Author's Notes: Holidays are good for writing. That's all I really have to say. This is basically an 'evil guy' chapter, so the next chapter will focus mostly on the usual cast. Stay tuned, hopefully this chapter will give you a little more insight to what's going on... of course, I still intend to torture you with cliffhangers.
PROJECT PSYNERGY
Chapter 10 - Unlocked
Saturos walked through the streets of Madra with the other six Proxian soldiers temporarily under his command. They all wore casual clothes and concealed their weapons well, be they energy blades or pistols. He felt somewhat out of place amongst the citizens here - Proxians in this part of the world were rare, at best. Nonetheless, the seven continued throughout the streets, not caring about any impression they made. It wasn't their job to fit in and act casual.
No... Saturos smirked. Their job was to perform an act of war.
With the Psynergy implementation proceeding well - all of the soldiers here were among the first few to receive it - Alex had decided that it was finally time to show themselves to the world. Prox had been in the shadows since the last war, well before Saturos' time, but it was time to change that. The world had victimised them, robbed them of everything, and now the tables were about to turn.
Saturos was a warrior, and he lived for battle. Few things made him feel as alive and at home as combat. He was not overly aggressive though, and instead wanted to fight to end the wars that had already begun. To him, the wars had started a century ago and never finished, even if open hostilities had ceased. Prox was simply biding its time, waiting.
Yet... part of him couldn't shake the feeling of disquiet that had settled over his heart as of late. Maybe it was the subtle changes that Psynergy was doing to his temperament... maybe it was his slight distrust of Alex... maybe it was simply a desire for a vacation. Somewhere nice and quiet with Menardi, maybe. His thoughts were straying... Saturos shook his head slightly to focus on the task at hand, but considered organising such a thing upon his return.
After their walk from the airport, the Proxians finally found what they were looking for. It was a little risky, performing this in open daylight, but with any luck their abilities would keep the people away and stop them from acting against them in other ways.
All seven of them approached the Madra Police Department. Saturos held up a hand and waved it forward, and the other six immediately split up. Two remained outside the entrance here, one went to either side of the building to cover the secondary entrances, and the final two formed up behind him. They stood outside the door, counting down patiently. This act was already planned, so they all knew exactly how long it would take. When they all completed the mental countdown, Saturos nodded and they proceeded through the main doors.
The three immediately split up and moved around the entrance room, making the male receptionist raise an eyebrow in surprise. He looked Saturos over, frowning slightly. "Can I help you at all?"
Saturos took a breath. Let the international incidents begin...
He raised a hand, and a serpent-like strand of fire shot from his palm and crossed the distance between them in a blink. The police officer was blasted from his chair, his shirt smoldering slightly but not burning away. Saturos had altered his Psynergy to be impact only - he was becoming very good at manipulating things that way. Calmly, he approached the reception desk, watching as the hurt man moaned slightly and tried to scamper back. Disbelief was written all over his face.
"You have something I want," Saturos said, putting an edge to his voice. "The Madra Police captured a boat with a crate of canisters containing a purple liquid aboard. That is stolen material, and we will have it back. If you fail to tell us where it is..." he left the sentence hanging in the air, his meaning clear.
The man scampered back further along the floor, looking as if he wasn't going to co-operate. Without warning, he stood and made a mad dash towards a nearby alarm switch. In just a second he smashed the glass open and flicked the switch.
Saturos took a moment too long to act, and his second blast of Psynergy struck the man in the back. It wasn't designed for impact either...
The police officer screamed out just as blaring alarms started throughout the building. Windows slammed shut and the doors closed behind them. That wouldn't be too much of a problem - the Proxians could simply blast a hole in the wall with minimal difficulty. However, now everyone knew they were here. Now aflame, the police officer sank to the ground and convulsed for a moment before going still, clothes seared away and flesh marked with severe black and red burns. Saturos had held nothing back.
Now he cursed his own slowness. "Quickly, spread out and search the building. Kill anyone who resists, and interrogate anyone you can. If you find what we're after, contact us with the communicators and then get out. Go now!"
Obeying the command, the Proxian soldiers nodded and headed into station, deactivated energy blades in their hand. The hallway split up into a series of other hallways and smaller rooms, and they continued to split up and search them, taking out any opposition they encountered. Rather than simply checking everywhere, though, Saturos proceeded dead ahead. He had studied the schematics of the building, and he decided to check the Senior Sergeant's office.
No high-ranking person would allow such a valuable - or mysterious - cargo be given to lower ranked members, after all. Another police officer stepped into the passageway and attempted to level a pistol at him. In moments he resembled his compatriate in reception. Saturos advanced, kicking the brutally murdered man aside. He'd find it, and he'd burn the whole blasted building apart to get it.
- - - - -
Garet had excused himself from home once again, at the behest of Hama. He had mentioned that he would stay in touch, but could be gone for quite a while... Hama had said that she had to act against whatever group had been in possession of the Psynergy. It was far too dangerous and unpredictable to be simply ignored, and as one of the few Adepts remaining in the world she felt an obligation to investigate. Feizhi had been asked to accompany her, as had Garet... after hearing her story, they also needed to be kept close.
The Valean had no qualms with that - after hearing the story, he had felt himself quickly getting drawn into the idea. Something was going on if Psynergy was being spread like this, and he wanted to know why. If nothing else, it sounded like fun. Feizhi, of course, had accepted without question. To her it was all part of her training.
So Garet had prepared for a long trip and was now carrying a suitcase through the halls of the police station, towards the Senior Sergeant's office. He knocked on the door, and it was opened almost instantly. Feizhi stood there, gesturing for him to come in. He followed, bringing the suitcase with him and wondering if Feizhi ever slept or went somewhere else... she always seemed to be here. Glowing ominously in the corner of the room was the open crate containing the Jupiter Psynergy.
"Hello Garet," Hama greeted him. She gestured for him to set his suitcase at the side of the room, which he did so. "We won't wait long - there's a car in the garage below us and we'll be getting out of here soon enough. I just thought I'd explain where we're going."
Garet nodded, taking a seat before the desk besides Feizhi. "I was curious, actually... all you said was that we were going somewhere for a fair while. That could mean a lot. For all I know, you wanted to make a suicide mission into Prox."
She smiled and shook her head. "No, I want to keep living as much as you do. We're going-"
Hama was cut off as a loud alarm cut through the air. The lights dimmed, and behind the Senior Sergeant, metal protection slammed down in front of the windows. Throughout the building they could hear the same thing going on, along with the sudden sound of activity by the other officers. The Madra police quickly mobilised and moved out through the surrounding corridors, three of them passing the office in quick succession.
Feizhi frowned. "That's not a normal alarm, that's an emergency. What just happened?"
"That's not just any emergency alarm," Hama muttered as she stood up. "Something is going on here in the station. We should investigate..." she hesitated, and looked at them. "On second thought, no. I do have a duty to here, but my duty as an Adept is much more important than that... we have to get the Psynergy out of here." Taking a deep breath, she was about to move when a man's scream was heard. It was followed by two more in quick succession, but then all of them died out abruptly.
Garet felt himself gripped with sudden fear, but then he glanced at Feizhi and saw a worried but controlled expression. Not wanting to appear afraid, he forced himself to calm down. In the meantime, he pulled his pistol out and moved to one side of the room, looking towards the doorway.
Hama and Feizhi moved towards the crate of Psynergy, pulling it out of the corner slightly so that they could lift it. Before they could do so, however, a loud thud was heard outside... as if someone had fallen to the ground. Just a moment later, a man stepped into the doorway. His pale skin and light blue hair immediately revealed him to be a Proxian, which set Garet's teeth at edge. Curiously enough, he held an energy blade, but it was still switched off. He glanced first at Garet, then at Hama.
"Good, you're still here... and you have what I'm looking for." He stepped into the room and lined himself up with Feizhi and Hama, staying on the left side of the room. Garet raised his pistol, but the Proxian didn't react at all. "Step into the other corner and give me the Psynergy, and I'll let you three live."
"I won't do that," Hama said defiantly. She took a martial arts stance, but something was odd about it... it didn't seem like a typical pose to Garet. Nonetheless, the intruder was unimpressed.
"You don't have a choice." The man raised his free hand to the ceiling, and it glowed red for a moment... before a burst of fire shot forth from his arm, striking the ceiling and dissipating instantly. Burnt and shattered chunks of the roof fell around him. "My name is Saturos, and I have orders to retrieve what you stole from us."
Garet gasped, and he absently dropped his pistol out of surprise. It was real... Hama had been right. It looked like another Prox War was brewing... and this time the bad guys had Psynergy.
Feizhi looked as surprised as Garet did, but Hama remained calm. "I won't do it," the Senior Sergeant claimed, unmoving. "I can't let you have it."
"Suit yourself," the man said. He held his hand towards Feizhi, and flames quickly began to build up in it. As he did so, Garet immediately felt strange...
"Don't you dare!" Garet yelled out, thrusting his arms forward. He seemed to glow red for a brief instant, and then... out of his arms shot cones of flame, clearing the distance between himself and the Proxian in a split second.
"What the hell!" Saturos exclaimed, throwing himself to the side. He rolled upon contact with the ground and was in a crouch with his energy blade ready in moments, still leaving it in a deactivated state. Standing up and turning, he stared with confusion and surprise at Garet... an expression that was shared by Garet himself. The youth had absolutely no idea how he'd just done that... and yet now small spheres of flame were slowly circling his arms, waiting for his command. It was unthinkable... did he have that power too? Was he an Adept!
Hama quickly grabbed Feizhi by the shoulders and pulled her behind her desk, which she quickly kicked forward so as to shield them. Paperwork and miscellaneous items fell to the ground and scattered throughout the air. At the same time, Saturos shook away his surprise and raised his hand, launching a tendril of fire from the palm of his hand towards Garet. Acting on instinct, the Valean held his arm up to shield himself, and the circling flame expanded into a burning shield before him. The attack struck the shield and dissipated instantly.
Deciding to try his luck, Garet thrust his other arm forward. The spheres of flame expanded and then launched themselves in rapid succession at Saturos, who mirrored Garet's own shielding gesture. Neither of them showed any sign that they had been hurt.
Then Hama stood up suddenly, gesturing for Feizhi to stay under cover. She held her hands up, letting electrical energy build up in her palms, then lowered her arms and launched bolts of lightning across the room towards Saturos. Still with his shield up, he held it between them again, and the attack dissipated once more. Snarling with anger, the Proxian dropped the shield and launched another tendril amazingly fast at Hama. She raised her hands but wasn't fast enough to stop the attack entirely - her unformed shield slowed the strike, but the impact launched her backwards several feet. Apparently she wasn't prepared for fighting this kind of Psynergy.
Garet moved forward, preparing more fire attacks, but his opponent held up a hand.
"Hold it!" he said calmly, keeping the anger on his face from affecting his voice. "I'm clearly better at this than you, and there are six other Proxians in this building. Cease this right now and give me the Psynergy, and we'll let you all live."
Hama hissed and shook her head. "I cannot in good conscience let you have it. If there are more of you, that's too bad, but I can't give you the resources to make even more."
"Then you," Saturos said, turning to Garet. "I'll spare you if you stop fighting and let me have it."
Garet hesitated. He didn't want to give it up, but he had no real idea how to fight with these newfound abilities - he had been relying on sheer luck thus far. Hama knew what she was doing, surely, but she couldn't fight six of them. And there was still no guarantee that they wouldn't be killed regardless. No matter how he looked at it, they would get the Psynergy.
Unless...
"No, I don't think I will." For one brief moment, Garet turned towards the corner of the room where the crate remained, completely unaware of the battle that was taking part to attain it elsewhere in the police station. He raised his hands towards it and willed his powers to come forward.
And they did. A burst of flame shot from each of his arms again, joining in the middle to form one large attack, which collided with the crate. Almost instantly it caught fire, and the intense heat was apparently not good for the Psynergy... the canisters bubbled, and then they all exploded outright. Purple slime flew outward, scattering itself along the ground nearby and burning away like oil.
