“I’m sorry, Q,” the Masked Magician said as he walked up to him, “But I can’t chit chat for long.”
Q weakly looked up as the Magician charged at him.
Suddenly, sections of the walls on either side opened up and beams of white light shone through, merging into the center to create a portal. The Masked Magician shot right through, unable to stop himself. Q immediately used his Elementa of fire and blasted a flame thrower at the walls, sealing the sections and shutting off the light.
He knelt on the floor, catching his breath from the attack. His body was covered with bruises, all because of that one attack from the Masked Magician.
“Young one!” Loreas ran to him. “Are you okay?” he took Q’s arm and moved it around.
Q nodded gently. “I’m okay,” he said.
“We’re lucky,” Levi stood beside him. “I had that portal installed for no reason at all and it proved useful now.”
“Yeah,” Q said. “But won’t the Masked Magician teleport back here?”
“Not as far as I know,” he said. “That portal doesn’t take him to some place in this Universe.”
“What?”
“Have you heard of Nakiri?”
Q paused, “Yeah,” he said. “The pocket dimension that the Druids of Armorica created as an eternal prison.”
“Nakiri though is quite small, so it is easy to break out of it,” Levi said. “I’ve sent our friendly Magician to a similar place that’ll take him much longer to get away from.”
“Just tell me how long it’ll be before he gets here.”
“Twenty-four hours at the least.”
Q’s face turned more hopeful. “That’ll give us more than enough time to do something about this.”
“Yeah,” Levi said. “I’ll get started on the weaponry immediately.”
“Great, and-”
Q’s vision suddenly went woozy and he lost control of body as his mind succumbed to darkness.
***
Q opened his eyes and found himself back in Aliea. He looked around, dazed, and confused. He was in his room at the Demon Riser, on his same old bed, torn pillow covers and all.
“Hey?” a voice said, a clear ringing voice. A girl popped into his vision.
Q jumped out of bed. “Taylor!” he threw his arms around her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, tilting his face so that she could look at it.
He smiled wide. “Nothing,” he said. “I’m just really glad right now.”
“You idiot,” she ruffled his hair. “Now c’mon. We’re supposed to meet Kai and Elizabeth remember?”
“What?”
“You really have a bad memory,” she laughed. “You’ve already been sleeping for almost three days now. Get active already.”
Q’s eyes changed. “I’ve been sleeping for three days?”
“Yeah,” Taylor sighed. “We just let you sleep through it all. You seemed super exhausted. I wanted to wake you up, but Carlos said I owe that sleep to you for pushing you too hard during training.”
Q was still stuck on point one. “I was asleep for three days?” he asked again.
“Yeah,” she said. “Why? Is something wrong?”
He hesitated.
“Actually, you seemed really restless the whole time. Did you have a bad dream?”
Q’s eyes widened. That was all a dream? he asked himself.
She grabbed his hand. “Was it that bad a dream?” she asked, a bit concerned. “What happened?”
He smiled. “I lost someone important,” he said.
“Awww,” she said. “I’ll have you know I don’t die that easily,” she chuckled.
His smile weakened. “Yeah, you don’t.”
“Now come on you idiot,” she said and gripped his hand tight. “They’ll be waiting for us.” She threw the door open.
A wave of darkness exploded, flooding the room and piercing through him.
Q gasped awake, his breathing heavy and fragmented, teardrops running down his cheeks.
I can’t believe I cried again, he wiped his face with his hands. He noticed he was on a bed, its stark white color telling him he was in the White Knight’s Palace.
“A dream about Taylor?” a voice asked.
Q turned, and saw Levi sitting next to his bedside, his eyes facing the door next to the foot of the bed.
“Why are you here?” Q muttered.
“You collapsed,” he said. “So I am here.”
“You could’ve asked someone else to do this.”
He turned to the only window in the room, the blue sky and sunlight shining through it.
“I don’t know what kind of dream you had,” he said. “But I can help change all this.”
“Oh yeah?” Q asked, glaring at him.
“I have worked with the Tenebrae EcQuest and the F.E.A.R. serum for a long time now,” he looked at Q. “There is a cure.”
“What?” Q froze, unsure of how to react. “You can heal Taylor? You can heal them all?”
“Yes. But not now.”
“Why not?” Q’s voice went silent, his mind trying to stay rational.
“My serum greatly enhances their powers,” he said. “We need that power if we’re to have any hope of defeating the Masked Magician.”
Q grit his teeth, his body wanting to throw a punch at Levi’s face, his mind telling him Levi was absolutely right about what he had just said.
“Why the hell would you even offer to heal them?” Q asked, his voice becoming louder, his rage leaking through. “Why now?”
Levi though, stayed perfectly calm. “I do not wish to mess up the mentality of an ally.”
“So this is how you behave huh?” Q spat. “You become Mr. Nice guy for an ally and Mr. Crazy guy for an enemy?”
Levi smiled. “Don’t we all?”
Q turned away from him, disgusted even by the thought of talking to him. He stood up from the bed. His legs gave away and he immediately fell to the ground.
