by Vee Bosse
The group had let themselves become immersed in the incredible story that had defined the history of the world over the last sixty or so years. “So, then we get to the Day of Despair: July 11th, 2034. Abel Bain had been appointed by the majority of the World’s population to become the leader of the United Nations, which was threatening to be split in two due to the growing differences of opinion that emerged in both the Western Hemisphere’s continents, and the Eastern Hemisphere’s lands. The East had taken to disowning and condemning the idea that the West held on to about how the Golden Aura could be used for financial and personal gains. The East declared that the energy was meant to be used as a means for people to find symbiosis with one another, and to live in harmony.”
“Oh? And how could Bain possibly unite the two hemispheres then?” asked Isaac while Revenant’s story reached its climax.
“Bain suddenly told the world that he had reached the level of the true god of the universe, and that he had the power to unite both hemispheres under his aura single handedly. Two thirds of the people on the planet believed him, and they all gathered for what he called the Grand Unification Summit that was to take place in Vatican City. The Pope was even to pronounce him the official second coming of Jesus Christ at the ceremony. All of Bain’s believers in the world packed Europe from Lisbon to Moscow in order to make themselves a part of His spiritual unification.”
“So, tell us what our history books left out. What really happened that night?” asked Milli, waiting for him to reveal the reason the world shifted into what it was at that moment.
“What two thirds of our world received was an unexpected and quick death. Bain slammed his hands to the ground below while everybody in Europe waited in silence for a sacred bestowing. Can you imagine an entire continent sinking far below sea level while the surrounding seas completely swallowed the land up? Bain stood on an ice barge he created in the middle of his new ocean, while billions of people met their end as water filled their lungs, sinking to the bottom of what was later officially called the Ocean of Tears. Why did he do it? He said his judgment as a god was that the only way human beings could reach true unity with one another was through death.
You were told in your schooling that a massive tectonic plate shift and subsequent collapse somehow led the total subduction of Europe, with Britain and Ireland being the only lands that were spared. Yes, the Era of Sorrow was not ushered in by a catastrophic natural disaster unlike anything that we could have imagined. Now you know that it was one man who brought on the tears of the world. With one world-shattering slam of his palms to the ground below, the disgusting aura that you all seem to take pride in went from being ‘golden’ to ‘forbidden’.”
“That explains the division between the Western and Eastern Latitudes that continues to this day,” said Haynes.
“Your intellect doesn’t seem to ever end, child. The 2050 discovery of Diamond Radiance in Antarctica meant that we of the Western Latitude had a material that could indefinitely nullify the aura that had streamlined itself into a few rare bloodlines, although at a much weaker level of intensity than Bain’s. Indeed, the Eastern Latitude continued to use the Radiance despite seeing the death and destruction Bain had brought into the world with it. That’s when war between the hemispheres broke out to the point of an impossible impasse. Now we get to how you all ended up where you are standing right now.”
The hostility suddenly sharpened inside of the entire team once again, as Revenant had lifted his arms up in a show of recognition towards his apparent superiority and intellect. “We were able to create aura detectors using Diamond Radiance that our massive volunteer police force employed, and they willingly used them across both continents of the Western Latitude that you all mistook for your homes. You all, along with the other thousands that I necessarily killed, were identified as having dangerous levels of Radiance. In fact, some of you here have levels that match Adel Bain’s early stages of development.
So naturally, we would subdue you all, and ship you off to a Diamond Radiance stronghold that was located far on the other side of the Earth, one of the only locations that the Eastern Latitude never would have noticed. At least until someone apparently slipped them the location. Hmm, I wonder who?”
The group had just about enough of Revenant’s story telling after hearing the ending of his speech. The atmosphere suddenly became incredibly tense when Haynes suddenly spoke again.
“You never told us what happened to Bain. I’m assuming that someone or some group was able to stop his ungodly power?” The team indeed did become curious to hear how the man who sent the world into a new era of darkness was conquered or stopped.
