The Acolytes of Crane

15 THEODORE: HELL





I am no longer Theodore Crane. I am prisoner eight-six-seven-five, reduced to a number within a database, and a nobody in a prison cell.

My first war was on the planet of Tritillia. It is hard to believe I can tell of this war so quickly. I think of my time on this planet, and it seems like it was an eternity, given that it was such a captivating civilization.

Make no mistake. Tritillia, the jewel of the cosmos. There is no other planet in the multiverse as breath-taking, yet treacherous. If heaven is real, it consists of a dream-like life on Tritillia, tinged with the anxiety derived from its menacing creatures.

Let me explain what Ed had briefed me on during our one hour of orbiting the emerald planet. This planet is navigated by its three massive rivers; the Latilliam, the Demonxillia, and the Dartilliac. Those rivers stitch the Tritillian landscape. Their plentiful tributaries nourish new life and give strength to bountiful layers of flora and fauna that exist all over the planet.

I lift my tablet closer to my face. I glance at my reflection on the shiny surface and perceive that the shadows upon my face are subsiding. I look healthier. Yes, I feel more energy. Finally, after weeks of foreboding, after weeks of drifting in and out of bare consciousness, excitement is in the air.

Must be these injections from that shapely nurse. Yes. That’s it!

If my hosts are trying to revive me, there must be a plot thickening outside these walls. I wonder if anyone else from my space adventures is here, captured like me.

“Alright, here we go. So let’s see. The Valeon sun’s red aura against the moons—varying in shade and tone—lavished the ground with a monochromatic display of light.”

The same dwarf star that birthed the neighboring planet Karshiz, home of King Trazuline, generously bestowed sunlight upon the plant Kingdom of Tritillia: a world ruled by plants and populated by millions of insects.

Both Tritillian phyla of life were deadly, yet alluring in their own ways. Beautiful roses seeped venomous sap from their barbed thorns. Razor-sharp leaves from the KeKua tree, if detached by turbulent winds, could amputate a limb.

Sentient plant beings, known as Elons, were native to the massive plant world that inspired fear into any wayward visitors that had the misfortune to crash-land upon the beguiling planet. The Elons were sly, graceful, volatile, and dangerous, all at the same time. They were not to be trusted. The Elons were just incapable of recognizing outsiders as friendly.

The Elons believed that creation of their world was divinely inspired; chaotic, genuine, and organic. They were right. They too denounced Zane for the methodological assembly-line mass production of his followers. To them, Zane was building a powerful empire out of nothing—just the inorganic materials of lost souls. He was suspected of luring unsuspecting beings to Sephera, where they would die. Even so, he would not let them rest in peace.

Yes, Zane’s creations were all clones—a label that detractors also derisively affixed upon the Dietons.

Looking back, I did admire these Elons. I thought they had a healthy and passionate yearning for freedom. To keep a symbiotic relationship with your planet is paramount in the scheme of love.

The emergent level of the forest stretched four thousand feet into the air, just before it finally touched the grace of the sky. As for the jungle beneath, it was so rampageous that not even the Elons could find complete solace there.

The Elons’ only native enemies were the insects. The insects had no remorse over nibbling away at the fiber of the Elons, should they remain too still. The other plants were not sentient, mobile creatures like the Elons and hence were more at the mercy of these ravenous critters. The insects of Tritillia were massive, domineering, nasty brutes. Most rivaled the size of the birds we knew on Earth. A Pegolatian moth was the size of our great eagle. In the unfortunate scenario that someone was foolish enough to take a shot at this gargantuan moth with a phaser gun, it usually would shed its scales, a toxic event that could destroy an entire village of Elons. Thankfully, such moths were difficult to find within the forest’s dense canopy.

Size, however, wasn’t a measure of viciousness. A Drigorian Mosquito was smaller than a dust particle. It could release hemotoxic venom that destroyed red blood cells—ultimately killing the flesh of any blood driven beast. The toxins had no effect on Elons, since only chlorophyll ran through their veins. The dermonecrotic lesions that the insect could inflict were similar to the brown recluse spider that is native to America.

