by Lucas Flint
Bolt wondered where the gods of the Shadowlands could have gone for a moment, but then shook his head and said, “We can do a history lesson later. Right now, we need to find the Starborn. They’re somewhere in here and I have no intention of leaving them alone until we get an answer from them. So let’s get going.”
Bolt took one step forward, but then he sensed a change in the air around him. The torches began to glow brighter and brighter until they began spewing flames out from them. But they did not spew fire at Bolt and the others. Instead, the continuous streams of fire all met in the center of the hall, where they collided into each other with a blast that made Bolt’s ears ring. He took a step back, as did the others, and everyone watched the fireball growing larger and hotter until it suddenly vanished.
The Starborn were back again. They floated in the center of the hallway, where the fireball had once been, facing Bolt and the others silently. Once again, Bolt could sense the intense power flowing through the Starborn, power which dwarfed his own. But he didn’t really fear them, at least not to a crippling extent. He would have to be careful about how he approached them, but he would not run away, not now.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Bolt walked up to the Starborn. He stopped when he was about fifty feet away from them and looked up. The Starborn looked down at him, though whether they recognized him or not, he wasn’t sure.
“Starborn,” said Bolt. He smiled and waved at them. “Long time, no see. Remember me? I know it’s been a while since we last saw each other, but I’m Bolt. I’m one of the superhumans you created. I saved you from being controlled by John Mann.”
“We recognize you, human,” said the lead Starborn. His voice was ancient yet soft. “We never forget our own creations, even when they go against our wishes. We also remember how you and your friends saved us from slavery to one of a member of your own species. That was our darkest hour indeed.”
“Great,” said Bolt in relief. “I take it you know about the Dread God as well?”
“Yes,” said the lead Starborn, nodding. “When the Dread God resurrected, we felt his presence in the multiverse. Not to mention, of course, that he has been sending his worshipers to locate us in the Shadowlands, for he wishes to destroy us.”
“Yeah, I gathered,” said Bolt. He put his hands together. “I’ve been looking for you guys, too, because my friends and I need your help to defeat the Dread God. The Dread God is far too powerful for us to beat on our own. We think that if you guys helped us, then we might be able to stop him once and for all.”
The Starborn were silent at first. They did not look convinced to Bolt, so he continued, saying, “Defeating the Dread God won’t just help us. It will help every person in the multiverse, including yourselves. Plus, I think you guys owe me one for saving you guys earlier. It’s only fair for you to help us after I went out of my way to help you when John Mann tried to take control of you guys.”
Again, the Starborn were silent. They seemed to be thinking about Bolt’s offer. At least, Bolt hoped they were because it was very hard to read their minds without being able to see their faces.
Then, finally, the lead Starborn said, “No.”
Bolt frowned. “No? What do you mean by that?”
“We mean exactly what we say we mean,” said the lead Starborn. “We do not want to help you. We have no interest in fighting the Dread God. We simply want to work on our creations in peace. We are not warriors or fighters, despite our power.”
“Weren’t you just listening to what I said?” said Bolt. “The Dread God isn’t going to leave you guys alone. Heck, you yourself said that the Dread God has been sending his minions after you guys. He’s going to come after you guys himself someday and probably someday soon.”
“We are aware of that,” said the lead Starborn, “but our answer is still no. We are not fighters. We are creators. There is a difference.”
Bolt ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. “Have you guys always been pacifists or something? You’re not making any sense.”
“We don’t need to make sense to you,” said the lead Starborn. “We want to focus on our creations. We will leave the defeat of the Dread God to you mortals.”
“And how exactly do you expect us to defeat the Dread God without your help?” said Bolt in disbelief.
The Starborn exchanged puzzled looks with one another as if to make sure that they had all heard Bolt say the same thing. That made Bolt wonder if he had accidentally said something stupid.