“You are far too weak to move around,” Levi tried to help him.
“I’m fine, thank you,” Q pushed him away and lay back down.
“Nice to see this side of you, boss,”
Hello, Zelph, he said.
“I don’t blame you for all this,” he said. “I would have reacted the same if I’d seen what you saw.”
What do you mean what I saw? he asked.
“Well, I communicate through brain signals right? And dreams are brain signals as well and so.”
Did you make a copy of that? Q asked, his voice cold.
“Of course not,” Zelph said.
Good, he said.
“The reason I’m here,” Levi said, his eyes turning to the window. “Is to tell you about the sixth energy being.”
Q really didn’t want to be in the same room as Levi for even a moment longer, but now he had to agree to this.
“I’m listening,” he mumbled.
“He was a White Knight named Arthur,” Levi said. “Best Knight the faction had ever seen. Charming, righteous, courageous. He was the perfect knight.”
Well obviously something went wrong somewhere, Q thought.
“And then came the Great War.”
There we go, his mind sighed.
“The White Knights created the First Order. The strongest group of Knights ever seen,” he said. “The First Order pushed back hundreds of Megethos forces, stopping them cold in their attacks. But even then their impact on the overall war was too little to be noticed. The Megethos were just far too strong to even be bothered by these six knights.”
Levi paused, taking in a breath of air. “The First Order finally tried to make a bigger impact by attacking a Megethos warship. That was the best and worst mistake they ever made,” he said. “They were fired at with something called a Dark Cannon. A machine that could completely disassemble your very atoms. It would have killed most beings. But when it attacked the First Order though, it turned them into the energy beings. Their atoms split apa
rt and generated raw concentrated energy and the six energy beings were born.”
“Wow,” Q said.
“Yes, wow,” Levi nodded. “With the energy beings it took us another two months to wrap up every last Megethos warship and either destroy it or send it back. Things started to look up, but the main problems were yet to come,” he paused. “There are many mercenary races that took advantage of the chaos during the Great War. Some raided planets, others destroyed them.”
“Arthur’s home planet,” Q said quietly.
“Arthur’s home planet,” Levi sighed. “When Arthur found out it had been destroyed by the Atarians’ nuclear barrage, he was distraught. His people, his genetic race, were all just simple, innocent farmers. Arthur was the sole hero they all looked up to. And so he saw this horrific attack as his failure to protect them. Something snapped inside him that day,” Levi paused, his face filled with sorrow. “The young man went onto the Atarians’ home planet and destroyed every last soul on it.”
Q’s eyes widened, his heart quivered, his mind frozen at the very thought of the act.
“Yes, that was the day Arthur died and the Masked Magician was born,” he said. “The other five of the First Order realized they had to act. They tried talking to Arthur but that did not work. Rationality was lost in his mind. They tried to force Arthur into submission, but soon realized that that Knight had far greater abilities than all five of them combined. That was when they finally decided to combine their powers and create a seal, a mask, that would keep Arthur’s true powers subdued.”
“And I just broke that mask,” Q said in horror. His hands trembled. “What have I done?” his voice quietened.
Levi put his hand on Q’s shoulder. “He provoked you into it,” he said. “Arthur knew he needed someone strong to break his seal. That is why he is interested in you. That is why he has always been watching you.”
“I’m his can opener,” Q mumbled, immediately realizing the comparison was a little too casual for the conversation.
“There is no point in worrying about those things,” Levi said. “The only thing you should be thinking of is how we’re going to take down Arthur when he comes back to Orpheus.”
“Isn’t Orpheus a battle station?”
“Yes.”
“We can’t use it against him?”
“Orpheus is no match for Arthur.”
“Not even the Infinity Cannons?”
“The Cannons must be able to hit him first to actually be considered as an attacking strategy.”
“He does move around a lot.”
“By the way, I’ve reactivated all the Infinity Cannons I previously disabled,” Zelph said. “Figured we might need every last one if we’re going up against the Masked Magician.”
Good thinking, Q said.
Levi stood up. “I hope you rest well, sorcerer,” he said.
Q squinted. “Wait, how long has it been since I fell asleep?”
“Ten hours,” he said. “It will take another fourteen hours at least for Arthur to find us.”
“That should give us enough time to prepare. Right?”
Levi looked out the window. “We shall find out.”
***
Q never thought he’d be inside the White Knight’s council room. Neither did he think he would actually be planning strategies with Levi.
The room was quite different to what he imagined though. It was not fancy, nor was it high-tech. It was just an open hall with a large round table in the middle.
Maybe the White Knights like aired out spaces more, he thought.
He, Levi, Loreas, and a few more White Knight Commanders sat around the table. Q could feel the stares on him, but he tried to ignore them.
“Using a force field is useless,” Levi said. “Arthur will get through that easily. The sorcerer suggested we try to hit him with the Infinity Cannon. I believe that is our most promising form of attack.”
“Will that work Commander?” a Knight asked.
“That should work in our favor,” he said. “The strength of the Infinity Cannon can take out an entire planet. Its blast will at the least, weaken him.”