The Elons were made up entirely of plant cells. They didn’t have brains like us. They functioned upon instinct, preserved by memory. Their reflexive experience was so advanced that they knew how to act and react upon their environment precisely with each previously learned situation.

Elons were bound to their environment. They communicated through the incredible concept of Kora, meaning love by transference. It was like telepathy, but far more simple and devastatingly effective. Instinct, rather than complex thought, was transmitted from plant to plant through a domino effect.

The King of Tritillia could set the whole forest in motion with one tap of a leaf or a tug at a blade of grass. That same power made Tritillia uninhabitable by any outside species, because the forest could collapse on an enemy like a fifty-pound drum of sand on a beetle.


Our ship was rapidly descending toward the planet. Our hull, set ablaze by atmospheric friction, approached dangerous levels of stress, nearing total collapse. Gritting my teeth, I pressed on, destined to make an impact with the ground below.

We were about thirty thousand feet from the surface of the greenest planet I had ever seen. Our descent was shaken by the ferocious gusts of wind in the stratosphere. Luckily for me, Ed was an accomplished aviator and a maverick of the air.

That wasn’t one of the best flights possible. Fear gripped my throat. I did not want to head out so far away from Zane, only to die on my own watch.

‘Ed, what the hell is happening?’ I screamed. I banged against the walls. I was defenseless within our steel coffin. My body slammed into the buttons and levers situated in the wall, because my harness wasn’t attached correctly.

‘I told you to buckle and then pull the strap, and did you do so? No, you didn’t. You are not smart,’ Ed stated with outright honesty, giving no regard to my feelings. It was typical robot behavior. I finally plopped down on my seat long enough to sit. I shredded the leather of my chair with my fingernails. I was that anxious.

The temperature of our ship’s cabin increased to one hundred and thirty degrees Fahrenheit. I could not even bring up my hand to my face to wipe away the sweat, because I strapped it tightly to the chair. My perspiration mercilessly stabbed at my eyes, despite my intense squinting. Through my slits, I gasped as a panel from the bow on the outside peeled off like the lid of a sardine can, then disappeared.

‘If we don’t make it, I just want you to know I think you are a damn good robot,’ I said as if I was saying my last words.

‘Is this the beginning of a verbal will, because I am not currently recording audio? My processor’s focal point is landing this ship,’ Ed said while he was computing all of his flight variables.

We were a ticking bomb, set to explode against the planet beneath us. Ed launched anti-gravity propulsion thrusters from the stern of the ship, and these slowed us down considerably. I was having trouble breathing, and as the space between the looming jungle and our ship narrowed, so did my breath.

Ten… nine… eight…

Impact was imminent. I was about to die.

CRASH! My body reverberated with the impact and my clenched teeth nearly fractured. When we hit, Ed went off-line, and I was knocked unconscious.

Several moments passed by. Slowly, groggily, I rose out of my concussion-induced slumber. Any further velocity and my rolesk could have been embedded into my scalp for good. Ed was still off-line, and I heard thrashing and slithering noises outside. Something was coming after us!

I could not see beyond the windows, so thick and dense was the vegetation surrounding us. I felt positively claustrophobic. Was it my imagination, or was the jungle closing in on us?

‘Wake up Ed, come on! You can’t just go off-line when the crap is hitting the fan!’ I screamed, and shook his stainless steel body.

Crack! Creak! Bam! Deafening noises arose as the hull began to bow inward and beams began to crack and buckle. The jungle was pulverizing our ship from all directions!

The walls closed in, and I quickly grabbed pipes that were knocked from their bindings to jam from wall to wall, slowing the crushing force from the plants outside. That done, I desperately salvaged as much as I could for my imminent escape from the death trap. My heart beating, I unsheathed Wrath with one hand, on the lookout for predators. Next, I rattled Ed’s body wildly. He was barely responsive.

‘Ed, I need you! You’re an a*shole!’ I said. After blaming Ed for everything, I noticed that Ed had what appeared to be an Allen key, strung out on a cord from the cabinet on his back. I zipped over to the key, seized it, and made countless attempts to plug it into every robotic orifice on the damn thing, as the ship’s cabin continued to be compressed inwards. Finally, I found the right slot for the key—in his leg.

