Trydon and a few slaves jumped inside, and each of them opened fire with rifles, eliminating any resistance within the belly of the train. They grabbed whatever supplies they could and bailed out of the cramped transport just as fast. The thieves disappeared as quickly as they had attacked, as sly as vipers in the grass. The guards on the walls who had witnessed the entire event unfold were suddenly released from their invisible bonds.
“Phase three: destruction and sabotage,” said Fleiss.
A local guards’ centre—kind of like a break room—was quiet and peaceful. It was certainly free from the stench of the slaves outside. One Avayan sat down with his coffee, pulled out a tablet, and browsed his way through the net. He was glad to finally have the opportunity to check his tap-dancing blog.
A freight car came smashing through the walls and crumbled the guard’s relaxation efforts. No one manned the transport; it was almost as if it were thrown here through unknown means. Only a few quiet seconds passed by before the Avayan survivors realised the terrible cargo she bore. Dozens of explosives were ready to scream in fire. As the payload swallowed the entire block in chaos and flame, the culprits were nowhere to be found.
Shit’s getting serious around that place.
THIRTEEN
Vanakis was down in the engine bay doing some much-needed maintenance. He laid on the floor under the machinery as if working on a car. Grease was smeared on parts of his body, sweat dripped from others, and he had a nasty gash from when he slipped and injured himself. The room was filled with a lot of surprisingly quiet machinery. It was fairly dim, and the room was covered in grit.
“There we go,” he told himself as he secured the new part he was installing.
A loud clank echoed across the room. Val quickly lifted his head and immediately hit the mechanics above him. “Perfect,” he said.
Once he was finally out from under the machinery, it didn’t take him long to find the source of the noise. Little Laurelle had wondered down. She held a pipe in her hand that she must have found laying around.
“Give me that,” Vanakis demanded as he snatched it from her grasp. “What do you think you’re doing?” He asked with a frustrated tone.
“I heard all the noise coming from down here. I was just curious,” she explained. “What is this place?”
“This is the engine room,” Val sighed. “It’s what powers the ship. The Neo-Plasma in the tanks gives energy to the engines; it gives us the power to move,” he said in a sarcastic sort of way.
As he explained, she placed her hands on one of two thick cables coming from the machinery.
“Hey!” He shouted. “Get away from that,” he lifted her and dropped her elsewhere. “You trying to kill us?”
“What is that?” She wondered.
“That’s the excess drainage,” Vanakis told her. “That other cable provides the engine with plasma. If you remove that excess cable, there’s nowhere for the extra plasma to run off.”
“What happens if you remove it?”
“That level of overload could send the ship to fly supersonic. Or, more than likely, the energy would simply destroy the ship and everyone in it to oblivion, so don’t touch it!”
He grabbed her and pushed her out. “Now move it.”
The two quickly found themselves in the rec room.
“You know, things wouldn’t be so difficult if you didn’t hate me so much,” Laurelle told him.
“Well, if you weren’t such a nuisance all the time,” he snapped back.
“Vanakis, we’re almost there,” Akrillis said over the ship’s comm.
The Azura flew towards Veeraan, which was a lush jungle world. Rainforest covered the entirety of the planet. It was a world almost untouched by civilisation. The canopy was so thick, they couldn’t see the jungle basin.
“Here it is,” said Akrillis as he brought the temple up on their monitor, all three of them were now on the bridge. The image showed that the temple had been devoured in the local plant life as it was projected in front of them.
“Getting to it isn’t gonna be easy,” Vanakis noted.
“No, we’ll have to land elsewhere. How about we drop ourselves off at the temple, and then we program the ship’s virtual intelligence to land at the closest available location,” Akrillis suggested.
“Works for me,” Val said.
“Me too,” Laurelle hopped in, smiling at Vanakis while doing so.
Vanakis rolled his eyes then grabbed his fedora and headed for the boarding ramp.
The Azura hovered over the overgrown temple, the three of them then hopped off the boarding ramp onto the stairs. The ship then proceeded to go find a suitable landing location. There it would wait until called.
