“There doesn’t seem to be any trap here,” Professor Sean announced as he checked the entrance to the Elfish temple. “But we must be careful going in.”

Darren nodded and stepped first inside the shrine, rifle pointed forward. Sean, John, Iris and Alexander followed closely behind. They became engulfed in chilling blackness as there was no light. Darren activated his rifle’s lighter, shedding some dim light in the pathway. John and Alexander did the same with their rifles.

As they made their way inside, the pathway widened. The whole place looked rotted and its walls seemed as if they would crumble. Spiders laced the walls with cobwebs of intricate beauty. Whatever splendors this place once had, they had all faded by now.

Iris was staring intensely at the walls, her eyes watery. She felt her throat dry and her mind numb. She stepped closer to one of the walls. Her hand moved to touch it, to feel the sensation of her ancestors’ handiwork.

“No!” Sean barked, bringing Iris back from her trance. “It could activate a trap of some sort! Do not touch anything!”

“I’m sorry,” Iris quickly replied, shaking her head. “I behaved irrationally. I don’t know why, but I wanted to feel that wall. It is one of the few remnants of what once was a great civilization, my ancestors’ civilization…”

“I understand. I too feel a connection to this grand civilization; I can only imagine how you feel. Elves, from what I understand, have a special bond with their past.”

Iris simply nodded.

“We should get going,” Darren interrupted them. “No time for sentimentality!”

As they stepped forward, they saw a stairway that once must have led to an upper floor, but that floor had collapsed and remnants were scattered all over the floor. The stairway itself looked as if it was about to crumble. On the other hand, there was a pathway leading below the temple.

“Professor,” Darren pointed at the pathway, “what’s next?”

“Whatever holy artifacts this temple houses, they must be stored on that underground level. We should explore it.”

“You’ve heard the professor!” the commander shouted. “Let’s get going!”

They followed this path and descended into an underground passageway. As they headed further below, they could see a glimpse of light coming from a room. The room was illuminated by a torch placed upon a wooden chest. The torch created a flickering orange glow. Next to it laid a human skeleton.

“Should we go inside the room?” John asked. “It seems that the last one who tried to step in didn’t live long.”

“It is the only way forward,” Sean replied. “But I agree; we must be careful.”

“I’ll be going first,” Iris said. “I should be able to deal with whatever lies ahead.”

“I’ll be following closely behind,” Darren concurred. “As for you three,” he turned to John, Alexander and Sean, “watch your steps and try to be extra careful in following us.”

As Iris stepped into the room, she suddenly noticed that the room's floor was made up of stone tiles. 'Damn!' she thought as she stepped onto a tile. Click! At once darts were fired from both sides of the room. Darren jumped forward and pushed Iris to the ground, the darts flying above them.

“How should we proceed ahead?” Alexander asked. He, John and Sean were still outside the room. “Should we try to see if there is any other way around?”

“We will be using our magic,” Iris replied. “Create an energy shield.”

John and Alexander closed their eyes and concentrated. The Qi felt especially strong in this place. They waved their arms and an invincible energy shield encompassed them and the professor. Iris did the same, encompassing herself and Darren with an energy field.

“We should head for the exit,” Iris said.

As the group walked forward, stepping on the tiled floor, darts were launched from left and right. The steel darts were deflected by the energy shields, falling on the ground. From small holes on the walls, darts kept being fired, but the group continued making its way forward. Slowly but steadily, they made their way to the next room.

John let a sigh of relief as he stopped making use of his magic. Alexander and Iris did the same. Creating energy shields was an exhausting task for any sorcerer. “Thankfully this room’s floor isn’t tiled.”

“We shouldn’t let our guard down,” Sean warned. “There must be further traps ahead.”

“Professor is right,” Darren said. “We need to watch our next steps.” He cautiously stepped forward, touching lightly upon the floor and looking left and right as he did so.

Suddenly, a loud hissing echoed across the room. Falling from the floor were tens of snakes, some small and some more than two meters in length, but all of them crimson red. They were crawling towards the group, hunting them as if they were rats. Sean screamed from the top of his lungs, jumping frantically. His face had become ashen white. “I am afraid of snakes!” he screamed.

