Echoes In The Wind Trilogy

Trilogy Epilogue

2008-11-28T16:30:00.007+08:00

“Faizul, I really learnt a lot from the past two days, especially today, I think,” said the nine-year-old boy to his red-capped best friend as they made their way through the dispersing crowd along Tanjung Mas Avenue and into the shady and decorated shop lots nearby.

“Well what have you learnt so far, Azrun?” kindly asked his best friend, quietly sipping the remaining ‘Black Hole’ Coke from his paper cup.

“(Sigh) Well I guess, I can now imagine how chaotic would our country be should we forget how hard it was for it to be as it is now, even more so if we treat all calls for unity and tolerance as just fulfilling personal gains! (Sigh)” he began his statement.

“I realized now how destructive ignorance and apathy can be to any country, and how easily and quickly it destroys everything our forefathers had worked so hard to achieve, and how painful it is to restore our glory, pride and reputation once the damage is done!

These last two days had really opened up my eyes Faizul, and with these new experiences we’ve gained I, I seriously think, it made quite an impact on me, making me into a better person I guess…

So what if maybe… I mean just maybe, that that Viceroy was right, Faizul? That I would find my calling in politics when I grow up? (Snicker) And ended being the next Prime Minister of Malaysia later on? (Snigger)

So what do you think? Pretty cool, huh?” he asked; sounded very much unlike the cynical little boy he used to be.

Then, as he unwittingly noticed that his best friend had pretended to fall asleep before his meaningful words, the grinning Azrun rudely pulled down his friend’s priceless red cap over his supposedly sleepy face, and immediately Faizul reacted by screaming alien profanities at him before they shared a heartfelt bouts of laughter next; laughing at themselves, their possible vocation—and how would their lives look like if everything that their dead foe had revealed really should came true!

Twenty minutes worth of a bus ride and the exhausted best of friends finally entered the eternally hectic ‘Kilometre 8 Bakri Camp Bus Terminal’, gladly resuming their walk into that noisy station at the outskirt of the city for their only ride home.

And here within the compounds of this noisy and bustling place, the nine-year-old kid miraculously became his old self again!

“Hey Faizul, last one in the bus is a Chromedomed Beefcake, a-ha!” shouted the white-shirted boy before running hysterically towards the terminal’s entrance, followed by the fuming Faizul running close behind him, annoyed and humoured at the same time.

“Hey come back here Azrun! Hey, no fair, okay! Hey, wait up, wait up will you?! Oh, wait till I get my hands on you, you moustached Gorilla Boy, a-ha!” he shouted before doing an impression of an angry gorilla just to annoy him.

Immediately the red eared boy stopped running, turned around, stared angrily at him and chased his simpering friend all over the building, shouting and laughing gleefully to their hearts’ content before buying themselves some bus tickets and boarded the purple coloured Semarak Jaya Town Bus bound for home—still noisy and cheerful all the way!

-ECHOES IN THE WIND TRILOGY-

Writer

Saiful Nizam Shukor

Duration of Writing

October 2000-February 2001

Book 3-Flickering Candles...-Chapter 4

2008-11-28T16:24:00.010+08:00

“No, Faizul, no!! Don’t do it!! It’s a trap!! No!!!” screamed the older Azrun to his best friend after realizing that the previously angry Faizul had dropped his halberd and approached the sobbing woman in a trancelike fashion.

Seeing that his older counterpart had lost it, the red-capped boy quickly reached out for his fallen weapon and threw it over at the spot where the red cap lay, sending both the shadowy figure of the President and the magical illusion of Datin Maznah towards the opposite ends of the chamber in one burst of energy, seconds before the altar and the woman disappeared, the chamber was lit again and the shadowy face of the President was shadowy no more!

And the seemingly hypnotized Faizul, now fully awake, swiftly reached out for his halberd, held it in his trembling palms and repeatedly dismember the President’s face with his blood-red stares, a proverbial powder keg about to explode.

“Tisk, tisk, is this how your Peace Keeper taught you to address your absolute ruler of the country, let alone, your progenitor?’ was the reply from the cold and calculating figure. “Alas, your mother would have wept ever so strongly if she saw how you looked at me just now… She would be very ashamed of you Angah!

She truly-”

“Sh-sh-sh-shut up…sh-sh-shut up…sh-sh-sh-shut up you monster!” interrupted the furious older Faizul. “My father is dead, my…my…my father was killed…in a plane crash, and my mother went mad because of his death…but you! You were the cause of it all! You made me into this

You destroyed my life, my family, my future! You…have no rights; have no…goddamn rights to live, you filthy sick demon!!” he screamed in agitated fury while gripping hard on his fiery halberd.

“Oh you can never ever begun to imagine how I look like underneath this ageing flesh Angah, so I recommend you to cease addressing me in that tone of voice if you ever want to see the light of day again, you hear me?!” he replied in a sinister tone, seconds before his eyes went ablaze, burnt the entire chamber with a fiery stare and revealed the pulsating black plate above him, pulsating like a blackened heart.

“Even as we speak my pitiful rebels, the ever-seeing Crystal of Kornak have begun its meticulous traversing across the unknown depths of the ‘Hidden Layer’, searching ever furiously for the whereabouts of Shaik the Fallen One; and time can only tell so much of his liberation,” he said while watching the pulsating metal plate the size of an average man slowly descended onto the spot where the altar used to be.

“But indeed it has been quite a lacklustre millennium since I last sank my fist on the faces of my foes, and as the red crystal does its job, I’ve decided to make you my most honourable punching bags, germs! And I’m going to enjoy mashing you up,” he said yet again, seconds before the remaining, clinging flames suddenly roared back to life, jumped onto the plate in unison, magnified and bounced back to the circular wall one more time and incinerated the chamber in just a short second!

“Peace Keeper, look! The President’s office is on fire!” shouted one of his Generals to the middle aged Commander as the scene of the penthouse exploding and bursting into flames greeted their sight, turning the entire building into a flaming monolith.

A monolith that burned ever so brightly below the darkened sky that it made the sky dawned momentarily upon its many blazing battlefields—a dawn minus the sun!

“God, I hope they’re all right…” muttered the administrator before resuming his half-hearted vigil over the Alliance’s progress, leaving the edifice and its denizens to the mercy of The Maker.

“Well now, shall we begin?” asked the sinister politician, watching as the golden force field of Life Force Emanations flame protecting the group extinguished itself once the fire went out and left them vulnerable again.

“Yes, it’s time all right! Time to pay for your atrocities and detriments; on my father’s grave I swear you this!” answered the moustached rebel while simultaneously readjusting his grip over the sacred spear, focusing all his attention on his foe as his team-mates prepared themselves in their own way.

Once all was said and done, the pulsating plate levitated itself out of harm’s way; the four rebels took on a defensive posture and the ageing President suddenly dropped down on his knees, acting as if deep in meditation. Suddenly, right before their very eyes, the sinister man swiftly levitated himself, arms outstretched, and quietly imploded into a black, pulsating heart-like object, an object that tintinnabulated with a symphony of evil!

And at once the crumbling chamber came alive with the appearance of screaming flying shadows, shadows that screamed and darted erratically around the blackened core, occasionally coming too close for comfort to the fearful quartet!

“Yo, watch out you guys! He’s gonna release his most powerful attacks yet!” shouted the mighty halberd to the group.

“Yes, it is time,” seconded the electric spear. “Defend yourself once the shadows are dispersed but don’t you ever, ever! Let that Absonikta out of your sight! For he thrives on delivering underhanded offensives so keep an eye on him, always!”

And with the last of the spear’s words, the ruthless Lord Absonikta revealed his true form.

“Oh my God, what in all hell is that?!!” exclaimed the muscular Faizul soon after, trembling as the black and pulsating heart suddenly materialized into a gigantic, faceless, worm-like monster. A jet black creature with an organic, pyramid-like body with two limbs sticking out of it (a static, glossy finger-like appendage on top whereas the bottom one was an active, whip-like feeler), floating menacingly behind a thick, corruptive black aura circumambulated by hundreds of screaming shadows.

And with a deep, trembling roar it intensified its aura and dispatched all the shadows around it into every corner of the chamber, heralding a relentless confrontation with the fearful four!

“I am Lord Absonikta of the Shudwa Dumanta Legion,” the creature introduced himself.

“Consider this as the end of your days, foolish mortals! The time when my shadows lovingly embrace you, smothering you with intoxicating destruction, sealing your fate with the oblivion that you so craved!!! Hah hah hah hah hah!!!” it said again, maniacally as the valiant four began repelling the hostile shadows around them, occasionally lashing its tail towards the unsuspecting four so that its minions can do a much quicker job in destroying them.

And for a moment, success was theirs!

“No, Abang, look out!!” shouted the fearful ten-year-old to his older counterpart, fatigued from his attempt to take on ten of those shadowy beings all at the same time, and never about to realize on whatever the faceless one had in store for him!

Seeing that the muscular soldier was about to be downed by the shadowy monster, the red-capped boy willingly let down his guard, pushed the muddle headed soldier out of harm’s way…and paid the price for his action!

“Arrgh, no!! It…hurts!! Arrgh!!” screamed the unfortunate boy in utter anguish as the blackened, corroding energy beam from the beast’s lower appendage slowly engulfed him, sending him down to the floor in a writhing, gripping pain.

“Faizul, no!!! Not again!!!” shouted his fearful older self, seconds before that Dark Lord’s corrupting black beam completely turned his younger self into the likeness of those helpless war casualties they have encountered.

An inanimate figure resembling the dead yet breathed still through a degenerative black cocoon: a living corpse with a frozen body and a corrupted soul!

And the muscular soldier, now fearful of the worst, unthinkably ran towards his downed alter self, sat and cradled that tearful boy in his arms and scurried off towards a safer area; leaving the Evil One and its dreadful shadows to roam the chamber undaunted.

“No! Faizul, please, wake up Faizul, wake up! Please don’t die on me Faizul, please don’t die,” muttered the crestfallen soldier to the seemingly lifeless kid, repeatedly as the remaining two resumed their fight in remorse, trying their very best in fending off the advancing shadows as their cruel foe laughed maniacally at them.

Suddenly, as everything seemed to have drifted helplessly towards the darkness, a strange beam of light immediately appeared before the faceless demon, a strong magical illumination containing the chosen Earthling from the other dimension, the wielder of a glowing staff and custodian of the powers of all five Great Guardians themselves!

For he was Khaliq, Leader of the Ephron Dantiaz, Ambassador of the Galactic Union, and the appointed saviour of mankind...

“Looks like the damage has been done, O Great Ones. We are quite too late so to speak,” the young Earthling sadly muttered.

“No matter O Great Khaliq, for we have a much more pressing thing to deal with right now,” replied a new voice from the lips of the young man himself, as his eyes momentarily turned green and glowing as he spoke.

“For the entire Creation itself would disintegrate should the Dark Lord makes good his plans as we make waste the time, so let’s curtail the detriments and destroy Absonikta for good! Onwards, Qanqia Ephron Dantica!”

“What? Who, who is that Azrun?” asked the moustached soldier to his younger self, seconds after seeing the one in question appeared from the beam of light and slowly descended onto the battleground, where he was quickly greeted by enraged, deadly shadows the moment he touched down.

“A-ha! That’s, that’s the same person we’ve known quite well, Abang! He’s the one who used to live in Faizul’s house and Leader of a magical Legion I’ve told you about!

Come on, let’s help him! Come on!!” exclaimed the ecstatic nine-year-old before running carelessly towards him, leaving the befuddled older Azrun to quietly glance back at his mournful friend for a moment before going after his younger self next.

“So you came at last, O Great Qanqia! And my, you have grown strong, but still not as big a threat as your counterpart here! But a worthy distraction nonetheless,” remarked the sinister creature after seeing the young Earthling single-handedly disposed of all his shadowy creations in one sinister gesture.

“You will regret those pompous remarks once we’re through with you Absonikta! Your retribution is due, Dark Servant! Payable with your life!!” shouted the one called Mikro from the young man’s mouth, making his eyes glowing yellow at the same time; sounding very much to the faceless one’s surprise!

“Huh, no! You mean-no! It can’t be! It can’t be!! I saw the Viceroy incarcerated you, sealing your fate! No, this, this cannot be happening!! No!!!” exclaimed the fearful demon, acting like a nightmare just patted him on the shoulder and greeted him in his wakefulness.

“The Angel of Death knocks hard on your door Absonikta, for you’ve let your oversight to cloud your thoughts yet again; leaving you a complacent fool beyond mercy and salvation! You either submit to us, peacefully, or face your demise as just another mindless, headstrong imbecile you are, a fitting end not unlike your fallen comrades have had!” spoke the Ambassador through his glowing blue eyes.

“…So be it, my ostentatious foes, so be it!” replied the faceless one as it launched a series of high level attacks towards the Chosen One, a sinister event that no mortals have ever seen, or should ever see!

“Abang Khaliq, we’re here to help you! Are you sure you can take this creature on? I mean, can we help you?” asked the young boy to the seemingly possessed Envoy soon after realizing that the faceless creature had ignored them completely and concentrated all its fury on the possessed human.

“No,” replied the one called Mika from all around them, addressing them in a tone of voice audible only to their ears. “There is not much you can do for us, only that the Trans-Dimensional Portal has to be closed, now!”

“So tell us, Great One, please!” asked the older Azrun next.

“Very well,” replied the one called Mikra yet again.

“To seal off that portal you will have to stand below it, face each other, concentrate and meld into each other’s mind until your heartbeats are in synch. Once you see your auras turning gold, close your eyes and collectively visualise with your third eye, a solid piece of metal or rock blocking it. Imagine it real hard and anything that appears from both your minds would seal that portal indefinitely!

You can do it, my friends, you can do it…”

“But what,” asked the young Azrun again. “But what about my friend there, O Great Ones? He’s, he’s dying from Absonikta’s spell! I don’t know how long can he hold on before-! Please O Great Ones; I don’t want to lose my friend!! Save him please, save him!!” pleaded the despondent boy to the Guardians over and over again.

“I’m, I’m truly sorry about your friend Great Azrun, but we, we just can’t deal with him now…” answered the one called Mu-Adib in a caring tone.

“But rest assured that we are not heartless Great Azrun! Mark my word, for once we’re through with the Dark Lord we shall help your friend in any way we can!” he said again.

And towards the end of the conversation, the two similar beings from different dimensions unthinkably dashed towards the rear end of the monster and sealed the pulsating plate as instructed, moments before making their way back to the kneeling muscular soldier and sat around him, silent and remorseful as Faizul gently cradled his tearful younger self in his muscular arms.

“I, I did what I could Azrun, I did what I could,” he said without being asked, permanently fixing his tearful gaze towards the lifeless, staring eyes of the red-capped one as he talked.

“No, that’s okay Faizul, that’s okay,” consoled his moustached best friend. “The Great Ones have agreed to help, so we just have to wait until they’re through, we just have to…(sigh)” he said, heavily as the two super beings in the epicentre of the chamber found themselves lost in a furious slugfest, with neither one seemed to be giving up, and neither one seemed to be losing!

And for a moment, there was despair.

Then suddenly,

“Time stood still…as the air flowing around me…carried my thoughts on all…all the things inside my mind…into the sky…into all hearts,” he softly sang the first few lines of his last poem to the unconscious boy, singing it with such tender and kindness that it touches the heart of his surviving two friends and prompted them to accompany his mournful words, softly blowing out melancholic sounds from their instruments all the way to its concluding stanza, spiritually urging him to sing it again.

And that he did as he sadly gazed towards the tear-soaked face of his lifeless friend and younger self, never in need to know or to care of the things that was going on around him as he sang these wonderful words, singing it with all his heart so much so that his heartfelt song can now be heard by the feuding Ganymedian and his heartless foe!

And just as the tearful soldier had reached the middle of his song for the second time, the combination of his poem and the melodies of the musical instruments have generated the appearance of many ethereal portals all around the chamber, and through these appeared celestial choruses of a thousand or more voices, voices that sang alongside of him and momentarily turned the intense feud inside the crumbling chamber and the fiery battles outside into a standstill; gracefully as they engulfed the faceless terror against its will with feelings of pure innocence.

Voices that revealed themselves as a thousand or more of flying streaks of light encircling the gloomy chamber, making the beast halted its vicious advances and fell feebly to the ground, overwhelmed by the streaks of light as they continued to sing and surround him ever closer until both the streaks of light and the ruthless Lord Absonikta were one and the same, conjoined tightly together within a small confines of space to surreally produce a glowing heart-shaped white object, an object bursting with a rejuvenating, refreshing aura of gold.

An aura that emotionally made its way into the heart of the red-capped boy and revived him from his half-living state, yawning as the chimes of hope tintinnabulated across this blissful chamber at the end of his heartfelt song.

And from far above the centre of the glowing chamber, reverberated a kind and gentle voice of a woman, appearing as the previous, ethereal sweet chimes now made their way out the dilapidated chamber and into the dawning sky.

“It is done at last. The moment of terror, tyranny and oppression are now over. Fate, it would seem, has now comes full circle as times of joy, peace and liberation replace the departing evil, soaking ever gently your barren lands back into its youthful vigour, gracefully as the songs of hope fill the empty air…”

The floating Qanqia then immediately landed on the dusty floor and approached the strangely jovial group, where streams of accolades from both the two boys and their older counterpart immediately enveloped him upon his approach.

“Now come forth to the glowing heart, my young Gate Openers, and disseminate your light into the darkened sky. So let it be, and let it be,” she said again.

“Her words are not to be taken lightly, my Chosen Ones. For only the four of you have the power to relight the flickering candles of the future; releasing the long kept truth for one last time…” said the seemingly male voice from the glowing heart next.

“Hurry O Great Gate Openers, for time is of the essence now!” said the voice of the glowing heart again.

“Come my friends, it’s time,” seconded the smiling Diplomat while sounding very much himself again.

And with that the two immediately played and sang the sacred dirge The Dreamer’s Sigh to the world, layered occasionally by melodies of Corporal Azrun’s harmonica. An act that immediately made the chamber aglow again as the previous streaks of light reappeared and revealed themselves as a graceful school of crystalline snakes, the same ethereal creatures that had appeared once before in the other dimension.

Then suddenly, under the influence of the sacred words and graceful melodies the glowing heart exploded behind a gigantic effulgence, disseminating sacred glowing particles effortlessly across the battle scarred edifice that immediately engulfed the entire city, the war torn nation, the planet and later the universe behind an aura of love and care, halting all the war machines in their trek and embracing each and every one of the corrupted casualties and the mindless zombie troopers with a cascading cocoon of light, miraculously reverting the brutally constructed drones back to who they used to be; and ditto to the previous living corpses as they rose from their bed dazed and into the arms of their ever joyful friends, family members and all those who had waited patiently by their side, hoping against all hope for their fallen loved ones to return to the world of the living and back into their lives.

So once the ethereal fanfare and choir were over, the glow quietly returned to the floating heart and immediately a gigantic crystalline serpent slithered out of it; an ethereally constructed reptile that majestically sang an outlandish song upon emerging, gently carrying the unconscious President over its head as it appeared.

“I am Absonikta Arsti, the Glory Bearer of the Great Shaira, on whose name had I and shall I praise for all eternity through my celestial paeans,” introduced the creature after reaching the concluding note of his very alien song.

“When the Great Xnrene was stripped of his birthright for all eternity one fateful day, it was my destined duty to faithfully follow him down his embittered path of life as he walked out of the light and into the darkness, legacy of a grave mistake that called upon his punishment,” the seemingly transparent serpent resumed his words as he gently lowered the drowsy old man down before the apprehensive older Faizul, the one who still harboured hatred towards him.

“And though Fate had made me live the life of evil just to continue performing my sacred function, that fact must not be used against your father, Warrior Faizul, for he was merely a pawn of the Dark Legion, and all his atrocities were mine, not his...”

And a small drop of glowing tear gently fell out of one of the serpent’s eyes at this point, ending up a glowing star-shaped crystal lying motionless on the floor.

“So please Warrior Faizul, for if you cannot find it within you to forgive me for what I’ve done to you, then do not mistreat or forsake your innocent father. Forgive him for what he did not do,” he said again as that drowsy man in question slowly awakened from his long slumber and tried to stand up.

Once he regained his composure, the muscular soldier quietly approached the old politician, stared silently at the face of his past tormentor for a while and hugged the clueless, befuddled old man as lovingly as he could, tearful and thankful in his heart for this heavenly reunion.

And as the jubilant six made their exit through one of the big cracks on the wall of the crumbling penthouse, a spectacular scene of victory and joy had spread out beyond the charred building and the equally messed up city.

A blissful panorama that was also shared by two Xnrenes as they conversed inaudibly from their vantage point, celestial beings from the beginning of time previously seen on another planet.

“You have done well Great Eliza, an impressive feat of redemption if I do say so myself! And I’d be very much a liar if I didn’t say, even I couldn’t have done what you did, O Lady of the Shadows!” commended the Guardian of Emotion and Feelings to the lady in black, watching as the sacred Crystal Snake gestured the six to climb onto its back before spiriting itself away from the blackened penthouse towards the awestruck crowd down below.

“You, are most kind to have said that Great Roygbiv. But if you’ve known me well enough you’d know that, words like those mattered little to me Great Roygbiv…not worthy of it,” replied the woman shortly after, as she watched the serpent slowly landed before the mesmerized crowd.

“Yes, I know, for your heart would only succumb to the sacred sounds of a great longing for the one you loved more than your life. He who forever lingers in your heart and soul but is destined to lose his, five millennia from now…” replied the seemingly mournful Guardian, watching as the crowd suddenly turned angry and demanded a public execution of the former President, whereas the muscular soldier and his best friends were now on the befuddled politician’s side, defending him with all their heart.

“It’s true Great Roygbiv, all of it!” she replied wholeheartedly, watching as the sacred glassy snake defended the former President’s innocence by telling the reinstated King his side of the story.

“And it gets even harder for me now that I’ve assumed his leadership! For the tasks of keeping his loyal subjects united and his Legion flourishing hang precariously on my shoulders! Its integrity has to be carefully maintained lest chaos will reign again if I relent!”

“Yes,” seconded the glowing eyed being. “For the existence of the Shadowy Legion is but an intrinsic part in the Almighty’s Grand Scheme of Things. Only Lord knows how unstable His Creation would be if the balance of good and evil is tipped yet again!”

“That is true, Great Roygbiv,” remarked the Legion’s acting chief. “An even more terrifying predicament than that of the last Great War, or so I’ve heard, (sigh) when the ‘Unwanted’ confronted our planet and destroyed the Samawi Empire—our lifelong protectors—as we did nothing but watched! The war that for all our intent and purpose, was non-existing, but alas, we can ignore it for only so long!”

“Yes,” replied the Guardian. “One of the many dark blotches in our annals that we’re still trying to make up for, the Three Great Wars of Shame that presaged the-!

(Sigh) It was indeed commendable that you refused my offer the last we met, Eliza, forgive me for my oversight,” he said again as the two watched the frail looking King officially decreed a Royal Pardon for the former President, and watched as the gathering crowd swiftly chanted words of glory towards His Highness, symbolizing the people’s recognition of their Ruler’s decision.

An act which quickly heralded the departed feelings of jubilation returning unto the silent crowd as they resumed their well-earned victory celebrations in liberating their country from the forces of evil in free abandon—louder and merrier than before!

“It’s time for my return, Great Roygbiv, for I cannot leave my seat of power to idle away too long! The empty throne of the Dark Legion must be filled at once or else everything will-!

I’m sorry Roygbiv, but I really cannot stay!” she said in a desperate tone as the scene shifted to the sight of the King and the two Khaliqs hoisting the aged, bloodstained flag into the air, hoisting it in perfect synchrony with the sound of the old National Anthem (The Negaraku) sung by the huge crowd gathering in-between the many war vehicles within the Capitol Square:

A tear-inducing scene for those who love their country more than life itself.

“Then go Eliza, O Mistress of Darkness,” said the Guardian to the one with the golden hair.

“Hasten back to your hearth and home before your subjects harbour suspicion on you. Our paths shall cross again someday, I promise you that.”

“Farewell,” bade the Guardian of Emotion And Feeling to the Xnrene Outcast before parting ways above the singing crowd, seconds before the mechanical hibiscus on the two boys’ palms gently expanded from their buds in response to the crowd’s heartfelt singing, blooming into a magnificent flower blessed by Xnrene magic.

And even more magical and surreal than that was the scene of the Jalur Gemilang Flag itself, the emblem of glory for the proud people of this country, successfully hoisted into the clear blue sky amidst the cheering and the grateful smiles, on that fateful morning of August 31st, 2037.

Where it gracefully fluttered, in the spiritually invigorating breeze, of the ethereal Emerald Wind.

THE END

Book 3-Flickering Candles...-Chapter 3

2008-11-28T16:07:00.006+08:00

“Saif Mintaka, President of the Jovian Republic of Ganymede; behold the Mirror of Fate! The only insignificant piece of metal in the universe that can tell you more than you deserved.

A gift of ancient ones who left it here for the purpose of unity, the unity amongst the many denizens of this fledgling universe that I have yet to see it happening!” greeted the familiar faceless voice to the lone humanoid as he gazed in awe at the gigantic, round silver plate.

A reflective piece of wall furniture perfectly embedded on the north-eastern wall of the pentagonal shrine, illuminated by two separate, gigantic braziers burning brightly on top of their tripods from two corners of the chamber, and amplified even more by the reflection of the flames on all the other mirrors gracing every other walls of the shrine.

As requested, the masked Ganymedian promptly asked the mirror everything he need to know, about things that surrounded the Great Ones’ edifice, things that the Earthling Ambassador was trying to do without consulting him, the Shudwa Dumanta’s latest plans, and the fate of the two Gate Openers among other things.

Reactively the dusty metal plate erupted behind a kaleidoscope of glowing colours, the air became windy all of a sudden, and the torches seemed to be burning stronger than usual. Then suddenly, as quickly as they came the fanfare and light show, the plate disappointingly reverted back to its original condition, back to being just another reflective object among many within the archaic chamber.

“What the? What in the universe is going on here?!” he disappointingly asked. “Why is the mirror showing nothing but my own reflection? I need some answers O Mirror of Fate, I need some answers, now! Answer me, Great Mirror!” he asked again, hinting a tone of impatience this time.

“The mirror has answered all your questions, Saif Mintaka! Try and look at it again, Lustanqia Ephron Dantica! Look at it again and you will find her standing right behind your sorry self!” replied a new voice from behind his back, an anger charged voice of a sinister woman he had not heard for quite some time—a significant figure behind the existence of the Dark Legion!

And as she talked, the merciless woman of the shadows slowly walked out of her stealth magic and into his view; revealing a beautiful lady dressed in black, her long flowing hair gold in colour, her pristine and perfect face aglow with hatred, and her double bladed broadsword ready for combat!

The President reactively gasped, turned around and swiftly produced his sword by unclenching his right hand. Her glare intensified at this point.

“Eliza?! What, what are you doing here?! And how did you get passed my-huh!? So…that little girl I’ve rescued was…you,” he gingerly remarked, expecting the worst from the vengeful woman.

“Yes! I was that sad little Halunian girl who miraculously survived the attack on your feeble building; a sweet child dressed in black who’s lost her father to the glowing eyed demons! Hah ha! I never thought you could be so dumb!” she replied while raising her deadly blade into the air to admire her own reflection.

And the brightly lit shrine immediately metamorphosed into a chamber of unspeakable horrors, as demons and monsters of hideous creation noisily congregated around the feuding two, happily awaiting the onset of their duelling.

“Fight me and I shall bestow upon you all that you desired…if you live, of course,” she said again before lowering her sword to the ground.

Then, without warning, the sinister broadsword swiftly left her hands and off to her foe’s face!

And the battle began.

“Well that was short and sweet, don’t you think?” asked the slightly surprised Faizul. “I mean how many times had we walked into a top secret government project like my father owns the place and lived long enough to see its interior, eh, Corporal? Even though he did own everything in our God-forsaken country to begin with, heh heh!” he said again while glancing at the image of the shuttle’s engine extinguishing itself up, sending out a thick vapour of burnt fuel inside the seemingly abandoned docking area of the space station.

“All the better to be extra careful now my friend! I mean we both know the less security that place has, the more prone we are to lose our heads, right?” the moustached Azrun jokingly asked him back, making the burly young man and his Indian friend smiled and nodded in unison.

He then noticed the Professor had let go of his inseparable contraption for the first time and stood quietly near the shuttle’s main window, crestfallen as the group prepared to storm the place.

“Er, what’s wrong Professor? Why are you so sad?” he kindly asked the ageing scientist whereas the latter kept on staring idly at the empty area.

“Oh, it was nothing really,” he quietly replied before wiping off the forming tears from his eyes.

“It’s just that, somewhere in this station, lurks a monster of my own make, a man who could never forgive me for things beyond my control, and here I am confronting him again, knowing he has grown too evil for his own good, and that maybe, it was all my fault he’s now who he is!” he said again.

And the moustached twenty-seven-year-old sighed sympathetically to the old man while gesturing at the other two to resume their preparations.

“Professor, though I may not know of what really happened in your life, you just got to let it go. He’s our enemy now, and we’ve to stop him whatever it takes! We need you more than ever right now! We need you, to be you, not just for our mission but, but also for the ‘Heart Landers’ cause!

Please Professor; you’re our Peace Keeper now,” said the sympathetic soldier softly to his Commander, watching as the latter tried to finish off the last of his tears and broke into a smile.

“Azrun my boy,” the Professor said later on. “The Peace Keeper would have been proud of you. He…had taught you well and…and I’ll try my best to be his successor from now on. Forgive me, Corporal…” he said again before the smiling young rebel saluted his nodding Commander and the group commenced their raid.

And the shuttle’s side entrance quietly opened itself up before the empty docking area of the Space Station, into which the four wary rebels initiated their infiltration.

“…So you chose to defy your Leader’s warning concerning this technology just to free him,” remarked the agile Ganymedian to the shadowy woman, disappointingly as they continued exchanging metallic blows from each their glowing swords.

“…And despite the fact that it’s far too destructive, you risked your own existence, and this universe, in deciding to use it! I’m very surprised indeed for a creature of your stature to even contemplate doing it! How I feel for your stupidity.”

“Enough!” she screamed before coming too close to amputating the President’s left leg.

“What do you know about risks, Mintaka?! That man risked everything he had just to be with me, even when knowing I wasn’t meant for him he sacrificed his life just to prove that he loves me!

What do you know about sacrifices, Mintaka, you absconding Halunian half-prince?!”

And at that remark, the President’s face turned black with anger.

“Hello? Is anybody home?” asked the curious Indian to one of the scientists he had just came across, toiling feverishly at his designated terminal oblivious to the soldier’s presence.

Realizing something was gravely amiss, his moustached friend quickly approached the ignorant one and waved his palm several times before the scientist’s face, half expecting him to turn around and sound the alarm!

He did not.

Later, after securing the entire gloomy docking bay for themselves, they discovered more and more of the laboratory’s staffs going about their daily functions as if the group was never there at all!

This was very strange...

“Come my friends, there’s nothing we can do to them right now,” muttered the sacred spear. “All of them are under a powerful mind control that reeks of the Shudwa Dumanta Scientist, something that only by the death of the Viceroy can it be undone. Lets leave them be for now…”

And the battle ready group soon found themselves standing before a T-junction at the end of the white coloured corridor, with one path leading to the centre of the station way up north, and another one leading all the way towards the station’s fifty separate industrial research and development unit down south.

“Whoa! I never would have thought I’d someday be viewing my dirty little planet from way up here Azrun, heh heh! Man, the Earth’s still beautiful!” muttered the mesmerized Faizul while waiting for the Professor to finish downloading data from one of the Station’s many OKNI (Online Knowledge And Information) booths.

“Urh, man I feel so sick…” groaned the pale faced Salman moments later, quietly appearing from one of a nearby rest room carrying a half-spent ‘Hyperdol’ tablet packet in his hand.

“Man, what happened to you, Salman? Jettisoned your entire digestive system just now? Heh heh!” asked the cynically sympathetic Faizul upon sensing his sickly presence.

Unperturbed, the brown skinned fighter produced yet another ‘Hyperdol’ tablet from its packet and swallowed it earnestly, watching as his pale face slowly returned to normal.

“Erm, I forgot I’m prone to space sickness Faizul, especially after that wonderful dinner my sweet Abby cooked for me, he hee!” he replied gleefully towards his friend, vividly recalling all those wonderful dishes the beautiful singer had cooked for him a while back.

“Well serves you right, my boy!” shouted the very concerned Professor after logging off from the virtual booth and walking towards them. “I thought I’d made it clear you shouldn’t eat anything for at least two hours before space travelling or risks dying from sub-orbital food poisoning!

I specifically wrote it in the Important Notice Section of the Heart Landers survival book so people wouldn’t blow themselves up in space all the time!”

“Er, I’m sorry about that Professor but, well, I mean, heh heh! Man, she can really cook up a storm right from scratch you guys! And I always thought she’s only good at singing and nothing else…right Faizul? Heh heh,” he sheepishly replied, but still wasn’t above himself to tease the fuming muscleman at the same time.

“(Sigh) Well, at least I’m glad you didn’t end up with two big tubes in your both ends Salman, unlike what my former apprentice got for himself years ago, heh heh!” remarked the Professor, resulting in another laughing session occurring within the group.

And the tenseness of the situation returned to the group.

“Well my friends,” addressed the grey haired genius to his attentive group. “The time has come for us to part ways. Whatever the outcome from our little excursion here will either accentuate or destroy our rebellion cause, and it’s up to us to undertake it before we return to the Alliance, so please try and do your best now, my friends!

The fate of our friends down there rests on us now.”

Having said what he has to say the foursome rebels promptly divided themselves into two; with the two best of friends proceeding to the northern sector, whereas their Leader and ally opted for the southern route, each with their own job to do and each were wary of the risks involved.

Later, after an uneventful walk of quiet contemplations and sombre flashbacks, the two best of friends finally reached the end of the corridor, touched the bleeping terminal next to the gleaming portal to the Station’s Command Centre, opened it up and bravely confronted the shadowy dragon and his airborne, caged captives.

“Welcome to the end of your lives, you pitiful insects! I’ve been expecting you!” greeted the hideous monster to the two Chosen Ones before the metallic portal coldly closed itself behind them.

Elsewhere,

“Sir, the situation is getting worse! We are rapidly losing grounds!” reported the leader of one of the many garrisons in the front line to his Superior. “These new SRUs are coming in too strongly for us! It’s overwhelming!” he reported again.

“General Jugah, what’s your location, over? How many of your men still alive down there? I’m coming to get you,” asked the ageing figure commanding an awesome flying fortress rumbling across the crimson skyline.

“No Sir, it’s too dangerous!…outnumbered…please…too many…already…can’t retreat…avoid…the Federal Admin…avoid…while you still-” and suddenly the erratic image of the fearful General disappeared from the bunker’s communication screen, seconds before the fearful High Commander noticed another friendly red blip had blinked out of his monitor, signifying another lost garrison.

Sadly, the ageing visionary approached one of his subordinates and said:

“Lieutenant Gurchran. We’ve lost the battle. Send an order to withdraw. We’ll live to fight again.”

And the like-minded soldier reluctantly complied…

“… But still that Shairo managed to get on my nerves!” she shouted in between her angry blows.

“And just as I was about to have my last laugh, he summoned that clueless Earthling before the Council, informed him of what we’re doing and conferred everything to that half-wit kid! Everything!”

The President nodded quietly in the midst of their frenzied swordfight. Eliza continued her enlightenment.

“Knowing the danger of him aiding the rebellion with all those things in his head, I’ve no choice but to dispatch my best soldiers to protect my minions as they carry out the final stages; and to give those insignificant fools the oblivion that they so craved! And with you at my mercy, success is mine for the taking! Hah ha ha ha!

Now, you die!”

“Oh man, none of our offensives seem to work, Azrun!” shouted the burly Faizul as he shielded himself from the dragon’s fiery breath. “I don’t know about you but I’m really tired of prodding this blimp! We can’t even get past his skin,” he said again after trying unsuccessfully to chop off the roaring monster’s tail with his glowing halberd.

“Agreed, this creature is stronger than we thought! (Sigh) And we really could use some miracles just about now God…” replied his seemingly exhausted best friend, seconds after his spear’s most recent electric attack bounced off feebly from the monster’s claws.

“A mere child’s play…” muttered the seemingly unimpressed dragon a moment later. “Even with the mightiest of weapons in your arsenal, you couldn’t even scrape my flawless scales off of me, pathetic indeed! Ha!”

“Oh now, look at the time! Time to teach you a lesson, you snob!” snapped the glowing spear, angered by that remark. “Azrun, Faizul, listen up!” it said again.

“Yeah, what is it?” asked the muscular combatant.

“I’ve got some bad news and maybe some good news. The bad news is the Clurantians were the only species of reptile capable of storing its life force in a separate host, a Soul Keeper! But the good news is his host must be mortal to contain it! So if we can’t find the Viceroy’s Soul Keeper, we can just forget about slaying him for he’s currently quite immortal!

So think guys, before the Viceroy revealed himself, in whose body had he resided all these while?”

“(Gasp) The Science Minister!” the four simultaneously replied.

“Right, now I get it!” said the young Faizul from behind the hanging cage. “ It’s just like that Dragon’s Heart cartoon I’ve rented! A story about a boy becoming a hero after choosing to bear a dying dragon’s spirit, and that dragon would be mortal again if ever someone kills its Spirit Bearer!”

“You are partially correct, my boy!” replied another familiar voice from the other side of the room as the evil scientist stealthily appeared from out of nowhere carrying the unconscious body of the ageing Professor right next to him.

“And yet you overlooked the fact that the dragon’s Spirit Bearer also shares the dragon’s strength, power and intelligence! My pathetic brother found it the hard way or so to say, as he tried to convince me out of my chosen way!” he said again, as he tossed the unconscious scientist towards the other side of the circular room like so much garbage.

“Hey, Viceroy! I think this bad comedy’s getting old! Might I suggest we dispose of them right now?” he suggested to the dragon.

“Forsooth, for I have grown tired of this measly entertainment myself, Professor Shamsir!

Come my friend, lets show these two mortals how the Shudwa Dumanta deals with stubborn enemies like them!” remarked the dragon to the sinister one’s suggestion, seconds before the two merged together into a powerful creature, a frightful, flying conglomerate of glowing flesh and machinery that immediately locked-on target the two gleaming warriors upon appearing!

“No! Please, Mr. Viceroy Sir! Please don’t do this! Please Mr. Viceroy, think about your son! How would he feel if he sees you like this? Please don’t…I beg of you!” pleaded the fearful younger Faizul to the furious creature just as it was about to unleash a very powerful energy beam, collectively focused from its many hideous eyes.

“Silence, boy! Now, you die!” shouted the glowing creature before smothering the fearful combatants with an intense beam of destructive energy, sending them down onto the floor behind heart wrenching screams of pain, burning like helpless worms despite the maximum magical protection of their sacred battle suits.

“No!!!” screamed the mournful two, as the image of their unconscious older selves greeted their eyesight, sobbing helplessly as the evil glowing creature conceitedly broke out into an endless bout of laughter.

Then suddenly, after everything seemed to be hopeless, an unexpected miracle arrived from the heavens, a miracle in the form of the unconscious, ageing Professor!

“Azrun, look! Look at that! The Professor is, still, alive, and, and glowing!” shouted the excited red capped boy to his mutually animated best friend, watching as the unconscious old man suddenly rose from his horizontal position and approached the terrifying monster in a serene gliding motion.

“He who is evil shall always be cursed with a fatal oversight, an oversight one would never notice until the very end, heralding the arrival of one’s painful demise!

Thus lo and behold Viceroy Admantia! For I am your fatal oversight!” said the seemingly possessed Professor, talking in a seemingly ethereal yet menacing tone of voice.

And just seconds after the possessed one spoke, all the previously hypnotized employees of the scientific space station woke up from their trance and congregated around the centre of the station as if being called upon, beholding in awe the scene of the hideous dragon and the floating scientist.

“Who, who are you?! What, what do you, what do you want?!” asked the fearful monster while trying to invoke another destructive assault.

“Justice,” the possessed one said, seconds before the old man magically turned into a glowing humanoid in a white flag cloak, his face concealed behind a sinister mask.

