Chapter 28 "Nyx: Part I"
Chapter 28
Nyx
Part I
TWO YEARS LATER
YEAR 2053
BRIDGE
Clear takes her glasses off and clips them onto her black crop top. She gets up as she stretches his arms in the air, yawning loudly. Her high waist cargo jeans have several pockets, which are perfect for her favorite tools.
“Aw, dammit,” She mutters when she notices that one of her black white converse shoes is untied. She is about to get on one of her knees so she can tie--
“WARNING! LOW OXYGEN LEVELS IN ENGINE ROOM!” Loud alarms coming from the speakers make Clear jump and hit her head on the computer panel.
“Fuck!” She yells angrily and rubs her throbbing blonde-haired head. It’s a miracle that we’ve come this far with this old piece of crap.
“Alright, how far are we to the next planet…?” She pulls up a hologram of the galaxy map. She zooms in the location until she realizes that the next planet is only a couple of hours away. “It’s about fucking time!”
~*~
CREW’S QUARTERS
“We’re going to die!” Gules practically both melts and slips down from the couch. “Didn’t we hear about the low oxygen levels? Jade, at least we'll be togeth~”
“Get away from me.” Jade snaps as he slams his foot on Gules’s face. “Do you really want to die?”
“I will die for you!” Gules says loudly and lovingly as he takes off his red jacket to reveal his white tank top.
“You’re too loud…” Johnny yawns sleepily. “Why did Clear call us here? She can just fix it, can’t she?”
“Like I said, we will die. I know for sure she will say there’s no way to keep this spaceship going forever!” Gules exclaims dramatically.
“Shut up.” The gravity controller gives him a deadly glare. “Don’t say anything that sounds really worse than it actually is.”
“...Gules is right,” Clear says right when she enters the crew’s quarters. “We will die unless… Wait a minute! Where are Knapp and Logy? And what about Kawaii? Doesn’t he normally show up at such an important time like this?”
~*~
STUDY ROOM
“Not again…” Katja says as she looks up at the speaker. She closes her favorite book and puts it back on the bookshelf. She already knows the ending because she read it a dozen times. What else is there to do other than studying and training? Okay, ‘training’ can be also considered as playtime.
She turns around until she finds her little brother sitting at a round table quietly, to her surprise. Ketsu has always had so much energy that he cannot sit still for like thirty seconds.
When Katja gets closer to Ketsu, she notices that Ketsu has already disassembled something into pieces. “What are you doing?”
“It’s a rocket toy. I wanted to know what’s inside it.” Ketsu shrugs his shoulders. “But now I’m trying to put it back together.”
“I can help!” Katja says. As soon as she touches one of the pieces, she gets another vision. This time, it is really frightening.
The gap between the lands is large. Way larger like thousands of miles across.
It’s deep. Black and hollow. Never ending fall.
It is as if the land has been cut in half, leaving behind a long gorge.
Walls for the gorge are entirely covered with mushrooms, fungals, and molds.
“Damn you… Damn you all to hell!” A deep raging voice yells. “You will pay for this, you damn Universe Warrior!”
“Sister, are you ok?” Ketsu waves his hand in front of Katja who has not moved for a few minutes now. He begins to consider whether to go to their dad for his help.
“Oh, sorry. Where were we?” Katja snaps out of the vision, trying to get over the intense rage she was feeling from it. As she reaches her hand, Ketsu grabs it. “What?”
“You had a vision?”
“Yes, but it’s not important…” Katja says softly. He wouldn’t understand it anyway… Not even I can either.
~*~
“Clear will definitely look for us. Can you let go of me?”
Never. Let her find us. Knapp sends his thoughts into Logy’s head as he nuzzles against the top of his partner’s head, pulling him closer into his embrace. Chest to back.
Logy rolls over so he is facing Knapp. He smiles at how gorgeous and sexy the Universe Warrior is. He remembers the day they first met. He realizes that Knapp has barely aged a day since then. He buries his face into his lover’s neck with a few kisses.
Suddenly, Knapp pushes Logy to their bed, surprising him completely. His face cheeks are completely red. “You’re driving me crazy right now.”
“We’ve already done it three times last night,” Logy says. He can’t use his hands for sign language because Knapp has his wrists pressed to the mattress.
“I can never get enough of you.” Knapp’s words send shivers up Logy’s spine. He releases Logy’s wrists. “Remember our first time?”
