CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

GRAVITATIONAL

Wombat zipped through the air, a trail of flame in his wake, holding Caleb and Chase in his hands, teeth gritted at the sheer effort it was taking him to maintain altitude while holding them. At full strength, this wouldn’t have been enough for him to break a sweat but the truth was he was no where near full strength.

“Where are you taking us?” Caleb queried, yelling so he could be heard over the rushing wind.

“I uhh, I don’t know, I haven’t figured it out yet,” Wombat answered. “I just need to buy enough time to figure out a real strategy to take out those two bozos back at the orphanage. You guys got any ideas?”

“We could help you fight,” Chase suggested.

“Do you know how to fight?”

“No, but how hard can it be?” Chase frowned.

“Yep,” Wombat sighed. “That’s what I though—,”

WHAM!

Wombat slammed into what had to be a glowing green wall, the force with which he slammed into it dazing him instantly. A look around revealed that it hadn’t been just a wall. He’d been trapped in some sort of force field, along with Caleb and Chase. And then, without warning, they plummeted. He heard their screams as they dropped out of the air, tried to ignite his feet and hands once more to regain flight but he was far too dazed for that.

It was when they were only twenty feet away from plummeting into asphalt that the force field vanished. Immediately, he grabbed hold of the twins, using controlled bursts of flames to move through the air and toward them. Holding on to the both of them, he spun over so they were above him, so he could take the fall in their place.

He squeezed his eyes shut and a moment later, he slammed hard into the ground, an intense pain shooting throughout his body.

He groaned and with gritted teeth, turned over. With great effort, he attempted to summon the strength to return to his feet but it was useless. His knees buckled, and the taste of iron filled his mouth. He spat blood from his mouth, wiped it off his lips with the back of his palm and found himself chuckling soon after.

“Man, I’m really at my limit now, aren’t I?” he chuckled. “That’s a first.”

“Did you really think you would be able to run?” came a voice from behind him. He recognized it at once as belonging to the smug little kid from the orphanage. Kai.

He glanced over his shoulder at the boy. He was hovering just a few feet over the ground, arms crossed, a deeply bored expression on his face.

Wombat sighed and attempted to rise to his feet once more. This time, Caleb and Chase helped him up. He found himself a little surprised by the strength both boys had, and actually found himself considering whether or not they could be helpful in this fight.

But then he saw the look in their eyes. They were scared.

No, he couldn’t ask them to fight. They were kids. Untrained and frightened. He’d protect them, even if it was the last thing he did.

Back on his feet now, he took a step in Kai’s direction, ignited flames on both his hands. “You’re not taking those kids anywhere,” he snarled.

“I could end your life by giving you a moment of my attention,” Kai drawled. “You do know that, right? If I wanted you dead, you already would be. That you can still walk and talk is me showing mercy. Stand aside, boy. Or die.”

“I don’t know about you but I’m not the type to stand aside,” Wombat shrugged, grinned. “And I don’t much feel like dying either which means this is suddenly a very tricky situation. I believe we’ve arrived at what I’d like to call an impasse.”

“An impasse?” Kai repeated, a look of amusement on his face. “This isn’t an impasse. You’re the one backed up against a wall…me? I’ve still got loads of moves to make.”

“We’ll see about that,” Wombat snorted, and then he launched himself through the air, right at Kai.

Kai snorted as Wombat approached and made a gesture with his hand. Immediately, the world seemed to change orientation, flipping over onto its side almost. Wombat found himself falling sideways, trapped in yet another force field. He slammed into the side of a building, dropped to the ground.

“Are these gravitational fields?” Wombat asked, pushing himself back to his feet. “You’re manipulating gravity, aren’t you?”

“I wish,” Kai snorted. “It’s energy…pure quantum energy. I can bend it to my will, however I want, whenever I want. Your little fireworks aren’t going to do you much good against me, you do understand that now, right? I am a god and you are nothing.”

“Why’s it always the lunatics who think they’re gods?” Wombat sighed.

