...to be one's own master...
"What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man."
They surrounded him on all sides, each of them gaunt and sinewy, the hollow sockets of their eyes flickering with shadows from a flame buried deep within, extending their thin but powerful wings out three feet to either side to encase him in a circular field of concentrated evil. The one who was their leader, identifiable only because the others would only act after it acted first, lashed out with a three-taloned claw, a taunting cat-like motion meant to startle or perhaps intimidate. Instant after his gesture, the other seven Hosts around him mimicked it, seeking to draw any emotion of terror or discomfort from him and feast upon it.
It was slowly dawning on him that Alexander could actually feel the presence of these disgusting unholy creatures, that he would know their precise locations even if he were to close his eyes. Maybe that description was a bit inaccurate, he thought, because it was more like he felt their presence through the medium of an even more powerful force seeking to escape to the world outside from deep within himself. "That doesn't frighten me," Alex told the leading Host. "In fact, it's just pissing me off even more. To Hell with you all!" He unleashed that withheld force.
In one smooth stroke, his legs went forward, slamming into the Host in front of him, allowing him to spin into the air and summon, "Universal Gaia Star!" The old and familiar four-bladed weapon appeared in his hand and he effortlessly tossed the upgraded signature weapon. It sliced through the neck of the first creature, the abdomen of a second, the knees of a third, and again a neck on the fourth before making its way back to Alex's hand literally seconds after he had thrown it, right before he landed with both feet on the ground. "Tremor Wave!" he screamed, and an invisible blast rocketed toward yet another black form, knocking it backward several meters onto its back, with a fountain of dark blood gushing from a hole in its chest.
The lead Host laughed and pulled itself up onto its feet. While he charged forward, Alex could sense the five monsters he had just killed in the span of instant immediately come back to life and gather around him again. "So, you guys can't be killed either," he growled, blocking the leader as it jumped on him and began tearing, with the others not far behind.
"Alexander," a voice from his heart addressed him as he fought. The voice, of course, was his own, but he recognized the spirit as being the entity of the OmniTech, communicating with him consciously now. "The Hosts of the Spheres have one weakness. By extinguishing the flames of death in their eyes, their bodies can be destroyed without problem. Blow out the fire then attack."
Reached out, Alex grabbed one of the assailing Host's heads with his free hand and slammed it into the ground before pulling it up. Casually, he stared into the creature's eyes, and with two instantaneous puffs blew out the flickering lights as if it were a birthday cake and not a deadly demonic hellion from a parallel universe. Without missing a beat he thrust the Gaia Star's sharp point into his target's heart then wrenched his arm up as high as it would go, tearing the torso and splitting the black head in half as he did so. The Host fell back and never got up again.
"Environment Surge!" Alex screamed. An incredible gale force wind responded to his call, rushing over and down the Rocky Mountains to the west, and slamming onto the battlefield like a sonic boom. All seven of his remaining enemies were unrelenting in their attacks, but between his agility and his Mountain Block defensive power he was still unharmed. The wind struck them, blowing out that eerie flame in all fourteen empty cavities. "Meridian Dragon Strike!"
Alex felt himself morphing, changing shape, and allowed the other spirit to take control of his body. Even though last time this happened, the result had been terrible, he trusted his companion now, knew it could control its bloodlust now as well as he. As a dragon, Alex slashed into the first Host with his claws, tearing it to shreds. The second met its fate as the sharp edge of a wing sliced it horizontally in half. A burst of raging fire from his mouth converted the third, fourth, and fifth monsters from twisted flesh to crispy ashes. The sixth was taken down by plunging a spiky tail through its chest.
And, finally, the dragon lifted into the air and swooped down on top of the leader Host before it could assimilate and adjust to what was happening. Alex could feel himself bit down over the savage's head, tear it off the shoulders, and spit it out along with a bubble of dark blood. The taste was sour, sweet, bitter, and salty all at once, but vastly disgusting, and he was glad, as he morphed back into a human being, that it vanished from his tongue.
"Now," grunted Alex, brushing his hands on his Green Ranger armor, "where did Arcanza run off to?"
"Ready to do this?" Cecil asked.
"Thirteen Host-kabobs, coming up," Rebecca chuckled, giving the thumbs-up sign. She launched into the air and exclaimed, "Charging up! Electrocution Surge!"
Appearing in the air above her, as she hovered in the middle of the sky, was an enormous spherical ball of raw electricity, sparks and streaks as fierce and hot as lightning bolts swirling around it. The sound was a simultaneous sucking and crackling noise, like a billion bug zappers going off at once, and this was not even a third of what Meridian Pink Ranger was capable of, a troubling thought.
Below, Cecil was fighting three Hosts in hand-to-hand combat. He blocked the scratching attack of one and countered with a high kick to the creature's twisted face. The second and third, as he brought his leg down, met with blows to the side of their own heads, sending them soaring helplessly in two directions. "Force Barrier!" he called out. A cage of solid red-tinted energy formed around the three dispatched monsters, sealing them inside.
Four Hosts were suddenly flying towards him, and they grabbed Cecil but each of his arms and both his legs, intending to carry him away, or draw and quarter him, one or the other. One of them was hissing and snarling, apparently giving commands in some type of alien language, and the others hissed their acquiesce.
He let himself be carried a few feet, then allowed the spirit of the OmniTech to take over and unleash its dangerous power. "Axis Chaos Sword!" The normal Chaos Sword was meant to be wielded upside-down for maximum efficiency, but the upgraded weapon that materialized in the Red Ranger's hand was twice as large and required both hands to hold it upright. Of course, having no free hands, the sword tumbled in freefall down to the ground and embedded itself blade-down in the blasted land. "Psychic Trance!" Actually, as he used this signature power, he wondered if the Hosts even had minds like their for this technique to work on, but apparently they did, because they dropped him and began flying around screaming in no particular pattern.
Now able to maneuver himself, Cecil flew down, grabbed the handle of the Axis Chaos Sword with both hands, then flew back up. He proceeded to slice and dice, carving each of the four beasts into several pieces. Each time he carved off a limb, a tail, or a head, however, a new one grew in the old one's place. Realizing another course of action was needed, Cecil continued attacking until all of them were in a single-file line. He thrust his giant sword through them all, impaling all four on it, then tossed the weapon away, toward his Force Barrier. The four Hosts joined their three imprisoned companions.
From the sky, Rebecca was being surrounded by two more of the black-winged assailants. She closed her eyes, felt out their locations with her sixth sense, and when she was sure of their exact position she used, "Ionic Field!" A bright pink burst of lights appeared in the center of the prison Cecil had created, and just as planned the two Hosts were being suck down toward it, like the north end of a magnet being attracted to the south end. Once they passed the edge of the Force Barrier, however, they were trapped inside with the other seven.
"There is something I need to tell you," Cecil told the next Host that tried to attack him. This one was different from the others, however, because it was holding a long spear decorated with a golden streamer below its sharp end. "I have this weapon, it is called a Riot Cannon, and it used to be really, really powerful. But that was before I unlocked one hundred percent OmniTech power and now I have absolutely no idea what would happen if I shot you with it right now." The oversized blaster appeared in his hands, his finger itching to pull the trigger, and he grinned mischievously at his opponent.
The targeted host snarled. It flung the spear forward, plunging it into the barrel of the Riot Cannon, and became irritated when it was unable to pull it back out.
"That was..." laughed Cecil. He pulled the trigger. "Really stupid!" The discharge sent the brave creature rocketing backward, still clutching the spear, straight into the trap his nine fellow killers occupied.
