Chapter 2
Magus and Trick set off to investigate Mount Beny that next
morning. One investigation had already been sent to the mountain. They
hadn't come back. A search party and second investigation party had been
sent out but only few members of the search party came back and where
barely able to crawl. They died before any information could be
revealed.
Now the Bracketts were not easy to kill. There tan skin covered a
thick layer of reptilian hide. It would take a very sharp blade with an
extremely srong weilder to cut through to the bone of a Brackett.
Everyone was dying to know what had killed some of the strongest and
brilliant men and women of the search party.
"Stop," ordered Magus. He held his hand out in front of
Trick. This was their signal to stop and be silent. Usually Magus was
picking up an important signal from another dimension. Trick froze.
"He's dead," said Magus. He put his arm back down.
"Dragoon is dead but so is King Richard. That means the Ark will
take over that world." Magus began to walk forward again.
"Do you think he will wipe out the whole world or choose an
appointed ruler?" asked Trick.
"Difficult to tell. What makes me so mad is the fact that I
fought so hard to defend that world. I used to be the head magician and
the royal advisor, you know," Magus stopped and clenched his fists.
"DAMN!" He raised his fists and shot out a ball of searing
flames that destroyed a giant boulder and left a big hole in the ground.
"There goes Blackjack and The Professor."
"Excuse me, but who are these people?" asked Trick.
"Let's walk," ordered Magus as he unclenched his fists.
Blackjack was a scientist gone mad. The Professer was Blackjacks sane
partner. Together with a few other friends of mine we defeated an Evil
dictator named Culex. At least my father got away."
"How come you never mentioned your family?" asked
Trick.
"I never thought about it."
"How old are you?"
"Your family is immortal like you are?"
"No."
"How old are your family members."
"My father, Janus, is 18-"
"What?!"
"My real father died and my real father as a kid came back
with me to another dimension."
"Whatever."
"Uh-oh," said Trick. The ground began to shake and the
dust and grass started sinking into a hole. There was a loud roar.
Chapter 3
The ground continued to rumble and from the earth came a large
machine. It looked like a flying pirate ship without the sails. Along
the side of it were tiny microchips that connected to one another by
wires. Also on the sides and onthe back too were giant propellers and
three rockets. One on the back, left, and right side of the ship.
"It's the Ark," spat Magus. He drew a metal cylinder
that morphed into any weapon he wanted it to. He charged the Ark while
his metallic cylinder transformed into a magical staff. Before he got
close to it, the Ark turned around and fired a machine gun that
protruded from openings in the front. The bullets hit Magus square in
the chest.
With Magus down, the Ark turned back around and headed for Mount
Beny.
Trick ran over to Magus who got up before Trick was halfway
there.
"Come on! It's getting away!" yelled Magus. He ran
after the Ark. Trick followed.
Eventually they came to the base of the mountain. The Ark had
left them behind along time ago.
"Where did it go?" asked Trick.
Magus grunted and started up the mile-high Mount Beny. Trick
shaking his head and followed.
They were about three quarters of the way up the mountain when a
creature stepped forward. He had been walking down the trail. The
creature was a bizarre combination of knives, coil, marble, and leather
hide. It had many arms, all but two ending in blades. It stepped forward
and one of its arms twirled at the wrists causing the blades to spin
outward. With another hand he twirled anfd the blades came inward.
"I guess we know what killed the Bracketts," said
Trick.
Magus pulled out his cylinder and morphed it into a laser sword.
He brought the sword to his chest and assumed fighting stance. The
creature rushed forward. The laser sword failed to cut through the
blades but did stop them in their tracks. Trick let his symbiont, a
squid that protruded from his torso, come out.
Chapter 4
"State your full name and occupation,"
ordered Magus.
"Sin, Engineer and pilot. Proud owner of the Ark."
"The Ark has a pilot?" questioned Trick.
"Of course," said Sin cheerfully. "May I assist
you in any way?"
"I don't understand. The Ark is Evil and you are good,"
said Trick.
"What do you mean? I am pure Evil," claimed Sin.
"You're Culex!" cried Magus.
"No, I am Sin."
"Do you know someone named Culex?" asked Magus
suspiciously.
"Yeah, he was a moron. He was also my child. I disown him
though."
"You gave birth to Culex?" asked Trick.
"No. I made Culex with my genes."
"What do you plan to do here?" asked Trick.
