Chapter 1
Resurrection and Death
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Michael placed the band-aid on the little boy's tiny but chubby arm. "There you go, Chip. Just remember to next time think before you climb up a tree." he smiled to the toddler, speaking in his American accent.
Chip nodded his head and hurried out of the medical hut of the Eco camp, just as Queen Eagle of the Gaians came walking in, smiling. A smile that no man could hardly resist. And Michael was becoming one of those men.
"Good morning." he greeted her with a friendly smile.
"Morning. I see Chip had another run in with a tree." Amber smiled back.
"Kids." Michael shrugged. "Always finding new and interesting things to do, even if it IS dangerous." he smirked and started cleaning up the tent.
Amber looked a bit more longer at the healer. Michael was the same age as Bray, the same height as well. Only Michael had short blond hair, blue eyes, and wasn't built truly like Bray but somewhere like Pride. He wasn't an Eco though. Michael had only been staying along with the Gaians when he helped Trudy and Pride escape a tracker unit of the Chosen to get to the camp.
Michael was a healer, not a warrior. But he knew pretty well how to defend himself. Violence though wasn't his thing. He would rather save lives than take them away, and would gladly take any risk just to do that.
Michael had also helped in the recovery of Trudy. Yes, the Chosen definitely brainwashed her. Michael even became more concerned when Pride mentioned that Bray, Amber's lover and leader of the resistance against the Chosen, told him about a room they lock you up in. It was called Power and Chaos 101, a torture chamber.
It took time, but Trudy's therapy paid off and she was back to normal….with a huge guilt conscience though. Neither Michael nor Amber had ever seen someone cry so much, but the healer had been a shoulder to lean and cry own for the former Supreme Mother. Amber tried as well, but Trudy kept her distance from her best friend. The shock of Amber being alive and the huge guilt she had over so much suffering the Chosen had caused made her distant from everyone.
Trudy though was now managing to keep a strong feature about her and start to communicate more with Amber again. But when she asked about Dal, Amber dared not to tell her the truth and just told Trudy that it was an accident that he fell.
Trudy was still grief-stricken by the news. Dal had also been a big part of hers and her daughter's life. He was even in love with her once.
'Who could blame him,' Michael thought to himself as he captured the sight of Trudy outside, playing with Brady and a few of the Eco children.
"She's seems to have gotten better." Michael nodded his head over to Trudy in the opening.
"Michael?" Amber/Eagle looked up to the healer. "I know this was the day you were suppose to go on, but I have another favor to ask."
"Ask away." he smiled.
"Well, out of all our healers among the camp, you've so far proven to be the best. You actually know what you're doing that it's almost scary."
"I hope that's a compliment." Michael rubbed the back of his neck.
"It is. But, what I wanted to ask was….if you would consider joining the Mallrats. The war is over and I know you said you would leave, but still the City could use a man of your skill and knowledge with medicine."
Back to the city. Michael always thought about the city. A place that had once been his home.
Michael's father was a doctor, and his mother a scientist. The best of both worlds. It was through their knowledge that he became such a miracle worker. The City though over time had become Hell on Earth though. He was glad to have left it when he did with all power and chaos around every corner.
Still though, if there was someone who needed his medical expertise, he would be there. Perhaps it was time now to get over that fear and return home. The Chosen were defeated anyways, the Guardian was locked up.
"Ah, guess it couldn't hurt. Count me in." he accepted.
Amber's answer was only an appreciative smile, but just as she was about to say something else, Hawk and a few others came rushing inside the hut with a unconscious figure of a girl in his arms.
"We got a problem!" Hawk exclaimed.
"Set her down on the bed." Michael said as he and Amber made way for them to bring the unconscious girl in. "Where did you find her?"
"In the woods. I'm not sure how long she's been out." Hawk looked up to the blonde healer as he placed his hand on the girl's chest, checking for a heart beat, then placing his ear against her mouth to check her breathing. "Is she going to be all right?"
