Chapter 76: The Storm Ends
Inside the House of Divine Knowledge temple, the technicians were curled up on the floor in terror. August was crouched down guarding the main entrance to the temple. He appeared mostly unfazed by the loud claps of thunder outside.
‘What’s happening?’ blubbed Felix as he looked at August.
‘Intense dark energy is disturbing the atmosphere,’ replied August. ‘I felt something like this once before, but this is something far more extreme.’
‘Is it the monster?’ gasped Felix as his eyes bulged.
‘Something different,’ replied August. ‘Stay calm. This will pass.’
Julio was staggering further up the main road past the Industrial Zone. He was moving in and out of invisibility as the poison was starting to take effect on him. Demadrian had placed the Hat Lady down and was pursuing Julio.
Demadrian roared ferociously as he charged towards Julio. Julio waved his claws erratically to keep Demadrian away.
Demadrian leapt at Julio. Julio swatted him down with his claws. Demadrian charged forward again. This time, Julio swatted him with his tail. Demadrian kept charging, forcing Julio further up the main road and closer to the back of the region.
Angelo and Volo walked down the main road towards the fight between Demadrian and Julio. Razor shapeshifted into himself and ran after them. The senior guard slammed his hand on his badly damaged vehicle in anger as he watched Razor run off.
Demadrian and Julio roared ferociously at each other. Julio took a swipe at Demadrian with his right claw. Demadrian ducked and advanced forward. He slashed Julio across the chest, causing him to bleed. Julio spun around and knocked Demadrian off his feet using his tail. Julio immediately became invisible.
Demadrian slowly got back up. He roared ferociously. A short distance down the road, Julio became visible again. He was in his Linap form. He was hoping the deep cuts from Demadrian would heal, but that did not happen.
Demadrian charged towards Julio. Julio shapeshifted back into his Sentray form.
Lightning struck the building next to Demadrian. It startled him. Julio lunged forward, slashing Demadrian hard across his chest. Demadrian screamed in agony as blood spurted out from him. Julio followed up by smashing Demadrian with his tail, knocking him down.
Julio tried to crush Demadrian’s head with his huge foot, but Demadrian shapeshifted into his Linap form to avoid him and then became invisible. Julio roared ferociously. Angelo, Volo, and Razor had now caught up with him.
Julio stared into Angelo’s red, glowing eyes.
‘I’m so sorry,’ mumbled Julio.
The thunder continued to roar, and lightning was striking in several places in the Downs Region.
‘My mentor, my guide,’ said Angelo as he looked up at Julio.
Julio felt an intense burning feeling inside himself. The poison was draining his strength, and his healing ability was no longer working.
‘Let me help you,’ said Angelo as he walked towards Julio.
Julio tilted his head back and gasped. Angelo reached out to touch Julio. Suddenly, Demadrian leapt at Julio, knocking him to one side. This caused Julio to stagger as he struggled to remain standing. The poison was affecting his balance and coordination.
Demadrian charged into Julio. He began rapidly slashing at him, causing his blood to splatter everywhere. Angelo screamed at Demadrian. Thunder roared and lightning was striking all across the region.
Julio fell to his knees. Demadrian repeatedly slashed at Julio’s throat. Julio gasped in pain. He was struggling to breathe as blood spurted from his neck and gushed from his mouth. Demadrian continued with his assault. Julio shapeshifted into his Linap form to duck the onslaught of slashes.
Julio tried to escape from Demadrian but was too injured to move or become invisible. With one huge swipe, Demadrian cut Julio’s head off.
Julio’s head rolled towards Angelo. Angelo screamed in rage, and then he charged towards Demadrian. Demadrian swung to slash him, but Angelo ducked and grabbed Demadrian’s thigh.
‘Now!’ screamed Angelo.
A powerful lightning bolt struck them. A few seconds later, another followed this. Then more and more rapidly, the lightning struck them. The force of the lightning was so intense that buildings on either side of the road were blasted to pieces.
The force was so powerful that the whole region shook. The windows in the House of Divine Knowledge temple shattered. The technicians screamed in fear as glass fell all around them. August stood up as the glass fell all around him. He could see the intense blasts of light flash past the window.
The partially constructed palace started to collapse. Duffo was screaming in terror and panic as he pounded on the cell door. The ceiling began to collapse on them. Lily was able to move out of the way. Unfortunately, the bricks that fell through the ceiling crushed the enforcer. Lily used the bricks to climb out of the cell to reach the room area above. Duffo followed her.
