by J. C. Fiske
The monster’s arm stretched more than double and Gisbo saw its armor was stretched out, as well, in brackets that was made to snap back together when needed and, between the spaces, the monster’s body was made up of a black, oil-like substance that dripped. The monster was made from the Drakeness itself and, within its grasp, Foxblade hung suspended, dazed.
Out of instinct, Jackobi and Gisbo both dropped from their positions and stepped in front of Foxblade to defend him. The monster reeled back its other arm to strike, and then stopped as Narsissa gave the order to halt. She walked forward calmly, with her eerie clicking, and stopped a few feet from their party.
“Foxblade? How unexpected. A worthy attempt, but you can’t break a body that is already broken . . .” Narsissa raised a hand to her mask, threw it off, and disrobed herself for them to see. Gisbo and even the normally pensive Jackobi looked horrified by what they saw standing before them.
It was the face of a woman, whose neck was unnaturally shifted down and to the left, looking totally lifeless. Drakeness dripped from the corner of her mouth, nostrils, and beneath both eyelids, as well as the triple six mark at the center of her forehead. From there, her body looked as twisted and lifeless as her face, pale as the moon and malnourished. Her gold, white, and black jumpsuit, which would have normally been tight, seemed to hang off her like dead flesh. Just as Foxblade had said, her right leg and her right arm was gone, and in their places were rough, blackened, oiled appendages that gave the illusions of an arm and leg. It was disgusting to behold. When she spoke, her mouth did not move and her heartbeat was abnormally loud. She moved and swayed back and forth more like a marionette puppet than a human. The power of the Drakeness filled her and was the only thing allowing her to move, speak, and function whatsoever.
“And just who have you brought with you? The last remnants of Heaven’s Shelter, I see,” Narsissa boomed.
“Soon as we get out of here, you’re gonna have all the Renegades up your ass!” Gisbo bellowed. Suddenly, she cackled loudly.
“I don’t find nothing funny about it,” Gisbo snapped.
“Oh, but I do. There a few things I find quite humorous about your phrase. You will not leave here alive and, especially, the part about Heaven’s Shelter coming to your aid. When was the last time you visited your home, young Renegade? Do you not realize the location of your precious home has been revealed to us? I already have Heaven’s Shelter in my grasp. Within mere weeks, it will erupt from the inside out, killing all you know and love, beridding the one force of opposition that could tilt the tide in your favor. You are already too late to save something you did not know needed saving. Your people are lost, young Renegade,” Narsissa said calmly, without laughter, stating it in a matter-of-fact way.
Jackobi and Gisbo both looked at one another and then turned their eyes to Foxblade. Foxblade’s phrase boomed through Gisbo’s head. “For her to reveal her name like this states, as I fear, her plan has already been set into motion.”
“You’re bluffing,” Gisbo said.
“You’re delusional, and who do you think you are to speak to me with such tone in your,” Narsissa started. Suddenly, her eyes twitched and did a full rotation like a clock, trying to focus upon him. There was no look of shock in her paralyzed face, but the tone gave it away.
“You have them, those demonic, dark eyes . . . I could never forget them. Never, never did I think I would look into them once again. She lives through you! Your tramp of a mother! The homewrecker! The one who stole your father away from me! You will not leave here alive, boy!”
Gisbo didn’t say a word as he had no ring to call upon his powers or even a weapon to his name. Jackobi, however, ignited his yellow essence to speak for both of them.
“You fighting is to no avail. You could possibly defeat me in my weakened state, but never my insurance policy. The monster that stands before you is indeed just that, a monster, as real as they come, from the demonic planes of the Reath itself, thrust into our own world through my divine power. Such great sacrifice it took and another reason to add to my weakened state, but entirely worth it. Meet the great Mara, Goryelrack! One of the mighty captains of Appolyon’s mighty armies, whose spirit is bound to this armor. He is undefeatable, and the one who brought me . . . your father . . .” Narsissa exclaimed. She motioned up to the video projection of the man connected by the tubings. When Gisbo looked closer, he saw that the tortured man was, indeed, his father.
“You sick . . . What the hell are you!?” Gisbo yelled, shaking and feeling entirely powerless.
