Chapter 4

Apocolyptica paced the room with a great ferocity about him. He was irritated and every footstep he took, the ship felt. This battle was going on far too long and both sides were evenly matched. He needed to find a way to gain the upper hand, and he needed to do it quickly. He summoned his highest ranking council member into his chambers.

"Sekhmet! Come to me at once!"

Within an instant Sekhmet was bowed down in front of Apocolyptica ready to do his bidding.

"How can I serve you, oh great one?"

Apocolyptica stood directly in front of her and motioned for her to rise and look into his eyes. Sekhmet did so and Apocolyptica began his instructions.

"This battle between the council has gone on far too long. That annoying Ra is too evenly matched with our forces. I need to find a way to somehow gain the advantage in this battle and turn it around. I am going on a journey to find something treasured by my people. You are known for the destruction you leave in your wake and for your prowess on the battlefield. I am leaving you in charge while I take this journey. When I am successful, we will be able to turn this war around."

Sekhmet very timidly replied to the statement.

"We are in the middle of battle great one. Would it be a wise decision to take a leave of absence for this journey at such a crucial time?"

Sekhmet instantly knew that she should have said nothing. Apocolyptica's body was made of pure energy, but if he was angered his eyes became visible as sockets of pure darkness emitting a terrifying evil. He gazed into Sekhmet's eyes directly and began to speak in the calmest of tones.

"Do you doubt my decision Sekhmet? I realize that we are in the middle of battle but as I stated, we need to gain some sort of upper hand. The ancient texts that still remain of my people speak of a great power. With this new power the one who wields it will control the great beast itself, the Leviathan. Do not doubt me ever again Sekhmet. It would be most unwise. Now go, carry out the orders given to you."

Apocolyptica turned around and teleported out of the room. Sekhmet's body was quivering uncontrollably. She was eventually able to collapse to the ground in pure fear. She focused everything she had to regain her composure. She was able to stand up, and then teleport back to the fight and take over as head of command until Apocolyptica's return.

Apocolyptica teleported to a secluded star system on the other side of the galaxy. He crossed his legs and put his hands on his knees. He sat there in space and began to meditate. Before his encounter with the meteorite on earth, he had been Zurokian but a mutated form that they called humans. Once he had touched the meteorite, the Zurokian that was hiding within it expelled any and all human traces from his body, taking over it forever. Since then, all of the Zurokian's memories had been combined with the ones he had known from earth. He was searching his oldest memories for the time the ancients had spoken to him of the Leviathan. As he found it, a very detailed and brilliant vision took place.

He had grown up on the planet of Zurokia. His race was all that existed within the galaxy as far as intelligent life was concerned. The Zurokians were beings made of pure energy. Their minds were very advanced and everything they did was done mentally, not physically. In that time, before all of the current events had taken place, Apocolyptica was known to his people by another name. They called him Nazgoranth. He was a curious Zurokian, always asking questions. His absolute favorite thing to do was to sit with the ancients and hear the tales they had gained through the ages of time. There was one story the ancients would tell that had, to the present day included, always intrigued Apocolyptica. Apocolyptica was sat down in front of one of the ancients, Azurethnar as the ancient began his story.

"In the ages of the great awakening, the Zurokians were just beginning to learn their place in the universe. They taught themselves how to harness the immense power bestowed upon them by the great Zurokia himself. In their original forms, our ancestors were nothing but mere orbs of energy. They relied on Zurokia to teach them how to gain sustenance to survive, and how to build the society that we know today. Zurokia taught them how to govern our people, and how to expand the civilization to greater areas around his planet. As we Zurokians grew and matured, the orbs eventually began to grow the head, arms and legs that we all have today. This took generations upon generations of our species slowly growing. Zurokia always watched over us however, keeping us safe and helping to enhance our powers.