Maskameera had run into the Downs Agriculture Zone to avoid collapsing buildings. Orcilla was running towards the lightning strikes, but the force knocked her unconscious. The followers stared and watched the lightning strikes as if they were in some kind of trance.
Inside the tunnel, not far from the lightning strikes, Benny was screaming while slapping himself. Hermon was frantically chewing on his own arm. Eric was sitting down cross-legged while sucking his thumb. Gilling was curled up in a ball. Wendell was trying to shield her.
Outside the region, the powerful lightning strikes and intense roaring thunder had frightened the Sentray away, just leaving Octavius and Ducky. Ducky was lying on the ground, and Octavius had his arms wrapped around her, trying to calm her down even though he was terrified himself. The West Tribes’ guards sprinted past him in fear. They desperately wanted to get as far away from the region as possible.
Polly, Jennifer, Bellamy, and Bastion were hiding inside the workshop. The intense vibrations caused by the lightning strikes were causing the warehouse it was in to shake violently. Pieces of the roof crashed through the ceiling of the workshop. A piece of metal was heading towards Polly. Jennifer knocked Polly out of the way. The piece of metal pierced through Jennifer’s head. Polly gasped in shock. Bastion grabbed Polly’s hand. The three of them escaped the workshop as it completely collapsed.
The power of the lightning could be felt in the resistance camp. Daily hugged the twins tightly, and they buried their heads into his chest. The little miracles were huddled together; Sophie, Arthur, and Louis were shielding them from the intense roaring of thunder and explosions from the lightning. Vulay and Denise were holding Henders, who was crying. Eugene was standing up watching the explosions. He was joyfully clapping. He looked around and was confused why they were all terrified.
Suddenly, everything stopped. There was silence. The lightning no longer struck, and the thunder no longer roared. The rain continued to fall, but it did not make a sound. The heavy choking feeling of evil in the air had gone. A fresh, cool, gentle, and silent breeze replaced it.
Orcilla slowly opened her eyes. She looked up at the sky as the dark storm clouds changed to lighter, fluffier clouds. She sat up. Just ahead of her was a huge crater in the road. She slowly stood up and walked towards the crater. The rain had been reduced to just a light drizzle. She looked into the deep crater. There was no sign of Angelo, Demadrian, or even Volo and Razor.
Suddenly there was gunfire. Tiberius and the enforcers had begun firing at the followers. Orcilla became invisible and then ran back towards the town square.
‘Get them, now!’ shouted Tiberius from the ruins of the construction site of the palace.
The enforcers managed to shoot and kill several followers. However, the followers returned fire. With their superior numbers, they were soon able to overcome the enforcers, forcing them to surrender.
Tiberius became invisible, and then he tried to escape. Lily was nearby, and she saw his footsteps forming in the dust as he ran. She ran into him, knocking him down. Tiberius became visible as he got back up. He took a swipe at her with his fist, but Lily responded quickly with a hard kick to his groin. He bent forward in pain. Duffo ran over and kicked him hard in the head, knocking him out.
Orcilla ran over to them. ‘Got him… again,’ she panted as she looked down at Tiberius.
‘We need to make sure it’s for good this time,’ replied Lily.
‘The prince can rightly claim his throne,’ said Duffo as he patted his chest.
Lily rolled her eyes, and Orcilla stared angrily at Duffo, who raised his eyebrows and smiled back at her.
Several followers ran over to Tiberius. They placed restraints on his hands and feet.
‘That’s it,’ chuckled Duffo. ‘Time to take out the trash.’
‘Take him too,’ said Orcilla as she looked at a senior follower and pointed to Duffo.
Two followers grabbed Duffo.
‘You can’t arrest me!’ shouted Duffo as a third follower placed restraints on his hands. ‘I’m royalty.’
Orcilla turned around and looked at the destruction caused to the Downs Region.
‘We can fix all of this,’ said Lily in a reassuring tone.
Orcilla turned to look at Lily. Lily held her hand out to Orcilla. Orcilla looked at Lily’s hand. She shook her head and then turned around and walked away.
‘Oh no!’ called out Felix, who had poked his head around the temple door and was staring at the destroyed palace. ‘It’s not supposed to look like that.’