by Ted L C
A sting surges through the boy’s body. His lungs fill with water.
Derek’s eyelids shift in opposing directions. The cobalt sheet of liquid ahead of him transforms into a blur.
A pair of silken palms clamps against the lad’s torso, heaving him upwards.
“Alyssa?” fluids ooze throughout every orifice in Derek’s face. “W-where are you?”
“Right behind you,” Alyssa’s distorted voice says. “Did you sleep ’port us into the middle of the ocean?”
“I guess so—my bad. Grab me and I’ll ’port us home.”
“My arms are already around ya buddy.”
“Right—” the images of Liam’s desk form inside of his mind. It fades, forming ashen silhouettes. “Won’t work! I forgot to tell you this. B-but I can’t swim.”
“Lovely. Relax your body, you’ll be fine. Until sharks tear our limbs off—
“Seen the moon, lately?”
“Moon?” Derek’s gaze scans the skies, only finding a white dots spread throughout a black wall.
Nothing but stars, what the hell—
“Where’s that—”
Gyrating propellers hums through the atmosphere.
They intensify. Glimmering red and blue strobe lights bounce off the water’s reflection.
“Do the two of you speak Trade English?” a modulated voice reverberates across the desolate area.
“Yes,” Alyssa shrinking pupils follow the source of the sound to a large hovering box.
“Do not move,” the sound sends a ring through the duo’s ears. “My pilot is going to lower the ship. I want you two to put your hands up immediately upon boarding. Also, have your T.P.U. passports on hand.”
A sheet of metal hovers centimeters above the water. Alyssandra slings herself into the vessel using the door. She hurls herself into a room filled with crimson light.
Derek grips fingers into the panels and pulls—half of his body remains submerged.
“Teleport, guard!” Alyssa presses a palm against her own forehead.
The boy appears between her and a figure garbed in an ebony gas mask.
“Will we continue our course to New Cairo, captain?” a voice speaks in an aggressive Chinese tongue over the intercom. “Or do you need me to take us back to Houtong—”
A heap of water swishes throughout the structure. A roar echoes through the ship.
Jaws, longer than a human child, spring through the opening.
“What the hell is that?” Derek flicks his wrist toward the thing’s head. A cluster of spikes ejaculates from the SAP.
One rams into a lifeless eye of the beast. The rest scrape against the powder blue and peach shell encasing its snakelike body.
Sparks erupt from underneath its being. The sea creature jerks its head from side-to-side while sliding across the metal sheet. It vanishes.
Many clicks sweep through the duo’s eardrums as the bay door rises and levels itself with the floor. Five barrels face the two as they rotate their necks.
“We do not have passports on our person’s,” Alyssa says in a Chinese tongue. “Before you take us to the next life, at least tell us where we are. No idea how we got here.”
“What do you mean ‘where are we’?” various voices utter in Chinese.
“We above the Pushuomili ocean of Faxian,” a man shrouded in an auburn jacket with a myriad of badges makes his way toward her.
“Faxian?” a searing sensation emanates throughout the girl’s body. “The planet joint terraformed by Japan and China?”
“Correct,” the man says in English. “However, only China and HESTEKS occupy this planet now, ever since the genocide of 2213. The north, which was dominated by the Communist Party of China went to war with the Democracy Progressive Party of Japan, which led to the seven-year conflict of the Zhu shen zhi zhan. In Trading English, it translates to War of Titans.
“During this period, our homeland became the only country to possess two cruisers, which we used to level several Jap. cities. Afterward, we offered them to either live under our government, be transported back to Earth and suffer the humiliation of defeat. Or to be executed for their transgressions.
“One of our carriers were en-route to pick up group C of the Japs who sought to return to the motherland, we lost contact with the carrier. Later, we found out eventually HESTEK mercenaries they hired were occupying the second continent.
“We are on our way to their continent, Barter. Our Lord commanded to slaughter as many of the heretics as we can before dying.”
“This place brings back memories,” a droplet scrapes Alyssa’s cheek while rolling to her chin.
