Journey Into the Unknown

Over a month later, Alia and Ryan were still traveling and had minimal contact with Lightspeed. It had been a long and tedious journey, even with Alia's magic, but they were getting through.

They had found several books and other things they thought might be useful to trap the demons again. At the moment, they were traveling in the desert when Ryan suddenly Ryan pulled Alia down into the sand. She got back up, coughing up the sand and glaring at him.

"What was that for?" she hissed.

"Sorry," said Ryan. "Look!"

He handed her the binoculars and then she saw them—Vypra and Loki, at the entrance of the tomb where they'd once been imprisoned.

"What're they doing here?" she murmured.

"I don't know, but I don't like it," he said.

They watched Vypra push Loki into the tomb and then they got to their feet and watched them from the entrance.

"Wow, I forgot how amazing this place was," said Loki.

Vypra dusted off the cobwebs on one of the ways. "From the tomb of forever, the jaws of death, the icy tingle of Bansheera's breath." She turned away. "It's time, Loki. Throw the rope into the tomb!"

Loki quickly tossed in the rope and a great fire emerged from it, causing Loki to back up in fear.

"Rise from the darkness and bring new life!" said Vypra. "For those once fallen, knead the hero's knife! Arise and live again!"

More fire emerged from the tomb and then there was a tugging on the rope as a hand poked out and then a demon came out.

"I'm back!" It was Diabolico. "And better than ever!"

"Diabolico!" cried Loki, as Vypra laughed. "Wait, he's on our side! YEAH!"

"Let's go," said Diabolico.

All three emerged just as Alia and Ryan hid themselves. Vypra and Loki were bowing before him.

"Now that I'm back, I'll make amends for my foolish mistake of letting the Rangers and the Queen's daughter defeat me!" said Diabolico.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Diabolico," said Vypra.

"I will repay both of you for this deed," said Diabolico.

"And I know just how you can pay us back," said Vypra. "Not only did the Queen Bansheera's daughter manage to overcome the control on her during the ritual and attack us and survive, but the Queen's son tried to destroy us! It's time for revenge."

"I cannot say I'm surprised about the girl, but that squirt Impus tried to destroy you?" said Diabolico.

"He's not Impus anymore," said Loki. "Your Star Power turned him into Olympus!"

"He stole my Star Power?" said Diabolico, furious. "It will be my pleasure to destroy the brainless fool! Come on, let's go!"

The three demons disappeared as Ryan and Alia emerged from their hiding place and dove into the tomb.

"This is not good. Not good at all," said Alia. "With Diabolico back, there's no telling what he'll do."

"We'd better warn the others," said Ryan. "And let's hope they still have plenty of the magic stuff you left them."

Alia dug into her bag and pulled out the duplicate mirror they used to keep in contact the other Rangers.

"Dana. Dana, please respond, this is urgent!"

After a few moments, Dana's image appeared in the mirror. "Ryan, Alia!" she said. "Where are you?"

"We're in the demons' tomb," said Ryan. "We've got to tell you something really important!"

"What is it?" asked Carter.

"Vypra and Loki were here," said Alia. "They opened the tomb and performed a Resurrection Spell which brought back Diabolico."

"We repeat: Diabolico is back!" said Ryan. "You've got to be careful; they'll be coming after you!"

"We hear you, guys," said Joel. "Don't worry, we'll keep an eye out."

"Good," said Alia.

She waved her hand and the transmission ceased as she repacked the mirror.

Ryan was busy writing down the symbols on the walls. Once he'd finished, he held out the notebook to Alia.

"The answer to capturing Bansheera has got to be in these symbols. I got them all written down, but I have no idea what they mean," said Ryan.

"Me neither," said Alia. "This language was not one of my studies. But maybe there's something in my books."

They skimmed through her books until they found information regarding "The Sorcerer of the Sands," who could translate the writings.

With this new knowledge, they set out again.

XXX

Several weeks passed and their search was turning out to be fruitless. On one particularly hot day, Alia was weak and Ryan was tired, but there was no place to rest and their supplies were gone. Alia kept staggering until she finally fell, just as Ryan caught her.

