I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters.

Chapter Eight: Zad's Plan

Zad peeked out from one of the wrecked statues in the fountain room. He would have liked to hide in the room with the machine but it was too bright and there were no shadows to hide in. This was the moment he been waiting for. He reached into his pocket and took out the cylinder that the Ethos Lords had given him. With a sly smile plastered on his face, he ran into the room and stopped near the defenders.

"Is that Zad? What is he doing here?" growled Seth as he narrowed his eyes at him.

Zad tossed the cylinder into the yellow energy field before running for cover.

"Hey what is he doing? What was that thing?"

"I don't know Seth, but it messing with the energy field" said Erik.

"Oh no" cried Rion. "The stones, they're cracking!"

Everyone turned to the stones and saw that they were indeed starting to crack.

Seth turned to the cylinder which was floating over the Key and growled "it must be that cylinder thing. It's destroying the stones. We have to get rid of it." Seth ran forward only to be shot back by yellow and black energy. The area between the stones and the pedestal was now filled with crackling black and yellow energy which sort of resembled a bad lightning storm.

"The energy field's too much" said Erik. "We can't get through."

"Oh no" said Kara. "What are we going to do now?"

Adam had finally found his way back to the room in time to see Zad zip by. What was that? Some kind of giant rodent? He turned his head back to the room and was about to step in when he heard the commotion inside. He quickly ran over to the other defenders only to be hit by a flying Seth.

"Whaaa…? A flying Seth? Since when do you fly?"

"Since a strange energy started to destroy the stones which blasted me away."

"Huh?" Adam looked up and saw the mess that everything was in. He saw the crackling energy and the strange cylinder. He also noticed that there was some sort of strange energy that was darker than the stones was twisting around the stones. They were like slithering boas that were trying to squeeze their prey to death.

"Where did that cylinder come from and what's that energy?"

"I don't know. Zad threw the cylinder in and then everything just went crazy."

"Zad? Who's Zad?"

"He's some sort of anteater" said Seth as he approached the crackling energy again.

Adam remembered the giant rodent that had went by: that must have been Zad. "So, what do we do fearless leader?"

"I don't know Adam. I don't think there's anything that we can do. Not with this energy field up."

"Actually" said Erik who was still at the console, "I think that energy field only threw you back because you ran into it. Although there's nothing I can do about it, this machine suggests that we should be able to get through if we go slowly. But, it'll probably be too painful to handle."

"Oh, that's just great" muttered Seth.

Adam walked up to stand beside Seth and said "maybe if I use my cloak as a shield, maybe it will protect me from some of the energy."

"What?!" cried out Mel. "You can't do that Adam! It won't work!"

"We have to try, Mel. Besides, this cloak is made out of some special material. It might actually be able to provide some protection." Before anyone could say anymore, Adam shielded himself with his cloak and stepped into the field. It was incredibly painful and Adam felt the energy on his toes as he slowly moved across to the pedestal. This would probably hurt my feet a lot more if they weren't still numb from the ice that Mel had covered them in. Thank goodness for Mel's ice powers and her quick temper.

To the defenders, Adam's progress was slow and they could clearly see that he was in pain. Meanwhile, the cracks on the stones were getting bigger and were spreading. Adam was running out of time.

One of us should have gone with him thought Mel.

Adam finally reached the pedestal and grabbed the cylinder. He closed his eyes and prepared himself for the worst. Nothing had happened. I don't get it. If the cylinder caused this, shouldn't there be something to stop me? This is too easy. He pulled the cylinder out, turned around and tossed it to Seth. However, the moment the cylinder flew out of the crackling energy field, Adam felt pain like he had never felt before. He couldn't stop a horrible shriek of pain from escaping his lips as he closed his eyes in pain. To make matters worst, he found that he couldn't move and senses seemed to be on overload. Everyone's screams seemed to be as loud as a banshee's and every step they took pounded in his ears. Scents that he had never noticed before assaulted his nose and he could almost swear that he could feel the air on his skin. I wonder what I would see if my eyes were open. The pain intensified and, for a brief second, he had a mental image of a figure on a roof somewhere before all went black and he succumbed to the peace of the darkness.

Zad peered back into the room after the worried defenders had taken the collapsed Adam away. He spotted the forgotten cylinder that had been left behind by the distraught defenders. He ran over to it and carefully picked it up. He intently examined it, trying to figure out what went wrong. The cylinder should have taken energy from the stones, not destroy it. What happened? He looked towards the ashes that were once the Stones of Arkvarc before leaving the room in haste. He knew that the Ethos Lords would not be happy that he failed to charge the cylinder with the energy from the stones. But, if I had failed then the defenders must have failed too. He took one last look at the room before slipping into the shadows. He failed to notice the slithering black energy that slid out the door and headed up to the ceiling even though he was looking right at them.

The slithering energy crept up through the cracks in the ceilings until they reached the roof of the castle. They combined into one as they crawled into an outstretched palm and curled itself into a black sphere. The dark figure wore a black cloak and the occasional flashes of lightning revealed nothing of his face except the eerie smile. "I have failed, but so have Zad and the defenders" he whispered to the sphere. "Sacred Stones of Arhvarc? What an absurd name. I wonder who gave it that name: the traitorous witch or that fool of a pawn, Drevac? No matter, the stones are destroyed. It's too bad that I didn't get any of their energy though, but something interfered with the transfer." He closed his hand and the black energy dissipated. I should destroy the defenders now, but they might still be of use to me. After all, I have to find the pieces of the Celestial Abyss somehow. The figure turned around and vanished into the shadows. Lightning flashed once more but the roof was empty.

Inside the castle the defenders had set up camp in an old kitchen they found. They had set up their sleeping bags near the fireplace and had started a fire. Adam had been laid down on his bag and Erik had checked his health with his gauntlet.

"He's fine" he said. "There's no sign of unusual energy and there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage. A little bit of rest and he should be back to normal." I hope.

"But what happened to him big brother? It looked like the energy just attacked him or something."

Mel nodded as the memory of what just happened came to her. Adam had been fine until the cylinder had reached Seth's hands. The yellow and black energy had suddenly gone from crackling in the area to attacking Adam. It was like as if the cylinder had been keeping the energy under control or something. Adam had let out a bloodcurdling scream before he had stiffened unexpectedly. She was happy that he had closed his eyes because she was certain that she didn't want to see the pain in his eyes. Seth had immediately dropped the cylinder and he and Mel had gone to Adam. However, the two found out that they couldn't get near Adam because of the intense energy. Fortunately, when the stones had shattered, the energy had disappeared and Adam collapsed. She remembered picking Adam up and Seth telling Kara to grab the Key. I'm so worried about Adam. I hope he's okay.

"I'm not certain; the overload caused the circuits to fry so I didn't get any data. But, I'm certain Adam will be okay."

"He better be" said Seth as he looked at the depressed Mel, "he better be."

Kara walked over and looked at Adam with a worried look. Her face scrunched a bit and she knelt down for a closer look. "Hey, what's with the light bruise on his chin?"