Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required.
The DarkTower
Anime's Unite
Chapter 20: The DarkTower
000
The freedom of Mydar was at hand. In the old building that was called the Happy-Go-Lucky Doll factory, a great group of friends had met on its third floor. The first was the Fellowship of the Gundam, which consisted of the Preventers, the Shuffle Alliance, Link the Elvish Warrior, and the two guards to the One True King of Mydar, Gandalf the White and Callina the Songstress. This group met up with the Kenshin-Gumi, the Peace Guns, and the other guards to the king, Loki the Warrior, Bartleby the Spy, and Jake Chambers the Key Master. But the party was not complete.
The final two groups had arrived outside the Happy-Go-Lucky Doll factory. There was the Sailor Senshi along with the Evangelions, and their guide Draco the Beast Master who arrived in a large yellow bus. Then there was the Lupin Crew, the Outlaw Six, and their guide Armand the Weapon Smith with his students Rally Vincent and Minnie-May Hopkins (The Gunsmith Cats) who came in their stolen stretched limo. With Johan coming down to greet them, the party was complete. He brought both groups up to the third floor of the doll factory where a great reunion had taken place.
Of course, the Preventers knew the members of both of these groups that Johan brought up, but there were some new ones to meet, such as the remaining two guards. With Draco and Armand there, it completed the Seven Guards to the One True King of Mydar. The meeting was well underway like a great A-list Hollywood party, with a fire being started using some wood from old creates, and a little fire magic from Rei (Sailor Mars).
There was also a very shocked and tearful reunion. It was when the Evangelions, Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langely Sohryuu, and Misato Katsuragi saw the very familiar boy amongst the Gundams. For Shinji, all the dots were connected; he knew that it was him that sent out that feeling of familiarity across all those miles. Needless to say there were all thunderstruck because the last time that they saw Kaworu Nagisa, he was an angel, but that didn't matter to Shinji. He approached Kaworu with sadness and hope in his heart that he would forgive and be happy to see Shinji again.
"Kaworu?" Shinji called
Kaworu Nagisa of the Fellowship turned and the dots connected together for him as well. He remembered everything, that time that he and Shinji spent together even that one terrible night when Shinji made the choice that placed that final crack in his mind.
"Shinji?" Kaworu asked.
The tears welted up in Shinji's eyes and he threw his arms around Kaworu softly sobbing, his tears dripping from his face and onto his shirt. He never felt so blissfully happy in his own little life.
"Kaworu." Shinji sobbed, "I'm…"
"Don't say a word, my old friend." Kaworu hugged back, "I was right in that you were not the existence that should die."
After both happy and tearful reunions, all of the groups who traveled across the great lands of Mydar began to share stories. Those long stories that the members of this new company were talking about when asked short but complicated questions. It was almost like a summer camp in how the stories were shared and exchanged. There were stories of their own lives, their triumphs, their sorrows, and even their adventures across Mydar itself.
As the stories continued it came to the discussion of the issue of their powers. Everyone there knew it and felt it; these powers had manifested themselves in several ways and in several people. They wanted to know why this was and as a couple of the guards explained, Gandalf and Loki, that there was a force in the world of Mydar and those who were sensitive enough to it would be given special powers by it. This explained the situation of the Senshi as well as the Evangelions.
After that they came to some of the lighter stories of their travels.
"So," Kenshin finished, "We found out that their weakness was the word, it, and that's how we got away."
With a great laugh all around, the group all around, the group felt collectively that it was time to get back to the problem at hand. It was the wise old Gandalf who brought this up, but he had to try to break into this slowly.
"It truly is wonderful to see everyone back together again." He started as he took one more drag out of his long wooden pipe, "But there is a serious matter at hand."
"The Dark Tower." Kenshin confirmed.
"Exactly." Gandalf pointed his long old finger to Kenshin Himura. "This was no accident that all of us came to this one spot. I speak of course of how we all entered the city of Nash without encountering any resistance."
"It was the items." Jake spoke up as he took the key out of his bag, "With this key I and those who were with me walked across miles of space is if we were crossing a room."
"It wasn't just the items by themselves." Johan stated, "It was as if…"
Johan struggled to find the right words to translate what he was feeling to a way that everyone could understand.
"They were calling to each other." Fujiko filled in the gaps for Johan's explanation.
"That's it exactly." Johan confirmed, "The items were calling to each other, which is why we all ended up here in this old doll factory."
"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" Gene Starwind asked
"Someone has to take all these items to the Dark Tower itself." Bartleby explained.
"But these items have already done so much for us." Chibodee pointed out, "Why not use them as weapons against the Obsessed?"
"That's something we shouldn't do." Minako Aino countered with Chibodee Crocket, "The items have minds of their own and they only wish to return to their master."
"That's a lot of compassion for inanimate objects, isn't it?"
"But Minako is right." Link inputted, "They have to be returned."
"From what we've heard about the Dark Tower," Trowa said, "it is guarded by more than just the Obsessed. The land that was once beautiful is now filled with fire and ash, and the Eye of the Hawk is always watching. From the sound of it, it's almost suicidal to take on."
"As I recall." Domon pitched in, "We've all taken on tasks that were just as suicidal, but the fact remains that someone must take them there."
