Xero Chronicle: Invasion

by Ross Buzzell

  He roars, his voice laced with the clap of thunder, Xero stands his ground and shows no weakness.

  “Without my direct intervention an entire generation would have escaped your grasp so give me one reason why I should not use the Draronian or a Trigzell to finish the job you seem unable to complete.”

  Xero pauses for a moment; he shakes his head, holding his tongue as to not anger Dark Seclusion to the point where he would prevent Xero from killing Konner. The prospect of being murdered by his ‘maker’ does not strike fear into his heart as the idea of death is welcoming to him, so long as he could die, powerful beings and weapons have tried to end his life over the eons only to fail miserably. His only fear is that he would not be able to kill Konner before he returns to Boron.

  “Because, the Draronian constructs are useless against a foe like Konner, unless their battle master and council are used in concert and the Trigzell are unruly, they are just as likely to rip your mind apart as they are to attack Konner. I have a vested interest in this and I swear to you he will fall by my blade.”

  Dark Seclusion lifts a hand and waves to the darkness.

  “I have brought in someone to help with our vested interest, you may recognize him.”

  Out of the shadows appears Disa’ani, his weapons strapped to his back and his armor glistening by the candle light. The sight of him provokes Xero and in the blink of an eye he covers the distance between them, his hand is wrapped tightly around his throat and he is slammed into the cave wall so hard the entire subterranean structure shakes.

  “You took my kill, prevented me from having my revenge!”

  Xero roars in Disa’ani’s face as he begins to squeeze his fingers around the throat of the man who was once the High Kings guard. Disa’ani begins to gargle and gasp for breath as his hands desperately grasp at Xero’s wrists but to no avail as he is infinitely weaker than Xero. Black smoke forms around Xero’s elbow, shoulder and wrist and like grown man snapping a twig his arm buckles and Xero’s hand releases Disa’ani as the smoke constricts around his arm.

  “You will not harm him Xero.”

  Dark Seclusion adds as he turns the banished prince around, his hand outstretched with a book floating open before him and tendrils of sulfur scented black smoke protrude from him.

  “He will be your emissary and ensure that your mission will be a success but first you will need to retrieve something.”

  The tendrils release Xero who places a hand on his shoulder and moves his arm in a circular fashion.

  “What do we need?”

  Xero asks in a low tone as Disa’ani approaches his side.

  “You will need a weapon forged by your kind in a different place, in a different time, a weapon forged on a separate plane of existence and hidden here as to not fall into my hands.”

  Xero’s brow furrows a bit, how could something that was made by a Boronian and sent to Earth meant to be hidden from a being who clearly knows where it is?

  “If you know where it is why not bring it here with a spell?”

  The book closes, the snake coils down Dark Seclusions body and onto the altar as the book floats back and lands next to it.

  “Because it was made in a different reality and even with my powers not even I can influence alternate states of the universe without risking destroying myself or this plane of existence as a whole.”

  “Then how are we supposed to wield it if it is powerful enough to be such a threat to you?”

  Xero asks.

  “Because…”

  Dark Seclusion floats to Xero.

  “… it was forged by your kind meaning you will have the power to wield the weapon without consequence. It will tell you what to do.”

  He reaches out and places a decaying thumb against the hilt of Xero’s blade; out of the corner of his eye he sees a deep purple glow flair. He tries not to look directly into the face of pure darkness as it was like peering into a black hole of evil, one that makes even Xero’s stomach turn. Dark Seclusion slowly floats backwards.

  “I have imbued your blade with a magical rune that will allow you to teleport. Be careful though as Disa’ani will be able to travel much further distances than you since he is not… incomplete. Now go, find the weapon and use it to drain the force out of Konner so that we may move forward.”

  Dark Seclusion throws up his rotting hand and begins to make circular motion moving counter clockwise as he mutters under his breath words that Xero cannot quite make out. Xero feels an invisible hand grip him by the chest and yank him forward with enough force to cause him to take a few steps with his first step hitting the muddy floor of the cave and his second falling into soft sand. The sunlight burns so brightly compared to the dark, damp cave that Xero squints and puts his hand up to block the sun. He hears Disa’ani’s voice call out from behind him.

  “Where are we?”

  Xero’s eyes adjust to the brightness Xero lowers his hand and looks around, sand as far as the eye can see with rolling dunes of light brown stretching behind them and in front of them three small triangles protrude from the edge of a dune. Xero lets off a chuckle as he recognizes the structures before them.

  “We are in a nation known as Egypt Disa’ani.”

  Disa’ani walks up beside Xero who does not pay him any attention and only keeps his eyes fixed on the pyramids in the distance.

  “Why here?”

  Disa’ani questions once more.

  Xero points before them and lets his gaze fall to the Boronian he wants to kill almost as much as Konner for denying him his full revenge.

