Velhall Palace
Oitylon [capital city], Ravelous [planet], Despæ [star system]
22 December; 20:10:44 Hours
The distant sound of strings softly reverberated through the massive and stretching hall, as Gabe and Mya slowly walked toward the gigantic double doors of the ballroom. Gabe stopped for a moment, gently grabbing Mya by the wrist and he spun her toward himself. Her eyes fluttered as she let out a subtle yelp.
“What’s wrong?”
Gabe looked her over, taking in her long, flowing strapless purple gown. “So, did you pick this out, or did one of the others?”
“I did,” she smirked before spinning around for him, “Why? Don’t you like it?”
“No, you look stunning…”
“Then good!”
“…You, you just look really out of place in it.”
Mya’s eyes squinted slightly as she took a step back from Gabe, asking, “Wha-what do you mean?”
“Are you sure you want to be apart of Shaomhav?”
“Yes! I have never been more certain of anything in my life,” she confessed.
“I,” Gabe struggled to say, “I just don’t want to see such a beautiful young woman like yourself destroyed by what we do, if you’re heart isn’t truly in it.”
“Gabe, please, trust me when I tell you that my heart hasn’t been more dedicated to a single thing, more than it is to Shaomhav.”
“Okay,” he sighed but then smiled as he twirled his index finger around. “Give me one more spin… Please?”
Mya giggled before she did just that and spun clockwise. She then stopped, smiling at Gabe who extended his arm out which she took and they proceeded down the hall where four Stormers stood guard. One of the Stormers stepped forward, tilting his head to the side as he sized the two up, and then barked, “<Invitation!>”
Mya subtly flinched but Gabe glanced at her with a smile before he pulled the invitation from the inner pocket of his brown leather trench coat, and handed it to the Stormer. He then leaned in beside her ear, whispering, “Contain yourself, please… This is the easy part.”
“Ba’k tu ni’hul!” the Stormer ordered as he turned to the others and they began opening the doors into the ballroom.
The sound of the violins and cellos flooded out into the hall as the doors creaked open. The smell of food wafted into Mya and Gabe’s faces before they could make out the hundreds of guests who were gathered around various tables, and dancing on the marble floor twenty yards in front of them. Mya smiled at several of the guests to her left as Gabe and she walked into the ballroom, but then they abruptly stopped.
She continued to glance around, saying, “This is not as dark and mysterious as I thought it would be,” but Gabe didn’t say anything back to her, which caused her to turn to him, “Gabe? Hey, Gabe, what’s wrong?”
Mya found Gabe staring off, his eyes glowing emerald and brow furrowed. She could hear him practically panting and so she positioned herself in front of him, where she gently took his hands in her own. “Gabe? Hey! Hey, what’s wrong? Gabe?”
His breathing slowly returned to normal as he looked deep into Mya’s completely black eyes. Gabe subtly shook his head before he looked down at her holding his hands, and he whispered, “It was worse than I thought.”
“Wha-what’s worse than you thought?”
“And to think that I called him a brother,” Gabe growled.
“Brother… You, you mean Beelezika?” she uttered before spinning around to see exactly what Gabe had.
The two stood side by side as they looked directly at Theo as Dax had her head nuzzled on his chest, and the two slowly swayed on the dance floor. Mya’s mouth opened slightly as she looked into Theo’s eyes, the left still retaining its blue-green iris while the right was completely pitch-black. She didn’t know what to do and so as she looked back to Gabe for any cue, she found that he started to march straight for the two.
“Wa-wait!” Mya called to Gabe, but before she could even catch up to him, another man stepped directly in front of him.
“<Oh my, consider me shocked to see you here… Gabe,>” a gravely voice said.
Gabe quickly took a step back, looking at the man now standing in between him and Theo. The man had dark olive skin and several scars that went across his face from left to right, a widow's-peak and deep brown eyes. He smiled at Gabe and pushed the side of his peacoat back where he rested his hand on the hilt of his Spark-pistol.
“Talius,” Gabe growled under his breath.
“<What’s the matter? You look like you’re seeing a specter, mate!>”
“As far as I’m concerned, you’re dead to me… So yeah, I’m seeing a ghost.”
“<Mmmhm, you almost hurt my feelings,>” Talius chuckled before he looked around Gabe to Mya who was frozen in shock. “<And who is this absolutely stunning lady?>”
Mya gasped, “Talius?”
“<Yes, my sweet flow—” he said and went to step toward her but Gabe cut him off.
“Enough with your little games, Talius!”
“<Games?>”
“Yeah, your little games - I couldn’t stand them then, and I for sure as hell have no damned patience for them now!”
“<Heh, you misunderstand, Gabe. No games… Just, just a warning from me to you,>” Talius said before he glanced over his shoulder to Theo and Dax.
Gabe’s eyes narrowed as he squared up to Talius. “A warning?”
“<Yes, consider it a bloody shot across your bow.>”
“Hah, see Talius, this has always been your issue - You and your romanticized view of saving the universe. Won’t you ever get it? This cruel universe doesn’t give a shit about how much of a hero you are! No, and that’s why things went the way they went!”
“<You think you bloody won…” Talius growled as he grabbed Gabe by the bicep, pulled him close, and started to whisper something to him, but Mya began to frantically look around as she scanned the dance floor.
“Gabe! Gabe!” she panicked and he whipped his attention back to her.
“What?!”
“They’re gone, Gabe! Beelezika and the Princess… They’re gone!”
“Wha-what?” Gabe gasped before he frantically looked to where he knew the two were just moments ago. “Where did they go? Mya! Where?”
“I, I, I, uh, I don-don’t know,” she stuttered, still parsing through the mass of dancers out in front of them.
“Dammit, Mya!” he snapped at her, but then he heard Mya shakily say barely louder than a whisper.
“There, the-there he is.”
Gabe quickly turned in the direction that Mya was looking, but instead of finding himself locking eyes with his oldest friend, Gabe did so with the Defiler of Thrones. Brown eyes connected with deep glowing purple, and a half snicker broke out over Throx’s face like a crack through glass as he looked across the ballroom to Gabe. There was a staticky aura that came over Mya as she could see the two in that moment, but then Gabe’s attention flickered to his left as he saw the white dreads of Dax moving through the dance floor and he shot into the crowd after the two.
Mya stood there uncertain as she was now the one locked with Throx, muttering to herself, “B-but we came here for him…”
***
Thud, thud, thud, thud echoed through the dimly lit hallway as Theo and Dax hurried toward large double doors. Theo gripped Dax’s left hand tightly as he led her toward them. The two were breathing heavily and then they slammed up against the doors, both of their palms pressed firmly against either door and they let out a loud groan as they pushed. A thunderous crack ripped through the hall as the doors opened, a bright flash lit up the sky as lightning cracked and they squeezed through the small opening as they hurried out onto the bridge that connected one half of the palace to the other.
Rain poured down atop of them as they began to cross the bridge, which stood ten stories above the rushing river below while the flames of torches every ten feet flickered in the gusting wind. Theo and Dax were no more than twenty yards when they heard the booming roar of Gabe from back at the double doors.
“THEEEEEOOOOOOOOO!”
Lightning cracked overhead again, lighting up Theo’s face that had gone emotionless as he stopped in his tracks. Dax still held his hand, trying to pull him along as she said, “Come on, Theo! Come on, we’re a little less than halfway! We can still get to my ship!”
Though Theo didn’t say anything as she looked at him with her eyes sinking, she saw the conviction on his face. Thunder rumbled before the loud hum of Theo’s cruiser’s engines echoed and it came flying in overhead, another twenty yards in front of the two. Dax spun in Talon’s direction, seeing that the side hatch was open where Cole and Drake stood just inside.
Dax again pulled on him and this time she pointed to the cruiser. “Come on! Come on, Theo! Please!”