He then raised his right arm high above his head, muttered something in the language of the Xnrene, and swiftly made a throwing motion towards the dragon, resulting in the appearance of a menacing looking sword that plunged right into its heart, causing great pain and suffering to the evil creature before combusting behind an ethereal fireball, a fireball that instantly revived the two scorched ones, healed their wounds and returned them back to their fighting condition.

Thus the Viceroy’s death was duly consummated with the felling of the last of its charred, flaming body parts across the metallic floor; a spectacular end of yet another one of Shaik’s loyal servants.

Having done what he had to do, the glowing being slowly descended onto the titanium floor, released the two captured boys from their cells and transferred the old scientist out of his glowing body.

“It is done. Justice has been served again. I’m grateful that you allowed me to possess you, Professor Saiful Adli; yet I’m, truly sorry for not able to rescue your brother, for he had bonded with the Viceroy for far too long and far too willingly, thus making his extraction impossible even for the likes of me,” said the grateful one to the ageing scientist as he put his glowing arm on top of the septuagenarian’s frail shoulder, flashing an invisible regret from his seemingly opaque mask.

“Say no more, my celestial friend! We all knew this would have to happen. And though our victory demanded his life, I’m really glad that, that we won…(sigh) and now all my nightmares are over. Thank you,” he casually replied.

And the two boys immediately greeted the glowing being in the ancient ways as were taught by their spacefaring Diplomat, gladly as their older selves watched and words of relief and graciousness were exchanged among the staffs of that orbital lab.

“My four great warriors, one more level of success have thus been attained. There will be no more production of the dreaded Stealth Repelling Units and the rest of the war machines from this tainted laboratory as of this moment,” said the flag cloaked being to the grateful four, watching as the ageing genius single-handedly assumed command of his former workplace and patched things up for the awe-struck staffs yet still behaving as eccentric as he always did.

“Now go my friends. Hasten back to your beloved country and tell all those who’ve lost their morale to begin raising their arms again, for they have now been given a fighting chance from those who shared a common enemy,” the being said again.

“But, but-” uttered the confused moustached soldier.

“His words shouldn’t be taken lightly my friends!” interrupted the old man. “Now that the Viceroy and the Admiral are dead, the President is all alone with his Trans-Dimensional Plate in Putrajaya now, an easy picking for the five of you if-”

“But hey, no offence Professor but, don’t you mean the six of us? I mean you’ve already had a comfortable place in this here Rebellion, chosen by our Peace Keeper to lead us through this here war! Heck, you’re our new Peace Keeper now, damn it! Now don’t you try to chicken out now,” interrupted the older Faizul disappointingly, vividly recalling their former leader’s final command at the same time.

“Oh, I’m glad you finally called me Professor, Faizul,” he replied through his smile. “But I’m truly sorry I can’t follow you ‘down to earth’ my friends, my place here in ‘high heaven’ is much more important right now. And with what my old friend here has given me, defeating the Shudwa Dumanta will never have to be a chore again!”

For a moment the words of the old scientist stunned everyone within the Command Centre. “So what are you all waiting for? Your presence down there is vital to the Alliance whether you like it or not!

Destroying Absonikta and ending this chaos is your destiny!” he said again, with fire in his eyes right at the very end of it.

“Oh and don’t you worry about finding my replacement, okay? There’s already a surprise waiting for you down there, heh heh! Trust me,” he said again, moments before the cold, white door of the Station’s Command Centre separated the five from their strangest of friend in the universe, smiling as they gladly made their way back to the docking area.

Minutes later, the modest looking space shuttle exited the Station’s bay door and zoomed out of the Professor’s glassy view, carrying the remaining five rebels along with their rescued soldier friends back into their beloved country—and straight into the final part of this awesome adventure story!

“Dey, Ane!” shouted one brown skinned soldier to the first one coming out from the shuttle, excitedly after the hissing airlock of the shuttle’s side entrance finally made way for the occupants of the space craft to meet the gathered crowd.

“Dey, Thamby!” replied the jubilant Salman, seconds before joyfully making a mad dash towards that familiar looking Indian and hugged the guy wholeheartedly, shouting words of gratitude and happiness in their native language towards each other as the crowd stood blissfully still before this blessed reunion.

“Oh, what a picture-perfect moment…heh heh! So, you two know each other, eh?” asked the burly soldier towards his tearful friend, trying vainly not to be overly cynical at the same time.

“Know each other? Hey, Faizul, Azrun! This is Amir, Amir Khan, my dear sweet brother! Come on, let’s shake hands!” the ecstatic Salman replied, seconds before the four shook hands with the flying Indian’s long lost twin.

Then suddenly, the two best of friends started feeling the proverbial chill running down their spines, immediately as the image of a person from their past quietly appeared before them, gave a spirited Salam and gestured at them for a heartfelt hug.

P-P-P-Peace Keeper? Peace Keeper Khaliq? I-is that r-r-really, you?” the nervous Azrun quietly asked the smiling figure, seconds before the entire crowd laughed amusingly at his fear, wholeheartedly as the one whom they thought had perished in an ambush not long ago proceeded to hug his two loyal but hesitant lieutenants from where they stood, moments before the crowd led the five deeper and deeper into the Rebel Alliance’s makeshift Headquarters, hidden somewhere inside the abandoned resort town of Genting Highlands.

And that was when the words of the glowing being slowly dawned upon them!

“Oh my God,” exclaimed the moustached soldier as the terrible sight of his downed comrades greeted his eyes, frozen before the many tubes and needles that surrounded them on their sterile and lifeless bed, staring helplessly at the ceiling whilst their bodies glowed a sinister, animated black aura, reducing them to living corpses.

“This is what we’re left to deal with after losing the last battle.

All these people have been struck by a sinister monster presumably a Shudwa Dumanta Legionnaire that came after us from nowhere, unleashing some kind of a force that made them flat-lined yet their other body functions are normal,” said the mournful Leader of the Rebellion in between his sighs. “(Sigh) Those that had fallen in the battlefield were the lucky ones right now, for they’d never have to suffer like this, or so it seems…” he said again, as the two young boys slowly approached one of the desecrated soldiers.

“The Peace Keeper speaks the truth my friends,” seconded the Leader of the Ipoh Division. “It attacked us as soon as we withdrew, took out twelve garrisons of our men and then vanished just like that. (Sigh) Our morale is at its lowest ebb right now, with a growing number of us had begun having second thoughts about our planned counter-offensive, saying they might pull out if…(sigh)”

“Great,” muttered the muscular soldier. “Just when we’re about to deliver in the good news…(sigh)” And the sympathetic crowd then made their way towards the Alliance’s conference chamber later on, leaving the helpless doctors to resume their half-hearted vigil towards their seemingly half-living casualties of war.

Once there, Peace Keeper Khaliq introduced the remaining members of the Muarian Division to all the other Division Leaders, and them to the two, moments before he asked them about the Professor’s important messages, watching as the sceptical Generals and Lieutenants endured the two soldiers words half-heartedly all through their briefing, as if they have already made up their mind!

“Excuse me, Peace Keeper Khaliq,” asked the leader of one of the northernmost division; seconds after the former two had said what they were supposed to say.

“Though we were, quite delighted to know our valued ally had succeeded in taking over the Seventh Sector Department thereby halting any further productions of the zombie soldiers and their war machines; yet it is with serious consideration that we from the Kangar Division want you to reconsider our next insurgence, for we had reckoned that, our chances in defeating the President and his Shudwa Dumanta cronies are now quite slim, almost…suicidal!

And let me remind you, Sir, that we are operating under only two thirds of our available manpower and other resources right now, therefore I believe would further stack the odds against us should we were to proceed, Sir!” he stated his concerns on behalf of his men.

“Your concerns are duly noted, General Salleh, however-”

“I object to that!” interrupted the Leader of the Pekan Division.

“What the Corporal has said on the Professor’s behalf are the green light we’ve being waiting for! And yes, we from the Pekan Division shall participate in this counterattack all the way to hell itself if we have to!” he furiously uttered his words, immediately sending the quiet chamber into a turmoil of heated arguments and opinions.

Then seconds later, the weary older Azrun began his most memorable and heartfelt speech to the hopeless, bickering group of rebels all around him, something that would leave an indelible mark on his younger counterpart’s life for years to come.

"Everyone please, listen to me, listen to me for just a moment! Even though I'm not very good in this but, yes, you’re right, my friends! A lot of us may die once we start confronting these ruthless soldiers again, for they are better equipped and are more battle ready than us, and with the fact that our chances of winning are very slim should we confront them again, but then listen to me!

For if we still believe in the cause of this Alliance, we must certainly proceed for we’ve no more options!”

And the bickering noise from the chamber suddenly ceased to exist.

“Please my friends, please listen to me! We have to regain our freedom from these monsters in the government any way we can, for this is not just for the sake of a better life for us, but for our children and their children as well!

Please bear with me!

These useless comments and talks about possibilities must be disposed of immediately, for it’s much too late to discuss about the coming casualties and damages for destiny itself is right in front of us! And I for once would very much go forth by myself even if I had to fight them with my bare hands! Even if the blazing field of all hell awaits me tomorrow then so be it! It’s better than to stay here and bicker like half-baked politicians for the rest of my life!

For this is the only life that some of us have, the one life that my father tried to foreclose up to his death, yet he dies without seeing it fulfilled!” he ended his second part of the speech, ending up on a mournful note at the very end.

And the empathetic younger Azrun suddenly found himself getting closer and closer to tears at this point.

“Yes, I know we all have our horrible thoughts of this next insurgence, and of things that may happen to us but, for me, its…its worth it to see any son of mine growing up not inheriting this hopeless life of ours, the life of warfare and sorrow, of harsh survival and shattered hopes, treating human souls ever so cheaply, never knowing how does it feel to walk in the park or play on the beach, always asking God whose soul will He take next!

No, this is not the life I want for him! I want this war to end, and I know we all want it too!

And I'd gladly shed every drop of my blood if only that would grant us, the end of this war! Please, my friends, I never wanted anything else from this war once it’s over…I just want it over with…

I just want to live…" he ended his words underneath his tearful eyes.

And the silent chamber immediately came to life once again, filled to the brim with a session of heartfelt applause and cheers in place of the previous bad vibrations; jubilant as the younger Azrun hugged the owner of the sacred spear with all his heart.

Whereas somewhere in the corner of that large chamber, hidden from view behind a powerful magic, stood fast the tearful young Xnrene with his faithful sidekick on his shoulder, wiping off his arriving tears of joy as the young Khaliq quietly looked on, both were as jubilant as the ecstatic rebels, and both were already looking forward towards the impending showdown, with each a heart full of hope and full of prayers.

“Urgh, what in the universe is wrong with you, Mintaka?!” screamed the enraged Eliza to her sword wielding foe after noticing the masked Ganymedian seemed to be warding off her blade’s advances and nothing else.

“Is this how you subdued and defeated my beloved Shaik?! Is this how you tricked him into his incarceration?! Truly I’m insulted by your lack of spirit, Mintaka!” she furiously asked again, moments after realizing that her emotionless foe was disheartened even more with each passing moment.

A moment later, the masked one firmly revealed the cause of his lack of spirit.

“He, was an honourable foe, Eliza,” he slowly replied her burning questions. “He knew beforehand the risks involved, the damages he will render and the desecration he will leave behind…knew of all the pain and sufferings he will impart to his victims, and he remembers each and every one of them like a father to his sons.

And though his burning vengeance against his people had further driven him into the dark side of life, he kept inside him still the legacy of his old symbol, of a kind and caring Xnrene he used to be!

And these are but the truth, O Mistress of Darkness…”

“You lie!!” screamed the disgusted woman towards the masked one, sending chills down the spines of her hideous spectators at the same time.

“And you shall pay it with your life!” she screamed prior to turning herself into a gigantic insect-like demon, which relentlessly lashed at her tiny foe with hundreds of razor sharp claws a short while later, effortlessly fatiguing her masked foe in just under ten minutes, making him fell and yielded willingly out of exhaustion.

And the expecting crowd roared in jubilation.

“Peace Keeper Khaliq, this is the Professor, over?” hailed the orbit-bound Professor to the earthbound commander. “We will begin transmitting the broadband Pseudo-mezonic disrupter particles to your relaying units in exactly three minutes. Please send them all to the designated places at once.”

“Roger that, Professor,” replied the middle-aged commander. “Okay, Penang Branch, Malacca Branch, JB Division and Temerloh Division, you may proceed to your designated posts at once,” he ordered the aforementioned division through his comm. link.

“Khalida’s here, we’re in position Sir!” replied the Leader of the Malacca Branch thirty seconds later.

“Kok Wing’s here, we’re all set Sir!” replied the Leader of the Penang Branch two seconds after her.

“Ramu’s here, ready and waiting Sir!” replied the Leader of the Temerloh Division two seconds later.

“Faiza’s here, all system’s go Sir!” replied the Leader of the Johor Bharu Division a second later.

“Acknowledged. Professor, they’re all yours now…”

“Loud and clear! Well then, Azhar my boy, let her rip!!” roared the jubilant scientist before one of the station’s many cannons discharged an iridescent beam of energy straight into the atmosphere above the Klang Valley area, where it was quickly collected by the designated relaying units, magnified and then redirected towards the towering skyscrapers of the Capitol City and the unsuspecting Shudwa Dumanta’s hideous presence, rendering them vulnerable to the rebel’s standard artillery power almost immediately.

“Sir, the neutralizing process is a success! All the enemy units are invulnerable no more!” shouted the ecstatic Leader of the Ipoh Division from behind the enemy’s frontline as traces of the enemy’s force shield appearing on his scanners were now reading at sub-zero levels and dropping.

“Thank you General Hassan,” replied the grateful older Khaliq. He then turned around to face his gathering soldiers and addressed his men with the fieriest of speech the country had ever heard.

“Alright men, the time of our independence are now measured by the hours! The liberation of our country is nigh and inevitable. So go, my friends, go with the will of your Gods! The path to our destined future is already open, beckoning us to tread it! So plough the streets of the enemy camp and let none of our enemies be left unslain until our King is released, the President destroyed and our Jalur Gemilang be hoisted above us again! Show them no mercy!!

Show them we would no longer tolerate being treated as mere vagrants within our own motherland, and no longer shall our fate be entrusted to those who care not of our existence! We shall either be victorious today, or we shall all die for this great country, so sound all our battle cries, now!!!” the spirited Peace Keeper shouted to all his loyal and brave soldiers.

“Daulat Tuanku!! For God and our future!! Freedom for all!!” and the raging mob were immediately dispatched into the streets for the second time, bringing on yet another facade of wildfire into creation.

A facade dozens of times wilder and greater than before, which came into being as the brave and loyal citizens of this once proud nation furiously demanded their country back from their shadowy foes with each and every shots they fired, and demanded it they shall until the very end.

“…For once you amazed me, Mintaka. Even in your darkest of hours, you stand motionless before me, your face cold and lifeless. Ha hah! Any last words before I relieve thee of thy wretched soul; vanquished one? Or perhaps you’d choose to face your damn maker in a trivial passing instead?

Come on… I don’t have all century, you know!” mocked the evil insect woman amidst the laughing and jeering from her hideous minions.

And true to her words, the masked one was strangely calm despite his impending doom. But is this his fated end?

“It’s, it’s not my right to give my final words to you or to anyone else Eliza, for I’ve already seen how and when my life will end. But, but what saddens me was all those acts of cruelty that you’ve condoned its existence in the lives of the two children! For you’ve made their lives undeservingly miserable with each passing moment!

I know you, Eliza, I’ve seen how far your heart can go in this universe, but I’m sad that you abused it and carry on this cruelty of yours…how I feel for you, Eliza,” he replied shortly after.

“Oh, and what do you mean by that, my wasted dreamer? Please, enlighten us! Hah ha!” the demonic insect asked him back.

The President then lowered his sword and asked the magical mirror for divination.

“O Great Mirror of Fate, please show her what she has done! Please let her dark and doom-laden heart be broken into by your truths! Please, O Great Mirror, I beg of you…! Do it!”

Amused by the masked one’s final attempt at doing something good, the demonic insect woman quickly reverted into her former self as she laughed and turned around to face the shiny plate as it went alight again, showing her everything that the two boys had been through, starting from that fearful ride between dimensions, to that spine chilling moment of landing on heaps of human bones, the heart-wrenching revelation that came as soon as they recovered from that soul-assimilating explosion next and on to the time when the two were captured and chained in the inhumane ‘Abattoir’, witnessing the mutilations process going on while being helplessly restrained.

And then, as if it did not feel like it had done enough, the mirror then showed images from the boys’ near future next, a quite a terrifying fate that would befall the undeserving red-capped boy as they valiantly confront the conniving Lord Absonikta in his dark chamber.

Images so cruel and inhuman that after the longest of time the heart of the cold woman broke apart, making her cried ever so strongly and let go of her glowing sword, kneeling remorsefully before the emotionless Ganymedian as she begged for forgiveness at the height of it.

And just seconds before the clearly befuddled politician could utter a word, the familiar voice appeared again, signalling the manifestation of the mirror’s keeper for the very first time whereas the gathering demons and monsters, before in anticipation and high hopes, had since made haste towards the nearest exit, mournfully realizing their acting leader had lost the battle.

“A beautiful flower has broken free from the suffocating grip of your diamond-like heart, permeating the still and lifeless air with the scent of the purest of feelings, gracefully dispersed across the universe as the one who thought she could never be; that she really was, she really is, and she will always be from now till forever,” he commented from the shadows, speaking in a tone quite unlike the cold, pessimistic presence he used to be.

At once the mysterious being majestically appeared before them, revealing a partially masked humanoid in a flowing flag cloak of three primary colours; his eyes a hollow, infinite glowing void of white, his face a lifeless, emotionless bust not unlike the President himself and his hands were aglow with a piece of white material, a garment which he quietly carried forth until he came right beside the mournful woman.

And the President was silent, speechless before the unknown being.

“Eliza Finicta, Lady of the Shadows,” addressed the being. “I am here to usher in the fated time of changes in your life, changes that truly befit the nature of your soul. A fact that you hid so well inside of you but not to me…”

And the shadowy woman slowly turned around, gazed awhile at the glowing outfit, gasped and said:

“…It’s, it’s the sacred Birds of Passage! The garment of your successor! But, but forgive me Great Roygbiv, but, but I’m, but I’m not worthy of such a task, let alone to be in your shadow!

Please, for I still have…I’m not…”

“Yes, I know you would say that the moment you laid your eyes on it, and how it conflicted greatly with what you feel inside. So go and do whatever you must, My Lady, but bear in mind this!

For even if I am fated to wait another millennia then I shall, for this sacred suit in my possession had seen through you, and chosen you to be its rightful wearer since the very beginning!

Forsooth, Great Eliza, for as written by God in the Checkerboard of Fate, your destiny is nowhere but the Light, and time will tell of that moment!”

And the grateful woman nodded.

“Thank you, O Guardian of Emotion… thank you for this second chance! You could never ever fathom what I felt when I saw that dress for the first time, and why I’m not ready to wear it,” she haltingly replied, seconds before turning towards the silent Ganymedian and bowed down in gratitude.

“And thank you as well, Lustanqia Ephron Dantica! Thank you for believing in me…” she said through her heartfelt smile, seconds before making her way out of the cold and clammy chamber in her previous crow form.

And the remaining two sadly parted ways a moment later, marking the end of the masked one’s ordeal as he introspectively boarded his home bound vehicle at the base of the mountain; seconds before the silent streak of a colourful metal tube swiftly left the planet for the Jovian Planetary system, carrying the emotionally spent President back to his heartland.

“Okay you guys, my team has cleared the path to the building. She’s all yours now…!” said the masked Chinese soldier to the Alliance’s designated Storm Troopers, which comprised the moustached soldier, his muscular best friend, their two younger selves and the trigger-happy twins.

“Oh, and Azrun,” he said again, seconds before the team prepared to storm in. “Before you go, I, I just want to say my mother and I really appreciated you helping us out after the death of my brother years ago, and of becoming the brother I never had.

So please, come back alive, okay? Because there’s something I wanted to give you for a long, long time you when you get back!”

“Er, that’s very kind of you E-kin but I don’t think it’s-”

“Please Azrun, for when you come back, there’s going to be a new light in my life… so please, come back safely okay?

And you too Faizul!” he asked again, smiling serenely through his fair-skinned face.

And the trio quietly hugged each other wholeheartedly at this point, moments before the team commenced the final assault over the towering hundred-story building, the place where the most ruthless politician in history resided still.

“Huh! Is that the best you can do, you rotten aliens! My mother fights better than you in her straightjacket!” taunted the muscular soldier to a group of demonic humanoid they came across in the main elevator room—the only one that would lead them straight to the penthouse—before furiously dismembering their puny bodies with his glowing halberd and torching what was left of them gleefully.

“Phew, I’ve never seen so many monsters in my life Faizul, heh heh! Man, it’s just like the time when we fought them in the Dreamer’s Realm I think, only then we didn’t have the entire country fighting with us outside!” shrieked the grinning younger Azrun to his seemingly quiet best friend.

“Yeah, I suppose,” he replied in the style that the younger Azrun always uses. “But still I just wish that we don’t have to do it this way,” he said again, half lamenting.

“Why is that, Faizul? Oh, you mean that…” replied his empathetic friend.

“Yeah…it’s sad that though we’re only here for Lord Absonikta, we may have to kill my father to defeat it, Azrun! And knowing he’d done, terrible things to me I, I just wish there’s another way to defeat it without…killing him!” he replied in a more mournful tone.

And the nine-year-old sighed.

Then suddenly, not long after they’ve breached through the highly fortified gate of the building and advanced deeper into the building’s main reception lobby; now resembling more of a cavern on an alien planet rather than a hospitable meeting room for arriving diplomats, the lone elevator immediately exploded in front of them!

“Ah damn it you all!” screamed the very disappointed older Faizul, resulting in him putting more and more fury into his already merciless assaults, leading the way for the rest of the team to have their own piece of the action.

Five minutes later, the lobby area was empty and desolate again, saved for the feeble slimy creatures slithering on its walls and the gruesome looking flying animals hovering about fearfully across its ceiling.

“Er, can someone tell me how are we going to climb up that? The elevator’s not gonna work for us this time…” asked the clueless twin brother of Salman while glancing nervously at the smoky but intact transparent elevator tube and the charred remains of the elevator at the same time.

“Well duh!” exclaimed the silver-headed combatant, poking fun at the Professor.

“We all knew this would happen Amir, so that’s why we’ve brought along this!” he said again while producing from his heavy knapsack a tiny looking Air Slicer for all to see, a device that looked like a cross between a surfboard and a jet fighter.

“And these…” replied the moustached rebel commander as he tossed the gun toting twins a pair of shiny winged belt.

“The still quite experimental 'Arus Jentayu' Flight Belt that uses gravity to mobilize its wearer, powered exclusively by the ’Khersani Putih’ rods.

The Professor was kind enough to leave these in the shuttle before we left, knowing very well we would need it later on,” he said again, smiling through his bushy lips as the two prepubescent boys’ eyes lit up with fascination at the sight of the two ultra-modern war machines.

“Okay you guys, we’ve no time to lose! Our scanners confirmed that the King’s fortified cell is on the west-wing of the 50th floor, and he’s scheduled to be terminated as soon as the President releases the Evil One,” he exclaimed as he laid the miniature device on the floor and watched it expanding to become its full size, all the while holding a strange contraption reminiscent of the Professor’s gadget.

And silence enshrouded the group a short while later, as the six prepared themselves for the coming joyride.

“Okay, so this will be your final order,” instructed the rebel commander to the twins after successfully producing his own Slicer and turning it back to its original size.

“After you had cleared the guards and released the King, don’t waste any time fighting any others, try to make your way out the nearest and safest exit as fast as you can!

I can’t guarantee the state of this building once we confront the President…anything bad that could happen would happen from then on.”

And the two twins wholeheartedly nodded in comprehension as they waited for their belt to power up, seconds before the gilded leather immediately turned into a glowing coil of energy, which glowed like a crescent moon around their slender waists.

Once everything was in place, the team then began a short session of prayer to the Almighty, seconds before the muscular Faizul pulled out and shoved aside the charred elevator without much effort and jubilantly hopped onto his Slicer.

And with that the team swiftly departed from the area and into an intricate network of elevator shafts that spans the height of the building.

Unfortunately, that ride would later proved to be quite a challenging one for the likeminded rebels. And thus began an exciting moment of high speed pursuits and fiery exchanges the moment they passed by the twelfth floor, repeatedly encountering hidden enemy creatures and deadly weapons lying in wait all the way.

“Hey, Azrun, are your straps comfortable? Do you need me to slow down or anything?” asked the concerned combatant to his younger counterpart sitting in the rear, seconds after successfully destroying a gigantic slimy creature nearby—a creature reminiscent of the now dead Admiral.

“Slow down? Heck no Abang! Whee! This is much more fun than any other roller coaster rides we’ve ever ridden before! Faster Abang, FASTER!” exclaimed the seemingly ecstatic nine-year-old from the back of the Slicer before screaming in unison with his red-capped best friend, feeling as the seemingly vertical vehicles they rode on now travelled at twice the speed of sound…and climbing!

“Uh oh, two moronic nose-dirt dead ahead! Get ready to fry some stinking slime buckets!” shouted the older Faizul after two slimy plant-like creatures appeared in their scopes.

“Okay you guys, fry ‘em!!!” he shouted again, seconds before the two sedentary creatures unwittingly received a barrage of various energy shots from down below, shuddering and screaming in pain before the might of their relentless firepower and reduced to a burning glob of bloodied ooze dripping from the searing spot seconds later.

“Well, okay you guys! This is where we drop off now, so good luck with your fight!” shouted the brown skinned Salman to his other team-mates right before him, jovially as the glowing number of their destination appeared over the glassy wall.

“Affirmative, and good luck to you too Salman, Amir! Give my regards to the King while you’re at it!

And Godspeed…” replied the commander while watching the two twin soldiers abruptly decelerated themselves and made a big hole on the wall of their destination, disappearing swiftly from sight as Corporal Azrun sighed.

And the thick, heavy sliding door of the penthouse’s elevator noisily gave itself away before the might of the muscular Faizul, moments after the remaining four had successfully reached the top of the Administrative Building after a swift ten minutes of death defying flight…but only to find that the place had changed dramatically!

“(Sigh) Aw, it’s so kind of my father to redecorate his office just for me… Yeah, right,” remarked the angry older Faizul as soon as the eerie scene of the empty corridor greeted the wary four, a corridor of black and gold dimly illuminated by a row of purple flambeau floating against both walls, giving an impression of a surreal streetlight going all the way from where they arrived to a gilded double door some two hundred meters away, separating them from their final target: the Dark President himself.

And hanging proudly along these dim cold walls, as lit by the purple coloured flames, were pictures of many a horrible creature, creatures of the highest ranking officers residing inside the Shudwa Dumanta Legion as told by both the mighty Heraklas and Marg-Norf as they walked, some were already dead, like the Admiral and the Viceroy, and some were still living—all were painted to look like they were staring sharply at them! And that was more than enough to make the hair on the back of the four’s necks stand up as they delved ever deeper into this god-forsaken place.

“Wow, heh! I never knew our father had so many relatives from out of town! Heh, that worthless geezer…” muttered the burly fighter to himself in response to their sacred weapons’ words before the team moved on.

A minute later, the double gilded portal of the President’s office, etched with a gigantic symbol of a burning black bird (the symbol of the Legion) came into view and halted the four’s careful advancement.

“Okay my friends, our enemy is just behind this door, waiting for us. But before we proceed, I have to warn you again that our Lord Absonikta has the power to manipulate reality itself! So remember that once we engaged him, everything that looks threatening, they are not; everything that are harmless before, are those we should be wary of!” warned the thunder spear.

“So whatever you do, please! Don’t fall prey to his dirty tactics, even if it’s too vague to notice! I fear that the worst will befall on us once we’re in,” the spear said again, getting a bit mournful to the end.

And the wary group of four immediately passed through the gilded door a moment later, right after the leader and his team mates had promised the spear that they will try and be extra careful from now on, leading themselves tentatively into the dark unknown of the chamber with only the light from their weapons to light their way.

Then, as the chamber slowly lit itself up, a wide circular wall quickly revealed itself, neatly etched with a sequence of pictures that told the story of Shaik’s fateful founding of the Dark Legion, whereas the floor on which they stood, before with no particular characters, was now filled to the brim with strange glowing alphabets and symbols horribly arranged in a graffiti fashion, leaving the centre of the room to remain strangely dark and forbidding, grimly exuding a constant aura of fear and hatred towards the nervous four as they raised their guard even higher than before!

Then suddenly, the darkness playfully returned to the chamber, and from the centre of that room, a strangely familiar woman garbed in white was seen kneeling lovingly before a strange altar, sobbing softly over a small red object sitting before her, an object that soon revealed itself to be the older Faizul’s missing cap! And no sooner were they about to recover from this, another bigger and more ominous shock that it immediately made the older Faizul felt weak in the knees and the younger Azrun almost wetted his pants, greeted them without warning!

For the unknown yet familiar looking woman in white, who had been sobbing quietly all these while, mournfully began talking to herself, revealing the source of her woes…

“…Angah, sweet Angah,” she said between her sobbing. “Why do you have to go so soon…? Why are you so heartless in leaving your mother like this…? Please come back home Angah, please come home to Mommy! Mommy promise she will never abuse you or humiliate you again, I promise!

Please…Angah…please…come home!”

Book 3-Flickering Candles...-Chapter 2

2008-11-28T15:42:00.011+08:00

"Hey you two," said the silver headed soldier to the two boys a moment later.

"From now on, everything will not be all rosy anymore, and there's no place to hide once the fighting starts! So what I'm asking is, er, are you sure you two would wanna follow us to this hell of ours? If yes then how’d you defend yourselves? I mean, heh, I'm not exactly volunteering to baby-sit you two, got it?" he said again.

"Yeah, I got it Abang," the ten-year-old replied with a smirk.

He then gestured at his best friend to produce the sacred flute, nodded as the flute magically appeared in his friend's palm, and together they began to concentrate. At once their normal looking eyes suddenly glowed golden, and from their bodies burst forth a magnificent bonfire of processed Life Force Emanations, illuminating the already luminous Dreamer's Realm and scares the socks off the fearless muscleman, making him weak in the knees…

"Wow! Heh, man; and with that kind of thing as your arsenal, even I would get Goosebumps for a long, long time kid!" remarked the clearly impressed muscular soldier, as he tried to get up with the help of his mutually impressed Indian friend.

"Heheh! I almost wet my pants the first time this happened, Abang," replied the ten-year-old, sheepishly.

"Huh, you really mean that?" he exclaimed in disbelief. "Heh heh, well that's quite a new one for me, kid! (Snicker) Why I remember the times when it was always the other pants that got real wet whenever he felt really scared, (chuckle) right? Mr. Wet Blanket?" replied his older self, gleefully as his best friend's face quickly turned red with embarrassment.

"Hey, no fair! Yes, I did peed in my pants several times at his age, er, out of extreme fear as you all know but, but at least (Snicker) But at least I (Giggle) At least I didn't pass out like a light when that Doctor trimmed my loose end, Mr. I-Wanna-Go-First! (Guffaw) So much for that jarful of 'Courage Water' you drank!" his moustached friend gleefully retaliated.

"What?! Why you!" he yelled, and a mock fight ensued yet again.

The glowing creature smiled.

"But before we go, er, can I ask you one final question, Great Kreck Nar?" asked the curious red-capped boy.

"Yes, Gate Opener Faizul. Speak…"

"Er, now that we’ve known about identity of Shaik's minions, what about their overseer then, Great Kreck Nar, the one called Eliza, Lady of the Shadows? I mean, er, wouldn’t she be intervening later on?

From what I've heard she's quite a powerful creature Great Kreck Nar; almost as powerful as Shaik himself!" the nervous red-capped boy said again.

"You don’t need to worry about her, Gate Opener Faizul, as she is now occupied in eyeing the Lustanqia as we speak, with nothing in her mind but the taste of his blood! We're thankfully quite safe from her possible meddling my friends," gladly replied the glowing being.

And the familiar looking gilded door surreally made its appearance not far from where they stood, opening up to reveal the previous empty room where the four had came from.

"Now return to your comrades, my mortal friends. Herald the coming peace and order in your chaotic land with all your heart and all your might! Just remember that even when time itself shall freeze to the touch of evil, a heartfelt song from a caring soul is all that is needed to restore the youthful glow of the flickering candles to the eyes of the world.

Farewell, O Chosen Ones! And may the blessings of the Six Wise Men protect you in your quest. Godspeed," the being said to them for the last time, vanishing along with the glowing altar as the four re-entered the gilded portal with their two new friends, leaving the Dreamers' Realm for the ruinous scene of their origin...

"Chramakrana Qranakwarna, Mr. President. I've been expecting you…" greeted the mysterious masked being sitting in front of a glowing campfire to the weary Ganymedian, motionless as he saw the latter appeared into view after scaling the island’s cliff by what was left of the only means of reaching that island—a rope bridge—split in half under the influence of age and the weight of the Ganymedian.

And behind the masked alien stood an eerie crystalline edifice in the fringes of the shadowy coastline: this humanoid’s penultimate goal.

The former then unsealed his colourful mask to reveal his cat-like Qubian face and immediately stood up before the Ganymedian, beholding the sky above him in a very mysterious yet serene way.

"There are six twinkling stars gracing the night sky of this realm Saif Mintaka, and right now, there's only one left," he said to him while pointing towards the weakly glowing greenish star one degree above the western horizon, struggling to glow amidst his warm campfire flames.

"You are, ComCrarr, ComCrarr the Champion are you not?" asked the President a short while later.

The Qubian male didn’t answer him.

"Yes, I remember now.

You are but a part of a mysterious, celestial group called the Six Wise Men, mentioned quite sparsely in the Sacred Book Of Xnroe: A heartless, undefeated warrior in the galaxy who abandoned everything after one fateful event and vanished from Planet Qube on the eve of The Great Ceasefire, never to be seen or heard again," said the masked politician, recalling excerpts of the sacred chapters as he talked.

(According to ancient legends, The Great Ceasefire is the ethereal seal of centuries long interstellar war between Planets Pib and Qube way back in antiquity; instigated by the Great Mikro who, after being repeatedly frustrated by the stubbornness of both sides to attain peace, took away the Pibian’s wings and devalued the Qubian’s intelligence one evolution, sending both civilisations back a hundred centuries and effectively put an end to their bickering).

And the seemingly Qubian male immediately broke into a shifty-eyed smile.

"Indeed you are knowledgeable of the sacred book, Saif Mintaka. Yet from all that I've heard of you, you were nothing short of illustrious yourself, O Former Leader of the Ephron Dantiaz! So draw your weapon, my mortal Grax, and fight me for the flame!" replied the Qubian former warrior as he pulled out his strange weapon of choice—The Saskia (a long piece of green, silk-like sash)—and began lashing wantonly around him, hissing like an angry tomcat as the seemingly feeble lace produced a loud thunderclap with every lashing.

"Defeat me and I shall cede the emotional flames," he said in between his apparent feline hisses, leering as the President reluctantly produced the Proof of Presidency from its invisible sheath.

And for a fleeting moment, fear streaked across his challenger's face and onto the blade of his sword…

"En garde, Saif Mintaka! The final star will set any moment now!" he taunted the reluctant humanoid, seconds before charging madly at him with the deadly lace in his right to begin his offensives, repeatedly as the evil woman in her crow form watched the heated duel from the safety of the shadows, her face stiff and unturned from the unsuspecting Ganymedian.

"Oh my; this is appalling! They've breached through my primary defence grid without warning!" exclaimed the scientist after detecting the presence of the invisible SRUs patrolling the compound of the mansion through his high-tech spectacles, heralding another heated session of fiery exchange into creation.

"Heh, so how does it feel when somebody 'burst your bubble' Professor? Heh!" asked the silver headed soldier to the genius in utter cynicism whereas his younger self grinned quietly from behind, watching as the burly soldier gladly heated up the situation with his angry flame-thrower.

"Hello, we’ve no time for intimate talks now, you two!" shouted the moustached soldier as he tried to return fire from the balcony. "We've got to board our vehicles and get the heck outta here, that's not an option!"

"If they haven’t found our vehicles yet!" replied the seemingly angry Salman while recharging his awesome weapon.

"Grrr, and if they should ever dent or scratch my beloved Abby I'll, I'll!" he muttered while peppering the converging SRU units with blinding energy projectiles from his portable magnetic re-ioniser cannon, crushing the hapless drones against each other until their particles exploded and imploded into nothing.

Amazingly, the outnumbered six exited the heavily guarded ruin through one of its rear doors in just under five minutes, unscathed and strangely jubilant.

"Hey, where to now Abang?" the younger Azrun asked his older self after successfully burning his first zombie soldier with his celestial mind power.

"Back to the sliding portal my friends, the only way in and out of here is through that front door," replied the ageing scientist instead, as he produced the familiar looking device, pressed the purple button this time and pointed it at the gaping hole in the sliding door, the point where waves after waves of the invisible SRUs were steadily marching in.

"What the-hey, you got to be kidding, old man!" exclaimed the muscular flame-wielding soldier. "You want us to plough through those waves of dead meat just like that?! Have you gone barmy, you old fogey?”

"Trust me my boy," he calmly replied, beaming with a smile.

"Trust me,” he said again, seconds before all the marching mindless SRUs were immediately knocked down flat by something gigantic, something none other than their heavily cloaked, souped-up ATV and the flying, death machine from hell!

"Oh sweet baby! Don’t cry, Papa’s here!" cooed the ecstatic Salman as he boarded it, activated its engines and shot skyward through one of the many huge cracks appearing all over the dome.

And the remaining team members quietly followed suit, boarding the muscular ATV and gruesomely exited the battlefield.

Then, after they were metres away from the mansion, the Professor re-produced the previous contraption from his coat, stared back at the house for a while and, unbeknownst to the rest of his team, pressed its white coloured button to ON; making the crystalline PED devices sitting around the brick fence to cease producing the energy bubble and self-destructed in a spectacular blaze, brightly as the silver headed soldier sitting in the driver's seat stared frightfully back at him.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he shouted angrily at the seemingly calm scientist, gripping hard on the steering wheel. "That's my goddamn house!! You’ve just destroyed my goddamn-"

"Hey, do you want the President to grab hold of it and messes up everything in this universe? Not on my grave!" interrupted the Professor in a cold tone of voice, making the muscular one speechless all of a sudden, quite taken aback by the old man's words.

And the old man immediately tinkered madly over his portable hyper computer once again, becoming lost in his world of scientific calculations.

"Hmm, interesting," he muttered in between his superhuman typing speed, unknowingly as the curious ten-year-old watched him from behind.

"Er, what is it Pakcik?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, it’s you Faizul! Well the good news is I've just discovered the source of my energy bubble fracture. See?” he replied while showing the boy what he was doing.

“My trustee computer here told me that as soon as we’re about to exit that strange continuum, several blasts of volatile Placorium quarks had damaged my dome by disrupting its quantum mechanic covalent grid. And judging by the smooth precision of the shots, the uniform ness of its distribution, and of the amounts released…”

“Everyone listen up!" he shouted through the intercom a second later.

"Yeah, what is it, old man?" asked the older Faizul from the front.

"I've just found out how the President's zombies breached my force shield!

It appears that, according to what my trustee old computer told me just now, the semi-covalent integrity fractures appearing on the PED's photonic polarity resonance were made by seventeen streamlined salvoes of Placorium quarks!"

"But, Professor! From what I’ve learned, those ultra-radioactive particles are touchy to gravity, wouldn’t be stable enough to be fired by any of the National Security's warcrafts unless they really, really want to die!" exclaimed the airborne Indian.

"For it would take a very high precision cannon to safely discharge that thing, and that cannon has to be mounted away from the planet like, on a satellite or something for it to reach its target and not, not ricocheting across the planet!"

"You’re absolutely right, Salman," exclaimed the scientist. "And as far as I know, there's only one place in the country where the government would store those deadly particles: the Seventh Sector Department Lab, way out in space!"

And immediately the two boys' eyes lit up with stars.

"Ehem! Gentlemen," he announced seconds later. "As of this moment, we'll be on our way to gatecrash NAMAC’s Independence Day Party! Our showdown with the Admiral and the Viceroy are here and nigh so should any of you wants to call it quits or go to the toilet, then sorry, you just missed it, so fasten your seatbelts, say your prayers and get ready to rumble!"

And the entire group cheered as wildly as they could.

