Chapter Twelve

Six

I frantically look around and take in my surroundings. A hundred Mogs are in sight, more of the low-ranked ones instead of the soldiers. I can tell by the color of their skin and the way they move around. Instead of ashy gray, the common Mogadorian has moldy green skin, with gray dotting everywhere. God, they look awful, like broken statues half covered with moss. Each one of them hurriedly moves from one place to another, and a Mogadorian about my height passes right through me, as if I'm just a ghost in this place, which I think I am. John is silent, looking around as well. I look deep into his eyes, trying to say, What happened? Why are we here?

John understands, because not a second later he replies, I don't know that yet. But all I know is that we have to see what's happening in there. We stare at each other, stunned by what we just witnessed. So, since our minds are connected now, we can communicate through that kind of connection?

Where? I ask.

John's spirit self points to the mound of rocks guarded by no less than twenty soldiers in the distance. What's so special about those rocks? Why are they guarding it? What secrets does it hold?

With a tug of my hand, John and I float towards it in silence, watching the Mogadorians scurry from place to place with that horrified looks on their faces I still don't quite understand. I think about how Katarina used to described them as vicious and mean-looking, like the soldiers we're about to face now. I did not at all expect that they would be as scared and fragile as this.

We have just reached what I thought before was a rock pile. Now I can clearly see what it really is.

Under the red sky, I see it is a fortress with uneven and chapped stones and boulders, somewhat relating to an ancient medieval castle, except for the part where the wooden drawbridge-slash-door is replaced by a big hole. I am reminded of the time Katarina let me watch the movie "Underworld: Evolution", where there was a fort that looks like this…sort of.

What worries me most is what lies beyond the hole on the front wall. I can feel evil radiate from it, sending shivers that run down my spine. John floats ahead, but does not break my hold, even if I lessened the pressure of my grip on his hand. I let him drag me over the entrance of this scary place. Before we enter the fortress, I stop instantly. Memories from the cave that haunted me my entire life flash through my mind. John grips my shoulders, realizing the fear I'm facing. I suddenly feel very childish, scared of the dark and the monsters it conceals. John cups my face in his translucent hands and says, You can do this. I'll be by your side no matter what.

With a sharp intake of breath, I nod and John pulls me along, entering the mouth of this monster fort.

The darkness in here seems unending, forever spreading. The architecture in the inside is worse than that of the outside. On my right is what used to be a stone pillar and on my left, past John's almost translucent figure, is another that seems so worn and old that even with a weak earthquake, this place would still crumble down.

I flinch when I hear a disappointed growl from one of the upper floors. John looks up, and hauls me upwards, passing through the ceiling and onto the floor of the second floor, and the third, until I hear the voices more clearly and I know that we're directly below the commotion. "What do you mean 'cannot be awakened'?" I hear a familiar angry voice say. Setrákus.

"Sir, what I am reporting is a certified fact from the mouths of our scientists. He can't be awakened that early," replies another voice, a voice thick with hardness so as not to let fear show.

"The Loric are getting stronger and more powerful as we speak, especially that female, the one who refused to join him on our side. The faster you reboot him after his long sleep, the quicker we can destroy the last of the Lorics." Even in this illusion, I can feel John tense at the word "female". A nerve on his jaw is twitching, and his brows are furrowed. "Speaking of which, what is their status, soldier?" asks Setrákus.

John motions for me to float higher, and together, we rise until we're high enough to see through the dimly lit room.

Setrákus, with that gruesome scar of his, sits on a metal chair with tubes and the like attached to every one of his limbs, maybe three each, if not, more. There are marks on his body that I don't recognize. A few burns are revealed on his arms. The soldier whom he is having a conversation with is beside a machine where the tubes on Setrákus' limbs are connected. He looks weak, but is regaining his strength. In a few months' time, probably when the virus will spread throughout the U.S., he may be powerful again.

"They have divided themselves under circumstances we don't know yet, sir. A group remained in Manhattan, where one of our weapon sites is. Another is in Virginia, near the part where our headquarters used to be. The last is halfway from Indiana, sir," replies the soldier.

Setrákus nods weakly, and says, "Prepare the ship. Load my weapons. Bring him along with me. I want everything ready by next morning. Understood?"

"But sir, you're still recover—"

"Do not tell me what to do, or else you shall suffer the wrath I had released on my last servant! Load the ship, set the coordinates to our Base Quarters," says Setrákus, and with a growl, the soldier marches away. "I will find each of you, and since you're divided, you will be easier to kill." Setrákus looks directly at me, those dark eyes of his piercing through me. I feel the air leave my lungs and John's strangle cry of my name, "Six!" The sounds are muffled so that they sound like a million miles away. I feel John's hand disappear despite my strong hold on him. The entire vision blurs, and I'm back in the motel room where I meet Crayton's worried eyes.

"We're in deep shit, Crayton. Setrákus is planning on arriving here on Earth again. He's talking about a 'Base Quarters' and some guy's powers I think he needs to become more powerful," I say, my voice breaking near the end. So this is what it feels like to receive a vision.

I'm sticky and covered in sweat. My chest is heaving in unimaginable rate, making it ache. But John? What happened to John? Where is he? Is he okay?

"Six, calm down. Here, drink some water," Malcolm offers, handing me a glass of water. I drink everything in less than fifteen seconds. I'm still out of breath though, my mind racing, trying to recover bits and pieces of the dream that threatens to spill away. "Now, Six, tell me; what happened? All of a sudden you were murmuring and twitching, just like…" Crayton says, making sense of the events. "…like Four." Boy, he's smart.

"John sent me a dream message, just to check up on me and then…" I explain, from the dream to the vision of Mogadore, its people and barren lands, the rock fort and what happened in it. Malcolm says, "We have to unite with the others immediately."

"Think about it first. It may be a trap. We still have to find the ship, heal the humans, and find the Chimæras—"

"Crayton, all the Mogs in the area will be focusing on us and the others. This is an advantage. We can lead them to us, lead them into our own trap and it will be a huge success at killing most of them. They're probably the ones who're spreading the poison as we speak," I say, cutting Crayton off.

"But Six, if Setrákus uses a ship with light speed boosters, he'll be here within a month or two. We have to concentrate on what we're looking for; the ship," Crayton says.

"We have to find the others!"

"We search for the ship!"

The argument isn't over yet. I'll make sure of it. The phone rings, and I use telekinesis to pick it up and float it into my hand. I put the phone on speaker and whisper, "Hello?"

"Hello! Six!" Sam yells over the gunfire I hear from the other end of the line, "Six, listen; we managed to get away just in time, but they targeted the hospital where Marina was supposed to heal more people." There's an explosion and Sam grunts. "Sam! Focus! What happened?" Malcolm intervenes, his face growing pale at the sound of his son in the middle of danger.

"Right—they caught up to us. We're supposed to follow John, but they got us cornered. They were expecting it. Two Chimæras are dead and they're on our asses right—"

There is a loud gunshot, and the line is disconnected.