost cold electricity engulfs his chest. Unlike the Dark Titan, whose wound oozes with a black tar-like substance Xero’s does not bleed and heals nearly instantly. The Dark Titan’s wound heals as well but much slower.

  The Queen does not hesitate and charges in to attack Xero and the Dark Titan, both men are kept on their toes. Xero is shocked at her level of skill, given Xero has not battled an opponent nearly as fast as her and with how much trouble the Dark Titan is having keeping up something tells Xero he has not fought one this fast either. She is strong enough to counter and block their attacks but fast enough to slash and jab into either man when she dodges and parries the axe and sword. Unlike most Boronian’s who have Energynium weapons, however, she does not shift to different kinds indicating she only had a chance to master the swords. Each impact with her weapons causes sparks to fly and in a single swift strike the Queen cuts the Dark Titans axe in half forcing him to drop it. She leans towards him, jabbing her swords at him which makes him leap backwards, this is Xero’s chance, he moves in for the kill but discovers to late it’s a trap. Her boot hits his chest so hard that his sternum slams into his heart and if he could feel pain the blow would have been agonizing.

  Xero skids across the rubble filled floor, the fire in the room had been put out by the Queen feeding on it but by the sounds of the screams and small explosions Disa’ani had started a few of his own. Xero pulls himself to his feet and watches as the latent smoke in the room begins to swirl overhead. The Queen, Dark Titan and Xero all stop fighting to witness the strange event which only makes sense as the smoke begins to form together starting near the ground and moving upward. A familiarity strikes Xero as the smoke turns into a fabric, his eyes follow the formation of the being before him until a chilling, bone white mask with a curved line crossed along its center by one a fourth as long is carved into the forehead, it is Dark Seclusion, the mage that turned him into what he is.

  With a flick of his cloak covered wrist the Queen is ripped from the ground, she throws both of her blades at him, both run him through the chest, he does not flinch. The room seems to grow dark, as if his presence alone is enough to taint the air around them. The hollow holes where eyes should be look over at the Dark Titan who immediately drops to his knees, bowing before him, his head slowly turns, as if gliding with no friction and looks at Xero. Not many things scared the banished prince in his life and after being split has felt next to nothing aside from his seething hatred for the house of Lorian. The moment those hollow sockets land on Xero his heart nearly skips a beat and for the first time in who knows how long Xero feels a slight twinge in his gut.

  “She is all yours.”

  His voice echoes from behind his mask, it is twisted and deep enough to make mountains crumble. This sends a shiver down Xero’s spine for the first time since he was a child. The Queen grasps for the invisible force that holds her in the air as Xero lifts his blade.

  “Go to hell.”

  She manages to get out between the strained gasping for air as her throat is crushed.

  “I’ve already been, it sent me back.”

  Dark Seclusion retorts before Xero leaps forward and runs his blade through her side until the hilt was pressed against her ribs. Immediately her crimson blood oozes from either one of her sides as her body goes limp, dripping onto Xero’s hands as he twists the blade. Even though this action was inevitable and her skills would have just prolonged it to the point where his master stepped in to help bring an end to the fight the sense of satisfaction is not cheapened at all. Dark Seclusion lowers his hand.

  The Queens body goes limp on Xero’s sword, with a powerful swipe to the side the Queens lifeless corpse flings off the blade and rolls to a stop on the ruined palace floor. The once sweet scent that would come off of her is now replaced by the bitter smell of spilled blood. Xero turns to face his master as the blades that had impaled his chest de-activate and fall to the ground.

  “I’m surprised you came.”

  Xero states as he approaches Dark Seclusion.

  “I have not, this is just a projection, you are taking too long, move against Konner now before he, his father or his child have a chance to come to Earth, they will be far more difficult to deal with here.”

  With that the image evaporates back into smoke, but this time the smoke falls to the ground as if weighted by the dark magic used to manipulate it. Xero looks over at the Dark Titan who holds the pieces of his broken weapon, he shakes his head in disgust, how could a being as powerful as their master have someone so weak in charge?

  “Fix your weapon; I will take care of the others.”

  The Dark Titan scowls at Xero, clearly he does not relish the idea of taking orders from a Boronian. Xero turns and leaves the body of the Queen in a growing pool of her own blood as the Dark Titan begins to stitch back the mysterious metal of his weapon. The banished prince enters the corridor that Disa’ani had made his escape through, his sword in hand drags behind him with a stomach churning screech as sparks flair off of the swords edge.

  Like a fog slowly lifting Xero’s memories of the palace come back to him, the room that was his brothers when he got married is just up ahead, the chances that he is there is high. The scent of charred remains and burning wood fill Xero’s nostrils with every breath, it is a smell he very much loves, that of destruction and death. Two guards emerge before Xero from one of the palaces crossing hallways, both of whom have spears. Each guard jabs at Xero and like batting a fly away he deflects their weapons with one swipe of his blade, and with the other he slices clean through both men at a downward angle with the sword hitting the shoulder of the first man and exiting from the hip of the second. Instantly both guards fall to the ground in two pieces, their entrails and viscera spill across the floor like the washing of an oceans tide. Xero smiles to himself as he adores his handiwork, the sight reminds him of a piece of artwork that a human leader had done as Xero was helping him come to power in the 1930’s back on Earth.

  Xero steps over the men whose armor he had sliced through like a hot knife through butter, strewn along the walls is blood as the corridors are littered with the bodies of the guards, a soft glow emanates from Xero’s blade as two small notches form alongside the countless others that decorate his weapon. The stench of their burning flesh becomes all-consuming in the air, Disa’ani made a lovely mess out of things and it
was beautiful. Xero transfers corridors, the flames are more intense here, Disa’ani must have just been through, and he walks for only a few moments with the fire dancing about him but not burning him, until he sees a young man who is a striking resemblance of his brother. The man’s eyes lock with Xero’s, it is then that he recognizes that this must be the son the Queen was pregnant with before his banishment. Xero glares at this boy with a raging malice, this boy who could have been his kin had he not been betrayed by his own brother. Now is the time to finally get even.

  That is when it happens; Disa’ani oversteps his bounds and runs the High King through with his spear. A being of hate and rage dark emotions are no stranger to Xero but what grips his gut feels like it is from the pit of hell itself as the one he swore to exact revenge on is slain by another. Xero’s grip tightens around his sword as he prepares to run Disa’ani through and slay him for his betrayal especially now that he tries to slay the High King’s son, if memory was correct they were going to name him Konner. Disa’ani’s spear is stopped by a force field, something his armor must have projected automatically. Xero does not break stride but he watches intently as Konner moves, dodging Disa’ani’s second attack and disarming him of one of his spears like it was nothing before catching the second spear with his bare hand. Xero is impressed as he watches Konner’s attack unfold, how Konner focuses his power around his fist to enhance his attack, the fact that his hand blue shifts before disappearing for less than a zeptosecond. The contact made with Disa’ani is catastrophic. Even from this far away Xero can feel the heat of the impact Konner’s fist makes with Disa’ani, the flash of light is nearly blinding even for Xero and Disa’ani disappears through one of the palaces exterior walls, it is probably a good thing because had Konner’s attack not killed him, Xero would have.