Heroes Rising Fiction: The Missing Mythic Part 12

Lord Dragon knelt in the middle of the courtyard, still weeping over the ashes of his dead wife.

Krystal looked around. “Has anyone seen Gar or Chase?”

No one answered, most looked around in curiosity.

Fiero rushed over. “I’m trying to reach Nova, he isn’t responding.”

Krystal flipped out her comm. “He always responds.”

Final Judgment approached. “We’ve checked most of the island, Chase and Gar are nowhere to be seen. No one has seen them since we left the palace.”

EB hopped over to Quark, an endearing look on his face. “Where’s my buddies?”

Krystal shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Maneki-Neko smiled. “Don’t worry. If they’re at the palace, we put up another barrier. Even Jinn cannot break that without considerably more strength than he currently has.”

“All the same,” Fiero said, “I would rather know where they are.”

“Yes.” Krystal addressed everyone, “Okay, we...” she paused when EB’s ears stood up and he looked horrified. “What’s wrong?”

“Chase broke the egg.”

“The...what?” Final Judgement asked.

EB looked up at Lord Dragon. “I gave her a favor egg. If she broke it, then she’s in trouble. It was broken at your palace.”

Lord Dragon said, “MY SON WILL NOT KILL AGAIN TODAY!” He flashed and turned into his dragon form again, blasting off in a flurry.

Crimson Guardian yelled out, “BACK TO THE PALACE! NOW!” and he took off.

Moments before:

Jinn stood before his three victims. They struggled against the restraints he held them with. Approaching slowly, he eyed each of them.

“I always knew you were special. The day I first encountered you, I realized that there was something...not human about you.” He came close to Chase. “Do you know what I am?”

She gagged out, “A murderer.”

He laughed. “Justice isn’t murder.” Turning his attention to Nova he said, “Did my father ever reveal the truth about us while you worked for him all those years?”

Nova growled out, “Why are you telling us this? GET IT OVER WITH!”

Jinn laughed, “Don’t you want to know the truth? I believe you’ve secretly understood this for a long time. You see, the last warrior of our kind fell to this world and died. Oh, but he didn’t die. He changed, he gave a new life for himself. In his devotion to his duty of protecting the weak, he enacted a sacrifice. He gave his life to create, YOU!” He thrust his hand out and Gargoyle was lifted from the ground. Red energy blazed over his stone body as he seemed to feel pain.

“NO! GAR!” Chase cried out.

Jinn walked closer to Gar still gripping him in this spell. “Yes, Gargoyle. What gives you life and allows you to exist is the full, complete energy of your creator. Inside you is the core of power that fueled the man who sacrificed everything to make you. We are Vexillians, both of us. You may be crafted by human hands, but your soul, your very essence is the same as mine. Now, that core of power inside you will give me all I need to become a true god.” He tightened his grip, and Gar screamed.

Chase watched as Gar slowly turned his face to look at her. She fidgeted and loosened a small object she always kept close. The crystal egg fell and burst apart.

All the while, Jinn drew closer to Gar, his hand pulling the energy from his chest. Gar yelled, perhaps feeling physical pain for the first time. As he moved, his body became more and more rigid. He slowly stopped, freezing in place, completely lifeless.

“STOP! PLEASE!” Chase yelled.

Jinn stepped back, holding a floating ball of pure light. “It’s too late, he’s dead. However, I shall let you and Jadid here join him.” He reached up with one hand and their restraints tightened, cutting off oxygen and blood flow.

Suddenly the ceiling exploded as a dragon crashed through. Lord Dragon hit Jinn with a blast of power and sent him flying out of the room and into the garden. Chase and Nova gasped for air and fell over as their restraints vanished.

Jinn came to his feet, seemingly unfazed by the powerful attack sent at him. “Oh, dear father, I see you found your senses.”

Before Lord Dragon could speak, dozens of heroes arrived, as well as EB and Maneki-Neko. They threw hundreds of energy blasts at Jinn, but he protected himself with a barrier.

Once the onslaught stopped, he calmly said, “Not yet, little heroes. Soon, very soon.” With that, he vanished in a flash of light.

Lord Dragon took his human form while more heroes arrived and joined the others, filling the throne room.

Quark rushed in. “Where is he?”

Nova stood up. “It’s too late.”

“What?” Krystal asked.

EB hopped around the crowd. “Oh, thank goodness. You guys are still alive.”

