D'mok Revival: The Nukari Invasion Anthology

by Michael Zummo

  “I might be able to play this.” Toriko stowed the crystal in one of her pockets and scanned the area.

  The light from the symbol beneath their feet faded fast, and the distortion in the air vanished with it. The green-blue fog around them dissipated along with the ghostly creature’s remains and the robed bodies.

  Toriko said, “The energy readings around us are unstab—”

  In a flash of light, they found themselves back in the temple room, on the stairs just before the energy wall Toriko detected earlier.

  “Why are we back here?” Mencari asked her.

  She shrugged. “Maybe all that energy was actually like a rift in space?”

  “What’s in the crystal, Toriko?” Seigie said. “It might help understand this place better.”

  Toriko pulled out the crystal and placed it with care into a small device hooked to her armguard. It fit snugly and, in moments, a projection appeared.

  “Oh,” Toriko said, surprised. “It looks like the guy we just saw.”

  The man in the holograph said, “I’m trapped here. We’ve looked for a way out, but everywhere we go there’s that shield … that damned shield! I can’t believe this, I just can’t believe it! They set me up, left me here to die!”

  His emotions were clearly at their breaking point, but he fought for control as he continued. “Eduru never told me about this plan. How long have they been devising this, excluding me? But … perhaps I understand. They thought I would object, that I would’ve seen the folly in it and this end for our brothers … trapped with the Council and the Amber Lords … left to die here. I would not have chosen this sacrifice!”

  “They all little girls?” Naijen sniped.

  “Who would have thought this temple would have such power?” the man continued. “Or that Cerna could have mastered it to this end! I’ve never seen anything like this before. Not even the most skilled Lord has shown this … defense.”

  Toriko thought aloud, “Maybe Cerna used the Cosmic Link?”

  “We’ve tried to reach her, but even when working with the other Lords, we don’t have the power to break through. Only Cerna can bring it down. But even the way to her is blocked by a similar shield! How could she manifest that type of power from within her own room? Curse her! She’s more capable than any of us guessed.

  “There is no food here, only a little water. And the damage has made even this mighty structure unstable. There is talk among the Dark Lords to set traps for any that might come after our fall. Who would come? Who is left? Perhaps those that knew of the attack and took shelter elsewhere?”

  “That explains the welcome we’ve had,” Mencari said.

  “There’s no way out—” The man’s demeanor changed. He straightened, and his eyes lost their hopelessness before the projection faded away.

  “So if Cerna created the shield before, then who’s doing it now?” Toriko said, pondering. “I mean, she couldn’t still be alive, right?”

  “You mean like the Dark Lords we just saw?” Seigie said.

  They continued to the top of the stairs. Just like around the temple, they passed over an unusual trench cutting through the stairs.

  “This must be where the shield was blocking the way up,” Mencari said. “Glad it’s not here now.”

  When they reached the top, they saw a short corridor that ended in two massive doors covered in tribal markings, and an unmistakable emblem.

  “D’mar,” Seigie said, beholding the proof of the connection to her people.

  Mencari drew closer. “This looks wrong.”

  A part of the design appeared out of place. Near the center, part of the symbol—the one that appeared as a sideways-lying letter “T” on his shoulder patch—appeared upside down. He reached out and touched it, was surprised that the flat section of stone slid at his touch. He massaged the pieces, moving them into the more familiar arrangement. As the last section moved into position, the sound of stone grinding on stone came from within the walls. The doors slid into the doorframe, revealing a massive chamber before them.

  Inside, a gentle glow illuminated the walls and ceiling. Along the floor, a glowing D’mar emblem spanned across the entire length of the floor. Mencari could see long vines draped like a massive curtain on the far end of the room, covering what appeared to be another set of giant doors.

  Strange whispers echoed within the chamber as they entered. The almost demonic sounds put him on edge. He looked around for the source. The sense of heaviness and foreboding before felt even greater here.

  “This place is creeping me out,” Toriko said.

