RISE OF LIGHT

Chapter 7

Part 1

FLASH BACK - 4 YEARS AGO

"So Uncle…" Vertrex said, looking up from his study notes. "Tell me about this secret you wanted to tell me earlier."

Uncle James also looked up from the book that he had been reading. He looked at his nephew intently for a few seconds, wondering whether to tell him or not. He then placed his book on his lap before looking back at his nephew.

"Ok then." He began. "The reason I said 'without light there is no darkness' was because…" he paused for a few seconds before clearing his throat and continued. "…because, the creator of darkness … is also the creator of light."

PRESENT TIME

"That's what uncle told me at that time." Vertrex said, looking around at them as he recounted his memory.

"What!" Daniel exclaimed in shock.

After that a shocked silent followed. Everyone said nothing but gape at Vertrex, as if not willing to believe what he had just told them. After a few minutes of total silence, Al finally broke it.

"How can that be?"

Vertrex looked at Al's curious face and then at everyone else's faces. They all were sharing the similar looks, as they waited for his reply.

Vertrex hesitated. He didn't know what to say. He only said what his uncle had told him but had never bothered to ask his uncle the exact same question because he was studying at that time.

"I don't know." Vertrex said simply. Then feeling as if he had said it very short he expanded. "I told you what my uncle had told me and that's what I've been wondering for a while since my discovery of the prophecy."

Another silence followed this. He didn't know whether the previous silence was much worse than this silence or that this silence might be worse than the previous silence. After a while of continued silence, Kayla broke it.

"Ok but could that master be the same person as what the prophecy described about? Could this Fusion Master be the person that your uncle was referring to when he said that to you?" Kayla asked her question without hesitation.

"That's exactly what I've been thinking." Vertrex said, nodding at her as he narrowed his eyes slightly as he went through all the things that were said.

For a while there was complete silence in the room as everyone thought about these things in their own mind. Vertrex knew how he had felt at that time but because he had work to complete then, he completely forgot yo ask his uncle about the questions that he and his companions were forming as they continued to go over these things in their mind.

"What ever the case…" Daniel said finally, pulling everyone back to the present. "We don't have enough information to think or decide on such serious issue."

Al nodded at Daniel as he turned to around to speak what he had in mind.

"I agree with Daniel." He said. "We should gather more information before we continue this conversation or we'll get no where if we continue in this rate."

"I agree" Sophia and Kayla said in unison. They looked at each other and beamed.

Vertrex looked at them in astonishment. He never realised they would actually come to a decision to hold up this talk some other time when they will have more information about this.

"We should collect more information on this and come back so we can continue this talk later on." Vertrex said, looking from one to the other. "Sounds good?" he asked hesitantly.

Al said "I've got no problems with that."

Daniel said "Same here."

Kayla didn't say anything but nod her head once. Sophia however voiced her question.

"Where do we search for such top secret information?"

Everyone looked around at her in surprise. Vertrex, nor anyone he assumed, never really thought about WHERE they would gather such top secret information. He was wondering whether he should go back to his uncle and ask him but Al disrupted their thoughts.

"Anyway … we'll find that out in time I suppose." To which everyone agreed open heartily.

Al smiled at them appreciatively. Vertrex knew Al was trying to postpone such secret talks such as the creators or which side the creators really belonged to. Vertrex thought it was time to change the subject.

"Well now that we've decided, can you tell us now why you never really wanted to be a hero Al?" Vertrex said with a smile on his face.

Al's smile disappeared as if someone poured cold water over him. Al didn't speak for a few moments and Vertrex didn't blame him for his silence. Vertrex knew that this must be very serious for him to stay silent like this. Then Al turned to face them and said without pause.

"I never wanted to become a hero because I would end up, sooner or later, the target of many people."

Vertrex and the others exchanged quick glances before turning back. Vertrex wasn't sure what Al meant by 'the target of many people'. Apparently Kayla shared the same question as he did as she voiced her question.

"What do you mean by 'the target of many people' Al?"

"What I meant was…" Al said, this time in a much lower voice than before so they had to move a little closer to listen to him. "…was that, I'll be the target of the dark users and perhaps the darkmaster himself."

Everyone remained silent for a few moments before Sophia broke it.

"Are you saying-" Sophia was cut off when Al interrupted her in mid sentence.

"Yes." Al said sadly, making a sad face. "Right now … I'm on the run from the dark users."

Chapter 7

Part 2

"Chased?" Daniel said incredulously as he looked at Al in surprise. "Why were you being chases?"

Al hesitated, trying to figure out a better way to spill what he had done to achieve such a ill treatment from the dark side. The temperature suddenly dropped, making Kayla and Sophia looked around, wondering why they suddenly feel cold.

