“Oh god,” he muttered,
There was a breach in the pod’s walls. That’s what caused the draft as well as set off all the alarms.
He panicked almost immediately. There was no way he was going to survive for another minute if there was a breach in the walls.
And even if he managed to get to Hidea, the pod would never survive re-entry.
There was only one option left and he really didn’t like it.
“Ethosien,” he said and his suit constructed itself around him.
At least this works, he thought.
He pulled back his arm as much as he could, and rammed his metal fist into the glass window. It cracked a bit, but still held strong. A few good whacks later he’d finally broken through the glass.
The air inside rushed out the new breach, and he tried hard to not get swept away along with the short burst of rushing wind.
When everything had calmed he pushed his head out of the new breach and looked around.
Hundreds of miles below him was the large white planet, Hidea, the whiteness probably coming from all the snow. The other two escape pods floated relatively close to him. The one closest to him shone with bright red lights.
Ugh, one more dysfunctional pod, he thought.
He needed to get onto that pod. He tried to picture a path to it as best as he could and made the jump. The worst part was the waiting.
He had no clue whether he’d actually reach the other pod or not, and the thing about missing the mark was that he’d do it in slow motion.
And then he realized he hadn’t figured out one crucial part of the plan.
There was no way he could stop himself. Since this was space he’d just keep floating until something stopped him.
The other pod didn’t have any footholds or gaps that he could latch onto.
There were probably another ten seconds before he reached the pod. He seemed to have got the trajectory right, but now he had other problems to deal with.
Five seconds.
Think you idiot.
Two seconds.
He stretched out his arms.
I hope this works.
He focused on all the energy in his body. As soon as he felt the pod’s metal surface under his hands he willed it to heat up. The section under one of his hands glowed bright red and sank in a tiny bit. The deformation wasn’t as deep as he’d wanted but it was enough for him to stop his movement and latch onto the pod.
He grasped hard onto the makeshift grip hold and swung himself around so that his face was next to the glass lid. Taylor was the one in there.
“Taylor!” he yelled out.
No response.
Her face twitched and contorted, her skin sweating like it was over a hundred degrees in there.
A nightmare, he realized.
“Taylor, you have to wake up,” he banged on the glass lid.
He couldn’t break in because a large breach like that would kill her instantly. There was only one thing he could do, and he’d hate to do it
His hand kept its grip on the hold and he placed the other one on the glass lid.
I’m sorry, he thought.
He willed a rush of energy into his hands and imagined a streak of lightning going through the air inside the pod.
A small burst of electricity hit her and she seized immediately, her body trembling a slight bit.
Hopefully he’d just shocked her to wake her up instead of blowing her brains out.
Her eyes fluttered open, and then went wide when she saw all the red lights and warning signals.
Definitely didn’t blow her brains out, he thought.
He saw her mouth move and a white glow surrounded her. In seconds she got into her dark knight armor and broke through the glass lid.
“What’s happening?” her droopy voice came through the intercom in his suit. She sounded really dull but he knew he’d have put off talking to her until they got out of this mess.
“Both of our escape pods were breached.”
“Probably a stray meteor. Is Elizabeth ok?”
“Her pod seems fine. It hasn’t given off any warning signals so far.”
Q looked into the distance at the white surface of Hidea. Another ten minutes and they’d get into the planet’s atmosphere.
“We’re going to have to find a way get to the surface without burning up.”
“Our suits won’t take the pressure of re-entry?”
“Definitely not. The escape pods themselves nearly burn up.”
“We don’t have much time left before re-entry.”
“Maybe Elizabeth can slow us down with her wings?”
“At this speed? No way. The air resistance would tear her wings apart”
“So we just wait and die?”
Q felt his body start to burn up intensely. His vision started to blur, the black space around him turning into different colors all at once.
And then it all stopped.
But he wasn’t in space anymore.
He could feel the temperature around him drop down.
Ice, he thought.
He saw a metal pod a few feet away from him.
Elizabeth, he thought.
And then to his left was Taylor.
She’d been teleported here as well.
Where was here anyway?
All Q could see was that they were in some sort of large ice cave, where the floor was completely made of thick ice as well.
And that’s when he noticed Taylor wasn’t saying anything.
“Hey? Taylor?” he walked over to her and shook her, “Taylor! Snap out of it.”
“I killed them,” she said, her voice completely dazed and in monotone. She’d snapped.
“What?”
“I killed my parents. It wasn’t an assassin. It was me.”
“What? Are you crazy? Why in the world would you think that?”
“The masked man showed them to me,” she said. “Those were so vivid.”
“Wait. You saw him too?”
She nodded, her eyes looking completely empty.
He shook her, “You. Stupid. Girl,” he said. “He’s toying around with you. Can’t you see that? Remember when I had my nightmare? He made me watch as someone I held close was killed. He can manipulate what you see. That dream was nothing but his way of throwing you off your guard, and it’s actually working on you.”
