Origins Unknown

by M K Hussain

  “Believe me, that’s the least of my worries right now if we don’t hurry up.”

  William activates his CUT device and leads Sarah through the door.

  “Oh no! Stop, go back!”

  Sarah startles William as they see the ground covered with bodies before them.

  A huge number of prisoners, Brutus’s mind-controlled prisoners, turn to face them both.

  “ELIMINATE THEM,” someone yells within the group as they run towards them…

  23

  ALLY OR FOE?

  The masked man draws something on Omon’s surface before stepping back. He points to himself then the area of the ground he has drawn on. I look at him then at his drawing.

  No, not a drawing, a piece of text.

  Writing, letters, a word…

  A name.

  Neil.

  I point to myself.

  “I’m Max.”

  Neil nods his head.

  I continue. “We need to find my friend Rebecca.”

  As soon as I say this, I realise I haven’t seen William in an awful long time.

  I hope he’s all right.

  What if he isn’t, though?

  I’m pretty sure he can look after himself for a while.

  Come on, there will be time to find him later. First things first…

  I dart after Neil. We use the CUT to travel to every inch of the Omon, but no Rebecca.

  Neil looks at Raeth in a gaze.

  I hope Sarah’s OK.

  I stand beside him. Suddenly, I find myself struggling to breathe.

  Looks like Rebecca’s powers are wearing off because she’s not here.

  I form a force field around my head, desperately trying to contain as much O2 as possible. I manage to do a decent job and take a moment or two to heal myself before standing beside Neil again.

  “There is no sign of her and I don’t know how long I can keep up the search up here,” I mention to Neil, breathing hard still but conserving as much O2 as possible.

  Neil points to Raeth.

  “What? Do you think she’s gone back already?”

  Neil nods. He activates his CUT device and urges me through the door.

  I walk through it and find myself and Neil hurtling through the kys towards Raeth.

  “NEIL! Do you know how to use your CUT device properly?” I ask him, mid-jump.

  He pauses for a moment then shakes his head to indicate a big fat ‘NO’.

  That’s just great.

  Groaning to myself, I try to activate my CUT device. As I go to do it, a giant bird flies past me, knocking me to one side. In desperation, I grab another passing bird and use it as a potential surfboard to land on something soft when I get to the surface of Raeth. It slashes at me viciously with its claws before shaking me off and flying away again into the kys. Off balance, I notice Neil swoop towards me. He grabs me roughly by the arm and entangles his arm in mine. Pretty soon after, with the ground eagerly rising up to meet us faster than I had thought previously, Neil activates his CUT device. A door opens in the maroon night kys. We fall through it and land on our feet, as if we had walked through it.

  This time, we seem to be in a giant cave, a vast underground area with boulders and hatches opening up into several unknown areas.

  Neil begins taking off his mask. He disconnects his tubes and puts the whole contraption, including the gas cylinder, onto the ground away from him. I look at him for the first time properly.

  “Where are we, Neil?”

  I look at him questioningly.

  He looks back at me with sorrow.

  “I didn’t think we’d meet so soon after our last encounter.” Brutus is sitting on a throne, perched high above us.

  “Well done, Neil.”

  I look at Neil, a look of horror on my face.

  “Don’t look at him like that. The poor chap didn’t want to lead you into my trap.”

  Brutus’s men surround us.

  “Extra persuasion was needed, wasn’t it, Neil?”

  Neil looks down at his feet in shame.

  “Now finish the job…”

  24

  MASS INVASION

  The horde descends upon Sarah and William. Sarah leans herself across a large rock and William steps up to fight them all. Sarah takes a look at their eyes as they attempt to fight them off.

  “I think they are Brutus’s prisoners.”

  “Who?”

  “Long story.”

  In fact, when William had been searching for Max and Rebecca a while earlier, he had stumbled upon this name across several places but for now, he wants to know exactly what or whom they are dealing with.

