The Universal War
Chapter 7: The Answers
“It’s beautiful,” Draktos whispered to his shadows, lurking around his newly built base. “Just...beautiful.”
He put his blueprints away, and looked around at all the tunnels; leading from the front hallway all the way to the back door, and all of them fully operational. In front of him a there was a small dugout built with a podium towards the front of the room for announcements, and to the right lay the sleeping quarters, a bunk bed and a desk in each one. While none of them were in “quality” condition (the bed’s used, podium a faded shade red, white, and blue, and the tunnels still with chunks of dirt in them), it was good enough. Besides, it would soon be over, anyway. Draktos took in the entire lair.
Everything was going according to plan. It was only a matter of time before the universe was his. He just needed to tie up some loose ends.
Draktos then gathered the construction workers that helped him build this together.
While all of these workers had a build that showed that they could start a bar fight (like Garion’s base) at any moment, they definitely didn’t act like it.
Draktos floated his way over to the podium, calm as ever.
“C...c...can we go now?” one of them asked, muffled in his speaking.
“We..we...did everything you asked,” another worker responded. “We just wanna go home....”
“We haven’t even had dinner yet,” Draktos said calmly.
Before the workers could even respond to such an accusation, the shadows descended on them like hungry beasts, each one feasting on a worker’s soul. Pushing a worker to the ground, the shadows started their meal, slithering into their body from their already screaming mouths, feasting on the contents inside. Some tried to run but the shadows simply blocked their path, and without even realizing it they had run through the beasts, collapsing after doing so. The shadows devoured through the workers like a human would devour through dinner, feasting on their souls and insides like a fresh hamburger.
As the blood-feast and screaming continued, Draktos simply walked away to his sleeping quarters of his base, never looking back. Directly above them, Garion and Purstan had just walked inside to their mansion, about to respond to a call from Rebolto.
...
“How did it go?” Garion asked Rebolto from a monitor that they managed to set up.
“20 contestants at LEAST on each planet,” Rebolto responded. “We don’t have time to watch all of them, but head over to Jupiter. They haven’t started their tournament yet, and you can still tune into that one. I’ll send in the meteor to the dock. ETA, 10 minutes.”
The monitor clicked off, and Garion took one of the many seats in the repainted conference room.
“What were you saying earlier about those flyers being ‘stupid?’” Garion teased.
“How did they end up working, anyways?”
“Just plaster my name and ‘team’ on the same poster, and everyone would be attracted like flies to a dead guy,” Garion replied.
They both laughed, as Garion opened his newly ordered mini-fridge and tossed Purstan a soda, opening up one for himself as well.
Garion still marveled at how fast he adapted to these people’s alien culture and his destiny, now starting to get more comfortable with the fact that the fate of the universe rests in his hands. As the days went by, it seems Garion’s fears went with them. Garion started to realize that not only would he be able to take on Draktos, but he would have his soon-to-be team to help him do so. So far, Garion has been amazed at the powers Purstan had shown him, and was eager to learn more. It seemed as though Garion started to form a bond with Purstan; a friendship like Garion had never had before.
“Besides,” Garion continued, “I learned that from you.”
“The only reason I was excited to see you when we first met was because I followed that type of news,” Purstan replied, “I didn’t think anyone else did.”
“When we ‘first met’?’” Garion chuckled. “You act like we’ve known each other for years. It’s only been a couple of weeks.”
“Yeah,” Purstan replied, “but look at how much we got done in those weeks. We finished building AN ENTIRE MANSION.”
“Well,” Garion replied, feeling good about himself after that statement, “that’s mostly because we are aliens. Also, we only needed to repair the damage from the damage the construction workers made from that one fight.”
“Was the fight really necessary?”
“I panicked.”
After saying the statement, Garion ran it over in his mind repeatedly. Aliens. That’s what they are. They are aliens. Only two weeks ago, he had been living a normal life, not dealing with the pressures of universe saving. He had been at a normal school, with normal....
