by Lucas Flint
Gotta think fast, Beams thought, his eyes darting back and forth. If I don’t, Pesa will die, and it will be all my fault. And I doubt the Ariopolitans will forgive me for this, much less let me run the Gauntlet and get the God Slayer.
A thought occurred to Beams just then and he met the Avatar’s eyes. “You are not going to kill Pesa. You aren’t even going to harm her.”
“What makes you think that?” said the Avatar. His finger ran along Pesa’s throat again, making her shudder.
“Because you need her alive so you can kill me,” said Beams. “If she dies, I live.”
The Avatar’s finger froze. This time, Beams could tell he got to him, though the Avatar’s facial expression remained entirely unchanged. “What makes you think that?”
“If you wanted her dead, you would have killed her already and taken me out some other time,” said Beams. “Instead, you use her as bait to get me right where you want to so you can kill me. But if you kill her, then I’ll be free to fight for my life without having to worry about her safety or health, which makes it far more likely I will escape you.”
The Avatar went very still. He looked almost like a statue now, not helped by the little bits of snow which clung to his shoulders.
Then the Avatar’s shoulders relaxed. “Well played, Beams. I keep underestimating your intelligence, which is a mistake I should have learned by now. The Dread God warned me not to underestimate the cleverness of a son of Arius, but I let my pride get the best of me and make me act foolishly. I will have to go to the Dread Priest for confession later.”
“So … are you going to let her go?” said Beams hopefully.
The Avatar shook his head once. “No, of course not. This isn’t some kind of game where, once you figure out what I am up to, I have to give you the girl. Instead, I’m going to leave and let my men take care of you. The Dread God is waiting for me and it is never wise to keep him waiting.”
A dimensional portal exploded open behind the Avatar. The Avatar stepped back into it, but before he could pass fully through it, Pesa bit his finger. The Avatar actually grunted in pain, his grip loosening on Pesa that she broke free of it and darted forward. At the same time, Beams, seeing an opportunity, fired his energy beams at the Avatar. His eye lasers hit the Avatar in the chest, sending him staggering back through the portal. The last Beams saw of the Avatar before he disappeared through the portal completely, was a look of surprise and hatred on his inhuman features.
Then the Avatar passed through the portal and it closed with a soft pop.
But as soon as it did, Beams heard grunts and growls behind him and turned around to see the Avatar’s soldiers rushing toward him. They were yelling and screaming in the Darzen language, their armor and weapons clanking as they ran across the icy floor toward him.
There was no way that Beams would be able to take all of them on at once, so he fired a continuous, moving beam of energy at them. Because the Darzens were running in a group together, they had a hard time avoiding the laser. Some of them tripped and fell on the icy floor, while others dropped down on their own and still others actually ran into each other. It was almost comical, the way the Darzens got in each other’s way, but it was an excellent distraction, so Beams turned around and rushed over to Pesa, who was still lying on the floor with big eyes as if she had just drunk a big cup of coffee.
“Hey, are you okay?” said Beams, kneeling beside her.
Pesa looked up at him with her big dark eyes. Beams hadn’t realized just how thin she was. She looked almost like a stick figure, though she didn’t seem to be anorexic. “W-Who are you? You are not one of Father’s hunters. Did that monster call you a son of Arius?”
“Yeah, he did,” said Beams. He held out a hand. “Arius is my great-great-great … whatever, grandfather. Now take my hand and I’ll get you to safety. Your dad sent me to save you so you can trust me.”
Pesa suddenly smiled when Beams said that and took his hand. Beams pulled her to her feet and said, “Okay, if you’re not injured, we—”
A dimensional portal opened up before them and the Avatar stepped out of it. He looked angry beyond belief now, rage and hatred twisting his features so much that he looked almost like a miniature replica of the Dread God. He drew his sword from his side and held it above his head.
