Chapter 15: More Bad News
“Where am I? Who are you? Max!”
“Calm down, sir. Everything is fine. You’re fine.”
“Max! Where is Max?”
“You mean your friend that came in with you?”
“Yes, Max!”
“He’s survived as well with minimal bruises.”
“Survived? Wait, what?”
Garion looked around. The small room (a horizontal shaped room, being about the length of an average backyard) was completely filled with Martians, each one with some sort of apron on with a plus sign on it. Around him he noticed multiple stretchers filled with wounded bodies, one of them Garion noticed was Max. The only reason Garion even noticed Max from the rest of the bodies was because there were multiple surgeons crowding around him trying to operate on him. In fact, looking above him, Garion noticed multiple surgeons around him trying to do the same thing. Pricking out the needles from his skin and the patches inside his tentacles, Garion sat upright on the firm stretcher and sighed.
“Surprised to be alive?”
Garion looked towards the door in the center of the room and saw Rebolto walking in towards him, a smile on his face.
“Last time I saw you, youbursted out the door babbling on about how the S.W.A.T. team’s out to get me.”
“In a way, I was right.”
“I just have one question for you,” Garion asked as Rebolto took a seat next to him on the stretcher, “how?”
“We were hoping you could answer that question,” Rebolto explained. “When we tracked your location to the far reaches of space, we found pieces of metal and what appeared to be some sort of black ooze all over you, as well as all around you.”
“Synthesis,” Garion thought out loud.
“What was that?”
“The bacteria,” Garion explained, “and the metal. Draktos trapped us in reinforced metal and genetically altered bacteria, so we wouldn’t escape in the explosion. I guess all of those different methods of keeping us from escaping, they all acted like shields once the explosion hit.”
“Are you trying to tell me that Draktos, without realizing it, saved your life?”
“The irony of it all is killing me.”
“Anyway’s,” Rebolto continued, “you’re alive, that is what’s important. We’re going to keep Max in here a bit more because he had some injuries that need to be attended to. Nothing serious, but we need to stitch him up a bit more and keep him here for observation. As for you, Garion, you sustained little to no injuries, so I can show you a little surprise I have waiting for you in the main hall.”
Rebolto cleared Garion’s departure with the staff and, as they walked out of the room, Garion shouted to Max, “When we get back, you have some more explaining to do about those ‘shadow storms.’”
Garion didn’t notice the hospital staff shudder at the sound of the words.
As Garion trudged down various hallways of what seemed to be the Royal Palace in Mars, Rebolto escorting him, he noticed that, besides many placards across the plain orange and green (tentacle-patterned) walls, the rest of the hallways were clear. Each placard and/or picture seemed to be from a former ruler of Mars, each picture showing the dignity of the leader and the obvious courageousness this leader was willing to do to fight for his planet. When Garion and Rebolto finally reached the main hallway, Garion’s blood stopped cold. Except this time, it was in happiness.
“Mom, Dad,” Garion sniveled.
He ran up to them both, standing in a lounge area with basic sofas, tables, and chairs, and gathered them both into a group hug. He squeezed and felt as though he never wanted to let go, that he wanted to hold on to his parents, them being one of the only connections to his old life. As Nirem held both of them in his arms, he felt human again. He felt as though he didn’t have a giant destiny weighing over his shoulders, he felt as though he didn’t need to turn around every other second and check for Draktos. It was the happiest feeling he had felt in weeks, and Nirem wanted to hold onto that feeling.
When Garion finally released his grip on his parents, he looked up at them and smiled, tears coming down his eyes. His mom and dad looked just like they used to be: both of them being about the same height (which was relatively short, around 5’5), their blond hair flowed smoothly and gently as Nirem’s once did. They seemed to be wearing special clothes for this occasion as well; his dad was wearing a blue, cotton buttoned-down shirt with fancy dress pants, as his mom was wearing a silky red dress.