The deaf warrior covers his face, trying to hide his embarrassment. He can never forget it. That was the night when they had a party celebrating their newest team member.
~*~
They were kissing nonstop, moving away from the party. Hands all over their bodies. Logy shivered at Knapp’s touches.
He started gasping lightly as the Universe Warrior slipped his hand under Logy’s shirt. He stammered, “W-wait…!”
“What’s wrong?” Knapp stopped right away and made sure to look at his new boyfriend’s face so he could read his lips in case he couldn’t read his thoughts.
“I… Well…” Logy shook his head. He said shyly without using sign language, “I’m not a woman…”
Knapp was staring at him like Logy had grown a second head. He started chuckling before he was laughing so hard.
“What’s so funny?” Logy looked offended.
“Sorry, sorry! I need a minute.” Knapp could barely breathe, trying to calm himself down and stop himself from laughing once again. “Of course not… I’m well aware that you’re a guy.”
“I know but you were with Sybil for a long time…”
Knapp raised an eyebrow in confusion. What did Sybil have anything to do with Logy? “What is it that you’re trying to compare with her?”
“I-I-...” Logy mumbled quietly as he looked away from Knapp.
“What?”
“I don’t have boobies, okay?!” Logy yelled.
He and Knapp both froze, not because of what he said. It was because they noticed that they were not alone.
“Oh my…” It was Jade, who was obviously blushing. He took a few steps backward as he was saying, “I forgot something in my room on the way but I can always come back for it… Bye!” He hastily returned to the party.
“I want to die.” Logy buried his face into his hands. He was so embarrassed that he did not want Knapp to see his reaction.
So that’s why he has been avoiding my touches lately. Knapp half-smirked. He gently pulled Logy’s hands away so the deaf warrior can see what he was saying. He briefly glanced at his new boyfriend’s obvious flat chest and said, “You’re perfect. I want to touch every inch of you.”
Logy started to gesture his hands but unsure how to respond. He knew his face was on fire for sure. Knapp wouldn’t miss it.
“You’re the first guy who I’ve ever dated. And…” Knapp paused, uncertain if he should say more or not. Oh, why the hell not? “First time I’ve ever kissed a guy.” He placed his hand on Logy’s face and ran his thumb across his cheek.
“First time I touched a guy…” His thumb moved onto the deaf guy’s lips. He leaned forward, about to kiss him. “There is still one more first-time thing that I’ve never done with a guy before… It’s se--”
Logy quickly grabbed Knapp’s hands and put them down. His head was so unbelievably hot that he was sure the Universe Warrior knew he was blushing hard. How the hell did Sybil deal this with him? Or was Knapp even shy at first?
He yelped when Knapp suddenly lifted him so he hastily wrapped his legs around his waist.
Relax, Logy. You don’t have to be nervous about anything at all. Logy received Knapp’s thoughts as the taller man was placing kisses all over Logy’s neck, making him groan in pleasure.
~*~
BRIDGE
“About fucking time!” Clear crosses her arms with a scowl on her face. “I was seriously considering walking on you while you were having a sexy time!”
“What?” Logy asks, as he did not catch what she said at first.
Knapp snickers in amusement.
“Never mind!” The blonde haired engineer says with sign language. She turns away from the couple. “Where is Kawaii, by the way?”
“Here,” Kawaii says emotionlessly as he literally materializes into existence.
Ever since Logy and Knapp got together, the Dark Team started to notice that Kawaii was only present if one or both of Logy and Knapp were in the same room. They believe that it’s possible for Knapp’s universe power to either coat or possibly flow throughout Logy’s body since they spend so much time together. Sometimes Kawaii appeared for other members of the Dark Team but it was usually only if it was an emergency or something really important.
Clear clears her throat as she continues, “Alright, we finally have everyone here. As you know, we’re low on oxygen but luckily, there’s an inhabitable planet that we can stop by!”
She presses on her smart tablet a few times until a hologram of the planet shows up in the air. “It’s called Planet Rosa.”
“Wait a minute…” Gules frowns as he gets a closer look at the planet. “Why is it nearly cut in half?”
The large cut is three-fourth of the planet. The gap between two halves is about hundreds of miles across. All areas that are within a couple of hundred miles away from the gap are pretty much uninhabitable.
