Then, as if the elephant was filled past its capacity, the entire thing sparked. Arcs of crackling energy rushed over it. Light emitted from cracks that had appeared along its once seamless body. With little in the way of warning, the entire thing exploded, sending plumes of fire and smoke sky high.
Kane and Abel were flung into the air, disappearing until they were nothing but a twinkle in the sky. Alex was lucky. He didn’t get launched very far. He flew through the air before landing stomach first on a branch, and there he hung, unconscious and groaning.
Gabrielle, still standing on the ground, frowned.
“I think I need to make some modifications to my next Mr. Elephant Vacuum,” she determined. “Maybe I should add a D-space inside of it so it can contain more stuff?”
No one answered her.
5
They were standing by a canal.
Alex watched the water flow, slowly moving toward one of several plants, whose sole purpose was cleansing the water so that it could be re-used. His mind, which should have been like a tumultuous ion storm, was a lot like this river—calm. Tranquil. Placid.
“Those people who were after you, they weren’t kidnappers, were they?” Alex asked.
Gabrielle was sitting next to him. She seemed oblivious to his feelings. “Kidnappers? Abel and Kane aren’t kidnappers. Why would you think that?”
Her words made Alex feel strangely empty. “Then who were they?”
“They’re my bodyguards.”
“Bodyguards…”
“Yes!” Nodding, Gabrielle tucked a strand of hair behind her long left ear. “Kane and Abel have been my bodyguards for about ten years. They’re part of Azazel’s group. Oh! Azazel is the head of my bodyguards. He’s also a commander in the Angelisian army.”
He didn’t know who “Azazel” was, but he was beginning to understand something. This girl had never been in danger. The people after her weren’t kidnappers who wanted to sell her as a slave, but concerned bodyguards who wanted to bring their wayward charge back home. What’s more, Alex now understood that Gabrielle had run away from home. She’d run away from her parents.
Turning around, Alex began to walk home. Gabrielle climbed to her feet and followed him.
“Are we going back home now?” she asked.
Alex didn’t stop walking. “We are not doing anything. I am going home. You’re going to wait for Kane and Abel and go back home with them.”
“W-what?” Gabrielle’s eyes became wide and round. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that you should go back home,” Alex said. “I’m sure your family is worried sick about you.”
“But I thought you were gonna let me stay with you.”
“Yeah, well, that was before I found out that you weren’t in any danger.” Alex brushed her off. “Go home, Gabrielle.”
“But I—”
“Go home!”
Gabrielle stumbled backward in shock. Alex felt a moment of guilt, an unsettling ball in the pit of his stomach, but he squashed the feeling quickly by reminding himself that Gabrielle wasn’t in danger. She was no damsel in distress. She was just a girl who’d run away from her parents.
Gabrielle made no move to follow him.
On that day, Alex left Gabrielle to fend for herself.
On that day, Alex broke a promise.
Interlude
Commander Meets Commander
Azazel was a commander in the Angelisian army. Known throughout the galaxy as one of the best swordsmen ever seen, his skills with a blade were often spoken of in hushed tones of reverence and fear. For this reason, he had been charged with protecting the first princess of Angelisia, Gabrielle Angelise.
Most regrettably, Azazel had met his match in the precocious young princess. Gabrielle might have acted like a naive girl, and she might even fit the part, but she was also headstrong and intelligentーnot to mention devious. Already, she’d managed to fool him and the other guards under his charge many times in her efforts to escape from the palace.
They usually caught her fairly quickly, but this last time, the girl had been more cunning than usual, convincing her younger sisters to run away, too. With all three sisters running off, they’d been unable to prioritize who to chase after until it was nearly too late.
In the end, they had chased down and captured Princesses Ariel and Michelle, since they were younger and therefore more likely to get hurt without someone protecting them.