“Really?” she asked, her voice sounding more hopeful.
He gave her a tight hug, “Trust me. All you saw was what he wanted you to see. Nothing else. It was just a bunch of lies he strung together. I might not know as much as you do, but I guarantee that what he showed you wasn’t even close to what actually happened.”
A bit of life flowed back into her eyes.
Right after, a rectangle of light shone on the walls and interrupted them.
“Why hello there, ya two,” a large, heavily-dressed man stepped out of the light and grinned with his tainted teeth, “Nice of you to drop in.”
***
5-1
“Captain Griffin,” Q muttered.
“Now, now,” the Pirate Captain walked towards him. “I must welcome my guests, right?”
Q looked at Taylor, “I’ll distract him. Get Elizabeth out of the pod.”
She ran off, the sound of her footsteps fading into the distance.
She’s more focused, he thought. Which meant she’d put the whole dream thing behind her.
And then came a loud thud.
He turned around and saw Captain Griffin standing over a fallen Taylor.
How in the world? he thought.
That guy had moved at an insane speed. Did he actually have super speed in his Zyxian genes?
“Disobedient children must be punished,” he said. “Although I do feel sorry for you so I’ll give you a fighting chance.”
He walked over to the pod and smashed it open.
Oddly enough, Elizabeth was already wearing her armor but she seemed asleep.
How one
could sleep through that whole ordeal he had no clue but he felt a bit relieved after seeing she had her armor on. He didn’t know if her species could survive in this environment, and he really didn’t want to find out right now.
“Now,” Griffin turned to him, “Let’s take it down under.”
He raised his fist and smashed it into the ice floor.
A fissure broke through the surface, and a large section of the ice collapsed, taking everyone along with it.
They dropped twenty feet and hit the floor hard. Luckily Q’s suit absorbed most of the fall and prevented the stone floor from cracking him open.
What in the world is going on? he thought.
A plethora of voices came from all around.
He looked up and he didn’t like what he saw.
This was a stadium of sorts. A rugged gladiator stadium perhaps.
Thousands of pirates stood around the arena, an ellipse about two hundred yards long.
Shouts and swearing filled the air.
Captain Griffin stood a few yards away from him, Taylor’s neck in one hand, Elizabeth’s in the other. And ironically, Elizabeth had finally woken up.
Q’s mind froze. No, he thought. This wasn’t going to be like what the masked man did. He wasn’t going to let that happen.
Never.
“I hear you be a mighty good fighter, eh?”
He didn’t react at all.
“Me boys haven’t had any fun since the Masked Magician came.”
“The Masked Magician?” his eyes almost lit up at the name.
“Ah, I see I have your interest. Let me make you a deal,” he let the two girls go and they dropped to the floor. “Give me a good fight, and I may just tell you what you want to know.”
“Fine. But you give me the map as well.”
Griffin smiled, “So you know of the map, eh? Fine. If you win you get the map as well.”
“Deal.”
Griffin jumped to one of the longer parts of the Arena. Literally. In one single jump. The guy clearly had superhuman strength. No wonder he’d been able to move around so fast.
The stadium rose up at that end in a sort of heightened platform and on it was a small arch with a large throne under it.
No doubt that was Griffin’s. He jumped up to the platform as sat down on his throne.
Pompous idiot, Q thought.
The Captain raised his hand and everyone went quiet.
He put two fingers to his lips and whistled.
That can’t be good, Q thought.
He turned around. Taylor and Elizabeth were on their feet, but for some reason he didn’t feel like he could completely depend on those two this time around.
But all that depended on what this thing coming after him was.
THUMP.
He saw shards of ice fall from above him. His eyes instinctively looked up. A large shadow appeared on the other side of the ice ceiling.
It bellowed and the ceiling cracked.
Tons of shredded ice fell onto the arena, creating an icy mist and revealing nothing but a dark shadow within.
What is that thing? he thought.
Another bellow shot through the air, its sheer force pushing away the mist.
The beast emerged.
And Q was terrified.
It was a dragon with a pure ice-body that had multi-colored liquid flowing all through it like it was some sort of blood system. It was at least sixty feet tall and easily a hundred feet long, appearing even larger when it reared up on its hind legs and stretched out its wings, two razor sharp extensions each about twenty feet long.
Whatever that thing was, it was a perfect 10 on the beast meter.
***
Q’s mind was blank. Empty.
He didn’t know what to think. He didn’t know how to even start planning.
“Q!” Taylor yelled through the suit’s intercom.
“What?”
“Focus. We can take this thing down.”
“What is it anyway?”
“An Eki. A beast native to Hidea. It’s very ancient. And pretty rare too. I’d say only ten or so still exist.”
“Forget the history lesson, professor,” Elizabeth said.
“Wait,” Q said. “Does this mean we shouldn’t kill it?”
“All we have to focus on is winning and getting the map.” Taylor said.
“Does Captain Griffin even have the map?” Elizabeth asked.
