The Universal War

  Chapter 9: It Has All Just Begun

  Draktos sat at the edge of the moat facing the city, and thought. Only a few more days, and the TLS would be broken. The world would be his for the taking. All that stood in his way was a stupid 15 year old boy.

  One of the shadows approached Draktos, disrupting his train of thought as the shadow came floating up behind him and whispered into his ear.

  “Sir, it is almost sunrise.”

  Draktos never realized how bright it was getting.

  “We’ll wait about 15 more minutes,” Draktos replied, calm and at ease, “I need some time to marvel over what soon will be mine.”

  “It shall be done, sir. Though we must leave before full sunrise. Our powers shall be weak then, and we cannot afford an unplanned attack during daylight.”

  “Sounds good,” Draktos replied.

  The shadow floated away as Draktos sat there comfortably in his lawn chair, looking up at the sky, particularly at the rising sun he started to notice.

  “The sun is starting to get awfully bright,” Draktos thought.

  Then he saw it. That wasn’t the sun.

  “EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!” Draktos screamed to all of his shadows.

  “TAKE WHAT YOU HAVE AND GO! ABORT MISSION! ABORT MISSION!”

  The shadows frantically started running around, grabbing all of their notes and blueprints as fast as they can, retreating through the tunnels they came from. Draktos started panicking, picking up any notes left behind by the shadows. Once they were all in his hand, Draktos retreated to his lair, the fear of getting caught in his mind. The meteor splashed into the moat when only half of the shadows were back in Draktos’s lair.

  “Get out!” Draktos screamed.

  The last of the shadows crept through the rest of the secret tunnels to Draktos’s lair as he ran to the closest tunnel and closed it as he went inside. By the time the meteor floated to the top of the moat, Draktos and the shadows were gone. But one of their papers weren’t.

  ...

  They were awoken by the sound of the deafening burning flames. Jolted awake, they all panicked.

  “What happened?” Garion screamed without consciousness. “Are we in space again?”

  Purstan then preceded to look out of the window, and saw the flames around the ship. He then saw the back of their mansion below them, approaching almost faster then light.

  “We’re just reentering....”

  Before Purstan could finish his sentence, they were already at the bottom of the moat, floating back up to the top slowly as the engines automatically shut off.

  When the meteor floated to the top, they saw Rebolto waiting for them with the rest of his team, and he didn’t look very happy. The three got out of the meteor, and Garion looked around at his team.

  From a man about three feet tall made out of lava to a 6 foot tall ice monster, Garion only had little time to observe his team before Rebolto approached him, pulling him and Purstan to the side while the team started to chat.

  “What the hell were you two thinking?!” Rebolto screamed a whisper.

  “We had no other choice,” Garion started, “a billionaire isn’t just going to give up a mansion to two random teenagers that asked nicely.”

  “Then find another base!” Rebolto responded back.

  “We didn’t have the time,” Purstan answered calmly, not wanting to disturb his new friend’s “boss,” (and still trying to make up for his outburst on the meteor), “we had to get our base ASAP so that we could fight Draktos.”

  “Whatever,” Rebolto responded, “but don’t come crying to me when Granger spreads the news of your existence to the world.”

  Rebolto then turned Garion and Purstan towards their team, as Purstan started to get first glances at the team as well.

  “Well,” Rebolto started, “I guess we should make proper introductions. This is Purstan, an alien from the planet Venus that is another member of this team.”

  Rebolto pointed at Purstan.

  “And this...” Rebolto hesitated, “is Garion.”

  The entire team buzzed with excitement, trying to comprehend the fact that they were standing in the presence of a legend.

  “Now then,” Rebolto continued, “let me introduce you to the rest of the team.”

  Garion was finally ready to use the skills he learned in the course he took in profiling (which he attempted to take to show his classmates that he may want to become a tough detective someday), which would definitely come in handy now.

  Rebolto started with the mini-man, made out of lava.

  “This is Malix,” Rebolto said, pointing at the small man, “he comes from Mercury.”