Darren, Alexander and John aimed at the serpents and began firing. Crack! Crack! Crack! Their hearts were racing and they were sweating. John was trembling. ‘I hate snakes!’ he thought. As a farmboy, it wasn’t the first time he had to face those creatures, but he never got quite used to them. All of the sudden, a gigantic snake fell right in front of him. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” He aimed at its head and fired point blank. The head of the snake went down and the body whirled as it died in agony.

“Run!” Iris shouted, pointing at the far side of the room where there was a wooden door. Encompassing herself with an energy shield, she prevented snakes from approaching her. Alexander, John and Darren were following behind, shooting at the serpents in the way and protecting Professor Sean.

Darren shook the handle, and the wooden door swung wide open. Iris, John, Alexander and professor rushed to the next room. As Darren was about to do the same, a long snake charged at him. He turned around and fired without aiming, miraculously blowing up its head.

“Come inside!” John grabbed the commander by the sleeve and pulled him inside the room while Alexander closed the wooden door.

“What kind of fucking psychopaths build a room full of fucking snakes?!” Darren shouted.

“Snakes are revered animals in Elfish mythology,” Iris explained.

“Indeed,” Sean concurred. “I wrote a paper on this subject. The ancient Elves considered snakes to be the guardians against evil spirits.”

“And we are the evil spirits?” John chuckled.

“It seems so.”

“We should probably move on,” Alexander reminded them. “Hopefully there won’t be any more booby traps.”

“Let’s first take a good look before walking forward,” Darren stopped him. As he looked around, he felt a strange sensation on the floor. Looking down, he saw water. “Oh, oh!” The room was slowly filling up with water. “We need to get out!”

“How?” Sean asked, point at the far end of the room where there was nothing but a wall. “The room is a dead end!”

“We should go back!” Alexander proposed.

“To the snakes?!” the professor screamed. “Are you kidding me?”

“We should go ahead,” Iris said. “There should be some sort of mechanism or secret pathway.”

John nodded in agreement and so did Darren. “You’ve heard her,” the commander said. “Let’s go!”

As they rushed forward, the water kept rising, reaching thigh height. They steadied themselves against the water current, as they kept pushing ahead, but the water was rising faster every second. The water rose up to their chest. They started to swim towards the edge of the room.

“We will make it,” Darren said, gritting his teeth. The water was rising above their head. They tried to swim upwards, their lungs bursting for air. Taking a few deep breaths, they found themselves once again underwater. From below the water, Iris could see an ancient Elfish logogram on the wall.

Mustering all her remaining strength, she swam upwards. Seeing the wall in front of her, she closed her eyes and concentrated. Waving her hand, she unleashed a powerful energy wave that smashed that part of the wall, opening a pathway forward. “Here!” she screamed, jumping onto the next room. The others followed behind, swimming upwards and jumping forward.

Soaked, chilling cold, out of breath and pale, they sat on the floor to rest for a moment.

“I can’t believe we survived,” Sean said. “Remind me to never accompany you again. Anywhere.”

Iris gritted her teeth, as she felt a sudden pain on her chest. John rushed next to her. “Are you alright?” he frantically asked.

“I am OK,” she replied. “It’s just that I overused magic. My ancestors must have stored something pretty important here for them to take such precautions.”

Darren nodded. “Whatever is in here, it must be extremely precious. Which reminds that we need to get going, because we don’t have time to waste.”

The group got up and continued their search. As they walked forward, they saw a sight that froze them; there were dozens of skeletons scattered around a stone altar. Placed upon the altar was a small, black steel box.

“That doesn’t look like the heavenly sword,” Alexander said.

“Whatever it is,” Sean replied, “it is an important ancient Elf artifact. It shouldn’t be underestimated. We-“

“The artifact belongs to my boss!” a loud male voice echoed in the room. Turning around, the group saw Mike Roberts and two Helian troopers aiming their rifles at them. “It is X-Corp property.” Seeing John, Mike smirked. “Nice to see you again, boy. Hope you won’t run away again, like you did back on Frazzar…”

“How did you follow me?” John asked.