  “Tell me, it’ll help,” replies William, smashing in the faces of several prisoners in front of him with his bare hands before they even have a chance to use their powers against him.

  “You’ll know when you see him but he’s a prisoner with a mind-controlling ability, using his powers to influence the majority of the prisoner population into being his puppets. He declares himself a tyrant, a dictator to the masses.”

  William attempts to grab one of the larger prisoners, avoiding his thin sword-edged body, which he uses to cut prisoners down to size. William solidifies his hands and eventually grabs him around the torso, ignoring the cuts, and tosses him like a frisbee into the oncoming crowd of prisoners, cutting the majority of them up good and proper before he ends up in a poor prisoner’s chest.

  “Apart from the obvious then, what do you think they want with us?”

  “I don’t know. All I know is we haven’t got the time for twenty questions right now, so just carry on doing your thing and fight.”

  “In that case, I could do with some help…”

  “Just give me a moment while I grab my tools.”

  Having had to twist her body to access them, Sarah grabs hold of the weapons she is after; tiny, sharp daggers concealed in various secret compartments of her prison outfit, fit for exactly this purpose. Neil had trained her to improve her accuracy and had somehow got her to use these as a last measure if needs be.

  She begins throwing them at the prisoners, aiming at vital body parts, taking out several at a time.

  William smirks as he watches her do her thing with expert precision.

  “You’re the boss!”

  William then makes one huge clap. The clap results in the release of a gas from William’s hands, creating a ring around a huge group of some of the powerful prisoners within the horde.

  The horde had decided to put their best and most powerful prisoners first but now, these very same prisoners are having their particles expanded within them, causing each of them to balloon in size and explode, their insides decorating the area into a display of art. A number of the prisoners within this group do not simply explode, no. They dissipate into thin air as their bodies are largely made up of gaseous molecules to begin with.

  Horrified and amazed at the same time, Sarah throws William a curious look.

  “I think maybe you’re enjoying this just a little too much.”

  “Wait until you see my next party trick.”

  William smiles, throwing more claps, causing the opposition to smash extremely hard against one another, merging with each other until they fall dead onto the ground.

  “Aren’t you enjoying it just a little?”

  Sarah manages to disarm one of the prisoners who has snuck in behind her, avoiding William’s attacks. She kicks out his legs from under him, herself falling to the ground also, but she successfully finishes him off by stabbing him with her last dagger.

  “I’m just using enough force to survive.”

  She presses a button on the right side of her newly built utility belt. Lying on the ground isn’t going to help her survive the horrors of Raeth, especially without her custom-made wheelchair/attack suit. But Sarah is the type of prisoner that is a forward thinker. She has designed a weapon for every scenario in case the worst happens – and given her luck, it probably will.


  Her back-up plan comes to fruition. Upon pressing the button, metal rectangles start to form from her belt and become affixed to the base of Sarah’s spine.

  “ARGH! I wasn’t looking forward to that bit very much,” she mutters to herself and curses under her breath. The metal rectangles then start multiplying up her spinal column until she has a row of them, with spaces in-between each one, going up and down her arms, hands, feet and legs.

  The previously immobile Sarah suddenly stands up and runs at the horde of oncoming prisoners, punching and kicking away at each obstacle in front of her with such force that William stops for a moment to witness the beauty and ingenuity of it all presented in front of him.

  “I never knew it would be this much fun to fight back against bullies, picking on the weakest ones among us,” Sarah shouts sarcastically to William amidst the scuffle.

  “Speak for yourself. Stick with me, kid, you’ve still got a lot to learn,” William cries back as he bangs two prisoners’ heads together.

  Despite their best intentions, they are worn down by an overwhelming number of prisoners. The variety of abilities used by Brutus’s followers against Sarah and William begin to undermine their own powers.

  Eventually, one of the prisoners transforms herself into loose cables and sets about tripping William up, choking him vigorously and then tying him up. Another prisoner throws his rubber body at Sarah, expamding to cover her whole. This prisoner then begins to squish her to take the wind out of her lungs, weakening her further.