‘Ed, wake up you—you jerk!’ I shouted.

‘The chance of us surviving this inward pressure is two percent,’ he said in a monotone, and I quickly unlatched him from his seat to aid me in stopping the crushing forces.

The walls began to vice me, and the metal pinched my skin just below my armpit, causing me to drop my sword in anguish. Ed and I were pinned between the roof and the floor of our ship. Finally, just as I thought I was about to be squished to death, the inward pressure stopped. I could only move my shoulders a few inches.

If it weren’t for Ed, I might have slowly starved away in the rattletrap. With his incredible robotic strength, Ed forced the roof slightly higher, affording me a clear reach to my sword. I stretched my fingers, feeling the renewed circulation of blood within the ligaments of my biceps and shoulders. I massaged my shoulder, just so I could convince myself my blood pressure was returning to normal.

‘Just a little more, Ed!’ I yelled.

I grabbed my gun-blade Wrath, and flipped the switch to on, using Wrath to initiate destruction on the hull of the ship. Wrath was glorious at that moment. As I felt a swell of pride, I slashed away at the junk. The damage incurred was devastating to the vessel after I let loose the fury of Wrath.

I stood on top of the ship wreckage and reached inward to grab Ed to pull him out, but to my surprise, he levitated toward me. The metal compartment on his back was a type of jet pack. Yes, he was the bot that was just full of surprises.

‘Oh man,’ I said, shaking my head at our narrow escape. ‘We were dead—we were so dead, Ed.’ I grabbed my hair, attempting to set my thoughts straight. ‘Now I’m rhyming! Ed, you only have a limited supply of energy. We need to save it. I don’t want you to use your jet pack because I can carry us both with my lifters.’ He told me that he only needed to be plugged in for a second to reach maximum energy capacity. Wow!

Upon his side, Ed pulled out a phaser and started looking about with high alert. I let my sword’s phosphorus green blade glow in the shade under the canopy.

The jungle was thick and overwhelmingly lush. There were thousands of different species of plants surrounding us. We stared at the ecosystem—both stupefied with awe. If Ed could feel emotion, that is.

‘Don’t make any sudden move,’ a voice whispered from behind my ear. I felt a sharp point of a weapon teasing about on the skin on the back of my neck.

The honed object intensified the tension of my neck muscles. I would not look back, lest I provoke whatever was behind me.

‘You hear me robot? Don’t move! I will drive this spear into the spine of your master,’ the male voice said, restricting us to an awkward silence. “Just start walking forward and don’t look back, if I even see the whites of your eyes or a flap of your binoculars, robot, this boy will be a human shish kabob.’

We walked through a worn path suffocated by overhanging foliage. Claustrophobia—a fear that I was never acquainted with—swelled up inside me. Finally, after several minutes of hacking away at the frondescence, there was a clearing in front of us. After we broke through the last layer of the forest, we were at the edge of a cliff. I was afraid to look down.

‘Now, which one of you is in command? Don’t try anything either or you will regret it,’ the alien said. He poked at my neck with his spear from behind, daring me to fall into the canyon.

Ed was quiet, because I was in charge, and like a dork I said, ‘I am the Human Messiah.’

‘Ha, you look like a meal for the Morlorian, and your little robot looks like a good souvenir for the dark Elon King,’ he said, laughing for a moment. ‘Messiah! You could not snap a twig if you fell on it with a bucket of skeetle beetles in hand. Now, what is your business here?


‘We crashed. That is it—we have no mission,’ I said.

‘Then survival is your mission—hmm?’ He stroked his beard in wonder, ‘Ah, but you are a Messiah? You are lying! Tell me, what are you doing here? Or I will cut you up like a water flicket and caramelize you with today’s bonfire,’ the masculine alien said, touching the tip of his weapon against the bony ridge of my shoulder blade.

That did it. I wasn’t going to take any further intimidation from anyone.