One day, when I was just a young one much like yourself Nazgoranth, Zurokia summoned the people of his planet to the temple centered within the mountain of crystal. He told us all that he had done everything that he could to help and that he would be leaving. It was then that he spoke of his great relics of power. Each relic had the power to amplify the Zurokian's abilities who originally discovered the relic. He spoke of nine in total. He said that only the most worthy of us all would be able to locate these relics, and upon locating them they would become ancients. To this day Nazgoranth, only eight have been discovered. The ninth still sits out there somewhere awaiting the one worthy of its power. This particular relic gives the founder the power over Zurokia's great pet itself. The Leviathan. It is the most powerful of all the relics, and the most elusive. The only clue ever given to its whereabouts are that it is buried within the Crystal Ruins of Zuranthar. Zuranthar was said to be Zurokia's predecessor and the beast is said to be an ancestral heirloom. It is only speculation by myself and the other ancients, but it seems that the one who gains this final relic, will become Zurokia's successor such as Zurokia was Zuranthar's successor."

Apocolyptica pulled himself out of his trance. He began to think to himself.

"The Crystal Ruins of Zuranthar. There has to be more clues to the relic than that."

Once again, he began to meditate and search carefully through his memories for any other possible clues. He came across one particular memory that seemed to lead him on the correct path. Once again the visions came to life and he was sitting in front of the ancient for a normal teaching.

"The laws of this galaxy are written in such a way Nazgoranth that it is able to somehow balance itself out. Everything sits within a portion of space and time. As something, for example a star is at some point randomly in the galaxy, then there will be a star of the same shape and mass on the exact opposite side of the galaxy in order to balance out the warp that the original star had created."

Apocolyptica quickly snapped out of his trance. He had it. He figured out his next clue.

"Of course! Where else to hide something that belonged to Zurokia, which was handed down by his predecessor Zuranthar. There must be a planet created by Zuranthar on the exact opposite side of the galaxy from where Zurokia used to be."

Those words, "used to be" lingered in his mind and brought back the memories he had tried to forget. Apocolyptica had grown up much since the times he had heard the stories of the ancients. He voyaged through the reaches of space constantly in search of the final relic. One of the ancients on Zurokia had neared the end of his lifespan, his spark slowly going out and his body of pure energy beginning to fade. He had been searching for the ninth relic for the remainder of his days in order to extend his own lifetime once again. He was unsuccessful and with his final shimmer, he used the power of his relic to destroy the planet Zurokia and ninety nine percent of the entire Zurokian population. Apocolyptica teleported directly home the instant he felt the planet explode. He was not the only one. He was met by the few others that had been away from home in search of the relic. They began to talk to try and piece the evidence together. They each shared the last thoughts they had heard from the planet. Each of them had heard the same final thought, from the ancient himself.

"If I am not worthy of the final relic, then no Zurokian shall have it. If the one who is worthy of carrying on as the successor is on this planet, then Zurokia himself will stop me."

The only conclusion the remaining Zurokians were able to come up with is that either Zurokia had abandoned them, or the ancient was right and the planet was not worth saving because they were unworthy. The survivors split into two groups. One group believed that Zurokia was still looking for his worthy one, the others believed that they had been abandoned and needed to move on. Apocolyptica tried to mediate the two and convince them to stick together but the two sides wouldn't have it. They split up and one group continued to search for the relic, while the other group split themselves up to go and use their abilities to begin life anew on other planets. Apocolyptica felt all of their signatures disappear as they blocked the others out in order to keep the groups separate.

Apocolyptica's flashback wore off and he put himself back on track. After all of this time he couldn't believe he didn't think of the solution he had come up with just moments ago. He pictured where Zurokia had been located within the galaxy. He found the exact opposite spot within the galaxy and teleported himself there. To his extreme disappointment, the planet that had been there was destroyed in much the same way as Zurokia had been. Apocolyptica examined the planet and focused his mind on seeing its history. It was a long process for him to do. He had to examine every single piece of the planet down to its smallest particles, and track down the ones that flew off into space. Only with every particle accounted for, could he see the complete history. It took one hundred and fifty years of complete concentration, but Apocolyptica was finally able to see what happened. The destruction of Zurokia had sent a ripple through space and time. It took just a few days before it hit Zuranthar and destroyed it exactly how Zurokia had been destroyed. The ancient's teachings had been correct. The galaxy always did balance itself out with its counterpart pieces. He gained a spark of hope however. In the planets history, before it was destroyed, he had seen a great ruin, made of crystal. Right before the planet was destroyed, it disappeared.

"Zurokia himself must have moved its location. Where would he move it though?"

