| DEMIGODS AND APOCALYPSES... IN D MINOR
Chapter 10: The Heart Of Xion
Edele saw the other jet come up along side her. The person turned and looked at her. She looked back.
"If you're here, I'll assume you're with me, like."
"I'm always with you, Edele."
"I'm sorry about-."
"I'm not mad."
They flew along side eachother.
The shot came from the side. They both got out of the way very quickly.
"Crap. It's another one of those monsters."
"Blow him up."
They exchanged fire with the enemy. The craft exploded. More came. Five against two.
"I just thought of something.", Sinead said.
"I hope it's important. Now is not a good time for a conversation."
Fire!
"We don't know where this Teklar-zxen guy is at. Let's let one of these guys lead us to him."
"Hey, that's a good idea, Socky."
"Thanks. I thought of it all by myself."
"Your home planet would be proud."
"Huh?"
"Never mind. Let's go!"
They were nose-to-nose now with just one of the enemy planes. Suddenly, the jet turned.
"Let's follow it.", Edele said.
"Ten-four. I've always wanted to say that.", Sinead said.
Back at the base, Lindsay sat still, looking over Keavy's dead body.
"I'm sorry about your friend.", AIAN said.
"Thanks. But I guess you can't know what it's like."
"Actually, I do. I remember. I was human once. I had a body to go with this brain."
Lindsay was suddenly intrigued. She never thought once before that her electronic friend might have once been somebody.
"How did you die?", she asked.
Before AIAN could answer, the base alarm went off.
"Stay here. And stay low.", Dras said.
He took some kind of staff out from under his cloak.
Never seen that before, Lindsay thought as he headed towards the base entrance.
There were loud cracking noises, and Drax cried. First in war, then in pain. Then everything went silent.
Lindsay stayed out of sight for several minutes, until she felt it was safe to come out.
"Drax?", Lindsay whispered.
She crawled on the floor, to the entrance.
Drax lay there, bleeding.
"Drax. Oh, dear. Are you okay?"
He looked up at her. AIAN came along side her.
"Malcom!"
How does she know him? What's the connection?, Lindsay thought.
"The...Horrids...", Drax said.
"Just lie still."
"Lindsay Armaou, there is something...I haven't...told you."
"You don't have to tell me. Don't say anything."
"I do. I lied to you."
"You what?"
"Teklar-zxen,...he...he is looking for something. Something that is very valuable to all the Universes, all the dimension. With it, he could created a new world, and rule it as King. This is...*cough*...why he destroyed everything in his path. He wants...his own world. He is power-stricken. The Mystiques were the sole possessors of it. They hid it from him. When he tried to take it, Sekra banished him to Moomba, the planet of the Horrids...This is why he killed her...He's looking for the Heart of Xion, the life, the center of all Universes.*"
Drax weakened as he spoke. His chest rose and fell with short gasps.
"So, where is this...'Heart of Xion'?", Lindsay said.
He placed his finger on her chest, where her heart would be.
"It's here."
Lindsay was dumbfounded.
Drax's eyeds rolled back into his head.
"Wait."
He was dead.
"No, Malcom.", AIAN said.
The blue screen suddenly projected the image of a dark-skinned girl. No older than thirteen. Lindsay was still in shock. The projection of the girl feigned running her hand over Drax's face.
"Who were you?", Lindsay said softly.
The projection 'stood'.
Her voice sounded different, more echoed.
"My name was Kieran Benning. I was killed by a drive-by shooter. Malcom, Drax's human side, was my older brother. He recreated me as AIAN. It was his way of...fulfilling my dream to be a navigator. He was always a bit eccentric."
Kieran laughed a tiny bit at herself at that last remark.
"I'm sorry.", Lindsay said.
"Thanks. Heh. Maybe I'll make him into a clock or something.", she laughed again to cover the sadness.
And Lindsay realized that the girl's soul was somehow still locked in that machine.
"Kieran, was Drax-Malcom-like Sinead? Was he a Mystique?"
"No. He was something different."
Lindsay looked over at the table where the dead Keavy lay.
"If I can bring new life, can I 're-give' old life?", Lindsay said.
"You want to know if you can heal your friend. Yes."
"How?"
"You already know how."
Kieran's image went back into the projector. Lindsay walked over to her fallen comarade, and placed her hands on her chest. She mustered up all the energy, and love, she had in her heart. It felt like electricity running through her veins. The flashes came quickly out of her fingers, and Keavy's body jolted upward. After three 'volts', Keavy suddenly gasped for breath. She opened her eyes.
"Where am I? What happened? Where is everybody?", she sat up.