"I freed a couple of prisoners at an encampment but in the process, I killed many of their comrades." Al finally said.

Daniel didn't say anything but continued to watch Al intently. He wasn't the only one. Kayla and Sophia were also watching him.

Vertrex remembered back at the forest where Al had first attacked them. It was then that he realised that perhaps Al had misunderstood them for dark side forces and attacked them without confirming it. He felt sorry for Al and his current situation while at the same time realising that if Al was indeed being chased, they need to be extra cautious … just in case Al was to be found by anyone of the dark side.

Then Vertrex, taking interest in the surroundings, started to look around the house more properly than before. He realised that the house was neat for being a small one. He remembered how messy his and Daniel's room had been when ever they forget to clean up their room. Thinking about that made him smile as he remembered how his uncle always shouted at them to clean up their rooms or they won't be having dinner that night.

As Vertrex continued to move his gaze from one spot to another, he heard Sophia, from behind him, speak.

"Why don't you start from the beginning and tell us what made you become a hero, Al?" Sophia said consolingly.

Vertrex looked around in time to see Al getting off his couch to head for the kitchen. Al then filled his glass with water that he got from the container, which was standing on the kitchen bench. He then returned to take his seat on the couch he just vacated to fetch some water. He drank a bit of the water before placing his glass on the table in front of them. He straightened up on his couch before speaking.

"It was perhaps two or three years ago" Al said, looking from one to the other and back again "when I was wondering around the streets here. It was bitter cold inside so I felt I could do with a walk. That day it was awfully cold for some odd reason. I never thought that it was due to the presence of dark activity nearby."

"I took the route that I usually take to go the shops, to see what's new or anything that I might need. Found nothing useful but I hanged there a little longer before finally, getting tired of watching people buy this and that, headed back home." Al said. He stretched on his couch and more a little more as he tried to before more comfortable.

"Must've been boring to watch but do nothing." Daniel said before yawning.

Al nodded at Daniel. "Yes it was." He said before resuming his story.

"Well. I went back the way I came but when I was half-way to my home when…"

"Someone random jumped in front of you, claiming that he was your brother." Daniel said sleepily.

Sophia burst out laughing while Al looked at him in amusement. Kayla punched Daniel's right shoulder in annoyance. Vertrex looked at Daniel, quite amused how his friend talks when he is sleepy.

"Sorry." Daniel said, finally waking up due to the punch Kayla gave him. "What did you do that for." He said indignantly to Kayla.

"Well" Kayla said, speaking in an irritated voice "that's the only way to wake you up." She paused and then continued "or did you want Vertrex to wake you up?" she finished, smiling at him.

Daniel raised his eyes in shock. "No way in the world am I being woken up by Vertrex at this time of day." And then he quickly looked at Vertrex, smiling at him. "I'm nor being rude to you Vertrex. I was-"

"Daniel. Shut up and listen to Al's story." Vertrex said to Daniel in an exasperated voice. He saw Daniel quieten down which made him feel satisfied. He turned back to face Al, who looked at him admiringly.

"Shall I continue then?" Al said, smiling at the drama that took place in front of him. Vertrex smiled at him.

"Sure." Vertrex said simply and casting one ominous look at Daniel, he lay back on his chair and waited for Al to continue. Al couched before continuing with his story.

"Well… in front of me, crowd of people were aligning themselves on the footpaths to see whatever it was that they were waiting for. I didn't know what was happening so naturally I was curious so I went and stood at a spot where I could see most of the road from left to right. As I looked around for what it was the crowd was waiting for, I heard it. Laughter and jeering" Al said.

Vertrex knew what Al was talking about. Hoe many times had he seen the same things over and over again, back at his home town, watching how the dark forces marched the captured prisoners. Vertrex knew what was going to happen even before Al could continue with his story but he remained silent for the sake of his friends to hear this thrilling tale.

"The dark forces were matching captured prisoners through the city. They would march like that for long distances before finally taking them to their prison. I saw one of the dark users use a whip to whip the man across his body. It was a horrible sight and I felt I couldn't watch anymore. I pulled away from the crowd as I decided to go home instead of watching such heartless actions being conducted to weak people."

"As I was leaving, I heard a women crying. I looked around to see a women crying into her hands quietly. At that time I thought how strange it felt as she cried and cried while everyone ignored her as they watched the prisoners being dragged away. I thought of consoling her but at the same time I realised something else. As I watched her, I realised how heartless I am, to do nothing about what was happening to those poor people and that's when I decided I have to do something, anything to save them and that's when I decided I'm going to stop the march."

