Clash Of Worlds

by Philip Mcclennan

  “Alright let’s move out,” ordered James and the whole group began to descend the huge cliff.

  They approached the doors, which were heavily guarded. The ninja guards greeted them friendly enough. The accents of the ninjas varied and James couldn’t make out where they originated. Their faces were covered, so he couldn’t tell just by sight alone which continent each man might have come from. They entered the tower via a large door. The main door stood over twenty feet tall and due to its weight, took several of the ninja’s to slowly pull it open. The group went inside with their hostages and the door shut behind them. The corridors of the tower were dusty, old and very dark. Along the cold, narrow corridors, fire torches were perched on the walls and were the only source of light inside the tower. A ninja led the hostages, along with James, Chad and the twins through the corridors for around twenty minutes. They took many different turns. Left turns, right turns and turns that at some points, felt like they were going back in the direction they came from. James tried to memorize the path, for he knew that they would be making the trip back without the man that was guiding them.

  They reached a large metal door, which looked out of place within the ancient stonewalls of the tower. The door looked only a few years in age, whilst the tower walls looked several hundred years old. The ninja knocked on the door three times and it opened up. Inside the foot of the tower was a lift and quite a modern one too! Another two ninjas stood inside.

  “Put them with the rest,” said the ninja who had guided the group through the long corridors. Everyone went inside, everyone that is except James and Chad who were no longer with the group. The pair had slipped away from the pack around five minutes earlier to set off with the task to exploring the layout of the tower to try and find out the real reason for the ninjas occupation of the building. They knew they could cover more ground quickly if it was just the two of them. James and Chad moved a lot quicker than any of the others could dream of doing. Over the years, they had developed the extraordinary skill of running at least double the speed of a regular person. For instance, James and Chad could run the one hundred metres in around five seconds flat, compared with the nine-second average speed of the fastest Olympic sprinter.

  Chad is right. They do hold us back, thought James as they ran.

  The pair whisked through the corridors, moving quickly enough to not been seen by any of the guards that manned them. Chad had discovered an old staircase and he and James ran through the ancient looking hallways, floor by floor. They decided to split up to cover more ground. Chad searched the lower levels of the tower, whilst James journeyed further up.

  Whilst investigating the upper section of the tower, James came across a large stone door. The door was over twenty feet high and was heavily guarded. The door began to open slowly, scrapping along the stone floor as it did so which made a horrific sound. James hid in the shadows an observed them. A man dressed in archaeological attire came from behind the door accompanied by two ninja guards. The man turned to one of the ninjas who was stood guarding the door.

  “Tell your boss I am nearly finished here,” he said in a very posh sounding French accent. The Frenchman didn’t seem that bothered about the fact he had nearly finished whatever it was he was doing. He began to huff and puff before speaking to the guard again. “Another thing, tell him he isn’t paying me enough for this shit!”

  “Excuse me?” said the ninja, not sounding at all pleased.

  The Frenchman, who was smoking a cigarette, blew smoke in the ninjas face. The Ninja began to cough a little. “I’ve been stuck in this room for hours. Your boss could have at least provided me with the correct equipment to complete the excavation properly.”

  “You will show more respect when talking about the master,” said the ninja sounding very angry.

  The Frenchman seemed to care less when the ninja raised his voice at him. “Whatever,” he responded before going back inside the room.

  One of the ninja guards left the area, presumably to pass on the Frenchman’s message. James focused his attention back on the door and thought about how he could get inside. He heard the Frenchman talk about an excavation that was taking place within the room behind the stone door. The door was heavily guarded however. Around fifteen men stood in and around the area between James and the door. He didn’t wish to cause too much commotion in getting inside. He thought about radioing Chad for help but decided against that option. As much as he is my friend, he is reckless. He will want to fight them all. James didn’t want that, in fear of alerting other foes in the tower to their presence. He didn’t want the safety of the members whom were being held as hostages compromised. That was the difference between James and Chad. James was a thinker, only acting when it was necessary to do so. He really thought through the consequences of his actions before he did something. Chad on the other hand was the complete opposite. Chad simply didn’t care. He acted on impulse alone. One might say that James was the brain and Chad was the brawn of their partnership.

  In any event, James decided against Chad’s assistance, at least for the time being. He thought long and hard about how to get inside without being detected. After a while, James began to think that it was impossible without engaging the guards on the door. Then he noticed something he hadn’t picked up on before. There was a steel air vent that ran high along the walls of the tower and one of the vents led into the room behind the huge stone door. James deducted that gaining access through the vent was his best chance of getting into the room without alerting the guards. First of all, though, he had to find a way of getting inside the vent itself.

  James followed the vent from corridor to corridor, looking for a way to gain access inside it. He knew that for the vents to be in the tower, there had to be a room where they originated from. As James followed the vent, occasionally he would run into a ninja guard roaming the tower. He would usually avoid their vision by sticking to the shadows and creeping past them in near silence. On the rare occasion he was spotted, he would skillfully knock them out cold or tie them up and gag them. James was too quick for them. He would rush up and strike them with a fierce punch or choke them out. Other times, he would overpower the ninjas, knocking them to the ground and tying them up with their own belt buckles. James would gag them by taking off their masks and tying them around their mouths.