“MY PARENTS!” Garion practically fell off the chair screaming.
He ran to the monitor and started video chatting with Rebolto, the fear in his eyes unavoidable. When Rebolto answered the call, Garion just blurted it out.
“Can I help....” Rebolto started.
“My parents! My parents! Where are they?” Garion screamed into the monitor as if Rebolto was really there, standing right next to him.
After cussing under his breath, Rebolto replied, “Ah. Your parents. Well, we had an original plan for them, as well as you, when Draktos arrived. We were supposed to take them with us when you were evacuated from your school but....”
“But?” Garion angrily demanded.
“But...we couldn’t really extract them from their homes with you being kidnapped. Your safety was our number one priority.”
Garion, shocked at what he just heard, practically whispered his response, so much that even Purstan, still confused at the current situation, couldn’t understand him.
“Are you telling me that my parents could be dead?” Garion whispered.
“We will send out a rescue team to your house immediately,” Rebolto responded hurriedly and then the monitor clicked off.
Garion stood there, paralyzed in shock. How could he have forgotten his own parents? Even in all the excitement, he forgot the two most important things in the world to him?
“Garion, listen....”
The roar of the meteor heated up the backyard, the roar of the engines heard from the conference room.
“We should probably go,” Garion responded, seeming to not pay attention to his surroundings.
They walked outside to the meteor and got inside, Garion’s parents on his mind. Purstan clicked the J button, and they were off.
...
“Attention!” Draktos called out to his fellow shadows.
“Garion and Purstan have just left on their asteroid-device. Here is our window of time, use it well.”
Draktos’ teammates started eagerly whispering amongst themselves.
Draktos continued, “The blueprints of the mansion have been made. Now all we have to do is find the hidden parts. The team will be divided into four groups. One covers the back, one the front, one team on the moat and one team on the actual inside of the mansion.”
The team unanimously agreed to the plan.
“Then let’s get ready to show Garion what we’re made of,” Draktos said with a big grin forming over his face.
...
“I still don’t get how we can survive on Jupiter with all of that gravity,” Garion asked, now realizing that, for the time being, there is nothing he can do about his parents, “we would get squashed like a cockroach.”
“That’s why we have these,” Purstan said.
He walked over to the edge of the “room” inside the meteor, and opened a camouflage door. Inside it were multiple types of suits, each type for a different planet. They were all conveniently modeled after Earth, being shaped like astronauts suits. Each of them were color-coded based on the general color of the planet. Purstan grabbed two suits from the Jupiter section, and tossed one to Garion.
“Planetary suit
s,” Purstan said to Garion as he put on his. “They adapt to what type of species you are, and modify the suit accordingly. These suits are the entire reason we were able to travel to different planets to begin with.”
“You aliens are really advanced,” Garion commented.
The meteor started to land, and then Garion asked the one question he had been holding in the whole flight.
“How are we at Jupiter in only a couple of hours?” Garion asked in shock.
“How do you think the Martians got to Earth so fast when they needed to?” Purstan answered. “We discovered how to travel at the speed of light and survive many years ago. You humans must be really behind, then. You can take off your travel suit now.”
“Well, I guess I just figured out what the ‘travel suit’ is for,” Garion realized, “light speed travel, right?”
“It’s kind of the same idea of a plane,” Purstan tried to explain, “how can you travel at 600 miles an hour and barely feel a thing?”
Garion considered this idea and thought of reasons to counter it, but didn’t feel like arguing with a being that is obviously more advanced than he is.
The meteor landed, and Garion got off. He kept trying to hide his excitement (after all, he was the first “human” to land on Jupiter) as he walked into what he thought was an entirely gas planet. He walked outside and was amazed at what he saw; an entire civilization, built completely out of stone.