Michael nodded as he leaned back up. "Her heart is beating well and her breathing's a bit slow but normal. She'll be fine." 'But she looks like she's been through hell,' Michael thought as he brushed a few strands of the girl's long dark hair from her face.
That's when he noticed that looped around her neck was a small crystal shard. It looked very authentic. He hadn't seen many treasures like this but he could tell that this was something special.
As he glanced more at the jewel, he heard a soft moan from the girl as she started to stir awake.
"Ma'am, are you ok?" he asked her as she slowly awakened.
She didn't answer at first as she started to lay up, but Michael gently held her back down. "Try not to move for right now. Your body looks pretty out of it."
"Where….where am I?" the girl asked.
"Someplace safe." he answered and placed a wet cloth against her forehead. "What's your name?"
"….Crystal." she replied. She knew her name. That was a good sign. Usually people in these conditions would usually wake up with amnesia with no memory of what happened before. Some were temporary while others drove themselves mad. It wasn't a pretty sight.
As Michael was about to walk away from the bed, Crystal grabbed his arm. Michael looked to her in alarm. "Jade? Where's Jade?!" she cried.
"Jade?" Michael asked.
"Hey, what's going…" Trudy came walking into the hut when overhearing Hawk finding a girl in the forest. The moment Trudy and Crystal's eyes fell on each other, they knew each other instantly.
"Y-you're Trudy! Of the Mallrats!" Crystal sat up on the bed, already recovering. "My sister was with your tribe!"
"Sister?" Trudy looked confused, then realization crossed her face. "Jade. You're Jade's sister, Crystal!"
Amber looked to her best friend, her expression saying that she wanted answers.
"Before the Chosen took me and Brady. There was a girl named Jade who came to the Mall. She was part of our tribe for awhile. Then, she got married and left to start a new life." Trudy explained. "This is her twin sister, Crystal."
"You actually remember me?" Crystal smiled. Suddenly, the inside of the hut started to turn along with everybody else. Crystal laid back down when a wave of dizziness took over. Michael checked her wrist for her pulse. Surprisingly enough, it was pretty normal.
"You're probably just having an aftershock of a hangover. They usually happens if you were knocked out."
"Knocked…out?" Crystal looked worryingly up at Michael.
"Do you remember anything at all of what happened to you?" the healer asked.
At that moment, memories flashed before her mind's eyes when she remembered her last conversation with Jade, about how she would be happy with her husband, then with Hood the Shadow Warrior who she had fallen in love with. Then….the sacrifice….
Crystal shook her head. "No." She looked up to Michael, then at Trudy who still looked like she was seeing a ghost. "Trudy, what's wrong with you? You act like I've come back from the dead or something."
"You mean…you really don't know what happened?" Trudy asked.
"No. What is it? Trudy, tell me!" Crystal pleaded.
Trudy cleared her throat, taking on a more serious but comforting look as she sat on Crystal's bed. "I know this is going to sound…well, impossible,"
"Just spit it out!" Crystal scowled annoyingly.
"Crystal….you were dead." Trudy revealed.
The opera singer's eyes went wide in horror. What she had dreaded most was true then!
"I….I really did die?" Crystal gasped. That's when the tears started flowing. "No!" she cried. "No! No no no no NO!! IT CAN'T BE TRUE!! IT CAN'T!!"
Trudy took the singer in her arms, soothing her back as she let Crystal weep against her chest. "It's all right now. It's all right." she whispered.
Michael sighed and looked over Amber. "You guys go on ahead. I'll stay here with the girl and meet up with you guys."
"I think that's a good idea." Amber smiled, then looking sympathetically at Crystal. Of course, she could relate to Crystal. Finding out that your dead isn't the best feeling of all.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Hey Sweety, you up?" Luke asked as he peaked into Alice's and Ellie's room to see his girlfriend on her computer as usual. Luke strolled up to her, greeting her with his arms wrapped around her shoulders and planting a kiss on her cheek. Ellie smiled and turned to him so the next place his lips met where her lips.
