CHAPTER 9 DEATH COMES KNOCKING!

Rafael spent the next 3 days training himself with intermittent resting. He had just finished resting when the automatons came to life. They were thin, sleek, weak looking junk-bots that looked like they would crumble on their own, how they were supposed to kill Rafael or even fight him was beyond him, but in no way did he have any doubts that they possessed the abilities to do both that far, far exceeded his expectations

As if the moving pieces of junk had read his thought, they turned as one towards Rafael, the lone eye in the center of their forehead flashed red, their weak and fragile looking metal arms sparked. Their movements were like more than one of the parts that made their legs were broken. Raising their right arm which ended in a buzz-saw they moved to circle him

Rafael stood calmly and observed as the mechanical Junk-bots moved in to cut him all at once. He focused his energy in his legs and jumped straight-up. 3 of the bots stumbled at his sudden movement, 6 of them were slow on the uptake, and by the time they had noticed Rafael, was no longer there, they were unable to stop their momentum and hit each other, saw first in to the opposing head. Only one of the 10 looked up to Rafael, and waved his buzz-saw as if he wanted too through it up at him

Rafael: “That one could be troubling”

Rafael focused the wind energy in his feet and used it to kick the air and maneuver himself side-wards. He landed in a corner but the bots were quick even with their broken legs, in moments they had surrounded him again. Rafael swung his sword in a wide-slash and the bots backed at once

 

Rafael kept pointing and slashing his blade towards any of the 4 bot that came closer from the arc shaped formation that they had now surrounded Rafael in, his back to the wall, to prevent any surprises. Rafael’s tactic appeared to be working for now, but the bots were getting quicker and bolder. Rafael needed to do something and quick

With the wind energy in his feet he once again jumped up but none of the bots stumbled this time, instead they followed his path on the ground, and would already be waiting at the place, where Rafael would plan to land. Rafael had anticipated that, in a flash of seconds he filled himself with the energy of earth and dropped on top of one of the bots like a one-ton deadly flying machine, wasting no time and taking advantage of the surprise, he spun in a reverse spin and decapitated two more. Rafael stood with his sword in his hand

Rafael: “Alright, 3 down 1 to go”

The one-eyed junk-bot didn’t like Rafael slaying his comrades and then bellowing into rage, he went on a rampage. His movement became erratic, his attacks frenzied, his lone eye glowed a fiercer shade of red, and the whirring and ticking sound of the machine became a chatter

Rafael almost lost it when he heard the bellowing of the machine, but somehow managed to keep a stern face. The frenzied attacks had increased in ferocity and strength but were too wild. Rafael was able to take advantage of his rage. In a slash he relieved the bot of his saw, with the next his relieved him of his legs and at last pierced his lone eye right in the middle and the machine died along with it

Rafael: “Done, that didn’t take long”

Rafael stood still reveling in his victory, looking at the spotless sword in his hands, that had just been the instrument of death of the 10 junk-bots. Rafael tried to remember the feeling he had as he jammed in his sword in the last bot. He felt over-powerful, the feeling of sheer strength, the moment of triumph. He waited to feel great, to feel glee, to feel strong but Rafael couldn’t shake the feeling that his life was in immediate danger. He felt a tingling in his back and against any common sense he stepped to the right, when a massive blade grazed his arm, as one of the junk-bots jabbed a sword right where his heart was

Rafael immediately spun around. All of the junk-bots were standing behind him, fully repaired, a buzz-saw in one hand and a metallic sword rested in the other.  Where, a lone previously stood was now replaced by twin eyes that shone like that of a predator

Rafael: “Well, shit”

The bots charged Rafael at once their movements quicker than before, more coordinated, more focused. When Rafael jumped above to dodge their attacks, none of them struck with each other anymore but would rather split up, and few of them would follow him around while the rest waited for him in the case, he tried something unexpected

Rafael kept jumping around using the wind energy he made footholds of air, he would occasionally blast one of the bots with a bolt of lightning, would decapitate the other one but they would soon stand up tall and strong, more intelligent and lethal than before

Rafael had no idea how long he had been at it, but he was drenched in sweat, his breathing became labored whereas the automatons who had started as pieces of junk, were now full-blown battle-machines. Their weak broken legs were now replaced by metallic wheel akin to a tank’s, their chest almost twice as broad as Rafael’s was, the two red eyes shone on their expressionless face, that seemed to scream their intent to kill, their buzz-saw and sword were replaced with a gun that seemed to shoot a laser beam, the other hand was holding a shock baton that not only electrocuted on touch but was also able to let lose 100 volts of lightning when they wanted

