The Federation was thrown back into disarray. Months of hard work to keep the people calm, was thrown completely out of the window. Riots and rebellions broke out all over Earth as people freaked out, wondering what lied in the future.
Politicians mailboxes were being bombarded with millions of messages from their constituents, however they were unable to respond, as they relayed the same concerns, back to the U.N., Queen Yori, the Sonaran President and Dargan's Prime Minister.
Who in turn, each condemned the attacks and kidnapping, which did little, to appease the population. Before long, the people made a World timer, from the time Mado, gave them, to Kiala's execution.
Amaara managed to protect the hangar and majority of the ships, however, Helio, Tai, Runa, and Nur were defeated on Sonara and Dargan. Simon and Koji managed to keep the damage to a minimal in Toronto and Berlin, while Nur helped heal and recover casualties.
It was a grim day for Beyond, as they had shown yet again, that they were unable to protect the people. Lack of confidence in the military had started to rise, and with no way of making Nova suits, without Tobi or Kiala, it became very difficult to think of a bright future.
Six hours after the attack, Sarah woke up, in a cryomed while being treated by multiple medics. She banged on the glass door, begging to be released. The medics looked at each other, wondering if it would be premature, but did so anyway, out of fear of being overwritten.
Most of the androids walking around Beyond, were now automated synthetics. However they didn't know that Sarah had lost the ability to control them, or switch between them, leaving Saphyra as the master key. They still treated her with care, gave her clothes and helped her walk to the broadcasting room.
She asked for an update on the situation and with shock she took it all in. Then immediately came up with a plan. "Enable the telemonitors, throughout the entire Federation."
Moments later, Sarah sat herself up, in front of Beyond's logo, ready to talk to the worlds. When her face beamed across all skies, the people felt a mixture of relief, sadness and fear.
She was not smiling.
"For those of you who may not know, what happened today, was real and was arguably one of the greatest blunders, of our organization. We hold responsibility for the trauma, damage and instability incurred, because of the way we handled the terror attack. For your loved ones that were lost, I express my condolences." She took a moment to pause, for the people that died that day.
"However, this unprovoked attack will not go unanswered. The Kirosian empire, aimed for our ships to disarm us, but failed. They succeeded in stealing $20 trillion worth of versillium and managed to kidnap my daughter, right in front of me. For those of you who might not know, as it was slightly classified, she came from an apocalyptic future, where she never had a proper life, as a child. Now after her first year of living normally, she is being put up for execution as our representative." She covered her face with her hand as a tear started to streak down her cheek.
"I am so ashamed. What I would do, to trade places with her... But the enemy knew, she was also our source. Amongst trying to enjoy her life for the first time, she still took her father's place by providing her cells for the Nova and Guardian suits, for us. Without her, we can not make anymore, which will leave us at the mercy of any threats from space." She paused once again, as cracks appeared in her hand, and Kiala's arm encased in ice, manifested out of nowhere.
"She gave us one last ray of hope..." She showed the arm to the screen, disturbing many people. "But a teenager, should not have to make this type of sacrifice." She hugged the arm, as her tears started to flow uncontrollably. "How can we live with ourselves, if she takes the fall for us? Do we still have our dignity as human beings? Will we cower in the face of a monster or defeat?"
She sniffled a bit as she went quiet for a moment. Then went back to her serious self, with the deadliest tone, they had ever heard from her. "No." She stood up as, the camera readjusted with the arm at her side.
"If there is anything that I've learned from Osei and Tobi, is that we never back down. I am authorizing a complete military invasion, on the Kirosian empire and main home planet Kiros Alta and Kiros Bera. We've been scouting them for a while, but in two days, we will touchdown and make them pay for their crimes against humanity. World leaders, I believe you owe me a favor. I would like to call on that favor now." She shook her head.
"Our aim will not be their destruction or revenge, it will be to rescue Kiala. Whether she's my daughter or not is irrelevant, we will not allow one of our own, to be executed in the name of war. People of the Federation, those of you who would like to join us, feel free to do so. I will provide you with everything you need, as well as fund all countries participating."