With a swift, deft move, I unsheathed Wrath and spun to greet him with its scorching heat and razor-sharp blade. My sword trimmed his long brown beard in half with a singe of his shag. In my haste, I had lost my balance, and teetered at the edge of the cliff. It appeared I was about to fall to my death fifty thousand feet below.

Ed reached out to me, but failed.

‘Master!’ he cried out, with alarm.

A second later, my shoulder smashed into a hard surface, and my trusted gun-blade, Wrath, clanked right beside me. As Wrath was about to bounce off the edge of the newly discovered platform that saved me, I scrambled and grasped it, sighing with relief. Without that sword, I would have been a fart in the wind.

Now that I had a secure moment to scan my surroundings, I discovered that I had fallen onto a rickety structure supported by ropes, situated just below the edge of the cliff. It was similar to the design of a window washer’s platform.

‘What the heck…’ I said in shock.

The makeshift platform started creaking back up to safety. As my head rose above the cliff’s edge, I saw the stranger grunting to turn a structure attached to a tree trunk in front of him, a device that looked like a steering wheel attached to a pulley system. He was helping me.

After shakily crawling back up onto the ground, I took a close look at the Tritillia being that had threatened us previously. He appeared human-like enough. Atop his bald head, he wore a projection band that looked similar to my rolesk. He had a head that appeared proportionally large, as well as an enormously thick neck. His frizzled, unkempt beard showed the singed whiskers from its brush with my sword. His tan robe comfortably clothed him, all the way down to his ankles.

As I stared at him, he growled, ‘I will bring you to my home to gather your wits, but afterwards you are on your own. You are not a Messiah until you prove that you can survive on nothing but your own wits.’

He beckoned both Ed and I to step onto the platform as he firmly grasped the ropes in his hands. Tentatively, I once more treaded on it, while Ed followed closely. Straining, he loosened the rope, lowering the platform along the cliff’s face, while I clasped the railing with white knuckles.

We all descended to a shelf along the side of the cliff. The being led us beyond his neat steppe farm and down a winding ledge on the cliff. I felt goofy from the abundance of oxygen in the air.

The wind rushed in, triggering logs from the upper shelf to come down crashing in front of us. I stepped back, and my heel stumbled against a gnarly, thick vine. As I fell, the blades of grass beneath me turned hard like a bed of nails. The Tritillia being grabbed my hand and pulled me into his arms just before I was inches from being stabbed by a thousand petrified blades of grass.

I smelt his beard as he pulled me in—it reeked of a garlic-like scent, and I scrunched my nose to block out its foul odor.

‘Ha, they know we are here now. We must hurry to the cave. Take caution in your strides. They usually don’t act this quickly. There must have been word of your landing,’ he said. We ran with consideration to every step. The cave was dark, and an impervious blanket of vines curtained the entry.

‘We must hurry. They will be here soon and the wind speed aids in the rate of their transport. I hope you can use that thing,’ he said, after pointing to my sword, and then he shook his head.

In a nagging feminine voice, another being slung words in our direction from within the cave. ‘Zzz-Is that you Pike? I hope you have not brought any more pets back here! I have my hands full-zzz with just you-tch.’

Pike said, ‘Ha, like you can talk! You are the one I have to feed and care for! You know what? I should trade you in for a Morlorian! Not only it could protect me, but I also could sleep all day! Ha!’ Despite his mocking words, he lovingly bowed to her. ‘My queen . . . I have great news. I bring to you, the Earthen Messiah.’

‘The Messiah? The one destined to save Sephera?’ rang out a breathless voice, alluringly feminine.

‘It is he, my queen.’

From the darkness at the back of the cave, a stunning, beautiful Elon emerged, much like a walking Venus Flytrap. She was a strange and wondrous creature. Human-like in appearance, but completely composed of plant cells. Her limbs were smooth and taut; chlorophyll coursed throughout her veins. She did not wear any clothes, and did not need to. The features so common to humans were all rounded down and reduced to insignificance on these beings; however there was no mistaking that this being was female, due to her wider hips and bosom.

No eyes! But she did have a mouth that flapped as she spoke. Positioned directly in front of the mouth was a jaw harp that vibrated as she spoke, producing puzzling buzzing sounds. From this being standing before me, I learned of the uniqueness of an Elon’s voice.