“Well, that’s a good question. You see, he was actually petrified before being shattered into thousands of pieces by a staff with supernatural properties,” at this answer, the team’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Emerald Radiance is an exceedingly rare substance that has only been seen twice during this planet’s history. Two years before the Ocean of Tears was created, two people were bestowed the honor of receiving this Emerald Radiance. I felt that power...this power has given us god-like abilities. Meanwhile, Bane stood feeling self-fulfilled on that glacier of his ice...he never saw us coming.”
The group stood on the beach as the rising sun and the sound of the waves hitting the shore beckoned the team to remember their humanity. They now had been given complete knowledge of the recent world history that had led all the way up to them, seemingly taking away any purpose their proposed resistance appeared to have before. This came from knowing that an opponent so earth-shattering in power and magnitude stood before them, and he was not going to let them pass by or escape so easily.
“I, Felix Revenant, the living incarnation of the Will of the Western Latitude, and one half of the Emerald Radiance Elite Duo who brought justice to the biggest mass murderer in this planet’s history, will now correct the misguided actions of Mary Hubris by stopping you all, here and now! You will all now be shipped off to your deaths!” Revenant’s announcement succeeded in forcing the team into a state of apprehensive focus.
“Shit! How do we beat him if he’s invincible?!” yelled Christian, in a state of near-panic.
Just as the near-immortal commander had flicked his cigarette to the ground in preparation for his single-handed destruction of the Resistance, out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of someone flashing right by him at an alarming speed. The immediate moment afterwards, he realized that his silver skull lighter was missing from his elite uniform side pocket.
“That was too much chit-chat. Especially when I was out of smokes.” Dre lit up a cigarette from the pack that she was able to lift from his pocket, as the sensation gave her a welcome sense of peace once more. She exhaled with a sigh of relaxation, as the sight of Dre’s fearless courage seemed to ignite the team against the impossible odds.
Just then, Derek stepped forward with his confident and happy smile. “We know you can petrify people by touching them, which is a lot more than Adel Bain had ever known. All we have to do is avoid coming into contact with you at all costs, and attack with everything that we have. We have a chance, guys.”
Dre continued to stand behind Revenant as she enjoyed her stolen cigarette in silence, gazing inland at the long since rusted and eroded remnants that was once the city of Melbourne. She couldn’t help but feel a strong sadness and anger about the forgotten tragedy that was now painfully real before them all. Christian, along with the rest of the group let their confident smiles find their way once again though, as they let Derek’s words reignite the hope that there could be justice for the people of Australia and Haven Island.
Christian stepped forward alongside Derek, who were both smiling at the thought of handing the misguided tyrant what he deserved. Revenant responded to their sudden backbone by letting out a stifling cackle.
“Oh, keep this in your heads, all of you. If you all think that overcoming my power will be as easy as you’re reasoning it will be,�
� Before Revenant could finish speaking, Dre had instantly summoned her psych power forth to send the top elite crashing face-first into the sand.
“Smoking is allowed, when I say it’s allowed.”
Chapter Nine
To Each Their Own Battle (Part 1)
Dre delivered the shot that might as well have been heard around the world as the team snapped into a state of intense focus, realizing that the time to attack Revenant was at that very moment. It was Sarge who had leapt forward first, swinging down his giant hammer with a fury that had made the ground shake. Milli launched a few arrows into the cloud of sand dust that had risen from Sarge’s hammer, while Dane sent a few rounds from his Desert Eagle dual wield pistols into it as well.
“Remember guys, just remember to keep your distance,” Haynes said, urging caution to the team who moved forward without delay. Just then, it was Woolfing that launched into the air, refusing to heed Hayne’s advice on distance. He suddenly was able to turn the skin on his right arm into a black metallic fortification, seemingly harder than titanium. It had an unusual look to it, almost like his arm had belonged to an ogre, of sorts.
