Sam kicked his brother in his lion face before switching to attack mode. Jareth reeled back and began to charge at him again. Sam jumped over Jareth and threw his chakram at Jareth's tail, slicing it clean off. Sam landed and turned to see the tail evaporate in a black and purple mist and reappear in its normal place. The snake head rose up and hissed at Sam as Jareth turned to face him.
"Your attempts at killing me aren't working, Sam," Jareth said, charging at him again.
"I'm not trying to kill you, Jareth. I'm trying to figure out what to do with you," Sam replied, sliding underneath him and sawing Jareth's underside.
Sam got up and turned to see Jareth clutching his underside, small purple blood drops slipping through his paws.
Jareth charged once more, leaving a purple trail of blood. Sam took flight and flew above Jareth. Jareth bounced off a wall and launched himself at him. Sam braced himself for the unexpected attack but Jareth created a portal and flew through it just before he reached Sam.
Sam flew there, wondering where Jareth's next attack would come from. It came from the back - Jareth slammed into him and sent him and Sam flying through wall after wall of the base. Sam threw Jareth off him as they rolled along the floor. Sam got up and threw his chakrams at Jareth. The chakrams sawed right though Jareth's wings, slicing them off. Jareth collapsed as his wings fell to the ground.
"Just because I don't have wings, doesn't mean that I can't kill you! Chaos Horn Smash!"
Jareth's horns became encased in Chaos and he ran at Sam at full speed. Sam flipped over his now incapable-of-flying opponent. Sam threw his chakrams once more and this time they sliced through Jareth's hind legs. Jareth collapsed once more. He turned to face Sam, who was now only a few metres in front of him.
"Go on then," he said. "Kill me like you killed Cheyenne."
"What? I didn't kill Cheyenne. Chaos did."
"You lie! I saw you rip her limb from limb!"
Tears welled in Jareth's eyes.
"Actually," a voice said from behind them. "That was me."
Sam and Jareth turned to see Riley walking towards them.
"Yep, it was all me. Lord Chaos had me put you under a trance which made you see Sam killing Cheyenne when in fact it was me," Riley said, sounding proud of what he done.
Sam turned back to Jareth. "I know there's some part of you that doesn't want to fight me, Jareth. That's why you haven't healed your wings or your back legs. You don't want to fight me. So help me fight the one who really killed Cheyenne," Sam pleaded.
Jareth looked at him and Sam could see some light in his eyes. Jareth's mouth began to move. He was mouthing something.
"Heal me," he whispered.
Sam ran over to him and placed his hand on his chest. A soft light shone from Sam's hand and its normal brown earthy tone began to return to Jareth's beast form. The colour returned all over Jareth's body, as his wings healed and so did his back legs.
"I'm sorry, Sam…" he began to say.
"Save it for after we rip Riley's head from his body," Sam said.
"Hah! I'd like to see you try."
Riley's body began to shimmer and he split into several copies of himself.
"Which one's the real one?" he asked, all of his clones bowing as they surrounded Sam and Jareth.
9: Family Reunion
Zac walked beside Chaos, excited to finally rid the universe of the Unworthy. He and Chaos brought up the rear of the generals and marines. They would be the last to get to the base. They didn't get distracted by the Unworthy Marines. Zac noticed that Chaos was looking around for something.
"Is everything okay, Lord Chaos?" Zac asked.
"Two of my generals aren't here. Where are Jareth and Ace?!" Chaos yelled.
"I'm not sure, my Lord. Does it matter? Can't we do this by ourselves?" Zac asked.
"No. This is not how it's supposed to happen."
Chaos turned and began to walk away.
"My Lord, where are you going?"
"Home. Chaos Destroyers Fire!" Chaos said walking away from the battle. Several Destroyers charged their cannons and fired at the base. Chaos continued to walk off with Zac following behind.
"What about the Army, my Lord?"
"We can make another."
"My Lord, what's really going on?" Zac asked, stopping in his tracks.
"I shouldn't be telling you this, Zac, but I've come to trust you. I'm dying, and this was supposed to be my final battle. I needed Ace here so once this body was exhausted I could transfer to him. He's not here so we're leaving," Chaos said, opening a portal and stepping through it. Zac hesitated but ran after him.