Lovely strands of leaves arose from her scalp, flowing down all the way to the bottom edges of where shoulder blades would have been.

Briskly walking over to the cavern wall, she pulled down a tiny disk attached to a string. I blinked as warm light flooded the cave; she had opened up a glass skylight at the top of the cave. Instantly, the leaves in her locks delicately unfolded even more in direct response to the sunlight. Inquisitively, the leafy brownish green figure sized me up and down. ‘Ah, a boy-zzz. I cannot imagine they would send a boy to save Sephera.’

She lowered her voice as she turned to Pike. ‘The boy-zzz—he is not who he says he is. He cannot possibly be a Messiah.’

‘Jezra, he has Wrath, and the Dietons are with him. Look, upon his head, it is a rolesk. I am certain of it,’ Pike said.

‘This is my robot Ed, and I am Theodore Crane,’ I said.

Pike turned to me. ‘Your robot? Ha, you are dumber than I thought. That robot does not belong to you. He is made of metal and claims you to be his master, but a true Messiah would give him the freedom he deserves—liberation from command. I am Pike, the Rangier responsible for this green rock we call Tritillia, and this is Jezra, my Elon wife and rightful queen of Tritillia. We have a lot to discuss, boy. Please excuse her buzzing, it is an unavoidable affliction of Elon speech,’ Pike said.

Jezra frowned and raised an accusing finger. ‘You are lucky to have a wife who will even talk to you, buzz or not! I should have stopped-tht talking to you the moment you grew that stink-trap beard of yours-zzz. The boy cannot stay, Pike. He has zzz-no courage!’

My face grew flushed. Reality hit me— this slender woman could possibly have all the power of the anti-Zane forces on Tritillia right in her leafy green finger. ‘I do have courage! I am here. And I will fight until the end.’

Jezra seemed unimpressed. ‘Theodore, do you know why you are here-zzztht? Pike and I have been waiting for you-za. We knew hundreds—no, even thousands of years ago, that you would be here. We founded this dwelling, because it was the closest spot to where it was prophesied that you ffft-would land. You are supposed to be a Messiah, a savior of a cause that you are not aware of-tch.’ Strutting, she leaned back, arms crossed, to listen for any pathetic peep from the lost and befuddled boy standing right before her.


I protested, knowing I didn’t look the part of a 275-pound warrior with iron chestplate, bulging biceps, square jaw, unruly stubble, and bass-baritone voice. ‘I was promoted to the rank Messiah, and I know why I have been chosen. I am here, right? I need to save Sephera—that is all I know. Why does everyone doubt me?’ I asked, while I leaned against a protruding rock on the tunnel’s wall.

Pike jumped in on the merciless pillorying. ‘Ha, Theodore, the title of Messiah was given to you, but it isn’t a rank as you have been misled to think,’ he said, placing his hand on my shoulder. ‘You not only are said to be the one that can change everything, but the true one that can kill Odi—’

‘Pike, stop it now-za.’ The slender plant woman pushed him aside as she strode up to me. ‘Theodore, you can be courageous in carrying a sword as majestic as yours.’ She admired the blade right by my side, yet sneered at me. ‘But, let’s suppose Odion is not only before you, but has taken your sword from you. Would you run like a baby, Theodore, or will you fight for what’s right, no matter what? Ha! Your courage has been blind obedience thus far, am I correct?’

‘Yes, but I know I want to protect Sephera. I have decided that I would do this, even if I have to do it by myself,’ I said.

Jezra looked at me as if I was just a poor lost turkey and laughed, ‘Ha-ha, you cannot save a planet alone, Theodore-zzz. You need an army, but first, you need courage. Why do you think this is about only saving Sephera? My boy, sit down-na-na,’ she said, pulling a moss-covered rope attached to a series of pulleys that pulled up strategically concealed blinds everywhere on the walls. Light poured in through more windows randomly located throughout the cave dwelling. She glanced in the direction of her husband. ‘Okay, Pike, the boy has stood up to us. He has demonstrated moxie.’