Apocolyptica took many moments to ponder the thought. He tried his best to come up with an answer when he began to form a hypothesis.

"Before I took over this humans body on the planet earth, the meteorite in the desert was already there. I simply just used it to get this body. I never put any thought as to why it was there. Clearly it is Zurokian but the Zurokians who originally settled there did not bring it to the planet. Something else must have purposely put it there."

Apocolyptica began to focus on where the earth was. He found it within the galaxy and then pictured the exact opposite side of where the earth was located. He teleported. When everything came into sight he was astonished at what he had found. It was a planet much like earth. The landscape of the planet was nothing but a brilliant crystal shaded in a reflective cyan color. The oceans were blood red and made up a majority of the surface. He could feel the presence of life all over the planet itself. That is when he noticed it. These lifeforms had the same mental blocks the humans had on earth. They were so similar that he was in complete shock. He couldn't believe the chances that the Zurokians that had turned their backs on Zurokia had ironically managed to settle on exact opposite ends of the galaxy from each other.

Apocolyptica needed to go rather close to the planet to take a good look at these people. His curiosity was at its peak and he had to see exactly how similar everything was. The people of the planet resembled humans to a certain degree. However, they were all glowing in the same energy that Zurokians did. The glow itself was much more faint than his, but it resembled more Zurokian than it did human. He also took notice that without a secondary barrier in place like the ones placed on humanity, the barriers in their minds were much weaker than the human barriers were. Apocolyptica could only come to one conclusion from this discovery. It was just a hypothesis but it seemed like these beings were evolving, and as they were the barriers were slowly deteriorating themselves, leaving this hybrid species of Zurokian. This left Apocolyptica to ponder many questions.

"Does this mean this new race will be more powerful than the original Zurokians? Are they going to replace us as a species? What should I do with them? Clearly they are an even bigger threat right now than humanity is."

At that point, something caught his eye. As the planet was rotating on its axis he saw it, the Crystal Ruins of Zuranthar. He had done it, he had found the resting place of the final relic. It was easier than he had thought to find it, but he knew better than to think for a single second that he could just claim the relic without a series of tests. He made his way to the ruins and approached them carefully. He didn't dare teleport himself there because he had no idea the defenses Zurokia himself had placed.

The ruins were massive and completely made of crystal. There were thousands of the most intricate pillars that formed multiple half moon shapes. There was one main path to the main building at the center of the ruins. Apocolyptica walked on foot and constantly had his guard up, not knowing what to expect. The main temple was massive and clearly constructed by something even more advanced than the Zurokians. It was suspended in mid air with a stair way leading up to the entrance. The entrance to the temple was a large archway that dwarfed Apocolyptica in size. As he entered into the temple, he came into a circular room filled with pillars. There were eight of them in all, each evenly spaced around a circle that took up the entire room. The pillars each glowed a magnificent light and each bore the mark of one of the relics that had already been found. In the center of the circle there was an area where there should clearly be a ninth pillar. Apocolyptica assumed that is where his trial would begin and stepped into the empty socket. A voice hissed at him.

"It seems I have company. There has not been a pure one as yourself in centuries. You are here for the relic yes? The power over my great beast?"

Apocolyptica simply nodded.

"The others were not successful, not worthy of this power. I have but a single test, yet none of them were able to pass it. Are you worth Nazgoranth?"

Apocolyptica was surprised that Zurokia used his old name. He shrugged it off and replied with the most respect he could ever muster.

"I believe I am great one."

Zurokia laughed with an evil tone that made even Apocolyptica shiver.

"You had better be young one. The task is simple. You must survive an assault from each of these pillars. Each contains the power of one of the other relics. In order to gain the power of the ninth, and become my successor, you must master the powers of the other eight."

The test began instantly. The first relic began its assault. This relic's power was the ability to take ones memories, find the most painful one and torment the victim with it until they eventually killed themselves to end the torture. Apocolyptica felt the feeling he had when his entire species was silenced all at once, except the feeling was amplified one million times what he originally had felt. He screamed in agony as it quickly ate away at him and brought him to his knees. He was trying to think but all he could do was feel agony. Something in his mind clicked subconsciously and he pictured the excitement he felt when the ancient spoke of the ninth relic. He let it take over his mind without a second thought. The agony began to lessen enough that Apocolyptica could think again. He used every ounce of his mental power to amplify the new memory and push out the agonizing one. It took hours but he was able to do it. The first pillar in the room went dim. Apocolyptica wanted to take a break and let his mind recover but the second pillar instantly began its assault.

