Death Cloud: The Senturians of Terraunum Series (Book 2)

by R. J. Batla

  With a sickening laugh, the Uland said, “All right, you’ve had your fun. Gave the people a good show. Now it’s time to give up.” Leaning in close to me, where I could barely hear him, he said, “You know Malstrak wants you alive. I could kill you easily now. But out of respect for my master, I won’t. All you have to do is submit.”

  My clone, backed up against the stone wall I’d raised, looked him dead in the eye. “You’re going to have to kill me, monster.”

  The Uland narrowed his eyes. “So be it.”

  With inhuman speed, he Piston Punched the clone, pummeling it without mercy. As the Uland was distracted, I catapulted myself out of the ground, drawing my sword as I cleared the ground. With a battle cry, I dug the blade into the Uland’s back as I flew upward. The sword did what nothing else would, cutting a clean line from his ass to his neck, reddish green blood oozing from the wound.

  Even then, the Iron Hide was strong. The cut was long, but shallow. Twirling up and away, I placed a stone on his back in the middle of the cut. As I landed, I watched as the cut healed itself, shutting the stone inside his skin. That stone would be crucial if I could defeat this thing.

  With a scream of agony, the Uland spun and backhanded me. I barely managed to get an energy shield up in time. The shield took most of the blow, but the force of it still sent me sprawling. I rolled end over end and slammed into the wall of the arena, followed by a cheer from the crowd. I recovered as quickly as I could and stood.

  Shaking like a wet dog, the Uland sneered at me as the crowd gasped and cheered – they’d never seen the Uland hurt. “You’ll pay for that, Dragon.”

  Engage suppress stone.

  While I was underground, I’d poured the Suppress power from Corbman into that stone. With it under his skin, it should affect him even more, further dampening his powers. I felt the stone respond on the Uland’s back, and as he started to run towards me, the wound and the suppress stone slowed him enough so I could track his movements. I knew I was in the ballgame now.

  I took off running, staying just in front of the Uland, but I knew my stamina wouldn’t hold up to his. “Clone Explosion!”

  An energy copy of myself was left in my wake. It exploded when the Uland ran into it, flinging him back a good twenty feet. Shaking his head, he ran at me again. I threw my sword at him, which he should have easily dodged. But with the power of my sword to never miss its mark, I managed to hit him in the shoulder, burying itself to the hilt. I was aiming for his chest – the damn thing moved too fast!

  Another scream rent the arena as the Uland reached up and pulled my blade from his shoulder. He roared at the sword like it was at fault, then tried to bend it but only managed to cut his hand. With another roar, he hurled it away, far out of my reach. Of course I could call it right back to my hand, but not yet... not yet...

  I watched as the wound slowly closed, but I knew that strike had caused some damage internally.

  With a smirk he said, “That’s twice you’ve injured me, human! No one does that! Now you’re going to die!”

  I turned on the Ignis, then shut it off quickly. “Not if I have anything to say about it. Ice Burial!” I brought my hands together, pulling water from every source I could in the arena, binding them around the Uland and freezing quickly, holding him for a second. Immediately cracks started to show in the iceberg as the Uland fought to free himself.

  “Energy Drills!” Dozens of spears of white-hot energy burst from my outstretched hands as I thrust them forward, smoking through the ice and trying to penetrate the Uland’s hide. He didn’t even scream. The ice shattered into a million pieces

  “Earth wall! Fire wall! Earth wall! Fire wall!” I said, bringing each up in turn between us, my breath coming in ragged gasps.

  I engaged the Ignis again and watched the world slide into an unnatural clarity as the Uland strode right through the fire walls without sustaining any harm and crashed through the earth walls with a mighty punch.

  I asked my power, “What can I do to stop him?”

  In my head I heard, “Your sword. That’s the only thing that can kill the Uland.”

  Dang, I was hoping for something else. I couldn’t use my sword yet – the timing would have to be perfect or it wouldn’t work. Before I could think, the Uland was already upon me.