“You good?” Derek rests a palm against her shoulder. Hums fill the room as the five rifles tip’s glow.
“This place brings memories to you?” the man’s eyelids narrow as he lowers his weapon. “I am Captain Hou of the Faxian Deity Hunting Division of the great leader’s People’s Liberation Army.
“Can you answer one question for me?”
“Sure,” the NanoLites forming Alyssa’s tattoo creep toward her hand.
“You said that you did not know how you got here, right?”
“Correct,” the battalion of black specs mold into five spheres within her grasp.
“This boy,” the man aims a finger at Derek. “He is armed with Nano technology in addition to Stellar grade armor. Yet, when in the face of a mighty Jialong, I saw fear in his eyes.”
“Just because one has power does not mean they do not express cowardice—”
“Did Yama or Skadi cast you from their lands and into the oceans?”
“Who?” the duo says.
“The gods of death and the icy mountains. Girl—what is your name?”
“Alyssandra Jones,” her gaze shifts to the boy. “This warrior’s name is Derek O’Brien. He is from Matoma, U.S. Greenland on the planet Earth. I am from the Seer’s Retina on the planet of Vulcanis—”
“The Seer’s retina,” in many passes, the soldier arcs his fingers downward. “Stand down and kneel!”
The figures fall to their faces. A symphony of clanks from the fallen rifles dribbles against the metallic walls.
“I apologize, madame,” the man drops to his knees. “Please forgive us. We do not want more trouble than we are facing, already. Our mighty government does not seek war with the Vulcanians.”
The Nanos from Alyssa’s hand merges with the rest of the rose vine. She makes her way toward the man and tightens two fingers against his chin.
“I am glad we can see eye to eye,” the rings underneath the girl’s eyes darken. “If there’s a scratch on my body, the Vulcanians would be here in a matter of twenty-one earthen minutes. With five grade-S cruisers to glass the surface of your pathetic Red soil.”
“I—” the lass’s fingers tighten around his cheeks.
“Our hundred story tall mechas would come in and crush everything your people worked so hard to build. Your strongest—your survivors—would turn into slaves for the Vulcanian’s. They’ll make the rich folk who come to my planet cocktails and tongue clean sperm from the hotel toilets.
“Or, we might just starve them. Watch them for entertainment as they navigate through the D.M.Z. Replacing outdated landmines as their hands are sliced open by barbed wire lined with salt, lime juice, and hallucinogenic oil.
“My bodyguard here is a HESTEK who will tear your limbs off—slowly. How dare you threaten inherited Vulcanian royalty—”
A colossal blade digs through the bottom of the floor. It scrapes along the walls and to the ceiling like a chainsaw eating through a tree. A figure with an ivory trench coat stands on the carved ledge.
His gaze faces Alyssa and Derek as their bodies grind against the arching floor.
“Speak—English?” a Fames dances through the air as the man stares at the two.
“Yes,” the duo utters.
“Name’s Zeresh. So happy for the opportunity to play with some new blood! Can you two fight in conditions like
this? Or are the two of ya weak?”
His vision darkens as Nanos skitter around his face.
Zeresh’s feet detach from the craft as the beast vanishes.
“Brace yourself, Dere—” Alyssa’s eyelids collapse.
* * *
A harmony of chirps comes from Alyssa’s corpse.
“Happy birthday!” a modulated voice emits from her top.
“Derek?” Alyssandra’s voice flows with the distant caws of birds.
Her eyes scroll toward a sheet of metal pressing against her legs.
“You well—” Derek’s tone caresses her ears.
“Holy hell,” NanoLites swarm to the chrome surface. “You survived, unscathed?”
“Combination of luck and this dope ass armor,” Derek’s gaze shifts toward the small robots. As they migrate across the remains, the path behind them disintegrates.
“I survived, and I didn’t need any dope armor—” Alyssa spreads the two halves of the metallic sheets.
“That is because you possess Adalfieri,” Hou’s voice roars throughout the trees and mountains behind the duo. The man’s short black spikes peek through the corner. “What abilities do you possess, HESTEKS?”
