Roshma Book 1: The First Steps
Chapter 6: Raikai

Enter the caped man (aka man who gave long speeches)

Upon failing my mission the destroy Mako City I fled like a common coward. I had never met the dark lord Yonda, but he was a Raikai, a destroyer of worlds. Most of all, he was the last person I wanted to answer to for my short comings. It was a stupid idea. I barely got out of Mako City before being caught by General Zellus Catorce, and now my hands were chained together. The former officer was now a prisoner.

My first thought when upon failing was to take my own life, but I couldn’t see it through. It was at this time when everything slowed down. Space travel has gotten a lot better over the years, but one still has a sense of slight movement while the ship is rushing through space. This feeling had disappeared and it seemed like he ship had stopped. Turned out it had. I asked the two guards that were supposed to be keeping watch over me, “where are we were going?”

They replied without turning their heads towards me or changing their tone, “We’re going to Galacticus. First, we must prepare a way.”

Despite being a high ranking official in Yonda’s forces, this would be my first time visiting Galacitcus. I knew very little of it, but remembered hearing somewhere that it was in another galaxy. Most of the soldiers in Yonda’s army didn’t know about the existence of his base. This was good, the less people that knew the better. Then again even if the Zatt’s did know, how were they to get to another galaxy. Without the portal it was light years away.

We were the only ones that held the key to my knowledge. Apparently, Yonda had visited Zatara a couple years before the war looking for a piece of the gate of Aristide. The full gate was a relic then could transport one to any point in the universe. However, we only had a chunk of the gate and could only travel to one location,

The first time Yonda visited Zatara was before the war. He didn’t wear his robes or helmet. Instead he dawned a suit and appeared as a business man. The CEO of the Panamore Corporation in fact. A business deal probably went down, but Yonda got much more out of his visit. After searching all hot season, he finally found a piece of a mysterious gate in the deserts of Desantiago. I’ve seen a photo of it once it’s a large oddly shaped chunk of rock. It has esoteric symbols all covering its surface.

At that moment a beam shoot forth from our ship. Our brilliant engineers had somehow figured out how to activate the relic and channels its energy into our cannon. What happened next was quite a sight to behold from the observation deck. Suddenly, a hole appeared in the fabric of space itself. There was an ethereal green glow to the portal as well as a lump in my throat. It was beautiful yet ominous. I wanted to observe from the outside not the otherside. If I entered that portal there was no return for me.

Despite my ever growing fears we fly through the portal. This galaxy was much worse off than the one we resided in. There was ship debris floating all throughout space. To make matters worse, there were these giant white leviathan like creatures. They possessed 20 red eyes jagged fins and rows of spikes running down their backs. As for their size, they were about 1/3 the size of the flag ship. One flew closer to our windows. I shuddered as the grotesque beast approached the ship. It came closer and closer. Would the beast attack the ship? I clenched my fist and closed my eyes and closed my eyes until it had passed.

The guards besides me laughed, “Don’t worry about the beast. They tried to eat a couple of our ships when we first brought ships inside the portal. However, they quickly gave up. Guess they don’t like the taste of metal.” Lucky us.

Upon landing the guards escorted me to a room filled with red suits. In this room, I was un-cuffed. I questioned them, “What’s to stop me from escaping now? What if I killed you both and ran away.”

Their laughter again mocked me, “Even if you ran away, you’d die. These red suits provide you with air to breathe, but the supply is limited. You’d be living on borrowed time and your fate would be the same.” Looks like I had no choice but to meet with Yonda. I slipped on the suit, and a bubble formed around my head providing the fresh air I’d need for the wasteland outside the ship.

Words failed to describe the hell that was this planet. The skies were gray, and it was so foggy visibility was terrible. Galacitcus was a big disgusting swamp, marsh pools covered to landscape spewing a greenish slop that smelled awful. The ground was covered with some kind of icky substance it was like mud but orange. This mystery substance was now all over my shoe. To top it all off it was incredibly hot. The suit allowed me to breathe, but the next models needed some kind of built-in cooling system

There were no other lifeforms on Galacticus as far as the eye could see. I did catch a glimpse through to fog of a giant skeleton on the horizon. I didn’t get a good look but it looked as if one of the space leviathans had met his end on the planet’s surface. Despite my current situation it was about to get a lot worse. The Raikai didn’t tolerate failure. I’d be tortured, killed, or both. Today might be the last day of my life.

Realizing the end was near my heart started beating faster and faster until it felt like it might jump out of my chest at any minute. My breathing became shallow and fast to accompany my tachycardia, “Why did I betray my own planet?” Sure, I felt disenfranchised; civilian life didn’t fit someone with my abilities. Why should I have to follow the rules that normal Zatts lived by? I’m special. Then again, in a different life, different choices might have placed me on the very task force that stopped Yonda’s forces at the dam. They were special like me, but if I’m being honest they were a lot more powerful than me. It was the realization that there was always a bigger fish. Even in a different life I may have not been picked at all. Maybe I’m just a no-body after all. This scared me the most.

There was also the question of how our foolproof plan failed in the first place. How did they figure out we had occupied the dam when we had duped everyone: the government, the secret services, no one knew the dam was under siege. It was a maddening mystery. Then I saw it, an ominous structure in the middle of this barren wasteland. It looked like a giant mechanical egg.

