Chapter 4: Finding A Comrade
After two days of traveling, Garion was still huddled in a corner, with a blanket over him. The alien who tried to save him and everyone else in that ship seemed to be talking about him.
Garion was too afraid to say anything, except, every now and then, he would ask “What the hell is going on?”
To which the alien who helped him would respond, “All will be explained in time.”
When he finally mumbled up the courage to open his eyes and realize that none of this was a dream, he realized he was in a giant, hollowed out asteroid. All the walls were a dark shade of orange from all the cooled off magma, as it seemed. It also seems that the asteroid had been hooked up electronically; Garion was able to see buttons on the side of the meteor, each with a letter on them: M, V, E, M, J, S, U, N. Too dazed to realize what these symbols meant, he ignored them.
Garion also, in his daze, managed to pick up some of the conversation that these aliens were having: he picked up things like “What do we do now?” and “We have to get him to safety somehow,” and “‘We can’t let him die.’”
“How am I important to these...these...things!” Garion thought. “I didn’t do anything to deserve this fate, I haven’t done anything at all! Why me?! WHY ME?!”
With this, Garion cried some more, trying to comprehend the unique yet intense situation he was in. He didn’t do anything to deserve this! He just wanted to go home, and nothing more.
The asteroid suddenly came to a halt, thrusting Garion forward a bit like a suddenly braked car. The aliens all seemed to panic at once; whether they thought it was the dark figure’s ship stopping them or if their “motor” was dead, Garion didn’t know.
Though he mostly heard conversation like, “Where are we?” and “Did Draktos get us?” Then the alien that saved him silenced them all down.
“I came here because it is the only place we can trust. Now please, step out of the asteroid.”
All the aliens stepped out of the asteroid, and before Garion could even try to move, which he now felt he mastered, the alien who saved him picked him up and carried him, and they walked outside into their misty yet noticeable surroundings.
The first thing Garion noticed when they landed on Venus was a huge gate at least 500 feet tall, and two guards standing on each side of it. The guards were in red uniforms but it was apparent that they were aliens due to their purple texture.
“Password?” barked one of the guards.
“Muta,” Rebolto said.
The gate creaked opened slowly and they went inside.
When Garion got inside, he saw a little purple room that was no bigger than his bedroom back home, except this room was much different. It was filled with aliens, all of whom had purple skin, which made it difficult for Garion to see them clearly. The alien led him into another room, in which he had to enter another passcode lock. Except Garion noticed the numbers weren’t even normal.
The doors opened, and Garion saw a big conference room, just like the ones back on Earth. There was a big brown table in the center of the room, polished clean without even a scratch. Around it was many different black roller chairs. Nirem remembered roller chairs back on Earth. Towards the top of the table was a big, red, roller chair. This was where the alien that saved him sat. He also noticed an alien as he walked into the room, behind him, except this alien didn’t have Garion’s strange tentacles (or, as he was guessing from the planet he was captured in, this alien wasn’t Martian). Garion noticed the alien watching him from outside the door as it slowly shut on him.
The alien that saved him called for Garion to come over.
“Come here,” he said.
Garion walked over to a large ring of couches, where he was sat down. The alien that saved him leaned in close to him.
“We don’t have time to explain everything because Draktos is probably on our tail. So here it is.”
The alien then sat back up, facing the rest of the aliens.
“My name is Rebolto. I am the ruler of the planet Mars. Around you are the council of Mars. They are like your Congress in your home country of the United States of America.”
He struggled to pronounce it, since it was a foreign word to him.
Nirem looked around at the council; all similar in a general appearance, but unique in their own way. It was fascinating. He couldn’t believe it. All of his life he grew up on sci-fi comics, sci-fi movies, sci-fi everything! Nirem always grew up thinking that something was out there in space, watching the skies in search of any life. He was mostly hoping that someday, at least in his lifetime, he would get to meet these aliens. It was only a dream of course, but now he was standing in front of the Congress of Mars on an alien planet! Nirem couldn’t believe the circumstances he was under!
