One after another, the Lurker's face plates cracked and broke apart, killing them as their bodies fell apart and crumbled to the ground like piles of ash.

The others watched Caleb’s performance, which gave them the confidence that they, too, could beat them. The soldiers with their weapons fired back, aiming for the Lurker’s heads, while the rest of the Knights infused their weapons with their reiki powers and started to attack heads, easily defeating the Lurkers and pushing them back. The Alpha Lurker, still in Toby’s body, noticed that the Knights had discovered their weakness. He cried out in their language using metallic shrills, and the Lurkers changed their strategy to defense by creating shields from their claws. Each time they were attacked, they quickly blocked with their shields; they would even use themselves as shields to protect each other. As a Lurker falls, another quickly takes its place and attacks. It wasn’t long till the Lurkers adapted to the Knight’s new strategy pushing back with more force. Realizing that the Lurkers caught on to their plan, the Knights and soldiers were once more being forced into a circle as they surrounded them with no way out.

“Protect the Princess!” Ordered Rika.

Rika and the rest of the knights encircled Princess Anya, and the remaining soldiers and their general encircled the knights as the first line of defense. Hidden above the clouds, in his flying aircraft, the master of the Lurkers watched as his loyal creations surrounded our heroes.

He pressed the controls of the camera that was spying on them to zoom in on the Princess, who looked frightened at what was happening.

“So ends the legacy of the Knights of Auran.” the master said in amusement.

The Lurkers moved closer, making the protective circle of our heroes smaller. A couple of Lurkers stretched their bodies out like elastic rubber bands towards the soldiers transforming their claws into sharp blades preparing to attack. A couple of soldiers braced themselves using their energy shields, but the Lurkers were wise and stretched their arms over their shields and, with their blades, struck from behind. Like rubber, the Lurkers brought their bodies back, bringing the soldiers along with them into the herd of Lurkers. It wasn’t long for the Lurkers to tear the soldiers apart like piranhas to the flesh. The remaining soldiers filled the space where the fallen stood leaving only five left. They were armed and prepared to defend their comrades at all costs. The Princess couldn’t help but watch her comrades and her fellow soldiers risk their lives for her. She felt ashamed as she couldn’t do the same.  She could see the fear and concerns in their eyes as even she couldn’t see there was no way out.

“Father, I failed you. She thought to herself. I let my team down; I let everyone down.”

The Alpha Lurker shrilled as it commanded its subordinate to attack. The Lurkers responded in their metallic shrills as they run toward our heroes.

“Fight till the end!” Rika Commanded.

Rika looked back at Princess Anya and mouthed to her, “I’m sorry.” Anya’s eyes began to tear up as she realized this was it. She held her gift tight in her hand and then remembered her wish. She asked for strength to defeat her foes. If she believed hard enough, maybe something would happen.

“No, I have to believe we can still win.” Anya thought to herself. It can’t end like this….somebody, anybody…please save us.”

Just as she finished her thought, the Princess’s brooch’s stone began to glow. The light from her gemstone grew bright red catching everyone’s attention, including the Lurkers. The brighter the light, the more those around her had no choice but to guard their eyes against its intense light, but the light didn’t affect the Princess.

“Your highness, what are you doing?” General De Grandis questioned.

“It’s not me, General; it’s the brooch.” She replied.

The stone in the brooch started to heat up; the Princess could feel the heat coming off from the brooch as it began to burn her skin; she quickly pulled it off as the brooch was becoming too hot to handle. She dropped it thinking it would fall to the ground, but the brooch came to life and floated in mid-air. It then rose over her head and up into the sky. It stopped mid-way, and the light from the stone expanded, creating a pillar of light around the Soldiers and the knights. As the Lurkers approached the pillar, they crashed into it as they couldn’t go through. The pillar had become a barrier preventing the Lurkers from going any further; they were banging at it, clawing at it, creating sharp weapons and drills to try and penetrate it. The power of the stone was too strong even for them. The Knights and the soldiers were surprised and relieved to see an item spared them from the Princess.

“By the stars of Aeries,” Vinnie said under his breath as he walked up to the barrier. He touched it feeling the warm, soothing energy vibration, but it didn’t hurt or burn. “It’s a force field.”

