Chapter Three: The Distress Call

"Mortals and Xeroxians have to unite!" for the greater good of The Living Circle's survival. The Rise of Chaos is happening everywhere and on every planet in The Living Circle...

Samson and his group of Ancient Xeroxians marched across the Imaginary Path into Earth, making it there in exactly two hours. They made it to a strange forestry area in the middle of a road that seemed to lead into nowhere. Prince Smith unsheathed The Light Sword and cut through the darkness. Samson took a look around and sighed, "I see nothing but darkness and a strange road," he said.

He stood thinking for a while before he and his group were honked off the street by someone in a yellow bug. They scrambled to the other side of the road and studied the vehicle for a moment as the driver rolled down the passenger side window. The driver was a female brunette with green eyes and bronze skin. She smiled politely and gave them a questioning look, "Are you guys lost?" she asked.

Samson slowly came out his shock and nodded, "Um, y-yes," he stammered, "yes we are lost. Um, do you know exactly where we are?"

The female nodded, "Yes, of course," she replied, "This is the Natchez Trace Parkway."

"'Natchez Trace Parkway'," Samson mused, "What is that, exactly?"

The female laughed, thinking that this was some kind of joke, "It's a road," she said, "A road in Mississippi."

Samson gasped, "Mississippi?" he asked. "Where does it lead?"

The woman sighed, "The Natchez Trace leads from Natchez, Mississippi all the way to Nashville, Tennessee," she said giving them another questioning look. "Are you guys from around here?"

Samson shook his head, "Uh, no," he said, "No, we're not."

The brunette nodded, "Visiting from out of town?" she asked.

Samson nodded, "Yes," he said looking back at Prince Smith and the others, "Way out of town."

The driver of the yellow bug nodded, "I see," she said.

"I was wondering, do you know where the closest possible news station is from here?" Samson asked after a moment of silence.

The brunette nodded, "Oh, sure," she said, "the closest news station from here is in Jackson, Mississippi. But, you're not going to make it there on foot. That's close to 100 miles. Do you need a ride?"

Samson smiled, "Oh no, but thanks, though," he said, "We can handle ourselves."

The female looked at him quizzically, "Are you sure?" she asked, "I can call somebody to come pick you up and take you to the news station. Which news station do you need to go to?"

Samson gasped, "Did you say 'which'?" he asked.

The brunette nodded, "Yeah, they have News Channel 3, News Channel 12, and News Channel 16," she said, "So, which one?"

Samson smiled, "Whichever's the closest," he said. I'm doomed, he thought, I didn't know they had more than one.

The female thought for a while, "Well, if you insist on walking," she said, tapping on a flat slender device in her hand, "then the closest news station to the Natchez Trace would be WLBT News Channel 3. But, that's at least 131 miles from here and a 43 hr. walk. Are you sure you don't need a ride?"

Samson nodded, "Yes, I'm sure, thanks," he said. "Just, uh, I would like the directions to this News Channel 3 news station, if you don't mind?"

The driver of the yellow bug nodded and pulled from her purse a pen and a little notebook, "Certainly," she said placing the slender device on her dashboard. She scribbled something on the small sheet of notebook paper and handed it Samson, "And, if you need anything else, I've included my number on the back," she said with a smile. "Just call me whenever you need anything, and I'll try my best to help you in any way I can."

Samson smiled and blushed. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought she was flirting with him, but he dismissed the idea, "No, thanks," he said as he accepted the sheet of paper, "You've done enough. Thanks for everything, Miss, uh--"

The brunette smiled, "You're welcome," she said, "Oh my name is Katie Green. I'm glad I can help."

They bade their farewells and Katie drove off in her yellow bug, leaving them on the side of the Natchez Trace alone in the darkness. Samson turned to face the group, "Hey Jesse," he called, "I'm going to need your light for most of this trip, is that alright?"

Jesse smiled, "Thought you'd never ask," he said as he produced a white flame on the palm of his hand.

Samson smiled, "Thanks," he said as he handed Prince Smith the paper.

"So, uh, let's see it says to first head south on the Natchez Trace Parkway for 117 miles. So, let's go," Prince Smith said. He turned around, "Um, which way is south?" he asked.

Jesse thought for a while, "Well, I suppose that in order for you to locate south, you must first locate north," he said.

Prince Smith sighed, "Okay, then where's north?" he asked.

Nothing but silence followed that question. When an answer wasn’t provided for the question asked, Ziero tapped on his wrist phone and sighed, "North is that way," he said pointing left, “So, south would be to our right.”

"Alright, let's go," Samson said as he led the group to the right.

