The Acolytes of Crane "Updated Edition" (38 page)

My
anxious eyes darted to a corner, and I saw what I had kicked. It was one of
these projection devices favored by the Rangiers. I didn’t see it during
stride, but when I knocked it out of position, all the imagery disappeared.

As
the last of the pixelated imagery of my comfortable home vanished, I shrank
back as the menacing Elon King, Quasikeum, stood determined before me. He held
up his all-powerful trident, directly aimed at my heart.

‘Die!’
he roared, as he hurled it toward me.

The
next second was just a blur. Brusquely pushed aside from behind by an unknown
force, I stumbled upon the wooden floor. My hands took-up slivers, and as I
bounced across the planks, I turned my head quickly to fight back.

‘Lincoln!’
I cried.

The
image of the three glinting prongs of steel stabbing Lincoln into his chest
will forever be frozen in my mind. Lincoln never once looked at me—his eyes
bulging, his mouth open as if screaming for dear life—I knew he was minutes
away from death. When the evil Quasikeum pulled his barbarous weapon out of
Lincoln’s chest, I was force-fed an idea of what I was fighting for—life.

The
Dark King wasted no further time. Turning to me, as Lincoln’s body thudded onto
the floor, he rasped, ‘So this is the Earthly chosen one that everyone speaks
of? All that I see before me is a pathetic, frightened boy.’

Quasikeum
obviously wanted to torment me one last time. He visibly relaxed and looked
over to his right to a hooded man who had just emerged out of the shadows.
‘Kurod, you have done well with your projection. It is time for us to leave
this hell.’

A
third figure, swift and at ease, entered through the window on lifters. From
the grace exhibited, I knew it must be Travis.

Three
against one. It wasn’t looking good. A loud, bone-chilling gasp bubbled out of
Lincoln as he held on to life.

Not
even bothering to withdraw his sword, Travis leered at me as he took his place
side by side with the Dark King. Kurod and Travis bookmarked their evil master
as they straightened out stiffly and contemplated me with scorn.

I
screamed, unable to peel my eyes from Lincoln’s slumped body. ‘You will never
defeat us! I am Theodore, Messiah of Earth!’

‘Is
that right? Your blade will not get its wish today, Theodore,’ Quasikeum spoke,
as if pitying me. He studied closely his trident, then glared at me. ‘Believe
me, you don’t want to know the truth.’

I
didn’t say anything. I knew Quasikeum would answer soon enough.

He
started walking toward the exit door, beckoning to Kurod to follow. He stood
tall on the first step, in preparation for his flight.

He
causally peered at me as he placed his foot atop the second step. ‘Your
grandfather had the last piece of the puzzle. With his help, Odion will reign
supreme.’

My
mouth trembling furiously, I held myself back.

Kurod
stood near the exit, his back turned to me, while Travis, his feet wide apart
and firmly planted, faced me. It was obvious to me what Quasikeum had planned
for me.

With
trident in hand, the Dark King ordered, ‘Dispose Theodore!’

‘My
pleasure, I will do away with the freak-boy easy,’ Travis said, as he looked at
me, pulling his sword from the sheath on his back.

The
Dark King and Kurod fled up the stairs to the top, where their ship was
stationed.

Travis
was flexed and ready. I was breathing deep. Our faces twitched from nerves, and
we contemplated a battle with an uncertain ending.  My eyes of burden locked
with his eyes of tainted youth, and Travis dove into a sprint.

His
decision was made, and his actions were rash. There were four yards between our
bodies, and in that space and time, I thought,
I am the leaf
. 

I
powered up my Elon suit. Travis raged toward me, and my sword ignited. I rose
up from the brink.

‘To
Lincoln,’ I whispered, steady and calm. I extended the deadly sword back,
timing each second perfectly of my final thrust against Travis.

And
in one fatal swing of Wrath, my sword extinguished his life.

There
was no Heaven for the devious. There was no dream-reel of a utopia, no soothing
sense of solitude in the white glow of Sephera, only nothing—only Hell for him.
My sword melted through his chest. When I withdrew Wrath, a cauterized hole
remained.

