Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure

by Christian Kallias

  The impact created a powerful shockwave that sent the Titan flying and crashing yards away.

  “Well done.”

  “He doesn’t seem to be hurt by these attacks, though, and we’re burning energy for nothing!”

  “No, it’s working. I can feel it.”

  Chase wondered if Argos was just delusional or if perhaps he could indeed feel something. Chase certainly couldn’t. Their enemy didn’t register any energy reading as Argos did during their previous engagements. It felt as it looked: made of stone.

  “I’m gonna hit it with one of my most powerful attacks,” said Argos. “Distract him for me, will you?”

  Chase nodded and flew towards the Titan, which was already climbing to its feet. When he saw Chase, it slapped both its hands together. The resulting shockwave hit Chase in midair and stopped him in his tracks, repelling him backwards as if he was a mosquito. When he looked back at the Titan, it wasn’t there anymore.

  “Behind you! Watch out, Laiyos!”

  Chase spun and saw a gigantic fist heading towards him. He was just in time to fly upwards and land on its forearm. Not losing momentum, he ran as fast as he could along it as he created a fireball in each hand. He was near the biceps of the beast when it fired another of its ocular death rays. Chase somersaulted to dodge, and fired both his fireballs in quick succession at the Titan’s neck. It growled.

  Finally, showing some signs of pain.

  But the feeling of achievement didn’t last long. When it opened its enormous hand, a gigantic, orange fireball was quickly created in its palm. The sheer size of it was mind-numbing. The fireball was at least three times Chase’s own height, and it approached him at impossible speed. All Chase could do was quickly erect a shield in front of him. But that didn’t suffice to block the incoming attack. It pierced through as if it was made of glass, and soon Chase was engulfed in fire.

  He felt his clothes melt into his skin for what seemed an eternity. The radiating pain too strong for him to take, he soon lost consciousness. The last thing he saw was the ground approaching fast.

  The Valken exited hyperspace.

  “Any sign of the Iron Fire?” inquired Daniel.

  “The ship’s computer has detected its signature in orbit around the nearest planet. We’re about two minutes away at sub-light speeds.”

  “Punch it then. We need to get there as fast as possible.”

  Daniel exited the cockpit and went to check on his friends in the next room.

  “Have we arrived?” inquired Fillio.

  “Yes, the Iron Fire will soon be in range.”

  “What do we do next?” asked Ryonna.

  “I don’t know yet, but we probably need to be ready to board the ship.”

  “Is that wise?” said Tar’Lock.

  “I think we’re way past wise here. We know very well that Argos can kill any one of us in a split second, so obviously we didn’t come here to play it safe.”

  Daniel saw the expression on Ryonna’s face. “What’s on your mind, Ryonna?”

  “Right about now I was imagining ripping Argos’ heart out of his chest.”

  “That’s the spirit, but we may want to leave the heavy lifting to Chase. He’s the only one of us equipped to go head to head with him. Still, he may need our help, as he did before on Hellstar or Damocles-3.”

  A bright, white ray of light scanned the room.

  “What the hell was that?” asked Fillio.

  “I think we’ve just been scanned,” said Daniel

  The ship started to rock, clearly under fire.

  “Daniel! Get back here!” shouted Keera from the cockpit.

  Daniel rushed back and jumped into the co-pilot’s chair.

  “Who’s firing at us? The Iron Fire?”

  “No, there are defense platforms. They pack a punch as well. I went evasive but there are too many. We can’t stay here much longer. The shields are already at forty percent. Two more hits and we’re history.”

  “Dammit!”

  “Incoming transmission from the Iron Fire.”

  It was Aphroditis. “Valken, get out of range. I’ll bring the Iron Fire about and you can board it. The planet’s defenses won’t fire on it, so you’ll be safe on board.”

  “Roger that, Aphroditis. Thanks for your help. Where’s Chase?”