“Good,” Caleb replied. “Let’s hope it’ll buy us some time till we can figure out how to get out of here.” 

Kevin, possessed by the ghost, entered the atmosphere of Planet Zonia and continued flying past several countries till he made his way towards the country where Auran resides. He detected the red pillar of light from the ground like a beacon and flew towards it; the stone in his hand began to react as it came back to life as he flew into the red pillar. Both the white gemstone and the red gemstone from the brooch harmoniously reacted to each other. The white gemstone flashed overhead, creating a loud boom and causing everybody to look up. A white pillar of light similar to the red came down and enclosed the Princess from the others.

"Princess!" Yelled Rika as she tried to reach her, but like the red barrier, she couldn’t penetrate it. The pillar’s light was translucent, only showing a silhouette of the Princess who was banging on the pillar trying to get out, but neither she nor anyone could reach each other.

“Come on, genius, how do we get her out of there?” Caleb yelled at Vinnie.

"Hell, if I know!" Vinnie yelled back. "I don’t know where these barriers came from or why they’re here if we mess with them; who knows what will happen?"

The Princess stopped banging on the pillar; she stepped back, trying to figure out how to get out of here. She suddenly bumped into something, but it wasn’t the other end of the pillar. She could hear something breathing, feeling the warm air down her neck; she realized she wasn’t alone. She quickly turned around to see a man, a young man around her age, only a head taller than her own, with one deep sky blue eye and the other an icy blue with an odd birthmark; it was Kevin still possessed by the ghost. He didn’t look at her; he was looking outwards beyond the pillars of light at the hundreds of Lurkers still trying to break through the red barrier.

"W-who are you?" She asked.

He remained silent, still looking at the Lurkers. He stepped towards the edge of the pillar, gently moving the Princess aside. She watched in curiosity, wondering what he was going to do and, for that matter, who he was.

“My Princess.” The ghost spoke in both his own and Kevin’s voice. He turned his head to look back at the Princess. “I will protect you.”

On the outside of the Princess’ barrier, the Knights spotted the silhouette of another person as he stood up against the barrier of energy.

"Who’s that in there with the Princess?" Rika asked.

The Princess, speechless, watched as Kevin looked back towards the Lurkers, who began to throw themselves against the barrier, hoping to break through that way. Kevin placed his hand over his chest like before, and the five symbols appeared surrounding the glyph markings. Turning as he did before, he released the five symbols, and they transferred over to the pillar of light. The glyph markings slowly began to spread over his body like a clock counting down. He begins to feel his powers weakening as the markings begin to conceal the reiki energy once again.

He quickly placed his hands on the pillar, with his eyes glowing, this blue and white aura of reiki growing around his body like rising smoke. The ghost channels both his and Kevin’s reiki energy within; his hair, skin, and whole being, from his body to his clothes, begins to glow. He then channels his energy into the pillar. The pillar reacts as it begins to glow, the five symbols then also appear on the red pillar of light, and that pillar begins to glow as well. From up in the sky, the master watches in curiosity about what is happening as the lights from both pillars are getting brighter. The knights and the small group of soldiers shielded their eyes. Unknown to them, the white pillar now covered the knights and soldiers, but they were unaware as the light was too bright for them to see. The red pillar, overloaded with energy, exploded, expanding itself and covering the whole area. Now, as a weapon, the red pillar begins to destroy everything in its wake. It began to disintegrate the huts and the Lurkers in large quantities. Though they tried to use shields, the energy from the red pillar still destroyed them, even those who were hiding in the bodies of the dead soldiers. The Alpha Lurker watched as its comrades were being killed, and the energy was heading towards him.

Immediately, the alpha and another Lurker hid in the shadows of a nearby rock as the energy blast from the red pillar came to eliminate the rest of the lurkers. The energy from the red pillar dispersed, leaving nothing but destruction. The white gemstone begins to hum, and the white pillar is absorbed into the gemstone. It flies away, heading to its final destination; the princess’ brooch stops glowing and falls to the ground. The knights and the group of soldiers saw that the light faded and unshielded their eyes to see that not only was the village gone, but so were the Lurkers; they once again marveled that they survived.

