Max Baker: Guardian of the Ninth Sector (18 page)

“Mr. Reese, will you please accompany Miss Kennedy and Mr. Allman to the observation deck.  You will find that the Elders have already gathered there.”

“We can’t go with Max?” Kennedy asked.  Max turned toward her and looked deeply into her eyes.  He could see fear resonating from within them.  She smiled softly at him, but she did not reflect the same sort of confidence that Donovan had.

“The three of you can observe Mr. Baker,” Melotta said, addressing the group, “but unfortunately you cannot accompany him to the arena.  Again Max, I am very sorry, but we must go now.”

“You’ll be fine,” Kennedy said, “I’m sure of it.”  She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed tightly.  Max focused on her thoughts and her voice flooded his brain,
Please be okay.  I’m so sorry for not talking to you for so long.  Please be okay.

“I’ll be fine,” Max said and pulled away from her.

“Make it look easy,” Noah said with a smile.  “Whip some death demon booty!”  Afraid that Noah was still thinking about his mother, Max passed on the opportunity to see Noah’s true thoughts.

Max nervously smiled toward the group, turned and followed Melotta out of the door. 

Max walked silently alongside Melotta, forcing himself to move one foot in front of the other.  They walked down a winding hallway until they reached an intersecting one.  Melotta led him left down the corridor.  After a few more feet, they turned down another hallway.  And then another, and another. 

The further they walked, the more he felt that her pace was quickening.  His nerves were getting the best of him.  Max found that with each step that he took, he had to concentrate on making sure she could not hear his knees knocking together.  With each step, the knot in his stomach tightened more and more. Beads of sweat rolled down his temples.  He felt very parched and wished he had asked for a glass of water before joining her.

“There’s not a vending machine on the way, is there?” Max asked.

“I am afraid not,” she answered. 

As they turned down yet another long hallway, Max couldn’t help but notice Melotta’s beauty.  Every light they walked under reflected brightly off of her silver skin.  Max noticed how smooth her skin was; it did not possess a single blemish or wrinkle that he could see.  Her eyes looked young and sprightful.  Max began to doubt the information Donovan had given him regarding her age.  She was far too beautiful to be as old as Donovan had claimed.

“It is true,” Melotta said, breaking the silence.

“What is?” Max asked.

“That I am 120 years old,” Melotta said.  Max could feel his cheeks turning red.  “I am sorry to have read your mind without asking.  I have embarrassed you.”

“So I guess a date is out of the question then,” Max joked.  “It would take the May-December relationship paradigm to a whole new level.”  Humor was the only way he knew how to back himself out of awkward situations like this one.  His cheeks grew hot with embarrassment.

“You know, years on my planet are much shorter than yours,” she said casually.

“How old are you in Earth years then?”

“Assuming my math is correct,” Melotta said, pausing for a moment at another intersection, “I would be the age of 19 years on your planet.  So perhaps a date would not necessarily be out of the question.”  She winked at him and turned right down the hallway.  Max gulped.  He didn’t know what made him more nervous, his date with the death demon or the future prospect of a date with a real girl.

“I am very excited to see you in action,” Melotta said.

“Well, hopefully I won’t disappoint you by dying horribly,” Max said.

“If you are who Donovan believes that you are, I don’t think that it is a possibility to disappoint,” Melotta said.

“And if I’m not who Donovan thinks that I am?” Max asked.

“Then I will hope that the death demon has not eaten in a long time and gobbles you up very quickly,” she said.

Max froze in his steps; his heart had jumped into his throat.  Melotta stopped and turned toward him.

“I am only kidding,” Melotta said.  She turned back down the hall. 

“That’s not funny,” Max called after her.  “In fact, that is the exact opposite of funny.” 

His anxiety kicked into a full blown panic attack as they rounded another corner.  He could see the hallway dead-end into a large wooden doorway.  His imminent fear of death was only coupled by the awkwardness he still felt about Melotta eavesdropping on him while he had been thinking that she was a knockout.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her grin widely.

“You’re still listening to my thoughts, aren’t you?” Max grumbled.

“Absolutely not,” Melotta said. Her grin grew into a full blown smile. “But if I were, I would want to thank you for the knockout comment.”

“We really need to talk about setting some boundaries,” Max said, understanding Noah’s freak out from earlier.

The two approached the gigantic wooden door.  Above the door hung a wooden sign; the words carved into it read:

AUT VINCERE AUT MORI

“Either conquer or die,” Max read aloud.  He took a deep breath, noticing how strained his heart had become from beating as fast as it had for such an extended period of time.  “Well that’s pretty straight to the point, isn’t it?”

“You speak Latin,” Melotta said.  “That is very impressive.”

“Any chance it will help me against the death demon?” Max asked.

“That is very doubtful,” Melotta said.

“Then I’ll just have to beat him with my good looks and charming wit,” Max said and chuckled nervously.  He felt like retching and bent over, placing his hands on his knees.

“If I may offer one piece of advice,” Melotta said.

“What’s that?” Max asked?

“Do not be afraid of what might or might not be,” Melotta said poetically. She placed her hands on his shoulders and guided him back to an upright position.  “Instead, only believe in what is and what is not.”  She bent toward him and planted a soft kiss right on his lips.

In that moment, Max felt all of his fears wash away.  He had no idea what she meant, but he didn’t care.  He closed his eyes and returned the kiss.  Max felt his knees grow even weaker.  He felt his heart sprinting along in his chest.  He felt the electrical current in his body radiating through his skin.  He felt fireworks.  And as he felt her pull away, he opened his eyes to see her walking back along the hallway.