Gabrielle had taken full advantage of the opportunity, hijacking a space shuttle and leaving the planet before they could catch her. She’d even taken steps to ensure that they couldn’t follow her for several hours, locking down the shuttle bay doors, and using a complex algorithmic program that changed the password every .25 seconds.
They had managed to open the doors by decoding the pattern used in the program’s algorithm, but by that point, it had already been too late. Gabrielle had made her first warp.
They had chased after her, of course, jumping through warp points and following the trail that she left behind. They tracked her from one side of the galaxy to the other, but then the princess had used that invention of hers to teleport onto Mars, a planet inhabited by humans.
Humans were new to the galactic community. They were an odd race. There were numerous humans in various parts of the galaxy. Despite coming from different systems entirely, all humans were born more or less the same.
That said, this solar system’s technology had yet to reach the level where these humans could travel beyond its rim. They were, in a word, primitive, compared to the other humans.
Necessity had dictated that Azazel contact their leaders, the so-called Galactic Defense Force, and strong-arm them into cooperating with them. It had been easy. Humans were easily cowed when faced by someone stronger than them. A small display of power, the eradication of a nova-class star, and they had bent over backwards to accommodate him.
Of course, there are a few that aren’t so accommodating, he thought wryly.
Azazel stood in front of a desk inside of an office with white walls and gray carpet. One wall contained several plaques, trophies of some kind, Azazel assumed. The plaques were made of gold and had the words Best Sharpshooter on Mars embossed on them, followed by a series of dates going from 2210 to 2217, showing that the owner of this office had consecutively proven herself to be the best shooter on Mars for several years.
The owner, who currently sat behind a desk, gave him a look that could have melted steel.
Karen Kanzaki appeared to be a very no-nonsense woman. The moment he had made contact with the humans to ascertain Princess Gabrielle’s location, this was the woman that had been charged with helping him accomplish his goals. She seemed to be a well-respected member of this planet’s security, though Azazel thought he’d sensed some ridicule from several of her seniors when they’d ordered her to aid him.
Right now, the woman looked a little frazzled. “Ugh, this is a disaster. An absolute, unmitigated disaster.”
“I do not think the situation is as dire as you say. It is true that my men were unable to make Princess Gabrielle return with us, and that the outer district has sustained some damage, but overall, I feel that—”
“Quiet!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Azazel’s spine straightened from the glare that she tossed him. What a frightening look! It was giving him, the best swordsman in the Angelisian army, chills.
“The damage done to Mars City is definitely a cause for concern, and I’m pretty damn annoyed that your men played a part in it—you’ll be paying for repairs, by the way. However, the biggest issue isn’t the destruction your people caused, but the person they ran into.”
“You mean that boy?” Azazel had received a report from his men. Lady Gabrielle had apparently been taken in by a human boy, and he had helped her fend off Kane and Abel’s attack. It was impressive, to be sure, but nothing particularly alarming. “Surely, this one human boy couldn’t possibly be a cause f
or concern—”
“Shut up!”
“Eek!”
“You know absolutely nothing about that boy. He’s quite possibly the most troublesome individual I’ve ever met. He’s a bonafide genius whose inventions cause destruction wherever he goes. If that wasn’t enough, then he’s also a topnotch athlete whose reckless idiocy causes his already destructive tendencies to increase severalfold.”
Karen paused, but only long enough to regain control of her breathing. Her face had become awfully red, as if she’d been exerting herself more than someone who was yelling as she sat behind a desk.
“He also has this stupid notion in his head that in order to follow in his father’s footsteps, he needs to become some kind of hero. He jumps headlong into every dangerous situation without thinking, helps anybody who needs it without a care for his own safety, and is so stubborn that once he decides to do something, nothing short of dropping a nuclear warhead on him will get him to stop whatever self-appointed mission he’s set for himself.”
Karen seemed to realize that she was losing control of her emotions and calmed down. Azazel wondered about what had caused such a reaction. It sounded like she was personally acquainted with this boy.
