Guardian Shadows - Chapter 1: Apocalypse Approaching

Chapter 1: Apocalypse Approaching

By Jen M. aka Kalia

DISCLAIMER: The characters of MA! are copyright DIC, the producers of that show, and basically anyone who helped in their development (ie. Not Me!) They are being used for entertainment purposes only, and no copyright infringement is intended.

DISCLAIMER: All other characters, characters names etc. are copyright myself and cannot be used without my permission. The character Kalia is copyright myself 1998, and the characters Lyris and Avaris are copyright Mia 1998. Don't use 'em without permiss! ~_^

WARNING!!!: This story contains violence ( Not particularly in this chapter, if you can stand the show, you can stand this chapter =), and some very mild language that may not be suitable for everyone. You've been warned ;)

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From Mummies Alive!:
f
Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra
hhhhhJa-kal- " We obey the command of Pharaoh..."

Pack to the Future
hhhhhAmenhotep- " You took my son away from me..."

Pack to the Future
hhhhhScarab- " The boy Prince's soul will be mine!"

Reunion
hhhhhRath- " You cannot be Presley's father, only Rapses Guardian."

Sleepwalk like an Egyptian
hhhhhArmon- " Ra is angry!"

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November 12, 1999

An energy blast imploded from behind a stack of wooden crates, sending shards and splinters this way and that, covering a large area with the remainders of the boxed. From behind the explosion, it seemed like hundreds of walking figures began to immerge in the thick smoke, their features immersed in foggy blackness and only their outlines could be seen.

" Who wants extra crispy?!" Nefer-tina shouted over the ruckus, snapping her whip forwards and gripping hard onto a pair of hard clay ankles. The figure attached to those ankles, a shabti, raised it's glowing scepter forward and was reading to fire. With a crack of the whip, the cat guardian pulled back on it, and the shabti along with the magical scepter fell hard upon the cement dock ground.

A quick flash of light seemed to just shoot through the air as two shabti just shattered into dust. Behind them, a long gold spear stuck hard into the ground, cracking the pavement all around. Moments later, Kalia the gazelle guardian jumped down from atop the warehouse roof that she had been perched upon, and ripped the spear from its foundation.

" Perhaps," She began, joining the charioteer in the front lines of the attack. " But I'm more of a tender roast gal myself."

Nefer-tina pulled back on her whip again, snapping off one of the heads of the approaching shabti. With nowhere else to go, the body of it just seemed to stand there for a moment or so, then fell apart onto the ground once more. " I... hear ya!" She shouted back, having to whip it around with amazing force to catch the next clay figure in line. " Special sauce..."

" Sour dip." Kalia replied, shooting the spear through the air once more in a mist of light and power. It quickly shred a clay warrior in two, collapsing it onto the ground.

" No sour dip, I hate sour dip." Nefer-tina announced with a disgusted look behind her cat's mask. Quickly, she ran across the grounds, prepared to jump, and the next thing that anyone knew, she was landing directly behind the small army that was steadily heading towards them. " Hi-yaa!" She screamed, letting the whip run wild once more, and taking five other shabtis along with it...

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With an evil laugh, Scarab drew out his hand, and a large red blast of energy immerged from them. The laser-like magic pulsated through the air, cracking and splitting until it reached the hard cement ground. The pavement split as the energy hit it, flying up through the air, sending everything close to it out of it's way with such amazing force.

Just as the bolt hit the ground, Ja-kal jumped forwards pushing Presley away from it's path and out of harms way. The leader landed on his back, and the prince fell out of his way and behind a large stack of boxes waiting to be loaded on the dock.

" Get the prince out of here!" He shouted over the battle raging, realizing that though there were times when the boy could be out of danger, this was not one of them.

Lyris jumped up into the air with an extended scythe in her clawed hand. As she came down the muse fell into a high-air somersault, crashing into an extra shabti that was heading in the direction of the front line. " Coming!" She exclaimed to Ja-kal, being the one closest to him and starting to race over behind the boxes where Presley watched the fight.

The sorcerer watched as they made a feudal attempt to get the boy away from the battle. " I don't think so." He stated dryly, this time raising both his hands and aiming them for the ground directly in front of the prince. Blood red light exploded from his clawed fingertips, and spread across the ground with lightening-fast speed.

" Ah!" Seeing the light heading towards him, Presley was just able to duck out of the way with the many splinters of the boxes along with him. The force of the explosion pushed him farther than he had expected to go, and he ended up slamming against the large waterfront warehouse. Dazed, he looked up to see what his guardians were doing, but couldn't move that well, and only ended up falling on his back in a dizzy heap.

" My prince!" Lyris shouted, ducking away from the red laser as it struck the ground directly in front of her. The muse skid against the cement ground, her gold armor creating sparks and the scythe being lost from her hand and transforming back into a wooden staff as it did so.

Ja-kal, watching as this happened quickly extended his wings and with one jump soared high into the night sky to get a better view. Presley was hidden underneath the overhang of the warehouse that Scarab was standing atop so he wasn't in any danger, and even as he flew around the area he could see Lyris slowly getting up off of the hard ground.

" You will not beat us this night Scarab! This night or any night!" The hawk guardian shouted to his foe, gracefully turning around in a complete loop and heading down to the sorcerer's level.

Scarab grinned once more. He was seriously enjoying this, never had he been so well prepared for an attack. " Oh really Ja-kal? You must not be so nieve!" He exclaimed to the guardian's statement, starting to fire blast after blast of red lightening up at him. Ja-kal zigzagged across the sky in an attempt to flee them. " I am quite prepared to take you all down, I am not alone in this!"

Quickly, the leader brought out his long golden bow and a burning arrow illuminating the night. He pulled back the bow string and let the arrow fly through the air towards the enemy. Scarab too extended his wings and took off from the warehouse roof, letting the arrow pierce the wood and crash into the warehouse.

The arrow, quick as light broke through the roof and flew through the almost empty warehouse storeroom. It hit the ground hard and remained there, still burning brightly. Nearby, rows after rolls of dry mesh paper sat silently in preparation for next week's annual Waterfront parade. A spark flew from the arrow, and quickly caught onto the first thing in it's path...

Groggily, Lyris opened her eyes and surveyed her surroundings. She was suddenly startled by a large shadow creeping up from behind her, and before she could do anything, a hand gripped her wrist and pulled her backwards and upright.

The muse swerved around, ready to fight them, when she sighed in relief, the adrenaline rush starting to come down ever so much quicker.

" Miss me?" Armon asked in his cheerful way, letting go of her wrist and handing her the long wooden staff from a few feet away. " You looked like you needed a hand, and since I have two now..."

Lyris grinned. " I did, thank you." She took the staff away from him and the two started to run back into the main clearing of the waterfront district, and where Scarab was last spotted high atop the storeroom roof.

Meanwhile, Ja-kal dodged yet another lightening bolt and sent a fifth arrow into the night. The sorcerer's small wings lifted him up higher as the old enemy began to head into a barrel roll down towards the leader. Ja-kal glanced up as he began his descent, and quickly flew out of harm's way, still concerned with what was happening down below.

Presley, still weary from the blow that he had been dealt began to sit up from his laying position. His head ached and every bone in his body cried out in protest of movement, but he knew that he had to leave here quickly. He had never seen Scarab keep up a fight for this long, something had to be up...

A small burst of light behind the prince's head didn't draw his attention away from getting up and leaving much, but did stir his memory just a bit. A second, larger blast made him whirl around in surprise as the boy was now faced with a large yellow flame quickly growing from behind him, and quickly covering the entire warehouse in a deep orange glow.

" Oh man!" Presley shouted, trying to get away from the intense heat starting to radiate from inside. The windows above his head began to crack and burst, falling onto the ground next to him. Frantically, the prince tried to get away from the area, but couldn't as a large flaming piece of the front roof fell through the air and burst into parts and flames when it reached the ground. The boy shielded his eyes from the heat, but the problems of reaching the outside still grew greater with each passing second...

Armon looked right, and then looked left, wondering where everyone had gone. Last he had seen, Ja-kal had been with the prince and Scarab was stationed on the warehouse roof. Now, everything lay almost deserted and free of their comrades or foes.

" Where's everyone go?" He asked, placing a hand on his head in confusion.

Lyris looked over the area, and then spied the silent form of Presley in front of the storehouse doorway. " Prince Rapses!" She shouted, headed in that direction to rouse the sleeping boy. The warrior followed her lead, running at her heels to reach the boy in time.

Suddenly, a huge burst of light immerges from the warehouse roof and walls. The windows seemed to glow brighter than a star with a bright yellow, while deep red flames danced over the wooden panels of the storeroom.

" The building's on fire!" The muse shouted, racing even quicker to reach Presley, who by now was covering himself over and trying to get to them as well.

" Young prince!" Armon shouted as a loud bang sounded overhead and a huge shard of the roof came crashing down on top of the boy, covering him from view.

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" Where is Scarab getting all of these Shabti?! I don't remember there ever being this much all at once!" Kalia shouted, swirling around and kicking a clay figure high on the shoulder, ripping apart one of it's arms as well as it's head. They had been going on with this for who knows how long, and to be perfectly frank, she was getting tired.

Nefer-tina, starting to huff from the running that she had been doing looked back and cracked her whip backwards, letting it swing around an outstretched lamppost. The cat guardian jumped high into the air in a large circle and crashed hard into a small group of marching shabti, sending them as well as herself against a short stone wall.

" I don't know." She replied, breathing heavily. " But they had better stop soon, otherwise we're going to have some problems!"

The artist glanced out in the distance, almost ready to drop to her knees in exhaustion. Off by the water's edge, she could still see an army of clay soldiers heading their way. There must have been hundreds of them, and they couldn't have taken out more than a couple dozen by then.

" This night's going to go on forever!" She whined, not even bothering to turn around to elbow an approaching shabti in the stomach, and crumble it in the middle, reducing it to dust. " How come things like this are always happening to me?!"

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The fire surrounded him, and Presley could feel nothing else but the flames against his skin as he drastically moved back away from the fallen roof and towards the outer wall of the warehouse. Seconds later, the prince whirled around frantically, realizing that the entire storehouse was going up in flames, and he was directly in the middle of it. Right, left and straight ahead, all he could see was red broiling flames covering the waterfront scenery.

" Hold on my prince!" Lyris shouted, extending her scythe with a mere thought. Still running and holding it in both of her clawed hands, the jackal guardian brought forward the instrument's sharp blade, letting it stand forward in her direction. With one great swipe, the blade seemed to cut through the air, creating a tiny, inconceivable slit in the fabric of space. It was her most fabled weapon, a sort of time relapse where she could transport from one place to the other with a mere thought. Without hesitation, the muse jumped through the mirage and disappeared from sight.

Armon continued to run towards the warehouse, hearing the cries of their prince over the pops and cackling of the burning wood. The deep red flame was now amidst in a mixture of all the colors of the rainbow, from deep purple on the roof, green papers fluttering to the ground, bright white lights and blue flames.

Presley jumped to the left as another shard of the warehouse roof came tumbling down upon him, missing it by mere inches at most. He hit against the warming wall of the building, but couldn't move due to the flaming debris littering the ground around him. He didn't know how he was going to get out of this one.

" Help!" He shouted, gripping his amulet for assistance. The pendant started to glow a deep yellow in appearance to alert his guardians that he needed protection. " Guys, anytime now would be really great!" He shouted as he waved the amulet around a bit around his neck. Parts of the wooden wall began to crumble away from high atop the prince's head. The entire building was threatening to collapse overtop of him.

" Really! Anytime now!!" Presley shouted even louder, frantic for someone to come and get him out of this. The searing heat and the inclosed space was starting to get to him.

From the right, a tiny black line opened up in front of the raging fire almost like an optical illusion. Faster than a flash of light, the blackness just seemed to disintegrate and with one jump Lyris immerged herself into the roaring flames, scythe in hand and ready to defend her deity.

" Young prince!" She shouted, at first unable to see him through the smoke and fast-rising heat, but then, a figure slid against the wall was brought out to her. Burning from the collapsing warehouse, the muse raced over towards him to get him away from this dangerous situation.

Presley ducked away from the heat, still gripping his amulet in hopes that help would soon arrive. He looked up from the ground trying not to gaze into the blinding light before him, and saw a form rushing to his aid.

" Lyris!" He shouted, quickly getting up off of the ground. He ran over to meet with her, but before he could get close enough, the wall behind them which had been threatening to collapse started to splinter, and slowly, boards fell through the cool night air down to them.