  “Because you see those structures in the distance? I built them as an amplifier for my power on this world. The closer we get to them the more I will be able to track Boronian technology on this world. Now get moving.”

  Xero begins to walk on the crest of the dune they teleported in on, the winds whip wildly sending sand cascading over both men, it fills Xero’s eyes but with each blink his vision is renewed. Disa’ani stays close behind Xero; he can hear his footsteps sinking into the sand. Xero glances back at the handle of his blade, the rune that Dark Seclusion had placed on it has a sliver of purple light on one side which crawls at a snail’s pace up the rest of the rune indicating it is charging back up. They trudge through the sand for nearly an hour in silence when Disa’ani finally speaks up.

  “This world, it is barren, how were you able to survive here for so long?”

  Xero glances back; the rune is nearly half way filled now.

  “This world is not like Boron, it has many different climates, and this wasteland was not always so, it use to be lush, green and full of life.”

  As they approach Xero begins to feel a ‘ping’ in the back of his skull, almost as if a tracker is being activated, shortly a second ping picks up but the second is moving and much further away.

  “Then what happened to it?”

  Disa’ani asks as Xero comes to a stop, the three pyramids now showing their massive structures, towering above the Boronians like monoliths to the power of a god.

  Xero closes his eyes, he begins to get a vision of a redhead with the blue Boronite ring around her neck, a glass bottle shatters behind her, it is night. Like a river his vision flows past the pyramids and to a small structure not far from where they currently are, inside is a munitions box protected by two dozen heavily armed men. Xero’s eyes shoot open and a smile forms on his lips.

  “I did.”

  Xero growls before he begins to march across the sand once more, this time making his way to the edge of the sprawling city before them which bustles with life, the same life he plans on burning once his mission is complete.

  Chapter: 3

  Xero and Disa’ani continue to trek across the dunes on the outskirts of the city in order to prevent themselves from being seen. After hours of walking Xero feels his sword shutter against his back, he glances at it for a brief moment to see that the rune is fully glowing once again. There is no point in using the teleporter now, the buildi
ng is just on the horizon, and it won’t take long to get there. A strange wind begins to blow, a familiar one, one that blew for the very first time the day the amplifiers were completed. Xero turns to face the direction of the wind and off in the distance he sees a wall of sand looming in darkness.

  “What is that?”

  Disa’ani asks as he follows Xero’s gaze.

  “Sand storm.”

  “It looks far away.”

  “They move quickly, and so should we.”

  Xero responds before turning and picking up the pace to a jog. As they get closer and closer to the structure the sun sets and a full moon rises as the massive wall of sand closes in on them. With the house only a few hundred meters away Xero grabs the sword off of his back and grips it tightly with both hands. Like the radiation of the sun Xero can feel an unparalleled amount of energy emanating from the house, the likes of which he has not felt since he was in the presence of Starfall. The power is so immense he begins to see visions of an old man with long scraggly hair and a beard hammering away at a forge, a young boy with bright green eyes and the orb. Dark Seclusion appears out of smoke in the room, the old man holds the orb tightly in his weathered hands.

  “This will be able to draw the power out of any of my kind. Now release him.”

  He says softly, Dark Seclusion twists his wrist and the boys neck snaps, he falls to the ground. Dark Seclusion moves for the orb, it opens up and a blinding light forms from it as an ancient deity materializes in the room. Xero recognizes it from what the Draronian’s showed him as a Seraph. The Seraph begins to attack Dark Seclusion and the old man makes an arrowhead symbol out of his fingers, the orb begins to levitate.

  “I banish this from any realm in which you can use it!”

  He roars, turning his hands right side out he slams his palms into the orb and in a flash the orb is gone, as is the Seraph. Dark Seclusion lays on the ground, severely wounded as the old man stands over him.

  “What was that?”

  The mage asks his voice rife with pain.

  “The orb saw your deepest fears, created a hard light construct and used it against you.”

  The old man begins to glow as a fissure forms up his neck and across his face, Xero recognizes this, a Boronian crack. Everything goes white and Xero finds himself standing with his sword in the sand and Disa’ani shaking him.

  “XERO!”

  Disa calls out in a shouting whisper as to not give away their position. Xero snaps out of the vision and looks at Disa’ani.

  “What happened?”

  Disa’ani shrugs.

  “I don’t know, you just stopped moving, you’ve been frozen for nearly an hour, what was that?”

  Xero glances back at the storm, it is much closer now, nearly on top of them.

  “The orb, it showed me what it is capable of and it will be very useful against Konner. We move now!”

  Xero declares as he begins his march to the building. Disa’ani places a hand on either side of Xero’s chest and pushes against him.

  “Not yet Xero, we need to be discreet. The storm is almost here and we can use it as cover to move in.”

  Xero swipes a hand across knocking Disa’ani’s away from him.

  “Why does it matter if we use cover, it’s not as if these creatures can kill me!”