Chase slowly walked over to Gar. “No...we are not.” A wave of gasps followed as the gathered people realized gargoyle was truly a statue now.

“No!” Quark cried out.

People quieted down as Chase approached Gar. A new heaviness filled the room. There were no words to be said. The loss was greater in their hearts than that of Lady Phoenix, for this was closer to them, this was one of their own.

Chase’s hands trembled as she reached up and felt that stone face. A look of agony and fear became the last image he would forever hold. She whispered, “Can you bring him back?”

Lord Dragon answered, “That which gave him life has been stolen. I cannot change that with any amount of power.”

Nova wanted to say something, but even he was choked up. No one had words to speak. They all watched as Chase put her hands on Gar and placed her forehead against his chest.

Suddenly she gasped. Her power connected to him in a way she had never connected to anything. She could see his thoughts, his feelings. It was as though she were standing there, next to him in the past, yet knowing what he felt inside. For a moment, she sat in the garden with Gar and Lady Phoenix and listened to him struggle with his feelings for her. She watched him pick the flower for her the day she arrived in Japan. She saw herself hugging him, and that overwhelming warmth in his heart at the embrace. Every small moment he looked upon her and yearned to tell her how beautiful she was to him, how much he wanted to be with her all the time. He longed to hold her, to protect her. Then, that moment in the garden, when she told him Jinn’s story. Gar was ready, at that moment, to tell her the truth. She saw herself through the eyes of a man who loved her more than she ever thought possible.

The others in this room had no idea what she saw, what she felt, only that she stayed there for a long time embracing what was left of Gar. Then, a soft sobbing broke the silence. Tears fell from her and ran down his stone body.

Nova slowly approached her, and whispered, “Chase.”

She turned and fell on him, holding him and weeping on his shoulder, “He loved me… Oh god, how could I have not seen it? All he wanted was to hold me. Oh, Nova, I want to hold him, I want to be with him.”

There was hardly a dry eye in the room. All mourned not just for a lost hero, but for what was left behind.

One Week later:

Nova stood before the monitors at BADGE, speaking with several heroes and Santa Claus.

Gamma Ray said, “No sign throughout the entire Asian Continent.”

Strange Quark added, “I have done an inter-dimensional search. Nothing so far.”

Santa reported, “I have been in contact with all the mythics willing to respond. They haven’t seen hide nor hair of Jinn.”

Nova spoke to Santa, “We need to know his next move. He has been one step ahead of us at every point, and that has to stop.”

Santa responded, “He is clever, has always been. You know that. But we will put our heads together and figure this out. However, Lord Dragon has suggested that it may take some time for Jinn to complete this act of his. It is no small task he is planning. We have some time.”

“Precious little time,” Quark stated.

Nova said, “Then we must keep searching for clues. Everyone knows their jobs, get to it.” He pressed a button and all the screens went blank.

Nova left the operations center and walked around the main hall. He stopped at an open door, expecting to find someone. The room had a large container set in the center, around it were flowers and gifts of all descriptions. Gargoyle rested in that box, waiting for a proper burial. Heroes and even the Italian Embassy sent gifts in honor of the late hero. However, Nova did not find the person he expected in here.

Walking further, he found Chase in the holding cells. “Chase, what are you doing here?”

She stood before the cell holding Leprechaun. “I...I thought he might know something about Jinn.”

“We’ve already asked him every question. He won’t...”

“He’s willing to talk.”

Nova gave Leprechaun a raised eyebrow. “I’m afraid I don’t trust him.”

“I do.”

Leprechaun spoke up, “Nova, I am sorry for what I did.”

“Why the sudden change of heart?” Nova asked, no trust in his voice.

Leprechaun walked to the edge of the barrier, “I told you I knew who the mythic was. I was not lying. However, I did not tell you because...I wanted to protect him.”

Nova became enraged. “YOU KNEW!”

“My brother was the last general who fought Legion on our world. He fled. Until I met Gargoyle, I didn’t know that it was my brother who came here. You see, Nova, the power that gave

Gargoyle life also reshaped him. I know this because the face he wears is that of my nephew, my brother’s only son. My nephew died at the hands of Legion before we left. My brother gave Gargoyle the face of the boy he lost, the boy he loved, the nephew I loved. Now that Jinn has murdered him...I will turn all my anger, all my vengeance toward him. Whatever you need from me, I will offer.”

Nova deactivated the barrier, “I accept.”