There was silence for a few moments in the room as Al paused to drink some water from his glass. Finally however, the spell of quietness was broken by Sophia.

"Quite a gallant choice you made at that time." Sophia said as she smiled at him.

Al returned the smile. "I just felt what was right at that time and acted on it." And he continued with his story.

"I had my cloak and my sword with me. I always carry them with me just in case I was attacked by anything." he said with a smile on his face. "So, you can guess what happened next … I killed all the dark users … of course they put up a fight" seeing the questioning face on Kayla "but they weren't strong or they were underestimating me but either way in the end I finished them off."

"Just as the last dark user was killed by my attack, the rebellious group, only a few of them at that time, suddenly appeared out of nowhere and surrounded me." he said, now without smiling.

"Then what happened?" Kayla said in a hushed voice.

"Oh … they wanted me to join their ranks." Al said as he smiled at Kayla. "Said I would be useful in drive the dark forces from existence." He sighed before continuing. "I refused. Idiots they were, saw me only as a pawn and nothing more than that." Then suddenly he sounded angry. "I dislike people who treat other people as nothing but pawns." There was anger full of his face now which was quite scary to look at. "Those who treat them like that are no better than the forces of darkness."

Chapter 7

Part 3

There was complete silence for a few moments. Vertrex was sure that the others were having trouble trying to strike a conversation after witnessing such anger." he himself didn't know what to say but continue look at Al sadly. As he looked at Al's angry face, he realised that Al was trying to live a life that doesn't existed in the world that they were now living in. When he couldn't continue to look at Al's angry face, he resumed his observation of the room. As he moved his gaze, he suddenly noticed something glittering at the top shelf of a book rack.

He muttered "Zuma" and instantly his vision zoomed in, making him look closely at the glittering object. It was a name tag that people usually imprint their name on. He read the name that was imprinted on it and to his surprise he realised he was reading Al's full name.

"Alex?" Vertrex said, turning to face Al, wondering that his reaction would be.

Al jumped and turned around to look at Vertrex, all anger gone in a flash. Obviously, Vertrex thought, Al's been startled by that name.

"How-" Al began but Vertrex pointed to the name tag, which was located on top of the book shelf.

Al quickly turned to look at the spot that Vertrex's finger was pointing to. It took him only a few seconds to realise what Vertrex was seeing. Then he turned back to face Vertrex, smiling as if he was caught out while the others however were looking between them in a confused faces. Vertrex thought of laughing when he noticed their faces.

"I zoomed my vision to look closer at that shining object that I found so intriguing." Vertrex said innocently.

"Damn." Al said quietly, not sure what else to say now that his real name was exposed. "I was hoping that no one would find out and yet…" he trailed off.

Vertrex took pity on him. "Yet you were careless enough to leave such a thing in plain view. You do know how dangerous that would be right, especially when you're trying to hide your name." Vertrex said smiling.

Al returned the smile. Now that his name was exposed he decided that he should finally introduce himself properly to them.

"Ok fine. Now that my real name's been exposed thanks to Vertrex's … snappy eye sight" Al said, again smiling at Vertrex before continuing "I'll tell you my real full name."

Al hesitated, not sure where to begin when Kayla said.

"Why not Sophia, me and Daniel start first. Then perhaps you'll have more courage to tell us right?" she said, grinning at him.

She purposefully left out Vertrex's name as she wanted his full name to be a surprise for Al. She then turned to face Sophia and Daniel and they both nodded their heads and she smiled.

"Thanks" Was all Al could manage. He was quite nervous to tell them his name. After all no one really knew his name so he found it much, much easier to tell them a different name to those who he couldn't trust very easily.

"Well then … my name" Kayla said "is Kayla Radford."

Kayla then turned to look at Sophia and Daniel, gesturing for one of them to say their name. Sophia and Daniel turned to look at each other and wordlessly they agreed on whom should go first.

"I'll go then." Sophia said as she turned back to face them. She took a deep breath and began "My name is Sophia Slivermoon."

Now everyone turned to look at Daniel, who looked a little taken aback at this sudden attention towards him.

"Hey." He said, "Stop looking at me like that ok. I'll say my name too ok." He said, smiling at them all. "My name is Daniel Springfield."

"Now that that's over and done with" Kayla said, clapping her hands together as she turned to look back at Al, a smile on her face. "It's your turn now Al."

Al gulped as every eye in the room turned to look at him. He picked up his glass and grained it in one whole. Finally looking back at them he opened his mouth and said.

"My name, everyone, is Alex Zelforce."

He smiled at them as he waited their reaction. He was surprised by the reaction that they showed which surprised him. They looked some what amused by his surname as he would've said the same thing about Kayla's but he held his tongue.

