Ch35: Day of the Dryad: Part 1
The sun shone brightly in the sky as birds chirped on the midsummer morning in the town of Castelan. It was a great summer's day and the youth of the town were beginning to rise and enjoy yet another day of the summer.
In the Du Lac house, Artemis Domino was sitting in her room and brushing her hair, getting ready to go out for the day with her brother and their friends. The young teen was humming a tune to herself as she did so. As she hummed to herself, Aaron walked by and stood in the doorway, clearing his throat to get his sister's attention.
"Hey, the others are all ready and heading over to the house now, shouldn't be too long before we head out. You gonna be ready before then?" He asked as Artemis turned to face him.
The teen stopped humming and placed her hair brush down on her dresser. "I was just waiting for the rest of you to get ready, so where did you say we were all going?" Artemis asked as she stood up and headed to the doorway of her room and stopping just opposite her brother.
"Well it's just the usual for now. There's gonna be a carnival in two weeks though, so we'll all be at that if you wanna come with us, no need to rush on an answer though, for now let's just try and enjoy another lazy day."
Artemis gave a nod and the two headed down the stairs after hearing their doorbell ring and opening it to see the five other rangers stood at the door giving pleasant waves to the two siblings.
"We all ready to go?" Percy asked as the five of them shuffled out of the way to make room for the other two.
"We sure are, hopefully this day goes smoothly, don't want any of those things that attack the town ruining the day now, do we?" Aaron replied, trying to conceal his and the other's knowledge on the current threat due to present company.
"You mean Abaddon the demons wrecking the place again, I think I got my fill of it last time, hopefully we do get a break between-" Tyson responded before being cut off by the pink ranger who shoved her hands into the face of the yellow ranger to keep his mouth shut and make any further noise come out muffled.
"Tyson, remember who you're with when you talk about that kind of stuff." Lexa reminded him, he then nodded realising his mistake before Lexa released her hold over his mouth. She then wiped her hands on her shorts. "Tyson, if my hands smell like your breath after that, you're in real big trouble." She threatened before Aaron stepped up.
"Okay everyone, how about we completely ignore what just happened there and get going, clearly someone's been reading a little too much fiction lately." The ranger said, quickly changing the subject as the rangers began walking further into town.
Tyson was walking with a confused expression on his face as he walked beside Ben. "But I don't read…" Tyson said in protest, still confused as to why his teammate had made the excuse.
Ben turned his head to look at the yellow ranger as the group of seven walked down the street. "I know big guy, I know."
[Blackspire]
Abaddon sat atop his throne in the center of the dark spire, the throne room was empty and desolate aside from one haunting figure stood at the foot of the throne.
The figure appeared to be an incorporeal one that was translucent. Its body appeared to be a dark ragged cloak over the wispy apparition that floated there. The sleeves of the cloak produced a set of chilling metal claws as the spirit floated there.
The demon prince rose from his throne and walked toward the ghostly figure as the brasiers of in the throne room extinguished and the blazing red eyes inside of the hood became visible.
"So you are the Wraith that has sworn themselves. Then you know what I want correct? The rangers that have threatened my plans for a while now. I want them gone." Abaddon explained to his newest servant, a heartless and corrupt Wraith taken from the cursed realm now serving Abaddon.
The figure spoke with an almost petrifying voice. "I am Blythe, at your command I will drain the life from your enemies, my lord." Blythe introduced, bowing to the demon prince.
Abaddon gave a malevolent smirk while observing the spectral being before him. "My plans rest heavily upon this, succeed in wiping out my enemies and I will reward you, Blythe." He informed the Wraith, who gave one final nod before turning with and flying forward towards the door, phasing completely through it.
[Castelan Town Center]
It was midday in Castelan as the rangers and Artemis headed through the town, they were all getting hungry as lunchtime came and a few of their stomachs were grumbling.
"Man I'm starving! When are we gonna get something to eat?" Tyson groaned as his stomach gave a loud growl.
Lexa nodded in agreement. "Yeah, if we don't, get some food soon, I'm making someone pay."
"Now now, don't do anything rash Lexa." Aaron calmly protested as they looked around for somewhere to eat.
Artemis jumped into the conversation as she spotted a nice looking restaurant that she wanted to eat at. "Hey! Can we go there? It opened a few weeks ago and I've been dying to go ever since!" She enthused.
Aaron smiled as he stood beside her. "Well it seems really over the top and unnecessary for a diner by the looks of it, but in terms of how big Lexa and Tyson's stomachs are, and believe me they're big I pretty much starved on a camping trip with them one time, I think over the top and unnecessary is just fine. The rest of you fine with this?" The ranger asked to which they gave thumbs up.
As the seven of them walked down the street toward the restaurant, the sign being obscured from view by a tree for the time being, Emlie heard something and stopped to see if it was just a one off or if something was really going off. The others turned around when they noticed that the white ranger had stopped and looked at her with concerned expressions, except from Artemis, who had no clue what was currently going on.