" Rapses! Over here!" The jackal guardian exclaimed to him, moving back as the board sliced in front of her and split when it hit the ground. She jumped overtop of it, reaching the boy's side at last and pulled him forwards to escape another falling board.

The entire place seemed to be Hell's doorstep as all they could see was a jumbled mass of flames and fallen debris. Lyris pulled the prince towards her to protect him from the element and suddenly realized that she didn't have a plan to get them both out of there.

From the flames a large part of the fallen roof began to move away from them amazingly enough. The two gave shocked looked to one another before a second piece of it was thrown out of the way as if giving them a clear path to the outside world.

Gripping the crumbling sides of the wood, Armon heaved the last large part of wood away from the warehouse entrance. Using his golden arm and keeping the flames at a long distance he was able to move the searing boards without alot of difficulty, opening up the clearing to those in need.

After heaving the last one out of the way, he was able to see Presley and Lyris in the near center of the burning rubble. " Hey! Come on, let's go!" He shouted to them, beckoning the two towards the clear path that he had created.

" Come on!" The muse yelled, grabbing the boy's arm and pulling him away from the falling wall. Presley quickly followed, kicking up glowing splinters and such as he ran. Loud groans immerged from the center of the building, sounding like a cross between ripping paper and a nuclear holocaust.

As quickly as they could, the three ran for cover a ways away from the burning building and behind the many crates sitting silently on the dock loading area. As they turned around, the front wall that the prince had just been under fell away completely, revealing an entire warehouse of bright yellow and white light. It was so bright that there wasn't any mention of flames. It was all just one large light.

The roof suddenly drew into itself, pulling the remaining three walls in with it. As the storehouse completely collapsed in onto itself, the guardians and Presley ducked behind the wooden boxes for cover. The building stirred up all of it's heat and projected it out in every direction, the water next to the dock began to wave furiously and the crates even seemed to be singed by it.

Presley closed his eyes tightly to blot out any unwanted images. He held fast to the crates because they were the only things separating them and the inferno beyond. He couldn't be sure, but he was thinking that the others were probably doing the same.

The fire in the wind died down, and pretty soon all there was was the crackling of a roaring fire in the distance. Hesitantly, Lyris began to peek out from behind the boxes, slowly raising her golden jackal ears over the tops of the nailed boards. Armon took his hands off of his ears and gave the two of them a relieved look, this time looking out from the side of the crates. Presley got up from his kneeling position, and began to stand up, finally walking out from behind the boxes completely and out into the open once more.

Only meters away, a place where moments before they had all been standing, a bonfire the size of nearly half a city block blazed into the night piling smoke into the atmosphere.

" Phew!" The muse sighed in relief, leaning her back against the boxes and looking up at the sky. She noticed that they were all covered in black soot and that her bandages were singed, but the important thing was that they were all safe.

" Ja-kal!" Presley suddenly shouted, seeing his guardian in the air overhead. But he wasn't alone... flying right behind him Scarab's clawed hand was starting to light up again, ready for another energy blast.

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Meanwhile, away from the burning rubble and mass armies of shabtis attacking, another plot was slowly unfolding. The world was almost cast into complete and utter darkness, the only light in the entire place was the reflection of a streetlamp bouncing off a half broken window on one side of the building.

Silently, as not to arouse anything or anyone that was in the same room as he, Rath kept to the side wall and in the shadows of various boxes, crates and sheets that were somehow hanging from the walls in a messy heap. The entire place was very much silent, the only sounds that were made were of those of the battle outside, and those didn't concern him at the moment.

Carefully, the scribe ducked behind a corner as quickly as possible. He had had a hunch about why Scarab was being so careful around this particular building in the Warehouse district, and there must have been a reason for it.

From behind the corner, a lone shabti walked from the main, dusty room and into the new one, a monotone look on it's clay face and a scepter clenched tightly in it's fists. Rath thought for a moment about maybe taking the minion out before it could cause trouble, but then decided against it. There were, amazingly enough, quite a few rooms in this place, and it would be quicker if he had an undesignated guide. Silently, the cobra guardian leaned back against the wall and let the figure pass as it was still unaware of his presence.

The shabti turned a corner that lead into another hallway, leading down by the very back of the building. As soon as it turned the corner, he followed right behind it, still being sure to stay out of sight and not be heard. They may have been made of clay, but shabti weren't stupid. They shot first and asked questions later.

The scribe looked around the corner at which direction the form was moving. It was so dark, it was practically impossible to see anything, but there was a very brief outline of a shadow moving left down a forked hall. Cautiously, Rath handled his long serpent sword in front of him, and slowly sneaked down the hall to find out why this area was so heavily guarded.

" Of course, if Scarab wanted to house some sort of big secret, he could have at least had the common sense of placing more guards around it." He thought to himself, barely over a whisper, gently twisting around the corner to follow the Shabti to the back of the building.

As soon as he rounded the corner, Rath jumped back in surprise. A large purple energy blast illuminated from the end of the hall, spitting and sizzling. It reached the end of the hall to the right of him, and exploded, breaking a huge gaping hole in the side of the building. Ruble fell away and a clear view of what was going on outside could be seen. In the background a glowing red building sent smoke high into the air.

" So much for being subtle." The scribe sighed to himself, suddenly jumping out and away from the corner. In the middle of doing a somersault to the other side of the hallway, he threw the large sword in the direction of the territorial Shabti. The sword cut through the air aimed directly at it's target, the gray blade shimmering with the light from outside as it passed by another broken window.

The shabti aimed another blast, sending more laser magic towards the guardian. After rolling to the other side of the hall Rath had very little time to maneuver before the blast came. The magic exploded the chipping gray wall, sending drywall and wood in all four directions. The scribe fell back, slamming against the wall that he was originally next to, slightly jumbled.

Before the Shabti even knew what hit it, the blade of the serpent sword sliced through it all the way, the tip of it immerging past it's clay back. Like the unthinking form that it was, it still kept to it's orders and continued to fire, neverminding the deadly blow it had been dealt.

The sword glowed a bright green, and then faded, leaving behind not a sword, but an actual living golden snake. It hissed at the shabti just milliseconds before winding it's way around the figure's neck and chest. The serpent squeezed hard, sensing the clay soldier's weakness, and without another blow given, the shabti just fell apart on itself, leaving behind a pile of dry yellow sand and an unoperational scepter. The snake coiled up as if triumphant, then returned to it's original position, the green light overtaking it once more and returning it to the long gray blade.

More annoyed then angry, Rath stood up and walked over to pick it up. Behind the pile of Shabti dust there was a large door with a warning sign on it entitled " Caution, Do Not Enter". It would have created a bit of a problem but the lock that was originally placed on the doorframe was broken and dented. Seemingly uncaring now, the scribe pushed the door back and stepped into the room.

It was exactly like all the other rooms in the warehouse- dusty, old and even worse, it was dark. Shadows ruled over everything else in this place, it could give someone ideas. Rath had the same idea that he had gotten the second that he had stepped in there. That perhaps there was someone else there, hiding in those shadows...

Blocking all negative thoughts from his mind, the scribe concentrated on what was in the room that very second- alot of old crates covered in white cloths for one thing, then there were cobwebs, the basic insides of a stereotypical haunted house.

But, at the back of the room something didn't seem right with everything else. Far back, nearly out of sight in the darkness there was a large box, looking just like the rest of them except for one exception- the wooden sides on it looked brand new. All the others were worn and dirty, this one had new nails, new finish... something that you wouldn't see in an abandoned warehouse.

Rath walked towards it keeping his guard up just in case there were any other Shabti in that room that he didn't know about. This had to be bad news, he did know why, he just knew. All of his senses were just going nuts in that old, dark room. There was something there...

Carefully, still trying to keep an eye on the world around him and peering into the box at the same time, the scribe gripped the edges of the lid and slid it off with a bit of effort. It came crashing to the ground hard, echoing a loud bang through the entire building, probably the only sound in there at this time.

In an almost paranoid fashion, Rath looked down into the box. Whatever that was in there was covered over with a large white sheet, still unlike those in the room because this once was new, not old and worn like the others. Reaching down into the box, he quickly pulled back the sheet...

It wasn't what he had expected, that was for sure. As first, he didn't know what to make of it. It wasn't Egyptian, it didn't have any hieroglyphs on it, it wasn't gold, it wasn't decorated. It was just a dull grayish color with nothing special on it...

It was like slamming against a brick wall, and unfortunately, he knew what that was like as well. Almost like it was hot to the touch, he dropped the sheet and let it cover the object again. He stepped away from it slowly and didn't turn away from it for a moment. This was why Scarab had this district so closely guarded, it must have been.

" By Ra," He began, still shocked by the large object in the box. The others would have to know about this as quickly as possible, otherwise it may have been too late for them to get away.

His mind taken away from the dark world beyond the large wooden crate, Rath drew his sword once more and began to hurry away from the area as fast as he could with only one things on his mind. They had to get the prince out of here before Scarab could finish what he came here to accomplish. If the battle was still raging on outside, that only meant now that the sorcerer was biding his time and stalling for the right moment.

A loud explosion sounded from the outside, but never stirred the opposing forces at war beyond the old warehouse walls. The scribe looked out the window as a huge gust of bright red fire seemed to jump up from the ground mere meters away and overhead the sound of a battle ensued. Through the darkness a lone figure clad in hawk armor soared over all of their heads trying to get away from another much larger figure which could have only been Scarab. The sorcerer turned around and began to head back the other way as if in defeat, but then Ja-kal turned around and began to follow him away from the firing warehouse and out into open waters.

" Ja-kal, what are you doing?!" He thought out loud to himself in a by far quiet tone. There was still the chance that there were more Shabti in that room that he didn't know about. " He's leaving, take the prince and get out of here!"

But still through the battles fought outside and away, the guardians never even thought about backing down. They thought that it was just another fight, like they had always had and always would, with Scarab leading the attack and later retreating to form another plan. Quite frankly, Scarab was the last thing on Rath's mind at the moment.

" We've got to get the prince away from here." He told himself in a near whisper, turning around to head back out the same way he had come into make that statement a reality. They couldn't afford anymore time, and no chances could have been took with any of this.

" Perhaps not." A voice from behind rebutted the though. It was an unfamiliar voice, but the scribe knew that he had heard it before. Quickly, he turned around to see who it was.

Rath never had a chance to see who the face was behind the comment, for the instant that he turned around, a deep essence of black seemed to cover up the form, and a force that he had never though possible sprang out at him. It was a blow greater than anyone could have comprehended with force that could have possibly knocked down that very building, he was sure of it. In one split second Rath felt the greatest pain that he had ever felt in his life, and thereafter. It was penetrating and burning, forces of the present and the powers of the unknown seemed to roll up into one to deliver this vast glimpse of supreme torture. The world was gone, and left behind images that could not be recalled, all of which dulled in comparison to the sheer pain of the blow.

It was so exact and so powerful that the scribe didn't even know that he was up against a wall then and that the source of the essence had stopped even before he had known that it had begun. The world was vanished into nothingness and the pain of the force was still apparent, there was no way to escape it.

With the knowledge of what was about to happen, the sights of his teammates fighting on in the background of the waterfront and the feeling of intense torture from the mysterious visitor still standing in the room at that moment, Rath silently fell sideways and collapsed onto the hard wooden floor, creating a sickening thud that echoed all through the room, and then remained still there. Not even the sounds of the explosions nor the shouting of the other guardians could stir him.

The long serpent sword was almost thrown to the side as he fell, skidding on the worn floor and then finally dinging the new wooden crate as it stood there in silent repose, finally stopping the blade and it too remaining still on the dusty ground.

The figure, masked in a cloak of darkness given to him by the large storeroom itself still stood there, never bothering to even lift a finger to anything and everything that was going on around him. Instead, he mearly started a slow trot over to the broken window where only seconds before the cobra guardian had been watching the goings on outside the warehouse. There, he saw something similar to his definition of Hell, roaring red fires and a waging war that he knew that would soon be over very shortly.

" Let's not tell them quite yet." He said in a soft tone that didn't fit well with his menacing presence in the room. " There is still so much going on, and so much time to waste..."

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A blast of energy sprang out at them for the seventh time in such a short timeframe, blowing apart a lightpost from it's foundation and making the tall metal pole fall down to the ground. The light shattered into a thousand pieces and the sparks from the electricity running wild over the old pavement seemed to mimic lightening.

Kalia fell forward as the powerful energy just grazed her headdress on it's way to blowing up the lightpost. She fell onto the ground in a less than controlled heap, letting the spear go from her hands and roll down the cement ground, away from the crossfire. This didn't seem to bother her very much now, they were all quite battered and frazzled by then, and a little meeting with the ground wasn't anything new to them.