They trudged on for a while, following the directions Katie wrote down for them follow to WLBT News Channel 3 news station. They continued on until they made it to a large weird city with a ton of tall buildings. There were a lot of street lights hanging above the highways but the streets looked to be deserted. The street lights weren't on and there were no visible running cars on the highway. Actually, Samson didn't see anything that was living around the city at all. Are we in the right city? Samson thought, puzzled.

"I think we're in the wrong city," he said under his breath. He turned to leave, when a bunch of people ran past him and his group with torches and posters, shouting, "Repent, Chimneyville, for the end is near!" and "Repent, Jackson, repent!"

Samson swallowed, "Well, I guess we've finally made it to Jackson," he said. "But, where is the news station?"

He and his group started forward and went further into the city of Jackson. As they perused the city, they discovered a group of civilians surrounding a trash can full of burning trash, trying their hardest to stay warm. They went further into the city, pass the group of homeless civilians, and discovered something even weirder. As they made it to what they later discovered was the middle of the city, despite the group of military officers, which were the National Guard, and police officers perusing the city with guns and some of the buildings being on fire, Samson and his group of Ancient Xeroxians noticed that half the city of Jackson was shrouded in darkness but the other half was still lit.

They noticed the street lights were on, there were cars on the street, pedestrians were walking around the city or walking dogs, and people were still doing business as though The Chaos had never rose. It was also much warmer here than on the other side. Samson felt a wave of heat and a rush of confidence as he continued forward. But, as he stepped back into the darkness, he felt colder and he felt a wave of fear, doubt, and despair fall over him in contrast to the lit half of Jackson.

This is strange, Samson thought. This is very strange. "Well, this is very strange," he said, "but, we still need to find the news station. Now, if I were a news station, where would I be?" He looked around the area trying his best to spot out the WLBT News Channel 3 news station. He started forward into the lighted half of Jackson, leading his group to the end of North West Street at the part where North West Street and East Amite intersect. Not long after that, they heard sirens in the distance in front of them and a bright red fire truck came into view from Highway 51, going towards the fires in the darkness. At the same time, a GM Cadillac came down East Amite and apparently, the driver was drunk or texting because the Cadillac ran into a fire hydrant that was near where Highway 51 and East Amite intersected and because the car was going at a high speed already, it kept going until it flew into the fire truck. The fire hydrant exploded, setting off long streams of high pressured water in every direction. Because of this, East Amite and Highway 51 were both shut off from receiving any more traffic.

The ambulance was called and the people in both vehicles were removed by the National Guard. The driver of the Cadillac was beaten up pretty badly. He had a busted lip, a broken nose, a few teeth missing, and a limp right side. The people in the fire truck weren't as badly bruised as the driver of the Cadillac was but they suffered from minor injuries like a few busted lips and cuts on their legs.

As the ambulance arrived, to the accident scene, the people from the fire truck tried to warn the ambulance driver not to come any closer to the accident scene. At first, the ambulance driver didn't listen but he finally moved a considerable distance from the scene after discerning their body language. The crew from the fire truck ran to get away from the scene and managed to carry the injured Cadillac driver's body with them before both the car and the fire truck exploded, setting a nearby business on fire.

"It doesn't seem to quit that some outside force bigger than us is working against us to counteract every action we try to perform for the goodwill of the people of Jackson, Mississippi," one of the men from the fire truck said. "Just now, we were on our way to put out some house fires and we have an accident that not only destroys our truck, but sets another building on fire and at the same time closes off Highway 51 and East Amite!"

The EMTs from the ambulance placed the limp body of the Cadillac driver on the stretcher and lugged him into their truck and the ambulance transported him to the hospital. While Samson and his group of Ancient Xeroxians stood frozen in shock at how fast an accident had occurred just as soon as they set foot into Jackson, Mississippi, a WLBT News Channel 3 van parked at the corner of East Amite and a reporter and a couple of cameramen assembled at the scene and they began a live report there.

"Hello, I am here today in downtown Jackson, where just in the vicinity of the State Capitol building, there was an accident that involved a firetruck, a local civilian, and a fire hydrant," the female reporter said, "According to some witnesses, the driver of what used to be a brand new GM Cadillac was on his phone texting while driving when he lost control of his car and hit, in a head-on collision, the side of the Jackson Fire Department firetruck. Could this really be a result of the rise of chaos everyone has been talking about?"

While she was reporting, she stood next to someone from the firetruck and when she finished asking her question, she turned to one of the men from the firetruck crew for an answer to her question, "Like I said earlier, it doesn't seem to quit that some outside force bigger than us is working against us to counteract every action we try to perform for the goodwill of the people of Jackson, Mississippi," he replied, "because just then, we were on our way to put out some house fires and we have an accident that not only destroyed our truck, but it set another building on fire and at the same time closed off Highway 51 and East Amite. So yeah, I would say that this is definitely a result of the rise of chaos that everyone has been talking about."

