CHAPTER 13:

CEREMONY OF DEATH

Justin and the others crept cautiously down the stairway, which spiraled down and down quite a distance.

"Maybe we should go back," Sue suggested. "This place is creepy!"

"But Feena and Leen could be in danger!" Justin reminded her.

"Doesn't he ever stop?!" Nana panted as they descended lower and lower.

"No, not really," Sue replied with a giggle.

Finally, the staircase came to a stop, and the group found a large open doorway in front of them. Poking their heads through the entrance, they saw an extraordinary scene before them, a large underground shrine.

Every person of the Uolegna tribe, dressed in black filled the area, facing a large stone altar-like structure. Sethylos, also dressed in black and wearing a very large black and red headdress, was standing on this altar.

"It looks like a ceremony of worship," Rapp informed the others.

An enormous, and very familiar-looking stone statue towered up from behind Sethylos. It had four insect-like wings spread out, and one large ruby for an eye. It was an idol of...Gaia!!!

"What the hell's going on here?!!" Justin muttered to himself. "These people don't worship Gaia, do they?!"

"That's what it looks like," Mullen replied.

"Justin, look!!!" Sue gasped, pointing her index finger out. "It's Feena and Leen!!"

She was right. Justin spotted them sitting under the statue, with looks of terror on their faces. They both had their hands tied tightly behind their backs, and their legs were also bound.

Sethylos held his arms up to speak, and everyone in the shrine grew silent. "My people," he began. "Let us all give praise to the Almighty Gaia before we begin our ceremony." He turned and looked up at the statue. "Oh, Gaia! We, the Uolegnanians, give praise to You. We thank You for Your doing away with the Angelounians, long years ago!"

"What?!" Justin exclaimed. "These psychos prayed for Gaia to destroy the Angelounian Civilization?!"

Sethylos continued the prayer. "When we created You, Gaia, we gave You to our rivals, the Angelounians, promising that You would make them the most powerful civilization on Earth. However, they knew nothing of Your devious ways, and instead of allowing their civilization to prosper, You've brought destruction raining down upon their doomed empire! Thanks to You, our loathsome rivals' empire, which once shined so gloriously, is now burning in the fiery reaches of Hell, doomed to never escape an eternity of complete damnation!!! And so, as reward for Your noble deeds, we have given you freedom once again!! But hark, the cursed Hero and Icarian have put You to rest once more."

Justin smiled triumphantly to himself when Sethylos said this.

"But," he continued, "little do they know that You are not defeated. As a tree, You slumber, healing from the wounds that the Hero and Icarian have brought unto You. But, soon, You will emerge from Your cocoon of bark and wood, and continue to bring devastation to the world, as a new Gaia! And once You bring the demise to the rest of the world's vermin, we shall emerge as the ultimate civilization! It is now our turn to spread our city to every edge of the Earth!!"

"I can't believe it!!" Justin exclaimed, traumatized. "G-Gaia's still alive! That 'tree' that we saw after we fought it is actually a cocoon!!"

"And now we present our gift to You," Sethylos continued, "behold!" He turned to Feena and Leen. "We present to You the last two Icarians on Earth! May the spilling of their blood satisfy Your thirst for vengeance on the ones who've brought great misery to Your second visit on our planet!" The audience in the shrine suddenly burst into shouts of excitement.

"What?!!!" Justin screamed. "Oh my God, they're going to kill them!!"

Sethylos turned back to the frightened twins. "Bring forth the one called 'Feena'!"

Justin watched in disbelief as two muscular men scooped his frightened love up in their arms, and lay her down on her back upon a stone table. Sethylos approached the girl as she struggled with the ropes that immobilized her body.

"Hello, my little Icarian," Sethylos whispered to her, smiling wickedly. He pulled a dagger off of his belt, and Feena's eyes widened. He moved his face close to hers. "Are you frightened, my dear girl? What are you afraid of? Is it the dagger?" He held the dagger close to her, and she shut her eyes in fear, gritting her teeth. Sethylos chuckled as the girl squirmed as he waved the dagger above her face. "Do you fear the blade, my sweet?" He then gently ran the dagger up and down the side of her face, causing her to shriek in terror. "Oh, is that a tear?" he taunted her, as one of her frightened eyes released a tear, which rolled slowly down her cheek. Then, her head fell onto her shoulder, and she fainted.

Watching Sethylos tormenting Feena was the last straw for Justin. He pulled his sword out of its sheath, preparing to fight the evil man.

"And now," Sethylos announced, "by the power of Gaia, I shall use this dagger to remove the Icarian's heart!!" He raised the dagger over his head, and prepared to plunge it into the girl's chest.

"NO!!!" Justin shouted out loud, sprinting out of his hiding place towards the altar. In a split second, he pulled his sword out of its sheath, and swung it at the dagger as it came down, sending it flying out of Sethylos's clenched fist and across the room. The bystanders immediately stopped chanting. The rest of Justin's accomplices ran in and drew their weapons.

"CEREMONY'S OVER!!!" Mullen shouted at the bystanders, brandishing his sword threateningly. "EVERYONE OUT!!! DOES IT LOOK LIKE WE'RE JOKING?!! MOVE IT!!!"

Seeing the weapons, the bystanders ran off like the cowards they were. Sethylos's bodyguards stepped forward to take care of the intruders, but Sethylos held up his hand to stop them. Mullen ran up to Leen, untied her, and pulled her to her feet. She immediately drew her saber, her eyes flashing as angrily as the others'.

"You fools," Sethylos hissed. "How dare you disrupt this ceremony!! You are angering the great Gaia!! He is still waiting to recieve the souls of the last of the Icarians!"

They didn't show any signs of backing down. "LET...FEENA...GO!!!" Justin shouted, rage pounding through his veins.

"I am terribly sorry," Sethylos replied. "But I must kill her, boy! Orders are orders, after all.

"Who ordered you to kill her?!!!" Justin demanded, moving the tip of his blade under the frightening man's chin.

"I did!!" an angry and familiar voice called out, and it didn't come from Sethylos.

"Did...you...hear...that?" Sue whispered.

"I heard it," Justin answered. "But...I didn't hear it." He looked around the shrine, confused. No one else was in the shrine but his friends and Sethylos. "Wh-who said that?!

Sethylos only smiled nastily. "He did!" He reached into his headdress, and pulled something out that struck terror in the hearts of Justin and his friends.

TO BE CONTINUED