She took a deep breath and looked one last time at the camera, with her other fist gripped in front of her. "This is not a war for now. This war, is for our future and we will not let them have their way."
The broadcast bleeped out, as people around the world got riled up and cheered. They could tell she meant business, and newfound confidence spread amongst the worlds as well as fear of what was to come. They knew the Kirosian people were just like the people of Rennaya, capable of using all five of the elements, but were of different races just like Earth.
Regardless of the case, preparations, were now underway. For the Humanity's largest invasion.
Six months earlier in the Elder's tent...
Tobi stood upright as Sarah floated closer to record. The Elder shifted in her a chair a bit, as she collected her thoughts.
"Gather these following materials: The spine of the sandworm in the desert, pelts of the giant frostbears by the North, a skeleton the largest shark, venom of the king snake..."
Tobi frowned, as he tried to imagine what each of these animals would be like and what kind of training session this would be. However his mind went back to the raptors he encountered earlier and how they could use iko, then he started to freak out. 'What if these creatures are worse than them?' He thought, but tried to shake it out of his mind.
The Elder continued with her list, as if reading it off the top of of her head. "The wings of the skyking, jaws of the strongest lizard, a shipload of feces of the ferocious animal and lastly, the bones of the monkeyking. If you survive gathering all of these materials, I will show you the next step."
Tobi frowned once more, when he heard about the feces, but the 'if you survive' took him out. "What do you mean, how dangerous are these animals?
She smiled, "Here catch." She threw a bracelet like device towards him, which he attempted to catch, but she telekinetically moved it towards his wrist instead, which clasped on immediately. "Do not force that off without my permission. It will lock all of your abilities except your strength. You must gather all of the materials without the use of the elements as to not damage them greatly and for you to gain even more strength."
Tobi was shocked and immediately tried to remove it. "That's suicide. How can I defeat them without using at least one of the elements?"
The Elder shook her head and smiled once more. "Don't make excuses, I did so myself with half of these materials around 30 years ago. You should be able to as well. Besides..." She looked over at Ria, who had been listening quietly. "She will help you get there, gather the materials and help you escape if you're in danger, but she is not allowed to help you." She said, giving her a slight warning.
Ria gave him a sheepish grin, and shrugged. There was nothing she could say.
Tobi sighed, then mulled it over. "Sarah did you record all of that?"
"Yes Tobi. I can't wait to see what these animals are like." She replied back to him.
Tobi shook his head. "I don't feel the same way, but a challenge is a challenge. Just you wait Mira, I'll collect them all in no time!"
The Elder grinned. "The vigour of youth. May God be with you."
An hour later...
Ria teleported him to a vast desert, hundreds of kilometers away from the village. It was desolate with mounds and sand mountains larger than the ones that he had seen, when he visited the Middle-East with his father on a conference.
"So where are these-" He was cut off as one of the mountains exploded, revealing a reddish-beige gigantic worm, with thousands of oscillating teeth bearing down on them.
"Well, good luck," Ria smiled, then disappeared with a few cracks in the air surrounding her.
"Oh shit." He mumbled as he shifted into second gear and jumped out of its way. He knew had seen this type of worm in a movie before, but couldn't remember which.
Flying was impossible without his abilities, so his only options were to run and hide. However wherever he tried to hide, he could feel the slumbering iko of another sandworm, hiding nearby.
Ria ended up saving him twenty-three times before he could defeat it, by waiting until it was tail up as it dove into the ground. Then grabbed the tail and slammed it back and forth, into the ground until it died. One month had passed, before he could figure out it's pattern, as their sense of smell was his biggest obstacle.
The frost bears in the North, were as terrifying as normal polar bears, but three times larger. He wasn't allowed to use his sword, which resulted in him gaining multiple gashes from their claws. Luckily one the only things the Mira was able to salvage from their shipwreck was a cryomed, which he ended up spending a considerable amount of time in, before he was capable of defeating the bears.
