Until We Break

by Scott Kinkade

  A moan behind her led her to Brandon who lay on a bent piece of metal about the size of a refrigerator door. She helped him to his feet. “Are you all right?” he asked her.

  She nodded. “But everyone else…”

  “We’ve got to find them.”

  The wind kicked up, assaulting her with hot air and sand. For the first time since they crashed, she looked beyond the debris field to Durydu proper. They were on a wide boulevard lined with large pyramids and a few square buildings. Massive sand dunes could be seen peaking over a giant wall on the city’s outer edge. Durydu was in the middle of a desert.

  Tall aqueducts pumped water in from somewhere outside the city, meaning there must be an oasis or underwater repository not far from here. However, at least one of the aqueducts had been broken in half, probably by Zero Grade. As she looked further, she noticed more signs of battle; chunks taken off pyramids, holes in the ground, burn marks, etc. No, “battle” was probably the wrong word. More likely Zero Grade had flexed their muscles here to scare the citizens into compliance, and it may have worked. No one had yet come out to investigate the plane crash.

  Maya and Brandon began turning over wreckage, looking for their comrades. It wasn’t long before they found someone.

  “Jaysin!” Maya yelled. The aspiring god of money lay face-down, blood oozing from his head, his clothes burned and ripped.

  Upon being shook, he groaned and opened his eyes. “M-Maya?”

  An enormous sense of relief flooded through her. “Thank Bethos you’re all right.”

  He sat up gingerly. “Unh. Wouldn’t exactly say that, but I’m alive.”

  She applied healing to his head. “Just take it easy. You’ll be all right, but you need to rest for a moment. We’ll go look for the others.”

  The wound closed, and he looked pleased with her work. “Appreciated. But I’ll be fine. You need all the help you can get, and I’m not sitting around while people could be dying.” The defiant young man joined them as they searched for more survivors.

  A piece of wreckage moved up ahead, and they ran to it. Upon shoving it aside, they found Deep and Sahara, huddled together. Both were bleeding pretty bad, but divine first-aid from Maya helped them to recover.

  “Thanks,” Deep said.

  Sahara got her first good look at the carnage. “Dear Bethos,” she said softly. “What happened to us?”

  Maya explained, “The cloaking device failed, and we were attacked.”

  Deep was struggling to get his breathing under control. “It was bad. Everyone just got vaporized in an instant. The only reason we survived is because we didn’t get hit directly.”

  “We have to get out of here,” Brandon said dejectedly. “This mission’s a failure.” They could all hear the utter despondency in his voice; he wanted to retake Durydu as much as anyone, and now his side was being dealt another crushing defeat.

  But, without warning, a massive sandstorm suddenly kicked up outside the city. It quickly grew until all of Durydu was surrounded by a violent maelstrom.

  An imposing voice called out, “You’re not going anywhere, Divine Protector Academy!”

  They focused their attention to the end of the boulevard where the largest pyramid stood. On top of it was a lone figure. He was half-naked, with blue armbands around his biceps and wrists, and what looked like a brown skirt around his waist. To their surprise, he had the head of some sort of predatory bird.

  “Ra,” Brandon said.

  “Ra?” Maya replied.

  “The Egyptian god of the sun. Egypt was a country in the previous universe, and Ra was one of the gods they worshipped. This guy’s no joke.”

  “Is that his head?” Deep asked.

  “Yeah, he has the head of a falcon.” Brandon then added, “That was a bird in the previous universe.”

  “What are his powers?” Sahara said.

  Brandon gestured to the tempest that was raging outside the city. “He can control sand. I’m not really sure what else he’s got since I’ve never actually fought him before. Stay on your guard. Looks like we have to beat him to get out of here.”

  “You really think you stand a chance against me, Ares?” Ra boomed, utilizing Brandon’s true name. His voice had no trouble projecting out to them. “There’s a reason Zero Grade sent me here instead of the other Ultimus Points. The sun shines brightest in this part of the world, and the sand is abundant. Observe.”

  He waved his arms, and the sandstorm flew towards them, smothering the buildings and everything else in its path. Upon its arrival, it pounded them with unrivaled ferocity, battering one another in the roiling tempest.

  “Everyone, huddle together!” Brandon yelled. They wasted no time linking up, with their backs to the sandstorm.

  Soon, the storm subsided, leaving a thousand pounds of sand to bury the boulevard. “Is it over?” Sahara asked.

  “Not even close,” Brandon replied.

  “You’re right about that,” Ra said. “The attack has only just begun. Watch.” He snapped his fingers, and the sand abruptly rose up, taking on human shapes. More specifically, a hundred sand Ras appeared, each one bearing an eerie resemblance to the Egyptian god. “Kill them!”

  The expressionless dolls advanced on them bearing sand spears. “Don’t take them lightly!” Brandon warned. The students nodded grimly, accepting the battle they were now faced with.

  Maya unloaded ice arrows into the nearest sand Ras, freezing them in place and leaving them open for Deep and Sahara to shatter with physical strikes. Despite being relatively new students, they had taken quickly to Atlas’ self-defense program, picking up respectable martial arts skills.