"You did leave something out." Wolfwood said sharply, "As we all have heard the story, the king split his power into seven items, and from what I've heard, we only have five."
With this point brought up, the members of the new company tried to count up the number of items that they each had heard about. Gandalf already knew this;
"Yes." He said, and then he called to those who had them, "Please everyone that has the items place them near the fire."
First was Jake who brought out the key that he had carved out of the branch of an old Ash tree in the Dark Forest of Ewin. Then there was Fujiko who set the cup that she got out of an old antique store in Derry. Next was Melphina who took off that watch she purchased in a clock shop in the town of Boulder. Minako Aino was the second to last, who set down the golden ring that she had found (as if by good luck) in that dark cave. Last of all was Johan who set down the sword that he volunteered to take to the Dark Tower. The items were placed around the fire as if they were offerings in a tribal ritual.
"There are only five." Wolfwood repeated, "So, where are the other two?"
"I think I know where they are." Johan stated and before anyone could ask where, he then said, "Both are at the tower. So, if someone does take the items to the tower, that person would have to find the last two items."
"The question now is…" Goemon proposed
"Who will do this task?" Sazuka finished
The company of friends was silent for a moment, each member looking at each other wondering who among them would be the one to take on such a task. Especially considering the unknown dangers that lie ahead, even though every one of them had faced dangers before, everyone had already drawn their conclusions in one way or another of who should do this great task.
Even the perfect Soldier knew this; Heero Yuy raised his hand and gently brought it in a friendly slap on Johan's shoulder. He had already commanded Johan's attention.
"I think this task should be yours." He said to Johan still keeping that signature neutral look on his face.
Johan looked into Heero's cobalt blue eyes and felt that perhaps this task should not only have him take the sword but perhaps all the items to the Dark Tower. He looked at the other members of the company for a second, third, and God knows what other numbered opinion, and that's just what he got.
"I think so too." Duo said, "You've come this far."
"Exactly." Vash agreed, "And you do seem to know more about what's going on around here than the rest of us."
On one level, Johan felt as if they wanted him to take on the rest of the quest because no one else had the guts to do it. Then he thought that they were all his friends and they wouldn't wish such a cruel thing upon him. Then he thought about the alternative, if someone else went, and that was something he certainly didn't want. He thought about the questions, the ones that he had when he held that pink jewel called the Wizard's Glass that showed him all the lands of Mydar. Suddenly he thought that it had become personal for him. He looked from the fire that blazed in the center of the circle of friends, to the members of this new company.
"I'll do it." He said with a new found confidence, "But there is something I think we need."
"What's that, Messiour Johan?" George DeSand asked
"I believe we need a new name for our group."
"What do you mean?" Haruka Tenou (Sailor Uranus) asked wondering where the Gundam pilots logic was going.
"Well," Johan explained, "The Preventers, the Preventer Teens, and the Shuffle Alliance, we've called ourselves the Fellowship of the Gundam."
"I get what you mean." Lupin nodded, "You mean we need a name that includes us all, right?"
"That's right." Johan answered, "And I believe the most appropriate name for us all; the Sailor Senshi, the Evangelions, the Peace Guns, the Kenshin-Gumi, the Outlaw Six, the Lupin Crew, the Preventers, the Shuffle Alliance, the Preventers Teens, and the Seven Gaurds."
Johan spoke with the voracity of a preacher filled with the goodness of the human soul, spreading words of how and not of hell, fire, and damnation for everyone around him. He paused for a moment as whatever kind of spirit he was feeling washed over him and the idea broke through into words.
"We," He began, "We shall be called, The Fellowship of the One."
"The Fellowship of the One?" Sanosuke asked, "Doesn't that seem a tad bit weird to anyone else here?"
"I kinda like it." Gene Starwind said with raised eyebrows
"Me too." Asia Clan-clan added, "Very strong, proud, and unifying, just like the invincible Ctarl-ctarl."
"Yup." Vash agreed, "I like it as well.
"What does 'the One' mean?" Usagi (Sailor Moon) asked
"We are all unified for the One True King." Johan explained, he then chucked, "If we all had glasses, I would propose a toast to the Fellowship and to the Freedom of Mydar."
"To the Fellowship." Everyone said in unison as they slowly raised their fists to the air
"But there is another issue at hand." Ami Mizuno (Sailor Mercury) brought up, "How to get Johan to the tower. No doubt if this city is so close, the Obsessed are probably everywhere."
Bartleby nodded, "She's right, this isn't exactly a city you can sneak through."
"So what's needed is a distraction." Misato Katsuragi figured
"That's the most logical thing to do." Armand agreed, "But there's another problem."
"The Eye of the Hawk." Gandalf uttered
"What's that?" Jim Hawking asked
"Within the Dark Tower," Gandalf explained, "The Lord of the Obsessed sees all in Mydar, his gaze pierces through Earth, steel, stone, shadow, cloud, and flesh. He has in his possession a great eye that never blinks and burns with his malice and cruelty."
"…shit…" Gene Starwind uttered, "I'd hate to meet him."
"There is a way to blind him." Quatre said as he rummaged through the knapsacks that they had filled with supplies, and the gift that the Elvish Princess Zelda gave to him. He brought it out and showed it to everyone in the Fellowship of the One like a child at show-n-tell. They all gazed in such amazement at Quatre's gift.