"Shh. You were dead. But I healed you."
"Huh?"
"It's a long story. Drax is dead. I'll fill you in on the details along the way, but we have to find Sinead and your sister fast."
Lindsay picked up the tube that carried Keavy's 'suit'.
The Morpheus Suit went back into Keavy's skin. It wriggled and danced as it seeped in. And for some reason to Lindsay, it seemed happy to be back.
The Horrid burnt up quickly. Edele shot flames from her eyes at another. Sinead, who finally figured out her powers after Edele carefully explained them to her, sent the aliens flying out of exploding forts.
And she was doing so with her mind.
She made direct eye contact with one.
Boom!
It's head blew up.
"Ew, Sinead.", Edele said from above.
"And this was a new leather suit, too."
One of the beasts grabbed Sinead from behind and picked her up. She kicked it in the face. Edele singed it. Sinead fell to the ground.
"You all right?", Edele said.
"My bones broke my fall."
"Is it just me, or are these things easy to kill?"
"They seem pretty", boom, "stupid", boom, "if you ask me."
"You like blowing them up, like, don't you?"
"It's actually kind of cool."
They were almost to Teklar-zxen's lair. Suddenly, something shot Edele in the back. It didn't kill her. Just stunned her. She came crashing down. The Horrids had weapons now. Sinead blew up the one that shot her friend.
"Are they just now thinking of this?", Sinead said, "Weapons, I mean."
"Who cares? That hurt!"
Edele shot flames at more of them. And more came.
"I think we might need reinforcements."
"Where?"
Suddenly, they were surrounded. Clapping came from out of nowhere.
"Commendable. Absolutely commendable.", Teklar-zxen came from out of nowhere.
He pointed at Edele and smirked,
"King Laerris. Hm. Always thought you wanted to be a woman."
Then he looked at Sinead,
"But you,..ah,...you I know very well. You still look the same, Sekra. Must be vanity. You were so beautiful."
"Why is he calling me 'Sekra'?", Sinead whispered to Edele.
"I told you, you were a goddess. Remember?"
"Oh, yeah. Right."
"How well do you know her, like?", Edele said, trying to fish for information.
"Hm. Nuh-uh. Never 'kiss and tell'.", he said with a sly grin.
Edele didn't know about Sekra, but Sinead would have never done such a thing.
He turned to one the Horrids.
"Tie them up. And if Laerris tries to burn you, put something over his, I mean, her eyes. And one more thing, Princess,..."
He pulled Sinead's face close and kissed her. Then he knocked her unconscious. "Put them in the chambers. I'll have fun torturing this one.", he ran his finger over Edele's cheek.
She spat in his face.
Sinead was thrown into one of the glass cages, like the young man. Edele recognized him.
"Oh, god..."
Teklar-zxen looked at her, then at his minions.
"Did I tell you to remove the blindfold?", he said to them.
Edele shot flames from her eyes directly at him. He grabbed her.
"You know, I can kill you...With my willpower,...like.", he mocked her.
He threw her down, then picked her back up again. She let him do this, let him think she was vulnerable.
Then she kicked him hard between the legs. He reeled. She hit him with a surprise left, square in the eye. Then she head-butted him into temporary submission. It didn't last long. He conjured up an energy ball and hurled it at her. Edele leapt out of the way. And crashed into one of the glass cages. Teklar-zxen threw another at her. It barely missed as she flew upward. He blinked, and wound up behind her. He grabbed her.
"Now, Laerris, stop doing that."
"My name is Edele!", she threw him over her shoulder.
She stood over him and put a foot on his chest. She stood over him triumphantley. But that didn't last long either.
There was a pain in her head.
"I can kill you slowly. Or quickly. I just prefer slowly.", he said.
Her head felt like it was going to explode. The searing pain crippled her as she cried. Teklar-zxen kept his eyes focused intensely on her.
"I told you I could kill you.", he said in a low, sinister whisper.
"Why don't you find some other planet to pick on, you intergalactic arsehole?!?", a sweet, familar voice came from out of nowhere.
Keavy? It can't be.
"Who said that?", he twirled around, looking at his other victims.
A large, purple wolf suddenly leapt on his back, tearing into his flesh with it's teeth. He screamed.
Edele was barely conscious.
Teklar-zxen threw the wolf off his back. It hit the ground and yelped, then got back to it's feet. The dog leapt again, and he knocked it out of the way.
"Et tu, Czar Morpheus?", he mocked.
Keavy took original form. The Horrids grabbed her and held her arms behind her back. She struggled to break free.
Suddenly, a jet came flying in, shooting the place up.
"Shoot that thing down!", he ordered.