“Drakearon’s most loyal servant, no more, no less. He has promised me your father, back in my arms, until the end of days upon his return. It is the only reward I require. However, your death, to be able to finally eradicate all remnants of your mother from this world, will be a close second. Come to me, boy . . .” Narsissa said.
Suddenly, the fake arm and leg formed by the Drakeness reverted back into her body. Her being lurched unnaturally and, within moments, six leg-like appendages burst from her back and raised her off the ground. The high priestess hung several feet off the ground, and she scuttled her way across the floor like a spider who found a fly in its web. Gisbo went to charge, essence or no essence, but was halted as Jackobi pushed him back and charged instead.
In a swift motion, Jackobi literally walked through the creature’s arm, his innate ability to repel the Drakeness activated, causing the Mara to roar with pain and release his father. The Mara was forced to retract his stretched arm to the tightness of his armor, where it would be safe from this new threat that stood before him.
“Father, are you fit to fight?” Jackobi shouted.
“Yes, always,” Foxblade said.
“Gisbo, get behind us; you are no use to anyone dead,” Jackobi ordered. Gisbo hated what he said, but also knew he was right. Reluctantly, he made his way behind the two Shininjas.
“Halt yourself, Goryelrack. I sense a convert among us. Yes, you have the power of my master flowing through you! I can feel it and yet, there is no fear within you. No inner turmoil. You are the master of it rather than it being master of you. How is that possible? What are you, boy?” Narsissa asked.
Jackobi said nothing as he stood stoically, daggers out and ready.
“I’m sorry, boy, but you most certainly aren’t leaving this room alive. I always thought Falcon was the last remaining one with Drakeness within this world. I never would have believed there would be another. Just draining your blood upon your death would be enough to keep our slaves busy, totally unaware, for months! Alive, for years! Goryelrack, hold nothing back! We need this boy! Alive if you can, dead, just as well! ATTACK, MY MINION!”
What happened next, nobody could have predicted. There was suddenly a roar, but it did not come from the massive Mara. It came from behind them. The roar was fearsome, powerful, and unlike anything Gisbo had heard before. Either way, it was enough to freeze everyone in their tracks. Followed by the roar was the trampling of something heavy coming down the stairs. A golden light was approaching at an incredible pace.
“WHAT!? What is this aura? It is . . . it’s horrible!” Narsissa squealed, shielding her eyes. Gisbo, however, felt nothing terrible from the golden light approaching. He was relieved and entirely filled with hope. Whatever was coming was good, pure, and it was on their side. In a burst of scattered gold, a huge creature pounced from the doorway and planted itself in front of the Mara and Narsissa and let out another massive roar. As it did so, light filled out and around itself, causing the Mara and Narsissa to take a step back. The beast then shook its mighty head and turned, flashing its eyes at Gisbo. The eyes were gentle, yet fierce, strong, yet meek. A host of contradictions made up this creature and, after a few moments, Gisbo knew exactly what it was and who it belonged to.
“It’s the white lion, Vadid’s lion! It’s come to save us!” Gisbo yelled.
“NO! WHO LET IT OUT!? GORYELRACK! DO SOMETHING!” Narsissa yelled desperately. Then, to even more surprise,
Gisbo noticed something on the white lion’s back. It was a person, one that Gisbo instantly recognized.
“Nina?” Gisbo asked aloud. It was the girl who stalked him when he was with Falcon out in the desert! Nina turned quickly and gave a wave and smile, clearly happy Gisbo had remembered her.
“Okay, give him another one, girl! Go, Arielle!” Nina yelled. The white lion arched her head back and opened her mouth, emitting another glorious roar and firing a blast of light from within her, causing both the High Priestess and the Mara to cover their faces in dismay.
“Quickly! Gisbo! The rest of you! Hop on!” Nina yelled. Gisbo looked to his group for a moment and quickly rushed toward the lion without a second thought. It was bigger than he thought. Foxblade quickly joined him, followed by Jackobi.
“Get us out of here, Arielle! Go! Go!” Nina yelled as she gripped the lion’s neck tightly. The lioness gave another short, triumphant roar and turned to sprint out. It reached the stairs when suddenly a metallic gauntlet reached out and grabbed Jackobi. He was off the speedy lion within moments and slammed the back of his head on the staircase. Gisbo turned and reached out without avail.