“That is quite impressive.” Akrillis noted as he gazed up at the enormous staircase leading to the entrance. Vines and roots had grown over the top. The jungle had just about swallowed the huge rectangular temple.
“Almost as impressive as your purse,” Vanakis commented.
“It’s a satchel,” his brother corrected him.
“Right,” said Val.
Akrillis was sure to bring supplies which he carried in his trusty satchel (as he would tell you it’s called).
I’ve got to say, it does look an awful lot like a man-purse.
“So, lead the way, tomb raider,” Vanakis told him.
Akrillis led them up the exhausting staircase. They climbed what felt like hundreds of stairs until, finally, the trio had reached the top. A dark doorway stood before them with strange hieroglyphics all around it.
“Do any of these look like the ones we’re supposed to find?” Laurelle asked.
Akrillis checked the paper Slick had given them. “No, doesn’t look like it.”
“Well, let’s go into the dark tunnel. Nothing bad will come of that,” Val suggested sarcastically.
“Wait, what do you mean?” Laurelle asked after she took it sincerely.
“Oh, you know, mummies, dead guys coming back to life… All that wonderful stuff. I can’t promise you won’t be possessed by a demon when we leave—if we leave,” Vanakis joked.
“Val,” Akrillis barked. “Don’t worry; nothing like that is going to happen,” he promised her. “That’s just him being an asshole.”
Vanakis inhaled over dramatically. “You swore in front of the child.”
“Vanakis, this isn’t a movie,” Akrillis explained.
“Oh, how cool would that be?” Val said excitingly.
Akrillis rolled his eyes.
“‘Blasters 5: Vanakis Strikes Back,’” Val said with a dramatic voice.
“Be realistic,” Akrillis insisted.
“Yeah, I know,” his brother responded. “The last Blasters movie was terrible.”
That little shit. The last Blasters movie was my favourite! Oh, what does he know? He’s make-believe. But, then again, so are the Blasters movies. I forgot why I’m saying this.
“Can we focus on the task at hand, here?” Akrillis insisted.
“Oh, right,” Val said. “The spooky tunnel. Well, let’s go adventuring, aye.”
The three of them entered cautiously, almost like Vanakis had spooked them. As our trio ventured further into the ever-darkening corridor, the light of the doorway continued to disappear with each step forward. Akrillis dove into his satchel and pulled out a flare. A sudden aura of red light surrounded them as the initial spark of the flare echoed down the stone hall. They ventured further and further into the gloomy labyrinth. With more and more hieroglyphics all around them, Akrillis constantly checked the list in his hand, hoping to find the right symbols.
“This place is huge! How are we going to find the right ones?” Laurelle asked.
“We don’t leave until we find them, no matter how long it takes,” Akrillis told her.
“Yay! Camping in the creepy temple!” Vanakis added with a playful sort of voice.
“I’ve lost signal with the Azura,” Akrillis noted. “We’re getting deeper inside
the structure.”
“We’ve been wandering around for, like, hours now. How much longer is this gonna take?” Vanakis complained.
“My feet hurt. Can we take a break?” Laurelle asked. The soles of her bare feet were dirty and aching.
“Yes. That. Let’s do that. For once, I agree with this rodent,” Val commented.
Laurelle was unimpressed with his rude remark.
“All right, let’s stop here for ten minutes,” Akrillis decided. “I’ve just about had it, myself. I think I’ve got a blister.”
Another flare burnt out, and for a moment, they sat in darkness. When Akrillis finally whipped out another flare and lit it up, he noticed something. Above him was a doorway, and around it were hieroglyphics that he recognised.
“Hang on,” Akrillis said as he went back into his satchel to grab the paper Slick had given them. “They’re the same,” he informed.
“We found them!” Laurelle rejoiced as the relief washed over her.
“Did anyone else just feel the fur on the back of their neck stand up?” Val asked. “Almost as if we’re walking into a trap of some kind? No? Just me? Okay, that’s cool.”