The female reporter was silent for a while, waiting to see if the person from the firetruck would say something else. When she realized he was done speaking, she nodded, "Well, not sure what to add to that!" she said, "Margrade, WLBT News Channel 3." Once Samson came out of his shock, he decided that he would approach the crew from the WLBT News Channel 3 van and inquire that they lead them to the news station. He explained their predicament and asked if there was a possibility that he and his group could send a distress signal at their news station to the countries of America and Mexico and the continents of Europe and Asia.

"Absolutely!" Margrade replied, "But, we can't just let you report at our news station without confirmation and recommendation from our manager. You'd have to talk to him first. Follow us." She climbed into the van with the rest of the crew and they drove off from the State Capitol Building towards the street, which was North West Street. They took a right and continued north until they made it to where North West Street and High street intersected then they took another right.

They crossed over where Highway 51 and High street intersected. They continued straight until they came to where High Street and North Jefferson Street intersected and took another right. They continued straight until North Jefferson Street became South Jefferson Street and soon enough, after following the WLBT News van, Samson and his group of Ancient Xeroxians found themselves standing in front of the WLBT News Channel 3 news station.

Because the sun had been swallowed by the Chaos, it was dark outside even though it was 2pm in the afternoon, according to Ziero’s wrist phone. Samson and his group of Ancient Xeroxians followed Margrade and the rest of the crew into the news station's front entrance. Margrade and the rest of the crew led Samson and his group of Ancient Xeroxians to the WLBT General Manager's office.

Because all of them couldn't enter his office at once, they had Samson go in and advocate on planet Xerox's and The Living Circle's behalf. Margrade introduced Samson to the WLBT General Manager and left Samson alone with the General Manager in his office. The General Manager closed the door to his office and gestured towards a chair, "Have a seat," he said to him. Samson sat down as the General Manager made his way to his chair, behind his desk.

"So, I hear you're coming from a planet Xerox, perhaps?" he began. "And you want to use our news station to send a distress signal, is that correct?"

Samson nodded.

"Tell me more about that Mr. Samson, if you will," the General Manager said.

Samson cleared his throat and sat forward, "Well, I was sent here on a quest to appeal for the assistance of Earth for Xerox, particularly the countries of America and Mexico, and the continents of Europe and Asia," he said. "I heard, through a little bird, that the countries of America, North Korea, and Russia were shooting daggers, or threats, so to speak, at each other. Not to mention the tensions between the Mexicans and Americans, the Americans and the Asians, and the Americans and some parts of Europe are still ongoing problems that contribute to the Rise of Chaos."

The General Manager sighed, "There it goes again," he said, "Somebody else talking about "the Rise of Chaos". What is this "Rise of Chaos" that everybody's talking about?"

Samson sighed, "The Rise of Chaos is when darkness dominates the dimension to the point that both planets Earth and Xerox are shrouded in darkness, each planet’s sun is swallowed and prevented from giving either planet light, fear and despair grasps the victims' hearts and The Chaos gets to speak all kinds of negativity into their minds,” he replied. “Everything is in a disorderly mass and nothing the eyes behold is authentic nor true especially for the impure in heart, everything turns on each other: nature, animals, nations and people, and only the pure in heart can stand through this time of corruption, chaos, darkness, and evil."

The General Manager was silent for a while before speaking again, "Okay," he said, "Answer me this: if The Chaos is currently rising, then how can it speak all kinds of negativity into the victims' minds?"

"The Chaos can because no one can really see him, so there is basically no way to resist him without a supernatural power strong enough to oppose him, plus The Chaos is just as discreet as your conscious: there is no way to tell the two apart," Samson said. "Since The Chaos is at the point of rising, he is in the process of gathering strength. Once he has gathered enough strength, it will be too late for us: he'll be strong enough to destroy both planets Earth and Xerox, which will bring an end to The Living Circle. This will cause The Living Circle to crumble and then it will transform into a huge black hole that will suck up what's left of the many galaxies housed in this dimension. Our plan is to stop The Chaos from rising before that even happens but we need Earth's help to do that."

"Okay, hold on," the General Manager said, "First of all, what is The Chaos and why do you keep referring to it as a "he", and secondly, what is The Living Circle?"

Samson sighed, "I really don't have time to give you a full explanation to your questions because The Chaos is constantly on the move, rising and getting stronger with every passing day that we don't do anything about it," he replied, near about annoyed with all the questions the General Manager was asking him.

The General Manager sighed, "Alright then, just answer me quickly," he said.

