Chapter 6

"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."

Bill was terrified of the dream he was having and the bone chilling voice of Apocolyptica. Each time he heard it over the next few days however, what Apocolyptica was saying seemed to make more and more sense. Once Bill woke up, he couldn't remember the dreams at all. He only had a constantly growing feeling that Ra was up to something and that he couldn't trust him.

A few days had passed since Aiden and Bill had had their lesson with the stars. They had spent the next days after that honing their abilities and working on their training with each other and individually. After extensive tests with Ra they all came to the conclusion that they could completely block each other out of their minds and Ra was now unable to shatter the link between Bill and Aiden's minds. Ra decided it was time that they were filled in more on the situation and time that they accompany him on a real mission.

"Aiden and Bill, you have come so far in the past few days at such an accelerated rate. None of us on the council has ever seen anything like this. You have matured and honed your powers to the point that we all have taken a very long time to achieve. That being said I have decided to give you quite a bit more information and take you on a mission with myself."

Bill and Aiden seemed very eager and excited at the praises Ra was giving them. Ra took note and continued.

"As we spoke a few days ago I had told you that a hypothesis of mine had recently been fulfilled. You had asked what it was but I didn't believe you were ready for it just yet. Apocolyptica and I have both had a few suspicions over many years that there are certain ways that space and time flow together. He and I believe that if something exists in the galaxy such as a planet or star and so on, that wherever it is in the plane of space and time, there must be an object of equal mass and size on the exact opposite side of the galaxy from that object. Well it turns out that it was true. To take it even further, I located the exact opposite side of the galaxy from where Earth is located. What I found there was more than a surprise to myself. There is a planet exactly the size and mass of Earth with one moon the same size and mass as Earth's moon. The landscape is different and the coloring doesn't match, but the strange thing was its inhabitants. There are billions of lifeforms on this planet. The dominant species there seems to be very similar to humans. However, they are even more similar to how Apocolyptica looks."

Aiden and Bill both seemed to be in shock from the information. They kept quiet as Ra continued.

"I examined a few of these beings and found they had the exact same mental blocks that all humans do minus the extra ones placed in by the council. The mental blocks in their minds are deteriorating as time has gone by. The inhabitants are starting to exhibit many of the abilities that the council and yourselves are capable of. This is where my hypothesis comes in. I believe and have believed for ages that the mental blocks originally found in humans were placed there by the human's own minds. I believe that the human mind placed the block there so that the minds of the species as a whole can slowly evolve until they eventually break through the barrier and it ceases to exist. The fact that these other beings are gaining abilities as the barrier deteriorates and the fact that you two have managed to learn so fast proves that evolution is taking place. What is happening is natural and the humans of earth are being held back by our secondary mental blocks that we placed within their minds."

Aiden was the first to ask a question.

"So is that why Apocolyptica thinks that we are such a threat? He is afraid that with the evolution of humans they will overpower him?"

Ra nodded. Bill spoke up this time.

"That's bull. There's no way that Apocolyptica wants to destroy us all just because of evolution. There has to be a better reason than that."

Aiden was a little shocked at the statement.

"Wow Bill, you got very defensive all of a sudden."

Bill didn't want to say anything in front of Ra. He felt like he couldn't trust him anymore for some strange reason. Something was driving him but he had no idea what.

"I am sorry I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I just meant that I think that there must be a better reason than that to destroy a civilization. I may just be acting naive."

Ra looked at him for a moment, slightly suspicious, and then dismissed it and began to speak.

"Whatever his reason is, he is trying to exterminate your species. He must be stopped regardless of the reason."

Bill knew the words spoken should make sense but they didn't. He just seemed to trust Ra less. Ra began to speak again.

"It is time for us to begin our mission. Today we are going to travel to that planet and look for any hints about Apocolyptica's recently found powers."

Ra showed them both a playback of the battle that had taken place just a few days earlier. He showed them Apocolyptica's power to deflect the blasts and to summon the beast.

"I know for a fact that during that battle Apocolyptica disappeared and upon my examination of this planet I have concluded that it is where he had gone to. We need to go there today and try and figure out what Apocolyptica found there and why it gave him so much power."

Aiden and Bill were speechless at what they had seen. Bill looked at Ra and began to speak.

"So, Mars was destroyed? How has it not been discovered yet by anybody on Earth? We can't keep something like the destruction of a planet so close to Earth a secret."

Ra just smiled.