With the Psynergy came glass. A large chunk, easily half of a canister, flew through the air towards where Feizhi was hiding... still coated with Jupiter Psynergy, the glass flew through the air and struck Feizhi in the forehead. She cried out in pain, bringing her hands to her forehead, where a large cut had been left. Psynergy that had covered the side of the canister seeped between her fingers.
"NO!" Saturos yelled out, extending a hand towards the broken crate. In that moment he left himself open, Hama struck. She thrust her hands towards him, still on the floor. Energy circled her arms for a moment, then suddenly a massive gust of wind rose up and struck Saturos, blasting him from his feet. He struck the wall and bounced off, lying there motionless.
"Let's get out of here now!" Hama yelled, quickly moving to Feizhi and helping her up. Garet dropped his arms, almost disbelieving what had just happened, but then he came to his senses and helped his superior. They quickly grabbed their bags that were mostly undamaged from the combat and quickly departed, leaving behind the unconscious Proxians and the shattered Psynergy.
Behind them, the paperwork that had been strewn around sparked and caught flame...
- - - - -
Alex stood at the bow of the metal ship, looking out over the water. He had done this countless times before during his time with the Lemurian Navy, and it had always helped him think. It cleared his head and gave him some clarity when things were confusing or uncertain. Now was not one of those times... now he just needed a moment of peace.
Stage One had been completed at last, with Psynergy-imbued people scattered across Weyard. Most of them didn't realise what their part was in this grand plan - most of them didn't even know they had had been selected. All for the sake of accomplishing their aims, and they hadn't come to any harm. Stage Two was nearing completion - nearly the entirety of the Proxian military and higher officials had been granted Mars Psynergy. When the time came to spread their influence further, he would have proper sources for all the other elements, and then they would be truly ready.
Now he was en route to begin the real work. Stage Three had been started secretly some time ago, even before he'd openly left Lemuria. Four spots around the world had been selected, each directly above a Psynergy producing place, and his weapons were quickly being constructed. Soon... very soon. The first to be commissioned was now complete, and so Alex was heading there, along with Menardi and Karst. They needed to see it.
Immediately after summoning the sisters, they had taken a private plane straight to Contigo, the largest city in Atteka. From there they had driven to the nearby coastline and had taken a Proxian boat towards the structure, this one nicknamed Jupiter Lighthouse. Located in a mountain valley to the north of the continent, it was out of the way of most Attekan settlements and traffic, so few knew about it.
In the distance, the mountains were rapidly approaching. Alex still couldn't see the tower, but that was of no surprise - even with the distance from the Attekan cities, it was still well concealed. No chances were to be taken. Few could do anything about the Lighthouse save by a direct and heavy attack, but Psynergy-augmented soldiers stationed there as well as a number of regular Proxian soldiers... well, it was well and truly in safe hands.
A hidden inlet led into a canal that had been dug there, heading towards the Proxian dock. The boat veered towards it, making sure that no-one else was around. Alex scanned the area himself, nodding. All clear for their approach.
Prior to joining Prox and preparing them for their rise to power, he had worked for the Lemurian Navy. He didn't command boats of war - his ship had served as a troop carrier and as a coast guard operation. While Lemuria itself was not very large, King Hydros was the leader of most of the major islands and settlements in the entire Great Eastern Ocean. Excluding a few indepent states, such as Izumo, that still made it the largest territory in all of Weyard. And with much of it water, the Navy had much importance.
He had always prided himself on that position. He was still fairly young, yet he had risen to a position of command very early. He liked his work, and his position, and his life. But eventually he had discovered something... a group pirate using a small, uncharted island as a base. They had raided a nearby settlement and stolen much, so a punitive raid had been organised. Two ships - a military cruiser and his own transport - had been dispatched to deal with them. Hydros would not have this kind of terrorism continuing in his waters.