"I thought I heard." The white ranger said before spinning around as her theory was quickly proven as the cries of civilians came from around the corner as the terrified citizens fled the area.
Also coming from around the corner was a squadron of Thralls, which were one of the causes of the terrified and fleeing civilians. The other cause followed shortly, revealing itself to be the spine chilling Wraith Blythe that caused the rangers to tense up on sight of the immaterial figure which quickly spotted them and pointed at the rangers with its icy clawed hands, ordering the Thralls to advance as the Wraith floated closer to them.
A lump formed in Artemis' throat. "Did… Did that thing just point at us!?" She asked, the look of terror now forming in the young teen's eyes.
"Artemis, get out of here, now." Aaron ordered his sister, keeping his eyes on this new incorporeal foe they now faced.
"I can't just leave you here!" The younger teen objected, standing firm.
Percy interjected before his leader could say anything. "Aaron, there's no use, the longer we wait, the bigger chance we have to lose, and besides, you knew this couldn't be kept from her forever. There's no other choice."
Aaron paused for a few seconds. "Okay… Missy, just keep safe for now, I promise I'll explain everything to you later." He told his sister, who then ran to the side, behind a set of concrete steps. "But right now, it's morphing time." He concluded as he stepped into line along with the other rangers.
"Mythos Ignite!" "Templar Power, Activate!" The six rangers called out, morphing and drawing their blades as Blythe and the Thrall footsoldiers approached.
Artemis' eyes widened in surprise. "They're the power rangers!?" She asked in a mix of surprise and wonder at this new revelation about her brother and friends.
Stood side by side, the rangers began their roll call, Percy taking point.
"Element of Atlantis! Mythos Blue!" Percy called.
"Element of Asgard! Mythos Yellow!" Tyson yelled out to the sky.
"Element of Babylon! Mythos Pink!" Lexa said, posing quickly.
"Element of Astral! Mythos Black!" Ben declared, giving his blade a twirl around in his hand.
"Element of Elysium! Mythos White!" Emlie exclaimed, tapping her shoulder with her blade.
"Element of Albion! Templar Ranger!" Aaron finished, levelling his blade and pointing it at the Thralls and Wraith before them.
"Power Rangers, Mythos!" The six of them called, slashing the air with their blades as they did so.
Aaron quickly took charge of the situation, seeing that Blythe was a ghost of some form and knowing that their usual weapons wouldn't do any harm. "Okay, Lexa and Percy with me. We'll take on the Thralls. Emlie, Ben and Tyson. You use your legendary weapons against that thing, I don't think our usual blades are gonna work against this thing." The six nodded and followed of the orders of their leader without question.
Aaron ignited his blade with elemental fire, while Lexa created a miniature tornado around the blade of her weapon. Percy also did a similar thing, creating a field of water around his.
Lexa cut through the enemies first, slashing them and causing them to get trapped inside a multitude of tornadoes that calmed quickly before planting the dizzied Thralls on the ground. This was when Aaron and Percy performed simultaneous attacks, zig-zagging through the thralls and slashing them with their elementally charged blades. When the two had cut through the ranks, all of the Thralls had suffered serious damage and exploded into whirlwinds of fire.
Meanwhile, the other three rangers had summoned their elemental weapons, Brionac, Parashu and Mjolnir, from their amulets and were currently combating Blythe as best they could.
Emlie lunged in with her spear, which the Wraith easily dodged. On her second attempt at fighting Blythe, the white ranger tried landing a roundhouse kick on the ghostly apparition, only for her leg to phase straight through the being and make her fall to the ground.
Ben was next to take charge and fight the Wraith. "If that doesn't work on you, how about a taste of the demon slaying axe." The black ranger said, gaining the attention of the wraith as he swung the huge and brutish axe around to try and connect with the being, yet it phased through too.
Blythe gave a malevolent chuckle. "Pitiful humans, your weapons are no match for a force for death. I don't understand why you are even a challenge, by I will drain each and everyone of you of your life force this day!" The Wraith declared, raising its hands and knocking Tyson and Ben to the ground.
Lexa and Percy ran in concerned, but were also knocked to the ground by the invisible force. Five of the six rangers were on the ground as a shadowy aura began to grow from the Wraith. Aaron charged in with his longsword ignited with a stream of fire. He slashed at Blythe and surprisingly, the weapon managed to hit and temporarily stun the being.
"You foolish child!" Blythe roared as he shot a bolt of dark energy at Aaron that sent him back about twenty feet into a street lamp and forced him to demorph. "When I learn how you did that I'll drain you too, but for now." He finished as he raised his hands toward the other five rangers and began drawing energy from them that manifested in a stream of white light, being drained from them.
The five rangers were in distress as the energy was drained from them and forced them out of their ranger forms as their skin began to go pale.
From where Artemis was, she saw everything and was horrified at what she saw, the five rangers were being drained of their life force and her brother was just slammed into a street lamp by the Wraith. Sh was scared, but she had to do something to try and stop Blythe. Then she noticed a throwable stone on the ground.