  After around fifteen minutes following the steel vent, James came across a room where several of the vents merged into one. The room was modern and full of machinery, compared with the ancient feel to the rest of the tower. Steam came out of several of the machines and it became obvious that the room controlled the temperate of the tower via the air vents that could be found around the structure. James located the vent that led to the room that the excavation was taking place and climbed inside. The vent was small and narrow and James had to lay down and crawl through it using his arms and legs. He began to make slow progress through the vent.

  #

  Three ninjas led their four captives Cody, Sophie, Sato and Alberto through a large dark room, along with Jade and Rachel who were still disguised in the same uniform as the other guards around the tower. One of the ninjas lit a couple of the fire torches on the wall to light the room. As the light from the flames bounced off the room walls and brought light, a group of around twenty-five people were revealed. The group were tied up in a corner of the room. They had their hands and legs tied, blindfolded and were sat down on the floor. The people were the full active members of the government organisation and the other exam squads who had been assigned to the island.

  “Put them over there with the others,” said one of the ninjas to Jade. The twin marched Cody and the others over to the members who were tied up on the ground.

  “Get everyone loose, we’ll be back for you,” she whispered to Cody as he sat down with the rest of the prisoners.

  #

  James struggled along as he crawled inside the narrow air vent. The vent was dark and damp and he used a small pocket size torch
to see inside. As James crawled, he noticed a light in the distance and turned the torch off. He crawled slowly toward the light. It was an opening to a room. As he crawled closer, James noticed a selection of metal wires by the opening, not too dissimilar to that you would find on a cage. The closer he got to the light, the wider the vent became and soon James was crouching instead of crawling. He was now close enough to see through the opening. As he predicted, the opening led to the heavily guarded room that he was unable to gain access to earlier.

  There was indeed an excavation of sorts taking place. The room was full of mechanical machinery but in the middle of the room stood a large rock. Around the rock were four large lights on stands shining down on the item. James could make out something sticking out of the rock, but he was too far away to make out what it could be. James looked around the room’s interior. He could see it was not as heavily guarded inside as it was outside. In fact, there were only two men guarding the room who stood by the large stone door that was the entrance. The French archaeologist James had seen earlier outside the room shouting at the ninja guards was also inside. He was examining the large rock, brushing at it attentively. He placed a small pair of glasses over his eyes and looked closely at the object encased within the rock. The object was a small dagger, which had strange ancient like symbols engraved onto its handle. The daggers blade was buried within the stone. “What are you?” the French archaeologist said to himself. His words were directed at the dagger itself.

  James lay on his back inside the air vent and kicked hard at the cage that led inside the room. The Frenchman ran for cover as the cage slammed down to the ground. James jumped down into the room and was immediately rounded upon by the two ninjas guarding the door. They swung at him with their swords and James ducked and weaved quickly out of the way as the steel narrowly missed his head. He felt one of the blades brush across his face, causing a small graze on his cheek. He kicked the sword out of one of the ninja’s hand and punched him to the floor with a single blow. The second ninja grabbed James from behind and began to choke him. The first ninja quickly got to his feet and began to unload fierce punches to James’ stomach. The blows hurt, but not as much as the ninjas had thought. The first ninja stopped punching James, thinking him beaten which proved to be fatal, for this gave James the opportunity to push back on the ninja that was holding him and raise both feet to kick the ninja in front of him away. James then kicked backwards with his right foot through his own legs, kicking the ninja behind him between the legs. The man loosened his grip on James and fell to the ground holding his crotch area. The second ninja began to slowly get to his feet once again which James immediately noticed. He rushed over to the man and kicked him in the face, which knocked his foe out cold. James now focused his attention on the first ninja who despite holding his crotch, was slowly rising to his feet. James walked towards the ninja slowly, almost like a predator. As the ninja picked himself up from the ground, James grabbed him from behind; much in the same way the ninja had done to him and chocked the man out with his arm.

  With both men down James noticed that a faint green light was flashing on and off the walls around the room. He turned around and noticed the green light was originating from the object that was encased within the rock.

  The French archaeologist, who had been hiding in the corner throughout the fight that had just taken place, walked out towards the rock. He was amazed by what he saw. “What have you done to it?” he said, his voice was filled with excitement.

  James hardly gave the man a glance as he moved towards. He reached the object and looked at it closely, realising that it was a dagger encased inside the rock. The handle of the dagger was shaped like that of a dragon’s head. It’s the dagger that is glowing, not the rock. “What is it?” James asked the Frenchman, not taking his eyes off the object.

  “I’m not sure,” he answered. The Frenchman was now very calm. He had been startled by James’ sudden arrival in the room and was even afraid when he began to gain the upper hand on the ninjas, but he was now lost in his fascination for this ancient object. “I’ve been examining this thing for hours and it hasn’t glowed like that.”

