by Vee Bosse
The General interrupted his men, with no regard for their panic. “I know that none of you can escape like they can. So, I will use all my strength to plow a way out: directly ahead of us, so that you can try and flee ahead. I’ll buy you time, so just stand back, and watch for your opportunity to run.”
The guards and basic soldiers had attempted to gulp down their fear, as the General pulled out a staff that was seemingly made of black, pure titanium. At the end of it was a large crystal, with the familiar glow of Diamond Radiance emanating from its brilliant form. “The reason that I was assigned as the General in charge of the Haven Island stronghold, the place that protects our way of life throughout our latitude by suppressing the delinquent Forbidden Radiance is simple. In the last fifty-five years, I have been the Western Latitude’s strongest military elite.”
Upon hearing these words from their General, the soldiers couldn’t help but feel a newfound sense of confidence against their enemies that had them cornered. Yes, they had always been told that General Theon Schilling is likely the strongest, and most capable man in the world. That’s what they were told, and that’s what they chose to believe, because to believe in a world where the strongest man alive wasn’t protecting their families at home from the forbidden ones was a reality in which they would have had to abandon all hope. This man in front of them was their best hope, and they put their confidence in him because the fate of their entire world seemed to continuously rest on his capable shoulders.
“Upon developing the destructive technique of Diamond Radiance that all of us elites use these days, I made sure to continue honing my skills in wielding this element to perfection. Let me show you all what a perfect explosion, sent from the core of the Earth looks like.” The General whipped up his staff above Xu and O’ Ren with lightning speed, and the diamond staff itself shot a blue orb at sonic speed from its brilliant prominence, directly at the warship behind.
The impact was unlike anything they had witnessed, Easterner or Westerner alike. A shockwave enveloped the island, destroying the personnel headquarters above ground, and knocking the lower-level ninjas and soldiers violently down. The blue flash that rivalled the burst of a vintage atomic bomb had ignited the sky, as the hovership that took the direct impact suddenly disintegrated under the mind-blowing force. The ships that had surrounded the island were sent crashing into each other, as the blinded ship hands that were operating the cannons were left stunned.
“This is our chance!” yelled Politek at Revenant and Dogvale, who had followed closely behind him to the island’s outer beach. They continued their escape by leaping onto the water at an equally fast speed, using their Gravity Leaps to increase their velocity, almost to the point of weightlessness. This was a technique that a military officer needed to master, to become an elite.
“One more thing while we head out,” announced Revenant, who pulled out his tablet while skimming across the water for a quick escape.
“Kill the subjects? I guess we have no choice. Leaving it in the air would be certain death for my family, wouldn’t it?” said Dogvale, who was able to catch on very quickly to the island stronghold’s protocols. Politek led them ahead in silence, giving a nod of approval Revenant’s way. Pulling out his tablet, the one who was called the Black Keeper of Haven amongst the soldiers across the Western Latitude, entered a special code into his device that gave way to a new set of alarms that blared loudly on their besieged island behind them.
“It’s done, let’s go.” He said, as the three elites disappeared into the horizon.
“I suppose Revenant has activated the self-destruct sequence. You kids have all made quite a mess of things here today, and I’m not likely to let this slide.” said General Schilling as his massive blue explosion subsided, exposing the chaos amongst the fleet of Xu’s ships. The stunned guards across the room had sat in silence, eagerly awaiting the moment that their leader could distract the Easterners to give them an opening to escape. They felt relief sweep over them for the moment, knowing that a hovership that had just stood in their way had completely disappeared right before them.
“Thanks to my subordinate, we all have about five minutes before the Diamond Bombs that I planted in the base of this island go off, obliterating anything on, or remotely close to this island. I will need to do my duty, as quickly as possible,” he added, satisfied with his own ungodly strength. Xu and O’ Ren remained unfazed before him; however, they were completely lacking in emotion in the face of someone who could command such a destructive ability. “Sensei, shall we move forward towards our destiny now?” said O’ Ren, who was holding her sword with disciplined patience.
“Yes, indeed, we will proceed on to our destiny of unifying our planet into one entity. We shall destroy the hope of the Western Latitude by causing their strongest warrior to fall, along with the cursed ones who wield the Dark Energy of Death. This is for the sake of true and total peace, for our planet Earth at last.”
Xu’s words confirmed what Schilling himself had guessed, back when he had seen the Easterner ships on his horizon. His sense of duty at that moment became unparalleled as he pointed his blue diamond staff at the strongest conquerors of the Eastern Latitude, realizing that a failure to overcome the overpowering sense of death in their auras would likely have meant the end of the Western Latitude.
“Get ready, children. Blue Supernova Technique.” The General announced his strongest attack, as the diamond staff itself became an orb of blue flames. “Anything I touch with this technique immediately burns away into nothing. This is the pinnacle of Diamond Radiance that the Western continents have worked for sixty years to reach. I am the embodiment of everything that we have fought to achieve, through all of this time! Now, disappear!!!”