  With the Fire Eyes blazing at full force my energy drained at an alarming rate. Pulling shields onto both my hands, I braced for impact as the Uland started punching me. If I hadn’t been using Suppress being channeled from Corbman through Leona into me, I would have been severely outclassed.

  As it was, I managed to block most of the rapidly incoming punches. Each felt like a hammer blow to my shields, knocking me off balance and backing me up. Several got through my defenses, slamming into me and knocking me back even further. I recovered as fast as I could, healing myself as I retreated. But I was running out of room. In no time, my back was against the wall. The crowd gasped.

  I managed to block three more strikes before the Uland got his hand on my throat, lifting me up to his eye level against the wall and slamming my head against it. Stars swam in my vision. He punched me in the face, cutting my forehead and breaking my nose. Thankfully he hadn’t used his full strength or he’d have taken my head off. Blood oozed over my eyes and mouth.

  The Uland tried to look over his shoulder at the greenish-red blood that dripped from the wound in his back. “No one hurts me. I don’t care what Malstrak says. I’m going to kill you!”

  He drew back his fist.

  As one, the crowd gasped – they knew what was coming. Piston Punch.

  I heard a scream from the stands and looked up to see everyone was on their feet, including Corbman, Leona, and Royn, each with a look of sheer terror on their faces. Our plan hadn’t worked – the suppress stone was supposed to make him weaker, allow me the upper hand to win.

  But it hadn’t, and here I was, bloodied and beaten, about to get hit with an unstoppable move.

  With the Ignis still blaring, I could see in minute detail, and seemingly in slow-motion, as power rushed from the center of the Uland and out to his hands.

  “See the crowd, human? They know your fate. It’s been sealed. Time to die!”

  “Time Slow!”

  At the last possible second, I had an inspired idea, and the Ignis answered my request. While I couldn’t stop time, I could slow it. And with time slowed down, I could move slightly faster than even the super speed of the Piston Punch.

  I watched the first fist coming towards me in slow motion.

  I had milliseconds to do this.

  I placed the front of my closed fist against the Uland’s chest.

  “Cor et Anima!” I screamed.

  The time power expired, and the crowd gasped again.

  The Uland had frozen, mid punch, the point of my sword sticking out of his back. It had just appeared, heeding my call, and impaled the Uland with the help of the stone on his back, and I channeled Corbman’s Suppress power.

  Through the blood and sweat, I managed to look into the face of the Uland, who stared at me and utter confusion. He coughed and green blood flew into my face. “How...”

  His left arm went limp, as he dropped to his knees, dragging me down the wall with him, scraping my back. I reached up and used all my Strength Quantum to pry his right arm from my throat, desperately gasping for air, my bruised and crushed neck making it hard to get oxygen to my brain.

  I fell to my knees as I felt the energy barrier of the stadium collapse and the alarm sounded, signaling the end of the match and the opening of the arena floor to the crowd above. The roar of the crowd rose quickly to insane decibel levels, the sheer volume pulsing in my chest.

  I’d beaten the Uland.

  The unbeatable foe.

  And while I was bloodied, beaten, and bruised, I was alive.

  I’d managed to do it.

  I’d won the tournament.

  And hopefully saved Terraunum.

  My head exploded
in pain, and I blacked out.

  Chapter 64 – Jayton Baird

  I MUST HAVE BEEN OUT only a second, because I didn’t even fall.

  Opening my eyes, I watched as my whole group, including Corbman and his two female guards, hurtled the small metal rail that kept the crowd from the fighter’s circle and dropped down to the arena floor before the guards stopped them. Screaming in triumph, they ran toward me, with Leona outpacing them all, slamming into me so hard that we both fell and hugging me so tight, I thought I was going to pop.

  Everyone else was there in seconds, and they were yelling as loud as the crowd of above me.

  “You did it! You won Jay!” Katy screamed, the others adding in their congratulations and general excitement.

  Josey, thank God for her, immediately set to work healing my many wounds, restoring my health in a relatively short amount of time. In no time, I felt more or less like myself.

