Day 23 - The Lion and the Serpent

SpaceWizards
(Another SpaceWizards Action/Adventure Mystery)

I try to use terminology and names that are related to the planet that I’m writing about. Most of the time that’s not a problem. But sometimes it is. This is one of those times I can’t. There are a lot of planets that have Lions and Serpents on them. But that’s not what they are called. And there aren’t any that are on the same planet, except for the Earth. At least there aren’t any naturally born on that planet. But there are several that are now on the same one. The planet of Xamus is one of those planets. Borrele lived on that planet for several centuries. And it was a War Planet back then. It still is, and always will be. But it has gotten worse thanks to Horrald. And Borrele wants to know what Horrald is up to now. This is her story.

“The Lion and the Serpent”

A Short Story

Remembered By

Borrele

     Several Laser Balls shot out toward three SpaceWizards. The SpaceWizards easily took them out. Most of them were slapped into each other or into nearby walls. But a few were clapped. Whichever way they were stopped they exploded when they connected to each other, the walls, or clapped. Both sides were using a small group of trees as cover. Badly battered buildings and a few barely visible pathways in between those buildings lined both sides of where both sides were battling.

     Angoria mumbled something. A few seconds later a barely seeable thin clear wall appeared in front of the badly damaged tree, that she hid behind. Mairon was looking at her at the time she mumbled that spell. That’s not a Defensive spell, is it?

     Of course, it’s not. It was only a Protection spell. A couple of their Laser Balls got through my Protective Shield.

     I’m sorry, but this battle has been going on for several hours. And it doesn’t look like it’s going end anytime soon.

     Stavon stood on the other side of Angoria. I was about to ask you the same thing. Like Mairon just said, this battle has been going on for a long time. And we all know that you get frustrated when a fight last too long.

     You also forgot that I was the one who suggested we didn’t fight back. The only reason we are here is to grab the Leader of this gang of Xamusians.

     We haven’t done a very good job of that, have we? As soon as we started this fight, the Leader of this gang went into hiding.

     The group that was trying to kill the SpaceWizards didn’t stop their attack against them. Every few seconds another volley of Laser Balls came after them. After that group finished firing their Laser Balls another group stepped up to attack the SpaceWizards. The SpaceWizards easily took out most of the Laser Balls without any problem. But a few of them exploded when they struck the Protective Shields in front of the SpaceWizards.

     That’s why we stayed behind, thought Stavon. So, that they could find out where the Leader is at and to grab her.

     We do need to do something, though. My Protective Shield is almost gone again, thought Angoria. And it looks like both of yours are about to go too. Either we have to do something about this fight, or we are going to have to start fighting back.

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     Borrele sat behind the controls of the SpaceWiards spaceship. But she wasn’t looking at the viewscreen or tapping the control panel in front of her. She was looking at the Data Monitor next to her. Borrele tapped that monitor. The image of the battle Mairon, Angoria, and Stavon was involved in got a little bigger to show just them on the monitor.

     I agree with Angoria. You do need to do something. But I disagree with you going Defensively.

     Mairon looked up at Borrele. Don’t worry about that. We’re not going into Defense Mode.

     Have you found the Leader yet? Borrele asked.

     Borrele looked behind her at the Information Monitor. We thought that we knew where the Leader was. But when the others checked it out she wasn’t there.

     I’m still looking for her, thought Borrele a few second later. I think that she’s still in that area. The others are looking for her too on the surface of Xamus.

     The sooner you find her the better, thought Borrele. Let I know as soon as you find her.

     I will, Mairon. Borrele returned to the Data Monitor and tapped one of the buttons on its frame. The image of Mairon, Angoria, and Stavon disappeared, and an image of Jacci, Pacill, and Yena appeared.

     Jacci, Pacill, and Yena were walking down a hallway in a crumbling building. They stopped in front of an entrance. Yena mumbled something. Then stepped through that entrance. Jacci and Pacill stepped through a few seconds later. All three suddenly stopped. In front of them stood five seven-foot tall Aliens in the center of a large room.

