After the Power: Bring Me to Life Chapter 1 Restless (Original Posting Date: October 13th, 2009)
Disclaimer: The characters? They ain't mine. They belong to Disney. Only thing that's mine here is the plot bunny.
Special thanks on this one go to a really great friend who inspired me to break down my walls, she's like a wrecking ball in that way. Also, thanks to DarkHonda (Bite Your Tongue) and MagCat (Confessions on Rollerblades) for giving me my first glimpses of Ryelsey.
"You're not going to lay a finger on me this time, Diabolico," Ryan swore as he rolled under the demon's staff. As soon as he was out of reach, he regained his footing and faced his foe, anticipating what the next attack would be.
"Big words, considering you've yet to live up to them, boy," Diabolico sneered as he thrust his weapon forward. Ryan saw the move coming, however, and he sidestepped the sharpened edge of the weapon, which lodged itself firmly into the cave wall.
Ryan couldn't hold back a smile as his adversary struggled to pull his staff loose. Even as he savored his momentary victory, he started to think ahead, deciding that now was the time to move in.
Diabolico had barely managed to extricate his staff when Ryan's bare foot slammed violently into his chest plate, making him stagger back several steps.
"Well done, Ryan," Diabolico commended him even as he took aim with his staff and fired an energy ball in his direction. Remembering the searing pain he'd felt the last time he'd been surprised by such a maneuver, Ryan didn't hesitate, throwing himself forward on the cave's floor. He fought through the pain as rocks scraped and cut away at his arms and chest, knowing that this was much better than the alternative, and, when he was back up, he launched himself back in the demon's direction, wresting the staff from his grip and shoving him back against the cave wall.
"You've done it," Diabolico laughed as he found the tip of his own weapon pressed firmly against his throat. "After all this time, you've finally managed to defeat me. You are now ready to face your destiny."
Ryan slowly pulled the staff away before he handed it back to Diabolico, head slightly bowed in deference to the demon who had raised him since childhood.
"Soon," Diabolico proclaimed as he looked at his young charge, "our time will arrive. As it is written, so shall it unfold. Before your twentieth birthday, Ryan, we will be freed and we will reclaim our rightful place from humanity. We will walk the surface once again and all will bow before our might."
Ryan followed Diabolico as they made their way to Queen Bansheera's throne room, a sanctum that was only accessible to the queen's inner circle of demons. Upon their arrival, they were surprised to find it empty. Ever since Ryan's arrival, Diabolico had reported daily to the Queen on his progress after their training sessions.
While they stood in the center of the deserted room, Ryan noticed Diabolico tense up. "What is it?" he asked his mentor.
"The sarcophagus that holds us in this forsaken prison has been opened," Diabolico informed him, rushing toward the room's exit. "We have been freed."
"I don't understand," Ryan said, frowning in confusion as he kept pace with Diabolico. "It's too early. The prophecy said this would happen months before my twentieth birthday, yet I'm only eighteen."
"There's been a shift," Diabolico explained. "The forces of darkness are at their most powerful and something unforeseen is happening. We mustn't let this opportunity slip through our fingers."
As they moved forward, they heard screams coming from the large chamber ahead. It was the room where the entrance to their prison was located. When they finally reached it, Diabolico pushed past the throngs of demons gathered, Ryan in tow.
"Vypra, what is the meaning of this?" he asked his ally upon reaching her. Looking above, he saw the Queen firing off energy bolts at a force field that blocked their exit.
"The lid of the sarcophagus was removed," she informed him, smiling darkly, casting a look upward. "Something filled with darkness, with the purest evil imaginable, attempted to free us."
"Then why are we still here?" Diabolico queried, loudly enough to be heard over the shouts of the demons and the Queen's screams.
"This evil didn't come alone," Vypra stated, the contempt in her voice unmistakable. "Forces of good are trying to keep us trapped. One of them uses magicks to seal us in here while they attempt to replace the lid. But they won't be successful."