The closer I got the more overwhelmed I became. It was massive an architectural masterpiece. Behind it were hangars and all sorts of buildings, but my eyes were glued to the egg. A door opened and the men who’d been escorting me, informed me, “Welcome to Echo Shadow, you’ve got it from here.” They starting making their way back towards the ship and soon enough they had disappeared into the fog.

Once inside the base, there was an artificial atmosphere so I could finally take off the suit. I threw up as soon as I took off my helmet. Two men said, “You must be Percy Weevel.”

That was me, but I preferred Percivial. Percy was a pet name that my grandmother called me, was never too fond of it. I tried to swallow down fear so I could face my master with courage. The only thing that was swallowed was some residual vomit stuck in my throat. Upon reaching the door they punched in a code and then said, “Godspeed.” Alone again.

On the other side of the door was a giant chamber. It was mostly empty and very dimly lit. Despite the lighting, I saw them. That’s right I said them not him. To my surprise, there were three Raikai setting on three different thrones. The one on the left was the smallest of the three and his body was shape made me think he wasn’t a Zatt. On the right was the largest of the Raikai, and a sheathed sword was propped sword laying against his thrown.

The middle was an average sized man his body looked to be Zatt. This had to be Yonda. Of course, I couldn’t tell what race/species any of them were as there whole bodies were cloaked in robes and they wore a completely black mask over their faces. There were no slits for eyes, just complete darkness.

Darkness seemed to be the theme. I could feel an evil in the room; it was almost too much for me to stand. The one in the middle asked, “Percy, give us your account of what happened at the dam.” So I told them everything. I included the part about how we tried to drown them in the mines had tried to drown, and how they escaped.”

Yonda was amused, “Pretty clever for some first-timers.” He seemed impressed, not infuriated like I’d expected.

The one to the right had the deepest voice. He was not near as impressed as Yonda, “Sounds like a couple of arrogant kids. They got lucky.”

All of the sudden, the one in the middle let out a cackle but there was an edge to his voice, “What if they keep getting lucky? We can’t have that. They’ll become heroes and galvanize the Zatt cause. Giving a second wind to defeated forces. To make sure this never happens, we have to turn their people against them, and I already know how we’re going to do it. Chancellor Martin of the West is a symbol of hope to millions. We’re kill to kill him. No the young guns, the new heroes of Zatara will kill him.”

I was scared to speak but had to know, “How do you plan to do it, mind control, men in disguise?”

I couldn’t see his face but I could feel his evil grin as he addressed me, “The outer realm holds many strange creatures. One particular species of amoeboid aliens we know in the outer realm have the ability to take on the form of any other creature if they ingest its blood. We will get some blood from each of the members of this task force. Then we can create imposters. The Chancellor will be in the city of Maldeves in a couple of days. These clones will show up about the same time and kill the chancellor. Once the chancellor is killed, the Zatt military will turn on our heroes, they will be hunted and ultimately killed.”

I had to know, “How will you acquire their blood?”

He was more patient than I thought. Maybe I’d live after all. He kept the same tone as he told me his most secret plans, “Oh trust me we have spies deep under the skin of the Zatt military machine.”

He continued, “As for you Percy, you have a brother and a sister, your favorite color is aquamarine, but most of all you want to be special. You think others should bow before you because you possess abilities they don’t. Don’t worry your punishment will not be death, but I strip you of your captain rank and make you a janitor here on base.”

I should have been grateful but I was horrified and blurted out without thinking, “You can’t do this to me, I have power, I come from a noble family, and I’m not just an ordinary Zatt. Also, how do you know all of that about me?” Yonda stood up, to me right is Caylx, and he’s telepathic. He has been reading your mind since you walked in the door and telling me what you’re really thinking. Say hi to Percy.

All the sudden in the back of my head I heard a high pitched voice, “Hello Percy it’s Caylx.”

I could feel him in there now, moving around inside of my thoughts. I grabbed ahold of my hair tightly and screamed, “Get out of my head Caylx!”

He left my brain, but the worst was yet to come. It was at that moment; that Yonda moved towards me. Naturally, I tried to run away but suddenly found myself unable to move and levitating above the ground. Apparently, Caylx also possessed telekinetic powers. I was suspended in midair and then dropped at the Yonda’s feet. The Raikai on the right was laughing manically.

The masked lord in front of me addressed his comrade, “Thank you Calayx the Wise.”

The masked figure on his left spoke out loud this time, “Even in my old age with failing health manipulating a punk like him is nothing.”

Yonda proceeded to lecture me, “Not an ordinary Zatt are you?” He knocked me down face first into the ground and twisted my arm behind me. It felt like it was going to break. I looked back over my shoulder. He raised his free hand which had become encompassed in a dark aura, and brought it to my elbow; I closed my eyes dreading what would happen next, this was followed by a tremendous pain in my arm. I opened my eyes; and the bottom half of my arm was gone. All I could do was scream.

He taunted me, “Don’t worry, the wound has been cauterized, you won’t bleed to death. Did you learn your lesson? Do you understand that you are nothing?”

I couldn’t respond, I just screamed in agony. The Raikai on the right turned to the leader, “Why did you show that man mercy? If you need my sword to finish the job I’d be happy to dirty my blade with his unworthy blood.”

He answered the large Raikai to his right, “I didn’t show him mercy Xaltus. He is an example. This is what happens when you think you’re special. We are not entitled to anything. Everything is earned.”

I entered the Master’s Chamber and officer, but exited it a worm.