by Tew, J. D.
I could feel his anger personified. His unfathomable rage rattled my bones with every meeting of our enchanted weapons.
Bending my wrist, I brought Wrath crashing down to strike at Travis’ left leg, but he parried the maneuver easily. He let out a whoop and he countered with a mighty swing that knocked Wrath clean out of my sword hand. I froze helplessly for a second as Wrath tumbled down to the ground several feet below.
Time to use Sandolphin’s bracers. I recalled from Nezatron, when I first enlisted for duty aboard the Uriel in the Chamber of Rafal, that their function was to generate instant chain mail armor to protect my wrists and arms.
Faster that you could utter a battle cry, my wrists and hands were covered with a sheath of mail armor.
I was now ready. I unleashed my finest fighting form: head kick, heel kick on the tail end, with a one-two and an over-hand right. I jumped in for the Superman punch, then a flying knee with the aid of my lifters. ‘Yee-arghh!’ I hollered at my foe.
Pow! Wham!
Travis recoiled from my blows. The impact to his face sent a skin-wake reverberation through his body. His eyes became glossy, and his step swayed.
His eyes soon snapped back to fury. Halting my assault with his powerful bracelets, he backed off, and then assumed a dominant stance, his feet firmly askance.
His face contorted with loathing, Travis unleashed a force to grasp me by the neck. Rising rapidly through the air above him, I choked and sputtered. I clawed away frantically at this iron grip, to no avail.
‘Aha!’ Travis snarled, ‘Flyboy!’
‘Let—’ My voice was mercilessly smothered, like a lit candle under a snuffer.
Hovering, with a death grip around my neck, I started to feel weak. Summoning the last of my strength, I quickly ordered my rolesk to rally Dietons around me. These tiny beings, aroused to anger, swarmed to Travis, as his eyes opened in fear.
Crushing his bracelets upon my command, the Dietons proved their devastating efficiency while Travis screamed. Now free, I dropped to the bushy ground, landing upright with the assistance of my lifters.
Full of unbridled rage, Travis swooped in on me, and joined me into hand-to-hand combat on the ground. We rolled about, as Travis incidentally was reunited with his weapon.
I barely had time to react as Travis’ sword came crashing down. Instinctively, I held up my left arm to block his thrust; the chain mail resisted his brute force. The electric flow of the sword passed into me, with a violent current through my heart. My heart pulsed near explosion, and just as the hair on my head began to cook, my loyal subject, my hero, Ed intervened. Actually, the one split half of him that was still barely functioning.
With one last defining moment, the half-Ed revolutionized heroism. With his gun drawn, he shot at Travis’ shoulder, just beneath the deltoid.
Travis screamed at the pain, and with one mighty heave, he struck at the half-Ed with his sword. The last functioning unit of the poor robot met its ultimate demise. Without a whimper, the metallic creature fell to the ground, all lights faded forever.
‘Now!’ Travis held his sword up high over my head.
Suddenly, plasma fire blasted away at the ground next to us, spitting up clumps of dirt and singed grass.
Travis looked up, as did I. Like a screaming falcon diving onto its prey, a small spacecraft hovered into sight against the rose-themed morning sunrise. In black letters down its side read, “ZF-Targine.”
I waited with bated breath. Friend or foe?
I soon cheered for joy, nearly at tears, for it gave chase to Travis with incoming fire. I further whooped as Travis darted away for safety, retreating to the fortress.
The battle scene had changed dramatically. Looking upward from my back toward a platform above, I saw an Elon, standing tall and brute, with a golden trident that shimmered in the light of the passing arrows.
Pike, who had appeared by my side, was out of breath from catching up. He yelled, ‘That is Quasikeum, the Dark King of the Elons.’ I squinted ahead at the Dark King who had usurped power from Princess Jezra, the rightful heir to the throne.
Upon seeing the spacecraft, the Dark King signaled for Travis to fall back and flee behind his cape. Grateful for the chance to escape, a grim Travis ducked behind the Dark King’s voluminous, billowing cape, and vanished. Laughing malevolently, the king wrapped the cape around himself, and also disappeared.