  “Both Chase and Argos are on the surface. They’re fighting a Titan, but things aren’t going so well on that front either.”

  “Why isn’t the Iron Fire being fired upon?”

  “Because I’m on board. These are Olympian weapons.”

  “I see, that explains the scan. See you soon.” Daniel terminated communications.

  Soon the Valken was out of range. The Iron Fire came about and Keera landed the ship in cargo bay two.

  The party arrived shortly on the bridge of the Iron Fire.

  “I’m glad to see you all,” said Aphroditis,“but you shouldn’t have come. There’s nothing you can do to help Chase and Argos.”

  “Help Argos? Screw Argos, we came for Chase,” said Daniel.

  “While I agree with the general sentiment here, Chase is determined to help Argos achieve his current objective. It’s the only way to save Sarah after all.”

  “You mentioned a Titan. What’s that?”

  “A gigantic creature with incredible powers. They’re giant beings that predate the Olympians. At one point, Titans and Olympians co-existed, but they once rebelled and were cast away from Olympus. Not many survived what was called the War of the Gods.”

  “Why did they rebel?”

  “My father, Zeus, used them as cannon fodder against the Furies. While it worked for a while, the Furies found ways to deal with them. And what was once the main line of defense against the Furies became the next casualty of war. The last few remaining of their race blamed my father for their genocide and they turned against us. I can only surmise my father has trapped this one here unwillingly, which would make him thoroughly pissed.”

  “Charming. And Chase is fighting him at the moment?” inquired Ryonna.

  “Yes, but he just lost consciousness after being badly burned.”

  “How do you know all this?” asked Tar’Lock.

  “I have a direct link with Chase through an amulet I gave him.”

  Daniel turned to the group. “We have to go help him.”

  “No!” said Aphroditis. “You don’t stand a chance. You’ll be crushed in seconds.”

  “We haven’t come here just to wait and see what happens.”

  “Tar’Lock and I will go,” said Ryonna, leaving little room for argument.

  Tar’Lock’s eyes widened. “I’m not sure what help I can be, but sure.”

  “Your speed. You can use it to distract the creature.”

  Aphroditis waved her finger. “Look, Titans are very fast creatures as well; perhaps not as fast as Gorgars, but you’d have to be careful, since your ability to run is dependent on your stamina. The Titan never tires.”

  “Great,” said Tar’Lock, swallowing hard.

  “We’re coming too,” said Daniel.

  “That’s useless. You will get killed for nothing. I can’t let you go to your deaths like that. Humans cannot do anything against Titans.”

  “Who said anything about us trying to fight them? We’ll provide support with our StarFuries.”

  “Unfortunately the entire arena is shielded. You won’t be able to fly inside it.”

  “There must be a power source somewhere inside. Tar’Lock, your first objective will be to locate it and bring it down. Once that’s done we can provide aerial support.”

  “The entire arena is of Olympian design. I can provide you with our power energy signatures. That should help you scan and locate the power source.”

  Daniel smiled. “That’s starting to sound like a plan. How do we bypass the defense systems? Will our cloak work?”

  “It should. These are an old design. They date back to the Fury War.”

  “Well I
hope you’re right, otherwise we may have serious problems when they start shooting at us.”

  “I’ll position the Iron Fire accordingly, to provide an escort if necessary.”

  Daniel’s eyes gleamed. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

  20

  When Chase opened his eyes he saw a gigantic foot moving towards him. He tried to move but his body refused to obey.

  He instinctively closed his eyes. But then he saw something else. Big, dark ships heading towards Earth. They were destroying everything in their path. The sheer power of their weaponry was a nightmare to watch. Alliance ships seemed powerless to stop them.

  A jolt of adrenaline shot through Chase’s body and he heard Argos.

  “G . . . Get . . . Get the fuck away from under here,” he heard.

