Ashlei, Denika, Carlene and the Circus Master were led through the Quilax's city. None of the other golden aliens even took note of the strange aliens, they were too busy working. The city looked every bit as beautiful as it had in the vision.

The buildings were large and appeared to glow blue. They were clearly built from magic as their design appeared to change every few minutes. Everyone it seemed was working to constantly maintain the city in some way, even just through chants.

"Fascinating." The Circus Master said aloud. "An entire city made of magic, though from the way you're all scrambling about you don't seem to be experts? Maybe we can help you. My friend here is quite the."

One of the aliens hit the vandal over the head with its gun. Carlene went to help the Circus Master up, but whilst she was reaching down she also reached into her hair and pulled out a gas bomb which she then threw at the aliens.

Whilst they were distracted, Carlene grabbed Ashlei whilst the Circus Master grabbed the weakened Denika.

"Come on Denika, we need you." The Circus Master said frantically as the smoke began to clear.

One of the aliens fired at Denika, but the Circus Master spun her round and took the blast in his back instead.

"We have to go now." Carlene shouted as she jumped over 30 feet in the air to the top of a nearby building with Ashlei in tow. The Circus Master soon followed, but when they reached the top of the building its roof began to envelope the time travellers and pull them inside.

The Circus Master tried to claw at it, but each cut he made quickly healed over. "I guess they're less primitive than I thought. I'd admire them if they weren't about to kill me." The Circus Master said as he struggled against the living building. Using all of her strength Carlene pulled one arm free and reached for a weapon in her beehive. A flaming knife! She slashed at the substance that had trapped her, causing it to retreat from the fire. She then freed the Circus Master and the others. As they tried to flee however, three large yellow crafts arrived that way; forcing the vampire, the vandal, the witch and the urchin to retreat into a busy area of the city below.

None of the workers looked up. They still carried on with their business as if nothing had happened. Whatever it was the workers were doing, it was far more important to them than their lives!

More and more soldiers came pouring in from all parts of the city firing energy beams at the strange time travellers. Carlene used her flaming knife to bat away the floor of the city as it continued to attempt to engulf them, whilst the Circus Master attacked the aliens. The Circus Master was able to dodge their rays thanks to his vandal reflexes. Not that he needed to. The aliens rays were not capable of killing the vandal. They were only capable of causing minor wounds that quickly healed over.

The Circus Master effortlessly overpowered the hordes of attacking aliens. He tossed them through the air, clawed their weapons in half, and knocked several of the golden aliens out with quick strikes to the face.

However the more and more aliens piled on the Circus Master the harder he found it to fight them off. One of the aliens managed to get a lucky blast in the Circus Masters knee cap, temporarily shattering it. The wound quickly healed over, but for a few seconds the Circus Master was crippled another of the aliens struck the vandal from behind with the butt of his gun. Whilst the Circus Master was on the floor the aliens started to shoot at him. The overwhelming force from so many lasers began to severely weaken the Circus Master to the point where he couldn't get up.

Carlene ran to help the Circus Master, but the floor itself grabbed her foot. As she reached down with her knife to cut it, another part of the floor grabbed both of her arms causing Carlene to drop the knife. Ashlei however snatched the knife and used it to cut the floor holding Carlene down as well as the floor around her foot.

Denika then started to stand up, though she still stumbled slightly. Carlene ran to help her, but the floor between Denika and Carlene and Ashlei rose up into a mass over 20 feet high. Carlene and Ashlei stood their ground, with Ashlei holding her knife up.

Suddenly the mass side swerved Carlene and Ashlei and encased the aliens attacking the Circus Master, enveloping them up to their heads. Denika having regained her strength had managed to actually take control of the city's defence system.

"Come on let’s get out of here" Denika said as she flew into the sky, with a force field protecting her from the aliens rays. The Circus Master and Carlene, carrying Ashlei followed the witch, whilst Denika also used the floor to trap more soldiers before they could pursue the time travellers.

Meanwhile in the caves above the city a platoon of Hylexan war crafts had been sent to contain the last of the Octopoids hated enemies. However they had unexpectedly run into problems with seemingly only one of the war crafts making it through the caves. "How can those beasts harm us?" The Hylexan commander of the last of the crafts said or rather thought in anger.