“I didn’t. I was looking for this old shrine. But it seems fate wants us to be enemies... Thank you by the way for making our entry easier. I would have lost far more men had you not dealt with the booby traps of this place.”

With a nod of his head, Mike signaled his men to open fire. As they pulled their triggers, unleashing a rapid succession of laser bolts, Iris waved her arm, erecting an energy shield around her and the rest of the group, deflecting the enemy fire.

“Ah!” The sorceress let out a cry and her face turned pale.

“What happened?” John asked, helping Iris stand on her feet while Alexander put up an energy shield of his own around them.

“I already overused magic… and now this. But I will mak-“

“I and Alexander can face them. You, the professor and Darren should escape! We cannot let the artifact fall in their hands.”

“No. We wil-“

“Make a decision quickly,” Alexander interrupted. “I cannot hold up this shield forever.” Cold sweat flowed down his forehead. He was trembling and he gritted his teeth as his shield faced a barrage of laser fire.

“The kid’s right,” Darren said. “We need to get out. The artifact is too important!”

“But-“

“You are in no position to fight right now,” the commander silenced Iris’ protests. “Protect the professor while I get the artifact! Get to the previous room. From there we can head back to the surface!”

Iris nodded, grabbing Sean by the shirt. “Come on!”

“I should have never come here!” Sean screamed as he was pulled forward.

As Iris and Sean sprinted forward, Alexander let out a cry and his energy shield collapsed. With laser fire coming their way, Alexander, John and Darren fell on the ground to dodge the laser bolts.

“Men!” Mike ordered. “Stop them from getting the artifact. I will deal with the sorceress and the professor.” As his two soldiers turned their rifles at Darren, Mike turned his at Iris and Sean. “Got you now…” He pulled the trigger and opened fire, his laser bolt grazing Iris’ left arm.

Sean screamed in terror, his face pale and his hands shaking. Iris turned around and waved her arm, unleashing a weak energy wave at Mike. The sergeant simply rolled to the right and avoided it. “Weak! Where’s your magic now, sorceress?”

As he was about to fire back, a second energy wave came at him; one that generated a powerful gust of wind. “What?” Mike turned to his right and saw that John and Alexander had unleashed that energy wave at him. Before he could react, the wave pummeled him, throwing him face down on the ground. Getting up, he sensed something warm oozing down his face. “You broke my fucking nose!” Turning his rifle at the two sorcerers, he fired.

Crack! Crack! As rifle shots echoed across the room, Darren was sprinting to the altar, chased by Mike’s two soldiers and dodging the wild laser shots as they came at him.

Grabbing the artifact, he turned around to escape. He fell on the ground, eluding the soldiers’ fire. He quickly got up and ran at them. Standing right in front of one of them, Darren pointed his rifle at his face and fired point blank. Blood and brains exploded from his head and his body collapsed. As the remaining soldier turned his rifle at him, Darren fell upon him and pushed him onto the ground before he could fire. The commander jerked his rifle against the soldier’s neck, breaking it and killing him.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he bolted forward, following Iris and Sean who had already jumped to the previous water-filled room. As he was running, he grabbed from his pocket a comn device and activated. “Do you copy me?”

“Yes, Captain!” D-4009’s robotic voice replied from the device. “Is there anything wr-“

“I want you to get the Eagle at those coordinates. We need to get out of here, ASAP!”

“Copied!”

As Darren jumped onto the flooded room, John and Alexander were facing Mike, who was zigzagging left and right, eluding their energy waves. Aiming his rifle at the two sorcerers, he fired a succession of rapid shots. Alexander suddenly grimaced in pain as a laser bolt ripped along his leg. A second shot passed right through his left shoulder.

Alexander screamed and let out an energy wave that pummeled Mike. The sergeant fell on the floor and his rifle slipped through his hands. Undeterred, Mike grabbed a laser knife and threw it at Alexander. The knife stuck Alexander’s leg wound. The sorcerer’s face became pale as he began losing lots of blood.

