Book Two Chapter Eleven: Aces High

Nick, Along with the Vampire Council, travel to Ectoclis to stop Saja from changing the fate of the worlds. She has already summoned the Black Reqrium. things are going to get heated.

Chapter Eleven Aces High:

Tigiti’s Tomb, Ectoclis. The New Saja’s Point of View.

 

"Finally. After all I have overcome, I have gathered all twelve shards, and the Blade of Faith!" Saja said to herself.

She drew the shards from her pocket. She had the Blade of Faith (Sangiria) standing upright. She added the shards to the sword one by one, the energy from the sword locked them into place. Now, all twelve shards were in place. They were all locked into position to form a seemingly formless shape in front of the Blade of Faith. Before Saja stood the two relics: The Blade of Faith and the Essence of Life. She had not managed to retrieve the subspace corruptor from the vampire council, but that was fine. With the Essence of Life, she didn't need it. The Essence of Life started to generate a field of energy. After a minute the energy retreated back into the Essence of Life. It was time.

Saja took each side in her hands and said: "With the strength of the Black Reqrium, and the ancient power of Tigiti, Savior, bring forth the Black Reqrium herself from her eternal slumber!"

At that moment, a bolt of lightning cracked the sky. The Blade of Faith and the Essence of Life glowed, and with a hint of dark light, flashed forth the Black Reqrium. The Black Reqrium appeared in front of the Blade of Faith. She stretched and smiled, examining her surroundings.

"Freedom at last!" The black Reqrium said.

The Black Reqrium was a girl, a little older than Saja herself, however her appearance was much younger.

"Great one." Said Saja, she curtsied.

"Those formalities will not be necessary, and call me Irene." Said the Black Reqrium, looking around Tigiti's tomb.

"Yes, of course." Said Saja, confused by her generosity.

"I do thank you for resurrecting me, but I must ask. Why have you summoned me here, Saja? Why have you resurrected me?" asked Irene.

Saja then explained her story.

"My former self made a little... mistake. She was performing magic and she accidentally released me, her black soul, from her own body and allowed me to take on a mortal form, but I am much stronger now than I was all those centuries ago. I have finally gathered the Essence of Life and the Blade of Faith." Saja said.

“Your other self? What do you mean?” Irene asked.

Saja nodded her understanding of Irene’s confusion.

“Ah, yes. You see, I am not the Saja you once knew. That would be my other self. I am the black, corrupted soul of that Saja, but with some… fun things thrown in.” Saja said with a grin.

“Fun things? Like what?” Irene asked, cocking her head to the side.

“I have many new powers now. My other self used a spell to make herself stronger, so she used your spirit, the spirit of Kerulen and the spirit of vampires. However the spell went horribly wrong and she released me. I am many times more powerful than her.” Saja boasted.

"I see. And what about the Chosen One, has he reincarnated yet?" asked Irene.

Saja nodded.

"Yes, into a rather bothersome boy named Nick. He and his friends tried to stop me both on Artemis and here on Ectoclis, but I saw to it that they were punished for standing in my way."

Saja told Irene.

"The Chosen One is dead?" asked Irene.

Saja shook her head.

"Not exactly, but he will wish he was. I bit him, injecting a virus into him that will put him in incredible pain as long as he lives, and he is trapped deep underground." Saja replied. 

Irene smiled and nodded.

"Well done, Saja. You have regained my respect and my trust." Irene said, nodding slowly as she spoke.

"Thank you old friend, it means a lot." said Saja.

 

Saja’s Vault, Artemis. Nick’s Point of View.

 

Impossibly, my condition worsened. I lie there hopeless, believing that it was over, that Saja had won. Believing I was going to stay like this for eternity. Then, I heard footsteps and voices. My friends? The new Saja? My mind was then pierced by a stabbing pain, like what usually happened when I tried to think since Saja bit me. I forced my train of thought forward. My friends, as far as I knew, were slaughtered by Saja. Then, brilliant light flooded my little space. I saw two men and two women, they all looked faintly familiar. Again the stabbing pain. One of the men reached down to me. My vision had spots all over it and my hearing was becoming distorted. I Felt warm liquid fall down my through. It tasted putrid, what was this stuff? Warmth spread throughout my body, then it went back to my usual cold. Feeling in my limbs gradually returned, my mental wellness returned, my hearing and my sight returned, I no longer felt ill or numb. Who were my saviours?

