Chapter 34 – The Comet Approaches
"Heh heh heh. So you've ventured to the very corners of the Earth?" The Jackal said menacingly. "Your father would have never believed it."
"Let me go." Kara said defiantly. The Jackal laughed. He had her arms pinned, and had a sharp hunting knife right against her neck. "I guess you just don't learn. And to think that you put up with the commoners the whole time, with all the hardship, all the pain, all in the name of running away from your own family."
"I hate you, I hate my father and mother. Let me go." Kara said again.
"Don't speak like that." The Jackal said. "You can't betray your own, it's just not in human nature to do that. Who knows what could happen? Come with me to Edward Castle."
"She doesn't want to go, you can't make her." Will scolded the Jackal in as quiet a voice as possible given the circumstances. He took a step toward Kara, but his grasp around Kara got tighter and the knife touched her fair skin. "Come any closer, and I'll use this knife." The Jackal said calmly.
"You would dare not hurt her, King Edward would have your head." Will said.
The Jackal laughed. "He doesn't scare me. He's my puppet. I'll take care of him when the time comes. But business comes first."
Will was frustrated. He had no idea how the Jackal had gotten into the room, much less how he had managed to subdue Kara so quickly. The look on Kara's face was defiant. He knew that she would rather die than return alive to Edward Castle. By approaching the Jackal, he would seal her fate.
But then he noticed something. The Jackal was standing near the booby-trapped statue on the right side of the room. Will stepped back, and drew his flute.
The Jackal was thrown a bit. He didn't know if Will meant to attack, or if it was a diversion of some kind. Will put the flute to his lips and began to play Lola's Melody, as loudly as he possibly could.
"If you think playing a song is going to help you, then you're dumber than I thought." The Jackal said smugly. As Will continued to play, he noticed the two statues in the room began to flash a reddish color. The one on the right was right behind the Jackal, but Kara was also precariously near. But it was his only chance, and he knew it. Just as Will finished the song, the statue shot out a large stream of flames that shot out in three directions, engulfing the Jackal. He instantly jumped out and started screaming. He dropped the knife and lost grip on Kara, who thankfully was just outside of both statues' range. Instantly he began flopping on the ground, trying to pat out the flames. Kara picked up the knife. She had never felt such anger before in her life. She planned to sever the Jackal's head with the knife, but such brutality was not necessary, as the Jackal simply burned on the sandstone floor. He attempted to crawl across the floor toward Will, and nearly got to him before his final collapse. The Jackal was dead.
Suddenly Will overheard his Gaia's voice. "Will, the sixth and final mystic statue is ahead. In four days' time, the comet with enter Earth's atmosphere. You must go to the Tower of Babel and save Earth!"
Will and Kara were both in a seeming trance, Kara over the surprise attack and Will over Gaia's words. Then they snapped out of it. "The final stone, Will, put it in." Kara said. Will grabbed the remaining hieroglyph and pushed it into the wall. Almost immediately there was a huge audible thud, followed by two more such sounds. Then the wall began to open up, revealing a dark passageway lighted by fire torches. The two walked hand in hand down the dark tunnel, until they eventually came to another entrance. They walked up the stairs into a magnificent throne room. On the throne sat a tall woman wearing a light blue dress and a stunning golden crown. She had a blue staff in her right hand.
"Who dares enter my sacred chamber?" The pharaoh bellowed. "Please show yourselves."
Will and Kara approached, walking up a red carpet toward the throne. They knelt down before the throne. "Your majesty, we have come in search of the mystic statue of the pyramid." Will said. "A comet of death and destruction approaches the Earth. The mystic statues are the key to earth's survival from the coming holocaust."
"Your majesty, do you know of its whereabouts?" Kara asked.
The pharaoh appeared to be quite annoyed. "So it is true, you are the explorers of legend. Young lady, be truthful to me, are you Egyptian?" The pharaoh asked.
"Well, not exactly." Kara said meekly.
"Then why do you dress as one? You deceived my soldiers, and enlisted their help to get you and your friend to reach the spot where you now stand. You are a treacherous one. But your friend is even more treacherous!" The pharaoh turned to Will and gave him a fiery look. "You are hoping to deny the dead their day! The day when all living things on Earth perish is the day that the dead take their rightful place as rulers of the planet! And as the mummified pharaoh of the Pyramid, it is my destiny to rule over all! That day is coming, in only four short days time, and you aim to obtain the one item that will defeat the prophecy of the ancients!"
"This, I will not allow." The pharaoh stood up and waved her staff. Within seconds, a large balcony dropped from the ceiling and rested about twenty feet above the ground. Will got the feeling that the pharaoh had her own ruthless agenda, and that vicious fight was coming. His suspicions were confirmed when Kara suddenly vanished, the pharaoh froze in place, and he heard Gaia's voice. "For this battle, you have the option of enlisting the Dark Knight, Freedan, or the Warrior of Light, Shadow. Make your decision."
"Freedan." Will said firmly, standing to fight with his more comfortable alter-ego. "Very well." Gaia said, and Will dropped to his knees. He lost consciousness.
The Pharaoh rose her staff above her head. The pyramid seemed to start shaking, and large stones fell from the ceiling. Freedan dodged them, and drew his sword. He rushed in against the Pharaoh and swung away. It clanged off of her staff. The Pharaoh responded by pointing her staff at him. The end of it lit up and a charged shot of energy shot out at Freedan. It struck him right in the chest. The energy sapped Freedan's strength. Unhappy with the long range attack, Freedan approached again. He swung his sword at her again, and this time the sword attack connected right across her midsection. But instead of slicing right through her dress, it caused her to suddenly disappear from existence. Instead, a mummified spirit appeared where she had vanished. Suddenly, that spirit split into many spirits and spread out in all directions. One of them nailed Freedan in the arm, and another attempted to take him out at the knees. Freedan took both blows, but managed to stay on his feet. The spirits then attempted to chase him. Before long he was backed into a corner with a blue puddle of fluid in it. He continued to back up, into the puddle. It was a transporter! Within a second, it transported him up to the balcony high above.