With a war cry of fury, Woolfing punched down into the dust with his arm, which caused a massive explosion of unique energy to come forth, blowing sand towards everyone as they shielded their eyes. “Gotcha! Bastard!!” he said, making sure to regain his footing quickly in order to jump back, reclaiming his distance once more.
“That was impressive, Woolfing,” said Sarge, while Jordan prepared his corona energy, giving him his usual golden yellow glow.
“Everyone stand back. If he’s still alive after all that, I’ll send him on a trip to the sun.” getting ready to engulf Revenant in his corona energy, and send him indefinitely elevating upwards for good, Jordan waited for the dusty sand cloud to settle. Derek shot him a glance, appreciating the unusual aura power that Jordan had amazingly been able to develop on his own, realizing that its nature rivaled anything a government commander could conjure up. Even if their opponent before them was the one who took down the world’s worst villain in history by the power of surprise, not even he would likely be any match for Jordan Jaymes’ remarkable ability to send people to the sun.
But it was just as Derek was watching Jordan, contemplating his abilities that a terrifying sight drew a welling sense of panic from deep within. Jordan was petrified, without warning, and without any noticeable contact with Revenant. It took everyone on the team a few seconds to notice that their corona wielder was now a frozen statue among them, leaving them desperately alarmed to figure out what just happened.
“What?! Where is Revenant? How did he petrify Jordan when we didn’t see him even touch him?!” yelled Laran as the dust finally cleared to reveal a smiling Revenant in a truly horrific form.
He indeed did take severe damage from the team’s attacks, but they all stared in horror at the sight of the commander’s bones appearing where they landed their respective attacks just moments ago.
“Is he critically wounded? Why are his bones showing like that?” asked Winkle who had taken out her gemstones, seemingly contemplating the summoning of one of her dragons. Just as she posed her question, the commander’s wounds seemed to heal magically while his flesh reformed over his bones once more, thus restoring the commander back to his original appearance amidst his damaged uniform.
“Remember what I said about Emerald Radiance giving its wielder ungodly strength. You can’t kill me with any of your attacks, but I admit, that strange golden aura that kid I just petrified conjured up seemed liked it would have been annoying to deal with. Can’t have that, now can we?” Revenant’s sadistic smile was shown to the group once more, as he smoothed his hair back into its well-kept flow.
“Tell us how you petrified him! Do you even need to touch someone to do it? Are you just screwing with us?” yelled Isaac as he took out his sword, and lunged at the near-immortal commander to attempt to strike him down. Just as Isaac was leaping forward though, it was Sabrina who also got ready to jump Revenant when she flashed into stone as well.
“Sabrina, no!” yelled Winkle as Isaac gritted his teeth in frustration, running forward. “Tripleese!” he said as his silver claymore connected with Revenant’s shoulder. The commander didn’t attempt to even deflect it as he continued to stand amongst them smiling, while a brilliant silver energy erupted out from Isaac’s sword. As the group looked on, waiting for their opportunity to strike, they gasped in horror once more realized that yet another of their team had been petrified.
“Winkle!!” Christian yelled as the team turned their heads to see that the dragon summoner was now also nothing more than stone, with her summoning gemstones clutched tight in her stone hand.
“I’m not sure what she was about to do, but I’ll make it clear for you guys. I hate troublesome abilities. You will be shipped off to your deaths as statues, end of story. In what order I prepare you for that journey is my choice alone.” Revenant then nonchalantly raised his arm, as Isaac began to leap backwards to escape his petrifying touch. Isaac was unable to escape his stone-cold touch though, as the commander was barely able to touch the tip of Tripleese. Isaac with his sword in hand fell to the sand, now petrified along with Winkle and Jordan.
“Damn, I have to analyze this and figure out how he is petrifying us without contact!” Haynes said in frustration, as the distressed team tried to think of anything they could do as their numbers seemed to suddenly be dwindling.
