The Alpha escaped, Caleb and Vinnie looked out through the hole in the wall to watch it stretch and slither away so fast into the night as it disappeared into the shadows returning to its master. Kevin ran over to Rika to check on her as she was regaining her breathing. Caleb looked around for the Princess as she wasn’t in the room.

“Where’s the Princess?” Caleb asked as he continued to look around. He spotted Kevin over by Rika and looked at him furious as he lied about staying put. “You’re dead meat kid.”

Caleb stormed towards Kevin ready to pulverize him. Kevin saw Caleb coming and nervously started backing away till Rika stood between them forcing Caleb to stand in place.

“Now is not the time Caleb, that thing took the Princess.” Rika announced. We got to find that thing and see where it is taking her.

“Already taken care of.” Vinnie proudly declared as he presses the buttons on his gloves to create a map using his hologram computer that appeared in front of him.

On it showed a digital layout of Zonia and a white blinking dot that was moving real fast back into the forest they were before.

“I placed a tracer on our mechanical creature.” Said Vinnie pointing at the moving blinking dot. “It seems to be heading back to that demolished village we escaped from. Maybe that’s where its nest is located.”

Vinnie shuts off his holographic map using his gloves. Rika brings Caleb and Vinnie together patting them on the back.

“Good job Vinnie, we’ll take the ship and follow it back to its base and rescues the Princess.” Ordered Rika.

“What about me?” Kevin asked from behind.

The three turned to look at Kevin who still had the sword in hand stand tall almost puffed up trying to look brave even though deep down inside he was scared.

“You?!” Caleb scoffed. “What can you do? You’re a target right now, you’ll only slow us down, and don’t think I don’t owe you the beat down of your life.”

“That’s enough Caleb!” Rika shouted causing Caleb to back off. “Believe it or not, he can hold his own, he can help us.”

Flustered, Caleb makes a tsk sound at Kevin and heads for the door out of the Princess’ bedroom.

“Don’t get in my way kid.” Caleb warned Kevin as he left the room; Vinnie remained silent and followed behind.

Rika looked at Kevin who looked back at her relieved that at least he had somebody on his side that believed he could help.

“Thank you.” Kevin softly said as he smiled.

Rika smiled back but then noticed the sword Kevin was holding in his hand as it looked familiar.

“Uh, where did you get that sword?” She asked concerned.

Kevin became nervous as he realized that he took the sword from a statue that may have been a type of grave for the former Knights. If he honestly told her where he got it, she may send him to the dungeon or something for grave robbing. He quickly puts it back in its scabbard.

“I found it on my way to rescue you guys.” Kevin calmly said hoping his lie would convince Rika. “I needed something to fight with.”

“Of course, come on we must save the Princess, follow me.” She said as she ran out the door; Kevin quickly followed behind.

As they were heading back to the hanger to catch up with the others, she thought about that sword Kevin had as she knew where Kevin got the sword. She knew it belonged to one of the former Knights, but she couldn’t figure out how he got a hold of it. The markers under the statues were designed to never be opened by just anyone. Rika became suspicious about Kevin, but for now that had to be put aside as they had to rescue the Princess.

***

The Alpha slithered as fast as it could back to the floating fortress, back to his master who was alerted of its return from his main quarters. The master swirled his chair around from his video screen in time as the creature appeared emerging from the floor. It expanded its body like before pushing the Princess out. The Princess lands on the ground motionless at first but then takes a breath and coughs; being inside the Lurker’s body, there wasn’t much air. Once she regained her breathing, she looked around her new environment realizing she wasn’t in her room she was in a dark and dreary looking room lit by fire. She spotted someone sitting in the shadows of their room she grew nervous unsure what to do.

“Welcome, Princess Anya of Auran. It’s been too long.” Said the Master calmly.

Princess Anya looked at the mysterious figure confused. The Master’s voice though deep, sounded familiar as she has heard it before but couldn’t recognize it.

