Heroes Rising Fiction: The Reckoning Part 11

Nova sat in a position he had not been in for three hundred years. Riding on the back of the enormous form of Lord Dragon. Around him flew dozens of heroes. The sky remained that sickly coppery hue, as though a giant shadow had covered the planet. Below them, hoards of demonic ghosts walked around, terrifying the unsuspecting citizens of Earth.

As they flew, more and more heroes could be seen. Some flew, some ran, others used their own unique forms of transport. Soon enough various aircraft and shuttles joined them. These additional vehicles moved against the flow, each filled with scared citizens fleeing from what is sure to be a deadly battle.

They approached Bursa, Turkey. Commercial and military aircraft filled the skies while heroes worked furiously to get people away. What they didn’t see were the ghosts, the town was devoid of them.

“TAKE US DOWN!” Nova ordered.

Lord Dragon turned and led the gathered heroes toward the ground. They landed in the middle of a vacant market square. Nova jumped off and was soon joined by the human form of Lord Dragon. Krystal Fae and Crimson Guardian were first to him. Strange Quark had stopped to help gather some children from an orphanage and get them to a shuttle through teleportation.

“We have reports, sir.” Krystal checked her comm device. “Bursa is at eighty percent evacuation. The surrounding areas are approaching fifty percent.”

Nova shook his head. “Not good enough. Move, get out there, and help. Use whatever you have to, but get those civilians to safety.”

“Understood.” Krystal gestured to Crimson, and both blasted off to fulfill his orders.

EB hopped around Nova’s feet. “Where are those ghost things?”

Quetzalcoatl approached and answered the bunny, “It is as we feared. Jinn wants us here, he is doing everything to attract our attention to this place.”

Nova commanded, “Get out there, find him.”

Both EB and Quetzalcoatl left in opposite directions, searching for signs of their enemy.

Lord Dragon stood with Nova in that Square. “There is a distant look in your eyes, old friend.”

Nova nodded. “It has been a long time since I was here. I monitored Jinn for years after his defeat. Once he left here, I never felt the need to return.” He spent a moment in reflection. “I forgot.”

“Forgot what?”

“How beautiful this place was. So green.”

Lord Dragon gave off a brief smile. “When this is over, remember the beauty of this world, it will help lessen the pain that is sure to come. Now, I have something of yours.”

Nova saw a sword appear in Lord Dragon’s hands. It was a large, two-handed blade. “My sword. I haven’t used that in two hundred years.”

Lord Dragon presented it to him. “This fight will require your greatest abilities. We will all need to be at our best.”

Nova took the sword and held it with both hands for a long moment. Just as he was about to speak, EB came rushing up to him. “NOVA! I SENSED HIM!”

Lord Dragon’s head snapped to the side and his eyes widened, “I too sense him.”

“Where is he?”

EB pointed up toward the tallest hill near Bursa. “Up there.”

Lord Dragon said, “He waits for us.”

“Then, let’s not make him impatient.” Nova held up his hand. Lord Dragon quickly transformed. As he did, Nova’s hand grasped a horn on his head. Both rose into the sky.

Nova’s flight grabbed the attention of many heroes in the area. EB yelling for them to come also helped gather them. Nova, standing nearly on the top of Lord Dragon’s head, watched the tree-covered hill approach. He peered hard but did not see anyone standing there.

“Where is he?” He whispered.

As if to answer his question, a brilliant explosion of fire blasted out in all directions. Flaming trees flew away and a trolley-lift crashed down the mountain, dragging with it all the pylons that held the line up. Once the smoke settled and the fires faded, a hooded figure remained.

Nova jumped off Lord Dragon and flipped in the air, landing on his feet directly before Jinn. Lord Dragon materialized into a human to his left, and EB held two eggs on his right. No sooner had they taken up their positions did a thick line of heroes encircle the fire destruction. A dome of flying heroes hovered overhead. No one moved. A deep tension filled the air as everyone waited for the order to attack.

Jinn looked up from under that hood, his eyes glowing a bright red. “Jadid, my old observer, how kind of you to bring so many friends to join me on this glorious day.”

Nova held his sword with both hands. “Stand down, Jinn. We’re ready for you.”

Jinn cackled in laughter. “Oh, how arrogant of you. You do not understand what I’ve become. You have yet to comprehend what I’m about to do to this world.”

Lord Dragon said, “You will do nothing to this world! You have done enough! It is time to end this!”