"Morning." she smiled lovingly and turned back to the computer monitor.
"Whacha doing?" Luke asked as he rested his chin against her shoulder. His eyebrows furrowed down when he saw the web site showing from the monitor screen. "Pandorax? You're still looking up stuff on Pandorax?"
"Of course. Jack and I never got to finish it. Besides learning that Danni's father created the Virus and all and that the government tried to cover something up." Ellie explained. She pressed a few more keys before four bold letters flashed red on the screen.
ACCESS DENIED! PASSWORD REQUIRED!
Ellie looked confused. "That's odd."
"Guess there are some things that the adults don't want us to know." Luke sighed.
"I don't think so." Ellie looked up at Luke. "The password should work for every file."
"Like I said, there are some things the adults don't want us to know." Luke repeated before kissing her cheek and walking towards the dresser where the financial notes laid. "Alice and Ned still out?"
"Yeah." Ellie not-so-chattering. "I don't know what she sees in him though. He was a total creep when we first met him."
Luke smirked. "Gotta agree with you there."
"But I guess….I don't know, maybe Alice saw a certain spark of hope in him or something."
"I thought you were starting to like him?" Luke teased as he scanned through his notes.
"Call it a sister's intuition." Ellie mocking glared at her boyfriend.
"And that I will, babe." Luke smiled. "Still having problems?"
"Yeah." Ellie typed in the same password again. ACCESS DENIED! PASSWORD REQUIRED! "Waah." she moaned.
"Well, don't get stuck on it too much that your pretty little eyeballs would be mush." Luke grinned and kissed her head before leaving the room.
Ellie sighed and rested her cheek on her fist with her elbow plopped on the desk. Her eyes were fixed on the Access Denied box. The "please" password seemed to work with every other file in the Pandorax database. It was THIS file that seemed to not be working. And if it required a much more different password, then there was definitely something very, very, VERY special about it.
"What's behind this little door?" Ellie asked herself.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
She was flying in space, around the golden speckles that were stars.
……Is this….is this a dream?………
She saw something up ahead coming straight at her, or maybe she was coming towards it. In a flash, she found herself staring back at the earth, then zoomed in to see before her a familiar landscape.
…..The City? Why are you showing me this?…….
Her entire body shot up straight when she heard something. It sounded like a sort of metallic cry. It was coming from…the City? The Mall? The….the world?
……The planet is crying?!………
……IT IS COMING…….
…..W-what?! Who said that?!……..
……THE TWILIGHT IS INEVITABLE…..
…..The….Twilight?….The Twilight of what?! Tell me!!…..
She focused hard on the other voice in her dream. She wasn't sure, but she could swear that the voice belonged to a male adult.
……THE TWILIGHT……
Her eyes went wide when the center of the city exploded, right where the Phoenix Mall was, and waves of fire zoomed through the entire city. In a matter of seconds, what was a City of Tribes became now a wasteland from a chaotic fireball.
……NOOOO!!!!……
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"No!!" Tai-San bolted up, screaming. Lex burst through the door, immediately at his wife's side as he held her shoulders. "Tai-San! Tai-San, it's me!!"
Tai-San panted so out of breath, then slowly she looked at Lex.
"Tai-San, it was only a nightmare! Only a nightmare!" he reassured her, letting her head against his chest as he held onto his wife.
"It…it wasn't." Tai-San cried with tears glistening in her eyes.
"What?" Lex looked down at his shaman wife. "Of course it was. We're all still in one piece."
"For now." Tai-San sobbed. "Oh god, Lex! It was horrible!" she wrapped her arms around him, clutching on to him for dear life. "I saw death! Everywhere, I saw death!"
"Hush now, love. It was only a dream."
The more Lex said that to his wife, the more Tai-San was starting to believe that it was more than just a dream.
"The Twilight." she whispered.