“The weirdest thing about that gap is that,” Clear says. “There are molds and fungus all over it.”
“How did it get cut?” Gules asks in concern. “I visited there twelve years ago. It wasn’t anything like this one.”
“It’s a foreign fungus that shouldn’t exist on this planet.” Kawaii joins the conversation. “In fact, it’s not even from this universe.”
“Nyx, isn’t it?” Knapp says.
“Bingo.” Kawaii nods his head. He takes a look at his hand which is slowly fading away. “I’m having difficulty keeping myself together because of that planet. I’m worried that it may be dying right now.”
“You can’t be with us once we’re there?” Jade asks worriedly.
“Most likely no. But that’s why you were chosen. All of you are my saviors. Always have been. I believe in you.” The child form of the Fifth Universe gives them a small smile. “Good luck.”
“Damn.” Johnny shakes his head after Kawaii disappears. He yawns sleepily. “So, what is our mission?”
~*~
TRAINING ROOM
“Huh? I’m going?” Ketsu asks in surprise. He and his sister have always stayed at the spaceship ever since they were born.
After the meeting, Knapp came to the playroom to take Ketsu to the training room. He scratches his face, trying hard not to show that he is nervous or worried. “I asked Kawaii about Dark Angel’s wellbeing and capabilities… You see, the planet where we are going may have some kind of toxic environment. Angels are immune to all poisons, diseases, and illnesses so, that’s why I think it’s perfect for you to get some experience.”
“Only two of us?”
“Gules is joining us but he’s going to wear a mask.”
Ketsu tilts his head a little to the side with big, innocent eyes. “Will we fight?”
I hope not. Knapp says, “I’m not sure. We’re just going to check it out. Gules knows someone there from twelve years ago so we will go and meet them.”
He begins to stretch his arms and asks, “Do you want to play a game?”
The young Dark Angel begins to take off his wristbands. Immediately, his dark blue wings emerge from his back effortlessly. He exclaims, “Yes, dad!”
“Try and catch me!”
Once Ketsu makes his first move, with the help of his wings, he has suddenly gotten closer to his father but Knapp barely evades by turning halfway. He says in amazement, “Wow! You’re so fast!”
You’re even faster. Knapp thinks to himself. He has already started sweating from Ketsu’s enormous power. He unwraps his scarf and tosses it at the floor. First time I’ve ever gotten serious up against my own kid.
~*~
CREW’S QUARTERS
“So, only three of you are going in two days, huh?” Jade takes a look at the window, taking in the sight of a huge planet. It’s probably even bigger than his own home planet. He can clearly see the gap covered in black mold or fungus.
Gules does not answer right away. He is lying in his own bed and staring at the ceiling. He is in his own world. Wondering what happened to the planet. His dearest friend other than his sister. Is she even alive?
“Gules?”
“What?” The elf looks at him.
Jade frowns at how distracted Gules is. “You didn’t answer my question.” Out of all times, you gave me all your attention when I didn’t want it… Now you don’t when I do this time?
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you at first. What was it?”
He’s not totally going over me, being loving or something like that. I wonder if he’s really worried. Jade raises an eyebrow. “Never mind. If you need anything, let me know.”
“Anything?” Gules gives him an obvious sly smirk.
“Except kissing and hugging.” Jades snaps.
“Hold my hands?” The former prince asks hopefully as he sits up from his bed.
“No.” The gravity controller notices that Gules has started walking towards him. “How many times have you had a death wish?”
“Feel free to unleash your wrath on me.” Gules chuckles cheerfully.
What the hell is he? A masochist? Jade turns away from the perverted elf, trying to hide the redness on his face. Honestly, even though he really likes him, he is not ready yet. Even after two years of Gules consistently showing his interest in him, he still has not gotten over Zack’s death. It might be one sided love, but he still had feelings for the switch welder back then.
~*~
PLANET ROSA
TWO DAYS LATER
Gules, Knapp, and Ketsu have taken the space pod to the nearly chopped planet. They land on an uninhabited island at least hundreds of miles away from any civilization.
Knapp allows Ketsu to run around the island, especially after being stuck in the space pod for more than one hour of entering the planet and landing. Dark Angel was already starting to get restless merely ten minutes after leaving their spaceship. He’s still a young child, after all.
Knapp turns to Gules. “Remind me what the people here look like?”
