by Paul Ormond
“You’re just not getting it, are you?” Mitch said after he glanced at SoHee.
“We’ll just have to show them,” SoHee said before she leaped into the air and smashed her fist into the ground sending their attackers sprawling across the platform.
“You’ve got no idea what you’re doing,” Holrathu shouted, clambering to his feet.
“Actually, I know exactly what I am doing,” Mitch said as he rushed forward and pushed a tremendous wave of energy at the wall of attackers. “I gave into the will of the Universe and it handed me the power to defeat you. You thought you could control it all, but that’s not how it works. No one is in control any more than anyone else. This energy you cling to is the same energy flowing through us all. You thought you could lock it away and keep it for yourself, but the multi-verse has a way of evening things out.”
“This is an outrage,” Holrathu said while he prepared to swing his ax.
“No, it is justice,” Mitch said as he leaped into the air and drew several large orbs out of the energy whirling around the mechanism.
Crashing to the ground in a burst of fire, the spheres exploded on impact. As the smoke cleared, a group of figures emerged from the carnage, green auras gleaming in the morning sun.
“Couldn’t get rid of me that easily,” Robert said after he stepped forward and readied his blade.
Drak readied his spear as he came to Kalis’s side while Gerald, Sage and his youthful companions stood before the Commander in defiance, glowing weapons extending out along their limbs.
“This cannot be happening,” Commander Holrathu shouted in a rage.
“It is most certainly happening,” Drak said, rising into the air. “You and your cronies have ravaged the multi-verse for long enough. Now, you’ll pay for what you have done.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Commander Holrathu said as he rushed forward with his ax raised.
“You’ll see that and a lot more,” Drak said while pushing out to meet the Commander. “Let’s finish this.”
Drak raced across the deck and his companions filled in behind him, forming a wall of charging attackers imbued with a wave of energy. Reaching their opponents, an explosion of light burst into the air as the two opposing forces came together in a clash of weapons and anger.
“You ready for this?” Mitch asked as he climbed into the air alongside SoHee.
“Ready as I’m every going to be,” SoHee said, looking toward the summit of the undulating mechanism.
Before they reached the peak, several blasts occurred along the edge of the enormous ship beneath them. Sections of the vessel separated from the hull at a rapid rate, sending the combatants battling on the platform tumbling into the air.
Pushed away by a burst of energy, Mitch angled back toward the ship only to discover a towering spire of metal filled with a bright orange glow standing before him. A series of explosions occurred at the base of the structure and it elevated itself into the air as a pair of metallic limbs extended out from its torso.
“You’ve got some nerve thinking you could pull off a stunt like this,” Mother’s voice boomed out over the battlefield while the towering machine pushed into the sky. “But, as you can see, I have prepared a backup plan.”
“You’ve lost and you know it,” Mitch said before he rushed toward the enormous tower.
“You have no idea what you have done,” Mother shouted as Mitch spotted SoHee racing to join him. “The energy you believe you possess is strong enough to tear the multi-verse apart. It will consume you and everything else. But if you hand yourselves over to me, I can reverse the process and set everything right.”
“You think you are so clever,” SoHee shouted while pushing to the summit of the tower. “But I told you what would happen if you try to control everything.”
“It is you that should have heeded my warning, dear Goddess,” Mother said as one of her immense limbs raised into the air and lobbed a massive orb in SoHee’s direction. “And now you leave me no choice but to destroy you.”
“Look around, Mother,” Mitch said before he dodged an orb and cut under the opposite limb. “Your plan is in ruin. We’ve taken your power, and now we’re going to use it to put an end to you and your madness.”
“Nothing can stand in my way,” Mother shouted as she elevated through the cloud cover. “After all you have seen and experienced, you must realize by now that the multi-verse knows no bounds. You and this planet you covet are simply vessels by which I may access the vast power extending across the infinite. This little trick to subvert my plan is nothing compared to the power seething through the network. I will destroy this planet and find another location to continue my work. You have proven to me that humanity is not worth saving. When this mission to harmonize the network was set upon me, it became painfully obvious right from the start that the one thing holding me back was humanity itself. And now, due to your actions, Mitch, you have freed me from my bonds. As my last act before I begin my next mission, I will bring this world of yours to an end.”
“Try as you might,” Mitch shouted while he pushed through a cloud bank and reached the peak of the tower. “But you know I will be there every time to thwart your plans. You’re right, humanity will always be a bane in your side, and we will be the end of you.”
“Oh you silly, silly fool,” Mother said, firing another orb in his direction. “You have no idea what I am capable of. Now that you have freed my from my bonds, I will set about remaking the multi-verse in ways never thought imaginable. As we speak, I am rendering an inescapable domain designed just for you and your lovely goddess. There you will be forced to spend eternity together in stasis, unable to live and unable to die.”
“You can try, but like everything you attempt, it will only blow up in your face,” Mitch shouted before the gigantic spire entered into a rapid rotation.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Mother shouted as the tower accelerated. “But before I send you to your fate, you will watch me destroy the planet that you love.”
“Follow me, Mitch,” SoHee shouted while she dove into orbit around the rotating tower and circled in the opposite direction.
Chasing after SoHee, Mitch felt a bright glow pressing against him as the tower filled with light.
“I hope you know what you are doing,” Mitch shouted while SoHee raced ahead of him. “It looks like she’s getting ready to blow.”