The second relic had given the ancient the ability to specifically target a Zurokian and diminish the energy held within their bodies until it was gone all together and they died. Apocolyptica focused all his mental power to trying to stop the entity within him stealing his life force. He quickly came to the realization that every time he surged energy, the process sped up. He cleared his mind completely and let nothing flow through his body. The entity within him had nothing to feed on. Without his mind working, no energy was being sent to his body to react to anything. The entity eventually died itself. The second pillar lost most of its light. The third pillar started to attack.

This particular relic had the ability to summon the ancestors of their people to fight for it. Ten of the greatest Zurokian fighters to ever have lived appeared and began to assault Apocolyptica. He managed to evade two of them and immobilize two more. The other six of them however were able to reach him and all gave him blows that made the very energy that flowed through him dim and regain its brightness. He tried to defend himself but there were too many for him to take on all by himself. Once again his subconscious mind began to hint to him. He noticed the first two pillars had merely dimmed, not lost their light completely. He surged a blast of energy to each one and commanded the pillars to help him. Five of the warriors instantly collapsed screaming in agony as Apocolyptica had done and the other five began to flicker, trying to fight the entities held within themselves. Apocolyptica took the advantage and quickly finished the rest of them off. That was when he realized it, where the others had failed. With each relic defeated, the one on trial was able to use the powers of that relic. He must be the one worthy of the ninth relic because his subconscious is what has kept saving him, not his actual self.

The fourth pillar activated. This relic was known to form a great barrier that no single Zurokian could penetrate. However, Apocolyptica combined with the ten strongest warriors of their history were more than enough to bring the shield down. He progressed through the pillars at an alarming rate, each one getting easier as he gained more powers. The eighth and final pillar came to life. Its power was the one that destroyed his home planet. Since Apocolyptica knew it was coming he was able to cast the shield he had gained and easily survive the blast. Battered and broken, but victorious Apocolyptica made his way back to the center where the ninth pillar should be. He knelt down within it and Zurokia began to speak.

"You have passed the test. You are clearly worthy of the ninth relic. I have watched you as I watch all of my people. You were the first to find the ruins by putting the pieces together, not just by chance. The others landed on this planet by chance, and failed the test miserably. You were the first to figure out the actual simplicity of the test where others overcomplicated everything and failed. Close your eyes Nazgoranth, and you will be given my power."

Apocolyptica closed his eyes as he was told. The area below him began to glow with the light the other pillars had contained before the test. It rose up out of the ground with him kneeling upon it. A force beneath him pushed him up into the air. The eight pillars around the room began to gain their light back. The eight pillars around the circle started to pulse very slowly. Each pulse they gave sent a surge of energy into Apocolyptica's body. The pulses grew faster and faster. Waves of energy were surging into Apocolyptica's body at an alarming rate. He felt his powers amplifying. He felt him gaining each of the powers of the relics. Finally the ninth relic began to pulse with the other eight. They pulsed a few more times pumping their last bits of energy into Apocolyptica's body. The eight pillars in the circle went completely dim, void of all light. The ninth pillar dimmed to the point it was almost out. Suddenly, it surged with an energy so bright the entire room lit up and the glow could be seen by the people of the planet from hundreds of miles away. There was a massive surge of energy that swept into Apocolyptica's body. That is when he felt it, the presence of the great beast. It was not within the same dimension they were contained in. The beast floated in a parallel to the plane of space and time that contained their universe. It could ignore the rule that the galaxy balanced itself out. It traveled within this other dimension until it was summoned. It would then tear a hole in the space time plane and wreak the havoc commanded of it, then go back to its dimension. As Apocolyptica came back to the ground all nine pillars had disappeared. Zurokia spoke up but his voice began to fade away.

"You have been granted my powers as my successor Nazgoranth. How you use them is up to you. The only things you should know is that there is a set amount of time that is different for each one with the power. One does not know when the time will come, only that it will. At the end of the given time, the power must be given up to another."