“Theo!” Gabe roared again, now taking three steps forward and Theo sighed. “Don’t you dare run on me!”
“Theo, please don’t do this! Please,” she now pleaded, and his attention shifted to her.
He slowly pulled his hand free from her’s, saying, “We have to do what we must,” and then thrust his left index and middle fingers at Dax, pushing her back with Shade ripping up from the ground and rushing around Dax with the Shade engulfing her before it crashed upon the ground like waves of the ocean.
Instantaneously, shadows and every dark spot in the common area of Talon pulled to a central point where Dax fell out of it and onto the floor. She gasped, her eyes were wide open and she frantically turned over onto her hands and knees before she looked around and found Drake and Cole who rushed to her aid.
“You’re alright—” Cole started to say as Drake kneeled down in front of Dax where he winced and cut him off.
“He, he’s not gonna let anyone get in between him and Gabe, Dax.”
“Dax?” Cole’s eyes narrowed and he asked, “As in the Princess of Wendale?”
“We cannot let him do this! He’s unarmed! And, and the pressure of that man is charged with Hae’Lektaes!” she exclaimed while standing up, with the shadows and darkness returning to every corner it crawled from.
“He’ll be okay,” Drake assured her.
“Yeah, Princess, Theo’s never unarmed,” Cole said with a smirk and looked back down to the bridge where Theo now turned to Gabe.
“How could you?” Gabe snapped and lightning cracked in the sky behind him. “How could you, bro?”
Theo unbuckled a pouch on his belt while he looked at Gabe and tilted his head slightly to the right. “How could I? I don’t think we want to play the blame game again.”
“Same old Theo! Always playing the hero despite the gruesome things you do to do it!”
“I never said I was a hero, brother,” Theo sighed, watching Gabe inch his way closer and closer to him. “It would seem like quite the bastardization of the word, to be honest.”
Gabe took off his trench coat that he tossed onto the ground, into the growing puddle of rain around them. “Just… tell… me… why!”
“You’re gonna have to be more specific.”
“WHY? Why did you betray us for HER? Why do you continue to betray us now?”
“At this point, you wouldn’t accept my why.”
“Don’t you patronize me!” Gabe yelled, pulling his dual-tipped javelin staff from behind his back before it extended to six feet long.
“You want why?” Theo now yelled and thunder rumbled.
“Yes!”
“Fine! Fine - I refuse to bend my will any longer for anyone other than ME!”
Lightning cracked directly above the two and without hesitation, Theo and Gabe charged one another. Gabe twirled his javelin staff around as Theo reached into the pouch and grabbed a handful of Straedum that he threw out in front of himself, the sand-sized particles of Kalber expanded like a mist through the rain. Gabe stepped heavy with his left foot forward and swung his javelin staff with explosive power as it cut through the mist of Kalber, though Theo dropped to his knee and slid just under the swing and past Gabe.
Theo quickly shot up where he spun around, and clocked his right arm across his chest before he swung it in a backhanded motion at Gabe. The Straedum pulled toward his hand, congealing into a two-foot-long jagged blade that Gabe thrust his javelin staff up in between him and the blade with sparks exploding at the two’s faces.
Gabe’s teeth gritted and his nostrils flared. “You’re gonna have to do better than that, bro!”
“Heh, that would mean I’d have to actually want to kill you!” Theo scoffed before yanking the blade back, he spun clockwise and landed a hard sidekick that struck Gabe in the lower right of his abdomen and sent him tumbling across the stone and sliding through the rain. Gabe plunged his staff into the ground with a sharp whistle screeching out as he came to a stop near the edge of the bridge.
“If you don’t kill me, I’m going to kill you!” he roared and shot up to his feet before charging Theo again.