“We have been searching for you ever since the universe was created, as I’ve already mentioned. To recap what I had told you back at the Martian palace before you were abducted, you are the Gatekeeper and you are destined to save the universe from the evil god Draktos, as stated in The Prophecy given to us by Shabithi. All we know beyond that is that you CANNOT be killed. It is not only vital to your own safety, obviously, but vital to the entire universe’s as well.”
Garion struggled to gather all of this information in. Him? Saving the world? It couldn’t be. He remembered what Rebolto had told him earlier, but he still couldn’t manage to comprehend it. There had to be something else, someone else, but obviously these men would be sure it was him. They wouldn’t waste their time without checking their facts. The whole truth of Garion’s destiny started to hit him head on as he got dizzy. The entire fate of the universe in his hands! That must be why that dark figure wanted him dead. Because that dark figure is Draktos.
“Yes, you are correct. That dark figure is Draktos.”
“H...H...How did you do that?”
“We aliens have many powers. You will actually be practicing these momentarily. We just didn’t want to leave you clueless.”
“Wait a second...how did you know where to find me?”
“We don’t know,” one of the council responded. This one’s tentacles seemed to be turning gray.
“An unknown message was given to Rebolto many weeks ago,” another one of the council responded, this one having a darker orange and green shade, “saying that you are the chosen one. We didn’t know how to confirm this, but we didn’t want to risk losing your location. We also didn’t want to run the risk of sending spies into that territory. So we just watched from above.”
“That is,” another council member responded, having slightly more curved tentacles then the rest of the aliens. “until we saw Draktos. He hasn’t been present for thousands of millennia, and would definitely never go near this galaxy. When we somehow found Draktos through the TLS and attacking you though, we knew we had to strike.”
“And so we did,” said the council member with darker tentacles.
“That’s all we know,” Rebolto responded, as Garion noticed Rebolto’s thick tentacles. “The rest you will have to find out on your own.”
“Wait a second,” Nirem responded, a bit shocked, “so you’re just going to give me a bit of information on what the hell just happened, and then throw me back into...wherever to stop an evil alien that almost killed me back on his...shadow ship?! Dude, I’m 17!”
“We will be along for guidance,” Rebolto said calmly, “but, yes, the bulk of the work will be done on your own.”
Garion just stood there, trying to process all that he had just heard. How could he manage such a task alone?! He couldn’t just venture off and challenge one of the most feared evil villains.
“Th
at’s right,” Rebolto responded, “you can’t just do this on your own. Here’s some advice to start off with: build a team and get a base. That will get you moving on your quest to defeat Draktos.
“Can you please stop doing that?” Garion begged.
“Sorry.”
Garion, still shocked by his new destiny, couldn’t think of anything else to do but accept it. He had been trying to process what had happened to him for the past two days, and what will become of him in the future. So now, with most of the missing puzzle pieces fitted in, Garion couldn’t think of any other practical thing to do then to start on building his team so he could end up not only saving the universe, but avoiding his own death.
“Guess there’s nothing I can do about it now,” said Garion, with a sigh as he got up.
“I almost forgot,” the council member with gray tentacles said. “In all of this talk about the Prophecy, we forgot to see if you could even decipher it.
The councilman reached inside his tentacles and pulled out a piece of printer paper with a picture of a strange tablet on it. The tablet seemed to be made of stone with a type of material Garion had never seen before. The symbols on the object seemed like nothing even close to anything on Earth, as well. Nirem squinted, questioning how he was supposed to be able to translate such a work of art.
“Where’s the real piece of stone?” Garion asked.
“Lost centuries ago with most of our relics overtime,” Rebolto sadly proclaimed. “Unfortunately, Council member Jones, we recently found some old test work done on the stone for any hints as to deciphering its message. The scientists final report was that they found traces of a never-before seen source of energy inside the stone, having a unique composition structured like DNA.”
“Are you trying to tell me the stone was living?” the councilman asked in shock.
“In a way. The stone’s DNA structure seemed to bond with that of its matching partner. In this case, the Gatekeeper.”
“So we need the real stone for me to read this ‘Prophecy?’”