Without warning, a streak of glowing green, black, and white soared past Cecil's head and collided with the ground before bouncing back up. The blur slowed down, just enough to reveal Alexander, who flung an eleventh victim into the quickly-growing cage underneath Meridian Pink. Then, just as quickly as he appeared, Meridian Green vanished again to dispatch another group of dark creatures.
Two lone Hosts, the only one within the radius of his ability to attack, swooped down and began to attack. "Watch out!" Cecil exclaimed, but they were oblivious to his warning. With a grin, he jumped up and fell down with his left foot on one Host's head and his right foot on the other's. All together they began tumbling downward except that, using his feet, the Red Ranger was able to "steer" his enemies toward the Force Barrier and send them soaring directly into the swirls of energy.
"Now!" Cecil exclaimed, teleporting himself beside Rebecca.
Moving her hands toward the thirteen trapped Hosts, with her palms extended towards them, the Pink Ranger released the massive Electrocution Surge, sending the electric energy bomb straight on top of the vicious black creatures.
The voice Cecil recognized as his OmniTech spirit suddenly warned him, "That is not going to work. The flame of death still burns inside them. Allow me to take over before the Surge falls."
Submitting himself to his ethereal companion, Meridian Red suddenly found himself inside the cage of thirteen Hosts, and could feel the searing heat of the electricity rocketing toward him. Extending his arms outward, he released an invisible Pulse Wave at eye-level and concentrated it to become a powerful sound wave. It succeeded in blowing away the dancing fire in each of the Hosts' eyes, and gave him an entire half a second to teleport away.
Rebecca's Electrocution Surge struck, and instantly every Host within Cecil's barrier burst apart into hundreds of pieces. Bright white lightning-like power ripped them piece from piece, creating a demonic massacre within those walls. Eventually the attack faded away, and he was able to dissipate his energy field. "Nice work," he commented.
"Yeah, but that was too easy," sighed Rebecca. "Next time let's try for twenty-three. Or, better yet, forty-seven!"
Drool descending from its mouth, insects buzzing around its head, and rotten discolored nails protruding from wrinkled black fingers, the Host of the Spheres advanced forward, baring its razor-sharp teeth. That flickering light deep inside its eyes was beginning to get brighter as the thirst for battle grew ever stronger. Bat-like wings of darkness spread out, eclipsing what little dying light was surrounding them, an obvious attempt to create fear and uncertainty in the mind of its victim.
"You have ten seconds to leave," Patrick informed the monster, "or else you will be killed by me instantaneously. I swear it."
The Host snarled, lashing out with its powerful claw, intending to tear out the young man's intestines and end his life prematurely. With a casual motion, Patrick summoned his Glacier Defender power, causing the hellspawn to strike and get its claw stuck inside a block of ice instead of flesh. "Five seconds left."
Using its other arm, it attempted to grab Patrick's face. He ducked beneath the attack and teleported behind the Host, avoiding even being touched by his opponent. "Three...two...one..."
"Tempest Storm Lance!" A staff twice the size of his old weapon materialized in his hands, and yet it felt lighter and more aerodynamic than ever before. He used the blades at one end to slice off the Host's legs, smashed the shaft of the weapon into the creature's wings to force them to retract, then decapitated it with the opposite end of the weapon. He jumped up into the air and brought the blade down directly into the skewered beast's torso, lifted it, and flung it away.
As he turned around, he realized nine more Hosts were approaching him, all from the same direction, each one with the same bloodlust his original enemy had demonstrated. "Time to prove who the strongest Blue Ranger is," he snarled, grinning. "All of you have one minute to make peace with your creator, whoever the hell that might be."
They swarmed down onto him, each one hoping to be the one who could finally injure him, but between his defensive power, his upgraded weapon, and the ability to instantly teleport, he never once was touched. After dodging the repeated assaults, Patrick backflipped to put a bit of distance between him and the group of otherworlders, and the aura of power surrounding him began to swell as he pulled an enormous amount of strength from his living Morpher. Realizing their prey had escaped, they turned as one, zeroing in on him, anxious to launch a second futile attempt at killing him. All around him the air was growing devastatingly cold and thick. Without his natural abilities augmented by the alien technology, he would have choked to death on the spot. Or he would have been incinerated by the flood of energy drowning him from the inside out. "Blizzard Surge!" he screamed.
Instantly the nine Hosts were bombarded from every side by fierce arctic winds, shards of ice, hailstones the size of volleyballs, and liquid that would have caused spontaneous frostbite to any normal human being. None of the magical attack caused any permanent damage; however, that was not the intent. Patrick was relieved when the Surge died out and he was able to see his assailants once more, exactly the way they were a few moments before. Except, now, that little flicker behind their empty eye sockets was gone from all nine.
"Worked like a charm," Patrick said to his Omni Morpher with a satisfied smile, "just like you said. Now it's your turn." He relaxed his muscles, but braced for a hard impact just the same, before summoning, "Meridian Hydra Devourer!"
His body changed shape. There was a torrent of raw power that exploded from the device worn on his left arm, the Ability Band was melted into his flesh, and suddenly he realized he had become a monster. Patrick could see nine places at once, because he found himself possessing nine different sets of eyes. He had become the mythical Hydra, the many-headed serpent, and he was staring down a wild pack of extraterrestrial demons.
Each long neck extended, each sharp-toothed jaw opened wide, and each set of eyes tightened as they clamped down on each Host's head. Patrick could feel the blood splatter across his nine mouths, and knew their was brain tissue clinging to the roofs, but thankfully he could not taste the carnage. When his eighteen eyes opened again he confirmed what he felt happen. As the Hydra, he had bitten off the head of each of his opponents, and now what remained of their bodies were collapsing harmlessly onto the radioactive ground.
He was changing back into human form and was greatly relieved when his vision returned to normal. "You should listen to my threats next time," he told the pile of headless corpses, feigning irritation, "because, when the best Blue Ranger to even wear a Morpher speaks, smart demonic footsoldiers listen."
"I have a plan," Brittany informed them.
There was a Host with the intent to begin gnawing on Rebecca's arm, but she quickly summoned her Neutron Laser Bow and a single arrow. With a graceful downward thrust, she jammed the arrow deep into the creature's throat.
"Just a second," answered Cecil, "I want to see if these pretty boys spit or swallow."
"Death certainly didn't make you any less perverted," Rebecca griped, creating another arrow and shooting it at another approaching Host. In mid-air, the arrow changed from a physical item to a beam of neon red energy and, when it struck the monster's shoulder it burned away the entire area on its body. "Hell, even Brittany came back from her near-death experience all horny. She was locking tongues with Gabriel before she was fully conscious."
Meridian Yellow rolled her eyes and lifted her Brilliant Shine Saber, motioning toward a group of six Hosts that were spreading out with the intent to surround them and move in. "These things tend to follow the same tactics whenever they attack," she informed them, ignoring the joke being made at her expense, "they seem to like surrounding a target, in this case, us, and closing in to strike. So let's use the slowest of us, that's Cecil..."
"Hey!" Meridian Red gasped.
"...as the bait, so to speak, while Rebecca and I sneak around behind them and create an offensive. Cecil can extinguish their eyes, then we take them out."
The two woman dashed off, ready to initiate the plan, leaving Cecil all alone to confront the black creatures that, sometime during Brittany's speech, had multiplied in number from six to almost twenty. "Ummm, ladies, why do I not have a say in this?" He hoisted the Axis Chaos Sword up with both hands and curled his lip as he blocked the attack of the first Host.