"The Quilax are appropriating our power because they have none of their own, but we shall destroy them." The red Hylexan second in command said as it prepared to fire the weapons. Suddenly however, another two Lystergias emerged from either side of the Hylexan craft.

The Lystergias had originally been just simple underground beasts, but the Hylexans’ magical blasts on the planet had mutated them into growing larger and more powerful. Whilst the dark magics had destroyed most life on the planet, the Lystergias were able to survive because they were deep underground. The magic still affected the Lystergias in many ways however. It not only made them larger, but more violent as well.

Powerful though they were, the Lystergias were still just simple beasts and so their minds were easy for the Quilax to control.

The Hylexan crafts had still disposed of most of the monsters on the planet, with the last few, being stationed around the city as guard dogs. The fight between the other platoons and the Lystergias had been incredibly brutal, and the last of these primitive beasts had paid dearly for it, with dozens of them being slaughtered, but it seemed that they had won in spite of the great loss. Not only had the other platoons been wiped out, but the final craft did not have anywhere near the power to take on three of the brutes at once.

"We are completely surrounded commander."

The leader of the vessel in desperation ordered that the ship’s reserve of dark magics be emptied. The dark magics were stationed right at the centre of each Hylexan vessel. They were used to create torture bubbles. Anyone who was placed in the bubble would be forced to live out their worst fears and regrets over and over.

"If we empty the dark magics they could flood this entire area and we'd all be trapped." The red second in command insisted.

"I'm aware of the risk but I'd rather our own magics destroy us than we end up as the victims of the Quilax's pet."

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The others agreed. As terrified as they were of the dark magics, defeat at the hands of any Quilax was considered the most undignified death for the Hylexans.

The second in command released some of the ship’s core which caused the vessel to spiral out of control and be thrust straight into one of the Lystergians. The beast then sunk its magical teeth through the firey hull of the vessel, but the dark magic soon started to affect the three monsters. They all began to scream and hiss and even cower from the sight of the ship, which took on the form of whatever they had feared most in life.

The Hylexans flew past the three tormented giants and once they were a safe distance they fired on them safely one at a time. None of the monsters retaliated when the other was destroyed, as the fear from the dark magics crippled them.

"That seems to be the last of them. To think after all their weapons and inventions, the Quilax main line of defence for their last city was nothing more than a few simple beasts." The red Hylexan said.

"Their last city is just a few miles below. The Quilax scum honestly thought they would be safe in this pit? Desperation can often breed stupidity." The leader of the craft said as he prepared to lead his soldiers to exterminate the last of their most hated enemies below.

The four time travellers meanwhile continued to fight their way through the strange golden aliens. They all made sure that their blows were not lethal, as ironically they were here to help them. If only they could convince the aliens that they weren't their enemies.

As more and more aliens started to emerge however the Circus folk were again forced to retreat. Denika flew, whilst Carlene and the Circus Master jumped over 80 feet through the air (with Carlene carrying Ashlei.) Above dozens of soldiers. When Carlene and the Circus Master landed however, the ground instantly opened, creating a massive pit that all three fell into. Before the vampire and the vandal could even try and leap out. The ground then sealed itself over again.

Denika flew towards the floor to try and open it with her magic. She was forced to abandon her force field in order to try and rip the floor open, but whilst she was busy the aliens shot her. It was only the stun setting as they wanted to question her along with the others.

Carlene, Ashlei and The Circus Master all now encased up to their heads in the floor, were brought to face the soldiers, with the floor moving them along.

"Good now maybe we can talk properly." The Circus Master said sarcastically. The aliens raised their guns in response, but within a few seconds an alarm started to ring throughout the city. All of the aliens who had remained completely calm throughout the Circus Master's fight started to run and panic. Most of the soldiers started to scatter too.

"Please" The Circus Master said to the general as he still struggled to pull free.

"We are here to help you. In fact we might be your last hope." The general didn't listen however and in his anger set his weapon to kill.

"You did this," He said. "I don't know how, but you led those disgusting things to us. I'll kill you all." Suddenly however the general was hoisted over 40 feet through the air, whilst the floor engulfing Carlene, Ashlei and the Circus Master vanished. The stun gun had only worked on Denika for a few seconds.

The few remaining soldiers gathered round the four aliens, aiming their guns.

"Look, we really don't have time for this. I swear we are here to help you." The Circus Master said firmly. As a show of good faith Denika lowered the general back to the ground.

