Skylanders Universe - Eruptor Meets the Nightmare King

by Onk Beakman

  Professor Splinters nodded nervously. “Yes, we . . . um . . . we know who you are. In fact, we were about to call you before the cyclopses attacked.”

  “You were?” Eruptor said, his boiling brow creasing. “Why?”

  The Treeman wrung his gnarled hands together. “I think it’s better that I show—YAAAARGH!” Professor Splinters screamed as one of his wooden arms caught alight. Eruptor turned to see that Bloodshot had melted his way out of Slam Bam’s ice prison and was turning his fire on the weakest member of the group.

  “Typical bully,” the lava monster roared, opening his mouth wide. “Makes me sick!”

  One of Eruptor’s less polite habits is belching out streams of lava. It can happen when he’s nervous, surprised, angry, or just plain bored. On this occasion it was aimed right at the Gazermage. Bloodshot turned to flee, but it was too late. The flowing magma cut a deep crevice in the ice beneath the cyclops’s feet.

  “Lord Kaos, help me!” Bloodshot squealed as he fell, his cry breaking off with a loud crunch.

  The Skylanders peered into the crevice. The dazed cyclops had landed on a glittering heap of jewels and coins.

  “Whoa, shiny!” Slam Bam exclaimed.

  “Good heavens!” exclaimed Professor Splinters, cradling his charred arm. “You’ve uncovered buried treasure, Eruptor.”

  “He has?” said Bloodshot, looking around the bottom of the pit. With a burst of hysterical laughter, the Gazermage scrabbled through the treasure until he snatched up a tiny golden coin.

  “Ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa!” he cackled uncontrollably. “I’ve found it! Lord Kaos, I’ve found it!”

  “Found what?” Grim Creeper asked as the cyclops hopped from one foot to the other in excitement.

  “Trouble!” Eruptor warned as dark clouds started to roll across the normally clear sky.

  “Well done, Bloodshot,” said a booming voice. “You’re not as foolish as you look!”

  The clouds parted to reveal a gigantic glowing head leering down at the Skylanders.

  “Kaos!” Slam Bam hissed.

  “Come to fight us yourself, huh?” jeered Eruptor.

  “That’s the spirit,” called Grim Creeper.

  “Fight you?” the floating head said with a snort. “Why would I waste my time, SKYBLUNDERERS?”

  “Good point,” Grim Creeper yelled back, undaunted by the eerie lightning that flashed through the black clouds. “Your time is up, and everyone knows it.”

  “My time is up?” barked Kaos. “I don’t think so, DIM CREEPER! Now, that I have that coin, I have all the time in the world! The age of the Skylanders is over. Now is the age of KAOOOOOS!”

  Before the Skylanders could respond, the floating head exploded into a blaze of light. Eruptor threw up a hand to protect his eyes, but when the glare subsided Kaos was gone—as was the Gazermage at the bottom of the pit.

  “What was that all about?” asked Slam Bam.

  Eruptor shook his head. “Beats me. The little creep’s making even less sense than usual.”

  “I think I might have an idea,” said Professor Splinters mournfully. “You’d better come with me.”

  The Skylanders exchanged confused glances as the Treeman led them to the entrance of an underground cave.

  “We found this tunnel in the first week of our expedition,” Professor Splinters explained. “However, we only uncovered its terrible secret this morning. A chilling discovery, you might say.”

  Eruptor made a face. “Why don’t I like the sound of that?”

  Professor Splinters ducked through the low entrance, beckoning for the others to follow.

  The tunnel was steep, with a slippery, icy floor. Eruptor went ahead of his two friends, his natural glow lighting a safe path through the gloom.

  After trudging deeper and deeper in silence, they found themselves in a huge chamber. A mass of stalactites hung from the roof like dragon’s teeth.

  “This entire space was filled with ice,” the Treeman explained, grabbing a flaming torch from the wall. “We’ve been clearing it bit by bit, unearthing amazing artifacts from the dawn of Skylands itself.”

  “Like the coin Kaos was so excited about?” Slam Bam asked, his breath frosting in the chilled air of the cave.