Matthew slashed another Chaos Marine in half and wiped the blood from his helmet. He could feel his breathing increase, and he could see that the other marines were exhausted.
The ground shook as the Destroyers at the other end of the battlefield fired once more, their beams unable to penetrate the shield that enclosed the base.
The Chaos Marine army was rapidly decreasing in numbers but so was the marines'. Matthew couldn't see Chaos, Zac or Sam anywhere on the battlefield. The discovery raised his spirits.
"Marines. Chaos has fled the fight. Now is the time to fight your hardest and kill as many Chaos Marines as you can. Leave no one alive," he yelled. The marines cheered and fought on.
Matthew ran further into the battle and found Lachlan and Anubis still fighting the Fire Elemental. Matthew switched both of his cannons to blades and jumped at the marine. A wall of fire erupted just as they were about to touch.
"Jeez, Matt, watch out," Lachlan said, landing beside him.
"Who's this guy?" Matthew asked.
"I dunno, just some pesky Fire Elemental. Nothin' we can't handle."
"Hoorah!"
Sam and Jareth stood back to back with several Riley clones surrounding them. Sam wore his Golden Defender while Jareth wore his Chimera Beast Armour. Riley was trying to psych them out by playing mind games with them. They'd been fighting for what seemed like hours but in reality was only around ten minutes.
Sam grabbed Jareth and pulled him close before throwing his chakrams around him, slicing and dispersing each clone. Riley wasn't there. A laugh echoed through the hanger bay.
"Hahaha … yeah, sorry about that. While we were fighting I was scoping out your minds and I found what I was told to find. Won't Lord Chaos be happy to find out that his two best Chaos Generals were really two of the worse marines in all of history. Hahaha … see ya!"
Riley's voice left the hanger bay, leaving Sam with Jareth. Sam thought they'd have time to catch up but almost immediately a Chaos Portal opened up.
"Sam, trust me," Jareth whispered as they faced the portal.
Sam turned around to see Jareth was back in his beast form, Chaos Chimera. Sam was impressed but when he turned back around he found his face aching. Chaos had punched him when he'd stepped through the portal.
"Take him to the brig, Jareth. Good job at taking him down too," Chaos said, walking past him.
"My Lord. Sam was Ace," Jareth replied, picking Sam up and placing him on his back.
"I know. I still want him to be my next host. Zac, follow me."
"Yes, My Lord."
Zac and Chaos walked off, leaving Jareth to take Sam down to the brig.
Sam woke slowly to find the cold hard floor reeked of dampness. He sat up and found Jareth, still in his Chaos Chimera Form, sitting outside his cell. Jareth got up and walked over to the bars of the cell.
"What the hell did you do?" Sam asked.
"You didn't fully cure me so I have the ability to change between Chaos Chimera and Earthen Chimera. I used that to fool Chaos into thinking that I'm still a part of his crazy cult. Look, Sam, I'm sorry about everything I've done. It wasn't me," Jareth replied.
"I know it wasn't you. That's why I came here and pretended to be a Chaos Marine - so I could get to you and bring you back. Although there isn't anywhere we can go now, I've been flagged as a fugitive and a kill order has been put out on the bo
th of us."
"Holy shit, I'm sorry. I had no idea this would happen."
"It's fine, just get me out of here."
"There's someone here I'd like you meet first, Sam," Jareth said, breaking the bars of Sam's cell. Sam looked confused but went along with whatever Jareth had planned.
They walked through the halls of the cell block. They walked while being on high alert. They both knew that Chaos hadn't taken all of the Chaos Marines out to battle so there were bound to be some scattered around the base.
They walked past dozens of cells, some full but most empty. Jareth stopped in front of a cell that was half encased in darkness due to the lack of a window at the far end. Sam stopped in front of the cell and peered in. There was only one prisoner - a man, much older then both him and Jareth. The man wore ragged clothing that looked and smelled like it hadn't been changed for months. It was hard to fully make out the man in the darkness so Sam created an orb of light and threw it at the cell ceiling. The orb stuck in the centre of the ceiling and lit up the entire cell, stirring the man awake. He looked at them with confused eyes.