At once, spontaneous combustions went off in the air, in close proximity to Kai, sent the boy flying, blood spraying from his mouth as he went.

Wombat ignited his feet and shot at Kai immediately, having been presented the perfect opening. He crashed into the boy headfirst, landed a flaming punch that sent him hurtling through the air and shot after him, landing another, an uppercut this time, launching him upward.

Wombat zipped after him again. “What, you think you’re strong because you can make things float a little? I’m nothing? I’M NOTHING?!”

Wombat roared angrily, slammed into Kai headfirst yet again, shooting straight upward with him like a missile. He smashed a fist into Kai’s face and then another. “GET. OFF. OF. MY. WORLD!” He roared, each word punctuated with a powerful blow delivered to Kai’s face, the boy’s face now a bloodied mess.

He’d been about to throw one more blow when Kai suddenly started to laugh. The boy spat blood from his mouth, chuckling manically.

“I’ll give it to you, I wasn’t expecting the sudden explosion to the face,” he said, still grinning like a lunatic. “But here’s one thing you probably should have considered. You know how much it’ll hurt when you slam right back into the ground from this high up?”

Kai stared at the ground below them, grinned. “I think it certainly would hurt. Do you?”

Wombat snarled, prepared to land his blow.

“Drop.”

Wombat found himself in yet another force field, plummeting through the air irresistibly. Falling at speeds faster than he could calculate and spinning uncontrollably within the force field, he attempted to strike at it, to shatter through the field but all of his efforts proved rather embarrassingly futile.

As he plummeted, Kai hovered high above, grinning down at him, eyes glowing with power. And then a force slammed into Kai too, knocking him sideways.

Once more, his concentration broke, as did his force field. The moment the field vanished, Wombat’s eyes widened and he fired off a burst of flames, taking flight once more, just a few feet away from slamming into the ground.

He glanced upward, saw Tiger shooting through the air, straight at Kai. Kai turned to face her, Wombat knew at once he was about to repeat his little force bubble trap move and aimed a finger at the villain. He shut one eye, wanting pinpoint aim, and then fired a flame bullet.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The bullet zipped through the air, hit Kai right in the chest, drew his attention away from Tiger momentarily which was enough for Wombat to slam into him and then send him downward with a wind slash.

As Kai dropped toward the ground, Wombat shot upward, slammed into his back, then hastily seized him by the throat and hurled him at the ground. He dropped out of the air at once and as soon as Kai hit the ground, Wombat landed onto him, landing hard with both feet, the force sending out a powerful shockwave, clouding the air with debris.

Once the debris cleared, Wombat found that Kai hadn’t even hit the ground. Instead, he was hovering about three feet above it, and Wombat’s feet weren’t even touching him. The boy was encased in a force field.

“What? You thought I only used them on other people?”

Kai’s bubble floated so he was hovering right in front of Wombat. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled. “I’ll admit, you’re impressive. Running on empty and still putting up a decent fight. Perhaps on another day, I might have enjoyed our encounter. But right now, I’m bored and I think it’s time to put an end to this idiocy.”

“You’re absolutely right!” Tiger shrieked from above, hurtling fast toward Kai, ready to strike.

Kai looked up at her, utterly bemused. He snorted, flicked a finger, and a bubble slammed into Tiger with intense force, sending her into the side of a building at once, with enough force that the entire top half of the building exploded, bricks and concrete and debris raining down on them.

“No!” Wombat roared. He swung a fist at Kai but hit solid force wall. Kai cracked a wide grin and had been about to speak when the air within his bubble suddenly combusted. The bubble shattered at once and Kai hurtled back several feet.

Wombat surged at him, hands flaming, ready to strike. Kai turned to Wombat and snarled, his eyes lighting up.

Kai surged forward too. Wombat struck first, swinging a powerful punch that sent a jet of flame shooting through the air. Kai avoided Wombat’s attack, pulled in close to the hero so his face was just beside Wombat’s, and whispered to Wombat: “You are absolutely nothing to me. You’re weak, and useless. Do not try this again.”

