Until We Break (28 page)

“Amazing!” Loki said as he stood in the center of the court after the tie-making kick. “These two teams have left everything on the court. They’ve held nothing back, and one must wonder what they have left to give.” If there was a bright spot in all this, it was that the Zero Grade team was also visibly weakened from their struggles.

Set replied, “Just you watch. We’re about to put an end to this farce.”

“You’re about to come to an end, all right,” Ev huffed, trying to sound intimidating.

“Spare us your youthful bravado,” Dionysus said. “You’re obviously at your limit. You played well for such inexperienced gods, but victory belongs to us.”

Ev glared at him. “Spare
us
your old person arrogance. We’re winning this thing.”

Loki happily declared, “Enough talk. Let’s settle this on the court!”

Since the Academy had just scored, it was now Zero Grade’s turn. Set took the ball and fell back, as he had done many times during this game. But this time, instead of rushing forward, his teammates fell back with him. They converged on him, blocking Ev’s teams’ view of him.

The Academy team was then startled when not one, but
four
Sets emerged from the huddle. Two ran towards the Academy’s five-point goal, and two ran to the ten-point one. Ev didn’t know which one was real, so he ordered his team, “Jaysin, head for the five-point goal! Everyone else, back up Daryn!”

Jaysin went to intercept the two Sets heading to the western wall, while Ev, Maya and CiCi rushed to the southern one. Jaysin picked a Set and tackled, but he went right through him.

The rest of the team tackled two other Sets, but they turned out to be just as ethereal. That left only the one heading toward the five-point goal, and with Jaysin momentarily down, he was unopposed.

Set kicked the ball into the goal, bringing the Zero Grade score to fifty-five. “Unbelievable! A set—pun intended—of faux Sets enables them to once again get the drop on the Academy team. They’re only five points away from winning the God Games!”

Ev called a time-out, and the team huddled together. “Right sticky situation, this is,” Jaysin said. He was soaked in sweat.

“Thanks for the update,” Ev said sarcastically. “Our backs are against the wall, but when are they not? This next play will decide everything. Either we score ten points, or
they
score and beat us. We need a plan. Does anyone have any ideas?”

CiCi said, “I do. I didn’t want to mention it before because it’s real risky. But seeing as how we we’re out of options, what the heck.”

“What’s your idea?” Maya asked.

She explained, “I’ve been working on improving my chakrams’ reconnaissance capabilities. They can now see in multiple spectrums such as x-ray and infrared. One of those might just be able to see through Set’s tricks. The only catch is, I’d be defenseless while I’m using them. I wouldn’t be able to block or receive a pass.”

“In other words, we’d be a man—err, woman—down,” Jaysin said.

She nodded. “That’s why I didn’t want to try it until now.”

“You’re right,” Ev said. “It’s risky as hell. But unless anyone else has any ideas?” Jaysin and Maya shook their heads. “I guess that settles it. CiCi, bring out your chakrams.”

Ev signaled the end of the time-out, and his team gathered at the center of the court. CiCi conjured her strange tools.

Persephone, upon seeing them, said to her team, “Watch out. She’s going to try and distract us with those things.”

A smug Set replied, “Hmph. Let her try. I’m the
king
of distractions.”

Ev took the ball. Almost immediately, Set’s team converged on him and, again, four of him appeared. “CiCi?”

She said, “X-ray’s not helping. I’m still getting multiple Sets. Let me switch to ultraviolet. Nope—still four of him.”

“CiCi!” This plan was about to backfire in a big way. She needed to hurry.

“The pink-haired girl’s trying to see through my illusions!” the Sets said. “Stop her!”

Uh-oh
. The Zero Grade team was now bearing down on CiCi. Ev, Maya and Jaysin quickly formed a human wall around her, but they wouldn’t be able to protect her for very long.

“Switching to infrared.”

“Anything?” Ev said.

“Uh… let’s see…”

The Zero Grade team collided with them. Ev struggled to remain standing as Mercury tackled him. They remained locked in a fierce embrace for several moments.

Finally, CiCi said. “That’s it! I’m only seeing one Set now.”