  “Bigger than that,” Splinters said. “Pottery. Weapons. Even statues.”

  He swung the torch around to illuminate a tall and regal sculpture carved from a diamond.

  “Whoa!” said Slam Bam as the light of the torch reflected off the statue’s sparkling face.

  “Whoa indeed, Skylander!” said Splinters, leading them to a wall of ice at the far end of the chamber. “We still have a lot of ice to clear, but there’s something else.”

  “What?” asked Grim Creeper, unable to keep the excitement from his ghostly voice. “More statues?”

  “Not exactly,” said the Professor, the light from the torch picking out a figure in the ice. A very familiar figure.

  Slam Bam gasped. “But that’s impossible . . .”

  Grim Creeper agreed. “It has to be a trick.”

  Eruptor didn’t say anything at first. He just stared at the frozen face in the icy prison.

  It was like looking into a mirror.

  “That’s me,” he said, not believing what his eyes were seeing. “That’s me, trapped in the ice!”

  Chapter Four

  The Nightmare King

  “I don’t understand,” said Grim Creeper, peering at the figure in the ice. “How can that be you?”

  “I don’t care,” replied Eruptor. “I’m getting me outta there!”

  Without another word, Eruptor fired some lava straight at the block of ice. Steam filled the cavern, but the ice stubbornly refused to thaw.

  “I don’t understand,” panted Eruptor. “Why won’t it melt?”

  Slam Bam pressed a palm against the ice and closed his eyes as if communicating with the frozen water. “Because it’s magic, bro. Something is keeping this ice frozen.”

  “So how are we going to get me out?” Eruptor asked, barely keeping his temper in check.

  “And how can you be trapped in there anyway,” Grim Creeper added, “when you’re already standing out here?”

  “Time,” said a gentle but strong voice from behind them. “It’s all a matter of time.”

  A tall man with a long white beard entered the chamber. His flowing robes swept across the cavern floor as he walked toward the Skylanders, his staff tap-tap-tapping against the stone.

  “Master Eon!” Eruptor exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

  “I came as soon as I saw what Professor Splinters had found,” the Portal Master replied, his face etched with concern.

  “What do you mean you saw it?” Grim Creeper asked.

  “I witness everything you see, through my Portal of Power,” Master Eon replied. “How else do you think I could watch over you in battle?”

  “Well, have you seen this?” Eruptor asked, indicating his frozen double. “Is that really me in there?”

  Master Eon bowed his head, and the crystal sphere at the top of his staff glowed for a moment. When the Portal Master raised his head again, his expression was more serious than ever. “Yes, Eruptor. That is indeed you, I’m afraid.”

  “But how?” Slam Bam asked, shrugging all four of his shoulders. “Not even a Skylander can be in two places at once.”

  “They can if they’ve traveled through time.”

  “But I’ve never time-traveled,” Eruptor said, still confused.

  “Not yet,” the wise Portal Master said, looking at the lava monster sadly. “But you obviously will. At some point in your future you will travel back in time and become trapped in this sheet of ice.”

  Master Eon turned to the Treeman archaeologist as the Skylanders let his words sink in. “Professor Splinters, ho
w long has this chamber been filled with ice?”

  The Treeman rapped against the ice block with a wooden knuckle. “Almost five thousand years,” he replied, pushing his glasses back up his twig-like nose. “Give or take the odd century.”

  “Five thousand years?” Eruptor gasped, staring at his frozen self.

  Master Eon nodded. “I feared as much. Professor Splinters, do you have a coin I could examine?”

  The Treeman rummaged around in the satchel that hung from his narrow shoulders. “Yes,” he said, drawing out a small golden disk. “I have one here.”

  He passed the coin to Eon.

  “Thank you,” said the Portal Master, turning it over in his hand. “And have you identified the face on this coin?”

  The Treeman shook his head. “I’m afraid not. It’s the same person as the statue, but we have no idea who he was. It’s a mystery.”

  “If only that were true,” said Master Eon, sorrowfully.

  Slam Bam raised his shaggy eyebrows. “You recognize him, Master Eon?”