“Don’t worry,” SoHee shouted before her form blurred into the light streaking past her. “Just like you said, give in and all will be well.”
“I hope you’re right,” Mitch shouted as he followed after her, his form fading into the ring of energy circling the tower.
“This is laughable,” Mother said after her mechanism reached a dizzying speed, drawing energy from the surrounding atmosphere. “But I’ve wasted enough time with this, and you have just sealed your doom.”
Spinning at a phenomenal rate, the tower dropped out of the sky in a cascade of fire and light while the glowing ring circling it grew in size and strength.
As it plummeted to the earth, a cloud of light filled the valley, causing an explosion that rose into the sky. The shock wave tore across the earth, consuming the ships hovering over the complex and sending the combatants on the battlefield tumbling in all directions.
A thick plume of smoke rose into the sky over the blast site before an eerie silence settled over land.
On a vacant street a manhole shot into the air and clattered to the ground while a soot covered individual crawled to the surface.
“It’s all clear up here,” Gaelin said before he reached down to help his companions. “It’s actually too clear.”
“Where did everybody go?” O’Dell asked after he pulled himself onto the street.
“Something happened and it must’ve been big,” Ramon said, looking skyward. “But we’re still alive and those ships are gone.”
“Does that mean it’s over?” Sanchez said while he helped XiaoFan and Chris
tine out of the hole.
“If we want to find out, we’d better get to that blast site,” Gaelin said as Sheila and the other Cell members clambered to the surface.
“Lead the way,” O’Dell said while following Gaelin into the air.
Racing over the flattened houses, Gaelin spotted a giant mountain of debris in the distance, smoke rising from its surface in thick billows.
“That’s got to be it,” Gaelin said over his shoulder as he angled toward the base of the pile and landed on a cracked street.
“You guys missed one hell of a fight,” a voice said from behind.
Spinning around, Gaelin found Robert climbing out of debris pile.
“You should see the other guys,” Robert said while clutching his back. “I’m not joking. What happened to Holrathu and his big ugly friends? I got caught in the blast field and barely made it out alive.”
“They’ve vanished,” Drak said, leaping over a pile of rubble and landing on the ground as Kalis followed after him.
“They were right there in front of me,” Kalis said. “But the light just swallowed them all and then I blacked out.”
“Hold on, I’m getting a call,” Gaelin said, pulling up his panel.
“What the hell happened over there?” President Edwards said as her face came into focus.
“It’s kind of a long story, but I think our problems have been solved for now,” Gaelin said.
“What ever you did seems to have worked,” President Edwards said. “The enemy presence has all but vanished and their ships are gone.”
“That’s what it looks like around here too, but we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves,” Gaelin said before he spotted Gerald and Sage coming toward him.
“I heard reports that Mitch Mythic and SoHee Moon were seen at the battle,” Edwards said.
“You heard correctly,” Gaelin said. “They were here. And whatever they did seems to have caused the enemy to disappear. I can’t say what it was though. I guess we got lucky.”
“Luck has got nothing to do with it,” a voice said from behind.
“Sometimes you just have to give in and let the universe do its thing,” Mitch said as he limped along the street with his arm around SoHee.
“How in the hell did you pull that off?” Gerald said while grabbing Mitch by the shoulder. “But you did it and that’s all that matters.”
“I had some help,” Mitch said, looking at SoHee as the others rushed in.
“Is that what you call it?” SoHee said before she was showered with hugs.
“You’ve got no idea how happy I am to see you. What happened? Where did they go?” Sage asked as he and Candace pressed through the crowd.
“I’m happy to be back home,” Mitch said while hugging his friend. “As far as where they went, you’ll have to ask SoHee. I just did what I was told.”
“It’s a little hard to explain, but let’s just say we sent them somewhere were they won’t be bothering anyone for a long time,” SoHee said.
“But what about all this talk of the Emperor?” President Edwards voice said through the panel.
“We won’t have to worry about this Emperor business anymore,” Mitch said. “Nobody deserves to have that kind of power, but and it was their devotion to this energy source that sealed their fate.”
“I still don’t understand,” President Edwards said. “How were you able to make them vanish just like that?”
“The frequency of their vibrations made it easy,” SoHee said. “By linking their frequency to their destination, we were able to send them all on their way with one push. The whole system they devised was linked back to a central source, this program that called itself Mother. The connection ended up being their undoing.”
“But where did they go?” Gerald asked. “Where did you send them?”
“To a place where they won’t be able to bother anybody,” SoHee said.
“But from the looks of things we’ll be ready if they somehow manage to come back,” Mitch said as he looked his friends in the eye.
Before anyone had a chance to respond, a commotion caught their attention and a lone figure clambered over a debris pile holding a metallic disc.
“Once again, Mitch Mythic manages to save the day,” Teron said after he dropped to the ground.
“This I did not see coming,” Mitch said as Teron glared.
“I believe this belongs to you,” Teron said before he tossed the disc to Mitch.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” Mitch said, struggling to catch the heavy object.
“Within that disc sit the answers to all your questions,” Teron said. “And you better be prepared to steel yourself if you plan on welding.”
“I’m not wielding anything,” Mitch said.
“How are you going to save the multi-verse then?”
“I thought we just saved the multi-verse.”
“That was just the beginning,” Teron said, clasping Mitch by the shoulder.