"Faizul, Salman, set your course for the floating island off Bandar Hilir Baru Township at once! And whatever you guys do…don’t spare the rods now you hear?!

Don’t spare the rods! A-ha!" he gleefully shouted while the burly soldier wearily rolled his eyes again.

And the invisible war machines left the legendary hill.

"You are quite -Argh!- good -Urgh!- with your swordplay, Saif Mintaka, but you are-Urgh!- not -Argh!- good enough!" remarked the seemingly impressed but exhausted Qubian as his deadly sash came close to decapitating the Ganymedian for the umpteenth time.

"We'll see -Argh!- about that -Gah!- ComCrarr -Argh!" retaliated his seemingly thoughtless opponent, consumed he seemed to be by the heat of their deadly duel.

"I am going to get to the bottom of this even if I have to -Urgh!- shame -Gah!- one of the Six Wise Men himself ComCrarr! And believe me I will…!" he angrily screamed, seeing as the feeble star was fast disappearing as their intense duel dragged on.

Then suddenly, as the seemingly exhausted Qubian temporarily lost his footing, the President quickly seized that opportunity and slashed the Qubian on his left arm, made him halt his onslaught and bled profusely from where he sat.

And the dying campfire suddenly re-ignited back to its youthful glow.

"You've, you've won, Saif Mintaka," he commended in between his erratic breathing. "Now hurry! Thrust, your sword, into the flame, and your, your final quest, will be, over, real soon…hurry!"

And the masked one wholeheartedly complied as the steady campfire quietly transformed into a raging firebird, gesturing at him to embrace its body.

"But tell me, one thing, Lustanqia Saif Mintaka,” asked the out-of-breath Qubian before the masked one embraced the infernal creature. "Why, had you decided, to fight me in the style, of a warrior, I used to know, a long time ago? Why can't you fight, like, the way your kind, would?"

And the President smiled.

"ComCrarr, my ancestors once said that in order to earn the greatest of respect from a well-known warrior, is to challenge him to a friendly fight and fight him the way he fights, and in return, he shall remember you much longer than any of your friends would…and may even shares your friendship one day!"

And the Qubian suddenly broke into a heartfelt smile at this point.

"You are, indeed very wise, Saif Mintaka!" he replied, as his bleeding wound suddenly healed itself up. "You've fought me in the style that earned me my reputation. And I'm, very honoured by it," he commended.

"Farewell, my friend. And may you find what you seek," greeted the Qubian before departing magically from the island, leaving the Ganymedian to approached and embraced the flaming creature without a fear in the world and took flight into the starless sky, blazing as the chosen mortal within its fiery heart dramatically approached the run-down crystalline lighthouse way up north, and the end of his impossible series of tests.

"Well guys, welcome to the most historical part of the State of Malacca! (Sigh) This fine polluted city used to be my second favourite place in the world just for the record, but that was two years ago I think…heh," said the burly soldier to his two young passengers at the back of the invisible ATV, which had now took on a holographic form of a family caravan, pleasantly cruising along the well-tarred road of the coastal city’s brightly-lit superhighway alongside every other unsuspecting night revellers making their way to and from it.

"Why? What happened Abang?" the younger Azrun asked.

"My Malaccan girlfriend left me for her job, heh heh!" he cynically replied, making the four adults to laughed strangely and the two boys to grin from ear to ear.

"Hey, you know what?" asked the seemingly excited Salman from the roof of the caravan shortly later. "Well since tomorrow's the National Day, maybe we can stop by here for a while and catch the pre-Merdeka Concert tonight, at Megat Seri Rama Shopping Mall! I’ve heard that my Abby’s the star performer tonight!"

"Oh, so that explains the gruesome storm clouds gathering above us Salman, heh heh!" replied the sarcastic Faizul; seconds before the dismayed Indian soldier insulted him back in Tamil.

"He's right on that one, Salman," seconded the Professor before glancing back at his black contraption yet again. "The atmospheric pressure is not conducive for a storm right now, not a single tropical depression anywhere! Something's quite wrong with the weather I say," he added.

Then suddenly,

"Hey, who the hell taught you to drive, huh?! A nine-years old?! Hey, are you chicken?! You lousy-eh?" scolded the older Faizul to the driver of the car who rammed his ATV, but only to be caught speechless as the driver pulled down her tinted window screen for a moment and stared sharply at him through her dark glasses.

"I think you better follow her my boy. I'm very sure she's on our side," said the scientist confidently before the modest looking sports car immediately switched lane and sped off into the second junction.

“Oh no, you think? Again? Heh heh,” replied the grinning driver of the family van as he spun his steering wheel around real hard and stepped on the accelerator pedal with all his might, swerving in and out of traffic as he struggled to contain whatever the feelings inside his heart.

"So who was that, Abang? And why’d you looked like you've just won a lottery just now?" asked the white-shirted boy as he sipped on a warm glass of coke in one hand.

"Hey kid, do you remember what I've said just now, about my former girlfriend?" he quietly asked the younger Azrun seconds later.

And the white-shirted boy nodded.

"That was her in front of us; heh heh! Khalida Aziz, Modem Yard’s very own Jane Bond and Leader of the ‘Kerambit Berdarah’, the Malaccan Branch of the ‘Heart Landers’ known for their world class espionage and counter intelligence skills!" he replied with a simper.

A minute later, the camouflaged ATV finally caught up with her and followed it until they reached an abandoned loading area of Megat Seri Rama Shopping Mall.

Once there, the well-built soldier quietly alighted from the vehicle, caressed her leather clad shoulders and began exchanging several heartfelt hugs and kisses within the shaded area; blissfully as the two prepubescent boys grinningly received their first visual lessons of the birds and the bees for free…

Suddenly the girl changed her mind, slapped her simpering ex-boyfriend’s face real hard and immediately triggered the opening of a well-camouflaged door from a nearby wall; revealing a long secret passage into which her weatherworn car stealthily moved in, moving as if by remote control.

And the battle weary group did the same.

"Heh, I see you still keep that lethal touch of yours extra sharp, my dear! That's what I like about you," he gingerly remarked shortly after the seven found themselves inside the Malacca Division Headquarters, an orderly construction of well-concealed chambers and rooms situated just behind and underneath the usually noisy concert area.

"And I see you still haven't really grown up since we parted, my dear! You guys really took your sweet time in getting things done now, haven’t you? I bet you didn’t even read the emails I sent you two at all!

Things have gone from bad to worst in case you didn’t notice!" she bellowed back at him.

"Calm down now my dear, don’t go gnashing your teeth about and save your steam for the insurrection okay?" asked the grinning scientist. "Now what seems to be the problem here? And why does a storm is brewing above us at the time it should not?" he asked her again.

"Er, that’s what we're trying to figure out as well Professor,” she replied, sounding much softer now. “But our main concern right now is the appearance of new kinds of SRUs in the Capitol an hour ago. We haven’t figured out their full potential yet Professor, for none of our spies we’d sent for had returned with their report, another thing that worries me still…

Ashley? (The name of their main computer) The monitors, please?"

“Affirmative. Please standby,” replied the computer.

At once a large holographic dome came into form, spiralling and descending from the ceiling of the meeting place and engulfed the quorum as the room grew dim. And as images of a very familiar demonic humanoid rudely materialized around the glowing dome the two boys suddenly gasped, for those images belonged to the infamous Shudwa Dumanta Foot Soldiers, Shaik’s own biogenetically engineered creature of combat!

"…And despite my previous underestimation of your limited potentials Saif Mintaka, you have exceeded my expectations yet again!" remarked the familiar unseen male voice at the end of his long speech, sounding as cynical as ever.

"Now do savour the fruits of your labour as I clear your path to the ancient shrine…you might not see this place again after I’m through with you," instructed the aforementioned voice to the President after the latter had set alight the wick of the crystalline lighthouse, watching as the raging flame quickly penetrated through the darkness, giving the Ganymedian a gradual glimpse of the realm's true landscape and redefining the word awestruck for the umpteenth time.

"My God, this, this is the realm of Quws Kwanea, the birthplace of, the Stipusee Kaqkzu (the Ethereal Crystal Snakes)! So that means, I'm, now," exclaimed the awe-struck President, seconds before the actual sight of the realm's scenery cut him short.

A scene that replaced the dark and foreboding panorama with a palette of white, gold and blue, metamorphosing from a gloomy grassland into a natural glass gallery of towering crystal clusters dotting the coastline and the surreal horizon, gleaming in a myriad of colours and complementing each other’s presence in an ethereal way.

Whereas the ocean, previously rough and stormy, suddenly resembled a polished silver plate, further enhancing the ever-present surrealism of the hour to the highest of degree.

"Yes, O Glorified Humanoid," came an unexpected reply from a new voice nearby seconds later, the voice not unlike that of a little boy. "For The Master Of Fate Himself had foreseen our meeting within the realm of Quws Kwanea, at 'The Place Where It All Began', long before any of us were born," the voice resumed its words, seconds before the mesmerized President saw the graceful manifestation of a floating slit of light approaching him from the southern sky, a slit resembling a young Crystal Snake.

"Fair Days Eternal to you my crystalline friend. And on whose name did you sing your sacred songs to, my young serpent? How shall I address you?" he kindly greeted the glassy serpent a moment later, watching as the latter gently rested itself before his feet for a while before raising its face towards him.

"Why yours of course, Saif Mintaka,” answered the young serpent to the enthralled Ganymedian.

“I was born the moment your innocent cry penetrated the infinite space and time as you viewed the light of the world for the very first time. I am Nizqia Arsti. And I am here to carry you to your final destination; The Mirror of Fate, the place where everything you desire will be revealed…"

"…So there you have it, Kakak! Unlike the SRUs, these soldiers were not humans in the first place! And we still don't know whether or not any other non-magical weapons can stop them, and yes, we're very lucky the last time to have defeated them and captured their powerful leader at the same time and all.

But now, (sigh) I don’t think we’d be so lucky again," said the eager red-capped boy concluding his explanation.

And the battle-hardened woman soldier reactively scratched her scalp as soon as he had done talking, glancing at his older self unbelievably time and again.

"(Sigh) So what you're saying is…that these extra-terrestrial soldiers may turn out to be impervious to all our standard-issue weapons, right? And you expect me to believe that only these so-called mystical chivalrous weapons, given by a glowing flower robot, and your psychic powers can repel their advances, correct?

Or are you just making it all up?" she asked the two boys.

The pair earnestly nodded and shook their heads.

"(Sigh) Where is that ‘Hyperdol’ tablet when you need it!" remarked the rather sceptical woman a while later as the eager pair wearily stared at each other and sighed.

And the smirking, well-built soldier suddenly sensed that his protruding, glowing halberd had repeatedly asked to get out of his stuffy knapsack to gladly rearrange his former girlfriend's face—in repercussion to her blatant scepticism!

Then suddenly, came the much-dreaded sound of alarm bellowing inside the hidden base, signalling the breach of security by their mutual enemy.

"Oh no, the SRUs have breached through the ‘Parasol’ Field! They’ll be here any moment now! We got to get out of here!" shouted the moustached soldier to the group.

"Here," shouted the leather clad girl-soldier. "This way! Hurry!" she said again while putting on an effeminate glowing visual scope over her face and running towards the southern wall at the same time.

At once another hidden door opened up before their eyes, revealing a corridor full of worried soldiers running to and fro, each with a weapon in hand. Whereas on one of the other floors above them, panic embraced the late night shoppers and concertgoers, fearful as they watched the sudden appearance of the infamous zombie SRUs inside the bustling shopping mall, scanning every square inch of the place outside their usual stealth.

"It’s time, Mr. President. Jump on my back and I shall carry you to your destination," said the crystalline serpent a moment later.

And the masked one wholeheartedly complied by jumping onto its back and into a magically appearing winged platform, seconds before the ethereal young snake sang its surreal tune and carried him off to the breezy sky en-route to the final gilded door on the eastern horizon, blissfully as his vengeful stalker followed suit.

"Help! Help! Somebody help me please!" cried out a very distressed young woman in glimmering costume crawling her way underneath the stampede, fearfully after coming too close to be trampled on for once too many times.

And that glittering damsel in distress was just about to be stepped upon flat by a senseless fat teenager running blindly towards her had it not for the heroic brown skinned Salman to quickly appeared on the scene, grabbed the nearly witless girl by her body and shot out of harm's way.

"Hey, are, you okay, err Miss Abby?" he softly asked the breathless girl.

And as the radiant girl finally regained her composure a second later, finding herself in his strong arms feeling so helpless and wary, she quietly stared at the face of her unknown saviour and broke into a smile—all the while the bearded soldier gladly thanked his lucky star over and over again in his heart!

"…Wha, what happened?" the young singer asked the dishevelled looking Indian at the centre of the panic-stricken mass. "Thank you so much, whoever you are. Thank you for saving me."

"Salman Khan Abdullah at your service ma’am, but, heh, God, you look so beautiful when you smile, Miss Abby," he replied, smiling from ear to ear.

"Why thank you, Salman! (Giggle) And you’re not so bad looking yourself Salman. I can’t thank you enough," said the grateful girl through her smiles, seconds before the two surreally walked hand-in-hand through the raging stampede of fearful shoppers and concertgoers and left the promenade for a safer area.

Then suddenly, once the surreal scene concluded and chaos resumed its course again, the young artist naughtily pulled him into a dim corner and lovingly kissed his unexpected lips, ending up hugging and fondling unreservedly each other as anarchy reigned on across the mall…

"…Gah! Wait till I get I my hands on that Salman, I'll turn him into a human chapatti! (Mumbling)…him and his half-witted pop idol…grah!" growled the soldier as he steered the bulky ATV through the intense crossfire near the entrance of the mall, returning fire to the SRUs while helping the panic-stricken civilians make their escape.

"We have no time to deal with that now Faizul!" interrupted his best friend from the front passenger seat. "Our mission to board the Seventh Sector Lab must go on with or without him, for we can’t afford to waste anymore-! (Sigh)

I’ll contact him again once we get back from the lab…" he said again before turning his attention over to the safety of the fear-stricken civilians.

"Khalida, ready to execute our strategy now, over? Our computer's confirmed there's still one more functional shuttle left in the launch pad, all fuelled up and ready for launch," asked the front passenger of the ATV to the driver of the mobile bunker moving alongside of it, moments after successfully leading the frightened city-dwellers away from the battlefield.

"I'm all for it here Corporal, though I'm still not so sure why on earth would you want to be on it right now," she replied before blowing up the approaching enemy ATV in front of her machine with its awesome ground-to-air missile launcher

"Well dear, you just have to take a rain check on that," quipped the old man "So until we get back let's not ruin your pretty hairdo worrying over nothing, okay? We’ve got a spaceship to catch!"

"Okay Professor! Good luck to you guys from all of us! And whatever you do don't let that demented boy loose for a moment, okay? You know how he is…over?"

"Roger to that too, Ma’am!" the older Azrun replied, flashing a cynical grin to his grumbling driver.

And suddenly the older Azrun’s cheerfulness left as soon as it came.

“Khalida?” he hailed her again. “Whatever we’re about to do right now is important to The Heart Landers’ cause, and the place we’re going to is not what it seems anymore. So if we're not back in an hour, tell your men to abandon their posts, head straight for the rendezvous point and go on without us, understood? If they haven’t launched the uprising by then…”

“We copy that Corporal,” replied the female commander. “We’ll hold them off as long as we can.”

“Affirmative. Corporal Azrun out," he ended his hailing before the lone ATV withdrew from the battlefield and headed for the man-made island five miles down the road in the midst of the conflict.

An island that houses the industrious NAMAC Space Complex, the ultimate pride of this great nation that had since turned into a small time holiday resort straight from hell!

Meanwhile, at a mountainous location some distance away; the time for the aforementioned insurrection was fast approaching, heralded by the massive congregations of various paramilitary groups and the placement of their awesome war machines in a field near an abandoned mountain resort town on Genting Highlands district; a largely unmonitored area just outside the closely guarded Klang Valley, bastion of the National Security and the evil administration running them.

Though different they were by their uniforms from when they came, their similar, undeviating goal and dream was the key factor behind their success of uniting into a vast army unit attempting to restore order and peace of their war torn country, and a last beacon of hope for the suffering majority sick of living in misery for decades!

And so on that fateful night for the first time in twenty nine years, the loosely formed bands of rebel called the ‘Heart Landers’, the living remnants of the old administration, were magnificently amalgamated into the country’s last hope for freedom, thanks to the effort of one ageing visionary who stood proudly before them, giving a fiery speech prior to briefing them of their long kept uprising strategy.

The same one whom they thought had perished not long ago!

"Well, guys. Welcome to the NAMAC Space Centre, once a proud landmark of success now a broken jewel in the rusting crown of Malaysia!” remarked the driver of the ATV as the image of the strangely abandoned, eerie looking industrial complex greeted his sharp sight.

“Oh, yes,” replied the old scientist. “I remember seeing a lot of bright faces everytime I mention that name. (Sigh) Oh well, I’m so glad we’ll only here for a short while you all, what with a mess of this size to clean up, plus a bigger one we‘re going to give the President real soon…heheh!"

And the two prepubescent passengers immediately felt an arriving air of fear and death enveloping them, making the hairs on the back of their necks to rose in perpetual stiffness.

"Hey, what's wrong you two? Why do you look around like that? Is there something wrong?" the older Azrun asked the two boys.

And then suddenly, just before his younger self could answer, the group immediately realized that something strange had started banging and thrashing their ATV, resulting in the total shutdown of all its systems!

"H-h-h-hey! What gives man?" exclaimed the fearful driver seconds after losing control of his vehicle, prompting his formidable hand weapon to curiously shot out of the window and nervously shot back in!

"Yo, Faizul! I think some fellas outside are giving you guys a 'High Five'!" exclaimed the glowing Heraklas, fearful as their land-bound vehicle had just left the ground without the benefit of a propeller.

And the muscular soldier quickly poked his neck out the window to take a look around and rudely came face-to-face with the cause of their vehicle's unwarranted levitation: a pair of slithering, gigantic, pulsating, slimy vines!

"What the-! What, you think you’re so tough, huh? You’re gonna get it alright, you stupid plants!" he shouted back at it, letting go of the steering wheel and grabbing hold of his weapon at the same time.

And the horrible vines began thrashing the levitated vehicle yet again.

"Azrun, let's show them how we deal with these puny unwanted weeds the Heart Landers Style! Take the wheel old man, we're going out for some weed whacking now, heh!" he said again, shouting profanities at their unwanted vegetative host while he was at it.

The two of them then climbed out the sky window, drew their sacred weapons out and began hacking mercilessly at the horrific, clamping vines, watching in fear as the vines shrieked in pain, squirted human blood from its pulsating veins and quickly released their grip on the vehicle.

And the awesome looking ATV came down the solid ground with a bump.

"Great, now start the engine and get us out of here, old man!" shouted the well-built soldier as he saw a dozen or more new vines slithering out of the shadowy surrounding, accompanied by some other gruesome looking creatures that were formerly functional body parts of living human being.

And the formidable ATV swiftly roared away.

"So this is how the top of Mount Kasrawi really looks like…magnificent indeed!" said the President of Ganymede to himself as he traversed the ancient marbled steps in awe, viewing the commanding scenes of the planet's highland from its base right up to the cloud-covered shrine before him.

Yet, as alert as the self-muttering Ganymedian can get, he was still unaware of the presence of a nasty yet patient little black bird perching on a branch of a nearby dead tree, clearly visible now that the dwarfish sun was already at its zenith.

"Come on Mintaka," she said to herself. "Just a few more steps to go, don't test my patience!"

Moments passed.

The four rebels and their two young friends were already inside a long dark corridor of one of the Space Centre’s many buildings, occupied for most of their time in fighting the relentless wave of ghostly plants and living dismembered body parts going after the six, blocking and closing in on them as swiftly as they tried to make it through to the centre of the island’s largest building where the lone shuttle was parked.

“…So hey, so where do we go from here old man?” shouted the furious looking older Faizul. “And how much further do we have to go before we reach the launchpad’s Control Room, damn it?

We certainly have to take control of it real fast and get the heck out of here! I’m tired of barbecuing these monsters!” shouted the muscular soldier to the ageing scientist yet again as he angrily torched the hideous living body parts and hacked at the slimy plants appearing around him at the same time.

“Trying to reach the Control Room and take over the shuttle might be a cakewalk to you my boy but don’t forget that all these things originated from that same room! So we have to destroy them first, take out the root of the problem and then, only then can we concentrate on taking that shuttle!” replied the feverish scientist while electrocuting the living vines off of his path and staring at his bleeping black contraption at the same time.

“But, but my friend’s got a point there, Professor! I, I really don’t know how much longer can we put up with this…” replied the moustached soldier in between his laser slicing and weed whacking.

A silent moment of frenzied confrontation passed by.

“So have you finally isolated the network control program of this entire facility and re-routed it back to your terminal, Professor, like we’ve planned?

Is there any possibility at all for us to just control that ship from here?” asked the seemingly exhausted older Azrun from the rear while keeping up with the laser disc barrage, dissecting repeatedly the aforementioned creatures and cauterising the appearing vines indiscriminately with his spear at the same time.

“No, I can’t do that Azrun, not without blowing everything up!” he half-heartedly replied.

“For somebody we knew so well had rerouted all the twenty five main networking terminals on this island to an intricate password based release program, and what’s more had programmed a touchy self-destruct protocol to intercept any bypassing or hacking attempts into any of them!

It’s a cybernetic Brier’s Patch in here!”

A slithering digestive organ nearly got hold of the old man’s head but was quickly desiccated by the electrifying touch of the thunder spear.

“We have no other choice but to confront the Admiral to put an end to this, he’s the only one who has both the password and the manual release command to the shuttle’s operating system!” he said while electrocuting a small pulsating vine off the younger Azrun’s leg, sending that vine screaming back into the shadows.

An expression of dismay and anger immediately appeared across the moustached ones’ face.

“Alright!” he shouted a moment later, seconds after chopping off yet another batch of vines with his formidable laser cannons.

“We’ve no more time to waste! Let us down that maniac and get this thing over with! I’m tired of letting everyone down, it’s time to settle the score once and for all!” he shouted again, just seconds before a huge black hole came blasting out from the concrete floor and sent the entire group screaming down a long dark chasm.

And the time of retribution descended onto the island…

“You have made it, Saif Mintaka. Asalma Alaikma and Welcome to the Portal of Peace, the gateway to the Shrine of Reflections, the place where Fate tells all,” greeted a seemingly wizened clergyman garbed in an Arabic-like costume.

And the pleasantly surprised Ganymedian greeted him back.

“Wa-alaikma Asalma, Great Imam Ascasguz Auryelivi, Leader of the-”

“Please, call me Al Mukhtar Abdus-Salam; the name that comes with this robe, for whenever I assume the mantle of the Portal’s Guardian, my clan name, my given name and all my titles have little or no value to me.

Now please stay where you are as I open this great door for you,” he kindly interrupted while producing an odd looking discus from his robe, a relic that glowed to his and the President’s touch, watching as the generously written slab of polished granite slowly retracted itself from the meticulously carved and equally inscribed entrance in response to the relic’s ethereal humming.

“You may proceed, Saif Mintaka. The Keeper of the Mirror has approved of your demands. The Shrine of Reflections now awaits your presence!”

And the masked Ganymedian casually resumed his dignified steps into the naturally forming mountaintop chamber seconds later, followed immediately by the blackened bird of carrion stealthily behind him.

“Great Roygbiv, I did what you asked. And I do hope you’re right on this O Great one, for our sake,” the Plutonian muttered to himself as the feathery manifestation of the evil woman swiftly flew past him and into the dim cavern, feeling too nervous to did anything but watch, being well informed about her infamy within the Shadowy Legion.

“…F-f-Faizul, where, were are you? Are, are you, are you here? Please…talk to me,” asked the nine-year-old best friend of his after regaining consciousness, fearfully as he found himself chained and magnetically attached to a wall.

And the red-capped boy slowly regained his consciousness a moment later; triggered by the sudden bellowing and screams of pain all around him.

“Where…where are we, A-a-Azun? Huh, what’s, what’s going on, here?

W-h-h-hat, what is this place…?” he feebly asked his best friend while unintentionally watched the dismembering of internal organs of a captive rebel soldier below them, naked and restrained, coldly done by a fearful looking contraption with sharp spikes and blades protruding from its front while the poor man screamed in pain.

Though as painful as it may seemed to the two of them, the thirty something rebel never for once pleaded for mercy, even as he watched his own flesh and blood being slowly but surely wasted by the machine. And in between the remissions of pain, he solemnly recited a familiar chapter from his holy book, smiling as if in heaven.

“A hell made on Earth…” the mournful boy replied a long while later, watching as the heartless machine coldly resumed its reconstructive surgery well until much of his innards were removed, and that was when the machine signalled the conveyor belt to swiftly carry the heavily maimed soldier away to yet another terminal, where it will fill his cavernous body with pieces of gleaming machinery, watching as the conveyor belt immediately rolled that man away as the bloodied machine prepared itself for the next one in line.

The red-capped ten-year-old slowly shed heartfelt tears in response to the conditions of the dimly lit slaughterhouse they were in, and of the dehumanising process that never seemed to stop.

“Why?” the crying Azrun asked his best friend a moment later, further saddened by the arrival of more and more unwilling captives down below; some were screaming and shouting words of liberty and independence as they rolled in, some were remorseful and pleading for emancipation, yet all were silenced when the first blade ripped them open.

“Why did they do this to them…? Why were they mutilated like this…? Because they were, fighting to take back their country? Because they wanted, to stop this stupid war? They only do it because they know what’s best, for this country…they loved this country, so that’s why they do it! They didn’t have any other choice when they-!”

And his ten-year-old best friend can only stared empathetically at him.

“They didn’t have any choice when they dragged this country further into destruction! They only wanted it to return, to like it’s used to be…and in the only way they knew how, through war! They only wanted it to be forever, forever peaceful and free again! Is, is that really, a crime?!

No, it’s not a crime! I know they would gladly do it in any other way if given a chance…but there isn’t any! Why…”

The tearful Faizul slowly looked away from his white-shirted friend and immediately Azrun found his cheek accidentally sprayed by a stream of salty fresh blood from one of the machines.

“Is this, is this how, how our government would run the country, forever? By wasting our existence, by turning us into zombies?! Please Faizul, tell me I’m dreaming all these, am I?” he asked his mournful best friend once again, loudly as the image of the final machine, the one that would turn the dehumanised, hollowed human beings into cold, heartless soldiers with remotely controlled bionic eyes and automatic stealth, to patrol the country’s war torn streets behind the infamous glowing green and black fatigue of the SRU unit, coldly resumed its function.

“So the ‘Black Journal of Alkrun-nar’ was telling the truth,” remarked an old, seemingly arrogant voice of a sixty-year-old man to the tearful one from the darkest corner of the chamber.

“And I would be very much a liar if I were to say your future self had not spoken through your sorry little face just now, Mr. Prime Minister!” he said again, cynically as he walked along the shadowy parts of the chamber.

“…And if it wasn’t for your timely capture by the Admiral moments ago, then I would’ve gladly proclaimed that you shall one day become a very prominent person in this miserable country years from now, making its citizens really proud!

But unfortunately, this is where that reality ends and this reality begins, Azrun bin Mohammad Azali!”

The two restrained boys can only feebly guessed from a distance where the source of that voice was as it got nearer and clearer to them.

“Welcome to the Seventh Sector Department Lab, my young captives! Welcome to the last place in this universe you will ever see!” he said again after stepping completely out of the shadows, revealing his identity to the captured children.

And the two of them immediately gasped in fear.

“Ah, so you do recognize me! Before Viceroy Admantia possessed me on that fateful day years ago, I was merely a simple, unsuccessful scientist working under the grinds of poverty: miserable, lonely and constantly overshadowed by my dear overly successful brother!

But now, after pledging my allegiance to the Shudwa Dumanta Legion, you may address me as Professor Shamsir Arof, Leader of the Seventh Sector Department, and Minister of Science to the new Malaysian Republic!

And yes, we are now about three hundred kilometres away from the face of your miserable planet, so there’s no more need for you to be in chains actually…you’re not going anywhere but down so to speak,” he said again as he unchained and brought them down from the magnetized wall with just a stare.

“What have you done to my friends, you old demon?! What have you done to them?!! Tell me!!” shouted the angry Faizul, refusing to budge from where he stood even after the old scientist had kindly asked him to follow.

And even so the Professor was strangely very calm and friendly towards his rebelling captive, all this despite his seemingly haughty appearance a moment ago.

“Ah, the bubbly and spirited Faizul, future Colony Leader of the Red Planet Mars, charming; to the last… For your information Faizul my boy, your feeble friends are now in the tender loving care of my dear convivial friend Admiral Ibrahim, where they’ve probably been reduced to a heap of tasteless Steak Tartar by now, to forever slither around the facility until they rot…heheh!

A kind but fitting end indeed for a band of half-wit dissenters!” he kindly answered the boy’s question, lifting his glasses in between his toothy grin.

“Well now you two, do you want me to give you a quick tour around this magnificent trillion dollar lab or do you want to stay in my glorified ‘Abattoir’ instead?

Fancy becoming a miniature version of my zombie soldiers, you say?

It’s your call, boys! The drone alarm will go off pretty soon,” he said before retracing his steps towards their only way out.

And the two fearful boys wholeheartedly complied with his persuasion as soon as the shadowy person pressed open the titanium door, surreally leading them on a short excursion across the magnificent corridor of sterile white, interrupted now and then by specially made windows that presented the two awestruck boys with many breathtaking views of their planet.

“Oh…my head, where are we?” asked the disoriented moustached soldier before finding himself laying in a pool of slime inside a ghastly tunnel, overwhelmed by numerous pulsating vines and bloodstained walls.

He then proceeded to revive his muscular friend and the old scientist before gathering up their strewn stuffs.

“Hey, where exactly are we, Azrun? And where’s this slime coming from?” the burly Faizul asked him back while wiping off the bluish slime from his shiny battle suit in disgust.

“…I, I don’t know for sure Faizul, but-hey, where had those two…?!” he suddenly exclaimed, as the most frightening of fact swiftly came over him: the disappearance of their alter-selves!

Instinctively the ageing scientist reached out for his far-flung contraption and feverishly scanned the dimly lit tunnel for their whereabouts, but only to turned his back around and shook his head in regret.

“Ah, damn it you all!” screamed the muscular soldier to the passive vines, seconds before proceeding to hack them mindlessly in reaction to that fact; cursing their bad luck repeatedly as the remaining two tried to subdue him.

“No, please calm down, Faizul! Calm down please! Things will never solve themselves if you keep acting like this! Please listen to me!!” pleaded the twenty-seven-year-old soldier, seconds before the furious soldier let up, broke down and cry.

“Pathetic!” replied a familiar voice of an enemy from the two soldiers’ past.

“And you dare call yourself a soldier, so hard and so strong at first, yet snaps like a twig by the first touch of despair?! You’re a disgrace to your uniform, Private Faizul!”

“And you’re a disgrace to humanity itself, Admiral! You’re a monster long before that creature possessed you! You disgust me, you got that?!

Even these putrid slime puddles have more respect and dignity that you, you creep!” shouted the moustached soldier as the painful memories from his past, which he had successfully suppressed, immediately flash before his mind’s eye like a movie, turning his face black with anger.

And an even angrier roar immediately reverberated across the tunnel as the moustached older Azrun quietly produced his electrified magical spear and spun it menacingly around him.

“Show yourself, Admiral Ibrahim!! Show yourself and fight me like a man, or are you a soldier merely by the colour of your stripes?!” he taunted his past tormentor.

Silence.

“So be it Corporal Azrun, son of a two-bit radical! And may your fighting skills be louder than your rotten mouth, O Leader of the Muarian Division!

So don’t disappoint me by dying too early now! Hah hah hah hah hah!” was the reply, shortly before the previously sealed door just meters in front of the group hissed itself open, released a pungent vapour of accumulated muck into the still air and produced a wind tunnel like howl from its darkened vestibule.

And the three like-minded rebels carefully made their way inside the main control room of the shuttle’s launchpad all the way until they were within sight of the shuttle’s remote control terminal, where they also came face-to-face with the source of all the paranormal activities on that man-made island: a gigantic, slimy plant-like monster too horrible to describe, having two mushroom-like heads with each a gigantic eye and a mouth that looked like the frontal part of a squid!

Then, as the dim illumination of the room steadily increased itself, only then did they sensed the presence of two human beings in that room, one in full military regalia, and another was lying naked on a metallic table before him, tied and restrained, mouth gagged and sweating in fear.

“God help me please,” muttered the moustached soldier to himself, feeling as his heart swelled with anger at the sight of his most hateful foe.

Unperturbed, the army man smiled and quietly felt his way through the body of his captive. And upon reaching up to that man’s chest, his sinister looking face suddenly turned into that of a gigantic leech, lurched straight at the fearful man, bore a hole right on top of his heart, tore it off in a pecking motion and sucked it straight into his horrible, slimy mouth.

The shackled man immediately screamed in pain and died with both eyes wide open, leaving the mutated military man chuckling in delight.

And the squeamish old scientist suddenly felt quite nauseous and started vomiting uncontrollably beside his muscular friend, leaning helplessly to the latter as he quietly recited something in Arabic at the same time, a condolence phrase to the passing man.

“You, you monster!!’ shouted the disgusted Corporal while watching the Admiral’s inhuman face quickly became human again.

Reactively the satiated Admiral gave him a cynical, bloodstained smile, walked away from the table to the still functional terminal nearby, and watched as the monstrous alien creature behind him quickly grabbed hold of the lifeless body and consumed it with gusto.

“You’re sicker now than the last we met, Admiral Ibrahim! Why did you kill your own ally in cold blood?! And what have you done to those two boys?!

Tell me, you creep!! Tell me!!!” shouted the older Azrun, watching as the slimy monster’s belly immediately digested the heartless corpse in a rippling motion.

The ignorant Admiral then turned his back towards the monster and began a session of fast tinkering at the lone glowing terminal, conjuring up an image of a frozen stop timer hovering in the air a moment later.

“Your friends are alive and well under the care of the Science Minister way up in space, but not for long. And with that I assume you would want to be on that shuttle even more than before!

Am I right or am I wrong Corporal Azrun?” he asked, flashing a sinister smile while licking the remaining blood off his lips.

And the angry two quietly revealed their sacred weapons before their fearless foe.

“I have released the password based detonation threat from the network terminals and relayed the self-destruct program to this stop timer, and I’m setting it to detonate the complex in ten minutes… As soon as I give the word, the timer will unfreeze and the countdown begins.

The only way to stop it is to input the designated password into this terminal of mine, and I shall give you that password if you succeeded in-”

“Hah, fighting an old maggot like you would be a piece of cake, Mr. Admiral Sir!” interrupted the cocky Faizul while waving his fiery halberd menacingly before the aloof soldier.

“Heh, and I dare say I can down you one-on-one in less than five! No goddamn sweat at all!”

“Who says I’ll be fighting you in this form, Private Faizul?” he coldly asked him back before slowly made his way towards the massive organism, turned himself into a smaller version of it and disappeared into its body, adding yet another hideous feature to the already abominable creature in the process-a slimy Cyclops-like head!

“I am Admiral Krellick of the Shudwa Dumanta Legion,” came the voice from the hideous creature’s central head, growling with a voice of evil quality.

“Computer, begin the countdown!”

“Voice pattern confirmed. The countdown for the thermonuclear meltdown is now commencing. All personnel are required to vacate the premise immediately,” notified the island’s main computer to the group, followed immediately by the resetting of the frozen timer and the beginning of the countdown.

“Now fight me!” shouted the Cyclops-like head, seconds before the two like-minded soldiers charged at it in uncontrollable anger.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the infamous Klang Valley, inside the awesome looking Capitol City of Putrajaya, a massive artillery barrage had begun lighting up its many pristine streets, mercilessly consuming its many roads as sounds of explosion and destruction reverberated across the city’s skyline, set off by the many fierce confrontations occurring between the rebel Alliance and the government’s own ruthless army.

Thousands of tanks and mobile battle bunkers from both sides were already in the process of tearing up the city’s streets, heading and firing valiantly towards each other before colliding behind barrels of awesome explosions, while formidable airborne vehicles engaging in deadly dogfights and hot pursuits streaked furiously across the city’s skyline, firing missiles and energy beams towards each other whereas hardly visible zombie infantries and their clearly visible human counterpart busied themselves in a perpetual free-for-all slugfest, tossing and detonating live grenades, swords clanging, guns wildly blazing, guided ground rockets, bullets and laser beams finding their targets and bodies dropping like flies.

And yet, after giving them all that they got, the rebellion’s cries of victory were nowhere to be heard. For Fate, it seemed, had something else in store for them!

“Welcome to my humble abode, my bite-sized morsels! Just as you’ve been told by one of the Six Wise Men earlier on, I am but one among the many hidden hands that rocked the cradle of warfare inside this putrid, charred remains of a country all these while, patiently as we envisioned and prepared for the day of our Leader’s release from his wall-less prison, courtesy of your past unwanted meddling!” said the angry looking monster to the two trembling boys.

“So you, must be, V-V-Viceroy Admantia, am, am I right, S-s-sir?” asked the fearful Faizul, feeling a growing sense of curiosity swelling inside of him despite his trembling state.

“Yes, that is correct, my curious one! I am the one with the given name of Admantia Karasti, the outcast of Clurantia, later made a Viceroy by our Great Leader after successfully conquering my wretched planet, a fitting-” he suddenly stopped short his pride-filled words, slowly realizing that the boy’s growing interest had somehow overshadowed his apparent state of fear, something which soon made the wicked monster went on an involuntary trip down memory lane.

And the hideous dragon, soon after concluding his series of flashbacks, did not resume his words, rather, he just sighed to himself and lovingly caressed his cerulean blue amulet oblivious to his surroundings, causing question marks across the two boys’ faces.

“…I sensed a growing feeling of curiosity swelling inside you Faizul. A feeling that is slowly eating at your fear… Never before had I seen it on any other faces in my life, other than my…(sigh)”

And the dragon’s arrogance suddenly disappeared from his heart.

“Come, sit before me you two. I promise that no harm will befall on you. Please, trust me…” he said again, speaking in a tone of voice quite unlike the wicked monster he first appeared to be not long ago.

And strangely the two acquiesced unthinkably to his kind gestures without any fear in the world, moments before they sat blankly around him like kindergarten children, listening attentively to the dragon’s every word.

“Ouch, that has got to hurt, right Admiral?!” exclaimed the cynical Azrun after succeeding in lopping off one of the severely mutilated creature’s head while being airborne; resulting in a bloodcurdling scream of pain from its central head.

“T-minus five minutes and counting. The island is now operating under Red Alert status.

All personnel are once again advised to leave their posts immediately!” remarked the computer-generated voice.

“And this one’s on the house, Admiral! Hah!” shouted his mutually cynical best friend, seconds before the creature’s other head pitifully rolled away from under his fiery halberd, leaving the remaining one to scream in pain even louder than before.

And just as the pain-stricken creature was about to get a chance to get back at its two tormentors, the two soldiers have already begun executing a dramatic and deadly acrobatic manoeuvre around its final head, resulting in the decapitation of the creature’s final head and the abrupt combustion of all its remaining limbs at the same time!

“Alright, we’ve done it, my man!” shouted the magical halberd as the gigantic and repulsive creature withered away behind the super hot flames.

Then suddenly, right before their eyes, the lifeless, shapeless creature seemed to move for a moment, wobbled repeatedly next and noisily discharged the still living body of Azrun’s past tormentor from its bubbling core before being completely lifeless, simmering as the wheezing, gagging figure of a man covered in boiling slime struggled to get up.

“Very, impressive, very impressive indeed, Corporal!” commended the naked Admiral after clearing the coagulated slime off his face.

“Alright Admiral, we’ve defeated you, fair and square. Now give us, the password!” replied the exhausted Azrun, leaning weakly against his electric spear.

“T-minus four minutes and counting…” remarked the island’s computer.

The Admiral smiled.

“The password is T-9-6-A-3/99,” he haltingly said, watching as the distrustful scientist quickly reactivated the ship’s control panels and inputted the password onto the lone terminal.

Then suddenly,

“Password confirmed. The shuttle will now be launched into orbit and the thermonuclear meltdown will now commence in T-minus one minute.

Closing all exits…”

And the Admiral immediately laughed like a madman, gleefully as the three quickly realized what he had made them do!

“Hah hah hah hah! Now you all shall die with me! Hah hah hah hah hah hah! And glorious be eternally Shaik The Fallen One!!!”