Pike nodded.

She sat before me, her face softening in the brightened atmosphere. My heart leapt with joy at her change of tone.

‘Theodore. The multiverse is in need of you. Let Zane worry about Sephera.’

‘Why do you say that?’ I asked.

‘Ha! We have been in conference with King—’ Pike said, before he was interrupted again by his mate.

‘Will-zz you stop with your drama King? Trazuline is of no concern to us now. Boy, this is between you and me. Two demigods, with egos too large for the multiverse, are what have brought peril upon us,’ she said.

‘You are right. That makes sense,’ I said. I knew exactly the two demigods of which she was speaking. Odion and Zane, fighting in their little sandbox. Only that it wasn’t a sandbox—it was the multiverse. The querulous woman said, ‘Now, one step at a time. For us to help us, you must free us from the evil Quasikeum, Dark King of Jaakruid. Then, after we are freed, you can take our army to go on to fight Odion.’

‘Whoa,’ I said, confused by the onslaught of unfamiliar names. ‘What is this Jaakruid?’ I badly mangled the pronunciation of the strange-sounding city.

‘Jaakruid is the key city of our planet, and is close by. It is now under the tyranny of the Dark King.’

‘What was his name again?’

‘Quasikeum. You must defeat him.’

Before I could protest, she waved off any objection I could sputter off my lips. She put the back of her leaf hand to her head and stumbled back to her rocking chair, ‘Pike, show Theodore to the dining area. He must be starving, and Theodore,’ she paused, ‘I have always believed in the Messiah. I just had to be sure it was you.’ She seemed weak, and her body was withering and turning brown.

Pike and I went into the other room and there was a bulging feast on a tiny table. Pike proudly said that it was all for me.

Jezra popped her head into the kitchen and said, ‘I have to leave and rest.’

‘I will be there soon my queen,’ Pike returned.

In front of my gleaming eyes, sat a cornucopia of fried insects, vegetables, and succulent fruit. The ralua leaves had a subtle crunch and crumbled on my tongue. They released a complexity of flavor-confetti. I buried my teeth up to my gums in the nova fruit. It was so sweetly aromatic that it lulled me into a daze, and its sugary juices drizzled down to the tip of my chin.

There was no bread or meat, but the crigulean beetles were each the size of a goose. Their savory legs had a firm crunch like fried chicken, and in the center, there was a sweet pudding that titillated the inside of my mouth. The meal was an exotic arrangement. I abandoned all fears of strange and new inter-stellar food as I ravenously chowed down on the delicacies. Pike was eagerly munching away too, while Ed looked on politely.

Pike said, with a shred of meat bobbing up and down one his bottom lip as he spoke, ‘When I saw your ship drop into range of the forest canopies, I knew if the crash could not kill you, the king would. And if I didn’t get to you soon enough, who knows what would have laid its leaves on you.’

I was now heavily confused. I thought Trazuline had possibly been an ally all along. ‘You mean King Trazuline? You spoke of him earlier.’

‘Ha!’ Pike muttered. ‘No, not King Trazuline. No, our own Dark King, the one that Jezra just spoke of. The King of Jaakruid reigns from the mile-high canopy city, a fortified plant structure that houses an entire population of Elons under siege to their Dark Majesty. Your first worry should be of the giant plant beast that will surely be guarding it. It is called a Morlorian’ he said.

My eyes widened in fear. ‘What is a Morlorian? Isn’t there a way I can avoid that thing?’ I asked.

‘Theodore, there is no avoiding a Morlorian. They are the largest sentient plants in Tritillia, and this one is the deadliest of all of them. Between the Morlorian and the evil Elon King, you will have your hands full.’

Gads. I had just survived a crash on a bizarre new planet, after escaping by the skin of my teeth from the wrath of Zane. This was all too much for me, right now. ‘I have been through so much, that I can barely stand up and keep awake. Can I rest before facing those things?’ I asked.

‘You can rest here, but in one week’s time we will need to take you to your ultimate destination. I have to go tend to my wife. She is with child,’ Pike said. Jezra nodded, then retreated into a corner of the cave that was dark and brooding. He went up to the wall, pulled on some pulleys, and a swath of curtains enveloped the exit where Jezra had withdrawn.

