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I watched as Tola went through some kind of transformation and I felt my blood boil when I saw Nuru attack him. I could feel the engines of my suit, the suit Adam had modified engage and adrenaline rushed through my blood. I lifted my blade, another gift from Adam, high above my head. I pulled the trigger and the sword roared, surrounding itself with an aura of energy, while its vibrating blade hummed. The roar of the blade caught Nuru's attention and he turned his eyes towards me and I charged him. Even as he tried to keep his distance from me I closed the gap, pulling the trigger once again to charge the blade's energy. He rose into the air, throwing bolts of energy as he floated above me. I dodged and pulled the trigger one more time, while my legs bunched and I launched myself into the air after Nuru.
In less than a moment, a hole of darkness appeared beside Nuru in the air and in a flash he reached through and pulled out a ghastly looking blade. Just as swiftly he brought the blade to defend himself and our weapons collided; the ringing was deafening and the force of the blow propelled us both. I tumbled in the air and landed gracefully then quickly broke into a second charge at Nuru, pulling the trigger of the sword again as I ran. As my sword roared, I heard screams, which stopped me dead in my tracks and I turned to face were Nuru was looking. We had returned to where we were, at Olympus; the Police and the crowd were still there, the drones however, were nowhere in sight. I heard people screaming orders and I turned to see Tola levitating with his arms on his head, surrounded by a bright fire. This is bad, very bad. I heard another piercing scream and I snapped my head to see Nuru, telekinetically lift many of the bystanders. Promptly the police opened fire, Nuru waved his other hand and they exploded; their guns, their cars, themselves... Bastard. He had made a charred perimeter around us but still held the civilians in his grip. I returned my attention to this Maget, this demon.
“Release them you coward!” I screamed at Nuru who merely laughed and started killing them one by one. I felt rage consume me and my suit's engine allowed me to tap into my own Logos. I charged at him again and this time he responded by creating the illusion of greater distance; no matter how hard I ran, I never seemed to approach him and the killing continued with the cries for help. I will enjoy killing you Nuru. I stretched my arm forward and summoned a small portal, the only thing I could manifest with my Logos. Swiftly, I cleared the threshold of the portal and appeared right beside Nuru. Catching him off-guard, he discarded his hostages and materialised his blade to parry my blow.
“No more games Nuru!” I shouted and slashed at him again, but to my surprise the blade simply passed through him and he became like a mist. I pulled my blade back and in quick successions pulled the trigger and brought it down on his head but again it passed through him. I held the blade at the ready wondering what was going on. In a flash his arm caught me in the chin and sent me back a distance. I dropped my blade in the air and drew my pistols and I rained slugs on Nuru. It was a short while until my ammo ran out, and the civilians were clear so Nuru could take no more hostages, but I had no idea how to defeat him. I heard the sounds of helicopters and watched in amazement as giant bipedal machines were dropped from the sky. When they touched the ground they promptly opened fire on Nuru, who raised a shield. It wouldn't kill him but at least it will keep him busy. As I pulled out my daggers ready to charge Nuru once again, but I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked and saw Tola, or rather what used to be Tola...
“You're...” I started to say.
“Yes, I am Adam, the very same one you encountered. The same one who trained Ayotola Johnson,” Adam said.
“But... How?” I asked.
“Another time Shade, now I must deal with Nuru,” Adam replied, walking calmly towards the Maget. Nuru released an unearthly scream and I heard his rage within it, he must have realised that Adam was here. Suddenly Nuru released a wave of force that knocked the bipedal machines into the air. I watched as Adam looked towards them and a portal appeared and they vanished through it, again Nuru screamed. “Your cries will not be heard you vile creature. You and your confederation have committed a serious crime against my kin and I. It ends now.”
“Fools! All you Travellers do is sit on the sidelines, you cannot stop us. You are the Magets, like a wraith on Humanity and all other creation, we deny your existence!” Nuru raged.