"The Living Circle is a circle of six galaxies in the center of the universe. It is called The Living Circle because each galaxy that is in this dimension has to have at least one planetary system that has one or more planets housing lifeforms similar to humans. The galaxies are as follows: The Milky-way, which, as you already know, houses Earth; The Forgotten Galaxy, which houses planet Xerox and eight other planets that also house lifeforms similar to humans; The Valhalla Galaxy, which houses planet Eros; The Dominant Galaxy, which houses planet Decadagone; The Lightning Galaxy, which houses planet Zierckoniegiea; and The Spiritual Galaxy, which housed planet Zierockon, but it's long lost now,” Samson replied. “The Chaos is a much more complex subject because it is both a "who" and a "what", which is why I keep referring to it as a "he". The Chaos is a state of great disorder or confusion and a disorderly mass or jumble. There was a legend on planet Eros that The Chaos was once the shadow of an Erosian who was the embodiment of pure evil. He tried to end The Living Circle but was killed by a man who looked like just like him. His shadow became its own dark personality with no physical form. This large mass of darkness and destruction is what we are trying to protect Earth and Xerox from.”

“Oh my, that sounds freaky,” the General Manager exclaimed placing his hands over his face.

“Tried to warn you,” Samson said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

The General Manager sighed, “Alright, I give in,” he said. “Return to this news station tomorrow morning and we'll try to put you on for the 6 o'clock news broadcast. Okay?”

Samson gasped, "Didn't you hear a word I said?" he asked him. "The Chaos is rising and growing stronger every day. We can't delay this until tomorrow. This is urgent!"

The General Manager stood, "No later than tomorrow morning at 6," he said as he extended his hand to shake Samson’s hand.

Samson almost refused but decided against it, "Fine," he muttered as they shook hands, "Tomorrow morning at 6."

The General Manager escorted him out into the hall, "Have a good rest of the day, Mr. Samson and I'll see you later," he said as he closed the door to his office.

Samson turned to face his group of Ancient Xeroxians. "So, how did it go?" Prince Smith asked him.

Samson sighed, "Tomorrow morning at 6," he replied.

"What? Couldn't you negotiate a deal with him to get us in for tonight at 6?" Tamar asked. "We can't wait 'til tomorrow! The Chaos is rising now!"

Samson sighed, "That's exactly what I told him," he replied. "Tomorrow morning at 6 was his final decision for a spot at this news station. There was nothing else I could do to change his mind. I couldn't force him to do what I wanted."

"Why not? You do that with the king of Summer Breeze all of the time," Ptolemy retorted. "Why not do it now?"

"What? Why would I want to harm an innocent Earthling?" Samson asked, horrified. "They're our only hope for destroying The Chaos once and for all and we can't afford to make them our enemies. For the good of planet Xerox, we have to keep a steady friendship with the Earthlings."

Ptolemy scoffed, "Stop trying to make this about planet Xerox, when I already know that's not really why you're doing this," he said.

Samson sighed, "You're right, Ptolemy. Planet Xerox is not the only reason I'm trying to prevent The Chaos from rising: I'm doing this for planet Eros as well," he replied. "Now, do you know why you're doing this?"

"Stop messing with me, Samson," Ptolemy snapped.

“What are you talking about?” Samson asked, completely taken aback. “You're messing with me.”

Ptolemy crossed his arms, "Stop turning my words against me," he said.

"Why don't you just tell me what's really pissing you off?" Samson demanded. "What is bothering you so much?"

Ptolemy growled and stomped off towards the other direction and crossed his arms over his chest, "Nothing that concerns you," he replied. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd rather be left alone."

Samson sighed and shook his head, "I don't know what we're going to do 'til tomorrow morning at 6," he said, half to himself. "Maybe we can go recruit downtown, if we don't kill each other first?"

"Whatever," Ptolemy grumbled.

Samson turned to Prince Smith, "Do you have any ideas?" he asked him.

Prince Smith sighed and shook his head, "No," he replied.

It wasn't long before someone from the WLBT news station staff came down the hall and told them that it was nearing closing time for the station and asked them to leave. They departed the news station and Samson wondered where they shall reside next 'til they should return to the news station at 6 in the morning. "Well, maybe it's like what you said, we could start recruiting downtown?" Ptolemy asked.

Samson raised his eyebrows, "What was that, Ptolemy? You want to recruit downtown?" he asked him. "I beg your pardon, but didn’t you say you'd like to be left alone?"

Ptolemy rolled his eyes and snarled, "Why should that have to matter? Planet Xerox needs deliverance from The Chaos!"

Samson nodded, "Alright then, we'll start recruiting downtown," he said. "If we draw too much attention to ourselves, we'll have to stop and find a hotel 'til the morning."

