The Quest Saga Collection: Books 1 - 5

by Dhayaa Anbajagane

  “Have you heard of the Druids of Armorica?” Levi grinned. “Some say their leader perfected a way to harvest the very life energy of a living being,” he walked closer to Taylor. “Would you like to see if that’s true?” he said, his voice a low whisper.

  Her eyes widened, her mind grasping what he was suggesting. “NO!” she yelled, her arms trying to break from her bonds.

  “Yes, that’s the way,” Levi laughed, his eyes going into a crazed expression.

  The needle-arms swiftly shot down onto Q. His body violently writhed in pain as each large needle pierced his skin. Muffled screams of pain escaped his lips every second, weighing the air down with horror. Taylor struggled in her bonds, tears collecting in her eyes, the sight too much for her to handle.

  “Stop it,” she pleaded, her wrists turning sore from pushing against her bonds.

  “But my dear,” Levi smiled. “This is just the beginning.”

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked, her voice weakening to a mere whisper.

  “It’s simple,” he said. “Tell me where Valkyrie is and I’ll let you go.”

  Taylor trembled at the mere mention of her sword’s name. “Why do you know about Valkyrie?”

  “The White Knights know more than you think,” he smiled. “Now where is the sword, Taylor?”

  Taylor thought of all the destruction Valkyrie had caused her. She thought of what it could do if it were in the hands of the wrong man, and Levi was definitely the worst of the entire lot. There was no telling what he might do with the sword once he got it.

  “I-I don’t know,” she said.

  “Ah, I see,” Levi turned to the other room and made a gesture with his hands.

  Two rods of black steel extended from the sides of the room, elongating until they were an inch from either side of Q’s head. Levi brought his hand down, and orange sparks spun from the rod. Streams of sparkling blue electricity poured out of the two rods and into Q’s head.

  Taylor heard Q’s terrified screams, each one louder and more frightened than the last, each one causing her more pain than the last, each one demonizing Levi more and more.

  “STOP IT!” she yelled.

  “Then tell me where the sword is,” Levi smiled at her.

  She hesitated, for but a moment.

  Another pulse of electricity shot through Q, brighter than anything before it. His back arched violently, his nerves unable to bear the pain, his deafening screams filling the room.

  Words escaped Taylor’s mind, her very thoughts began to fade. She was torn between putting Q through hell and giving Levi a path to turn reality into hell.

  “I will ask you only one last time,” Levi leaned closer. “Where is the sword?”

  Taylor’s mind was on the verge of snapping. She saw Q’s body wrestle against the metal arms, his eyes rolling up into his head, his very being trembling with fear and terror.

  “It’s on Drakon,” she said quietly. “Valkyrie is on the battlefield on Drakon.”

  “Thank you,” Levi grinned. “That was quite cooperative of you.”

  “Leave Q alone,” she said.

  “Definitely,” he smiled and turned to the room. He gestured something that she couldn’t see.

  The tentacles pulled out of Q, and hovered about him, their arms rotating at high speeds. The needles retracted into them, and were replaced by some sort of wider pipe.

  “Finish it,” Levi grinned.

  Monstrous flames of hot red fire spewed out of the metal arms, setting Q’s body alight. Violent screams filled Taylor’s mind, her eyes bloodshot at the painful sight before her.

  “NO!” she screamed, her voice hoarse.

  The room filled with roaring flames of fire and Q’s burning body lay inside it all, a motionless silhouette of darkness.

  “So sad,” Levi touched Taylor’s face, his finger softly tracing the letter Q on her cheek. “Watch it for as long as you want,” he smiled and left the room.

  Taylor remained there, her arms limp, her legs frozen, her body just hanging from her bonds. Her face stared into the fire, at its glowing red flames, its heat engraving itself into her memory. She stared at the black shadow inside the flames, the dark figure writhing in pain. She stared at herself, at the Dark Knight who was too weak to even save the person who meant the world to her.

  Taylor screamed, screamed in agony and pain, in sorrow and loss, in rage and anger.

  Her mind had finally broken.