“Why, you sick little puppy! Take this, you slime ball!!” shouted the angry Faizul while torching the laughing madman down, watching as his entire body were quickly consumed by the chemical flame, turning him immediately into a mere blackened stain on the slimy floor.

“Professor, quick! Take control of the security system and try to abort the launch!” ordered the older Azrun, sending the Professor back into his typing frenzy.

Seconds later,

“Authorizations request confirmed. The launch of the shuttle and the thermonuclear meltdown scenario will now be delayed for three minutes…”

“(Sigh) That’s all I can do my friends…the security systems just won’t budge so we have to blast every door along our way if we’re to reach that shuttle in time!” shouted the fearful Professor.

“But hey, hello!” exclaimed the muscular combatant. “This whole damn place is a goddamn maze in case you haven’t noticed, old man! Anybody got ideas on how are we supposed to get out in under three minutes?!”

“That won’t be a problem, Warrior Faizul, just leave it to me,” replied the previously silent thunder spear as it shot out of its bearer’s hands and peppered the three with a barrage of lightning bolts, turning them transparent and hollow.

“Good, all three of you are now able to pass through any material in this universe. Come, let me lead the way,” it said before started moving away from the room, followed closely behind by the slightly apprehensive three.

And the three rebels successfully reached the launchpad two and a half minutes later.

“Yes!” exclaimed the excited Faizul. “The shuttle is just a hundred meters away, lets get moving!” he exclaimed again, seconds before the three ran like raving madmen towards the centre of the launchpad.

Unfortunately, as soon as the three had barely stepped on the first flight of stairs towards the shuttle’s cockpit, the countdown had already reached its end, and they now had less than sixty seconds before the shuttle’s afterburners incinerate them all into an early grave from where they stood!

“(Breathing hard) Come on, get, going! Only, a few more, metres, to go!” exclaimed the huffing moustached soldier while leading the way for his already tired team mates to the first hundred meters of stairs of the three hundred meter tall shuttle platform.

“T-minus ten seconds, nine, eight, seven…” the computer began counting down the last ten seconds of the launch time, leaving all three of them praying for miracles as they climbed, for they were still much too far down to reach the cockpit, way too high up to jump off, and quite too late to avoid the flaming afterburners!

Then suddenly,

“Yee haw! Salman Khan is here to save the day! So where to now, my friends?” shouted the strangely happy Indian from his awesome flying machine.

“Huh? Why you! Where the heck have you been all these time, huh?! You poor excuse for a hero! Oh, wait till I get my hands on you!!” the muscular soldier shouted gladly at him, seconds before the shuttle’s mighty engines went alight in a beautiful ignition, carrying them off the exploding island and straight into the main docking bay of the Seventh Sector Department Lab, where the reptilian Viceroy was biding its time awaiting their fated meeting...

Book 3-Flickering Candles...-Chapter 1

2008-11-28T15:32:00.012+08:00

Space.

An empty stretch of jet-black void interestingly bedecked with a spread of glowing dust. A cold dark dimension brimming with mysteries, mysteries that differed from one solar system to another just as the Creator intended.

And within this particularly unimpressive solar system, somewhere within the apogee of the frontier Planet Pluto, a small development was taking place inside the modest looking private spacecraft of the Ganymedian President.

"Mr. President, we're now in Pluto's orbit. Shall I inform the Plutonian Imam we're arriving?" asked the Pilot as the one in question looked hopefully towards the dreary planet.

"Negative, Mr. Surunard, he already anticipated our arrival. You have to remember that these Plutonians have very developed spiritual senses in them, an ability far more powerful than all our sixth senses put together, meaning we don't have to inform them at all if we're here for a good reason Mr. Surunard, or else we wouldn’t be standing here talking right now," replied the masked politician.

Seconds later the President's private vehicle entered the gloomy threshold of Pluto’s atmosphere.

"So where to now, Mr. President?" the Pilot asked as the grim looking surface of the planet was now visible to the naked eye.

"Sector 39A, The Staircase of Shattered Reality, an ancient and only entrance to the Shrine of Reflections. Oh, and don't bother to escort me, Mr. Faistar, Mr Imzstar, I must proceed alone. For the Shrine’s Primal Dictum dictates that only one person is allowed entry to the Shrine at any time," he replied, first to the man at the helm, next to his two faithful guards flanking him.

“But, but what about-” asked Mr. Faistar before being cut short by his employer.

“That is up to Our Creator alone to decide, my friend, not for me nor you nor anyone else! Now I must go,” replied the masked politician before alighting from his private vehicle and made his way towards the forbidding dark cavern at the foot of the tallest mountain on the planet.

"How is the XFS barrier holding, Mr. Asmawi? Are there a chance of them breaking out?" asked the shadowy Professor to one of his employee while the keeping an eye towards images of the sacred edifices of the Great Ones, flickering erratically across the floating LCD screens across the darkened laboratory.

"Err no Professor, all the disruptive waves are still peaking. There's no sign of the life essences breaking free from the energy barrier at the moment Sir," the young scientist half-heartedly replied to the silhouette of the ageing scientist before he moved away.

"…So have the prototype Trans-Dimensional Portal been re-energized yet Mr. Azhar? I hope the new ‘Khersani Hitam’ cells are functioning as calculated…" he asked another like-minded employee working at another corner of the room while beholding the thing he was working on: a shiny, round metal plate hovering above the floor by itself, pulsating strangely every five seconds or so.

"Why yes Professor! This new improved variant of the ‘Khersani Putih’ rods are working just as you calculated. In fact it has been working too well I had to reconfigure the power distribution program to consume the surplus energy, to prevent unnecessary wastage," replied the seemingly excited scientist as his employer and leader gladly smiled at him.

"…Well will you look at that," exclaimed the seemingly impressed older Faizul to the mesmerized group, shortly after the true size and structure of the ethereal altar pleasantly greeted his eyesight.

And the group of six, after walking for quite a some time, immediately gazed in awe at the sheer magnitude of the towering altar, noticing now that the crystalline path on which they had walked on had magically conjoined with a new and even more colourful crystalline pathway leading towards the base of the altar, giving an impression as if the combined pathways were a part of a land crawling rainbow that had long ago fused itself onto the towering altar, mesmerising anyone who treads its body.

"Okay, so now what’s next?" asked the well-built soldier to the group after bringing his younger self down from his shoulder, viewing the towering edifice with as much curiosity as his older self.

Then suddenly, the silent altar magically came to life. And as the surrounding area began to feel somewhat windy, an ethereal voice kindly addressed them.

"I am the Keeper of the Altar of Etheralia," said the seemingly male voice to the six Chosen Ones as they found themselves at the base of the altar.

"The place where God the Most Merciful processes the element Hope for both mankind and the universe to share. Ascend, and be at peace…"

And the six Chosen Ones nervously complied.

"…Well, well! You have done quite well for a humanoid, Saif Mintaka. You have successfully avoided my cleverly hidden pitfalls and traps along the dreaded stairway with the greatest of ease. I'm somehow impressed a mere mortal like you could have made it this far, but don’t expect things to be easier now, humanoid," came a voice from the dark surroundings commending the masked one’s heroic effort from the top of the crumbling crystalline stairs, sounding as if it was not to be expected from him.

And with that, a previously non-existing door suddenly opened up before the masked Ganymedian, gleaming as the President tried to catch his breath from the frantic sprint across the doom-laden flight of stairs, which had since magically reverted back to its original flawless feature.

"You may proceed to the next level, Saif Mintaka. The Sand Dunes of Time await your arrival behind this wall of light. Show me how well you fared at this next excursion and you may earn my respect…as if," the voice reverberated again, mockingly addressing the masked politician as he resumed his valiant walk into the glowing void.

"Well done indeed, Mr. President. You've only two more levels to go before I relieve thee of thy soul…so don't disappoint me Mintaka!" came another voice from the all-engulfing darkness, a womanly voice from a jet black crow perched nearby, its eyes glowing red with hatred.

And the unsuspecting President of the Jovian Lunar Planet was about to be challenged by yet another of his greatest foes the moment he reaches his goal:

A foe of a shadowy, vengeful incarnation, an eternally vicious former Xnrene by the name of Eliza; the consort of the banished Shaik, the second in command of the Shudwa Dumanta, and the one who yearned for his blood more than anything else at that moment!

The black imp of a bird then quickly took off from its perch and dived into the glowing void, flying in pursuit of the masked one already in there.

"Okay, enough of this ventriloquism already! Show me your face right now! I'm sick and tired of your monologues," exclaimed the weary older Faizul once the six of them were at the top of the tower.

"Patience Faizul bin Badruddin. For time never slows down if you keep on chasing it; for instead, it would only run faster and leave you behind," replied the former male voice while slowly revealing himself to the awe-struck group, gradually de-cloaking himself until his physical existence was now within sight.

And what a sight indeed!

For the voice actually belonged to an exotic creature they never could have collectively imagined for all eternity, looking as alien to them as they were to him, appearing gracefully as they stood rigid in amazement.

At a glance, the strange glowing creature appeared to be a hovering, bluish, gigantic flower bud at first, a bud that immediately and majestically bloomed into a magnificent flower with long flowing petals of electric blue, whereas in its centre appeared a seemingly well-built, headless humanoid conjoined at the waist, a magnificent being that was beyond the scope of any organic/inorganic organism.

And appearing instead of a head on it neck, protruded a shiny, metallic, quasi-skeletal white mask, a receptacle of a sort for a floating glowing yellow emerald crystal orb hovering within it and further embellished by two tetrahedron red rubies embedded on its horizontal scaffold that resembled a pair of eyes.

And just as the three crystals on the being's ‘head’ continued to glow ever so brightly, so did his whole body awash with strong visible energy, flowing and sparkling around in a circuit board-like pattern akin to cybernetic rivers.

Immediately the two boys respectfully bowed down towards this celestial being upon his appearance, leaving the remaining four to explanatively remain in their dazed state, mesmerized by the being’s heavenly existence.

"Er so, er, who might you be, er, Sir?" the moustached soldier bravely asked the celestial being, immediately after sensing that the faceless creature was smiling at him.

"There's no need to fear me Azrun, for I was once a mortal like you, and I used to feel just like this when I received my heavenly vocation aeons ago. My real name is Kreck Nar, Keeper of the Etheralia Element. I am also a part of the Six Wise Men, and sadly the last of my kind. Speak now, and be at peace," the being introduced himself before the mesmerized four whereas the two boys looked on.

"And so, in order to prove to the world that we Malaysians are-Ugh!-well off without-Ah!-their help, I promise you-Ergh!-that tonight, the world…the world, will witness our, fire sign of hope! We'll let them know that we-Ugh-we will not, go quietly into the-Ugh-the night!" the President of Malaysia suddenly begun uttering his words erratically as if being struck by an unknown ailment, an ailment that were also felt by the Admiral sitting behind him!

And as the stricken President concluded his fiery speech amidst the simulated wild and thunderous applause and began his unsteady descent from the podium, the very concerned Admiral quickly ran to his superior, exchanged glances of fear and discomfort and exited the decorated stage, supporting the President all the way to his vehicle.

And as they began talking to each other in their original language inside the President’s official transport, they fearfully realized that the previous moments of discomfort they have experienced, were merely a sign that their fate was about to take an unexpected twist, a precursor to the coming events that they have not anticipated!

And the President's official armoured car immediately sped out of the television station a moment later, ploughing indiscriminately through the city's infamous traffic like a proverbial bat out of hell as the two tried to figure out their next course of action…

"What are your orders now Sir? We're with you every step of the way now! Just tell us and we'll do it," asked a young rebel officer manning an awesome night vision scope to his Superior, as the image of the President's car streaked noisily into view.

"We can't be too hasty now E-kin," the masked one kindly replied back at him, patting the young Chinese soldier's right arm as he looked warily around. "The rendezvous with all the State Divisions must always be our top priority-"

"Sir, the National Securities have spotted us, they're coming this way!!" shouted an Indian soldier from the background, seconds before the quiet, abandoned part of the city burst forth with fiery bombardment.

"Great," muttered the one called E-kin as he swiftly put his mask back on and activated his weapon. "Just when we're about to enjoy our hard earned break…"

"We have to retreat and deal with this later my friends. E-kin, Amir, you two ready for our next course of action?" asked the masked one as he skilfully locked-on target his flying quarry—a heavily armed helicopter hovering right above them—and watched as his two faithful soldiers nodded to him in unison.

"Okay then, lets get to it men!" ordered the calm masked one before bringing down the aforementioned drone chopper in just a flick of a trigger, ending up a raging bonfire in a nearby cul-de-sac.

And the three rebel soldiers immediately abandoned their posts, disappeared from the abandoned rooftop and stealthily made their way into the cluttered backstreet, vanishing like ghosts as the President’s car streaked away.

"Heh, I'm sorry if this might sound corny to you Mr. Cracknel, er, I mean Mr. Kreck Nar, but I never thought I'd be feeling this way again, period! Yeah, it feels so good I think, to know I didn't spend my entire childhood daydreaming for nothing, heh! If you know what I mean, heh heh," said the burly twenty-eight-year-old Faizul to the magical being, breaking into a childish grin before his younger self.

"Yes, it’s very heartening indeed to know your dreams are actually real, if not more outlandish Faizul, of people from another sky living their lives in peace unlike the people of your land. But rest assured things will keep on getting better and better from now on," replied Kreck Nar.

And the blessed seven blissfully resumed their conversation, with the six asking questions and the seventh answering them.

"Well, I’m glad to say you’ve all done your best my friends, very good, very good indeed! And now it’s time for our fireworks! For our country! From the Seventh Sector Department!" joyfully announced the grey-haired scientist to the entire laboratory while approaching the hovering piece of metal, revealing a glowing ruby-like crystal before it.

"Mr. Vellu, kindly deactivate the main auxiliary power supply from the secondary reserve unit and divert all power to the plate's molecular reconfigurations capacitor," he asked the scientist at the eastern part of the room.

"The main auxiliary power supply is now diverted, Professor. We're ready to begin the second phase of the protonic polarity swap," replied the brown skinned scientist.

"Very well Mr. Vellu. Mr. Chua, begin the subatomic particle neutralizer program on the Gravitonic sequencer terminal and replace all the logarithmic variables with the Quadra-binary variables in our paramagnetic refractory formulas this time," he asked another scientist nearby.

"The Gravitonic sequencer terminal has successfully processed the available data Sir. The second phase of the protonic polarity swap is complete," replied the Chinese scientist.

“Good job Mr. Chua. And now Mr. Azhar, if you would kindly reactivate the ‘Khersani Hitam’ Para-temporal defragmentizer monitor and reactivate the manual control mode over the gamma ray fluctuations transistor, then we are ready to proceed," he asked the one closest to him.

"It's done, Professor! The fluctuations have been marginalized. The artificial wormhole experiment is officially commenced," he replied seconds later.

"Excellent!" he energetically replied before focusing his attention towards the glowing crystal and activated the ring like contraptions holding it, watching as the glowing pyramid-like object suddenly flew out of its receptacle, entered the pulsating metal plate and turned it into a dark and sinister portal, signifying a successful manifestation of all the smiling old man’s earlier calculations and the beginning of a dark time ahead.

"…So gather around me now, O ye of Kindred Souls! It’s time for us to usher the coming changes, the inevitable changes as written in the sacred book of the ancient ones," announced the glowing being at the end of his conversation with the curious six.

"Professor Saiful, Warrior Salman, please make way for the four, and be my mortal witness to the coming miracle," requested the magical one as he instructed the four to stand around him facing each other, creating an invisible square around the altar in which the sacred being was at its central point, quietly as the remaining two looked on in understandable trepidation.

"And in the name of the One and Only Creator, let the colliding fates be undone, the souls restored, and all hope to spring forth, once more," began the creature’s ancient incantation as he raised his arms into the windy sky, seconds before the entire realm resonated with the sounds of the sweetest wind chimes, emanating from the altar itself.

"Oh my God! Are you, are you seeing this Professor?" exclaimed the wide-mouthed Indian to his seemingly elated friend, watching as the two Azruns and Faizuls were immediately being drenched by a raging wall of pure blue light cascading down like a sky sent waterfall, washing their entire existence off of them so much so that their very outlines were vaguely visible to the naked eye, spilling about the entire length of the edifice until the altar itself was engulfed by the shimmering, liquid wall.

"Yes, the theoretical Tri-Magnetic Electro-Organic Re-Filtration Sequence, conducted for the very first time. Just sit back and enjoy the view... You won’t get to see this thing again, heheh!" replied the seemingly delighted scientist while continually glancing at the intricate, mathematical readings given from his hand held contraption, readings that came from the ongoing ethereal manifestation.

Then suddenly, as the fluid, earthward illumination turned to a shade of vermilion, the four spiritually assimilated beings in its glowing epicentre gracefully glided towards each other, colliding behind a white energy cascade, moments before the flowing wall of light, saturated with spiritual cleansing particles, inundated the entire Dreamer's Realm with fluid, glittering particles, turning it back into its original, indescribable form.

"No! This can't be happening! Help… help, me!" writhed the ageing Professor on the steely floor at the same time, losing all bodily co-ordination next to the blackened plate.

"Professor, Professor Shamsir! What ails you?" asked one of his puzzled assistants.

"Argh, no! Az-Azhar, p-p-please, s-s-send, the p-p-plate out, f-f-first! P-p-p-please!" he replied in between his uncontrollable spasms, making the thirty-year-old scientist to scrambled fearfully towards the bleeping control panel ten meters away and did what he asked, leaving the other panicking scientists to watch as medic personnel began scanning their erratic employer, who was now bleeding all over his body.

"Professor! I've, I've sent out the plate like, like you've asked, but-huh?" the muddleheaded scientist said to his employer after a one minute lapse, moments before being involuntarily silenced by a terrible sight poking through his naked eyes:

The sight of his pain-stricken Professor bleeding from red to white!

But alas, that was just the tip of the iceberg...

"…Excellent Mr. Azhar," whispered the blood-soaked Professor through his sinister smile.

And like some really bad dream, the bleeding Professor suddenly broke free from the crowd, stood up screaming like a raging monster, and fell down again.

But before the fearful scientists and doctors could move a muscle, the unconscious Professor suddenly burst through his clothes, expanded rapidly and menacingly through his wrinkled skin, scales and horns sprouting from his wounds, and then ripped himself apart like a chrysalis; revealing within it a trembling, winged reptile covered with gold and red scales, forked and spiky tail curling between its hind legs, arms of sharp black claws, a horned and scaly head with two glowing red eyes, and a strong, vise-like snout that smelled of methane!

No sooner were they covered in shock the feeble, blood soaked reptile unexpectedly began to multiply in size; grew bigger and bigger with every second until it horrendously turned into a gigantic dragon over thirty feet tall and seventy feet long!

And once its growth spurt was over, the changeling horror spread and fanned its scaly wings in rapid succession, eyed the crowd with its fiery red eyes as it dried its wet wings, and followed immediately by, without any warning of a sort, a very loud roar that sounded like a thousand mindless demons, piercing and deafening as it took to the air and made its way to the centre of the Seventh Sector Department Laboratory, spreading instant panic all the way!

And as the witless lab-coated scientists pitifully scampered and scurried about to the nearest exits, little did they realized that their kind but ambitious employer was not the only one who had turned to be a hideous changeling!

For two other monsters had also emerged elsewhere in the country, the former controlling the industrious, military controlled NAMAC Complex in the State of Malacca, and the latter now reigned supreme inside the Putrajaya Administration Building!

Chaos descended onto that war-torn country a moment later…

"Oh what a veritable achievement you’ve shown me today, O ye of Graxian Royalty! For few indeed had such an intelligence to have solved all my complicated puzzles like you did, and to even break my impossible record time in doing so! An impressive feat indeed for a mortal," the voice pessimistically remarked.

"You are, most kind to have said that, O Guardian of the Mirror," the President humbly replied.

And swiftly, a winged platform appeared out of the sandy surface below him, levitating him into the cloudless sky and towards yet another gilded portal up above. Then suddenly, as the winged platform stopped short before passing through the unsupported gilded entrance, the faceless voice appeared yet again.

"This is the final test of all Saif Mintaka, a test that few had participated and fewer less has passed. The quest is but a simple one: defeat all the obstacles in The Realm of the Lightless Beach, obtain the Feluria Flame and put it back in place before the final star sets in, and all will be revealed to you! I bid you farewell for now, O Former Leader of the Ephron Dantiaz! I’m looking forward to our meeting, so do impress me again Mr. President!"

And the winged platform quietly passed through the gilded portal, followed closely behind by his pursuing adversary.

A foe by the name of Eliza; a beauty with the heart of a blackened diamond.

"…Whoa, look at this fancy get-up I’m wearing, Azrun, heh heh! Great, now I'm a comic book super hero!" exclaimed the muscular soldier to his best friend after appearing from the evanescing weir of light.

And the moustached soldier grinned sarcastically back at him, knowing very well that the livery on him was no less fantastic than his.

But as the shimmering fluid dried up, the majestic one slowly reappeared before the six, quietly as the starry-eyed crowd admired the indescribable scenery and the ethereal gifts in their own personal way.

"I’m much delighted you took kindly to these gifts, my warriors. But with these come a greater objective that both of you must serve, right now…"

And the glowing one immediately sensed hesitation surfacing on the face of the two soldiers.

"Err we are very grateful indeed for this er, sacred battle suits you've given us Great Kreck Nar, but-" replied the grateful looking older Azrun before being stopped short by the celestial being’s words.

"You need not worry Warrior Azrun, for it appears that we are bearing the same cause for arms from even before we met! For the final uprising against the evil oppressors, led by the one ruling your country is inevitable, and the timing couldn't be perfect! For there is no better day indeed to oust our common enemy than on the day of your former independence!" interrupted the glowing being, flashing an invisible smile.

"Yes, so you do know about our plight! Then hear us, O Great Kreck Nar, for that black-hearted man had caused great sufferings to us! He slipped into our ranks when we're at variance, manipulated our disorders to seize our country and forced the Monarch into servitude in less than a year!

And it’s been a long hard road towards this revolution of ours, Great Kreck Nar; all thanks to our Leader, Peace Keeper Khaliq in bringing the truth to light! But alas, for his influential character and words, he was silenced not long ago," said the moustached soldier, getting slightly mournful towards the end.

“Yeah,” seconded the burly older Faizul. “And now we’ve nothing more to look forward to except for more oppression and mounting despair! How I’m sick of it!”

“Then I say the time for retribution is now, Warrior Faizul! For the wretched President and his powerful aides are in their most desperate of hours now, legacies of their oversight! Even as we speak the very fabric of your country was torn to shreds by the manifestation of their real identity, a putrid sight indeed!

Yet at this moment you must prepare yourselves for the worst of battles, Warrior Azrun; for these creatures are evils to be reckoned with!" he said again.

And the glowing one sensed an arriving dismay over the muscular one’s face.

"Hey, I’m lost here, Kreck Nar! I don’t have to tell you we've been training madly for ten long years for this, Mister!" exclaimed the silver headed Faizul on top of his lungs.

"I mean how many more delays do you need? We can't afford to waste anymore time now," he said again, hinting a tone of impatience in his every word.

And the older Faizul suddenly realized his younger self had given him a very fearful look, an involuntary silent reply on behalf of the Great One.

"No, Warrior Faizul but you have to! For the three heartless scoundrels and their cruel overseer is not exactly what they seem; in fact, they're not even humans to begin with! So let's not their seemingly human fronts fool you for a second!"

And the muscle-bound soldier suddenly gave himself a very strange sigh as the glowing life form continued with his words.

"For these four creatures belong to a dark and intergalactic organization of chaos-mongers known as the Shudwa Dumanta Legion, an organization that almost succeeded in wiping out your younger selves in their dimension not long ago."

And the three battle weary people gasped reactively at this statement.

"Yes, he's right," seconded the red-capped boy. "We, along with our friends from the Ephron Dantiaz Legion had captured their cruel Leader a year ago and put him away for good! But even so some, some of them are still alive in the Legion, and I’m sure they’ve been planning to strike back at us all these while!"

"Your younger self speaks the truth, Warrior Faizul. For three of his loyal minions, Lord Absonikta, Viceroy Admantia and Admiral Krellick, under tutelage of their cruel overseer Eliza, had chanced upon the means of releasing their incarcerated Leader via the very unstable technology I've mentioned.

And knowing that their foul deeds would go uninterrupted in your country by us or our appointed agents, the Ephron Dantiaz Legion, they were thus given enough time to successfully manipulate this unstable technology for their own use! And to further consolidate their positions in your reality, they also had selected those who were involved in the war to serve their purpose and carried out the tests without any hindrance.

And upon testing it for the longest time, it resulted in your fateful encounter back then. But their death bell had been rung, and I shall herald their end by revealing their identities to you!

The first of the three, the Legion’s top military strategist and chaos visionary, a maniacal Keollian by the name of Admiral Krellick; now resides within the equally maniacal Colonel Ibrahim, now an Admiral of the Republican Army; Controller of the National Security Force…"

And the moustached Azrun suddenly broke into an angered stare at this point.

"…While the Legion’s ambitious and bottomless well of scientific knowledge, the rebelling Clurantian outcast Viceroy Admantia, had taken over your Professor's embittered and ambitious brother, Professor Shamsir…"

And reactively the old scientist looked away.

"…And the-"

"Wait, wait! Wait just a second now Mr. Kreck Nar, let me guess this one for myself heh heh," interrupted the silver headed Faizul sarcastically. "…And last but not least, the one they called Lord Absonikta, the ruthless, over-egocentric creature of darkness, is now residing in the body of…surprise surprise!

My very own father, the honourable Datuk Badruddin, right?! Hah, I knew it!" remarked the silver headed Faizul, breaking into a silent tear as he pretended to laugh sarcastically.

Reactively, the glowing being went silent; his younger counterpart stared angrily at him, the Professor and the Indian sighed, and his two best of friend stared sadly at each other.

Angered to great heights by this unexpected nasty revelation, his disillusioned younger self immediately spilled out his heart's flaming content all over him.

"You lied to me, Abang, you lied to me all along! How could you, of all the person in this world, to have lied to me?! How could you have told me that our father's dead, huh?! How could you have not done anything to stop that thing?!

I believed you Abang, I believed you wholeheartedly! So now you're telling me Eliza had possessed our dear mother as well; right Abang?!

Right?!!" shouted the greatly dismayed ten-year-old boy to his older self, succeeding only to make the older, seemingly monstrous Faizul to stared silently back at him and nothing else.

"Yeah I lied to you kid, I lied to you real good, don't I?" the muscular soldier replied back seconds later, hinting a fake tone of sarcasm at first.

"But you know what else, kid? That damn piece of lie was the only thing that kept me sane through all these years now, you hear me?!” he shouted, half in anger and half in remorse.

“Though I may not be an angel from where you're standing kid, but tell me; how would you feel if you’re the one who received that fateful phone call from Wisma Putra, huh? Telling you your father's plane disappeared into the ocean as you blow out the candles on your cake, huh?!

And when a year later, when he came back a cold, heartless beast unlike the sweet and caring man you used to know, how would you had fared, huh?!" he tearfully shouted, making his younger self felt strangely regretful and sympathetic at the same time.

"What could you do when he made your mother senseless and mutilated your baby brother just to keep your big mouth shut, huh?! And then put you through painful genetic experiments, turning you into an outcast, a mutant, a freak of Nature just to amuse himself?!!

And how would you feel to look like this forever and ever huh?! And realized everyone started treating you like dirt just because of your looks?! Even my very best friend here took a long, long time before he could accept me for what I’ve become, okay?!

Ask him, ask him!!”

The moustached older Azrun regretfully shook his head at that moment, sadly as the silver headed best friend of his revealed his long dark secret before his regretful younger self.

“I've kept it alive through all these miserable years kid! When everything I knew disappeared and all these crap came to me instead!! I've lied to myself longer than the devil himself okay, so are you happy now?!! You don’t know how it’s like to live like this; you’d never understand why I kept on praying for death every time I fight him!! And even if I could kill him right now things will never change!!

Never!! It’s over for me, you hear?!! It’s goddamn over!!!" he shouted tearfully back at his younger self yet again, crying uncontrollably a moment later.

And the indescribable Dreamer's Realm suddenly lost its proud lustre as the muscular soldier cried on, wholeheartedly as his regretful younger self looked on, drawing closer and closer to tears with each passing moment.

The glowing one sighed.

"So there you have it, Gate Opener Faizul,” remarked the one called Kreck-Nar. “This was but a glimpse of how inexorable the Shudwa Dumanta Legion can be. And yes, I’ve seen scenes much more appalling than this just so you know!

The atrocities caused by the Shudwa Dumanta hordes were far reaching and far more devastating than anyone can ever imagine, but alas, my divine duties refrained me from meddling with affairs of this universe, thus I can only watch from a distance as I traverse His Creation and nothing else…”

The red-capped boy said nothing. The glowing being then turned towards the boy’s other self and consoled him.

“Abandon your past sorrows Warrior Faizul, for nothing that had happened was a fault of yours," asked the sacred being kindly towards the twenty-eight year old, watching as the latter slumped himself on his best friend's shoulder, crying his heart out like there's no more tomorrow.

"I'm giving you a golden chance to start fresh anew from the ashes of your present one, but only if you’d choose to let go, Warrior Faizul. I can’t force it unto you," consoled the great one yet again, softly as he watched the grieving Faizuls let out their grief in their own ways.

Quietly, the younger Faizul braved himself to approach his older self, bearing a face full of shame, wiped away his tears and said:

“Abang…I’m, I’m so sorry if I hurt your feelings. I, I really didn’t know what happened. I, I-I’m just-"

“Oh don’t be sorry to me, kid. It’s not your fault,” interrupted his older self while wrapping his arms around him, embracing the small boy as gently as he could. “It’s just that, seeing you like I used to be before all this I, I…(sigh) I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that, I shouldn’t have…I’m sorry kid.”

And happiness gently returned to the realm as the two reconciled.

“So today, the two circles intertwined at last,” muttered the seemingly jubilant being before the tearful, embracing pair. “Thus heralding the coming light to shine the fields of Fate, once again…”

And soon, the feelings of remorse subsided from the four. The older Faizul then gladly decided, on their behalf, to carry out Kreck Nar’s request and approached the celestial one.

"Very well Warrior Faizul. Now kneel before me and prepare yourself to receive your sacred weapons," he instructed the older pair as they quietly dried their crying eyes, watching as two purple and green energy balls surreally emerged from his palms and hovered momentarily above their heads.

And the two knelt submissively before him.

"These sacred weapons are powered by forces that made up this universe, and will only respond to your and no one else,” explained the celestial being. “At the time when none of your earthly weapons will work for you, these weapons shall make a difference, between victory and defeat!”

“Now raise your blessed palms to receive them, and they will reveal themselves to you," instructed Kreck Nar, with the kneeling warriors responded by raising their arms skywards in front of him.

And the glowing energy balls ethereally burst into a myriad of colourful energy beams as they revealed their true selves to their future masters.

"Warrior Azrun bin Mohammad Azali. In order to suit your athletic physique and acrobatic agility, your sacred weapon will naturally have to accentuate your nimble movements and your hand-to-hand combat skills. This weapon will give you an edge against bulky and heavy foes, and allows the execution of some of the deadliest aerial manoeuvres your kind had ever seen, legacy of its gravity repelling nature.

And thus, I give you Marg-Norf, the Thunder Spear! A weapon made of one of the most powerful elements of Nature."

And the seemingly electrified, double-edged spear swiftly lowered itself into its master's palm.

"Astounding," exclaimed the ageing scientist to his brown skinned friend as he scanned the purple glowing, quasi-crystalline spear with his unknown black contraption.

"If this thing could be made on Earth, our friend here would've been toast right after touching it! This spear is actually of concentrated electricity, just like the Thunderbolts of Zeus!!"

And the sacred being smiled again.

"Warrior Faizul bin Badruddin. Your super strength and muscular physique are only matched by your incendiary mindset and destructive temper. You're a raging powerhouse of fury and might. Your sacred weapon will naturally have to utilise and maximise your might consistent with your mindset, rendering a hundred-fold damages with every angry blow while facilitating your movements—perfect for use in any frontline assaults!

And for this, behold the Mighty Heraklas! A sacred fire halberd made and once owned by the great Xnrene champion, Herktars Samawi!"

And the seemingly alive hand weapon spun menacingly around the kneeling muscleman for a moment, seconds before his venous, muscular arms grabbed hold of it and subdued its unguided movements, smiling incessantly to himself as he admired its intricate splendour.

Then suddenly, his glowing weapon began to talk!

"Hey Mr. Great Warrior!” it said. “Quit your smiling and get ready to rumble, now! I'm itching for some serious action, my man! Nothing’s worth waiting for than a time for some real hard smashing! Yowza!"

"Hey, I like your attitude, Heraklas! Heh heh! Heraklas, I think you and I are going to be the ‘Perfect Couple of Carnage’ from now on. We’ll have some fun dismembering zombie SRUs once we’re outta here my friend, I mean it!" replied the like-minded soldier before the curious old man attempted to scan the talking halberd with one of his wondrous contraptions.

"H-h-hey, keep, keep that thing away from me now you hear? I'm, I'm allergic to machines okay?!" the weapon shouted fearfully towards the old man.

"Hmm, interesting," he remarked. "If I shouldn’t have known better, I'd dare say I'm now looking at a proof of spiritual cohabitations in inanimate materials! A talking halberd with a one-track mind, imagine that! Hee hee!" he concluded jokingly, seconds before the fuming weapon started throwing some graphically detailed death threats at him!

And the ethereally blessed group collectively started admiring the celestial weapons and breaking into conversations for a moment, feeling equally mesmerised and thankful for being there, even when knowing that things would well go upside down at any moment after this!

Book 2-The countdown begins-Chapter 4

2008-11-10T22:08:00.007+08:00

Meanwhile, at the same time this situation happened, the deadly encounter between the five Ganymedians and their shadowy adversary was getting slightly out of hand!

"Stakamuana! Imzstar, Svanua! Initiate tactical offensives, now! Anthuna, protect the girl!" shouted Mr. Faistar to his men as the outnumbered four found themselves blazing their guns haplessly to a garrison of red eyed masked soldiers, watching in horror as the dark infantrymen kept on coming out of the shadows like some sinister magic.

"But what about the President, Faistar! He's being…the Shudwa Dumanta had singled him out! He's all by himself, we've got to rescue him!" shouted Mr. Imzstar to his superior, watching fearfully as the Leader of the Jovian Commonwealth had his hands full in confronting six glowing eyed soldiers around him, repelling their advances with only his glowing sword and his feverish swordplay.

Then suddenly, they saw the six demon soldiers surrounding the President annihilated by several flashes of iridescent lightning bolt emanating from the President—signifying the awakening of the legendary Sword of Wisdom within its avatar!

"Faistar, Imzstar, Svanua, Anthuna. Secure the girl and make for the other corridor towards room number 33-2B on my mark," came a voice formed by an amalgamation of ethereal voices from the glowing, turquoise coloured mouth of the emotionless Ganymedian.

"Now!" he shouted as the soft aura around him immediately turned violent, taking down all the hideous looking soldiers around them in a single bright flash.

At once the five ran towards the room in question, followed closely behind by their glowing, possessed leader.

"What now Mr. President? Enemy reinforcements are on their way!" shouted the nervous Mr. Anthuna, as he swiftly locked the only entrance and exit of the sunlit room with the remaining three looking on.

"This window is our way out. Stand back," instructed the possessed Ganymedian while slowly raising his glowing weapon towards one of the uncovered window.

"But sir! The window's solid, we can't just!-" screamed the one called Faistar, and immediately the glowing sword blasted open the window without much difficulty, followed swiftly behind by the shape of the seemingly possessed President jumping straight into it!

“Follow me if you value your life," the possessed one addressed the hesitant five, seconds before the strong waft of the Emerald Wind came and swept him away.

And the remaining five hesitantly complied, fearfully jettisoning themselves out of the window in screams and yells. The relentless pursuing shadow militia only managed to blast open the thick titanium door after the six was well beyond their target scopes.

But the fate of the fleeing six was far from decided!

"The Ganymedian has taken the bait, Captain Hulik! What are your orders, Sir?" one of the glowing eyed soldier reported back to his superior through his hailing device.

"Excellent. Our mission is a success. Tell everyone to drop everything and return to base! Our Leader will take care of the President now…" was the invisible reply, followed closely behind by the sudden disappearance of all the invading Shudwa Dumanta troopers from the proud government building.

"Er, excuse me Mr. President. So what, what are you going to do now? Where do we go from here?" asked the one called Svanua while trying to secure his grip over the ecstatic little girl.

"To Planet Pluto, where the Mirror of Fate of Mount Kasrawi lies. Once there everything will be revealed, I hope,” answered the masked politician, sounded clearly himself once again.

“But with all due respect Sir, the Mirror never granted anyone access to its magical powers without first having to go through strange tests set by its Xnrene Guardian! And from what I’ve heard, few had passed those tests to even set their eyes on it, Sir, much less harnessing its potentials,” the presidential guard voiced his concerns.

“Have faith in me…" was the President’s reply as he landed gracefully down on the open air craft park hundreds of meters below, followed closely behind by his loyal guards and the traumatized young survivor of the Shudwa Dumanta's previous onslaught.

Yet during those moments of understandable excitement, hardly anyone had came to notice the little girl's sweet and innocent eyes, glowing a deep shade of red in between her heartfelt laughter as she gazed menacingly at her tri-coloured rescuer!

"Must go find, the glowing hope…must go find, the glowing hope…" muttered the deranged soldier after casting aside another heavy wooden door via his superhuman strength, striking fear into his muscular red headed friend’s heart who had helplessly followed his progress over the past minutes.

"Whoa, d-d-did you see that Professor? Corporal Azrun brought down that heavy door with just a t-t-twist of, his wrist! Man, I didn't know h-h-he had that much strength in him!" exclaimed the brown skinned Salman to the old man as the latter kept his frowning vigil over the strange contraption in his hands.

"Yes, I can see that Salman. It appears that our friend here has not one, but two neuro-psionic auras emanating from his body, and both of them were strangely, his! Fascinating," the greying scientist replied without looking.

"But, but what does that got to do with him turning into a powerhouse, Professor?" replied the clueless Indian soldier, watching as the two best of friends slowly made their way across the unsteady flight of stairs, one a in trance, one in deep anxiety.

"Hey, what are you guys standing down there for? I can't look after him all by myself, you know?" shouted the red headed soldier from the stairs, asking them to come along and help him.

"So what was it, Professor?" he asked the old man once again while carefully treading their way up the crumbling, rail less stairs, following the worried Faizul and the seemingly possessed Azrun closely behind.

"Without access to my machines back at the lab, I, I can only make a wild guess over whatever’s befalling on him, Salman, Faizul…I’m-"

"Well then start talking already! At this rate, I might as well join my mother in the funny farm, damn it! I need some answers fast old man! Something's terribly wrong here if you haven't noticed," he shouted half-heartedly to the ageing scientist, shortly after successfully preventing his deranged friend from keeling over and falling back down to the living room floor twelve feet below.

Upright again, the deranged Azrun unthinkably resumed his trance-like walk, leaving the muscular Faizul blinking and mouth agape.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you my friend! Faizul, it seems that the life force of your friend here got somehow amalgamated with another one just like him, causing him to be ten times stronger that any humans on this planet. But that's just the beginning!

Because, whatever that’s dragging him upstairs is a product of some extra terrestrial powers, powers beyond our comprehension! And I'm sure it’s something the President would surely love to get his dirty hands-" the Professor replied in a tone not quite himself, seconds before a sudden tremor from the outside world severed his words.

"Well that took them long enough?! Ah, feels better now…almost like home," remarked the muscular soldier sarcastically, knowing very well the cause of that noisy tremor.

"So what are going to do now, Professor?" Salman asked the old man after arriving at the beginning of the creaky first floor, following the deranged Azrun even closer now that the enemy had started pounding them with everything they got.

"We'll soon find out, my friend!" the Professor delightfully replied, as the possessed one suddenly halted his unsteady trek, turned towards the door to Faizul's old bedroom, and gestured something at his clueless friend.

"Okay Azrun, it’s time to go…" said the ten-year-old boy to his friend, as the glowing picture frame suddenly shattered before them, engulfing the room with an overlapping aura of gold and violet.

The two of them then slowly reached out for their bags, slung it onto their shoulders, and waited for their cue to begin.

