Heroes Rising Fiction: The Missing Mythic Part 9

Strange Quark flew over the Indian Ocean toward China. He had been given an alert to head to the vicinity of Japan and wait for further orders. He considered changing into a duck for a while and wading around in a pond to relax the nerves. Suddenly a golden coin hit him in the face. He caught it just before it fell back down.

“What the?” He looked at the old Chinese gold piece. Then he saw a glint of gold as another flew up toward him. This one he caught and realized someone down on a beach far below him was throwing these with incredible strength and aim.

Flying down, he stopped and found a white cat waving a paw at him. “HERO, HERO!”

“What is the matter?” He asked.

“Come!” Maneki-Neko raced back toward her cave.

Quark entered and gasped at the sight of a woman’s body laying on the sandy ground. “KRYSTAL!?”

She weakly looked up, “Quark...is that you?”

He knelt down, “What happened?”

Krystal softly said, “Jinn...he...he defeated me. He thought...I had...died. He took my form...and left. That is the last I saw him.”

Maneki-Neko said, “I sensed her in the ocean and brought her here. I have been helping her. She will recover. You must find what Jinn has done. I know another man brought Jinn back to Lord Dragon, but he wouldn’t stay there. Jinn cannot contend against them. Find him before he does something terrible.”

Quark nodded, “Absolutely.” He ran out of the cave and closed two of his eyes, only using the one of his forehead. He saw a trail of magic left, it was the same form of energy he had been tracking to find Jinn. He blasted off so hard he sent boulders tumbling into the ocean. Several sonic booms followed as he sped along this trail.

***

Lady Phoenix led Krystal Fae near the summit of Mt. Fuji. She had to use several spells to undo the enchantments keeping the doors from being opened. Finally, they entered an artificially crafted cave. In it were two objects, each emitting light. One was a large pearl the size of a soccer ball, the other was a ruby the same size.

Lady Phoenix went for the pearl, “Good, Jinn has not been here yet. We must...”

Krystal approached the ruby, the deep red light flickering in her eyes, “I was right.”

“What are you saying? Please, we don’t have time to dawdle.” Lady Phoenix set the pearl down.

Krystal gently picked up the ruby. “I have never had the chance to see this. It is beautiful.”

“What is going on?” Lady Phoenix asked.

“I wanted it to be Lord Dragon with me here. However, I couldn’t be happier to have you here.” Krystal turned around, her face a mixture of glee and wrath. “I trusted you more than any other living soul in this universe, and you betrayed me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The fools, both of you. How easily you were deceived. So willing to trust these pathetic humans and their heroes that you missed the obvious.” Krystal transformed into Jinn as his hands filled with magic, and the ruby glowed brightly. Suddenly, the magic in Lady Phoenix drained out of her.
“What have you done!” Lady Phoenix screamed.

“I am doing to you what you did to me.” At that, the ruby was full and Lady Phoenix hit the ground. Jinn held it out and the ruby cracked as the energy became a cloud around him. The cave filled with a red light. His eyes beamed in red as he absorbed it, “The power! I am now strong enough to see it. I know who the mythic is.”

“Please, don’t do this.” She begged.

“Unlike what you did to me, I shall give you a quick death, not a long, lingering life without power.” He waved a hand at her and she aged, her hair turning white and her skin sinking in. “Now to deal with father.” He dropped the empty ruby and picked up the large Pearl.

“No...please. We still love you. Don’t do this.”

“Love.” He spit out the word, “Weak and pointless emotion. You loved me so much you cursed me to be human. Well, I will do much worse to father.” He held the Dragon Pearl high and a beam of energy filled the cavern. The surface of the pearl cracked while the energy inside seeped out.

Just then Quark arrived and shot a beam of energy at Jinn. It reflected and merely blasted through another wall.

“No...flee...hero...” Lady Phoenix weakly proclaimed.

“Oh, my god!” Quark quickly grabbed the dying woman and flew as fast as he could.

The pearl exploded, taking half of the mountainside with it. The explosion was so great that it appeared to the people of Japan that the mountain was erupting. A shock wave of energy blasted out after that and the power went out from coast to coast.