  “That makes two of us,” Mencari replied, unnerved.

  The stench of ammonia filled the air, and a sensation like intense sunlight fell upon his skin. With each step, the nonsensical words echoed louder and angrier.

  Toriko scanned the area. “I can’t pinpoint the source. It’s like it’s coming from everywhere.”

  After reaching a crescendo, the noise stopped. Mencari looked suspiciously about. “Why did it stop?”

  “Who cares?” Seigie said. “Glad it did.”

  The ground began to rumble, and radiance poured from behind the vines ahead. From portals of energy, fleshy appendages pushed through.

  Through a swirl of amber light, a squirming mass of white tentacles emerged. Hundreds of tiny eyes, which dotted its body, glared at the group.

  A cancerous-looking mass of lumps floated through the vortex of minty light. Countless squiggling appendages flailed. The golden globes on each tip created psychedelic patterns of light.

  Toriko yelled, “Defense mode!”

  With an obedient bark, Spark ran to her side, his blaster tail pointed and ready to fire.

  “They don’t scare me,” Naijen scoffed, “they just big—”

  Bolts of electricity arced across the glowing golden orbs of the lumpy beast. The warrior’s body froze, and Mencari saw a manic twitch in his eye.

  Teeth bared, a snarl escaped. Then, with a grunt that became a yell, Naijen thrust the Skar forward, taunting the beasts.

  “Plan?” Seigie muttered.

  The creatures’ glow intensified as they moved toward the group.

  “Plan?” Naijen roared. “Fight!”

  He drove forward toward the amber creature, Skar held tight in a striking position.

  “Wait!” Mencari yelled. But his words were too late. A green bolt of energy crackled through the air and struck the amber creature. Its body became translucent, and it hung in the air like a ghost.

  The Skar’s blades whooshed, but sliced harmlessly through the air. Without a body to stop his momentum, Naijen rumbled forward. He scrambled back to his feet and swung wildly in the air, waiting for the creature to become solid.

  “I see … swirling energy, like spirits of pure energy!” Toriko muttered, glancing between her scan results and her own miraculous eyes.

  “Naijen, back off!” Mencari ordered.

  Mencari fired futilely at the amber creature. No matter the power level, the beam passed through without harm.

  Naijen turned and slashed at the other beast. Moments before striking, an amber bolt of energy struck the bulbous beast, making it take on the same ghostly appearance. Again the blades slashed through air.

  Arcs of power began to dance around the edges of the beasts.

  “Get away from there!” Toriko yelled. “There’s power building fast!”

  “No kiddin’!” he barked.

  Mini-T appeared in a fountain of light next to Mencari. “I found a few references to beasts like this,” she said. “Celestial—typically deadly.”

  “Great,” Mencari said, firing his hand-phaser at the amber beast.

  “It says you can’t hit them with conventional weapons,” she added.

  Naijen’s head cocked to the side as he leaped back. “Then we change methods!”

  The blades of the Skar snapped back into the hilt, and he slapped it onto his hip. His hands filled with blue-white energy. With a howl
, he pounded them together, which unleashed a blast at the amber creature. Squirming tentacles sheared off as it hit.

  A high-pitched shriek echoed through the room, and swirling eddies of power dotted the ceiling. Sudden bolts of energy arced from the eddies toward them. They scattered, barely evading them.

  Pulsing green and red glows beamed from Seigie’s hands. She pounded her fists together. The light blurred, then turned into a vortex of flame that shot toward the amber beast. Tentacles spastically flared as the heat seared its skin.

  Naijen roared as a bright golden energy extended from his hand over the Skar. His next swing sent blades of golden light ripping through the air. Tentacles sheared off the lumpy creature, despite its attempt to dodge the attack. Tiny balls of light at the end of the severed appendages flickered, then disappeared.

  Mencari’s hands, set ablaze with red energy, unleashed balls of energy that looked like a comet storm. The ghastly shriek echoed as the green creature’s flesh scorched.