  Looking around, I said, “Where’s Royn?”

  All of us turned and looked, Celeste pointed and said, “There.”

  Royn had his hand on his ear, obviously getting a report, and had a mixed look of shock, awe, and sadness on his face.

  “This can’t be good,” Celeste said.

  A single tear rolled down his face.

  No. This wasn’t good at all.

  Our excitement died as we watched our leader take the report, and finally he said, “Understood. Good luck, sir. Royn out.”

  He walked up to us, and without even waiting to be asked, he said, “The Wall has fallen. Harlingon has fallen. Malstrak has broken through and is on his way to the West Gate as we speak. We were betrayed internally — most of the non-powered army were in league with Malstrak. We suffered a heavy, heavy loss at the Wall. Ames Talco is trying to rally the defenses at the West Gate, having barely escaped himself, with as many Senturians and Races as he could. Harlingon was taken by a force that had slipped through unnoticed. Now the East Gate is under attack. Our forces are trapped.”

  Then he looked directly at me. “We need to get into the Hall of Rewards, get the Darkstone, and get out of here. They need our help, especially yours. Let’s go.”

  “What about... oh.” I looked down, and with a small pop, the ankle bracelets fell off.

  Several tournament officials were walking our way, loaded down with my spoils. “Congratulations, Jayton Baird, you have won the tournament! Here’s your cash prize, your trophy, and the key to the Hall of Rewards! If you’ll step this way, we —”

  Royn stepped up, grabbed the cash and handed it to Anton, grabbed the trophy and handed it to Katy, grabbed the key and handed it to me, then looked at the official. “We don’t have time for anything else. Take us to the Reward Hall, now.”

  “But, sir, we have to do the exit interviews, the awards ceremony, the whole thing! People are dying to know how he beat the Uland! We owe it to our fans —”

  “I don’t think you heard him,” I said. “If he says we don’t have time, we don’t have time. You would deny the winner his opportunity to claim his prize? That would be a huge black mark on the tournament if the first person to defeat the Uland was detained by...what did you say your name was? Maybe the Lords of the West would like to know who —”

  “No, no. No need for that. This way, please. This way.” One of the other officials went to whisper in his ear but he was cut off with a quick hand motion.

  I had to smirk — it was incredible what you could do if you were confident and threw your weight around a little, acting like you knew what you were doing.

  The three officials quickly escorted us back through my entrance door, took several side doors leading to more hallways that I had never seen before, then led us to a set of stairs. We descended several floors before coming to a large metal door.

  I’d barely had time to register this before one of the officials turned to us and said, “This is the door to the main chamber. All of you can go in to the main chamber, but must wait there. There’s an energy shield at the far end of the room. Only the winner may pass through.”

  “Only me? No one else?”

  One of the other officials said, “Only you. It’s the same energy field that surrounded the stadium.” All three officials bowed deeply. “Congratulations again, Jayton Baird. We thank you for your participation in the tournament and wish you good fortune in all you do.”

  The three officials swept their robes and marched up the stairs without a backward glance. Ten yards in front of us was a massive black stone wall that extended thirty yards in either direction, each block as big as a house, the cavern carved out around it where we stood in a relatively open space. A simple, smooth metal door with only a keyhole to mar its surface stood right in the center.

  Gilmer broke the silence. “All right, Jay, use that big ass key you got and let’s get this show on the road.”

  I chuckled a bit as I stepped forward and inserted the overly large key into the door, having to use both hands to turn it. Finally, the lock disengaged, and I swung the heavy metal door wide, stepping aside to let everyone through. I turned the key again and pulled it out and shut the door behind me. Three dozen bolts, each the size of my head, slid into place with a loud clang.

  “Good thing there’s a key on this side too, and you grabbed the key,” Celeste said. “You know, since this is our only way out.”

  Really taking in the room, I saw it was basically a big hollowed-out half sphere, all gray stone around us, with a yellow, sizzling bright door-sized square of energy blazing on the opposite wall, providing the only illumination in the room.