Drawing another massive amount of OmniTech power, Cecil used his, "Psychic Trance!" ability to instill a deep confusion within his assailant's minds. Then, as they grew befuddled and dropped their coordinated attack, the Red Ranger began teleporting to each one. He blew out the flame in both eyes then moved on to the next until, when each one was finished, he counted twenty-four altogether, he teleported back to his original spot.
"I'm in position," Rebecca reported.
"Let's do it!" replied Brittany. "Meridian Sphinx Enigma!"
"Meridian Pegasus Charge!"
Standing in the center of the battle, Cecil could clearly see the action as a powerful winged horse glided down from the sky above. It opened its mouth and began shooting tiny, concentrated spheres of electrical pink energy at the Hosts. Each time a sphere touched wrinkled black skin, the entire body exploded like a Fourth of July firework, complete with that odd gunpowder smell.
From the other side, a lion-like creature with a humanesque head had its eyes closed and yet it was still able to focus in on each monster. When it was within range, the Sphinx opened its eyes, emitting two rays of solid blinding light that burned straight through the Hosts, cutting off limbs, heads, or whatever unfortunate body part that happened to be in the path of the light.
In less than a minute, Cecil was standing in the middle of a group of dead monsters, surrounded by a Force Barrier that protected him from Brittany's morphed light beam attack.
"I think that was the last of them," Cecil told them through his communicator. "That just leaves two remaining problems."
The Sanctum, at long last, had stopped shaking. On one hand, the calm and peaceful stillness was refreshing, but on the other hand, the implications of what had just happened made her terrified beyond rational thought. As a member of Twilight Legion, a prodigy of the Trinity Prophet, and most recently as the false Resurrector, she had seen and experienced many things that a little girl from a off-the-beaten-path mountain city should never have seen. Perhaps she was privileged, or maybe it was a curse, but no single event she had witnessed in the previous twenty years compared to the very few minutes she just witnessed.
"They killed them all," Krista openly gaped. She was transfixed on the screen of the laptop computer, displaying a zoomed-in overhead view of the former Ivory Glade coordinates. "And they did it practically without exerting themselves."
Gabriel snorted and shook his head in disbelief. "The fact that I wore that thing for a couple months blows my mind. Why couldn't they have learned this six months ago when it really could have helped?"
Quickly, Krista glanced over to the third person occupying her brother's secret hideout, the young woman still lolling helplessly on the couch. Amber was still breathing, and when her eyelids were pried open she would still display a startle response, but other that than she was someplace else entirely. For some reason, that fact made her nervous. It was not just Amber that was sleeping right there, it was something much deeper, much more primal, perhaps the single hope for escaping the approaching cataclysm.
"Do you think, with this kind of power, they can stand up to..." Gabriel started to ask, unable to even finish the question.
Sighing, she flipped her attention back to the screen. "I can't say. Even if they do have the advantage strength-wise, the Eternal Demon has vastly more knowledge and experience fighting. I'm telling you, the minute it was freed was the minute we failed."
"No, I don't think so," Gabriel answered back, chuckling to himself. "Your brother has proven himself a master of handling difficult situations, even if does act modest when confronted with it. I choose to have faith in him."
Krista clicked her tongue and once again took a nervous look in Amber's direction, again recognizing a deepset growing feeling of uncertainty. "Faith," she repeated quietly, "is for fools."
"You fools!" Arcanza laughed.
He stood tall, stretched out against the backdrop of a cloudy sky, grinning with the look of a man who knew himself to be invincible. The horizon behind him was actually burning, flames dancing up from the far ends of the earth, creating red and black shadows above. Beneath, the ground was glowing with a sickly pale light, probably radiation from the nuclear bomb he had detonated close to this very spot.
Arcanza's long black hair was being blown from behind by a warm wind, the breath of death, sending thin strips dancing in every direction. His crystalline eyes glowed and pulsed with a dangerous gleam, a challenging, malevolent gaze, locked tightly on both opponents. Casually, he brushed a patch of dirt off his dark violet silk shirt and rubbed his hands together to subsequently wipe the filth from his hands.
An aura of shadow sprang up around him. "This is the true power of the Destroyer. No matter how much stronger you have become, I am immortal, under the protection of the almighty Eternal Demon, and today you will join the souls of your so-called friends and family in the pits of hell!"
"Huh?" Cecil replied, tilting his head and sticking his tongue down and out of his mouth, acting retarded. He made a bunch of unintelligible deep-pitched noise, crossing his eyes in a goofy manner, and beat his chest recklessly with his right hand. Then, in a loud and crazy voice, the leader of the Rangers screamed, "Bacon'n'eggs!"
Arcanza was taken aback. "Are you mocking me?" he demanded.
Alexander smiled, standing in place with his arms crossed, enjoying the show of Cecil's stupidity versus Arcanza's stupidity. "Right now, I don't know which of you I want dead more," he laughed.
"I do," Cecil sneered, suddenly serious.
Screaming violently, Arcanza charged forward, an enormous shadow following him, solidifying into a massive cloud of rage. Even without relying on their powers, Cecil and Alex could tell the self-proclaimed "God of Destruction" had manifested a power of darkness never before unleashed on Earth.
"Annihilation Surge!" Cecil countered.
A barrier of red-tinted energy suddenly surrounded the condensed shadow power and, within seconds, it had completely removed it from existence. It happened so fast and so unexpectedly that Arcanza did not even notice as he reached the two Rangers and ordered, "Beast of darkness, attack!"
"Beast of darkness?" Alex repeated, puzzled.
Cecil grinned. "I think he means that thing I just effortlessly destroyed."
Turning around, Arcanza growled, "What?" His eyes widened upon discovering that his monstrous shadow beast had vanished from existence without a trace. "You could not have! My power is the power of God!"
"And now..." Alex snarled.
"This is for the men, the women, and the children of Ivory Glade, Colorado, whose lives were unfairly taken from you!" Cecil screamed. The giant Axis Chaos Sword materialized in his hands and, with one expertly-placed horizontal swing, the Omnian psychopath's head was separated from his neck.
"This is for the people of the planet Omnis, the men, women, and children you stole happiness from twenty-five years ago when you destroyed their entire planet! This is the justice the universe has cried out for for so long!" With the Universal Gaia Star, Alexander vertically brought one of the blades down, slicing through Arcanza, dividing him into four distinct parts, two hemispheres of his head and two of his body.
The lifeless pieces of Arcanza's corpse hit the ground with a thud, a simple and quiet proclamation of victory over the evil magician. "And one more thing," Cecil added, extending his hand toward the remains. "This is for Craig!" What was left of the Destroyer, the first being in the Trinity of Darkness, burst aflame, putting a permanent end to the long history of death and demolition the madman had orchestrated.
"For all your righteous talk about friendship and teamwork overcoming all odds and saving the day," Michael Tracer told them in a smooth and controlled voice, "you sure don't treat your old friend and teammate very nice."
Michael shook his head disapprovingly, floating in the air with his hands inserted carelessly inside his pants pockets, staring at them with dark eyes that broadcast his intense hatred and disdain for all of them. His greasy brown hair was slicked back, allowing his sharp and chiseled facial features to be prominently displayed, including three deep unhealed gashes across his face. There was a pulsing shadow, as if it were alive, swirling all around him, perhaps trying to protect him from what he expected was coming. His navy blue shirt was torn at the sleeves.
"Stabbing us in the back was your first mistake," Rebecca snorted.
"And stabbing Mr. and Mrs. Hopwood in the back was your second," added Brittany, who was already tapping her Brilliant Shine Saber against the ground, ready to flow into an attack at any instigation.