“You didn’t think I was just going to let you get away after that little trick, did you?” said the Avatar to the shocked Beams and Pesa. “I can open dimensional portals to wherever I want. Your pathetic trick merely inconvenienced me for a few seconds.”
The Avatar brought his sword down on Beams, but Beams grabbed Pesa and dove to the side. The Avatar’s sword slammed into the floor, smashing it apart. Then the Avatar ripped his sword out of the floor and turned to look at Beams and Pesa, who were now up against the wall, panting and clutching each other for their dear life.
“Pesa,” said Beams suddenly, looking at her. “You need to run. Find a room in the Temple to hide. I’ll distract the Avatar.”
“But he’ll kill you,” said Pesa as if it just occurred to her what might happen to him.
“Yeah, I know, but at least I can defend myself better than you,” said Beams. “Now go!”
Beams pushed her to the side and Pesa nearly fell onto her hands and knees before catching herself and running down the hallway. The Avatar turned to follow her, but Beams fired another laser at his face, which the Avatar deflected with his sword.
“You are weak,” said the Avatar, “but quick and annoying, like a mouse. But mice are also easy to squash, just like humans.”
The Avatar rushed toward Beams much faster than a being of his size should have been able to. The Avatar’s blade came rushing toward Beams, forcing Beams to duck to avoid getting beheaded. He rolled between the Avatar’s legs and, getting back to his feet, blasted the Avatar in the back with a focused laser beam. The blast, however, seemed to annoy the Avatar more than anything, who whirled around and rushed toward Beams again, swinging his sword viciously and forcing Beams to back up as quickly as he could, just barely avoiding the Avatar’s furious sword strikes.
Then Beams’ foot missed a step and he fell backward off out of the window. Alarmed, he reached out and grabbed onto the window ledge, sending some snow falling below, but the ledge held and he hung there in the air dozens of feet off the ground, his breath coming hard and fast as he clung onto the ledge for dear life.
Then the Avatar appeared over him. The howling wind and falling snow made it hard to see, but Beams could tell that the Avatar was raising his sword above his head, a grin of insanity on his lips.
“Stay right there,” said the Avatar, his voice full of triumph, “don’t move, because you are going to die either way.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Bolt struggled to get back to his feet, but the red mist he had inhaled earlier must have done more than just make him weak. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t activate his super speed, which would have been really helpful for escaping the descending mist cloud right now. As it was, he could only try to crawl, though even that simple movement was like torture.
“Can’t use your powers?” Graalix said. His mouth twisted into an even more deranged grin. “That’s because I mixed the Dread God’s Tears with some powerless gas I picked up in another universe. Not only are you weak and in pain, but you also can’t use your powers.”
Now Bolt understood why he felt so weak. He’d been sprayed with powerless gas before and he felt very similar back then to how he did now. Not that it was very helpful, however, because he was going to die either way.
A cry of pain made him look toward the other side of the courtyard. Captain Galaxy, Aster, and Hypno were fighting for their lives against over a dozen Darzen soldiers. A few empty suits of punctured Darzen armor lay scattered here and there, but it was pretty clear that the Darzens were going to overwhelm his friends. Kyra was still unconscious on the cobblestone path where Graalix had left her, but even if she hadn’t been unconscious,
it wasn’t like she would have been very useful in a fight.
He got us good, I’ll give him that, Bolt thought, blinking the tears out of his eyes. Didn’t realize Graalix could be so clever. Then again, maybe the Dread God is the real clever one around here and Graalix is just following his orders.
It didn’t matter either way. All that mattered was that Bolt and his friends were going to die. Now they had to depend on Beams and the others getting the God Slayer if they were going to have any hope of defeating the Dread God.
This is it, Bolt thought, glancing up at the red mist cloud above. We are going to die.
“I can sense your fear, human,” said Graalix. He took a deep breath. “I can even smell it. Smell it … and enjoy it. This will be my revenge against you, for murdering the Mother World and sentencing my entire species to death. It is too bad you won’t live long enough to see your own people die, but I suppose they will all be joining you in whatever afterlife you humans believe in very shortly.”