  Garion looked down at the man. He was about three feet tall, but he was made entirely out of pure, molten lava. The lava was visibly streaming down his face like an active volcano, and, by Garion’s guess based on all the other aliens he had met, this man could probably shoot magma from his hands like Garion and his tentacles. While this alien (like all the others) had the basic features of eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, the rest was all lava. He didn’t even have hair.

  Garion also noticed that he had to look away from Malix; since it seemed that when the sunlight reflected off him, it went straight into Garion’s eyes. He worried that the reflection could make him blind if he kept looking, but at the same time was excited at the new energy that could be used to their advantage.

  “Welcome to the team Malix,” Garion answered, “I am honored to be in the presence of the greatest fighter on all of Mercury.”

  “Please,” Malix responded in a groggy, deep voice, “the pleasure’s all mine.”

  Rebolto moved on to the next one.

  “This,” Rebolto said, pointing to the ice monster, “is Nelkima. She comes from the planet Neptune.”

  Garion couldn’t believe what he saw. She was 6 feet tall, and, at least her entire outer layer, was made of solid ice. Like a simple block of ice except expanded, Nelkima was covered in it from head to toe. The ice was completely frozen solid, never to melt, and as Garion noticed this he also noticed that her hands and toes were simply icicles, though they were sharper then a thumbtack. The most interesting thing to Garion though, was her inner layer.

  He could see through the ice and see it very clearly; inside her was someone, or something, shaped exactly like a human. All around this human-shaped being was icicles acting like wires; they seemed to take the human-shaped being and put it inside this ice monster.

  That human being was definitely Nelkima’s lifeline, and Garion had to make sure that it remained untouched, somehow.

  “Glad to meet you Nelkima,” Garion said, “I definitely feel that you will make a great edition to our team.”

  “I hope so,” Nelkima responded in a deep feminine voice.

  Rebolto then directed Garion to the next team members, and as Garion took a quick look at them, he was completely shocked at what he saw.

  They were either aliens from Venus, Mars, and there were even some humans from Earth.

  “So these are the remaining planets?” Garion asked Rebolto, pointing at the rest of the team.

  “I’m afraid so,” Rebolto answered, “Draktos took out the rest of them.”

  Garion nodded and then looked down at his feet, trying to comprehend that there are now only six planets left in our solar system.

  “Wait a second,” Rebolto asked, “what happened to the alien I told you to pick up from Saturn?”

  Garion looked at him with a stern yet depressed face, and Rebolto took the hint.

  “O my gosh,” Rebolto reacted, “this is too much for me.”

  “Well,” Rebolto started, pointing at the other fellow Martian, “let’s get going again. This is Brendan. You obviously know what planet he is from.”

  Garion looked at Brendan, not seeing much of a difference between each other. The significant characteristic that Garion noticed on Brendan though, was curved shoulders a
nd his older looking tentacles, which could probably help in the long run since the older they are, the wiser they are. Brendan may even be able to help Garion with his alien heritage. Besides that, Garion noticed that he was a normal Martian in every way. Judging by the look on his face though, he was ready to fight.

  “Welcome Brendan,” Garion kindly said to him, shaking his hand, “hopefully you can help me understand my Martian heritage.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Brendan responded in a cheerful yet serious voice.

  “Moving on,” Rebolto continued, pointing at the alien from Venus, “this is David. Again, it is very evident from what planet he comes from.”

  Looking at David, Garion noticed that this alien was much older then Purstan, judging by the fact that his spikes seemed to be somewhat larger, and that he seemed to be taller than him. Garion realized that his age could definitely help in the long run, because this probably meant that David had better control of his powers, which meant he could teach Purstan a few new tricks. He also mostly noticed the stern look in his face; perfect posture, looking straight ahead, and not even flinching. This man looked like he could be in the U.S. Marines with his evident level of discipline.

  “Glad to have you, David,” Garion said to him in a stern voice.

  “Glad to be here,” David said, reciprocating the stern voice.

  As Garion moved to the last two teammates, he turned to whisper to Rebolto again.

  “What happened to ‘humans can’t know about our presence?’” Garion asked sarcastically.

  “These two humans are undoubtedly the best of the best,” Rebolto responded, “I couldn’t ignore their talents.”

  “Just like this land was the best of the best,” Garion teasingly responded, “I couldn’t ignore its talents.”