The ship began to fire on the structure, and I made a valiant attempt to rise up and fight on, but my body was too weak. I mustered up whatever bit of strength I had in my scrawny body. I took Wrath from the ground and left to hunt down my nightmare, Travis.
It was time for me to breach the Elon palace again. The Elon army had successfully streamed in through the palace walls—thanks to the gaping hole previously carved out by Wrath. While Travis and I had been thrashing it out, my Elon army had been fighting tooth and nail with their corrupted counterparts in various scenes of guerilla warfare inside the walls. Hundreds of hand-to-hand battles raged on in stairwells, ramparts, and halls of splendor.
I ran up the bridges and stairways leading to the palace, knowing that my lifters would overcome any barrier. While I was about to take flight, I heard a familiar voice behind me.
‘Hey, dude! You’re a sight for sore eyes!’
Joyfully, I turned to source of the comforting sound.
‘Dan!’ I cried out. He was grinning from ear to ear, expertly aligned on a hover board.
‘Ted! We’re all here for you!’
‘Holy crap! Am I glad to see you! What, conquering Earth by skateboard isn’t enough—you had to take a stab at Jaakruid, too?’
‘Is that what this flipping jungle paradise is called? I would rather buy a ticket to Antarctica than live in this place. So, we’re at your command now? How can we fight for you?’ Dan asked.
‘My guess is if you want to find the Dark King, you storm the castle. I think he is at the top. Let’s find out.’
I yelled out for an Elon troop to lead the army up the fortress. He took order and said, ‘The Morlorian has been defeated sir, it lies dead at the base. Pike is inside, joining in the battle!’
‘Impressive gear,’ I said, admiring Dan’s awesome air surfboard and the bulky plasma cannon upon his back.
‘Wait till you see what this damn thing can do. It will blow your mind. Are you ready?’ Dan asked.
Together, we flew to the ramparts atop the perimeter wall. From the darkness of what looked to be a hanger, we two charged ahead against an onslaught of Dacturon elite who had left the safety of their ships to join the battle upon seeing the Dark Elon falter. They stood like wild wizards, waving their hands about. Like futuristic mages, they used their telekinesis to control the world around them.
As if by sorcery, looming, dark and heavy rain clouds crept in above our heads. The Dacturons cackled as their puffy creations threw down bucketfuls of rain upon our army.
As currents of water gushed off our armor and rolesks, we struggled in the monsoon-like conditions. Everything was slippery. The flame of my blade was dimming, but still had enough to rip through the Dark Elons that emerged from the darkness within the palace.
One of the Dacturons flung debris at us as we hovered on Dan’s surfboard. A log nearly blasted Dan off his board. The other two Dacturons supported their fellow troops with gunfire from their rifles. Pandemonium burst out through the air, as well as flashes of light. The battle was now at its most fierce. It was the pivotal moment—either side was desperately pushing for its tide of victory to prevail.
The remainder of my Elons joined in the fight, and from the blanketed shroud of rain, two more sights for weary eyes appeared. Lincoln and Mariah rode in on the nimble backs of my Elons.
My heart leapt out in joy at the sight of my remaining two colleagues. They were now truly composed as brave warriors. I could see the determination in their eyes, hardened by weeks of training.
‘Mariah! Lincoln!’ I cried out with full heart.
> Beaming, they both gave me a simultaneous thumbs-up.
Mariah perched her herself slightly silhouetted on the edge of the structure and fired lasers at the Dacturons. Her expert marksmanship dropped two of the five Dacturon elite and created an opening for our advance.
Jumping off Dan’s turbulent air board, I commended my lifters to take me.
‘Ted!’ Dan yelled out, searching my face for clues.
‘Go help Mariah and Linc!’ I shouted to him. ‘I need to find the Dark King!’
Dan saluted me, and he was off to do battle with the remaining Dacturon elite guards.
I dashed toward the highest rampart, upon which the tactical battle command center would surely lay, right in the center of the palace. As I swiftly pushed in the double doors, my heartbeat swallowed the scattered wails emanating from the morbid choir of Elons dying around me.
