Bab 29: A Body
The first to make contact was Zygoptera which lost a section of its tail upon impact. A sea of flower petals suddenly covered the entire craft after impact with the storm. However, unlike planned, things turned out differently as water and ice shields appeared around the craft next. Before long, their pursuers got dragged in; coming there unprepared disintegrated their crafts into nothing.
Another elemental power formed around Zygoptera. It was a wood element. She was shrouded in thick foliage, making it seem impossible to penetrate. Within another second, several tiny needles surrounded the craft while rotating at high speed, yet, even with that much protection, another section of the tail was gone. Now there were only three sections of the tail left, and many tiny holes had formed in the crafts hull.
Veins bulged on everyone's forehead as they struggled to keep the craft in one piece. They were dripping with sweat as though they were under a shower. "Damn it! I didn't think the storm would be this hard to deal with. Even for top-ranked Hectors, we sure have bitten more than we can chew", Captain Xu was now regretting his decision to venture into the storm to outrun their enemies. He would have faced them in an all-out battle if he had known this would happen.
At the edge of the raging storm, a cocoon-looking block of ice about 8 feet in height and 4 feet across floated. It looked like an egg with jagged edges like someone chiselled it. The cocoon was suddenly drawn towards the storm by a strong suction force as the storm grew.
Meanwhile, despite its protection, Zygoptera was still slowly chipped at by the dust storm. As she was finally about to exit the storm after half an hour of struggle against it, debris crashed into her out of nowhere. She shook violently and lunged out of the storm, throwing everyone on board to the floor.
Blare! Blare! Blare! An alarm rocked Zygoptera. Tim, who was piloting, announced. "Captain, we have a problem. Whatever just crashed into us seemed to have crashed into the engine room. The reactor chamber is damaged, and the reactor fuel is leaking. We need to patch up before we run out of fuel."
Captain Xu was disheartened. He didn't think Zygoptera would be in such a condition due to his decision, but he understood there was nothing he could have thought of at that moment. He knew wallowing in sorrow and self-blame wouldn't do them any good in that situation.
He gritted his teeth and held in his seething anger. He turned to assess everyone's condition. Noting no one had any serious injuries, he quickly gave out orders. "Kai, Bruce, come with me to the engine room. The rest check for any other damages and patch them. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. We don't want any cosmic beasts to deal with next" He walked away towards the engine room with a gloomy face without saying another word.
"I have never seen him with that kind of expression", Tim muttered. "Shush!" Wu Kang quietened him disapprovingly and followed him out. Tim turned to Bruce, who shrugged and followed too.
A block of ice had lunged into a circular chamber as green liquid dripped on it. A walkway stretched through with three of these chambers on either side of the walkway. The three on one side of the walkway were broken and spilt green liquid onto the floor. Only two were intact, with one having the cocoon plunged in it. The blaring alarm in the engine room still raged on.
A circular door slid open as Captain Xu walked in. He could make out the block of ice stuck in the reactor in the flashing red lights. He lifted his hands to halt Bruce and Kai, who were right behind him.
"Is that a block of ice in the reactor?" Bruce questioned in surprise. He thought one of the rocks floating in space was what hit them. He never imagined it would be a block of ice, as it was out of place.
"Huff, huff, huff, huff", a boy was running from a burning castle. He panted as he made his way towards a thicket of trees. The entire castle was in chaos. Fire rained down from the sky upon the castle, reducing it to brick and ash.
As the boy ran, a crystal shard shot right for his head and in a split second, it was an inch from his face. A shadowy figure suddenly grabbed him and disappeared with him. It moved so fast it seemed like teleportation.
"It's okay Lin", the figure whispered to him. Lin immediately recognised who it was. "Teacher" he screamed in delight. During the events involving Drak's inheritance, the figure appeared to Lin. Just as before, Lin could only spectate and not speak.
"What's going on this time? Last, it was training. Now it's some kind of war? And where is this place? Everything here is blurry, and I can't make anything out." He pondered.
"If I could, I would like to ask whoever that is for answers." Just as he thought, the boy turned to the man with a sober face and asked, "Teacher, what is going on? Where's mom and dad?"
The figure seemed to be in thought for a moment. It turned to Lin and said, "Enemies have attacked the castle. Your father and mother are in an intense battle with them but don't worry about them; they will be fine".
The boy, however, did not seem convinced, so he suggested, "Then, take me to them. We can fight together, can we not?". The figure seemed to have expected Lin to act this way, so he said, "No, their battle is not one even I can interfere in. They have a task for you."
"What might that be?" the boy asked with a straight face. "Survive and end this cruel war". The figure said and patted Lin on the head. "Time to go, come on". It grabbed Lin and disappeared once more.
As it moved with Lin a bright red light suddenly filled the sky. The entire atmosphere was filled with the smell of blood. It was so horrid that Lin began to suffocate. "Lin! Lin! Wake up!"
Lin woke up panting heavily. He was still a boy. He looked around and began sobbing suddenly. He was on a mat and in a small room like a cell. He began to cry when a soothing voice called to him, "Lin, you have to wake up".
"It's that voice again. The one I heard last time". It was the same voice he had heard in the canyon of Drak. The voice called out again, "Lin, wake. WAKE UP!".
"Mother??" he yelled.
Repairs on Zygoptera were complete, and she was back on track dashing through space at great speed, though she was not as fast as before. On the deck, the cocoon-looking block of ice sat in a reinforced transparent chamber as all on board examined it, trying to come up with ideas about what it was.
"Captain, what is that?" Xelen curiously asked. The captain shook his head in response. "I haven't the faintest clue. Something of this size and shape is bound to contain something, but, for some reason, I can't determine what's inside."
The captain barely finished talking when the cocoon began to develop cracks which quickly spread all around it. It exploded into a foggy mist that filled the chamber, making it look white. Everyone jumped back and went on the defensive.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone