Alright, I hope ya enjoyed the first part. And now's time for the second one !
N'joy ! (bis)
/
20 _ "THE TIDE IS TURNING" (II)
/
The troop led by Phyros had fought successfully all the lizards of that area, and had now arrived in a very imposing hallway leading straight to an impressive door.
That door was dark grey and spangled with black arrows pointing down. In the center of it was embedded a kind of mask who represented a screaming face. The expression of that face was one of pain. It seemed as if someone had been taking a cast of the face while its owner was tortured and made a mold out of it, and it was that mold that was placed on the door.
"It's... it's horrible !" whispered Emily, deeply shocked.
"Whoever did this has a really insane mind..." commented Ulliga.
"Quite so !" conceded Phyros "Now, let's try to open that door and see what's behind."
He seized the black doorknob and turned it.
The door opened slowly, creaking terribly.
The group entered and found a large room lavishly furnished. The chests, cupboards, tables were all either dark grey or black, as were the draperies hanging at regular intervals, and it was evident all this had been crafted by very skilled artisans. The one who could afford such magnificent stuff had to be wealthy and high in the social scale.
But there was more. Additionally to these common elements, there were other ornamental ones which were far from usual... Skulls were placed on the walls, every now and then !
"Something tells me that we have found the apartments of the Dark Lord. And these must be the... remains of his enemies. He put them here as trophies symbolizing his victories. What a cruel being he must be !" remarked Ulliga.
(Gianell) Lieutenent, can you hear me ? This is the General.
Phyros blenched when he heard the voice in his head. He didn't expect it, but also, their squad had been talking aloud for moments now, so telepathy had been left aside for a while. That's why he was doubly surprised of hearing Gianell communicate with him via thought.
He focused and managed to reply rather quickly.
(Phyros) Yes, General. I can hear you loud and clear. What can I do for you ?
(Gianell) Lieutenant, will you please let me know how you are progressing and what you have found ?
(Phyros) Of course, General. We have inspected most of this part of the base and defeated almost all if not all of the guards. And we have saved an alien named Emily. She comes from planet Watermia, that some also call the Water Planet. She is the Princess of the Water People. The Dark Scientists had been keeping her imprisoned in their laboratory and using her as a source of energy for their installations. We managed to restore her power to its highest level and are now in what probably are the apartments of the Dark Lord.
(Gianell) Did you say... his apartments ? Then you must be in the throne room !
(Phyros) Hum... I haven't personally checked out the whole premise for a throne, but please leave me just one minute...
The Light Lieutenant started to walk in the large room and soon spotted an assemblage of skulls disposed in an upright shape.
He approached it and noticed that there was a place to sit, in the middle of the skull heap. There also were what looked like arm-rests, on the sides. Thus the whole object resembled a chair... or a throne.
The overall aspect of the "furniture" he was looking at made Phyros give a grimace of disgust. That place really held horrible things.
(Phyros) There is something here that is made of numerous skulls and... well, it looks more or less like a throne, in its general look.
(Gianell) Alright. Then you are in the good place. Now, listen to me carefully, Lieutenant. The Dark Commander we met here said something about two crystals holding the powers of Zythho...
The Light Lieutenant still ignored the Dark Lord name, so he got wondering about that name.
(Phyros) Zythho ?
(Gianell) Ah yes, you didn't know his name yet. Well, Zythho is the name of the Dark Lord. And apparently, he keeps the source of his might in two crystals that are presumably hidden in the throne room.
Crystals...
Phyros recalled something. Hadn't Emily said something about crystals ? That she had heard a fellow prisoner confide to her that the dark powers dwelt in two crystals ?
It seemed to him that it was what she had mentioned...
(Phyros) Yes, I believe Emily mentioned crystals holding the powers of... Zythho.
(Gianell) So you already knew about these crystals ? That's a good thing !
(Phyros) Yes indeed, General. But the problem is that Emily doesn't know where exactly they are. According to what she said, the source of the Dark Lord's powers is located next to him. So we deduced that the place involved would most probably be his private chamber, because that's the nearest to him. Now, where inside of that room ? That's what we will try to determine.
When Gianell dispatched her next thought, Phyros noticed excitement in it.
(Gianell) Excellent ! Well, we have almost all of the relevant information regarding the precise place where the crystals are hidden. The Dark Commander said that the hideout is behind the throne, and you have to pull something to reveal it.
Phyros moved aside and took a glance at what was behind the throne.
He could see some kind of recess, which seemed as a short path. Torches lit it up, and Phyros could distinctly see the wall at the end of the alcove.
(Phyros) I can see a sort of dead end behind the throne. There may be some secret passage there. But how to open it ?
(Gianell) Mylytys said that there was something to pull. Actually, his precise words were : "you must pull one of the..." and he couldn't finish his sentence. "One of the" implies that there are several things looking alike, and one of them must be pulled. Now, you should look for many objects of the same kind in the vicinity of the dead end.
(Phyros) At your command, General !
The Lieutenant took a panoramic look in front of him. There weren't many objects of similar appearance gathered there. Actually, there seemed to be only those torches lighting up the recess. But pulling some torches…?
