Excerpt From Universes - Evil Is Revealed.

Oh hai.

This is 'the middle scene'. It occurs between Coltrane's Final Task and Prison Brings Us Together.

It's one of the major events in the story. The shadows' plans are revealed and Coltrane is betrayed by those he was betraying his people for. It sets up Coltrane and Klax's relationship, and later, a new drive for Col with the chance for redemption. It also adds a new layer to the story, with the addition of the Spirits. Indestructible, immortal, and holding immense power.

I'll just go over the 'Orbs' a bit so this makes more sense. Each race (like Heatian) has an Orb (Heat Orb) in their world (obviously the Heat World). Each Orb, when in its rightful world, grants its race their powers. Simply, if the Heat Orb were to be removed from the Heat World, Heatians would be powerless.

What people don't know, is that inside the Orbs, are the Spirits; creators of the universes, and the strongest beings in existence. And the Orbs are their cages. Their history is now only the stuff of stories and legends.



Something you should know:
The Shadow King is the king of the shadows, and Vicious is the king's key general. The King was the one giving orders to Coltrane, and sometimes Coltrane would have to work with Vicious, so the three know each other pretty well.

The throne room is where the Shadow King is. The Orbs that the shadows have captured are also there.

Btw, Shadows are actually Deathians but that's a long story. :P



After Coltrane finished his final task, he confessed everything he had done to Marc, his captain, his step-brother, his best friend, and the boy he loved, in the hope of forgiveness. What he got was a punch in the face.

...

Coltrane came out of the warp point outside the doors to the throne room. He was still tearful, and the fact that Marc didn’t even believe him made everything so much worse to deal with. He would now forever be seen through Marc’s eyes as a traitor, and not as a person who had simply made a wrong decision.

He dried his eyes, tried his best to compose himself and took a deep breath, and then he passed two guards and went through the doors to the throne room.

The Shadow King and Vicious were waiting for him at the throne.

“Coltrane. You’re finally here. We’ve been waiting," Vicious said, as he stood up and walked in Coltrane's direction. “Now that you’re here, the fun can begin.”

Vicious walked all the way back to the doors. He knocked twice, and there was a loud clank of metal outside against the door.

“Good. Everything is ready, my King.”

Coltrane spun around, and said, “What are you doing?"

From behind him, the King spoke, “Coltrane. Thank you so much for all your help in these past few years. Without you it would have been so much harder, but you really are quite stupid.”

Coltrane turned to face the King, but again from behind, Vicious added, “Did you really think we would want a lone Powerian living amongst us once we create our utopia?”

“But... What are you saying?”

“Powerians are weak," the king responded.

From behind, Coltrane felt Vicious’ firm hands on his shoulders. “We need to purge your kind from the universe.” He heard. Then Vicious whispered into his ear, “Every… single… one.”

Coltrane gasped and pushed Vicious away, and both the general and the King laughed.

“You were but a pawn all along Coltrane. And you believed all our lies," the King shouted.

“You’re going to the cells, Coltrane. You’ll rot with the rest of the pathetic weaklings," Vicious said.

Coltrane felt the grip of hyperventilation. He started shaking. He had tried to avoid death so long. Now it was upon him.

“Aah!”

He pulled out his sword and went to run at the King, but Vicious grabbed and restrained him and held a knife to his throat.

“A fighter to the end. Ha!" Vicous said.

“But you do receive one honour though," the King said. "You will be one of only three to see me gain the powers of the Death Spirit.”

“What? That’s just a legend.”

“Ha. Yes. So you would believe.”

Turning his head to the Death Orb, sitting on its pedestal, Coltrane could only manage a “No.”

“There are three people in existence who will ever know how to awaken the Spirits. Me, loyal Vicious, and you. And I don’t think you’ll be spreading the word…”

Stepping off his throne, and kneeling before it, the King reached his hand in, and pulled out a silver knife. Then he got up, and slowly walked over to the Death Orb.

“The Death Spirit, my master, will grant me his strength. I will be... immortal.”

The King stood next to the Orb, and raised his hands above it, while Coltrane struggled and Vicious pressed the knife harder against his neck.

“This is it, dear Vicious. Witness the rise of a power unseen for aeons, since the Spirits created existence itself.”

The King pressed the silver blade against his palm, and pulled it down. Blood gushed in his hand and he pressed it down onto the Orb, and closed his eyes.

The Orb started to pulse and shake, and the mists inside started to swirl.

“Master. We are ready… It is ready… I, your humble servant, am ready… Please, bestow me with your eternal strength and might. I will carry out your plans in your name, and the Deathian race will conquer all… We will kill all before us under your force… We will rule eternally over all worlds… all universes… I offer you my pure and untainted blood, and ask for what we need in return.”

The Orb started to shake more violently. The King’s hand was joined tightly, and his body started to shake with every motion of the Orb.

The whole room started to quake. Then the fortress shook. The windows imploded, objects dropped from the walls and crashed to the floor, and the pedestal on which the Orb was placed, shattered.

The tremors increased, until it felt like the very world itself was being rocked to its core.

But the King did not budge, with the Orb still firmly in his hand.

Vicious released Coltrane, and they both fell to the floor. Coltrane took cover against the wall as things were thrown around the room by magical force.

Suddenly there was an explosion in the middle of the area. The King was blasted across the room and he slammed against the wall, before dropping to the ground. The Orb was still in his hand. Everything fell silent and stopped shaking.

The dust settled, and revealed the King’s limp body. Slowly, the Orb slipped from his fingers and rolled across the floor. It came to rest against a chunk of its pedestal, though the Orb did not look the same as before, when it was full of a purple mist. Now, it looked like an empty globe of glass.