"Luckily Mars can not be seen from the Earth at this time. As for the few probes that were there, I made a diversion by creating a solar flare from the sun and sent a massive burst of energy towards where the planet was. Hopefully the scientists on Earth will believe they were shut down by the interference from the Sun."

Aiden and Bill seemed to think the idea would work. Aiden spoke with a curious tone.

"So this planet is similar to Earth?"

Ra was serious now.

"The planet is much like the Earth. It is populated by a large number of a species that is very similar to humans but even more similar in appearance to Apocolyptica. It would be easier if you two see for yourselves. We need to get going anyways. I will go first and then allow you to come to my location."

Ra vanished in an instance. Aiden and Bill focused and in a few seconds they could sense Ra's presence and teleported to his location. What they saw and felt next was nothing short of shocking. The planet they came to was so much like Earth in its land masses and the amount of oceans compared to land, but so different in appearance. The landmasses were shades of blue and reflective and the oceans were blood red. On top of everything else, they could feel life across the entire planet. They could sense billions of lifeforms but specifically the ones Ra had spoken of. Aiden and Bill looked at each other. Ra broke the silence.

"As you can see and feel, this planet is so similar to Earth it is eerie."

Bill and Aiden both nodded and continued examining the planet. They noticed that there was a spot that there was no lifeforms at all. Aiden began to question Ra about it.

"Why is this spot on the back side of the planet void of any life Ra? There doesn't seem to be any life within a few hundred miles in any direction of it."

Ra was pleased that they had noticed this.

"That spot contains a massive and ancient set of ruins. The people of this planet seem to be horrified of it and treat it as a sacred place. The animal population also seems to be terrified of it until here recently. I think that first, we should go to that side of the planet and try and examine a few of these human-like species' minds. It would be best if we did it as close to the ruins as possible. They seem to need to rest in some form like humans need to sleep. It is night time over where the ruins are located so it should be easier to approach the locals and examine them more thoroughly."

Bill finally managed to speak.

"It would be better if we split up. We could get more accomplished if we are each examining individual minds instead of all three examining one at the same time."

Aiden agreed.

"I think that's a great idea Bill. I will go to the northern side of the ruins and start there."

Bill nodded in agreement.

"Alright then I will take the southeastern side and I guess you could cover the southwestern side Ra. We can go in a triangle pattern until we have found some useful information."

Ra was content with the idea but added a little more.

"We should create a link between our minds so that we can share information with each other if we find something."

The three of them opened their minds to each other and went their separate ways.

Aiden teleported to the northern part to the edge where the closest local life was living near the ruins. He specifically found an area that the population was scattered with several miles in between. Aiden took notice of several features on the planet. The ground was very slick to walk on. The reflective material that was seen in space was made of a crystal that he had never encountered before. The archeologist in him was tempted to take a sample with him. He pushed the thought out of his mind however and continued to examine his surroundings. He looked up at the sky and noticed something very peculiar about the moon. It looked exactly like the moon did on Earth except for one thing. The moon was a dark gray and the craters on the moon were the brilliant white as opposed to a white moon with the dark gray being the craters. The color difference actually made the moon have a much more eerie luminosity than that of Earth's moon. The trees and plant life on the planet seemed to be similar to Earth more than most things there. The only real difference was they were made of different shades of the crystal material rather than wood and carbon material. As he made his way closer to his target he got a strange feeling that he couldn't get rid of. It was hard to explain but something didn't seem right at all. He came to a dome like structure that he assumed was a house because that's where the humanoid was located. The closer he got to the entrance, the more the feeling grew. He didn't like it but he knew he needed to go in and examine them close up. He wasn't able to examine them from great distances like Ra was. Aiden was at the entrance now and took his first steps in when Ra spoke to him in a very distressed voice.

"Bill, Aiden get don't g...!"

Ra's voice was cut off mid sentence. Aiden had never heard Ra seem so distressed over something and he knew something was wrong. He tried to teleport out of the house but found he couldn't. He turned around to leave. The entrance was gone. Aiden turned back around and started to move towards the other side of the room he was in. He found that after a few steps even his movement was stopped. Aiden started to freak out when he heard something. It hissed at him in a language he could not understand. The voice that was attempting to speak with him chilled him to his very soul. It terrified him to the point that even if he had the ability to move he wouldn't be able to. Aiden decided to try and speak with the being.

"Who,who, who are you?"