Resurrection and Death
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Michael placed the band-aid on the little boy's tiny but chubby arm. "There you go, Chip. Just remember to next time think before you climb up a tree." he smiled to the toddler, speaking in his American accent.
Chip nodded his head and hurried out of the medical hut of the Eco camp, just as Queen Eagle of the Gaians came walking in, smiling. A smile that no man could hardly resist. And Michael was becoming one of those men.
"Good morning." he greeted her with a friendly smile.
"Morning. I see Chip had another run in with a tree." Amber smiled back.
"Kids." Michael shrugged. "Always finding new and interesting things to do, even if it IS dangerous." he smirked and started cleaning up the tent.
Amber looked a bit more longer at the healer. Michael was the same age as Bray, the same height as well. Only Michael had short blond hair, blue eyes, and wasn't built truly like Bray but somewhere like Pride. He wasn't an Eco though. Michael had only been staying along with the Gaians when he helped Trudy and Pride escape a tracker unit of the Chosen to get to the camp.
Michael was a healer, not a warrior. But he knew pretty well how to defend himself. Violence though wasn't his thing. He would rather save lives than take them away, and would gladly take any risk just to do that.
Michael had also helped in the recovery of Trudy. Yes, the Chosen definitely brainwashed her. Michael even became more concerned when Pride mentioned that Bray, Amber's lover and leader of the resistance against the Chosen, told him about a room they lock you up in. It was called Power and Chaos 101, a torture chamber.
It took time, but Trudy's therapy paid off and she was back to normal….with a huge guilt conscience though. Neither Michael nor Amber had ever seen someone cry so much, but the healer had been a shoulder to lean and cry own for the former Supreme Mother. Amber tried as well, but Trudy kept her distance from her best friend. The shock of Amber being alive and the huge guilt she had over so much suffering the Chosen had caused made her distant from everyone.
Trudy though was now managing to keep a strong feature about her and start to communicate more with Amber again. But when she asked about Dal, Amber dared not to tell her the truth and just told Trudy that it was an accident that he fell.
Trudy was still grief-stricken by the news. Dal had also been a big part of hers and her daughter's life. He was even in love with her once.
'Who could blame him,' Michael thought to himself as he captured the sight of Trudy outside, playing with Brady and a few of the Eco children.
"She's seems to have gotten better." Michael nodded his head over to Trudy in the opening.
"Michael?" Amber/Eagle looked up to the healer. "I know this was the day you were suppose to go on, but I have another favor to ask."
"Ask away." he smiled.
"Well, out of all our healers among the camp, you've so far proven to be the best. You actually know what you're doing that it's almost scary."
"I hope that's a compliment." Michael rubbed the back of his neck.
"It is. But, what I wanted to ask was….if you would consider joining the Mallrats. The war is over and I know you said you would leave, but still the City could use a man of your skill and knowledge with medicine."
Back to the city. Michael always thought about the city. A place that had once been his home.
Michael's father was a doctor, and his mother a scientist. The best of both worlds. It was through their knowledge that he became such a miracle worker. The City though over time had become Hell on Earth though. He was glad to have left it when he did with all power and chaos around every corner.
Still though, if there was someone who needed his medical expertise, he would be there. Perhaps it was time now to get over that fear and return home. The Chosen were defeated anyways, the Guardian was locked up.
"Ah, guess it couldn't hurt. Count me in." he accepted.
Amber's answer was only an appreciative smile, but just as she was about to say something else, Hawk and a few others came rushing inside the hut with a unconscious figure of a girl in his arms.
"We got a problem!" Hawk exclaimed.
"Set her down on the bed." Michael said as he and Amber made way for them to bring the unconscious girl in. "Where did you find her?"
"In the woods. I'm not sure how long she's been out." Hawk looked up to the blonde healer as he placed his hand on the girl's chest, checking for a heart beat, then placing his ear against her mouth to check her breathing. "Is she going to be all right?"
