"He said he feels like he lost his powers…If we don't have any supernatural talent, we've definitely lost this fight…" Jaxton declared.
The helicopter hovered over the mass of skeletons that rose from the ground, surveying the region. In the midst of the chaos, Magha stood in the centre, his control reigning supreme.
His grin was venomous almost, his gaze striking Jaxton from afar. He knew that this was far from over and needed Elias to recover fast. When they reached a hospital in Darwin, the doctors were finally able to run tests on Elias and to uncover his powers.
"There's nothing Mr. Ozim, the boy's completely natural," the nurse explained.
"Impossible! Just a few weeks ago he was throwing a mad alien like butter!" Jaxton argued. "This is terrible!"
Elias had already recovered, his energy back to normal. Though he still didn't feel the presence of his powers, a different presence emerged, a curious energy that shifted with chatter.
"What…what are you?" Elias muttered to the four mysterious creatures that hopped onto the hospital bed. Rae and Jaxton were outside, busy talking to the doctors. "This can't be…You feel like my power…But separated!"
The creatures nodded. The creatures were strange but Elias found them cute. They took the shape of strange organic shapes with a soft texture, with an addition of a cosmic-like layer of energy that coated them. To Elias, he interpreted them as cosmic creatures, companions and his lost power. He understood that these creatures were overflowing with various energy.
"Elias," Rae whispered as she walked back into the room. "What…what are those?"
"These? I don't know…" Elias replied.
"Oh Elias, you're up!" Jaxton smiled. "What are you two doing?"
"Do you know what these are?" Elias asked.
"Know what?" Jaxton asked, acting confused.
"These things!" Elias motioned. He pointed at the creatures.
"These things? What are you pointing to?" Jaxton replied angrily.
"He can't see them…" Rae concluded.
"See what?" Jaxton replied.
Then, a loud thud boomed from the hallway. It was followed by a screeching chain of screams, piercing through the doors of all the patients. Elias rushed out to see what was happening, and sure enough, the skeletons had made it here.
"Alright…I don't know how these creatures work but I'll make do!" Elias exclaimed, intuitively figuring out the mechanics of these creatures. The creatures focused their energy and began to hover around Elias like a belt, forming an energy ring.
"Oh Elias…I think I remember something…This formation…It reminds me of something I've read before…." Rae realised. "I'm pretty sure these are called Solarids, otherwise known as the essence of one's power. Since they are still technically your powers but separated, you should have full control over their movements!"
Elias began as he pushed forward with both his hands. "You're saying if I swing my arms out in a motion like this, these creatures will follow?"
Though only one Solarid was launched, it transformed into a larger cosmic beast, taking the form of a large mantis. It sped down the hallway and curled itself into a torpedo shape, breaking all the skeletons.
"Woah!" Elias exclaimed. "That's sick!"
"I believe that's Sol-Ra, the technique to control them!"
"Hey, what's the commotion here? We gotta run!" Jaxton exclaimed, tugging Rae away from the danger. "Elias, you're in no shape to fight!"
Elias ignored Jaxton this one instance and focused on taking down the last two skeletons. As Elias approached closer, the skeletons grew in size and began to radiate a crimson glow.
"Alright…so you powered up too? Too bad you won't find me!" Magha mocked. Jaxton overheard his voice and turned his attention to him.
"Magha! You….!" Jaxton clenched his teeth and ran towards him.
"Ha! You can't hurt me, I'm a ghost!" Magha laughed, watching Jaxton phase through his body.
"Can this though?" Elias asked, sending a cosmic creature towards Magha. Magha summoned more skeletons, but Elias managed to weave the cosmic creature through the skeletons and hit him directly, sending him flying backwards.
"Oof! You think that's enough to beat me? You thought wrong!" Magha boasted, quickly dissipating away. Elias quickly cleared the hallway, with the skeletons slowly evaporating from existence once again.
"Where would he have gone?" Rae asked.
"Timor. East Timor." Jaxton grumbled.
"What? How do you know?" Elias asked, confused.
"I never told anyone about this. I didn't even write this down. This is the most classified piece of information I've known about and only 3 individuals know about it." Jaxton began. "It was during the East Timorese Crisis in 1999. I still remember the day when we found that structure…"
"What? A structure?" Rae interrupted.
"Yes. And it was Jespan, now that we know that they exist. Four men, encased in stone with streaks of Orichalcum flowing downwards. Magha must be here to reawaken them. We must act quick," Jaxton explained.
There was no time to lose. This was the stake of the world. Elias shivered in his body, a chilling sensation flowing throughout. He wasn't physically prepared, only mentally prepared.
The hospital walls had barely stopped trembling when silence finally returned. There was a brief, uneasy silence. The doctors finally peeked out from the rooms and moved nervously between patients, speaking in hushed tones, as if afraid the chaos might start again at any second. Rae and Jaxton stood near the door, shaken, watching Elias sit with the cosmic creatures orbiting lazily around him like moons.