"Hey creep!" She called out as the stone was flung and connected with the Wraith's head and caused him to recoil and break his concentration, ceasing the draining process of the rangers.
Blythe became outraged. The Wraith flew quickly in front of Artemis. "You stupid girl, how dare you strike me, you will pay for that with you life!" It screamed, picking her up with one of its chilling clawed hands and lifting her up off of the ground, attempting to drain her life force too.
It worked for a few moments, the young teenager struggling to breathe, but then the hand of the ghostly being began to hiss as smoke came from it. The Wraith's hand began to burn holding onto Artemis' throat. Blythe jerked his hand back in pain and retreated. "Not possible, a child with strength over life. I was unprepared for this, but when we meet next, I will be prepared." Blythe warned before phasing through a building and disappearing.
Aaron rose from where he had been thrown and ran over to his friends, checking on Emlie first and his face becoming distressed when there was no response. "No… come on… wake up…" He said quietly as Artemis came over.
"Will, they be okay?" The young teen asked, to which her brother turned his head, his face still showing a look of distress. "Can we help them?" She asked, to which Aaron shrugged in uncertainty.
"I-I just need a moment… There-There's someone I need to call, someone who can help." Aaron explained to Artemis as he tried to keep himself together.
[Command Center]
Aaron and Artemis, with the help of Doctor Blake and Jamie had managed to take the unconscious and drained teens to safety and had placed them in the medical bay of the command center. While the mentor and technician were working as hard as they could to heal the rangers, Aaron and his sister were sat down at the small conference table, the former looking depressed as of recent events.
"So, when did you become a power ranger?" Artemis asked, getting the ranger's attention.
"It wasn't long after I came here, we were fighting this other villain, Shadai, at the time. He possessed Dad and we fought hard but it was thanks to a sorceress that he was freed from Shadai and the villain was sealed away again. That was about the time I learned of you too, but it's important you know about what happened to you in all that missing time." Aaron explained.
"What do you mean?" Artemis asked as she stared blankly at her brother.
"The sorceress that saved him was one that we fought briefly before she did so. She was the powerful Morgana Le Fay. But she didn't have a body for a while before, when she encountered us though she did. She took over someone's body, your body." He continued, causing Artemis' face to go wide in shock.
"I-I was possessed!?" She shouted out in surprise and shock.
"She could only take over the body of a descendant of hers. I guess on your mum's side, you're descended from Morgana. We managed to save you with the help of an unconventional ally. I wanted to keep all of this away from you, but I knew I couldn't for long, so here we are." Aaron finished recounting the events, leaving Artemis in shock and somewhat disbelief.
"All this time I thought everything was normal and fine, then this happens and everything I thought I knew is gone and I'm left with this. You could've just told me the truth. Why'd you keep it from me?" She asked, growing slightly agitated.
Before Aaron could answer, the alarm sounded and the Templar ranger shot up. "Looks like he's back, and this time, I'm gonna make him pay for hurting my friends." He said before rushing out without a word to his sister.
Doctor Blake approached the young teen still sat in the chair, he appeared to be in deep thought before looking at the girl and speaking up. "Artemis, I have something for you, something that only you can have, and if you want to help, I suggest you take it."
[Castelan Town Center]
Blythe had returned as civilians fled from the life draining Wraith. Aaron ran up, morphing quickly as he did and drawing his sword as he charged forward at the wraith, his head now filled with anger.
"Back for more ranger? Well this time you'll end up just like your pitiful friends!" The incorporeal being declared as he slammed Aaron back with a powerful force, once again causing the ranger to fly back and slam into a concrete support this time, causing the ranger to demorph.
Blythe floated closer to the ranger and was ready to drain the very life from him when a stone hit the head of the Wraith, who turned in frustration to see who it was. It was Artemis. Blythe roared in frustration as an aura of darkness surrounded him and he began to build up a large ball of dark energy.
"This time, I won't let you get in the way, child of life!" Blythe screamed as he shot the bolt of dark energy at Artemis, whose eyes widened as the bolt came ever closer.
As it came closer, connecting with the girl, a bright flash of white light came over the area, blinding everything in sight, as the light persisted, the only sound that could be heard was Aaron crying out in concern for his sister. "ARTEMIS!"
|Mythos|
That is Chapter 35. What a way to end it too, that cliffhanger there went really well in my opinion and now there's a real sense of danger looming with this, five rangers down, one ranger currently out of the fight and Artemis' fate currently unknown, what's gonna happen next? Even though I already know I'm really excited for writing up the next chapter.
I might be taking a quick break since I've been having a couple of sleepless nights which isn't really good for my brain, though I can power through it if need be. So I'll see you all again in whatever I write next, and hopefully by then I can sleep normally again. Anyway, I'll see you all again next time, and have a good day.
Next Chapter: Day of the Dryad: Part 2
Synopsis: With five rangers out and another currently trying to fight Blythe, without much success, could Abaddon finally have a victory over the rangers? Or will another factor play in? One far more powerful than anyone could possibly imagine. Find out next time on Power Rangers: Mythos.