“Who are you?” She asked. “How do you know me?”

The Master remained silent at first but then chuckled as he realized it's been awhile since the Princess has heard him speak.

“I wouldn’t expect you to remember me, your highness.” The Master stated as he approached the Princess. “The last we met you were only a child.”

The Master walked up to the Princess into the well-lit area revealing himself to be a tall masculine built man in a black futuristic suit of armor. It looked light but the armor was thick. He wore a blue and gold garment over his suit of armor with matching hood and cap. She was unable to see his face as it was covered in a black hard-shelled mask with glowing yellow eyes. The Princess was intimidated by the immense amount of reiki energy coming off him; she stood back a bit. The master saw the fear in her eyes by his appearance. He raised his hand towards her which made her slightly jump a bit as she thought he was going to hurt her. He continued as he placed his hand on top her head. Just like what The Princess did to Kevin, the Master emitted his red and black reiki energy into The Princess’ mind as he shared a memory with her. In a flash the Princess was in the garden of her castle, but everything was big to her. She then realized she was looking at one of her memories as a child.

“Come on Angel, hurry up.” Yelled a more younger tenor voice.

Princess Anya looked towards the direction of the voice to see the back of a tall young male in his twenties with long black and silver silky hair down to his chest walking away from her. Through her child like eyes she watched herself running towards him.

“Laban, don’t leave me.” Her little voice cried out.

Laban slowed down enough for her to catch up. Just as she was about to reach to him, he quickly turned around and picked her up tickling her. A flash of light appeared again, and the Princess was back to herself. She looked at him as he removed his hand from her head. She was shocked, all this time he was still alive.

“It’s you.” The Princess softly stated unsure of what to express.

She remembered he was like a brother to him, he looked out for her, kept her company when she was alone. He was supposed to be there to help that fateful day, the day when everything went to hell, the day she lost her Father; but he was gone. She looked at him upset that he wasn’t there to help save them.

“Where were you?” The Princess yelled. With tears in her eyes as she started pounding at his chest. “Someone came and attacked the castle; they were under attack and you could’ve saved them. Why didn’t you?”

Laban held her arms preventing her from hitting him again. He stepped away from her, his back against her solemnly.

“Your Father was a fool.” Laban said coldly. “They all were. He wanted to protect those stones, he failed to grab at the chance to have immeasurable power. Your Father couldn’t see the big picture.”

“L-Laban?” The Princess tried to speak up afraid to ask the question she feared. “What did you-

“I tried to take the stones, they thwarted me, and I was banished for treason. I had to get the stones, by any means necessary.” He said.

The Princess’ eyes widened, and she turned pale as she couldn’t believe what she just heard from a royal knight of Auran. The man she once looked up to was responsible for what happened to the Knights.

“It was you. She said still in shock. You killed them; you killed my Father!”

Enraged, the Princess brings out her weapons and attempts to attack him. Laban sensed her coming but refused to budge. Princess Anya raised her sword ready to strike but suddenly she was blown back by an unseen force. Laban turned to face her and with his reiki he exerted more of his energy towards Princess Anya. Overwhelmed by the pressure coming from Laban’s reiki powers, Princess Anya fell to her knees. She felt like the oxygen around here was thinning out, even gravity itself became heavy to her as she couldn’t even stand up.

“What’s going on?” She thought to herself. “I can barely breath, I can’t even move.”

“Is my reiki too strong for you?” Laban asked as approached her with ease. “I’m disappointed your highness.”