“Exactly. So, since we have misplaced this stone somewhere, we just have to pray it shows up when the time is right. It is to be hoped that Shabithi will make things right. For now, you build a team. You find a base. You figure out what your plan is. Most importantly though, you take down Draktos one way or another. Obviously, since your the Gatekeeper, you have some sort of unique composition that could, in the long run, help you defeat Draktos. So your goal right now is to focus on killing him. If we could manage to accomplish that without The Prophecy, that would be spectacular.
Garion, having held in the question for too long, asked, “What do you mean when you say I am The Gatekeeper.”
“I almost forgot,” Rebolto realized, “the Gatekeeper is....”
Rebolto suddenly heard a beep on a wristwatch he was wearing. He tapped the watch a few times, and then turned toward Garion.
“Listen, I have to head off to a meeting to discuss what to do now that we have finally found you and the guidance we should be giving you, since we don’t want to intrude upon Shabithi’s wishes. For now, look around for teammates, see who you can find. I would start with the one behind the door, admiring you from afar,” Rebolto said, with a grin creeping over his face.
Garion remembered the alien staring at him as he walked in.
“Well, why not give it a shot?” Garion asked sarcastically.
“That’s the spirit,” shouted Rebolto, as he patted Garion on the back.
He still couldn’t ponder the fact of what had just occurred. In less than ten minutes of time, Garion was briefed on his current extraterrestrial situation, and then sent out into the real world to handle it himself. Not only that, apparently the entire universe was in his hands now. Garion wasn’t sure if he could handle that kind of responsibility yet.
He walked through the conference doors, over to the large lobby of what it seemed to be visitors to the planet walking all around. He approached the alien.
“What’s your name?” Garion asked, approaching the new alien.
“My name is Purstan,” the alien answered in a light, shy voice. What’s yours?”
Garion looked closely at the alien, looking at the first time at this alien’s race without bigger concerns being on his mind. He was a light shade of purple, maybe because he was a young alien. But that was about the only thing young about him. The alien had a very heavy build; he seemed to be totally ripped. He also only had shorts on, though this is understandable since he literally had spikes growing out of his back, along with his hands and feet. The spikes seemed to be growing from inside his body and ripping through him. Garion was disgusted yet fascinated at the same time. Though luckily his face (besides his big chin) was human enough.
“My name is Garion,” Garion replied, still getting use to saying that. “Apparently, I just became an alien.” He smiled weakly.
“Well then I hope you get adapted to . . . wait a second, Garion? You mean the Garion? Like, the Gatekeeper Garion?” Purstan asked in disbelief.
“Yes,” Garion answered, a little surprised.
“That is so cool!” Purstan cried. “I overheard that you have to build a team to help you fight Draktos. May I join your team? Please?”
“Um, sure,” Garion shrugged, surprised at this man’s interest in him. Then he stopped and thought for a moment.
“Actually, let’s see how you can use your powers,” Garion said, very cocky about his new status of saving the world.
“Coincidentally, I was about to do the same,” Purstan said, a smile creeping upon his face. “Come here.”
Purstan led Garion into the ring through a back door at the corner of the lobby. Garion was amazed at what he saw. It was just like a wrestling ring back on Earth! A large rectangular platform stood in front of him with a dark purple floor and rope railings on each side. Heavy steel posts stood at each of the four corners. They positioned themselves diagonally on opposite sides of the ring. Purstan called another alien into the room and instructed him to ring a metal bell when they were ready. Purstan glanced over at Garion.
“This is just like Earth,” Garion said, the words barely uttered from his mouth.
“Oh, you’re from Earth,” Purstan realized. “Almost all planets used Earth as the modeling planet. Since your life came first, we had nothing to model after except the genius that was humans.”
“I guess that makes things a bit easier to understand as I travel through space,” Garion said, getting a bit more calm about his role. Garion then realized that if Purstan knew he was before he did, imagine how popular Garion would be on other planets. Garion thought getting a team was going to be a piece of cake.
“Let’s start the match then,” Garion said, feeling confident about his predicted victory.