  Rebolto simply ignored the comment, hiding in a smile, and turned Garion towards the two humans.

  “This is Mason,” Rebolto said, pointing to the man with multiple weapons all around him tucked in different pockets, “if you haven’t noticed, he specializes in marksmanship.”

  Garion looked at the man and studied him. He was definitely physically fit, his muscles visible through his dark black T-shirt and his pale white skin reflecting them off the sunlight. Being about a head taller then Garion, he noticed that Mason was noticeably nervous, the sweat running down his forehead. Garion couldn’t blame him though, considering the fact that, besides the man next to him, he was the only human in that backyard. His dark black jeans also seemed very professional, probably again because he was nervous to be on a team full of aliens. At the same time though, Mason seemed confident, even though, judging by his bright face with few wrinkles and a 5 0 clock shadow, he was only around 24. He also, as mentioned earlier, had weapons of almost any kind around him in various pockets, including a black backpack filled with them.

  From machine guns, to snipers, to bow and arrows, this man was definitely prepared. But preparing never outdoes qualifications.

  “So,” Garion asked, “how exactly good of a sharpshooter are you?”

  “Well,” Mason started with a deep monotonous voice, “one time I....”

  Suddenly, Garion threw one of his individual tentacles into the air. The tentacle, only being about 1 cm thick, was almost unnoticeable to anyone but Mason. Immediately realizing the test, he pulled out one of the pistol’s he had in his pocket and hit the string dead on, splitting it in half.

  Garion watched as the two parts of the string floated down to the Earth like a feather, and then glanced at Mason and smiled.

  “Glad to have you aboard,” Garion said kindly.

  Mason smiled and put his pistol away as Rebolto introduced the last teammate.

  “Lastly,” Rebolto concluded, “this is Greg. He specializes in takewando, kung-fu, you name it.”

  Garion immediately noticed that this man was practically on steroids. Having an enormous build and being more fit then most professional boxers nowadays, Garion also noticed that, not only was Greg not wearing a shirt, but also he was wearing shorts. He was even wearing sandals, when it was November in Manhattan! Obviously, Garion immediately noticed, he was trying to appeal to the boss. Judging by his light blond hair and adult-like facial features (a few wrinkles, big chin, paler white skin, etc.), Garion guessed that this man was about 35. He mostly focused on the fact that, like David, this man’s face was very stern and focused. Also, based on the fact that Greg was actually human and had all of that muscle and sternness (also based on his age), Garion assumed that he used to be a Marine.

  Garion then realized Greg had boxing gloves on, probably expecting some kind of tryout.

  “Maybe I could give him a tryout,” Garion thought to himself.

  “So,” Garion started with Greg, “how good of a fighter are you?”

  Greg simply put up his boxing gloves, ready to fight, and punched the cement ground, making a dent in the cement about 2 cm deep. He then looked up at Garion, still not flinching.

  “Well then,” Garion continued, a bit frightened, “glad to have you on our team.”

  “I hope I can help you in your quest to defeat Draktos,” Greg responded with a deep voice as he saluted.

  Garion quickly pulled Rebolto to the side again.

  “Did you already brief them all on the situation?” Garion asked.

  “Yes,” Rebolto answered, “we had some time while you were wandering off in space.”

  “In my defense,” Garion retaliated, “we had a little situation in space when we thought we landed on Saturn.”

  Garion turned back around, took one last look at his team, and then turned back to Rebolto.

  “Is this it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “While there is no doubt in my mind that these are very gifted people,” Garion started, “are you sure that they will be able to hold off Draktos’s entire army?”

  “No,” Rebolto responded, “which is why you will have the best soldiers from Mars here by tomorrow. Until then, relax. You guys have earned it.”

  With that, Rebolto stepped back onto the meteor, hit the M button, and Garion watched as the meteor launched into the sky in less then a second, the trail of smoke behind it practically invisible. He then turned to look back at the team.

  “O.K.,” Garion started, “I bet we’ve all had one hell of a day today, so how about we get some rest.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Malix replied.