"The Shield of Saturn." Quatre announced his gifts name
"Nice piece of work." Lupin cupped his chin thinking about how much an object like it would go for with its all gold structure and speckled with rubies, sapphires, diamonds, emeralds, pearls, and opals.
"It's not just a nice piece of work." Quatre corrected the thief, "It's crafted by the Elves, the Princess told me that it can ward off any dark magic spell. I believe we can use this when we implement our plan."
"In that case," Loki changed the subject, "The next thing to plan is the distraction."
"It's my turn!" Minnie-may smiled, "I'll make a pretty big bomb that should get everyone's attention, I'm sure Armand has the materials."
"Always." Armand smiled as he opened up his guitar case and brought out the right supplies, plastic explosives, triggering pins, detonation devices, and other supplies needed.
"Now that we have a plan in place." Johan said, "The next thing to do is strike, but I believe we should avoid killing any innocent people."
"Agreed." May said as she worked with Armand on building the bomb
"But you will need more." Armand said as he handed over his guitar case to Johan. As the Gundam pilot took it he felt the heaviness of it with all the guns and knives in it.
"That's very generous, Armand." Johan smiled, "But I am well armed."
Armand shook his head, "No, you will need this when you reach the tower."
"Thank you, everyone." Johan said with the greatest of sincerity and gratitude.
000
The bomb was completed and Gandalf addressed all of the Fellowship to the unspoken tensions that they all were facing.
"I know that many of you must be afraid of what will happen." He began, "But I do know this much that in order to face anything we must cast aside our fear of it."
Leto Rodriguez agreed, "We must face our fear and let it pass through us."
"Yes, I say that tonight we celebrate. We shall celebrate in being here. We shall celebrate that we are all together and united in one cause. We shall celebrate to send a message to the Obsessed. We are the Fellowship of the One, and we shall not be afraid!"
All of the Fellowship cheered in Gandalf's speech and Armand pulled out a small stereo that began to play such music with such great beats that all of the Fellowship began to dance in celebration. They danced around the fire that burned in its orange brilliance while the sun had already set beyond the west and the night sky had unfurled its scattering of the stars. The plans for the distraction were already finished. It was simply a matter of implementing them at the right time, which would allow Johan to dash through the city, cross the lake, and reach the Dark Tower. It did seem easy from the sidelines, but Johan was already feeling the burden as he sat alone in the corner office at the end of the third floor of the Happy-Go-Lucky factory. He said to those who asked that he needed to be alone for a while.
Then again, who could blame them? With such a task ahead, who wouldn't want to be alone? Most of all Johan wondered if this was one mission that he would back from. Thinking about it like that suddenly made him feel very cold.
As Johan sat alone, the door opened and in walked his wife Haruka who had a small pillow and a blanket that Draco had in his bus. As Draco told Haruka when she asked if he had any, he told her that his passengers needed them compared to the grueling seats.
The beat of the music progressed outside the office and was muffled when Haruka closed the door behind her.
"Thought you might need this." Haruka hinted at the pillow and blanket.
Johan smiled, "You read my mind."
Haruka laid the pillow on the floor as she spread out the blanket on the office floor as if she and her husband were off somewhere else on a picnic. Though Johan knew that his wife was up to something after she laid the blanket down, she went over to the door and pushed in the lock. She then came over to the blanket and laid down upon it. Then in a playboy model-like way, she sat up and patted the empty space next to her, inviting her husband to her.
Johan smiled and took off his long white coat. He placed it into a small pile next to himself, as he got up he also took off his gun belts and holsters from his waist, his shoulders, and his back. With all his weapons off and to the side he came over to his wife. After he laid down on the blanketed floor next to her he simply looked at her. Every inch of her body and her face that never seemed to stop smiling at him. He leaned over and kissed her upon the lips and the two lovers embraced one another.
With the beat of the music going on outside the office, the Fellowship of the One danced in their celebration. It was that with each beat a piece of Haruka or Johan's clothing came off and they shared in the act of love like they have done so many, many times in the past. Yet, both felt so much more that time as they sweated and rolled from side to side in their carnal dance. Both felt it but never said a word about it that it may be their last time together. With that implicit thought rolling around in their minds they made love to the beat of the music like never before.
Then at last they could do no more and simply slept by each others side as the sweat rolled off of their bodies and the night progressed on. Johan loved his wife, his children, and his friends. He prayed as his wife fell asleep that he would come back alive to her, but he couldn't help but remember that card in Zelda's tarot reading: Death.
"Be not afraid, Gundam pilot." Zelda had told him, "For this shall not be the death of you or anyone close to you. This will be a transformation and a rebirth. You shall be changed forever."
There were so many questions that Johan had and they all had to be there in the tower. That much he was certain of as he fell asleep with his loving wife at his side.
000
The time for the plan was ready to be implemented. Armand, the Gunsmith cats, and Quatre Raberba Winner had chosen an abandoned building on the west side of the City of Nash, while the rest of the Fellowship stayed behind at the Happy-Go-Lucky doll factory.