Summoning all his strength, Ev shoved Mercury aside and charged toward Apollo. “Which one’s real?” All four Sets were now converging on him from different angles.

“The one directly to your right!”

Ev saw the one she was talking about. He ducked the real Set’s outstretched arms and plowed right through the fakes. He was now headed straight to his opponents’ ten-point goal, and nothing was going to stop him from getting the ball into it.

He stopped a mere ten feet from it. Apollo glared at him, daring him to try and get past him. Ev was all too happy to accept the challenge.

In one fluid motion, Ev dropped the ball and kicked it with everything he had left. It shot towards Apollo like a cannonball. The ebony god, though, managed to block it with his chest. It appeared Ev had failed.

However, the impact sent Apollo staggering backwards. The ball ricocheted off him and flew awkwardly into the goal.

The Academy team had scored their sixty points.

Chapter XXI

“They’ve done it!” Loki said at the top of his lungs. “The Divine Protector Academy has won the first annual God Games! They managed to overcome impossible odds and legendary deities. I simply cannot believe it!” The crowd cheered for the students, who allowed themselves to drink in their victory.

Set shouted to be heard above the din. “No! This is outrageous! They can’t have won! They must have cheated somehow.”

Wagging a chastising finger at him, Loki replied, “They followed the rules exactly.”

“No!” Set roared. “This is injustice!”

Loki turned his attention back to the winning team. “Now then, are you ready to learn the location of the Flawless Few?”

“More than ready,” Ev said.

“Splendid! Marvelous! All you have to do now is direct your attention to the ceiling.”

They did so, and the ceiling abruptly shimmered and disappeared, replaced by the Dokiu sky. By now, dusk had set in, and a few faint stars could be seen amongst the orange glow.

Daryn said, “I don’t get it. Where’s Zero Grade’s base.”

Loki pointed upward and said, “There. What do you see?”

They shrugged. “The sky,” Ev said.

“Very good, but what’s in the sky? What has just appeared?”

And that was when they knew. Aside from a few stars, there was only one thing in the sky.

“The moon,” Maya said softly.

“Son of a bitch,” Daryn said.

“That’s why we could never find them. They weren’t on Narska at all,” a stunned Ev said. Up above, the white celestial body shone with brilliance. Despite countless meteor impacts over the years, it was a thing of absolute beauty.

“Damn you!” Set roared. “The location of Olympus has been a closely guarded secret for millennia! You’ll pay for revealing it.” He lunged forward, planting his fist in Loki’s mask.

But there was no effect. Loki held up a wagging finger. “Tsk, tsk. We expected to see sore losers here today, so we took the liberty of setting up the God Dampener beforehand. You’re all powerless now. And since you’ve decided to be poor guests, I think we’ll just remove you from our presence.” He snapped his fingers, and the ceiling reappeared. A panel slid open overhead, and a blinding white light shot down, engulfing the Zero Grade team. They had a fraction of a second to cry out before being reduced to ashes.

Ev knew he should say something, to declare his outrage over this wanton slaughter. But honestly, he was sorry more of Zero Grade wouldn’t die today. They deserved it, each and every one of them.

Loki bent down and picked up a tiny metal object from the ashes. “Marvelous! A listening device. They came prepared. Now Zero Grade knows they lost the God Games.”

Daryn, ignoring the device, whispered in Ev’s ear, “That’s less we have to worry about, but what are we going to do about Captain Crazy over there?”

“We stop them,” Ev replied.

“Look around you. There isn’t an empty seat in this place. There must be thousands of enemies—who have us surrounded, by the way—and we’re worn out from the God Games.”

He had a point. A very good one, in fact. “We’ll… think of something.”

“Daryn’s right,” Maya said. “We just barely managed to beat five gods. We can’t take on an entire ship of them as exhausted as we are. We should leave and deal with them later, when we’ve got the entire Academy backing us up.”

She made a lot of sense. Still… “We have to stop them while we’re inside the ship. If we attack from the outside later on, they’ll just blow us away with their cannons.”

“I hear you, mate. Don’t think they’ll be inviting us back in any time soon. We may never have a better chance than this.”