Samson led his group of Ancient Xeroxians through downtown Jackson and they went from person to person to ask them if they wouldn't mind joining them in their pursuit to put an end to the Rise of Chaos. They got a lot of blank stares and, some of the time, they got some verbal abuse and, most of the time, they faced physical abuse.

They stopped recruiting when an officer approached them and asked them to stop disturbing the peace because some of the citizens were complaining about the noise of the people in the streets and many of them called in to file a complaint about an odd group of people cruising the streets in front of their houses.

Once they were put off the streets, Samson and his group of Ancient Xeroxians decided to stop by the Old Capitol Inn near the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson, MS to stay the night. Samson paid for their suites, got their keys and they went up the hall to their rooms. Samson and his group of Ancient Xeroxians gathered in his hotel room to devise a plan of how they were to perform the distress signal message.

“So, which one of us will go to the news station on planet Xerox’s behalf?” Prince Smith asked.

“Well, the Queen gave Samson the quest, so why shouldn’t he do it?” Paradise asked.

Samson shook his head, “I don’t want to hog the spotlight all for myself,” he said. “This involves all of us as a group.”

“That’s very generous of you, Samson,” Ziero sighed, “but, you know that all of us can’t go in front of the camera. It will be too crowded. We can barely fit inside this hotel room.”

Samson nodded, “That’s why I got us suites,” he said. “Four people to a room, so that we all wouldn’t suffocate.”

“The point is, one of us has to go to the news station to speak on The Living Circle’s behalf,” Ziero asserted, “and if The Living Circle gave you the task, Samson, you must go into the news station and speak on her behalf. She has made you her spokesperson. After all, you are her Chosen Warrior.”

Samson knit his brows, “Me?” he asked. “But, I’ve never spoken in front of a crowd before.”

“Don’t worry, Samson, you’ll just be speaking to a camera,” Prince Smith said. “You’ll do fine. Just look at the camera and talk. Don’t even think about the seven billion people watching.”

Samson’s face became white as a sheet, “There’s seven billion people on this planet?” he asked.

Ziero sighed exasperated and punched Prince Smith on his arm, “You dolt,” he snapped. “Why would you tell him that? You are hereafter banned from giving Samson any more pep talks.”

“Samson, look at me,” Tamar said. “You can do it. I believe in you. Just look at the camera and smile. It’ll be fine. And, if you get lost, just do what the reporters do. Make up stuff.”

Samson smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, “Thanks, Tamar,” he said. “Alright, let’s get some rest. We have a big day ahead of us.”

They departed Samson’s, Prince Smith’s, Ziero’s and Paradise’s hotel room and went into their rooms to go to sleep.

The next morning, Samson arose early to get ready for his time on WLBT news channel 3. He summoned a black suit from his house for his appearance on the news broadcast and he pulled his hair back in a tiny ponytail using a rubber band he found in the bathroom. He returned to the news station fifteen minutes 'til six to give his distress signal, but to his surprise it was locked.

How am I supposed to give the distress signal here at six if the station is closed? He scanned the perimeter of the area before deciding to go back to the hotel. He made it two minutes from the news station before someone went to the door to unlock it. "Hey, can I help you with something?" they asked him. It was the General Manager of the news station.

Samson sighed, "Yes," he said, "I'm here to give my report at this news station."

"Okay, sure. Come in," the General Manager said. He opened the door to the news station and turned on the lights. Once he had done so, he saw that the person he spoke to was Samson. "Oh yes, Samson, you're here about the distress signal," he said. "Am I correct?"

Samson nodded, "Yes sir, I am," he said. "I just don't know if it will reach all of America, Mexico, Europe and Asia."

"Oh don't worry, we’ll take care of that," the General Manager said. "I'll take you to the news room."

The news room was in warm colors, a mixture of browns, reds and grays, and there was a desk in the middle of the room. The desk consisted of glass and wood in a pattern of circles and ovals. There was a small glass oval on top of a large wooden oval and underneath the large wooden oval, on either side, was a glass circle, each resting on a wooden cylinder to either side of a screen that would've displayed "3 On Your Side" had it been on.

Behind the desk were three big screens that would've displayed one big picture that overlaps into the other screens with "WLBT 3 On Your Side" displayed on the middle screen had they been on. Samson and the General Manager entered the news room followed by Katarina, Paul, and Bartiles. They made their way over to the desk and the General Manager introduced Samson, explaining to them why Samson was there in the news room.

Katarina nodded, "Hmm, interesting," she said half to herself. She turned to face Samson, "So, you're from planet Xerox?" she asked him. "Where is that exactly? And how did you get here?"

"Planet Xerox is in another galaxy known as The Forgotten Galaxy. I got here through the Imaginary Path, which is a path nestled in a forest that can only be seen and discovered by anyone who has an imagination. That's why it's imaginary."

"Okay, so what does that make you? What are you?"

