The Time Stone (28 page)

Mark’s eyes widened and his hands
clasped before him with joyfulness to that end he could maintain
himself. “I can’t control my form any longer. I must join my
people.” He yells and transforms himself to his natural form where
his brown dark furry wings and snout appear tall form, and hooves,
feet, wings, and hands.

“
How do you do that so
well?” Said Liz.

“
I have been here a very
long time.” He flew off towards the other beasts. And the four of
them recognized one another for a brief moment and stopped their
assaults and danced around in a circle.

Drax stood still as he saw them and
how they interacted apart from their attacks on humans, they were
peaceful together if not for a brief instant. He thought if only
the world could act like that. Then he saw Broad and Elizabeth
nearby and the mystifying object in their hands. Broad moved closer
with Elizabeth behind him wearing the body armor like him and
holding an arm canon. She fired it up into the air towards the
beasts, a heavy white fireball projectile emerged and split the air
in half as it hurled up burning the hot flesh of whatever form it
came in contact with. With a stern look she fired again and again.
And as they approached the circle of beasts, the vortex came closer
tethered to the object by the stream of light and the air around it
roaring brightly. The sinister duo smirked wildly as they
approached the creatures above oblivious to their approach. Drax
saw this, something snapped in him, and he felt sorry for the
beasts that were being targeted. As they were being burned by the
weapons blasts coming from Broad and Liz below and seemed helpless
in their attempts to defend themselves against such advanced
technology, he realized he had to act to help them. He saw how they
could live in peace like people and possessed some form of
intelligence. He knew he had to stop Broad and Elizabeth as he saw
them firing up at the beasts who in turn hurled around in a maze of
confusion before figuring out how to retaliate. He then ran to
them. Roy and Marina ran with him as well. The movements at the
time seemed slow to Drax as he ran to Broad as he was holding the
object and Broad approached further causing the vortex to spin
closer. Satyr noticed the vortex approaching and spun out of the
circle and flew out of its range as he roared so loud the air shook
and the structures that remained trembled high up. The vortex
subsumed the three beasts that did not make it in time as they fell
within its range once it came close enough. Drax ran to Broad and
jumped up tackling him to the ground causing him to drop the
object. Elizabeth backed up in shock as the two men wrestled on the
ground. She saw the object land on the ground a few feet away and
reached for the object but Roy ran over and grabbed it first. Liz
then angrily tried to kick him. Roy moved and Liz tried to hit him
numerous times with her fists and feet. As Roy dodged each blow
tiresomely, he fell back and was about to be stomped by her high
heel.

Marina ran over and punched Liz in the
jaw knocking her back, “you leave my brother alone.”

Drax and Broad wrestled on the ground
back and forth “you fool, Milton. I trusted you.”

“
I trusted you too, old
mentor.” Said Drax as he gained the upper hand and rested atop his
foe swinging his arm back and looking at the glaring regret and
eagerness in Broad’s eye as he punched Broad in the face rendering
him unconscious, the vortex faded after consuming the three beasts
transforming them into balls of light and sucking them into it, the
portal fading as the beam of light tethering it retracted into the
object.

Satyr flapped his wings in the
distance having observed the entire event and flew off, “there will
be another time.” He flapped off flying into the distance of the
cloudy sky above the disaster prone city.

Drax looked up at the fading lights
and sighed. He reached for the object and looked back at Roy and
Marina nodding in gratitude at them for their participation but he
then looked down in sudden relief. His head sunk then as he looked
at the sky as the beasts were gone. He succeeded at defeating his
oldest friend and mentor turned foe with the help of some new
friends but even in having Broad defeated he helped him having
succeeded. He wanted a quest and in having his dream fulfilled he
lost a lot. He wished that things were different but he knew
destiny sometimes has in store for each of us what we can hardly
even imagine.

In the nearby docks, a tall yacht
designated the Crimson Tide sailed out, as evidenced by the name on
its hull, and rode the waves. Aboard were Broad and Elizabeth
sipping champagne wearing classical sailing clothes and sharing a
platter of shrimp cocktails as men in captain’s uniforms and white
suits serve them. There was a tall screen on the main mast arching
downward and the same shadow figure silhouette as before, speaking
in a crinkled tone.

“
The last time is yet to
come.” The voice echoed from the screen.

“
We suspected as much”
said Broad.

“
You have passed the
ultimate test, Broad Staffnight, and we anticipate you will enjoy
the next task very much. It is the strongest pursuit and the
greatest challenge.”

CHAPTER 63

Milton Drax walked along the darkness
into an empty room. He tried to go back to the castle alter with
Roy and Marina to bring the object to the altar as he figured it
fit the insert on the altar being pentagonal shaped. But the altar
was not accessible as the corridors to the castle they discovered
secretly were covered with rock and debris from the attack, this
secret powerful treasure was now buried, lost to the eons of time.
He left the object with Roy and Marina and headed to an anonymous
location in the middle of the desert miles from any towns, in a
single structure in the middle of nowhere. The door closed behind
him. He shuttered as he looked behind him and walked forward again
in the dark room, a pale blue light in the center. He walked
towards the blue light and a voice was heard in the
distance.