"Jareth? Samuel?" he said with a raspy voice. The Chaos Marines clearly didn't feed him well.
"Jareth, who is he?" Sam asked.
"My boys, it is you. Oh my, how big you've both grown," the man, said getting up and hobbling over to the bars.
"Sam, this our dad," Jareth said bluntly.
The comment caused confusion within Sam and Jareth could see it on his face.
"Why are you here, my boys?" their father asked.
"To break you out of here," Jareth responded.
Sam still wasn't able to comprehend that the man in the cell was their father.
"Okay okay, hold on. Why is our father locked in a Chaos Marine cell? And how'd you know he was here?" Sam asked.
"I've been visiting him lately, although I'm not entirely sure why. I was so far under Chaos' influence I couldn't think straight but something led me down here. I'm not sure why he's here but I know that this man is our dad," Jareth explained.
"Could you let me out of here? I'm not too happy with how I've been treated in this hell hole," their father said.
"Sure Dad, get back. Chimera Armour activate," Jareth said activating his Chimera Armour. Jareth sliced through the bars and they fell away, leaving a gaping hole for their dad to climb through. The older man stepped through as alarm bells rang though the base.
"Holy shit, was that us?" Jareth asked.
Their father gave him a disgusted look but an explosion stopped him from saying anything. The explosion rocked the base and caused the brig around them to start to collapse.
"Sam, can you blink us out of here?" Jareth asked as the began to run through the crumbling halls.
"Nope, not without a clear view or memory of the place I'm blinking to. Sorry," Sam yelled as they passed Chaos Marines, not even bothering to try and kill them since they were going to die anyway.
"This way. I know a way out of here," their father said, running off.
He ran fast for a man who'd probably been tortured and starved. Sam and Jareth looked at each other with a concerned look but ran after him.
They made their way to a concreted courtyard. It had several knocked-down training dummies. It must have been where they'd trained some of the recruits. Sam and Jareth saw two marines in similar armours, each separated by the colour. Sam thought he recognised one of them.
"Jareth, look after Father. I'll go get help," Sam said, running off.
"Omega! Hey!" Sam yelled at the marine floating in the air whilst using his elemental powers to kill Chaos Marines and to destroy the base. The marine looked down at Sam and signalled to the other one to cease the use of their powers. The marines flew down to where Sam was. Jareth and their father ran over to them.
"You must be Sam. I'm sorry. I'm not Omega. My name is Theta," Theta said as they landed.
The other marine nudged him and pointed at Sam's father. Theta and the other marine bowed when they laid eyes in him.
"We're incredibly sorry, Sir. We had no idea you were here," Theta continued as he knelt on one knee.
"It doesn't matter, Theta. What does matter is destroying this base and everyone here. Also, I need something to eat," Sam's father said.
"Dad, do you know these guys?" Jareth asked.
"I'll fill you in when we get back to base. Gamma, can you blink us back?" their father asked the other marine.
"Of course, Sir."
A woman's voice came from the other marine. She stood up and everyone grabbed various parts of her body. A harsh light shone. It was a red light, in contrast to Sam's white light and Omega's light blue light.
10: Secrets Revealed
Sam opened his eyes once the red light died down. He felt a chill in the air almost immediately. They were standing in a snowy field not far from a small base. They were in a clearing in a large snowy forest. Trees filled the eye line in every direction.
"Welcome to the front line in the Element Wars," Sam's father said as they walked up to it.
"Don't be so modest, Apollo. This is the only line of defence against Ragnarok," Theta said as they entered the base.
"Which makes it the first and last line of defence."
They walked through the base until Theta led them to a large open room with couches around the edges. Punching bags and test dummies line one wall. This must have been Theta's team's training room. Theta, Sam, Gamma and Jareth all sat on the couches while Sam's father went into a bathroom near the end of the room.
"What is this place?" Sam asked.
"This is where Alpha's Chosen train and wait for Alpha's orders. There's not a lot to do other than train and go on missions," Theta explained.
"It sounds like our base," Jareth said, turning to Sam.