Johan stood at the foot of the docking bay looking to the west waiting for the some sign. At his side waiting were his wife, his children, as well as the others in the Fellowship. They stood by him like people wishing a ship and its passengers a good journey on its maiden voyage. Johan felt up to the cold chain around his neck that held the ring, the steel of the watch around his wrist, and the guitar case that had the cup, the sword, the key, and the guns that Armand gave to him. His heart raced as he waited for the sign.
Suddenly, there was a great boom and the ground shook beneath the Fellowships feet as they saw black smoke rising over the buildings like a fire in a forest. That was the signal and it was certain that Quatre was using the shield. Johan raised both hands, his left wrist and his right hand which extended his right index finger to the button that Melphina said to stop time.
He took one last look and his friends and family as he pushed the button. All around Johan there was a bright flash like the flash from a camera. As soon as the after images in his eyes cleared, Johan could see what Melphina was talking about. At first it looked as though his family and friends were standing still, then he looked to the smoke in the west. Frozen, never moving or changing a single inch, it was incredible in viewing it all, and so he set out on the journey, the last leg of the quest to the Dark Tower. He took to the streets and drove one of the flying cars thanks to Jake providing the key to get in.
Everywhere Johan looked, all was frozen in place. The cars that were in mid-air and mid-traffic, the water frozen as it sprayed from fountains, and the people like plastic statues in department stores. The feeling was just eerie as if he were the last person alive. That in itself was frightening, to be the only one left while everyone else was dead, just like in that old book Johan read called, "The Stand", where a great number of people died of a super-flu called Captain Tripps. He took his mind off of that and continued to drive.
The car seemed to handle very easily like a combination of a car and a plane. Even though it seemed like time had stopped all around him, he tried to take it slow, so that he could find his way to the tower. He eventually climbed to the highest lane like a bird ascending to the tree tops. All around him he saw the tops of the skyscrapers and his own prize, the Dark Tower in the distance.
Looking at the lake where the island of the Dark Tower stood, Johan wondered how the hover car would work over the water. Then he thought that if it didn't then the alternative would have been to walk across the lake. He thought to himself that with what was going on in the effect that the watch was having he could probably stand on the water.
At last he crossed over the wall of the city and coming to the edge of the lake he decided to just fly the rest of the way. Then as he crossed the threshold of the lake and to his surprise, nothing happened. He simply continued onward to the Dark Tower. Though he kept looking into the rear view mirror back at the city and wondered if everyone would be alright, but then he brought his attention back to the Dark Tower ahead.
000
The time came when Johan brought down the hover car to the edge of the island where the Dark Tower stood. The bottom of the hover car scuffed on the sands of the island as it came to a complete stop. As soon as he landed, Johan took the guitar case that had Armand's guns and the items. In coming out of the car with the guitar case in his hand, Johan was able to look up and take in the incredible enormity of the Dark Tower.
Everything that the Fellowship had heard about that place was true. A land that was once beautiful was just an island littered with ash and dust. The sky above the tower was just like what he had seen in his dreams. The gray clouds were swirling around the tower as if it were a spoon swirling cream into coffee.
Johan reached up and pressed the button on the watch and all time returned to normal. He looked behind him to the waves that lapped up against the shores of the island. He saw how murky, ink-stained, and putrid the lake was, as if it was like mile that had soured. He looked across the sour lake and back to the City of Nash where the black smoke was still billowing from its west side.
"Good luck, my friends and loved ones." Johan whispered as he turned back to the tower and made his trek. He noticed how the island seemed to slope upward as Johan made the steps to the tower. He would occasionally stop to look around until it got to a point where he could see that the top of the island was quite higher in elevation to the surface of the lake. After looking around he headed onward, but as he walked on and the ground underneath him leveled, he suddenly felt very nervous. It was just suspicious that if the Obsessed were everywhere in the City and the City was walled off then what about the security of the tower?
His answer came when there was a great crunch underneath his foot. He lifted it and looked at it. It was long, thing, and a white-gray color. He bent down and pulled whatever he stepped on out of the ash. As it came out, Johan began to get a very good idea of what it was. He just had to see the rest of it to confirm his suspicion, and the rest of the thing came out of the ash. Johan held it and he saw the head of it as it came to a ball. It was a bone, a human femur, otherwise known as the thigh bone. He dropped it back into the ash and dust wishing not to contemplate what happened to the poor devil underneath his feet.
Continuing upon his trek, Johan came to the doors of the Dark Tower. They were massive, nothing else that Johan had seen was of such great size. It looked like two mobile suits could get through the doors side by side as well as two suits vertically. Standing there, Johan felt very, very small, but he was over took by wonderment as he saw rose bushes surrounding the gate in such a way that they looked like they were giving a path feeling up to the doors, a set of bushes on either side. All of them blooming despite the dreary and desolate settings that they were in but then panic over took Johan as he saw what was guarding the doors of the Dark Tower.
Johan saw a beast lying at the foot of the doors. The panic was so much that his mind didn't comprehend what he was seeing until he saw that it wasn't moving. His gazed looked closer at the odd looking creature and he realized exactly what it was. He remembered back to when he was younger and his dad told him an old story from Greek mythology about the hero Hercules, in one of the stories, Hercules was said to face a beast called a Hydra. There was even one incident when Johan and the rest of the Preventers first met the Shuffle Alliance. It was during the Gundam Fight Battle Royal and they faced a hideous mobile suit called the Gundam Hydra. That was the very creature that slept at the doors of the Dark Tower, but Johan had the very distinct feeling that the beast would wake up soon. He turned around and tried to sneak off in order to plan. He brought each foot down into the ash and dust carefully hoping that no sound would be made.