" Hi-yaaa!" Nefer-tina's voice rang out as she let the black whip in her hand run wild in front of her and break apart an approaching Shabti. The cat guardian swung it back to her and then snapped it forwards again, taking out another clay figure in the other one's place. They weren't getting anywhere with this anymore, with every Shabti that they took down there were five more to take it's place. She was reaching the point of near exhaustion, she couldn't feel her arm anymore as it whipped her weapon across the clay-covered floor of the waterfront district.

" Nefer-tina!" The artist shouted, getting up to her feet, and in an off balanced manner, picked up her spear and threw it into the air, only to fall back down to the ground moments later due to her lack of strength.

The charioteer turned around and saw the weapon heading right for her. Without anytime to move, Nefer-tina dropped to the ground and let the spear catch three of Scarab's minions that were walking up behind her, reducing them to the same dust littering the ground.

" Watch it with that thing!" She shouted over the energy blast as the gazelle guardian ran over to her side to pick up her weapon. Nefer-tina let her whip loose again, ripping a scepter out of a Shabti's hands and sending that slamming into even more clay figures approaching them.

Tired, Kalia picked up the spear, now fully detracted and held it out to the large clay army. " Nefer-tina," She began again, straining to get anymore words out. " I don't know how much longer I can do this."

The cat guardian switched her whip to the other hand, finally relieved to have a fighting arm that she could actually feel. " Same here, I'm dead on my feet."

" No pun intended." The artist finished the sentence off, slicing through an enemy while at the same time karate-kicking another in the chest, still glad that these figures crumbled so easily.

" Oh, a big pun intended." Nefer-tina corrected her, throwing a punch at a Shabti, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, missed her target entirely. The soldier grabbed her arm and yanked on it, sending the guardian through the air and crashing into a few of it's cohorts, reducing them to dust but injuring the charioteer none the less.

Kalia charged at the very same Shabti, about ready to slice it directly in two, when the same barrage of energy blasts from across the way rang out once more, blinding everyone and everything in it's path. She covered her eyes up as a bright glow passed inches in front of her face and into an old warehouse wall. That was it, enough was enough.

" Fall back!" She shouted, having to do a backslap just to escape a round of Shabti that were assembling in their paths. Groggily, Nefer-tina sat up in the great pile of rock and clay sand and gripped her head with her pawed hands.

" Ugh, good idea." She answered as she felt an aching pain all over her body from the throw. It was amazing that she could actually get up, but she did, and slowly backed away from the firing and approaching evil army. Suddenly, instead of walking towards their opponents, the Shabti started to run at them, as if they could sense that they were retreating. Nefer-tina, wincing as she did so, sent her whip high above her head and let it wrap around an outreaching lamppost that hadn't fallen over in the battle. Holding onto it and pushing away, the charioteer passed over the clay figures heads, finally releasing her weapon from the tall poll and jumping to the deserted ground beyond, skidding and then finally falling on her hip without balance.

The gazelle guardian ran past and quickly reached her hand out to help her comrade up. " I thought cats always landed on their feet." She stated with a forced smile, pulling Nefer-tina back up to her feet with more difficulty then expected.

The cat guardian gave her a sarcastic look behind her mask. " Maybe those cats didn't have a damn Shabti army after them!" A low rumbling sound erupted from the side of the waterfront area. The two guardians looked over in that direction, and were amazed to find a large glowing fire where a warehouse once was.

" Come on!" Kalia urged, pulling on her friend's arm to pick up the pace. The charioteer groaned at the extra effort that she would have to put in, but out of the corner of her eye saw the group beginning to turn around and head their ways once more. As quickly as possible the two raced over the hard pavement, still littered with the dust and remains of extra Shabti and their weaponry.

********************************************* *

Attempting to lead Scarab on a wild goose chase, Ja-kal swerved through a mess of wooden crates extremely close to the ground, knowing that the beetle-clad sorcerer wouldn't be able to follow. Scarab tried to catch up with him, but was knocked aside by a large wooden box, and fell to the ground in a disapproving heap. The sorcerer growled to himself for being so foolish, and then jumped back up into the air to gain altitude.

The leader looked back to see if Scarab was still behind him, but couldn't for much longer since the boxes were coming at him quickly. A large red blast of magic from above was what told him that the sorcerer was following him, but not in the same way he had planned. Quickly, Ja-kal changed direction and began to head straight up into the sky.

Scarab had to fall back when he saw how fast the hawk guardian was coming towards him. He flew backwards and the leader missed him by mere inches at most. The sorcerer sent out another lightening blast, but it missed it's target and simply flew on into the night. Ja-kal tried to counter-attack, but only succeeded in being face to face with a barrage of flames coming right at him. From below, the warehouse that Scarab had been standing on was now soaring high with blood red fire, flickering and broadening in the night. The roof started to collapse, yet he still could not see the prince.

Scarab could see that he was occupied, and was prepared to take advantage of it. His fist began to light up again with sparking energy and he aimed it at the hawk guardian when his back was turned.

Sensing that there was something amiss, Ja-kal turned around just as the blast was set on him. Not knowing what else to do in such a short time, the leader went into a long dive, closing up his golden wings and simply falling to the earth like a rock. The sorcerer, thinking that he had hit his opponent, gave an evil smile and laugh before following him down to earth to see what the damage was.

Just as he was about to hit the ground, the long wings folded out again, and gaining as much strength as he could Ja-kal pulled up and closely skidded across the pavement. He was just able to make it back up into the air by actually flying off the tall pier and into open waters.

" How long does it take to kill a mummy?!" Scarab shouted in agitation when he saw the leader fly back into the starry night sky. This was starting to get tiresome for him, how much longer would they have to wait. There was suppose to be a signal of some sort...

From behind him, a huge explosion sounded and the sorcerer felt himself being pushed forwards by it. Looking behind him Scarab could see the once standing and flaming warehouse collapse into itself, sparks, flames and debris falling everywhere over the end of the waterfront district. Thick black smoke poured over from the top of the burning rubble, turning the bright night sky into that of darkness.

That could have been the signal, but the sorcerer didn't want to take any more chances. Off in the distance he could still see Ja-kal flying around in the air, almost mocking his efforts to destroy them. He could have had various chances in the past to do what he had sought after, but he had been foolish and patient. He was no longer patient, he wanted them out of the way for good.

Faster than he had ever flown before, Scarab raced towards the guardian, his anger slowly building up into one large ball of glowing lightening entwining his clawed hand as he neared his target. He was coming from behind, there could have been no way that Ja-kal could have seen him yet, not with the clouds of black smoke covering the clarity of the skies.

The leader looked down at the burning building, this time frantically looking for Presley. He couldn't see him, nor Lyris, nor any of the other guardians in the vicinity that were suppose to be there. Either they had all gotten the prince to safety, or... he dreaded the alternative.

Finally he saw three figures immerge from behind a stack of old wooden crates in an attempt to get cover from the sudden outburst of the storehouse. Ja-kal felt relief fall over him as the smallest once, which he knew was Presley walked out into the open to spy upon the fallen building. Suddenly, he thought that he had heard someone call out his name, but it was too difficult to tell from the popping of the burning warehouse.

Ja-kal felt that it was best if he went down to join the others and lead the prince away from here as quickly as possible. He felt a special obligation to the boy, and understood that the only way that he would know that he was safe was if he was the one to save him.

The hawk guardian, looking around and finding no signs of Scarab started to fly down from his great height and towards the trio standing on the scorched cement. As he did, the yelling out of his name became more apparent, and the leader wondered what all the fuss was about. He turned around just in case something was amiss, and suddenly spied Scarab not a few yards away, ready to fire another blast of energy at him.

The red lightening rang out, zipping through the air faster than he could fly. The hawk guardian, turned to the side, knowing that with his aim Scarab couldn't have possibly thought out how well he was at maneuvering in the sky. Unfortunately, the leader didn't think about how far his wings had to go either, and the large magic blast burst through the left golden one shredding at the finish and ripping it apart from the middle forward.

Ja-kal tried to change course with only half a wing on his one side, but it was no use. The ground came at him faster and faster. Quickly, he took out his golden bow and an unusual-looking arrow that he swore he would never have to use under any circumstances. He aimed and fired it straight into the roof of another warehouse beside the burning one. The arrow flew through the air, but at the very end of it was a long rope, which Ja-kal had gripped in his taloned hand. The arrow hit it's target with supreme accuracy and was from that moment on unable to move from it's place.

He gripped the rope as he fell, feeling himself swing forwards instead of down. The rope that he held prevented him from crashing into the ground, but now the worry lied on Scarab. Still, Ja-kal couldn't see where he was.

The rope ran out, and the leader held onto it as it pulled back on him swinging him back and forth in front of the warehouse. Realizing that he had less altitude now, Ja-kal let go of the rope and fell the rest of the way to the ground. Once he reached the ground he did a somersault to regain his balance and stood up once more, searching for the guardians and the prince whom he had been searching for in the first place.

********************************************* *

The battle was going on quite nicely, the sounds of blasting and fighting were familiar to his ears. The broken window couldn't hide the sounds of what it was like to be out there, and he longed to just head on out and finish up the job. But he couldn't. This had been his plan, he was going to see it through to the end, even if it meant missing out on the carnage.

A sound from behind him brought his attention away from the fight, and a smile to his face yet it was still hidden in the darkness. Stepping over his once previous adversary and kicking a long gold cobra tail out of his way, the form, almost like floating across the room quietly came over to where the noise was coming from. It was a steady beat, high and shrill, there was no way that anyone this close could have missed it.

He stood in front of the large wooden crate and gently pulled back the white covering on it. After the cover was off, the beeping was even greater and this time, green lights could be seen flickering on and off and on and off. In-between two rows of small luminescent blips, one single word which flashed along with them was almost enough to make him want to throw his head back and laugh.

" Armed."

" Heka," His gruff voice transcended over the entire area, calling to Scarab's most trusted accomplice. " Heka, get out here, it's time."

From the corner of the room, the far side of it where the water could be spotted out from the broken windows, a thin, dark figure slinked along the dusty wooden floor, making no noise and leaving nothing out of place. The creature wound herself up the back of the wooden crate, and then immerged on the top of the box, glaring at him with an evil sneer. " Alright alright, I'm here." She announced in a stuffy, annoyed tone. Throwing her head back, and then quickly forward, the gold serpent sneezed loudly. " This place is playing heck with my sinuses. That was a close shave, wasn't it? I was certain that we were found out for sure that time..."

The figure sighed in anger, making her shut up fairly quickly. " Here." He told her, removing something from his person and then holding it out to her. It looked something of a watch, only it was bigger, and it as well had beeping red and green flashing lights. " Give this to Scarab. It's time."

Heka gave him an incomprehensible look. " Excuse me?! How am I suppose to do that when he's off flying around the world somewhere?"

Apparently, the figure had no time for talk. With lightening-fast reflexes he reached out and gripped the cobra tightly around the base of her hood and shook her back and forth. " Just make it happen, or we shall leave you behind as well!"

Heka gulped, which was a pretty difficult task when someone was crushing your windpipe. " Will... do." She replied, suddenly gulping in air as she was released from the tight grip. Taking the watch-like apparatus from the outstretched hand, and holding it carefully in her mouth, she turned around to head back the same way she had come in.

Just as she was about to head through the long hallway with the fresh hole to the outside world at the end of it, Heka turned around and without trying to sound pushy, asked him, " While I'm trying to chase Scarab down, what are you going to be doing?"

Unlike all of her previous reactions, this one was rather pleasant. The man chuckled under his breath, then turned around to face her. " Why, to signal him of course." He told her in an almost flat way. Quickly, he spun around and in a flash of black smoke and deep blue sparks, he disappeared from the room entirely, leaving behind the inanimate serpent sword and the large wooden crate, slowly beeping with every beat.

********************************************* *

" Come on! Get your butt moving!" Kalia told Nefer-tina as she helped her over a short, six-foot wall. The charioteer nearly sneered at her for being so pushy, and took her arm away quickly.

" Will you just shut up! I can't work under all this pressure!" With one last push from behind, the cat guardian jumped up onto the wall and then back down to solid ground. The artist followed directly afterwards, simply leaping over the wall entirely, and landing safely on the other side.

" Excuse me, but I don't like the idea of Shabti fire coming right at us from behind!" It was almost a whisper, but an excellent exclamation. Nefer-tina rolled her eyes under the headdress. ' Rookie', she thought to herself.

From overtop of the wall, bright yellow blasts of lightening came flying at them. The two ducked for cover even though the wall was higher than they were and the shabti were probably a few minutes away from them. Trying to hurry once more, Kalia grabbed Nefer-tina's hand and pulled her forward and away from the wall.