The spirits re-combined on the lower floor and the pharaoh came back into existence. Noticing her adversary on the upper level, she grabbed the hem of her dress and began to float up into the air. Freedan was surprised. Apparently she really was deceased, because no mortal was capable of defying gravity. The dark knight could not reconcile fighting against a ghost. His nerves were shot. As the pharaoh charged up for another energy attack, Freedan felt his consciousness beginning to fade. It was as though he had lost control of his own body.
From a puddle of white emerged Shadow, the Warrior of Light. Holding the Aura over his head, he turned back into a puddle, and began to seep through the balcony floor. It recollected on the lower lever, and his form quickly re-shaped. Now it was the pharaoh that had lost her nerves. It was apparent that her adversary was no longer mortal. But if that was the case, why was it not under her command? Angry and confused, she shot out three more energy blasts, all of which Shadow dodged. Shadow attacked with his strong arms and nailed the pharaoh right beneath the chin. She instantly split into mummified spirits again, but Shadow dodged these by transporting back to the upper level. Once the pharaoh re-emerged, she raised her staff in an attempt to drop ceiling tiles onto Shadow, but he again used the Aura to turn into a puddle, and the boulders did no harm whatsoever. After taking another hit from Shadow on the lower level, the pharaoh took to the air and tried to fire energy from far away. But the Warrior was able to float for short distances and could jump extremely far. He leapt from the balcony and swung his arm. It clanged off of the pharaoh's staff, but it shook her concentration, for she ended up falling to the ground, landing hard on her right leg and arm. Her staff went flying across the floor.
Shadow rushed in to attack, and did so viciously. All it took was one big swing to the head, and the battle was over. The pyramid's leader blew up in a vicious explosion, and once the flames settled, the final mystic statue emerged. Shadow began to lose consciousness.
Will picked up the mystic statue, which stood on the floor in front of the throne. As he did so, he heard his father's voice coming from the flute. "Will, my son, you have done my will. Bring the six mystic statues to the Tower of Babel. I am waiting for you."
When Will left the throne room and re-entered the library, Kara was waiting. "So, you defeated the lord of the pyramid?" she asked.
"Yes. And here's the mystic statue. It's time to get back to Dao, time is short." Will said.
"I saw Gaia. She spoke to me." Kara said. Will smiled. "And what did Gaia say?" he asked.
"She told me that I would be elemental in helping you achieve final victory." .
Day 98 –
They had left the pyramid under the cover of night, and in fairly calm conditions. But ahead was another day and a half trip through the sandy wasteland. Will and Kara were both tired yet exuberant over their conquest. They continued to traverse the sands until afternoon on Day 98, when they saw the village of Dao returning into their sights. They entered the town and headed immediately to the house next to the Dao Inn, where Neil had been living.
Neil, Erik, Anne, and Mike were all sitting at a table when they arrived. They all stood up immediately when Will entered the room.
"So do you have them all?" Erik asked.
"Yes." Will responded. The room exploded into cheers. "Tower of Babel, here we come!" Erik shouted as he hugged Will. Anne and Mike sunk into each other's arms, and tears of joy poured out. Neil of course, was less exuberant, but even he had a look of excitement on his face.
"So how exactly do we reach Babel?" Kara asked.
"We, well, gee I'm not exactly sure." Will said. "Neil, what are we going to do? It's such a little island."
"We could always walk to the seashore, and take a boat." Neil said.
"That's not going to be fast enough." Will said.
"Why not?" Erik asked.
Will's tone changed quickly from celebratory to stern. "Because the comet is going to enter earth's atmosphere very soon. We don't have time to waste on a boat in the middle of the sea."
"I agree!" Kara shouted. "We already did that for three weeks."
Neil looked down, and put his hands on his chin. Then he looked them in the eye. "So that's it then. We're taking the airplane."
"What? Oh no we're not!" Erik shouted.
"When did you build another airplane?" Will asked.
"My original airplane was actually built in Euro, near my parents' home." Neil explained. We had an airfield just south of the city. The one we flew on at the Sky Garden was a different model. After the crash near Mu, I thought about what went wrong, and when I got back to Euro I fixed up my original plane and flew it out to Dao. It's here. All we have to do is get it properly fueled and move all the sand out of the cockpit."
"Neil, you're so cool." Kara said.
"So, you had a crash before?" Anne asked.
Neil explained. "We were out in the ocean near Mu, and the plane hit some turbulence and went down. We parachuted out. I figured the cause and have made the necessary adjustments to the motor, propeller and interior design. This time the plane won't crash. I would bet my life."
"So after we go to the Tower of Babel, where do we go from there?" Mike asked.
"It depends. If there is an airfield on Babel Island, we'll be able to land there. If not, then we'll have to head south toward Gondwanaland. South Cape will be our ultimate destination, of course." Neil asked.
"So how long until we leave?" Will asked.
"It's too late in the afternoon to leave today, but we'll make sure we have the necessary fuel and provisions for the next three days or so. I'll test it, and then tomorrow morning we'll leave for the south coast of Laurasia. We should get there before dark. Then the day after next, it's the journey over the ocean to Babel Island. At that point there will be no turning back."
Will did not know it then, but he would remember Neil's words for the rest of his life.