CRACK!
His foot stepped on something.
Johan looked down and then looked back at the Hydra, who had awakened. Its thick body was brought up upon its two legs and it swished its forked tail behind itself as its nine heads began to slither and look at the intruder. Each head had a pair of yellow lizard-like eyes, every mouth rasping like any other snake, but it echoed through each of the nine heads like an insidious chorus line. As the Hydra was up upon its two legs and its heads already up and moving, it began to move down the ash covered path towards Johan.
The Gundam pilot felt frozen in his tracks. How much security there was in being in a mobile suit, giving such power to its user and yet outside of it, faced with such fearsome enemies one can feel like a child in a nightmare.
Johan watched as a few of the mouths began to burn as if they were being filled with fire. He looked around and found a large boulder at the edge of the rose bed, with that in sight, he dashed for it as the flames of the Hydra came at him like a man armed with a flame thrower. He crouched harder with the guitar case underneath him as the flames began to die down while a few of the rose bushes caught fire. As Johan heard the fearsome steps of the Hydra coming closer, he suddenly felt that tickle again.
He opened his eyes and looked down at the ground where the boulder met the rose bed, like the sea meeting the shore. There standing upon its own, was a rose. A singular white rose, no bush or branches in sight of it. It grew there like any other flower. It seemed beautiful. The only other word that Johan could think of to describe the beauty of the rose he saw there was….perfect. It had no wilts, molds, or any kind of bugs on it. It seemed so perfect that it almost bordered upon being artificial.
With the Hydra inching its way towards its prey, Johan inched his way to the rose. As he did it felt like there were voices in his head, singing voices. The kind that sing of such joy in the world and beauty in the universe, almost like an ode to joy, and in coming closer and closer to it reaching his hand out, Johan knew that this was it. This was one of the seven items. He wanted to be very careful in pulling it out, but that was when he noticed that there were no roses upon its stem, none whatsoever.
Johan reached, held the rose by its stem and pulled it out of the ground with the sounds of the chorus in his head becoming louder as if he was standing in front of them. Holding the rose, he no longer felt afraid that everything seemed clear again, as if fear was just a dark cloud in his vision. He set the rose upon the guitar case and reached for his favorite weapon, his beam saber. As he held the weapon to his chest, he stretched out with his feelings and in his minds eye he could see the Hydra with its heads still trying to find him. That was when he had the idea, he reached up to the ring around his neck, and he took it off of the chain and slipped it onto his left hand butting up against his own wedding band.
He got up to his feet and went out to face the Hydra once again, but as he came out he immediately noticed that the Hydra couldn't see him. He approached it keeping in mind that the creature couldn't see him. He knew that he couldn't cut off its head, because two heads would sprout from the wound that much he remembered from the story and from experience with the Gundam Hydra. Thinking strategically, Johan decided not to activate his beam saber just yet and he decided to allow the Hydra to come to him.
The Hydra kept moving sluggishly forward dragging its huge body on its two legs as all nine heads kept looking for its prey. It was lucky that the Hydra wasn't a real thinking beast like the Dragons of Mydar that Draco the Beast Master had talked about. After all, that's the only thing worse than a killing machine and that's a killing machine with a brain. That's what the Hydra would be if it even had a little bit of thinking about amongst its nine heads. If it did, it would have found out that it was walking into a trap.
The invisible Johan waited and he saw that he was within stabbing distance of the Hydra's heart. He saw the opportunity and seized it, with the beam saber in his hand, he activated it. The Hydra with its limited mind only saw something floating in the air, its first response with its reptilian brain was to kill it, but it was too late. The blade of the saber had already pierced through its heart. As it began to die, one of the heads looked down at the thing sticking in its chest and it brought down its jaws to the thing in its chest.
Johan felt the poisonous fangs of the Hydra sink into his hand and his arm. He didn't feel anything at first but the pain set in as the poison seeped into his body. The jaws of the Hydra began to loosen but the damage had already been done. Johan cradled his right arm as it loosely let go of the beam saber.
The Hydra had fallen into the ash and dust, but Johan was feeling the poison going to work on his central nervous system and he felt numb everywhere.
"No." He growled to himself, "I cannot die here, not when I'm so close."
He felt his eyes close as he tried to think of a way out of it.
"The cup." He thought to himself, "The cup Fujiko had."
In the guitar case, that's where it was.
Johan crawled on his knees and one hand, cradling the other, but while he was opening the guitar case he thought about what he could use to drink from it. Through his blurred vision he looked at the lake around him. Sure, the thought that the lake must be putrid but the options were running low.
He had the cup in his hands and he decided not to crawl. Instead he rolled down the hill on his side like a child playing in some countryside, until he splashed at the waters edge. By that time the venom of the Hydra was starting to work on his respiratory system, time was running out. Gasping for breath, he took the wooden cup and dipped it into the murky water. Through his darkening and blurrier vision he watched the murky water turn crystal clear. He then poured the water over the wounds in his hand and arm. Wasting no time he drank the water until there was none left. After gulping down the last of it, he fell over into the sand, his face continually splashed by the incoming tide.