But... they had arrived unimpeded. No shots were fired as they approached and destroyed the pirate ship. Troops had landed and found no-one there, no-one shooting. As they entered the base, Alex had gone with them to learn why. And when they went inside... all they found was water. Lots and lots of water. Most of the base was flooded, and no trace of humans were found. They had been there, certainly - old meals were still there, half-eaten, and beds showed signs of very recent use.
Confused, the troops inspected the entirety of the base, and did a thorough scanning of the structure to check for any hidden passages or areas. Nothing. As they had prepared to leave and bombard the remainder of the island to make sure it couldn't be used again, Alex told them to let him stay and search a while longer. He returned to what had been identified as the captain's chambers. And there he had found a book... a journal. It ended only a day before the Lemurian arrival, and told of something happening in a newly discovered room below the facility.
Once they had found it, everything was as normal. But then the men began to develop strange powers. The water began to move at their command, began to freeze over, could start taking shape... it happened to all of them. At first they were afraid, but then they thought it would benefit them. It seemed to make them stronger, too. So they flaunted their abilities, and then... one of them had gone insane. Without warning, he had begun screaming loudly, and then his abilities had been unleashed in their full. He covered people in water, froze it, and shattered it, injuring and killing them all very quickly. Then he melted them so that there was nothing left... but water.
With a sickening realisation, Alex understood just why the place was flooded.
The captain had fled here and written it down, saying that he would confront the man with the last few survivors and bring him down. From the lack of people here, apparently he had failed... and then the other man must have turned on himself. Or somehow fled. Nonetheless, Alex was stricken... but he wondered about what had caused this. So he followed what was in the journal and discovered a room that the soldiers had somehow missed. Within was a pool of a strange liquid that glowed blue... and the body of a man within it, facedown and dead.
He had discovered the insane pirate.
Alex had fled and returned to the ship, saying to everyone else that he had found nothing of his hunches. And then they had blasted the island apart. To Alex's surprise, he had felt... sorrow when it happened.
Afterwards, he had returned to Lemuria and done something that amazed everyone. He resigned his comission as a captain for the Navy, and then began studying. For a few years, he worked on ships still, accompanying voyages of exploration and history. He had feigned disinterest, but really he wanted to discover just what the pirates had discovered. No-one had heard of anything like that. During his studies in his free time, he pored over the very rare tomes that he could acquire detailing past history of Weyard. Psynergy. The great war. Past nations and their abilities. And the demise of the powers... even reports that the war had ended but Psynergy had been mostly destroyed anyway, to stop it from misuse. The ancients sealed themselves from the world to save it.
After a time he returned to the ruined island again. It was mostly gone, but he had penetrated the surface and found his way into that cavern again. A hidden pool of Psynergy, one of the few remaining in the whole world. If this existed... then others surely did. When he left, he knew that he could find it again, and restore it to the world. On his return to Lemuria, though, he had considered this... if it was restored, then surely history would repeat itself. War would return again as humans battled for supremacy with their powers. It was already happening in this day and age... the last Proxian War had shown that.
He pondered this. Even upon his return, he had no idea what to do. But he didn't stop pursuing knowledge about and actual sources of Psynergy... his curiosity was too deeply embedded. Now, a couple of years later, his research was paying off. However, something had gripped him the day he found that dead pirate. Now he was almost driven to do this. Humans were corruptible, but Psynergy was pure. The world had slowly been declining without Psynergy, and if it wasn't restored somewhat soon, then Weyard could very well fade away.
Besides... he had always felt the punishment to Prox far too much. They had been a world power, and now they were nothing but a fringe city at the edge of the world. They deserved at least SOME recognition. Alex had his own plans, too... he would be the saviour of Psynergy. He would restore it to the world and trigger a golden age. The mistakes of the past wouldn't be repeated. He already had Psynergy coursing through him, and he could see the uses it would have.
Humans were corruptible. Psynergy was pure.
"Captain!" a Proxian naval officer called. That brought a slight smile to Alex's lips... from one Navy to another. "We'll be docking in just a minute or two, so you'd best prepare to take the Adepts ashore.