  With that they all walked inside the mansion, through the main lobby (which obviously everyone was astonished by), and to the conference room. Though as Garion walked through the front doors, he noticed a peculiar piece of paper on the ground, and it didn’t seem to have been left by the contractors. He picked it up and put it inside his “pockets” (his strings made good use as serving as them), hoping the team could help him identify what it was.

  Each team member sat down in the conference room, as Garion tossed each member a soda from his mini-fridge.

  “What...is this?” Malix asked.

  “You’ve never had soda before?” Mason asked.

  “What’s soda?”

  Mason stood there for a second, paralyzed in shock, and then awakened from his momentary trans, by simply shaking it off.

  “It’s great,” Garion bumped in, “just try it.”

  That being a signal to the rest of the aliens to figure what this “soda” was, each one opened their can, and, as the bubbles fizzed and the sweat of the soda can dripped down slowly, Garion remembered something he had to mention to his team.

  “Hey guys,” Garion mentioned between gulps, “I thought you might want to take a look at this piece of paper I found outside of our base.”

  He pulled out the piece of paper form his pockets, and showed it to the team.

  “No offense Garion,” Tyrone answered between gulps, “but I don’t really want to focus on work today. Let’s just worry about tomorrow.”

  “Sounds good,” G
arion nodded, as he placed the piece of paper on the table, and went back to drinking his soda.

  Garion then raised his can.

  “A toast,” Garion cheerfully proposed, “to new friendships, and to getting rid of Draktos conclusively. Cheers!”

  “Cheers!” the whole team cheered at once as they clicked glasses, the soda in some bottles falling out of the can and onto the table from excitement form some of the teammates.

  They chugged their heads back and drank, the soda fizzling and bubbling as it fell into their mouths.

  Garion decided to take one quick glance at the paper, just in case they were something he should be worried about. He skimmed the papers, noticing just basic blueprints of the mansion. He also noticed a time marked on the bottom right portion of the document. Garion looked at his watch. The date and time right now and on the sheet were the same.

  “Probably just left by the contractors,” Garion thought to himself, “they were probably just going to do certain renovations right now.”

  Then he noticed that there were other blueprints drawn. Except they were under the mansion.

  “Garion,” Purstan asked, “are you O.K.?”

  Garion simply looked up at his entire team, that went quiet staring at him.

  He then whispered, so quiet that some had to lean in to hear, “Get out.”

  When no one seemed to pay attention to him, Garion started to say it louder.

  “Get out, get out, get out!” Garion screamed.

  He got up from the table, his heart beating so fast Garion felt as though he was going to faint again. Garion motioned for his team to follow him as they hurriedly did so.

  Garion ran into the main hallway, and darted up the giant staircase to his left, and, as he ran up the stairs, Purstan asked, “What the hell is going on?”

  “He’s here!” Garion screamed. “Draktos is here, and he’s attack....”

  Suddenly, everyone stopped dead in their tracks. They were at the center of the giant marble staircase now, with two pairs of stairs leading in either direction. And they heard a rumble.

  The whole team stood their in silence, as they heard the rumble getting louder and louder. The rumble seemed like an earthquake, immediately drawing everyone’s attention from anything else to focus on the current situation. As the rumbling seemed to get louder and louder, though, Garion started to notice that this rumbling didn’t seem like much of an earthquake, but a stampede. The stampede was coming from underneath them.

  The whole team readied their weapons and their powers. Garion then remembered the blueprints.

  “Ambush!” Garion screamed.

  It was too late.

  They came in herds, the shadows storming up out of the ground one by one as they attacked Garion’s team. Like an infestation of rats, they swarmed the mansion, destroying and breaking everything in their sight. The whole team gasped in awe at their intangible figures, scared for what to do next. Not knowing how to fight shadows, Garion and his team did their best and used their powers to the fullest.

  “There’s too many of them!” David cried. “There’s no chance of us surviving!”

  “Don’t think like that!” Malix shouted.

  Using all the energy in his little body, Malix unleashed a giant shield upon the whole team, made entirely of magma. The shield sprung up from his tiny body, encircling the team. The lava then started to melt down the shield, as Garion noticed something peculiar at the top of the dome-shaped shield. In the connecting center point the lava seemed to be flowing infinitely down, like rain running down a car’s windshield before the car driver wipes it off with his windshield wipers.