“It is this boy that your princess is now residing with. Do you understand what that means? Do you realize what kind of trouble this will cause? Look at the damage that’s already been done as a result of your people duking it out with him and tell me that this isn’t a problem.”
Azazel looked into Karen’s eyes for a moment, and then looked away when her gaze made him feel like she was piercing his armor.
Truly, he had never met a more frightening woman before.
“I cannot. He does sound like quite the troublesome opponent.”
“Troublesome doesn’t begin to describe Alexander S. Ryker.”
As Karen rubbed her head, Azazel studied her. She was one of the few humans that he’d interacted with for any length of time, and if she was the standard for the humans of this solar system, then it may prove beneficial to act with caution around them—at least for now.
“If this boy really is such a problematic foe, then I shall deal with him myself.”
Karen narrowed her eyes at him. “And what do you mean by ‘deal with him?’”
“I mean that I shall defeat him in combat, or even slay him if I—”
Karen stood up and slammed a fist on the table. “You will do no such thing!”
“Urk!”
Needles. Her eyes were like needles! They pierced straight through his skin with enough force to cause an almost physical pain! How could a human have such a frightening gaze?
Karen’s glare did not lessen as she sat back down. “I am going to warn you right now that I won’t stand for you trying to harm him in any way. That boy may be a problem child, and he may be destructive, and he may even be an idiot who acts before he thinks, but he’s also the son of someone that the police venerate as a hero. Not to mention his father was someone that I personally admired. Harm one hair on his head, and I will see to it that you’re jettisoned into space before you can say ‘Angelisia.’”
Azazel gulped. So, the boy’s father was some kind of hero, but the boy himself was a troublesome young man who caused problems for everyone around him? For some reason, that felt very familiar to him, though he couldn’t fathom why.
“If that is what your wish, then I shall be careful not to harm him.” Azazel held an enclosed fist to his heart. “You have my word as a commander of the Angelisian empire.”
Chapter 4
A History of Hardship
“Achoo!”
Alex’s sneeze resounded throughout the Metronome Sweet Shop. Several patrons looked at him, but when he ignored everything and continued to listlessly stare at the table, they went back to their conversations.
One day. Only a single day had passed since Alex had abandoned Gabrielle. He already felt awful, like the solar system’s biggest douchenozzle.
The problem was that he couldn’t fathom why. He hadn’t done anything wrong. Gabrielle had run away from home, and he would have been a jerk to impede her bodyguards’ desire to return the girl to her family. He’d done the right thing, but…
If it really was the right thing to do, why do I feel so bad?
“You know,” a voice said to his left, “seeing you sit around my family’s shop like some kind of vegetable is depressing. Can you stop?”
“Selene,” Alex said, sighing. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to depress you.”
“Okay. Now I know something is wrong. Even when you’re depressed, you have more life than this. Whatever happened must have really hit you hard.” Sliding into the seat opposite him, Selene leaned forward and placed a hand over one of his. “Want to talk about it?”
Alex sighed and, seeing no harm in telling her—provided he didn’t tell her the whole story—started explaining. “I made a promise to someone… a friend. I thought they were in danger and needed help. However, the other day, I found out that my friend’s been lying to me.”
“Are you angry at your friend?” Selene inquired.
“Of course I’m angry at my friend,” Alex snapped, and then he sighed and slumped back onto the table. “But I think the person I’m angrier at is myself. I didn’t even listen to her side of the story. I just left her.”
“That does sound like a problem.” Selene nodded… then paused. “Wait. Her?”
“What do you think I should do?” Alex asked.
Selene frowned at him, but then she adopted a thoughtful expression. “Well, if my friend lied to me, then I’d probably be angry, too. But, I think that after a while, my anger would cool down, and I’d listen to what my friend had to say. Maybe they had a good reason for doing whatever it was they did.”
“So, you’re saying I overreacted?”
“Well, maybe not overreacted, but I think you should get your friend’s side of the story now that you’ve cooled down.”