“Leave!” John barked. “You need medical care.”

“But-“

Alexander’s protests were cut short. “Now! If you don’t, you will just slow me down. I cannot fight him and look after you.”

Alexander sighed and limped out of the room, as John waved his arm, unleashing an energy wave at Mike. The sergeant rolled to the left, evading it. “Pitiful!” he chuckled. He charged at John, throwing all his weight onto John’s chest and pushing him on the ground. “Now it’s my turn!” He punched the young sorcerer dead smack in the eye. John screamed in pain as blood was running down the side of his face. Mike punched him again, blood flying everywhere. “Now I am going to finish you!”

John mustered all his strength and pummeled his fist in Mike’s side. As the sergeant was caught off guard, John pushed him off of him. He quickly got up and kicked him in the face. Blood trickled from Mike’s mouth and he fell back. “I ain’t finished yet,” John said, swiping the blood off his face.

“Neither am I,” the sergeant replied as he got up. “Come to me, boy!”

John jumped forward and threw a fist at Mike. He blocked the punch rather easily, and kicked the young sorcerer on the side. John retreated a few steps. “Is that all you’ve got?” Mike laughed. He gave John a roundhouse kick, with his right foot to his chest. John flew across the room and slammed against a wall. “Pathetic…”

“Why hasn’t he contacted us?” Walden asked his driver. The CEO of X-Corp was sitting on the back seat of one of his high-speed sandrail drive vehicles, along with a couple of soldiers and scientists, and waiting for Mike to contact him about his findings in the ruins.

“Didn’t Professor Jay warn us that there could be traps in the shrine?” the driver reminded him. “Maybe that’s why he hasn’t replied yet.”

Walden sighed. His right leg was bouncing up and down. “When will h-“

“Look!” one of his soldiers shouted and Walden turned his gaze at the temple. Three people were making their way out of it.

“Is it Mike…?” Walden wondered. “Bring me the binoculars!”

The driver complied and handed them over. Walden zoomed in for a closer look. “That’s not Mike! That’s… my! That’s Commander Darren!”

“The Lion?” driver asked, shaking his head in disbelief. “The butcher of the Alliance?”

“Fire at them!” Walden roared at his soldiers.

The Helian troopers quickly turned their rifles at Darren, Iris and Sean and started shooting. The three companions began running, dodging the laser shots. Darren aimed his own rifle at them and fired back, killing one of the Helians.

“Down!” Darren shouted as he pushed Sean to the ground. A laser bolt flew right above them. “Bastards!” The commander fired back. Walden’s driver screamed as a laser shot went straight through the center of his forehead, leaving a neat hole.

The CEO threw him off the vessel and jumped onto the driver’s seat. “I wan-“ As he was about to relay his orders through his comn device, a loud roaring echoed loudly. Looking at the sky, Walden could see a warship landing in front of his vehicles. “Oh oh… Retreat!” Walden turned his vehicle around, and so did the rest of his team, driving away from the site fast, followed only by a large trail of dust.

As the Eagle’s opening hatch was opened, the group made its way inside the warship. Darren, Iris and Sean rushed to the cockpit, where Xar and D-4009 were sitting on the pilot’s and co-pilot’s seat respectively while Beck was walking up and down.

“We need to leave!” Darren shouted. “Now!”

“What about John and Alexander?!” Iris frantically asked, visibly shaking. “We need to wait a bit longer. We cannot abandon them her- “

“We cannot risk losing this artifact. It is way too important. It could very well lead us to the heavenly sword. We’ve got to get out of here!”

“Captain!” D-4009 interrupted. “Someone has emerged from the shrine.”

Iris and Darren turned their gazes to the cockpit’s viewport, trying to make out who the figure was. As he rushed towards the Eagle, they could finally make out who he was; Alexander, limping forward as fast as he could. Seeing him injured, Beck rushed out of the cockpit and out of the starship to help him come in.