  ***

  Q heard the door to his holding cell open. He leaned out to see who it was, his wrists straining against the energy bonds that kept his arms and legs stuck to the metal wall.

  “Hello there, Wielder of Light,” Levi walked in, a satisfied grin on his face.

  “You seem overly content,” Q said.

  “I just had a ton of fun,” he smiled.

  I’m not even going to ask, Q thought.

  “Now, I’m pretty sure you have no idea why I’m here,” Levi said.

  “Well, it’s either some unnecessary speech, or some big plan reveal of how you’re going to destroy the entire Universe,” he said. “Neither of which I’m interested in by the way.”

  Levi chuckled. “I’m here to offer you employment,” he said.

  “WHAT?” Q stared at Levi, trying hard to not laugh. “I know you’re sort of crazy, but how much crazier did you get since the last time we met?”

  “Our side has great use for you,” he said. “The NOVA warriors are the ones I want dead.”

  “Why? Why do you keep saying that over and over again?” he asked. “Why do you want to eradicate the NOVA warriors so much?”

  “Well, my bloodlust is much lesser than before actually,” he smiled. “Especially since your Dark Knight did a part of my job for me.”

  Q’s mind flashed to the scene of Taylor landing the killing blow on Elizabeth. He knew she had been tricked into it. All of them had been fooled by the illusion. Q knew he himself would have attacked the illusion if Taylor hadn’t taken it down.

  “Quite a sad event, Elizabeth’s death I mean,” Levi chuckled.

  “Shut up,” Q muttered, doing all he could to keep his rage chained inside him.

  I have to control it, his mind screamed at him. I can’t let it loose. Not now.

  Levi leaned closer to him. “I know those three remaining friends of yours are all NOVA warriors,” he said. “But you must believe me when I say they are more dangerous than you think.”

  “I can hardly take that statement seriously, especially if it’s coming from a guy who just blew up an entire planet on a whim.”

  “Ah, sorry about that.”

  Q calmed himself down, trying not to get worked up by the fact that Levi was trying to make up for blowing up an entire plant by apologizing for it.

  “You do realize you’re a NOVA warrior as well don’t you?” Q asked. “Aren’t you dangerous as well?”

  Levi nodded. “Indeed, and I already have an instant kill mechanism in place in the unlikely event that I become a threat.”

  “You already are a threat!” Q yelled.

  Levi remained silent, not the kind of silence that showed he couldn’t reply, but the sort of silence that showed he didn’t find Q’s statement worthy of reply.

  Q calmed himself down, “I will ask you again. What do you want from me?”

  “I do not wish to unnecessarily face off against a sorcerer.”

  “Oh please, you’re just worried I’ll take you down easy.”

  “The Masked Magician disagrees with that claim,” Levi smiled.

  The very mention of the Magician’s name made Q tense up. He was still confused about what that man was. He definitely didn’t feel like a sorcerer and yet he was much more powerful that he or Taylor were.

  “So you won’t join me?” Levi asked.

  Q smiled. “What do you think?”

  “Very well then,” he smiled back, and made a gesture. The energy bonds turned off and Q dropped to the ground.


  “You’re pretty confident that I won’t attack you aren’t you?”

  “First of all, stop pretending that Elizabeth’s death didn’t affect you,” Levi said as he led him out the room and through the corridor. “And second, even you know your mind is in no state to use your powers.”

  Q stayed silent. It wasn’t that Elizabeth’s death didn’t concern him. He just didn’t know how to react to it. He had seen Taylor kill Elizabeth. There was no coming back from that memory. There was no acknowledging that either. Even now he had no idea how he was supposed to face Taylor. It scared him to think of what she was going through.

  If only I’d have been a little more alert, he cursed.

  Q and everyone else had been so stunned by Elizabeth’s death that the Masked Magician was able to capture them all. Q’s only solace was that the Empress, by some stroke of luck, managed to escape. If she had been captured, then it would have been endgame for them all.

  Levi turned into another corridor, “Even if you did attack me, you should know that the Masked Magician is still on this ship.”

  “How do you even work with him?” Q said, trying to distract his mind from the Elizabeth situation. “That guy is arrogant and self-centered. He doesn’t really seem like a team player.”

