I'm immortal, but what good will it do me when they torch the whole galaxy?
What happened next, she would have never, ever believed in a million years if she hadn't seen it with her own two eyes.
47
Fleek burst into the conference room, still in his prison jumpsuit. He knifed his way in through the chess pieces and went straight to where Kruxx and Ari were. Then he held up his hands dramatically and started chanting. Soda blinked a few times and wondered if she hadn't taken a surprise blow to her head, but Fleek was still right there.
"Innovo. Innovo. Innovo," Fleek chanted. It looked and felt like he was chanting it at Kruxx. On the last Innovo, a Fractal sprang to life right in front of him. The Fractal hung there beautiful and active and three dimensional. The colors swirled and changed like a holographic lava lamp.
Kruxx screamed like a little girl and backed up.
Fleek then turned to Ari and winked. "And you, Ari, I have something to say to you. Spectra."
The minute Fleek said the word Spectra, Ari broke free of her physical and verbal bonds.
"Fleek!" she cried. "I'm free! How did you do that?"
"The Fractals and the Staars, baby. They're our only hope."
Kruxx snapped his fingers again at Ari. And then a second and third time, but it didn't matter, nothing he did worked. Ari was free.
Furthermore, Both Kruxx and the chess pieces had lost their blue sheen.
"Hey!" Soda yelled. "Whatever Fleek did, their force fields are down. Give them hell, Kirian."
Kirian turned from the now vulnerable chess piece in front of her, which gave her a worried look, and ran straight to Kruxx.
"NO!" He screeched and backed up. "You remember what I told you, right? If you kill me, they'll know. They'll send waves of terrors unlike anything you've ever seen. You saw the presentation!"
Kirian pointed her Stingr Light Sword at him. "You messed with the wrong galaxy. And in a way, I’m grateful. I finally have something worth fighting for. I've got a demand for you. Take all of your forces and get the hell out of here or you will be the first member of the invasion to die."
"I told you, it's done. It can't be undone. They'll come for Ari and they'll kill you all."
"Then why do we need you?" Kirian asked and ran him through the chest with her Stingr sword. He screamed for a moment and then went silent.
The Fractal dissolved and disappeared and the blue sheen covering the chess pieces came back.
The chess pieces recovered themselves now that their force fields were back. They cornered Kirian, preparing to strike killer blows.
Drexyl jumped into action and Mantix tried to position himself between the chess pieces and Kirian, but they were faster than they appeared to be.
"I feel weird," Ari said in the silence that followed. She collapsed.
Soda teleported in front of Ari to fight the oncoming horde of chess pieces in an attempt to stave off the inevitable. As she was fighting, she saw that Ari regained consciousness only to remain doubled over onto the floor clutching her head in her hands.
Soda resigned herself to go down fighting, something that surprised her. Who would have thought that I would give my life for a bunch of weirdos in a galaxy far far away…..from everything cool.
That thought was still spinning around Soda’s head when she saw Ari stand up. She did a double take. Ari was glowing. With a wave of her outstretched hand, Ari removed the blue force field from the chess pieces in the room. The timing allowed Kirian's desperate swing at a creature to not only land, but to lop off the thing's hand. Orange blood spewed out of the creature along with a horrible bellowing sound that sent the other creatures out of the room in a stampede.
"Ari, how'd you do that?" Kirian asked.
"I don't know," Ari answered. "I just know that now I can." She threw the window open and waved her hand of light at all of the other chess pieces in the courtyard. "It's open season, boys," she yelled. "You can take them out now."
Ari turned to the others in the room. "Look, as an official candidate, I call for a truce in the Overlord contest. The only reason Arcturis is even here right now is because we worked together. I'd like to thank all of you, especially Soda, for making this possible. But until we figure out how to protect ourselves from this coming invasion, I say we band together. The Overlord Alliance. Ray, didn't you say that the dice had you save Soda from Froggy and then Froggy from Soda?"
"Yes, that's right," he answered.
"And I'm guessing that you're the one who unleashed Fleek."
"Something like that," Ray answered.
Ari brightened, both literally and figuratively. "The dice knew. They knew that we'd only survive together, so until we're in the clear, we should stay that way."
"Then an Alliance it is," Soda said. "Ray, give me a few weapons. Those people in the courtyard are going to need help taking down those chess pieces."
"Okay, I'm in," Froggy said. "Nobody takes over this Galaxy except for us. I'm digging this. We've got a sort of weird supervillain hero rebel vibe going."
Floyd joined in. "I'll die before I let my idiot Uncle win. Plus, I'll use my family connections to figure out their weaknesses."
"You know I'm in," Ray said to Ari. "Hey, do you need a weapon, Ari? Because I've got extras."
"I don't think I do," said Ari. "In fact, I think I know why they wanted me. You're right, Soda. They're afraid. When Fleek said the name Spectra, something changed."