Michael nodded as he leaned back up. "Her heart is beating well and her breathing's a bit slow but normal. She'll be fine." 'But she looks like she's been through hell,' Michael thought as he brushed a few strands of the girl's long dark hair from her face.
That's when he noticed that looped around her neck was a small crystal shard. It looked very authentic. He hadn't seen many treasures like this but he could tell that this was something special.
As he glanced more at the jewel, he heard a soft moan from the girl as she started to stir awake.
"Ma'am, are you ok?" he asked her as she slowly awakened.
She didn't answer at first as she started to lay up, but Michael gently held her back down. "Try not to move for right now. Your body looks pretty out of it."
"Where….where am I?" the girl asked.
"Someplace safe." he answered and placed a wet cloth against her forehead. "What's your name?"
"….Crystal." she replied. She knew her name. That was a good sign. Usually people in these conditions would usually wake up with amnesia with no memory of what happened before. Some were temporary while others drove themselves mad. It wasn't a pretty sight.
As Michael was about to walk away from the bed, Crystal grabbed his arm. Michael looked to her in alarm. "Jade? Where's Jade?!" she cried.
"Jade?" Michael asked.
"Hey, what's going…" Trudy came walking into the hut when overhearing Hawk finding a girl in the forest. The moment Trudy and Crystal's eyes fell on each other, they knew each other instantly.
"Y-you're Trudy! Of the Mallrats!" Crystal sat up on the bed, already recovering. "My sister was with your tribe!"
"Sister?" Trudy looked confused, then realization crossed her face. "Jade. You're Jade's sister, Crystal!"
Amber looked to her best friend, her expression saying that she wanted answers.
"Before the Chosen took me and Brady. There was a girl named Jade who came to the Mall. She was part of our tribe for awhile. Then, she got married and left to start a new life." Trudy explained. "This is her twin sister, Crystal."
"You actually remember me?" Crystal smiled. Suddenly, the inside of the hut started to turn along with everybody else. Crystal laid back down when a wave of dizziness took over. Michael checked her wrist for her pulse. Surprisingly enough, it was pretty normal.
"You're probably just having an aftershock of a hangover. They usually happens if you were knocked out."
"Knocked…out?" Crystal looked worryingly up at Michael.
"Do you remember anything at all of what happened to you?" the healer asked.
At that moment, memories flashed before her mind's eyes when she remembered her last conversation with Jade, about how she would be happy with her husband, then with Hood the Shadow Warrior who she had fallen in love with. Then….the sacrifice….
Crystal shook her head. "No." She looked up to Michael, then at Trudy who still looked like she was seeing a ghost. "Trudy, what's wrong with you? You act like I've come back from the dead or something."
"You mean…you really don't know what happened?" Trudy asked.
"No. What is it? Trudy, tell me!" Crystal pleaded.
Trudy cleared her throat, taking on a more serious but comforting look as she sat on Crystal's bed. "I know this is going to sound…well, impossible,"
"Just spit it out!" Crystal scowled annoyingly.
"Crystal….you were dead." Trudy revealed.
The opera singer's eyes went wide in horror. What she had dreaded most was true then!
"I….I really did die?" Crystal gasped. That's when the tears started flowing. "No!" she cried. "No! No no no no NO!! IT CAN'T BE TRUE!! IT CAN'T!!"
Trudy took the singer in her arms, soothing her back as she let Crystal weep against her chest. "It's all right now. It's all right." she whispered.
Michael sighed and looked over Amber. "You guys go on ahead. I'll stay here with the girl and meet up with you guys."
"I think that's a good idea." Amber smiled, then looking sympathetically at Crystal. Of course, she could relate to Crystal. Finding out that your dead isn't the best feeling of all.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Hey Sweety, you up?" Luke asked as he peaked into Alice's and Ellie's room to see his girlfriend on her computer as usual. Luke strolled up to her, greeting her with his arms wrapped around her shoulders and planting a kiss on her cheek. Ellie smiled and turned to him so the next place his lips met where her lips.