"That was too close," Rae murmured. "But why here? Why fight here?"
"It was a message," Jaxton said, frowning. "Magha's not just trying to kill us. He's testing Elias's limits. And buying time."
"For what?" Elias asked, his voice still hoarse from the fight.
"Probably a revival…" Jaxton muttered.
"Oh right…East Timor crypts…Makes sense…" Elias thought. He thought long and hard, planning their next move. He knew that they had to get moving as quickly as possible, cutting of Magha's plan. The bigger question was, who were these men in the stone?
Rae felt for Elias's hand, holding his sweaty palms tightly. She knew something dangerous was incoming, but didn't know exactly. A haunting presence had seeped into her mind, corrupting her memories. Something was happening and it was happening fast.
The group reunited on the helicopter, joining Colin and Amy together. They began to take off, heading for East Timor.
"Jaxton, your predictions are right…There are reports from East Timor and unusual activity from the environment…" Amy identified. Colin nodded, assuring that this was a dangerous task.
The helicopter soon landed in East Timor, descending on a small patch of grass on the outskirts of the crypt. The crypt was surrounded by a dense forest, with a steep hill leading up to it.
Elias stepped out and spotted skeletons crawling out from the dark patches of the forest. He didn't hesitate and began to fire, shooting his creatures out towards the skeletons. They collapsed easily, their bones incinerating and crumbling at the collision of the cosmic creatures. The dashed through the labyrinth-like forest.
The rest followed closely, helping to knock the skeletons down.
"Magha…" Elias mumbled. Rae, Jaxton and Elias had arrived at the location Jaxton had mentioned, finding Magha beginning the revival ritual.
"Oh? You've arrived on time. On time for my masters to awaken!" Magha snickered, resting his fingers on the sculpted statues of his masters that were ingrained into the stone walls of the temple. Vines had seeped through the cracks, moss overgrowing on the walls and ground.
It was a cramped location with only the one exit behind Jaxton.
"Die!" Elias began shooting the cosmic creatures at Magha, weaving them through the skeletons he had summoned. The skeletons were fragile now that Elias understood his power. The skeletons fell one by one, with multiple of the creatures landing a direct hit on Magha. Magha endured the hits, attempting to tank the damage. He didn't flinch nor panic.
"Is that all you can do? Magha mocked. He summoned a skeleton right before Elias, knocking him back. Elias was sent flying backwards violently into the wall, crashing with impact. "Hahaha!"
Magha sneered, laughing like a child. As he laughed, the final cosmic creature hit him. He flicked it off, thinking nothing of it. "The ritual is over! My mission is complete! Now to eliminate you…"
"You had already lost the moment the cosmic creatures touched you…" Elias smirked through his gritted teeth.
"Eh?" Magha looked confused. Then, his stomach began to grow. His size slowly increased, his stomach bloated, followed by his body turning into something of a balloon. "What? Impossible!"
Magha's fingers had left the statues, interrupting the ritual. He rolled around the room like a ball, growing larger by the second.
"You are overflowing with cosmic energy…even if you are dead, spirits carry cosmic energy…But they have special properties…" Elias explained, wiping the blood off his face. His powers seeped back into his body, a nostalgic feeling entering his blood.
"This can't be…My energy levels…They're going beyond! Us spirits can only take so much! I'm gonna implode! I'm gonna–"
Magha was cut off by a blinding white light, a burst of cosmic energy engulfing the room. His spirit faded, his presence gone. Magha was dead, now officially redirected out of the world. No longer a ghost, no longer a spirit.
Elias redirected his attention to the statues to only notice they were gone.
"What? I thought the ritual wasn't completed?" Elias exclaimed.
"They were there before the explosion!" Jaxton motioned.
"No…the cosmic energy Magha exhausted from his death was enough to complete the ritual…We just helped them…" Rae explained.
"Oh fuck…Do you know how powerful the people in the statues are?" Elias asked, his voice shaking with fear.
"I'm not sure…I'm just as worried as you are…" Rae explained.
"Yeah, they're pretty powerful, right Sadana?" Karana chuckled.
"Run! Retreat!" Jaxton yelled, pointing towards the exit.
"Let them live. Remember, our goal is to extract all orichalcum from this planet and to remove any that get in our way. Ready?" their leader Bahatar commanded. They were finally woken up from their eternal slumber, the True Ajespan Kings.
"How do you plan to take them all down, Novem?" Jaxton shouted as he boarded the helicopter.
Elias huffed, tired from sprinting and the pain he endured. "No clue…I can only hope there's more people like me…"
"People who also have cosmic powers?" Rae asked as she also boarded the helicopter.
"Yes. Who knows? There might be more underlords before we can take the kings down. Maybe those underlords will only resurrect once their kings are back," Elias smiled. "Don't worry Rae, I'm sure we will find a way through."
The crew spent the next few hours travelling back to Australia then catching a flight home. Their case was far from over and the cosmic war was yet to begin.