Life
escaped Travis, just like it abandoned my grandparents at his bidding, and that
was when I knew he was dead.  Dan’s plasma cannon blasted the doors open, and
the saviors of my mission poured in to distract my brief remorse for Travis.

A
red glow seeped into the hangar, and gave form to the carnage. I dropped to my
knees and cupped the blood that left Lincoln’s body. 

‘Hurry,
somebody do something!’ I screamed to the others.

‘Ted,
I don’t have much time. Find Tez, she will help you,’ Lincoln said, moaning
from the pain, ‘Please protect Mariah for me. Go! Finish this. You cannot waste
time on me. Time is a luxury. I know that now.’

His
eyes weakened with every blink, and we all dove in to embrace him one last
time. We laid him down on the log floor of the hangar, and comforted him with
our tears.

‘Give
him some room,’ Dan cried.

The
last image I viewed as we peeled away from him was Mariah and Lincoln’s hands
locked in an embrace. Lincoln looked toward me and said, ‘You wanted to know
who visited me at Fun Haven that night? It was Zane. He told me that I would
soon die, but my death would be the catalyst for change. You must leave now!’

Mariah
kissed Lincoln and when their lips touched, a tear fell from my eye.  Love and
life were what we fought for that day, which was all that we longed to have. To
feel—that was the dream. When I left his, my thirst for vengeance was infinite.

‘Where’s
Liam?’ I asked, before we ran up the stairs. I could tell by the sadness in
their eyes that our team was on the verge of losing that battle, because Liam
was surely lost too. I looked back at Lincoln before I turned the corner and I
said, ‘Thank you.’ The life passed on from him, and I turned the corner to run
from my emotions.

We
took the path that Quasikeum presented earlier. We ran to the top of the
structure through a tight stairwell, and at the top stood the Dark King. To my
ultimate surprise, he left Kurod to fight us.

‘Is
the Dark King abandoning you now?’ I growled to Kurod as Quasikeum teleported
to a Tritillian Warship above. The ship left our sight through the thick whirly
clouds.

‘I
am a Driad, you pitiful slouch. I never run away from a good fight,’ Kurod said
as he laughed from his belly and stroked his long beard. He tossed an imaginary
projection into the air about twenty-five feet above us. He stood strong and
unwavering.

The
projection band on his bald head powered up. He was one, and then he was three,
then five. Five bald and powerfully illusory Driad projections stood before us.
Only one of them was real. The battle was about to begin, and it would be a
clash of fantasy versus reality.

‘What
the hell?’ Dan said.

‘Dan,
put pressure from above.’

‘Got
it! Ted, this jerk is going down!’

‘Mariah,
you know what to do!’

‘Already
on it, Theodore.’

‘Let’s
see how you can do against three of us!’ I yelled.

I
charged in, bellowing. I leapt into the air, and crashed down thunderously. My
sword left a trail of light behind it like a sparkler on Independence Day, and
as I brought it down upon a replica I thought to be the real Kurod, it
instantly vanished. Wrong one.

‘Mariah
hurry, take out the projection orbs,’ I yelled. On cue, she took out two in a
row, with two left to go. We pressed the offensive against Kurod. I was tired
and fatigued beyond belief, but I could not get any rest just yet.

‘Duck!’
Dan screamed.

I
fell down to the floor purposely. A massive log swung by my head, missing my
head by inches, but scraped my back. One of the remaining four Kurods had
ripped a support beam out of the wall by telekinesis to crush me.

I
lay there, pinned by the weight of the wooden trunk. If it wasn’t for my Elon
armor, my chest might have been crushed. Mariah, using her rifle, took out the
last two projection orbs. The replicas beeped as they zapped out of existence,
leaving an enraged Kurod very much exposed.

‘Fire,’
I commanded, without hesitation. We had him now.

Dan
fired controlled bursts from his plasma cannon, causing Kurod to tumble to the
ground. He was down, but not out yet.

Then,
the ZF-Targine rose up past the palace walls and hovered into our view. I
squinted in an attempt to identify its navigator.

