Chapter 29 "Nyx: Part II"
Chapter 29
Nyx
Part II
TWELVE YEARS AGO
YEAR 2041
“This is President Zinnia Bara,” One of the female staff employees opens one of her arms, gesturing toward the tall male elf with long light blue hair and dark blue eyes.
“Welcome.” Zinnia gets up and shakes another elf’s hand. “Nyx, isn’t it? I understand that you’re the leader of the Resistance. We may have our differences but what we really want is to talk in a peaceful way, isn’t it?”
Nyx half-smirks at him. “Oh, of course yes, Mr. President. That’s all I ever want. Thank you for setting up this meeting. My people want equal and fair opportunities everywhere out there. Elf rights, employment, education, many more.”
“Please sit down.” Zinnia offers one of the cozy red chairs. Nyx takes it without any complaints.
“I’m so sorry I’m late,” comes a female voice as they hear a door opening hastily.
“Ah, Vice President Rosalie Marzia, isn’t it?” Nyx stands up only to shake Rosalie’s hand briefly before sitting back down.
“Yes. It’s nice to meet you.” Rosalie sits down on another chair. “So sorry for interrupting your talk.”
“Oh, it’s no problem. We are just getting started.” Zinnia waves his hand, dismissing the unnecessary apology. “So, we have so many things to talk about… Where do we start…?”
Nyx fixes his purple hair locked up in a ponytail. He starts, “Let’s talk about the resources and lands.”
“Of course it’s literally the first thing that you really want…” Rosalie rolls her scarlet eyes. “You’re trying to steal our resources and lands, aren’t you?”
“We took back what’s rightfully ours.” Nyx snaps as he crosses his arms, almost showing off a large tattoo of a rose.
“We bought the lands from your people.”
“We were promised that they wouldn’t kick us out.”
“So your people brutally murdered ours for the sake of the land--”
“That’s enough.” Zinnia interrupts them. He takes a deep sigh before he continues, “You know, we used to be separate clans thousands of years ago. But now we come together as one because we fought against the alien invasion attack together a century ago, didn’t we?”
I hate it when he’s right… Rosalie scoffs as she looks away from them.
“So, you said you want the lands back, right? How do you propose? Thousands of the elves from different clans have been living there for decades already.”
“Ask them to leave.”
“Easier said than done,” Mr. President says. “We’d need approval from the executive branch. And I don’t think it will ever happen.”
“If we can’t even agree on one thing… I don’t see it ever happening with us working together.” Nyx shakes his head in disappointment. “You said you wanted peace, didn’t you?”
Zinnia frowns at Nyx’s rhetorical question. He gives an exhausted sigh as he shakes his head. “Mr. Ampelio. Let’s put all issues aside for today. Let’s talk about you.”
“Mr. President?” Rosalie asks in both concern and confusion.
Nyx raises an eyebrow as if he’s urging him to go on.
“How long have you been living on this planet?” Zinnia asks cautiously.
“Since my birth. What are you onto?”
“Your birth.” President of Planet Rosa chuckles softly. “Are you even telling the truth?”
Nyx smirks at him. He shrugs his shoulders as he counters with another question, “Am I supposed to? This is politics. You lied plenty of times so you could become the President. Universal health care? Providing accessibility for people with disabilities? Reducing the number of homeless people? Have you even started them yet?”
Zinnia is glaring at him. He cannot help but admit, “You’re right. My administration and I spent all of our time looking into you.”
Rosalie is completely lost. What the hell are they talking about?
“Turns out we have no records of you,” President Bara continues. “For the last thousand years, we made sure to have a record of every single elf in this world… Who the hell are you?”
~*~
“Hold on, hold on!” Gules interrupts Rosalie’s story. “This happened twelve years ago?”
“That’s correct.” She nods his head.
“Why didn’t you contact us for our help?”
“We didn’t have any chance to. We suddenly went dark that day. That was also…” Rosalie begins to choke up into sobs. “The day I became the President. Nyx was releasing some kind of spores without our knowledge but he made sure to target President Bara until he died in front of us. It looked like he had a heart attack but…”
She shivers at her memory. “When I saw Nyx’s face… I’ve never been the same again.” She cannot help but recall Nyx’s twisted face with an evil smile. “Ever since then, the fungus spores have been killing off our people. About 25% of the population so far. And it has been pulling the planet apart as well… and hasn’t stopped yet.”