Lying there, he kept thinking that he didn't want to die, because there was so much he needed and wanted to do. He wanted those questions of his answered, which was the first of them, but wanted more. He wanted to see his children grow and succeed, like any father would. Then he came back to the present and thought that if he died there on the sands, he would never see any of them again. And if they got back they would have a memorial service for him and a tombstone on his home colony that would read:
Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez
Code Name: Star Dragon
Caring Father, Loving Husband, and Excellent Gundam Pilot
Died in the Line of Duty
He will be greatly missed.
Again, Johan wanted to live, if only for his friends and family he wanted to live. Just as he made his own silent cry to live again, he slowly felt himself come back, like his body remained and his spirit left and it was coming back. He felt the cold water washing up against his face, sending that putrid taste down his mouth and into his nose. He got up and coughed and blew out the water that the waves lapped in.
He was already feeling better, he reached down and pulled off the ring as he looked at his arm and hand for any left over signs of the Hydra's assault on him. There was nothing, no wounds, no teeth marks, no blood stains, nothing. For a moment Johan felt such joy that he was going to live, he took the wooden cup in his hand and kiss its side, thanking it for brining him back to life.
Setting aside the joy, Johan got back to his feet and back to the guitar case behind that rock, where the guns and the other items were, including the newly found rose. He went through a small inventory in his mind of what was there.
"Ok." He thought, "I have the sword, the cup, the key, the watch, the rose and the ring."
He gathered them all up back into the guitar case. Except for the ring that he put back on the chair around his neck, the watch on his wrist, and the rose that he kept in his hand. Gathering up the guitar case, Johan went to the very deceased body of the Hydra. There to his disappointment, his favorite weapon, the beam saber laid melting and disintegrating in the pool of the Hydra's blood.
"Damn it." Johan shook his head, but then thought that there was no use in crying over spilt milk as the old saying went. With that in mind he walked up to the enormous doors of the Dark Tower. There he noticed something; there was a door within the doors, one that seemed to be built for a person to go through. Thinking back to the experience with the Hydra, Johan didn't want to take any chances, so he took the ring off of the chain and slipped it on again. He reached out for the black door knob and found that it didn't turn.
"Locked." He thought, but then he went back to the guitar case for the key that Jake carved. In inserted it into the key hole and turned it, and to no surprise, the door opened, and Johan walked through.
000
The magic ring kept Johan invisible as he stepped over the threshold into the Dark Tower. Inside was as dark and black as the outside. Everywhere he looked there was not an ounce of color aside from the light that leaked in and the torches that light the way. The place was downright spooky, almost like a haunted house itself, except this wasn't one that he could back out of.
All around him Johan saw that the room was both immense and circular. As he slowly took his step forward he saw a great ramp of to his right that curved upward. He followed the line of the curving ramp and saw that it spiraled. It was going up around the walls of the tower. Looking up, Johan was reminded of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, how the great dome in the center was so high that one would have to lean against a solid wall to keep from spinning and knocking an unsuspecting tourist over. That's what he felt as the corkscrew ramp went up and up through the floors of the Dark Tower to where the lights intersected one another like strands in a spiders web.
Bringing his mind back to the ground, Johan tried to reach out with his intuition once again like he did with the Hydra. The feeling that was pulling him to that place felt so potent that it was hard to tell where it was coming from. Though one thing was for sure, he had reached his goal. It was just a little further before the quest is all over.
He took to the spiral ramp and took the walk upward. Yet, as he walked upward, he heard a great echo of shouting. Shortly following there was a stampede of footsteps that were like thunderclaps of a rolling storm. Johan didn't want to do anything stupid and get trampled or worse…caught. He looked left and right, there he found a large statue of a horned and winged demon. Dashing behind it, he waited for the thunderstorm of footsteps to pass over him. He still tried to remind himself that he was invisible but he wasn't going to take any chances.
"The City of Nash is being attacked!" Someone shouted
"Surround the Dark Tower! Keep the interlopers out!" Another voice commanded
Peeking from behind the wings of the stone demon, Johan watched as the Obsessed ran by. They all dashed by one after the other like a mob of people being let into a concert, but its what Johan saw that scared him. The faces of the Obsessed ran from very human to the most bizarre of creatures. Some had multiple red eyes and tentacles for hair, while others seemed reptilian in nature, faces like lizards, tongues like snakes, and eyes that had black slits like many other creatures of that type. Then there were some that were machines, some of them totally machine while others were machines underneath flesh that was peeled away like bad wrapping on a gift. IT was just a melting pot of men, women, creatures, and machines. All of them stampeding to the gates until the great doors opened and a robotic voice called out:
"Someone has slain the Hydra! Half of you head to the City of Nash and the rest of you search the Dark Tower for any intruders. Our lord may have lost the sight of the eye but we won't let that stop us! Now go!"
Then just like a thunderstorm rolling off to the distant horizon, Johan felt relieved but was more cautious knowing that the Obsessed were looking for him. Being careful, he peeked from behind the demons wings and saw several of those creatures coming up the spiral ramp. He waited as they passed, then he gathered up the guitar case and headed up the spiral ramp.