Zurokia faded off into nothing and ceased to exist. Apocolyptica had found the power he had been seeking. He would deal with the people of this planet another day, but for now it was time for him to go back and put a halting point to the battle with Ra. He pictured his chambers in his mind and teleported. Sekhmet was at her feet kneeling within half a second of Apocolyptica's return.

"Great one, you have found what you were seeking?"

Apocolyptica laughed in the same evil tone as Zurokia's had been in. Sekhmet quivered more than ever.

"It seems we are starting to slip in the fight since I have been gone."

Sekhmet cringed at that statement, awaiting her punishment. Apocolyptica just smiled.

"Stand my friend, you will receive no punishment today. You did your best and it is time for me to even the playing field. I'll send them into retreat so that we can regroup and gather our supplies once more."

Sekhmet did not understand at the time but she saw firsthand what took place after that.

Apocolyptica teleported to center of the battle. He saw the beast in his mind and summoned it. A rip in space and time appeared directly above the battle. It pulled itself out and in one sweep laid waste to three of Ra's best ships. The rest of Ra's battalion fired simultaneously at Apocolyptica while Ra and the other members of the council on his side did the same. Apocolyptica put up the shield he had gained from the relic and everything backfired onto Ra's forces and into the nearby planet Mars, splitting it open. Sensing the exposed thermal energy the beast quickly made its way to the planet with amazing speed for its size. Ra ordered his troops to retreat before the beast plowed them over trying to get to the now exposed mars. Ra stayed behind for a short while longer and watched the beast ravenously devour the innards of the planet until it was dead. Apocolyptica let it return into its own dimension. Ra stared at Apocolyptica with an intense gaze for a few more seconds before he was gone. The battle was over for the time being.

Apocolyptica teleported back to his chambers. Sekhmet was at his feet in an instant. Apocolyptica gave his orders.

"We need to regroup and start to resupply. They won't dare attack us again seeing what they have just now."

Sekhmet nodded to confirm her orders and was gone. A few days passed and Apocolyptica was planning his next move to attack Ra when he felt it. Two human minds, one known as Bill and the other known as Aiden.

"How dare he! How dare that fool unlock those hybrid monsters mental blocks!"

The ship rumbled with his angry outburst. He paced the room and came up with a quick plan. He would wait till they slept when their minds are young and then speak to them both individually. He probed their minds without them knowing it looking for the one that would be the easiest for him to whither away. He saw both of their entire lives in an instant. He took note of each of there weak points and devised a plan that would do the most damage to them. It would be his revenge on them for tainting his race with their mutant minds. He would make them suffer for this. He would pit them against each other, force them to fight by making one of them join him. Bill's mind seemed to be the weaker of the two so he would use him. As Bill and Aiden slept, he had a conversation with Aiden so as to throw Ra off when they awoke. In Bill's mind however, he completely blocked Ra out but with his new powers. Ra would not be able to recognize this and wouldn't know it was Apocolyptica. He established a permanent link in which he could use his new found powers to slowly corrupt Bill's mind. Bill would be made to join Apocolyptica, whether he liked it or not.

"Bill, I am the one known as Apocolyptica. Everything Ra has told you is a lie. He is planning something in the background that he is not telling you."

Apocolyptica's powers were working just as planned. Unlike in Aiden's mind, Bill had no resistance to Apocolyptica's influence. It absorbed everything he said like a sponge.

"Ra is planning to turn the humans into his slaves. He wants to alter them, turn them into monsters. Humans as a species are naturally corrupt, especially when their minds have been released like yours has. If you allow Ra to keep on course, the balance in your universe will tilt and everything will be destroyed. As for your friend Aiden, you must either convince him to join you, or kill him to keep him out of my way. As a species, you must all perish. Humanity, earth, all of your loved ones and friends must die in order for the universe to be kept in balance. Remember these words each time you sleep."

Apocolyptica was satisfied with his seed of corruption well placed deep within Bill's subconscious mind. Apocolyptica turned to gaze out into space.

"Let's see if my hypothesis from the crystal planet I discovered is true. It seems Ra's foolishness has actually paid off for me, for once."