“This isn’t a movie,” Akrillis told him once again.
“Hey, the treasure is always booby-trapped,” Val responded.
“We’re not looking for treasure,” Akrillis corrected.
“Okay, but if we find some, we still get to keep it, right? Or at least I do?” asked Vanakis.
“Val, will you stop thinking about yourself for two damn seconds?” Akrillis told him.
They stepped into the chamber and found more of those strange hieroglyphics all over the walls.
“I’m not even sure what we’re looking for,” Akrillis mentioned.
“Anything shiny,” Vanakis said.
“I’m scared,” Laurelle told them.
“Stay close,” Vanakis responded.
“That almost sounds like you care about her,” Akrillis pointed out.
“If anything happens, I can use her as a shield,” Vanakis said, revealing his intentions.
“What’s this?” Laurelle asked when she found a hole carved into the wall. Equipment was laying just nearby—evidence of former modern-day activity.
“Glory hole?” Vanakis wondered.
“Yeah, in a thousands-of-years-old temple,” Akrillis remarked. “I’m pretty sure this wasn’t the men’s bathroom.”
Laurelle wasn’t sure what they were going on about. “Should we put something in?” she asked. “See what happens?”
“Oh, hell yeah,” Vanakis responded with a dirty smile. “I double dare you.”
“Wait a second. You still have that dagger? The one we found on Etherel,” Akrillis asked his brother.
“Yeah, you said you didn’t want it. Get your own,” Val demanded.
“Would you just hand it over?” Akrillis insisted.
Vanakis reluctantly gave it up after he pulled it from his belt.
“Look at this,” Akrillis pointed out. “The hieroglyphics on the dagger match the ones in this room.”
“So?” Asked Val.
“And this hole in the wall—it’s triangular shape matches the blade of the dagger,” Akrillis continued.
“Oh, c’mon. There’s no way you’re gonna be able to do anything with that thing,” Vanakis commented. “I mean, let’s just— Oh, look at that, you did.”
The wall opened up when the dagger was inserted, like two doors revealing another corridor on the other side.
“Okay, that was just way too convenient. Certainly seems like we’re in a movie now,” Vanakis pointed out.
“Totally,” Akrillis chuckled.
Seems like the writer just wanted to move the plot along without having to explain a bunch of stuff in the process. Lazy ass. Wait, don’t tell him I said that. I need this job, dammit.
“That was convenient,” Laurelle mentioned.
“Yeah, it was,” Val added.
The room had a glowing crystal on a pedestal; it shone markings onto the roof.
“What is it?” Laurelle wondered as they all gazed up at the ceiling.
“It’s, our galaxy,” Akrillis pointed out. “A map of our galaxy.”
“So, is this map gonna lead us to the prymus thingy?” Val questioned.
“I don’t think so,” Akrillis shared. “I don’t exactly see an x marks the spot anywhere. It’s just a layout of the galaxy. Look, here’s Jenemi,” he pointed.
“And here’s Quallitra, and Magnus,” Vanakis added.
Laurelle grabbed the crystal off the pedestal, and the map on the ceiling was no more; it disappeared the moment she removed it.
“Be careful,” Akrillis warned.
“It might just be cursed,” Val joked.
Its blue glow dimmed.
“So, what happens now?” Wondered Akrillis.
“Well, this was no help,” remarked Vanakis. “That psycho researcher led us nowhere.”
“We don’t even know what it does,” Laurelle mentioned. “Maybe this leads to it.”
“How do we know this isn’t the prymus?” Vanakis asked.
“Because this is a crystal. The prymus is supposed to be a sphere of some kind—according to legend, anyway,” Akrillis noted.
“So, what the hell do we do with this?” Val responded with a tone that sounded like he had quickly lost his patience.
“It was projecting some kind of map or hologram before… Maybe we can get it to do that again,” Akrillis mentioned.
“So?” Laurelle wondered. “How do we do that?”
A sudden bang made all three of them jump.
“What the fuck was that?” Vanakis whispered.
“It came from the other room,” said Akrillis.