  Finally, Sarah’s foe tries to choke her by ramming himself in rubbery form down her throat, cutting off her O2 supply until she nearly passes out. Then more and more of the inmates gather on top of Sarah and William, in the hope of finishing them off for good.

  Out of nowhere, a door suddenly opens and Rebecca appears. The prisoners who have not yet had the chance to join in the fight against Sarah and William step back and turn to face her. They aren’t sure of what to make of this sudden new enemy and her powers.

  Then, more doors begin to open in several areas and a huge number of pale-looking prisoners join the battlefield, armoured with ancient weapons from around Raeth and dressed head to toe in metallic gear. There are shields, helmets, axes, maces, crossbows, spears and swords to mention just a few, with many more hidden from view.

  The prisoners around Sarah and William begin to back off. Rebecca stands on top of a huge rock in front of her army of new, powerless friends and looks to Sarah and William.

  “Don’t worry, you’re safe now. Let’s even the numbers a little, don’t you think?”

  William and Sarah splutter on the ground, coughing and spitting, but nod at Rebecca as they just lay for a moment, trying to regain their faculties.

  Rebecca turns to face her army.

  “You are no longer the Damned. You have the potential to bring out the best in you and I believe the best way to do that is within battle. You’ll surprise yourselves if you do. But if any of you doesn’t want to take part in this and prefers to go back up to the Omon and hide for the next two days, you can leave now.”

  No one leaves.

  “Thank you for believing in me and I thank you for what we all are about to do next.”

  Rebecca turns around and faces the horde. She creates a sword out of thunder and wind and points it in the sky to create an oncoming acid rain wind in the clouds above us which begins raining down on her opponents, tearing at and stripping away several parts of the skin on the opposition.

  Then she looks deeply into the abyss. She shouts out these words for her army:

  “For the struggle within yourselves, to never give up despite your odds and for the prospect to discover whether you are the Chosen One or not, I beseech and urge you to stand, fight and CHARGE!”

  With that, the pale-faced prisoners bring out their concealed additional weapons; a pitchfork, musket, pistol or spade and run head-first, yelling into the battle…

  ***

  At nearby secret location, Dactyl kneels in front of an object on the ground, wrapped in red, silken cloth. He unwraps it to reveal his broken katana sword, complete with the pieces he has managed to retrieve from the Omon. He runs his hand gently over it and then turns to face a kiln and a Red blacksmith. The blacksmith nods at him as he fires up the kiln some more, hoping in the back of his mind that he will create a sturdier weapon for Dactyl. The blacksmith gets to work as Dactyl continues kneeling, dark thoughts circling his mind about his future victims…

  25

  SNEAK ATTACK

  Knowing the dangers around me, I need to jump at Brutus or at least attempt to throw a shockwave at him. But before I get the chance to do so, Neil tackles me to the orange dusty ground. He tries to punch me and take out my eyes at the same time with his fingers but I move quickly to one side with each swipe. I grab hold of Neil’s wrists and toss him over my head. He lands on his feet after a somersault. I stand to my feet and move a distance away from him.

  As we circle one another, I begin to notice Neil shaking slightly every so often.

  Brutus barks at him.

  “Do it, Neil! Get him!”

  With Brutus’s words absorbing into him, Neil grabs hold of one of his arrows and fires it at me with his special bow. I sidestep it. Neil tries again repeatedly, using the barrel and five bows combination, ending with a slew of trick arrows flying in my direction.

  I end up using my force fields to outmanoeuvre his attacks. I jump about all over the place trying to distract Neil from achieving his target, now a moving one, and from scoring a bullseye on my chest.

  As soon as I think of the word ‘chest’, it begins to flare up stronger than before, causing me to double over in pain and get hit by one of Neil’s incendiary arrows.

  It burns me as it explodes upon impact on my arm, further causing me to lose focus on the duel. Neil approaches me with a dagger and stops shy of slicing my throat.