Alex nodded. "Thank you, I'll attend to that presently." He looked over the handrail, noting now that the tip of the Lighthouse could be seen. A large chamber atop a steel tower, illuminating the nearby metal with a faint purple light. Beautiful. The next step in Proxian supremacy - combining the elements of Stage One with the culmination of Stages Three and Four.
The Lemurian stepped away from the side of the ship and returned to his cabin. He keyed in a sequence of buttons on the electronic safe set into the wall, before pressing his hand on the plate. The lock clicked open, and he opened it up to retrieve the bag there. A quick inspection revealed that all four items were still in place, so he sealed the bag once more and headed into the other passenger cabins.
Knocking on the doors was unnecessary - Menardi and Karst were already waiting outside, looking curious but casual. He nodded to them and proceeded towards the exit, and they fell in step behind him. Nothing was said between them - they both knew that they were there to observe, not take part. It was good enough that they had been invited to join Alex.
They disembarked from the ship onto the very new dock, noting the number of Proxians standing on guard. Two of them gestured towards an armoured car, and they all stepped into the passenger compartment. Another soldier was already inside, and he closed the doors and began driving down a dirt path as soon as they were secured.
"You have yet to see a Lighthouse," Alex said to Menardi and Karst. "That's not surprising, since only one other exists at this point. That's where Agatio is currently assigned to."
"What of Saturos?" Menardi asked casually, and Karst immediately covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile.
"He's in Madra, performing a task for me. With any luck, we'll hear of his success in the next couple of days. Even if he fails, though, I'm sure he'll survive, and his mission isn't CRUCIAL. Extremely useful, yes, but we can adjust if things don't work perfectly. Regardless, I digress... this is Jupiter Lighthouse. Mercury Lighthouse has been mostly completed in a place not far from our Imil installation. Two more will be constructed - one close to Prox, and the other somewhere more central to our plans. They'll trigger what will become the next Proxian War... and then you and the other Adepts will move in and end it."
"I'd ask more questions, but I know you're a sucker for secrecy," Karst said idly. "So I won't bother."
"You're right. Now is not the time. The less people know for now, the better it is. Too much information is already being leaked as it is. Not that I don't trust you, of course, but precautions are precautions." He shrugged, then looked out the front windshield. The Lighthouse was looming very close before them. It wasn't as tall as one would expect, but then again, it didn't need to be. Just enough to channel the energy that was being manipulated.
The driver pulled up to the entrance, a large arched doorway of plain metal. Alex quickly stepped out and helped the ladies out before continuing to the structure. They followed closely, taking in much of the details around them.
As they stepped through the doorway, the first thing that struck them was the barren emptiness of this hallway. Only one thing really struck their attention - that was the obelisk-shaped pillar that stood at the far end of the room. It glowed a deep purple and coated the entire room with light, and apparently reached all the way up the shaft of the lighthouse. Menardi followed the light upwards, seeing that this room led directly to the roof, despite being laced frequently by support beams.
"Soldier's quarters and other important rooms are built around this one," Alex said calmly as he walked to the lift, towards an elevator there. "There are a large number of soldiers on station here, with enough facilities and supplies to hold this place for years against any conventional attack. Nothing short of a heavy bombing run could bring this place down, and even that would be a challenge... especially considering how many air-defence turrets the Proxian government has granted these installations."
He called an elevator and they stepped in, noting that there were about twenty different floors.
"If it does get attacked," Alex continued, "the elevators can be shut down and the attackers will be forced to proceed up twenty relatively narrow stairways. Each floor has a landing that can be easily defended, and there are countermeasures all over the place to ensure that nothing can get in. This place is a fortress, and could be safely held for a number of years."
Karst nodded, and Menardi listened intently. It had always been a hobby of hers to read up on tactics.
They ascended the Lighthouse through the elevator, heading all the way to the top floor. It was marked simply as the Eyrie. It didn't take them long, and the two women found themselves filled with anticipation. What was the secret behind these Lighthouses?"
When they reached the top and the door opened, the three stepped through as one. Neither Karst nor Menardi found the place to match their mental image.
