John spent a few days after conquering the orc city, to greet the ambassadors of the native tribes. The native tribesmen were overjoyed that John had helped them and they had sent him many gifts. After seeing them in action John knew that with a little training they’d make deadly warriors. He hinted at it to the ambassadors, letting them know he was willing to recruit them. He doubted that more than a handful would take up his offer.

The Empress’ reinforcements arrived a week later. Together with his frigate and corvettes they set up a net around the planet and scanned the surrounding space thoroughly. They soon found the orc’s hyperspace beacon and destroyed it. That was one big worry off John’s shoulders. He sent a report back to the Empress, thanking her for the reinforcements. He did not mention that the waygate was functional.

“Spiz,” John called his chief of security, “gather a team of ten elite guardsmen we can trust and meet me at the waygate with them in three hours, fully armed. We’re going to go to the other side.”

“Are you sure?” asked Spiz. “Our probes may not be functional now but if we modify them we might…”

“I can’t wait any longer. I want to know what the world beyond the gate is like before the Empress decides to take action.” He needed to claim the new world as his own. He was scared that the Empress would take it, as well as Fi, away from him.

“All right John. We’ll be there.”

“Thanks Spiz,” John didn’t know what he’d do without him. Spiz may have seemed like a clown when they’d first met, but he was diligent in his duty and had a lot of good ideas. More importantly, he was loyal and not an Imperial spy. He had no doubt that the Empress had planted spies among his team. That Spymaster would leave nothing to chance.

John arrived at the waygate and studied it while waiting for his men to arrive. He let aura flow into it and studied the different pathways it took in the stone. It was so complex and there were so many things hidden from him. He’d never be able to understand it.

His task force soon arrived. The ten elites and Spiz were all martial artists. John was the only aura user in his city. The native tribes had shamans who could use aura as well, but their ways of weaving were too crude. They had not been honed for combat.

They stepped into the light of the waygate cautiously and entered another world. John felt nothing when he passed through the waygate. It was like walking through an open doorway, no nausea, no flashes of light...nothing. The other world was dark. It was night, and the sky was moonless. They had to activate their night vision to move about. Spiz got the men into formation and they walked forward in an arrow head formation with John and Spiz at the tip.

John could feel the elemental particles of death surround him. They were harmless but they still creeped John out. Who could live in such an environment?

John raised his hand, signaling for them to stop. “Lock and load.”

“Umm...What?” Spiz scratched his head.

“Ready your weapons. There’s something approaching.” A massive cloud could be seen rushing at them from the distance. John felt his emotions sway as it got closer. “Guard your minds and calm your emotions. It’s a high demon.”

The high demon came closer and John could now see its form. It had the body of a gorilla with six arms. Its head was yellow, while the rest of it was orange. Fire blazed on its fur and black particles floated around it like ash. John remembered the first high demons he had faced. They were all like massive blobs with tentacles. This demon clearly came from a different species.

“Fire,” John ordered as soon as it was within range.

His men fired at the high demon. The high demon’s speed was reduced and it was wounded. They didn’t stop firing until it was nearly upon them. John then blasted it with lightning and his men finished it off with their swords. That had been easy. John’s confidence grew. These ten elites that Spiz had chosen were pretty good.

They wandered on. Spiz scanned the patch of peculiar looking rocks shining in the night and exclaimed “This contains a rare metal,” he said. “Viborium! They use it for making canon. It’s very valuable.”

“As soon as we can figure out how to get machinery working in this place we’ll send in some mining probes,” said John.

They saw a building in the distance. It was built like the cathedrals John had seen on Earth, with stained glass windows and Gothic arches. They made their way to the structure and found that the door was budged tightly closed. One of his martial artists punched the door and it blew apart. Within the structure were long metal benches and tables with cups and plates. Skeletons sat on the benches as though they were all eating a meal together. At the end of the room was a throne on which sat a very tall skeleton with a golden crown. The skeleton king seemed to be staring at John. John pointed his glaive at the skeleton but it didn’t stir. Maybe it had been his imagination.

