Star Rebellion (18 page)

“Darkstar,” I whispered into my headset and I saw his eyes flicker toward me. “Make the room pitch black for ten seconds, I have a plan.”

Lucifer reached out once again to grab Dark, but the lights went out before he came anywhere near, but this time they stayed out. There was a faint glow emanating from Lucifer that looked like heat radiation. I wondered why he hadn’t used his magic yet; Lucifer had said he would. I quietly crept around him until we were face to face. He was standing still and looking around himself, trying to find the others by sound. Waterstar had become completely neglected, nothing more than a nuisance.

“Boo,” I whispered before allowing my magic to burst from my hands and into his chest. I molded the fire to keep Waterstar safe on his back.

As my power started to ebb, I released the fire. The lights were back on and an odd sound was ringing throughout the room. It almost sounded like a banshee, except it was much deeper.

Lucifer was laughing and clutching his sides, as if this was the most merriment he had experienced in years. “You think you can beat fire with fire? Especially with that pitiful excuse that you say is a flame? Or maybe you forgot that I am the King of Fire. What you just did was nothing more than a
tickle
to me!” He chuckled again before continuing and pretended to wipe a tear from his eyes. “I was just toying with you weaklings, but now I am getting bored. I’d say my final good-byes if I were you.”

Lucifer reached behind himself and grabbed Waterstar by her hair. I saw her eyes widen as she realized what he was going to do. He pulled her off of him, hands still tangled in her hair and Water gasped in pain, but didn’t scream. She would be strong until death. Lucifer swung her around and threw Waterstar at the wall where her shoulder made a cracking sound as it collided with the rock. Water slid down the surface and hit the ground with a small thud that echoed through the silent chasm. She didn’t move after that.

“Icestar, anytime now would be excellent,” Foreststar muttered into the headset.

“Try not to get screwed over for a couple more minutes, I’m almost done.” Ice’s voice was strained and it took me a moment to realize how much of his special he was using. He kept refreezing the trickles of water that were spilling from his circle of ice; the heat of the Underworld wasn’t in our favor.

“Firestar, let’s do plain inferno,” Dark said from my other side. I looked at him like he was mental.

“But fire doesn’t-“

“I don’t care, just trust me. Forest, as soon as the flames die, trap Lucifer with some vines.” Foreststar nodded his agreement. He didn’t know what plan inferno meant, but at this point there wasn't really time for arguments.

I gave Dark another odd glance before kneeling to the floor with both hands pressed against the stone. I started muttering a highly complex incantation that the Fire Master had taught me when I had turned thirteen. If I did the spell properly, I’d be unconscious for weeks. For now, I’d have to rely on Forest and Dark to keep me safe.

WATERSTAR

“Crap! Crap! Crap! CRAP!” I was banging my fists against the wall of this stupid camber that I was stuck in. If they did plan inferno, Fire would be screwed! That spell could
kill
him!

I sat down in the middle of the room; I needed to clear my thoughts just like Arctic had taught me. If I could get Vlad here, we might have a chance. He was our only hope, traitor or not. Fire may say he was evil, but I was going to chance it. Let’s just hope I suddenly developed a telepathic ability.

DARKSTAR

I took another hit to my stomach. Protecting Firestar while he casted the spell was a lot harder than I had thought. This guy could hit like nothing you would believe.

Another punch came flying at my head except this time I managed to duck before head butting him in return. “Forest!” I shouted as Lucifer was had to take a step back due to my step.

Thin vines started crawling out of the ground. They attached themselves onto Lucifer’s legs while thicker vines followed.

When he was fully anchored to the ground, I tilted his head so that he was looking me in the eye. I ignored the snarl that he cast at me.

“Lucifer, you will not reach for your fire power, nor any other power.” If he burned Forest’s vines again, we’d be in trouble.

I watched as his eyes glazed over and his shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Good, now you will stay standing here, you won’t move an inch, not even when fire surrounds you, got it?” After he nodded his head I backed away. I could already see flames licking around the ground. I could feel the god-like man fighting against my power though, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep my hold on him. I was fairly surprised that it had even worked this much.

Once I had left the immediate area around our foe, the flames started to grow rapidly. At ten feet tall, they curved in to form a dome over Lucifer’s head. “We’re ready when you are, Ice,” I said while looking at the mechanic

A mischievous smile spread across his lips as he held up a silver ball thing. “Get all the Animals in a corner; I’ll put an ice barrier around them, but we’re going to have to stay out here. I think our presence agitates them.” Forest and I nodded our confirmation before cornering the Mystic Animals. It helped that they were still all hiding behind the massive dragon. Ice handed me the bomb before creating the protective barrier around them.

“Alrighty then, if you could just toss that into the fire, we’d be all set. The explosion will make us pass out though.” I had already thrown the bomb by the time Ice had said the last part.

I barely managed to look at Ice in astonishment before my vision was blinded by a pure white light.

VLADIMIR

I was pacing around my room, worrying about Waterstar. She was the first person I had contact with from the outside world, and one of the only people who had ever shown sympathy for me. It was kind of hard for a guy to forget something like that, or ignore it. An area in my peripheral vision darkened and Kuro appeared. I ran over to my cat and started questioning her. “Is Waterstar okay? Is she alive? Have they reached Lucifer yet? What happened with Cerberus?”

“Vlad, calm down,” Kuro kept staring at me until I took a deep breath. “Waterstar is alive, but unconscious.” She glared at me when I was about to interrupt. “They’re fighting Lucifer as we speak. Vladimir, it is time to kill your father.”

Chapter 11: Fight Hellfire With Hellfire

VLADIMIR

I tightened my grip on Kuro’s collar as I felt the tug of the portal. I fell to my knees as we landed in the Mystic Animals’ room.