     The four males stood around a female. They had weapons out and the three facing the Three SpaceWizards each fired several Laser Balls at the SpaceWizards. Each Laser Ball was easily taken out by either slapping or clapping them. The five Aliens had human hands but with five long fingers and no thumbs. Their bodies, what could be seen from under their clothing, also appeared human. But their heads were Vosin aka a lion’s head.

     “We’re not here to harm you,” said Jacci. “In fact, we are here to end this war.”

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     The seven SpaceWizard sat between two Data Monitors each in the Communications Chamber. All the monitor showed the same thing. On one monitor, it showed a female Vosin. She looked just like the leader of the Vosins. And on the other monitor, it showed a male Woovik aka a Serpent. A Woovik was almost as tall as a Vosin. He too had five fingers and no thumbs. But he had webbing between his fingers and toes. His body was randomly placed scales of varied sizes that interlocked themselves together to create the body. The only thing that made Wooviks an Alien was his serpent heads.

     “The Lion and the Serpent are the two Leaders in this World War that we need to worry about,” said Mairon. “There are six other Alien races that call Xamus home. But the Vosin and the Woovik are the worst.”

     “If we can get them to work out their differences then we can end this World War,” said Jacci. “But It’s not going to be easy. In fact, it might be impossible thanks to Horrald.”

     A few seconds later Pacill continued. “None of these Races were born on this planet. They all arrived here about the same time that, though. And each one claims they were the first.”

     “They have been fighting wars with each other ever since,” said Mairon. “And most of those wars were about which Race owned that planet.”

     “The Vosin and or the Woovik have been one participate in most of those wars,” said Angoria. “That’s why we grabbed them and brought them on board our spaceship.”

     Both the Vosin and the Woovik were pacing around small rooms with only a Sleeper, a desk, and a small desk in each one of them. The Vosin kept looking up at the Moving Image Monitoring System every few seconds while the Woovik kept shooting its long pointed tongue at the entrance. Each time that tongue hit the entrance sparks shot of it and the entrance where it connected with it.

     “We will bring the others up here to finalize the Peace Arrangement,” said Yena. “But first we have to get this two Races to work together on that Peace Arrangement.”

     “If we can get them to work together on this, then we can end this first World War once and for all,” said Mairon. “Then maybe we can find out what Horrald really wants with this planet.”

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     Once again, Borrele sat behind the controls in the Control Chamber. Borrele also wasn’t looking out the viewscreen of their spaceship. She was looking at the Data Monitor. On that monitor, Borrele saw an empty Cargo Chamber. The only thing in there was the two rooms where the Vosin and the Woovik were in. those rooms were at both ends of the Cargo Chamber. Suddenly, they started moving toward the other one. They stopped in the center of that chamber when they bumped into each other.

     I still think this is a bad idea. What if they just kill each other? Borrele asked after she had pushed a button on that monitor and the image now showed the other six SpaceWizards in varies parts of the spaceship.

     Then we bring up the other six Leaders and show them what happened, Borrele could clearly hear Mairon’s voice. One look at the Vosin and the Woovik and they will want our Peace Arrangement.

     A few seconds later Mairon continued. We don’t want to take over Xamus. I don’t think anyone of us wants to do that. But if it’s the only way to stop Horrald from doing whatever it is that he’s doing, then we need to do it. And it looks like that that’s what we might have to do to stop Horrald this time.

     If we do have to take over Xamus, the what are we going to name it? Angoria had a big smile on her face. But only Borrele watching the other six on her Data Monitor could see that.

     We still don’t know why Horrald is doing here on a planet where there are no wizards or why he started this World War, thought Borrele. Maybe he started it so that most of the population would kill themselves off? Then he would come in and turn the rest into wizards before he killed them.

     Maybe that’s what’s going on here. But I don’t think so, thought Mairon. I think he started it because he’s looking for something here. And he’s using this war as a diversion until he finds it.

     Borrele turned to the Information Monitor when it started beeping. Mairon, you may be right about Horrald looking for something. I just found him. He’s at the core of Xamus.

     I Still don’t know why I couldn’t find him until now. He was probably using a Detection spell of some kind to do it. But I definitely know where he is now.