Theo tilted his head subtly to his left, allowing Gabe to close the distance and swing his staff. Theo was ready as he raised his blade to block it, but Gabe made a faux swing down at his friend before quickly reversing with as much power as he could in the upward swing. His javelin staff cut through the rain and air so fast it let out another sharp whistle before striking Theo’s blade. A booming clang ripped across the bridge as lightning lit up the sky, sparks exploded between the two for the fourth time, the Kalber shattered and the force of the hit launched Theo back as he corkscrew rolled and landed on his stomach.
“THEO!” Dax screamed and tried to jump out the side hatch, but Cole managed to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her back completely onto the ship where she struggled to break free. “<Let me go! Let me go,> naexu! <Let… me… GO!>”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Princess?”
“Dax! Dax, you need to calm down!” Drake said as he motioned his hands down several times. “Theo won’t let you help him! This is his fight, it’s been one building for a while now… and, and you’ll only get in the way!”
She bit down on her lip, her eyes squinted almost completely shut as they flickered bright blue and a tear broke free.
Theo slowly struggled up to one knee and quickly grabbed his left shoulder as he winced and could feel that his mail was damaged before the warmth of his blood seeped between his fingers. He glanced up at Gabe before he looked back at his wound, finding the Kalber had already pulled from the air around him and into the cut. He chuckled, “It was always going to come to this, wasn’t it?”
“Since the moment you betrayed us!”
“That’s the thing, Gabe…” Theo snapped and stood up, “I didn’t betray us! No, I just decided to save her,” and he looked up at Talon where he could see Dax nearly in tears.
Gabe spit to his left. “FUCK HER! She’s no different than any of the other scum we wiped from the face of the universe!”
“You’re wrong.”
“What happened to you?” Gabe hissed through his teeth as his face contorted with disgust.
“I could ask you the same thing, brother,” Theo quipped, throwing his arms down to his sides with the Straedum again pulling from the air toward them where it congealed into a jagged blade in either hand. “But I don’t think either one of us would be happy with each other’s answer.”
“Then I guess you die with it on your chest,” Gabe’s eyes lit up a glowing emerald before he glanced over his shoulder and up at Dax, growling, “And she gets to watch what she cause—”
Though Gabe whipped back and thrust his javelin staff up horizontally where he blocked Theo’s explosive downward strikes. The force dropped Gabe to a knee where he looked up at Theo who had Shade emanating off him like flickering blackened flames. He snickered at Theo before thrusting his javelin staff up at him, though Theo couldn’t move as the stone had morphed around his feet. Theo grunted and swung his blades in an upward left-to-right motion where they met Gabe’s downward strike but the force cracked the Kalber and as Theo blocked the second time, both blades shattered.
Gabe couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched the stone continue to crawl up his friend’s legs, restricting him more. “Just know I didn’t want to have to do this!”
The blackened flames’ intensity had continued to fade as Theo grimaced. He simply looked at the man he had called a brother since they were six years old, watching as he clocked his javelin staff back with its one tip aimed at Theo’s heart. Dax began to struggle even harder than before, to break free from Cole who was groaning in pain as white flames of Shine started to ignite off of her. Her eyes opened threefold as they were glowing intense bright blue, and she screamed, “THEEEOOOOO!”
“Goodbye, bro,” Gabe whispered as he thrust his staff forward and lightning cracked overhead before it was as if the sound was sucked out of the air.
Everyone froze as all eyes were on the two, but Gabe’s javelin staff was stopped mere centimeters from Theo’s chest. Several blackened tentacles of Shade had shot up from the ground, they wrapped around the shaft and were holding it there despite Gabe’s constant exertion of force forward. He gritted his teeth while his brow furrowed and he let out a loud groan.
“Your Stygian Crystal will not stop me!”
“Then I guess I’ll have to,” Theo told him, slamming his fists against the stone that engulfed his legs and caused it to shatter before he spun counterclockwise as he put his hands together, Straedum congealed into a long jagged blade that he used to cut Gabe across the stomach.
The tentacles evaporated as Gabe stumbled backward. He looked down to his gut where he saw his emerald mail was sliced clean open, and his blood began to run down his legs. Gabe stammered, “I, I, I won-won’t let you w-walk away from here!”