Alex knew that Selene was right. At the time, he’d been so angry at Gabrielle that he hadn’t been thinking logically. However, now that he was thinking about it, Gabrielle didn’t strike him as the type to run off on a whim. She was whimsical, sure, but she was also a good person. Something must have happened, and she’d decided that running away was her only option. He was sure of it.
I should have listened to her.
“You’re right, Selene.” Alex leapt to his feet and clenched his left hand into a fist. “I should find Gabrielle and ask her to tell me her side of the story.”
“Gabrielle?” Selene looked gobsmacked. “Is this person a girl?”
“Thanks, Selene!”
“Don’t ignore me! Alex!”
But Alex wasn’t listening anymore. He needed to find Gabrielle.
1
Azazel was in a jam.
He’d been trying to find the whereabouts of Princess Gabrielle and that Alexander boy, but instead he’d gotten lost. He didn’t know where. It wasn’t like he’d ever been in this city before, and all of the buildings looked the same.
They were so uniform, only differing in height and overall size. While Azazel was all for uniformity, he wished the buildings at least had some distinctive features. Maybe then he wouldn’t have gotten lost.
He wandered along a walkway, towering over everyone else. He was glad humans were so short, as it meant he could see over them more easily. He did wonder about their expressions, though. Why were they gaping at him like that? Why were their faces so pale? Was it the armor? The ears? The wings? Some of them were even running away. Now that was just rude.
“E-excuse me, sir.”
Azazel stopped walking. He looked down to address the person who was obviously speaking to him; it was a middle-aged man in a black uniform with shoulder pads and a chestplate. Having already met several law enforcement officers, he knew that this was the standard uniform they wore.
The man seemed a touch pale. Sweat gathered on his forehead, which he wiped a
way with his sleeve. Was he sick? He must have been. How admirable of him to work while under physical duress. Azazel almost cried in admiration for this man, whose dedication refused to let him stay home while sick.
“Yes, can I help you?” Azazel asked.
The man took several deep, panting breaths. He must have been really ill. He was even starting to shake. “I-I, t-that weapon you are carrying…”
“Weapon? Ah, you mean my energy sword.” Azazel held out his energy sword. A green blade shot from its hilt, humming and crackling with life.
The police officer backed up a step. “Y-yes, that weapon.”
“What about it?”
“Um, well, I-I don’t know how to tell you this, ah, sir, but civilians are not allowed to carry weapons of any kind, so, um, I’m afraid I must confiscate that.”
“W-what?” Azazel looked down at the much smaller man in shock. “Did you just tell me that you are going to confiscate my sword?”
The officer gulped. His legs started shaking. “I-I did. I am not sure how you acquired that strange weapon of yours, sir, but weapons of any kind, be they firearms or melee weapons, are strictly forbidden for all citizens to possess.”
Azazel frowned at the man, who thought he was some kind of civilian. This would not do, not at all. He needed to correct this person of their erroneous assumption.
“I am afraid you are mistaken, good officer of the law. I am not a civilian but a knight.”
“A knight?”
“That is correct. I am Azazel, a knight in the service of his majesty, King Lucifer, and one of his top commanders. This weapon was bestowed upon me by none other than his majesty after I earned my title. So you see, I am not a civilian.”
The officer scratched his cheek. “L-look, I don’t know anything about any of that. However, you’re not with the Galactic Defense Force, right?”
“Well, no, I’m not.”
“L-listen, the only people allowed to carry weapons on Mars are members of the Galactic Defense Force or the Interstellar Police Force, so even if you are a knight, I’m still going to have to confiscate that.”
Azazel was beginning to get somewhat annoyed by this man. He understood why they had this law, but a person of his status should have been exempt from it. Did this man not know who he was speaking to? Surely, Ms. Karen had told all of her people about him, and that he was allowed to carry his weapon.
A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol. 1 Page 10