"Take over the world, destroy all who disobey me, you know,
the typical Evil madman routine," responded Sin.
"Tell us," said Magus,"what is the future have in
store for us?"
"You kill me, Trick dies, the Ark is destroyed, world peace
is restored, of course there is a war to decide all of this."
"What?" said Trick. "Your weird."
"I find it amusing that you lie to us in that way,"
said Magus.
"Explain," ordered Sin.
"Well Culex would say that I would die, while you say I
live. A unusal taunting method. You give us confidence that will lead to
our demise."
"Hee hee hee. I do not lie. You'll have to excuse me, I have
an appointment."
Chapter 5
"Where do you think Sin is going?" asked Trick.
"I don't have a clue. We should get back to the Bracketts."
**********
Magus stepped through the smashed gates of Haven, the Brackett's
largest town.
"What happened?" asked Trick.
"Sin."
It looked like a warzone. All the major buildings were leveled.
The people inside crushed. There were remains of the blade creatures
that Trick and Magus had encountered earlier. The streets were covered
with blood. Magus walked through the carnage to where the Council had
once stood. On top of the rubble was a man. He was dressed in red and
had a yellow scarf around his neck. He turned to Magus and Trick. His
eyes, Trick saw, were wide and his pupils abnormally small from the intake of horror.
"No," said Magus,"You don't have anything to do
with this, do you?"
The man shook his head. He jumped down from the rubble.
"I don't even know what happened or where I am. Where is
Schala, and what are you doing here?"
"Where'de you come from?" asked Magus.
"Do you guys know each other?" asked Trick.
"He is my brother," confirmed Magus.
"One minute I was in Slyn, the next I was here lying on the
ground."
"I don't know how you got here but you are lucky you didn't
fall victim to Sin," said Magus.
"Sin, the owner of the Ark?."
"How would you know the Ark has an owner?" questioned
Trick suspiciouly.
"I don't know. Who are you?"
"I am Trick."
"Oh, I am Teel."
"We've got to let the Vice-Council members know about this
loss," said Magus.
Chapter 6
When Magus, Trick, and Teel arrived at the at the Vice-Council,
or what was left of it, they saw a throng of Bracketts. They were all
carrying weapons, even the kids. When the group saw Magus, they lowered
their weapons.
"What happened here?" asked Magus.
"The Ark came," replied one of the Bracketts.
"The best is yet to come!" cried a voice.
Magus turned around and saw Sin. Sin smiled. The villagers
charged Sin. When the weaopons and villagers reached Sin, she/he
dissapeared in a flash of fire. Some of the villagers were burned.
Magus looked on in rage. His face was twisted in anger. He turned
to the Bracketts.
"We can't bargain with it, we have to fight!" declared
Magus.
"Command us Wise One!" cried some of the villagers.
************
The first battle took place on Grass Hill. Sin lined up the
Bracketts under her/his control. Magus lined up his troops. Magus'
troops waited for the signal. They had been ordered to wait for Sin to
make the first move. The enslaved Bracketts were suddenly thrown up into
the air. They soared over to the front lines of Magus's troops. When
they hit the ground, they exploded killing members of the first and
second lines. Magus troops charged.
Magus waved his Striped flag. Out of the ground, in the gap
between the third and fourth line, rose a giant machine. It had the face
of a Brackett but the body of a spider-like creature. It walked with the
troops.
Sin stood at the top of the hill. Her/His hair bellowed in the
wind caused by the oncoming storm. The cloud had already become gray
with clouds. The Ark came over the hill floating over Sin.
The spider crouched and jumped over the front lines. It started
up the large hill that Sin stood on. The Ark opened fire with the guns
on its side. The bolts hit the spider all over the place. The magic
barrier deteriated and the outer shell began to melt and give away.
The spider jumped into the air and curled its legs up. Then it
burst into a mixture of fire and electricity. When the dust cleared, the
troops could see the soft, blue, glowing magic barrier that surrounded
Sin and the Ark. The barrier was let down and compartments on the Ark
opened. Out of the compartments came tiny ants. A whole googolplex of
them. They crawled down the hill.
The troops were swarmed with them. Once the ants left a body,
there was not much left. The ant moved through the army quickly.
BOOOOM! There was a clap of thunder. Then rain. Magus did the
first thing he could think of. He jumped into the air and shot out a
bolt of lightning. The electricity spread fast. The remaining Bracketts
were killed, but so were the ants.