The match started. Purstan threw him to the ground without even touching him, simply using hand gestures to lift him off the ground. Garion got up from the dusty floor, amazed at Purstan’s abilities.
“I thought you modeled after Earth!” Garion accused.
“Yeah, but we evolved.”
Garion simply shrugged off the idea; he didn’t want to question anything else about these alien races, for fear of learning more about them.
Garion continued to demonstrate the powers he used to escape Draktos.
“Watch this,” Garion gloated.
He closed his eyes and concentrated; his tentacles slowly started to stretch out toward Purstan. He then felt a sharpening pain that made him squeal as Purstan twisted his tentacles and continued to throw him to the ground again, his tentacles as a propeller.
“Who’s Chosen now?” Purstan gloated back, smiling over him.
Garion was sick of being humiliated right then. Humiliated by Draktos, by easily being captured. He was sick of it all. He was not only the most important person in the universe, but now obviously the most clueless. He couldn’t take it anymore.
He threw his hands to the ground out of anger, oblivious to the fact that they melted inside the walls of the stadium floor. Garion then stood up from the ground, and as he did this his hands rose up from the stadium floor and punched Purstan high into the sky.
He flew ten feet in the air, soaring high above the stadium floor. Before he knew it, Purstan was then back onto the stadium floor, in a daze.
After realizing what he had done, Garion sarcastically commented, “Still me.”
“I see someone knows how to use their powers,” Purstan commented.
“Not really,” Garion replied, “I just found out my ‘destiny’ less than ten minutes ago, so I’m still learning.”
“Well, you’ve obviously been quickly making progress. I’ve hung around the Martians a lot though. Maybe I could show you the ropes from what I’ve learned.”
“Sounds good to me.”
The fight went on for about two hours until Rebolto finally came in to see the progress. He immediately noticed Purstan panting on the floor and Garion standing next to him in triumph.
“I see that you won, Garion.”
Purstan quickly got to his feet.
“Yep!” Garion said proudly.
“Okay,” said Rebolto, “now show me what you have learned.”
“Sure,” Garion said with confidence. Since Rebolto was still standing near the door as he spoke, Garion quickly transformed into an alien liquid and started seeping through the ground. Moving like a mud puddle in heavy rain, Garion quickly traveled through the floor. He then reappeared in his normal form right next to Rebolto. Rebolto laughed, amused by Garion’s creativity. They both quickly moved into the ring and began.
Garion tried to throw Rebolto using his first tentacles trick, but Rebolto threw him first.
“Good try,” Rebolto commented.
Garion got up, feeling weak for being thrown down.
“In my defense, I didn’t see it coming,” Garion said as he brushed off some dust.
Rebolto laughed, then turned to Purstan, who was watching from the inside corner of the ring. “Now let’s see you, Purstan.”
“I‟m ready!” Purstan said. He made a dark purple ball out of his hands and threw it at Rebolto, but Rebolto blocked it with a shield made entirely out of tentacles. The tentacles seemed to stretch out of his body and dodge the incoming attack, blocking it quickly.
“Energy ball,” Rebolto nodded. “Good job.”
“How’d you do that?” Garion asked.
“Well, that would just be a spoiler, now wouldn’t it?”
Garion groaned, and then remembered about the exciting news he had to tell Rebolto.
“Purstan’s on my team now,” Garion excitedly made known.
“Oh, good,” said Rebolto. “You’re getting a start on building your team. Now let’s go. You two need to quickly finish building your team so you can figure out how to take down Draktos.”
Garion smiled, feeling excited about his new fate, said, “We‟ll just need a lift to Earth.”
Rebolto nodded, saying, “Get in the meteor. But don’t tell anyone who’s not on your team that you are aliens,” he warned. “If you do, they will think you are trying to take over the world like Draktos. They will want to get rid of you.”
Garion and Purstan agreed to this information, but they didn’t fully register this information given to them. They didn’t realize now, but later they will learn that this information was the difference between life and death.
Garion and Purstan got in the meteor, Rebolto hit the ‘E’ button (Garion now realized what this meant), and they took off.