“And this city…?”
“We were attacked by the Anti-Rosa Resistance a few years ago,” Blossom says sadly. “There were some survivors but they all left since then. We're the only ones left here.”
“This is our home,” Ambrose adds.
“Only if… I did not get involved… Then President Bara wouldn’t have to die,” Rosalie sniffs. “And then they wouldn’t attack--”
“President Bara was right to suspect Nyx.” Gules stands up so he can stretch out his arms. He turns back to the group with a smile on his face.
“What? He’s not from this planet?” Alon asks.
“...Worse. He came from a different universe,” Gules says. “That’s exactly why we came here.”
“‘We’?” Lily asks curiously.
“Universe Warrior came with me.”
~*~
After about two hours, Knapp and Ketsu finally arrive at the bottom of the canyon.
“I’m so tired!” Ketsu loudly complains. He is about to land his feet when he realizes that there are moving mushrooms at the bottom. “Eww!”
“Takakai, Ezekial,” Knapp commands as soon as he pulls his sword out of the scabbard and lightly tips it on the tainted walls. Black fungus, mushrooms, and molds within his range of a few miles dissipate into nothingness at an instant. He realizes that the canyon walls are not moving towards each other as he wants them to. Nothing can be done about this gap?
“Wow, Dad! You cleared it!” Ketsu says in awe. He skips towards his father on the ground that is already deprived of black fungus. As he stops in front of him, he begins to look around as he places his palm on the earth wall. He asks softly, “Is the planet in trouble?”
Knapp blinks in surprise at his son’s question. Well, he’s not wrong, but he’s too young to worry. “A little bit but that’s why we’re here to help.”
He takes one more glance at the large amount of the black fungus. At this rate it will take a very long time to clear the whole thing… Probably months, even.
Ketsu yawns sleepily as he looks all the way up only to realize that he cannot see the sky anymore. “I’m so tired…”
The Universe Warrior smiles at him. “Get on my back. I’ll carry you.”
We should be able to get out within one hour if I simply carry him.
~*~
“Alright, I sent the message to my team. I haven’t heard back from Knapp but wherever he is, he probably doesn’t have any signal to receive it,” Gules says. “Oh by the way, Knapp is the Universe Warrior.”
“I was about to ask…” Rosalie giggles. “I really appreciate your help! Is the Universe Warrior as strong as he’s rumored to be?”
“Very strong! I could never beat him during our training sessions,” Gules scratches the back of his head, chuckling lightly.
“Eeks, get that bee away from me!” Petunia cries as she swiftly bounces away from her seat on the floor.
“Sorry, that’s Hachi,” Ambrose says. He has his forefinger up with a tiny bee sitting on the top of it. “He was scouting all day today so he’s reporting back to me.”
“He has the power of taming,” Rosalie says. “You probably think it’s remarkable, don’t you? Well, he can only summon bees.”
“Guys!” Ambrose yells as he gets up all of sudden, startling everyone. “Hachi said the enemies are coming!”
“It’s too late!” Rosalie shouts, her red eyes completely coated with white energy. She quickly grabs her bow and arrows and then shoots one of her arrows.
“I see that you haven’t lost your touch,” Nyx says in amusement. He is holding the arrow with one hand. The tip is literally just a few centimeters away from his face. His other hand is still in his pocket. “Is that all you have as an army? I should have killed you along with the President a long time ago.”
“Too bad you didn’t.” Rosalie smirks lightly. She frowns when she realizes that that was the last time she had ever met Nyx. She asks, “Out of all those years… Why did you show up now?”
“There was a powerful presence that I sensed, but it disappeared over two hours ago,” Nyx says. “So I came here.”
Universe Warrior? No, it can’t be… He made sure to hide his presence… Gules thinks, not taking his eyes off Nyx in case of surprise attacks. Unless…! It can’t be Dark Angel, can it?
“Sorry but it must have been your imagination… We are all what you’re seeing in this city,” Rosalie says.
Daisy nervously moves behind Alon, who does not mind at all. After all, Alon used to be a fitness instructor.
Just as Nyx makes a small movement in one of his feet, Fox suddenly appears in front of him. Before Fox can land a hit on him, a huge cylinder made entirely out of earth suddenly comes out of the floor and hits him in the stomach hard. The university law student coughs out blood.