  Jaysin summoned his staff and proceeded to smash the doppelgangers with a fluid series of attacks. He downed one after the other with impeccable grace, showing his dedication to his chosen weapon.

  But it was veteran god Brandon who proved the most effective at dispatching Ra’s impromptu army. He got fired up and unleashed an inferno upon their attackers, incinerating hundreds in an instant.

  When it was over, he shouted to Ra, “Is that all you got? Your lackeys are a joke!”

  From atop the pyramid, Ra replied, “You think you’ve defeated them? Think again.” He snapped his fingers and the countless particles of sand reformed. In an instant, his army was reborn and once again on the attack. Brandon blew them away with his fire, but each time he did, Ra simply resurrected them.

  “What are we going to do?” Maya said. “At this rate, they’ll wear us down before we even get to Ra.”

  Brandon said, “I have an idea. As soon as I down the next wave, everyone rush him before he has time to rebuild his clones.”

  He unleashed another wave of fire, wiping out the expressionless dolls. He and the students quickly flew in and up the main pyramid.

  However, a massive wall of sand appeared before them and knocked them back to the ground. “It’s pointless,” Ra said. “There’s an endless supply of sand at my disposal in this city. Wherever you go, the sand will be there to stop you.”

  “Then I’ll just keep burning it up,” Brandon said from the base of the pyramid.

  Ra pondered that for a second. “You’re probably right. As it stands now, killing you will take too long. I’ll just have to speed things up.” He spread his hands out before him, and a small but very bright ball appeared in them. “Witness my Solar Bomb!” As he focused on the ball, it increased in size, not unlike Atlas’ boulder. But this was no rock; it was a miniature sun—and it was getting bigger!

  When it was about the size of the pyramid, Ra hurled it down upon them with blinding speed. There was no time to get out of the way.

  This was the end.

  Surprisingly, though, while everyone else looked on with fear and awe, Jaysin stood firm. Readying his staff, he positioned it mere inches above the ground. The small sun bore down on them, its heat their own personal hell. Flames licked at their clothing as it approached.

  Yet when it was right on
top of them, Jaysin struck the ground with his staff. Abruptly, the sun reversed course and headed back at Ra with even greater speed than it had when it came at them.

  “Wha—?” Ra yelled. He couldn’t even finish that one word before the sun hit him, vaporizing his entire being in an instant. Having destroyed the top half of the pyramid as well, it kept rocketing through the sky, gradually dissipating the farther it went, until it burned out entirely.

  When everyone’s faculties returned, they wasted no time congratulating Jaysin on his amazing save. “How did you know that would work?” Maya asked.

  He shrugged. “I didn’t. Honestly, I thought it would kill us before it got close enough for me to reverse its gravity. Lucky thing it didn’t, huh?” He laughed sheepishly.

  Brandon patted him on the back. “Your sense of timing was unbelievable. I gotta say, I really thought we were finished there. You’re a hero, Jaysin Marx, and I won’t rest until everyone knows that. You saved your country today, not to mention one of the Ultimus Points.” He then turned to address the others. “The rest of you showed remarkable bravery as well. I look forward to reporting our success to the Academy.”

  * * *

  On the outskirts of Durydu, they soon arrived at Jaysin’s house amidst a cluster of other pyramids. They knocked on the door, and a heavily-wrinkled middle-aged man with bronze skin and fair hair answered by sticking a shotgun in their faces.

  “Easy, Dad,” Jaysin said. “It’s me. And a few friends.”

  His father looked shocked, but nonetheless hugged his son. “Oh, Jaysin! So glad to see you! But how’d you get passed the whatever the hell that was?”

  “Don’t worry about that guy. We took care of him. Mind if we come in?”

  Jaysin’s father—who introduced himself as Hugh Marx—brought them into the small living room. Maya had never been inside a pyramid before; it was weird how the ceiling narrowed the further up it went, until it ended in a small point.

  The living room itself was quite bare, the only furniture being a ratty beige couch that had holes in it. There was also one of those bulky low definition TVs that used to be the standard some fifteen years ago. Jaysin obviously hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he didn’t come from money.

  The rest of his family filed into the room; his mother Mara, a pretty woman with long sandy hair; eight-year-old sister Hailey, an adorable kid not hurting for freckles; fifteen-year-old brother Johnny. They embraced the returning hero and everyone gathered around the crappy couch to get an update on what Jaysin had been up to. They took the story with no small measure of awe.

  “Right amazing, that is,” Hugh said, nodding proudly.

  Mara agreed. “Our son—a god!”

  “God in training,” Jaysin corrected her.

  “We don’t believe in gods,” Johnny said, nevertheless patting his big brother on the back. He was perhaps a foot shorter than Jaysin. “Still, you showed that dick tart who’s boss.”

  “Language,” Hugh said.

  Hailey quietly hugged Jaysin’s leg. She seemed afraid of Jaysin’s friends. “She’s shy around strangers,” he explained.

  “Now, let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Hugh said. “Gods are real, and the evil ones—Zero Grade—attacked Durydu because of this build-up of incredible energy called Ultrus Points?”

  “Ultimus Points,” Maya said.

  “Right, right. Ultimus Points. And if they harness this energy, they can become even more powerful?” Hugh’s brain was clearly hurting from trying to wrap his head around this.

  “Yeah, Dad, but don’t worry; we took care of them. They got cocky and only sent one god here to fight us. Granted, that one god almost did it for us, but we’re still alive.”

  Concern still weighed heavily on his mother’s features. “But won’t they send reinforcements to retake the city?”

  “We won’t let that happen,” Maya said. “We’ve got reinforcements of our own arriving soon. We’re going to liberate every city that was conquered.” She intentionally avoided mentioning the destruction of Kornia. They didn’t need any more worries.

  Hailey perked up slightly at the encouragement. Perhaps she might warm to the newcomers in time. Maya hoped so; she really wanted the kid to like her.

  “I think that’s enough scary stuff for now,” Hugh said. “For now, I insist you all stay for dinner. We’ve got a lot of celebrating to do.”

  Indeed they did. In fact, once word reached the rest of the city, all of Durydu broke out into one gigantic party. All through the streets they marched, dancing and consuming alcohol. Their scourge had been vanquished, at least for the time being, and they banished any and all dark thoughts as they partied the night away.

  Maya, Jaysin and the others asked themselves if the others were having as much success. Brandon seemed unusually quiet when they pressed him for information. He had been in touch with the Academy, but wouldn’t say what was happening with the other battles.

  And another lingering question remained: Why had Zero Grade only sent one god to defend Durydu? Surely they had a lot more people that could have aided Ra in keeping the Academy from retaking the city.

  Maya couldn’t shake the feeling they were still at the mercy of Zero Grade’s unknown machinations.

  * * *

  Baldr, Son Goku, Ho-Tei and their students ran blindly through the streets of Stiftung. Their options at this point were decidedly limited.

  It had all gone wrong as soon as they entered the city. Zero Grade had done something, and the group immediately lost their powers. The God Dampener. It had to be that device Ev and Maya had talked about when they returned from the Battle of Stonecroft. Damned Zero Grade had robbed them of their abilities and were now shooting guns at them. Guns! Weren’t they supposed to be gods? But no—they had chosen to play dirty, and now the Academy group was powerless against them.

  “Keep moving!” Baldr yelled as they passed another city block. His lungs ached at the extraordinary demand being placed upon them; this was a sensation he hadn’t felt since becoming a god. Still, he fought through the humiliation and pumped his legs for all they were worth.

  Without warning, his chest exploded as a bullet tore through him from behind. He went down in a bloody heap, but waved at the others to keep going.

  Damned Zero Grade. Had they no honor? What he wouldn’t have given for the chance to fight them man-to-man. But alas, it seemed his time had come. The Fates were cruel indeed to allow his life to end this way. What would Thor think of him if he could see him?

  He shook his head. No use thinking about such things now.

  Chapter X

  We are Zero Grade

  Stiftung remains ours

  Regret your folly

  Bethos watched the message on the TV with a growing rage. He had lost contact with the Stiftung group as soon as they entered the city. He didn’t know what tricks Zero Grade had pulled, but he had to assume everyone he had sent there was dead.

  He decided not to tell the others groups about this; it would undoubtedly hurt their morale. He would tell them in due time, but only after the other battles were decided.

  With a mounting dread he realized the true struggle had only just begun.

  * * *

  Upton and Durydu had been liberated, while Kornia had been obliterated. Stiftung, Dokiu and Stonecroft remained in Zero Grade’s possession, resulting in the deaths of Baldr, Son Goku, Ho-tei, Mac and numerous students. Counting Mt. Orleia, that left three Ultimus Points with the Academy, and three with Zero Grade. The stalemate continued for several months through intense fighting. The Academy students and faculty fought valiantly with conventional weaponry, but they struggled without their powers because of the God Dampeners employed by their enemies. It appeared everyone’s worst fears would be realized, and the fighting would go on indefinitely. It seemed only a miracle could turn the tide and prevent more bloodshed.

  In the month of Behrn, in the following year, something happened which neither side cou
ld predict.

  The tide turned.

  * * *

  Nuada stood atop the TV-SDS building in downtown Stiftung admiring his new kingdom.

  Clad in silver armor and hair, and standing at six and a half feet tall, the first king of the Tuatha Dé Danann was known as The Silver Hand of Zero Grade.

  Retaining Stiftung had been remarkably easy. All the organization had needed to do was deploy the God Dampeners across the city. The gallant knights of the Academy quickly found themselves stripped of all their powers, and Nuada’s group simply mowed them down with traditional weapons. The same had happened in Dokiu and Stonecroft. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough of the devices to send to the other Ultimus Points, and Zero Grade had lost control of them. But they still retained half the pockets of Big Bang energy. Now it was simply a matter of whittling down the Academy knights and reclaiming the lost territory.