  “Let’s see them get through this!” Tyrone shouted.

  The whole team heard the shadows hiss as they touched the lava shield, and burn shortly after as they heard the faint cries of the shadows, coming in a small whisper. Garion could hear the shadows outside the shield though. While his heart may have been beating as fast as a stampede, he was angrier then ever. They’ve worked so hard to build up this mansion, to even obtain the land to begin with, and these shadows are taking it away from them.

  “The shadows are tearing apart the mansion, and we’re just going to sit here and let them?” Garion asked in disbelief.

  The whole team turned to look at Garion, him feeling more powerful and motivated then ever before.

  “When you were recruited,” Garion continued, letting the thoughts in his head simply flow out of his mouth, “you weren’t just because of your fighting skills. You were recruited for your bravery as well. You fought long and hard to get on this team and now, when the fight you’ve been working toward is staring you dead in the face, you’re just going to hide in a little shield?”

  The whole team looked at each other, until David stepped forward.

  “We should scatter around the mansion,” David pitched. “Two people to different sides of the mansion, and three courageous ones in the middle.”

  He looked toward Garion.

  “I’m guessing your friend Draktos will be there.”

  “Guys,” Malix reminded them, “this shield won’t be able to hold that much longer.

  “It’s a plan,” Garion agreed. “Find a buddy, and run for anywhere safe ASAP. Cover yourself until you get into that spot, and, when you do, kill as much of them as you can.”

  Garion turned around to face the shield and think, as he watched out of the corner of his eye the whole team dreadfully nodded in agreement, grabbing the hand of the one closest to them.

  Garion looked back at the team.

  “Oh,” Garion reminded them, “and please don’t die the first day on the job.”

  The team smiled as Garion looked towards Malix.

  “Now!” Garion screamed.

  Malix broke the shield, and, as the last remnants of the lava came pouring all around the shadows so that the team had a couple seconds to disperse, all hell broke loose.

  As each teammate grabbed for another, Garion’s main concern was his and Purstan’s safety. Each group of team members went running for opposite sides, darting for a place for cover while protecting themselves along the way, running since their lives depended on it. The shadows did not stop in their effort to kill, though; chasing down each individual team member, they had a common goal and failure was not an option to them. Garion grabbed Purstan’s hand (who was holding onto David) and they darted back down the marble stairs, as Purstan attempted to cover them by throwing balls of energy towards the shadows, but the beams simply went right through them, and they continued in their horrendous task as if the incident had never occurred.

  When they reached the end of the marble staircase, the shadows were closing in on them. Garion knew they had to do something, and fast. The three were fending off the shadows with as much as they could; Garion whipping around his tentacles in an attempt to whip the shadows away, Purstan throwing balls of energy at them, and David using more advanced powers like telepathy, attempting to drive the shadows away as well.

  All of these attempts were futile though, since all of these hostile attempts of self-defense simply went through the shadows like a ball gliding through the fresh air, the air not disturbing the ball’s constant motion.

  The next thing Garion knew the three of them were backed in a corner, right behind an office window and a door right next to it. Garion considered the option, but he knew the shadows would simply morph through the office walls. Garion felt cornered; he didn’t know what to do or how to fight these creatures, and the fear of death constantly lurked around him like a scented aroma. Instead of attacking the three of them though, the shadows simply surrounded them, and nothing further.

  Suddenly, the ground in front of them seemed to grow darker. The ground slowly started to bubble and, like a magically fast growing plant, Draktos spurred out of the ground in full blossom, the cape covering his true form darker then ever. The dark “portal” under him still remained though, probably
as a token of escape in case anything went wrong.

  Then, Draktos took off his cape.

  Throwing it to ground, he slowly started to grow legs. The legs, about the average size of human legs, were again made completely out of shadows. Draktos’s entire body seemed to morph into an entire shadow of a human being; his arms, his body, even his face seemed to morph into simply darkness, only two beady yellow eyes visible, but, besides that, all Garion saw was the general shape of a human being. Except the strange part was that there was no noticeable characteristics about this “human being.”