Magus walked away, as did Sin.
Chapter 7
"I think we have to strike Sin where it
hurts," started Magus,"As most of you know, Sin has made a
camp on top of Mount Beny. My brother, Teel, an I shall march up there
and take Sin's camp. Trick will be your new military leader."
The Bracketts nodded. Trick turned away to get to work on new
strategies. Teel, who stood beside Magus, started asking questions.
************
Magus and Teel were hiding behind a barrel. They were waiting for
any sign of Sin.
"There!" whispered Teel.
"Let's go."
They sprinted over to the entrance to the door to Sin's tent. The
workers didn't pay any attention to them because they had cloaked
themselves with magic. Surely Sin could see them, if she/he got the
chance. Magus knew they had to move fast. Magus didn't get a chance to
finish his plotting when a red fireball blasted through the tent. It hit
Magus in the stomach. He flew backwards a few feet. He wavered a second
before collapsing on his back. He lifted his head once more then let hit
go back again. Teel watched Magus then turned back to the hole in the
tent.
"Going to fight me?" asked Sin, stepping out of the
hole in the smouldering tent. Teel walked backwards. "Why would you
want to do that? After all the time we've known each othe? Now that
you've found your brother like I promised you, you betray me?"
"What?" asked Teel, clearly confused. He shook his head
and backed away some more.
"That last trip must've scrambled your memory
slightly," said Sin,"You should get your memory back soon
enough. I see you are trying to infiltrate my camp. Observe."
The workers all began to board the Ark. They formed several lines
for each of the large openings in the Ark. After the workers had
boarded, the Ark rose and soared over to the edge of the cliff. The
ground began to shudder. Out of the center, where Magus was, of the
mountain rose a tall round tower. It started deep beneath the earth and
rose sky high, many miles above Mount Beny, carrying Magus with it.
Sin disappeared and the Ark headed towards the top of the tower.
**************
Teel stood at the entrance to the tower. It was at the bottom of
Mount Beny. Although the tower was in the middle of the mountain, there
was a cave at the foot of the mountain.
In deep in the cave was the entrance to the tower.
An inscription at the top said Tower of Dognis.
"Tower of Dognis? Okay."
Teel walked through the entrance.
Chapter 8
The second battle took place at the foot of Mount Beny. Sin had
sent a hundred of her/his soldiers. Trick had all of his soldiers lined
up to. Sin's calvalry charged. In response, Trick's troops fired there
hand guns. Behind the gunners were Bracketts operating a metal shell.
The calvalry continued to charge. Most of them were gunned down, but the
remaining soldiers broke through the gunners and met a worse fate with
the metal warriors.
Next, everyone on both sides charged. The metal warriors were
destroyed easily with electric staffs. But Trick's troops killed
everyone in their path. When most of the warriors were gone, Trick rode
onto the battle field. He rode over to the remaining captured soldiers.
"Kill them," ordered Trick.
**********
By the time the second battle had ended, Teel had already scaled
most of the Tower. He had managed to sneak past most threats. He had
been forced to fight a dragon and a giant bat. He defeated the bat but
had to run from the dragon.
He was had found a giant lift. Unfortunately, it was guarded. To
robed figures with skulls for heads. He jumped onto a rafter above the
lift. He silently crawled till he was over the lift. There was a crack.
Teel looked behind him. the rafter had cracked under...
A giant spider! The rafter spilt and the giant spider and teel
fell on to the lift. The rafter crushed the skeletons swiftly. The
spider landed on its back. Teel hopped onto its abdomen. He ducked to
avoid the legs that were moving wildy. He brought out his rapier and
brought it down in its stomach. He lifted it up and brought it down
again. The spider's legs convulsed.
The lift had already started to go up.
"Um, is that a dinosaur?" asked a voice. Teel turned
around and saw a bizaare looking monkey. It had white fur and was
hopping about.
"Where?" asked Teel stupidly, looking around.
"HEHEHE!" The Monkey started transforming. It grew
first at the legs, whick turned scaly. Then its whole skin turned scaly.
Its head pretty much stayed the same in shape and size. It tossed its
head back and roared. It towered six feet above Teel.
"Oh boy."
***********
The third battle took place in the sky around the top of the
Tower of Dognis. Sin's troops, now called astrites for their tendency to
fall out of the sky and attack villages, had dive bombed a Trick's army
in airplanes. The planes were thin and had small wings. They had sent
flaming balls of lead directly to the army, killing alot.