"What Azrun, do you want me to open this door for you?" the red headed soldier kindly asked his deranged friend, something that the possessed one quickly replied with a wholehearted nod.

Immediately the spaced-out Azrun moved away from the door, watching as the rusting door knob gave itself away under Faizul's known might and resumed his foot-dragging walk inside, leaving as the three found themselves being treated to an out-of-this world sight:

The sight of the entire room glowing a greenish aura, emanating from a small, glowing ball of energy hovering peacefully above the ground at the centre of the room.

Instinctively the deranged Azrun lumbered towards it, followed by the nervous Faizul, his awestruck friend Salman, and the curious Professor.

"The glowing hope, the glowing hope," uttered his friend while reaching out for it and gesturing the well-built Faizul to do the same.

"Are you sure about this, Azrun?" he asked his deranged friend, seconds before he turned towards the Professor, breaking into a cold sweat.

"The glowing hope, the glowing hope," Azrun said to him once again, sounding quite insistent this time.

"Oh, alright Azrun, I’ll do it," he replied, seconds before both of them touched the glowing energy ball together.

Once the two had simultaneously touched that orb, it suddenly broke into a million glowing pieces, showering the two with a glow of gold and green and disappeared from sight shortly after, leaving behind a dusty black briefcase falling onto the floor with a thump, and his deranged friend losing all consciousness.

"Oooh, what happened to me," he moaned through his apparent disoriented state while being helped up by his faithful muscular friend.

"So Azrun, heh! So how do you feel now? Got all your brain cells back in one piece again eh?" Faizul asked his woozy friend after finding themselves sitting cross-legged on the dusty floor of his once spacious bedroom.

"Yeah, I suppose…but hey, what's this briefcase doing here, Faizul? I thought, I thought we'd buried it in the woods a long time ago," remarked the moustached soldier after the dusty old briefcase caught his immediate attention.

Surprisingly the muscular Faizul didn’t want to look at it, he only glanced partially at it for a moment as his best friend started stretching his aching muscles, behaving as if some sad moments of his past were staring coldly back at him from behind the briefcase.

"Hey, why don't you two open it up already, we're dying to see what's inside!" shouted Salman from their backs, his bearded brown face etched with curiosity.

"Well, don’t you want to know what’s inside, my boy? Things don't just fell from the sky every other day you know?" seconded the like-minded scientist as the contraption on his hands annoyingly stopped giving him any new reading.

Realising the other two didn't know what his friend felt, Azrun volunteered himself to open the dusty briefcase, immediately revealing a well polished, shining harmonica and a browning old parchment folded neatly next to it.

"Wow, is that a real chromatic harmonica right there? It looks so brand new! Heh heh, was it yours, Faizul?" exclaimed the seemingly excited Salman while holding the shiny musical instrument in his hand.

"No, that one was his…wasn't very good with musical instruments anyway, only liked writing poetry," replied the strangely mournful Faizul, his face hidden from view yet again.

"Yes, and this is his last and finest poem right here! Our Faizul used to be such a great poet just for the record, you want to read it my friend?" replied the moustached soldier to his brown skinned friend, as he carefully unfolded the browning parchment from its original place and spread it open before them to be read.

The ecstatic Salman then began reading the collection of words written on it, reading it aloud and confidently for everyone to hear it.

"Yeah I remember that one," Faizul remarked later on. "That was the last piece I made in my past life, more of a song actually, when both our lives were passing through happier times. Yeah, we were the happiest kids in the world back then, nothing seemed to bother us for a long, long time! Then it happened," the nostalgic Faizul said again, seconds before the feelings left him be.

Then, all of a sudden, the most unlikely of things appeared from the most unlikely of person!

"Hey, you know what Faizul? Let's do that, you-sing-and-I’ll-play routine again, shall we? For old time's sake? Please, pretty please?" he pleaded towards his mournful friend, acting and sounding very much like a nine-year-old boy once again, much to the surprised look on his mournful friend's face.

"Hey, Azrun, what's with you all of a sudden, huh? First you’re a brainless zombie and now you're a kid again! Heheh! Stop it will you? You're embarrassing me," he reacted to his twenty-eight-year-old friend's sudden bouts of immaturity as the remaining two smiled.

And even though the muscular soldier hesitated at first, his defences finally caved as his best friend kept on asking the same question over again, getting more and more childish with each passing moment!

"(Sigh) Alright, alright, quit whining, I'll do it…! And besides, I used to be a pretty good singer when I was a kid, Salman, heh! Now lets see if I can give your Abby Sarafina a run for her money, Salman! Heh heh!" he answered him back as his childhood friend began playing the poem's melody over the shiny harmonica, grinning as the brown skinned soldier started frowning from his poison tongued remark.

"Hey, Azrun, it’s starting! Come on, lets do that routine again, heheh," he said to his like-minded friend, seconds before the two prepubescent boys started playing their sacred song in earnest.

And thus the two poems were simultaneously played and recited side-by-side, flying and intertwining in-between surreal, rippling effects throughout the entire Creation from end to end, magically bridging the two realities closer together for the very first time…

(Echoes In The Wind)

"Time stood still As the air flowing around me Carried my thoughts on all All the things inside my mind Into the sky Into all hearts…

Gone they will be someday Yet in my heart They will remain like seeds On the morning of fate I I’ll keep on going, hoping, praying…

Though fire, hatred and fear They will hurt me through this life Still I’m yearning for the echoes in the wind…

Though love, friendship and joy May they be withered by the time Still inside I have all reasons to live…

But as the sky becomes The colours of the heart Only then shall all who’s lost Will find their way back home Will find their way back home…"

"Hey, look at that Professor! What the, what the heck is that?" exclaimed the frightened Salman, pointing to another door that was not there before, a glowing one made of solid gold that suddenly appeared at the end of the duo’s performance.

And the greying scientist was just about to answer him back when suddenly the gilded portal opened up by itself and revealed a glowing void which later spoke to them, speaking in a voice very familiar to the red-headed one.

"You have done it, O Chosen Ones. The door between dimensions is now open and awaiting your presence. Enter, and be at peace."

"M-mother, is-is that you? But-but, it can't be! You, you weren't here anymore! I saw you in the funny farm, saw you in the straightjacket…!

NO! ARE NOT MY MOTHER! NO!!!" screamed the confused Faizul, seconds before angrily raising his formidable flamethrower towards that ethereal portal, ready to torch it down in an instant.

"No, NO! Please Faizul, it’s, all right, it’s all right. There's nothing to fear now. This was the voice I heard all those times, calling me, telling me about the glowing hope, influencing my steps," the unusually calm Azrun gently persuaded his trigger-happy friend, making him lowered his fuming, sparkling nozzle without much difficulty.

His red headed friend stared angrily back at him at the end of it, though both of them saw that the seething Faizul was shaking in his boots, overwhelmed with fear.

"Please Faizul, there's nothing to worry about anymore. Let us stop worrying over the unknown and free your heart from all feelings. For it is fated we shall go through this door with a clear heart. Let it go, Faizul, let it go," he said to him while letting his tearful friend leaned gently on his shoulders, sobbing before the sympathetic duo.

The four Chosen Ones entered the glowing portal moments later.

"Er, hello over there! Er, are you, erm, us?" asked the nervous boy with the red cap to his adult counterpart as the faint silhouette of two mismatched soldiers materialised before the two, appearing under the steady light of the sunless sky hovering over a lush green plains that was clearly not of this planet.

"Well what do you expect us to be kid, former Prime Ministers of Malaysia? Heh heh!" replied the one wearing the red bandanna to his ten-year-old counterpart, snickering like a wise guy as the boy apprehensively approached his other self.

"And you must be…me, from my past, right? Yes, I remember now, you look just like the boy I used to be seventeen years ago, all bubbly, laid back and forever carefree to the world; man how time can change things," muttered the moustached soldier to his nine-year-old counterpart as he approached the nervous little boy, squatted, and caressed his innocent face.

"Yeah whatever, and I guess it’s been like, oh a few thousand years since I last looked like you kid, heh heh! Well at least you still have that priceless red cap of ours, (sigh) All I've got on me now is this cheap red bandanna, and it’s not even in the right shade! Heh, heh," said the big and burly soldier to his small and grinning counterpart as he approached the little boy and caressed his priceless headpiece.

"Wow, er, Faizul, er, I mean Abang Faizul! Man you've got quite a lot of muscles on you, you must have been working out at the gym all these while, right? Man I wish to be like you someday," the red capped said enthusiastically to his adult self as he felt the venous rippling muscles on his older self’s right arm with great interest.

"Well not really kid. It's quite a long story on how I got all these, I’ll tell you all about it later, okay? And anyway, (snicker) at least you’re lucky you don’t end up like what your friend here will be, heh heh!" derisively remarked the older Faizul about his best friend in front of his younger self, hinting at the older Azrun's dark chest.

"Ah, man! Don't tell me I'm gonna be all hairy like our father when I grow up, Abang? Man," suddenly whined the ever-smiling little Azrun, disapprovingly shaking his head after noticing his older self's generous collection of body hair.

The older Azrun quickly turned to his simpering muscular friend and frowned.

"Aw, it's okay Azrun. You'll grow to like it after a while," he softly said to his younger self shortly before lurching straight for the older Faizul's red bandanna and rudely pulled it off of his big, glossy, chrome-domed head.

"Hey, keep off my bandanna okay, you half-wit gorilla!" he shouted, pretending to be really crossed.

"Well at least you’ll always have more hair than this guy over here, that’s for sure, heh heh!" he playfully shouted, making both the old and young Faizul started shrieking; one in anger, and the other one in an unfabricated fear.

"Oh, you're going to pay for that Azrun, for scaring my other self away; oh you're going to pay!" grumbled the disgruntled looking Faizul, shortly pummelling the moustached Azrun playfully to the ground, whereas their younger counterpart only laughed feverishly at their older selves' playful antics from where they stood.

The remaining members of the rebelling group slowly made their appearance and joined in the laughter as they appeared, laughing wholeheartedly at the sight of two men in their late twenties wrestling each other on the ground in a half-witted manner.

"At long last the two separate circles have come together. Now the time is for us to meld it all together again, so that all that is damaged be restored and all that is maligned be realigned," resounded the familiar voice yet again, moments after the two separate beings with the same name and past life got acquainted with each other.

"Hey, it’s that same voice again! Well I don't know who you are exactly Ma'am, but I sure feel I owe you a lot, whoever you are," replied the grateful older Faizul to the faceless voice as he lifted his other self onto his broad shoulder whilst his moustached friend playfully ruffled the thick hair on the head of his younger counterpart.

"Then come to the centre of the plains, O Blessed Ones. Once there, all will be revealed," the voice replied, in synchrony with the appearance of an outlandish altar of gold and crystal on the only hill in the background, glitteringly connected by a narrow footpath of violet crystals appearing right underneath their feet.

"The good news is there are no more signs of the enemy in the building now Mr. President! Should I deactivate the security controls?" asked the Halunian Police Commissioner of the 1st Grax-Na City Precinct to the emotionless politician, watching as the last of his heavily armed men successfully exited the government building, unhurt but somewhat relieved.

"Yes, do whatever you have to, Commissioner, all I'm worried about now is the upcoming body counts, and how to prevent unnecessary concerns among the Union Members once the Council got wind of this... (Sigh)”

“Yes, and those will be the bad news, I presume,” remarked the Commissioner.

“Yes...apart from a hundred out of thirty thousand people surviving the Shudwa Dumanta's assault, if I’m not mistaken,” he replied, looking wary over the growing crowd of civilians and government agents gathering in front of the building. The Halunian Police Officer regretfully nodded.

"Anyway, have you seen Alanine Birx, the girl who've lost her father? The only survivor from Floor 33," he asked the Halunian police officer seconds later.

"Oh, you mean the sweet little girl in black? I, think saw her somewhere in the crowd just now, probably searching for her mother or something, not to worry Mr. President, I’m sure she’s safe at the moment…”

The masked politician sighed a relief.

“So what are your plans now Mr. President? If you don’t mind me asking, Sir," asked the Halunian while watching his men keeping the growing crowd at bay.

"Well, I have to go to our outpost on Pluto for awhile, there's something I got to find there…"

"Oh, you mean the Mirror of Fate of Mount Kasrawi. That's a good idea Sir. Maybe we’d find some answers behind this aggression and…er, should I tell the Halunian President about it?"

"No, that won't be necessary Commissioner Gourdna, he already knows I’m leaving. And if you'll excuse me, my ship is waiting…"

"Well er, what else do you want me to do, Mr. President?"

"Hmm, just make sure that girl is safe…and try to do some research on her background while you're at it. That would certainly make my job easier when her father's interment rite commences. I got to look good in front of my Halunian citizens, don’t you agree?”

The Halunian smiled.

“Oh, and also make a note I will shut down all communication lines between my ship and the planet until I reached the frontier outpost, so tell Admiral Stamika not to worry too much, he'll know why I did it; and what he’s to do next…'

"Yes Sir, we've already started doing that, and for all the deceased civil servants… Er, is that all, Mr. President?"

"Yes, that will be all, Commissioner. I have to go now. Asalma Alaikma, Commissioner Gourdna," the President ended the conversation with the universal Ganymedian greeting.

"Wa Alaikma Asalma, Mr. President," he greeted him back, watching as the President's private vehicle disappeared into the sky.

Moments later,

"Commissioner, Commissioner Gourdna!" shouted his nervous Hinzanian Deputy as he scampered fearfully towards his Superior.

"Yes, what's wrong, Kilny? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"(Panting) Mr. Commissioner! You, you'd better inform the President straight away! There's, there's something terrible, terrible he should know about, at once!"

"But, but the President just left for the Plutonian outpost under a strict radio silence! What’s wrong?"

"(Panting) It's, it's the Birx girl Sir…She; she practically…doesn’t exist!"

"What?! Are you, are you sure about this?"

"(Wheezing) I swear, I swear Sir! I've checked, and I've double-checked every, database on the planet! She's, she's not on the list, of both the alive and, deceased!"

"Halma Hura…so she's…she's…!" exclaimed the fearful Halunian next.

Alas, it was already too late for the two to do anything about it, only thinking of the worst as they stared fearfully at each other, wondering how gravely could the situation gets or whether or not their Leader would survive it all…

Meanwhile, somewhere within the vicinity of the proud Malaysian Capitol, the highly respected man of the country, the President of Malaysia, was seen preparing himself for his annual Eve of Merdeka Day Speech, as the nervous looking national television crew fearfully breezed through their pre-production works, with their shaking director quietly gave them their instructions from behind the awesome looking transmission cameras and the blaring studio illuminations.

"You're looking good as always, Mr. President!" commented his top military commander as he proudly brushed his Leader's velvety blazer, smiling as the make-up crew nervously put on the final touch up on his already fair face.

"Well you know me Admiral Ibrahim. I always knew a good look can go a long, long way for anyone as lucky as both of us, heh heh," he replied while finishing off the last of his dying cigarette.

"Yes, you're right on the money, Mr. President! Yet I'm still feeling sorry for that vice President of ours, you know? Saying he would rather die than to attend it and all, heh!" the Admiral remarked again.

"Well it’s okay Admiral. He may be a stuck-up pain-in-the-rear for most of the time, but don't forget we just can't get a lot of good help these days, so people like him is a necessary evil to us, heh heh!"

And the two of them broke out into a heartfelt laughter.

'Er, excuse me for bothering you Mr. President, but we're ready to begin the transmission now Sir," said the nervous Stage Manager to the two VIPs.

The President then promptly put out his cigarette butt, asked the top military officer to seat himself, and slowly approached the grand podium.

Once there the nervous Production Assistant slowly brought the clapperboard before his face, activated the time code, and immediately all the digital cameras focused towards him began running in synchrony with each other.

"Citizens of the Democratic Republic of Malaysia. The President will now begin his Eve of Merdeka Speech," said the unseen emcee from the background as the country's dynamic national anthem ceased its majestic sound, revealing the serious looking man in his late fifties staring sharply at the main camera then broke into a sinister smile.

"Salam Alaikum and Good evening to all my beloved people. I would like to begin my speech with a happy Merdeka Greeting to all of us…" addressed the President in the onset of his speech whereas the white uniformed Admiral proudly looked on from the background.

"Excellent! The President has begun his Merdeka speech," said the excited shadowy Professor from his sterile white meeting room, sitting restlessly before his team of dedicated and disciplined scientists. "You all know what to do now, right? So back to work everyone! Our deadline ends at midnight tonight, so get moving," he cheerfully instructed before leaving the stone-faced quorum to carry out their tasks.

Once the Professor had passed through its fireproof ceramic door, he stopped walking for a moment, produced a clear glowing cerulean blue amulet hanging around his neck, sighed and resumed his walk back to his office.

"So what do you for a living, Abang Faizul? You don't look like an astronomer or an astronaut to me…so what are you?" the young Faizul asked his older self as he perched comfortably on his muscular shoulder.

The twenty-eight-year-old soldier, knowing what really happened, only sighed as a reply while keeping up with the rest of the group.

"(Sigh) I'm sorry to disappoint you kid, but fate had been cruel to me all these while. Because of this damn war, I had to abandon our dream of serving NAMAC several years ago today; all I can do now is pray that I would live to see the next day, for every damn day since it started, what with the current mess happening in our country and all…

I'm sorry kid, but there's no more space for hopes and dreams anymore," he replied, exuding a mournful undertone in each and every words.

"Er, what’s really going on in our country right now, Abang? Are those weapons real? And why do you guys keep on carrying them around like this?" the inquisitive younger Azrun spoke his mind to the burly soldier, whereas his ten-year-old friend was now as silent as his older counterpart, overcome by the apparent twist of fate suffered by his other self.

Strangely somehow, none of them were willing to answer him straight away, all seemed heavy and reluctant to disclose all the happenings within the alternate world to them, for each had his own story that was too painful to tell, and neither of them wanted to begin the telling.

And only after a moment of unnatural silence, the moustached Azrun spoke on behalf of the mournful group.

"Azrun, Faizul, unlike the calm and peaceful world you came from, the world we live in right now is in total chaos. The small political skirmish between the government and the opposition party started way back in the beginning of the 21st century had, somehow, through no fault of ours, been blown out of proportion and erupted into a full scale war, a war that continues on till this day.

A war fought by the iron-fisted Government of the New Order, through their loyal military posse: the National Security; and the remnants of the old order, the loosely united Rebel Alliance called The ‘Heart Landers Movement’, the movement that we both have pledged our allegiance to when we’re both thirteen. We’re the last of the Muarian Division, our Salman here is from the Batu Pahat Division, and Professor Saiful is now the unofficial overall Commander of the Movement, a replacement of our deceased Leader, the Peace Keeper..."

The white-haired scientist only smiled half-heartedly at his follower's remark. "Huh?" exclaimed the curious Faizul." The Peace Keeper? Who's he?" he exclaimed again.

The two’s older counterpart only smiled at this point.

"Heh, I think you know who he is, Faizul," replied his older self. "His real name is Abdul Khaliq Murad bin Andy Raman, the one who lived in Portal Kayangan right before our family moved in, the one who survived the murder of his family and uncle some thirty years ago…"

The two prepubescent boys stared unblinkingly at each other.

"Wow, both of them are in high places, Azrun! We also have an Abang Khaliq back in our dimension Abang Azrun, only that, heh heh, his story is a little bit too weird to tell at this time…you’ll never believe me if I tell you about it," replied the excited boy while admiring the commanding view of the scenery from the shoulder of his older self.

"But why did our neighbours shut us out, Abang?" the younger Azrun suddenly spoke his mind again. "What about the United Nations, what have they been doing? And why do we have to fight our forefather's conflict? Why couldn't they’ve just solved their problems back then? Please, tell me Abang," the younger Azrun insistently asked.

The older Azrun sighed helplessly in reaction towards his younger self's burning questions, shortly before the moustached soldier started to look somewhat nostalgic all of a sudden, much to the two boys' utter bewilderment.

"Ah, this was exactly how I viewed the war in the first place, Azrun, as just another unfinished business from the past, being ignored for far too long till it became a monster that subjugates us," he gently replied as the others looked on.

And as they stopped for a while to take a breather and have their meals, the moustached one began telling his turbulent life story for the first time.

"…Yes, I was as complacent and as innocent as you are right now when the war spilled over on our neighbourhood, watching as everyone in our neighbourhood willingly gave up the comfort of their present lives for the sake of a bunch of questionable yet fiery ideals sown by these dubious factions. (Sigh)

But how I wished now that I had thought differently from the start…

As time went, the tightly knit society of our housing estate unravelled itself, divided into those who supported the government, those who supported the opposition, and finally the self proclaimed neutralists, comprising of our family and twenty others.

As directed by the government during that time, we neutralists had earlier put down all our details in the government’s website over our chosen neutrality, just so we would not be maltreated or worst when…(sigh) and yet the outcome was still the same!

Then one day, when we were twelve and eleven, the first battle erupted within our very neighbourhood. Some of those who pledged their allegiance to the opposition had begun taking their arms, readying themselves for the inevitable. Yes, despite our declarations, many of our humble homes were wantonly destroyed in the process, legacy of the merciless bombings that ensued from that day onwards… (Sigh)

And for the first time in my life, I saw how cheap and easily human lives were traded or taken away…

However, it didn’t stop me from being rudely snatched from all my ideals, as I started to wonder whether those soldiers knew what they were doing when they bombed us, for each time they did they unrepentantly told us they were merely carrying out orders and that’s that!"

The moustached Azrun suddenly started gritting his teeth real hard, his eyes bright with anger. He then continued his storytelling non-stop before his two avid listeners, never knowing his younger self had begun shedding silent tears halfway through it.

“Yes, for the first time in my life, I never felt so much anger and hatred swelling inside of me! All their promises, assurances, forgotten, discarded! They destroyed everything in their paths yet never for once they protected us! They had looked upon us neutralists as sympathizers of the opposition, and it’s something I discovered as they rounded up all non-combating people and sent us by the truckloads to their so-called ‘Safe Haven Area’! And no; it didn’t even look like a safe haven to begin with!"

"You mean no one ever objected to the war? Hey, I mean isn't our father a part of the government? And we both know he’d go hopping mad every time he hears the word War, so what gives?" asked the curious Faizul to his older self.

The muscular soldier was suddenly speechless, still and silent. Then, as if by dark magic, he revealed to his younger self as to what really happened to their father.

"Our father was one of the handfuls who kept on condemning this war, Faizul. He's the one who kept on attacking these conflicts in every State Assemblies while everyone else couldn’t be bothered by it! But sadly, his brave actions were unjustly rewarded by fate, after the plane he boarded crashed just days after he finished his fateful speech in the UN that same year, that poor man! And as if adding insult to injury, that same 'champion' of the free world expelled our country from the organization, forced various kinds of embargo on us, and had since ignored us…literally!"

"You mean, you mean, our father's, d-d-dead?" the young Faizul asked, tearfully. The well-built soldier silently nodded.

"…Our mother just couldn't accept his death even after they brought his remains home for burial. And because of that, she's, she's now being locked up in the Capitol's infamous funny-farm, forced to wear straightjackets for the rest of her life," he answered his young counterpart's question while bringing the boy's tearful face close to his shoulder, caressing his soft black hair for a few moments. The older Azrun resumed his story.

"We were already scared out of our wits when the soldiers unloaded us in our school's compound—our home for almost a year—where we’re separated into able bodied men, women and children. Our father was very disillusioned by the promises given to us, but even so he kept on demanding all the things promised by the government for us; (sigh) succeeding only to be beaten senseless every single time by none other than those heartless soldiers themselves, as they routinely picked him up and sent him, along with all the other professional workers in the neighbourhood, to become their forced labourer doing whatever that regime desires!

A year passed. The proud and peaceful town of Semarak Jaya had now become a military zone; surrounded by mines and barbed wires. A lot of us were getting sick and weak, and yet we still kept on playing blissfully inside the bordered area without a care in the world, hoping and wishing the war will end soon so that we all could go back home and be happy again! (Sigh)

Such idealistic beings we were that time…

Then one day, a peaceful strike broke out amongst the forced professional labourers, a strike led our father who, after the longest of times, had earned my respect,” he said this part through his nostalgic face.

“He seized control of a loudspeaker in the camp’s Administration Centre and peacefully demanded their due rights as citizens of this country regardless of whichever sides they belonged to, quoting now and then about the age old constitutions and social contracts, reminding them the reasons behind the integrity of this country all these while.

Yes, his simple set of words so overpowered the working masses that in just moments, our father had gained the support of not only the neutralists, but also people from the other side and even the government supporters! (Sigh)"

A nostalgic smile began to form even stronger over the moustached one’s mouth.

"And to me, it was the most surreal moment in my entire life, for the one person whom I always thought of being reclusive, anti social, workaholic and all-round dull had finally shown his true colours, becoming my own personal hero from then on.

Later, as I took up my arms for the Movements, I would remember it as the day I started fighting for my country, no more will the 31st of August be just another public holiday for me! Now I know exactly how our forefathers felt before freedom came to our land, and on why they bothered to fight for independence in the first place…"

He suddenly stopped short of his words, looked quite fearful and trembled all over for a moment.

His younger self then offered him something to drink, and immediately he downed the artificially sweetened soft drink in one go, behaving as if he was sickened by something.

And when the moustached soldier resumed his story, clearly at first and haltingly later on, only then did the cause of his deep-seated fear reared its ugly head!

"But the men in stripes didn’t quite actually take it the right way, and before everyone knew, they started shooting tear gases at him and bludgeoned some of the protesters without stopping, leaving a lot of the protesters scattered about bleeding, some were seriously injured. Yet the worst of fate was only about to emerge the day after that failed demonstration, something that would leave us traumatized, forever…(sigh)

And when morning broke the next day, suddenly all the sleeping children were taken from their beds and forced to march to the centre of the camp, leaving their mothers to wail openly from their barbed-up fences, screaming whereas the men and the previous protesters looked on from the other side, fearing the worst…"

The moustached one suddenly started coughing his drink out, unintentionally spilling some of it on the strange ground around him. He then resumed his past life story once more, arriving shortly into the most gruesome part of it all….

"…And there, for the first time, I saw him: Colonel Ibrahim of the 56th Battalion, standing between us and his motionless men at the centre of the field, staring down at us like a hungry…"

The shaking, cold sweating older Azrun found himself getting more and more stuttered now, his face pale and bloodless and his arms trembling.

Immediately his sympathetic friend consoled him, softly asking him to stop if he couldn't take it.

Yet even so, the soldier still insisted upon telling his story, whereas his two young listeners found themselves getting nervous yet adamant in finding out the continuation of the story.

Sighing, his muscular friend relented.

"…He then started his fiery speech as soon as the last child was ushered in, and among his many incendiary words he vociferously called upon the people to reflect on what he deemed as a regretful act of puny intention, addressing the protesters and their Leader as the lowest of the low, labelling the neutralists as enemy sympathizers, wholeheartedly cursing all those involved in yesterday's strike as if there’s no tomorrow, and saying something about teaching us a lesson, about s-s-shedding, some b-b-bad blood, f-f-from the s-s-system…"

The younger Azrun suddenly found his older self writhing in pain, reactively clutching his head tightly with his arms before bringing it down towards his knees, acting as if traumatized by something…

"…And then, and then, after h-h-he c-c-concluded his s-s-speech, he started signalling towards his men, t-t-to force all of us into a s-s-s-straight line b-b-before him, and s-s-seconds later, he pointed, his b-b-big, s-s-shiny, gun, b-b-before me…

He then, he then angrily called out, to, our father, told him to, remember, this the next time he, t-t-tried t-t-to do, s-s-something as, as, as stupid as before, and also saying that the, the, t-t-the next time he-he does it again, he-he-he will suffer as much, as, I would, r-r-right now…”

Silence.

“And…a-a-a-and after ordering his men to gather us around him, h-h-he, much to the pleadings from, from the fences, h-h-he p-p-put a blindfold over his eyes, spun himself around for a moment, and then he s-s-shot his f-f-first b-b-b-bullet…to the boy before him, l-l-laughing endlessly and m-m-mindlessly as that child s-screamed and f-f-fell, his blood, on his uniform! And then he repeated it again… and again… and again! (Gasping) And y-y-you could e-e-ever know h-h-how, how painful it, it was, and h-h-how I could never ever…forget…that fateful day!" he concluded this part of the story with much hardship before breaking into a heartfelt tear, sobbing wholeheartedly before the group.

And the two curious boys started gasping fearfully at this point, hands trembling, face sweating and mouths moving, whereas the grey haired scientist sighed in remorse and the furious Indian started cursing in Tamil under his breath.

Understandably, the muscular soldier only looked sympathetically at his friend, gently and silently nodding at his best friend’s every stuttered word as he talked.

"…I, I just can't imagine the intense brutality that he'd shown upon us, nor the awful pain inflicted upon me, as two of his…(sigh) bullets went right through my right leg and, my arm, screaming in pain as the C-c-c-colonel continued to laugh like a maniac, laughing as if enjoying it!

Then suddenly, as, I fell, a loud chain of explosions, rocked the area, sending the soldiers scattered about, and…and ended the Colonel’s game of madness… (Sigh)

And for the first time I, I felt happy in hearing those sounds again.”

“Man, this is terrible,” muttered the white-shirted boy all of a sudden.

“But the happiness was a short-lived ones, as the sight and sound of the bloody roulette immediately returned to me, flooding me with so much confusion and so much anger I painfully prayed there and then that it would never ever happen again,” recounted the mournful moustached soldier.

“Then I saw one Chinese infant, bleeding, crying yet still had the strength to crawl away, had crawled towards me, bearing the looks of pain and confusion on his face, occasionally looking back towards his mournful mother as she stood restlessly behind the rusting fence, wailing and cursing the soldier responsible for his injury in Mandarin over and over again, looking extremely helpless as his wounded arm bled on.

Though stricken with pain myself, I kindly brought the confused child closer towards me, smiled at him and leaned him against me, letting him to cry his heart out as long as he wished, crying as all those who once laughed at us, were now fighting for their lives…”

“God, I never thought anyone could be so cruel,” muttered the younger Azrun yet again.

“(Sigh) He died in his mother's arms two days later,” resumed the older Azrun.

“Caused by an infection around his wound, just like most of us who had to be bandaged by whatever fabric we could find. Our sweet bubbly brother Manan, eight years old at that time, also passed away that same day, caused by the Colonel’s bullet lodged in his jaw; a painful one that made eating or drinking so painful, resulting in our mother to ceased talking right until…”

Silence.

"(Sigh) I prayed to God to save us from this hell and cried myself to sleep every night since then, till came a time I almost thought God had left me and left everything to fate,” the once mournful Azrun resumed his words, getting more and more cheerful towards the end.

"Yes, it’s very easy to lose faith in God above at times like that. I know exactly how you feel Azrun, I've seen it happening lots of times before," interrupted the smiling, greying Professor, smiling while readjusting the position of his glasses.

"Alhamdulillah, the Almighty Caring God answered my tearful prayers. And just as midnight came two weeks later, the heavy fighting stopped, replaced instead by the heartfelt cheering of new voices, meaning the camp had been seized! And at last, the cycle of pain we’ve endured for over a year came to an end…"

The moustached soldier saw the developing cheerfulness on the faces of his young listeners for the first time.

"And just as soon as they've busted open the door to our room, I saw some of the war painted, turbaned soldiers were close to tears at our predicament. Then, one of them, someone whom they called General Ustadz Harun, my second hero, just for the record, heh heh, Leader of the Johorean Branch, took me in his arms, carried me back to their mobile base, and once there he single-handedly carried out a corrective surgery on us all; something I am truly grateful of even till now..."

The two long time friends exchanged a grateful stare towards one another as the group resumed their eating and drinking under the alien sky.

"And for the first time in my life, and every one else's for that matter, all the propaganda about the tyranny and oppression caused be these so-called religious zealots and fundamentalists were finally laid to rest.

The way they treated us later on, regardless of our religion, creed or race was so unbiased, so open and so unexpected that, right before my very eyes, most of our steadfast, non-believing neighbours started embracing Islam wholeheartedly in years to come, and some even took up arms for the movement willingly not long after, even those who despised them once before shamelessly did the same later on! (Snicker)

Yes, for a while, things were looking up to us," he successfully ended this part of the story, smiling through his joyful face along with the rest.

"Well, hey you know what?" exclaimed Salman, looking bright-eyed all of the sudden. "That's the same General who saved both my brother and I after our parents died in a crossfire! He took us in and cared for us like his own even when he already had three children! Yeah, we were so grateful to him that we decided to become his military students when we’re older, and we’ve never been happier since!” For a moment everyone looked at him in unmistakeable elation.

“Heck, he even gave me the prototype M.E.A (Multiple Environment Annihilator) Sky Bike that he designed and owned as my graduation present! Heh heh, it looks like we’ve shared the same 'Father' all along, Faizul, Azrun! Talk about coincidence," he said again, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh well, at least I looked up to him more than you would Salman, heh heh…" the older Azrun replied through his dreamy face, much to the confused look on the brown skinned soldier’s face.

He thought of asking him why but immediately changed his mind when the older Faizul whispered something into his curious ears, making him giggled mischievously for a moment.

"Hey, what are you guys whispering about, Abang Salman?" asked the inquisitive younger Faizul, curious over the duo’s wholehearted giggling.

"Heh heh, you know what kid? The reason why your Azrun here said what he'd just said a while ago is because he's madly in love with the pretty Siti Faiza, the General's only daughter, a-ha!

Now that's what I call a fast worker kid, he hee!" answered the burly Faizul before the two broke out into a heartfelt laughter, laughing as their moustached friend blushed with embarrassment, red and speechless.

"(Sigh) Alright, alright, enough laughing already you two…so now let us finish our meal and then continue with our walk, okay?!" he snapped, pretending to frown like a General despite his lingering embarrassment caused by the sudden revelation of his secret love life by none other than his own best friend Faizul—the only one in the world whom he shared this secret with, and the one secret he had impatiently intended to tell the world really, really soon!

"Er, yes! Right away Corporal Azrun! Whatever you say! Heheh…!" replied his saluting burly friend as he unwrapped another ‘Great Mack’ Burger in one hand and threw the wrapper straight at his face, resulting in yet another bout of laughter inside the group.

And for a moment, there was light. Yet even so, as the six Chosen Ones concluded their meal to resume their steady walk towards the altar, banded together for a moment in time, little did they realize that two ultimate countdowns that will inevitably change their lives inside out had already commenced all and in-between the two entwined realities:

The countdown of destruction, and the countdown of rebirth!

And the six walked on.

Book 2-The countdown begins-Chapter 3

2008-11-10T21:29:00.023+08:00

"(Burp) Man, that was a very good dinner, Faizul. You should be thankful your mother knows how to cook tasty meals, unlike my mother that is, heh heh!" commented the stuffed nine-year-old as he closed the bedroom door slowly behind him.

"Hey, don't say such things, will you? For as long as I can remember, it was your mother who made me love butter cookies in the first place, right? And man, who could forget that delicious Dodol Candy your father made during last year's Aidil Fitri feast! Mmm…!" his best friend reacted after performing the ablution.

"Yeah, I suppose," replied Azrun after seeing his best friend licking his own lips while lost in reverie, vividly recalling all those delicious home made sticky sweets he had eaten in his friend's house late last year.

Then suddenly his friend became conscious once again, unfurled his prayer mat and intentionally glanced at his long time friend to do the same.

Instinctively the ten-year-old best friend of his walked steadily into the adjoining bathroom to perform the same watery ritual on himself, and then spread his own prayer mat right next to his friend.

And with Faizul leading the way, the two boys performed the final prayer of the day, silently and wholeheartedly losing all awareness over their dimly lit surrounding—even to an out of this world event that began appearing in their room at that very moment!

An event in the form of a softly glowing energy ball violet in colour, appearing and hovering quietly above the red capped boy's messy table like a firefly shortly before disappearing from view as fast as it came, leaving behind a small, delicate picture frame of gold and crystal floating peacefully in its place:

A picture frame of ethereal design and creation lovingly etched with a bunch of glowing words artistically arranged into a simple dirge…

(The Dreamer's Sigh)

Flickering candles being blown by the wind Under the cold dawn of yesterday's skies Wishing the great sun would come Drenching its light to the world…

Flickering candles I held in my hands As I stood still with cold tears in my eyes So soft and sacred the whispers of stars Clinging the songs of all hope Onto the altars of peace…

Flickering candles that glowed in my face Still as the shadows my wandering mind Yet I still know of all hearts Filled to the brim with the light…

Flickering candles I need it no more When my heart opens like flowers at dawn Riding the wind to the rainbow of morn As I recite all my love An ode to the days in the sun…

Flickering candles my heart and my soul Under the cold dawn my fears be no more Then the great sun starts to rise Shining the path to the skies…"

"Hey, look Faizul! Over there on the table," exclaimed the awestruck Azrun soon after finishing his Isyak (Nighttime) prayer and placing his prayer mat at a corner.

"Yes, this is what we’ve been waiting for Azrun! It's the sacred poem of the Emerald Wind, just like Great Ellina had promised!" replied the ten-year-old, smiling wholeheartedly at this revelation.

Immediately the two Chosen Ones approached the messy table and beheld the glowing stanzas amidst ethereal emotions, clearly aware they were now of the impending chain of events coming their way, as signified by the ethereal presence of the glowing verses floating serenely before them.

The red-capped boy then turned to his only best friend, smiled through his watery eyes, sighed and said:

"Azrun, we’re going on another sacred journey again. And this time, we will not only be saving mankind, but also this vast unknown universe, an adventure I’m sure we will never forget!" "Yeah, I suppose. And another chance to be superheroes once again, that's for sure, heh heh!" replied his grinning best friend.

"Yep! There's no turning back now, Azrun. Our selves from the next dimension had probably realized they’re about to see their other selves again," Faizul said again after replying Azrun's planet-wide grin with his very own.

"Yeah, I suppose," replied his best friend soon after. "…And that's why I asked that we split up for a while back there! (Snicker) Just so I could pack up enough Great Mack Burgers and ‘Black Hole’ Coke in my bag for the four of us before we got here!” he said again, flashing a mischievous smile to his serene looking friend.

Reactively, the red-capped boy pretended to frown and shook his head.

"(Sigh) Sometimes I wonder how my whole life would look like if you weren't my very best friend in the whole wide world, Azrun! Heheh!" he remarked, replying his friend's mischievous smiles with his very own.

"Yeah, and me too Faizul. Life would probably be dull and boring for both of us, don’t you think? Heheh!" he quickly replied before breaking into a heartfelt laughter a second later, filling the surreal looking room with enough warmth and happiness to last them for eternity.

Their adventure was about to enter its next exciting phase any moment now…

"…Well guys, welcome to the Portal Kayangan Mansion, home of the famous Datuk Badruddin, the one and only people's champion of Semarak Jaya… Huh, yeah right!" muttered the half brooding Faizul to his friends, standing disrespectfully before the rusting sliding gate of his former house.

He then cursed that house’s very existence repeatedly under his breath, much to the sympathetic sighs from his moustached best friend as the formidable airborne vehicle 'Abby Sarafina' began its whispery descent behind the group, carrying its weary but still quite cheerful Pilot gently down to earth after an afternoon of flying and fighting.

"Yes Salman, have you placed all the PED (Pseudo Electron Deflector) devices at their designated place like I asked you to?" asked the dishevelled looking scientist to the Indian fighter from the ATV’s half opened back door, his portable hyper computer never left his hands.

"Yes Sir, I've finished placing all them crystal balls on all the main beams of the house's brick fence, as you requested! And as a bonus from yours truly, I've temporarily disrupted their main scanners and messed up their target grid while I was doing it!

Heh, you should’ve seen them HANTUs shooting madly at each other just now man, talk about a sight for sore eyes, heheh!" replied the hyper active soldier, as he nimbly jumped out of his flying machine and joined the others at the gate.

The previously sunny atmosphere slowly turned to a slightly depressive state as the brooding Faizul continued with his angered vigil towards the towering gate (and also the dilapidated dwelling unit behind it), feeling more and more disgusted at the sight of it with each passing moment.

"You know I still haven’t quite stomach your idea of coming back here again Azrun, no matter what the reasons you've shoved into my face back there! I still can't see why we have to be here out of all the better places we can go right now, like Putrajaya City for example, huh!" roared the muscular soldier in between his apparent brooding, his weatherworn face strangely unturned from the rusting gate.

The empathetic Azrun only sighed back at him as he put his left hand on the bare right shoulder of his friend.