“Dammit!” Gules kicks hard through the air, sending a large amount of flames out of his leg towards Nyx who easily evades it. The fire attack blasts the wall, causing the entire building to shake violently.
“L-let’s get out of here! It’s getting too dangerous!” Lily cries, trying to shield her head from the falling debris.
Alon runs to the unconscious Fox and picks him up in his arms in an instant.
“You all go! I’m taking care of him!” The former elf prince yells.
Nyx narrows his gray eyes in anger as he watches the citizens of Planet Rosa hurriedly leaving the building. He leaps off the second floor until he lands his feet safely. “Who the hell are you?”
“Gules Wingtree.”
“Wingtree? Aren’t you from the royal family of Planet Alfur? How did they contact you?”
“They didn’t… Thanks to you. Besides, I’m no longer the prince,” Gules says with a big grin on his face. “We came here on the behalf of the Fifth Universe.”
“What?” Nyx asks in confusion. He walks forward until he is staring down at the shorter elf. “On the behalf of the Fifth Universe? What the hell do you mean?”
“Exactly what it means. The universe knows that you are not from here. You came from another universe.” Gules is looking up at Nyx, refusing to back down at all.
They both quickly look up at a loud crash from above. A large piece of the ceiling is falling towards them so they leap away from each other fast.
“Die, then!” Nyx blows black spores out of his mouth.
What?! Gules quickly takes the gas mask out of his messenger and hastily puts it on, hoping that he does not get any into his lungs.
“Dodge this!” The fungus user yells as he slams his hands on the floor. Several sharp earth cones are being shot out of the floor, flying straight towards Gules.
The shorter elf barely dodges from all the attacks except one manages to gash his left shoulder. He winces at the sudden pain as he grabs his bleeding shoulder. He quickly transforms into the red bird only to realize it is a bad idea. He tries to fly but his wounded wing is still painful.
Nyx easily grabs the red bird with an evil smile on his face. “Is this your first real battle?”
Suddenly, a growing trail of ice emerges on the floor until it reaches Nyx’s feet. “What the?!” As soon as he looks down, Gules pinches his hand hard with his beak.
The red bird breaks free. After he flaps his wings three times, he transforms back into himself once again.
“Go, go!” Rosalie yells, waving one of her hands furiously, right outside the slow collapsing library.
As soon as Gules runs outside, the former Vice President slams her hand on the door frame. Soon, new pink and red roses are emerging from her hand and are covering the entire entrance along with the large double door.
The library finally collapses to the ground completely, leaving behind a large pile of debris and large pieces of structure.
”Wow, that was so fast.” Gules is panting. He places his hand, glowing in green aura, on his bleeding shoulder.
”Don’t waste it. Let me do it,” Lily says as she replaces Gules’s hand with her own. The wounded area is healing much faster this time compared to the shorter elf’s ability.
”Whoa, teach me, please?” Gules says in awe. “I barely joined my team in the first place mostly because I can heal, but I haven’t gotten enough practice.”
”Absolutely yes!”
”Iris, did you do that ice power?” Ambrose asks.
Iris nods her head shyly.
”That was dangerous but you saved Gules’s life.” The son of the former Vice President smiles at her.
”Yeah, thank you!” Gules says cheerfully, making Iris blush in embarrassment.
”G-guys…?” Petunia shakily points her finger. Everyone follows it with their glance until they find Nyx standing on the top of the debris pile.
What frightens them the most is that Nyx’s intense gray eyes display a monstrous and murderous look. As soon as he lifts his hand, dozens of large pieces of earth are being pulled out of the ground and floating around him.
”G-get behind me! And run!” Gules shouts in panic.
“Sorry, but you’re surrounded,” Nyx says harshly. Not too long after he said that, the men and women of the Anti-Rosa Resistance begin to come out of their hiding places until they surround Rosalie and her friends. “It doesn’t matter though. You will die by my power of earth first.”
”Hold on for a minute.” Rosalie raises her hands in the air. “Don’t you know what will happen if I die?”
Nyx raises an eyebrow so Rosalie continues, “If I don’t send a signal to the Alliance of Rosa Republic at a certain time everyday, then they will send an army to bomb everyone on your side. Isn’t Onyx the name of your capital city?”