“
Did you come alone?” Said
the voice.

“
Yes, I got your phone
call and I am here.” Said Drax. “What is this about?”

“
Did you bring the
object?” Asked the voice.

“
No, I didn’t… It’s safe.”
Said Drax.

“
It is not your property.
You’re an officer of the court and owe a duty to return stolen
property to its rightful owner.” The dark voice emanated more
harshly.

“
I would… if I knew who
that was.” Drax said.

“…
.” The voice was
silent.

“
Open the door now”
screamed Drax.

“
You will remain here. We
need the object,” said the voice.

“
We?” Asked Drax
curiously.

“
The destinies of many are
overwhelmingly overcome with the thoughts of the one. We have a new
mission for you to find the object’s purpose. You must travel to
the State of Florida where once Spanish explorers searched for the
fountain of youth, you will find the object’s true purpose there.
It is life altering.” The voice echoed.

“
I guess I have no
choice
” Drax stood tight fisted before the
blue light where the voices came. He sighed a heavy breath.
“
Here we go.
” His
thoughts melded into the silent walls now as the blue light faded
leaving him alone in the darkness and the door opened
electronically, leaving him a single and lone warrior adrift in
emptiness.

PART 4

OMNIA FAMILIA
EST

CHAPTER 64

The moon shone brightly over the night
skies in Miami, Florida, a boyish face looked up into the pale
light of the darkness, his eyes twinkling in the midst of the
twilight. He wore a bright red turtleneck under a brown jacket and
jeans.

“
James,” yelled Tina’s
voice from the distance as she ran over wearing a denim jacket with
her sleeves rolled up and a pair of ripped jeans. “Hey buddy, great
news. I got a few hundred dollars in cash and some food and water
for us.”

“
Huh?” James turned from
his still trance and smiles, “what? That’s great. Where did you get
all that money?”

“
Does it matter?” She
smirked.

“
Oh no, you didn’t do what
I think you did?”

“
Just met a guy who could
help us out. Don’t ask, don’t tell.” She shrugs. “We got to get
going.” Said Tina.

“
I know. I was thinking
about how far we have come so far. There has been so much.” James
said looking up at the bright starry sky, the constellation Orion
directly above them shining brightly.

“
Can you believe we made
it all the way to Florida? That little raft was a tough little ship
but good thing that yacht picked us up.” Tina said.

“
Yeah, that was quick
thinking with that cover story that we were newlyweds on a brief
escapade out to sea.” James added.

“
Yeah and then we were
headed to Florida for our honeymoon,” she smiled wide
eyed.

“
The same place they were
headed to… and we got these nice duds, how weird huh?” Asked James
rhetorically.

“
Any weirder than sliding
and riding along the time way in style?” She joked gesturing to
their keen and funky disguises they were wearing and grimacing to
the fact that they falsified their way through their rescuers
delivery of them to the Keys of Florida state.

“
Any weirder than trekking
to discover the mysteries of the universe,” he looked up at the
stars and his eyes glistened.

“
Yeah, we have a pretty
cool relic here. I wonder what it is completely capable of”
wondered Tina.

“
We might soon find out,
dear friend, first we have to clear our names or beat feet down
south.” James said.

“
Why don’t we just use the
vortex like we did in Brazil? It looks like it moved us through a
vast distance and maybe time.” Tina speculated.

“
I think we should wait
before we go playing with forces we don’t fully understand.” James
said.

“
True… I got a contact I
made through my John, I mean good Samaritan…” she smirked “I think
he knows who set us up.”

“
How can you be so sure?
This is Florida, quite a ways from Chronix Bay.”

“
He mentioned having some
ties to our ‘good old friend’” she gestured to James knowing he
knew who she meant by the glare in her eye angered with a desire
for revenge.

“
Are you sure it was him?”
James inquired.

“
There are some faces you
never forget, you can count Broad Staffnight as one of them. I saw
a picture in his office and brought it up.” Tina added
seriously.

“
Cool good sleuthing
buddy, you might make a good detective in another life.” James
complimented her.

“
Stranger things have
happened. Let’s go.” Tina said.

As they walked down the street with
their new disguises they stole, the night sky shining above the
clean semi-suburban streets, there was not a soul in sight. Tina’s
spine shivered as they walked.

“
Are you cold, Tina?”
Asked James.

“
Just a bad feeling is
all.” She held tight to him unknowingly grabbing his
arm.

Then suddenly as they approached an
intersection, as if out of nowhere, six figures jumped out of the
darkness. They wore black glistening cloths around their bodies and
faces, shining in the pale moonlight, like ninjas, with red
bandanas around their heads and waists, a strange symbol made of an
unearthly metal shining off of their waistbands, resembling an
ancient oriental character. Their eyes beady, dark, and cold,
calculating as they approached and surrounded the duo in a
pernicious showdown reaching out menacing them with their assault
weapons, one with a Japanese sword, another with a medieval mace,
another with a bow and arrow, and the rest with crescent daggers.
The three with daggers were trying to stab their prey, acting as
pawns utilizing their initial plan of attack. The duo was
meticulously dodging the attacks, and running, evading, and trying
to hide.

“
Where did they come
from?” Screamed Tina.