Schilling launched the piercing blue flames their way as O’ Ren stepped forward. She pointed her katana at the one whose death would ensure that their Eastern Latitude had a long-lasting, indefinite peace. The sword suddenly emitted a glowing yellow energy, which had looked exactly like the glowing aura of her sensei’s staff. She launched herself directly at Schilling, before completely disappearing from sight amidst the general’s blue energy from his Blue Supernova Technique.
ジ
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ド
ド
ラ
ゴ
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SWORD DANCE: JADE DRAGON
It happened, seemingly in the course of a millisecond. O’ Ren, the one who was called the Warrior of the Jade Dragon, flashed directly behind General Schilling to his back. In horror, the guards watched helplessly as the blue flames that their leader commanded had mysteriously disappeared into nothing. “Over...it’s...over,” the general managed to utter, before coughing up blood; he suddenly dropped to his knees.
O’ Ren stood her ground, facing the opposite direction of her easy prey; she sheathed her sword in finality. She declared for all to hear: “Peace is now at our feet.”
“Men, I’m...sorry.” were the last words from the strongest general in the history of the Western Latitude, and the one with the best chance of saving their hemisphere as well. He lost consciousness, and fell face first to the ground, as his remaining soldiers shrieked in terror.
“What, what do we do now?” said one of them, as panic hit them once more.
“You will die, with the rest of your people that defile our Earth’s golden aura.” Without further words from Xu, known as the Golden Wall of the East, he slammed his glowing yellow staff against the ground, causing a subtle energy to move through the Earth in the direction of wherever he had commanded it to go. Before the soldiers could even know what had hit them, they felt a shockwave move up through their feet and legs, jolting their heart with fury. They all fell to the ground simultaneously; their life had been revoked without effort, in an instant.
“It seems that the others on this island that are destined to perish will do so without our action, O’ Ren. We will now all leave this doomed place, and proc
eed to the West, where we will cause their setting sun to glow red with blood.” O’ Ren and their ninja soldiers complied with Xu’s pronouncement: it was the beginning of a new era. They all boarded one of their hoverships nearby, to lead their fleet of conquerors towards North and South America. They left the island behind them in complete and utter victory.
Chapter Three
Haven for Heaven
The ones that had put the island into a state of chaos (before its sudden downfall at the hands of enemies beyond imagination) now found themselves in a dimly lit room, heavily reinforced with diamond strength. There were no windows to give them an idea of where exactly they were on the island. They had been kept unconscious since being subdued after the incident, but now, they were suddenly awakened by a blaring alarm that was just outside of the bolstered and heavily secured door. They looked around at their accommodations, which were far less inviting compared the Glass Submarine they had known.
“They seem to have kept us all together. But, I can guess that this room has plenty of that submissive energy infused throughout, so numbers and teamwork won’t mean much in here,” said Haynes, as he inspected his glasses for any cracks. “What is that alarm?” Winkle asked the others, sounding as though she expected some kind of educated answer.
“I can only imagine,” said Jassa, with a worrisome tone as she rubbed her head with an apparent headache.
“What, where the heck are we? What is this place?” One of the three subjects that had awoken next to Milli and Laran back at the chow hall, posed the question with a tone of hostility as though he was looking to take his confusion out on anyone that he could.
Christian wasted no time in letting them know the purpose of them all being there. “We have all been kidnapped by our Western Latitude government, and kept prisoner here for a few years. But it’s all right now, because we will find a way to escape this place. I promise you all that.”
Christian seemingly took charge of the group with his proclamation of a desire to escape from their captors, and the three new additions to the group created a feeling of determined hope; they were by no means alone.
“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Isaac Chopin” (pronounced ‘Show-Pan’). Isaac sported a look of long and green hair, and he also had several silver ear piercings. He stood up and extended his hand towards Christian, who then decided to gratify their new ally with a brief handshake before turning his attention towards the other two.
“Dane Wilder,” said the one who originally had demanded to know their location and situation. “Do ya’ll know where they keep the guns and ammunition round here?” he added, to which Westin replied that they had no idea. Dane was a heavy-set guy with blonde hair, who kept it almost down to its roots with a razor. His short buzz cut was complemented by a fierce accent, reminiscent of Mississippi Dixie.
The last of the three obligingly contributed to the introductions after scratching his arm for a few seconds, revealing yet another accent that most found exhilarating.
“The name’s Benedict Davies. It’s good to see some blokes here with some sense about em,” he said, with a brilliant English accent that was seemingly from the Royal Territory of Wales, which was the only part of Europe that still remained after a terrible disaster many decades previous. “Now friends, what do you say we make out for it and escape this place?” Benedict added, as the group took in his refined English features and short sandy blonde hair.
As Laran held hands with Milli, he observed the sharp hue of Diamond Radiance on the door that had them isolated from the rest of the island, as the alarms still blared outside. “Well, I guess breaking through isn’t an option, since they took their time in making these doors with that diamond energy,” said Laran, as he gazed at the group to bring his eyes back to Milli, who was still relieved just to be reunited with her boyfriend.
“I could feel an explosion somewhere on the island, not too long ago. Maybe these sirens have something to with that. I just can’t believe that I failed against something like, some liquid crap. What the hell,” said Dre, who found her cigarette cravings quickly returning.