”That’s fine.”
”What, are you fucking crazy?” Alon cries. “Are you really going to get both sides completely destroyed? Or worse, wiped out?”
Nyx licks his lips, as black spores are coming right out of his body. He says, calmer than before, “I don’t need any reason. Except I love chaos.”
“You’re from the Second Universe,” Gules says without any hesitation in his tone. “We’ve all heard more stories from that universe than all others. More people came here from there compared to other universes. It’s because… the name of the God over there is—“
”Chaos. That’s exactly correct,” Nyx says. “Chaos-sama created all beings in his universe. The obvious downside of being one of his creations is that his lust for destruction and chaos also passed on to all of us. I thought I escaped from the chaos but instead I brought it with me.”
”So that’s why…! President Zinnia Bara was right all along,” Rosalie says as she shakes her head in disbelief. “Back then… There were no records of you… You… You came here to destroy the planet!”
She turns to the Anti-Rosa Resistance members and yells, “Didn’t you hear him?! He wants to kill all of us!”
”Oh, I’m so sorry,” Nyx says sarcastically. “They only listen to me.”
”T-they are c-covered with that black thing…!” Iris cries as she buries herself into Blossom’s embrace.
That’s when Gules finally notices. Black spores are floating around and sticking on the Resistance members. They are acting normal except their eyes are pretty much soulless.
”D-damn you, Nyx…!” Rosalie says angrily, her body trembling in both fear and rage.
”Rosalie.” Bud places his hand on her shoulder. He glances at everyone else. “You all need to go. I’ll stay and make sure to delay the enemies.”
”No…”
”You’re our President of the Alliance of Rosa Republic. Always.” Bud gives her a rare smile. He turns to Nyx and then cracks his knuckles. “I used to serve in the military a long time ago. I’m more than just a retired botanist.”
“I guess you want to die early, then.” Nyx points his palm at the alliance members. Soon, the earth pieces are being sent flying fast.
”Reflect!” This time, it is Daisy. A dome of a bright blue barrier suddenly appears with only alliance inside. As soon as the earth attacks land on it, they are being deflected all over the place. Two of them hit two Resistance members very hard, killing them instantly.
”Be careful! Your b-baby!” Lily exclaims in concern.
As soon as the barrier goes down, Bud quickly throws his fist to destroy two large rocks without any effort.
”Well, honey… You know you’re not only one who served in the military,” Blossom says cheerfully. She makes one of her hands into the shape of a pistol. A small amount of water is being shot out of her fingers, but Nyx barely dodges. “Oh my… I must be a little rusty.”
“Queen Bumblebee,” Ambrose says as he lifts his hand. A fuzzy and large bee with a round abdomen appears above his palm. Suddenly, thousands of buzzing bees come flying out of the sky. As the queen bee’s direction, they start attacking the Resistance members.
“What?” He asks when he realizes that the fungus-inflicted Resistance people did not flinch at the bees’ strings. They start running towards their foes all of sudden.
”Whirlwind!” Petunia yells as a whirlwind appears out of nothingness and blows all them away.
”Black fungus.” Nyx commands as more black spores come out of the tips of his fingers, moving through the air towards the Alliance members.
Rosalie quickly swings her arm, magically making dozens of roses appear out of air and sending them towards the spores. The roses turn black once they touch and absorb them. She turns to her friends. “I’ll fight him! You all go and hide somewhere safe!”
”No way.” Alon shakes his head. “I’m staying here and fighting with you until the end.”
The rest of the members nod their heads in agreement.
”Except you, Daisy. I’m going with you,” Lily says. She quickly glances at Gules. “You can heal too, right?”
”Yes but not as good as you are! I think I can handle it,” The red-haired elf flexes one of his arms a little bit as he joins Rosalie. “Let’s stay alive until the Dark Team gets here, okay?”
~*~
UNINHABITED ISLAND
Clear is angry. Way beyond anger. She is glaring at the old piece of crap. Tons of smoke are coming out of the obsolete thing called a spaceship.
”It finally gave up, huh?” Jade says, trying to sound more lighthearted. He takes one more look at the spaceship. The panels are falling off. Some areas are turning black due to either overheating or dark smoke.
”It’s over! We’re stuck here forever!” Clear cries as she collapses to her knees, sobbing loudly into her hands.