"No they won't," Diabolico confirmed. "In order to replace the lid on the sarcophagus, they need to lower the field. Otherwise, whoever is generating it will have to power it from inside the tomb and be prepared to spend eternity amidst us. No one would be willing to sacrifice so much."
Diabolico and Vypra laughed together as they looked at the Queen, who kept lashing out at the force field, knowing that their release was imminent.
Next to them, Ryan gazed upward silently, ready to be out of the purgatory he'd spent the better part of his childhood in. He was ready to face the man who had let him fall to his death and the sister who had been more important than him. He was going to make them pay for the hell he had been put through and reign alongside the demons who had saved him.
Ryan regained his focus when the excited screams of those around him gained in intensity and volume. The force field was down.
But it quickly became apparent that the breach in the force field had nothing to do with the Queen's relentless assault on it when a man covered in skintight body armor dropped into the chamber, firing laser beams at the Queen and her followers, taking them off guard and drawing their attention away from the tomb's opening. Even as he fell, the force field above rematerialized.
As soon as their attacker landed in their midst, the suit covering his body vanished into thin air, revealing the human features of a young man. Ryan looked on in shock, having not seen another human in over ten years.
"He controls the field!" Queen Bansheera bellowed as she fired another energy ball at the field. "Destroy him, Diabolico!"
Ryan was surprised when Diabolico didn't obey the Queen's orders immediately. Every day, he spoke with great energy of the day they would be freed, of how much he hated being trapped in this dimension. If anything, Ryan would have expected him to charge the stranger the moment he had landed in the room.
But it seemed the demon had other plans as he cast his eyes on him. "You want to leave this place, don't you Ryan?" he asked.
Ryan nodded once, not certain as to what Diabolico was getting at. It was only when the demon offered him his staff that he understood. He reached out to take the weapon with a shaking hand.
"Make me proud," Diabolico ordered.
Ryan nodded once, his features showing his resolve. Looking up, he could see that the lid was slowly being pushed across the sarcophagus. Realizing he didn't have much time to take the stranger out, he charged in his direction, shoving aside the demons that stood in his way.
Once he was close enough, he swung the staff in a wide arc with all his strength. It connected with the young man's chest, cracking many of his ribs, sending him flying several feet back. Not wasting a second, Ryan ran over to him and straddled his chest, pressing the length of the staff against his throat, rendering him unable to breathe.
"You're not going to keep me here!" he screamed, even as the stranger desperately struggled to keep the force field up. Around them, he could hear the demons cheering him on.
"Kill him!" the Queen ordered, urgency in her voice. As Ryan looked up, he realized that the lid was almost in place.
"No!" Ryan screamed in desperation. He turned his attention back to the stranger and removed the staff from his throat. As the young man struggled to catch his breath, Ryan raised the staff in the air, knowing there was no other way. Closing his eyes, he hesitated a moment before driving the staff's sharpened edge down, drawing out an agonized howl that drowned out the frenzied cheers of the demons surrounding them.
Ryan woke up with a start in his darkened bedroom. His heart was racing, his breathing was ragged and beads of perspiration covered his skin. Despite the warmth of his sheets, he couldn't help but shiver, as the young man's screams echoed in his mind.
The nightmares had begun shortly after the Lightspeed Rangers had finally defeated Queen Bansheera and her minions, banishing them once again to their otherworldly prison. For all those involved with the Lightspeed project, that had meant returning to their normal lives, free from the threat of the demons. For Ryan, however, it had meant being forced to face his own demons.
Only, he hadn't been ready for that. He hadn't been ready to face the things he had done and what he had lived through. Not now. Not when his father and sister were so happy to have him back. He couldn't ruin that for them by dragging them into his own personal hell.
Ryan realized they weren't completely oblivious to his distress, despite his best efforts to act as if everything was fine. His father had offered to arrange him a meeting with a therapist on a few occasions to help him deal with the transition while Dana multiplied the offers for activities they could do together.
Somehow, thinking of their caring made him feel a little better. Taking a deep breath, Ryan lay back down on his bed, hopeful that things would get better.
To be continued...
