I’m stuck to the ceiling, entombed in black stone. I watch as the rest of the Garde fight for their lives and I can’t even feel my own body, never mind let them know I’m up here. I’m helpless and it’s killing me. I’ve trained every moment of my life learning how not to be helpless. Setrákus Ra is no great fighter. He’s only taking us down because he is able to render us powerless. I want to be standing down there with his head in my hands for all of the Mogs to see. I would make sure they witnessed the destruction of their leader, and then I’d leave them in the same pile of ash.
Am I watching the dream of Lorien die? We thought we were so strong and so smart and so prepared. We thought we were going to end the war and fly back home to Lorien. We were fools, arrogant fools. We knew of Setrákus Ra, the great and terrible Mogadorian leader, but we didn’t know anything about how he fought, the powers he would bring to the battle. In retrospect it seems obvious that he would have the power to take our Legacies.
I wish I could communicate with my fellow Garde – I’d be able to direct them well from this vantage point. For one thing, I can see that while the Mogs are stupendously strong physically, they bring little if anything in the way of mental technique. These guys are almost as dumb as the rock I’ve become. They reveal their movements before they act. Their plan of attack is easy to read because they don’t have one. This is a game of numbers and brute force, and that is an enemy that can be beat if you know what you’re dealing with. But when you’re in the thick of it, it’s impossible to see. I wish I could tell the Garde to focus all of their energies and strength on Setrákus Ra. Otherwise I fear the battle will be short, the Mogs almost sure to win.
I watch Bernie Kosar get slashed. He’s transformed himself into an enormous beast, the same kind he became back in Paradise. His body is thick and muscular, his teeth and claws are sharp and jagged, and two curled horns have sprouted from his head. I see Setrákus Ra hit Nine with his whip and Nine’s arm turn black, which I can only assume means he’ll be in the same position as me soon. John has been shot, and he goes down writhing in pain. Marina picks up a cannon and starts firing on the advancing Mogs.
Ella’s sneaking out of the room. Does she have a plan?
I’m distracted from watching Ella by the sound of BK roaring in pain. I see he’s fallen to his knees. Though he’s still fighting, still killing Mogs, he’s bleeding heavily from his wounds. It’s agonizing watching him slowly destroyed, in so much pain.
I’m bleeding out; I can feel my blood and my strength running out of me and there’s nothing I can do about it.
Wave after wave of Mogs just keep coming. I have no idea how many we’ve killed so far today, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference. Without our Legacies, it’s like trying to stop a tsunami with a pile of Swiss cheese.
Marina is behind me, firing on the Mogs. I look over at Bernie Kosar and see the Mogs have ropes around his horns and are dragging him out of the corner.
‘Coward, you’re nothing but a coward! You have to paralyze us just to beat us!’ I hear Nine scream. I see him in the center of the room, one of his arms black and hanging heavy and useless, as Setrákus rears his whip back.
Setrákus Ra smiles. ‘You can call me whatever names you want. It’s not going to change the fact that you’re about to die.’ He snaps the whip forward. Nine tries to block the flaming tips with his staff, but with only one arm, it’s impossible. One of the tips hits Nine’s hand, sending the staff flying, and the other tail of the whip hits Nine’s face. He screams out in pain as his hand and face both start turning black. Setrákus advances on him. I have to do what I can before I’m totally useless, or dead, so I start firing my cannon at Setrákus Ra from my position on the ground. At best, I’m a distraction, but I will do whatever I can. He stops each one of the projectiles I fire in midair, and tosses them aside like they’re nothing.
I hear a new source of cannon fire. I turn towards the door and see Sarah moving into the room, firing on Mogs, Ella behind her. Sarah. She hasn’t been trained. There’s no way she can survive a battle with the Mogs and Setrákus Ra! ‘Sarah!’ I scream. ‘You’ve got to get out of here! This is not your fight!’
Sarah ignores me and keeps moving deeper into the room. Nine is trying to move away from Setrákus Ra, but his arms, both of which are now completely black, weigh him down. His face is quickly turning as black as his arms. Setrákus strikes Nine again, this time getting him with both tips of the whip right in the middle of his chest. Nine cries out and Setrákus shouts, ‘I had heard you might be my greatest challenge, but look at you, you are nothing!’
As Setrákus Ra brings his whip back once more to deliver a fatal blow to Nine, Ella darts out from behind Sarah and throws something at him, something that looks like a small red blur. It hits Setrákus in the arm and he looks down, shocked, before letting out a deafening roar.
I feel something change inside of me. It’s immediate and enormously powerful, like someone plugged me into an energy source. I focus on my hands and try, just once more, to light my Lumen. To my amazement, it works. Our Legacies have returned.
From behind me I hear Marina cry out and she races over to Eight, who’s still just outside the doorway. I see her run her hands over his chest, working on his wounds. She looks at me through the doorway. ‘What just happened?’
I shake my head. ‘I have no idea, but now we’ve got ourselves a real fight.’
My palms glowing, I turn towards the center of the room where Setrákus Ra is clawing at his arm, trying to pull out the small red object Ella threw at him. He finally succeeds and turns to snap the whip at Ella and Sarah, who is still firing the cannon. They don’t move out of the way fast enough and the whip makes contact. They both go down.