“I’m not going to kill you,” Theo softly said as he shook his head at Gabe.
“Then you’re a fool!” Gabe barked before he slammed his staff into the ground, causing an emerald charge to pulse throughout the stone.
The stones forging the ground of the bridge they stood on began to transform into pointed rods before shooting at Theo. He was quick to dodge two, moving slightly to his left before his right but then one nicked his right thigh and he dropped to his knee again. Theo grimaced while his blade dissolved back to sand grains that levitated in front of him where they intercepted two more stone rods. Each rod struck the Straedum like they hit a forcefield, the rods ricocheted into pieces but several of them managed through and struck Theo with two hitting him in the abdomen and one slicing his left cheek.
Theo whipped his head up as blood ran down his cheek, hearing Gabe yelling, “ERRR- AHHHHHH!” and he found him lunging through the air straight at him.
Dax threw a hard left elbow that caught Cole on the side of the face, causing him to spin and throw her back toward the steel table in the common area. Dax hit into it stomach first and slammed her palms off it before she threw her head back causing her dreadlocks to flip out of her face. She growled, “<Get out of my way,>” as she slowly turned around only to find Cole standing directly in front of her with a Spark-pistol aimed between her eyes.
“I need you to calm down, Princess,” Cole said as he tilted his head toward her, and bright blue soul energy surged up and down the barrel.
Dax’s eyes went pinpoint as her brow furrowed and her nostrils flared while she glared at him but Drake quickly placed his hand on Cole’s forearm, forcing him to lower his pistol. “We all need to calm down… now!”
“<No, I need to go down and help Theo!>” she snapped.
“We’re not leaving without him,” Drake assured her before looking over to the opening cockpit door, “We have an emergency plan.”
Sarah came hurrying out but quickly stopped as she saw Dax. “What the hell is she doing here?”
Theo quickly thrust his hands out in front of him, grabbing Kalber that was congealing into two jagged curve blades, Gabe came down on top of him with a ferocious swing that Theo managed to cross the blades up in the air and block the javelin staff. Though Theo was thrown onto his back from the force, a shockwave exploded out from the strike, and the blades shattered again as they never fully hardened. He didn’t hesitate though as he thrust his right hand at Gabe, Shade ripped up from around Theo and formed into a tentacle that shot through Gabe’s right shoulder.
Gabe stumbled back with the tentacle still in his shoulder. “ARRHHHHHHH!”
Theo was panting, still laying on his back as he looked up to his friend who now had emerald surges pulsating through his body. Theo muttered to himself, “Fuck.”
He started to lift his left hand when stone wrapped around his wrist, pulling his hand back down to the ground as Gabe barked, “Not again,” before swinging his staff up and breaking the tentacle.
Theo quickly went to raise his right hand again when Gabe thrust his at it, causing more stone to wrap around his other wrist and restrain him completely. He then took several steps forward where he stood overtop of Theo and looked down at him with his eyes sinking a bit before he lifted his javelin staff high above his head. Gabe whispered, “You were my brother…”
Gabe thrust his staff down, the javelin end driving straight for Theo’s heart again but before it could reach its target, Kaendra appeared in front of Gabe where she delivered a powerful front kick that hit him in the chest. Gabe was launched back, slamming onto his back before he rolled through onto his knees while his javelin staff slid all the way back to the double doors. Kaendra looked down at Theo with lightning cracking overhead, and Theo could see the tears that filled her eyes before she looked up at Talon.
Kaendra threw a brown leather duffle bag up as it flew into the open hatch and landed on the floor just inside. She then turned around, locking eyes with Gabe who was panting through his teeth while he stood up straight.
Drake saw Kaendra begin to move toward Gabe and without hesitation, he turned to Sara as he frantically told her, “Go! Now, now’s the time!”