“Like me.” Gules points at his own pointy ears. “Except they’re really, really taller. Like 5 feet taller than us. I guess it’s because of how big this planet is.”
True. It’s probably 10 times larger than Earth. Knapp thinks to himself.
“Alright, I’m going to turn into a bird and fly to the capital city, Sakura. I’ll search for my friend,” The former prince explains. He takes a mask out of his small messenger bag. “As long as I’m not too close to the fungus area, I think I’ll be ok.”
“If you’re ever in trouble, ping me through our own app that Clear developed recently, okay?” Knapp waves his smartphone before he puts it back in his pocket.
“Yes, sir!” Gules winks as he gives him a causal salute. As soon as he transforms into the usual red bird, he takes off into the sky, flying west further away from the fungus area.
“Dad, look what I found!” Ketsu exclaims in excitement after running to Knapp. He is holding out a spider. It is huge. A cat-sized spider that literally hisses with its legs wiggling wildly trying to get out of Dark Angel’s grip.
“Yikes! Ketsu, drop it!” Knapp cries in panic, unsure whether to blast the spider into void or slap it out of his son’s hands.
“Okay…” Ketsu pouts in disappointment as he places the spider back on the ground. It quickly crawls creepily, alternating its legs as fast as it can away from the dangerous child.
It’s a miracle that he didn’t get bitten… He just scared it away instead. Knapp chuckles lightly at his own thoughts. “Well, let’s go.”
“Yay!”
~*~
What the hell…? This city looks completely different than 12 years ago…! Gules is still flipping his wings as he observes the capital city.
Last time he was here, Sakura had the largest, highly educated and well-researched population in the entire world. They invented and researched an overwhelming number of advanced technologies and engineering, such as artificial intelligence, civil engineering, architecture, science, and many more.
He also remembered during his last visit that there were more than 5 million residents living in the city alone. It overflowed with thousands of flying cars every day passing the hundreds of skycaptors.
Now? Zero flying cars or citizens in sight. Several buildings are reduced to piles of rubbles. Pink roses are everywhere but what Gules notices the most is that the most concentrated area with pink roses is surrounding Sakura. It’s as if the purpose of the roses is to protect the city from something.
Am I… Are we too late? Gules begins to consider whether to return to the space pod and wait for Ketsu and Knapp to get back or not when he spots something moving from one place to another.
As soon as he realizes that it is a person, he quickly drops himself until he gets close to it. It is a really tall male elf - Gules cannot tell if it’s a young adult or teenage. The stranger has short pink hair and orange eyes. He is wearing a simple white shirt and old ripped jeans.
Gules is gliding along with the pink-haired guy until he eventually stops in front of large and long stairs to a building. The former prince mentally raises an eyebrow at the building, which seems to be the largest one in the whole city. He vaguely remembers that it is a library. So that’s where the survivors are?
The male elf takes his time climbing up the stairs while Gules just flies high into the air until he lands on the top of the building.
Those eyes of his… Why do they feel so familiar? Gules is just watching him take slow steps.
The survivor stops all of sudden, just a few steps away from the entrance. He carefully looks around at his surroundings.
Why is he so alerted? Gules tilts his bird head a little bit. It’s like he’s looking out for enemies… But… who are the enemies, exactly? What the hell happened here in the last 12 years?
The pink haired survivor finally reaches the large double door. He pulls it slowly as the opening door is making a lot of creaking noises. As it is open enough for him to get through, he quickly gets inside and then closes it carefully.
Gules takes off, flying around in the sky until he finds a broken hole on one of the windows. Hehe, piece of cake!
After he enters the library, he can clearly see how messy it is. Books all over the floor. Some bookshelves have already fallen. Broken pieces of glass, mostly like from the windows or lamps, and other furniture are scattered out.
Now where is he…? Gules keeps flying until he finds nine people sitting near a barrel which is on fire. He lands on one of the bookshelves.
“Ambrose! Where have you been?!” One of the women yells angrily. “What did I tell you about running off alone? You could have asked one of us to go with you.”
”Mom, you gotta chill. I’m old enough!” Ambrose rolls his orange eyes.
“You’re only 16!”
This woman… It can’t be… Gules jumps off the bookshelf and glides smoothly until he lands on the floor so he takes a closer look at the woman. Long pink hair… Red eyes… That temper of hers… Wait a minute!
He quickly transforms back into his own body only to realize that he has made the biggest mistake of his life.