"Hey, I thought we've gone through it several times already, Faizul. Try to understand it’s important that we’re here right now, even though I know how you feel about this place; all the things you've kept locked behind this door, what really happened to your father-"

"Hey, don't you ever mention that creature again, Azrun! You still don't get it do you Mister Great Leader? Unless you have forgotten, O Great One, my mother went to the funny farm because of him!" he shouted angrily at his friend while rudely brushing off his friend's coarse hand from his venous shoulder.

The remaining members of the group only stared blankly at each other.

"Don’t do this to me Faizul!” replied his impatient best friend. “Please don’t start it again, you her me! I told you before that I will come here with or without you but you’ve agreed to this! So what is wrong with you, huh?! We’ve been friends for far too long damn it! I can’t believe you could be-!"

"I'm scared Azrun, I’m really scared!" he exclaimed. "I've lived without fear for a long time but this beats the hell outta me!" he said again while turning his now tearful face towards all his friends.

"…For as long as I’ve known you Azrun, you’ve never lied to me. And I, and I really appreciate that. But after, but after listening to all those terrible visions you've had in your dreams too many times, about all those destruction coming our way, about ourselves from the other side and stuffs I, I just don't know what's real and what's not anymore okay!" he continued while wiping off the tears from his dusty face.

“Things…stopped happening in a straight line recently, and that's, that's why I’m, so afraid, so afraid to, to come back here again," he said yet again while trying to smile through his current feelings.

The moustached soldier quietly apologized to his emotional friend later on.

"No, it's alright…you don't have to apologise. I'm, I'm the one who should apologise to you, for being a stuck-up beefcake all these while…" he replied, breaking into a faint, heartfelt smile.

Then suddenly, as if by magic, the emotional muscleman quickly regained his cumbersome composure and hugged his best friend closely and wholeheartedly, giving the lanky Corporal so close and so tight a hug he unintentionally gave Azrun's weatherworn face several shades of blue and purple in a matter of seconds!

"Hey (hack) Faizul, please (choke) release me, (wheeze) this instance, (gasp) that's, (wheeze) an order! (Cough)" he feebly demanded in between his apparent state of asphyxiation.

And the muscular soldier, soon realizing what he was done to him, quickly and apologetically released his unintentional deadly grip over his choking buddy, prompting a heartfelt laughter from all four.

"Well I'm ready now old man! Just turn whatever gizmos you've had in mind on and I'll slide this door open in an instant," he asked the Professor a moment later, grinning as if nothing ever happened just now.

"My you young people are always so impatient! (Sigh) Well alright my boy, but next time, do say 'Please' first!" he jokingly remarked, just moments before he produced a TV remote-like device from his pocket and pressed on the red button.

At once a zigzagging line of reddish laser beams appeared from both side of the crystal ball-like devices on top of the mansion's crumbling fence, forming a glowing red circle across the mansion's perimeter and followed immediately by the appearance of a dome like energy field coming out of it, a reflective and refractive structure rippling and wobbling like a gigantic bubble.

"Well it may look so feeble and pitiful my friends, but don't let my force field's fragile appearance fooled you for a second!

This wobbly energy field here has a physical and radiation resistance factor of Triple Nine and above, the same one still in use today to contain that infamous Hulu Langat's radioactive disaster of 2015 as I recalled, heh!" the old man began his explanations.

"Wow, you mean they'd actually used this to contain the nuclear disaster fifteen times more disastrous than Chernobyl, and ten times more lethal than that Great Barrier Reef Plutonium spill of 2007?" exclaimed the moustached soldier.

"And let me guess, this witchcraft is your idea, right?" asked his hairless best friend while unlocking the rusting gate with a concentrated burst from his chemical flamethrower.

"Yes, yes, and yes! Heh, what more can I say? I'm a genius, am I not?" the old man confidently replied.

"Yeah, you certainly are old man! A genius with a weird sense of humour to match, good for you!" the red headed soldier remarked again, snickering to himself as he slowly pushed the rusting red coloured gate into the next wall with his bare hands.

"Hey Faze my man, do you need any help in moving that thing? Are you okay my man?" asked the smiling Salman to the muscleman as he watched the rusting gate slowly but stubbornly gave way under the might of Faizul’s strong hands.

Seemingly annoyed, Faizul quickly stopped what he was, turned towards the brown skinned friend of his and said:

"Nope! And I don't think you'll be quite okay yourself if I choke your lights out like I did my commanding officer just now, ha!"

The embarrassed Salman quickly apologized in a faked nervousness, immediately turning the atmosphere merry and light for a moment.

But only for a moment!

"Arrgh! No…! What's happening…! Help, help, me…!" exclaimed the pain-stricken Azrun all the sudden, writhing and squirming feebly on the barren dirt track.

"Hey Azrun, what's gotten into you? Your, your eyes, it's glowing green! What, what gives?!" exclaimed his faithful companion fearfully by his side right after successfully opening up the heavy gate with his bare hands.

And the same situation also happened to the other Azrun at the same time.

"Argh, quick, Faizul! Get, get my flute from, my bag! It’s, it’s happening…! Now Faizul, argh!!" he screamed painfully to his dumbfounded friend, making the frightful ten-year-old went scurrying off to find the much needed crystalline flute.

Once he succeeded in finding the magic artefact, he quickly gave it to the writhing, violet glowing eyed friend of his and watched as the pain-stricken friend of his immediately regained his composure.

Sadly however, the same relief was not there for his other self …

"…Hey, w-w-where, where do you think you're g-going Azrun? H-h-hey! W-w-what's got into you?!" exclaimed the frightened muscleman, watching in horror as his squirming, pain-stricken friend suddenly stood up, eyes glazed and glowing, advanced slowly towards the newly opened gate and away from his friends; walking in a strange, feet dragging manner while deep in a trance.

"Must go find, the glowing hope, must go find, the glowing hope," was the reply from his deranged friend over and over, treading unsteadily inside the beaten, bushy path and onwards to the termite infested wooden door of the house, which he deftly pushed aside before continuing.

The usually calm and composed scientist was momentarily seen given to trembling as he took out yet another strange contraption from his bag, stared at it for a while and frowned.

"W-w-what's, what's going on Professor?" asked the terrified Salman to the old man.

"Very strange, yet, fascinating…!" was the reply at first before he turned his pale face towards his confused enquirer.

"W-w-why do say t-t-that? W-w-what is it P-p-professor?" exclaimed the terrified soldier while feeling totally befuddled at the same time.

Befuddled over whether to help Faizul contain his deranged friend or to stay and protect the ageing scientist.

Then suddenly, just before the grey haired man could answer him back, the very familiar sounds of danger began appearing from the background: the heavy and repetitive sounds of incoming enemy forces!

"No, we have no time for that, Salman. Let's go back to our vehicles and get them to safety first!" the scientist nervously replied shortly thereafter, sending the soldier running helter-skelter towards his hovering, one-manned sky bike 'Abby Sarafina' and dragged it into the shielded perimeter.

The Professor then produced the same TV remote-like contraption from his pocket, pressed the blue button this time, and watched as the bulky ATV rolled itself in.

Once the two vehicles were safely tucked away, he gently pressed on the yellow button next to the former and watched as the rusting heavy door smoothly slid back into place, shortly before the wobbly energy bubble swiftly descended and encased the entire perimeter of the house, sealing and protecting it from enemy attacks and confining the odd quartet indefinitely.

Book 2-The countdown begins-Chapter 2

2008-11-10T21:14:00.005+08:00

"Salam Alaikum! Mom, I'm home, and I've brought Azrun along…!" greeted Faizul from the front door.

"Wa Alaikum Salam, well there you are! You've had me and your father worried sick, Angah!" exclaimed the very relieved Datin Maznah before proceeding to lovingly hug her son, making the nine-year-old suddenly found his tired eyes somewhat watery at that point, something that the caring Datuk Badruddin had noticed.

He then kindly approached the young boy, shook hands with him and patted him on his back, grinning as the over protective Datin Maznah continued to fuss over her clearly embarrassed child.

"I'm alright, I'm alright Mom! Now can I please take my shoes off first?" pleaded the sheepish Faizul, his face flushed with embarrassment.

A heartfelt laughter ensued around the marbled entrance of the house a second later, gladly as the two quietly took off their shoes and walked towards the living room, pleasantly bumping into Faizul's bouncing baby brother Osman as they walked.

"Hi Maman, how are you today? Now don't pee on me again, okay?" greeted Faizul to his gibbering, over excited baby brother, lifting him up from the glistening floor and placed his drooling sibling on his right shoulder.

Unfortunately, an infant as he was at that moment, the little tot only did exactly what his brother didn't want him to…

"Ah man, not again! Mom, he's peeing on my shirt, again! Mom!" the ten-year-old shouted regrettably, just seconds before the darling little angel succeeded in grabbing his priceless red cap off his head and decided to droll on it, prompting his older brother to participate in a memorable squabble for his little headpiece.

And another bout of merry laughter immediately filled the living room as the blissful squabbling quietly went under way.

"Heheh, you should thank God you only have one baby to worry about right there, Faizul! I had to deal with two of them, can you imagine that Faizul? It's double trouble all the way, heh heh!" quipped the grinning Azrun to his friend, laughing as he watched the baby drooled playfully over his friend's priceless property at the same time.

"Hey stop drooling on my cap, okay! Please, don't remind me Azrun…! I'm really glad my mother didn't get any twins in the first place, much to the disappointment of my Dad that is, heh!" he softly replied while wiping off the fresh saliva from his cap.

"Well that's enough amusement for you two right now. It’s time for your diaper change," remarked his smiling mother before taking the baby away from the very relieved Faizul, and his snickering friend.

"Now both of you please go upstairs and wash yourselves, your dinner’s getting cold... (Sigh) It’s a good thing I've thought about cooking extra rice just for tonight you two, and not like what this old man here told me to do! Why I remember this one time when you're still a baby-"

"Yes Mom, we're going, we're going!" Faizul fearfully replied, realizing his mother was about to start off on a long, boring voyage to the past, and the thought of listening to it one more time was the last thing he wanted to endure!

"We're sorry, but due to unavoidable difficulties, this module is only functional until Level 33. For safety, please vacate the module immediately," notified the MDM's interactive computer generated female voice to the five passengers.

"I thought so," remarked the President. "The Shudwa Dumanta had sabotaged this secret backup tube as well. We'll have to go on foot from here to the next chamber, men," he said again.

"The coast is clear Mr. President, you wait here, Sir!" said one of the President's bodyguards to him, seconds before the door opened itself and that man poked his charged up nozzle to the empty, dimly lit corridor, his eyes peeled and his ears pricked.

"The coast is clear Mr. President!" he said to his employer moments later, seconds before the presidential entourage made their way through the seemingly abandoned corridor abuzz with alarms and sirens.

"It looks empty and deserted Mr. President, no one seems to be around," said another bodyguard to him, as he mundanely scanned the deserted corridor.

"Don't jump to conclusions too soon now, Mr. Imsztar! According to what the sword had told me, this is where they first appeared and dispersed throughout the building, and the Shudwa Dumanta rarely moves away from their point of origin without leaving a bloody mess nearby, so lets just proceed to the next secret MDM as soon as possible my friends," replied his employer hastily, while fine-tuning his helmet's scanners yet again, trying hard not to be surprised by anything anymore this time.

The President was right.

Shortly after the wary company of five had made their way further and further down the poorly illuminated corridor, saved only for the flickering red light from the alarm bulbs glowing along the walls as their source of light, only then did they witnessed the extent of their enemy’s brutality!

"Halma Hera! God, what have they done to these people?! (Sigh) These, these were civilians, damn it! And some of them didn't even fight back! (Sigh) They shouldn't have taken them like this! It’s, it’s not right!" lamented one of the guards towards the image of the blood-spattered walls and the severely mutilated bodies of the planet's civil servants lying alongside of it, and even more from the dark chambers of their workplace!

Out of concerns over his employee’s state of mind, the President replied:

"These people were merely appropriate raw materials lying around within reach for them to make their presence officially known, Mr. Svanua, proud like they have always been time and again!”

His fellow security guards silently nodded, almost in unison.

“And even though they could have just taken the easy way in, warping right in my office, rip my head off and vanish the way they came, they (sigh) they still wanted to leave their mark, even if it meant doing everything the messy way, like this here incursion today! And now you see how ruthless, egotistical and stupid that Legion are," he pressed on.

"We’ll avenge their deeds when all this is over, Mr. President! We will surround them and eradicate them once and for all!" vowed another guardsman from behind the masked politician, emotionally affected by the sight of the brutal killings all around him.

"If we can get out of here alive, Mr. Faistar! I know them too well to booby trap every MDM they could find or place trip wires across every corridor, Mr. Faistar, so keep both your physical and mental eyes peeled! That’s not an option," snapped the President before venturing deeper into the blood-bedewed corridor.

Suddenly they heard a small tumbling sound coming from an overturned office machine nearby, making the jumpy five quickly and fearfully charged up their formidable weapons and nervously locked-on it as a target, wholeheartedly expecting yet another bloody conflict to come rolling in their way any moment now!

Fortunately, it did not come to past.

"…No, please! Don't shoot! I want my Mommy!" pleaded a little voice from behind the machine, a shaky, fear-ridden voice of a terrified little girl, crying as she peered nervously out of it.

The masked politician quickly ordered his men to lower their weapons and slowly approached the malfunctioned machine, repeatedly asking the little girl to come out from there.

"No! I don’t want to be caught by those glowing eyed monsters! They killed my father, and now they’re after me!" she shouted defensively before retracting her head back into the device, praying tearfully in Haluniana seconds later.

The President quietly smiled to himself, unfastened his bulky mask and lowered down his glowing sword.

"Pristicya, kaley youn zanaydia minya nar. (Dear sweet child, there's nothing to be afraid of now) Koeyrst kranaz tikiarana, (Those red-eyed monsters are gone now,)" called the President towards that girl in her mother tongue, fluently as if he is a Halun born and bred.

And for a moment, there was silence. Then,

"Quskwana tayestitsia? (You promise me it's safe now?)" she asked him back, sounding a little braver now.

"Iquskwa, (I promise)" he kindly replied, seconds before the little girl slowly crawled out of the machine and straight into the warm embrace of the unmasked President.

"Come on now, let’s continue,” he commanded his highly impressed sentinels, seconds before putting his mask back on and started walking alongside the beautiful young girl.

"Gee Sir, I never knew you could speak Haluniana so fluently back there… heck, it reminded me how the old Emperor would address us when he's still alive a few centuries ago…and for someone who doesn’t have a family, the way you handled a scared child like that, it's truly remarkable Sir!" remarked one of his loyal guards.

Smiling, the President turned around to him and said:

"So, you finally admit you’re a Halun-Amunska my lowly Guardian friend!"

The employee in question immediately blushed.

In the language of Haluniana, Halun-Amunska is an honorary title reserved only for those of a Grax/Halunian breed, but unfortunately, in the colloquial version of the modern Lingua-the official language of the planet-it is also the highest form of insult or vulgar word a Grax could give each other!

"And we all know the Haluns considered it as quite an honour to be born one, Mr. Anthuna," he pestered him again.

"Er, yes, I know that Sir. But frankly Sir, I 'm happy where I am at right now. I have no regrets," replied the blushing security guard.

The President shook his head hopelessly at his reply.

"But still, (sigh) but still it's a shame you ended up as just another bodyguard Mr. Anthuna, why with your birthright alone you could have become one of my most respected senators, or more," the President lamented, much to the apparent embarrassment of his employee.

"Well, to tell you the truth Mr. President, I…I became your guard just so I could escape being reminded of that title, Sir, heh! My old stomping ground didn't treat us Grixna-Srixnas* ('Half-Grax' originally, or 'Half-Wit' in slang, whichever comes first) fairly when I was growing up, so that means, er, you know what I mean, Mr. President Sir," he bluntly replied despite his flushing red cheeks.

And the masked President merely laughed at his excuses, knowing very well how true his bodyguard’s words were.

Then suddenly, as the party of six approached the main lobby of the current floor: a high ceiling chamber decorated with intricate crystalline artworks, the frightened little girl immediately clutched and tugged at his flag cloak, seconds before looking up to her rescuer with a terror riddled face.

And the President, knowing very well the message she tried to convey, swiftly unsheathed his glowing sword and ordered his men to slow down their advances, charge up their weapons real fast, and be on the lookout for any strange life force signatures, for they were now only moments away from their enemies; and the chance for another bloody confrontation had just gotten higher again!

Another conflict beckoned the six shortly after.

"Selamat Pagi Malaysia (Good Morning Malaysia)!" shouted the flying Indian from his furious machine as the two formidable vehicles were now within the scopes of all enemy war machines surrounding the grand military base on the legendary hill, watching as the hilltop dilapidated bungalow house loomed nearer and nearer to the eyes of the courageous four.

"Azrun, I hope you still know what you're doing up here, we couldn’t afford any second thoughts now!" his muscular best friend reminded him half-heartedly from behind the steering wheel of the ATV while recharging its earth shattering cannons at the same time.

And when it was done, he wantonly dispatched its destructive contents across the enemy lines, watching as some of the smaller vehicles unfortunate enough to have crossed its furious path at that moment to instantly tumble away in a great ball of fire.

"Yes, Faizul, its all one-way-street from here. Time to end this madness," came the confident reply, as the moustached soldier in question stood on a platform that popped out through the mid-section of the ATV and began spraying his cannon's ammunition at point blank range, disregarding his vulnerability.

"Ayoyo Professor! Is that guy down there really nuts or what?" exclaimed the fearful Salman from his 'Abby Sarafina', rubbing his eyes several times just to make sure he wasn’t really seeing things.

"Well, duh! He's protected by the ATV's secondary defence grid like we all are,” replied the grey haired man through the radio, hinting a tone of dismay.

“Have you forgotten I've amplified all the power from our reserves and patched it through to our souped-up defence grid? Now, all our defence fields are thirty times stronger than what those puny machines could throw at us, hah!"

"But, wouldn't we be having lots of problems when our energy reserves run dry Professor? And why do-?" he asked while successfully bringing down an unmanned chopper from mid air.

"Heh, I remember my mother said to always bring an umbrella before it rains, so while you’re still in the toilet back there Salman, and these two were fighting over where should we go next, I've secretly replaced all our obsolete solar energy cells with a few barrels of-guess what? The multi-purpose 'Khersani Putih' energy rods, aha!"

"What? Hey! You just can't be serious there, Professor!" exclaimed Salman. "You mean to say our vehicles are now powered by the ultimate technological wonder that only came last year? I must be dreaming…am I?" he said again while activating his vehicle's power gauge from his on-board terminal just to satisfy his curiosity.

"Yep! The ultimate, omni usage, energy cell that never runs dry and never needs recharging! Successfully developed nine years ago by the Seventh Sector Lab, currently fetching some cool twelve million Ringgit apiece in the government market, and even more in the Golok River black arms market, bah!" exclaimed the old man from his uncomfortable seat at the backside of the ATV.

"Heh, I'm glad you decided to tag along with us, old man! You sure know how to break into good news on a short notice, eh? So what the heck are waiting here for my friends, an invitation from the Angels? Lets plough the road!" exclaimed the red headed Faizul, seconds before hitting his worn gas pedal even harder than before.

"Yes, lets do it, my friends! For the missing glory of this country, for our sacred wish of fluttering our Jalur Gemilang once again, and f-" replied his patriotic best friend from the sky window, firing his formidable weapon relentlessly at the same time seconds before his sentence was stopped short by his airborne friend.

"-And for the freedom of every Malaysian to idolize their favourite female singers, whether bereft or abound with looks, charisma and talent, and also through the showmanship that she shows on stage! A-ha!" the light-hearted Salman gleefully reconnected his words, grinning as he gunned down another high-speed fighter drone at the same time.

And with a long, sarcastic "Yeah, right!" remarks from down below him, the relentless quartet blazed through the quiet land and air even more thoughtlessly than before, leaving a trail of awesome devastation in their wake for their whole country to see…

Things were certainly looking up for them.

Book 2-The countdown begins-Chapter 1

2008-11-10T20:38:00.009+08:00

"Home sweet home," muttered the muscular Faizul to himself from the rooftop of an abandoned building one early morning, watching in mixed feelings as the famed Seri Tiang Estate, a ruinous settlement of both his and his moustached best friend’s past, slowly unveiled itself from the darkness:

The resting place of all his happiness…

"Come on, Faizul. You can't still be sad after all these years, my friend," came a voice from behind him.

The well built soldier slowly turned back to see the one with the voice. And in the dimness of the early dawn, he saw the moderate figure of a male Indian smiling back at him; his perfect set of teeth gave his location away.

Once he recognized the face, Faizul gladly smiled back at him and resumed his half-hearted gaze. The easygoing Indian guy immediately sat next to him, trying to admire the desolate scenery for a moment.

"Well so tell me Salleh, err Sulaiman, err I mean er, erm, what's your name again?" Faizul asked the brown skinned one a moment later.

"Salman, Salman Khan," he replied.

"Oh, yes, Salman, the name sounds quite familiar though, man these memory problems are getting on my nerves…er, you're from the Tangkak Division, right?"

"No, Batu Pahat. We used to be two hundred, but after last week’s ambush, the thirteen of us got separated. I was trying to find them when I found you…my twin brother’s one of them…" he replied, hinting a sad undertone towards the end.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, Salman. Well, for the record, we, the Muarian Division used to be seven hundred strong, but now it’s just the two of us, heh heh!” Faizul replied.

"But I’ve noticed you looked so sad since we got here, Faizul. What’s wrong?" quietly asked the brown skinned guy after noticing the recent positive feelings had departed from the burly Faizul a second too soon.

Disappointingly, he didn't answer him straight away, ignorantly resuming his unfocused stare towards the barren stump of a hill at the outskirts of the housing estate, the one with a given weird name of The Hill of Nocturnal Lights. And unlike its surrounding area of empty wasteland, that one hill was a designated major deployment base belonging to the iron-fisted government, bustling with military activities.

"Do you see that hill with that house over there, Salman? The one we’re about to risk our lives for at daybreak?" he asked his friend a short while later, referring to the aforementioned hill crawling with gruesome war machines.

"Yeah…‘The Funeral Parlour', 'Suicide Heights', and National Security’s Sector 39 Sigma Delta... God, I can’t believe it’s bigger and busier than I thought! And if it wasn’t for my trainings, I’d never let my precious 'Abby Sarafina' to go near it, Faizul!

She’s the light of my life, you know," he muttered beside the big guy, sounding somewhat hopeless romantic at the end of it.

"Huh, 'Abby Sarafina' you say?" exclaimed the one with the bandanna all the sudden, reactively scratching his bare nape at the same time. "Heh, you mean to say you gave that big, mean, flying machine of yours,”

“Er, it’s a prototype Sky Bike actually,” remarked the Indian.

“Whatever; I mean, the one that single-handedly downed nearly two hundred SRUs the last time, the name of that girl?! Heh, well now I've seen and heard everything my friend! (Snicker)" he remarked sarcastically, much to the subtle looks of dismay from his brown skinned friend.

"Hey, I resent that!" exclaimed Salman, frowning. "I still think she's God's gift to our country, Faizul! She has an un-engineered face, a golden voice, an easygoing personality… Why, I even dare say she sang a million times better than that senile old timer Siti Nurhafiza!"

"Well I dare you my friend! That little half-baked girl couldn't sing her way out of a malfunctioning microwave oven! (Snicker) And yet they let her sing in the Exaltation Club? (A famous black-tie VIP club in Putrajaya, frequented by the President) (Snigger)

Why her voice is so ‘flat-lined’ she could turn me into a zombie SRU anytime, seriously! Heheh," the grinning Faizul dared his fuming comrade.

"You're on, my friend! And the loser will ask that senile Grandma for a date!" he replied, while opening up his right palm.

"In the condemned, KL Tower's revolving restaurant!" he punched his friend's open palm.

"Deal!" both of them shouted, fists clenched, laughing out loud.

"Hey, what's up Azrun? Why are you stopping all the sudden?" asked the ten-year-old boy to his best friend after alighting from the town's public transport bus.

"I, I thought I heard a laughter Faizul, a laughter of two guys just now…(sigh) It’s gone now, I think," he replied, looking wary over his dim surroundings.

"Oh man, these Trans-Dimensional Implosions are getting closer and closer by the minute! We'd better get moving, Azrun! It's already eleven-thirty, my Mom must be worried sick again, and they still haven't fixed the streetlight yet! (Sigh)" said the red capped boy, as the two of them slowly left the quaint little bus stop at the foot of the legendary hill and made their exhaustive way up the lone hilltop mansion.

“Yep, that Faizul’s having his quirky moments again! Heheh!” muttered the cynical Azrun in reaction to his best friend’s remark.

"Mr. President, Mr. President! Please come to Mt. Suruna Observatory immediately! It's important you should see this, Sir!" requested the young presidential staff in white flag cloak through the flickering Vidphone in the gloomy hexagonal room of the man in question.

"I'll be right there, Mr. Stakri, just, just stay where you are…" came a faceless reply from the darkened room.

Moments later,

"You sounded so nervous in the Vidphone, Mr. Stakri. What’s the problem?" asked the masked politician immediately after stepping out of the Long-range MDM transport module.

"There's, there's something not, n-n-not right happening on P-p-planet Earth, S-s-sir! Please take a look at this," the intern promptly but nervously replied while activating a holographic screen from the centre of the metallic table.

The young Ganymedian then immediately began his lengthy explanation to his curious employer, spilling the cause of his concerns without restraints, resulting in the latter to become quite worried over the times.

"This is the data we’ve received from our long range probes just five minutes ago. At first the readings were quit mixed, but after double scanning the planet's Van Allen belt and re-EQ-ing the broad range mezonic sweep over the planet’s polar regions, this is what we found:

An extreme fluctuations of the gravitonic aura in the ionosphere, and the appearance of abnormal cosmic fields in both polar regions!"

"No, this can't be," muttered the President.

"And it's not only that, Sir, t-t-there's more!" the intern said again, while showing the image of the House of Shairo, an ancient edifice housing the life essence of the Great Shairo, buried deep under two miles thick packed ice, being encased in a strange sphere of disorienting light patterns.

The President quickly rubbed his eyes in disbelief and unknowingly unsealed his mask, revealing a face now pale and lifeless.

"No, this can't be happening…not now, please God, not now," he muttered yet again. "Mr. President, our sensors couldn't even make a scratch of what's going on in there, that thing just kept bouncing off all our scanning waves! I wonder if-"

"No, you’ve done the right thing by calling me, and yes, it's not something our technology can remedy, Mr. Stakri! This thing couldn’t have come at the worst of times!" he replied, half-shaking from fright and anger.

He then returned to the previous MDM and put his helmet back on.

“But Sir, what, am I, s-s-supposed to do now?” the lowly staff asked him back.

“You’ve done more than enough on your part, my friend! Keep monitoring the phenomena and inform me of any development. Thank you, Mr. Stakri…" replied the President before the glowing tube of energy forming inside the MDM tube carried his living particles back to his office.

"Attention! Incoming communication from the President of Ganymede to Ambassador Murad! We are awaiting your direct response," came a computer generated male voice reverberating inside the second floor room of House Number 38.

"Ho, boy…it’s time to deliver the message, Pixa," muttered the Puxuvian officer as he readied himself for a fated dialogue with the emotionless face of the humanoid President in front of him.

Whereas back on Earth, or more precisely, the penthouse of the hundred storey high Federal Government Office:

"Computer! Activate Code Black 31 security channel protocol to contact points three-niner zero and eleven hundred thirty two, identification password ‘Messiah Alpha’," requested the shady smoking man to a glowing screen on his table, earnestly lighting another stick as he talked.

"Identification password confirmed. Accessing location codes…" replied the computer generated female voice, followed seconds later by the appearance of a holographic curtain hovering before the table, bearing shady images of two top ranking government officials sitting in their respective offices; signalling the beginning of a conversation between the three shadowy characters.

Once the computer had processed the transmission data, the three of them simultaneously stood up, raised their right hands and recited something in the ancient language of the Xnrene.

"Hail to all darkness, destruction and chaos! Eternally I impart praises and servitude to Shaik the Fallen One! And glorious be forevermore the Shudwa Dumanta Legion under his name and my soul!"

The three of them sat.

"Lord Absonikta! It’s always a pleasure to see you again," said the saluting first image of a soldier, his metallic appliqués and stripes gleamed proudly below his shadowy face.

"As you were, Admiral Krellick. And likewise my friend, likewise," the former replied, his face glistening with smiles.

The shadowy figure then began his conversation after spewing another pall of smoke from his smiling mouth.

"Admiral Krellick, Viceroy Admantia, despite the earlier setbacks, we’re now within schedule again. Our True Leader will be released anon and we shall once again serve him in our darkest of glory. And since I’m a legionnaire of my word, I’ll see that both of your contributions are noted by him."

"Well, thank you, Lord Absonikta. But I'm afraid I’m not much of a glory seeker, Sir," replied the embarrassed Admiral, breaking into a faint smile.

“I was just doing my ‘duty’ to say the least…and since the 31st of August is tomorrow I… I just want our Leader back, that’s all. I live only to serve him.”

"Our Admiral is just being modest, my Lord," seconded the Viceroy, while brushing off the lint from his lab coat.

"But it’s true there are some more tasks I’ve to do myself, that bug in that TDIG plate to iron out, mopping up that glitch in the BSMET Crystal (Biomechanical Synapto-Magnetic Echo Tracer, capable of locking onto stray life readings in any given dimension) et cetera…(sigh)

But I won’t bore you with details, my Lord! Let’s just say we finally have a reason to celebrate this month’s ending before we end this world the next!" the Viceroy seconded again, flashing a toothy grin.

And the one called Lord Absonikta seemed happy with the scientist's confident words, as he slowly decreased the reclining angle of his chair, resumed his half-hearted smoking and stared aimlessly at the dark ceiling next.

"(Sigh) If only our Exalted Leader is with us right now, you two, in our hour of triumph…stakamuana!

Even as we speak my friends, I still can’t believe he’s helplessly imprisoned somewhere within that dimension, drifting into oblivion like flotsam when it is them who should be-! And not-! (Sigh) And how I rue the fact we weren’t there when it happened! Damn you, impudent wretches!" he angrily exclaimed in between his heartfelt tears.

And the silent two dolefully bowed down their heads, sympathetic to their superior's bearing.

Then his sadness left him.

"Oh how these terrible visions troubled my every wakeful hours, you two! And how I would give for a chance to wring their guts out their puny mouths before I hand over what’s left of them to our Great Leader! Then we’ll see if their magical powers can save them from his wrath, those meddlesome imps!!!" he exclaimed angrily once more to his two partners-in-crime, envisioning their frail, bloodied bodies held tightly inside his clenched fists as he spoke.

Silence immediately descended over the shadowy chamber as the trio shared a furious look, gritting hard their weathered lips as the one called Lord Absonikta inhaled still more palls of smoke into his lungs.

"Rest assured Lord Absonikta; your long festering wish of vengeance is almost at hand!" replied the Admiral after sporting a smear of blood on his lower lip.

"Yes, and no one in the universe would stop us now, hah!" seconded the sinister scientist.

And the three Dark Servants immediately broke into a full blown, eerie bout of laughter, a black-hearted unison of spine chilling alien voices both cruel and inhuman; an infernal chorus of the purest of evil!

"…Well, that's all there is to say, Mr. President. I'm sorry if I can't enlighten you anymore with what, what I think the Ambassador is trying to do right now. I can only pray they’d be successful in halting the Shudwa Dumanta’s Trans-Dimensional Implosions before it all hits the fan," the Cartographer wrapped up his half-hearted report.

Reactively, the President was silent, speechless beyond reason.

"(Sigh) Why, Khaliq? Why do you always burden yourself?" he muttered to himself, looking so hopelessly sad at the same time.

The Puxuvian can only lower his head in silence at this point, empathetic to the humanoid politician's feelings.

"Anyway, we can't just take these things lying down, Mr. Pixa,” he said again. “As we speak, this ominous force field sealing the Great Guardians’ place, timed with the Ambassador’s disappearance are rapidly spreading concerns among the Delegates, and we both know how well panic breeds in situations like this! (Sigh)”

For a moment, there was silence.

“Oh, Mr. Pixa, if only we-what the!" remarked the President as a prelude to a chaotic situation which had suddenly materialized outside his gloomy office.

And for the first time in a million years, the rusting early warning alarm system bellowed its repetitive, haunting sounds—signalling an unwanted hostile presence inside the colossal administration building!

"W-w-what's, what's happening in there, Mr. President? What's, what's with the alarm?" the Cartographer nervously asked after overhearing the same haunting alarm from his speakers.

Even so the befuddled politician, in his seemingly divided state of mind, couldn't find it in his heart to entertain the Ephron Guardian's burning questions; but then again, he didn’t have to!

"Attention all personnel!” shouted one clearly befuddled security officer in the midst of the alarm. “Attention all personnel! Enemy intruders detected in all sectors! This is a code red emergency!”

“Oh God, how did I not see it coming!” lamented the masked politician.

“I repeat! Enemy intru-argh!!!” screamed the aforementioned officer into the building’s extremely sensitive PA terminal, loudly as he was shot and brutally dismembered by his unknown assailants—an overture of the ensuing panic!

Fearful and breathing hard, the President quickly grabbed hold of his Proof of Presidency (the ancient, magical Sword of Wisdom, a gift from the Xnrenes to the ancestors of the Grax) from under his table, activated the in-built, broad spectrum scanner behind the opaque screen of his mask and immediately looked quite wary over his surrounding.

The ever-loyal Presidential Guards only made their appearances felt around him twenty seconds later.

"Mr. President, enemy forces are here, there's no time, we have to-," said the leader of the team.

"And what do you think I’m trying to do, Mr. Faistar? A Fulakahaana? (Halunian Fertility Dance) (Sigh)” scolded the President to his top security personnel.

“I'm sorry to cut short our conversations, Mr. Pixa, but the Shudwa Dumanta is here," said the President to the earthbound officer shortly after.

Fear immediately streaked across the Puxuvian's fluid encased face.

"It's…have…why…go! I'm…it’s…seeing…bad…when…all…" and suddenly the distorted image of the Ganymedian disappeared behind the static filled screen.

“Good Luck, Mr. President,” said the saluting, mournful Cartographer, sighing before the impending dark times...

"…Azrun, look out!!!" screamed the red capped boy after a scary looking battle tank suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was fast approaching his unsuspecting friend!

And understandably, the white-shirted boy was unable to move…

Instinctively Faizul lunged straight at the scared stiff friend of his, pulled him out of harm's way, and together they quickly long-jumped away from the scene; finding the soft, grassy soil of the bushes dampening their dive to safety.

"Man I'm glad you're our track and field champion Faizul, that was a real close one! Heheh, I nearly went flat as a pancake back there man, sheesh!" said the grateful Azrun as he peered nervously out of the dimly lit bush.

Then suddenly, something came over the ten-year-old boy's inquisitive mind, something that made him scratched his hairy nape furiously a second later.

"Say Azrun, isn't that the same vehicle we had-?" he stopped short into asking his friend, vividly recalling the shape of that tank as he talked.

He then turned around to ask him again, but from the expression on that boy’s face, it was clear to him now that the nervous Azrun was also thinking of the same thing!

"Well y-yeah, I t-t-think so too F-f-faizul! That's the s-s-same tank we saw in the other realm, right?" exclaimed his fearful friend shortly after.

Dying with curiosity albeit not fully recovered from their previous fright, the pair gingerly made their way back to the dry asphalt, intending to glimpse that technological monstrosity once again.

"Hey, what gives Faizul? W-where, where did it go?" exclaimed the puzzled Azrun moments later, gleaming over what was left of the war machine’s tracks five metres away from where they encountered it.

"I’d tell you if I know Azrun; I'm still as fuzzy as you are!" replied his saturated friend as he stood at the side of the road where everything appeared to be unaffected by the gigantic war machine.

“(Sigh) But wherever it is right now, I’m sure we won’t see the last of it Azrun,” he said again, seconded nervously by the white-shirted Azrun.

And after minutes of investigation, the two boys had deduced that the vehicle suddenly materialized out of nowhere somewhere up the hill, travelled downward for about ten meters and then completely disappeared from sight just five meters from where they have encountered it—but even so there were still lingering fears in their head about having this same encounter again any moment now!

"(Sigh) Let's get out of here before it appears again, Azrun… and don't you crack your brain up till we get to my house, ok? I haven’t got any Super Glue in my bag to patch it up again, heheh!" persuaded his faithful friend before producing a planet wide grin in the foreground of the badly illuminated street just for the slightly younger best friend of his to see.

Seeing that ever popular facial expression forming on Faizul’s face, the exhausted looking nine-year-old quickly replied his best friend's grin with his own, seconds before the two resumed their tiresome walk up the winding road and into the only house standing over the legendary hill:

A double-story bungalow by the name of Portal Kayangan, a silent minstrel of many stories…

"…Dey Thamby, where do you think you're going!" exclaimed the excited Salman aboard his flying machine before relentlessly peppering a disorganized, fleeing SRU unit with blinding, disruptive energy beams from the warplane’s many gun turrets.

He then noticed a partially hidden SRU infantryman trying to get a lock-on at his friends’ invisible ATV with a deadly Mercurochrome howitzer and sped off to confront that mindless soldier.

Once there he joyfully commenced a breathtaking stunt in mid-air by turning off all his afterburners (disregarding the Boolean’s principle of air pressure and countless of other laws of Physics) until his vehicle hurtled down like a rock and then, once he was barely two metres above the unsuspecting soldier he activated his anti-gravity pads in silent pulses and made his ‘Abby Sarafina’ hovered just inches above him—all in five short seconds!

"Yennadey, you're gonna regret that! Take this!" he shouted from behind his cockpit while discharging a high voltage electro bomb from his bottom compartment; watching as it accurately landed on top of that unfortunate zombie’s head and exploded into a thunderball upon contact and then sped off into the sky again!

"Yee ha! The SRU has left the building!" he shouted, seconds after the soldier in question were fried over and over again by his electrical bomb, squirming and rolling around like a worm in a hot pan before dying a desiccating death.

"Hey, nice piece of work you did there…! Thanks for the cover, Salman," shouted the muscular driver of the ATV to his airborne comrade through the radio.

The brown skinned daredevil quickly responded by flashing a V shaped sign from his cockpit as he streaked above the rumbling ATV.

"So my boy, have you succeeded in jamming the National Security's comm. channels like I asked?" asked the Professor from the back of the rumbling ATV, looking perfectly at ease as he furiously tinkled over his portable hyper computer hovering above his lap.

"Well yes Professor, I have scrambled all the frequencies used by the SRUs and the HANTUs in this vicinity into static, we’re now beyond the scopes of their sky trackers indefinitely," replied the moustached Azrun while trying to make his way towards the backside amidst the vibrations.

The grey haired scientist only smiled silently back at him as he resumed his ultra fast tinkling over the ergonomic keyboard, his glassy eyes glued attentively before the glowing monitor as he typed in complex mathematical phrases into the CPU.

"Er, so what are you trying to do now, Professor?" he asked the deeply engrossed genius seconds later, feeling strangely curious over the old man's feverish typing speed and his undivided enthusiasm towards the glowing monitor.

"Eh? Oh, it’s you again! Well…heheh! I was just about to do something I've been dying to try out, my boy! In five minutes time, you’ll bear witness that the ultra untamperable stealth technology of the National Security Goons, is not all that it's cracked up to be, heheh!" the old man replied.

"Huh, did you hear that Azrun? Heh, now there's something you don't get to hear everyday," quipped the muscular Faizul from the driver’s seat.

The greying Professor smiled.

"…And now, by re-inputting the standard security protocol on reverse, coupled with a pinch of perverse ingenuity, a dash of universal, high class reformatting variables, and a lot of fractured binary codes in all the right places, especially where it hurts the most, then voila!

The overrated SRUs will be as visible as ugly fat scientists wearing pink tutus on Valentine’s Day!" the Professor ended his dumbed-down technical explanations delightfully, watching as Azrun’s enthusiastic eyes immediately lit up with stars.

"Wow, can you really do that, Professor? We’ve been bashing our brains out trying to find their weak spot for years now, and here you are going through it in less than an hour! How did you do that, Professor?" asked the enthusiastic Azrun, his mind saturated with question marks.