"Lia, are you okay?" Then he noticed she wasn't acting normal. "You're shivering."

"I'm fine. I'm just so cold," she murmured."

"Cold?" he repeated. He felt her face and frowned at the amount of heat that was coming off her and she started coughing. "You're running a high fever and we're out of medicines and water. You're in no condition to use your magic right now. I've got to get you some help." He picked her up and carried her on his back.

"I can walk," she mumbled into his shirt. "Besides, you're tired."

"I can manage a while longer," he said. "You just rest, okay?"

"Okay," she said.

He continued walking for a few more miles until he ran into an old man with a pet crow on his shoulder.

"Good-day to you, young master," he said.

"Likewise," said Ryan. He could feel exhaustion begin to claim him. "Sir, please, can you help us? We've been traveling for weeks. Now our supplies are gone and my wife's sick."

The crow cawed.

"Yes, yes, of course. Please, follow me," said the man.

The man led Ryan to his tent where he had Ryan lay Alia down. Then he mixed up a potion from herbs and water, and prepared of bowl of water and a rag.

"Give your wife this potion and try to keep her cool until you're ready to fall asleep, and she'll be recovered by the morning," said the old man.

"Thank you."

Ryan took the potion and gently shook Alia until she awoke and gazed him with eyes dull and glassy from her fever.

"Hey, sorry to wake you," said Ryan.

"Where are we?" she asked, weakly.

"In my tent to rest and recover, young lady," said the old man.

"I need you to drink this and then you can go back to sleep, okay?" said Ryan.

She nodded and quickly drank the potion. Then she glanced at the old man and said, "Thank you," before falling asleep again as Ryan covered her with a blanket.

The old man smiled and nodded before turning to his pet crow. "Boy and girl out here in this wasteland, either very brave or very stupid."

"Probably both," said Ryan. "We're looking for the Sorcerer of the Sands."

The old man didn't look surprised as he turned to the crow again. "So many people want the Sorcerer's help." He turned to Ryan. "What is it the two of you seek? Gold? Or perhaps, jewels?"

"We're not after fortune," said Ryan. He stopped wiping Alia's face with the water and then pulled out his notebook. "We've learned that the Sorcerer is the only one who can read these ancient writings."

The old man gasped in awe and reached for them, but Ryan pulled back.

"I'm sorry, but only the Sorcerer is supposed to see these," he said, apologetically.

"Naturally," said the old man. He went to prepare some tea.

Ryan nodded and put the book down as he continued wiping Alia's face with the water. She was already looking better for which he was grateful.

The old man held out a glass of tea. "Tea, young master?"

"Yes, thank you." Ryan took the glass of tea and drank it. He then felt sleepier than before as he put down the glass and fell asleep, not noticing that the old man was showing the book's pages to the crow.

XXX

Ryan woke up when morning came. To his relief, he saw the old man drinking tea as Alia put some fresh supplies in their bag. The notebook was back in Ryan's hands.

"Morning, beloved," said Alia, smiling when she saw him.

"Morning," said Ryan. "Glad to see you're feeling better."

"Would you like some more tea, Master Ryan?" asked the old man.

"No, thank you," said Ryan. "Thank you for your hospitality, but we should be going now."

"He's right," said Alia. She put down her glass. "We need to find the Sorcerer of the Sands. Otherwise we'll never find a way to beat Queen Bansheera."

The old man then dropped his glass and looked horrified. "To-to beat—?"

"Queen Bansheera," repeated Ryan.

The old man looked scared now and turned to his pet crow. "Did you hear that?" He hid behind a chest.

"Hey, calm down," said Alia, perplexed by his behavior. "She's not here."

"Young man, young lady, don't frighten him," said a male voice.

Ryan and Alia looked around.

"Who said that?" said Ryan.

"You should know the answer to that by now." Their eyes fell upon the crow on its perch. "I am the Sorcerer of the Sands, the one you seek." The crow flew from its perch and landed on the ground, turning into the Sorcerer. "Who are the two of you?"