“Can you try and break through the door with those powers now, Dre?” asked Christian, who had decided that teamwork was the only way that they could overcome whatever awaited them on the other side of the door.
“I can try, I suppose. Just stand back.” Dre had obliged to give it her best attempt, as she summoned her psych energy into her hand to make a rotating orb. Just as she was about to use it as a projectile, the door was unlocked from the outside, leaving the entire group’s jaws to drop the floor.
“Hey. You guys are hilarious. Look, we should get outta here,” said the one holding a metallic key in his hand, which he nonchalantly dropped to the floor in apathy.
This guy sported hair that was a dark shade of brown that lacked any ounce of curliness, and it was also long enough to partially cover his eyes. Behind him were three other apparent subject escapees, who seemed to form a small group of extremely well-focused individuals with a developed history of working together effectively. “Name is Derek Maxwell, and you lucky people are the results of the fruits of our labor. These guys behind me are dudes that I previously freed, so I’ll introduce em’ quickly since time is short and I’m over this already.”
The one whom Derek identified as Killian Sarge had a stubbly beard, along with short, brown hair, and a confident and compassionate smile among his large and muscular build. Next was Woolfing Striyed, who had short brown hair, and a twisted smile that made it seem like he was having constant fun on the island. Lastly was Jordan Jaymes, who possessed black hair that was parted in the middle, and it was cut off just under his ears. His expression was one that completely lacked emotion, as he stared at the group without even blinking an eye.
“Nice to meet you all, and thank you for saving us. Would you be offended if I asked you why?” asked Isaac, in a carefree and friendly fashion, despite the siren that was impeding their conversation. Andrea let her psych energy disappear as she stared on, awaiting their reply.
“I have some weird natural immunity to that diamond stuff that turns everyone into mindless zombies. I must be a good actor as I was able to play the part of a mindless drone for all of this time.”
The group became happy upon hearing that somebody was immune to the substance responsible for taking years of their lives away, yet that’s when they had suddenly realized that the Radiance in their cell didn’t seem to affect them like it had in the past.
“I wonder, Derek, why are we developing this strange immunity?” asked Dr. Jassa, as she reciprocated the thoughts of the rest of her fellow subjects.
Derek couldn’t help but smile and laugh at the idea of admitting what he was about to admit. “I stole an immunity syringe from a stupid guard one day, a long time ago. I slipped it into everyone’s chow in secret over time after that, and you guys are the lucky ones that received the full dose. Hey, you’re welcome though.” At this, the group couldn’t help but let thankful grins come on their faces at the thought of this guy saving them from endless oblivion. Christian smiled at Derek in appreciation, which led Derek to yawn apathetically in response.
“You saved us from staying as mindless zombies forever. I guess we owe you big time,” Winkle admitted as Derek turned a sudden frown her way. Benedict stood up from against the wall, curious at what their liberator was getting at.
“What are you going for here? Tell us what they do to the poor chaps in this place,” said the young Welshman. This time, it was the brawny and amicable Sarge who took over the conversation.
“We’ve listened to the guards over time, a lot. Commander Revenant is known as ‘the Black Keeper of Haven Island’. The reason for that is because he’s in charge of executing subjects once they turn 24-years-old.” The group was dead silent as they stared in awe at the four who, for some reason, felt compelled to save as many lives as they could.
As they pondered this news, a massive explosion
suddenly rocked the island that caused their underground cell to violently shake; blue energy seeped through the ground above them. Isaac was astounded, along with all the subjects who marveled at what could have caused such an ungodly blue explosion above. “What in the world was that? I guess I’m starting to feel uneasy down here,” Winkle said, as Sarge’s revelation came back to the forefront of their minds.
“All of them, dead?” said Christian, as his heart sunk upon hearing the grim words. Woolfing then replied as Jordan continued to stare at the group in silence.
“So, I guess we should talk about the funny little stunt that you guys pulled back at the chow hall, a couple of days ago. That? Yeah...that was really damned stupid.” The group suddenly became shocked at how brash this person was for calling them out so boldly.
Dre slightly smiled at this insult, as she slowly stepped forward towards Woolfing. “Whatev. Any of you guys got a smoke?” she said, as the group who had saved them found themselves perplexed, and even amused at their reckless abandon, recalling how they all had to fight the urge to smile during the chow hall incident. Woolfing suddenly lightened up and laughed, to which the rest of surrounding subjects managed to barely to reciprocate.
Derek stepped back from the doorway with the rest of his group, gesturing that they should move out above ground. “Look, it’s been puzzling me this whole time,” asked Milli, as she and Laran stepped out ahead of the others. “Why is no one coming to subdue us right now? Just where the hell is everyone, anyway?” Milli, being the oldest of all of them, had a tone of impatience about her that Dee also seemed to display.
“Gotta hand it to you guys, these sirens aren’t going to mean anything good, whatever they are,” he said, as the entire group walked out into the vast and dimly lit stone hallway amidst the blaring sirens.