Still, as unconvinced as he was, the chief of the third squad decided to give it a try. He headed up to the left flame row and tried the first of the five ones. Nothing. Then the second one. Nothing again. The third one. Still nothing.
He soon ended up with that side of the dead end and turned toward the other one.
It happened to be a repetition of before's efforts. No positive outcome as he tried each in turn.
Right, so it doesn't trigger anything. I knew there few chances of success. I must try to find something else round here… he thought as he pulled the last of all torches.
He almost gave a cry as the metallic part holding the firebrand followed his hand, yielding the torch to come out from the wall, at the end of some horizontal stone lever.
When he couldn't pull it any further, he took his hand off and turned his head towards the ending wall on his left. There was a muffled noise somewhere and that portion of the dead end started to disappear : the wall was shifting aside, slowly getting inside a part of the perpendicular wall on the right and thus making the hideout known from Phyros.
As the shifting wall was completely out of sight, the Light Lieutenant called the others, stating he had found the secret compartment.
They quickly got by his side and all of them entered the hideout.
It was a tiny room, which held only two objects : two diamond-shaped crystals, one light grey, the other dark grey. They were shining irregularly, in a repetitive sequence of lighter-dimmer. The intensity of their glow thus kept on diminishing and augmenting alternatively, all the time.
(Phyros) General ! We have found the two crystals. The hideout could be opened by pulling one of the torches from the dead end.
(Gianell) Great job, Phyros ! Now you must find a way to destroy these things. By doing so, you can weaken considerably the Dark Lord. One of the crystals holds his offensive powers, the other one his defensive ones. Please let me know when you have found a way to destroy them !
(Phyros) At your command, General !
"These are the crystals I've been telling about. That's where the dark powers reside. It's time for us to deal the Dark Lord a hard blow" said Emily, an encouraging smile stretching her lips.
"Yes, but how do we do to smash these ?" asked Ulliga.
The Waterian grinned in a very cunning and self-confident way.
"Leave it to me..." she whispered, frowning but still smiling.
/
Zythho cast dark arrows at Lauren and the latter dodged once again. She retaliated by a light wave. But once again, the Shadow Master used his dark shield to protect himself. He had been having recourse to that barrier many times now, making it impossible for her to reach him.
Lauren was now short of attacks. She had been trying all the fighting techniques she knew to break that shield, but none worked. And close quarter combat had become useless long ago. There had to be some way to weaken the Dark Lord. There just had to be !
"Ah ah !" laughed Zythho "Getting tired of it all, dear ?"
The red fox-like alien was indeed a tad tired, inhaling with a bit of effort now. She had been giving her best in order to successfully fight the hybrid creature, but his protection mean was a hinder to her.
"Oh, maybe my shield is a problem to you ?" he asked in a fake-sorry voice. "So maybe I could remove that shield and see if you can really get me..."
And the next minute, the light grey aura surrounding him vanished and he spred his arms aside, as a way to mean "come on, hit me now".
The Queen saw in this a chance to possibly get him so she focused hard and lifted both arms up in the air, as fast as she could.
Some lightening fell down on her arms and she then promptly took her arms down, in the direction of her enemy.
Zythho dodged but his eyes widened as he saw that Lauren had cast another attack immediately after the first one. She was clearly trying to get him with a surprise attack. He didn't expect that, and he hadn't enough time to avoid it. So he quickly took his hand forth before him, in order to recreate the shield.
Nothing happened.
Zythho just had enough time left to utter : "But..." and he got hit hard by the light missile Lauren had been sending at him three seconds after directing her lightning at him.
He plummeted to the ground, where he crashed heavily.
When he was in standing position again, his face was wincing and he was breathing with obvious difficulty.
"But how did you manage to get rid of my shield ?"
He made some new attempts to have his protecting aura around him, but to no avail.
"How did you do, Lauren ?"
His voice had risen to a shout.
The Light Monarch smiled, although she was at a loss herself.
"I didn't do anything, Zythho. So if your protection power is down, it has got nothing to do with me. But still, this sudden weakness of yours is for the best ! For if I now can reach you, there is a chance for me to beat you !"
The hybrid monster didn't reply to this. He was absorbed into a deep thought.
Wait ! Did she say... that my protection power was down ? My protection power... NO ! Could it be that someone found the crystals ? No, I won't let this happen ! And since I still have my offensive powers...
/
Emily was radiant.
The light grey crystal lay smashed to pieces at her feet. And in a matter of seconds, the tiny shining bits started to generate smoke. That smoke grew thicker, until...
All the pieces had disappeared from the black floor. Nothing was left of the crystal.
"Well done, Emily !" Ulliga complimented her "One more left and it's likely that our friends get a chance to defeat the Dark Lord !"
"Here I go again !" the green alien exclaimed.
She positioned herself right in front of the dark grey rhombus shining alternatively and brought all of her six arms in horizontal position before her, like before. And like before again, a sphere of water appeared at the extremity of each arm. The six spheres swelled more and more, and once they had reached a certain size, the Waterian gave a slight impulse to her arms. And like before once more, the liquid balls shot at the crystal and reached it all together, a loud whistling filling the room as they did.