Patrick moved forward, his eyes shining, apparently with the prospect of being able to fight his predecessor. "It's over, Tracer." The words possessed a dangerous familiarity, as if they echoed a challenge across time and space itself.
Laughing, the Betrayer answered, "I wish people who say that would start meaning what they say." Instantly his features darkened as a terrifying conglomeration of pitch blackness began to rise up behind him, shrouding him in an unnatural and evil shadow. His voice became smooth, sharp, unassuming but deadly, like ice. "You've all outlived your usefulness. Thank you for your assistance in bringing our god of darkness back to life."
The black giant mass passed through Michael and sped towards the three Meridian Rangers with an incredible velocity. From merely feeling its concentrated force, they all knew that if this darkness touched them it would mean their instant death. Or would it? Completely calm, Brittany lifted her empty hand and aimed it towards her target. "Blinding Surge!"
A beast of light appeared in front of the Rangers, every bit as enormous and terrifying as Michael's, except this one was so bright it would have been difficult for any normal man or woman to look directly at it. Just as their powers enhanced their senses, they could dull them accordingly as well, so by turning down the intensity of their vision they were able to watch as the incarnations of light and darkness collided.
There was a loud roar, followed by the disappearance of both conjured beasts, that ended the immediate threat. Brittany was smiling as she realized her defense was successful, and she was still not tired in the least. In fact, just the opposite, it felt like she had boundless energy now, a natural high that was allowing her to push past her usual limits. Raising her saber weapon, she aimed it straight towards their nemesis.
Michael was kneeling down with one knee on the ground, clutching his chest with one hand and balancing himself, keeping himself from falling, with the other. His breath was in short, staggered bursts. The aura that whirled around him before was completely gone, exhausted. Blood was trickling down his chin from biting his lower lip so hard. The entire ordeal lasted no more than a few seconds but he looked as if he had just run a marathon only to be beaten up by ten men at the finish line.
"So," he gasped. "This is...what I could...have had."
Walking forward, Brittany stared at him with unadjusted pity, completely unsympathetic for the clone of the boy who had betrayed their trust several years ago. "No, you could never have unlocked the true power of OmniTech. It required a test of strength, a measure of character, and learning the true nature of your soul."
"A soul you never had," Patrick added.
"When the first Michael approached us, back in 1999, and asked us to help him break into Alpha Complex and find out what went on in that building, he promised it would change our lives." Rebecca lifted the Neutron Laser Bow, readied an arrow, and aimed straight at Tracer's heart. "It would make us famous. We would be the bravest kids in Ivory Glade. Everyone would respect us for learning its secrets. But he was just using us. Finally, this is our revenge."
The Fallen Angel of Betrayal lifted his head, staring up into the eyes of the three Rangers staring down at him, and smiled defiantly. "Too little...too late..."
Rebecca's arrow speared him in the heart, and he slumped forward. Brittany's sword slid effortlessly into his back, snapping his spine with a loud crack, causing him to cough up blood. And, finally, the Tempest Storm Lance was thrust into the back of his head, straight through to the front, and finally pinning the body of the Betrayer, the second being in the Trinity of Darkness, to the ground beneath him.
The dead body was instantly covered in frozen water, spreading out to encase it entirely before, at last, the ice shattered into tiny fragments. Fragments so small they melted away instantaneously. In a manner of seconds, there was so sign of Michael Tracer's body, not even an indication it had ever existed in the first place.
"Do you know what this means?" asked Alex, his eyes fixated upon the crater below them that had to be at least six or seven miles wide in diameter. A warm wind blew across the area, making the dust and dirt inside the bowl dance to a song of troubled silence. The hole was not entirely empty, however, because there was still a single rod, no thicker than a human arm, protruding up from the geometric center.
Rebecca nodded, answering, "Yeah. It means Twilight Legion has been destroyed. For a third time."
"I thought by coming back to the site of the Spires, we could get some answers," Cecil sighed, crossing his arms as he looked out over the crater, "but now all we have are even more questions."
"Well," concluded Brittany, "now we know for sure that the Hosts, Twilight Legion, Michael, and Arcanza have all been destroyed. I'd say our mission has become significantly simplified."
Inhaling sharply, Patrick finished, "Simple enough. Stop the Eternal Demon."
"We should go back to the Sanctum and find out what intel Agent Kaisa has extracted from my sister." Cecil turned around to look at his friends as he decided on the appropriate next course of action. "And recuperate a little while from our last battle."
Alex spared a quiet smile. "What for? I feel like I could do that five times over again and still not be tired! Not to mention the thrill of being able to kill that son of a bitch Arcanza five more times."
"Ummmm," Brittany interrupted, tugging nervously on Cecil's arm to get his attention as she intently examined the sky above. "You might want to take a look at this, fearless leader. It doesn't look familiar."
He glanced over his shoulder and instantly his jaw dropped. Hovering in place high above the crater was a spaceship, one of magnificent design and independence. It was a bright metallic color, shaped perfectly round, spanning a good half-mile in its diameter. There must have been enough space inside, because its frame was as high as a two-story building, with half of a round black ball on both its top and bottom sides. Revolving around the spaceship were three smaller figures that looked like miniature versions of the large ship that could seat only one or two people at a time. A beam of light connected all three of those satellite pieces, creating a triangle shape that was in a constant state of flux.
"Do the Omnians have any ships that look like that?" wondered Patrick.
"I don't think so," answered Rebecca.
Cecil tensed up as he walked forward and positioned himself for a different view. "I get a strange feeling," he told them. "Like I have seen this thing somewhere before."
A black figure suddenly appeared in front of them. Well, not a black figure exactly, more like a humanoid figure entirely wrapped in a cloak the color of night. It stood in the middle of them, diverting their attention from the spacecraft. Ever so slowly, a pale hand appeared from under the cloth, reached up, and pushed back the hood to reveal its identity.
The woman was gorgeous. Long blond hair spilled down from her head, curling around her shoulders, framing a face that possessed an inherent and natural beauty that no cosmetics, not even plastic surgery, could ever aspire to recreate. Her lips were turned up in a seductive smile. Even her nose was immaculate, not too big or too small, like it was shaped to perfection. A stunning beauty except for the eyes. Inside her eyes, Cecil could see an entire sky full of black clouds with a burning white-hot light escaping through them as they moved back and forth. It was disturbing enough to complete detract from an otherwise flawless woman.
"Hello," she told them.
"Where have I seen her before?" grumbled Brittany underneath her breath.
"Hello," Cecil answered, stepping toward her. Noticing he was coming near, the woman lifted her hand in a motion for him to stop, so he did. Just...not of his own accord. "I do not believe we have met."
The woman seemed intrigued by the choice of words. "Oh, I do believe we have," she answered back.
Suddenly, the spirit of the OmniTech inside Cecil's mind let out a raging, painful scream, a blood-curdling roar that was too much to bear. He covered his ears with his hands, but obviously that was not going to do any good. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Rebecca and Patrick were doing the same thing, and Alex was wincing in pain as if he wanted to as well.
"I've seen you in a vision," Brittany said aloud. "You were there when I saw my mother in Heaven. You're the Omnian woman."
Cecil concentrated enough to drown out the primordial scream of the Titan in order to focus on the situation at hand. "This is no woman," he proclaimed in a grave voice. "This is the Eternal Demon."
The woman laughed and, as she did, a shaft of lightning descended from the skies and struck the ground nearby, then another, and another, throwing up rocks and dirt until they created an inescapable wall of earth itself around all of the Rangers. "Please," she replied to the accusation, "as much as it has done for me, I truly detest that name. I have taken the form of the Omnian High Lady Janoa, so feel free to call me by that name."