Every single person in the group quickly points their weapons at him. Rifles, swords, spiky clubs, and a few more.
”W-wait!” Gules raises up his hands. “I’m not armed!”
”Oh, sure… unless you have a power that is granted by Hikyou-sama." An old man scoffs.
”Wait.” The woman with long pink hair cries. “I know him.”
”What? Mom, who is he?” Ambrose asks.
”I am Gules… I’m your mom’s longtime friend. The last time I saw you was when you were only 4 years old.” Gules chuckles lightheartedly.
“Rosalie… Are you sure he is not one of the Anti-Rosa spies?” An old woman asks in concern.
“Anti-Rosa?” Gules asks.
“One hundred percent sure, Blossom!” Rosalie says cheerfully. “Guys, this is Gules. The Prince of Planet Alfur.”
“Whaaat?!” Several people in the group exclaim in surprise.
“Actually… not anymore.” Gules chuckles lightly as he scratches the back of his red-haired head.
“Huh? What happened?” Rosalie asks in confusion as she places her hands on her waist sides. “Where is Beryl?”
~*~
“Woooow!” Ketsu yells as loud as he can so he can hear echoes coming from the deep gorge. But the echoes never come at all.
They are hovering right above the huge canyon. It seems to be endlessly deep. So deep that they cannot even see what’s at the bottom.
Is there even a bottom? Knapp glances at the gorge, which stretches all the way to the end of the horizon, even with both ways. The cliffs must be hundreds of miles apart from each other. “Hey, Ketsu. We are going in there. Stay with me, okay?”
“Really?!” Ketsu’s dark eyes are sparking in excitement.
“Yes, come on!” Knapp suddenly descends into the canyon, immediately followed by his son. That is when he notices that almost entire rocky walls are covered by black fungus. The further and deeper they go, he is starting to see more mold areas and mushrooms growing from the walls.
“Ew! They smell nasty!” Ketsu openly complains.
I should have brought our masks. Knapp thinks to himself as he notices black spores in the air. “Please bear with me, okay?”
~*~
“My goodness…” Rosalie shakes her head. “I had no idea the Prime Minister would do such horrible things…”
“It’s okay. It’s been two years since then. I got over it.” Gules flashes a grin on his face. He glances at the tall elves. Suddenly, he feels so small. “Alright, who are your friends? I know that’s Ambrose and Blossom…”
“I’m Daisy.” A heavily pregnant woman waves her hand with a warm smile. She rubs her large belly. “And this is Nightshade. He’s due anytime now.”
“In this condition? Will you be okay?” Gules asks worriedly.
“I’m a doctor. I’ll take care of her.” Another woman with blonde hair locked up in a bun bows her head a little bit. “I’m Lily. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Petunia here! I’m the doctor’s sister but I’m no doctor.” A third woman chuckles lightheartedly. She tosses her long blonde hair over her shoulders. “I’m a fashion designer but that’s no good in this situation anyway.”
“Hi, my name is Foxglove. Call me Fox,” a young adult elf says cheerfully. He runs his hand through his black hair. “I was a university student before this war started.”
“Don’t be shy, Fox! You’re studying to become a lawyer!” Another man in the middle age with big muscles smacks on Fox’s back, making him go oof! “I’m Alon! I used to be a fitness instructor!”
“And this is my husband Bud,” Blossom says sweetly. “We’re retired florists and business owners.”
Bud scoffs only to get scolded by his wife who yells, “Be nice!”
“And, who is this?” Gules spots one more girl elf who is hiding behind Daisy. He realizes that she is at the same height as him.
“That’s Iris. She lost her family,” Daisy says sadly. “She’s only 10 years old.”
Damn, I would’ve mistaken her as an adult! The former prince thinks to himself. He says to the youngest elf, “Hi Iris, my name is Gules. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Are you the prince?” Iris asks, still staying behind Daisy.
“Used to be one.” Gules chuckles lightly.
“You don’t look like one.”
“Shhh! That’s rude.” Blossom scolds her. “He came all the way here to visit Rosalie! Please be nice to him.”
“That’s okay. I’ve never been fit to be a prince. Or even a king,” Gules grins widely. He turns to his longtime friend, “So… what happened here? Why is there a large crack on this planet?”
“It’s… a long story,” Rosalie says sadly. “It started right after you and your family left.”
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