Mariah
jumped up from her position and yelled, ‘Nilo!’

The
cannons on the ship charged, and rapid automatic fire of plasma burst upon
Kurod’s weakened position. Knowing the end was near, he bowed to us out of
respect for our efforts. The blast incinerated him, and in a pink puff of mist,
his body ceased to exist. Nilo safely landed the ship in the nearby hangar,
then jumped out to rescue us.

Several
beacons of light swooned in from the horizon. We recognized the make of these
ships. These were the Urilian ships that belonged to Zane!

‘Zane’s
sent ships after me!’ I yelled out to my team.

The
Urilian vessels, however, were having a laser battle with the Dacturon
warships. Explosions riddled the forest around the palace as the two sides
traded fire. One turret near us blew clear up, leaving behind a smoldering
inferno.

‘Let’s
go, before a Dacturon warship decides to stick around,’ Nilo yelled, using the
exterior speakers of the ship.

Mariah
looked up at the sky. ‘The Dacturons are retreating!’ The battle had grown much
more quiet.

‘Great!’
I hollered from underneath my trap, ‘Now Zane’ll be after me! Let’s go, quick!’

Mariah
and Dan lifted the support beam that pinned me down, and ran up the ramp of the
ship.

‘Nilo,
thanks so much!’ Mariah hugged him.

‘Yup,’
Nilo boasted, ‘My target is done. King Trazuline ‘s gonna be tickled so pink,
he’ll wrestle with a Cliguire if I ask him to!’

Dan
and Mariah were stunned.

‘You’re
the assassin?’ Mariah asked, incredulous.

‘You
were in the stalbrux chamber with Trazuline?’ Dan stared at him, gaping.

‘I
was hired to assassinate someone alright, and my job was complete. You thought
I would get paid a million shorques to take out a human boy. My target was
Kurod! I was hired by King Trazuline.’

Shots
rang out near the ship’s bow. ‘We gotta go!’ Nilo yelled, and he ran to his
captain’s chair.

‘Just
a second!’ I yelled as I heard loud drumbeats and marching band music. I peered
out one of the portholes of the ship, and my heart leapt for joy when I saw a
huge procession, in front of the palace.

As
hundreds of Elons cheered, I saw Jezra, resplendent in flowing purple robes,
sitting firmly upon a throne, which was part of an apparatus that would have
easily passed for an old sedan chair in Queen Victoria’s time. It was basically
a carriage of splendor hoisted by loyal subjects, in this case her fellow
Elons, grasping horizontal poles as they walked step by step. I too saw Pike,
raising his fists in the air, full of jubilation. He was marching in front of
his majestic wife.

The
reality struck home into my heart. Jezra, actually Queen Jezra now, was
assuming her rightful place as Queen of Tritillia. The deafening cheers
reverberated through the ever-closing door of our ship before it firmly shut.

In
less than a few seconds, we were out of orbit, as Tritillia loomed below us as
a greenish-blue ball in the cosmos.

Once
she realized we were all safe, Mariah ran to one of the cabins of the ship to
devitalize.  There was a void in her life now—a loss of love—and consequently,
an absence of faith. I had to speak with her alone.

‘Mariah,
is it okay if I step in,’ I asked, dreading the moment to come. She was
curled-up, bawling her eyes out. ‘Mariah, I’m really sorry about Lin—’

‘You
don’t have a clue! Lincoln and I were in love!’

‘I
know,’ I muttered, my voice shaking. I began to cry too, and she hugged me
back.

‘The
only reason we went to Tritillia was that he talked us into it. It was for
you!’

She
hit me in the chest with her fist. It hurt, but I knew the pain would go away
in a few minutes. ‘I’m sorry, I really am—’

We
both were crying, and we each wiped away tears. She snapped angrily at me,
‘You’re always talking about trust, honesty, and integrity. You! You betrayed
us! You left us behind!’

‘I
was under attack. I still don’t know who took over my mind… it wasn’t me!’ I
shouted back.

‘Well,
you have screwed everything up! You bring us to this godforsaken place, and
we’ve lost Lincoln, and Liam!’