Rebolto smiled as he got all of them situated in the sofas and chairs: Garion and Rebolto sitting on a sofa parallel to the two separate chairs their parents were sitting them. There was a clear glass table in front of them, along with what appeared to be some magazines. Garion was surprised at how much the Martians modeled after Earth.
“I’m sorry I never contacted you,” Garion started, “but I’ve been horribly busy with Draktos. He’s been killing off my team one by one, and we had to act fast with each nefarious plan he threw at us. There was almost no time for me to contact you.”
“We’re sorry we didn’t do the same,” Garion’s dad started in deep, monotonous yet caring voice. “We should have attempted to contact you as well but, with you being The Gatekeeper and all, we had much work to do here in Mars as two of the biggest heads of Mars’ government.”
“Wait a second,” Garion asked in shock, “you two are aliens as well?”
“We should have told you sooner,” Garion’s mom started in her high-pitched voice, “but we wanted to wait until you were ready. So when we got the call about the abduction, well, we couldn’t help but feel that it was our fault.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter anymore,” Rebolto told them all. “You’re here now, and that’s what counts.”
“Hey mom,” Garion started, “how’s our dog....”
Suddenly, the entire ceiling crashed down onto all of them, a piece of the ceiling crushing right next to Garion, causing him to get dust in his eyes. As he wiped the dust from his eyes and coughed up the foul substance, Draktos was already flying off in the distance with them.
“Mom!” Garion cried. “Dad!”
This time it was personal. Garion used his strings as a boost to propel him hundreds of feet off the ground. As he was shooting up in the air at miraculous speeds, his eyes were focused directly on Draktos. He’s taken enough from Garion. His parents weren’t going to be added to that list. Garion hovered directly above Draktos, and then, thanks to the force of gravity, he dropped towards Mars’ surface, holding onto the surprised Draktos as he did so.
“Leave my parents alone!” Garion screamed towards Draktos, the wind seeming to be louder then the sound of a plane taking off. “They have nothing to do with this!”
“Actually,” Draktos responded calmly yet loud enough, “they do.”
Garion and Draktos hit the inside of the Royal Palace with a bang as they crashed through the ceiling and hit the ground, pieces of stone and dust flying all over after the collision. It felt as though a missile had just shot through the palace, the damage the two made possibly being able to bring the whole palace down on top of them.
As Garion got up from the impact, searching for his parents and brushing the dust and stone off of him, Draktos charged at him from below, shooting him up to the sky at sonic speeds. As they approached the tip of the atmosphere, Draktos chucked Garion to the distant land below, flying down towards him as he did so. As Garion was free-falling down, he thought this was the end, that he had failed at his quest. Suddenly, just as he was about to collide with the ground, Draktos swiftly caught him at the last second from the fall, and then threw him to the ground below him.
“I don’t know how you survived that explosion back at Nightblader’s base,” Draktos screamed in anger, “but it doesn’t matter. I followed the ships and I tracked you here, right where I wanted to be. Now, unless you want the next fall to be real, you will tell me where the Tim
e Freezer is!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Garion shouted back.
“TELL ME!”
Draktos started make hand gestures as if he was holding a circular ball in his hands. Suddenly, an energy ball started to form in his hands, attempting to remind Garion of the last time he had used an energy ball on him.
Garion, taking the hint, replied, “Alright, alright! I will tell you where the Time Freezer is.”’
Draktos, hands still in the necessary formations for an energy ball, permitted Garion to show him the way. Garion, hands above his head, got up off of the ground and started aimlessly walking down the hallway he landed in, trying to think of a way to ambush Draktos when he least expected it.
Garion still couldn’t comprehend how this could happen. How did Draktos get to Mars so fast? How did no one notice him enter? What is more important, why did he even need Garion’s parents? They had just reunited, why were his parents so important to Draktos? Considering the current predicament he was in, Garion didn’t want to find out.