As if reading his mind, Kayla said, grinning at him "Come on. I know you find my surname very different to normal. Right?" she asked him, still smiling to which he returned the smile.

"Well" he said "both of our surnames sound weird."

"You think both of our surnames sound funny." Kayla said "Wait till you heard Vertrex's surname. It's pretty strange."

She looked mysteriously at him and he knew he wasn't going to get anything out of her so he turned to look at Vertrex, who had been watching this silently now stirred. Like him, Sophia, Kayla and Daniel turned to look at Vertrex, grinning.

Vertrex seeing his friends grinning at him, he made a face at them. He knew Kayla's and Alex's surnames were strange but his surname was much stranger and much more mysterious, to which, he has no idea about. He cleared his throat.

"So it's my turn then?" He said, looking from one to the other and when no reply came except for their continual stares, he continued. "Ok then." He paused. He took a deep breath before saying.

"My friends Kayla, Sophia and Daniel already know my name and yet they chose to make me say it with my own words when I'm so tired out from my previous battles." His friends grinned more broadly at him. He knew they were having the time of their life, putting him in the spot light for once.

Vertrex disliked being on the spotlight. He hated the feeling that he was being watched. It makes him conscious of himself which makes him very nervous which then leaves him making errors here and there.

Now he took a deep breath and without hesitation he spoke his name out at last.

"My name is Vertrex Dragonoid."

Alex looked blankly at him for a few seconds, which simply made Kayla, Sophia and Daniel laugh. Vertrex realised that they had made him the last on purpose to see that expression of dumbstruck expression which Alex has put on his face.

Then after what it seemed like half-an-hour but perhaps only been a few minutes Alex finally opened his mouth to speak.

"Can you repeat it … your name please. I think I heard it wrongly."

Vertrex now looked at him confusedly. He wasn't sure why Alex wanted him to repeat his name but he contented himself to repeating it.

"Like I said" Vertrex said "my name is Vertrex Dragonoid." And yawned hugely "I think I feel like I'm going to sleep." He muttered.

"Dragonoid?" Alex repeated, now a wonder replacing the blankness on his face.

"Something strange about Vertrex's surname Alex?" Daniel said.

Alex did find Vertrex's surname very strange. He had heard that surname before but he couldn't recall from where he had know of such a surname.

"I think" Alex said slowly, still thinking deeply about the surname that made him so intrigued "I've heard of that surname before."

"What. You've heard of "Dragonoid" before?" Daniel said sceptically. "You can't have."

Alex turned to look at them, his voice and face was very serious.

"No. I swear. I've heard of the exact surname from somewhere but right now I can't remember properly."

"Perhaps … you've heard of his father's name?" Sophia said

"What's his father's name?" Alex said quickly.

"Felix." Daniel said simply.

Alex shook his head. "No … never heard of that man's name." He said

"Of course you won't have heard of it. He wasn't a war hero except an exceptional warrior." Daniel said.

"Yes. Perhaps but this is much deeper." He said then he slowly said "I think the surname of the man that I've heard of, used to live a very long time ago. I need to ask Vertrex about this … perhaps with that, I might remember or I'll just have to go through the history book to see that surname again."

He quickly turned to face Vertrex and opened his mouth and his question was half-way out when he realised that Vertrex has fallen asleep.

"He's sleeping." Alex said simply.

They had a closer look which confirmed what Alex had just stated to them. Vertrex was fast asleep, snoozing quietly.

"I always find it very strange that he never snores like the rest of the boys." Kayla said to which Daniel turned to look at her indigently.

"I don't snore." Daniel said indignantly.

"Of course you don't." Kayla said absentmindedly.

"Well … we might as well let him sleep seeing that he must be very exhausted after that fight that he had with those dark users and the struggle he had gone through to keep the "Light Shield" from braking when you attacked us." Sophia said, smiling at Vertrex's calm sleeping face

"True." Alex said. Then making up his mind he continued. "Ok then … I'll talk to him about this when he wakes up then."

"Good idea and while you're at it … can you please tell us where we can sleep?" Kayla asked him in a yawn.

After showing them where they can sleep, Alex laid a blanket over Vertrex who immediately wrapped himself with it.

Alex smiled at Vertrex's sleeping face and wondered why he felt that sudden feeling that he had known that surname from somewhere. He knew he had come across it when he had been reading many different history books. Now however he knew he must find or that he won't sleep until he does and with that Alex went back to his room to start reading through his history books.

As Alex disappeared into his room Vertrex turned over and as he did so, he muttered something that sounded like "Vertrexia".

END OF CHAPTER 7