“Oh, father. How foolish you’ve been. We’re gods among insects, and you play at being some kind, little spirit in the corner. No, not for me! I choose a different life. This world needs a leader, someone whom they will come to worship.”

Gamma Ray yelled, “We will never worship you! You will never be our god!”

“God...god...no, not a god.” Jinn spent a moment relishing his next words. “A devil, THE DEVIL! I will embody that which brings fear to all who walk this Earth.”

Krystal Fae landed and formed energy in her hands. “Oh, shut up!” She threw that energy out and it became a set of pink glowing chains.

Jinn swiftly flicked his arm out and the chains reflected and wrapped around her. The force of the impact sent her tumbling back through the heroes and into the burnt trees. “HOW DARE YOU USE MAGIC ON ME!”

Nova stood, unflinching, “We have you outnumbered. There are more heroes here than you fought before, and hundreds more on the way. End this peacefully, or be destroyed.”

Jinn chuckled for a moment. “By all means, try to destroy me.”

No one was certain who started it, but among the heroes, a blast of blue energy was thrown at Jinn. That began the onslaught. Hundreds, then thousands of blasts flew at him. One by one, he deflected them back. His movements were uncanny, his strength unbelievable. Hero after hero was hit by their own attack. Some returned to keep fighting, others went down.

Finally, Lord Dragon and Nova rushed at Jinn. Lord Dragon used fire-filled fists to swipe at his son. Jinn dodged him but missed that sword. Nova cut right across Jinn’s side. The distraction was enough to allow the energy blasts to make it to their target. Jinn hit the ground on his knees as the power poured over his body. He laughed. Nova stepped back. So much energy hit Jinn that his body became a bright light. Then it stopped. Jinn turned black, and his body became ash, pouring across the ground.

There was a strange silence in the area. The heroes pulled back on their attack but did not lower their defenses. They didn’t even check on the fallen.

Nova finally said, “That can’t be it.”

EB hopped closer and gingerly tested the ash with one foot. “I don’t understand.”

After a moment longer, the heroes backed up. A few went to help those who had fallen. Krystal had pulled herself free of her own binding chains.

Nova took out his comm device. “Nova to agent Justin, we...” the ground suddenly trembled.

“What was that?” Crimson Guardian asked.

It came again, this time a massive roaring sound blasting out from the mountain.

Lord Dragon groaned and held his head, “It’s...him. I feel great power.”

EB held his head with both hands. “This is unbearable.”

The darkened skies changed to a deep red. The world became the color of blood. Demonic ghosts filled the streets of Bursa, and beyond.

Quetzalcoatl swooped down as a snake and became a man. “I know this power. RUN!”

The ground quaked again, heroes became unbalanced. Part of the hillside crumbled and slid. The roaring rumble echoed across the land. Those demons became less transparent and their eyes turned into a harsh, red glow.

“GET OFF THE SUMMIT!” Nova yelled.

Lord Dragon transformed, allowing Nova to jump on. In his claw he grabbed EB. Heroes raced and flew away from the summit with haste. Some even carried companions who weren’t fast enough.
The ground broke at the point where the ashes fell. Rocks and dirt crumbled into the opening hole. Large wings broke the land in two. Hands reached up and tore the hill apart and lifted a monstrous creature to its feet. A red-skinned demon stood before the world, taller than any building in the town below. Dressed in the same garb as when he was a Djinn, Jinn now had a fresh face, that of a demon. No eyes, just black holes. Fangs in his horrid smile. Twisted horns on his head. His flesh like red leather. This was the horror that haunted the world for the past few weeks.

“NOW, LITTLE HEROES, FACE YOUR DEATH!” Jinn lifted his arms and spread his wings, a wave of black energy exploded out, throwing heroes away. The energy spread to the distant horizon, toppling buildings in Bursa and sending a tidal wave across the water’s surface of the nearby port.

Nova held tight to Lord Dragon as it flung them both far. Both tumbled out of the sky and slid across the ground. Lord Dragon, still holding EB, slammed into a building, demolishing it with his body.

Nova, blood trickling from his many small wounds, looked up into the faces of the many demons approaching. With a shaking hand, he held up his comm device and pressed a code he had never used before. Across the planet, every computer, phone, and television connected to the internet fuzzed with a single voice calling out. “To all heroes, operatives, and world governments, we have a code Omega.” The doomsday signal.