  The Portal Master nodded. “This is King Nefarion, the most terrifying tyrant ever to rule Skylands.”

  Eruptor took a closer look at the arrogant face on the gold coin. “So, what makes him so special?”

  In answer, Eon turned the coin to show them the other side.

  The three Skylanders gasped as one.

  “The Mask of Power,” whispered Grim Creeper in awe.

  “The Mask of what?” Professor Splinters asked, looking up from the notebook where he had been carefully jotting all of this down.

  Eruptor took up the story. “Thousands of years ago, a wicked king had his Spell Punks create a magical mask that would make him all-powerful.”

  “He was defeated,” continued Grim Creeper, “and the mask was broken into eight pieces. One for each Element.”

  “Kaos has been searching for the fragments,” Slam Bam told the Professor. “He has five of them, and we have one. The other two are still lost.”

  “And let me guess,” added Eruptor, meeting Master Eon’s gaze. “The wicked king was this guy.”

  Master Eon nodded and stepped aside to reveal the diamond statue they had all admired earlier. “Nefarion terrorized Skylands for hundreds of years. The Skylanders of the time were banished, and the Portal Masters were hunted one by one. Had he not been defeated, the Portal Masters would have been wiped off the face of Skylands. During his reign, his subjects knew him by another name—the Nightmare King.”

  Slam Bam shivered. “Whoa! Is it me, or did it get colder in here?”

  “If I’m right,” said Master Eon, “this is Nefarion’s throne room, buried beneath the ice for ages. Forgotten . . . until it was unearthed by Professor Splinters.”

  “But that still doesn’t explain why Eruptor’s buried here, as well,” pointed out Slam Bam.

  “True,” said Master Eon, “but it can be no coincidence that Kaos sent his cyclopses to . . .”

  The Portal Master’s voice trailed off and his face suddenly grew pale.

  “Master Eon?” said Eruptor, rushing forward. “Are you okay?”

  “Dizzy,” the Portal Master replied, stumbling backward. “I feel so, so dizzy.”

  The old man fainted; he was only saved from hitting the cold floor by Slam Bam catching him in his powerful arms.

  The silver coin slipped from Eon’s fingers and clattered against the stone floor. Moving quickly, Grim Creeper scooped it up and stared at its face in disbelief.

  “What’s wrong, Grim?” asked Eruptor.

  The Undead Skylander showed the lava monster the coin. “This!”

  Now it was Eruptor’s turn to be amazed. The face of King Nefarion was slowly transforming into the grinning image of Kaos!

  Chapter Five

  All Change

  “Now what’s happening?” said Eruptor, feeling giddy himself. “Why’s Kaos on the coin instead of . . .”

  He paused, searching for the name that Eon had mentioned only moments ago. What was it? Nefari-something? How could he have forgotten it already?

  “Nefarion,” Master Eon muttered weakly, still slumped in Slam Bam’s arms.

  “Master Eon,” the yeti called. “You’re awake!”

  “Remember the name,” was all the Portal Master could say in reply. “Remember Nefarion. Can you do that?”

  “Of course we can,” said Eruptor, helping Eon to stand once again. “Nefarion! See?”

  “Who?” asked Grim Creeper, looking confused.

  “The Nightmare King,” Slam Bam prompted. “The one Master Eon told us about. You know, whatshisname.”

  Grim Creeper shook his head. “Nope, never heard of him!”

  Eruptor was starting to lose his cool. “What’s wrong with you, Grim?” He pointed to the diamond statue. “Him!”

  “You can’t blame Grim Creeper,” said Master Eon. “Look!”

  They all turned to the statue, only to see it begin to blur. The cruel, regal face was shifting, transforming into someone even crueler.

  “But that’s Kaos,” said Eruptor, now completely bewildered. “Wasn’t it someone else before?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” snapped Professor Splinters. “It’s always been a statue of Emperor Kaos, all hail his terrible name.”

  “All hail his what?” asked Slam Bam.

  “What happened to Nera-whatsit?” Eruptor asked Master Eon.