Trick's troops had chased them in their own airplanes, to the top
of the Tower. Magus had awaken already and was attacking the astrites
with balls of flame that he conjured up. Two went down immediately. The
others were surrounded. Magus shot one of them, but the other two
escaped by shooting threw the circle. The other planes were on their
trail instantly. A few quick manuevers, and they were dead too.
Magus blew a hole in the top of the Tower. He jumped into it.
Chapter 9
Teel removed his sword from the belly of the dinosaur/monkey. He
got off the elevator, which was on the second to last floor. He preceded
down the corridor. He reached another stairway. He took it up to the top
level. He had entered a long, dimly lit hallway. It was lit only with a
few tiny candles on the side.
Three quarters of the way down, Teel began to hear organ music.
He finally reached a door. The music was blaring now. Teel opened the
door.
Inside was a huge organ with pipes up to the ceiling. Teel
recognized Sin playing. Next to the organ was a man dressed in black. He
had a child-like face complete with a smile. He had a metal cylinder
similiar to Magus'.
"Come to rejoin us?" asked the man in black.
"What?!"
Sin stopped playing the music and stepped down.
"I'm afraid we have to do this the hard way, partner,"
said Sin.
The man in black swiped his robes back reveiling his chest. In a
split second, a bear with shaggy hair, his symbiot, charged from his
chest. It stroke Teel with its forearm, knocking him out cold.
*************
Magus had been trapped in the large pipes belonging to the organ.
Finally, he shattered them. He fell to the ground. He landed in front of
Teel. Teel had an Evil grin on his face.
"Meet our former partner, James," announced Sin.
"Zi?!" cried Magus as he looked at the man in black.
Then he looked at Teel.
"It's quite obvious," explained Zi,"Always
recognizing your brother whenever you were battling the Ark. Even Janus
was our partner, as you have already found out. So were you Magus."
Magus looked dumbfounded. "I wont believe it!" he
cried.
"Good because we made it all up," said Sin.
Magus didn't have time to react to the bladed pendlum that fell
from above. It cut him cleanly into two pieces.
*************
Magus opened his eyes.
*************
Trick jumped through the hole he mad in the roof of the Tower and
landed on the ground.
*************
Teel awoke from his spell.
*************
Teel and Trick charged at Zi. Sin watched, Zi pulled out his
metal cylinder and it turned into a sword. Teel jumped over the sword
and Trick walked right into the sword. His symbiont came out bleeding.
It wrapped its legs around Zi and Trick walked forward. Teel blew a
whole in the side of the Tower. Zi and Trick fell out of of the hole.
Teel saluted and turned toward Sin once he saw Zi and Trick were
dead.
Sin jumped into the air. Her/his body was ignited in flame. The
Tower and everything in ti except for Teel and Sin disappeared. Sin and
Teel fell. When they were about to hit the ground, they suddenly
disappeared.
***************
They were in space. All around them were stars and galaxies.
There was one big star that's gravity pulled them in. They were
constantly falling but they would never get close enough to the star to
get burnt to crisp. They were both surrounded by an air bubble.
Teel finally got used to the feeling of constant falling.
Sin's fire got brighter and bigger. Teel shielded his eyes. When
he looked again, the Ark was their.
***************
The Ark on Earth vanished.
***************
Teel ran towards the Ark. This Ark was different. It had a lion's
head growing out of the
front. It bore the mark of the Ark, a whale on its forehead.
Teel was blown backwards by a laser beam.
No matter what he tried, his attempts were futile.
***************
Magus was inside the Ark. He went from room to room. One door
interested hime. It was marked 'Time'. He opened it. He fiddled around
until he had managed to restore the world as it was before Zi and the
Ark.
***************
The Ark was blown sky high. Sin now stood their. Lines of light
shot from out of her body. She began to explode. Sin still charged
toward Teel. Teel blocked with his sword. Sin brought her sword down.
Teel blocked and thrusted into her abdomen. Out from the wound shot
fire. She fell backwards, her face twisted in agony. Magus came down
from above and sliced her in half like she had done to him. She exploded
into flames.
Magus and Teel began to fade away.
***************
Magus opened his eyes again. So did Teel. They
opened their eyes to see the familiar cities of Earth as they had looked
like in 2525.
AT LAST THE JOURNEY IS OVER, thought Magus.