They gazed at the stained glass windows. The first window showed the scene of an army of skeletons capturing some humanoids. The second window showed some blue skinned people eating the flesh and blood of their captives. They looked like warlocks but not quite. Their eyes were golden, and they had tails. Maybe they were a primitive form of warlock. The third window showed a great cloud of darkness descending onto them. It was just like the energy that the warlock he fought previously had used to transform himself. In the fourth window the blue creatures’ eyes turned black and their bodies became bigger. In the fifth window they slew the rest of their captives and performed a blood ritual. In the sixth an army of skeletons commanded by the transformed blue skinned creatures slaughtered a city.

The windows were pretty self explanatory to John, but the others seemed puzzled.

“These people are like warlocks,” he said to them. “They practiced a number of bizarre and disgusting rituals and summoned a power that could make them stronger. It was probably some kind of demonic energy. They then conquered this city and killed all its inhabitants with the skeleton army they’d brought with them.

“This is not a good place,” said Spiz.

“Let’s burn it to the ground then.”

As they were about to leave all the skeletons turned their heads towards John in unison and stood up. The skeleton king on the throne got up and shouted something in a strange language. He then laughed. The skeletons got into formation before the king.

John’s men were very disciplined. They did not start firing until ordered.

They were at least fifty skeletons. John tried to gauge the skeletons’ strength and found that these were good odds. “Guns won’t work,” said John. “Bring out your melee weapons and smash these things into powder.”

The skeleton king began talking once again, pointing its bony hand at John. He doubted that the skeletons were trying to plead for mercy. From the constant laughing he knew that they were being mocked.

“Hulk smash,” roared John and led his men forward. His glaive pulverized the first skeleton it hit. The impact nearly made John bite his tongue. These skeletons were quite sturdy. He left the rest to his men and phased behind the skeleton king. He tried to pierce the skeleton king’s skull but the skeleton suddenly raised a black aura shield. This thing was an aura user. It weaved something similar to Dark Rainfall and sent it splattering on John’s aura shield. He had to use all his effort to keep his shield from breaking.

John wrapped his glaive and body in light and swung his glaive in a rapid flurry at the skeleton’s head. The skeleton’s aura shield flickered and some of John’s hits made contact. The skull got bent out of position, and there was a small crack near the cranium. The skeleton paused for a moment to rearrange its skull, while John swung his glaive at the skeleton’s legs. If he could cripple it, the battle would be easily won. The skeleton’s sword turned golden as it thrust at John. John’s aura shield could not hold and the sword cut through John’s armor and into his arm. John phased at that moment. The thrust had left only a flesh wound, but it had been a close call.

John got angry and tried a move he’d seen Sor Al do a long time ago. Multicolored particles of light emerged from around his shield, lightning crackling when the particles touched and bounced off each other. The particles grew bigger as he charged them up, defending himself with his glaive at the same time. This was a complex weave of light, earth, air, water, space and time. It would collapse with even the smallest mistake. John, in his hyperaware state, found it easy to concentrate and soon unleashed the particles on the skeleton king.

The skeleton king screamed as he got bombarded by the particles of colored light, his bones disintegrating when they made contact. Soon there was nothing left of the skeleton king except his legs. John swung his glaive at the legs and turned them to dust. John helped his men finish off the remaining skeletons and then sat on the ground and bandaged his wound.

“Why don’t we rest here for a while,” he said, and Spiz immediately agreed. John raised his hand, silencing everyone. He heard a peculiar sound in the air. It was getting louder and louder.

“Take cover,” he shouted.

Just then, they heard the sound of large impact. The wall broke and a behemoth covered in metal appeared before them.

“Oh,” said the metal giant. It had a deep and booming voice. “Where did all the skeletons go?” it said in Universal.