Bolt lowered his head. He had no idea how his death was going to feel, but he doubted it would be entirely painless. He just hoped that Beams and the others would get the God Slayer and kill the Dread God, however unlikely that might have been.
Then, without warning, a blindingly bright light exploded into existence above the courtyard. Bolt looked up and immediately regretted it because the light was too bright to stare at directly. Graalix also looked at it, but he covered his eyes with one of his hands to protect his vision. Even the Darzen soldiers attacking Bolt’s friends had stopped to stare up at the light, along with Bolt’s friends.
“A light?” said Graalix in disbelief. “Where did this come from? It can’t be the Dread God, can it?”
“No, Graalix, child of the Mother World,” came a feminine, but authoritative, voice from within the light. “This is not the Dread God, though you will soon wish it was. This is something far more dangerous: The wrath of a mother defending her children from harm.”
A powerful gust of wind blew through just then, setting all the trees shaking. It also completely dissipated the red mist cloud above Bolt and nearly knocked over Graalix, who staggered backward but somehow managed to retain his balance despite the wind. His soldiers, however, were not so lucky, with most of them falling down or tripping over themselves as they tried to escape the wind.
A few even dropped their weapons, but they didn’t get far, because beams of bright white light shot out from the orb floating in the center, striking the Darzens dead. The light beams melted their armor and incinerated their energy forms, making them fall down with a clunk onto the cobblestone pathway. Captain Galaxy, Aster, and Hypno had fallen to the ground as well, but mostly to avoid the light, though the light beams did not even touch them.
One such light beam shot toward Graalix, but a portal opened behind him at the last second and he fell back into it. The portal closed with a pop and in the next instant, the light beam that would have hit Graalix slammed into the ground, sending chunks of dirt flying into the air and leaving a smoking crater where it crashed.
Breathing hard, Beams raised his eyes to look up at the light. It floated silently in the center of the courtyard for a second before it suddenly brightened and then vanished, leaving a very odd-looking figure in its place.
The figure appeared to be some kind of woolly mammoth, except it was made out of tree branches and limbs, with weird-looking leaf wings rising from its back. It towered over even the Castle walls and its long trunk was made out of a hard kind of wood, which it swung back and forth through the air out of habit. It gave off the impression of being far older than it looked, its eyes scanning the courtyard, perhaps searching for more threats.
Aster let out a deep breath. “It’s her. The Spirit of the Woods.”
When Aster spoke, the Spirit’s eyes rested on him for a second. Disapproval appeared in her eyes, but then she looked away from Aster and walked over to the unconscious Kyra. The young girl lay very still on the cobblestone where Graalix had left her, but the Spirit touched her forehead with the tip of her trunk. Kyra’s body flashed green for a moment and then her eyes fluttered open.
“Ow,” said Kyra, rubbing her head. “My head hurts.”
But then she looked up at the Spirit and the biggest smile Bolt had ever seen appeared on her face. “Mommy! You’re back!”
Kyra hugged the Spirit’s trunk so tightly that she seemed to be trying to become one with it.
The Spirit chuckled. “There, there, my daughter. Everything will be all right now. I am here, so you don’t have to worry about anything anymore.”
“I know, Mommy, I know,” said Kyra, still hugging the Spirit’s trunk tightly. “I just don’t want to leave you ever again. That was the scaredest I’ve ever been in my whole life.”
“Don’t worry,” said the Spirit. “I will keep you safe by my side always. Trust me and all will be well.”
It was a heartwarming moment for sure, but Bolt could not help but wonder what took the Spirit so long to show up. He slowly rose to his feet, dusting off his costume and glancing at the bodies of the Darzens, which reminded him of a scrap heap.
“Don’t worry, young Bolt,” said the Spirit, causing Bolt to look over at her suddenly. “They are all dead. You don’t have to worry about them or about any possible reinforcements, because I have reinforced the Castle’s defenses to ensure that even the Dread God cannot pass through these walls.”