”There, there…” Logy sweatdrops as he pats lightly on the navigator’s back. “Gules said we can get a new spaceship, right?”
”Really?!” Katja exclaims in excitement as she jumps around without stopping at all. Not even to breathe. After descending into the planet for more than one hour, she needed to move around so badly.
“I can fix it. Right? I always fix it. And I always get it to work…” Clear slowly gets up and is about to make a few steps only to be stopped by Johnny.
”Didn’t you say that the engine was totally toasted?”
More fresh tears are falling out of Clear’s blue eyes. “Wah, why did you have to remind me?!”
”At least we saved three hovercycles,” Logy says, trying to think of the best way possible to cheer her up.
”Gules called for our help. Let’s go,” Johnny says as he rubs his tired eyes.
”Fine.” Clear gives a loud sigh. “Okay, Katja, you can ride with me. We are going to find your father and brother.”
”Okay!” Katja says cheerfully.
”Sounds good. The rest of us will go to Gules,” Jade says as he gets on the hovercycle. “Oh, don’t forget your mask!”
~*~
Nyx barely dodges from Bud’s fist with the power of a lion. He narrows his gray eyes in annoyance as he leaps all the way from the floor to the top of the abandoned two-story house. My spores should have finished them off… Why are they still fighting back?
Black spores are literally everywhere in the air. Even though Gules lost his mask somewhere in the library, he is not showing any sign of either dying or turning into a mindless zombie like the Resistance men.
Wait… Nyx spots one of the bees and grabs it before it can fly away. Yellow pollens are on the bee’s body. He glances around to find thousands of bees and red roses around the Alliance members. He chuckles softly, “I see… Mother and son… What a combo…”
He shifts his eyes without turning his head at all. He is sensing a few life forces approaching this way. Powerful ones. I better finish this.
He places his hand on the ground, sending the brown magic from his fingers. A smirk is being formed on his face.
A wall of earth, with a possible size of the Great Wall in China, comes emerging right out of the ground, splitting two groups.
“If I defeat you first… then it will be easier for the rest,” Nyx says as his spores carry him back to the ground.
Only Gules is standing at one side of the wall. All of the Alliance members are on the other side of the wall along with the Resistance ones.
“Gules, no!” come the voices, but the former elf prince barely hears them.
Nyx puts one of his hands in his pocket as he points his hand at his red-haired enemy. Black energy is emitting around his eyes. “The roses and bees won’t save you this time.”
At this point, Gules is exhausted. He bends his knees a little bit so he places his hands on them, trying to support himself standing. He begins to laugh softly.
The former citizen of the Second Universe raises an eyebrow when he hears Gules’s light laughter. “Do you even know what kind of situation you are in right now?”
“Even if I die today,” Gules mumbles, his eyes still on the ground. “The Dark Team will stop you. This planet will be saved. I bet… even the Universe Warrior will undo all the things you’ve ever done!”
Does this guy seriously want to die? Nyx clenches his jaw in anger. He sends black spores through the air towards Gules.
The red-haired elf quickly throws a fist, creating a large amount of flames. They dissolve most of the black spores into nothingness.
“What?” Nyx widens his gray eyes. Snapping out of it, he stomps one of his feet. Several pieces of earth break off the ground and are being sent flying fast.
“Pop Explosion.” All of the earth pieces suddenly blow up in the mid-air.
“Johnny!” Gules exclaims, already recognizing the recent attack.
“Gravity x25!” Jade yells.
Nyx gets pulled to the earth floor hard. He hisses in anger. “Dammit!” I… I need… The Resistance army!
The large wall of the earth begins to crumble into pieces as the Resistance members begin to run across the battlefield, ignoring the Alliance’s attacks completely.
Nyx taps his finger on the ground, deciding to target the gravity controller. Suddenly, a cone of earth is being shot right out of the ground at Jade, but he barely dodges but still manages to get a large cut on his waist.
”Ouch!” Jade yelps.
With the heavy gravity gone, the leader of the Resistance quickly gets up and swings his arm, sending more black spores at the Dark Team.
”Fire Breathing!” Gules blows a large amount of flames out of his mouth, destroying the majority of the fungus completely.
Thousands of bees begin to swarm in the air, wiping out the remaining spores completely. The Alliance members have already crossed the destroyed earth wall.