“Abomination! How dare you! Do you forget that I know the truth of your existence and that of your mother, Tiamat and that of her father, Kek. You who exist solely for your own gain, you disgust me,” Adam replied.
“Say what you will Traveller but you are bound by your foolish rules and I am not, you will not defeat me,” Nuru replied, raising his hands and the skies began to darken. “I will destroy this city and then the next and I will not stop until I have crushed civilisation and if that doesn't work I'll try again, until the scourge of creation is removed from our Cosmos. When our father is free and returns, there will be nothing you or your fellow Travellers can do. We will take this realm and enter your domain, where we will shred your essence and remove you from reality!” Nuru said trailing off into a maniacal laughter. He hadn't noticed that Adam had woven a web of energy behind him, until the web came to life in a bright fire.
“Hold you tongue Maget. I don't hear you, all I hear are the screams from the souls of my kin that you have violated with your touch,” Adam said and deliberately wounded himself, and with the blood on his fingers he wrote certain sigils in the air and a trail of light followed his fingers. “Begone,” Adam added simply and there was a rushing sound, the darkness dispersed and the winds calmed; it seemed space itself swallowed Nuru whole and he was gone. After the bright light dimmed and my eyes had adapted, I saw the lifeless body of Tim Sinclair, Ayotola's friend, drop to the floor.
“Tola... Adam, what just happened?” I asked.
“I banished him to the realm of the Confederation to face his mistress and mother,” Adam replied. “I guess I need to explain a few other things to you,” he added and I nodded, his image didn't twitched like it did all those years ago. “It will be hard because of your perception of time but I will try, you do deserve an explanation given all the hardship that you have endured to honour my request,” he continued as he walked to me and touched my forehead like he did once before, in an instant we were in the realm of the psyche. “Each Traveller is a collective being made of other personalities among his species, the birth of a being capable of becoming a Traveller is natural but becoming a Traveller is a choice. I was born as a necessity to fight Tiamat, a viscous being who now has the book of destiny, but I knew Tiamat would know this and that she would send someone to interrupt the awakening, so that I was never born and as a result would never have done what I will do in this fabric. This would have turned the tides in their favour and we couldn't allow it to happen, the fate of Humanity depended on the timing of my awakening. So I sought a soul tempered enough to bear the trails on a journey towards finding my incarnate form in this realm, but like Nuru said we have rules. I could not simply bring you here and though it is unfortunate you went through what you did, you have greatly helped our cause.”
“I... I don't know what to say? But you didn't even give me a choice!” I said. "You took me away from everything, I had ever known and used me like a pawn! All that I experienced, everything... It's all your fault!!"
“Shade, you were never a pawn, I chose you because I felt in you a very strong desire to make things better. It is not our way to act in that manner, but given what the Confederation had done we gave certain allowances to our rules, so that we could preserve the balance. I gave you a way to face your commanding officer and his possessor but that choice led to strife and for that I am sorry,” Adam replied. “This is why it pains me to say that I still need your help. We Travellers are bound by rules and if humanity will not fight for itself, then there is little that we can do, but I have a plan to help our people Shade and I need your help for it to succeed,” he added and silence hung about for a spell as
I considered his words, I hadn't expected him to apologise.
“I have been to many different worlds, I have seen things I didn't even dream were possible before now. I believe what you said to Nuru because I have faced those Magets before, as you already know. I will help you, what do you need?” I replied.
“I need you to find a man called Eli Jean-Luc and keep him safe, another has been sent to help you,” Adam replied and his image began to twitched. "My time here is short, and I must soon leave this realm."
“I will protect him like I protected you but how will I get there, wherever there is?” I asked.
“Your experience has tempered your body and you no longer have need for the cloak; this is the reason for your golden appearance. Gather your weapons and follow the path I will make for you,” Adam said, opening a Gateway. I did as he said and crossed the threshold to a new world.
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