     We now know why the red ‘Horrald is nearby’ alarm went off when we were passing this planet. A few seconds later Mairon continued. If Horrald is letting us know where he is, it probably means he has found what he’s looking for.

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     It’s a SpaceGem almost as big as the one that I have been using, thought Yena. Suddenly, Horrald turned and looked up at the seven SpaceWizards hovering at the top of that humongous hole with a large SpaceGem floating in the center of it.

     I lived here for several centuries, thought Borrele. It was the perfect place to practice my wizardry without doing any wizardry. Even though I did use it every so often during a battle. A War Planet like this one is the perfect place for me to do it. And all the time I was here I didn’t know this SpaceGem was here.

     Horrald started firing one Fire Ball After another at the SpaceWizards. Those balls were wild shots going in all directions. But they were still aimed at the SpaceWizards. None of them got even close to the SpaceWizards before they exploded. So, Horrald started mumbling something as he started firing his Fire Balls again. Only now they were about twice as big as normal. They were better aimed too.

     I’m not really surprised that it’s here, thought Yena as she ducked under two Fire Balls aimed at her. Those balls exploded against the rock ceiling behind her. When they did, sharp spike fragments of that ceiling shot into her back. Yena mumbled something. And both the fragments and the slight trace of gold blood it produced disappeared.

     Yena continued a few seconds later. According to legend when Gammic exploded, there were about a billion large SpaceGems like this one that shot out into the universe. And that those SpaceGems created planets around them.

     Horrald suddenly stopped firing Fire Balls at the SpaceWizards and looked directly at Yena before he started firing electrical strings at them. Those strings were a little wild too. But they were better aimed. And they were hitting the SpaceWizards. They mostly just pushed them back or sideways a little. But a few were more centralized in the chest or head. That didn’t stop them from separating from each other and starting their own attack against Horrald.

     Mairon looked over at Yena and shot a single electrical string in front of her face to get her to look at him. “You shouldn’t have thought that about the legend. It looks like Horrald has finally found a spell to use to hear our thoughts now. And you definitely shouldn’t have thought about your SpaceGem either.”

     Before Yena could respond to what Mairon just said, an electrical string barely missed her head as it shot past her. She turned to rejoin the fight against Horrald. So, did Mairon. The Space Wizards formed a circle around Horrald. And started firing both Fire Balls and electrical strings at him. They also constantly change positions so he couldn’t fire back. Horrald still fired at them with Fire Balls, electrical strings, or both. But most of them either didn’t hit anyone, or they only pushed them back or sideways a little.

     Be careful not to hit the SpaceGem, thought Mairon. And we don’t want to destroy it if we can help it. After all, it might be the only one in the universe.

     The SpaceWizards continued their attacks against Horrald as they started firing, even more, Fire Balls and electrical strings one after another. They also did some slapping and clapping spells to stop the attacks from Horrald. Every time he got hit by one of the SpaceWizards he would fire something back at them. Even when he didn’t get hit, he would fire back, but he got hit most of the time. True, most of those hits only pushed him back or sideways a little. But he was starting to get hit more times that he didn’t get struck. And it looked like it was about to get even worse.

     That fierce battle went on for about thirty more minutes. Everyone was getting hit by Fire Balls and or electrical strings. Most of those hits were at Horrald. Suddenly, Horrald stopped his part of the fighting. Horrald looked at the SpaceGem behind him. Then he looked at the SpaceWizards who had stopped their attack too. He smiled at them. A few seconds later Horrald disappeared.

     About five minutes after the fighting was over the SpaceWizards heading for the ceiling. Yena caught up to Mairon who was leading them there. “Do you really think that Horrald believed what you said about this being the only SpaceGem in the universe?”

     “No, I don’t. But I had to try something, didn’t I?”

     “Do You think he’s going to go after the other planetary SpaceGems because of me?” Yena asked.

     “Unfortunately, I do. We need to find them all before he does.”

     “Why do you think he was after this one?” Yena asked.

     “The same reason why he is always going after them. He wants to bring his true love, Tonnie, back from the dead.

Word Count = 2,448

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