" I, I can!... I can walk by myself you know!" The charioteer told her in agitation, but felt that it was better for someone to pull her along then have to work at it moreso. She was just too tired and sore.

The gazelle guardian stopped short, neverminding that Nefer-tina ran into her from behind. Her eyes were set on the sight before them now, one of utter chaos through the raging battle. The large red fire that they had both seen turned out to be much larger than what they had thought. Smoke ran from the ground and the sides of buildings from where energy blasts and weapons had hit them.

Nefer-tina looked out from behind her comrade's shoulder and nearly gulped back a statement. " How long have we been gone?!" She exclaimed in an almost nervous manner, knowing that if the others had left to go somewhere else, then they were out of luck.

" Where are they?!" Kalia asked out loud, knowing full well that the charioteer didn't know the answer anymore than she did. Most objects were cast in shadows over there, they could have easily been among them somewhere, but where?

The cat guardian suddenly extended a long clawed hand. " There! There they are!" She shouted over the rumbling fire and pointed out to just in front of the warehouse. There they could see three lone figures immerge from behind a stack of old crates. A swift wind from above brought their attention there as both Scarab and Ja-kal flew overhead. Ja-kal aimed an arrow at the warehouse that they were standing beside, while the sorcerer simply fell back and flew directly into the black smoke rising from the smoldering warehouse.

They both rushed out of the shadows to join their team, Kalia running forward to meet up with Presley, Lyris and Armon, and Nefer-tina turning to the left to get to Ja-kal.

As she approached, the three were still watching the goings on in the sky. Only a brief turn of the head was able to bring Armon out of watching their leader fall to the ground, and see her approach. " Kal?! Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you guys!"

The gazelle guardian stopped, mouth almost agape in disbelievement. After all the work that they had gone through, THEY were trying to find THEM all along. " Excuse me?!..." She began, being cut off by the prince suddenly running away from the safety of the crates and in the direction of where Ja-kal and Nefer-tina were. He was followed by Lyris, who was in turn followed by the other two.

Nefer-tina rushed over to Ja-kal who was standing up and about ready to go over and join the rest of the team. That was until he was met by her and realized that the remainder of them were rushing over to meet him instead.

" Ja-kal! What's going on, how has Scarab kept up the fight this long?!" The cat guardian shouted to him while she kept one of her clawed hands on a nearby crate to steady her unbalanced form. " We've never been in battle for this long!"

" I don't know." He confessed matter-of-factly, looking up to the sky to try and spy the beetle-clad sorcerer. The only things in the sky now where the twinkling stars and the clouds over clouds of rich black smoke steadily pouring from the raging fire beyond. A sound from his left brought his attention away from that, and over to the prince and the other three guardians that were coming over towards himself and Nefer-tina.

" My prince, are you alright?" Ja-kal asked urgently once Presley reached them, placing both hands on the boy's shoulders and talking in his usual stern tone.

" Yeah, I'm alright, but getting away from that warehouse was a close call." He relieved the leader, looking up at Lyris with a small smile. The muse returned it before turning away herself to spy the scorching rubble beyond. Luckily, the storehouse was secluded and covered by yards of cement ground, so there was less and less a chance that the fire would spread further.

" By the way Ja-kal, we're fine too." Kalia reminded him, crossing her arms in front of her. " If you could say being attacked by hundreds of Shabti and almost being blown up on several occasions alright."

Unable to hold it anymore, Nefer-tina grabbed the upper jaw of her cat helmet and pulled it off of her, holding it in one hand and running the other through her long white hair. " He must have been planning this fight forever. We had shabtis up the yin-yang over there!"

" But why? Why go to all this trouble in just one night?" Lyris cast them all a question that was burrowing through them all even as she spoke. The muse never expected an answer from any of them.

The artist looked around them, at the small almost circular group that they had formed, then at the crates behind them, then around to the distant corners of the nearby warehouse. She turned to Lyris still with a confused expression. " Hey... where's the crank?"

" Who? Rath?..." She looked around the place the same way that Kalia had just done and borrowed the puzzled look from her friend. " I don't know, he was here, I thought he was with you."

" Ch! Well if he was, then he sure wasn't helping much..."

Before the subject could continue any longer, a loud evil laugh was heard by all overhead. The guardians and Presley looked up to see a huge ball of flames headed right down their way.

" Whoa! Fiery warehouse back for revenge!" Presley shouted, backing away and about ready to duck for cover.

" Warehouse my tut! That's Scarab!" Armon exclaimed, rushing forward and pulling the prince away from harm's way with his large golden arm. The red ball exploded upon impact to the ground, sending the guardians and some of the crates backwards and away. Nefer-tina dropped her helmet as she was blown back against the force. She slammed into the side of the warehouse and had the wind knocked out of her. Ja-kal was forced back just like all the rest of them, but through the chipping pavement and the flying pieces of wood he was able to jump right back and onto his feet to battle the sorcerer. Lyris and Kalia were thrown into the flying crates, landing next to the end of the dock area and mere feet towards the edge and the churning water below. Armon shielded Presley from the blast, but fell forwards like everyone else, crashing into an unlit lamppost, and letting go of the prince.

Presley rolled onto his back and looked up at the smoke-filled sky. Though he had just turned thirteen, he still felt that he was getting much too old for this, running away from Scarab every few days or so.

Suddenly, the boy's bored look quickly became one of fear as a figure soared down from the dark clouds above, directly at him. Scarab was close to a near-fall, reaching out to catch the boy in his long claws the second that he reached the ground. Presley jutted to the right, turning himself over and frantically trying to get up off the hot cement to escape him

" You can't run anywhere young prince!" Scarab's sinister voice told him. The sorcerer flew forward a meter off of the ground and began to chase the boy over the hard ground. " You guardians are not here to protect you, and for a Pharaoh..." Picking up a little bit of speed Scarab reached out and grabbed Presley under his arms. Before the prince could have a chance to squirm away, the sorcerer lifted off the black pavement and high into the sky so that he wouldn't have a choice but to stay but. " You are so slow."

" Help!" Presley shouted as he started to squirm. After seeing how high up they were, however he suddenly froze, knowing full well that his enemy could drop him at any second. " Help! Ja-kal help me!"

The leader looked up from the explosion just in time to see a flash of deep red beetle armor and the one inside of it scoop up the prince and carry him high into the sky. " My Prince!!" He shouted, thinking that he could follow them, but then remembered about his destroyed golden wing. For the first time in over three millennia, Ja-kal was forced to watch as Scarab took the prince away, and he was powerless to stop it.

********************************************* *

Beep... beep... beep...

The seconds were slowly ticking away as the lights of green went on and off in sync with them. The same word that had been blipping up before was still there, nothing else had happened in the rooms since Heka and the dark stranger had disappeared to other matters elsewhere. Besides the quiet beeps from inside the ox, the entire room was perfectly silent.

Or, for a little while it was anyway. From the loud shouting and explosions of the outside, the dark warehouse room seemed to glow richly in the light of the burning red fire. The walls and the crated, the dusty floor and even the object in the box seemed to be tinted in a deep cardinal haze, symbolizing what hardships the guardians were going through to rescue their prince.

First there were only shadows, then faint sounds could be heard. The world began to unfuzz from a deep darkness that had once stretched on forever and shrouded the world in peaceful silent. The entire Waterfront District was starting to warm up due to the incredibly large bonfire. Something that as well symbolized the approaching of a dreadful climax.

Unknowing to what was going on, where he was, what was making all the noise and whatnot, Rath was finally able to get the strength to open his eyes up and just view what was in front of him. Everything was a long blur, but that was better than the nothingness or unconsciousness that he was in before. Everything was so red then, even the shadows, the objects turned away from the rich light were of a dark chestnut.

Something was happening, that was apparent from the beginning, but for the life of him ( No pun intended here) he couldn't remember what. There didn't seem of a way to keep the world from going black once more, and it was quite threatening. The room went into an even greater blur, and the sounds of the waterfront receded. The darkness came back, and the other world was gone once more...

A huge crash exploded from behind, suddenly awakening the scribe with a close shock of reality. A large board blown off the nearby warehouse slammed into one of the already broken windows but created a loud break none the less. It fell against a nearby wooden crate before falling to the ground with a dull thud.

Probably feeling worse than he ever had before, Rath slowly got up to his feet, having to stop once and awhile so that the room would stop spinning so fast in front of him. Objects that were otherwise just large furry blobs began to take shape again and unfuzz as his senses came back, passing around images as the memories of the night came flooding back in full force.

There had been someone there, someone very powerful, but he didn't know who... they were at the waterfront trying to get the boy away from Scarab. Why had they been at the waterfront?...

Suddenly he remembered something, and as quickly as he could without making his headache even worse, Rath raced over to the large wooden crate to look inside of it for a second time. Everything in it looked the same, but with one large detail - the lights were blipping on and off in the reddish room, and one word throbbed in the middle of all them all.

Armed... armed... armed...

Quickly scanning over the object once more, everything was clear as crystal. Shouting and the such sounded from the broken windows and the scribe looked over his shoulder though he couldn't see that much through the small openings. They didn't know yet, they were still here.

Rath reached down and picked up the long serpent blade next to the crate and without a second thought to another ambush or extra Shabti along the way he quickly ran through the room towards the exit and the long hallway beyond to tell the rest of the guardians about what was about to happen if they didn't hurry.

********************************************* *

" Let me go!!" Presley shouted to his captor, not wanting to squirm too much but not liking the idea of staying high up there forever any better.

The sorcerer cast an evil snarl down at him. " I have been wondering something for the past few months young prince... do you really think that if you continued to say such things that I would obey?" In just an attempt to frighten the boy, Scarab dropped down close to a warehouse and then zipped up the top of it, taking pleasure as the boy cried out when he thought that they would crash into the building.

Still powerless on the ground Ja-kal looked up to see Scarab flying over the tops of their heads with Presley. He so wanted to do something, anything that could help him, but they were at his mercy now, only the prince could do something to save himself. It would be too risky to shoot them out of the sky.

Groggily, Lyris lifted her head up after being thrown back with the blast. Scattered shards of the old crates lay all around her, and from behind she could hear Kalia slowly getting up as well, just as jumbled as the muse was at that time. The area was a little fuzzy but she could see everything. The jackal guardian's eyes shot open as an ominous figure soared down from the thick smoke above and down towards Presley, who was on his back and at that time helpless.

" My... my prince!" She called out, suddenly jumping to her feet, wavering slightly and nearly falling over once more, but stayed standing on her golden clawed feet. Calling forth her long staff, the weapon materialized in front of her and she held fast to it, jutting forward in an attempt to help her deity. The long scythe blade sprang forth and Lyris jumped forward to push the prince out of the way.

One second too late.

Presley was grabbed from the ground and pulled up out of her reach. With a yell the muse jumped at the retreating Scarab, but missed and fell to the ground next to Armon by the lamppost.

All they could hear now was the sorcerer's evil laughter as he mocked them from above, threatening and terrorizing the prince's life as he zigzagged around in the sky. " What? Lost without your Pharaoh, guardians?" He called out to them as he turned around and began to buzz back in their direction. Presley's eyes were wide with fear when they turned sharply and thought that he was to fall back down into the roaring fire below.

With a groan, the gazelle guardian was able to get to her feet and looked up at the darkening sky. They had never been so outmatched by just Scarab and a few shabtis before. What was so different about this night? All of a sudden she saw a form with Scarab and gasped with fright as the prince squirmed in the sorcerer's clawed grip.

In an attempt to bring Scarab down, she readied her spear, retracted it and threw it up as high as she could towards her target. The gold blade cut through the hot air and headed directly towards him, but at the last minute the sorcerer turned sharply and instead of the spear hitting him dead on, he gripped it in his hand and just held onto it, still laughing at the irony of the situation.

" The one place that your prince is, and you cannot even get to him!" Scarab shouted, getting the urge to after all this time just stand up and gloat to those who had kept him from his prize for over two years. " You guardians have foiled my plans for the last time, now I am in control and I hold all the cards... and your prince." To anger them moreso, Scarab quickly let go of the boy just to hear him shout out as he felt himself fall. Though a moment later the sorcerer grabbed onto the back of his shirt and pulled him back once more.

Ja-kal clenched his fists in rage for Scarab's gloating. " We will never let you take our prince away! Not again, not in this lifetime!"

" That's the idea." Scarab whispered to himself as he though that it was too low for anyone to hear. Still held fast in the beetle armor, Presley caught that remark and furrowed his brow about it.

A second sound, like one of a deep fizzling started from the right of the now sparking warehouse. It was loud enough to draw the group's attentions away from each other for a moment and just focus on that one place. Seconds later, a wind picked up, viciously tearing at them and the guardians had no choice but to force themselves back to fit into the wind. Scarab and the prince were too above the ground to be blown away, but a large gust here and there hit them and blew them into the thick dark cloud of smoke.

From the ground there was a loud explosion of sound and then the fizzling that they had heard became one that they could see as a large dark light burst from it's foundation and up to the sky. It was dark, so it would have been difficult to see if not for the great deep blue sparkles shimmering all around with it. It looked almost like fireworks but were too dense and deep, it was like looking out at the heavens up close. The anomaly reached up to the atmosphere, and then suddenly split apart in hundreds of directions with bright shoots of light bouncing around in the night sky. It was quite breathtaking when the beams sprang around the deep city of San Francisco and then later fell away from sight at the horizons.

" Who's having the party?!" The artist exclaimed once the lights had faded and the sky was once again simply a mix of dark clouds and twinkling stars. She was getting a really bad feeling about this now, how everything almost seemed to stop and all lay quiet.

Meanwhile, high above their heads the sorcerer felt a twinge of adrenaline at the sight of the large blast. " Finally," He spoke loudly, neverminding who heard him now. " The time has come, the signal."

Presley looked up at him, this time more angry than scared. " What are you talking about? What signal?! What are you doing?!!"

Scarab looked down at the prince whom he still had under his arm. " Don't worry Rapses, no harm will come to you... yet. Just sit back and enjoy the marvelous view." Somehow the boy knew that the statement meant more than what was brought forth.

The five guardians, after looking out at the spectacle had unfortunately lost track of where Scarab and Presley had flown to. They were busy searching around the sky with their eyes while contemplating how to get him back from the sorcerer.

Ja-kal couldn't seem to concentrate on just one spot in the sky. All he could think about was how he had let the prince fall into the hands of Scarab once again, just like he had those thousands of years ago. If anything happened to him now because the leader had been so foolish than he wound never be able to look at himself again.

Suddenly the hawk guardian looked up to hear his name being called out. At first he hoped that it was their prince, but then realized that it couldn't have been, it was a different voice altogether. Quickly he nearly spun around to face who it was, not wanting to waste a second not searching for their lost deity.

Ja-kal's eyes narrowed at the approaching form . " Rath, where have you been?! We've been..."

Rushing out away from the warehouse and into the open where the rest of the guardians were stationed, the scribe didn't waste any time in trying to get the leader to listen to reason. " We have to get out of here!" He exclaimed in an urgent tone, cutting off Ja-kal's statement. He knew that he would have to do alot of explaining afterwards, but the most important thing was to get them all away from the area.

As if not even listening to him, the hawk guardian shook his head quickly and turned away to keep watch on the skies. " No, we can't just yet, Prince Rapses is..."

" We can get him later!" Impatiently, Rath grabbed Ja-kal's arm and pulled him around to face him once more, with probably more force than he should have allowed at that time. The leader wasn't just angered by this, but a wave of astonishment ran through his eyes. This was completely out of character for him.

After seeing the huge blast of energy from the north side of the warehouse district, Scarab seemed much more consumed with what was going on on the ground and less with the prince. Presley couldn't put his finger on why exactly, but he had a feeling deep down inside of him that he probably didn't want to know why.

Though, instead of flying away scot free like he was accustomed to doing, the sorcerer did something unusual for him- with one large swooping motion in the dark skies he flew down to the earth, finally landing on the roof of the nearby warehouse which had been taking a beating by their battle. His long clawed feet clanged hard on the metal roof and he dropped the boy to his feet as well, but still held onto his arm to make sure that his prize would not escape.

Scarab snickered at the group... it seemed that even through the urgency of the situation, an argument might have occurred with them instead of with himself. It was comforting to know that success was so close to him now.

" Our first obligation is to our prince, I shall not leave him here for Scarab to destroy!..." Ja-kal took a stand to what he believed in, pulling away from Rath's grasp and giving the scribe a look as to perhaps he had gone crazy or something. " Why would we ever do differently?!"

Before Rath had a chance to reply, what he had come there to do in the first place, a long, loud evil laugh echoed over their heads and across the San Francisco bay it seemed. They six looked up high over their group, past the raging red fire still burning into the night, over towards the warehouse roof to their far rights. There they could see Rapses, still held fast by Scarab standing there. The sorcerer had on a smug look, of course. It was fitting to how he was going to tell them the downfall of their ways.

" Let the boy go, or mark my words sorcerer, you will have to deal with our anger and strength!" The hawk guardian yelled up to him, still thinking of ways to retrieve Presley from Scarab's clutches.

" You poor pathetic fools." He mocked, only tightening his grip on the prince. " Terrible excuses for guardians, that is what you are and there is no further point in denying it. To think that all these years of fighting against each other could have been resolved with only a few moments of thought from you all, but no! For you Ja-kal had to be the true leader, the one who had to keep for the boy, neverminding that your protectiveness would only lead to his downfall. How all this time if you were to think for a moment of the crystal pyramid by the bay that all of this would have been resolved for you long ago. But your time had come and gone, you refused to take that which you have been given and now it is I which will claim my prize and the immortality that I have searched for for fifty lifetimes!"

" You shall never be immortal Scarab!" Lyris couldn't contain her anger for his ranting another minute and spoke up with her scythe still drawn. " By the prayers of Anubis and the watching of Ra, we will not allow it!"

" You do not have a choice in the matter you little runt!" The sorcerer shot back, his heightened sense of triumph already making him feel immortal. Just to prove his point moreso, he pulled Presley in a little closer to his person, and held the prince by both arms, directly in front of him to act as a shield. " Shoot me down, but take your Pharaoh down with me."

" The coward!" Kalia exclaimed, wanting to just take one good aim at him, but would have been unable to anyway now. Without looking away from the sight, she spoke to the leader a little more quietly. " Ja-kal, what do we do now?"

It was the one question that he had dreaded that entire ordeal. They couldn't fight, they couldn't compromise. They were truly at a stalemate with Scarab, the first time that they have been outmatched without a chance of hope that they could fall upon. " We..." He began, choosing between the path that he didn't want to take, and the one that he knew wouldn't work. " ... we have no choice but to fight him for the prince's life."

" No!" Rath exclaimed once more, once pushed back into the shadows when Scarab had appeared, but still held onto what he knew. " Ja-kal, though it seems like the last thing we should do, we must fall back, now!"

The leader still couldn't believe and refused to acknowledge what he was saying. " We will stand and fight." He stated slowly, his voice gathering up all the sterness and supremacy that it could muster. Though he knew that it would never happen, he still could not afford a mutiny on this venture.

" Perhaps, but somewhere else." The scribe still pushed on, finally taking a stand forward and giving the leader an urgent look behind the cobra armor. They were almost neck and neck now, ready to make or break what they were going to do. How the prince's destiny would come out.

" It is of the utmost importance that we leave this place, now, as fast as we possibly can." Rath spoke to him in a near whisper, so that the sorcerer wouldn't hear what they were discussing.

" Rapses will be at the mercy of Scarab, it is our duty not to let that happen!..."

" We can retrieve him from..."

" Until I hear of a reason why we must dishonor ourselves and leave them be, than we will stand and fight to the very end..."

" Scarab's got a bomb!" He just shouted it out, anything to stop the infernal bickering that no doubt the conversation had turned to. It was to just come out and say it... and by doing so, it seemed so much more real.

Nefer-tina, still lost from her helmet of Bastet seemed to snap into some sort of trance. Her eyes grew wide and almost blanked over by the very word. " Wh-what? A bomb? Scarab's got a bomb?!"

Rath rolled his eyes. Finally, after minutes of trying to get everyone to listen to reason, now they listen. " Yes, in the next warehouse over from this one in the back room, in a crate..." His voice didn't show any signs of his agitation towards it, rather more urgency and exhaustion than anything else.

Lyris could felt her mouth agape at this information, but it began to fit the remaining pieces of the puzzle into her mind. " That was why this area was so heavily guarded..." She whispered to herself, feeling a new sense of fear creeping into her chest.

" And why the battle lasted for so long." The artist finished up her sentence, placing a hand on her large gold and rose collar, overlapping the small pyramid-shaped emblem on the front. " He was... he was just playing with us all along."

The frog in her throat never left as Nefer-tina looked up to the prince with scared eyes. " But Scarab isn't there to detonate it, he wouldn't, not with Presley around."

" It's been armed, there must be another way of detonating it."

Armon, unnerved by the news as much as everyone else still clung to an inch of hope that he had left. " This bomb... it's just a little one, right? It could take out a few warehouses, and the dock..."

Rath crossed his arms in front of him and looked down at the cement ground, still littered by debris from the fire. " Try..." He sighed. " Try the entire Bay district of San Francisco."

" What?!" Ja-kal's astonished voice startled everyone, who before that were just standing in shock from the news. The world was standing still at the moment, the mention of the bomb in the warehouse like a watch hand slowly coming to a stop.

" Ja-kal, it's the size of a straw wagon," He contemplate, looking up from the ground to the still standing figures of Scarab and Rapses in the darkening sky. Loud thunder suddenly erupted from the sky, giving the impression that city was due for some rain shortly. It was unusual, especially because beside of the large black clouds pouring from the smoldering rubble there was not a cloud in the sky. " The even better reason to leave here as quickly as we can."

The leader, though no one could see it because of the golden armor and the long hawk beak that extended over his face, had a very pained look running over his features then. " I will not leave my prince to fend for himself against such impossible odds." He glanced sharply at Rath. " Especially if there is the threat of an explosion."

Meanwhile, high above this, the sorcerer was through playing games with them. He looked around at their surroundings, wondering how long it would take for him to gain control of his most prizes weapon. Presley, seeing that he was occupied with other ideas tried in a desperate attempt to struggle free, but was once again held back by the long talons of the beetle armor.

Struggling with the heavy object still secured in her mouth, Heka squirmed the last few feet up the fire escape ladder, and found her way onto the roof of the nearest warehouse that she could see. The serpent had figured that since Scarab had been on the once next to it, and that one was now burning the pavement it would have been best to get to the nearest position that she could to signal him. What a shock it was to finally get up onto the roof and find that her master was already there, saving her the trouble of searching for him.

" Saha? Wha a uh doi hea?" She asked the sorcerer, quickly slithering up towards him from behind. The metal in her mouth was starting to give her a stomach ache from the awful taste and she was thrilled at the chance to get rid of it earlier than expected.

Scarab turned around after hearing some commotion from behind him. The golden cobra wound itself over the seams of the long metal roof, all the while carrying something in her long serpentine mouth. When he looked at her, and the object, his mouth curled up into a half sneer-smile, probably as close to an actual smile that he could get. Scarab sharply turned around and with his free hand, grabbed the snake and what she held. Heka wound herself around her master's neck, and dropped the watch-like contraption into his outstretched palm.

" Yes!" He almost shouted, a step closer to his day of freedom. Presley, still in the dark about the entire plan didn't know what was amiss, but if Scarab was happy about it, he knew that he would be against it.

" So, what's that?!" He almost demanded, not showing any of the fear he felt in his voice.

The sorcerer mearly looked down at him, still the gross expression showing all over. " My liberation... and yours Rapses." The prince frowned at this, but once more didn't have any time to argue with him before he was caught up in the long spiny arm unable to move.

Pulling back the outer portion of his armor, Scarab revealed two small skeletal wings, which quickly began to quiver. They in turn lifted all of himself, Presley and Heka into the air, only feet above the warehouse roof.

" I would really love to stay and finish this," He called down to them with a snicker. " But destiny awaits us all, and I am not one to keep it waiting." He rose higher into the sky, holding the electronic device in his left clawed hand. " Enjoy the afterlife once more Guardians of Rapses... I cannot say that it was a pleasure."

" Scarab!" Nefer-tina shouted as loud as she could, making her throat hoarse by it. She gripped it with her pawed glove and began to feel the stink of tears welling into her eyes with the ideas that were racing through her mind. " Bring him back now!"

" Guys! Ja-kal!" Presley yelled down to them as the beetle-armored man soared ever higher into the starry sky. The six of them were all but specks in the distance now, and the boy wondered if they could even hear them. Even if they were to come after them, there would be no way that they could have traveled such a distance on foot.

" Rapses!" Ja-kal called to his deity, knowing that for the second time he had failed his prince. The distant forms of them were shrouded in the darkness of the night and it was hard to spot them after they had left the waterfront area entirely.

Kalia watched as they flew out of sight, not absorbing as much guilt as the rest of them, but still feeling an obligation to do more for Presley. He was a great kid, nothing like this should have ever come to befall him, leaving like that... Her eyes widened with a new type of panic and she couldn't help but tremble. " They left... he left us, he left us behind! Oh gods, the bomb, he left us behind!..."

" Ja-kal, now!" Rath shouted at the leader, still consumed with the loss of their prince. Ja-kal seemed to be in some sort of trance for a moment, but then snapped out of it quite suddenly. There was a threat upon themselves now, either they retreated, unlike anything they had ever done before, or face and unwelcome fate as Scarab had said.

He was holding the cards now. Quickly, the hawk guardian looked them all over quickly just to make sure they were all there, and then pointed out away from the horizon, over warehouses and around corners. " To the HotRa!" He ordered loudly, starting to race towards the machine himself, all to get away from the area before it was too late.

********************************************* *

Scarab led his long clawed finger over the main portion of the contraption, the eagerness in his non-existent soul getting the better of him. He wanted to get it over with, now, but knew that in order for him and his prize to be safe they would have to travel a little bit farther.

Presley still squirmed in his grip, this time no longer caring if he fell down to the earth below. Anything could have been better than what the sorcerer wanted for him, even if he didn't want him killed.

" Let me go!" He shouted into the beetle-clad figure's ear for the seventh time in the last few seconds. The boy tried to get one of his arms free, but still couldn't move around at all.

Heka, still wound around her master's neck gave him a sly serpentine smile. " Will you just shut up! You're missing the view." She silently slithered down from his neck and ever so carefully wound her long gold body around Scarab's arm. Her nose was nearly connecting with the small apparatus which he held and the smile never faded. " In a few moments it'll all be over anyway.

The sorcerer shook is arm, causing the cobra to cry out, quickly retreat from his appendage and return to her little spot behind his head. " Perhaps you are the one that should shut up Heka, before you feel yourself flying down to a cement grave."

Presley looked up at Scarab with a sneer, one unlike he had ever given him before. " Alright, that's it! You keep talking about secret plans and signals and stuff, what's going on?!!"

" Wouldn't you like to know." Heka exclaimed once more before her master gave out another of his unhappy frowns.

The sorcerer gave the prince an unflavoured grin, and began to slow down in the clear night sky. Pretty soon, he could feel himself stop to a dead halt in the spiny arm's grip. Below them they could see the tops of lit business buildings, car lights as they passed along the roads and even the Golden Gate bridge in the distance. And the warehouse that they had been at only a minute ago was a small speck of sand in the tapestry of the city.

" I think we've waiting long enough," Scarab thought out loud, hovering there in the air for a second or two before continuing. " Let's see if all of this hard work and preparation have paid off for us." He glanced at the golden serpent with the same grin, but with different meaning along with it.

With his long taloned thumb, the sorcerer lifted up a very small plastic covering for a large red button on the apparatus. Small green lights blipped on and off on the thing, and there were along with the button two switches marked off at the time.

" Have you ever heard of Hiroshima young Rapses?" Scarab asked incoherently, quietly switching the first lever down. The tiny red light that was on top of that one suddenly switched green below it. Presley gave him a puzzled look, not knowing what he was talking about. Why would Scarab be talking of a place in Japan?

The sorcerer flicked the second small switch down, an identical blip turning green below it. There was nothing left to do now but push the large red button in the center. Scarab breathed in greatly. He had waited so long for this moment, and now that it was there he wanted to bask in the glory as much as he could.

" Well, you're about to get a small demonstration of it now." He finished, exaggerating his motions as he raised up his pointing finger, and very slowly headed down towards the beacon. Just lightly tapping his finger on the button, he waited still for a reaction from the boy, but never got one. His mouth curled into an unholy smile as he applied pressure to the button, quietly sending it down, and reshaping destiny.

Beep...

********************************************* *

Jumping over another fallen lamppost, Lyris's golden clawed feet scrapped across the cement as she ran. They had gone through so many twists and turns that it was impossible to know where they were then, but Nefer-tina was leading the way, and there was no chance in Hell that she would ever misplaced her horse-less chariot.

" How long does it take to get to the HotRa from there?!" Rath shouted out in front of him with a sigh of exasperation. " Why did you park so far away?!"

" Hey, maybe there was a big large gate that it couldn't get through, and SOMEONE didn't want me to dent it again!" The charioteer yelled back, quickly rounding a corner to find a long avenue of quiet warehouses along each side of it.

" Great! And now we're lost! Lost in a nuclear Holocaust!" Kalia shouted, stopping directly behind the cat guardian and throwing her hands up in despair. " I'm sooooo glad you're all here, I wouldn't know what to do..."

" Stop it! Everyone!" Ja-kal's stern voice echoed along the deserted street, through windows and walls. " We will accomplish nothing standing here and arguing! We must get to the HotRa, and then go and retrieve Rapses from Scarab!" He glanced down an alley to his right, even now the red tint to the area from the fire was still quite apparent. He pointed down it urgently. " Down here!"

The six ran down the long alley separating a newer warehouse, unlike the ones that they had been in closer to the water, and a drying shed used for stacking newly-delivered fish and sealife. Empty sacks and garbage cans were what littered there, and a tall gritted gate at the end with the words " No Trespassing!" painted sloppily on a wooden sign.

" We can cut it down!" Lyris shouted, ready to raise her scythe and break the barrier down by it's hinges on the two buildings.

" That will take too long!" Ja-kal told her, noticing the great width of the metal keeping it in place. The people that didn't want anyone breaking into that gate were quite fond of their work, it showed. He pointed to Armon. " Quickly, we must get over this gate!"

The warrior smiled at the though. " No problem." He set himself well into the ground and placed his hands together below him as a foothold to get everyone over the fence.

" Works for me!" Nefer-tina shouted, being the first one to try the idea out. She nearly jumped into the foothold, and milliseconds later was pushed from underneath and propelled high into the air, over the fence, and nearly over the roof of the storing house. The cat guardian fell to the ground from a tall height, but was able to land with both feet square on the dirt.

She looked through the strong wire mesh towards Kalia. " See, cats do land on their feet."

The artist rolled her eyes sarcastically. " Really Nefer-tina, now is not the time." Crouching down, the gazelle guardian gathered as much strength as she could, and suddenly jumped into the air, clearing the wall completely, and landing beside the charioteer on the other side, skidding to a halt and almost falling over herself.

" And.. up!" Armon exclaimed as he pushed Lyris's thin figure through the air just like he had Nefer-tina's and the jackal-clad guardian soared into the air momentarily before landing in a crouching pose on the ground on the other side.

After knowing that the three of them were safe on the other side, Ja-kal turned to Rath. He had exhaustion as well as intense urgency in his voice, and this obstacle wasn't making matters better. " How much longer do we have before..."

::: " Armed... armed...armed... Beginning Detonation..." ::: *

" It can be detonated at any time... if Scarab has the detonator." The scribe told him truthfully, though he wished that it wasn't true. They could have been gone at anytime, though clearly they had been given time to spare probably so that Scarab and his minions could clear the area first. Either that, or he was toying with them once more.

::: " Beginning Detonation... awaiting orders..." ::: *

Knowing that Ja-kal probably wouldn't go before him, Rath took Armon's makeshift foothold and was thrown into the air, propelled over the tall metal gate to the other side. The warrior looked back at Ja-kal, ready for the final person to thrust over the barrier. Looking back at where they had come once more, the hawk guardian agreed and quickly rushed over to him to make it over to the other side.

::: " Destruction in 5 seconds... 4... 3... 2..." ::: *

" Hurry guys!" Nefer-tina exclaimed loudly, grabbing the mesh of the iron fence with her clawed fingers. " We have to get out of here as soon as possible!"

::: " 1..." ::: *

Ja-kal's form flew through the air and was almost ready to skid against the cement on the other side of the gate. Now that everyone was cleared to the other side, Armon jumped up and with his long golden arm, gripped the very top of the barrier to pull himself over.

::: " Detonation complete... Lock!" ::: *

The spectacle was what hit them first, not the sound. All eyes were closed in on one large ball of light, it's splendor reaching over the large warehouses and lampposts. It was almost like it was made entirely of one translucent essence, inside of it all the colors of the rainbow twisted and turned around and around, entwining and bunching. Large rings of energy pulsated from it as the bomb went off, chipping the roofs off of buildings and wooden boards off the sides of old warehouses.

Nefer-tina held the iron mesh in her hand and looked up, saw the light and then... nothing.

Kalia retracted her spear with the approach of something coming, turned around, saw the light and then... nothing.

Lyris, with her golden claws still wrapped around the long wooden staff looked up into the sky to view the stars once more, saw the light and then... nothing.

Rath twisted his gold cobra tail around him automatically after hitting the ground, turned just in time to view the bright luminescence through the iron gate, saw the light and then... nothing.

Armon gripped the top of the iron gate to pull himself over, caught the light of the blast from the reflection of a window and then... nothing.

Ja-kal flew through the air and twisted around just as the luminescence passed over the surrounding area. The leader faced it as it came at them, not even being able to touch the ground again as the light overcame them.

And then... nothing.

The power swept over the ground, ripping up foundations, tearing through sidewalks. Lightpoles and cars were reduced to particles as the large blast ran through them, tearing apart the very fabric of what they were made. Cement was no match for it, rolls and carpets of it were savagely pulled from their foundation, flying through the air only to be burned up in the searing heat milliseconds later. The fire of the warehouse in front of the bay was extinguished immediately and left behind nothing but the cold hard ground of it twenty feet below. Earth, rock, fire and metal combined to produce an explosion to rival almost all as it pulled apart the Riverfront District in a mass of light and heat...

********************************************* *

The tiny button suddenly turned bright red as Scarab pressed it down into the machine. Presley looked out towards the water and the bridge from where they once had been. Everything seemed so quiet and serene there, besides the faint glow of the warehouse flickering on and off by the bay. The boy gave Scarab a confused look, still not knowing what he was talking about.

Then, he saw it. From one of the waterfront buildings, a tiny light hardly the size of a pin in his eyes came on and in an instant as if no time had passed at all, it grew greater and greater into one large fireball. A loud bang passed over them, breaking through the sound barrier transcending over the city below as the large ball of light began to grow. There was a low rumbling under the earth of the skyscrapers and highways. Waves of energy pulsated through the first half of the city, but rang out in the second half. The light intensed more and more with each second, never an end to it's luminescence and was so great that the three high in the air had to turn away just to keep from going blind. They were pushed back by a blanket of heat over them, a searing heat.

After the sound had quieted down slightly, Presley opened his eyes in shock, panic welling inside of him as to what could have happened. The light from the waterfront had vanished, and the only thing that remained there was fire raging on at the very limits of a large, deep gaping hole burrowing into the earth. The sights of warehouses or even the long road that made it's way down there were completely gone, dissolved in the great power of the bomb set off in the center of the intensity.

The prince's mouth dropped open, still in shock. They had been there, not a minute ago they had been there. He had left his guardians there as the three of them had flown away into the night.

His heart sank suddenly at what he had just witnesses. It was almost like the very bottom of his soul had been pulled apart with the buildings in the blast, and all that was left behind was himself, alone, alone in the clutches of evil.

" No..." He whispered to himself, hardly able to get the words out to describe how he felt. There couldn't have been enough time for them to get away from that, his guardians, they couldn't have been... His breath quickened and his heart beat faster, a large pain welling in his stomach.

" No!" He just screamed right out, trying frantically to push himself away from the person that was responsible for this torture. " No! Ja-kal!! Nefer-tina!!!" Presley shouted as loud as he could, fortunately being able to free his left arm, but all he could do with it he realized is pound hard on the long spiny arm that held him so high up. " No guys!! NO!"

The sorcerer saw what his handiwork had done and didn't even bother hiding the long, wicked smile which made him feel so good. After all of this time it was all over, there would be no more fighting for his immortality, or even his mortality after he thought about it. And all it took was a press of a button.

" And that was that." Scarab told himself, starting to smirk now. The smirk transformed in a chuckle which in turn reached the pinnacle of loud, long laughter. He threw his head back and shouted to the sky of his victory in the destruction of his enemies. The voice reigned over the atmosphere, shot down by the skies only to be brought up again in a cry of triumph.

Presley still could not believe what he had saw. The light was gone, but the image was so different. He had a kick of reality now, something that would haunt him for the rest of his days. " No!" He still screamed, his eyes welling up with tears never disappearing. The prince heard the evil laughing behind him, and once more became angry.

