The Guardian (Coranite Chronicles) (19 page)

“Admiral,” said an ensign. “Unidentified ships have entered the battlefield.”

“Unidentified?” the admiral said. “Show me on the holographic display.”

The hologram zoomed in on the unidentified ships. They were shaped like eggs and were small and black.

“You’ve finally noticed us.” A female voice resounded on the bridge. The main monitor changed view. It now showed the face of a woman. A thick visor covered her eyes. “You stupid Federation dogs!” Though the voice of the woman could be heard, her lips did not move. “You come into our territory and attack those that manage the elements in our universe. How foolish! Did you really think you could get away with this? Leave or die. Those are your only options.”

“Anarchists, I presume?” the admiral said. “Sorry, I don’t take orders from terrorists.”

“Just the answer I was hoping for,” said the woman. “Prepare to taste despair. I will enjoy seeing you quake with fear.”

The admiral chuckled. “You overestimate yourself. What can you do with ten ships? Ten measly ships?”

“Ten ships? No, admiral.”

“More unidentified ships have entered the battlefield!” the ensign shouted.

“I have brought with me over
a hundred
Gargoyles,” she continued.

The hologram now centered in on the black ships, known as Gargoyles.

“So you’ve brought a hundred. Do you not see how many ships we have?” the admiral snapped. “You don’t stand a chance!”

“You will die. That is all.” The woman disappeared and the monitor went back to showing the fleet.

“Admiral,” a crewman said. “We’ve lost a battleship!”

Another shouted, “Two more destroyers have been taken down! They’re coming in from the side! Our starfighters can’t stop them! Another battleship is down! And another! The Anarchist ships are ripping through them easily!”

The admiral growled, “Anarchists always show up at the worst times!” He turned to his commander and said, “Have all warships turn their attention to the Anarchists! All starfighters and starbombers are to head for the moon. Send in the weapon! That gateway must be destroyed!”

Floating in space, Darek looked as far as his eyes could see. “The battleships are moving away. I wonder why.”

“But the starfighters keep on coming!” said Slade. “There’re thousands! Get ready!”

They gazed upon the multitude of starfighters that rained down upon them. The Guardians tried to stop them from entering the atmosphere, but the Guardians were greatly outnumbered. It was an impossible task.

Bombers made their way through the energy shield. They carpet-bombed the surface of the moon. Hundreds of bombs were dropped. The ground shook and tore apart as large explosions sprang up everywhere. The combined explosions almost looked like one giant massive eruption across the dirt. Huge mushroom clouds rose up all over.

Guardians of fire flew straight into the explosion. They opened up their mouths, sucking in air. The intense flames of the explosions were drawn to them. They sucked up the fire and heat. By drinking the flames, they grew stronger, their bodies clothed in fire. The Guardians spewed the flames back at the bombers, amplifying the heat. As soon as the fire touched the bombers, they melted away into liquid metal.

In the midst of the battle, Darek heard a bloodcurdling scream.

“GAAAAAAAH!”

Gersham, the Guardian that looked like a tree, looked down at his bark-covered body…and saw a giant blade sticking out of his chest. Before he could turn back to see the assailant, his body crystallized.

“NOOOOOOOO!” another Guardian screamed.

“What…is that monster?” Darek asked in fear. “A Coranite?”

Darek fell back on the ground, trembling. The giant slowly turned his head and saw Darek. Darek froze up, gulping air. Its eyes stared down at Darek and Darek stared back…unable to turn away from its pitch-black eyes…blacker than the darkest night.

At the sight of its frightful gaze, Darek breathed, “No, it’s not. It’s not a spirit. I can’t sense any spiritual power. If it’s not a Guardian or a Coranite—what is it?”

The monster that Darek saw…was a Golem, the new weapon of the Federation.

The Golem was covered in impenetrable armor. However it was still quite agile. Using the jet engines on its back and feet, the Golem leaped up into the sky.

The Guardians tried to stop it. Morduke intercepted the Golem. It looked like a duel between two giant knights. They swung their swords with great force, causing gusts of wind with every strike. Their swords clashed repeatedly. Then the Golem slashed upward, knocking the sword out of the Guardian’s hand. It struck Morduke in the chest. The blade of the Golem went straight through. Morduke crystallized.

Other Guardians threw fire and ice against it. But the Golem seemed unaffected. The power of the natural elements did not seem to stop it.

A few bombers flew overhead, but the Guardians were too distracted by the Golem to care. One bomber dropped a large object, but it wasn’t a bomb. There was no loud boom or raging fire when the object hit the ground—only a loud
whirrrrrrrr!

Beld shouted, “They’re breaking into the moon with large drills!” He gestured toward a group. “Come with me! We must put a stop to those drills before they reach the seal!” Then he shouted to the others, “The rest of you, stop the enemy from pursuing us!”

“Understood!” the Guardians shouted.

Darek and Slade were already on the chase, each one flying into a separate tunnel that had been dug out by a powerful drill. Beld then took his team and joined them.

Darek was alone at first. He threw back a glance and saw no one behind. But he was struggling to keep up with the giant mechanical drill.

“That thing is fast!” Darek accelerated faster, but it was dangerous. The tunnel was small and unstable. Huge clumps of dirt fell from above. Darek had to watch his speed and precision as he narrowly dodged the falling debris.

“Don’t stop for anything!” he heard someone shout.

Darek looked back. And now he wished he hadn’t.

Calamity followed closely behind. Some Guardians were following after him…but so was a monstrous Golem.

“Aaaaah!” A scream echoed in the tunnel.

The Golem killed a Guardian easily with a swing of its blade.

“Oh man, here it comes!” said Darek, looking over his shoulder. “This tunnel is way too tight for this!”

Beld caught up with Darek. “Take out that drill! We’ll stop the Golem!”