"I am an Erosian. I'm not exactly from planet Xerox even though I came by that way. The people who are the inhabitants of planet Xerox are known as Xeroxians. I'm from planet Eros, but I live on planet Xerox because my planet can no longer support life. And that same thing can and will happen to Earth really soon if we continue to stand around and do nothing."

Katarina nodded, "Of course," she said. She turned to face Paul and Bartiles and whispered something to them and they departed the desk. In a moment's time, all the screens in the newsroom came on and Paul and Bartiles returned to the desk. They stood alongside Samson, Katarina to his left and Paul and Bartiles to his right, when they went on the air.

"Good morning, I am Katarina Rain," Katarina said.

"I'm Paul Worcestershire," Paul said.

"And I'm Bartiles Antari," Bartiles said.

"And this is WLBT news channel 3, your place for 6 o'clock morning news," Katarina said. "This morning we have a guest on the air with us. This is Mr. Samson and he is with us today to deliver a very important report regarding the terrors that were faced yesterday. Yesterday, a lot of civilians witnessed the sun being swallowed by darkness earlier that morning and there were a lot of reports regarding mysterious house fires that erupted throughout the city of Jackson, Mississippi.”

“This led to a call being placed to the Jackson Fire Department by a local civilian. Yesterday afternoon, there was a car wreck that involved a GM Cadillac, the Jackson Fire Department fire truck and a nearby fire hydrant, leading to the closing of both Highway 51 and East Amite. As the Fire Department made their way towards the fires in the darkness on Highway 51, the Cadillac travelled along East Amite towards the intersection of Highway 51 and East Amite. The driver was on his phone texting when he lost control of the vehicle and as he made his right turn, he ran into the fire hydrant on the corner. His car kept going, even after he tried to slow down, and the car flew into the Jackson Fire Department fire truck. Thanks to the National Guard for getting the Jackson Fire Department crew and the driver of the Cadillac to safety and for calling the Ambulance, there were no losses from the accident. The driver of the Cadillac is currently recovering from his injuries. As for the house fires, there were no survivors. Those involved lost their homes, their possessions and their loved ones. Mr. Samson is with us today to explain to us why this has happened, what this means for us, and what we can do to stop it."

Samson nodded, "Thank you, Ms. Katarina Rain," he said. "Good morning, I am Samson Cleopatra and I am here to explain the reason for the horrific events that took place yesterday. This is all due to the Rise of Chaos. The Rise of Chaos is when darkness dominates the dimension to the point that both planets Earth and Xerox are shrouded in darkness, each planet’s sun is swallowed and prevented from giving either planet light, fear and despair grasps the victims' hearts and The Chaos gets to speak all kinds of negativity into their minds, everything is in a disorderly mass and nothing the eyes behold is authentic nor true especially for the impure in heart, everything turns on each other: nature, animals, nations and people, and only the pure in heart can stand through this time of corruption, chaos, darkness, and evil. The Rise of Chaos is happening everywhere and on every planet. The Chaos has targeted the two planets that are the centers of The Living Circle, the dimension we're in, Earth and planet Xerox to accomplish his plan of destroying The Living Circle once and for all.”

“He knows that whatever happens on planet Xerox will also happen on Earth, and his mission is to destroy The Living Circle by destroying Earth through the destruction of planet Xerox. He plans on completing his mission in seven days. He started yesterday with the swallowing of the sun on each planet and the other devastating events that took place. There is no telling what he has planned for today. All I know is that there are only six days left to stop the Rise of Chaos and we need your help to stop him from rising. Time is running out and The Chaos is moving quickly, so we need to act fast. It won't be long before..."

Before he knew it, the electricity went out and the ground around the WLBT news station began to shake violently. All the equipment crashed to the ground, the walls to the left and to the right of them crumbled, and the ground beneath them split apart rapidly.

Samson looked around in shock, "Earthquake?" he asked Paul.

Paul shook his head, "Impossible," he replied. "This fault hasn’t been active for the last two hundred years." The roof disappeared into the sky with a swirling cloud of darkness and out of the darkness came a silhouette darker than the darkest clouds ever to be seen. It formed into a dragon with red eyes that roared in their faces so loud their hair parted.

It was so dark in the area they were in that they could not see who spoke to them, "So, you plan to put a stop to my rise, huh, puny humans?" a voice deep and monstrous called out from the darkness. There was a laugh and the voice said, "Think you're strong enough to stop ME? How about now? How strong do you feel now?" There was another laugh and then out from the darkness flew a gigantic rock that passed over where they were crouching, barely missing Bartiles' head. Bartiles cried out in pain as the rock grazed his head and embedded itself in the wall behind them.