In going up he did feel that sharp tickle growing more potent with each step, similar to approaching a hot fire on a cold night. In a way, he was dangerously multitasking, keeping all his senses open for two things, the source of that tickle in his mind and for the Obsessed. He found himself always looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was catching on. That was when he had to remind himself that again he was invisible. Pretty ironic in a way, that he had the power of invisibility and was still worried about being caught, but then again, because one is invisible doesn't mean they're invulnerable to being caught.
Up and up the spiral ramp went like some kind of mad corkscrew. Going up the ramp Johan saw doors on his right side, every one of them seemed very evenly spaces almost like windows on a sky scraper. The curiosity in Johan wanted to know what was behind the doors, but his rational thought said to keep moving.
Ever since he stepped inside the tower, Johan felt that he had lost all concept of time, that he didn't know or have any idea or how long he'd been in the tower or how far he's gong up. Until, he decided to break the implicit silent rule of "never look down". He came to the rail of the spiral ramp and looked down, and with just one look he felt a small case of vertigo coming over him. Even though he was never afraid of heights, but looking down seeing the spiral ramp curve its way down to the bottom floor did send that jolt through him. Stepping away from the rail, Johan continued his journey up the ramp and along the way he was thinking to himself that he was glad that they weren't stairs, or he would have been severely worn out.
Still, he had no idea how long he had been inside the tower, of course he could have just looked at the watch but that would have served no good. For a good reason, because he didn't know what time he arrived, how long the battle with the Hydra was, how long the battle with the Hydra was, how long he was lying on that beach with the poison killing him, and how long he was climbing up the spiral ramp. So what could he do? Just keep going up the ramp, but he couldn't.
It was that feeling, that magnetic pull that he'd been feeling since day one of coming to Mydar. It was the strongest as it had ever been, and it seemed so much that it was blocking out everything else in his mind. During that whole time he was looking down at the black and grimy floor. Slowly he turned his head to the right, he saw a door there, and he approached it.
The door seemed much like all the others, simple, black, and a silver knob with a diamond keyhole. That was when he thought that whatever was behind the door was very precious, so it would have made sense that the door would be locked.
Johan set the guitar case down and took out the key. He inserted it through the key hold, he gave it a good turn, pulled the key out, and turned the knob. As the door opened, there was a series of click-clacks that were going at such a fast pace that it could have passed for a language.
Still wishing to be cautious, Johan looked all around to see if any of the Obsessed would show up. Seeing that there was nothing there, he held onto the key, closed up the guitar case, and dashed into the room, and closing the door behind him. With the door closed he used the key and locked the door once again. As the click-clack language continued, Johan got a chance to see the room around him. It was enormous and circular like the inside of a cylinder with a soft golden light being cast down upon the wooden bookcases that were set into the circular walls. IN those book cases were books, hundreds if not thousands of them, but as he took in the scenery of the books the click-clack language stopped and a human voice called out.
"I told you before, Dark Eagle! It's almost finished would you learn some patience for God's sake!"
The voice sounded old and wheezy. Johan looked to the other side of the library room to find a rectangular doorway cut into the dozens of book cases. He picked up the guitar case and walked through the doorway.
Beyond the second doorway of the library room, Johan found himself in a large room, larger than the library room, though it was a little more rectangular, with some windows that led out to a balcony that was facing east towards the Misty Mountains. To his left was a bed, but along the walls were dozens of shelves with differing figures, statues, and other items that Johan didn't understand. He then looked to the left and saw a man sitting at an enormous desk that went from one corner to the other with papers scattered all across its working surface.
Johan assumed that it was a man because the voice seemed male in nature. Though as he looked closer the man sitting as the desk was very old with long white hair that came down his back and as he looked down Johan saw that the man was in chains that hung from him and gathered on the floor.
Remembering he was invisible he took the ring off and spoke. He had a very good assumption of who this man was.
"Are you the king of Mydar?" He asked
The old man stopped what he was going and turned around, his chair squeaking, papers rustling, and chains clattering. He looked to Johan with his beady dark eyes and smiled behind a beard that was as long and white as Gandalf's.
"I am." The old man wheezed, "My name is Talbot Kyros and I knew you would come. I know that you must have many, many questions, but time is short. Have you brought six of the seven items?"
Johan answered immediately. "Yes, I have. But I couldn't find the seventh one."
The old king laughed, "No need to worry, its right here." The king pushed his chair away from his desk and displayed the seventh and final item. Johan was stunned when he looked at it, it was an old fashioned typewriter like the ones that he had only seen in museums on Earth.
"What do we do now?" Johan asked quickly
"Take out the items you have and place them in a half-circle around me and the typewriter."
Johan did as the kind instructed. He brought out the six items that were brought form all over Mydar. As he held each one it felt like each item was elated to be back like a kid coming home from school. He placed them around the king and his typewriter, the sword, the ring, the cup, the watch, the key, and the rose. As he did he heard that same click-clack language, which he knew then, was coming from the typewriter.
Johan placed the rose at its proper place, he then stood up and wanted to ask the king something.
"What do you plan to do?" he asked
King Talbot Kyros answered back, "I'm writing a spell that will merge all seven items back to me."
Johan made the revelation, "Reuniting yourself with your power."