“URRGH!” Another Guardian turned into crystal and dropped to the ground.

“Can you really stop that thing?” Darek glanced at Beld.

“That monster is strong,” said Beld. “At the very least, we’ll slow it down. But I need you on that drill! We can’t let that monster reach the seal!”

Another Guardian shrieked as his body was split in half by the Golem’s blade.

Sensing the urgency of the situation, Darek squeezed out as much power as he could.

“If only I could just touch it!” said Darek. Darek reached out his hand, as he tried to maintain his balance on the board. The drill was just an arm’s length away.

Just a little bit more speed
, Chrovel said in his mind.
I’ll give you a bit of a burst.

“Okay—” A giant shadow loomed over Darek’s side. Darek turned his head. The Golem was right there, preparing to strike. The sword came down. Beld quickly tackled the Golem.
Crrssssk!
The giant sword scraped against the walls of the tunnel. Beld desperately shoved the monster against the wall.

“Do it, kid!” Beld screamed. “TAKE IT OUT!”

“I’m trying,” Darek grunted. “But someone’s not cooperating! What are you doing, Chrovel? Give me the burst now! Beld can’t hold that thing back forever!”

Are you sure you can handle it? I want to make sure you’re ready for it.

Chrovel was scared to give Darek too much power. He was afraid of what might happen. A sudden surge of power could send Darek flying to his death.

“No time to waste! We can’t let this thing—”

BOOM! The wall burst open. Another drill emerged, swerving across the tunnel.

“Get out of the way!” Slade shouted, as he clung to the back of the drill. “I can’t stop it!”

The drill was about to pierce through Darek. Beld let go of the Golem and flew across, shoving Darek out of the way. Darek evaded the dangerous drill but was slammed into the wall. He tumbled over and over as he fell deeper into the tunnel.

Darek tried to stop himself from falling, but it was already too late. The drilling was complete. They all fell together onto a round stone platform. Darek’s hover board was broken. He got up, unbuckled it and threw it aside. He turned around. In the middle of the platform was a large obelisk with small inscriptions all over.

“That’s the seal?” asked Darek.

“Yes,” said Beld. “If the obelisk falls, the seal is broken!”

The Golem landed onto the platform with such force that it shook. Darek, Slade and Beld all turned to face the monster.

“Three on one,” said Slade. “Let’s bring it down.”

“And how do we do that?” asked Darek.

“I’ll be the distraction,” said Beld. “I won’t be able to do much else.”

“Okay.” Slade turned to Darek. “Your power can destroy anything you touch, right?”

“Not
anything
,” said Darek. “Nothing organic. And—”

“Well,” Slade interrupted him, “do you think you can break his helmet?”

“Yeah, but—”

“Then break it. Once you do that, I’ll finish it off.”

Beld rocketed toward the Golem. With his remaining strength, he launched a ball of fire at the giant. Beld dropped to the ground, losing strength fast. The Golem snatched him up in its giant hand and proceeded to tighten its grip, crushing him. Darek ran to help.

“Don’t!” Beld groaned, as he was being crushed. “F-forget about me!”

Darek tried to attack the Golem’s hands. The Golem swung its fist, backhanding Darek. Darek blocked but still ended up flying across the chamber.

The Guardian screamed. The Golem tightened its grip even further until it was over. Beld became encased in crystal.

The Golem dropped the large crystal containing Beld and walked slowly over to Darek.

“Even Beld…didn’t stand a chance…” Darek whispered.

Darek struggled to stand. Slade charged at the Golem from behind. Though he slammed his metal fist against its armor, he couldn’t even make a dent.

More drills broke through the dirt and tumbled onto the platform. Another Golem showed up. Darek gulped. The two giants towered over them.

“Stop playing around with these Guardians!” the pilot of one Golem shouted. “We need to destroy that gateway now! That’s what we came to do!”

Darek gritted his teeth and lowered his stance, preparing to charge again.

Don’t fight them!
Chrovel warned him.

“They killed Beld. They’ll destroy the seal,” Darek muttered. “And you’re telling me to just stand by and watch?”

You’ll die! And they’ll still destroy it! Don’t waste your life for nothing!

Darek heard a heavy thud and looked around. Another Golem landed on the other side. It raised its sword toward the obelisk.

“No!” Darek spun around and dashed across the floor. As soon as the sword came down, Darek leaped up and raised his hands. Upon touching the sword with his gloves, the sword shattered.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” one of the pilots shouted. “That sword shouldn’t break!”

“Quick, just destroy the seal!” another pilot shouted.

Two Golems started up their thrusters and flew toward the obelisk. Slade attacked one, even though it did nothing. Darek rushed into the path of another but wound up getting kicked across the chamber. Darek curled his lip as he watched the Golems surround the obelisk. Was there really nothing they could do?
 

Crack. The obelisk split in two. Darek gaped at the broken obelisk in horror.

“Mission accomplished,” said a pilot. “That was easy.”

Another pilot said, “Wait. Something’s happening…”

“W-what’s that?”

Out of the broken seal came a blinding white light. Darek gaped at the bright rays. Though it looked intense, the light didn’t seem to hurt his eyes at all.

“Is it breaking…?” Darek breathed. “Is this it…?”

A massive shockwave spread across the room. Everything shook as though they were standing at the epicenter of an earthquake. As the streaks of light splashed against the walls, Darek saw something strange. The area around him began to change. The cavern itself began to open up, and traces of a violet cloudy sky—almost like fragments of a picture—appeared on the ceiling. Pieces of the obelisk disappeared into nothing. And even the Golems were turning transparent. Only an outline of their bodies could be seen now.

Darek was rooted in place, his knees quivering at the changes happening around him.

“Come on!” Slade grabbed Darek by the shoulder. “We’ve got to get out!”