Afterward, he flicked a finger directly against Wombat’s chest, blasting him at the ground with enough force to leave a meteor-sized crater in the ground. Once the debris from the impact had cleared, Wombat was there, bloodied, unconscious.

Kai turned around, stared straight in Caleb and Chase’s direction. The twins looked petrified. When Kai started to approach them, their eyes glowed and they both aimed their hands at him but before they could attack, Kai waved and they shot through the air, straight to him, encased in force fields.

He caught them both in his hands, seizing them by their throats. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned. “Caden wants you alive. You try anything at all and I won’t be able to guarantee that.”

***

He bit into the apple with a satisfying crunch, lifted it to his face and examined it, appearing rather impressed. He waved it around. “Damn, this is really good,” he said, looking in the direction of the woman who ran the orphanage, a woman who was cowering in a corner with the other kids. “You know you guys don’t have to be scared, right? If I was going to kill any of you, you’d already be dead. I’m just waiting for Kai to return with the kids.”

Anna snorted. “That little kid? He doesn’t stand a chance against Wombat and Tiger. You’re not getting your hands on Caleb and Chase.”

“Caleb and Chase, huh,” Caden nodded. “Well, at least now I know their names.” He moved away from the railing he’d been leaning against, took another bite of the apple. “And what makes you so sure your two little heroes aren’t already dead? They didn’t look all that impressive.”

“Neither did your partner,” Anna chuckled.

Caden walked toward her, crouched in front her, stared straight into her eyes. He grinned, wagged a finger at her. “You know what I love the most in the world right now? Just how hard you’re trying to not show how scared you are. Keeping it together for the kids, aren’t you?”

“What do you want?”

“Me?” Caden asked, shook his head. “Nothing. But Bellum? He wants everything. I’m just here to collect on his behalf.”

“You’ll lose.”

“Woman, you know how many worlds we’ve taken?” Caden snorted, straightened to his feet. “All those worlds were not unlike yours. They had their defenders, their heroes…and they all fought valiantly, I’ll give them that. But at the end of the day, Bellum wants and Bellum takes. Nothing will alter the fate of this world.”

Caden felt a gust of wind then, turned to the hole in the wall behind him, saw Kai hovering there, holding the two kids in his hands, the two heroes floating behind him in force fields. They looked to Caden like they were dead but he could hear their heartbeats—they were alive, but barely.

He nodded at Kai then looked to Anna, smiled. “What exactly is it that you were saying again?”

“We have the kids, let’s go now,” Kai said, landing gently on the ground, and letting go of the twins. Behind him, the heroes fell, hitting the ground with loud thuds. They remained there, although Caden was certain he’d seen Wombat stir somewhat.

“Please don’t,” Anna pleaded. “They’re just children. Let them be.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Caden smiled. “They’re not going to die. They’re simply going to serve, as will the rest of you when this world falls.”

Caleb and Chase exchanged looks, nodded silently at each other. Anna caught this but did her best to keep her gaze away from the boys, focusing instead on Caden.

“There has to be something else you want, surely,” she spoke. “You take those kids, this won’t end. There’s other heroes on this world, and they won’t stop until the kids are back safe where they belong.”

“Where they belong?” Caden repeated. “This is a glorified homeless shelter. I’m offering them a chance at glory, at true greatness. What do you offer them?”

Anna smiled then. “A distraction, sucker.”

Caden frowned then, realized what was going on too late, spun around just in time to be sent hurtling through the air from Caleb’s attack.

Kai, startled, spun to face the twins. Chase was quick. He darted toward Kai, placed a hand on his chest and uttered a single word. “Stop.”

Kai froze immediately, eyes wide with fear. He stared at Chase, appearing somewhat in disbelief.

“We’re not coming with you and you’re not going to hurt anyone here,” Caleb growled. “Leave. Now.”