  The Portal Master was leaning heavily on his staff. “I can’t remember, and that’s the problem. History is being rewritten even as we speak. I can barely recall the name of the Nightmare King myself.”

  “What wickedness is this?” Professor Splinters said with a snarl. “You don’t remember the name of the Nightmare King? It’s Kaos, of course! It always has been! Who are you people, and what are you doing here?”

  “You don’t know us, Professor?” asked Eruptor. “But you called us here!”

  “Impossible!” The Treeman spat.

  Eruptor realized for the first time that the Professor’s clothes had changed. A minute ago Splinters had been wearing a safari suit and pith helmet, but now the archaeologist was decked out in a suit of shining armor. If that wasn’t bad enough, his chest plate was emblazoned with the face of Kaos himself!

  The Treeman pointed a long curved sword at the Skylanders that Eruptor was sure hadn’t been in his hand before. “You are trespassing in Emperor Kaos’s Ice Palace. You must be executed immediately!”

  Eruptor had no idea what was happening, but he didn’t like it. No one threatened the Skylanders and got away with it—especially after they’d only come to help. “Get ready to feel the burn,” he growled, a fresh supply of lava already rumbling in the pit of his stomach.

  Beside him, Slam Bam and Grim Creeper dropped into defensive positions, ready to hold back the army of Trolls that had somehow appeared from nowhere behind General Splinters.

  General? thought Eruptor. Didn’t Splinters used to be a Professor?

  It didn’t matter. If it was a battle Splinters wanted, then a battle he would get.

  Eruptor opened his mouth, ready to smother them all in a lava bath.

  “No!” shouted Master Eon from behind him. The Portal Master slammed his staff on the flagstones beneath their feet, and there was a sound like thunder. The cavern dissolved in a blinding flash and, when the Skylanders blinked to clear their eyes, they were standing in Master Eon’s own fortress, a long, long way from the Frozen Seas.

  “That’s better.” Master Eon took a breath, slowly rising to his full height. “The walls of the citadel will protect us, for now at least.”

  “What was all that about?” asked Eruptor.

  “Yeah, where did all those Trolls come from?” Slam Bam added.

  “And what happened to Splinters?” added Grim Creeper. “Why did he go all evi
l on us?”

  Master Eon staggered over to his Portal of Power, still feeling the effects of whatever had just happened. “History is changing—and I think we all know who’s behind it.”

  Muttering a series of magic words, Eon waved a hand over the Portal. Immediately, its surface began to cloud, and an image formed through the mist.

  “Behold, the lair of Kaos . . .”

  The Skylanders peered at the image of a dank, dreary-looking chamber, complete with numerous statues of Kaos around its walls. Kaos looking triumphant. Kaos looking angry. Kaos looking smug.

  “I don’t like what he’s done with the place,” commented Eruptor. “Where is he?”

  “He has gone,” Master Eon said sadly.

  “Where?”

  “Into the past. Look.”

  Another wave of Eon’s hand, and two figures appeared in the room: Kaos and, beside him, his faithful Troll butler, Glumshanks. The evil Portal Master snapped his fingers and, in a flash of light, a Cyclops Gazermage appeared—Bloodshot!

  “These are events that have already happened,” Master Eon said.

  “That’s the dude from the dig,” Slam Bam pointed out as Bloodshot handed Kaos the coin he’d found in the bottom of the crevice. The Portal Master danced a little jig—a particularly evil little jig.

  “This is it, Glumshanks,” they heard Kaos crow. “The moment that I, KAOS, have been waiting for. The day I wipe Eon and his miserable band of Skylanders from history.”

  “What does he mean?” asked Eruptor, only to be shushed by Master Eon. The elderly Portal Master was staring intently at the scene playing out in front of them.

  “Are you ready, Glumshanks?” Kaos asked, “Are you ready to rebuild Skylands in my image?”

  “Well, I haven’t done the laundry, Lord Kaos,” admitted the green Troll. “Your socks haven’t been washed for a decade or two.”

  “My socks can wait, FOOL! Where we are going, I will have as many new socks as I want. Truly evil socks. Socks carved from pure GOLD!”