"Well, duh! I'm the one who designed their entire schematics in the first place, remember? And luckily none of my colleagues were smart enough to reformat it, those ass-kissing creeps, heh heh!" the Professor replied, grinning like a mischievous boy about to catapult a water bomb to the girl next door.

"So when can we see all these over-technical mumbo-jumbo watchamacallit happening, old man? This mean war machine right here (referring to himself) doesn't tolerate hot air, you see!" asked the impatient driver from the front while coolly manoeuvring through enemy fires and returning fire at the same time.

"Have patience, my boy! I'm almost, there… just a little bit more…and…Bingo! The lumbering dance troupe are now onstage, hah!" the Professor shouted moments later.

At once the previously invisible soldiers tracking them all across the hilly area were now visible to the naked eyes, moments before they reacted violently to the sun and dropped down en-masse to the ground like drummer bunnies out of batteries!

"Hey look! They’re all grinding to a stop! Can somebody tell me what’s going on here? I think I'm getting light on my feet again, heh heh!" asked the airborne Indian to his road racing allies down below, puzzled he seemed to be over the SRUs’ unexpected reaction to sunlight.

"Elementally my dear Salman,” replied the over excited scientist. "The light-bending technology they use is really quite unstable so to speak, for if we’re to tweak it just a little bit to the left and BOOM! The Bio-Mechanical Photonic Deflector would turn inward and burns your entire system with an overload of solar energy! (Snicker)”

Immediately the trio felt all their gnawing curiosity melted away by the Professor’s explanation.

And the big, sweaty Faizul rolled his tired eyes yet again.

"Well then how come we’re still living and breathing after you've pulled out their stealth plug, old man? Won’t we be frying in our underpants like the rest of them anytime soon?" he asked later on.

"All these SRUs are using different stealth configuration than the one cloaking our crafts, my boy! I’ve seen to it when both of you were chewing the fat over your friend's premonitions back there, secretly reprogrammed our vehicles with a new stealth protocol, my big and burly friend, heh!" replied the strangely calm Professor.

"So who says you’re gonna be frying in your underpants, Faizul? I’d be a skinny vegetarian for life if that should happen to you my boy, heh heh!" quipped the old man after a brief moment of silence, his eyes gleaming with sarcasm.

"(Sigh) Alright, alright, you win Professor! I give up…" replied the emotionally drained Faizul while inputting some sort of command over the dashboard terminal, seconds before resuming his ghostly onslaught around the barren slopes of the legendary hill as if nothing happened.

"Man I sure could use some of those Hyperdol tablets just about now. That old man is driving me bonkers without even trying so hard…what have I done this time God?" sighed the muscular soldier under his breath as his sympathetic best friend snickered at him, effortlessly helming the formidable ATV as it rampaged through the denuded hill thoughtlessly en-route to its heavily guarded destination, with the formidable Sky Bike with a strangely effeminate name tailing behind it.

And the two dynamic vehicles raged on.

Meanwhile, back inside the gloomy room of the shadowy man, the news of a fresh insurgence occurring near the abandoned town of Semarak Jaya had just reached his dimly lit table.

"Er, can you, (snigger) present your report to me again, Miss Khalida? I just love the way you make your report, my dear. Your report makes even a very bad news sounds so good sometimes, heheh," he asked his top ranking intelligence officer lovingly, looking strangely jovial in the wake of this supposed-to-be-bad news.

"Er, yes Sir… Our long-range spy satellite had minutes ago confirmed report of an assault carried out by two stealth vehicles, one unregistered, one seems to be a recent addition to our, er, ever growing 'Missing Vehicles' list…over at Sector 39 Sigma Delta, possibly launched by remnants of the notorious ‘Wira Gapura Selatan’, the Johorean branch of the ‘Heart Landers’ Movement.

Although I, personally didn't want to take it seriously at first when the information regarding this attack came to my desk a moment ago, but after I realised their point of interest was our deployment base, er, unlike most of their previous offensives, I, decided to forward this to you as fast as I can, knowing it’s better that I brought it straight to you rather than my dumb superiors…(sigh)

Er, I hope this will not affect much of your busy schedules, Sir. That's all I have to report," remarked the intelligence officer while trying not to abuse her authority at the same time.

Satisfied, the shadowy man gave himself a laugh and proceeded to grope her at the most inappropriate of places next.

"Well not exactly, my dear. There’s always time for everything when you’re at the top…I thought you’d realized this by now, Miss Khalida," the mysterious man kindly replied, as he walked around her and earnestly caressed her petite shoulders.

Their feelings unrestrained, the employer and employee immediately exchanged rapturous kisses a moment later, sensing and welcoming every arriving touch and caresses within the confines of that four walled room with the greatest of fancy.

"Er, so what happens next, Mr. President? What were the measures taken to accost this?" asked the enraptured spy to her employer as the latter placed his arms around her neck and stroked her jet-black hair.

"Please, be informal for once," he kindly replied in between his warm embracing. "I've already come up with my best of plans to address them, Khalida my dear…their fate is sealed. But as for you…" he said again, seconds before mounting his smoky lips across her glistening rosebuds yet again.

And with that the two disappeared into the shadows, gently as the dimly lit room got dimmer and dimmer by the moment, signalling the arrival of a moment of passion between the two—an uninhibited act of love between a monster in disguise; and his highly enraptured, totally unsuspecting employee!

Book 1-Under the bleeding flag-Chapter 4

2008-10-04T02:28:00.003+08:00

"Oh, there you are Faizul, Azrun! Well try and make yourselves comfortable now all right? I still have some work to do so you wouldn’t mind waiting for a while, would you?" gently asked the kind woman to the two of them.

"Er, okay, er, Ma’am…! We understand," replied the nervous ten-year-old.

And soon, the two best of friends found themselves standing inside a strange, sunlit crystalline room that resembled both a magnificent throne room and a gigantic greenhouse, filled to the brim with numerous flowering plants, some well known, some quite alien, and dotted in between by strange decorations and fixtures.

Nature loving as he had always been since he could remember, the awestruck ten-year-old unknowingly wandered away from that crystalline door and began admiring some of the nicely pruned flora growing in that chamber, with his smiling best friend quietly tagging along.

"Oh man, I've never seen a hibiscus plant this gorgeous before, Azrun! Man, just look at its flowers! Have you ever seen a hibiscus flower red on the upside and blue and creamy on the underside before? Oh man, how I wish I had this one back home…" he remarked enthusiastically to his like-minded friend, unaware that the mysterious woman had quietly materialized behind them.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? Unfortunately you are ten million years too late to have seen it flourishing on your home world, Faizul. For evolution had sadly ushered its extinction even before the first of your kind managed to glimpse its beauty, just as our Creator intended it to be," replied Great Ellina once again, this time much closer to them than before.

The two boys nervously turned around towards the kind voice coming from behind them, but only to be greeted by the surreal, smiling celestial being herself, standing behind a living, multicoloured veil and robe gleaming in a rainbow of colours and fluttered like the wind, whereas her tender fingers gently stroked the leaves of her well managed plants as she appeared.

Feeling a bit at ease now that they have met their savour, the two boys can only smile faintly back at her, feeling lost at words, watching as the ethereally beautiful woman kissed their innocent faces with her glowing lips as any mother would do to her children and invited them to her throne not far away, making them feeling more and more at ease by her ethereal presence with each passing moment.

She then gracefully spirited herself away towards her tree-like gilded throne, gestured at them to sit on the golden benches appearing on its either side and, once all three had sat, the transparent crystalline walls around them slowly parted by the wave of her fingers, and soon they found themselves under the tender touch of the gentle evening breeze, and the sweetest of serenade from the magnificent birds flying around them.

"Wow, Makcik! You sure know how find a perfect house to live, it's so beautiful up here," commented Azrun a while later, feeling very much at ease over the sights and sounds of this beautiful planet.

"Why, thank you, my child! Your courteous ways will always bring accolades from far and wide, Azrun. Now I know why I see none but fame and fortune in your future, for you truly deserves them Azrun," replied the smiling Great One, hinting a sign of gratitude.

Faizul only snickered back at him, knowing how much his best friend liked to get on everyone’s good sides, and how he excelled in it without even trying so hard.

The Great One then asked about their family, their friends, their school and their parents. And while they talked, her magical employees magically served the two boys with delicious drinks that tasted not of this universe. And as they drink, the duo soon found themselves talking casually and openly to her, acting like three close friends meeting each other again after a long time apart.

Once the Great One had successfully broken the ice, she kindly decided to go straight to the problems facing the chosen two: their still uncertain fate.

"Oh well, I almost forgotten why both of you came here in the first place, (sigh)," she said to them a moment later. "But it’s been such a long time since I had someone from the outside world to talk to Azrun, Faizul, so please forgive this loquacious me if I've digressed too much…!" she said again, with a gentle laugh.

"Oh, it's alright, Ma’am. Everything has been truly wonderful and amazing ever since we got here. Thanks for helping us, Ma’am," answered the smiling Faizul as he continued his drinking, knowing very well the real reason why they came to see her.

And the Guardian of Nature smiled again.

"Er, so, doc, I mean, Professor, erm, there's something I forgot to ask you earlier back there," Azrun said to the old man, as soon as the three of them had finished performing their dawn prayers.

"Well say no more my boy, I know exactly what it is… It’s about your condition, right?" the old man kindly answered back while rolling up his prayer mat and stacking it neatly at its corner.

The curious soldier nodded.

"Yes well, from the moment I’ve received that preliminary physiological readings taken from my PHY-GRAF and the EEG of all your internal systems, I immediately noticed, to my surprise, an indication of quite a normal bodily functions for someone who’s been in the field this long, but of course with only a slight, inconsequential variations to the osmotic pressure in all your main arteries, most probably caused by that not-so-perfect a recovery of that deep gash in your forehead, lets not forgetting that small fluctuation of Melatonin in your lower cerebral cortex, a natural occurrence anyway after a constant exposure to irregular nocturnal/diurnal living habits.

However-"replied the old man without thinking, talking as if he was making a report of his research back in his old days.

Reactively, the two clueless soldiers gave him a blank stare. And the old man suddenly realized that his listeners weren't able to make out any single heads or tails of what he was talking about and decided to dumb down his previous explanation for them.

"Er, I mean there's nothing really wrong about your body at all Azrun! I’m only saying you haven't been eating and sleeping properly for the past week and that caused your body’s systems to shut down back then, and the same could happen to your big and burly friend over here if he doesn’t start watching his ration intake real soon, heh heh!"

Faizul wearily rolled his eyes again, mystified by the old man's sense of humour.

'Er, is that all there is, Professor? I’ve a feeling you've left something out," Azrun asked the old man once again while rolling up his own prayer mat and stacking it at the same corner.

The old man suddenly smiled.

"Oh, it's just some sort of an anomaly I've picked up while I was scanning your body with the Hi-Resolution Spectro-Aural Meter, er, my latest invention actually, hehee! A device that’s capable of isolating stray life force signatures that may inhabit any living organism either by chance or on purpose, but it's nothing serious or life threatening okay; trust me.

And I'll tell you all about it after I've figured out what it meant my boy, have patience for now," replied the old man, smiling confidently at the same time.

And with that the three of them left the praying room.

Meanwhile, at the same time these last two situations occurred, another development was taking place in some distant fringes of a space-time continuum. And this time, it revolved mainly around the curious Envoy of the Union and his uneasy Xnrene friend, who were earlier summoned by the Supreme Council of the Great Guardians of the Universe to appear before them.

"So tell me, Humoga," asked the nervous human to his anxious Lep-Omarchian chaperone as they made their way up the glowing stairway, flanked on the either side by a multitude of transparent, crystalline structures, structures sculpted by celestial magic.

"I've never been to the Council’s Chamber before. Can you disclose just a little bit more, Humoga? I mean how should I present myself? What should I expect? How should I address them?"

The masked Lep-Omarchian momentarily turned his face towards the Diplomat before turning away, took several deep breaths for a moment, and only then did he answered his friend's inquisitive questions!

"There's, there's not much I could add, Khaliq, because you already knew, most of what you really need to, to know. But incidentally, the, the Council's Chamber doesn't really exist in this universe Khaliq, for it's existence only came into being via a collaboration between spiritual elements of the universe, and the psychological manifestations of, of the Great Ones' life essences, being temporarily merged with the known reality via the Emerald Wind," explained the nervous Xnrene.

A silent arrival of confusion immediately filled the Ganymedian's mind, making him wanting to ask his friend several more questions. But just like before, the masked one quickly answered them before he got the chance to ask him.

"No, what I meant was…don’t get me wrong! They are, alive, very much alive, and unlike me who, will only came into being later, they, they were the first among the first, of the planet's inhabitants who willingly allowed themselves to be put under suspended animation until the, err you know what I mean Khaliq, heh heh!"

The Qanqia smiled.

"Yes…And willingly chosen they were to be Guardians of this universe long before its inception, the five great Xnrenes by the name of Shairo, Mu-Adib, Mika, Mikra, and Mikro, soon after their appointment, had had their life essences, and their entire existence; magically encapsulated into five respective life-essence crystals, to be sent into the great void, prior to the apocalyptic beginning, for the five pre-chosen planets scattered all over the galaxy…"Khaliq suddenly started recalling the President's sacred dictations.

"Yes…The Planet Earth, the Comet Chairus, the Moon of Xilem of Planet Ezmen, the Watery World of Puxu, and the Lunar Asteroid of Neuroi, floating between the Planets Pib and Qube," replied his Lep-Omarchian friend, grinning invisibly behind his metallic mask.

The Ambassador nodded.

"They then quietly assumed the image of the chosen intelligent organism of these planets, spiritually guided them into founding their own civilizations and slumbered on upon their completion of that task, letting each of their respective powers, during their peaceful slumber, to unfold steadily across this vast majestic universe of ours; a perpetual allotment act of integrity, order, longevity, and everything in between, into this Creation that we have only recently came to know about," the young Ganymedian continued with his poetic recitation.

His ethereal friend smiled again.

"Yep, the President has taught you well my friend, heh heh! Oh yeah, and there's one more thing you need to remember Khaliq. Remember that once we reached the top of this stairway, the five Great Ones you see before you up there will not be real. And instead, standing in each their respective places, you will only see their, their holographic representations, their doppelgangers so to speak…"

"Huh?" the Ambassador exclaimed.

"But please do not show disrespect to their holographic existence Khaliq, for even though you know you will only be addressing their shadows, your every action would bring outcomes as real as talking to them in person! That, is all I can tell you Khaliq…!”

“Heh, and if I should tell you more than this, I might blow your top off Khaliq, heehee! So please, ask no more of it, okay," continued the young Guardian in a seemingly divided personality, with the first sentence he talked through his glowing eyed face of a serious person, and the following sentence in his normal, nervous self, thus further made the transplanted human feeling more and more concerned.

And even as the Lep-Omarchian had tried his best in making the journey cheerful, the young Ambassador Khaliq was nevertheless quite unmoved from his former self, turning away from his Xnrene friend for the rest of the walk, feeling quite taken aback by these new revelations.

Soon, they've reached the top of the glowing stairs, where the Envoy suddenly felt awestruck, mesmerized beyond reason, still and frozen like he had never been as the unexpected magnificence of the ethereal meeting place manifested itself before his very eyes!

An intricately designed, colossal table made of substance glimmering like stars, hovering proudly above an ethereal plain before a mysterious yet majestic scenery beyond any description.

And to further complement this holy scene, was the sight of the Great Guardians themselves!

Sitting serenely yet proudly around the great mensa, the five supreme beings of the pre-Creation planet, all aglow in their own respective costumes, masks and auras of green, red, blue, grey and yellow, the Great Guardians of the Universe simultaneously gazed upon their sky faring guests and greeted the pair in a language that had virtually disappeared for much of the seventeen billion years time.

Feeling honoured, the two then skilfully executed their memorised Citizens of Xnroe's salutation towards the celestial beings, in response to the fives’ salutations.

"My Friends of the Round Table of Fate, I present to you the Diplomat of the Union, Abdul Khaliq Murad, as you requested," addressed the young Lep-omarchian, trying to keep his shaking down to a minimum at the same time.

"Your punctuality’s quite exceptional today, Great Humoga. There's still hope for you yet, my friend," remarked the seemingly easygoing one called The Great Mikro, which understandably brought about a quiet laughter amongst the Great Ones.

The young Xnrene can only smiled back at them as a mark of respect.

"And e-hem! Er, with the kind permission of the Council; I’d like to take my leave. There's something I need to attend to in my own reality. Aflecktar Kakalectar (Farewell and Be Merry), my friends," he requested to the quorum, shortly before disappearing from the sacred chamber by means of magic.

"Qanqia Khaliq? Do you know the reasons behind you being summoned here?" asked the one called the Great Shairo as the remaining four looked on.

"F-forgive me, O Great Ones. I, I can only guess feebly on what am I supposed to be right now…" replied the Ambassador, honestly but nervously.

"Our time of inopportune has come to the fore way beyond our expectations, Qanqia Khaliq. The threat of the Shudwa Dumanta Legion had once again reached its apocalyptic proportion, looming menacingly before us at the most inappropriate of times. The time when we’re prevented to take matters into our own hands, in line with our vow of neutrality before the Great Crystal Tower; to abstain ourselves from the affairs of the universe until the birth of our Bearers five thousand years from now.

Thus your presence before the five of us today, Qanqia Khaliq," replied the Great Shairo.

"And whereas the maniacal Shaik is thankfully incarcerated still inside the ‘Hidden Layer’, his trusty minions have chanced upon a plan far more sinister and complicated than we have imagined. And by this time around, success seems almost theirs!" replied the Great Mika, the one in the sky blue suit, connecting his green-suited colleague’s words as if on cue.

"What? But how…?" exclaimed the Ambassador, terrified beyond description.

Reactively the Great Mika waved his right arm high above his masked face, summoned a strange glowing screen of pure concentrated energy to appear right before the clueless Ambassador, and showed him all the things that had troubled the five immortal Guardians all these while.

The grey flag-cloaked Guardian, the one by the name of Great Mikra, then began his lengthy explanation on behalf of his four brothers-in-arms, hinting now and then a slightly worrisome undertone in some of his words.

"Qanqia, what you're seeing right now are images of your country in one of the existing parallel dimensions, a cluster of realities known to most of your kind as The Roads Not Taken or The Many Faces of Fate—realities that lead to many different, possible futures.

For many eons we had known about the Shudwa Dumanta's past contacts with the Forbidden Knowledge: A compendium of terrifying magical technologies that had been locked away within our world’s great libraries until Shaik discovered and mastered them all when he was one of us. And the unstable of them all was the Trans Dimensional Implosions Technology, the one that had caused the Chosen Ones much grief.

And we…we had sorely overlooked the fact, that he may had passed on this technology to others under him when he founded the dark legion, that we somehow failed to see its blaring threats…(Sigh)

And that oversight forebears this present situation, Qanqia Khaliq.

A war-torn country seventeen years in the future in which thirty-six grim years have passed it by since countless chains of political differences between the government and the opposition erupted into a full-scale war, all in the stretch of twenty-eight years!

A war branded by the mark of the Shudwa Dumanta in more ways than-"

"What the-a war? In my country, caused by the Dark Legion? But how...? Please, tell me O Great Ones…enlighten me of it!" the Ambassador feverishly asked.

The five mysterious ones suddenly went silent for a while before the one called Great Mikro, the one supposed to be endowed with an outgoing and cheerful personality, gradually loses grip over his 'elements' as he took centre stage on behalf of the council.

"We don't have time to explain in detail, Qanqia, only that the parallel dimensions are analogous to a collection of tubes aligned around the established reality, branching out from the beginning of Creation and destined never to meet but sporadically, they would intersect each other through heavily guarded, designated time-slots.

Naturally, these timelines are insulated from touching each other via an unstable continuum called the ‘Hidden Layer’. Anyone in possession of that Trans-Dimensional Implosion Technology would have limited access to as many timelines as one wishes to be, or to even cruise the chaotic continuum from here to eternity!

Incidentally, as if by some uncalled for miracles, they had stumbled upon this particular reality, the closest one can get to your reality, and decided to execute their evil plans, confidently as they know that your solar system's humanoid Guardians wouldn’t bother them there, the allegiance between solar systems in that galaxy doesn’t exist, and the best part being; your government's internal problems had just taken a turn to the worst, thus it gave them a fertile platform of malevolence from where they could mess around freely with the scheme of things, release the evil Shaik back into our dimension and exacting their long brewing vengeance upon us!"

A sign of confusion began to form across the Ambassador's face.

"Please, O Great Ones, I, I don't understand! W-w-w-where, do I fit in? W-w-what has it got to do with the two Gate Openers and me? A-a-and how-"

"That is all we can tell you, Qanqia Khaliq! We shall waste precious times if this were to be elaborated for your very convenience!" roared the Great Mu-Adib, the one wearing a serpent like mask and a flag cloak of scarlet red, as he silently stood up from his ethereal seat, lifted his grand staff and touching his insignia at the same time.

The remaining four Great Guardians slowly followed suit shortly after, revealing each of their sacred possession for their mortal guest to behold.

"Now kneel, Khaliq," ordered the Great Mu-Adib, as the reddish crystal floating above his staff began to glow in an eerie manner.

The obedient mortal courteously complied.

"You will now receive from us," replied the Great Mikro, while beholding his well polished, glowing Kik-Kaytha (an ancient multi bladed Pibian boomerang) high above his head, and watched as the yellowish jewel on its reddish heart began to glow as well.

"The highest of the highest gifts," replied the one called Great Mikra while wielding his glowing Worklarn (a Puxuvian subatomic particle laser whip) high above his head.

"To the bearer of our cause," replied Great Mika soon after, as the jet black nozzle of his formidable shoulder cannon went alight behind a myriad of visible colours, signalling its imminent payload discharge to the majestic space above him.

"A temporary access to all our sacred powers, our vast knowledge and our gathered wisdom, as also our infinite strength… Use these forever wisely, Khaliq!

And may God grants you success," the Great Shairo completed the conferment speech while bringing his own sacred object (a jewelled, winged sword of gold and silver with a blade of pure bluish energy) closer and closer towards his masked face until it softly touched his glowing visual sensors.

At once countless of bright, golden rays of unknown origin appeared, embraced the tiny human on where he knelt and relentlessly showered him with a torrent of unfathomable knowledge and skills, laying his nearly infinite curiosity to rest whilst amplifying, upgrading and unleashing his body's every potentials into their highest extent—a condition never before felt by any mortals, and may never will be again!

And as the last of the golden beams disappeared the way they came, the Ambassador gracefully stood up, smiled, performed the Citizen’s salutation again, and retraced his footsteps down the glowing stairs, feeling like a man reborn, knowing everything he needed to know, and feeling as ready as he will ever be to shoulder the heaviest of the heaviest responsibility ever bestowed upon any mere mortals:

To save this great big universe from the evils of the Shudwa Dumanta Legion, and to rectify every detriment left in its wake!

And the hallowed one walked away…

Book 1-Under the bleeding flag-Chapter 3

2008-10-04T02:20:00.008+08:00

“Are you ready to go, Faizul, Azrun? Did you forget anything?" the young Diplomat asked the two boys, watching as they mournfully stroked his two black cats they held in their arms.

The two of them only nodded and shook silently before advancing towards the outpost’s high-tech elevator in vivid brooding. Khaliq then gestured the Cartographer to board the Moonlight Flower to re-energize its many engines and watched as the like-minded Puxuvian officer quietly complied.

Moments later, the three found themselves over the roof of the heavily cloaked outpost, beholding the splendid intergalactic space cruiser hovering just inches above the ground in each their own way.

"Abang?" asked the hopeful Faizul.

"Yes, Faizul?" the Ganymedian answered back.

"Can Kakak Cassandra really help us? Tell me Abang…" he asked again.

Calmly the legionnaire flashed a hopeful smile before the despondent boy and said: "She is the Guardian of the Sacred Book of Xnroe, Faizul, the one ancient source of knowledge that the Galactic Union had relied upon long before the first civilization existed on our planet. If there is such a person who can help us right now, then her name would be Cassandra."

"So that means there's still hope for us…right, Abang?" asked the sullen looking Azrun as he continued to stroke Gelap’s silky black fur.

Gelap suddenly mewed back at him, hinting an expression of assurance.

"God-willing Azrun, there is always hope for as long as we put our trusts in Him… Okay you two, it’s time to depart," the Ambassador replied back, hopefully.

The two boys then lovingly released Hitam and Gelap from their arms, sent the docile black cats walking obediently back towards the rooftop door and boarded the magnificent starship.

Once the three of them were aboard and the cats disappeared into the outpost, the ship slowly left its flimsy looking launchpad, ignited its afterburners in one go and silently went into the air.

"Whoa, these SRUs seem to have been working out lately! I guess they’ve forgotten that they’re dead! Hah! Easily remedied," shouted the strangely excited Faizul as he whipped up one firestorm after another from his double-barrelled chemical howitzer, repelling the advances of their invisible armies as they made their frantic escape.

"Well you're right on that one, my friend! These zombies need to be bulldozed back into their graves, and we’re their god-damn undertakers!" roared his like-minded friend while waiting for his own weapon to finish reciprocating his depleted rounds.

He then discharged pairs after pairs of glowing, reddish laser discs from his deadly Helio-Neon laser cannon onto his target and watched, as the deadly amplified light beams sliced cleanly through the enemy frontline like butter and halted their advances even further.

Undaunted, the invisible soldiers systematically regrouped and returned fire right after the duo thought they have been dealt with, unceremoniously stepping onto their flat-lined comrades as they marched.

"Come on, baby, don't fail me now…" muttered the burly Faizul to his recharging weapon as they found themselves approaching the dilapidated Sultan Ismail Bridge (a monument of Maharani City’s early days) with a thousand or so zombie troopers hot on their trails, tearing through the scattered debris in an unmistakably trancelike rhythm.

"Okay Faizul, once we've cleared the bridge, we'll be scot-free, but to be on the safe side, you cover my back and I'll roll the red carpet, understood?"

"Affirmative, but if you're short on underwater mine balls, just tell me. I've got enough to sink a battleship here, heh heh!" replied Faizul, while patting his army pants’ stuffed pocket, filled to the brim with marble-like objects.

"Okay, Mr. Death Wish! Just don’t die on us, okay," he replied, grinning nervously at the sight of his friend risking his precious life by stuffing his pocket with live mines.

Minutes later, the trigger-happy duo were spotted running gingerly across the historical bridge while executing their hastily drawn battle strategy, wary of its decrepit condition as it creaked and wobbled under the combined weight of theirs and their nearly dead foes.

Unfortunately, the worst of the worst had to happen at this point!

"Holy smoke! We're, we're surrounded Azrun!" the strongman Faizul nervously shouted, as the two fearfully found their escape route blocked by the SRUs coming from both ends, and sandwiched further still, by their partially submerged aquatic counterpart rising eerily from either side of the bridge—and they have just exhausted the last of their mine balls a minute before!

"Aargh, I don't care!!! I'm not going to die yet! I’ve got better things to do than dying! To hell with these zombies! Fire with everything you got, Faizul!! Destroy them!!! Charge!!!!" shouted the now furious Azrun as he raised the energy level of his weapon up one more level and blasted his target like a maniac, smothering the feelings of despair inside of him with the same amount of effort as he did his enemies.

And for the first time in his life, the cool, courageous Faizul was feeling a bit unnerved at Azrun’s sudden change of behaviour, but only for a moment as his formerly sensible best friend had miraculously carved a bloodied path through the approaching SRUs soldiers all by himself!

“Whoa, now that’s what I call ‘Service’, Azrun! Heh heh!” remarked the amazed muscleman to his grinning best friend.

However, as the intensity of the conflict escalated over time, the courageous two teetered in exhaustion, slowly but surely losing their steam.

Even so these two surviving Muarian rebel troopers kept on moving further and further away from their foes like the plague for two simple reasons: one, they were only meters away from dry land, and two, after hearing what their dead Leader had told about the origin of the SRUs, they would rather die than being taken by them!

And the situation continued to worsen after one of the partially submerged aquatic SRU troopers had accurately sank one part of the bridge with their high precision rocket launchers—the part of the bridge that was supposed to be their only way out—shortly before converging onto their position.

And the two brave soldiers eventually found themselves at the mercy of the zombie-like soldiers not long after…

"You are surrounded. Lower your weapons and submit yourselves to the Law of the New Order, at once," ordered one of the SRU personnel bearing the stripes of a lieutenant, sounding very much robotic.

Righteous as the two of them were, they wholeheartedly refused to do so, instead; they only stood motionless before their impending doom, gritting their teeth in helpless fury towards their now visible enemy.

"Never! We'd rather die than surrendering to the likes of you! We'll keep on fighting even if we’d die trying!! The glory of Jalur Gemilang shall flutter again, and by our God over your dead President!!" screamed the enraged Azrun a moment later, feeling the fresh stream of blood slowly trickling down the side of his mouth.

"Acknowledged. All negotiations failed. All those who waged war against the President of the New Order must be terminated. Proceed with the sentence," replied the lieutenant.

"God is Great!!!" screamed the heroic two over and over again, watching as the barrels of their enemy's guns heated up in an instant, signalling the inevitability of their painful termination.

Then suddenly,

"Alert! Alert! Incoming enemy vehicle! Prepare to intercept!" said another robotic sounding soldier to his superior upon sighting an unidentified, one manned fighter/bomber machine flying from upstream, rapidly approaching the unprepared garrisons from just above the river’s surface and leaving behind a turbid trail of brackish water in its wake.

Then, just as the nearly dead troopers became aware of it the craft immediately charged up its glowing boosters and went high up into the sky, circling those zombies menacingly for a while and finally nose-dived above them in a kaleidoscope of high-energy bolts; all in just a blink of an eye!

And the ill prepared and ill informed SRUs, acting within their usual pre-programmed conduct, undauntedly confronted their relentless flying menace nevertheless, but unfortunately it only resulted in them being swiftly outnumbered, outgunned, and, worst of all, bereft of their two crafty prisoners in just under one minute!

"Man, remind me to thank that suicidal guy if I ever meet him again, Azrun! Heh, I sure owe him one for that, if he lives…heh heh," said the grateful Faizul to his equally grateful friend as they quietly resurfaced from the murky river a few meters away and started running towards an abandoned ATV of the SRUs nearby, moments before systematically cracking open the vehicle’s computer-locked door and frantically worked to secure the unguarded vehicle for themselves, with the noise from the mysterious fighter/bomber above them drowning their noises.

Having accomplished that, the two hastily exited the fiery scene and left their computer controlled foes to the tender loving care of their newfound ally…

"Well, here we are, guys! Planet Hrutska, the Neutral Sanctuary of the Union, the only place in this galaxy where the Xnrenes can appear in their chosen form, and also the place where our Great Cassandra lives," announced the Stellar Cartographer through the P.A. as the magnificent starship slowly descended onto an ancient landing pad overlooking a coastal flowery cliff, unintentionally causing a vortex out of the ever present coastal breeze as it landed.

Try as they might the chosen two, they could never ever find it in their hearts to even smile to themselves, to the ever friendly young Ambassador or to even their temporary Puxuvian Pilot, as the latter tried to cheer the brooding duo while manually opening the ship’s main airlock; still under the grip of that mournful news and forever doomed they seemed to be in wearing that brooding look over their sweet, innocent face!

Then suddenly, as the hissing airlock gave way to a spectacular view of the quasi-Earthly planet outside, only then did the doom and gloom of the metallic interior dissipated.

For as soon as the main airlock door of the starship retracted, the ethereal smile of Great Cassandra, Guardian of the Book of Xnroe was more than enough to have chased away their depression!

The smile of a beautiful blonde figure in her twenties, garbed in a pink blouse and chequered apron, her face bright and sanguine as the background suns, her pony tailed golden hair fluttering in the breeze, and, as always, her smooth, manicured hands holding a mighty big picnic basket meant for them!

"They are late, what’s keeping them so long? I wonder how many will come, if they’d ever come at all…. (Sigh)" the old man said to himself in the darkness of the night sky, peering half-heartedly through the piles of rubble that used to be his bedroom wall to the not-so-picturesque sight of his devastated lawn outside.

He then noticed a sharp decline of his home’s illumination, prompted him to approach the rusting switchboard in what was left of his living room, the dying phosphorescent light tubes reactivated, and quietly he returned to his bedroom, sighing for a moment towards the cloudy night sky above his neighbourhood.

A once exclusive, well-known suburban area called the Maharani Estate.

This ruinous looking housing estate, reputed to be the oldest and finest suburbia in the Maharani City, with its current infrastructure and all in extreme dilapidation at the moment, undeniably looked like it has seen better days, the glorious sun-filled days of long ago that was now long gone but never forgotten.

Though occupied still by their respective owners, the damages brought about by the succession of the country’s civil wars were stark and absolute, reducing many of the rustic, last century creations of architectural art to a gangly collection of bullet-riddled mess of concrete—a soulless shell of their former glorious selves—legacy of the countless mindless conflicts that passed it by.

And out of all that had happened to its houses, its many beautiful roads that surrounded them, once biennially tarred and bordered by flowers and trees, managed and funded by the inhabitants themselves, were not spared by the fiery onslaughts, demoted to become a collection of pock-marked dirt tracks unfit for travel apart from military war machines and off-road vehicles.

An artless creation left by the clumsy missiles and hastily dispensed bombs that had beaten down on them for countless of times.

Though immediately faced with daily extremities since the day everything turned upside down, the people of this housing estate, proud of their historical dwellings, stubbornly refused to move away in the wake of numerous threats and harassments by the authority, yet even with all that they strangely ignored the 'Heart Landers’ every plight and pleas ever since the war began…but that didn’t stop them from building one of their most top-secret bases underneath it!

A base so clandestine, hardly anyone in the rebellion knows about it!

And this fact alone had resulted in them earning their tormentors’ trust; branded, signed and sealed with the ever-coveted ‘White Roses’ Symbol; a government-issued gazette for an area free from unrest and terrorism acts and requiring minimal military supervision—albeit at a glance being not so different from her other neighbours!

And even with the shared sufferings endured from the many battles between the new government and remnants of the old, this part of the city always seemed strangely safe for its own good, safe enough for them to make a new living, mingle blissfully with each other everyday or to even stroll around their ruinous neighbourhood once in awhile, despite being well informed of the constant daily turmoil still occurring elsewhere around them, sometimes a bit too close for comfort!

"Mmm, man how I really miss your cooking Kakak! No one makes tuna and cheese sandwich like you do, honest!" remarked the ecstatic Azrun while unabashedly licking his fingers in front of her to make his point, making her blushed in several shades of red.

Faizul only shook his head gently at that. He then took another sip of his favourite coke and tried to enjoy the great view that this planet has to offer them.

But even so his growing sense of curiosity was beginning to take a heavy toll over his heart, something that had slowly but surely sickened him ever since their arrival on this majestic planet.

Finally, after most of the food inside the basket had been consumed, he dared himself to ask the question that he had been dying to ask her for a long, long time.

"Kakak?"

"Yes, Faizul?"

"Are we, are we, going to die? Is there any hope left for us, to, to live?"

The Great One quickly broke into a heartfelt smile, patting the restless ten-year-old on his right shoulder and kissed his forehead ever so gently afterwards.

"I've been wondering when you’d ask me that, Faizul, and I'm glad you finally chose to get it out of you…” she kindly answered, smiling all the way.

“ So the answer is yes, there's still hope for you two to live a long and happy life… I give you my word!"

At that remark, the two of them reactively smiled and gave each other a heartfelt hug, feeling as the sudden rush of joy and happiness slowly but surely inundated their tiny heart, a feeling so strong and so powerful that it not only drove the two grateful boys to laugh a tearful laughter, but also their Puxuvian friend, their unofficial Guardian, and Great Cassandra herself.

"Well come on you two, it’s time to fly!" she kindly said to them while sweeping off the fallen leaves off the picnic carpet with her magical powers and then instructed them to gather even closer to the middle.

"Alright, we're going to ride the carpet again! Where are we going, Kakak? Back to the city?" asked the seemingly excited Azrun as the carpet they sat on rose slowly into the breezy air.

The smiling Xnrene only laughed quietly at his question.

"Nope, not this time, Azrun. We’re off to see the one person in the universe who could help you get in touch with your other selves, and make things better again, definitely," she kindly replied, looking as cheerful as ever as she helmed the flimsy, magical rug.

A few serene moments had unknowingly passed by as the carpet they were on now glides effortlessly alongside the magnificent looking mountain range at the southern end of the horizon, mountains that resembled densely planted molehills sparsely occupied by strange monuments and edifices, most of which were alien in design and material.

"So who is this person's name, Kakak? Is he someone you know?" asked the inquisitive Faizul while admiring the great view down below.

And without looking back at any one of them, the Great One smiled and said:

"Yes, Faizul. The ancient Greeks, the Romans referred to her as Demeter and Gaia, the Goddess of Earth. The Egyptians once revered her as Geb, and to the people of Europe, she is Mother Nature. Finally, to the Survivors of Xnroe; she is Hrutska, Guardian of Nature.

She is Ellina, my mother…"

And the flying carpet rode on.

"(Sigh) Great, just when I was about to take a nap…! I better start the 'Parasol' Generator again," said the old man to himself, grumbling as the long, bellowing sounds of age old war sirens permeated the still air, watching as everyone in the neighbourhood rushed fearfully back to the safety of their ruinous homes, guided by the bright, airborne spotlights that swiftly streaked through the housing estate at almost the same time.

Moments later, the familiar buzzing sounds of heavily armed helicopter drones graced the starless night sky as thirteen of them began scouring the ground at random; appearing just seconds after the old man had finished doing what he wanted to do.

Having done that, he casually went straight to his living room, or what was left of it, turned on a weird looking device on the southern wall, and lie down on his worn out sofa, sighing as the faint sound of strange but soothing music reverberated across the unkempt room.

Then suddenly, he heard some strange new noises coming from the kitchen area halfway through the dreamland. Something that sounded very much like somebody had, literally; 'dropped by'!

Armed with a high voltage stun gun he produced from his chair, the fuming old man quietly got off the sofa, walked stealthily towards the kitchen and quickly surprised his two intruders.

"Hey, didn't the ‘Heart Landers’ ever teach you to-" he asked while patting the muscular soldier’s shoulder with the muzzle of his weapon, an act which almost saw the jumpy Faizul torching down the decrepit house together with its ageing owner if only his moustached Commander hadn’t stopped him from doing so in the nick of time!

“Well you’re lucky I’ve a nerve of steel, old man!” remarked the burly redheaded soldier. “Jump on me like that again and I’ll burn you through your ass!”

"(Breathing hard) Hi, are, are you, uh, Professor Saiful Adli, the, the retired scientist? The one who used to work for the new government? I am, I am Azrun bin Mohammed Azali, and this is, my friend, Faizul…. heh!” greeted the very relieved Azrun seconds later, right after preventing his friend's destructive temper from making an infernal mess of their intended destination.

“Please forgive him for his, (sigh) lack of manners, Professor… We’ve, gotten used to, act like that, after all, we’ve, been through…er, right Faizul?" he said again.

"Ah yes! I haven’t gone by that Professor title ever since I retired my boy,” replied the old man. “But I'm glad some people still remember me for who I was…”

The moustached soldier smiled.

“So my friend Peace Keeper Khaliq sent you here, right? Are there anymore rebels from the Johor State Branch coming after this?" he asked them.

Azrun promptly nodded and shook his head while trying to reorganize his erratic breath. The ever-powerful Faizul quietly left the scene to check up on their belongings, acting as if not wanting to participate in the coming conversation.

"Well he did email me about sending his men to pick me up two weeks ago, but after what I’ve heard in the news it wouldn't surprise me if they never show up,” replied the confident old man.

“So how's he doing back there?" he asked them again.

A moment of unnatural silence quickly descended onto the gloomy room, as the two of them sadly looked away from each other.

"Why? What's wrong? What happened to him?" the old man was getting curious.

"He’s, he's…dead…" replied the mournful Azrun, just seconds before collapsing onto the dusty floor, passing out like a light.

The old man fearfully turned towards his friend for answers, but only to be met with a face as terrified and as clueless as he was.

He then quickly asked Faizul to carry his unconscious friend to the living room, the muscleman quickly complied; and once there, the old man discreetly typed in a strange code combination onto a hidden terminal behind a painting on the southern wall and watched as a perfectly hidden door sprang wide open from the dirty floor.

Once it stopped moving the ageing Professor then asked the fearful Faizul to take his unconscious Superior in before he would close it from within, the muscled man consented and the old man quickly did what he said.