“What’s happening?” Laurelle asked with a frightened look on her face. Her muscles were tense as the knot in her stomach twirled.
“We need to check it out,” Akrillis told them.
“Right behind you, Captain Wow,” Vanakis told him.
Vanakis and Laurelle followed behind the courageous Akrillis. As he poked his head around the corner, he noticed humans scattered about the room—mercenaries who were armed and dangerous. How they found this temple was anyone’s guess. Why they were here was another good question. They were well-armed and clearly on the search for something.
“Who the hell are these guys?” Akrillis wondered.
“C’mon, we can go this way.” Vanakis led them down another corridor.
They managed to avoid detection and slip away. As they snuck down the tunnel, Akrillis pondered. “Do you know who these people are?” He asked his brother.
“Don’t know. Don’t much care. As long as they haven’t found us, they’re not our problem,” Vanakis responded.
As Val turned the corner, several of the mercs bore witness to the trio.
“Oh, shit. They found us!” Val shouted.
“Now they’re our problem!” Akrillis yelled as the three of them ducked back behind the corner.
The humans opened fire, and Vanakis quickly returned fire. A shootout ensued. The humans took cover behind stone pillars.
“Well, that’s just great!” Vanakis shouted. “Now how are we supposed to get out?”
“Gee, I don’t know!” Akrillis shouted right back. “You’re always full of bright ideas!”
They struggled to hear one another over the gunfire. Flashes of light from the blue plasma bolts now lit up the previously dark temple.
“That’s it!” Val said. Vanakis rolled a grenade around the corner. The commotion left the mercs totally unaware of it as they tried to eliminate the Tarians.
“Close your eyes!” Val yelled to the other two.
As it detonated, a flash of bright light consumed the room like lightning. The humans screamed in agony as their eyes burned and their retinas were stained.
“Bright idea achieved,” Vanakis told his brother.
“Hurry!” Laurelle rushed ahead, but not out of
courage, from fear. She was desperate to get away as quickly as she could.
The trio continued onward, doing their best to avoid more trouble. However, the humans had infested the temple, and with the trio’s presence now known, their escape was even more desperate. They turned corners and dashed down corridors, they felt like they were going in circles in this labyrinth which they had spent hours previously wondering. The three entered a huge hall of some sort where more mercenaries ambushed them. They were forced behind the enormously tall pillars as another shootout commenced.
“Isn’t this fun?” Val yelled.
“Speak for yourself, please!” Akrillis responded while firing his two handguns at their foes.
Vanakis shot his pistol, too, but soon decided he needed more firepower. His pistol unfolded and transformed to an assault rifle.
Laurelle hid behind a pillar and cowered away. She covered her ears and held her eyes tightly shut for a moment, before the terror pried them back open.
“The longer we’re here, the more mercs will be flooding in from other parts of the temple! We need to move!” Akrillis insisted.
Vanakis grabbed another grenade, pulled the pin, and held onto it. After waiting for the grenade’s timer to count down, during those quick three seconds before detonation, he tossed it upwards. Moments before hitting the unbelievably high ceiling, it finally went bang. The explosion caused rubble to crumble down towards them. Humans and Tarians ran from the debris. Mercs ran into the corridors behind them and the Tarians ran up the stairs towards the exit.
As they ascended the staircase, the rumble of thunder rattled their ears. Nearly at the top, the pouring rain and flashes of lightning grew even louder. When they stepped outside into the fearsome storm, Akrillis, Vanakis and Laurelle felt their clothes quickly soak. Akrillis looked down at the jungle and saw endless places to hide.
“Into the forest! Quick!” Akrillis shouted.
The three of them dashed down the immeasurable steps. Vanakis got a little overexcited, and he slipped on the wet stone and tumbled the rest of the way. Laurelle and Akrillis darted down and finally reached the bottom.
“What took you guys so long?” Val asked, with bruises and scrapes all over him, as well as mud and his warm blood. His hat had fallen off to reveal his fairly short, wavy hair beneath.
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