“They’re gone,” Vinnie said, still amazed at what just happened.

“Uh, guys.” The Princess called out. “A little help here.”

Everyone remembered the Princess and especially the stranger that was with her. The knights brought out their weapons and turned around, ready to attack in case the stranger may be harming their Princess. Instead of a battle, they see the Princess struggling to keep an unconscious Kevin from falling to the ground.

“He’s not exactly light." The Princess sharply remarked.

One of the soldiers helped the Princess lay Kevin flat on the ground. They all circled around him and looked down at him as they realized their hero was a just a teenager.

“What do we do with him?” Caleb asked.

“We can’t leave him here.” Answered the Princess. “He saved all of us; we should bring him back to the castle and question him there.”

Caleb picked Kevin up and put him over his shoulder. The Princess looked down and saw her brooch, which stopped glowing. She picked it, noticing it felt cool to the touch.

“Thank you,” she whispered to the brooch and put it back on. They all started heading out to where their respected aircraft were located. The master watched them, still surprised at what happened. From his point of view, nothing was left of the village or his collected subordinates. He slams his fists on the desk, furious that something so powerful destroyed his army with one blast of reiki energy.

“How? How did they defeat my creations?” He asked himself. “I must know how they did this.”

The master noticed Caleb had something over his shoulder. He zoomed his camera closer to get a good look at what it was. Once his camera focused on the face, he saw Kevin. He sat back in his seat, wondering if he was ever there in the beginning.

“That boy, he wasn’t there before.” The master said to himself. “Only after that pillar of light appeared he did.”

Suddenly, his computer started beeping. He looked at the screen and saw two dots indicating that there were two creations still alive; one of them was his Alpha.

“Alpha, can you hear me?” The Master asked. “Are you still functional?”

The Alpha, still in Toby’s body and his lackey, quietly emerged their heads from out of the shadow of the broken stone. They quietly watched their enemies head towards their aircraft.

“Affirmative Master.” The alpha replied, communicating through his built-in two-way radio. “The two of us are all that is left. Shall we return to bring more of our kind to finish them off, sire?”

“No, there is a change in plans.” The Master replied. “Follow them and bring me that boy and the Princess. I believe she somehow summoned him to help them. I must know.”

The Lurkers understood; they quickly came out of the stone’s shadow and cloaked themselves, blending in with the environment making them invisible. They quietly slithered into the aircraft where General De Grandis and his men boarded. The two aircraft engines came on, rising up into the air before they took off into the sky back towards the castle. Inside the deck of the aircraft, General de Grandis and his men were silent, solemn as they thought about their fallen comrades they had to kill.

“We lost a lot of men today.” The General stated.  “I know fighting our own wasn’t easy; no one deserved to die the way they did, but I am proud to have fought alongside all of you today to protect our Princess. Now please, a moment of silence for our fallen.

They all bowed their heads in respect for their comrades, but in the corner of the General’s eyes, he saw something shimmer in the distance. He slowly looked up and saw the outline of something moving. Even though it was invisible, he noticed its movements as it warped the objects behind it. He slowly reached for his gun in his holster. As he was ready to take out and fire, something sharp poked him in the back, preventing him from making a move.

"Yes, a moment of silence for our fallen." Said the Alpha Lurker as he appeared behind the General.

The other soldiers looked towards their General to see that he was in trouble as the Alpha had morphed his hand into a sharp blade placed behind the General’s back. The other Lurker appeared next to a soldier with its claw already in blade form. As the soldier looked to see what appeared next to him, the Lurker cut the soldier’s head off. The head rolled to the center of the aircraft in front of the other soldiers, who quickly took off their seat belts and prepared to fight. The Lurker watched the remaining six soldiers who grabbed their weapons and stood with their backs to each other so they could monitor their General and the other Lurker. Knowing his fate, the General looked at his men for the last time.

“Don’t let them win.” Yelled the General. Show them that we are the proud army of Aura-

Before the General could finish his sentence, the Alpha Lurker ran his blade through the General neck as the blade came out through his mouth.