“My body has an additional gland, which produces a myriad of oils. Moreover, the skill to manipulate plant growth and create nature as I please,” as a glossy texture overtakes Alyssa’s arm, it vanishes. “As for my bodyguard, one of his abilities works through glands in the body which produce gasses. For instance, vapors in Derek’s body would excite, creating the plasma of his choice.”
“What about his teleportation,” Hou’s eyelids narrow as they drift to Derek.
“Neither I nor the boy knows how exactly the skill works,” Alyssa’s left side of her body vanishes. Splotches of the right side become translucent. “All I can tell you is it disintegrates your body from the inside out—emulating one’s transcendence into the afterlife.”
“I need some of his blood, please,” the man’s feet trudge toward the two. “With it, I can kill Lord Yama along with the other heretics.”
“After you just threatened our lives?” only splotches of the girl’s face and boots remain visible. “I’ll pass. You Pooh lovin’ piece of shit—”
“Your idle threats do not scare me, anymore, negress,” a glossed cobalt sphere appears on the tree behind Hou. “Even if I can not kill you, Yama will; even before twenty-one minutes. Since my soldiers are dead, I can finally reveal myself—”
Hou’s rolls against his ankles—his body falls back into the circle. It erupts a droplet as it devours the man.
“He’s a HESTEK!” Alyssa’s eye vanishes. “Some sort of portal skill.
“Set the other corpses on fire,” her murmurs circulates through his ears as a pair of moist lips press against them. “We have to place ourselves in a better position by releasing his anger. Therefore, making him unfocused. We can’t risk anything on Faxian.”
A ball of dancing flames illustrates itself in Derek’s mind. “Nothing’s forming in my hand! It might be too cold.”
“Snap your fingers—”
A circle of red appears underneath the boy. The air surrounding Derek chills as his body vanishes into ashes.
Two groups of Nanos coated in a transparent substance fall from Alyssa’s arm and into the hole.
“Derek!” Alyssa’s legs creep through the brush. “I need you to check your phone.”
“Why?” the lad echoes.
“To get a visual on what’s happening in those portals.”
“Laura,” Derek’s nail taps the side of his helmet. “Can you call Liam?”
“No signal—”
A hand reaches from a cerulean cylindrical puddle within the wall. Derek’s body disintegrates. A NanoLite dips a needle-like foot into the fluid as it attaches itself to the limb.
“What do you see?” a warm burst of air brushes against the boy’s ear.
On the upper right corner of the heads up display, a room surrounded by a neon blue and red fluid appears. Hou glues his eyes on a hologram of the forest with the reflection of trees bouncing off the boy’s mirrored face.
“He’s spying on us with something.”
“We can’t set the forest on fire,” breathing sounds come from behind Derek. “Don’t wanna attract more trouble into this existing problem. He’s going to keep appearing to set more cameras up.
“Unfortunately, if he’s using NanoLites, the number of cameras he has is limitless. And since they are in camera mode, they can pick up our heat signature and focus him on the correct cameras.”
“Alyssa.”
“Ya?”
“Can your boots conduct electricity—” Derek’s eyes drift toward the cameras. A tree with the shape of a queen’s head illustrates itself into a cylindrical section of the wall within Hou’s room. “He’s coming—”
The Revelator hurls behind the boy. It soars through the forest until colliding with a tree with the shape of a king’s head with a crown.
“The kissing king and queen trees; how sweet—” Alyssa’s voice flows amidst the forestry.
“I can see where he wants to go,” an image of a light bulb turning on streams in Derek’s mind. “Climb that mountain behind us. Got an idea to confuse him.
“Will you do me a favor?”
“What’s that?”
“Conjure a tree in the shape of a penis once you reach a good distance.”
“Why?”
“It appears I can teleport to places on this planet, but not to Earth. I know there’s no such thing as a penis-shaped tree on Earth, so perhaps whatever is holding us here can’t stop me.”
