The Universal War
Chapter 14: No Way Out
“People all over the world were in for a surprise yesterday when they came outside of their homes and looked up into sky to see it completely darkened. Not only that, for most people, was it around 11:00 A.M. with no storms predicted for the area, but there were also not a sight of stars or even the moon in the sky. With this anomaly being shortly after the alien sighting only three days ago, people are questioning the meaning of this strange event; some have already formed conspiracy theories claiming that the same aliens spotted two days ago are....”
Purstan clicked the miniature television off and dug his face into his hands. It had been two days now. He couldn’t take the agony.
“There’s no way he could be dead,” Purstan kept telling himself. “He turned everything back to normal. There’s no way he could be dead. There’s just no way.”
Malix walked in on Purstan’s sadness, and walked towards him to comfort him. They were sitting in the boarded up yet burned down mansion; the boards only being there to hide themselves from the rest of the world.
As Malix put his hand on Purstan’s shoulder, he said, without looking up, “There’s no way he’s dead. He’s just...taking a long time getting back to base. Yeah. That dark pulse could have taken him anywhere from Paris to Tokyo.”
Malix just sat there, quiet, continuing to pat his back to calm him down.
“Yeah,” Malix attempted to agree, “he’s probably just....”
“For once Purstan, you’re right.”
Purstan breathed again, feeling relieved as Garion, dirt smudged all over his tentacles, stood there with a dazed look on his face.
“What the hell happened to you?” Malix asked in shock as they went to give Garion a hug. “We thought you were dead.”
As Malix called the rest of the team downstairs to share the exciting news, Garion seemed to just stand there in a daze.
Purstan, impatient to know the details, asked, “How did you do it?”
“I didn’t,” Garion responded, his eyes constantly facing forward.
As a concerned look grew on Purstan’s face, the rest of the team came downstairs filled with questions to ask him. As they all got seated on the floor, eager to hear how Garion saved the universe, he didn’t know how to start his explanation.
“Come on,” Malix asked with excitement. “Aren’t you going to tell us what happened?”
“Is Draktos dead?” Mason asked with excitement.
“He just vanished,” Garion said, still in a daze. “Into thin air. Him and his machine, just gone.”
“So Draktos is dead?” Purstan asked excitedly.
“He’s gone.”
“So dead.”
“No, gone.”
Garion pulled up the remnants of a chair, and sat down. He then tried to explain everything; from The Bermuda Triangle being some sort of source of energy to the disappearance of Draktos. He tried to capture every detail, trying to put the team inside his situation. Garion took the phrase, “You can’t just make your problems disappear,” literally as he told the tale, telling it not as if his troubles were over, but if they had just heightened.
When he finished with his story, Brendan asked, “How did you make it back?”
“After what seemed like hours of staring off into deep space for the man who took Draktos, I used Draktos’ jet to get off the island with the remaining fuel it had left. After that, I ended up in a small part of the Bahamas and, with some petty thievery, managed to smuggle enough money for a flight back to Manhattan. Afterwards, I simply trudged towards the mansion. But here comes the part that interests you the most.”
Garion pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and started reading it:
Dear Garion,
The events you have just witnessed have probably shocked you. I cannot explain much through this note, but I can tell you this: at 3:15 P.M. in two days, I will swoop you up personally from your base for an explanation. Also, if you haven’t noticed, I am obviously on your side.
Sincerely,
Nightblader
“Where did you get this note?” Brendan asked.
“Another swoop of light appeared with it moments after Draktos’ ‘disappearance.’”
It’s 3:05 right now,” Purstan realized, checking a barely working clock on the wall to the left of him. “You sure are cutting this meeting real close. Are you sure you can trust this guy?”
“He just saved the entire world from an eternity of being ruled by shadows,” Garion replied. “I’m sure I can trust him.”
“Well, then here is another question,” Brendan asked, “are you prepared to meet this man?”
“My only hope is that he knows something about my past. Maybe soon I can finally piece together what this whole ‘prophecy’ thing is supposed to be about. Until then, you all are dismissed. I guess I’ll see you guys whenever I come back.”
“Wait a second,” Tyrone interrupted, “you just went missing for two days, made national news, and now you’re going to leave again after only an hour of being here?”
“He’s one man,” Garion replied, “there is no way he will be able to take all of you.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to go.”
“You know I have to go.”
With that, Tyrone shut his mouth and walked up the stairs towards his room, not saying another word. Garion simply stuck his head into his hands and waited, the anticipation killing him. Who was this man? Was he actually who he said he was? Garion knew he couldn’t trust anyone after his incident with the so-called “President,” so he knew he had to be on his edge. With all of these thoughts racing through his mind, Garion couldn’t focus on anything. Within minutes, a light swooped in and grabbed Garion from his seat, taking him towards the place where he hoped to find all the answers.
...