Samson stood and glared at the dark silhouette, "Leave them alone, The Chaos!" he growled. "I'm the one who's gathering the Earthlings together against you. Attack me, not them!"

The Chaos laughed, "Gladly," he said as he hurled a giant bolder Samson's way.

Samson caught the bolder before it smashed into the desk and wall of the newsroom and tossed it back at The Chaos. The Chaos grunted and retreated, allowing the newsroom to return to its former glory. The lights came back on and all the equipment flew back in place. Everything was as if The Chaos had never visited. Samson faced Bartiles, "Are you okay?" he asked him.

Bartiles looked at him horrified, his head was covered in blood and blood was streaming down the sides of his face. Down the middle of his head was a striped opening through which his skull could be seen. "What is this, Mr. Samson, huh? Some of kind of freak show?" he asked.

Samson shook his head, "No, that was The Chaos," he said. "He just came to scare us. But, we can't just back down, now. We have to fight back."

"Oh sure, fight back," Bartiles said sarcastically. "Look at what the thing did to my head!" He left the newsroom holding his head and Katarina followed him, shaking her head in disgust.

Samson sighed, "We can't just give up," he said. "That's what The Chaos wants us to do. He wants us to give up so that he can rise even faster. And they've left so what do I do now?"

Paul smiled and put his hand on Samson's shoulder, "We start recruiting," he replied.

Samson looked at him in shock, "You believe me?" he asked him.

"Of course, I've seen it with my own eyes! And, we probably should get going,” Paul replied. “It doesn't look like The Chaos is messing around."

Samson and Paul went to depart the news station when they were confronted by the General Manager.

"Samson!" he called. "In my office, now!"

Samson looked at Paul and Paul smiled, "It's going to be okay," he said as he patted him on his back.

Samson went with the General Manager while Paul followed. He waited for Samson outside the General Manager's office.

Samson followed the General Manager into his office. "Alright, I need to know what the hell is going on!" he exclaimed. "So, why don't you sit down and tell me what the hell happened in here! Why is Bartiles' head bleeding, why was the entire news station shaking, and why the hell did the electricity go out? What happened?"

"Alright, calm down," Samson said. "I'll explain everything. The entire news station shook and the electricity went out because of The Chaos. He came to the news station to give us a scare. And he threw a rock over Bartiles' head, which took some of his head with it, and that's why his head was bleeding."

The General Manager sighed and put his head in his hands. "So, what am I to do now?" he asked.

"Maybe I can take him to the hospital?" Samson suggested.

"Forget it. You're not taking anyone anywhere," the General Manager said sternly.

Samson gulped, "Yes, sir. May I ask why?"

"You have a job to do."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"What's my job?"

"Extermination. Your job is to get rid of The Chaos. I want him as far away from Earth as possible. Now beat it!"

Samson stood and nodded, "Yes, sir. I accept. And don't worry, I won't let you down," he said.

"Just go," the General Manager said.

Samson departed the General Manager's office and found Paul standing outside waiting for him. When he saw him, he approached him, "So, what did the General Manager say?" he asked him.

Samson smiled, "He doesn't mind if we go recruiting more Earthlings as long as we move quickly," he said. "He wants us to get rid of The Chaos now. So, let's go."

"Okay," Paul said.

Samson and Paul left the news station and witnessed the damage The Chaos had done to the city of Jackson. The ground was separated by huge cracks that trailed everywhere, all of the buildings except for the WLBT News Channel 3 news station and the State Capitol Building, were destroyed, and the destruction caused a large accident pile up on three of the roads, which resulted in 20,000 casualties. Samson gasped at the destruction of the city, "Aww man, I should've gave them walkie-talkies!" he exclaimed.

Paul turned and gave Samson a questioning look, "What are you talking about, man?" he asked him. "They're dead."

"No, not them," Samson said. "I didn't come here alone. I had people with me. They were a group of Ancient Xeroxians. Oh, why did they let me go to the news station alone?" Someone behind him cleared their throat and Samson turned around.

"Prince Smith, you guys, you're alive!" Samson exclaimed. "How'd you guys survive all of this?"

Prince Smith scoffed, "What, this?" he asked. "This was nothing. But, how did all of this happen?"

Samson sighed, "The Chaos came and ruined it all," he replied.

Prince Smith gasped, "That b*****d!" he exclaimed. "Oh, excuse my language," he added when he saw Paul. "Hi, I'm--"

"I know who you are," Paul interrupted. "I heard him when he said your name. So, you're a prince?"

"Yes, but only on planet Xerox," Prince Smith said. "On Earth I'm just plain ol' Exaephor Smith. That's my real name. You can call me Exaephor or Prince Smith, but I'd rather Exaephor. The name Prince Smith almost got me robbed. They thought I was a prince so they tried to rob me. They were right, those guys downtown, but still the only thing I have on me is my sword."

