Star Rebellion (10 page)

              “Really, really? You choose now to be an ass?” Girls could just be so thick-skulled at times. How was I supposed to know the
exact
timing of these things?

              “Excuse me? I most certainly am not being an ass. I am merely pointing out what we all are thinking. This is
your fault.”

             
Before I could interject with a witty comeback, Icestar intervened. “Cut it. Neither can change the present. Sun, how sure of the severity with this storm are you?”

              “I am nothing less than positive about it. Why would I be unsure. I am the expert here after all.”

              When Forest, Ice, and I were all silent after her speech, Sun asked, “What? My field is Calsh’s environment and how it compares to Earth’s. Obviously none of you know anything about it.”

              “I would disagree, seeing as I’m the only one here who has physically been to Earth.” Forest’s voice was calm over the headset, but didn’t sound too thrilled to be in this car right now.

              Ice gave us another warning before the bickering continued. I’m sure if it were possible, Sunstar would be glaring as viciously as a small female could at both Forest and me.

              “Ice?” I said again.

              “What!” Ice shouted in exasperation.

              “You didn’t add a roof to Cerberus by chance, did you?”

              “Uh...no, why?”

              “Well, according to my powers of future, we're about to get swamped, and I really don’t wanna turn into an acid-cicle.”

              I felt the car-thingy speed up as Ice pressed the gas and started muttering to himself. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

              “Sunstar was lecturing us and I didn’t want to interrupt.” I shrugged as much as possible while lying down. I think Ice would’ve glared at me too, if he could’ve turned around. It wasn't like there was much else we could do sitting out here in the middle of no where even if I had spoken sooner. There was no coverage in landscape on Calsh, and scouts had to take their own covers in case of rain. We, however, didn't because of the quick get-a-way. Maybe a plan would've been better than the not-plan plan.

              “Fire, do you know how much time we have until the storm hits?” Forest called out from the back; his voice was tight with worry.

              “Uhh, maybe two minutes? My visions are like girls; they have mood swings never say what they mean.”

              Cerberus sped up some more and I felt it give a slight jerk as it hit max speed. Even with the sound from the wind I could hear the engine whining. I don't think that's a preferable sound coming from anything.

              “Maybe two minutes until we get there,” Ice’s voice held some hesitation though. “But it you have an extra hoodie or something I’d put it over any bare skin….”

              “What?!” We all shouted as we tried sitting up; which of course was a stupid idea. I had caught a glimpse of a sheet of silver right in front of us before the wind slammed me back in my seat.

              I slipped my hoodie off and covered my face and hands under it. Let's go, broski.

              “Three, two, one,” Ice muttered and then we felt the drops hammering on us. As a few leaked through the fabric of my clothes I felt a stinging pain. I heard Sunstar exclaim in pain as it hit her.

              ARCTIC

              “Bring Firestar to my office,” Arctic told a newly graduated messenger. During dinner, Arctic had considered Fire’s situation and had decided on a compromise. He would send a rescue crew of fifteen people, if Fire stayed at the Rebellion. He would hope that they could reach Water and Dark before those two reached the Shadowlands. Arctic had learned some disturbing facts about the place between the living world and hell. There were, of course, motives behind keeping Fire here, one of which was to keep him from going to the Underworld Gates with Waterstar and Darkstar, though it wouldn’t be a disaster if he did. Arctic just needed to try and separate the dream team, but again, even if that didn’t happen he could still move on with other plans.

              Arctic folded his fingers into a tent on the table as a knock echoed from the door. “Come in,” he said, immediately putting a languid emotion into his voice.

              The messenger stepped through the opened door, alone. “Sir,” the man barked while saluting. “I searched Fire’s room but couldn’t find him. He left his headset on the table. I questioned people on the way back and found out that Foreststar the ambassador, Sunstar the environmentalist, and Icestar the mechanic are also missing.”

              “What!” Arctic’s voice boomed as he stood and slammed his open-palmed hand on the table.

              The messenger saluted again before asking, “Sir, should we send a retrieval squad after them, sir?”

              Arctic took a second to breathe. “No. If he manages to catch up with his comrades, then there isn’t a way you could bring them back without serious injuries. Send out a notice with Fores- who was Foreststar training?” Arctic rubbed his temples as he remembered that his ambassador was also missing. Why,
why
had Fire taken him along?

              “Snowstar, sir.”

              “Okay, send Snowstar to Earth to collect only the highest world leaders. Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Beijing and Vatican.”

              “Yes, sir!” The messenger saluted a final time before leaving.

              Arctic slid a notepad in front of him and pulled out a green inked pen.

Thursday

              Firestar has left to go after his comrades, Waterstar and Darkstar, who had disobeyed orders and traveled to the Underworld without permission. While they had been breaking into the NOPCW headquarters, the architect team of Storm, Sand, and Windstar were able to finish translating a manuscript that dated back over five-thousand years, from the Levan people that were here before people started transferring from Earth in 2030, their time. In this manuscript, it spoke of people who had powers bestowed upon them, people who had not been born with powers, such as those we carry in the Rebellion. I have my suspicions that Firestar may have not inherited his power, but have gotten it from his year living in the Barrens. If that is so, then we must retrieve more of the manuscript quickly, for it was not completed of what Sandstar had brought me. Apparently, people who have these powers bestowed upon them lack the control of using them if not trained by the giver. I believe that is why Firestar has lost control of fire, and his visions have never been under his command. I do not know what destruction may come from this venture of his.