“How do you know my name already?” said Bolt in surprise. “We’ve never met.”
The Spirit raised Kyra off the ground and gently deposited her on a protrusion on her back which resembled a seat. “I met one of your friends, Shell, some time ago when he was wandering the multiverse trying to find his way back home. I helped guide him back to you and your friends, but I never forgot him, nor you, because I watched you and your friends defend your world from the Starborn who wanted to destroy it.”
Bolt was surprised. Shell had never told him about the Spirit or this place. He wondered if Shell had simply forgotten about it or what.
Gonna have to ask him about that the next time I see him back in my universe, Bolt thought. Assuming we make it back alive, anyway.
“I also know the names and purposes of your three allies here,” said the Spirit, gesturing at Captain Galaxy, Aster, and Hypno. “As the one who watches over the multiverse, I know much about what has been going on. I even have some experience in it, as you are probably aware of by now.”
“Great,” said Aster, rising to his feet with a smile on his face, “so you’re going to help us, right?”
The Spirit looked at Aster with an incredibly withering glare. “You are the new Chief of the Interdimensional Elite Agency, are you not?”
“Uh, yeah,” said Aster with a gulp. He took a step back, apparently without even thinking about it. “I replaced Amanda Nebula, who died recently.”
“I remember her,” said the Spirit. “A wise woman and a good leader, but one prone to mistakes as you mortals tend to be. Did she not tell you that your kind is not welcome here in my Forest?”
A cool breeze suddenly picked up, similar to the one which had put out the red mist cloud earlier, only now there was a hint of an edge to it like the Spirit was about to call upon a massive blizzard. The sky was bright and clear and the sun was shining warmly, but Bolt sensed that the Spirit had far more control over the Endless Forest’s environment than she let on.
“Yeah, we know,” said Aster, rubbing his hands together anxiously, “but this is a huge emergency, one that threatens not just us, but the whole multiverse. And we will need your help to combat it.”
“The Dread God,” said the Spirit. “Yes, I am aware of him.”
“Then you understand the seriousness of this situation,” said Aster. “And why we need your help.”
The Spirit stared at Aster for what seemed like an eternity. Bolt recalled what Aster had told him earlier about how the Spirit felt about the IEA and how he expected her to say no. She ce
rtainly didn’t seem to be very happy about Aster and Captain Galaxy’s presence here. Even Kyra had gone very still, looking from the Spirit to Aster and back again as if she was trying to read her mother’s mind.
Finally, the Spirit nodded and said, “Fine. I don’t care for your little agency or what you have done in the past, but the current situation means I don’t have the luxury of kicking you out because of what you people did to the Endless Forest in the past. If we are going to save the multiverse from the Dread God, then we will need to work together, at least for now.”
Aster breathed a sigh of relief. “Whew. I thought you were going to say no for a second there.”
The Spirit turned around and began walking toward the Castle’s front doors. “I should, given what your people did to my forest, but I won’t. Now come with me and we can speak further in the Castle.”
Not one to argue with a being as powerful as the Spirit, Bolt began following her and the other three fell in line behind him as they walked to the Castle front doors.
That was when Bolt noticed that the Spirit walked with a slight limp. He remembered what Kyra had said about the Spirit fighting the Dread God and how she thought the Spirit was dead.
Obviously, she’s not, Bolt thought as they walked, but where has she been and how did she survive? And, more importantly, where is the Dread God and why isn’t he here, as well?
Whatever the answer to that question was, Bolt doubted he was going to like it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Avatar brought his sword down on Beams’ face. At the same time, Beams unleashed a laser beam at the Avatar’s sword.
His energy beam met the Avatar’s sword halfway and his laser cut through the Avatar’s sword. The Avatar cried out in pain and threw his sword away, sending it falling to the snow below. The Avatar clutched his sword hand, which Beams seemed to have burned.