"Morning." she smiled lovingly and turned back to the computer monitor.
"Whacha doing?" Luke asked as he rested his chin against her shoulder. His eyebrows furrowed down when he saw the web site showing from the monitor screen. "Pandorax? You're still looking up stuff on Pandorax?"
"Of course. Jack and I never got to finish it. Besides learning that Danni's father created the Virus and all and that the government tried to cover something up." Ellie explained. She pressed a few more keys before four bold letters flashed red on the screen.
ACCESS DENIED! PASSWORD REQUIRED!
Ellie looked confused. "That's odd."
"Guess there are some things that the adults don't want us to know." Luke sighed.
"I don't think so." Ellie looked up at Luke. "The password should work for every file."
"Like I said, there are some things the adults don't want us to know." Luke repeated before kissing her cheek and walking towards the dresser where the financial notes laid. "Alice and Ned still out?"
"Yeah." Ellie not-so-chattering. "I don't know what she sees in him though. He was a total creep when we first met him."
Luke smirked. "Gotta agree with you there."
"But I guess….I don't know, maybe Alice saw a certain spark of hope in him or something."
"I thought you were starting to like him?" Luke teased as he scanned through his notes.
"Call it a sister's intuition." Ellie mocking glared at her boyfriend.
"And that I will, babe." Luke smiled. "Still having problems?"
"Yeah." Ellie typed in the same password again. ACCESS DENIED! PASSWORD REQUIRED! "Waah." she moaned.
"Well, don't get stuck on it too much that your pretty little eyeballs would be mush." Luke grinned and kissed her head before leaving the room.
Ellie sighed and rested her cheek on her fist with her elbow plopped on the desk. Her eyes were fixed on the Access Denied box. The "please" password seemed to work with every other file in the Pandorax database. It was THIS file that seemed to not be working. And if it required a much more different password, then there was definitely something very, very, VERY special about it.
"What's behind this little door?" Ellie asked herself.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
She was flying in space, around the golden speckles that were stars.
……Is this….is this a dream?………
She saw something up ahead coming straight at her, or maybe she was coming towards it. In a flash, she found herself staring back at the earth, then zoomed in to see before her a familiar landscape.
…..The City? Why are you showing me this?…….
Her entire body shot up straight when she heard something. It sounded like a sort of metallic cry. It was coming from…the City? The Mall? The….the world?
……The planet is crying?!………
……IT IS COMING…….
…..W-what?! Who said that?!……..
……THE TWILIGHT IS INEVITABLE…..
…..The….Twilight?….The Twilight of what?! Tell me!!…..
She focused hard on the other voice in her dream. She wasn't sure, but she could swear that the voice belonged to a male adult.
……THE TWILIGHT……
Her eyes went wide when the center of the city exploded, right where the Phoenix Mall was, and waves of fire zoomed through the entire city. In a matter of seconds, what was a City of Tribes became now a wasteland from a chaotic fireball.
……NOOOO!!!!……
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"No!!" Tai-San bolted up, screaming. Lex burst through the door, immediately at his wife's side as he held her shoulders. "Tai-San! Tai-San, it's me!!"
Tai-San panted so out of breath, then slowly she looked at Lex.
"Tai-San, it was only a nightmare! Only a nightmare!" he reassured her, letting her head against his chest as he held onto his wife.
"It…it wasn't." Tai-San cried with tears glistening in her eyes.
"What?" Lex looked down at his shaman wife. "Of course it was. We're all still in one piece."
"For now." Tai-San sobbed. "Oh god, Lex! It was horrible!" she wrapped her arms around him, clutching on to him for dear life. "I saw death! Everywhere, I saw death!"
"Hush now, love. It was only a dream."
The more Lex said that to his wife, the more Tai-San was starting to believe that it was more than just a dream.
"The Twilight." she whispered.