“I’ll have a brobdingnagian Blackwood ready for visualizing,” sounds of a blunt object beat against an arbor of brush. “Give me five or so minutes.”
First I need to test my theory.
Derek’s body vanishes into ashes.
* * *
As the boy surfaces. Two screens appear in Hou’s room. One of his ashen silhouette, and the other of the armored lad.
Numerous layers of monitors build atop of each other as more cinder figures manifest. As they shrink in size, the image of a Blackwood tree with the shape of a mushroom paints in Derek’s mind.
* * *
A frigid breeze pulls against the boy’s fingers.
“I see you admire the veins,” a smile creeps between Alyssandra’s cheeks.
“Balls!” the lad’s palm yanks itself backward. His gaze shifts to the series of wooden veins spiraling up a massive cylindrical shaft. “You didn’t need to make it that big.”
“Need to make sure it’s big enough to satisfy your sick fetish,” her fingers pinch themselves against a layer of ash encasing the boy’s arm. “Why so much ash?”
“I was running out of warmth to teleport me,” his body heaves itself in numerous directions. A black cloud encases the area surrounding him. “So I grabbed some ash to absorb the warmth from it to allow me to teleport more—
“I can see you again.”
“The mist and snowflakes in these parts won’t help me in any way. Invisibility is pointless if one can see the illusion shrouded with moisture droplets. Right?”
“But what about dust? Spores?”
“Yes, also catalysts to make my oil useless—”
“Demon!” Hou’s thunderous voice fills the arena surrounding them. “Suffer in the name of the emperor—”
Hou’s short ebony hair materializes in Derek’s mind. Alyssa weaves her fingers into his. The two vanish.
A stream of lava-like material propels from a cavern entrance as I turn. Derek’s right foot shifts forward; Alyssa’s palm tugs against his shoulder.
“Hou’s dead,” Alyssa’s gaze looks into the boy’s. “Listen to me. There are two options. A, run away and be hunted. Or bee, fight.”
“What would we be fighting—a dragon?”
“No, this isn’t fantasy. Our opponent is Diablo—he’s the sick cretin who crucified me during my stay
in Faxian. Now tell me your choice, A or bee?”
“Bee-bee—”
“What would you do if you were put in the situation where you have to murder him?”
“We can’t just knock him out?”
“It’s his life, or ours—I want you to tell me you are ready. Otherwise, I’ll go in alone.”
I don’t want anything to happen to her, especially after seeing what happened to Hou. Wish I wasn’t pitted in these situations.
“I’ll help you,” the Revelator’s glimmering body manifests itself in Derek’s head.
“Are you sure? You need to be able to eliminate this man without hesitation; otherwise, that would mean the end.”
“Everyone I cared for is already gone—or dead. I need the combat experience, anyway.”
“Once again, I’m so sorry about your loss, hun. Your sister wasn’t eliminated; though, look forward to that during this fight. If you pass on, you’ll never get to see her.
“Nevertheless, use logic over emotion when choosing your moves. A veteran like this will execute you with the smallest opening.”
“What do you know about him?”
“He’s a manipulator, technically under the same category as your abilities. For some reason, he focuses on fire, rather than other plasma. He absorbs thermal energy through similar glands that you do, then conjures and manipulates fire.
“His abilities are straight forward. Beware, he’s been doing martial arts for over two hundred years. Muay Thai for one hundred, and Krav Maga for three hundred. Engaging him directly wouldn’t only be stupid, but it would cost your life.”
“I have an idea of how to—”
“Flower queen,” a voice fills the cave ahead of them. “You’ve decided to return for round two of the adventures in Faxian?”
An ivory hood peeks from the shadows.
A snap reverberates throughout the mountain. A sheet of light appears in front of the boy as a fork made of flames erupts from the ground toward him.
The Revelator shifts, lunging at the colossal face of the beast. Sapphire tinged fire absorbs into its mouth.
A ball of fire the size of a car ejaculates from the beast’s mouth and into the boy’s body. Flames glisten as they dance throughout the surface of Derek’s figure.
The boy vanishes.