Garion couldn’t feel any part of his body. He seemed to be flying faster then the speed of light, blasting through the very fabrics of space and time itself. Not thinking of anything but how he planned to survive such a trip, Garion tried to remain calm as they blasted through all of space, pushing anything in its way past him. In about an hour’s worth of time, their journey ended as they arrived at Nightblader’s base and Garion vomited on the floor beneath him.
Wiping his face, Garion looked around and saw what seemed to be a massive laboratory, about the size of the Library of Congress; there were test tubes with multiple experiments set up all along the room, the walls were coated with some sort of steel, and each experiment seemed to have its own unique taste in the entire scheme of things. Towards the corner of the laboratory, Garion noticed a small desktop set up next to big wall of empty space directly on the left of Garion.
What was most interesting to Garion was towards the other corner of the laboratory, where there was what seemed to be a giant armory covering a good portion of the entire room. Except half of the guns, Garion noticed, weren’t anything like the guns we had on Earth; it seemed as if all of those ray guns Nirem used to watch in science fiction movies when he was little was modeled after real alien guns. These weren’t only just pistols, though: there were machine guns, rocket launchers, and even what seemed to be mortars. What made these guns different from any other gun on Earth though, was their barrel; there was no hole for a bullet to come out from, just a skinny circular tip of the gun that seemed to shoot off whatever ammo was inside it. Another major difference in these guns were their metallic texture, each type of gun seemed to be decorated with a different type of color, almost like a color code.
He also noticed papers everywhere; near the desktop, on the ground, etc. It looked as though a giant tornado had swept through the entire laboratory.
“Where is this?” Garion asked in shock.
“I know I have much explaining to do, but follow me,” Nightblader responded in what changed from a dark voice to a high pitched voice by the end of the sentence.
Gario
n followed Nightblader to what seemed to be a blank metallic wall.
“First things first, I have to make sure that you don’t set off my DNA alarm system,” Nightblader told him. “All you need to do is stand onto this wall and I can start the palm scanner.”
“Um, sure,” Garion hesitantly responded.
He stood next to the wall, hands and feet apart and facing the wall. It seemed to Garion as if he was about to be searched for any illegal materials that he may be harboring.
“OK,” Garion asked, “I’m standing propped up against a wall. Now what?”
“Now I finish what I once started.”
With what seemed to be the click of a button, metallic bars seemed to come out of the wall and encircle themselves around Garion’s hands and feet, cuffing him to the wall. Then, a giant piece of metal about the size of Garion completely covered everything of him besides his head, and then squeezed tighter towards the wall as Garion struggled to break free.
“You are just too predictable,” Draktos laughed as he took off the all black suit.
“Your Nightblader?!” Garion asked in shock.
“No, but I feel that I did a good impersonation of him, don’t you think?”
“Wait,” Garion asked, “if your not Nightblader, then....”
Draktos clicked another button on the wall, and it swung around in one full revolution. When the wall ceased to spin, Garion looked next to him and found someone else cuffed to the wall. The person looked familiar to Nirem, but he couldn’t quite make out the face since the person refused to make direct eye contact with him. Except what seemed peculiar to Nirem was that this person seemed human in every sense of the word; he looked just like the figure that kidnapped Draktos, except more familiar. Garion also noticed a small dark stain in between them, one that hadn’t been there before. The substance looked like something Garion had never seen before. He knew he had much more important things to focus on though, so he went back to Draktos.
“But...how?” Garion asked in shock.
“It’s quite simple,” Draktos explained. “When Nightblader captured my machine and I, he clearly underestimated my strength. After a little ruckus and some interrogation, I subdued him in these restraints. Then I thought: Why not have a little fun in his suit? Now, because of Nightblader, I can get rid of two problems at once. So long for now.”
“No!” Garion screamed.
He attempted to shoot his tentacles out at Draktos, but the steel metal bars that bound him refused to let him do so.
“I don’t think so,” Draktos laughed. “Those metal bars are reinforced steel. You’ll have some trouble getting out of those. Also, if you somehow manage to do so, well then I have another surprise waiting for you. Rise, Synthesis!”
Suddenly, the dark stain on the wall seemed to expand, becoming more thick as it did so. The stain seemed to be a living organism, slowly wrapping its way around Garion and (the real) Nightblader, enveloping them completely. After the stain had completely wrapped around the two fallen heroes, it seemed to be growing a face. Looking like a rabid animal, the beast grew two giant eyes at least two times the size of a normal humans, and inside were two sinister, dark, small pupils, gazing at the world in fury. The beast then grew a giant mouth, with at least 60 razor sharp teeth, ready to close its gap on any force that may resist its fury. The beast growled and shook as it came to life and enveloped the two men, not only making resistance futile but also enforcing the metal steel bars, along with shooting fear into their souls.
“Meet a piece of genetically enhanced bacteria,” Draktos smiled, “or, as I like to call him, Synthesis. He’ll be sure to keep you right in your place as I make my getaway. Don’t worry, you will find out the rest of my plan later. And trust me, it will go off with a bang.”
