The ground rumbled again, cracks spreading from the point where the mole was, cracks fast approaching the first mole. Torunei turned throwing his arms out, hands grasping the man, “Come on old man, we need to move!”
“Tari!” Silver barked.
“I’m on it! Frost Art- Pillar Dance!” she shouted with her palms slamming down.
The ground dripped beneath her hands, doughnuting itself in with a small crater with edges raised. Forward the ground split, icicles blasting free from the ground moving towards the approaching other cracks, “Grr, be in time!”
“Dammit!” Silver spat taking charge forward.
Electricity quite visible in a brilliant yellow circulated around, his arms pulling themselves back as the distance of perhaps forty meters was quickly closed, only around half the distance towards the cracks. Up he shot with a single leap, launching himself well over ten meters into the air, his right arm fully extended in a heartbeat with his pointer finger extended. The crackle of thunder was heard as all that golden yellow left Silver’s body and shot forth at the cracks.
From gold, to silver, it traveled in the blink of an eye and crashed against the ground. A hole was left straight in the ground as if a laser had pierced it, just beside the traveling cracks.
KAPOW!!!
All at once a high pitched monstrous shriek hit the wind, the ground ceasing to crack though only for a split second as it then blew apart. Cracks splintered around an epicenter four meters away from the entry point into the ground, smoke and flames launching out of those cracks at first followed by only smoke after.
Silver landed upon both feet, hoisting himself up just as Tari’s attack stopped beside him. Eyes locked forward looking straight at the blast’s location, “Silver bang you son of a-”
“Silver!” Tari cried out, the ground rumbling all at once again.
This time it was Silver who would stumble, several steps taken back until becoming stable again. He, Tari, Torunei, even the man, all of them looked to the epicenter of that blast. The cracks, that which had stopped, began to grumble and grind. Plate of earth to plate of earth, chunks being blown out.
“Something’s coming up!” Torunei shouted.
“I can tell!” Silver replied.
It gave way, dozens upon dozens of green vines blasting out at varying thicknesses, many thicker than a fully grown tree, some smaller than the branches. Up they shot all around the epicenter as the rumbling spread out to tumble even Tari. A hazy roar followed, roaring once and then louder the second time. The ground right at the epicenter at once ripped itself apart with more vines flying up, vines quickly turning black as they ascended.
Upwards of thirty meters, if not taller, up they flew spilling off to the sides collapsing. Silver at once launched back, narrowly dodging as the end of one slammed down next to his position, “Whoa!”
“Gah, what the living crap is that!” came the yell of Torunei from his position as he stood there, simply watching.
“Vines!” Tari called as she and Silver launched themselves into the air.
With a flip Silver landed several paces away with Tari landing elegantly right behind. Both walked forward, all still with heads turned to face the vines.
“This planet is weird,” Tari murmured.
“You can say that again. Vines just up and attacking folks like that? Eh… not cool.”
Tari stumbled forward two paces, her eyes flashing. With the sharp turn of her head and a stance change much like a boxer’s she barked, “Incoming, again!”
“Tch, what now?” Silver grumbled following her turn towards the South.
Torunei looked up, his eyes squinting, “I don’t see anything.”
Lightning crackled and struck right before them, purple in coloration. The ground blew apart revealing next a humanoid form as the light faded.
“Soren!” Tari called, her stance dropping.
“Soren?” Torunei murmured.
“Illiya’s little sister?” Silver questioned.
“I thought I sensed something. The Star Squad,” came a slight giggle followed by footsteps, “Hey Tari, Silver, Torunei. What brings you all to this planet?”
“A mission. Something believed to be supernatural was having an adverse effect on this world. We believed it to be Lunagen until some things started to unfold.”
“Ah, and I take it that you can’t do anything now considering the giant mole robot and a clearly injured mortal, right?”
“Well… not necessarily. Something killed Starset Knights, and then a second mole thing appeared and got attacked by some weird vines. We’re not positive but we still think this is the work of something not necessarily mortal.”
“Why’s that Tari?”
