by Cohen, Bryan
Erica protected herself and the boy from Jennifer's approach, but the dark soul was faster than she anticipated.
Jennifer grew louder with each word. "Your."
She sliced Erica's forearms. "Time." She cut another hole, and pierced the skin in Erica's abdomen. "Here." She lacerated the protectors left thigh. "Is through!" One more cut went straight through Erica's neck.
The protector gagged at the blood, which worked its way up through her mouth. As she coughed, the blood went everywhere, including on the young boy's face beside her.
Erica wanted to say something to her former friend, but words were impossible in these seemingly final moments. As her knees hit the ground and the darkness encroached from the corners of her vision, she saw Riu begin to glow brighter with an intensity she'd never seen.
The boy smeared the red mark on his face. "Something is happening!"
Before the unconsciousness took hold, a massive blast of energy emanated from Riu's body and took over the room and everything it touched.
20
With every foot Ted flew higher into the air, his power seemed to grow by a power of ten. The jets came in hot, as if trying to blow past him before he could take them out.
His eyebrows danced. "That won't really work if you don't have engines."
With a snap of his finger, Ted reached out and targeted every engine in the planes coming towards him. Like that, the planes began to plummet. The moment he moved their trajectories out of the aircraft carrier's path, a blast of green energy colored the entire sky. He felt the light pass through him and the ability he'd used to fly no longer functioned. Much like the planes he just sabotaged, Ted fell like a rock from the sky.
The wind filled his ears and pushed against his face. "You figured it out, Riu. Let's hope you can win this war without me."
Ted could see the deck fast approaching and instinctively put his arms in front of his face.
Just as he was about to make a rapid impact, Ted felt his stomach lift high into the air as an arm grabbed around him. It wasn't until he turned over his shoulder that he could even see what had just happened as his body carried upward once again into the sky. It was Natalie on the back of an angel.
Natalie winked and pulled him up to sitting. "It's about time you played damsel for once."
Ted pulled himself closer to Natalie as the angel turned back toward the ship. "My hero. I'd say you were an angel, but I suppose that would be redundant."
She rolled her eyes. "Really should have let you make impact. Really should have. You suppose that was Riu who shorted out your powers?"
He nodded. "I don't know how he did it, but we better go see if he's—"
The noise of an approaching missile filled the skies. One glance upward showed the fast approaching projectile headed straight for them.
Natalie's body tensed. "How much do you want to bet that's nuclear? Do you have your powers back yet?"
Ted reached out toward the missile. But nothing happened.
He shook his head. "Get me close, it's our only chance."
The angel flew toward the oncoming doom. Ted put up one knee on the creature's back.
Natalie grabbed him by the back of his pants. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Ted brushed her hand away. "Either I'm going to get my powers back, or we're all going to die anyway."
Natalie pulled her arms back as the missile came closer and closer. Ted lifted himself all the way to standing. He continued to reach for his powers, but there didn't seem to be anything in his reserves.
He turned toward Natalie. Now is as good a time as any.
"I love you."
Before Natalie could react, Ted pressed his knees down and leapt into the air. At the moment that gravity caught up with him, he was directly in the path of the missile.
As Ted extended both his hands, he was surprised to find himself floating in midair. His powers were back just in time. Ted grabbed hold of the nuke with his mind and sent it on a new path. He and the missile flew upward in sync until the air grew thin and the ozone became heavy.
He opened a portal to what he knew was an uninhabited world and watched the missile cleanly exit their planet. He promptly shut the gateway elsewhere. "Let's hope nobody is on a sightseeing mission."
As he floated back down to the ground, two sets of consequences laid heavily on him. While he should have cared more about the effects of Riu's power on the members of the ship, he couldn't help but dwell on the impact of his potential last words to Natalie. As he landed on the deck, he saw Natalie walking toward him.
His face turned a shade of pink. "I stopped the nuke. We should celebrate, right?"
Natalie continued walking straight toward him as she slapped the ever-loving crap out of his face.
Ted winced as he brought a hand to his raw cheek. "That's probably what I should have expected."
What he didn't expect, was Natalie bringing him in in a tight hug as she kissed his non-slapped cheek. "Don't ever pull that crap again."
"Which crap? The almost dying crap or the telling you my feelings crap?"
Natalie flared her nostrils in his ear. "The first one."
Ted's chest warmed as he looked into her eyes. They shared a moment before returning to the aftermath. The deck was littered with bodies, though as far as he could tell, most of them were still alive.
Ted scratched his scalp. "Riu's power should have killed the dark souls. But they just seem unconscious."
Natalie nodded. "I'm sorry, Ted. It looks like plan B might not work after all."
His heart sunk as his mind went to Riu, Erica, Dhiraj and the rest of his friends. "That's okay, let's just make sure they're all safe."
Natalie called over a solider. "If they've got a tattoo, put them in the brig before they wake up. It'll be easier that way."
The soldier nodded. "And what should I do about the dead, ma’am?"
Natalie took in a deep breath. "We'll just have to deal with them later. You have your orders."