Laban stopped exerting his energy in the room giving the Princess a chance to breathe. The Alpha approached Princess Anya grabbing her and forcing her to stand up and preventing her from trying to attack. Laban leaves his quarters and the Alpha forces the Princess to follow. The three walked the halls of his dark and decrepit fortress. The Princess looked around seeing more creatures crawling on the pillars and ceilings of the fortress looking back at them as they made their way to another area of the fortress. They arrived at two giant doors where two of the creatures stood guarding it. When they spotted Laban approaching, they opened the door. Inside was a giant assembled factory with a giant machine that had several sections with different jobs. The first half of the machine was creating the exact masks the creatures were wearing and dumping them in a container that held them. The next section had several arm cranes that would pick up a mask and bring it over to a conveyor belt that had human shaped pods. Inside those pods were the missing villagers both current and old strapped in yelling for help as they were brought over to the cranes. The Princess watched in horror as she saw the cranes place the masks on several villagers. The masks come to life as a black substance begins to pool out of the mask eating away at the villager’s face as it fused itself. The fusion was painful, the villagers convulsed as the substance seeped into their bloodstream burning them from the inside out. The sound of blood curdling screams echoed throughout the factory. Their screams were soon silenced as the black substance then expanded absorbing their entire body. Their bodies would stop convulsing once the fusion was complete. From head to toe the villagers had become the creatures as their hands and feet became razor sharp metallic claws. Slimy tentacle like hair slithered out from the mask. The straps opened releasing the now transformed villagers as they slithered themselves out of the pods. Some walking on all fours like gorillas. Tears rolled down Anya’s face as she couldn’t believe this was what happened to the missing villagers and that she and her knights were killing them. They recognized their master and bowed low to the ground.

“These are my creations.” Laban announced. “I call them Lurkers.”

Laban walked towards the bin and picked up one of the masks. He returned to the Princess, showing her the inside as it looked normal at first, but then Anya noticed thousands of black spots almost like fleas moving around in the mask.

“I used nano technology from which I programmed them to attach and consume reiki energy from their host.” He explained. “Once the mask is on the host, the nannites fuse with the host becoming a symbiotic creature.”

One of the Lurkers approached Laban who gave it the mask to put back into the bin. Before it left, the Lurker leaned toward his master. Laban stroked the Lurker’s head in which it mechanically purred for a moment then left to put the mask back in the bin.

“Sometimes, I have more evolved Lurkers which I make them lead the others. My creations are loyal, cretins that will do what I command them to.”

Before Laban could continue, a nearby villager hollered in pain which caught both Laban and Anya’s attention. A villager had broken free from his straps. The mask was already on and parts of his body had already been transformed but the other halves were still human. He looked over at Laban and the Princess and recognized who she was.

Prin…cess, help…me. The villager garbled as his voice was metallic, inhuman since fused with the Lurker.

The Lurker side tried to take control and continue the fusion, but the villager tried to fight it. The process was painful as he held his head in pain. The villager happened to see his reflection, coming from the arm crane and couldn’t believe what he was becoming. The sight of his grotesque look scared him as he realized he was becoming a monster. He let out a metallic shrill like a Lurker in anger and frustration. The villager gained control of his body as he raised his Lurker claws over his face. He dug deep into his mask slashing it trying to destroy the monster within. Soon wires and the black substance pooled out of the slash marks on the mask as he succeeded on killing the Lurker side of him. Parts of the mask cracked; the bottom of the mask crumbled revealing the villager’s skin peeled mouth as the mask already ate away at his skin. The villager then coughed up a large pool of blood, his heart beating so fast, and blood leaking out from his eyes. The villager began to panic as it was getting difficult to breath. He felt light-headed as he was losing blood fast. The villager gasped at his last breath of air till he collapsed to the ground with blood pooling out of him. The lurkers in the room picked up the dead body removing it from the room.

“Unfortunately, there are times when the host will try and reject the nannites.” Laban stated. “The results are fatal as you can see.”

The Princess couldn’t watch any longer at what was going on, Laban looked back at the princess. He saw how much this was hurting her, he then had an idea.

“I can stop this and release the remaining villagers if you want.” Laban declared.

Hearing that caught the Princess’ attention as she looked at him surprised as to why he would do such a thing. Laban gently held Princess Anya’s chin.

“But first you must tell me where that immense power came from?”