“Vines like that haven’t been documented on this planet. Plus there were some guys that attacked the Cardinals on that one world.”
“Logical.”
“So what are you doing here Soren?” Silver mumbled.
“Taking samples of the planet’s Spirit Energy for Bishop Maxwell. He sensed a disturbance in this quadrant and wasn’t sure which world it was; but, I guess now I can take a guess.”
“Soren, you need to go and report back to Maxwell. Meanwhile, I’d say we need to phone home to Starset about what’s going on.”
“Yeah, I could do that and you guys could do that, or I could just help out and we find out what those weeds are.”
“Soren, I-”
“The Kingdoms receive missions from my bosses when we feel like handing out simple tasks. We can also modify them.”
“You’re not a Bishop though or even a Priest,” Torunei coughed stepping forward.
“Pardon me kids but what’s this crazy talk,” the man beside Torunei barked, “Cardinals? Bishops? Kingdoms?!”
“Might as well tell him since he’ll be hauled in for questioning,” Silver mumbled.
Silver turned to face the man, nodding to Torunei after. Torunei stepped forward with a nod of his own in return while sweeping around to look at the man, “We are representatives of Elysium. Elysium lies alongside the Celestial River, mother to life and power. It is also home to both us Celestials and the Angels, who look to serve and protect mortals from the supernatural powers of the rogue realm known as The Underworld.”
“It is the job of the Holy Kingdoms to carry out assignments given to us by the Celestial Kingdom. As said, usually it’s just us taking on Supernatural threats. The Underworld in particular is what people often call Hell, full of monsters and Demons; though no damned souls who died. Typically the assignments given to us are simple investigative tasks while the Celestial Kingdom handles the heavier missions. If they get a hammered with assignments, they pass the harder ones off to the Kingdoms,” Tari followed.
“Our leaders are the Twenty Cardinals, leaders of the Cardinal Program known as Project Safeguard. They are in charge of running Elysium and handling the mortal worlds in time of crisis. They are wickedly powerful, especially when compared to the people who elect them to their positions. They elect Bishops to watch over quadrants of the mortal worlds, then send their Priests or rather their warriors to fulfill the various tasks they can handle first and foremost,” Torunei stated, jumping back in.
“So in short, we are what you might call Gods and Angels that are fighting the powers of Satan,” Silver concluded, “A bit bold and a spit on certain religions but we’re kinda like that. Not really sure if Heaven or Hell exist though in that same sense.”
“That’s uh, wha-whoa,” the man mumbled, “I have absolutely no idea what you guys are saying. Like, Cardinals and Priests? What about the Gods and Angels? And what the heck are you guys?”
“Celestials, we are Celestials. And again, can’t really say much about Gods or the afterlife. Angels are just another species, like us I suppose. Angels kinda do their own thing right now,” Tari replied.
“Only Supernatural? So… so you guys don’t-” the man stuttered.
Tari shook her head, her eyes shut as she did, “Afraid not. I already know what you’re going to ask and the answer is no. We just fight evil. We’re considered godly but we won’t interfere in normal life or stop wars or any of that. We are not permitted to do anything of the sort other than carry out the missions they assign, which only involve the Supernatural.”
“And you, you expect me to just believe your story?” the man growled.
Silver shrugged his shoulders, “Hmph. This is going about as I expected.”
“Listen sir, believe us or not that isn’t the point,” Soren began stepping forward, “Right now there’s a problem with your world and that’s why we’re here. So if you know anything, you should just spill it. Otherwise my friends here will take you back to our world for interrogation. That or just flat out hand you over to proper authorities and blame you for what’s going on in which case you might be executed.”
“You wanna actually help? Fine. I know exactly where we need to go. I wasn’t going to say much but if it gets you off my back one way or another, fine. The problem is that plant, and I can take you to where it came from IF, and only IF, you let me go.”
“Take us to the source and we might just consider not dumping you in the vacuum of space, scum,” Silver growled.
“Then we have a deal.”
“We will assist you until we isolate what we’re up against. If it is beyond us, we’re pulling out immediately,” Silver concluded.458Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAhtUnUsav
