by Paul Cude
A darkness the like of which the world had never known was spreading across the planet, a pervasive cancer infiltrating every nook and cranny. It wasn't obvious, quite the opposite in fact, by design. But it was there, and it was mounting one final push. Nagas and dark dragons disguised as humans had long since slipped into the surface populace, ready to act, ready to rain down terror and destruction. Whilst in the depths of the secret dragon domain, the purveyors of evil, the wicked minds behind all the dastardly deeds, rallied their troops, ready and able to take the keys to the planet's stronghold, knowing that everything the earth had to offer was nearly theirs. It was only a matter of hours away now...
1 Snowbody Does It Better
It was freezing. The scroll that Yoyo had unfurled was now solid, the letters barely visible. But it didn't matter. They had nearly reached their destination. Things had progressed well over the last hour or so, if not as fast as he'd hoped for. They'd had to move from their previously sheltered position, to one much more exposed, in order to line up the hole they were drilling, with the area beneath the ice where they hoped the captives would be. By the young dragons' calculation, they should come out within thirty or so metres of the largest heat signature down there. That hopefully, would be either Fredric, Peter's grandfather and founder of the Crimson Guards, or the naga king, or maybe both.
A shimmering ripple in the snow next to him caused Flash to turn. One of Yoyo's band of young dragons had appeared beside him. Despite his supposedly eidetic memory, he couldn't remember her name. It didn't matter.
"Two more minutes and we should be there," she shouted over the howling gale that assaulted their small team, the superbly developed camouflage suits taking the full force of the extreme weather in this, the harshest environment on the planet.
He nodded his understanding back to her.
"I don't want to hang around. As soon as we're through, I'm going in. I'll scout ahead as we agreed. If it's safe for you to come down, and you're needed, I'll let you know."
She acknowledged with a nod of her head, before disappearing completely in front of him, due mostly to the suit, with the relentless snowfall playing some small part.
Abruptly another sizeable shape materialised on the other side of him this time. He could tell it was Yoyo, because he was holding the frozen scroll in one of his camouflaged hands.
"Are you sure you want to do it this way?" he leaned in and shouted, his voice barely perceptible in the horrendous weather.
"It's best for all concerned," replied Flash, mentally readying himself for what was to come. "In essence, I should encounter little in the way of resistance. With all of you standing by up here, ready to get us out, hopefully we'll be gone before anyone even notices."
Yoyo nodded, despite the worried expression that sat across his hidden face. This, as far as he was concerned, was the most risky part of the mission. It was unpredictable. Who knew what actually lay down there? Of course it should be the prisoners that Flash had seen when he'd been captured and escorted there. But there was no knowing for sure. Not until he got down there anyway. He didn't like it, but knew better than to try and change his young friend's mind at this late stage. All they could do was remain vigilant, ready to act, and hope things went to plan.
The dizzying red light from the cutting beam of the mantra they'd been using winked out, leaving them all shrouded in darkness. Flash knew it was up to him now. Trudging through the snow, over to the lip of the precarious looking hole just about wide enough for him to fit through, he whipped off one glove, gave a quick thumbs up before instantly slipping it back on again, and with the mantra ready in his mind, leapt into the darkness.
The sensation of air zipping past him saddened him, because it reminded him of flying, something given his bodily circumstances he was never likely to do ever again. A sharp piece of ice, jutting out from the hole's edge caught him on one arm, startling him back to reality. Mentally chastising himself for getting distracted, he reminded himself to complete the mission. It was an important one, probably the most important of his life. Given everything that was happening on the other side of the world, this could quite literally mean saving the planet as he knew it. Focused, he called forth the mantra, the words of which were already poised in his head.
Yoyo, with Flash's permission, had connected a mental tether to his friend, just before he'd plunged into the darkness. It should in theory allow the two of them to communicate, even with Flash over half a mile deep beneath the very ice and rock they stood on. If he encountered any difficulties, at least he would be able to warn them.
It wasn't fancy, it wasn't... FLASH! That made him laugh. So many puns. It was very simple and elegant... just the right mantra, at just the right time. All it actually did was make the air thicker, which in turn cushioned his descent, allowing him to control the speed with which he dropped through the hole. The one down side was that the mantra couldn't thicken the air enough for him to just stop or even hover. There was no way to halt his motion and all the energy related to it. Sooner or later, he was going to have to hit something, to grind to a halt. Although a concern, it was something he'd deal with when the situation arose. For now, he maintained his focus, kept an eye on the walls surrounding him and the drop below him for any sign of light or anything unusual, ready to fight at a moment's notice. He hoped he wouldn't have to, but he knew it was a distinct possibility. Any way you looked at it, he had to get the naga king out of there alive, and back to where he could do some good, not just for his friends' sake, but for the whole planet.
Surrounding the hole, they all waited fearfully. Some knelt, others just stood and craned their necks, what for, who knew? They certainly weren't going to see anything, not at that distance, even with their amazing dragon senses. A tinge of fear ran through Yoyo as he looked around him. The wonderfully designed suits the others wore flickered occasionally as the snow bounced off them. He wondered what he'd got them all into, and if indeed he really should have in the first place. It was too late now, but that didn't stop him regretting it. Would they all make it back? Would the mission succeed? Just two of many questions at the forefront of his mind, right at this very moment. Very soon, he would have his answers.
Earth's surface. London, England.
Dressed in TFL overalls and high visibility jackets, the two beings skulking in and around the dark tunnels adjacent to the underground tracks between Waterloo and Bank stations on the Waterloo and City line, deep beneath the capital, looked to be going about their business with their normal dedicated professionalism. If not for the two bodies each had killed with a single gunshot to the head, locked away in a tiny little store room, tucked some way back from the track then it might have just been two workers going about their daily business... but not so. Mischief was up to no good, and had designs on creating as much chaos as was... not quite humanly... possible.
Orders had come down from on high, well at least through their group leader. They were part of a cell of eight, and knew only the other seven beings. Apart from that, they'd had no contact with the outside world. Their instructions had been clear: create as much confusion, disruption and devastation as possible, keep the authorities busy and off guard, almost mirroring what had gone on deep beneath them some time earlier.
Caution and subterfuge had been thrown to the wind, speed now the name of the game. So the two moved quickly, their destination burned deep within their memories, thoughts occasionally turning to what the rest of the cell were up to... no doubt somewhere else in the capital about to unleash a very different form of pandemonium. Ducking back into a dark recess as a tube train came rumbling along the track directly in front of them, their superhuman powers allowed them to see directly into the carriage and focus solely on the subjects there going about their daily lives, despite the speed with which the train travelled. One of them, the subordinate of the two, wondered for a split second about the humans that he'd just witnessed. Were they happy? Did they have families? Friends? What were their g
oals in life? Had they achieved them? If they hadn't, he knew it was unlikely now that they ever would. Soon the world would darken... forever. And everything they knew would be but a distant memory.
'Enough of that though,' he thought... 'back to the task at hand.'
As the fading light of the tube train became but a distant speck, and the rattle of carriages echoed off down the blackened tunnel, the two of them rushed out onto the tracks, mindful of the ever present threat of electrocution, knowing that even their magical abilities would not protect them from that. Sprinting now, the two travelled about a quarter mile in the same direction as the train that had just passed them. This was almost the furthest point between the two stations, and the most difficult part of the track for the emergency services to access, thus compounding the turmoil once it all happened.
With no time to lose, both of them stood opposite each other, grabbed the rail nearest them, and began to feed their murky magic into their hands. Streaks of brilliant purple and wicked dark green energy bled into the thick metal they were holding on to, sparking and arcing similar to that of a welder's torch. Mere moments later the rails started to melt and run like the wax in a candle. The two continued their mischief up the track for some five or so metres before deciding their work was complete. Taking a moment to admire the now nonexistent track, only the flattened waxwork outline visible in the limited light, both beings sprinted off in the direction of the nearest exit to the surface which was about a thousand metres away. Spotting the concealed side tunnel with their magically enhanced vision, both of them ducked into it, followed its twisting path until they reached the narrow flight of stairs, which they duly climbed, all the time discarding the high visibility jackets and the stolen overalls. Reaching out with their minds, checking for anything unusual beyond the door that they stood behind in total pitch black, they both came up blank. Their path to freedom seemed perfectly okay. Both taking deep breaths, they opened the door, slipping through in but a split second, joining the throng of unsuspecting passengers heading away from the station. Both dressed in smart suit and tie ensembles, they blended in seamlessly with their surroundings. Three minutes later they found themselves in a black cab nearly a mile away, imagining the upcoming carnage the impending tube train was about to face.
2 A King And A Prayer
For all he was worth, he'd hoped it would take them longer, much, much longer. But it hadn't. They'd arrived at the council building side of the bridge about an hour ago. A magical battle of epic proportions had been waged for over forty minutes. Nagas, as that's what he assumed they were, combined with some very unusual looking dragons, the like of which he'd never seen before, had surged across the chasm between the two buildings, in wave after wave of full on assaults. It was reckless, careless, a casual waste of life. For that very reason he detested it. In the end, the compact dragon force, trapped in the king's private residence, had little choice but to do the one thing they'd hoped not to. They'd blown the bridge to smithereens. Well, I say blown, they did in fact ignite the mantra that had been cast over it when they'd first retreated back over it. By their count, over a hundred nagas had tumbled to their doom, plummeting clumsily into the relentless depths. After that, it had all gone quiet... even the aerial attacks from the strange looking dragons had abated. Nothing could be seen on the other side. No doubt the enemy had regrouped out of sight, knowing that their prey was well and truly TRAPPED!
"The shield's holding fine si... George," whispered Amelia Battlehard in his ear, having just checked the integrity of the crackling blue hemisphere of light that boxed them all in.
"So it should," he replied, much more gruffly than he'd meant to. "It is, after all, powered by this." Holding up his hand, he showed off the awe inspiring magical ring that adorned it.
"Sorry," she mumbled. "It's just that I feel at such a loss for what else to do."
Opening his eyes, for they'd been closed throughout the exchange, he exhaled and forced the tiniest of smiles onto his weary, weathered face.
"You've done all you can and more Captain. Your professionalism and dedication are a credit to your training. There's no one else I would wish to have at my side, right at this very moment."
A bubble of pride burst within her, spreading quickly to include all her appendages, especially her tail. The king always knew the right thing to say. That's probably why he was the king.
"This, stupid as it seems, is one of the hardest parts of a battle... the waiting. Inevitably in my experience, there always is some. It saps the concentration, dulls the brain, and lulls everybody into a false sense of security. Over time, I've learnt to sharpen my wits, imagine every possible scenario, every weakness, every strength... all of the possible combinations, every facet of every assault. I play them out in my mind, developing defensive and offensive strategies along the way. You'd be surprised at what you can learn, the holes that you can find, in any and every attack, and just how important that information might yet be."
"Don't you find it distracts you from what is about to come?" asked the young captain, wide-eyed.
"Not at all," he shrugged. "Most of my consciousness is still here, in the present, alert and ready to act. It does stop me getting bored and complacent though, and I would have to say that I owe my life to such an exercise, at least twice."
"Thank you for sharing with me George. I'll be sure to give it a go. I'm not quite sure how well it will serve me in the future though."
The king almost let out a chuckle at that. Turning to face the young guard, and with the biggest smile he could muster on his face, he raised his voice so that all around him could hear.
"Things are desperate, there's no point in pretending otherwise. Have I been in a situation quite as bleak as this before? Probably not! But I have been in situations where I thought I would die, where I had no right to survive. Fate, however, always had other ideas. All of these circumstances had one thing in common. I never gave up... not once. No one here should either give up hope, or stop believing we will get out of here in one piece. While I grant you a rescue of any sort is unlikely, it is not entirely impossible. So as your king, I order you all to BELIEVE, and to fight for the life that each and every one of you deserve, the life that these beings are trying to deprive you of."
They all heard, and despite how dire things seemed, the words did buoy them just a little.
3 Splitter!
So in synch with the world above, the planet wide mantra that turned the fierce orange glow of the surrounding lava into a dawn-like spectacle, crept across the underground domain of the dragons, throughout the United Kingdom. In and around the capital, the fresh morning blush revealed the previous day's death and destruction. Fires raged, thick cloying smoke circled high above, searching out the few direct routes to the surface. Death and decay wafted on what little breeze there appeared to be.
Awoken after barely an hour, she slipped out from his warm embrace, but not before negotiating one of his giant arms, that was not far off the size of her waist, before stalking off into the shadows. Quietly, so as not to disturb the rest of the makeshift camp, as that was now what the circular courtyard of the nursery ring had become, she turned the handle on the towering stone fountain, that the young dragons based here normally drank from. A high pressure jet of water flew up from its base, splashing not only her face, but the rest of her front as well. Shaking the water from her hair, and ringing out her top at the same time, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Glad of the drink, she was comforted by the fact that no one had seen what had happened. Spying her target in the distance, curled up not far from the dazzling looking purple, blue and scarlet looking female dragon that had suggested using the tunnels, whose name she'd subsequently learnt was Sunset Streak, she set off around the outside of the courtyard, hugging the darkness. It wasn't long before she approached his ancient scaly face, having been determined not to sneak up on him, for fear of how he might react. She needed to speak to him as a matter of urgency, but wasn't sure
how, or even if she should, wake him up. 'Carefully,' she thought on the how. Whilst still thinking, one heavy looking eyelid rolled back in front of her, revealing a giant eyeball, bigger than the size of a football, focused solely on her.
"Good morning child," purred Gee Tee, quietly.
Instinctively she took a step back.
"Morning," she managed to squeak.
Rolling his head, first from side to side, and then back to front, the old dragon gave a huge yawn, before settling his attention back down on his visitor.
"To what do I owe this very welcome visit... child?"
It had all seemed so easy while she'd been thinking about it. But now that she had to voice some small part of it to another being, her idea, no, plan, seemed all the more crazy. It had plagued what little sleep she'd had, which she'd taken as a sign that it was the right thing to do and that she should press ahead with it. So she did.
"Your... glimpse into the future. I need to ask you about it."
This got the old dragon's attention, causing him to adjust his posture ever so slightly.
"Go ahead child. What is it you need to know?"
"I was wondering if you witnessed me in any of your visions?"
'Every being on the planet always wants to know about themselves. I thought this one might be different,' he thought, opening his mouth, about to speak.
"Is that all?" he growled, much more harshly than he'd intended, disappointed by the actual question itself.
"And any of the other humans, or Tank."
With a barely discernible nod of his head, the master mantra maker silently admonished himself for jumping to the very wrong conclusion about the young dragon leader.