Taking in a deep breath, I walked in, searching for some light. A large heavy door slammed shut behind me, immediately setting off a rising panic in my throat.
I had Wrath glowing in response to the instant darkness that enveloped me. I blinked, and everything changed.
My surroundings were altered; it looked like I was home. My grandparents were standing in front of me with arms open at the end of my driveway, and I started running to them.
What was this?
I thought it was all just a dream. Accidentally, as I was running in my dream state, I kicked something round that skid across the wooden floor. I gasped as the image vanished and darkness returned, with Wrath still lighting up the room. I discovered I was in a hangar, of strategic importance for docking spacecraft.
My anxious eyes darted to a corner, and I saw what I had kicked. It was one of these projection devices favored by the Rangiers. I didn’t see it during stride, but when I knocked it out of position, all the imagery disappeared.
As the last of the pixelated imagery of my comfortable home vanished, I shrank back as the menacing Elon King, Quasikeum, stood determined before me. He held up his all-powerful trident, directly aimed at my heart.
‘Die!’ he roared, as he hurled it toward me.
The next second was just a blur. Brusquely pushed aside from behind by an unknown force, I stumbled upon the wooden floor. My hands took-up slivers, and as I bounced across the planks, I turned my head quickly to fight back.
‘Lincoln!’ I cried.
The image of the three glinting prongs of steel stabbing Lincoln into his chest will forever be frozen in my mind. Lincoln never once looked at me—his eyes bulging, his mouth open as if screaming for dear life—I knew he was minutes away from death. When the evil Quasikeum pulled his barbarous weapon out of Lincoln’s chest, I was force-fed an idea of what I was fighting for—life.
The Dark King wasted no further time. Turning to me, as Lincoln’s body thudded onto the floor, he rasped, ‘So this is the Earthly chosen one that everyone speaks of? All that I see before me is a pathetic, frightened boy.’
Quasikeum obviously wanted to torment me one last time. He visibly relaxed and looked over to his right to a hooded man who had just emerged out of the shadows. ‘Kurod, you have done well with your projection. It is time for us to leave this hell.’
A third figure, swift and at ease, entered through the window on lifters. From the grace exhibited, I knew it must be Travis.
Three against one. It wasn’t looking good. A loud, bone-chilling gasp bubbled out of Lincoln as he held on to life.
Not even bothering to withdraw his sword, Travis leered at me as he took his place side by side with the Dark King. Kurod and Travis bookmarked their evil master as they straightened out stiffly and contemplated me with scorn.
I screamed, unable to peel my eyes from Lincoln’s slumped body. ‘You will never defeat us! I am Theodore, Messiah of Earth!’
‘Is that right? Your blade will not get its wish today, Theodore,’ Quasikeum spoke, as if pitying me. He studied closely his trident, then glared at me. ‘Believe me, you don’t want to know the truth.’
I didn’t say anything. I knew Quasikeum would answer soon enough.
He started walking toward the exit door, beckoning to Kurod to follow. He stood tall on the first step, in preparation for his flight.
He causally peered at me as he placed his foot atop the second step. ‘Your grandfather had the last piece of the puzzle. With his help, Odion will reign supreme.’
My mouth trembling furiously, I held myself back.
Kurod stood near the exit, his back turned to me, while Travis, his feet wide apart and firmly planted, faced me. It was obvious to me what Quasikeum had planned for me.
With trident in hand, the Dark King ordered, ‘Dispose Theodore!’
‘My pleasure, I will do away with the freak-boy easy,’ Travis said, as he looked at me, pulling his sword from the sheath on his back.
The Dark King and Kurod fled up the stairs to the top, where their ship was stationed.
Travis was flexed and ready. I was breathing deep. Our faces twitched from nerves, and we contemplated a battle with an uncertain ending. My eyes of burden locked with his eyes of tainted youth, and Travis dove into a sprint.
His decision was made, and his actions were rash. There were four yards between our bodies, and in that space and time, I thought, I am the leaf.
I powered up my Elon suit. Travis raged toward me, and my sword ignited. I rose up from the brink.
‘To Lincoln,’ I whispered, steady and calm. I extended the deadly sword back, timing each second perfectly of my final thrust against Travis.