And the sky rained down as the three disappeared from sight…

"…Oh goodness, what a beautiful blossom you have my dear, how delightful. You really made my day today,” exclaimed gladly a beautiful, veiled woman garbed in a garment of living colours as she kissed one of her favourite flowering plants: a scarlet, sweet smelling epiphyte called the Krepyssian Theopetal.

“And oh, what a strong sweet scent for such a delicate thing…you are one strong fighter you are, my child," she said again before moving on to her next flowering plant:

A strangely transparent, resonating plant with emerald coloured leaves and a purple, proboscis endowed flowers that hovered magically above each fragile stalk.

“And here’s a nice afternoon shower just for you, my dear Phelis-Tys,” she remarked before waving her hand gently over the plant, and from the palm of her hand out poured the purest of rainwater, drenching the plant and turning its flowers from purple to a glittering shade of gold.

"…It’s disheartening for them to suffer the mess that wasn’t meant to be, but then again, nobody could see it coming if God wouldn’t allow it. Maybe, something good would come out…(Sigh) just maybe," she lamented just as the arriving wind descended onto the flowers, rustled their petals and carried off their pollens into the sky.

The Great One smiled.

"(Sigh) At least I can count on Cassie to cheer them up. It's so unfortunate for them to have started worrying the world too soon… (Sigh)" she muttered to herself as she walked out of her flower orchard and back towards her stately house not far from it.

Minutes later…

"Mother, look who I’ve found today," greeted her daughter to the visual monitor at the gilded front gate of their house.

“Well now, hello there you two! Now make your self at home, children! Don’t be shy," replied her seemingly excited mother seconds before the magnificent looking gates opened up by themselves.

Once it had opened widely enough, the jovial girl happily resumed her carefree walk into the compound, followed nervously behind by the two boys and their like-minded chaperones.

"Well now, isn’t that sweet! Hey, that little stunt you pulled nearly scared the living daylight out of me! Don't do that again, okay? Pass out on me like that again and you’re gonna get it! Man…!" exclaimed the very relieved Faizul as soon as he sensed his friend's arriving consciousness.

But even so his best friend was still quite disoriented to react to his exclamations.

"Where, where am I? Professor?" he haltingly asked after finding himself lying half naked on a bedpan, surrounded by a plethora of sensors and gauges.

"Azrun, both you and your muscular friend here, are the only living two in the Movement who can prove the existence of the Rebellion’s Sci-Tech Station, an unregistered, Class 975, Alpha Kappa Laboratory, the only one of its kind outside of Klang Valley. A base so top secret, only the Peace Keeper had been here, heh!" the lab coated old man proudly replied.

"But, I thought, I thought that you'd already retired from your research Professor? Wouldn’t, wouldn’t the government eventually suspect anything, especially something big like this lab? And the fact that, you’ve been working with us for, the last eight years?

It’s a wonder you’re still alive, Professor," said the very impressed Azrun, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with all the strange contraptions attached onto his chest and stomach at the same time.

The old man smiled. He then approached the nearby wall, waved his hand over the glowing palm-shaped monitor and produced a glass of clear reddish liquid from an opening nearby, which he kindly gave the recovering Azrun to drink.

"Retired from my work maybe, but not from my life, my boy!” the old man replied. “A good scientist should always continue his quest for knowledge even after resigning, and resigning he should once his work started leaving an aftertaste! And that's what happened to me years ago…(Sigh)" he said again before giving another glass to the other soldier.

"So tell us, old man, how did you end up doing underground research for us 'Heart Landers'?" asked the one with the red bandanna, hinting a tone of distrust in his every word.

The old man smiled mockingly at his apparent 'Interrogator'.

"(Sigh) Ever since I crawled out of my diaper to become a scientist many, many years ago, heh heh, the purpose of science should always be to serve mankind, and not the other way around, God forbid! And with that in mind I passionately joined the Seventh Sector Department Lab upon its inception…(sigh) thinking it was the best achievement ever made in science.

Yes, as I recalled, the salary and incentives offered was quite incredible to say the least, and lets not forget about the privileges, the automatic granting of funds and grants for my every whims and fancies, blah, blah, blah…! Heh! And you know the best part been?

You’d feel like a goddamn demigod if you stayed up there too long, a-ha! Yes, those were the days indeed…”

The two soldiers suddenly realized a dramatic change of emotion on the old scientist’s face.

“But after that fateful Regime Change, our employers began making strange demands from us, well until it became clear to me over the years that all they ever wanted was to turn this lab into a bastion of infernal science! I slowly began questioning my being here when it dawned upon me, and there's nothing more sacrilegious to us scientists than to waiver our principles to evil! (Sigh)

Realizing that this abominations they’ve forced on us was now too much for me, I immediately yet cleverly tendered my resignation and counted the days of my release!" he confidently replied to the one who was hesitant in drinking up the sweet concoction in his hand.

The sighing Professor then resumed his half-hearted words whereas his two guests looked on.

"But I never felt free from that Department…for I had lived a part of my life contributing to the things unworthy to be deemed as science, things that prolonged the life of this conflict, evolving it into this unstoppable monster we have to deal with! And we never thought for a moment that by doing our job we’ve only secured our infamy in the eyes of our countrymen!”

Tears formed around his eyes at this point.

“And you know what else? Apart from this new government, only your Leader knew that I led the unholy team who commenced the meat grinder, the ‘Abattoir’, the SRU factory! I designed its hardware and software while my brother monitored and oversaw its operations, and he’s been at it ever since!"

The two soldiers found themselves unable to move, mouth wide open, terrified by the nasty revelation disclosed by the Professor.

"Whatever the things that I've seen and felt in there, all its gory activities, experiments, they could never give my mind peace, they haunt and taint my every dreams and wakefulness even as we speak! And all because each of those foul things had my fingerprints all over it!"

Sighing, the old man then continued with his story.

"I then decided I just couldn't let my own creation to continue mutilating innocent lives anymore, and that my brother must be stopped at all cost! And so, eight years ago, I got into the net, activated my ‘secured’ email, contacted the Leader of the ‘Heart Landers’, pledged my allegiance, and the rest…is history! Heh heh!"

The feelings of joy slowly descended onto the tired faces of the two soldiers, making them smiled wholeheartedly at the fact that their first and primary mission was already a success even before it started.

"Heh, I was always very sceptical of you old man, always wondered why our Leader had trusted you, the one from the other side, to be his right hand, heh! Forgive me old man, now I know," Faizul sheepishly remarked.

"Well, that's okay, my boy! Peace Keeper Khaliq once thought like you did eight years ago, but we’ve became very close since then! (Sigh) And may he rest more peacefully now," the old man sadly replied.

He then noticed that the half naked Azrun was getting even more restless on the sterile white bed, clearly uncomfortable of the things attached to him.

"Oh well, I think you're strong enough to walk now, Azrun! That 'elixir' of mine was the best thing I’ve ever created outside the Department! Though I do believe you’d rather not know of its ingredients my friends, he heh! (Sigh)

So have you got all your strengths back, my boy?" he asked the moustached man.

"Yeah, I guess so, but now I assume you’re done with my diagnosis, right? Doctor? Er, I mean, Professor?” asked the moustached soldier.

And an abrupt laughter quickly engulfed the underground lab soon after.

"…Okay you two, you can go in now, sorry to keep you waiting!” remarked the blond-haired woman emerging from one of the crystalline doors in her house, appearing even more beautiful now that she is in her official ‘Guardian of the Book of Xnroe’ attire.

“Mother said it’s okay to come in now. But before you go in, here’s some basic rules and etiquette you’d have to observe: First, mind your P's and Q's, smile as often as you can, try to take it easy on the addressing, she doesn’t like to be reminded of her title, that sweet woman, and, and…”

She pretended to be deep in thought for a moment. And the two boys smiled.

“Oh! And finally, this," said Cassandra yet again before waving her hand over their heads, an act which magically turned their favourite T-shirts and pants into their very elaborate, overly decorated Gate Opener's suit.

Azrun frowned.

"Oh man, do we really have to wear this again, Kakak? I feel like a Bauble doll…an overpriced Bauble doll!" he complained.

Faizul only smiled back at him.

"Oh, come on, you two, you look very nice in these! Sometimes I wished I could make something this beautiful for my closet once in a while, hmm…but enough of this small talk okay?”

The two smiling boys nodded in agreement.

“E-ehem, and now let's get this show on the road, shall we?" said Great Cassandra to the two as she raised her hand, opened up the crystalline double door with just a gesture and revealed a glowing void heavy with the scent of a thousand or more flowers.

Once opened, the ever-smiling Cassandra softly ushered them in, but kindly halted the Ambassador and his Puxuvian friend from following suit.

And when the two glittering boys simultaneously asked her why, she kindly replied that the Guardians have a task for the Ambassador to carry out, and they need to speak to him as soon as possible.

So the Ambassador kindly gestured the two boys to go ahead and leave them here, seconds before the majestic door separated the quartet as Khaliq realized that the proverbial zero hour was rapidly catching up to them.

"Well, Khaliq, the Council of the Guardians will see you now," said the magically appearing Humoga to the reflective Ambassador with a tap on his shoulder, gently as the decorated man sighed at the magnificent view of the planet from the windowsill.

"Will the boys be alright in there, Great Cassandra? (Sigh) I still feel so much concern in me…will they be alright?" asked the Ambassador repeatedly towards the female Xnrene standing on his right, but only to be met with a confident smile from the ethereal woman.

"So should I start the engines running, Qanqia? And where’s our destination this time?" asked the Puxuvian.

"No Terkrir," replied the kind Lep-Omarchian. "We don't have much time for space travel right now. For now is the time for you return to your outpost and stay there for a while, to be at hand for the President’s questions when he gets wind of this.”

The Puxuvian’s facial expression showed disappointment at this point.

“I know you wanted to be where the action is, Terkrir. Yes, I know how it feels for I was like you once. But I believe that your staying there will be as much help to us as your Qanqia meeting the Great Ones, Terkrir, believe me.”

The Puxuvian’s disappointment began to disappear from his watery face.

“So please, go back to Planet Earth immediately. Your task there is no less noble or important as mine or your Qanqia, Terkrir. Now go," he said again while gently tapping on the Puxuvian's robotic shoulder.

The Cartographer smiled, and started saluting the Xnrene with the official Ephron Dantiaz salutation, watching as the former and the Ambassador slowly disappeared from sight, leaving the scene behind a soft and surreal glow.

And the two remaining beings quietly exited the stately house.

Book 1-Under the bleeding flag-Chapter 2

2008-10-04T02:12:00.008+08:00

A few uneventful moments passed by the two as they browsed through the decorated stall.

One of the crows in vigil, the one with purple eyes, appeared more restless than its yellow eyed counterpart, whereas the latter, despite feeling the same thing, valiantly tried to keep up with its vigil.

Then suddenly, the aforementioned purple-eyed crow started losing its cool and complained to its superior.

"Hey Absonikta, I didn’t volunteer in this mission just to monitor some kids in this damn 'Anima' Suit, okay! You'd better-"

"You'd better wizen up the next time we speak, Haluk! I will tolerate no more of your mental effluents now, you read me?! Your lack of comfort is not my concern! Now stay with Hilak and await further orders!" the invisible voice harked back, making the complainant reactively cursed its unseen superior under its breath.

The conversation ended with the yellow-eyed crow giving its partner and angry stare.

"(Sigh) You just don't know how to shut up now, do you, Haluk? Have you ever stop to think that what will happen today may bring us closer to victory than one could ever possibly imagined? And the fact that it's quite an honour to be selected to carry out this mission, what with all the foul conditions we had to put up with back home ever since that day…you did know that thousands of others volunteered for this mission, right?"

"I know that Hilak, I keep reminding myself that!” replied the purple-eyed crow. “Yeah, life's been hard to us ever since our Boss got banished into that 'Hidden Layer' not long ago, into that empty pocket between dimensions without…(sigh) you think you’re the only one who felt depressed? Think again!”

The yellow-eyed crow appeared somewhat sympathetic at this point.

“And lets not get to the part about it being vital for those creeps to be at the right place at the right time just so that, that calculating Lord of yours could bask in all glory!” moaned the purpled eyed yet again.

“But damn it, this ‘Anima’ Suit is really uncomfortable okay, can't you feel it? This thing’s really not only getting on my nerves but zaps at my psyche too! And should I ever have to stay in this crow form for another hour, I might actually become-!"

"Knock it off, will you? We've got a job to do and we shall endure the wrath of hell itself if we have to! And if-hey, look Haluk! Our target is moving again!" exclaimed Hilak right after seeing the two boys walking away from the stalls.

"Great! Awaiting your orders, Lordship," the purple-eyed crow quickly hailed its superior.

And the voice returned.

"Affirmative. As I have briefed you two earlier on, both of you will now lure them into the back alley of Haji Mat Yassin Avenue until they reached the co-ordinates I sent you earlier and try to keep them there until I give the signal. Once the spatial/temporal delineator had locked-on target, your mission ends. Over and out!"

"(Sigh) finally…!" sighed the purple-eyed crow to its companion before the two gladly took to the air.

"Hey, w-w-what's w-w-with you all of a sudden, Azrun?" asked the frightened Faizul to him after noticing his best friend had begun to look under the weather all the sudden.

Feeling that they had walked under the merciless sun for too long, Faizul led him away from the heavy people traffic and straight towards an empty public bench located outside one of the old buildings nearby, the shady one behind the western wall.

"I'm, I'm okay Faizul… it’s, it’s just a, a measly headache, that's all," replied the slightly out of breath kid as he wiped his sweaty forehead with his handkerchief whereas his best of friend fanned him with his priceless red cap.

"Are, are you s-sure about that Azrun?” asked the concerned Faizul. “You, look like you're about to, collapse just now…Hey, I'm really sorry if I've kept you walking too long under the sun unnecessarily-"

"Hey, it’s alright, Faizul. It's, it's over now,” assured the white-shirted boy. “I’m okay, you don't have to feel sorry for me," interrupted Azrun while patting his friend's back with his anime printed handkerchief.

"And besides," he said again, grinning mischievously this time. "Take a look around you Faizul, heh heh!"

Puzzled, Faizul immediately turned his head around in reaction to his friend’s grin and grinned back at his best friend a second later, enthralled he seemed to be by the seemingly sacred sight of what his best friend had earlier noticed:

The mouth-watering shape of a gigantic burger-like entrance to the ‘Star Spangled Intergalactic Space Shot Burger Station’ (their favourite fast food joint), standing serenely behind him!

"Heh heh, man, talk about dumb luck, Azrun! So hey, are you sure you're up for it?" he cynically asked his sitting friend, smiling from ear to ear.

"What, and miss the chance to savour the half-priced 'Space Pilot Specialty' meal of two 'Great Mack' Burgers, one 'Tidalwave' Ice Cream and a free 'Black Hole' Coke refill?? Not to mention that today happens to be their monthly 'Cosmic Overhaul' all-you-can-eat buffet day??? How long have we known each other, huh?!!" his friend fiercely asked him back; pretending to frown and looking quite annoyed at the same time.

The very relieved Faizul immediately snickered back at him before the two enthusiastically made their way towards the restaurant hand-in-hand.

Then suddenly, just as the two of them was about to clear the gigantic, musical burger entrance, Faizul found his cap being rudely snatched off his head and carried away into the busy walkway by a pair of noisy crows!

"Hey, that's my cap, give it back! Hey drop it, drop it now! Hey!! Oh, you're gonna get it, you stupid bird! Come on Azrun, let's go after them!!" he shouted before both of them commenced a heated pursuit after the two jet-black birds, ignoring the fact that they have been led further and further away from the safety of the busy streets and nearer and nearer towards danger!

Seconds later, the two magical crows have successfully enticed the two boys to be right where they wanted them.

“Lord Absonikta, our quarries are in place,” reported the yellow-eyed crow.

“Affirmative,” replied their superior. “The delineator’s fully charged. Anyone caught within a metre from ground zero within the next two seconds will be sucked into the space-time vortex so I suggest that you two don’t play a hero and get out of there, fast!”

"Great! We’re on our way!" said the purple-eyed crow to its friend soon before releasing their firm grip over the ten-year-old boy's priceless red cap and took off, sending it swiftly down towards the fast running, open sewer down below.

Seeing his most valued possession was hurtling swiftly towards the smelly stream, the unhesitant Faizul hurriedly jumped up high into the air with all his might, intercepted it and landed back heroically down, never knowing the nasty surprises waiting for him.

Surprises preceded by the victorious Faizul grabbing hold of his priceless red cap and descending back onto the dry asphalt amidst the loud cheering of his jubilant best friend, the eerie appearance of a long, glowing, white fracture in front of them that sounded like a breaking window pane, the unexpected freezing of all activities within their digital watches, the appearance of more and more of the eerie sounding, glowing cracks all around them, and concluding with the brutal shattering of space and time itself!

Breaking apart into many glowing pieces and sent them hurtling and screaming fearfully through a nightmarish sub-dimension of chaos, a realm where everything that is real now appeared warped, twisted and distorted, and into the most unreal version of the known reality long before they could even comprehend their previous voyage!

"Oh, my head…! F-f-faizul, a-a-a-are you all right? W-w-w-where are you?" shouted the frightened boy in the dimness of the thunder-filled night.

"…Here, here! I'm right here Azrun! Just crawl to my voice! I’m…(moaning) man, what kind of a rock I fell on to anyway?" replied his missing friend as he put on his priceless cap over his bruised head and quietly gathered up his strewn stuffs.

"Hey, F-F-Faizul, w-w-w-where are we, and who-who turned out the light?" asked the nervous Azrun shortly after finding his way back to his best friend.

Then suddenly, just before the ten-year-old boy could gather enough intelligence to answer him, a strong beam of light streaked down on them from the pitch black sky and tore apart the enveloping darkness long enough to make them took a short glimpse of their desolate environment; and also the stuff that had welcomed and softened their unprecedented heads-first arrival—a spreading heap of dried human bones!

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" screamed the fearful two simultaneously; eyes shut tight and watery, faces in each other's shoulders.

Then suddenly, as if they haven’t had enough fright already, the two heard a loud, piercing sound of a flying vehicle fast approaching them…and also the swift footwork sounds of two men trying to run away from it!

"Hey, kids! Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Do you want to die young?! Get the hell away from there! Move, move, move!!!" shouted one of them on top of his lungs whereas the other one was firing gleaming laser discs towards their pursuant.

Partially recovered from their previous shock, the two boys slowly turned their faces towards the two running men and quickly tried to muster enough energy to comply with the red-headed one’s orders.

Unfortunately, in the heat of this very tense situation, neither side had came to realize the appearance of a long metallic projectile flying right behind them, a computer guided cylinder of instant death launched in stealth from another hovering titan, with the four of them as its intended target!

"Abang, look out!" shouted the fearful Azrun, just moments before the helpless pairs collided into one another, followed shortly after by a devastating detonation of the fired missile, engulfing the four with a blinding curtain of mindless destruction.

"No!" screamed the disoriented Ambassador of Ganymede standing inside the empty communication room, remorsefully letting himself to slip away from the mainframe computer and down onto the cold hard floor, deeply affected by the uninvited new vision he had received from the unknown.

“Oh God, dear God, I hope they’re all right,” said the shivering man before making his way out of the room, muttering holy sentences in between his hurried steps all the way to his prayer room.

"…Oh…man," came a pained groan from the centre of newly formed rubble, a groan that sounded like someone was having a hangover or the like, faintly through the foul aroma of burnt concrete and molten metal that permeated the empty still air.

Whereas the two formidable war machines, which surrounded and fired the deadly missile onto the pair a moment ago; was now no more, saved for its bits and pieces of intricate innards scattered about the impact side, reduced to its present state by the might of an unknown, invisible force.

Silence engulfed the air for a moment. Then a voice was heard.

"Faizul! Faizul! Are, are you okay in there? Talk to me…talk to me, please!" shouted the dishevelled looking soldier appearing right next to the rubble, furiously scouring through the fallen rocks to find his missing friend.

He finally found his disoriented friend after a frantic moment of searching, buried headfirst in the smoking debris nearby but conscious enough to curse his bad luck in between his coughing.

After finding his burly friend, he hurriedly dragged him out of the debris, exposed his friend’s nose to a whiff of a strong scent from a small bottle and gently rested his dust-covered head on the featureless rubble.

"Whoa, what happened just now?” he asked upon recovering. “I feel like an island, (cough) just crashed, (cough) on me (cough) a while ago… (Sigh)" remarked the dazed muscular soldier, seconds before he scoured about for his unravelled red bandanna and then tying it back firmly onto his dusty, hairless head.

The seemingly relieved Azrun then put the bottle back into his backpack, untangled his own headband and wiped his own face with it.,p>

The well-built Faizul then slowly helped himself up, wiped the dust off his worn-out uniform and exercised his aching muscles.

Next he single-handedly dragged both his heavy backpack and his formidable metallic black weapon out of the previous rubble, inspected each and every items stored in his backpack for damages and gladly produced a silvery ration box from it.

The sounds of warfare had strangely departed at that point, as Azrun mundanely took out his precious food container from his own knapsack to quench his thirst and hunger, gratuitously devouring his tasteless ration and nearly stale plain water within the pockmarked impact site—an impromptu R and R in a not-so-picturesque environment.

"(Sigh) Man, this has got to be the strangest one yet, Faizul…It’s already strange that we could survive that, but when those National Security goons didn’t do their programmed follow-up as usual, heh heh...(Sigh) What’s going on here, God?” he muttered loudly to himself and his comrade in-between his eating, whereas the muscular one in question blissfully downed the cold, processed food into his croaking stomach, pretending not to hear him.

And before the muscular Faizul could answer him back, his best friend unintentionally cuts him off his cue.

"And about those two boys…hmm, now that’s like; I mean, it’s like this city’s been deserted for ages, right? Where’d they come from? Who were they? And how the heck could they’ve disappeared like that? What if…?”

He stopped short his questions and slipped into a frowned confusion.

“(Sigh) Oh, what’s the use? Nothing that happened these last few days made much sense anyway…” he said again, getting softer towards the end.

“So tell me Faizul; what’s next? (Sigh) I feel like, for the first time, I really don’t know what to expect, or whether or not it’s worth all the trouble of persisting with our plans," he asked his friend before laying himself over the rubble, his weary eyes fixed towards the now starry sky and his ears blissfully ignorant towards the hopeless sighs of his weary friend.

And at that point, the muscular Faizul wearily rolled his eyes around and replied:

"Huh, our plans you say? Hey, what do I look like to you, a goddamn psychic? I'd be damn glad just to get close to this ex-scientist guy of yours, convince him to join us at all cost and kick-start this insurrection before those HANTUs skin us alive or worse! And when that’s done, maybe I’d check up on my sick mom again, that's all…"

He then mundanely stretched his arms, gave a tired yawn and settled down peacefully next to his friend, pretending to get comfortable over his stone cold rubble of a bed.

"And if you'll excuse me, I wanna catch up on some Zs! God, I haven’t slept for days," he said, shortly before finding himself snoring peacefully next to his friend.

The dreamy Azrun smiled.

"(Sigh) if only things were that easy, Faizul, if only things were that easy," he muttered while activating the strange contraption he had just produced from his backpack.

"God, I hope this portable ‘Parasol’ Generator works this time; the cells are maxed-out already," he said to himself before lowering the machine down next to him.

At once an iridescent, holographic field emerged from it, expanding slowly but surely outwards before engulfing the two; going on and on and on until it formed a magnificent, luminescent dome covering an area of five hundred square meters and then vanished without a trace.

Having accomplished that, the smiling soldier raised his hands towards the heavens; mumbled a prayer in Arabic and laid himself down again, scratching his thick moustache for a moment before trying to fall asleep.

And as the two scruffy warriors slumbered a short while later, very little did they realize, that all these while they had been under the monitor, of two mysterious beings from out of town—way out of town!

The former being a mysterious glowing being garbed in a strange mask and uniform of cerulean blue and vermilion, and the latter; hovering comfortably on top of his right shoulder was a strange, robotic, shark-like creature, staring and sighing softly to his silent and despondent friend.

And what’s more, they were the culprits who downed those previous war titans!

"That’s all right Humoga. It’s not your fault. You only did what you could," said his faithful sidekick before the two disappeared from sight, leaving behind a lingering halo of bluish energy.

While elsewhere, inside one of the many tall buildings that filled the proud, well managed, and heavily guarded Capitol City of Putrajaya, the situation was somewhat quite intense for the moment!

For here in this dimly lit, stately penthouse atop the gleaming, formidable, hundred-storey Federal Government Office, one angry person in a swivelling, velvety chair was fast reproaching two monstrous, high military officers in dark glasses appearing in a seemingly liquid screen, clearly transmitted onto one of its ceramic, fireproof wall by an outlandish hailing device.

"…And one more thing, you sorry little in-grapes! Because of your putrid, half-witted incompetence, my failsafe plan is ruined! Not only did they escape unharmed, but also the after-effects of their supposedly fatal meeting were never the things I’d wished to see! You should have had them lost within that wormhole for all eternity after having gotten access to all my resources, not having both their souls merged as one!

What only knows of the outcome of that, or whether or not they’d still try to meddle in our affairs?! Am I getting through to you?!”

The mysterious beasts were silent, fearful to reply. The shadowy man continued.

“And yet, even after knowing that that had happened, you two failed to rectify it?! Saying some unforeseen force had tampered with your every action?!

Oh, indeed our Great Leader would have both your heads as her foot cushions if ever she gets wind of this! Now what say you, you compost heap! What am I going to tell her now?" shouted the shadowy figure sitting behind the stagnant clouds of smoke, banging hard on the table with one hand and holding his cigarette in another.

The gilded desk lamp flickered erratically as a result of it.

"F-f-f-forgive me my Lord, but we, but we h-h-h-had d-d-d-done, all that we c-c-c-could…w-w-w-what happened n-n-n-next, w-w-w-was beyond o-o-o-our means of c-c-c-control…!" nervously replied one of them, the one with a deep red, scaly skin.

"Well, yeah, what Hilak said be true, Lord Absonikta. Now don't you be trying to put the blame on us! We've played our parts and that's that, my Lord," replied the black furred one next to him, bluntly and courageously.

And with that uncalled for remark, the shadowy figure, still malcontent by their excuses, resumed his angered ramblings, interpolating occasionally with unsatisfactory remarks and even more pitiful excuses from the pitiful two.

Consequently, at the culmination of the trio’s long winded, fiery conversations, the shadowy figure had felt that all his fiery expletives were leading him nowhere near his goals, and it was something that his two subordinates can clearly see etched on his face as he inhaled yet another puff of smoke from his glowing stick.

Thus after earnestly sucking the tobacco stick dry for several more times within this unnerving moment of silence, the shadowy person leaned himself even lower against his cushy chair, stayed like that for a while, sighed and said:

"Haluk, Hilak, all those harsh words I've said just now, forget it. You're, you're right Haluk, it's not your fault my friends; it's my fault, it's my fault entirely... Forgive me."

Immediately an expression of relief developed on the face of the two demons.

Then suddenly, the shadowy man turned his back around, inhaled some more nicotine into his lungs and snapped his fingers, immediately resulting in a piercing vociferation of fear and intense pain to reverberate inside the grim and gloomy room whereas the one responsible for it seemed completely calm and comfortable in his chair, ignorant to the fact that his two loyal subordinates were soon a bloodied heap of lifeless, mutilated strips of flesh and bone; a morbidly gory image that slowly went out of the darkened room as he lit up his next cigarette to puff away the time—but not after unleashing a sudden bout of laughter that was certainly not human that is!

"Abang, I'm getting a little worried about our Angah. He hasn't called home yet, it’s getting dark outside and he’d earlier promised to come home for dinner!

I know that he's been known to change his mind at the last minute but I'm still, I’m still worried Abang! Oh, what if he got into trouble or anything…oh, I’m really worried about him!" lamented Datin Maznah to her husband, pacing back and forth across the TV room looking really concerned, whereas her caring, people person of a husband, at least that was what the people claimed him to be, seemed oblivious to her distress.

"Hey, Abang, are you listening? Don't you care about your son at all?! Wake up, you old goat! Pay attention!" she said to him again, feeling very much annoyed this time.

Miraculously, the empathetic people's champion regained his consciousness.

"Huh, what? Oh ok, I’ll get right on it-er, what was that again, dear?" he absent-mindedly asked his fuming wife as he peered out of the Editorial Section.

"Humph, well here I am getting all worried sick about my son like any other responsible parent should be, and there you are reading about your popularity counts and yesterday's Cabinet Meeting as if your dear life depend on it!" she hopelessly shouted, watching as her ‘caring and thoughtful’ husband slowly lapsed back into his addictive reading.

She then started rambling loudly in the room when she realized her husband was not listening again, quoting now and then reasons for her husband's lack of concerns at times like the present, then went on way back in time towards that fateful day when she encouraged him to pursue politics (and on why she even bothered to do that in the first place!), going on and on and on until she arrived at her grand finale—lamenting the destined cruel fate of seeing all her children ending up just like him in their future!

And that was when she finally got what she wanted—her husband's priceless attention!

"…Well, I'm very sure he's probably in your father's house right now, that prehistoric hermit…er, I mean it's not like he could get lost or anything…er, right? And we both know that our Faizul practically grew up in that city, so I’m sure he knows that city like the back of his hand, so try to calm down now, will you?

I'm very sure he's in good hands right now. Just give that boy some more time and he will come back safe and sound. Trust me," he kindly replied while meticulously scanning every printed word written in the Post Cabinet Meeting section of the daily newspaper at the same time.

Datin Maznah's anxiety gradually dissipated at this point.

"Well, I guess you're right on that one, dear," she replied later on.

"Well if I'm not always that right dear, then why would they choose me as their people’s champion instead of your former ‘Super Hunk Beefcake’ boyfriend back then, hmm? Heh heh!" he quipped, immediately causing the furious middle-aged woman to mercilessly whack her befuddled husband in the head with his priceless newspaper again and again!

"Ah, so you're awake already… Good evening to you two, my friends!" greeted the seemingly relieved Ambassador to the two semi conscious boys.

"Er, what? Oh man, it’s nighttime already? (Sigh) Man, my Mom would be worried sick by now, I better…" Faizul replied while fumbling for his precious red cap.

"Hey, take it easy now will you? You're not exactly recovered yet. And don’t worry about your Mom, okay? She thinks you’re with your gramps right now," said the Cartographer while handing him back his priceless red headpiece, sitting pretty next to the beeping machines beside his sterile looking bed.

And the sleepy Azrun, disturbed by the commotion, slowly rose from his bed, yawned and scanned the room like a wary deer.

"Eh, Terkrir, Abang Khaliq, what, what are you two doing here?" he asked in between his yawns. "Er, we live here, remember?" the Ambassador jokingly replied.

Reactively the two boys smiled at him, gladly as the Cartographer approached the main terminal and started inputting something into the infirmary’s central system, turning off all the beeping machines around them in one go.

The Ambassador then slowly pulled off all the scanning nodes from their bodies before helping them with their clothes.

"Fuh, we were scared stiff when you two came here hours ago, okay? I mean we almost didn’t know what to do with you then," said the Puxuvian officer to the two boys while helping the two boys with their clothes.

"Yes, we almost thought you’d never wake up so soon. Miraculously that explosion only left you with nothing more than minor scratches and bruises, and there were no signs of trauma on your internal organs as far as we can detect. However, there’s-"

"The explosion?" Faizul interrupted the Ambassador. He then turned towards his friend and stared at him with a face full of fear. "So it’s true then! We were in that scary place after all! With all those cracked-up skulls and bones, those weird war machines chasing and firing at us, and then the two-" he connected his words yet stopped short at describing the two soldiers they had also encountered.

The empathetic Azrun nodded silently to his every words, feeling as scared as his friend was as he also recalled their encounter.

"Er, I think it’s best that you listen to what the man has to say, guys," the Puxuvian officer nervously replied while turning his glassy face towards the equally nervous Diplomat seconds later.

"E-ehem, however…as soon as we conduct a neuro-psyche analysis on the MER (Micro magnetic particle Emissions Reassessment) orb, we've, we’ve stumbled upon something that still bothers me till now, an anomaly that I...(sigh) I still hoped to be just a data corruption and nothing else…" the Ambassador resumed his words, half lamenting.

The Puxuvian Cartographer sighed.

"So er, what was it, Abang?" Faizul asked, looking clearly worried.

"We, we found out that, that both of your para-psionic, neuro-magnetic, aura level had, had jumped well beyond the maximum level of thirty-five, the normal level of any humans would only be somewhere around seventeen-point-five to eighteen,” he began his explanation.

The two boys found themselves staring blankly at each other.

“A level reading that would only occur amongst selected few humanoids in a period of a thousand years, but never on Earth! (Sigh) This is very bothersome…” the Ambassador reconnected his words.

"Er, what?" the clueless Azrun quietly asked the nervous duo.

And with a deep sigh, the Ambassador continued.

"As, as the Ganymedians’ research showed, as long as any living creature still lives and breathes, one’s soul will naturally surround one’s perishable bodies with an invisible aura, an aura that allowed us, in primitive circumstances, to mentally describe each other without, without having to come too close a contact with each other, something that was commonly referred to in their world as 'First Impressions'.

As God intended, this spiritual domain would remain unassimilated even if one accidentally comes into contact with one's own self from another time and space, for the patterns of spiritual energy radiated by both would differ so much that even if such event should occur, no matter how remote that might be, it will not mix.

But as soon as, as soon as my friend Humoga brought you here, still unconscious at that time, we've-"

"Humoga, who's he? Is he a humanoid?" interrupted the saturated looking Azrun, trying desperately to find a reprieve from the Ambassador's seemingly difficult and rather technical explanations.

The Puxuvian quietly smiled while gesturing to the Ambassador to give both of them a breather.

He then took it upon himself to answer the nine-year-old boy's question as entertaining as he could, intending to prepare the two boys for the coming bad news up ahead.

"Well yes! And just like Great Shaira and Wellech Samawi that we met last year, Great Humoga is also a Xnrene. And like the benevolent Great Shairo, Great Humoga is also one of the chosen Guardians of the Universe, and groomed to be their next leader at that! But it’s just that, being new in the business, he tends to get into everybody’s nerves at times, heh heh!”

He saw the pair’s trademark grin appearing on their faces.

“But unlike the spacefaring Survivors of Xnroe, he, along with six others, was special in a way that he's a Xnrene not born of Xnroe, he was born on the same planet, continent, country and town that the Pilot came from! So he used to be mortal, like us!"

"Wow!" replied the two boys at the same time.

"And yes, he's also the one who saved you from that 'explosive' encounter a while ago. So if you liked the Pilot so much, then I'm sure you’ll love this guy even more! Though I don’t know why, but I guess he's born with it or something, heh heh!" Terkrir said again.

"Man, I'd sure like to meet him someday Terkrir," said Azrun, smiling from ear to ear.

"Yeah, me too," seconded his best friend. "Er, so what was you're trying to say just now, Abang?" he finally asked the Ambassador, bringing the atmosphere back to its previous tenseness.

"Er, so when Humoga brought you here hours ago, we, we both sensed that something was wrong with your auras, and after, scanning the polarity and, the intricate dissipation of, your body's spiritual energy; it all indicated that, the thing we’ve dreaded the most, a ‘Trans-Dimensional Assimilation of Souls’, had, somehow occurred in that explosion!" the Ambassador continued his explanation, sighing hopelessly now and then, getting somewhat softer towards the end.

"Well, yeah! We were so stunned by the discovery that, that, sheesh! Even the Great One was sweating cold as heck! He also said that it could well be his fault should you two-" interjected the Cartographer, sounding more and more nervous as he talked.

Silence engulfed the room as the Cartographer found himself unable to speak, fearful of what he had known.

The two wide-eyed boys suddenly noticed a small teardrop had formed around the Ambassador's eyes.

"Why, what's wrong Abang? Why are you sad?" asked the nine-year-old Azrun.

"Then, then I heard, the Great One said…said that, from his knowledge and experience, that in light of an assimilation of two similar souls, though highly remote the chances of it to happen, then, then," the Ambassador haltingly replied, getting more and more stuttered towards the end.

A silent moment descended once again onto the sterile sick bay.

The Diplomat can now be seen staving off the forming tears in his eyes before reconnecting his sentence; his face strangely turned away from the clueless two.

"…Then we, have to, re-establish the same quasi-physical contact as, as soon, as, possible! But should we, fail to, reproduce, the same, scenario, in the next, twenty-four hours, then both of you, both of you shall, disappear from your own, own plane, of, existence, indefinitely! Meaning that…that," he haltingly said until he could speak no longer.

"…Both of us, will die?" Faizul mournfully asked before turning his mournful face towards his mutually sad friend, feeling the arriving wetness around his own eyes at the same time.

The Ambassador nodded, hesitantly.

"No! I don’t wanna die!!" Azrun shouted out reactively. "I still, I still haven’t achieved my dreams!! It’s not fair!! Why now, God?! Why me?! Why?!!"

The remorseful Azrun then cried his heart out onto the sterile white pillow of his bed over and over again.

And the silent moment now turned mournful.

"Please Abang, there's got to be a way! Please tell me Abang, please! There's got to be a way! We couldn’t just give up?! Please, we don't want to die, Abang, it’s not fair! Please, tell me there’s a way, Abang! Please tell me there’s a way!" pleaded the mournful Faizul feverishly to the Ganymedian.

The young Emissary quietly lowered his head, cupped his tearful face with both hands and haltingly replied:

"We, can't, we can't, even contemplate, on conducting, another anomaly like that one, without taking a lot of risks, Faizul. Risks, that I don't think, we’re ready, to handle it again… For apart from releasing, the evil Shaik, from his prison, we might, we might, end up, erasing, everything that has come to past! I'm sorry Faizul, there's just isn't any other way, that us mortals, can, can do to, undo it right now…I’m sorry…!"

"NO!!!!" screamed the tearful Azrun once again, saddened further still by the Ambassador's discouraging remark, screaming so loudly that the saddened wailing of his soul immediately intensified into a psionic wave of despair and radiated out of the room, the hidden outpost and the entire abandoned housing area moments later, getting higher and further still until it crossed the very threshold of time and space, zipped past the 'Hidden Layer' and straight into the heart of yet another Azrun, sleeping peacefully amongst the cold and lifeless rubble.

And once these surreal echoes in the wind of destiny had touched the deepest part of his soul, the moustached soldier suddenly awoke with a start and began to breathe erratically, unintentionally waking up his muscular friend at the same time.

"Hey, (yawn) what's with you all of a sudden, Azrun? (Yawn) Are you having a nightmare again?" asked his strong and well-built friend while yawning himself towards wakefulness.

"(Panting) Faizul…I think, I think, I know, who, who those two boys were!"

"(Yawn) Man, what great timing you have right there…(yawn)…huh?"

"No, I'm, I'm serious, Faizul! They, they were…us!"

Now it was Faizul's turn to wake up with a start.

"What?! Hey, are you sick? Do you need 'Hyperdol' tablets or something? Man your head's burning…!" he kindly asked while placing his huge and muscular palm on his best friend's sweaty forehead.

"No, it’s true! I saw them again, crying, crying in my dream! They, they survived the explosion, bb-b-but, if they couldn’t meet us again, then they will, they will die! And then, I saw him, crying, saying that, that, it's quite impossible, quite impossible for us to meet again!" he feverishly replied in between his rapid breathing, trying desperately to recall every bit of his strange dream to his concerned best friend.

"Who, Azrun, who?" Faizul asked him, finding himself strangely curious all of a sudden.

Azrun stared blankly back at him, his face trickling with sweat; feeling too scared to answer him back.

And the muscular soldier suddenly found himself feeling feverish all of a sudden, as the answer to his own question gradually dawned upon him!

"Oh great! Now I feel like eating that damn tablet as well…"he said, sighing.

"Wait, there's more, I think,” he said again. "Then suddenly, I find myself, back at your old house, following a strange, greenish glow…and when, when I arrived at your bedroom, I saw-"

And suddenly a loud, beeping sound cuts off Azrun’s words.

The muscular Faizul immediately lunged for his bag, produced a strange contraption, and frowned.

"Sorry Faizul, but you have to save that story for later all right? Those mindless SRUs are here!" he remarked, acting convincingly disgruntled at the same time.

The two of them then swiftly put on their greenish, glowing visual scope over their faces, powered up their weapons and scampered in unison for a safer area, nervously scanning the desolate surroundings for their invisible enemies in the onset of yet another conflict.