  Disa’ani takes a step back, holding up his hands, Xero can tell he knows he is on thin ice with the banished prince and if he pushes to hard Xero would not hesitate to slay him.

  “That may be true, but what if there is a witness to us, what if we are seen and the news spreads about us and then Konner gets wind, he may just bring the fight to us, and remember, he does not have to wait nearly all day for his teleportation to recharge.”

  Xero pauses for a moment, he was not wrong, it would be better to be completely prepared for the battle ahead as opposed to tipping their hand that could result in a surprise attack by Konner.

  “That is smart Disa’ani, but no weapons; I do not want any of your Energynium to be left behind.”

  Xero can see the gears in Disa’ani’s mind turning as he thinks about the situation at hand, after a few moments he decides to speak, the howl of the sand storm begins to fill Xero’s ears.

  “Would it be better to enslave them? Build a second kingdom here, then you can make teleporting pads around this planet and use the humans as fodder against other worlds you wish to conquer.”

  the suggestion leaves a bitter taste in Xero’s mouth, this kind of conquest is ridiculous, it is extreme and unnecessary. All Xero wants is to take over Boron and turn this back water planet that he has been trapped on into a ball of coal floating in space.

  “Disa’ani, your reach exceeds your grasp…”

  The wind begins to pick up, Xero sheaths the sword on his back as sand begins to blow past them.

  “It’s going to get you killed one day.”

  Xero pushes past Disa’ani and begins to walk towards the house, after a few paces the wall of sand overtakes him leaving only the glowing light of the house before him to show where his target is.

  Xero gets to the front door, there is a guard posted at the entrance, Xero wastes no time and with a swift motion of his hands Xero feels the bones in the man’s neck pop like bubble wrap as his spine is severed internally causing his lifeless body to hit the ground. Disa’ani catches up and is ready for action, standing by Xero’s side. With a single, powerful kick the door to the house explodes open and inside are two dozen heavily armed men. Xero smiles as he sees the men dressed in dark clothing aim their weapons at him. He raises his hands and in their tongue addresses them.

  (“My friends I do not wish to hurt you, I just want what is in that box and I will be on my way.”)

  Of course this is a lie, he relishes the thought of ripping their throats out with his bare hands, decapitating them and pulling their hearts out. The idea of his hands slick with their blood makes his heart race and he would charge in and slaughter them all if he did not wish to see the fear in their eyes first. They begin to yell at him to get on the ground; he shakes his head as his hand grasps the hilt of his blade.

  (“No.”)

  He responds, once again in their tongue. Immediately they all begin to shoot at him. The bullets bounce off of him like the sand had been doing for most of the day; in fact he feels each shot about as much as he did each grain of sand. As they run out of ammo one by one they all stand in shock at what they had just witnessed, then it happens, what he had been waiting for, terror, he sees it grip each and every one of them, from their eyes to their posture they scream out in horror that their weapons did not work. The thought of being careful flies round out the window the moment Xero sees their fear and bloodlust takes over.

  Xero slams into the first man like a freight train, the impact is so forceful it rips him apart. With a quick spin Xero slams his fists into the chests of two others, their warm blood soaking his hands, bathing him in their crimson fluid. He rips each heart out and drops it on the ground. The others immediately begin to panic and try to reload their weapons but Xero moves so much faster, ripping out throats, cleaving heads from their shoulders, dismembering others and for a select unfortunate few Xero simply put his fist through their guts leaving them to die a slow and painful death. As Xero comes to a stop the room erupts in screams, wails of agony and viscera, blood erupts like a fountain and explodes across the room like crimson fireworks made from the bodies of the unfortunate.

  Those that were still alive scream in agony as the familiar smell of an enclosed battlefield fills the room. Caked in their blood Xero stands in the center, his heart pounding, exhilaration coursing through him. He had almost forgotten how fun it was to slaughter something so fragile with his bare hands. Disa’ani stands in the door white as a sheet; Xero can see the sheer terror he has at the sight before him. He ducks off to the side and Xero hears the sound of vomiting over the howls of the storm. Xero walks over to the crate and rips the top off of it, nestled inside dark grey fo
am is an orb of what appears to be a mix of standard and silver Energynium. Xero slowly reaches down into the box, the cries of the dying fall away as his hands grasp the ball, not much smaller than a bowling ball. The moment his hands touch it Xero feels a familiar power flow through him, one he has not felt since he met Dark Seclusion for the first time. His mind begins to flood with images; it is almost as if the orb is coded to download any Boronian who touches it with a user manual. After a brief moment Xero returns to the room caked with the insides of the humans in his way.

  “Fascinating, it is so much more than Dark Seclusion thinks. This can pull the powers from a Boronian, and give it to another.”

  Disa’ani enters the house, wiping his mouth off as he does, stepping over the organs and bones that had been ripped from their cradles as he does.