They can kill off the spores? Logy thinks to himself. No wait… They’re carrying the pollen. Of course… The roses are immune to the fungus so that means they can fight back!
”Freeze,” Iris says. Her swirling blue magic swiftly moves from her hand before splitting up into several attacks. Once they strike most of the Resistance members, they are completely covered in the entire ice.
Petunia uses her wind attacks to send several more enemies flying through the air. As soon as they land pretty hard, they are already knocked out, no matter how hard the spores force them to move.
Logy looks back up at Nyx who is being carried in the air by the black spores. He jumps high, leaving behind a sudden and new large dent on the ground.
”What the f—“ Nyx begins to say but gets punched in the face so hard. He stops himself in mid-air after being sent flying away from Logy. “Shit! What the hell are you?”
”Second Universe, hmm?” Logy says, his eyes glowing in a lime green light. He lands his feet easily on the floor. “Your thoughts are pretty much disorganized. Like chaos.”
Nyx combs his hand through his hair, getting his hair bangs out of his furious gray eyes. That son of a bitch…! His strength is almost equal to an angel. Is he the Universe Warrior?
“No, I’m not the Universe Warrior. Just one of the warriors who serve and protect the Fifth Universe.” Logy gives him a smirk. “Well, are you coming down or are you too scared to fight?”
Not the Universe Warrior-- Hah…Hehehe…bwahahaha! Nyx is laughing internally. But he is only displaying a stoic look on the outside. So, if you’re the mind reader, then you’re reading my thoughts now. You’re a rare gem. I would love to make you one of my soldiers.
Logy raises an eyebrow. Rare gem?
Nyx drops himself until his feet touch the ground gently. He does not want to waste his energy on creating spores constantly. “If you join me, you can read people’s thoughts for me… Think about how loyal they can become towards us.”
“I’m so flattered but no thanks.” The deaf warrior shakes his head.
”That’s what I thought you would say.” Nyx gives a light chuckle. Black spores are being formed out of the tips of his fingers. “I guess I have no choice but to make you my slave…”
Logy! Don’t let the spores get to you! It’s Jade’s concerned thoughts. He is too busy with fighting off the Resistance people, even with his injured waist.
I’ll be fine. Focus on helping Gules’s friends. Logy returns his thoughts. He is simply watching the size of the black spores growing bigger and bigger.
“You’re the first person not to flinch at the sight of my baby spores.” Nyx scoffs. “It doesn’t matter. It’ll be the same as everyone that I took as my servants. Good luck dodging even one pinch of the spores!”
He tosses his hand forward, sending the large amount of black spores towards the deaf warrior of the Dark Team.
~*~
“Hey, Ketsu, wake up.” Knapp pats on his son’s head.
”Uhh…what?” Ketsu says sleepily. He yawns loudly, stretching his arms. He almost falls but his own wings save him when he flies in the air. “Phew!” He takes a peek at the huge gorge. “We’re out already?”
”Yeah. You had a pretty good nap for over one hour,” Knapp chuckles softly. He ruffles his son’s head. “You’re up for flying some more?”
“There you are!”
Knapp and Ketsu turn their heads towards a familiar voice from the bottom. Clear is waving her hand along with Katja on their hovercycle floating above the shore. They are both wearing their masks, unlike Knapp and Ketsu who have no need for them.
“What are you doing here?” Knapp asks after he and Ketsu descend back to their level.
“Gules sent out a distress signal. He was attacked along with his friends,” Clear says as she gets off the hovercycle, Katja following afterwards. “Didn’t you get it?”
“I must have missed it while we were in there.” Knapp jerks his thumb at the gorge. “So that means the others…”
“Yes, they went to Gules. Did you find anything in the gorge? It seems to be too large to be a gorge… canyon?”
“Not sure. It’s literally cut in half. Almost, actually. All we saw was fungus and mushrooms, which are pretty much trying to finish off the planet for good.”
“They’re gross!” Ketsu sticks out his tongue.
“Really?” Katja frowns in disgust, copying her younger brother’s reaction.
“Uh-oh…” Clear widens her blue eyes. “Knapp… Behind you…”
Knapp turns around to find thousands of tall elves climbing out of the gorge and running towards them. What in the universe are they…?! Why didn’t I sense their presence?