The soldier saluted and rounded up several of the injured men to start handcuffing the unconscious dark souls.
Ted and Natalie began calling out for Riu. After several minutes without hearing a peep, the living soul began to worry.
"What if using his powers like that killed him? What if I got him killed and we didn't even save anybody?"
Natalie put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry to say this, but don't make me slap you again."
As Ted sighed, the little boy walked out right in front of them, his face streaked with blood.
"I'm sorry, Ted. I couldn't save her."
Ted rushed to him and bent down on one knee. "Oh my God, Riu. Are you okay? Who couldn't you save?"
Riu sniffled. "It's not my blood. It's her blood."
Ted waited until Natalie had a hold of Riu before he dashed into the room, his heart racing. The scene before him was a thing of nightmares. Jennifer and Yoshi were laid out on the ground. Dhiraj had his hand on Erica's neck. Blood continued to seep through the wound anyway. The blood that painted the walls and the floors was hers. And there was so much blood to see.
21
Vella wasn't sure if her legs could move one step farther. In the heat of the desert, she lost track of how long it had been since her mother had sacrificed herself so that she could live. So that millions of innocent people could live. The young girl was far enough away that she didn't hear the blast her mother had planned, but the girl could feel it. She still felt it, and for the next day, it may have been the only thing that kept her going.
"I can't do this without you, Mama. I don't think I can do it."
Vella's feet were covered in blisters. Her legs were one long ache beneath her. And yet, she had somehow stayed in front of the dark soul army. She wasn't sure exactly what damage her mother had done, but Vella knew it wouldn't stop them forever.
As Vella's pace slowed, her left foot dug too deep in the sand. The girl's body collapsed forward and her face met the sand.
/> She groaned. "I'm not getting up. I'm not getting up."
She did get up, but she had no concept of how long she'd remained down. Of how long the sun baked into her back, sapping the energy she could use to save Ted's friends.
Vella lasted another two hours or so before she fell once again. This time, she hadn't tripped so much as just sank into the sand.
"It hurts less to stay here. I just want to stay here." She would have cried if there were any liquid left in her body. "I'm sorry, Mama."
An unknown amount of time elapsed while Vella lay there in the sand. She didn't even lift her head when the rumbling began behind her. Her stomach tightened as she expected the army to run her over and destroy any chance of her success.
But the army wasn't behind her.
Vella turned to her left when the giant worm like creature known as a terralite emerged from the sand beside her. The grotesque abomination would have struck fear into the hearts of most light and dark souls on the planet. But not Vella's.
"Hello, Mr. Terralite. How are you on this fine day?"
The terralite made a deep gurgling noise.
Vella smiled. "You're right. I guess it's not so fine. I'm very tired and I'm not sure if I can make it to the Light Soul Capital in time to save them."
The terralite's massive head moved from left to right. It was almost as if the creature understood her.
"I know you probably have so much going on, but it could help a lot of people if you took me there. I don't have anything to give you in return, but it could save the planet."
The terralite inched closer.
Though it pained her to do so, Vella lifted herself to her knees.
She stroked the terralite's slimy face. "What do you say, new friend?"
The terralite moved toward her rapidly. Vella fell backwards, landing hard in the sand behind her. Just when the worm opened his mouth wide enough to swallow the girl, he went underneath her instead. The ground around her shook and sank and just when she thought the sand or the terralite might swallow her whole, her body pressed up high. And that's when she started moving. Vella turned to her right and placed her chest on the back of the speeding creature. She grabbed tight, and the wind blew her hair backwards.
"Thank you, Mr. Terralite! Thank you so much."
Between the motion of the worm and her exhaustion, it didn't take long for Vella to pass out. When she opened her eyes, the sun was much lower in the sky. When she righted herself and dared to lift herself a bit higher on the worm, she saw a grand castle with walls around it in the distance.
"That's it. I think that's it."
The terralite continued to push toward the biggest city the girl had ever seen. It was nearly three times larger than the Dark Soul Capital.
"That must be to make room for all of Ted's friends. I bet he has a million friends."
As the city got closer and closer, the worm slowed his pace. When they were just a few hundred feet from the gate, the creature turned to one side, as if to make it as easy as possible for her to step foot back on the sand.
After she did so, Vella patted the terralite's side. "You have been so very helpful. Once I've told the light souls about the army, I'm going to recommend that you get a medal. Or at least a lot of delicious food. Does that sound like a fair trade?"
Vella wasn't sure, but it seemed like the creature nodded before it dove back into the sand in the opposite direction. The girl waved at the creature as it sped away.
While Vella's legs still ached incredibly, the rest the terralite had given her had done wonders. She smiled as she reached the city's gate and knocked on it like it was as casual as asking the neighbor for a special concoction ingredient.
A soldier atop the wall called down to her. "You there. Get away from here. This is no place for little girls."
"Hello, sir. I have very important information for you."
The soldier called out to his comrade on the other side of the gate. "What are we supposed to do about a little kid?"