“But we did help,” said the lead Starborn, looking at Bolt again. “It was a long time ago, true, but we still helped. Do you not have the weapon we gave to your ancestors eons ago to destroy the Dread God? You didn’t lose it or break it, did you?”
“What are you talking about?” said Bolt. “My ancestors didn’t have anything they could use to destroy the Dread God. Are you joking?”
“But we did give humanity a weapon they could use to slay the Dread God,” the lead Starborn said. “It was our finest creation yet. We didn’t give it a name, but you humans did. You called it the God Slayer.”
Bolt’s eyes widened and he heard Captain Galaxy gasp behind him. “The God Slayer? Do you mean to say that you guys are the gods in the old legends who gave Arius the God Slayer?”
The lead Starborn nodded. “That was us, yes. We did indeed craft the God Slayer sword for a human named Arius, who then used the blade to slay the Dread God and free his people. We were very proud of that weapon because we designed it with more care than we usually put into our creations. I would say it was even better than the superhumans, for it is a one-of-a-kind object which cannot be replicated even by the greatest minds of the multiverse.”
Suddenly, everything Beams had explained to Bolt about the story of Arius and the Dread God started to make a lot more sense. “But why did you give Arius the God Slayer in the first place? Why didn’t you guys just use it to destroy the Dread God yourselves?”
“As we have stated multiple times already, we are not fighters,” said the lead Starborn. He spread his long, spindly arms. “We are creators. We love to make new things and see how they come out. The Dread God was too strong for us to take on and, though it is possible we could have defeated him ourselves, we decided that the humans who the Dread God oppressed should be the ones to finish him. So we crafted the God Slayer, which we originally promised to give to the Dread God, though we secretly planned to give it to Arius the entire time.”
Bolt put a hand on the side on his head. “Why did you promise to give it to the Dread God at all?”
“Because the Dread God forced us to make weapons for him,” said the lead Starborn. “He demanded we craft him the strongest, most powerful weapon in the multiverse so he could use it to destroy any rebellion against him. We had no choice but to agree to his demands, though we secretly designed the God Slayer to abandon him and fly into the hands of its true user, Arius.”
“Guess it must have worked, then,” said Bolt.
“It did,” said the lead Starborn with more than a hint of pride. “When the Dread God attempted to use the God Slayer to put down a rebellion which had risen in his city, it left his hands and returned to the hands of Arius. Arius then used the sword to finish the Dread God off for good, taking advantage of his surprise. After that, Arius kept the God Slayer and told us that he would make sure it did not fall into evil hands.”
“Interesting,” said Bolt. “That explains a lot.”
“But we are curious as to why you do not have it,” said the lead Starborn. “Has it gone missing?”
Bolt shook his head. “No, it hasn’t. One of my friends is trying to get it even as we speak. We just didn’t know you guys were the original creators of the God Slayer.”
The Starborn nodded as one and the lead Starborn said, “Interesting. That explains why you came all the way here. You humans can be very persistent when you want to be.”
“With the fate of the multiverse on our shoulders, we kind of
have to be persistent,” said Bolt.
“It was an observation, not a criticism,” said the lead Starborn. “In any case, you didn’t waste your time entirely by coming here. Though we ourselves refuse to fight the Dread God, that does not mean that we are going to stand back and allow him to succeed. We have been working on a new weapon which you can use against him, one of equal power to the God Slayer.”
“Really?” said Bolt. He looked over his shoulders at the others, who looked as mystified as he felt. “Why were you building another weapon if you thought we still had the God Slayer?”
“Because we wanted to be safe,” the lead Starborn said. “We wanted to ensure that you humans had plenty of ways to defeat the Dread God, should the God Slayer be unavailable. Allow us to show you our best and newest creation.”
As one, the Starborn raised their hands and began charging what appeared to be energy through them. Their hands glowed with immense power for a moment and, as they neared the peak of their power, a cold wind suddenly blew through the hallway, sending the torches’ flames flickering and even causing a few of them to go out.