I looked to Ed. ‘Ed, what is, with child?’

‘With child, refers to a pregnant woman. Jezra is going to bear children,’ he said.

I heard morose crying down the hall, causing me alarm. Ed was about to relapse due to lack of power, so I plugged him into a type of generator Pike gave us.

I slowly made my way through the cave to find the source of the sorrow. It was at the tunnel where Jezra had secluded herself. I felt as if I was invading her privacy, but Pike was following me closely and did not object, so I continued on. When I lifted the curtains, I found Jezra lying upon the floor blanketed in a mossy substance that was a deep shade of green. The sunlight beamed through as I pushed aside the curtains. She was bound to the ground through newly grown roots sprouting from all over her body, and Pike went over to kneel by her side. Vines twisted and intertwined over her body. It was a weave of branches, twiglets, and active buds.

‘Pike, what is happening to her?’ I cried out, thinking Jezra had been attacked by a strange protoplasmic creature. Weeping—with joy, to my great surprise—he stood up quickly, then grabbed me by my shoulder.


‘Theodore, you are about to witness the most glorious display of life you have ever seen,’ he said. We were waiting. For what, I wasn’t certain.

Pike reveled in ecstasy, standing up to watch side by side with me. To him, it was the cusp of a new birth of life. This moment, today. Glowing purple flowers, swiveling in perfect harmony from tendrils all over her healthy body, were blooming, boasting a phosphorus-like glimmer. Then, in the space of a few minutes, these flowers morphed into seed-bearing fuzz balls as my astonished eyes looked on.

Now, the seeds, at their perfect ripened moment, were ready to lift off and propagate. As if on cue, a slight brush of wind crept in through the tunnel and sent the seeds in flight. Thousands of the seeds parachuted about, dotting the inside of the cave.

The seeds stuck to the walls, budding and sprouting flowers of their own within precious minutes. From these flowers, thousands of glowing ambient bulbous fruits formed. They were growing larger by the second.

Pike lowered down to his overjoyed wife and held her tenderly. He said as he kneeled, ‘Come, Theodore, I must tell you. I am a Rangier. My role on Tritillia was to develop the culture of the Elons. For years, I lived in the solitary peace of the jungle, until a princess wandered into the deep of the woods—in search of freedom from the evil Elon King Quasikeum. My Jezra. When we met, her beauty drove me near madness. I love her.’

‘Is she then the Queen of Tritillia? How?’

‘She was indeed born into royalty,’ Pike answered. ‘It was this Dark King that usurped her power and drove her away from the palace. Everyone suspects he imprisoned and murdered her parents.’ He sighed. ‘Now you see this Queen, living in a cave. A decent one, at that. But it is no palace for the rightful Queen of Tritillia. You are going to help, and she is going to supply you her army. Once you succeed, she will reclaim her throne in Jaakruid.’

He looked on at the enlarging bulbs, his eyes transfixed at the walls where they lay.

I tried to get his attention again. ‘The Dark King. Did Zane send him in to conquer the planet?’

Pike didn’t look at me, and I got the impression my pressing questions weren’t of concern to him now. ‘No. The Dark King is an Elon too and is of this planet. He was one of the senior guards of the parents of Princess Jezra, before he became corrupted by Odion. Sorry, I will tell you more later. Just look at that!’ He pointed at the foliage, excited.

It was as if I was watching time-lapse in real time. The bulbs grew, and I stepped back because the glory was incredible. Pike grabbed my arm and pulled me toward a hidden corridor of the cave.

‘Where are we going? That was incredible. I have never seen anything like that before in my life. What were those things? What happened to Jezra?’ I asked. A barrage of questions flowed out of my mouth, because next to Tez standing in my doorway, that was the most beautiful experience I ever witnessed.

Pike looked at me as if he was about to show me a grand secret and said, ‘I have something to show you. You are going to love it.’

He brought me into a hidden area. He pulled a vine woven tapestry aside and for about three thousand feet, as far as my eyes could see in the dark, there was a barracks: a large cavern full of bunk beds, fashioned from logs.