  When he opened his eyes Argos was standing above him, his arms extended and blocking the Titan’s foot with telekinesis. His body was encircled in bright, sparkling-red lightning. What had just happened? Did the amulet show him the future?

  Clearly not the time to be thinking about that. Chase rolled out of the way. Just standing up caused an incredible amount of pain, his entire body having suffered heavy burns. He fought through the pain and concentrated his energy to the maximum. The purple aura shone around him brightly. With a swift move and with all his might he threw a powerful shockwave towards the torso of the Titan. Unprepared for the blow, the Titan fell on its back, and the ground shook with the force of ten earthquakes.

  “You alright?” inquired Argos.

  “Thanks for the save. I guess if you hadn’t intervened . . .”

  “Yeah, you’d be dead, you fool! Try to be more careful from now on.”

  Chase smiled.

  Argos ran towards the fallen Titan, creating a huge, dark, red fireball on the way. “Heal yourself quickly and come help me finish this fight!”

  Chase closed his eyes and focused on healing his many wounds. He could feel his burns and broken bones mend themselves. He couldn’t help but feel strange about what had happened, though. Even though he hated Argos with all his being, he had just saved his life. Sure, he had done so because he needed Chase to get whatever the Titan was holding, but still. Right at that moment he felt something akin to a brotherly bond. He brushed the thought away the moment he was fully healed and re-opened his eyes.

  Argos was in the air with a gigantic fireball ready over his head in both hands. He threw it at the Titan’s chest. The impact sent a powerful shockwave all around and Chase’s hair flew backwards. The beast growled once more.

  Chase rejoined his brother in the air and added a few of his own attacks to the mix, a series of medium-sized blue fireballs.

  “These won’t do the trick! Save your energy!”

  “Shouldn’t we attack it while it’s down?”

  “Only stronger attacks will be able to penetrate its stony hide, trust me. You could send a thousand of these and do no damage whatsoever.”

  The smoke settled and there was a scar on the torso of the Titan.

  “See? This last attack has clearly hurt him. We need to keep at it.”

  Chase’s eye caught one of the altars not far from their position.

  “Shouldn’t we use these?” said Chase, pointing towards them.

  “I tried this before as well. It didn’t help. Forget this mumbo jumbo. Only pure force will do, trust me.”

  “Argos, we’ve used quite a lot of energy already. We may run out of juice before we’ve inflicted enough damage.”

  The scar on the Titan’s chest shone red. It opened its eyes and unleashed a deafening sound.

  “I think it’s pissed,” said Chase.

  “Good, it might make mistakes then.”

  “Let’s hope so.”

  “What about you powering up like you did when we fought? We’ll need you to access this power to win.”

  “I’m trying, but I can’t seem to get back into that state consciously.”

  “That’s just great,” said Argos, wiping blood from his mouth.

  “What do we do now?”

  “Divert it with some more of these pathetic attacks of yours, but don’t charge them. Just use them as fireworks to attract its attention. I need time to power some of my stronger attacks, and I can’t do that when its aggro is directed at me.”

  “Alright.” Chase lost no time, flew towards the Titan, and started unleashing multiple blue, powerless fireballs.

  The Titan got back up and fired multiple rays of red lasers from its eyes. Chase flew frantically to dodge the incoming attacks, but kept firing at the beast.

  Meanwhile, Argos took a fighting stance and increased his energy levels more and more. His aura grew stronger with every moment.

  “Laiyos! Get nearer the beast, and see if you can get it to grab you in its hand.”

  “Are you insane? It could crush me!”

  “Use your telekinesis to make sure it doesn’t, but let it believe it’s got you.”

  “You’d better be sure about this!”

  “Trust me!”

  Trust him? That was not going to be easy. Not fully anyway. But for the time being Chase decided he had very little choice.

  He approached the Titan, still sending low-powered fireballs towards it, which definitely seemed to make it more and more angry. Soon he was in range, and he threw three stronger fireballs into the Titan’s face, one of which hit one of its eyes. That pissed it off and it went to grab Chase, as expected.