  It looked like your average Joe’s shadow in every way; nothing unique or different about him, which made the experience for Garion much more scary.

  “It’s over,” Garion thought. “I let my team down on the first day. How could I be so stupid?”

  “I see we have some troublemakers on our hands,” Draktos said cheerfully in his dark, deep, and disturbing voice. “You may as well just surrender now, Garion. And we will spare your team.”

  Garion then remembered: If he couldn’t attack the shadows, how could his team? Apparently the only pair that could possibly survive this brutal attack would be Malix and his buddy, since Malix’s shield somehow fended off the shadows. He couldn’t risk the safety of his team, and he knew that. They came in with a commitment to fight for Garion, and he couldn’t let them die for him on the first day. Then again, he couldn’t risk the safety of the world, either.

  Garion, having made up his mind, finally said, “In your dreams.”

  “So be it,” Draktos replied, still cheerful, “we were going to attack them anyway.”

  The shadows closed in on Garion, and he started to regret his decision. He started to back against the wall, cornered not only by the shadows but by fear, and then he saw it. It was just a flicker, but it was noticeable enough for Garion to realize. It was fire.

  As the fire slowly consumed the curtains on the opposite side of him, it started to spread around the entire house. From the walls to the carpet, the flame sought out anything flammable in its sight, and consumed it like a target. Not stopping for any man, or any force but the coolness of water, it spread around the house in seconds, and before Garion knew it the whole house was ablaze. Garion knew it was too late to do anything about it, he knew this was the end. He slowly backed away from his imminent death, hitting the window he forgot was behind him, and slumped down, not realizing the immense power rising behind him through the window.

  The next thing Garion knew the shadows became more tangible. Their ghostlike blackness turned into a deeper, darker, more real blackness. Their see through figure turned into thick, dark, floating beings who seemed alive in every way. Their now tangible figure seemed to be able to attack, as well. Garion then looked out of the window he hit.

  He look outside and saw nothing peculiar. The grass, the sky, the rising....

  “It’s the sun!” Garion screamed. “The light! The shadows turn into beings that can be attacked when the sun’s light is visible to them! It’s the sun! The sun! Open all the windows!”

  The shadows, ignoring their newfound weakness, still attempted to converge on Garion. He stretched out his tentacles, pushing them all away with one quick scoop. Purstan and David, both cornered against the wall next to Garion, continued with their newfound knowledge by converging on the shadows, hitting them with energy balls, using telepathy to send them to the ground. The whole atmosphere of the base seemed to change as the sounds of fear grew to noises of triumph.

  “So the retaliation begins,” Garion thought.

  Suddenly, Garion was shot in the back with some sort of energy ball, propelling him towards the center of the main hallway, where the fire started to spread. As Garion attempted to get up, Draktos grabbed him by the neck and, him also being a tangible figure now, transformed his hand into a makeshift knife.

  “Do you think this can stop me?” Draktos questioned in anger. “I am the almighty Draktos! People shiver at the sound of my name! There is nothing you can ever do to keep me from sending my forces into the TLS!”

  “This is for killing Harold,” Nirem barely managed to mutter as he, having his hand behind his back, revealed his makeshift machete, which he stabbed into Draktos’ stomach.

  Draktos released Garion from his grip and, as Garion regained breath, he quickly attempted to stab Draktos a second time, only to be foiled by Draktos quickly dodging the sudden second strike.

  Draktos then shot another energy ball at Garion, plunging him even more towards the fire, as it started to completely consume the right side of the house. Garion realized the imminent threat of the capsizing house and knew he had to save his fellow teammates.

  Draktos was quick to follow, as he ran toward Garion at miraculous speed, the makeshift knife already in his hands. Garion quickly dodged the makeshift knife attack by rolling over from the floor as Draktos fell to the ground.

  Garion then got up, barely dodging another attack attempt made by Draktos. He then quickly grabbed Draktos’ hand on his next attempt of attack, and flipped him over on his side, using all of his newfound strength towards his advantage. As Draktos, fell to ground, Garion got on top of him, wrestling to pin him down. The fire now started to spread towards Draktos’s head, and Garion knew he had to go. He looked back up at Purstan and David, who seemed to be covering the shadows with ease. Guessing that they could handle themselves, Garion threw one good punch to Draktos’ face and ran up the marble stairs, amazed at the power his strength now held.