At first, Bolt thought that that was just another manifestation of the power of the Starborn, but then a dimensional portal opened behind the Starborn. It opened slowly but surely, and unlike most portals, it did not open cleanly. Its edges were jagged and uneven, like a torn piece of paper, and the other side of the portal was a deep blood red.
Then two massive hands appeared on the edge of the portal … and the Dread God pulled himself out and emerged into the temple, a wicked grin crossing his monstrous features.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
As soon as Guide finished speaking, Beams closed his eyes and shot his laser into the back of his eyelids. When the lasers bounced back into his brain, adrenaline-powered through him. Snapping his eyes open, Beams leaped into the air toward Arius and fired several laser blasts in quick succession at his ancestor.
But Arius deflected the blasts with the God Slayer easily and jumped into the air to meet Beams. With a kick, Arius sent Beams flying off to the side. Beams crashed into the ground and rolled several times until he stopped in front of a rock, where he lay, briefly stunned by the impact until he shook his head and rose to his feet.
Arius must have hit him harder than he thought because getting back to his feet was a chore in itself. Every muscle in his body resisted his efforts to stand up, but Beams ignored what his body was telling him. He just stood upright, glaring at Arius, who had landed on the ground not far away from where Beams stood. He wasn’t even sweating yet.
Resting the God Slayer on his shoulder, Arius turned to face Beams and said, “You are stronger than I thought, Alex. I thought your body would not be able to handle a blow like that.”
“I’ve … I’ve experienced worse,” said Beams. Despite the adrenaline coursing through his veins, he was gradually beginning to realize that he hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in a while and that that was starting to take its toll on him.
And it has to take its toll on me now, of all times, right when I need my energy the most, Beams thought with a scowl. Just my luck.
Shaking his head, Beams fired a continuous beam of energy at Arius. But Arius dodged it as fluidly as water and then pointed the God Slayer at Beams. A brilliant blast of golden energy exploded from the sword’s tip toward Beams.
Without even thinking, Beams leaped high into the air. He just narrowly avoided the golden energy blast, which struck the rock he had been standing in front of and blew it up into pieces, sending chunks of rock and dirt flying everywhere. Beams flew over Arius and, landing behind him, whirled around and fired a powerful blast of energy at him.
But Arius also spun around and held up the flat of the God Slayer. Though Beams’ lasers struck the God Slayer head-on, the sword held fast. In fact, the God Slayer did not seem to even be melting under the lasers. If anything, it seemed to be getting stronger, but Beams had no time to consider that before Arius swung the flat of his blade and struck him in the face.
That blow sent Beams staggering backward. Though his helmet had absorbed most of the damage from the blow, getting smacked in the face was still painful and it left his senses dazed for a moment before his vision came back into focus and he saw Arius rushing toward him yelling like a maniac. Arius swung his sword at Beams’ face, but Beams jumped backward at the last second and put a good deal of distance between himself and Arius.
Doing a three-point landing, Beams stood up again and held up his fists. Arius had stopped advancing now and was spinning the God Slayer around with an amused grin on his face.
“You’re much quicker than me, I will admit,” said Arius, “but speed alone won’t win you the God Slayer. Defeating me, on the other hand, will.”
“Easier said than done,” said Beams, panting and breathing hard. “I’m not built like a mountain like you are.”
Arius’ eyes twinkled. “My physique has nothing to do with my success. You may be my descendant, but that doesn’t mean I am going to go easy on you. I am coming at you with everything I have in order to find out if you are truly worthy of wielding the God Slayer. I expect you are doing the same to me.”
He was. Beams certainly was not holding back, but it didn’t help that he was getting more and more tired the longer the battle drew on. Although it had probably only been a few minutes at most, it already seemed to Beams like hours had passed.
Maybe I’m just tired or maybe time works differently here than it does in other dimensions, Beams thought. Not that it really matters. I need to take him down and fast.