Grabbing him by his shoulders, he helped the young sorcerer to walk through the opening hatch. “Are you alright?” the doctor asked. “I will need to get you to the med bay.”

“No,” Alexander replied. “Get me to the cockpit.”

“As a doctor, I recommend th-“

“I need to tell them!” Alexander was gritting his teeth and breathing with difficulty but his face was cold and unwavering.

Beck nodded and helped him get to the cockpit.

“Where’s John?” Iris asked him as soon as he got in.

Alexander sat on one of the comfortable seats and took a deep breath. “That’s what I wanted to tell you. He was still alive when I left. But so was that Helian officer. He was good. Damn good. We need to get back there and help him. If not, that Helian will kill him!”

“We cannot,” Darren sternly replied, turning his gaze away from Alexander. His eyes were watery and he quickly swiped his tears. “We have to leave. I am sorry, but the Alliance comes first. Always.”

“No!” Alexander protested. “He is still alive. We can still sav-“

“Xar, get us out of here.”

Xar gulped. He hesitated. He looked at Darren’s stern face and then at Iris’ and Alexander’s worried expressions. His memories of John flooded his mind; their escape from Bremman, their talks at Thellasia, their raid of K-L556 and the mines of Al-Kwad, their close escape from Frazzar. Each memory felt like a sharp stab in his heart. He, the lone wolf, cold mercenary who cared only about cash, was now in physical pain because of this boy. He shook his head. He turned to D-4009, staring at him, hoping that the android could give some satisfying answer.

“The Captain’s transmission will have surely been detected by Helian satellites,” D-4009 said. “It is thus certain that Helian starships will be coming our way. I like Master John, more than most humans, but my calculations indicate our best course of action is to leave as soon as possible. It is the sacrifice of one life to save many. It is what logic dictates.”

“Fuck your calculations!” Xar shouted. “Sir,” he turned to Darren, “I propo-“

“If you won’t fly us out of here, I will relieve you from your from piloting this vessel.” Darren’s voice was resolute, leaving no room for disagreements.

Xar sighed. He nodded and began preparations for flight off. As the Eagle took off from the ground, everyone strapped themselves to their seats and injected themselves with needles for the upcoming travel. The Elf temple was reduced to a dot as the warship made its way out of the planet’s atmosphere.

“A squadron of Helian fighters are on our tail!” Xar shouted as an alarm ringed. “D-4009, connect with the ship’s AI and start shooting at those bastards!”

“Do not worry. I’ve already prepared for this. I’ve analyzed countless tactical scenarios as the Captain asked me to.”

D-4009 approached the touchscreen and connected wirelessly to it. In his mechanical brain, he could monitor every enemy fighter. Matching their movements with one of the probable dogfight scenarios he had beforehand calculated, he was able to predict their flight patterns and acted accordingly. The Eagle’s cannons fired, engulfing two of the Helian fighters in balls of flame.

As the remaining three Helian fighters swooped down at the Eagle, Xar suddenly turned the ship around. D-4009, in less than ten seconds, made the necessary calculations and fired at them, shooting down all three Helian fighters.

“Nice,” Xar said, letting out a sigh of relief. “At last something we can celebrate.” The sensors ringed again all of the sudden. “Eh?”

“What again?” Darren asked.

“Three more Helian fighter squadrons are coming our way! And it seems that a long warship too is firing at us!”

“Captain,” D-4009 interrupted, “even with my calculations, it will be hard to shoot down that many vessels. Our odds of surviving are not great.”

“We need to do what we did when we escaped from Frazzar,” Xar proposed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Beck shouted. “No way are we doing this again!”

“I share the good doctor’s pessimism,” Darren said. “Accelerating at 10g is one hell of a risk. Just because we’ve survived it once, it doesn’t mean we will survive it again.”

“Didn’t you update the engine and the hull plating?” the orc replied. “Besides, I don’t see any alternative. Do you?”

Darren relented and nodded. “Mister Kim,” he communicated with the engine room through his comn device. “You and Sara should probably needle yourself again. We will be accelerating. Fast.”