The voice stopped. The light in the room disappeared. Darkness consumed the area. The hissing began again. It was behind him, then in front, above him, to his left, below him, coming at him from every direction possible. It was overwhelming. Aiden was petrified and couldn't speak again. After a short time the voice came to a complete stop once more. He felt a cold chill on his leg. It was inching its way up. Then he felt another on his back, then one on his left arm. They were turning up all over his body and all going to the same place, Aiden's head. The chills all moved to his head and converged on each other. Aiden could feel it wrap itself around his brain. It didn't hurt but it was very uncomfortable. It felt as if fingers were prodding through his mind specifically in the cortex areas that deal with speech. After a minute or two of the cold sensation traveling through his mind, it seemed to take a hold of his brain and squeeze slightly. Aiden screamed in agony as he tried to use his abilities to fight off the attacker. It was useless though. All of his powers had been disabled. The feeling let up as the grip was loosened. Suddenly, two angry, blood red eyes began to come into focus right in front of Aiden's face. They were pulsating and releasing a luminescent red mist. The same soul chilling voice spoke, but this time he could understand it. It hissed at him slowly in his own language as it tried to articulate the message it was attempting to give.

"Why? Why...have...you...come...here? You...do...not...belong."

Aiden timidly spoke to the being.

"I am trying to discover information about the ruins here on your planet. It is very important that I discover what is contained inside of them. I came here to try and examine the mind of the local population to figure out why there is no life within hundreds of miles of the ruins."

The eyes stared directly into Aiden's pupils. They peered deep into him as they prodded through his mind. He could feel the being searching through his brain as if examining whether he were telling the truth or not. The red angry eyes began to dim and change colors. The pulsations became less frequent and the blood red faded to a light cyan color. The eyes went from an angry stance to an understanding and sympathetic one. The voice began to speak and even though its angry tone was gone, it was still just as eerie and bone chilling.

"Prepare...yourself."

Aiden's body was thrust from his current location. Everything began to blur into focus as the darkness began to flood with light. Aiden was somewhere within the ruins. Now that he was up close he noticed that the ruins were completely made out of the metal Ra's ship is made of. The ruins had fused with the crystal structure of the planet that surrounded it. The voice spoke to him telepathically.

"Evil...lurks."

Aiden noticed that some of his higher sense had returned to him, but he was still not able to use his full powers. He could sense something approaching him. The presence was coming from every direction. That was when he heard it for the first time. The scream sounded like something straight out of a horror movie he had seen, like a banshee. For the first time in his entire life he felt the presence of pure evil. The crystal beneath his feet and that had consumed the runes began to pulse with a dark purple light. The pulsations began at the edges of the crystal and all moved towards a single point. Aiden took advantage of gaining some of his abilities back and pushed his fear far into the depths of his minds. After he regained his composure he began to follow the pulsations. The screams continued and came from all different directions. Each time he heard a scream his fear would return and he would have to push it back into his mind. He eventually made his way to a pathway that lead to what was clearly the main temple in the ruins. Aiden walked down the pathway. The pulsations in light were growing stronger and less frequent as the crystal's cyan color soaked in a deep black and then ejected the darkness towards the temple. As each pulse reached the temple Aiden heard the scream echo out from inside.

Aiden made his way down the path, passing massive pillars that formed multiple half moon shapes. He came to a stairway that led up to the massive temple that was suspended in the air. The screams became louder and louder and were coming from directly in front of him now instead of from every direction. The entrance to the temple was breath taking as he entered the massive circular room. There were eight large circles on the ground of the temple that surrounded a central circle in a circular pattern. The black pulsations seemed to come to the entrance of the temple and spread evenly around the entire edge of the room, then collapse onto the central circle all at once. The scream was very loud now. It was so terrifying that Aiden could not contain his fear anymore. He made his way towards the center but the temple was very dark. The voice from earlier come into his head.

"Prepare...yourself...Evil...is...upon...you."

Aiden was now in the inner portion of the temple between the eight circles and the central one. He noticed a silhouette floating a few feet in the air in the central circle. The body was floating parallel to the ground. Another pulse hit the body and it arched its back and the scream of the banshee erupted and echoed through the room. Aiden stopped in his tracks. The voice urged him.

"You...must...proceed...There...is...no...turning...back."

Aiden was just a few steps from the inner circle when another pulse hit the body and a scream once again burst forward. Aiden stopped in pure fear once again. The voice came.

"Face...this...evil...or...die."

