Battle for the Afterlife Saga, Blue Courage (Action & Adventure Fantasy): Part 1, 2, and 3 Bundled

by CJ Davis

  Rajiv returned to the overhang and ran from pillar to pillar trying to mimic Reese. Despite his best effort, he was not quick enough to stay ahead of the galorim enhanced allosaurus. The creature drew closer and closer. Rajiv’s foot hit a loose stone and he was sent sprawling.

  The mighty beast snatched Rajiv by the foot and hauled him high into the air. Reese watched helplessly as Rajiv screamed in agony as he hung upside down, his head several feet from the shady ground. His salty blood leaked down from his ankle, and onto his dangling body and face.

  Reese tried to shut out Rajiv’s screams as he burst into the clearing and made a beeline for the temple. He tried to ignite his power but came up empty. He was exhausted, sweat pouring down his face.

  Rajiv grimaced as he felt the bones in his foot crack. Somewhere beyond the pain, he managed to pull his blade free of its sheath and tried to pierce the soft skin near the mouth of the beast. Blood poured from his wounds into his eyes. With a final shake from the beast, Rajiv’s sword flew from his hand and clattered to the ground.

  His eyes barely remained open and he hung limply from the great creature’s jaw, oblivious to the human death scream that echoed through the jungle just moments later.

  Cyrus pulled his blade from Kublai’s writhing body. Sacrifices had to be made, and Cyrus was not ready to die. He kicked the bleeding man into the path of the snake, and ran towards the temple.

  The serpent saw the injured Red on the ground, and shot straight toward him. Kublai managed to muster a final burst of flame as he was swallowed whole. The creature thrashed in pain, slamming itself against the hard dirt. It opened its mouth. Kublai tumbled out, dead. He vanished in a brilliant flash of light.

  Reese’s head snapped up when he heard the scream. Was it Kate? He nearly forgot his task, almost missing Cyrus’s approach.

  Reese whipped around, blade in hand. He hesitated for a moment, missing his opportunity to deliver a fatal blow. Cyrus lunged with all his might nearly cutting off Reese’s sword hand.

  With the flash from Kublai still shimmering near its head, the massive snake moved slowly towards the fighting men. It would take more than one kill to satiate his enormous appetite. His slender tongue flickered in and out.

  The movement of the snake alerted the dinosaur to an even greater meal. He opened his mouth, and his defeated prey tumbled to the floor. Rajiv whimpered with pain and pulled himself slowly into the shadows of one of the pillars, leaving a bloody trail behind him.

  Coming from the direction of the temple stairs, both predators converged on the fighting warriors. Cyrus blocked Reese’s sword, and smashed his massive fist into Reese’s jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground. Cyrus quickly turned and retreated from the beasts into the jungle.

  In a daze from the punch, Reese was still unable to ignite his quickness. With little time to think Reese pulled himself up and faced the incoming creatures, digging his heels into the sand.

  Reese’s heart nearly pounded out of his chest.

  At the last possible moment, Reese dove to his right. The snake wildly veered toward Reese and smashed into the allosaurus and some of the pillared structure.

  With a loud creaking noise, a large support stone toppled, bringing down a huge section of the ceiling. The two creatures vanished from sight under the rubble.

  Reese rolled to his side, hoping to see some blinding flashes after the giant crash, but nothing followed.

  “Rajiv!” Reese screamed. Frantically, he scanned the wreckage. After an interminably long moment, he spotted Rajiv’s hand waving weakly from under the rubble.

  “Hang in there!” Reese yelled. He scrambled to his feet. He was filled with hope as he realized the deadly creatures were momentarily out of this fight, and the stairs were only thirty feet away. Without warning Cyrus’s ancient blade came swinging in from his peripheral vision. Reese quickly blocked the attack, and finally was able to activate his hyper mode again.

  He swerved from the blow and grabbed his knife, sending its keen edge towards Cyrus’ throat. Abruptly, the move was blocked. Reese blanched as he realized that his opponent must also have hyper speed.