“Understood,” Kim and Sara replied in unison.

“Wait!” Professor Sean screamed. Since they had gotten back to the cockpit, he had dozed off, silently listening to the others arguing. Flashes of snakes, flooding and shots fired at him were appearing in his mind. His heart was still racing and he seemed unable to believe that he was still alive. “Are we really doing this? It’s madness!”

“Get used to it.” Xar pulled a lever and the ship increased its rate of acceleration, as everyone else injected themselves with another dose of needles. The pressure was getting stronger and stronger, and they were feeling lightheaded.

“Captain,” 4-009 said. As an android, he was the only one not affected by the situation. “Our sensors indicate we are still being followed. The Helians too have accelerated. Four of their ships blew up from engine failure but the rest keep coming at us.”

“We need more speed!” Xar shouted.

“Are you crazy?” Darren sighed. “Of course you are… and crazy seems to be our only option…”

Kim and Sara were strapped on two metallic chairs next to the engine. They had already injected themselves with the needles to withstand the high acceleration pressure. As the Eagle was speeding forward, they found themselves pushed back deeper into their seats. They were both feeling dizzy, as everything around them looked blurry.

“We need to increase our speed!” Darren’s voice suddenly shouted from the room’s comn device. “We want 14g acceleration. Can the engine handle it?”

“What?” Kim asked, shaking his head. “Ah! Yes! Yes, Captain! Will have to make a slight modification, but I believe we can make it work.”

“Do it! And fast!”

“14g acceleration?” Sara repeated. “That will get us killed. Even if the engine doesn’t blow up and turn the starship into a ball of flame, our bodies will not be able to withstand the pressure. We are already to our limits!”

Kim activated his magnetic boots to help him stand still in spite of the high-speed. He unstrapped himself and got up from his seat. “Will you help me or sit here?”

Sara simply sighed as she too activated her magnetic boots and got up. “Now what?”

“Throw me the spanner!”

Sara threw it at him, and the engineer caught it. He then walked to the engine, which whirred loudly as it was getting strained. Kim used the tool to open up one of the engine’s panels, revealing a multitude of colorful wires. “Alright,” he smiled. “This will either give us the necessary power or blow up the engine in our face.” He changed the places of three of the wires. He then closed again the panel. The roar of the engines increased.

“Are you s-“

Kim cut off Sara. “Get back to the seat.” He then turned on his comn device. “Captain, we’re ready for acceleration.”

Darren waved his arm. “Accelerate!”

Xar nodded and pressed a lever, speeding up the rate of acceleration.

They gritted their teeth and held tightly onto their seats, as the pressure increased. There was a general feeling of heaviness in the hands and feet, that was getting worse as the acceleration increased.

“Have we-“ Darren’s words were cut short by a strong chest pressure.

“If you are inquiring if we’ve managed to escape them, the answer is that we are getting close to that point. The distance between us and the Helian vessels is growing.”

Iris closed her eyes, falling unconscious. So did Professor Sean.

“What- what happe-“ Alexander tried to ask. He felt his eyes heavy and his vision was blurry. He clenched his fists and grimaced as he tried to keep his eyes open but he couldn’t.

“Damn!” Beck cursed. “They’ve fallen unconscious. So… so… we… w-… eh… I mean… so we will we if we do not reduce the rate of acceleration.”

“Do it!” Darren ordered. “We… we …. We can- can’t…”

Xar used all his strength to pull down the lever, lowering the rate of acceleration. “Argh!” he collapsed onto the control panel. D-4009 jumped up from his seat, unstrapped Xar and threw him on the floor, taking his seat and command of the vessel. “Captain, Doctor, we did. It seems we’ve managed to escape the Helians.”

“Phew!” Darren swiped the cold sweat from his forehead. “Let’s hope this Elfish artifact was worth all of it.”

Beck got up from his seat. “I should be checking them to see if they are alright. Probably they simply fainted, so it isn’t anything to worry about.”

“Do that. I will be checking the Elfish artifact. Time to uncover what secrets lie in that small, black box…”