"That's your name," Fleek said. "It's your Staar name. Of course they're afraid of you. If the Fractal weakened them, then a person like you who happens to be part star could do major damage. Nobody even knows what you're capable of. The Fractals brought me here. They freed me and you. Although they said you didn't really need freeing. You just needed to know who you really were. That's what these people fear. I've got bad news for them. You and I are both free now, Ari. The sky’s the limit."
Ari hugged him. "As usual, I have no idea what you're talking about, Fleek. But I can't wait to figure it out. Now let's get out there, Overlord Alliance, and show these invaders who's boss."
48
Ari and the others emptied out into Arcturis Square looking for a fight. She paused just outside the door to take it all in. For the first time in forever, she felt strong and in control of her own life. It was strange that now would be that time.
Blue chess men invaders were swinging hulk like fists or shooting at terrified residents. The people were trying to fight back, but even without the force fields the chess piece men were formidable opponents.
An orange flash with a green Mohawk and a peacock in ceremonial robes ran by her and continued out into the middle of the square. Fleek and Ray. Ari smiled.
Ray summoned a giant Fractal. Ari fully expected Fleek to sit down and watch it, but he didn't. Chess men were still coming in from the portals.
Ari closed her eyes and thought about the portals. The star figure appeared again in her mind. This time in full color and great detail. And it was moving, like it was a real, living thing. She stood still with her eyes closed and focused this time. She let the star image crash into her subconscious. Then she opened her eyes. In the brief second before she extended her hand toward the first portal, she could see that she was glowing again. Instead of white, though, it was a golden aura. Cool. She released the golden energy at the portal. It made a popping sound and then disappeared. There was still one more left.
She heard a noise and looked to the side. A blue chess man had snuck up on her while she was distracted. She was barely able to fall to the side and out of the way of a giant fist. The creature was fast, though, and raised the fist again so quickly that she was frozen in place where she landed, waiting for the blow to strike.
She peeked up at the fist just in time to see a tentacle wrap around it. Soda! Soda's face was a mask of concentration as she squeezed until the giant creature's arm came clean off and landed on the ground with a thud. More orange blood came oozing out.
"Soda!" Ari said. "You old softie." She hugged her.
Soda looked surprised, but then relented to return a tiny hug that lasted a fraction of a second. As she let go to slither off, she whispered to Ari, "I'm glad you're okay. Don't tell anyone I hugged you or I'll completely deny it."
Mantix was on the other end of the square, taking out multiple blue beasts. He was yelling gleefully about prey darting away from him. But there were more of the creatures coming through the other portal.
Ari quickly covered the ground between the first and second portal. She had no idea what her range actually was, but it was probably better to be safe than sorry. She repeated what she did for the first portal, and it worked again.
She heard a crash behind her and the ground shook. When she turned around, it wasn't an invader, but Froggy's robot. "Sorry I'm late," he said, "I had to reload the missiles."
Kirian's voice carried across the square. "You people heard Froggy, evacuate the civilians!"
"I didn't say evacuate the civilians, I just said I had more missiles," Froggy chided.
"Exactly," Kirian answered. She cut down a couple of the fleeing blue invaders. She was having lots of fun since the creatures didn't have force fields anymore.
Ari wondered where the blue creatures thought they were going. The portals were gone, and it wasn't like they could run and hide. Ari knew that this was not the end, it was only the beginning, but the invaders were on the run now.
Before long, it was all over. Ari knew it was over because she woke up in a hospital. They said that she collapsed shortly after destroying the second portal. Kirian and Soda had protected her and brought her to the hospital. Then Kirian and the rest of the Overlord Alliance had gone to Vega to continue the battle without her.
"See that?" Ari whispered to herself. "I do have friends. Powerful ones." After a while, she felt okay and checked herself out of the hospital. She had a lot of thinking to do now that she was in an Overlord Alliance and about to face down a full-scale coming invasion.
49
In the aftermath, Ari sat alone in the darkness in Arcturis Square. Well, not quite in the darkness, because she was still glowing a golden color. And not quite alone because soon she heard footsteps approach.
She turned to see Harry and Carpe. She ran to hug them. "I thought you guys were dead."
"Hey," said Harry, "it takes more than just a killer alien invasion to take me out."
“I’m with you there,” Ari said. “I have no idea why they specifically targeted me, but I plan to return the favor.”
"I'm glad you're okay, Ari," Carpe said. "I'm sorry I didn't get back sooner to kill that punk Kruxx, but I did get to take out a few of those annoying chess pieces. Game, set, match."
Ari shook her head. "I'm afraid this is just the beginning."
Harry frowned at her. "Can I ask why you're glowing? And what's this I hear about superpowers? And you managed to somehow unite all of the Overlord candidates. You've been busy the last few hours."
"You can ask me," Ari answered. "But it's a long story and it's best told over a good meal with lots of ale. Among friends." She smiled.
"Aye," Carpe said. "We can do that."
About the Author
L.A. Johnson writes fun, original Sci-Fi you won’t find anywhere else.
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Overlord Brawl: Book 1 of the Neon Octopus Ally Series Page 20