"Janoa?" Cecil repeated, sick to his stomach. The only Janoa he remembered was only a name, the name of Craig and Amber's biological grandmother, Oriquin and Seraide's mother. That the Eternal Demon would return and pose as this particular woman, a woman responsible for bringing four of the most decent people ever known into the universe, was despicable. "I prefer to call you 'Dumbass,' thank you."
His humor was lost on her, and that saccharine smile melted into a blank stare that betrayed no sign whatsoever of emotion or comprehension. The beauty that he had seen a few seconds ago was now instantly gone, as well, when paired with the knowledge this was their enemy. This was the enemy. The Power Rangers could take no chances now; they needed to go all-out and end it here.
Reaching into the endless pool of OmniTech's power, Cecil used his psychic talents to telepathically instruct his friends, "On the count of three, I want everyone to launch their Surge attack simultaneously. Do not hold back. Throw everything we have at her. Even if it means our deaths, you know, we must not let this thing escape." He could see the mystical white auras surrounding the others begin to spin faster and faster, and Cecil could feel his own power inside beginning to swell up as well.
The Eternal Demon was no fool. She instantly realized something was going on, and shook her head in what appeared to be disappointment. "If you attack me," she warned, "you may very well die. But know this: I will not."
"We'll try our luck," Brittany hissed.
"One," Cecil said aloud. "Two." Suddenly, Janoa's eyes widened, and she turned west towards the mountains with a startled look, completely ignoring the Meridian Rangers' ultimate five-way attack. "Three!"
It felt like a desolate emptiness spreading throughout her entire being, body, mind, and soul, a hand of darkness reaching down from above and clamping tightly around her. Sometimes there were things she could feel in addition to emptiness, like a ball of dirt stuck inside her heart or shards of glass that scraped inside her head. The power that dwelled inside her now was forbidden to ordinary humans, at least it should have been, because it was a tiny piece of the evil force that their antithesis was comprised of. This cascade of power, Black Hole, filled her with untapped strength, but drained her of her humanity, a price to pay so high she wished she had been given a choice in the matter to decline the responsibility. But he must have had a reason. Was this the reason? To save her from Omega Complex toppling down on top of her? To replace her lost ShadowTech abilities?
No sooner had Amber Donaldson opened her eyes than she saw the disgusting face of Krista Mercuric staring at her with a poisonous but threatened look. Gabriel Kaisa had nodded reassuringly at her, letting her know silently that everything was on the level, and was able to say, "Cecil instructed me to tell you to stay here..." before she seized her newly-discovered power and teleported away.
Now, cloaked in invisibility, drenched in the mud and ooze of Black Hole, Amber hovered above the ground, watching the confrontation between the transcended Rangers and the Eternal Demon's feminine form. The woman clearly noticed her and turned to look directly at her with eyes that made the universe shudder. A wave of disgust washed over her, but there was also a powerful magnetic sensation as if some unseen force were drawing them together. Eventually it dawned on Amber that she was able to see what the Demon was seeing—mainly herself—and feel the untroubled calmness at its core.
"The foundation of Nature! Omni Dragon! Full-power Environment Surge!"
"The rush of Energy! Omni Pegasus! Full-power Electrocution Surge!"
"The endurance of Water! Omni Hydra! Full-power Blizzard Surge!"
"The warmth of Light! Omni Sphinx! Full-power Blinding Surge!"
"The power of Chaos! Omni Titan! Full-power Annihilation Surge!"
It began with a tiny prick, like a miniature stab in the back of her head, no more painful than a simple papercut, no more bothersome than stubbing her toe. That small feeling instantly grew to massive proportions and began to shoot a large painful wrath throughout the Demon's very being. Amber could see the ground shaking and breaking apart beneath the woman's feet. There was a field of electricity and ice encircling her, slicing open her body and zapping her with intense white heat. A field of pulsing prismatic energy surrounded her, beginning to close in, threatening to end the existence of the Eternal Demon once and for all.
Amber screamed a warning to her friends as the creature retaliated. The pain stopped, replaced by unquenchable rage, and the energy flowing towards the Demon was completely dissipated by a giant field of its own evil tainted energy which continued to grow until it struck all five Meridian Rangers at once. Their attacks faded away into nothingness, while the Demon's sinister counterattack sent them flying in all different directions.
The blowback finished. She saw them de-morph as they hit the ground, but when Amber went to rush to their aid she found herself paralyzed by an unseen force. Curiously she realized it was her own power, Black Hole, holding her back from protecting them. All five of her teammates were laying on the ground now, four of them face-up and Brittany face-down, completely unconscious and defenseless.
That is when the world went crazy. A thunderous boom rang out across the area, accompanied by a lightning bolt that exploded out from the ground and streaked towards the sky, lashing out at the dark clouds high above. Actually, the clouds themselves were beginning to thin out and vanish, replaced by a fiery red sky the color of blood from a fresh wound. The earth below was beginning to crack open, in various shapes of holes and cracks, and there was the clear sound of chilling screaming coming from those new openings.
Despite the unchained devastation erupting all around her, the Demon walked calmly to Cecil and knelt down, running her terrifying eyes along his entire body once before reaching out and disconnecting his OmniTech Ability Band. Then she proceeded to Brittany, flipping her body over, and removed her Morpher as well. She went to Patrick, to Rebecca, and to Alexander, taking their Morphers also, but leaving them alone otherwise.
"It is too bad," the Demon said, turning around to stare directly at Amber. Despite their large distance apart, she could hear the despicable otherworldly devil as clear as if they were standing together. "That power you wield now is certainly incredible...but it was mine to begin with. When I captured the White Ranger's OmniTech so many years ago, I corrupted its power supply with my own, and eventually it was broken apart into two halves. Starlight, which is essentially Meridian-Omega's own energy in its purest form. And Black Hole, which is the concentration of my power, drawn straight from Hell itself. By extension, that means...you belong to me."
The Eternal Demon quickly vanished, leaving only a streak of light trailing upwards toward the giant spaceship hovering directly above her. "I spared their lives because I know the pain they inflicted upon you. Their deaths deserve to be at your hands. Make me proud, my child."
A heavy weight vanished from her chest and Amber was able to move of her own accord once more. She wasted no time teleporting down to her friends, anxious as she checked Alex for a pulse and sighing deeply upon locating it. For a split second, a thought of following through with the Demon's place popped into her mind, but she fought off the idea with the reminder that, despite their dishonesty, these helpless people truly did care about her.
Realizing she was now fighting a battle on three entirely different levels, a physical struggle against the Eternal Demon, a mental struggle against it, and battling herself in the process, Amber was slowly coming to realize that there was no way to win everything she was fighting for. "I'm sorry," she whispered, dropping Alex's hand, "I can't go on. I don't know what to do now."
"The Memorial Research Center is gone! I just performed a location analysis and apparently it is...flying?"
"That is not the worst of it. I am showing readings that several entire cities, including Ivory Glade, have been totally destroyed, and the only thing that remains at each of those sites is a heavy layer of radiation."
"The tracker on the life forces of the Omni Rangers is active. I am unable to locate Bane or Amber Donaldson, but the other four are currently at the same location where Neo Twilight City used to be."
"Those anomaly bio-signals we picked up earlier, belonging to Arcanza and Michael Tracer, have vanished. So have those several malicious signals we were unable to identify. They disappeared one by one in a matter of minutes."
"Strange atmospheric activity is occurring all around the planet."