"It is, but you guys fight the forces of Chaos. We wait for Ragnarok to show his face," Gamma responded.
"Who's Ragnarok?" Sam asked.
"Ragnarok is the dragon that controls the Chaos Element. You know him as Chaos," Theta answered.
"But Chaos is my old friend Hayden."
"No, Hayden is Ragnarok's host. Ragnarok takes over a human body and uses it as a host, however after a certain amount of time he needs to find another host so he can keep living as a human," Theta explained.
"Our job is to kill Ragnarok once you've killed his host."
Sam's father stepped out of the bathroom. He'd shaved his beard and changed out of the rags. He now stood with a regal posture and had a stern look on his face. He wore Apollo as his armour. Each time he clenched his fists, sparks flew from his hands. "It feels good to be back in action."
"It's good to see you back in action" Theta said, standing up.
"We should go and check in with Alpha," Apollo said, walking out.
"So what do we call Dad now?" Jareth whispered as they walked the halls, passing other marines who were a part of Alpha's Chosen.
"You call me Apollo. That's my codename when I'm here on base," their father yelled from the front. Both boys tensed up but continued to walk in silence.
They arrived in another large room. Several screens littered the walls and a few consoles could be seen around the room. It reminded Sam of his base's command centre. A man stood in front of several screens. Each one seemed to be hooked up to a helmet cam of a marine. As the man turned, Sam realised he was part dragon. His entire left half was covered in scales, and a wing extended from his shoulder blade.
"You must be the great Samuel I've been hearing so much about," the man said.
"Well, I wouldn't call myself great. I just get the job done," Sam replied.
"Sam, this is the head of this entire operation - Alpha. He's the one that started all of this and the one who recruited each of us," Apollo said.
"It's nice to meet you, Alpha, but if you don't mind me asking, why are me and Jareth here?" Sam asked.
"I knew that Jareth had defected and I knew that you would soon follow his lead, so I sent Theta and
Gamma to go and get both of you. The fact that Apollo was there was an added bonus. I brought you here to recruit you," Alpha explained.
"Oh, gee, thanks for making us sound important," Apollo said sarcastically.
"You are important, Apollo, and so are your sons. As Theta has already explained, we need the two of you to kill Ragnarok's host so that we may come and kill him, so a war doesn't break out between him and us."
"What if I don't want to kill Hayden?" Sam asked.
"Then our quest is lost. We cannot kill Ragnarok without Hayden being killed."
"Why do you want to kill Ragnarok?" Jareth asked.
"Because he lusts for this world to be rid of all humans by resurrecting King Draconis. A long time ago Ragnarok and I were brothers and we lived side by side with ten other dragons. There was a legend about a thirteenth dragon, one that flew though galaxies, swallowing planets whole. Ragnarok wanted the power of Draconis and tried to awaken him. One of my brothers, Dialgus, sent Ragnarok through time and put the rest of us to sleep. We awoke only a few years before you were born, Samuel, when Ragnarok reappeared. And now he is once again trying to resurrect Draconis. This is why we need to kill him and his hosts," Alpha explained.
"What if we don't want to help you?" Sam asked, folding his arms.
"You will help us, unless you want to see everyone you've ever loved and will ever love get killed right in front of your eyes as rivers turn to Chaos, the sky turns pitch black and the Chaos slowly seeps into every soul. The strong ones will survive while the weak ones will die a horrible agonising death as Chaos slowly disintegrates them from the inside out. It's your choice Sam. Fight or die," Alpha said calmly.
Everyone was speechless. Sam looked at his father, who in turn was staring daggers at Alpha.
"Omega will be back soon. Let's go see him," Theta suggested.
Sam, Jareth, Theta and Gamma left while Apollo stayed behind. Sam could hear him yelling at Alpha as they left.
"What's up with Alpha? He seems so uptight," Jareth said.
"He's just serious about this whole Ragnarok conflict. He doesn't want the world to go to hell. Actually, he feels responsible for this whole war. He feels bad that he didn't get rid of Ragnarok when he had the chance," Theta explained as they walked back to the training room.
The Chaos Saga Page 24