‘What is this?’ I asked.

‘Ha! You don’t see, our lives were meant for this—for you?’ He asked, ‘These bulbs that you saw in the cave are going to grow, and into what? They will become young Elons! They are coming, Theodore. Soon these beds will be filled with around a thousand Elons, and Theodore, they will train and fight with you, because they are of my wife. My wife believes in you. They will be undeniably drawn to you, and you will have to lead them. I have something I want to show you, just one more thing. It is something that my Jezra helped me develop in my lab. It took me my entire life with Jezra to complete. Come this way.’

‘What about the Dark King? Have his soldiers found this cave yet?’ I was worried about the concealment of such a strategic base that could threaten his brutal rule. It was practically an army-in-waiting, ready to overthrow a despot. My pulse quickened as I realized the true extent of my next mission.

‘They have searched countless times and found nothing. So don’t worry. This is my lab. Don’t touch anything. Here it is.’

‘What is it?’ I was curious if he was going to show me a brand new weapon. I was keen to add something to my arsenal that night.

‘This is an Elon suit. It’s an original. There isn’t anything like it. Put it on. It should be your size, and if it isn’t—it will adjust to fit you,’ Pike said. Grunting, with considerable strain, I put the suit on, and it felt like it was a living, breathing layer encompassing me. It was leafy.

‘Now, press that button right there in the center of your chest,’ Pike instructed.

When I pressed the button, the suit grew to accommodate my size. Thin, weed-like woody vines erupted from the suit. The trailing plants started to braid and cover me. I was covered in wiry young wood. When my suit had finished adjusting itself, I found that I could move freely because the wicker-like suit was pliant and flowed with my movement.

From the wall, Pike grabbed an axe and menacingly advanced toward me, the axe held up high. He had a maniacal look on his face.

‘What are you freakin’ doing?’ I shrank back, unable to strike back in time.

Gleefully chuckling, he slammed the sharp axe in my direction, striking me square in the arm.

Nothing. I breathed a sigh of relief. Although I felt the jarring impact, the axe penetrated only a few centimeters into my armor; it then repaired itself within seconds.

‘What the hell was that for?’ I yelled, still a bit rattled.

‘I figured that might be the only way you would trust it. I must warn you. This suit protects against most physical attacks. However, any plasma gun blade could cut through this like a knife through beetle butter, but it will keep your body from sustaining an injury. Your enemies, the Dacturons, are telekinetic, and can fling objects at your body with their mind. With your rolesk and sword, your boots and Elon suit, you will be a force to be reckoned with. Now, those steel balls you have on your waist belt, do you know what those are?’ he asked.

‘No, I just found them on the ship.’

‘Ha! Those are scouts, portable recon devices. If you depress that red button on any of them, it will detach itself from your belt. The recon device can hover in the air, and can scout ahead of you to convey valuable intelligence about the enemy to you. It’s very adept at foraging ahead, unseen by your adversaries.’

‘Wow,’ was all I could say. I was awestruck. I had the best in combat gear from many different universes. I had stuff from Zane, stuff from Ed, and stuff from Pike. I was unstoppable. I jutted out my chin in a brief flash of arrogance.

Pike sized me up. “All right,’ he said, wagging a finger at me. ‘I want you to go to sleep now. It is going to be a long day tomorrow.’

‘Goodnight,’ I said to Pike, as he walked me toward my room.

I fell asleep quickly, exhausted from the ordeals of the past few traumatizing days.

I woke up in the morning to excited chatter and bustling noises. There was something going on. Well, more than that. It was verging on insanity. The energy in the cave was so intense. I heard fast-paced footsteps and objects banging.

I was afraid to go outside of my room. They had not found me in my room yet, so I figured I could hide under my blanket to escape the commotion. I held Wrath at the ready, because my nerves were still raw and sensitive, even if I was in a safe hideaway. Ed was still in re-charging hibernation, and I didn’t want to remove my hands from my sword to interrupt his charging battery.


I stood up, and leaned toward the direction of the door, eager, ready, and nervous.