  The beasts turned and discharged massive bolts of energy into a circle of vines on the ceiling. Mencari, Naijen and Seigie were about to unleash a new attack when an alien symbol appeared on the great doorway and sparkled with energy.

  The mad whispers filled the chamber as a deep rumbling resumed all around them. A white beam swept across the room. In response, their protective auras surrounded their bodies. Naijen looked at his glow and said, “Oh, dis ain’t good.”

  The beam’s color changed to a blood red and set the very air around them ablaze. Their shields protected them, but didn’t prevent them from being blown to the ground. The quaking increased and chunks of rock from the ceiling broke free. The three scrabbled across the ground for cover. When the symbol on the door began to glow again, Naijen grunted, “Not again!”

  Seigie grabbed a handful of diamonds and crushed them to dust with her fingers. As she threw it, a protective fog formed around them. The beam stuck the cloud and refracted into a shower of harmless spears of light.

  Toriko pointed to the ceiling and shouted, “I can see the energy drawing from that spot to the door!”

  “Hit it!” Seigie yelled.

  With a grunt, Naijen impaled the Skar into the ground as his hands filled with power. Mencari followed suit. The pair glowed with power.

  In tandem, the two unleashed their attacks. Seigie threw another handful of diamond dust into the air. The symbol on the door glowed with even greater brilliance. A wider, more-powerful beam blasted forth and caught the two creatures in the wake. Despite the diamond dust dissipating the energy, the wake blew the them, flailing, into the air. The rumbling ceased, and only Toriko’s moan broke the eerie silence.

  The two beasts were shriveling away, as if the water was being sucked from their bodies. In moments they were crusty remnants of their former selves.

  Toriko cried out, “Are you okay?”

  Mencari gave her a high sign, as they struggled back to their feet.

  An eerie silence came over the room. The symbol on the door morphed into the interlocking crescent emblem seen before. The curtain of vines browned and fell away to allow easy access to the massive doors beyond.

  Toriko sighed. “It was close, though.”

  CHAPTER 14:

  The Cosmic Link

  Naijen grunted, putting his back into pushing open the ancient doors.

  “You sure they don’t pull open?” Seigie said.

  Naijen scoffed and pushed harder.

  Dust fluttered down from the doorframe, moments before it moaned. The gritty grind of stone on stone filled the chamber and the doors began to move. Naijen looked back to Seigie with a mocking sneer.

  They were met by a sight more indicative of a dance club than an ancient temple. Multicolored light washed in wild patterns across the walls in a cavernous room. The spectacle appeared to come from a person-sized cylinder of crystal at the far end of the room.

  “It’s beautiful,” Toriko said, mesmerized. “It’s wafting energy in lattice-like patterns. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “Does it look like the energy used in that dome outside?” Mencari asked.

  She shrugged. “Looks like? No. But it still could be the source.”

  Mencari and Seigie approached it while Toriko looked on, amazed. Inside its crystal walls, blazing plasma churned furiously.

  “Look at this,” Seigie said from behind the cylinder.

  Running from the ceiling to the floor was a conduit of the dark stone. Dotted with small crystal windows, Mencari could see the same plasma energy pulsing within it. A crystal protrusion connected it to the cylinder.

  He looked closer. Something about the connector looked odd. It glowed brighter than the cylinder, perhaps from the amount of power passing through. But that wasn’t it. It was shaped like a massive glaive, laid on its side. Perhaps it was just coincidence, but it looked like a weapon.

  “So do we just blast it?” Naijen said, impatient.

  “Someone needs to teach you strategy,” Seigie said.

  “Stra-gidy? I blast or maim, I don’t need nothin’ else.”

  “It’s about knowing when to do it, meathead—”

  “We’re not doing anything until we understand it better,” Mencari said, hoping to quell the growing tension. He moved to investigate the cylinder further, but stopped cold when he spotted something in the darkness. Alarmed, he held out his hand to keep the others away.

  The outline of a figure sat motionless in the shadows. Naijen grunted and drew his Skar.