"Not just the atmosphere, but the crust of the planet, too, is a complete mess."
"I triangulated a massive release of energy from the locations of the Rangers just now, but it seemed to instantaneously invert from familiar energy to alien energy."
The crew was talking over one another, but as he remained perfectly quiet and open, Oriquin was able to listen to each report even though his heart was sinking with each new piece of information. Standing next to him, a stoic expression plastered on his face, Soleron too was assimilating the information, although he betrayed nothing in terms of emotional reaction. All of the New Omnians gathered inside the bridge of Gemini Destiny were attentively watching their computer screens and visual monitors and reporting as new data came in. There was a quiet murmur of conversation to drown out the low-pitched humming of the engines at full power in the background.
Although his face was well controlled, Soleron's voice was saturated with confusion, trepidation, and maybe a tinge of worry as well. "What the hell is going on down there?" he asked himself. "The entire planet is rotting away."
"I am afraid we are late," replied Oriquin.
"Do not say that," Soleron warned.
Sighing in part due to exhaustion, Oriquin leaned back against the railing of his upraised captain's dais and shook his head regretfully. "There is no question. The third Seal was broken somehow, and Nihilus...Daermos...whatever name it goes by now...the Eternal Demon has been revived."
The doors to the bridge opened themselves to admit Seraide, Talyserys, Pyrial, and Laurasia into the piloting quarters. A worried look set deep into her face, because she must have heard the last part of her brother's analysis, Seraide pleaded, "Can you use Starlight to locate Amber, Brittany, and the others? I have a strong feeling that they need our help."
Oriquin turned toward them and, in any other situation besides this he would have laughed at the site, all four of them had dressed in their old standby Rangers outfits, the simple black jackets over their signature color shirts, emblazoned with the Crusader Diamond over the left breast, and wearing golden cords in their hair. They were obviously ready to jump back into action and protect their successors to the Omni Ranger titles. Even Talyserys now had a spark embedded in his golden eyes indicating his desire to rejoin the fight against the darkness.
"Please," he instructed them, "keep a cool head. Reality has been turned upside-down, and have absolutely no plan of action at this point in time. Do not do anything until we have the facts."
"Lord Oriquin..." Laurasia began to protest.
He ignored her, and instead reached down into the innermost working of his soul and drew out that familiar dormant power. Years ago, his mother had placed this hidden source of strength within his heart and, when it came time for him to need it most, it raced to the surface and brought with it a sensation that made life crystallize into a euphoric higher plane of existence. The Starlight power had only increased in intensity over the three thousand years it had spent in this form, although before that it had spent its time all the way back to the dawn of creation as part of the limitless energy that once comprised the megastar Meridian-Omega. Now, Oriquin, the High Lord of New Omnis, wielded this force to accomplish the simple act of teleporting six people from one spot to another.
The "another" was not what he expected at all.
Lightning traveled in reversed patterns, moving up instead of down, and yet missing the spaceship flying high in the sky by wide ranges. There was tormented screaming coming from all directions, as well as an overpowering scent of burned rock and boiling water. Smoke, ashes, and steam covered the ground, and where the air was not hot enough to burn it was cold enough to freeze.
"Look!" Pyrial exclaimed, pointing to the body of a young girl face-down on the ground. "And over there!"
"Amber!" Seraide cried out. She was running towards her daughter, who was slumped over the unconscious body of Alexander Revell.
Soleron lifted up the body nearest to him, that of Cecil Mercuric, and held him firmly in both arms as he examined him. "Their Ability Bands have been taken," he observed. "And something hit them with incredible force to knock them out this well."
Realizing that she was no longer the lone conscious person, Amber looked up and stared straight at Oriquin, and that simple, single glance instantly told him everything he needed to know. The young woman twisted her nose ever so slightly when her gaze brushed over Seraide and she intentionally ignored the Omnian. Suddenly Amber's hair became a deep, dark black color, and started blowing in every direction; her eyes lost focus and become a polished crystalline color, like fresh and pure water. There was a cold breeze that was beginning to envelop Oriquin, and he could tell from the reactions of the others it was enclosing around them as well. Then, strangely, if air could crack apart, that is how he would have described what happened when that cooling breeze touched him. Everyone else had vanished, teleported away, leaving him by himself.
"Lineage protect us," Oriquin groaned, knowing immediately what had just happened, despite the fact that it defied logic. "Why will that accursed specter of death never leave us alone?"
Then, in another unexpected twist, Amber reappeared, alone, still in her stomach-turning transformed state. "What should I call you now? Lord Oriquin? Uncle?"
"So, you finally know," he sighed, not amused. "I would not be surprised if your feelings were hurt. Just understand that it was Craig who made all of us who knew the truth swear on the honor of the Lineage itself to let you find out on your own, as he did."
Shaking her head, still exuding a sense of anger about her, she muttered, "You're still the diplomatic son of a bitch you always came across as, aren't you?"
The comment intrigued Oriquin, but he let it fall flat and forgotten. There was a more urgent issue, several of them, in fact, that to let something that small get under his skin. "How long have you been wielding Black Hole? That power eats away at your soul, until you become as corrupted as..."
"Rzodin. Arcanza. Craig." The young woman clenched her teeth to speak the names of the previous keepers, then added, "I've only been voluntarily channeling it for a few minutes. And even then, only because I need to, and now I need your help. You can channel the Starlight and that means, right now, we're the only ones that possess any powers at all. We need to teleport inside that ship and stop the Eternal Demon."
Glancing up at the massive ship, with its black orbs and triangular satellite pieces, Oriquin was unable to hold back his hesitation. "Do you think we can overpower it?"
"Maybe, maybe not, but we have to do it now," she answered firmly. "She has all five Omni Morphers now. And, if she learns how to use them, especially now that they unlocked one hundred percent power..." The words trailed off and, suddenly, Amber looked like she was about to cry, burst into tears at any given second and not be able to reclaim control over herself. "We're wasting time."
"You probably just realized, Starlight and Black Hole have no effect on one another, so we will have to teleport onboard separately," he instructed. "And the craft is huge. The Demon could be anywhere."
Lifting her finger, Amber pointed at one of the orbiting satellites and confidently reported, "Right there. There's some connection between my power and the Demon, and I can feel exactly where it is being this close."
"Then let us hurry," Oriquin prompted.
The world faded away into a blur, and the blur faded away into nothing but brightness and warmth, flooding over Oriquin as that comforting strength filled him to the brim with energy. He could feel himself moving forward, in one direction, towards a distant goal that he may never even reach. There were so many sensations to experience, sounds blended into one, then blended into visions, until reality itself was impossible to distinguish. And just at the point of when it seemed to reach terminal velocity, it snapped back into place, at exactly the place he wanted to be.
Well, not quite.
Oriquin and Amber found themselves inside the small satellite which contained a bunch of electronic equipment disheveled and rearranged into some sloppy configuration. Of course, that sloppy configuration instantly came to life, and the entire interior began to fill with a pale yellow gas. "I think..." Amber gasped.
"...we were tricked," Oriquin finished, just as conscious thought left him.
"We have lost High Lord Oriquin's bio-signal!" one of the Gemini Destiny crewmen screamed, panicking.
Another answered back just as crazed, "Never mind that! The unidentified large spacecraft has just discharged an enormous attack!"
"It is heading straight for us!" a woman cried out. "Move us towards and into those mountains to protect us!"
"The atmospheric conditions are all crazy, and we are piloting with a suboptimal precision..."
The woman replied, "I understand. But if we do not move we are going to be..."
