Chapter 7 - Jumping into Hell
Chapter 7 - Jumping into Hell
The Skies of Pandorum were lit only by the light of the millions of stars in the galaxy, and the three moons, which sat over the horizon, one blue, one white and one a reddish colour.
The area was calm, quiet; Becka had sent the teleport team into a forest near the city's boarders. Even the birds and crickets seemed to be sleeping, everything was quiet, except for the soft whistle of the wind, it appeared to be summer on the surface, a warm air whisking around the Evan, Spencer and Josh.
"Where are the others?" Josh asked meekly.
"Right.... There!" Spencer pointed straight up.
From a normal person's eye, all you could see from the surface was three new stars, but from Spencer and the others perspective, they could clearly make out the definition of three dragons hurtling towards the planet, their wings shielding them from the immense heat which was slamming into them from the atmosphere.
"Normal atmosphere in two hundred meters..." Skye warned,
"All right, normal atmosphere transition... Now!" Alex yelled as he spread his wings, slowing his descent.
"They're still coming in way too fast!" Evan observed.
"I know... they'll fix it..." Spencer was calm.
The three incoming dragons spread their wings, keeping themselves perpendicular to the surface, they slowly began losing speed.
"Were still too fast!" Skye shouted.
"Open your wings full, try not to break anything." Alex replied.
The three incoming dragons opened their wings full, feeling the immense pressure and tension on their bodies they slowed down to a survivable fall speed.
"Morph back to humans, we can't be seen as dragons yet," Skye ordered,
"Aye," they replied, and three plumes of energy erupted from the dragons as they impacted on the surface.
Once all the dust had cleared, three boys stood in a small crater each had made; they each stood and cleaned the dirt off their skin and clothing.
"Show offs!" Spencer chirped, as he walked over to greet them.
"Think anyone noticed that?" Skye asked.
"You came in too fast for radar to get a good read, but you did shoot an awful amount of heat." Evan warned.
"Okay then, let's get walking, we need to setup a samples station on the banks of that lake." Skye countered, "Let's get it done."
The six boys ran into the shadows, keeping hidden as they moved tree to tree keeping from being seen by anything.
Once they reached the lake, Spencer pulled his pack open and took out the samples vials, they collected everything that Serina had requested and contacted her requesting she beam it up. After the supplies were taken, they six decided to wander around the forest and go over to the city, see what went on there.
"So what else do we know about this planet?" Spencer asked.
"Well scans indicated increased nocturnal activities, maybe they like running around at night." Alex guessed.
"Hey look, the city," Evan commented.
City was a great over statement, it may look huge from space, but it was 2nd world quality, small houses, no big businesses no business at all, no skyscrapers. It looks more like a village; it even had a keep, like ones from medieval times.
"This doesn't feel right." Josh whispered.
"I know, I don't like it much either, but we have to make contact." Skye replied.
The group entered the village; nobody was around, despite being nocturnal people they sure stayed inside.
"Hey look a couple of people," Evan commented.
"They're holding torches..." Skye answered.
"Hey you, stop where you are!" the first man yelled.
"Why do I not like where this is going," Spencer thought aloud.
The men approached, they looked more like knights the way they were dressed, but their armour was worn and covered in blood spray.
"What is a group of kids like you doing out at this time of night?" he shouted.
"We're not from around here, we're just looking around." Skye replied.
"Not on this night, not if you value your lives, it's the night of the blood moon." He warned grabbing Alex's wrist.
"Let go!" Alex shouted, not wanting to hurt the man pulling free.
"You're coming to the tavern, we can explain more there," he curtly replied.
"What's this blood moon thing?" Spencer asked.
"It happens every cycle of the moon," the 1st man said.
"Yeah basically every new moon, the moon turns red, and the other white one you see shines brighter than ever." The second replied.
"So what's that got to do with anything?" Skye asked.
"Well, all hell breaks loose that's all," the 1st answered.
"How?" Evan inquired.
"You scared of the dark?" the 2nd asked.
"No, course not!" Evan snapped.
"Round here you should be!" he answered.
There conversation was interrupted by a loud howling sound, from around them growls and snarls could be heard.
"Are those wolves?" Josh asked, fear creeping into his voice.
"Not just wolves..." the 1st man replied, "The blood moon isn't call the blood moon because of its colour, it's because of what certain people do under it. There is a war every two weeks, between beasts, they fight till dawn then it's over with for a fortnight."
"What kind of beasts?" Alex asked.
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you." The second said.
There was a second howl now, a lot closer, there bushed to the North of them rustling.