She nodded to her husband before she folded in on herself in a bright blue haze. Then in a blink, she rolled out of a similar haze directly beside Theo who looked up to her with sunken eyes and blood running down from his nose. Sarah flicked his chin up before saying, “Cheer up, you’re not dying today,” and she placed her hand on his chest before the two folded in on each other through the same haze.
Drake slammed his palm on the button beside the side hatch causing the blue force field to materialize just seconds before Theo and Sarah rolled out of another blue haze, where they landed in the center of the common area. Dax flinched, her eyes opened wide and then she hurried over beside him. She dropped to her knees where she helped him sit up before placing her forehead against his, as she whispered, “I could’ve helped you.”
“You did,” he smiled.
“I, I did? N-no, I was here.”
“Did-didn’t you, you send your friend?” Theo muttered with Dax quickly pulling back from him, her eyes grew even larger than earlier.
“My, my friend?”
“Y-yeah, she just saved me.”
“She?” Dax shot up and stumbled backward toward the side hatch where she turned to see Kaendra swing her curve blade down on Gabe who blocked it with his javelin staff, and she screamed, “<Kaendra! Kaendra, NOOOOOOOO!>”
Drake got down on one knee beside his friend where he placed his hand on Theo’s shoulder. He forced a smile but then looked up to Sarah, saying, “Alright, we have to get the hell out of here!”
“You don’t have to say that again,” she sighed before hurrying to the cockpit.
“Cole,” Drake looked to him, saying, “make sure Theo’s okay, and… and her too.”
Cole slowly looked over at Dax who had her palms firmly pressed against the blue force field, tears rolling down her cheeks as she watched Kaendra and Gabe going back and forth, and then just as slowly he nodded to Drake. “Okay, okay, I got it.”
The outer door began to close in front of Dax and within several seconds, she went from watching her friend barely dodge a vicious swing from Gabe of his staff to dropping to her knees where she cried. Cole walked over to Theo, grabbed his left hand, and helped Drake get him up to his feet before he wrapped his arm around his shoulders, allowing Drake to head off to the cockpit. Cole helped Theo sit down at the table behind them, let out a chuckle before he said, “Damn, I haven’t seen you this bad since—”
“Since Komba’ton,” Theo interrupted him, struggling to smile. “I, I, I know… The-those golden-eyed-pointy-ears did, didn’t o-only just give me that damned name, they… ughk… They, they whipped my ass too!”
Kaendra quickly glanced over her shoulder as she heard the sound of Talon taking off, but she quickly spun back to find Gabe swinging his staff at her with its shaft connecting to the side of her head, which sent her tumbling across the wet stone floor. She laid on her stomach, coughing up blood as her curve blade was at least a foot out of reach. Kaendra could hear his armored boots pound upon the stone with every step he took toward her, and she winced as she felt his javelin staff pierce her lower back.
“You’re a fool,” Gabe growled. “Saving him for what?”
She panted and then let out a shrieking scream as she felt him push the staff deeper into her back. “ER-AHHHHHHHHHH!”
“I’ll tell you for what…” Gabe yanked his javelin staff out of Kaendra’s back, raised it up
high above his head, and then whispered before lightning cracked above them, “To die!”
Mya came running out through the open massive double doors, the rain pouring down upon her and she slid to a stop where she gasped as she looked at Gabe standing over Kaendra. His shoulders were moving up and down, chest in and out as he gripped the shaft of his staff tightly while it was plunged through the center of her back and into the stone beneath her. Mya’s lips quivered under her left hand that covered her mouth before she managed to utter out, “Ga-Gabe?”
He slowly looked over his shoulder to her with his eyes glowing bright emerald, still panting, “Wha-what?”
“We, um, we, we have to get out of here!”
Gabe’s eyes narrowed as he slowly looked down, seeing Kaendra’s lifeless body beneath him, and as his eyes blinked they went from the intense emerald back to their normal brown. He then yanked his javelin staff free and stumbled backward where he turned to find Mya frantically motioning her hand for him to come, and Gabe did just that.