Rafael no longer flew overhead for the bolts of lightning were getting harder and harder to dodge, but he still hovered a few inches above the ground, his sword in hand, as he dashed left and right to dodge the automatons set to kill him, he was successful in evading most of these attacks and was about to make his first one, when a pain erupted from his shoulder, and Rafael felt jolts of lightning passing through his body. For a moment he thought he was done for, his life flashed before him, but he managed to kick away the robot enough to get the baton off of him and staggered back up. The lone 3-eyed robot stared at him. Only one of the 10 robots, had the three eyes, the one who looked up on their very first wave

Rafael: “Shit, I had forgotten about him, this guy is going to be trouble. I need to end it now, if they grow even stronger, I am going to die”

Rafael went into thinking of what could be done and let his instincts take over. This was something he could do. He would put his body on auto-pilot mode of some kind whenever he needed time to seriously think. He would vaguely remember what happened during the auto-pilot but he needed this right now

Rafael: “How to destroy robots that rebuild themselves after each time?”

Rafael let go of the auto-pilot at the worst time possible, he came directly in face with 3 batons aimed for his head. Rafael avoided 2 of the 3, with a hair’s breadth, but the third one caught him on the side of his face and sent Rafael flying. His body jerked from the shock and his face stung from the hit, but he had no time to worry about that just yet. He immediately took to air

Rafael: “I really hope this works”

Rafael summoned a giant ball of earth around him as a protective armor from the jolts of lightning, and then let go of the wind energy keeping him in air and infused himself with even more energy of the earth to increase the speed with which he fell, and also to increase the impact

Moments later Rafael hit the floor, the sudden impact caused the floor to break and left the automatons imbalanced. The impact also shattered Rafael’s protective ball of earth. The bots started moving towards Rafael again, when with a scream he released a massive surge of energy. Save for a circle of radius 10 feet around Rafael, he changed the floor of the entire room into magma

Mechanical whirring and ticking filled the room as the automatons dissolved away and the magma disappeared

Gorion: “Well done, young one, well done indeed. You managed to finish it before the deadline, well done indeed”

Rafael could only manage a weak smile before his face decided to make the floor a pillow and he fell

Rafael woke up in the dark and infinite abyss. His body seemed to be paralyzed but he was cognizant. He could hear everything, could see everything could even speak but wasn’t able to move. The only sound that ever came out of the deafening silence was the rattling of chains and the same sadist laughter, Rafael had heard previously. He immediately knew where he was

Rafael: “It’s okay, Rafael, this is a dream, he can’t hurt me in here”

Hood: “Oh, is that what you believe you insect? Then come a little closer”

The empty words echoed through the dark abyss when the prison of his skeletal visitor appeared. He still was wearing a tattered robe, his hood covering his skeletal face and his entire body tied to the cross, but something was different. The skeleton or The Hood, as Rafael had started calling him, was tied to the cross from all 4 of his limbs and his entire body was chained as well. But now the chain that wrapped around his body had disappeared and the one on his right arm was not completely free but loosely hanging around his wrist

The remaining chains still seared off the hood’s clothes but he didn’t seem to be bothered by the pain any longer

Hood: “What are you thinking bacterium? If you think I can’t harm you then come a little closer”

Even if Rafael could move, he was in no mood to comply to a giant skeleton tied to a cross asking him to come near

Rafael: “You are nothing more than a bad dream, you can’t harm or even touch me. You are nothing”

Hood: “You dare address me in that manner. You really have no idea who I am do you?”

Rafael: “You are Mr. Hood, my skeletal roommate who is keen on troubling me whenever I faint or sleep”

Hood obviously didn’t like his name, as he started bellowing in rage

Hood: “Hood? Your skeletal roommate? I am so much more boy. If you knew my name, you would cower before me to let you live, as I would devour your soul. I am the oldest of beings, the ultimate truth, the destroyer of worlds, I am. . . .”

Before hood could continue his one-man commentary about himself, Rafael was shaken awake by Gorion

Gorion: “Rafael, wake up, wake up Rafael. Young one, are you alright? What were you dreaming about?”

Rafael: “Alright, alright, I am up, what happened?”

Gorion: “What happened? You happened. Look around the room”

Rafael: “What do you mean look around the room what . . ”

Rafael’s sentence was cut mid-off as his gaze shifted from Gorion’s face to across the room. The entire room seemed like it had gone through a firestorm, a tsunami, and an earthquake, all at once. Some part of the furniture was singed, the books were thrown against the wall, the entire carpet was soaking wet and there were numerous cracks on the floor

In a meek voice, Rafael asked

Rafael: “What happened here?”

Gorion: “What happened was that you were screaming at the top of your lungs. Your entire body was spasming and your aura was totally out of control”

Rafael: “I did that?”

Gorion: “Yes! What happened?”

Rafael: “I was having a nightmare”

Gorion: “What kind of nightmare?”