But Beams had no more time to think, because Arius rushed toward him again, swinging the God Slayer like a wrecking ball. Instead of jumping away, however, Beams rushed toward Arius as well. A look of surprise briefly flashed in Arius’ eyes, only to be replaced by his prior determination to take down Beams.
When they got close enough, Arius swung his sword at Beams, but Beams ducked, allowing Arius’ sword to pass by his head unharmed. Before Arius could prepare another strike, Beams looked up and blasted Arius in the face with a laser beam. The blast sent Arius staggering backward, and for a moment, Beams thought that he must have taken him out because there was no way that someone could survive a point-blank laser blast like that.
But when the smoke around Arius’ face disappeared, it revealed that Arius was not even remotely hurt. In fact, if Beams hadn’t seen himself shoot the laser, he wouldn’t have been able to guess that he had just blasted Arius in the face with a powerful laser.
“Nice try,” said Arius. He rubbed his face. “It didn’t hurt, but it was your first solid blow against me in this entire fight. You are starting to learn. But are you learning fast enough?”
Arius raised the God Slayer above his head and brought it crashing down onto the ground. The earth split at the point where the God Slayer struck and the split raced toward Beams. The earth opened up underneath Beams and he fell, but he grasped the edge of the earth at the last second and hung on for dear life before hauling himself back up. Panting, Beams noticed a large shadow appear over him suddenly and he looked up just in time to see Arius falling toward him, the God Slayer in hand.
Alarmed, Beams leaped forward and hit the ground at a roll. He rolled up to the edge of the mountaintop just as Arius slammed the God Slayer into the spot where he had been standing moments before. The earth shattered under the impact of the God Slayer and the entire mountaintop was shaken by a tremor, which nearly sent Beams falling off the side of the mountain, but he regained his balance at the last second and turned around to face Arius.
Arius wrenched the God Slayer out of the earth and rose to his full height again. Sweat was now visible on his forehead and bulging muscles, yet he still smiled as if he could do this all day, which Beams was starting to become convinced he could.
“Again, your reflexes are as fast as lightning, but unless your master plan to defeat me is to trick me into destroying the mountain itself, it won’t help you wi
n,” said Arius, resting his sword on his shoulder again. “You can’t keep running forever.”
That was true, especially now that Beams was trapped between Arius and the edge of the mountain. If he went forward, he’d have to fight Arius, who would probably kill him, but if he took a step backward, he’d fall to his death. Death awaited him no matter what he did, which made him wonder if he was destined to perish here today.
No wonder no one has ever beaten this challenge before, Beams thought. Arius is a ruthless opponent. Maybe this is the end of the line for me after all.
Putting a hand on his chest, Beams felt a tiny bulge in the pocket of his costume. Puzzled, he pulled the bulge out and discovered that it was a small, beautiful pearl, which shined beautifully under the cold sun above.
Sonny’s lucky pearl, Beams thought. I completely forgot about this. He told me it was a family heirloom, but I’m not sure how helpful a pearl will be against the most powerful weapon in the universe. Maybe if I throw it at him, I’ll distract him long enough to get into a safer position.
But Beams couldn’t keep running. He needed to stand his ground and fight. And not just fight but win.
That was when Beams remembered what Sonny had told him, about how the lucky pearl could grant unbelievable luck to its owner. A plan began to form in Beams’ mind, a plan that would be risky and relied on things he couldn’t control, but it was also his only chance of succeeding. He would just have to hope that the lucky pearl was as lucky as Sonny said it was.
Putting the pearl back into his pocket, Beams took a deep breath and then ran at Arius, yelling the whole while. Arius looked surprised at first, but then smiled and said, “Good! You fight. But you should have chosen your tactics more carefully because you have left yourself wide open!”
Arius raised the God Slayer above his head, which was exactly what Beams had been hoping for. He jerked his head up and fired his laser, but not at Arius’ exposed face. His lasers were aimed at Arius’ hands, in which the God Slayer, its crystal blade sparkling, was held tightly.
