“Father! What does this mean?” Gar walked up to Dr. Shepard at his desk in the library. He was holding a magazine, since he had read most of the rest of the books in the place.
Dr. Shepard pulled off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes. “What?”
“This? What is lb?” he haphazardly pronounced the two letters.
“That means pound.” Dr. Shepard frowned and took the magazine. “Wait, this is a recipe for French Onion Soup. Why are you reading recipes?”
Gar shrugged. “Not read before, it is very confusing.”
Dr. Shepard said, “I suppose it would be confusing to you since you don’t eat or drink anything. We mix all these ingredients together and then cook them in a way that makes it taste good.”
Gar signed, “I would like to taste something. It sounds fun.”
“It can be very fun. But, we still don’t even know what you are. That you haven’t eaten food in seven months baffles me. Then again, your body feels like solid rock to my touch, but you move like a regular person, you can even fly.”
Gar smiled brightly. “Can we go flying again tonight?”
Dr. Shepard shook his head. “I don’t think so. We’ve been out there letting you practice flying for three weeks now. I love watching you learn, but I’m losing a lot of sleep and it’s beginning to catch up to me. We can….” They both looked back when a door buzzer sounded. Dr. Shepard got up quickly, “Who in the world would be coming here right now? This whole section of town is technically shut down. You’d better get back on your pedestal, in case someone comes in.”
“Okay, father.” Gar followed him back through the library and into the room he spent so many years in.
Gar climbed up on the pedestal and struck a pose, not even close to the one he held before he woke, but he felt it looked awesome. He held perfectly still, something else he was good at. Dr. Shepard shook his head with a little grin on his face, he seemed amused by the way Gar was showing off.
Standing there, waiting, Gar could hear muffled voices in the distance, Dr. Shepard spoke to someone at the door. In fact it was two people and they were getting louder as they spoke. Gar was alert, not sure if there was trouble. He wouldn’t let his father get hurt by anyone. Some of the local shops had been burglarized during this strange time that the block was shut down. If someone came in here to steal stuff, they would meet with an angry statue.
Just then Dr. Shepard came back in with two men dressed in security outfits. They were the same people who had been studying that portal outside for the past seven months.
“I know you ordered everyone out of these places, but I have special authority to stay here by order of the American Ambassador. I’m doing work for the Smithsonian and several other major institutes. My presence is not a threat to any of your work.”
The men, neither of them Italian, looked around the place. One gave Gar a funny look, seemingly confused by the shorts the statue was wearing.
“Sir, we know about the special order you received. The other anomalies around the world have closed. But, the anomaly outside has grown. It is now emitting a new energy signature that might prove to be dangerous. You will have to leave.”
Dr. Shepard shook his head. “I really need to stay here. I have...special reasons for remaining in this library. I’ll not hold you or anyone else responsible if something happens to me.”
Gar realized that his father wouldn’t leave him behind. If he left, Gar would be alone or he would have to find a way to smuggle him out, and that might be impossible now.
“Sir, this is not a debate or an issue of responsibility, this is an order from the U.N. You can take your case to the American consulate if...” just then the whole room changed to a dark purple hue. This was followed by a deep boom that rolled across the city.
Dr. Shepard and the two security guards ran to the windows and saw that the portal was expanding and had tendrils of energy coming from it. A deep voice thundered out from the portal. “SEND YOUR FINEST WARRIORS TO FACE OUR MIGHT!”
Gar looked up, a strange coldness filled him. The voice, that energy, that challenge, it awoke memories buried in him that were not his own. He whispered one word, “Legion...” and suddenly he could see years of turmoil on another planet. People not entirely unlike humans fought against creatures of all natures in vast, terrible battles. The people of this alien world cast great spells and controlled unimaginable energy as they contended against their foes. Years of war ran through his mind, blood bathed the world, broken corpses littered the burnt landscape. However, he did not know their names, it was like a dream filled with someone elses vague memories.
Through the eyes of another, he saw the united forces of Legion standing around a central figure, a being of pure horror that controlled them. With a wave of its hand, the world broke apart and the creatures it controlled slipped away through portals. Somehow he knew they were preparing for the next world they would challenge.
In his mind he saw himself cast a portal and flee, but not before one of the last minions of this monster followed. From there he experienced the final battle. He felt himself fall to the earth, and he watched the man crawl across the ground and grab his feet. The last words of this man resounded in his head, “Protect this world! DO NOT LET IT FALL!”
“Gar...Gar?” His fathers voice brought him back to this moment.
He hadn’t realized he had fallen to his knees and was holding his head. Looking up he saw Dr. Shepard standing there, a worried expression written on his face. The two security guards were trembling and holding guns, aimed at him. Gar’s body quivered as he said, “I know what that is, I know who I am.”
Dr. Shepard asked, “do you know what’s going on?”
“That is Legion, destroyer of worlds. I was created to fight them, to stop them. They are horrible!” He was fighting the trauma of the visions he was forced to relive.
“Wha….what….what are you?” one of the two guards asked, his gun shaking.
Gar simple lifted his enormous wings and bellowed, “Go! Run!”
The man pulled his trigger and fired, but the bullet merely reflected into a wall. Seeing this, both men screamed and ran for their lives.
“Gar, why did you scare them?”
Gar took is fathers arm, “You have to go! Now! Whatever comes out of that portal will kill everything!”
“Okay, let’s go. The trucks around back!” Dr. Shepard took one step before he was thrown to the ground by it’s shaking.
Outside, something came crashing out of the portal, landing in the middle of the square. Gun fire could be heard outside as the forces sent to investigate the portal responded.
“What’s going on?” Dr. Shepard yelled over the din.
A bright light filled the windows and the wall of the library nearest the portal was destroyed, as were all the people fighting. This thing had just leveled most of the square in one shot.
Gar had his father held behind him, protecting him with his stone body. The museum was compromised but still standing. However, the wall and most of his precious library had been destroyed. Beyond that stood the creature that did this, one that stepped right out of the nightmare Gar had just endured. He whispered, “Kravik.”
Kravik, the huge, metal clad warrior of Legion, held a large gun that he had just used. He looked around, behind that mask of his. “Now, how can this be? I sense the presence of...a Vexillian.” He scanned the area with a small handheld device. He stopped just as his device was aimed at the museum.
Before he could respond to his readings, a man spoke over a megaphone, “UNKNOWN CREATURE, STAND DOWN OR WE WILL FIRE!”
Kravik turned quickly and shot his weapon at the military. There was an explosion and then a rocket slammed into him and sent him flying across the plaza.
“Let’s go!” Dr. Shepard pulled on Gars wing.
Gar turned and said, “You go, I have to face him.”
“What? No! That thing will crush you. We are getting the hell out of here.” Dr. Shepard took his hand and pulled.
Gar used the grip on Dr. Shepard to pull him up into a hug. “I love you, father. But, I have to do this. I am strong enough. I was made to fight the legion.”
Dr. Shepard hugged him back while crying, “I can’t lose another son. Please, come with me.”
There came more explosions outside as the two forces fought, when the noise died down enough, Gar answered, “He knows what I am, he can sense it. He will follow us wherever we go. He will murder countless people, I have to stop him now.” He set his father down.
Dr. Shepard begged, “No, please. We can hide.”
“I have been hidden for seven centuries, waiting for this. That creature and his kind exterminated my creators people, I won’t let him do it again.” With that Gar turned and ran for the new opening in the wall.
“GAR!” Dr. Shepard cried out.
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