Aiden began to proceed once more. As his right foot hit the inner circle, the pulses stopped where they currently were. It was like time itself stopped. A very faint and ominous light began to come from the inner circle. It grew light enough that Aiden could make out the features of the body in front of him. What he discovered sent him into shock for a moment. It was Mariya. Her body was deteriorated and her skin pale white. She looked like the life had been sucked out of her. She just laid there with her eyes closed, motionless, lifeless.

"I don't understand. What happened to you Mariya?"

He took another step which brought his entire body into the inner circle. All light left the room except what was illuminating the inner circle. Aiden looked around and tried to figure out what had happened when he heard something that froze him in place. It was a single heartbeat. Half a minute went by when her heart beat once more. Aiden took a step towards Mariya, then another. He reached out slowly to touch her cheek. His suspense took root in his stomach as he inched closer and closer. His fingers made contact with her cheek. The pulse that had frozen in the room lit up the darkness and collapsed into the inner circle instantly. Simultaneously, Mariya's eyes burst open and her head turned to face him. As her head turned she thrust her neck towards him and the banshee scream erupted from her throat. Her eyes were very yellow and contained black slits in them where her pupils should have been. They pierced his skin and seemed to make his very blood boil. Aiden stumbled back in fear and shock. Mariya sucked in a deep breath and her body arched back and began to convulse as she began to scream bloody murder. The pulsations began once more. Every pulse that hit Mariya caused her to scream once again. Aiden was stunned and in shock by what he was seeing. He wanted to help her but he was too scared to move.

The pulsations in the room began to increase and become more frequent. They began to go from one every three or four seconds, to two or three per second. They were coming so rapid at this point that the floor began to fade into a solid color. Mariya's scream was constant now as she was constantly being hit by the pulses of energy. After a few seconds, Mariya's back was arched to the point that it seemed it was about to snap. Her volume amplified to beyond the capabilities of a human. Aiden's hair was standing on end as he was forced to just watch his wife endure this horror. Mariya's body snapped up and straightened out. All of the light left the room and the pulses stopped. Aiden could sense her presence still in the center of the room.

He heard something that he had yet to hear come from her direction, a breath of air. Her heart beat again. As it did, the pulse was emitted from her body instead of towards her. It was different this time. This pulse knocked Aiden back a few steps when it met his feet. There was a powerful and strange power contained in the energy of these new pulsations. There was about twenty seconds between each heartbeat and as each one came, the room very faintly lit up with the luminescent purple of the pulses. Aiden stood their as a minute had gone by. Her heartbeat again. Aiden jumped back in shock. He could have sworn that her leg had moved. The room went dark only a couple of seconds after the heartbeat. Aiden began to take a few steps back froward towards her body. Another heartbeat sent light through the room in a split second. Mariya was sitting up. Aiden froze in horror. He couldn't believe in the state she was in that she was able to sit up. Another heartbeat came with the faint light and now she was sitting up facing him directly. Aiden was petrified. The next heartbeat came and she was standing upright. Aiden could hear footsteps lightly across crystalline ground. The next heartbeat came. She had managed to take three steps towards him. Aiden wanted to turn and leave, but yet he wanted to go towards her at the same time. Each step she took seemed to decrease the time in between her heartbeats.

Mariya's back was hunched over and her head hanging down, hair covering her face. Her arms were limp as she seemingly dragged them along in her approach towards Aiden. As she came closer to him the pulses were becoming more frequent, now five seconds in between each one. Aiden decided that he would not flee, remembering what the voice had told him earlier. She was just feet away from him at this point when she stopped. A few heartbeats went by as Aiden just stared at her, fearful to say anything. He could hear and feel her each breath she took in and exhaled. It was icy cold and wreaked of decay. He came to the conclusion that her internal organs must be as decayed as the outside of her body was. Aiden began to make other assumptions and try and determine her current state and hypothesize about how she was even alive at this point. As he was thinking to himself she spoke, as if she was reading his mind. Her voice was definitely hers, but she hissed at him.

"Don't you recognize me, honey. It's your wife. Why are you looking at me like I am cursed. You shouldn't look at me like that."

Aiden didn't know what to say. He just stood there as she faded in and out of the light. She hadn't changed her stance even an inch. She began to speak again.

"Aiden. Honey, it's me. Why won't you talk to me."

Aiden just stood there a little longer. He summoned the courage to speak.

"What happened to you? Why are you in such bad shape? Who would do something like this to you?"