The attack was as efficient as previously, and the dark grey shape didn't resist the intensity of the blow. It exploded in thousands parts, which fell around, everywhere in the hideout.
Same as last time, smoke started from each bit, and about one minute later, all trace of the crystal had vanished from the room.
"We did it !" Phyros enthusiastically shrilled. "We destroyed the dark powers ! And now, the Light Army is in the ideal position. It can vanquish the evil leader !"
Emily was the living image of joy.
"And what do we do now ?" she inquired. "Do we meet up with your friends, who are fighting the Dark Lord ?"
Phyros smiled bright.
"Quite so !" he announced.
And the next moment, they were gone from the throne room, where they had given the fatal blow to the Dark Might.
/
Zythho had been gathering enough energy to launch one of his most powerful attacks. He swung his arms forth, towards his enemies.
The massive black cloud rushed to the Light squad and wrapped everyone.
They all screamed as a terrible pain filled their bodies, and all collapsed from the ache boring their organisms.
"Ah ah ah !" Zythho triumphantly laughed out. "I'm not down yet, folks ! And if I can't protect myself, I can still hurt you badly ! But it's been too long for now ! Let's end it up once and for all !"
He put his hands in cup shape above his head and an enormous black sphere soon appeared.
Zythho laughed insanely on the top of his lungs.
"And bye for good, losers !" he vociferated, as he brought his arms down as quickly as he could, stopping them in direction of his foes, who were just recovering from the last blow.
No way ! thought Sam. We aren't up yet and he's launching what perhaps is his most powerful attack. It can't be the end ! He can't win !
The huge black sphere left his hands and started to rush towards the Light team.
And dissolved into thin air halfway.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO !" shouted Zythho.
"Yes !" screamed Lauren in reply. She had managed to get up before the rest and had been concentrating her energy.
And she cast one of her greatest spells.
Dozens of light rays came out of nowhere from every part of the room and converged towards the Shadow Leader.
The latter did his best to avoid them, but was soon overwhelmed. And his yells got deafening as the multiple rays pierced the screen of his body and got to both his heart and brain.
He shouted louder but the rays intensified, and always more and more rays came hit his two vital organs.
At last there was a dark light explosion from his body and the latter fell like a stone, crashing heavily in a distance.
"We got him !" Danny screamed. "We got this bastard !"
"Bravo, Your Majesty !" Chris told her.
"We all owe you our lives !" observed Sam.
The green-jewel alien grinned wider than she ever had up to now.
"No, thank you all, Beabas and MBC, for helping ! We wouldn't have been able to beat him otherwise. It's not just me who did it, it's all of us ! It's our victory, not mine !"
Sam smiled at this.
What a modest sovereign she is ! It's an example for all ! If only humans were that wise...
After Lauren had repeated the same words to her soldiers, who all bowed to her, she headed towards Zythho and stopped by his body.
She could sense that there was no more dark energy flowing from that organism.
He was dead.
It was the end of the Shadow era.
"Your Majesty, are you alright ?" Ana asked her leader.
The Fic Queen grinned.
"Yes, Ana. I am. Just feeling a tad bruised and tired, but it will fade away. I'm just so sad for Mytylys. While I was fighting Zythho, I could feel his aura disappear. It's such a pity. I know he was a good lad, and had been manipulated by his master. Poor of him ! May he rest in peace !"
They all got silent for a minute, then Lauren spoke up again.
"You had three objectives, I believe ? Free me, defeat the Dark Leader and find your friend's shadow. Two of these goals have been reached, time for the third one, right ?"
"Oh yes !" Danny exclaimed in a rush "Cathy's shadow ! We must find it quickly ! It took us so much time to fight all these guys ! We mustn't have much more !"
"You're right, Danny !" the tech admitted. "We don't have much time left, I'm afraid. Isn't it, Sam ?"
The black girl took a look at the tiny hourglass Katie had given her.
Most of the silver dust had already fell, so there shouldn't remain more than one or two hours.
"My God !" she screamed. "I hadn't checked the remaining time for so long now, because of all those fights who demanded all my attention. And I now see we're soon done ! We must hurry !"
At these words, Lauren turned to face the glass cells holding the shadows. She brought her hands together, like in a praying position.
And concentrated her sensing powers.
All of the cells' doors opened simultaneously, letting all the shadows out. The latter all fell to the floor.
The storage room was now scattered with black shapes.
Lauren frowned harder.
One of those black shapes rose from the floor and floated up to the Light/MBC group and stopped in front of Sam, Danny and Chris.
A familiar shadow, that was...
"Cathy !" they screamed all together.
/
Waow, at last ! What a mammoth chapter that was, both parts altogether ! Even worse than THE LONG WALK. Hence my splitting it up in two, otherwise… poor eyes of yours, glued to the screen for soooooo long… ;P
Hope you're all hanging to the edges of your seats, coz there's more to come. It ain't over yet, even if we're nearing the end.
Stay tuned for the next bunch. And don't worry, it will be shorter, eh eh !
Later, take care... and write on your stories, duuuuuuh !
Peace, Love, Ecstasy !