Samson sighed, "I'm sorry," he said. "It's so easy for me to forget where I am, but they are why we are here. I doubt we'll be able to find any more alive Earthlings, though."

Paul smiled, "Have you checked the Capitol Building, yet?" he asked. "That's the only other building that's still standing."

Samson, his group of Ancient Xeroxians and Paul departed for the State Capitol Building with much difficulty avoiding the gashes in the earth's crust. When they finally made it to the State Capitol Building, they discovered that those that survived the damage The Chaos caused to Jackson, Mississippi were sheltered there. There was no way the civilians could be escorted elsewhere because The Chaos managed to destroy every road, minus the road in front of the State Capitol Building, so they couldn't escape. Once Samson and his group of Ancient Xeroxians and Paul entered the State Capitol Building, they were bombarded with questions from the surviving civilians of the city of Jackson, MS:

"What in the hell happened out there?"

"What is The Chaos and what are its/his plans for the city of Jackson, Mississippi or Earth for that matter?"

"Why is the Rise of Chaos happening now?"

"Is this a terrorist attack?"

"Is this the wrath of God?"

Finally, the mayor approached Samson and Paul, "Tell me Samson, why Jackson? Why not some other city? What else is going to happen here? As mayor of Jackson, Mississippi I demand answers!"

Samson sighed, What am I going to do? he thought. "We don't know the answer to those questions right now, but we will get you answers as soon as we find out," he said to the mayor. Samson faced the people of Jackson, "And to answer your questions, no, this isn't the wrath of God. The Chaos came to the city of Jackson, Mississippi because he was angry. He wants to rise and doesn't want anything to stand in his way. That's what happened. This was the wrath of The Chaos," he said.

"We really don't know why the Rise of Chaos is happening now, but we intend to find out," Prince Smith said.

Samson shot him a look that seemed to say 'Thank you' and Prince Smith smiled. The noise in the Capitol Building died down a bit to a dull roar. The mayor of Jackson, Mississippi sighed, "So, what are we supposed to do now?" he asked.

Samson sighed, "The Chaos has six days left to rise to full power and put an end to all life as we know it," he said. "Any hope to put a stop to his plans lies on our shoulders. Earthlings and Xeroxians have to unite for the sake of the lives of everyone and everything."

Nothing but silence followed that proposal. Then, after a while, a dozen people from the crowd stepped forward. "We'll go and fight against The Chaos on behalf of Earth," one of them said.

"Speak for yourself, Chester," the other snapped.

"Come on, Karen, we have to do this or else there'll be no more place to call home. The Chaos will destroy everything," Chester returned.

"So, you're saying you believe them," Karen retorted.

"After everything we just witnessed how can we not believe them?" Chester asked her.

Karen rolled her eyes, "Alright, fine I'll go with them."

The other ten filed into Samson's group with Chester and Karen.

"Hi, I'm Alexandria Sangoma."

"My name is Audrey Bountyhunter."

"I'm Erwin Earwhackle."

"My name is Berman Bearkeeper."

“Nice to meet you, I’m David Sesame.”

“Hey, I’m Antwone McGee.”

“I’m Stephanie Crayon.”

“Hi, I’m Kyle Lee.”

“My name is Mike Union.”

"And I'm Daniel Milkelweed, Jr."

Samson smiled, "It's nice to meet you all," he said, "I'm Samson Cleopatra, but you can call me Sam." He turned to the crowd of civilians in the State Capitol Building, "Do we have any more volunteers?" he asked. Nothing but silence followed and Samson sighed, "Okay, we'll see you later then, and don't worry I'll take good care of the twelve who did join."

The mayor scoffed, "That's what they always say."

Samson departed the State Capitol Building followed by his large group of Ancient Xeroxians and the twelve Earthlings that recently joined their ranks. "Well now, I guess the next stop is Mexico City, Mexico," Samson said.

"How are we going to get there?" Chester asked, "You have no car."

Samson smiled, "Who said anything about driving?" he asked.

Karen gasped, "We're walking to Mexico City, Mexico? You’re insane."

"We're not walking there, either," Samson replied. "I sure hope you guys haven't eaten anything before you left."

"Why?" They asked.

"Because we're travelling to Mexico a different way. Everyone grab hands," Samson replied.

The group held hands and in no longer than a few seconds, they found themselves in the middle of a strange city in the dark. Samson figured The Chaos hadn't made it to this area yet because the people there were carrying along with their normal routines and the roads were still intact. Cars rode along the congested streets at high speeds and kiosks filled with people lined every corner. Chester shrugged, "Is this Mexico City?" he asked.

Samson nodded, "Yep, we made it," he replied.