"Brace yourselves, looks like we're in the middle of this fight... It's not going to be pretty." The guard warned.
"What isn't?" Spencer asked, but was cut short.
A massive wolf leapt through the air, landing on all fours in front of them, he then stood up, his massive muscles bulging, it wasn't a wolf, that would have been all right it was a...
"Werewolf!" the guards yelled, trying to get reinforcements.
"Your joking, werewolves don't exist!" Evan snapped.
"Neither do dragons!" Skye laughed, "So if we can break that rule, I guess they can too."
Soon an entire pack of wolves were standing in the village circle, they growled and stood as if they were people, waiting.
"What are they waiting for?" Alex asked.
"Them!" the 2nd man replied, pointing to a group of kids, teenagers even, walking into the clearing.
"They're just... Teenagers!" Ryan replied, until he saw one of them drop his jaws and hiss.
"Seriously... vampires!" Ryan stammered.
"We couldn't have picked a better planet." Skye mumbled.
"Be careful, they don't just fight, they feed too!" the 1st man warned. There was a loud cracking sound as the branches behind the guards snapped and a wolf grabbed one of the men, dragging him off into the woods.
"Harold!" the other shouted, chasing after him.
"This could get bad!" Spencer replied.
"Becka can you beam us up?" Alex asked.
"There is something blocking my targeting solutions, it's something to do with the moons." She replied, "Sorry!"
"Looks like we're fighting this one out!" Skye said standing and taking a fighting stance.
Three wolves turned their attention to the new prey; they leapt into the air, only to be struck down by Skye's wall of energy he smashed them with.
The three wolves yelped, but quickly got back up.
"This could be a problem!" Skye commented.
"Let's get em!" Evan shouted, using his speed to easily out manoeuvre them, he was landing blows across them, but the wolves kept coming back.
Several more wolves swarmed them, they were soon joined with the vampires, apparently, and they put aside their differences to target their new prey.
"We're screwed!" Josh muttered.
"No were not!" Skye shouted, slamming a group of them with another charged blast.
"Yeah, we've been through worse!" Ryan replied, as his golden coated feet made contact with the lead vampire's face. His augmented kick should have sent him flying, but he stood his ground, it was like Ryan had just kicked a brick wall.
"Physical attacks won't work!" Ryan observed.
"Elemental ones?" Skye suggested.
"Sure," Ryan replied shooting a ball of water at a wolf, while Alex electrocuted him.
Skye set a vampire on fire, and while it did seem to slow him, he was strong enough to walk through the assault.
"They're still too strong and have too many to take down, we gotta get outta here!" Skye ordered.
"We can't they have us surrounded.
A second later they closed the circle, the vampires and wolves seemed to agree, they had won... They pounced... Teeth and claws were everywhere, the boys had no real defence, and then it came to Skye and Ryan.
"Bubble!" Skye shouted.
A second later a bubble light surrounded Skye, then Ryan's golden coating covered it, the bubble began expanding, surrounding all of the boys now, their wounds fresh. The bubble forced the wolves and the vampires back; they couldn't get through the barrier.
"Now!" Skye shouted, covering the bite on his neck, "Go!"
The boys focused, their elements began surrounding them; fire, water, electricity, then the power was sent in a burst of their power straight into the bubble which reflected the energy into the crowd, the wolves let out a deep guttural howl followed by the hiss of the vampires, the chase was on.
"I can't fucking believe this is happening!" Alex shouted.
"This is bullshit!" Evan snapped.
"Just run!" Skye replied, "We can get revenge later!"
The boys continued running, they made a straight cut through the forest, coming up upon the hill where Skye and the others had first taken samples. There were the same silver flowers surrounding the clearing, a soft but sweet smell filling the night air.
Spencer and Evan were the last two into the meadow, the wolves charged into the clearing, they leapt at the boys, but as they flew towards them, they smashed into a force field.
"What's going on?" Ryan asked.
"Not sure," Skye replied, "Don't really care to find out."
The vampires were right on the wolves' tails, also smashing into the barrier, they began clawing at the force field, their stone hard nails screeching against the energy shield.
"Becka, try and beam us back up now!" Skye requested.
"Locking on, yes... it seems to be working!" Becka sung, "transport in three... two... one... mark!"
The group of boys vanished, teleported into the low orbiting Thunder, as soon as they left the clearing, the barrier collapsed and the pack of wolves charged in.
***
Aboard the Thunder, Ryan, Josh and Lucas were beamed into one of Skye's testing rooms, along with him, and the others teleported into the other room across the hall, the doors hissed shut, and the red containment lights blazed brightly.
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