              While Water and Darkstar were traveling through the tunnels to the Underworld, I sat here planning on what to do with Firestar, since he still at least remained here. I decided that I would send a retrieval squad to go after Water and Darkstar and return them here, then go into more training with Firestar to see if this manuscript held any truth, but that plan has failed now. I have called an emergency meeting with the Earth world leaders because if anything goes wrong down in the Underworld, the once almost impossible chance of demons invading both Calsh and Earth has become increasingly more possible. If they defeat Lucifer, then there will be no one left to control the demons, unless he has some unknown heir. If Lucifer defeats them, then he will be enraged that there are people trying to steal his pets, and will retaliate against all humans, no matter what world they are on.

              Earlier, I had thought that it would be possible to execute this mission without being discovered by anyone in the Underworld, but the architect team had pulled up a new manuscript that showed that I was disastrously mistaken. In a realm called the Shadowlands, which are between the Underworld Gates and the world of the living, there are sentries everywhere, most commonly in the form of rotting skeletons. One of the epics from the Levan stated that one of their heroes had tried to make the journey into the Underworld to defeat it’s King and save his village from the plagues that he was sending, but after battling the sentries and training to get past the Guardian of the Gates, he had to return home without any success, it had been too much.

              I fear that unless they have any professional help, then they will not be able to make it even to the Gates, much less to Lucifer himself. The six members that traveled down there are some of the finest in Star Rebellion: Firestar, Darkstar, Waterstar, Foreststar, Sunstar, and Icestar.

              Someone is knocking at the door; it must be the Earth leaders.

              Arctic stood and walked to the door and opened it. Snowstar entered first, leading the members to their respective seats. She had learned well from Foreststar.

              Arctic greeted them each individually as they all stayed standing, and when he got to Vatican, he noticed something different.

              “Has the old pope been replaced?” Arctic asked the new man respectfully.

              “Yes, it was quite a sudden incident, but he died of a heart attack, regretfully. I am his successor, from Greece.”

              “Pleasure to meet you.” We shook hands and the man sat down. He was the youngest person Arctic had ever seen at a leader meeting, being maybe in his twenties. His obsidian-like hair seemed to almost glow in the florescent lighting.

              “Arctic, what is the meaning of this? I thought you said that you wouldn’t call us unless something upsetting happened; please tell me that this isn’t to bear some more ill news?” Washington interrupted Arctic’s thoughts as he took his seat.

              Arctic waited until everyone was seated before he replied. “I’m afraid that it is upsetting news, though not definite in itself. Some old manuscripts from the native people of Calsh were finally translated recently, and they were of legends about the Underworld. Now, most of our facts have come from these since there is no way to find it anywhere else; there certainly isn’t a library that we can just go and check out a book about everything we need to know. A lot of it is guesswork and analyzing, trying to figure out what parts may be fact, and which are fiction.

              “The writings, more or less, says that in a final battle between fire and fire, and the destruction that comes afterwards is most unfortunate. Unless the Lord of the Underworld has an heir, the demons will be able to roam freely on the world.” Arctic did not feel the need to mention about his theories on Firestar. “The battle of fire against fire is a battle that will likely happen soon between the members of Star Rebellion who are on their way, and the Lord of the Underworld, Lucifer.”

              The world leaders started muttering to their neighbors, and even the new Vatican looked pale at the aspect of what that could mean. “Then why don’t you send some others to get them out of there!” Berlin finally asked in place of everyone else; at this point she was used to taking charge after all of the issues that had happened on Earth in her predecessor’s time.

              “It isn’t that simple; as I mentioned in our first meeting a few years ago, it’s a very complex thing to reach the Underworld Gates. This team has been training for over two years, and we’ve discovered other things that might stop them in their tracks that we weren’t expecting. There’s a go between point between us and the Underworld called the Shadowlands. There are sentries all across this area that are deadly enough to fight just by themselves, but they also warn Lucifer that there are people in his realm. We had originally been hoping for them to sneak under his nose, get the Animals, and disappear, but that is no longer possible.

              “We will send a retrieval team to try and get them, but if the members have already gotten to the Shadowlands, we will not be able to do so.”

              “Wait a second, besides the fact that you may lose six members in this battle against Lucifer, can you remind me why it will be bad for us?” Beijing asked after having a whispered conversation with Tokyo, who was on his left.

              Arctic stood up and walked over to a file cabinet in the back of the room. After rummaging around for a little bit, he found the papers that he had been looking for.

              “Snowstar,” he said to the white haired girl who had stayed by the door as was normal of ambassadors during meetings. She walked forward to Arctic. “Please make seven copies of this.”

              Snowstar nodded her head once and disappeared out of the door.

              “The papers that I have asked her to copy are reports on all known demons. If my team does engage in a fight with him, then demons will stream to both Calsh and Earth. I take it that you assumed these demons would only plague Calsh. That is why this will be bad for you.”

              “But what if they defeat Lucifer?” Washington asked, a slight panic creeping into his voice.

              “Even then, the demons will come. If Lucifer is defeated, then there will be no one to control the demons in his place. If he defeats them, then he will take out his anger and all humans, without care of who was and wasn’t involved.”

              Paris rubbed his face with his hands. “I knew we shouldn’t have consented to this two years ago. I just knew it! I mean, even Vatican isn’t spewing on that with God’s will we can all survive!”