Garion struggled to break free of the beast’s tight grip, but realized that it was impossible.
“So now what?” Garion screamed in anger. “You just go back to Earth and reactivate your machine? Don’t expect to get away with this, because if I don’t stop you, my dedicated team will. You and your nefarious plan will never succeed in the conquest for Earth! We will destroy you, one way or another!”
“I have no time for your petty small talk,” Draktos replied as he grabbed his machine from a back corner of the room. “I have waited too long for this day, and it has already been delayed enough. Now there’s no more waiting. I will destroy the TLS and your miserable planet if it’s the last thing I do!”
“I guess, in a way, it was a good thing that my project was delayed by Nightblader’s useless attempt to subdue me. After glancing through some of his research and through some heavy interrogation techniques, what I have discovered is quite interesting. There’s a shadow storm coming to Earth, and its energy and power shall be mine! Even your so-called ‘dedicated team,’ can’t stop that from happening. Now I must be off: shield’s to break, lives to ruin. You can enjoy your last moments with your friend Nightblader. The man did look familiar to me from when I first visited you in your pathetic learning facility, and, to me at least, it seems you two knew each other.”
With that, Draktos walked towards the small desktop at the left of the room, and typed in a few codes into the keyboard below the monitor. Shortly afterwards, a loud siren echoed throughout the room, and a voice continued to repeat itself: “SELF-DESTRUCT IN TWO MINUTES. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. SELF-DESTRUCT IN TWO MINUTES. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.”
“At least I’m thoughtful,” Draktos screamed to Garion as he grabbed his machine and opened a small hatch next to where Garion “spread his emotions,” “I gave you both two minutes so you can say goodbye. Aren’t I so kind?”
With that, Draktos jumped through the open hatch into the endless void of space (closing the door as he left), leaving Garion and Nightblader with less then two minutes to survive.
Garion looked towards Nightblader; he was looking up, managing to frantically panic without speaking, looking around for any source of escape. As Garion took a closer look at Nightblader’s face, he couldn’t believe what he saw.
“Max?” Nirem asked in shock.
At first startled by this name, he answered, “ I don’t know who you’re talking about. My name is Nightblader, protector of the TLS, mainly the gatekeeper.”
“Max, it’s me, Nirem! From school!”
“That’s impossible.”
“You protected me, Max! From all of those rubber bands flung at me during school! You stood up for me when things went too far! Steven Park High School, Max! It’s me, Nirem!”
Max looked up at Nirem, shock in his eyes.
“Wait a second, if you’re Nirem, then you’re the gatekeeper?!”
“Yes,” Nirem replied, then paused. “How did you assume that, since I’m Nirem I’m the gatekeeper?”
“Because I’m your protector,” Max shyly admitted. “My job is to protect the gatekeeper. That is my purpose, my goal. So now, with you here tied up next to me, I have failed my only purpose.”
“So,” Garion asked, “when you stood up to me in front of Quishow....”
“That’s right,” Max responded, finishing Garion’s question. “I was given the task as protector of the gatekeeper, along with watcher of the TLS. So now I am about to fail both of those tasks, as Draktos hurtles towards Earth in my suit, getting ready to destroy the TLS using the approaching shadow storm.”
“Shadow storms?” Garion asked.
“There isn’t much time to explain what they really are, but all I can say is they are the destruction of worlds, along with the reason I was born.”
Garion’s heart stopped as he remembered what Draktos had said about a shadow storm heading for Earth. Was Draktos really right when he said that this was something even his team couldn’t stop? Are his team (along with the rest of the world) really doomed to a fate they cannot resist? Everyone he once knew, gone: his friends, his family....
“My parents!” Garion thought. “How could I have
been so stupid as to forget about them again?! I have to escape this prison now. Not only does the world depend on the vital information Nightblader and I now hold, but my parents do as well.”
“We have to escape!” Garion shouted to Max. “We are the only chance for Earth’s survival!”
“There’s no way!” Max shouted back. “Not only are these metal bars holding us reinforced steel, but we also have Synthesis blocking our escape!”
“There has to be a way!” Garion shouted back.
He attempted to slip his string through the parts of him the metal wasn’t covering, but Synthesis simply growled as he ripped the small pieces of Garion’s tentacles to shreds.
“No luck with me!” Garion shouted to Max. “How about you?”
“I can’t do anything without my suit or weapons,” Max replied, “and with my suit stolen and my weapons out of reach, we’re screwed.”
“Is there any way we could somehow get those weapons?” Garion asked hopefully.
SELF-DESTRUCT IN 30 SECONDS. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.”
Max lowered his head in silence.
“Well,” Garion shouted, “if we’re going down, at least we’re going down together.”
“Yep,” Max gulped.
After some work, they managed to grab each others hands and squeeze onto them for dear life.
“It’s been a pleasure knowing you,” Max replied, praising the last words coming out of his lips.
“Same,” Garion replied, closing his eyes as he did so.
“SELF-DESTRUCT IN 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,....”