She stood their motionless. Her breath stopped as she began to hiss at him once more.

"You don't like my new look? Do you not love me anymore?"

Aiden was still struggling with what to say next. This being didn't seem like his wife at all. It sent chills down his spine just being close to it.

"I'll always love you no matter what Mariya, you know that. I'm just trying to figure out what happened. You not acting like yourself."

A few pulses of light went by. She began to laugh softly. It grew to a hysterical laugh as her body shook. She carried on as her laughter took an evil tone to it. After about a minute had passed she instantly stopped after one of the heartbeats. When the next beat came Aiden jumped back in shock. She was standing straight up when the light came again, looking him directly in the face. She began to laugh again. The pulses increased once more now only two seconds in between each heartbeat. Her eyes never blinked as she just stared at him and laughed. She began to speak again, but something was different about her voice now. It was two toned as she spoke another voice was mixed in with hers. Aiden recognized the second voice from somewhere but couldn't figure out where from.

"I am not acting like myself you say? I like the new look. It gives more character to the body. What's not to like?"

Aiden smiled now as he replied.

"I knew that something was sketchy about this whole thing, Apocolyptica. I recognized the voice but I couldn't place it until you started mocking me."

Evil laughter erupted throughout the chamber as Mariya's voice faded out and Apocolyptica' faded in. Another pulse of light erupted in the room, but the body was gone. Apocolyptica's voice echoed throughout the chamber as he began to speak to Aiden in his own persona.

"Did you think you could just walk into the ruins of my ancestors and meddle around? These ruins are sacred and you are tainting them with your presence. Your filthy human species should not ever set foot near here. The people of this planet know better, and I'll see to it you do too."

The room remained pitch black as Aiden began to hear the skittering of feet throughout the chamber. He began to to prepare himself in a defensive stance. He was scared but now that he knew this was all Apocolyptica's doing, he was able to focus on his enemy. Out of nowhere, the voice from earlier sounded back within his mind.

"You...are...not...prepared...You...must...face...this...evil...at...your...full...strength..."

Aiden felt his body surge with energy as all of his powers came back to him. He couldn't figure out what was going on but he was thankful to have his abilities back. Aiden broke a piece of crystal out of the ground with his mind and hurled it against the wall of the chamber. Sparks erupted from the impact as Aiden pushed his arm in the same direction. Fire erupted from area as Aiden forced it towards the center of the chamber and amplified its intensity to light up the entire room. Aiden could see everything now. He made his way to the center of the chamber. He began to speak.

"It looks like I have full control of my abilities now Apocolyptica. What do you say we have a little fun?"

Apocolyptica let out an evil laugh. He gave Aiden the answer he was looking for.

"You read my mind Aiden."

A massive burst of air swarmed the room. The fire that was illuminating the chamber over Aiden's head began to swirl up towards the ceiling as it was distinguished at the very top. The eight pillars in the room skyrocketed out of the ground. They began to pulse with an eerie green light. Aiden was suddenly forced out of the center circle and sent flying towards one of the pillars. Aiden took the flow of air in the room and forced it violently behind him to stop himself from crashing into the pillar. Apocolyptica appeared in front of him. These ruins are my domain now. I control the power of my people. I hope your prepared, because you are about to see the full force of Zurokian power. Ten warriors appeared in the room, surrounded by a peculiar looking shield. Aiden collapsed as he felt something prying in his mind causing him to experience a sorrow like he never had before. As he screamed in agony he could feel his life force being drained from him. The energy that fueled his body was leaving him. Aiden began to fade in and out of consciousness. Apocolyptica gave an evil laugh as he pointed at one of the pillars and it began to shine much brighter than the others. An energy more powerful than anything he had experienced swept the room towards him. Aiden blacked out to the sound of Apocolyptica laughing in an evil tone a split second before the blast hit him.

Aiden regained his consciousness. The eyes were still staring at him with their sympathetic look.

"Now...you...know...Stay...away...You...are...not...prepared...Evil...lurks...in...the...ruins."

Aiden was still in shock trying to grasp what had happened. He was still gaining back his reality. The eyes stared deep into him and then faded into the darkness. Light began to come into his vision. He was standing outside of the building he originally was examining. Aiden turned to look at the door to the building and heard the voice one last time.

"Stop...him..."

Aiden nodded towards the building. He sat down to try and let his senses recover. Ra's voice came into his mind.

"Aiden thank goodness that you are alright. What happened?"