The second gatekeeper looked down in horror. "Let the girl inside. She's probably dying of thirst."
As the gate lifted, Vella didn't even need to wait for it to go all the way up for her to enter. The city she saw was much cleaner than what she'd seen outside of the General's palace. But there were so many people wandering around, the audience was almost overwhelming.
The first gatekeeper reached her side and lifted her into the air. "What are you doing here? Are you a child of one of the prisoners?"
Vella looked straight into the man's eyes. "I'm not anybody's child anymore. My mother died on the other side of the world so that I could save you all."
The second gatekeeper made it down the wall to enter the conversation. "What did she say?"
The first gatekeeper rolled his eyes. "She's crazy and delusional. Give her some food and send her back to the prison."
Vella broke free of the man's grip and stood her ground. "I am Vella, daughter of Razellia. Rebel against the dark souls and friend of Ted Finley. I believe you've probably heard of him."
The second gatekeeper leaned in closer. "But how could you possibly know—"
"Ted saved my village and then I saved him. And yes, a little girl can save a superhero, thank you very much. As I was saying, my mother died on the other side of the world so that I could tell you about an army headed your way."
The first gatekeeper grabbed her wrist. "That's enough out of you, kid. Let's get you hydrated and out of our hair."
The second gatekeeper took Vella's other wrist. "Now wait a second. Just because she's little and a girl doesn't mean she's not telling the truth. I'm taking her to Reena."
The first guard laughed. "I guess this is going to be the last I'll see of you then. There's no way you're still going to be working here if you waste the army's time like this."
The second gatekeeper smiled and looked into Vella's eyes. "I want to thank you and your mother for your sacrifice. Let's go make sure the message makes it into the right hands."
Vella gave the stink-eye to the first guard before turning back to the second. "Thank you."
Vella was still getting over the shock of how beautiful the city was when she entered a large cavernous room. At the end of an extremely long table sat a man and a woman. Based on how big the room was and how small they were, she assumed they were important.
The guard bowed before introducing Vella.
"You left your post for this?" Gan, the leader of the light soul army, shook his head. "Some people have a strange way of trying to get kicked out of my service."
Reena put up a hand. "Gan, if we can trust a teenager to protect an entire planet, we can trust a girl to give us information."
Vella licked her dry lips. "Thank you, Miss General lady. I'm here to tell you that within the next day or two, a giant army of dark souls is coming to storm the castle. They slaughtered my village and they intend to slaughter you too."
Gan folded one arm over the other. "And how big is this army, little girl?"
"I don't know."
Gan laughed. "You don't know because they don't exist."
Vella stamped her foot. "No, I don't know because it's all of them."
Even Gan paused at that.
Reena leaned toward her. "What did you just say?"
Vella took a deep breath. "I don't know how many there are because every single dark soul left on this planet is coming here right now. If you're not ready, they're probably going to kill all of us."
22
Jennifer Norris woke up in a daze. Her head spun and the ground seemed to move beneath her. She placed one hand beneath her for support, but for some reason, all she felt below was metal.
She tried to shake loose the cobwebs as her memory slowly came back to her.
They're going to shoot me. The General and his men are going to shoot me.
Jennifer stood and turned her back to the wall. She wasn't sure why she was no longer wearing the protective armor Van Housen had supplie
d her with. But her eyes opened wide when she caught the eyes of the person in front of her.
"Dhiraj! You're here!"
Without responding, the boy of her dreams ran forward and tried to tackle her to the ground.
Dhiraj struggled to move her solid frame. "You killed her! You killed her and you made me kill people!"
Jennifer easily pushed him to the ground. It almost felt too easy, and Jennifer looked down at one of her hands. It was stained with blood.
She wasn't sure how she moved her fist up so quickly to block a punch she didn't see coming. She turned toward Natalie who struck at her with speed and strength.
Jennifer continued to block her friend's attacks. "What are you doing? Stop it!"
Before she could stop another blow, Jennifer felt herself being lifted up in the air and slammed hard against the unforgiving metal wall.
She winced at the pain as she saw Ted pointing his palm in her direction. His eyes were cold toward her.
"What are you guys doing? How did you get here? What happened to the General's men?"
Jennifer finally had a chance to take in the entire room. There was a dead man she didn't recognize on the ground. His arm had been sliced clean off. Beside him was Yoshi the samurai, who she thought had been sent through a portal to his likely death years before. But then she saw something that sent her mind into a tailspin.
"Erica." She struggled against Ted's powers. "What happened to her?"
Ted continued to show hate in his eyes. "You did this to her."
With another crack against the wall, Jennifer's consciousness shorted out.
When she came to, she was surrounded by men and women who were strangers to her. A few of the people in the cell weren't even people. One was a giant creature whose skin seemed to be made of armor. Two more were actual, living, breathing angels, with wings and everything. But the incredible sights she saw in captivity could not wash clean the images in her memory. She'd seen the General and his men gun down both Van Housen and her father. They were about to kill her too, but instead she awoke to a living hell. Erica was covered in blood and everyone else seemed to think that she did it.