“So we’re on for that date then?” Max called after her.

“Win first,” she said over her shoulder, “then we will talk.”

Max no longer felt scared.  He no longer felt weak or insecure.  He felt strong.  He was ready to take on the world.  He felt headstrong.  Max took a deep breath and entered through the door.

* * *

Max was temporarily blinded by the bright lights shining down to the arena floor.  As he regained his vision, he found himself standing on a grassy stretch of land similar to a football field; however, the grass was unkempt and grew long.  There were no yardage markers or men in black and white striped shirts on the field; instead, tall rocks were scattered throughout.  There wasn’t a coaching staff on the sidelines or a group of cheerleaders encouraging him; instead, a row of razor sharp metal spikes encircled the field. 

Outside of the pointy wall of death, the field was surrounded by Plexiglas or some similar looking material.  It extended far up into the sky, arching at the top and forming a dome around them.  To his right, high above the field, Max could see the Council of Twelve look down at him from an elevated platform; they were accompanied by Donovan, Kennedy and Noah.  Noah gave Max an excited thumbs-up. 

Directly across the field was the entrance to a massive cave; a large steel gate sat closed within its mouth.  It was close to 500 yards away, but Max could see eyes staring back at him through the steel. The two red circles swayed back and forth in the darkness, and Max knew that the creature was pacing behind the bars.  It was already stalking its prey.

“Unleash the death demon,” a voice boomed throughout the dome.

Slowly the gate began to rise.

The effects of Melotta’s kiss had worn off, and Max could feel his heart begin to quicken its beat within his chest.   

From the darkness, behind the slowly rising gate, a roar erupted.  It was so loud that it shook the dome around the arena.  Max felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

Max looked again toward the onlookers to find that Melotta had joined the group.  She looked down toward him and blew a kiss.  He couldn’t help but smile coyly.  Max watched as Kennedy shot Melotta a look that he couldn’t quite place.  It almost looked to be one of jealousy, but Max was sure that couldn’t be it.  What would she be jealous about? 

It was a fleeting thought that was erased as the beast howled again from its lair.  Max looked down to see his fingertips were beginning to turn a bright shade of blue.

Before the gate had opened halfway, a gigantic arm reached out from underneath it.  The arm was as wide as the leg of an elephant, and attached was a hand that looked like the paw of an overgrown jungle cat.  Instead of fur, it was covered in its entirety by large onyx scales, and its claws looked as razor sharp as the steel spikes that surrounded the arena.  The bright lights that shone down from the top of the dome reflected off of the claws, making them look even more daunting.

“Well this isn’t good,” Max said aloud.  He took a step back toward the door behind him.  

The gate finally disappeared into the rocky cliff above, and for a moment there was nothing.  No movement.  No sound.  Max could no longer see the pupils of the creature, and he wondered if it had grown bored with how slow the gate had opened and decided to take a nap.  He wondered if stealthily attacking a sleeping demon was sufficient for the Council’s approval.

As Max mustered enough courage to move a step forward, another roar erupted from the darkness, shattering Max’s hopes of a ninja-like victory.  This one was much louder than the other, and Max covered his ears until it was over.  Fear ran rampant through him, and he wanted to turn and exit from the arena.  “Guardian of the Ninth Sector” sounded overrated anyways.

Slowly one foot of the beast emerged from the hole, and then another.  There was a long pause as only the front legs of the beast were exposed.  Slowly and methodically they began to lean backwards as if the creature were lying down.  And just as Max began to take a breath of relief, the beast pounced from the cavern, finally revealing its full magnitude.

It stood on all fours and stretched well over 15 feet tall from the bottom of its feet to the crown of its head.  Its body was massive, and Max could only estimate that it weighed twice as much as an elephant.  Its entire body was covered in the same black scales, reminding Max of some sort of armored tank.  The creature had an elongated neck that connected to the most gruesome sight that Max had ever seen.  Its face looked similar to that of the scout demon they had seen in the library, only it was severely deformed and disfigured.  The death demon had large crimson eyes that were deeply sunken in.  The area where its snout should have been was flat and scarred as if it had been severed off; smoke expelled from its nostrils.  Its mouth was as wide as its entire face, and as it began to walk toward Max, it bared its jagged teeth at him. 

“This is bad,” Max said.

The creature took a few steps toward Max, who stood frozen, pressed against the door behind him.  It reared itself onto its back haunches and howled again, causing the entire domed arena to shake violently.  Drool dropped freely from the creature’s mouth as a slender black tongue emerged to lick its lips.  It dropped back down to all fours, causing the ground to tremble.

Terror had flooded into Max’s psyche and left him frozen against the door.  Max told himself that he had to get to safety, but as hard as he tried, he couldn’t move a muscle.  Max commanded himself to run, but he had lost all feeling in his legs and arms.  In fact, Max couldn’t feel his heart anymore.  He couldn’t feel anything.  Fear had paralyzed his entire body.

The creature began to gallop in Max’s direction.  The distance between them decreased rapidly. 

It was a hundred yards away.

You have to move, Max.

Fifty yards.

Move now, Max!

Twenty-five yards.

Max, you’re going to die!
he heard somewhere in the back of his brain.  But even that wasn’t enough to break the paralysis.

As the creature grew nearer, it lowered its head until its eyes were level with Max’s.  Its pointed chin dragged the ground.  It had gotten so close that Max could smell the foul odor coming off it.  The creature smelled like garbage day in Miami.  Max might have vomited, if he had more time. 

He could see the smoke rocketing out of the creature’s face.  The creature widened its grin, exposing razor sharp teeth.