" Scarab! Scarab, you did this to them!!" The boy suddenly began to kick and hit and shake around faster and harder than he had ever done before. The sorcerer would pay for all the suffering that he had caused, and Presley wanted to take out his frustrations on him first. With his feet he kicked back at the beetle armor and with his free hand he punched the long arm. He still kept shouting the name, screaming and swearing for what he was feeling, the tears now falling from his eyes and he never bothered to wipe them away from his face.

Scarab looked down at the boy that he held, quickly squirming around in his steady grip. He stopped his laughter and just kept the sickening smile. Perhaps now the boy wouldn't be so cocky when he was spoken to about fate. " Ah yes young Rapses, I know." He tried to sound as sincere as possible, but still had a very sarcastic tone which wasn't at all comforting. " You will miss Ja-kal's guidance, Rath's teachings, Armon's training... Nefer-tina's sense of humor, Kalia's arts of the world, and Lyris..." He thought for a moment, just to keep the tension between them as thick as possible. " ... she had such a wonderful voice, didn't she?"

" Scarab!" Presley shouted, using his free arm to elbow the ancient sorcerer in the chest. The beetle armor protected him of course, but Scarab was delighted in the pleasure that he was getting from this moment.

" That was great... can we go home now?" Heka asked, somehow not as thrilled as she had thought she would be at the destruction of the guardians. The gold snake unwound herself a little bit from her foundation and looked at the sorcerer with pleading eyes. " One more gust of wind, and I'll be history."

Scarab thought about coming back to the sarcastic cobra, but decided that perhaps it would have been best if they returned to the large glass pyramid beside the bay. " I see no problems in that, now that our mummy problems are no more, there is no reason not to get on with what I have tried to accomplish for over three thousand years." He cast an evil eye down at Presley, still angered and violent towards him. " Come young Rapses, it is time to meet your destiny."

" Scarab! You won't get away with this!!" Presley screamed at him, still kicking and punching at him to relieve all the pain welling in his chest.

Suddenly angered, the sorcerer grabbed the boy by the collar and held him up to eye level. He was not going to have him squirming around like this on the flight home. " And why not young one? Your guardians are gone! Destroyed in a blast that would have blown apart the Western Gate! You have no choice but to follow me, for you are alone and helpless now!"

Presley was about to say more, about to strike out at him with the kicking again... but held back. Scarab's words were beyond cruel, they made him feel ten times worse and moreso. But he was right. He saw the blast, felt the searing heat against them even from miles away. The sound and the power... there couldn't have been any way that they could have escaped.

Sensing what was going through the boy's mind, Scarab grinned in a satisfied way. He grabbed the prince around the waist again, making sure to hold his arms against him so that no more punching would continue. " Come Heka, let's go home. I feel like being an immortal today."

The prince watched as the view from below began to speed by again, the wind on him, even now still warm by the blast rushed past quickly, and the three headed back out to the bay. He saw how large the hole was, it spanned miles, it must have. It was a large, dark hole, and parts of it were even filling up with water from the ocean rushing into it after being pushed away by the explosion.

Unable to look at it anymore, Presley turned away, still with that heartache that refused to leave him. They were gone, he didn't know how hard it was to truly lose those whom you cared about the most, until then...

********************************************* *

The tall skylight was already open, prepared for their return to the large pyramid-shaped business building on the other side of the Golden Gate bridge. There were no stars twinkling through it, the tinted glass made sure of that, but through that open window, a light cool breeze drifted into the very top floor of the building.

With another yawn, Ammut stretched himself out on the tile floor. He was lying next to Scarab's tall statue of the Underworld God Anubis, occasionally scratching himself to rid the itch of fleas that he had received somehow. Panting then, the animal turned to lie on it's back and return to the sleep from which it had been awakened.

The sound of approaching voices came to his ears, and Ammut was up and frisky in a second, jumping around and barking loudly. The strange dog raced out of the room, and into a larger one, the one which housed the sloping skylight, the computers, large surveillance sets and whatnot. He jumped playfully around the open window, but then quit waiting around for his master to a game of chasing his tail.

A small buzzing sound became apparent, and then as if out of the blue Scarab's sinister form appeared through the skylight. Ammut looked up at him, but seemed interested in his tail, and began to chase it once more.

" The world seems so different now Heka." The sorcerer announced as his first new words since they had flown over the large hole that was once the Waterfront District. His long talons clicked on the tile floor as he landed, and instantly afterwards, the gold snake uncoiled herself from the back of his armor and fell in a heap on the floor.

" Yeah, it hurts alot more." She commented, her head slowly lifting itself off the floor and wavering side to side.

Scarab grinned, and dropped Presley onto the ground as well. " And now young Rapses, you will help me gain immortality, such as you were always meant to."

Presley backed up on the floor, still with the hateful look in his eyes. He reached a hand around to see if he was still wearing his backpack, which contained his boomera. He wasn't, there wasn't any way to defend himself.

The beetle-clad sorcerer stepped forwards, his form slumping over and looking even more of a threat this way. He took another step towards the boy, all the while a dark shadow falling upon Presley. Carefully, Scarab reached down to begin his well-rehearsed soul transference spell to finally become immortal.

" Really Scarab, can't you wait five minutes after getting home before playing with your new toy?" The sorcerer sneered over to a large corner of the room. There, hidden in the shadows was a pair of elevator doors, never moving, hardly ever in use. Suddenly, the shiny metal doors began to change, not in appearance but in state. They became like a pool of water and the crease in-between the two vanished completely. From the gel-like precipus came a figure clothed in dark navy, a long cape flowing down around him as he entered the room.

" What are you doing here? I would have thought that the blast would have scared you off." Scarab told the stranger with a hate-filled glance.

" Is that any way to treat a houseguest?" The intruder walked out from behind the shadows that shrouded him, a thin chuckle escaping his throat once he fully immerged into the light. Presley's eyes widened with recognition as everything that had happened that night suddenly became clear to him. How they could have been outmatched in battle.

" Avaris, if I had needed your help I would have called upon you myself." The sorcerer told him, almost forgetting about the prince still being there under his talons. He turned towards the other man, only the watchful gaze from Heka keeping Presley from trying anything behind Scarab's back.

Avaris walked out into the room silently, only the sounds of his footsteps showing that there was anyone there. He looked back to Scarab, the humor now gone from his face as well as his voice. " And let me remind you that if it wasn't for me you would be at this very moment sulking in the shadows somewhere about the loss of yet another battle against Rapses' guardians."

" I was the one that prepared everything! I had the power and the equipment to do away with them!..."

" But you didn't have the know-how." The dark man grabbed at the bottom of his cape, and threw it over the opposite shoulder. " You may as well face it Scarab, it was my idea, and..." He raised his voice greatly, letting it echo throughout the room. " ... if it hadn't been for my watching over the bomb the guardians would have known about it far earlier than expected."

The sorcerer stood there for a moment, still in the beetle armor which he hadn't taken off yet. Presley watched them with actual interest, yet occasionally glanced to his right to see if Heka was still watching him. Her sleek cobra eyes lay on him as well as the feuding couple, making it impossible for the prince to escape anywhere.

Scarab suddenly transformed back into his older, more human-like form, a great flash of purple light engulfing him, and leaving behind an ancient, hunching sorcerer wearing a long gray covering and tall hat. " Fine then, take the credit for the destruction of the guardians, see if I care." Scarab turned around to face Rapses once more. Apparently he had realized that he wasn't to blame for the destruction of the mummies, but hadn't wanted to say so.

Avaris gave him a smug look, realizing this also. " So, what are you going to do now?"

" What I was attempting to do when you so rudely interrupted me!" He snapped back, just looking over his shoulder before returning his evil gaze on Presley. " To gain my immortality before it's too late."

Avaris thought for a moment, and then walked away from the center of the room in the direction of Scarab and Rapses. " Oh yes, that's right, your supposed 3500-year birthday of fifty lifetimes is coming up. Well then, lucky thing for you that I came along."

In an annoyed manner, Scarab turned around. " Will you please stop milking your victory Avaris?! If you want someone to hear you gloat go find yourself a talking parrot. I have work to do."

He held his hands out in defense. " Scarab, whatever you are now going to attempt to do, don't let me stand in your way."

The sorcerer nodded, and turned back around to see Presley. The boy began to back away from his gaze once more, but Heka unwound herself and crept up behind him, hissing under her breath as he receded.

" Rapses, I have waited for this for thousands of years." Scarab told him, holding his hands up to begin the spell which he had written clear in his mind for millennia. Bright sparks began to pulsate in the center of his arms over his head. The light was so bright that the rest of the room seemed to dull down in comparison to it.

" Spirit of Rapses..."

********************************************* *

The images that they saw before them were curling around in a great mass of bright yellow clouds. They showed what was going on beyond their domain, what was happening in the outside world. And they were horrifying indeed. A huge explosion, engulfing the entire front portion of San Francisco's bayside front, vaporizing the very ground from which people stood on. How the six that they had been watching were suddenly overcome by the flames and the sheer power of the blast, never again a trace of them showing when the light receded. How the Pharaoh prince was carried away in the arms of true evil incarnate.

" This is what we have to deal with." A booming male voice announced over a small stone room lit with torches gleaming by the walls. There was a high roof on this room, and apart from the tall form that sat in the very front and tallest chair, six other forms sat on finely decorated thrones as they watched the images.

The man, who seemed to wear only the brightest of gold amulets, armor and even cloth held his hand up at the swirling picture cloud. Instantly the images vanished and the mist vaporized, leaving behind nothing but thin air wafting through the room. The man put his hand down on the arm of his large throne and gazed upon the others there.

" This happened only minutes ago in the modern, outside world." He told them, speaking with supremacy. " It was carried out, not by an act of ours, but of another. Another which has well threatened the very world as we know it."

" The prince was suppose to be cared for for at least another seventeen years, until his father Amenhotep could gain enough power to leave the Gate and retrieve him." A low feminine voice spoke from the figure sitting to the very far left of the chairman. She was dressed in gold, just like he was, and wore strands of purple and rose cloth over a deep mauve dress. What was the most unusual about this figure however, was her face, which took the shape of a dark African gazelle. Two long black horns grew from above her eyes, topping over a tall gold hat that she wore.

The leading figure nodded. " Yes, I realize this. The very essence that we've based destiny on has been ripped apart without even a second thought from these people."

" Scarab's evil has transcended upon the world, there is no way that we could have prevented it, but there must have been a way of getting around the fact." Another announced, this time he sat in the center of the six in the semi-circle. He was dressed in linen of white and blue, a headdress of gold on his head. Such as the last, his face wasn't human, instead it took the shape of an ancient hawk. It was Horus, son of Osiris.

" There was no way that we could have foreseen this. There was none of the ancient magic involved... we from the Western Gate did not know what was about to happen before it was too late, after the explosive had been set off." A third announced, this time from the seat next to the falcon god. He wore the same style of headdress with gold and emerald, a long collar around his neck.

" Something must be done, otherwise we shall dread the inevitable." A tall god with the head of a bull sat to the far right of the chairman, a long gold sword held tightly in his hand. " We must go out and make our case clear to those on the outside."

The tall gold one shook his head from side to side once more. " As the supreme Egyptian Gods, we cannot interfere with the outside world unless we are called upon by someone there." His glance shot towards the two silent figures to the left of Horus." Such as a few of us have in the past."

Two long gold ears perked up at the mention of this. " It wasn't my fault, I was brought to the earth by Scarab and Set." Anubis, Lord of the Dead told his master truthfully. " I would have rather stayed behind here."

" But you still visited the outside and therefore you have insight to what it is like out there." The gazelle goddess Anuket told him, looking across the lap of the Cat Goddess Bastet to catch his glimpse.

The first god, the one sitting in the tall throne suddenly stood up and held his hand up for them all to quiet down. They complied, and soon the room was perfectly silent. " The waters are growing out of control, churned by the blackened waves and spreading across the globe as we speak. The earth splits with anger as the ancient ways are pulled away from it and left solitary and remaining to just one single being. This cannot be, it will alter the balance of the world as we know it, and it has already."

" Then what are we to do?" Horus asked, inclined to stand up from his jewel-increased throne to fact the higher god. " If by the destruction of the Pharaoh prince brings about the downfall of the world, then surely we must be able to handle it, such as we have with the destinies of every Egyptian in the past..."

" Destinies are being tampered with here, a law that no one could have possibly dreamt could happen." The god next to him, the scribe god Thoth told them all, this time actually standing up from his seat to address the party. " Perhaps it is not us that controls the souls of those lost... perhaps there is a part of their existence that we have overlooked."