  Cyrus kicked sand up in the air and lunged at him, closely missing Reese’s hip. Reese countered knocking the tip of Cyrus’s sword into the ground. With his other hand Cyrus drove a dagger in toward Reese’s chest. He ducked and the sharp weapon cut his blue uniform by his collarbone. Reese head butted Cyrus, giving him a moment to breathe as his opponent stumbled.

  “Aahhh!” Reese let out a primal scream and bull rushed Cyrus swinging crazily with every step. No matter how fast or how hard he swung, Cyrus was blocking at the last second everything Reese mustered.

  Breathing heavily, out of the corner of his eye, Reese saw Hector and Kate making their way out of the jungle. Hector still held his knife to Kate’s neck.

  Cyrus bolted toward the stairs. Reese raced after him, cutting him off at the base of the stairs. They both fought for higher ground. Cyrus swiped at Reese’s eyes, then shoved off, leaping with the agility of hyper speed. Reese moved into hyper speed himself, only to discover Cyrus descending gradually, still bound by the slower rules of gravity. Reese had plenty of time to ready his weapon. With one powerful stroke, he severed Cyrus’ lower arm from his body.

  Cyrus let out a terrible scream, and he hit the stairs and rolled helplessly down several steps. Blood spurted from his open wound with every beat of his heart.

  Reese kicked Cyrus’s blade over the edge, and stood over him. Cyrus was rolling in excruciating pain on the steps. Reese paused and held back everything in his being to not destroy one of the most evil men to ever live. This is the man that killed his mother and betrayed the Blues.

  Cyrus was waiting for the final blow to finish him off, but it never came.

  “I will not destroy you Cyrus,” Reese said. “I follow the Blue warrior code, like you once did.”

  Cyrus laughed through his teeth, as he tightened a makeshift tourniquet on his arm.

  “What are you laughing at?” Reese asked in frustration.

  “You think you’ve won,” Cyrus replied condescendingly.

  Reese stared blankly at Cyrus.

  “Hector!” Cyrus screamed.

  Hector had moved Kate to the bottom of the stairs. He stood behind her and held Kate in submission still with his arm around her neck.

  “I will cut her head off if you take another step toward that temple Reese,” Hector yelled from the bottom of the stairs. He squeezed his left arm hard around Kate’s bare neck and she choked in pain.

  “Now you’re going to let me crawl past you, and get to the podium, or Hector will destroy her,” Cyrus demanded.

  Reese paused. He looked at the temple. He glanced at his Blue uniform, and he knew what he had to do.

  Looking down into Kate’s eyes, her expression said everything he needed to see. She mouthed the words, “Let me go’ to Reese, and smiled peacefully at him, her eyes filling with tears.

  “Good bye Kate, I love you,” Reese mouthed back to her, also welling up.

  Reese thought of the moment him and Kate chose the path of a Blue Centennial warrior together. It was actually her passion that finally convinced him to risk their eternal love. He had memorized her words and replayed them over and over again in his head.

  “Millions of people are suffering. We have to do everything in our power to stop them. We were granted a great gift, an amazing gift. If sacrificing our love is what it takes to put an end to their infections evil, than we have to do what it takes. If we don’t do it, than who will?”

  These words were exactly the reason Reese loved Kate so much. She was the kindest, most unselfish and beautiful person he had ever known. She always pushed him to be a better person, including this very moment. He would not be the man he was without Kate. She forever changed him, and he would always be grateful.

  Reese nodded one more time confidently at Kate, managing to hold back a flood of emotions. He again mouthed I love you to his soul m
ate, and looked away.

  “You Inseparables are so predictable,” Cyrus said arrogantly. “Now as I crawl past you I don’t want you to…”

  “You disgust me,” Reese said. He defiantly looked at Cyrus, and sternly turned away from him, and towards the winner’s podium.

  The moment he turned his back to Kate, he suddenly felt the now familiar surge of energy that had led to his previous powers, and he began to levitate above the stairs.

  As he imagined moving to the top of the stairs he floated up a little higher. His arms flailed and he spun a little but he managed to fly quickly to the top of the stairs. He was so close to the podium he could almost reach it.

  “Noooo!” Cyrus cried in rage. “Kill her now!”