"Why should we trust you?" The general who had already calmed down somewhat asked.

"Well, does it matter at this point? If we are, we might be able to help you, if not, it won't make a difference as the aliens will slaughter you anyway?" Carlene said.

"I suppose." the general reluctantly agreed as did his men who began to lower their weapons. "I swear though if we die I'll make you sure you do too."

"Fair enough" the Circus Master said.

"What do you mean fair enough? That's not fair? I don't agree with that." Ashlei protested.

"You're wasting time." The general replied.

"Well I'm afraid that if we are going to help you we need to know what's going on exactly." The Circus Master asked.

"You really don't know?"

"No like I said earlier we're just travellers. We know that there are hideous octopus monsters that want to kill you, but other than that?"

"Our people have been involved in a war for decades with an enemy more evil than you can imagine. We were more advanced than those savages. They were nothing but simple beasts until we found them and elevated their pitiful existence."

"Why do they want to destroy you then?" The Circus Master replied.

"They want to wipe us out because just a few decades ago we were the monsters." A young female alien civilian from behind the time travellers said. "We once conquered this entire galaxy, including the planet of our enemies, The Hylexans. We exploited them. We butchered them."

The general interrupted. "We brought order to this galaxy! We elevated their cultures more in 10 years than they would have in 100." He shouted.

"Is that why they were all too happy to sit back and let the Hylexans slaughter us." The civilian responded

"They were just scared. Scared to stand against those monsters and their unnatural powers." He insisted.

"I'm not interested in your politics. Please tell me about these Hylexans." The Circus Master interrupted.

"The Hylexans were able to overcome our armies because they learned magic. Something we had always dismissed as a superstition. They've slaughtered all of our colonies and bombarded our planet with dark forces. The last of us fled underground. Just before the surface of our planet was destroyed we had only learned how to master the most basic forms of the black arts that we used to build this city." The female alien said.

"I wouldn't call building a city basic." Ashlei replied.

"This city is extremely unstable. We have to constantly maintain it with enchantments or it will fade away within an hour. Our plan was to use the city to fly to another world. Our planet is dead and we knew it wouldn't be long before the Hylexans found us. We wanted to leave this entire galaxy." The female alien said.

"It doesn't matter now." The general interrupted. "They've found us. Our race is doomed."

"Not necessarily" Denika said.

"You might be amateurs, but not to toot my horn, I know a fair bit about magic. If you'll just let me look at the core of this city. I assume there is a core to draw all of the magics from your planet into the city?" The witch explained.

"Yes". The female alien replied. "Sadly there isn't enough magic left in this world to make it fly. The Hylexans blitzed the surface of our world, turning most of the magics of the planet into dark magic. The little that was left was used to create the city. We've tried to find a way to harness it to make the city fly, but well, each time it just causes a part of the city to vanish."

"I can't promise anything but if I inject my magic into the core it just might be enough to get it to fly." Denika explained.

"What about the Hylexans? They've breached our defences. Even if it does take off now they'll slaughter us all before we reach the sky." The general responded.

"Don't worry we'll deal with them, you just help Denika get this city off the ground." The Circus Master said confidently.

"We will? How?" Ashlei asked.

"I don't know yet, but either we try and maybe win, or we just stand here and get fried." The Circus Master responded.

"Well when you put it like that." Ashlei replied.

The Hylexan craft soon flew over the city whose buildings all changed in response to gigantic war fortresses with massive ray guns mounted on the roof tops.

All of the soldiers gathered in front of the fleeing civilians firing at the flaming ship. Neither the fortress' nor the soldiers weapons were able to even dent the Hylexan's ship. The Hylexans wanted to savour this moment. It wasn't even just because of their hatred for the Quilax. All the Hylexans had known for the past several decades was hunting the Quilax. Now that they were almost at the end of their war, they wanted to make their final victory last as long as possible.

The Hylexans fired their magical blasts at the civilians first. They wanted to save the soldiers for last so they would see the full extent of their failures to save the people they had pledged to protect.

In the middle of the fleeing crowd, Carlene, The Circus Master and Ashlei stood almost completely helpless to stop the chaos ahead. Carlene reached through her beehive for a weapon, but the Hylexans vehicle soon spotted the time travellers and began to focus its efforts on them.

To Be Continued