Riddick: Unbound 5

"No, Hell No"

***** The Purifier *****

"The Purifier…..!"

Richard B. Riddick stood there stunned, allowing his brain to absorb the sight, but was wondering how in the world to digest it, what could be the explanation? Was the Purifier a ghost? Did the Necromonger religion have the ability to resurrect people, even after they had become so completely destroyed? If that were possible, then he, Riddick himself, had received no concept of it (even though he'd been Lord Marshal for a short period of time). Had they kept this from him?

Riddick knew that (during his dubious rein as the leader of the Necromongers), that there were those who would have much preferred putting a blade into his skull, rather than have him sit upon the throne and make a mockery of their faith. The religion had suffered under his rule, but Riddick didn't give a Bioraptor's shit about that. He had watched a man die, a fellow Furyan, witnessed his body being reduced into a pile of charred rubble on the planet of Crematoria. Now….how could it be that this same individual was standing before him? Riddick's brain was a mixture of jumbled thoughts and counter-thoughts….

"No, Hell no…!"

The idea raced through his brain, this had to be some kind of trick, some assault on his mental process. Was he hallucinating? Had Myra, at some point, been able to slip him a "mickey" a drug that would knock him out, or incapacitate him in some manner?

That was highly unlikely. Myra, during his first encounter with her, had been nowhere near him as he had sat at the bar just moment ago, and furthermore, he would have been able to sniff out any substance introduced within his drink.

After his eye-shines, Riddick's sense of smell, (just as his senses of touch, and hearing) had been increased fifty fold. Having lost a little sensitivity in his vision was well worth gaining the insight of night vision, and the advance of smell, hearing and feel (Riddick didn't like cheating at cards, well, unless he was the one doing the cheating, and also, this ability of smell, had been the reason he'd been able to conclude that Jack B. Badd, on that planet M6-117, was a girl and not a boy, all those years ago).

Back to the present, Riddick had began advancing towards the phantom, this ghost of an individual who had purposely revealed himself as the Purifier.

"That's close enough Furyan….," came the call.

It wasn't a request, but rather a demand, and one thing which stuck in the ex-mercenary's craw, and which he did not cotton to, was the demand not to venture where he wanted to go.

Defiant yes, that could be one of the words used to describe his character. Defiant, hard-headed, stubborn, malicious, cruel, untamable…there had been many words which had been posted to describe his nature. Riddick smiled at the thought of them, and would not deny that any of them weren't true (if you're going to be viewed as a bad-ass, then let history record you as the biggest bad-ass that ever lived, that was his philosophy).

Riddick didn't hesitate in his steps towards the Purifier, not for one second, that is, until he heard the sound of a shotgun being cocked, that was one thing that stayed his progress.

"The man said….!" the sentence remained unfinished, Claimed by a man named by Bailey…but never conncluded.

In one swift move Riddick withdrew one of his throwing knives from the back of his belt and delivered a quick assault to the weapon that Bailey held in his hands. The blade embedded itself a full inch into the chassis of the instrument and rendered it useless...and the weapon fell from Bailey's arms straight to the ground.

"The next one will be a little higher," Riddick spoke in his normal monotone voice, "…..now back-off."

Myra stepped up…

"Hey folk, no sense in this event becoming violent," she invoked, "we are here to enlist Mr. Riddick's help in gaining back my daughter, not to have it becoming some bloody mess where no one wins," she stopped and viewed the two men who had accompanied her in her quest of bring Riddick this far, "Bailey, you and Lyle give the man some room. I'm sure he's just curious about Alexia, and what he is seeing before him, and that is, that this man is of actual flesh and bone, and not some Specter."

Myra was totally on the mark with that one…..Riddick's curiosity had had him act before thinking. He had just wanted to get close to the man, check him for scars or any indication (clues) that may tell him (Riddick) that this was an impostor. Riddick smiled at Myra, although he was sure that she couldn't see it. The alley was still dark here. The flame from Alexia's match had lit his face, but only briefly. Still with his eye-shines Riddick could see him as clear as if it had been high-noon, and he could see no discrepancies or flaws in his encounterance.

This guy was the Purifier down to every last detail. Riddick was sure of it, and now he knew his name, Alexia. He approached the one time High-Priest of the Necromanger religion.

"So your name is Alexia….," Riddick spoke, and then he continued with his scrutiny, " I watched you die on a planet that had consumed your body like the acid-rain on Vex-12 consumes and devours everything that isn't fifty meters underground. So, how is it that you are here now, standing before me?"

Alexia looked over at a still befuddled Myra. She had let his name slip, not a mistake that was done purposely mind you, still a mistake none the less, however, although it was a clue as to revealing HIS identity, it was nothing that exposed the truth. Alexia looked over at a still curious ex-Lord Marshal.

"Yes my name is Alexia, and I am from the planet of Furya, just as you are. But in no way do you know the name of the man who sacrificed himself on Crematoria for you, and you never will," he said, and then he stopped. He viewed Riddick's face for a while. He could see questions there, questions that needed to have answers.

"Why was Crematoria named Crematoria instead of Iceland or Glacier? As you know, at nighttime it becomes a frozen wasteland, a frigid resort which becomes a place par zero, a slow process, and as such a planet where frozen bodies can become reanimated,. A body deep-frozen can be recovered, whereas, those subjected to the fiery pits of hell are melted beyond recovery, and can never be exalted." Alexia stopped here, and let this idea sink into Riddick's brainpan, and then he continued.

"Crematoria may be a furnace during its daylight hours, but at night it becomes a frozen wasteland. I am not the man that you watched dissipate into nothingness Mr. Riddick, his very soul is beyond recovery, however, with the Lord Galaxy's wishes, his soul can be recovered, I am to you, only known as Alexia, his twin brother."

END PART 5