  James finally looked at the Frenchman. The man’s eyes were full of joy and wonder. He looked excited, almost like a young boy would be opening presents on Christmas morning. James though it unlikely that the Frenchman would be lying under these circumstances and felt no need to interrogate him. He did ask the Frenchman who where the group of ninjas that occupied this tower and he confessed he wasn’t sure.

  The Frenchman told James that he was hired by one individual a few weeks earlier and was paid a large sum of money in advance. A man of Chinese descent picked him up from Paris a few days earlier and he had flown him to a remote island off the shore of the one they currently occupied. He had been whisked into the island by helicopter and had been ordered to seize possession of the object that was now before them. The Frenchman did give a lot of information freely which James thought odd but after all he was a man who was simply hired to do a job. He had no definitive loyalty to his employers.

  “I’m going to have to take you in you know,” he said to the Frenchman.

  “Understandable” he simply replied.

  He seems like a reasonable enough man. James turned back to the dagger, which still glowed green inside the stone. He reached out toward the daggers handle.

  “It’ll do you no good”, said the Frenchman. “We’ve tired everything. It won’t come out.”

  James halted for a moment in reaching for the object.

  “It’s heavier than it looks and it is further embedded within the rock than it seems. Despite all the advanced machinery these people brought with them we can’t get it out. We tried wrapping a chain around the dagger’s handle and ten men pulled on it but still the object didn’t move, not even an inch.”

  James reached down onto the handle and pulled the dagger out as easy as someone would pull a knife through butter.

  The Frenchman’s look was a mixture of confusion and amazement. “How did you…” he was lost for words.

  James held the dagger in his hand and began to feel something strange. It was as though something was flowing through his body. The blade had power within it and he felt it flow like blood through his veins. Then he began to hear something whisper in his ear. A voice began to talk to him, but he didn’t understand what it was saying, for it spoke in a tongue he had never heard. The words were spoken too quietly for a regular person to hear. The voice certainly wasn’t coming from anywhere in the room, although the words seemed to bounce off the walls. With touching the dagger James had made a connection to something, but he had no idea who or what it was. The fact was that James had made a connection to something that was sleeping. That ‘something’ had been lying dormant for many years. He was not aware of this of course.

  A loud bang could be heard from the other side of the stone door. The bang startled both James and the French archaeologist who turned simultaneously towards the door. Another huge bang came from behind the door, and then another, and another. Something was crashing into the door, trying to force it open. James guessed that the guards behind the door had become aware of this presence. Another loud crash and the door edged open slightly. James picked up one of the fallen ninja’s swords and prepared himself for the inevitable onslaught he was about to face. He remembered how heavily guarded the door had been. Despite his great skill, this wouldn’t be easy.

  Another loud crash against the door edged it open further. Now there was enough room for someone to enter, and enter someone did. To James’ surprise, however, the person to enter the room was not the group of ninja’s who hade been guarding outside.

  Chad casually walked into the room. “Oh there you are!” he said without seeming to be concerned whatsoever about James’ well-being. Chad knew that James could handle himself, as indeed could he; therefore he wasn’t concerned for his friend’s safety. “Who’s that?” asked Chad referring to the Frenchm
an inside the room.

  “He’s coming with us, he’s…wait a minute…” What happened to all the guard’s outside? “The guards?”

  Chad smiled and pushed the large stone door wide open, revealing a host of bodies lying knocked out on the ground. The Frenchman was astonished and even James looked a little surprised that Chad had taken all the men out.

  “How…how did you do that?” The Frenchman asked.

  Chad paid no attention to the man for his focus had been drawn to the strange dagger that James carried in his hand. “What’s that?” Chad asked. James looked down upon the dagger, which he noticed had now stopped glowing green. “I found it encased in the stone back there, but that’s strange…”

  “What is?” said Chad.

  “It was glowing green a few moments ago, and…” James paused for a second. For some reason, he didn’t tell Chad about the whispers he had heard. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t tell him, but he didn’t.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s not important.” He filled Chad in on what had happened since they split up several hours ago. James’ main concern now was for the other members of their group who they hadn’t heard from in a while. After talking for several minutes, they decided it was best to track them down and they exited the room. James led the Frenchman out, who was more than willing to come along. As they left, Chad sneaked back inside the room and placed a stick of plastic explosive, which he had in his pocket, onto the rock where the dagger had been. Chad made his way back out quickly and re-joined James and the Frenchman, who hadn’t noticed that he had slipped off.

  #

  Cody untied the hands of the last member of the group who had been held captive within the tower. One of the full members had now taken charge of the group. He was a tall dark man known only to the trainee’s as Commander Stewart. The commander was trying to formulate a plan of escape. If truth be told, Cody and Sophie felt a little aggrieved as they felt it should be them in charge, especially considering the fact that they had been the ones responsible for finding and freeing the captives. They both knew however they had to obey their superiors and this Commander Stewart was far above them in rank. The commander’s plan was to still act as if tied up until the guards came back and then rush them in huge numbers. They were twenty-five in number after all, and the commander doubted that twenty-five ninjas would come into the room the next time the men came back. The ninjas had overpowered and out-skilled all of them when they originally came onto the island, but the commander had concluded that their greater number would at least see them out of the room in which they had been imprisoned for many hours.