They fired their cannons at her.
"Crap!", Lindsay swerved out of the way.
One of the blasts shot her wing and sent her crashing down. She got out of the craft, unharmed.
"Okay, that pisses all of me off!", she said.
"Why won't you witches leave me alone!?", Teklar-zxen said.
"Why don't you leave our planet alone!?"
He shot an energy sphere at her. She jumped out of the way, grabbed the cannon of one of the Horrids, and fired it. The missile shot right at him. He got out of the way, and the blast shattered the glass cage behind him.
Lindsay suddenly froze. The missile had barely missed the young man. Teklar-zxen noticed the surprised look in her eyes.
"You know this man.", he observed.
"Lee.", she aimed the cannon at Zxen, "Let him go."
"No."
Then she saw Sinead, who had regained consciousness. Edele laid unconscious on the floor. Keavy was fighting against restraints.
"You bastard...", she began.
"Tsk. Tsk. Naughty girl. Where did you learn such rude language?"
"Let them go."
"Hm...No. Tell you what. I'll give you a choice. You choose between your friends...or your 'beloved'. But you only have one choice."
Lindsay looked at everyone. She couldn't leave anyone behind. Her heart felt heavy.
Finally, she reached a decision.
"I can do you one better."
"Lindsay, don't.", Keavy said, "You don't have to do this."
"It's the only thing I can do."
"What have you possibly got that I would want?", Teklar-zxen said.
"Myself."
"Dear woman, why would I want that?"
"Because I'm what you're looking for. I'm the Heart of Xion."
"She's the what?", Sinead said.
"It's a long story.", Keavy said.
Teklar-zxen examined her, as if he was fishing for a bluff. He found none.
"Oh, very well. Let them go. And tie her down."
"No, Lindsay!"
She hung from the ceiling, high above them. Her hands held above her head by chains, one around her neck. A Horrid held on to the other end of the chain, and yanked it. She rose higher, the chained choked her.
The room was made of glass, the three of them, Keavy, Sinead, and Lee, tried to break it down. Keavy beat repeatedly on it, while trying to fend off the Horrids by doing some fancy kickboxing. She did a jump-kick, her foot met one's eye, she cracked another's rib like a pencil, and threw one over her shoulder. She twisted one's arm, and roundhouse kicked another unconscious.
Sinead found it impossible to teleport into the room.
"There must be some kind of field. I can't get in."
"Yeah. It's made of glass!", Lee said.
"Leave her alone!! She's our friend!! Leave her alone!!", Keavy cried through the glass.
He ignored them.
"Now, I just have to cut out your heart, and put it in this...", he explained, as if she wanted to know.
He held a small sphere in his hand, with an open top. It glowed red.
"Then I say some incantation, yadda, yadda, yadda, and voila! A new world. It's so ridiculous in it's simplicity. Of course, the hard part is I have to destroy this one first, so I'll have to keep you here alive for a while. You see, your 'sacrifice' means nothing. Your friends are going to die anyway."
He rose into the air. He was face to face with her.
"My, my. You're lovely. I really hate doing this. Really, I do."
"I'm sure."
"You doubt me? I'm hurt. The great Heart of Xion thinks me a liar."
"You are a liar. And a coward."
He hit her across the face. She spat blood.
"What I am, is a god!", he yelled, "Would a coward done what I have done? Could a coward demolish entire worlds? I think not!"
"Either kill me now or shut the hell up.", Lindsay said.
He looked at her. And lowered himself to the ground.
"Have fun with her.", he said to his minion.
He walked out.
The Horrid yanked the chain. Lindsay cried as it strangled her. Keavy busted through the glass and morphed back into the wolf. It tore the Horrids neck.
Sinead, meanwwhile, with a consciuos, but weakened Lee, carried Edele out of the lair.
"Can you tell me what's going on?", he said.
"Lee, you're delirious. You're imagining things. Now help me carry my unconscious friend out of this secret alien lair.", Sinead said.
Edele started to regain consciouness.
"Sinead...", she moaned.
"Yeah?"
"Ow."
"I know, sweetie. I know. We're going to get you out of here."
"There are other people here", Lee said, "And Lindsay. I'm going to get her out of here."
They got out quickly. Sinead cleared the way. They set Edele on the grass. Lee started to go back in.
"I'm getting her out!"
"I'll come with you."
You're going to get killed if I don't.
"Keavy...", Edele moaned.
"We'll get her, too."
Edele fainted again.
They went back in. Sinead freed the other prisoners while Lee went into the glass room that held Lindsay.
"Lee? Lee, no!", Keavy said.
He started to climb up. Teklar-zxen re-entered the room.