“I made my suit scan him before they released the Eki. The map’s on his belt.”
“Guys?” Q backed up. “Eki.”
The beast sank its sharp claws into the hard stone floor and bellowed.
“Split up. Triangle,” Taylor ran off.
“We can’t use melee attacks on it,” Elizabeth said as they got into formation. “It’ll just bounce it all off.”
“Wave skills then?” Q asked.
“Yeah. Taylor, you act as a distraction.”
First try and see if your attacks even graze it,” she said. “These things have been around this long for a reason.”
“I’ll go,” Q bent his knees and shifted his weight to his lower body. “Let’s see how this thing likes a little flame.”
He stretched out his hands, one palm facing the dragon and the other facing the floor behind him. His mind focused on the energy inside him, and he imagined it flowing into the air around his arms. He imagined the air becoming hotter and hotter. A fireball formed around each arm, slowly growing in size.
His eyes opened up, calm, collected, focused. “Let’s go.”
He jumped high into the air and threw both fireballs straight at the Eki’s face. They exploded on contact, covering it up with smoke.
But he wasn’t going to stop there.
“Elizabeth, get it off balance. Now.”
A section of the floor under the smoke shifted upwards and the Eki’s cry immediately rang through the air.
Hopefully she’d been able to make it fall to the ground
His hands summoned one fireball after another, throwing them rapidly into the smoke like it was some sort of shooter game.
A blue glint shone through the smokescreen.
“Q!” Taylor tackled him out of the way and he flew through the air.
A stream of hot blue flames shot out of the smoke, clearing it up and making the stone floor glow bright red.
The beast flew out from behind the smoke, its body language showing it didn’t like Q’s fireball gifts.
Taylor pulled him to his feet, “That thing is too strong for you to be trying a single-handed assault.”
“A melee assault is just stupid and we don’t have enough people to launch a ranged one. Elizabeth has pretty strong wave-skills though. You could give us a melee distraction while she and I-”
“Just because I haven’t shown you how strong I can be doesn’t mean I’m not strong.”
Q kept quiet.
“Do you know what the secret of us Dark Knights is?” she smiled. “Dark Energy.”
The Eki started its assault on them, opening with a huge shot of green flames this time.
Q secretly wondered what colors of flames it could shoot out.
Elizabeth lifted her hands into the air and brought up a thick stone wall. It temporarily blocked the attack, but the Eki didn’t seem daunted. The wall itself started to shine bright red and began melting from the sheer heat.
“I’ve got a plan, but you’ll have to trust me on this,” Taylor said.
Q nodded.
“Focus all your energy. One lightning blast. Hit me with it.”
“What?!”
“Trust me,” she said again.
“Elizabeth, hold that wall up for a little longer.”
The yells from the pirates seemed to become louder.
Guess they don’t like it if no one’s getting hurt, he thought.
He focused on all the energy within him. Every ounce, every drop he had access to, every single drop he could find.
His
hands raised into the air and his mind concentrated, focusing on a single bolt of lightning. He waited for as long as he could, siphoning every last bit of power he had within him.
He brought his hands down, his mouth letting out a terrifying scream.
A bolt of lightning shot from the ceiling and hit Taylor’s armor.
Q collapsed to the floor, his mind feeling drunk and confused.
He heard Taylor scream in pain and his dazed mind saw her dark suit radiating with sparks of blue electricity.
She put her hands in front of her, “Darhell,” she yelled.
A tremendous beam of pure black rammed into the Eki, sending him flying into the Arena walls.
The pirate crowd went completely silent.
Taylor walked over and knelt next to him. He could hear her rigid and broken breathing.
“That was amazing,” he managed to say.
“I don’t think we should try it one more time though,” she collapsed onto the floor, completely exhausted.
He felt her hand latch onto his wrist and his body instantly re-energized. It didn’t go back to normal, but it was enough to make him move around properly.
She’d probably given him back the energy she’d taken.
Thanks Taylor, he thought.
“You both are idiots,” Elizabeth smiled.
Q sat up, “Where’s the Eki?”
Elizabeth pointed to the end of the arena right below Captain Griffin’s throne.
The Eki was completely covered with rubble, its head the only thing that protruded out a bit.
Whatever it was that Taylor did, it had worked.
And that was when he noticed that the entire stadium was still quiet.
Every voice had gone silent.
The Captain stood up at his seat, and he didn’t look happy.
Q bit his lip, “Boy are we in trouble.”
***
It took the Captain two jumps to get to their side this time.
“Well,” he said, his voice much colder than before.
“The map?”
“Take it,” he said and gave Q a small pearl like object.
Q looked at Taylor, who still lay exhausted on the floor.
“That’s the map,” she mumbled.
“You’re actually giving it to me?” Q asked.
He honestly expected the guy to trick him towards the end.
“I am a man of me word,” he said. “But know this. The map isn’t going to help you at all.”
The Quest Saga Collection: Books 1 - 5 Page 22