  He shakes violently as he remembers something or someone, or he simply doesn’t want to carry out this act of aggression on someone he may consider a friend.

  High above us, sitting on a temporary throne overlooking a yellow pond in front of him and at us, Brutus places his fingers on his temple. Suddenly, Neil gets back on track with completing the task of finishing me off as he jumps on me again.

  Dagger in hand, Neil applies pressure to my chest with it. I, too weak to do anything against him, cry out in pain as the dagger attempts to pierce my flesh. Neil then suddenly stops what he is doing and stands up. His eyes are closed and he breathes deeply and rather painfully through his nose. He stabs the ground with his dagger instead, reducing his fast breathing rate down to normal and finally kneels down onto the ground to settle himself.

  Still with his eyes closed, he stands again and this time, turns to face Brutus. Neil opens his eyes, clear and focused. He kicks the dagger from the ground to his right hand and throws it at Brutus.

  Brutus yells as he moves quickly, narrowly avoiding the dagger as it gets stuck in his gold-plated chair where his head had been resting a moment ago. Neil faces me and lowers his hand. I take it and lift myself up painfully. In that moment, my chest weakness begins to fade as Neil and I prepare to face Brutus…

  26

  AN UNEXPECTED SURPRISE

  “GEORGE!”

  “Yes, M… Master!”

  George lurks out from behind a shadow.

  Outstretching his fingers, Brutus points them at George.

  “Show our guests why it isn’t wise to try to overcome their leader.”

  “YES, MASTER!” George screams as he runs rapidly towards us.

  Mid-run, George unleashes his abilities – the ability to transform himself into a huge, gigantic troll. Saliva dripping down his huge gangly yellow tusks and slimy green eyes popping out, George thunders at us.

  He grabs hold of a huge piece of slab from the adjoining wall and tears it off with ease, forming a massive solid club and swinging it in our direction. Neil and I jump asi
de as the club connects with the opposite wall of the cave, literally shaking the foundations of Brutus’s secret lair.

  As we hurl ourselves outside, Neil shoots arrow after arrow from his quiver at George, desperately hoping to slow down our chaotic pursuer. I also follow suit and throw dozens and dozens of shockwaves at George. Like Neil, I am under the impression that we’d want to cause him maximum pain, considering his size and girth.

  Yet, however, half of me wants to not hurt George too much as he is a victim of whatever Brutus has done to him.

  Brutus’s hold is particularly strong, as evidenced by the majority of prisoners being under its influence. It is no fault of George’s.

  George continues growing as he repeatedly smashes his club at us in several directions. As he grows, I notice him roaring loudly as well – as if the angrier he gets, the more vicious he becomes.

  I glance at Neil as we duck out of reach of George’s huge feet and terrifying weapon. He stops every so often to look at me, a look of remorse, as if to apologise for his mind-controlled behaviour in the lair.

  Mind control.

  Brutus appears at the opening of his lair. Staff in hand, he fires it at us with mad rage as well as at someone behind us. Looking back, I see thousands of, I assume, Brutus’s posse battling against pale-faced prisoners. In the midst of their battle, I clearly see Rebecca, William and a second woman whose name I don’t know exhibiting their abilities against Brutus’s followers.

  Suddenly, I think up a plan.

  I turn to Neil.

  “Follow me…”

  27

  ART OF WATER

  I activate a door with my CUT device and I usher Neil towards it with George fiercely hot on our heels. I share my plan with Neil who nods at me. He fires a razor-sharp arrow at one of George’s eyes, temporarily blinding him as it grazes his left eyeball. George groans, stumbling slightly but with his right eye open in fury.

  Brutus catches up with us and shoots his weapon furiously, one blast shooting through the door I’ve opened, nearly taking our heads off in the process. Neil and I run through the door followed by George close behind us. George ducks to fit through the door, expanding it to bring his troll form through it, with Brutus going through the door just after him.