I looked at the people who had dug me out of my hole. My sight was slowly blurring back to clarity.

"Chosen One, it is our honor to see you again." Said a man.

I squinted.

"Hans?" I asked, vaguely remembering his name from when I was in the room with the vampire council back on Earth after I was saved from the Hemlon explosion.

Hans had curly brown hair, a round face, and knowing red eyes.

"The vampire council?" I asked, shifting my gaze from person to person.

I recognized these people from after I woke up from the Hemlon explosion.

"We are." they said in unison.

Confusion invaded my thoughts.

"Why did you come and save me? How did you do it?" I asked.

"We have been monitoring you. We have informants all over Earth, Ectoclis and Artemis. We had a few informants who were Saja’s prisoners on Hemlon. We are in your debt for freeing them. One of them followed you since you left the other prisoners when the airships landed. He saw you and your friends come down here. When your friends surfaced and you didn’t, he got worried, but when Saja attacked your friends, he reported back to us. He left before he saw the outcome of the fight, so he doesn’t know what happened to your friends, or Saja for that matter." Said one of the women.

“Well, it’s a good thing that he reported back to you.” I said.

“We understand that Saja used a spell to make herself stronger and more powerful, but it went awry. Do you know where she is now?” Asked one of the men.

I shook my head.

“No, she was with my friends when the new Saja attacked. She’s probably dead. No one can go up against the new Saja.” I said with little hope.

"We were in your debt for tracking Saja down to Hemlon, and we saw your grave need of our assistance. I am Esmaralda by the way, and this is Hans." Said another woman, Esmaralda. 

Esmaralda had long blonde hair, kind of like Saja. She had a narrow, pretty face and very thin red eyes. The second man stepped forward.

"I am Paul, and this is Beth." He said.

Paul had a brown waste coat and black pants, black hair, red eyes and crooked lips. Beth had lighter hair than Paul, red eyes and her lips looked like she was always smirking.

I then noticed their weapons. Hans had a silver sword, Esmaralda had an old fashioned machine gun, Paul had a whip with a silver tip, and silver barbs on the body, it reminded me of Carmella's whip. Beth had a silver hook attached to a rope, like a grappling hook.

Just then, black clouds with violet pulsing in their centers came into few in the sky. They only just came into view on the horizon. The vampire council flashed their gazes skyward.

"Oh my god, the new Saja has done it." Said Esmaralda.

They knew about how Saja accidentally made a more powerful version of herself. I shook my head.

"Done what?" I asked.

Beth didn't remove her gaze from the unnatural purple clouds.

"Saja has summoned the Black Reqrium." She said, gazing up at the clouds.

Paul noticed a trail of the clouds leading off into the horizon.

"The tomb of the Ancient One isn't even in Artemis." Said Hans.

"There must be a vortex. That's how I got here." I told him.

We took off toward the source of the clouds. As we ran I noticed I was lighter then I looked, and remembered that my sword was missing.

"I don't have a weapon." I told the council.

"You'll have to make do. You’re a vampire after all." Said Beth.

I looked at Beth.

“My weapon was Sangiria. The new Saja took it.” I told her.

She gasped.

“If Saja has Sangiria, then she definitely has summoned the Black Reqrium.” She said.

"When we get to the tomb of the Ancient One, what do we do?" I asked.

Esmaralda frowned at me, like I should have known something but didn't.

"We fight the new Saja and The Black Reqrium. We end this war." Esmaralda said.

I shook my head vigorously.

"You don't understand, Saja has the strength of four of us, if not, more, and I don't even know how strong the Black Reqrium is." I said.

Paul shook his head, smiling slightly.

"We are the vampire council, Nick." He said.

"We thwarted Saja centuries ago, we can do it know." Added Beth.

“Have you gone up against the new Saja?” I asked.

“Well, no.” Hans said.

“Exactly. You don’t know how powerful she is. We can’t win against her.” I persuaded.

“Nick, our informants have seen the new Saja before. They report back to us after they observe her strength. We know how powerful she is.” Hans told me.

I knew it was pointless to argue, I went along with the plan, although I disagreed with it. We finally saw the spiraling black hole that acted as a gateway to the other world. Everyone gazed upon it, knowing that beyond that portal, we will make history. I just wanted to end this war.

"This is the gateway to Ectoclis?" Asked Hans.

He shook his head, as if discharging an irrelevant thought.

"Alright, let's go." He said.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!