Terran Knights 3: Chapter 40

“Hey! Can you hear me?”

“Is she alive?”

“I think so. I can feel her pulse.”

“Looks she’s waking up.”

“Give her room.”

Gen’s eyes opened slowly and painfully. She coughed, the action rattling her body. She rolled to her side, holding a hand against her chest. Her hands hurt. Her arms hurt. Everything hurt. She felt and looked terrible. Face bruised. Lip split. One eye half closed. The temple was a wreck. Pillars were destroyed and the ground broken.

But most importantly the crystal and Ley were gone. There were shards of it along the ground, pieces of rock where it used to be but it was gone otherwise.

Sarah helped Gen to sit up, holding her up gently. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Groaning she leaned her head forward, “Legion happened. It came here. And. It did something. Something to Ley. Blasted them into space. I got stuck fighting Kathryn and got my ass kicked.”

Marco looked around slowly, “What happened to the crystal?”

“I don’t know,” she mumbled and put a fist to her head. “I’ve been pretty knocked out for the past Christ how long.” She looked around them and her eyes went wide. “Owen?”

He was laying on the ground unconscious, next to Seth, and when she looked closer she realized Kathryn was there too. She tried to reach toward Owen but her arm twinged and she winced holding her arm tightly.

“What did you guys do?”

“They fought Legion. Fucked up the streets a lot. And then Marco ended up saving me,” Jack said his arm around Marco’s shoulder. He smiled at her shock, “You look as bad as I do. Probably feel as bad.”

“Yeah I didn’t miss you,” Gen said coughing into her fist. But she looked up at Sarah and smirked, “But I’m glad that you’ve got him back.”

“And you’re going to get yours back soon,” she replied and looked at Marco. Marco nodded slowly.

Gen glanced between them, “So it worked?”

“It worked. At least for Jack. I haven’t had a chance to try for the others.”

“What are we waiting for?” Jack asked.

“What?” Sarah looked at him.

“Ley always said that we’re stronger together. And this is the most together we’ve been in a long time,” he grunted but he manifested his stone in his palm and it glowed in response to being around them.

Cal, Sarah and Marco did the same manifesting their stones. “I wish I had the crystal with me,” Marco mumbled.

“You’ve got this,” Sarah said looking at him and kissing his cheek.

Gen opened her fist and saw a shard of the crystal. It was a faded red but deep within it there was a faint light. She held it up toward him and she shrugged, “I guess it broke off in the fight and I just held onto it. It might help.”

Marco stared at it and his eye flashed. He looked at it closely and then saw something between it and Gen. Like some sort of string connecting the two of them. He was actively confused, didn’t know what it was but something told him that it wanted to stay with Gen.

“Keep holding onto it,” Marco said softly as he transferred Jack over to Sarah. He sat upright, doing his best to not fall over. “Cal help me bring them over.”

“Sure.”

One by one they carried Owen, Seth and Kathryn over to them. Laying them down next to each other Marco stood in front of them. He donned his armor in a flash of red and Jack was right. He could feel their stones, not just Sarah and the others but he could feel Owen, Kathryn and Seth’s.

“I can feel them in there,” Marco said. “Let’s bring them home.”

Turning his revolver around, he spun the barrel and manifested his white stone. Slotting it into the gun, he fired and the white light flooded his face and body. They all covered their eyes from the light but when it faded they marveled at him.

“Now that’s impressive,” Cal mumbled.

“That’s hot,” Sarah whispered.

“You can get a room he’s done,” Gen rolled her eyes.

Jack smirked. “Oh definitely.”

Hiding his smile Marco held his gun in front of the three of them and pointed. Though the gun was pointed at Owen the glowing light of it encompassed all three of them. “Owen. Kathryn. Seth. You’re my teammates. My friends. Even though that alien is in your heads, controlling you. I know you’re in there. And I’m going to help you fight it. We’re going to get you out of there. It’s time to come back home!”

He pulled the trigger and the light was immediate. It exploded, covering not just the three of them but the entire temple. It was like the sun had risen suddenly in their small little slice of the world. For the barest of a moment they could imagine a world without a mind controlling alien. A world without their new powers or a job defending the earth. They were just regular people all eagerly looking forward to their friend’s wedding.

But at the light settled down and reality settled back in. Marco came down to his knees panting hard. The white aura left him and he was down to his red armor. And then that faded away and he was just kneeling on the ground.

But as he sank down, he raised his head and heard the collective groans. He watched his friends start to sit up and get their bearings. Kathryn held her head in her hands. Seth tried to stand and failed. Owen rolled over to his side before pushing himself into a wobbly sitting position.

“What happened?” Owen groaned.

“Where are we?” Seth asked.

Kathryn stared at Marco and then looked past him to Cal, “Look who dusted off the old armor. Looks good on you.”