"Exactly." Talbot confirmed, "Because the power was separated from me I began to grow old and weak, while the items grew stronger. But I also plan something on the man who imprisoned me."
"Dark Eagle." Johan ascertained
"He had been forcing me to write stories for him. That's the nature of the Obsessed. They want to be author's but they lack talent and discipline to do it. So, that's what Dark Eagle and the rest of his Obsessed army have been doing to me, enslaving my talents and stripping this beautiful land of its riches. But I'll show them."
Talbot gathered up several stacks of paper form his desk and pulled out something from underneath his tattered clothes. It was a can of lighter fluid that showed its signs of age with rust, dents, and flaking paint. He set the stack of papers as far down the desk as he could without disturbing the circle that Johan made. The old king squirted the lighter fluid all over the stacks of papers, lifting some and squirting some more in as the fluid pooled in that one part of the desk.
He then threw away the lighter fluid into a nearby trashcan as he looked at the typewriter, and began to speak in a language that Johan couldn't understand. The sound of it had the rolling R's of Spanish, the fluidity of Elvish, and an ancient tone that was like Latin. Then the king began to speak in the common language and Johan assumed that the king was repeating what he said a moment ago.
"I am that was." Talbot wheezed, "I am that is, and I am that shall be. I am made of the stars and of the Earth. Let the door be open to me, for I am the One."
The king took out the paper from the typewriter and laid it flat on the desk as he took out two more things from his tattered clothes. A pen in one hand and a lighter in the other.
"It's nearly done and with just a pen stroke, I will be free." The king revealed as he opened the lighter
As he was about to strike a flame, the door to the library room opened and a voice called out.
"Talbot! I've got some new stuff for you to read and review."
Johan looked and saw who that voice belonged to. It was a man in black armor that seemed to resemble the outer armor of a Gundam, except for the head that was exposed as human. Just as human as the king or Johan himself, and the very human eyes of the one in black armor was looking at him.
"Who is this, Talbot?" The black armored man asked
"You should know who it is, Dark Eagle." Talbot responded
"This is the leader of the Obsessed?" Johan asked the king rather surprised
"You bet your ass, puny Gundam!" Dark Eagle condescended at him, "And what do you think you're doing, Talbot?"
"Something that I should have done a long time ago, ridding myself of you!" Talbot answered defiantly.
"Oh yeah?" Dark Eagle asked back, "And what will you be without me, you has-been!?"
"I will be free at last." Talbot answered with narrow eyes as he had the lighter opened, "By the way the story you asked me to write? The one I said I would finish today? All the answers to those questions? They're in that pile over there."
He pointed to the stack of papers. As Dark Eagle looked he then asked something that he would come to regret very dearly.
"Why is there lighter fluid on it?"
Talbot started the lighter and tossed it into the pile.
Dark Eagle screamed, "NO!"
But he was too late as the lighter landed and the stack exploded into flames, blackening the paper instantly. The pitiful Dark Lord of the Obsessed scrambled to put the fire out as King Talbot Kyros took his pen and made his mark. A swirling mark, a curly-q at the bottom as the Dark Lord screamed to get back his precious story that he didn't even write himself.
Meanwhile, Johan watched and witnessed something spectacular. He watched as the items all around the king began to glow. Even the ring that blazed its cryptic message in those odd letters, but they were white, and it wasn't the only one, all of the items around the king began to glow and blaze a white brilliance. Then they seemed ot loose their shape and become pools of light. Including the typewriter, the pools of light began to leak into each other like water until they began a ring around the king who was levitating out of the chair. His chains, long hair, and beard hanging from him. As the light grew more intense the chains began to break into pieces releasing him at long last.
The chains were gone as the ring of water-like light began to drip upwards towards the floating king. That was when the light became hands and arms that wrapped themselves around the king like children hugging their father. As the light hugged the king, bolts of it arched outward like bolts of electricity in a Jacobs Ladder. They say that the odds of getting struck by lighting are mathematically slim, but Johan was at that slim end of odds as one of the arches of lightning struck him in the chest. He fell to the floor as he grasped his chest seeing blood spilling from his wound. The only thought that was in his mind was…not again…he had come that far only to be at death's door once again, but he knew that the cup wouldn't save his life again. All that he could do was witness the rest of the kings' ritual with the last bits of life left in him.
The light consumed the king until his whole body was the light itself, and the king let out a great cry but the cry was changing. At first it was his wheeze then the wheeze changed in pitch as it came down to a deep tone, and then it came to a young voice untouched by times of drinking and smoking. The body of light let out a great flash as the kings body came back down into the chair.
Dark Eagle came closer to look at the king, but to his great surprise the king rose out of the chair. Talbot Kyros was no longer a decrepit old man under the dark lords' thumb. He was a handsome and strong looking young man with shortly cut black hair and dark brown eyes like mahogany. He no longer felt powerful as Talbot moved with blurry speed over to Johan. He took the injured Gundam pilot went out to the balcony and jumped.
Thinking that he had lost his greatest prize, Dark Eagle went to the balcony to see that the king was flying away to the South, to the City of Nash. He flew away in the same way superheroes have done in a realm unknown to those in Mydar. The furious Dark Eagle shouted at the escaping king.
"I will find you!" He shouted, "You'll be nothing without me!"
To be continued…