***

Gamma stopped in Naha City, Okinawa, and watched as the magnificent dragon came down and transformed into a man.

“Why can I see you do that, but no one else noticed?”

Lord Dragon stated, “Magic.”

“Sure. So, what’s the plan?”

Lord Dragon walked with him down a street, “We have been to three locations already. If Jinn was following us, then he should be sufficiently confused. I believe we will know soon when the pearl has been moved.”

“How will we know?” Gamma asked.

“Simple, we...” Lord Dragon suddenly looked back, horror written on his face, “NO!”

“What! What is it?” Gamma was ready to attack.

Lord Dragon fell to his knees and held his chest, “My...wife. What has he done!”

“Sir?”

At that moment a massive wave of energy crossed the island. Gamma was hardly moved, but Lord Dragon hit the ground, writhing, “My...pearl! What...what has he...DONE!” This last word became a scream, with fire pouring out of his mouth.

“WHOA! WATCH IT!”

Lord Dragon slowly stood up, his eyes blank. “I will end this world.”

Gamma stepped back, “No, those are the same eyes as cupid had when...” Lord Dragon hit Gamma with a blast of fire from his mouth, throwing the ninja clear across the street. Then he transformed into a dragon again and attacked the city.

***

Nova stood before his monitors in the BADGE control room. EB hopped around on the table behind him, so he could see better. One screen displayed the dragon’s rampage over Okinawa. Another had Mt. Fuji billowing smoke while sirens blared across three prefectures. The primary screen had Chase and Gar.

A fourth screen came on with Gamma. His face filled the screen while he raced through the city. “Nova! Lord Dragon has leveled the port. I’m trying to get people to safety!”

“Why is he doing this?”

“I don’t know, but his eyes...they are the same eyes I saw in Cupid when he had lost his mind. This can only mean one thing. WHOA!” He jumped to avoid a falling building. Then the screen went dark.

“This is out of control.” Nova stated, “If Gamma is right, then Lord Dragon has been corrupted by Jinn, somehow.”

Chase said, “I don’t know. Right now the barrier that protected this palace is gone. People in Kyoto are noticing a whole new mountain and palace on their doorstep.”

“We need...” Nova leaned in, “What is that?”

Chase and Gar turned around to see the figure of Quark fade into view, in his arms an old lady in a red kimono.

“Quark?” Gar helped him put the woman on the ground.

Chase asked, “Is that...”

Quark nodded, “Lady Phoenix. Jinn did this to her. I don’t know how. She has almost no power left in her. He has also destroyed the Dragon Pearl.”

EB hopped over to Nova, “That must be it. He destroyed the pearl and Lord Dragon has gone insane. It split him in half.”

Nova asked, “is there anything we can do?”

Lady Phoenix weakly spoke, “Gather...the pearl.”

“What?”

She closed her eyes and did not respond.

EB said, “The Pearl is the key to his sanity. I don’t know if it can be put back together, but as long as we gather it, it should bring him back to his senses.”

“Then, we have our mission. Gar, Chase, heroes will come to you with pearl pieces, gather them. I will be on my way ASAP. Hold the fort till I get there and be ready for anything.”

“What about Lord Dragon?” Gar asked.

Nova said, “I will send a few heroes to keep him distracted. We’ll not engage, not like Paris. I won’t let that happen again. For now, our job is reforming that pearl. Get on it, BADGE out.”

***

At the palace, Chase and Gar knelt next to Lady Phoenix. Her ancient body gasping for breath.
“Can you do something?” Gar asked Quark.

Quark held a hand over her, but nothing happened, “Whatever Jinn did, he blocked it from stopping. This power they have...it defies even me, and that is kinda frightening.”

Lady Phoenix weakly touched Gar’s hand. A strange energy flowed over his hand beforeshe let go. Then, her head fell to the side and her body disintegrated. Chase leaned over on Gar and wept while Quark kindly used his power to gather her remains into a sphere of energy.

Quark softly asked, “What did she do to you?”

Gar looked at his hand, “She saw part of Jinn’s vision. She showed an image, the three of us, Nova, Chase, and me. One of us is the Mythic.”