Chronicles of Gondwana - Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11-ENDGAME

Valeri the prophetess hovered a few feet above the ground. Her eyes were closed, and she was murmuring in a rumbling groan that was barely audible. She opened her eyes and suddenly, behind her; appeared Charnaiz’ wife Primrose and the furry genetic hybrid, Mookie.

“Now, all is here,” she said in her ominous accent. “Stand your ground, all of you, and face the Destroyer, who is now coming.” They all stared at the prophetess and then they all noticed some kind of vortex appearing behind Valeri.

“How true, prophetess. Couldn’t have said it better myself.” They all heard the rich voice that Charnaiz knew all too well and was sick of hearing. Then Aquilifon emerged from the vortex, and it closed behind him. He then turned to the hooded little prophetess. “I guess I have you to thank, woman. You foolishly have gathered all the instruments of the prophecy in this place. Now, I will cast off this body and re-emerge in a new one, more powerful, more complete, and more perfect.”

“Aye, Destroyer. But among these specimens, one will tear you apart limb from limb.”

“If they can, prophetess,” replied Aquilifon. Then without warning, Aquilifon hurled balls of luminous green light at the group. They split up in different directions as the balls started to hit. And the space where they were standing a few moments ago blew up ferociously, sending rocks, dirt and sand wildly into the air. The Destroyer continued his deadly barrage. Charnaiz had sprouted his wings and was holding aloft Primrose, who carried Mookie, who was squirming in her hands. Valeri was also floating in the air, at times retaliating at Aquilifon with her own power blasts. On the ground, Kazansky, Natasha and Shruiken were all hitting at Aquilifon’s feet with their various attacks, to no avail. Shruiken leaped backwards. The samurai then took out a vial of some sort. It was filled with water. He then poured out the liquid on his blade, as if to bless it. He then went back into his fighting stance, and prepared to charge at the Destroyer again. Reynold was also cutting loose with his own Blue Iris energy at Aquilifon’s rear. Yet, now of these assaults seemed to even faze the hulking golem, who continued hurling his balls of energy at them. Up above, Charnaiz called out to Valeri. “All of us have thrown everything we have at him—and nothing’s happening. There must be some mistake.”

“No mistake, my Lord. One of the instruments can indeed kill him. However, the prophecy also says that first a sign must appear before his slayer may be empowered. And that sign has not yet come to pass. Even I don’t know the sign.”

“You should have told me that earlier,” Charnaiz replied. “Well then, he said, fixing his eyes on Aquilifon below. “We’ll just have to do the best we can for now.” He flew over to a high ledge and unloaded Primrose and Mookie. “Make sure that thing doesn’t escape,” he hurriedly instructed his wife. Then he flew back down into the depths of the canyon. He spotted Kazansky and Natasha, who had taken cover behind a huge rock formation. Natasha gestured to her boss. “We’re almost out of ammo, sir.” Kazansky nodded. They both then felt slight tremors in the ground as Aquilifon paced towards then once more.

Charnaiz descended down behind the two Russians and retracted his wings. “Having fun yet?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Kazansky replied sarcastically.

“What do we do now, sir?” Natasha asked, and she pointed upward. Aquilifon the Destroyer was directly in front of them now and he was holding something—or someone rather, in his hands. It was a man in khaki uniform.

“ Feodor!” Kazansky exclaimed when he saw who Aquilifon was holding in his massive hands. “He’s Feodor Borodin, one of my chem troopers. How in hell did he get here?”

“Oh, just one of my many contingency plans I prepared before I sent you all here. It’s just to add spice to the fight. Go ahead, save him,” taunted Aquilifon.

“Do whatever you want with him,” Kazansky replied in a voice so lifeless that startled even Natasha. “In fact, I’ll even help you.” He raised his AK-47, aimed and pulled the trigger. Feodor’s body then hung limply from Aquilifon’s hand.

“Oh well, should’ve known better than to dramatize with Russians,” Aquilifon said, throwing the carcass aside. His eyes then glowed, and suddenly beams shot from them, directed at Charnaiz and the Russians. The king was able to set up a force field, but the pressure exerted was tremendous, and his knees began to buckle. He pushed back against the beams, and with a tremendous effort, repelled the energy, hurling it back at Aquilifon. The Destroyer deflected the blast with a swing of his arm.