Vicious scrambled up and ran over to assist the King.

“My Lord! What went wrong?”

He placed a hand on the King’s shoulder, but suddenly gasped as a strong hand jolted up and choked him around the neck.

The King rolled over and rose to his feet, lifting a struggling Vicious into the air above his head. The King's eyes were completely black.

“My… my Lord! Ungh. What…”

Then the King opened his mouth and spoke, but not with the same voice as before. now it was layered with multi-tones and it resonated around the room.

“I am not your Lord. Your Lord is no more. His soul was destroyed as I claimed his body as my vessel. You do as I say now. Understood, servant?”

“Y-y-yes… Lord.”

“You refer to me as... Death, now.”

Vicious was released, and he fell to the ground and grasped his throat, coughing.

The powerful being walked to the middle of the room, surveying its new body as it did. It stretched out its hands and arms. Then it stopped at the Orb, and bent to pick it up. It walked over to the Throne, and placed the Orb on the seat.

“After aeons I am free of my cage. Now, it is time to seek my revenge on the one who encased me in there.”

It turned around, and glanced at the other Orbs, still resting on or near their own pedestals. Then its eyes seemed to drift off as it thought, and spoke, “You should get ready, as should your people. Death walks the physical realm again, and I am coming for you.”

Death’s attention was suddenly drawn to Coltrane, who was whimpering and scratching against the door in a futile attempt to escape. As Death walked shockingly swiftly towards him, Coltrane could do nothing else but hold his hands up above his head and cower in fear.

The Spirit lifted him up with its hand and threw Coltrane across the room. He landed amongst the rubble and slid across the floor. He groaned and grabbed at his side. He fumbled around for his sword, until his shaky hands pulled it from its sheath.

Death smirked and seemed to find it amusing as Coltrane pulled himself up to his feet.

“I am impressed by your courage, to stand alone against a Spirit… but courage saves no one.”

Coltrane took a swing at the Spirit, but his blade landed dully against its flesh and didn’t leave a mark.

“It is no match for pure strength.”

Death snatched the sword from his hands, snapped it in two, and threw it to the ground.

“Servant!”

“Y-yes Lo-... I mean, Death.”

“Deal with him please. I have more important matters to tend to.”

“As you wish.”

Vicious walked over to Coltrane, and firmly grabbed him by the shoulders. Vicious was doing his job but Coltrane could sense the fear through his quivering arms.

Vicious pushed him over to the doors and unlocked them, then shoved him along over to the warp point outside the doors, and inside.

They arrived outside the gates to the prison, and Vicious led him inside and down the cold hall, all the while, Coltrane struggled.

“I have it on good authority that you spent a fair amount of time here. Well, now you can have as much time as you want,” snarled the general.

Coltrane was taken to Klax’s cell. His old teammate was sleeping on Coltrane’s dirty cloak.

“He’s the one, isn’t he? The one you visited? I wouldn’t dare put you in a cell with the other prisoners. They would kill you too soon for putting them in here, and we don’t want you to die… yet. Guard, open the door.”

The barred door clanked and screeched open. Klax woke up as Coltrane was hurled inside.

“Coltrane? Is that you? Did you come to visit me again?”

“Ha! Visit?" Vicious laughed. "No, he’s no visitor. He’s your new roommate!”

Coltrane ran up and over to the closed door. “I’ll kill you Vicious! I'll kill all of you!" He started shaking and tugging on it violently.

“Hahaha! Bad Coltrane. You’ll soon learn that threatening your masters won’t get you far in a place like this.”

“You have my word! I’ll see to it that you die!”

“Goodnight Coltrane.”

“Aaaaaaahhrr!”

Vicious disappeared down the end of the hall, and Coltrane fell back and collapsed, panting.

“Coltrane… what happened? Why are you in prison?” Klax asked gently.

“They used me Klax! They were never going to let me live. They just used me to get what they wanted, and now they’ve cast me aside.”

“Oh Col.”

“It was all for nothing! Everyone I killed and everything I suffered. It means nothing. My life has fallen apart. I’m in prison. Marc hates me. Everyone will know I’m the traitor and hate me as well. My friends are going to die, and think I’m responsible.”

“Well, you never know… The good guys might actually win in the end.”

Coltrane gave Klax a blank look from the floor. Then he sat up suddenly and asked, “Did you ever read the tales about the Spirits?”

“Spirits? Uhh yeah… Every kid heard about them. They’re cool stories. I know everything there is to know about them," Klax smiled.

“Well, they’re not just stories, it seems… They’re history.”

“What? Don't be silly."

“I saw it with my own two eyes, Klax. An otherworldly presence is walking this dimension as we speak. It's unkillable… It's the Death Spirit.”

“But… how can that be?”

“It was inside the Orb. The King woke it, and now the Spirit has taken over his body.”

“But why? What does it wanna do?”

“It said it wanted revenge on who put ‘it’ in there… but who knows what that means.”

“Well umm. Perhaps it was referring to the final tale?”

“The final tale?”

“The last story of the legends, where the leader, the Power Spirit, sensed greed and envy amongst the other Spirits, and decided to encase each Spirit within a prison, and send them to separate worlds, never to walk the lands again.”

“The Orbs…”

“If this is true... Ugh. I can’t believe it. Our people don’t stand a chance against the Death Spirit. It can't be harmed by human strength! It could kill everyone in the universes single-handedly.”

“What was it you said about the good guys winning?”

“Scratch that. They’re all as good as dead.”

...

Sorry if there are mistakes with capital letters. I'm not really sure what to do when referring to worlds and kings and orbs and races and 'its'. :/