"Oh, no, no, no!", he said.
He shot at Lee. The blast hit his back and sent him falling. He got up again. Zxen began to created another energy sphere, the green light shone around his hand. It was bigger than the ones before.
"Lee, look out!", Lindsay said.
Keavy decided to lunge at him from the side. He turned as she leapt at him. The sphere hit her chest, full blast.
"Keavy!", Lindsay yelled.
Lee swung something at Zxen's head. But he ducked and hit Lee with a fast right. Lee fell to the ground.
"Bloody bastard!", he swung at him.
Teklar-zxen grabbed his fist.
"You fight very commendably, little man. But you need to work on your strategy."
"If you don't know what you're doing, you could hurt yourself.", he said, "You love her, don't you? Isn't that magical?"
"Do you ever bloody shut up!?"
"Well, now I just don't know what to say to that."
He hit him again.
Lee hit the ground unconscious.
Well, at least he tried.
"Hey, Zxen!", Sinead cried.
"Sekra!", he growled.
They both flew at eachother. Sinead blinked. He twirled, looking for her.
"Over here!", she said.
He blinked to where she was at. She vanished again and shot at him with her own energy sphere. She danced around him. He became annoyed.
"I'll kill you!"
"With what? The 'Jedi mind trick'? I can do that, too."
"A battle of wills, then?", he offered.
She felt a pain in her head. She returned the favor. But he won her over. She blindly shot a sphere at him. But it missed and blasted up some kind of black box.
"No!", he cried.
Sinead fainted.
A bunch of tiny, little lights came flying out of the shattered box. They flew around his head, much to his chagrin.
"Get away from me!"
They leapt into Lindsay's body. She convulsed as one by one, they inhabited her. Suddenly, there was a light around her. And her eyes and hair began to glow white. Lindsay broke from the chains.
She came slowly to the ground.
"What's happening? No!", Teklar-zxen cried.
"Our name is Xionia.", Lindsay's spoke, and a thousand voices came out.
"I destroyed you!"
"Would we be here if you had done that?"
"I will destroy you again, Xionia!"
"Bring it on!!"
Teklar-zxen fired at her. She threw the blasts off. He fired again and again.
Suddenly, the light around Lindsay began to glow, and she cried as a huge explosion of light shot out from her.
It hit him. He had a pained look on his face.
"Oh,...****."
His body exploded. Not a grotesque explosion. His vanished into a gold cloud of dust. Lindsay returned to normal. She dropped to her knees, weakened. She stood. Her eyes caught a woman, hiding in a corner, cowering before her.
"Get out of here.", she said.
The woman ran.
Everyone started to wake up.
Lindsay ran to Lee's side.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm drunk, right?", he said.
She laughed a bit.
They came out of the lair, which was an abandoned warehouse building. Lindsay helf on to Lee. Keavy held on to Edele, who rested her head on her shoulder.* Sinead carried a small, African child on her shoulder. The rest of the freed hostages followed behind. Teklar-zxen had tortured people from all over the world.
After they were a safe distant, Lindsay said,
"Sinead, could you-?"
"I'm all over it."
The building behind them collapsed.
The people of the city began to come out of hiding. They cheered them on as they walked into the city.
"You think this will increase our fan base?", Sinead said.
"I know Keavy will hers.", Edele said, "Woo-woo!"
"Oh, will you life lay off the suit?"
They looked around at the crowd at the faces. But the most precious moment came when they looked out in the crowd and spotted their families.
They ran to hug their parents.
"Mam, I'm a goddess!", Sinead said.
"I think the fame has gone a bit to your head, Sinead.", Barbra O'Carroll said.
"No, really. I am!"
"Keavy, why are you all purple?", Brendan Lynch rubbed her head, "And bald?"
"It's a long, long story.", Edele said on behalf of her sister.
Lindsay looked at Lee.
"So, what do you think about all I've told you."
"You'll always be the heart of my universe.", he said.
She kissed his cheek.
"That's the corniest thing you've ever said, dear.", she said.
"Yes, I know."
The girls played a free show. They figured everyone could use a break.
"Now if only we could get a break, like.", Edele said after the show.
"That would be nice.", Sinead said.
"Well, at least we don't have to save the world again.", Keavy said.
Suddenly, there was a ripple in the atmosphere. An alien life-form came through the portal.
"Me and my big yap."
"Are you The Four?", it said.
"Yes.", Edele said.
"My planet needs your help."
"Is it us? Do we give off signs of heroism?", Keavy said to the others.
"It is very urgent.", it said.
"Let's go.", Edele said. THE ENDPrevious Chapter
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