“I thought you said aliens were more advanced then humans,” Garion asked, continuing to stare at the barren landscape that is Jupiter, “these ones seem to be living in what us humans used to live in hundreds of years ago.”
“I keep forgetting that you are not a ‘normal’ alien,” Purstan responded, “so I guess I forgot to tell you. Out of all the planets, Jupiter is the most barren. Since no one realized that this planet had life on it since everyone thought the planet was entirely made out of gas, no aid was given to the planet. By the time it was discovered that this planet had managed to sustain life, it (and its inhabitants) had already plummeted into a deep depression. We are trying to help them out right now, but it doesn’t look so good for them.”
Garion looked around at the planet. There was nobody in sight, not a soul stirring.
“Please don’t tell me these aliens are invisible.”
“Don’t worry, you’re good.”
“Then where is everybody?”
“Waiting for you.”
He then started leading Garion through the rocky desert of Jupiter, and as Garion passed each stone house he observed it more closely. The brown stone was slowly starting to deteriorate, showing signs of fading. Peeking inside the “windows” (holes in the stone walls), Garion saw a stone table, stone chairs. Purstan wasn’t kidding when he said that these people were in poverty.
As they walked past all the houses, they wandered into a very sandy and deserted area. All Garion could see ahead of him was the force of the desert sand hitting him full on, with no break. Managing to catch glimpses of his surroundings for periods of time where he could quickly look up without getting sand in his eyes, all Garion saw was a barren wasteland that seemed to stretch out for miles. The land seemed infinite to him; he felt like he was sent on a death march, walking until the end. Though, he obviously didn’t want to tell Purstan that.
After what seemed like hours of walking, Garion started to make out something in the distance. They seemed to be the same fading shade of brown Garion noticed earlier, but this time the rocks seemed to be moving. Not blowing in the wind, but walking.
One of the rocks appeared to get closer and closer to him, until before he knew it, he was on the ground, a giant rock right on top of him. Though as Garion tried to push the rock aside of its path, it punched him in the face.
“Hey, you think you can....” the rock started, until he looked more closely at the face of the person he had just landed on.
The rock then preceded to get up off the ground with its two working legs, and bowed in Garion’s presence.
“Oh Gatekeeper,” it started, “I am so sorry for my landing upon you.”
He started to dust off Garion, feeling very ashamed of his actions. Garion just stood there with his mouth open. The talking rock had two arms and two legs like a normal human being, except no fingers and toes. Also, his entire body was made out of a solid gravel and cement type of rock. Each rock was easily noticeable in his body, so he looked like a last-minute science project glued together with light, scared yellow eyes. Garion, thinking of the rock as just some birth deformity, was shocked by the poor formation of the rocks throughout the alien’s face. Though, while it may have been made out of solid rock, the alien seemed so scared and innocent. In addition, he was only up to Garion’s waist.
“Please forgive me,” the talking rock continued as Garion stared with no shame at it, “and please consider me for your team. I am an excellent fighter and....”
“You can speak....” Garion tried to cut him off, but he too was cut off by Purstan.
“Sorry, but the champion is the only one that can join our team. You really need to be the best of the best.”
The talking rock frowned, and walked away in sadness.
“You don’t want to hurt our reputation by letting all of Jupiter know that you didn’t know about all of Jupiter,” Purstan whispered to him.
He then started to speak normal again, noticing that the talking rock had disappeared.
“What...was that?!” Garion asked, still in shock from what he just saw.
“That,” Purstan responded, “is a fellow Jupiter inhabitant. That’s what they look like. That’s also why their houses are made out of stone; they like living in their own material. Though we feel they just don’t know what’s out there yet, and, once all they obtain our new technology, we bet they are going to love it. Now come on, the coliseum's this way.”
Purstan took Garion’s hand, and walked him over to the giant, white dome in the middle of a desert during a heated sandstorm. Garion was going to ask about the peculiar location of the dome, but now he learned to stop asking questions and start judging fighting rocks.