“It’s no use! How can you scrubs survive my superiority when stronger opponents have fallen at my hands for the last half-century?!” declared Revenant, as he turned around to see Dre’s fist only inches from impacting his face. Her strength alone seemed to have doubled along with her incredible speed, making her movements especially difficult for the commander to keep up with. Yet, the team watched in horror once again as another member of the group was petrified in helplessness.
“Dre! Damn it!” yelled Westin as the moment the psych wielder’s fist glanced Revenant’s cheek, she was frozen in place along with the incredible momentum of her would-be punch.
“You can keep my lighter,” said the commander, taunting Andrea with satisfaction.
“Enough! Now, with everything that we have!” said Sarge to Woolfing as the two leapt into the air once more to bring down their hammer and metal fist attacks.
“No good!” is what their impossibly strong opponent stated with the two resisters approaching from behind. Revenant quickly did an impressively graceful backflip, letting both of his moonsault kicks meet his attackers in a surprising fashion. They fell to the sand below, adding to their team’s petrified losses.
“Wait! That time, he didn’t just wait for them to meet him like he did with Andrea, so why did he decide that he should jump up to meet them?” said Haynes in his head, noticing the odd move displayed. Christian and Derek rallied together, looking around to see who was remaining that hadn’t been turned into stone statues. Derek stepped ahead of Christian who was starting to shake in pure frustration, shooting his enemy a determined grin.
“Your ability is annoying, I gotta admit. But what I’ve found out on the way to this continent is that my new ability is annoying too.” The Commander shot back a grin Derek’s way, as he noticed the co-leader pulling out a small plushie doll from his black jacket. His grin suddenly disappeared though when he realized that for some reason, this plushie looked exactly like him in every way.
Revenant saw that this plushie that was the size of Derek’s fist had the same exact uniform, facial features, and body type that the commander himself sported. “I admit it, I’m perplexed by what your power could be right now. Some kind of voodoo?” Derek suddenly pulled out a black pocket knife, and as he snapped it open, the remainder of the team couldn’t help but feel that electing Derek as their co-leader might have been a good idea if his power was as unique and as strong as it appeared to be.
“I know physical attacks to you won’t work with you being terribly s
trong and all, but I still think it would be cool to see if you have any vulnerable organs in your body. Let’s see if you can petrify me before my knife reaches where your heart should be,” Haynes suddenly pointed to Derek after he spoke in haste as he had also decided to test a hypothesis of his own.
“Derek, jump in the air, now!!” yelled Haynes as the co-leader squeezed the plushie in his fist, hoping to deliver a fatal blow to Revenant like no one in history could have imagined before.
“Got it,” said Derek as Revenant threw his arms forward just as Derek’s feet left the sand. “You’re finished! Revenant!!” declared Derek in mid-jump, his knife ready to stab through the commander plushie’s chest. Haynes, Westin, Kasper, Christian, Milli, Laran, Jassa, Benedict, Dane, and Dee all looked on with a smile amongst their fallen friends, allowing a smile to show as it appeared that Derek’s incredibly wicked ability might be enough to stop them from meeting a terrible fate.
“Dylan, so you were concerned about these kids all along?” asked Revenant suddenly as a familiar black staff expanded itself magically to knock Derek’s knife out of his hand, just before it could reach the commander’s voodoo plushie.
“Your petrification method isn’t complete without my Jigsaw Staff’s assistance after all,” said Dylan Rook from on top of a nearby tree, standing near the end of the beach in the distance. Revenant suddenly grimaced in great pain as Derek deflected the approaching physics-bending staff with the commander’s plushie itself. Dylan’s smile faded upon seeing Derek come up with a genius counter move of that fashion, with Revenant’s upper chest blasting away to reveal his inner skeleton once more. “You are curious to me,” Dylan said, as he poured his aura into his Jigsaw Staff, causing it to bend in the completely opposite direction to wrap around Derek’s hand in the process.