“JACKOBI! NO!” Gisbo yelled. He made an effort to leap off the lion, but Foxblade restrained him.
“No, Gisbo! We must get out of here!” Foxblade yelled in his ear.
“But Jackobi!” Gisbo yelled. Through the lighted room, Gisbo saw his synergy mate, dazed and on the flat of his back. Without warning, the beast’s steel finger spiraled downward. Even at their distance, Gisbo heard the sickening crack of Jackobi’s chest cavity shattering open. There was a spray of blackened blood, and his friend lay still.
“NO!!!” Gisbo screamed. Tears came to his eyes and he gritted his teeth, doing his best to fight off Foxblade.
“Gisbo, stop! You’ll knock us all off!” Nina yelled.
“There’s nothing we can do for him, Gisbo! Listen to me! There’s nothing we can do! We have much bigger problems!” Foxblade yelled.
“HE’S DEAD! They killed him! They killed your son! How can you say we have bigger problems?” Gisbo yelled.
“No, Jackobi isn’t dead . . . that is why you don’t see me shed a tear,” Foxblade shouted. By this point, the lioness had bounded its way to the top of the stair case, made its way out the secret book case door, charged through several advancing guards, and plowed through the open doorway, trampling all in its path.
“What!? I just saw him . . .” Gisbo muttered.
“I know what you saw; he isn’t dead. I will explain all as soon as I can. He volunteered to be taken, anything to give your father a chance at life. He did this for you, Gisbo, and for me. I will not see my friend, your father, dead. Now focus, we aren’t out of the woods yet!” Foxblade ordered. Gisbo didn’t know if Foxblade was lying just to get him to focus and get out of there safely, but either way, he knew he wasn’t about to die yet, not until he stopped that horrible priestess and her Mara and shut down her whole operation.
They were out in the courtyard now. It seemed hundreds of guards were waiting to meet them. Two of them jumped and grabbed Gisbo and hung by both of his knees. Gisbo let go with one hand and pumelled one in the face, dropping him swiftly, while Foxblade kicked the other off him.
“This should help any further intrusions,” Foxblade yelled. He fished around in his pouch and came up with three small orbs with flints at the top. In one motion, he scraped all the flints against a rough appendage on his belt loop and they caught fire.
“Everyone, shut your eyes. Don’t open them till I give the order,” Foxblade yelled. He threw two orbs together ahead of them at the oncoming crowd and tossed one behind them. They exploded before they could even hit the ground. The timing was perfect and instantly a huge cloud of smoke appeared before them. They closed their eyes as Foxblade ordered. Gisbo grasped onto Nina tightly, resting his chin on her shoulder. Within moments, Gisbo heard Foxblade give the order and they opened their eyes, only to see the massive gate before them beginning to close.
“We’re not gonna make it!” Nina yelled.
“Yes, we will!” Foxblade yelled. He threw both of his daggers, and emptied out his entire supply of throwing stars and tossed them swiftly all at the closing door. The first several all missed and went right through the crack, but the last three throwing stars and final dagger all hit true and were stuck between the door, leaving only a crack.
“How’s that gonna help? It’s just a crack! We’ll never fit through that!” Gisbo yelled.
“A crack’s all I need,” Foxblade said. He closed his eyes and, with a yell, ignited his essence and connected his powered ring to the dagger and stars within the door in three rope-like streams.
“YAH!” Foxblade yelled. A huge ball of spiraling wind erupted from the powered daggers and throwing stars, so powerful the doors were thrust open from the gustly blast. Even so, it was only for a moment and the doors were already closing once more as the guards atop the watch tower could be seen turning the levers with all they had.
“Too late, we’re through,” Foxblade muttered triumphantly as the lion pounced through at what seemed the last possible moment. Only the open desert and freedom were before them now. With one flick of his ignited ring, all of Foxblade’s thrown possessions returned to him in a flash of yellow and their group ran toward the now visible sunrise in the distance.