And in one fatal swing of Wrath, my sword extinguished his life.
There was no Heaven for the devious. There was no dream-reel of a utopia, no soothing sense of solitude in the white glow of Sephera, only nothing—only Hell for him. My sword melted through his chest. When I withdrew Wrath, a cauterized hole remained.
Life escaped Travis, just like it abandoned my grandparents at his bidding, and that was when I knew he was dead. Dan’s plasma cannon blasted the doors open, and the saviors of my mission poured in to distract my brief remorse for Travis.
A red glow seeped into the hangar, and gave form to the carnage. I dropped to my knees and cupped the blood that left Lincoln’s body.
‘Hurry, somebody do something!’ I screamed to the others.
‘Ted, I don’t have much time. Find Tez, she will help you,’ Lincoln said, moaning from the pain, ‘Please protect Mariah for me. Go! Finish this. You cannot waste time on me. Time is a luxury. I know that now.’
His eyes weakened with every blink, and we all dove in to embrace him one last time. We laid him down on the log floor of the hangar, and comforted him with our tears.
‘Give him some room,’ Dan cried.
The last image I viewed as we peeled away from him was Mariah and Lincoln’s hands locked in an embrace. Lincoln looked toward me and said, ‘You wanted to know who visited me at Fun Haven that night? It was Zane. He told me that I would soon die, but my death would be the catalyst for change. You must leave now!’
Mariah kissed Lincoln and when their lips touched, a tear fell from my eye. Love and life were what we fought for that day, which was all that we longed to have. To feel—that was the dream. When I left his, my thirst for vengeance was infinite.
‘Where’s Liam?’ I asked, before we ran up the stairs. I could tell by the sadness in their eyes that our team was on the verge of losing that battle, because Liam was surely lost too. I looked back at Lincoln before I turned the corner and I said, ‘Thank you.’ The life passed on from him, and I turned the corner to run from my emotions.
We took the path that Quasikeum presented earlier. We ran to the top of the structure through a tight stairwell, and at the top stood the Dark King. To my ultimate surprise, he left Kurod to fight us.
‘Is the Dark King abandoning you now?’ I growled to Kurod as Quasikeum teleported to a Tritillian Warship above. The ship left our sight through the thick whirly clouds.
‘I am a
Driad, you pitiful slouch. I never run away from a good fight,’ Kurod said as he laughed from his belly and stroked his long beard. He tossed an imaginary projection into the air about twenty-five feet above us. He stood strong and unwavering.
The projection band on his bald head powered up. He was one, and then he was three, then five. Five bald and powerfully illusory Driad projections stood before us. Only one of them was real. The battle was about to begin, and it would be a clash of fantasy versus reality.
‘What the hell?’ Dan said.
‘Dan, put pressure from above.’
‘Got it! Ted, this jerk is going down!’
‘Mariah, you know what to do!’
‘Already on it, Theodore.’
‘Let’s see how you can do against three of us!’ I yelled.
I charged in, bellowing. I leapt into the air, and crashed down thunderously. My sword left a trail of light behind it like a sparkler on Independence Day, and as I brought it down upon a replica I thought to be the real Kurod, it instantly vanished. Wrong one.
‘Mariah hurry, take out the projection orbs,’ I yelled. On cue, she took out two in a row, with two left to go. We pressed the offensive against Kurod. I was tired and fatigued beyond belief, but I could not get any rest just yet.
‘Duck!’ Dan screamed.
I fell down to the floor purposely. A massive log swung by my head, missing my head by inches, but scraped my back. One of the remaining four Kurods had ripped a support beam out of the wall by telekinesis to crush me.
I lay there, pinned by the weight of the wooden trunk. If it wasn’t for my Elon armor, my chest might have been crushed. Mariah, using her rifle, took out the last two projection orbs. The replicas beeped as they zapped out of existence, leaving an enraged Kurod very much exposed.
‘Fire,’ I commanded, without hesitation. We had him now.
Dan fired controlled bursts from his plasma cannon, causing Kurod to tumble to the ground. He was down, but not out yet.