“We still need something else,” Q said.
“What else?” Levi asked. “I’ve already authorized for full use of every last weapon left on the planet. The nuclear generator underneath us is going nuts at the moment.”
“Can we use the ships you have?” Q asked.
“Already done.”
“The Infinity Cannons on those ships?”
“We’ve loaded an Infinity Cannon on every ship that can hold one.”
“You have a lot of those weapons.”
“You can never be over prepared.”
“Oh wait,” Q’s eyes lit up. “Can’t you setup your ships in a crossfire?” he asked. “That way we have a better chance of landing a hit from the Infinity Cannons.”
“He’s right,” Levi said. “Have we thought of that?”
“No sir,” a Knight said.
“I want it done in the next hour,” he said. “We only have six hours left to his arrival. We can’t waste any time.”
“What if the crossfire doesn't work?”
“Young one,” Loreas finally spoke. “It is not good to excessively worry.”
“He’s right,” Levi said. “We’re going to work ourselves into ruin if we keep at this,” he looked at his Knights. “Are we all clear on what we need to do?”
“Yes, Commander,” they bowed and left, leaving the room in the silence of the wind.
“What about the clone army?” Q asked Levi.
“We have completely immobilized them,” he said proudly.
“What?” Q squinted. “I thought it was like a super-powered army. The White Knights were able to take it down just like that?”
“It is,” he nodded. “But the Masked Magician’s creation methods were bad. The clones started to break down much faster than expected.”
“Ah, so they all died prematurely?” Q asked.
“More or less,” Levi said.
“That’s enough of battle talk,” Loreas stood up. “Come along, Q. There is a place I need to show you.”
“Now?” Q asked.
The old man smiled. “Yes, now,” he said.
“Go,” Levi said. “We have nothing more to plan.”
Q nodded and followed his grandfather. Loreas led him through a few corridors.
“Do you know what a BeQuest is?” he asked as he hummed a quiet tune.
“A BeQuest?” Q asked. “Is that some sort of weapon?”
Loreas laughed. “No, little one,” he smiled. “It is an olden word, a word of the Knights,” he said. “A word of warriors.”
“What does it mean?”
“Legacy,” he said.
They stopped in front of a solid, ocean-blue door. “It is just as I remember,” the old man smiled and slid the door open.
A bright light shone into Q’s eyes, but he bore it and looked through, his heart beating fast at the sight that lay before him.
On the other side lay a garden made entirely out of carved crystal. A tall glass dome covered the garden, letting the sunlight pass through. The entire garden reflected the light, glimmering in the sunshine. Q could see roses and lilies all around him, glistening preciously. Thin, transparent vines ran along the inner walls of the domes, collecting together at the very top.
A large crystal tree stood in the center of the dome, its branches and leaves gracefully spreading over everything around it.
Q looked in awe as everything glimmered in the sunlight, as it shone radiantly.
“Stars,” he smiled.
“Yes,” Loreas chuckled. “Stars.” The old man walked to the tree and put his palm on it. “Come here, young one.”
He walked over to his grandfather, careful not to slip across the crystal floor.
“This is what I wanted to show you,” he pointed to the tree. “Your BeQuest.”
Q looked a bit confused for a sec
ond. And then he realized what this tree really was. He turned to Loreas, who just nodded, a small smile on his face.
He knelt down, reading the engraving on the crystal trunk.
“Periel.”
His mother’s tomb.
***
“You’ve been smiling a lot,” Zelph said. “Ever since we went to that crystal garden actually.”
Q smiled quietly.
“Fine, don’t tell me,” he said. “My fault for trying to give you privacy and not see what you were seeing.”
“It was something special,” he said.
“But that’s what you said the last ten times I asked you.”
“Then that’s what it was,” he chuckled as he headed to the Palace’s balcony. It wasn’t that he was feeling excessively happy, but that he finally had closure to something. In all the chaos, hate and sorrow that was going around, seeing something like that got his spirits up, and that’s all he needed.
He was actually quite surprised that there was a tomb for his mother in the first place. Loreas told him Levi had it built specially for Periel. Even Albion did not know about it.
Q was really shocked at what Levi was turning out to be. He had been all crazy and psychotic when he first met Q, and now it was almost a complete change in character. It felt jarring to see Levi like this. He didn’t know how to properly react to it. It felt unnatural to have Levi be nice to him.
A person is evil only if you don’t know their story, Loreas’ words echoed into Q’s mind.
“Hey, I’m getting some funny readings,” Zelph interrupted.
“What?” Q asked. “What kind of readings?”
“The planet’s sensors have picked something up.”
“Are you sure? How far away is it?”
“It’s coming in at an amazing speed. You should be able to see it from where you are.”
Q looked up, and spotted a dark spot crashing down towards the city.
His eyes widened. “Zelph, how much longer for the weapons systems to activate fully?”
“Two hours. Why? What is that thing? I can’t get any data on it.”
Q clenched his fists. “Arthur is here,” he cursed.
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