  We all walked toward it, and Euless bent down and grabbed what looked like a small rock. He tossed it into the energy field. It vaporized with a loud pop.

  I looked at Leona. “Want to see if you can come with me? If it worked in the stadium...”

  She looked deep into my eyes, and said, “Yes, but let’s test it first. I’m not in a hurry to jump into a sizzling pile of death.”

  I laughed and looked around at my friends – no, my family – and they all gave me looks of encouragement and nods, some even saying good luck again, though I didn’t know what for. With a deep breath, I stepped forward and strode confidently into the energy barrier. Immediately, an odd electric-like sensation fell all over my skin, but it didn’t harm me.

  Leona hesitated only slightly and slowly put her pinky to the barrier and...

  Nothing happened. She looked me and nodded, so we stepped all the way through.

  There was a loud slamming noise behind us and we both turned around. The energy had solidified behind us, sealing us in.

  Chapter 65 – Jayton Baird

  THERE WAS A BRIGHT flash of light as soon as we entered the room, causing us both to shield our eyes. When it died down, we finally were able to see what was inside.

  And it was much simpler than I expected. Straight across from us were four square stone pillars, each about four feet high, three with objects on them, one empty. There was a short sword, a shield, and a small metallic circular object. That was it.

  My heart about fell out of my chest and I looked at Leona. “It’s not here! The Darkstone isn’t here! All this was for nothing. We’ve been tricked. We’re screw —”

  “Glad you finally made it, Jayton. Have a seat.”

  After jumping nearly out of our skin, drawing weapons and powering up, we turned to our right. Leona had transformed her sword into a bow and had an energy arrow nocked and ready. My sword blazed with yellow energy, and fire curled around my left hand, stretched out towards the unknown assailant.

  He sat at a simple oak desk, reclined back, hands behind his head with his booted feet on it. He was about Royn’s age, fortyish, and wore chain mail, a leather belt, a leather jacket, and a sword was strapped to one hip, with a bullwhip on the other. A fedora sat on his head and a big smile sat on his face. “No need for that in here,” he said, leaning forward slightly, then waved his empty hands in the air. We lowered our weapons slightly. “Now, are
you going to sit down, or am I going to have to ask you again?”

  He held out his hand to the two simple chairs set in front of his desk. Feeling stupid standing there, I looked at Leona and we both shrugged, sheathing our weapons and taking a seat. I felt like I just got in trouble with the teacher.

  Plus, it seemed like he had enough power to negate our own, so...

  Leaning back, he smiled again. “That’s much better. Now go on and ask...”

  Not waiting any longer, I said, “Who are you?”

  He winked at me. “There you go. I’m someone with advice to give, if you’re willing to take it. I’m a friend of Mike’s – I think you’ve met him before.”

  As a matter of fact, I had. “Are you an angel as well?”

  The man laughed. “No, no. I’m just as much of a human as you are.” He looked at his watch. “And with such limitations. I was only able to gain access here for a short while and had to time it just right for your arrival. Which means we better get going. My name is Gabe. I’m a friend. And from everything I can tell, I’m the last surviving oracle.”

  Leona and I exchanged a look. All the oracles had been killed before we even started our journey to the West Side last year. He seemed to sense our confusion.

  “My powers had not yet been Awakened. As a matter of fact, I didn’t think I was going to get powers at all. Mine manifested of their own volition, and I’ve isolated myself while I’ve explored them.”

  “If what you’re saying is true, that’s incredible,” I said. “Only the Race’s powers manifest by themselves; it doesn’t happen that way for humans.”

  “And that doesn’t explain why you’re here,” Leona said. “If you really are a friend, you would know that we’re on a strict timeline. The Wall and Harlingon have fallen, and Malstrak is on his way to the West Gate.”

  “Not to mention the damn Darkstone isn’t here,” I said, my anger getting the better me as I felt the Morsenube stir, which only further enhanced my anger. I had to clench my muscles to remain calm. I hated having something taken away from me like that. Hated lies and deceit.