“This is going nowhere,” said Kazansky. He turned to Natasha, then to Charnaiz. “Take her out of here, and leave me.” And he grinned. Charnaiz, being a telepath, instantly understood what it was Kazansky had in mind. He then gripped Natasha’s hand firmly and concentrated hard, for he had only done this a few times before. Finally, he painstakingly teleported him and Natasha away.

An evil hiss then sounded through the canyons. Within seconds, bright-green mists appeared, quickly spreading across the landscape. Kazansky had finally utilized a VX gas grenade. A short distance away, watching the chemical demonstration, Valeri, primrose, Reynold, Shruiken and Mookie stood on a canyon’s peak. A moment later, Charnaiz appeared with Natasha behind him.

“You probably made a wrong move, Charny. As of this moment, still none of us can destroy Aquilifon. If one of us dies, all will fail. Now, are you telling me you left Kazansky down there, groping in the middle of the gas, at Aquilifon’s mercy? I know he’s got a gas mask, but…”

“A chem trooper only needs to throw the grenade, Primrose,” Charnaiz interrupted her. “He doesn’t need to stay there.” And they all then saw Alexei Kazansky step out from behind the Gondwanan king. He removed his gas mask, took a deep breath, and remarked, “Good show, wasn’t it?”
Charnaiz then quipped, “I just had to bring him along.” He then smiled wryly.

“What now?” Natasha asked Valeri. “That golem’s still wading through the mist right now coming for us.”

Just then, all of them were thrown off their feet as a voluptuous tremor suddenly, violently rocked the ground. The quake levelled off weak parts of several nearby canyons. The strong shaking continued for a few moments, and then just as suddenly resided down.

“What the?” Kazansky said as he picked himself up slowly. The others were also getting up as well. But they had no time to lick their wounds, for in front of them a dark shape had already loomed. The Destroyer stood over the ledge, alight with a luminous azure haze enveloping his entire body. He did not move an inch, but he all looked down on them with murderous consternation.

Charnaiz stared at his ancient foe, all luminous in blue light. He knew then, that Aquilifon was already morphing, transforming into a demi-god that would be even more a terror to the universe then before. And he also knew that it was his and his companions’ presence that was causing this.

Suddenly, he saw his wife Primrose darting past him, carrying the failed genetic playmate, Mookie. She was running towards the tip of the ledge, facing the morphing golem Aquilifon.

“What are you doing?!” Charnaiz shouted out to her, and he began running towards her. The others began running as well. “He’s the only one who hasn’t attacked the Destroyer, my love,” Primrose said quietly. “And I’m pretty sure he would be the key.” Then she raised Mookie above her head. “No!” Charnaiz screamed, speeding as fast as his body allowed. He could have flown, but he was out of energy, and he knew he would be too late. And he was. Primrose hurled the shrieking Mookie straight at Aquilifon’s face. “Damn it!” Charnaiz said, catching up finally with his wife and cursing with sheer frustration at the foolish thing she had done.

Aquilifon had caught Mookie in his palm. “Now that the transformation is underway, I don’t need any of you,” he said in a rumbling voice. Now, the prophecy ends, for I will kill this one now.”

“Not so,” a voice was heard. Aquilifon slightly turned his head and he saw Shruiken atop the highest ledge. Kyuretsukiryu gleamed in his hand. With a high-pitched war cry, he leapt all the way down and slashed at the Destroyer, his sword striking at the head and going all the way down his body. The samurai then landed on the sand. A line appeared in the middle of Aquilifon’s large body. Suddenly, its shape went distorted, one half sliding against another. Then, cataclysmically, the golem’s body split in two and fell in opposite directions. The sand blew upward as the two halves fell with a tremendous crash into the valley floor.

Valeri the prophetess spoke. “It is done. And now, all has been accomplished. All is complete. My task is complete.”

The game had ended. Aquilifon the Destroyer had ended up on the wrong side of the checkmate, and had been thrust into oblivion.