  He immediately dropped out of the air, his knees smacked hard onto the dirty stone floor of the temple.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Reese saw Hector raise his knife. Just as he was about to drive it deep into Kate's throat, a nasty hissing noise startled Hector. From behind them, rose the giant snake peering down at them with its beady eyes in striking position. In an instant, the snake opened up its enormous jaws, and swallowed Kate and Hector whole.

  When Reese saw the flash illuminate from the throat of the vicious serpent his eyes widened and he froze in absolute horror. He tried to scream but nothing came out.

  He thought he had prepared himself to lose Kate, but the shock of the situation settled in, and it was too much. He hopelessly fell flat to the ground, paralyzed with grief.

  The podium was just out of reach, and Reese was shaking uncontrollably. His emotions had completely overtaken him. He had no control of his arms or legs. A force stronger than anything he had ever experienced was keeping him from moving.

  Below them the snake rolled around and trembled on some sort of flash high, keeping him away from Cyrus and Reese.

  Cyrus grimaced in pain as he pulled his way up the steps. He dragged his body, and with every bit of determination slowly was getting closer.

  Reese cannot even collect his thoughts. Powerful debilitating emotions surged through his body.

  After painstakingly pulling his badly injured body up the stairs, the evil Red’s eyes were once again filled with confidence. He made his way into the victory room and crawled past Reese. While only a few feet away from the podium, Cyrus chuckled.

  “You Inseparables are pathetic!” he said to Reese while closing in on another Red Victory. “You’ll never defeat us. You’re too weak!”

  Just as Cyrus was about to reach for the podium, Kate came storming in from behind him and kicked Cyrus against the temple wall. She took three steps, and stood over the winner’s podium.

  Is it really her? Reese trembled with joy, and found himself weeping.

  Kate turned to Cyrus, wiping the snake’s mucus from her face. The Red warrior glared at her, outraged.

  “Force fields come in handy when you’re swallowed by giant snakes.” Kate said.

  “You’re supposed to be dead!” Cyrus yelled. His voice was shaking.

  “Of course, it was not too healthy for the snake,” Kate said flinging the slime onto Cyrus’ shirt. “Oh yeah, and by the way, Hector was not as fortunate with his invisibility power.”

  “And just so you know, you pompous traitor, the force field is my ‘weak’ Inseparable power.”

  Kate slammed her hand onto the winner’s podium.

  “The Blues win the Centennial!” she declared.

  Blue lights beams shot out of the temple. Cyrus screamed in frustration.

  Reese stood up and stumbled to Kate. He quivered and pumped his fist as his excitement took over. They embraced each other and kissed passionately.

  “We did it,” Kate said ecstatically. “We really did it!”

  They were holding each other tightly, as the blue lights flickered over them.

  “I need a mojito,” Reese said to Kate.

  “Me too,” she replied.

  Chapter 37

  The Blues were going crazy in the arena as confetti fell all around them. Every single Blue, including Laskious, was crazy with excitement. Many hugged and others were just jumping wildly up and down. It was pure pandemonium on the Blue side of the stadium.

  The holovision camera drone that was filming Reese and Kate flew into the sky above the temple, and provided a wide lens shot of the beautiful galorim pool. The image represented everything the Blues had won. The enormous lake was stocked with twice as much wild galorim energy as the entire reserves at the Blue temple.

  “That was unbelievable!” Svante screamed to Horus and Arshan as blue confetti swirled around them. “The Inseparables really were the difference in this Centennial.”

  “Definitely,” Arshan yelled. He was teary eyed, and very proud of Kate and Reese.

  “I really thought Cyrus had it when he took out Kublai,” Horus said. “It was a bold, but characteristic Red move.”

  “I still can’t believe Reese was able to steer that snake into the pillars,” Arshan said. “What an incredible move!”

  “It was all incredible!” Horus added.

  “So did anybody see what happened to Rajiv,” Svante asked?

  “There was no flash under the ruble,” Horus replied. “He should be alive in there. Once the hover ships come in to clear out the super predators, they will find Rajiv and fly him and the other Centennial survivors out of the Wild Land.”