  “We both have a common goal,” he said.

  “To destroy the NOVA warriors?” Q asked.

  Levi laughed, “That is something I’ll actually keep secret,” he said and stopped in front of a large door. He punched in a code on the side panel and the entrance slid open.

  The wide room inside was completely dark, except for some fluorescent-red tubes that glowed on the other side. Levi walked straight up the glowing structure.

  “What is this place?” Q asked, following Levi.

  “This is where it all falls apart,” he smiled. The lights turned on, revealing one battered body hanging on the wall.

  Q’s eyes widened. His body trembled. Blood rushed to his head. Fear and anger gripped his very being.

  Taylor hung from the wall, energy bonds securing her in place. A network of thin tubes were inserted into parts of her body, and injected a red, glowing fluid inside her. Her eyes looked at the barren floor, their sparkling blue now a dull, faded grey.

  Q rushed to her but an invisible wall pushed him away. A force field, he cursed.

  “There’s no point, Q,” Levi chuckled, walking to him. “She’s gone.”

  “What are you talking about?” he clenched his teeth, his eyes glaring at the man. He felt the chains around his rage begin to rattle, the emotions within him ready to explode.

  He smirked. “Do you remember the F.E.A.R. serum?” he asked.

  Q’s eyes widened. He couldn’t have, he gasped, his thoughts muddling in shock.

  The F.E.A.R. serum was a concoction that Levi had created and could completely destroy the bond between the body and mind. It would put one’s consciousness in an eternal sleep and make the victim face their worst nightmares over and over again.

  “Now, you’d recall that F.E.A.R. is a purple colored serum,” Levi smirked. “This one though is red.”

  Q caught on quick. “You modified it,” he whispered, not sure whether to be terrified or worried about that fact.

  “Well done!” Levi applauded. “Any guesses on what I modified it with?” he grinned.

  Q clenched his fists, resisting the urge to punch Levi. This kid was taking the jokey personality a bit too far.

  Levi grinned, “I used the Tenebrae EcQuest.”

  Now Q was the one who felt like he had been punched. He fell to his knees, his body too shocked to even stay stable any longer.

  “Yes! That’s the reaction I expected!” Levi laughed. “Brilliant!”

  Q was too stunned to even react to that inhumane ridicule. The Tenebrae EcQuest, which means eternal night in the Dark Knight’s old tongue, was a parasitic disease that completely took control of a person’s very existence.

  The F.E.A.R serum and Tenebrae EcQuest, Q thought.

  His mind couldn’t handle that. He glanced at Taylor, who looked more like a rag doll than a person. She hung lifelessly from her bonds, completely silent and still.

  “You monster,” Q muttered.

  “Wow, that was exactly what Taylor yelled at me,” Levi chuckled. “But I’ve got to thank you for this. It wouldn’t have been possible to use my advanced serum on Taylor if it weren’t for you.”

  Q tensed, What is he talking about? he thought. I did this to her?

  “You see, both the F.E.A.R serum and the Tenebrae EcQuest cannot affect a host with a strong mind,” he said.

  Q clenched his fists. “What did you do to her?” he asked, his voice going deathly quiet, his body contracting with anger, the chains within him slowly breaking.

  “Nothing much really,” Levi smiled. “It was genius for the Masked Magician to make Taylor kill Elizabeth. That landed a hard blow on her mind as is. And then I was able to work on from there,” he looked at Q and grinned. “I showed her a fake version of you and made her think we were torturing you.”

  Q’s hand scratched the floor, the pure anger resonating from his body.

  “You know, the most fun part was when I killed the fake you,” Levi laughed. “She blamed the entire thing on herself. And needless to say,” he reached out through the force field, and stroked Taylor’s cheek. “She broke.”

  “Damn you,” Q stood up, the emotions coursing through him. The chains holding his rage broke, and anger dominated his mind. He felt his powers rise up from inside, explosive and vengeful.

  Levi wagged a finger. “Not yet,” he grinned. A section on the wall on either side of Taylor flipped around, revealing Kai and Chris, both in the exact same state she was in.