“I never did enjoy that way of transportation,” I muttered while trying my hardest not to vomit.

As I finally managed to get to my feet, I was impressed with the destruction that Star Rebellion was able to wreck. There were little flames dying everywhere, and scorch marks silhouetting the walls. Charred plants covered the floor and there was a large puddle in one corner. I sprinted toward it, hoping that Waterstar would be near.

When I reached it, I realized that the magic that formed the water was not hers, but she was lying to the edge of the water. Along with her, there were the four guys that had been in my room earlier, though I only remembered Darkstar’s name. All five of them were unconscious, and I noticed that the other girl was missing.

After making sure they were all mostly fine, I went to where Kuro was in the center of the room, standing a bit away from my father. “They were able to knock him out?” I asked, truly amazed.

“No, he’s conscious, but paralyzed. Vladimir, your father wants to speak to you.”

I nodded my head and knelt next to him. It was obvious that he had taken quite a beating, almost as bad as when he had Fallen. Lucifer took my hand in his and a pained expression filled his features as he tried to turn and look at me.

“Vladimir, my son, my heir. I need you to kill them. All five of them. It was good of you to have Kuro lead them here, but I thought that they would be weaker. It seems like we were both mistaken. They have inherited the powers of Calsh quite well, these humans. We cannot afford such a risk. Kill them, Vladimir, and then organize the demons. They will listen to you. Organize the demons, and then go to both surface worlds. Humans will remember never to question my reign after this day. They will never try to steal from me again.”

I sat there for a while, thinking over what he just said. Of course I wasn’t going to consent to it. After meeting Waterstar, I had a change of heart, if I even possessed one. It was time that I joined my mother’s people, and left the darkness of Hell.

“No.” The word was barely a whisper, but it seemed to echo throughout the entire chamber.

“What?” my father rasped out.

“I won’t. I will not damn the humans.”

Lucifer started laughing maniacally, blood dribbling down his lips. “I should’ve known you would’ve been too weak. It’s that damned human’s blood in you. Fine, be that way. The humans will die either way. I will not let them continue to prosper. Vladimir, my son, I disown you and take away all your rights as my heir. From this moment onward, there is no one to take my place in the Underworld.”

I felt something shiver down my spine, but I didn’t pay any attention to it right then, though I knew what happened. I walked back over to Kuro and asked, “If we leave him here in this state, will he live?”

“More than likely.”

“How do I kill him then?”

“Vladimir, are you sure about this? Those who kill angels-”

“I know Kuro. Those who kill the ones who once resided in the Divine won’t go either to the Divine or Hell. They remain in eternal darkness alone forever after death. How do I kill him?”

Kuro nodded her head once. “Your Hellfire will work well enough.”

I consented and returned to my father. He was still laughing like a lunatic, and the blood loss from his lungs still didn’t seem to be affecting him in any way. “Kill me and humans die, let me live and they die,” he kept repeating this phrase as he watched me stand over him.

“At least I’ll be taking out the vilest thing in this existence for the next population.” I pressed my hands against his chest and released almost all of my energy into him, leaving just enough to stay conscious and get the rebels out of here.

Lucifer died laughing, but as his breath ceased, he started crumbling to ash, starting with his fanged teeth, ending with his dead heart.

Chapter 12: The Surface

EARTH

A tv was on in the background as a mother, Kate, closed the door to a cupboard. She had just finished emptying the dishwasher after putting her son to bed. He was eighteen months, and she was delighted that he had actually fallen asleep quickly this time.

Kate collapsed on her sofa and flipped to the news channel. It was just after eleven, so the broadcast should have already gotten to some of Kate’s opinion, and wasn’t the regular newscaster for this time. Kate furrowed her brows as she watched the ending of the report on an outbreak of salmonella.

“Next, we have a feature on strange happenings going on throughout the world,” the woman began the next report. “Apparently, major first world countries across the planet are saying that there is a high chance of demons invading. You heard that,
demons.
Two years ago, the president had said that the people of Calsh would be doing a mission sometime in the future to help the pollution on their planet, and he had accidentally revealed that demons may surface from it. No one took it seriously then, and it doesn’t seem much different now. We want your opinion though, so go onto our Facebook or Twitter and just send a little message if you think these demons are really coming.”

The newscaster ended with a quirk of her eyebrow and Kate rolled her eyes. As if demons were real, they were just a bedtime story to scare little kids. Recently, it had probably only been to get publicity for D.C after all the mistakes they had been making with health care. Some things just never changed.

Kate was turning the tv off as a pound echoed on the front door. Her breath came in gasps and she edged toward the staircase, thinking of her son tucked into bed upstairs. Hopefully this wasn’t James, her ex-husband. The divorce had been bad, and it didn’t seem like he would ever get over it.

As Kate got closer to the staircase, she passed where one of the home phone receivers were. She picked up, prepared to call 911 just in case.

Another pound on the door and Kate started to dial the emergency number. The wood flew from the doorframe and a hulking figure was silhouetted by the moonlight. That wasn’t James, she instantly knew. He wasn’t that tall.

Something lumbered through the doorway and Kate caught a glimpse of red eyes. She screamed in panic, and soon the wails of her son echoed her.

ARCTIC

Arctic still sat at the head of the table in the conference room, reviewing some papers that the architects had brought him. All of the leaders had left except for Vatican, who was still writing on his notepad.

After a few more minutes, Vatican finally stood and approached Arctic. “Commander Arctic, I had not planned on doing this until later, but certain circumstances have made it important for this to happen sooner. I request to stay here on Calsh to help with what is going to happen. I believe I will be an important player in what is coming, and though I can’t tell you everything right now, I ask for your trust in the matter.”