  "That’s if Reese doesn’t fly out on his own," Horus said. "What did you think about him flying up the stairs?"

  "I was impressed," Arshan replied with a big smile. "You know it was similar for me when I first acquired my ability to fly. Of course it took me years to master."

  The Blues in the arena cheered wildly, with no sign of letting up.

  “Wow,” Svante said in amazement as he soaked it all in. “What a perfect ending for the Blues. This was a big win for you guys. You’ve stopped the Reds from breaking the truce, and a new great warrior was born today.”

  “Warriors,” Horus replied. “I thought Rajiv and Kate were outstanding too. If this team stays together, they could win multiple Centennials for years to come.”

  “Yeah, you never know,” Svante replied. “Another thousand years or so, we could be talking about the Blues eradicating the Reds.”

  Horus shook his head.

  “You see Svante,” Horus replied. “That’s the way a Red thinks.

  “I’ll never understand your group,” Svante said. “Now you know why I’ve been a Green all these years. So, what’s next for Kate and Reese?”

  “They’ll find a nice quiet spot in an exotic location, and just be with each other without a care in the world,” Arshan replied. “I remember doing this with Pantea during some of our epic Afterlife stints.”

  “So, what did the two of you do?” Svante asked with a grin.

  “Let’s just say we had plenty to do,” Arshan smiled and raised an eyebrow.

  “Like all great Blues though, they will someday return to Earth and continue their growth,” Horus added. “And like all Inseparables, they get to find each other, and fall in love all over again.”

  The three of them turned to enjoy the excitement. It’s hard for anybody in the stadium to not recognize the stark contrast between the two great leaders of the Blues and the Reds on opposite sides of the stadium.

  In his ornate blue robes and gold armor, Laskious stood and waved at the crowd below him from the balcony. His infectious smile spread warmly across his face.

  Morkel glared at him from across the arena. He clutched his fists in front of his red robe and gritted his teeth.

  “Do you think he’ll ever actually attack Laskious?” Svante asked.

  “I’d never say never,” Arshan replied. “But there’s a reason they’ve never fought.”

  “For our sakes, let’s hope it stays that way,” Horus declared.

  Epilogue

  An enormous fire in Morkel’s private chamber in the Red temple warmed Cyrus’s face. The crackle fro
m the large fireplace was the only noise in the late night hour. It had been two weeks since the Blues won the Centennial, and the pain from the loss still sat heavily on both men.

  “I believe you’re right,” Morkel said seriously. “It’s time to bring her back.”

  Cyrus tried not to look too excited. He had been waiting hundreds of years for this moment.

  “I promised you all those years ago that I would make you and her Inseparables one day,” Morkel said. “And I’m a man of my word. You’ve patiently waited for the right moment, and that time has finally come.”

  Cyrus smiled and shifted his new prosthetic arm away from the smoldering fire.

  “I will extract Pantea’s soul from the red ruby I placed in the giant statue of her and Arshan in the Gardens of Babylon tomorrow,” Morkel said.

  “Is that where you’ve been keeping her soul?” Cyrus asked.

  “She has been trapped in that statue for a very long time, and it will take the full extent of my powers to successfully pull her essence out and send it into the source light.”

  “Thanks you Morkel,” Cyrus said appreciatively. A huge smile filled his face.

  “It’s going to be difficult, but I believe I can also alter her memories,” Morkel said in a careful tone. “She will no longer be attached to Arshan, but she will be attached to you.”

  “But how can you manipulate the Inseparable bond?” Cyrus asked. “I thought there was nothing stronger in the universe.”

  “I put a special charm in that ruby that has been slowly weakening her soul for hundreds of years. She should be susceptible to my alterations.”

  Cyrus’ eyes widened.

  “It’s critical for you to go back to Earth and find her to finish the Inseparable bond though,” Morkel added. “Just like other Inseparables, I will make sure the universe guides you to each other on Earth.”

  “I’ve betrayed the Blues, killed my friends, and turned my back on everything I believed in,” Cyrus declared. “I’m ready to do anything to be with her.”

  Morkel looked at Cyrus severely, while the crackling fire lit up his shadowy face.