"What is this for?" Menardi asked, looking around curiously. She had expected something a little more advanced here at the Eyrie - instead, the central room was practically empty. It was open-aired, but walls ran around the edges to keep the wind from knocking anyone off. In the centre of the room was a machine suspended over a pit, leading all the way to the obelisk she had seen at the very bottom.
Alex smiled and approached the machine, setting his bag on the ground before them. "You two are here because, along with Saturos and Agatio, you four are still the ones that I trust the most with this. You are the strongest and best-prepared for using Psynergy, and so you are the ones who I will disclose information regarding Project Psynergy to. From this room - and three other rooms in various parts of the world - Prox will assert its dominion over the rest of Weyard, proving once and for all that you are the rightful world leaders."
Karst looked impressed as she eyed the machine. "So what is this supposed to be?"
"Several millenia ago, there existed a number of large empires. Each of them fought the others for dominance, and each of them controlled a certain type of Psynergy. Because no single elemental faction could oust the other, they sought to simply destroy the source of their opponent's abilities. They did that, removing much of the Psynergy from the world, and this stopped it from naturally occurring in all but a few places. This is one of those places... a place where we can't extract the Psynergy for implementation, but we CAN harness its powers."
"How do you know all this?" Menardi asked, looking at Alex. She knew of no ancient war, no details regarding frequent Psynergy use by ancient races... how had he stumbled upon it all?
Alex didn't respond to her question. Instead he opened his bag revealing a box that had been painted black. He pulled it free and opened that too, revealing four orbs that were each about the size of his fist. They were nestled in cushions carefully, and each glowed brighty with inner light. The colours represented each element of Psynergy, Menardi guessed - Red, Blue, Yellow and Purple.
"What on Weyard are those?" Karst asked, peering at the four glowing spheres.
"These are what the ancient Tundarians - now the Lemurians - intended to use to win the ancient war. They called them the Elemental Stars." Alex smiled. "And they are the keys to Stage Three and Four..."
- - - - -
Madra Police Station was now in flames. Fire engines were parked outside and countless firefighters worked hard to suppress the spread. Few were sure how it had started, and even less knew why no-one was leaving the building. Much of the building had started to collapse quickly, which was extremely odd considering that it was mostly stone and concrete... a group of fire crews prepared to head into the heart of the building in a desperate attempt to find survivors.
As they geared up and headed towards the main doors, someone cried out amidst the onlookers. All heads turned as a single person stepped forward out of the building, eyes downcast and energy blade clutched in his hand. Miraculously, much of his clothing and body was untouched by flames of any sort, save a nasty looking cut on the side of his head. People began murmuring, and the firefighters approached him.
He had failed. Everything had gone amiss. The two Adepts had escaped, the Psynergy had been annhilated, and the other Proxians had continued the fight with desperate policemen into the basement. When the fire had spread, the fuel from the remaining cars in the garage had triggered a huge explosion, causing most of the basement to cave in. Saturos was the only survivor, simply because he had not been down there. Alex would not be pleased at the losses.
And it made him so ANGRY... such an utter failure... a huge waste... his blood was boiling with uncontrolled ferocity, emotions that Saturos had never felt like this before. He couldn't control it... nor did he WANT to. His shoulders shuddered, and he could feel himself shaking from it all. He needed revenge. He needed to sate his anger. This crowd would be perfect.
"ALL OF YOU ARE DEAD!" he screamed, activating his slightly damaged energy blade. In seconds he had cut down the firefighters that were nearing him. He raised his free hand as parts of the crowd began to run away in a panic. Energy flitted around his body before flying outward, surrounding the entire area with flames. He pointed his index finger at the crowd, and from it shot a massive fireball. It landed amongst the crowd, incinerating those it touched. Blood, flames, screams, rage... all of it melded into one within Saturos' mind. In a frenzy, he continued the slaughter...
Minutes later there was nothing remaining but ash. Panting heavily from his exertions, Saturos launched his energy blade into a nearby building with a roar before sprinting towards the planned evacuation zone.
- - - - -
Author's Note: I'm sure you'd love some explanations, but I'm not giving them. Cliffhangers must remain cliffhangers for now, that's what makes it suspenseful. Hope you enjoyed it.