Using the third gear, only gave him ten minutes, which was dangerous to wager when the killer bears traveled in packs and could use iko for defense. Giving him no time to collect his gains, as they would eat the corpses he left trying to run away.
Another two weeks has passed, till he was able to go after the megalodon sized shark, well maybe it's juiced-up cousin, he thought, as it's speed, made him gasp out air on his first time. The next time he went, he learned and remembered from Helio telling him, that he was able to stay within water for longer periods of time, by trapping the air around him. Which he realized was also the technique, that was used to be able to travel in space.
However the length of time he needed to stay underwater to be able to defeat the shark, was much more than he was normally capable of with his own iko, as the pressure was too great. When he was finally capable up withstanding 20 minutes on his own, was when he was finally able to put up a proper fight against, the shark, by dislocating it's jaw as it tried to chomp down on him.
Then pulled the shark out of the water and into the air, before delivering a lethal punch in its belly, with the third gear.
Another month had passed, by then, and Ria helped to bring it back, for a feast.
In the next three months Tobi, struggled to to defeat, the venomous large snake, similar to the one he encountered when he first entered the planet. Then finally snapped the wings off a condor like bird, the size of a Boeing plane as it crashed him into several mountains, trying to kill him. Survived encounters with Kaiju-sized lizards, trying to devour him, and overcame, the stampedes of the giant mammoth-sized elephants trying to protect their territory.
However his greatest obstacle was the savage Monkeyking, a gorilla seventy-two feet tall, which mocked him after every defeat. He was defeated over forty times and only after unlocking a new ability and accepting the darkness within him, was when he was capable of finally overpowering the monster.
The village had a massive party to celebrate the end of his training. They had watched him comeback in bruises, cuts and many times unconscious to overcome this endearing ordeal. Overtime, he had turned from being a suspicious foreigner to becoming one of them, as he wore their clothes, spoke their language more fluently and became friends with them.
Many times he had thought of giving up, but doing nothing would remind him of his situation and Osei. The Elder had allowed him to freeze the perishable materials with his abilities and keep them underground.
Almost six months had passed and it was finally time for him to start building the what she had planned for him. The Elder gave him old parchment papers, she had drawn decades ago, of a working spaceship, she had gotten into the air once, but didn't have the strength to continue, keeping it afloat.
The villagers were surprised to see her leave her tent, so much over the past week, as she directed and instructed him on the way to build it. He was finally allowed to use his abilities, as she took it off him and let him keep it, if he wanted to train again later. Which Sarah was happy about, because she had plans to replicate and innovate the device.
Things however took a turn, when one day, in the middle of the night large earthquakes began to devastate the village. It was a bothering feeling Tobi felt for a while, but as he sent his iko below ground, he felt, large amounts of lava rushing up to a point at a nearby mountain. The largest one in the region, he rushed out as people were panicking wondering what was going on and helping others trapped under the rubble.
That's when the elder, called out to the villagers. "The calamity is coming, everyone, retreat from the village, and evacuate to the spaceship!"
He immediately rushed to her, to find out was going on. Ria, Kiatin, Jinco and Rani were there as well. "Elder, what is going on?!" Kiatin asked, as tremors got worse.
Mira shook her head. "I foresaw this coming, but I didn't not know when it would occur. I'm sorry my child, I did not warn you all as there was no way to escape it. However now that Tobi, has built us a way off of this planet, with your combined strength, the people of this village can be saved."
She looked at each one of them before she spoke again. "This planet is finished. It will reset itself, through constant volcano eruptions, so we must escape into space."
Tobi was shocked, but Sarah, bobbed in and spoke up. "She's right, I am detecting a large surge in seismic activity around the planet. They may all be connected, so if one goes off, it will be a chain reaction."
Mira nodded. "Exactly, so I want you all to prioritize getting the villagers to the ship, make sure, children and those, who can not teleport, to get on first."
Tobi looked at her with concern. "What about you?"
She smiled and shook her head. "Don't you worry about me, you still need to finish preparations on the ship remember. I will buy us some time, then I will join you all after."