After a few minutes of walking, Draktos started to question Garion’s motives.
“Is this some sort of trap?” Draktos asked, using more hand gestures to make his dark energy ball noticeably bigger.
“No,” Garion told him, scared, “it’s in here.”
Garion led him to a random room and opened the door. Inside it were simply shelves of cleaning materials, such as detergents and brooms and mops. All around the room were cleaning supplies. The room seemed to be an average janitor’s closet in every way.
“What the hell is....”
As Draktos was busy being distracted by the nature of the room he had walked into, Garion whipped his tentacles at him, chucking Draktos to the ground. He then grabbed Draktos using his strings and chucked him from one wall to the other repeatedly; each bash being payback for a horrible task he had committed.
After what seemed like the tenth collision, Draktos grabbed ahold of Garion’s tentacles and ripped the bond between them apart, throwing him to the ground beneath him. Draktos then quickly shot an energy ball at Garion’s legs, forcing him to fall to the ground in defeat.
As Draktos approached Garion for what could be the final kill, Garion slowly melted inside the ground, his tentacles seeming to blend in through the small cracks and nudges, allowing him to disappear from Draktos’ line of sight.
“You can run, Garion, but you can’t....”
Garion then popped up out of the ground below Draktos, pushing him into the air like a basketball in mid-flight. As he fell back towards the ground, Draktos shot another energy ball at Garion but he barely dodged it, letting it glide through the air and smash the dented wall next to him, making a hole into the outside world. Draktos hit the ground with a thud, and Garion walked up to him in triumph.
“Don’t mess with my....”
As if by a sudden administer of a shock serum, Draktos sprung awake and punched Garion where it hurts, the agonizing pain sending him tumbling to the ground below him.
As Draktos got up and looked over Garion, him now being the one with the triumphant face, he told Garion, “Don’t you get it? You can never beat me. Never! I am the god of darkness, the bringer of shadows. I shall rule the universe if it’s the last thing I ever do!”
“The last thing you’ll ever do,” Garion told Draktos, “is speak what you just did right there.”
With that, Garion closed his eyes and concentrated. He started to make hand gestures in his hands, as if he was holding a circular ball in his hands. As Draktos laughed at the attempt, Garion, in deep focus, started to develop a ball of light within his hands. He felt all the power surge inside him; all of that energy, that strength, and Garion did not take advantage of it. He let the energy flow within him, creating a wave as Garion let the light inside him envelop him. Within seconds the ball of light had become about the size of a fully grown basketball, and Garion shot it directly at Draktos.
Draktos flew through the hole made in the wall behind Garion and onto the hard, Martian rock below him. As Draktos hit the ground this time it seemed as though all of his pride and dignity did as well.
Garion walked through the hole in the wall and towards Draktos, cowering on the ground like a scared little girl.
“Get out,” Garion told him, “and never mess with my parents again.”
With that, Draktos used his shadow powers to blend into his surroundings, and almost immediately disappeared. As Garion heard the wind rushing as Draktos flew away, he sat down on the ground and looked at the mess he made.
“Surprised to be alive?”
Garion laughed as Rebolto walked towards him with a big smile on his face.
When Garion and Rebolto walked towards what was left of the main hall, a triumphant look on Garion’s face, they found Max (with an astronaut-like suit on) standing in the center of the rubble, head in his hands.
Rebolto ran up to Max and asked, “What happened?”
“When I heard the explosion,” Max started, “I knew it was him. But the hospital staff locked the room so that they wouldn’t be attacked. By the time I managed to get out of the room, I saw Draktos flying off with your parents.”
“Don’t worry,” Garion assured Max as he walked towards him as he walked towards him and Rebolto, “I dropped him right out of the sky and took him down.”
“What are you talking about?” Max asked in confusion. “This just happened less than a minute ago.”
All of Garion’s blood seemed to stop as fear replaced it.
“Mom! Dad!”