  “Get out!” Garion screamed. “This side is going to collapse! Get out!”

  Garion ran toward the edge of the hallway, noticing a herd of shadows surrounding Greg and Mason, edging toward them slowly. The two attempted to fight back against the shadows, but their human weapons were useless against them. Right as Garion came, Mason had to reload his weapon. Garion then noticed the draped curtains next to them. He then had an idea.

  Right as the shadows were about to attack Mason and Greg, Garion shouted, “Hey! Over here!”

  The shadows all turned to see Garion, their main target. Buying Greg and Mason those seconds of time given to them so they can reload their weapons, Garion let the flame he noticed next to his feet consume the carpet he was standing on in seconds (as Garion jumped out of the way), and then spread to the curtains. The curtains quickly caught ablaze, the now-pouring sunlight spreading all across the shadows, and Garion knowing to use that time wisely.

  “Attack!” he screamed.

  Seeing no point in arguing in a situation like this, Mason continued to shoot his weapons at the shadows, now proving highly effective as they fell to the ground one by one. As the sun was on the brink of sunrise, Mason realized the connection and emptied his clip of his semiautomatic machine gun into the shadows, clearing a path.

  The sun started to grow even higher in the sky, and the shadows started to retreat from the mansion, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to survive if they stayed.

  Garion knew they had to attack fast.

  “Mason, Greg,” Garion called, “come on. We have to move, now.”

  Mason ran after Garion, but Greg seemed to stay behind.

  As they both ran down the hallway towards the marble staircase, Garion was about to call after Greg when Mason stopped him.

  “Greg’s dead,” Mason told him.

  Garion attempted to process the information he had just heard, and then realized they didn’t have the time. Running down the marble staircase, he saw it. They were gone. Every last bit of them, completely vanished into thin air. Even Draktos.

  The fire was still spreading, and it was only a matter of time before the entire right side of the mansion collapsed, and only a bit more time before the police start asking questions about how a fire was caused in an abandoned mansion.

  Garion then noticed Purstan on the floor, apparently sobbing. David was next to him, and he wasn’t moving.

  Garion sorrowfully sighed and kne
w that there was no time for funeral arrangements.

  “The media will be here soon.” Garion called to Purstan, along with the rest of the team scattered throughout the mansion. “The police will be here soon. Everyone will be here soon.”

  Garion sent Mason and Purstan out to find survivors, while Garion collected the bodies. They all knew that they had little time before the right side of the mansion collapsed, so Purstan quickly searched that side first.

  Moments later, Purstan found Nelkima and Malix in a corner, both alive but scared. He picked up Malix (being very small and less hot then he appears to be), as Nelkima slowly got up, and they all ran out of that area moments before it collapsed.

  The collapse was like an explosion; the deafening sound of it piercing through the teams ears, as the entire mansion fell upon itself, each piece contributing to the noise that beckoned the media. The dark cloud of ash that formed from it was practically a giant beacon begging for the press’ attention. The small remnants of flame from the first major explosion spread in pieces like rainfall, as the ash did as well. The pieces of the mansion were all in the general area of the blast though, all of them evidently very hot, some pieces even on fire.

  Mason ran back to the center hallway, or what was left of it, with the rest of the team, all seemingly intact. Garion looked up at the team members; each one with battle scars to tell their story.

  The team gathered in the center of the mansion and sat down on the ground, with nothing to do but mourn their losses. As people started to stare from across the moat, Garion, along with the rest of the team, knew there was nothing that could be done about it. An epic battle had just taken place in the mansion less then an hour ago. There was nothing possible that they could hide.

  As Garion laid down on the sizzling wooden floor of the mansion, finally ready to get some rest, the realization of this war had finally driven into his thick skull; he thought he could end it today. He thought he could finish a battle so great the day it started. He thought he could just finish it off and have a normal life. But with Draktos’ army tonight, and Draktos himself, Garion was horribly mistaken. He could not finish a war in one night. This was not the last battle. In fact, it had all just begun.