"I'm the Titanium Ranger and this is my wife, the witch Alia Mitchell," said Ryan.

Ever since they'd rejoined Lightspeed, Alia had since forsaken her surname of 'Daemin' and changed to 'Mitchell' as it was Ryan's surname.

"And the two of you are trying to defeat Queen Bansheera?" said the Sorcerer.

"Yes, we're trying to send her back to the Ancient Tomb," said Alia.

"Enemies of the Queen's are friends of mine," he said. "Let me see your book again, please."

Alia handed him the book.

"These symbols are spells," he explained. "Very old, and very powerful ones at that, but they're also difficult. Do either of you have the key?"

"The key?" repeated Ryan. "What key?"

"The golden key. It makes all the difference."

The Sorcerer nodded at the old man, who removed a blanket, revealing a large mirror. A golden key with a red jewel set into it appeared.

"That's the key to the Shadow World," said Alia.

"The what?" asked Ryan.

"Jinxer told me about it once and showed me that key. The Shadow World is where the demons go when they're destroyed," said Alia. "It's a desolate wasteland made of nightmares. Whoever holds the key holds the power to release demonic spirits from the Shadow World."

"Exactly," said the Sorcerer. "Also, if I had the Key, I could read this easily."

"I would've swiped the Key from Jinxer if I'd known we'd need it," said Alia.

"That is all in the past, my dear." The Sorcerer then placed several colored stones in a large copper bowl and waved his hand over it. "Let's see what the stones tell us." The stones formed a triangle and then blew away.

"What's wrong?" asked Ryan.

"Your friends are in trouble," said the Sorcerer. He cast another spell at the mirror. This time, it revealed the Rangers trapped by dozens of the demons they'd destroyed in a cave in the Shadow World.

"Olympus did this!" growled Ryan. He turned to Alia and the Sorcerer. "We have to help them."

"Hmm." The Sorcerer rose to his feet. "There may be a way." He opened a small box and out of it came a silvery light that flew out of the desert and into the Shadow World where the Rangers were.

"Rangers, Rangers!" called the Sorcerer. "Ryan and Alia are trying to help you! Follow the light!" The light led them to a little green pool. "This is the way out." The light vanished as the Rangers dove into the pool and returned to the Human World.

Ryan and Alia heaved a sigh of relief.

"They're out," said Alia.

"Thank you," said Ryan.

"My pleasure, now let's get back to the spells." He began read aloud the book and the spells began to take effect as the winds picked up and the ground shook. Then blue light shot from the book, burning the pages and turning the Sorcerer to dust.

"Master!" cried the old man. "Master!"

Just then, a familiar laugh was heard and Diabolico appeared in the mirror. He held the key in his hand. "You have failed, Titanium Ranger and sorceress demon!" Then he disappeared.

"No!" yelled Ryan. "Alia, is there anything you can do?"

"I can't restore the book of spells. Once a book of magic is lost, it stays lost for all time. It's the Law of Magic," said Alia. "But maybe I can restore the Sorcerer."

"How can you do that? What magic is powerful enough to bring back life besides dark magic?" asked the old man.

"You'd be surprised. Just answer us this: did you love like a father and did he love you like a son?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, yes," said the old man, wiping his tears.

A tear fell from Alia's eye as the ring glowed as she waved her hand over the dusty remains of the Sorcerer, and then he was brought back to life.

"Oh, master!" cried the old man.

"It-it is a miracle!" said the Sorcerer. "But how—?" and then he saw Morlock's ring on Alia's hand. "Oh, I see now. Morlock's blood runs within your veins. You're his daughter. A great man was he."

"You knew her father?" asked Ryan.

"Sadly, I did not have the fortune," said the Sorcerer. "But I heard his story often whilst I was growing up. He was my inspiration for studying sorcery."

"I see," said Alia. "Thank you again for your help."

"Good luck, both of you," said the Sorcerer. "Maybe our paths cross again."

Ryan nodded and then they continued on their way.