"But Elder-" Ria tried to chip in, as Jinco, Kiatin and Rani.
"No Ria!" The Elder cut her off abruptly, then smiled. "You're a hundred years too young, to be concerned about me. Help the villagers evacuate now, and wait for me at the ship."
Ria's voice trembled as she replied. "Yes Elder."
Her friends nodded in agreement as well, knowing they couldn't change her mind. Tobi looked at the Elder with concern, but decided to trust in her judgement.
"You'll be on your way soon, won't you?" He asked her, earnestly.
As she looked back at him, he could see the glimmer in her eyes, as if a fire that had once died out, had begun to spark. "Of course, you have my word, prince of Rennaya."
He shook his head and smiled, as he turned around to fly off with the others. He still hated how she knew everything about him.
The Elder stood in silence for a moment, as tremors destroyed the village even further. "Well then, I best get started." She said to herself, as cracks appeared in the air around her, before she teleported to the top of the nearest volcano.
Lava bubbled up violently preparing for a long awaited eruption. Her lips curved into a her brightest smile. "It's been too long, since I have gone all out."
She sighed, looking up at the stars. "What I would have given to spend more time with them and to see my home once more. Alas, not everything is promised."
She took off her robe and threw it into lava, then clasped both of her hands together in prayer formation. "Zantrix, you have treated us well and given us a new home. Now allow us to leave, I beg of you."
Her hair began to glow from gray to silver-white, as dark energy began to envelope her. She spread her iko across the entire planet, causing animals to flee and alerting her villagers, as they struggled to get to safety.
At the top of her lungs, she yelled out, as blood, began to drip from her eyes and nose. "Ancient Arts: World Interference."
Just in time as the volcano erupted, rippling effects all across the planet, with earthquakes setting of hundreds of volcanoes in a chain reaction. However, no lava or sulfur flew into the sky, as they were pinned down and held still, by her telekinetic pressure.
Her body felt like it was about to implode, but she held on, still sensing that the ship was still on land. "Come on Tobi! You have to leave now!"
Back on the ship...
Tobi waited until every villager was onboard, before turning on the thrusters, he makeshift installed, with many combustible items. He had finished reinforcing the put together ship with hundreds of steels that he had digged out of the earth. Then lined the walls with a mixture of the feces and venom he collected before freezing them, to keep the smell away.
All in time, before he felt the Elder's iko and volcanic eruption, he could feel that was being suppressed. He knew she was lying and would not be able to make it, but he still held on to hope.
Ria and Kiatin waited the door, as the last people got on. She was crying along with several of the villagers, who could tell, something was wrong.
"I have to go back and help her." She said as she began walking out of the door.
"No." Kiatin held her back, then yelled out to Tobi. "Seal the door!"
"Why! Let me go!" She whipped his hand off her, and turned to look at him, but saw that he was crying as well.
"She knew, this was the only way! If it erupts, before, we take off, we won't be able to teleport past the ashe covered skies. Can't you feel the planets iko going haywire right now?" He explained, trying to reason with her as the door sealed shut.
"But... But... We can't leave her!" She banged her arms on the door, and collapsed to her knees. "We can't leave her, to die alone!"
Sarah spoke up, over hollowed out speakers all over the ship. "Everyone make sure your strapped on, we're taking off, in 3, 2, 1..."
Tobi lit the thrusters, shooting them off the ground, as a tear, fell down his cheek. Another person he couldn't save. He was starting to get tired of being powerless.
As they reached the clouds, they felt a last incredibly violent tremor, as the volcano finally erupted. One greater than ever recorded in human history, rippling an earthquake with the magnitude of 20. It was already difficult, trying to maintain takeoff with over a hundred people onboard, but the tremors made it multiple times worse.
Thankfully Jinco and Rani, helped to keep the ship stable as they finally broke through the stratosphere and into space. Everyone rushed to windows, to look at the apocalypse unfolding on the planet they once called home.
Tears fell as they knew, they might never return.