Pieces of the ship rained down in a world gone mad. None of Gemini Destiny's crew survived.
It was crowded inside the Sanctum now, with twelve people jammed into the tiny space he had designed for only one, which made it even warmer than it usually was. He, Brittany, and Rebecca were sitting side by side on his little couch, him in the middle, with Brittany completely absorbed in something displayed on the monitor of his laptop computer. Seraide sat in the chair, absolutely petrified with fear, constantly mumbling about Oriquin and Amber being in terrible danger, but never bothering to elaborate on what she meant. Of course, Cecil shared her worry, but he chose to look at the situation optimistically.
Aw, hell, he thought to himself, this universe is fucked.
As if the planet were in agreement, the entire under-mountain hideout began to tremble violently, accompanied by a distant explosion. There was an overpowering stench of something rotten.
"So," Soleron snarled, his angular and hardened face only a few inches away from hers, "you are the Resurrector, the third part of the Trinity of Darkness."
"No, I'm not," Krista answered back with just as much animosity in her voice. "The kid you chose to be the Red Ranger, Craig Hopwood, turned out to be the Resurrector. Wise pick, burnout." She snorted contemptuously.
Soleron's upper lip was trembling as Krista began to get on his nerves. "Sure enough, she is a Mercuric," he hissed. From the corner of the room, Gabriel Kaisa chuckled, but the sharp look Cecil shot him instantly put an end to that little outburst of amusement. Although, it was funny, especially considering the source it came from.
"We do not have the time," Cecil interjected, "to bicker. Or to rehash everything that has happened up until now. Please, Krista, tell us what the Eternal Demon is planning to do."
"What its goal has been all along," she answered. "To become the mind of God."
Getting angry at the suggestion, Alexander slammed his fist into the rock wall, which must have hurt him intensely, especially now without any powers acting as a buffer for the pain. "That's impossible," he growled. "God the Father is Almighty. Even if someone or something were trying to usurp His omniscience, He could crush and eliminate the threat."
"From everything I've heard," added Gabriel, tapping his foot on the ground as he spoke, "and from everything I've seen, I'm not convinced the Eternal Demon's goal is to 'become the mind of God,' as Krista keeps describing it. After all, it has the Omni Morphers now, and they have been unlocked, so if that were the goal it would have already succeeded and we would be wiped from existence by now. I think it wants all three pieces of the puzzle. The Morphers themselves, the lifeforce living inside the OmniTech, and Meridian-Omega. I think the Eternal Demon is trying to overthrow and replace the God that exists now."
"It's not possible," Alex said again with extra force.
Lounging in the shadows of the corner of the Sanctum, that old familiar sight of Talyserys and his intense golden eyes sparkling like a patient wolf brought back some memories of old times. His voice was as gravelly and rough as ever. It always surprised Cecil whenever he thought about the fact that the former Green Ranger, despite being the chronological youngest of all his teammates, he physically appeared the oldest because of his extended use of the green Lifeblade weapon that accelerated its user's aging process. "I have seen much in the past few years I would have once called impossible," the Omnian priest heaved, "and I think all of us could honestly say the same."
"Hell yeah," muttered Patrick, sucking down the last drop of his third plastic bottle of Coke. Directly next to him, Pyrial was finishing the same amount of Dr. Pepper, which meant Cecil's hideout was officially out of soda. He hoped they did not find his hidden bottle of vodka, or else his hospitality might take a turn for the worse.
Brittany suddenly sat up, startled, and seemed surprised when everyone gathered there turned to stare at her with heightened interest. "What's the matter?" Laurasia asked.
"Apocalypse Instant," Brittany answered, "the Eternal Demon's spaceship. It's taking off, leaving Earth."
"It is leaving?" Cecil repeated, leaning across Becky to get a better view of the computer screen showing the image outside.
"That means..." Soleron said coldly, letting the sentence trail off into silence.
Seraide's eyes swelled up with tears, and she whispered painfully, "Amber. Oriquin."
Walking toward the exit, Krista remarked, "That's it. The end has come at last. I would say take care of yourselves, but...well...ha!"
"You sick, mouthy little bitch!" Rebecca screamed, and her rage was not alone, only the loudest of the ruckus that instantly broke out.
His expression must have been dark, troubled, dangerous, or any combination of those, because the bickering stopped as Cecil stood up and roared, "Quiet, all of you!" One at a time they settled down, offered small apologies, and went back to their defeated introspective looks. "Fighting amongst ourselves is not going to solve anything."
"...is that vodka?" he heard Patrick's voice mutter, followed by Pyrial's "Oooh!"
"I want to ask everyone something," Alex announced. "Seriously. I think we need to pray together. To ask God to intervene and stop the Eternal Demon. Maybe it won't prevent anything...but it isn't going to hurt either. I know the Omnians have their Lineage and their own religious beliefs, and all of us have different views about spirituality, and Krista's...well...I don't know about that. But maybe, this time, a little prayer may turn into something powerful. Despite everything, I still have faith in God, and I know he can deliver us from evil." Then, ever so quietly, he began reciting a memorized prayer, unaccompanied but uninterrupted.
Krista had reached the exit, but she turned around when she heard Alex mention her name, and now watched him with an expression that appeared to be interest. Perhaps even admiration. Or maybe it was triggering a memory, one that Cecil suddenly remembers as well, of her, him, and their parents spending an Easter Sunday morning in church listening to the same prayers Alex recited now. She turned a sad look toward him and, completely out of the blue, asked, "Cecil...can you forgive me for what I've done?"
He looked back at her with a half million instantaneously thoughts exploding inside his mind, unable to settle and decide on one. His heart felt cold, but the rest of him was beginning to tingle with a warming sensation. "No," he said at last. "There is no chance of reconciliation between us. You are free to go."
Behind him, Patrick began speaking as well, and slowly it dawned on him that he had joined Alex in reciting the prayer. Rebecca's voice joined the blend, also, followed soon by Brittany and Gabriel, who smiled as they realized they started together at the same time. Even Talyserys, who was a little familiar with the different religions around the Earth, joined them whenever they reached a line or two he knew.
"Every night and every morn," Cecil started to recite as he sat back down and closed his eyes, "Some to Misery are born. Every morn and every night, some are born to sweet Delight. Some are born to sweet Delight, some are born to Endless Night. We are led to believe a lie, when we see not through the eye. Which was born in a night to perish in the night, when the soul slept in beams of light. God appears and God is Light, to those poor souls who dwell in the Night, but does a human form display, to those who dwell in Realms of Day."
And while the entirety of existence outside trembled under the terrible growing ambition of their immortal enemy, inside Cecil's Sanctum, the voices of five Omnians and six other young men and women joined together, imploring the love of an omniscient deity who was, even now, contemplating its answer.
"Wake up," she whispered softly. "It is time to wake up, children."
The world was fuzzy and disoriented, and he struggled to open his eyes and see what was taking place around him, but he was as helpless as a newborn baby. He had been comfortable before, but now this new feeling was cold and sick, something terrible, and all Oriquin could think about was going back in time to that warmer place. Because he knew when he could see, he would be able to hear, and then to feel, which meant the pain would return as well.
His first sight was her, and she was beautiful. Her face was so clean and perfect, just like he imagined, and the way she looked at him was so dreamlike it could have been torn from his most secret thoughts and memories. Those clothes looked so soft and natural on her, an extension of the flawlessness that she embodied. What was different this time compared to last? She was breathing, smiling, looking at him. But something was off, missing, something important. There was warmth in those eyes, but not a comfortable warmth, it was more like a burning danger.