Rafael: “One where someone was out to kill me”

Gorion: “Oh!”

Rafael: “Yeah, it has become a regular thing for me at least”

Gorion: “Get some rest young one. We will talk more in the morning”

Gorion left and Rafael was once again left to seek the answers in the lap of the shadows. Rafael wondered about what Gorion had said on that fated night, that now seemed like centuries ago

Gorion: #What about you prefer young one, a lie in the light or a truth in the shadows? #

Rafael had wanted to scream that he wanted to see the truth, to stare at the naked visage, let go of the light but a logical part of him, had stopped him there. Now he was sitting here wondering if he had made a mistake. He was wondering the cons of his decision when sleep and exhaustion hit him like a rock and darkness once again surrounded him

Rafael woke up next morning and felt as if he had been sleeping for days, the sheets were rolled in a corner, his room that was destroyed by himself had automatically repaired itself or that must have been Gorion’s work. He threw off the covers and tried to get up. Every muscle, every cell in his body screamed in protest and pain. He still needed more sleep, more rest, but he was to scared of his skeletal roommate’s visit

Against the groaning and aching, Rafael got up and went to shower and then he went downstairs. He was craving for some milk and pancakes. It had been ages since he had last eaten. Determining when he had eaten last was an easy task, as he had not eaten ever since he entered Alexandria. Being in their pure soul form does come with many benefits, and one of them was freedom from the need to eat or sleep. Since, they absorbed energy from the surroundings itself, they had no need to eat or sleep. Eating was done for the sole purpose of satisfying taste. Rafael felt he needed to sleep more, because he was spending his energy way faster than he was able to replenish it, and his reserves were running at an all-time low

Rafael had just wolfed down the pancakes and glass of milk that he had conjured, when Gorion entered the room

Gorion: “Ah, look who has woken up”

Jason: “Hey Raf, heard you had trouble sleeping”

Rafael: “Jason? What are you doing here? Weren’t you at war?”

Jason: “It was a raiding party that we handled fairly easily and then I received Gorion’s message that you were having trouble sleeping, so here I am”

Rafael: “I am glad to have you here Jason”

Rafael’s day had automatically gotten better, he felt more in control, more existential whenever Jason was around. His presence always had that effect on him. It was like there was a fire raging inside of Rafael that calmed down a bit whenever Jason was around

Gorion: “Alright let’s meet in the training room, right now”

Jason and Rafael followed Gorion in the training room, where Gorion had made preparations for a ritual. There were two concentric circles with 2 5-ended stars drawn inside the circles, at each of the end of the star Gorion had placed a bone and in the center of the stars, there was placed a skull. At the background of the entire set up, was another huge skull drawn

All over the weird pentagram, strange runes were drawn. Gorion asked Rafael to go and stand in the center of the pentagram, adjoining to the skull. Rafael complied, though he felt strange with all these bones around him. Gorion had started a monotonous chant, and like a toy that had just been charged, Rafael started describing his entire interaction with Mr. Hood

Gorion continued as Jason joined in. Rafael went on and on. During his trance like state, Gorion and Jason did exchange knowing glances as if they had an inkling as to what was going on with Rafael, and the look on their faces had not seemed to be happy ones

They began chanting faster, and Rafael could feel a struggle beginning in the back of his mind, a struggle to remain conscious, a tug of war between him and someone, no something else, and somehow, he knew, whoever is going to win this tug of war, would be the controller of his body

Rafael was already struggling for consciousness, the trance like state that he was already in due to, the strange ritual that was being performed did not help him in his battle. Rafael was already fighting a losing battle, but when he uttered hood’s last words to Gorion and Jason to finish his story, he felt the rope get pulled the other way, and him along with it. He heard his voice had changed from a deep and calm voice to an old and raspy voice, similar to that of Mr. Hood

Hood: “I am the oldest of beings, the ultimate truth, the master of time. I am the destroyer of worlds, I am DEATH”

When Rafael’s consciousness returned, he was standing over a blood stained Gorion’s body, a scythe made of black fire in his hand, a deep gash was made across Gorion’s torso that looked very nasty, fatal and it wasn’t healing. Jason stood between Gorion and Rafael, with a sword made of light in his hand

Jason: “RAFAEL! COME BACK”

Rafael: “Jason, what happened? Did…. Did I do this?”

Before Jason could respond, Rafael dropped the scythe he was holding in absolute horror, which then disintegrated into a black puddle. Gorion, still on the floor, his wound bleeding profusely, his breathing laborious, breathing that meant he was still alive. He didn’t move a muscle, didn’t even flinch, he appeared to be struggling himself to maintain consciousness, and he spoke with great difficulty

Gorion: “YOU! YOU ARE DEATH”