Chapter Fifteen: Under the Black
“Okay, before anything gets explained, Gisbo, you can use the Flarian teleporters, correct?” Foxblade asked as they were now at a casual trot atop the lion. Foxblade was flying beside them now so as not to weigh down the great beast too much.
“Yeah, yeah, I can,” Gisbo said.
“Good, we need to make it back to Heaven’s Shelter as quickly as possible,” Foxblade said. “Where is the closest one?”
“Well, I don’t know that, but I do know how to get to one. We got to go that way, toward the desert end. The desert goes out into a crest and there is a cave there,” Gisbo said. Foxblade nodded.
“Then let us pick up the pace!” Foxblade yelled and, with that, the lion stooped its neck and ran at an incredible velocity, white fur glistening from the morning sun.
In under an hour, they had reached their destination. They all walked inside the dark cave and made their way to the back of the wall.
“Wait here, we will be back for you soon enough,” Foxblade said in Nina’s direction. She nodded silently and leaned up against the wall. Apart from the lion, she seemed to shiver, and her hands shook uncontrollably. The lion then made her way over and snuggled up beside her. Upon grasping the animal’s neck, she looked immediately calm and smiled. Gisbo watched on; unbeknowst to himself, he was staring.
“Gisbo, come, we must move,” Foxblade said. Gisbo snapped out of his trance.
“Right, um, okay, put a hand on my shoulder and I’ll do the rest,” Gisbo said. As soon as he placed a hand upon the surface, even without his ring, the wall recognized the Flarian energies within him and glowed like a poker from a fire. Gisbo recited the poem and was transported to various places across Thera until he made it to the snowy mountaintops of Soaria. When Gisbo shook off the wooziness, he did not believe his eyes. There below where the empty valley of Heaven’s Shelter should have been, cloaked by its invisible dome, a great black sphere was in its place. It hummed eerily and pulsated with energy.
“What, what’s going on, Foxblade?” Gisbo asked, anxiety rising in his gut. Foxblade stood looking down and waited a moment before answering.
“I don’t know . . .” Foxblade said. “Grasp my arm, we are going down.”
Gisbo obeyed and, together, they floated down cautiously toward the black sphere in silence. They landed ten paces from it and walked toward it. There was a small crowd of people scattered about in observation and Gisbo noticed most of them brandished yellow-glinted weapons.
Soarians, Gisbo thought.
Foxblade made his way through the crowd. Upon reaching the dome, he made his way t
o a tall man with long, white hair parted to each side. He was certainly old, but had an air of authority to him. The man recognized Foxblade immediately and walked to approach him.
“Foxblade? When this happened, I feared the worse, my friend,” the white haired man said.
“Good to see you, brother Wiltell. What happened? How long has it been like this?” Foxblade asked. Wiltell shuffled his feet for a moment and kicked at the snow and then answered.
“Late last night, I’m afraid. I have had my best men try to disengage the Soarian energy field around the Renegades home, but it is of no use. It is as if this blackness has absorbed the very essence of Soarian energy; there is no trace of it to alter. I have never seen a substance like this, except in the old days. Is it true, Foxblade? Is this the Drakeness?” Wiltell asked. Gisbo then noticed the ground. Thick black residue was dripping from it and splattered across the snow in several places.
“Drakeness?” Gisbo asked. Not knowing what else to say, Foxblade stepped forward and touched the blackness. It may have looked wet, but the substance was harder than steel. Foxblade knocked at it and it made no sound.
“We can’t even contact them through Thuddering code. Luckily, Sybil Honj and Shax are within the walls. Their signal is weak, though, their voices are but a whisper in my mind, but I have heard them, and both of them say everyone is alright, just frightened,” Wiltell said.
“I can imagine. Wil, Narsissa, she is alive. I have seen her myself. She told me of Heaven’s Shelter’s fate,” Foxblade said. Wil’s eyes lit up.
“Years of silence. Of peace and comfort. And now you say the dark days might return?” Wil asked. Foxblade looked up at the dome.
“Not yet, I don’t know how, but she knows of a way to bring Drakearon back to Thera . . .” Foxblade said.
“Whatever you need, Foxblade, what little soldiers I have are yours. We cannot allow the Renegades to be destroyed. But first, tell me what you know of this. Allow me to hear your theories,” Wil requested.