"Mother," Oriquin said, reaching out.
Janoa slapped his hand away, twisting the gentle smile into one of twisted amusement. There was a terrible inextinguishable white light gleaming in those evil eyes. No way could this be the Mother he had spent decades dreaming about.
Suddenly, reality snapped back, and Oriquin jumped to his feet, seizing and filling himself with the powerful Starlight power, ready to defend himself and attack back if necessary. He was in danger now, more than ever before, but he could not make his mind function properly to respond.
"This is the Eternal Demon," Amber informed him. She was standing beside him, black hair blowing in all directions, crystalline eyes unmoving from their locked position on their enemy, clearly preparing to use the Black Hole power as necessary. "The form it has taken."
"You Trinity-damned bastard," snarled Oriquin, "taking the appearance of my mother. Is it that amusing?"
Janoa was holding her hand up to her face, laughing behind it, still observing with a perverted fascination. "Even the devil needs to have a little fun," she answered sweetly.
They were aboard the largest of the four individual vessels, now, the main portion of Apocalypse Instant, and Oriquin had no idea how long they had been moving, but he could feel the entire ship traveling at a near impossible rate of speed. All around them were bit and pieces of computers, displaying visions of different planets, various locations throughout outer space, and even one of his friends back on Earth. Soleron, Cecil, and the others were all gathered together in some dimly lit cavern, crowded together, some of them with clasped hands, saying something he was unable to determine. "This computer, the one called Cipher System, actually became useful once I upgraded it," the Eternal Demon explained in a proud voice. "I can see everything and everyone from this place. Of course, once I am God, it will be redundant. Too bad."
"Are you toying with us now?" demanded Amber. "What do you want?"
Turning toward her, Janoa's smile faded away, replaced with a serious expression that sent a shiver, a sensation amplified by a thousand times by his hold on his powers, up Oriquin's spine. The Demon motioned to the screens all around them and instructed, "Look around you. The opening of the Ethercell, and my return, has plunged this universe into utter chaos."
For the first time, Oriquin noticed that Janoa was wearing one of the OmniTech Ability Bands around her forearm, a second around the other arm, a third around her leg, and a fourth around the opposite leg. That left one more unaccounted for, but a quick scan around the ship turned up no extra clues as to its location. Besides, the Eternal Demon could not be stupid enough to leave it laying around unguarded.
"I have existed since the dawn of Creation," Janoa hissed, "unable to die, therefore unable to live."
"So," wondered Oriquin, "your goal is...to die?"
Amber burst forward, screaming, "I'll be glad to help you!" Two black blades appeared in her hands, absorbed and destroying any and all light that was present around them, materialized through the tainted power of Black Hole. She thrust one blade through Janoa's heart, and the second one horizontally through her head. The Demon did not scream, or move whatsoever, merely watched with interest, that deadly gleam never fading away.
"I must leave now," Janoa informed them. With one hand, she pushed Amber away, sending her flying and slamming into a console filled with monitors against the wall. "The time has come for me to fulfill my destiny. You will know I have succeeded when you cease to exist. Farewell, children!"
A fiery cloud of smoke and flame engulfed the Eternal Demon, and its corporal form vanished, completely gone in the blink of an eye. Oriquin ran forward, examining the small veil of mist left behind, bewildered. "Where did it go?" he asked.
Shaking, Amber lifted her hand and pointed toward the wall in front of her. A beam of black light shot forth from her finger, blowing apart the wall, and exposing a crystiglass barrier on the opposite side, allowing them to see where in outer space they were at. Beyond the glass, there was an enormous ball of golden fire, gaseous, liquid, and solid at the same time, radiating an overwhelming amount of raw uncontrollable energy. It was a star, many times over larger than the Earth's Sun, and a color than bathed the whole area in warm light yellow light.
"Impossible!" Oriquin gasped.
"We're back at Meridian-Omega," Amber confirmed, "only this time...it's alive."
There was a noise behind them, and they turned around together to see the source of what had caused it. To say they were shocked was like to say an ocean was a single drop of water.
"Alive," the source told them confidently, "and about to be opened. I need something from both of you. I think you know."
Very carefully, with all of the attention and patience the universe could supply, the being that took the form of the late Omnian High Lady Janoa floated down from the heavens and landed with both feet firmly planted on the megastar Meridian-Omega. The molten gold energy changed its flow to move around her rather than touch her. Laced inside that raw golden glow were several silver threads, remnants of the baseline power flow left over from five years ago. There was still a breathable atmosphere here, thanks to that Trinity Rising spaceship built by one of the Demon's minions around the same time. Every piece had been aligned so perfectly to make this moment happen.
The morphing began. One second, it was a beautiful dead woman, and the next it was shifting its shape into something less familiar but closer to its true form. She became a he, a well-groomed young man. His clothes were simple and unremarkable, a solid white shirt tucked into a pair of gray pants, with strategically places holes in the back to accommodate his angelic wings and his demonic pointed tail. Silvery thin hair was being blown casually by the surging energy surrounding him. And the youth's eyes shined with an infinite mixture of every color imaginable, from the gentlest pink to the darkest and muddiest brown. There was still an OmniTech Ability Band around both arms and both legs, and now he held the fifth and final with both hands, watching expectantly.
"Finally," he said with a smile. He spread his arms wide, still clutching the device in his left hand, and an enormous beam of light erupted from the ground in front of him, shooting off far into the sky and eventually deep into outer space. When the brightness faded, a massive hole, burrowing deep into the crust of Meridian-Omega, remained. "This vein will lead down into the core of the Central Star, where I will be able to begin my rebirth process. It has not been opened since the Creation of the universe, but at last, the Path of Unending Life Through Death is accessible."
The Eternal Demon stepped forward, preparing to enter the hole he had just made, when all of a sudden a streak of white light as thick as a arm struck him directly in the center of the chest, forcing him to stagger back, shocked that it caused him so much pain. He screamed out of irritation, demanding in the loudest voice possible, "Who is there? Show yourself and be my first victim!"
"Back away from the Path of Life and Death," the assailant ordered him, "or face the wrath of the Starborn's descendant."
Laughing, the Demon roared, "You cannot stop me, Oriquin! Not even God can stop me now!"
Existence turned and altered itself, and just like that even the Eternal Demon was not prepared for what transpired next. A youth appeared inside the roaring golden flames of Meridian-Omega, one of his hands glowing with an intensely hot white flame, and the other with a lifeless black frozen void. He rose up into the air and flew down toward the Demon, his azure eyes burning with a fury not seen for tens of thousands of years.
Two quick bursts of Starlight destroyed the Omni Morphers around his forearms. Then two additional shots from Black Hole vaporized the two Morphers attached around his legs, leaving only the Red Ranger's Morpher intact in the Demon's hand.
"You possess both halves of the ultimate powers," the Eternal Demon observed. "Who are you?"
"For so long," the youth told him quietly as he landed and settled directly across from the Demon on the other side of the entrance to the Path of Life and Death, "we searched for a place to belong, a purpose for existence, an end to reach." He wore a sleeveless back shirt and black sweat pants, held up by a tied bright red cloth belt, with the golden and prismatic emblem of Omnis on the back, and a picture of a blue, white, and brown planet on the front. His thin reddish-brown hair was streaming in every direction. The two ultimate powers sizzled in his hands. "I have been waiting here for you, waiting an eternity, waiting to stop you from destroying the universe. I, Craig Hopwood, child of Earth and Omnis, protector of the heart of God, vow to destroy you here and now, for all time."
Original Episode Date: 18 July 2005