  Chase erected a strong force field around himself and soon he was engulfed by stony fingers. The field was shining blue and making crackling sounds. It wouldn’t last long.

  Then it happened again. In his mind, Chase saw Argos crushed by the Titan. The full realization of that vision sent a shiver down his spine. If that happened, Sarah would die.

  Argos reached max power just when the Titan grabbed Chase in his gigantic left hand. It tightened its grasp and Argos had very little time to act. He redirected all his energy towards his right arm. It became covered with dark, red energy and dark lightning crackled all around it. He launched himself at maximum speed towards the Titan’s forearm and unleashed a battle cry that sounded more like beast than human. He flew through the forearm with his right fist extended in front of him and shattered it clean off.

  The Titan shouted in pain, the entire arena resonating and trembling from the sound of its painful cry.

  The arm that was holding Chase fell and shattered upon impact and Chase was thrown away by the impact but somersaulted in midair and landed unscathed a few yards away.

  “Well done, Argos!”

  “Told you it would work. Three more limbs to go.”

  The Titan’s expression turned to pure hatred, his ivory teeth were clenched, and his eyes shone brighter than ever before. The ground trembled as a powerful, low frequency sound kept growing. Soon a bright red aura shone all around the Titan and stones from its broken arm flew towards the shattered stump. It took only seconds for the arm to be reconstructed.

  “Was this supposed to happen? What do we do now?”

  But Argos didn’t answer. His eyes were now filled with fear, and the realization that this fight might not end the way he hoped.

  The Titan opened both its palms, released two giant boulders from the ground below and sent them flying towards its foes. The sheer speed at which they came and their huge size made them impossible to dodge. They both exploded upon impact and sent Chase and Argos flying and wildly spinning in the air.

  Daniel and Fillio landed their now de-cloaked fighters near the gigantic arena and the party exited the StarFuries.

  “You guys need to find that power source and fast. The sooner the shield is down the better. Signal us the moment you’re done so we can join the fight with the starfighters.”

  “Count on us,” said Ryonna.

  “Please be careful,” added Fillio

  “You too.” And then they were gone.

  When they arrived at the end of a long,
tall corridor, they froze upon seeing the sheer size of the Titan. Chase and Argos were spinning in the air. Tar’Lock looked at his portable scanning device, trying to locate the energy source powering the arena’s shield.

  “I’ve got good news and bad news.”

  “Good news first.”

  “I’ve located the energy source.”

  “And the bad?”

  “It’s on the other side of the arena, past that . . . thing.”

  “Of course it is.”

  “Perhaps I should go alone. I should be fast enough not to attract too much attention.”

  “Any chance you can take me with you? You’ve done it before.”

  “I can shove you out of danger, but if I carry you I’ll be substantially slower, especially over such a long distance.”

  “Alright, go ahead and I’ll try to catch up with you.”

  “No, you stay here. Let’s not take unnecessary risks.”

  “I can’t just stand here while everyone is risking their lives.”

  Ryonna’s comm rang.

  “Ryonna, you need to tell Chase to use the altars. I think it’s the only way to defeat the Titan.”

  “What altars?”

  Tar’Lock pointed towards the nearest one. “I think she’s talking about these things.”

  “What are they good for?”

  “I believe when touched they provide the power of specific elements: air, water, fire and earth.”

  “And that helps us how?”

  “I’m not entirely sure, but I can tell you my people wouldn’t have put them there if they weren’t needed to get past the Titan. I’m sure of that!”

  “Alright, I’ll let Chase know, if I can approach safely. But I thought you could communicate with him directly?”

  “I tried. The shield must prevent me from doing so.”

  “Alright, thanks Aphroditis.”

  “Be careful, all of you.”

  “We will.”

  Ryonna shot a look at Tar’Lock who understood what it meant, and soon he disappeared.