Bastet arose with the example given by Thoth. She looked at the tall golden god with her wide feline eyes, placed her hands together in front of her. " My liege, if you grant us leave, I am certain that we would be able to rid the world of Scarab once and for all..."

" ... and in the process become involved with human affairs." The bull god Khnumn interrupted, letting the sword that he held rest gently against the side of his chair. " We cannot do that."

" So what are we going to do then?" Anubis asked the group, getting right down to the point of the matter. " Ra, how are we going to accomplish what we are unable to do?"

The tallest god was indeed Ra, watcher of the lands of Egypt, the practical father of the Egyptian race. His armor and gold linen shimmered in the dull light from the yellow torches lining the walls, and his face showed understanding yet sterness to the rest of his followers. " We gods once thought that we were the ones that shaped the destinies of our followers. You six have been called here because out of the nine souls now living in the modern world, you are the the patron gods of the six guardians of Prince Rapses."

" We seem not to be doing our jobs, seeing as how our followers are no more." Anuket replied in a saddened tone, yet never showing any emotion on her face.

" It wasn't our fault, we were stuck in the Western Gate while that was going on." Anubis told her, holding his hands up in defense and shrugging his shoulders.

" The guardians were never meant to be destroyed." Ra's voice suddenly grew louder and more stern, creating a huge echo in the small stone room. " They were meant to stay on earth until Scarab's time was up, and then there would have been no threat to the prince. They could have returned home..."

" But now this." Thoth told him still standing, holding an arm up to prove his point further. " Which is why I say that we could not have been in control of their souls."

Bastet pointed to him from her red and gold throne. " It wasn't the guardians that we had to worry about. It was that wretch Scarab..."

" We are getting nowhere this way." Ra told them, sitting down in his own seat and looking up to the tall ceiling of the small building they were in. He sighed and then his expression moved from slight annoyance to understanding. " The time has come, our situation is critical. It is either now or never, and never shall come all too soon. In a matter of minutes the boy Pharaoh's soul will be taken away from him and Scarab will threaten the world with total anialation." He paused for a moment. " I don't have to tell you that that is a very bad thing."

" Well no." Anubis replied, not realizing that it was a rhetorical question.

" Everything is set, the forces are aligned and the situations are unfolding even as we speak. It is time to act before it is too late." Ra stood up from his large throne once more, and instead of walking down the long staircase of alabaster stone, he seemed to float off of his pedestal and hover in the center of the room, still in front on the assembled gods. " I shall do the only thing that can be done."

" And what is that master?" Horus asked.

He looked down at them, and before speaking again a loud rushing sound was heard all throughout the room. The same bright yellow cloud that had previously dispersed began to form over Ra once more and he held his hands up to meet with it part way. The horrific images that had once blotted the surface of it were gone, and were now replaced with a scene picture of the reborn prince on the floor of the Harris Stone Corporation business center. In front of him a long white hand reached out to recite a spell to bring the soul towards him.

" By the Power of Ra!" The god began, his eyes suddenly loosing their human-like appearance as the pupils vanishing in a wave of white light. " By the powers of the Ancient magics from which you ignored and the strengths from the gods on what your burdens were cast, I give you this warning Scarab, and this one only!" Wind flew around the room, a tornado- like storm brewed above the gods heads as hurricane winds swept about them. The torches on either sides of the walls went out, leaving behind only the images of Scarab and Presley.

" By the might of my followers Horus, Anubis, Khnumn, Anuket, Thoth and Bastet, this warning I give to you now! May your power corrupt you so in such a way that your magic becomes soft and your spells afoul! So that until the last minute of the last month of the last year before the millennium you will be unable to deliver your spell upon Rapses to gain his soul, and that the Apocalypse that would appear afterwards be held off!" The wind picked up, lightening shot down from the ceiling. White light immerged from Ra's hands and flew through the air with lightening fast speed towards the images circling in the cloud. " So says the Sun God of Upper and Lower Egypt!" A huge cackle exploded from the cloud, and the picture shattered into a thousand pieces, slowly fluttering to the floor in sparkles of bright yellow and white.

After the spell was cast the great god was lowered to the floor once more, gently settling himself on the large gold throne and then staying there, recuperating from the power which he had brought forth from beyond the gate.

Not one of the others dared to speak, until finally Khnumn just could not hold his curiosity about the spell. " So master... what will happen now? Delaying the transference of the Prince's soul will take mere days off of the date for the approaching Armageddon."

Ra looked up with a tired look on his face. " Now... now we must get to work on delivering the prince back his guardians from the death."

" But the mummies were destroyed, and since they hadn't protected Rapses the way they were suppose to, their souls weren't returned to the Western Gate." Horus stated, now confident enough to stand up from his seat and face the greater god.

Ra held his hand out, and in front of it, six small beads of light began to form, growing greater with each passing moment. As they took full shape the light began to fall away from them like honey, revealing six small pendants, each on thin black rope.

" The six guardian's soul are like Rapses was, wandering the earth without rest until they retrieve their prince. They will follow whom wear their amulets however. This is the only card that we have to play. Bring forth them... all six of them, they shall be the ones to stop this evil and vanquish it into oblivion..."

Anubis scratched his chin with a long clawed finger. " So, what you're saying is that if we stick these amulets on people in the present, then the guardians will be... them?"

" Anubis, do not be so droll." Anuket told him, giving the jackal god an annoyed expression. " We cannot interfere with people's lives... which means that we cannot ask them to give up their existence for another to take their place."

Anubis frowned and placed his chin on his hands. " This plan is giving me a headache."

" We will have to do with what we can." Ra told them, the six small amulets each with a animal sign and signature color slowly circling around his hand in mid-air. " But in order to do so we will have to do some preparation to bring the guardians back to the present in full form."

" Or someone else's." Bastet thought out loud as she crossed her arms and sat back in her seat.

Thoth had a thought on his mind. "This may be true, but what are you when you are no longer yourself, but just a figure with the same thoughts and ideas? Are you alone? Are you real? Are you mearly a shadow in the sun of what you could have been? Perhaps the guardians will not see what they have become in time."

" Will someone please tell me what's going on here?" Anubis asked, still in the dark about the entire ordeal. " What are we doing? Who are we doing it to?!"

" We shall see." Ra announced to them all, the six gleaming amulets suddenly disappearing from his hand, and back into the other realm from which they had been found. " We have one and a half months to claim those whom will take the jobs of the guardians and defeat Scarab."

Horus looked around to each and every one of them, as if reading the question that was going on in each of their minds. " And, if we are unable to do so?"

" Then may the gate be spared in the Approaching Apocalypse."

********************************************* *

" ... grant my spell, give me life eternal!!" Scarab shouted to the sky, finally finishing the spell. He held his thin arms up to the ceiling as he finished reciting the incantation, waiting until the true soul of the boy came out to him so that he could claim it.

Presley closed his eye, not wanting to see what was about to happen. After what he saw down by the bay as they flew overhead he really didn't care what happened to himself now, just as long as it was quick and didn't cause any suffering to the people that he cared about anymore. He waited, and waited...

The prince opened up one eye to survey what was going on. He didn't feel any different, why was Scarab being so stingy with the spell? He looked up to the sorcerer, still holding his hands up, but was now glancing down at the boy as well, anger welling up inside of him.

" Why isn't it working?!" Scarab stated, putting his hands down and turning away from Presley. " There couldn't be something that I'm doing wrong!"

" Perhaps your magic is not like it use to be." Avaris told him, leaning up against the far wall beside the skylight. Ammut barked at the statement, but shut his mouth once the star priest shot him a deadly gaze. " You stranded in that tomb for over three-thousand years might have dwindled you powers."

" I don't need lecturing!" Scarab snapped at him, circling to face the boy still sitting on the floor in front of Heka. The cobra occasionally gave Presley a scary snap with her jaw, but besides that there wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

" Maybe it's the lighting." Heka stated. " You can't concentrate in the dark."

The sorcerer held his hands up to the air and shouted at the top of his lungs. " Why isn't the spell working?! I have been prepared or hours now!" By the tone of his voice, Ammut cowered in the corner that he had been next to, hoping that it wasn't he that had caused his master to be so angry.

Another loud crack of thunder sounded from outside and the skies became dark with the approaching of black clouds over the horizon. One by one, then by dozens, than finally a huge downpour of raindrops came flooding onto the tall glass skylight, and onto the floor of the building from the opened window. Lightening struck down upon the city and even more thunder rang out, so loud that it even shook the earth on which they stood.

Avaris shielded his eyes from the view of this. He had a very bad feeling about what was going on. Such as when many gods had been brought through the Western Gate by Scarab to wreak havoc, this was not a natural occurrence. A storm could never brew that quickly.

" Scarab!" A gruff voice boomed over their heads, shaking the ground and cracking the screens of the surveillance televisions with a high ping. Presley looked frantically around him and saw that then was a pretty good time to try and get away from Scarab. Quickly he stood up, and was just about to leave when Heka snapped back at him with her gold teeth bared through a sinister sneer.

The sorcerer looked up to the ceiling of his home, eyes wide with the idea of not knowing what was going on. And where that voice had come from.

From the very top of the ceiling, where the tips of the pyramid met together tightly, a small flicker of light appeared and then quickly vanished. With a huge explosive sound to shake the world the spark exploded into a mass of bright white and golden rays cascading down from the sky and blinding those on the floor.

" I am Ra!" The voice shouted out to him once the light seemed to be under control and never getting and greater or less. " I have called upon you with a warning Scarab. What you seek has corrupted you, there is no way that I can alter that nor change the past. But I will tell you this much... if you seek out Rapses and steal his soul you will be responsible for the total anialation of the world!"

Scarab's mouth was open with shock, and he glanced to Avaris for reassurance. He returned a mystified look, showing that he would not, and for that matter could not help the sorcerer or tell him what he wanted to hear. " It's a lie!" He shouted back at the cloudy form, still swirling around like bats in his belfry. " I have on many occasions cast the same spell and no harm has been done to the world..."

" You had not yet gained the soul! And I warn you again, once you have it, there will no longer be a need for it for the earth as you know it would bee destroyed."

" I have waited on this earth for over three thousand years for immortality. As long as I have it I will be content with the earth, even if it does end up in a million pieces."

The form above their heads almost seemed to sigh in agitation at the sorcerer's last statement. " Then I see that not only are you a jealous and power-hungry fool, you are also nieve. Very well then, the past shall be wiped away and a future will unfold before you. I have cast yet another spell this night, a spell over you Scarab. From this moment on until the last minute of the last day of the last year before the millennium, you will be unable to gain the soul of Prince Rapses."

" What?!"

" In trade for your silence, a new stage of the game will be formed, on the idea that we must bring back the past in order to save the future."

The sorcerer glared at the misty light with a hateful expression. " Will you stop talking in riddles?! You have taken away my magic, yet told me of a time when I will be able to use it again instead of letting me dwindle away without the hope of gaining immortality... why? Why do such a thing?"

" Because this is not the way that history was suppose to play out. You will get your magic back, but until then battles must still be fought, enemies gained and allies lost before the course of the world is back to where it was suppose to be."

Presley's eyes widened as the cloud grew and grew before suddenly vanishing with a shower of glowing rain falling on each of their heads. It was almost as if the form had exploded, leaving behind a piece of itself and a piece of mind that Scarab would have to deal with afterwards.

" How? What?! Why is this happening, what did he mean?" The sorcerer snapped at everyone in the room after the light was gone and the room was once more darkened. The black clouds outside still remained, giving the city of San Francisco a much needed drenching of rain. Ammut whined softly, shaking the glowing rain droplets out of his mane.

" I don't know. " Avaris told him truthfully, leaving his position from the main wall and walking towards Scarab and Presley still under the watch of Heka. " But if Ra himself had to come and talk to you, than it must be more than we think."

" He spoke of other battles, lost allies and such." Scarab placed a bony hand on his chin in deep thought. " Perhaps he meant that the gods would return and avenge the prince."

" In which case, you'd better pack your bags and move to Tahiti." Heka spoke up from behind Presley, still keeping a sly eye on the prince as he kept trying to escape.

The sorcerer waved off the comments and slowly treaded towards the large skylight. Even then rain was still pouring onto the large tile floor but this didn't bother him at the moment. He stopped to peer out over the city beyond. Even after the blast at the waterfront traffic was still bumper to bumper, stores were still open and planes still flew through the air to get to the International Airport.

" I don't know what he meant, but I know for sure that it will be no match for me." He spoke to himself and no one else, as if hearing his own words were the only way that he would believe them. " And I also know that the threat which he had talked about has nothing to do with Rapses Guardians. They are gone, destroyed.

" It must have been something else..."

********************************************* *

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