  Q froze. The only thing left in his mind was pure, raw emotion. He tried to summon his powers but his mind cracked under the immense horror of what he was seeing.

  “They broke quite easily,” Levi smiled. “The healer succumbed when I told her we could heal Kai if she agreed to my demands. And she actually did!” he laughed. “Ah, love is a beautiful weapon is it not?”

  “You know about his disease,” Q muttered, surprised and worried at once.

  “Of course I do,” Levi smiled. “Don’t worry. I kept my promise to the healer. The Tenebrae EcQuest should heal the radiation poisoning in a few hours,” he said. “Of course, my serum will kill him in the end anyway, but I did technically heal him of his disease.”

  A white glow suddenly appeared around Q, his mind summoning his powers involuntarily. He felt a surge of power begin to grow inside him, a power he had never felt before. He felt the power course into his cells, into his mind, into his very consciousness. He knew where this power was coming from. And he did not like it one bit.

  I can’t do it, he struggled, trying to control himself. Not now. I’m not ready.

  “Oh dear,” Levi sighed. “Looks like I’ll have to call the Masked Magician after all.”

  “Q, stop it,” a voice called out to him. The wall to his right crunched open and a massive griffin broke through, breaking everything into rubble.

  “Grab on!” Ruby yelled. Q automatically jumped on, no questions asked. The griffin rammed through two more walls and shot into the open deserts of Drakon. She opened her wings and took flight, putting as much distance as she could between them and the White Knight base below them.

  Q held onto the griffin, her warmth coursing into his palms. He leaned in and hugged her, feeling comforted for a moment, feeling human for a moment.

  I almost lost it back there, he tensed, fear spreading through him.

  “What matters is you controlled yourself,” Ruby consoled him.

  A roaring noise hit the air. Q turned around and saw a large ship course through the sky, heading straight for Levi’s ship.

  “You felt it too didn’t you?” Ruby asked.

  Q hesitated and then nodded. His powers may not have been at full force but he felt it loud and clear. Taylor, Chris an
d Kai were on that craft. Levi was taking them back to his warship. Q stared at the ship, watching it until it was but a dot in the night sky.

  “Taylor,” he whispered. The Dark Knight had been right beside him for almost his entire life. He couldn’t even remember the last time she had left him alone.

  He pushed his face into Ruby’s warm fur, and put his arms around her. He didn’t know how to cope with a reality where Taylor wasn’t right beside him, a reality where she wasn’t making fun of his video game skills or his cookie addiction. He couldn’t accept a reality where they could never watch the stars together, a reality where he could never feel her soft touch ever again.

  His mind exploded with emotions, ones that he knew, and others that he didn’t, and in the mess that he had now become, he did something he hadn’t done in a long, long time.

  He cried.

  ***

  2-4

  Q sat in silence. He glanced into the open casket next to him, at Elizabeth’s lifeless form. His hands ran along the intricate carvings on the dark wood.

  The White Knights had all retreated back to their posts the moment Levi took Taylor and the others back to his ship. Q wondered if Levi started this entire war to lure them all in, but he really didn’t care about that right now.

  In a span of fifteen minutes he had lost Elizabeth, then Taylor, Chris and Kai. In fifteen minutes all his friends were gone. In fifteen minutes, he was the last one remaining.

  Sure, Taylor, Chris and Kai were still alive. The serum didn’t exactly kill them. It would just drive them crazy. But Q knew that the Tenebrae EcQuest couldn’t be healed. It was a disease that would take one straight to death. The only time it was actually healed was when Taylor and he both used all their powers. Q knew he alone could do nothing to save them.

  He wanted to believe that he could help them all, that they would come back to him. But false hope was the worst thing for him to believe in at the moment, and so he drove any such thought far out of his mind.

  I’m pathetic aren’t I? he sighed. He looked around him, at the small garden growing inside the Palace of Darkness. He could tell that the trees and the grass were a lively green, that the flowers around him were filled with every color in a rainbow. But it was night time, and where a festival of colors should have been on display, there was just darkness and shadows. Q looked up at the star-shaped hole in the ceiling, at the soft moonlight enter the garden.