  Mencari pointed into the darkness. “Light.”

  “Got it,” Toriko said, shining a suit-light

  Shriveled limbs protruded from a white robe, which was slumped over a long, stony console.

  “Is it dead?” Toriko asked.

  “Will be if it’s not,” Naijen snorted, and started forward.

  “Wait, I see Tertrn crystals,” Seigie said.

  She was right. Next to the body, poking out from under a hand, three orbs sat half embedded in the console.

  Seigie managed to push her way past Naijen. “Nothing to kill here,” she said. The warrior snarled.

  Avoiding the corpse, she lightly stroked the first crystal. It hummed faintly, then glowed a deep peach color.

  A fountain of light jetted into the air and a young man wearing a white robe appeared. He stood in a darkened room lit only by candles and ornate sconces.

  “Are you ready for today?” he said aloud.

  The view panned to a woman lost in thought, sitting on a large throne, her gaze into the distance. A six-inch-long crest of bone appeared to grow from the woman’s head. Mencari thought it looked like a bright-white tiara atop her silvery hair. White, flowing robes wrapped her tall, statuesque body and cream-colored skin.

  “She’s … beautiful,” he said.

  Behind her, a large glaive was proudly displayed. Rows of seats were decorated in amber, purple, and silver cloth.

  Toriko said, “Hey. That’s the big room with the traps.”

  “Must be before the attack,” Seigie said.

  The man called out, “Today will be remembered as a great one for all Lords! They will be arriving soon.”

  The woman turned and looked toward him, apprehensive but hopeful. “It’s been a day long in the coming. I …” Her expression contorted with angst.

  “Why that look?” the man said. “You are so beautiful with any other expression.”

  She looked back with a slight smile. With a laugh, she accused, “Apple polisher.”

  “As your advisor, I only speak the truth.”

  She shook her head, a renewed confidence in her smile.

  “There. Now that’s the Cerna I know.”

  She paused, her face struggling against her dark concerns. “Why, after all this time? Why now?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “As if overnight, they decided to finally come. One day they say one thing, the next something different. What we want to hear—”


  “Isn’t this what you wanted? A debate? Bring the issues to the floor so we might all discuss them?”

  “I just don’t trust them,” She looked down with guilt.

  “Cerna …. I don’t think—”

  She’d looked up. Her face filled with fear and confusion.

  “What is it?”

  She stood from the throne, her expression pained and growing more intense. “A disturbance.” She grabbed up her glaive and ran to a temple window.

  “Cerna?”

  He hurried to join her, and the projection’s perspective tracked over his shoulder. An armada swiftly approached. A force of black-robed warriors hovered in space. Each burned with an angry purple aura. Beyond them, hundreds of stealthy-looking ships bore the yellow crescent emblem. Trailing this, a great furred beast, hundreds of times bigger than the largest ship and radiating a piercing white light, hovered, menacing. Despite its angelic appearance, the long, rough mane, twisted and barbed horns, vicious underbite, and razor-like claws, looked far more demonic.

  He gasped, “What is that?”

  “Sabereth—their celestial beast,” she said, her tone ominous.

  Around it was an army of dark-clad warriors. A second man’s voice boomed out: “Great Matriarch, we have arrived!”

  Cerna cried, “No!” as the image went dark.

  “So that’s how this all happened?” Toriko said. “But what was that creature? We didn’t see anything like it out there.”

  “Too bad, too!” Naijen said.

  “Let’s see the second crystal.” Seigie touched it. A fountain followed the dark, blood-red glow from deep within its core.

  “Where are you going, Cerna?” the man in the white robe said as he chased her down the corridor.

  “They’ve lost control of the Sabereth! We are all in danger now!”

  They dashed into a large chamber in which a large D’mar symbol glowed across the floor.

  Toriko gasped. “That’s just outside here!”

  “The fools!” Cerna shouted over her shoulder as she ran. “Do they not have minds to think with?”

  The man cried out as two huge beasts appeared next to the far doors.