CiCi shook her head vigorously. “They have the God Dampener. If we try to fight them now, we’ll just get vaporized like Set’s team. Face it, guys, we need to leave. Now.”

“I…” Ev was now faced with an impossible choice. Should he leave Carnaval to run free, or risk getting his friends killed? Dammit, what would the professors do?

As the seconds ticked by, his friends looked to him to make a decision. He wasn’t sure how or when, but it seemed he had become the team’s de facto leader.
You’ve got to make a decision now, Ev. Run or fight? Run or fight? Which is it? THINK!

Without warning, the entire complex shook from the force of an unknown impact. Everyone was thrown off their feet. Overhead, the lights flickered violently, creating a strobe effect, and the deck tilted.

But it was the audience that showed the most dramatic consequences of the sudden power failure. Before Ev’s eyes, they suddenly blinked out of existence. “What the hell?”

They quickly got back to their feet. “What happened to the crowd?” Maya asked over the groaning of the ship. Within moments, it managed to right itself, and the lights came back on.

Ev suddenly realized exactly what had happened. “They were never there. The audience was fake.”

 
Daryn stared at him, dumbfounded. “What, you mean like holograms or something?”

“Yeah. During the God Games, I couldn’t help but think their reactions were always the same length and intensity. They were pre-programmed. There was never anyone in the stands.”

CiCi said, “But, then, the majority of the crew…”

“Probably died a long time ago,” Ev said.

“But they can’t all be holograms,” Maya said. “Those guys are still here.” She pointed to where Loki and a handful of his compatriots were standing.

Ev approached them. “Most of your friends died when you got warped to Gehenna at the end of the previous universe, didn’t they?”

Loki shrugged as if he couldn’t care less. “Who can say? I seem to recall instances of explosive decompression, failing stasis pods and limited food. It is certainly possible there wasn’t enough to keep everyone alive. Oh, and a bloody battle for remaining resources can’t be ruled out, either.”

“And the animals up above?” CiCi said. “Are they holograms as well?”

“Well, if there wasn’t enough food for the crew, there certainly wouldn’t have been enough for animals,” Loki said.

Maya said somberly, “I actually feel sorry for them.”

“Never mind that,” Ev said. “I now count five of them instead of an entire army. We can take them down here and now.”

Loki laughed at the mere suggestion. “Hilarious! Side-splitting! You actually think you exhausted students can defeat us? Remember, we still hold an overwhelming advantage here. For instance…” He snapped his fingers. However, the result was a lethargic whine. He snapped them again, but this time didn’t get any response. “Ragnarok!”

A soothing female voice responded, “Yes, Commander Loki.”

“Activate the God Dampener on all non-crew members.”

“God Dampener is offline. Severe damage to systems from an unknown external force.”

“What external force?” Loki asked.

“It appears to be a previously unknown weapon. I am not registering any enemies in the area.”

“Blast! Drat! Well, then, activate all internal defenses and deploy them against all non-crew members.”

“Internal defenses are insufficient to harm the non-registered entities presently on board. Sufficient weaponry was used to line the race course and is not available in here.”

Loki gave a frustrated groan and then sighed. “Very well. It seems we’ll have to deal with you five ourselves until the ship can repair itself.”

“Good luck with that,” a skeptical Jaysin said.

Ev agreed. “We just beat five veteran gods. We can take you.”

“Not so fast!” Loki said. “Vidar, show them your mime power.”

The god in the black leotard and white face paint stepped forward. Without uttering a word, he began acting as if he was trapped inside an invisible box. This went on for a full minute before Ev got bored with the display.

“Screw this, it’s time to—”

He took a step and suddenly banged his head against something. He reached out and touched a wall he couldn’t see. He backed up, but hit another wall. Feeling around, he realized he was trapped inside an invisible box.

“What’s going on?” Maya said. “I’m stuck inside… I don’t know!”

It was then Ev realized each of them was trapped inside their own boxes. He began frantically pounding on his unseen prison, but it might as well have been made of haradium for all the good it did him. There was no way out.

“Not feeling so confident now, are we?” Loki said, clearly pleased with himself.