“That’s cute,” Caden chuckled. He tossed off of himself the wooden planks on him, the result of being blasted through a wall. He dusted himself off, rose to his feet, then started to walk toward the twins. “Do that again, I dare you.”

Caleb’s eyes glowed, as a blue orb of energy formed at his palm. He charged it up, fired again. The orb slammed into Caden’s chest and he paused for a moment, gritted his teeth in annoyance then continued forward.

He was a few feet away from the twins when suddenly, something shattered against the side of his head. A vase.

He spun around, eyes filled with rage, fixed his gaze on Anna.

“Your precious orphans aren’t the only ones who can send people flying through walls,” he hissed. His hand shot through the air, his palm slammed into Anna’s chest and then she went flying, crashing straight through the wall with a loud scream before landing on the other side with a thud.

“Anna!” Chase screamed. He let go of Kai then, made to sprint in Anna’s direction but slammed into a force wall wall instantly.

The boy turned around to see Kai standing over him. “That was a neat trick you pulled just then,” Kai said. “You won’t do that again.”

“Let him go!” Caleb growled, aiming a hand at Kai. He started to prepare another blast but before he got a chance to fire, he felt a hand around his neck, the grip cold and powerful.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Caden growled. “I’m already in a bit of a testy mood now and trust me, you don’t want to see what I’m like when I’m angry.”

Caleb froze, powered down.

“Good, that’s more like it,” Caden smiled. He looked to Kai and nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”

Kai nodded back, aimed a hand at the air. For a few seconds, nothing opened, and then the air seemed to rip like someone had taken a razor to it. The slit grew longer and wider, until it’d become a portal with a glowing, green event horizon.

Caden ushered the twins through the portal first, then followed behind them. Kai went through last, giving one look at the orphanage before vanishing through the portal. The portal shut instantly, and then they were gone.

Consciousness returned to Wombat an undetermined number of minutes later. He cracked his eyes open slowly to find someone standing over him. With his vision blurry, his first thought was that it must have been one of Caden or Kai so he’d immediately fired a blast of flame, only to hear a familiar voice yell: “Stand down, it’s me!”

He hurried to his feet, staggered somewhat, blinked hard and shook his head in a bid to get the world to refocus. He looked at the person standing in front of him, frowned. It was Daedalus, and he had a rather grim on his face.

Wombat darted around. “Caden—,”

“They’re gone,” Daedalus said, his tone grim. “And they took the twins with them.”

“Well, I’ll go after them, damnit!” Wombat yelled.

“Daniel,” Daedalus spoke. “That’s going to have to wait. Something is wrong…Anna, she’s dying.”

“What?” Wombat frowned, noticed then that everyone else in the building was gathered around something…someone. And he could hear sobbing.

With his heart racing, he pushed past Daedalus, joined the crowd, pushed through till he was at the forefront and came to a sudden stop when he saw Dante and Dang crouched on either side of a rather horribly wounded, bloodied Anna, a piece of wood jutting out of her chest, her eyes struggling to stay open.

Standing close to them, a hand over her mouth, tears streaking down her cheeks was Tiger.

“No, no, no,” Dang croaked. “This can’t be happening. I should have been here. I should have saved you.”

“Oh my God,” Daniel croaked, his eyes widening in horror.

At the sound of his voice, Dang turned his neck, fixed his gaze directly on Wombat. “You,” Dang said shakily. “You were here. How could you let this happen?”

“I—,”

“HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?!” Dang roared, his eyes turning gold then, the entire building rattling.

Dante looked toward Dang, a wary expression on his face. “Dang, calm down. He’s not the enemy here, he—,”

But Dang wasn’t listening anymore. He zipped toward Wombat, slammed into him straight into a wall and pinned him there. His fist hovered inches away from Wombat’s face, quaking with immeasurable rage, a rage that had turned his eyes a frightening crimson.

Next came a roar from him, a roar that caused the air in the room to vibrate dangerously.

“YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE HER!”